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

[ses]

Turn 22, Selene scries for an Edge weapon
Turn 23, expedition
Turn 24, study artifacts
Turn 25, Biedde sacrament

You know if we end Biedde's contract rather than pay the bits we get him back just in time to be ready to take his Sacrament. And that 180 bits could pay for a lot of MITL AP in the meanwhile...

Plus of course there's 3 turns that we're doing things like visiting Tall Tale and could stumble ass-first into beating up a Worthy Opponent at any moment now that we're free of maluses. We know from Comet v Shining that the personal Edge sacrament can actually be a total dumpster trucking if you're lucky enough to run into a chump with only +25 personal combat and no rerolls. In fact I kinda wanna take an Edge attention instead of a Lantern one next turn so that we can have that bit of extra safety fighting changelings, and honestly the Lantern attention doesn't really matter for studying the important items if we're bringing a max level Lantern influence to the turn. Possibly spend Comet Feet's action on an Edge attention and our free attention on a Lantern one?

Honestly, I just feel a lot more comfortable with "go to war and at some point we'll inevitably run into an enemy who is also a worthy foe" than the whole "scry a scumbag who is also a worthy foe and hunt them down Punisher style". Like that second one is way creepier to me than the first. More action efficient too.

 

[Shaper47]

Turn 22, Selene scries for an Edge weapon

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With what lantern?

The artifact failed to get studied.

 

[Nevermort]

She does both.
End.

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It also attracts bigger and smarter Worms, whom Luna can't kill yet. Perhaps if Starswirl actually taught her Lores and warned about Worms she would have been more successful. Even with that Harmony would need to greatly expand in its strength to counter what seems to be continent sized Worms. And Harmony expansion takes over Wood which is what prompted Master to act. Since Mansus reflects Wake and vise verse in Equestria it likely corresponds to spreading Harmony to other nations, which was Twilight task in the later seasons. It is hardly doable now as our Twilight is not up to the task and between Paranoia, Evil and Ash other nations are unlikely to be up for any kind of cooperation. I imagine any kind of friendship missions with foreign dignitaries greatly increased in the difficulty, so even canon Twilight would be hard pressed to accomplish much.
Of course, there is always option to send Mareinette to befriend them

We know from Comet v Shining that the personal Edge sacrament can actually be a total dumpster trucking if you're lucky enough to run into a chump with only +25 personal combat and no rerolls. In fact I kinda wanna take an Edge attention instead of a Lantern one next turn so that we can have that bit of extra safety fighting changelings, and honestly the Lantern attention doesn't really matter for studying the important items if we're bringing a max level Lantern influence to the turn. Possibly spend Comet Feet's action on an Edge attention and our free attention on a Lantern one?

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I agree with taking Edge Influence, but not with spending Baldomare actions just so we can study more books.It pushes SH sacrament further down the line and it blocks Velvet's own SH sacrament and Moon Tower exploration both of which honestly sounds more promising than Manehattan expeditions.

 

[DelightedOne]

It also attracts bigger and smarter Worms, whom Luna can't kill yet. Perhaps if Starswirl actually taught her Lores and warned about Worms she would have been more successful.

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But Velvet taught her about the lores and she also knows about the Worms even if she doesn't remember everything. Wouldn't that by your logic mean she has a chance of making Worm hunting a net positive?

 

[Nevermort]

But Velvet taught her about the lores and she also knows about the Worms even if she doesn't remember everything. Wouldn't that by your logic mean she has a chance of making Worm hunting a net positive?

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I would not be surprised if it was how it was meant to be and Starswirl just screwed things with his disdain for Lores. But also dealing with top tier Worms is the task for Hours. Which is probably why Velvet getting Glory considered to be winning condition. For Harmony to reach similar levels of strength it likely needs to take Glory or become its equal in most ways that matter. So Harmony win would be either to keep spreading until it reaches Glory ( which is most likely its original plan) or have Velvet bring it somehow to Glory, as I assume it is more or less immobile currently.

Bringing Harmony to other kingdoms just seems like something that would take too long for quest even in the best case conditions, so I imagine that Velvet would come up with some kind of shortcut for it that we may or may not like.

