Fate/infinity compendium [IC / / Accepting ]

Maeriberii Haan · September 27, 2015

"Pft, children."

Snickering at the trash-talking festivities happening before her, Tianzi prefers to sit down and smile as she watched each masters revealing themselves as a chain reaction from the bluehead's action earlier. Well...except one. One last person, sitting at one side of the table, still shrouded in complete darkness. That person, whoever it was, seemingly bode his time for now, waiting the ruckus to die down a bit before doing anything else.

And then, he suddenly rose up and spoke.

“You know, I preferred the shadows, but what with the circumstances…

I’m sure many of you would know me by name, or perhaps recognize my face, which is why I wanted to slink around for a while and come in later. It seems my little ruse has been, for lack of a better term, compromised.

For the sake of introductions, my name is Thomas Garnier. Some of you may know me as the Blind Alchemist of Hampton; I wouldn’t want my reputation to deter you from participating in this war, but as the Master of Rider I ensure you that this Holy Grail that you are all so fond of is as good as mine.”

"Ooh, interesting." Half-boredly, Tianzi replied to his grand reveal. She of course was aware of that name. A failure of an alchemist that couldn't even do one thing properly. A man who's as blinded mentally as he was physically - a man hiding behind his reputation and infamy. Doing fruitless and meaningless atrocities as desperate attempts to heal his eyesight, someone like him was pitiable. And irritating.

Clearly so.

Although, Tianzi had to hold herself from laughing out loud when the serial killer said that she's an unimpressive magus. It seemed that her clan line's utter unremarkableness was more infamous than she expected. That, or he's just trying to look impressive by looking down on others.

“Will you funking stop?”

The eastern magus smiled as the bluehead rose up and seemingly finding something within her to speak up as daringly as she did. Talking down the blind greentexting jerk, Tianzi was pretty amused by her. She might not be the biggest threat around, but for some reasons, getting her back into the game was something that Tianzi liked. Perhaps she's liking the challenge, or maybe she's just impressed by her.

"Archer...archer...that gave a bad ring for me. This really won't be easy, isn't it?" Guan Yu, bless his soul, mentioned that the bluehead's servant had a complication going with it earlier. Perhaps that's something to be aware of. A mess-up in summoning might be a blessing too after all, although for now Tianzi chose to believe Bailey's boast as merely hot air.

And without her being able to comment further on things, Guan Yu ended the meeting, and she abruptly returned to her body. She saw Caster was not too far away from her.

Deciding that she'd tell him a part of her new plan, she went ahead and called him.

"Caster, change of plans. Some unforeseen development had happened."

"Well...this probably would be worse than what I expected at first."

Returning to his body after the meeting, Silvio pondered momentarily regarding what had happened during the meeting. Everyone actually revealing themselves was a boon, and with his having access to the biggest information network possible on-demand, that's a card that he could play. However...the identities of the participating master bugs him. Well, specifically Garnier. As an infamously dangerous magus, he was definitely one of the most troublesome individual of the war.

"Ugh..."

Silvio still tried to figure out a strategy of his own, but he's a bit too mentally tired still. Seeing no other options for now, he decided that preparing his own workshop as starters would be the best course of action to do. Although, before that...

"Berserker, I know you don't really appreciate me calling out on you like this, but we should talk again.

After this I guess it'll be up to you how you wished to play out this war."

"D-did you get all of that?"

"You looked like a mess. But enough about that for now.

After thinking about this carefully last night, perhaps I should start properly mentoring you regarding being a fit and proper magus for this conflict.

Like it or not, you're far from ready. Even if I am not summoned as a Caster...ugh...there's that, yeah. If you have any objections or any other plans for now, better inform me firsthand."

Love of Ghibli · September 28, 2015

The man who invented the instant noodles should be referred to as a God. The fact that there are not countless holidays and parades in honor of this man's service is proof that civilization has truly gone to the wolves. Needless to say there were not any late not restaurants open. So they went to some kind of convenience store and bought a litany of microwaveable dishes and foods. To think that rations would come together and be packaged so conveniently was amazing. After eating his weight in instant noodles Berserker was actually satiated for the night.

