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

[Venerable Ro]

Call me a pessimist but I'm personally concerned with the possibility of a chaotic or simply uncooperative Velvet doing something profoundly inconvenient with our body/reputation/resources while we're sojourning. I don't like introducing uncontrollable variables to our plate-spinning for the sake of undefined rewards.

Especially since we're putting ourselves under more and more scrutiny as the cost of pursuing our goals. Accepting a constant Bureau guard for example, how will that go with an Alternative Velvet who has no idea what we do for a living?

 

[Shaper47]

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I feel your being a bit pessimistic but if Velvet thinks it's a threat she can take her paranoid preparations.

Just have Prime Velvet transfer the bindings to Selene beforehand and do it at home where Mareinette can Grail away any issues once Prime Velvet gets back.

 

[des-pair-2]

You can also write a letter to yourself giving context so no common mistakes of ignorance happen.

 

[Pittauro]

I prefer Baldomare's Secret Histories Sacrament, to be honest. Exploring beyond the map to find new and wondrous things are my jam. Also, less danger and less action cost.

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we don't KNOW it's less dangerous.

We know there's danger to both, we don't actually KNOW how much.

Next turn draft is as follows:
Baldomare - scry Windy Flakes
Jade Whistle - scry W*ndigos
Biedde - expedition, priority 1 destroy W*ndigos, priority 2 finding Neighna
Mareinette - Heart lesson
Axe - Knock lesson
Rarity - Commission
Fluttershy + Comet Feet & Servants - Cover bases
Selene - general bonus + (free action space, to be decided)

Investigators - ??? (based on results)
Constables - Tall Tale
Commissioner Action - accompany on Tall Tale, launder Forge Redemption

Social - Filthy Rich + Leash

Forge Redemption
Moth Sacrament
Induct Cadance into Lores
Induct Luna into Lores
(free action space, to be decided)

Mansus - explore Shattered Stairways / Peak

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I'd rather scary for Neighnia rather than Windy I think.

We also want to do Axe's sacrament. I'm not 100% sure I want to do Moth Sacrament next turn, but we'll see. I'd definitely be more willing to do it if we had Spoiled Rich ready rather than Filthy Rich.

The issue is that it probably gives benefits to personally searching for expedition sites.

Which is pretty useless to us because we have Baldomare and good scrying skills.

The theme and favour of that direction of lore is just not a good fit for Velvet.

Besides given the nature of our brand there's bound to be juicy lore in our personal sacrament.

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I tend to agree, though to be fair I have to remind everyone that all we're assuming about personal and Baldomate SH sacrament powers is just speculation.

We don't know for sure what Velvet will unlock with either sacrament, though "something about seeing other histories or moving to them/switching with their Velvet" and "something related to finding expedition sites" are reasonable guesses.

You trust Velvet, the Commissioner of the Lunar Bureau.
But she is more than just the Commissioner. And that... That, you want to trust. But only want to.
Because the mare behind that title is... Impossible. Like a legend from a story come to life, rising up when the world needed ponies like her the most. Impossible in the best of ways, yes. But impossible all the same.

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that's more than fair, really. Velvet's story is just unbelievable.

Though by the same logic even the story of the Elements of Harmony sounds farfetched

-[] A smile. Hidden, deep and quiet in her eyes. Only there for a moment before vanishing. Because she knew. She led you here, you and you alone. She saw your doubt, knew you, and manuvered you here. To make herself seem... normal. To lure you in like... who knows who else. She is impossible. She is. You can't trust her, and that... that something about her! You can't, you won't. Ever. But why then? Why does it feel like... Like she wanted you to see that smile?


-[] A mare. One with the world on her shoulders, and reins in her hooves. Impossibly stubborn and stuck in her position, but not faltering from it. Almost wishing she would falter from it. That she could be... just mortal again. Just Velvet Covers. But for the good of Equestria, refuses that comfort. Admirable. But you still don't know her. If you can trust her. She struggles, yes, but how is she still... here? How does she manage?


-[] Honesty. The crumbling edges of a mare who somehow was holding herself together. One that near died just a few short weeks ago, and now is... impossibly worried for you. Not worried about your commitment to the cause, but to you, personally. Because she saw that demanding you hold your questions weighed heavy, she wanted to speak with you. Despite... everything. You knew she was trying more than her hardest for Equestria, but... How? How could you not trust her now?

