Moonlit Sonata

Fate/Empty Providence

Gen Strat Q: Assuming Airi actually does pinpoint some kind of weak spot(s) with her eyes, how can she get that info around to the people who can actually use it? I feel like yelling really loudly may or may not work.

@SIGINT

Yelling loudly is fine. It's also good to keep in mind that, unless you're doing it to cast a spell/deploy an NP/activate a CS/something similar, talking is a free action.

Fate/Empty Providence

@MeteorD
Good to go.

Fate/Empty Providence

Making it scent-based is fine, sure. Keep in mind that magical protections will be enough to muck with it.

So long as you can think of a way to properly codify it without it being outright absurd, it ought to be fine.

Fate/Empty Providence

@MeteorD
Yeah, that's my bad on the Skills number. Function's analogous, and I allowed the same with Nessus, so I see no reason to say no.

Sisterly Bond as a concept is fine, I just don't think there's enough grounding in the legend to warrant making it an A-ranked skill, hence B.

So you're saying if she uses it on her own it won't work, if she uses it with someone's help it will work, and if she uses it with a Sister then it works with the modifier active? That's fine then, though clarify the medium through which it works like what we have with Shuten.

You could always do it like antagonistic interference made with killing intent is nullified or something.

Fate/Empty Providence

@MeteorD
CON to E unless you've got a justification.
Sisterly Bond to B.
Aspects like indictment from the allies will also negate Espionage.
Charisma to C.
Clarify the effect Sisterly Bonds has on Alcoholic Fruit.
Three Personal Skills max.
Define "extreme harm" on the NP.
Sun shenanigans like Touko's Mahoyo bullshit will be sufficient to muck with the NP.

Fate/Empty Providence

alliance of the illusionary eyes

@SIGINT

+1 for saying that but -1 because we haven't gotten to phase two of the fight where the castle releases a bunch of medusa head golems with artificial cybele

Fate/Empty Providence

As an aside, OOC discussions in order to work out plans for dealing with boss encounters are both allowed and encouraged. Usual ruling against metagaming is largely mitigated in these circumstances for that reason, but exercise good judgment. For instance, despite it being in the matrix, no character should know that this Demon Castle was a "rush job".

Fate/Empty Providence

@Breo @ConstantlyComic @Holy Grail @DrowsyPangolin @Cu Chulainn @Beloss @Ijoyen @Berserk Gene @SIGINT @Yukitamas

Now Hacking

The first boss-class threat of the roleplay, Demon Castle ■■■■■■, has appeared. A matrix has been added.

A boss-class threat is so named because it is something that a Servant should not be capable of defeating alone, and that thus demands the cooperation of the roleplay. While Servant Dulle Griet, for instance, is powerful, she is not worth calling a boss.

All standard boss characters can be defeated with the cast available at the time of appearance. However, this does not mean the odds will be favorable.

A boss will appear when the conditions for its arrival have been made. Arrival conditions vary as the war advances. In Demon Castle ■■■■■■'s case, the conditions for its appearance at this stage of the war were:

-[REDACTED]
-[REDACTED]
-A gathering of Servants is held.

With this in mind, it is possible to avoid boss encounters entirely, as well as cause them to occur earlier than they otherwise would have.

It is possible to retreat from combat with a boss. For instance, through using a Command Seal, the current encounter can be exited. However, the efficacy of such an approach depends on additional factors, such as if Servant Ruler uses a Command Seal to impel the destruction of Demon Castle ■■■■■■.

Moreover, while retreat is possible, a boss that is not successfully defeated or made a non-threat will, in all likelihood, bring about circumstances that cause the end of the roleplay. For instance, if a boss is not defeated because a key Servant chose to retreat from the fight, and the remaining Servants are wiped out as a result, the story will be very likely to come to an end. The nature of this end will naturally vary.

Originally, this being was going to be the only boss of the roleplay, but then again, golems are too weak to be bosses. As such, it was remodeled in the developmental stages and brought in as the first boss. Upon defeat of the boss or conclusion of the roleplay, this planning information will be made available in the Setting section of its matrix. This will hold true for all NPCs.

As an aside, for those who play Servants, it will be presumed you avoided the attack of the Demon Castle if you have not posted doing so in 24 hours. If your character's Master is at the meeting, it will be presumed you brought them out of harm's way as well. This is to prevent us from getting clogged on the first post of the fight, or to have people die from the opening assault.

It would be embarrassing if you died to the first boss, so don't.

Fate/Empty Providence

Demon Castle NAGATO

“...Sorry, Makiri, but I'll be the one to finish what we started.”

