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

[Zxzx24]

I do not think that we can reliably buy a t5 book.

I do think giving the Baldomare 100 bits and telling her to have fun would be the way to go though.

 

[angelsadvocate666]

I do not think that we can reliably buy a t5 book.

I do think giving the Baldomare 100 buts and telling her to have fun would be the way to go though.

Click to shrink...

…Man, that's one hell of a typo.

 

[Zxzx24]

…Man, that's one hell of a typo.

Click to shrink...

I see I mixed up Baldomare and Mareinettes gifts...

 

[Greymere]

I do not think that we can reliably buy a t5 book.

I do think giving the Baldomare 100 bits and telling her to have fun would be the way to go though.

Click to shrink...

Do... you mean we can't reliably find one to buy? Because a Level 5 book costs 120 bits iirc which, if handing her 100 bits and telling her to have fun is in our budget, feels like it should also be in our budget?

 

[Zxzx24]

Do... you mean we can't reliably find one to buy? Because a Level 5 book costs 120 bits iirc which, if handing her 100 bits and telling her to have fun is in our budget, feels like it should also be in our budget?

Click to shrink...

Find one yes.

Unless we can?

 

[angelsadvocate666]

I don't remember if we've even seen a Level Five book in searches. I remember a four came up once or twice, but not Fives. There was the on Six of course, but that was also on a very opportune nat100, so.

 

[Greymere]

I don't remember if we've even seen a Level Five book in searches. I remember a four came up once or twice, but not Fives. There was the on Six of course, but that was also on a very opportune nat100, so.

Click to shrink...

That's probably bcuz we've only ever sent our servants (rolls like, +12, +13 only) instead of ourselves (SH4) or Baldomare (+80? bonus) except for the one time that resulted in the Nat100, iirc.

 

[Zxzx24]

I suspect it might be a "special" reward. But something to bother bird about when the turn plan itself rolls around.

 

[angelsadvocate666]

Oh, random thing but since I saw some people say they remembered the possibility but not how, I want to remind people how DoA can be summoned without any more money spent.

> use both 50 bit gifts to negate ritual circle 100 bits
> Wrong Key
> Knock 2 Edge 1 Reagent made this turn.

Or i suppose we could use the second Wrong Key/make a normal Knock 3 reagent if we don't mind spending some bit, and put that 2/1 reagent towards Biedde. The former option even gives us the chance to make an Edge 3 in Turn 19 and fill both sacrifice slots for Biedde without burning our Artifact to summon them both that turn.

 

[AuthorTransient]

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In Which (S) Collide - Part 3

Thanks for the likes and threadmarks, OP!

Spoiler: Extended Author's Notes

For this boss fight opening scenes, I went back to read the first encounter we had with Mareinette in the Ruined Church. Wasn't good enough, so I went to look and listen to Cleric Beast and Ludwig the Accursed, followed by some Signalis. Still wasn't good enough. I rewatched Hellsing Ultimate for a bit, then rummaged a little through Evangelion, Attack on Titan, and Tokyo Ghoul. Looked at some Studio Ghibli movies and some of them were unexpectedly more scary than I remember. Checked through some SCPs as well. And then I realized I had to read the threadmark I've been putting off. When the Glory is dark...

Which was to say, I wanted to write something that when you read it, it would give you fucking nightmares, because you could picture it in your head and frighten yourself. I wanted it relatable.

I hope I accomplished that, because writing the introduction was painful. But that's how you make something Great, is it not? Sacrificing a part of yourself... to draw out the holy grail! AIEEEE!

I'm probably going to go on a months long sabbatical after posting this to recover from this writing frenzy. Anyway, exu-kalibar!

---

And Luna defenestrates Mareinette out of the window with a brilliant beam of light.

Velvet Covers: Mother

The impact rumbles through the floor at your feet, and then a cutting backdraft explodes through the ruined window, sending the curtains and your mane flying. You brace yourself against the wind, biting down on your teeth. The house shudders and the rest of the windows rattle. Behind you, the fire puffs out and leaves dying embers.

