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

[Pittauro]

or of course the Wolf-Velvet who needs no further explanation.

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Assuming WE are not the Wolf-Velvet...

 

[Greymere]

As a reminder to those saying e.g. "we should send Selene to clear the Grave on the Hill", we don't assign specific actions to specific Confidants anymore, unless said action is one unique to the Confidant/Summon. There is no point in splitting hairs on who does action X and who does action Y, because it's literally not a factor (that we control) anymore.

Edit:

Probably unwise though. We also want to heal our scar, and there's Biedde's Sacrament too...

I'd say we should finish SH next turn, try to study book + artifact, and then the turn after we do Knock or Edge Sacrament.

Probably Knock, considering Axe would expire otherwise. MAYBE if we don't get hurt in Axe's Sacrament action we could even try Biedde in the same turn.

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Getting the Knock Sacrament is now waaaaay higher priority than the SH Sacrament. SH Sacrament can wait, Knock will take an unknown amount of actions and we need to finish it by the end of T21 if we want to keep DoA around and not have to resummon her again. Leaving it until the last minute seems... unwise, to say the least.

 

[Pittauro]

As a reminder to those saying e.g. "we should send Selene to the Grave on the Hill", we don't assign specific actions to specific Confidants anymore, unless said action is one unique to the Confidant/Summon. There is no point in splitting hairs on who does action X and who does action Y, because it's literally not a factor (that we control) anymore.

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We can semi-control it.

If we want Selene to go on an expedition, it means we're NOT using both her actions on training, for example, but we're leaving it in the "pool".

and of course we can guess who'll do what by what actions we ask of them and who's available that's not doing specific actions.

In other words... we kinda sorta still control it, just not as directly.

 

[DelightedOne]

because it's literally not a factor (that we control) anymore.

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If we give actions for every other Confidante it is, as in make sure everyone else is so busy Selene will be the only option.

 

[Greymere]

We can semi-control it.

If we want Selene to go on an expedition, it means we're NOT using both her actions on training, for example, but we're leaving it in the "pool".

and of course we can guess who'll do what by what actions we ask of them and who's available that's not doing specific actions.

In other words... we kinda sorta still control it, just not as directly.

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If we give actions for every other Confidante it is, as in make sure everyone else is so busy Selene will be the only option.

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Sure, but people are talking about it as if we're still micromanaging exactly who goes where like we used to, or at least that's how it seems to me.

 

[Pittauro]

Getting the Knock Sacrament is now waaaaay higher priority than the SH Sacrament. SH Sacrament can wait, Knock will take an unknown amount of actions and we need to finish it by the end of T21 if we want to keep DoA around and not have to resummon her again. Leaving it until the last minute seems... unwise, to say the least.

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fair enough.

best way to go about it is probably

Axe: Knock lesson
Velvet 1: heal scar
Velvet (all that's needed): Knock Sacrament.

and then we put some lower-priority actions to do if we finish the Knock Sacrament and still have actions left. probably a mix of these, in no particular order:

1)Study Lantern 4 and, if success, Knock 2 artifacts
2-3)mansus exploration (rest of Ashen Wastelands, the Malleary)

 

[spiderhellian]

I'm not happy with leaving exploring for the outsider for later. If we want to send summons or Confidants in our stead okay, but I really do not want to delay our win condition further.

 

[DelightedOne]

but I really do not want to delay our win condition further.

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Oh, that is easy to fix... just have Jade do A Memory of Light and we won't be delaying our win condition. I agree that it has been put off for too long.

 

[Sveta08]

Goodness. Seems I picked a terrible time to be busy.
But, let's see....

While the end result of it is, "Alright, so Ax's Sacrament is a plan" I would at least like to caution, or maybe put better to just say,
I would recommend not giving those Lv5 Books we got from the expedition just yet. Giving the Lv6 Journal from Grave on the hill would be... a better option I think?

If we are lucky, it might even be Illpony's journal. Wouldn't that be fitting?
Further thoughts will have to wait till later.

