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Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

a cut of domestic sheep prime

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Every great anime has tournaments!!

C


As to the other options: A sounds like a time skip, and B sounds like a big time skip. The key is to get the wards removed from us. From the sound of it, that happens as we advance to the next level. If we just try to assault our way to the top, then the wards will weaken us and we will probably lose. If we bide our time and wait, the wards will be removed but it will take forever - evidenced by the people who have been waiting so long they have forgotten their names.
 
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treave

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That's a viable strategy. You'll be able to scout out potential opponents and match them up to your own party members in the C route.
 

lightbane

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He bet the prince and made some dice from some scrap lying around.
That's some truly lightning-fast improvisation. :lol: I guess it also explains why they didn't mind Erd's bare body nor bothered to give him anything: in spite of their rules and everything else, they still have their... "Needs". :M
That reminds me: Angels are known to be violent but stupid brutes. That's something we could use for whatever kind of contest they put us through (although it may be a bit too late for that after seeing the trick with the dice).

In any case, the tattoo should be a monocled parrot for obvious reasons. +M

PS: In before we encounter a "true" Angel here at some point.
 

Esquilax

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Well, looks like Rin and us are meant to be. This is actually pretty funny.
I say B, for now, since I'm not really down for playing stacked games and perhaps pulling off the impossible will help us recruit some of these inmates.

Well, I see Erdrick as the crafty type who knows how to bend the rules and game the system. I don't know if taking things head-on is a great decision even with Rin having our back. After all, we are both weakened from being here in the first place. I don't know, unless we really show our badassery and end up inciting a massive prison riot with ourselves at the helm, I don't know how we'll force our way to the top. Hell, even then it's tough - this just doesn't strike me as the sort of problem that can be solved with ass-kicking. And even if it were, the whole idea of having a bunch of games, trials and challenges just seems like a whole lot of fun and seems to be the sort of thing that's in Erdrick's wheelhouse.

C
 

Esquilax

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Guys, guys! How about we tell Rin how much we love her before engaging in combat with the shaolin monks upper floorers?

Sounds like a plan. We can escape this place while the guards are distracted from laughing at us.
 

Nevill

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How about we tell Rin how much we love her before engaging in combat with the shaolin monks upper floorers?
The canon way would be to let her take the lead and then recharge her qi Mana, Fate/Stay Night style.
 

Baltika9

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Well, I see Erdrick as the crafty type who knows how to bend the rules and game the system. I don't know if taking things head-on is a great decision even with Rin having our back. After all, we are both weakened from being here in the first place. I don't know, unless we really show our badassery and end up inciting a massive prison riot with ourselves at the helm, I don't know how we'll force our way to the top. Hell, even then it's tough - this just doesn't strike me as the sort of problem that can be solved with ass-kicking.
Oh, absolutely. We are very well suited for cheating the rules, the first thing we did upon arrival was cheat the inmates out of their clothes, but kicking in the big door and proclaiming ourselves head honcho for the whole place just strikes me as more expedient. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving Gobblecock's idea of running our own prison gang here, but then we'll inevitably get drawn into conflicts with the other jailbirds and guards.
I'd rather we just take everyone into our service right now with one big gesture.
 

Tigranes

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C, basically in agreement with Esquilax. Rin is a big boost but I don't see why we're suddenly so confident about this multi-levelled area populated with hundreds of terrible things that have aged over time.
 

Esquilax

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Oh, absolutely. We are very well suited for cheating the rules, the first thing we did upon arrival was cheat the inmates out of their clothes, but kicking in the big door and proclaiming ourselves head honcho for the whole place just strikes me as more expedient. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving Gobblecock's idea of running our own prison gang here, but then we'll inevitably get drawn into conflicts with the other jailbirds and guards.
I'd rather we just take everyone into our service right now with one big gesture.

Well, the crux of it for me is whether it will work or not. I'd rather take a little bit more time doing something I feel is more likely to succeed (C) than to attempt to get out faster using a more risky, daring plan (B), because if we fuck it up, it takes even longer to get out of here and go home. That being said, I understand that both options have their dangers and I don't intend to make it seem like C = safe and easy, and B = dangerous and doomed to failure. One thing that I will say in B's favour is that if we, and the other prisoners, are being powered down, chances are that there is likely a magical source somewhere that is responsible for nerfing our abilities (i.e. a generator of some sort). This seems logical if you look at how a prison would be constructed - you need to keep the prisoners as weak as possible to prevent chaos from breaking out.

