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

[Pittauro]

The issue here is: He doesn't care, he actually hates Velvet and that limits our interactions a lot, using one AP might be enough to convince him to at least be neutral if someone comes to take shot at us instead of teaming up to take care of the bigger threat(Velvet) or it might lead to us getting to the other half of his friendship route.

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to be absolutely fair, I think Comet hates everyone and everything except Fluttershy and (somehow) Stormchaser.

But yeah, he fears us, he respects us, and he hates us. He only helps us because we're friends (confidants) with FLUTTERSHY, which he presumably loves.

And he's at the same time somewhat grateful we brought her to him, and HATES US because we put her in danger and had her see him at his worst.


If we go talk to him, it should NOT be for him to like us. He hates us because we put Fluttershy in danger for his sake, we're NEVER stopping his hate for us.

If we talk to him, it should be either to clarify things for us, or potentially to clarify things for him, if we care or have reason to have him know about the Master's fate, or that we're locked in an occult war with Comet, or stuff like that.

And I'm not sure we do. OOC we now know he didn't kill Shining because he was for the Master, and presumably Velvet realized it IC too, at least for the most part. Do we have a reason to make it clear to him that the Master is no longer possessing Shining?

I suppose it could reassure him the Master won't come back and ask for more from him. But then again we'd also be revealing we SOMEHOW killed the Master, and it's a tricky situation to end in.

He might end up MORE afraid of us, and EDGE reacts to fear with violence. If we're not careful, he could take it as a threat. and if he doesn't believe us (it would be reasonable to assume the Master FAKED his death, and I'm still halfway suspecting he might not be fully dead if a piece of him survived in the Risen-trees, or in Starry, or somewhere else...

...

...

STARRY!

Should we be worried about what she might do now? She was basically crazy and near-fully possessed by the Master, and yet the Master is dead. WHAT WILL SHE DO NOW?!

If we only had the actions to scry for her and meet her...

 

[Iustus Vitea]

Comet hates us because we're a danger to Fluttershy and his new lease, because he thinks us loyal to the cult. Because he thinks we'll drag him and Fluttershy back into that life. If we break it to him what happened and the why, if we tell him how long we've been traitor, how much we've done to ruin the cult remnants he won't stop hating us but there will be space we can build a relationship on.

Also I know now what Fluttershy's action should be; accompany us to the Comet action.

 

[Zxzx24]

Look, the raw fact of the matter is that we need Sacraments and Name Friends. A mortal with which we have reached a truce is of far less important than ensuring we have the Eldritch oomph to work against the next big bad without smashing our forehead into the Big Red Regrettable Action button like a memetic Inquisitor does with the Big Red Exterminatus button.

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I mean you say that but the pattern of our past actions. Including this turn shows we care quite a bit.

And he is quite able to throw drown. With am influence up he gave a better combat performance than the daughter of Axes by a mile.

 

[Greymere]

Comet hates us because we're a danger to Fluttershy and his new break because he thinks us loyal to the cult. Because he thinks we'll drag him and Fluttershy back into that life. If we break it to him what happened and the why, if we tell him how long we've been traitor, how much we've done to ruin the cult remnants he won't stop hating us but there will be space we can build a relationship on.

Also I know now what Fluttershy's action should be; accompany us to the Comet action.

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Okay, but again, explaining "what happened" kind of necessitates talking about Regrettable Actions, which Velvet isn't willing to do iirc. So... what would we actually be telling him?

"Hey btw I know you gave the Master Shining's body. They wanted to reincarnate as an alicorn, but that didn't happen because I wouldn't give then Mareinette. What actually did happen and why am I still alive if I betrayed the Master by refusing to give them Mareinette to do the aforementioned alicorn kid switcharoo? Uh... no comment. And it's definitely not related to the reason why the Woods suddenly burned down."

"Also I'm responsible for hiding Luna and therefore indirectly the entirely debacle with the changelings which definitely did not help with your mental state at all. Oops, my bad."

 

[DelightedOne]

Do we have a reason to make it clear to him that the Master is no longer possessing Shining?

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Aside from making sure the Master wasn't hiding anything else that happened between them? I feel like that is needed to make the point that Velvet Covers is not what he thinks she is.

Besides, this Quest is half MLP, we need to clear up misunderstandings whenever we can or disasters happen, that is like the number 1 rule from the show.

 

[Iustus Vitea]

We could just ask Bird for confirmation?

