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

Reader mode
There is absolutely no chance we end up following up on the changeling hive map, and it's a 0/300 book, so we wont finish reading it anyway.

I dont think there's any realistic chance we fail to get the level 7 book. Our failure is far more likely to look like our people coming home cursed to shit with esoteric stat-eating curses if they decide to roll bad, but they'll still have the loot itself. We should just read the level 5 Knock book. None of our other books level up the Library, but the Knock 5 book is the most valuable book we have, we have +40 Lantern to read it so we'll probably oneshot it, and it puts us only 1 level 1 scrap away from hitting Knock 3 for the Library after it gets introduced to the Bureau. Plus ancient books have a chance of extra effects.

-[] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
-[] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner"
-[] (BOOK) Knock 5
 
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ses said:
Plus ancient books have a chance of extra effects.
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They also have a chance of carrying dangers. The Moth 5 book was explicitly 'friendlier' than most of its kind would be. I don't think we can really afford to be dealing with Fascination or Dread while we're trying to help Cadance stop the living nuclear meltdown.
 
-[] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.

For obvious reasons.

-"Not the cursed one, of course. What kind of host would use a guest as a wastebin? "

One that knows their guest is, in fact, a gluttonous wastebin.

-[] (MAREINETTE) Resources
-"What will she buy with it? Oh, this and that… Books, maps, lodging… company. Not because she needs the bits, mind you, but because making it transactional is a flavor of its own. "
-Current cost: 150 bits

Oh look, the Bureau holding the bill for a Long Expedition leaves us enough money to just pay Mareinette off. No need for becoming a cannibalistic monster then!

-[] (MOOD) Mareinette was oh so interested in the Bureau, after your introductions.
-You will not take any particular action this turn.
-From what you hear, Mareinette will be more absent from your home than usual. Something about going over the archives of the Lunar Bureau.
-This is a free action, and will not interfere in Mareinette's ability to serve you.

Have fun looking for your sisters, Mareinette. And with being a giant nerd.

-[] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point

We got enough Expeditions atm, and need the AP more.

-[] (BOOK) What did you read again? (WRITE IN one book, you will retroactively use your last Turn 22 reading action on it)

I have no real opinion on this. Just anything other than our Level 5 Knock back-up book for if we horribly botch the Book Expedition.
 
[] Plan: Why Not This Book?
-[] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
-[] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner" (Prisoner)
-[] (BOOK) What did you read again? (Knock 2)
-[] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point.

Avoids the risk of getting a mental malus, still sets things up for the Library to hit Knock 3 if Selene defuses the doom clock and/or significantly delays it.

Don't think we really need to scout-scry anything this turn.
 
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Wait, wait, wait, nononono. This feels like it will turn into planning hell.

Apologies, I had a very long week, so bear with me for a moment.

Looking at the vote options, none of them are really "connected." As in, I don't think most people's decision to "Do this to Mareinette" would change regardless of "what book" you picked to read.

So rather then having dozens of plans with nitpicky options, I suddenly get the impression we are better served having "approval" votes for everything. Well, with the caveat that the "Mood of Mareinette" vote will be ignored if the Sacrament option is first place on Mareinette's category.
(Approval voting meaning that you all vote for the individual options, without a plan. And the option with most votes in each category, such as "Mareinette, Book and Scry," wins for that category.)

I am not making a final decision right now, and you can keep discussing plans. But does anyone agree/disagree? I can easily alter the main threadmark and change the voting type if people think this will make the voting phase smoother.

Thank you for your time.
 
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OurLadyOfWires said:
So rather then having dozens of plans with nitpicky options, I suddenly get the impression we are better served having "approval" votes for everything. Well, with the caveat that the "Mood of Mareinette" vote will be ignored if the Sacrament option is first place on Mareinette's category.
(Approval voting meaning that you all vote for the individual options, without a plan. And the option with most votes in each category, such as "Mareinette, Book and Scry," wins for that category.)

I am not making a final decision right now, and you can keep discussing plans. But does anyone agree/disagree? I can easily alter the main threadmark and change the voting type if people think this will make the voting phase smoother.
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That probably would be cleaner, yeah. As you said, most of these aren't really connected in a meaningful way.
 
[] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
[] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner" (Prisoner)
[] (BOOK) What did you read again? (The Way Home)
[] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point.

We've already set everything up for the Sacrament, at this point it is what it is.
Went the way home cause at this point either we'll have enough time to look into it, or nothing else we pick will matter much in the long haul.
The only reason to potentially scry is to see if we could leave Mareinette off the expeditions and maybe just send Axe with Cherenkolt. Have Velvet do the other with the Bureau. She could be used to help with Celestia or social Mayor Mare.
 
