[LP CYOA] Epic

[treave]

You lose the Vajra piece for good, but it sews up the rift partially, reducing the number of Terasphagos and the frequency of their incursions. It's not a permanent solution - it just buys you some time, and it would've put you at a more of a disadvantage should you choose to head to China immediately after that, obviously.

edit: Of course, ripping it away from you once you have had a connection would have had some... side effects.

Here I can say that speculation about the North has had some truth in it - if you had mastered Vajra earlier, the lodestone would've come earlier, and you would've found the rift earlier, so you would bring Vajra to it. I don't think whoever was up there expected you to jump through it while carrying Vajra with you. Definitely throws a wrench in their plans.

edit2: For the tentacle lovers, bringing a rope would've meant that Sekhenun got pulled in with you because the rope isn't long enough. How that changes things, well... we'll never know.

 

[Anabanana]

it sews up the rift partially, reducing the number of Terasphagos and the frequency of their incursions

 

[Baltika9]

And had we chosen to fight?

 

[ScubaV]

I agree that in retrospect the diplomacy move wasn't the best. But when you look at it at the time, fighting the sphere was almost certainly going to fail and jumping into a random rift is basically giving up on the Earth we spent the whole LP in. Given the transient nature of the rifts, there was no reason to expect getting back any time soon if at all. Diplomacy was the only option that gave us a chance to get back home. Still, we should have picked up on the clues present.

On the other hand, I'll defend going into the rift in the first place as the best move at the time. Running away does nothing. Only the immortals/Gieloth have the strength to fight through the miasma and investigate. If we gave up there, we basically concede that the next incursion will rape our entire empire. Vajra was just rolling the dice on the X-factor option. Going into the rift was the only way to get information towards potentially closing it.

 

[Anabanana]

edit2: For the tentacle lovers, bringing a rope would've meant that Sekhenun got pulled in with you because the rope isn't long enough. How that changes things, well... we'll never know.

Rewind! I demand a rewind!

 

[treave]

And had we chosen to fight?

A piece of you manages to get out - you are fighting to escape, not to destroy the sphere, so that would've given you a chance. You regenerate from there. Slowly. But only if you fight at the very first choice.

edit: Ah well, deus ex machina-ing it. Prepare to meet the Masters.

 

[Baltika9]

Last question for now: Vajra is back on Earth, isn't it?

 

[treave]

No, it's with you.

 

[Tigranes]

Aye yai yai. I think once we entered the rift it was too strange and it was impossible to make smart decisions because there was too little context. Not treave's fault, it was certainly weird enough, but I thought it was weird enough that we'd get a window of opportunity at least.

Anyway, I guess we'll see how it goes. I hope we haven't just thrown away our Empire and our companions, I'd hate to get another 'reset'.

 

[Baltika9]

Wait a second, i thought we had only one piece, i was asking about the other two

 

[treave]

The other two went into the rift, why'd it be back on Earth? The whereabouts are unknown for now.

 

[Baltika9]

I was just wondering if it was right under our noses the whole time.

 

[Kipeci]

What would going for Vajra have done when we were around the rift? While I am sure Ean is about to make like the Ellimist and assume extra godhood by eventually absorbing this thing (or not), I keep wondering if maybe that was the better option.

 

[treave]

What would going for Vajra have done when we were around the rift? While I am sure Ean is about to make like the Ellimist and assume extra godhood by eventually absorbing this thing (or not), I keep wondering if maybe that was the better option.

If you mean right before we jumped in, I addressed this above.

You lose the Vajra piece for good, but it sews up the rift partially, reducing the number of Terasphagos and the frequency of their incursions. It's not a permanent solution - it just buys you some time, and it would've put you at a more of a disadvantage should you choose to head to China immediately after that, obviously.

edit: Of course, ripping it away from you once you have had a connection would have had some... side effects.

 

[Esquilax]

I agree that in retrospect the diplomacy move wasn't the best. But when you look at it at the time, fighting the sphere was almost certainly going to fail and jumping into a random rift is basically giving up on the Earth we spent the whole LP in. Given the transient nature of the rifts, there was no reason to expect getting back any time soon if at all. Diplomacy was the only option that gave us a chance to get back home. Still, we should have picked up on the clues present.

