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[LP CYOA] 傳
- Thread starter treave
- Start date
a bear named spigot
Arcane
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2012
- Messages
- 784
A.
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
The appocolisps has(have?) been averted. My work here is done.
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 11,370
Ninja update.
***
The Pirate in Black
Xiahou Yu had done a bit of digging into the merchant’s daughter before the both of you boarded the boat; he found out that the girl had actually been saved from a pirate attack before this, and claimed that her current husband was the one that did so. It seems that this particular band has both been raiding and also establishing their dominance in the area by driving out other pirates. Unfortunately most of the stories told of their raids were full of embellishment; the scholar and you just did not have the time to dig out the truth of their capabilities. You would just have to go in and adapt on the fly.
The boat had turned out to be a rather old junk that belonged to the Zhou family – before departure you had feared that it would capsize and send you all to the bottom of the ocean, but the servant handling it was an experienced and elderly sailor that managed to bring you through the rough seas with no loss of anything other than Yu’s dinner. He comes up to you, still pale from the ride.
“So, why are we doing this again?”
“Because it’s more fun this way.”
You pull on the pig’s mask and head out.
***
Travelling through the forest, you find some freshly made traps scattered along the forest floor. After nearly falling into a pitfall, you decide to take to the treetops.
It does not take you long to find signs of the pirates. Perched from your vantage point atop the trees, you spot a large collection of sturdy huts. Torches burn around the perimeter, forming a circle against the darkness. It does not look like the hideout you had been expecting – in fact, it appears to be a village, judging from the tools lined up neatly here and there. From the furrows dug some way out, they seem to have been attempting to farm here. You wonder if this village was here before the pirates came, and if they merely appropriated it.
A pinprick of light catches your eye in the distance. It is soon followed by other lights, forming a line – from the colour of the light, those are probably torches, carried by hand. You head towards them, leaping from tree to tree amidst the chirping of the crickets.
You see a line of women and children heading deeper into the woods, with large bundles bound to their back. There are perhaps sixty, maybe seventy of them. Prisoners? Upon a second look, you decide that is not the case. They are unguarded, though you note some of the women are carrying bows and have positioned themselves in a protective formation around the line. From their manner of clothing they are not Han; they could be the pirates’ family members. It seems that they are carrying their possessions with them - an evacuation, perhaps? Faint fragments of their conversation floats to your ear, carried by the wind, but you do not understand a single word.
Thus far you have not seen an actual pirate here. As you are wondering what you should do next, you feel something off.
For just an instant, the cricket chirps faded… behind you.
You whirl around just in time to block a chop aimed at the back of your neck. You raise your other arm to retaliate, but your assailant is already gone, your fingers clawing at shadows. Your hackles rise as your instinct warns you that it is dangerous to stay still. You move.
Pushing off from the branches, you leap towards another tree. The moon is dark tonight; there will be no light to help you. Luckily, you have your ears.
Crickets cease their chirping when they sense something moving towards them. From your experience spending nights in the jungle, you know that they are extremely sensitive – it was by listening to the crickets that you managed to stalk the beasts successfully. As an aside, you tried to stalk Master Zhang with this tactic – it was not successful, simply because his mere presence terrorized every single cricket in the area into silence.
Of course, it works both ways; your own movement will invariably betray you to those who know how to listen.
You spot a blur of darkness, blacker than its surroundings, but before that the song of the crickets have already changed. You dodge your assailant easily enough, but yet again, before you are able to retaliate he has already melted into the shadows. There is no doubt that he is also listening – in the dark forest men’s eyes are more hindrance than help, eager to be tricked by the faint light.
Again, an exchange of blows, none hitting their mark. You continue to listen to the crickets, attempting to locate your target. As he moves, so do you – climbing up trees, hanging from branches, crouching behind rocks and roots; it is becoming a battle of prediction as the both of you manoeuvre to gain a position where you can lay in wait to strike at your moving opponent. The hunter, however, refuses to become the hunted – all of your tricks fail one by one. The decoy, the misstep, the bait; none of them seem to work on your opponent. It irks you to admit it, but he seems to be better at the silent game than you are.
You’ll just have to change the nature of the game. If you can’t beat him in stealth, you’ll just have to lure him out via other means.
“I’m impressed,” you call out. “Perhaps we can exchange pointers about crickets?”
Nothing.
“Are you one of the pirates?” Perhaps it would be better to confirm the identity of your assailant.
Still nothing. You laugh.
