[X] I'm sorry father but I don't want to risk an unsuitable location
"Papa, I'm sorry but I don't want to risk summoning somewhere that's not suitable." His hand on yours tightens into a claw. You think he understands that this needs to be perfect so you can win the Grail War and fix this.
"Make sure you do it right then." He's going again, leaving you behind, the hardness of a magus is leaving his eyes.
"Yes father, I promise I won't mess this up."
[X] A patch of cloth there's faded embroidery of what might be a dragon with something on its back, a cross perhaps
Moving the manila files aside, you can read through them after you've assessed your catalyst, a patch of cloth meets your eyes. There's a red dragon in faded embroidery and something draped over its back, squinting at it gives you the impression it might be a cross. St George perhaps, but would he have ridden around with a marker like this, you'd need to know more before saying with any kind of certainty.
In other words you have no idea who this belonged to. It's faded and old enough you don't want to risk touching it before the ritual. Diana looks on expectantly, a beaming smile on her face. She definitely thinks this artefact is worth a lot.
"Well it's not a piece of the round table." Perhaps it was stupid of you to hope for a catalyst that powerful.
"That would be almost impossible to find, other than the one Henry the Eighth had made but you wouldn't be getting a knight in shining armour from a piece of that." No, most likely you'd get the infamous King of England instead. The home field advantage would be useful but Henry himself wouldn't really fit into one of the classes.
"Anyway, since you can't identify this on sight I'll enlighten you." Diana doesn't offer, she just pauses for half a second before continuing. "It's a patch of the Order of the Dragon and their most famous member is Vlad Tepes the basis of the legend of Dracula." That grin on Diana's face is positively feral as she announces the legend tied to that innocuous patch of cloth in the case. Your eyebrows shoot up. That is quite the legend.
"So what you're saying is that you got hold of the catalyst for either Vlad Tepes or Dracula." Naturally one is very much stronger than the other. There's a copy of Bram Stoker's book in the library, not that you've read it yet, it may be worth skimming it before you try the summoning. Just in case.
"Yep," Diana chirps proudly. "Should be pretty obscure and fairly powerful, that felt like a good combination for you." Well that can't be denied. The longer you can conceal the identity of whoever answers the summoning ritual the better the War will go. Though there are exceptions to that.
"Thank you for putting so much thought into this." She didn't need to, she could have just snatched the first oldest object she found and relied on age for power. Not a bad strategy.
"It's not a problem, I'd feel awful if you entered this War with a Servant that didn't suit you." That the scenario would likely lead to your death goes unsaid by either of you. It's already understood, that you are a magus and you walk hand in hand with death every day. There are a hundred ways you could die that don't involve the attention of a Heroic Spirit.
You turn your attention to the files and sigh when you see what's written on the front of the first. 'For the attention of Lord El'Melloi II'
"You pinched these from Lord El'Melloi's desk, didn't you?" It's pointless for her to deny it, the evidence is in your hands and glaringly obvious.
"Not pinched, just borrowed without explicit permission." Diana objects with a quick shake of her head.
"Diana" you groan but she just smiles cheekily.
"Just read them, sooner you have that dry load memorised the sooner I can return them." Sparing her a glare for her cheek you open the first file.
Océane Dubois, a French second-rate with a strange obsession with oriental, Japanese specifically, methods of magecraft, she's not going to be a challenge. No crest, no real magecraft and little experience with the summoning ritual you suspect. She'll botch her summons and you can take her out easily. The photograph that comes with the file shows a middle aged woman in a blue dress, chestnut hair plaited down her back severely and stern, imperious features.
You move on.
Eldric von Einsbern, one the family's many homunculi, doubtless prepared for this since his creation. He could be a challenge even without a Servant at his beck and call. If he's anything like the homunculi that have been fielded in the two previous wars, with all their tricks and high powered Servants you will need a strategy to take him down. The man in the photo must be in his mid twenties, appearance wise, with silver hair parted neatly to one side and a smart white suit. Even in the photo, which is grainy and blurred, you can make out the unnatural redness of his eyes.
He bears more consideration later. You move his file aside and open the next.
"Urgh, him." You throw the file back at Diana. You already know everything you need to about Alistair Kirkwood. An Enforcer and arrogant with it, he swaggers along the halls of the Clocktower and, worse than that, he's a Northerner. Backwards and uncouth and you hate playing host to him.
"Huh, I didn't know Alistair got picked." Diana whips out the image of the green eyed, scruffy haired blonde moron. You stick your nose in the air and move on to the last file.
Tokiomi Tohsaka, a jewel magus and rich enough to make it work effectively. Middle aged you think from the picture, the prime of a magus' life, with black hair and an elegant sort of look to him. Now he's interesting as a competitor. His family were once involved in creating this ritual but the Makiri and Einsberns had some kind of falling out with the Tohsaka, creating the travelling system you know today. How much does he know? How much can he do? You add his file to the Einsbern's for further consideration.
