Choice of the Deathless: Old lawyers never die, they just become skeletons

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Choice of the Deathless: Old lawyers never die, they just become skeletons

«‹›14 »

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

Choice of Games posted:

Battle demons and undead attorneys, and win souls to pay back your student loans! At the elite demonic-law firm of Varkath Nebuchadnezzar Stone, you'll depose a fallen god, find romance, and maybe even make partner, if you don't lose your own soul first.

Choice of the Deathless is a necromantic legal thriller by Max Gladstone, Campbell Award-nominated author of Three Parts Dead and Two Serpents Rise. The game is entirely text-based--without graphics or sound effects--and powered by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Explore a fantasy realm with a rich and evolving backstory, based on the novels published by Tor Books.

Play as male or female, gay or straight, dead or alive (or both).

Build your career on carefully reasoned contracts, or party all night with the skeletal partners at your firm.

Navigate intrigue and mystery in a world of scheming magicians and devious monsters.

Look for love in at least some of the right places.

Balance student loans, sleep, daily commute, rent payments, and demonic litigation�hey, nobody said being a wizard was always fun.

Choice of the Deathless is a text-based choose-your-own-adventure game and part of the Choice of Games collection. Your decisions will cultivate your skills and abilities that you'll use to solve the various problems that you'll be facing throughout the game.

The game is set in the setting of The Craft Sequence novel series, where people have gained the power to kill gods. Indeed, they've killed some gods and bent the laws of nature over their knee in the process, and now, men have taken the place of the Gods they killed, bureaucracy and magic (the "Craft") are intertwined in a dangerous relationship, and souls are little more than money and fuel for the Craftsman's work. Timeline-wise, Choice of the Deathless takes place a year or two prior to Two Serpents Rise.

If you like, play once for free in the Choice of Games website, play free with ads on the mobile omnibus app, or buy it off Steam, Google Play, Apple's App Store, or Amazon.

This game is a few years old by now, but please, no spoilers. The story has some twists and turns that some people might be happy finding out firsthand. As long as it's behind spoiler tags, it's okay to discuss an option's mechanical requirements ("The option to check the chest actually uses Perception, not Lockpicking") and outcomes of alternate options ("If we chose to help Mark instead of Alex, we'd get a gun instead of a sword"), but please don't discuss or hint at significant plot beats before we're exposed to them. When in doubt, ask me over PMs.

Let's go.

quote:

The sky over the demon world is broken. Lightning licks the strange geometries of cloud. Around you rises the demon-city Akargath, warped crystal and flame, thorns and razor wire. And this is the nice part of town.

Gods, you hurt. Your skin's a burned ruin. Bones in your ribs grind when you breathe. Your suit hangs in tatters from your body.

Your enemy stands before you: a towering figure of glass and knives. Cackling madly, he raises one hand. Dark power crackles along his talons.

The battle's taken almost all your strength. Your Craft, your own power, stands at ebb.

If you don't win this thing soon, you're done.

1. I wait for my enemy to attack, then redirect his power against him!
2. I strike while I can, and give no quarter.
3. I run and hide.

Well, we're in medias res, and on the losing end of a fight...

What should we do? And while we're at it, let me know:

Are we a guy or a girl? What's our name?

# ? Jul 23, 2018 04:01

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 3, 2024 05:35

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

I read a run through of this in the archives, it was fun. Still need to check out the books.

Hit the enemy hard and we are a girl named Liang unless people vote otherwise.

# ? Jul 23, 2018 07:43

wedgekree: Feb 20, 2013

achtungnight posted:

I read a run through of this in the archives, it was fun. Still need to check out the books.

Hit the enemy hard and we are a girl named Liang unless people vote otherwise.

Agree

# ? Jul 23, 2018 08:27

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

Forgot to mention that a surname would be nice too.

# ? Jul 23, 2018 15:59

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

I�ll let someone else pick the surname unless people want me to, a few do come to mind.

# ? Jul 23, 2018 19:57

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

quote:

You're strong. Stronger than this. And you won't die here.

Or at least you won't die alone.

Before he can attack, you throw your power against him�all the soulstuff you can summon, merged into a single spear of coruscating light.

He staggers, and falls to his knees.

You advance, dragging your broken leg over the ground. Exquisite pain, but you've won. You think.

Until he looks up, and smiles jagged teeth. "Is that all?"

It was. That was the plan. What now?

1. Talk to him. Try to stall for time.
2. Pretend I'm going to blast him again. Then punch him in the face.
3. Spring my trap.

Still taking votes on whether we're a guy or girl, and our full name.

# ? Jul 24, 2018 13:38

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

Lady Wen Liang is excellent at setting traps.