“I’m standing right here, but you aren’t going to do anything?”
“No,” whispers a man’s voice next to your ear hoarsely, his tone deep and serious. He doesn’t sound young; perhaps middle-aged. You freeze up in shock, unable to keep your composure; when did he get behind you? Before you can react, a strong arm wraps around your throat and pulls up, forcing your head into a chokehold. You had been listening all the while, even when you were talking. There had been no change in the volume of the crickets at all. He shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on you.
“You focus too much on the crickets,” he says, as if reading your thoughts. His Han is heavily accented, “Rookie mistake. There are ways of moving that even the crickets cannot feel.”
“Yes, well,” you choke out, “it worked out for me in the end, didn’t it? Got you.”
You act before he can respond, reaching behind you and grasping his shoulders. From this position you should be able to hurl him. Bracing your feet against the ground, you tug with all your might, summoning your internal strength to assist you. The man shifts his posture.
It is like pulling a mountain. He does not budge.
His chokehold on you loosens, however, and you immediately take that advantage to slip out of it. As you draw away, you are pulled to a halt by his hand, locked around your elbow in a grip that you cannot escape. You grin. Perfect. You return the favour by grabbing his forearm. For the first time, you get a good look at your assailant. He is clad from head to toe in black just like you are, with only his eyes exposed. The man is definitely a master of some sort –he does not flinch as your fingers fail to dig into his flesh. For just a brief instant you wonder if you may have overreached, but doubting yourself is just too boring when you could instead start trading blows with your masked assailant.
However, he does not seem to have any intent of the sort. With an intricate movement, he frees himself from your grasp like a snake shedding its skin. Within moments he has vanished again. This time, however, he doesn’t continue the attack.
“You are a fighter from the Central Plains, aren’t you?”
“Ah, now you want to talk? That’s fine by me,” you say, though you can’t help but shift your eyes around you warily.
“We do not want any trouble with you. Would you be willing to leave?”
“Sure.” You will have to think of a way to overcome this sentry, but it should be doable, one way or another.
“You do not mean it,” comes the reply, though you cannot tell where it is coming from.
“Of course I do,” you chuckle.
You feel the point of a blade against the hollow of your throat almost instantly. Again, you were entirely unable to detect him. There is no killing intent emanating from the black figure in front of you, but you have no doubt that if push comes to shove that blade is going to go through your throat if you even twitch the wrong way.
“You are very skilled for your age, but overly playful. No more games, boy. This is a bad time for us, and I am in no mood for tricks. Answer my question. You are a fighter from the mainland, right?”
You nod slowly.
“For me, there are two options which my lord has entrusted me with. The first is for you to leave the island. Departing on a boat, alive, or floating away as a corpse, it does not matter to me which. The second is to bring you to meet with him. Having tested your skills I am not too willing to take that risk, but I believe that is what my lord really wishes. I am undecided, boy. What do you think?” whispers the man, his eyes cold and deadly.
***
A. You ask to depart the island safely. This is not a foe you can defeat right now. It may be better for you to wait until the pugilists arrive. You can just wait on the boat, a good distance away, for their arrival. Safety in numbers; once they are here they can serve as a decoy for you. It will definitely be easier to take the head of the pirate leader that way.
B. You ask to meet with the leader. It may be a trap of some sort, or the pirate leader may have something planned, but something about all this doesn’t seem right to you, and you think you need more understanding of the situation. Given this man’s skills, you don’t think it will be easy for you to escape should you travel right into their den, however.
C. You attack him out of the blue, banking on your agility to evade his point-blank thrust. If it doesn’t work you are definitely dead, but you would rather die than be sent off packing in humiliation, or be brought to meet his leader.
***
The Pirate in Black
Xiahou Yu had done a bit of digging into the merchant’s daughter before the both of you boarded the boat; he found out that the girl had actually been saved from a pirate attack before this, and claimed that her current husband was the one that did so. It seems that this particular band has both been raiding and also establishing their dominance in the area by driving out other pirates. Unfortunately most of the stories told of their raids were full of embellishment; the scholar and you just did not have the time to dig out the truth of their capabilities. You would just have to go in and adapt on the fly.
The boat had turned out to be a rather old junk that belonged to the Zhou family – before departure you had feared that it would capsize and send you all to the bottom of the ocean, but the servant handling it was an experienced and elderly sailor that managed to bring you through the rough seas with no loss of anything other than Yu’s dinner. He comes up to you, still pale from the ride.
