Reflection

Epithet Erased - A down-to-earth modern adventure with funky powers

@Lugubrious B and D seem to be the best bets to be honest. Both allowing for subterfuge, or just wacky hi-jinks.

Epithet Erased - A down-to-earth modern adventure with funky powers

Anybody else interested in making a member of Bliss Ocean? If so, it'd be neat to get a few of the bad guys together.

Epithet Erased - A down-to-earth modern adventure with funky powers

@Lugubrious
Shoot, I got a list of good ones.

Epithet Erased - A down-to-earth modern adventure with funky powers

Psst, where is my list?

Epithet Erased - A down-to-earth modern adventure with funky powers

I'm open to the idea on randomized ephitets. Probably use a random word generator, and give the player a choice between 3 or 5.

Fate/Lost Epoch

Rooftops - Academy District

@DeltaGenesis

That arrow infuriated him. He felt a lancing pain as his body erupted into a fire, one that vanished within a moment. But the pain, the pain remained. It was like have a fire ignite in his veins. A fire... A CURSE. He knew exactly what gods would be this cruel. The greek gods who's temples he had burned. It was an insult to his very being. Something had to resist. Something he had to reject! Reject it he did, and the pain... Would not leave so easily despite the curse being broken.

In the time Xerxes had wrestled with his pain, the boy had already declared himself a winner of sorts. Brat! The only man in life who had earned the right to injure the king like this had been Leonidus. The offer he given was no doubt off the table, and for a moment he was ready to destroy himself in one more attack. He had hardly been exercising his noble phantasm, but in that moment he was tempted to let the pain consume him.

Then the boy began to retreat, and the voice of god spoke. Do not bother. The list of possibilities on an identity for this Archer had dropped to only one. He knew him by face, by name... Xerxes had nothing more to gain from this battle. He let the Archer flee. But he did not retreat himself. He merely let his soldiers crumble away into dust, and turned to leave.

He leaped down from the rooftops, and his mount materialized beneath his feet. He had no words. He had only knowledge to take away from this. Any of his advisers in life would be telling him this. Telling him he had won the battle for knowledge, and that the boy's failure to follow through would cost him. Victory though... Was always hollow for Xerxes. He would have to see Archer again someday during this war. When that happened, it would be a short battle, and an inglorious one at that.

"That is enough for now, Rider. Pull back, we've gotten enough from this engagement as a whole. I'm sure you've had a bountiful fill of your fun and spirit, yes? I don't mind how you return to me, as long as you do before dawn. We need to go over what we've learned."

@DeltaGenesis

"Very well." Xerxes replied. "I shall be moving to the Mount Enzo location." His reasoning... It was simple. He was in pain. And Mount Enzo was further from the fighting. In all honesty, the main advantage it offered was a lack of foes as far as he knew. It also contained a powerful magical presence, claimed or not, a servant like him could use the overflowing magical energy to increase the rate at which he healed. Which, he would need to do. Obviously.

His mount, a rhinoceros draped in armor, could easily chart that path. In the mean time, he would focus on healing. Healing in this case, meant making claim on a skill that could.

[Imperial Privilege B]

He was taking on the skills of a medical expert. While modern day medicine would do little for a servant, as it was physical and a servant was a being of ether, knowledge like this allowed him to focus his healing. Pinpointing the parts of his body most in need of healing, and focusing his magical energy to those points. The singular scrap on his arm was a minor priority.

"Master, I was unable to achieve the enemy servant's name." He explained, letting his voice be heard over their connection. "I have narrowed the list down since the battle started but it's still incomplete. The most telling seems to be the curse attached to his arrows, and the mental interference he tried to apply afterwards. I doubt he's a Caster class, so it's likely the curse is from a third party. Perhaps a god." The list of gods who had given their blessings to servants was quite large. How many that might have cursed arrows? A great deal fewer, but still too many distinct possibilities. Unless it wasn't a curse, but a blessing out of control? The ground between blessings and curses was pretty much a blurry ground. The only difference was the end result. Same principals applied to both. Maybe he'd have better luck with servants who had blessings? "I suspect he is a servant of either the Tohsaka, or the Matou family. The direction he retreated in was the known location of their households. If he is a third party, it matters not. I shall make sure to destroy them all later."

His beast marched away, leaving the fighting behind. He would have loved to go back and fight against Heracles... But he knew it was best not to. He would only destroy himself in the process. But those other kings... Once Heracles was dead, he would have to fight each of them. Each of them, and he would win.
Because he knew he must.

Academy --> Mount Enzo
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Shinto Town - City Streets

@Parallel Hearts

Wait... What? Why was she Paris!? Ariadne could feel her eye twitch at the implication. Was this just a naming thing showing affection? Or was it a stealthy insult? Was Caster implying that Ariadne was like Paris? One who dabbled with gods and as a result of a narrow-minded love obsessed mind he ruined the land he called home and doomed his people to death? Or was the implication that she was stupid, like how Paris fell for a stupid wooden horse? Either way, she wouldn't be asking for the reason. She knew she wouldn't believe anything Cassandra had to say. It really was a curse when you couldn't trust your own servant. Thankfully, she could trust others to be stupid.

