>>5078009
>A normal human destined to undeath. [Dead Apostle]
Fuck yeah I want to be a vampire

>>5078009
>>A normal human destined to undeath. [Dead Apostle]

>>5078009
>A normal human destined to undeath. [Dead Apostle]

>>5078009
>The Scion of those sworn to protect the natural order. [Demon Hunter Family]

>>5078009
>A normal human destined to undeath. [Dead Apostle]

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>>5078009
>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church]
Churchchads, where are you?
also OP, would you like a slightly nicer OP image?

>>5078217
Yes,
A graphic artist I am not.
Thank you Anon.

>>5078009
>>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church]
In Lieu of Crimson Red Vermilion, Churchbros rise up.

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>>5078221
Here's a Blue variant, if you prefer that.
Looking forward to this quest.

>>5078009
>The Scion of those sworn to protect the natural order. [Demon Hunter Family]

>>5078009
>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church]
Kyrie Eleison

>>5078009
>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church]

>>5078009
>No mixed blood option
Oh well.
I am torn between other options. Is there going to be further chargen or we are just picking among three already fully established characters here?

>>5078296
There'll be further chargen, a background a boon and a flaw, those will have a shorter voting period as this determines most of the character from what I have set up.

Oh shit he actually did it

Also this means I can run Angel Notes quest when I actually go insane right?

>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church

>>5078009
>>The Scion of those sworn to protect the natural order. [Demon Hunter Family]

>>5078310
Man you'd have to.
Imagine having to qm qst minmaxing an Ether Liner.
I shudder at the thought.

>>5078009
>A normal human destined to undeath. [Dead Apostle]
>>5078302
I see, thanks.

>>5078009
Without knowing what else QM has planned for the other character options I feel DA offers the most variety in power options, fighting style and morality choices through needing a source of blood.

>A normal human destined to undeath. [Dead Apostle]

Damn, I wanted Church quest, but I guess we kinda got that in Overgrowth.

>>5078009
>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church]
>>5078349
Don't lose hope yet fellow churchad. The Lord provides.

>>5078347
DA has a lot of kino base options like ghoul spam, regeneration and a path towards an interesting RM for mid/late game too.

>>5078353
Gimme one of the Holy Scriptures for endgame powers rather than a Reality Marble.
Any day.
Satsuki and Roa's Marbles are both kinda shitty.

>>5078353
Also, be careful not to get Ghouls mixed up with The Dead.
Unless the Remake changed it, The Dead are the basic familiars of a Dead Apostle, and Ghouls are the first stage of becoming a Dead Apostle.

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>>5078352
>ID: NT7rBazz
Very cursed.

>>5078370
Being Lancers master is suffering

>>5078360
That's assuming QM hands players a scripture though. They're a mystic so I'd assume a churchjannie pet heretic, giving them something so powerful would require them to be on a leash and dealing with a specific threat that required it. RMs are the natural pathway of any DA that reaches that level, and depletion garden no sells a lot of things in universe. Satsuki's no slouch.

If QM gave a bit more info about where each would lead you could make easier comparisons.

>>5078009

>>5078374
Reality Marbles are the natural pathway of any Dead Apostle who is like centuries old and incredibly well-versed in magic themselves.
It's not something you just get to have almost immediately unless you're little Miss one-in-a-million Satsuki.
You're assuming that QM is going to hand us a Reality Marble just as much as I'm assuming we'll get a scripture.
Also the Church doesn't really give a fuck about employing heretics so long as they get the job done. Merem Solomon exists.
Depletion Gardens has little use against the sort of people who'd actually be hunting a vampire, that's the problem.

>>5078377
>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church]
Oops

QM, I'm looking at the rules. How do rerolls recharge?

>>5078383
Full recharge at start of a new thread.

Otherwise awarded at my discretion and circumstance.

>>5078374
Regarding more info on where each will lead. What specifically would you like to know, tell me that and I'll do my best to help clear things up.

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>>5078217
>>5078239
Amateur.

>>5078389
Did you have a planned form of magecraft for the church mystic or was that up to player choice?

What sort of demon hunter kit would we be looking at? Magecraft anti demon techniques like onmyoji or enhanced physical parameters for a more brute route etc.

Is the DA option a special snowflake who speedruns the early more mindless state? Are they a jannie for the one that turned them seeing as they started human and didn't achieve it through their own magecraft etc.

I just find it harder to judge a "class" when we know little about the available "skill trees" that would result from each is all.

>>5078405
So down the list.
Partially depends on player choice, but it will be either based around church sacrements or the spells in their family crest which revolve around manipulating life force.
Mystics will be able to come up with their own sorcereries later down the line.

Demon hunter again depends, but mostly revolves around keen instincts, being able to understand the world around you better than a normal person would, along with physical bonuses in combat.

Dead apostle will start at rank 4 but how they got there will be a choice that being whether they were a ghoul for years or were purposefully made rank 4 by their master, they will be bound to their master early game.

I can elaborate more in a bit if you want me to but this is the general gist.

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>>5078405
is me

>>5078419
cheers senpai. Don't really need to probe further, don't want to start unravelling the story before its told.

Demon hunter seems the most bland. Shame no mixed blood onikind/faekind/lamiakind/dragonkind etc. style options for inhumanchads. DA and Church mirror each other pretty well in that you're a jannie early on then, life forced based powers too.

This is a really solid start for a DA as well, as it leaves players at the precipice of discarding their humanity.

>Stage IV: Nightkin (夜属, Yazoku?) — An undead who acts as a fledgling vampire while maintaining its original personality.
A half-human vampire whose inhuman physical abilities come at the cost of experiencing extreme coldness and thirst. A low-ranking knight, so to speak. When those of Rank Ⅵ and above carefully drink the blood of their prey, their victim starts out as a vampire of this rank. They become anemic under the sunlight, though it doesn't burn them yet.
In the world of magic, one is considered "a person" up to this rank. A vampire who has reached Rank Ⅳ can now survive away from its parent. From their point of view it has changed from an "object" to a "living thing", in a sense. Only one in a thousand people are able to reach this rank.[9]

>>5078434
Who said there were no halfblood options? I said I couldn't figure out Oni halfblood so it wasn't a flat out char gen option.

Suffice it to say that there is a halfblood option of a sort as a boon for one of these.
Its not the dead apostle.

>>5078009
>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church]

Don't know the setting but I always love the Church. Nice to see you QMing again Warden!

>>5078009
>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church]
Vampires suck

>>5078009
I'll switch to...
>A Mystic who would be the last of their line, raised by the church. [The Church]

>>5078061
This is my original vote.

After reading >>5078419 I changed my mind, Demon Hunter choice seemed a bit more boring than I'd hoped.

>>5078009
Alright gonna call the vote a little early as I suspect we wont' see a turn around in the next 50 minutes.
By my count we have:

9 votes for the Church
6 votes for Dead Apostle
2 votes for Demon Hunter

This vote will have 8 hours
_____________

Born you were into a family of Mages. Lost was this family whilst you were but a youth, the circumstance suspect, the truth obscured.

They were seeking the root through lineage like many a mage family would, however they took that dedication a little more literally than most. Their Magic Crest and research focused predominately on the manipulation of blood and life force, seeking to awaken the latent powers that lay within both.

[SPECIAL MECHANICS]

-Magic: You have a certain amount of Mana you can Spend on magecraft, you will have a number of spells available to you from the starting
-Magecraft: You will have the opportunity to craft new spells at certain points.
-Bloodline Growth: If you are able to follow through on your parents research you may find great power in your own heritage.

______________

Choose a Background:

>Orphaned without a Crest [HARD MODE]
When your parents were killed, their bodies were never found and their research was almost entirely destroyed, along with them went your rightful inheritance their magic crest, generations of knowledge lost to murder. The circumstances of the event are still kept from you to this day.

Attribute Spread:
Strength: C; Agility: C; Endurance: D; Magic: C; Luck: E; Charisma: C

>Inheritor of the Quest for the Root [NORMAL MODE]
You inherited your Parents Crest, you don’t know how they died, all you know is that on that faithful day you had already been sent away to the Church and when you were able to return they weren’t alive anymore. They arranged For the Church to take you into its care as repayment for a favor and to keep their legacy from the Clock Tower.

Attribute Spread:
Strength: E; Agility: E; Endurance: D; Magic: A; Luck: C; Charisma: B

[continue]

>>5079171
________________

Choose a Boon:

(Bare in mind that these will progress if you choose to focus on your parents research)

>Blood of Saints
Your Family has always been close to the Church, more so than most mages, there’s a reason for that.
[You have Pure Eyes that can see when someone is lying, and Magic Resistance D to any spell of non-holy origin]

>Diluted Dragons Blood
Ages past your family intermingled with Dragons, their influence is still felt even now, but it is weak in this age and has been greatly diluted.
[The power of the Dragon is latent, When your health is below 25% All of your Attributes go up by 1 Rank]

_________________

Choose a Flaw:


>3nd Rate Mage with a 4th rate Teacher
Your tutors were less than stellar when it came to teaching you the fundamentals of mage craft. [Magical Rituals take twice as long to cast, and you know less magic than you should starting out.]

>The Clock Tower’s Eye
Your family’s relations with the Church and you being the last of your line has earned you the eye of the Clock Tower, be wary, more so than usually of your progress as a mage. [The Clock Tower’s agents are constantly appraising you, it will take less for them than usual to issue a sealing designation.]

>>5079171
>Orphaned without a Crest
Fuck the Root.
>Blood of Saints
Fuck Dragons.
>The Clock Tower’s Eye
And fuck Magi.

>>5079179
>+1
We should become a muscle wizard, but do a Shibata and earn all of our muscles come from hard work and not magic.

>>5079171
> Orphaned without a Crest

Seems interesting! Hope I don't kill the quest like I helped kill overgrowth!

>Blood of Saints
We fucking win Churchchads.

starting out.]

>The Clock Tower’s Eye
Seal this FIST magecucks. You better send Kiritsugu plus, motherfucker.

>>5079171
>>5079174
>Inheritor of the Quest for the Root
>Diluted Dragons Blood
>The Clock Tower’s Eye

>-Bloodline Growth: If you are able to follow through on your parents research you may find great power in your own heritage.
>(Bare in mind that these will progress if you choose to focus on your parents research)
Looks like an opportunity to do some dragon blood cultivation.

>>5079232
Disgusting.

>>5079235
Sorry.
Meant to put
>Dragon Blood Cultivation
Disgusting.
The Lord provides.

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Remember all.
Saint trumps Dragon.

>>5079242
She tamed Tarasque and they work together.
Church using dragons for the benefit of humanity.
And don't forget God helps those who help themselves so casting away useful tools is not an optimal approach.

>>5079250
Yeah, imma pick being the owner over being the pet.

>>5079254
Unnecessary pride.
There is nothing degrading in being servant of God.

>>5079259
Yeah but I'm not some Crypto-furry so I'm going to pick the Saintblood option regardless.

