In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

[ChumBucket]

A vapid dream, but it would improve marginally if the suitors proceeded to slaughter each other for her attention. That hall would look particularly resplendent when coated with red.

Also I am starting to think our doggy friend was trying to give us a suggestion that was within our capabilities. Didn't mean we had to follow it to the letter. All men have darkness in their hearts. Deny it and you set yourself up for failure. Harness and temper it, and you can achieve greatness. Or to use an old "Victorian" adage: "You’ve got to be a man first before you can be a gentleman."

 

[Baltika9]

Or to use an old Victorian adage: "You’ve got to be a man first before you can be a gentleman."

Too late, we're going to be making frens with imaginary housemaids. Maybe she'll give the poor urchin a cookie.


By the way, check out our boy baud's WH40K CYOA if you haven't yet: we're a hotshot Inquisition recruit sent to investigate a plague on agri-world. We're currently interrogating an uncooperative bureaucrat, the old-fashioned way.

Here's the link: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/inquisition-quest-mysteries-of-brocante.131845/

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Locking the winning vote as A. Probably shouldn't have chosen a low charisma build if you guys felt that suggesting alternate persuasion attempts would be enough to overcome it somehow, that almost sounds like you're regretting having low charisma.

Eh, on the plus side, we're 10, so our constant practice should shift us a point or two after 10 or 20 years...

...assuming we live that long.

Tbh, I don't expect anything from our charisma. I'm rolling on pure luck that this maid will see this scarfaced little bastard and take pity on him, since she's some fragment of Sophie's consciousness or something...unless she's the part that can't stand to look at us...

 

[ChumBucket]

By the way, check out our boy baud's WH40K CYOA if you haven't yet: we're a hotshot Inquisition recruit sent to investigate a plague on agri-world. We're currently interrogating an uncooperative bureaucrat, the old-fashioned way.

Hope they aren't playing that world weak kneed. That is the last place you want to be a glib milksop. I'll check it out.

 

[Nevill]

Also I am starting to think our doggy friend was trying to give us a suggestion that was within our capabilities. Didn't mean we had to follow it to the letter.

Nah, don't drag the doggy into this. He is just an edgelord who wants some fun after having spent an eternity alone in a tomb. The choice had nothing to do with him.

...and we shouldn't follow his suggestions because they are just that, propositions to have fun. Fun for him, that is. We should look at what is advantageous to us at any given moment, and follow that instead. If it amuses the dog, all the better.

But we always respond to the siren's call of Sphere Diplomacy.

It's just the Dex' tipping reflex.

It activates even in front of cannibals and faceless NPCs dream manifestations.

Not that I got a lot of leg to stand on. Even though I was fairly sure the act of decking the maid in itself was safe, I couldn't know what would have happened were it to get discovered, and thus couldn't push for it. And getting discovered is definitely something I would suspect a GM to have in the consequences bracket if it weren't a sidequest in a sidequest in a dream.

As for Charisma, we have a few toolsets we can use, and it just isn't part of one. Trying to circumvent it with stunts like F (which had no chance of working for someone like Wrinkly, at all, ever) is just refusing to engage with the sort of character we have. It doesn't mean we can't talk to people, but it means the results are going to be somewhat predictable and additional factors may be required to succeed (proof of goodwill, a bribe, good old desperation etc.).

That said... I don't think anyone took the option A with the hope of it seeing us through this encounter? (as opposed to trying not to damage the mission)
Except maybe Lambchop and Baltika.

 

[Absinthe]

A was obvious fail, but good luck guys. Should have gone with H. That still wouldn't work out great, but better than this.

 

[ItsChon]

A was obvious fail, but good luck guys. Should have gone with H. That still wouldn't work out great, but better than this.

Treave made it sound like us choosing the climb option was going to lead to us eating shit on the ground, but that ended up not happening. Could be fucking with us now too. Right...?

 

[Absinthe]

We have 0 speech, 0 etiquette, below average charisma, we don't look like polite company, and you guys picked the "Trust me, I'm not a suspicious person" persuasion attempt. How do you think this is going to go? At this rate we'll be looking for Sophie to bail us out instead of the other way around.

 

[ItsChon]

We have 0 speech, 0 etiquette, below average charisma, we don't look like polite company, and you guys picked the "Trust me, I'm not a suspicious person" persuasion attempt. How do you think this is going to go? At this rate we'll be looking for Sophie to bail us out instead of the other way around.

We went with that option not because we were hoping to use our charisma, or speech, or etiquette, but instead because this is Sophie's dream and it's highly likely that it has elements from the Jane Austen novels Sophie was supposed to like. It's entirely possible that upon hearing our story, the head maid will be moved by our goal regardless of our charisma. Plus, there exists the issue that if we end up knocking out/gagging the maid, it could be used against us by the dream people when we're trying to convince Sophie to abandon her fantasy and instead come back with us to the desert.

