[LP CYOA] 傳

[asxetos]

He had a pretty good excuse to fight us right there as i see it.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

What a huge and unexpected clusterfuck, and that's all because we expected Commissar Gordon to have a talk with his bro rather than play Commissar Holt with him or something.

I bet Xiaofang did this. Can't see why Gao Ying would send him/her to kill Du Yao, so Grand Eunuchs?

Need to think about my vote.

Man, that princess is a huge ice queen. Gotta get her on our good side, through.

It is funny how the promise of a good duck has united the Codex faster than any hint of power or women ever has in this LP.

As a man from Pará, I know duck can be delicious!

 

[Tribute]

Why are so many people calling that lunatic a bro?
He has done nothing bro-ish and deserves to see Jing's angry side for being a blood-thirsty sob. He will enjoy it too.

He looks after his men, doesn't take shit from nobody and has a certain sense of honor... of a sort. Don't let anyone harm your bro and don't fuck another BRO's woman - not a bad moral code to follow. The guy's a vicious killer, sure, and we might be in conflict very soon, but I can't say I hate the guy. He may have killed a man in the Dukezong battle royale, but kills were allowed in that tournament, even if the sort of intentional killing that Pang Xiaohu did was considered shameful. Don't step into a tournament that allows kills if you aren't willing to run the risk of fighting some psycho who will try to kill you.

Not to mention our own Master has probably killed way more people than he has.

What did the Frathouse say about not judging another's way of martial arts?

 

[Esquilax]

So did BRO Ahura with the Fire Cult, keeping the ortodontists out with just a mention of his name. A shame we murdered him, really.

Goddamnit Nevil, why do you have to be such a moralfag? This is kind of an absurd comparison. As for Ahura, well, his reputation is kinda helping the Fire Cult for now. But I don't see what this has to do with our situation here. You just decided that you don't like a certain person and you want to rail against their flaws while glossing over our own. When we brutally slaughter Zhang Manxing's bodyguards (not the man himself), it's acceptable because he is a scumbag, but when someone you don't like does something similar, suddenly he's an asshole forever. Let's take the Frathouse's words of wisdom in consideration and not judge him so quickly off the bat.

Anyways, it was clear even from the other timeline that Du Yao knew how to run this shithole. Him being dead is a very bad thing.

Its doubtful he actually follows that code though. We already messed up his bro and are using him as a table. That doesnt go against his code? I think he just wants to avoid a fight, that's why he is being friendly and doesnt mess with the girls because he saw our killing intent vs zhang.
...
Thats a pretty shitty excuse to indulge his bloodlust and get away with it.

The man was willing to fight us during the tournament, he didn't back down. The Little Tiger doesn't strike me as a pussy. Pang Xiaohu isn't taking it personally because the only thing that was injured in the altercation is Big Mouth Dong's pride, who shouldn't have started shit with us anyways. So, to settle things amicably and out of a respect for Jing, the Little Tiger didn't mind footing our entire bill.

I'm not excusing the man's bloodlust, he's a savage killer. Just saying, if you knowingly go into a tournament with the likes of the Southern Maniac's apprentice with kills allowed, don't be surprised if there are people there that, y'know, are willing to kill you. I'm not saying it's right, just saying he acted in accordance with the rules.

He had a pretty good excuse to fight us right there as i see it.

I disagree. He fights to kill. We didn't kill his pal, and he already had respect for our skills back at the tournament, so he didn't feel the need to escalate things to the point of a deathmatch. Again, I'm not saying he's a good guy and I think that we'll probably be butting heads soon (we will have to kill his friend for denying us some delicious duck), but this does imply that he has a certain "thug" sense of honor that treave alluded to early in the thread:

I wouldn't want to paint a picture of outright black and white, good and evil. Even amongst bandits there is honor. There are also people who would rather accept being called unorthodox than abide by the rules of the sects.

The Little Tiger cares about his crew, and he'll kill anybody who fucks with them. Hmm, does this sound like anybody that we know?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Wait, Nevill's a moralfag? What part of the discuss did I miss this time?

 

[Nevill]

Its doubtful he actually follows that code though. We already messed up his bro and are using him as a table. That doesnt go against his code?

No, that does not, actually.

People are not following some code that can be described in two words like automations. There are rules and there are exceptions to the rules. We are on his good side, so he is allowing us some leeway here as to how to treat our offender. He also realises that we could have just killed the guy without batting an eyelid - and in fact, if someone would do the same thing to him, Xiaohu would murder them without a second thought. So in his mind it makes sense for us to punish Little Dong, just not too harsh.

