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

Reader mode
OK im terms of Coward turn planning....

I dont think we can afford a turn 23 Smiles summon.

Tentatively:
Mareinette Heart lesson
Velvet moth/grail/mapsedge/social action on mayor mare, Grail attention
Biedde "pursue religious goals" from now on: his gathering soldiers will never pay off unknown to him as he doesn't know that Glory is a prize at this table.
Then on Turn 24 we heart lesson+immanence assuming that we didn't get blindsided by a part 2 requirement to Mareinette friendship, summon Smiles for 135 bits at 96%, and do Ruined Church 2 with Immanenence and Heart 4, assuming that we heal the wound with just Heartifact bonus on t23 and nothing else. Dedicate our social action to micromanage.


@OurLadyOfWires can Mareinette Honored Guest as Velvet's social AP and therefore micromanage by herself?
 
[X] Plan: Compromising more than only a little
-[X] (MAP) Let the Bureau have it.
-[X] (PRISONER) Take him.
-[X] (LOOT) I will steal from the poor, innocent pony prisoners.
-[X] (THING) Capture it.

[X] Plan The Rich Path Forward
-[X] (THING) Kill it.
-[X] (LOOT) I will steal from the poor, innocent pony prisoners.
-[X] (PRISONER) Take him.
-[X] (MAP) Take it for yourself.

[X] Plan Full Greed
-[X] (MAP) Take it for yourself.
-[X] (PRISONER) Take him.
-[X] (LOOT) I will steal from the poor, innocent pony prisoners.
-[X] (THING) Capture it.

[X] Plan: The Mothy Path Forward

[X] Plan No loose ends

[X] You will take the coward's way out.

DelightedOne said:
The Fourth Son
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Awesome omake...

Only

DelightedOne said:
The whispers of Blood will influence ponies to take drastic actions to achieve their own desires, it is not like it is any easier, mind you, but if that risky idea works then shouldn't you at least try? What is so wrong with a little competition?
Sacrifice will be more common, necessary or not, betrayal will be significantly more present among ponies.
And lastly, while it may not sound as relevant as other issues, there will be less foals born in the World.
At least he has not visited the Church yet, but it is only a matter of time.
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DelightedOne said:
The line has been crossed, filth overflows and gets closer to consuming what remains. But coming this far has given knowledge to this soul, knowledge of the truth behind the corruption of a once pure pony and its consequences to the World."
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This feels like Son slander.

Agency isn't so easily violated.
 
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ses said:
Biedde "pursue religious goals" from now on: his gathering soldiers will never pay off unknown to him as he doesn't know that Glory is a prize at this table.
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They'd still pay off for him because the Colonel/Lionsmith battle continues whether or not Glory is claimed by another. They'd just be trying harder to win us over to one side or the other.
It probably won't affect Velvet much, admittedly.
 
[X] Plan: Compromising more than only a little
-[X] (MAP) Let the Bureau have it.
-[X] (PRISONER) Take him.
-[X] (LOOT) I will steal from the poor, innocent pony prisoners.
-[X] (THING) Capture it.


[X] You will take Smiles' offer
 
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Talon Tiger Dino said:
They'd still pay off for him because the Colonel/Lionsmith battle continues whether or not Glory is claimed by another. They'd just be trying harder to win us over to one side or the other.
It probably won't affect Velvet much, admittedly.
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also I'm going to point out again that reaching Glory does NOT inherently mean omnipotence.

If it did, then whoever got to the Glory first would never be defeated, and yet the world changes, as do the ruling Hours.

Even the Sun In Splendor, who (supposedly) came from Glory was merely the Greatest of the Hours, but not invincible. And that's not even counting the Gods-from-Nowhere, about whome we know basically nothing in this setting, and extremely little in CS as well.

The Colonel and the Lionsmith will still be alive once Velvet ascends. Depending on what level of power she reaches after passing the Tricuspid, she might be able to just beat/ignore Biedde and go in the Museum to play Kingmaker.
 
It's unfortunate as I think Biedde's moth sub-affinity and general disposition are a better fit for Velvet's overall cult aesthetic. But there was a very simple purpose for the duel in the first place. Power. Gathering it up to kill an Outsider. As methods go this was relatively cheap in blood and free of moral qualms.