“So, why are we doing this again?”
“Because it’s more fun this way.”
You pull on the pig’s mask and head out.
***
Travelling through the forest, you find some freshly made traps scattered along the forest floor. After nearly falling into a pitfall, you decide to take to the treetops.
It does not take you long to find signs of the pirates. Perched from your vantage point atop the trees, you spot a large collection of sturdy huts. Torches burn around the perimeter, forming a circle against the darkness. It does not look like the hideout you had been expecting – in fact, it appears to be a village, judging from the tools lined up neatly here and there. From the furrows dug some way out, they seem to have been attempting to farm here. You wonder if this village was here before the pirates came, and if they merely appropriated it.
A pinprick of light catches your eye in the distance. It is soon followed by other lights, forming a line – from the colour of the light, those are probably torches, carried by hand. You head towards them, leaping from tree to tree amidst the chirping of the crickets.
You see a line of women and children heading deeper into the woods, with large bundles bound to their back. There are perhaps sixty, maybe seventy of them. Prisoners? Upon a second look, you decide that is not the case. They are unguarded, though you note some of the women are carrying bows and have positioned themselves in a protective formation around the line. From their manner of clothing they are not Han; they could be the pirates’ family members. It seems that they are carrying their possessions with them - an evacuation, perhaps? Faint fragments of their conversation floats to your ear, carried by the wind, but you do not understand a single word.
Thus far you have not seen an actual pirate here. As you are wondering what you should do next, you feel something off.
For just an instant, the cricket chirps faded… behind you.
You whirl around just in time to block a chop aimed at the back of your neck. You raise your other arm to retaliate, but your assailant is already gone, your fingers clawing at shadows. Your hackles rise as your instinct warns you that it is dangerous to stay still. You move.
Pushing off from the branches, you leap towards another tree. The moon is dark tonight; there will be no light to help you. Luckily, you have your ears.
Crickets cease their chirping when they sense something moving towards them. From your experience spending nights in the jungle, you know that they are extremely sensitive – it was by listening to the crickets that you managed to stalk the beasts successfully. As an aside, you tried to stalk Master Zhang with this tactic – it was not successful, simply because his mere presence terrorized every single cricket in the area into silence.
Of course, it works both ways; your own movement will invariably betray you to those who know how to listen.
You spot a blur of darkness, blacker than its surroundings, but before that the song of the crickets have already changed. You dodge your assailant easily enough, but yet again, before you are able to retaliate he has already melted into the shadows. There is no doubt that he is also listening – in the dark forest men’s eyes are more hindrance than help, eager to be tricked by the faint light.
Again, an exchange of blows, none hitting their mark. You continue to listen to the crickets, attempting to locate your target. As he moves, so do you – climbing up trees, hanging from branches, crouching behind rocks and roots; it is becoming a battle of prediction as the both of you manoeuvre to gain a position where you can lay in wait to strike at your moving opponent. The hunter, however, refuses to become the hunted – all of your tricks fail one by one. The decoy, the misstep, the bait; none of them seem to work on your opponent. It irks you to admit it, but he seems to be better at the silent game than you are.
You’ll just have to change the nature of the game. If you can’t beat him in stealth, you’ll just have to lure him out via other means.
“I’m impressed,” you call out. “Perhaps we can exchange pointers about crickets?”
Nothing.
“Are you one of the pirates?” Perhaps it would be better to confirm the identity of your assailant.
Still nothing. You laugh.
“I’m standing right here, but you aren’t going to do anything?”
“No,” whispers a man’s voice next to your ear hoarsely, his tone deep and serious. He doesn’t sound young; perhaps middle-aged. You freeze up in shock, unable to keep your composure; when did he get behind you? Before you can react, a strong arm wraps around your throat and pulls up, forcing your head into a chokehold. You had been listening all the while, even when you were talking. There had been no change in the volume of the crickets at all. He shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on you.
“You focus too much on the crickets,” he says, as if reading your thoughts. His Han is heavily accented, “Rookie mistake. There are ways of moving that even the crickets cannot feel.”
“Yes, well,” you choke out, “it worked out for me in the end, didn’t it? Got you.”
You act before he can respond, reaching behind you and grasping his shoulders. From this position you should be able to hurl him. Bracing your feet against the ground, you tug with all your might, summoning your internal strength to assist you. The man shifts his posture.
It is like pulling a mountain. He does not budge.
