ok, I finally have the time to read this before going to dinner... and I spied, with my little eye,
The Party-in-Splendour being present
let's see what this is, then...
So, you do just that. You get up, and begin the long process of stretching your body, letting out a loud meow as you do that.
Yes, a meow.
Because you are definitely not a pony (and thank goodness for that).
Quite au contraire.
You are Opalescence, Opal for short, and you are a cat. But more importantly, you are a cat who just woke up.
...and already I have some thoughts. Opal is a WHITE cat. GREY cats are supposed to be able to see the Nameless Name of the Velvet, which is theorized to be akin to a cat itself...
But we're not in canon CS. Maybe Opal might also have some kind of affinity for the quest's version?
Also, I wonder what she can see/perceive of the Leash, and what she can see and perceive about us.
No idea how canon this update is, but this should still be enlightening.
Take your own pet pony for example
ah, right. Cats don't have masters or owners, you see. They have pets, human servants, or
if they feel generous roommates.
I remember reading somewhere that it's believed that, while dogs see humans as their superiors, Cats see them as "bigger, clumsy cats", and when they bring you rats or dead animals as gifts it's both out of gratitude and because they don't think you can hunt for yourself.
...and I can easily believe that.
A large multi-colored building, that you know your pet pony visits every now and then. One of your friends also lives there, mind you, although he is a bit of an odd fellow that doesn't speak much. Probably because his race is cold-blooded, or so the gossiping goes.
I'm somewhat surprised she considers Gummy a friend, really.
"Oh! Hi there, Opal, how are you today?" the large pink pony, who is standing behind the counter, speaks up to you before you even finish entering the building.
The Party-in-Splendour cometh. BEHOLD. BEHOLD!
"Heeere you go, Opal," she says, putting down a large saucer, filled with sweet milk, right in front of you. "The usual, to one of my best clients!"
her best clients don't pay?
Laughing Hoof! I'm so glad to see you here! I've been having this jittering the whole day, so I knew you'd come!
Hi Comb Keeper, how have you been?
Grave Digger! Welcome! I'm so glad you could make it!
...I have no idea who they are.
They could be random ponies, or for all we know they could be Names or Longs. Neither would really surprise me.
And without further ado, let us begin! I declare officially open our session of "Was, Wasn't and Will Be!" So, who wants to go first?
...them being Longs, Names, or just Outsiders suddenly feels more likely.
As I was saying. I only know of stuff that definitely can't happen anymore, so no harm in sharing the less juicy bits. As long as you all know I'm hoarding the even juicier bits and-
...waaaait a second...
I just realized... don't the bird Hours sometimes gather to share secrets?
SUS!
As I was saying. I only know of stuff that definitely can't happen anymore, so no harm in sharing the less juicy bits. As long as you all know I'm hoarding the even juicier bits and-
...could this be the Beachcomber?
Fine… So, the thing is, the Moth Master was picked, right?
oh, so we're actually going to see the "what could have been". interesting.
I'm still wondering if this should be taken as somewhat canon (as in, PINKIE ACTUALLY KNOWS BEINGS THAT KNOWS THE ALTERNATE HISTORIES), or if it's just for fun.
Patience, Grave Digger. Anyhow, the thing that you need to know is that the Master picking was basically choosing "who would take action". I won't say if they picked the most or the least interesting one, even though I know the answer, but by choosing that they made it so that other actors didn't decide to actively interfere in the Wake.
So the other possibilities are still out there?
Not really, not exactly. The other possibilities are still Wasn'ts, but the other candidates are still out there. Some of them have even been met already. They already met the Lantern and Secret Histories Master-candidate, and they just found the Knock Master… they also very technically met the Winter Master, but I'm not sure if that was a Was or a Wasn't. But the interesting thing is: By choosing the Moth one, they made all the other Masters into Wasn'ts. Their circumstances became thus that they won't become Masters themselves, for their own particular reasons.
Wait, they can't become Masters? But they can reach the Wake, no?
Of course, of course. But that's the thing. They can't be Masters, but they can still be actors.
Interesting…
INCREDIBLY interesting, yes.
This is outright admitting that each Master was a name, and that
- For SH and Lantern, the Master was likely Baldomare.
- For Knock, it was the Daughter of Axe
- for Winter, it would have been Neighnia the painting Name of the Elegiast, which we technically didn't meet as it was one of the unchosen Histories from the nat100 SH turn.
Aww, don't be shy. Don't you at least want to give us your opinion on everything that's happened so far?
Fine, I guess… so… hmm… there's still a lot, even if you put it like that...
Maybe start from the beginning?
I'll try… So the thing is, she's doing better than I thought she would, to be honest.
aw, thank you! That's comforting!
