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

Greymere · May 2, 2025

Talon Tiger Dino said:
Sure it is, you Open the grave up quick and you Open the casket even faster!

As for scrying for a reagent, I guess I'm open to drop the Windy spying for another Selene scrying, if people wish.

I think it's a good idea. And I'll probably make a variant of your plan when voting starts w/ more Bureauing instead of Tall Tale.

Nevermort · May 2, 2025

Talon Tiger Dino said:
In this Plan we task a giant eldritch snake who loves children, hates those who prey upon children, and is befriended to not half-ass things, with a rousing hunt for a child predator! A victim where even the Bureau would look the other way, if not join in themselves! Substitute giving into base impulses with cold, calculated culling, and reap the benefits of having less complications!

Would not DoA need to talk to people to find anyone ? I could easily see her misunderstanding modern slang and kidnapping someone else. Give her specific target and she may do it, but she is far from the best in finding ponies. Even Velvet would be better at it.

I guess as alternative we can have Selene spy on escaped Gardeners? We know their names from the reports at least. Luna would be able to find location. But it would be coin toss if they are bad pony or just got wrapped in the cult business. I guess them likely having some Grail levels would help with the meal.

Also I discovered that having Velvet be the one to lead expedition helps to push sacrifice decision further down the line. Worried about Rarity failing at her work? Give lesson to boost her chances. Don't mind eating Spoiled? Here is free Velvet action ready to be filled with something else. Procrastination for the win!

Plan: Getting your hooves dirty
Free- Sell Edge 3 artifact
Detectives - Dodge City
Constables - Tall Tale Proto-Hive
Commissioner - Get our hooves dirty
Free Lore Introduction - Lantern

Mareinette - Spoiled Rich
Baldomare - Lantern Influence
Biedde - Edge Influence
Forge Name - Build a Prison

Selene (3) - RotT for Lv. 7 book, Spy on escaped Gardeners , Soothe the Night
Cover your bases (+2 AP) - Servants, Risen, Fluttershy, Rarity, Cheerilee
DoA - Edge AotL,Edge AotL

AotL - Edge AotL
Knock - Shattered Stairways
~~Forge - Forge 2 for Forge Name~~
Grail - Cheerilee
Social - Soft Sweeps FO
1+2) Study, by priority within sections: (Moth 5 book, Manehattan book), (Lantern 4 artifact, Winter 4 artifact)
3) Rarity Lesson
4) Assault Opponent: Velvet Hill/ Gardeners/Do something else
5) Edge Sacrament
~~6) Rite of Joyous (Re)Forging~~

Or drop Rarity lesson and don't Leash Cheerilee I guess.

ses · May 2, 2025

Being able to double-scry is the biggest selling point of telling a Name to just snatch someone and the lack of it is the biggest knock against Assaulting Hills. It gets us a befriended forge name on Turn 24 without spending a crapton of bits and AP: either we get a repeat of the level 6 book and get the reagent for pennies or we get a normal expedition that pays back our investment by an order of magnitude on top of the reagent. The 200 bits from liquidating the Edge 3 artifact will help immensely in our various priorities, but we're STILL massively bit-constrained even then.

Nevermort said:
Would not DoA need to talk to people to find anyone ? I could easily see her misunderstanding modern slang and kidnapping someone else. Give her specific target and she may do it, but she is far from the best in finding ponies. Even Velvet would be better at it.

She can go full Kira and snatch a convicted one from a prison. Lets her bulldoze the problem with Knock and requires no special investigation skills. The Name of Knock can do a prison break in her sleep.

Nevermort · May 2, 2025

ses said:
She can go full Kira and snatch a convicted one from a prison. Lets her bulldoze the problem with Knock and requires no special investigation skills. The Name of Knock can do a prison break in her sleep.

Would not breaking in prison be expedition? We had one like this when we went to free Twilight. I don't see normal government prison any less defended and we even had DoA with us that time.