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funny how all three are accurate.

Velvet knew, and her words are measured

Velvet is just a Mare, with more power than she should have, trying to accomplish more than can be reasonably expected by anyone

Velvet is a mother above all else, and she'll damn the world for her family if it comes down to it, even if she oh so dearly hopes it won't.

And she trusts nobody else to do a better job than her, so she takes risks and decisions she admittedly should not have a right to make at times, like with Luna.

[X] Plan: Primer and Warning
Is solidly ahead.

Though man I would really prefer
[X] One Lore and Warning
This is the chance to make the Bureau familiar with the lores! We can accelerate that process so much, making them a lot more effective a lot sooner! And we also save ourselves the work, and risk, of trying to do this all over again later!

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I'd really REALLY prefer one lore + forge combo. maybe windigo too, I'm not quite sure what I want on that front but I just want to introduce the ritual, just in case!

I admittedly would prefer lore 1 to lore 0, but to be fair this is only our FIRST chance to introduce the lores, not the last.

We can probably introduce more of them from Changeling hive expedition (if we go there and plant proof ourselves) and on canterlot expedition (AFTER finishing part 3 please!). And that's if we don't get other opportunities in the meantime!

In a way sharing things piece by piece might make it more believable. If three different locations present proof and information about this weird eldritch magic, then it makes it more believable that it's true. And Who'd suspect it's VELVET that's planting it there to be found?!

I feel your being a bit pessimistic but if Velvet thinks it's a threat she can take her paranoid preparations.

Just have Prime Velvet transfer the bindings to Selene beforehand and do it at home where Mareinette can Grail away any issues once Prime Velvet gets back.

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@OurLadyOfWires could we? Actually, did Velvet feel the bindings to the Name move with her when she visited the other History, or not? We know the Realizations didn't transfer, but it's unclear if the bindings did.

We can easily afford the action on Selene guarding Velvet and keeping the bindings, I think. And if we did it AFTER her training was complete than I'd expect she wouldn't find them as much of a burden as they were the first time.

 

[DelightedOne]

You'd... you'd force the Daughter of Axes to be alone again? Again?

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If it makes you feel better it is just for a month. And with the Wrong Keys we asked for and the only cult that knew how to summon her losing their Master it is pretty obvious we are going to summon her again.

I just hope there is no... chaos involved when we have to decide the actions for the next turn.

 

[Pittauro]

If it makes you feel better it is just for a month. And with the Wrong Keys we asked for and the only cult that knew how to summon her losing their Master it is pretty obvious we are going to summon her again.

I just hope there is no... chaos involved when we have to decide the actions for the next turn.

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Eh, letting Axe expire comes with losing her for one month AND likely some amount of distress from Silky and maybe Selene too.

I think most of us are committed to 2-3 actions on her next turn.

I'm not sure about scrying though, because we have FOUR potential targets there.

1) Windigoes
2) Windy
3) Neighnia
4) Manuscripts

we also have potentially 2 personal expeditions (changeling town and canterlot part 3) AND the bureau one (manehattan or potentially changeling hive)

We also likely have many artifacts worth studying from the loot... and ideally I'd like to study as many as possible, both for hopefully scraps and for the effects.

 

[DelightedOne]

4) Manuscripts

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Genuine question: Why would we need to scry the manuscripts? Didn't they stay at the "crime scene"?

I thought that was what happened. Bird even said it was possible for the Bureau detectives to find them while they investigate.

Hmmm, there are quite a few things we need to look for too, but Windy is definitely last on that list. The Windigos and/or Neighnia(not sure what is worse) should be the only things we look for next turn Windy is much less dangerous in all ways.

There is also the chance Neighnia has the Windigos, like what happened with Copper and our manuscripts.

 

[Sveta08]

Fundamentally, next turn has a lot going on and I've got no clue how it will shake down. But, my aim for it is simple.

Axe Lesson, Axe Sacrament, work towards Outsider. Bureau will be at Tall Tale and Coppers cult remains.
Past that? This far out and with this many unknowns, I'm not gonna plan anything past those vague shapes.

