[LP CYOA] Epic

[Smashing Axe]

I think you guys are trying to be too tricksy, it relies on too many contingencies that if wrong could spell our defeat forthwith. Either A to stall him for Marduk intervention, or C to defeat Zeus, eat him, then get eaten by Marduk, to then eat him in return.

 

[Esquilax]

One thing that might work to our advantage here is that Ean hasn't fed in months. If we're brought close to death, our rage might be the only thing that gets us out of here in one piece. And hey, if not, at least we'll take a good chunk of Olympus with us.

Smashing Axe, I agree to a certain extent. We should really be careful about doing anything "clever", but we should also keep in mind that Zeus probably doesn't know what to make of us and his guard is down. Ean's mind is difficult to read because of his nature, so as long as we don't do anything stupid like send messages to Edem, Zeus probably won't notice our murderous intent.

What if he says "No", though? Ean doesn't know about the Devourer, only we do. It's worth a try, but only as an addition to another plan.

I thought Ean knew about it because of his mysterious powers of infodump clairvoyance.

Nevertheless, we just intervened on Zeus' behalf, so I believe that we have the upper hand in making him trust us. Zeus doesn't really know what to make of our nature (because he doesn't know that we're Unbound yet), but I do think that the best option is one of these two:

(1) Negotiate with Zeus: Initially, I thought this would be stupid seeing as Ares is arriving and Hera is still around. However, Marduk is still alive and he has one last trick to pull out of his sleeve. Let him do his thing, then deal with a weakened Marduk while we're at full-strength. I think that this is our best option.

Yes, I'm aware that Ares would arrive at this point, but we'd be at full-strength, with our dose of toxin prepared for him.

(2) Straight-up fight. An important thing to note: Zeus was out of lightning bolts when he had one piece of Vajra. Now he has two pieces. We know that Vajra boosts the powers of Immortals/Masters, so I'm betting that acquiring this second piece may have given him enough juice for an extra lightning bolt. Fuck.

(3) Brutal cunning: Also carries the risks that Smashing Axe mentioned. However, I really do think that this newly acquired piece of Vajra poses serious problems for us. Either we're going to be put into a near-death state and go berserk (possibly feasting on Edem along the way) or Edem gets zapped and we lose a great asset/backup.

 

[Kipeci]

A.

Let's just negotiate for the moment... if Marduk gets back up, he isn't going to be happy, and it'd be nice to have a friend-ish sort of guy to help take him down.

 

[Kukulkan]

A

 

[Bloodshifter]

A
Leaning towards E but as it stands Zeus needs the last piece to kill Marduk remember WE are the strongest IMMORTAL and Marduk is the strongest Gieloth Zeus can't beat him even in his weaken state

So buy time till Marduk recovers

 

[Esquilax]

Leaning towards E but as it stands Zeus needs the last piece to kill Marduk remember WE are the strongest IMMORTAL and Marduk is the strongest Gieloth Zeus can't beat him even in his weaken state

What? Zeus could kill him right now, it's just that he no longer thinks that Marduk is a threat now, so he's talking to us instead. The only thing that Marduk has going for him is his trump card at this point. Which I'm hoping he'll be forced to use shortly.

Let's just negotiate for the moment... if Marduk gets back up, he isn't going to be happy, and it'd be nice to have a friend-ish sort of guy to help take him down.

That's totally not what I meant in my post. Zeus is not our friend any more than Marduk is - fuck them both, they all need to die. Zeus with a fully assembled Vajra is just as much of a threat to Ean and to Holy Terra that a devouring Marduk is.

If we pick A, it's precisely so that we can let Marduk devour Zeus. Marduk still has the fragment, so devouring Zeus takes another one of our enemies out of the picture. Fortunately, Marduk has been crippled badly from the lightning strike, so even after he's done eating Zeus, I doubt he'll be anywhere near 100%.

Here is how I predict C will occur: Zeus, empowered with a second piece of Vajra, will have one final lightning strike to call upon. If he uses it on us, it will put us in a near-death state (our Vajra piece will protect us from getting wiped out) and awaken our rage. If he uses it on Edem, he gets fried and we have to take Zeus on solo. I'm leaning towards Edem getting fried.

I think we'll win, but we'll be badly hurt in the process. On the plus side, we'll have all three pieces of Vajra.

Edit: However, things have the potential of going down the shitter should Marduk devour Zeus while we're wounded.

 

[Omicron]

C
D

 

[Storyfag]

D) "Zeus, destroy the core! Get it now or Marduk will devour you!" If he can read our thoughts, it's not lying, because it's technically the truth. Then, once he's turned around and distracted, close the distance and strike him down with a poisoned Anbar-Shi. All we need is a moment.

