Chevaleresse

Courtyard "I am Rand of house Amyrlin." The barrage of questions seemed to take the man back a bit. "Woah, okay. I'll do my best to answer your questions, but I'm not exactly some sort of living library." He put his hand on his head. "Alright. I'll try to answer what I can. For the first question, this siege has gone on for about two weeks at this point. It's the natural conclusion to the campaign the House Shienar has been conducting against Asterlux. . . . I don't think I feel comfortable telling you detailed information on everything about our force. Though I'd expect an enemy spy to be a bit more subtle with his questioning. I would also think that the guards lobbing fireballs over the walls would let you know that mages numbered among our ranks. As for nonessentials, Lord Belenus keeps a small library stocked in the basement of his choice books. I would not recommend trying to steal any of them. And no, I have no idea who that witch is." War Room "We've been at war for months with House Shienar after they invaded our lands. Our soldiers are strong in both body and heart, but their superior numbers have driven us back. We were on the edge of turning this whole damned war around when. . . something, happened." Nobunaga pipes up. "Ah, yes. The rift that brought the Grail into this world. I don't know why, but something seemed especially off about that cup. For one, they actually used a cup this time! And it appeared after I killed Rider. That's incredibly unusual!" She nodded emphatically at nothing in particular. "After this rift that Nobunaga speaks of, the enemy forces were reinforced by five of these beings." "Servants," Nobunaga interjected. "Heroic Spirits given a physical form by the Holy Grail. Though there's something wrong with these others. That cup was leaking some kind of mud after the rift, and it changed them. I don't know what it was, but it evidently takes more than that to affect the Demon King!" Silef shot the Archer a glare before continuing. "These Servants allied themselves with Shienar. To what end, I do not know, but very quickly every battle became a rout. The two Houses and our respective dominions, alongside these Servants, are the only factions in the war. I've sent word to our historic allies, but I doubt the messengers will return before this war concludes." She shakes her head. "I don't know why the other Servants decided to back this other House either. The Grail is probably useless, but warmongering for no reason? I suppose they could be trying to prolong the War and their own existences. Which reminds me! In a normal Holy Grail War, the objective is to simply kill all other Servants by any means possible. Many mages do so by eliminating the other Masters, but the Masters of the Servants were consumed by that mud. They should all be gone by now - except myself, of course."

For the barest moment, the woman's chest began to heave as if sighing. The motion was almost unnoticeable, however, as she addressed the group. "I see. Your tale is outlandish, but perhaps you are the blessing that Lumabella has finally chosen to send us." She frowned for a moment. "This Nobunaga you speak of. Is he a similar being to the ones that seem to be leading the assault on this region? The ward was put in place after one of them nearly forced the portcullis open with his bare hands. If you could call that monster a 'he.'" The frown deepened in concentration. After a moment of silence, she turned her head to the side, addressing one of the guards flanking her. "Get Belenus in here, now. I don't care what he's reading." A quick "Yes, milady" and the man was off. "Now that we've settled the question of your purpose here, allow me to introduce myself. I am Lord Silef, master of the great House Asterlux." If the woman had intended to speak more, she was preempted by the appearance of a young, robed man who looked rather put-upon, a pair of reading glasses set crookedly on his face. With a glare at Silef which he tried - and utterly failed - to hide, he cracked his wrists. "Milady, what did you need at this hour?" "Drop the ward long enough to allow this Nobunaga to appear. Put it back up immediately. I will work with you." The man's expression displayed more than a fair bit of concern, but he complied wordlessly, beginning a sort of weaving motion not unlike the ones Lexiel and Laver had seen Marisa make when spellcasting. There was no visible effect for a moment when this ceased, with silence falling across the room. A silence interrupted just before it became awkward by a shimmering off to one side of the table. A cascade of blue sparks quickly resolved itself into one Nobunaga. "Wahaha, brilliant! It worked! Quite honestly I wasn't sure if they'd let us in! Now, I believe you had questions for me? And then we have tactics to discuss." She nodded her head toward Silef. "You need to hear this just as much as they do. I have valuable intelligence for your war effort here." Silef, for her part, looked rather startled by the appearance of the Japanese warlord, but quickly smoothed her face over. As far as she could, anyway. "Speak, then, if you claim to have information."

