[LP CYOA] 傳

[Tribute]

Would we be able to use WQS to take down the Bronze Arhat Formation?

 

[Absinthe]

I don't see why not. They would have to have 9+ neigong to prevent us. Seems like only the abbot and Xuxian have neigong that high.

 

[Akkudakku]

A ton of Shaolin rep, for one, but actually:

Fangci’s booming laugh echoes around the hall, amused by your request. “Do you think it easy, Xu Jing? This trial necessitates that you prove you are worthy of using a technique in a way that does not disgrace Shaolin’s name. It means that you must not harm or kill your opponent in the trial, that you demonstrate skill and mercy in your wugong. Are you confident that you can defeat us in such a manner, with your half-hearted mastery of martial arts, Xuxian?”

[...]

“If you succeed, I am willing to spare you on the condition that you can never impart that skill to anyone else… I may trust you to use it wisely, but any disciples you take are another matter,” says the Abbot.

So the trial is to prove that Xuxian is worthy of bearing the skills. And the reason he is not permitted to teach others is because they are not proven trustworthy. Then he tells us this:

“If you are to share in the trial, you must also share in the punishment, should he or you fail. Are you willing to do so, Xu Jing? If you fail, we will consider you as having failed our precepts, under our teachings, and inflict upon you the same punishment as Xuxian.”

Now, on the other side of this logic, it means that if we succeed, then they will be forced to consider Jing as having upheld their precepts under their teachings for Xuxian's skill.

So we would have proven ourselves worthy of it just like Xuxian, which in turn means Xuxian would have to be permitted to teach us.

But has treave said so or you just think so?

 

[Nevill]

The only experience Xuxian has with the Abbott is of injuring him in panic. That will come in handy.

And 'having experience with fighting against formations' is about as meaningful as 'having experience with fighting single dudes'. How would knowing the counter to Guihe or to the Four Lions Formations can help against the Butterfly Dream that relies on different principles entirely? That is a rhethorical question.

But I guess this is going to degenerate into yet another walls of text where people pretend they know all about the inner workings of martial arts mechanics of the LP, and try to present it as a numbers game. Already the names of the moves that would totes beat this, and would be totes useless against that are thrown around.

I guess I'll lean back and bring some popcorn.

 

[Absinthe]

Akkudakku, it's what I think. But the logic seems quite solid to me. As for treave, he has avoided saying anything about this when asked. Do you disagree?

Nevill, you can stop trying to downplay everything.

1. Injuring the abbot and running off isn't that easy either. They did fight.
2. If we have experience fighting groups of people with different formations, yes, it stands to reason we would fare well against yet another group of people with a different formation.

 

[Akkudakku]

The only experience Xuxian has with the Abbott is of injuring him in panic. That will come in handy.

And 'having experience with fighting against formations' is about as meaningful as 'having experience with fighting single dudes'. How would knowing the counter to Guihe or to the Four Lions Formations can help against the Butterfly Dream that relies on different principles entirely? That is a rhethorical question.

But I guess this is going to degenerate into yet another walls of text where people pretend they know all about the inner workings of martial arts mechanics of the LP, and try to present it as a numbers game. Already the names of the moves that would totes beat this, and would be totes useless against that are thrown around.

I guess I'll lean back and bring some popcorn.

What do you propse Nevill, as I see it both A1 and A2 can fail spectacularly because either Jing or Xuxian can fuck up.

 

[Akkudakku]

Akkudakku, it's what I think. But the logic seems quite solid to me. As for treave, he has avoided saying anything about this when asked. Do you disagree?

Nevill, you can stop trying to downplay everything.

1. Injuring the abbot in a panic and running off isn't that easy either.
2. If we have experience fighting groups of people with different formations, yes, it stands to reason we would fare well against yet another group of people with a different formation.

I do agree with Nevill that those points have little play on this matter. It's not about experience in anything, it's about confidence and skill of both fighters - one crumbles and the second is also fucked.

 

[tropic]

The test is about control.

Xuxian is intimidated by the abbott, and more likely to lose control and hurt him.

The 18-man formation is probably ineffective against him anyway - he can just pick them off with his finger laser.

Edit: Some clarification would be nice. If Xuxian proves worthy and Jing proves worthy, can we learn it?

It's not clear from the update... but I suppose treave reserves the right to a little mystery. : )

 

[Absinthe]

Tropic, Shaolin is used to the Yiyang Finger. It's a Shaolin technique. Also, no, he is not so afraid of the abbot:

“Didn’t you beat the Abbot before? Just go even more lightly on him this time around,” you whisper.

