[LP CYOA] Epic

[Esquilax]

Best fucking thread on the 'Dex. We've had a lot of talent in these CYOA's with root, grotsnik and of course The Barbarian, so you're in fine company to be among this fine list of bros. Dude, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this saga, it was exciting and - when we fucked up, which was often - frustrating, in equal measure.

With the exception of our brief time as Dio, we've played as a good-hearted classical hero and another who overcame his dark side to stop the apocalypse. I'm sort of interested in trying to bring about the apocalypse this time...

B

 

[treave]

Nah, it isn't a Dio fragment, despite the font used. It's part of the nebulous, undefined Threat that came before which the Observer was supposed to stop. But I suppose you could say it's similar to Dio, I suppose? Senya's fate, I'll leave it up in the air.

And I didn't write a final battle because it's best left up to the imagination.

Of course there is probably J-pop playing throughout the whole scene, that much I'll say.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

An awesome LP, treave. Truly Epic.

VOTAN B

Still, no final battle of Senya VS EVERYONE?

It is a little less than "epic", but still fairly satisfying. Senya is at least implied to have lived with Kyrie looking up and smiling... *cough*Mass Effect 3*cough*

At least we didn't totally screw up and get everyone tentacle raped by Dio. I'm guessing that would have happened had we tried the stealth approach. No army and no bomb means no victory...

 

[Esquilax]

At least we didn't totally screw up and get everyone tentacle raped by Dio. I'm guessing that would have happened had we tried the stealth approach. No army and no bomb means no victory...

It also means friendlier Masters who are more likely to turn against Dio, as well. A lot of different variables at play here. I think that all three approaches at the end of Chapter 6 (surrender, war, sneaking) would have been viable, but it would have required a lot of different strategies at work.

@treave, what would have been the optimal ending you mentioned that we missed when Dio captured the bodies of Rei and Senya?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Everyone lives and then tentacle orgy?

 

[treave]

Everyone lives, including Rei, Jheverg, Boshen etc, best end. It's not a best ending if you can't save almost every named character.

Of course, some would argue that Naim living does not constitute a best end, but you can't please everyone.

This is really as close to a good ending as you guys are going to get, I figure.

On another note, B would be an actual reset. Kyrie and the Gray Death victims get a place to stay, everything besides that has to be destroyed and remade anew, but it would be closer to being an utopia than this 'A' world, which as you can see is still kinda messed up. Wiping the slate clean is good sometimes.

 

[Baltika9]

Going for A, since we just got done playing a narrative-heavy LP. Time to switch things up a bit.
As in, guan-dao wielding nerd with Dex-build, working his way up to be the Captain of the Emperor's Guard.


Also, @treave, Ean's offer of cards to the Sleepers was a joke about his friendly, trusting nature and our attempts at "Sphere Diplomacy," right?

Every word and sentence in your comments made me think. Not always good thoughts, I admit, but it did make me think, and hopefully improve myself.

Why, my pleasure, of course.

 

[treave]

Well, they're going to be there practically forever. Just because you're fated to war for eternity doesn't mean you need to hold grudges during the lengthy downtime in between. Of course, they haven't crossed Ean personally, which is why the offer can be made.

 

[Tigranes]

It was epic, treave.

 

[Esquilax]

@treave, what would have happened if Ean became the Observer, either right now, or back when he fought Naram-Master? I assume that if he beat Naram-Master without Sekhenun there to maintain his sanity, he would have become a devouring shell of his former self, bearing little resemblance to who he was before, and he'd become the threat we'd have to face in the subsequent chapters. Kinda like Akachi.

Edit: Oh yeah, what if we decided to give in to the Spheres and kill the children it wanted us to kill?

 

[treave]

He would have become a rather mindless Observer eventually, unprepared for the job. Mostly benign, drools a lot, doesn't do much tweaking, if at all. Don't stray too close, he'll eat you. Dio's absence means that the Masters are not tempted to rebel, and so they continue their sandboxing for eternity.

As for him devouring Senya, the planned title for that chapter would have been World Without Tears, so it'd have been a rather good end, all things considered. He'd have taken a more active role via sending emissaries, more akin to an actual god.

 

[Baltika9]

Whew, dodged a rather ignominious fate there.

Man, this setting we left is just so delicious. One could make a sequel off of this. Wonder if we can kickstart this through Obsidian (with an Ean-Sekh lovechild protagonist as a stretch goal, of course)?

 

[Baltika9]

Once again, Ean grows on someone again! Putting up with him for long periods is as dangerous to one's creed as letting him cut you with his blade. None may resist Ean's power of broness!

Holy shit, right? I'm pretty sure that after some millennia of playing strippoker with Ean, the Sleepers won't be in a hurry to destroy anything.

 

[treave]

Giving into the Sphere would have been a BAD END.

 

[Esquilax]

Giving into the Sphere would have been a BAD END.

