In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

[treave]

treave What are the knights wearing? Andrews sword cut one of them and they're garbed in white, so is it just basic white robes?

A regular white uniform, as mentioned a couple of updates back.

Let's just ask treave on this front: How well can we run with our leg in its current condition? And how hard would it be for us to reach the door?

Your running speed will not be significantly impaired, but the chances of a fall gradually increases the longer you run. Getting to the door shouldn't be an issue if you keep a low profile - you're not exactly dashing out immediately. You'll definitely get a headstart over the knights if they choose to pursue you.

treave, since our character clearly knows of this tradition, what else do we know about it? Do we even know if we will be pressed to serve or not?

You have no idea about conscription, as the tradition only says that if you find an Astra, you can go to the Knight Order of your choice and ask to be let in. Think of it as a way of securing an interview.

 

[ItsChon]

A regular white uniform, as mentioned a couple of updates back.

So something akin to this right?

 

[treave]

That seems too dated. Probably more similar to something like:

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

He just didn't bother to focus on his senses

Focus his senses? Wait, so are you no longer maintaining that this is an astra-granted magical sense? Or are you just saying that he didn't use this superpower until now?

You want to dismiss a fact with one of your explanations, but you are ignoring the counter-explanation I presented. This isn't a discussion anymore, if you're just going to keep ignoring everything you don't like to hear and then want to pretend you have a winning argument because you can't remember anything that proves you wrong.

I'm not ignoring anything. I've directly quoted you and responded.

I'm just trying to get you to talk specifics about what kind of power you think he has instead of just blathering about some mysterious power we don't even know exists based on this monk being able to tell someone was outside the door.

I see you're not yet done playing stupid. It's not fear of the children. It's fear of whatever they might set off by rushing down random pathways in ruins. We already know it's possible to set off a falling ceiling trap. I'm sure there are worse traps too.

And yet they are here in the ruins, filled with said traps.

Well, we can't know that for certain. But what I can tell you is that we ourselves have a rank of Traps skill and 6 perception which will probably be some assistance in avoiding traps.

You want to assume that our traps skill of 1 and our perception 1 point above average will protect us and everyone with us against ancient traps like the one a member of our group just triggered in the last update, but you think experienced knights who likely have more training on such traps that we do will be too afraid of them to pursue us and you want to say that I'm the one who's playing stupid and ignoring things?

It's true we have a pair of magic glasses, like you said, but I hope they can detect traps and don't shoot laser beams or whatever people were swearing they did in the last update.

Because Scotty's dad is not their boss.

True. Which is why they won't listen to him if the lights go out and they feel the need to shoot to defend themselves despite your earlier assurances that him grabbing the soldier's gun-arm would prevent it.

But they might listen when a noble is demanding that they find his boy. Call it whatever you like, but having to explain why you left a noble child to rot in the ruins because you were afraid of traps/

No? It's obviously much worse odds. There are so many ways that sitting still gets us caught easily. And let me tell you something: Trying to dismiss my arguments doesn't improve the actual odds of E succeeding. It's still just as bad of an option no matter how much you want to bury your head in the sand and reach for excuses to act dismissive.

Based on what? Again, you are assuming the monk has a power and can detect us right now.

We know what would happen if that's the case. Now what happens if it isn't? We escape unharmed. What happens if it is and we do nothing? We risk conscription, but it isn't certain. Risk vs reward. Certain escape is the reward if we're right. And uncertain chance of conscription is the risk.

You seem to only want to focus on the one scenario that's optimal to your plan succeeding. That is, that we'll shatter the light and everyone will escape unharmed. You dismiss the idea that soldiers trigger happy enough to draw their guns on a child might shoot regardless of what Scotty's dad is saying.

So again, risk reward: our risk is one of the boy's lives and still possibly being caught and conscripted. Our reward is an uncertain chance of escape.

What on earth are you on about? E is the cowardly option to curl up in a corner, shut your eyes, and pray it will all pass you by because you're too afraid to do anything. A is the choice where we make a serious move to fix our situation.

No, it's the option to keep a cool head and hide rather than act unnecessarily rashly just because Andrew decided to attack a knight for whatever fool reason.

 

[Kipeci]

D > A

I don’t think we’d succeed in evading them (or rather, not with the girls succeeding along with us) and I’d rather be upfront about it.

I do want to be proactive in whatever we choose, though.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I do want to be proactive in whatever we choose, though.

I would like to as well, but being proactive isn't always a solution.

Sometimes the best solution is doing nothing at all.

