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

ok, trying to plan now.

We have

4 Velvet actions

5 servant actions (converted in 2 Velvet APs)

near certainly another 4 followers actions will be converted to 1 Velvet AP.

1 free social, 1 free mansus, 15 or 16 followers actions...

Rarity: 1
Jade Whistle: 1
Fluttershy: 1
Filthy Rich: 1 (UNCERTAIN)
Baldomare: 1
Mareinette: 1
Velvet Axe: 1
Biedde: 1
Selene: 2
Household servants: 1
One-time use servants: 5

We also have 409 bits, and next turn we should get another 160 + around 50 from Rarity share, + >100 from Commission.

Velvet will effectively have 8 actions (4+ 3 from Cover your bases, + 1 free social). AND the mansus free point, that's definitely going to Outsider.


Let's try making a draft.

First of all, the most urgent things: We need Axe's Sacrament. THat's 3 actions, with the hope it will take less than that and we might get a leftover AP for something else.

Forge's redemption is extra safety, and it prepares us for Edge Sacrament (maybe next turn?)

Velvet wouldn't be Velvet if she didn't worry about her family. so Family FO is a must. Same for Selene FO, because we need to empower her.


That's 6 actions already. Sorry Uncle, we probably can't afford to help you.

7th... I'd go for Artifact studying, but I SUPPOSE we could do a study turn next turn with Lantern influence?

I feel like I'm forgetting something... maybe it will come to me later

eh, Velvet's specifics can wait a bit I suppose. let's go Category by Category in the meantime.


BUREAU

-[] [DETECTIVES] (FOLLOW UP) There are still changelings out there. Hunt them. Look for them, and for the ponies who colluded with them. (One of the chief expectations of the Bureau. Avert a future Catastrophe)

fairly obvious pick, though I was tempted by the other ones honestly.

-[] [CONSTABLES] (FOLLOW UP) Your detectives have given you a very long list, of ponies and places involved in the attempt against your life. Round them up and put them all in jail, before this trail goes cold.

This gives us time to check Tall Tale on our own AND it's also the most "urgent" one.

-[] [COMMISSIONER] Some of the ponies in the Bureau are more important than the others. Get to know them better.
--[] Shining Armor, your Deputy.

OR

-[] [COMMISSIONER] The Lunar Bureau is not the only recently-minted institution in Equestria. Try to contact the others.
--[] Eclipse(?), and Midday Dew.

for Shining, the idea is that it pairs well with Cadance/Friends FO.

For Midday Dew, that we'd try to find out more about what they're doing, maybe helping us preparing for Celestia's actions. We might also be able to nudge them towards NOT pursuing Lantern as much, maybe...

Rarity: 1
Jade Whistle: 1
Fluttershy: 1
Filthy Rich: 1 (UNCERTAIN)
Baldomare: 1
Mareinette: 1
Velvet Axe: 1
Biedde: 1
Selene: 2
Household servants: 1
One-time use servants: 5

-[] [RARITY] Take a commission. (Gain at least 100 bits immediately, will "fail" her career roll)

we need more bits, always more bits

-[] [JADE] Research "A Memory of Light" (Current progress 0/100, uses Learning and LANTERN)

OR

we could have her scry. Problem is, we don't actually have a place for her to scry from. Which is another reason I really want to complete Canterlot Part 3...

-[] [BALDOMARE] Ask for a lesson on the Lores. (WRITE IN Lore)
-[] [BALDOMARE] Channel an Influence. (WRITE IN Lore)

If I managed to fit in an extra study action, there's an argument in favour of the influence. It would help studying artifacts and books, AND it's an extra influence that MIGHT come in handy during Axe's sacrament if we're lucky.

It's currently a maybe.

the lesson would be so after doing both influence and artifact we'd be at 4/4 and ready for her lantern sacrament.

-[] [MAREINETTE] You need her to talk to… (WRITE IN a pony for her to speak with in, "stepping into" your horseshoes).
--[] Spoiled Rich.

We want her at Close Friend so we can do Moth Sacrament on either turn 22 or 23.

-[] [AXE] Ask for a Knock lesson.

we need knock 4/4. only way we might not need to do this is IF we instead study the Knock book.

5 servants are converted into Velvet APs, obviously.

this leaves the following unaccounted for:

Fluttershy: 1
Filthy Rich: 1 (UNCERTAIN)
Biedde: 1
Selene: 2
Household servants: 1

we need 4 for the third Velvet AP. I'd say Fluttercomet, Filthy Rich, Servants and either Biedde or one Selene is the obvious pick.



A few other options worth considering:

--[] In Ponyville, and its… great assortments of libraries? (HEART, FORGE)

to try to get lvl 3 Heart books (and expedition books). mid-priority because we have already a lot of stuff to research


-[] You need this to be done. Send a pony on an expedition. (Will cause an "Expedition planning" vote to occur, later this turn. If the expedition is not a "short" one, you must pick this action as many times as you want followers to participate in it.)

I'm seriously considering Tall Tale or Canterlot part 3.

-[] Three extra Velvet actions! (Costs 9 follower actions)

obvious


SO, WHAT IF WE DO EXPEDITIONS NOW

I want to see, what can we get away with sending, and how it affects our turn planning.

CANTERLOT PART 3

I'd like to do it as I'm fairly convinced it will unlock a ritual site which we really need. It's also likely very rewarding to do.

