In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

[Esquilax]

Okay, fuck everyone else - we're sticking with Aztec Grandma. Oh, and, what a surprise:

“I would be well and truly lost of my mind if I trusted the Cannibal Duke at his word,” Tlalli spits.

A fucking cannibal. We should have domed this cunt with a slingshot, now Sophie's (thankfully) alive and safe, but pretty traumatized from the experience.

Busy at the moment, so I won't vote just yet, but I'm leaning towards spending some quiet time reading books with Sophie. Think it will do her some good.

 

[Baltika9]

A fucking cannibal. We should have domed this cunt with a slingshot, now Sophie's (thankfully) alive and safe, but pretty traumatized from the experience.

Whatever we do, I think we ought to leave Bernard here.

“Oh, such anger! Such a burning hatred you have there, madam! Thankfully, my task is done, having indeed spoken to you as requested of me. A satisfactory jaunt indeed, hmm?

As requested by whom, hmmm? We may not be out of the, ahem, woods yet.

 

[Azira]

Almost eaten. Good thing we didn't accept his offer.
I wonder if direct aggression would've worked.

Well, all alive and accounted for. I guess we should dig for herbs, to see if we can help Tlalli. Let's bring Sophie. Her glasses might help. If not Sophie, then Bernard I guess? Though I'm loathe to leave the hut undefended..

C2>C3>A2

 

[Kalarion]

C4.

We need to get good at the stuff we're supposed to be good at before we start working on our weaknesses imo, and we could use the additional alchemy practice.

For a companion, well... the kind of kid we are might be comfortable having Bernard along for the ride. But we wouldn't be comfortable leaving gramma Tlalli and the two girls alone and (for now) undefended. And we've been alone all our life. An afternoon of solitary work might be just the thing to unwind and really think about everything, for the first time since we went to the ruins.

 

[ItsChon]

Ehhh, it worked out in the end didn't it? Out of curiosity tho, treave what would have happened if we tried to slap him in the dome with a rock?

C4 - Wrinkly is a stoic boy, and I think some time by himself will do him well.

 

[Nevill]

And we've been alone all our life. An afternoon of solitary work might be just the thing to unwind and really think about everything, for the first time since we went to the ruins.

Well, our life kinda sucked.

I'd rather develop a bond with someone. Preferably Bernard, but I am taking suggestions.

Wouldn't be that much of an issue if Rain were with us, but such is life.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

C4.

We need to get good at the stuff we're supposed to be good at before we start working on our weaknesses imo, and we could use the additional alchemy practice.

For a companion, well... the kind of kid we are might be comfortable having Bernard along for the ride. But we wouldn't be comfortable leaving gramma Tlalli and the two girls alone and (for now) undefended. And we've been alone all our life. An afternoon of solitary work might be just the thing to unwind and really think about everything, for the first time since we went to the ruins.

I'm down with this reasoning. C4 it is.

 

[Absinthe]

Guys, let's not make choices blind when we can just ask the girls how suited they are to each activity.

treave Let's ask the girls if they have any experience with medicine. And what medicine do we know that could help Tlalli? And are there any books here on herbs?

 

[Nevill]

...how suited they are to read interesting books (the choice doesn't mention books on herbs)? Practice arithmetics?

We are doing it to pass time until Tlalli wakes up. We aren't even doing the herb-searching to find something immediately helpful to Tlalli, although I suppose we can try.

 

[Kz3r0]

A1

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

And let this be a warning to anyone foolish enough to trust the British.

Perfidious Albion. Perfidious Albion never changes.

I summon thee, Lambchop!

Give them the best "I told you so" you've got!

Did I tell them about John Bull being a monster of some sort? Yes.

Did I tell them that John Bull literaly wanted to eat us? Yes.

Did I tell them that he wouldn't take "no" for an answer? Yes.

Did I tell them about the mist disabling us? Yes.

Did I tell them that we needed to escape as fast as possible? Yes.

If Tlalli hadn't noticed and intervened, we would have certainly died.


Again, I won't say that I'm always right. I admitted we should have picked the gun over the slingshot, even though it ended up not mattering because, when push came to shove, too few waned to shoot the guy anyway, even as a nonlethal distraction.

But in this case I was right. I was very right. So...