The next day he awoken to find himself hearing voices inside his head. It didn't take him long to realize that this had something to do with this Holy Grail War. While the information was coming in an out Berserker could tell that these Master's were actually quiet young. One of them even sounded like they were a child. At the time he was lost in concentration the outward expression on his face became more and more sullen. This was simply distasteful and it insulted the art of war.

When it was finished Berserker awaited his master's call and went to his master's side.

"Berserker, I know you don't really appreciate me calling out on you like this, but we should talk again.

After this I guess it'll be up to you how you wished to play out this war."

What an interesting choice of words that this man used. To allow Berserker a chance to handle operations was definitely the wisest move, but with all of these new rules and whatnot he would have to explain some things. First thing, let us not call this a war. War is a clash of ideals, nations, men and purpose. Not a collection of children who are using others as their toys. This is not war this is some form of tournament play with children. Berserker's tone was unnaturally stern and the red lightning crackled in his eyes. After two seconds of thought though he looked up to the air. Though, I find it very perplexing. It seems that I have the most rational Master and you've ended up with Berserker as your servant. I can see why you may have been annoyed with having to summon me. Since I cannot have an army and you seem to be out resourced by royal families what we need to have a base of operations. Berserker stroked his chin and proceeded to let out a cheap chuckle. We need a map of this town/battleground. Right now since you are somewhat of a nobody we do have a slight advantage.

Asriel Dreemurr · September 28, 2015

As anticipated, the representatives of the other great families taunted her in kind. This was nothing new; the Blackmoores Hultgrens, and Arguses had met before. There was always a certain amount of time set aside for taunting each other before the purpose of a meeting was proposed. Her parents had brought her along to such events before, and it seemed that the scions had all taken after their parents quite nicely. Of course the Argus girl followed quite closely after her father, insinuating that something about her line was lowborn. Really, it was quite amusing to be on the receiving end of as many taunts as the others seemed intent on breaking out. She ignored Morgan's question, as Guan Yu stated that the meeting was nearing its end. Indeed her gambit proved fruitful, as the last master revealed himself and she was spared having to do so.

Thomas Garnier. He was the epitome of the reasons the Blackmoores were so strict in policing their own. His experiments were barbaric in the ultimate meaning of the word, and worst of all he was far from subtle. Leaving bodies laying around Edinburgh, performing his research in locations where the public could easily catch wind of it, and most damning of all even targeting members of the church. Her family did not have the best of relations with them it was true, but they maintained at the very least a form of nonaggression pact with them and their mage-hunters. Garnier though, he was a disgrace to the very association he had been thrown out of. He was hardly deserving of the magic circuits that ran through his body.

All the same, Alexandra managed to avoid speaking out again. She had done and said enough at this meeting so far, and there was little point in doing or saying more. However, a plan was already forming in her head. Without a doubt, Garnier was the biggest threat to her at the table. He would have to be eliminated, and quickly at that. Though she was confident in her own abilities, as well as Assassin's, she only calculated a 62% chance of victory over Garnier. That was not high enough, and the best way to assure victory was to form an alliance of sorts.

The meeting concluded while she was lost in thought, returning to the head of the table at which she sat. Immediately she set to work, carving a summoning sigil on the table with one hand while she flipped to the appropriate page in one of her Grimoires. She smiled as she found it, and nodded her head as she incanted.

"Let the vessels be emptied

may their contents pool in my hand.

Let the contents be bound to me

and subjected to my will.

Come forth, forgotten ones,

I have need of you."

The sigil came alight almost instantly, and before her a pair of ghostly figures formed above the table. Their bodies were wrapped in robes seemingly of darkness, and each carried a scroll in its skeletal left hand. The scrolls were presented to her, and she raised a hand to them. Her palm glowed, and as she spoke the words appeared on the paper.

