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

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Greymere said:
Real contentious vote here, I see :V
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I just pray this won't blow up in our faces (again).

Sigh, well I suppose wasting Mareinette on Whiteknighting pre determined this vote.

Not exactly happy about long term consequences of delaying investigating Stalking but playing it safe is admittedly understandable.

Hopefully Celestia will be defused so turn we won't have to keep helping Cadance.

We have Befriending Forge Name, Baldomare Sacraments, investigating Stalking and Befriending Smiles on the to do list afterall.

I'm kinda thinking of scrying two level 5 heart books. Would be nice for reaching heart 4.
 
dcoconeo said:
Dealing with Fascination or Despair would be terrible for our timetable, best not to get greedy and just stick with level 4?
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There's also the fact that "scrying Heart books" of any level only makes sense in the context of Celestia being defused entirely, seeing as the turnover for scryed material is 3 turns...
 
Shaper47 said:
I'm kinda thinking of scrying two level 5 heart books. Would be nice for reaching heart 4.
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Even assuming an optimistic timeline, barring a a miracle roll, we have a few turns left at most. Level 5 books are more than likely long expeditions. Better off looking for a level 3 book or two and mostly relying on lessons and/or influence from Mareinette if you want to get Heart 4
 
dcoconeo said:
Dealing with Fascination or Despair would be terrible for our timetable, best not to get greedy and just stick with level 4?
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Depends on how Baldomare's Lantern Sacrament works and how easy it is to get a max winter influence really.

If we're going for a Winter Sacrament we'd be aiming for a max Winter influence anyways afterall.

Greymere said:
There's also the fact that "scrying Heart books" of any level only makes sense in the context of Celestia being defused entirely, seeing as the turnover for scryed material is 3 turns...
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Depends if we're allowed to scry and perform expeditions in the same turn.

We've been allowed to pre turn scry before.

Solace2117 said:
Even assuming an optimistic timeline, barring a a miracle roll, we have a few turns left at most. Level 5 books are more than likely long expeditions. Better off looking for a level 3 book or two and mostly relying on lessons and/or influence from Mareinette if you want to get Heart 4
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Our last level 6 book expedition was only a short expedition. So expedition time is uncertain (aside from a level 6 Grail book, we know that would be a short expedition).

I've been suggesting level 3 Heart books for ages now and nobody has been interested. Heart 5 books provide 2 scraps for us an gives traits.

Using Heart influence for level 3 scraps is such a waste.
 
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dcoconeo said:
Not at all, Neighnia is not with us, and if we lowroll that we would be in trouble?
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Well we have a bonus of 93 if Velvet's rolling for herself.

So a dc of 57 with a reroll for a max influence.

Not sure on the exact percentage but decent odds.

If what we care about is just reading protection then a level 3 influence with maybe a Winter Aotl or two is probably good enough.

So a dc of 17 with a reroll for level 3 influence (one winter scrap).

Besides the Winter influence could be called the turn before hand so I don't see how we would be in trouble.

Even with just a level 3 influence Velvet has around a 80 bonus to resist dread or fascination with a reroll.

At worst we lowroll despite the preparations pulling a Selene and get a fascination or dread. Fascination which can be dealt with an expiring light snatching maid.

If we're actually staying around long enough to care about dread we could just have Selene perform the Incision of the Heart.

But the likely hood of problems actually appearing are extreamly low.
 
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So in preparation we now have:
1x scrying, 1x expedition of unknown difficulty which needs people to go on them, 1x aotl (yes, those are resources too), 1x action for influence, 1x book reading for up to 2 Lore Scraps, and finally we risk 1x ritual if something goes wrong.

Or we could just use Marienette on this and save all that trouble and lead time, if we have two extra Turns (2x teaching, 1x Influence).
 
dcoconeo said:
So in preparation we now have:
1x scrying, 1x expedition of unknown difficulty which needs people to go on them, 1x aotl (yes, those are resources too), 1x action for influence, 1x book reading for up to 2 Lore Scraps, and finally we risk 1x ritual if something goes wrong.
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Shugs, roundabout that. Though we don't just get scraps, traits are a reward.

Of course it's not in a vacuum here. There's a good chance a lot of those action are things we'd be doing anyways which makes them multipurpose.

Say we decide we want to reach Grail 5.

We use the Maid of Light action this turn to scry a Level 6 Grail book (the Bleeding Grail in Canterlot a short expedition).

Use Smiles free short expedition to send him to make an offer Kettle can't refuse turn 24

Hopefully have Neighnia picked up turn 24 so she can provide a Winter influence for turn 25 when we study and read it.