>>5079171
>Inheritor of the Quest for the Root [NORMAL MODE]
>>5079174
>Blood of Saints
3rd Rate Mage with a 4th rate Teacher

>>5079174
>Orphaned without a Crest
>Blood of Saints
>The Clock Tower’s Eye

Absolutely no contest here.

>>5079174
>Orphaned without a Crest
We don't need a crest when we have the Lord and higher stats
>Blood of Saints
How many times have you heard of a dragon killing a saint?
>The Clock Tower’s Eye
Oh, no. The heretics will hate us. Whatever are we going to do?

>>5079290
Actual total bonus is only +5 higher without the credt and you have 2 less rerolls.

>>5079299
>STR and AGI
vs
>LUCK and a bit of CHA
Gee, I wonder what's going to be more useful for someone meant to be hunting heretics and monsters.

>>5079301
Rerolls are pretty strong, that said you're not wrong a big part of this is to determine how much the character will lean towards or away from the church.

>>5079304
Also keep in mind
>Rerolls that may not even give us a success and being able to talk to heretics and monsters.
Vs
>Fistfighting everything.

>>5079174
>Orphaned without a Crest
>Blood of Saints
>The Clock Tower’s Eye

Hey, QM.
Are you going to keep or retcon Kiara being member of Burial Agency and later becoming Prophet/Saint?

>>5079327
I'm pretty sure that you're mixing up timelines there, pal.
All we know is that there's a Kiara Kisshouin (Not Sessyoin) in the agency, and the Prophet/Saint stuff only happens in Fate/Extra timelines.

>>5079327
>>5079330
Not 100% on this one I'm not terribly up to date fgo, but my understanding is that they're different people.

>>5079330
Suppose it is up for interpretation. But with Nasu's bias towards Kiara I'd imagine it is going to be her.
>Fate/Extra timelines.
Yeah but those things also happen after events of TsukiR story take place. Assuming we start around those dates.
>>5079342
She sorts of got name dropped in Remake. Like anon said last name looks similar but different. Although not sure if it is some foreshadowing with how it was written or not.
I am mostly curious if you consider it to be her or not.

>>5079361
Considering that people in the Burial Agency are explicitly referred to as "Failed Saints" the answer is no.
Even if it is her.
It could also still just be a completely different person with a similar name, which there is a precedent for too.
SHIROU KOTOMINE

>>5079361
I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same person but I'm fairly sure they're not, I'd need a confirmation that they are on the tsukihime side to definitively say, but regardless of if they're the same no she's not becoming a saint in this quests timeline.

>>5079171
>Inheritor of the Quest for the Root

There's nothing interesting about missing out on a Crest, at least from a having interesting abilities point of view. We take a more balanced spread of attributes and hence end up mediocre at everything with terrible luck. I'll admit that there could be interesting character work done with that choice and the the mystery could be interesting, but it seems to unnecessarily be gimping us for a hard mode and if we want to be a beast physically we'd have been better off going with demon hunter.

>>5079174
>Diluted Dragons Blood

Counters our low stats when we get low on health - and presumably mana by that point too - and need the boost.

>The Clock Tower’s Eye

Could be interesting and doesn't weaken our abilities.

>>5079171
>>5079174
>Inheritor of the Quest for the Root
Why go for hard mode before we even know what the story will entail.
>Diluted Dragons Blood
Raw numbers probably helps more in a gamemode where stats and hp/mana are actually a numerically recorded thing for conflict.
>The Clock Tower’s Eye
Already work for the church, not even an issue.

>>5079174
>>5079171
>Inheritor of the Quest for the Root
>Diluted Dragons Blood
>The Clock Tower’s Eye

>>5079171
>Orphaned without a Crest
>Blood of Saints
>The Clock Tower’s Eye

Alright it's been 8 hours, here's what my current tally looks like.

Background:
7 votes for Orphaned without a crest
5 votes for Inheritor of the Quest for the Root

Boon:
8 votes for Blood of Saints
4 votes for Diluted Dragons Blood

Flaw:
No Contest The Clock Tower's Eye

Alright looks like we'll be essentially embracing the 8th sacrament.
________

And with that character creation is over.

Name: Joshua Braun

Initial Character Sheet:
Attributes:
Strength: C
Agility: C
Endurance: D
Magic: C
Luck: E
Charisma: C

Health: 5/5
Mana: 15/15
Spells:
Holy Sacraments: Barrier, Holy Fire, Reinforcement.
Familial: Strengthen Blood, Siphon Life Force
(Descriptions of the spells effects will be given in the proper character sheet)

Skills:
Pure Eyes of Truth: You know whenever someone is lying to you.
Magic Resistance D: Cancels Single-Action spells. Magic Resistance of the same degree of an amulet that rejects magical energy.

___________

It Begins, Writing.

>>5079609
DEUS VULT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2zxKrBjfxc

>>5079609
Shouldn't that Mana be Od?
Mana in the Nasuverse is usually meant to be the natural Magical Energy of the environment, while Od is the personal supply of Magical Energy of a magus or being.
Unless you're just writing it as Mana to avoid confusion.

>>5079625
Yes I am using Mana to avoid confusion.

A slow and steady breath leaves your mouth, your chest moving up and down with each subsequent breath.

Staring quietly at the ceiling you sit up, another peaceful day. You get dressed and get ready to leave your room only stopping once to admire the garden outside your window. Filled with Violets, Lilies, and Rosemary, it is ever vibrant on this simple summers day.

You head out of your room and quickly down a hallway towards your home's front door, it was about time tend to the garden.

As you reach front door you grab some gloves and a sun hat off a coat hanger you keep nearby putting them on you go to open the door, but before you can you hear a knock.

You blink once, and sigh, before quickly checking your phone to see what day it was.

Saturday July 7th, 2012 6:34AM.

You pocket it and sigh once again, it was likely Father Honigman come to check in on you.

You open the door with a small smile.

and there was Father Honigman a small smile of his own met yours, "Joshua." he said cheerfully.

You give him a nod back, "Father, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

He chuckles, "Always business yes? It seems you're going to tend the garden?"

You nod, "It's about time to water them." stepping outside closing the door behind you, "Lets talk while we walk."

You head around the corner and Father Honigman follows, "It's well taken care of, the garden that is." he comments once you reach your destination.

You smile, "I would hope so, I put a lot of work into this... I don't suppose you're just here for pleasantries?" he occasionally was, but you could feel something was slightly different this day.

[Continue]

He sighs, "Alas no, There is a matter to discuss regarding the town, a sensitive matter so I trust you can keep your peace?"

You nod, "Of course Father." you say as you water the many bushes in your garden.

He nods, "How often do you watch the news?"

You shrug, "Occasionally." you could feel where this was going.

He frowns a little, "Then you're aware of the string of disappearances?"

You sigh, "Yes, 3 or 4 missing teenagers..." you finish the watering and turn around, and Father Honigman continues, "We've reason to believe these disappearances are more than they appear."

You look up for a few seconds, "How so?"

He pulls out a small packet and hands it to you, opening it up you see several graphic photos of bodies splayed in inhumane arrangements, blood drained from them. flipping through them you notice something strange, one of the corpses eyes seem to be following the photographer.

You hand them back, "Undead? Then a Dead Apostle..."

He nods, "Or a Necromancer perhaps. Regardless whatever did this was monsterous in action both pre and post mortem to these victims."

You nod in agreement, "Then perhaps you should gather some Executors."

The Father shakes his head, "No I believe that this is in good hands."

You give him a look of confusion for a second, before it dawns on you, "Ah you want me to deal with this."

He nods.

What do you do?
>The disappearances are recent and our town is small, whatever did this started recently, so it's still early, might as well handle this.
>Insist to the father that he get official Executors, he might have trained you to ostensibly be one, but you've never been formally accepted
>You can look into the matter on your own yes, but he should still get some official support.
>Write in

>>5079695
>You can look into the matter on your own yes, but he should still get some official support.

>>5079695
>You can look into the matter on your own yes, but he should still get some official support.

>>5079695
>You can look into the matter on your own yes, but he should still get some official support.

>>5079695
>The disappearances are recent and our town is small, whatever did this started recently, so it's still early, might as well handle this.

Ah, damn, missed the vote. Dragon's blood would've been better for hardcore mode, but would've voted for normal anyway, since there was nothing interesting or beneficial in playing on hardcore mode.

>You can look into the matter on your own yes, but he should still get some official support.

Wins

I'll start Writing when I'm done playing a table top session in about an hour.

You mull the situation over for a minute, "Alright Father I'll look into it, but you need to promise me that you'll bring in the proper officials for this whilst I conduct my investigation."

Father Honigman Nods, "Very well then Joshua, I will do so."

He's telling a half-truth.
He intends to delay the action for some time.

You frown at him, "Father..."

He sighs, "Yes, yes I'll get in contact with them when I get back to the Church, I'm simply trying to do you a favor."

You shake your head, "Your notion of a favor is an odd one Father."

He shrugs and smiles, "It doesn't hurt to have a good image, being proactive in your work for the church helps you for consideration when it comes to greater tasks."

You shake your head, "Perhaps, but that doesn't mean you should slack in your official duties to build me up Father, nepotism is unbecoming of you."

He laughs, "Boy if I was being nepotistic you'd have been made an executor a couple of years ago."

You shake your head, "Now do you have a place I can start my investigation?"

He stops laughing and nods, "Yes, Unsurprisingly these photos were taken in the sewage system, more surprisingly they were near the local water treatment plant."

You raise an eye brow at that, "Seems a bit brazen to set up shop near a public service."

He shrugs, "Perhaps they subscribe to the theory that hiding in plain sight is the best strategy."

You look back to the garden for a moment, the bushes looked healthy, and the flowers sparkled lightly with the water droplets hanging off them.

You then head back to your house and inside, Father Honigman following behind, and you hang up your hat and gloves. Heading a bit further in to a closet you open it up and push a small button on the side that opens a second door in the back that stored your equipment and reagents.

a Set of 42 black keys, several enchanted seals to help with setting up bounded fields, and a sword enchanted to extend to full length upon command that otherwise looks simply like a grip and guard.

You grab 12 of the Black keys and hang them inside of a cloak, some of the seals, and the sword which you equip to your belt.

Father Honigman gives a quiet nod at this, "Be careful."

You smile, "Am I ever not father?"

he chuckles, "Only when it matters. Now I suppose I'll head back to the church then."

You stop him just as he's about to leave, "It was good talking with you, even if the topic was grim."

He smiles gently at this, "Perhaps next time it will just be pleasantries."

With this Father Honigman leaves.

[continue]

You have your gear equipped and are ready to head out
What do you do?
>Lets head to the Water Treatment plant and reconnoiter the place.
>Best to investigate the site of the tragedies in question, you'll better be able to assess what your dealing with if you see the site in person.
>Lets start from the top, investigate the rumor and attempt to figure out the fact from the fiction.
>Perhaps I should make a few more preparations before heading out (What?)
>Write in

Hey QM does Joshua have any connections in the area? Even normies who might be able to act as surveillance? Or people that might need to be protected?

