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

[Pittauro]

as a reminder: Windigoes need monthly maintenance. I don't think we've been explicitly told what happens if you don't pay the cost, but I assume the Windigo breaks free.

As an aside, a Windigo rolls +55 MINIMUM in combat, with a reroll, AND multiple Windigoes together get extra bonuses.

It would take MULTIPLE guards to defeat one, and some WILL likely die in the process, or get heavily wounded if they're good enough to retreat when hurt to leave the healthier guards to fight.

problem is, Windigoes heal after combat. So the guards HAVE to fight them without giving them break, otherwise they'll allow them to recover.

Which means the best way to deal with a Windigo, if there's no instructions on how to de-summoning them, is to basically gather a dozen guards or so and have them fight to the death.

Or, I suppose, prepare some giga-explosion spell to explode them while still in the jars?

 

[Arrkhon]

Which means the best way to deal with a Windigo, if there's no instructions on how to de-summoning them, is to basically gather a dozen guards or so and have them fight to the death.

Or, I suppose, prepare some giga-explosion spell to explode them while still in the jars?

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If only there was some extremely angry deity in the area that could use something to distract herself with that we have a direct hotline to...

 

[Bakkasama]

as a reminder: Windigoes need monthly maintenance. I don't think we've been explicitly told what happens if you don't pay the cost, but I assume the Windigo breaks free.

As an aside, a Windigo rolls +55 MINIMUM in combat, with a reroll, AND multiple Windigoes together get extra bonuses.

It would take MULTIPLE guards to defeat one, and some WILL likely die in the process, or get heavily wounded if they're good enough to retreat when hurt to leave the healthier guards to fight.

problem is, Windigoes heal after combat. So the guards HAVE to fight them without giving them break, otherwise they'll allow them to recover.

Which means the best way to deal with a Windigo, if there's no instructions on how to de-summoning them, is to basically gather a dozen guards or so and have them fight to the death.

Or, I suppose, prepare some giga-explosion spell to explode them while still in the jars?

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Or sending them to commit atrocities against our enemies for two turns. Which brings the question, who holds the bindings to sealed windigos once unsealed? The same pony who summoned them or can it be somepony else?

 

[Rafuki22]

[X] Plan Feels Good To Be Back

[X] Plan: A Calmer Approach

Good afternoon everyone. I hope you are all doing well.

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Thanks, you too.

 

[Pittauro]

If only there was some extremely angry deity in the area that could use something to distract herself with that we have a direct hotline to...

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...it's not the worst idea, but... do YOU want to be the one to go and ask the very angry fire demigoddess to please come and help us?

Especially when IC it looks like we have no proof of the urns being dangerous.

I suppose we can take the chance to introduce the lores to Celestia too? Basically go "I've read those primers, they make sense, and after reading them something "clicked" and the Windigo warning made more sense".

@OurLadyOfWires could that work?

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

You taking any action to reach out to Celestia is not on the books for now.

I mean, talking to her was already nerve wracking before. So you especially dont want to do it now that you know she is constantly "scanning" for... things.

So no.



Also, again, IF you get called because a Windigo is found, you will be offered choices on how to proceed based on the ongoing situation. I have a list of possibilities, which include "no windigos", and that dice will be rolled when it is rolled.

There will be a whole snek sacrament before that, which is the current focus of my attention.

 

[Greymere]

There will be a whole snek sacrament before that, which is the current focus of my attention.

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Snake Sacrament! Snake Sacrament!

I'm very excited to see what will be our first completed Sacrament, if everything goes well.

Edit: A Snekrament, you could call it

 

[spiderhellian]

I'm very excited to see what will be our first completed Sacrament, if everything goes well.

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But consider:
The Snake Lore! The Snake Lore! The Snake Lore!
It's happening!

 

[DelightedOne]

So you especially dont want to do it now that you know she is constantly "scanning" for... things.

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Hmmmm... I assume changelings are the "things" in question but the lores are also a possibility.