Well… there's a lot of factors. But the biggest thing is that I honestly didn't expect her to learn so quickly, for starters. The Lores, that is, I didn't expect her to be soo... all over the place. In fact, she wasn't meant to. You see, there is an expedition site that's both easy and nearby, and it would reward her with a relatively good artifact pretty early in her story. It was a level four or five trinket, I believe.
High level artifact in an accessible place? Sounds like the Forgotten Mithraeum strategy for an early boon with a Winter cult.
quick search:
Forgotten Mithraeum
If I had to guess, the Castle of the two pony sisters. the wiki page mentions a "hidden door" obstacles, which fits it. there were plenty of secret passages and traps in the castle.
My first thought would be the Inspiration Manifestation magic book.
"From in the head to out in the world, every thought to action. Hold close this book and through its spell, you'll start a chain reaction. Projecting forth whatever beauty you see. Only when true words are spoken will you finally be set free."
which basically lets you create and change anything you can imagine, but sort of... enthralls you to use it as often as you can.
Probably a Forge artifact, really.
and also yeah, we learned a lot and pretty quickly.
I'm afraid he has a bit of a point, Pinkie… Although he's not entirely right. You see, she didn't lose anything, but another choice that Was was where she chose to live. Being here in Ponyville, she inevitably had the chance to get in touch with... certain notorious characters.
Has she? I wouldn't know.
Of course you wouldn't,
you refuse to show up!
Yes! But she was supposed to befriend at least two, and maybe even three or more. But by now, doing that is practically a Wasn't.
As it currently stands, she will be fortunate if she befriends one and a half advisors, in total.
...Jade, only sort of Comet... we probably failed with Windy I fear, though we might still surprise them depending on next turn...
No one can have spoilers!
Which means spoilers belong to me! Me!
...so he's No one? I feel like this is significant, but I can't remember. Is there a Name or an Hour we could reasonably define as "No one?"
Well, now that you say that I'm kinda obligated to give good advise, but I'll try my best. So, uhm… First of all, I think she should try to figure out that it is possible to befriend her... let's call them her "special guests", that she has been inviting to her-
Just say Names.
Oh, fine, and here I was trying to be all mysterious… But anyhow, it is possible for her to befriend the Names. It is also possible to make the Names stay summoned permanently. However, the real kicker is that those two things are one and the same.
Well, duh, real friends want to stay close to each other!
...well, that makes a lot of sense.
After all, we know that Baldomare can simply CHOOSE to stay longer. The book is just a small bribe to convince her.
So, if they were to actually become our friends, they could simply choose to stay. The Master is certainly staying without a problem after all.
And about it being possible... well, they're not ponies, but they're still sapient beings, if with a different set of morals, interests and objectives.
If Fluttershy can become friends with Discord, surely we can become friends with Baldomare and the Daughter of Axe.
There's also the "friendship is magic" part of the setting, and that... well... Both Baldomare and DoA are likely to feel a bit lonely from the ages they spent alone in the Mansus.
So, all in all, I think it makes sense.
...with DOA, it feels obvious that what we want to start with is seriously helping her find the Frangiclave.
With Baldomare... well, giving her some bits to have fun in her personal research action might be a first step. Other than that, I think it's going well. If we're giving her the moth book that probably helps too, at least a bit.
So that's something she should strive to do. Conversely it is also bad if a Name ends up in the clutches of another party. Especially given how she's choosing to cut herself off from her first employer.
Which is 70% or so of the reasons why I don't want to let Baldomare unsummon herself. not now.
I really REALLY hope we get the scraps needed to reach lvl 4 in either Edge, Winter or Moth, so we can give Baldie the fruit...
I suppose. I'll keep it short and sweet then. Taking in account everything she knows, everything she doesn't know, and the direction that the wind is blowing, I really, really think she should aim at the top of the House.
That is always good advice.
Not necessarily, Grave. Not in this world, and not anymore. But given the circumstances, I agree that it is good advice.
well, we're already aiming high, but good to know we should NOT slow down. The higher we get the safer we'll be, hopefully.
We might reach the Peacock door in 2-3 turns I think. Maybe even just 1 if we don't have to first explore the area.
Oh, and there she goes. Penelope's cat was blind, the poor thing, so I much prefer this one.
Book of the White Cat
yeah, as I thought there's definitely an inspiration to the meetings of the Aviform Hours.
The Beachcomber (Knock), the Vagabond (SH), the Elegiast (winter).
It maps pretty well to the ones we're shown here in this meeting. But what is Pinkie's role...
The book mentions that at the meeting there's also "the twin kites". No idea who these are, but maybe it's referring to Pinkie and Maud?
I wonder ...
