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

[angelsadvocate666]

EDIT: Oh wait, studying is Lantern application, so influence doesn't help?

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Influences apply to both. I believe rituals are the only thing they don't apply to.

Behold Paint 0 lore:

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POV: Your name is Copper Secatour.

 

[Bakkasama]

Mmm ..., yeah, I think that we should have Velvet focus on socials, Rarity on her work and the rest on either guarding us or murdering Copper. The new summon was already reason enough to focus on murdering her.

Regarding on whether to reveal the attack or not... Leaving aside that Celestia won't take it well, I don't know if I like the message it sends to the public that we can be attacked.

I think we need to make a headcount of how many ponies we need for security, how many we need for a counterstrike and decide based on that.

 

[spiderhellian]

I just recalled attacking an opponent is a short expedition — so it only costs an action from the leader.

I like:
Biedde: Lead attack.
Marionette: Social Filthy (or influence) + Attack
DOA: Knock lesson (if feasible) or keys + attack.
Comet: ? + Attack.
Baldomare: Scry Copper/Manuscripts
Luna: Grave expedition + ? (Scout Windy's dreams?)
Servants: I dunno, books hoping for Heart? Jade house?
Jade: I guess memory of light?

Not sure what to do with Comet action, really. Tbh maybe Fluttershy, who saves so many wounded animals, could help with our own healing?

Luna would be a pretty great attack leader, actually, with Moth/Knock/Edge all very useful. And in some ways it's bad to have Biedde leading, because we don't really face Edge checks, we just face combat. I guess we don't really specify, and Bird will choose the optimal arrangement.

Edit: Oh wait, DoA's +50 probably trumps the rest. That's very strong.

(What happens if Copper attacks us the same turn we attack her? Pass by like ships in the night? Pitched battle?)

Edit: Also a reminder to everyone that we spend an action to roll two healing dice. So between that and the Mareinette action we'll only have 2 personal AP. So it's not like an influence actually does that much!

 

[angelsadvocate666]

Minions can look for the Outsider.

 

[Zxzx24]

Behold Paint 0 lore:

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This is SO good! Heh

 

[angelsadvocate666]

This is SO good! Heh

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I think the best part is how Marinette is in the picture, but Biedde isn't. Because he's Moth.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Nice to know Wolf Selene is still a possibility.

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Alright Mom, Imma make Daybreaker a thing now, it'll douse so many lights, it'll be great. Ash in particular will be absolutely thrilled with, well, the ashes.

I think the best part is how Marinette is in the picture, but Biedde isn't. Because he's Moth.

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Clearly he's the one holding the camera.

 

[spiderhellian]

A few pretty non-urgent questions @OurLadyOfWires
1) When we roll to heal at the end of the turn, is that also with no lore bonuses?
2) If we attack Copper next turn, and Copper attacks us, what happens? Would the two forces meet in battle, would they pass by each other?
3) Does Comet's influence expire this turn or next?

 

[Bakkasama]

A few pretty non-urgent questions @OurLadyOfWires
1) When we roll to heal at the end of the turn, is that also with no lore bonuses?
2) If we attack Copper next turn, and Copper attacks us, what happens? Would the two forces meet in battle, would they pass by each other?

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Probably one of the expeditions is resolved first and then the other. If you want our minions to be available to guard us, have them do the guard action.

I just recalled attacking an opponent is a short expedition — so it only costs an action from the leader.

I like:
Biedde: Lead attack.
Marionette: Social Filthy (or influence) + Attack
DOA: Knock lesson (if feasible) or keys + attack.
Comet: ? + Attack.
Baldomare: Scry Copper/Manuscripts
Luna: Grave expedition + ? (Scout Windy's dreams?)
Servants: I dunno, books hoping for Heart? Jade house?
Jade: I guess memory of light?

Not sure what to do with Comet action, really. Tbh maybe Fluttershy, who saves so many wounded animals, could help with our own healing?

Luna would be a pretty great attack leader, actually, with Moth/Knock/Edge all very useful. And in some ways it's bad to have Biedde leading, because we don't really face Edge checks, we just face combat. I guess we don't really specify, and Bird will choose the optimal arrangement.

Edit: Oh wait, DoA's +50 probably trumps the rest. That's very strong.

(What happens if Copper attacks us the same turn we attack her? Pass by like ships in the night? Pitched battle?)

