Prinz

The Pale Hand

Rick's Arcanist's Eye passed through the long, dark tunnel slowly, but without incident. It appeared that there was no trap set within, no enemies waiting to spring into action, and no evil vines eager to jut out from the walls of the throat-like tunnel that he had no choice but to pass through. Truly, the vines surrounding the entrance to the passage through the thick wall of vines almost seemed like the maw of some waiting, ancient monstrosity that was more than keen to swallow him up.

Yet, there was always the possibility that whatever lay inside was simply either smart enough to know that the Arcanist's Eye wasn't a living being, or it was designed to only activate when a living being stepped across the horizon and into the darkness ahead. There was no way to know, though for all of the paranoia that the unnatural natural barricade had brought forth in the greenhorn Mage, it seemed entirely inconspicuous- there wasn't any Magickal energy infused into the vine-wall that swallowed up and twisted through the trees before him. It was, to put it bluntly, a wall made of vines using Magick but not inherently Magickal in nature on its own.

After all, if there was something in there that prevented living beings from passing through, how would the people that Rick and his superior had caught sight of beforehand gone through, not just once, but twice. In and out.

Without resistance of interruption, Rick's Arcanist's Eye went through the tunnel and came out the other side. On the other side was more dirt path that lead the way through the trees, but more importantly than that.. there were footprints. Many footprints- at least enough to prove that the path was, in fact, well used. Aside from that, there was what appeared to be several pillars of smoke further through the forest, but they weren't thick or dark enough to be the result of fire. Chimneys, perhaps? Was there a village ahead? Or was it a campsite, maybe? There was only one way to find out, one way forward, and that was through the tunnel and up the path before the young man who was so cautiously standing.
Ironically, didn't he have his back turned to the very place where the Red-Eyed Beast had been not so long ago taunting him from? Perhaps he was already trapped in its grasp, unable to see what was sitting right in front of him, and he was doomed to wander the ever-eroding worlds contained within his own mind?

Or maybe he was thinking about it too hard?
Or, perhaps, the Red-Eyed Beast was planning something far more sinister, and was letting him keep his sanity for just a little while longer in order to demolish what little of it remained in the future.
There was only one way to find the truth.

Rick Brackwall had to push onwards, whether he liked it or not, lest he stay in this mysterious world, trapped between a ravine and a tunnel, until he starved to death or went mad.

The Pale Hand

Surprisingly, nothing came of Rick's attempt to slice the vine. It seemed to be a normal vine, and if anything, the overgrowth had occurred a long, long time prior to his arrival. The only result of his little test was the vine being cut apart. It felt normal, smelled normal, and didn't come alive even after a few moments of waiting. In his poised position, Rick could hear the gentle wind, the rustling of some of the greenery around him because of it, and the sounds coming from his own body.

It seemed like his test had produced a result that was, while nothing special, wasn't utterly horrendous either. He was still at an impasse, though it did seem that climbing up the massive wall of vine-covered trees, or around it, would involve far more difficulty than was worth. It was his decision, however.

As for whether this was all real or an illusion, well, the stinging in Rick's eyes had vanished along with the Crimson-Eyed Beast.

The Pale Hand

Despite using him Auric Vision, the only thing Rick could see was the Crimson-Eyed Beast's eyes, and an ever-growing darkness that seemed to swallow up everything that was on the other side of the bridge. Even his own self was hardly visible, but there was something far more unsettling now.
His other self was staring at him, eyes glazed over. To say he looked like a corpse would be perfectly accurate. He slowly lifted an arm to wave, and thick, black tendrils stuck out of a massive hole in his elbow, leading back into the darkness that was the Crimson-Eyed Beast.
Whether it was an illusion designed to scare him or the reality of the situation, who knew? Perhaps he really was still out there, trapped an a waking nightmare, dead but not yet aware, and hidden away from any Reapers who may be coming for him.
Perhaps he as bait.

Sudden pain shot through his eyes as something seemed to flicker and change in the world around him, the crimson eyes seeming to almost smile. It was as it was inches away from showing off its teeth, yet they were never seen.

There was no vocal response from the Crimson-Eyed Beast, hidden in the darkness of the forest around them as it was. All Rick was given was a soft, vibrating hum that echoed around the forest as the Crimson-Eyed Beast faded away into its own darkness. The vision of himself and his companion from the past faded, too, and all he was left with was a single way forward- the path that lead further into the forest and, more importantly, further away from safety. There were no answers.
Not yet.

