Fate: A Father Above the Grail

Turn 10: Results

You were in the twilight of your life. Soon, the sun would set on it, and you'd be forced to leave your children alone in the world, forcing them to carry on your burdens and deal with the Grail on their own.

For the summoning ritual of the Holy Grail War, Servants were summoned either by compatibility, or by a summoning catalyst. Each had their advantages and disadvantages, though they had the ability to be about even in power.

For compatibility, one tended to summon a Servant that had a similar personality to the Master. Sometimes, this turns out to be very effective, as the Caster team of the previous War proved. Other times, if one has a difficult personality, it may prove disastrous. Either way, the summoner usually had no idea what Servant would be summoned, so they had to make do with what was given, even if they had to re-work plans.

For a summoning catalyst, one generally knew what they were getting. If one had an object related to a specific Heroic Spirit, you would likely get that Heroic Spirit as a Servant. Complications tended to arise when you got a catalyst that could be applied to multiple different Spirits from part of the same group, or one was related to a specific Heroic Spirit; in those cases, one would likely get one of the group (and possibly not the Spirit one was after), and for those that were related, one could get the Spirit they were related to.

(Of course, there were always possibilities of something going wrong; perhaps one got their hands on a forged catalyst, or perhaps the Grail itself intervened. But still, doing everything right made the odds of success much greater.)

Mages knowingly going into the War tended to plan for years ahead, and spend a lot of money on getting the ideal catalyst for their ideal Servant. However, you only had months to prepare, and no money to acquire a catalyst, let alone one that might be useful. Shirou did have Avalon, and Saber from the last War would be helpful in thinning out the competition of the next one, but you did not trust your children to be able to stop her from claiming the Grail like you stopped her.

But with your son's Projections, an idea came to mind: why not use those Projections to create a summoning catalyst?

Normally, such a plan would be unfeasible. First of all, Heroic Spirits tended to be stronger if they were summoned on their homeland, and even more powerful if they actually fought on their homeland. To prevent home-ground advantage from the locals when they were setting up the Grail, the founders of the Grail put in fail-safes to prevent the summoning of Japanese Heroic Spirits. Secondly, using a Projection for a summoning catalyst was useless, as they didn't have any of the historical or mythical 'weight' for the desired Heroic Spirit (unless the mage who made the Projection in question was related to the Heroic Spirit in question, and even that was a gamble).

However, there were three counters that made the idea of a local Heroic Spirit possible.

First of all, above all else, the Holy Grail itself was corrupt. Normally, a Heroic Spirit such as Giles would not have been able to be summoned in the Fourth War. If the Grail was corrupt enough to allow an exception of that kind, what's not to say that another exception of a different kind could be forced?

The second point to be made was that Shirou's Projections were more solid than normal, and even though they were lesser than actual objects, the Projections actually had some 'weight' (at least, it was enough to get the Tomoe family interested in a marriage contract). Even if they were still lesser, they might still be solid enough to be used as a successful summoning catalyst.

Finally, there was the summoning ritual itself. You… dimly remember the summoning circle that was used back in Germany, when you summoned Saber all those years ago. And then, back at your old house, you used a similar circle to help ease the pain of Irisviel later on in the Fourth War. Illya could create a new circle elsewhere, using the old one as a base, and modify the new one to encourage the summoning of a Japanese Heroic Spirit. And with several modifications, Illya might be able to make the ritual itself have a more Japanese bent.

It wasn't certain, but all of it combined made a Japanese Servant a possibility, instead of an impossible task.

Museum Tour: Rapport: 2d6+1 = 2+6+1= 9 PASS

It took a little convincing to get Shirou and Fate to go along with the idea of exploring museums. They could see where you were coming from, and while they weren't thrilled with the idea, they decided to give it a shot.

Stealth: 3d6+4 = 3+4+4+4 = 15

You're… pretty sure you got in and out of Fuyuki without anyone who was paying attention noticing you.

At any rate, using what spare yen you had available, the three of you explored the museums of Japan, looking at historical artifacts. Your first plan was to visit museums with Oda Nobunaga's guns, and then have Shirou Project those guns for catalysts. Ideally, the man would be summoned under the Archer class with his rifles, while all the enemies would be prepared for bows and arrows. That combination would destroy unprepared Servants and Masters alike, or at least keep your children a little more out of danger. And if your children got involved themselves, they would be able to… take care of enemy Masters separated from their Servants.

However, in the museum, Shirou revealed two problems with that plan of yours.

First of all, Shirou's ability to Project was not quite as wide as you had previously assumed. He could Project small, simple mundane objects with no problem, and any blade was almost as good as the original, but more complicated objects, especially those with historical weight? The best he could do would be a Projection on standard with other Magi, and those would not be able to be used as a catalyst.

And secondly, while he wasn't able to make that Projection you wanted, he was able to tell that the rifle in the museum was a fake, at least twenty years old.

With that plan shot, your family focused mainly on any swords you could see. Fate was curious, while Shirou soaked up every bit of knowledge of katanas like a sponge.