Edit: Also a reminder to everyone that we spend an action to roll two healing dice. So between that and the Mareinette action we'll only have 2 personal AP. So it's not like an influence actually does that much!

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Considering how this attack went down, we probably should have more guards than just Biedde.

The grave expedition can wait. We know it only has the level six book and we won't need that for at least three turns.

As for how many actions we have... We could simply choose an option that doesn't cost us an action.

Biedde attacks.
Mareinette influence
Axe keys
Luna guards and trains
Baldomare finds copper
Rarity her job
Comet guards
Jade and servants cover our bases.

 

[Shaper47]

"My Princess, they hit the second Love's Chosen."

Edit: Cadance will not react well.

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I know, Velvet's going to see how loved she is so blatantly she can't deny it.

I wonder if she's going to try and threaten the Names who were on guard duty.

She might even help us with protective measures. It's a great time to put some Names onto the books as paid guards.

 

[Cochimetl]

In case you missed the memo all of the Names could not care less if Velvet up and died.

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While everything you said is true, I meant the author, not the Name.

 

[spiderhellian]

Considering how this attack went down, we probably should have more guards than just Biedde.

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Comet + Biedde seems reasonable? I feel that if Copper had a ton more resources to toss at us, she would have just used them there?

We could simply choose an option that doesn't cost us an action.

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We need to spend an action to roll to heal two wounds.

And this is a turn where our actions are significantly less useful than most our followers, I'm not sure it's worth covering our bases.

The grave expedition can wait. We know it only has the level six book and we won't need that for at least three turns.

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It can. I don't know if it needs to, and I would like to befriend Baldomare.

 

[Venerable Ro]

Clearly he's the one holding the camera.

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Well he'd certainly appreciate the opportunity to convey a Token of Defiance...

 

[jason1stlegion]

As for how many actions we have... We could simply choose an option that doesn't cost us an action.

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Why? This is the one turn where we have (or almost have?) an action surplus, since we can't do any of our usual work with Velvet.

This is the time to develop our Summons/followers/contacts and prepare for the next turn.

 

[spiderhellian]

This is the time to develop our Summons/followers/contacts and prepare for the next turn.

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I don't think we can do this effectively.

We have two actions, after Mareinette and healing.

In terms of developing a contact, there's no way that we better with + 40 twice than Mareinette does with +100 and a reroll.

Consider what socializing entails. Velvet is all but dead, mumbling a song and dancing a dance to keep her heart beating. I don't think a social call, even if we're unnaturally compelling, is going to do that much to develop our social bonds. There are narrative effects to actions while dancing with death!

Edit: I guess we get the free social too. Still not sure about it.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

We're either socializing or we're studying, honestly. Our Lorelessness makes it the only thing we can do.

 

[Quaxotia]

Comet + Biedde seems reasonable? I feel that if Copper had a ton more resources to toss at us, she would have just used them there?

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It still didn't really feel like a fully committed attack to me. Sure, the bit cost must've been high, but we don't really know what the balance sheet of a fully fledged cult looks like, one that has no inhibitions on stealing or killing for bits. And she paid some ignorant mercenaries to do the hit rather than send edge cultists. No sign of Neighnia either, though I don't know if she is a combat capable Name or is mainly good for End is Beautiful.

All in all, her loss is primarily financial. Perhaps she feared leaving herself critically exposed in case the attack failed, or drawing too much attention to cult activities.

For our counterattack I'm wondering if we should also have a home guard in case of a ships passing in the night scenario. Someone like Selene might be good for that.

 

[AuthorTransient]

I think the best part is how Marinette is in the picture, but Biedde isn't. Because he's Moth.

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He's right behind you. Nothing personnel (sic), kid.

We could always use some of our artifacts to give us lore levels to study our other artifacts.

Plan Copper Must Not Summon Ash Ghoul, Memory of Light Edition

Followers:

Follower	Action(s)	'Free' Action
Rarity	Focus on Career or Commission	⨂
Fluttershy + Comet Feet	Leader of Grave on the Hill	⨂
Jade Whistle	Memory of Light	⨂
Baldomare	Scry Copper	⨂
Daughter-of-Axes	Knock Lesson	Follower to Grave on the Hill
Mareinette	Heart Influence	⨂
Biedde	Attack Copper	Guard
Selene	Winter Skill, Guard	⨂

Velvet:

Personal (Base 4)	Social	Mansus
Heal x 2 Binding Mareinette Studying the Lantern 4 Artifact	Cadance	⨂

Or perhaps DoA with Jade to summon a Mare in the Light to Guard?