That'd be my preffered vote.

 

[Arpad]

A

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

E. Feign submission and smite that soggy, interstellar cunt down. Don't forget to add the poison as per Esquilax. Of course, if he moves in to get it, we cut him down. If not, we throw it.

This is best, but no throwing. We say "Very well.", then subtlety coat the sword in poison and walk toward, him sword in hand. At the last second we stab him in the heart and quickly pull Varja from him.

Btw, how do we know piece of Varja Marduk had wasn't the devouring artifact itself?
edit: Then we'd be pretty screwed if we stalled for time.

 

[ScubaV]

D) "Zeus, destroy the core! Get it now or Marduk will devour you!" If he can read our thoughts, it's not lying, because it's technically the truth. Then, once he's turned around and distracted, close the distance and strike him down with a poisoned Anbar-Shi. All we need is a moment.

That'd be my preffered vote.

Barring any further revelations I'll go with this.

 

[Tigranes]

D seems suitable, indeed. Edem can cover our back in case Marduk tries to devour us, or something.

 

[Baltika9]

Relying on Marduk do devour Zeus is just as risky as our brutal kunnin' plan. Maybe without the Vajra he lost the last of his juice. Maybe the piece was the Devourer. Maybe he won't have enough strength left and just go take a permanent nap? Very many variables here two. Besides, fighting Zeus doesn't stop Marduk from devouring Zeus any more than talking does.
Esquilax: how about combining our D options? I mean, when he hears your D, he can say "haha, no, not falling for that one, what am I, two?" If he falls for it, great, cut him down then and there, if not proceed with feigning submission.
I'm still far from sold on A.
Edit: treave, I still want to know how far Zeus is standing from Ean and if we can't shoot Edem some discreet message, like a thumbs-up behind our back? There many other methods at communication than just telepathy. I think superpowers spoiled us.
Edit2: Really, every option we have, original and the ones we made ourselves, rely on many, many factors and are all rather risky. The only surefire option here is C, where we just charge in and do what Ean does best.

 

[treave]

I thought Ean knew about it because of his mysterious powers of infodump clairvoyance.

Well, clearly he doesn't know enough about it if you have to ask where is it, what does it look like, or can we use it. You can rule it out of any plans of yours.

Edit: treave, I still want to know how far Zeus is standing from Ean

edit: You could reach him with a strong lunge.

 

[Esquilax]

Thanks for the clarification, treave.

Lambchop19, Baltika9, the piece of Vajra on Marduk's body isn't the devouring artifact. Marduk killed Hephaestus and looted his piece off him. The devouring artifact is something else, and it's on Marduk's person right now:

57889[HPS] attempted using a fragment of a Key against the warlord that calls itself Marduk, but failed. Said fragment is now in Marduk’s possession.

Looking at the situation from Ean's POV without any metagaming clouding our perspective, the only right decision here is to fight. Zeus saw through our disguise instantly, so pulling any bullshit will be almost impossible - feigning submission sounds like a great way of getting struck by lightning. We threw away the possibility for diplomacy when we brought along our piece of Vajra and lured Ares here. It's clear to me now that the only way we're making it out of Olympus alive is over a pile of dead bodies.

So with that in mind, any schemes we make should be geared towards how we approach the battle itself, not in trying to gain an advantage beforehand through cunning; the fight is inevitable at this point, so let's talk tactics. I noticed this in the update and it got me thinking:

When he retracts it, the piece of Vajra that had been inside Marduk is in his black-stained hand.

E) Use a telekinetic blast to knock Zeus' Vajra piece out of his hand and onto the battlefield. Your powers may not be strong enough to take it from him, but perhaps they are enough to deprive him of it at least. With both you and Edem against him and his thunderbolts gone, he will turn desperate - once he tries to teleport near the piece to get it, intercept him to take him out.

If this is acceptable, I'm voting for it. Otherwise, C.

 

[Baltika9]

Esquilax brings up good points. However, I do not think Ean was disguised at all. We were using our Sumerian face ever since we lost our power, unless I missed something. I am rather sure that the Master recognized Ean by face. The reason being is that if he scanned our mind, I very much doubt that he'd waste time even saying something to Ean, let alone giving him a chance to respond. We are a race trator of the worst kind (Subverting our power, devouring our "leash" and openly working with their main enemies. If he knows what's going on, he's stalling for time.

treave I assume it is too much to hope that Edem is shielding our mind, is it?