To me the Colonel is out of the question. We didn't come this far to reach our goal in servitude to another. That held true for both the Crown and the Master. Like others have said, Velvet believes she knows better, for good or ill.

Deferring the decision seems a waste. Admittedly, adding an entire edge dyad to the name hotel would be funny. But we would have to challenge Biedde again and accept the Colonel for the edge sacrament later on, or seek out Smiles. No doubt a future sacrament from Smiles will have a cost in blood too. Why bother having to pay that again? Whichever sacrament we take will lead back to this crossroads. Unless we give up on the edge sacrament or pray for a worthy opponent to appear, which seems unwise.

Then that leaves Smiles. We get the sacrament we wanted, in exchange for having to look over our backs for the specter of Biedde. In the rush for Glory, I think his traits will ultimately prove more useful with our hunger for resources that expeditions can provide. Guarding against knives to the throat is necessary, but when has that not been necessary? And there is the potential to bring him to All-In. We may still choose to not do it if it requires servitude to the Lionsmith, but that's more than what Biedde was offering anyway.
 
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To be honest, I don't want us to get inbetween the lover's spat. Making an enemy of a Name might seem irrelevant given how close we are to Glory, until we take too long and he will stand right in front of us. The future is still uncertain, let's not worry about getting assassinated by an Edge Name.

[X] Plan The Rich Path Forward

[X] You will take the coward's way out.
 
Pittauro said:
I forget, can we still do Moth Sacrament next turn if we pick this with Spoiled Rich?
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No, we can't, because it completely locks up our Leash until T24 at the minimum. So not only does it mean we can't do our Moth Sacrament next turn, but it also means that our only hope for Mayor Mare not getting shoveled would be to throw Mareinette at her at hope she jumps two stages. And frankly, Mareinette's AP is almost certainly going to be put to better use shoring up DoA on the Level 7 book expedition.

[] Plan: Don't Bother With the Small Stuff
-[] (MAP) Let the Bureau have it.
-[] (PRISONER) Leave him.
-[] (LOOT) I will do the right thing, and not steal.
-[] (THING) Capture it.

[X] Plan: The Mothy Path Forward
-[X] (MAP) Take it for yourself.
-[X] (PRISONER) Leave him.
-[X] (LOOT) I will steal from the poor, innocent pony prisoners.
-[X] (THING) Kill it.

As Rich Path Forward, but without taking the prisoner because we have better uses of our Leash than +1 regular pony minion, who may or may not end up coming with Even More Complications. Like doing our Moth Sacrament, which is our single defense against the Celestia doomclock.

[X] You will take Smiles' offer.
 
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[X] Plan: Delighted Wants These
[X] Plan The Right Path Forward
[X] Plan: Don't Bother With the Small Stuff
[X] Plan No loose ends with morals

[X] You will take Smiles' offer

While I can see some merit from deferring a decision, we do need more Sacraments for the All-In Expedition.
 
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[X] Plan: Don't Bother With the Small Stuff
-[X] (MAP) Let the Bureau have it.
-[X] (PRISONER) Leave him.
-[X] (LOOT) I will do the right thing, and not steal.
-[X] (THING) Capture it.

[X] You will take Smiles' offer.
 
Greymere said:
No, we can't, because it completely locks up our Leash until T24 at the minimum. So not only does it mean we can't do our Moth Sacrament next turn, but it also means that our only hope for Mayor Mare not getting shoveled would be to throw Mareinette at her at hope she jumps two stages. And frankly, Mareinette's AP is almost certainly going to be put to better use shoring up DoA on the Level 7 book expedition.
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I'm going to point out it's not a sure thing Mayor Mare will die.

It's possible they'll go for a scandal, or maybe try to get someone else elected in her place.

Admittedly death IS possible though.

