In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

[Baltika9]

Was this directed at me (in which case I'll answer), or just a general comment?

Nah, that was directed at everyone. We've all been questing for about 9 years together. There's a lot of history here.

So be it.

Yeah, this is intense. I hope that, if we survive, we can get to a good doctor to fix our Beauty score of zero after this.



Us covering Rain with our body was pretty epic, though. Exactly what I thought our character would do.

 

[Nevill]

From a perfectly good story about Wrinkly the Doctor Apprentice, to a half-rotten, half-melted mess in just two updates. Ruining not just ourselves, but the city as well.
And what's even worse, the proper plot progression with it. Premature quickshots, the lot of you!

The Codex dies as it lives, going out in a spear measuring contest.

...I'll be laughing if the people who scoffed at the idea of PRAYing to Uridimmu as our only chance of salvation clutched on to him like scared children to a blanket.

Logically I think I need to vote B, but I don't want to. Abstain?

I like the idea of A, but seeing how the previous decision posed a question "what you are prepared to lose?" I do not foresee another attempt to not lose anything going well. Even if we survive, what are we going to do? We are a cripple, thoroughly chewed and half-digested. And cybernetic prosthetics are not due in a hundred more years.

Eh, you know what, sure.

A. With the last of your strength, you scramble in front of Rain and shield her from the spear. The Astra of the silver shield is still with you, and it might do some good here. No matter what happens to you, you refuse to give Uridimmu the satisfaction of having his prediction come true.

 

[Baltika9]

The Codex dies as it lives, going out in a spear measuring contest.

You know what you must do, bröther. Grasp the Spear by its shaft.

On a more serious note, here is something I missed in the first reading:

Not far away, you see the knights… or at least, what is left of them. It is an exceedingly strange sight. Parts of them are peeking out of the ruins. Here an arm buried in the wall. There, half a face embedded in a pillar. Antonio’s face was found amongst these, and he was still alive. He was screaming, struggling, but all that availed to was his skin of his face ripping away from the stone that he was buried in.

Antonio yet lives. He might pull himself together out of pure spite - he isn't a nice fellow by any means. We might actually need the Hound's support here if he works up the strength to kill us again out of spite.

 

[Nevill]

We might actually need the Hound's support here if he works up the strength to kill us again out of spite.

Not if I kill the character out of spite first!

...seriously, though, I am not sure if we'll live, and I am even less sure of what we'll do if we do. If I wanted to live, I'd vote B, but I came here to play as Wrinkly, the awkward boy with a burn and an honest attitude, and this talk about "no longer being yourself" and "joining the winning side" does not inspire confidence.

I wanted to give Rain a decent childhood, have fun in the big city, and keep our promise to Elizabeth, and what is this?

In front of you, Rain floats, her eyes fixed upon the black sun. Her golden locks have been bleached silver, and they stretch out far past below her legs, waving like the tendrils of some unfathomable sea creature.

The once thriving city of New Vienna is ruins, as far as the eye can see. Strange, twisted structures have pierced up through the ground, pushing aside the man-made buildings that humanity has taken such pride in, even the greatest of which look puny in comparison to these thorny spires. A great, black sun hangs in crimson space, burning like a baleful dark eye. Far above it, the sky has split apart, showing the crumbling remnants of the floor above, tumbling down to this level.

John Bull grins, his mouth pulled apart so wide that you can see every sharp tooth. Before you can react, both he and Liz are already vanishing into the mist.

Nah, I'm fine with whatever outcome.

 

[Baltika9]

If I wanted to live, I'd vote B, but I came here to play as Wrinkly, the awkward boy with a burn and an honest attitude, and this talk about "no longer being yourself" and "joining the winning side" does not inspire confidence.

I wanted to raise Rain, have fun in the big city, and keep our promise to Elizabeth, and what is this?

Me too, man. As I said above, I'll call it a win if Rain survives. We made some choices and then stuff came at us really quick, and now we're here. I hope we can continue as Rain if Wrinkly dies, be interesting to see treave write a female protagonist.

