Dimensionist
Grandmaster of Apologism, Keeper of the Faith
- Location
- Bangalore, India
[X] Retreat to the safety of the lecture hall
Forge of Destiny(Xianxia Quest)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
Hey, guys. Any thought on my write-in subvote for retreating?
-[] Once the fight breaks out, lay down a rain of arrows as you retreat.
-[] Once the fight breaks out, lay down a rain of arrows as you retreat.
Who do you think we are, some kind of supporting character? We're the protagonist, dammit! We'll interfere with every plan in sight, and more than a few that aren't!
[X] Stay and support Cai
Hard to say. Most of them don't seem to actually have come out yet. Meteoric Shower combo could really help out Cai and Gan if we blind a bunch of them, but would take a lot of qi and could put us in trouble if we run into anyone else...
If it weren't for us needing to protect the others on the retreat, I'd favor us (personally) pulling back into stealth, and then seeing what Cai's plan is before we act further.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Retreat to the safety of the lecture hall
I wasn't really sure what to do here. I wanted to stick with Cai for Meizhen but that'd mean the three still in our mist would get involved too. Leaving allows for Cai and Gan to also make a retreat, since they're currently more mobile than our group, but staying might actual tip the scales in their favour if they're planning to fight. If we stay and win, our and our organisation's reputations will be that much stronger for it but I just don't want to risk it right now...
I wasn't really sure what to do here. I wanted to stick with Cai for Meizhen but that'd mean the three still in our mist would get involved too. Leaving allows for Cai and Gan to also make a retreat, since they're currently more mobile than our group, but staying might actual tip the scales in their favour if they're planning to fight. If we stay and win, our and our organisation's reputations will be that much stronger for it but I just don't want to risk it right now...
We are only about 200 meters from the hall. We should be able to safely fire off one or two shots (hitting 4 people each...) before we get out of range, and that still leaves us enough Qi for a couple of turns of actions as we make it to safety.
- Location
- United States of America
I'm super conflicted right now on which one to vote for. So conflicted, that for the moment I am going to change my vote to
[X] Stay and support Cai
Now, here is the reason why I'm changing my vote. I was thinking about this dichotomy that we have been given regarding helping Cai at the risk of interfering with her carefully laid plans, or following Cai's instructions and retreating. As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that the question could be posed as: do our own thing or follow Cai's instruction. Admittedly there are tons of ways to pose the question here, some of them more positive than the previous examples, but all of them deal with how Cai will perceive us from now on. Will we follow instructions, or will we do something else?
This could be a good thing, or it could be a bad thing. Will Cai be able to trust us to follow instructions in battle after this if we stick around to help her? I would personally find it convoluted, they tried to help me but disobeyed me. In all honesty, it will force Cai to deal with us and bring us in to what her plans ultimately are so that we can actually know whether she is bluffing and what reactions we can do to help her.
Why would we help her? Well, other than everything we have already been through to get her allies to safe zones, I think it fits our personality. Also, I honestly want to become friends with her. Admittedly, I don't have that high of a like or tolerance of her but I am starting to see the possibility that we could become friends with her. However, the first thing that needs to happen is a change in our perception of her and of her perception of us. We can't be subordinated to her if we want to be friends as I don't think Cai thinks like that.
So there you have it, me changing my vote, again. There is a high degree of possibility that I will be doing it again this voting cycle, but for now, this is what I'm sticking with.
[X] Stay and support Cai
Now, here is the reason why I'm changing my vote. I was thinking about this dichotomy that we have been given regarding helping Cai at the risk of interfering with her carefully laid plans, or following Cai's instructions and retreating. As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that the question could be posed as: do our own thing or follow Cai's instruction. Admittedly there are tons of ways to pose the question here, some of them more positive than the previous examples, but all of them deal with how Cai will perceive us from now on. Will we follow instructions, or will we do something else?