Also, again, IF you get called because a Windigo is found, you will be offered choices on how to proceed based on the ongoing situation. I have a list of possibilities, which include "no windigos", and that dice will be rolled when it is rolled.

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I just hope that "no Windigos" means they got desummoned instead of not being found by the Bureau. Probably not but gotta keep my Laughter up.

 

[Maer]

[X] Plan Feels Good To Be A Lore Master
-[X] (Lore-Champion)
-[X] (Windigos-Alert)
-[X] (Evidence-Burn)

[X] Plan Feels Good To Be Back
-[X] (Lore-Promote)
-[X] (Windigos-Alert)
-[X] (Evidence-Burn)

[X] Plan: A Calmer Approach
-[X] (Lore-Promote)
-[X] (Windigos-Cautious)
-[X] (Evidence-Burn)

 

[spiderhellian]

Spoiler: Tally Results

Vote Tally : Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience [Posts: 9060-9100]
##### NetTally 5.1.0

Task: 【NONE】
— Voters: 23

[X] Plan: Feels Good To Be Back
No. of Votes: 11

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Feels Good To Be Back
[X] Bakkasama
[X] Cochimetl
[X] DelightedOne
[X] Greymere
[X] Limabot
[X] Maer
[X] moonlock
[X] Rafuki22
[X] Random Anon
[X] Solace2117
[X] spiderhellian

[X] Plan: Feels Good To Be A Lore Master
No. of Votes: 10

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Feels Good To Be A Lore Master
[X] Anjaxis
[X] Arrkhon
[X] DelightedOne
[X] HellFire666
[X] Kai Merah
[X] Maer
[X] MisRAR1
[X] Potdl
[X] Random Anon
[X] Talon Tiger Dino

[X] Plan: A Calmer Approach
No. of Votes: 6

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: A Calmer Approach
[X] Flaregamer82253
[X] Greymere
[X] LieutenantSpirit
[X] Maer
[X] Rafuki22
[X] Solace2117

[X] Plan: There is a Detective on Our Case Already
No. of Votes: 3

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: There is a Detective on Our Case Already
[X] AuthorTransient
[X] Limabot
[X] Nevermort

[X] Plan: Acting Naturally
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Acting Naturally
[X] dcoconeo

---

Total No. of Voters: 23

Feels Good to be Back is ahead by a hair, it looks like. But pretty tight!

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

[X] Plan: Feels Good To Be A Lore Master

We have at least 2 respect cards, and two of three Alicorns on side notably the Bureau's boss. We have nothing to fear from a little heat.

 

[Solace2117]

Considering what happened last time we underestimated others, I think people are being a bit over confident voting for all the most suspicious options. I'm not saying it'll be an instant game over, but we still risk something going wrong and getting stuck putting out fires. Considering how much we have to get done the next few turns I don't think we can afford it, especially with the threat of Celestia hanging over Velvet's head.

 

[Arrkhon]

Frankly, would Alert even raise suspicion at all if we champion the lores? They are blatantly related and if one works so does the other most likely, it's only natural we would want to be present in case one gets found

 

[Solace2117]

Frankly, would Alert even raise suspicion at all if we champion the lores? They are blatantly related and if one works so does the other most likely, it's only natural we would want to be present in case one gets found

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Really the biggest issue is Champion and burn together as the two most suspicious. I think alert by itself is fine, but combined with the other two and how she acts on the Windingos could imply that she already had knowledge of them. That in turn brings up more questions about how much she knows and where she got it that can't be explained away as easily.

 

[spiderhellian]

Frankly, would Alert even raise suspicion at all if we champion the lores? They are blatantly related and if one works so does the other most likely, it's only natural we would want to be present in case one gets found

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Alert isn't particularly suspicious, or at least it's not flagged as such.

Lore-Champion is. Lore-Promote is, but a lot less. Evidence-Burn is, and explicitly gets at least one person raising eyebrows at us.

We have at least 2 respect cards, and two of three Alicorns on side notably the Bureau's boss. We have nothing to fear from a little heat.

