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

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Rafuki22 said:
3 Velvet + 1 Mareinette feels enough to me, but if people vote for 5 Velvet helping Cadence actions i would understand, it is not something we can leave to chance.
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I'd accept any 4 or 5 actions (Velvet + mareinette). I MIGHT possibly be convinced to go with 3, but I'm leaning 4 or more, it's just THAT important.

Earth-Destroyer said:
If 2 is not enough then 4 won't matter.
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You have literally no reason to be that confident.

I expect there's a chance for success at 1 action, and there's a better chance for each action we add.

We just don't know how much.

Maybe Cadance gets one roll per action we invest (and free times she gets), and has to reach a certain progress target.

Maybe Cadance gets a SINGLE roll targeting a fixed DC, and each action we invest gives her an extra bonus to it.

those feel like the two most likely scenarios to me, considering how rolls have worked in the quest so far.

So, either something like "1 roll per AP, target is 300" (values are just an example), or something like "DC 100, roll using Cadance bonuses + 10 per AP invested in helping her" (again, values are just examples).

DelightedOne said:
So, you take a sip of your tea-
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This would be really cool and maybe even possible after we got Baldomare's Sacrament... or maybe ANY sacrament, really. Narratively speaking it feels like a high level application of lores,it could fit lvl 5 or 6.

Maybe more 6 than 5, considering 6 is "Mastery".

DelightedOne said:
As you watch Cadance leave, the usefulness of Baldomare's Sacrament is the only thing on your mind.

The chance to take a peek at those choices you couldn't or wouldn't make, those possibilities that are closed to you forever now that History has moved forward.


That is a tool you are glad you have access to. And you can't wait to see what your Sacrament will reveal.
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yeah, hopefully we manage to get both...
 
we don't even know IF we get to use a reroll there.

and there's a difference between "one extra dice" (if that' s how it works) and "reroll the lowest".

Low roll can have worse consequences than wouldn't be made up for by an extra mediocre roll. In some cases rerolls are just better.

We don't know if we get one attempt per AP, or just one single attempt with better bonuses
 
Earth-Destroyer said:
Counting Reroll that 3 attempts. And by rolls the difference between 3 and 5 is statistically low.
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We literally do not know how it works.

It could be a progress bar with multiple individual rolls. It could be a single roll with a bonus depending on committed AP. It could be a single roll with a reroll for each committed action. It could be a set number of required actions with no roll. It could be a set number of required successful rolls. It could be that 1 AP committed = 1 sanity point for Celestia.

We don't know, and neither do you. You have literally no basis to assert what you've been claiming, because we don't know how it works.

The only things we know is that if we commit an AP, we're not getting it back, and a Grail Influence will not help.
 
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Greymere said:
The only things we know is that if we commit an AP, we're not getting it back
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I hope the reason we won't get them back is that we get some reward if Cadance gets things done without using all our invested actions.

Calming Celestia more or getting a bonus to Soothe the Sun would be ideal, but I guess teaching Cadance could be good too.

Oh... Cadance meeting Celestia at All-0 could go so wrong. She can't exactly judge(well, she can just not in the usual meaning of the phrase), and maybe she will catch a glimpse of Heart and Grail and balance herself better or at least slow down the doom clock by dividing her attention(even a dice to see which lore she focuses on that turn would be nice).
 
Scheduled vote count started by OurLadyOfWires on Jan 10, 2026 at 6:33 PM, finished with 78 posts and 6 votes.
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Adhoc vote count started by Pittauro on Jan 11, 2026 at 11:00 PM, finished with 136 posts and 21 votes.
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the proper Tally.

Mareinette is in. and with this, we FINALLY close that discussion for good.

Also, we're giving a read to the Hive book, meaning if/when we get more loot to study maybe we'll finish it as part of a study action. who knows.
 
Pittauro said:
Adhoc vote count started by Pittauro on Jan 11, 2026 at 11:00 PM, finished with 136 posts and 21 votes.
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the proper Tally.

Mareinette is in. and with this, we FINALLY close that discussion for good.

Also, we're giving a read to the Hive book, meaning if/when we get more loot to study maybe we'll finish it as part of a study action. who knows.
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Thank you for the tally. I figured it would come out weird, so I`m glad I don`t have to correct it.

