Fate/Ethereal Order

ARSLOTHES · Nov 17, 2020

[X] Goemon

kr3850 · Nov 18, 2020

[X] Circe

Always Late · Nov 18, 2020

Squirtodyle said:
"I..." She looks like she's been slapped, but at the very least she doesn't argue. "Alright. I'm- I'm sorry, Edward, I promise. I'd never try to hurt you. I promise."

Anyone else getting the impression Niamh knows just enough of her brother's feelings to get a inkling he hates her, but not enough to realize she'll never be able to get close without changing who she is?

Squirtodyle said:
You didn't hear it from me, but you see a man with dark hair and a beard like a bush? Stay away from him. Raoul's a murderer. Swears blind it was the bears, but I never trusted him."

... Servant hint?

Squirtodyle said:
Killed a dozen so far, and that bastard Guillaume, the one playing at being a guard? I swear he's killed too. He's too eager to get his hands on that spear, you know? Too eager by far."

Other Servant hint?

Squirtodyle said:
Away with you! Away! In the name of the Lord, you are not welcome here! Away!"

You turn, and standing atop the gate, framed by the sun like a halo, stands a woman holding a banner sewn with lilies and adorned with angels. Her hair is as gold as the sunlight that frames her, and she's covered from neck down in resplendent white armor. She has a sword belted at her waist, and her eyes are like shimmering blue sapphires as she stares down at the monsters.

Huh, guess we found the replacement for Jean-

Squirtodyle said:
My name," she says, as if the introduction is even remotely necessary, "Is Jeanne d'Arc. You and I have a lot to discuss, Master of Chaldea."

... ok, we either found the Saber class version of Jeanne, or this is also another imposter.

Squirtodyle said:
Not here." She cuts you off with a sharp look, before nodding north. "My allies have a camp not too far that way. We'll discuss things there. Buné's painter was seen here earlier, it's not safe."

Buné. One of the Goetia. That's who you're dealing with then, just the one?

Again: Saber Jeanne is a smidge sus right now, but given the obsession and big shadow arm I wouldn't be surprised.

ZerbanDaGreat · Nov 18, 2020

Squirtodyle said:
Worst case scenario, you get tossed out of town for being visibly not the common people of fifteenth century France.

Oh don't be a baby, Ed. You're white, that solves like 90% of time-traveler problems right there.

"Archer, are you alright?" You're walking spread out enough that the others shouldn't hear you speaking so softly, though Niamh's tapered ears twitch with interest in the corner of your eye. Goemon is- you hope he's keeping watch while using his Presence Concealment and Circe's up in the sky to keep an eye on anything you might run into, so you have some level of relative privacy. At the very least, Avenger seems to understand that she's not quite as welcome as the others.

"...Yes, of course. I am in perfect condition should we be forced to engage in combat, Master." You manage not to sigh.

"That's not what I asked, Archer." She's silent for a few seconds, before her shoulders slump slightly.

"I do not trust Avenger. She bewitched me when we first met, and the forest...there was something evil about it. It- it's lingering." You get the impression that she's holding back a shiver, and when she turns to you you're reminded that despite her height, despite her power, she's still a child, amethyst eyes practically pleading for some kind of validation. "She's...she's going to try kill us. I'm sure of it, Master. We should-"

"What? No, she's not." Niamh cuts in and you force down the surge of rage that's welling up in your chest. Archer's worse affected by the woods, can't she see that? "She's a princess. If she was going to hurt us, she could have done it before. She's trying to help, she saved Edward from my knight!"

"I..." Archer flinches back from Niamh as she raises her voice and that- that's enough, that's too much for you. You round on Niamh and stare down with anger in your eyes, and for an instant she glares up just as strongly, flicking her gaze from Archer to the annoyance keeping her from saying her part and then realising exactly what's happening, her fists unclenching, shoulders relaxing.