Shaper47 · May 2, 2025

[] Plan Prep for Moth and Grail Sacraments while finally getting our SH Sacrament
-[X] [DETECTIVES] (FOLLOW UP) They have confirmed the presence of changelings in Dodge City. Have them take a closer look, and focus their efforts there. (May not be picked with "Siege Dodge City")
-[X] [CONSTABLES] (FOLLOW UP) Everypony heard what happened to your previous prisoner. Nopony wants to sit around and wait for what happens next. Time to raid the mountain of Tall Tale.
-[X] [COMMISSIONER] Spend time with Cadence
-[X] [DIRECTOR] Lantern
-[X] [RARITY] Focus on her work. (Guarantees she will "succeed" on her career roll)
-[X] [MAREINETTE] You need her to talk to Spoiled Rich
-[X] [AXE] Ask for a Knock lesson x 2
-[X] [CHERENKOLT] Ask for a Forge lesson
-[X] [SELENE] Soothe the night
-[X] [SELENE] Get the Silver Key from Axe (Knock Sacrament)
-[X] [BALDOMARE] SH Sacrament
-[X] Leash Filithy Rich
-[X] One extra Velvet action! (Costs 2 follower actions)
-[X] Needs must. Ask somepony to procure you a dead body from the local cemetery.
-[X] You might need a place to… "store" your enemies. Alive. Dig a small prison under her house.
-[X] You would like for somepony to search for books…
--[X] In Ponyville, and its… great assortments of libraries? (HEART, FORGE)
-[X] Aotl lantern x 2

[] Plan Prep for Moth and Grail Sacraments while finally getting our SH Sacrament and Edge Sacrament
-[X] [DETECTIVES] (FOLLOW UP) They have confirmed the presence of changelings in Dodge City. Have them take a closer look, and focus their efforts there. (May not be picked with "Siege Dodge City")
-[X] [CONSTABLES] (FOLLOW UP) Everypony heard what happened to your previous prisoner. Nopony wants to sit around and wait for what happens next. Time to raid the mountain of Tall Tale.
-[X] [COMMISSIONER] Spend time with Cadence
-[X] [DIRECTOR] Lantern
-[X] [RARITY] Focus on her work. (Guarantees she will "succeed" on her career roll)
-[X] [MAREINETTE] You need her to talk to Spoiled Rich
-[X] [AXE] Ask for a Knock lesson x 2
-[X] [SELENE] Soothe the night
-[X] [SELENE] Get the Silver Key from Axe (Knock Sacrament)
-[X] [BALDOMARE] SH Sacrament
-[X] [BIEDDE] Edge Influence
-[X] Leash Filithy Rich
-[X] One extra Velvet action! (Costs 2 follower actions)
-[X] Needs must. Ask somepony to procure you a dead body from the local cemetery.
-[X] You might need a place to… "store" your enemies. Alive. Dig a small prison under her house.
-[X] Aotl lantern x 2
-[X] Aotl edge

No need to take any risky moves. Just play it safe and get some important Prep done.

Sveta08 · May 2, 2025

Greymere said:
...yeah I dunno. I think choosing the thing that definitely helps with the biggest limitation on our actions besides raw AP and is invoked literally every single turn is more valuable than poking the mystery box, if we're picking one or the other. I'd be more willing to give up one of the study actions than leveling up Rarity. Especially since Grail 3/Forge 1 -> Grail 4/Forge 2 is not only additional Lore levels that Rarity applies to her rolls, it's also what gives her a reroll, meaning we're less likely to have to have her focus on her work (when she's not doing commissions).

Y'all make me nervous about this Sacrament stuff.

I'm not disagreeing that Rarity is very worthwhile to train as it increases bits. If I have to look at it in raw mechanical terms, I have this.
Is one Velvet Action worth 40-50 Bits? Because, from looking back, on average training Rarity increased our Bit income by about 10 bits a turn. And I don't think we can expect things to go much further than five turns. I do agree that, if we are to train Rarity, this is about the last turn it looks economically smart. But that is just a narrow enough margins that I'm not sure.

But rubber meets the road and whatnot. Will put my two plans just below.

Sveta08 · May 2, 2025

[] Plan: Backstabbing runs in the Family
-[X] (Free) Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[X] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[X] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[X] (Commissioner) Get your hooves dirty
-[X] (Director) Lantern
-[X] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[X] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[X] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[X] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[X] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[X] Assault an Opponent: Velvet Hill (DoA)
-[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry (Selene)
--[X] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
-[X] Build a prison (Cherenkolt)
-[X] Search for intermediate expeditions (DoA)
-[X] Perform the Attention of the Laws (Edge), for Sacrament (x2) (Comet, Selene)
-[X] Cover your bases (-2 Follower AP, +1 Velvet AP) (Servant, Risen)

