[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/vfXYyKI.png[/img]
_________________________________[i][b]Saber Class[/b][/i]_________________________________
The encounter with Lancer[/center]
[@Sageage][@Manythings]

That night... A little over nine hours ago, Roland had chased after that lancer servant. 

She leapt back from his kicks, and for a moment he was unbalanced. Still not perfectly adjusted to having to fight with hand to hand. But he stuck the landing none the less, holding a bright red spear in his hand. His eyes drifted along it, and he realized as he spun it in his hand... This wasn't steel, or metal. It was bone. The heavy thunk of the blade as he smacked it against the ground screamed not metal, but a bone from some kind of creature. It was gone before he could think further on it, the blade vanishing in particles of light. 

Then he was chasing. Leaping after her, and since he didn't consider the match ended, he wasn't completely outmatched in speed. Just a bit. He couldn't allow this servant to merely run off, and since she had been forced to leave so quickly, that meant only one thing, she was making a bee-line for her master. He chased, and in the distance he could see the smoke, the burning sky and the gutted insides of the Matou Mansion. Grinding to a halt, he realized with a smirk who this servant belonged to. 

[color=82ca9d]"Matou Servant, may we meet again!"[/color] Roland shouted, and he turned to make his retreat, knowing she wouldn't chase, not with her master in danger. [color=82ca9d]Master, I know more about our enemy. She is the servant of the Matous.[/color] Roland confided with his master through their link, as he made his quick return to his master's side. The Matou mansion wasn't far enough from their duel to have gone unnoticed. The Foreigner district was large, but not large enough to hide in. [color=82ca9d]"I suspect we may have to withhold spending time at the Matou Manor. But for now, our mystery lancer wields a weapon of bone. This limits the options by a great deal. I won't put a name on her yet, but I suspect she is a top tier servant, and one we should avoid in the future unless ready."[/color] Adjusting his cape, Roland marched alongside his master, and probably sought out the nearest place to get food at this hour.

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[u][b]Day 2: Shinto Town - Heading to the Bar[/b][/u]
[@Sageage]

In his hand, Roland had a poster. Part of him was honestly amazed such a thing was actually happening. A bar? Run by a man with terrible fashion sense and his master's missing rear half? For a moment he wondered if that was the plan to begin with. Combine his master with Chiron, and then? Well, would that make a horse and a person? He was probably overthinking the whole thing. But hey, it did bring a smile to his face. 

He gazed down the road, but he felt... Odd. In fact, he noticed upon entering Shinto town that there seemed to be a lack of animals. As if they'd all been taken away. But that wasn't important. Instead, he was leading his master to the bar, since after all it seemed only worthwhile to meet other Masters and their servants who might be drawn to such an invitation. [color=82ca9d]"Master, are you sure this is safe? I love springing a good trap, but this is fairly obvious."[/color] Flicking the paper a little, the knight of Charlemagne took out a marker, and began to draw crude little mustaches onto the photos of the duo who owned the bar. [color=82ca9d]"But then again, such a thing would be the most western of experiences, wouldn't it?"[/color]

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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/LRTXGTr.png[/img]
_________________________________[i][b]Master[/b][/i]_________________________________
Church Hilltop

[@EnterTheHero][@Yukitamas][@floodtalon][@Scallop][@Kyoka][/center]

As the mysterious church owning master gripped his gun, Xerxes was ready. In the motion it would take to raise that gun, he could r- That thought was cut short by a second master, with one of the fake masters. Was this luck? No, it couldn't be. It was destiny. It was Xerxes birthright. The world once more provided him the means to reach his goals. Even more so when the person who carried the fake master was one of the very mages he had been looking for. And the situation was better than the numerous others he had put through his head. 

Then there was Archer. Such a strange man, but he could tell at a glance that this was no weak servant. This was the man who wielded lightning earlier. Berserker was at Xerxes side as he entered the building, and with a command, the behemoth closed the doors behind them. While they were guaranteed the victory against Saber had the battle not been forced to end, it was clear that servant was part of the Matous. The attack was one of pursuit, and not one of arrival. That meant he had been chased. And an alliance... Well at least he wasn't the one proposing it. 

[color=fff79a]"Archer, I see you mistake my goal in this war."[/color] Xerxes smiled, hand over his heart as he spoke. [color=fff79a]"I am a doctor. It is my goal to make sure that while this war it won, it is not because all masters and citizens of this town have been killed."[/color] He smiled, and glanced around the room. [color=fff79a]"While I will help you in an alliance to win the war, I shall do my best to save the lives of civilians and masters involved. If you are willing to accept that, then I can see no reason why we shouldn't ally ourselves for this war."[/color] It didn't matter to him if this archer was a king, or some divine being. There was no reason for Xerxes to reveal his true nature. He was indeed a doctor, but it wasn't lives he was here for. But the treasures of other mages. And judging from the rather impressive constructs just outside, he knew without a doubt he had entered a jackpot. Besides, no half-way decent human being would deny him the chance to act as a healer in a war like this. Not when the benefits of having him around to begin with were much greater. 

And in that moment, he had his alliance. They would need more masters and servants to truly win, but he suspected that would come in time. Just finding the right person was enough.

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[b][u]Day 2: The church[/u][/b]

Xerxes took claim to the basement. It was perfect for his work, and while he sat up, he had already taken Archer aside for the operation. It wasn't a complex operation by any means, but it was rather revealing. The poison that had afflicted the archer was... Alcoholic in nature. That just made the detoxing a tad more complicated, but either way, it was less than an hour before he had managed to rid the servant of the poison. And best of all, he had managed to collect the poison into a flask. Something he would need for later. 

With Archer recovering, and probably left to his own devices, Xerxes had managed to collect his luggage from his former base. And within an hour after the alliance had formed, Xerxes was gardening. His bounded fields place around, and slowly focusing on a new task. The task of growing a garden of Haoma. The mythical herb that grew in the caves of Persia. It was beloved, and it was the source of his long life. The plant was sensitive to the light, and until fully grown, should not be exposed to direct sunlight. In fact, the Doctor had to grow it in pure darkness when he was younger. Doing it in the basement of a church was child's play. 

With a field of fertility established, Xerxes finally stepped from the basement. Berserker had been acting as his shadow inside the building, and while the great king wasn't allowed inside the mage's basement workshop, it was more because the ceiling was low, and less because the berserker wasn't wanted. [color=fff79a]"Oh, if only you had been a rider. We could have such interesting conversations."[/color] Xerxes lamented. But he had to make do with his current situation, and Berserker was probably the strongest servant in the room, physically at least. 

[color=fff79a]"Ludwig, are you around?"[/color] He spoke loudly, but not at a shout. Rather just to see if he could find the other mage. He had questions to ask and all that other stuff.