Oh man, so you're saying that we could have fucked up even worse than we already did? Shit, then it must be really bad - now my curiosity is really piqued, what would have happened?

 

[treave]

Uh, or maybe I should have called it a DEAD END. The Sphere ultimately loses all interest in the Ean that has gone mad and destroys him.

 

[Storyfag]

Just... Epic.

Thank you Treave

 

[Baltika9]

Hey, what happened to Gallardo?

 

[Storyfag]

"Uihihihihi" would have creeped out even Dio.

 

[treave]

In another, darker LP, Dio would have been a more active antagonist instead of just appearing near the end. The possibilities! Julius's potential for sadism would absolutely thrive under Dio's expert tutelage. Well, I can always reuse the character templates...

 

[Storyfag]

Silly questions time:

Who brought Relius back after the Dunamis gutted him?
Does the Sleeper reside in our multiverse, and thus the Voices need to break through Ean, Sekh, Sheldon, etc. in order to wake it?
What happened to Adrahasis and Adrasteia? Are they part of the Voice-battling team along with Ean and co.?
What was Earth's additional white moon all about? White whale egg?
What exactly caused the white whales to invade our reality and fight Ean's armada? Someone playing with interdimensional physics like the cultists and Senya did?
What happened to the Spheres?
So who was channelling Gilgamesh as the Dragon Emperor? You never confirmed Marduk, but I'd like to know if he survived the Void and how. Spheres were alive back then, right?
Any chances for that Imperial Culture loredump?
What happened to Ares once he entered the Olympus Rift? Did he father Adrahasis and Adrasteia? With whom?

More will be coming as they pop into my head

 

[treave]

Who brought Relius back after the Dunamis gutted him?

It was Shulgi, pretending to be Relius, in the palace bedchambers, with a candlestick.

Does the Sleeper reside in our multiverse, and thus the Voices need to break through Ean, Sekh, Sheldon, etc. in order to wake it?

It sleeps where the Great Idea used to be. Technically outside the multiverse, I suppose. The Voices are sentient, subconscious extensions of the Dreamer's will. Everything is its dream, but they are more so than most. Ean et al. are guarding the path and will need to be disposed of before it can be awakened.

What happened to Adrahasis and Adrasteia? Are they part of the Voice-battling team along with Ean and co.?

“I’m done over here,” sighed Shulgi, incinerating his opponent’s remains. Adrahasis and Adrasteia dropped down from one of the many tunnels that connected the halls of the palace. “The incursion is clear on that end,” Adrahasis reported.

What was Earth's additional white moon all about? White whale egg?

Sphere corpse. Time moves funny in the void, so it's really old.

What exactly caused the white whales to invade our reality and fight Ean's armada? Someone playing with interdimensional physics like the cultists and Senya did?

They just happened to cross paths.

What happened to the Spheres?

The Masters destroyed them, and in doing so gained valuable data which they then used to create their Iae-hacking program.

So who was channelling Gilgamesh as the Dragon Emperor? You never confirmed Marduk, but I'd like to know if he survived the Void and how. Spheres were alive back then, right?

A combination of Marduk and Zeus and whatever else they ate. Spheres retroactively don't exist some time after Dio meets the Masters but I'm not sure how to express it, so yes, just assume they were. The Marduk-Zeus entity didn't stay in the void long, it tumbled out of another portal rather soon.

Any chances for that Imperial Culture loredump?

We'll see. I'm actually thinking of writing a short story set at the height of Shinari power (sometime during the ten years in between Dio's adventures and Ean's awakening) from another perspective. That setting was underused.

What happened to Ares once he entered the Olympus Rift? Did he father Adrahasis and Adrasteia? With whom?

Found his way to another planet. Met and fell in love with another immortal. Ruled the planet for a while. Had kids. Got eaten when the Dragon Emperor came knocking and conquered the planet.

Interestingly, it seems that Ares has turned out to be the most fertile of all the immortals.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Of course, some would argue that Naim living does not constitute a best end, but you can't please everyone.

If everyone died, but we got to rub glass in Naim's eyes for eternity, it'd still be a happy ending to me.

 

[TOME]

The first thing I see when I open this thread is a green completed -sign. I knew this was almost over but still it comes as a shock. I don't know what to say. Thank you for this thread. Most of the 14 months I was reading this whenever I could and it felt like Christmas when there was an update or new arguments posted. I'm sad to see this finished and hope that one day we can return to this setting. This was amazing. Thank you treave.

 

[Storyfag]

We'll see. I'm actually thinking of writing a short story set at the height of Shinari power (sometime during the ten years in between Dio's adventures and Ean's awakening) from another perspective. That setting was underused.

More of the Good Chancellor Diogenes Camna? Yes please.

Allow me to rephrase one of my questions: I had the impression that the white ghosts are separated from our reality, and, for the moment, exist only in other dimensions, such as the white-Earth Senya wandered into (btw, what's the deal with that place?). Was that impression wrong, or did some event allow the white ghosts to access our reality?