@OurLadyOfWires If we take the Comet Fleeting Opportunity will Velvet mention us killing the Master and how as a matter of course, will it be roll dependent or not an option at all?

 

[Pittauro]

That is a dangerous assumption to make, imo failing the roll means we don't get progress and probably take a mental malus, succeeding means we get progress but we roll on the lore wheel and if we get a bad Velvet she's gonna fuck shit up for us.

I am of the opinion that we call down our own influence and accept it if its tier 3 then do the actions spread over two turns, both because we will not have the AP for doing this in one turn and because these will be narratively and mechanically dangerous actions.

I also support taking the Comet fleeting opportunity.

Regardless I believe our next turn looks something like this:
Baldomare to scry for Frangiclave
Jade to scry for Manuscripts or Memory (personally I think the scry is better)
Marinette to either raise SL with Spoiled or pursue cease fire (would prefer cease fire)
1 AP to summon DoA
DoA to Canterlot expedition
Rarity to take a commission
Fluttershy to do...something
And 3 AP left over

Assuming we do the SH influence call next turn we have 2 left over. If we take the Comet action that leaves us with one other for the Luna related fleeting opportunities unless we take the commissioner choice. If we don't then we waste the influence so either we drop Comet or take the additional ap.

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I actually like this plan. I still think we might be better off doing both Sacrament actions in one turn, but in any case that's a worry for turn 20. and who knows, maybe we can have Luna stand guard over the visiting Velvet. or one of our Names, if we can assume they won't just obey the new Velvet (we should check if Velvet can still feel the summon-bonds in the other history.

We could just ask Bird for confirmation?

@OurLadyOfWires If we take the Comet Fleeting Opportunity will Velvet mention us killing the Master and how as a matter of course, will it be roll dependent or not an option at all?

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It's kinda pointless to ask when we don't even know the text of this action. And, as usual, Luna will change things a lot.

Having a Luna back that holds us in her favor will make things look very different. And we don't know HOW Luna will make her "public" reappearance. For all we know she will reveal herself as having been Selene, and in that case Comet will be able to make 2+2.

But maybe she'll reappear separately, and then Comet won't notice this. Maybe he'll think we positioned ourselves as the N.2 of the Bureau to get close to Luna if/when she reappears STILL FOR THE MASTER.

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I'm still leaning towards talking to Comet. but I want to make it clear we should not expect us to become FRIENDS after. It's still potentially worth it though. Maybe we can even recruit him against Copper, as "if she's attacking us, how does he know she won't attack HIM too later on?"

Especially if Copper believes he's on our side (which he kinda sorta partly is)

 

[Iustus Vitea]

Luna stand guard over the visiting Velvet. or one of our Names, if we can assume they won't just obey the new Velvet (we should check if Velvet can still feel the summon-bonds in the other history.

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I feel that'd be hard to justify IC and be a waste of a Luna AP, better to have Comet (wink wink nudge nudge) do it or DoA by specifying she does it after were given her the Frangiclave so that's she is personally loyal to us.

But maybe she'll reappear separately, and then Comet won't notice this. Maybe he'll think we positioned ourselves as the N.2 of the Bureau to get close to Luna if/when she reappears STILL FOR THE MASTER.

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I feel if Selene suddenly vanishes and Luna comes back then that's pretty indicative as to what happened to anyone with a modicum of intelligence.

Maybe we can even recruit him against Copper, as "if she's attacking us, how does he know she won't attack HIM too later on?"

Especially if Copper believes he's on our side (which he kinda sorta partly is)

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If the need arises we won't need all that many justifications for it, we betrayed the cult in the greatest manner possible and Copper will come after us even if she doesn't know about that. We want her a non issue and Comet will too because she's all that's left of the Master's will. All that's left of the cult that could ruin things for him.

Well anyone that's organised about it.

 

[Pittauro]

If the need arises we won't need all that many justifications for it, we betrayed the cult in the greatest manner possible and Copper will come after us even if she doesn't know about that. We want her a non issue and Comet will too because she's all that's left of the Master's will. All that's left of the cult that could ruin things for him.

Well anyone that's organised about it.

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and a possibly crazy Starry. and an unknown Windy who went in search for opportunities

 

[LieutenantSpirit]

...

STARRY!

Should we be worried about what she might do now? She was basically crazy and near-fully possessed by the Master, and yet the Master is dead. WHAT WILL SHE DO NOW?!