 

[Baltika9]

===Poll===
A - 5
B - 0
C - 0
D - 5
E - 9 (10)

Votes

ERYFKRAD - A>C
Absinthe - A
Esquilax- A
Tigranes - A>E
hello friend- A

Baltika9 - D>E
Nahel - D
Kipeci - D>A
oscar - D>E
Nevill - D

ItsChon - E
Egosphere - E>A
Grimgravy - E>A
Azira - E
Lambchop19 - E>D
CappenVarra - E>A
Kz3r0 - E
asxetos - E
Life of the Party - E>D

========

Guys, we should really go for D and try to join the Mad Monk here. He's one of the foremost mystics of the era IRL, which means he's an actual mystic in the setting and a pretty good one from the looks of it. This means that he knows Astras, the background of the Tower he's investigating right now, and he may even have knowledge on elves. All of these things will be difficult to learn by ourselves, but having a mentor of his caliber will definitely make things easier. Father Grigory will be a very interesting, if terrifying, mentor, and his stats are probably similar to ours: high CON , WIL and (maybe) PER.

Now that treave said that conscription isn't even a thing, and Astras instead just give you a foot in the door if you want to join an order, the only thing we're risking with D is being recruited by Rasputin himself, while giving the girls a chance to get out of the fire. Which is, y'know, cool. Is it guaranteed that he may have an interest in us? Not at all, but I'm getting strong Luoying Manor vibes here, like I said previously. If you'll recall, Master Zhang was also an unjustly defamed personage, but we became a total badass under his tutelage.

And I know that we don't want to part with Rain, but it may be for the best. She will have Sophie and Father McClellan to raise her and they'll probably do a better job than us at providing a stable environment for her to grow up in. Meanwhile, we'll be out there getting skills and knowledge that will be relevant to her situation. And if Rasputin is really a part of the cabal that killed her mother, then we also may have the opportunity to gather information on them from the inside and sabotage them later on.

TL;DR: Joining Rasputin is a cool choice that, I think, would give us many benefits at the cost of abandoning any semblance of a normal life. If we manage to pique his interest. It's worth a shot.

And you can't argue with these moves:


Doo eet, Codex.

That seems too dated. Probably more similar to something like:

The Leibgvardiya, aka the Imperial Bodyguard? This isn't just some random Alexei, I strongly suspect that this is Grand Duke Alexei Romanov who is in this room. I'm so glad we're not trying to attack the guy.

 

[Kipeci]

I do want to be proactive in whatever we choose, though.

I would like to as well, but being proactive isn't always a solution.

Sometimes the best solution is doing nothing at all.

OK, I will revise- I think that being overly passive can often be a bad idea as you totally cede the initiative to others out of your influence who may not have your interests in mind. For example, take Overlord at the state dinner when we chose to stuff our face with hors d’oeuvres rather than connecting with discontent generals, talking up the nobility, or even making that snake Athos uncomfortable. We let the people in the room least inclined to us the space and time to lay the groundwork for the “entertainment” that ensued that poisoned the well and caused us to write off the city to the extent that we didn’t blink an eye about scorching it into a molten crater in a mana-draining desert of lightning.

The girls were barely managing to hold back their screaming before, we have a guy who evidently has some very good senses to determine some kids were just out the hallway and now I expect that both of the girls are rather invested in what is going on with their crush. We may ourselves be as cool as a cucumber, but we’re not all of our little group and it only takes one screw-up. I think the knights would be more inclined to us if we announce our position rather than get discovered, and I have difficulty believing that we’d elude discovery as a collective.

 

[oscar]

Flopped to D. Announcing ourselves is more badass than cowering in a corner.

 

[Tigranes]

The good old "doing something must be better than doing nothing!!!" fallacy. That's serving our guy Andrew so well right now, isn't it?

E means assessing the risks, trying to conquer your fears and do what you think is the smart thing - just like A or D, if we believed that it was the best way to go.

What is not smart at all is to say "might as well blow our cover and say hi to Rasputin because uh I dunno moving my legs and mouth makes me feel like I'm being more proactive".

 

[Baltika9]

What is not smart at all is to say "might as well blow our cover and say hi to Rasputin because uh I dunno moving my legs and mouth makes me feel like I'm being more proactive".

Actually, D is about getting the girls out of trouble by drawing attention to ourselves. The choice is fairly in-character.

You know, instead of being a such Rasputin-denier, you should join us and give this mysticism thing a try and flop to D>E, bro. When have I steered you wrong with respect to mentors? You too, Lambchop19.

