Martin Asturias fiddled with a cufflink as he watched the man in front of him reach into the cabinet in his office. Cardinal Roark was an unimposing man, tall and slender with dark blond hair. He came out with a checkerboard and a pair of glass cases containing game pieces, one set gold, one silver. He set it down on the mahogany table in between the two men and offered Asturias his choice of sets.

Asturias raised his eyebrows. "Grail chess? It's been some time since I played." He was middle aged, heavyset, gray-haired with a widow's peak. He rested uneasily in the man's office, not knowing exactly why the Cardinal wanted a meeting.

Roark smiled, his eyes crinkling. "I heard you were a skilled player once. I'd enjoy the opportunity to use the set, although my own skills are mediocre at best."

Martin took gold, and moved his Berserker forward, a traditional ploy to expand his control of territory. "I always thought it was primarily an amusement for mages, but I suppose it's natural that a man of the Church would have an interest in matters relating to the Grail."

Roark set his Archer in the flank to support several routes for a future advance. "I understand you have an interest in those matters as well. Or are the rumors regarding your purchases from the Einzbern and Matou estate sales just that?" He was still smiling, but his eyes were watching Martin closely.

Martin creased his hands together in front of him, scrutinizing the Cardinal. "There is nothing untoward with me taking an interest. The Grail was a tremendous work of magecraft, and whatever Tohsaka may claim, the Association has never officially closed off future research." He moved his Rider next to the Grail, safely out of the Archer's range, but ready to strike any opening..

"Indeed. Nor has the Church." The Cardinal's Lancer leapt its Master and now Martin was threatened on both sides. A weak central position, but he was in danger of losing a flank. "In fact, there are those among the Church who would welcome a renewal of Grail research."

Were there now? Martin moved his Caster next to the Grail. Controlling the Grail was one way to win, but it hardly ever happened in a serious game. Requiring the opponent to account for it was still good strategy. His eyes returned to the Cardinal, who had returned to his now almost infuriatingly friendly smile. "No doubt the Church regrets not being able to make respected mages dance to its rules during the Wars anymore."

Roark spread his hands. "Master Asturias, you wound me. But I think I will be frank. We know that you have approached the Mishras and the Tekkalas about collaborating on a new Grail. The Church will not only sanction, but cooperate and aid, the Asturias family in construction of a new Grail. We have considerable resources to offer, including observations from the last five incidents that may prove invaluable."

Martin brought his Saber out to confront the Cardinal's Lancer. He knew that relations between the Church and the Association, always strained, had become even moreso in the years following Fuyuki, since there was less reason for the two organizations to cooperate. He also knew the Church's backing would not come without strings. But… Roark wasn't wrong. The Church could offer a great deal, and perfecting a new Grail would be no easy feat. "Tell me more about what you might offer." As the words left his lips, he knew that he would accept the Cardinal's offer. It was now going to be a matter of haggling over details and price

Roark picked up his Assassin as if to move it, then placed it in the case and turned to face Martin, his expression more serious. "As diverting as this was, I believe we must now talk business."

----

The year is 2019. After the disastrous end of the 2004 Fuyuki Grail War and the demise of several prominent magical families, the mage community moved on from the dream of the Grail for a time. Those who knew the true purpose of the Grail War, a ritual to reach the Root, were either dead or close-lipped, and it was remembered merely as a device for the granting of wishes. That dream was more than enough to ensure that the idea of a Grail War did not vanish forever, and in 2014 the Asturias family and the Holy Church began a project to create a new Grail. This Grail would be constructed in Bayview, a city on the West Coast of America. It is host to a leyline to rival Fuyuki, and was agreed to be reasonably neutral territory to all the mages involved. The new war was intended to be different, more civilized affair. But will that hold true?

----

You open your eyes, slowly. Your ears are ringing, and you have a splitting headache. Memory returns slowly. You remember a flare of mana, greater and wilder than expected from the Grail's quickening. It overwhelmed you, and you blacked out.

Your vision swims into view and you see a set of marks on the back of your left hand. This tugs at your memory, but first you have to remember… who are you?