All of this has nothing to do with the man being a dangerous lunatic.

What did the Frathouse say about not judging another's way of martial arts?

Let's go hug manxing next time we meet, the misunderstood soul that he is. Why are we so harsh on the man, anyway?

Even if the Frathouse did not judge another's way of martial arts, respecting orthodox and unorthodox fighters in equal measure, they did have strong opinions on people's personalities. They all shared contempt for Nie Wuxing and Bai Jiutian, for example.

This is kind of an absurd comparison.

I don't know. If your refuttal was that Du Yao was a BRO because he kept the city together, then the reasoning fits Ahura like a glove. And then falls apart, of course.

When we brutally slaughter Zhang Manxing's bodyguards (not the man himself), it's acceptable because he is a scumbag, but when someone you don't like does something similar, suddenly he's an asshole forever.

If we did it for fun, we would be a scumbag, too. But I guess such petty differences are too trivial for you to consider? :D

 

[Esquilax]

Wait, Nevill's a moralfag? What part of the discuss did I miss this time?

It's just me giving Nevill a hard time. I say it with the utmost affection. Nevill generally wants us to be a good guy but when we meet a morally shady character he usually hates them completely right off the bat. Nevill still has no love for BRO Ying, even after he saved our life during the Yang Xue arc.

 

[Elfberserker]

Let's go hug manxing next time we meet, the misunderstood soul. Why are we so harsh on the man, anyway?

Even if the Frathouse did not judge another's way of martial arts, respecting orthodox and unorthodox fighters in equal measure, they did have a strong opinions on people's personalities. They all shared contempt for Nie Wuxing and Bai Jiutian, for example.

The diffrence comes how they act outside of fights.

Zhang the lesser likes to drug maidens and rape them and Nie Wuxing and Bai Jiutian have certain type of schemer thing going on with them, even if they act like living testament for gentlemans code.

The little tiger is certainly savage killer, but so far he hasn't acted particle nasty or "unhonorable" against us or anyone we know outside of battlefield, except the whole bandit thing. Hell, I doubt that people hate Zhang the lesser because he used poisoned west or he brought numbers with him to confront us, but because he is drugging rapist and most importantly he tried to rape our harem.

That being said, it would be foolish to think that we can be BFF with the little tiger but we don't have to be arch-enemies either.

 

[Nevill]

Wait, Nevill's a moralfag? What part of the discuss did I miss this time?

It's just me giving Nevill a hard time. I say it with the utmost affection.

I treat it as a badge of honor and wear it with pride.

But, seriously, I became much more accepting of Master Zhang ever since he called off the challenge he gave us and accepted the fact that we are not going to turn out like him. The task he imposed on us initially was really ill-suited for a guy like Jing, and it almost drove us to a foolish and despicable act of killing Song Lingshu and alienating Yifang because of the 'LOL, we are edgy and unorthodox, let's take a shortcut' crowd. Am I glad we didn't walk that road. Going from mountain to mountain killing or humiliating people is not really our forte, we are much better at stealing brides, crowning bros and kicking ass with no strings attached.

I can reevaluate people if they give me enough reason to.

I still retain my resentment for Gao Ying, though.

That being said, it would be foolish to think that we can be BFF with the little tiger but we don't have to be arch-enemies either.

Funnily enough, that was what I said in the beginning.

 

[TOME]

“A pleasure to meet you, Big Mouth Dong. I am Xu Jing, but people call me Man Tiger Pig. I am new around here, so forgive my upcoming rudeness,”

I see Jing has stopped referring himself as someone else's disciple and is his own man now. I was wondering how long a master-level fighter can call himself a disciple.

What's this talk about against BROtiger? What has he done wrong? He paid for our duck and even let us have our table when he could have taken it back.

A.

 

[Nevill]

What's this talk about against BROtiger? What has he done wrong?

His people made Qilin sulk and he forbade us from killing them.

 

[TOME]

But I'm sure BROtiger will make up for it. After all he will be teaching his axe techniques to us before this is over.

 

[Rex Feral]

This City. This fucking city.

Oh well...

What can a man do, but be true to his friends?

A

 

[asxetos]

You can defend this fucker all you want but i firmly believe he avoided the fight so that we wouldnt mess him and his 100 men up. That would ruin his daddy's plans.

 

[Baltika9]

We should move the Fire Temple to Youxia City and restore order here, turning it into the center of the unorthodox world.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

This City. This fucking city.