 

[Venerable Ro]

Everything we actually know about Neighnia indicates that's she's very unlikely to randomly start committing atrocities, she's simply not that kind of entity. After all, she's been hanging around the Wake this entire time without causing problems, without any bindings why should she start now?

 

[jason1stlegion]

In which A Detective Sees

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This is lovely, and probably how it's going to go down.


Regarding the next turn, I think we've learned our lesson about focusing on our Names and the Glory.

Axe alone would be a guard that's actually trustworthy, unlike Biedde.

If we can then set up to work on Baldomare's friendship quest, we get qualitatively better support from her with the Outsider, narrative goodness from her actually liking us, and we lose the risk of her being found by Celestia's researches.

So next turn needs to be the Axe turn. Once a Name is our friend we can use them to fill the AP gap from our giving attention to our Names, but we can't keep neglecting them like this.

 

[DelightedOne]

and we lose the risk of her being found by Celestia's researches.

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How would we lose the risk of her being found? I mean obviously they can't summon her if she stays in the Wake with Velvet but she has stuff to do in the Blank Plains so I doubt she would pull a Mareinette and come to the Wake fully.

 

[jason1stlegion]

How would we lose the risk of her being found? I mean obviously they can't summon her if she stays in the Wake with Velvet but she has stuff to do in the Blank Plains so I doubt she would pull a Mareinette and come to the Wake fully.

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True, but if she's with us indefinitely it doesn't really matter since they'll never be able to summon her.

 

[Greymere]

'm not sure about scrying though, because we have FOUR potential targets there.

1) Windigoes
2) Windy
3) Neighnia
4) Manuscripts

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Why the manuscripts? We know their current location, which is where they should stay if the Bureau doesn't find them, and presumably if the Bureau does find them we have very easy access to whatever paperwork they log their findings in.

 

[Pittauro]

Genuine question: Why would we need to scry the manuscripts? Didn't they stay at the "crime scene"?

I thought that was what happened. Bird even said it was possible for the Bureau detectives to find them while they investigate.

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fair enough, though it's possible some cultists managed to move them and escape before the authorities arrived too. There were a LOT of ponies in that base after all

Everything we actually know about Neighnia indicates that's she's very unlikely to randomly start committing atrocities, she's simply not that kind of entity. After all, she's been hanging around the Wake this entire time without causing problems, without any bindings why should she start now?

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she's less dangerous than Copper, but she's still an unbound Name with an unknown agenda. If we could get her on our side, or at least ensure she won't make trouble for us, than it's worth considering contacting her soon

Axe alone would be a guard that's actually trustworthy, unlike Biedde.

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eh, generally speaking they're of similar value. Biedde is holding back, but... so are ALL names, really.

It's just that with Biedde specifically we don't know why, while with Axe we know it's that she mostly doesn't care to.

That said of course more Names is always better, so it doesn't matter much. We can trust Biedde to satisfy the letter of our agreements for the most part, and not much more than that.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

eh, generally speaking they're of similar value. Biedde is holding back, but... so are ALL names, really.

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They are talking about a hypothetical Friended DoA vs Biedde. Friended Names hold back less.

 

[Pittauro]

They are talking about a hypothetical Friended DoA vs Biedde. Friended Names hold back less.

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oh, sure, if we're comparing with "friended" Names I can't argue against it.

I'm hoping that Axe and Baldomare will start giving us two actions after we progress along their "friendship quest" so to speak.

It would make a lot of sense, considering the expedition rules mention companions having multiple actions, and that Selene has two.

...who knows, maybe Selene will gain a third action after finishing her training, even. Something to hope for.

 

[Venerable Ro]

I'm hoping that Axe and Baldomare will start giving us two actions after we progress along their "friendship quest" so to speak.

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I'd imagine they're somewhat varied, different results for different reasons and all. Say perhaps Axe's reward for the presumed initial effort of getting the Key is simply never having to resummon her again unless she gets forcefully desummoned for some reason. She's free after all, after being trapped for so long she doesn't want to go back, and we profit indirectly from her simple disinclination to terminate the summoning. But if we want her to actually shift herself to put some genuine effort in, we'll still have to find a way to get her to care about our cause.