"Very well. Angel, you with the enchanted tablet, pale one, and you, princeling, follow me." She gestured to Lexiel, Isobel, Ghost, and Laver in turn, and then jerked her hand toward the castle proper in what seemed to be a practiced signal. Several liveried servants - more than a few with their own weapons strapped to their belts - rushed forward, helping the knights off of their horses and leading the latter off. Ten of the men started toward the castle along with their liege, while the rest moved in various directions, some moving back up to the walls, some moving back toward what could be assumed was the barracks, and others simply milling about. Two or three stopped to peer curiously at Dackly and her club, and one with a prominent plume on his helmet - which was currently sideways under one of his arms, revealing somewhat unkempt dark hair. The group selected to meet with the liege-lady was escorted quickly into the entrance hall of the castle, and forward into what was once a banquet hall. The place was dominated by the central table, rearranged to hold a large map of the surrounding area marked with a mass of minature red flags and three green ones in a cluster. "Setting aside the matter of your insolence toward the reigning lord of the land for the time being, we have much to discuss. The first being who - and what - you are. My diviners did not inform me of any other forces in this area, and I see no way that you could have reached this fortress in a span of less than three days, much less through the demons outside the walls." The plumed officer talked to the group outside. "My apologies for Lord Silef. She can be. . . prickly. Especially given the gravity of our current situation. I'm afraid we can't let you move about the keep just yet, but we aren't quite as hostile as she may lead you to believe." His expression changed to a quizzical one as he peered over at Gozer and Dackly. "Pardon my rudeness but. . . what are they, and what are they doing?"

Archer & James The mage sighed as he drew his own cards. 3, 9, 6, Q, 9 "Go fish," he said in response to Merlin's question, clearly annoyed. Maybe I should have just let her do it and tried to summon another Servant. . . "Do you have any, I dunno, eights?" Saber & Nadia A shimmering in the air next to Nadia announced her Servant's physical reappearance - in a similar state of dress to her own, and already leaning back in a relaxed position, arms draped across the edges of the floor next to the bath. "I don't think I've ever heard of anyone thinking quite like that about scars. Trophies, sometimes, reminders or warnings, but never someone's life story. It's interesting." He didn't bear that many scars; the ones he did were across the tops of his arms, some of them cleaner slashes and a few in ragged sets, likely from the claws of some beast. A decently sized one showed around one of his legs - or rather, a set that seemed to belong to a set of jaws or some kind of trap. The biggest one, however, was a deep one that ran almost all the way across his belly, and a shorter, thicker one that crossed it. He glanced down at himself, and jumped slightly in his spot, sending up a splash. "That's new," he said, startlement still echoing in his voice. "I don't remember the ones on my stomach."

"Um. It was hard to see because my visor was, um, darkened. But after she went across the ring and I shot my Giga Flare at her, she, um, gave me a thumbs up." Hiroki shifted uncomfortably. "And at the start of the match, she said, um, something about not wanting to fight me. . ." She didn't want to share the full details of the conversation at the moment - especially since she barely knew Blink. Though apparently the woman had been rooting for her the whole time?

