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[LP CYOA] Epic

Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
2,951
It's pretty obvious she is trying to influence us using her powers. The way A is phrased I doubt we are going to have a chance to get back on the mission - this is basically breaking our deal with Sekhenun. And at least we know something about Sekhenun - she has kept her end of the deal with us even after 80 years. We know nothing about Aphrodite or her intentions. I think B is the safest way to test them.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
C. This should explain it.
flirt.gif

Then cut her head off with the sword.

Flopped to B.
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
we don't Need to go but we still can if its wanted

With what ship? Sekhenun and the rest of the crew leave in two days. Once they're gone, we're stuck here.

Tell her we are on a mission, but we can meet up with her afterwards (and why not? another immortal would make a fine ally). Duty before all and all that stuff. If she is reasonable at all she will accept. If she is not, at least we will know where we stand - and we can then try a different approach.

Aphrodite wasn't exactly known for being reasonable to those that spurned her. I don't think that an immortal love goddess is the sort that accepts payment for love charms on credit. At best, she'll let us go, but this move will earn the noblewoman's scorn. Since we refuse to go, that means Mehrune won't get the love charm she wanted. A bullshit line about how our duty right now is to complete the mission at Crete won't work because our actual duty here is to obey Lady Mehrune. Her handmaiden, who speaks for her, told us to go with Aphrodite, so that's what our duty is right now. Ean isn't Shulgi - he doesn't really have the skill of thinking up a clever line of bullshit.

It's pretty obvious she is trying to influence us using her powers. The way A is phrased I doubt we are going to have a chance to get back on the mission - this is basically breaking our deal with Sekhenun. And at least we know something about Sekhenun - she has kept her end of the deal with us even after 80 years. We know nothing about Aphrodite or her intentions. I think B is the safest way to test them.

Of course she's using her powers, it's why she touched us just now. I'd much rather deal with Sekhenun, but I'm afraid that any choice but A will result in us digging ourselves in deeper. I am still contemplating about flopping to B, but I am worried about how the inconsistency in our actions could affect us. First we volunteer to meet the goddess, now we don't want to see her - I don't like that indecisiveness. What the fuck are we doing here?

Basically, I am banking my hopes on Sekhenun giving us an opportunity to stowaway on the ship before it leaves. She is skilled at body manipulation and shielding her psychic presence, so she might be able to work something. It's a gamble, but I can't think of anything better.
 

ScubaV

Prophet
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,022
I think I'll go with C on this one.

This quote is what bothers me:
Aphrodite grabs your arm suddenly, and you feel faint.

I think A and B both will put us under her spell so to speak. C risks angering Mehrune, but may also earn us Aphrodite's respect. Either way, I trust Sekhenun more than an unknown immortal who is obviously messing with our self-control. That said, I'd rather try to get out of this ourselves than jumping straight to her for help.

Flopped to A. B
 
Joined
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Messages
2,951
Basically, I am banking my hopes on Sekhenun giving us an opportunity to stowaway on the ship before it leaves. She is skilled at body manipulation and shielding her psychic presence, so she might be able to work something. It's a gamble, but I can't think of anything better.
Except that's not what the A choice is.
"You agree to the request. Another immortal could aid you better than a Gieloth could."
A effectively means to succumb to whatever control she's placing on us and breaking our deal with Sekhenun. This is totally out of character for Ean - he is a man of his word, and is always loyal to his allies. Yes, Sekhenun might help us escape later - but what if she wont? After all, she's already pissed at us, and now we abandon her and the deal we had for a first piece of immortal ass that we come across? And a pretty manipulative piece of ass might I add - the moment she sees us, she imminently uses her abilities on us?

In fact, I'm thinking of changing my vote to C - B might not be enough to shake off her influence. Does B also involve removing her hand from us (diplomatically, of course)? If yes, then I'm sticking with B. If not, then C.

As for angering Mehrune, so what? There will be other ships soon enough. The one we shouldn't anger is Sekhenun.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
C is the right choice here, bros. Ean doesn't get fucked by bitches. Bitches get fucked by him.
 