[] Plan: Who will miss them?
-[X] (Free) Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[X] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[X] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[X] (Commissioner) Get your hooves dirty
-[X] (Director) Lantern
-[X] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[X] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[X] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[X] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[X] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[X] There really is no other way. Ask somepony to get you a live prisoner; specifically, someone Axe believes should be gotten rid of (DoA)
-[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry (Selene)
--[X] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
-[X] Build a prison (Cherenkolt)
-[X] Search for intermediate expeditions (DoA)
-[X] Perform the Attention of the Laws (Edge), for Sacrament (x2) (Comet, Selene)
-[X] Cover your bases (-2 Follower AP, +1 Velvet AP) (Servant, Risen)

The first plan turned out identical to what Stabby Stabby Stab was. The second is it's variant that's not focused on Velvet Hills. It's not as restrictive as some of the others, but it also is focusing on getting someone that won't upset Axe to grab, and might be easier to find.
Either way, both of the theoretical Velvet Plans from these I have is... These. Again, they turned identical to Stabby Stabby Stab

-[] (AotL) Edge
-[] (Knock) Explore the Shattered Stairways
-[] (Social) Level up Rarity
~~-[] Perform the Rite of Joyous (Re)forging~~
-[] Study (2x), by priority within sections: (Moth 5 book, Manehattan book), (Lantern 4 artifact, Winter 4 artifact)
-[] Fleeting Opportunity: Soft Sweeps
-[] Sacrament: Challenge Biedde

Pittauro · May 2, 2025

Talon Tiger Dino said:
Y'know, we could probably send Axe out to kidnap a foal peddler. I'm sure someone so fond of children will have the appropriate opinions on what should be done with such monsters. That would leave Biedde free to hit us with an Edge Influence for Tall Tale, Sacrament, etc.

I agree, but I still think we might want to scry for such a target first.

I wonder what Axe would think about it.

on the one hand, we're taking sacrament from the Name she hates the most of the surviving ones.

On the other, it SEEMS like we're picking a target she'd approve of, instead of her old fears of us eating Silky.

ses said:
Velvet Covers with A Resolution is notably stronger than a Windigo (+45 for a windigo attacking a non-pony plus whatever bonuses they had for multiple windigos, probably +60 total vs +69 without AotL +90 with it). We've seen what happens when a Windigo attacks a changeling hive. They slaughter the bugs like a child having fun squishing ants. And we'll have the Bureau at our backs well prepared for war.

Generally speaking I agree, though keep in mind that Windigoes heal after the battle is over, which means they can kill a changeling, take a minute of rest, and then be ready for more slaughter.

Velvet can't do that.

Sveta08 said:
And at risk of repeating myself, again, here are the important parts that I took from those discussions.

And for me, it was that which ultimately decided it.
Yes, there are narrative bonuses to Velvet being there. Yes, there will be more a bit of focus if she goes. Yes. It might save lives or raise moral, or so on. But if we find 1 useful things in a liquid table fashion, it's worth it in my eyes.

To me, this expedition has never been a particular question of risk. It has only been a question of worth.
And in the end? If we get even just a Lv2 reagent, I'd call that gold enough in my eyes. Or 10 Bits!

So if you simply refuse to consider narrative weights, then that's the potential mechanical gain.

By default we can't mess with Bureau "evidence"... once it's been brought into custody.

If we're there, we can probably mess with it in person, it would be fairly easy to take a few pieces of critical evidence from our saddlebags, or alternatively plant more of it if we wanted.

And yeah, in my opinion the changelings after MONTHS of preparing and establishing themselves HAVE to have some loot for us to get. Bits, resources, blackmail on other important figures, something.

There's a small risk of injury, sure, but I think it's worth the potential benefits of Velvet being there.

AuthorTransient said:
If we are doing criminal, I would still suggest Windy Flakes.

not really viable in our timeframes I think. We'd need to scry for him AND send a pretty beefy team, considering he'd likely be well protected.

I personally also don't want to EAT him, but that's secondary.

AuthorTransient said:
Make one next turn? This turn is more for bits. On that note, would Axe doing Canterlot 3 grant bits?

the expedition? Who knows, there's definitely stuff WORTH bits in there, but we might not be willing to sell it depending on what it is.

And keep in mind that making a forge 4 reagent is 80 bits, upgrading it is 110 bits. It's basically all we get from selling Edge 3!

Alternatively, scrying for a lvl 6 reagent is 30 bits for the ritual, and the expedition is likely to be something like 30 bits if it's short and we send two followers. (we usually complete them in 3 days on average).

AuthorTransient said:
Isn't Steppes unavailable right now due to Biedde?

Fleeting Opportunity, his last gift. We can have a say in what it is or leave it up to him basically.

