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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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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!

Kaelor said:
PSA for whoever needs to hear it:

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.
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(Quote slightly edited to avoid spoilers)
 
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Ericwinter said:
We didn't have them at the time. By the time that we did, we were at the point where any weapons we gave could and probably would be used against us.
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We had them when we had the go/no go conversation with the Master, and could have presented them as a less horribly dangerous option. Now all the splinter group has is Windigos, which is frankly the last thing we'd want them spamming at us or anything else. In particular because Windigos specialize in fighting mundane pony enemies, so a Bureau raid that runs into one unexpectedly is going to get mauled.
 
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Venerable Ro said:
We had them when we had the go/no go conversation with the Master, and could have presented them as a less horribly dangerous option.
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Incorrect. The assault on the Changeling hive occured on turn 13. We only found the Mares on turn 14.
BirdBodhisattva said:
You have reached the Garden of Mirrors, where the leaves of trees are glass and the scent of flowers is light. You have gleamed one scrap of LANTERN Lore from your experience.

You have met a Mare-in-the-Light, one of the many who now tend to the Garden. Her kind seems to be a faint reflection of their distant selves, but they are still there, and they may still be called upon.

Mares-in-the-Light have been added to your summoning pool.
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Pittauro said:
If anything, the one without any excuse is Celestia.
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zxzx24 said:
Celestia is REALLY busy throwing a tantrum.
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To be fair, her AP is likely split between "sublimate things into anger or risk melting down/control your anger and make sure your shell around it is solid/make sure said anger doesn't break something internally by channeling it into Appropriate Targets",
"go make sure XYZ faction now exists and/or won't explode soon", and
"do some social/check in on whoever (warning: your anger and current reputation makes this a heavily debuffed option)"?
 
Venerable Ro said:
So it be. I feel older every day really.

Plainly that was before my time, why did we think handing out that summoning ritual would end well?
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lurker9875 said:
Iirc we were ordered to hand out some form of combat summon for the Changeling Assault?
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Pretty much. And to be fair we both weren't at the point of actively planning to betray the Cult yet—though there was some sentiment and expectation it would be needed by certain parts of the thread—and didn't realize the lesser cultists would default to murder in order to make it work. Nor did we think the Master would just… let a bunch of magic murder machines off the leash just because.
 
Ericwinter said:
Pretty much. And to be fair we both weren't at the point of actively planning to betray the Cult yet—though there was some sentiment and expectation it would be needed by certain parts of the thread—and didn't realize the lesser cultists would default to murder in order to make it work. Nor did we think the Master would just… let a bunch of magic murder machines off the leash just because.
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Going back and reading the account (eurgh) it appears that the cultists were solidly in the "perform the rites verbatim as the Loremaster commands" frame of mind, which means that we wrote down "brutalize a captive to the point that the Wolf takes notice and then stuff him in a barrel." Admittedly, you probably can't summon a windigo without an act of extreme violence and hatred, any more than you can create a Risen without a corpse, but still. Wot de zog.

We really should consider that a lesson going forward, if giving someone ritual instructions to follow we really should make sure to clarify what said ritual entails first.
 
Venerable Ro said:
Going back and reading the account (eurgh) it appears that the cultists were solidly in the "perform the rites verbatim as the Loremaster commands" frame of mind, which means that we wrote down "brutalize a captive to the point that the Wolf takes notice and then stuff him in a barrel." Admittedly, you probably can't summon a windigo without an act of extreme violence and hatred, any more than you can create a Risen without a corpse, but still. Wot de zog.

We really should consider that a lesson going forward, if giving someone ritual instructions to follow we really should make sure to clarify what said ritual entails first.
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Well no, Velvet didn't actually write that down. I'm… not sure which part you were reading, but this is basically what she said:
BirdBodhisattva said:
"… there are several bridges between the act of causing an ending, and the final end that is brought.
Several bridges that connects the Lores of Edge and Winter.
Peace, Extinction, the Subversion of Edge into Winter.
But for our purposes, the bridge of Agony is to be sought.
Edge, Knock, Winter. Act, Agony, End. Those are the steps to be taken.
To trap that agony in the circle of Knock, to bind it into our service.
However, to bring about agony, malice is required.
Malice is the intent to harm, and herein are the ways in which it may be properly called upon..."