Regardless, even if we don't get Harmony ending I think Mareinette would be good diplomat to improve ties with other nations. After all she respect hosts and would not refuse any food offered, even if it has meat in it. She would rather enjoy it actually.

 

[DelightedOne]

So Harmony win would be either to keep spreading until it reaches Glory ( which is most likely its original plan) or have Velvet bring it somehow to Glory, as I assume it is more or less immobile currently.

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The information we got was that we needed to hide the Lights and I think it wasn't just because we had a Moth Master.

REACHING HARMONY

Another way is to reach Harmony, and teach it how to hide. The light of ponykind is what attracts the Worms to the Dreamlands, and both the light and the Dreamlands appear to be a provenance of Harmony, somehow. Gaining access to Harmony, and somehow interacting with it, might allow you to simply hide that light and protect the world.

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[Nevermort]

The information we got was that we needed to hide the Lights and I think it wasn't just because we had a Moth Master.

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Hiding from Worms is such Master-like decision that I find a notion that it is in fact Master flavored Harmony ending to be quite believable. And it also not something that Harmony itself currently intends to do , as its actions contradict it.

It is also what Wolf ending does to hide Equestria from Worms, just without negotiating with Harmony part. I kind of doubt that it just multiple endings that lead to Equestria hiding from Worms, instead of hiding just being Master preferred solution.

Also we destroyed most Moth artifacts so there is nothing to actully hide Harmony with . Well maybe Moth aligned Alicorn would be sufficient. But well, we offed Master, so the only one available is Luna. I could kind of see something like Luna reaching lvl 7 in Moth lore to be winning condition for this route, but without Master it would be very hard to pull off.

 

[DelightedOne]

And it also not something that Harmony itself currently intends to do , as its actions contradict it.

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I don't quite understand this point of view, since Harmony made Celestia to nurture(absolute good) and Luna to defend(necessary evil) I don't think it would be opposed to hiding the Lights to avoid the Worms. I could see it looking for a better way that does not involve hiding it in the future like wards, to make sure those that would need or want to live in Equestria(like the the Outsider that was Luna and Celestia) could see the Lights and get close to the border but considering this is the best option we have at the moment I doubt it would disagree.

It is also what Wolf ending does to hide Equestria from Worms, just without negotiating with Harmony part. I kind of doubt that it just multiple endings that lead to Equestria hiding from Worms, instead of hiding just being Master preferred solution.

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Nononononononononononononononononono. The Wolf douses the Lights, ends them, puts the Fires of Harmony out.

To be fair besides the Master we got that information from a QM message too so I guess it could be the only viable option at the moment.

Also we destroyed most Moth artifacts so there is nothing to actully hide Harmony with

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One more reason to go for Moth 6?

 

[Nevermort]

I don't quite understand this point of view, since Harmony made Celestia to nurture(absolute good) and Luna to defend(necessary evil) I don't think it would be opposed to hiding the Lights to avoid the Worms. I could see it looking for a better way that does not involve hiding it in the future like wards, to make sure those that would need or want to live in Equestria(like the the Outsider that was Luna and Celestia) could see the Lights and get close to the border but considering this is the best option we have at the moment I doubt it would disagree.


Nononononononononononononononononono. The Wolf douses the Lights, ends them, puts the Fires of Harmony out.

To be fair besides the Master we got that information from a QM message too so I guess it could be the only viable option at the moment.


One more reason to go for Moth 6?

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We don't know much about Harmony, but currently I view it more like concept than persona. Harmony actions spread harmony, and it quite possible that it just can't stop on its own. Like child can't stop growing. Or like Moth that flew to burn in the Glory. Luna and Celestia were necessary to defeat Discord and to establish and defend Equestria but those are all actions necessary to increasing Harmony. If Harmony is anything like Hours then they just can't take actions that are contrary to their nature.
You tell Harmony to stop glowing so bright and it either don't understand you or informs you that it have no clue how to do it.

Maybe we can teach it through Luna, but without Master to give us Lessons it looks like quite difficult task.