AuthorTransient said:
While 200 bits is indeed useful, the ability to gtfo in case of Celestia is very tempting... I would argue holding on to it for now.

If you also want to MAKE the forge reagent than that's just not viable! Not when we have so much expensive stuff to do!

I'll read the rest later, but I'm leaning towards Edge Sacrament now, and as I said prison + criminal. I'll have to see if there's already a suitable plan or If I need to make one.
I

Alan975 · May 2, 2025

Righto, I'm never really too keen on actually engaging with planing -too many options, brain hurti- but needs must.

I'm quite sold on -[] Assault an Opponent: Velvet Hill (DOA) but could someone tell me what the odds of failure is here?

Doubt that Axe would get got, but it would be a shame to postpone the lunch date

Shaper47 said:
[] Plan Prep for Moth and Grail Sacraments while finally getting our SH Sacrament

So tempting to get those balls rooling though. You not a fan of dooing Grail soon-ish?

Nevermort · May 2, 2025

Alan975 said:
Doubt that Axe would get got, but it would be a shame to postpone the lunch date

It is expedition and we have money to take up to three Names on it. The only hang up people have are moral ones and I don't see killing mafia boss being less moral than killing some unrepentant criminal, even if said mafia boss never killed anyone personally. As for it hurting Pride and Uncle, well no guarantee that said criminal does not have mother, or any other family member who would still be hurt by our actions.

OurLadyOfWires · May 2, 2025

Pittauro said:
@OurLadyOfWires how would renegotiating the Needle contract work, and would it be worth it? With Rarity's reputation as THE Dressmaker that made the Dress for PRINCESS CADANCE, Surely there's room to improve the contract, or just find someone who'd pay more and better for it?

Between super-grail from Mareinette for it, and Rarity's improved reputation, and even potentially some Cadance endorsement (surely it wouldn't be that much of a favour to ask her to wear a few Rarity dresses around and speak well of her with other nobles?) it should be feasible.

You can do a write-in of "Readress the Needle contract".

What will happen is that I'll open a sub-vote of what direction you will try to take the negotiations (such as trying to increase dividends, let go of the "commission" opportunity to get more per-turn money with an exclusivity deal, etc). But how the negotiations would go would certainly depend on how you roll after making a choice.

And to be clear, Grail is good, and ponies are social. But it might involve more than one dice roll, and they might not all involve Grail. Even now I can think of a Stewardship roll to see just how good your proposed terms are, or if you won't have a negotiation blind spot that will be capitalized by the more business savvy Needles.

Stuff like that.

Greymere said:
@OurLadyOfWires considering this is Velvet Hill we're talking about, and I assume Velvet has a bit more than a passing familiarity with the place she spent a considerable chunk of her life at, does that give us any particular advantage? Some insight on what hurdles might be present?

No.

You know how most of the house looks like, but you can't attest for any renovations that happened over the years. And it's a pretty big house.

You won't get any particular bonuses. But then again, an expedition prepares for and fares just fine against "the complete unknown". And this won't be treated any differently.

ses said:
@OurLadyOfWires Last turn you said you didn't like plans that hard-lock in an assumption of a successful graverob action, how would you like us to format "We want the risen to do an AotL, no need to open a vote later in the turn. If we fail just take the AotL away". I feel like there ought to be an option to write in a particular action to get dropped in favor of taking over the missing risen action? That doesn't seem super complicated or even really a conditional. But just tell us how you want us to handle it. But the way generic actions go into a pool feels like we should be able to drop any generic action from the generic action pool in the event of failure even if the risen was never going to do it? And putting the Risen's action in the generic action pool just feels like it makes sense when doing the follower vote.

Sure. You can write in an "If extra corpse, Risen and AotL". Add that in if you want to, as long as someone is looking for a body the same turn.

spiderhellian said:
@OurLadyOfWires I know you don't want anything conditional in planning. But if we sign up for the Edge Sacrament, then get wounded going on Tall Tale, would we have the option to back out of the Sacrament and re-assign the AP?

Yes, of course. If there's a material change in your circumstances I'll open a vote to reorient your priorities.

Although, for example, if...
This is a hypothetical, but if you go to Tall Tale as the "second-last" action of the turn, get hurt, and the Edge Sacrament would be the last action, you will only have one action point to re-plan, and the rest of the turn will already be locked in the past.

This seems to be all. I hope you are all doing well!

Greymere · May 2, 2025

Alan975 said:
I'm quite sold on -[] Assault an Opponent: Velvet Hill (DOA) but could someone tell me what the odds of failure is here?

