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

[BirdBodhisattva]

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!

Spoiler: Or if you'd rather hear it from someone else

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)

 

[Pittauro]

just realized... you know what it now looks like if Velvet is trying to shake your hand/hoof?

 

[Ericwinter]

I want to point out that we have a perfectly acceptable target for ritual murder in our father, we just need to set Marinette on him to lure him someplace we can deal with the clean up easily.

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Not… really. We still don't actually know what the hell he did to Velvet or if it really justifies actual murder. It was definitely abusive of some sort, but the scale is in question.

 

[Steady Gaze]

TLDR: discussing English grammar with @BirdBodhisattva for an entire post.

is there anything wrong with "he watched, the girl still running around the room..."?

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That example is completely correct! The issue is when a period is introduced, ending the previous sentence. So in

He watched. The girl still running around the room.

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we basically have a complete sentence followed by a sentence fragment. This relates generally to rules for what makes a sentence "complete" or not (see this article on independent and dependent clauses). But again, these rules are broken all the time. An English teacher in elementary school would definitely mark it wrong, but a college professor might not depending on what they like. Some authors do use lots of fragments, because

1. varying sentence length is a technique for keeping the reader engaged (though you can still do this with complete sentences); see this example, and
2. spoken English uses fragments all the time.

Therefore, I would treat it as more of a matter of opinion than being correct/incorrect.

As for why I prefer not to use them, writing this way is asking a bit more of the reader: they have to realize the second fragment is a continuation of the previous sentence and not confuse it with the start of another complete sentence while they're reading. So it's not that it's wrong, it's just that it's slightly harder to read than any of:

He watched the girl still running around the room.
He watched, the girl still running around the room.
He watched. The girl is still running around the room.

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Basically, ideally we'd avoid it being confused with some other sentence structure. While the reader is reading that sentence, they might be expecting another phrase, e.g.

He watched. The girl, still running around the room, nearly tripped over a stool.
He watched. The girl still running around the room realized she no longer had her glasses on.

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and be confused when the sentence suddenly ends.

About those examples specifically...

She quickly exchanges glances with the rag doll, before looking towards the door. A forked tongue flickingflicks out of her mouth for a moment, tasting the air as she thinks.

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But much more than that, the monster's reaction disgusted her. The scent of gurgled blood waftingwafted out of the thing's mouth every time it forcibly opened and shutsshut its bony jaw.

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They stuck out to me because they were more complex than one clause, yet still not complete sentences, which gives it even more potential for a bit of confusion. Just making them regular sentences felt a lot clearer to me. But again, it's up to you.

thank you kindly for pointing those out!

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And thank you for writing! 😛

 

[Ericwinter]

TLDR: discussing English grammar with @BirdBodhisattva for an entire post.

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That reminds me, Bird still gets in and on mixed up almost consistently.

 

[Starlit Horizon]

That was quite interesting. Velvet finally has some actual context about THE SUN, which can be handy, and Fluttershy is a godsend, which is very much needed right now given all the stress Velvet is under.

One interesting detail I have noticed is that the Daughter of Axe is not a worthy foe, and the Baldomare is not indicated as one either (as is the Master). Also, the Wolf isn't one either.

(...Not that I am suggesting we should try to fight any of them for our Sacrament, but you know. It is still information.)

An easy way out with most of them is that we haven't met them since the Edge 4, of course, but we do meet the Doa. Don't get me wrong, there is an easy way out: it is that the summon called the Daughter of Axe doesn't qualify, and the Name was not met again, not yet. After all, unlike Doa, Mareinette is fully here, although that gives us an another Worthy Foe candidate - Miss Neighnia. It is an easy way out.

But it is interesting none the less that none of the actual Names count as a Worthy Foe.

 

[Toboe]

Soooo...
If we want to be Lantern about it, Lantern Sacrament and Moth Sacrament could be combined.

1. Prepare.
   • Find someone we would be ok with using & butter them up to confidant.
     • Spoiled Rich? (Filthy richs wife, the bad influence in the family)
   • Prepare a trap.
2. Take the designated sacrifice to the trap without trails leading back to Cover. Shouldn't be too hard considering they'd be effectively at confidants level and would work with us.
3. Use designated sacrifice for Moth sac.
4. Use the now "acquaintance" locked designated sacrifice as prisoner for Lantern Sacrament.

Would get us:
Moth Sacrament.
A chance for Lantern Sacrament.

effect of influence	chance including reroll (decimal representation)
+0	0.6519
+10	0.7599
+20	0.8479
+30	0.9159
+40	0.9639

No witness left to tell the authorities about the moth Sacrament.
Another thing Velvet Covers should (but won't) talk to a competent therapist about.