Alternatively as it showed ability to turn ponies (Cadance) and even Outsiders (Luna and Celestia) into Alicorns, no reason it can't do the same to the willing Name. Master was the most willing to take change, but I think there may be a few more Names who would be okay with it. It would probably be faster than teaching Luna too, although it would not help with Moth Lore much, but as I mentioned I think that any Lore (if we had different Lore Master) would have its own solution, or at least would have offered its own way to hide Harmony if it is indeed only option.

Forge Name is usually okay with the change, although for increased closeness with Harmony it may be better for Luna to build them. I also don't think that in Luna case they would take child form. Both she and DoA direct most of their love toward sisters, so in Luna's case they may look like young robot Celestia instead. Or maybe batpony if they even exist in this quest . In DoA case probably snakepony. Also if DoA is doing summoning we need to ask Silky to help with Knock part, for increased Harmony connection of course. And to make Silky faction unstoppable.

Mareinette could maybe do it too?Very unlikely but if Cadance is wildly successful, then maybe? Friendship Princess Mareinette is as unlikely as its funny.

 

[DelightedOne]

You tell Harmony to stop glowing so bright and it either don't understand you or informs you that it have no clue how to do it.

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But the thing we want isn't "stop glowing"(that is Wolf business) it is "hide yourself so the predators can't find us", if we could raise a wall or curtain that stops the Light from leaking out of the World it would be enough.

Alternatively as it showed ability to turn ponies (Cadance) and even Outsiders (Luna and Celestia) into Alicorns, no reason it can't do the same to the willing Name.

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Ascension doesn't feel like something to be done on the spot like that(like lore Ascensions you need to do a couple of things first), but with direct access to Harmony I guess the Names could be reformed like the changelings. I still think the theory of Harmony being a reborn form of the gods-from-Light fits, even if they are not conscious and are just machines there should be some awareness of the World since Velvet has been noticed before, Luna's first parents knew to see her(and also could) and Harmony powered the Rite of the Mother and Father.

 

[Nevermort]

But the thing we want isn't "stop glowing"(that is Wolf business) it is "hide yourself so the predators can't find us", if we could raise a wall or curtain that stops the Light from leaking out of the World it would be enough.

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Citation that you have given in the earlier post directly mentions teaching Harmony to hide. And if Master had power to simply cover it he would have done it immediately, no need to ask Harmony about it.

Also Wolf does not eat Harmony. It is Glory that goes dark. Harmony is still around as we saw with cutie marks still appearing. It just constantly being stopped from spreading, starved so it can't grow.

Ascension doesn't feel like something to be done on the spot like that(like lore Ascensions you need to do a couple of things first), but with direct access to Harmony I guess the Names could be reformed like the changelings.

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Well if Cadance does not work, we can steal elements of Harmony (gems I mean), gather Mane 6 and find someone to blast with it. If Mareinette poses as Twilight during the charging process all Harmony power from the rest will go to her. No one knows what happens next, but it sure will be valuable for science.

I still think the theory of Harmony being a reborn form of the gods-from-Light fits, even if they are not conscious and are just machines there should be some awareness of the World since Velvet has been noticed before, Luna's first parents knew to see her(and also could) and Harmony powered the Rite of the Mother and Father.

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I don't really argue against possibility of Harmony being conscious. It could even be super intelligent. But being intelligent and being able to go against its nature are two different things. Moth was intelligent and still flew to the Glory. Master wanted for Harmony to change him, so they can change Harmony from within, which is suitable approach for Moth. Forge Name may just need to hammer at it for a few days assuming it allowed to do so.

 

[DelightedOne]

Citation that you have given in the earlier post directly mentions teaching Harmony to hide. And if Master had power to simply cover it he would have done it immediately, no need to ask Harmony about it.

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He would if he could reach it, but Harmony is somewhere no one knows and can only be reached by using Selene and Celestia.

 

[Nevermort]

He would if he could reach it, but Harmony is somewhere no one knows and can only be reached by using Selene and Celestia.

