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

[Maer]

Well I'm going to have to adjust my planned omake of Velvet letting her brother and uncle know about the upcoming town meeting to include the upcoming lack of competition for the opportunity she's set up for their hooves.



More Lantern might mean we comprehend her better and thus her wound and thus how to help her if we go with our personal lantern sacrament.



Sus

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Sadly, Shaper, the Earth Bet Quest lost. We rolled above 50 maybe two or three times against our enemy, and she got 2 Nat 100's during combat encounters with us, among other things. Out of like… 14 contested combat rolls. The dice hated us. XD

However, we ARE starting fresh with a new character apparently- either continuing with another of the Inner Circle, the enemy that killed us, or a completely new Cult and Cultist.

Care to join and help design things from the ground up?

 

[Shaper47]

Care to join and help design things from the ground up?

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Sure, looks interesting.

Edit.

By the Long Martyr of Bethlehem reading how you guys managed to get killed by Alicja is... surprisingly unsurprising.

Underestimated her pretty hard and didn't really take advantage of Michael's assets.

Like, in the face of Alicja's uncoming assault you could have Michael crash on Anatoly's bar instead of staying at his house. Turn things into a shadow intrigue war to be found. Up Moth level while you hid and healed. Making things into a fight at 1 health while she was full, probably a bit reckless there.

 

[Nevermort]

Cool, new developments with Baldomare. Looks like we will have another expedition to prepare for in the near future. I always look forward to new expeditions, they are interesting. There really was no need to hurry with Outsider search last turn, we are nowhere prepared for the final dungeon. Looking for device to squeeze blood out of Discord probably is the whole separate expedition in the Mansus too.

But going back to search for lvl 7 book, can Jade scry at all? We had targets for her to scry this turn too, and run into issue that only available ritual location was her old house. Perhaps we will have results of Velvet meeting with friends first to look at Jade's state before making decision. Or can't Velvet scry herself?

For this turn Lantern Influence would have been relevant, but Grail is interesting too. I think previous one was casted by Velvet on her own with some changeling sacrifices. I wonder if Mareinette's will feel different. Would be even more interesting if we had ongoing Edge Influence too, to look at the merge of the two .

Overall I am glad that we stopped Spoiled scheme . If we want to befriend Mareinette we should not tempt her by leaving her with children, otherwise it will end like with Copper were she went to far to forgive. Ideally would be to befriend Spoiled Rich on our own with free social the turn after this one. Also if we want to befriend Mareinette perhaps Heart sacrament would be better suited. We would need to channel Heart influence and find lvl 5 Heart book to get remaining scraps for lvl 4 Heart.


In other news Velvet scheme to deal with Noble in charge of agriculture before turning Ponyvilee in Equestria bread basket proceeding exactly as planned … We should consider Moth to be her main lore and act in character. For example we are not checking on Windy this turn, like we have not checked on Copper or on Master. So far it works wonderfully. Let's continue bamping in the dark . No one should know our plans, including ourselves.

 

[Pittauro]

Maybe if she becomes an Hour we can heal the damage? Or perhaps she'll be intaking enough light to offset the light she's losing? I'm unsure. But it is certainly a possibility… and regardless, all we need to do to keep our own Stormy is help him climb as well. The tribal door is gone, he needs some Winter for the Blank door, the Church is not as worrying a threat as it was before Mareinette was summoned, and we're going to clear the tricuspid gate so it can once more be accessed… the main fear is him accidentally meeting the Wolf. But if she's an Hour, she could probably put a warning sign in. So…

If she's taught her family sufficiently, there's no reason they couldn't come after her in relative safety- especially compared to every other aspirant… pretty much ever.

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I'm not convinced. If reaching Glory was enough to "heal her" and potentially fixing her situation with Illopony, then why did she give up on it when Velvet revealed there's a way?

Unless she isn't currently strong enough to go against her bindings while also going through Velvet and Selene?

It doesn't fit.

Like, in the face of Alicja's uncoming assault you could have Michael crash on Anatoly's bar instead of staying at his house. Turn things into a shadow intrigue war to be found. Up Moth level while you hid and healed. Making things into a fight at 1 health while she was full, probably a bit reckless there.