 

[hello friend]

B - This is the devil we know, who has helped us all this time, and who did tell us didn't he - one day we'd be in this position, where it was either accept his help or perish? Or something like that. He's said a lot of stuff. We should have said yes to some of his shit when we were in a better position, now we are desperate but hopefully it will be fine. Dog is friendly and gave us a cool magic eye, now he wants to give us a cool magic spear. Everything is fine. Let's do this!

Also you ppl who were are sucking the Cannibal Duke's dick earlier as if that would have turned out any better. This situation is practically the same, except this time the clearly evil guy we're dealing with is less of a creep. Don't you back out now, boys.

 

[Tigranes]

Oh boy. We've gone so far into the supernatural that I don't even know what's happening. Can someone theorise?

 

[Baltika9]

Oh boy. We've gone so far into the supernatural that I don't even know what's happening. Can someone theorise?

Rain is magical and is the Key to the Lock that Uridimmu mentioned. She prolly opens the gates at the top of the Tower?

To be honest, I'm kinda keeping my fingers crossed for some intervention here, since we're going with A. Maybe the knight-commander will be moved by our selfless defense of our little sister, or some other Elves will show up and whisk us away to safety. Maybe Tlalli shows up? I dunno, but we need something here or we'll end our life as a wrinkled shish-kabob.

 

[ItsChon]

In the event that things go to complete shit and Wrinkly gets offed, I would love for another CYOA set in the exact same setting, with the chance to reroll another character, with the same mechanics. Don't mean to be cringe or sound hopeless, as I'm very much all aboard the Wrinkly express, but I figure I'd throw my two cents out there just in case.

EDIT: Also, just a call back, the stealth Astra would have been 10x as effective as the shitty shield one we took, just saying. Could've really changed a ton about how everything played out.

 

[Grimgravy]

A

 

[hello friend]

Not only the stealth astra, we could have been flying high with stealth + gun combo. What could've been.

 

[Azira]

Admission of guilt, eh Absinthe?

Ohwell. Wrinkly must stay true to himself. He sacrificed himself to shield Rain just now, and by the will of the Tower, he will do so again.

A

 

[ChumBucket]

I am hopping on the A train to whatever station it takes us.

 

[Baltika9]

Admission of guilt, eh @Absinthe?

It's the Inquisition. There is no innocence, only degrees of guilt - and Wrinkly has quite a few degrees of guilt here.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Admission of guilt, eh @Absinthe?

It's the Inquisition. There is no innocence, only degrees of guilt - and Wrinkly has quite a few degrees of guilt here.

Bruh considering his melted state I'd say it's significantly more than a few degrees.

 

[Kalarion]

Oh boy. We've gone so far into the supernatural that I don't even know what's happening. Can someone theorise?

Rain is magical and is the Key to the Lock that Uridimmu mentioned. She prolly opens the gates at the top of the Tower?

To be honest, I'm kinda keeping my fingers crossed for some intervention here, since we're going with A. Maybe the knight-commander will be moved by our selfless defense of our little sister, or some other Elves will show up and whisk us away to safety. Maybe Tlalli shows up? I dunno, but we need something here or we'll end our life as a wrinkled shish-kabob.

I don't think she's the Key. I think she's one of many. Maybe the last that needs to turn, but not the only.

Recall the interaction between Creepy Priest Man (my money's on Rasputin) and Alexei:

“God is always correct, and God’s words are what I obey.” The man – apparently a monk – raises a jagged, wicked knife to his palm. The blade tears the skin with ease, drawing blood. He places the bleeding hand over the crystal orb, chanting something in a language you do not understand. The red liquid drips over the orb, and orange sparks come to life within it, dancing, joining, until they form a small flame that sparkles with all the colours of the rainbow.

There is a loud rumbling that sounds like it is coming from far, far away, and tremors shake the floor. The girls grab onto each other, stifling back a scream of surprise while you steady yourself calmly. It is as if the entire ruins is about to collapse in on itself. Thankfully, that does not happen.

