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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You know, I'm actually really looking forward to the family teaching session. Both because we'll finally be able to look at the character sheet and know what our entire family has—seriously, a Loremaster with that section being so empty is just weird—and the scene itself will be interesting to see Velvet finally, directly teaching. But also because…

I want to see their reactions. I want to see when her family learns to sense the Lores, to recognize those who wield eldritch powers, and then… they look at Velvet. They see how powerful she is, the sheer weight of eldritch Lore practically draped around her like a cloak. They see the truths she has carried, her burden of knowledge. I want to see Velvet's family when they understand just how far and how much she has grasped, for their sake. And to know that even she fears the Master. Four mortal Masteries, two more on the edge, and three close yet… but still not enough.
gutza1 said:
I would prefer the Mirror Maid place. I don't think we've visited it before. Have we?
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we have. That's what that entire scene was about and how we got the Maids.
 
Ericwinter said:
You know, I'm actually really looking forward to the family teaching session. Both because we'll finally be able to look at the character sheet and know what our entire family has—seriously, a Loremaster with that section being so empty is just weird—and the scene itself will be interesting to see Velvet finally, directly teaching. But also because…

I want to see their reactions. I want to see when her family learns to sense the Lores, to recognize those who wield eldritch powers, and then… they look at Velvet. They see how powerful she is, the sheer weight of eldritch Lore practically draped around her like a cloak. They see the truths she has carried, her burden of knowledge. I want to see Velvet's family when they understand just how far and how much she has grasped, for their sake. And to know that even she fears the Master. Four mortal Masteries, two more on the edge, and three close yet… but still not enough.

we have. That's what that entire scene was about and how we got the Maids.
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I agree. This is probably the thing I've most been looking forward to, I hope it isn't just breezed over with just a short paragraph and then a "your family is now equipped with the power of lore!".
 
BirdBodhisattva said:
Current Cult influence:
-Ponyville: MODERATE influence, +9 in certain rolls. Local Guard subverted.
-Manehattan: NONEXISTENT influence, +0 in certain rolls.
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Random question, but is this still accurate, @BirdBodhisattva ? It hasn't been updated in awhile, and I'm not sure if that's just us not knowing what's changed, nothing has changed, or you just keep forgetting.
 
gutza1 said:
I would prefer the Mirror Maid place. I don't think we've visited it before. Have we?
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of course we did, that's why we got their summon.

What's left requires a winter sacrament to access, to for now you can consider it fully explored.

You can see how in the action list the Blank Plains are written off as "fully explored", with technically only the tower (requires sh sacrament) and the resting place of the Sun-in-Rags (requires Winter Sacrament) left.

Alex Sol said:
Edit:We have explore Woods, explore Shattered Stairways and Church options.
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also, to be more specific, and assuming that there's 3 locations per area (Blank Plains had 3, canon had 3 choices, it makes sense) (Also it seems like we get 2 "canon" places and an "original" one. Example: Blank Plains had the Lodge, the Orchard, and the Tower (the original one)).

Woods: two places left.

One is the Esquestria version of the Temple of the Wheel, where the Master supposedly met with Starry and held puppet shows for her.

The other is an original one we know nothing about

We already explored the Well (here DRY Well)

each place SHOULD require only one mansus action.

Stairways: Only one place left, presumably the Esquestria version of the Painted River.

We already visited what's left of the ascent of knives, now the Place of Sharpness/Lair of the Wolf. We also already visited the Desert of Keys. (not sure if those were the official names)

Ericwinter said:
I want to see their reactions. I want to see when her family learns to sense the Lores, to recognize those who wield eldritch powers, and then… they look at Velvet. They see how powerful she is, the sheer weight of eldritch Lore practically draped around her like a cloak. They see the truths she has carried, her burden of knowledge. I want to see Velvet's family when they understand just how far and how much she has grasped, for their sake. And to know that even she fears the Master. Four mortal Masteries, two more on the edge, and three close yet… but still not enough.
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When compared to a GOD (or at least demi-god) we're extremely skilled, but just lack power.