Problem is, it will consume all actions for those we send.

we DEFINITELY need to send Axe. so it means we'd need to study the Knock Book on our own.

we'd also have to likely send Biedde (doable), and someone else, probably Selene or Mareinette (both fairly busy).

so I'm leaning towards us not being ready for it. Maybe next turn.


TALL TALE

this is more doable.

Expedition type​
Velvet/Leader actions required to go​
Confidante/Summon actions required to go​
Expected duration​
Short​
1/1​
Free​
5 days​
Medium​
2/2​
1​
10 days​
Long​
3/All​
2​
15 days​

Location: Tall Tale is a growing city, surrounded on one side by a quickly-disappearing forest, and by tall mountains on the other. Those mountains, according to your agents, are currently infested by changelings. You could sneak in there, to either strike at the changelings yourself, steal from them, or maybe even PLANT something you would like your constables to find later. But unfortunately, this endeavor will not be without dangers.

(NOTE: This expedition will DISAPPEAR if the Lunar Bureau raids it before you do. But an expedition sent here will arrive before the Bureau raids it, if both actions are taken on the same turn.)

Expected duration: MEDIUM

Base cost: 7 bits (you must have at least 70 bits per creature sent)

Expected dangers: Sneaking past your own agents shouldn't be hard, since you know their every move. And there are changelings in the mountains themselves. Other than that, anything else is UNKNOWN (expedition not scouted)

being Medium means it will use all actions for everyone EXCEPT Selene as add-on, which would have her use only 1.

We could send Biedde leader, Selene follower, and then Axe (or Mareinette, admittedly), with plenty of artifacts to help.

That said, Baldomare would be extremely useful here, but she's the one we can least afford I fear...

bits required: 210 bits, we'd likely recover most of it, so I'm not worried about that.

...

...


damn it, I don't think I can justify it! 😭



summary of the spoiler tab is that I don't think we can afford expeditions due to Name actions being too important.

I'm starting to think we should have Baldomare give us a Lantern influence, and then we do 1 or 2 study actions for

1)Knock book (frees Axe's action. This COULD allow us to send Axe, Biedde and Selene to Tall Tale. It's the only way I can see it working)
2)if leftover books to study, Moth and/or Manehattan. I THINK Moth could wait though.

I'm not particularly worried about being left without lvl 5 books for Baldomare because we both are likely going to search for a lvl 7 one soon, AND because we have 2 good expeditions that will likely have at least one of those.

artifact study:

1)Lantern 4
2)Winter 4.



more well-written Draft to come with the general idea...
 
We should make sure to give them the almighty Heartifact, it'll speed up Comet's recovery. And besides, a brave wounded warrior, a devoted nurse, a secluded cottage...

[HEART!]

Hmm...

I do think I like this idea actually. Gets the higher-level artifacts studied, gets us our last Moth scrap, puts us one scrap away from Lantern Sacrament, and gets us an expedition site to throw DoA at next turn (assuming we get the Frangiclave this turn; if not, then ig Mareinette could handle it). Not the Knock book though, that should stay in storage as emergency Baldomare refresh. And having the Lantern 4 artifact studied means that next turn Selene can take over scrying for the Level 7 book while Baldomare gives us Sacrament either directly (hers) or indirectly (SH Influence for personal).

[] Plan Lightcatcher
-[] (Detectives) Follow Up: Changelings
-[] (Constables) Follow Up: The Gardeners
-[] (Commissioner) Fleeting Opportunity: Cadance
-[] (Grail-Leash) Filthy Rich
-[] (Baldomare-Gift) Edge 6 book
-[] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich
-[] (DoA) Knock lesson
-[] (Selene) Soothe the nights of Equestria
-[] (Selene) Spy on Windy via dreamwalking (or Windigos, either one)
-[] (Rarity) Take a commission
-[] (Jade) Research the Memory of Light ritual (Stage 1 Progress: 0/100)
-[] Cover your bases (-9 Follower AP, +3 Velvet AP)
-[] (Other) Lend Comet the Heart 3 artifact for this turn, if he's willing

Keeping basically everything else the same though, at least for now.

Assumes that Velvet's phase actions will look something like the following:
  • Explore the Summit (Free Mansus)
  • Teach Selene (Free Social)
  • Forge's Redemption
  • DoA Sacrament x 3
  • Study x 2: Moth 5 book, Manehattan book; Lantern 4 artifact, Winter 4 artifact
  • Family Fleeting Opportunity
we have 3 full turns to find the lvl 7 (or another lvl 5) book, I'm not too worried.

We might very well be doing ALL IN Expedition by then.

and if we study the Knock book, that would actually free Axe to do an expedition THIS turn.

