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

[Sveta08]

Yoooooooou Bastards! You rotten worm-meal foul-tongued, thrice-damned Jerks!

I was two thirds of the way through a beautiful Winter Heart Eulogy to post up on after a Year and a Day of silence! A delightful delicious perspective on the fruit never to be tasted, always to be ripe and the feeling of the heart going still before the teeth!

Now I can't!

What a wonderful frustration this is!

And oh how much I get to read now!

 

[Pittauro]

Personally I stopped playing along and found the fourth page by Force, the rest was quite straightforward though
Thanks for the recipe btw, can't wait to try it out!

Click to shrink...

...uh, right. I suppose I can do that.

feels a bit like cheating, but better than stay stuck.

Here I go!

EDIT Well, I cheated my way to page 4... even being there, I'm still not sure WHY this page was the spot.

 

[Sveta08]

Very well! My mania consumed and pages and more consumed with a ravenous hunger I have not experienced in many a day!

Poetics. Bah. They get in the way.

I shall play along with the words of The Master once I have a PC to read and see with. But until then! You all get my thoughts on the things and such from the votes I was too foolish and blind in quiet Winter to realize were alive yet again.


As such!

I wonder how Velvet would feel about it, knowing that Mareinette schemed to get inside the house... by helping making the cute-ceñeara perfect.

Click to shrink...

..damn it, she's making it really difficult to continue to distrust her!
Why is Mareinette being so WHOLESOME?! It's surreal!

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This made me laugh.
Of course she would! She was a Mother once. I wonder if she was a Mom too?

The cute-ceneara on the whole was just such a beautiful and vindicating read. It's a Hello through a peep hole. A wave seen through a kaleidoscope. The recognition of Names in seeing both the focus and the limits, the nameless voice of a thing beyond. It's where Harmony does not perhaps understand, but can touch upon the ideas. It's an expression of growth and learning

And more importantly, it answers to me cutie marks. A refinement of more primordial potentiality.
How curious indeed then is Silky's.
If course Our Dear Lady could taste the difference in the air. Of course she has the Heart for it.



Oh. There was someone somewhere that mentioned if Celestia was facing fascination. And, forgive me for dispensing with the poetry but
Yes?
Define to me what Fascination is that she does not have.


Now as for votes?
Eh,,I would have advocated for the Stepps action, but I hold no feelings either way on how it fell. And the Cultistry is ....
I think it is the right choice, even if it does place restrictions. There is too much... Uncertainty in other paths, too high of costs. Time. It's imperfect, but such is the cost of our time. A perfect solution is always just far enough out of reach that it will open more vulnerability to reach for it.
I think influence is a curious one that could be quite fun.

I wonder how it will change Pinkie?


As for the most recent!

...
I don't agree on the risk undertaken by it. There feels too much riding at this time to do something so foolhardy for so uncertain a reward.
But I do understand. And Symbolically? It's perfect.
Velvet reaches out for more than she should, and hungers in real ways. She can afford no half measures if she is to wage a one pony war with the powers that have been. Maybe in another History she could have gone with more, had more voices and hands beside her, a cult and procession beside. But she concentrates power, and has risen high.
She does not have the time to be so... Patient now

But there is a phrase I heard once and have taken a liking to.
"Mages are only human when surprised"
Velvet is. And is not yet free of her bonds of life. Nor the constraints therein.

And something foul I realized no one else mentioned (for shame!) when discussing this raid and such potential Worthy Foes.

What part of the Sacrament with Birdde makes you think it's optional now? He has set off with intention, and the sacrament has intention when he returns.
When have you known Biedde to stop as circumstances change?

Worthy Foe or not, there is a fight to be had.
A Measure of Resolve.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Very well! My mania consumed and pages and more consumed with a ravenous hunger I have not experienced in many a day!

Poetics. Bah. They get in the way.

I shall play along with the words of The Master once I have a PC to read and see with. But until then! You all get my thoughts on the things and such from the votes I was too foolish and blind in quiet Winter to realize were alive yet again.


