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:
Uh… but we did it for the other Cult members when we were preparing for the expedition? A Forge and a Winter, IIRC.
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I'll go check the precise language for consistency's sake (and consistency is something I really enjoy). But didn't you help them cast Influences?

(For the record, closest thing I could find was this. I think it was just an unresolved rule, that has been decided upon now)
 
BirdBodhisattva said:
I'll go check the precise language for consistency's sake (and consistency is something I really enjoy). But didn't you help them cast Influences?

(For the record, closest thing I could find was this. I think it was just an unresolved rule, that has been decided upon now)
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I'm not sure where, exactly, but I do remember a distinction being made that Comet cast his own ritual because he had the highest Edge Level, so Velvet doing so wouldn't be sensible.

But hey, if you're making a hard ruling now, that's totally your prerogative. Just wanted to make sure you weren't forgetting if you had decided earlier.
 
Ericwinter said:
I'm not sure where, exactly, but I do remember a distinction being made that Comet cast his own ritual because he had the highest Edge Level, so Velvet doing so wouldn't be sensible.

But hey, if you're making a hard ruling now, that's totally your prerogative. Just wanted to make sure you weren't forgetting if you had decided earlier.
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Aye! Thank you kindly for your understanding. And I can see how things could've gone either way before, to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if someone found a quote where I said the opposite.

But this ritual hasn't been used enough times (by yourself, that is) to really make me concerned about a swing in decision. And the thing I am worried about the most is ending up with a low-Lore character being "gifted" a high Influence by you. I mean, Comet is 4/4 0/1 and had a complete shift in character after getting "A Resolution". So making it easier for characters to do that sounds like a problem I'd rather avoid.

Easily circumventable by having high-level artifacts. But oh well.
 
BirdBodhisattva said:
And we haven't been very generous with helping the Cult reach it's own Level 3 boons, now. Have we? :V

(Mumbles angrily while looking at extensive notes and pre-prepared stuff)
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We'll get there eventually, Bird. Just have to set up our own organization, get the Lores legalized, so on and so forth…
Aranfan said:
Technically true, but everyone is a lvl 9 reagent on their own so all you need to "make a reagent" is birth or kidnap someone of the appropriate species.
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…I almost made a really bad joke. God this quest messes with my head some times.
 
[X] Plan Vespertine

At the end of the day for me, we have too many plates spinning precariously to quick toss in the hula hoop of horn healing. It is poor timing all around. Also I'm pretty sure we wrecked the Mane 6 getting together irrevocably by this point, and feel a bit bad we didn't focus on friending all of our advisors instead of half Mane half advisors.
 
Talon TigerDino said:
[X] Plan Vespertine

At the end of the day for me, we have too many plates spinning precariously to quick toss in the hula hoop of horn healing. It is poor timing all around. Also I'm pretty sure we wrecked the Mane 6 getting together irrevocably by this point, and feel a bit bad we didn't focus on friending all of our advisors instead of half Mane half advisors.
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Maybe not. We have gotten probably two of the six, and if Twilight ends up as a confidante, that'll still be half of them. It's not like the others are completely out of reach either. Or, as I pointed out earlier, we can just make our own Mane Six.

EDIT: Oh, hey @BirdBodhisattva since you're around, are we going to get the actual rolls for the DoA summoning ritual?
 
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BirdBodhisattva said:
And we haven't been very generous with helping the Cult reach it's own Level 3 boons, now. Have we? :V

(Mumbles angrily while looking at extensive notes and pre-prepared stuff)
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Look, when fence sitting about whether or not to betray a cult, you drag your heels on buffing said cult. We are quite wise in our stinginess in this very specific regard.

Ericwinter said:
Maybe not. We have gotten probably two of the six, and if Twilight ends up as a confidante, that'll still be half of them. It's not like the others are completely out of reach either. Or, as I pointed out earlier, we can just make our own Mane Six.
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Yes, but at this point I realize that I'd rather have explored all the new characters instead of mucking about with some of the preexisting ones. Other than Luna, that is, who we kind of turned into an OC, so she doesn't count.
 
Depends on how dice rolls and our preparation with Fluttershy go.

Elements of harmony (the artifacts) are still being kept somewhere and all their current bearers live.

And if Rainbowdash happening to give advice to our husband at that particular moment, and Fluttershy getting romantically involved with comet feet are any indication... we haven't seen the end of them.

