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

[Bakkasama]

I mean... I am also voting to increase the Buraeu's respect, but I am doing it becauseI want Velvet to look cool in-universe. The issue with being part of a secret cabal that knows the truth about the world and having secret super powers is that nopony but our family and closest friends know about it.

 

[Venerable Ro]

Even if not that way, we NEED a way to deal with low level artifact study. Otherwise they'll just gain dust, we can't afford using one full action for two lvl 1 artifacts with everything else we need to do.

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Sounds like you're saying we need a solid supporting organization to take care of the simple basics so that Velvet can focus on pursuing Glory.

Not at all subtle hinting nudge...

 

[Pittauro]

I mean... I am also voting to increase the Buraeu's respect, but I am doing it becauseI want Velvet to look cool in-universe. The issue with being part of a secret cabal that knows the truth about the world and having secret super powers is that nopony but our family and closest friends know about it.

Click to shrink...

what fun is there in being a supercompetent (not-)evil overlord if you can never brag about it and break a few of the (not-)evil overlord list's rule?!

Sounds like you're saying we need a solid supporting organization to take care of the simple basics so that Velvet can focus on pursuing Glory.

Not at all subtle hinting nudge...

Click to shrink...

Old Cult was NOT capable of doing that. Jade is not capable of doing that.

If we could have the Bureau eventually do that, then the obvious question is why can't Jade or Baldomare?

Jade is after all about as good as Velvet with Lantern and understanding things. Baldomare is BETTER. so sure, they wouldn't be able to give us the scrap from the research, but understanding what artifacts do should not be beyond their abilities

 

[Pittauro]

Spoiler: Tally Results

Vote Tally : Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience | Page 233 | Questionable Questing [Posts: 7102-7139]
##### NetTally 5.0.6

Task: 【NONE】
— Voters: 23

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have him work for his misdeeds (gain FIVE "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)
No. of Votes: 15

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Balanced Rewards
[X] Anjaxis
[X] Bakkasama
[X] DelightedOne
[X] Greymere
[X] LieutenantSpirit
[X] Limabot
[X] Maer
[X] MisRAR1
[X] Mr. K
[X] Nevermort
[X] Portec
[X] Potdl
[X] Rafuki22
[X] Sintonir
[X] Steady Gaze

[X] Plan Morals and Measures
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a few favors (gain TWO "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Equestria will be better off without him in power (gain a reasonable amount of respect from the Bureau)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)
No. of Votes: 6

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Morals and Measures
[X] Arrkhon
[X] BritBiscuit
[X] Greymere
[X] Mr. K
[X] Portec
[X] Venerable Ro

[X] Plan: Much Respect
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Equestria will be better off without him in power (gain a reasonable amount of respect from the Bureau)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)
No. of Votes: 6

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Much Respect
[X] BritBiscuit
[X] Greymere
[X] Maer
[X] Mr. K
[X] Steady Gaze
[X] Venerable Ro

[X] Plan: Most Value for the options
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have him work for his misdeeds (gain FIVE "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
No. of Votes: 5

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Most Value for the options
[X] Earth-Destroyer
[X] Rafuki22
[X] Shaper47
[X] Sintonir
[X] Zxzx24

[X] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a few favors (gain TWO "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)
No. of Votes: 5

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau
[X] Arrkhon
[X] des-pair-2
[X] Maer
[X] Portec
[X] Rafuki22

[X] Plan: Marinette in the Middle
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)
No. of Votes: 4

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Marinette in the Middle
[X] Arrkhon
[X] Limabot
[X] Rafuki22
[X] Steady Gaze

[X] Plan: Mareinette
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Mareinette
[X] Arrkhon
[X] Shaper47

[X] Plan: Servant, Bureau, Mareinette
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a few favors (gain TWO "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Equestria will be better off without him in power (gain a reasonable amount of respect from the Bureau)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Servant, Bureau, Mareinette
[X] des-pair-2
[X] Sintonir

[X] Plan: 700 bits for Jade and Selene friendship adventure
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Remind him that nothing is free (gain 200 bits)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Wring him (gain 400 bits)
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: 700 bits for Jade and Selene friendship adventure
[X] Shaper47

[X] Plan: Books are expensive
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have him work for his misdeeds (gain FIVE "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Wring him (gain 400 bits)
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Books are expensive
[X] Shaper47

[X] Plan: Mareinette but we still jail the traitor
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

[◈] Plan: Mareinette but we still jail the traitor
[X] Arrkhon

[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have him work for his misdeeds (gain FIVE "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

[X] spiderhellian

---

Total No. of Voters: 23

 

[Pittauro]

[X] Plan: Most Value for the options

[X] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau


There's multiple plans I'm fine with, but I kinda like these two the most right now.