Joined
Mar 9, 2012
Messages
382
Project: Eternity
C

Frankly the Geiloth have been more honorable and honest (albeit evil) than our own ostensible kind.

Kinda burns some bridges now.

On an unrelated note, I like being given the choice back on the boat. I approve of making the sidequest not always be the best choice.

Seriously, would it have killed Skekrum to do something like shake her head slightly in a "No" if she really did not want us to go?
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
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Frankly the Geiloth have been more honorable and honest (albeit evil) than our own ostensible kind.
And we can't even say that they're doing this for the lulz, because we know nothing about their motivations. I'm pretty sure that their survival depends on them doing things like this. Their home world was probably destroyed by our Spiritual Lieges, and now they are looking for a new one.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
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Codex 2012
Seriously, would it have killed Skekrum to do something like shake her head slightly in a "No" if she really did not want us to go?
Yeah, what's up with that? And then she gets pissed at us for trying to guess what the fuck she wants?

Actually, she thinks she did move her head that way, and in other ways that 'should've been obvious to you, you ape', but... too imperceptible, one might say. If you'd spent the past 85 years lugging her head around maybe you'd have been able to understand her facial expressions more easily?
:troll:
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
I think A and B both will put us under her spell so to speak. C risks angering Mehrune, but may also earn us Aphrodite's respect. Either way, I trust Sekhenun more than an unknown immortal who is obviously messing with our self-control. That said, I'd rather try to get out of this ourselves than jumping straight to her for help.

It definitely won't earn us Aphrodite's respect, Greek gods don't take kindly to being spurned. Rejecting her so bluntly is certain to embarrass her in front of everybody and will probably provoke her wrath. If not now, then in the future. But if we have to burn some bridges, then I suppose that's how it has to be. We should keep in mind that she's a jealous and vain goddess, so I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to fuck up our plans once we get to Crete.

And we can't even say that they're doing this for the lulz, because we know nothing about their motivations. I'm pretty sure that their survival depends on them doing things like this. Their home world was probably destroyed by our Spiritual Lieges, and now they are looking for a new one.

I'm not so sure about that, we did get a few snippets of info on the Gieloth from Nabu:

Why, has Sekhenun not told you of me? I am surprised. I would have thought her gossipy enough to reveal all the internecine politics of the Gieloth!
...
Suffice to say, I have no love for my lord, nor the foolish little errands that he sends me out on. There are far greater concerns we should be facing than dealing with petty little Earthling squabbles.

I think that they are a highly fractious, intergalactic Empire that has been at war with the Masters for several millenia (the Masters were banished over 2,000 years ago). Beyond that, who knows?
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
But, then again, the masters refer to themselves as the gardeners, and the Gieloth are "weeds" to them. I'd say that someone who refers to himself as an intergalactic gardener is not defeated. I'm just saying that this thing is definitely not black and white.
 

newcomer

Learned
Joined
May 23, 2012
Messages
919
I hope Sekhenum will eat both Aphrodite & Mehrune, that will solve all the problems...
 

oscar

Arcane
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You guys fucked this one up nicely. Aphrodite does not take well to being rejected. But nor is wasting time as her sex slave (if we're lucky) a good move either.
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
You guys fucked this one up nicely. Aphrodite does not take well to being rejected. But nor is wasting time as her sex slave (if we're lucky) a good move either.

Yeah, flopping was stupid on my part. The way I see it, the choices are like this.

A - possible mind control, we are separated from Sekhenun and are on our own. Contrary to what Zero Credibility said, I doubt that Sekhenun will think we betrayed her. We barely have any fucking choice, now do we? We are a mortal stuck between a rock and a hard place, she'll understand. Sekhenun is the type of individual who understands the value of tact and concealing one's motives for the right time. We had Sekhenun at our mercy and spared her, I doubt she'll think we would abandon her so frivolously. So we bide our time, maybe increase some of our power in Aphrodite's presence, then either take her out or escape when the opportunity presents itself.