"E-Edward, I just...I think we should trust her is all, I know that the girl is-"

"Archer," The word is like a knife as you say it, carefully and sharply enunciating it like you're sliding it between your sister's ribs. "Is my Servant. Go keep Avenger company so we can talk, Niamh."

"I..." She looks like she's been slapped, but at the very least she doesn't argue. "Alright. I'm- I'm sorry, Edward, I promise. I'd never try to hurt you. I promise."

You bite back the response you want to give and send her off with a nod. If she wants to think you're angry with her because of that, then fine. She can delude herself as long as she likes. Now that you're properly alone you stop walking for a moment and turn to Archer, looking her in the eye and doing your best to seem supportive. Part of you wants to squeeze her shoulder but it's...you're just not used to it and you don't think she is either, you did it once and it didn't work out. Best to just let things go as they are, try fix them just like this.

"I don't trust her either, Archer. I promise, I'm keeping an eye on her. We're outside the Bounded Field so things will get back to normal. You don't have to worry." It's been so long since you've had to be someone else's support, but at least Archer seems to appreciate it. She shivers slightly, before letting out a shaky breath, and when she speaks again she sounds a little more put together than she did a few moments ago.

"Thank you, Master. I'll- I will be alright before long."

"We've got plenty of time before we arrive. Just take it easy for a bit." She looks at you again and nods softly, a small smile on her lips.

"...Alright."

Archer's Bond Level has increased.

First of all, hooray for Archer and Ed getting closer. Second, this feels like another expression of Archer going all "hnngggg must kill to protect my lord" and/or "what is different must be killed o_o" as much as it may be legitimate to worry about Briar Rose IF THAT IS HER REAL NAME. Third, get fucked Nimah. Ed be like

"I do apologise for taking it upon myself to explain our purpose, sir Edward. I hope that my performance was satisfactory?"

"Absolutely!" Niamh chimes in before you have a chance to say anything, and you have to fight to bite back your sigh.

Oh no. The only thing worse than Niamh disliking one of the Servants. Niamh liking one.

"It's like a fairy tale." Niamh's voice cuts through your thoughts and you turn to glare at her, but she's not looking at you. She's looking back in the direction of the forest, a frown on her face. "There's princesses, dark forests full of wolves, an evil witch...they're doing this on purpose. Taking all the fiction and dragging it into the real world. Not like what I do, with my faeries. They were real. But this place...it feels like a fantasy. Does that make sense...?"

Dragging fiction into the real world. She's not wrong in that, at least.

"Yeah." You almost leave it there, but some tiny niggling at the back of your mind drives you to speak up again. "Don't get too friendly with Avenger. She's the class she is for a reason."

She glances back at you before she starts smiling of all things, giving you a cheerful nod.

"Alright, if you say so. Thank you for looking out for me, Edward."

This is like the conversational equivalent of JD going "I'm not needy" then caressing his shoulder going "MMMNN~" when someone bumps into him in the hall. This is definitely only gonna get worse the longer they work together. Two singularities in she'll be going "what're you doing stepbrother~" and he'll be like "filing my fucking taxes, god damn".

You'd put him at his mid-forties if you had to guess, lightly tanned, hair as black as ink curling down his head, with a sharply trimmed goatee framing his handsome features. His nose is a little larger than normal and his full lips are pursed in an expression of annoyance, but the scowl he wears only draws attention to the intensity in his dark brown eyes, the colour of an ancient oak standing tall in the sunlight. There's a roughness to him, a sense of- not foreboding, exactly, but something like its cousin. His anger wasn't anger really, it was just passion, and it's alluring all by itself.

It isn't until your gaze drifts below his face that you find reason to be concerned. His clothes aren't particularly memorable, nothing more than a simple pair of boots and dark pants with a white shirt and dark overcoat, except the latter covered only one side of his body. His left arm was normal, but his right, the side where he held his brush, was pitch black. From fingertips to the bare shoulder that his half-coat revealed, his arm looked like it was made of some kind of liquid darkness that caught the sunlight and shined, like he'd simply fashioned himself a limb out of ink. Or, you suppose, out of paint.

