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In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower
- Thread starter treave
- Start date
hello friend
Arcane
In that case, I'm flopping back to B.
Dun dun dunnnn...
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- Dec 29, 2011
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- 2,835
In before we get horribly maimed because of our foolish curiosity. The wise man knows: disregard women, hunt deer.
We only guess that the sound is made by a human. We have no idea whether it's male, female or attack helicopter.
Nevill
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
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- 11,211
Women, what women? We are on the Codex, it's probably a handsome boy. >_>
And the sooner we part with an arm, the more powerful we will become by strapping something in its place early on. The only right answer is to challenge the bear (or what else is in there) to a fistfight.
And the sooner we part with an arm, the more powerful we will become by strapping something in its place early on. The only right answer is to challenge the bear (or what else is in there) to a fistfight.
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- Sep 25, 2012
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As long as it's not some city slick screaming because they saw a rabbit or something. Damned inconvenient to fist fight a rodent.
don't worry, this aint fallout - rodent diplomacy is sure to work beautifully
also, a hunter this easily distracted from his quarry is sure to enjoy a prosperous career - in basket weaving or floral design perchance
Hey, if we’re a fish after all we could corner the market on underwater basket weaving with ease! Think of what precious things the youngsters could give us for such wise teachings.don't worry, this aint fallout - rodent diplomacy is sure to work beautifully
also, a hunter this easily distracted from his quarry is sure to enjoy a prosperous career - in basket weaving or floral design perchance
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
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- 9,611
...what I'm hearing is that we want to become a liberal arts professor. I'm down.Hey, if we’re a fish after all we could corner the market on underwater basket weaving with ease! Think of what precious things the youngsters could give us for such wise teachings.don't worry, this aint fallout - rodent diplomacy is sure to work beautifully
also, a hunter this easily distracted from his quarry is sure to enjoy a prosperous career - in basket weaving or floral design perchance
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
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- 11,370
A Day in the Forest (II)
Your master will be angry if you go home empty-handed today, but then again, he gets angry for many other reasons, most of which you don’t really understand. Shine or rain earns you a backhand, and you have had your fair share of lashings even if you bring back prey. So, you decide to indulge your curiosity for once. It might be just a small spark of rebellion, though you know that you will pay for it later.
Abandoning the trail, you move to investigate the strange screaming. It grows more and more desperate, and almost subconsciously, you quicken your footsteps. The air seems to thicken as you proceed. You are approaching a part of the forest that you rarely visit – animals steer clear of this region of the woods for some reason.
The screams stop shortly after, but you have already tracked the source down. The familiar stench of blood is in the air. Hiding in the undergrowth, you peek out at the scene before you. You almost let out a scream. Not because of the bloodied body on the ground. No, that would be… normal in comparison to what was responsible for it.
In front of you is a beast unlike anything you have ever seen, and you had thought you saw every type of animal there was to see in this forest. It was black, as if darkness had come alive. Perhaps the size of a bear, glowing streaks of red pulsed along its huge body like blood through veins. The head had a distinctly canine look, reminding you of a wolf, but no wolf you know has that many eyes. Bulging and strange, the yellow eyes swivel around madly. The beast’s mouth hangs open, a leathery, purplish tongue stretching out and darting around in the air, as if having a life of its own. Completing the wolf-like look, it has four legs and a tail, each ending in a sharp set of claws. Even the tail, waving menacingly in the air like a fifth limb. The blood dripping from the tail’s claws tells you all you need to know about how lethal it is.
You might have only been hunting for the better part of a decade, but your instincts tell you that this isn’t prey. Not for you, at any rate.
The body twitches, not quite dead. It seems to be a woman, if you are not mistaken. You are not sure, since you have not seen one in… well, you are not entirely sure how long. Your master forbids you from going down to the village.
She mumbles, jerks and begins screaming again as the beast claws at her. Yet she continues to hold something close to her body, as if trying to protect it from harm. You focus your sight and see what it is: a child. Far younger and smaller than you are, perhaps no more than a baby.
The woman screams for help again, blood streaming down her face. The beast tears into her back even as she attempts to crawl away. You remain silent, fear numbing your limbs. That… thing… is dangerous, and you have not hunted anything of its sort before. You have some pitfalls dug lying in wait in the direction you came, sure, but getting involved in this situation would still be highly risky.
***
A. You decide to try and hunt the beast. Not to save the child, but because it is a beast in your forest, and you are a hunter; hunting is what you do. You will make the first shot with your bow, then herd it towards a pit should that be insufficient.
1. You act only after the beast has had its fill of attacking the woman and child. From what you know, animals get complacent after feeding. The same should hold true here, maybe.