Spoiler: reminder quotes of the Sacraments

Actions of your own: "You have never really liked yourself. That is an ugly truth you have always denied, and that you attempted to bury underneath the love that others feel for you. But perhaps, and only perhaps, it is time to embrace that, and learn to be somepony else."
-Pick a single character with whom you have a "Confidant-level" relationship or higher. That character will be permanently locked as an "acquaintance". For somepony must realize that you have donned a mask, for it to truly exist.
-You must reach 4/4 scraps of Moth before taking this action.

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Actions of your own: "Books, much like any physical object, are immutable. Or rather, they cannot change themselves, and must be changed by an outside force such as a pony. And their immutability is what makes them so easy for your hoofs to understand. But can you apply your talents to mutable things? Do these flashes and sensations you feel every time you... touch a pony, can they possibly mean something?"
-Pick a Prisoner, or a character you have a "Minion-level" relationship with, and perform an action dedicated to "The Conversation".
-In order to succeed, "The Conversation" will require a Lantern Knowledge test of CD 100 (does not apply any other status, other than Lantern 4 (+40) and any Lantern Influence you have).
-Regardless of success or failure, "The Conversation" will destroy your prisoner of Minion without leaving a body. (But you only need to succeed once)
-You must reach 4/4 scraps of Lantern before taking this action.

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We obviously need to use this on Mareinette, and get both Lantern AND Edge sacrament at the same time!

Isn't this a foolproof plan @BirdBodhisattva ?!

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And now I'm imagining the bird from BirdBodhisattvas profile picture bonk-ing Pittauros profile picture with a rolled up newspaper.

@BirdBodhisattva
Will "the Conversation" stay available after doing the Sacrament? (as prisoner removal)

 

[Ericwinter]

One interesting detail I have noticed is that the Daughter of Axe is not a worthy foe, and the Baldomare is not indicated as one either (as is the Master). Also, the Wolf isn't one either.

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Personally I assume that it's mostly just because we can't really kill any of them. Velvet just doesn't have the means to kill a Name or an Hour properly, while Marinette theoretically can be ended completely by raw force.

 

[w34v3r]

Not… really. We still don't actually know what the hell he did to Velvet or if it really justifies actual murder. It was definitely abusive of some sort, but the scale is in question.

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Ok, look at what he did to our brothers, and mother for that matter.

 

[Ericwinter]

Ok, look at what he did to our brothers, and mother for that matter.

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What, uh… what did he do to them, exactly? Because, again, we don't know. One brother was disowned, another seems perfectly willing to follow his advice and example if unsure on how, and we haven't even seen the mother.

None of this justifies actual murder. Is he a bad dad? Almost definitely. Is he a bad husband? I wouldn't bet against it. Does he deserve to die? Until and unless we get evidence that he has, in fact, directly and physically harmed his children or committed murders of his own or is just in general a danger to somepony, I find it very hard to say yes. At worst I would simply see him removed from any position of familial authority or contact for the moment.

 

[spiderhellian]

Also just a reminder that Mareinette is magic, but not all-powerful magic. We can use her to do a social action on our father, but I think convincing him (the head of a (not-quite-a-)mafia family) to be sufficiently vulnerable to a daughter he thinks little of that we could make him a prisoner would be in that "you cannot do things that are impossible to achieve via social persuasion" space. It's maybe feasible with some effort, but I don't think it would be nearly so simple as "Mareinette -> lure -> capture".

 

[Pittauro]

One interesting detail I have noticed is that the Daughter of Axe is not a worthy foe, and the Baldomare is not indicated as one either (as is the Master). Also, the Wolf isn't one either.

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they're summons. if we kill them they just go back to the mansus, it's not REAL death, so they don't count.

Mareinette is in the Wake for real, so SHE counts.

...and come on, the Wolf is an hour. An explicitly near-immortal Hour, even by Hour standards! We'd sooner be able to to destroy a mountain with a kick or be able to bring world peace by singing a song.

Neighnia might count, as she is supposed to be fully in the wake. But trying to kill a Name that's fully in the wake and thus at full power, as not even a Long, is pretty close to the definition of suicide. We should assume it would be about as hard as killing Celestia, really, and we saw from her combat that even Comet Feet would have no chance, even at edge 4 influence.

Soooo...
If we want to be Lantern about it, Lantern Sacrament and Moth Sacrament could be combined.

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...that's so cruel, and yet so ingenious...

And now I'm imagining the bird from BirdBodhisattvas profile picture bonk-ing Pittauros profile picture with a rolled up newspaper.