You open your eyes and realize your breath is coming in short, harried bursts. "Everypony alright?"

Muttered assents come from around you, but Luna remains looking out the window. You turn to look.

In the distance, the dust cloud is fraying. It looks like Mareinette had hit a small hill at the edges of your estate. Said small hill is probably gone now. Reduced to smithereens.

"Prepare yourselves." Baldomare states.

A frustrated scream reaches your ears. It is loud, piercing, and goes for longer than a pony can breathe. It does not sound equine. You brace.

Then a crimson maleficience disperses the dust cloud and you suddenly realize you can't breathe.


You have been hunted before.

Under the recommendation of Starry Dancer, you had once played 'tag' with the Master, which arguably helped you to survive later.

You had once been chased by several changeling guards through the castle in Canterlot and confronted the Luna imposter with Twilight Sparkle.

In the Ruined Church, you had fled from Mareinette as She sought to slake Her thirst for the first time since the Mansus broke.

And in the Woods, you had almost been subsumed by its Will.



Get up.

But all of that pales to what you are feeling right now.

The closest approximation... was when the gears of history stopped for Baldomare to think. It was the same immense pressure, the same weight of presence. The universe in subservience to an entity fundamental, elemental, and primordial.

What you want. How you live. None of those matters.

You can hear your heartbeat in your ears, and it sounds like war-drums. Ba-thump, ba-thump. You grit your teeth harder, and your muscles clench in emotion.

All over your body, it feels like someone had stabbed a needle into the pores of your skin. The taste of copper fills your mouth, and in the darkness you see the shape of a droplet float away from you. Its fuschia color doesn't change when it enters the white moonlight.

Your blood is trying to escape your body.

Because you don't own your blood anymore. Something far greater than your mortal form has seized the reins and is calling – no, the entity is hunting.

It is hunting all of you.


Get up.

Stormchaser had once treated you to a candlelit dinner. You had been served your salad slathered in gravy upon a cold porcelian plate, placed on a tastefully red tablecloth covering a round table. It had been a delightful experience.

Recent events have you going back to that salad mentally. In fact, recent events have you in place of the Caesar salad, covered in gravy and being served on that red, red tablecloth, for something that was no longer a pony with ruby-red eyes and a bleached white skull and sharp teeth that went clack-clack-clack.

To put it in other words, only Mareinette was at that table, and she is going to stab you through the middle with a sharp knife and raise you up to her maw. Know this: as you struggle feebly to pull yourself off the knife, as you flail pathetically, as you try to do anything at all – she is going to devour you.

She is going to fucking eat you, and nothing – nothing is going to stop her.


Velvet Covers no longer has the trait "Frightened" !

But that doesn't even fucking matter.

Because there is a monster in the Velvet Estate. And. It. Wants. Your. Child.


Get the fuck up.


Slowly, you rise to your hooves. Your entire body trembles under the pressure, and you can feel your blood squirming in your veins, but you push yourself up anyway. Though the weight is great, it is not enough to stop you.

"Hm." Baldomare grunts. She steps forward.

!!!​

Visibly straining, she steps forward. With each step, the pressure lessens, bit by bit. Gathering at her horn is something incandescent.

"I'm not sorry about doing this, Mareinette." She says. "But I am sorry about having to do it." The mare throws her head back and the night is ripped asunder by LANTERN. It fills the heavens like a second sun, and then abruptly it condenses into a single golden pillar — a spotlight bearing down on the Lady of Wires.

But that is no Lady. Not anymore. Uncoiling out of the impact crater is a monster made out of bones and wires. How you ever thought Mareinette was normal you can't understand. Looming like a fully grown dragon, Mareinette has shed her dress, revealing her full size. And it is monstrous.

