Fate/First Song

[Parrhesia]

Augustine stopped dead in his tracks. The two had been pelting towards the explosion, and yet... there had been a gunshot, and now two people were running past in terror... and one of them bore the taint of magic. Another servant.

He flicked his wrist, and a manticore swooped down from the skies, landing with thunderous force on the ground. It advanced on the two, heedless of the civilians. "Take them, La Hire," he muttered, melting back into the shadows of an alley. The berserker's sword glowed red, and he pulled down his visor, charging with a bestial roar. With another flick of the wrist, a wall of solid iron cut off Sally's escape from the direction of 'not a manticore'. Time to watch and wait...

[Snowy_One]

Lancer stopped dead in his tracks as a manticore landed right in front of him. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this wasn't exactly the United States Air Force that stood before him.

"Lancer? Why did you stop? What the heck is going on? I can't see, remember?" said Sally, squirming about in his grasp. She wasn't trying to escape, but the idea of Lancer stopping, especially with a lack of doors being slammed behind him to signify safety, told her that something awful had just happened.

"La Hire? A frenchman then?" asked Lancer. This was getting even worse than before. Two servants now, his master blinded by an exploding cat, and he was still unused to this world, in the middle of suburbia no less instead of the city-center. This was just awful.

"Lancer? Where is he?" asked Sally, trying to stand upright a bit. "If you can tell me where he is, I can lend you some aid!"

[Parrhesia]

The manticore lashed out its barbed tail at Sally, just as Etienne struck overhand at the servant with his greatsword. The sword glowed solid crimson...

If the Lancer's Resistance isn't B or better, terror grips his heart from the influence of the sword.

Edited April 4, 2013 by Furetchen

[scorri]

Assassin skidded to a sudden stop. Interesting. That's another Servant. Yes. Well. Looks like a battle within the first day after all. I should watch and report to my master. And of course... if I see a helpless Master... well, I can't be blamed for killing them, now can I? He crouched down on the edge of the roof and peered intently at the battle that was about to unfold. As the manticore struck one way and the Servant the other, Assassin searched nearby shadows to try and find the absent Master.

Edited April 4, 2013 by scorri

[Ether]

Well, that was one plan of action derailed... another servant had surfaced, a powerful one.

"Well this day just keeps getting better and better... Rider!" The woman announced. It didn't take much more than that to get the woman going, as she leapt out the nearest window... which would have normally been a suicidal feat, but the flying steed that caught her descent made the proposition more than reasonable, from her point of view.

"Drop me off out of line of fire, Rider, and focus on recon... neither of them should be able to catch you if you take to the skies." The master noted to her servant, before readying herself again. Worse came to worse, she would use a command spell to escape, but she was confident that she would get out alive in the stead of any other master. As she was dropped off, she made her way on foot, clutching the sub-machine gun that she had chosen for the occasion as she closed in.

***

Careful to leave no trails of her Master's wearabouts... one could never be too careful with all of the current commotion, Rider made her way to the ensuing battlefield, atop her pure as white steed, flying even though it lacked wings. Taking position above, she prepared to observe the fighters to her best.

[Snowy_One]

"About to hit us with two attacks!" exclaimed Lancer, a hint of fear in his voice, as he raised his his armored hand up to block La Hire's blade as it came down with the manticore's spike coming about. This was going to hurt!

*SPRANG*

*PINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPING*

A sudden wall of shimmering light surrounded the pair like a heavenly veil, protecting both servant and master as Manticore barbs bounced off the veil and towards La Hire.

Lancer fails, but it doesn't matter.

Edited April 4, 2013 by Snowy_One

[scorri]

Assassin cursed as he saw a flying horse appearing above the battlefield. Ducking down into the building, he ducked into an empty apartment and slid near the window. Slightly worse view, but better than being spotted by another Servant. Glancing down, he noted the attacking Servant's mannerisms and mutterd, "Great. Beserker. Just my luck. Well, this should be interesting."

[Parrhesia]

The barbs skittered off La Hire's armour, and he laughed insanely, seeming only to grow in power as he grew steadily more crazed. He continues battering the veil joyously. Augustine unsummons the wall from hiding.

Etienne's physical parameters increase by one, at the expense of kind of being mentally fucked.

