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

Reader mode
@OurLadyOfWires Just a weird question I was thinking of, but since one of the purposes of The Bureau and similar organisations is not to let Celestia down, could we take leave and spend some of our actions locked on the job into the Cadance FO?
 
ses said:
That was the chance of rolling a 96+ in general before running out of time, including on turns 25+ after rolling some number of 70+'s

And it makes me incredibly frustrated and angry when people assign capabilities to Biedde that not even the Master had, and expecting him to just completely disregard the rules in order to come kill us arbitrarily. Fuck, during the Master vote if I recall correctly it was even explicit the Master would have been stuck in the Mansus for 3 full turns if we had chosen to Wrong Key.
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spiderhellian said:
Hm? If we roll well, we get an extra turn. If we roll well on that turn, we get yet another, and so on…
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I think I misunderstood what you were saying originally, sorry about that @ses
 
Shaper47 said:
@OurLadyOfWires Can we send our Bureau Constables on expeditions like The Chocked City so that the Bureau is paying the expedition costs?
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You can send the Bureau on expeditions. You could do that all along.

You also can join the Bureau's actions yourself. And now, you can have Names participate in Bureau activities.

By sheer fairness, all of those should be combined to mean that you can have the Bureau perform an expedition, and have yourself and the Names catch a ride on it.

But we do have a few problems.

First, the Bureau is still in its awkward teenage "this is just who I am mom" phase where it is not fully educated in the Lores. Which means that the expedition might have some unexpected interactions or restrictions if you involve the Bureau.
The easiest problem to think of is that the Bureau will simply miss artifacts or rewards because they won't know how to identify them. And before you say "this is silly, we will be there" remember that expeditions are not tunnels through which all characters walk in a single file. I like to think the world is a bit more real than that.
And other problems could be... well, I am an inventive person.

Second, I also cannot let you "have your cake and eat it" for the low low price of a single Commissioner Action of "get your hoofs dirty" or "Consult for the Bureau."
So, although we will still iron out the details better later, I can say that if the Constables engage in an expedition and you want in (and I say this because we are all eyeing those LONG expeditions, which in-world take weeks), then most of your efforts will be focused on that, and you might not benefit other things as much.

But that's a conversation for later. "Getting your hoofs dirty" and "Consulting" will still be more efficient than spending a full personal action just to join an expedition, so it will be a balancing game.

DelightedOne said:
@OurLadyOfWires was Smiles's bonus not bonusing on purpose like Biedde?
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Thank you, I'll get it fixed.

I made the mistake of putting the same information on several different places, like menus on a game. So I always miss stuff when trying to update it.

dcoconeo said:
@OurLadyOfWires Just a weird question I was thinking of, but since one of the purposes of The Bureau and similar organisations is not to let Celestia down, could we take leave and spend some of our actions locked on the job into the Cadance FO?
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No.

But mostly because having less actions is the price to pay for the Bureau. I can cook up a narrative reason for that, but that wouldn't change the underlying reason.

You can have your Constables give you one AP if you want, for that effect.

Shaper47 said:
@OurLadyOfWires Pretty sure you meant "old" instead of "told" there.
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Will fix it. Thank you.



All in all, I hope you are all doing well.

Voting will close in around 24 hours from posting this message. Because I don't have any time to interact with the quest right now, although-
Adhoc vote count started by OurLadyOfWires on Jan 8, 2026 at 3:06 PM, finished with 240 posts and 28 votes.
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-the writing is on the wall.

I've been thinking a lot about Áine as of late. But more on that later.
 
OurLadyOfWires said:
I've been thinking a lot about Áine as of late. But more on that later.
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Stop giving me inspiration damn it! I already wrote 2 omakes in less than a month and now I'm rewritting/finishing another!

You know what? Okay, I can deal with this. Guess it is time to start making a Celestia omake too.

But seriosly if that is not a hint about one of the positive opportunities of Soothing the Sun being fillyfing Celestia I don't know what that is...

Alright I lied that can also be the hint of our next RA. And I WILL vote for it.
 
DelightedOne said:
But seriosly if that is not a hint about one of the positive opportunities of Soothing the Sun being fillyfing Celestia I don't know what that is...
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Would that be a positive outcome...?

I mean, the only other circumstance that we know of that would have resulted in Aine would have been. Well. Not particularly positive, for us or for the world.
 
Greymere said:
Would that be a positive outcome...?

I mean, the only other circumstance that we know of that would have resulted in Aine would have been. Well. Not particularly positive, for us or for the world.
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It could. If it is not Wolf themed.