I`ll assume the winning vote for Mareinette is to use the prisoner, even though some people forgot to mention it.

No guarantees an update will be posted today, but I will try.

Be well, everyone.
 
DelightedOne said:
Oh... Cadance meeting Celestia at All-0 could go so wrong. She can't exactly judge(well, she can just not in the usual meaning of the phrase), and maybe she will catch a glimpse of Heart and Grail and balance herself better or at least slow down the doom clock by dividing her attention(even a dice to see which lore she focuses on that turn would be nice).
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Knowing the Lores isn't verboten. Velvet being discovered is a game over because there's no way to explain it that doesn't involve "She's been a master of the lores for years and therefore was probably part of the group that attacked Luna"

OurLadyOfWires said:
Thank you for the tally. I figured it would come out weird, so I`m glad I don`t have to correct it.

I`ll assume the winning vote for Mareinette is to use the prisoner, even though some people forgot to mention it.

No guarantees an update will be posted today, but I will try.

Be well, everyone.
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Clearly we want Rarity to hand over Sweetie Belle. Obviously that was our intent and the QM is now bound to follow it, no take-backs.
 
Oh, the vote ended before I could vote. It wasn't very contentious, so I don't think I lost out much.

I'm not the biggest fan of cannibalism (especially since DoA refused to specify what the prisoner was like), but we were probably locked into it by getting them in the first place.
 
Pittauro said:
Ignoring how likely it is it would be there, we can only scry things in the Wake. Otherwise we would have definitely scried the mansus expeditions to know which influences to bring on them.
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I'm pretty sure the rules were that you can't scry stuff in the House of the Sun.

It can't be stuff just in the Wake because we have already proven that we can target areas outside of that with the Frangiclave.

Given how the remains are probably outside it should technically be possible.

Hold on I'll ask.

@OurLadyOfWires We can scry everything that's not the House of the Sun right? So technically stuff in Ash or the dreamlands are valid targets to scry. So could we scry for the remains of the Hour Velvet?

Woods aren't there to hide her corpse anymore and the scrying of the Frangiclave implies we're not limited to scrying the Wake.

Pittauro said:
On a different topic, I'm not quite fully decided on next turn. 4 actions on Celestia feels like an acceptable investment, and we obviously want to work on both Forge 6 and Lantern 7 expeditions, on our own or with Bureau.
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Pittauro said:
For Cadance, less than 3 actions is downright stupid, and I think current consensus is 4 or maybe even 5 (counting Mareinette as equivalent to Velvet action for simplicity's sake, though it could easily be more effective, and it would be weird for it to be LESS effective. But we can't say by how much).
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I count Mareinette as more effective for sure so two Mareinette and one Velvet feels safe to me.

Forge 6 reagent with Bureau with Smiles and Forge son, Level 7 book on our own via Axe.

Definitely want to spend at least one Velvet ap playing hide and seek in the Mansus outskirts to see the requirements for Moth scraps there.
 
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In which The Velvet-
The Velvet​

It is dark, an old darkness that has never known of the light.

It was here in this cradle of roots that a Goddess was born.

The taste of the blood that gave life to the birth still lingers upon the roots.

It was here that she fled when she fell, wounded and poisoned.

It was here that she died.

The Woods kept the body of their child a secret.

Kept it safe.

But now...

'...'

You step into the darkness.

It feels wrong, like a taboo that has been broken, a rule violated, a light shined upon a secret.

'...'

However nothing is here to stop you.

The Woods are no longer able to keep this place hidden.

You have traveled far to these once hidden roots and now you behold the hidden secret.

The corpse of a goddess.

'...'

You reach out your hoofs and touch

dtheformsofchaosdanceend

You step back your Soul filled with the secrets you had torn forth.

'...'

You feel the breath of your son on your back.

Taste his hunger for what is before him.

Still this is your prize and he will bow to the will of his mother.

What shall you do with this fallen Goddess of the Woods?

