[LP CYOA] 傳

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

V. Your strange qi condition, though you do not reveal that you have it. So we don't have to lose our arm.

Learning about our qi condition has nothing to do with losing our arm. That's all related to the poison - we cure the poison, we don't lose the arm if/when Zhang encounters us after the conference.

Look, we really need to find stuff relevant to us in terms of getting into Luoying Manor in the first place instead of all this other stuff. We have a lunatic who wants to capture us four days from now, I think we ought to know more about him, even if it happens to be that a lot of it is half-truth. Dude, there's a near-unanimous vote to follow the scholar near the inner court, I think we ought to at least know about the inhabitants a bit if we're going to be sneaking along their turf.

Huh, fsr I thought that our qi condition is why we were being treated by Yao. The update said he expelled the poison, but also cleared the congestion and that we were in danger of our meridians blowing up because of our strange qi. But now the lunatic is talking about poison...

Alright, flopping:

I. Lady Ji.
II. The trial for fellowship.
A
A

I figure if we can somehow gain fellowship, we can learn all we want to about our condition and maybe even gain protection from Lady Ji. I still think finding out about the madman may not be worthwhile as everyone there is too scared of him to know anything really good anyway.

 

[treave]

Huh, fsr I thought that our qi condition is why we were being treated by Yao. The update said he expelled the poison, but also cleared the congestion and that we were in danger of our meridians blowing up because of our strange qi. But now the lunatic is talking about poison...

Yao unblocked your meridians in order to heal you properly, but in doing so it ended up somewhat like breaking a dam, unleashing an uncontrollable, harmful flood of qi. You're being given pills to suppress your internal energy so you don't die. The poison is a separate matter; Yao says that he put it there so that you don't run off on him without paying your debt.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Ah... Anyone still want to repay our debt to this asshole?

I say it may be worth losing an arm to go with the maniac - tho I'd rather do it without that.

 

[Grimgravy]

The poison in our arm was his insurance that we pay our debt. It's unorthodox, bur reasonable. Given that he has grown fond of us, I don't think he'll let us die or lose the arm if it comes to that. It's more likely he'll let us go.

Come on III people, we can get that information from a book. We need VI to complete our mission and it's less likely to be in a book.

 

[Tigranes]

Asshole? He's waiving his usually iron-tight rule of one life for one life; he saved our life, anyway, and he's entitled to some years of service; it's not exactly indentured labour but a pretty useful apprenticeship; he's a pretty likeable guy. Pfft.

 

[treave]

Well, hey, it's the unorthodox world. Yao wouldn't have lasted that long in this world if he was in the habit of thinking some random boy who he rescued is going to be thankful and help him merely out of gratitude for saving his life, and not actually run away the first chance he gets like the ungrateful, power-hungry little bitch that he is.

 

[Baltika9]

Asshole? He's waiving his usually iron-tight rule of one life for one life; he saved our life, anyway, and he's entitled to some years of service; it's not exactly indentured labour but a pretty useful apprenticeship; he's a pretty likeable guy. Pfft.

Indeed. Yao is a bro, we definitely should part with him and Cao'er on good terms. You never know when we'll need a physician in the future, especially with our lifestyle.

Look, we really need to find stuff relevant to us in terms of getting into Luoying Manor in the first place instead of all this other stuff. We have a lunatic who wants to capture us four days from now, I think we ought to know more about him, even if it happens to be that a lot of it is half-truth. Dude, there's a near-unanimous vote to follow the scholar near the inner court, I think we ought to at least know about the inhabitants a bit if we're going to be sneaking along their turf.

Indeed, that's what I meant with the whole "keep Jing's devotion in moderation." Right now, our main goal must be to get into the Inner Cricle, once we're in there we'll have access to very knowledgeable people and resources, something that will get us far more results than asking it from a bunch of random scholars in some conference. Besides, ours is an extremely rare condition, I doubt anyone will part with the knowledge they have on it that easily, if they even know it at all. It's been stated numerous times that this "chaotic qi" thing is an extremely rare thing to come by (which is one of the reasons the Maniac wants us as his student).

