[LP CYOA] 傳

[treave]

Damn, you just had to go and remind them.

 

[Esquilax]

Oh man, Kz3r0 just saved our fucking asses.

I'm kind of surprised to see you going for the lulzy choice Esquilax. You're usually one of the more level headed people around here. Yes, A will make it a hard choice for BJ, which is what makes it so appealing. He's already admitted to us and Song Lingshu that this whole situation is wrong. If he keeps his word, then it weakens his personal image and indirectly damages Nie and Huashan's efforts toward an orthodoxy under their thumb. If BJ backs out at the last second, it will be a cowardly act that we can throw in his face in the future.

That's just it though, who would believe us? Bai Jiutian could just say that we never had any such conversation and that Man Tiger Pig is just making shit up. It'll be his word against ours, and in this place, his word counts for a whole lot more. You might say, "So what? Song Lingshu will back us up if BJ says we never talked":

“You will have to gather the support of the sect to stand against Mao Sanjiao.”

You nod, and say, “You will be helping out with that, I presume?” Bai Jiutian looks aghast at the idea, as if it is utterly stupid. “Of course not. If I interfere openly with an internal matter of Qingcheng, it would look like Huashan has something to do with it!” Song Lingshu ponders the proposal for a while, scratching her head in an unmaidenly manner. “Look, I don’t think it is going to work out that easily. I just feel like Uncle Mao will try whatever he can to stay on top. They're not going to listen to my words that easily.”

At that point, Uncle Mao would probably say that Man Tiger Pig has been feeding the sweet, innocent Song Lingshu all sorts of lies and that she's just trying to protect us by saying that Bai Jiutian was involved. I can totally see A going south if BJ reneges on his part of the bargain. Maybe I'm engaging in the old pastime of Codexian paranoia, though?

C is basically Theseus'ing ourself. Everyone has an easy scapegoat and the only one who comes out looking bad is us. Mao will lose some face, but everyone's scorn will be saved for a certain Man Tiger Pig. Maybe it's enough to eventually cause Mao to lose control of Qingcheng, maybe not, but it will do very little to change the overall Douchebag Generation-led Eight Sects vs. Fire Cult situation. If anything, it will solidify Huashan's control by possibly eliminating another power-hungry rival.

Ah fuck, I think this is a possibility. In the above quote, BJ said that he can't look like he's openly interfering with Qingcheng business. If we troll them with C1, then BJ won't have to, because we've done the dirty work for him. I can be somewhat swayed by the reasoning that BJ wouldn't want the other sect heads to all gang up on Xu Jing because he wants to kick our ass first.

 

[Kz3r0]

Damn, you just had to go and remind them.

 

[Anabanana]

Damn, you just had to go and remind them.

Like that's going to stop the laxatives train.

 

[Kipeci]

Weren't we not wanting to poison the masters anyway?

 

[Tribute]

So should we all hop on option B? Option B seems the sanest option, even if it won't necessarily solve everything here and now.

 

[treave]

Well, it still serves as a good distraction if timed right. You'll nail at least 90% of the guests easily.

 

[ScubaV]

Oh man, Kz3r0 just saved our fucking asses.

I'm kind of surprised to see you going for the lulzy choice Esquilax. You're usually one of the more level headed people around here. Yes, A will make it a hard choice for BJ, which is what makes it so appealing. He's already admitted to us and Song Lingshu that this whole situation is wrong. If he keeps his word, then it weakens his personal image and indirectly damages Nie and Huashan's efforts toward an orthodoxy under their thumb. If BJ backs out at the last second, it will be a cowardly act that we can throw in his face in the future.

That's just it though, who would believe us? Bai Jiutian could just say that we never had any such conversation and that Man Tiger Pig is just making shit up. It'll be his word against ours, and in this place, his word counts for a whole lot more. You might say, "So what? Song Lingshu will back us up if BJ says we never talked":

It's only BJ that matters. We can fuck with his head using our trolling skills, because he knows he was a coward and that's all we might need for an edge in the future.

 

[Esquilax]

It's only BJ that matters. We can fuck with his head using our trolling skills, because he knows he was a coward and that's all we might need for an edge in the future.

When was he a coward? What are you referring to? If you're talking about our encounter back at Heihu Valley, Bai Jiutian was about to kick Jing's ass before the Sword Saint stepped in. I don't like BJ at all, but I'm not sure if I'd call him a pussy.

Well, it still serves as a good distraction if timed right. You'll nail at least 90% of the guests easily.

Are most of the guests various pugilists from the Eight Sects?

 

[treave]

Yup. And also wealthy and influential people from both Chengdu and other cities, but they're in the minority.

 

[Absinthe]

We don't really care about that 90%. We care about the masters. And outrunning them is hard as fuck.

Can we get a voting tally?

Also, voting A2>B2 now.

 

[treave]

I'll get to that in a while.

 

[ScubaV]

It's only BJ that matters. We can fuck with his head using our trolling skills, because he knows he was a coward and that's all we might need for an edge in the future.

When was he a coward? What are you referring to? If you're talking about our encounter back at Heihu Valley, Bai Jiutian was about to kick Jing's ass before the Sword Saint stepped in. I don't like BJ at all, but I'm not sure if I'd call him a pussy.

If he bails on standing up for Song when he admitted this wedding is wrong, it will be a cowardly move. It's a consolation in case he backs out in A.