 

[Venerable Ro]

As a reminder to those saying e.g. "we should send Selene to clear the Grave on the Hill", we don't assign specific actions to specific Confidants anymore, unless said action is one unique to the Confidant/Summon. There is no point in splitting hairs on who does action X and who does action Y, because it's literally not a factor (that we control) anymore.

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I'm pretty sure that expedition planning is still something we do manually. Individual "hey we need people to fix up Jade's house, sort our mail, and summon an elemental spirit of sharp-Edged light" decisions get sorted automatically, but expeditions need more precise planning. For instance, sending someone with that Lantern artifact verses sending Baldomare or Jade verses making a level four Lantern reagent for the ritual we're also doing that needs Lantern, ect.

Or maybe I'm completely wrong, wouldn't be the first time.

 

[Pittauro]

I'm not happy with leaving exploring for the outsider for later. If we want to send summons or Confidants in our stead okay, but I really do not want to delay our win condition further.

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we have a lot of intriguing stuff we can do next turn... but you're right that we shouldn't ignore Outsider.

That said Axe is semi-urgent due to having two turns before expiring, so something like "Knock lesson/book + Axe Sacrament" next turn is something we probably really want to work on.

with this being now more urgent than SH, we COULD delay SH Sacrament... so how's this?

DRAFT PLAN:

BALDOMARE: Search for Outsider (1d100 + 80)

SELENE: Grave Expedition (it's supposed to be a fairly easy one) + training

RARITY: job or commission, depending on if her job is at risk. WE NEED THE BITS

JADE: scry canterlot part 3? Scry Copper or Windy?

COMET: Outsider? (give SH artifact for it?)

non zero chance that Comet + Baldomare would be enough to get the outsider.

AXE: Knock Lesson (or keys if we study the Knock book, I think we're out of them?)

Mareinette + Biedde: maybe Canterlot part 3? If we send THEM we probably don't even need to scry, really. Biedde can win any combat, Mareinette can win any social, they're really good against Edge, Heart, Grail and Moth obstacles and decent at everything else... though Axe would be best to open the warded door I imagine...)



VELVET
1) Study (Lantern 4 + Knock 2 artifacts. Potentially Knock 5 book instead)

?) Axe sacrament. As many actions as needed

IF ACTIONS LEFT UNUSED:

Mansus Exploration


I'm leaning towards delaying Memory of Light, we have too many valuable targets to scry (canterlot part 3, Copper and Windy) right now to commit her to that action line.

While the end result of it is, "Alright, so Ax's Sacrament is a plan" I would at least like to caution, or maybe put better to just say,
I would recommend not giving those Lv5 Books we got from the expedition just yet. Giving the Lv6 Journal from Grave on the hill would be... a better option I think?

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I'm fairly sure lvl 6 book is our first pick. Moth book (or maaaaaaybe Knock book) are our backup though, in case we don't have time for it, or if NEXT TIME we don't get a lvl 7 book in time.

So generally speaking I expect we'll keep at least a lvl 5 book in storage for emergencies.

 

[Shaper47]

...so, with 7 sacrifices it would be Edge 7, Winter 7, General +35 (so combat +70), and CD 170 (Martial + Winter) to not suffer Dread...

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We're are you getting the Edge 7, Winter 7 from?

Because I doubt they'd have the lore strength of an hour or heir to an hour.

 

[Greymere]

I'm pretty sure that expedition planning is still something we do manually. Individual "hey we need people to fix up Jade's house, sort our mail, and summon an elemental spirit of sharp-Edged light" decisions get sorted automatically, but expeditions need more precise planning. For instance, sending someone with that Lantern artifact verses sending Baldomare or Jade verses making a level four Lantern reagent for the ritual we're also doing that needs Lantern, ect.

Or maybe I'm completely wrong, wouldn't be the first time.

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Expeditions are still general actions. If you look in our current turn plan you can even see that BtRC wasn't specifically designated to DoA.

 

[Steady Gaze]

as a nice aside though, with Lantern 4 and SH 3 artifacts we CAN have basically ANY follower scry for us if we want...

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"The Reflection of the Tapestry"
-CD: SECRET HISTORIES 60, LANTERN variable

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+30 from SH artifact, +40 from Lantern one.