So, really, we must focus on the two most enigmatic people here: Lady Ji and Zhang, since we're going into the wing he's in and he's going to be creeping on us the second the conference is over. I want him to be our master, but I'm not losing our arm to him or anyone else.

By the way, I would love to see how "the Emei nuns haev come to castrate you" scenario plays out with that dude as our Master. (One of two ways, "do or die" or "GWAHAHA! TIME")

Edit: flopped my "knowledge vote" to I, VI.

 

[Zero Credibility]

treave, how would sleight-of-hand work if we only have one arm?

I'm pretty sure that removing the poison was only partially the motivation behind his attempt to tear us to pieces like that. The other part ("Then, his smile turns into a wicked grin. “You will be my next apprentice. I have just run out of living ones.") is that he doesn’t really care about apprentices (or anyone else for that matter) that much either. I wonder what other prices we would have to pay to be his apprentice.

As Baltika9 said, we were never inconspicuous due to traveling with the infamous Killing Physician and greasing the heir of the Songfeng sword school in a duel to the death, so that's not the issue.

Right now, I would agree that it's not worth it to go with the Southern Maniac based on his terms: we lose our arm and abandon Cao'er like that. I know we've agreed that our character is going to be pragmatic and willing to do a lot of questionable things to serve the Prince, but Jing still values loyalty and I'm rather fond of her.

However, in general, we simply aren't going to find a better teacher anywhere - this guy is fucking perfect, he fits our style like a glove. He'll know how to utilize our chaotic qi to our advantage rather than our detriment, plus he is a strong, physical guy with a scholarly lean, much like our protagonist. I like Master Yao, but come on, you must admit that his abilities are more suited to someone like Cao'er than they are to Jing.

Oh, and as for all of his apprentices dying, that was very probably less out of outright malice and more to do with the apprentices themselves not measuring up to his insane standards. I think that this bears repeating:

The more close shaves you get into and survive, the faster you learn. That's how your unorthodox life is going to be.

He's an unorthodox master, what did you expect? This is how they teach. Yes, we ought to consider carefully what being his apprentice entails, but this guy is one of the greatest martial artists in China and he is perfectly suited to fulfilling our potential; we would be fools to dismiss someone like Zhang out of hand like that.

Ah... Anyone still want to repay our debt to this asshole?

I say it may be worth losing an arm to go with the maniac - tho I'd rather do it without that.

Ok, the word pragmatism is being thrown around again and I must ask - exactly how is joining up with a first beefed-up lunatic we come across that wanted (and still does) to rip off our arm "pragmatic"? Are we that desperate to be his apprentice and why? Because to me is sounds like throwing everything we have right now (including possibly part of our body) to join up with this guy, who does not exactly fill me with confidence as teachers go. Unless student body-count is suddenly a good trait for martial artist masters. To me that is less pragmatism and more blind power-hunger, and somehow I'm not picturing our guy like that. So if you people call this pragmatism, call me honor (and limbs) before reason all you want.

 

[Baltika9]

Uh, no one is signing up with him right now in exchange for our arm, that's just a bad idea. And the reason why we want him is because of the reasons Esquilax so neatly summed up. It's not about power hunger, it's about actually needing the power and education. He knows what to do with us, which is more than can be said of the 99% of the Martial Artists in the world (yes, even Wudang).

 

[Esquilax]

Damnit, III and V are way too far ahead. Storyfag, ScubaV, Tigranes, The Brazilian Slaughter, if you bros wanna flop, here's an alert. If you don't, you are giant faggots for disagreeing with me.

Except for Scuba, he was probably right that we should have gone orthodox.

... But Zhang is still awesome.

Ok, the word pragmatism is being thrown around again and I must ask - exactly how is joining up with a first beefed-up lunatic we come across that wanted (and still does) to rip off our arm "pragmatic"? Are we that desperate to be his apprentice and why? Because to me is sounds like throwing everything we have right now (including possibly part of our body) to join up with this guy, who does not exactly fill me with confidence as teachers go. Unless student body-count is suddenly a good trait for martial artist masters. To me that is less pragmatism and more blind power-hunger, and somehow I'm not picturing our guy like that. So if you people call this pragmatism, call me honor (and limbs) before reason all you want.

