[LP CYOA] 傳

[Akkudakku]

TOME, I have two things against Yunzi here. First, this quote from treave:

Not really, no. They might end up killing someone instead.

Our #1 candidate for doing this is Yunzi.

Second, she does not have the endurance to last through all the fights.

Armaiti is better on both fronts, so my question is: Why do you insist on going with Yunzi?

Armaiti is stronger and such has higher chance of killing anybody (fridge logic and same level of speculation we have here). treave said someone MIGHT kill someone. This isn't pointing at anyone in certainty AND doesnt say that a death of a monk/master/manequin (those must be valuable, oh the backlash if we would destroy Shaolin property) would occur in CERTAINTY.

 

[Absinthe]

Akkudakku, no. Come on. Armaiti already confirmed that she has good abilities for completing these challenges non-lethally.

Sorry but I am going to stick with B5. I like Armaiti as a choice but not as much as Yunzi.

I prefer Yunzi's more diverse skillset to be honest and I would rather double down on what we are good at then try to cover some of our weaknesses with a partner we have never fought a serious battle with yet. Jing and Yunzi are at least each familiar with how the other moves and thinks and I am confident that, that will yield better results than two fighters that are unfamiliar with one another.

My problem isn't whether they make a good team. They do. The problems are staying power and accidental kills.

I would rather have time to get familiar with Armaiti's techniques before we try doing something like this with her.

We could just use Wuxiang Qiankun on her before the challenge to get instant knowledge of her fighting techniques. We won't need to use the skill during the fight to remember how her moves work throughout the challenge.

I am also not really worried about killing someone unless we go in there with actual killing intent (which I am very much against for now) and I have no real problem injuring (or even seriously injuring) some of the monks. If they don't want to get hurt or think they can not win then they can always bow out honourably once we demonstrate our strength. It should also help that we have the most skilled physician in the setting on hand to patch people up.

You don't think they could accidentally kill someone?

(I am also a little reluctant to turn Armaiti's earth abilities loose in the middle of the Shaolin temple. I have a feeling that when she says she can shake things up she literally means shaking things up. I would prefer to keep property damage to a minimum. I imagine the abbot will not be too happy if we level half the temple... )

I have a feeling that even if she could do that, she would control her strength. Besides, judging by Xuxian's challenge, we'll be fighting outdoors in the square.

 

[Baltika9]

I have a feeling that even if Yunzi could kill someone, she woukd control her strength.

 

[Absinthe]

I have a feeling that Yunzi wouldn't have that same luxury like Armaiti would. Hint: One of these two can fight defensively. The other favors straight offense.

 

[Baltika9]

Hint: both are at Unarmed 8 and have supplementary skills at least at level 6. Yeah, not buying it.

 

[TOME]

All the arguments I have have already been written. I admit Armaiti might be better skilled than Yunzi for this challenge, but if we want just skills, then we might want to team up with the Sword Saint or Zhang Jue. But there are others things to consider than just skills.

 

[Baltika9]

team up with LORD Zhang Jue.

 

[Absinthe]

TOME, they're not options. Armaiti is. Yes, we want the best skills. That should be obvious.

Hint: both are at Unarmed 8 and have supplementary skills at least at level 6. Yeah, not buying it.

Then you have your head up your ass. Even though their skill levels are the same, Yunzi already mentioned she favors overwhelming force while Armaiti disclosed that she has specific techniques for a nonlethal bout. If you want to keep ignoring that, that's your prerogative, but it won't make you correct.

 

[TOME]

Best skills does not equal to best pick.

 

[Baltika9]

I dunno man, if Unarmed 8 is enpugh to turn Shouwang Claws, the most aggressive technique created for murderizing the enemy, non-lethal, then I don't see Yunzi going Zhang Jue by accident with the more gentle arsenal she has.

 

[Fangshi]

You don't think they could accidentally kill someone?