Axe, Biedde, Selene. Send them to Tall Tale with artifacts to help (maybe even the Lantern 4 and Winter 4 if we can study them in time).

and Selene can still do the Soothing OR the Windy check, as we'd have Biedde lead and Selene would only need to use ONE action on the expedition.


so this would be my version of this plan, basically.

underlined my changes

[] Plan Lightcatcher with Tall Tale
-[] (Detectives) Follow Up: Changelings
-[] (Constables) Follow Up: The Gardeners
-[] [COMMISSIONER] Some of the ponies in the Bureau are more important than the others. Get to know them better.
--[] Shining Armor, your Deputy.
OR leave Cadance if we can't fit in Friends FO, I suppose. I'm having troubles fitting it in

-[] (Grail-Leash) Filthy Rich
-[] (Baldomare-Gift) Edge 6 book
-[] (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
-[] (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich

-[] (Selene) Soothe the nights of Equestria
OR
-[] (Selene) Spy on Windy via dreamwalking (or Windigos, either one)


-[] (Rarity) Take a commission
-[] (Jade) Research the Memory of Light ritual (Stage 1 Progress: 0/100)
-[] Cover your bases (-9 Follower AP, +3 Velvet AP)
-[] (Other) Lend Comet the Heart 3 artifact for this turn, if he's willing

-[] You need this to be done. Send a pony on an expedition. (Will cause an "Expedition planning" vote to occur, later this turn. If the expedition is not a "short" one, you must pick this action as many times as you want followers to participate in it.)
Expected to send Biedde leader, Selene and Axe followers.
210 bits (I expect we'll get back 84 of them, so likely real cost of 136), general bonus of +50, 2 rerolls on Knock, 1 reroll on Winter and Moth, +30 general bonus to social actions, and plenty of artifacts to give miscellaneous bonuses (including potentially Lantern 4 and Winter 4).

...Fluttercomet, Servants and Filthy... I'm missing one action for the extra Velvet AP though. not sure where to take it,,,

Velvet's actions would instead go something like this:
  • Explore the Summit (Free Mansus)
  • Teach Selene (Free Social)
  • Forge's Redemption
  • DoA Sacrament x 3
  • Study x 2: Knock 5 book, Moth or Manehattan book (undecided, we could wait next turn for Moth one...); Lantern 4 artifact, Winter 4 artifact
  • Family Fleeting Opportunity
I really really want to do friends FO. maybe a conditional?


IF DOA SACRAMENT DONE IN TWO ACTIONS:

Commisioner: Shining Armor
Velvet action: friends FO

IF DOA SACRAMENT DONE IN TWO ACTIONS:

Commissioner: Cadance

@OurLadyOfWires would you allow that?
 
...Fluttercomet, Servants and Filthy... I'm missing one action for the extra Velvet AP though. not sure where to take it,,,
You'd have to drop either Biedde or Selene from the expedition. I'd be inclined to say Biedde, since both DoA and Selene are combat-capable as-is. That being said, I'm not convinced that raiding the Tall-Tale hive will actually be worth it; it's not like this is an established hive that could feasibly have a lot of resources stashed away, it's a half-built proto-hive built by a bunch of changelings who are mostly just trying to hide away and survive until the storm blows over.

Edit: Also, keep in mind that the Moth 5 book has a -50 penalty on it. Even with a max Lantern Influence, we're still only going to be rolling with an average of +30, leaving us with a 50/50 shot at actually successfully reading it in one go. If we're depending on the Knock book for the scrap, that means we'd have to skip reading the Manehattan book and lose out on getting an actually likely to be valuable expedition site. And if we burn the reroll on the Moth book, which is likely considering that the reroll is what gets us to 50/50 instead of 30/70? It's another 50/50 chance, which then runs the risk of eating into the artifact studying.

It's just not worth it and there's too much of a risk of cascading failure, imo.

Edit 2: Correction: We'd be rolling an average of +35, I forgot that Well-Read also applied to deciphering so the chances are somewhat better than listed. The risk still isn't worth the dubious reward of spending 100+ bits and 2 Name AP to raid the proto-hive.
 
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Taps lectern

Due to the mechanical uncertainty involved in reading a complex book, AND the narrative time it takes to decipher an ancient tome, you will not be permitted to attempt DoA's Sacrament unless you get the "certain and quick" scrap of Lore from her lesson.

Furthermore, no conditional plans. Plan for what you can, and IF there are overflowing actions I will open a future vote near the end of the turn.


In other news, Mayor Mare's voting is CLOSED. But i dint have a tally program here. Can someone kindly post a tally for the results?


I will run through the thread to address pings shortly. Good day to us all.
 
Vote Tally : Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience | Page 242 | Questionable Questing [Posts: 7239-7497]
##### NetTally 5.0.6

Task: 【NONE】
— Voters: 29

[X] There will always be more ponies. The earth pony city of Ponyville will be the beating heart that will keep Equestria moving.
No. of Votes: 21

[X] Equestria is changing. Evolving. Growing, even. Why not make Ponyville the poster foal of this change?
No. of Votes: 13

[X] Equestria must grow to satisfy the needs of a growing Equestria, and Ponyville will provide.
No. of Votes: 3

[X] Break the ground, plant the foundations, call the merchants. It is time for Ponyville to feel the kiss of commerce.
No. of Votes: 2

[X] Leash Filthy Rich (gain one follower action)
-[X] Three extra Velvet actions! (Costs 9 follower actions)
-[X][DETECTIVES] (FOLLOW UP) There are still changelings out there. Hunt them. Look for them, and for the ponies who colluded with them. (One of the chief expectations of the Bureau. Avert a future Catastrophe)
-[X][CONSTABLES] (FOLLOW UP) Everypony heard what happened to your previous prisoner. Nopony wants to sit around and wait for what happens next. Time to raid the mountain of Tall Tale.
-[X][COMMISSIONER] [FLEETING OPPORTUNITY] Princess Cadance is in Canterlot. You are in Canterlot. Oh, and you nearly died, just a few weeks ago. Use your free time here to meet her.
-[X][JADE] Research "A Memory of Light" (Current progress 0/100, uses Learning and LANTERN)
-[X][BALDOMARE] Channel an Influence in Secret Histories
-[X][MAREINETTE] You need her to talk to Spoiled Rich
-[X][AXE] Ask for a Knock lesson.
-[X][BIEDDE] Ask for an Edge Influence.
-[X] You would like for somepony to search for books…
--[X] In Ponyville, and its… great assortments of libraries? (HEART, FORGE)
-[X] You would like somepony to help you with a small ritual. Edge Aotl × 1
No. of Votes: 1





Total No. of Voters: 29
 
@OurLadyOfWires Does the Selene from unlock her lores immediately, for use this turn? Or is it also a thing that does get implemented until end of turn?