Spoiler: Body Horror, Blood, Parasites/Worms

Thrice the height of Comet Feet and far beyond his size, red lights glare through a giant skull. No, not just one... One, two, three, four, five giant heads sway in the distance, like a hydra from old monster stories, connected to their body through pillars of thick red cords, as thick as any century-old tree. Red steam hisses through the air with every step it takes.

As if that is not enough, there is a wet squelch and Mareinette arches her back as if in the throes of ecstacy. Writhing crimson tendrils tear themselves out of her body and dance among the night sky, full of terrible bloodlust. A crimson fluid too rich in color to be blood splashes onto the ground and steams.

Like a tide or avalanche, dark crimson worms crawl out of her skeletal body and shifts to cover her bones in a disgusting glut of body armor, squirming horribly.

In the wind, you smell the stench of a fruit gone rotten and sour. Whatever red substance she is leaking is inflitrating the cracks in the crater, hissing and bubbling, popping wetly like sour plums or eyes blinking.


And you realize —

You realize —

What is on the lines, what is at stake here – is more than just your life and your valued ones – it is asking you and the world: are your ideals strong enough to matter?

You don't know the answer yet, but you know this: there is no fate that is not insurmountable – don't you already know that, from climbing the Mansus? There is always a way.


Barely some weeks ago, you and Mareinette? You had a meaningful conversation in the depths of the ruined church about motherhood. She had told you about her children and how they oh so unfortunately couldn't satisfy her thirst.

But this time, you are not going to have a conversation.


There is a monster in the Velvet Estate, and. It. Wants. Your. Child.

And that is something you cannot accept.

---

Spoiler: THE WIRE MOTHER (Unofficial)

Health: 30/50 (highballed)

Temporary Health: 0/5

[ONE WHO IS VERY GREAT]: Mareinette is willing to offer you Sacraments in the Lores of Grail and Heart, should you fulfill her requirements.

[OUR LADY OF WIRES]: Mareinette is immune to the effects of "Monstrous Appearance".

[HONORED GUEST]: Mareinette can "step in" on Velvet's horseshoes, and perform social actions in her stead even if only Velvet should have been able to perform them. (HOWEVER, see "Old Intelligence")

[WEIGHT OF PRESENCE]: Mareinette grants a full level up to the Secret Library for her preferred Lores.

[OLD INTELLIGENCE]: If Mareinette is alone while performing a social action, and a vote is offered, she will instead pick the vote based on what she thinks is best. (This will be based on her personal knowledge of you, as well as her loyalty. This trait can be either positive or negative, depending on interpretation.)

[MONSTROUS APPEARANCE]: Cannot be used for Social Actions. (Immune)

[PROUD]: Will refuse to cast any rituals that do not involve Grail or Heart.

[THE SECOND BIRTH]: Mareinette may choose to sacrifice a tremendous amount of health to immediately break her summoner's bindings. (Used.)

[NEVER ASK A LADY HER AGE]: Mareinette may elect to hide some of her characteristics from you. (She certainly is hiding her health, and she may be hiding other negative traits or skills.)

[THE SUBTLE KISS]: Mareinette may hide attacks as completely harmless kisses, pats, smiles, or intimate glances, though they still require combat rolls. Targets may make an intrigue check to realize that damage was done after each successful attack. This compounds with OUR LADY OF WIRES.

[BLOOD MERIDIAN]: Mareinette may spend a combat action to consume the last traces of life and experience from a victim who has been brought to zero hit points to recover 5 hitpoints. This also gives her a temporary bonus of +5 to rolls per life consumed this way until the Turn ends. This action can be interrupted, upon which She loses the action. This action cannot be used while She already has more than Her maximum hit points.

[GRAIL OVERFLOW]: Mareinette may gain temporary hit points above Her hit point total, up to 5.

[SAPPING FLESH]: Combat rolls targeting Mareinette must reach an overflow of 100 or higher to harm Her.

[PUPPET OF THE RED SANDS]: Mareinette does not suffer from any status of being 'Wounded'.