Selene's existence was described on a bittersweet tone.
OurLadyOfWires said:
By the laws of the harsher of the two universes, she is in this state. She is Selene, and she is lost.

By the laws of the kinder of the two universes, it is possible for her to recover. She will, if helped correctly, once again be Princess Luna.

She will, if helped correctly, perhaps even be more. Certain experiences can change us, but growth is a natural part of life.
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So that is what I'm hoping for.
 
OurLadyOfWires said:
Second, I also cannot let you "have your cake and eat it" for the low low price of a single Commissioner Action of "get your hoofs dirty" or "Consult for the Bureau."
So, although we will still iron out the details better later, I can say that if the Constables engage in an expedition and you want in (and I say this because we are all eyeing those LONG expeditions, which in-world take weeks), then most of your efforts will be focused on that, and you might not benefit other things as much.

But that's a conversation for later. "Getting your hoofs dirty" and "Consulting" will still be more efficient than spending a full personal action just to join an expedition, so it will be a balancing game.
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Ok so it does sound like we can get the Forge 6 reagent via Constables+Commissioner action then? Am I understanding you right? Commissioner+Constables AP+Smiles is a much more reasonable expenditure than 190 bits plus a Velvet AP after all. We lose out on our Commissioner action and Smiles AP but gain 190 bits. It'd penalize our Investigator action but.. uh... "meh" sounds like the word to use in regards to that?


Okay:
Knock: Shattered Stairways
Winter: Risen
Forge: Lantern 1, 5 bits
Social AP: Cadance
Velvet: Moth Sacrament
Velvet: Invitation to Dinner
Velvet: Cadance
Velvet: Cadance
Cover Your Bases: Cadance
Cover Your Bases: Cadance

Baldomare: Lantern lesson
Mareinette+Axe: Quarry, 300 bits
Smiles Troublemaker: Manehattan: 25 bits
Smiles: Consult with Bureau
Cherenkolt: Be an Artifact (Forge+?)
Selene: Soothe the Night
Selene: Smiles befriending
Selene: Summon a MITL, 55 bits+Lantern 1 reagent

Jade: Study an Artifact(Moth 3)
Rarity: Commission
Fluttercomet: Graverob
Filthy: Bases

Servants: Bases
Risen: Bases
Risen: Bases
MITL: Bases

Commissioner: Hoofs Dirty
Director: Secret histories?
Detectives: Windy?
Constables: Choked City

Expenditure: 300+5+55+25=385 bits

Something like this? Sacrifices Mayor Mare in order to get 5 Cadance AP, which should be safe. Doesn't make much progress on Smiles, but we can double-Mareinette it next turn if Selene fails the coinflip next turn. It also assumes we get Filthy's AP next turn which I'm unclear on. If not then we're probably stuck doing 4 Cadance AP and getting a bit more Smiles progress.
 
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OurLadyOfWires said:
I've been thinking a lot about Áine as of late. But more on that later.
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DelightedOne said:
But seriosly if that is not a hint about one of the positive opportunities of Soothing the Sun being fillyfing Celestia I don't know what that is...

Alright I lied that can also be the hint of our next RA. And I WILL vote for it.
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Greymere said:
Would that be a positive outcome...?

I mean, the only other circumstance that we know of that would have resulted in Aine would have been. Well. Not particularly positive, for us or for the world.
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DelightedOne said:
It could. If it is not Wolf themed.

Selene's existence was described on a bittersweet tone.

So that is what I'm hoping for.
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I mean

Selene was a dream made real through Luna's power and Harmony's mercy. It stands to reason that Luna could do such dreamsmithing again...
 
OurLadyOfWires said:
But then, there is also the fact that you just heard about "rumors" going on in Ponyville, that the local cemetery has been disturbed. Which means that Comet Feet wasn't so subtle about his actions when he delivered you that body a few weeks ago.
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@OurLadyOfWires I'm confused about this as well. Shouldn't Axe have done this action? I'm very confused about what Axe's second AP this turn could have possibly been. The only other things she could have done was Attention of the Laws which doesn't require a roll.
 
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Temporary Threadmark - Informational draft New
ses said:
@OurLadyOfWires I'm confused about this as well. Shouldn't Axe have done this action? I'm very confused about what Axe's second AP this turn could have possibly been. The only other things she could have done was Attention of the Laws which doesn't require a roll.
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Really not important to be honest. In my final notes I had Comet get a body, and that was that.


I have a few minutes to string this together. This is not an update for the quest, and I'm putting it here because 1) the writing on the wall for the winning vote is nearly certain, and 2) I would like to start the Follower's Phase by the end of the weekend, which means the "In between turns" vote should ideally end by this coming Sunday.

