In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

[Baltika9]

I think that it's a bAndwagon. Let's pass time with some speculation and theorizing!

My respect for Andrew has increased considerably. Despite initial Codex paranoia to the contrary, the kid is brave, principled, and willing to stand up and do the right thing even when the he's completely on his own and the chips are down. He's solid.

He's a moron. He should have realized Scotty's father was complicit in their plans before singlehandedly trying to arrest a group of enemy knights.

His mistake was trusting too much in the power of his astra. He wanted to play hero at the risk of his own life and the lives of his friends.

You're both right. Andrew is a brave and principled young dude who will take a bullet for his friends. I like him. However, he's also a complete moron with an invincibility complex. You see four soldiers armed with swords and firearms. You suspect they're spies, so your first thought as a fourteen-year old boy is to attack them with a sword. Without body armor. What the fuck, bro. We'll need to be the Sekhenun to his Ean.

Next, Alexei Did Nothing Wrong. He had an idiotic, entitled boy walk in on a secret operation, injure one of his men and start playing hero. His courage is admirable, but he had to subdue Andrew, before the child actually got someone killed.

I don't know which Order that Nathaniel was working for, but I think he sold confidential information to the Russians about this set of ruins that are a piece of the puzzle in unlocking the elusive 30th Floor. He did it in exchange for a position of good standing with The Order of the White Eagle. Judging by his son, sniveling cowardice runs in the family.

I disagree. We have nothing that links Nathaniel to any knightly orders. His introduction reads as follows:

“Aye. Me dad’s found some ruins, you see,” grins Scotty, adjusting his spectacles. If you remember correctly, his father is an explorer based out of the village. A Mister Nathaniel Howell, all tall and bearded with a jovial glint in his eye and a constant smile on his lips.

Nathaniel probably got hired as a guide through the ruins he discovered, with the instructions that he was to keep quiet. He couldn't do so, and now he's paying for it.

 

[ItsChon]

Next, Alexei Did Nothing Wrong. He had an idiotic, entitled boy walk in on a secret operation, injure one of his men and playing hero. His courage is admirable, but he had to subdue Andrew, before he actually got someone or himself killed.

I mean, agreed, the issue is that he's giving off sadistic pedophile vibes. If he just chained the boy up and said let's dip, that'd be one thing, but unless we're getting mixed up due to cultural differences, he's about to hurt and fuck this little kid.

I disagree. We have nothing that links Nathaniel to any knightly orders. His introduction reads as follows:

Nathaniel probably got hired as a guide through the ruins he discovered, with the instructions that he was to keep quiet. He couldn't do so, and now he's paying for it.

Perhaps this is true, but if these guys aren't from the Order of the White Eagle, who do they work for? The Tsar is an obvious answer I guess, but that also leads us to the question of who exactly do the Order work for? treave Do the orders connected to respective countries answer to said countries leader? Or do they just have a bias towards them and help sometimes? The fact that they were masquerading as Knights seems to indicate foul play.

 

[CappenVarra]

mah boots of free action, bonded to another - and that grouchy Sophie no less

we love water, let's get the girls wet without risking their lives - A

 

[Kz3r0]

I suspected he is testing Wrinkly. Wrinkly is probably marked after his encounter with the thing in the woods. So he's more interesting than Andrew. And this is just a test.

What he will do if/when he discovers we (hopefully) pass it is another matter though.

Before leaving he will probably come a-knocking, it would be a good idea to decide to hide for a week, when they will supposedly leave or maybe get ready to follow him in the crusade against astra beasts with Rain as a sidekick.

 

[Kz3r0]

“It’s Bayther! My surname is Bayther, not Bathory! Our family has nothing to do at all with the Blood Countess! How many times do I have to repeat that, Sophie McClellan?” Elizabeth protests. “Besides, we are just children, are we not? We can be friendly in a way adults cannot!”

I suspect that this girl would be more interested in us if we really were the thrall of a vampire, she has some kinky fetish too.
Prime waifu material.