His chokehold on you loosens, however, and you immediately take that advantage to slip out of it. As you draw away, you are pulled to a halt by his hand, locked around your elbow in a grip that you cannot escape. You grin. Perfect. You return the favour by grabbing his forearm. For the first time, you get a good look at your assailant. He is clad from head to toe in black just like you are, with only his eyes exposed. The man is definitely a master of some sort –he does not flinch as your fingers fail to dig into his flesh. For just a brief instant you wonder if you may have overreached, but doubting yourself is just too boring when you could instead start trading blows with your masked assailant.
However, he does not seem to have any intent of the sort. With an intricate movement, he frees himself from your grasp like a snake shedding its skin. Within moments he has vanished again. This time, however, he doesn’t continue the attack.
“You are a fighter from the Central Plains, aren’t you?”
“Ah, now you want to talk? That’s fine by me,” you say, though you can’t help but shift your eyes around you warily.
“We do not want any trouble with you. Would you be willing to leave?”
“Sure.” You will have to think of a way to overcome this sentry, but it should be doable, one way or another.
“You do not mean it,” comes the reply, though you cannot tell where it is coming from.
“Of course I do,” you chuckle.
You feel the point of a blade against the hollow of your throat almost instantly. Again, you were entirely unable to detect him. There is no killing intent emanating from the black figure in front of you, but you have no doubt that if push comes to shove that blade is going to go through your throat if you even twitch the wrong way.
“You are very skilled for your age, but overly playful. No more games, boy. This is a bad time for us, and I am in no mood for tricks. Answer my question. You are a fighter from the mainland, right?”
You nod slowly.
“For me, there are two options which my lord has entrusted me with. The first is for you to leave the island. Departing on a boat, alive, or floating away as a corpse, it does not matter to me which. The second is to bring you to meet with him. Having tested your skills I am not too willing to take that risk, but I believe that is what my lord really wishes. I am undecided, boy. What do you think?” whispers the man, his eyes cold and deadly.
***
A. You ask to depart the island safely. This is not a foe you can defeat right now. It may be better for you to wait until the pugilists arrive. You can just wait on the boat, a good distance away, for their arrival. Safety in numbers; once they are here they can serve as a decoy for you. It will definitely be easier to take the head of the pirate leader that way.
B. You ask to meet with the leader. It may be a trap of some sort, or the pirate leader may have something planned, but something about all this doesn’t seem right to you, and you think you need more understanding of the situation. Given this man’s skills, you don’t think it will be easy for you to escape should you travel right into their den, however.
C. You attack him out of the blue, banking on your agility to evade his point-blank thrust. If it doesn’t work you are definitely dead, but you would rather die than be sent off packing in humiliation, or be brought to meet his leader.
Last edited:
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
Well, A voters, I hope you're happy! Wait, I voted A at the last minute for lulz... Hmm.
Anyway, we started down this path, so we might as well finish it. B
edit: I think C might result in us being nearly killed and brought before the leader incapacitated...
Anyway, we started down this path, so we might as well finish it. B
edit: I think C might result in us being nearly killed and brought before the leader incapacitated...
Hmm.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
I think it's rather telling that Jing, with his invincibility complex, is preparing to die in C.
It probably means he will die.
TOME
Cuckmaster General
- Joined
- May 25, 2012
- Messages
- 1,820
It's the dwabbit rogue. Although it doesn't sound like he is controlling the situation through the pirate leader as I initially thought.
B. I would rather not attack them without first confirming these are the pirates we are supposed to hunt.
B. I would rather not attack them without first confirming these are the pirates we are supposed to hunt.
a bear named spigot
Arcane
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2012
- Messages
- 784
B.
Wanna meet these dudes, obviously something is fishy here.
Wanna meet these dudes, obviously something is fishy here.
obiter dictum
Novice
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2012
- Messages
- 8
Accepting the challenge for the head in the earlier update was a mistake, as predicted. If not for that, we could've gone for B with the simple intent of completing the daughter's quest. Now we're stuck between a rock and a hard place -- potentially failing the daughter's quest by going for A, potentially failing the challenge by going for B, or potentially finishing the LP right now, or some other nasty consequence, by going for C.
Nevill
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
- Messages
- 11,211
Our whole operation may be a giant setup.