EDIT:
Copper No Ghoul! Mare in the Light Edition
Followers:

Follower	Action(s)	'Free' Action
Rarity	Leader to Grave on the Hill (prompts a career roll)	⨂
Fluttershy + Comet Feet	Summon a Mare in the Light (+ Jade Whistle, Stormchaser)	⨂
Jade Whistle	Summon a Mare in the Light (+ Comet Feet, Stormchaser)	⨂
Baldomare	Scry Copper	⨂
Daughter-of-Axes	Knock Lesson	Follower to Grave on the Hill
Mareinette	Heart Influence	⨂
Biedde	Attack Copper	Guard
Selene	Winter Skill, Guard	Random training action

Due to DoA being summoned, our Secret Library of Knock is currently Level 2.

Velvet:

Personal (Base 4)	Social	Mansus
Heal Binding Mareinette Studying the Knock 2 Artifact Studying the Lantern 4 Artifact	Cadance	⨂

EDIT 2:
Copper No Ghoul! Baldomare Cheats Edition
Followers:

Follower	Action(s)	'Free' Action
Rarity	Leader to Grave on the Hill (prompts a career roll)	⨂
Fluttershy + Comet Feet	Guard	Follower on Attacking Copper
Jade Whistle	Memory of Light	⨂
Baldomare	Scry for Windy	Follower on Attacking Copper, to Find Copper
Daughter-of-Axes	Knock Lesson	Follower to Grave on the Hill
Mareinette	Heart Influence	⨂
Biedde	Leader to Attack Copper	Guard
Selene	Winter Skill, Guard	Random training action

Velvet:

Personal (Base 4)	Social	Mansus
Heal Binding Mareinette Studying the Lantern 4 Artifact Studying the Lantern 4 Artifact	Cadance	⨂

 

[spiderhellian]

-For every single dice you roll, a success will only heal a single wound.
-All rolls are against a DC 70.
-You are currently afflicted by a "Not really helping it" malus, your rolls will suffer a -15 malus this turn.
-You currently have an Artifact in your possession. It shall grant you a +30 bonus for your roll.
-Your current Heart application bonus is +10 (since this is a long-term process, you cannot apply Attention of the Laws to it).

Rest, and time, are the only true remedies for a sick body. (You must pick one)
-[] You don't have time for this. (Costs 0 actions. You will only roll ONE healing dice.)
-[] Take a few breaks, every now and then. (Costs 1 action. Rolls TWO dice. 0/-15)
-[] You only have one body. Better take the time to care for it… (Costs 2 actions. Rolls THREE dice. 0/-15/-30)
-[] Your wounds are deep and numerous. You can't play around while you are like this. (Costs 3 actions. Rolls FOUR dice. 0/-15/-30/-45)
-[] You are almost broken. So, you will act accordingly. You need only your mind to plan vengeance. (Costs 4 actions. Rolls FIVE dice. 0/-15/-30/-45/-60)

The body will do its part. But science, and magic, may also provide. As long as you provide the proper "encouragement", of course. (The dices that auto-succeed will always be the ones that have the greatest penalty, and NOT the dices who roll the lowest results.) (You must pick one)
-[] You either don't care, or you don't have enough bits to care. Either way, your body will have to mend itself on its own terms. (Costs nothing.)
-[] The medicine taste is worse than its appearance. But it is exactly what you need, if they are to be believed… (Costs 30 bits. One dice will auto-succeed)
-[] There is no holy grail for healing magic, no miraculous wound-closing spell. But vigor-enhancing spells, and other small boosts, are a thing. The crystals where they are stored for sale are expensive, though… (Costs 60 bits. Two dice will auto-succeed)

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@AuthorTransient If we're guaranteeing two successes with 60 bits, we only need to spend one action on it. And given the ramping maluses I feel that's the best approach.

Fluttershy + Comet Feet

Leader of Grave

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Comet is kind of bad as a leader? He only rolls well on Edge obstacles, otherwise it's +10 or so.

For our counterattack I'm wondering if we should also have a home guard in case of a ships passing in the night scenario. Someone like Selene might be good for that.

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You don't think Biedde and Comet are enough?

 

[Quaxotia]

You don't think Biedde and Comet are enough?