 

[Kz3r0]

A

 

[ItsChon]

treave Might as well lock it to A. These updates are like crack, I want as much as I can get.

 

[Baltika9]

Before leaving he will probably come a-knocking, it would be a good idea to decide to hide for a week,

I think we should join him. Here's what I'm getting of the overarching story so far.
1. The Angels of God are the elves, and they are working with different mystics and scientists throughout the Tower. It jives with the possibility that they live beyond the Wall of God, thus they 'come from above,' i.e., from God and Heaven.
2. The devils that Rasputin spoke of are the nazguls/shadowbeasts, and they're hunting the elves and pursuing these Gates of God. Maybe this is why they broke in here a few months ago? I think that the Nazgul we killed in the prologue was one such intruder.
3. Rasputin is one of the good guys, and he is very powerful. He can help us keep Rain safe and maybe even help her find others of her kind.
4. Rasputin can be a good mentor for us, even if he's an unsettling person. We have no right to judge him on that. We ourselves are kinda creepy, aside from being ugly.
5. These guys are not Knights, but a special task force from the Russian Imperial Leibguard (the Tsar's personal bodyguard regiment). They also aren't the only ones pursuing these Gates of God and access to the Thirtieth Floor. And there's probably more than just Rasputin out there, like Crowley and other famous occultists.

“It’s Bayther! My surname is Bayther, not Bathory! Our family has nothing to do at all with the Blood Countess! How many times do I have to repeat that, Sophie McClellan?” Elizabeth protests. “Besides, we are just children, are we not? We can be friendly in a way adults cannot!”

I suspect that this girl would be more interested in us if we really were the thrall of a vampire, she has some kinky fetish too.
Prime waifu material.

Elizabeth is best girl.

Another thing; I am confident in our PC's ability to be calm under pressure, sit still and hide. In fact, that kind of toughness is probably his best quality. Two sheltered, dainty, Victorian girls? Not so much. I'm worried they'll fuck it up.

That's funny, because both of them have been Stone Cold OGs so far, definitely more brave than Squealing Scotty.

I mean, agreed, the issue is that he's giving off sadistic pedophile vibes. If he just chained the boy up and said let's dip, that'd be one thing, but unless we're getting mixed up due to cultural differences, he's about to hurt and fuck this little kid.

I read it as a cocky and very pissed off officer putting a dumb little bitch back in his fucking place. Like I said, Did Nothing Wrong.

we love water, let's get the girls wet without risking their lives

We could fight a shadowbeast, or we could get the girls wet. Decisions, decisions.

 

[Esquilax]

One path leads downwards, and you can tell that the sound of water is louder from that direction. The other path heads upwards towards the surface, but… you can pick up a beastly smell in that direction, and though you are not sure if you were just imagining it… a faint jangling of chains.

This sound of water that we hear off in the distance: treave, how strong does the current sound? I am dreading the distinct possibility that it's a waterfall and that we've got a long way down. Still, I think I'd take that over a beast that we have no idea how to (a) hide from, or (b) trap/ensnare.

According to the lore update:

The head of each order is to be neutral in theory, but in practice, each will be inclined to act on behalf of the nations they belong to. They are tasked with inspecting, tallying and distributing the Astras excavated by companies and individuals alike. The knights are the only political bodies allowed to station a standing army within the Tower, and should any dispute arise amongst the Council, they are expected to put it to a vote on their own without outside influence... again, in theory.
...
Major cities and towns are directly governed by representatives of the nations which founded those settlements, but the further up the Tower one goes, the less beholden they are to their founding nation. Having been declared neutral ground, the Council of Order maintains general infrastructure between settlements, while the settlements are responsible for their own upkeep. Land is clearly delineated and carefully controlled on the lower levels, while up on the frontier floors, the Wild Tops, it can be anyone’s claim, as long as they can keep it.

I suppose the Tsar got some trusted men stationed in the Motherland and entrusted this super secret task to them? He didn't want to leave it to someone from the Tower and risk having it leaked? I don't know.