Again, the MANDATORY thing is to get AT LEAST one "action" option, otherwise next turn we'll have problems doing everything we want to.

Beyond that there's some discretionary room between Bits, Bureau and Mareinette depending on personal preferences.

 

[Rafuki22]

stuff

Click to shrink...

Is it okay to double post?

 

[spiderhellian]

Thanks for the tally!

[X] Plan: Most Value for the options
[X] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau
[X] Plan: Mareinette

I'm a fan of these. And will toss a vote Mareinette's way because I think it would be fun

If we do get 5 servant actions, I wonder if we should go for 3 cover your bases... mostly I just don't have an idea for a Servant/Fluttercomet aciton. I guess "look for Heart books" works, or maybe we'll need Comet on one last Outsider search.

 

[Sveta08]

Ah! Thanks for the tally.
Let's see... Oh look! Both of my drafts. Have my two votes.

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards

[X] Plan: Most Value for the options


Probably not needed, but hey. I like confidence.

 

[jelloloaf]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards
I think all the salient mechanical points have already been touched upon, but I like the idea of giving the traitor to the Bureau narratively, and I really just do not want anything to do with Mareinette. Yes, she wants to be friends, but I still don't trust her.

 

[Pittauro]

Is it okay to double post?

Click to shrink...

I think they're less strict on QQ than on SV and SB.

that said I don't think it's a big deal, and I wanted the vote and the tally to be on different posts as the tally doesn't include my vote.

Thanks for the tally!

[X] Plan: Most Value for the options
[X] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau
[X] Plan: Mareinette

I'm a fan of these. And will toss a vote Mareinette's way because I think it would be fun

If we do get 5 servant actions, I wonder if we should go for 3 cover your bases... mostly I just don't have an idea for a Servant/Fluttercomet aciton. I guess "look for Heart books" works, or maybe we'll need Comet on one last Outsider search.

Click to shrink...

If we do 5 servant actions we probably should do 3 Velvet APs, yes.

house servant, fluttercomet, add another two taken from Biedde and Selene (as they have the least stuff to do).

 

[Bakkasama]

If we do 5 servant actions we probably should do 3 Velvet APs, yes.

house servant, fluttercomet, add another two taken from Biedde and Selene (as they have the least stuff to do).

Click to shrink...

We could take servant actions from the merchant instead of bits. So 7 blackmail AP, + our servants + Fluttercomet (it should be Cometshy since its shorter) makes 3 Velvet AP.

 

[Pittauro]

We could take servant actions from the merchant instead of bits. So 7 blackmail AP, + our servants + Fluttercomet (it should be Cometshy since its shorter) makes 3 Velvet AP.

Click to shrink...

we could. I think we'll likely have leftover follower actions though.

Selene will be done with her training, and we don't have anything urgent to make her do... I suppose we could ask her to search for Windy in the Dream Realm? OR we could have her try to recruit Beyond Reproach for us, maybe. Or she could try to help Twilight with her nightmares, but that might be a bad idea right now.

We also might not have anything for Biedde to do. We're at 4/4 on Edge scraps, so lesson is out. I suppose we MIGHT have him lead an expedition, but we don't have the bits for Canterlot Part 3 so it would have to be Tall Tale.

...uh, that's not a bad idea actually.

Biedde, Axe and Baldomare to Tall Tale? 240 bits, we should have them and we'd likely get most of them back.

320 if we also send Selene Or we could replace Axe with Mareinette, grail is likely to help a lot in a village.

 

[Waela]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards
[X] Plan: Most Value for the options

 

[spiderhellian]

Biedde, Axe and Baldomare to Tall Tale? 240 bits, we should have them and we'd likely get most of them back.

Click to shrink...

Medium expedition so we can't send extra people without using it as their action. And need at least the Knock lesson, probably the SH influence.

We could send him solo? See what he can get done? Seems a little cocky, but he is the Name of Edge…

Or him and Mareinette, I guess?

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

The real question is do we push for all 4 in the lores and do a single family action, or do we upgrade Luna next turn immediately.

 

[Rafuki22]

The real question is do we push for all 4 in the lords and do a single family action, or do we upgrade Luna next turn immediately.

Click to shrink...

Inmediately, it would take too many turns and AP to raise Velvet Heart Lore to 4 and do the family training.