( @Pittauro seems like you're planning with them unlocked immediately)
right, my bad.
You'd have to drop either Biedde or Selene from the expedition. I'd be inclined to say Biedde, since both DoA and Selene are combat-capable as-is. That being said, I'm not convinced that raiding the Tall-Tale hive will actually be worth it; it's not like this is an established hive that could feasibly have a lot of resources stashed away, it's a half-built proto-hive built by a bunch of changelings who are mostly just trying to hide away and survive until the storm blows over.

Edit: Also, keep in mind that the Moth 5 book has a -50 penalty on it. Even with a max Lantern Influence, we're still only going to be rolling with an average of +30, leaving us with a 50/50 shot at actually successfully reading it in one go. If we're depending on the Knock book for the scrap, that means we'd have to skip reading the Manehattan book and lose out on getting an actually likely to be valuable expedition site. And if we burn the reroll on the Moth book, which is likely considering that the reroll is what gets us to 50/50 instead of 30/70? It's another 50/50 chance, which then runs the risk of eating into the artifact studying.

It's just not worth it and there's too much of a risk of cascading failure, imo.

Edit 2: Correction: We'd be rolling an average of +35, I forgot that Well-Read also applied to deciphering so the chances are somewhat better than listed. The risk still isn't worth the dubious reward of spending 100+ bits and 2 Name AP to raid the proto-hive.
good point on Tall Tale I suppose.

Did you count the SH artifact bonus to research?

In any case yeah, I suppose Tall Tale is not worth it.

Still, maybe we should have Axe search for a summoning location like Baldomare did (she'd have +30, maybe she can also use the SH Artifact to help) instead while using the Knock book?

This would allow us to summon Mares in the Light next turn, which with Lantern and Edge Artifacts we could have multiple followers do with fairly good chances of success.

As a reminder. 2 Mares are enough to satisfy Baldomare's requirements for the Lantern Sacrament, and I'd prefer giving them that compared to Axe, as Axe is more valuable and I don't want to risk her.

We'd also FINALLY find out the full trait list of that summon.

Taps lectern

Due to the mechanical uncertainty involved in reading a complex book, AND the narrative time it takes to decipher an ancient tome, you will not be permitted to attempt DoA's Sacrament unless you get the "certain and quick" scrap of Lore from her lesson.

Furthermore, no conditional plans. Plan for what you can, and IF there are overflowing actions I will open a future vote near the end of the turn.


In other news, Mayor Mare's voting is CLOSED. But i dint have a tally program here. Can someone kindly post a tally for the results?


I will run through the thread to address pings shortly. Good day to us all.
ok, so no conditionals (meany!) and no book scrap (though really, with three rolls on it it's nearly certain if we do it as first book, so I kinda disagree with you on how you're treating this).

That said, @OurLadyOfWires what about having Baldomare or other followers research Artifacts for us, like we asked before?

If we could have Jade do that, for example, it might be better than Memory of Light, considering we're so close to Glory Ending and we need artifacts researched for bonuses on expeditions anyway.
 
Only ponies can be used for Sacrament sacrifices. This has not changed since the last time you brought it up.
Read the changlings MO is to have captured a number of ponies to slowly feed on, so if we want a supply of ponies hitting the changlings ahead of the bureau is a source of ponies to sack for sacraments.

That would give us Mareinnette's friendship with her Grail Sacrament. And we could also get Lantern Sacrament if we get a influence. So their a good reason to attack the changlings ahead of the bureau but it the only reason I see to do so.
 
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Read the changlings MO is to have captured a number of ponies to slowly feed on, so if we want a supply of ponies hitting the changlings ahead of the bureau is a source of ponies to sack for sacraments.

That would give us Mareinnette's friendship quarantined. And we could also get Lantern if we get a influence.
that's... actually a good point.

Of course using those poor prisoners for that is undeniably evil. It's basically what the Master did to Twilight, and we basically betrayed him over that (though mostly because he did it to what we thought of as a friend and useful potential follower)
 
Read the changlings MO is to have captured a number of ponies to slowly feed on, so if we want a supply of ponies hitting the changlings ahead of the bureau is a source of ponies to sack for sacraments.

That would give us Mareinnette's friendship with her Grail Sacrament. And we could also get Lantern Sacrament if we get a influence. So their a good reason to attack the changlings ahead of the bureau but it the only reason I see to do so.
Even if I'd agree to using changeling victims for those (which, HELL NO), you're putting the cart before the horse here.

We're not ready to do a Lantern Sacrament, for one. We're especially not ready to do a Grail Sacrament. And we don't have a prison.

(also we have a nonlethal Lantern Sacrament option anyway, so it really doesn't matter for it)
 
@OurLadyOfWires Last turn iirc you mentioned there wasn't much of a difference between Mareinette socialing one Rich vs both. Is that still true this turn?