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Silky Stream? We could build on the "training" Baldomare is giving her. /j (If the modifier weren't -50 I totally would consider it.)

[Reflection of the Tapestry, CD 60]

[Roll: 71 + 50 (Baldomare) – 50 (Incompetent Celebrant Cutest Assistant) + 60 (Secret Histories Level 6) = 131]

[Success]

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[Greymere]

JADE: scry canterlot part 3? Scry Copper or Windy?

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No offense to Jade, but I don't think I would trust her to successfully scry an expedition that's behind a ward that powerful even by the Knock Name's standards.

 

[Shaper47]

WE NEED THE BITS

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You do remember we can send Mareinette + Biedde to get bits right?

?) Axe sacrament. As many actions as needed

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Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

We should talk to the snake about what we've found before jumping into things.

 

[Pororurin]

I wonder if the debate between Birds and Worms is still an issue between Names and their ilk, or if it was back when the Mansus was more known in this world. It probably would have been ended when the Hours died, but it seems that Baldomare still holds some Bird perspectives. With everything we've seen, it seems likely that this is a world where the Worms won and History reigns supreme (which is a thing introduced in Cultsim/Enigma so don't get on my case about BoH stuff).

Cyrppis has ties to the Bird movement, Eternity and the Second Dawn, with the Cryppis Club being the meeting point of Birds at Noon (and I always theorised, mostly baselessly, that Cryppis was related to the Elegiast), and with Baldomare's mention of Eternity with a capital E when talking about the ouroboros I think it's safe to say she is on the side of Birds (even if was made obvious by her game counterpart, it's nice to have confirmation the same is true for her here).


Although, since this is using a lot of stuff from Engima, do we know if it's being used here?

 

[Greymere]

Also, just to point out, we do have a possible solution to the problem of "too much shit we want to scry"... aka summon one or two MitLs before our temp three-circle site expires.

Edit: Plus we can use them to get Baldomare's Lantern Sacrament later, as long as we do it soon-ish!

 

[Venerable Ro]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

We should talk to the snake about what we've found before jumping into things.

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Now hold on. Right now I'm almost certain that she doesn't know the Key is in there, she wouldn't be so casual if she did know. At the moment I'm pretty sure the deal is "do the thing of convenience for me and I'll give you the sacrament", wherein we would come out with the Key and hand it over as a bonus on top of that, nontransactional-like. If we tell her the Key is probably in there then it becomes a matter of trading the Key for the sacrament, which has the same mechanical outcome but a different implicit context.

Of course if she does know and tells us up front to fetch the Key then the thought is moot, but I don't think she trusts us nearly that much and so she'd be obfuscating if this were the case.

Hmm, perhaps it's a matter of Axe trying to get her bindings undone all sottle-like, needs must and all that? Probably not methinks, that sort of scheme doesn't really fit her.

 

[Sveta08]

DRAFT PLAN:

BALDOMARE: Search for Outsider (1d100 + 80)

SELENE: Grave Expedition (it's supposed to be a fairly easy one) + training

RARITY: job or commission, depending on if her job is at risk. WE NEED THE BITS

JADE: scry canterlot part 3? Scry Copper or Windy?

COMET: Outsider? (give SH artifact for it?)

non zero chance that Comet + Baldomare would be enough to get the outsider.

AXE: Knock Lesson (or keys if we study the Knock book, I think we're out of them?)

Mareinette + Biedde: maybe Canterlot part 3? If we send THEM we probably don't even need to scry, really. Biedde can win any combat, Mareinette can win any social, they're really good against Edge, Heart, Grail and Moth obstacles and decent at everything else... though Axe would be best to open the warded door I imagine...)



VELVET
1) Study (Lantern 4 + Knock 2 artifacts. Potentially Knock 5 book instead)

?) Axe sacrament. As many actions as needed

IF ACTIONS LEFT UNUSED:

Mansus Exploration


I'm leaning towards delaying Memory of Light, we have too many valuable targets to scry (canterlot part 3, Copper and Windy) right now to commit her to that action line.