[WIRE MOTHER]: Mareinette gains +20 in combat against any entity that can be considered to have a mother and they have a -20 malus when targeting her.

[UNQUENCHABLE THIRST]: For every turn in the Wake, Mareinette will seek out a Grail sacrifice and consume it.

[FOR THE OLD BLOOD]: Whenever Mareinette loses hit points, all targets in the vicinity suffer a cumulative -10 to rolls as the blood spilled intoxicates and causes hallucinations.

[ALL-CONSUMING NAME]: When Mareinette consumes a living being, their existence disappears from memories. Characters may figure out something is wrong (strange clothes that they would never wear, an empty room with paraphernalia) but it is more likely that they would simply fill in any discpreancies by themselves.

[Other traits negative, unknown]

Multi-combatant fight. Mareinette will only "compete" to wound the Luna, but may be wounded by all other combatants.

What will Velvet's focus in the upcoming battle be?

(a) Attacking Mareinette

Velvet Covers will focus on ending the threat to Luna's life as soon as possible. This grants her +10 to combat rolls as she attacks Mareinette with the fury of a mother protecting her child.


(b) Defending Luna

Velvet Covers will focus on defending Luna. This grants her +20 to rolls but succeeding will not harm Mareinette. If Mareinette's combat rolls are above both Luna and Velvet Covers' combat rolls, Velvet Covers will take the wound first.


(c) Balance

Velvet Covers will adapt according to the tide of battle. This does not grant her any bonus, but Velvet Covers will be able to harm Mareinette and Mareinette's combat rolls will have to be above both Luna and Velvet Covers' combat rolls to harm Luna.


(d) Support

-(d1) Support Comet Feet

Comet Feet is the Edge expert, so supporting him may be for the best. Other than adding half of the final result of Velvet Cover's combat rolls to Comet Feet's combat rolls, Velvet will not contribute to the fight.


-(d2) Support Luna

Luna may not be at the same level of Lores as you, but she is an alicorn. Other than adding half of the final result of Velvet Cover's combat rolls to Luna's combat rolls, Velvet will not contribute to the fight.

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[Not!Guest]

Mostly just sticking my oar in, but my preference is continuing Velvet's own Secret Histories Sacrament because it's Cool. Being able to talk to yourself in order to answer questions? Fantastic. Particular if it extends to actively manipulating your own timeline such that as of right now things had always been this way.

As for the Knock Velvet... I wonder if she noticed Selene's true nature.

 

[Greymere]

I don't remember if we've even seen a Level Five book in searches. I remember a four came up once or twice, but not Fives. There was the on Six of course, but that was also on a very opportune nat100, so.

Click to shrink...

Btw, we have actually seen Level 5 books... but they were also in the Nat100 book search update so that still doesn't really tell us what the minimum threshold is for seeing them. Though if we're willing to shill out the extra 30 bits for a RotT, we could scry one for purchase (total of 150 bits) and bypass the issue of rolling high enough entirely.

 

[Pittauro]

at this point for SH sacrament it's just a question of if we'll do it next turn, or the turn after.

We admittedly have enough urgent stuff that delaying by ONE turn makes sense.

For the Sacrament we'd want to have the SH influence, I think, and that means Baldomare's action. But we also need that action to scry for the Frangiclave, and there's the Luna stuff to deal with, and we need to summon Axe, catch up with Bureau stuff, potentially study the books (Forge 4 and an unknown book), We could send the just summoned Axe on Canterlot part 2, OR we could get the last Knock lesson and be ready for the Knock Sacrament as well...


and when we go for SH Sacrament, I'd like to have a Name on "escort/guard duties" for the switched Velvet, and possibly AotL and Book Hunt as we could get lvl 5 or above books.

actually... if I remember right, book costs should be

lvl 1 7 bits
lvl 2 15 bits
lvl 3 30 bits
lvl 4 60 bits
lvl 5 120 bits

The above we know for certain. Presumably then

lvl 6 240 bits
lvl 7 480 bits

Though with lvl 7 books being "special" I expect they're just not an option, and book hunts ends at lvl 6 for probably either nat100s or MAYBE something like a >200 roll (which we can actually reach if we pile up everything), or for Baldomare hunts.