(…I really want to see her do couples therapy :V)
Couple's therapy sounds fun. But unfortunately, this is a big "try and find out".

On the one hand, Name of Grail. On the other, you don't need a lot of effort to socialize a pony who wasn't even in your contacts list, like Spoiled Rich, so that was a very low bar.

You call, as always.

@OurLadyOfWires Since you've given our followers the ability to perform an AOTL on our behalf, can we have them boost another follower, like Jade perhaps? To clear up whether this is actually an issue or not.
No.

But for purely mechanical reasons.

Your followers only have one action per turn. On average, your followers roll one or less dice per turn. Having one follower boost the other is too much micromanaging, for a bonus that is too marginal for me to think it's worth it.
Maybe if we had a "wider" build with more followers, I'd finnagle a mechanic to accommodate this. But as it stands, we have most of our eggs on the Velvet basket, so I won't torture us with sub-plans of "follower X boosts follower Y".

@OurLadyOfWires IMPORTANT, CAN we have confidants (probably Jade or Baldomare seeing as they're the Lantern ones) study low level artifacts then? and how would it work?
That said, @OurLadyOfWires what about having Baldomare or other followers research Artifacts for us, like we asked before?
Not yet.

"But when?"

Not yet.

...oh, I forgot another question I had for @OurLadyOfWires

Considering that Winter Sacrament is basically an un-aimed use of EiB, does that mean it's still NOT recommended to do more than one per turn, or can we do 3 in the same turn "safely"?
I am pretty sure...

Yeah. I thought I had that noted in a threadmark, but maybe it was a question we just answered in the old site.

Yes, you can do three in the same turn.

@OurLadyOfWires Did Jade visit us this month? I'm now a bit worried about her.
Jade? You mean your chronically depressed best friend who was neither seen, mentioned, or even thought about during the entirety of the last turn? That Jade?

No, can't say she visited you.

But I'm glad someone remembered her! I mean, Velvet herself was healing from brain damage, so I am sure she has an excuse. But still, I'm glad someone in the thread remembered her as well.

:V

(No, you have not seen Jade.)

Surely "reassure your family" would fold Steppes in, he is family, no? @OurLadyOfWires?
No.

The term-of-art "Family" will almost always refer to the "You either lose the quest of give me another RA if any of them dies" group of ponies. Refer to your Contacts threadmark for the precise list.

Steppes is not in that category.

We should make sure to give them the almighty Heartifact, it'll speed up Comet's recovery. And besides, a brave wounded warrior, a devoted nurse, a secluded cottage...

[HEART!]
Don't you mean [GRAIL]!? :V

@OurLadyOfWires would you allow that?
Haven't read this or any other specific plan in detail.

But if you are asking if I'd allow conditionals, the answer is no.

@OurLadyOfWires Does the Selene from unlock her lores immediately, for use this turn? Or is it also a thing that does get implemented until end of turn?
Selene training only takes effect, mechanically, at the end of the turn.

Vote Tally : Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience | Page 242 | Questionable Questing [Posts: 7239-7497]
##### NetTally 5.0.6

Task: 【NONE】
— Voters: 29

[X] There will always be more ponies. The earth pony city of Ponyville will be the beating heart that will keep Equestria moving.
No. of Votes: 21

[X] Equestria is changing. Evolving. Growing, even. Why not make Ponyville the poster foal of this change?
No. of Votes: 13

[X] Equestria must grow to satisfy the needs of a growing Equestria, and Ponyville will provide.
No. of Votes: 3

[X] Break the ground, plant the foundations, call the merchants. It is time for Ponyville to feel the kiss of commerce.
No. of Votes: 2

[X] Leash Filthy Rich (gain one follower action)
-[X] Three extra Velvet actions! (Costs 9 follower actions)
-[X][DETECTIVES] (FOLLOW UP) There are still changelings out there. Hunt them. Look for them, and for the ponies who colluded with them. (One of the chief expectations of the Bureau. Avert a future Catastrophe)
-[X][CONSTABLES] (FOLLOW UP) Everypony heard what happened to your previous prisoner. Nopony wants to sit around and wait for what happens next. Time to raid the mountain of Tall Tale.
-[X][COMMISSIONER] [FLEETING OPPORTUNITY] Princess Cadance is in Canterlot. You are in Canterlot. Oh, and you nearly died, just a few weeks ago. Use your free time here to meet her.
-[X][JADE] Research "A Memory of Light" (Current progress 0/100, uses Learning and LANTERN)
-[X][BALDOMARE] Channel an Influence in Secret Histories
-[X][MAREINETTE] You need her to talk to Spoiled Rich
-[X][AXE] Ask for a Knock lesson.
-[X][BIEDDE] Ask for an Edge Influence.
-[X] You would like for somepony to search for books…
--[X] In Ponyville, and its… great assortments of libraries? (HEART, FORGE)
-[X] You would like somepony to help you with a small ritual. Edge Aotl × 1
No. of Votes: 1





Total No. of Voters: 29
Thank you!

Breadbasket wins.

Man, Applejack will be run out of business FAST wait, wait, don't want to cause too much Paranoia yet :V

(That is a joke, no comments on the future.)

