In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

[Absinthe]

B. Tell Tlalli to leave this one to you while she goes after the injured enemy. You might not be able to beat it, but you think you can buy enough time until the old lady finishes off the previous enemy and returns.

Don't do this. We don't have the skills to take on the shifter and protect Sophie. We can't really keep the new shifter from running off either. Sophie is easily safer off with just Tlalli and even that feels unsafe to us. This is just setting us up for disaster.

I had to look up the macuahuitl, and even though it's 'smaller sized', are people really sure its a good choice? For a child? First of all, its not a sword, its a cricket bat shaped club with obsidian blades sticking out at one end. No hand guard, small pommel. Since its small, and we're not strong, we'll have to swing it pretty damn hard.

That's not the problem with a macuahuitl. Obsidian is crazy sharp, to the point of developing edges that are a single atom wide. A decent swing will cut.

What if we miss, or it slips? Not impossible at 0 melee skill. I'd stick to the dagger, if i was Wrinkly. If the revolvers too hardcore, then the slinshot is the safe choice.

And herein lies the problem. We don't have the skill to be swinging a thing like this, and the obsidian edges can very easily harm ourselves. I'm all for learning some melee weapons skill and picking up a macuahuitl on the way back, but right now we should stick with what we know. The revolver is probably a better pick than the slingshot imo. It has way better firepower and it's within our abilities to use, so unless we pick 1A or 2C where we're pressured to make difficult shots (or worse still, 2B where we'll end up in a melee), I'd take it.

My thinking before reading any other votes is this:

1B
2C>D

I recommend 2D. Elizabeth has the support of Bernard, a special sphere to down the shapeshifter once it gets close, boots to escape if it gets hairy, and the shifter headed her way is injured. Sophie on the other hand has no boots, no sphere, no real ability to protect herself, and the shifter here is in top condition.

 

[Kz3r0]

I am in favor of using the gun only in case of close quarter combat.

 

[Kz3r0]

All right, edited my vote, having a long range weapon seems a good idea, with the caveat of using the gun only if the distance is minimal.

For whom to help, Sophie is a no brainer, conditionally Tlalli is the next most logical one.

By the way I realized now that Tlalli by the name, weapon and astra is Aztec, I am slow.

 

[Baltika9]

And staying with Sophie just feels very 'meh:' okay, bro, you wanted to come here and hunt a changeling

Nah, we wanted to come help hunt a changeling. Our role is defined by our Astra, which is how Liz got hers.

The initial plan did not have us participate beyond basic tracking, simply because we can't outrun the hag on foot. Even Tlalli can't without the orb.*

Wrinkly is a pragmatic a lot more than he is a glory seeker.

We joined a hunt to make ourselves useful. Now that the original plan went to shit, we need to adapt. I think that the best way to do so is to take down the wounded hag with Liz and Bernard and let Hunt3r Boi assess the situation from there. In addition, will get points with Elizabeth and, hopefully, convince Tlalli that we're a worthwhile apprentice.

* Edit: which, incidentally, is causing my apprehension with E. We may spot the ambush, but can we react in time?

That's rather the point of ambushing the ambusher. Standing like a jackass in the open, protecting the lone member isolated from combat, will leave us open to the ambush.

 

[Nevill]

That's rather the point of ambushing the ambusher. Standing like a jackass in the open, protecting the lone member isolated from combat, will leave us open to the ambush.

Still don't understand. How do you ambush someone who can see it coming?

You said it yourself, Sophie can spot an attacker ahead of time if there is one. What she can't do is fight it off.

Of course there is a chance that they would ambush other parties... but that is rather the point of 2D?

 

[Absinthe]

There's no real need to chase the wounded shifter. Elizabeth has a sphere from Tlalli designed to worsen its state, Bernard is there to fight it, she has boots to let her run, and the shifter headed her way is injured. It's Sophie who needs help right now. She has no sphere, no boots, and the shifter here is still in top condition. She can't protect herself. I'm fairly certain Tlalli can handle the shifter here, but I'm not sure she can simultaneously protect Sophie, so we should protect her.

Adding preference for second vote to D>A.

 

[Azira]

It's a shapeshifter. We have no idea what it can do, and we cannot assume Elizabeth is safe. She might freeze up, miss with the sphere or something similar. And the cat might not be able to take down even a slowed shifter.
We're assuming stuff. All the time.