Which, well, that's fair. It's basically the difference between the Know and the Long.

The Know have knowledge, but the Long have actually turned it into power.



...for a more conventional comparison, We're a very skilled start-of-Namek Goku, but the Master is Frieza :p
 
Personally, I am kind of curious what the Daughter of Axes would say if we visit her in the Mansus. Probably some Scottish version of are you daft? Why are you visiting me here when you have a chunk of me in the physical world you can talk? Then we somehow get like a knock lesson from her yelling at us. Like I would never suggest doing it, but it would be a kind of funny encounter.

By the way do we have any interesting questions to try and decipher from DoA while she is here? Unlike Baldomare, she is a horrible speaker, or is it everyone is a horrible listener? I honestly can't think of anything to ask that she would feel like answering, but she is another name for a different perspective.
 
Pittauro said:
When compared to a GOD (or at least demi-god) we're extremely skilled, but just lack power.

Which, well, that's fair. It's basically the difference between the Know and the Long.

The Know have knowledge, but the Long have actually turned it into power.



...for a more conventional comparison, We're a very skilled start-of-Namek Goku, but the Master is Frieza :p
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That's… actually kind of interesting. Because, mind you, Luna—and presumably Cadence as well—would have had a +50 to magic without the Scars of the Nightmare debuff. And, considering that the raw power measurement for Lores is the Knowledge bonus, Velvet actually comes out to a minimum of +43 with the Lores, +48 if it's our racial magic and we get the Gifted bonus. For her four Level Fours, however, that jumps up to +53/+58.

Granted, Celestia probably has even more power, and of course skill out the ass, but still. In terms of raw magical weight we're at least comparable to a non-scarred Princess Luna. Which is pretty fucking scary, actually.
 
Ericwinter said:
That's… actually kind of interesting. Because, mind you, Luna—and presumably Cadence as well—would have had a +50 to magic without the Scars of the Nightmare debuff. And, considering that the raw power measurement for Lores is the Knowledge bonus, Velvet actually comes out to a minimum of +43 with the Lores, +48 if it's our racial magic and we get the Gifted bonus. For her four Level Fours, however, that jumps up to +53/+58.

Granted, Celestia probably has even more power, and of course skill out the ass, but still. In terms of raw magical weight we're at least comparable to a non-scarred Princess Luna. Which is pretty fucking scary, actually.
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sure, but old that power can only be used under very specific circumstances (the specific lore bonuses and rituals), and our body is still very much that of a fragile mortal.

On the other hand, the Alicorns can apply those bonuses to basically everything they do, AND are a LOT more durable.

That's why I'm saying Velvet is "weak but skilled". she has 2 hp, she's very good at what she does (including all the lore specialties like finding things, understanding objects, being stealthy and so on), but in general all it would take to kill her is a few thugs surrounding her right now.
 
[X] Plan Vespertine

I feel awful about not restoring Twilight's horn, but I'm not sure how we'd even fit it in this turn. And we could do with Forge's Redemptioning ourselves as soon as possible as well, but if we don't do either then it becomes significantly more suspicious. (I know there're plans that include it, but there's so much else that needs to take priority. ._.)
 
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Pittauro said:
sure, but old that power can only be used under very specific circumstances (the specific lore bonuses and rituals), and our body is still very much that of a fragile mortal.

On the other hand, the Alicorns can apply those bonuses to basically everything they do, AND are a LOT more durable.

That's why I'm saying Velvet is "weak but skilled". she has 2 hp, she's very good at what she does (including all the lore specialties like finding things, understanding objects, being stealthy and so on), but in general all it would take to kill her is a few thugs surrounding her right now.
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Oh, certainly, but it does make for a very impressive presence and aura of power. Realistically she's not all that impressive in a fight or some general stuff, but she still looks scary as fuck. Especially when you take into account the sheer bullshit that is having more than a few lores. Even Selene, with an Alicorn's potential, can only get four. Velvet has mastered that number, and then learned all the rest as well.
 