[Snowy_One]

"Lancer! NOW! DO IT!" cried out the blinded Sally. "I know you've got some sort of powers to fight back, so DO IT! AS LONG AS THE BARRIER HOLDS!"

Lancer took a quick look down at Sally, but now was NOT the time to worry about her safety. He had a job as a servant to do, and he couldn't waste it worrying that she would be endangered so easily. He could feel the effects of La Hire's fear clawing at his heart, the doubt, but he needed to focus now. Avoiding eye-contact with La-Hire he started to incant.

"Come forth, ye braves souls, and join in this noble war! Let us fight to save the world from evil! DRAFT!"

And suddenly, all across the area, things began to change. Civilians cowering in fear naught but a second ago suddenly seemed to appear outside of their homes, armed with longswords and bows and protected with sturdy chainmail. Yet, inside those houses, the normal civilians remained cowering under their beds.

The army marched out, filling the streets, well over one, two, three hundred strong, all armed and ready for combat. And down they descended. A volley of arrows filling the air directed towards Berserker and the manicore as a squad of men bearing shields and long pikes moved in to flank and push La Hire off of Lancer, who himself started to retreat into the mass of men.

"Be brave my men! Be strong! This righteous war is before us and this is the onset of a noble cause!" he called out to rally them.

Troops left: 350

[Parrhesia]

Augustine cursed under his breath, forming an iron wall just over the heads of his minions to take the volley. When La Hire was more or less safe, he dispelled the wall, letting his Berserker fall back.

And subsequently deciding, fuck it. Let's just do this. Underneath the feet of the enemy army, the ground suddenly went up in fire. The manticore shredded a good few innocent civilians, as they attempted to make it to safety. The army was an immediate threat... he could go back for the girl later.

[scorri]

Assassin frowned. So that's his Noble Phantasm. Or, well, one of them. Summoning an army. Interesting. And that mage. Assassin shifted slightly so he was looking down on Berserker's Master. He is strong. Those spells are no joke. I wonder... just how strong are they? They didn't seem to affect his Servant. Instead they just bounced off. And yet that other Servant seemed truly afraid of them. Either way. My attack must be on the master, not the Servant if I am to attack that pair. Now, lets see what that other Servant does. It must be getting hot for his poor Master...

[Ether]

As Rider observed the ensuing fight, she couldn't help but take notice of the oddity of Berserker's companions.

"Hmm... an interesting magecraft... it's function must be..." Rider noted, deciding to bring it up with her master later. Regardless of that, Lancer began to flee, interestingly enough using what had to be one of his Noble Phantasms to summon an army to accost Berserker. Watching the manticore begin damaging the encroaching army affirming her suspicions with regards to the magecraft of Berserker's master.

*****

An army? That must have been the ability of one of the opposing servants... hopefully Rider had witnessed it and could fill her in later on. Regardless, it meant that the woman would need to make her way around, as charging through the army of an opposing servant did not strike her as a great idea... but the new servant's master had to be close by, she had felt his casting... faint as it was in comparison to the fighting between the fleeing hero and this newcomer.

That was when her eyes caught sight of the hulking man that was clearly the new arrival, accompanied by some sort of... chimera? And several odd accompanying structures that looked to have blocked a hail of arrows... from the army perhaps? Slinking about to avoid being spotted by that beast of a spirit, the woman continued down the alleyways until the distinct feel of a magus drew close.

Peeking her head around the corner, the master of Rider finally saw the man she was looking for, immobile in his trance... emanating magecraft... he must be maintaining the chimera.

'I could shoot at him now, but he's the one keeping that army at bay... if might be a pain to deal with on my own...'

Opting to instead observe the man, the woman pressed her back against the brick, wary for any sort of attack... she couldn't be certain whether this magus, or anything else, was aware of her presence.

[Snowy_One]

La Hire's strategy of swinging wildly every which way he could with his sword was paying off immensely... for the army. Though their initial assault had been rushed, the soldiers were far from stupid. This man, whoever he was, was FAR from weak! Stepping in closer to his sword would be an obvious death-trap, so instead, they fell back on range and defense. Keeping themselves far enough away to only poke at both beasts with their spears while protecting themselves from barbed tail with their shields. A slab of wood may not be the best defense against a servant, but between distance and the minor addition, they were safe. But better-yet... whoever the stupid master of this servant was, he had just set up a gout of flame upon his own servant and beast! Indeed, the flame was responsible for more deaths than La Hire or the Manticore! The Manticore, even more-so than the servant even if it's lack of real defenses meant it would take more damage.