>>5080089

Joshua's social life is pretty hit or miss, imagine if you constantly knew whenever someone lied, and exactly what they were lying about, but didn't know what the truth was, it makes personal relationships and trust very difficult.

But he does have a couple of contacts in town in the commercial district, as well as one that is from out of town but visits frequently.

I'll note them down on the proper character sheet, but I'll describe them here as well.

The Commerical contacts are as follows:

Johan Sigmundson - A local rumor monger, does his research though tries to only deal in facts, he and Joshua get along about as well as people like they are can.

Rachel Fischer - An old lady that runs a local mom and pop cafe that Joshua frequents, closest thing to a mother figure he has in town growing up.

The Out of Town contact is a Mage that was a friend of his parents, knew him from before he lost them.

Roderich Wagner, much like his parents not on good terms with the mages association, however he himself isn't exactly the best mage, part of that is that he's to honest for his own good, the other part is that he finds magus society to be extremely suffocating, is ostensibly outside of Father Hongiman Joshua's only link to his familys past, doesn't like to talk much about it though.

And obviously his last in town contact is Father Honigman, who was an Executor when he took Joshua in, but has since settled down into a research position within the eighth Sacrament. Is a Father figure to Joshua, as well does not like to speak of the past.

>>5080078
>Lets start from the top, investigate the rumor and attempt to figure out the fact from the fiction.

>>5080078
>Lets start from the top, investigate the rumor and attempt to figure out the fact from the fiction.
If we're going to recieve some backup later, we should investigate those details so that they don't come and say some bullshit like "se have to follow protocols and be sure of the rumors and such. While we take our time go and investigate the sewers by your own and have your guts being estén"

>>5080121
Eaten* Phoneposting, sorry about it

>>5080078
>Lets start from the top, investigate the rumor and attempt to figure out the fact from the fiction.
Lie detection is our specialty

Vote will remain open until I wake up, Should also have the character sheet up tomorrow as well.
Good night all.

>>5080143
Good night Warden. God be with you

>>5080078
>Lets start from the top, investigate the rumor and attempt to figure out the fact from the fiction.

>>5080078
>Best to investigate the site of the tragedies in question, you'll better be able to assess what your dealing with if you see the site in person.

>>5080108
Now I'm imagining a girl that constantly lies to you though insults, but really knows that you can tell the truth from lies and does it to teasingly and cheekily pay you compliments that no one else but you would understand. I think that would be low-key kino personally.

Good morning All!

>>5080291
What you have described is the Tsundere archetype except with an explicit understanding of their awkward flirting.

>Lets start from the top, investigate the rumor and attempt to figure out the fact from the fiction.
Wins 4 votes to 1

Writing.

You opt to go into town to separate the facts from the fiction. Obviously there would be a lot of rumors floating around due to the disappearances.
If you're lucky you'll be able to find someone that actually knows what they're talking about regarding them and has loose lips.

Your first stop is a small corner shop, it's a pawn shop and inside is the owner, one Johan Sigmundson, Your typical middle aged man, around 43 years old, short hair and starting to gray, a bit out of shape and perpetually bored.

He's a rumormonger of sorts in addition to selling whatever bullshit is in his shop.

You walk up to the front desk and Johan looks up from a laptop he was typing away on, "Ah Joshua, come here to buy something or are you here to talk my head off and window shop like usual?"

Sarcasm, half truth, you're regular visits aren't just talking to him and leaving, you usually buy something when you do.
Though you do window shop a lot you concede.

You breath through your nose, while useful it can be annoying to have these thoughts intrusively enter your stream of consciousness at the drop of a dime.

"I don't window shop nearly as much as you imply I do, but yeah I'm hear to talk today."
You put one hand on the desk and reach into your cloak to pull out some money, "And I'll buy that trowel over there, I need a replacement anyways."

He laughs, "Sure, what do you want to talk about?"

You hand the money over, "The kids that are disappearing, what have you heard?"

His jovial disposition sours fast at that topic.

He puts the trowel in a box then a bag and puts it on the desk with a receipt, "Grim topic. The parents swear up and down that they wouldn't be runaways, they're obviously worried sick about the whole matter."

You nod your head solemnly, it's a sad fact that they'll never see them again, you always hated situations like this.

Johan continues, "Last place most folks recall seeing them was the North end of town..."

You look at him, "Near the Water Treatment Plant?"

He nods, "Yeah near the water treatment plant."

So probably the right area then, he hasn't omitted anything yet and he does his research.

Johan sighs, "Last point on the matter is that some real freak showed up in town about a week ago. Like we're talking crack addict looking creepy. Came into my shop said he was looking for 'ingredients' asked him 'what for' and he just laughed at me. Then he bought some small figurines, an old oil can someone had hocked to me to get out of their attic, and I think a set of wax candles.... oh and some red dye."

You raise an eyebrow, "That is... an assortment of things yes, Ok I take it you suspect he did it?"

He nods, "Lot of folks rub me the wrong way, that man was like being rubbed against a cheese grater."

[Continue]

You furrow your eyebrows, this was unreasonably unsubtle, either you're dealing with a psychopath or this is a ruse.
You click your tongue, your eyes can't discern the truth of situations, just when something is obfuscating the truth and typically only when they're talking...

You pause for a second, "You keep a security recording right?"

He nods, "Yeah why?"

You look him dead in the eyes, "I want to see this guy."

He looks at you like your an alien, "Whatever man, let me go get the tapes."

You look at him as he heads back, "You keep it on tapes?"

He shrugs as he walks away, "Don't like dealing with the new shit."

That's a lie, he enjoys tinkering.

You rub your temples and close your eyes, and mutter, "not helpful."

He comes back with the tapes and a CTTV and a vcr player integrated into it, "Lord I'm not sure we're going to be able to make anything out on that."

He laughs, "Squint your eyes young'n"

You shake you're head as he puts in the tape.

it begins playing, and immediately you can sense something is wrong, the feeling is overwhelming
You're looking at the video as the man walks in and he doesn't fit the description at all, everything he does screams of wrong.

Illusion magic? Whatever it is is making you want to throw up, it's like a bunch of white noise has hit your brain all at once.
What do you do?
>Keep watching, bare through the discomfort, they obviously wanted to seem crazy for a reason and you need to see it all to understand.
>Look away, this is giving you a massive headache, ask Johan what he's seeing, you'll be able to sort things out by contradiction so long as you focus on Johan.
>Excuse yourself to the bathroom, you need to see if there's any lingering magic around here first before this continues.
>Write in.

>>5080491
>Keep watching, bare through the discomfort, they obviously wanted to seem crazy for a reason and you need to see it all to understand.
Interesting.

>>5080491
>Look away, this is giving you a massive headache, ask Johan what he's seeing, you'll be able to sort things out by contradiction so long as you focus on Johan

>>5080491
>Excuse yourself to the bathroom, you need to see if there's any lingering magic around here first before this continues.

>>5080491
>Keep watching, bare through the discomfort, they obviously wanted to seem crazy for a reason and you need to see it all to understand.

After this, if we don't go and fall in a Coma, we should ask for the tape and examine it. Maybe the magic was concentrated in the cameras instead of something in the ambience. Maybe the guy Jonah described was a normal addict he saw in the streets and in case someone follow him, use the addict as a scape goat and gain some time.

>>5080491
>Excuse yourself to the bathroom, you need to see if there's any lingering magic around here first before this continues.

>>5080491
>Keep watching, bare through the discomfort, they obviously wanted to seem crazy for a reason and you need to see it all to understand.

>>5080491
>Keep watching, bare through the discomfort, they obviously wanted to seem crazy for a reason and you need to see it all to understand.
But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed

>>5080700
Wait what’s this about a coma???

>>5080786
I believe anon is drawing parallels between Joshua's experience with his perception causing him pain and Shiki from Tsukihimes over use of his mystic eyes leading to comas.

Voting will close in 1 hour.

>>5080786
>>5080799
Honestly I only watched Fate/Zero and Stay Night. I don't know much aside from some thing I read in the wiki, anime and the spoilers, but I liked it so I decided to stay and see how this quest goes

>>5080806
Alrighty then, well glad you're enjoying it.
For a little more background and experience I recommend the Tsukihime manga, should give you and anyone coming in from the fate side of things enough context without having to read the whole iriginal vn or the remake.
But both of those are good to so I'll still recommend them.

>>5080811
Thanks, the quest is looking nice and the character looks interesting with all the options that the other anons choose. I'll make sure to read the manga later then.

Alright calling the vote here
Keep Watching wins with 4 votes

Time for the first roll of the quest.

I want 3 seperate anons to give me 1d100, you're looking to roll under the Final DV.

YOU HAVE 1 REROLL REMAINING FOR THE THREAD

Challenging DV 50
+5 D Ranked Endurance
Final DV 55

Crit Fail: Good thing you didn't have breakfast, Dry heaving is the worst you'll be doing, but you catch absolutely nothing.
0 Successes: You hold it together, but the headache and nausea are just to much for you to catch most of it.
1 Success: You're able to keep your eyes on the screen through most of it, but you're going to have a headache for the rest of the day
2 Successes: The headache makes a few things cloudy, but you're able to parse most of the information.
3 Successes: You handle it like a champ and are able to make it through the whole video, though your eyes hurt.
Crit Success: You notice an additional critical detail in addition to the 3 success result.

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>5080867

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>5080867

I know this isn’t a fate quest but will Yorokobe (Kotimine) be making a cameo I mean we are a member of the church.

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>5080867

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>5080867

>>5080880
Unlikely, he's either dead if there was a Holy Grail War and it went down any of the fate routes, or he wouldn't be the Kotomine that we all know and enjoy.

Results of the roll
>>5080869
>>5080874
>>5080895

2 Successes: The headache makes a few things cloudy, but you're able to parse most of the information.

Writing.

We were one more 7 away from hitting triple number of God roll.

You Grit your teeth as you refocus your gaze on the old TV.

The person who entered the store was almost certainly not the person that was described by Johan.
Yet it feels like the longer you look at it the more the image begins to distort.

The buzzing in your skull intensifies for a brief moment, it was like static from a radio burst, to much information at once, to many requests and messages being sent all at the same time.

You take a deep breath and continue to watch as the Tall man dressed in a long coat, shoulder length black hair held back in a pony tail and a suit walked right past Johan leaving behind the distorted image of the addict as it began to speak.

Obfuscation of the Truth, misdirection, fallacious entity, a thousand repetitions screaming in your skull at the time say the same thing in different ways, it was incomprehensible gibberish at his point.