Read the changlings MO is to have captured a number of ponies to slowly feed on, so if we want a supply of ponies hitting the changlings ahead of the bureau is a source of ponies to sack for sacraments.
Of course using those poor prisoners for that is undeniably evil. It's basically what the Master did to Twilight, and we basically betrayed him over that (though mostly because he did it to what we thought of as a friend and useful potential follower)
Just for the record, doing that would not be "illegal". Velvet can still steal, murder, and whatever else is necessary to reach her objectives. "Illegal" actions are only those that would hurt her family, really.

The only problem I predict for this course of action is, basically, getting the thread to vote for it. Because, although not illegal from the mechanic perspective, I would have no compunctions with... "adapting" Velvet's character, narratively, to do that.



This seems to be all. Sorry if the answers sound short, am currently busy. See you all later.
 
Jade? You mean your chronically depressed best friend who was neither seen, mentioned, or even thought about during the entirety of the last turn? That Jade?

No, can't say she visited you.

But I'm glad someone remembered her! I mean, Velvet herself was healing from brain damage, so I am sure she has an excuse. But still, I'm glad someone in the thread remembered her as well.

:V

(No, you have not seen Jade.)
Wait, really? Not even to report on the RotT stuff?

Huh.

Hmm.

Okay well I am now concerned about Jade specifically. So maybe friend FO has moved up the priority list.

Question is: drop FR or drop Selene? Inclined to drop FR since the whole Daybreaker thing, but yeah.
 
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We're not ready to do a Lantern Sacrament, for one. We're especially not ready to do a Grail Sacrament. And we don't have a prison.

(also we have a nonlethal Lantern Sacrament option anyway, so it really doesn't matter for it)
lantern is unfortunately not on the table, Grail and Mareinette's friendship is. Just do the sacrament at the changeling hive.

And baldamre's lantern sacrament sucks, Velvet is the head of a major part of goverment she can have other people translate and transcribe things once the bureau starts learning the lores properly, rendering it completely useless.
 
Wait, really? Not even to report on the RotT stuff?
Hehe.
So easy to forget about the quiet ones, innit?
At your mother's behest, Jade Whistle performed a ritual to scry the mare who attacked your family. She reduced the information she learned into writing, in the form of a letter she gave you a few hours before you departed.
But don't worry, I'm sure she will be fine. She has been improving.
Right?
She probably didn't notice you waving her hoof. Which is fine. You like it when she notices you, but there's a part of your head that still think you don't really deserve it.
Right?
 
Sorry, did you forget the big ol' INSUFFICIENT GRAIL SCRAPS sign underneath the Sacrament option during Mareinette's renewal? Because I haven't.
Look again their is no scrap requirement we go straight to grail 5 if we take Mareinette sacrament. Getting us both Mareinette friendships and a pretty big boost to our social capabilities. Mareinette fronts the scraps to for us to take her sacrament

Mareinette's Invitation: "[Grail]!" (There are bounties and resources available in the bodies of every pony. But first, one must develop the appropriate organs to harvest them. She will teach you.)
-Pick a Prisoner, or a character you have a "Minion-level" relationship with, and perform an action dedicated to "An invitation to dinner".
-"An invitation to dinner" cannot fail, but it will destroy your selected contact/prisoner without leaving a corpse.
 
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Look again their is no scrap requirement we go straight to grail 5 if we take Mareinette sacrament. Getting us both Mareinette friendships and a pretty big boost to our social capabilities.
That's literally not how Sacraments work even with the options we can do early. You need the Sacrament AND the scraps to go to Level 5.

Also:
[-] Accept her "Invitation to Dinner"
-"Tie the knot. Make a friend."
-This option will always be available, and will never increase in price.
-This is Mareinette's Grail Sacrament.
-WRITE IN who will be consumed (must be a minion or a prisoner)
-INSUFFICIENT GRAIL SCRAPS
 
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...

Wait...

No, no. That was a mistake from me.

Alright, to make it very clear, this was my fault. Both Greymere and Earth Destroyer quoted relevant threadmarks, and I was the one who messed up. Neither of them could have known which inconsistency was right.

For future reference, Mareinette's Grail Sacrament does not need you to be at 4/4 Grail scraps. That was incorrectly stated on her rebinding options, and I will correct it now.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

EDIT:

However, to make another rule clear, you only reach Lore level 5 when you have the Sacrament AND the scraps.

So, if you perform Mareinette's Sacrament, you will be sitting at "Sacrament 1/1, Scraps 2/4" (or whatever) until you accumulate enough scraps to reach Level 5.

Reaching level 5 in a lore needs BOTH to be done. And you will "sit" on one of them until you fulfill the other, just like how you are currently "sitting" on your SH scraps while you wait for you to complete your "0/1 Sacrament".
 
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Putting together a Lightcatcher V2 atm, because Jade being in a bad place rn is reason enough for me to eject FR for the Friends FO, which necessitates the current Lightcatcher's commissioner action to be changed.

My question is: keep Jade on Memory of Light, or give her a break to hopefully compound the stress relief?
 
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Just do the sacrament at the changeling hive.
I dont think that we can do it like that.

@OurLadyOfWires ?
My question is: keep Jade of Memory or Light, or give her a break to hopefully compound the stress relief?
I would choose the latter, but what would Jade want? Relax and do "nothing" after Velvet was attacked, even if that's what Velvet wants, or work on something, that i think she was interested, for her?
 
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Good morning folks.
It is the first Monday of December, so I will be a little busy. But!

