Dear reader! Whether you are new here, archive-reading and whatnot, or you are already someone who has been with us for quite a while, I would like to say a few words that I believe are best kept close to mind.
-This is an MLP quest. And more importantly, none of us are gratuitously cruel. So good things will happen on this quest, and I hope that enough good things have already happened to prove that.
-This is also a horror quest, so bad things will happen. Bad things might happen to good characters if you are not able to protect them, and you most certainly will not be able to intervene if you lack the tools to do so.
-And finally, this is a quest in which you jostle with powers greater than yourself, with all that it entails.
Please, do keep those things in mind as you go forward. But ultimately, this is also a quest in which it is hoped we all have fun! So if any of the above points is not exactly your cup of tea, or somehow make the experience as a whole "not worth it", then this quest might not be for you. Which is fine! Individual tastes are a thing, so don't think any more about it if you don't want to read anymore. And regardless, I hope you have a lovely day!
Readers should take their own mental health into consideration when voting and not subject themselves to triggering narrative elements like rape or constant mental torture of a friend just for the Greatest Good of a world that doesn't exist.
If those are fine for you or Regrettable is even more triggering, then GREAT! More power to you. But you aren't a bad or selfish person for picking the option that keeps the characters you've emotionally connected with safe. [REDACTED for spoiler warning]
This is a high intensity quest that doesn't hold back when it comes to horror and negative consequences. Take care of yourself.
-Level 4: A music may only be shared after its composition is finished. A trail may only be mapped after it is completely walked. A life may only have meaning after death. The nuance, however, lies in understanding what death truly is, for a pony may die several times throughout his life. (Further +5 when resisting things that would harm your mind. Gains a single re-roll for Winter per month/turn, to be used on the result that would benefit Velvet Covers the most.)
-Level 4: A music may only be shared after its composition is finished. A trail may only be mapped after it is completely walked. A life may only have meaning after death. The nuance, however, lies in understanding what death truly is, for a pony may die several times throughout his life. (Further +5 when resisting things that would harm your mind. Gains a single re-roll for Winter per month/turn, to be used on the result that would benefit Velvet Covers the most.)
Actions of your own: "You will only ever stop being afraid of it when you truly understand it. You cannot run from it, any longer. You must understand what it means to die. You must... understand death."
-Perform, three times, the "Investigating the End" action. (Costs 30 bits per action, rolls using your Winter level)
-This action is the equivalent of performing a "The End is Beautiful" ritual WITHOUT specifying a target.
-Each time you do so, somepony, somewhere, will die.
-No ponies in your contact list will die.
Hmm. Interesting thing, but together this makes me wonder if Velvet herself would be experiencing that death temporarily, given the line in the Level blurb about "a pony may die several times in their life". Not, I think, being that specific pony who dies as a result of the ritual, mind, but as well as them. The real sad thing is that we can't even target this, or we could try hitting Windy with it or something.
Although, for mere academics sake, I do feel like we might as well speculate on what it would give us. Probably an instant death ability? Or maybe make us harder to kill in some way.
Personally I'm hoping it will require fighting some dangerous beast or something, rather than a pony. But honestly, I expect it to be just as bad, if only because we've been tainted by the Wolf. Chances are that experience affected even our personal Sacraments, outside of just metaphysical tainting. Though maybe removing frightened will change that.
But yeah, I'm honestly resigned to having to get Names for those two.
If Bird keeps their Lore levels the same as in canon, King Crucible and Ezeem might be able to offer Edge Sacraments. Plus, whatever Name would have become the Edge Master.
...actually, I just had a thought. Maybe when we find the Worm Museum (or whatever's left of it) we'll find one of the Colonel's Names still standing guard? It'd be a pretty thematic place to find one.
Also, thinking of more uses for DoA, she would be pretty good for summoning Mares or Windigoes. At least, if we spent a reagent or got a Winter or Lantern artifact. Maybe we can have her do that and claim Jade did it? Then again, that really depends on if we would keep hold of the jars or could steal them back and banish them at our leisure.
Current idea is for our betrayal to the cult to consist of us and Jade doing jack shit for them this turn and just… not showing up to the next meeting.
So, Bird said that something would happen if we gave Baldomare a Level 6 book, right? And I think most of us interpreted that (correctly or not, who knows) as it being her 'price' to permanently remain in the Wake.
Baldomare is Lantern 6/Secret Histories 6 with a bonus to finding things. Basically perfect for, say, a high level book hunt or scrying a specific item.