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We are being strangled for AP right now, but checking on Starry and Windy should be on our list of priorities. While I have my doubts about Starry, Windy is definitely up to something. I don't want to be ambushed or surprised again like what happened with the Master.

 

[DelightedOne]

Was what happened with the Master even a surprise? It seemed extremely in character for the Moth Name to wander without telling anyone what they would be doing and them scaring the fuck out of everyone when they come back.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Shop action meaning a purchase, or shop action meaning actually finding the book? Just to clarify, bcuz the distinction is a bit important.

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Shop action meaning finding a book.

Hear me out.

If you search for a book in turn 5, you narratively look for the book and "find it" in turn 5.
However, for the sake of not bloating our experience with several small votes, you "vote" to buy it at the beginning of turn 6. This is done purely for logistical and convenience reasons. After all, you would only be able to use that book on turn 6 onwards anways.

But if Baldomare is going to disappear at turn 5, we can accept this exception. If Baldomare is to disappear at the end of turn 5, and you shop on turn 5 and manage to find a Level 5+ book, we can vote to buy and gift the book then and there.
Of course, as always, you will only be able to use the bits you had available at turn 5.

Damn, I just wrote the number 5 a lot. Should have picked another turn number.

Anyways, does that explain it?

In Which (S) Collide - Part 3

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This was delightful. And I don't know if it was intentional, but I really liked the Shub-Niggurath visage. I really, really enjoyed it.

Thanks for sharing this with us!

I'd say Knock + Forge. Knock to reach them, and Forge to burn them. And then we target "every manuscript Velvet wrote for the Cult of her own horn", or whatever definition would include those without including, books in our home or stuff we wrote for our jobs (present and past)

@OurLadyOfWires from past experience making the scrying ritual, how long do we think it would take us to make a ritual like this? What does Jade think about it?

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I don't think a ritual like this is even researcheable. It's just too... niche?

Well, if you all ever decide to invest time into crafting new rituals, I have a system ready-ish for it. But creating ultra-specific, tailor-made rituals is probably untenable.

I mean, look at the base game itself. In CS, most of the rituals are either summoning or downright useless. The rituals feel more like truly invoking the lores and letting them loose rather than "using magic".

So really, if you want to burn something just do it the pony way: by breaking and entering and committing arson. And if you want to involve the Lores, have someone strong in Moth do it, yknow.

Isn't there a moth-summons somewhere in the Woods you can call...?

The Door that May Yet Be

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Thank you for sharing this with us!

And I do wonder how an alicorn would fare in the Mansus.

The frightening part of this means that spiderhellian's story is canon, which means that Mareinette has been so thirsty she's been crawling over our walls out of frustration.

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This link isn't working for me. Strangely, parts of it seem to be pointing at the old site, but it is clearly a link for QQ. Care to share what story you were talking about? I am curious.

"The way to make names stay around is to become friends with them. The way to become friends with them is to spend more time with them."

I would predicate that action on... basically.

@OurLadyOfWires if we tell Baldomare to go have fun, is that actually what she will do?

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Can't find the quote, but luckily for me we are talking about something I said. So I can confirm this isn't exactly what I said, or at least not what I meant.

The way to keep a Name around is to become friends with them. And the way to become friends with a Name is to keep them around.

Meaning the ways Velvet has to keep a Name in the Wake is tied to the ways you befriend them. Now go gift Baldomare books.

And about Baldomare's action, try and find out!

We could just ask Bird for confirmation?

@OurLadyOfWires If we take the Comet Fleeting Opportunity will Velvet mention us killing the Master and how as a matter of course, will it be roll dependent or not an option at all?

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If you take the Comet Fleeting Opportunity, there will be a separate vote of "what do you tell him?"

And I say a separate vote because voting for that during the plan phase would be absolutely miserable

Still, the point of the matter is that voting to meet Comet is just a commitment to walk up to him and "engage" with him in some manner. If that option is picked, then we can worry about the details. And if that option is not picked, we will just agree that Velvet is fine with how the chips fell and will let sleeping dogs lie.




And that seems to be it.

I have some free time later today, so hopefully we will have an update several hours from now.

Also, according to my notes, we just have your servant reports to go through, then... well, then it's Luna's ritual. Damn we are finally getting there. It's just been what, four years since you took Selene in, in real-world time?

Well, hope you are all doing well!

 

[spiderhellian]

STARRY!

Should we be worried about what she might do now? She was basically crazy and near-fully possessed by the Master, and yet the Master is dead. WHAT WILL SHE DO NOW?!