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Only if he's bonking you too!

Ok, look at what he did to our brothers, and mother for that matter.

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and that would be?

He mostly doesn't acknowledge the pegasus son. He was obviously a bad father to Pride, but mostly in the "super demanding and possibly emotionally abusive" way, and we're not even sure of how far he went.

as for our mother... what do we even know about her? I vaguely remember VElvet finding her cold and uninterested in her situation, but that's it.

What, uh… what did he do to them, exactly? Because, again, we don't know. One brother was disowned, another seems perfectly willing to follow his advice and example if unsure on how, and we haven't even seen the mother.

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Not even officially disowned, I think. Just... he was basically sent out of sight and out of mind.

---

Is it just me, or right after we went for PtN the thread has become a LOT more willing to talk about murder as a "worth considering" option?

... Is the Winter Sacrament an option too now?

 

[w34v3r]

What, uh… what did he do to them, exactly? Because, again, we don't know. One brother was disowned, another seems perfectly willing to follow his advice and example if unsure on how, and we haven't even seen the mother.

None of this justifies actual murder. Is he a bad dad? Almost definitely. Is he a bad husband? I wouldn't bet against it. Does he deserve to die? Until and unless we get evidence that he has, in fact, directly and physically harmed his children or committed murders of his own or is just in general a danger to somepony, I find it very hard to say yes. At worst I would simply see him removed from any position of familial authority or contact for the moment.

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Disowned one for being a Pegasus, and isolated them from the rest of the family (which is torture for a child that young).

Even if he didn't give us the scars the fear is almost certainly his fault, used us as a tool, and then threw us aside.

On Pride he's been every callous rich father stereotype to the point Pride is trying desperately to suppress his own better nature.

Mother has been made into a non-entity in her own home and family. Some of this indicates a weakness or lack of concern on her part, but father is definitely the architect.

Furthermore he's made it clear he sees us as a foe to neutralize, and the last thing we need is shenanigans on his end to bite us at a critical moment.

Can we please just eat his sorry excuse for a soul already?

Also just a reminder that Mareinette is magic, but not all-powerful magic. We can use her to do a social action on our father, but I think convincing him (the head of a (not-quite-a-)mafia family) to be sufficiently vulnerable to a daughter he thinks little of that we could make him a prisoner would be in that "you cannot do things that are impossible to achieve via social persuasion" space. It's maybe feasible with some effort, but I don't think it would be nearly so simple as "Mareinette -> lure -> capture".

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I expect it to take an action or two over a few turns to set up yes, but all sacraments are like that, and we can grab some corpses to skew our numbers if we need to.

EDIT: I do not understand why anyone thinks the stallion not a clear and present danger to everyone around him. He's powerful, influential, callous, manipulative, thinks he's above other ponies, and about to oversee the dismantling of the Velvet empire which is the only thing he ever cared about, so he's desperate on top of everything else.

 

[Ericwinter]

Furthermore he's made it clear he sees us as a foe to neutralize, and the last thing we need is shenanigans on his end to bute us at a critical moment.

Can we please just eat his sorry excuse for a soul already?

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He had not made it clear he wants us neautralized. An enemy, certainly, but he isn't actually acting against us, and even cautioned Pride about doing so.

And I'm still not seeing anything that justifies flat out murder. Being a rich, racist asshole doesn't mean you deserve to die.

Like, I'm not trying to say he's a good guy or anything, but if we killed people just for being pricks the world would be a lot less populated place, and society a lot worse off.

 

[w34v3r]

We're gonna have to murder someone! May as well be this jerk.

Furthermore he's dangerous and inclined to seek control over what he considers his property, i.e. us. There's no way he's not coming at us again given that we're the only chance he has of getting his precious title, or something like it, back.

 

[Pittauro]

I'd like to remind the ones that go "let's kill our dad" that our beloved uncle is a mafia boss, and is probably responsible for more deaths and sufferings that even our father.

Or at the very least broken bones and/or heavy intimidation and blackmail

If for no other reason that he's probably the one our dad goes to when he needs someone dealt with extra-legally.

 

[w34v3r]

Yes, but Uncle doesn't have a pathological need to break everyone around him.

 

[Ericwinter]

We're gonna have to murder someone! May as well be this jerk.

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We really aren't. Lantern, much like most of our Sacraments, isn't actually required. Hell, it's already at the point where we can basically guarantee success in studying almost anything anyways, except maybe a Door. Mansus checks might get harder, but we're definitely past the point where we need more Lantern specifically.