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Worms arrive at Dreamlands because Dreamland is the thing that glows. Master had access to Dreamscape, if he was able to cover it he would have done it. The fact that it was Dreamscape that encroached on Woods instead of the other way around indicates that Harmony was already too strong for Master to cover it. If Master was unable to cover Dreamlands not much reason to believe that he would have been able to do it with access to Harmony, especially if it involved cutting it from Dreamscape. Unless it is like maintenance access and in this case it is again similar to changing Harmony.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

The woods used to cover the Dreamlands. The protections weakening is why they did not, even back in Luna's birth time.

 

[Nevermort]

I think Woods covered Mansus and Glory, but Dreamlands appeared later and Woods weren't able to spread there.

Or, if say Woods covered Dreamlands at any point of time and then for some reason stopped being able to do it, Harmony is still most likely culprit. Because I think Master was not aware about Worms in Dreamland before Velvet told him. So they can't be the reason.

Wards are in place to keep Worms away. I am not sure if they have any hiding function, more likely it was Woods role, which they weren't able to carry due to Dreamlands

 

[Greymere]

The woods used to cover the Dreamlands. The protections weakening is why they did not, even back in Luna's birth time.

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No they didn't. The entrance to the Dreamlands is well outside the boundary of the Woods. As in, for the Woods to have covered the Dreamlands, the Woods would have stretched to the crossroads and then some, which we've never been shown was the case.

 

[Pittauro]

We failed the first time in trying to buy an Edge weapon and got pocket sand instead, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it was impossible in principle? We could put a Selene AP to scry for "An expedition containing an Edge weapon", after all she gets access to the Lantern 4 artifact next turn if we choose to study it iirc, and it's not a scry that likely needs big dick Baldomare scry numbers. Even just an artifact that gives a +5 artifact bonus would help MASSIVELY in Biedde's invitation, and considering the bonus that the SH artifact gives to study rolls it doesn't seem out of the question. That might be a worthy AP if we end up not wanting to Soothe the Night.

Man in hindsight spending that Jade AP on memory of light was a mistake. She's probably going to need a rest month turn 23, which means we dont get another Jade action till turn 24. Can someone remind me if "Ask Jade/Comet to do a Calling of Influence on Velvet" is a valid action? Or is Calling of Influence self-only? Jade's Lantern 4 and reroll is probably a more sensible use of resources when expedition spam starts bringing a flow of artifact studying to our table rather than a Baldomare action for a max level influence that only lasts a turn. Kind of overkill in terms of resources spent when we dont have multiple critical-importance studies to do in the same turn.

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Good point on the Edge weapon, Though I'm not 100% sure we want to wait.

We'd need Turn 22 to study the Lantern Artifact, Turn 23 to scry for the Edge Artifact, and then turn 24 to get it... and presumably do the Sacrament that same turn.

We might just be better off taking a risk and doing the Sacrament earlier, withj just 2 or 3 AotL to help.

As for Jade... we COULD just NOT give her the "rest" month. We're on a tight enough AP budget that I wouldn't even feel bad about it.

You know Level 6 is... actually not out of reach within the scope of the remaining time for one or two Lores? That's three turns of a Befriended name doing nothing but lessons, less any incidental scraps from Expedition loot or Mansus. Very expensive but possible! Honestly less expensive than going from 4 to 5. Consider that we're spending two Mareinette actions for the sake of the Moth sacrament and that doesn't even include the Moth scraps. If we find another level 7 book in a high level expedition that's two scraps at level 5: at which point two full turns of a Befriended Name's lessons start to look like a good deal for the sake of Level 6.

With Selene taking over any Scry needs, I can kinda see us going for Level 6 in Secret Histories. If we wind up getting a scrap or two worth of studyables or Mansus scraps I think we should go for it, since the level 6 benefit seems to be "reroll for ALL checks of that lore" (we've seen Mareinette get rerolls on multiple Grail checks in the same turn, during the Assault on Copper). We have to do a solo Mansus expedition that's notably harder than Red Church to win the game, and Red Church kicked our ass. We cant get a victory in the sort of abridged timeframe some people are talking about committing to: we had to lucksack our way past a CD 120 Lantern check just to find the front door, and there's no indication that the expedition itself wont be just as bad.

