[LP CYOA] Epic

[newcomer]

You bros have convinced me; Flopped to A

B

It is just natural for a manly immortal like us to be contested by pretty monster girls & goddesses

 

[oscar]

B. If we fuck it up (not improbable) we can get Sekhenun to bail us out. Why would she bother to seek us out and then let us become the pray of Aphrodite?

Though I realise there is a risk that Sekhenun may decide we're more trouble than we are worth or we might just get a version of A except we don't make friends with Aphrodite. Though to be honest, if she's anything like the Aphrodite from mythology she's a jealous psycho bitch who causes nothing but trouble.

 

[Azira]

Seriously, would it have killed Skekrum to do something like shake her head slightly in a "No" if she really did not want us to go?

Yeah, what's up with that? And then she gets pissed at us for trying to guess what the fuck she wants?

Women....

 

[Zero Credibility]

A effectively means to succumb to whatever control she's placing on us and breaking our deal with Sekhenun. This is totally out of character for Ean - he is a man of his word, and is always loyal to his allies. Yes, Sekhenun might help us escape later - but what if she wont? After all, she's already pissed at us, and now we abandon her and the deal we had for a first piece of immortal ass that we come across? And a pretty manipulative piece of ass might I add - the moment she sees us, she imminently uses her abilities on us?

The problem is that acting in a way that we thought was in-character fucked us over last time. What was that we said before: Ean is a man of action, so we ought to go on an ill-advised visit to the goddess because Sekhenun was twitching her face at us in a weird way? Acting in-character doesn't mean being a fucking idiot. Being honorable is all well and good, but we can't be completely truthful and honorable regardless of the circumstances. Ean needs to smarten up before he turns into Ned Stark. Ean knows he is basically a mortal now, and he is aware that he is in a difficult position. We've got four choices here, all of them are kinda shitty to be honest. But A is the least shitty choice.

While we may be honorable, Sekhenun is not. She knows how to be tactful and manipulative in the right circumstances, that's how she rose to become a favoured handmaiden in the first place. She'll see our compliance with this situation as exactly what it is - coercion. Being a Gieloth, I'm sure she is quite familiar with the deadly nature of Gieloth court politics that Nabu alluded to. She knows that telling the truth is a bad idea in a lot of situations, and that sometimes you need to play the courtly game - you have to bow and scrape and be subservient to those more powerful than you, so that you can make your move when your enemy least suspects it.

I'm not saying A is a great choice, but it will buy us some time. Aphrodite's presence caused the voices to stir within Ean's mind again, and I think that allowing us a small boost of power (so we can be a better slave for her, of course) could prove to be her undoing.

What I'm saying is that none of this is even mentioned in the A choice at all. A isn't us pretending to stay with Aphrodite only to sneak out later - it is actually staying with her on your own free will (or what's left of it) in preference to Sekhenun, and also abandoning our mission. What you are proposing is option E - lying to Aphrodite, then trying to get back to the ship before it sets sail. Which probably wouldn't work once Aphrodite gets her claws in us. Plus we kind of suck at lying in the first place and it goes out of our character.

Maybe we can get treave to confirm what choice A actually entails, but I doubt it is what you think it is.

 

[Esquilax]

What I'm saying is that none of this is even mentioned in the A choice at all. A isn't us pretending to stay with Aphrodite only to sneak out later - it is actually staying with her on your own free will (or what's left of it) in preference to Sekhenun, and also abandoning our mission. What you are proposing is option E - lying to Aphrodite, then trying to get back to the ship before it sets sail. Which probably wouldn't work once Aphrodite gets her claws in us. Plus we kind of suck at lying in the first place and it goes out of our character.

Maybe we can get treave to confirm what choice A actually entails, but I doubt it is what you think it is.

I understand fully well what A would entail. It would mean sticking around, abandoning the mission (which we've already nearly abandoned in the first place by deciding to come here), and submitting to Aphrodite for the time being because we're kinda fucked. We might regain a little bit of our power while she uses us as a puppet. I am hoping that in biding our time and being meek, she will let her guard down at some point, allowing us to either kill her or escape from Cyprus in the future.

So yeah, I'm not advocating any sort of pretending or subterfuge. We would have to obey her until we presumably get an opportunity to set ourselves free down the line. Not a pretty picture.

It's still much better than C, which is like A but worse. Regardless, I think it's worth it to try for a tactful response to appease Mehrune (yes, she is important) and hope that Sekhenun is there to shield our mind if we're in trouble. I am predicting that she'll still be planning her vengeance, but we'll be able to leave the island in one piece.

 

[Zero Credibility]

What I'm saying is that none of this is even mentioned in the A choice at all. A isn't us pretending to stay with Aphrodite only to sneak out later - it is actually staying with her on your own free will (or what's left of it) in preference to Sekhenun, and also abandoning our mission. What you are proposing is option E - lying to Aphrodite, then trying to get back to the ship before it sets sail. Which probably wouldn't work once Aphrodite gets her claws in us. Plus we kind of suck at lying in the first place and it goes out of our character.

Maybe we can get treave to confirm what choice A actually entails, but I doubt it is what you think it is.