If we only had the actions to scry for her and meet her...

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Almost certainly not in a good place, also almost certainly a little less of a threat than Copper (has a Name and a Cult) or Windy (working on a project, hearing the wolf, maybe soon able to access the Winter heirloom).

If we are scrying something with Jade (actually not super easy, we need a reagent to have decent odds on the SH roll, and at some point we're running out of money) I'd think I'd prefer Windy than our Manuscripts.

 

[spiderhellian]

Also, according to my notes we just have your servant reports to go through

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@OurLadyOfWires Ah, I just noticed the Fluttershy/Comet action was crossed off. I'm guessing that means no attack or any excitement handled by the Guard action?

 

[angelsadvocate666]

Isn't there a moth-summons somewhere in the Woods you can call...?

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What Woods?

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

@OurLadyOfWires Ah, I just noticed the Fluttershy/Comet action was crossed off. I'm guessing that means no attack or any excitement handled by the Guard action?

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No attacks this turn.

EDIT: On a completely unrelated note, I just remembered something a person said once. "Why do we even bother paying for security? We never once got robbed!"
Anyways, that's just a thought that occurred to me.

What Woods?

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[Iustus Vitea]

and a possibly crazy Starry. and an unknown Windy who went in search for opportunities

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Windy ran, from his perspective we're friendly and he has no reason to worry about us specifically coming after him. The only worry there is if his projects catches us in the splash. Starry is in a similar position if she even is in a position to do something because last I checked she went insane.

Unless of course Copper got to either of them in which case uhhhhhhhhhh

Also with Bird's clarification the Comet action has become better no? We just need to roll good assuming there even is a Grail/convincing roll.

I'm sure it'll be fine, it's not like we've consistently failed those right?

 

[angelsadvocate666]

On a completely unrelated note, I just remembered something a person said once. "Why do we even bother paying for security? We never once got robbed!"
Anyways, that's just a thought that occurred to me.

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Ah, yes. Because surely Prevention isn't better than a Cure.

Now I'm wondering if Copper didn't scry our defenses, saw a very surly Comet drinking with Stormchaser, and went "nope, nope, NOPE!".

 

[Greymere]

Isn't there a moth-summons somewhere in the Woods you can call...?

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Well there was

Unless you're going to give us Sneaky Wolves to go with our Murder Wolves?

Also, according to my notes, we just have your servant reports to go through, then... well, then it's Luna's ritual. Damn we are finally getting there. It's just been what, four years since you took Selene in, in real-world time?

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S O O N

 

[spiderhellian]

Windy ran, from his perspective we're friendly and he has no reason to worry about us specifically coming after him. The only worry there is if his projects catches us in the splash. Starry is in a similar position if she even is in a position to do something because last I checked she went insane.

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We might not be caught in the Splash Radius, but a significant number of ponies might, and we are the director of the Lunar Bureau... If he (e.g.) buries a city under Windigos it does quickly become a problem that we have to handle.

Now I'm wondering if Copper didn't scry our defenses, saw a very surly Comet drinking with Stormchaser, and went "nope, nope, NOPE!".

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Or she spent this turn summoning Windigos

...The most annoying thing about not getting attacked is now we don't have a corpse so don't have a Risen so don't have a good sacrifice for Biedde.

 

[Greymere]

Or she spent this turn summoning Windigos

...The most annoying thing about not getting attacked is now we don't have a corpse so don't have a Risen so don't have a good sacrifice for Biedde.

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Tbh this is part of why I'm hoping we get Luna Confidant actions (and she keeps her Lores). Because if she does, we could, hypothetically, have her summon both DoA and Biedde at a 100% success rate for both (Edit: technically not quite 100% bcuz Nat1s, but still), and the only thing we'd need to do is make a Edge 2 reagent. And then we can have Biedde guard our house.

Also btw @OurLadyOfWires, I was wondering. When you said that Pride's gifts can be applied to any Lore-related thing and he won't get mad as long as it's "for" DoA, would that also apply to expedition costs as long as she's participating? Especially for, say, our hypothetical Frangiclave expedition?

 

[spiderhellian]

Tbh this is part of why I'm hoping we get Luna Confidant actions (and she keeps her Lores). Because if she does, we could, hypothetically, have her summon both DoA and Biedde at a 100% success rate for both (Edit: technically not quite 100% bcuz Nat1s, but still), and the only thing we'd need to do is make a Edge 2 reagent. And then we can have Biedde guard our house.