My question is: keep Jade on Memory of Light, or give her a break to hopefully compound the stress relief?
Memory of Light is something she herself found. Her proving to herself she did something good is good. And, considering how outstanding she did on that scry, Friend FO is on my list.

Beyond that, working on tweaking the draft plan I set up, cause I still feel getting Baldomare's Sacrament to bring our Secret History up is one of the best options we can do for now.
 
We're not ready to do a Lantern Sacrament, for one. We're especially not ready to do a Grail Sacrament. And we don't have a prison.
to be fair we're not THAT far off from Lantern Sacrament.

At current rate we can probably do it on turn 23.

turn 21: lantern artifact (1 scrap), influence (2 scraps).
Turn 22: get the last scrap, potentially from Baldomare lesson.

I'm still obviously in favor of Baldomare's though. Easier, less morally questionable... I'm fine with taking Winter Sacrament and Moth Sacrament because they're our ONLY viable options for those sacraments, and Velvet CAN justify the need for power to herself.

but what does it say about her if she's resorting to the most evil option when an alternative exists?!

Not yet.

"But when?"

Not yet.
😭 😭 😭

I am pretty sure...

Yeah. I thought I had that noted in a threadmark, but maybe it was a question we just answered in the old site.

Yes, you can do three in the same turn.
I remember us assuming we could do all 3 at once, but I don't remember it ever being explicitly confirmed, so I thought it better to ask.

Jade? You mean your chronically depressed best friend who was neither seen, mentioned, or even thought about during the entirety of the last turn? That Jade?

No, can't say she visited you.

But I'm glad someone remembered her! I mean, Velvet herself was healing from brain damage, so I am sure she has an excuse. But still, I'm glad someone in the thread remembered her as well.

:V

(No, you have not seen Jade.)
I KNEW IT!

I KNEW YOU WERE PREPARING A TRAP!


I'm glad to have caught it in time, Friends FO definitely shot up in priority right now.

As I mentioned, Jade is the most "at-risk" of our friends.

Cadance is probably the most valuable to talk to, Rarity and Fluttershy are fine enough (we talked to them after all), and we met Cherilee, Mayor Mare... and the Riches.

But Jade? she's at risk. And it would just be RUDE to ignore her again, I think, when we KNOW what she's like.

Thank you!

Breadbasket wins.

Man, Applejack will be run out of business FAST wait, wait, don't want to cause too much Paranoia yet :V

(That is a joke, no comments on the future.)
eh, she can expand operations. Maybe call more of her extended family to come and help.

I could see us turning her into a confidant by helping her modernize the farm some, though.

I mean, take the Flim Flam Brothers Cider Machine. Objectively speaking it made good cider, and the main reason Applejack refused it is that they were asking for too much money.

WE (maybe through our brother and family) could get them better terms. I really think we should consider it.

Maybe even make it a joint action: Velvet, Filthy, and our brother Pride, making a new business deal that benefits everyone involved...

...uh, if we can fit an action for it in the next 2 or 3 turns I'd like to do it, though we'll probably be too busy for it.

Maybe if the quest is not over after ALL IN we can consider it.

Just for the record, doing that would not be "illegal". Velvet can still steal, murder, and whatever else is necessary to reach her objectives. "Illegal" actions are only those that would hurt her family, really.

The only problem I predict for this course of action is, basically, getting the thread to vote for it. Because, although not illegal from the mechanic perspective, I would have no compunctions with... "adapting" Velvet's character, narratively, to do that.



This seems to be all. Sorry if the answers sound short, am currently busy. See you all later.
That was exactly my point.

A Velvet that goes for Moth with Spoiled Rich is basically saying "I'm not above making life worse for a bad pony for the power I need".

A Velvet that goes for Winter can rationalize it as "3 random deaths nobody will ever know were not natural, for the power I need to save the world" and so on.

But using sacrifices with little to no need, when we have alternatives? Then it can't be no longer rationalized as "I had to" but instead it becomes an "I wanted to".

Velvet once refused to sacrifice a fellow cultist and came up with the Risen idea.

Velvet has thus far used Reagents, at decent costs to her funds, to avoid the need for prisoners.

Velvet has an alternative to Lantern touch-read thanks to a mostly friendly Baldomare.

It's not a good sign to me if we go for that. I'm as against Velvet prisoner sacrifice (unless we literally get a criminal prisoner for basically free) as I'd be against preparing Ash Ghouls.

Wait, really? Not even to report on the RotT stuff?

Huh.

Hmm.

Okay well I am now concerned about Jade specifically. So maybe friend FO has moved up the priority list.

Question is: drop FR or drop Selene? Inclined to drop FR since the whole Daybreaker thing, but yeah.

mh... I think she gave us a letter? Give me a sec...

checked, there's a few mentions of her delivering a report, but nothing about HER personally.

Velvet basically only thought about her ONCE, when Applejack visited, in a "If it was Jade PonPon would know to let her in without asking".


so yeah, I think we should go for it.

I was already kind of considering dropping FR, so I suppose I'm for that. We can do it first thing next turn, maybe before Edge Sacrament.

I had another thought though.

Should we go for 4 Axe Sacrament actions, just in case? If we finish early Bird already said he'll give us an extra vote, so maybe we should just make triple sure about Axe's Sacrament by adding another action.