Name: Demon Castle NAGATO
Keywords: Nagato Tohsaka, Golem, Joint Operation, Jewel Sword Zelretch
Combat, Shapeshift, Thought Acceleration, Memory Partition, Shielding

Keywords

01 - Nagato Tohsaka

Head of the Tohsaka Family in the year 1800, and the representative of the Tohsaka family in the creation of the Fuyuki Holy Grail System.

...actually, as a magus, Nagato could only be called mediocre. His personal talent was nothing special, especially when compared to true “monsters” such as Makiri Zolgen and Justeaze von Einzbern. Even his daughter, a prodigy compared to him, could not be called “excellent”. However, he became the third partner in the Holy Grail’s design nonetheless thanks to serving as the Second Owner of the magical backwater known as Fuyuki. As a golem, then, he can be considered to have reached a state that would have been impossible for him as a human to step into.

He is a man who initially attempted to reach Akasha through the practice of martial arts. Furthermore, he is an oddity for being an apprentice of the True Magician Zelretch who was not turned into a wreck by that very apprenticeship; in truth though, this is simply because he was never an apprentice so much as a drinking friend of the Magician.

Shortly after the first Holy Grail War, both he and his family went missing in a single night, vanishing into thin air. This fact has nagged on both the Matou and Einzbern families for two hundred years.

His body has served as the core of this golem, the basis for its appearance, and the foundation of its artificial intelligence. It is no exaggeration to say that this golem is Nagato Tohsaka, merely in a new body.

02 - Golem

A magical construct that originates in Kabbalah, namely in the creations of Solomon ibn Gabriol, also known as Avicebron. A golem is created via using jewels as organs, parchment as skin, and mercury as binding. Other materials such as a magus for the core, a covering of stone, and the like are also considerations.

They are doll-type familiars, similar in atmosphere to puppets but more machine-like in their nature. In another world in which sixteen Servants fought over a Holy Grail, a bounty hunter once speculated that, given the size of the world, there could be a magus capable of creating golems equal to a Servant.

This was speaking to the Dead Apostle known as Van Fem. NAGATO is one of his creations, on par with the six remaining Demon Castles.

03 - Joint Operation

A unique form of artificial intelligence installation to this golem. Rather than being a single golem with a single mind, it is better to say that each of NAGATO’s limbs operates independently and can be considered its “own golem”, with the core serving as the terminal and the existence of Memory Partition serving to coordinate its efforts. However, it does not possess multiple "egos", but rather multiple lines of thought under the name NAGATO.

The Magic Circuits installed into each limb make each one the equivalent of a first-rate magus. As each one operates independently, fighting NAGATO is not unlike fighting four magi at the same time.

04 - Jewel Sword Zelretch

The Mystic Code of the Second Magic’s user. A form of "alien" technology created through the wisdom of one who has reached the Root. A fragment of the True Magic known as the Operation of Parallel Worlds.

It is an item which can only be used by those of the Magician’s lineage, ergo the Tohsaka family to whom a blueprint of it was entrusted to. While this model is notably inferior to the sword that the Magician himself wields, it is a “success” nonetheless. As NAGATO was created from the body of Nagato Tohsaka, utilization of the Jewel Sword is wholly possible.

The sword creates an opening which allows one to access the environmental magical energy of a parallel world. Thus, it can be said to provide the user with a functionally infinite supply of magical energy, only constrained by the environment itself and the user’s capability as a Magic Circuit. The Magic Circuits installed into NAGATO are beyond first-rate, allowing its sword to enter the realm of an A rank Noble Phantasm at maximum output.

Truly, a capability that is deserving of being called a boss-class threat.

Abilities

01 - Combat

As a golem designed to be on par with the Demon Castles, its power can be called excellent; however, it was fundamentally a “rush job”, so there are some flaws with its movements and it lacks the coordination it could have possessed with a few more decades of polishing. Nonetheless, it can easily be called a combatant equal to a Servant simply at base.

Perhaps due to the individual who it was based on, it utilizes martial arts in combat based around “ignoring the shell to strike the interior”. A ridiculous close-quarters fighter.

02 - Shapeshift

Alteration of form. In its form as a castle, it is used for the purpose of manipulating its towers like limbs. Its true usage thought is in the capability to change from its structure as a Demon Castle into a compact human form; in this case, it bears the visage of Nagato Tohsaka.

03 - Thought Acceleration

Overclocking of thought processes in order to achieve high-speed information processing and planning capacity. Similar in theory to that which is used by alchemists of Atlas, and equivalent in function.

04 - Memory Partition

Division of the mind into multiple separate partitions that work synergistically towards a single goal. Similar in theory to that which is used by alchemists of Atlas, but based more in independence than Atlas’s practice. This has been utilized in order to allow for the Joint Operation of the golem’s limbs.

