The Sun in Rags

[Kash]

How do you deal with the "Friendly visit from Poppy" event?
How do I get a follower/hireling or acquaintance to eligable to take my place?

[Kamamura]

A hireling is not enough, nor is an acquaintance. Hireling is someone you contract for money, acquaintance is just someone you casually know. To be able to take your place in this event, it must be someone brainwashed enough to follow a stranger god know where. i.e. one of your cultist. Preferably those faceless, non-unique drones you can get in larger quantities but are less competent. However, any member of your cult will do, lowly initiates are just more expendable.

[Kash]

After three failed attempts ending in being led off like a lamb to the slaughter I am no closer in understanding this strange game enough to have an idea on what to do differently. For example, I want the monies offered for agreeing to this foolishness but don't want to go out like livestock. So if it is possible to get both the monies and my life, I would appreciate input on how to go about doing this.

1. Is it a timing thing? Do I need to put off this offer until some later point?
2. Is it just a matter of the RNG?
3. Perhaps some combination of the right cards I have not yet experimented with?

[Nespin]

You will need someone a little more dedicated than an acquaintance to bear such a burden for you. You'll need someone who you don't simply know, or pay, but someone who really believes in your cause.

In more detail, if you want the spoiler version...

You'll need actual cultists to be loyal enough to feed them to poppy - so you'll need to have actually founded your cult. Talk to any of your acquaintances and they should spawn a new verb for you to interact with (as well as generate a bit of notoriety). This new verb will ask for a lore card - the principle upon which your cult is founded, a reason health or passion depending on your founding principle, and one of your acquaintances.

Once you've given it all of the above, you should now have a cultist and a nice shiny new cult to use.

Further acquaintances can be recruited by talking about the cult, then slotting them in, and lore or tools that match the aspect of your cult to at least the 2nd intensity. IE: The lowest level lore available will work, so long as it's the right aspect.

These new Belivers or Pawns are loyal enough to go to Poppy, even knowning they'll be a beautiful ending. I recommend sending her the moth coloured pawn myself. They wouldn't last long if promoted anyways...

Do be warned that whoever you send is not coming back, and there are a limited supply of potential cultists in the capitol. Even the pawns, who look generic, are unique. Choose wisely.

[morikal]

I was having a lot of trouble with this, and eventually looked it up outside the game.
I think the issue you are having is: With the default start (aspirant? I think its called), you will end up with a few acquaintances somehow (I forget how), but it isn't the 'normal' way of getting acquaintances who you can later recruit.
There is a 'normal' way of actively finding new acquaintances to recruit.

Try using the 'talk' verb with a piece of lore.

[what am i doing]

I usually like to send Violet. Since Poppy is more or less implied to work with a Reckoner mob, and has essentially paid for the years of life left in whoever you send, you're basically stiffing the mob by giving them someone who's old and near death with barely any years to collect. But, you're not actually breaking the contract with them since they didn't specify the age :^)

Plus Winter followers aren't very useful.