 

[Kz3r0]

I wonder if this, our first Astra would have been "Water, mutability", to perfectly align with our sign, no matter which of the three we chose. Or if we got lucky with the book?

Sophie seems to have troubles with the glasses, I guess bad affinity there.

 

[Life of the Party]

Do other characters also get stats?

I asked because Baltika9 suggested fighting the beast 3-on-1 so I was curious if we could see, for example, the girls' stats? Or even Andrew's?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Rasputin can be a good mentor for us, even if he's an unsettling person. We have no right to judge him on that. though We ourselves are kinda creepy,a side from being ugly.

Speaking of unsettling, your adoration of the man is getting progressively more creepy...

That said, I agree with you to a point. He does have that Shulgi in his latter years vibe.

Then again, do keep in mind that he just locked a bunch of children in a room they may not ever have found their way out of. His powers of perception, be they magical or otherwise, clearly detected us and probably detected the beast as well.

He seems not only a man of genuine faith, but also a bit of a gambler. Rather than waste time killing us or seeing us captured and raped by the knights, he locked us in the room. If we escape, it will be the will of heaven and if not, that will also be the will of heaven.

 

[Kz3r0]

By the way seems that the Leib Guard here is inspired by the Oprichniks.

 

[Baltika9]

By the way seems that the Leibguard here is inspired by oprichniks.

No. This type of secret police, intelligence and counterintelligence work is exactly what the real Leibguard of the Russian Empire did. They also cooperated closely with the actual secret police and took part in subduing domestic revolts. These are not nice people.

Rasputin can be a good mentor for us, even if he's an unsettling person. We have no right to judge him on that. though We ourselves are kinda creepy,a side from being ugly.

Speaking of unsettling, your adoration of the man is getting progressively more creepy...

That said, I agree with you to a point. He does have that Shulgi in his latter years vibe.

Then again, do keep in mind that he just locked a bunch of children in a room they may not ever have found their way out of. His powers of perception, be they magical or otherwise, clearly detected us and probably detected the beast as well.

He seems not only a man of genuine faith, but also a bit of a gambler. Rather than waste time killing us or seeing us captured and raped by the knights, he locked us in the room. If we escape, it will be the will of heaven and if not, that will also be the will of heaven.

No, this is the Zhang Jue situation again. All I'm saying is that he's one of the good guys, and that he will be a good teacher for us. Not that we need to suck his dick. If we do end up as his pupil (please let it be so, treave), I expect a tough go of it. But with our physical and mental stats, it's nothing that we can't handle.

 

[Kz3r0]

No. This type of secret police work, intelligence and counterintelligence work is exactly what the real Leibguard of the Russian Empire did. They also cooperated closely with the actual secret police and took part in subduing domestic revolts. These are not nice people.

I was referring to their sexual habits.

 

[Tigranes]

Andrew's behaviour is typical hero complex. Dude wants to do good, which is nice, but he thinks that's all that's needed and can't stop himself charging in Leeroy style. In some cases that will be useful, in some cases he's going to make a big fat mess and make things worse.

All things considered, probably for the best that we didn't go with him and that we're not with him now. Perhaps he'll be hunting us down in the future.

 

[Baltika9]

No. This type of secret police work, intelligence and counterintelligence work is exactly what the real Leibguard of the Russian Empire did. They also cooperated closely with the actual secret police and took part in subduing domestic revolts. These are not nice people.

I was referring to their sexual habits.

Ah yes, I forget that the codex is a place for horny dudes in the best of times. Now that we're all on quarantine, sex is all we can think about. This is why we are all so obsessed with whom Andrew will stick his dick in, and who will stick their dick in Andrew, and whether or not someone will stick their dick into us.

...are you guys sure you're just not possessive of Andrew? Because it's cool if you are. I guess we can play as a gay dude if you want.