05 - Shielding

The outermost layer of stone that covers the golem. In terms of physical resistance its capacity is at the quality that one would expect, but more damning is the fact that it possesses potent anti-spirit qualities. A precaution taken in order to outfit it for optimal performance against Servants.

Setting

01 - A Man and his Vampire

The man who in another world would be called Dead Apostle Ancestor Fourteen, Valery Fernand Vandelstam puppeteer extraordinaire, owns seven golems which are called Demon Castles. One who in another world would be named Apostle Ancestor Eight Fina-blood Svelten destroyed the 5th Castle, Motley, with his Reality Marble, Ghost Fleet Parade. So now Valery, or Van-Fem, merely possesses six Demon Castles.

Roughly two hundred years ago, Van-Fem was commissioned by a family that had disappeared to create a golem. How they managed to persuade him to do so is unknown. The base instructions Van-Fem was provided with were as follows: create something that is anathema to spirits, create something that can cast multiple spells simultaneously, and create the golem with the purpose of "being the family head, Nagato Tohsaka".

During the phase of blueprint design and planning, Van-Fem actually got to know the magus he would be using as an ingredient rather well, the two bonding over drink as much as an inhuman monster and an incompetent martial artist could. The process of designing a golem with Nagato's mind thus went seamlessly, and indeed while Nagato Tohsaka is deceased, in memory and mentality one can consider NAGATO to be Nagato who had simply taken a new body, which is precisely what Nagato himself had requested.

The deadline for completion was the new millennium. Shortly following completion, NAGATO installed a suppression protocol on its own mind for day-to-day operations, for the purpose of minimizing distortions that could result from its mental calculation abilities. Before engaging a group of multiple Servants, it deemed it necessary to lift this suppression protocol.

Further information unavailable.

02 - He Who Lacked Fortune

Information unavailable.

Fate/Empty Providence

Ruler

@Breo @ConstantlyComic @Holy Grail @DrowsyPangolin @Cu Chulainn @Beloss @Ijoyen @Berserk Gene @SIGINT @Yukitamas

"As was said, unless it's quite a coincidence, the presence at the river likely isn't a third-party." Ruler spoke up, letting out a slight sigh at the lack of leads the group actually had. One would hope that gathering together some of humanity's best and brightest would lead to this being fairly easy, but apparently not. Why couldn't someone have summoned that one detective, what'shisface, the one played by Benedict Cumberbatch? That one would probably have figured this all out in five seconds flat.

"However, if we don't have anything else to go off of, then it might be worth pursuing just so we're not standing around worthlessly. While I will agree that you are viable as a scout, Assassin," Ruler said, giving Cao Cao a nod. It went without saying that he was clear on the Assassin's Noble Phantasm; after all, things like that were the privilege of his class. "You should remember that the enemy is something capable of immediately killing a Knight-Class Servant. Even if we assume that was an exception rather than a rule, I can't imagine that you'd last long after encountering the target, if you're on your own. Even your escape tactic might not be quick enough." He explained, shaking his head with an exasperated groan. "With that said, though, if you're still willing to place yourself in harm's way for this purpose, I'll of course reward you and your partner."

Ernest's words drew Ruler's attention next, the Servant nodding slightly. "I had considered that possibility. If one knows the right kind of magecraft, taking the Command Seals of another is certainly possible. There's a chance their goal is the Holy Grail as well, but if that's the case, then why bother with all these pretenses? Someone capable of battling a Servant or controlling someone who can would no doubt be seen as eligible by the Holy Grail and given Marks of the Chosen. Why would they not have just summoned their own Servant?" He murmured, half-speaking to himself. "Though, nonetheless, that avenue of thought is probably the most valid one we have for motivation."

After speaking, the Servant turned his eye to the two conversing not-quite-magi. He couldn't deny a sort of slight like of them. The boy had stared that freak in the face and yet, without a Servant, still planned to fight in the Holy Grail War, while the girl had slammed down more burgers than everyone else here had eaten combined in all of a few minutes. It was good to see two such exemplary individuals getting along. A slight chuckle escaped the Servant as he moved to put cheese on the burgers that were ready for it.

"-Wha...t?"

-Only to freeze up, eyes widening.

Ruler was not alone in noticing. The other Servants, no perhaps even some of the Masters would have felt it before they saw it. Wind kicked up, a veritable gale that began as enough to blow up the skirt of a schoolgirl, and intensified until it was enough to nearly knock a human off their feet. Where had it come from? Like an arrow loosed from a bow, a lance stabbed downwards from the kingdom above, it approached.

"Everybody move!"

The overseer of the war let out a yell, not merely troubled this time. No, now true fear laced his tone. Abandoning his grill and the handful of burgers that were still cooking, Ruler moved. The other Masters had their Servants, so he went for that one who lacked a partner, grabbing him with a rough urgency before falling back from the Party Zone. Now he was not merely concerned by the prospect of a third-party mucking with the war, but well and truly worried that death was about to occur. The reason was simple.