Dackly's rather unceremonious capture of one of the enemy officers goes smoothly; the man wasn't entirely sure how to begin to deal with the. . . unique. . . contraption placed atop him, though he'll likely need to be further subdued later. Something Liliya immediately sets about doing, or would, if the man hadn't been completely enclosed by a gigantic dunce cap-like device. The various efforts of the rest of the team result in the outlying group pulling itself back into the main body; the numerous outgoing telepathic tricks and curses seem to be making it difficult for the enemy force to keep the party corralled effectively. Hikari nearly took three different lightning bolts; fortunately, they all arced off into the distance or impacted on an uncaring stone fortification, and no more seemed to be coming for the moment. The formation begins to break from both the front and the back; the gates ahead are fully opened, and the purpose behind their seemingly premature opening is seen - and heard. A mass of cavalry charges out of the gate, surging forward with the thundering of the hooves of great warhorses and the battle cries of those atop them, crashing into the besieging forces with lance, sword, and axe, and blasts of magic shattering the formation further. A verdant green banner bearing the symbol of a bow nocked with a beam of sunlight streamed from near the vanguard, seeming to actually light up the area as the soldiers rushed out toward the party. The return fire from the fort picked up pace as the unit flew out of the gate and into their foes. The momentum of the horses was enough to finish the work the party started, pushing forward until a good portion of them were riding in a loop around the party, pressing their foes backward. "Quickly, get inside the walls!" One of the riders shouted to the group; he was bedecked in a similar manner to the officers in the army they had engaged, but in the colors of the banner. A woman wearing an outfit at some midpoint between armor and formal wear followed up. "You heard the man! Get inside! I need to speak to your commander immediately!" The group, for those not already barreling inside on their own unique contraptions, was quickly hurried inside; those not capable of moving as quickly were swept up onto horseback (whether they wanted to be or not) and ferried in. The gate quickly slammed shut behind the party, and a glance back would reveal why; the gap they'd made in the formation quickly closed behind them, with some of the magical warriors actually pressing inside for brief moments before being blasted apart or hacked to pieces. A few dead or dying horses, some with their riders, were soon pressed out of sight. "Now," the woman said almost imperiously from atop her destrier, "which of you holds the highest rank? We have much to discuss and it must be done as soon as possible. Take three of your officers and follow me; the rest of your men can wait in the courtyard until I've determined that you are allies." Her blonde hair and green eyes, combined with her face, might have made her attractive; they were marred by a prominent scar running just under her right eye. Her silver armor - if the obviously ceremonial pieces were worth the name - covered her chest, wrists, feet, and shins. "Speak quickly. I've little patience for formalities."

Saber & Nadia "Mmm, scars, eh? I've got a couple of my own. I can't say I've ever run my hands over them, though. . ." He momentarily considered his next verbal move. Well, not verbal, they were communicating telepathically. "Why do you ask? You couldn't possibly be interested in doing so, could you?" This War was going to be interesting, indeed. . . He did wonder how much of this was playful and how much was, should he say, goal-oriented.

Saber & Nadia "More pleasant than yours thus far, I've got to admit. Though hopefully we're going to make it better with this War." He thought for a moment. "I grew up without much of note going on, which was by itself strange. I always wondered what my grandfather's plan was. Dragons don't often sire whelps without some purpose in mind, but I never heard from him or anyone that I knew was an agent. Stayed that way until my death. Suppose it's possible that he got offed by some other adventurer, but I digress. My life was pretty carefree for the most part. I went where I pleased, ate and slept whenever I wanted for the most part, fought as much as I cared to. Made some good friends along the way - even if that paladin was a worse lech than I am." Nadia got the impression that her Servant was smiling at that. "Lasted that way pretty much until the last bounty I took with my group. Then it ended." His story ended simply, abruptly.

Archer & James I will never understand this woman. She'd been ready to kill herself, and now she was excited at the prospect of a card game? He reached for the cards, stopping for a brief moment when he felt that tingling. "You know, doesn't cheating at the game kind of defeat the point?" He wasn't sure if that's what Merlin was doing, but generally playing cards weren't supposed to tingle. Regardless, he sighed and started to shuffle the cards, trying to remember what the rules to the game were - the last time he'd played it had been elementary school. Saber & Nadia "Dragon blood, huh. . .?" He supposed it made sense. Dragons were incredibly powerful, as were any beings that came from their stock. He was only quarter dragon, and was still stronger in life than any mortal human could have ever hoped to be, as well as being magically powerful without much effort at all. But forcing that on someone? And your own daughter, no less? "The mages of this era are. . . something else. For his sake, I hope I never meet your father." He stopped sending over the link momentarily, but Nadia still received an impression of activity; Masaru was scouring his mind for something. An old memory, of his father and a certain exercise he'd done. "Mine was a half dragon. He had some sort of ritual he used, to keep both sides of himself in harmony. I'll try to remember it; he taught it to me, once, but I never needed it."