Stowing the wine bottle away, she stepped out from the alleyway. Ariadne smiled, and tilted her head playfully to the side. "Hello, I'm Paris." She said, and without warning, she wrapped her arm around Walter's free hand. The two girls now on either side of the half-drunk mage. "So, who is your friend? Does she have a name? Come on, you can tell us, we can keep your secrets." She purred out, almost feline-like in her interrogation. Hardly giving Walter a second to think or focus. The trick here? Get him talking. Loose lips sink ships, and with the aura of Bacchus hovering in the air, freedom was everywhere. Freedom that desperately wanted to free all the thoughts from Walter's lips.

"Come on, we're all friends here."
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@Scallop

Fate/Lost Epoch

Buildings near the Academy - Academy District

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Military Tactics... The ability to control an army, and get the very best out of them. In life, Rider had relied on others for such things. Artemisia most famously. The guidance they had given him had allowed him to become a great ruler, nearer to the perfection he had held himself too than he might have without such council. But now... He did not rely on her as heavily. For the king of Persia had become stronger in a new way. The ability of his army only rose under his command, and a greek warrior could only do so much in a crowd.

After all, when in a crowd, it could be difficult for even an archer to aim a shot amidst dodging and weaving. For ever soldier that might be killed by a loosed, unaimed arrow, the soldier would be replaced by another. These were the persian immortals after all, and for each that fell, they were replaced without hesitation by another. As such, in order to aim properly, there was only one avenue open to the archer. Xerxes knew this. In truth, he had planned for it. He had expected it. So when the time came to react to it, everything fell into place.

When Parthenopeus bent his knees to leap, that was the signal that all had been waiting for. And multiple things happened at once.

First, the king's soldiers moved to defend him. In particular, three. Three of his largest shield-bearers moved in between himself and the boy. Their shields raised higher into the air, slightly tilted to best absorb and displace the force of the incoming arrow. Xerxes behind them. A layer of three impressive shields as thick as walls, and three giants holding them. Iron, meat, iron, meat, etc. The arrow had to pass through three layers of man and metal. And no matter how impressive the arrow, even arrows had their limits.

When Parthenopeus' arrows hit the first shield, it pierced. Through metal, and then through flesh. Then a slight gap of air, and then metal and flesh again. The overdrawn arrow was impressive, and the king might have felt the need to applaud him for it. Whether or not it broke through the third soldier didn't matter. By then it would have slowed by a small amount. A small amount, just enough for the king to leap aside. The force of the impact of the arrow where he had once stood was meaningless, and the shockwave knocked him slightly further. But by then, more shield bearers were gathering, able to repeat such a maneuver again if called upon.

Second, as Parthenopeus was leaving the ground and taking his aim, he was attacked. Amongst the hundred soldiers of Xerxes that had gathered, not all could attack him at once. So, those on the other rooftops had taken on bows and arrows. They had been waiting, and took their own aim. Their own arrows as overdrawn as they could manage, ready and waiting. They all fired at once.

As Parthenopeus was still overdrawing his arrow, he was attacked from all sides by the bladed arrows of the persian army. Nearly fifty arrows from all sides. Left, right, back, forwards. Even some aimed a bit higher, to fall onto him from above. Skewered in the middle of a rain of arrows.
Below him was no better. Wherever his arrows would pepper, the soldiers waited. Their spears waited, glistening and sharp. He could not kill them all before he had to land, and they would all charge in at once. Stabbing, swinging their whips around. If they could not capture him alive, then dead and impaled would do well.

"Perhaps if you surrender, I can teach you how to temper that attitude of yours! You would make a fine warrior in my army. The joys of war you seek would be endless under a king such as I!" Xerxes shouted, a laugh building in his chest. The archer was certainly of an infectious attitude. "Imagine it, all the world falling to my armies, with you leading the charge! First for glory, first for blood, and first for that fun you seem to crave!"

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@Gracefully

Fate/Lost Epoch

Buildings near the Academy - Academy District

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Poor choice.
Xerxes could see the gears grinding in the Archer's head. He could see those eyes looking up at him. He was ready. There could have been words between them. Maybe a hello. No. That was out of the question it seemed. As the archer was preparing to raise his bow... The dragon dived. A flap of the wings, the body twisting in the air, and...

The arrows missed Xerxes completely.

In the moment those arrows had begun to leave the archer's bow... In the moment he'd taken aim and let his fingers loose... No matter how fast he was, the king had already been ready to act. He had already known how to react. In that moment the dragon began to move, Xerxes had slipped down into the depths of his dragon. The soldiers moved aside, they parted to give him space. He was suddenly surrounded by his army, and they would protect their king.

The three arrows, that had been aimed at where Xerxes had been, simply could not hit the king, when he was no longer standing where they would have struck. The dragon though, had its sights on the archer, and was soaring down at him. Its mass plowing down upon the cat boy, but it was not the singular dragon that came crashing down upon Parthenopeus. A single dragon was too easy a target. Rather, it was already breaking apart.