It was surprising, though. After Doctor Minerva had told Rick she would be the voice in his ear to guide him, he'd heard nothing from her over the last few days. He hadn't asked anything of his superior, either.
Perhaps he hadn't thought of it, or perhaps something more sinister had caught ahold of his vulnerable mind without him even knowing, and he had been shepherded into something truly horrific without him even knowing.
Whatever the reason, he was in the thick of it now regardless, and if he attempted to contact Eine, all he'd find was static coming through his earpiece.

With only one way left open to him, the path forward was clear.

---

The dirt path was little more than just that- a dirt path. There were rocks here and there for him to step on by accident, and little bits of grass that still somehow managed to survive in the middle of the frequently-stomped path. It seemed to go on for almost too long, winding and snaking through the ever thickening forest like some sort of serpentine throat that dragged Rick deeper and deeper into the belly of the beast that was his current situation.
Eventually, he'd notice something that was more than a little concerning. A thicket of thorns and vines that tangled around the trees that stood before him, choking the life out of the colossal pillars of nature. He wouldn't be able to make out a single thing past the vines, and the wall was so thick that it essentially made a tunnel. There was no way around it- it seemed that the vine wall stretched as far to the sides as he could see, and so far up that they almost smothered the entirety of the trees. The tunnel in front of him was almost pitch black, lit only by the light coming from behind him and, what seemed like far too far away, the tiny, almost stifled light at the other end of the tunnel.

Well, this was almost definitely a trap.

Fate/RP?

Whoops, my bad, I read that wrong smh.

I'm down to play a Master, though. Honestly, I'm better making up my own characters than trying to accurately portray previously established ones imo, so..

Fate/RP?

Option three sounds pretty lit, honestly, but that's a lot of NPCs to be carrying around.

Also, you mentioned 'a secret action per turn'. Whaddaya mean by 'per turn'?
Also, with option three, are we playing the Master/Servant combo, or could you have one person as a Master and another as their Servant?

Also is Kid Gil available or does he count as too op? :^)

Fate/RP?

I'd like to toss my two cents in here, because I think the idea is actually kind of neat.
The Fate series has a really interesting variety of Magecraft, etc in it, and if you've seen Apocrypha (which most people seem to loathe) you'd find that experienced Masters are actually pretty damn fun to watch fight. Heck, Kairi (Saber of Red's Master) actively participates in the battles, so he's not really dead weight at all.
I think playing as a Master could potentially be a lot of fun, with a lot of development for their personalities and their skill sets. It's all about your perspective, I'd wager.

Though I do think not being able to play a Servant could gimp the idea considering most people want to jump in right off the bat with that.
From my understanding, every roleplayer is working for the same one of the five factions, trying to eliminate the other factions (and the NPC parties they employ)? Basically a HGW but with a Servant split between a group of Masters instead of only a single Master?

I think the biggest obstacle is letting players play as Servants. As @KoL said, it's kind of the biggest thing that attracts people to the Fate roleplays. That being said, you could totally delegate a Servant to a person entirely separate from the people playing the Masters in order to keep them from being dragged around by a single person.
That said, though, the issue of people going off and walking around is going to be there regardless. You could totally enforce some sort of buddy system that demands that the Masters all travel together to make any retaliation either impossible or an even fight, which I think could lead to a sweet moment when the traitor finally decides to go turncoat and turn the odds from 5v5 to 6v4.
Oof. I'm kinda excited for this lmao.

That said, I'll refer to Apocrypha again in that I personally think they had a decent setup. Keeping the factions so the players don't have a reason to go at each other (except the traitor) while also giving them a sort of hub to stick around, but then also allowing each player to have their own Servant/the single Servant depending on whatever you want.

These are just ideas, but I like the idea of having the battles focus a little more on a Master, since the stakes are so much higher and they're arguably the more important in the Master-Servant relationship.
I think it'd be fun to narrowly escape an assassination attempt by an enemy Stand Servant as a Master, only to summon your own Servant at the last minute and turn the tables.

This is just me rambling like an idiot, though, so I'm sorry if I'm being overbearing or being silly~
I like this idea, though, so I'd like to help iron out the problems so it can succeed.

The Pale Hand

Rick's venture was as peaceful as peaceful could possibly be in this situation. Nobody got in his way, nobody shot at him or blasted him with Magick. It was almost a little too quiet..

The journey was over sooner than likely expected, and quite quickly was Rick breaking through the forest's dense foliage and standing on a path that didn't exist when the duo had ventured across the bridge the night before. The ravine was still there, yes, but this path was new, as if it hadn't existed until right then. Despite that, it was nothing more than a simple dirt path, carved through the grass by the feet of the many men and women who'd used it over the thousands of years they'd existed. But out here, so deep in the forest..?