I'll think more about the prisoner thing later then, the vote will go on for long enough anyway. We COULD potentially delay the Moth Sacrament by one turn, if we truly had to (the one that can't be delayed at all is Mareinette's, really), the question is if a Minion is worth that.

an unquestionably loyal minion COULD be potentially worth this. Especially because we don't know what kind of pony it is, but we get to build them a bit. It might be able to bring money, or have connections, or some valuable skill. It could be a permanent guard added to our security, an explorer for expeditions... It could be a target for Moth or Lantern Sacrament...

There's lots of possibilities.
 
Absolute worst comes to worst, we wind up Moth sacrificing our new Minion —even using the leash on them, we're not risking death by Celestia due to the delayed Moth sacrament.
 
[X] Plan No loose ends
-[X] (MAP) Take it for yourself.
-[X] (PRISONER) Leave him.
-[X] (LOOT) I will steal from the poor, innocent pony prisoners.
-[X] (THING) Kill it, and burn its corpse.

[X] Plan No loose ends with morals
-[X] (MAP) Take it for yourself.
-[X] (PRISONER) Leave him.
-[X] (LOOT) I will do the right thing, and not steal.
-[X] (THING) Kill it, and burn its corpse.

[X] You will take Smiles' offer

I want the map, I mentioned before I'm intrigued by why they can't find their hive. I want answers and the Bureau can focus on other things. We don't have time to deal with the prisoner as tempting as it to gain a minion. I'm leaning steal the loot, but fine either way. Ultimately I don't think the thing is worth the risk. At least most are voting to kill it, but I'd rather just get rid of it.

I'm reluctantly taking Smiles deal for now. I don't really like it, or getting involved in their dispute, but I want the sacrament and his has less strings. If they weren't so damn expensive I'd vote for the coward's path to have both summoned and I'm still tempted to change my mind.
 
spiderhellian said:
Absolute worst comes to worst, we wind up Moth sacrificing our new Minion —even using the leash on them, we're not risking death by Celestia due to the delayed Moth sacrament.
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You understand why I'm reluctant to leave our lifeline until the very last minute in a quest prone to throwing sudden emergencies on our plate, yes? Especially for a minion of dubious usage, who locks up our Leash indefinitely, who might just end up making our life more complicated when we really don't need that, and who we'd have to train up, during a time where we still haven't even bothered leveling up Rarity to Level 4 yet?
 
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[X] You will take the coward's way out.

Sorry Smiles, but a Sacrament isn't worth giving up a Name. You'll just have to make peace with trying to win over a small filly instead.

Edit: A Sacrament gets us 1 level of Edge with some extra benefits, and an extremely dangerous enemy, at the cost of 6 Edge Levels, 3 Moth Levels, and automatic bodyguarding. Just summon the big cat normally and we won't have to worry about the world's greatest assassin blowing our head off with a blowpipe after his summoning cooldown.
 
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[X] Plan: The Mothy Path Forward

[X] You will take Smiles' offer.

Forgot to vote.

Also as an interesting parallel, the final roll against Biedde that let us evade the guillotine had a ~9% chance to win and reach the 50 overflow required to wound him. Some consolation for the 5% loss during the home defense that led to us dancing with death.

Edit: On consideration, I can see the merits in not having an assassin after our cult assets. It still seems a waste and would delay the edge sacrament for an unknown amount of time. But I could tolerate it.

[X] You will take the coward's way out.
 
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[X] Plan: The Mothy Path Forward

[X] You will take Smiles' offer.
 
Wise Wolf said:
But who could summon him in as little as 3 turns?
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He has been in the Wake for a while and has at least one (rich) minion we know of.

He could also have left reagents behind for edge, or advice to find an edge artifact, is very well suited for Changeling sacrificing and could have an interest buff.

Something like 40 edge dc (30 edge artifact (bought for a handfull of bit or stolen) +20 interest + 10 magic), 10 knock dc (40 sacrifice + 20 interest + 10 magic) and auto moth (80 sacrifice alone) is easily possible
 
Yeah, unlike the Master, Biedde would give clear instructions to his soldiers on how to make things happen.

If he can communicate with his followers without being summoned like the Master could, then things get worse because he can cripple our efforts without ever setting hoof in the Wake. Rarity is a massive weakpoint of ours, for example, and even a slight bit of Edge is probably more than enough for a pony to kill her.
 
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