We... can actually potentially afford books up to lvl 6.

Axe's summon should cost us nothing thanks to the gifts/keys. We get a decent wage (160 bits), Rarity last turn gave us 56 bits and presumably that number is only going up from her success, and of course she can now do commissions and those give AT LEAST 100 bits.

That said, while we CAN probably do book hunts... doing expeditions would just be better in our case most of the time.

And we still have one expedition we can do (Beneath the Royal Castle, part 2. We could probably just send Axe and/or Mareinette there on their own this coming turn), and a book we can study that MIGHT have more expedition sites in it. That's not counting the soon-to-come frangiclave expedition (which likely also includes books as rewards).

 

[Zxzx24]

I still think that just... hoping? There is a sufficiently powerful book located near a Frangiklave strikes me as...

Well extremely optimistic.

Not that I can complain. I think telling Baldomare to go have fun might give us a book.

Or at least advance our social link with her.

 

[Pittauro]

Or at least advance our social link with her.

Click to shrink...

nah, we already know how to "advance" her social link.

we need a lvl 6 book to gift her.

having her stay JUST requires a lvl 5 instead.

Presumably the last step will be giving her a lvl 7 book, but who knows

 

[Zxzx24]

What do you think the outcome of "telling her to go have fun" would be. Out of curiosity.

 

[Pittauro]

What do you think the outcome of "telling her to go have fun" would be. Out of curiosity.

Click to shrink...

for Baldomare?

I imagine there's something like a table of possible finds, starting at "lvl 4-5 books or lvl 3-4 artifacts/reagents, and going from there, with some kind of bonus or extra rolls for more stuff depending on how much money we give her".

Considering it's her special action, it's near certainly going to find better stuff than we could on our own, except MAYBE if we piled literally all the bonuses we have (so SH influence, AotL and personal search, which ends up in I think +104 to the roll). And even then we're likely to pay more than what Baldomare would.

Of course with Baldomare I fully expect us to find better stuff we would on our own, for cheaper, but we have zero control on what the stuff is. Which means it's fine if we don't need something extremely specific, like a book/artifact of a specific lore.

It also means that if we actually want to find a lvl 6 book for Baldomare, it might be our best option, not counting a sufficiently high rank expedition.


...and on that note I REALLY want to send Axe on the Canterlot expedition next turn while we scry for the Frangiclave, unless AND ONLY unless we take the Knock lesson with the expectation of starting work on the knock sacrament right after... which we probably shouldn't do until we're done with the SH one, I think.

---

tentative plan:

TURN 19:

AXE: canterlot part 2 expedition
BALDOMARE: scry for Frangiclave
RARITY: either grail lvl 4 lesson (wait, is that a Rarity or Velvet action? I forget), or Commission. (we need to be careful to not do Commissions in a row, and to verify her work is doing fine otherwise)
VELVET: likely fleeting opportunities. Study the forge books to get forge 4 and read the other book (likely an expedition book, but who knows). Summon Axe. Maybe prepare to summon Biedde the turn after by preparing the Reagents?

TURN 20:
AXE AND VELVET: Frangiclave Expedition
BALDOMARE: SH influence on Velvet? Go on Book Hunt if we can afford it?
VELVET: 2 SH actions BEFORE the expedition? A Sacrament is likely to help... Summon Biedde if we can afford it?

another possibility for turn 20, depending on Luna's situation, is laundering the lores through the Canterlot expedition site if we've finished with it.

 

[Greymere]

...and on that note I REALLY want to send Axe on the Canterlot expedition next turn while we scry for the Frangiclave, unless AND ONLY unless we take the Knock lesson with the expectation of starting work on the knock sacrament right after... which we probably shouldn't do until we're done with the SH one, I think.