# ? Jul 24, 2018 14:21

RickVoid: Oct 21, 2010

You've activated my Trap Card!

Wen Liang (Liang Wen?) is fine.

# ? Jul 24, 2018 18:24

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

I�ve been playing too much Dynasty Warriors again lately so I picked a Chinese name in the traditional style. Although the GM can transcript it however they like.

# ? Jul 24, 2018 20:23

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

I'm assuming that our lady Liang Wen is our choice. _{it's probably better than Fenix Wight anyway} :objection:

quote:

You might not have hurt him much, but at least you pushed him into position.

The Craft circle you drew earlier springs to life, and glass shatters in the buildings overhead. Steel and crystal fall like rain, sharp points and edges descending�

Only to stop in midair, with a wave of your opponent's hand.

"Nice trick," he says, and strikes.

He closes his clawed hand into a fist. You crouch, ready for the attack.

He's powerful, but arrogant. If you just hold out a few seconds more, you'll find some angle, some way to beat him. As long as you can keep it together.

Then claws of light and power strike you, and you shatter.

That went well.

For the feat of dying against a superior opponent, we got an achievement. Achievements gotten so far will be recorded at the bottom of the update. Punching the guy in the face could have gotten us another, too.

Anyway, let's see how this whole dying thing is going for us:

quote:

Your mind comes to pieces and the pieces tumble, sharp, spinning. Seconds come unmoored from seconds. Shards catch and reflect images of a once-familiar life: your past, spinning out of reach.

You have to fight back. Have to stop him. Defend yourself. So hard to think. What does thinking mean, anyway, outside of time?

You scramble amid the shattered, jagged facets of your self. They cut your fingers, and blood flows into memory.

You must remember. You must fight. You are�

Hells. Who are you, anyway?

There must be an answer here, amid the slivers and glass confetti, among the kaleidoscope shapes. If only you could grasp it. You don't even have hands with which to grasp. Or a body, for that matter.

No. You have one. You remember.

You are...

We're a lady, and our name is Liang Wen.

quote:

How did you get here, Liang? So many alternative pasts, so many options. Dreamshards, timepieces.

Childhood: the first stirrings of power. You caught a falling star in a dead field, and held it burning in your hands. Smelled the sweet iron of space and the world's heat, as fiery fingers crawled over your skin and into your flesh.

1. I closed my hands around the star.
2. I released the star into the sky.
3. I ate the star.
4. I watched the star as it died.

Achievements posted:

Die: You died! Let's see you get out of this one... (15 points)

# ? Jul 25, 2018 15:38

RickVoid: Oct 21, 2010

I stared fascinated at the Star, as it died.

# ? Jul 25, 2018 17:40

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

RickVoid posted:

I stared fascinated at the Star, as it died.

I like this one too, although I hope for more variety of votes as we continue.

# ? Jul 25, 2018 22:27

Natural 20: Sep 17, 2007; Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

EAT IT

# ? Jul 25, 2018 22:51

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

Eat the star.

# ? Jul 26, 2018 00:58

Double Plus Undead: Dec 24, 2010

We can eat light.

# ? Jul 26, 2018 04:48

RickVoid: Oct 21, 2010

I have no idea what any of the answers do anyway. All of the choices seem legit, honestly.

# ? Jul 26, 2018 06:44

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

Feel free to pick the answers you like. I'll update tomorrow evening. Pace will hopefully slow down once we get to more plot-significant sections.

The answers will adjust your stat distribution, and I'll show the stats once we're out of the early character-establishing slump.

# ? Jul 26, 2018 06:55

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

We chose to eat the star.

quote:

You pressed the star past your open lips, tasted lightning on your tongue, and swallowed; liquid metal seared your esophagus, and you fell back onto the dead grass, screaming. Galaxies wheeled above you, moonlight unbearably sharp. You closed your eyes but that only replaced the punishing stars with another vision.

This is the world beneath the world: a vast net of souls and exchange, a pulsing network of life and story and bargain and consequence. You see the terms of the Great Deal, the arguments and conditions upon which your world depends.

You could join that bargain. Shape it. But first you had to grow up. And growing up presented its own challenges. You were�

1. A beggar.
2. Poor.
3. Comfortable.
4. Rich.

On a side note, which way do we swing? Are we into boys, girls, both, or not into any romantic stuff?

# ? Jul 27, 2018 07:03

Natural 20: Sep 17, 2007; Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

Girls, rich af.

# ? Jul 27, 2018 08:29

RickVoid: Oct 21, 2010

Our childhood was comfortable, but we still worked hard to earn our power.

We happily service clients of all gender identities.