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I guess we'll see! It would be super duper nice to have those bonuses available, but if Luna summons them, Luna gets their bindings... and I just find it hard to imagine us asking "Hey Boss, can you summon these incredibly powerful creatures from an Era long since passed? And then give total control over them to us, please and thank you" without any issue. But I know there's no use speculating, we'll see where Luna winds up very soon!

 

[BritBiscuit]

This link isn't working for me. Strangely, parts of it seem to be pointing at the old site, but it is clearly a link for QQ. Care to share what story you were talking about? I am curious.



If you take the Comet Fleeting Opportunity, there will be a separate vote of "what do you tell him?"

And I say a separate vote because voting for that during the plan phase would be absolutely miserable

Still, the point of the matter is that voting to meet Comet is just a commitment to walk up to him and "engage" with him in some manner. If that option is picked, then we can worry about the details. And if that option is not picked, we will just agree that Velvet is fine with how the chips fell and will let sleeping dogs lie.


Well, hope you are all doing well!

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The link works if you change the url from questionablequesting.com to sufficientvelocity.com and it leads to https://forum.sufficientvelocity.co...tist-experience.71721/page-2024#post-30522244.

Also 'engaging' is quite the choice of words for an interaction with an Edge adept. Lots of conitations for conflict such as engaging an enemy but maybe its an engagement like Fluttershy is getting married .

 

[angelsadvocate666]

If Fluttershy was getting engaged, I would certainly hope we got an invitation without having to talk directly to Comet Feet.

 

[Pittauro]

I mean, look at the base game itself. In CS, most of the rituals are either summoning or downright useless. The rituals feel more like truly invoking the lores and letting them loose rather than "using magic".

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That's something I found fairly weird in the game.

Like, I didn't check the rituals there much, but take "The End is Beautiful".

If I remember right the effect was basically "a person whose card is on the table AT RANDOM will die".

what's even the point of that ritual?!

Also, according to my notes, we just have your servant reports to go through, then... well, then it's Luna's ritual. Damn we are finally getting there. It's just been what, four years since you took Selene in, in real-world time?

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There's also Baldomare finding us a location to summon Axe in next turn. I think we already did the family time with Selene and family. I vaguely remember a visit to Cloudsdale, and that even Fluttershy and Comet were there.

 

[DelightedOne]

what's even the point of that ritual?!

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To show that The End is Beautiful, of course. It is on the name.

 

[Zxzx24]

Can't find the quote, but luckily for me we are talking about something I said. So I can confirm this isn't exactly what I said, or at least not what I meant.

The way to keep a Name around is to become friends with them. And the way to become friends with a Name is to keep them around.

Meaning the ways Velvet has to keep a Name in the Wake is tied to the ways you befriend them. Now go gift Baldomare books.

And about Baldomare's action, try and find out!

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Ah, my apologies then! And I hope I did not twist the meaning of your words too badly.

Still I feel the spirit of what was said... but I digress.

And im not sure what I expected to get from asking that

four years since you took Selene in, in real-world time?

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Visibly ages and turns into a pile of dust.

 

[Iustus Vitea]

The visit is done, only the servant action and Baldomare's report is left.

That's something I found fairly weird in the game.

Like, I didn't check the rituals there much, but take "The End is Beautiful".

If I remember right the effect was basically "a person whose card is on the table AT RANDOM will die".

what's even the point of that ritual?!

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There are two IC explanations for the rituals being fucky:

1. We're ignorant and incompetent.

2. What we are using aren't rituals so much as they are us invoking large quantities of the Aspects and utilising them crudely. It's not a spell it's ritualised wild magic, sorcery rather then wizardry.

 

[angelsadvocate666]

I mean, EiB seems like it's supposed to be aimed at the Foes. Or at least, that was the intended purpose, and you're not supposed to care if some minion get lost in the process, but they randomized it because they didn't want to make it too easy to kill the enemy.

 

[Void_510]

While it's great that we're finally restoring Luna to herself, she's probably going to be quite busy verifying her identity and then being smothered by Celestia.

We still aren't sure how she will feel about us when she is back in her right mind, though I doubt it will be anything bad.

It makes more sense to me that mechanically our relationship might be more like the one we had with the Master. She is going to be our boss. She will be able to give us tasks as the head of the Lunar Bureau and we can ask of her for favors.

If we were to focus on mundane matters rather than our quest for Glory then one of our goals should be to coopt Midday Dew(?) in order to guide what Celestia is learning about the Lores.