Kost Alter

Fate/Empty Providence

Xavier Arkwright,
Moses

(temporarily modded with @ConstantlyComic's permission)

Battle Against Castlethulhu, Eastern Field, Fuyuki City

The brief cooldown period that followed after the gargantuan golem's mighty 'punch' was a timeframe probably too brief for any regular human to act in a meaningful or helpful way, yet was enough for several Servants to capitalize on; First, the boisterous Goliath of a man, the one that sported a tiger skin and a musky beard, called forth what was (presumably) his Noble Phantasm - a formidable steed that was almost the size of an elephant! The bearded giant had referred to said equally giant horse as 'Rakhsh', a name that one Xavier Arkwright made a mental note to research sometime later, when his life would be less in peril.

"Caster, what is your current status...? Do you have a way of fighting this thing?" Xavier attempted to telepathically communicate with his own Servant through their familiar link - the currently idle state of the golem allowing him but a very brief moment of tranquility to even try to do so.

"Worry not, Master, I am alive and well..." Caster responded, also telepathically. "However, I'm afraid I do not possess the means to fight this monstrosity." It was regrettable, but true; Even if Caster was willing to use his Noble Phantasm for this fight - something he was extremely reluctant to do when it had the risk of harming the other people in the area as well - it would take too long to take full effect, while the golem was capable of moving much faster. Not to mention, even at full power it was doubtful that Caster's Noble Phantasm would be able to hurt the golem too much. After all, it was designed to harm humans and other living beings, not some larger-than-life stone construct that might not even be 'alive' in the traditional sense. As for Caster's other methods of attacking, it was highly unlikely that they'd be any more effective against the golem either.

It was at that point that a Servant fired a bow at the castle-like monstrosity... an Archer? Miraculously - or perhaps by invoking some kind of power unheard of from conventional weaponry - the arrow managed to actually dent one of the golem's supposedly impregnable shields, yet it did not manage to shatter it... No, that particular feat was accomplished by another Servant - the very same one that had saved Xavier's life mere moments ago - who seized the opportunity and fired an arrow of his own at the golem's already cracked shield, finally breaking it. Was he an Archer too then? Were there not one, but two Archers in this Holy Grail War? How peculiar... From what research Xavier had conducted on the mechanics of the Holy grail War, it should've been impossible for two Servants of the same Knight Class to be summoned at any standard iteration of the time-old ritual.

In any case, the combined assault of the two (possibly) Archers had clearly caused some damage to the Titan-sized golem, as its stone foundations rumbled, as if the monster was crying in pain from the attack. And then something very weird happened... The monster began to twist and malform in itself; It started to shrink from its previously massive size, shields seemingly melting into its body, castle spires morphing into tentacle-like appendages. "It's... transforming..." Xavier couldn't help but stare in mouth-gaping awe at the grotesque spectacle, while the castle-like golem's very form was shifting before his eyes into something completely different...

And then, another Servant, this one a woman of impressive height and stature, also fired an arrow of her own at the monstrosity - trying to hit it mid-transformation, while it was most vulnerable. A third Archer?! What was up with this Holy Grail War...?

Fate/Empty Providence

Alright, so given that he didn't get a chance to post, @Kost Alter and @Breo now have control over ConstantlyComic's characters for the time being.

We'll be moving forward in the fight either when @Breo and @Kost Alter have posted accordingly (Breo needs to post with Siegfried as well), or when 24 hours have passed from now.

@Moonlit Sonata

I'll be busy this weekend, plus my role in this fight (at least for now) is limited to fluff posting. Feel free to progress things if I haven't posted by that time.

Fate/Empty Providence

A way to communicate between each other that isn't shouting is something I'd recommend, since any Servant of decent mobility (and the castle) will be breaking the sound barrier frequently. If anyone has magecraft or abilities suited to that, it'd be of great help.

@Berserk Gene

The easy way that most mages there could pull off would be using Reinforcement on their vocal cords, but that still counts a shouting, so yeah, not very efficient.

tfw Airi feels useless but she's actually the only one there who has a decent way of communicating with their Servant, lol.

Whether or not Masters and Servants can inherently communicate telepathically tends to be inconsistent between various Fate works. In Fate RP's, I usually assume they cannot, unless it's specifically stated that they can.

As for magics possessed by OC's that could specifically help in this situation, would Xavier's displacement magecraft be able to work on sound waves? That way Masters could talk to their Servants without shouting and without wasting Command Spells. It sounds kind of iffy though, so what do you think @Moonlit Sonata?

I have no objection to letting my partners control my characters. Moses won't be very useful in this fight (unless you want him to punch the thing) and Marguerite will stand off to the side and let Sumanai do his thing. Which is hitting things.

@ConstantlyComic

I could handle Moses during your absence. I don't know anything about his abilities other than what's written on his character sheet though. From what I see, both his NP and his wrestling moves would be all but useless against the golem. Does he have any support magics? What about his Charisma? Would it boost the party or nah?

Fate/Empty Providence

<Snipped quote>

We don't have time for puns damnit! We have to strategize. This thing has effectively ambushed us. The only way we are going to win is if we reverse its advantage of surprise and counter with a hambush of our own.

Norton in the meantime is free to contribute so long as he remains stylish.

@Beloss

A hambush. I see what you did there

The general consensus seems to be that we'll need to get to its core somehow, but I'm not sure. An Anti-Fortress NP would be really useful just about now.

Fate/Empty Providence

And I have posted. We really should wait for @ConstantlyComic though since he hasn't posted at all since the golem boss appeared.