And baldamre's lantern sacrament sucks, Velvet is the head of a major part of goverment she can have other people translate and transcribe things once the bureau starts learning the lores properly, rendering it completely useless.
1) I doubt she can
2) We don't know for sure what the Sacrament does.
3) The Bureau is a police organization, we don't really have scholars knowing lost languages in our employee. And some of the CS languages are quite literally unknown to modern people. We at least partly cheats thanks to our Lantern Touch, Narratively speaking.

Hehe.
So easy to forget about the quiet ones, innit?
I DIDN'T!

Putting together a Lightcatcher V2 atm, because Jade being in a bad place rn is reason enough for me to eject FR for the Friends FO, which necessitates the current Lightcatcher's commissioner action to be changed.

My question is: keep Jade on Memory of Light, or give her a break to hopefully compound the stress relief?
I think if we're doing Friends FO then it's fine to let her work on Memory of Light.

Indeed, she'd probably enjoy feeling like she's helping, and this is something important that only she can do.

and I'm really hoping we get something useful out of it, like a way to have Selene affect Celestia somehow for example.

More work could even distract her from bad thoughts... but it's important we do the FO first!


Should we consider NOT doing artifact studying and Lantern Influence this turn to free an action though?

We could do that next turn instead, and this way we free Baldomare.

I'd have her scry for Neighnia I think. Windigoes are problematic, but Neighnia is an unbound Name of unknown goals. I consider her a higher tier priority, especially because the Bureau might be able to deal with the Jars in its actions, as long as Velvet is involved.
 
My question is: keep Jade on Memory of Light, or give her a break to hopefully compound the stress relief?
Keep her on it, please.🥺

But for a real reason, she wants to help, we can check on her with the FO and she also could benefit from feeling useful by doing an action she can succeed at.
 
Should we consider NOT doing artifact studying and Lantern Influence this turn to free an action though?

We could do that next turn instead, and this way we free Baldomare.
Considering Bird nay'd the DoA Sacrament unless we take the quick-and-guaranteed scrap from DoA, I suspect we'd run into a similar issue next turn with our Moth Sacrament. Which isn't necessarily (as) urgent, but it is something to keep in mind. Also it's better to do Influence-boosted studying this turn if we want to actually try and get our SH Sacrament soon instead of letting it languish.
 
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Given the information that has been provided and the priorities people have expressed, updated draft plan.


-[] Draft Plan: Both ends of the Candle
-[] (Grail-Leash) Filthy Rich
-[] (Baldomare-Gift) Edge 6 book
-[] [DETECTIVES] (FOLLOW UP) There are still changelings out there. Hunt them. Look for them, and for the ponies who colluded with them. (One of the chief expectations of the Bureau. Avert a future Catastrophe)
-[] [CONSTABLES] (FOLLOW UP) Your detectives have given you a very long list, of ponies and places involved in the attempt against your life. Round them up and put them all in jail, before this trail goes cold
-[] [COMMISSIONER] The Lunar Bureau is not the only recently-minted institution in Equestria. Try to contact the others.
--[] Eclipse(?), and Midday Dew.
-[] [JADE] Research "A Memory of Light" (Current progress 0/100, uses Learning and LANTERN)
-[] [BALDOMARE] Beyond the Map's Edge Expedition
-[] [MAREINETTE] Speak with Spoiled Rich
-[] [AXE] Ask for a Knock lesson.
-[] [SELENE] Soothe the night. (Her Winter realization. Unknown effects, if any.)
-[] You need to learn more about this. Send a pony to better scout Beneath Canterlot Pt3
-[] Search for and destroy any jarred Windigos still in Manehattan)
-[] Three extra Velvet actions! (Costs 9 follower actions)
-[] [EXTRA] Lend Heart Artifact to Comet


The draft Plan I have for Velvets turn looks like this.

3 Actions on Axe's Sacrament
1 Action on Baldomare's Sacrament (Secret Histories)
1 Action on Luna Training
1 Action on Fleeting Opportunity (Friends)
1 Action on Forge's Redemption after some bits on Forge Reagents
1 Free social Action on Fleeting Opportunity Family


As much as I want to have a Heart lesson to get towards figuring out the Heart Sacraments, people feel Spoiled is a better path towards Moth Sacrament, and I can't disagree right now. We will need a turn or at least two actions sometime soon for some books and artifacts reading, because we need that Moth scrap, and it's hard to snag now. But, I would prefer we have a good Lantern influence when we do that.

Past that. The search beneath Canterlot scouting and the search for the wendigo jars to pop them are the most flexible actions. I just can't figure what best to do with those two actions.
 
I think we should have the Bureau go after the Gardeners instead of Tall Tale just to push back her mass executing our changeling prisoners while telling Daybreaker that this is wonderfully therapeutic.

I am against doing two Sacraments of unknown danger in a turn, as a rule imposed by our squishy two wound corpus. Which the Mirror and Map's Edge definitely are, one because I don't exactly have faith in Axe's risk assessment and the other because it is explicitly dangerous. And if we want to find the thing to pop off Axe's Chains, we will need a boost to searching, which means an SH Influence. Shit was warded enough to make Baldomare's scrying of it a little screwy. Which puts those wards at just a little under Discord-Tier.
 
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-[] You need to learn more about this. Send a pony to better scout Beneath Canterlot Pt3
-[] Search for and destroy any jarred Windigos still in Manehattan)
...wouldn't this end up sending Rarity to go scout BtRC...? I can't really imagine she'd be very good at it.
 
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