"To the representatives of Argus and Hultgren,

In light of today's events, and the revelation of the master of Rider, I have decided that it would be beneficial for the lot of us to form a temporary truce. The terms of the truce are:

1) So long as the ex-magus Thomas Garnier lives, those bound by this contract shall not act against one another.

2) Those bound by this contract shall engage in the sharing of information with each other, relating to his activities.

3) Those bound by this contract shall prioritize Thomas Garnier and his servant above all other targets.

4) Those bound by this contract shall not engage Thomas Garnier in combat individually.

5) Those bound by this contract shall respond with aid to one another if they should come under attack, until the terms of this contract are fulfilled.

6) Those bound by this contract shall engage in bi-weekly meetings, either in person or by way of scrying, until the terms of this contract are fulfilled.

7) Those bound by this contract shall meet, in person, before 24 hours have passed since the time of the contract's signing to discuss additional terms to be added.

8) Those found to be in violation of the terms of this contract shall be pursued until their death by the wraiths who have delivered it.

If these terms are agreeable to you, there is a place below where you may make your signature. The location of the meeting to discuss the terms shall be the Little Italy Restaurant at 311 West 6th Avenue, Crystalwater City, CA. Whether the meeting is to be at Lunch or Dinner is subject to the preference of the Argus and Hultgren Masters. Please be prompt in your reply.

Sincerely,

Alexandra Elizabeth Blackmoore."

As she finished speaking, each scroll produced a single long line near the base of the page where the recipients could place their signature if they so wished. The wraiths rolled up the scrolls, bowed their heads, and immediately departed from the mansion to find and deliver the item to the masters they had been addressed to. Letting out a sigh, she returned her attention to the grimoires in front of her. There was so much to do, and so very little time to do it. Now she could not even begin planning properly until she knew whether the others would agree to the contract or not. All the same, she returned to looking through her tomes in search of the spells and rituals she had not memorized. Dealing with Garnier would not be easy, but it was certainly doable.

As Tianzi returned and addressed the armored form, the man stood up and turned to her. He quickly bowed his head, and then spoke in a voice that was quite obviously not Caster's.

"My apologies, Mistress, but the Master has left to run some errands in preparation for the coming battles. By his orders, I am to remain close at hand to you and act as your shield and your sword. In the event of a confrontation with another pair of Master and Servant, I am to act in his stead. I do hope you will find my service satisfactory." The man smiled behind his visor, quite impressed by his Master's ability to plan and act ahead of what was expected. He raised his head, and waited for the woman before him to relay the message that she had for Caster.

Caster himself was in a grocery store on the up-scale end of town. The day had already been a busy one for him, and it showed no signs of getting any less so over its course. He had already taken care of the issues of needing his own currency to make purchases which were not traceable to his mistress, and now he was gathering things. Herbs, spices, the offal of various creatures, and of course blood. While he would have preferred to work with human blood, that was not something which he could readily or easily gather. Instead, he purchased several pints of pig's blood. While the items he was gathering may have seemed unusual to the average person, most in this day and age simply assumed he was a man with unique tastes in his food. So very few recognized the magical applications of Nutmeg, the role that Saffron played in certain rituals, or the importance of cloves in potions. It was no small wonder to him that he was able to acquire so many reagents in the same country, let alone the same city and market! They were not even on the coast, and he had nearly every herb and spice from across the world at his disposal!

Of course he had not been so foolish to go in his armor without disguising its appearance. His boots had taken on the appearance of fine leather shoes, his armor that of a dark business suit, and his cloak a tie. His sword and shield had become rings upon his fingers, and his helm had become a hat he found to be popular in the modern era. While this left his face exposed, he was still protected by its enchantments. He certainly had quite the handsome appearance and a wonderful smile, but he was easily forgettable as well. None who looked upon him were able to recall his face.

