[LP CYOA] 傳

[treave]

What about the brothel job, can we expect help from them?

Yeah, they'll be able to help with gathering information about the brothel and the woman in black. You know she is using a move from Yuhua Hall, and that she has a distinctive red mark on her face, and that she's in her early twenties. That's more than enough information for them to work with, but don't expect an instant report. It'll take some time for the machinery to get working.

Of course, you need to befriend them first anyway.

 

[Baltika9]

Well, all of this is sounding mighty alluring, so I must ask: what kinds of benefits will the sword school have for us as a friend (this is more of a group question, but I won't mind if you give us some hints ) Sword techniques, yeah, swords too. Perhaps we can use them as a sprngboard to increase our rep with other orthodox sect, maybe get them involved with helping us fix our qi. I'm pretty sure they'll have something in their library or perhaps they'll be able to represent us with the Wudang. All we need is some time in their library.

All in all, contacts with the Beggar's Sect can potentially turn our Tigerbro into a pretty effective intelligence agent in the future.

 

[treave]

Uh... if you befriend the sword school you get another friend... I suppose? If you manage to save the leader he might possibly put in a good word for you with Huashan? Though that's more of Cao'er's work, you can't really take credit for that unless you're a douchebag. You don't know much about them, they don't have the renown of the Beggars and are likely no different from the dozens of small schools all over China. It's rather impossible their library will have anything Yao doesn't know.

If you meant Wudang's library, this school won't be able to help you with them. Huashan maybe. You won't know until you go there and deal with the problem.

Of course, that doesn't stop the choice being attractive in other ways, which the B voters have already covered. You might get a sword and a sword technique.

 

[Baltika9]

What's so special about their sword, is it a Masterwork Sword or something?
Off-topic question: how strong is a 10 STR character? Stop a charging bull with his bare hands, deadlift a house strong?

 

[treave]

Uh, nothing special. It's just a common sword. You might ask for one as payment along with a technique manual, that's all. I mean, if you successfully complete the mission. But they may be hiding some prized heirloom blade you can steal or force them to offer as payment if you sneak around. That's a possibility.

Regarding strength, I don't really want to quantify it yet as our stats are considered relative to our peers. Maybe once we hit adulthood.

 

[Kipeci]

B is starting to sound rather painfully unappealing relative to A.

I'll flop to A.

 

[Baltika9]

B is starting to sound rather painfully unappealing relative to A.

That's what makes me suspicious, the "obviously inferior" choices have some hidden depths oftentimes.

 

[Kipeci]

Wait, treave, will this choice impact our relationship with Cao'er or Yao? I mean, obviously it'll probably have more impact for what we do what we arrive on the scene (and I guess there's not really much of a stat to keep track of for our relationship with those two), but will it immediately make them think that we're a bit of a dick if we decide to go to the Swordsman place instead of the Beggar job?

 

[treave]

This choice itself won't impact the relationship, but what happens at each place and the choices you make after that will, and you don't get the same 'event' at both places. I mean, the possible relationship gain and loss is different at both places. I'd suggest not reading too much into this though.

 

[Tigranes]

B is starting to sound rather painfully unappealing relative to A.

That's what makes me suspicious, the "obviously inferior" choices have some hidden depths oftentimes.

It's kind of spurious, but the fact that treave wrote in Yao expressly wanting us to pick A is also suspicious...

 

[treave]

Come now, I wouldn't lay such a blatant trap like 'aha, the old man wants us to go A, therefore we should go B!'

 

[Tigranes]

Yes, but that's precisely what you would say if there was a trap of some sort, and-

 

[treave]

I would in fact expressly deny it as I just did, so that in thinking that you already know about the trap, you fall for the real one instead.

 

[Baltika9]

Is the sword we'll potentially get from the sect a handmade gift for us or just a standard sword off their rack?

 

[LWC1996]

I'm gonna make one last go at those who haven't voted or are still sitting on the fence, regardless of whatever we're thinking about hidden benefits or traps, the Beggars usefulness is a fact and confirmed.

When you leave Yao's side (which you definitely are planning to) would you rather have a sword for company, or the eternal gratitude of a hundred thousand strong sect? We can speculate and debate and joke but not at the expense of ignoring what we know to be true. All I'm saying is, you're gonna need friends, lots of friends, when you're all alone in wuxialand.

 

[ScubaV]

Good arguments for both. I wouldn't be disappointed with B, but I'm voting A.