 

[Grimgravy]

A

 

[Absinthe]

In hindsight, Absinthe, I can see us shooting the light and escaping going one of two ways. It's clear they would have had an interest in pursuing us. Silencing witnesses. But Rasputin and the others didn't really seem to care about it too much. Alexi wanted to get his rocks off more than he wanted to keep Andrew from talking via the shame of being raped. I think they may have let us go.

Alexei was perfectly content to let the ruins do us in though, so it's clear that once we'd given them the slip in some side path he wouldn't bother to pursue. Either way, we're in one piece and get to escape, though. The major difference appears to be that we would've escaped a different way and could've had Andrew with us. If we did have Andrew with us, tangling with a beast would've been an easy choice. But as it is, that looks to be bait to downgrade our leg's condition from "injured" to "lame and not likely to recover without some serious medical expertise or voodoo."

However, if we fell during our escape, we would have to pray Alexi didn't see our burns as a turn on.

I'm hoping that Andrew isn't getting sexually abused there. Kid deserves better.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

If we did have Andrew with us, tangling with a beast would've been an easy choice.

Lol, you're just as bad as Andrew.

In case you missed the point of the last update, a 13-year-old with a magic sword is still just a 13-year-old and can still die in a real fight.

I'm hoping that Andrew isn't getting sexually abused there. Kid deserves better.

Alexi isn't exactly a gentle man. He broke his ribs and his arm. I have no doubt he'd make good on his threats.

Maybe he's too damaged for Alexi to have any fun with though or maybe Scotty will beg his father to take up for the boy.

Other than that, you'd better hope there's some sort of late 19th century equivalent of lube because it's going to be a long week for our boy Andrew.

 

[ItsChon]

Other than that, you'd better hope there's some sort of 19th century equivalent of lube because it's going to be a long week for our boy Andrew.

Yeah, it's called spit.

Poor bastard.

 

[Tigranes]

As I said previously, the knights & Rasputin clearly showed in the update that they're not super interested in chasing this Wrinkly boy down. If we turn up on their doorstep they'll take measures, but if we escape and stay quiet they won't burn the village down for our sake.

Andrew's gonna have to take care of himself. I'm sure the nark sidekick's dad will try his best for them both.

 

[Absinthe]

Lol, you're just as bad as Andrew.

In case you missed the point of the last update, a 13-year-old with a magic sword can still die in a real fight.

Yeah no shit, but we killed a beast with a shitty knife and lots of stabbing ourselves, so it's doable. Andrew seems to have a bit of melee weapons skill so with us occupying the beast's attention and fighting it in our own way, he could just stab the thing to death with his fancy sword, and it'd be over a lot quicker. Not that it matters now, with Andrew getting dragged off.

Alexi isn't exactly a gentle man. He broke his ribs and his arm. I have no doubt he'd make good on his threats.

Maybe he's too damaged for Alexi to have any fun with though or maybe Scotty will beg his father to take up for the boy.

Other than that, you'd better hope there's some sort of 19th century equivalent of lube because it's going to be a long week for our boy Andrew.

Alexei might just be a plain old sadist rather than a pedophile though. Still, bringing Andrew to his chambers does not bode well.

At any rate, treave, it seems A has it by a landslide (13 votes to 2, so far), so shall we lock it?

 

[ItsChon]

What is Treave's timezone? I want to know at what hours of the day I can expect an update.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Yeah no shit, but we killed a beast with a shitty knife and lots of stabbing ourselves, so it's doable. Andrew seems to have a bit of melee weapons skill so with us occupying the beast's attention and fighting it in our own way, he could just stab the thing to death with his fancy sword, and it'd be over a lot quicker. Not that it matters now, with Andrew getting dragged off.

Well, did we really kill it though? I think we just injured it and made it run.

It was a one in a million thing though. The only reason the creature turned its back on us was because we were a small child with a normal knife. Andrew is larger than us and has a astra. You can bet it wouldn't toy with him.

Of course, it may have worked out better for us, since once Andrew was dead, his astra would be ours. If astras can ever change owners that is.