Saber & Nadia "Hopefully not, though I gotta say it's a little distracting." The response came before she actually started to undress. It was teasing, playful in tone, as much as a telepathic message could have a tone. His tone faded, however, as she undressed. Of course, he took his peek; it's not as if she could actually know whether he was, and she hadn't exactly been repulsed by his advances thus far. He sobered slightly, however, as he took in what he saw. She wasn't an ugly woman, to say the least, but the amount of scars was far more concerning to him than the simple ogling he had planned on doing. It didn't make the woman less attractive, but one didn't take this many scars without suffering some hardships in their life. "What do I think? You're a beautiful woman, of course. . . but I have to wonder how you acquired so many wounds. I've seen retired soldiers with fewer scars." He sounded almost angry for a moment, though his tone faded back to quiet for his next statement. "Of course, if you don't want to speak of it, I won't press the issue."

I10

Ayaka looked about the practice room, obviously pleased with the facility. "Yuki, do you want to pick the music? I need to set up the projector and stretch some." She headed over to the VFX machine, fiddling with it a bit and familiarizing herself with the settings. The stuff behind her first appeal wasn't particularly complex, but it could be hard to get it to positioned just right to frame the ending pose perfectly. Once she finished with that, she headed over to the balance beams, and started her stretches, legs first.

The various defenses of the book-helicopter seem to be succeeding; it hasn't fallen completely apart yet, and Laver's application of the Dead Man's Volley seems to have made an impact amongst the enemy spellcasters, knocking several of them back or sending them calling for healing. However, a couple, whether by careful observation, lucky guesses, or sheer luck, seem to have caught onto the game, and begin bouncing their attacks back toward Laver. The amount of focus on defending the vehicles, however, does come at a cost; the foes attempting to engage the party in melee press inwards, obstructing the path forward and starting to make more precise and less easily-deflected strikes at close range. Morgan's warp at one of the officers sends the man to the ground bleeding; however, he launches a counterattack. A quickly shouted spell in some ancient language causes a mass of brambles to sprout from below, yanking the void walker backwards and entangling him as his soldiers divert their attention toward the one who'd attempted to strike down their superior. The risk they posed was somewhat blunted, however, as a crimson blade crashed down on them, scattering, slicing, and crushing. Navin's assault on the engine was spectacularly successful, blowing it apart in a single blow much as the defenders of the fort had done previously. However, he, along with the group that had assisted him, was now split off from the main body of the group; the officers not currently occupied with Laver's volleys or fending off absurd bibliographic assaults were starting to take advantage of this, circling about him and starting some longer incantations. Mitsurugi continued what she'd been doing previously, focusing on interrupting the officers even if she couldn't land a decisive blow. Likewise, Hiroki continued to pummel and blast her way on a straight path toward the gate; her armor was beginning to take some dents and scratches, but it didn't seem to be slowing the wannabe god down. Speaking of the gates, some sort of horn call echoed from the keep ahead, and the stern portcullis closing the fortification off from the field shuddered and began to rise. . .

Hiroki almost chuckled at Blink's phrasing. The mention of her shoes did kind of pinch a bit, though; it seemed that her disguise was even more transparent than she'd thought. "I, um, was thinking about, um, Kagari. HUNTER. We had a conversation, um, during the trip to Lust. She was actually really nice to me and I thought she was my friend." She looked down again. "When we had to fight, we had another conversation. . . All she was doing was getting close to me so she could, um, hit me with a surprise attack. . . I think. I don't know, though, I thought I saw something at the end. . ."

Hiroki decided that now was a good moment to visually examine her shoes. "I, um, yes." She wasn't sure why it mattered. Unless the god was just going to pick at it or something, because of course the weak little girl had something to cry about. . . She looked back up toward Blink slightly after a moment or two, watching the god's expression.

