In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

[Nevill]

Assuming I'm correct (which, granted, if I'm right) I'd rather get a shot at it/a chance to stick this creature while it's just leapt out of the muck rather than when it's charging at us full-speed. It's an even less appealing option to fight these things when they are ready and aware of their surroundings.

You are rekindling worries of the local anti-2nd-amendment squad.
You want to be able to react to situation changes, but we are some distance away from all three "points of interest". If new enemy emerges, and we have a melee weapon, we need to get there first, which will take us some time, so taking them as they are leaping out of muck isn't going to happen. If we have a revolver, we now have an ally and a enemy entangled some distance away, and have to do exactly the thing people warned us about. No one wants to chance friendly fire when we never handled a gun before.

This is why people want to move closer towards where they think things may go down.

A crazy old-lady Hunter is coming after me? What do I do? I know she's going to track me down eventually, so I try and even the odds by making the battlefield conditions favourable.

Take out the detection that allows her to find you, wait for the night, and slink away.
Haven't you played enough Starcraft?

Spoiler

I am not at all sure they are interested in taking down a hunter who looks like she could murder them for days if only she could catch them.

 

[Esquilax]

You want to be able to react to situation changes, but we are some distance away from all three "points of interest". If new enemy emerges, and we have a melee weapon, we need to get there first, which will take us some time, so taking them as they are leaping out of muck isn't going to happen. If we have a revolver, we now have an ally and a enemy entangled some distance away, and have to do exactly the thing people warned us about. No one wants to chance friendly fire when we never handled a gun before.

This is why people want to move closer towards where they think things may go down.
...
Take out the detection that allows her to find you, wait for the night, and slink away.
Haven't you played enough Starcraft?

Spoiler

I am not at all sure they are interested in taking down a hunter who looks like she could murder them for days if only she could catch them.

This is a good point. If we're sitting around in a bush, waiting for something to jump out of the swamp, yet we don't have a gun/slingshot, there's no way in hell we'd be able to react fast to close the distance with a melee weapon. You're not going to ambush a goddamn thing sitting in a bush 20 feet away from the action.

Likewise, if you are staying close to Sophie, having a firearm/slingshot is more dangerous. Other than the risk of fatal friendly fire (with the slingshot too - you hit someone in the head with that, they are toast), you want a close-range weapon because enemies are running towards you and you most likely don't have either the time or the skill with the weapon to get more than one decent shot off. Maybe. 21 foot rule is a thing, after all.

Regarding your last paragraph, keep in mind that our presence is just as unexpected to them as the presence of multiple shapeshifters was to us. We expected one shapeshifter; they expected one Hunter.

Based on the circumstances, the most logical combination would be 1B2E (stealthy shots from a slingshot while hidden away, plus you'd make less noise), or 1A/D2D. You either pick a ranged weapon and snipe, or you stay close to Sophie and play bodyguard.

 

[Azira]

"Assume stuff and you make an ass out of u and me". Blergh, hate that saying, but nevertheless it has some truth to it.
I'll amend my original vote, but only towards trying to actually help take down these shifters. That's what we're here for. It's practical. We do have fighting experience. We can use ranged weaponry. The faster we drop these things, the safer everyone will be.

Oh, and two shifters might just mean they're a pair. Maybe it's mamma and pappa shifter, protecting their young...

In before we find their young in the next update and decide to keep and raise one of them. A sibling for Rain.

 

[Baltika9]

What are the distances between the groups? Is Sophie close enough to Tlalli so that the latter can react if she kills her opponent quickly?

Nothing is ever 100% certain.

We forgot one important actor in this drama: Sophie. She's a rather sensible girl, so I doubt that she'll stay still like a distressed damsel in a cheesy Western.

If we follow Liz, she will likely take off after us.

No idea what she'll do in E.

She'll likely stay with us in D, barring something completely out of left field.

 

[Nevill]

She's a rather sensible girl, so I doubt that she'll stay still like a distressed damsel in a cheesy Western.

She is rather sensible, so the only way she is going somewhere is if she loses that sense. Staying still is the smart thing to do, after all, assuming no other hostiles, and even if there are more, moving closer to an active fight when you don't know how to fight and do not want to isn't necessarily a better idea.

I think the smart move for her would be to reconnect with someone not currently engaged (i.e. us), but it's hard to predict what she'll do. Maybe she is afraid of our scars that much. :D

In before we find their young in the next update and decide to keep and raise one of them. A sibling for Rain.

Ah, yes. A tour where we collect orphans to join our glorious ranks while simultaneously murdering their parents. I think we had something like that going in Myth...

 

[oscar]

CA

Quickly deal with the new foe. She seems to be rising the water level what could spell trouble for the girls who will no longer be able to flee quickly from danger.

A revolver is great for intimidatory purposes even though it will take some time for us to become even halfway good at it. I think our mental stats and personality mean we're unlikely to do anything dumb with it either. It would also be worth a good amount if we sell it down the road.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

It would also be worth a good amount if we sell it down the road

Truly you belong on rpgcodex.

 

[Absinthe]

Treave, if we pick E, are we still in a position to help Sophie if something comes her way? Can we hide someplace (and/or relocate Sophie) so that this becomes possible?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I really want the revolver to work.

I know that it won't, but I really want it to.



On the plus side, maybe the one we'll accidentally shoot is the moron who would actually give a 10-year-old a gun.

 

[Grimgravy]

A leaves Liz and the cat to deal with a threat they weren't meant to deal with alone. Not good.
B is closest to the original plan. We hope to survive long enough for grandma to come save our bacon. Surviving is what we're built for. Plus this second shifter seems to be associated with water given

The water begins to rise, turning the swamp into an even worse mire.

and maybe our fishiness will help.
C has us taking on grandma's role in the original plan. Not great, but reasonable given the second shifter.
D has us protecting sis, but she's only one not currently in danger. Could be good if another threat appears, but USELESS in one doesn't.
E is similar to D but leaves sis open to direct attack if there is a third shifter. Again, totally USELESS if there isn't.