While his mistress was in her meeting with the masters, he was in a coffee shop drinking a mug of tea and reading through the black leather-bound journal that his grimoire was disguised as. He nodded every so often as he came to the various spells and rituals which required material components, satisfied that he had found most of what he needed to work them. He hardly stood out at all, and now he needed only to wait for his mistress to call him back. In the mean time, he pondered where in the city he could acquire the knuckle bones of a wolf. Even in this day and age, it seemed there were some things that could not be easily acquired.

Lunar Origins · October 1, 2015

The blue-haired magus responded in kind to the wise, short girl. "You're right, Archer. I'm not ready."

Bailey - or, rather, Tabitha - stood there for a moment, contemplating her position. Alexandra was sure to use Tabitha's own bravado to the best of her ability, but the fact of the matter was that Tabitha wasn't fit for this war at all. Even with her newfound pride in her heritage, coming from the illustrious Blackmoore line after all, her magic ability was far under that of a normal magus - let alone comparing her to a servant.

She waved goodbye to her servant, walking off towards the bathroom. She had been sweating in her sleep, and she smelled. No doubt caused by the stress of the situation.

She stripped her clothing, setting them aside on the bathroom counter. Her body was smooth and lithe, and well toned from a good amount of heavy exercise. Beauty seemed to be a standard she held close to her heart - vanity was an actor's best friend, after all. She turned on the bathwater and sat on the side of the tub.

_{"Really shouldn't have gotten into this,"} she lamented under her breath.

With a flick of her wrist near her hair and an incantation that couldn't possibly be conveyed here, her hair changed from a light blue to a dark black. As a Blackmoore, her natural hair color was indeed a midnight black, but she preferred to go out of her way to make her appearance as striking as possible.

No more of that, though. She was a Blackmoore, now. Or, rather, she always was. She was always taught to be ashamed of her magical heritage but that entire world of wonders had always fascinated her. What was magic, she thought? How did it work? How could she, a regular person, perform miracles such as changing her hair color?

She slipped into the warm bath she had made, soaking her hair. She internally shrugged. It's just how the world works, she guessed. There's no sense in explaining things that you can't understand.

She soaked in the bath for a good amount of time before climbing out and drying herself. It took her about an hour to do both her hair and her makeup; it was a meticulous process that she'd neglected to do for the last few weeks, but if she was finally going to be serious about the Holy Grail War, then she had to look the part as well.

The young woman stepped out of her bathroom in a new set of clothing and walked towards Alexandra's room. She was ready to present herself as a new person to her cousin; perhaps the surprise would please her, or perhaps not. All Tabitha wanted to do was be useful in the damn war, and, at the very least, make a name for herself. Perhaps that reason above all.

She poked her head in the room, noticing Alexandra enacting a summoning ritual. She stepped back out for a moment.

A hand was placed on her shoulder. She turned around quickly, wide-eyed and panicked.

Assassin's smile spread across his face like a Cheshire grin. "You're fairly easy to sneak up on," he said in a mocking tone.

Tabitha, still gathering herself in recovery, simply glared at him. Assassin. Alexandra's servant. Of course. "funk you."

Assassin, still rather pleased with himself, shrugged. "Be my guest," he said, before walking off.

Tabitha was fuming. Alexandra's servant was a funking jabroni. He was almost as bad as Alexandra was on her bad days, and, well, that was saying something. Sighing deeply, Tabitha proceeded into Alexandra's room, noting that she was searching amongst her belongings.

"Hey, um..." Tabitha stammered a little bit. She still wasn't used to interacting with Alexandra on terms that were, suffice to say, pleasant. She was hoping that her appearance would help things out and help Alexandra take her a little bit more seriously, but...

"Do you need any help? It seems like we've got a lot to do."

"...Oh. And your servant? He's an jabroni."

Maeriberii Haan · October 1, 2015

Not a war, he said? Not a clash of ideals? That’s laughable.