Saber & Nadia If Saber had a physical body at the moment, he would have frowned. Wouldn't it have made more sense to stay and repair the wound where they were? "I see. I'll stay nearby then. Wouldn't want to split up if either of us wasn't at peak condition." His Master was. . . interesting, to say the least. He'd taken her for the femme fatale type, but this sort of worry and lack of foresight wasn't something you associated with that. "None of the other servants pose an immediate and pressing threat, and they have just as much idea of where we are as we do of them, so we can take our time here." Archer & Merlin "Wh- I panicked, okay? I expected you to try and kill me, not a suicide attempt. . ." What the hell kind of Servant had he summoned? Less than five minutes into the War and it was already taking a disastrous turn. And now she wanted to play a card game? He considered trying to figure out the purpose behind the card game and why it was relevant to whether she killed herself to apparently just screw him over for. . . reminding her of someone she knew in life? Instead, however, he just sighed. "Fine. We'll play Go Fish."

Hiroki blinked a few times at the god's request. She hadn't really processed what the woman had said on arrival. Nil was involved in the tournament somehow, and was helping Supernova? A part of her started to get angry. She'd worked this hard to get here on her own merits, and then he shows up with Nil of all people cheating for him? But. . . "Kill him? But I don't want to, I mean, what if, um, Nil doesn't help?" And wouldn't that end the tournament whether it works according to plan or not? If the tournament never finishes, I'll never prove that I can beat anyone that challenges me. And if it doesn't work, what if Supernova dies? They won't let me keep fighting, will they? And I don't want to kill anyone. . .

Archer & James James's first reaction was stunned shock. I knew Servants threatening to kill their masters was a risk, but this. . .? It only took the impact of the first fireball to shake him out of his stupor. He held his left hand out toward Merlin. "By the authority of my Command Seal, I order you to stop right now!" The red tattoos flashed, sending a pulse of crimson light outward. A burning sensation on his hand announced the disappearance of one of the Seals; the right portion of the stylized lunar design had faded away, leaving a crescent moon in place of the full one. Saber & Nadia "Sounds good to me. Just be careful. You know as well as I do that good mages can cover their tracks if they want to." Masaru's response was almost immediate. "If you wanted to cover more ground, I could explore the rest of the city independently. I'm a mage too, you know, if a rather unconventional one by this era's standards. It wouldn't be too hard for me to search out other Servants with the way I am now."

Archer & Merlin "What do I want from the Grail? I want those stuffed shirts at the Clock Tower to admit that you don't need to have a ten-generation pedigree in order to be a good mage." He crossed his arms. "They wouldn't know good magecraft if it set them on fire. Besides, I might not even need a wish; if I can win this war, it'll prove that a mage with no pedigree at all can compete on a higher level than the bluebloods if he uses his head." Something about the way Merlin had asked the question clicked in his head. His irritated expression turned to a concerned frown. "Why do you ask?" Saber & Nadia "Very well then." The man started to fade into a glowing blue dust, starting at his toes and slowly moving upward. He reached out to caress Nadia's cheek gently, with the side of his finger. "Just let me know if you. . . need me." And with that, he was completely gone, his last words echoing slightly as he entered spirit form. This Grail War was going to be. . . interesting, to say the least.

Hiroki nearly jumped out of her own skin at the goddess's appearance. "Blink!?" Her eyes were reddened and her cheeks were moist; she'd been thinking about what had happened in the previous match. There was that one moment, right before the blast hit; it was hard to see through the haze of plasma, but. . . She hurriedly got down off of the bed she'd been sitting on, her knees folded up to her chest. "Um, what did you um, want to talk about?"

Saber & Nadia "Let's head out then. You know the area better than I do, so you'd have a better idea of where the other Masters are summoning at." He offered Nadia another smile. "I have to say, I like the direct approach." Whether he meant the method of going for the other Servants or something else was left up to one's imagination. "I should ask; do you want me to stay in spirit form unless needed? Because I, for one, like to keep things a bit more. . . physical." Archer & James The mage's mouth just sort of hung open for a moment before he sputtered. "W-what? Of course I'm not a girl, what the hell does that mean?" His consternation and confusion were not helped when his Servant began to do all of the wrong things. "Where are you going? We're supposed to be preparing to fight the other Servants. Even if you're not good at surprise attacks, I can just set traps for them and. . ." He noticed her direction of travel, and more specifically where it would not take her. "That's not even how you get to the cultural district. . ."