This could be a good thing, or it could be a bad thing. Will Cai be able to trust us to follow instructions in battle after this if we stick around to help her? I would personally find it convoluted, they tried to help me but disobeyed me. In all honesty, it will force Cai to deal with us and bring us in to what her plans ultimately are so that we can actually know whether she is bluffing and what reactions we can do to help her.
Why would we help her? Well, other than everything we have already been through to get her allies to safe zones, I think it fits our personality. Also, I honestly want to become friends with her. Admittedly, I don't have that high of a like or tolerance of her but I am starting to see the possibility that we could become friends with her. However, the first thing that needs to happen is a change in our perception of her and of her perception of us. We can't be subordinated to her if we want to be friends as I don't think Cai thinks like that.
So there you have it, me changing my vote, again. There is a high degree of possibility that I will be doing it again this voting cycle, but for now, this is what I'm sticking with.
- Location
- my house
It's possible but Bai is in a bad place and Cai seems like the kind of person to manipulatre someone in that way. I can easily see her becoming the "rebound" in order to get a better alliance.
That and Bai latches on quickly as she's never had friends. See us.
So yeah this mostly stems from distrust (though not dislike) of Cai and protectiveness of Bai
Alternatively, it may show us to be unreliable, and she would move to avoid including us in her plans when possible.
We could wait near the entrance and take potshots at enemies.
- Location
- United States of America
And that's why it could be a good or bad thing! However, that doesn't actually change her relationship with us at the moment. She doesn't communicate with us, she has her minions communicate with us. We don't know what her plans are anyway, so if she begins to exclude us from them it won't actually do anything. The least we are is an add on of Meizhen, the most is a contract worker with an agreement to solely work for this establishment until they don't have need of our services. We are an aspect of the political machine here at the camp that she believes will just exist as it has in the past, ie. not rock the Cai establishment boat and help it when contracted to.
So if she chooses to ignore us further, nothing changes. I'm hoping, however, that our staying will make her confront us on why we stayed so that she can get our measure again. I believe that she will have to be dealing with us personally at that point. I want that confrontation so there can be a change in her perception of us because at that point we tell her why we stayed, and that was because we felt that Meizhen considered her to be a good ally/possible friend and as such wanted to help her. Whether we would be helping her is certainly up to debate.
Fine; if that is the way you want to think about it, reverse the question. If we retreat now as we were asked to do, chances are that Cai will consider us a more reliable ally in the future and will include us in more plans.
I'm not sure I want to test the sect's good will there.
As a note, though, out range is 180m, not 150m. FSA provides bonus range.
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- Location
- United States of America
And that is a perfectly acceptable reversal! Why would she trust us if we disobey her now? Wouldn't she try to distance herself from unreliable players in order to consolidate her government towards those she can implicitly trust? All of these are possible scenarios that could happen if we stay and fight. So at the moment, I'm ecstatic that I can think of all of these possibilities!
The problem is that we don't know enough to make a judgment call one way or another. How will she react? Why will she react the way she does? What is she planning and why doesn't she want Ling Qi here but Gan instead? There are a hundred different questions and no firm concrete answers, just two options which could have a dramatic effect on how Lady Cai will perceive us, but in a manner which we don't have a firm grasp of.
And that is why I'm wavering between the options! There is no "bad" option, just like I don't think there is a "good" option. We know too little to make that judgment call.
Looks like retreat is leading roughly 2:1.
- Location
- Cyberspace
[X] Retreat to the safety of the lecture hall
Ling Qi's successfully brought a bunch of Cai Renxiang's allies to safety (certainly enough to show significant merit, along with her arrows-to-the-knees on her way to rescue Gu Xiulan) - best she now join them. Renxiang's gesture to the mist suggests she has a plan (probably involving area of effect destruction)... and Ling Qi can sally from the lecture hall after escorting the trio there if she's needed. Hell, considering the time, if the fighting keeps going, she can take a sip of that lovely moon nectar and be pretty refreshed. Meanwhile Gu Xiulan and Fan Yu need to get to safety ASAP.
There's also Zhengui to think of - he's a little young to be stuck in a dantian, and he's been there for a while now.