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...now that I think about it... With Axe giving Knock Lessons and having TWO actions per turn, we COULD in theory get Knock 6 fairly quickly.

@OurLadyOfWires now that Axe is "friendly", I don't suppose she'd tell us WHAT Knock 6 does? You know, to judge if it's worth using... 6 of her actions to reach it in time for All In.

That said, Axe actions are pretty valuable, as she's our best Expedition Name! Mareinette might arguably be said to be better (+40 instead of +50, BUT +60 for social obstacles compared to Axe's +10, not counting the Lores themselves).

Well, Biedde is better IN COMBAT, but outside of that he's third place.

...oh, the things we could do with a befriended Baldomare though...

for lvl 6, we also saw Biedde rerolling I think one in two rolls, which is PROBABLY due to Edge 6. And yeah, rerolling more things makes sense for Lore 6.

Oh, and technically we don't KNOW that the Malleary is harder than Red Church. For all we know the Malleary is actually safe-ish (unlikely, but technically possible) in comparison.

---

@OurLadyOfWires Question: can Risen prepare AotL rituals for us? Specifically for Edge.

 

[ses]

Good point on the Edge weapon, Though I'm not 100% sure we want to wait.

We'd need Turn 22 to study the Lantern Artifact, Turn 23 to scry for the Edge Artifact, and then turn 24 to get it... and presumably do the Sacrament that same turn.

We might just be better off taking a risk and doing the Sacrament earlier, withj just 2 or 3 AotL to help.

As for Jade... we COULD just NOT give her the "rest" month. We're on a tight enough AP budget that I wouldn't even feel bad about it.

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Presumably Selene can use the Lantern artifact on turn 22 if we study the artifact on turn 22. Jade is irrelevant as her turn 22 AP is already spent and she's locked out of turn 22. We would study artifact and do Selene scry on turn 22, turn 23 to fetch it, turn 24 to study it and then do the Sacrament the same turn as we studied it. You forgot we'd need to study the artifact to use it and that cancelled out the fact that Selene can scry on turn 22.

@OurLadyOfWires now that Axe is "friendly", I don't suppose she'd tell us WHAT Knock 6 does? You know, to judge if it's worth using... 6 of her actions to reach it in time for All In.

That said, Axe actions are pretty valuable, as she's our best Expedition Name! Mareinette might arguably be said to be better (+40 instead of +50, BUT +60 for social obstacles compared to Axe's +10, not counting the Lores themselves).

Well, Biedde is better IN COMBAT, but outside of that he's third place.

...oh, the things we could do with a befriended Baldomare though...

for lvl 6, we also saw Biedde rerolling I think one in two rolls, which is PROBABLY due to Edge 6. And yeah, rerolling more things makes sense for Lore 6.

Oh, and technically we don't KNOW that the Malleary is harder than Red Church. For all we know the Malleary is actually safe-ish (unlikely, but technically possible) in comparison.

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We know what Knock 6 does, it gives rerolls to all checks of the lore instead of 1/month. We've already seen the effect in action.

And we have an extremely good idea of what Malleary is like: Ruined Church was a gauntlet of checks of just about every lore at the exact same CD as the Mansus hurdles immediately before and after it on the same floor.

Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience Crossover - Mature - Users' Choice!

This quest is alive and well, just being updated in another site on the following link: https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/esquestria-the-house-of-the-sun-a-pony-cultist-experience.28651/ You are part of a cult. In Equestria. What started out as a very interesting book club...

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The Mansus rolls before and after the Church were all exactly CD 100, as were the rolls inside the Church themselves. Therefore we can expect the Malleary to be a gauntlet of varied lore checks at the exact same CD as the roll we made on the same floor as it: which was the 120 Lantern CD check we just made.

As for taking a risk, I'm not totally against it, but it's a 27% failure chance with 2 Attentions, and 21% with 3, not really decreasing any further with more attentions after that.