And then, more arrows filled the air as the archers were NOT out of the battle in the slightest. Arrows that, given the chance, would fill the area around La Hire with lethal shafts that would doubtless wound the servant, never mind if the master summoned the iron again which would spare the troops at the center.

---

"My vision is starting to come back." said Sally as Lancer and her were now a decent distance from the fight. "It's still all hazy, but I can see again. Lancer, what did you do?"

"I acted. That brute caught us both off-guard and unawares. We held no weapon, you were incapacitated, so I decided to retreat."

"You summoned an army! You're a Lancer! Not a Sovereign!"

"Every servant is different. Every servant has their strengths and weaknesses."

"I know that, but what on earth did you actually DO?"

"I altered the field of battle. I'm sure this won't allow us to escape so easily in the future, but for now, we have a reprive."

"Those are innocent people out there! Bystanders, school children, and garbage men that you just flung at a Berserker!"

"Can we talk about this a bit more AFTER we're away from the raving french lunatic?" asked Lancer before turning back to look at how the battle was going. "They need me. I am their leader. They're using basic tactics and obvious moves, and it will keep them from being defeated fast, but they can't win without a leader. Maybe wound him gravely, but win? Only if he is an idiot."

Troops left: 338

Pikemen: 88

Swordsmen: 100

Bowmen: 100

Specialists: 50

[Parrhesia]

La Hire's strategy of swinging wildly every which way he could with his sword was paying off immensely... for the army.

letting his Berserker fall back.

But better-yet... whoever the stupid master of this servant was, he had just set up a gout of flame upon his own servant and beast!

letting his Berserker fall back.

Arrows that, given the chance, would fill the area around La Hire with lethal shafts that would doubtless wound the servant, never mind if the master summoned the iron again which would spare the troops at the center.

letting his Berserker fall back.

Augustine continues to set the ground alight, wondering why apparently 88 pikemen are staying in perfect formation while on fire. Oh well. Not his loss.

[Ether]

The spectacle had quickly grown more severe, the army converging and a general buzz of activity.

'Tch... time to take a risk I guess... let's see what those two are made of.' The master noted to herself, before rolling out from her cover and pointing her gun at the still immobile Master.

"Don't move, or I'll fill you with holes... understand? I'll tell you one thing... you had better hope that your servant is sturdy." The woman threatened, ready to unload the loaded clip into the magus if he made a single suspicious move.

"Use it, Rider."

***

Well, that was the call, wasn't it? Raising her lance high above her head, Rider began to belt out a war cry.

"Gates of Valhalla, open to me... oh' All-Father's chosen, ride along side me, and deliver onto him, our enemy!"

With that, massive gates of Nordic origin appeared on either side of the swath of battle, entrapping the army of Lancer, as well as both battling servants. And from those gates came pouring an expanse of fighters, from fresh-faced to rugged veterans, all wearing battle garb reminiscent of Rider's own. Upon their steeds and with spears and blades raised in triumphant roars, the torrent of warriors charged through the area, running down the summoned lackeys to their last, and assailing both Berserker and Lancer with sharpened points and blunted hooves.

As the torrent ceased, the gates closed and vanished, leaving in their wake a path of destruction that the fighters below had too eagerly funnelled themselves into.

[Parrhesia]

Augustine froze, and curled up his fists. "What do you mean, better be stur-"

When the dust settled, he just said "Ah." quietly, in the tone of a man utterly defeated.

[Snowy_One]

As the gates to Valhalla descended down and opened, a look of fear went across Lancer's face. It didn't take a genius to figure out that something HORRIBLE was about to happen!

"Pikemen! Form up ranks and use Berserker as a point! Make him fight as many soldiers as possible! Swordsmen, get up behind and get ready to intercept! Archers..." he stopped, his words hesitating for a moment. It was clear he resented what he was about to do, but there was little point elsewise. "May peace be with you."