You focus your eyes towards the Tall man and the static in your mind begins to calm, but still something was wrong about this, he seemed to be grabbing the items that Johan had said he did, but simply puts them back, before heading towards the locked door leading to the back room. A flick of his wrist and an incantation and the door opens and he walks inside, the light is dim, back there.

"Johan what do you keep in the back room", You say watching that side of the screen to avoid further antagonizing your brain.

Johan blinks, "What? Uh... mostly expensive goods, stuff that's in the catalogue, but not out in open air." he points to a catalogue book.

That only raises more questions, but the answer is probably simple, he had looked at the catalogue book before coming here, likely under a different disguise, or perhaps as himself before leaving.

"Keep anything interesting?" you follow up.

He shrugs, "A bunch of antique knick knacks."

You grimace, there's not to many magus around here, but plenty of families fall on hard times, especially the ones with more expensive disciplines like the ones that use Gems, its possible they could have hocked an artifact and Johan would be none the wiser.

You continue to watch as he comes out of the room holding something, It looked like...
He walks back in sight of the illusion.

Your mind begins screaming at you again as you have to close your eyes for a moment, by the time you've opened them again the room was empty on the tape.
"Shit..." you mutter to yourself.

You turn the tv off, Johan gives you a quizical look, "Exactly like I told you, crazy crack addict looking guy comes in buys some weird shit and leaves."

You scratch your head and the hold it for a moment.

"You might want to check your stock, he might have taken something while 'browsing.'" you say.

He raises an eyebrow at this, "Pretty sure I'd have noticed."

You shrug, "Your shop, just my recommendation, can I check that catalogue?"

He nods, "Sure, you got enough money for those antiques?"

You reply, "Maybe I just want to window shop?"

He laughs, "You better not."

[continue]

As you flip through the catalogue you find that most of it is just your average antique set, but then you see this ornate looking dagger, looks vaguely like something used in ritual sacrifices, "Johan, who sold you this?"

He looks at it, and shrugs, "Some old guy from out of town, needed the money for a hotel and food he said."

You nod, "Can you get that for me? I'd like to appraise it myself."

He laughs, "Since when were you certified for that?"

You roll your eyes, "Don't need a certification to know your prices are bullshit."

He frowns, "Watch it."

You both laugh, "Yeah yeah, now get the dagger."

He heads into his backroom for a bit, and then comes back out with a concerned look, "How long you got to wait because that place is a bit of a mess and it's not where it's supposed to be."

You frown, that's not good.
What do you do?
>Take your time, confirm it was the dagger just because it's not in its spot doesn't mean its what was taken
>Ockham's razor simplest answer time, all signs point to ritual sacrifice, but for what?
>Let him look, you can use the time to investigate rumors of this 'addict' to try and find more evidence of the Tall Man.
>Write in

>Let him look, you can use the time to investigate rumors of this 'addict' to try and find more evidence of the Tall Man.

>>5080954
>Let him look, you can use the time to investigate rumors of this 'addict' to try and find more evidence of the Tall Man.

>>5080447
I'm actually imagining somebody more calm and suave (with wit and maybe a tiny bit smug) than a Tsundere, but sure.

>>5080954
>Ockham's razor simplest answer time, all signs point to ritual sacrifice, but for what?

Calling the vote now

>Let him look, you can use the time to investigate rumors of this 'addict' to try and find more evidence of the Tall Man.

Wins.

Write up will come tomorrow, until then good night.

Good Morning everyone!
________

You straighten up and close the catalogue, "Keep looking, call me if you find it. I know how long it takes for you to dig through your crap."

He looks like he's about to be offended before letting his shoulders slump with a sigh, "Yeah yeah, Fine, your number hasn't changed right?"

You nod, "Same as it's been for the last couple of years."

With that you head out of the pawn shop, now if that guy is set up near the Water treatment plant to the north then...

You pull up your phone and open up your maps app to check the town's layout real quick to make sure you're remembering correctly.

Yeah he'd be heading down south along the river side and then hanging a left after about a mile then it'd be a block or two to here.

You scratch the back of your head and sigh, "That's a lot of ground to cover..." you mutter to yourself. Looking around you see a couple of road side camera's, probably owned by the city so not that helpful.

Guess you'll have to make a stop at the more popular shops and sites along the way to the water Treatment Plant from here see if they saw anyone by either description.

This was going to be a long Saturday.

[Several hours later]

You're just outside the Water Treatment Plant, you've asked up and down the riverside boardwalk, a few of the other routes and you've gotten just a few details.

One of the workers at the Plant said that the Tall Man matched the description of a 'government official' who had been inspecting the site about a week ago.
What for they didn't say, generally speaking though the magical activity in this town is relatively small, no strong lay-lines or intersections, The church is the only place with one and that place has some pretty grand defenses.

Your house is on a minor lay line, but it's not like you make much use of it, not like you have what you'd need to make use of it either. A lot of that stuff was lost when your parents died.

You shake your head, not the time to be thinking about that, So he's inspected the treatment plant, took something from a pawn shop, what else?

The addict was seen outside on of the small hotels heckling travelers for money, Nothing on the Tall Man there which isn't surprising, but that means he was there, maybe short term lodgings until they set up whatever in the Water Treatment plant?

Your phone rings, your thoughts stop for a second and you open it up, "Joshua, who's this?"

"Man you need to check your caller ID!" you pull the phone away and look at the number, "Johan, you find the dagger?"

The voice sighs from the other side, "Nope, it's missing, I'm about to file a report with the police about a theft, guess you were right about the addict."

[Continue]

You scratch your chin eyes still on the Water Treatment plant, "Might want to hold off on that for a day or two."

There's a pause on the other side, "Why?"

You turn around for a bit and start walking away from the plant, "Just Trust me on that."

There's another longer pause, "Fine, but only for a day, don't do anything stupid Joshua."

You chuckle, "I won't."

With that you close your phone and pocket it, that seals it, he's set up in the Water Treatment Plant, he's going to use it as a ritual site for something, Has a temporary lodging at one of the hotels, and has already made 3 sacrifices, one of which has become an undead of some fashion.

Your a little frustrated at the circumstances, what the hell is this ritual, why there and why this town? The towns the easiest to answer, it's a bit of a ways off, not a real suburb of any major city, but large enough that a few missing people wouldn't cause to much of a panic.

But the ritual, you're not sure.... unless those 3 were practice and not part of the ritual itself.
The last one was turned into an undead...
No, that's absurd, he couldn't be trying to turn himself into a dead apostle could he?

You turn back around to the Water Treatment Plant, If he was what better place to weaken and feed from then the source of life in a town.
That fucker.

What do you do?
>This needs to stop now, enter the sewers and head to the Treatment plant from there and attempt to Confront the Heretic Magus.
>Lets not get to hot headed, head back and regroup with Father Honigman and make a plan of attack.
>There's no way he'll be able to achieve success with that ritual in the time it'll take the Executors to get here, head back let the Father know and leave this in there hands.
>Write in?

>>5081800
>Lets not get to hot headed, head back and regroup with Father Honigman and make a plan of attack.

>>5081800
>Lets not get to hot headed, head back and regroup with Father Honigman and make a plan of attack.

>>5081800
>This needs to stop now, enter the sewers and head to the Treatment plant from there and attempt to Confront the Heretic Magus.

Alright we'll call the vote here

>Lets not get to hot headed, head back and regroup with Father Honigman and make a plan of attack.

Writing.

You give the Water Treatment Plant one last look before turning back properly, it does you no good to go in without a plan of attack.

Attacking a Magus' base of operations is a difficult task if they're even half way competent.

With that in mind you head back to the Church to discuss the details of what you've discovered and your conclusion with Father Honigman.

It doesn't take you nearly as long to head back seeing as you have no need to make stops or talk whilst heading there, upon entering the church you find that it is relatively empty, Father Honigman is probably in the back. You head there to see him sorting through some books on a shelf, he gives you a quiet acknowledgement.

"Father Honigman."

"Joshua. Have you found anything?" he replies.

You nod, "Plenty, the situation is the worst of both theories frankly." you take a seat as the Father grabs one of the books on the shelf and heads to a desk that he seats himself at, he gives you his full attention as he sets the book to the side.

You continue, "It seems we're dealing with a Magus, one with knowledge of Illusionary magic, as well as one capable of performing a ritual capable of creating undead. All evidence I've gathered points to him having set up in two locations. One being the Water Treatment plant, I suspect this is to become his long term base of operations, and another in a hotel, this seems to have been temporary lodging. In terms of objective from what I've been able to deduce he's collecting these victims to use as practice for a ritual. I speculate that this is a ritual to turn oneself into a Dead Apostle, but I can not confirm this."

The Father gives a quiet nod at this and looks up for a moment, "I see, these are grave tidings. The Executors are scheduled to arrive sometime tomorrow evening, how long do you believe he's been here?"

"About a week, though he's likely been eyeing up this town and towns like it for longer. My guess is that he figured he'd either fly under the radar for long enough with his illusions or that the churches response would have been slower. Regardless we shouldn't wait to long to deal with this issue." you respond.

Father Honigman nods in agreement at this, "Indeed, whether he is seeking to become a dead apostle through ritual magic or if his schemes are pointed else where, it is a grave offense this heritic is committing by assailing my congregation." He stands up and heads to a nearby window, "I can have the Water Treatment Plant closed down and all personnel evacuated from it, from there we should have free reign to handle the issue. I would strongly prefer the matter to be settled as soon as possible, so much so in fact that I may dust off my old robes..."

[continue]

He turns around, "Joshua, you've done well, Blessings be upon you. However the Lord's work is never done. If you will I ask you to accompany me on this task. If it seems to much for these old bones and your own abilities then we will simply be recon, but if we can strike down the heretic than I believe we should."

"I can agree to that, but first we need a plan."

He nods, "We'll need blueprints of the plant as well as the sewer system, these are trivial, we'll erect barriers on all escape routes through the sewage system, from there we will proceed and purge any and all opposition along the way to Heretic. Should things prove beyond our capabilities we'll fall back to a designated point and await reinforcements." he heads to the bookcase and taps the side of it as it opens to what looks like a reliquary of weapons and sacraments, "Any objections or suggestions Joshua?"

Do you have any objections to this plan?
>Yes (Write in)
>No

>>5082460
>No

>>5082460
>No

>>5082460
no

Alright we'll call the vote here

No objections to the plan

Writing.

You had no objections to the plan, it was simple and straight forwards. Control the access points, and go as far as we can, whatever remains after the Plant has been evacuated will be a clear enemy.

Father Honigman was quick to equip himself, an older looking black robe had been dusted off, he strikes an imposing figure in it, his normally peaceful demeanor replaced with one of unrepentant malice. He had been an Executor for many years before he settled down in his current position. There's an old adage about old men in a profession where they usually die young, the Father imbodied that adage.

He swept past and grabbed a phone, a quick phone call and a short argument pass and the Water Treatment Plant is to be Evacuated.

You had seen the Father in action twice.

