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

[ses]

3 ap is indeed a really big chunk of our remaining AP for "just" a Sacrament. It unlocks the SuninRags expedition at the Orchard though... which probably contains fabulous rewards at relatively accessible difficulty now that the Woods expedition sites are destroyed.

The Temple of the Wheel allowed a dungeon bypass with a Heart Sacrament (or RA). Keeping the pattern of things getting more punishing designed as you ascend and the Blank Plains still being pretty easy and the Orchard site being locked behind a Winter Sacrament i would guess its a pretty easy expedition to get the heirloom once you have access via sacrament: as opposed to the Ruined Church being very dangerous and difficult with no offered Sacrament bypass.


...now I'm worried about the Ruined Church having a "fuck you come back with a Sacrament" 3 wound/scrap risking checks into the expedition

 

[DelightedOne]

...now I'm worried about the Ruined Church having a "fuck you come back with a Sacrament" 3 wound/scrap risking checks into the expedition

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I... don't think that is a thing? If there is a Sacrament Barrier in the Church(there likely is) then we would just be unable to cross it.

But yeah, wounds and scraps being lost is a risk in the high parts of the Mansus as we have seen, but I doubt it would be as high as 3 Wounds on a single failure, as that is our entire health pool, unless it is a critical failure or something.

 

[ses]

I... don't think that is a thing? If there is a Sacrament Barrier in the Church(there likely is) then we would just be unable to cross it.

But yeah, wounds and scraps being lost is a risk in the high parts of the Mansus as we have seen, but I doubt it would be as high as 3 Wounds on a single failure, as that is our entire health pool, unless it is a critical failure or something.

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I mean, we do the first 3 checks of the expedition. Then get hit with "welcome to the halfway point. Here's a scrap of Grail lore. Come back with a Sacramen to continue." and we've risked three expedition checks at DC 100 for nothing.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

The Axe Looks in the Mirror

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NOW that we have finished 90% of the snake journey (with only one or two things left to be written), I am delighted to reread this story and see how much fits.

Now Spiderhillian has a habit (and this is not a criticism, quite on the opposite!) of writing stories that are just vague and non-committing enough to be perfectly canon. After all, writing a story that "Fluttershy met Comet Feet" is a hit or a miss (and in that case, a very rare hit), because declaring it canon necessarily involves two characters meeting and interacting in a certain way.

But a story about Axe? Being grumpy? Brooding, even? That is canon every time!

Of course, importantly, we now all know the snakemare a bit better and we can see just how right spiderhillian got this. I particularly liked the callback to a fairy tale, and what it potentially could be. Because Axe always wanted to be the Princess, but how does she feel about having ended up as the Prince?

I love it. So, again, thank you for sharing this! And I apologize for taking this long to reach the snekrament, when I could finally address this properly.

Also, completely unrelated, I now accept as truth the idea that Axe's room is right above Soft's. For the sake of ground-stomping noises and annoyance, if nothing else, even if the two rooms are definitely not touching according to the architect's blueprints.

Gotta keep tha wolf-freak on her toes, aye?

And more importantly we have to find Axe ASAP.

Silky Streams Cute-ceñeara is coming up and Axe was directly involved in getting her mark!

She cant miss that!

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Great point.

@OurLadyOfWires the answer is probably "we don't know", but I might as well ask: Do we have any idea if Axe, once the chains are removed/dealt with, would be able to come and go from The Mansus to the Wake on her own?

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You don't know.

But if I could give you a visual indicator, for those of us who played CS:
Axe's summons card, the one with her scowling portrait and a constant countdown for when her summoning expires, has abruptly burned to a crisp, and a countdown event has now appeared on your board. The countdown is titled "Scales and Nests", for whatever reason, and will finish its timer at the same time this season (turn) ends.

So, let that work itself out. We have plenty of other things (and coming votes) to worry about this turn.

Scheduled vote count started by OurLadyOfWires on Mar 10, 2025 at 5:08 AM, finished with 86 posts and 27 votes.

• ---

  23 people have voted

  [X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too
  -[X] Uncle Steppes has come to visit! But every time you speak to him, you get the impression he is… unwell. Even though he hides it well from the fillies. Spend some more time with him, and see if you can help him.
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • ses
  • Witherbrine2671
  • Zxzx24
  • Solace2117
  • MisRAR1
  • ArticulateJargon
  • Talon Tiger Dino
  • Sintonir
  • Maer
  • dcoconeo
  • Potdl
  • AuthorTransient
  • Venerable Ro
  • Demilich
  • DelightedOne
  • Sveta08
  • Nevermort
  • spiderhellian
  • Limabot
  • Flaregamer82253
  • Arrkhon
  • Waela
  • IronHydra

  8 people have voted

  [X] Plan Half Light/Half Shadow
  -[X] Velvet Covers will... (Study Moth 5 Book and Lantern 4 Artifact) Priority on Artifact
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • DelightedOne
  • Pittauro
  • Greymere
  • spiderhellian
  • Limabot
  • Flaregamer82253
  • Anjaxis
  • Shaper47

  6 people have voted

  [X] Plan: To Find a Gate
  -[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry: A permanent three-circle ritual site that our entire faction can utilize
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • Greymere
  • Pittauro
  • Sveta08
  • Limabot
  • Flaregamer82253
  • Anjaxis

  5 people have voted

  [X] Plan Ancient Darkness
  -[X] Velvet Covers will... (Study Moth 5 Book)
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • DelightedOne
  • Greymere
  • Nevermort
  • Anjaxis
  • Shaper47

  2 people have voted

  [X] Uncles and Memories of Light

  • DelightedOne
  • Arrkhon

  2 people have voted

  [X] Plan To Gaze upon the Breaking of Chains (to be their at her side so she is not alone)
  -[X] [MANSUS] The Shattered Stairways
  --[X] [MANSUS] Reach for the Valley of Keys, where the snakemare of the Mansus toils for her freedom.
  -[X] [MANSUS] The Wastes
  --[X] [MANSUS] Stalk the Ashen Wastes. The alternative is to be stalked.
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • Shaper47
  • IronHydra

  2 people have voted

  [X] Plan Edge Sacrament
  -[X] [MANSUS] The Shattered Stairways
  --[X] [MANSUS] Reach for the Valley of Keys, where the snakemare of the Mansus toils for her freedom.
  -[X] Learn of that bright Edge, that lives within us all
  --[X] Be blessed by that Wound, which never ceases to grow.
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • Shaper47
  • IronHydra

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan: To Find a Book
  -[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry: Level 7 book
  -[X] You will NOT search for a book this turn. (No follower actions will be borrowed from Turn 22)

  • Greymere

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan Half Light/Half Goodies
  -[X] Velvet Covers will... (Study Lantern 4 Artifact > Manehattan book )
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • spiderhellian

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan Half Light/Half Shadow
  - [x] Velvet Covers will... (Study Moth 5 Book and Lantern 4 Artifact)
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • Sveta08

  1 people have voted

  [X] Uncles and Memories of Light
  -[X] Uncle Steppes has come to visit! But every time you speak to him, you get the impression he is… unwell. Even though he hides it well from the fillies. Spend some more time with him, and see if you can help him.
  -[X] You will NOT search for a book this turn. (No follower actions will be borrowed from Turn 22)

  • Waela

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Ah, good. The auto-tally works.

@OurLadyOfWires sorry if you already explained it, but are you fine with making a second sacrament action conditional on still having a reroll?

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Let's worry about that when we reach the planning phase of the next turn, shall we?



Anyways, I hope you are all doing well! And I'll go storyboard the rest of this turn... at some point.