Then, Lancer raised his hand into the air, the lance forming up in his hand. Long and mighty with a long, crimson, spiral painted down along it's shaft. And then, picking Sally up with one of his hands, Lancer jumped.

He sprung as high as he could into the air as the troops and the phantasm smashed into each other, the precious few seconds of time he had fading away fast. He didn't have the time to do everything he wanted. Even his best wouldn't last terribly long without crippling himself for the remainder of the fight. But he didn't need the best!

"Holy Blast!"

Twenty five of the archers suddenly disappeared from the field, vanished away as if they simply did not exist, before a mighty lance of light shot down to slam hard into the ranks. It wasn't the mightiest of blows, but it should be enough to at least disrupt, and every second counted! Then, spinning about, he turned to look at the sky, and his gaze was locked on Rider.

"Holy Blast! Holy Blast! HOLY BLAST!"

One hundred of the troops down below disappeared, archers and specialists and a few swordsmen, as three lances of pure light, the third much brighter than the other two, shot up and towards Rider, the first two aimed to hem her in, while the third was aimed right for the rider as best as Lancer could manage.

Troops: Pikemen: 9

Swordsmen: 19

Archers: 0

Specialists: 0

[Click This]

In the better parts of the city's numerous piers, a majestic but old vessel lay at berth against a long concrete pier. The venerable ocean liner may have looked right at home amongst the more modern cruise ships berthed in the vicinity, but it was decked with an inordinate amount of lights and ornaments unfitting a vessel of of the mid 20th century. Somewhere within the decks of the old ship, two individuals sat across from each other, doing their best to ignore the loud sounds and flashes of combat mere city blocks away from their location.

In a medium sized study, Noell sat across from her servant, Archer. She had managed to summon him quite some time in advance, in the quaint little place known as Naples. The young master was leaned forward on a wooden coffee table, writing a letter at an admirable pace. Noell finally finished writing and set down her fountain pen onto the table. She frowned as she noticed a small blotch of ink on her white shirt. Before she could focus on it, however, Archer spoke up. "Well then, I see you've finally finished your letter to that Arabian gentleman." Giving an indifferent expression, Noell pushed the letter towards Archer. "If you hadn't asked me to buy this gigantic overkill of an expensive ship --though, that doesn't really matter--, I wouldn't have had to write this piece of drivel. Not to mention how ridiculous flashy this boat is. It's like saying, look! A giant, slow moving target is coming into the city! Come shoot me up."

"The other masters are taking potshots at each other right outside of our doorstep," commented Archer, helpfully. "We haven't been noticed." The subtle expression that Archer showed as he said this, however, indicated to Noell that he was rather disappointed this fact.

"No, that's because this ship is so ridiculously big and gaudy, so befitting of some arrogant rich guy, that nobody would think to search it." Indeed, it seemed that nobody had thought so far as to even get near the large boat. It was originally Archer's idea to buy the large boat, and on the account of his personality and role, she was somehow persuaded to buy the thing. Really, the only thing it had going for it was its size. It could be used for all sorts of things, and Archer promised to keep it maintained.

Noell got from her seat. There was still a lot of clerical work to do, and she had little intent to pick a fight this early in the war. The sensible thing to do was to sit back, relax, do some research, as the other servants killed each other off. This situation posed a problem, however, as her apartment(where she actually wanted to be) was quite distant from the dockyards, and that big, irritating battle that had sprung up was right in the way back home. It seemed she would have to get involved, if only to avoid being turned into a pincushion walking down the street.

"Archer, we can come back and deal with your annoying purchase later. I'm heading back to the apartment, so please watch my back."

Edited April 5, 2013 by Click This

[Ether]

Whilst the army had been pretty much destroyed, and Berserker took a good amount of damage, though Lancer had mounted a counter attack. Rider wasn't quite sure about these spears of light, but the obvious thing to do was dodge them. Giving her steed's reigns a tug, the mythical beast shot upward to evade the trajectory of the attack, Rider keeping her own eyes keen on the spears to see if they changed direction or homed in on her... anything that would suggest she wasn't quite in the clear.

***

"Hmm... not bad... not bad at all. Tell you what, magus. I'll let you live... on a condition. You accept a geis that will bind you to me... you will fight for me until the very last, and as reward, when I attain the Grail, your wish as well I will work to grant. Should you turn against me, your body shall be bound in place as per our contract... your geis. Sounds better than me killing you now, doesn't it?" The woman told the master whom she had pinned down. It would be interesting to see his response.