My vote is tied to what I think/assume is the best course of action. How I see our character responding to the situation.

 

[Baltika9]

That's rather the point of ambushing the ambusher. Standing like a jackass in the open, protecting the lone member isolated from combat, will leave us open to the ambush.

Still don't understand. How do you ambush someone who can see it coming?

You said it yourself, Sophie can spot an attacker ahead of time. What she can't do is fight it off.

Look, the decision between guarding Sophie and trying to ambush any third shifter seems like an odd one to me. If Sophie can spot a third shifter, then she can call it out and we can intercept. Then why would we stand out in the open right by her? 2D doesn't make much sense to me, period.

There's no need to defend Sophie, unless one shifter or another somehow take down their current opponents and rush Sophie, or if there's a Shulgi third shifter hiding in the swamp. And if we're concerned about that one, why not try to strike at it, rather than letting it strike at us?

We're assuming stuff. All the time.

My vote is tied to what I think/assume is the best course of action. How I see our character responding to the situation.

This is the key issue: we know nothing of the situation, all we can do right now is react. We can choose to react actively, or passively.

 

[Tigranes]

Using a gun for the first time in your life, untrained, is a recipe for disaster, no? Gun nerds can correct me, but wouldn't he just fuck it up? Long-term it's a great choice, short-term maybe not helpful?

It's really not hard at all. Perhaps I had an advantage cause I'd been exposed to guns all my life through video games and popular media, but when my father was getting a license to carry for a security job I went with him for the three visits and shot all sorts of handguns and a shotgun or two. Within five minutes I was comfortable enough with each gun to be able to flick the safety off, fire some rounds, and then reload the weapon. Sure I was a little ham fisted, but it's not like we have to be Clint Eastwood with the gun to use it effectively. Just keep your finger off the trigger, point it towards the direction of whatever is rushing towards you, and unload. Assuming Wrinkly is intelligent, and he was given a little tutorial on how to use the gun as well as fiddling with it while we were looking for the shifters, there is nothing to suggest that he would fuck anything up. You yourself picked defending Sophie. There are no shape shifters around her at the moment, so she won't be in the line of fire.

OK - I had forgotten the bit in the update where we picked the weapon in the morning, so at least we had a little bit of time to fiddle around with it.

I agree that Wrinkly can probably shoot something that's rushing him. I'm skeptical that if Wrinkly sees grandma being swarmed melee by the new enemy, that he can fire and not do friendly fire?

 

[ItsChon]

Using a gun for the first time in your life, untrained, is a recipe for disaster, no? Gun nerds can correct me, but wouldn't he just fuck it up? Long-term it's a great choice, short-term maybe not helpful?

It's really not hard at all. Perhaps I had an advantage cause I'd been exposed to guns all my life through video games and popular media, but when my father was getting a license to carry for a security job I went with him for the three visits and shot all sorts of handguns and a shotgun or two. Within five minutes I was comfortable enough with each gun to be able to flick the safety off, fire some rounds, and then reload the weapon. Sure I was a little ham fisted, but it's not like we have to be Clint Eastwood with the gun to use it effectively. Just keep your finger off the trigger, point it towards the direction of whatever is rushing towards you, and unload. Assuming Wrinkly is intelligent, and he was given a little tutorial on how to use the gun as well as fiddling with it while we were looking for the shifters, there is nothing to suggest that he would fuck anything up. You yourself picked defending Sophie. There are no shape shifters around her at the moment, so she won't be in the line of fire.

OK - I had forgotten the bit in the update where we picked the weapon in the morning, so at least we had a little bit of time to fiddle around with it.

I agree that Wrinkly can probably shoot something that's rushing him. I'm skeptical that if Wrinkly sees grandma being swarmed melee by the new enemy, that he can fire and not do friendly fire?

If Tlalli is being swarmed, than none of the weapons we have will be of much use. Either she has a handle on the situation or she doesn't, and us hitting these shapeshifters with slingshots, or brass knuckles, or even a club that we don't have much experience with. Revolver is the most powerful weapon and the easiest to handle. We've even got a skill point in ranged weapons!