As such!




This made me laugh.
Of course she would! She was a Mother once. I wonder if she was a Mom too?

The cute-ceneara on the whole was just such a beautiful and vindicating read. It's a Hello through a peep hole. A wave seen through a kaleidoscope. The recognition of Names in seeing both the focus and the limits, the nameless voice of a thing beyond. It's where Harmony does not perhaps understand, but can touch upon the ideas. It's an expression of growth and learning

And more importantly, it answers to me cutie marks. A refinement of more primordial potentiality.
How curious indeed then is Silky's.
If course Our Dear Lady could taste the difference in the air. Of course she has the Heart for it.



Oh. There was someone somewhere that mentioned if Celestia was facing fascination. And, forgive me for dispensing with the poetry but
Yes?
Define to me what Fascination is that she does not have.


Now as for votes?
Eh,,I would have advocated for the Stepps action, but I hold no feelings either way on how it fell. And the Cultistry is ....
I think it is the right choice, even if it does place restrictions. There is too much... Uncertainty in other paths, too high of costs. Time. It's imperfect, but such is the cost of our time. A perfect solution is always just far enough out of reach that it will open more vulnerability to reach for it.
I think influence is a curious one that could be quite fun.

I wonder how it will change Pinkie?


As for the most recent!

...
I don't agree on the risk undertaken by it. There feels too much riding at this time to do something so foolhardy for so uncertain a reward.
But I do understand. And Symbolically? It's perfect.
Velvet reaches out for more than she should, and hungers in real ways. She can afford no half measures if she is to wage a one pony war with the powers that have been. Maybe in another History she could have gone with more, had more voices and hands beside her, a cult and procession beside. But she concentrates power, and has risen high.
She does not have the time to be so... Patient now

But there is a phrase I heard once and have taken a liking to.
"Mages are only human when surprised"
Velvet is. And is not yet free of her bonds of life. Nor the constraints therein.

And something foul I realized no one else mentioned (for shame!) when discussing this raid and such potential Worthy Foes.

What part of the Sacrament with Birdde makes you think it's optional now? He has set off with intention, and the sacrament has intention when he returns.
When have you known Biedde to stop as circumstances change?

Worthy Foe or not, there is a fight to be had.
A Measure of Resolve.

Click to shrink...

Well we ordered him to prepare us for Sacrament, we can also order him to pivot to something else if we get the Sacrament on our own. He is, after all, a slave to the chain of command.

 

[Sveta08]

Well we ordered him to prepare us for Sacrament, we can also order him to pivot to something else if we get the Sacrament on our own. He is, after all, a slave to the chain of command.

Click to shrink...

A Blade unsheathed, a Weapon given and a test put forth...

And you would entertain the notion of staying that hand? To route the blade?
How meager the resolve to be swayed at the slightest opportunity. And for the measure, for the Fact that it would be easier!

A weapon does not question it's weirder, but it does demand from them some degree of follow through!



All of this is to say,
This is a story as much based on narrative as it is by raw mechanics. Shifting Biedde that way feels...
Significant

 

[DelightedOne]

This is a story as much based on narrative as it is by raw mechanics. Shifting Biedde that way feels...
Significant

Click to shrink...

Yeah. Kinda like this.

Velvet: "I would like to make an appointment with you for the end of the month. I will require an Influence".

Biedde: "Very well".

*Velvet does the improbable and gets a Edge Sacrament*

Velvet: "oh, seems like I won't need your assistance anymore. But thank you for your already given help."

Biedde, probably after losing a plot: "... Very well."

And then we pay him 60 bits to stay in the wake.


I truly don't think it will be too important. Unless by taking Biedde's Sacrament we unlock a sidequest or something like with Axe.

 

[jelloloaf]

Might be because I'm on mobile and can't easily manipulate the images and/or translate the obscured text, but I can't really find page 3. Any hints? (Feel free to ambiguously ignore this message if it's too overt and/or just requires one of the above.)