E) Use a telekinetic blast to knock Zeus' Vajra piece out of his hand and onto the battlefield. Your powers may not be strong enough to take it from him, but perhaps they are enough to deprive him of it at least. With both you and Edem against him and his thunderbolts gone, he will turn desperate - once he tries to teleport near the piece to get it, intercept him to take him out.
If this is acceptable, I'm voting for it. Otherwise, C.

Very good plan, and a very good point. Both A and my submission plan depend on him believing us. And even if he did, even for a second, believe Ean, he could just zap him "just in case."

 

[Azira]

devouring our "leash" and openly working with their main enemies.

The "leash" were a faulty batch, and they volounteered the plan themselves. The masters might even have known about this..
As to openly working with their main enemies, do you think Zeus actually knows about this? I mean, have we really been open about it?
Edem is shielding himself, there's no indication he's standing out in the open broadcasting "bro-waves" towards Ean. And Sekh is far away and is to be considered a defeated and "leashed" enemy, now working as our assistant, is she not? She's still bound by her promise.
Zeus is an avatar of the masters, yes. But don't give him too much credit. If he were all-knowing, he wouldn't have needed our intervention to zap Marduk.

 

[Baltika9]

devouring our "leash" and openly working with their main enemies.

The "leash" were a faulty batch, and they volounteered the plan themselves. The masters might even have known about this..
As to openly working with their main enemies, do you think Zeus actually knows about this? I mean, have we really been open about it?
Edem is shielding himself, there's no indication he's standing out in the open broadcasting "bro-waves" towards Ean. And Sekh is far away and is to be considered a defeated and "leashed" enemy, now working as our assistant, is she not? She's still bound by her promise.
Zeus is an avatar of the masters, yes. But don't give him too much credit. If he were all-knowing, he wouldn't have needed our intervention to zap Marduk.

I meant to say that if Zeus read our mind and knew everything, then he'd know what we did. And then he wouldn't waste time negotiating. And, no, the Masters didn't know of Ean's condition, hence why Zeus was so surprised to see him.

Edit: flipping to Battleplan Esquilax.

 

[newcomer]

I meant to say that if Zeus read our mind and knew everything, then he'd know what we did. And then he wouldn't waste time negotiating. And, no, the Masters didn't know of Ean's condition, hence why Zeus was so surprised to see him.

If Zeus read our mind, wouldn't we feel it? But at any rate I think he'll going to find out soon anyway, so don't waste more time, just take him head on before the others arrive. If we are losing, hope that Marduk will wake up and eat Zeus before we're completely defeated.

And by taking him head on, he'll know our nature anyway because he can't take back our power (the voices)

I'll go with Esquilax's battle plan if that's possible

 

[newcomer]

Or else, an completely un-Codex way (and one of the various ways to end this LP in the most UN-EPIC way):

Z. Pretend to be subservient to the Master, give the Vajra piece voluntarily, let them do whatever they want to do. After that, you hide from the masters, hoping at the very least you survive the onslaught. What will happen afterwards, you don't know.

I REALLY hope no one choose it....

 

[treave]

History marches on...

 

[newcomer]

History marches on...

I wonder...

The logic behind Z is that we capitalize our psychic void and thus only need to hide our physical body (Where's Panrath's knowledge when we need it?)
Because Zeus can't revoke our powers and he hasn't realized it yet, this will work. And he can't track us, because the Vajra is no longer with us. Just hope the masters doesn't nuke the Earth because he can't revoke our power...

On the bright side, that means Ean is THE ONLY ONE... in a cowardly way... (and perhaps need to constantly hide from the masters due to the healed extra-dimensional link)

tl;dr : Z allows you to save your own skin...

 

[treave]

A - 4
C - 2
D - 3
E - 3

***

Chapter 5.20: Tea-Time With Zeus

You hold Anbar-Shi out, in front of you, as if daring Zeus to come and get back his piece. "You would like to have it back, wouldn't you? If only the world was as simple. You could try to take it from me, but I think you would rather talk. Maybe we can come to an agreement?" Edem wisely keeps quiet, waiting to see what you would do. Zeus falls silent as he stares at you. You can feel him probing your head, but he does not attempt to force his way past your defenses. A moment later, a genuine look of surprise appears on his face.

"The batch is somehow no more, yet you retain your powers... and that sword you hold... this is unprecedented. This is unacceptable."

There was a flash of sapphire from his right hand, and the last piece of Vajra appeared within it.

"We will talk, host, but first..."