That's well worth the risk in a vacuum but we're squeezing a LOT of sacraments and name befriendings into a short time frame. On Turn 23 we're probably going to spend three actions to do both our SH sacraments in a single turn, and we don't want to be wounded for that. So the earliest we'd do it realistically is Turn 24 anyway... and 180 bits is a lot of bits, and we haven't exactly been using his actions well. Graverobbing was NOT a good use of 60 bits, and he's not great for expeditions now that Axe is befriended and willing to jump straight to her +20 influence upon hitting combat.

We could fund a LONG monster hunting expedition next turn, maybe? We really dont have a good use for him next turn but that means he'll be around for turn 24 for Edge sacrament the same turn we study the edge artifact, and it's cheaper, and we should just barely be able to afford it since we're likely not doing the baldomare hike on turn 22.

 

[Greymere]

*snip*

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Eh, I say we just poof him and bring him back on T25 if his Edge Sacrament invitation is still relevant, which is might not be because even if it's creepier by your metric, a RotT to find a worthy opponent we're okay with killing (if none of Equestria assorted ancient evil gribblies count, I'd be surprised) is something that can be handled by someone else while we work on our laundry list of other Sacraments. And it means he can't spend his time doing ominous sneaky shit behind our backs. Not having to maintain him also means more financial wiggle room for creating the Forge Name, the likely subsequent personal Forge Sacrament (which is 50 bits/attempt), and assorted summonings/scryings/expeditions/even more Sacraments.

But anyway, the thing that got me writing this in the first place, especially since no one has pointed it out yet as far as I'm aware: DoA didn't bring the Frangiclave back with her (@OurLadyOfWires pinging you just in case to make sure that is true), so we might want to put a Knock artifact on the list. Selene having innate Knock for summoning is great, but her AP is also very valuable, so it might be worth hunting down something that can enable our Confidants with less potent AP to also summon things (Jade summoning MitLs, for instance).

 

[Pittauro]

I'm against giving up Names in most cases. Biedde is doing shady stuff behind our back, and YET I still think he's a net positive... and I don't want to risk Windy getting to him.

There's also a non-zero chance he might still manage to give orders to Steppes anyway. Master did that WITHOUT being summoned, after all.

 

[ses]

Also Selene just sails through the Biedde summon requirements, so the major reason I was even considering keeping Biedde around, a Velvet AP on turn 25, can be replaced by a Selene AP.

100 Edge, 80 Knock, 60 Moth

Selene autopasses the Moth roll, is 10 short on the Knock roll with a reroll, and 30 short on the Edge roll. She can just sacrifice an outgoing Turn 23-MITL on turn 25 for the 3 Edge for a free +30 Edge and just take the 1% failure chance on Knock so the whole shebang only costs 100 bits and a Selene AP for three turns of Biedde. Or maybe eat a spare knock reagent if we're really feeling risk-averse. Turn 27 seems like a good turn to do the Malleary and reach Glory.

I'm against giving up Names in most cases. Biedde is doing shady stuff behind our back, and YET I still think he's a net positive... and I don't want to risk Windy getting to him.

There's also a non-zero chance he might still manage to give orders to Steppes anyway. Master did that WITHOUT being summoned, after all.

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Windy just... isn't a realistic risk of winning a contested summon against Selene on turn 25. He's not even really a realistic chance of even being able to attempt it. Even if he inherited Neighnia and the remnants of Copper's cult it's extremely doubtful he's made that kind of progress. Not even including the chance we spy on him and decide whether to casually crush him in the next three turns even without Biedde. Even if he somehow did... which he fucking hasn't... Selene+Wrong Key+MITL with rerolls on knock and moth is going to crush Windy even if he sacrifices a Windigo+a Knock cultist

I'm not even assigning much weight to the whole "behind our back thing", it's just a fact that Forge Name eats our bits and we don't really have good use for him in the next couple of turns. I'm not willing to pay 60 bits for him to go graverobbing again, and we need the Forge Name as well as being able to afford expeditions. 180 bits for 3 turns is a lot more expensive than 100 bits+a Selene AP for 3 turns of Biedde, especially when we don't really have great need for him next turn.