I understand fully well what A would entail. It would mean sticking around, abandoning the mission (which we've already nearly abandoned in the first place by deciding to come here), and submitting to Aphrodite for the time being because we're kinda fucked. We might regain a little bit of our power while she uses us as a puppet. I am hoping that in biding our time and being meek, she will let her guard down at some point, allowing us to either kill her or escape from Cyprus in the future.

It's still much better than C, which is A but worse. Regardless, I think it's worth it to try for a tactful response to appease Mehrune (yes, she is important) and hope that Sekhenun is there to shield our mind if we're in trouble. I am predicting that she'll still be planning her vengeance, but we'll be able to leave the island in one piece.

So you are voting A to avoid pissing off Mehrune, even though A means Mehrune will abandon us here? And you are betting on that Sekhenun will stay behind and delay her mission to help us after we tell her to go fuck herself? At least in choices B or C we also make it clear to Sekhenun that we are still on her side - then if we get forced to stay, she is likely to actually come to our aid. In A we don't even have that - Sekhenun will abandon us on the spot and we will be stuck with this manipulative bitch.

 

[treave]

In A you seek Aphrodite's help in regaining your powers. What that entails, or how long it takes, will be explored in further choices. That's all there is to it.

 

[Azira]

Ean's not the slickest of men, but I think he should try to diplomatically decline. As far as I remember, when Ean signed up for this quest, there was no mention of him becoming goods to be bartered. If I understand this correctly, he should still have his own vote in things. Rejecting Aphrodite will most certainly make her more interested in Ean, but making promises to return at a later time might work. Might backfire as well. But I think it would be worth a try at least. Rejecting her roughly seems out of character, but keep in mind that we have very little experience with other immortals not of the Gieloth type. Naram and Shulgi both seemed antagonistic last time we met them, and for all we know, Aphrodite could be one of them, shapechanged. Though if that were the case, I'm pretty sure we'd been a red smear on the walls already, or at the very least securely bound and trapped..

Option B

 

[Zero Credibility]

Sigh. Even though most of voters are in favour of telling Aphrodite to go fuck herself (diplomatically or not), their votes are equally split on B and C. Which is why A is still in the lead. Hopefully there will be some flopping to avoid it winning.

 

[Baltika9]

Everyone's flopping, alright. To the wrong option. Staying with Aphrodite is a bad, baaaad idea. Do you really think she'll just give us our powers back?
Oh, no. Here's what's gonna happen with A: she'll datamine our brain for anything and everything she can, then she'll mindscrew us into her obedient little slave (there is no guarantee for a "sex" prefix), and then she will maybe think about giving our powers to us. After we get mind-wiped into her pussy-whipped knight in shining bronze armor.

All the meanwhile, the Gieloth from the Americas will be that much closer to landing on Eurasia, other immortals will be staking their claims on lands, titles and dynasties, and the local Gieloth will be playing tyrant and destroying civilization. All because Ean got distracted by a juicy chocha (which might not even be juicy, given her mind control powers. She might be an average-looking girl. And we don't have any guarantee that we'll get some, anyways.)

I know that B and C will probably have Mehrune tell us to fuck off, and forget the gold(then again, who the hell is she to barter with our life? Our mother? ...), but at least Sekhenun will:

a) know that she can trust us to trust in her and make the right decision, if not the smart one(yeah, we fucked that one up).

b) maybe help us out here. Think about it. She's taking Ean to Crete to get the artifact that will restore his powers. She doesn't need the thing. She's doing this whole thing to get Ean his powers back, so he can help her. She doesn't even need to go to Crete, period. Besides, who do you think is more important: a young, inexperienced immortal skank-ho (who, not to mention, could be Naram or Shulgi (and probably fucking is), just waiting to sink their MHD's into us) or the Gieloth scientist that not only can give us back our powers and feed us information on the Gieloth, but will be the one who founds the Adeptus Astartes down the line.

c) 0.00001% chance of her throwing a tsundere-style "get your hands offa MY immortal, you dirty little bitch!" hissy-fit. And then wrestling with her in a pool of oil. I know, nice to dream.

TL;DR: I don't know why you are going for a young little girl, when there's a hot piece of intergalactic ass just waiting for us to dig in.

Edit: I'll flop to any option that'll beat A. I'm not partying while Rome burns.

Edit2: Besides, nothing beats a Roman party.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Edit: I'll flop to any option that'll beat A. I'm not partying while Rome burns.

This.

 

[oscar]

Yeah don't vote A unless you want to be her mirror-carrier for a few centuries.

 

[Baltika9]

We should also chop her head off. And play football with it.

 

[TOME]

Flopped to B.

 

[Smashing Axe]

B for now

 

[Tigranes]

Every choice is a dangerous one (which is why we shouldn't have gone on the first place, guys ) but at least we're staying out of D, which is obviously retarded. Esquilax has already explained why C is stupid. You don't bluff when (1) the other party doesn't know enough about you to fear you, (2) it blows your cover, (3) your ally's hands are tied, and (4) you don't actually have any powers to back up your bluff. It's the stupidest kind of bluff there is. The only choice is A & B.