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I was assuming that on the turn we are counterattacking those two would be sent to whack Copper. If we aren't counterattacking yet then I think they should suffice, though I'm still wary as Velvet is at death's door now. I dearly hope she will not get into any further combat for now and let her bodyguards do their jobs.

 

[spiderhellian]

I was assuming that on the turn we are counterattacking those two would be sent to whack Copper. If we aren't counterattacking yet then I think they should suffice, though I'm still wary as Velvet is at death's door now. I dearly hope she will not get into any further combat for now and let her bodyguards do their jobs.

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Counterattacking doesn't use an action, except for the leader. So eg Comet can guard and go on the attacking expedition, I'm pretty sure.

 

[LieutenantSpirit]

Given it's a short expedition, I'd like to send as many as possible to attack Copper. Even if it's expensive, we can just recoup the cost with whatever we take from her.

But we can't go on without dealing a crippling blow. Copper's attacks will only get worse from here, so we need to ensure she won't be a problem in the future.

 

[Venerable Ro]

Consider what socializing entails. Velvet is all but dead, mumbling a song and dancing a dance to keep her heart beating. I don't think a social call, even if we're unnaturally compelling, is going to do that much to develop our social bonds. There are narrative effects to actions while dancing with death!

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Well to be specific, since pedantry both matters and is fun, this what was specifically said.

-ALL actions that might take place outside of your home will have narrative and/or mechanical maluses associated with them.

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Therefore, receiving guests ought to work just fine provided that they can reasonably be expected to show up. Personally I'd say it's not too hard at all to imagine that our children's teacher and the local Mayor who thinks quite highly of us indeed might decide to come visit out of concern.

Maybe not at the same time of course, but still. In fact, to build off of Shaper's comment:

I know, Velvet's going to see how loved she is so blatantly she can't deny it.

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We can get some lovely narrative momentum for Velvet with some socializing. Spend time with her family, receive visits from friends she didn't know she has, and suffer the fussing attentions of a worried pink pony princess. Being forced to take a month off and be pampered after being beaten to death and back might unironically be one of the best things that's happened to Velvet lately.

 

[AuthorTransient]

@AuthorTransient If we're guaranteeing two successes with 60 bits, we only need to spend one action on it. And given the ramping maluses I feel that's the best approach.

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Makes sense. I'm going to reshuffle a few parts around.

Comet is kind of bad as a leader? He only rolls well on Edge obstacles, otherwise it's +10 or so.

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It's less about the leader and more that for an Expedition that is Short, the follower action is free.

 

[LieutenantSpirit]

Unless we want to send someone to scout, we'll want to bring Baldomare along so our assault team can actually find Copper. My ideal team would resemble something along the lines of Biedde, Marinette, Comet, DoA, Baldomare, and Selene, aka everyone we have. While Mares would be nice to summon, it's better for us to use those actions scry on Windy and search for the Outsider.

I might be misunderstanding how short expeditions work, however.

 

[Iustus Vitea]

Copper might try to EiB again this turn so we need DoA to give us Keys people.

 

[Pittauro]

While you are right there, I would argue that, if we have the action and our Lores, we are less likely to spend the time on books and artifacts.
Artifacts mind, that could be used by our allies and expeditions that are almost certain to happen soon.

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it might still be better to do socials instead.

...Right. I definitely seem to have missed a fair bit in the past few hours.

I was not expecting such a delay to our plans, but it's a good thing we aren't dead, at least. The current situation at least leaves us with some time to do other stuff, given we're essentially blocked off from the rather large amounts of more esoteric material that was eating up our time.

That was quite the confluence of many coincidences... If one factor had changed, we'd either be in a much better state or a much worse one. I guess this is what we have to work with now.

I guess the final conclusion is that we really need to work on our health and Heart Lore levels? This was a bit too close in my opinion, certainly not something we would like to risk again. At least, I would hope not...

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yeah, it was weirdly balanced to put us right on the brink of disaster.

one more damage, one more thug or windigo, one less guard or edge influence, and we'd be dead.

one fewer damage (from heart, from combat), one more heart scrap lost, one more enemy assaulting us, and we'd be fine-ish.


and instead we're now basically going to lose MOST of the value of Velvet actions this coming turn (though we can sort of make up for it a bit by giving Velvet a Lantern, Grail OR SH influence and doing actions that benefit from it)

Spoiler: Large image

"My Princess, they hit the second Love's Chosen."

Edit: Cadance will not react well.