We've been playing these CYOAs together for a long time now, you should trust my nose for good stories.

 

[Life of the Party]

By the way, I'm at E>D, in case it wasn't clear.

 

[Nevill]

Actually, D is about getting the girls out of trouble by drawing attention to ourselves. The choice is fairly in-character.

We can pursue the secrets of the universe with Rasputin, betray him and the Nazguls, drain their power

So when you were saying that you weren't content with us turning our character into another Xu Jing, what you really meant it wouldn't be the same without him sucking people off. Noted.

Absinthe makes a good case for D. A superpowered monk with X-ray vision, who wouldn't want to be apprenticed by that and instead flee to the traps-filled dungeon where soldiers dare not follow?

Not to mention that with a senpai like him we won't have girl problems ever again! Then again, with a senpai like him, who would even look at girls?

I am sorry for doubting you, Baltika, flopping to D pronto.
UNLIMITED POWER and the secrets of immortality are within our grasp! Odds have never been better.

Edit:

P.S. damn fake clerics hindering the communist revolution with their mumbo-jumbo, too bad we're in no position to backstab him

Assuming backstab position!

 

[Azira]

It is possible that Rasputin knows we are here. He hasn't announced that to anyone else yet though.
Why?

I think that either he isn't sure, or he's testing/teasing us.

I don't think being rash and smashing the light source or attacking the knights would be the proper response. If anything, I think it'll damage us and our reputation with both the village of Scotsfield, and the Order.

The way I see it, we ought to either stay quietly hidden, or take a big chance and reveal ourselves.

I'd rather do the former. Calmly wait out the situation.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

It is possible that Rasputin knows we are here. He hasn't announced that to anyone else yet though.
Why?

I think that either he isn't sure, or he's testing/teasing us.

I don't think being rash and smashing the light source or attacking the knights would be the proper response. If anything, I think it'll damage us and our reputation with both the village of Scotsfield, and the Order.

The way I see it, we ought to either stay quietly hidden, or take a big chance and reveal ourselves.

I'd rather do the former. Calmly wait out the situation.

Is he sensing us, or the book, the boots and the eyeglass?

 

[Azira]

Maybe he heard the girls stifle a scream.

The girls grab onto each other, stifling back a scream of surprise while you steady yourself calmly.

 

[treave]

"We must be responsible and look after the baby!"

A couple weeks later

"wow screw the baby there's a bearded guy *swoon*"



Dex gonna Dex.

Votes close in about 5 hours.

 

[a bear named spigot]

E

 

[ERYFKRAD]

wow screw the baby there's a bearded guy *swoon*

Rain ain't growing no beard anytime soon.

Spoiler

Rain's an elf to boot.

 

[Kz3r0]

The only non retarded options are hiding or reveal ourselves.
Hiding can succeed or not, consigning ourselves will just save the girls.
What’s worse, being a coward or a fedora?
Besides if we reveal ourselves why the knights should take our word that we are alone?
In the end E is the only real option.

 

[Absinthe]

The good old "doing something must be better than doing nothing!!!" fallacy. That's serving our guy Andrew so well right now, isn't it

There is a time for patience and a time for action. We haven't been caught yet (which is why 2B was the smart option last vote), but we will get caught soon unless we get a move on. What exactly do you find so bad about the odds of A working? Because I'm not hearing a good story why A would fail. I'm hearing a lot of red herrings and people arguing in circles by disingenuously forgetting counterpoints made to their positions.

That's why I'm done responding to lambchop in extensive detail: Because I know no one will be persuaded by that shit even if my points really are better than his. It's all getting bogged down in ridiculous bickering over minutiae, and he's arguing in bad faith anyway, though he doesn't realize it.

E means assessing the risks, trying to conquer your fears and do what you think is the smart thing - just like A or D, if we believed that it was the best way to go

E means ignoring the risks by trying to live in your preferred world where the priest can't find us and no one else will give us away or reveal our presence either instead of accepting probabilities of it getting us fucked, and trying very hard to assert that the risks of escaping (when we know that A will get us out of the room with a head start on these guys and there are branching paths right down the corridor) are bigger than the risks of getting caught should we stay still. And yet with E, if one of the girls so much as breathes loudly, we will all get caught. If the priest has in fact noticed us just now, we will get caught. If any of the knights around here decide to explore this room, we will get caught. If Andrew and Scotty get questioned and mention us, the knights could look for us here, and we will still get caught. So the idea that sitting still is the safe option, is something I rather strongly disagree with here.