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I think this would be true if not for the fact that our detectives are the most hard-working, skilled, high-moral-standard ones in all of Equestria

 

[des-pair-2]

[X] Plan Feels Good To Be Back

We have influences, let's put them to good use.

 

[DelightedOne]

@OurLadyOfWires Now we are going to introduce the lores to the Bureau is it possible to reveal some of Velvet's lore levels to Celestia, like All-0, instead of her full knowledge? Or can we only "hide or not hide"?

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

@OurLadyOfWires Now we are going to introduce the lores to the Bureau is it possible to reveal some of Velvet's lore levels to Celestia, like All-0, instead of her full knowledge? Or can we only "hide or not hide"?

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Revealing anything to Muderkill mode Celestia is a super bad idea.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

@OurLadyOfWires Now we are going to introduce the lores to the Bureau is it possible to reveal some of Velvet's lore levels to Celestia, like All-0, instead of her full knowledge? Or can we only "hide or not hide"?

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What do you mean "now"? Vote result isnt even out yet.

Ill first wait for the result, then ill roll a few dice, and then laaaater this turn (after several other updates that will come first) ill MAYBE write an update describing your actions. And THEN we can talk about it.

Plus, the earliest you would be able to act based on this vote (as is the case with most votes) is next turn. Or maybe even later tham that.

So, uh, im not really worried about this question right now.

 

[DelightedOne]

Revealing anything to Muderkill mode Celestia is a super bad idea.

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Yeah, but considering the plans to reveal the lores are winning our ponies are going to learn it and it is also something Velvet started so it would be suspicious if she had Lore Nonexistent.

What I'm trying to say is this: The Bureau will have the lores and Celestia will notice(even if not immediately) so Velvet either hides how much she knows and pretends to be a beginner(even if a Talented one) by hiding how high her lore levels are or she shows all the cards upfront and claims it as her Special Talent, which is actually true. That is not even mentioning the possibility of her killing one of our employees(or Velvet) if we don't explain it properly.

But as Bird already answered that is a thing for later I'll put my anxiety in the corner for now.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Velvet is already hiding how much she knows about the lores with her Moth. Their is a reason we are preparing for the Moth Sacurment, to stay ahead of Celetia.

 

[Arrkhon]

Velvet is already hiding how much she knows about the lores with her Moth. Their is a reason we are preparing for the Moth Sacurment, to stay ahead of Celetia.

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Exactly, and there's no better way of deceiving others than by showing them the truth that makes them believe in falsehoods

 

[Solace2117]

It risks tipping Celestia off in other ways, potentially speeding up timelines, and could could create new fires we need to put out when we don't have the time. The Bureau is potentially useful, which is why I support Promote, but what's the end game there. I doubt they're coming with us on the All in expedition. They can help with resources and rituals, but at this point growing in lores and befriending Names is more important. Most of our set backs have come from over confidence or ignoring loose ends. At this point I don't think the risks outweigh the rewards considering how important the next few turns are.
Promote helps start the process, so we're not just ignoring it, without as much risk as Champion, especially with us burning the evidence.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Celestia will advance much much faster then the Bureau reminder our manuscripts are few and generally suck. It would only marginally matter if the manuscripts where higher then Celestia's Lateran lore which they are not. You cannot get scraps from stuff you already ahead off, which Celestia is already.

 

[Solace2117]

Other characters have agency. If Celestia becomes more suspicious she could choose to involve herself more which could be a distraction we don't need, or intensify her own studies. There's no guarantee since we don't know how much she is currently putting into it, but it would be be a mistake to assume we can't speed up the timeline. It comes down to risk/reward. The potential benefits of champion vs promote, don't seem to be worth the downsides at this stage in the quest.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Other characters have agency. If Celestia becomes more suspicious she could choose to involve herself more which could be a distraction we don't need, or intensify her own studies. There's no guarantee since we don't know how much she is currently putting into it, but it would be be a mistake to assume we can't speed up the timeline. It comes down to risk/reward. The potential benefits of champion vs promote, don't seem to be worth the downsides at this stage in the quest.