*takes a deep breath*

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

C>A1 - I think scouting and looking for herbs might be a good idea. There's probably a reason the hut is here. Maybe there are useful things nearby. If that option doesn't win though, I would like to know what kind of books this woman has.

And while I like Sophie more than Liz at this point, maybe Liz will find something useful while poking around.

 

[Absinthe]

Actually if we had the gun shooting him would've been a much more palatable notion. The entire concern with C was that we'd lack the power for it to achieve anything useful.

 

[Baltika9]

And we've been alone all our life. An afternoon of solitary work might be just the thing to unwind and really think about everything, for the first time since we went to the ruins.

Well, our life kinda sucked.

I'd rather develop a bond with someone. Preferably Bernard, but I am taking suggestions.

I agree with this sentiment. It doesn't really matter what we do, but I don't want us to go back to being a loner.

Esquilax is right in that the best activity for Sophie right now is some quiet time with a book, while I think that Elizabeth would be more cool with going for a walk in the woods. No idea about Bernard, but he might be enough to study mathematics.

Edit:

Actually if we had the gun shooting him would've been a much more palatable notion. The entire concern with C was that we'd lack the power for it to achieve anything.

For you, maybe, but many others didn't want to antagonize the dude period. And ItsChon thought that this was a good buddy of Tlalli's. At least we didn't agree to his offer.

 

[Kz3r0]

Perfidious Albion. Perfidious Albion never changes.

Here is the guy:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Douglas,_3rd_Marquess_of_Queensberry

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Perfidious Albion. Perfidious Albion never changes.

Here is the guy:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Douglas,_3rd_Marquess_of_Queensberry

Stories describe him as an "imbecile" and violently insane.

Sounds like a jolly old chap. I daresay we missed quite the opportunity studying under this man as his apprentice the way some in this thread were assuming we could.

 

[CappenVarra]

C1

 

[Absinthe]

I agree with this sentiment. It doesn't really matter what we do, but I don't want us to go back to being a loner.

I don't mind doing loner things tbh.

Esquilax is right in that the best activity for Sophie right now is some quiet time with a book, while I think that Elizabeth would be more cool with going for a walk in the woods. No idea about Bernard, but he might be enough to study mathematics.

Actually, best activity for Sophie right now would be to not be alone, I suspect. Being alone is one of her fears and right now she's been through something rather scary. I think she needs someone beside her to feel safe.

Actually if we had the gun shooting him would've been a much more palatable notion. The entire concern with C was that we'd lack the power for it to achieve anything.

For you, maybe, but many others didn't want to antagonize the dude period. And ItsChon thought that this was a good buddy of Tlalli's. At least we didn't agree to his offer.

Well for me, my overriding concern was that I could not see C working out so I felt it was safer to take a chance on B than hope we'd actually phase him with C.

 

[Baltika9]

Actually, best activity for Sophie right now would be to not be alone, I suspect.

That's what I meant to say: quiet time with a book in our company. And now that I think about it, this is a nice opportunity to dig through a monster hunter's library. I'll be honest: I'm hoping we'll find something on Rain's people, but even if we manage to calm down our elder sister, then that's cool, too.

Flopping to A2>C1.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Well for me, my overriding concern was that I could not see C working out so I felt it was safer to take a chance on B than hope we'd actually phase him with C.

I never argued that the slingshot would kill him, though one could conceivably kill a human, I was arguing that it should have been used as a distraction.

Do you think it wouldn't have worked as a distraction? Do you think that if we had a bullet, the argument might instead have been to murder him based on him being creepy? Do you think that those who didn't believe he was a monster would have gone along with that? Would you have? Did you believe he was a monster? If you did believe he was a monster, why did you choose to stand there helplessly and answer no? And if you didn't believe he was a monster, why are you saying you would have chosen to try and kill him?

Personally, I think you're full of shit here and looking desperately for a whataboutism to excuse this obvious bad choice that we were only saved from by deus ex machina.

But if you want to blame me, the guy who explicitly warned you that he was a monster and about the mist etc, go right ahead. Clearly it was all my fault for not knowing that not having a gun would make you an illogical pussy.

 

[Nevill]

I think the proper term is "deus ex grandma".
Or as the case might be, "deus ex avia".