I'm obviously speculating, but if we were to find the source of where this "power-dampener" is coming from, and if we were to neutralize it, then that would make our little uprising go from an inconvenient thorn on The Man's side into a major, serious threat to their power.
 

Kipeci

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Are we actually in danger of having B triumph over C? If so, I'll flop to A > C.

I'd still prefer to legitimately work with the system because I like the idea of an angel literally ascending to the top with a sky-high karma and afterwards leading the faithful out from imprisonment to REFORM the world with the full angelic might at Erd's disposal. That said, challenging people in a vaguely legitimate way to work up with minimum effort is certainly in character for Erd and I'll take it. Fighting against the system doesn't have so much of an appeal to me when we're not able to just Gigadyne our problems away.
 

Esquilax

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Are we actually in danger of having B triumph over C? If so, I'll flop to A > C.

I'd still prefer to legitimately work with the system because I like the idea of an angel literally ascending to the top with a sky-high karma and afterwards leading the faithful out from imprisonment to REFORM the world with the full angelic might at Erd's disposal. That said, challenging people in a vaguely legitimate way to work up with minimum effort is certainly in character for Erd and I'll take it. Fighting against the system doesn't have so much of an appeal to me when we're not able to just Gigadyne our problems away.

I said I'd be willing to take a little bit of extra time to avoid messing up by doing something I feel is more suited to our character's own knack for cunning Jewry, but I'd rather go full on YOLOMERCHANT than be stuck in this spot for fucking ever.
 

Kipeci

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I can understand that, I just think that this spot seems more interesting than where we left. Zayan has some sort of crazy lifespan, a massive shield to protect her obscure holdout with loads of golems and plenty more magnatite to keep on revising the defenses. It's a shame that we can't exactly guide the growth of the slimes and so on from where we presently are, but I think this is an opportunity that eclipses them if we do it legitimately. If we cheat our way to the top, I don't think we'll have the same sort of credentials as doing it the 'proper' way.

That said, I can hardly blame people for wanting to go for Erd attempting to outwit folks so that he can get a shortcut. It's what people voted for in his personality, even if I don't quite care for it.
 

treave

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Again, I'll tally and close the votes 12 hours from now.

if we were to find the source of where this "power-dampener" is coming from

Guard 1: Hey, Bob, I've been meaning to ask...

Guard 2: Yeah? The new Penthouse issue? Centerfold's mine, as we agreed on last month. No weaselling out of it, Dick.

Guard 1: Nah, that's not it. I was asking about that Master Key that controls all the explosive collars on the prisoners.

Guard 2: What about it? Jesus Christ, don't tell me you lost it-

Guard 1: Nah, nah. It's still in the recreation room on the first floor. But that's what I was gonna ask about. Why is it there in the first place?

Guard 2: I don't get what you mean.

Guard 1: It's the only thing stopping the inmates from overrunning the place. Why'd Management have us keep it there instead of locking it up in the safest, most inaccessible place in the prison where no one can get to it?

Guard 2: Well... Uh... Them's the regs, I suppose.

Guard 1: Come on, Bob, I've seen Jack Dickripper eyeing the Master Key several times now. It's hanging right there in plain sight. It's a goddamn security hazard, that's what it is.

Guard 2: We do have an alarm that rings if anyone tries to remove it without permission, should be deterrent enough... Sounds kinda like the one that's been ringing for a while now, now that you mention it...

Guard 3: Oh fuck, Bob, Dick, why are you guys still here? Jack Dickripper just grabbed the Master Key and he's rampaging about ripping dicks without mercy!

Guard 1: I fucking quit.
 

treave

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Prisoner 24601

You wake up in the room allocated to you. It is simple, furnished with nothing more than a cot. It has only been a day and already you are tired of the restrictions. Everyone here began with a karma of zero, apparently representing a clean slate for a new life.

Complaining loudly about the food – no meat whatsoever, only a greenish mash of unidentifiable plant material – had earned you a deduction of twenty points off the bat. Attempting to intimidate the cook into finding something more appetizing in the kitchen, that was sixty points gone. Cursing the system out loud was worth another twenty, giving you a total of negative one hundred points by the end of your first day.

“Tardiness in the morning. Deduction of ten points. An active start to your day is the best way to cultivate a healthy lifestyle,” lectures the androgynous voice in your ear. It looks like you would be getting further reductions to your karma the longer you stayed in the room. Grumbling, you get moving, dispelling the invisibility spell that you had hoped would work. At least this has taught you something: the system is always watching.