Marduk's body is telekinetically hoisted into the air besides Zeus. His eyes snap open, and Marduk, realizing that he had waited too long to gather his strength and that no lucky distraction was forthcoming, explodes in a blur of black tendrils, attempting to smother Zeus. Strong winds buffet the area, sending the rubble and corpses littering the ground flying off the mountain. You are almost blown off your feet, but luckily you have enough presence of mind to plant Anbar-Shi into the ground and hang on firmly. Zeus himself floats off the ground, but a shimmering veil appears to shield him from the worst of the winds. Marduk's tentacles sizzle as they force their way through the veil and grasp Zeus around the waist. You see him grimace in pain, and he raises a hand up into the air. The two pieces of Vajra fly up and combine, forming a long cylinder with three prongs at each end. A lance of energy, crackling with that distinctive electrical blue that Vajra emitted, flared to life within Zeus's grasp, and he thrust it with no hesistation right into Marduk's body with a mighty roar. The winds die immediately, and you feel bolts of electricity strike and char your flesh as Zeus's thunderbolt lashes out at all around it. You instinctively bring up Anbar-Shi to protect yourself. The bolts are drawn to the blade and absorbed within almost instantly. There is a bright flash from Zeus and Marduk, causing you to avert your eyes. When you are able to see again, Zeus is the only one left standing over Marduk's rapidly disintegrating corpse.

He sighs, and pays the dead no more attention, turning his piercing blue eyes to you. With no change in his tone of voice to betray his prior exertions, Zeus speaks.

"Well, shall we talk?"

You nod. Edem was now nowhere to be seen after the winds wrecked the area. You can only hope he'll return in time to help you out, as your chances against Zeus one-to-one was unlikely at this point.

"What will you grant me for allowing you to complete Vajra?"

"Your life."

The answer was quick and simple.

"Do you really think I would go down to you that easily?" You spit at Zeus, defiant. "It is not much of a negotiation if you are the only one dictating terms."

Zeus shakes his head, with a smile on his face.

"It does not matter how hard the process will be. You, who have broken the yoke of your destiny, are an aberration on this control world. You will be eliminated sooner or later. Do not test our patience with your unfounded confidence in your power... which we granted to you."

"The voices you burdened me with are no more. You have no power over me."

Zeus just laughs slowly.

"Maybe. We could put that to the test, but you are an interesting aberration. I would prefer not to dispose of you just yet."

"If that is the case, here are my terms. I want to know what you plan to do with Vajra, and what you plan to do with my world. I have learnt plenty from other sources, yet your motives in coming here are still a mystery to me. Prove yourself worthy of this piece, and I might just give it to you. I might even help you out."

"Unacceptable. We do not exist solely to entertain your desire to learn. My offer stands as such; you will return Vajra to us, and we will send you to one of the countless worlds where your aberration is an acceptable... no, desirable existence. We can learn a lot from your growth, but not here. You are a rare specimen that is undesirable on this control world."

"Exile? You think those are good terms?"

"Those are our terms, such as they are. They are not negotiable. If you choose to remain here, I will eliminate you. Marduk has already caused much damage to an already problematic planet. Damaging the project ourselves to lure him out and defeat him was already a serious concession. We cannot risk any more delays on this testbed. Give us Vajra and I will allow you to travel to the worlds that we offer; there you may find the answers that you seek."

You ponder stalling for time, but Zeus points Vajra at you, and the deadly weapon begins to hum as the skies darken again. It looks like he still had a storm or two in reserve.

"Decide now."

***

A. You accept the terms of your exile. If Marduk's terrible reign was undesired by Zeus, it stands to reason that their own rule might be relatively benign. You won't be dead, and you will be able to gain power and knowledge on your travels. Then... maybe then... you will return of your own will, and then there'll be hell to pay.

B. You reject the terms and jump off the side of the mountain. Even Zeus shouldn't be able to react fast enough to catch you with his lightning if you pull off such a stunt. The fall off the mountain will be painful, but you'll survive. Once you are far enough from here, Zeus won't be able to track you if you keep a low profile, and you are betting that he will not risk delaying whatever plans they have any further by attempting to root you out.

C. You reject the terms and attack Zeus. Fuck him and his one-sided offer, you will work this out on your own terms. Preferably over his dead body.

(Because I know someone's going to ask, no, you are unable to read Zeus's mind)

 

[newcomer]

Control world? Testbed? Project?

The only thing that is clear is that we're fucked....

A it is.

Still considering B... But B means we'll be a hunted creature just like the Gieloth... And Zeus has become too strong for us to handle... fuck it... Oh that's right, the Sekhenum wormhole... yeah, that might save us for good...

 

[newcomer]

btw treave

At this rate, will we ever witness the invention of horse collar?