Fate/Empty Providence

Xavier Arkwright

Castle Battle - Group A, Saved by a Handsome Archer, Eastern Field, Fuyuki City

"W-wha..." Xavier flinched as something, or someone that appeared as nothing but a blur even in his Reinforced eyes sped at him and got hold of him.

Regretfully canceling his plan of attack, Archer clicked his tongue and moved to the Master, grabbing him and pulling him out of harm's way at the last second.

After getting a few seconds to register what exactly had happened, Xavier realized that it was not an enemy that had grabbed him, but an ally... well... at least as much as a potentially rival Servant could be considered an 'ally' in the context of this circumstantial battle. "I, well... I was merely taking the essential evasive maneuvers to avoid certain death from that thing." Xavier tried to explain his actions to the silver-haired Servant, while dusting off his own suit.

However, now that the Arkwright Master was a safer distance away from the castle-sized golem's walloping wrath, he was able to get a better, more thorough look on how fast that thing actually moved. Suffice to say... it had moved faster than even he had anticipated. The other Servants were scattered all over the battlefield - most of them trying to protect their Masters, while a few others were confronting the monstrosity directly. But, all of them were moving in their own ways in speeds that Xavier's eyes could hardly keep up with, let alone fully process in time. "Oh... I think I see your point now..." Had he really made such a massive error in his judgement? It seemed to be the case. It seemed he had egregiously underestimated the enemy golem's speed. In fact, it was possible that him dodging even its first, weaker attack was less a result of his skill and more dumb luck! As for the golem's second attack - that surprisingly refined 'punch' - though Xavier had tried his best to dodge it, if that other Servant hadn't swooped in when he did, then... who knows what would've happened...

Nearby, another Master appeared to have tried to use a similar technique as Xavier to avoid the golem's attack, only to be pushed away by his own Servant at the last second - saving his life. It did lessen the impact on the Arkwright magus' pride to see that he wasn't the only one who had made such an error. Quickly brushing aside any petty feelings that might've surfaced from such folly on his part, Xavier freely admitted his mistake and expressed his gratitude. "In any case, thank you. I'll keep my distance, you go back to protecting your own Master." He told the silver-haired Servant.

@Moonlit Sonata

Fate/Empty Providence

Oh wow, Matou Archer to the save, lol.

Well, in my defense @Moonlit Sonata It was never stated that the golem's attack was not supposed to be dodged, and not dodging would've result in... well... dying.

Anyway. I'll reply tomorrow probably, or after more people have posted reactions to the golem's first 2 attacks.

Fate/Empty Providence

Xavier Arkwright

Castle Battle - Group A, Eastern Field, Fuyuki City

The air shattered under the wake of the strike. The tower darted out, mocking the sound barrier as it flew forwards towards those who had been nearest Ruler. The sheer force of the wind in front of the tower was enough to cause damage as it approached, let alone what would happen were it permitted to make contact. And yet...something was wrong, something about that "punch" was impossible. There was a sort of refinement behind the hasty blow made with a castle tower.

Technique. This thing had technique.

"Oh dear..." Xavier muttered as he noticed that the gigantic golem was starting to level down its makeshift 'fist' at their direction once again. Truth be told, the young Arkwright magus hadn't seen that many boxing matches in his life, but he could still tell the difference between a well-executed punch and a sloppy one, and this was certainly the former. To think that a creature of this size was capable of educated combat maneuvers like that, instead of just blindly rampaging about like a Berserker... It was quite fascinating... Scary too, because it was trying to kill them all, but also fascinating. However, even with its ungodly strength, its formidable defense granted by its myriad of shields, and its apparent experience in hand-to-hand combat, there was still one thing monsters of such colossal stature inherently lacked...

Speed.

Not to say that it was slow by any means. In fact, for such a large golem it moved a lot quicker than one would expect it to. But, it wasn't quick enough, not when dealing with a group of such extraordinary individuals. While magi were nowhere near the level of a Servant when it came to speed and nimbleness, they could still have a few tricks of their own up their sleeve; In Xavier's case, during the time it had taken for the gigantic structure of stone and pummeling death to lunge its second attack at them, he had finished applying Reinforcement to his own eyes. The blue-haired magus' irises briefly glowed an azure color, as his eyesight was greatly heightened. Now able to much better observe and predict harmful attacks directed at him, his level of optical perception had advanced almost to the level of a pseudo-Clairvoyance. Though it was still nowhere near the level of the true Clairvoyance that certain Archer-Class Servants were known to possess, it still allowed Xavier to read through the golem's easily traceable attack. By hastily creating yet another wind current of his own, Xavier pushed his relatively light body out of harm's way.

Though he had escaped death once again, it was only barely so. "This thing knows how to move. I believe it is a lot smarter than we give it credit for." The young magus shouted at the others. The situation did indeed look grim... At this rate, how much longer would he be able to keep dodging the golem's powerful attacks? Sooner or later, either his body would give up to fatigue, or his Reinforcement on his eyes would wear off. And that was not accounting the possibility of this giant golem secretly knowing a stupidly powerful, unblockable attack that it had yet to use...

Fate/Empty Providence

I will try to respond to Mike Castle Tyson sometime today if I can.

Fate/Empty Providence

The question is can someone say Cao Cao's name near the golem and allow him to appear within the golem, behind the anti-spirit shields and defenses?

@Yukitamas

It's clear that one of us will have to get eaten by the golem to get inside its belly