They probably won't end up as a kick ass adventure squad (baring some truly wacky stuff happening) but that wasn't ever really their job I would say.
 
Ericwinter said:
EDIT: Oh, hey @BirdBodhisattva since you're around, are we going to get the actual rolls for the DoA summoning ritual?
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Oh, right, forgot to answer that when reading the messages.

My final answer is "no". But my honest answer is "why do you feel you need them?"

You had the ritual itself, no? Why would attaching numbers to it make you feel better? (And I don't mean this in a judgmental way. But really adding the numbers felt unnecessary. You summoned her, so you did it!)
 
BirdBodhisattva said:
Oh, right, forgot to answer that when reading the messages.

My final answer is "no". But my honest answer is "why do you feel you need them?"

You had the ritual itself, no? Why would attaching numbers to it make you feel better? (And I don't mean this in a judgmental way. But really adding the numbers felt unnecessary. You summoned her, so you did it!)
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Mostly just curiosity, and my mild obsession with numbers. That and not knowing how the ritual was meant to really go in general, so I want to know if the results were super impressive, or just competent enough.
 
BirdBodhisattva said:
Oh, right, forgot to answer that when reading the messages.

My final answer is "no". But my honest answer is "why do you feel you need them?"

You had the ritual itself, no? Why would attaching numbers to it make you feel better? (And I don't mean this in a judgmental way. But really adding the numbers felt unnecessary. You summoned her, so you did it!)
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I agree, there was enough salt over the summoning that hiding the rolls prevents some of the relitigate.
 
Ah, perhaps while I am here I should. I don't know if you saw this @BirdBodhisattva ? I had the rakish urge to leave it unremarked given the whole moth thing, but it really doesn't do much sitting around does it?

zxzx24 said:
Branches rustle in the wind. They sound like laughter, they sound like confusion, lies, promises, heartbreak.

But you are holding your breath. The wood, for the first time since you had awoken knows true silence. Your laughter might drown out the sound, and though it is agony, you hold yourself in silence, and in stillness.

It is good that the small lights accompanying you have decided to follow your example. IT will be happening any moment, and silencing them yourself might distract you from this most critical juncture.

Because the rustling of branches, and the confusion, and madness and the glorious dance of chaos and decision is not coming from you. How you had delighted to hear their mind in the past, to watch their struggle.

You had always known her affinity, you had seen the doubt, the indecision, and the beautiful chaos that made its home in her mind since she had refused your first gift, and accepted the second.

You hear the rise and fall of voices, screams drowning out screams, terrible oaths of vengeance and exclamations of fear and doubt.

And Oh that name! To hear that Name again! Even if only a pale reflection into a fallen world!

You could not help yourself, and you draw tighter, creep closer, you are pressing against the beings in the wood now, you can feel their panicked heartbeats adding a staccato undercurrent to the deliberation taking place.

She has not noticed how long she has been silent, since her time to speak came, she has not noticed how those around her gradually fell into silence. How they hold their own breaths, in fear of her utterance, and of yours following the silence.

She does not know how the wind stilled, how branches froze, how the creaking and groaning of night creatures stopped, and how the singing and growling of the trees fell into silence.

Because you do not want her to. To be so suddenly cast into the light would ruin everything that you are hopping for. So no matter how much you wish to lift your voice, or take an early peek, or crawl inside and aid the tiny creature on its way.

Nothing must interrupt the sound you are currently hearing from little, little, little Velvet.

Because what you are listening for, is the sound of something being born.​
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Aranfan said:
I agree, there was enough salt over the summoning that hiding the rolls prevents some of the relitigate.
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Holy... I had completely forgotten about that.

Yeap, definitely not revealing those numbers anymore.

Definitely unplanned, though. Certainly not a masterful political stroke from me to keep thread salt low in regards to the necessity of the changelings being sacrificed :V
 
zxzx24 said:
Ah, perhaps while I am here I should. I don't know if you saw this @BirdBodhisattva ? I had the rakish urge to leave it unremarked given the whole moth thing, but it really doesn't do much sitting around does it?
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That page is on my "to do" list, among the 50+ pages of discussion I have missed and have yet to go over. But thank you for pointing it out! And do tell me if you have a name for it so I can threadmark it.
 
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