Then... there's Meizhen around somewhere. Sun Liling has been "driven off", and while it's possible Meizhen had to retreat herself due to wounds, I'd wager that she's in probably no worse shape than Renxiang.
Finally... for all those proclaiming that now Ling Qi is bound inextricably to Cai Renxiang* (I suspect the same people said the same before a number of times - each time Ling Qi is deciding whether to help out Renxiang, in fact...), Ling Qi prefers the Cai order, but isn't all that attached to it. And I'm a little uncomfortable with how much Renxiang and Guangli are hammering the "rebels" line over and over - I would rather Ling Qi not be around the duo too much while they're making such pronouncements and fighting said "rebels" in person.
* I would... argue otherwise. Oh, she's certainly a significant bit of support for the "student government", but she's strong enough and has strong enough allies that she'd survive it 'falling'.
Ling Qi's successfully brought a bunch of Cai Renxiang's allies to safety (certainly enough to show significant merit, along with her arrows-to-the-knees on her way to rescue Gu Xiulan) - best she now join them. Renxiang's gesture to the mist suggests she has a plan (probably involving area of effect destruction)... and Ling Qi can sally from the lecture hall after escorting the trio there if she's needed. Hell, considering the time, if the fighting keeps going, she can take a sip of that lovely moon nectar and be pretty refreshed. Meanwhile Gu Xiulan and Fan Yu need to get to safety ASAP.
There's also Zhengui to think of - he's a little young to be stuck in a dantian, and he's been there for a while now.
Then... there's Meizhen around somewhere. Sun Liling has been "driven off", and while it's possible Meizhen had to retreat herself due to wounds, I'd wager that she's in probably no worse shape than Renxiang.
Finally... for all those proclaiming that now Ling Qi is bound inextricably to Cai Renxiang* (I suspect the same people said the same before a number of times - each time Ling Qi is deciding whether to help out Renxiang, in fact...), Ling Qi prefers the Cai order, but isn't all that attached to it. And I'm a little uncomfortable with how much Renxiang and Guangli are hammering the "rebels" line over and over - I would rather Ling Qi not be around the duo too much while they're making such pronouncements and fighting said "rebels" in person.
* I would... argue otherwise. Oh, she's certainly a significant bit of support for the "student government", but she's strong enough and has strong enough allies that she'd survive it 'falling'.
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- Location
- Red Blood on Golden Shield
[X] Retreat to the safety of the lecture hall
Let's hope Cai has a plan...
Let's hope Cai has a plan...
- Location
- United States of America
Hmm... Further good points are made! I think this point, in particular, should bear further discussion and merit.
The other concerns, which I consider valuable but not as pertinent as Zhengui, are Gu Xiulan and Fan Yu. Xiulan is running on fumes right now and it appears that she is actually harming her body in order to generate enough qi to keep up with us. This can not be healthy and will have effects on her ability to fight later in the weeks to come (which goodness knows she might have to). As friends go, Xiulan is more firmly our friend than Cai and we are also supposed to have a night out, which could be hampered by any serious injury that she could incur in this fight. Fan Yu.... I really don't care about. It's nice that he is standing up to protect Xiulan but I don't particularly care if he gets hurt a bit. However, Xiulan might care, which means that we should care, at least a little.
Also, the boy with the metal stick? I would like to make sure that he gets to safety. He was useful on the way here apparently, has some strength left after this debacle which means he at least has an idea of what he is doing, and is a possible connection into a group of people we don't interact very much with even though we are supposed to be one of their heads, Cai's enforcers. It could be interesting to get to know him a little bit better, which might be able to happen at the lecture hall.
So, with a not so heavy heart, as I promised I would probably do this, I switch again to
[X] Retreat to the safety of the lecture hall
Admittedly, I am still super conflicted about this vote. So, no promises that I will stick around this side of the fence either, but here is where I will be for the moment!