I never said that joining up with Zhang is necessarily pragmatic or not - in my post, I used it in the context of our relationship with Cao'er. We shouldn't abandon her just to gain power by joining Zhang, if possible. So on that point, I actually agree with you.

Where I disagree with you completely is that you are far too dismissive of the guy. He isn't just any "beefed-up lunatic", he is one of the five best martial artists around - you really aren't going to find someone (a) better and (b) willing to teach us. Let's take a look at his peers, shall we?

Eastern Beggar: Qi Liuwu. (Beggar's Sect Head)

Western Snake: Tulu Huodu (Wudu Cult Leader)

Southern Maniac: Zhang Jue (Unaffiliated)

Northern Monk: Abbot Fangzhang (Shaolin Head Abbot)

Central Tao: Wang Zhengchong (Wudang Grand Taoist)

Okay, I've crossed off the Shaolin and the Wudang for obvious reasons; they aren't going to teach us. We chatted a bit with Qi Liuwu, but he's a definite longshot here too. Then we have the Western Snake: ah, revealing that the poison used on Master Rong was made by the cult can't have helped us out with them, right? So, while he happens to be unorthodox like us, that's another longshot. Poison is for faggots too, so there's that. That leaves an unaffiliated Southern Maniac without any current apprentices, a fascination with our unusual qi, and a respect for Jing's tremendous balls, which are the size of grapefruits at this point.

You've provided me with no reasons as to why Yao would be a better Master than us in terms of skills that he can teach us, and I think I've done a pretty good job of explaining why a guy like Zhang would be a great fit for Jing. Okay, yes, his students have the lifespan of your average mosquito: what are you getting at with that? Even Yao, who I'm rather fond of, is holding our lives hostage, so he's not that much different. My point here is that unorthodoxy is generally a high-risk endeavor that requires a lot of learning from experience and "close shaves", so on that note, his style of teaching is rather consistent with the philosophy of being an unorthodox type. There's nothing to indicate that he is killing apprentices for shits and giggles.

I get the feeling that you're looking for some perfect teacher that fits all the criteria we're looking for, is perfect for our character's particular talents, and carries no risk with allying ourselves to. This person doesn't exist.

 

[Grimgravy]

How would a 15 year old kid justify going off with a guy who nearly ripped of his arm to remove the poison without even looking for other options first? That would take mental gymnastics well beyond Jing's abilities. We can can an upside because we didn't experience it. I don't see Jing the character going with the Maniac willingly any time soon. I'm not saying joining him would be bad. Just know that it will have an effect on Jing's psyche. Zhang does have mad style.

Yes, III and V are too far ahead. I'd flop my II to a I but I don't want to cause a massive tie for second place. I'd say VI, I, and IV are the most important in that order.

 

[Esquilax]

How would a 15 year old kid justify going off with a guy who nearly ripped of his arm to remove the poison without even looking for other options first? That would take mental gymnastics well beyond Jing's abilities. We can can an upside because we didn't experience it. I don't see Jing the character going with the Maniac willingly any time soon. I'm not saying joining him would be bad. Just know that it will have an effect on Jing's psyche. Zhang does have mad style.

Now this is actually a very fair point. If a dude wanted to cut off my hand and kidnap me, I wouldn't be eager to be pals with him either. While Jing was fascinated by Zhang and wanted to talk to him, he got more than he bargained for and now wants to get the fuck away from him. I am pretty curious as to what Jing thinks of Zhang at this point.

 

[Baltika9]

"Get that crazy fuck away from me!" most likely. It's alright, we have four days for Zhang to bromance convince us.

 

[treave]

The character is definitely unwilling to go with the Southern Maniac. He'd have to be practically suicidal with nothing else to lose and a great need for power before considering that option. After all, you can't improve if you die from the training. But now that he's attracted Zhang's attention, he might not be able to escape so easily.

 

[Nevill]

I am out for a single day and there are 4 pages worth of DISCUSS already. Excellent choices, lots of combinations, good stuff.

Now that the butthurt over our previous course receded (I still think it will bite us in the ass down the line), I find myself once again able to form coherent sentenses.