Click to shrink...

Isn't Stormchaser "Away" next turn? So if we want him to be protected from rituals we'll need to give him a Wrong Key, and we'd be sacrificing one for DoA's summoning, leaving us w/ 0 keys. And if we end up doing Frangiclave expedition T20 (assuming we scry it T19), we'd be very, very vulnerable to death-by-Neighnia on T20.

RARITY: either grail lvl 4 lesson (wait, is that a Rarity or Velvet action? I forget), or Commission. (we need to be careful to not do Commissions in a row, and to verify her work is doing fine otherwise)

Click to shrink...

It's our action, but we can do it w/ our free social action now.

 

[Bakkasama]

Oh, random thing but since I saw some people say they remembered the possibility but not how, I want to remind people how DoA can be summoned without any more money spent.

> use both 50 bit gifts to negate ritual circle 100 bits
> Wrong Key
> Knock 2 Edge 1 Reagent made this turn.

Or i suppose we could use the second Wrong Key/make a normal Knock 3 reagent if we don't mind spending some bit, and put that 2/1 reagent towards Biedde. The former option even gives us the chance to make an Edge 3 in Turn 19 and fill both sacrifice slots for Biedde without burning our Artifact to summon them both that turn.

Click to shrink...

Actually, since the Wrong key reduces the cost of the ritual, it was:

Use a 50 bits gift to pay for half the ritual
Use a wrong key as a reagent, gaining priority and reducing the ritual cost by 50 bits.
Use the second 50 bits gift to pay for a level 3 reagent that we will use in DoA's summoning.

We asked and it was allowed since reagents are described as gifts to the Name. It also doesn't use the gifts for something other than DoA, so it doesn't anger Pride.

 

[Zxzx24]

for Baldomare?

I imagine there's something like a table of possible finds, starting at "lvl 4-5 books or lvl 3-4 artifacts/reagents, and going from there, with some kind of bonus or extra rolls for more stuff depending on how much money we give her".

Considering it's her special action, it's near certainly going to find better stuff than we could on our own, except MAYBE if we piled literally all the bonuses we have (so SH influence, AotL and personal search, which ends up in I think +104 to the roll). And even then we're likely to pay more than what Baldomare would.

Of course with Baldomare I fully expect us to find better stuff we would on our own, for cheaper, but we have zero control on what the stuff is. Which means it's fine if we don't need something extremely specific, like a book/artifact of a specific lore.

It also means that if we actually want to find a lvl 6 book for Baldomare, it might be our best option, not counting a sufficiently high rank expedition.


...and on that note I REALLY want to send Axe on the Canterlot expedition next turn while we scry for the Frangiclave, unless AND ONLY unless we take the Knock lesson with the expectation of starting work on the knock sacrament right after... which we probably shouldn't do until we're done with the SH one, I think.

---

tentative plan:

TURN 19:

AXE: canterlot part 2 expedition
BALDOMARE: scry for Frangiclave
RARITY: either grail lvl 4 lesson (wait, is that a Rarity or Velvet action? I forget), or Commission. (we need to be careful to not do Commissions in a row, and to verify her work is doing fine otherwise)
VELVET: likely fleeting opportunities. Study the forge books to get forge 4 and read the other book (likely an expedition book, but who knows). Summon Axe. Maybe prepare to summon Biedde the turn after by preparing the Reagents?

TURN 20:
AXE AND VELVET: Frangiclave Expedition
BALDOMARE: SH influence on Velvet? Go on Book Hunt if we can afford it?
VELVET: 2 SH actions BEFORE the expedition? A Sacrament is likely to help... Summon Biedde if we can afford it?

another possibility for turn 20, depending on Luna's situation, is laundering the lores through the Canterlot expedition site if we've finished with it.

Click to shrink...

I expect telling Baldomare to go have fun will indeed result in her going and having fun.