So, the next thing to be posted will be the "In between turns" vote. And here is what you will be presented with when the time comes, so you can start thinking about it if you would like.


You will be INFORMED that:
-If the Bureau (Constables) go on an expedition (such as one of the Long expeditions), then you CANNOT guarantee they will reap all possible rewards. However, you CAN guarantee that they will AT LEAST find the scryed reward (Reagent 6 or Book 7) if either Velvet or one Name Consultant participates in the expedition.
-You will have a Bureau option to "Analyse your options regarding the Changeling Colony" (can be picked by either Investigator action or Commissioner action)
-You will have a Bureau option to "Study the Husk carcass" (can be picked by Commissioner action, and you can guarantee you will have the husk corpse until the end of turn 23, after that there is a risk Eclipse and Celestia catch wind of it)
-You have discovered a new area in the Mansus from your exploration on turn 22.
-The following Fleeting Opportunities will be available.
--HELP CADANCE (assuming the current vote wins, can use Velvet actions, Velvet social action, or Mareinette)
--Contact "Someone" from Steppes' parting gift (this FO will not disappear, but it will become weaker the more turns you take to pick it)
--An FO on how you want to deal with Filthy Rich (it will be a write-in, and will be a free action, where you specify how to Confidante Filthy Rich)
--Options to deal with your current wound.

You will be asked to VOTE for:
-Whether to go on "All In"
-Moods of Mareinette
-Mareinette rebinding
-What you will read with your remaining Turn 22 reading action.
-Whether you want to scry (scout) an expedition.


Turn 22 was long and involved, so let me know if there is anything I missed, that should "roll over" from Turn 22.

Voting for the current options (Selene's consequences) is STILL OPEN.

I hope you are all doing well.
 
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Greymere said:
@OurLadyOfWires will our Investigators be able to take an action regarding researching the husk corpse?
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I knew I had forgotten something.

Thank you, and no. That'll be a Commissioner action.

"Investigator" actions are better suited by stuff that can be done by a few dozens of grizzled investigators over the course of a whole week (EDIT) month. Dissecting the husk corpse is more of a "done in a lab, under the Bureau" kind of thing.
Besides, think of it this way. Even if it could be an investigator action, I couldn't possibly explain why all the investigators sat idle for a whole month while two named characters were cutting up a corpse.
This needs to be a brass action, so it needs to be Velvet doing it.

I'll add it to the notes. Let me know if I missed anything else!
 
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Okay, personally I think I'll be in favor of playing with fire vis-a-vis Smiles, and do Smiles+Selene on Bureau consult(Choked City) as well as 5 Cadance AP. We can do irresponsible things for Smiles Befriending progress on Turn 24 if we need to. Double Mareinette+quadruple Velvet+double Selene+mortal Confidantes gets us there I think. That leaves us 1 Velvet AP natural for purification, and we'd need to get one more from Bases for Map's Edge.

If the thread doesn't want to commit to that on Turn 24 if we fail the T23 coin-flip I think we go down to 4 Cadance AP rather than nix the MITL or not have Selene do Consult. A MITL this turn makes life a lot easier with Bases AP as well as +5 Lantern levels and an extra body for All In

@OurLadyOfWires if at least one Name Consults do they get to bring our artifacts to the expedition? Because considering that DoA+Mareinette is already a very powerful team we might have Cherenkolt Consult instead of be an artifact if he can't be brought to Choked City otherwise.


I mean... tbh that'd free up Smiles to double Manehatten instead and his Lores aren't exactly great for Choked City regardless.
 
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I say send the Bureau, and maybe Selene and a Maid in the Mirror on the Reagent 6 hunt.

While Ax and maybe Mareinette go for the Level 7 Book.

Saving the money by using the Bureau solves our money issues for the few turns left before All in.
 
AotL: Lantern
Knock: Shattered Stairways
Winter: Risen
Forge: Lantern 1(5 bits)
Leash: Spoiled Rich
Social: Help Cadance
Velvet: Moth Sacrament(Spoiled Rich)
Velvet: Invitation to Dinner(Prisoner)
Velvet: Help Cadance
Velvet: Help Cadance
Bases: Help Cadance
Bases: Help Cadance

Selene: Soothe the Night
Selene: Consult with the Bureau
Selene: Summon a Mare-in-the-Light(55 bits, Lantern 1)
Baldomare: Lantern Lesson
Axe: Quarry (150 bits)
Mareinette: Quarry (150 bits)
Cherenkolt: Consult with the Bureau (Forge+Secret Histories)
Troublemaker: Manehattan (25 bits)
Smiles: Graverob

