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

[DelightedOne]

Heart-Songs

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Heh. Heartsongs mentions always make me happy.

This is actually pretty great. Honestly I don't know if it would be helpful but my main "tactic" when I'm writing is to make a mind-movie of the plot and if I don't like it the problem is usually on the primary concept I used not being compatible with one of the other elements in the current version.

If his headspace was hard to get into then you could try to develop his character a bit more in your head with other things(basically trying to make a profile for him), that way you can have a clear idea of how he sees the world.

 

[ses]

Alright, if we're determined to send more than one pony to the Hills estate and do Edge Sacrament, we can drop Rarity, move Soft's Request into the free social slot now that we've confirmed that's allowed, and have Rarity do double-commission. That lets us send Biedde alongside Axe for +3 moth and whatever narrative help an extra person to carry cargo provides. We can then use the freed up AP for Edge Sacrament with only +1 Bases action for (Social)Soft's Request/Study/Study/Study/Forge Summoning/Edge Sacrament as our total actions for the turn. Comet and the Risen do Edge AotLs while Filthy and Servants do Bases, Rarity does a commission, and Axe spends one AP on the assault, her second AP is a bit of a wildcard. Wrong Keys? Third Edge AotL? We guaranteed don't get access to a 3circle site next turn.

Spoiler: Proposal Edge Sacrament+Kidnap Hills plan

Selene	Scry Book		AotL	Edge
Selene	Scry Reagent		Forge	Forge 2
Selene	Soothe the Night		Winter
Axe	Kidnap Hills		Grail	Filthy
Axe	Wrong Keys		Knock	Stairways
Baldomare	Lantern Influence		Social	Soft's Request
Mareinette	Honored Guest+Assault		Velvet	Forge Name
Biedde	Edge Influence+Assault		Velvet	Edge Sacrament
Forge Name	Build a Prison		Velvet	Study Books
Rarity	Commission		Velvet	Study Artifacts
Fluttercomet	Edge AotL		Bases	Study Artifacts
Jade	LOCKED
Servants	Bases
Risen	Edge AotL
Detectives	Dodge Junction
Constables	Tall Tale
Commissioner	Hoofs Dirty
Filthy	Bases

Spoiler

Selene	Scry Book		AotL	Edge
Selene	Scry Reagent		Forge	Forge 2
Selene	Soothe the Night		Winter
Axe	Kidnap Hills		Grail
Axe	3circle site		Knock	Stairways
Baldomare	Lantern Influence		Social	Teach Rarity
Mareinette	Honored Guest		Velvet	Forge Name
Biedde	Edge Influence		Velvet	Soft's Request
Forge Name	Build a Prison		Velvet	Study Books
Rarity	3circle site		Velvet	Study Artifacts
Fluttercomet	3circle site		Bases	Study Artifacts
Jade	LOCKED
Servants	Bases
Risen	Bases
Detectives	Dodge Junction
Constables	Tall Tale
Commissioner	Hoofs Dirty

This plan gives up Edge Sacrament in order to teach Rarity and put 3 follower AP on getting a 3circle site established. Subject to change on QM comments on what a 3circle site requires. Less risky and gets the permanent upgrade to Rarity's income while leaving the door open to double commissioning on turns 23 and 24 with the benefit of higher lore levels. It also doesn't leash Filthy Rich, though it can likely be edited to do so if the thread wants to.

Honestly I just dont think the benefits are worth risking a 2nd Rarity commission in a row. We can do Edge Sacrament if the thread really wants to and give up on 3circle site and teaching rarity, but I dont think a 2nd train ticket to canterlot is a good idea.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Clearly we should just send Mareinette to get him

 

[Flaregamer82253]

Clearly we should just send Mareinette to get him

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...Actually, yeah, if we were gonna send anybody to try and cover an Axe weakness, Mareinette is better than Biedde in case we run into social. And they're going into an estate. This will require disguises! And we have a rare chance to reprise a missed opportunity.

Hell, this fits the narrative of having Mareinette picking up the ingredients so that she could start cooking!