When his servant started to talk, the former Association teacher started to frown in displeasure. As much as Silvio was deeply annoyed by what Berserker just said however, he had to admit that Berserker’s view on the nature of war itself intrigued him. No…it was more like…his words were actually something that he’d agree on. As disconnected as he was with his Servant, for once Silvio could feel that there might be some link between the two of them, something that could actually have two men with opposing approach into working together.

“Snrk, perhaps.

I’ll go get you a map. Just wait for a bit while I get it.” It seemed that he had done his own research without Silvio’s knowledge. To know about the presence of the three big families already was quite impressive. Silvio already knew that his resources are minimal to none compared to the other families, though that’s really not a reason to fret about things. His general unremarkableness was his strongest asset aside from his vast information network, and with him not being likely to be targeted to be taken out firsthand, he’d have time to plan about things.

Though…that also reminds him of something.

“Before I get you a map, I think there’s something I need to address first. You’re right that I’m not really keen on working with you, and I believe you share that sentiment with me, but we still need to maintain communication properly.

So I figure out that I’ll teach you some things regarding the modern era technology a bit. It’s a way of communication that magi rarely used due to their nature, and they’re safer than familiars due to this.”

Great, now I really am going to teach a feudal warlord on how to use a smartphone. This is ridiculous.

At the sight of the man before her, Tianzi instinctively extended her right hand towards him, and started chanting as a magic circle formed on her palm. Yet once more, nothing really happened. That irked her somewhat, but that’s something that she should soon figure out anyway. Caster seemingly was able to summon lesser heroic spirits to be his follower, if what she could assume from the magical signature of the man before her was correct. That was definitely something interesting, and will definitely be useful in the future, perhaps even allowing her plan to go smoother than her own original draft of it. He even shared the armor with Caster too, something that would definitely be vital.

“Very well. First of all, please remind Caster that the enemy had placed their familiars all over the city. He might already be aware of it, but I am not going to take any risk here.

Secondly…is it possible for you to change your outfit? The hunting game is about to start, and it’s time for us to pinpoint the position of the ones being hunted. The best protection possible is not being notable, after all.”

She decided at the last second not to tell him about her plan. It’s something that she’d rather tell her Servant directly, and even then she’s still not in the position to trust her servant just yet. Granted, the plan still needed some preparation, but in two days, she’s confident that she’d be able to finish the preparation necessary.

She then smiled at the substitute before her.

“Now, if you agreed to go with me, then I’ll show you where these doors lead to.”

Love of Ghibli · October 4, 2015

So I figure out that I’ll teach you some things regarding the modern era technology a bit. It’s a way of communication that magi rarely used due to their nature, and they’re safer than familiars due to this.”

Half an hour later

So after about 10 minutes of the basics Berserker was thrown into the infinite space of despair known as the internet. What savage creature invented...this? He was lost in the infinite world of funny cat pictures, card games and "social media." Why is this woman being violated by an octopus? He mumbled out loud. The world needed to be set right again. However once he got past the low points of cyber space he realized that this was an excellent communication tool. Hmmm a vast assortment of knowledge, theory and wisdom at your finger tips and you all want to use magic? He asked his master. What's the point of wasting mana on "familiars" when you can simply use this thing for free? It was simple for Berserker to simply use the country's census page to actually find out a little bit of the opposing masters. That is if they were counted in the census anyway. Berserker found himself quite liking this "smart phone" technology.

This is quite amusing, curious have weapons gotten this advanced as well? He waited for a second for the answer was not of the greatest import. Seeing as he was not allowed to amass an army to make use of them anyway. When he just thought about how undermanned he was in this "war" he realized that he needed to put into motion immediately. He started to poke the smart phone feverishly (he did not pick up to typing with his thumbs). He eventually saw the map of the neighborhood that he was currently in and smirked. He looked at his master with a devilish grin. How close are you with your neighbors? Would we be able to go and visit their houses?

a bad post · October 7, 2015