Also, something just occurred to me; I may be forgetting something, but doesn't the phrasing of the Moth Sacrament imply that the victim has to be alive for the mask thing to work properly?
That would be weird.
MOTH
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.
My thought is... does a secret stop existing when you kill everyone who knows it?
Isn't that the MOST precious of secrets, the kind the beachcomber would keep for themselves?
There's also the fact that, in CS metaphysics, someone who dies doesn't quite stop existing, but ends up going to the Blank Plains... or Nowhere, maybe.
Or, in this case, maybe Harmony's new afterlife.
So there will still be someone or something that keeps the secret.
Admittedly it's up to Bird. One could interpret it either way, but... We've been told Sacraments are something you
can't take back. It wouldn't make sense for it to be possible to lose it JUST because the one you exposed your secret to died.
I don't think Mareinette takes actions based on her expectations of us, let alone our moral character. She makes the choice based on her desires and values.
And of these 3 choices… that middle one is certainly the one she agrees with.
Fair enough.
I personally look at Mareinette's actions as different. Remember that there were three choices she could have taken, after all:
We don't care about Spoiled Rich, we just need an easy pony that we could use that was available and we wouldn't feel bad for.
When we think of it like that, didn't Mareinette understand exacly what we want? Didn't she understand our morality well? Would we have really chosen the "healthiest option" when we just wanted to use her? Could we have really chosen "the worst option" when Diamond Tiara is caught in the middle of this?
"The most manipulative option" indeed. Mareinette knows what we would have done.
Reminder that Mareinette (probably) sees a LOT of herself (her OLD self) in Velvet.
There's more than one reason for why she likes us.
It's partly because we DID make her a major favour by bringing her back to Equestria. She is NOT incapable of gratitude.
Partly because our blood carries the 9 tastes. She can appreciate such a rare delicacy.
Partly because we're a mother. She remembers what that feels like.
Partly because we're
interesting. Velvet is a mortal caught playing at the same table as demigods,
and she's doing pretty well for herself all things considered, to the point she caused the DEATH of the Will of the Woods, the Heir of the Moth.
and partly... because we could become like her, and be a peer she could keep with herself throughout eternity. It's not out of the question that, even with the Tricuspid barred to us, she might know of ways to become Long (or similarly long-lived) that don't require reaching Glory, and she might very well be planning to show those to us if only we showed ourselves worthy of the investment.
After all in CS the Ligeans are one of the known paths to Name-hood, though presumably not the only one.
It's really ironic considering that "Murdering Velvet Hills" is actually something we just want to do for its own sake.
But yeah if we skip Edge Sacrament this turn we can have Axe do the kidnapping, and Forge Name build a prison, while Rarity and Fluttershy at least start progress on the 3circle site? Or wait, if we're not doing the Edge Sacrament we can just have Biedde do it and skip the Resolution. A pair of Edge AotLs between Comet and our free one should be plenty, though it means we can't just take a free win if a worthy opponent shows up. But that was always supremely unlikely.
If Hills gets Talon Tiger and Pittauro on board with befriending Mareinette I'm especially for it. I very much consider the distinction between "strongly encouraged" and "required" to be like the distinction of "choosing Offer Yourself Instead was a "valid" choice we could have made" even though QM had to make it clear to people who didn't understand what "it's allowed but strongly not reccomended" meant. I don't want Mareinette to be an enemy and I fully believe we will die if we attempt All In within the next 4 turns, especially without her.
I'd take Bird at his word. If he says that strongly encourage is NOT the same as required, then that's what he meant.
That said, I never denied that Mareinette would be extremely useful. There's a REASON why I... kinda gave up on skipping her, even as I've explicitly stated multiple times how I think her Sacrament is the second worst, morally speaking, right after the Wolf One (if a VERY distant second).
I... I could be convinced to go for Velvet Hill. Nobody will miss him EXCEPT maybe Pride, and even he will likely feel conflicted about it. Velvet will feel a twisted pleasure at taking vengence, and probably hate herself for that, but it makes for an interesting narrative.
and damn, I'd love to see the last few words exchanged between father and daughter.
....with all of that said, I STILL would prefer to take a random psycopath criminal instead. And I think we really don't want to skip the Edge Sacrament, because I'm not sure we could afford to go for it in the near future otherwise.
Personal Lantern could be applying Grail+Lantern instead of Grail to Diplomacy checks.
It sounds more like an interrogation power on prisoners to me. Get their secrets once they're at your mercy. Read them like you'd read books, get expedition sites and lore scraps out of them, and other valuable intel.
Sorry if i missed this!
I cant think of a reason why not. So sure, either can be the free social.
And since there seems to be bubbling interest, let me clarify how this can be done mechanically.
Normally, kidnapping a no-name prisoner is a single-character action. Using Grail, or Moth, or perhaps Edge like in the base game.
But your father will be deemed as an opponent. Because yknow, hes a specific target, and its a Mansion in Canterlot, and not a "whoever" that entered the wrong alley at the wrong time of the night. So, short expedition rules will apply.
Furthermore, you currently dont have a prison. But if you (succesfully) build one this turn it will be done "in time" for whoever you nab.
That potentially makes it better in that Axe would be better suited to it.
...I wonder...
what would she think if we told her he's Silky's grandfather, and yet he decided to NEVER meet her because she's a disappointment, daughter of a disappointment?
As for the free social bit, NICE! This way we can fit both Soft and Steppes!
and with the fact it's a SHORT expedition, we can send both Axe and Biedde AND it only uses the action of the team leader! (Axe in this case I imagine).
The funny thing is... Velvet won't even NEED to pretend she's sad about her father's death. AFter all, what reason has to hide her hate for him AFTER he's dead and he has no more power on her?
I wonder if people will suspect her, as she DOES have the means (the Bureau) and a motive.
Oh God ahahahahahahah I didn't even think about that.
I can already imagine Axe's awkward expression as Cantrip comes up to her and says "The young Lord has been so despondent, mourning his father... wouldn't you consider giving him a visit?"
That narrow-eyed, lower-lip-biting as she tries to think what she can say to slither out of that situation, only for her "Antisocial" trait to kick in making her whisper "Shuidn' hav killed 'im ae guess...". To the absolute horror of Cantrip, the only pony who was there to hear it.
Well, all jokes aside, don't forget you guys are casually planning on committing patricide!
does it still count when he wasn't really much of a father?
Also Axe, remember how neglectful he's been toward Silky!
...but yeah, I'm STILL for using a random evil criminal... but damn, it's growing on me...
I'm not home rn so I can't do math, but if Rarity's career is okay taking a commission should give us enough bits right?
Those bits would only count from the following turn sadly. I still want to have her do commission if possible though, so next turn we could afford multiple expeditions (Manehattan, reagent 6, book lvl 7)