# ? Jul 27, 2018 11:36

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

Comfortable pansexual!

# ? Jul 27, 2018 13:16

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

Natural 20 posted:

Girls, rich af.

# ? Jul 27, 2018 21:53

RefinedUndefined: Jan 1, 2013; Just burn everything, that'll solve your problems.

Girls, rich af.

# ? Jul 28, 2018 00:45

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

Max Gladstone wrote a CYOA in the Craftverse? :psyboom:

# ? Jul 28, 2018 00:46

someone awful.: Sep 7, 2007

We're poor and bi as hell.

# ? Jul 28, 2018 01:16

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

RickVoid posted:

Our childhood was comfortable, but we still worked hard to earn our power.

We happily service clients of all gender identities.

This.

# ? Jul 28, 2018 01:46

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

GreyjoyBastard posted:

Max Gladstone wrote a CYOA in the Craftverse?

He wrote two, actually! This one and Deathless: The City's Thirst. Up in the air on if I want to LP that one after this, though.

# ? Jul 28, 2018 02:00

wedgekree: Feb 20, 2013

Girls, rich yo

# ? Jul 28, 2018 05:31

Sticky Fingers: Jul 18, 2011; by Nyc_Tattoo

We are poor, and we like girls.

# ? Jul 29, 2018 03:45

Anticheese: Feb 13, 2008; $60,000,000 sexbot

someone awful. posted:

We're poor and bi as hell.

Not an emptyquote vote.

# ? Jul 29, 2018 07:37

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

So far:

Rich lifestyle is in the lead at 4 votes. Comfy and Poor lives are tied at 3.

Being into girls or everything are tied at 5 votes each. :argh:

# ? Jul 29, 2018 10:15

Poil: Mar 17, 2007

Poor and bi. Important trivia: Did you know that "bi" also means "bee" in swedish?

# ? Jul 29, 2018 11:32

Jeabus Mahogany: Feb 13, 2011; I'm mad because of a thorn in my impenetrable hide

Natural 20 posted:

Girls, rich af.

# ? Jul 29, 2018 13:14

a computing pun: Jan 1, 2013

# ? Jul 29, 2018 21:55

Added Space: Jul 13, 2012; Free Markets
Free People

Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIAkRVBS-0U

# ? Jul 29, 2018 22:00

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

We were...

quote:

�a scion of a grand old family, with connections and powers stretching back thousands of years, to the old days when gods ruled the world and human beings did not control their own destiny.

The God Wars destroyed mountain ranges, shattered continents, smote the gates of many heavens�but wealth has a habit of surviving. Your family is not what it once was, but move by move your clan has reclaimed its ascendancy.

And you are a pawn in that generations-long struggle for privilege and position. Despite your (in Grandfather's eyes) foolish decision to attend the Hidden Schools rather than focusing your efforts on the family Concern.

You developed, in those conditions, from child to woman. Here's a cutting, tumbling shard of lips and skin�a first kiss�

I'm assuming even our first play at kissing involved a girl.

quote:

A bright afternoon, a brief rest, a pressure of lips and hands and bodies. Neither one of you was very good at kissing, or at anything else you tried, but it was a start, and it was sweet. You wonder what became of her.

You'll never know. More flashes from your years at the Hidden Schools, where you studied the dark arts men call Craft. A century ago, you would have been burned at the stake for learning these skills�how to raise the dead from their graves, how to hold the power of the gods in your own hands. Then the God Wars happened, and humans won. The Hidden Schools rose in defiance of divine authority, and life became a lot better for people who chose to twist natural law in to their whims. People like you.

You see, you remember�

1. Hours and hours of studying, sweating, bent at my desk.
2. Keg stands and drunken revels, dancing, flesh, and joy.
3. The gym. The track. Books when I had to, but always the field.
4. Sneaking through and around the rules.

# ? Jul 30, 2018 05:08

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

We are dedicated nerds and studied all the time because that's how we will, one day, break the universe over our knee.

Except maybe not too much, because then we'd get sued for damages.

# ? Jul 30, 2018 05:38

someone awful.: Sep 7, 2007

We were definitely a party girl.

# ? Jul 30, 2018 05:48

wedgekree: Feb 20, 2013

Studying and Knowledge

We shall exact to the minutest detail how exactly we will bend existence by loopholes and scheming.

We're a lawyer. Knowing the ins and outs of the pettiest things helps

# ? Jul 30, 2018 06:01

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 3, 2024 05:35

RickVoid: Oct 21, 2010

Maximum Nerd

# ? Jul 30, 2018 06:51

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Choice of the Deathless: Old lawyers never die, they just become skeletons

«‹›14 »