[ ] Take her skin (unlocked by personal Moth Sacrament): "Who will remember the barber's child?" You will take her skin, her form, what remains of her for yourself. Such a powerful mask you shall create.
-Immediately gain 2 Moth scraps
-Gain trait "The Velvet"

[ ] Devour her (unlocked by Mareinette's Grail Sacrament): "Embrace the changes and be consumed!" You will feast upon the body of a Goddess. Oh, what power you shall claim from such a meal.
-Immediately gain 2 Moth scraps
-Immediately gain 2 Heart scraps
-Immediately gain 3 Grail scraps
-Gain trait "Old Blood" which grants an extra 3 maximum health
-Gain special resource "Velvet remnants"

[ ] The Dead shall no longer be Dead!: Your blood shall be given and life shall rise anew from the ashes of a Goddess. A loyal child shall walk the world once more.
-Gain and Befriend the summon "Velvet Wolf"
-[THIS IS A REGRETTABLE ACTION]

"A tall and slender unicorn mare, with light brown coat and a long white mane. Despite her stunning beauty she so very easily goes unseen. Her glorious red eyes always seem to be filled with such amusement unless they are looking at you in which case they are filled with love."

Summoning requirements: MOTH 120, EDGE 60, WINTER 60.

Summoning cost: 100 bits.

Summoning details:
-The Velvet Wolf is capable of CHANNELING the highest intensity of Influence in her Lore, and gifting it to you for a full month. She is also capable of CHANNELING a lower-intensity Influence of her secondary Lores, although both of you consider that to be a waste of her time.
-The Velvet Wolf is considered to be a Minion, and does not mind being sacrificed for Rituals.
-As a befriended Child, the Velvet Wolf is no temporary summoned creature (although she must still be resummoned if she is sacrificed or destroyed)

Health: 8
General bonus: +40
Aspects: MOTH 7, EDGE 4, WINTER 4, [YOUKNOWWHATYOUDID 4]
[ONCE AN HOUR]: There is, or was, a hierarchy within the Mansus. She had reached the highest within its ranks.
[ONE WHO IS VERY GREAT]: The Velvet Wolf is willing to offer you Sacrament in the Lore of Moth, an offer graced to any loyal to Velvet Cover.
[WEIGHT OF PRESENCE]: The Velvet Wolf grants a full level up to the Secret Library for her preferred Lore.
[LOYAL]: Is loyal to Velvet Covers faction. She will refuse summons from any other faction, has one additional action per turn (for a total of two), and regenerates two health per turn if wounded. She is also more likely to activate influences on herself, as needed, and to lend aid to Velvet Covers faction when narratively relevant. If destroyed, she may be resummoned after one full month immediately.
[SECRETHIDER]: Narratively and mechanically Velvet Wolf hides the secrets that Velvet Covers would prefer kept secret. Lowers suspicion every turn without spending any action points.

[In Service To Our Mother]: Will narratively and mechanically aid Soft Sweeps in her actions.

[IN LOVE]: Is against anyone who hurts her beloved mother and will no accept slights against her. Will not take prisoners of those who have hurt Velvet Covers in combat. Will not allow retreat for enemies of Velvet. Narratively will take action against those Velvet Covers hates. No forgiveness, no mercy, no matter what.
 
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Shaper47 said:
The Velvet
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This was so good! You really have a way with darkness.


Shaper47 said:
[ ] The Dead shall no longer be Dead!: Your blood shall be given and life shall rise anew from the ashes of a Goddess. A loyal child shall walk the world once more.
-Gain and Befriend the summon "Velvet Wolf"
-[THIS IS A REGRETTABLE ACTION]
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And how fun this option is. It is so familiar. :V

Shaper47 said:
[YOUKNOWWHATYOUDID 4]
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Huh, did not think of this. But it feels more like a Soft thing than a general Wolf son thing.
 
DelightedOne said:
This was so good! You really have a way with darkness.
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Thanks!

Your pretty good yourself.

The idea just hit me hard after realizing it was probably technically possible (the corpse never popped up as destroyed and the Roots of the Woods are still around), and I had to write a bit about what might happen if we went looking and found her.

The idea for the Stain would be that Velvet Wolf is now a new player on the board. So no new malus for Equestria but in the long run you've got her making cults in the background. She no Crimson King (Stain idea from if we divided Celestia) but I like her.

DelightedOne said:
And how fun this option is. It is so familiar. :V
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Gotta follow the theme 😃

I mean come on, in other Histories the mc's are finding the corpses of dead Hours and getting cool traits from them.