B and C are the most reasonable given the threats we know of. I prefer B because it's closest to the original plan. It puts US in the greatest danger (assuming there are only 2 shifters) rather than one of the girls. I'll put my faith in our hardiness and ability to annoy the second shifter so it doesn't even think of Sophie.

 

[CappenVarra]

On the plus side, maybe the one we'll accidentally shoot is the moron who would actually give a 10-year-old a gun.

these are not your modern 10yo kids (well, Sophie is a bit fancy)
this kid had been given bows and knives and stuffies and other lethal tools and used them before
also, J. M. Browning made his first firearm at age 13

 

[treave]

Treave, if we pick E, are we still in a position to help Sophie if something comes her way? Can we hide someplace (and/or relocate Sophie) so that this becomes possible?

Nothing is ever 100% certain.

 

[Esquilax]

Grimgravy presented an awesome argument. D feels a bit too passive, since you're waiting on someone to come after Sophie before you do anything, whereas with B, you're adapting to the situation by stepping in for Grandma temporarily. We're well-suited to take a beating, although I really wish we would stop being on the receiving end of these ass-kickings. We're going to end up a cripple at this rate. Still, I'm confident that we can buy Grandma enough time to kill the runaway shifter and come back before we get too hurt.

Flopping to AB. I changed my original post as well.

 

[Nevill]

Clearly we are asking the wrong questions. We need to ask what is the best possible choice which would allow us to do everything we wanted to do and avoid everything we do not.

...if the character considers a choice, he thinks it will work and that he'd be in a position to do anything he plans to do. The question is whether reality corresponds to the expectations.

 

[Esquilax]

Clearly we are asking the wrong questions. We need to ask what is the best possible choice which would allow us to do everything we wanted to do and avoid everything we do not.

...if the character considers a choice, he thinks it will work and that he'd be in a position to do anything he plans to do. The question is whether reality corresponds to the expectations.

Yeah, but what if every option results in a DEAD END?

 

[Nevill]

We pick the DEAD END which has the most +1 SWORDS in it. Stats SWORDS are important.

 

[Absinthe]

Esquilax, Grimgravy, 2B is the most unreasonable idea. It's precisely us attempting the sort of heroics that are above our level. In the best case scenario, 2B will see us injured. In the worst case scenario, we are injured and Sophie dies. We're not that good yet. Understand, 2B puts us in a bad fight and places Sophie in the very worst position possible. Instead of her being alone and Tlalli handling the shifter here, it will be her being alone and us handling the shifter here. If there is a possibility for any of the choices we pick here to result in Sophie dying, 2B would guarantee it, because it puts her in the very worst position possible. And once that happens, we are in deep shit with Scotsfield in general and McClellan too.

 

[Azira]

We pick the DEAD END which has the most +1 SWORDS in it. Stats SWORDS are important.

Devour soul?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

D feels a bit too passive, since you're waiting on someone to come after Sophie before you do anything

Which is what you do when you guard someone.

Honestly, we’re one heck of an irresponsible brat. Everyone here is doing their job except us and we’re looking to do someone else’s job for them instead of being the most useful where we can be.

Tlalli is fighting the monsters, the cat is guarding Liz, Liz is bait for the monster, Sophie is looking for more enemies and what are we doing? Looking for any excuse we can not to guard the one person that can see these things before they attack, who is totally unguarded at the moment.

Hey, I know what we can do! Let’s do the cat’s job! Or the monster hunter’s job! Let’s hide in the bushes and try and spot the things we literally can’t spot before they attack because we don’t have magic glasses. Anything but guarding the member of our team who is extremely important right now and vulnerable! Please! Anything but that!

 

[Nevill]

Let’s do the cat’s job! Or the monster hunter’s job!

To be fair, when the cat got its assignment, the situation was a bit different, and there was a safety net. The cat's job (as is Elizabeth's) is to delay the monster until the cavalry arrives. Seeing how Tlalli is occupied, the only cavalry left is us. So it merely depends on your assessment of the fight.

But I agree I wouldn' want to do the monster hunter's job. To free her up to do... what? I mean, what do we think she'd be doing more efficiently? Fight monsters? She is already doing that. Reinforce others? Is there any reason her and us would do any better with their roles swapped?

It kinda tastes like "I don't know what to do so you figure it out for me".

 

[Absinthe]

To be fair, Elizabeth has the best escape abilities out of anyone here, the shifter headed her way is already injured, and Elizabeth has a shiny orb which she is primed to use so that the shifter headed her way is even more crippled than it already is, so I think the safety net can do its job and take care of things and even if Bernard doesn't manage to kill the shifter, Elizabeth will still manage to escape.

The person who is defenseless at this moment is Sophie.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

'ang on a minute, maybe we could just ask Sophie if she sees any more of them and plan according-like

 

[Absinthe]

My guess is that if she did see more of them she would already be yelling that information.

 

[Nevill]

To be fair, Elizabeth has the best escape abilities out of anyone here

...with the exception of reptile bears. She is also a pre-teenage girl on stick legs.

Being the best runner isn't going to help you if you are trying to outrun a bear. Even a wounded one.

We have to make a call here, and hope we made the right one.

 

[Absinthe]

Just to be clear, Elizabeth is explicitly more agile than Tlalli in this swamp, she has an orb which explicitly weakens and slows down the already injured shifter, and she has a protector (Bernard). So I would say she has rather good odds of escaping, if she even needs to.

And we really should not overlook the fact that Sophie is by far the most vulnerable party member here.