 

[Pittauro]

Windy just... isn't a realistic risk of winning a contested summon against Selene on turn 25. He's not even really a realistic chance of even being able to attempt it. Even if he inherited Neighnia and the remnants of Copper's cult it's extremely doubtful he's made that kind of progress.

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do we KNOW the timeout on summon applies to him too?

I think we never got a confirmation on that.

in terms of useful actions for Biedde... beside the Edge Sacrament (which could admittedly be delayed), we COULD, you know, send him on expeditions on his own. Or to FIND expedition sites for us.
and keep in mind, he also guards us.

IMPERFECTLY, I admit, but it's still extra security at a fairly low cost. For all we know nobles or changelings might try to attack us at some point.

 

[DelightedOne]

do we KNOW the timeout on summon applies to him too?

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Yes it does.

[UNIQUE]: Biedde is a unique creature. He may refuse summons at will, and will refuse re-summons for three full months should he be unsummoned for any reason (including if he is killed).

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[ses]

Biedde just isn't worth 60 bits/turn unless we're actually likely to be attacked at home (we are not realistically under threat of that in the short term), we're taking Edge influences from him and using them, or sending him on Expeditions where difficult combat is known to be the sticking point. Biedde isn't actually very good at Expeditions except for Combat hurdles! 3 Moth and nothing else isn't much selling point for Expeditions as an Axe-partner compared to Selene or Forge Name. He could maybe solo an Easy expedition, but Easy expeditions are likely to be handled by the Rarity/Axe combo instead. He's just not a good Axe partner unless we know that there's a difficult combat hurdle in store, harder than the standard Watchponies hurdle.

180 bits vs 100 bits+1 Selene AP is actually a big difference in cost for 3 turns of service, especially when we're not going to be able to make good use of him next turn.

I'd be down for the long monster hunting expedition if we can afford it and the book hunt expedition, which I very doubt we can, but I don't think we can justify the 60 bits cost for one turn instead of just spending that on 3 turns of a MITL on turn 23. We have to pay for the Forge Name, and the 3circle site might cost bits, and we have to pay for expeditions, and we have rituals we want to pay for, and 55 bits for 3 MITL actions is just better than 60 bits for 1 Biedde action considering we spent his entire action this turn on getting... 2 Risen actions.

 

[DelightedOne]

Biedde just isn't worth 60 bits/turn unless we're actually likely to be attacked at home (we are not realistically under threat of that in the short term)

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And we also have these

-Security Detail: Two ponies with varying status (usually 3/3 health and +15 personal combat) will be guarding your "home base" at all times. (But they will not follow you on expeditions, or join you in combats you initiate on your own). Increases the degree of suspicion suffered when strange things happen to you (but not when you perform strange activities).

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Which I suspect will lose the suspicion aspect when we fully convert the Bureau(because why would the Commissioner be suspicious at all?) so the only drawback will be gone and they will actually be loyal to our faction instead of plotting. Compared to Biedde they aren't much, but they certainly are not as bad in the danger sense.

 

[Greymere]

And we also have these

Which I suspect will lose the suspicion aspect when we fully convert the Bureau(because why would the Commissioner be suspicious at all?) so the only drawback will be gone and they will actually be loyal to our faction instead of plotting.

Click to shrink...

And if we want them to be even more effective... well, we now actually have a way of getting some Edge into them

Edit: Also I'd really like to social Cheerilee next turn w/ our free social (assuming we have Mareinette handle the final step of Spoiled), because like, she's a teacher! Both of our Confidants have their own unique perks (Rarity's dressmaking, Jade's ability to create/research rituals in place of Velvet), so I'm hopeful that perhaps initiating the teacher into the Lores might help us with manuscript-making, so we can level up the Bureau's Lores as the happen without eating up too much AP.

 

[Shaper47]

do we KNOW the timeout on summon applies to him too?

Click to shrink...

Not sure if it just applies to our faction or not.

But it's not like he costs anything to keep around. It's a zero bit cost.

Besides we someone to dig a prison, grab prisoners and give out edge lessons.

Also he helps keep us and our family safe. Unless we want to put Selene on guard duty.