Solace2117 said:
Went the way home cause at this point either we'll have enough time to look into it, or nothing else we pick will matter much in the long haul.
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Very much agree with this.

If we go All In next turn, fine, it's a waste. Most things would be.

But if we don't, it leave us one study action away and there's the potential for upside. It takes very good advantage of the Lantern influence.

That's a very good thing to spend a third of a study action on.
 
Talon Tiger Dino said:
No need for becoming a cannibalistic monster then!
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Also not another Name for All In.

Which is more useful and benefitial short and long term. (If we even have a long term in the first place, with Celestia and Biedde aproaching)

Didn't we decide that killing the ponies to pass thorugh the door would have been better? Necessary? How is this that different? (Yes, her Sacrament isn't necessary, but it is funny how much caution there is one moment only to be willing to gamble a better chance of victory on another moment in order to still have another justification that Velvet is good, even with a possible Game Over in the horizon, i suppose there is more confidence around than i thought)

Well, i suppose we will never truly know about the door decision because we shattered it, making the world even worse in the process, worse than cannibalism, but it is fine, the mortal mind can't quantify such big numbers, right? We didn't know, right? We weren't directly responsible for out of sight out of mind pain and misery, right?

...I'm not advocating for letting Mareinette go wild with the child eating or send Smiles/Axe to kill ponies indiscriminately for bits, and i doubt that those willing to vote for Mareinette sacrament are thinking about doing, or allowing, those things, and i don't think Velvet will become one just because of this. (Arguably because technically she is alredy one, just not a cannibal, which isn't really worse than being a murderer, which Velvet is, and we did it for less than this without doom in possibly 2 to 3 turns, and the "they were changellings" reasoning doesn't really fly)

Lastly a question, and i alredy know that the best answer is to choose both, but we alredy know how the quest isn't that partial to third choices.

Do we care more about winning and protecting Velvet family or about keeping our (bloodied) hooves as clean as possible?

If you had to put it in percentage terms how would it look?
OurLadyOfWires said:
But does anyone agree/disagree?
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Seems fine to me.

[] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.

[] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner" (Prisoner)

[] (BOOK) Knock 5

[] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point.
 
[] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
[] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner" (Prisoner)

That Velvet Covers no longer vetoes Access is a concerning development. I suppose it was impossible for her to keep up a purely transactional view standing so close to friendship, but I hope she will hold onto the rationalization of it being for family. And Glory.

Rafuki22 said:
Do we care more about winning and protecting Velvet family or about keeping our (bloodied) hooves as clean as possible?
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The blood I can stomach, but family should stay inviolable no matter what Mareinette whispers in our ears.
 
Quaxotia said:
I suppose it was impossible for her to keep up a purely transactional view standing so close to friendship, but I hope she will hold onto the rationalization of it being for family. And Glory.
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We do choose to an extent how Velvet acts and thinks, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem.
Quaxotia said:
The blood I can stomach, but family should stay inviolable no matter what Mareinette whispers in our ears.
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Unless the QM lied about Velvet never harming her family even when being GRAIL bombed (We were worried a lot about that back then), which i don't think he did, we should be relatively safe on that, unless we make a careless mistake or, more likely, a concious choice born from a nat 1.
 
Pittauro said:
The simplest version of the question is: @OurLadyOfWires Could we in theory reach lvl 4 in the library just by studying lots of lvl 1 books? Yes or No, impossible to misunderstand.
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Yes, yes, I understood that.

And to clarify my answer, you already have a level 1 book giving you access to Level 2 Edge, while Shaper was saying you would exclusively need Level 2 or higher books for that.

Yes, if you had fourteen (1 + 4 + 9) level 1 manuscripts your Library would still be Level 3. Mechanically because this is still a game and it is fun and rewarding to have earlier endeavors help later on, even if marginally. And narratively because, I don't know, Velvet would have written the manuscripts with a guiding intent in mind, specifically so the readers would be able to piece it all together (even if with way more homework). Or some other reason. Seriously, coming up with narrative reasons for mechanical things is easier than one might think.

ses said:
@OurLadyOfWires I'm sorry I failed to specify what I was thinking of when I asked my question. I meant to include asking "If we have a Name consult and then bring artifacts to the expedition, does that mean that Constables can wield artifacts? Like, say, the winter artifacts that dont stack with Selene's inherent Winter?
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Sure.

But Bureau expeditions will be slightly different in practice.

Try and find out.

Greymere said:
Actually an important thought. @OurLadyOfWires if the Bureau ends up going overtime on an expedition, do we lose out on the next turn AP of any consultants involved? E.g. if we send the Bureau w/ Selene and Mareinette to the Quarry on T23 and they take, say, 19 days instead of 15, do we then lose Selene and Mareinette AP on T24?
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See above, "try and find out."