 

[spiderhellian]

Plus Luna level 4 is so much strength (rerolls, +5 general, who knows what narrative possibilities).

 

[DelightedOne]

Medium expedition so we can't send extra people without using it as their action. And need at least the Knock lesson, probably the SH influence.

We could send him solo? See what he can get done? Seems a little cocky, but he is the Name of Edge…

Or him and Mareinette, I guess?

Click to shrink...

Any particular reason why we can't just use the Bureau for Tall Tale? Velvet could just go with them to take care of anything lore related the changelings might have.

-[] [COMMISSIONER] Get your hoofs dirty. (Participate in the "Investigators" actions. And join the "Constables" in a raid/Expedition, if they are ordered to do a raid/Expedition)

Click to shrink...

I'm pretty sure that also means Velvet won't spend her personal AP(or that of her followers) in this case.

The real question is do we push for all 4 in the lords and do a single family action, or do we upgrade Luna next turn immediately.

Click to shrink...

It will take 3 turns at best to get to All-4, better get Selene to her most powerful possible self as soon as we can.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Inmediately, it would take too many turns and AP to raise Velvet Heart Lore to 4 and do the family training.

Click to shrink...

Not really we need 4 scraps and have access to 2 from Mareinette using heart influence. So we just need to find 2 more we could easily get those by having Boldamare search for books.

 

[spiderhellian]

Any particular reason why we can't just use the Bureau for Tall Tale? Velvet could just go with them to take care of anything lore related the changelings might have.

Click to shrink...

Mostly to get loot! And perhaps to soften them up.

Anything we find with the Bureau is evidence that gets treated as such, not something we can easily use for ourselves.

Not really we need 4 scraps and have access to 2 from Mareinette using heart influence. So we just need to find 2 more we could easily get those by having Boldamare search for books.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, but we want Baldomare influences if we want a solid chance at SH sacrament success, and it might help with Knock sacrament too…

I guess we could try a CoI with a decent reagent (not using the reroll, probably) but we want a Forge reagent next turn.

 

[Greymere]

Plus Luna level 4 is so much strength (rerolls, +5 general, who knows what narrative possibilities).

Click to shrink...

Honestly, Luna's innate +30 once she's fully trained and Jade's inability to use her old house as a ritual site is one of the biggest reasons I want to try and study the Lantern 4 artifact in the next turn or two. +70 on the Lantern roll is nothing to sneeze at, even without a reroll, and she'd autosucceed on the SH check w/ our SH3 book (while Jade still runs a risk of failing on this one).

Yeah, but we want Baldomare influences if we want a solid chance at SH sacrament success, and it might help with Knock sacrament too…

Click to shrink...

Tbh I'm leaning more toward taking Baldomare's invitation so we can just get it done already. I would rather have the slightly less interesting (but still very interesting) Sacrament that seems to involve alternate pasts and which, as per Word of Bird, will in some way let us explore more of the setting's history rather than delaying and dawdling for multiple turns because we can't find the time and confidence to both a) have Baldomare give us an Influence and b) take two SH vision actions in the same turn.

 

[spiderhellian]

Honestly, Luna's innate +30 once she's fully trained and Jade's inability to use her old house as a ritual site is one of the biggest reasons I want to try and study the Lantern 4 artifact in the next turn or two. +70 on the Lantern roll is nothing to sneeze at, even without a reroll, and she'd autosucceed on the SH check w/ our SH3 book (while Jade still runs a risk of failing on this one).

Click to shrink...

Imagine our followers doing any ritual other than scrying Fair, Lantern roll is basically with the artefact.

Would love to study some artefacts ASAP.

to both a) have Baldomare give us an Influence and b) take two SH vision actions in the same turn

Click to shrink...

Yeah… getting an influence for two turns is one reason it might be worth trying the CoI. But I don't want to see what happens when we fail a SH sacrament action. And The reroll's value makes the 2nd part hard as well.

But people seem to really want Velvet's sacrament, for valid reasons, and it's hard to see that changing.

 

[Pittauro]

Medium expedition so we can't send extra people without using it as their action. And need at least the Knock lesson, probably the SH influence.

We could send him solo? See what he can get done? Seems a little cocky, but he is the Name of Edge…

Or him and Mareinette, I guess?

Click to shrink...

Him and Mareinette might be doable actually. We COULD free Axe by studying the book potentially.

The real question is do we push for all 4 in the lores and do a single family action, or do we upgrade Luna next turn immediately.