 

[Absinthe]

If it's 2A I'd be more skeptical about how good the revolver is, but 2D puts us in a good position to aim and shoot when the thing comes our way.

 

[asxetos]

1. B
I prefer the ranged weapon we have some experience with.
2. A>B
Not completely sure about this one yet tho.

 

[Absinthe]

Revolver has more firepower though. And it's easy enough to pick up, provided you have some understanding of revolvers and capability with ranged weapons. Also, asxetos, don't pick 2B. We're not good enough to take on the shifter and protect Sophie at the same time, that we'd send Tlalli away. We should really just focus on protecting Sophie imo.

 

[Baltika9]

Revolver has more firepower though. And it's easy enough to pick up, provided you have some understanding of revolvers and capability with ranged weapons.

The point about using it at longer range is salient. If we're in the back with Sophie, we might as well go with the slingshot to provide overwatch and long-range support.

I'm warming up to your idea of voting in packages, but it may already be too late to pitch it.

 

[Tigranes]

If we're in the back with Sophie,

I'm warming up

But baltika I thought you were squarely in the elizabeth faction how could you

 

[Baltika9]

===Early poll===

==1st choice==
A - 3 (2)
B - 6 (8)
C - 8 (9)
D - 1 (0)

==2nd choice==
A - 3 (2)
B - 2
C - 3 (5)
D - 9
E - 1 (0)

Votes

Lambchop19 A>B D>B>C
ERYFKRAD A>D B>D
Esquilax A>B>D A

baud B>C C
Grimgravy B>C B
Life of the Party B D
Tigranes B D
Azira B>C A>C>B
asxetos B A>B

CappenVarra C C
ItsChon C>B D
Absinthe C>D D>A
Egosphere C D
Kz3r0 C>B D>B
hello friend C D
Nevill C D
Oscar C A

Baltika9 D>A>C E>C

===

If we're in the back with Sophie,

I'm warming up

But baltika I thought you were squarely in the elizabeth faction how could you

Well, she does have the curves... nah. And you're the one who wants to stick with her, ya lecher. I'm with Best Girl, 100%.

Which is why ya'll should vote CC: get a gun, shoot up a changeling with our girl, and then mop up whatever's left.

 

[hello friend]

CD

 

[baud]

AC

After reading the posts in the thread:
B > C
C

 

[Absinthe]

The point about using it at longer range is salient. If we're in the back with Sophie, we might as well go with the slingshot to provide overwatch and long-range support.

2D means we're keeping the gun ready for when the thing comes our way, which it will, and once it does, we shoot it, at which point it will do a lot of damage.

 

[Nevill]

2D means we're keeping the gun ready for when the thing comes our way, which it will

And why is that?

We have a lot of trouble deciding what to do because we don't know how the situation will develop.

 

[Baltika9]

The point about using it at longer range is salient. If we're in the back with Sophie, we might as well go with the slingshot to provide overwatch and long-range support.

2D means we're keeping the gun ready for when the thing comes our way, which it will, and once it does, we shoot it, at which point it will do a lot of damage.

You're assuming that someone or something will definitely come for her, which is not at all guaranteed. And if nothing does come for her, then we won't be able to reliably support the group. A slingshot will enale us to at least provide range support.

I'm still on 1C because I'm hoping that we'll take the proactive course of action and help out Elizabeth, instead of hanging back and waiting for an ambush that might never come. Besides, Sophie can spot an approaching beast (unless she's too distracted) and yell for help, at which point either us or Tlallia can come in for support.

Edit: I'm really uncomfortable with us using a revolver at a long range for the first time. That's when we might actually hit our guys.

 

[Absinthe]

And why is that?

Mostly because I expect it to go after Sophie and us at some point. Same reason why I expect not guarding Sophie will end up with her getting assaulted unless we're picking A maybe.

You're assuming that someone or something will definitely come for her, which is not at all guaranteed. And if nothing does come for her, then we won't be able to reliably support the group. A slingshot will enable us to at least provide range support.

We can do ranged support with a revolver too. Revolvers aren't exactly hard to fire. And we need a weapon that delivers real damage.

I'm still on 1C because I'm hoping that we'll take the proactive course of action and help out Elizabeth, instead of hanging back and waiting for an ambush that might never come. Besides, Sophie can spot an approaching beast (unless she's too distracted) and yell for help, at which point either us or Tlallia can come in for support.