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that MIGHT or might not end up being a good thing, if we can leverage it in more direct support.

by which I mean BITS, BIRD WE NEED MORE BITS!

AND GUARDS WE DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR!

that said, Selene won't take it well either. After all she's going to insist she has to guard us, OBVIOUSLY she's worried and maybe feels responsible for not having been there.

Nooooo all my plaaaaans!

Welp, back to the drawing board.

Good thing we had A Resolution, or that could have been a lot worse.

Edit: Also, full social turn does sound good. We only have so much we can do with no Lores, and at least Grail Influence + Socials lets us work on something.

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A Resolution. A Biedde. A Mareinette. The Heart Realization.

one more negative factor, and we'd be dead.

One more positive factor, and we probably wouldn't be dancing with death.

It really got close!


side note, if we died here it would have just been so... anticlimactic.

Imagine surviving the (admittedly not focused) attention of our Master, of the Wolf, all our spinning plates... and then dying to a random thug.

This truly makes me realize how right Baldomare was in that we shouldn't overestimate ourselves.

Even an all 7 Velvet, for all of her direct and indirect dangers, can still die to numbers and misfortune.

We really need to get through the Tricuspid soon. Even if it's not insta-win, I'd be satisfied with long-hood too. After all Longs are supposedly fairly hardy, it would probably come with a few more health points and a general bonus replacing our stats at the very least, in addition to probably a trait or two.

Edit: Oh yeah, something I wanted to point out...

Windigos have the Level 4 reroll effect. Meaning that any other Level 4+ spirit (that isn't a Name) we summon should also get rerolls on their major Lore.

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I think we already knew that. Why wouldn't they have the standard edge 4 power?

Regarding on whether to reveal the attack or not... Leaving aside that Celestia won't take it well, I don't know if I like the message it sends to the public that we can be attacked.

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it also sends the message we'll retaliate against attackers, and also that we survived.

Luna would be a pretty great attack leader, actually, with Moth/Knock/Edge all very useful. And in some ways it's bad to have Biedde leading, because we don't really face Edge checks, we just face combat. I guess we don't really specify, and Bird will choose the optimal arrangement.

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we CAN Face edge checks. it's just we don't get rerolls from edge 4 on them.

There's been a couple edge obstacles in the mansus, for example.

Edit: Oh wait, DoA's +50 probably trumps the rest. That's very strong.

(What happens if Copper attacks us the same turn we attack her? Pass by like ships in the night? Pitched battle?)

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Axe has +50 in everything but social challenges, and Axe has +40 (+60 IN social challenges).

To the highest applicable general bonus, you add the lore levels (*5) of every participant.

So yeah, in nearly any expedition of above average difficulty and decently varied obstacles we want to send AT THE VERY LEAST one of Axe or Mareinette, and then we can consider who else to add.

and Copper is extremely unlikely to attack us in person, and I imagine the attacks might happen at different points in the turn.

3) Does Comet's influence expire this turn or next?

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oh, good point. if it's up he's more useful, we could send him to attack Copper now... probably with Biedde/Baldomare support...

eh, it's an option, we'll see.

The grave expedition can wait. We know it only has the level six book and we won't need that for at least three turns.

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not quite. she expires next turn, so unless we want to give her one of the lvl 5 books it would be best if we got the lvl 6 one, as it also progresses her "friendship" questline so to speak.

Also it's a short and presumably easy expedition. We literally can send just a single follower (Axe, Mareinette, Biedde, Selene, Comet) and they ALL would likely be good enough to get it on their own.

In case you missed the memo all of the Names could not care less if Velvet up and died. They are only giving Velvet the minimum time and effort required by their summoning contract. If you want more then lackadaisical employees, that only do the bare minimum to not get fired, and spoil their fun vacation in the wake. Velvet needs to earn their friendship. These are names they have the privilege of being at a level of power, where they only ever do what they personally like to do.

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I think Baldomare cares a tiny bit, but that's it.

Mareinette would maybe regret losing her entertainment, and a meal if she didn't get to eat us.

Biedde MIGHT maybe let out a sigh at "wasted potential" at best, but then again we saw his speech of "if you failed, that's proof you were not good enough" in the was-not with Comet.

Axe would likely be glad. MAYBE a bit sad for Silky at best.

Baldomare might lose herself in a few what-ifs for a while, but she'd get over it very quickly.

I don't think we can do this effectively.

We have two actions, after Mareinette and healing.

