It's the roll that had us find Twilight's library.
On that note, shouldn't we get a book search bonus in ponyville or something, due to Twilight?
Ah, it was two places of expedition. Thought I had misremembered something.
And on the second note, our dear Twilight is not much in condition to be... useful, so to speak.
At anything, mind you.
Miscellaneous note: does Attention of the Laws work even if your bonus comes from an Artifact?
Attention of the Laws doubles your Application bonus. But only your personal Lore level gives you Application Bonus. Having an Edge 5 artifact will not make it so that you are considered an Edge 5 for combat or for Lore perks. You will be considered a Level 5 for Rituals and other Knowledge things (resisting curses, passing through Mansus hurdles, etc), and will gain any other "artifact bonus" it gives, but nothing on the personal Application Bonus part.
I don't really find this kind of plan-vote very engaging in quests, too much work to consider all the options properly.
While I agree that it requires work (and I am truly thankful for everyone who puts in the effort!) this kind of voting is the only way to really give as much agency as possible to readers.
The other option, I believe, would be for me to take up far more control over Velvet Covers, and only open voting and give options at certain "crossroads", like in a Visual Novel or a videogame of sorts. But that doesn't really feel appealing... And really, again, I'm writing this to train, so having you all include your delightful thoughts into it through your (sometimes unexpected) choices is a good way to keep me on my toes!
Also, the truly important votes are "crossroad"-based. What to ask for from Celestia, what to do with Selene, how to deal with Jade Whistle, those pivotal moments will (as much as I am able to make it so) always be straightforward "these are your choices, pick one" moments.
lvl 4 artifacts would likely be 400 bits
If you want to acquire them legally, that is.
...so, in conclusion, an expedition would be AT LEAST 50 bits. More if we bring more than one more pony.
Aye. That also sounds accurate.
Your investment in expeditions will still be usually more cost-effective than buying from stores and whatnots when it comes to rewards, considering the risks involved.
Given how she reacted to seeing us and the thought of doing any more book reading with us, I expect she would very purposefully not touch any potential Lore books until we were present to guide her.
I'd wager both things could happen, depending on the literal flip of a coin. Her "thisiswrongthisiswrongthisiswrong" making her abhor the notion of learning more about the Lores fighting against her
need to understand things.
A lot of this is incredibly insightful and observant.
I've been imagining the servants' helping us as something like bringing us a list of all not-badly-written books
I will admit that I had servants doing book-searches as a regular action. As in "servant action goes in, rewards come out", and more as a mechanical thing. But come to think of it, there was not really that many explanations of why they would give you a list with (usually) three books that will be perfectly useful for Lore learning.
That said, what you wrote is now my head-cannon as well. Thank you kindly for that!
Also unrelated idea: Would it be possible to accumulate enough bits to start making investments in our own name?
It would require something on the four-digit-scale of bits. Think about it, even a 10% profit from a quick (less-than-a-month-long) investment is a GOOD result, and I am certainly not saying you'd manage even that much. So investing from your own pocket, while possible, would be far less effective, and would freeze your bits for that whole month (no book buying or emergency mid-turn shopping available).
----[] ask Twilight for help in finding good books. That's her job after all, isn't it? (preference: Heart lvl2+, expedition sites, Edge lvl2+, in THAT order, if it matters). If it improves the action offer a tip/donation to the library to improve the results.
Aigh! I placed this quote to the very end so I can address it properly.
Simply put, I will unfortunately have to veto this specific write-in. There are two reasons for this.
Firstly, asking friends (Friends or Good Friends) to help with your actions is already something rather... delicate, so to speak. Well, not delicate in a way that it can horribly backfire, but delicate in the way that it is still a social interaction of sorts, with all the intricacies that follows.
While on the other hand, your servant action is literally to tell your servants (remember, you are a noble and they are your servants. This enters the same slippery slope of "are Celestia's guards doing their job because they are paid, or because she is the Princess?") to do something.
So in all honesty, asking a non-Confidant to aid a servant action feels... cold? Rather wrong, to say the least. It will be you telling a pony who you have a relationship with (even if a Good Friend level relationship with) to... accompany your servants? To order your servants around and guide their efforts?
It feels awkward.
And most importantly, the spirit of your servant action is that they will do something with as little oversight as possible from you, hence the care of not sending them on "suspicious" actions, and why you usually even forget you gave them the order to begin with. They are an extra action because they only cost they give to your personal time is how long you take to read their report.
So you'd be asking your Friend (even if they are a Good Friend) to... well, do something that will have zero interaction with you.
Simply put, sending a non-Confidant to help on a servant action feels (narratively) like something Velvet would not do, seeing how careful she is with ponies.
Oh, sending a Confidant is fair game, since it will cost their action (you'd have to pick the "help you out" action) and it would amount to them effectively ordering your servants in your stead.
Aye. That's for the first reason.
Second reason: you have only just begun to
convert indoctrinate seduce reeducate dear Twilight Sparkle. And she is still on the grips of a
Fascination. I don't see Velvet giving her that sort of task, even if she is sure that she manages to drag Twi out of that particularly bright spot. It'd be too soon to give her a "task" after what she has just been through, for one thing, and she wouldn't want for Twilight to think that she needs to "repay" you by doing chores, for another.