Click to shrink...

Seconding Pittauro's hint, I think it works pretty well:

WHAT WAS THE FIRST OF THE SECOND?".

What do we have TWO of in this quest? And, secondarily, where would jelloloaf be able to put the pages?

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Help, help, a Percussigant dropped a Moth 6 book into my forum thread and now all the cultists therein have a buzzing in the brain, are consumed by fascination, and are discussing eldritch lore like "there is the perspective of the message and the perspective of the message" as if it should be readily comprehensible!

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"Sie denken nach, so als ob das Nachdenken wichtiger wäre als das Ziel, das sie damit zu erreichen hoffen." 4:17

Thanks for the recipe btw, can't wait to try it out!

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Stay safe, and I hope you enjoy!

I was two thirds of the way through a beautiful Winter Heart Eulogy to post up on after a Year and a Day of silence! A delightful delicious perspective on the fruit never to be tasted, always to be ripe and the feeling of the heart going still before the teeth!

Now I can't!

Click to shrink...

Post it anyway
And welcome back, Sveta. Good to have you.

feels a bit like cheating, but better than stay stuck.

EDIT Well, I cheated my way to page 4... even being there, I'm still not sure WHY this page was the spot.

Click to shrink...

I'd argue that it's not really possible to cheat, except perhaps by refusing to engage with the premise and getting the answers off someone else, and even then it's more cheating yourself out of what I hope is an interesting experience of being a real-life cultist for a little while, digging through old documents and piecing together fragmentary clues. (My reasoning was that the surroundings fit the text.)

In short, this is supposed to be fun. If you're not enjoying part of the experience, feel free to skip it. Just know that I'll be silently judging you the whole time for not figuring it out

 

[Sveta08]

Post it anyway
And welcome back, Sveta. Good to have you.

Click to shrink...

I will have to change it significantly, but I can manage that.
Give it time.

 

[Pittauro]

What part of the Sacrament with Birdde makes you think it's optional now? He has set off with intention, and the sacrament has intention when he returns.
When have you known Biedde to stop as circumstances change?

Worthy Foe or not, there is a fight to be had.
A Measure of Resolve.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, presumably the fight would be significantly easier with Edge 5. Not just for the +5 to combat, but presumably the Sacrament power. It would be pretty weird if it wasn't directly applicable to the fight after all.

A Blade unsheathed, a Weapon given and a test put forth...

And you would entertain the notion of staying that hand? To route the blade?
How meager the resolve to be swayed at the slightest opportunity. And for the measure, for the Fact that it would be easier!

A weapon does not question it's weirder, but it does demand from them some degree of follow through!



All of this is to say,
This is a story as much based on narrative as it is by raw mechanics. Shifting Biedde that way feels...
Significant

Click to shrink...

Maybe we can deflect him towards Comet

I'd argue that it's not really possible to cheat, except perhaps by refusing to engage with the premise and getting the answers off someone else, and even then it's more cheating yourself out of what I hope is an interesting experience of being a real-life cultist for a little while, digging through old documents and piecing together fragmentary clues. (My reasoning was that the surroundings fit the text.)

In short, this is supposed to be fun. If you're not enjoying part of the experience, feel free to skip it. Just know that I'll be silently judging you the whole time for not figuring it out

Click to shrink...

well, In case you want to "patch" the workaround, I "cheated" by Doing an in-thread research for you posting the words of the hint.

Though even like that, I found page 4 (and I STILL don't understand why it's there exactly), but can't find page 5

 

[ses]

well, In case you want to "patch" the workaround, I "cheated" by Doing an in-thread research for you posting the words of the hint.

Click to shrink...

Pretty sure that's how you're intended to find it.

To be fair, presumably the fight would be significantly easier with Edge 5. Not just for the +5 to combat, but presumably the Sacrament power. It would be pretty weird if it wasn't directly applicable to the fight after all.

Click to shrink...