"What...is that?"

---

++EVENT OUTSIDE OF EXPECTATIONS HAS OCCURRED++

++STARS HAVE BEEN GATHERED++

++STARS HAVE BEEN GATHERED++

++SUSPENSION OF SUPPRESSION PROTOCOL DEEMED NECESSARY. SUSPENDING.++

++REQUEST TICKET FILED, TICKET NUMBER 1,000,000,000,529++

...

...

_Stars
Yeah, yeah, ticket received. Saint Graph Analysis of gathered Servants completed.

Alright, assessment's finished. Collective threat level maximum. Looks like maximum force'll be required. Mm, good thing this happened in a field, otherwise I'd be worried about destroying the city.

Well, here we go I guess. Joint Operation, activated. Shapeshift, activated. Shielding capabilities, activated. Thought Acceleration, activated. Memory Partition, activated.

Body seems to be moving fine. Bit rusty from disuse but it should work.

■■■■■ ■■■■■ System, activated.

Magic Circuits, opened. Ah, god, can never get used to that. Flow of prana seems normal. There's enough mana to hit capacity too.

Assessment of the World's returned, seems normal. Nothing involving creating a territory or altered space or anything like that is around right now. Oh, wait, are those burgers though? Damn, those are going to get ruined. Sorry, burgers. Alright, back to business, let's check the Memory Partitions.

Apologies to the Servants I'm about to kill. I'll try and make things as quick as possible, alright? I don't like to drag out suffering. I'd ask you to not fight back to make it as painless as could be, but I know you won't. Really, I'm sorry. I would have liked to be friends, but that's impossible.

Partition 1 report. All functions optimal.

Masters, magi, they're down there, aren't they? Ah, god, even if they're magi it doesn't make this any easier, you know. They're still people. Hey, little magi, please stay out of the fight, okay? I'm only after the Servants, so please don't get in the line of fire. Please.

Partition 2 report. All functions optimal.

...I wonder how that old fool's doing.

Partition 3 report. All functions optimal.

Ahaha, a different old fool than what 3 mentioned, but sorry ■■■■■■■■■■■. You'd probably be annoyed if you saw me like I am now, huh? Don't show up halfway through the fight, alright? That'd be really embarrassing for me.

Partition 4 report. All functions optimal.

Ah god, I could really use a drink right about now, but drinking on the job's a no. Well, let's get to it then.

Terminal report. All functions optimal. Great. It's been a while since I've gotten to stretch out properly, so even if the circumstances aren't ideal, should at least make the most of it.

Initiate.

---

Something fell. A dazzling star, a soundless meteor descending from heaven appeared in the Eastern Field at a concerningly short distance from where burgers were being grilled. It was nothing more than a golem.

And yet, it took up more space than hundreds of golems ever could. In that sense, it could not be called a golem. Then what? A titan? A monument?

No, no, that sort of naming convention didn't do it justice. Would these trifling Servants and humans understand the glory of something such as it? Would they dare to call it golem, titan, or monument? Or, would even one of them witness its splendor and realize the name of its being?

In this world, this monstrously large world, there exists a lone man. A wealthy man, an absurd man, a terrifying man who can create golems that equal Servants in might, a monster who in another world would bear the title of Dead Apostle Ancestor.

Dead Apostle Valery Fernand Vandelstam. Dark Lord of the Business World. Van-Fem of the Demon Castle.

It is from this man that the golem is given its name. It is from this man who gave it form that it can be called a Demon Castle Candidate.

"Deploy shielding."

Wreathed in black armor, framed with crimson lines that ran along its edge, its outer "skin" pushed up out of it and expanded. Shields, countless shields covered every inch of its body, anti-spirit sigils and spells inscribed on their every inch.

Yes, if this golem bore the title of castle, then it was a castle that neither man nor ghost was permitted to enter.

Bright, bright, bright. From within the shielding, light started to burn. A freakish light, an otherworldly light. In no more than a second, nearly half of the mana of the entire immediate expanse of the Eastern Field had been drawn into the castle, fuel to feed to that light. And that remaining half too was still being taken.

The towers of the castle tore themselves up off of its foundation but remained connected to the greater body, extending out like the stone arms of some profane god before being brought down as hammers upon those who had gathered. Two of the towers swung down to crush those Servants and Masters present, while the other two pierced into the earth, hungrily drawing in yet more light.

Now then, let us begin this properly.

You call yourselves heroes, do you not?

-Then demonstrate what that means.

Let this monster of stone and jewel be the proving ground that you carve this truth into, or let it be the herald of the end.