[ ] You are Alicia, Martin Asturias's daughter. Your family's specialty is alchemy; you considered yourselves rivals to the Einzberns and now that their line is extinguished, to be without rivals in that field. You are a member of a long lineage of mages going back many centuries. Your father was supposed to be the Asturias Master for this Grail War. You were set to leave Bayville after his Servant was summoned, so he could focus on the battle ahead.

[ ] You are Josephina Tezar. You were a renowned artist and creator of Mystic Codes. After your husband died three years ago, you sank into depression and have secluded yourself, letting your son take up the family business. You reside in a small family estate in Bayville. You know that a Grail War was planned, but had no intention of participating and frankly only the vaguest idea of what that means.

[ ] You are Naja Mishra, a mage who traveled to Bayville to participate in the new Grail War. While your mana level is only somewhat above average, you are a prodigy when it comes to technical Magecraft and are practiced in multiple magical disciplines. You believe you are one of the few involved who realize the summoning and banishment of seven Servants from the Throne of Heroes could be used as a means to reach the Root

[ ] You are Geoffrey LeBlanc, apprentice and assistant to Cardinal Roark. You belong to a mage family, but you foreswore that lineage due to an incident in your past and pursued training with the Church instead. Your duties in the past few years have largely been administrative, assisting Cardinal Roark on the Grail Project, but you have had training in the use of the Conceptual Weapons of the Church, such as the Black Keys.

Yes, you remember now. You arrived in Bayview several days ago and had settled into your accommodations, a penthouse apartment downtown. You were too distracted to form a strong impression of the city itself, but you have been doing your research to have some sense of the terrain for the battles ahead. It's a sprawling city, built after the invention of cars, and as you flew in you noted the presence of Naval vessels in the eponymous bay.


In addition to outfitting the apartment with mundane niceties, you set up a Labyrinth space sufficient for your needs, including a basic magical laboratory and some basic countermeasures against detection and some nasty surprises against anyone who came knocking. Just because this Grail War was supposed to be more civilized than the Fuyuki Wars didn't mean that you were a fool: Assassin was still a Class in play. The Church's modification to the rules, that victory was to be achieved by collecting 7 "Keys" to access the Grail's sub-dimension rather than annihilation of the other participants, would not ensure a bloodless resolution.

Because of the speed at which the Grail had been created compared to the original, there had been no period of months in advance for Command Seals to form and Servants summoned before the War began. The Grail was to be 'quickened' tonight, the final touches performed so it could allow the summoning of Servants to begin the War in earnest.

You stand up, legs still shaky, head still swimming. You had expected to sense the quickening of the Grail: it was a major magical event. But something had gone wrong. The Grail had emitted more mana than expected, significantly more. More than it should have been able to handle, in fact. You remember a flare…

You stagger to the window and catch your appearance in the reflection, a young woman of Indian descent, 23 years old, with dark green eyes. You absent-mindedly adjust your long black hair and red crystal bindi into a semblance of order after they were mussed in your fall. As you look into the lights of downtown Bayview from your highrise apartment, you can see smoke beginning to rise from the location of the Tabernacle, where the Grail was being kept.
You almost imagine you can hear sirens, although perhaps that's a trick of your mind given how far away you are.

Mistake? Sabotage? If the Grail construction was flawed, this has been an incalculable waste of time and resources for everyone involved. Heads will roll for this, assuming Asturias and Roark didn't blow themselves up bringing their creation to life. If someone sabotaged the Grail deliberately… heads will obviously still roll, but for different reasons.

But… you examine your arm. There are the Command Spells. If the Grail had failed completely those should have disappeared as well. And… suddenly, you realize why you've been feeling so woozy. It wasn't just the exposure to the flare of the Grail malfunction, something's draining your mana. Which means…

You don't have time to think. Something between a growl, a roar and a laugh comes from behind you, and trio of hands attached to far-too-long arms smash into the window next to you as you duck, just in time. You have just a crazed instant to congratulate yourself on the strength of the wards as the monstrous limbs fail to break the glass, but then you turn and see something horrible entering the main suite of the apartment from the direction of the summoning room - a wild conglomeration of gibbering humanoid heads and grasping hands atop a pair of legs that could have belonged to an ogre. You're too shocked to react, not even able to call up a barrier against this monstrosity before it lashes out again with a gnarled fist almost the size of your body which will surely smash you like paper.