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-snips and plans.

I'm comfortable with this most of thisdraft plan, with three exception. Swap Comet to doing the Grave Expedition, and Selene to searching for the Outsider if possible.
It's a minor change, but I would like it if Selene could spend time seeing the city her sister built.

Past that, I am arguing with myself over risks. If we study the Knock 5 Book and get a Knock scrap, we won't need Axe to have a lesson in Knock with Velvet instead. That would free Ax up to potentially plant or search through things in the Tall Tale expedition, as the Constibles are getting antsy and feel the need to do something. Info from earlier in this turn, so seeing a prime target and then not kicking doors in... Eeeh, it would do more harm than good on that front I think if we delay. So if we want to get something there, or plant something, would need be sooner rather than later.

The last thing is more just a suggestion. Have Jade work on the Reflections of Light study action. Or... shoot...
Can we have Jade study the Artifacts?

 

[des-pair-2]

I remember saying this

I would really like to continue working on our SH Sacrament, I simply fear that it will be left unfinished for entire turns. There always will be something else to do and I think the Sacrament should take priority.

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and while Knock Sacrament is still a Sacrament, I would like our SH Sacrament to be taken first. Purely for narrative reasons, which I know some won't like I disregard pragmatic reasons on why it's better to do something else, but I simply want Velvet to take SH first given it is her Brand.

Maybe we will even learn something new about Brands when we finally finish it.

 

[Pittauro]

We're are you getting the Edge 7, Winter 7 from?

Because I doubt they'd have the lore strength of an hour or heir to an hour.

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Aspects: EDGE ?, WINTER ?
[ABOMINATION]: Ash-Ghoul's health and Lore levels are equal to the number of ponies sacrificed in its summoning ritual. (Although its health will always be at least 3). And its General bonus is equal to five times the number of ponies sacrificed.

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they very explicitly get one point of edge, winter AND Health per pony sacrificed.

So at max sacrifices, the Ash-Ghoul is Edge 7, Winter 7, Health 7, General Bonus 7*5=35, combat = general+edge bonus = 70.

[BURNING FUEL]: This creature must consume dead bodies (the same number of bodies currently applying its bonuses) every turn, or it will be immediately unsummoned.
[FADING FUEL]: At the end of every turn, this creature "loses" one of its bodies from the number of bodies used to summon it, for all relevant aspects.

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though that max strength is only in the first turn, and then it gets weaker each turn, until after 7 turns it's basically useless. AND it can't be sacrificed for other rituals, so at their last turn they'd be general +5 and edge 1, for a combat score of +10, making them weaker than the average thug (though they still have that dread-inducing power making them still somewhat useful)

and Hours are definitely BEYOND Lore Aspect 7. NAMES are presumably lore 7, but that's not even the bigger part of their power, they also have many special traits and extra health...

Silky Stream? We could build on the "training" Baldomare is giving her. /j (If the modifier weren't -50 I totally would consider it.)

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that was -50 as an "assistant" though, not as the main caster!

but yeah, no. that said, we can in a pinch have basically any of our followers (except the "servants") scry for us if we need to.

rankings would be

"The Reflection of the Tapestry"
-CD: SECRET HISTORIES 60, LANTERN variable

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1)Baldomare (+110 to both Lantern and SH, with rerolls)

2)Jade (Lantern 4, SH 3 from artifact... I forget her magic bonus, but something like a 12 I think? so +52 with reroll for Lantern, and +42 without reroll for SH)

3)BIEDDE (He is NOT "Proud", he can do rituals not including Edge, and his general bonus is actually +30. So +60 on SH with artifact (autosuccess) and +60 on Lantern ( higher than Jade, but no reroll))

4)Selene (current general bonus is +20. it will likely become +25 next turn and +30 eventually, making her as good as Biedde at it, but currently a tiny bit worse).

5-6)Rarity-Comet (low Magic and no relevant bonuses, but the artifacts can carry them. Basically same rolls as Jade, but no Lantern reroll)

No offense to Jade, but I don't think I would trust her to successfully scry an expedition that's behind a ward that powerful even by the Knock Name's standards.