“It is done,” says the monk when the rumbling subsides. “The way is open. Another of the gates will have opened. We can now come one step closer to the Throne of God… All is for the sake of our Tsar.”

“Indeed, may God bless his reign,” says Alexei solemnly. “All that is left is to witness the open gate with our own eyes. The thirtieth floor… the White Wall.”

“That is where we must go, yes.” The monk stares upwards before closing his eyes. “One step closer to God.” Suddenly, his eyes snap open, and you press yourself against the metal block, ceasing your spying. “We have visitors, it seems. There seems to be someone… hiding outside the door.”

Each Gate in a different location on their floors, each Key taking a different form. It's also possible she's actually the last Gate as well, now that I think about it.

If I'm right that Rain is one of this set, it's a damn good thing in retrospect that we didn't take her with us into the ruins (and I would have voted wrong on that one too; at the time I thought it would be cool to see what she'd get up to in ancient ruins). There's no question in my mind Rasputin would've outed and captured us immediately instead of leaving us to live or die on our own:

The monk is the last to leave. In the darkened room, with only the light from the hallway illuminating the entrance, his features are shrouded in shadow. Yet, two silver coins gleam where his eyes should be, shining in the darkness. “Everything is a test from God,” proclaims the monk out loud, seemingly to himself. Stepping out into the corridor, he raises his hand. A high pitched keening pierces your ears, giving you a headache. Then, the door slams shut – or rather, looks like it is wrenched shut – and you hear a groaning noise coming from it.

 

[Absinthe]

Huh. Wasn't expecting an update so soon. This isn't what I was expecting, but somehow I am content.

MC might be going out young, but he is going out like a man, never compromising his principles, never accepting a shit deal, while protecting those that matter to him.



A

 

[treave]

Let's keep up the momentum, so I'll likely close the vote in around 24 hours from now to prep for what might just be Wrinkly's last update.

 

[Baltika9]

As is Codex tradition. No fuck like MAXIMUM FUCK!

 

[Orbit]

Voting A.

We've been the soft cheese, now it's time to become the cheese with holes. Fall in awe as this turns into maximum cheese, little knight!

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Well, I told you niggers we could get caught.

Going to have to go with A>B

B

I like the doggo and all, but I don't want to become him if possible.

God do I feel smug now knowing that I called it a few pages ago: running means admission of guilt.

Most of us knew it was possible. This was a just a big gamble because we knew we were going to have major problems either way.

If Wrinkly were some silver-tongued genius, I could see him bidding his time and trying to manipulate the situation. But he wasn't.

In the end, this was what the character would do and so is jumping in front of that spear. Using doggo's power is also an option here character-wise, but I am hoping the amulet (and the nature of the spear being flung at Rain) will allow us to deflect it.

 

[Orbit]

I doubt that a rank 1 astra is able to deflect whatever the knight commander is conjuring, when even some shitty underling was able to fuck us over easily. At best I hope we'll be able to body block the spear and keep it from reaching Rain while sacrificing ourselves in the process. Or maybe we'll end up as shish kebab together with Rain. Now that would be bad luck for poor duke missing out on lunch...

 

[BlizzardStockholmSyndrome]

Let's keep up the momentum, so I'll likely close the vote in around 24 hours from now to prep for what might just be Wrinkly's last update.

It was a good 2 years, Wrinkly. I'll pour one for you, little nigga.

 

[Baltika9]

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Alright, I know it's not going to matter to the tally, but I've reconsidered and will vote B.

Here's why: As an A voter, I wanted to remain Wrinkly. But per the text of the choice, it's just not a very Wrinkly thing to do.

If Wrinkly thought he could save Rain, he'd do it. Regardless of what it is. And he'd do it before any concern for himself or for proving anyone right or wrong.

So, in order to remain true to Wrinkly, I choose to act like Wrinkly, even though it means no longer being Wrinkly from here on.

WWWD - What Would Wrinkly Do?

Flopping to B.

Spoiler

(That said, we could end up with a Darth Vader bullshit pyrrhic victory where we kill Rain in the end or something. Don't say I didn't warn ya!