DoA wants what is probably the Frangiclave. And the Frangiclave is probably to be locked behind an expedition. And the DoA has a specialty bonus for expeditions.
Makes me wonder if Names having bonuses that just so happen to be suited to finding their friendship item is going to be a recurring theme
Current idea is for our betrayal to the cult to consist of us and Jade doing jack shit for them this turn and just… not showing up to the next meeting.
They are Moth 7 and a Name. Maybe even one with a specialty bonus to hiding. That'd probably be like, a DC of 120 just for the ritual to not fail, nevermind actually getting helpful information out of it.
They are Moth 7 and (probably) a Name. Maybe even one with a specialty bonus to hiding. That'd be like, a DC of 120 just for the ritual to not fail, nevermind actually getting helpful information out of it.
Sure, but we had a Lantern Name, and could make reagents.
Anyways, @BirdBodhisattva are we going to get the rolls for the ritual? That random cultist's reactions made me a bit curious on just how bullshit we managed to be.
You feel like you are watching a dream come true. Except that you mean that in the most literal way possible. After all, you are watching with your very own eyes as the largest glyph on the ground, the one freshly-carved by the cloaked Loremaster himself, yawns and expands like a gate. The serpent-like symbol leaking a deep-purple light that is the exact same color of your Mansus-dreams.
There was so much Winter about, in fact, that you almost thought the Loremaster cradled the dying changeling on his forelegs, for a few moments. You almost thought that the Loremaster somehow regretted it.
None of you understand what eldritch words the creature just spoke. But you all know, without a doubt, that it must have uttered ancient knowledge that will forever remain beyond your comprehension.
"The… the creature, it speaks to the Loremaster? But how?"
"It speaks the language of the Gods, there is no other explanation!"
A very angry, snake-like problem, who is currently yelling at you.
It's actually a little funny, in a rather ironic way. Because you might have managed to punch a literal hole through reality, sure. But the mare on the other side of said hole is not only thoroughly unimpressed, but is also using said hole to berate you, of all things.
"No, seerisly, ae'd be mpressed if et wasn't so daft of ye. Canny ye even follow sum simpl' foken nstroctions?! Long-martyr o' Bethlehem, this is part of me curse innit? Et's gotta be!"
"The Loremaster understands it! He is communing with the Mansus-thing!"
"Praise the Loremaster! Praise the enlightened one!"
Because you might have created a portal to the Mansus, yes. But, she made it very clear through the prodigious use of expletives, that doesn't mean that she can just ignore the basic rules of gravity.
"But, uhm," you say meekly, as the snakemare glares at you, "can't you just… cross it?"
The only answer she gives you is to pick up a rock she has nearby, and drop it towards her own side of the portal.
And you watch, with nervous tension growing inside your chest, as the rock quite literally "falls" towards you, rises up through your side of the portal thanks to the accumulated momentum, and then proceeds to fall back towards her side. The rock coming to and from the portal in an almost pendulum-like movement, as the gravity of each side of the portal takes it in turn and throws it back to the other side.
This is a weird inconvenience, but still just a minor inconvenience.
...Also this strange portal could... kind of allow for the creation of a perpetual motion machine, which is not really THAT important right now, but I just find it funny.
You cringe under the Daughter's growingly intense glare, as she communicates without words that you probably breached a whole book's worth of summoning etiquette.
"But can't you just… you know," you say, tentatively, hesitantly, "snake your way through the portal? I mean, I know it might be a bit uncomfortable, but maybe just come through it as if you were climbing? I mean, the portal is right there, and I can just lend you a hoof and help y-"
"AN AEMBARESS MESELF IN FRON' OF YER WHOL FOKEN FANCLOB?! WO' IF AE TRIP AN FALL?! THIS YER WHOL PLAN TAE ASSERT DOMNENCE OVER ME OR SOMETHIN'?!"
And the portal closes shut, fizzling out of existence in less than a moment. A strange silence, that you can somehow taste with your eyes, settling over the parched ground where the portal once stood.
And you…
You…
"What… what just happened?"
"Did the Loremaster banish it? Was the creature's power too vast to control?"
You have no idea what just happened, or what to do.
Because you don't care how old or alien she is. That mare has the word "daughter" in her name, and you'll be damned if you don't teach her some discipline!
...Velvet, I both appreciate your desire to establish dominance and teach her manners... but the fact you're focusing on the "Daughter" part of the name has me worried, because we already have enough daughters and I somehow failed to seriously consider the chance you might decide to ADOPT A NAME too!