Completely unknown.

Nevermort said:
The only hang up people have are moral ones and I don't see killing mafia boss being less moral than killing some unrepentant criminal, even if said mafia boss never killed anyone personally.

This just isn't true though. At the absolute minimum, going after Hill is more expensive than going after a random criminal, which is a pretty pertinent hang up to have considering the bit situation.

Greymere · May 2, 2025

OurLadyOfWires said:
And to be clear, Grail is good, and ponies are social. But it might involve more than one dice roll, and they might not all involve Grail. Even now I can think of a Stewardship roll to see just how good your proposed terms are, or if you won't have a negotiation blind spot that will be capitalized by the more business savvy Needles.

Tbf. Even if it doesn't use Grail. If we ask Mareinette to do it she's rolling a base of +40, which is well above our bonus if it's like embezzlement and no Lores are applied on top of Stewardship. +60 if the negotiation counts as a social situation in its entirety.

And if we're befriending her she'll be inclined to pick options that we'll be pleased with anyway.

Nevermort · May 2, 2025

Greymere said:
This just isn't true though. At the absolute minimum, going after Hill is more expensive than going after a random criminal, which is a pretty pertinent hang up to have considering the bit situation.

No? If it is say expedition to break into prison then it does not cost less. If anything prison is better guarded and have less valuables. If it is scrying for criminal it is still costs bits and does not give any bits in return. You will spend more bits on criminal in the end.

Okay, my new plan hopefully final one before voting starts. Please tell me if I missed anything.

-[] Plan: Velvet of All Lores
--[] Free- Sell Edge 3 artifact
--[] Leash- No one
--[] Detectives - Dodge City
--[] Constables - Tall Tale Proto-Hive
--[] Commissioner - Get our hooves dirty
--[] Free Lore Introduction - Lantern
--[] [MAREINETTE] Grail Influence
--[] [BIEDDE] Edge Influence.
--[] [BALDOMARE] Lantern Influence
--[] [SELENE] Soothe the night.
--[] Assault Opponent: Velvet Hill
--[] RotT for Lv. 7 book
--[] Build a Prison
--[] Edge AotL
--[] Cover your bases (5 Follower AP, +2 Velvet AP )

Social - Soft Sweeps FO
1+2) Study, by priority within sections: (Moth 5 book, Manehattan book), (Lantern 4 artifact, Winter 4 artifact)
3) Spoiled Rich
4) Rarity Lesson
5) Edge Sacrament
6) Rite of Joyous (Re)Forging

Mareinette on Grail Influence, while Velvet befriends Spoiled, no Cheerilee leash. Edge sacrament and Rarity lessons covered. Remember that Soft Sweeps counted as social so Grail influence may very well be needed. Also certainly better for Spoiled, at least Velvet will meet with her in person once.

Also plan that covers only one Velvet action

-[] Plan: Velvet of All Lores, no Rarity Lessons
--[] Free- Sell Edge 3 artifact
--[] Leash- No one
--[] Detectives - Dodge City
--[] Constables - Tall Tale Proto-Hive
--[] Commissioner - Get our hooves dirty
--[] Free Lore Introduction - Lantern
--[] [MAREINETTE] Grail Influence
--[] [BIEDDE] Edge Influence.
--[] [BALDOMARE] Lantern Influence
--[] [SELENE] Soothe the night.
--[] [SELENE] Spy on Windy
--[] [RARITY] Focus on her work
--[] Assault Opponent: Velvet Hill
--[] RotT for Lv. 7 book
--[] Build a Prison
--[] Edge AotL x 2
--[] Cover your bases (2 Follower AP, +1 Velvet AP )

Social - Soft Sweeps FO
1+2) Study, by priority within sections: (Moth 5 book, Manehattan book), (Lantern 4 artifact, Winter 4 artifact)
3) Spoiled Rich
4) Edge Sacrament
5) Rite of Joyous (Re)Forging

AuthorTransient · May 2, 2025

ses said:
The artifact has to be a studied one and the Knock 2 artifact is insufficient. The price of the rebindings increases each time so we dont know if that means "A studied level 3 artifact" or "A studied level 4 artifact"

Greymere said:
This just isn't true though. At the absolute minimum, going after Hill is more expensive than going after a random criminal, which is a pretty pertinent hang up to have considering the bit situation.

Good points, except that - actually, I would like to @OurLadyOfWires here, in this minor quibble over wording:

OurLadyOfWires said:
all options will increase in price with every passing re-binding

as in, every option, even those not picked, will l increase in price, or only the option picked will increase in price, one action to two actions, 50 bits to 100 bits, etc.