For the scholarship choices:
I don't like I. Little is known about the reclusive beauty outside of the manor; the woman have been around for at least two centuries, they say, and she still remains a mystery. I doubt there would be anything more to learn about her than hearsay. Still, as the Luoying Manor is centered around her, it is very possible that she is the one picking the winners. This choice might shed some light on as to what she seeks in candidates.

Picking II is near-sighted. No one here, not even the fellows, have the slightest idea of what the trials entail. It is not because the secret is closely guarded - if there were fellows that lost their membership in the Club due to selling their invitations or whatever, those no longer have a reason to keep their mouths shut. A nature of the trial could still probably be guessed by methods by which they obtain their participants - a show of strength, artistry/rhetorics, or stealthy cunning (I don't think they are unaware of the governor's offer, seeing as a complete stranger like us knew about it; and how did he get his hand on that many invitations? Most likely, those who accepted it are, too, being tried). Coincidentally, our character is experienced in these, some more than others, so we can probably do without collecting other peoples' presumptions about the trial.

III is why we came here. It would be nice to know why Emei nuns are so concerned with the sword, and if they can be convinced to let us keep it. Doing so without knowledge would be taking an unhealthy risk.

IV is interesting. Master Zhang embodies everything I dislike about being unorthodox - he is ruthless, cruel, illogical, and misanthropic. His "I take what I want whether you like it or not" attitude is borderline villainous, and puts him on the same level with common thugs, only infinitely more powerful. I am not too keen on switching masters - regardless of who you think benefits us best (it is true Yao doesn't have much left to offer), now is not the time, unless you want to kiss your arm goodbye. This is why we absolutely need to avoid being abducted by the guy after the conference. Will this choice, coupled with 5 ranks of Speech, help us do so, or will it prove futile, as unorthodox types are not bound by logic, remains to be seen.

V might be interesting as well. If we forfeited our chance with Wudang when we chose Xuzhou, we might make up for this somehow with this choice. Our qi condition, though rare, is not hard to recognize - at least two people knew what was wrong just by looking at us. If anything, I'd like to ask Bookwise Mountain Man about it, he seems like the most decent out of the bunch we encountered so far. It wouldn't net us the answer, but a clue where to look next would be just as good.

VI is what our mission is about.

Good combinations seem to be: III/VI, for maximum plot exposure; V/VI for maximum railroading (those are our two biggest priorities), III and IV/V for maximum self-preservation (the choice of IV or V is whether you think short-term or long-term), I/IV for maximum short-term gain.

I'll go with III/V. We had a plan, let's stick to it. I might be persuaded otherwise if I missed something.

As for our second choice, Speech wins by a landslide. There is a damn good reason for that - it puts our rank at 5, which is hard to gain by other means (I think treave is being overly generous with this one), and is immensely beneficial for our character build. We are perfectly geared for solo missions - we can sneak around, talk our way out when we get caught, and break away if all else fails. Even our techniques reflect this. Combat, speech and stealth combined are a game-breaking combination.

Third choice, I am going with Qilin. We wanted to talk with a scholar because we needed a bro - well, here is our sis. We would be a perfect, unbeatable duo (even though we aren't at a disadvantage being solo). Infiltration missions would go so much smoother with her around - each of you can charm their socks off the opposite gender, while the other sneaks around. Your fighting style revolves around your strength, while she would excel at diversions and covert assassinations (or knock-outs, if you prefer being non-lethal). Truly, there is little to no ground uncovered if you team up.

Oh, I don't think we can trust her yet - or ever - but she will cover our back for as long as we would be useful to her. If she thinks she can have us indebted to her, let her. Besides, it is true that we owe her.

III, V
A
A

 

[Baltika9]

IV is interesting. Master Zhang embodies everything I dislike about being unorthodox - he is ruthless, cruel, illogical, and misanthropic. His "I take what I want whether you like it or not" attitude is borderline villainous, and puts him on the same level with common thugs, only infinitely more powerful. I am not too keen on switching masters - regardless of who you think benefits us best (it is true Yao doesn't have much left to offer), now is not the time, unless you want to kiss your arm goodbye. This is why we absolutely need to avoid being abducted by the guy after the conference. Will this choice, coupled with 5 ranks of Speech, help us do so, or will it prove futile, as unorthodox types are not bound by logic, remains to be seen.