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Again Celestia is ahead of the stuff we gave the Bureau her spending an action on it is a win for us, as that delays her increasing her Lantern by a full turn. And again we have 2 respect cards, and the Luna and Cadance cards to play it corral the Bureau if needed.

 

[Pittauro]

[X] Plan Feels Good To Be A Lore Master

I'm going to risk it.

Our Cutie Mark can kind of explain how we "felt" it works, or that the windigo warning is real.

As for burning the evidence... Ideally the ONE pony who will know about it will trust us enough to stay silent.

If they don't, well, we can come up with an excuse, and it will be our word vs our accuser's word.

Maybe the books contained detailed instructions for the summoning of Windigoes (or the "composite zombie", I forget their name), and we "panicked" and wanted to keep it secret as it was too "easy" to do.

Maybe we can say they were cursed.

Maybe we can say the spontaneously burned themselves after we read them, possibly as some kind of magical failsafe.

we'll come up with something. And in any case... who's going to go to CELESTIA to accuse us? it would be extremely brave... and maybe a bit stupid.

And if they go to Shining or Cadance, well, they're on our side.

 

[Solace2117]

Again Celestia is ahead of the stuff we gave the Bureau her spending an action on it is a win for us, as that delays her increasing her Lantern by a full turn. And again we have 2 respect cards, and the Luna and Cadance cards to play it corral the Bureau if needed.

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Celestia already knows about at least lantern. She doesn't care about our primer. She is not using what we planted to grow her lores. The more time she focuses on learning the lores, the faster she grows her personal lore which is the doom clock. Her growing more suspicious of Velvet means she focuses more on Velvet's actions and her own lores. Focusing on Velvet is just more distractions and potential fires we need to put out.
Also you keep talking about respect cards. This isn't the game, it's a quest. While useful in the abstract terms to explain things, it's not a great tool to put your faith in considering the agency of NPCs. We've seen this with the Master, our rivals, and the Names. Why would the Bureau and Celestia be any different.

Honest question, what do you all really expect to get out of this? How useful will the Bureau actually be with Champion verse promote. We're near the end game. I ask again why is the extra risk worth it with everything Velvet needs to accomplish.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Celestia will advance much much faster then the Bureau reminder our manuscripts are few and generally suck. It would only marginally matter if the manuscripts where higher then Celestia's Lateran lore which they are not. You cannot get scraps from stuff you already ahead off, which Celestia is already.

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Any action Celestia spends on learning Lores other than Lantern is effort she is not putting into Lantern, and so far it appears that Alicorns have multiple Lore affinities. Right now she is mono-Lantern which is terrible for both her and for us because she is power-leveling the doom clock and fucking over her own mental state at the same time. Got to balance that shit out. Distract and redirect, my friends, distract and redirect. Like with Forge. She can have all the Forge she wants for burning purposes and we'd be happy so long as it isn't more Lantern.

Celestia already knows about at least lantern. She doesn't care about our primer. She is not using what we planted to grow her lores. The more time she focuses on learning the lores, the faster she grows her personal lore which is the doom clock. Her growing more suspicious of Velvet means she focuses more on Velvet's actions and her own lores. Focusing on Velvet is just more distractions and potential fires we need to put out.
Also you keep talking about respect cards. This isn't the game, it's a quest. While useful in the abstract terms to explain things, it's not a great tool to put your faith in considering the agency of NPCs. We've seen this with the Master, our rivals, and the Names. Why would the Bureau and Celestia be any different.

Honest question, what do you all really expect to get out of this? How useful will the Bureau actually be with Champion verse promote. We're near the end game. I ask again why is the extra risk worth it with everything Velvet needs to accomplish.

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The only thing we know right now is that Celestia has Lantern and her cult is using a high-grade Lantern artifact to enter the Mansus and follow a giant Lantern Beacon. We have zero indication she or Eclipse know anything about other Lores. And no, lore advancement in general does not up the Doom Clock, only Lantern Advancement ups the Doom Clock. And finally, some of us want a Lore'd out Bureau before the game ends because we want to see what that's like.