He notices you a second after you do him, and those dark eyes flick between the three of you before settling on you and widening slightly. That arm marks him as a Servant or something strange at the very least, and you tense up as all of a sudden he leaps to his feet, his stool falling to the ground with how quickly he moves, before pointing right at you and letting out a shout.

"You!" He's stalking towards you already, his eyes alight with excitement, and you're already about to summon your shield when he clasps his hands together and beams at you. "You! You, you, you! Oh this town has been so dreadful, I cannot even begin to speak of how maddening it is to try to paint people that keep themselves all locked up all the time! But you're here now, oh, this is wonderful! Come, come stand by the church, you simply must be my model, my muse!"

Ed, you've just found a sexy art daddy with a monster arm who wants to lovingly capture every contour of your body in a masterwork. Do not. Blow this for us.

"My brother isn't going to model for a Servant we've just met, how dare you-" Niamh starts to speak, an almost possessive note in her voice that makes your gut squirm before the man, Carravaggio, holds up a finger to her lips and silences her.

"You dare interrupt me, me, you selfish cretin?! I have exactly zero interest in you, and in fact invite you to go and hang somewhere your corpse will feed some fungus. Only then perhaps might I be willing to put to canvas your pretentious visage!"

AND HE SHITTALKS NIAMH HE'S PERFECT

An instant later, a stream of fire billows from behind the thorny barrier, the enchanted vines shriveling and burning under the intense heat. The flames subside a moment later, and you're treated to the sight of one of the bears with tongues of flame licking up from its open maw, its throat like a glowing furnace and its claws wreathed in fire hot enough that you can feel it on your skin even from that far away.

A growl from behind is the only warning you get before you feel Archer materialise behind you, and you twist to watch as the bear you'd subdued howls an icy gust at you, the grass below you flash-freezing where it meets the gale. There's an uncomfortable tug in the pit of your stomach as Archer thrusts her palm forward, her arm wreath in swirling winds and crackling with electricity, and the boom as the two forces meet each other feels like it's going to deafen you. Somewhere in the middle of the chaos it clicks in your head exactly what you're fighting, and you want to laugh at the absurdity of it all despite your situation. At least if you're right, the third bear should be normal. Just right.

You should know that my brain went completely smooth and I didn't suspect a thing when you said three bears were attacking, and the fire breath didn't clue me in, and I was more focused on Archer shooting wind and lightning so I missed that the second bear breathed ice. So the bit about the third being 'just right' made all my Doom stacks go off at once and kill me laughing.

ALSO. Archer firing wind and lightning twigged my memory so I went and checked. Yorimitsu uses lightning all the damn time in GO - probably a Bloodline Technique thing which Archer would share if she's Ushi Gozen - but I knew she used wind once, which I traced back to her Berserker variant's NP where four clones standing in for the Four Guardian Kings use their signature weapons before she finishes it with a bunch of lightning. Those weapons all have their own elemental enchantments, with Kintoki's signature lightning axe and the flaming sword of what I assume to be Watanabe no Tsuna because he had a named sword which he used to slice off Ibaraki Douji's arm and might thus be connected to Douji having flame powers in GO. I wouldn't have thought about the Guardian Kings connection further, but it seems like an odd coincidence that the wind-element weapon in that NP is a bow.

What if Archer's rock-bottom Independent Action is because she was part of Raikou's Miniboss Squad from the start? What if she got in on the ground floor of the whole 'if you're a very very good samurai who always brushes her teeth and waxes her bowstring and goes to bed on time maybe your big brother (or sister we're not sure about that part yet) will actually value you rather than kill you for being oni-blooded' thing and she's been summoned as a teenager because if she were any older she'd be in the 'just kidding ushi gozen time' phase? Much To Think About.