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A BIT?

I haven't yet read that quest, but fighting ANY serious fight at 1 health is extremely reckless!

I'll have to catch up later, I'm getting more curious...

Cool, new developments with Baldomare. Looks like we will have another expedition to prepare for in the near future. I always look forward to new expeditions, they are interesting. There really was no need to hurry with Outsider search last turn, we are nowhere prepared for the final dungeon. Looking for device to squeeze blood out of Discord probably is the whole separate expedition in the Mansus too.

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well, right now it's just a "normal" mansus exploration, presumably to the Malleary's ruins.

It COULD unlock an expedition though.

and hey, once we're at full health, in a turn we're not doing the Edge Sacrament, I'd like to get a Heart Influence from Mareinette and try the Red Church again.

We're also so close to SH Sacrament, so maybe we'll get a chance at the Tower That Reaches The Moon soon.

2 mansus expeditions available, and both promise to give us interesting loot and rewards if and when we can afford to do them...

But going back to search for lvl 7 book, can Jade scry at all? We had targets for her to scry this turn too, and run into issue that only available ritual location was her old house. Perhaps we will have results of Velvet meeting with friends first to look at Jade's state before making decision. Or can't Velvet scry herself?

For this turn Lantern Influence would have been relevant, but Grail is interesting too. I think previous one was casted by Velvet on her own with some changeling sacrifices. I wonder if Mareinette's will feel different. Would be even more interesting if we had ongoing Edge Influence too, to look at the merge of the two .

Overall I am glad that we stopped Spoiled scheme . If we want to befriend Mareinette we should not tempt her by leaving her with children, otherwise it will end like with Copper were she went to far to forgive. Ideally would be to befriend Spoiled Rich on our own with free social the turn after this one. Also if we want to befriend Mareinette perhaps Heart sacrament would be better suited. We would need to channel Heart influence and find lvl 5 Heart book to get remaining scraps for lvl 4 Heart.

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Technically we can use Rarity's house for rituals, but it would affect her work, AND she's doing a commission right now...

And keep in mind that we DON'T KNOW if the HEart Sacrament will ALSO offer friendship as a result, NOR what it requires.

For all we know she has to ritually skin us and we need to survive through it by the power of Heart. (I do NOT believe it's this, just a random idea of a somewhat unpalatable heart sacrament).

...uh. Actually, Personal Sacraments are often an evolution of our realizations, and now I'm wondering if our might be something along the lines of "Keep up the Dance with Death for multiple turns" or maybe "recover from Dance with Death without any external help" or something like that.

In other news Velvet scheme to deal with Noble in charge of agriculture before turning Ponyvilee in Equestria bread basket proceeding exactly as planned … We should consider Moth to be her main lore and act in character. For example we are not checking on Windy this turn, like we have not checked on Copper or on Master. So far it works wonderfully. Let's continue bamping in the dark . No one should know our plans, including ourselves.

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damn, you're right! We just dealt with probably our family's main rival to grow the relevance and value of Ponyville's farmland!

Velvet: "they can't predict my plans if I don't have a plan"

 

[AuthorTransient]

Oh, what the fuck? I thought it was just another Baldomare idiosyncrasy but nope! Bleeding out. Great. Velvet Covers, you bleeding heart, you.

For example we are not checking on Windy this turn, like we have not checked on Copper or on Master. So far it works wonderfully. Let's continue bamping in the dark . No one should know our plans, including ourselves.

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Spies like us

Well, we're going to need to speedrun Name befriending for All In.

 

[Greymere]

Technically we can use Rarity's house for rituals, but it would affect her work, AND she's doing a commission right now...

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Tbh, her doing a commission means that this turn would be the best time to have Jade use her house, considering that Rarity's going to auto-fail her monthly work roll anyway.

My concern with Jade scrying for the Level 7 book is that it's likely to be very difficult, and Jade already seems to be in a difficult place right now due to Velvet's near-death. She wouldn't take failure well on a normal day, nevermind when she's already incredibly stressed.