To contrast, Baldomare might be willing to put in more effort, or perhaps give us clearer advice/directions instead of letting us just figure it out and complying with whatever well/poorly thought-out decisions we make. But Illopony's still waiting for her at home, she's got her Lodge and her ruminations, she may be somewhat fond of us and our family but she's not so fond as to give up on the Mansus, not just yet.

 

[DelightedOne]

Since we are going to get 2 Close Friends this turn did we ever get an answer on if we still can introduce Close Friends in the occult? I assume we can't but I'm not sure... Yes, that is because of Applejack, don't judge me.

 

[Rafuki22]

I assume we can't but I'm not sure...

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Probably not, if we want them to trust them on this they should be confidant level.

Yes, that is because of Applejack, don't judge me.

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Then you won't mind reading the moth book, using the leash on Filthy Rich and use him for the Moth Sacrament? Unless Mareinette manages to increase Velvet relationship with Filthy Richs 2 steps instead of 1, in which case we could use the leash on Applejack.

 

[DelightedOne]

Then you won't mind reading the moth book, using the leash on Filthy Rich and use him for the Moth Sacrament? Unless Mareinette manages to increase Velvet relationship with Filthy Richs 2 steps instead of 1, in which case we could use the leash on Applejack.

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I won't, that is actually the one I want to read the most since it is from "An Era that is Ancient Beyond History", so it has to give something good aside from a Moth scrap AND because it is the only way we have/know to guarantee the missing scrap so we can do Velvet's Personal Moth Sacrament to keep Celestia in not-kill-Velvet mode.

Also the plan was to get Spoiled Rich, that's why her name is with Filthy's in the Honored Guest action.

Besides why would we sacrifice an Element of Harmony when there is bad mom and wife that we can use as a sacrifice or a sweet teacher who did nothing wrong?

 

[Greymere]

Since we are going to get 2 Close Friends this turn did we ever get an answer on if we still can introduce Close Friends in the occult? I assume we can't but I'm not sure... Yes, that is because of Applejack, don't judge me.

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Maybe under normal circumstances. But we're a bit lacking in most of the Lores atm

 

[DelightedOne]

Maybe under normal circumstances. But we're a bit lacking in most of the Lores atm

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Next turn we get everything back, the library has enough Forge to get Applejack to Initiate(Major Lore 1, Minor Lore 0) even if we can't tell her about the lores this turn and we can use the free social to raise her to Disciple(Major Lore 3, Minor Lore 1) after she learns on her own. That takes 3 turns.

Of course that needs the Leash to be free so it should happen after we take care of Spoiled(or we can just invite her and show Selene, I'm sure she wouldn't be opposed to Honesty helping us), I'm assuming Mareinette's will get her to Close friend immediately so we get her Leashed next turn to get an extra AP, study the Moth 5 book and then get the Sacrament(and Moth 5). Unless Mareinette fails(very unlikely) that seems to be the most likely way things could go.

And we already have two solar Elements, shouldn't we get at least one lunar one for Selene?

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

I am still opposed to Leashing and Sacramenting due to its explicit bonus cruelty. I'd rather have Mareinette do the entirety of the Filthy friending and have the surprise reveal of "Velvet" actually being Mareinette, at that point.

It would also greatly amuse me if that only locked Velvet as an Acquaintance but kept Mareinette as Filthy's friend. It would be weird, but this is MLP, so I could see there being an entire song of Filthy saying how she understands that appearances must be kept and that of course her and Wires are still friends, or something.

 

[Greymere]

Of course that needs the Leash to be free so it should happen after we take care of Spoiled(or we can just invite her and show Selene, I'm sure she wouldn't be opposed to Honesty helping us), I'm assuming Mareinette's will get her to Close friend immediately so we get her Leashed next turn to get an extra AP, study the Moth 5 book and then get the Sacrament(and Moth 5). Unless Mareinette fails(very unlikely) that seems to be the most likely way things could go.

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Uh, wait, hold on. Do you expect Mareinette to go from "not even on the Contact List" to "Close Friend" for Spoiled in a single action? Because that's... a lot to skip? Like I could see Mareinette maybe getting her from "non-contact" to "Friend" in a single action, but skipping two whole relationship levels seems like too much.

It's very possible I'm underestimating Our Lady of Wires (the non-GM one) of course, but I'm a little leary of assuming that's how it will work out.