Out in the corridor, you meet Rin, who looks equally disgruntled. “Top of the morning to you, 24601,” she says in a forced manner with a ghastly smile that seems to have been hammered onto her face with nails.

“Top of the morning to you too, 24602.” Then you looked at the young girl at her side, still mute and expressionless. 24603: she too had been assigned a number and a room. You had passed her off to Rin as soon as you could, seeing a good opportunity to be rid of the responsibility for a while.

The prince’s double. There was little other reason she would be dressed up as the prince, as according to Rin’s report, the real prince had surfaced a while after you left. You have no idea why his double would be a girl, but for now it is a question you do not have time to ponder. As for the others, you know little more than you already had. Rin had hurriedly come for you immediately after teleporting them to safety and ascertaining that you had not appeared where you should. She had not expected to be trapped here, but there is nothing either of you can do about that at the moment.

As you engage in morning exercises in the courtyard, never taking your eyes off Rin’s stretching activities in front of you – “Visual harassment, deduction of ten points,” – you consider your next move. There was a clause that allowed an inmate to challenge residents of the higher floors for their place. The clause’s presence itself feels strange to you; why would a place purportedly aimed at the rehabilitation of its prisoners have an option for a shortcut?

No one else questions its existence, however, and you are not the sort to let an opportunity for the quick route to slip through your grasp. There are seven floors in the tower. From what you know, inmates of the upper floors are allowed access to every floor below them, but the reverse does not hold true. When you make a challenge, however, you are allowed to challenge anyone whose identification number is known to you.

That means you can go right for the heads of the most famous inmates in the tower, should it strike your fancy.

The highest ranking resident whose number that you know would be the current head of the guards, the self-proclaimed Warden of the Tower, number 4799. He is a demon who is amongst the oldest denizens of this place, and coming out victorious over him would catapult you to the sixth floor immediately, regardless of your karma.

If you lost, however… well, no one seemed to know what happened if you lost. At least, no one on the first floor. As far as the prisoners were concerned, challenges only happened in the upper levels, when they had successfully worked their way to more benefits and less restrictions on their natural abilities. It soon becomes clear to you that information about this clause is also purposely restricted by the residents of the upper floors. What little has trickled down has been kept vague and threatening. The Warden aside, all of the guards that patrolled the lower levels have had their numbers concealed. But the clause exists in the system nonetheless, and you plan to exploit it as best as you can.

At the moment, your fellow inmates are willing enough to talk to you, but without more concrete proof of your ability they are not willing to contribute anything more than shallow gossip.

You will have to take the first step.

***

A. You challenge No. 20117, Salamander. A fiery lizardman who is considered one of the more influential prisoners on floor two, he will serve as a good stepping stone for the upper levels. Being on the second floor also means that it is relatively easier for you to gather information about him as compared to targets residing on the upper levels.

B. You challenge No. 24003, Queen Bee. Floor four is said to be a gathering of the strongest inmates, and they are divided into multiple factions each seeking to raise their own karma and decrease that of the others through constant schemes and conflict. Being a recent convict who has risen quickly through the ranks to lead a faction of her own, Queen Bee’s number is still fresh in the minds of those that are willing to talk to you.

C. You challenge No. 4799, Warden. If you’re going to do this, you’re going to go all the way to the top as quickly as you can. You are certain that you can find a way to triumph, one way or another.

***

1. You perform the challenge yourself. Building your own reputation is important.

2. You have Rin do it. It is easier for you to operate in the shadows if she attracts all the attention.
 

Kipeci

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Can't be lengthy in this post, but I like B1. Better to spend our time with women of some sort rather than slimy men, and the Warren seems a bit intense.
 

lightbane

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So, once again we pretty much fucked up everything. Worse, Erd is going to experience what Stallone felt in that Demolition Man movie.:negative:
Not surprising that he loathes to wake up early, it is a common trait in all JRPG main characters. In any case, at least the twins are safe, if what I got from Rin is right.

B1.
I bet the residents from the higher levels must have some way to circumvent part of the system's magical wards, if only in combat. It would explain this clause. Also, we must discover if said Queen Bee can fly vertically. :M
 

Nevill

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B1. She's a queen, the others aren't.

Also, we need to consider the potential of dragging everyone up with us. I have a feeling that if we shoot too high, others would find it a bit hard to keep up.

...if there is a Prince's double, is there our double as well? Scary thought, that...

Also, what's exactly wrong with the princess? Maybe we can fix her? Fixing girls is our forte. Rin's is breaking them, I don't know why we dumped the kid on the demoness.
 

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