11/14/2016, day, outskirts of Sion.Mana surged from the earth, resembling a fog. A small concentration of pure magical energy at its center. Then, it grew as it gained in power. An ethereal ball, getting increasingly menacing. Shapes emerging, becoming arms and legs.
The fog was thick and cold. It hid the being emerging within.
As the shape became more humanoid, it lost in stability. It started to flicker from one silhouette to another. It was short then tall, thin then broad, feminine then masculine.
Whispers could be heard, all covering each other. Many voices, many languages, all unintelligible.
Then it stopped. And a soft but deep voice spoke.
“Alright, I’ll represent us then.” The fog cleared, seemingly absorbed into the figure. It now was a tall man in his fifties. He had red short hair, thick eyebrows, a short beard and a large mustache. He wore a white old-fashioned British Navy uniform, though it was missing the vest. As such, his rank was not displayed.
He performed an exemplary military salute to the mage and spoke with a clear and confident tone.
“The Unknown Soldier, class Archer. I assume you are our Master. Pleased to meet you, sir?”"Hmm?"
That wasn’t a reaction they expected.
On one hand, they were fully ready for a Master who wouldn’t understand the true nature of The Unknown Soldier. After all, they weren’t exactly what was supposed to come out of the summoning. Most likely they would then have to show what they are capable of while hiding this nature, as it would be safer for them.
On the other hand, a more capable and knowledgeable Master was both better and worse. It would certainly give them stronger strategic options, but they weren’t sure what reaction the Master would have. The soldiers really didn’t want their darker, weaker side to be observed so easily. Maybe they’d have to fight a bad first impression, showing they can deal with more powerful servants. Maybe that Master wouldn’t want to work with a servant running on curses. Maybe something worse. After all, while they didn’t know much about mages, even them were aware that those often had a warped morality.
But he smiled at them. A soft, simple smile. After a quick introduction, he just seemed lost in thoughts.
He saw through them. Immediately. They could tell. They could also feel the curses surrounding him, empowering his tools. He was familiar with wraiths, with beings of their nature. They could see that they sparked his curiosity and imagination. Surely, his magic was one well suited to them.
And surely, he must have had one of those warped morality. But, at least, he seemed happy with them.
~~~~~
They decided to install their base on the mountainside, that way the cliff to their backs would reduce angle of ennemy attacks while the difference in elevation would grant them a defensive advantage. Rhodri Bowen focused on his mage affairs for the rest of the day. The soldiers didn’t know much when it came to magecraft, but they could feel small but abundant grudges appearing from elsewhere into the tent, so it seemed obvious this was simple productive time. Thus, they did their own work.
First, they had over a dozen of them materialize one by one. As they did, they familiarized themselves with the od they were receiving from their Master and made an estimation of how well it could support them.
It was pretty good. They could deploy over a third of the soldiers they had on hand, without counting the heavy-duty equipment. The next step was testing the aforementioned.
Of course, they couldn’t fire anything without blowing their cover. But they could materialize each piece of artillery and vehicle to inspect their state and test the time they would need to set-up using their skills as Servants. One at a time of course, to not put any unnecessary strain on Rhodri.
Two of them were dedicated to this task, both engineers. They were quick to be amazed with the possibilities. In life, they needed complex lines of supply just to move the ammunition, let alone the machinery. Now, they could make it appear out of thin air.
Ten of them were developing the base into something more combat ready. They planned a labyrinth of trenches, not to stop the enemy, but to direct them. Discreet but visible weak points here and there were meant to bait the enemy into “killpoints” where they would be surrounded by heavy fire power. While they didn’t have the guns deployed at all time, they were preparing fortified positions to quickly deploy them when the time would come.
While some were digging, others were cutting trees, both to clear space and line of sight and to provide building materials.
Finally, three of them were scouting the vicinity. Their Master had deployed familiars for that purpose, but they weren’t familiar with how they worked, including their strength and weaknesses. So they kept on eye out both for others servants and to observe those familiars at work.