I'm tempted by A to learn more about this new character and such, but I think it's important that we continue to play the game of trust / cooperation with Sekhenun - we'll do what we want to when we really need/want to, but we're also going out of our way to keep this 'alliance'. The only problem is whether Aphrodite will listen. It's risky, but I think she might for two reasons: (1) the voices will have told her that we are an honourable immortal that keeps his word, so she can trust us to come back later; (2) if we appeal to her as a simple bodyguard she would obviously have no reason to barter, but as an immortal she will be more inclined to listen.

B

 

[anus_pounder]

A because.

 

[Baltika9]

Bros that voted C, flop to B. We can't let A win.

 

[Computer Gamer Refugee]

Vote for anything that beats A. Let's not abandon our sworn word to help Sekhrum.

 

[Kipeci]

After more thought, D. We're boned in some way or another for every other option, and while D is not... impressive, presumably Sekhenun is intelligent enough to think up something to deal with this situation without blowing her cover and ruining her mission, and maybe even without pissing off Aphrodite. We made a goof, and if she's to be our babysitter... it'd be a different thing for all of this if we had full powers, but she's almost certainly way more competent than us at the moment.

Besides, if nothing else, D sounds like we could have a quick mental chat with Sekhenun before making a decision even if she doesn't do anything, and that's valuable no matter which option we go with. Being able to communicate our plans right now would be great so that we could tell whether she could get us out of here or not, or literally anything else. Sekhenun's the smart one, remember? Let's have her come up with the brilliant plans, since our last one lead right to this awkward moment.

 

[ScubaV]

Alright, flippity-flap-flopping (uncharacteristically for the billionth time) to B.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

B

 

[treave]

B by a landslide after all that flopping, it seems.

***

Chapter 4.3: Vagaries of The Love Priestess

“Aphrodite.”

The priestess’s face lights up with a dazzling smile as you speak her name. It takes all your willpower to resist following it up with a declaration of love.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot stay. My path leads me elsewhere for now.” You speak softly but firmly. She merely continues smiling, and says, “Your path ends here, my warrior. You think so too, right?”

You feel her fingers digging into your arm, and instinctively you try to pull away – but you find that you cannot, and you begin to panic. Aphrodite appears to be stronger than she looks. You feel a cloud begin to descend over your mind… and it clears away moments later. Aphrodite widens her eyes, clearly shocked. She casts harried looks over her shrine, before settling her gaze on Sekhenun, standing meekly near the exit. A moment later, the immortal priestess’s expression turns into one of bemusement.

“Well, what do we have here? Do you know you travel with one of those disgusting things? No, that doesn’t matter… it fended me off to protect your mind. Clearly it thinks you are useful, or important.” She lets go off your arm, giggling.

“It will be extremely interesting to see where this partnership ends up. I think you will entertain me more by continuing to travel with that monster, rather than being by my side.” Her voice drops into a seductive purr. “Of course, a man who can attract the protection of his mortal enemy certainly attracts me. Who knows… I might even close up this little shrine and come with you. The best of both worlds… isn’t that a good idea?”

You don’t think that would be a good idea.

“Ah, but not today. Today I need to finish up with Duka’s initiation ritual,” she muses, pointing to a strapping young lad who stared back in an unnerving but loving manner. “So I guess you can leave now, my dear warrior. I promise we will meet in the future, so please do not miss me too much.”

The chief handmaiden pipes up. “But, great priestess, what about the love potion you promised my lady?”

“Ah yes, the potion! Here you go." Aphrodite somehow produces a vial from her almost transparent robes, and gives it to you. The chief handmaiden smiles and walks over to you to get the vial, but before she reaches it, Aphrodite speaks again. "A price still needs to be paid, of course, but I would rather not take this man right now. I suppose everyone besides him and that mousy little girl by the door should stay. They can bring the potion back to your lady.”

The chief handmaiden’s face turns pale. Clearly she doesn’t relish the idea of being stuck in Aphrodite’s shrine, regardless of any pleasures it may offer. She opens her mouth to protest. "The potion... might we return it?" ventures the chief handmaiden timidly.

Aphrodite giggles. "No. I don't accept returns."

You look at Sekhenun – this time she is clearly giving you a “Let’s go while we still can” look. At least, you hope she is.

***

A. You abandon the other handmaidens and the mercenary. The chief handmaiden gladly offered you in return for the potion – you owe them no favours. It is best not to push your luck with Aphrodite now that she is willing to let you leave.

B. You cannot stand by and watch others get trapped in a fate that you did not desire for yourself. You do not know what Aphrodite has in store for them, but you are pretty sure it involves slavery of their minds – you cannot abide abandoning them to that.

 

[Baltika9]

A. Enough stupid shit.

 

[Smashing Axe]

A, for the moment. The handmaiden is not our follower. I can be persuaded, but I have the suspicion that we will not be able to fight Aphrodite off.

(Some champion of humanity we are, heh)

Also, when we have our powers restored, I'm in favour of returning and having a stern conversation with this hedonistic bitch.

I really, really want a means to up our mind defences, we're getting one-upped by scrawny women who've never held a blade before in their lives.