As fir possible rewards. I'm not certain really.

 

[Pittauro]

Isn't Stormchaser "Away" next turn? So if we want him to be protected from rituals we'll need to give him a Wrong Key, and we'd be sacrificing one for DoA's summoning, leaving us w/ 0 keys. And if we end up doing Frangiclave expedition T20 (assuming we scry it T19), we'd be very, very vulnerable to death-by-Neighnia on T20.

Click to shrink...

how likely is it that Copper will target us with Neighnia on T20 specifically though? She targeted us on T17, but she skipped T18 for some reason.

If she skips T19 too, maybe she's changing her approach.

Should we consider trying for a meeting, or a targeted assassination? CS had it possible to meet our rivals in public places to negotiate, maybe we could just send Mareinette (or go ourselves) to Manehattan and try for a meeting and some kind of agreement or threat?

We just destroyed the Woods and killed the Master. We also no-sold an EiB from the WINTER Name.

long-term peace might not really be an option, but maybe we can buy temporary piece with a bribe? the knock 2 and winter 1 artifacts?

In any case if we don't solve the problem another way, we might very well just be able to have the cult massacred by sending a combination of Mareinette and/or Axe and/or Biedde in a few turns, if we really wanted to.

or... here's an idea. We actually don't know where the main base of the cult in Manehattan is. Comet should know, though, right? Could we ask him for the location, or potentially to negotiate a meeting in neutral/safe territory?

Maybe we could even have the meeting happen in front of the Blank Door? That sounds viable (and allows us to show off our "we're in no danger from the Wolves" status)

I expect telling Baldomare to go have fun will indeed result in her going and having fun.

As fir possible rewards. I'm not certain really.

Click to shrink...

see below

-[] [BALDOMARE] "Go have fun." (Give an amount of bits to Baldomare, and she will return with something interesting. She won't bother to do it unless you give her at least 100 bits. You may suggest to her what you want, but she will most likely not listen to you.)

Click to shrink...

give her money. get useful but mostly random stuff. We CAN suggest what we want, she'll probably ignore it (though maybe there's some kind of "will she listen" roll with a 90 DC or something, who knows )

I'd basically give her everything we can afford.

Axe summon will be free thanks to gifts and Wrong Keys. We need some bits put aside for, in order

1)Canterlot part 2 expedition
2)Frangiclave expedition
3)Biedde summoning

our sources of income are

1)160 bits per month from work

2) Rarity variable,

(T18) was 56 for "noticeable success"
T17 was 39
T16 was 40
T15 was 32
T14 was none (chaos in Equestria)
T13 was 37 bits

With Rarity being more successful now I'd expect the income to go up a bit, even ignoring the commissions themselves (though the Commission specifically giving a MINIMUM of 100 bits implies to me that it's unlikely Rarity's normal income (for us) will get more than that at max that.

Still, expecting the new standard to be 50-60 bits instead of the previous 30-40 seems reasonable.

In any case, that's something like 210-220 bits per turn normally, going up to at least 270 (and likely a fair bit more) when doing commissions.


a few potential costs in the coming turns:

1) Axe summoning: 0 bits (gifts and keys)

2) Biedde summoning: 100 bits. also reagents. It's 45 bits for a tier 3 reagent, and 80 bits for a tier 4 (which we can't make until we get forge 4 anyway). If we use a Wrong Key for Knock and an Edge reagent, it's probably going to be 45 bits for the lvl 3 one, so total 145 bits. Maaaaaybe 180 if we really want to make sure, but I doubt it.

3) RotT scrying: 30 bits, plus reagent if we want one (5-20-45-80 bits for lvl 1-2-3-4). With Baldomare doing the ritual it might be overkill though.

4)Canterlot part 2 expedition: expected 10 days at 7 bits per day per pony. That said, Axe is good enough I'd be willing to bet she takes less than that, but to be safe it's 70 bits if only her, and 140 bits if more.