 

[spiderhellian]

If the purpose is "Lantern Sacrament," going after our father seems so much more difficult than going after like, a random cultist in Manehattan (perhaps a guard where Twilight was kept). Or a random criminal.

If the purpose is "Eliminate enemy," our father seems a lot less problematic (and we have a lot less to gain from his removal) than other foes.

If the purpose is "Ahhh, but we can do both at once, how efficient!" I really think it would be sufficiently tricky that it's not worthwhile.

 

[Ericwinter]

Like, Weaver, I understand you may have some issue with abusive assholes or whatever, and I'm not going to say we shouldn't kill him period, but you are clearly attributing much more malice and villainy than has actually been shown to the man. If you want to kill a guy just because you don't like them, say that, but he has not, in fact, committed any crimes or posed a significant threat to anybody that we have seen. He's not evil. Just an asshole. Attempting to eat his soul for it is a vast overreaction.

 

[Greymere]

We really aren't. Lantern, much like most of our Sacraments, isn't actually required. Hell, it's already at the point where we can basically guarantee success in studying almost anything anyways, except maybe a Door. Mansus checks might get harder, but we're definitely past the point where we need more Lantern specifically.

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There's also still the Baldomare option, but we won't know what that'll be until next turn when we resummon her. Getting some kind of lie-/truth-detection ability could be neat, since it seems that's how Baldomare's Lantern is flavored.

 

[thenew]

I genuinely don't think we should kill Velvet Hill, if only because that's going to cause quite a bit of... confusion? Can't exactly pin down the word, but him dying is going to be a clusterfuck, it's the patriarch of our family gone, that's going to lead to some issues that might tie us down for a while, in a period where we don't need the board shaken up even harder.

 

[w34v3r]

The crux is that people seem to think he'll let things sit, when that's wildly out of character for the stallion we've seen. We know he's plotting something, and we still live in a house the owns, and pays for. We're not safe from him until we either get on our own hooves financially and logistically, or remove him. Both his actions in quest, and his archetype, do not mesh with the idea of passive.

 

[Greymere]

The crux is that people seem to think he'll let things sit, when that's wildly out of character for the stallion we've seen. We know he's plotting something, and we still live in a house the owns, and pays for. We're not safe from him until we either get on our own hooves financially and logistically, or remove him. Both his actions in quest, and his archetype, do not mesh with the idea of passive.

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We've seen Velvet herself explain exactly why the house isn't really a bargaining piece at all, though. Because he can't actually invoke it without losing control of the situation; threatening to kick us out of the house only gains him an enemy. An enemy who answers only to the Crown itself. He's not going to poke the bear when all he'll get out of it is a missing hoof, and he knows it.

 

[Ericwinter]

The crux is that people seem to think he'll let things sit, when that's wildly out of character for the stallion we've seen. We know he's plotting something, and we still live in a house the owns, and pays for. We're not safe from him until we either get on our own hooves financially and logistically, or remove him. Both his actions in quest, and his archetype, do not mesh with the idea of passive.

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…You must have been reading a very different quest because both of his actions so far have, in fact, been extremely passive. At worst he cut off Velvet's paycheck and told her to stay out of his way. He didn't even actually do anything except stop giving her the extra allowance that he doesn't really need to in the first place. As for Pride, it's even less interference. He's not kicking us out of the house, or pushing us into a side building, or anything. He didn't demand a price of Velvet at all, and we are in fact at the point where we could just walk away. The main reason it hasn't happened is because Bird, on a meta level, did not want to bother with making it happen.

He's really not a threat anymore, and I'm genuinely confused as to why you're trying to make him out to be one.

 

[spiderhellian]

well, Fluttershy didn't seem to react to that, so maybe it was nothing and Comet was literally just delivering that as a favor to Fluttershy?

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Oh I 100% just thought that was the point/joke yeah. It's not Comet delivering us a threat, it's Comet being laughably bad at polite social interaction.

1. Prepare.
   • Find someone we would be ok with using & Butter them up to confidant.
     • Spoiled Rich? (Filthy richs wife, the bad influence in the family)
   • Prepare a trap.
2. Take the designated sacrifice to the trap without trails leading back to Cover. Shouldn't be too hard considering they'd be effectively at confidants level and would work with us.
3. Use designated sacrifice for Moth sac.
4. Use the now "acquaintance" locked designated sacrifice as prisoner for Lantern Sacrament.

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Hahahahaha this is a fun plan. I'm not sure we can just kill our Moth sacrament person, though? The whole "someone must know you out on a mask for it to exist" thing seems a little obviated if we immediately kill them. @BirdBodhisattva can you clarify?