The party's various attacks slowly clear a path through the army; the sudden strike by vehicle-mounted heroes caught them off guard, and they were able to make headway for those taking the slower route. Statues, some upright where they were petrified and some toppled in the midst of the fighting, dotted the area behind them, as well as slowly-thawing skeletons. The fliers would soon learn why simply flying over the army wouldn't work; the dragon tooth archers have unnervingly good aim and range, and a few of the officers started to conjure lightning bolts and spikes of ice to toss in their direction. The fireballs were directed instead at the book helicopter, slamming into it repeatedly and threatening to set the whole thing ablaze. Navin's detour toward the siege engine didn't meet as much resistance; while the enemy forces were beginning to rally, they were mostly focused on preventing any sort of relief force from reaching the keep ahead. Magic and arrows started to fly out toward the party with increasing frequency, and the skeletons' seemingly mindless attacks grew more coordinated and better focused; someone (or several people) in the opposing army was directing them now, instead of the things just running on autopilot. Additionally, the human soldiers were proving to be a bit more competent and dangerous than their construct fellows; their armor was better at fending blows, and while they weren't quite as physically strong, their weapons were higher quality and they were harder to predict.

Saber & Nadia The man's eyebrow lifted at the comment on who would be staring at who. So that's how she wants to play this game, eh? This'll make for an interesting outing. "Of course, Nadia. The Grail is yours. . . as am I." Masaru wondered at the back of his mind what the woman's motivations were. A mage that wasn't stuffy tended to be of the tricky sort instead. . . was she simply enjoying the view he offered as much as he was the one she put on, or was it some sort of way to ensure his loyalty? He let the thought slide to the back of his mind, for the moment. Regardless, she was his Master and he was his Servant; mutual trust was something you needed with any partner with this many dangerous opponents around. "So where do we begin?"

Archer & James "Wait, what?" She wanted to go to the cultural district because it was. . . fun? "I mean, uh, shouldn't we try to take out our most powerful opponent first, before they have a chance to set up their defenses? You're an Archer, you should be able to just blow them up from a distance no problem, right?" It occurred to him that he'd never stopped to really consider what her Noble Phantasm actually did. An Anti-Fortress attack . . . "I mean, your Noble Phantasm is strong enough, right? All we have to do is take our strongest opponent by surprise and we win." Saber & Nadia Masaru nodded. "Fight off the other Servants, grab the Grail. Just another day's work. Now, though, what's the name of the lovely woman calling on Yamaguchi Masaru?" He flashed his best roguish grin at the mage. He wondered whether the woman would be receptive or not. . . Likely not, mages tended to be stuffy types, but hey, it couldn't hurt to try, could it?

Saber & Nadia A blinding flash of light burst in the center of the circle, making the candles seem as if they weren't even there in the first place. When it faded, in its place was a tall, young-looking man, dressed in black clothing with blonde hair and violet eyes. He leaned back on his weapon slightly, one arm resting atop it; a gigantic "sword" that, if it weren't for the fact that it seemed to have been carefully shaped, one would have assumed was just a giant slab of some metal of a dusty silver color. The man appraised the woman before him silently for a moment, before smiling. "Well then, are you my Master?" Archer & James "It worked. . . ? I mean, yes, of course it worked. And, yes, we should." Was she playing Go Fish? . . . Did his servant's first real sentence to him really involve a pun based on a children's card game? Somewhat hurriedly, he pulled a map from his back pocket; it was annotated in red marker with leylines and other notable locations for the numerous mages in the city. He turned so that he could fold it open for viewing by both him and Merlin. "Um, as far as I can tell, our best bet for encountering another master is heading west and going towards the shrine; there's probably someone who summoned there to try and get a more powerful Servant. . ." Not that it worked. I summoned one of the Three Knights in a backyard in the suburbs. Though she doesn't really match what I had pictured for an Archer. . .