On the first guess, yes, that's what he seems like, but I can't help but think there's more to him than just a thug. Please, don't mistake this for apologism, this guy is insane and brutal, that's for sure. However,

He turns his head, looking at you straight on. His eyes seem dull, as if he is not entirely there.

“What manner of business do you have with me?” The man’s voice is polite and cultured, in a way entirely unbefitting his appearance.

“Ah, I am new here, and I was just wondering if you would-“

He stands up, cutting you off. Up close, the man towers over you by more than a head’s length, and you are rather tall for your age. His dull eyes fixate upon you, and you feel a tremendous wave of fear sweep over your body. It is a feeling you recognize – you have encountered it at least twice before. You felt it when fighting the woman-in-black. You felt it when duelling Rong Zhiyu at Songfeng. It is the fear of death, and this man scares you so much more than the both of them combined. You feel that if he makes a move right now, you would be more certain of your death than if you sprang in front of the Emperor naked and pissed in his face.

“Someone get that boy back! He’ll get killed! Don't just stand around here!”

“Hey, you go then! I’m not going to cross him! We step into his range and we are minced meat!”

Panicked murmurs come from all around you, as the crowd reaffirms your sudden realization that this has been a bad decision.

Unfortunately, it has always been your bad habit not to back down in the face of death.

Forcing your legs to stay upright with all of your will, you maintain your polite smile. “I was wondering if you would be so kind as to acquaint me with your good self,” you say, a bead of sweat trickling down your face. You hear a few gasps from the crowd.

A flicker of interest sparks in his dark eyes. A smile stretches itself slowly over his face. His gaze turns sharp and keen, staring intently into you. The bearded man places his large hands over your shoulders, channeling his internal energy into your body. You feel a throb of dark warmth seeping into your core. Then, he speaks, “Your qi. How very interesting. How beautifully chaotic, like the raging swirls of a stormy ocean. You have rare talent. It would be a shame if I did not let it blossom.”

Then, his smile turns into a wicked grin. “You will be my next apprentice. I have just run out of living ones. Come, I am taking you home.”

It seems he knows meditation and concentration, which would explain the far-off look he had (...or he was just high), he is a master with his own qi, he's also a member of Lady Ji's inner circle and a very intelligent man. Obviously, he's a scholar. This guy has a lot of hidden depths and whatever his story is, it is very interesting indeed. So I wouldn't pass such total judgments just yet, Zhang most likely will surprise us. And hey, maybe we intrigued him so much that he decided "yep, he's my new apprentice and fuck the consequences."

I also like how you're already calling him Master Zhang.

Edit: I thought we came here to join the Inner Circle, what happened to that?

 

[Nevill]

Highly intelligent brutal lunatics that can absent-mindedly tear our limbs off don't cut it for me, sorry.

Zhang most likely will surprise us.

I most certainly hope not to be anywhere near when he decides to surprise anyone.

I also like how you're already calling him Master Zhang.

It is a respectfull form of address, appropriate for the one of such power. I might dislike the guy, but I am not suicidal enough to a point where I let the formalities slide. Don't read too much into it.

Where I disagree with you completely is that you are far too dismissive of the guy. He isn't just any "beefed-up lunatic", he is one of the five best martial artists around - you really aren't going to find someone (a) better and (b) willing to teach us.

When the Dark Side calls, I pretend that nobody is home. I am not THAT power hungry. If the best master is unavailable, I'll settle for second best.

And I would not exclude Wudang just yet. They are not as rigid in their views as Shaolin.

Edit:

I thought we came here to join the Inner Circle, what happened to that?

Your point being?.. We came to the city in search of information. Inner Court is our best shot at this, yes, but we don't have to discard other methods of obtaining it. And what if we don't make it to the Inner Court?

After several days, most of the visitors will be gone. Now is the chance to ask around what interests us most.

 

[Baltika9]

All this talk of "Prince this," and "mission that" makes me think we're losing sight of our initial goal for coming here, which had nothing to do with immediate knowledge, Zhang, Quiling or railroading; that goal being to get into the inner circle.