“I am pretty sure he was holding back at the time,” mutters Xuxian nervously. “To take both him and the Eighteen Arhats on without injuring any of them… I don’t know if I can do that.”

He's afraid of taking on both of them without injuring any of them. If we take the formation, then he can focus on improving his control to take on the abbot.

Jing also has the Wuying Leipo Kick which usually proves to be a real formation-buster because most formations don't control the aerial field.

 

[Grimgravy]

B

Not our fight. We've already done our part. No point overstepping our duty like we did at Songfeng. Jing needs to learn that not every problem is his to solve.

Flopped as per below.

 

[tropic]

Tropic, Shaolin is used to the Yiyang Finger. It's a Shaolin technique. Also, no, he is not so afraid of the abbot:

He's afraid of taking on both of them without injuring any of them. If we take the formation, then he can focus on improving his control to take on the abbot.

Jing also has the Wuying Leipo Kick which usually proves to be a real formation-buster because most formations don't control the aerial field.

You're right, my mistake.

Voting B with a flop to A2 if we can be considered worthy to learn the tech... doesn't seem likely though.

We kept Xuxian out of the hands of the Zhang clan.

I think we should focus on helping Xuezi... surely she has some serious neigong tech to teach, not to mention a connection to Heaven - where we will eventually be looking to become immortal again.

 

[Nevill]

What do you propse Nevill, as I see it both A1 and A2 can fail spectacularly because either Jing or Xuxian can fuck up.

I have said my piece. The difficulty is stated to be equal (part of me wonders if it wasn't to avoid stupid debates like the one that is currently going on). We will have first-hand influence on what Jing will do and how well he will fare. More likely than not it will come down to choosing the correct option out of the set.

The only effect we can have on how well Xuxian does his part is by choosing which trial he will face.

I do believe that the spirit/morale/will with which one enters a challenge has a direct impact on the result. Therefore, I want to make the job easier for our buddy here, since we are doing this for his sake in the first place. It would be thematically appropriate for him to overcome his fear and come to terms with his mistake, but I just don't know if he can do that.

Fangshi also has a good argument. This is not exactly our fight. It is not that we don't care enough - we have all reasons to - but the test is Xuxian's to take. I guess I just will find it difficult to write off our journey here as a loss if he does fail.

Xuxian is important, Qi Liuwu hauled his ass all the way to Tufan just to track him down. Getting him on our side would go a long way to completing our goals to survive the wrath of zhang clan and ease the pressure on the Fire Cult. I want to help him, and I want him to owe us. So that's why I am still on A.

Tally

Kz3r0 B
Kipeci A1
The Brazilian Slaughter B>A2
ERYFKRAD B
Akkudakku B>A2
Smashing Axe A2>B
profreshinal B
Azira A2>A1
asxetos A1
XenomorphII B
LWC1996 A1
Jester A2>B
Esquilax A1
Baltika9 A1>B
Rex Feral B>A2>A1
Nevill A1
Elfberserker B
Tigranes A1>B
ChumBucket A1
Kashmir Slippers B
Tribute A1>A2
Fangshi B
Absinthe A2
Grimgravy B
tropic B

A1 - 9 (10)
A2 - 4 (1)
B - 12 (14)

 

[Baltika9]

Flopping to A1> B

 

[treave]

You have a better chance of impressing a bunch of warrior monks and being given special dispensation to learn stuff if you fight and prove yourself in their eyes.

Uh... obviously? Did I need to spell it out?

treave, with the help of Xuezi can we teach Xuxian, before the trial begins, the rudiments of our own legendary skill, in exchange for his knowledge of course?


In this way he should be able to control the technique better.

I already addressed this, you don't have the time. It's not like your respective skills are actually that easy to learn that it can be done in an hour.

 

[Nevill]

There is also a certain library that we were told to visit.

“If you want more details, the library at Emei should provide you with some of the information that you need. One of our forbidden arts, the Jiuyin Huagu Palm (九陰化骨掌, Nine Yin Bone-Dissolving Palm) is said to be a technique found in the Xuanming Jiuyin manual. Sister Miaozhu is the abbess now,” says Miecao. You recall Sister Miaozhu - she was the head of the Castration Nuns, and no stranger to you. “She might be willing to help you out. If you really do want to find out more, however, I suggest you head to Shaolin Temple. Their repository of knowledge in martial arts is the greatest out of all the Eight Sects.”

If we can gleam the location of the Jiuyin manual from their books, we can help Xuezi and ourselves.

The fight may not be ours, but its result might prove critical to our long-term survival anyway.

