[LP CYOA] 傳

[Nevill]

So, I've looked at the plans and found about 4 of them that kind of make sense and do not completely ignore the following core settings:

Cao'er and Suen will collect evidence from the crime scene and from the corpse.
Qiling will collect rumors.
Fu Xia will question the lieutenants.

Nevill's (obviously my plan makes sense to me):

A. Xu Jing 3, 7
B. Chi Qilin 6, 7
C. Cao'er 1, 5
D. Yifang 8
E. Song Lingshu 8
F. Lady Suien 1, 5
G. Fu Xia 2, 4

Xiaofang duty - Jing and Qilin; visit to the chief - the girls; servants questioning - Jing; daughter questioning - Fu Xia. A point was raised that Fu Xia is not the right man for the job, in which case the plan can be swapped to:

Kz3r0's:

A. Xu Jing 3, 7
B. Chi Qilin 6, 7
C. Cao'er 1, 5
D. Yifang 2, 8
E. Song Lingshu 2, 8
F. Lady Suien 1, 5
G. Fu Xia 3, 4

Lingshu have lost her father not too long ago, so there may be some common themes for her to talk about with Du Yao's daughter.

---------------------------
The following plans have the girls searching the city for Xiaofang with various guides, while Jing visits the chief. They also differ by whether or not Fu Xia gets to question the daughter.

Rex Feral's:

A. Xu Jing: 7, 8
B. Chi Qilin: 3, 6
C. Cao'er: 1, 5
D. Yifang: 3, 7
E. Song Lingshu: 3, 7
F. Lady Suien: 1, 5
G. Fu Xia: 2, 4

Akkudakku's:

A. Xu Jing 4, 8
B. Chi Qilin 6, 7
C. Cao'er 1, 5
D. Yifang 2, 7
E. Song Lingshu 2, 7
F. Lady Suien 1, 5
G. Fu Xia 3, 4

There are plans that are minor variations of the listed ones - my plan is very similar to Kipeci's and Zero Credibility's is close to Akkudakku's, so maybe we can get people to forego little differences and unite behind one of these?

I guess I might be the first to switch to either Kz3r0's or Rex Feral's if others are willing to compromise.

---------------------------
Oh, and if we are talking plans that would both be logical and have a realistic chance of winning even if people won't flop, here is what I've got:

A. Xu Jing: 7, 8
B. Chi Qilin: 2/3, 6
C. Cao'er: 1, 5
D. Yifang: 3, 7
E. Song Lingshu: 2/3, 7
F. Lady Suien: 1, 5
G. Fu Xia: 2/6, 4

Basically, it is Rex Feral's plan with possible minor corrections.

 

[TOME]

I'm going to break one of the unanimous votes here. I think Lady Suien should be talking to Jiang Zheng since she is second in command. Maybe she can get orders on how to proceed and information that is for constables only. She said she doesn't like talking but I don't think she minds talking to her boss. This jobs takes her away from the corpse examination but Cao'er can do that alone anyway. Later Lady Suien will help Cao'er investigating manor grounds.

I think miss Song should talk to the daughter. She is a bit naive but she could get her to open up as her own father was killed. Song could do this better than Jing, who would most likely go with his maiden teasing tactics. But I'm not sure if Song should do this alone. Yifang could help but she could just as easily be in the way. For now I'm sending them both to talk to the daughter. They will also talk to the servants as they are both capable pugilists and they have positive and happy personalities. This should be enough to get most of them to talk.

Qilin will of course use her skills to listen the rumours. She has acupuncturing techniques to disguise herself and street smarts to know when to get out. Sending less smart people with her will endanger her life.

Fu Xia talks to Du Yao's staff as he is proficient in it.

This covers everything else except finding Xiofang, and Qilin and Fu Xia with one task while Jing doesn't have any yet. I'm not really sure what I want after this point. Jing could look Xiofang alone, or Qilin and/or Fu Xia could help him, or they could help out others while Jing does his thing alone. Or maybe they could get better results if they focus only on one task.

For now I'm assigning Jing alone with finding Xiofang while Qilin and Fu Xia focus on their one task.

A7
B6
C1,5
D2,3
E2,3
F5,8
G4

 

[profreshinal]

A Xu Jing: Jing is good everywhere he's the wildcard, there's no false modesty here
B Chi Qi'lin: good at talking, good in the city, :: 2,3,6,7
C Cao"er 1,5 no point discussing this anymore
D Yifang hard to use her forte in this investigation, BFF with Song, sister of Cao'er :: ?
E Song Lingshu cheery, can relate to Du Yao's daugther situation :: 2
F Lady Suien 1,5 no point discussing this anymore
G Fu Xia knows his way around official side of business, has done this type of thing before, has his boss's trust :: 3,4,6,8

Even if I said there's no point in discussing Lady Suien, I'm going to do it anyway. Sending lady Suien to 1 with Cao'er seems a bit redundant. Cao'er should be able to extract all relevant and not so relevant information from the body herself, I can't imagine how lady Suien would add here besides being a handler for Cao'er. It would make more sense to me to send Yifang with her as they would trust eachother.