That possibility is such a huge negative, that it makes the risk of attacking the maid too high, since even if our attempt to charm the maid fails, we can always resort back to plan B and just bust into the hall, making our desperate plea, which was what the other options would have essentially amounted too. And of course, let's not forget that knocking out the maid wasn't guaranteed to work either.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Trust me, I'm not a suspicious person"

He's not though

 

[Azira]

Since I abstained, I have no right to point fingers. Instead, I'm going to sit back and enjoy the show.

 

[Absinthe]

We went with that option not because we were hoping to use our charisma, or speech, or etiquette, but instead because this is Sophie's dream and it's highly likely that it has elements from the Jane Austen novels Sophie was supposed to like. It's entirely possible that upon hearing our story, the head maid will be moved by our goal regardless of our charisma.

That's just fool optimism. You picked a persuasion option and you're trying to convince yourself our utter lack of skills and stats to the point where we are penalized in these tasks will somehow work regardless. If you wanted a chance for us to give our story, H would have worked best, since there's a decent chance she would interrogate what the hell we were up to and we could explain the rest that way. At least we'd have a chance that way. But A is us shooting ourselves in the foot and E is us keeping our mouth shut and letting the bad circumstances do what they do.

 

[Nevill]

Treave made it sound like us choosing the climb option was going to lead to us eating shit on the ground, but that ended up not happening. Could be fucking with us now too. Right...?

I am fairly convinced he intended it, too. But when people started whining he may have thought "fine, let's give them what they want".
We were not prepared to get what we wanted.

We went with that option not because we were hoping to use our charisma, or speech, or etiquette, but instead because this is Sophie's dream and it's highly likely that it has elements from the Jane Austen novels Sophie was supposed to like.

I thought you didn't believe it yourself?

As for the other options, I don't know how many of y'all have actually met old people, but a lot of them really fucking suck if they're not related to you, especially if they're from this time period. The chances that this old maid will be anything but a crotchety old woman is pretty low I'd say, and even if she is a nice one, it's not like she'd be able to really help us. At best she says come with me and leads us out the mansion without getting the mansion goons involved.

That said, I get where you are coming from, and it isn't my intention to sound salty. I don't even think it would fail us the dream run, so let's just enjoy the ride.

If anything, I am cautiously approving if not of the choice, then of the direction Wrinkly's character is taking. He is a man capable of violence, but doesn't get his thrills from it, trying to avoid conflict so long as it is possible. As Garrett said, "violence is the mark of an amateur".

Now, if only the Dex doesn't overcompensate and start sacrificing virgins to Uridimmu to purge this impression.

And hopefully, we won't take it to a ridiculous extent either, where we would engage Mr. Tentacle Nazgul in a conversation about what he is doing to that voluptuous elven lady, or try to explain to Mr. Alexei that our skills in entertaining are not that good since we haven't read that much poetry.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

As Garrett said, "violence is the mark of an amateur".

That's why you don't leave marks behind, you leave corpses.

 

[Baltika9]

And hopefully, we won't take it to a ridiculous extent either, where we would engage Mr. Tentacle Nazgul in a conversation about what he was doing to that voluptuous elven lady,

Hey man, different couples are into different things. Kink shaming ain't cool.

or try to explain to Mr. Alexei that our skills in entertaining are not that good since we haven't read that much poetry.

I'm sure that uncle Alexei will be understanding. After all, He Did Nothing Wrong.

 

[Nevill]

Hey man, different couples are into different things. Kink shaming ain't cool.

Maybe K3r0 was onto something when he tried to put the chemise on.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Hey man, different couples are into different things. Kink shaming ain't cool.

Maybe K3r0 was onto something when he tried to put the chemise on.

Yeah, camouflage.

 

[treave]

Down with a bit of a fever and chills, but I'm gonna try and update within another day or so.

 

[Absinthe]

Uh, you don't need to push yourself. And you may want to lower the brightness setting on your monitor to the lowest you can tolerate if you're going to use a PC while sick. IIRC fever tends to weaken your ability to deal with light sensitivity (leading to headaches and difficulty focusing) and computer screens tend to blast a lot of light into your eyes.

 

[ItsChon]

I thought you didn't believe it yourself?

I didn't, but I got swayed when Baltika mentioned the common trope of a kind governess or matronly figure being present in Jane Austen novels. I figure if she ends up being a total bitch, we'll just be able to clock her without feeling any remorse.

That said, I get where you are coming from, and it isn't my intention to sound salty.

Nah don't worry haha. As the saltmaster himself, I know it's all fun and games.

 

[Azira]

you may want to lower the brightness setting on your monitor to the lowest you can tolerate if you're going to use a PC while sick. IIRC fever tends to weaken your ability to deal with light sensitivity (leading to headaches and difficulty focusing) and computer screens tend to blast a lot of light into your eyes.

Night mode ftw.

 

[CappenVarra]

most devastating COVID-19 death world-wide yet?

 

[Baltika9]

most devastating COVID-19 death world-wide yet?

 

[ItsChon]

Fr though bro, can you at least let us know you ain't dead? treave

 

[Tigranes]

Hope you're OK, buddy.