Turboshitter

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

Uhhh vance? Durandal ignores durability and can only be blocked by a Noble Phantasm. I don't know for sure if Roland's strike to his flank was meant to be a serious wound, but Berserker wouldn't be able to just tough it out. That sword should slip through him like cheese wire.

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

@Greyto be fair some of these people are whales, or have literally been re-rolling for three whole days. I would definitely like a better character to replace Eliwood as none of my units have the versatility to replace him competently. I need Camilla, Hector, or Takumi. Chances are I won't get them. But this is a Gatcha Game remember there will be better units in two months if that.

@vancexentan

Did you pray to Kirei (or whatever his equivalent in FE is)? If you don't pray to Kirei, you're gonna get spooked.

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

@TurboshitterIt causes a disruption field that causes great pain in a magus. Depending on the pain threshold of a mage it may do so. Of course I can't have it cancel out magic because the servants would just fissile out of existence. The stronger the spell the more pain caused.

@vancexentan

Hrrmmm... fair enough, I suppose. It won't do much for the wraiths, though. They've already been summoned, so there's not much the field could do to just make them go away. Worst case scenario Albert would lose control over them and they'd attack indiscriminately, but I'm pretty sure that once an entity has been summoned, it won't go away if you just kill the summoner (Servants being an obvious exception of course because they're huge mana-hogs and they can't naturally replenish their stocks without consuming souls).

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

So does this field just cause enough pain to make concentrating on casting a spell difficult, or does it literally make using magecraft impossible? Because I think the latter is a thing that really shouldn't work like that.

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

Albert Prelati

Interacting with: Berserker (@Grey), Leon & Saber (@vancexentan)

Jonathan's base of operations - 2:24 PM December 2nd, 2012

Hider

They all climbed into the elevator, packed shoulder to shoulder listening to the usual hotel mixtape. Albert was actually one of the few people who found elevator music relaxing, but in this case he couldn't help feeling irritated as he noticed Saber eyeing Berserker in that way a man often does when he wants something. Something in particular.

Grunting with annoyance, Albert awkwardly tried to squeeze his way inbetween her and Saber. Odd as it was, he didn't like the idea of other people flirting with his Servant. Something about it just seemed wrong.

Finally, the elevator released them. Jonathan's room, they'd been told, was just down the hall. But when they arrived there, what they found was...

A bloodbath, and quite literally at that. Gore decorated the room, painting it with a fine scarlet-beige patte of finely liquidized human remains. Albert only wondered how much of it had come from Jonathan, before realizing Caster would've already dematerialized. It was all his blood.

The smell was even fouler than the scene itself. Leon looked like he wanted to puke. And even as much as Albert wanted to say years of digging around in animal guts had dulled him to the sight of blood, this was... excessive. Sickeningly so. It took on a macabre sense of humor when he saw half of Jonathan's body just propped up on the couch like he'd exploded halfway through having a beer with this strange man... this Servant. Then he realized he couldn't find the other half of the body and he felt disgusted again. He held it in.

Zose swords are clean. 'E pulled 'im apart wiz 'is bare 'ands...

"Very well zen, you barbarian," he said, trying not to show his fear. "You want a challenge? We are more zan 'appy to provide one for you."

He didn't turn to Berserker, not daring to take his eyes off the man. But he made his instructions to her very clear.

"Ma chère? Go nuts."

Albert started his incantation as a flock of fairies swarmed out of his pockets and formed a defensive grid around him, bound by contract to protect him while Berserker handled this new enemy. How fortunate it was that this grunt seemed to be working for that brat Togami. He'd give this man a taste of the Prelati family's power as a message to him. One he'd deliver in blood.

"Écoutez-moi, perdues des catacombes,
Monte,
Monte,
Monte de ta tombes,
Lay vos rancunes aux pieds de la vie,
Obéissez à ma volonté et abattez mes ennemis sur les puits de l'enfer!"

The five-line spell took effect immediately, and a sickening atmosphere settled over the hotel, bridging the realms of the living and the dead. Dark shapes rose from floors, invisible to human eyes, but appearing to be nothing more than dark aggregates of amorphous energy in the eyes of magi, gaseous oil slicks whose touch felt like it could pollute your very soul. Wraiths. Dozens of them.

Albert smiled. He knew hotels were a great place to find wraiths. They were natural gathering places for humans, and a vast majority of them had seen their fair share of suicides and murders. Including one very recent one, whose soul would have many grudges indeed. He had no sympathy for Jonathan. He hadn't known him very well, if at all. But Albert still felt some satisfaction in knowing he could help this spirit find some peace. Perhaps it was professional pride.

The fairies flickered around him, keeping watch throughout their contracted vigil. He could sense thirty-four wraiths had been summoned with fifty vertical and horizontal meters of the hotel. Not his best, but this hotel looked like it was a newer building in the area. With Berserker and Saber's assistance, thirty-four would be more than enough anyway.

He gave them the command to gather on the twelfth floor, then ordered three of his fairies to attack. Tiny as they were, they struck with the force of a bullet, and they were fast. Three was nothing but a distraction to a Servant, but a distraction was all he needed.

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

Albert Prelati

Interacting with: Berserker (@Grey), Leon & Saber (@vancexentan)

An internet cafe across the street from Ahnenerbe - 2:04 PM December 2nd, 2012

Hider

Albert acknowledged briefly Saber's admission of knowing the Lady of the Lake. Though it was far from an obscure story, his attempts to cover up the fact that he'd known her personally were paper thin, and just as see-through. It hadn't been wise for his own Servant to drop hints of her own accord, but it seemed like the bait had worked marvelously.