Before your imminent demise, something yanks you out of the way and deposits you neatly on the floor. You find yourself looking up at someone. Before you can even register their physical appearance, you find yourself sensing their parameters.

What does it show?


[ ] Class: Archer
Parameters:
Strength: A
Endurance: A
Mana: B
Agility: A
Luck: B
Noble Phantasm: A

Notable Skills
Magic Resistance C
Independent Action A
Presence Concealment A

[ ] Class: Rider
Parameters:
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Mana: A
Agility: A+
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: A

Notable Skills:
Magic Resistance B
Natural Born Genius

[ ] Class: Caster
Parameters:
Strength: C
Endurance: B
Mana: A
Agility: A
Luck: B
Noble Phantasm: A

Notable Skills:
Item Creation A+

Archer? The Servant you'd meant to summon should have come as Saber, or possibly Rider. The summoning had happened while you were unconscious and apparently hadn't gone as intended. Another thing to lay at the feet of whatever had gone wrong with the Grail.

You look up at him from your position on the floor. He's huge, almost 7 feet tall, brown skinned muscles not at all hidden by a light woven vest and skirt. Small charms hang off a necklace and headband that barely tames a mane of black hair, and tattoos in black whorls and curves cover his arms and legs: a bird with outstretched wings marks his chest. His left hand holds some sort of long staff or spear, and his right hand has just now released the back of your shirt.

You rise to your feet and dust yourself off. You seem to be falling a lot today. "Who are you - look out!" The creature is rushing towards the both of you, more reaching limbs extending, jaws distending hideously, the flesh melting and stretching as it tries to devour the both of you.

Archer grabs you by the back of the shirt again and deftly dodges each attempted grab and punch as the creature knocks over a sofa and smashes the room's television. He puts one end of the stick to his mouth and puffs his cheeks, and you see a blur dart from the other end of it, striking the creature's center mass and knocking it backwards. A blowgun?

He takes the opening and runs past it, still carrying you by one arm. "Do you have guidance for me? What is it? A demon spirit?"

You've been trying to piece it together yourself. You remember old myths, and ancient tomes reflecting the knowledge of mage's behind them. "I think it's a centimani. They're-" you can't help but let out a small shriek as he dodges another hand that almost grazes your hair, "a proto-existence, from before the world was finished. They're supposed to be imprisoned outside the world!"

You have no idea what details of that he understood, but he nods and lets you go but pushes you forwards. You manage to land in a crouch rather than fall again, and look up as he pivots and plants his feet in the rich carpet. He holds the blowgun near the base, then pushes the point forward with his body, as the creature charges and impales itself on the tip, which you now see is hardened and sharp. It lets out a terrible, unearthly shriek and Archer withdraws the blowgun and backs away, leaving ichor spewing out all over the well-appointed living room of the apartment. He fires more darts into it but while they knock it back, it keeps coming back up. "So how do I kill it?"

"Their existence predates what we know as death, killing one isn't simple! But-"

[ ] "-We should destroy its body, reduce it to ash". Between the two of you, maybe Archer can stall it while you blast it to its component particles with magic, or Archer's Noble Phantasm might do it.

[ ] "-The summoning circle in the laboratory! I can send it back!" If you can lure it into the circle, maybe you can reverse the Servant summoning spell that you had readied into a banishment spell.

"-The summoning circle in the laboratory! I can send it back!" If you can lure it into the circle, maybe you can reverse the Servant summoning spell that you had readied into a banishment spell.

"Understood!" Archer moves to pick you up again but you wave him off and run forward, having had more than enough of being carried.

You go through a door to the guest bedroom and is now a Labyrinth space containing your laboratory. Jars of reagents and rare tomes line the shelves and a summoning circle dominates the floor where you'd drawn it in chalk.

You run past it to the far wall, and you see the centimani at the door. It's cautious now that it's been bled, and moans and growls issue forth from it as it steps forward. Suddenly, you realize that you can't see Archer, can't feel his presence in the room.