 

[Kipeci]

Voting Bx > Cx, noting that I prefer any option that gets B through over any laxative junk. I don't really care whether we use them or not, I just want B to win or at least for A not to.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

B2>B1>CX

Have to flop. Ok, so us being in the middle of all those masters when they realize their food is poisoned probably won't be a good thing. In fact, it may even tip off our escape prematurely in B.

 

[treave]

The latest tally has been added to the update post.

Edit:

Latest Summary:

Current tally:

A1 – 3
A2 – 7
Ax – 2
B1 – 6
B2 – 3
Bx – 1
C1 – 8
C2 – 1

Post-flop:

A1 – 1
A2 – 10
B1 – 9
B2 – 1
C1 – 9
C2 – 1

 

[Absinthe]

Azira, Kashmir Slippers: Care to flip to A2?

 

[Tigranes]

I'm kind of surprised to see you going for the lulzy choice Esquilax. You're usually one of the more level headed people around here. Yes, A will make it a hard choice for BJ, which is what makes it so appealing. He's already admitted to us and Song Lingshu that this whole situation is wrong. If he keeps his word, then it weakens his personal image and indirectly damages Nie and Huashan's efforts toward an orthodoxy under their thumb. If BJ backs out at the last second, it will be a cowardly act that we can throw in his face in the future.

Uh, no we can't throw it in his face in the future. How? Are we going to publicily accuse BJ that he was going to support us but pulled out? Who is that meant to impress? Or are we going to say that to BJ himself? Again, no, BJ loses nothing by turning back on his implicit promise of support (he never promised to go fully through with whateve rwe plan).

However, this rules out the success of C, really:

Can we avoid poisoning the Emei, Wudang, Shaolin reps and BJ? Or is it everyone we're going after?

True masters will individuate anything strange in their food almost immediately.

B2 > B1 for now, I'm really not convinced BJ will cooperate fully in A and avoid leaving us in the lurch.

 

[Absinthe]

Even if Bai Jiutian backs out (which he shouldn't, considering that Song Lingshu is the heir of Qingcheng so he's putting himself in a bad position by refusing to do so), it is still Song Lingshu's responsibility to publicly refuse the marriage and maintain leadership of the sect. If she runs off, the sect is handed to Mao Sanjiao anyway. That's a huge problem.

 

[Tigranes]

The problem is, in all the time we have known Song Lingshu she has been a kind and pretty cool person, but not necessarily someone with the experience, troll-instinct or unbending rigid principles to stand up to the entire pugilistic world (or so it will feel) and her own uncle to assert her leadership. If she was, she wouldn't have been so ready to accept marriage. And if it was only Jing persuading her I'm not sure she'd have agreed.

Not only does she see BJ as Hawt Bai, she, remember, is still an idealistic type to really admire someone she sees as a shining light in the jianghu of All That Is Good. It was therefore his conviction that gives her this readiness to go with plan A. If BJ backs out, she may follow his lead, or at least, lose some of that conviction and therefore waver. And what shall we do then? Enter front and centre as Xu Jing and arbitrate on her behalf?

(That said, I do think that the one thing going in suppor tof A is that BJ is not so likely to completely turn tail and pretend he was never part of this, because he doesn't want to leave Song in the dust, either. So he might risk it. But it's very fragile.)

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

However, this rules out the success of C, really:

Actually, now that I've had time to think about it, none the real masters are here apart from the Abbess. With that in mind, we'll be facing "masters" of the lesser schools. Probably just a handful, but we should actually be at or beyond their level of power. Their skill should range from 7-8 at most. I doubt the Abbess will attack us. Granted, I doubt we'll be able to stand up to all of them at once - it's possible, but we might be injured, Still, we should be able to get away from them, especially with the distraction of the laxatives.

edit: that said, I still prefer B's certain escape.

 

[Absinthe]

Song Lingshu has always had a strong sense of righteousness and she seems a bit headstrong in that aspect to me.

I think the notion that she should confront her responsibilities head-on is one that would appeal to her. The risk of a fight breaking out should be reduced so long as Song Lingshu speaks her mind on the matter and declares she has made her decision. At any rate, if Mao Sanjiao tries to strong-arm her into marriage, then the whole farce is exposed. And knowing Song Lingshu, she'd probably ask Bai Jiutian to help her out if it came to it, and then Bai Jiutian would have to either aid her or lose face.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

Azira, Kashmir Slippers: Care to flip to A2?

Sure thing, Boss. A2

 

[ScubaV]

Uh, no we can't throw it in his face in the future. How? Are we going to publicily accuse BJ that he was going to support us but pulled out? Who is that meant to impress? Or are we going to say that to BJ himself? Again, no, BJ loses nothing by turning back on his implicit promise of support (he never promised to go fully through with whateve rwe plan).

I must have written that poorly, because both you and Esquilax totally misunderstood what I was getting at. Forget everyone else in the world except BJ and Jing. If BJ bails on choice A, then he is abandoning his principles (he says the wedding is wrong, but won't step in when it counts?). He knows it. Jing knows it. Jing can exploit it by taunting/shaming/whatevering BJ with that fact if and when they fight in the future or if Jing needs to push BJ into making a particular decision (i.e. making up for his past cowardice). It has nothing to do with public image if he backs down. If he doesn't back down it will affect his public image. That's the beauty of A. Whether or not BJ sticks to the plan, cracks in his armor will form, either privately (he reneges) or publicly (he goes through with it).

 

[Jester]

switching my vote to only A2.
I will later edit original post.