And where was that bridge that the two of them had used to cross the massive, deep ravine currently sitting before him like the gaping maw of some unknown abyss? All that remained of it was the decrepit remnants of the concrete foundations that sat upon the edge of the cliff face, left in the disrepair that came with ages of wear and tear. Grass poked through the dozens of cracks in the stone slab, pieces of cobbled rocks like those used in the roads of an old city sat here and there, mostly caked with moss and dirt. It looked as if the bridge was ancient, and wasn't used in at least fifty years at most.

Yet by far the most concerning piece of information that Rick's senses would behold was the one that came to him from across the ravine itself. The campfire once again blazed brightly, and he could just barely hear a voice; not enough to make out what it was saying, but enough to recognise it.
Himself and Edmondo were sitting near the campfire, talking, and surrounding them was an innumerable amount of bright, glowing crimson eyes, filling up the empty space in the forest around them. For a moment, as if they noticed the current Rick noticing them, they all turned to him.

Malice.
Rage.
Amusement.

The eyes were focusing on Rick and Rick alone, until, for a moment, they seemed to smile, before turning back to stare at the duo near the campfire, ignoring Rick from that moment on.
The disappearing bridge, the ancient dirt path, and the malicious beast behind him.
Whatever this was, it wasn't normal.

The Pale Hand

As far as Rick could likely detect, there was nobody else around to harm him or interact with him. However, there was in fact something interesting. A large plume of smoke was visible through the canopy above him, coming from the direction the duo had been camping in the night before. That being said, the clearing he was in felt.. different, somehow. It was difficult to put a finger on, but there was something off about it.

As for the piece of paper, it was simple enough- it was crumpled, obviously folded and unfolded again and again over the years.
A picture.
Edmondo, standing beside a happy-looking woman around the same age, and two small children.
The young boy had a wide, cheesy grin stapled to his face, and a large band-aid on his cheek.
The girl wasn't quite as enthusiastic, staring at something off to behind and to the side of the camera, possibly the photographer.

However, the thing that likely stood out to Rick the most was the fact that the woman, presumably Edmondo's wife, was familiar to him.
She was one of the Mage's he'd seen in the dossier prior to his embarking on this mission. One of the Mages who'd been taken.

It seemed there was one final piece of evidence that could possibly point him in the right direction; sitting on the edge of their little clearing, right where they'd entered it on their trip from the path from the bridge, was something barely visible in a path of grass that was thicker than the rest. Almost as if someone had attempted to hide it.

It was matte black, and not paper.
It was hard to make it out fully, but whatever it was, it wasn't natural.

It was time for Rick to put his noggin to use, it seemed.

The Pale Hand

Rick's response was quick and to the point- as expected on the boy by now.
However, Edmondo had a plan in his mind with the creation of the campsite.

If they were to get lost, this campfire would act as a way for them to find their bearings.
With that said, though, there was definitely risks associated with it, but the cultists being suspicious would only let them work faster.

"We'll make camp across the bridge and abandon this campsite. We'll take the spare stuff and set up a second, smaller site on the inside of what I imagine is their territory."
Edmondo figured it was probably nerves that kept Rick's mouth shut, but he could also just struggle with talking.

He doused the fire soon after they'd eaten, stretching himself and speaking again.

"They'll find this campsite but I doubt they'll think much of it. If they're busy looking on this side, they won't look on their side. If they think the people here are random, they likely won't bother them. They've taken only Mages so far, so I doubt they' arouse suspicion by taking normal hikers."
He hoisted a bunch of his stuff off of the ground and took off towards, and then across, the stone bridge that divided the normal forest and the unnatural forest.

With that out of the way, their chat finished, and the long night ahead.
Edmondo was asleep early after glancing at something he pulled from his pocket and held in his hand as he slept.

It was a quiet night, a simple night.

---

And Rick would've woken up with the sun barely above the horizon, with several things to note.

Firstly, Edmondo and his sleeping bag were gone, with only a scrap of paper left behind on the ground where he'd been. Secondly, there was no sign of the smaller site that he'd made for them ever having existed. In fact, it was nothing but Rick in the little clearing, no sign of anything or anyone else. There were no footprints on the forest floor, nothing for him to find Edmondo by.

All that was left was to look around, probably. Perhaps the bridge?

It was Rick's time to shine, it seemed.