If we get sacrament, the duel just gets cancelled and we are refunded the AP. It's really not that complicated. We've been told a million times that we're allowed to just refund the AP if we get injured, and once you get one sacrament the other one just becomes unavailable.

 

[Sveta08]

Bah!
Mayhap you all feel that way. But a weapon drawn is a weapon drawn. It is the unspoken promise and resolve. Biedde lacks such things as a friendship quest, and may lack a great many things. But there is...

It does not sit well with me, the idea of backing down and away on the precipice there. It is antithetical to Edge as a principal I feel.


Maybe you are right.
But it makes my gut squirm.

 

[jelloloaf]

well, In case you want to "patch" the workaround, I "cheated" by Doing an in-thread research for you posting the words of the hint.

Click to shrink...

Pretty sure that's how you're intended to find it.

Click to shrink...

It's not what I originally had in mind when I was writing, and I do think that there are more interesting ways to solve the puzzle, but I consider it to be a valid solution and I'll leave it available in the future.

Though even like that, I found page 4 (and I STILL don't understand why it's there exactly), but can't find page 5

Click to shrink...

The 4 - 5 jump is probably the hardest in terms of knowing arcane thread lore. As a hint: "1871"

 

[Arrkhon]

well, In case you want to "patch" the workaround, I "cheated" by Doing an in-thread research for you posting the words of the hint.

Click to shrink...

Personally I just searched for what was showing but not shown, the thing that's in plain sight but hidden namely the imagehost url, the search uses raw text and code rather than what's visible, in retrospect it just shows how Lantern is superior to Moth, no matter the confusion sewn the core remains the same

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Bah!
Mayhap you all feel that way. But a weapon drawn is a weapon drawn. It is the unspoken promise and resolve. Biedde lacks such things as a friendship quest, and may lack a great many things. But there is...

It does not sit well with me, the idea of backing down and away on the precipice there. It is antithetical to Edge as a principal I feel.


Maybe you are right.
But it makes my gut squirm.

Click to shrink...

And a weapon unneeded gets sheathed. Biedde is a creature of the Colonel; acquiescence to one's master is carved into his very being. We aren't dealing with some Lionsmith lackey of poor discipline and uncontrollable choler.

 

[Wise Wolf]

Personally I just searched for what was showing but not shown, the thing that's in plain sight but hidden namely the imagehost url, the search uses raw text and code rather than what's visible, in retrospect it just shows how Lantern is superior to Moth, no matter the confusion sewn the core remains the same

Click to shrink...

And yet, such Lantern skills can only take you so far...

 

[AuthorTransient]

And a weapon unneeded gets sheathed. Biedde is a creature of the Colonel; acquiescence to one's master is carved into his very being. We aren't dealing with some Lionsmith lackey of poor discipline and uncontrollable choler.

Click to shrink...

I'm worried that the weapon will seek to make an opportunity where we have to need him, then. After all, his true master is not us.

 

[Pittauro]

I'm worried that the weapon will seek to make an opportunity where we have to need him, then. After all, his true master is not us.

Click to shrink...

The weapon already follows plans not our own. See what he's doing with uncle Steppes.

Not much we can do about it.

In any case, the chance of us finding a worthy opponent is fairly low, and mostly not in our hands hooves.

If it happens it happens. I just wonder which of the two sacraments would be more useful to us... @OurLadyOfWires I don't suppose you'd be willing to share what the sacrament we DON'T get does? For example, what the personal knock would have done? It's not like it will ever be relevant anyway, besides helping us get a rough idea of how useful/powerful a sacrament can be.

Personally I just searched for what was showing but not shown, the thing that's in plain sight but hidden namely the imagehost url, the search uses raw text and code rather than what's visible, in retrospect it just shows how Lantern is superior to Moth, no matter the confusion sewn the core remains the same

Click to shrink...

Clever. I might do that if I can't find page 5 any other way. I tried a bit and failed so far. being stuck at page 4.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Just a quick sign of life.