Click to shrink...

upgrade immediately. we're at 0/4 in heart, and Selene progressing on the Daybreaker issue seems to be gated behind finishing her training, so I'd rather do that.

and even if she could proceed already, the extra +5 general bonus AND all the rerolls and +5 to lore rolls from the lvl 4s are likely to help a lot.

As of right now we COULD get 2 heart scraps from Mareinette influence, but we don't have books or artifacts to get the other 2, and I don't think we can afford the turns it would take for Mareinette to give us lessons.

Any particular reason why we can't just use the Bureau for Tall Tale? Velvet could just go with them to take care of anything lore related the changelings might have.

Click to shrink...

If we go on our own we have more freedom to do what we want. Get loot, plant evidence for the Bureau to find, and so on.

It will take 3 turns at best to get to All-4, better get Selene to her most powerful possible self as soon as we can.

Click to shrink...

We could IN THEORY make it in two turns, but it's unlikely.

We'd have to do Heart influence now, search books to study (or scry for a lvl 5 heart book, that's an option too, it would give 2 scraps), and then on turn 22 we could read a book IF We find it and get a Mareinette lesson.

I don't recommend it. Too risky and delays Selene rank up by AT LEAST 2 turns, possibly 3.

Honestly, Luna's innate +30 once she's fully trained and Jade's inability to use her old house as a ritual site is one of the biggest reasons I want to try and study the Lantern 4 artifact in the next turn or two. +70 on the Lantern roll is nothing to sneeze at, even without a reroll, and she'd autosucceed on the SH check w/ our SH3 book (while Jade still runs a risk of failing on this one).

Click to shrink...

Generally speaking we have a LOT of artifacts, so after we study them any of our Names AND Selene (and, to a lesser extent, the mortal followers like Jade and Rarity) can ALL do pretty well as ritualists.

HIGHEST ARTIFACT PER LORE:

HEART 3
SECRET HISTORY 3
KNOCK 2
EDGE 3
LANTERN 4
MOTH 3
WINTER 4

NO FORGE OR GRAIL


RITUALS USING FORGE AND GRAIL: FORGE'S REDEMPTION (it's EXACTLY Forge and Grail). oh, and grail/force influence ritual, obviously)

EVERYTHING ELSE, we can boost with artifacts. That's pretty great!

Lantern 4 and SH 3 to Scry.

Lantern 4 and Winter 3 if we need someone dead

Moth 3 and Knock 2 if we wish someone to go mad

Edge and Heart for Incision (maybe to remove Fascinations or Dreads?)

Lantern, Knock and Edge for the Mares-in-the-Light, which are fairly easy to summon (Summoning requirements: LANTERN 80, KNOCK 60, EDGE 60) with even our worst summoner at that point having something like a 50% chance on the attempt, and our Names are probably all at 80% or above.

Tbh I'm leaning more toward taking Baldomare's invitation so we can just get it done already. I would rather have the slightly less interesting (but still very interesting) Sacrament that seems to involve alternate pasts and which, as per Word of Bird, will in some way let us explore more of the setting's history rather than delaying and dawdling for multiple turns because we can't find the time and confidence to both a) have Baldomare give us an Influence and b) take two SH vision actions in the same turn.

Click to shrink...

eh, Baldomare actions are currently near as valuable as Velvet's I think. We have lots of things to scry after all, and maybe we'll even be able to use her to study the low level artifacts...

The expedition is ALSO likely risky.

Imagine our followers doing any ritual other than scrying Fair, Lantern roll is basically with the artefact.

Click to shrink...

hey, Mareinette once did an Incision of the HEart on us!

great service, she even ate our trauma, leaving nothing behind! 10/10 would trust Mareinette again (NOT)!

---

Random thought: @OurLadyOfWires did Rarity ever consider using Call An Influence ritual to help her make better dresses? the ritual is very cheap (30 bits), she can EASILY afford it, and we can even offer Jade's house to make it.

"The calling of Influence"
-CD: Any aspect, as follows:

Desired Effect	+10	+20	+30	+40
CD	60	80	110	150

-Cost: 30 bits on simple materials.
-Duration: Until the end of the NEXT turn after it is cast, lasting a total of two turns.
-Effect: The "Desired Effect" bonus will apply to ANY Roll that involves said aspect, except on rolls related to Rituals.
-Failing this Ritual yields no maluses, bar frustration.
-This ritual may only affect the pony casting it (a pony may not cast this ritual to give an Influence to another pony)
-You may only have one Ritual-called Influence at a time. Attempting to summon a new one will cause the previous one to be dismissed.