B - The goddess will still be pissed off, but a tactful response will ensure she lets us go. Problem is, Ean isn't exactly a diplomat, this isn't the sort of thing that he's suited for. I am not confident in Ean's ability to pull this off, it might result in the same thing as C.

C - ScubaV, she definitely won't respect us more - this isn't some martial god of honor who respects courage. She's a capricious, vain love goddess. This is a diplomatic situation, you can't charge in and tell the goddess to fuck off, we have no power here. If we do that this is what's going to happen: Mehrune is simply going to hand us off to Aphrodite, while the goddess' attendants capture us. There is nothing stopping Aphrodite from simply doing so - to everyone here, we are simply a nameless mercenary. We have nothing here, no trump card. She knows we're powerless, we can't even bluff our way out.

What do you think, she's just going to say "Wow, nobody's ever stood up to me like that! Guess I'll let you go"?

The difference is that maybe with A, Aphrodite might let her guard down at some point. By acting compliantly now, it might give us more opportunities down the road.

D - I am pretty sure Sekhenun won't do shit. Her mindset is "you've made your bed, now lie in it"
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
A effectively means to succumb to whatever control she's placing on us and breaking our deal with Sekhenun. This is totally out of character for Ean - he is a man of his word, and is always loyal to his allies. Yes, Sekhenun might help us escape later - but what if she wont? After all, she's already pissed at us, and now we abandon her and the deal we had for a first piece of immortal ass that we come across? And a pretty manipulative piece of ass might I add - the moment she sees us, she imminently uses her abilities on us?

The problem is that acting in a way that we thought was in-character fucked us over last time. What was that we said before: Ean is a man of action, so we ought to go on an ill-advised visit to the goddess because Sekhenun was twitching her face at us in a weird way? Acting in-character doesn't mean being a fucking idiot. Being honorable is all well and good, but we can't be completely truthful and honorable regardless of the circumstances. Ean needs to smarten up before he turns into Ned Stark. Ean knows he is basically a mortal now, and he is aware that he is in a difficult position. We've got four choices here, all of them are kinda shitty to be honest. But A is the least shitty choice.

While we may be honorable, Sekhenun is not. She knows how to be tactful and manipulative in the right circumstances, that's how she rose to become a favoured handmaiden in the first place. She'll see our compliance with this situation as exactly what it is - coercion. Being a Gieloth, I'm sure she is quite familiar with the deadly nature of Gieloth court politics that Nabu alluded to. She knows that telling the truth is a bad idea in a lot of situations, and that sometimes you need to play the courtly game - you have to bow and scrape and be subservient to those more powerful than you, so that you can make your move when your enemy least suspects it.

I'm not saying A is a great choice, but it will buy us some time. Aphrodite's presence caused the voices to stir within Ean's mind again, and I think that allowing us a small boost of power (so we can be a better slave for her, of course) could prove to be her undoing.
 

ScubaV

Prophet
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,022
You make some good arguments. I think I'll flop to B though. A could be better in that we go along willingly, rather than possibly being forced through mind-control. But B has a chance of her letting us go and if she does go for mind-control we should be able to count on Sekhenun bailing us out.

Nah, let's go with A.
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
You make some good arguments. I think I'll flop to B though. A could be better in that we go along willingly, rather than possibly being forced through mind-control. But B has a chance of her letting us go and if she does go for mind-control we should be able to count on Sekhenun bailing us out.

It's possible. We know that Nabu could shield the minds of others, and Sekhenun is a pretty good psychic as well. Might work.

But yeah, C is terrible. This is what will happen:

Ean: Get your hands off me! I'm not going anywhere with you.
Lady Mehrune: I don't care about this insolent mercenary who I barely recognize, in fact, if you want him, you can have him. Give me my potion.
Aphrodite: Sure. Guards, seize him.
Sekhenun: You are a fucking idiot.

I've flopped my original post to B, I think it's the most likely way to continue our mission. I think that it will result in making an enemy out of Aphrodite, but at least we'll be able to head onward to Crete if it works out. No way we leave Cyprus with C.
 

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