We should still send someone to Jiang Zheng that he can trust in. Song/Yifang fall short here. Jing or one of the remaining team members should do the trick.

I feel just sending miss Song (and Yifang) to Du Yao's daughter isn't enough, we need someone to push the interrogation too. Fu Xia, Qi'lin or Jing can do this.

so my vote changes again (for now)

A 7
B 2,6
C 1,5
D 1,6
E 2,6
F 5,8
G 3,4

a lot of people for the city but it's also the biggest place with the most people in it.

edit: cut Jing's second job out

 

[Jester]

My vote:

A 3/8
B 2/4
C 1/5
D 2/7
E 3/6
F 5/8
G 6/7


1. Our medical expert. Lady Suien could help to, but i think Cao will read poison and health related problems.
2. Send someone polite, careful and smart enough to make her talk.
3. Relatively easy task, but just in case send someone smart.
4. Dont send constables here, their are shady people who could try to hide job related secrets!
5. High P character combined with vast general knowledge.
6. People who are good at gaining trust, still i doubt that this will give any reliable information.
7. Person who can fight and street smart person to keep hothead from trouble.
8. By smart people he can tell even state related information.

I thing that sending Yifang and Song to city both is start of ally of justice crusade.

 

[ScubaV]

Hey guys, let's put together voting packages! Remember how fun that was last time? Guys? Hello. Anyone out there?

 

[treave]

Leading Tasks:

Xu Jing - 7,8
Chi Qilin - 2,6
Cao'er - 1,5
Yifang - 3,7
Song Lingshu - 3, 2/7/8
Lady Suien - 1,5
Fu Xia - 4,6

1. Inspection of Du Yao’s corpse, currently on ice inside his mansion.
Cao'er, Lady Suien

2. Questioning of Du Yao’s daughter, who was the first to find Jiang Zheng and her father.
Chi Qilin

3. Questioning of the mansion’s help – the common servants.
Yifang, Song Lingshu

4. Questioning of Du Yao’s staff – his lieutenants, guards, and other people related to his business activities.
Fu Xia

5. Investigation of the mansion and its grounds for any clues.
Cao'er, Lady Suien

6. General investigation of the city for any rumours and leads that can be linked back to the death.
Chi Qilin, Fu Xia

7. Search for Xiaofang, the eunuch constable who is still missing.
Xu Jing

8. Questioning of Jiang Zheng, the chief constable who is being held in prison.
Xu Jing

***

I don't see much of a need to establish packages to funnel the voting yet. As the votes come in most of the issues should sort themselves out, with the major one I see so far being a tie for Song Lingshu with three tasks having the same number of votes, but if there are any lingering problems or strange, unintended outcomes* it can be addressed later into the voting.

*Strange and unintended as in weird things like having everyone on the corpse investigation; not outcomes that you dislike.

 

[Baltika9]

Somebody sell me on a second task for Song Lingshu.

 

[Nevill]

Somebody sell me on a second task for Song Lingshu.

More bonding time with Qilin means Lingshu eventually goes to Qilin's harem, and our Number One is not opposed to sharing.

Switching my vote to:
B. Chi Qilin - 2,6
D. Yifang - 3,7
E. Song Lingshu - 2, 7

 

[Baltika9]

Miss Du needs a more personal touch, I'm afraid Lingshu will just cramp her style.
Then again, they both also lost their parents and can really relate to the girl. Lingshu is also the compassionate and naturally gregarious type, while Qilin is more cunning and persuasive. Maybe they'll help one another more than they'll clash?

 

[Nevill]

It should work. Use Lingshu to earn her trust while Qilin does all the tricky questioning.

 

[Esquilax]

Somebody sell me on a second task for Song Lingshu.

As someone earlier said before, having Song Lingshu talk to Du Yao's daughter might get her to open up more about why someone would want our MANORBRO dead. Under normal circumstances, Song Lingshu would be a fucking terrible interrogator, but here, I think that her shared experiences and earnest nature might allow the daughter to open up. You can have Fu Xia trying to seduce her, perhaps, but Lingshu would probably be a better bet as far as getting the subject's guard down.