Once was on a trip to France, the Aftermath of a cruel and disgusting failed ritual, the violence of the Dead Apostle Ancestors and the clash between them and the last of the True Ancestors had left a wreckage of a city in their wake, and ultimately clean up duty in the hands of the Church. For all the kindness he offers to those in his flock, he returns equal contempt and violence to those outside it. You'd call the mans behavior paradoxical if such an attitude was so prevalent within the Church as a whole. You count yourself lucky to have grown up in his care and to be counted in his confidence.

He had said that the reason he brought you was to give you an first hand experience with the horrors of the world.
You can't say that his guardianship has been the most appropriate growing up.

The Second instance was another trip, this time to Italy, a small group of Heretical magi had gathered together and were plotting something, you weren't maid privy to the specifics, but you were brought along as something of a test of your skills and knowledge. It was the first time that the Father had put you in consideration for being an Executor yourself.

You won't lie the prospect was appealing in it's own ways, but you always found the secrecy off putting, lies and secrets never meshed well with you due to your eyes. Still you owe a lot to the father and the Church. The higher ups don't see it that way though, they tolerate the Father and yourself due to their relationship with your parents, but to them you haven't earned their confidence yet.

You sigh, and look at a clock, whilst reminiscing about an hour had passed in the wait for the Plant to be evacuated, by the time you would arrive from a walk the process should be complete.

Father Honigman and you departed the church for the Plant stopping a short ways down the street, the sun was setting at this point and all attention was on the plant due to the commossion of the evacuation. You both slipped into the sewers from a nearby grate. Head down towards the plant through the seweage you took the time to set up the various barriers behind you as branching paths presented themselves. This would be the most tedious part of this.

[continue]

Still between yourself and Father Honigman there was now only one way out and one way in.

With that you head inside.

________

Here's the Character Sheet with details on how the various spells Joshua has available to him function:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ODkZgPMO5swNDpzPQDmGySuPqDOhJ6HlnQWTCgaOjdw/edit?usp=sharing

3 anons give me 1d100

YOU HAVE 1 REROLL REMIANING FOR THE THREAD

Average DV 70
+10 C Ranked Magic
+10 C Ranked Agility
Final DV 90

No Crits this roll

0 Successes: You've triggered a magical alarm, be prepared for increased resistance further in
1 Success: You've triggered a magical alarm, you managed however to mitigate its range to a degree
2 Successes: You don't trigger the magical alarm
3 Successes: Not only did you notice the Magical alarm, you manage to dispel it without any difficulty.

Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>5082874

Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>5082874
Oh boy

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>5082874

3 Successes: Not only did you notice the Magical alarm, you manage to dispel it without any difficulty.

The First of many hurdles.

Writing

The exit you were about to use was one that was set up so that the workers at the treatment plant could access the inlets from the sewer side for blockages, though this is somewhat antiquated given more recent updates to the plant that automate that process, the entrance none the less still exists as a legacy of those older times.

However just as you're about to continue forwards you stop, noticing a small seal etched into the wall on both sides just before the ladder leading up, an innocuous thing.

You kneel down to get a closer look, seems to be set up to act as a bounded field that would alert the creator when anyone passes through it, a typical magus defense, though this one seems rather slapdash as there's no contingencies set up for if it were to be dispelled or destroyed to alert the creator.

You grab one of the black keys you have and stab it just above and to the side of the symbol taking care not to have the blade go across the mid point of the vertical axis before bending it and cracking out the small piece of wall nullifying it. With the geometry disrupted the magic becomes inert and you continue on your way forwards, perhaps the magus wasn't expecting a force to come from the sewers or perhaps they hadn't had enough time to properly reinforce their defenses yet, either way this was good, the less prepared the magus the easier it is to deal with them.

Father Honigman takes point as you follow up the ladder and you enter into a small complex, mostly meant for monitoring the mostly open air facility remotely. No one was here, as far as either of you could tell, quickly surveying the walls and floors for any more magical symbols you find the area clean, it was mostly just a maintenance closet.

You open the door leading to a short hallway with one door on your left and one door a the end that likely went outside.

You sneak up to the closer door and put your ear to it, silence, you slowly check the door nob grabbing it and gently turning to find the door locked. You nod to Father Honigman who moves past to the door at the end and he opens it up slowly to check outside, he then closes it and places down a black key in front of the door and chants a prayer as a barrier appears locking the door in place and reinforcing it.

He returns to your door on the other side, you look at him once and he nods.

You pull out your sword and it extends, he grabs a fist full of keys and stands up kicking in the door.

He tosses the keys into a triangular formation which then lights up forming a barrier around the center of the room. splitting it into 3 sections, the barrier was keyed to the father so he could pass through it and any one he designated.

[continue]

Inside was a Tall Man in a Black Long coat, with a disfigured face he seemed to have been going over some notes. As the Barrier springs to life after the door is kicked in he looks up to seem himself incased in the triangular cage.

He gives a blank and unamused expression, "You're here rather early." his tone betrays his annoyance even if his face doesn't.

The Father doesn't even give him a breath to speak before dashing in there at ridiculous speeds, the magus however seems to flip a nearby table between himself and Honigman blocking line of sight. As Honigman breaks through it to your surprise the Magus is gone.

What do you do?
>We need to fall back, this reeks of a trap
>It couldn't have been an illusion you would have felt it, you need to find him now
>To hell with this, the best way to deal with people like this is to just burn the whole damn building down.
>Write in

>>5083063
>It couldn't have been an illusion you would have felt it, you need to find him now

>>5083063
>It couldn't have been an illusion you would have felt it, you need to find him now

>>5083063
>It couldn't have been an illusion you would have felt it, you need to find him now

File: Executor.jpg (146 KB, 959x464)

146 KB JPG

Good Morning All

>It couldn't have been an illusion you would have felt it, you need to find him now

Wins

Combat Start!

Joshua: 5/5
Father Honigman: 7/7

vs

The Tall Man: ?/?

Your current Mana(Od): 15/15

Declare any spells you'd like to use with Green text like this
>Apply Holy fire, 3 mana, empower our sword with it.

Note:
Any extra damage from spells like Holy fire will be applied after the successes are determined and only when damage is dealt from them unless other conditions are stated [like siphon life force]
So if it says 2 successes: Deal 2 damage to the enemy and you had Holy Fire 3 you would deal 5 damage, but if you deal no damage then holy fire damage isn't applied.

YOU HAVE 1 REROLL REMIANING FOR THIS THREAD

I need 3 1d100s anons

Challenging DV 50
Agility C vs Agility ?: +5
Strength C vs Strength ?: +10
Magic C vs Magic ?: -10
Father Honigman's support: +10

Final DV 65

Crit Fail: "How is he doing this?" [You and Father Honigman both take 2 wounds and the target remains concealed]
0 Successes: "How did he do that?!" [You and Father Honigman both take 2 wounds, the target is revealed]
1 Success: "Get down Joshua!" [Father Honigman takes 2 wounds, the target takes 1 and is revealed]
2 Successes: "You must think yourself terribly clever!" [The Target is revealed and takes 1 wound]
3 Successes: "You can't hide from me!" [The Target is revealed and takes 2 wounds]
Crit success: "Your first mistake was assuming I couldn't see you." [The Target is revealed, takes 4 wounds, your concept of truth develops slightly]

Rolled 100 (1d100)

>>5083825

>>5083888
Welp.

Got two rolls left to get a 1 to negate that crit fail.

Rolled 3 (1d100)

>>5083825
That's a very unfortunate first roll...

So I'm going to make a ruleing here and set some precedence.

Since Rerolls are limited to a per thread number and outside that are hard to come by I'll give them an additional property.

You may spend the reroll to negate the crit fail and make it a normal failure or you may reroll the crit fail baring in mind that if it's 100 again it's still a crit fail.

I'll ask you all once the last roll comes in whether or not you want to eat the results or use the reroll.

>>5083825
dice+1d100

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>5083825

>>5083943
Whoops

Alright
Do you want to use the Reroll to negate the Crit fail?
>Yes
>No

If Yes then
>Negate to normal failure
>Reroll the crit fail normally.

>>5083947
>Yes
>Reroll the crit fail normally

>>5083947
>Yes
>Reroll the crit fail normally.

>>5083947
>Yes
>Reroll the crit fail normally.

Let's try that again.

Alright
Reroll is being spent.

some anon give me 1d100

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>5084087

Alright with that final results are

1 Success: "Get down Joshua!" [Father Honigman takes 2 wounds, the target takes 1 and is revealed]

Writing

File: Fire Magic.jpg (253 KB, 1600x1200)

253 KB JPG

You quickly scan the room for any abnormalities, you run scenario through your head one more time.

The magus was trapped in the barrier cell, no windows to break through, solid floor and ceiling, no holes in either. Obscured themselves with a table, probably could have used a single action spell in that time if they were adept at it or it was part of their family crest.

It's not an illusion you would have felt the falsehood of the projected image, and you know that single action illusions can't affect you due to the requirement to imprint the magic on the users mind or the world for a time being and your innate resistance.

Then that leaves only a few options, either the barrier was subverted by the magus in that time and they escaped with extreme speed, or they've obscured their location by warping some physical phenomena rather than creating a false image.

"Refraction." You say aloud.

Looking around again with the hypothesis in mind you look around the room again, and just as your eyes adjust to looking for the subtle distortions caused by a rushed spell that would refract the light in the room around them you're met with a blind flash of flame streaking towards you.

You curse, you were too invested in trying figure out the discrepancy rather than simply searching for one.

However, Father Honigman is quicker than the torrent of flames shoving you out of the way getting scorched on his side as a biproduct, but not without repaying the favor in kind. A Black key sticking out of the wall, a trickle of blood wrapped around a spot in space where the magus was as it fell to the ground.

His trick wouldn't work a second time.

__________

Health:
Joshua: 5/5
Father Honigman: 5/7
vs
The Tall Man: ?-1/?

Joshua's Mana(Od): 15/15

Spells listed here are available for use: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ODkZgPMO5swNDpzPQDmGySuPqDOhJ6HlnQWTCgaOjdw/edit?usp=sharing

Attributes revealed:
Tall Man Strength: E
Agility: D
Magic: A

_____________

What is your move?
>End the Fight quickly, Rush him down and Siphon his life force [Commits to Siphon Life force spell (5 mana)]
>Close the gap, engage in normal close quarters combat
>Keep at Range, use your black keys.
>Write in

>>5083888
Ah, I remember my first crit fail with the Warden. This is so similar it's not even funny.

>>5084235
>End the Fight quickly, Rush him down and Siphon his life force [Commits to Siphon Life force spell (5 mana)]

The dice do not favor us, decisive action is needed.

>>5084235
>Close the gap, engage in normal close quarters combat

We are worse at magic in comparison to the dedicated Magus, I suggest we circumvent this by applying sword to face.

>>5084235
>Close the gap, engage in normal close quarters combat
Put a barrier behind him if we can.