Jade Whistle: Study an Artifact(Moth 3)
Rarity: Commission
Fluttershy/Comet Feet: Cover Your Bases

Servants: Cover Your Bases
Risen: Cover Your Bases
Risen: Cover Your Bases
Mare-in-the-Light: Cover Your Bases

Detectives: Investigate an Opponent (Windy Flakes)
Constables: Choked City
Commissioner: Dissect the Husk
Director: Secret Histories
385 bits expended


Provisional plan. Certainly room for tweaks. This commits us to burning basically all our AP on turn 24 on Smiles if we fail the coin flip(Which we can do if needed while still fitting in SH/Lantern sacraments), but it basically certainly resolves the nuclear meltdown with flying colors. Cherenkolt not being an artifact might be surprising but the DoA+Mareinette team is already stacked so I dont think they really need the extra 6 forge levels (not even adding a reroll), and it adds an extra generic Name AP to our faction. Yes graverobbing feels weak but it's Bases AP. Smiles isn't exactly stellar on Consult duty anyway. No investigative skills and combat skills aren't really what the Constables need more of in Choked City. He'd just be there to provide the generic Name general bonus, which Cherenkolt can do as a non-artifact, plus adding SH levels to the Windy investigation and possibly having interesting things to say about the dissection.

Lantern's application bonus is "Discover the secrets within an object" so it probably applies to the dissection. And it doesn't sound like any lore Attentions will help with the nuclear meltdown.
 
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Greymere said:
So... why the MitL?
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+5 Lantern levels and an extra 3 hp 3 edge combatant for All In if end of turn 24 is go time, and it's AP in the meantime, which makes cover your bases and therefore Smiles befriending a lot easier. Not quite as good for turn 24 Smiles as just doing a Smiles-Selene AP but it's actually pretty damn close while being oodles more flexible. +3 Smiles progress vs probably +2 smiles progress by freeing up a mortal confidant to help with smiles next turn while still getting our bases AP we'd need to do Velvet-Smiles.

Rafuki22 said:
So we put the Leash on the Mayor right after?
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No, that plan sacrifices the Mayor entirely, as it doesn't dedicate a social action to making her a normal Friend, so the leash can't make her a Close Friend.

only 3 AP on Help Cadance seems suicidal to me. 4 is the baseline minimum I think.
 
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spiderhellian said:
Don't forget Smiles' free short expedition, assuming we have the bits!

(Which is kinda another argument for Artefact Cherenkolt, though perhaps not a convincing one.)
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It's in there, under "Troublemaker"

Yeah Cherenkolts AP could go either way, but attending the Choked City for free while also providing at least some narrative benefits to the Bureau (and +3 SH levels to Windy finding) tips it over for me, while his artifactness isn't really needed for Manehattan, and DoA+Mareinette is frankly already stacked enough. "Mechanical and narrative" benefits are promised and the Bureau will be doing the expedition, and Windy-finding, and the dissection. Being an artifact means only +lore levels to the expedition as well as to the Quarry and Manehattan.
 
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[X] The Royal Apartment has become distressingly hot, to the point that even Princess Celestia's guards (ceremonial as they were) have been prohibited from approaching it. This has become the most crucial issue on Princess Cadance's agenda.
 
Rafuki22 said:
If we ask Mareinette to help likely not.
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Yeah, every Mareinette ap is worth at least 2 Velvet ap.

So two Mareinette ap and one Velvet ap would be the equivalent of 5 Velvet ap.

Minimize Cherenkolt (Grail secondary) and add him to Smiles and Axe expeditions.

Smiles on consult Bureau
Investigators "Analyse your options regarding the Changeling Colony" (Edge Name helps)
Constables on Choked City (Smiles picks up forge reagent)
 
A little more picking around the edges…

ses said:
Smiles: Graverob
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Is the +1 follower AP next turn really worth it when we were explicitly flagged as having garnered suspicion due to grave robbing this turn?

ses said:
Baldomare: Lantern Lesson
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Just wondering, if we do have to go all out on Smiles next turn, can we fit the Lantern sacrament in? I guess it's DoA+anyone, not that pricy.

Oh wait it doesn't even cost the followers actions. Huh. Nvm.
 
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Shaper47 said:
So two Mareinette ap and one Velvet ap would be the equivalent of 5 Velvet ap.
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Only problem with this(aside from the questionable math) is that we don't have 2 Mareinette actions next turn.

Just one, that will only be 2 if we befriend her by taking her Sacrament first. Like, the turn before, so we only have 2 Mareinette actions on turn 24.
 
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