Here are my votes:

1) Cao'er. I feel that Lady Suien might be a little redundant here - I'm not exactly sure what she would find that Cao'er would not. Cao'er was sharp enough to detect traces of Wudu Cult poison on Master Rong all those years ago, and she's even better now.
2) Chi Qilin, Song Lingshu. A bit of good-cop, bad-cop. Qilin does the clever maneuvering and sees if the daughter is full of shit, Lingshu's honesty gets her guard down if she's lying about something and gives Qilin someone to work off of.
3) Fu Xia. I am not that confident about this one - I just don't know who else to put. But at least this guy is an actual detective, plus it's a shitload better than putting Yifang and Song Lingshu on questioning duty. What if one of the servants is hiding something?
4) Fu Xia. Obviously would be better with Jing around because of synergy, but Jing can't be everywhere at once. Ideally though, it would be good-cop, bad-cop, as Baltika mentioned before.
5) Cao'er, Lady Suien. You need them both, because Cao'er doesn't have the detective skills that Lady Suien has.
6) Chi Qilin, Yifang. This is Qilin's wheelhouse. Bringing Yifang as muscle might not be a bad idea here.
7) Xu Jing, Lady Suien. An unorthodox pick, I know, but I think it has great synergy; Jing has the street smarts and the combat skills to maneuver this place, and Lady Suien would have the intelligence, the royal background and the experience of knowing Xiaofang before this to maybe know where she might have taken off. I think it has potential.
8) Xu Jing. Not sure if we could trust anybody but Jing to do this.

“Regardless, speaking with Du Yao would be our best bet. I will handle this meeting personally... we have crossed paths a few times before.”

Jiang Zheng and Du Yao have had some history, and while I think that this was a frame-up, I also think that there might have been some shadiness in their past dealings with each other. Yifang and Song Lingshu would take everything he says at face value, his own people questioning him might be blinded by their respect of the man, and we need Qilin elsewhere. This guy seems to respect Xu Jing, and he knows of our connection to Shun, so he might be willing to disclose things to us, in private that he might not be willing to with others.

Nevill, TOME, what about swapping out Qilin with Fu Xia in 2 and 3? Would that work well? I can't help but feel that Qilin would be a better fit with the servants. Fu Xia's womanizing might actually work with Du Yao's daughter if Song Lingshu is there to act as wingwoman and console the grieving daughter.

 

[Baltika9]

Yeah, let's go with that, flopping to Esquilax's plan.

 

[Nevill]

I agree that it may be a good idea to have Suien join the search.

Switching my vote to:

A. Xu Jing - 7,8
B. Chi Qilin - 3,6
C. Cao'er - 1,5
D. Yifang - 3,7
E. Song Lingshu - 2,7
F. Lady Suien - 5,7
G. Fu Xia - 2,4

I'd rather have Jing interrogating people, but, oh well.

Nevill, TOME, what about swapping out Qilin with Fu Xia in 2 and 3? Would that work well? I can't help but feel that Qilin would be a better fit with the servants. Fu Xia's womanizing might actually work with Du Yao's daughter if Song Lingshu is there to act as wingwoman and console the grieving daughter.

I have no idea about Fu Xia's abilities as a detective. I am reluctant to have him do all the heavy work with the servants and the underlings - that's just putting all the eggs in one basket. If he is a goofball, then we've just sent half of the potential evidence down the drain.

I would prefer Jing or Qilin working with the servants and/or lieutenants. I don't place too much stock in what the daughter saw - the man was dead when she came in. Unless she is guilty, we are not getting much out of her. We might notice some discrepancies in her tale with the 'culprit Zheng' theory, but unless we present them with the real culprit, this is not going to be of much help.

The servants are key here - I doubt a hit like that could have been done without their cooperation or at least them looking the other way when it mattered for whatever reason.

 

[Kz3r0]

1) Cao'er. I feel that Lady Suien might be a little redundant here - I'm not exactly sure what she would find that Cao'er would not. Cao'er was sharp enough to detect traces of Wudu Cult poison on Master Rong all those years ago, and she's even better now.

One has the medical experience the other has the crime investigating experience, both are needed.

 

[Nevill]

One has the medical experience the other has the crime investigating experience, both are needed.

Well, to tell the truth, Cao'er can just gather up the facts. Lady Suien is needed to interpret them correctly, but I can think of little that would require her presence on site.

Edited my vote. Again.

 

[Baltika9]

6) Chi Qilin, Yifang. This is Qilin's wheelhouse. Bringing Yifang as muscle might not be a bad idea here.

I'd like to expand on this a little bit, since I think that this is a damn good idea. Yifang is our second-best fighter (right after Jing himself) and would be pretty damn useful as a bodyguard and muscle for Qilin. This is Youxia City after all, a very dangerous place and I would rather our second weakest fighter not end up in trouble that could have been prevented. Also, Yifang did say that she is not the same girl any more:

You laugh. “It looks like you are as nosy as ever, little nun. Well, not like I have the right to say anything...”