 

[DelightedOne]

My concern with Jade scrying for the Level 7 book is that it's likely to be very difficult, and Jade already seems to be in a difficult place right now due to Velvet's near-death. She wouldn't take failure well on a normal day, nevermind when she's already incredibly stressed.

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Yeah, my exact thoughts are here. And there is not even a real reason to not have Baldomare do the Scrying.

"But she said she doesn't want that", too bad we are giving her the book she doesn't want because I'm sure none of us is willing to not have her in All In. And since we are already doing that why not have her look for the book? We are already disrespecting her wishes and she knows it.

And for those in the know "Sometimes the things you want are not the things you need". That seems to apply to Baldomare in this situation.

and hey, once we're at full health, in a turn we're not doing the Edge Sacrament, I'd like to get a Heart Influence from Mareinette and try the Red Church again.

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I do want to get back at that Church(and look for the Heirloom) but I can't help but fear going into the Ruined Church with a Heart Influence.

 

[Pittauro]

Tbh, her doing a commission means that this turn would be the best time to have Jade use her house, considering that Rarity's going to auto-fail her monthly work roll anyway.

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I'm assuming it would make the commission work worse as well.

After all it's STILL making original clothes. The difference is that it's a singular piece for a very demanding customer instead of multiple dresses meant for actual shops, isn't it?

My concern with Jade scrying for the Level 7 book is that it's likely to be very difficult, and Jade already seems to be in a difficult place right now due to Velvet's near-death. She wouldn't take failure well on a normal day, nevermind when she's already incredibly stressed.

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fair enough on this.

In any case we CAN afford to wait a turn or two for lvl 7 book, I suppose, if it came down to it. Or... we don't HAVE to scry.

We could have a normal search. Luna could try to search for dreams regarding ancient books, or check her memories for the oldest untranslatable manuscripts of ancient times, or go into the dreams of scholars and archeologists...

or the Names might just KNOW of ancient sites that might hold something relevant.

I do want to get back at that Church(and look for the Heirloom) but I can't help but fear going into the Ruined Church with a Heart Influence.

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nah, I wouldn't worry about that. Influences are positive things. They can (or at least should) only help.

 

[Maer]

By the Long Martyr of Bethlehem reading how you guys managed to get killed by Alicja is... surprisingly unsurprising.

Underestimated her pretty hard and didn't really take advantage of Michael's assets.

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Yeah. Yeah this is why I was hoping you'd join. I never even considered those options. They never occurred to me. I can't think in combat very easily. Velvet rarely gets into combat, so that does me well. But a combat specialist? I never really had a chance…

Then again, given we were rolling like a diplomacy specialist instead…

Edit: minor point- we were mid-turn when Alicia attacked US. We attacked her with fill health, got knocked to 1, tried to fortify while we healed, and failed to fortify by 1 or 2 points. The BARE MINIMUM roll for fortifications was 20. 20! We failed at a 20 breakpoint when we had a +8. Not that it likely would have helped at all… not with Alicia rolling with some mysterious triple digit bonus to approach the house with her 6 hired guns completely uninjured.

No job, 8 AP per turn, and she manages to hire 6 men, get TinkerTech weapons, and roll consistently high enough to beat a +43 to combat. Including 2 natural 100's. It's just insane… we so badly misunderstood the danger, underestimated the threat, and dropped the ball on every single attack. Just… holy cow…

That combination of us dropping the ball and the dice hating us in combat was so incredibly brutal…

 

[spiderhellian]

But going back to search for lvl 7 book, can Jade scry at all? We had targets for her to scry this turn too, and run into issue that only available ritual location was her old house. Perhaps we will have results of Velvet meeting with friends first to look at Jade's state before making decision. Or can't Velvet scry herself?

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Yes? We can accept the chance of a little suspicion. There's a lot more important things to be worried about.

Yeah, my exact thoughts are here. And there is not even a real reason to not have Baldomare do the Scrying.

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Yes there is — her actions are incredibly valuable.

Want a chance at our SH Sacrament? We want an influence. Want to study all those artefacts and books, and prep for the Lantern Sacrament? We want a Lantern influence. Want to do that Sacrament? Need her action.

Give Jade some credit here people!