Click to shrink...

If we bring her at Grail 4 Forge 2, she'd roll +20.

We could, POTENTIALLY, give her a reagent to boost her chances too. +20 for a cheap 20 bits, if we're not making reagents for anything else...

Has she even considered it?

 

[Greymere]

eh, Baldomare actions are currently near as valuable as Velvet's I think. We have lots of things to scry after all, and maybe we'll even be able to use her to study the low level artifacts...

The expedition is ALSO likely risky.

Click to shrink...

We'd be using up Baldomare's AP to have her channel a SH Influence for our personal SH Sacrament anyway, and I doubt it's any riskier than our personal Sacrament. Plus it's pretty unlikely that we'd fail it, and then we'd have SH5, would be able to explore the Tower, and whatever the Sacrament power is. Sure, we have things we'd want to scry, but none of it except potentially the Windigos/Neighnia is even remotely urgent, and can be handled by either Jade or Lantern artfifact-boosted Selene anyway. And as a reminder, the Tower is very likely the entrance to the House of the Moon, and there's almost certainly interesting stuff in there, considering its history of playing host to things supposedly dead (the Wheel still turns in the House of the Moon).

 

[DelightedOne]

Selene progressing on the Daybreaker issue seems to be gated behind finishing her training, so I'd rather do that.

Click to shrink...

She already finished her training or will finish it this turn, All-4 is just a bonus.

Once Selene completes her training, she will be able to reach Level 4 in all of her Lores at the same time.

Click to shrink...

 

[spiderhellian]

We COULD free Axe by studying the book potentially.

Click to shrink...

Huh, that's a thought. It basically trades a Velvet action for an Axe action, and we get extra stuff out of the Velvet action. 64% to do the book in one, basically guaranteed in two.

And then after we can make progress on the Moth book (20% to do in one, okay to not because it probably has risk of Fascination), grab the Manehattan expedition book, or study the Lantern artefact if we did it in one.

 

[Sveta08]

Huh, that's a thought. It basically trades a Velvet action for an Axe action, and we get extra stuff out of the Velvet action. 64% to do the book in one, basically guaranteed in two.

And then after we can make progress on the Moth book (20% to do in one, okay to not because it probably has risk of Fascination), grab the Manehattan expedition book, or study the Lantern artefact if we did it in one.

Click to shrink...

Hmmmmm...
Would it be guaranteed that, if we finish the book, we get both the scraps we need?
I could be convinced for that after all. It would generate a manuscript too, boosting the potential library for the future of the bureau...


...on the other hand, I like the image of Velvet working and learning Knock from Axe, then putting it to use in service to the sacrament. Feels tightly wound.

 

[spiderhellian]

Hmmmmm...
Would it be guaranteed that, if we finish the book, we get both the scraps we need?

Click to shrink...

Only need one Knock scrap! (And one Moth scrap.)

 

[Greymere]

Huh, that's a thought. It basically trades a Velvet action for an Axe action, and we get extra stuff out of the Velvet action. 64% to do the book in one, basically guaranteed in two.

And then after we can make progress on the Moth book (20% to do in one, okay to not because it probably has risk of Fascination), grab the Manehattan expedition book, or study the Lantern artefact if we did it in one.

Click to shrink...

The problem is that Velvet's AP is likely to be much more valuable than DoA's next turn. Just off the top of my head, we're likely to want to do some combination of the following: DoA's Sacrament (will probably require multiple AP), Forge's Redemption, initiating Cadance/Shining into the Lores, leveling up Selene, one or more Fleeting Opportunities regarding either the aftermath of Velvet's near-death experience or the results of the investigation. Sure, there might be room for a study action, but even then I think it would be better off being used to study the Moth book instead of the Knock book, seeing as we have a guaranteed source of a Knock scrap currently summoned but the only guaranteed source of Moth scraps is currently a pile of Ash.

 

[Shaper47]

So, access. Approved access. That means institutional cachet and a reason that we can't just let Eclipse handle everything.

Click to shrink...

It doesn't work like that.

Going far enough in the lores to outshine the Eclipse is not something we can do as it gives Celestia lantern to see us with.

And even if we did Eclipse would still be in charge of special lore area's.

It's their purview not ours.

Do you really think for example that the Eclipse could take over investigating Changelings? No, because that's the Luns Bureau purview.

Velvet has a job and she is busy doing that job. The Luna Bureau has a job and they are busy doing that job.

Why in the world would Celestia add another full time job when she already has the Eclipse?

I'm not seeing your logic here?