Alright I'll call the vote here.
>Close the gap, engage in normal close quarters combat

I'll throw in the use of Barrier as well.

Wins 2 votes to 1

Joshua: 5/5
Father Honigman: 5/7

vs

The Tall Man: ?-1/?

Your current Mana(Od): 14/15

I need 3 1d100s

Challenging DV 50
Agility C vs Agility D: +5
Strength C vs Strength E: +10
Father Honigman's support: +10
No Step Back (Barrier blocks the path) +5

Final DV 80

Crit Fail: "How the hell did he get over there?!" [You take 2 wounds, Father Honigman takes 1 wound]
0 Successes: "Stop with the torrent of flames for five seconds!" [You take 1 wound]
1 Success: "Faster than I expected." [You deal 1 wound and take 1 wound]
2 Successes: "Typical Magus, no taste for melee." [You deal 2 wounds]
3 Successes: "You'll regret the very moment you stepped into this town." [You deal 3 wounds]
Crit Success: "Die Heretic!" [You deal 5 wounds]

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>5084552
Fun

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>5084552
I have him pinned.

Rolled 88 (1d100)

Here's the Results
2 Successes: "Typical Magus, no taste for melee." [You deal 2 wounds]

Writing

File: The Tall Man.jpg (66 KB, 660x1210)

66 KB JPG

You don't hesitate for a moment, seizing the initiative charging forwards sword drawn, quickly tossing a black key with along with a quick prayer, between where the mans legs should be.

Behind him where the key was imbedded into the ground was now a barrier that would block the easiest retreat route he would have, You can hear the foot steps attempting to head back a bump a step to the side Honigman's own keys flying to cut off either way allowing you to effectively close the gap.

You thrust your sword forwards to the satisifying resistance of flesh and muscle having been struck, a grunt of pain and the collapse of the spell causing the refraction.

You were now face to face with the Tall Man, His disfigured face was mostly scared over from burns, his eyes were a sickly green, his skin pale, his hair an ashen brown. you could see it in his eyes, Contempt and frustration, but also a small sense of satisfactions, and superiority.

Odd feelings to have for someone to have as they're about to be cut down.

You follow your thrust with a swing to which he responds with a surprisingly quick chant causing a torrent of flames to errupt between the two of you, dangerously close to the man's arm which now had two large gashes in it.

You jump back to avoid the spell to see him having used it to both gain space and cauterize the wound, scorching his own coat in the process. He straighten his posture quickly reaching into his pocket pulling out the ritual dagger you had seen from the catalogue and then just as swiftly tossing it into the ground at his feet it sticking into wood before stepping back putting his unburned hand against your barrier.

You couldn't see it on his face, the damage from the burns rendered the muscles weak, but he was smirking.

You didn't like this one bit.

____________

Health:
Joshua: 5/5
Father Honigman: 5/7
vs
The Tall Man: 2/5

Joshua's Mana(Od): 14/15

Attributes Revealed:
Tall Man Endurance: D

_____________

What's your next action?
>Between yourself and Father Honigman a flurry of Black Keys should end this.
>You're close enough you can close the distance again and end him before whatever he's planning will happen.
>Cut him off from the Dagger and trap him in a tight geometric barrier [Commit to using Barrier 5 mana variant]
>Write in

>>5084624
>Cut him off from the Dagger and trap him in a tight geometric barrier [Commit to using Barrier 5 mana variant]
Oh no you don't!

>>5084624
>Cut him off from the Dagger and trap him in a tight geometric barrier [Commit to using Barrier 5 mana variant]

>>5084624
>Cut him off from the Dagger and trap him in a tight geometric barrier [Commit to using Barrier 5 mana variant]

SHUT IT DOWN

>>5084624
>Cut him off from the Dagger and trap him in a tight geometric barrier [Commit to using Barrier 5 mana variant]

You just activated my trap card!

>>5084624
>Cut him off from the Dagger and trap him in a tight geometric barrier [Commit to using Barrier 5 mana variant]

>Cut him off from the Dagger and trap him in a tight geometric barrier [Commit to using Barrier 5 mana variant]

Wins unanimously

Joshua: 5/5
Father Honigman: 5/7

vs

The Tall Man: 2/5

Your current Mana(Od): 9/15

I need 3 1d100s

Challenging DV 50
Agility C vs Agility D: +5
Magic C vs Magic A: -10
Father Honigman's support: +10

Final DV 55

Crit Fail: "Dear God..." [???]
0 Successes: "What in God's name?!" [???]
1 Success: "That was far too close" [You cut him off, but not before some of the effects become apparent]
2 Successes: "I don't think so!." [You cut him Off and deal 1 wound]
3 Successes: "You don't seem to understand the situation you're in." [You cut him off and deal 2 wounds]
Crit Success: "This is the End!" [You Cut him off and Incapacitate him]

Rolled 82 (1d100)

>>5085052
Oh boy

Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>5085052

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>5085052
>what is probably the most optimal response
>still gimped by shit stats
Oof, should've buffed our Magic.

>>5085141
Gimped yet you got

2 Successes: "I don't think so!." [You cut him Off and deal 1 wound]

No crazy bullshit today.

Writing.

You don't have time to think, and you don't want to ponder the ramifications of whatever this magus is attempting to do.

You quickly grab three more black keys placing the power necessary to create an enclosure around the magus cutting them off from the dagger and any hope of reprisal.

The Tall Man begins to rapidly chant as the dagger levitates out of the ground, his blood pooling beneath it as the blade rotates to face himself.

The Black keys land in position forming a box like barrier, two of them slide cutting his legs.

The Knife flies at him stopping short cracking the frontal part of the barrier severly before clattering to the ground.

The Tall man Sneers slamming his burnt arm against the barrier, but quickly composes himself and begins examining the box he finds himself in.

You have him right where you want him

_________

Joshua: 5/5
Father Honigman: 5/7

vs

The Tall Man: 1/5

Your current Mana(Od): 9/15

__________

What do you?
>End this farce, kill him now before he can try and be clever.
>Break him first, seize the dagger, and torch his notes.
>Pin his hands with black keys to the barrier, you've got questions.
>Write in

>>5085156
>Pin his hands with black keys to the barrier, you've got questions.

>>5085156
>Pin his hands with black keys to the barrier, you've got questions.
Interrogation should be our forte.

>>5085156
>Pin his hands with black keys to the barrier, you've got questions.

>Pin his hands with black keys to the barrier, you've got questions.

Wins

Writing

You pull out two more black keys as you approach the trapped magus swiftly ramming one through one of his hands through the barrier as your own passes through freely.

He's rather helpless to prevent this grunting in pain as you ram the other one through pinning him to the barrier.

His pale face meets yours, his green eyes lock with your silvery blue.

All the While Father Honigman has quietly taken a step back to observe what happens next.

Your breath slows and your eyes narrow, "Tell me Magus, are there any others working with you?"

The Tall Man raises an eyebrow, "You tell me puppet, you seem to have deduced everything else."

You take your sword and ignite it with holy fire and press it against the unburnt portion of his face, he squirms in pain against this, "I won't ask again."

He Grunts in pain through gritted teeth, "One other, though at this point I'm sure they're gone."

You pause for a moment, he doesn't seem to be lying, "And what exactly was their role in all of this?"

He smirks, "They were a contingency plan. Arguably, considering the state of my current one, a better plan in general."

No lie here either, "What was the contingency plan?"

He looks you in the eyes, "Simple, the same as the original only I'm dead."

Obfuscation of the Truth, it's more complicated than that.

You put the blade back up to his face, but just before you do he speaks, "You know if you really want to know you could just read the notes."

This is a Lie.

You give him an exasperated look, "You really give yourself more credit than you're worth you know that? Let me guess those aren't your notes, they're actually trapped with some kind of rune to try and destroy the viewer."

His smirk drops and he grimaces, you nod, "Right, predictable. Were you attempting to become a Dead apostle?"

He shakes his head, "Hardly, There are alternative forms of undeath that I find more appealing than simple vampirism."

You start pushing the sword again after a short silence, "Would you put that away!?" he shouts as it rubs against his face again, "Arrgh!"

you pull it away, "Then stop treating this like a one way conversation and confess, the whole thing will be over much swifter if you do."

He shakes his head, "You know they were right about you, you really can't be lied to can you?"

You furrow your brows, he's clearly not making this up, but is he using this to bait you away from his plan?
Who is this they?
What of the accomplice?

The Tall Man notices your hesitance and regains some confidence.

What else do you ask?
Pick as many as you want.
>Ask about his plans, the exact details, no side stepping it.
>Ask about his informant, who the hell are they and why the hell did they know about you?
>Ask if he's the mastermind behind this whole situation
>Write in?

>>5085688
>>Ask about his informant, who the hell are they and why the hell did they know about you?

>>5085688
>Ask about his plans, the exact details, no side stepping it.

We should probably seek out the information pertinent to the case, and then see if we can ask about the mysterious organization, persons, information broker, etc. that may be behind him. Just in case him trying to talk about them causes some sort of magical self-destruct contingency.

>>5085688
>Ask about his plans, the exact details, no side stepping it.
>Ask about his informant, who the hell are they and why the hell did they know about you?

>>5085688
>Ask about his plans, the exact details, no side stepping it.
>Ask about his informant, who the hell are they and why the hell did they know about you?

Gut feeling, he isn't the mastermind.

>>5085156
>Break him first, seize the dagger, and torch his notes.
Losing one's research is the worst thing that can happen to a Magus.
Also really cool quest QM, I like the flavour text you give with each outcome.

It would seem all the people reading this quest come out when I go to sleep.

None the less Good Morning all

Looks like we'll be asking about both his plans and the informant, but we'll ask about the plans first just in case he might expire from attempting to talk about the informant.

Writing.

You roll your shoulders and focus your mind.

First things first, his plans, if there's an accomplice he'll be looking to fulfill them regardless of this mans death.
That can't be allowed to happen, you can set aside this potential conspiracy against you, the town or the church to the side for a moment for the more immediate issue before coming back to it.

You frown at him, "Really? You have people that told you about my eyes? I wonder did they inform you that I can drain every last bit of your life force from you forcibly? It's quite a gruesome process magus should I go into detail, it is my family's magic after all I'm sure you're curious. Last of it's kind."

His eyes narrow at this and his smirk disappears.

You continue, "Your plan, unless you'd prefer to be a volunteer in a demonstration. It's much harder to give it back than it is to take by the way."

He looks away steeling himself.

You just sigh, "Remember you chose this yourself."

You put you left hand on your right shoulder and then your right hand on his right shoulder and begin to chant. Your grip tightens so much you begin to hear his bones begin to crack and the skin and muscle begin to break he begins to bleed, from that blood floats out a stream of green as it wraps itself around your arm slowly intensifying.

The man begins to age rapidly from here, bones begin to creak and the burnt skin begins to decay in a matter of moments.