Not really no, I think we will do just fine or I would not vote for Yunzi to begin with.

If we pick the wrong choices and screw up then someone may die but if anyone is going to accidentally kill a monk I think it will be Jing and I think it will be our fault. I don't think that any of the choices here will necessarily lead to success, failure or death. They will simply shape the strategies we use to succeed.

The strategies I would prefer to employ revolve around Jing's combination of strength and speed as I agree Jing will not do well if things are drawn out. As a result I want to maximize our ability to deliver overwhelming force, quickly. I believe that such a strategy will work when employed by two people who are both masters in unarmed combat and have high marks in a variety of weapon skills. In unskilled hands such force could kill someone but I think the two of them will manage to overwhelm their opponents without killing them. We will probably put some people out of commission for a while but as long as Cao'er is on hand I don't think it will be all that easy for someone to die.

Given Jing's rather brutal fighting style and weaker endurance I want to clear the first three rounds as quickly as possible to minimize the chance of something going wrong as the fight wears on. So I am prioritizing speed over endurance. Once we get to the masters we should be able to get a bit more free with our abilities as they should be able to take a fair amount of punishment.

 

[Absinthe]

TOME, I'm pretty sure it does. What are your criteria?

Baltika9, Jing at least has a variety of moves which he can use for nonlethal challenges. I would be worried about Jing using Shouwang Claws as nonlethal myself. As for Yunzi, the problem is still that we would have a very offense-heavy fighting style for winning the bout. That's precisely the kind of style that's most likely to slip and do too much damage by accident. I just don't see her performing as well as Armaiti would. And I'm still concerned about staying power.

Fangshi, what about treave's comment that our choice of partner can result in a dead monk? You don't think that's to be taken seriously? And what about the endurance issue?

 

[Baltika9]

And having studied under sox different Ameshas, Yunzi's skillset isn't varied? Bro please.

 

[Absinthe]

Actually, lets ask treave on that front. What are Yunzi and Armaiti's fighting techniques/etc.? It'd be good to know.

At any rate, a varied skillset wouldn't make it the best-suited skillset. As for Jing, we can't exactly swap him out. If you ask me, the best two-person combo for this gauntlet run would be Guo Fu and Armaiti.

 

[Baltika9]

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi, what about treave's comment that our choice of partner can result in a dead monk? You don't think that's to be taken seriously?

I interpret that to mean that if we make choices later on that do not gel with the choice we make now we will introduce confusion and inefficiencies into our strategy and someone may die as a result.

I also take the context in which treave said that into consideration. Now if I remember right, he was responding to the line of thought that holds B choices to be inherently superior to A because two fighters are better than one. He reminded us that an additional fighter provides additional chances for things to go wrong as well as additional advantages.

As a result I do not believe that any of our options doom us to commit murder here. It will all depend on how we go about the challenges and the choices we make. We just have to think out our strategy and make choices that play to the strengths of the pair we assemble (or Jing's strengths if we go solo).

If we go with Cao'er, for example, we have to make full use of her perception and throwing skills while also taking into account her fragility and lack of close range techs. If we go with Quilin then we should make the most out of all of her nasty tricks, thread, powders, poisons and the like but we also have to cover for her weaker fighting skills, and so on...

Personally I like a fast and powerful approach and Yunzi is best able to match Jing's strength and speed. She edges him on speed and he has a slight advantage in strength but for the most part they should be able to keep up with one another and coordinate well when they set their minds to it.

 

[TOME]

For example, this comes to mind.

Why did we win the one hundred man battle when we could not even stand straight in the end? The remaining 22 fighters could have easily fell us, yet they've lost their motivation to fight because their goal could not be fulfilled anymore, so they turned away and left while we refused to lay down and die, leaving us victorious. Why did Yifang lose despite being a better swordsman than we are? Because she doubted what she was doing, and that is the last thing you want to do in a fight. She would have been dead by now if Lanhai didn't feel the same, which led to her and her husband's defeat. Finally, why did Xuxian fail the test? There was a multitude of reasons, but ultimately, wasn't it because for a second he wanted to be anywhere but here? His lack of determination and confidence paved the road to fear, which in turn led to the loss of control.