Even if you want to believe that the priest really wasn't detecting us as this update indicated (although I strongly suspect this is just reasoning backwards from the premise that E should be the right vote rather than reasoning forwards from the facts of the case), there are still strong odds that with E we get caught anyway by knights just having a thorough look around the room for loot (like we just found) and whatnot or one of the girls giving us away by making slightly too much noise or Andrew and Scotty needing to explain wtf they were doing here, mentioning us, and giving them more reason to look for any more kids here. So E is in fact highly risky. It seems to me that E voters operate off of a logic that involves downplaying every risk factor that comes with E and playing up every fear they can that A will not work ("the knights will outrun us" being a big such theory, despite the fact that we will have a headstart on them while there is a branching path up ahead, "we can't run out of the room in the chaos anyway" was another fear that treave just put to rest by explicitly pointing out it would be well within our abilities, and another fear being that the knights do not practice trigger discipline and will proceed to suddenly go guns blazing into the darkness to shoot at kids, despite the considerable dangers of collateral damage and friendly fire were they to do so), and that's not a sound basis for a vote.

Guys, please vote A. It's the smart option. I know that sometimes risk-taking in making a break for it feels like the foolish option, but it is foolish to think that staying still and remaining quiet is always the safer option. There are many times when the most dangerous thing to do would be to do nothing and all. And while E is still better than B or C, that doesn't make E safe.

What is not smart at all is to say "might as well blow our cover and say hi to Rasputin because uh I dunno moving my legs and mouth makes me feel like I'm being more proactive".

The thing is: If we hit the light, we can escape. treave just confirmed that that is within our abilities. The bum leg theory has also been disproven. We can run fine for now and he was explicit in pointing out we would have a head start with A. The leg would only start to become a problem if we keep running for a long time, but we're just going to try to lose them in the side paths and there is a branching corridor up ahead, so that's not an issue.

I feel like the E voters are operating under the premise that all attempts to escape the room are doomed to failure. I really don't think that's the case. I think there is a working option to escape now, provided that we pick the right one, and that A is that option.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I do want to be proactive in whatever we choose, though.

I would like to as well, but being proactive isn't always a solution.

Sometimes the best solution is doing nothing at all.

OK, I will revise- I think that being overly passive can often be a bad idea as you totally cede the initiative to others out of your influence who may not have your interests in mind.

It can, but at times doing nothing is the right call.

Let's say you were playing a thief. Would rushing in every time be the right decision? Of course not. You need to hide and bide your time. Look for an opening and then strike. We're in a similar situation.

I think the problem is that you assume that we will be discovered in E, so to you it's just D except we look like a coward in the eyes of this nameless bunch of knight NPCs and Rasputin. But our detection isn't certain. Again, we were able to evade detection up until now and Andrew is causing a pretty big distraction.

Again, risk vs reward: in E we risk looking a bit more cowardly than in D, but the reward if successful is not getting caught and seeing Rain.

In D we get caught for certain, will likely be conscripted and our reward is looking like a really cool 10-year-old burn victim. If you're a knight looking for a perspective soldier or even if you're Rasputin (or whoever this monk is), there's a limit to how impressive a 10-year-old with a face like Freddy Krueger is going to be and I really doubt we risk looking much worse by trying to hide and not coming out, pulling our pants down, placing our ass in the air and shouting "take me instead, Rasputin! take me I'm a hero!".

D, while being badass for a 10 year old is pretty much asking to be conscripted. And unless you're Baltika with his apparent beard fetish and want that, there's plenty of time for badassery after we exceed the age of 11.

 

[Absinthe]

You do realize that with E all it takes is for the knights to decide to search the room for loot and astras like we just did and we will get caught anyway, right?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

The thing is: If we hit the light, we can escape. treave just confirmed that that is within our abilities. The bum leg theory has also been disproven.

Um, no.

Your running speed will not be significantly impaired, but the chances of a fall gradually increases the longer you run. Getting to the door shouldn't be an issue if you keep a low profile - you're not exactly dashing out immediately. You'll definitely get a headstart over the knights if they choose to pursue you.

We can make it out of this room. That's the only thing garrunteed.

We'll have a headstart, but we're at risk of falling down and being captured.

 

[Absinthe]

A gradual increase means that there are very low odds of us falling unless we keep running for long distances. Our goal isn't to put as much distance between us and the knights but to go down enough side-paths that they've lost us and feel uncomfortable trying to chase us. That's doable. There's a branching path just at the end of the corridor. And as treave just hinted, there is a possibility that the knights will not pursue us if we make a break for it (they could have other priorities).