For the first time he begins to scream in pain, his vocal cords begin to decay as well as the ware and tear from screaming is accelerated.

with a blood curdling scream and a weak plea, "I'll talk!"

you release your grip.

The Tall Man had easily aged 30 years in the aftermath of the magic, his life force swirling around your arm, you didn't need it and honestly you couldn't use it for much it's not something you got a lot of practice with due to its... particular nature, you're not even quite sure how to reverse the effect so you just leave it swirling for now.

He pants in pain and horror, he gives you one last look, defiance in his eyes was gone, he knows if it continued he'd have rotted to death alive.
A gruesome fate.

He finally speaks once catching his breath, "We were looking to establish a base of operations in this town, turn it into an independent research post for the more taboo necromantic arts, it's out of the way, no one would have missed a couple of people a year. We thought we'd fly under the radar long enough for one of us to obtain greater power."

You wait for him to get to the point.

He continues, "Obviously we thought about dead apostles and becoming one, but we decided instead to try and transcend death in a more traditional manner that would trample on a mess of corpse laden politics. Lichdom, well as close as you can get to it anyways in this age."

You just shake you're head, "And your accomplice?"

[continue]

He breaths heavily, "Long gone, as soon as our fight started I triggered a mystic code to alert them. Don't know where they're heading, but they know this place is burned."

You nod, "And your informant?"

He shakes his head, "Never met them in person, always communicated through a specific mystic code, only had 3 used all of them."
You give a short nod, "And how'd you get those?"

He continues his body beginning to shudder as the rotten flesh sloughs off on one of his arms, "I purchased them from a black market in London, the supplier someone I trusted, told me that if I use these I can learn whatever I wanted about a location or person. Saves a lot of time in scouting things out."

You sigh, "And the contact in London?"

He frowns, "He moves around, at this point he's probably either in Moscow or further east, I don't have an exact tab on him so usually just wait for him to show up in London, but he make a circuit around the major cities of the world, I do know that."

This was disconcerting, Not only do you have a loose end from here, but also a black marketer dealing in mystical goods that can inform on anywhere or anyone?
It's never simple is it?

You look at the Tall Man he looks ready to die at any moment now.

What do you do?
>You have no more questions, give him a swift painless death.
>Heretics are undeserving of such a mercy, let him die of gangrene and shock while you attempt to get more information out of him (What do you ask?)
>Leave him pined, burn down the building, say it was a gas leak and return to the church, you've got to get your affairs in order after this.
>Write in

>>5086274
>You have no more questions, give him a swift painless death.
God is merciful.

>>5086274
>You have no more questions, give him a swift painless death.

>>5086274
>You have no more questions, give him a swift painless death.

>You have no more questions, give him a swift painless death.

Wins

Writing

What do our truth eyes look like?

>>5086647
Normally sort of a greyish blue, but when active predominately silvery with blue accents.

You nod once walking around back the man preparing your sword for a precise strike, you narrow your eyes and take a deep breath and hold before thrusting, severing his spinal cord from his brain stem.

This was enough to end him, in his last moments he would lose all feeling from his ravaged body aside from the shock of the severance.

As painless and swift as you could make it with the tools you had available.

You pull out a handkerchief and wipe the blood off your sword and look over at Father Honigman who had been watching in quiet contemplation, he gives a solemn nod at you before heading over.

The room was a mess, blood, fire, the smell of rotten flesh, magical residue all over. Those trapped false notes are an entirely other issue since they're pretty much visual landmines.
You say a short prayer for the people who would have to clean all of this up, you're pulled out of your ruminations however as Father Honigman puts his hand on your shoulder.

"That was good work Joshua, though we have much to discuss once we return to the church." he looked tired, perhaps his age had caught up with him more than you had though, or perhaps the fresh wounds he took protecting you were more painful than he made them look. Regardless you nod at him as you head out, the magic that had been set up to trap the Tall Man in was released, the barriers fell, the corpse collapsing to the ground with a heavy thud.

The walk back felt longer than the walk there. You looked up at the sky, it was night time.

A cool summers night breeze rode through the streets tonight, high in the sky the crescent moon lay shining it's dim light upon the world, as you approached the church on the outskirts of the town you could see the stars emerge slowly. It wasn't quite enough to see the milky way, but the sight was something, it made you wonder about times long since past every time you saw it, none the less it was fleeting, and perhaps that is why it stuck in your mind. Every time you see it may be the last time you see it.

You look away from the moon and it's accompaniment of stars and you're at the church. You head inside along with Father Honigman who quickly grabs a seat in one of the pews and lets out a deep sigh, "I'm a foolish old man thinking I could do what I used to at this age." he quietly laughs, "I'm out of practice."

You sit down with him and wait in silence as you both look forwards to the front of the church, the cross at center stage.

He looks down in contemplation, before looking back up, "I'm proud of you today. You did not need to go so far yet you did. However I worry for you at times." he pauses to consider his words, "These are not the simple worries of a Priest concerned for his Parish or a member of his congregation either... but as the man trusted to raise you."

He looks to the cross, "As I grow older, my faith grows deeper, but I question my own devotion to that faith in the actions of my youth..."

[continue]

He sighs, "An executor is the righteous blade of God, and Inquisitor who must face the worst horrors of this world to hold back the tide of the unnatural and protect the faithful."
He smiles, "Today we have done that, I trust in the church to understand that, I trust in God to confirm this."

Then his smile fades, "But today I am reminded of the reasons why I retired from that life style as well." he looks at you, "It is a hard role to play, at all moments one must seem invincible, and hold aloft the flaming blade of justice. The work is bloody and unrewarding, it is cruel in it's execution and it's effects on it's practitioner, many die young, many more lose their way, and even many more still lose their mind."

He looks down solemnly, then to you, "The Executors you requested I call will arrive tomorrow, I will once again recommend you to them for todays services. Whether you are accepted or not, or choose to follow this path, know this Joshua I am proud of you."

You look at him with quiet contemplation as he finishes this, it had indeed been years since he had taken action as an Executor, you had no idea how much of an effect this time of peace had had on him.
You give him a hug, "Thank you Father."

He returns it.

There is a brief moment of stillness before the release, "There is much else to discuss of tonight's proceedings, the accomplice, this informant, and so on, but thank you for hearing an old man's ramblings."

You smile, "It's no issue Father."

With the touching moment out of the way what do you wish to discuss with Father Honigman?
>The accomplice, what's our plan to deal with them?
>The Black Marketer, do we have any way to catch them?
>The Executors, is there anything we'll need to report to them?
>Write in?

>>5086741
>The accomplice, what's our plan to deal with them?

>>5086741
>The accomplice, what's our plan to deal with them?

>The accomplice, what's our plan to deal with them?

>>5086741
>The accomplice, what's our plan to deal with them?

>The accomplice, what's our plan to deal with them?

Wins

Writing

You lean forwards in the pew and contemplate for a moment the issues at hand, the most pressing is the missing accomplice, they're a rogue factor, and one that's liable to hold a grudge.
Magi have a nasty tendency to try and reciprocate everything, this includes repaying a defeat with a defeat, a life for a life and the like.

Still the issue here is that you have no idea when they will try to strike back, even details on the accomplice in question. The Tall Man was rather sparing when talking about them.
What you do know is that he wasn't lying when he said he used a mystic code to contact them, and that he truly believed that they would be long gone by the time we finished up questioning him.

The thing that bothers you most about the whole situation is that the Tall Man was the front of the operation, the one heading out to secure things.
Then did that make the Accomplice the brains behind the operation? Or were they something else? What else could they be?

You rub your temples voicing your frustration, "The accomplice, what's our plan to deal with them?"

Father Honigman gives you a thoughtful look and a short pause before answering, "We have three paths here, First we believe as his ally believed that he's long gone heading to some back up site, so we keep our ear to the ground for similar happenings and that's all the more we can do at this point. Second We choose to believe his ally didn't know them as well as he thought he did, in which case they're still here in hiding waiting to strike back, in which case we wait for them to come to us and we ambush them. Third is similar to the second, however instead of waiting for them to come to us, we assume they don't care about their ally and will get back to work as soon as possible, so we bait them with a 'troubled youth' that 'no one' would miss."

He scratches his chin, "Frankly having dealt with magi for most of my life I can tell you this much, the second and third options are our best bet, rarely do magi cut their losses."

You nod, there's still a lot of details to work out here.

What's your thoughts on the matter?
>I trust that he's long gone, still it doesn't hurt to be on guard about the matter.
>Odds are he'll be coming for us, we should prepare for an attack before the weeks through.
>Knowing the attitude the Tall Man had, it's likely that they'll be getting back to work as soon as possible, but bait? Who would we even use?
>Suggest an Alternative scenario and plan (Write in)

>>5087215
>Knowing the attitude the Tall Man had, it's likely that they'll be getting back to work as soon as possible, but bait? Who would we even use?

>>5087215
>Knowing the attitude the Tall Man had, it's likely that they'll be getting back to work as soon as possible, but bait? Who would we even use?

Slow day today.
To keep thing rolling I'll call the vote here.

So
>Knowing the attitude the Tall Man had, it's likely that they'll be getting back to work as soon as possible, but bait? Who would we even use?

Wins

Writing

It seems likely that the Tall Man's accomplice would sooner finish their work than actually run away or seek retribution.

Father Honigman's strategy here makes sense, bait the accomplice out with the exact kind of person that they'd be looking for to experiment on.

That leaves you with one question, who?

You're not exactly privy to most of the towns youths, let alone any that you'd feel comfortable actually using as bait. That said being proactive on the matter is almost necessary as the magus is unlikely to approach their current predicament in a rash or hasty manner. That's why we need to provoke a reaction, because time is on their side. The longer they have to entrench the more difficult it becomes to remove them. As well the more people we need to watch the more likely we're to miss the actual target.

It's a frustrating situation, but not an impossible one.

The Father for his part has already gotten up and was heading to the back room, likely to put his tools back in their place, it's unlikely that he'll be able to go out in the field again for a while, if he even wants to.

Leaving you alone with your thoughts to plan out how to deal with this accomplice.

You sigh, there's not much that you can do at this moment in time, but mull over the potential failure points in the broad plan.

The worst part of this is that it's very straight forwards, if the enemy is thinking similarly, then it'll be a while before they feel comfortable enough to act on anything for fear of it being bait or a trap.

You stand up yourself, you can deal with the matter after some sleep....
Although you could head back to the Plant...
If the Magus left in a hurry you might be able to track them, or they might come back to the plant for something they forgot.

You gauged your only capabilities at this moment just in case.

You're physical condition is in good shape
you're not terribly tired.
However your reserve of Od is below half of what you can typically utilize without rest, would that be enough to deal with another magus? If they're on the same level as the last one, not without an ambush, if they're even stronger then chances are slim even so.

You grimace, this opportunity won't be available later however, if they're coming back it will be in the interim of your assault and the arrival of the Executors.