 

[treave]

Regarding the sword, that's skipping rather ahead, but I can say in general, in these sort of scenarios, that you'll get whatever they want to give you, unless you try to ask for better compensation. Being a wandering boy with no orthodox master, you cannot go about being optimistic about fair treatment. They might acquiesce or not, but it'd ruin the relationship just by asking for more.

Not saying that applies to Songfeng, they could compensate you fairly or even lavishly, just something you have to remember. You picked the unorthodox path. You'll have to deal with the disadvantages.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

I can't wait for some bandit to get about 2 inches away from splitting our heads with an ax for us to shout out, "I'm glad I made all those connections to the Beggar's Guild."

That is an oversimplification obviously, but I think we should learn to not get ourselves killed before we go searching for intangibles. I can't help but feel like we are eventually going to get into a situation where knowing how to fight is going to get our asses out of trouble. No amount of friends, information, or favors is going to help us in a one-on-one fight to the death. I fear that we are just going to keep putting off getting some weapon skill until it is too late for us. That is completely aside from the fact that we are making choices that are contrary to our initial build.

 

[Tigranes]

Yep. At least we learned how to kick them in the balls, and shred them like blades of grass.

 

[Esquilax]

treave, do we have an idea of Cao'er and Master Yao's stats? We've known them for a while so we ought to have an idea of where at least Cao'er stands in relation to us: I'd figure something like INT 9, PER 10 and CHA 1/2 for her, right?

I think you are exaggerating a bit, Kipeci. We've developed an unarmed combat technique and an evasive technique. While I wasn't a fan of the stealth technique at first, I can see a ton of uses for stealth if we plan to pull off a manual heist, for instance. An unorthodox guy who doesn't like being restricted seems like he'd make a great use for stealth.

When you leave Yao's side (which you definitely are planning to) would you rather have a sword for company, or the eternal gratitude of a hundred thousand strong sect? We can speculate and debate and joke but not at the expense of ignoring what we know to be true. All I'm saying is, you're gonna need friends, lots of friends, when you're all alone in wuxialand.

You don't know their number, that's baseless speculation. Jing is a pretty charismatic guy, friends won't be a problem - the question is what do we want to do and which friends will be more useful to us? Having a few Beggar contacts could be useful as hell if we keep improving our skills at infiltration; who knows, one day we might just get a tip about some secret technique manual located in a Shaolin Temple. We're developing our skills at stealth, and if we really master the Shadow Step, we could be one hell of a thief.

Is the sword we'll potentially get from the sect a handmade gift for us or just a standard sword off their rack?

Too metagamey, I don't want to know. Meh, it's the swordsman that counts, not the sword. The Huashan guys are nasty even with a wooden stick.

The noble swordsmen of Mount Hua have trained long and hard to develop their reputation as one of the most powerful sects in the pugilistic world. Their weapon techniques are malleable and flexible, and their masters are reputed to be lethal swordsmen even with a stick in hand. Though the sword is the sect’s main focus, they also dabble in sabers and spears.

The Songfeng guys are an offshoot of the Huashan, and it's fairly clear to me that if you want to specialize in swordsmanship, you go with the Huashan. I'm sure the Wudang have good swordsmen too, but I very much doubt that they achieve the same level of versatility and skill with a blade that the Huashan guys do.

However, I like the idea of being a principled guy who wants to prevent Master Yao from extracting his blood toll for saving the Songfeng master's life, so B it is. It's the right thing to do, and swordsmanship is what our character is made for. As creative as Master Yao is, I believe his teaching is not very suited to our particular strengths as the Songfeng school would be. I think that Master Yao can handle the Beggar's request; say what you will about Yao, the man is greatly respected as a physician, so I think his word will do a lot to clear the Beggar's name... assuming he's actually innocent. If the guy is guilty, I'm pretty sure Yao will ruin things with the Beggars by ratting the guy out as a simple point of professional pride.

 

[treave]

treave, do we have an idea of Cao'er and Master Yao's stats? We've known them for a while so we ought to have an idea of where at least Cao'er stands in relation to us: I'd figure something like INT 9, PER 10 and CHA 1/2 for her, right?

Pretty much. Yao should have roughly the same INT and PER, a bit higher CHA, perhaps 3, and STR and AGI of around 6 or so. But that's relative to an adult, and that's not taking into account the boosts that his neigong gives him.