Judging by ze fact zat zese two did not show any signs of recognizing eachozer, I zink it might, might be safe to assume 'e is not anozer paladin of Charlemagne. Zat leaves only Camelot and ze knights of ze round table. Ze Grail Cycle. 'Ow fitting, he thought. Zat ability 'e 'as that 'ides 'is identity... per'aps 'e is ze Green Knight zat tested Sir Gawain. Killing 'im will be a pain in ze ass if zat's true. Good for us now, but bad if zis alliance dissolves or if ze "teams" zing ends up being a load of la connerie.

He still didn't take the priest at his word that a wish could be claimed with only half of the participating Servants dead. Even if he wasn't selling them snake oil, he knew a lot of magi would start turning on their "teammates" as soon as the numbers had been whittled down to seven. They wouldn't want to share their wish with so many people. Mages were inherently distrustful and suspicious creatures like that.

When they arrived at the hotel, Albert swore.

"Merde," he said. "And 'ere I zought I 'ad found a nice place to shack up. Zat's ze last time I tip my travel agent..."

It was gorgeous. Like a television advert come to life. The hotel only became more offensively luxurious after they stepped inside, and Albert almost found himself getting angry at the injustice of it. Gold finish, expensive marble tiling, chandeliers and bellhops that brought you complementary drinks. And here he'd been told the penthouse in the Hyatt was the best place to stay in town. Bloody hell...

Still, he couldn't shake the niggling feeling that something was off. This was too easy. There was no barrier. No familiars, no brainwashed employees. Either Jonathan was sloppy, or they were being led into a trap. No proper mage left his base of operations this poorly defended.

"Keep an eye out," he whispered to Leon. You too, ma chère. I want boots to asses as soon as you so much as zink you saw somezing suspicious.

Something just wasn't right here...

Ren Mizushima

Interacting with: Rider (@1Charak2), Sosthenes (@Grey), Lancer (@Eklispe)

Fuyuki City, Miyama Town - 2:06 PM December 2nd, 2012

Hider

Ren winced as he watched the professor's foot fix itself like a video on fast-forward. It was clear to him now that when Rider had stomped on his foot, that had just been a love tap. The professor really had taken the brunt of it.

"Sorry, professor," he said sheepishly out loud before he decided to try something else.

Thanks, Rider, he thought, willing his message to reach her. He'd heard Masters and Servants could communicate telepathically, and it seemed like a good time to try that out. It was bloody convenient if it worked, though trying to convey a smile without actually smiling was hard.

Then the professor sat down calmly and asked the question Ren knew he was going to ask. He wanted an explanation. Ren rubbed the back of his head nervously. Where to begin?

"Ummm... so this is Rider," he said demonstratively. "Her name's Medusa."

He quickly sent her another message, knowing she probably wouldn't like having her name revealed to another Master. Sorry, Rider. These guys are our allies, so I think we kind of have to tell them. Don't worry though, you can trust them. The professor's a creep, but he's not a bad guy. Usually...

Continuing, he said, "There's some leftover cake in the fridge. You can help yourselves to that if you want. Okay... where do I start..."

And so he told them the story, about how he'd found Rider the previous night and how he'd decided to make a contract with her. It was a short kind of story, but one that begged a thousand questions. Most of which he was afraid he didn't have the answers to.

"So... that's how it is," he said finally. "It kinda just... happened. I'm sorry I didn't inform you earlier, but we didn't have much time. Please forgive me."

Ren bowed his head, more out of instinct than anything. His distinctly Japanese sensibilities had gotten him into trouble before during his adventures with the professor. The gesture he was currently performing carried a lot of weight in many countries, including Britain, but he'd found that without context, it left most Westerners confused. Rather than being an acknowledgment of general respect for another person, bowing in most European countries was reserved almost exclusively for kings and theatre actors.

He hoped, however, that the professor would understand what he meant by it, that his actions had all been done with the best intentions. Ren knew he wasn't going to apologize. He'd saved Rider's life and doubled their fighting forces. If the professor was upset at him for taking a more proactive role as a mage... well then, he'd just have to deal with it. Ren would, of course, not the professor.

"Ummmm..." he said, trying to break the silence. "Is the cake still good?"

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

I'll post for Albert and Ren after brunch.

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

Short post just to move things forward. Let's gooooo...

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

Albert Prelati

Interacting with: Berserker (@Grey), Leon & Saber (@vancexentan)

An internet cafe across the street from Ahnenerbe - 2:04 PM December 2nd, 2012

Hider

"Alright zen," Albert said, sipping his next cheap cup of coffee. He rose from the table, dusting himself off. He had to remember never to return to this place.

Closing the lid of his laptop, the internet browser still open on a page labeled "Togami Towers", Albert cocked his head in Leon's direction.

"Shall we go meet wiz Jonazan?"

Fate/stay Night - War of the Fourteen Magi - High Casual

Meanwhile at the awkward stare down at the Internet Cafe Leon is still waiting for someone to answer him while Saber broods in the corner disguised as a famous male idol.

@vancexentan

Working on it, m80. Again not sure what you want me to say here that isn't totally devoid of substance, but whatevs.