Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience

[Uruguayan spider]

-[X] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Mayor Mare

Click to shrink...

Wait, when did we decide to eat the Ponyville president?
I thought we were going to do it with Spoiled Rich and use Filthy Rich for the Moth Sacrament.

AAAAaaaaaAaaaa any risk for a chance and finding out what does the Silver Key DOOOOooooooOOOO?????

Click to shrink...

Yea! This is an important point!

 

[ses]

Wait, when did we decide to eat the Ponyville president?
I thought we were going to do it with Spoiled Rich and use Filthy Rich for the Moth Sacrament.

Click to shrink...

We are eating Random McRandomface the Unlucky Victim for [Invitation to Dinner]

[Honored Guest] is mareinette's social action AP that lets her do a social action on our behalf and befriend mayor mare so that she doesn't get SHOVEL'd by the wolf cult

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Having rechecked the situation yeah Velvet has to go on the expedition. We need the max rewards from it, to fund next turn. Then we can "Go All In"

 

[spiderhellian]

I'm confused this is the second post you made arguing in favor of Velvet going and you're voting against sending her?

Click to shrink...

Man, I'm pondering! Ruminating! Considering! Reflecting!

Abdicating agency in a tense spot feels difficult to do. I know we can't influence the roll more than we have. But I feel we're passing up a vote that looks something like:

Hyperthermia has come to Equestria. Who, or what, do you want to save?
* Cadance
* Shining Armor
* The Lunar Bureau
* Get out of there, and get a head start on what comes next.

It's not trivial!

… but it might be rolling the dice for the Silver Key that gets me there. I want to know what it does so badly.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

… but it might be rolling the dice for the Silver Key that gets me there. I want to know what it does so badly.

Click to shrink...

We know what it does it let's Velvet open all locks.

 

[ses]

@spiderhellian congrats on getting your omake made into the newest main threadmark

 

[Portec]

[X] (VELVET) You will personally join the Bureau in the expedition.
[X] (CHERENKOLT) Cherenkolt will personally join the expedition.

 

[Shirt]

[X] (VELVET) You will personally join the Bureau in the expedition.
[X] (CHERENKOLT) Cherenkolt will personally join the expedition.

 

[excedere]

aaaand we're back! looking forward to what's decided!

 

[DelightedOne]

We know what it does it let's Velvet open all locks.

Click to shrink...

That is the Knock Realization, the Sacrament has unknown effects... because we did not interact with anything that can trigger it since getting it.

 

[Alan975]

Normally I'd be all for the sub-optimal option if it has a good character motivation behind it, but this one doesn't really cross the threshold.

I don't think that Velvet would think that Daybreaker would kill Cadance, and with the family as prepared as can be without running for the hills right now...
Velvet is not soloing Daybreaker- not even holding her back, not even with Solid Snake and Pinocchio.
The only way she could try and salvage a fumble on Cadences' part here is through the Wolf, and that can be done when we get back.

That or by charging headfirst at it with every Name and hoping that a [Soft!New Game+] isn't worse than another stain.

[X] (VELVET) You will personally join the Bureau in the expedition.
[X] (CHERENKOLT) Cherenkolt will personally join the expedition.

 

[Solace2117]

On one hand I think Velvet should be there cause while she can't help directly with Celestia it could be a matter of her being able to react and save some lives and potentially get get more done before rushing to All in. On the other hand the potential for the silver key calls to me and we need that book. Also the fact Velvet has gone on so few expedition is one of my disappointments about the quest so far. Not a criticism of our choices, just sad because the ones we have done were so interesting.
Honest question though, if we do have Velvet go, it feels like a bit overkill to also send Cherenkolt.

 

[DelightedOne]

The only way she could try and salvage a fumble on Cadences' part here is through the Wolf, and that can be done when we get back.

Click to shrink...

It might not, some RA's are only available in the moment, like killing Master and making Soft an apostle.

And considering how it was worded.

She will be WELL POSITIONED when Cadance rolls her dice, and will be able to react quickly to whatever happens.

Click to shrink...

I doubt we will have a good chance of taking out Daybreaker if we are not there.

 

[Wise Wolf]

I doubt we will have a good chance of taking out Daybreaker if we are not there.

Click to shrink...

Even if Daybreaker happens, I don't think wolfing Celestia (and Equestria) is likely to be the right option. Instead we just push the All-In button and (hopefully!) come back with the power and perspective of an Hour.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

All I know is that I am very sad my idea to have Velvet Axe grab a foal predator for our meal lost, and instead we just have some random sad schmuck.

 

[Sveta08]

Good morning world~
Oh what a delight to find on my weekly visit here once more!
Now, let me see and think and dream....

 

[Sveta08]

That was the best possible future. Silky Stream knew that.

Click to shrink...

Ah! Ah ha ha! Oh so sweet and tantalizing an offering! So gentle and kind and blessed.
How cruel to show a path that may once never be! But such is the way of things.
If it were possible, then showing it would be to present the truth before it's time. If it weren't, then it may be shown. Only we who do not know and walk on in ignorance and foolishness can reveal the truth before it's time.

How beautiful.
But, this is not our path.
Such is the way of Mothers. To try and offer to the best of our abilities. Even should such actions restrict and constrain.
Such is the crime of Children. To be unable to sway the course of history until their time.

This is not our future. Ours is not the best and brightest of all possible hopes. But it never was.
Or.... perhaps it never would be, with how we think and act and split. I don't know.
Suffice to say? It's beautiful. And makes me smile and laugh in the way only someone world-weary can on hearing a child's dream.