 

[Sveta08]

Mhmm. Well. Now that I've rest and can think a little easier, let's see.

We've got... Seven Velvet actions. Given that the influences and the body we are aquiring, I'm not the most certain which way we are going with things. I'm going to guess we are doing something like one of these two?

4 Axe Sacrament (Any Excess into Secret Histories)
2 Fleeting Opportunities
1 Summon Risen
Free Social Fleeting Opportunity

or

3 Axe Sacrament (Any Excess into Secret Histories)
2/1 Fleeting Opportunities
1 Summon Risen
1/2 Social actions
Free Social Fleeting Opportunities


I'll admit, I wasn't paying the closest attention to the Velvet plans for this plan.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Won't that cause Crime of the Sky problems?

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The Forge of Days Relationship Special is the Intercalate.

Mhmm. Well. Now that I've rest and can think a little easier, let's see.

We've got... Seven Velvet actions. Given that the influences and the body we are aquiring, I'm not the most certain which way we are going with things. I'm going to guess we are doing something like one of these two?

4 Axe Sacrament (Any Excess into Secret Histories)
2 Fleeting Opportunities
1 Summon Risen
Free Social Fleeting Opportunity

or

3 Axe Sacrament (Any Excess into Secret Histories)
2/1 Fleeting Opportunities
1 Summon Risen
1/2 Social actions
Free Social Fleeting Opportunities


I'll admit, I wasn't paying the closest attention to the Velvet plans for this plan.

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First Risen on any Turn is Free. In both AP and Actions.

 

[Sveta08]

First Risen on any Turn is Free. In both AP and Actions.

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Oh really?

Huh! Color me surprised. Didn't know that.

... Yeah, I can see the appeal of this plan now.

 

[Nevermort]

Oh really?

Huh! Color me surprised. Didn't know that.

... Yeah, I can see the appeal of this plan now.

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Yes Risen is free
So 3 Axe Sacraments (Any Excess into SecretHistories)
1 Friends FO
1 Family FO

And the last two are variable. Currently I am thinking Forge Redemption and Uncle FO so we discover Velvet's traumatic past and perhaps talk it out with Uncle. Or case can be made that we want more sacrament action. I don't think that books or artifact study would be very effective without Lantern.

 

[Greymere]

Yes there is — her actions are incredibly valuable.

Want a chance at our SH Sacrament? We want an influence. Want to study all those artefacts and books, and prep for the Lantern Sacrament? We want a Lantern influence. Want to do that Sacrament? Need her action.

Give Jade some credit here people!

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Man, if only we had a studied Lantern 4 artifact to give to someone with a +30 base modifier (after this turn) who could do RotT... Someone who we didn't have to worry about being negatively emotionally and mentally impacted if they fail a potentially very difficult roll...

That would be pretty handy for situations like this, wouldn't it?

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Man, if only we had a studied Lantern 4 artifact to give to someone with a +30 base modifier (after this turn) who could do RotT... Someone who we didn't have to worry about being negatively emotionally and mentally impacted if they fail a potentially very difficult roll...

That would be pretty handy for situations like this, wouldn't it?

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Well in that case you would vote for neither option to scry on Turn 22 and do it on Turn 23 instead with said Selene scry after poking at the Lantern Artifact on a Lanterned 22.

 

[Greymere]

Well in that case you would vote for neither option to scry on Turn 22 and do it on Turn 23 instead with said Selene scry after poking at the Lantern Artifact on a Lanterned 22.

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Or we could just study it this turn? Applying just AotL: Lantern gives us an 87% chance of success.

 

[spiderhellian]

Man, if only we had a studied Lantern 4 artifact to give to someone with a +30 base modifier (after this turn) who could do RotT... Someone who we didn't have to worry about being negatively emotionally and mentally impacted if they fail a potentially very difficult roll...

That would be pretty handy for situations like this, wouldn't it?

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Don't blame me, I voted Kodos lightcatcher!

But Luna with the artefact is basically equal to Jade with her reroll, on the lantern side of things. And we can probably sac the level 1 SH artefact if we're really worried about the SH DC.

