[LP CYOA] Epic

[oscar]

A leaves us no better off than when we started and B will fling us to God-knows-where so C it is.

 

[ScubaV]

No rope eh? Gotta go for C like everyone else says.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

C

 

[TOME]

Well we can try A if C fails. C it is.

 

[Omicron]

If it knows our face and our language it could be what is left of Zeus, Marduk and/or the others that were at Olympus when the rift opened, witch would seem to explain the masters calling Zeus fate worse than death. It's interesting what it would have to say. C.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

C - That's what we get for not bringing a rope, bros...

 

[Baltika9]

C bandwagon, for now. It's time for some revelations. Am very much considering flopping, but:

A- while it sounds like what I want to do, it is rather suicidal, all things considered. I have a feeling it's level is bigger than ours. And it's got trash mobs.

B- doesn't seem all good of an idea, considering that it can lead us literally anywhere.

Edit: wait a second. Are these the Masters? Or their antithesis? Most likely the latter.
So, this is what they're fighting against.

I think if we talk to this thing, it'll make us it's bitch.

Edit 2: Two questions, treave. Is this thing a psychic blank just like Ean and is Ean still projecting a presence?

 

[Esquilax]

What do you guys intend to achieve by talking to this thing? Remember that we just went dimension hopping - this sphere could just be a Master in its original form, in a dimension where it has full power. Or, equally likely, some other powerful being. It's something we can't fight yet.

In any case, expect any diplomacy to end poorly and heavily in this being's favour. That seam is going to close in a few moments so that we can't escape and then this thing is going to give us some horribly lopsided ultimatum.

A leaves us no better off than when we started and B will fling us to God-knows-where so C it is.

God-knows-where is better than here.

B

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

That's not very reasonable. We could end up next to a black hole for all we know.

Think about it: the sphere wants to talk with us and is - for the moment - holding back the beasties. Perhaps we can negotiate with it to not send any more terasphagos through the rift so we can close it. Or maybe we can learn/spot some weakness it has while we speak with it, so we can overcome it and get back home.

 

[Arpad]

B

 

[treave]

It has a presence, but it's unreadable, as in, you can't sense its mind. Ean's not projecting anything.

 

[TOME]

Why do I have a feeling that the Terasphagos are Marduk's devourer artifact in work? Marduk was using it when Zeus opened the rift and the rift ripped both of them apart. But the artifact was activated and it was launched to other side of reality, where it is trying to devour like it was meant to. But instead of devouring Zeus, it is trying to devour everything, through rifts.

 

[treave]

Looks like option C has a near unassailable lead.

 

[Esquilax]

That's not very reasonable. We could end up next to a black hole for all we know.

We could, but chances of survival don't really look much higher than a black hole in this place either. We could also end up someplace safer as well. I flopped to C momentarily, but then I flopped back to B.

Think about it: the sphere wants to talk with us and is - for the moment - holding back the beasties. Perhaps we can negotiate with it to not send any more terasphagos through the rift so we can close it. Or maybe we can learn/spot some weakness it has while we speak with it, so we can overcome it and get back home.

Nothing is free - what will this thing want in return? Consider this:

The sphere has moved itself to be between you and the rift.

It's blocking our way out because it wants a captive audience. Talking to it in hopes of spotting a weakness while we're in this being's home turf seems naive - this thing is supremely confident that it's got the upper-hand right now. More than likely, we'll get the Zeus method of negotiation: give me something you value highly, and maybe I'll let you live.

I'll take my chances with the seam.

 

[Baltika9]

So, A has us press the Awesum Buttan in a place it doesn't work , B takes us into the Deep Roads Space and C has a sheep negotiating with a pack of hungry wolves. Well, better than letting them do whatever it is they want to do. Do or Die indeed. I wonder if Ean ever asks himself "How do I get myself into this shit?"

What do you guys intend to achieve by talking to this thing? Remember that we just went dimension hopping - this sphere could just be a Master in its original form, in a dimension where it has full power. Or, equally likely, some other powerful being. It's something we can't fight yet.

I think we just found the very things the Masters are fighting against. Honestly, the only thing that gives me a shred of hope in negotiations is that Ean has the same hunger these things seem to have. But, yeah, unless this floating planet feels extremely beneficent, the negotiations won't be negotiations.

treave, possibly a meta question:

A blood-red moon looming in the sky, so massive that the stars can barely be seen under its crimson glow.

Bodies scattered all around you. The rocky plains are full of the newly deceased. Many of them are human. Many others... indescribable. All of them dead - by your hand.

You know it is a dream. You have never seen this place before. You have never seen the strange and terrible creatures that, even in death, could bring about nightmares to the sturdiest warrior. It is a dream, and you know you must awaken.

These creatures, are they anything like the Terrasphagos?
P.S.:

"Hm." Having made up your mind, you step closer to the rift. Someone grabs your arm - it was Sekhenun.

You know, it's times like these that you see who's your friend/waifu and who's just along for the ride.

 

[treave]

Good catch. Some of them are similar.