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To be fair

1) she has a reroll

2) warded door meant to stop people from going in would not NECESSARILY also stop scrying attempts, though there's a decent chance we'd get a scrying malus to Lantern.

You do remember we can send Mareinette + Biedde to get bits right?

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You do remember we basically are not willing to let them do the stuff necessary to get enough bits for it to be worth it?

Also, just to point out, we do have a possible solution to the problem of "too much shit we want to scry"... aka summon one or two MitLs before our temp three-circle site expires.

Edit: Plus we can use them to get Baldomare's Lantern Sacrament later, as long as we do it soon-ish!

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fair.

Summoning requirements: LANTERN 80, KNOCK 60, EDGE 60.

Summoning cost: 55 bits. (Originally 60)

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We have Edge 3 artifact already. If we researched Knock 2 and Lantern 4, then any of our followers would have somewhat decent rolls here.

Axe would be pretty good at it, needing only a 10 for Lantern and a 2 for Edge basically (no reroll there).

Biedde would also need a 10 on Lantern and a 10 on Knock (with knock 2 artifact).

Selene would need... 10 to 20 for Lantern, 10 to autosuccess for Knock, and 10 to 2 for Edge, depending on if her general bonus is still only +20, +25 or +30.

Jade and Comet... would kind of suck at it, by comparison, but COULD do it.

let's take Comet: probably something like a 5 or 10 needed for Edge, a 30 for Knock, and a 30 for Lantern. Not GOOD odds, but probably close to a 40 or 50%.

I'm comfortable with this most of thisdraft plan, with three exception. Swap Comet to doing the Grave Expedition, and Selene to searching for the Outsider if possible.
It's a minor change, but I would like it if Selene could spend time seeing the city her sister built.

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I suppose we could. he has low rolls in some lores, but he can afford a few repeated attempts. Selene would be better at it though.

Selene in Canterlot... I suppose we'd narratively have it as Selene (and maybe Soft Sweeps and Silky?) Coming with us to Canterlot and exploring the city while we're working, sort of a family visit?

Past that, I am arguing with myself over risks. If we study the Knock 5 Book and get a Knock scrap, we won't need Axe to have a lesson in Knock with Velvet instead. That would free Ax up to potentially plant or search through things in the Tall Tale expedition, as the Constibles are getting antsy and feel the need to do something. Info from earlier in this turn, so seeing a prime target and then not kicking doors in... Eeeh, it would do more harm than good on that front I think if we delay. So if we want to get something there, or plant something, would need be sooner rather than later.

The last thing is more just a suggestion. Have Jade work on the Reflections of Light study action. Or... shoot...
Can we have Jade study the Artifacts?

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Jade can't study our artifacts. Only Velvet can, sadly.

I think you meant Memory of Light, which is definitely an option, especially if we're not having her scry... or try to summon a Mare in the Light, which we COULD do if we researched the Knock artifact to give her a little boost.

Can you imagine if we went and had Axe, Selene, Jade and Biedde ALL try the summons, and we could get anything from 2 to 5 mares all at once? THAT would really give us a lot more followers to play with!

One ritual costs... 55 bits.

A bit pricey (5 rituals would be 275 bits), but not impossible to do. and we'd likely try less than 5, admittedly.

and then we can use them for low-requirement actions (cover your bases, low-rank expeditions, more Mares summoning, outsider search, use them as reagent or for Baldomare's sacrament...)

...uh... I don't think I ever asked, and I'm nearly sure of the answer, but @OurLadyOfWires could we use a summoned mare for sacraments?

Particularly Personal Lantern and Mareinette grail.


On a different note, we probably can wait at least a turn, maaaaaaybe two at most, before having the Bureau go for the expedition. So if we want to go for the proto-hive ourselves, we probably need to do it either turn 20 or 21.

And I think we do, for multiple reasons

1) we can get valuable treasures for ourselves. like stolen artifacts from Canterlot, or bits.
2) we can get an idea of how dangerous it would be for the Bureau. If we can get away with fewer casualties that's a good thing!
3) we might or might not want to put manuscripts there, to introduce the lores. there's arguments both for and against.