 

[Solace2117]

I love Baldomare, glad to see we're focusing a bit more on friending some of the Names. Really excited to see what comes from completing Axe's task, both the Sacrament itself and the potential befriending. Kind of makes me with we sad we didn't explore more of the Manse and pick up the other Names earlier, especially the other Edge Name. Obviously they and Biedde would have been at odds, but the world has changed, I wonder if the power of Friendship could have influenced their relationship with some work. Not going to second guess too much though since we would have had to give up on other things.

The update does kind of make me wish we had socialed Beyond Reproach though. He's the most likely to actually uncover something on Velvet and getting him fully on her side could be useful in our plans for the Bureau. I understand going Midday Dew, but may be something to do next turn.

We'll see how the turn shakes out. I'm fine using Jade to scry the book. As be long as she passes the SH check, she has the Lantern reroll. Having the artifact would have been helpful, but I didn't care for other aspects and the variants without them came too late for me to consider them.

 

[Rafuki22]

We're also so close to SH Sacrament, so maybe we'll get a chance at the Tower That Reaches The Moon soon.

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I wonder what would happen if...

No, wait, Luna wouldn't be able to enter the Tower, a pity...unless we can guide her there?

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Or we could just study it this turn? Applying just AotL: Lantern gives us an 87% chance of success.

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That is a possibility.

 

[Greymere]

A question @OurLadyOfWires. If we credit Jade's action, can we also credit next turn's free reagent-making action to make a reagent for said RotT or no?

Edit: And, seeing as it will probably come up turn the Velvet Phase discussion, if we successfully study the Lantern 4 artifact this turn, could we have Selene do it w/ the virtual Lantern levels from the artifact instead of Baldomare or Jade?

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Oh I can't wait to vote on Velvet Actions.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Getting that level 4 Latern Artifact studied will be a pretty big deal that means Luna can Cast two scrying rituals at immense power a turn, with her +30 Alicorn boost.

 

[Shaper47]

For the Velvet phase we should probably be really conditional if it's allowed.

Free social Family
1 AP FO Friends
6 AP conditional list- Knock Sacrament then SH Sacrament then (whatever our priority is (read Moth book, study artifact, train Selene, Forge's Redemption, ect))

Like, normally such a conditional plan might not be allowed but with an SH influence, we'll time isn't exactly the most linear for Velvet.

 

[Solace2117]

For the Velvet phase we should probably be really conditional if it's allowed.

Free social Family
1 AP FO Friends
6 AP conditional list- Knock Sacrament then SH Sacrament then (whatever our priority is (read Moth book, study artifact, train Selene, Forge's Redemption, ect))

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I believe Ourladyofwires has said that they prefer we not do conditionals. If we complete it early they'll open a vote with what else to do.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

For the Velvet phase we should probably be really conditional if it's allowed.

Free social Family
1 AP FO Friends
6 AP conditional list- Knock Sacrament then SH Sacrament then (whatever our priority is (read Moth book, study artifact, train Selene, Forge's Redemption, ect))

Like, normally such a conditional plan might not be allowed but with an SH influence, we'll time isn't exactly the most linear for Velvet.

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Good luck convincing people to drop Luna training, FR, or an FO though.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

To be really optimal since we are going in on a SH influance, we should do the 2 actions to complete the scarument, then spend the rest on getting the Key. We would then be SH 5 for the search.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

To be really optimal since we are going in on a SH influance, we should do the 2 actions to complete the scarument, then spend the rest on getting the Key. We would then be SH 5 for the search.

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Good luck convincing people to take two Dangerous Actions on top of dropping Luna Training or FR or an FO. Nevermind the fact that there is a chance we just fail an SH roll for the Sacrament and go into DoA with SH 4 anyways.

 

[Solace2117]

To be really optimal since we are going in on a SH influance, we should do the 2 actions to complete the scarument, then spend the rest on getting the Key. We would then be SH 5 for the search.

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Honestly that's not a bad idea. I'd still want to do the family and friend FOs, but if we could complete the SH sacrament in 2 turns, we'd have 4 for Axe and then possibly finish early so free up actions. It does take some chances though and people are pretty risk averse.