Zhang most likely will surprise us.

I most certainly hope not to be anywhere near when he decides to surprise anyone.

I meant there's more to him as a person. I don't know if you were reading EPIC back then, but when we first started, the Gieloth were human-eating Lovecraftian abominations and we treated them as evil beings that needed to be exterminated. The truth turned out different.
I'm just sayin', give the guy a chance. We didn't even get to know him, rejecting opportunities like this because "LOL NOPE" is just stupid.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Given our luck, we'll end up with him anyway.

Our luck's the worst kind of good luck there is.

 

[Nevill]

I meant there's more to him as a person.

"Oh, sure, he is a brutal murderer, but he sings SO well." I am sick of these kind of arguments. Brutal murderer comes first, singing is a trait of less importance. I am not sure what can be learned about the Southern Maniac that would shift our opinion of him being a violent loon. A violent loon with a cause and a lot of depth is still one.

I don't know if you were reading EPIC back then, but when we first started, the Gieloth were human-eating Lovecraftian abominations and we treated them as evil beings that needed to be exterminated.

And rightfully so. Did you forget that the only Gieloth we ended up trusting was forced on a less creepy diet? Somewhere down the road we became a human-eating Lovecraftian abomination ourselves, that blurred the lines of what was right and wrong somewhat. But we never were mistaken in our initial assessment. If it has to kill humans to survive, it is an abomination, and it needs to be dealt with, controlled or destroyed. From a human point of view, of course.

All this talk of "Prince this," and "mission that" makes me think we're losing sight of our initial goal for coming here, which had nothing to do with immediate knowledge, Zhang, Quiling or railroading; that goal being to get into the inner circle.

It was the mean to the goal, but never the goal itself. Or am I missing something? A quote would be nice.

I'm just sayin', give the guy a chance. We didn't even get to know him, rejecting opportunities like this because "LOL NOPE" is just stupid.

I am willing to give the guy a chance when Jing is 20 and can not be influenced by him all that much. I do not want to turn out somewhat similar to him.

 

[Baltika9]

I meant there's more to him as a person.

"Oh, sure, he is a brutal murderer, but he sings SO well." I am sick of these kind of arguments. Brutal murderer comes first, singing is a trait of less importance. I am not sure what can be learned about Southern Maniac that would shift our opinion of him being a violent loon. A violent loon with a cause and a lot of depth is still one.

I'm not talking about singing, you can never just put an intelligent being into a neat box, there's always something more, like treave said, there's no strict black-and-white here; whatever this guy's story is, it's an interesting one indeed.

I don't know if you were reading EPIC back then, but when we first started, the Gieloth were human-eating Lovecraftian abominations and we treated them as evil beings that needed to be exterminated.

And rightfully so. Did you forget that the only Gieloth we ended up trusting was forced on a less creepy diet? Somewhere down the road we became a human-eating Lovecraftian abomination ourselves, that blurred the lines of what was right and wrong somewhat. But we never were mistaken in our initial assessment. If it has to kill humans to survive, it is an abomination, and it needs to be dealt with, controlled or destroyed. From a human point of view, of course.

And then the rest of the Gieloth made an alliance with the Immortals and actually came to a mutual understanding where no one has to devour or kill each other and then proceeded to create superhumans. Evil xenos, rotten to the core! So much for a rigid perspective, eh?

I'm just sayin', give the guy a chance. We didn't even get to know him, rejecting opportunities like this because "LOL NOPE" is just stupid.

I am willing to give the guy a chance when Jing is 20 and can not be influenced by him all that much. I do not want to turn out somewhat similar to him.

If this guy got to where he is, he was doing something right. An apprentice studying under a Good Master and then going Dark Side is a very common theme; I think a Good Apprentice studying under an Evil Master would be very interesting to experience.
Edit:

All this talk of "Prince this," and "mission that" makes me think we're losing sight of our initial goal for coming here, which had nothing to do with immediate knowledge, Zhang, Quiling or railroading; that goal being to get into the inner circle.

It was the mean to the goal, but never the goal itself. Or am I missing something? A quote would be nice.
I thought we came here to establish our own contacts and support network and find a place to learn, first and foremost. Or am I missing something?

