[LP CYOA] Epic

[Baltika9]

That didn't raelly answer my question, but then again I wasn't expecting a straight-up one. How much longer until the voting is closed?

 

[treave]

You're free to make your own inferences based on what has already been said about the tree and Ean's nature. There's always the chance of losing control, but has Ean made the right choices thus far, throughout the LP, to minimize that chance?

If the update doesn't appear in 5 hours time, you guys have another 24 hours to decide.

 

[Baltika9]

Flopping to A to stall. I need to think more about this.

 

[Azira]

Flopping to A to stall. I need to think more about this.

Here's to hoping others of the b-voters will also reconsider. It's not about the power that can potentially be gained as much as it is about ending a very definite threat to mankind.
I very much do not trust Zhang.
Why was it necessary to release a zombie plague to get the tree started in the first place? This is fishy, to say the least.
End the tree now, or we might not be able to ever.

 

[Baltika9]

I very much do not trust Zhang.
Why was it necessary to release a zombie plague to get the tree started in the first place? This is fishy, to say the least.
End the tree now, or we might not be able to ever.

Humanity STRONG, remove worst calamari from premises!!!
Edit: the other issue with A is this: what's the catch? What is the price we have to pay for this power?

 

[treave]

Flopping to A to stall.

 

[Kayerts]

I'm sticking with B, but I do see the appeal of A. This is likely the only chance we'll get at a power-up on this scale, and perhaps Ean's 3000-year-long resolve against the sphere's offers has endowed him with a resistance to corruption from soul-devouring.

I very much do not trust Zhang.
Why was it necessary to release a zombie plague to get the tree started in the first place? This is fishy, to say the least.

Yeah, the sequence of events is confusing:
1. Zhang asks for Dio's blood to unlock the labyrinth of a long-departed Gieloth.
2. Zombies (an old Gieloth standby) emerge from the labyrinth, spread across the Med.
3. Ten years later, a tree appears, and the Gieloth have a deal with Dio.

Arguably the zombie plague was useful in clearing off Crete from prying eyes, but the weird part here is the request for Dio's blood. At the time, Zhang seemed to imply it was because Dio was a Successor, but Ean did not have any particular connection to the labyrinth that we know of; is it possible this was done to gain some sort of voodoo-style hold over Dio? So that if he rose to a position of power in the empire, he'd be blackmailable by the Concordiat?

 

[TOME]

Ean is a defender of humanity. Think this from his point of view. When time has come, he has not hesitated to save one human on the expense of himself. Last time, he endured 3000 years of torture on a hunch that going through the rift might help him close it and stop the invasions. Before that he sacrificed his life to save one foolish lovesick kid on the hands of a minotaur. After the torture incident Ean saw just how different the the other dimensional beings are and it nudged him even more towards humans. Now the whole of humanity is endangered and you think he is going to settle on saving 100,000 people because he might not succeed saving them all? He will do whatever it takes to save the Earth. He will devour the Tree and defeat the spheres and close the rift. Then he is going to spend rest of his life fighting the monster inside him, and if need be, trying to destroy it.

If anyone can do it, it's Ean.

 

[treave]

I suppose this is of minor importance right now, but it goes like this.

Someone sealed the Labyrinth, ages ago.

Dio was told to go to Crete, where he would meet Zhang.

Dio is 'special' - shouldn't have to explain why he is. But it is implied that his specialness is related somehow to the Labyrinth's seal. Zhang, being from the Concordiat is somehow unable to open it himself even though he is special in another sense.

He would have to find other ways to open the Labyrinth without Dio, who is conveniently there by someone's request/order.

I think you guys can deduce what 'other ways' they would've opened the door. It's nothing terribly complicated. If Dio can't open it... track down another person who can? And would be willing or foolish or greedy enough to strike a deal with them, given that doing it by force is a poor option for them, for various political and practical reasons.

The guess that the zombies were sealed inside was correct, not surprising given the hefty foreshadowing in that particular update. However, were the Concordiat interested in releasing the zombies, or did they have something else in mind, with the zombies being granted their freedom to shamble around just because really, if you are Zhang, why spend effort to keep them in or lock the door again, or exterminate them for the Empire's sake?