In the hotel room, he was able to Project and dismiss the swords and spears, the katanas and naginatas, of over a dozen Japanese heroic figures.

Historian: Rapport: 2d6+1 = 1+5+1 = 7 FAIL
Invoke: Children Tie Down
Result: 7+3 = 10 PASS

While you were out of Fuyuki, you took the opportunity to get in touch with a Tophier Joiner who was interested in speaking to you. Not for hiring you to do any jobs, but rather, to get your side of your story. At first, when you finally replied, they were hesitant, and willing to call the entire thing off due to your history of being so dangerous, but you were able to stop him from giving it all up by bringing up your children.

You were the silent threat among magi, with a massive reputation of killing targets and leaving others be for no known reason. And with that reputation, came an inherited threat to your children. With your story being told, and getting known among the mages, you hoped that your children would no longer be viewed with the enticing combination of 'potentially very dangerous' and 'easily killed if I act now'. Instead, they'd just viewed as another group of magi with unfortunate heritage.

So, you told of your past, from your simple beginnings on an island with your father, through the forced killing of your mentor, to your employment and falling out with the Einzberns. You told your reasons, why you took some missions and turned others down. And finally, why you tried to settle down.

It was almost a complete picture of you. You were not a determined monster, killing magi with no rhyme or reason; you were a broken man, once driven by a desire to save everyone, now trying to save the world so that your children can simply live in it.

You held back your mysteries and mystic codes, though; those were some secrets you were not going to share.

Tutor: Self: Lore: 1d6+1+2+4 = 1+1+2+4 = AUTO FAIL
… WELL, BLEEP.
…DYING ANYWAY.
LUCK BURNED.
4d6 = 2+2+3+3 = 10 FAIL

Shirou Rapport 1: 5d6+4+4 = 1+2+4+4+5+4+4 = 25 PASS
Shirou Rapport 2: 5d6+4+4 = 1+2+3+4+6+4+4 = 24 PASS

Nello Lore: 6d6+6+2 = 1+2+2+3+3+4+6+2 = 23 PASS

As you traveled from museum to museum, and performed interview after interview, you lost track of time. Days became weeks, and weeks became months. Assignments from school became missed, bills were barely paid. While you had plans to teach your children, particularly Shirou and Fate, how to combat enemy mages, you… never got around to them.

But luckily for you, Shirou managed to… trick a couple of people. That you were one of those tricked, well, at least it may prove beneficial to your children after you are gone.

While in Mitakihara, visiting a museum, Shirou convinced you to let himself and Fate visit the Tomoe family, and then, once he managed to get Nello's attention, managed to convince the man to teach both of your children and his own child about how magi thought and fought. It was an overview, and there was little in the lectures of how to take advantage of that information like you would have taught them, but it was more than you wound up giving to them.

Hopefully, your children would be able to figure out enough from that lecture to take advantage like you would have.

Back in Fuyuki, Illya finally got herself discharged from the hospital and did some planning on her own. She wasn't fully healed, but she was healed enough that she could recover the rest of the way at home.

Regardless, remembering your stories of the Fourth Grail War, she had a bolt of inspiration from Archibald and his Lancer; in it, the magus had altered the summoning ritual so that while he was the Master, his fiancee was the one actually providing Prana for the Servant, so that Archibald being crippled by an Origin Bullet only crippled him instead of both himself and his Servant. While your daughter was 'blessed' with a high number of circuits, because she wasn't a Lesser Grail like her mother, they were not as powerful as they could have been.

But by altering the summoning ritual, with more Prana sources to draw upon, the summoned Servant might be able to approach such a state, with all three of Illya, Fate, and Shirou to provide Prana. With the equivalent of six or seven humans providing Prana (with Illya and Fate both providing Prana equal to multiple people), there wouldn't be need to seek out other Prana sources.

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Illya's Aspect Pierced Through the Lung (Physical Consequence Stage 3) has developed into Weakened Lungs (Physical Consequence Stage 1) due to medical care and magical healing

Illya has been released from the hospital… just in time for the Grail War

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Kiritsugu's closing night, the night of the summoning ritual.

(Assume Shirou saw the swords, spears, and axes for all non-mythical Japanese Heroic Spirits that primarily used those weapons)

Summoning Suggestions (As many you want; might not work as intended!):
[X] Aim for a specific class: (Write-In which one)
[X] Aim for a specific Heroic Spirit: (Write-In which one, Japanese ones or Artoria only)
[X] Change the summoning location to somewhere other than the cursed park (Write-In where)

Any last words (Choose one)?
[X] Path of the Grail, no matter who falls.
[X] Path of Family, which kept getting ripped away from you.
[X] Path of Heroism, which you failed.
[X] Path of Magecraft, which they hold potential for.

To whom (Choose one)?
[X] Fate
[X] Illya
[X] Shirou
[X] Fate and Illya
[X] Fate and Shirou
[X] Illya and Shirou
[X] Fate, Illya, and Shirou

Spoiler: OOC

Things did not go quite as you had hoped, even with a rule-break in your favor. Still, with this update, you got all you really voted for.

And now, the final choice, which may determine how well the Grail War goes…