Greymere · May 2, 2025

Nevermort said:
No? If it is say expedition to break into prison then it does not cost less. If anything prison is better guarded and have less valuables. If it is scrying for criminal it is still costs bits and does not give any bits in return. You will spend more bits on criminal in the end.

Except that's not what any of the currently proposed plans do. As far as I can tell Pittauro is the only one thinking about scry + ~~die~~ kidnap. The rest are having DoA just go out and do her thing, with "prison break" being mentioned as a possibility how she might do that. Not that we would intentionally be sending DoA to break into a prison.

OurLadyOfWires · May 2, 2025

AuthorTransient said:
Good points, except that - actually, I would like to @OurLadyOfWires here, in this minor quibble over wording:
as in, every option, even those not picked, will l increase in price, or only the option picked will increase in price, one action to two actions, 50 bits to 100 bits, etc.

I debated how much I "should" tell you, but this is something Velvet herself has realized from the subtext. So no problem sharing what she thinks.

Velvet is pretty sure "all" the prices will increase "every rebinding".

Except a promise to take her Sacrament, of course.

Talon Tiger Dino · May 2, 2025

[] Plan: Let's Not Kidnap a Prominent Figure From Canterlot
-[] (Free) Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[] (Commissioner) Get your Hoofs Dirty
-[] (Director) Lantern
-[] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[] Needs must. Ask somepony to procure you a dead body from the local cemetery. (DoA)
-[] There really is no other way. Ask somepony to get you a live prisoner; specifically, a foal peddler/predator. (You have no place to keep live prisoners) (DoA)
-[] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry (Selene)
--[] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
-[] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry (Selene)
--[] Target: Easiest Level 6 Forge Reagent to acquire
-[] Build a prison (Cherenkolt)
-[] Edge AotL (Comet)
-[] Edge AotL (Risen)
-[] Cover your Bases (Servants, Risen)

The latest form of my Plan, where we have Selene do two scrying actions so Velvet doesn't have to. And I trust in the monster hunting snake who loves children to be good at hunting down a monster who harms the children.

And if we successfully study the Lantern Artifact, she'll actually do a better job of scrying than Velvet could, so this works out for Velvet being a massive eldritch nerd this turn.

And for those of you who *don't* want Velvet to eat a pony, here's a somewhat different plan:

[] Plan: Cannibalism is Cringe
-[] (Free) Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[] (Commissioner) Get your Hoofs Dirty
-[] (Director) Lantern
-[] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[] Needs must. Ask somepony to procure you a dead body from the local cemetery. (DoA)
-[] Go searching for expeditions. (DoA)
-[] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry (Selene)
--[] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
-[] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry (Selene)
--[] Target: Easiest Level 6 Forge Reagent to acquire
-[] [CHERENKOLT] Someting else? (Go over Rarity's Contract with the Needles, see what can be improved.)
-[] Edge AotL (Comet)
-[] Edge AotL (Risen)
-[] Cover your Bases (Servants, Risen)

(I was mildly tempted to give DoA an Action of, "help plan Silky's Cuteceneara." For both plans.)

OurLadyOfWires · May 2, 2025

Voting is about to open.

And I will say this in the nicest way possible, and also won't claim any plan is "invalid" because it's not doing this.

But please, please put your general actions in a clumped up and readable format. Trust me to pick the best followers to the best action. Even if your intention is to clarify who will do what, it makes your plan have 14+ lines. And the people who want to vote but don't have the time to go over the whole discussion will have to do extra work just to vote.

This is the reason why we separated followers' phase, and created general actions, to begin with.

I'll threadmark this because, legally speaking, only votes after this threadmark will be counted.

Cheers, everyone.

Talon Tiger Dino · May 2, 2025

[X] Plan: Cannibalism is Cringe
-[x] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[x] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[x] (Commissioner) Get your Hoofs Dirty
-[x] (Director) Lantern
-[x] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[x] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[x] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[x] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[x] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[x] [CHERENKOLT] (Free) Recalibrate to Grail
-[x] [CHERENKOLT] Something else? (Go over Rarity's Contract with the Needles, see what can be improved.)
-[x] (Free) Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[x] Needs must. Ask somepony to procure you a dead body from the local cemetery.
-[x] (Free) Summon a Risen.
-[x] Go searching for expeditions.
-[x] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry x 2
--[x] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
--[x] Target: Easiest Level 6 Forge Reagent to acquire
-[x] Edge AotL x 2
-[x] Cover your Bases x 2

I cast the first vote. And will post my more cannibalistic plan in a Wires-approved format below.