On the other hand, I'll defend going into the rift in the first place as the best move at the time. Running away does nothing. Only the immortals/Gieloth have the strength to fight through the miasma and investigate. If we gave up there, we basically concede that the next incursion will rape our entire empire. Vajra was just rolling the dice on the X-factor option. Going into the rift was the only way to get information towards potentially closing it.

Sorry, but that dog won't bark. Not anymore, not after so many foolish decisions in the past - now it's getting to the point of pathetic rationalization. If what you're saying is true, then how the hell did I manage to get it right then? I'm not a great guesser and I don't have a crystal ball, the only difference is that I bothered to think about what my next move would be. Diplomacy was an unbelievably dumbfuck move by any measure - why would the malevolent beings that sent the Terasphagos in the first place be interested in a fair deal when Ean is on their turf, outnumbered and overpowered?

That left attacking one of them (suicide for the reason mentioned above) and jumping into one of the seams, which was our best bet.

Do you want to know why people voted for "sphere diplomacy"? Because they weren't thinking rationally, they were voting based on "oh shit, what are we going to do?!" rather than on anything concrete. It was a pathetic choice that was decided on due to desperation and being caught off-guard.

Going into the rift was a dumbfuck choice as well. We would be going in solo, with no idea where the rest of Vajra was or what we'd do in there, in hopes of finding a needle in a haystack. I knew right away that when our companions weren't joining us that it would end poorly. The gist of my rationale was this: We need to close the rift, but if we go into the rift we have no plan and it would be a virtual suicide mission. Therefore, our best bet is to take a gamble on Vajra and hope for the best.

 

[ScubaV]

I agree, we should've gone into the seam instead of trying diplomacy, but choices boiled down to do we want a chance to go home, however slim (diplomacy) or not (seam)?

As for the initial rift, we'll have to agree to disagree. We had no information on how to close the rift and the only way we would get any of that information was to go in.

 

[treave]

Ah, better to keep it a bit more cordial in here.

To be fair, as Tigranes noticed, I did purposely try to elicit a "WTF is going on, what can we do" response for entering a strange dimension for the first time, and attempting to escape at the first chance wasn't total suicide.

 

[Esquilax]

I agree, we should've gone into the seam instead of trying diplomacy, but choices boiled down to do we want a chance to go home, however slim (diplomacy) or not (seam)?

As for the initial rift, we'll have to agree to disagree. We had no information on how to close the rift and the only way we would get any of that information was to go in.

Well, I was willing to gamble on Vajra precisely because we had no information. Because there was no idea of what to do in the rift or no plan, plus we'd be going in alone, the next best thing was to take a gamble. In any case, what's done is done. Sorry for flying off the handle like that, bro - thanks for staying civil despite my post.

 

[Tigranes]

I agree with Esquilax, though I think I voted sphere diplomacy too. I was pretty flummoxed by the WTFness (which is a good thing storytelling-wise) and it led to a shitty decision. But what's done is done. I just hope we don't end up washed up in Gieloth China 500 years later with our empire in tatters, I really enjoyed the empire building updates.

 

[Baltika9]

Hell, I fucked up, I'll admit that right here (since I was the part of the suicide bloc), but at least I, personally, scored something I wanted since the beginning: to know the what and why. And we're about to meet the Masters, I'm about to learn more.

However, since it's the Masters who will find us, I'm half-sure, however little that's working for me these days, that they'll put us on "probation" and send us down to Earth to fix the mess we've created, most likely as Odin (seriously, warrior god with a magic stick) and then force us to kill off Sekhenun and the rest of our bros.
Goddammit, there goes our Deionarra.

By the by, for this chapter, I'd think that we should all agree on a loose set of goals and stick to 'em. As in, discuss them and agree on something, instead of gagglefucking every update about the smaller details.

 

[treave]

Which circle of Zerthimon are we in now?

Endure. In enduring, grow strong.

Batika9 is correct, in that I will be forced to reveal more of the plot after this.

 

[Kipeci]

Why be Odin when we could be Kurupi? In all likelihood the Masters will annihilate our nonsense, we're probably not going to be up to more warrior-emperor shenanigans with Ean.

 

[newcomer]

But honestly, I find the spheres very funny, so I think I don't get the WTF feeling

 

[Baltika9]

Endure. In enduring, grow strong.

Hmm...I wonder, now that Ean has survived torture by this...whatever it is, will his mind and will be improved? As in "unbreakable will, indomitable spirit?"

 

[Smashing Axe]

It would certainly be helpful if we're shackled with another group of voices.