-Excerpts of the instructions, given to Hintseeker Foggy Glow in her dreams by the visage of the Loremaster.
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And, when issue was taken by the player base over how Velvet very much doesn't seem like the type of Pony to tell people to commit such a crime, and "wait, do we need to do that?", and so on, Bird eventually came around to clarifying that no, Velvet did not actually say that, nor did she think the ritual casters would take that as her meaning. Nor is any sort of victim actually required for the ritual. What happened was a classic example of miscommunication and misunderstanding between a person who is very "wise" and learned, and someone who does not possess even a quarter of their understanding.

Basically, the Cultists had, IIRC, like, 0 Winter and completely null Edge knowledge. And I think one Knock? Thus, when Velvet told them "invoke malice and Agony" they took it very literally, when she was thinking of much more subtle, mystical methods.
 
Venerable Ro said:
We really should consider that a lesson going forward, if giving someone ritual instructions to follow we really should make sure to clarify what said ritual entails first.
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True, but that was below the level of abstraction we are playing in, so there's nothing we can do about that?
(Best equivalent would be to raise the Cult's lore levels, but that's no longer an option, due to not being in one anymore and all)
 
lurker9875 said:
True, but that was below the level of abstraction we are playing in, so there's nothing we can do about that?
(Best equivalent would be to raise the Cult's lore levels, but that's no longer an option, due to not being in one anymore and all)
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Yep. It also doesn't help that, well, they also needed the boost of a sacrifice since their levels were so shitty. Honestly, I shudder to think what Copper did for her Baldomare summoning, when she had no actual level in the Lores she was invoking and had to kill two people.
 
Ericwinter said:
Nor is any sort of victim actually required for the ritual. What happened was a classic example of miscommunication and misunderstanding between a person who is very "wise" and learned, and someone who does not possess even a quarter of their understanding.
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But for our purposes, the bridge of Agony is to be sought.
Edge, Knock, Winter. Act, Agony, End. Those are the steps to be taken.
To trap that agony in the circle of Knock, to bind it into our service.
However, to bring about agony, malice is required.
Malice is the intent to harm, and herein are the ways in which it may be properly called upon...

I am honestly bewildered as to how else that was supposed to be taken. I mean, how would we fulfil those requirements? It's not like with Comet's investment where we used ritual combat as a means of invoking Edge, Agony and Malice can't just be pulled out of a magic Lore box.
 
lurker9875 said:
She probably didn't have (good) relevant Artifacts too, so it's probably a dark version of the Trust Me Bro (this is needed and will work) meme?
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She had a Lantern Level 2 artifact, and nothing else. At least from what we saw. And while the Cadre had Levels one and two, it was still Copper leading the ritual, as a Grail main trying to brute force a Knock/SH/Lantern ritual. So yeah, it was… really whacky. Especially since she was neither Loremistress nor ritual master.
Venerable Ro said:
I am honestly bewildered as to how else that was supposed to be taken. I mean, how would we fulfil those requirements? It's not like with Comet's investment where we used ritual combat as a means of invoking Edge, Agony and Malice can't just be pulled out of a magic Lore box.
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I mean, I don't know either, but neither of us has Levels in Winter, Edge, or Knock lore, and we haven't seen a Windigo be born, or been forcibly taught lessons in agony by the Wolf itself. Unless there's something you're not saying, anyways. :V
 
lurker9875 said:
Technically, we don't know that, all we know if the roll bonii (not the components of said bonii)?
Although yeah, brute forcing an SH ritual has got to be super weird in practice
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We actually sort of do. Or at least, by comparing the various bonuses you can logic out that, whatever the case, the caster was using Level 2 Lantern, but the cadre was only Level One: unless she picked up another Jade, an artifact is the only thing that makes sense.
 
Venerable Ro said:
That, could have been the cracked Wilding Mirror, which if true would be... Vexing. I for one very much hope she used a random shiny candlestick instead of ruining a potentially level 8 Lantern artifact.
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Nah, a cracked Mirror would only be Level One, in Esquestria. Intensity 2 in canon. And intensity 8 would be Level 4. Also it only gets cracked if you use it to pass the Peacock door, IIRC which… is not an issue, here. It's equivalent, the Mirror Door, has been destroyed and there is not even a way to approach it from the side on which it would be closed.
 