All is well. Work related "end of year" crunch period put a hamper on writing.
Next update is around half done and i hope to have it up by tomorrow. But unfortunately no promises. The dice roll heavy section usually takes a lot of time to process and write.

Hope you are all doing well! Just wanted to ping that everthing is still ongoing.

 

[DelightedOne]

Hmmm, better speed up my omake writing. Or not, since we are still on like the middle of the turn.

I just hope I manage to finish writing/editing everything before the end of the turn.

 

[Sk1lz3r]

All is well. Work related "end of year" crunch period put a hamper on writing.

Click to shrink...

I getcha, I'm swamped as well with my exams. Take all the time you need and happy holidays!

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

I am quivering in anticipation!

 

[Maer]

@jelloloaf

I managed to track down this piece of paper. Very interesting, but I cannot figure out what all this talk of mirrors and Morse-code is. Worse, I suspect I am on the wrong tack to discover these other pages... or at least, I cannot understand what I seem to have missed. Is there any hint you could offer me to help in my chase?

 

[Cochimetl]

I managed to track down this piece of paper. Very interesting, but I cannot figure out what all this talk of mirrors and Morse-code is. Worse, I suspect I am on the wrong tack to discover these other pages... or at least, I cannot understand what I seem to have missed. Is there any hint you could offer me to help in my chase?

Click to shrink...

I can give you a hint how I found page 4:

Spoiler

Matthew 7:8

 

[Maer]

Thank you, sincerely, for your help. The hint has not helped much- yet- but I am finally getting the general mindset of a frantic and mildly crazed cultist as I pore over this document trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong and what I'm supposed to do. I didn't expect to dive back into the bible or start making actual connections to Lores within it, but... here we are. X3

 

[Sveta08]

Post it anyway

Click to shrink...

In Which Winter Thaws

---

How long is forever?
Longer than you have yes, but there is a better way of putting it.
Forever is as long as you remember.

Why else are monuments built? Why else are history books so full of names and torches and voices and speeches? Why else do our hearts flutter when others remember us? When they are reminded of us?
It is to touch upon forever. Fallible, mortal, mundane. And to reach for eternity.

---

How many watched?

Standing by the shoreline as the black waters grew still.
Diving beneath the brackish waves as the voices grew thin and fleeting.
Ran a finger upon a cup that was slowly draining.
Watched as the tapestry grew quiet.

How many watched?
And for how long?


Words are like air. It is easy to say that it was every one. It is easy to say that it was for every day.
To find the hidden door in a world full of passageways that lead to this beach.
To run and see and linger at the edge of the sands, where feet only just touch upon the waves.
Upon bone and sand and ash and dust and jewels.
Coming to see the tapestry laid out in the sky like a corpse.
Growing cold.



Mystic words were traded in the only language it would allow.
Silence

Everyone who had seen, who had watched, who had followed in the tapestry's unfurling could name it.
Here in a world where names and ideas and dreams held sway. Here where the rules were understood. Here, outside and inside and in a place that saw and could touch, but was blind and numb.
It was Winter

It did not matter that the body and bones of Our Lady had come to take the reigns. Who else could wield so fine a needle and stitch so steady a thread?
It did not matter that the world full of doors itself had been torn free and made itself a new home. Where else could the show go on?
It did not matter that the beach was full of voices and the world full of song. Why ever would it?

Winter was like a thief.
Sudden, and only visible in the aftermath.


No one could say they did not see it. No one could say they could not name it.
Too high. Too distant from the reprieve of ignorance.

We, and indeed I say We, saw.



It was with a sickening growth that I learned. That I questioned it even.
Was this true the name of Winter

It visits with a grave silence, and with an indescribable beauty.
For even in the stillness
Even as the waves grew to a blackened mirror
Even as the weaving hands grew cold
Even when the voices dried into silence
Even as the stars themselves seem to be shuttered
It was Beautiful



The last threads told a story.
They wrapped around a heart. They spoke of teeth.
They spoke of a meal to be savored. Of an organ to be grown. Of a knife to be sharpened
They spoke of blood and hunger and thirst and a final satisfaction.