In terms of developing a contact, there's no way that we better with + 40 twice than Mareinette does with +100 and a reroll.

Consider what socializing entails. Velvet is all but dead, mumbling a song and dancing a dance to keep her heart beating. I don't think a social call, even if we're unnaturally compelling, is going to do that much to develop our social bonds. There are narrative effects to actions while dancing with death!

Edit: I guess we get the free social too. Still not sure about it.

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eh, I think it could come out as fairly touching if, while half-death, we decide to spend what time and energy we have on "insert name here".

-For every single dice you roll, a success will only heal a single wound.
-All rolls are against a DC 70.
-You are currently afflicted by a "Not really helping it" malus, your rolls will suffer a -15 malus this turn.
-You currently have an Artifact in your possession. It shall grant you a +30 bonus for your roll.
-Your current Heart application bonus is +10 (since this is a long-term process, you cannot apply Attention of the Laws to it).

Rest, and time, are the only true remedies for a sick body. (You must pick one)
-[] You don't have time for this. (Costs 0 actions. You will only roll ONE healing dice.)
-[] Take a few breaks, every now and then. (Costs 1 action. Rolls TWO dice. 0/-15)
-[] You only have one body. Better take the time to care for it… (Costs 2 actions. Rolls THREE dice. 0/-15/-30)
-[] Your wounds are deep and numerous. You can't play around while you are like this. (Costs 3 actions. Rolls FOUR dice. 0/-15/-30/-45)
-[] You are almost broken. So, you will act accordingly. You need only your mind to plan vengeance. (Costs 4 actions. Rolls FIVE dice. 0/-15/-30/-45/-60)

The body will do its part. But science, and magic, may also provide. As long as you provide the proper "encouragement", of course. (The dices that auto-succeed will always be the ones that have the greatest penalty, and NOT the dices who roll the lowest results.) (You must pick one)
-[] You either don't care, or you don't have enough bits to care. Either way, your body will have to mend itself on its own terms. (Costs nothing.)
-[] The medicine taste is worse than its appearance. But it is exactly what you need, if they are to be believed… (Costs 30 bits. One dice will auto-succeed)
-[] There is no holy grail for healing magic, no miraculous wound-closing spell. But vigor-enhancing spells, and other small boosts, are a thing. The crystals where they are stored for sale are expensive, though… (Costs 60 bits. Two dice will auto-succeed)
-[] It costs extra to have a nurse follow you back from the hospital. But everything is a service, and everything is for sale, if you have the bits for it. (Costs 90 bits. Three dice will auto-succeed)
-[] These are not illegal, they are just extremely hard to find. The fact that they are so hard to find that no regulation agency cared to declare them illegal, on the other hoof, is just a small detail. (Costs 120 bits. Four dice will auto-succeed)
-[] Most of the bits are to pay for his silence. His skills, however, are not to be disregarded. The doctor is so quiet that you sometimes forget he is even there, but he is never more than ten hoofsteps away from you. (Costs 150 bits. Five dice will auto-succeed)

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from an older turn where we were injured.


I think that -15 is likely to stay. +30 for heartifact unless we give it to someone else (and we probably shouldn't. No Heart application as we lost our lores except the realization keeping us alive.

60 bits is 2 automatic health points healed, which is all we need. Last time Stormchaser actually payed for us, I wouldn't be surprised if Cadance payed for us this time, so we might not NEED to sacrifice actions for extra healing dice.

I can easily imagine her sending her personal doctor to watch over us for the whole month, even, EVEN if it's unnecessary.

We're either socializing or we're studying, honestly. Our Lorelessness makes it the only thing we can do.

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There's TECHNICALLY a third option.

We could get an SH influence, and search for Heart/Expedition books in ponyville. we ONLY need FOUR lvl 3 heart books! 30 bits each, that's 120 bits.

Actually if we found just TWO that would be enough paired with Mareinette's heart influence to reach Heart 4. and again, we could also find expedition books... the kind of book we passed on buying TWICE in the past, by the way.

With all the Names we have we could then do those expeditions fairly quickly. There's still that lvl 4-5 trinket supposedly close by...

We could always use some of our artifacts to give us lore levels to study our other artifacts.