As the night took over, Rhodri came out of his tent and approached the closest soldiers.
"Any updates on things getting set here? Are we good to go?
Ah, and I've already got the familiars put up for the night as well, though, so if any others get too close for comfort here you all know what to do."
He then went on to explain his plans for this little first expedition into town. The soldiers listened attentively. And so did all of The Unknown Soldier through them. Rhodri offered a phone, so one of the two engineers took the phone to inspect it while the other one turned towards him. It was a young blonde woman with a strict attitude.
“There will always be more to do. Get us better material and we do better obviously, but even without this, it’s not work that we’re missing here. For starters, I’d really like to swap that for a solid bunker.” She pointed at the tent.
“The trenches are getting along well, but we can always dig more of them. Really could use barbed wire though. And it’d be a waste of energy to use our stock to keep some constantly materialized, so we need the good old physical stuff. Also some sandba… Hum? OK, you’re right, too much to move around, that would attract too much attention. No sandbags, then. We’ll just work with dirt, stone and wood.“It was as if she was talking to herself, but she was in constant conversation with her unmaterialized comrades. As if to confirms it, another soldier appeared out of thin air to her side.
He was a relatively short man with sharp features. Short hair slicked back and a plain steel breastplate, marked by bullet impacts and a symbol representing a skull adorned with a laurel crown which held the blade of a knife between his teeth.
“Wait a second, that is fine and all, but I heard something about a pot. Are you confident in your culinary skills, signor Bowen? I’d love to see it but be warned, I have high standards. After all, I’m a pretty good cook myself.” Another one, with a scruffy appearance and what was definitely not a proper uniform of any army, appeared to interject too.
“Oh, first things first, monsieur Bowen will need a guide to go to Sion. I hear it’s a mostly French-speaking town. Are you good with la langue de Molière, monsieur?” “Hey don’t try to get a leg up!” Another intervened.
”Ah, mister Bowen, can you get us some cigs while you’re at it?” A fifth one asked.
”Tobacco for me, I prefer the pipe.” The other engineer said over his shoulder.
”Hey, what about some whiskey?””You idiot, we said no alcohol until the end of the war! Servants get drunk too!””I heard the Swiss got some good chocolate. Oh, and cheese too!” They were coming one after the other and didn’t leave any room for their Master to answer any of them.
~~~~~
The heavily mustached officer was observing the city of Sion through binoculars, his face locked in an introspective scowl. His gaze had been stuck to certain point for a few minutes.
A massive, unmistakable target.
An enemy had taken a Leyline, one situated on a local castle. The Unknown Soldier didn’t have much of any experience when it comes to battle between mages but, even then, it was easy to see what was going on. A Leyline is a supply spot of magical energy, and that castle above the hill is a strong defensive position. A prime spot to install a base in such a conflict. Hell, The Unknown Soldier could make good use of it, if it weren’t for a single but undeniable disadvantage.
It was basically asking for opponents to come.
The Unknown Soldier is a servant with intermediate fire-power compensated by quantity. That quantity was both their greatest strength and weakness. Any skirmish put them at risk of losing men or equipment. Unlike a real war, they could not count on resupplying, so they had to choose their battles carefully. And this was a good example of a difficult choice.
It was so easy to strike them. They could easily set up artillery a few kilometers away, and their artillery would have no problems hitting such a clearly defined target. They didn’t even need to do close recon at this point! Not only that, but they could even turn that castle into an advantage. Mustard gas shells were by far one of the nastiest weapons in their arsenal, put it was not without flaws. The gas was heavier than air and would go downhill when possible or be pushed away by wind, but that castle was like a cup just waiting to be filled! No matter the Servant’s resistances, the Master would have to come out in the open to avoid being poisoned.
“There’s no way in hell it’ll be that easy.” He muttered to himself.
Then, as he was about to get lost in his thoughts again, he noticed the noise of his fellow soldiers harassing the mage who called them. He was almost relieved to have something else to do, even though he had to play the bad guy.