Like an apple ripe before the teeth
When else would be so perfect a hesitation?



Perhaps none would say they saw it.
None perhaps would say they knew of it.
But I saw it.
And as the days grew long
As the moon grew low
As all lost it's warmth
I resolved it to be seen.



Why else are monuments built?
To remember, in a way most final.

---

Like a coroner I came. Tools in hand of chisel and hammer. Unfitting in my grasp, and poor in it's shape.
All headstones are. That's part of the point.
What headstone could contain the heart buried beneath?

I came with tool of memorial in hand. A vigil near half over, but long since decided.
For one so mortal, a death may be pronounced within minutes. A Year and A Day was much more... appropriate for something so far removed from such a life.

Fit to carve ice and render a sculpture of a final moment, of a taste never experienced, of what ever and always would be what might have been...
I found thaw.



The beach was quiet, but not silent.
The threads were slow, but they wove anew.
The ocean rippled with yet new and old secrets.
And I...



What gross comparison. Paler than moonlight and thinner than water, but it was what I felt. And what I wondered as I looked at voices and faces and words I thought would always again be silent to me.
Was this how she felt?

I still yet had flesh.
I was still more than only bone.
I could always leave.

But had I stayed.
Had I run my hands and my fingers and my eyes and my tongue over every word.
Had I pulled every fiber from every strand that made up the whole of the tapestry.
Had I dreamed of naught else and lost myself in the abyss of the sea below and drunk deep it's secrets.
Had I lingered...

Would I too not laugh in joy at seeing a face?
Would I not too throw myself at them for the joy of saying hello?
Would I forget myself and savor in the sweetness of their presence?


Months compare not to an Era.
But I grew an understanding of Our Lady in that moment.




So I laughed.
I swore.
And I picked up my tools as they were remade into something new.
Every word reshaped and rebuilt, every message changed and line uncurled.

This no more would be a monument of Ivory and Ice, of bone and memories that were never to be.
It would be of a Thaw. Of a greeting and a meeting of friends and allies. Of shaking free the chill of the grave.
Poorly made from numb fingers, yet warmed by the heart and the song and the life inside them.
Indelicate and crude, rather than the pristine perfection of silvery silence.

So come now, one and all!
Eat! Drink! Be Merry!

If nothing else is remembered, let it be this.
Winter will have it's day
But that day is not today! That time is not now! And there is yet a Heart that refused to fade!

Till Glory or Grave take us

 

[ses]

Aigh... I also apologize if I missed any other questions. I am sure that I am supposed to answer when I'm tagged, but sometimes an interrogation point can be more of a rethorical question...

That said, please let me know (and ping me) if I missed any!

Anyways, I'll be heading to bed. Voting will remain open until next update.

Just as parting words. Acquiring a body involves digging up a grave, grabbing the body and then shoveling the dirt back in. You will usually turn the body into a Risen at a more discrete place, for expediency reason.

Digging up a grave is a crime, and as much as you try to do it as discretely as possible you still leave either a spot of dug up dirt (where you had grass before) or you leave behind signs of breaking the structure of a concrete mausoleum (or whatever you call the larger grave structures on concreted graveyards. Ponyville's graveyard is on a grassy plain, so for now that nomenclature is not that relevant).
So, acquiring a body involves risks, regardless of the source chosen.
What you will see is your "how many extra bodies" roll (as you will only acquire one guaranteed), and your "how many traces did you leave behind" roll.

Click to shrink...

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

No actions that you have available, as of yet. Pardon for missing the question. Aigh... I also apologize if I missed any other questions. I am sure that I am supposed to answer when I'm tagged, but sometimes an interrogation point can be more of a rethorical question... That said, please let...

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

Huh, I didn't know until now that graverobbing has the potentiality to get multiple bodies...
And we sent Axe to do it this turn, as much as having Biedde graverob made me bellyache at the waste of Name AP, Knock is the principle of the Beachcomber, who opens the earth

Is getting multiple bodies and not needing to spend AP next turn on keeping our Risen train going possible?