“Please do not tease me, Master Xu!” she exclaims. “I am very serious about this. If you do not take me along I shall follow you anyway.” She would. In that respect, she and her sister are definitely alike.

“Take her along, Xu Jing.” Miecao is standing at the door of the cottage, Yao holding her hand as support. “Whether you visit Emei or Qingcheng, Yifang should be able to help you gain entry.”

“She would be bored keeping us company all day anyway,” adds Yao. You cannot help but sigh. “If the grandparents have said so, then I will let that be the final word.” Miecao is right – it would probably be easier to gain entry to both sects with an honest, upstanding orthodox pugilist like Yifang around. “I will keep her safe and bring her back as soon as I am done,” you say.

Yifang shakes her head firmly. “You do not need to worry about me. I am no longer the same girl you once knew.”

“In more ways than one, clearly,” you grin, making your gaze obvious as Yifang flushes. A sudden burst of killing intent from Miecao stops your teasing. The former abbess’s stony, unflinching glare bores into you and rids you of any impure thoughts you might be harbouring. “W-well,” you say, “if you are packed, then let’s be off.”

It looks like she has done her share of maturing over the years and she can help out on the streets in her own way. It's better than wasting her talents on questioning some servants with her Justice Friend, she's note one for speeches, or stomping around in the city to track down Xiaofang. This is a good chance for her to gather some worldly experience with Qilin.

All in all, I think Esquilax's plan is well balanced and emphasizes the strengths of each character the best, which is what we must do to settle this case as quickly and painlessly as possible and GTFO from this crazy place.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Flopping to:

A. Xu Jing 2, 8
B. Chi Qilin 2
C. Cao'er 1, 5
D. Yifang 7,2
E. Song Lingshu 7,2
F. Lady Suien 1, 5
G. Fu Xia 4, 6

I have changed my mind about 6.
Actually, I just feel Qilin/Song is a much more sure bet with Du's daughter than the womanizer/Song.

 

[Nevill]

It's better than wasting her talents on questioning some servants with her Justice Friend, she's note one for speeches, or stomping around in the city to track down Xiaofang.

Dude, she could have given us a one hour lecture if we weren't careful. She is the one for speeches, just of a different kind.

All in all, I think Esquilax's plan is well balanced and emphasizes the strengths of each character the best, which is what we must do to settle this case as quickly and painlessly as possible and GTFO from this crazy place.

Hell, no. I am not leaving until I eat the damn duck!

Must keep Fu's womanizing ass away from our main witness.

You are just jealous.

 

[Baltika9]

Right, that's the last thing the servants need. I really do think that she is a great fit as Qilin's bodyguard/assistant out on the mean streets of Youxia.

That is, unless she goes nuts after a night of hard partying with Number One.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Must keep Fu's womanizing ass away from our main witness.

You are just jealous.

No, I honestly think he'll screw things up. Plus, he's not exactly Qilin's favorite. Not sure how that team up would go down. You had a brilliant idea teaming her with Song before.

 

[Nevill]

Right, that's the last thing the servants need.

You don't understand. If they don't tell us everything, they are going to listen to her Buddist preachings for hours. It is a method of torture. They are going to break down, burst in tears and plea Fu Xia for help.

She is the bad cop to Fu Xia's good cop.

No, I honestly think he'll screw things up. Plus, he's not exactly Qilin's favorite. Not sure how that team up would go down. You had a brilliant idea teaming her with Song before.

Right, up until the point I noticed there are not enough quality interrogators for the servants.

What good is ganging up on a single witness who didn't even see the deed would do? You are unleashing what, 3? 4? people on the poor girl.

Your plan is pretty much this with a paper-thin disguise.

 

[Baltika9]

Why not have Jing sex up all the man- and maidservants instead? They'll tell us everything over the after-sex smokes.

 

[Nevill]

Why not have Jing sex up all the man- and maidservants instead? They'll tell us everything over the after-sex smokes.

I keep pushing for that, but does anybody listen?!

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Right, up until the point I noticed there are not enough quality interrogators for the servants.

What good is ganging up on a single witness who didn't even see the deed would do?

It's not about ganging up on her. It's just that Qilin will probably need someone else to hold her down while she...uh...extracts all the details from her about the murder and who might want to kill her father...yeah, that's it...

Why not have Jing sex up all the man- and maidservants instead? They'll tell us everything over the after-sex smokes.

I keep pushing for that, but does anybody listen?!

Hey, I'd be down for that if we can have Qilin and Song handle the daughter...

 

[Nevill]

Hey, I'd be down for that if we can have Qilin and Song handle the daughter...

Look, there is no way I can take your plan seriously. You ignore the servants altogether and interrogate the daughter with a small crowd. I bet you even have the sack ready.