[] Plan: Let's Not Kidnap a Prominent Figure From Canterlot
-[] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[] (Commissioner) Get your Hoofs Dirty
-[] (Director) Lantern
-[] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[] (Free) Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[] Needs must. Ask somepony to procure you a dead body from the local cemetery.
-[] (Free) Summon a Risen.
-[] There really is no other way. Ask somepony to get you a live prisoner; specifically, a foal peddler/predator. (You have no place to keep live prisoners)
-[] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry x 2
--[] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
--[] Target: Easiest Level 6 Forge Reagent to acquire
-[] Build a prison (Cherenkolt)
-[] Edge AotL x 2
-[] Cover your Bases x 2

Greymere · May 2, 2025

[X] Plan: Prisoner Chomping
-[X] (Free) Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[X] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[X] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[X] (Commissioner) Introduce Lore: Forge
-[X] (Director) Lantern
-[X] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[X] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[X] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[X] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[X] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry (x2)
--[X] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
--[X] Target: Easiest Forge 6 reagent to acquire
--[X] At Jade's old house
-[X] Acquire a prisoner, preferably not an innocent civilian
-[X] Build a prison
-[X] Obtain a dead body
-[X] Perform the Attention of the Laws (Edge) (x2)
-[X] Cover your bases (-2 Follower AP, +1 Velvet AP)

[X] Plan: Devouring the Sky
-[X] (Free) Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[X] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[X] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[X] (Commissioner) Introduce Lore: Forge
-[X] (Director) Lantern
-[X] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[X] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[X] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[X] (Cherenkolt-Free) Recalibrate: Moth
-[X] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[X] (Selene) Dreamwalking: Spy on Windy Flakes
-[X] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[X] Assault an Opponent: Velvet Hill
-[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry
--[X] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
--[X] At Jade's old house
-[X] Build a prison
-[X] Obtain a dead body
-[X] Perform the Attention of the Laws (Edge) x2
-[X] Cover your bases (-2 Follower AP, +1 Velvet AP)

Nevermort · May 2, 2025

Time for the vote then

[X] Plan: Velvet of All Lores
-[X] Free- Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[X] Detectives - Dodge City
-[X] Constables - Tall Tale Proto-Hive
-[X] Commissioner - Get our hooves dirty
-[X] Free Lore Introduction - Lantern
-[X] [MAREINETTE] Grail Influence
-[X] [BIEDDE] Edge Influence.
-[X] [BALDOMARE] Lantern Influence
-[X] [SELENE] Soothe the night.
-[X] Assault Opponent: Velvet Hill
-[X] RotT for Easiest Level 7 book to acquire. At Jade's old house
-[X] Build a Prison
-[X] Get body. If successful Risen and Edge AotL
-[X] Cover your bases (-5 Follower AP, +2 Velvet AP )

Velvet action projections:
Social - Soft Sweeps FO
1+2) Study, by priority within sections: (Moth 5 book, Manehattan book), (Lantern 4 artifact, Winter 4 artifact)
3) Spoiled Rich
4) Rarity Lesson
5) Edge Sacrament
6) Rite of Joyous (Re)Forging

Mareinette on Grail Influence, while Velvet befriends Spoiled, no Cheerilee leash. Edge sacrament and Rarity lessons covered. Grail influence for Soft Sweeps FO and Spoiled.

[X] Plan: Velvet of All Lores, hunt for the worst pony
-[X] Free- Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[X] Detectives - Have them investigate crimes at large, in the several cities of Equestria.
-[X] Constables - Tall Tale Proto-Hive
-[X] Commissioner - Get our hooves dirty
-[X] Free Lore Introduction — Lantern
-[X] [RARITY] Focus on her work
-[X] [MAREINETTE] Grail Influence
-[X] [BIEDDE] Edge Influence.
-[X] [BALDOMARE] Lantern Influence
-[X] [SELENE] Soothe the night.
-[X] RotT for Easiest Level 7 book to acquire . At Jade's old house
-[X] RotT for Forge 6 reagent. At Jade's old house
-[X] Send someone to capture worst pony your detectives will find this month
-[X] Build a Prison
-[X] Search for intermediate expeditions
-[X] Get body. If successful Risen and Edge AotL
-[X] Cover your bases (-2 Follower AP, +1 Velvet AP )

Capture criminal version of the same.
I don't believe that DoA will manage it , so at least leave to QM to choose who he finds most suitable for the task. Or better yet have detectives do their detective job and then make use of their reports.