But above all else, everypony in the room, without exception, has their attention drawn to the very center of the summoning circle. As a loud and sickening ripping noise comes from the body of the dead changeling.
You watch, in muted horror, as the changelings mouth… slooooowly begins to open. Wider, and wider, and wider still. Wider than anypony, or any creature, should ever be able to. And at the same time, you can see how the rest of the changeling's body begins to… deflate? No, that's not it. You don't know how to describe it, but you can see the changeling's skin… flatten, almost as if his insides are being emptied out.
The weight of Knock grows around you, to the point that it almost becomes painful. To the point that you almost feel something inside of you will open, or your scar on your hindleg will burst, just by being here. And together with that feeling, you watch in sickened horror as… as a pair of hoofs spring out of the changeling's outstretched mouth, followed by forelegs, and finally what looks like a snout.
And then it dawns upon you. It dawns upon you what is happening, what exactly you are witnessing. As more and more of the Daughter-of-Axes quite literally crawls out of the changeling's mouth, and the dead changeling itself deflate into an empty husk, you realize that… that you are watching a snake shedding, that somehow the Daughter-of-Axes used the changeling's corpse as a path, and that she is crawling out of it like a snake might crawl out of its own old skin.
"The walls of the world are cracking! Run! Run for your lives!"
"She comes! By all the trees in the Woods she comes!"
"Let us out, let us out!"
By the time she is finished, also, you are the only pony left in the room, the whole Cadre having run away in terror as soon as the doors of the summoning room slammed themselves open thanks to the sheer weight of Knock.
"Well?!" her utterly pissed voice resounds through the now-empty summoning room. "Canny ye a'least borrow me yer cloak? Cuidn't bring me own fer obveous reasons."
You very carefully wonder how you should word your suggestion that she should take a shower first, and considering her... apparent demeanor, you very cautiously wonder how exactly you should go about dealing with her.
You have summoned the Daughter-of-Axes. Her full status are now available to you.
You have discovered an added functionality for the Wrong Keys: "Using a Wrong Key as a sacrifice to summon the Daughter-of-Axes will decrease the ritual cost by 50 bits, and will give you one level of [Priority] over any opposing rituals". (Priority meaning that, if an opposing party attempts to summon her as well, you will not "compete" for the summoning and will always "win", as long as you successfully roll the minimum required for her summoning and have a [Priority] level greater than your foes).
Summoning details:
-The Daughter-of-Axes is capable of crafting THREE "Wrong Keys" to you, in a single turn. however, she is only willing to do that ONCE per summoning period.
-The Daughter-of-Axes is capable of CHANNELING the highest intensity of Influence in her Lore, and gifting it to you for a full month. She is also capable of CHANNELING a lower-intensity Influence of her secondary Lore, although both of you consider that to be a waste of her time.
-The Daughter-of-Axes is considered to be a Minion, and does not mind being sacrificed for Rituals.
Health: 5
General bonus: +30
"Expedition actions" bonus: +50 (applies to any expedition roll that is NOT combat [or social] related)
Aspects: KNOCK6, EDGE3 [NAME]: There is, or was, a hierarchy within the Mansus. She has reached high within its ranks. [ONE WHO IS VERY GREAT]: The Daughter-of-Axes is willing to offer you Sacrament in the Lore of Knock, should you fulfill her requirements. [WEIGHT OF PRESENCE]: The Daughter-of-Axes grants a full level up to the Wildhoof Club for her preferred Lore. [CRAFTER]: Is capable of producing "Wrong Keys" (three in a single action, but only once per summon).
ok, so she's particularly well suited to Expeditions, that's good. Perfect for Twilight's, but also for other ones we might send her in, either alone or led by Velvet or Jade.
and, as expected, the "make keys" is one of her possible actions. 3 keys for one action is actually better than I expected, and the fact she can only do it once is an acceptable limitation.
If we get Winter artifact, we could have her summon Windigos.
If we get her a Lantern Artifact, she could probably summon both Mares in The Light and/or Baldomare... though I think she expires right before she becomes available again.
[PROUD]: Will refuse to cast any rituals that do not involve Knock. [UNIQUE]: The Daughter-of-Axes is a unique creature. She may refuse summons at will, and will refuse re-summons for threeONE full month should she be unsummoned for any reason (including if she is killed). [UNINTERESTED]: Will refuse any gifts to stay in the Wake (however, her cooldown for re-summoning is a single full month) [ANTISOCIAL]: All her bonus, regardless of circumstance or situation, fall down to a flat "+10" if she attempts to engage in any social action (even her usual +50 expedition bonus, if the hurdle being faced is social in nature).