 

[GreyViper]

A- 6 Tome, Lambchop19, GreyViper, Azira, Storyfag, Baltika9
B- 6 Esquilax, root, Kayerts, Tigranes, Kukulkan, m4davis
Right now, B has the lead. Although the warnings from the A bloc about the Gieloth stripping the planet are not hollow: the longer we let it be, the more resources it will consume. If we do end up saving both Ean and the world, we may find that there isn't much of it left for humanity to inhabit

Sorry but I flip floped to B

 

[Esquilax]

Azira (and Lambchop) have me convinced. Ean might be devouring this thing, but he's doing it with his heart in the right place. It needs to be done. Even if we save the Earth from the sphere, I don't think that we can do it in enough time to save the planet from being strip-mined.

A it is.

I think I'll leave this up here for us to think about:

You feel a sudden hunger. The urge to devour permeates your very essence.

Eat us.

“What?”

You’ve been a really kind lad, and this is why we’re making this offer. Consume us.
Sure, this is going to bring down a shit load of attention on you from the masters AND the Gieloth, but we think you’ve always done the right thing… or at least, tried to. We think you can handle this.
You deserve another chance. For old time’s sake.

“How’s this going to help… me eating you?” The hunger is getting stronger.

Oh, we don’t really know. At best it will use our energy to spark your little Gieloth-made toy to full life, which in turn brings you back to life due to the conduit between you and the sword.
At worst you die. Which is what’s going to happen anyway.
You mean, at worst he becomes an undead abomination bent on devouring all in his path.
That’s a very very low probability, not even worth mentioning!
We really don’t know exactly what will happen, however. Never been tried, all theoretical!

 

[TOME]

And Azira cast his vote to A. B is leading 7-6 now.

Edit: Esquilax flopped so A is back in the lead.

 

[Omicron]

A

 

[GreyViper]

Problem I see with this is that's connected to the other tree. So its like a shortcut to power and they always come with hefty price, that sometimes undoes the power gained.

 

[TOME]

We took that shortcut by coming here, instead of slowly building power and support. Now Dagrun and Fenrir have made their move and it is too late to turn back. Only thing we got going on is the Yellowstreaks and you guys don't believe in them. We are out of options.

 

[Esquilax]

We took that shortcut by coming here, instead of slowly building power and support. Now Dagrun and Fenrir have made their move and it is too late to turn back. Only thing we got going on is the Yellowstreaks and you guys don't believe in them. We are out of options.

That never would have worked. We can't "slowly build support" when the world is falling down around us, we need decisive action. What the fuck are we going to do - build support while the Tree sucks all the Earth's resources and dimensions are collapsing in on themselves in Olympus? Staying would have meant burying our heads in the sand. Sometimes consolidating power is the right call, but I don't think it was in this case.

Problem I see with this is that's connected to the other tree. So its like a shortcut to power and they always come with hefty price, that sometimes undoes the power gained.

Technically, this is the only branch of the Tree that's sprouted so far. I assume that if we devour the branch, we devour the rest of the Tree, which is likely centered somewhere in China:

“At the current rate, we will be ready in six months. The Sacred Tree itself has already spread throughout the planet, though this is the only branch that has sprouted from it. My people do not see the need to retain our individuality within the Tree, but we respect all life. We do not see anything wrong in allowing other means of salvation through the tree, though regretfully one hundred thousand is the most we can handle.”

Indeed, nothing comes without a price. But the question is, has Ean already paid the price in other ways to be able to deal with devouring 100,000 people? With the level of control he's gained from 3,000 years of denying his nature and being aware of its consequences, he may have. I realize I'm taking a huge risk in thinking that he can handle this, but given what he's done so far and the price he's already paid so far, perhaps he can handle this.

 

[Baltika9]

Flopping to A to stall.

Anyway, A is in the lead.
Ooh, since we're going Full Olympus, is it too much to ask for a "Humanity STRONG, remove unkosher" moment?