You stumble to your feet in anticipation of another assault, Avenger having already righted herself after your sudden tackle, but you can't even ready your shield before you hear another voice ringing out, loud, confident, commanding.

"Away with you! Away! In the name of the Lord, you are not welcome here! Away!"

You turn, and standing atop the gate, framed by the sun like a halo, stands a woman holding a banner sewn with lilies and adorned with angels. Her hair is as gold as the sunlight that frames her, and she's covered from neck down in resplendent white armor. She has a sword belted at her waist, and her eyes are like shimmering blue sapphires as she stares down at the monsters. They've frozen at her voice, and as she slams the butt of her standard against the stone of the gate, they begin to scramble away, running west without looking back.

She jumps down from the gate and strides over to you firmly, and even though she's half a head shorter than you you can't help but feel awed in her presence. She's beautiful up close, her tresses of golden hair falling around her shoulders and framing her stunning features, but it's almost impossible to process that information after having just seen her with her standard raised and the sunlight seeming to pool around her like the will of God itself was at her back. This one, at least, was no witch. She looks you up and down for a moment before nodding, then extending her hand with a nod and an approving look.

"My name," she says, as if the introduction is even remotely necessary, "Is Jeanne d'Arc. You and I have a lot to discuss, Master of Chaldea."

You take her hand without thinking and offer her a firm shake, still staring somewhat dumbly. You've met Servants before, you've even met Servants that captivated your mind for a bit, but this is...different. It's not a charm, not a curse. Just...awe. She pulls away and nods towards your companions, Archer simply staring while Avenger curtsies politely. Eventually, you pull yourself together enough to speak.

"Edward. I...you're-"

"Not here." She cuts you off with a sharp look, before nodding north. "My allies have a camp not too far that way. We'll discuss things there. Buné's painter was seen here earlier, it's not safe."

Buné. One of the Goetia. That's who you're dealing with then, just the one? It's more than you knew beforehand, but the knowledge still makes you shiver, makes the whole situation more real.

"Gather yourselves. We're marching as soon as you're able. I'm going to check on the people." She turns without another word and leaps over the wall just in time for Niamh to burst through the gates, her lithe build disguising just how strong she could make herself when she needed. She rushes over to you and starts to speak, but you hold up a hand to silence her. Not now. You need...you need to process things.

Jeanne returns a minute or two later, her standard having vanished somewhere in the interim. She nods at Niamh who gives her a frown in return, before looking at you once more. "We set up camp above a leyline, if you need it. Makes it easier to defend if needs be. We'll be marching for an hour, but I'll answer all your questions when we get there."

She turns and starts to move as if there's no real argument against her, and in a way you suppose there isn't. Nothing for it but to decide who you'll talk with to pass the time during your walk.

So we got a Good Jeanne to work with, all as expected for a very canon story with no deviations, but if there were a deviation from sacrosanct canon it may be that she's secretly Jeanne des Armoises who was so convincing that she only failed at the final hurdle of repeating the secret Jeanne told the Dauphin in private and with the theme of fiction encroaching on reality so far-

wait

Buné's painter was seen here earlier, it's not safe."

Buné. One of the Goetia. That's who you're dealing with then, just the one? It's more than you knew beforehand, but the knowledge still makes you shiver, makes the whole situation more real.

squirtodyle you perfidious witch why must you always make the hot ones evil

[X] Goemon

He hasn't made much noise in a while and that's very concerning.

Commonwealth1991 · Nov 18, 2020

Squirtodyle said:
Unless every single War you'd ever read a report on just so happened to avoid them, fictional creations couldn't be Servants.

Sasaki Kojuro: Am I a joke to you?

Certainty improbable but not impossible. As was the case with the rival of Miyamoto Musashi, he technically didn't exist in the nasuverse and was only summoned in the 5th grail war due to the grail selecting a nameless candidate out of all human history who best matched the fiction.