When you leave Yao's side (which you definitely are planning to) would you rather have a sword for company, or the eternal gratitude of a hundred thousand strong sect? We can speculate and debate and joke but not at the expense of ignoring what we know to be true. All I'm saying is, you're gonna need friends, lots of friends, when you're all alone in wuxialand.

You don't know their number, that's baseless speculation.

Hm.. given that there are more than a thousand cities (closer to two thousand I think) in Tang China, I think it's safe to assume that hundred thousand-strong is lowballing it.

 

[Kipeci]

That is an oversimplification obviously, but I think we should learn to not get ourselves killed before we go searching for intangibles. I can't help but feel like we are eventually going to get into a situation where knowing how to fight is going to get our asses out of trouble. No amount of friends, information, or favors is going to help us in a one-on-one fight to the death. I fear that we are just going to keep putting off getting some weapon skill until it is too late for us. That is completely aside from the fact that we are making choices that are contrary to our initial build.

Or, instead of asking for information from them, we could take up some skill in their unarmed fighting specialty. That's really the best I see coming out of it, I'm not sure where some people are getting the idea that the beggars are going to all collectively pledge their eternal loyalty for us solely because we accompanied a person who examined a dead body to establish a better autopsy. With it being such a large, decentralized organization, any assistance we provide is naturally going to have far less of an impact than on a smaller community.

I think you are exaggerating a bit, Kipeci. We've developed an unarmed combat technique and an evasive technique. While I wasn't a fan of the stealth technique at first, I can see a ton of uses for stealth if we plan to pull off a manual heist, for instance. An unorthodox guy who doesn't like being restricted seems like he'd make a great use for stealth.

I don't care at all about any heists or stealth (I can only really swallow the Shadow Wolf Step due to the accompanying Qinggong boost), I care about becoming the best possible for one of the skills that the Tiger Adjutant has more potential for than anyone else-- namely, the sword, the saber, and unarmed combat. We've spent a year dicking around with pressure points and the like under the doctor (don't get me wrong-- I love that nonsense and I wanted to be a Dog Doctor more than anything at the start of the story, but we're not the proper character for it by this point), lost our sword, and will probably not be able to climb to the most commanding heights of the skills in saber and sword. However, we've at least managed to scrounge up a couple of unarmed techniques, so there's still some hope there.

 

[Baltika9]

Too metagamey, I don't want to know. Meh, it's the swordsman that counts, not the sword. The Huashan guys are nasty even with a wooden stick.

Actually, I just don't like the idea of being rewarded with a cheap hand-me-down, "Thank you for your services" and a boot up the ass. Professional pride.

But I'm going for B nonetheless: beggars and intelligence networks are cool and all, but we're a fucking Tiger, not a Rat. Also, no matter how much I want it, I just can't imagine Xing as Max Otto von Stierlitz. He's meant to be a warrior and leader of men!

One factor we neglected was Cao'er's development as a doctor, it's about time she gets some hands-on experience with treating injuries. She may be an extremely valuable contact in the future and maybe her continued performance will convince the dear doctor it's time to step down. And cure the poison (if he's not bullshitting in the first place ).

Yes, but that's precisely what you would say if there was a trap of some sort, and-

No, the real trap here is this: the life we save by going there is the Master's uber-hot daughter that falls in love with Xing. Now we have three of them. Great.

 

[Bloodshifter]

A

 

[treave]

Smashing Axe - B
Azira - A
LWC1996 - A
Ifeex - B
ERYFKRAD - B
The Brazilian Slaughter - A
Lambchop19 - A
Jester - A
Storyfag - B
Kipeci - A
Zero Credibility- B
Kashmir Slippers - B
Stygian Lurker - B
m4davis - A
XenomorphII - B
Nevill - A
ScubaV - B
Esquilax - B
Baltika9 - B
Bloodshifter - A

A - 9
B - 11

Here are the votes as they stand. I should be closing the polls soon, since it looks like B has the advantage with most of the usual suspects already in.

edit: Closed. B wins.

By the way, the beggars' network means that they could point the way to people (swordsmasters, the wandering Southern Maniac, etc) who you might be interested in meeting in the future, letting you actually pick who to learn from - or who to avoid - instead of scraps from whoever you bump into, thereby getting rid of one of the major disadvantages of being a wandering boy with few resources, which will also accelerate the rate at which you progress in power because you aren't bumbling about half-blind.

Well, no matter. In compensation, you will be offered a sword and a sword technique which should be quite useful for self-defense. It's an acceptable short-term gain, so don't worry about that.

The trap is sprung!