 

[ScubaV]

The Ean-face finally managed to speak and its words were terrifying: "We are sphere. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

Through some unknown powers it began to pull Ean towards its great maw. No attempt at telekinesis could push him away. Ean began to panic when he heard a far off wail: "Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

Cocking his head, Ean realized the wail wasn't coming from the distance, but from within himself. Seeing no other options, he opened himself to this voice and allowed it to take control. Suddenly, a telekinetic object appeared in his hands. Instinctively he knew this to be a guitar. His hands moved of their own accord and plucked the strings causing visible power chords to emanate from the instrument. The giant face and all the surrounding Terasphagos began to quiver uncontrollably.

"Nooooooo!" the face shouted in a lifeless monotone. "The power of rock. How did you know this was our only weakness? We are defeateeeeeeeddddddd........"

The face and its minions exploded into millions of pieces. Through the rift above, Ean could see Sekhenun, Athena, and Artemis removing their undergarments and throwing them through the portal.

Ean turned toward the camera, breaking the fourth wall, and put on a pair of sunglasses he didn't have a second before.

"It looks like this emperor....has some new clothes."

 

[Esquilax]

ScubaV, that was awesome.

I think we just found the very things the Masters are fighting against. Honestly, the only thing that gives me a shred of hope in negotiations is that Ean has the same hunger these things seem to have. But, yeah, unless this floating planet feels extremely beneficent, the negotiations won't be negotiations.

Sacrifices, rope, this wouldn't have made a difference, I think. We were fucked the moment we crossed through. But hey, this was safer than taking a gamble on Vajra, right?

The enemy of my enemy isn't necessarily my friend. Whatever these beings are, they can't cross the rift. I think that they create and use the biomass brought by the Terasphagos to sustain themselves, possibly with the goal of being able to exist in our dimension, the same way the Masters do. Remember that just after it greeted us, the giant sphere created another horde of Terasphagos and told them to stand down. It probably did this to see if we were willing to "negotiate" (i.e. get fucked really badly).

Oh, and why would them possessing the same hunger as Ean be good for negotiations? Devouring entities are generally not one for offering fair deals.

As for B, after reading the update, I'm convinced that it's not a black hole:

You notice that the spheres were gathered near tiny little seams like the one you had entered from. Most of the seams appeared only transiently, forming and dissolving in the fabric of the void before the spheres could send any through, but on occasion, some developed into cracks, and it was towards these that the spheres gravitated.

So our rift in reality is a seam that enters into this mysterious white expanse. This place is sort of like Sigil, with an infinitely vast number of portals leading to an infinitely vast number of worlds. It wouldn't lead to a black hole because it's clear to me that these beings need to collect biomass for some unknown reason. Guys, we don't know where the rift will lead us, but it will probably lead us to another world. If not, we can try to find a way back to our own "seam" in the future.

All I'm saying is this: given the choice between a certain death/getting fucked over badly and a gamble, pick the gamble. Zapping Marduk with a thunderbolt has made people way too gunshy, so they make stupid decisions that appear safe, but are actually insanely dumb and risky. Sort of like negotiating with an extradimensional being of incredible power on its home plane. Run the fuck away.

 

[Baltika9]

If it just wanted to eat/kill Ean, it wouldn't even bother trying to make contact. And I think I know what it wants: an agent on the outside planes, something to further it's agenda. That, or the final piece of Vajra so it can complete the crossing (in which case "oh shit" indeed). But in that case, all it had to do was to have the Terrasphagos kill us, which makes the negotiations redundant again.

All I'm saying is this: given the choice between a certain death/getting fucked over badly and a gamble, pick the gamble.

Question is: which is which? As Lambchop said, that seam can lead us literally anywhere, very likely to our doom (not to mention this "home plane" is under it's control), whereas this "Ego the Living Planet" expy may be the gamble that fucks us over, but lets us live.

 

[TOME]

This place is sort of like Sigil, with an infinitely vast number of portals leading to an infinitely vast number of worlds.

So how do you hope to ever get back to Earth if we now can't use the same rift we came here? B is the cowards choice. Instead of fighting and trying to get back to Earth, which is going to be destroyed without us btw, you want to just hop to a another world and play protector of it's species there?

 

[Storyfag]

A for me. Will flop to C in order to prevent B from winning though.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Actually, come to think of it. If we defeat the giant ball, perhaps all the terashpagos will go away? Yeah. Er. God, I've no clue. Flopping to A

 

[Esquilax]

Good point, TOME, Earth is fucked if we end up on the other side of the galaxy. So either we make a lopsided deal with this entity, or we fight it and in all likelihood get our asses kicked very badly.

Wait a second, treave, would it be possible for Ean to blink behind the sphere and make his way back to Earth that way?

 

[Baltika9]

Fighting has it's merits too. The sphere is between Ean and the portal, right? The same portal on whose other side the rest of our merry band lies. It would only work if Ean's display of guts inspired them.
In which case treave, how high are our loyalty scores? Never hurts to ask. Also, is Vajra telling us anything/trying to do something? Any signals/pulses/feelings coming from it? Edit: also, how does Ean know that it is "trying to greet him?" Lip reading, or just a hunch?

 

[Kipeci]

C.

Perhaps we could convince the spider-demon inflated clone head to engage in sexual intercourse with us.