The raids might be carried out by a third party, and now the pugilists are going to retaliate on a settlement (who ever heard of pirates tending to farms?) that has nothing to do with these attacks. There are women and children here - and them being foreigners, they don't even know the language to protest their innocence, if that is the case. If worse turns to worst, this will turn into an international incident, and maybe a war. The Empire have already got troubles in the north, and the second front is the last thing it needs. I think it is rather telling that the raids only started recenlty after 60 years of peace, almost coinciding with the nomadic threat - this might be indeed the work of our conspirators.
This might even be the reason why the governor does not act - he knows something is off about this, but can not yet pinpoint as to what. Charging here with a force of 100+ men without learning what's what sounds like a grave mistake. I am glad we chose to scout the place first.
That said, B. We need to find out what is going on, and do it quickly, before the cavalry arrives to wreak havoc.
The raids might be carried out by a third party, and now the pugilists are going to retaliate on a settlement (who ever heard of pirates tending to farms?) that has nothing to do with these attacks. There are women and children here - and them being foreigners, they don't even know the language to protest their innocence, if that is the case. If worse turns to worst, this will turn into an international incident, and maybe a war. The Empire have already got troubles in the north, and the second front is the last thing it needs. I think it is rather telling that the raids only started recenlty after 60 years of peace, almost coinciding with the nomadic threat - this might be indeed the work of our conspirators.
This might even be the reason why the governor does not act - he knows something is off about this, but can not yet pinpoint as to what. Charging here with a force of 100+ men without learning what's what sounds like a grave mistake. I am glad we chose to scout the place first.
That said, B. We need to find out what is going on, and do it quickly, before the cavalry arrives to wreak havoc.
Last edited:
XenomorphII
Prophet
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- Jan 23, 2011
- Messages
- 1,198
B
Stygian Lurker
Liturgist
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 577
B
Elfberserker
Liturgist
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2013
- Messages
- 1,540
B
That was not at all what I expected. This is odd situation with village and ninja master. I think we need more info, we may have already alerted them to invasion force.
That was not at all what I expected. This is odd situation with village and ninja master. I think we need more info, we may have already alerted them to invasion force.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
This is just a really, really bad situation: the orthodoxes were expecting to raid an island full of dirty pirates under the cover of darkness, not at all expecting a hard target. This camp, as it turns out, is a freaking fortified village, with traps outside of it and a ninja master watching over it.
If the assault team marches in under darkness, mediocre fighters that they are, they will be cut down by at least a quarter by the traps and the ninja. Then, they will be pelted by arrows. Since none of them have anti-archery skills, and dodging arrows in dense quarters is really hard, I'd say they'll lose at least another quarter. And if they do make it inside the village to start the slaughter, how will they respond to the villagers and the children? Slaughter them?
This "simple plan"of theirs will backfire one way or the other. We really dug ourselves deep with that challenge to take the leader's head.
If the assault team marches in under darkness, mediocre fighters that they are, they will be cut down by at least a quarter by the traps and the ninja. Then, they will be pelted by arrows. Since none of them have anti-archery skills, and dodging arrows in dense quarters is really hard, I'd say they'll lose at least another quarter. And if they do make it inside the village to start the slaughter, how will they respond to the villagers and the children? Slaughter them?
This "simple plan"of theirs will backfire one way or the other. We really dug ourselves deep with that challenge to take the leader's head.
Nevill
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
- Messages
- 11,211
Seeing as their women carry bows (as a self-defense measure against the pirates?), more likely they will be considered armed enemies and will get slaughtered. And the villagers are likely to consider our men to be the pirates, since they probably would not expect the pugilists to strike at night (and it would be hard to confirm otherwise due to low visibility). Both sides would be unlikely to notice that something is off about the situation until it will be too late.Baltika9 said:
So, yes, this is a shitty situation for everyone to be in. The scene is set for maximum carnage, with no way to settle things peacefully.
But I don't see how our challenge makes it worse. I'd say, if the situation is what I think it is, it no longer matters to anyone.
Elfberserker
Liturgist
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- Oct 25, 2013
- Messages
- 1,540
I am not sure that orthodoxies could even defeat them, even if they reach the village. I am pretty sure that at least men have more martial arts training than your average pirates, not to mention we don't know how many ninjas they have and we don't know good the lord is or his personal bodyguards are. Still whoever is the winner, still suffers maximum casualties.
As for our reputation in this whole affair? It will be hard both for us and orthodoxies to get pirates leader head with having ninja master guarding him and we don't know how good fighter the lord itself is. However, if we can avert this disaster, then surely the good rep outweighs the bad we get for failing our challenge. Then again getting peaceful end might not be possible, even if we have good charisma and speech skills.
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