Do not underestimate the role of passion and a proper motivation in a fight. Our iron will and stubbornness carried us through a lot of situations where a weaker person would just give up. Maybe overzealousness is just the right mood you want to face an impossible challenge with.

Ranking of eagerness, from most to least:

Yunzi > Qilin > Lingshu > Cao'er > Armaiti > Guo Fu > Yifang >>>>>>>> Xuezi

I'm sure Yunzi feels like she has got to prove herself to us. I want to give her the chance now when things aren't lethal. We can't expect her to stay in our party if we keep ignoring her.

 

[Akkudakku]

Yunzi needs the chance to show us that she will be a good material for wife in the setting. Also a marriage is better with luv and what better way to get luv with Yunzi if not fighting unfavourable odds with her?

 

[Kz3r0]

Guys, the best choice is Chi Qilin, because she will do this completely naked, well, except for an utility belt with poisons and stuff of course.
No monk will manage to face her.

 

[Kayerts]

[...] but if we want just skills, then we might want to team up with the Sword Saint or Zhang Jue. But there are others things to consider than just skills.

If Zhang Jue or the Sword Saint were here, and we had the option to team up with them, and there wasn't a landslide vote to do exactly that, I'd question your sanity.

Kayerts, are you willing to flop to B6 now that it is gaining traction and at 6 votes + 1 conditional flop?

There is a fearful imbalance in the Herp and Derp here, and I have concerns for Jing's soul. The partial retard shall be the end of us, I fear.

B6 -> B5

 

[GreyViper]

Hmm what about Guo Fu dosent he have the inner strength and wouldn't he be a good choice against the abbot?

 

[Absinthe]

I'm sure Yunzi feels like she has got to prove herself to us. I want to give her the chance now when things aren't lethal. We can't expect her to stay in our party if we keep ignoring her.

We kinda can, considering the fire lord thing and all. But more importantly, I think the match against the duo is the better place to reaffirm her. We know there's going to be a rematch, and when they do, do you think we'll pick anyone other than Yunzi? Next time they face us, they'll be more serious to improve their odds of victory, and we'll want Yunzi to defeat their special technique.

GreyViper, he certainly would be. The reason we're not going with it's a bit of a dick move to drag him into this. We don't think his wife and child would approve of us immediately endangering him.

 

[Baltika9]

I'm trying to save their kids so that there isn't a next fight with them. Let's think in the here and now.

 

[Absinthe]

I'm pretty sure we're going to have one last fight with them, to be honest. Sure I reckon we can get their kids freed, but I don't think it'll happen that fast.

Fangshi, you're still overlooking the whole problem with endurance. If this were just one or two challenges, sure. But all five? As for coordination, if Jing learns their style with Wuxiang Qiankun, he should be able to coordinate just fine.

 

[Fangshi]

you're still overlooking the whole problem with endurance. If this were just one or two challenges, sure. But all five?

That is actually why I am inclined to go with Yunzi.

I do not think Jing has the endurance necessary to go through all five rounds if we take it nice and slow or play defensively. Armaiti and Guo Fu if they teamed up could probably outlast the monks (and I kind of want to see that actually) but I just don't see Jing pulling that off.

So instead of trying to compensate for that by bringing in a defensive fighter I want to double our offense and go for the throat so to speak. If we can clear the opening rounds quickly enough we should still have enough left to make it through to the Abbot where we can fairly safely cut loose. Also if we clear the early rounds quickly enough we will be able to rest in between and recover a little.

Ultimately I am hoping we can force a succession of quick if brutal fights, the sort Jing excels at. Instead of a succession of slower battles that will gradually exhaust Jing.