“Enough! Can’t you see you are bothering Sir Bowen? Just make an orderly list of demands. I’ll take care of presenting them.”His tone was stern but calm. Authority without aggressivity.
The soldiers disappeared, except for the two engineers who went back to their task and the man with the mustache.
“My excuses, they are too used to talking over each other. Oh, and you should expect something similar if you use that link which allows us to share thoughts. Do not hesitate to ask for silence.
On more important matters, we can go whenever you desire.”As he spoke, a motorbike of an old design but in perfect condition appeared besides him. It had a sidecar for one passenger attached. The man put one hand on the handlebar and lifted the other one towards Rhodri as a steel helmet manifested in his grasp.
“Oh, if you have any preference as to who would accompany you, let us know. The Frenchman from earlier, his name is Jules by the way, wants you to know that his offer still stands.”
Lancer was calm, discreet and objective. Qualities which Jerome liked. And yet, there was something which bugged him.
No, it didn’t come from Lancer himself. The Master just couldn’t figure out what was bothering him.
He pushed the issue aside, there were more important things happening.
“It’d be real nice if they were so overconfident they didn’t put proper protections on that castle, but I doubt it. I got a feeling I know the kind of mage who set up there. A little prodigy from a fancy family who thinks their little tricks put them above all. As overconfident as those are, they know how to make themselves some secure little nest.
But I know my way inside those. The problem is getting to the castle itself.”He scratched his chin, while walking towards the hill. There were all kinds of mage flocking to subspecies Grail Wars, both mediocre and greats. But the Nadelkiss did attract higher profiles than the usual, according to his contacts. Though he had to take this information with a grain of salt as he was lacking any concrete evidence as to the participants, it was a safe bet that one or the other impressive magus would join.
But even so, they could only have had so much time to set-up in this castle. Those defenses had to be flawed!
But he also wouldn’t get much time for preparation himself. He wasn’t used to such rushed jobs.
At some point, he passed into a small alley where nobody could see him. There he swiftly but discreetly used his
Traceless Traversal to get into a house. He knew from
Ground Touch that nobody was inside it at the moment, most likely gone to work or school. He grabbed some food in the cupboards and fridge, knowing already were to pick it up, and left as he came. It didn’t take him more than a few seconds, all of it was natural to him.
His petty larceny done, he shoved a snack into his mouth as he went back to his previous itinerary.
“Mhm, Lancher, take schome if you want.”
{Oh, sorry, I forgot I could just use the Karmic link. Anyway, we’ll do recon. It’s too good of an opportunity. I’ll try to stick to where there is some buildings. I can hop a few meters away through the ground, but it’s not terribly efficient for evasion. I’m better off sticking to walls. Don't push yourself too hard though, I just want you to take a look at the land and Servants. We’re not looking for a fight, only intel. That castle in particular is interesting, but we’ll need to figure out how to approach it safely.Oh, and if the attacking ones there don’t get themselves killed, we’ll want to figure out what we can. They might be dangerous too.}As Lancer showed concern for his Master’ safety, Jerome replied with a tone which carried a strange sense of pride.
{Don’t you worry about me. I’m not the best Master around, sure, but I won’t be killed so easily. My one talent is to run away, after all.}On these words, he entered another empty house. As soon as he got in, he climbed on a chair to touch the ceiling, transporting himself to the next floor. Then it was using a bed frame. He smoothly traveled between the rooms to the rooftop where he sat beside the chimney, one palm resting on the rooftiles in case he needed to get back in urgency. In a few instants, he had moved from the streets to this observation point.
It looked like the buildings were getting smaller and rarer the closer they got to Tourbillon Castle. In fact, the whole hill was basically bare of buildings. There were only some fields and a lightly wooded area between it and Valère.
Then Jerome had a thought. Valère was the neutral ground of the Church. It would make a perfect observation point while Lancer would check things on site. And if it got too heated, he could have him retreat there.
{I think I know how to go about this.} 
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