Thank you


Now then!


ahem

Set the Stage! Light the lamps! Ready the harp! Draw the Curtain!
It's time for the Performance of a Lifetime!

Ha! Forgive me my theatrics, but oh how sweet to see this!
How terrible yes! But how much I simply wish to laugh and cry and look on in wonder and terror.
Is this what it feels like to see the sea reseed before you, not knowing if it is tidal wave or mere low tide? The world not quite lost in the balance, but to see and to wonder? I do not know!
But enough of these words! There is importance here.

To address the options in the room?
I see no future where Velvet does not want to be near her daughter's sister, should aught go awry. Risk and threat and consequence to be sure, but often and before have we sent Axe alone to assist. Now too we trust her with cohort... or the cohort with her? An important distinction, but irrelevant.
Truely a shame. I have no doubt Axe would have many thoughts for Velvet today of all days. To accept a Feast with a Monster. To shear short the connection with others. To seek Power for a sake not it's own, but sought all the same... Oh the whims of a Mother to a Axe-wounded Daughter! That would have been pretty poetry, their talk.

But I... must also admit. I see and fear that should something go wrong with Cadence's plans and Velvet not be near to try and handle it, the whinging and grumbling and complaints of lost opportunity would be catastrophic. I believe it is the right narrative for Velvet to stay, but I won't deny some small part of me also says that to avoid some of the grumbling and arguing.... Ha! Even should I, as often do, rarely speak much to it.

Now as for our Forge Blessed Son! That, is a different matter entirely!
My friends! Strangers at arms and familiar faces one and all! I ask you!
How much do you like to gamble?

I see paths before us here! Paths upon which I am as of yet uncertain where to place my hand! So I will tell you all.
Three paths made six and three will always be chosen. The expedition will go on, the researchers will go on, the investigation will go on. Of each path there are two options. Our Forge Son goes, or does not. Only one can we pick.
If we send him on the expedition, he will be away. Should there be grail on such a path, he will assist, but that is all. This perhaps, I see as the safest path for him and for us.
If we send him to find the Winter Painting, the odds we will have more fruitful a search are far and away improved. However, and yes However not And, this will be delivered before Cadence has made her move.
If we send him to research the Once Future Changeling, the odds that we should learn something truely special are far more likely before it is stolen away. However, and yes still However and not And, this will be delivered before Cadence has made her move.

Why am I restating the obvious?
Because! Because quite simply do we Want those reports to be done before Cadence has made her move?
If there is evidence of Winter's touch upon this world, do we want to know it, and do we want it to be known, for it to be a part in the world, before? When the mere fact of that information being known could alter the odds? How might Celestia unfurl her solar winds to scorch a Winterblighted land? How might we try to devote time and energy and planning to it before we know if the Sun's Ire is roused?
If there is information to be found in the body and contamination of that changeling, do we want to know that before? Would the deception, the discrepency, the investigation into a monster that The Sun has decreed vile be seen as contrary to her will? Should we slip free and see a new path there to quiet and smother the sun, would we even want that opportunity to be seen and known before? And at the costs?

I do not know my friends! And while I am certain there will be quibbling on percentages and odds, I am rare in looking that direction. But I see the most important part of that question as...
Do you want your Answer before, or After? If you want it before, it is more likely to succeed. But if it succeeds, it feels like to alter the odds with The Sun. Send him away on expedition is most like to not alter the odds, but unlike to alter in any direction.
Personally? I would like to see about the Changing, but I shall hold off on that part of my vote.

[X] (VELVET) You will NOT join the Bureau in the expedition.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

All of our plans require we get a ton of stuff from the expedition. We need a lot to fund the final turn.

 

[Quaxotia]

All I know is that I am very sad my idea to have Velvet Axe grab a foal predator for our meal lost, and instead we just have some random sad schmuck.

Click to shrink...

Isn't that what we intended? Then Axe refused to tell us who was the person she kidnapped, saying that it didn't matter. Perhaps she found it farcical to try to select a "deserving" sacrifice for a Grail ritual with a monster like Mareinette in the first place.

[X] (VELVET) You will personally join the Bureau in the expedition.
[X] (CHERENKOLT) Cherenkolt will personally join the expedition.
[X] (CHERENKOLT) Cherenkolt will focus on aiding the detectives.

I think we must place trust in Cadance, because if she fails I feel there's going to be little hope of recovery either way. If Velvet is going, then Cherenkolt could be dropped from the expedition but Neighnia and the changeling carcass aren't really a high priority to get fast updates on. Still, after the expedition the team on Neighnia could probably use the help the most so I'll toss a vote there too.

 

[ses]

I think we must place trust in Cadance, because if she fails I feel there's going to be little hope of recovery either way. If Velvet is going, then Cherenkolt could be dropped from the expedition but Neighnia and the changeling carcass aren't really a high priority to get fast updates on. Still, after the expedition the team on Neighnia could probably use the help the most so I'll toss a vote there too.

Click to shrink...

Cherenkolt is there because he's personally providing +30 to Grail rolls (being the only source of Name General Bonus due to Axe's antisocial for 15+15=30 assuming that Bureau General Bonus is 15 in all cases, which is probably an overestimate) in addition to +30 and a reroll to Forge.

 

[dcoconeo]

[X] (VELVET) You will NOT join the Bureau in the expedition.