Velvet could totally do that too.

DelightedOne said:
Huh, did not think of this. But it feels more like a Soft thing than a general Wolf son thing.
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Wags hoof, it's not exactly that kinda. It's a bit older then that. Well the general idea is.

I have this old theory that Agony is close to becoming a Principal or Lore in itself. So it's kinda a proto lore.

So as a living son in the is hanging around in a body sense with a character sheet. It gets added on just like Soft.

And well, it just seemed to fit.
 
Shaper47 said:
I'm pretty sure the rules were that you can't scry stuff in the House of the Sun.

It can't be stuff just in the Wake because we have already proven that we can target areas outside of that with the Frangiclave.

Given how the remains are probably outside it should technically be possible.

Hold on I'll ask.

@OurLadyOfWires We can scry everything that's not the House of the Sun right? So technically stuff in Ash or the dreamlands are valid targets to scry. So could we scry for the remains of the Hour Velvet?

Woods aren't there to hide her corpse anymore and the scrying of the Frangiclave implies we're not limited to scrying the Wake.
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fair point on Frangiclave, but I think the understanding of Mansus vs Wake is that we can't scry anything we reach through the Dream. which includes Crossroads and Woods/Ash Wastelands.

...That said, now that I think about it, it was implied that the EQG world was SORT of in the dreamworld, I think? or connected to it. so now I wonder if we can scry the dreamlands...

Nowhere would probably be out (or extremely dangerous), considering it's outside the reach of the Histories AND that there's Worms AND probably the Gods-from-Nowhere there.

Shaper47 said:
I count Mareinette as more effective for sure so two Mareinette and one Velvet feels safe to me.

Forge 6 reagent with Bureau with Smiles and Forge son, Level 7 book on our own via Axe.

Definitely want to spend at least one Velvet ap playing hide and seek in the Mansus outskirts to see the requirements for Moth scraps there.
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Mareinette being more effective is a reasonable assumption, but again we can't be sure. and even if she's probably more effective, it's hard to say if it would actually be 2x (or less or more)

Shaper47 said:
The Velvet
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Uh. I actually like this a lot.

I don't think we're likely to find it, and especially not with how little time is left (and I expect the scrying ritual to not work there), but it WOULD be really cool, and both the Moth, Grail and Wolf actions are very well thought.

Maybe the only thing I'd argue is that this is NOT quite The Velvet rebord as Wolf, that the trait basically meaning "she was once an Hour" is a bit much.

Otherwise Ash would basically be what was once the Moth, wouldn't it? and same for the Will of the Woods... then again, maybe the Will of the Woods DID have such a trait, explained by how they were the only active Name and could use all lores.

Shaper47 said:
I have this old theory that Agony is close to becoming a Principal or Lore in itself. So it's kinda a proto lore.

So as a living son in the is hanging around in a body sense with a character sheet. It gets added on just like Soft.

And well, it just seemed to fit.
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mh... that would fit, actually.

Edge and Winter turning into Agony if we reach 7 stains? That would explain how the world gets so much worse in Mother of Wolves ending, and how there's technically still hope (what changed once could change again).
 
des-pair-2 said:
I think in this case that is meant to represent Heart, and that it got replaced by Edge and Winter.
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More of a proto Lore of Agony kinda like Soft Sweeps type of a thing but pretty close.

Heart indeed did get lost in the whole death and rebirth thing to be replaced with Edge and Winter. Though the amount of health was a remnant of their old Heart Lore.

Pittauro said:
but I think the understanding of Mansus vs Wake is that we can't scry anything we reach through the Dream. which includes Crossroads and Woods/Ash Wastelands.
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I think it was mentioned that the House of the Sun doesn't work for scrying because it's metaphorically the equivalent of looking directly into the Sun. Too bright. (The Sun is kosher though)

Anything outside the House of the Sun is fair game though to be fair the Woods would have been really hard to scry stuff for given how it's entire deal is keeping things secret.

Ash probably makes things dangerous to scry but well, Velvet doesn't run into those sorts of issues. Gotta love loopholes.