[X] Plan: Graven Commissioner and Commander
[X] Plan: Cannibalism is Cringe
[X] Plan: Waste Not Want Not

Sveta08 · May 2, 2025

[X] Plan: Devouring the Sky

[X] Plan: Prisoner Chomping

[X] Plan: Commissioner and Commander
-[X] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[X] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[X] (Commissioner) Get your Hoofs Dirty
-[X] (Director) Lantern
-[X] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[X] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[X] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[X] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[X] (Selene) Dreamwalking: Spy on Windy Flakes
-[X] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[X] Assault an Opponent: Velvet Hill
-[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry
--[X] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
--[X] At Jade's old house
-[X] Build a prison
-[X] Perform the Attention of the Laws (Edge) (x2)
-[X] Cover your bases (-2 Follower AP, +1 Velvet AP)

I would prefer we assist the Bureau in action rather than lore, but both work.

ses · May 2, 2025

[X] Plan: Devouring the Sky
[X] Plan: Graven Commissioner and Commander

Sveta08 said:
-snip-

I would prefer we assist the Bureau in action rather than lore, but both work.

Is there any way to convince you to add a graverob action for basically free to your plan? Otherwise it looks perfect. We really have no reason not to graverob if we're going for 3 AotL, especially since you have DoA doing an AotL with a Name action.

DelightedOne · May 2, 2025

[X] Plan: Cannibalism is Cringe

[X] Plan: Prisoner Chomping

Cochimetl · May 2, 2025

[X] Plan: Cannibalism is Cringe

spiderhellian · May 2, 2025

Okay. Here's a "let's not devote multiple actions to finding a prisoner and making a prison" plan.

We get a forge scrap, which means the influence will bring us to 4. This means that we can crush out the sacrament in one influence-powered turn.

And we get a better use of DoA — a risen, and a medium expedition.

[X] Plan: Waste Not Want Not
-[X] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[X] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[X] (Commissioner) Get your Hoofs Dirty
-[X] (Director) Lantern
-[X] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
-[X] (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
-[X] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[X] (Selene) Soothe the night
-[X] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[X] Forge Lesson (Cherenkolt)
-[X] Spy on Windy's Dreams (Selene)
-[X] Needs must. Ask somepony to procure you a dead body from the local cemetery.
-[X] Look for Medium difficulty Expeditions
-[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry
--[X] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
-[X] Edge AotL
-[X] Edge AotL
-[X] Cover your Bases (1)

Sveta08 · May 2, 2025

ses said:
Is there any way to convince you to add a graverob action for basically free to your plan? Otherwise it looks perfect. We really have no reason not to graverob if we're going for 3 AotL, especially since you have DoA doing an AotL with a Name action.

I am looking into this. To keep the most things stable with what people want, that would likely come from one of the Edge AoTL. Looking back into it, there is... Nothing we can truly do to gain additional rerolls in combat by the looks of it.

With our personal AoTL, and combat being set in 3 roll chunks... Gegh. That means if we do a grave digging option, we would only get 6 combat rolls with AoTL effects. And 3 of which when Biedde doesn't have rerolls.
If I am honest with myself, if we take the second AoTL action, we only gain one roll where Biedde doesn't have a reroll. And that requires us to not do 50 pts of damage to him in the previous six rolls, and him to not do 100 points to us after six combat rolls for it to even potentially be used.
That is... Unlikely I have to admit.

Very well
(I continue to be confused for a few posts. Keep reading)

ses · May 2, 2025

Sveta08 said:
I am looking into this. To keep the most things stable with what people want, that would likely come from one of the Edge AoTL. Looking back into it, there is... Nothing we can truly do to gain additional rerolls in combat by the looks of it.

It's the same number of AotL's, the risen can cast one the turn its created. Also Attentions are buffing 2 roll chunks, so 2 of them buffs our first 4 rolls, 3 buffs our first 6. The 3rd one takes our failure chance from 27% to 21%.

Nevermort · May 2, 2025

If we plan to give Rarity lesson this turn focusing on her job is overcautious. She most likely would not fail even without it. And if we are doing it out of consideration for future Commissions QM gave us action to rework her contract so it also would not matter if we take said action sometime soon.

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

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Experienced.

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Versed in the lewd.

Know what you're doing yet?

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Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

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In hell we live, lament

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

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Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

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I trust you know where the happy button is?

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