2. You act as quickly as you can. The longer you wait, the more likely it is the beast will catch your presence. You should strike while it is preoccupied.
B. You decide to distract the beast in order to save its victims. You are under no impression that it will be easy to take down, but you know the lay of the land and you might be able to get away safely without having to fight the beast directly.
1. You distract it by tossing a stone at it from where you are hidden. You’ll lead it to your traps and hope that does the trick.
2. You quickly spark a fire from the tinder box you carry around on your belt. The wood around here is dry; it’ll burn quickly. Fire might just chase it away, like it does other animals.
C. You do nothing. This is none of your business.
1. You decide to leave immediately, not wanting to get involved at all with this. You go back to your hut.
2. You decide to lurk around and wait until the beast is finished and departs the area, before approaching the corpses afterwards to see if there is anything of interest.
Your master will be angry if you go home empty-handed today, but then again, he gets angry for many other reasons, most of which you don’t really understand. Shine or rain earns you a backhand, and you have had your fair share of lashings even if you bring back prey. So, you decide to indulge your curiosity for once. It might be just a small spark of rebellion, though you know that you will pay for it later.
Abandoning the trail, you move to investigate the strange screaming. It grows more and more desperate, and almost subconsciously, you quicken your footsteps. The air seems to thicken as you proceed. You are approaching a part of the forest that you rarely visit – animals steer clear of this region of the woods for some reason.
The screams stop shortly after, but you have already tracked the source down. The familiar stench of blood is in the air. Hiding in the undergrowth, you peek out at the scene before you. You almost let out a scream. Not because of the bloodied body on the ground. No, that would be… normal in comparison to what was responsible for it.
In front of you is a beast unlike anything you have ever seen, and you had thought you saw every type of animal there was to see in this forest. It was black, as if darkness had come alive. Perhaps the size of a bear, glowing streaks of red pulsed along its huge body like blood through veins. The head had a distinctly canine look, reminding you of a wolf, but no wolf you know has that many eyes. Bulging and strange, the yellow eyes swivel around madly. The beast’s mouth hangs open, a leathery, purplish tongue stretching out and darting around in the air, as if having a life of its own. Completing the wolf-like look, it has four legs and a tail, each ending in a sharp set of claws. Even the tail, waving menacingly in the air like a fifth limb. The blood dripping from the tail’s claws tells you all you need to know about how lethal it is.
You might have only been hunting for the better part of a decade, but your instincts tell you that this isn’t prey. Not for you, at any rate.
The body twitches, not quite dead. It seems to be a woman, if you are not mistaken. You are not sure, since you have not seen one in… well, you are not entirely sure how long. Your master forbids you from going down to the village.
She mumbles, jerks and begins screaming again as the beast claws at her. Yet she continues to hold something close to her body, as if trying to protect it from harm. You focus your sight and see what it is: a child. Far younger and smaller than you are, perhaps no more than a baby.
The woman screams for help again, blood streaming down her face. The beast tears into her back even as she attempts to crawl away. You remain silent, fear numbing your limbs. That… thing… is dangerous, and you have not hunted anything of its sort before. You have some pitfalls dug lying in wait in the direction you came, sure, but getting involved in this situation would still be highly risky.
***
A. You decide to try and hunt the beast. Not to save the child, but because it is a beast in your forest, and you are a hunter; hunting is what you do. You will make the first shot with your bow, then herd it towards a pit should that be insufficient.
1. You act only after the beast has had its fill of attacking the woman and child. From what you know, animals get complacent after feeding. The same should hold true here, maybe.
2. You act as quickly as you can. The longer you wait, the more likely it is the beast will catch your presence. You should strike while it is preoccupied.
B. You decide to distract the beast in order to save its victims. You are under no impression that it will be easy to take down, but you know the lay of the land and you might be able to get away safely without having to fight the beast directly.
1. You distract it by tossing a stone at it from where you are hidden. You’ll lead it to your traps and hope that does the trick.
2. You quickly spark a fire from the tinder box you carry around on your belt. The wood around here is dry; it’ll burn quickly. Fire might just chase it away, like it does other animals.
C. You do nothing. This is none of your business.
1. You decide to leave immediately, not wanting to get involved at all with this. You go back to your hut.
2. You decide to lurk around and wait until the beast is finished and departs the area, before approaching the corpses afterwards to see if there is anything of interest.
Last edited:
Tigranes
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2009
- Messages
- 10,359
Looks like we have our first target, folks. Our coming of age ritual will be to hunt our predator.
I wonder about the true difference between A & B. Objectively, it seems very clear that we should be very scared of the beast. But the actions we take in, say, A2, seem to be to shoot then lead to a pit, which isn't that crazy. So I wonder if it's more about the kind of attitude we have in the face of death.