You go on a quite ok investigation, your nominal superior heads out to have a talk with the grand poobah of the city while you (try) to munch on this delicious duck during a quite fascinating bar brawl and attempt to talk with a pretty, inteligent girl and suddently the sole guy holding the town together is dead, your superior is in jail and there's 3k angry soldiers coming over to fuck up everybody's shit.

Also there's no more duck.

Why do we keep coming here...?

 

[Tribute]

We should move the Fire Temple to Youxia City and restore order here, turning it into the center of the unorthodox world.

Nah, we need to turn Youxia city back into a city for youxia instead of bandits and thugs.

 

[Tribute]

“A pleasure to meet you, Big Mouth Dong. I am Xu Jing, but people call me Man Tiger Pig. I am new around here, so forgive my upcoming rudeness,”

I see Jing has stopped referring himself as someone else's disciple and is his own man now. I was wondering how long a master-level fighter can call himself a disciple.

Technically you don't ever lose your obligation toward your shifu. He'll always be your teacher-father.

 

[Kipeci]

“A pleasure to meet you, Big Mouth Dong. I am Xu Jing, but people call me Man Tiger Pig. I am new around here, so forgive my upcoming rudeness,”

I see Jing has stopped referring himself as someone else's disciple and is his own man now. I was wondering how long a master-level fighter can call himself a disciple.

Technically you don't ever lose your obligation toward your shifu. He'll always be your teacher-father.

We'll still his disciple, but now the average person messing with Jing will be able to realize that he goofed from Jing telling them his name without having to append 'the apprentice of the Southern Maniac' to it, which is a relatively recent development if I recall correctly.

 

[Tribute]

Yeah, I agree with you there. I just thought you were implying that he considered his obligation toward his master over or something with the "his own man" thing, which is not how that society works. Hell, he still treats Yao with the proper respect and deference because the old man was his first teacher, even though Zhang Jue has been his shifu for years.

If it's just "I don't feel the need to piggyback on my master's accomplishments", then yeah, that's definitely a sign of him maturing as a martial artist. I am amused that "Man Tiger Pig" is his go-to name even as a martial arts master and one of the most terrifying men in the jianghu though.

 

[Grimgravy]

A

Leaving now seems wasteful. We have a lead and there are important goings on here.

 

[treave]

Eh, if it's going to be that unanimous...

Here, have a quick, short update.

***

Youxia City Investigations

In the end, it appears that your nose could not refrain from poking itself into the case.

“It appears that you are a genuine constable,” says the man with the well-trimmed beard. He tosses the emblem back at Fu Xia, who almost fumbles it. “Very well,” he continues, “we will give our cooperation. Still, I cannot help but wonder… what is that man doing here? I did not know that the Imperial Constabulary had any connections with the infamous Man Tiger Pig.”

You give him a grin, though it is not reciprocated.

“Will it be a problem, Zheng Fan?” asks Lady Suien.

Zheng’s head turns slowly from side to side. “No, not at all. I was just curious. On behalf of Youxia City, as custodians of Master Du’s legacy, we hereby extend to you all rights necessary to investigate the incident of his murder. Within reason, of course.” He stands up, open palm over closed fist in the traditional salute before giving a slight bow. His fellow lieutenants nod and follow suit, each as well-dressed as he is.

“Well, that went better than expected!” says Fu Xia relievedly when the three of you are safely back at the inn. Qilin and the girls are waiting for you inside one of the rooms. As you explain the situation to them, Lady Suien rolls out a large piece of paper over the table. “Less idle talk, more work. Get started.”

With a sigh, Fu Xia prepares ink and a brush, and begins drawing and writing. “Alright, Xu Jing, you are new to this, so listen closely,” he says. “We need to establish procedures. Things to examine. Places to investigate. People to question. So…”

It looks like he has divided up the investigation into several tasks:

1. Inspection of Du Yao’s corpse, currently on ice inside his mansion.
2. Questioning of Du Yao’s daughter, who was the first to find Jiang Zheng and her father.
3. Questioning of the mansion’s help – the common servants.
4. Questioning of Du Yao’s staff – his lieutenants, guards, and other people related to his business activities.
5. Investigation of the mansion and its grounds for any clues.
6. General investigation of the city for any rumours and leads that can be linked back to the death.
7. Search for Xiaofang, the eunuch constable who is still missing.

Fu Xia finishes the last line with a flourish. “I think this is enough for today,” he says.

“Hm, you forgot something,” you point out.

He looks puzzled, but Lady Suien nods and chastises him firmly. “We need to question Chief Jiang too.”

“B-but… it’s the chief. There's no need to-”

“Rule nothing out.”

Grumbling, Fu Xia adds another task to the list: the questioning of Chief Constable Jiang Zheng.