Briar Rose may not even be the actual Briar Rose, rather some maiden that is the closest fit to the legend of Sleeping Beauty. It would certainty explain how she could be familiar with Edward's demi-servant form despite Galahad not being featured in the original folklore.

Squirtodyle said:
"You dare interrupt me, me, you selfish cretin?! I have exactly zero interest in you, and in fact invite you to go and hang somewhere your corpse will feed some fungus. Only then perhaps might I be willing to put to canvas your pretentious visage!"

Perhaps we as the audience should be a little worried that Edward seems to get along with the antagonists far better than the supposed heroes?

Nah it's probably fine.

Aside from that it's remarkable that the painter is far more fascinated with Edward rather than Nimah or Avenger. To any normal person, such as the gate keeper, Edward would appear to be the least approachable of the three with his shady appearance and attitude contrasted against Avenger's and Niamh's fair looks and behavior. I suppose it enforces the notion that beauty can be skin deep as he pointed out with Nimah and evidenced by the fact he didn't even give Sleeping Beauty a second look.

Squirtodyle said:
"Go, then. Go, be a hero! I will find you again and mark my words, you shall be my model! I am far too captivated by you!"

If I learned anything from Kirei Kotomine it's that the villain's know better than most what makes the best heroes.

Squirtodyle said:
You take her hand without thinking and offer her a firm shake, still staring somewhat dumbly.

It certainly says something about Jeanne when Edward, the suspicious and paranoid enforcer, offers her without thought a good working hand. Oh, poor Niamh has her work cut out for her having to compete for her brother's attention between an adorable monster girl, a seductive witch, an entrancing beauty, and now an honest to god saint.

[X] Circe

Let's consult with our resident supernatural expert for her opinion on the the avenger, the painter, the monsters, and now the saint.

Paleb05 · Nov 18, 2020

[X] Circe

Redsoff · Nov 18, 2020

[X] Goemon
We haven't really talked with him at all.

Who? · Nov 18, 2020

Squirtodyle said:
"I do not trust Avenger. She bewitched me when we first met, and the forest...there was something evil about it. It- it's lingering." You get the impression that she's holding back a shiver, and when she turns to you you're reminded that despite her height, despite her power, she's still a child, amethyst eyes practically pleading for some kind of validation. "She's...she's going to try kill us. I'm sure of it, Master. We should-"

No wonder she and Ed get along so well.

Squirtodyle said:
You thought "guard" when you saw him, but it doesn't seem to fit. His spear looks shoddy, cobbled together rather than forged to any sort of specification, and the only armor he wears is a battered iron helmet. He doesn't have the right stance, even though he's leveling the spear towards you, and he looks like he's about to run if you so much as raise your voice. Not a guard by trade, then? Forced into the role, maybe, but by what? You've got to think it over, but thankfully Avenger speaks up so your silence isn't too strange.

Just one? If things were that bad, you'd expect more people about.

Squirtodyle said:
"Good sir, my traveling companions and I were simply looking for a place to stay when we chanced upon your fair village. Would you be so kind as to allow us through, that we may rest our weary bones?" She gives the man an absolutely brilliant smile and you really can't blame him when his arms sag and he starts to stare. Niamh's as entranced as the man, a wide grin on her face, but at the very least you're not going to get suckered in so easily. Princesses don't become Avengers for no reason.

"I, er...yeah. Yeah, alright. Can't be any weirder than the painter. Welcome to Châteaudun, just...mind yourself, yeah? We've been attacked more than a few times this week, and...well."

Ty, Avenger, you shady princess you. I do wonder about the effect on Niamh, however - though she's a "regular" person, it does seem rather pronounced for a magus of her calibre.

Incidentally - Chateaudun. Notable as being related to Jean de Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, a campaigning buddy of Joan's.

Squirtodyle said:
"You didn't hear it from me, but you see a man with dark hair and a beard like a bush? Stay away from him. Raoul's a murderer. Swears blind it was the bears, but I never trusted him."