I dont think it is possible for us to fit a forges redemption in for Twilight. As was pointed out, even with Reagents and everything it's just not that safe to attempt.

Personally I am curious if Celestia might know some way to heal permanent wounds. Albeit something that cant be done for everypony.
 
Ericwinter said:
Oh, certainly, but it does make for a very impressive presence and aura of power. Realistically she's not all that impressive in a fight or some general stuff, but she still looks scary as fuck. Especially when you take into account the sheer bullshit that is having more than a few lores. Even Selene, with an Alicorn's potential, can only get four. Velvet has mastered that number, and then learned all the rest as well.
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Selene only needs 4 lores to recover. That doesn't necessarily mean that Luna will be limited to those 4
 
Wiggy said:
You know, that statement is a lot more concerning in retrospect when we saw her all wrapped up in marionette strings that one time.
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I mean... remember when the master cured our Fascination?

Starry apparently enjoys... things.

So that "puppet show" was probably pretty horrifying yeah.

[X] Plan Vespertine
 
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ok, I actually haven't looked at plan Vespertine thoroughly, let's see...

and I'll give a look to Rarity v3 too.

Alex Sol said:
-[X]DoA (Lead expedition under Canterlot castle)
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IF we can do it while also using the SH book in the Tapestry ritual, you might want to loan the SH artifact to DoA for the expedition, as there's a SH obstacle in there. Maybe the Heartifact too if we don't need it for something else, just in case. We can get it back for the following expedition too I think.

you know, having Rarity go to lvl 3 and do the ritual would narratively work as a source of inspiration. I mean, higher Grail will likely improve her odds even with less attention on her job.

Still a risk, but at least it's not quite as bad. At the very least she should get +5 from forge 1, but seriously I'd expect her to get a bonus from grail too, so... maybe also the +10 from that?

Greymere said:
-[X] (Velvet Axe) Lead an expedition (Beneath the Royal Castle
--[X] Conditional: Drop and reassign to physically scouting Crepuscular Jailbreak if RotT fails
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as I say before, maybe you should mention giving the artifacts to DoA to help her in her expedition?

@BirdBodhisattva can we both give the SH artifact to DoA AND use it for the ritual? also, do obstacles use only the application bonus, or the knowledge one, or maybe it depends on the obstacle?

From Vespertine, I'm not quite 100% sure this is the right moment to teach them the lores compared to what else we could do.

Then again, my main alternative would be Rarity lesson, and I'm not sure that's strictly better...
 
Pittauro said:
From Vespertine, I'm not quite 100% sure this is the right moment to teach them the lores compared to what else we could do.

Then again, my main alternative would be Rarity lesson, and I'm not sure that's strictly better...
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It makes our family safer, helps Selene connect with her sisters, etc.

Rarities lesson would pay large dividends next turn for sure. What'll it do for us this turn?
 
Pittauro said:
IF we can do it while also using the SH book in the Tapestry ritual, you might want to loan the SH artifact to DoA for the expedition, as there's a SH obstacle in there. Maybe the Heartifact too if we don't need it for something else, just in case. We can get it back for the following expedition too I think.
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Pittauro said:
as I say before, maybe you should mention giving the artifacts to DoA to help her in her expedition?
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Deciding on what Artifacts to bring on expeditions happens on the expedition planning vote, not the turn vote.

Pittauro said:
From Vespertine, I'm not quite 100% sure this is the right moment to teach them the lores compared to what else we could do.
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I want to try get them to 3/1 before we officially leave the cult. Both for increased safety and to see if it'll help convince Stormchaser to let Selene's IotH happen without copious amounts of Grail or the Leash.

Rarity's promotion can wait until we're actually using her action, imo.
 
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Ok, here is an alternate plan in which we try to heal Twilight. Please someone who actually knows stadistics check the odds, but I think that we have around 60% success rate if we use a Forge 3 reagent and a 64% success rate if we find a Forge scrap in the Ruined Church and then use a reading action to reach Forge 4 instead of crafting the reagent. Or, if we were willing to forgo calling a Grail influence (which I doubt would happen since the Grail might help not just with talking down Twilight but with exploring the Ruined Church) we could ask for a Forge lesson and craft a Forge 3/Grail 1 reagent for a 90% success rate.