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nope. artifacts give KNOWLEDGE bonus, which is MOSTLY used for rituals, expedition obstacles, and most Mansus obstacles (though for example Lantern to understand Doors is application instead).

so no, artifacts won't help study artifacts. that's also ignoring how the only thing helping us study is Lantern (and the SH artifact granting a random bonus up to +15, admittedly)

Daughter-of-Axes

Knock Lesson

Follower to Grave on the Hill

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I think there's no point in sending Axe. Comet can just reroll a couple challenges instead, he's a big boy and this is an easy expedition.

...then again if it doesn't cost an action... I suppose the extra 10-15 bits this would cost us are acceptable.

we PROBABLY can't learn knock while we have Knock: "nonexistent" though.

Mareinette

Heart Influence

⨂

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Same for scraps from heart influence.

Velvet:

Personal (Base 4)	Social	Mansus
Heal x 2 Binding Mareinette Studying the Lantern 4 Artifact	Cadance	⨂

Or perhaps DoA with Jade to summon a Mare in the Light to Guard?

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Just pay 60 bits, and that's 2 automatic healed points. We don't need to give up actions or anything else then. There's even a decent chance Cadance might pay for us, I think, though we shouldn't rely on it.

Rarity

Leader to Grave on the Hill (prompts a career roll)

⨂

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why would we? if we're not having her work on her career ("if she can afford to fail the roll"), THEN we should have her do a Commission for more bits!

Copper might try to EiB again this turn so we need DoA to give us Keys people.

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if she does we get warned on turn planning, in which case we should get the option to ask for the keys. I wouldn't worry.

 

[DelightedOne]

"My Princess, they hit the second Love's Chosen."

Edit: Cadance will not react well.

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Please tell me you're joking... because that would be too good to be true.

I still think we should tell her, we burned all of our luck and I'm not sure when we will get it back, so one more Alicorn being protective of us wouldn't hurt.

We also already established an Honest approach to our relationship, have the habit of telling the truth to our loved ones and learned because of Twilight that sometimes you need to break somepony's heart.

if she does we get warned on turn planning, in which case we should get the option to ask for the keys. I wouldn't worry.

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Uh... I think the need for Wrong Keys goes a little deeper than that since we have a high chance of losing DoA again we should really take the Keys now. That is the thing that gives us [Priority] on her summoning, cuts the ritual costs by 50 bits and acts as a Knock 3 reagent, we can't afford to let another Name in Copper's service.

That reminds me we need to look for the Forge Name when we heal.

Actually if we found just TWO that would be enough paired with Mareinette's heart influence to reach Heart 4.

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Personally I'm hoping we get a scrap from healing while Dancing with Death for the first time, that sounds fair.

 

[Pittauro]

Please tell me you're joking... because that would be too good to be true.

I still think we should tell her, we burned all of our luck and I'm not sure when we will get it back, so one more Alicorn being protective of us wouldn't hurt.

We also already established an Honest approach to our relationship, have the habit of telling the truth to our loved ones and learned because of Twilight that sometimes you need to break somepony's heart.

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It even sort of justifies some of Velvet's "evil" choices, at least in Cadance's eyes.

"the one who tried to kill me was a former friend and associate of mine. We once were both part of an "evil" organization plotting against Equestria, though most of us were not aware of the actual aims in the beginning."

"I left, and did all I could to atone, to make up for what I did, especially with Luna. They did not, and now see me as a traitor to their cause. Selene knows, and I have not told Celestia as I feared for what she'd do to me and my family, especially now that she's unstable. I'm leaving it to Selene how she wishes to approach her sister, as is her right as the main victim of what my former associates did".


Something like that.

Uh... I think the need for Wrong Keys goes a little deeper than that since we have a high chance of losing DoA again we should really take the Keys now. That is the thing that gives us [Priority] on her summoning, cuts the ritual costs by 50 bits and acts as a Knock 3 reagent, we can't afford to let another Name in Copper's service.

That reminds me we need to look for the Forge Name when we heal.

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we have another turn for that, do we not? we COULD ask for the Keys the turn after.

there's also still a chance we could get Knock 4 and the Key on turn 21, though our wounds make it harder to accomplish as it means we CAN'T work on this now.

Personally I'm hoping we get a scrap from healing while Dancing with Death for the first time, that sounds fair.

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fair. Though in that case maybe we SHOULD try to search for heart 3 books in Ponyville... maybe we can just send our servants for it?

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

No. No buying books Pittauro. They use up all our bits that way when there are perfectly serviceable expeditions to finance instead for less cost and greater rewards. Also for rituals. And reagents. And a Sacrament.