Squirtodyle said:
"World's gone mad. Burned the maiden not two weeks ago and now they say she's come back to life as a witch, then we get attacked by great big dirty bears every few days since. Killed a dozen so far, and that bastard Guillaume, the one playing at being a guard? I swear he's killed too. He's too eager to get his hands on that spear, you know? Too eager by far."

Hmmmm. Everyone suspicious of one another. A side effect of the forest creeping in, or a very in-character version of Werewolf? You decide!

Squirtodyle said:
"You!" He's stalking towards you already, his eyes alight with excitement, and you're already about to summon your shield when he clasps his hands together and beams at you. "You! You, you, you! Oh this town has been so dreadful, I cannot even begin to speak of how maddening it is to try to paint people that keep themselves all locked up all the time! But you're here now, oh, this is wonderful! Come, come stand by the church, you simply must be my model, my muse!"

I love him already.

Caravaggio is probably a Berserker, is my guess, by the by. His physical stats are C, D, D, which seem a little high for a Caster like he would be offhand.

Squirtodyle said:
Buné's painter was seen here earlier, it's not safe."

Bune, for reference. Also, RIP Ed. All the attractive older men are demons or work for them.

Good fight scenes, and excellent Jeanne introduction.

[X] Goemon

Look

We need to talk to him at somepoint. And after fighting three bears themed after a fairy tale to save a guy is probably the best time.

Astro Ambulance · Nov 18, 2020

[X] Goemon

veekie · Nov 18, 2020

[X] Circe

Spoopy shit, spoopy expert

Guessmyname · Nov 19, 2020

why are all the hot guys demons aaaaaa

Also seconding Zerban on having the mental screeching noises when the 'middle bear is just right' came up. Honestly thought the bears were going to be transformed townfolk mobs in some way (and that's why everyone thinks everyone else is a murderer) but no, more fairytales. Derp. At least they aren't bombarding us with boiling porridge.

Literally everyone we've met thus far is sus in some way and that seems to be a running theme (given the townsfolk are also sus of everyone else) and I'm super unsure what's going on with Avenger. So polite and helpful it feels like a baited trap. Not sure if the whole charm thing is a curse of some sort (ie a beauty that drives people mad) or an intentional lure. The way she seems to be actively toying with Niamh indicates she is at least doing this On Purpose to some degree.

If she was, like, a Caster or something this would have been a fairly clear-cut 2+2=4 but the fact she's an Avenger is throwing everything off.

...I almost shudder to imagine what will happen when ol' Gilles shows up.

[X] Goemon

Shady people up to shady shit so lets ask the shady thief expert.

Spear · Nov 19, 2020

[X] Circe

borb. that is all.....

Scia · Nov 19, 2020

[X]Avenger
she is a possible/likely threat and so trying to learn more about her is important.
We should go for those Conversational Landmines and step on them like a King.

Serace Lindorm · Nov 19, 2020

[X] Circe

Broccoliccoli · Nov 19, 2020

[X] Goemon

Scia · Nov 19, 2020

*looks at tally*
Otoh , time to slay the tie

[X] Circe

UmbraofChaos · Nov 19, 2020

[X] Circe

Amphidsf · Nov 19, 2020

[X] Circe

Squirtodyle · Nov 19, 2020

First of all, since we had a few hours of being neck and neck before a clear victor emerged, voting is now closed. The winning vote was to talk to Circe.

Secondly, since we're nearing a year of Ethereal Order, I figure I might as well try this out to celebrate.

If you've any questions or curiosities about the quest, what-ifs, or anything that isn't a spoiler, then post in the thread over the next three days or so and I'll collect them and answer them in another post.

Thank you for sticking around with me, and I hope you're all enjoying yourselves!

Astro Ambulance · Nov 19, 2020

Is it a spoiler if we know the other two servants we could have gotten instead of Archer?