5)Another PtN or EiB on Copper? 50 or 45 bits, + reagent (probably the lvl 3 for another 45 bits)

6)Summon Mare in the Lights? 55 bits each. we might want to summon one really, and we roll well enough that we don't even really need reagents except MAYBE a lvl 2 or 3 at most, so make it 80 or 100 bits to be sure.

 

[DelightedOne]

how likely is it that Copper will target us with Neighnia on T20 specifically though? She targeted us on T17, but she skipped T18 for some reason.

If she skips T19 too, maybe she's changing her approach

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Did we ever get information on how Neighnia's summoning rules work? I mean she is in the Wake 24/7 so is it like permanent after the Ritual binding her to someone till death or 3 months and then she can fuck off if Copper doesn't rebind her like Mareinette? Might explain not having a attack if she is using the Name herself to help in getting whatever she asked for.

Should we consider trying for a meeting, or a targeted assassination? CS had it possible to meet our rivals in public places to negotiate, maybe we could just send Mareinette (or go ourselves) to Manehattan and try for a meeting and some kind of agreement or threat?

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The meeting is probably the best choice, but I think Mareinette might be a bit too much(and dangerous) to send alone. Ideally she and Baldomare could go with Velvet to prove that no she isn't lying, they were both set up to kill each other and it would be beneficial to both sides to stop this nonsense before someone really gets hurt. Would that be a threat because we would have two Names with us, with one more at home and another coming in the next month? Yes.

 

[spiderhellian]

Did we ever get information on how Neighnia's summoning rules work?

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No, but Bird was pretty explicit that once our foes have a Name they're not going to let them go (ie do everything they can to keep them).

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

In hindsight we should have had Rarity focus only her business. She would probably be + 100 bits a turn.

 

[spiderhellian]

In hindsight we should have had Rarity focus only her business. She would probably be + 100 bits a turn.

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What? Rarity focusing on her business was a guaranteed success on the performance roll, not something that levelled up the business to make more. Upgrading her Grail helps and we could have done that sooner, but that takes Velvet actions!

 

[Pittauro]

what spiderhellian is saying.

Sure, she probably would have started gaining a bit more, but that's maybe going from 40 bits to 50 or 60 at best, and when we used her actions it was because we needed them.

 

[Solace2117]

Honestly with so much uncertainty about next turn, it's hard to really make plans. I think summoning Axe is the only thing we can say with certainty and possibly scrying for the franglicave. It all kind of depends on how awakening Selene goes. We also need to deal with Comet and I believe Ourladyofwires mentioned Velvet's new Wolf son would approach her at the beginning of the turn.
Also I don't remember if it was said or not, but can we use Reagents for Sacraments?

 

[Greymere]

5)Another PtN or EiB on Copper? 50 or 45 bits, + reagent (probably the lvl 3 for another 45 bits)

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This would be a massive waste of bits, imo. If we want to kill Copper, send DoA or Biedde (once we have him) after her.

Also remember that we still need to locate (and retrieve) our manuscripts.

 

[angelsadvocate666]

Actually, since the Wrong key reduces the cost of the ritual, it was:

Use a 50 bits gift to pay for half the ritual
Use a wrong key as a reagent, gaining priority and reducing the ritual cost by 50 bits.
Use the second 50 bits gift to pay for a level 3 reagent that we will use in DoA's summoning.

We asked and it was allowed since reagents are described as gifts to the Name. It also doesn't use the gifts for something other than DoA, so it doesn't anger Pride.

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Huh, I forgot the Wrong Key lowered costs. Yeah, that works.

Also, people, don't forget that Jade exists. We could get an extra RotT out of her if we've got the money.

 

[Zxzx24]

Should we consider trying for a meeting, or a targeted assassination? CS had it possible to meet our rivals in public places to negotiate, maybe we could just send Mareinette (or go ourselves) to Manehattan and try for a meeting and some kind of agreement or threat?

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You mean like I suggested we do before trying to merc her ?