That said, I am a bit concerned about what would happen if either the DoA or us are hurt in the expeditions before rescuing Twilight. Are we sure that we want to risk it? It might be best to have the DoA do something else like dissassociating our image from the cult, or have her take over the duty from the hintchasers and have the Hintchasers call the Grail influence if we don't do it ourselves... buck it, I will do that in the second plan. Better a +10 grail than nothing.

[X] Plan Risky Medical Procedure
-[X] You will do the bare minimum to get the farm running. For the benefit of your workers and your city, if nothing else.
-[X] (Servants) Find a way to reduce suspicion of at-home rituals (don't tell them that, of course)
-[X] (Hintchasers) Obtain a dead body from the cemetery
-[X] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[X] (Jade) Scout Crepuscular Jailbreak with RotT
--[X] Sacrifice Lantern 1 reagent and equip SH3 artifact
--[X] At the Velvet estate
-[X] (Velvet Axe) Lead an expedition (Beneath the Royal Castle
--[X] Conditional: Drop and reassign to physically scouting Crepuscular Jailbreak if RotT fails
-[X] (Risen) Fleeting opportunity: Steal the original manuscripts from the Bright Library
-[X] Selene (Winter)
-[X] (AotL) Grail: Comet Feet
-[X] (Knock) Explore the Ruined Church
-[X] (Forge) Grail 3
-[X] (Winter) Raise a Flourishing Risen
-[X] Perform the Calling of Influence (Grail)
--[X] Sacrifice Grail 3 reagent
--[X] At the cult's gathering place
-[X] Fleeting opportunity: Comet Feet
--[X] With Fluttershy from the start
-[X] Fleeting opportunity: Soft Sweeps
-[X] Craft Reagent: Forge 3
--[X] Conditional: If we get a Forge scrap at the Church, instead use a reading action to read the 2 Forge 3 books and the Lantern 6 Book
-[X] Perform Forge Redemption on Twilight
--[X] At our state. Use Forge 3 reagent if available
--[X] Conditional: Drop and reassign to Crepuscular Jailbreak if both RotT and scouting fail
-[X] Lead an expedition (Crepuscular Jailbreak)

[X] Plan Risky Everything Else
-[X] You will do the bare minimum to get the farm running. For the benefit of your workers and your city, if nothing else.
-[X] (Servants) Find a way to reduce suspicion of at-home rituals (don't tell them that, of course)
-[X] (Hintchasers) Call a Grail Influence on Velvet
-[X] (Rarity) Focus on her work
-[X] (Jade) Scout Crepuscular Jailbreak with RotT
--[X] Sacrifice Lantern 1 reagent and equip SH3 artifact
--[X] At the Velvet estate
-[X] (Velvet Axe) Obtain a dead body from the cemetery
--[X] Conditional: Drop and reassign to physically scouting Crepuscular Jailbreak if RotT fails
-[X] (Risen) Fleeting opportunity: Steal the original manuscripts from the Bright Library
-[X] Selene (Winter)
-[X] (AotL) Grail: Comet Feet
-[X] (Knock) Explore the Ruined Church
-[X] (Forge) Forge 3, Grail 1
-[X] (Winter) Raise a Flourishing Risen
-[X] Ask for a Forge Lesson
-[X] Fleeting opportunity: Comet Feet
--[X] With Fluttershy from the start
-[X] Fleeting opportunity: Soft Sweeps
-[X] Reading action to read the 2 Forge 3 books and the Lantern 6 Book
-[X] Perform Forge Redemption on Twilight
--[X] At our state. Use reagent
--[X] Conditional: Drop and reassign to Crepuscular Jailbreak if both RotT and scouting fail
-[X] Lead an expedition (Crepuscular Jailbreak)
 
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