I remember saying this



and while Knock Sacrament is still a Sacrament, I would like our SH Sacrament to be taken first. Purely for narrative reasons, which I know some won't like I disregard pragmatic reasons on why it's better to do something else, but I simply want Velvet to take SH first given it is her Brand.

Maybe we will even learn something new about Brands when we finally finish it.

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on the one hand I get it, but Axe is just more urgent.

Keep in mind that Axe WILL expire on turn 21.

So we have two more turns to find the Frangiclave unless we're willing to go through the whole effort to resummon her again. Also another scene of her being dragged kicking and screaming and crying by those chains, possibly while Silky is watching... again.

I suppose we could risk leaving it for turn 21? it's cutting it a bit close though.

 

[Shaper47]

At the moment I'm pretty sure the deal is "do the thing of convenience for me and I'll give you the sacrament", wherein we would come out with the Key and hand it over as a bonus on top of that, nontransactional-like

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I'm pretty sure the "thing of convenience" includes any heirlooms Velvet finds so the Key though unknown would be part of it not a bonus.

a matter of trading the Key for the sacrament,

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Basically I think that's what the current option is.

You do remember we basically are not willing to let them do the stuff necessary to get enough bits for it to be worth it?

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I'm getting real tied of this White Knighting taking place.

It's pretty hard to save the world blind with two hooves tied behind our back.

Deontological reasoning has its place but it's kinda hard to live in the world it creates if it's a worm filled husk.

 

[Pittauro]

I'm pretty sure the "thing of convenience" includes any heirlooms Velvet finds so the Key though unknown would be part of it not a bonus.

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it's definitely possible.

The Daughter-of-Axes' invitation: "Ae sppose ae can wash yer hoof, s'long as ye wash mine as well. Ae need ye te run me an errant. Do tha' an' ae'll make et worth yer time. Bu' get sum'more Knock on ye farst, or else ye won' survive th' trip."
-Successfully complete her request on the "Through the foggy mirror" action. You do not know how many actions this will take.
-Your forays into the "Through the foggy mirror" action may be spaced through however many turns you wish, and you may invest however many actions per turn you wish into it. But the Daughter-of-Axes must be summoned every time you want to try it.
-You must reach 4/4 scraps of Knock before taking this action.

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She's not specifying what the errand is, but it COULD easily be "get the key". It's a bit weird she hasn't insisted more on teaching us Knock to make us good enough for it if she KNOWS the key is there though.

...maybe she SUSPECTS the key is there, but is not sure, so it's just one of many places she want to check for it (except it's the ONE place she can't go herself?)

 

[Pittauro]

I'm getting real tied of this White Knighting taking place.

It's pretty hard to save the world blind with two hooves tied behind our back.

Deontological reasoning has its place but it's kinda hard to live in the world it creates if it's a worm filled husk.

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well, tough. It's been near 20 turns, you should have a pretty good idea of what we're fine and not fine doing, generally speaking.

and between our fairly significant wage (160 bits), Rarity (around 50-60 per turn, and another 120 or so every 2-3 turns), and HOPEFULLY soon some support from Cadence (@OurLadyOfWires PLEASE! ), most of us don't feel like Mareinette or Biedde doing their thing (ESPECIALLY MAREINETTE!) is worth the bits they'd give us.

I think the implication was we'd get 40-50 bits from non-criminal actions, and maybe 100-150 from criminal ones? Selene now knows most of what we did, I'd rather we didn't show our newest daughter that we're willing to kill just out of a minor convenience.

Honestly if we want money, the best thing to do would be to use a scrying ritual on a "mundane" treasure, and do an expedition for it. and if it's hard-to-sell stuff, we sell it through Uncle Steppes.

 

[Limabot]

To be slightly fair to Shaper47, Biedde did work as a highwayman at some point in his existence, which wouldn't be the worst thing morally (if he doesn't kill anypony). Still, given our current revenue streams and powers, there wouldn't be much of a point to it.