So more likely something like 1 x scry, 1 x free short expedition, 1 x free Aotl, 1 Name influence we were going to get anyways and 1 x book reading with extreamly low odds of 1 x ritual.

dcoconeo said:
Or we could just use Marienette on this and save all that trouble and lead time, if we have two extra Turns (2x teaching, 1x Influence).
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If we're talking about heart it's better to just get level 3 heart books if we're not interested in level 5 heart books rather then having Mareinette teach.

1-2 x book searching followed by 2 x reading ap, only costs around 120 bits too.

Mareinette is better spent on befriending Smiles and Grail lessons for the short term.
 
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The only issue, of course, being that the book search action is not guaranteed to yield level 3 heart books. Unless Velvet or Baldomare are doing the searching, anyways.
 
Talon Tiger Dino said:
The only issue, of course, being that the book search action is not guaranteed to yield level 3 heart books. Unless Velvet or Baldomare are doing the searching, anyways.
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True but the basic search action is upgraded via Velvet's SH realization and the dc isn't that high for level 3 books.

Also with Baldomare befriended and hanging around the area there's a good chance she'd help out with a bit of advice.

If we want to be sure we could always send Selene. Her general bonus is pretty high.
 
Talon Tiger Dino said:
The only issue, of course, being that the book search action is not guaranteed to yield level 3 heart books. Unless Velvet or Baldomare are doing the searching, anyways.
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Even then, it's not guaranteed. They're a hell of a lot more likely to find Level 3+ books sure, but that doesn't mean they'd be in the Lores we'd need or want.
 
Beneath the Royal Castle part 2 gave two level 5 books, if we want scraps from studyables we need to go on expeditions. We are well out of the range of book search actions being completely obsolete, and have been for a long long time, regardless of the fact that we stayed in that zone far longer than we were supposed to due to our chargen choices making us bad at expeditions and good at having slightly more salary.

QM has already made it very clear that Long expeditions have piles of loot beyond just the "main reward" that we scried them for. I fully expect multiple level 5 books and multiple level 4-5 artifacts to be on offer from Long expeditions.
 
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ses said:
Beneath the Royal Castle part 2 gave two level 5 books, if we want scraps from studyables we need to go on expeditions. We are well out of the range of book search actions being completely obsolete, and have been for a long long time, regardless of the fact that we stayed in that zone far longer than we were supposed to due to our chargen choices making us bad at expeditions and good at having slightly more salary.

QM has already made it very clear that Long expeditions have piles of loot beyond just the "main reward" that we scried them for. I fully expect multiple level 5 books and multiple level 4-5 artifacts to be on offer from Long expeditions.
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eh, TECHNICALLY there's still some leftover room, book searches are not COMPLETELY useless. But expeditions are FAR more efficient in terms of bits AND actions required for anything above lvl 3, and considering we could only use heart lvl 3 books, and then only 4 and above...

the cost of a single lvl 4 book (60 bits) is probably enough to complete even a long expedition, if we were willing to risk sending just one Name and counting on a partial refund. For the cost of 2 books it's near guaranteed to give us much better loot than an equivalent purchase.

As a reminder, thus far we completed ALL expeditions in 60% of the time/budget required from what I recall (so 3/6 days instead of the expected 5/10).

But yeah... imagine if we'd done more expeditions in the past. It's been one of our main mistakes, really, it would have led to us getting far better loot for the same amount of bits we spent on books. Though admittedly for most of the quest we didn't really have the actions for those, while we 80% used House Servants for books.

...We would have been able to afford the Baldomare mistery box, maybe...
 
@ses btw, not that it matters much, but you're missing the "-[] These are the skills that allow you to climb the Mansus". above the Sacramement stuff in your plan, so it looks like the Moth Sacrament is a subcategory of exploring the Mansus instead
 
Heyia.

Hope you're all doing well!

So, i was going to open with a joke about this vote is being very complicated and contentious, but I'll spare you all the puns.

This seems to be an expected and reasonable outcome of your previous decisions. The Celestia vote almost ensured you would have to deal with this with force, and the Moth Sacrament was built up over several turns. And here we are now.

Voting is still open. But consider it as if it will be closed "at any moment." Voting will basically stay open as a formality, and i will close it when i have time to sit down and write.

Have a great day everyone!