A long arm with a graceful, feminine hand rises up and then spears forward at you from across the room like a spear. You call up a barrier and the hand crashes against it, breaking the barrier but still deflecting off to the side. The backlash sears your mind but you can't focus on that right now. You call up fire and throw it at the creature, and as the flames engulf it you dare hope for a moment that you've killed it.

But when the flames clear, the centimani stands, barely showing burns. You harden your stance. This is not how you die. It moves forward, shorter arms reaching… and Archer appears behind it, shimmering into view as his skin and clothing stop matching the background and kicking it into the circle. He meets your eyes and cries out "Do it now!"

Reverse a summoning spell for a Servant to into a banishment for a nigh-mythical monster in seconds? Impossible. A fool's errand. But you are Naja Mishra, and complicated Magecraft is what you do for fun.

Your mana flows through the summoning circle; already infused with with your blood, it is a perfect channel for your will. The centimani is suddenly bounded by blazing argent light. The runic inscriptions of the circle flow and shift as your mind forces the Magecraft into its new shape, changing the nature of the spell from "call" to "send". You chant quickly, as the centimani rages against the walls of the circle:

"You are of silver and steel rather than flesh.
The stone rejects you and you have no contract with me.

I open the gates and let the winds blow through me.
Let them scatter you through the four gates.
Back the road you traveled.

You are no servant of mine, nor I of yours, and your fate is not of this world.
You were not called here by my will, and my will rejects you.
You were not called here by the Grail, and the Grail rejects you.

I command you by all the virtues of Heaven.
I command you by all the sins of Hell.

By the Seventh Heaven and the three words of power.
Let the balance be restored.
Go back to whence you came!"

The last words are ripped out of you, and the circle blazes, spinning around the centimani like a whirlwind. You stand panting as the Magecraft takes effect.

Chains of light spring forth around the centimani's many limbs, and it is dragged, roaring and gibbering, back through a hole in space, which closes behind it with a sensation of finality.

You would sink to your knees, but you're quite tired of fainting, and with a supreme effort of will, you stand, taking in the laboratory, which is in much worse shape than a few moments ago - half of it smashed or sprayed with ichor. Archer is giving you a measuring look.

You stand firm, still breathing hard, heart still pounding. "Archer, do you know how that creature came to be here?"

He scratches his chin, then shakes his head. "I heard the Grail's call. It was… strange. Wild. It felt like it rocked the very Throne of Heroes. But it made its offer, and I came."

"I see. Well, the only conclusion I can draw is that some bloody idiot made a faulty Grail, or else someone broke it on purpose." You draw a breath, and you realize your heart still hasn't stopped pounding, and you're sweating.

"Was that your first battle?" His eyes are piercing. You realize suddenly he may be big, but he's no idiot.

"I've… trained in dueling. Had excellent tutors." You realize how pathetic that sounds. Why won't your heart slow down? It feels like it's going to burst. Was the centimani's ichor poisoned?

Suddenly Archer is next to you. His hand is on your shoulder. "You did well. Chose your ground and faced it just right. Didn't flinch when it mattered. What is your name?"

"Naja Mishra. Shouldn't you be calling me Mistress, though?"

He laughed. "That title doesn't mean much to me. The Grail's wisdom is giving me words like "Elder" and "Big woman", and I don't think you'd like either." You blush, but he turns serious. He takes a long knife, actually more of a machete, off his belt, and slits his finger, then presses the bloodied finger to your forehead. "Let those who hear know and fear! Naja Mishra has become a warrior today, and I, Monsopiad, accept her as Warchief!" He smiles down at you, and weirdly you do feel better. You realize that, to your shock, you've faced your first battle of the Grail War and come out a victor, even it wasn't against another Master.

Monsopiad? That name… means nothing to you. Not a hero from a tradition you've studied. Something you'll have to research. You'd hoped to summon Amanirenas, the Queen of Kush who stopped Rome in its tracks… well, you have an Archer now.

What will you do with him?

[ ] Spend the night repairing your domain, researching what you've encountered, and resting. Tomorrow you can begin the War in earnest.

[ ] Spend the night researching and repairing, but send Archer out to do reconnaissance.