"Still two unknowns." You muse to yourself. It's problematic, not knowing two sevenths of the field throws many plans into disarray. Where are the makiri? They usually have a representative, though the quality of their lineage has been declining from what you've researched. What alliances are likely to form, you may be able to approach Tokiomi or the Einsbern at a later stage, depending on their Servants and your own but not Alistair, never Alistair.
"Probably locals, know anyone down that way?" Diana offers helpfully.
"Just a bunch of second-rates who probably couldn't support a Servant let alone fight in the War." You answer dismissively. "Nothing to worry about there."
"Keep overlooking us second-rates at your peril, Myrna." Diana says and stands abruptly, flattening her dress with both hands and shrugging into her white cardigan. Oh... damn, you didn't mean it like that.
"Di, please...."
"I have a party to get to, call me if you need me. Wilfred has my number." She disappears out of the drawing room in a flash of pale blue and white. She knows you don't have a mobile phone, just the one that the servants use day to day in the house. What's it called... a landline?
You aren't going to be here much longer. It takes half an hour for Wilfred to drive into Portsmouth on a good day and you need to be in the city tonight and every other night until the end of the War. Not to mention having to inform the Overseer once you've summoned your Servant.
"Ma'am, a letter arrived for you." Wilfred enters after a few minutes. More than long enough for you to have sorted the files back into the catalyst's case. He hands it over and you open it calmly. The penmanship, perfectly readable but carefully made to look careless, irritates at once. Alistair.
Alistair's Letter said:
Dearest Myrna,
The Grail War need not come between us. I am more than willing to cooperate with you in an alliance. I know your Servant will be of the highest quality and my own shall not let you down.
I eagerly await your response, Alistair.
The paper crumples in your fist. Like hell you'll cooperate with him. "Burn it," Wilfred nods, taking the letter you thrust at him in one hand.
"
Lasair." The letter goes up in smoke at Wilfred's command. The burnt black fragments that remain land on Wilfred's silver tray, not getting so much as a spot of ash on the carpet. Truly you have no idea what you'd do without him.
"Thank you, how do our property holdings in the city look?" The last thing you want to do is have to try and set up in a hotel among the masses of mundane humanity.
"The house on Hayling Island is the most defensible of our properties, though it is out of the way of the local ley lines. The Southsea property is more advantageous from that perspective but the boundary-fields are not so powerful." Nodding to yourself the pros and cons are obvious. Though more defensible Hayling Island's location renders you less able to react quickly to new developments in the War, Southsea is the opposite, you can react fast but it will be much easier for your enemies to assault your gates.
[ ] Prepare the Hayling property
[ ] Prepare the Southsea property
Your Workshop takes up the building attached to the main house that once was the stables. Now it houses your research and mystic codes. The first you made a short time after gaining the crest, it made your father simultaneously ecstatic with your ability and furious with just how... childish it was.
Passing the forge, cold now since it won't see use for weeks, reveals the work surface where the two codes you've produced in your life so far are stored when you think they won't be needed. Your
Cambiando Spada and
Drenante Fili.
Cambiando came first and now you see why you were scolded for creating it. With hindsight a collapsible sword is without any real purpose for your magecraft but, despite that, you have found uses for it. Picking up the dense lump of metal you recall that delicious moment you shocked Alistair with it.
Fire races down the wires the enforcer must have laid on the floor during his initial attacks, a large pattern of interlocking metal guiding the flames towards you. Raising Cambiando the pebble in your mind shatters.
Your circuits burn, melting you from the inside, and Cambiando is activated with your pranna.
The wires fly off the ground and smack into your rapier's blade. Still on fire they wind tight around the blade of the sword. You level the point at Alistair and smirk. The pebble shatters.
The flaming wires rocket down your sword right at the smug bastard's face. He almost eats a face full of fire but, alas, he manages to duck aside before being hit. Still you wiped that grin off his face.
Yes, despite the childish desire that made it you aren't leaving it behind. A concealed weapon always comes in handy. As for Drenante, the steel ribbons are easy to manipulate with your magecraft but that's not their true purpose. When you activate them they should attract certain spells and nullify active magecraft that touches them. Your newest mystic code and not fully tested but too valuable to pass up as a tool to wage war against the likes of an Einsbern or Caster.
Cambiando resting heavy in the right pocket of your trousers with Drenante ribbons coiled in all the other pockets of your suit you gather a few other things and leave.
The time before dusk pass slowly as you prepare to leave the house occupied by the servants to look after your father. You almost fire Holly, regardless of her talent, because of that smug, mocking grin. She knows she cannot be the heir, she must know that, but she's making her way steadily into your father's failing faculties as someone he can rely on, someone he cares about.
Sending her away would hurt him more than it would hurt her and you refrain. Barely.
Before Wilfred brings the car around, a Rolls Royce Silver Wraith whatever that means, you debate summoning your Servant here or somewhere else. The conditions here are not completely ideal but you would have the advantage if your Servant should be uncooperative. On the other hand to do such magic so close to your father after denying him a chance to see it would twist the knife.
[ ] Summon your Servant now
[ ] Summon your Servant in Old Portsmouth