What came crashing down was almost fifty soldiers. Large men with shields, smaller skeletons with swords and spears, others that carried chains that lashed at the air. They all came crashing down upon Parthenopeus, and the king?

He landed, but not as one man, but surrounded by several shielded guards.
"Boredom? You attack out of boredom? Perhaps I am the one who was bored of poor showings from others around me. And right now?"

Parthenopeus was being attacked from all sides. Skeletons swinging their swords, others their chains to wrap around a limb, the shield wielding men would swing their shields forwards and knock aside any arrows he might try to fire off into the crowd. And the crowd was growing. More and more. Till a hundred soldiers where striking at him from all angles, even covering the nearby rooftops.

"I am still bored of you."

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@Gracefully
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Shinto Town - City Streets

@Parallel Hearts

Eesh... It was a bit hard watching Caster flirt. She wasn't bad at it or anything, as far as Ariadne was concerned. Maybe a bit forward? Not that it mattered much. Just watching was good enough for Ariadne. She kinda wished that Caster had left 'Lord Apollo' with her, so she could feel safer out in the open like this, but it couldn't be so bad in the end. After all, Caster probably spied ahead if there were any assassins. Can she do that? She'd have to ask.

Either way, Ariadne watched from a nearby alleyway. A bottle of wine in one hand, and a charm in the other. The plan was rather simple, people were more willing to talk if they were drunk. She just had to get him drunk, from a distance. Not hard. She did it all the time. In fact, as she removed the cork, she was doing that right now.

The smell of wine drifted away from her, and onto the street. That scent of fermented grapes struck the air, and lingered. An intoxicating scent that would surely start to erode the wills of those in the street beyond her alleyway. She raised the bottle to her lips, and took a swig. The taste of wine poured into her mouth, and a wave of karma pulsed outwards. It was not a curse, merely a bacchic rite.
"I call upon loud-roaring and reveling Dionysus. Primeval, double-natured, thrice-born, Bacchic lord." She chanted softly, and let the scent of wine drift further through the air. "Taste, and drink. Party and revel. Let fears burn away, and see beauty in all life. Free yourself from the cage of mankind's will..." She took another sip, and brushed the charm against the bottle.
"Hearken to my voice, O blessed one, and with your fair-girdled nymphs breathe on me in a spirit of perfect agape."
The people on the street outside, those who might be stumbling back from work, or merely out late on a walk, could feel the spirit of revelry in them. Feeling it push out their woes. They laughed louder, they told their secrets, and they saw beauty in the world. With luck, the master her servant had found would be one such man.

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@Scallop

Fate/Lost Epoch

Homurahara Courtyard(Banquet of Kings) - Academy

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The master is going to use a command seal.

God spoke to Xerxes again. Though in this particular case, Ormazhd might not have even bothered. It was clear from the knowledge of two pursers that this Lancer likely wouldn't be able to escape without aid from her master. Worse, she'd be having to protect her master, and wouldn't dare turn to face an enemy, especially two after using a noble phantasm. She wasn't running on fumes by any means, but even a strong warrior might begin to feel the first pangs of exhaustion after utilizing a noble phantasm on the level she had done. She wouldn't escape, without that command seal.

He could attack, but was attacking a master something he was planning to do? No, that wasn't his nature. Xerxes wanted to fight heroes, not kill other like a common assassin. But, he could not let this pass. Everything was happening in one moment. And he let his fingers go, and the arrow he had notched and aimed was set loose.

Normally, for a Rider the distance might be too much. But he had called upon the skills of an archer using his authority as a king. Naturally, his aim at that distance might wobble, but Caster had blessed him with eyes like an eagle, and he could see the retreating enemy. Normally there might have been something in the way... But he was in the sky, and nothing was blocking his view, or his arrow. Lancer might have been in a position to dodge, but she had her back turned to him, and was running with her master in her hands.

All these factors came together, and he fired his arrow. As the mage was focusing on her command spell, Rider's arrow would clear the distance between himself and Lancer. It was not a shot to kill. Could he manage that at this range? No, a servant would never be felled by a single arrow. Rather, he had aimed at her exposed back.

Should the arrow strike... It might not even matter. She had been told to flee, and with a command seal burned, she likely would no matter the injury. But after that? An arrow in her back would be a reminder. A punishment from the great king Xerxes. Only cowards were ever struck in the back. She would bare that knowledge, and even if Lancer moved on... She now knew she could never truly escape judgement.

She would vanish, regardless of if he managed to actually get the reminder in. Either way, it was annoying. Perhaps this is how Leonidas felt when had had only managed to leave the two scars upon the young king's face. After all... That memory still burned. He would reminisce on it later. For now, his dragon merely hovered in the air, observing the cat boy who likely lost out on his prey.

Maybe this wouldn't be a total loss.

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@Seirei No Hai@Flood@Gracefully

Fate/Aureum Mea

I have a master that might do well with an Assassin Servant, if Assassin is still available.