B1 seems pointless - why throw a stone then lead to pit, when you can shoot with an arrow then lead to pit? You might as well take A2.
B2 (fire) is the only option that may achieve a meaningful distraction, though it may not work at all / put the woman & child in danger.
I would say if we want to intervene, the answer is B2 (fire) or A2 (shoot & lure).
If we don't want to save the woman & child, then we might as well go with a prudent C2. We ain't killing that thing easy.
B2. At ten, no way we're pulling anything with enough draw strength to harm this monstrosity, especially considering it's likely stronger than your typical bear, what with the multiple eyes and red streaks running across its body. Start a roaring fire between us and the animal. Hopefully that scares it off, and if it doesn't, well we'll have some fire between us and it. The only question is how we're going to rescue the kid if it does indeed run off, because the chick is a goner.
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
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- 11,370
Difference between A & B would be in mindset. Enraging the beast with a (potential) wound might make it harder to escape. Or easier, there's no way for you to know at this juncture. I can make slight adjustments to the numbered choices if desired, but the A/B/C differences should be read as the primary choices in this update - what is the character thinking? - and how the character handles it is secondary.
treave Are there any inclinations that this beast attacking the woman and child is a result of some sort of corruption or interference? I know we've never seen it before, but does our character sense that something is off with the animal? Like some sort of magical or alchemical alterations have been made?
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For now all you can tell is that it's just some very weird animal you haven't seen before. The animals that you have seen before are animals like bears, rabbits, wolves, deer and the like.
You wouldn't know anything about magic or alchemy or whatnot, you'd have to be a scholar for that sort of thing.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
Huh, here's our plot ticket. Zero regrets (unless we die here ).
The child is not quite Miecao, but it may yet become our younger sibling.
Using fire is a gamble: it will either do nothing to the beast, scare it off, or make it fight even harder.
Fighting it directly, without any traps, is right out: I'm not at all confident a ten year old can match it in combat, whatever our stats are. It may come to direct combat if we decide to lure it into a trap: if this thing has a wolf's sense of smell to go along with it's vulpine head, then I think it will be able to track us down. I don't think snares will be able to hold it.
Because the Codex is nice, I'm voting for B2>B1.
).The child is not quite Miecao, but it may yet become our younger sibling.
I think that the arrow/rock makes no difference. The point is, that action would draw its attention to us so that we can lead this mutant (chimera?) into our traps. And I think that striking it will definitely draw its attention, given its state of rage and evident hunger. The big question is this: can we escape from it? We're not all that fast, and I doubt that our endurance will be a huge help here.
Using fire is a gamble: it will either do nothing to the beast, scare it off, or make it fight even harder.
Fighting it directly, without any traps, is right out: I'm not at all confident a ten year old can match it in combat, whatever our stats are. It may come to direct combat if we decide to lure it into a trap: if this thing has a wolf's sense of smell to go along with it's vulpine head, then I think it will be able to track us down. I don't think snares will be able to hold it.
Because the Codex is nice, I'm voting for B2>B1.
Nevill
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
- Messages
- 11,211
Sidekick get! May get a little smoked once we are done though.
For lack of a fistfight option...
B. You decide to distract the beast in order to save its victims. You are under no impression that it will be easy to take down, but you know the lay of the land and you might be able to get away safely without having to fight the beast directly.
2. You quickly spark a fire from the tinder box you carry around on your belt. The wood around here is dry; it’ll burn quickly. Fire might just chase it away, like it does other animals.
For lack of a fistfight option...
B. You decide to distract the beast in order to save its victims. You are under no impression that it will be easy to take down, but you know the lay of the land and you might be able to get away safely without having to fight the beast directly.
2. You quickly spark a fire from the tinder box you carry around on your belt. The wood around here is dry; it’ll burn quickly. Fire might just chase it away, like it does other animals.
Tigranes
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2009
- Messages
- 10,359
As treave has confirmed, we shouldn't expect the A/B options to discover for us some amazing way to defeat the shadowbeast single-handedly.
It's really a question of, what kind of character is our Hunter and how does he approach this life and death situation?
Does he try to save innocents within reason, or use their corpses for profit / to save himself (C)?
Does he just focus in killing it without worrying about the chances (A)?
Or does he take a realistic appraisal and try to do what he can (B)?
It's really a question of, what kind of character is our Hunter and how does he approach this life and death situation?
Does he try to save innocents within reason, or use their corpses for profit / to save himself (C)?
Does he just focus in killing it without worrying about the chances (A)?
Or does he take a realistic appraisal and try to do what he can (B)?
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
Plot twist: the child is the protagonist of the story, and we're the sidekick.
And our guardian is, in fact, a were-chimera.
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