So, how does this whole rant connects with finances and bits?

Well, because bits are important for everything (and I'll stick to talking about Windy hereafter because he is the Steward).

Windy is trying to run a growing Club, with the twin difficulties of having it grow enough to have resources should they be needed, as well as making a solid enough "front" that can hide the Cult itself in case the Club comes under scrutiny or suspicion.
Now, I won't get into financial details or specifics, but I hope we all understand that this is not a cheap endeavor. Furthermore, I'd like to call to attention that the "first push" the Cult received came from two wealthy families of Ponyville, so there is certainly the payment of dividends involved there.
On top of that, there is the running of a large establishment itself, coupled with acquiring anything the Master desires (fuel for rituals? Odd purchases you have not been told about?), Comet and Copper's current mission in Manehattan (obviously completely Cult-funded), as well as who-know-what-else. Did Windy "help" Starry by bribing the local Guard? Is Windy himself embezzling resources with how close he is to the piles of bits?

And then there is our own rule of thumb, that 90 to 120 bits is what a pony can expect to earn from a regular full-time job over the course of a month.

That is the cost of a Level 5 book, just so you all remember that. A single book costs more than the full salary of a pony working a full month, if he or she does not spend a single bit with food or anything else.

Now, I understand that your work is important, and that every bit invested on you is a bit towards the Bright Library and (directly or indirectly) towards the Cult's advancement and the fulfillment of the Master's orders. But that also applies to everyone else, because "every member is expected to contribute to the Cult", not to have the Cult contribute to them. Your own Hintchasers eventually agreed to take bits off their own pockets for a chance of receiving additional teachings from you, as they fulfill your orders. And for the third time you are not the Cult Master, you are not at the center of the social web of adoration, you only have the coveted privilege of being closer to it.

And that all applies before we get into the merit of how weird it is for a Noblemare to be asking for funds, instead of gladly offering them to the Cult.

Click to shrink...

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

The coming Cult-meeting will have the "what do you tell them" vote. Some meetings didn't warrant it since the information you had discovered was deemed beneficial and safe to share by Velvet. But these last two turns? Oh boy. - - - Now, the last time I was here (and the update post was just...

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

Haha, on the subject of old Bird posts from the ancient scrolls? See all those points where he emphasizes that Velvet "Is not the Cult Master" when discussing the flow of treasure and obedience?

I'm not salty about giving up having an entire extra cult, no sir.

 

[DelightedOne]

I'm not salty about giving up having an entire extra cult, no sir.

Click to shrink...

"Damn it! Once again money slips through Velvet's hooves."

The part that bothers me the most is we didn't get to see the Wolf cult in Jade's house. The history of that place was perfect for a Wolf themed cult to use.

 

[ses]

I really do love the name for our Cult by the way.

In other news, going back over our Secret Library:

If we spend a velvet AP and our reagent craft on Manuscripts next turn we can take the Bureau to level 3 Moth (Assuming manuscripts are written post-Sacrament)
If we spend a velvet AP and our reagent craft on Manuscripts next turn we can take the Bureau to any two of (Forge 3, Secret Histories 2, Winter 2)
If we spend a velvet AP and our reagent craft on Manuscripts next turn we can take the Bureau to level 3 Knock

If we read the level 5 Knock book AND the level 2 Knock book we can take the Bureau to level 3 Knock
If we read the level 1 Edge book we can take the Bureau to level 2 Edge
The Forge book is basically worthless
The Heart book is basically worthless

We need Lantern Sacrament to be able to bump the Bureau to level 3 Lantern in a single reagent+AP

Edge cannot hit level 3 even with sacrament+double manuscript+edge1 book, we'd be 1 point short.

If we had Heart 4 we'd be able to reach Heart 3 Library with a double manuscript. But we don't so we can't.