Tlalli and Sophie aren't very mobile in this mire. Tlalli can't do an amazing ninjutsu flip over the shifter to keep it from hurting Sophie. Just because Sophie can call for help doesn't mean help will arrive in time for her. Not when the shifter here is explicitly making the bog harder to move in.

Edit: I'm really uncomfortable with us using a revolver at a long range for the first time. That's when we might actually hit our guys.

Then why are you picking 2C? If you pick C we have to shoot from long range, and neither a slingshot nor a revolver will do much good there. Understand that Tlalli herself expects to be unable to catch up with the fleeing shifter. We're not going to be faster than her. At least here at most we'll deal with medium range, and we'll be able to make sure we can protect Sophie. Sophie cannot protect herself, whereas Elizabeth has those boots and the sphere and Bernard to see to her safety.

 

[Nevill]

Mostly because I expect it to go after Sophie and us at some point.

So no real basis.

Us reinforcing Sophie may be the very reason why disaster would strike from a different direction. Cover up the weakest point, the next in line becomes the new weakest.

Understand that Tlalli herself expects to be unable to catch up with the fleeing shifter. We're not going to be faster than her.

We are not in the same spot, though. We are in a position to reinforce either of 3 groups, meaning we can walk up to Liz before the shifter gets there.

 

[Baltika9]

Understand that Tlalli herself expects to be unable to catch up with the fleeing shifter. We're not going to be faster than her. At least here at most we'll deal with medium range, and we'll be able to make sure we can protect Sophie. Sophie cannot protect herself, whereas Elizabeth has those boots and the sphere and Bernard to see to her safety.

All I understand is that, should Tlalli fail to handle the hag, we're all dead regardless of what we do. If you want to argue that her opponenet can bypass her and head for Sophie, then that is indeed one of many possibilities. However, it isn't a given, and I even find that unlikely. With Tlallie's arsenal of ranged astras, her snake first among them, I don't expect her hag to get far.

As far as Elizabeth's shifter is concerned, if we join her and Bernard, then that thing is done for and we'll be able to provide any assistance anywhere on the field. What I'm proposing is that we kill the wounded opponent first, and take care of any potential third party later.

Then why are you picking 2C? If you pick C we have to shoot from long range, and neither a slingshot nor a revolver will do much good there.

No, with 2 C we're rushing over to help Elizabeth at close range:

C. Rush to back up Elizabeth and Bernard. The injured shifter is fleeing towards them, and though the cat might be strong, Elizabeth doesn’t seem to have any experience in a fight. Tlalli can handle herself.

Unless you take the 'back up' part to mean that we'll back up dat ass.

 

[Absinthe]

So no real basis.

Us reinforcing Sophie may be the very reason why disaster would strike from a different direction. Cover up the weakest point, the next in line becomes the new weakest.

If we don't, with Sophie being by far the weakest link, I expect her to get into the worst position. The worst case scenario is if the current shifter runs after the previous shifter and both go for Elizabeth, but even then she would be able to run for it with her fancy boots and Bernard's help. If we want to avert that one as well we should be going A (and hope nothing else bugs Sophie).

We are not in the same spot, though. We are in a position to reinforce either of 3 groups, meaning we can walk up to Liz before the shifter gets there.

You have no basis for this claim. May as well ask treave whether we can make it to Elizabeth's group before the shifter arrives.

All I understand is that, should Tlalli fail to handle the hag, we're all dead regardless of what we do. If you want to argue that her opponenet can bypass her and head for Sophie, then that is indeed one of many possibilities. However, it isn't a given, and I even find that unlikely. With Tlallie's arsenal of ranged astras, her snake first among them, I don't expect her hag to get far.

I'm not sure why you find it unlikely. The shifter here is worsening the mire to ruin everyone's mobility. The idea that it could outmaneuver Tlalli to take a shot at Sophie isn't some strange unlikelihood. It's also pointed out clearly in the update that Sophie is the only one left alone right now, which is also a pretty good sign that calling for help will not do her much good if something happens. Call me cautious but I think our best move is to see to Sophie's protection here. Elizabeth has the sphere, her own boots, and Bernard to look after her safety.