Wiadi · Nov 19, 2020

Squirtodyle said:
If you've any questions or curiosities about the quest, what-ifs, or anything that isn't a spoiler, then post in the thread over the next three days or so and I'll collect them and answer them in another post.

If Niamh had been selected as the PC instead of Edward, would she still have been as...this...as the version we've met? Would we have an estranged brother who ~~definitely wouldn't utterly loathe us~~ we'd be so happy to be seeing again? Would he have had any notable divergences if not selected (other than obviously the flourishes of a different unreliable narrator)?

Frakir's brother · Nov 20, 2020

Is the reason Niamh can't summon a Servant just because she lacks a "Gathering Place of Heroes" like Lord Canelot or the Argo?

Squirtodyle · Nov 21, 2020

Just as a heads up, I've decided to swap to a once every two weeks schedule, since doing a Master's entirely through projects and assignments is a real bitch when it comes to time spent working outside of class. Should still get an update done for around the middle of this week but it'll slow down a bit after that.

Who? · Nov 21, 2020

What's been your favourite scene to write so far?

Squirtodyle · Nov 22, 2020

Astro Ambulance said:
Is it a spoiler if we know the other two servants we could have gotten instead of Archer?

Your choices were Rider Vrishasena for the "summer" choice, and Berserker Grendel for the winter choice. Vrishasena's character would have contrasted Ed's through his utter adoration of his father and family and his desire to be a hero that could live up to them, while Berserker Grendel would have been pretending to be Beowulf and would have ended up focused around their shared grudges and hatred for specific figures that they needed to work past together. I'm almost certainly not using them in the story going forward in the form that I had considered for choices of main Servant, but that's not to say they won't show up later.

Wiadi said:
If Niamh had been selected as the PC instead of Edward, would she still have been as...this...as the version we've met? Would we have an estranged brother who ~~definitely wouldn't utterly loathe us~~ we'd be so happy to be seeing again? Would he have had any notable divergences if not selected (other than obviously the flourishes of a different unreliable narrator)?

Things would have been exactly the same, yes. Ed and Niamh's shared backstory is set in stone, the challenge would have been seeing through Niamh's biased perspective at what Ed is actually doing and how he's actually reacting, and coming to realise that Niamh's own estimation of herself and their childhood is very heavily flawed. Edward would have similarly been exactly the same, but naturally harder to gauge his issues since you're not seeing his thoughts. Ed and Niamh are both established characters, they've both done some shit and it'll come up for both of them going forward.

Frakir's brother said:
Is the reason Niamh can't summon a Servant just because she lacks a "Gathering Place of Heroes" like Lord Canelot or the Argo?

Yes. The FATE system was designed to not need a gathering place of heroes, but the explosions were partially directed to damage the system. The fact that Ed does possess a relic that can be used as a gathering place is the only reason he's able to summon Servants working on the remnants of the system, and without Lev's knowledge it's borderline impossible to repair it to its original functionality.

Who? said:
What's been your favourite scene to write so far?

Ed using Lord of Steel Chains for the first time. It was really fun to work out a personalized virtual phantasm for him that allowed for some good characterization for exactly how he motivates himself to keep standing and keep fighting, and in general it was just real neat to put to paper one of the coolest scenes in early FGO and put my own spin on it.

Besides that, basically any scene with Circe or Matthew. Circe's a delight to write and I love getting to balance between her business mode and her playfulness when she's relaxed, and Matthew is just incredibly fun and it's great writing him and Ed being cute.

Fate/Ethereal Order

ARSLOTHES

Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains

Daemon Noble of D E M O G R A P H I C S

Thanks, I hate it.

A Believer of Optimism in the World

[DETACHMENT]

Tea-Powered Biscuit-Eater Riding A Flamingo

Sun-In-Rags

Vtuber

Freedom Lets Go

The Quipster

Uncompromising Radical Leftist

Goodbye.