Ericwinter said:
Nah, a cracked Mirror would only be Level One, in Esquestria. Intensity 2 in canon. And intensity 8 would be Level 4. Also it only gets cracked if you use it to pass the Peacock door, IIRC which… is not an issue, here. It's equivalent, the Mirror Door, has been destroyed and there is not even a way to approach it from the side on which it would be closed.
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It also starts out scratched unless you get one from a really high level expedition. I find it more likely they used a reforged noonstone (or it's equivalent), one of the rewards of the forgotten mithraum.
 
I've been thinking about our foes recently. And I'm a little worried.

There's been a lot of focus on Copper, and though we have a solution (ish) to offensive rituals I am very curious how am actual attack will go down. (...we might get a corpse? That'd be nice.) Still, for now that die is cast.

But I'm thinking more of the Master. I get that we haven't had space or confidence in taking an action to find info about hi. But we should expect he's doing... Something... Harmful. And I think we'll be having to deal with that sooner rather than later. I'm really doubtful we'll have time, for example, for multiple turns of powering up confidants. (I really would find it funny if he interested with the wedding!)

I'm also worried about Windy. This is a guy with a multi turn project we know he's been working on for a while. It's gotta be nearing completion soon. And whether that's his sacrament or something else is, he can't be too far away from it and there's something very powerful locked behind a winter sacrament.

(Starry... Sure is out there, I guess. Hope she's doing alright.)

I'm thinking what options position us best to take a punch in the face over the next turn or two. I think bits, for flexibility. I think archive, so we don't have to worry about Baldomare. (I know we've got a plan, but it feels somewhat fragile.) And I'd like to invite the names to the wedding, so that any interruption there we'd be better positioned to respond to (especially if we have Biedde next turn).

[X] "What do you mean you want a traditional wedding? Cadance, you are literally writing tradition right now. You are a Princess for-…! Alright, fine, I'll check the Royal Archives." (Secret Histories)
[x] "Cadance, do you mind if I put a few Names on the list…?" (Invite all Names who are summoned on Turn 19 / ???)
[x] "Cadance, what do you mean keep the change? What do you mean that I should keep the change?! " (Gain 500 bits)
 
spiderhellian said:
But I'm thinking more of the Master. I get that we haven't had space or confidence in taking an action to find info about hi. But we should expect he's doing... Something... Harmful. And I think we'll be having to deal with that sooner rather than later. I'm really doubtful we'll have time, for example, for multiple turns of powering up confidants. (I really would find it funny if he interested with the wedding!)
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I'm genuinely convinced that the Master will resurface once Luna comes back. Do I have any evidence of this? Only tenuous pieces at best. Do I believe it anyway? Absolutely.
 
spiderhellian said:
But I'm thinking more of the Master. I get that we haven't had space or confidence in taking an action to find info about hi. But we should expect he's doing... Something... Harmful. And I think we'll be having to deal with that sooner rather than later. I'm really doubtful we'll have time, for example, for multiple turns of powering up confidants. (I really would find it funny if he interested with the wedding!)
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Well, he's probably doing… something. Maybe. If he wasn't desummoned, which is entirely a possibility. Not entirely sure why it wo make him unable to contact us in the Woods, but we don't even know who the Master is, so.

However, what he's doing might not be harmful. Velvet was not the first person to abandon ship, let alone the only, and she has not actually made moves against the Cult except that one ritual aimed at Copper, and only as a reactive measure. Hell, she went after a bunch of nobles with her new Bureau, not the actual perpetrators of either great tragedy we've seen in the quest. Theoretically Velvet could, and probably is an enemy to the Master, but she hasn't acted like it. Not to mention she's the closest person to Glory, and always has been. I'm honestly more worried about the Master going after Windy or Comet Feet than Velvet.

Although, of course, he might be fucking around in an attempt to kill Celestia again or something. Heck, maybe he tried and got nuked for his troubles.
 
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