Edit: for me, having a gun would probably have a chilling effect. I would not shoot a dude just for being creepy. Would have to have some more proof on hand to do it. A pebble was easier to settle on.

Edit2: alright, book hunter it is.
A2

 

[Absinthe]

Actually, best activity for Sophie right now would be to not be alone, I suspect.

That's what I meant to say: quiet time with a book in our company. And now that I think about it, this is a nice opportunity to dig through a monster hunter's library. I'll be honest: I'm hoping we'll find something on Rain's people, but even if we manage to calm down our elder sister, then that's cool, too.

Flopping to A2>C1.

Reckon I'll join you on that. A2>C4. I don't like C1 because it leaves Sophie alone in the hut and the girl might have a breakdown. Tlalli's hut could also give us clues on what happened to her if we look up "Eye of Cuezaltzin" and "Xiuhtecuhtli", and we might get some clues what the heck being "marked" means.

Well for me, my overriding concern was that I could not see C working out so I felt it was safer to take a chance on B than hope we'd actually phase him with C.

I never argued that the slingshot would kill him, though one could conceivably kill a human, I was arguing that it should have been used as a distraction.

Do you think it wouldn't have worked as a distraction? Do you think that if we had a bullet, the argument might instead have been to murder him based on him being creepy? Do you think that those who didn't believe he was a monster would have gone along with that? Would you have? Did you believe he was a monster? If you did believe he was a monster, why did you choose to stand there helplessly and answer no? And if you didn't believe he was a monster, why are you saying you would have chosen to try and kill him?

The issue is he immediately read our body language right when we stepped back. So I figured that putting a pebble into the slingshot would've been pretty obvious to him and with our choice of weapon being as weak as it was, the only thing we'd achieve is antagonize him.

Personally, I think you're full of shit here and looking desperately for a whataboutism to excuse this obvious bad choice that we were only saved from by deus ex machina.

Feel free to look back through my posts. I mentioned shortly before votes closed that the issue I had with C was that I didn't see it achieving any special surprise round shit and the only difference between C and B in my view was that with C we piss him off and with B we have a chance of him not getting angry. I can tell you now that when I remember very clearly when I was contemplating C vs B I could very much see the appeal of just shooting him if we had a gun, but I wasn't anywhere near as confident in the ability of our slingshot to pose a meaningful threat and throw him off balance. That's what tipped my own vote to B. Lack of confidence in our ability to pose a meaningful threat left me considering that since we were so goddamn outclassed that C was unlikely to do something, it was a safer gamble to see if he would let us go if we didn't attack him, since C and B seemed like they would more or less turn out the same at worst.

But if you want to blame me, the guy who explicitly warned you that he was a monster and about the mist etc, go right ahead.

I wasn't blaming you. This isn't about you. I was pointing out that the fact that we didn't have a gun was a significant factor in why I at least figured we lacked the ability for C to pose a meaningful threat. I wasn't seeing a scenario for how C was supposed to work out. It struck me as praying for the off chance our slingshot somehow manages to do something and I wasn't a big believer in odds like that.

 

[Nevill]

Where does the idea that the mist does anything (except blocking visibility and sound) come from?

You begin to back away as his eyes roll around madly. The air turns heavier, more oppressive, and you can feel a tight squeezing in your chest. Sophie shrieks and tears her glasses from her eyes. She falls to the ground and curls up, hands over her eyes, screaming as she does.

John Bull’s grin does not go away at all, and in fact widens even more, more, and more, until his cheeks begin to split with a raw, tearing noise. And it continues to widen, even as the top half of his head begins to tilt backwards, and his lower jaw hangs slack. He bends over, showing you the gaping cavity in that wide open mouth. Within his mouth is a huge, yellow eye where his throat should be, staring back at you.

“Sophie, run,” you say quietly and firmly. Even as sweat runs down your brow and your legs feel like giving away against this alien terror, you know that you can’t afford to buckle. “Sophie!” you call out again, a bit more urgently.

Unfortunately, whatever she had seen still assails her. All she can manage is to get her screams under control. “My… my legs can’t move…” she wails, on her hands and knees.

I don't thing it says it anywhere that it was a mist effect. Perhaps "the air turns heavier" was taken as such? But otherwise it reads to me as some kind of terror aura effect.

 

[Egosphere]

c4

 

[asxetos]

C3. For the pet.