***

The constables have requested your aid in the investigation. There are, in total, seven of you:

A. Xu Jing
B. Chi Qilin
C. Cao'er
D. Yifang
E. Song Lingshu
F. Lady Suien
G. Fu Xia​

There are eight tasks to carry out today:

1. Inspection of Du Yao’s corpse, currently on ice inside his mansion.
2. Questioning of Du Yao’s daughter, who was the first to find Jiang Zheng and her father.
3. Questioning of the mansion’s help – the common servants.
4. Questioning of Du Yao’s staff – his lieutenants, guards, and other people related to his business activities.
5. Investigation of the mansion and its grounds for any clues.
6. General investigation of the city for any rumours and leads that can be linked back to the death.
7. Search for Xiaofang, the eunuch constable who is still missing.
8. Questioning of Jiang Zheng, the chief constable who is being held in prison.​

Lady Suien tells you that you should know your companions' abilities better than she does, and asks you to decide the assignments. On her part, she says that she is not too fond of talking to people. She also tells you that Fu Xia is more proficient at talking to people in the pugilistic community.

Given the timeframe and workload, it would be possible to assign one person to two tasks, and it is possible that you might achieve better results by having more than one person working on the same assignment, though in some cases it might also be beneficial to have only one person involved.

You wonder how you should divide up the tasks...

***

Make votes for each category: A, B, C, etc.

A1,2 would mean character A is assigned to tasks one and two.

You are limited to selecting a maximum two tasks per character. You can opt to not vote for any tasks for the character, in which case they'll do their own thing.

All counts will be tallied and the two highest-scoring tasks for each character will be selected. If any single task has an overwhelming majority of votes (80% of the total count) for any particular character, compared to the other options, it will be selected as the only task that character undertakes.

There will be no conditional votes for this update.

***

Vote Tally

A. Xu Jing
2 - 1111
3 - 111
4 - 111
5 - 1
7 - 1111111111111
8 - 11111111111111

B. Chi Qilin
2 - 111111111111
3 - 11111
4 - 111
6 - 1111111111111
7 - 11
8 - 111

C. Cao'er
1 - 11111111111111111111
3 - 1
5 - 1111111111111111111

D. Yifang
1 - 1
2 - 11111111
3 - 1111111111
4 - 1
6 - 11111
7 - 111111111
8 - 111

E. Song Lingshu
2 - 1111111111111
3 - 1111111111
4 - 1
6 - 11
7 - 111111111
8 - 1111

F. Lady Suien
1 - 111111111111
5 - 11111111111111111111
7 - 11111
8 - 111

G. Fu Xia
2 - 111
3 - 1111111111
4 - 1111111111111111
6 - 11111111
7 - 111

 

[Baltika9]

There goes our harmony.

Cao'er is the obvious pick for the corpse and investigating the manor, while Qilin and Cao'er should go together to find the eunuch with Yifang as backup, this is a rough city.

Jing and Fu Xia can form a great 'good cop-bad cop' duo for questioning the bodyguards and staff.
Keep the man away from Commissioner Gordon, though, the guy has a serious case pf hero worship.

 

[kazgar]

There goes our harmony.

Cao'er is the obvious pick for the corpse and investigating the manor, while Qilin and Cao'er should go together to find the eunuch with Yifang as backup, this is a rough city.

Jing and Fu Xia can form a great 'good cop-bad cop' duo for questioning the bodyguards and staff.
Keep the man away from Commissioner Gordon, though, the guy has a serious case pf hero worship.

Suien and Caoer should do the inspection, the constables seem to have a great knowledge of techniques used by various people (so could pin the other murders on jinkeng) which Caoer may not have.

 

[kazgar]

First pass:

A7,8
B6,8
C1,5
D3,4
E3,4
F1,5
G2,6

edit: reasoning:

Finding source of murder is most important, sending best scholar and best medical person is useful (C+F1) But also the most likely source of clues is the manor, so best scholar and most perceptive is also useful (C+F5)

We'd be best going solo to find Xiaofang as sneak/movement skills in the city are pretty good. We should also interview Jiang as we're not linked to constables, but should be someone else there, Qilin's a good choice cos she's more worldly than most of the others involved.

Yifang and Song are given the tasks to do the general evidence gathering, getting the bulk of people to talk, they're friendly, yet thorough enough.

The other Constable should wander the city using his decective skills, but may have it hard to make people talk, which is why Qilin joins him, and finally Fu also talks to the daughter mainly just to cover that task. (and may have a good bullshit detector but i'm uncertain)