'This could very well be better than just having one less Master in the war... hehe.'

[Parrhesia]

Augustine was at gunpoint. His berserker was near death. This... wasn't a great moment.

He swallowed.

"Then let it be so. I accept your terms."

[Snowy_One]

Thankfully, for Rider, as the spears of light shot past her they did not curve or arc about to come back and strike her. Instead they merely shot off into the night, leaving her in peace. Down below, Lancer landed amidst the gathered warriors, his spear sweeping about to clear space for both his landing and his mistress. He wasn't sure what he should do regarding Berserker. Rider was clearly the greater of the two threats now, but Berserker was badly wounded. Nipping him in the bud right now could remove him from the fight, but he might have too much fight left in him to afford wasting energy on him. If both sided against him, he was sure that, without his armies, he simply could not win. Best to flee than fight Rider anyways, especially if more servants were drawn in to the fight, or worse, police who could knock a master unconcious.

"Lancer! What are you waiting for? Get us out of here before that Rider does something worse!" cried out Sally.

[Ether]

'Perfect.'

Making her way over to the cornered magus carefully, the woman began the process of binding him. This man would be placed under a Geis, a contract that would bind him, and by extension, his Berserker, to her will. Should he attempt to cause her harm, or to act against her wishes, he would find himself at the mercy of his Geis, of this mutually accepted curse.

And so it was done. Stepping back from the man, whom now bore the mark of the Geis over his heart... his second heart, this one under her command.

"It is done. Can you heal your Berserker?"

***

It seemed that Lancer had no wish to continue, as the hero soon fell into a retreat. With that taken care of, Rider too exited the warzone to reunite with her Master.

[Parrhesia]

"I'm an illusionist," Augustine remarked bitterly, "not a healer. Etienne will fight to the end, though, that I do not doubt. Let us strike now and kill the girl before she can regain her powers!"

Edited April 7, 2013 by Furetchen

[Ether]

"Then I shall mend Berserker's wounds myself... it's the least I can do, my Rider was the cause." The woman replied, giving her head a shake.

"But Lancer appears to be out of our reach. He took our assault far better than I expected, and repelled Rider with his own... I fear he is out of reach now, and Rider would be best to have a break after using her Noble Phantasm... the next time we face that girl, your Berserker will not be in the middle of our attack, and that will be our edge to end Lancer." The Master continued, sighing against her words.

"But not today. Allies are rare in this war, and I won't have mine throw himself away on our first day. My name is Sarah... Sarah Harrison. And yours?"

[Snowy_One]

Lancer didn't waste his chance upon seeing Rider let up for now. As fast as he could, he took off towards the center of the city, being sure to weave just a bit between the streets to try and throw off any snipers or trackers as he gained distance. After a while, nearing the end of the suburban area, he and Sally took a stop before moving under a bus stop for some extra cover.

"That was... Too close!" Exclaimed Sally, rubbing her eyes and stumbling about. "We got ambushed outside of my home, blasted between two servants, and escaped only barely. I don't know if I should be sad that we only barely escaped, or proud we escaped at all!"

"Proud. Though, I must admit, I thought you were going to suggest some form of concealment or had already done so."

"C-concealment? Like a trench coat and fedora hat?"

"You... You don't know how to conceal yourself?"

"Look at me Lancer. While I'm not a muscle-girl, nothing about me is subtle."

"I don't know. You were willing to gather recon first before charging in head-long, and you kept quiet instead of voicing your moves in that bought."

"Because those were smart things to do and I was kind of panicked by having a freaking Berserker swinging at me! Adrenaline doesn't bode well for critical thinking you know." hissed Sally in reply before sitting down on the bus bench. Her hands went up to grip her hair in frustration as she considered screaming aloud, but stopped herself.

"Okay. Calm down. We need a base. You may be a servant, but I need food, water, a place to sleep, and the like. And they won't find anything at my house beyond a few books on King Arthur, a futon, some food in my fridge, and the summoning circle which we can't do anything about anyways. If we're lucky, they won't even realize that I have a house there. Either way... We need to get to safety."