Pittauro said:
Nowhere would probably be out (or extremely dangerous), considering it's outside the reach of the Histories AND that there's Worms AND probably the Gods-from-Nowhere there.
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Given how scrying involves shining a light doing it to Nowhere is probably a really really bad idea. Like, technically possible but something that really shouldn't be done.

If we want to find out what is in Nowhere we probably need Velvet to go an explore there herself. Very dangerous but might be possible in the sense that she could wear the skin of a big worm and pretend to be a Worm for the exploration.

Don't see Velvet wanting to go for that though no matter how curious she is.
 
I just want to point out that the Mirror World was, in fact, not able to be scried. Not really.

OurLadyOfWires said:
Baldomare tells you of what she saw… or rather, she tells you about what she couldn't see.

She tells you that the scrying ritual you asked her to do was so muddled, or perhaps so refracted, that she could barely see anything more than allegories and vague symbolism.
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It's not the 'unable to see anything because you're staring into the sun' that scrying the Mansus proper apparently is, but it's also clearly not actually able to give useful information. The only reason this gave us anything to work with at all is that we could connect the dots from DoA's Sacrament and Baldomare's hints on "how these curses usually go".
 
Greymere said:
I just want to point out that the Mirror World was, in fact, not able to be scried. Not really.
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Greymere said:
but it's also clearly not actually able to give useful information.
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Hmm, let me double check because I'm pretty sure Baldomare managed that scrying for us.

OurLadyOfWires said:
[Reflection of the Tapestry, CD variable]

[Roll: 31 + 50 (Baldomare) – 50 (Incompetent Celebrant Cutest Assistant) + 60 (Lantern Level 6) – 150 (??????) = -59]

[Negative result, ritual fizzles]
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OurLadyOfWires said:
And as Baldomare gets to work re-drawing the circle in the Wake, her true self narrows her eyes within the confines of her lodge.

Because for the first time in a very, very long time, the Name of Lantern is curious about something.



[Baldomare invokes a re-roll]
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Right, so her first try Baldomare failed due to the defenses but she succeeded on the scrying with a re-roll.

So scrying was possible if very hard.

Mechanically if we had given Baldomare a level 4 Lantern reagent her bonuses would have canceled the defenses malus.

Now in context of scrying Ash it would probably be a dangerous action for those who aren't Velvet Cover due to Ash looking back but it's safe for Velvet and she almost certainly avoids any defenses due to her nature.
 
Shaper47 said:
Hmm, let me double check because I'm pretty sure Baldomare managed that scrying for us.





Right, so her first try Baldomare failed due to the defenses but she succeeded on the scrying with a re-roll.

So scrying was possible if very hard.

Mechanically if we had given Baldomare a level 4 Lantern reagent her bonuses would have canceled the defenses malus.

Now in context of scrying Ash it would probably be a dangerous action for those who aren't Velvet Cover due to Ash looking back but it's safe for Velvet and she almost certainly avoids any defenses due to her nature.
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It never actually said that she succeeded, just that she invoked a reroll.
 
Speaking of scrying, if we summon a MITL this turn and the game lasts until turn 25, we probably can afford Baldomare sacrificing the expiring MITL on turn 25 at All In. We know that scrying All In is supposed to be nearly impossible but Baldomare with a 5 Lantern sacrifice should probably be able to get something.
 
ses said:
Speaking of scrying, if we summon a MITL this turn and the game lasts until turn 25, we probably can afford Baldomare sacrificing the expiring MITL on turn 25 at All In. We know that scrying All In is supposed to be nearly impossible but Baldomare with a 5 Lantern sacrifice should probably be able to get something.
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That's great and all but... what purpose would that serve? Unless the doom clock gets defused or extended even further, it's not like we can really do anything additional to prepare at that point.
 
Talon Tiger Dino said:
Yeah, where she said her scrying results were practically useless and that we should just go bother the Snake.
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Well, she did manage to find out the Frangiclave was "far yet close" so she at least got something.

And rereading the Foggy Mirror made me have a mini-freakout because I think I didn't even question why the Frangiclave was there or even how it got there in the first place.

I hope we manage to get a glimpse of those things after Velvet reaches Glory.
 
I think scrying All In is kinda pointless. We have the heads up it's difficult and/or dangerous, and besides, we're going to be bringing everything we can… I don't really see how scrying changes our decisionmaking at all.
 
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