Zhengui is in our dantian and is confused and afraid. I would rather make sure that he is safe and comfortable and understanding of the situation than help out an ally who is asking us to retreat. He is, ultimately, the most valuable "person" we have to take care of right now. We have spent weeks nurturing his egg and have now spent weeks making sure that he is fed and comfortable. I would rather our work not be hampered in any way by heroics that might get us knocked unconscious and leave poor Zhengui there for a couple more hours. I can't imagine what that would do to him.
The other concerns, which I consider valuable but not as pertinent as Zhengui, are Gu Xiulan and Fan Yu. Xiulan is running on fumes right now and it appears that she is actually harming her body in order to generate enough qi to keep up with us. This can not be healthy and will have effects on her ability to fight later in the weeks to come (which goodness knows she might have to). As friends go, Xiulan is more firmly our friend than Cai and we are also supposed to have a night out, which could be hampered by any serious injury that she could incur in this fight. Fan Yu.... I really don't care about. It's nice that he is standing up to protect Xiulan but I don't particularly care if he gets hurt a bit. However, Xiulan might care, which means that we should care, at least a little.
Also, the boy with the metal stick? I would like to make sure that he gets to safety. He was useful on the way here apparently, has some strength left after this debacle which means he at least has an idea of what he is doing, and is a possible connection into a group of people we don't interact very much with even though we are supposed to be one of their heads, Cai's enforcers. It could be interesting to get to know him a little bit better, which might be able to happen at the lecture hall.
So, with a not so heavy heart, as I promised I would probably do this, I switch again to
[X] Retreat to the safety of the lecture hall
Admittedly, I am still super conflicted about this vote. So, no promises that I will stick around this side of the fence either, but here is where I will be for the moment!
- Location
- Brazil
There is something else to consider: Seeing their prey fleeing, and the Final Boss making an entrance with her main Lieutenant, the other party might just give up.
In fact, if we attack, we force them to respond. CRX might very well be counting on intimidation in order to make them cut their losses and flee, as long as battle isn't joined, they save face. In fact, she offered such.
In fact, if we attack, we force them to respond. CRX might very well be counting on intimidation in order to make them cut their losses and flee, as long as battle isn't joined, they save face. In fact, she offered such.
- Location
- Cyberspace
Consider Ling Qi might invite him and a couple of the other enforcers she rescued out hunting next week... or offer to practice with them. Good way to make some connections in the broader sect (no, really - she barely knows the names of any of the non-big hitters... it's been pointed out a time or two that she's rather ignorant in this respect), perhaps get some War practice (granted, the group fight and then the constant running battle, along with her strategic sniping and decision-making should boost it significantly), establish a reputation as a capable and trustworthy leader...
Which could be pretty useful down the road, both in personal gain and in displaying to the sect Ling Qi's value and capabilities. Remember - in a year and a half she's probably going to be in the military proper. Someone who shows power and skill in skullduggery makes for a lovely scout and assassin. Someone who also shows significant support and leadership abilities makes for a lovely captain of a scouting unit. Which do you want Ling Qi to start out as, in terms of military career tracks? Which might advance faster up the ranks, leading to greater resources and opportunity for fame and connections?
I feel like Ling Qi needs to be developing:
1. Power. She's doing just fine here, being on track to make it to Green and Bronze well before the age of 16.
2. Skill. Again, she's on track in this aspect, with her combat-relevant (and auxiliary) skills advancing at pace and her arts developing nicely.
3. Connections. Social skills are doing well, and she can't get much better on the peer/higher-tier allies front... but she needs 'lesser' allies and general positive reputation among those in the weaker tiers as well.
4. Leadership. With her strong support techniques, she'll be either a "valuable subordinate a leader directs"... or a leader herself. She needs the confidence and the skills and experience in using them for the latter role.
EDIT: Also, group hunting is a good way to get resources (for all those involved - another tick on the 'positive reputation' front), while group combat practice is probably the kind of thing Cai Renxiang would be happy with seeing... and perhaps even the sect elders, if they notice (Elder Su definitely seemed pleased with Ling Qi and Li Suyin teaching one another).
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