Grail is very far from level 3 Library, we'd need the 4 scraps plus sacrament to be able to double manuscript it.

Frankly I seriously doubt we're going to make manuscripts any time soon tbh. We have so many Sacraments to do. The method by which we will level our Secret Library is obvious: Expeditions! Get big high level books from Expeditions and we can read them to advance our own Lore and the Bureau at the same time!

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Funnily enough, I just realized that we could take our Bureau to Knock 4(!) in a single turn of dedicated effort (Not that we'd ever do that). But free reagent plus 1 Velvet AP on lithium batteries and 3 Velvet AP on Knock manuscripts actually brings our Bureau to Knock 4. at a total cost of 4 Velvet AP and 15 bits. We could replace one of the manuscript actions with a book reading action and get the same result as well. If we tried to do the same thing with Secret Histories after our SH sacrament we'd be 2 points short of the same feat sadly.

I wonder if Library level 4 is actually something the QM would reward? It literally takes more scraps than 0 to 3 put together (14 scraps to hit Library 3, 30 to hit Library 4.)

My main point is that we really need books from expeditions. And we should start summoning MITLs in our barn. Biedde can summon a MITL with just a Wrong Key, Axe can summon a MITL using an expiring MITL. Baldomare is surprisingly bad at summoning MITLS now that our Edge 3 artifact is rip. A Risen actually has an okay chance at refreshing a MITL's duration with a Wrong Key (71% rising to 90% with Knock 2 artifact) and of course Selene is a Mare summoning machine.

 

[Pittauro]

I am quivering in anticipation!

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that's not good! Restlessness can decay into Dread! Be careful!

@jelloloaf

I managed to track down this piece of paper. Very interesting, but I cannot figure out what all this talk of mirrors and Morse-code is. Worse, I suspect I am on the wrong tack to discover these other pages... or at least, I cannot understand what I seem to have missed. Is there any hint you could offer me to help in my chase?

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some of the text in the pages is "mirrored" (as in, reflected). one page has some morse code.

They're not relevant to finding more pages, they're just kinda interesting. The Morse Code is basically an in-character tips list to how to play CS

I low-key cheated (Jellolaf said it doesn't count as cheating in his opinion though) to find page 4, but then I got stuck.

Haha, on the subject of old Bird posts from the ancient scrolls? See all those points where he emphasizes that Velvet "Is not the Cult Master" when discussing the flow of treasure and obedience?

I'm not salty about giving up having an entire extra cult, no sir.

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To be fair it's the cult equivalent of three ponies in a trenchcoat. They wouldn't come with THAT many bits, especially in the short term.

I wonder if Library level 4 is actually something the QM would reward? It literally takes more scraps than 0 to 3 put together (14 scraps to hit Library 3, 30 to hit Library 4.)

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We were told lvl 3 gives an infrastructure bonus, kinda comparable to how we get Realization powers. I imagine lvl 4 wouldn't give that. We'd likely get the reroll on appropriate cult actions though..

I'm kinda curious what lvl 5 would be like for it though. I imagine we get a Sacramented follower, which by virtue of that power becomes a named AND very relevant contact in our list?

My main point is that we really need books from expeditions. And we should start summoning MITLs in our barn. Biedde can summon a MITL with just a Wrong Key, Axe can summon a MITL using an expiring MITL. Baldomare is surprisingly bad at summoning MITLS now that our Edge 3 artifact is rip. A Risen actually has an okay chance at refreshing a MITL's duration with a Wrong Key (71% rising to 90% with Knock 2 artifact) and of course Selene is a Mare summoning machine.

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oh, I already forgotten we're selling the edge 3 artifact

Sad, but worth it if we use those bits well. After all, through bits we can do more expeditions, from which we can get MORE artifacts. As long as the artifact is not essential to us in the short term (let's call it two turns) we should consider selling them to fund more expeditions, IF we really can't afford it another way.

 

[spiderhellian]

Wait lol I hadn't even noticed that, why did we decide to sell it?