 

[Nevill]

And then the rest of the Gieloth made an alliance with the Immortals and actually came to a mutual understanding where no one has to devour or kill each other and then proceeded to create superhumans. Evil xenos, rotten to the core! So much for a rigid perspective, eh?

Yes. We weren't against Gieloths because LOL ALIENS EXTERMINATE. We we against them because they ate humans and manipulated their way to the top where they could do so with impunity. Once the renounced their devouring antics by pacting with immortals, we had no reason to jump at their throats. The last alien was accepted on Earth exactly because she wasn't an abomination.

It never was about who they were, it always was about what they did. So, when we turn our attention back to the current LP, what did the Maniac do? He almost tore our arm off, with no regards to our will, and he intends to kidnap us. And then tear our arm off. And he tells us that straight to our face.

What do you suppose I should think about him?

If this guy got to where he is, he was doing something right. An apprentice studying under a Good Master is a very common theme; I think a Good Apprentice studying under an Evil Master would be very interesting to experience.

I think if Jing went with the guy, he would either become twisted, or break, as did others before him. Zhang has a will of iron, and he imposes it on others freely. It would be next to impossible to both keep our identity and survive.

 

[Azira]

ITT we see people leap to conclusions without any evidence.

 

[Nevill]

ITT we see people leap to conclusions without any evidence.

Evidence: The guy wants to rip our arm off because he can't wait to make us his biapprentice.
Conclusion: The guy is bonkers. I don't want to be anywhere near him.

Overly simplistic, yes, but I don't suppose I can be any more clear.

 

[Baltika9]

It never was about who they were, it always was about what they did. So, when we turn our attention back to the current LP, what did the Maniac do? He almost tore our arm off, with no regards to our will, and he intends to kidnap us. And then tear our arm off. And he tells us that straight to our face.

What do you suppose I should think about him?

Ahem, the whole "arm" thing is about the poison, not the "lolz, the arm's gotta go because." The Maniac wants a living apprentice and we obviously can't be one if the poison kills us. And since he doesn't know how to fix the poison, well, he wants us as an apprentice THIS MUCH. Not the most elegant or humane of solutions, yeah, in fact it's a pretty insane thing to do (I suppose that's why he's the Southern Maniac) and his apprentices die off because he puts them through hell. Guess what, though, if we can survive his training, we can survive anything else.

If this guy got to where he is, he was doing something right. An apprentice studying under a Good Master is a very common theme; I think a Good Apprentice studying under an Evil Master would be very interesting to experience.

I think if Jing went with the guy, he would either become twisted, or break, as did others before him. Zhang has a will of iron, and he imposes it on others freely. It would be next to impossible to both keep our identity and survive.

No, I have more faith in our character than that. Jing may be a mischievous, lustful and thieving little bastard but he also has heart and a lot of it. His invincible confidence, one of the defining traits of the character is eating shit and grinning, will see him through this. We don't bend or break, for we are TIGERKHAN!

His grip turns as solid as steel. You wince in pain as you try to shrug him off, but your efforts prove futile. “I can’t!” you say quickly. “I already have a master, and I’m bound to him-“ The man snatches up your arm – the one with the mark of poison. “This? I suppose it is a conundrum. I cannot cure it, and I am afraid I would rather you not die of petty poison. Still, I do have a solution.” He pulls at your arm gently. The crowd begins to shout, calling for help.

“Take off the limb and the poison will not reach your heart. Do not worry. Under my tutelage you will still be more powerful than any man, even with one arm.” With nary a hint of effort from the man, you feel your shoulder joint dislocate. You can already imagine your arm flying off in his grasp, spraying blood all over the hall.

Right now you're losing your mind over the arm incident

ITT we see people leap to conclusions without any evidence.

Exactly. My point is: keep an open mind and don't jump to conclusions.
Edit:

ITT we see people leap to conclusions without any evidence.

Evidence: The guy wants to rip our arm off because he can't wait to make us his biapprentice.
Conclusion: The guy is bonkers. I don't want to be anywhere near him.

Overly simplistic, yes, but I don't suppose I can be any more clear.

Never gonna be a winner with that attitude.