[ ] Go visit the Church and find more information about the malfunctioning Grail.

[ ] Go into the city with Archer and do reconnaissance. Information on the lay of the land and your opponents is the key to victory.

[ ] Go into the city with Archer and try to find another fight to pick. The War isn't going to fight itself!

The idea of sending Archer out alone causes a small knot of worry to form in the pit of your stomach. You could send him out and lose the Grail War tonight, with no way to effect the outcome. At least you know you can use a Command Spell to recall him to your side if necessary.

You will not win the War and reach the Root without risks. "Archer, I need you to go out into the city tonight. Use your Presence Concealment and do not engage. But if you can find information on other Masters, other Servants, or about the city itself, I need to know."

Archer nods in response. "I hear you, Warchief." He vanishes into spirit form, and when he engages his Presence Concealment, even you have difficulty sensing him. The sensation is irrationally disquieting, and you stand for a moment in the empty living room.

Well, time to clean up. It's a pity your talents don't lie in the creation of homunculi, a couple of maids would come in handy right now. But you split your time before resetting upended furniture, sweeping and cleaning up ichor, and rebottling reagents. You have the presence of mind to bottle as much of that centimani ichor as you can - it might be a completely unique reagent. You've studied Reinforcement magic and manage to fix a few of the broken pieces of furniture and lab equipment, though you're not sure how well it will hold.

With some time to spare, you look up the name your Servant gave you. You're able to hunt it down using one of a Mage's fundamental research tools - Google. Monsopiad was a headhunter in Borneo of the Kadazan-Dusun people, given powers by the Bugang bird. Famed for taking the heads of 42 enemies in battle, he was eventually killed by his own people because his taste for battle grew too strong to contain and he started fighting his own people.

Your eyes drift to a bundle of Bugang feathers in a small glass jar on an upper shelf. Maybe that was the catalyst the Grail used for the summoning. Still, you would have liked Saber… you realize that you're exhausted. Hopefully Archer will be back soon, you don't like the idea of going to sleep without knowing what he found.

----

Archer floats through the downtown area of the city, a riot of office buildings, bars, restaurants and civic buildings. In spirit form, and with a Presence Concealment born of his history as a stealthy jungle fighter, he's a wisp of a wisp. Still, in this form, he can't fight at all, and that doesn't sit well with him.

Naja both worries and intrigues him. He wasn't playing games with his impromptu blooding ceremony, the girl had been impressive in that chamber, facing down a creature from beyond the world with determination and stubborn will. And he knew enough about magecraft to know the banishment hadn't been a small feat. But she is young and untested in a conflict like this.

First things first, scope out the area around Naja's camp. The city is large and full of sights and sounds - Archer is aware that without the knowledge granted by the summoning, he might be completely overwhelmed.

Still, he spies a couple people of note, and after a few hours, returns back.
---
You are waiting at the window, looking impatiently at the city below through your bedroom window. It feels like you've been waiting for hours and hours… you check your watch and realize it's only been two. Finally, with a start you see Archer reflected in the glass behind you and startle before turning around.

"Archer! Tell me what you saw!" You try your best to be commanding, to ignore the anxiety you've been facing.

He responds respectfully and reports. "First, while passing by a bar, I saw an older female Servant in beautiful robes and jewelry speaking to a drunken, red-haired man. I tried to get closer to hear their conversation, but when I moved too near, she seemed to notice something was wrong, and a ring on her finger flashed. I move on."

You pursed your lips. A red-haired man doesn't match the description of any of the Masters you knew would be participating, but the woman sounds like a Caster, perhaps.

"The mood among the people seemed tense. I heard sirens pass by multiple times. I think there were other disasters, possibly other monsters, related to the Grail's quickening, but I didn't see them directly. Later, I saw a tense exchange on a rooftop between a pair of Masters and Servants. One Master was a man in a dark blue suit, thin, with cold eyes. His servant was a bearded man with armor, carrying a halberd."

"A Lancer, then. His Master sounds like Sebastian Tekkala. So he survived." You take out a notebook and start writing, dedicating a page to each.