...Velvet, I both appreciate your desire to establish dominance and teach her manners... but the fact you're focusing on the "Daughter" part of the name has me worried, because we already have enough daughters and I somehow failed to seriously consider the chance you might decide to ADOPT A NAME too!
I'll play fast and loose with that. In the sense that she doesn't need to be "leading" the expedition to make herself useful.
She'll still bemoan the leader's actions all the way, of course, but she'll put her weight in.
(So, if an expedition only lasts one month, she can be involved, give her bonus, and not need to spend her action to be part of it as per our usual rules.)
Get back to me on that question later. I might not allow that for balancing reasons.
But hey, three months do take a bit of a while to pass don't they? So no need to rush that decision.
For what matters, I think the opportunity cost is reasonable. The Keys can be used against summons, against hostile rituals, as sacrifices for other rituals, and to keep people we care about safe from rituals.
Using 2 keys means we have to give up some of that.
Sure, we get 3 keys the turn after she's back... but only if we don't want to use her action for something else. and it's still 2 keys less than it could have otherwise been.
Still, that means throwing her full weight at an expedition gives… +120 to Knock stuff, +150 if she's able to Attention. And even non-Knock still gets +50. If Velvet throws her own attention and base stats, they can roll over +200 to Knock, or a second Influence for almost +250…
Also, we should probably start looking for Expeditions to send the DoA on, since that seems to be her specialty. Shame Knock isn't really needed for the Canterlot one.
Okay, if the DoA can join us on the expedition to rescue Twilight without using her monthly action, it might be worth having her craft the three WRONG KEYS up front, in case there are any summons where Twilight is being held. There still is that one Windigo that hasn't been used yet after all.
But now that we've seen her full stats, I think we should be fine just bringing the DoA, Velvet, and maybe a Risen on the expedition to rescue Twilight. Especially if Jade and Velvet cast a "The Reflection of the Tapestry" ritual to uncover Twilight's location beforehand.
Thank you kindly. If you mean the shift from the serious murdering to DoA comedy, that is. That was intentional, and the reason why I divided the summoning into two different updates.
I think it was a very good decision. After the sacrifice we needed the levity, and I think we were all so focused on "changeling-murder-evil-regrettable" that we kinda forgot just how funny DoA is
Edit: Loathe as I am to have so many temp threadmarks, should probably mark this one down.
Edit2: Also, kindly add any explanation/comments if any? Some puns might fly way over my head, and I'd rather they didn't. Still, go ahead!
…Welp! We're never doing either of those! Definitely need to steal control of Neighnia at some point if we ever want a Winter Sacrament. And hopefully fin an Edge Name somewhere.
"She claims that she was the Daughter of 'another', before, but that she had to bind herself to a new patron once her Mother 'did what she did'. Always wearing a cloak upon her body, and a scowl upon her face, you have slowly come to realize that, perhaps, her problem is that she simply isn't good with words. Or with ponies. Most likely with both, to tell the truth. You are also pretty sure that she has scales underneath that cloak, instead of fur, but you will definitely not pry. Especially given how she seems to hide that great horn-topped axe so easily underneath that cloak. And considering her Lore nature, you wouldn't be surprised at all if the inside of her cloak is a lot larger than it appears."
Hmm. Interesting thing, but together this makes me wonder if Velvet herself would be experiencing that death temporarily, given the line in the Level blurb about "a pony may die several times in their life". Not, I think, being that specific pony who dies as a result of the ritual, mind, but as well as them. The real sad thing is that we can't even target this, or we could try hitting Windy with it or something.
Although, for mere academics sake, I do feel like we might as well speculate on what it would give us. Probably an instant death ability? Or maybe make us harder to kill in some way.
"I hope you can cross it, one day. I hope you are permitted to see what lies on the other side. And also that, through you, a part of him is permitted to see the Wake again."
I am kind of wondering if we could use this as the alternative way to buy Windy before he goes looking for the Wolf. Because if we can grab a sacrament with Windy this way showing him the end and then the cross the mist, we could grab the light on the other side and bring it back with us to the Wake. This would be only currency of equal value to the Wolf for Windy being a literal part of a Winter Hour. If we don't well, well the only option would be to finish off Windy at this point . Once he finds Paranoia, then that power might make him close to unkillable as he devotes himself solely to the Wolf. I don't even want to know if Windy could do a father of wolves ending himself by swearing allegiance 7 times.