 

[DelightedOne]

2) warded door meant to stop people from going in would not NECESSARILY also stop scrying attempts, though there's a decent chance we'd get a scrying malus to Lantern.

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It actually does:

"The Reflection of the Tapestry"
-CD: SECRET HISTORIES 60, LANTERN variable

-Effect: Choose a "Subject" or "Location" to learn about. LANTERN roll provides information based on its value, subtracted by any defenses (mundane or otherwise) that the target might possess. Information given is incrementally better at every +20 rolled over the target's basic "resistance".

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So Jade would have very low chances of successfully scrying something the Knock Name says is "well warded even by her own high standards". Baldomare is the only one that can get something out of this, so Jade's most useful action remains A Memory of Light.

 

[Venerable Ro]

I'm getting real tied of this White Knighting taking place.

It's pretty hard to save the world blind with two hooves tied behind our back.

Deontological reasoning has its place but it's kinda hard to live in the world it creates if it's a worm filled husk.

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Utilitarianism also has its place, but it's kind of hard to live in the world it creates if you're remembered as a monster by everyone you care about.

Actually, that's not utilitarianism, that's just being impatient and trying to rush for quick results.

Most of our biggest gains have reliably come from building up a solid social network and investing in contacts. While quick one-time actions such as sending Biedde to go rob someone might fix an immediate problem, it would also open us up to the potential for things to go wrong, and could also create a reliance on those actions as we used them to fund a higher level of activity than we would otherwise be able to sustain.

Which would then necessitate more robbing.

It's an entire economic spiral that we've managed to entirely elude, along with attendant legal attention such as that investigator who turned up back when we were with the Cult and promptly never did anything because we kept our hooves clean. We've been commendably disciplined throughout this quest, and I for one think it's saved us a lot of headaches by keeping us out of mundane trouble.

In terms of "saving the world blind with two hooves tied behind our back" our methods have gotten us level four in Lores across the board, a Mareinette, three Names, a wonderful daughter who has managed to charm all of those names, a wolf perfectly normal daughter, an adoptive alicorn daughter and another alicorn pseudo-confidante, a position as the head of the secret police, a clear understanding of how to open the Crucible-Lock, and more besides.

I'd say things are going pretty well, Knock-Velvet has a hole-in-the-wall apothecary with a basement lab, a minion, and one less Cadance than she had earlier.

 

[Shaper47]

you should have a pretty good idea of what we're fine and not fine doing, generally speaking.

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Yeah and after what applying deontological ethics did to Twilight people become a lot more open to doing what is necessary.

Facing the consequences of such beliefs is a lesson for us to learn from.

And what do you know but crossing the murder line worked out great for Velvet/us (aside from genocide bit but that was deontological consequences).

It would be great if we could apply some consequentialism again before the consequences of our actions catch up to us.

Besides we've already crossed the murder bridge. A bit late for that half hearted indecisiveness and takebackies.

 

[Nevermort]

well, tough. It's been near 20 turns, you should have a pretty good idea of what we're fine and not fine doing, generally speaking.

and between our fairly significant wage (160 bits), Rarity (around 50-60 per turn, and another 120 or so every 2-3 turns), and HOPEFULLY soon some support from Cadence (@OurLadyOfWires PLEASE! ), most of us don't feel like Mareinette or Biedde doing their thing (ESPECIALLY MAREINETTE!) is worth the bits they'd give us.

I think the implication was we'd get 40-50 bits from non-criminal actions, and maybe 100-150 from criminal ones? Selene now knows most of what we did, I'd rather we didn't show our newest daughter that we're willing to kill just out of a minor convenience.

Honestly if we want money, the best thing to do would be to use a scrying ritual on a "mundane" treasure, and do an expedition for it. and if it's hard-to-sell stuff, we sell it through Uncle Steppes.

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What if biggest amount of treasure would be in Royal Vault?

I think if we want to do it criminal way but without killing anyone then only someone competent and moral would be able to do so. Send master thief Phantom Moon to rob corrupt nobles.
I am sure Luna could leverage some of her awesome abilities for the task of royal taxation.