What do you do?
>Gather your strength, and stick to the plan, it might be difficulty but we should be able to find a way to bait them out in a timely fashion.
>You'd rather not leave anything to chance, head out now despite the danger to try and track the magus down.
>Write in

>>5087651
>You'd rather not leave anything to chance, head out now despite the danger to try and track the magus down.

>>5087651
>Gather your strength, and stick to the plan, it might be difficulty but we should be able to find a way to bait them out in a timely fashion.

>>5087651
How old is Joshua anyway? If he’s high school or college age it may be easier to find a younger person to act as bait via school shenanigans.

>>5087764
Joshua is 21 years old, he was orphaned at the age of 7.

>>5087651
>Gather your strength, and stick to the plan, it might be difficulty but we should be able to find a way to bait them out in a timely fashion.

A rash decision is a path to a quick death. Stick to the plan, churchchads.

Gonna let this vote stay open until I get done with a table top session in about 3-4 hours.

Alright I'm back, looks like
>Gather your strength, and stick to the plan, it might be difficulty but we should be able to find a way to bait them out in a timely fashion.

wins

Writing

You ultimately decide to use discretion and stay yourself from action, for now at least.

You had a general plan, there was no need to be rash and dive head first into action only to potentially end up as a casualty.
Bearing that in mind you head over to the backroom to say goodbye to Father Honigman for the night.

You find him once more behind his desk reading the book he had set down earlier that day, he looked up at you with a calm smile, "Joshua."

You nod at him, "I'll be heading home for the night Father, take care."

He closes his eyes with a small snort, "Indeed, blessings be upon you child."

With that he returns to his reading and you head out and return home. Before heading to sleep you take a small side trip to tend to your garden, All was well with the various plants, flowers and bushes.
They were honest, they were simple, you never had to worry about what to do with your knowledge of them.
You sigh and take the time to trim off some of the excess that you were unable to before you headed out the next day and then take a moment to contemplate whether or not you'd have the time to water them properly tomorrow or not and if you shouldn't now just in case.

Ultimately you just resolve to do it first thing in the morning regardless of other matters as it was a relatively quick task. You premeasure the water and store it in the fridge for tomorrow.

With that you head to sleep, it is a restless one, fraught with the events of the day reenacting themselves over and over again.

However you awaken to the next day without much fuss, and quickly get dressed rushing to your fridge to get the water and heading out to water the garden.
You knew either the Father or the Executors would be at your door as soon as they thought you were awake, so best to take care of this now.

You sigh in relief as you're able to finish, however just as you're about to head back inside you see the entourage heading your way, Father Honigman and two younger men in robes.
So instead you just lock your front door and head over to meet them, "Father." you say politely.

He responds back, "Joshua, these are the reinforcements." he gestures to each man in turn, both are in their 30s or so, and judging by their baring somewhat competent at their jobs, you'd reckon they've had a few years experience.

The first one he introduces as Brother Mark, and the other as Brother Michael.

Mark and Michael give you a curt nod, though it's clear it's more in deference to Father Honigman's opinion of you than their own or the churches.

Together you all head back to the church to discuss the situation.

Settling down in the backroom you pull up a map of the town, and begin to draw up a profile for the type of person being targeted.
Teenagers to young adults, trouble makers generally the type likely to run away or be overly rebellious.

You also note down that homeless folks of relative good health may be on the table for consideration, and easier to impersonate.
[continue]

The Executors and Father Honigman are in agreement on that front.

You ask Mark and Michael how they approached the town, Mark replied, "We took a long route around. Came in before the sun rise and did so as quietly as possible."

You nod at this and Father Hongiman comments, "Good, if that's the case we may be able to make use of that with some preparations, if you're an unknown factor then we can work with that."

None the less we needed to decide how to go about the plan and now that everyone was hear and fresh it was time to voice your opinion.
>We can use Mark and Michael and plant them in town as 'homeless vagabonds' to both keep an ear to the ground and act as bait
>"Given it's the summer, I'm sure there's some college students visiting home, I might be able to prime one of them to be bait."
>"It's out there, but with a good disguise I could be the bait myself, should probably have a back up just in case though."
>Purpose something else (Write in)

>>5088466
>We can use Mark and Michael and plant them in town as 'homeless vagabonds' to both keep an ear to the ground and act as bait
Given it's the summer, I'm sure there's some college students visiting home, I might be able to prime one of them to be bait."

>>5088466
>We can use Mark and Michael and plant them in town as 'homeless vagabonds' to both keep an ear to the ground and act as bait
>"It's out there, but with a good disguise I could be the bait myself, should probably have a back up just in case though."

Since both votes want to go for a varried approach but can't agree and it's been 12 hours I'll go with the part that they agree on.
>We can use Mark and Michael and plant them in town as 'homeless vagabonds' to both keep an ear to the ground and act as bait

How's everyone feeling about the quest by the way? I expect the board to be slow, but the threads starting to slow down quite a bit and I'm not sure if it's just the season, timezones or if the quest isn't going in an enjoyable direction given it's slow pace. I'm open to criticism so don't be afraid to tell me where I'm failing hard.

None the less Writing.

>>5088876
I'm not too familiar with type moon, Ive seen fate stay night and read tsukihime as well as the other manga about eyes of death perception quite some time back but I at least enjoy it

You weigh the potential of using both a local youth and yourself as bait.
The local youth would probably be optimal if they could be maneuvered into an enticing position, it would take some time to find one that fit the bill, but your sure you could.
However the idea gets under your skin somewhat, failure means their death, and it's not like they can volunteer for something they're ignorant of.

When thinking about using yourself as bait you just sigh, if the Tall man was aware of you then his accomplice is likely aware of you as well. You're unsure if there is anything short of a strong illusion or some sort of facial sculpting that would help with the disguise. You would prefer to play the bait than someone else, but ultimately you decide that this is likely a fruitless endeavor.

That leaves you with your personal suggestion, using Mark and Michael as the bait. Even if the magus had eyes on the entrances of the town and saw the Executors come in, the odds of them having a good read on their appearances are low. Not that it would matter much as it'll harder for them to tell once they've adopted a civilian appearance. This was likely your best bet to catch the magus off guard, and so long as both you and Father Honigman kept a close eye on both of them whilst they were acting as bait the odds of them being taken down or out from under your noses were slim to none.

And that's exactly what you propose, "I move that we make use of Mark and Michael's unknown status, best we keep these matters internal, no need to endanger any of the townsfolk here."

There's some quiet contemplation before Michael speaks up, addressing Father Honigman, "I agree with the... magus, in both matters actually, whilst I understand that they aided you and you trust them, why are they still here?"

Father Honigman gives Michael a somewhat exasperated look, "Because Brother Michael, they have invaluable tools to help us in this mission, no less it was their suggestion I bring you here in the first place. I find your distrust out of place in this situation. Have faith Brother, for God is good and so is Joshua."

Father Honigman's standing up for you doesn't seem to sway Brother Michael much beyond dropping the issue, "Very well then."

You frown slightly, "Then is it agreed?" you ask the rest of the room

Mark and Honigman both nod, and Honigman follows up, "It is, find the good brothers some proper disguises and set about putting them on the town, of course we'll both be providing over watch for them as they do their duty in this respect."

You nod, you know that Father Honigman will get along fine with either of them, but you'll need to work alongside at least one of them for some time going forwards, you also know that the Father will support which ever choice you make on the matter and these two seem to defer to him.

You can already tell Michael's disdain for you, it's obvious in the way he looks at you and his earlier commentary only adds to that.
[continue]

It would make working with him rather difficult, but perhaps it may be worth while to confront such issues head on before they have time to fester. This is a double edge sword however as poking and prodding the matter through forced co-operation may just make things worse.

Mark seems rather subdued comparatively, he's a hard man to get a read on as his eyes always seem a bit distant and unfocused, regardless he seems to be the lesser of the two, and the less combative.
It'd be easier to work with him that much is for sure.

Who will you partner with?
>Brother Michael
>Brother Mark

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5088924
This is a tough choice and I honestly don't know which is the best one, so with that in mind:
> 1 is Michael
> 2 is Mark

>>5088924
>Brother Michael

I've heard of an Angel Michael before, but not an Angel Mike.

>>5088893
I just don't know the setting, I'm here because you're writing it Warden.

Alright looks like you'll be partnering with Brother Michael then.

Writing.

You decided that Michael would probably be for the best to pair up with. It keeps the experience even, at least in so far as you can gather, with Father Honigman covering the lesser of the two and you with Michael the teams should be well balanced.

It also offers the opportunity to smooth things over here before they get worse.

You voice your opinion on the matter, there's a small silence before a tacit agreement is met by the entire group.
You get the feeling that Michael's just looking for an excuse to keep an eye on you. You understand the typical skepticism of the average executor when dealing with a non-ordained magus, even if you're fairly close to the church due to family connections and the Father.

That said he almost seems blatantly hostile, why you can't really say for sure, regardless everything is in place now.
The Executors dawn their disguises and head out into town, you and the Father sticking with your designated executor from a safe distance.

Michael heads into a nearby alley way, you make your way to the edge of it scoping the area around it out, he waves you inside as he's done the same on the other side.

He looks you in the eyes, "Let's get this straight Magus, you stick to your roost, you watch and if you see anything you tell me and the others, and nothing else, I don't want your help nor will I need it."

Well he certainly believes that.

You just give him a somewhat tired look as you think about how to reply to the situation.
>"Really? Care to elaborate on what your problem with me is? I get the skepticism, but this is a bit much."
>"Alright, if that's how you want this to go down." If he's gonna be hostile about it then he can deal with the ramifications
>"I'm pretty sure we all agreed to a plan back in the church, any reason why you want to deviate from that beyond..." you gesture at his whole body, "... all this?"
>Write in

>>5090105
>"Really? Care to elaborate on what your problem with me is? I get the skepticism, but this is a bit much."

Honesty is the best salve to heal a relationship.

I'll say this, it'd seem there's a distinct lack of interest in this quest, and that's fair I feel like I've overcorrected in my attempt to avoid burnout and my focus on a slow small character focused quest. Not my best writing either as it feels like there's just not enough to be invested in whether that be the setting, or the protagonist.

However I will continue this, 1 vote or many, at the very least until the conclusion of this plot thread, I.E. Catching the accomplice.
After that I think I'll call the quest to a close and go back to the drawing board, barring a sudden surge in interest.

With that said
>"Really? Care to elaborate on what your problem with me is? I get the skepticism, but this is a bit much."
Wins

I'll do the write up in the morning, until then everyone have a good night.

>>5090889
It's the holiday season, Warden. Many anons are probably focused on friends and family. Don't put yourself down mate, shit happens.

>>5090105
>"Really? Care to elaborate on what your problem with me is? I get the skepticism, but this is a bit much."

Honesty is important.

>>5090889
Hey I'm enjoying it. Like the other anon said it's the holidays. Also I get the impression we have vastly different time zones.