 

[Absinthe]

Fangshi, The Brazilian Slaughter, XenomorphII, profreshinal:

Xuxian has an unfair burden he cannot handle by himself. Lets face it, there is no way he will succeed with B. At this point we just prove we are not willing to risk our own skin to save a friend. That's not who Xu Jing is. Xuxian's responsibility is to confront the Abbot, with A2 we let him do that.

Flop B > A2.

Please guys reiterate what we hope to gain with going A. He can't tech us anyway as Abbt disallowed this.

Treave just said "You have a better chance of impressing a bunch of warrior monks and being given special dispensation to learn stuff if you fight and prove yourself in their eyes." Are you willing to flop to A2 now? Tropic, how about you?

 

[Grimgravy]

Hmm. Showing that Man Tiger Pig can pull his punches and not slaughter people has it's appeal.

Flopping to
A2>B

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

Xuxian has an unfair burden he cannot handle by himself. Lets face it, there is no way he will succeed with B. At this point we just prove we are not willing to risk our own skin to save a friend. That's not who Xu Jing is. Xuxian's responsibility is to confront the Abbot, with A2 we let him do that.

Why do you say that Xuxian is a friend? We have met a grand total of one time, and then it did not give us a lot of time to buddy-up. We know almost nothing about the guy. Yes, Xu Jing helps his friends if he needs to, but he doesn't have to put his own life/ability on the line every time some acquaintance fucks themselves over.

 

[Absinthe]

We all know Xuxian is a good guy we can trust. We came here to help him out and learn about the Xiaoming Jiuyang manual. Backing out at the last moment because we don't want to put our own skin on the line is such a chicken move.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

We didn't come here necessarily to help him out. I missed out on all the discuss for going here in the first place, but it seems to me that everyone just has a hard-on for legendary skills.

Besides, Jing has shown on numerous occaisions that he is perfectly willing to throw his friends under the rug when they explicitly ask him for his help (Shun) or never opt to visit them when he has had multiple opportunities to do so (Guo Fu).

I know that I am getting a bit away from the matter at hand, but I don't think that "Xuxian is a bro" is anywhere near a good enough reason possibly to ruin ourselves over. I don't think that the pros are in any way good enough to outweigh the cons and uncertainty.

 

[Absinthe]

We didn't throw our friends under the rug. When we said we wouldn't be a constable, we did it because we had obligations to our other friends. When we passed on meeting Shun, we did it to find Yunzi and we still met up with the constables later and did the task Shun asked of us. As for not visiting Guo Fu, we have had priorities and we also don't want to draw Guo Fu into our troubles. That's not "throwing them under the rug."

I do believe that the spirit/morale/will with which one enters a challenge has a direct impact on the result. Therefore, I want to make the job easier for our buddy here, since we are doing this for his sake in the first place. It would be thematically appropriate for him to overcome his fear and come to terms with his mistake, but I just don't know if he can do that.

It wouldn't be much of a trial if there were no doubt. If you truly think that either challenge is equal, yet it is more thematically appropriate for Xuxian to face the Abbot, then why not vote A2?

 

[Jester]

*Sigh.*

The opponents are said to be of equal difficulty overall. They are not going to be easier or tougher to defeat if there are no additional factors.

All I am saying is that it is easier for Xuxian to face 18 random dudes than 1 Abbott. It makes no difference to Jing.

And we have to think for both fighters here.

Its true that its easier to drop one of weaker people, just hit hard enough for him to lose consciousness. The problems are if he hit to hard we loose so he would have to control his tech so much better, so any power surges are ill advised. There are multiple people attacking from different directions, so i would expect it changing into attrition contest if formation isnt disabled. Even though he could have good endurance, str and agi we cant forget that he was considered unskilled at martial arts before neigong boost so i dont expect him to have skill to use them that well. Abbot hadnt gone all out last time they fight so i doubt that he will try to do it this time.

 

[Kipeci]

If we're going with A2 I think it's not worth the risk that he'll freeze up against his master or that we'll accidentally maim one of their formation fighters, something we have an unnerving amount of practice in.

I'll flop to A1>B, though it's a bummer to miss out on this chance to be sure.

 

[Akkudakku]

FINE! A2 I'm blaming treave for this.

 

[Absinthe]

If we're going with A2 I think it's not worth the risk that he'll freeze up against his master or that we'll accidentally maim one of their formation fighters, something we have an unnerving amount of practice in.

Xuxian is willing to take the trial. He's just worried he can't handle going through all of it. We can handle the first part and let him face the Abbot, as is his responsibility. As for accidentally maiming one of their formation fighters, with the Wuying Leipo Kick, Xianglong Eighteen Palms, and qi leeching we have enough non-maiming techniques that I'm not particularly worried about this. I know you think it would be really cool if Jing faced the abbot badass-style, but that's not what this trial is about.