DelightedOne said:
The Heirloom survived?!! It got diminished but it survived????!!!!!
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I can promise you it's not the Heirloom

Velvet doesn't even know what those are yet, in character. So, when I told you they were destroyed, that was "omniscient" out-of-character knowledge to let you understand exactly what you did.

Those Heirlooms are gone. That's just a small artifact.



Right. I am convinced. Vote is now changed to "approval" voting, and I will edit the threadmark to reflect that.

Given that, VOTING IS NOW OPEN. Approval voting tends to be a lot more calm, with a lot more chances for people to reflect and change their choices at will, so no biggie. And I gave you guys information ahead of time for a reason, so most people have a good idea on what they want, or are purposefully waiting for more discussion before making a decision.

And I will go pass out. Terribly long day.

Be well everyone.
 
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Book feels like the only meaningful choice. And I think The Way Home is correct. This is why we took it in the expedition, and the potential upside is better than the alternatives.

[X] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner"
[X] (BOOK) What did you read again? The Way Home
[X] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
 
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Quaxotia said:
That Velvet Covers no longer vetoes Access is a concerning development.
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However, consider the following.

Axe (Order) made Selene (alicorn) promise that Mareinette (Change) would not be allowed near Silky (???).

But what did Silky choose to do, when given the option?

She has a cutie mark, and free will, and a certain skill that she is slowly growing into. And Velvet is probably more attuned to her first daughter's predilections than to the snake's tantrums.

Anyways, I'm going now.
 
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OurLadyOfWires said:
However, consider the following.

Axe (Order) made Selene (alicorn) promise that Mareinette (Change) would not be allowed near Silky (???).

But what did Silky chose to do, when given the option?

She has a cutie mark, and free will, and a certain skill that she is slowly growing into. And Velvet is probably more attuned to her first daughter's predilections than to the snake's tantrums.

Anyways, I'm going now.
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…This does leave me ever so curious what the Silky-Biedde-Smiles dynamic would have been like.

So you're a Name diplomat, huh? How do you feel about the oldest conflict in existence? Like it could use more cookies?

…Yeah, me too.
 
[X] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
[X] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner" (Prisoner)
[X] (BOOK) Knock 5
[X] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point.
OurLadyOfWires said:
But what did Silky chose to do, when given the option?
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Ahhh, free will, so wonderful, and yet also so annoying.
 
[X] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
[X] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner"
[X] (BOOK) Knock 2
[X] (BOOK) What did you read again? The Way Home
[X] (SCRY) What are you looking at? (Choked City, Selene)
 
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[X] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner"
[X] (BOOK) What did you read again? The Way Home
[X] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
[X] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point.

Plan for the worst and the best options. If we only have a couple turns left the book doesn't really matter. If we can stretch it out, especially with Bureau expeditions helping on other things, the Way Home feels more useful long term. The Knock 5 book is our Baldomare back up and the potential dangers aren't worth the risks for what we'd gain in the short term.
 
[X] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
[X] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner"
[X] (MOOD) Mareinette was oh so interested in the Bureau, after your introductions.
[X] (BOOK) What did you read again? The Way Home
[X] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point

OurLadyOfWires said:
while Shaper was saying you would exclusively need Level 2 or higher books for that.
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Yeah my mistake there, I mistyped I really meant level 3 not level 2. I.e. level 2 scraps or higher required for level 3.

OurLadyOfWires said:
Yes, if you had fourteen (1 + 4 + 9) level 1 manuscripts your Library would still be Level 3. Mechanically because this is still a game and it is fun and rewarding to have earlier endeavors help later on, even if marginally. And marginally because, I don't know, Velvet would have written the manuscripts with a guiding intent in mind, specifically so the readers would be able to piece it all together
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I'm confused, is that level 1 manuscripts help marginally for later much higher lore levels or level 1 books in general.
 
[X] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
[X] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner"
[X] (MOOD) Mareinette was oh so interested in the Bureau, after your introductions.
[X] (BOOK) What did you read again? The Way Home
[X] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point
 
[X] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner"
[X] (BOOK) What did you read again? The Way Home
[X] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
[X] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point.

I think that there's much more use to keeping the Knock 5 book as a "just in case" than risk it on minimal benefits and the possibility of Dread/Fascination when we're going into a turn where we need to use every AP perfectly. May as well use the book action on something low risk and potentially fun.

Mareinette my beloved it's finally time~
 
[X] (ALL IN) You will NOT attempt the "All In" expedition.
[X] (MAREINETTE) Accept her "Invitation to Dinner"
[X] (BOOK) What did you read again? The Way Home
[X] (SCRY) You do not wish to scry for any expeditions at this point
 
Wait, not scrying for expeditions is one thing, but is scrying existing expeditions something we can do only in the turn proper?
 
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