And besides, getting prisoners is a Grail action in Cultist Simulator, not an Edge or Moth action.

 

[ses]

I mean I suppose we could just Name-bomb him with total overkill if we're doing double-commission. Use the extra Names to handle the "Acquire moveable assets" bonus objective.

 

[Xoden]

There's a REASON why I... kinda gave up on skipping her, even as I've explicitly stated multiple times how I think her Sacrament is the second worst, morally speaking, right after the Wolf One (if a VERY distant second).

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Yeah. Personal Grail Sacrament both looks more interesting and far less reprehensible. But far harder to achieve, and the mood is a pressing need to get a shot of Power fast.
Probably would have been really easy in a hypothetical 'wide' build, but not now with only 1/3 prerequisites and unknown amounts of effort to complete.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

You misunderstand; I mean just Mareinette. Hence the .

Also we should remember that the DoA detests Mareinette and her monstrous ways, so sending Mareinette with DoA to get Hills for Mareinette's Sacrament is really just rubbing ludicrous amounts of salt into that wound.

Honestly, if you just wanted to send one pony? Velvet might be the best bet, mechanically speaking. She covers every Lore to the point that she'll beat a Name's General Bonus. Narratively... it might be best to keep Velvet physically distant from the scene of the kidnapping.

 

[spiderhellian]

Eating Velvet Hill is a bad idea

1. We are close to All In. There are many things we want to achieve before then, and we want our focus on those things. As I believe @Greymere mentioned, it's therefore valuable to not make a mess. Not cause craziness we'll need to deal with or that'll throw off our plans. Kiling our father would make a mess. We're killing off our family's head. We're killing a mafia-org's head at the same time it's second-in-command is leaving. This is going to be a mess.

2. We don't need to. I'm not even talking about Girldinner here. But for the same cost of effort, we could just... abduct literally anyone else. A random criminal off the street, if we'd like.

3. We're way overconfident on its easiness. This is the head of a mob family. You don't think he's going to have some capacity to escape? Some level of guards? Names are strong, but this is risky!

 

[ses]

Eating Velvet Hill is a bad idea

1. We are close to All In. There are many things we want to achieve before then, and we want our focus on those things. As I believe @Greymere mentioned, it's therefore valuable to not make a mess. Not cause craziness we'll need to deal with or that'll throw off our plans. Kiling our father would make a mess. We're killing off our family's head. We're killing a mafia-org's head at the same time it's second-in-command is leaving. This is going to be a mess.

2. We don't need to. I'm not even talking about Girldinner here. But for the same cost of effort, we could just... abduct literally anyone else. A random criminal off the street, if we'd like.

3. We're way overconfident on its easiness. This is the head of a mob family. You don't think he's going to have some capacity to escape? Some level of guards? Names are strong, but this is risky!

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I agree with all three points but not necessarily to the level of agreeing with the conclusion?

Velvet Hill "has the Annoyance tag", it was always intended to be a perfectly viable to just send a powerful Edge follower. And Names are indeed strong and I do expect Hill to have defenses, but also I expect that we'll be able to pick up moveable assets that pay for the cost multiple times over, and that actually does help. I don't know if I'd rely on Axe to solo it with perfect reliability but two or three names should be more than enough to handle whatever hurdles exist. Biedde is the Name of Assassination, more than he is the name of guarding. This is exactly what he's good for.

As for making a mess... Reproach is a devoted minion now and the Bureau takes orders from us. We already delayed dealing with The Changeling Threat, our organization's main purpose, for two months. It wont even be a blip on the radar for us to not assign resources towards Hill and leave it for the local police (who will be helpless to deal with 6-7 moth levels plus Name specialty bonuses).

Honestly I kind of want to send Axe on a burglary mission at this point even if plans for Mareinette befriending fail. We need bits, Axe needs something worthy of her to do this turn, we can do it safely in comparison to the payoffs. Burglary is literally the Cult Buisness for Knock followers and Axe is stronger in Knock than an Exalted Neville or Enid.