 

[TOME]

That never would have worked. We can't "slowly build support" when the world is falling down around us, we need decisive action. What the fuck are we going to do - build support while the Tree sucks all the Earth's resources and dimensions are collapsing in on themselves in Olympus? Staying would have meant burying our heads in the sand. Sometimes consolidating power is the right call, but I don't think it was in this case.

I'm not saying that we should have stayed back in Gallia or that we should have buried our heads in the sand. I'm saying we should have gone to take Dagrun out, then move on to Dio, then to gieloths and finally go after the spheres. We would have got more personal power, would have got access to the Empires spies and armies and just maybe found Shulgi. It might have worked, we'll never know. In my opinion, coming here was as smart as hijacking Zeus' lightning bolt and infiltrating Dagrun's cult as a Dio. Time will tell what the consequences are.

 

[Esquilax]

You know, something occurred to me: why hasn't Dio decided to devour the Tree? He possesses a sword with the same attributes as Anbar-Shi, so why isn't he devouring the Tree? He's known about it longer than we have, and he's had ample opportunity to do so, so I find it very telling that he hasn't decided to do this, if it could in fact give him ultimate power.

Maybe he hasn't done it because he thinks Earth is a lost cause, or perhaps because there would be consequences that he wouldn't be able to deal with.

 

[TOME]

You know, something occurred to me: why hasn't Dio decided to devour the Tree? He possesses a sword with the same attributes as Anbar-Shi, so why isn't he devouring the Tree?

Devouring the Tree doesn't give power to Dio, it gives power to the sword. He might not be able to control the sword anymore if it grows too powerful.

 

[Storyfag]

or perhaps because there would be consequences that he wouldn't be able to deal with.

Keep in mind that Ean is not Dio. He might be better at containing the side effects.

 

[ScubaV]

I won't vote on such a momentous decision without having participated recently, but these new developments are making for some good reading.

Also: an upcoming treave and root collaberation? Eeeeexcellent.

 

[Baltika9]

this immortal-gieloth hybrid, who spent three thousand years sleeping and couldnt take on a silly justice goddess, is going to devour the plant hivemind (which he only felt the impulse to because there's human essence inside, nonetheless) and succeed and then fly to olympus and blast the new master with terrible fire and save the world?

rue the day, rue the day.

I believe the situation is "do or die," can't see us doing much against Hamburger Fatboy and his posse(in treave's mini-update, Ean was almost exhausted when he would have started fighting Dio, so that's already a bad sign) and deal with Shulgi's dickery at the same time. And, if we by some miracle survive this, we'll then have to find some way to stop the tree from feeding off the planet.

indeed. Unless you have a master plan, then I'm all ears.
Edit: that, or we'll rip reality a new arsehole known as "The Eye of Terror." Either way, I win.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

this immortal-gieloth hybrid, who spent three thousand years sleeping and couldnt take on a silly justice goddess, is going to devour the plant hivemind (which he only felt the impulse to because there's human essence inside, nonetheless) and succeed and then fly to olympus and blast the new master with terrible fire and save the world?

rue the day, rue the day.

No, Ean has been hungry for Gieloth essence too ever since the hunger first manifested. The two are interchangeable, remember? That's why the gieloth have been eating humans. They are an alternative to eating their own.

At this point I just don't see another option. Even if we could have somehow succeeded before, now that we've wasted time in coming here, I don't see how it's possible to.

Also, side note: I think Naram's Master may be Ra. Wasn't he imprisoned in another dimension? Guess the extra time we left him there didn't do his psyche too much good, now that he's a sphere destroying the planet and all...

 

[Baltika9]

Also, side note: I think Naram's Master may be Ra. Wasn't he imprisoned in another dimension? Guess the extra time we left him there didn't do his psyche too much good, now that he's a sphere destroying the planet and all...

I don't think so. Amun Ra would have been summoned from the Masters' homeworld, just like Zeus was. Then there's the small matter of Ra being called, in his later days, Amun-Zeus.