"Across from him was a woman in robes like a shrine maiden. Her servant was… strange. He seemed to be a man, but marked and scarred in terrible ways. His eyes were wild, and he was muzzled like a beast, and manacles on his wrist waiting for chains. A Berserker, I'm sure." Archer seems a little disquieted when he describes the man.

"I don't know the woman. A muzzled, bestial man… I can think of several Servants that could be, none of them good. Could you hear their conversation?" More scribbling ensued.

"They were speaking about an alliance. Both were arrogant. Neither wanted to give an inch. They didn't forge a pact, but they didn't kill each other, either. I chose to tail the woman, and she went into the forest on the south side of the bay. She entered a bounded field and I stopped pursuit." He waits to hear your reaction.

"Three servants and the location of one master. Not bad for a night's work." You're pleased, but it's hard to keep the weariness out of your voice.

"You should rest, Warchief. I'll keep watch."
---
You spend the night and get some rest, although you have nightmares of the centimani chasing you. You wake up reasonably well rested. Your domain is in almost as good of shape as when you started, and you and Archer are in good condition. Tonight, the first of the seven Keys to the Grail should appear in the city.

What do you do today?

[ ] Go to the Tabernacle and get more information about what happened with the Grail.

[ ] Go investigate the Bounded Field in the forest south of the bay, and the shrine maiden master.

[ ] Go out and try to find another Master to talk to or fight.

Bayview at war doesn't seem substantially different than Bayview at peace. There are signs that things happened last night - there are reports on the news of the explosion at the Tabernacle, and there are other reports of sightings of strange creatures. There was a party in the college district that supposedly went wildly out of control. But despite a slightly restive atmosphere, as you take a ride (taxi, not Uber) to the forest south of the bay, no one seems to be aware that a supernatural battle is being waged under the surface. Well, that's just as it should be.

Since you don't plan on being out and about among normal people much, you haven't bothered to get any mundane clothing for Archer. That might change as the War goes on, but currently he's following you in spirit form. You yourself are bearing your Amplifier Code on your forehead, and your clothing is itself a defensive Code that, while not particularly powerful, might make the difference between death and injury.

The taxi comes up to a dirt parking lot. You tip the driver absentmindedly and wave him off. You quickly realize that 'forest' is a generous term - it's scrubby and patchy, wending through hills and canyons. But according to a nearby plaque it's a protected wilderness site with several rare plants and animals present, and it's certainly more like a genuine wilderness than most of the rest of the city.

"Archer?" He materializes behind you, and you don't even startle; you're starting to get used to each other's mannerisms now. "Lead the way."

He takes you down a pathway, taking several forks seemingly at random, the trails becoming rougher and less well traveled. Eventually he gestures towards what appears to be a patch of brush off the trail. "I wouldn't have detected it if I hadn't seen her vanish into it."

"Hmm." It's decent work, but you have refined magical senses. You focus your senses through your Code, situated above your third eye, and blow out a breath that's infused with mana. Ever so gently, you see the mana imbued breath bend aside from the boundary.

Reaching into your bag, you pull out an athame. You have no idea who this woman is, and if you can get in subtly, all the better. Imbuing the athame with a gentle but sharp edge of mana, you slice into the edge of the Field, slicing an opening large enough for the two of you to slip inside that will seal itself behind you.

Inside, you take a breath. Someone has been busy. There's a whole campsite here with at least a half-dozen tents, and a structure in the center, some sort of altar or shrine. You realize you're on a path, and Archer covers your mouth and yanks you off of it as he fades into the plantlife.

At the altar is a short woman with Japanese features. She is wearing a shrine maiden's uniform, and seems to be wielding a blade in one hand, not so dissimilar to an athame. She is chanting in a language you don't understand… and you realize now there's an animal on the altar - a dog? And you see what must have been the Servant Archer described, waiting at her side.

Around the altar, a half dozen other people in robes are joining in the chant. There is a heaviness in the air, and you can get the sense. Blood will be offered. Something is being called out to.

No one seems to have noticed you. What do you do?

[ ] Wait and see what happens.

[ ] Announce yourself and interrupt the ceremony.

[ ] Tell Archer to take a shot from hiding.