This post will be edited to include a tally:
Adhoc vote count started by Greymere on Feb 2, 2026 at 5:34 PM, finished with 81 posts and 13 votes.
  • [X] Plan: The Princess of Love's Chosen Has to Make an Effort
    --[X] You don't have time for this. (Costs 0 actions. You will only roll ONE healing dice.)
    --[X] The medicine taste is worse than its appearance. But it is exactly what you need, if they are to be believed… (Costs 30 bits. One dice will auto-succeed)
    -[X] Before this month starts, you will perform a ritual to draw the attention of [SECRET HISTORIES]
    -[X] The delights of subservience (Leash currently targeting: NO TARGET)
    --[X] Change Leash to another target. (Spoiled Rich)
    -[X] [KNOCK] The Shattered Stairways
    --[X] [KNOCK] A labyrinth of stairs. A monument of a gone age. A sprawling ruin. See where the many paths might lead you.
    -[X] These are the skills that allow you to climb the Mansus
    --[X] Take that terrifying leap, into the abyss we call change
    ---[X] Don the mask, shear your mane, pick the only pony who will notice it. Snip snip snip (Spoiled Rich)
    -[X] Filthy Rich has reached a crossroad in his personal life. His marriage is not where he wants it to be, and he is not sure what he should do. You should nudge him in the right direction. (FREE ACTION) (SAVE)
    -[X] The Royal Castle feels, quite literally, like a powder keg, and the temperature is rising. Cadance will come out of that boiler at some point. When she does, she will need your help. (5x)
    -[X] [FORGE] It's actually a lot simpler than it sounds, now that you know what you are doing (produce a reagent, write in which Lore/combination of Lores.
    --[X] [FORGE] Level 4 reagent (80 bits)
    --[X] [FORGE] Purify a level 6 Forge Reagent (110 bits)
    [X] Plan: Take that terrifying leap, into the abyss we call change
    -[X] You are wounded! (You currently have 1 wounds. You must pick one of each option.)
    --[X] You either don't care, or you don't have enough bits to care. Either way, your body will have to mend itself on its own terms. (Costs nothing.)
    -[X] Before this month starts, you will perform a ritual to draw the attention of [SECRET HISTORIES]
    -[X] The delights of subservience (Leash currently targeting: NO TARGET)
    --[X] Change Leash to another target. (Spoiled Rich)
    -[X] Take that terrifying leap, into the abyss we call change
    --[X] Don the mask, shear your mane, pick the only pony who will notice it. Snip snip snip (Spoiled Rich)
    -[X] [FORGE] It's actually a lot simpler than it sounds, now that you know what you are doing
    --[X] [FORGE] Level 4 Forge reagent (80 bits)
    -[X] Purify level 4 Forge reagent into a level 6 Forge reagent (110 bits)
    -[X] [MANSUS] The Wastes
    --[X] [MANSUS] Stalk the Ashen Wastes. The alternative is to be stalked.
    --[X] [MANSUS] Visit the Hunting Grounds, and pray that tonight you are the huntress rather than the hunted.
    -[X] Filthy Rich has reached a crossroad in his personal life. His marriage is not where he wants it to be, and he is not sure what he should do. You should nudge him in the right direction. (FREE ACTION) (RUIN his marriage)
    -[X] The Royal Castle feels, quite literally, like a powder keg, and the temperature is rising. Cadance will come out of that boiler at some point. When she does, she will need your help. (May be picked multiple times) x 4
    -[X] [KNOCK] The Shattered Stairways
    --[X] [KNOCK] A labyrinth of stairs. A monument of a gone age. A sprawling ruin. See where the many paths might lead you.
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I'm assuming that much of our AP will be spent on crash coursing Cadance in the Lores, so there will be consolation gains even if we over-invested. And frankly this isn't an over-invest since it could easily be the difference between a 5% failure chance and a 20% failure chance.
 
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Mmmm, all that AP... In a Cadance vote... That we can't take back even if it costs less than what we used.

We're gonna have another wedding style vote aren't we? Each option adding a possibility of success by either lightening Cadance's workload or providing assistance in some other way.

Or there is actually a minimum of actions required where anything below it makes Daybreaker take over Equestria.

*Sigh* The worst part is that is probably going to happen in the late phase of the turn. And I'm way too curious about this.:(
 
Talon Tiger Dino said:
What 3 actions are being wasted in the Cadance plans?
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They are of the opinion that anything more than 2 AP spent on helping Cadance is a waste. Because clearly, for some reason, helping stop a semidivine nuclear meltdown would be easier than even getting the Knock Sacrament. Somehow.

Earth-Destroyer said:
3 AP on Celetia is already to much in my opinion. 2 is already almost a full week of work on Celetia if she not out of the death spiral by then then it beyond Velvet's ablity to affect.
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