I hope headless wont be mad for us letting someone into our head.

In that case, I have a slight adjustment in my vote:

[X] Accept Caster's deal.
- [X] Warn her about the potential company in there.

We don't need to tell her everything, just enough so she knows about the matter. Mostly, this is just a precaution so Caster doesn't inadvertently start tangling with the other presences.
 
[X] Accept Caster's deal.
- [X] Warn her about the potential company in there.

Sorry if it sounds stupid, but does Caster explicitly know we're a vampire? I'm surprised she's taking our request to obtain blood with no problems. Or does Caster not care about modern doctrine regarding Dead Apostles?
 
Sorry if it sounds stupid, but does Caster explicitly know we're a vampire? I'm surprised she's taking our request to obtain blood with no problems.
Caster appears to be aware that Flandre is a blood-drinking creature:
The second rule is that the people living here are to be left alone. I can mask your presence to some degree, but it will work better if you aren't seen - and if you attack any of them, including drinking their blood, I will consider it a hostile act and react accordingly.
That happened shortly after Flan killed and gorged herself on seven people.
 
[X] Accept Caster's deal.
- [X] Warn her about the potential company in there.

Sorry if it sounds stupid, but does Caster explicitly know we're a vampire? I'm surprised she's taking our request to obtain blood with no problems. Or does Caster not care about modern doctrine regarding Dead Apostles?
She does have scrying capability across all Fuyuki barring specifically warded locations.
 
Votes are not locked.
[X] Accept Caster's deal.
8

[X] Accept Caster's deal.
- [X] Warn her about the potential company in there.
7
 
I'd ask someone to either switch of add on, warning Caster about the potential company in Flan's head. It is something Caster should know about, for our own good. We don't want Caster to try anything in there.
 
Votes are locked.
[X] Accept Caster's deal.
8

[X] Accept Caster's deal.
- [X] Warn her about the potential company in there.
9
 
Sneak, Sneak! With a cool-sounding Kajiura theme playing
[X] Accept Caster's deal.
- [X] Warn her about the potential company in there.


You tilt your head as you look at Caster. "When you mean 'in my mind,' does that mean you can affect my body?" She shakes her head quickly.

"Oh, no, no! But that's where we will be … connected, I suppose." You smile and bow your head.

"Then I agree to your proposal - I infiltrate Rider's lair with you, and then you help me gather blood." She stares at you for a moment, then smiles happily.

"Thank you, Flandre. Ah, yes, since we should start immediately …." She hops to her feet and a dark cloud swirls over her, replacing her clothing with her mage's robes. "I'll get everything ready, it won't take long." She steps back from the table and waves you back when you start to get up. "No, no, just wait, most of this is simply putting pieces together." You sit back, nodding, and smile at Deis when you catch her watching you. A swirl of wind tousles your hair and you frown before flopping onto Ershin.

"You'll take care of yourself, won't you? Lancer really hurt you, and if there's another aspect of his attack that we haven't discovered, we may find out at a bad time. And I know you don't have any particular fear of death, but …."

"I would be sad if you died. Deis would be sad, too." You glance down, surprised at Ershin's speaking out, and hug the suit of armor from your position atop is helmet, then pull yourself up and 'hug' Deis's illusion as best you can.

"I'll be careful, and I'll have Caster with me. And you'll be waiting here in case we need rescuing, right?" Deis smiles.

"You just love me for my explosions." You giggle and she relaxes. "Well, it's true that with Caster paying most of her attention to where you'll be, someone needs to mind the place. Assassin only guards the gate, after all."

"And Caster is helping you with getting a body, right?" She shrugs and raises a hand in a careless gesture.

"We're working on something - oh, don't get like that. It's fine, really." You pout and she chuckles. "It's just that there aren't that many good candidates in the area, so it would almost be easier to make a body, from what I understand. But that would take time and resources, and with the situation as it is …. Besides, I've got some things I've been working on to keep myself busy." She grins mysteriously, but before you can ask her to explain, Caster coughs gently to get your attention. Deis sticks her tongue out at you briefly before you turn to the other magician.

"Alright, Flandre, please come here and stand across from me." You move to follow her instructions, then stop and snap your fingers, earning a frown.

"Ah, just something I thought I should warn you about. It's not often people get inside my head, so you might get some attention while you're in there. Um, don't do anything, okay? It'll be fine." Caster frowns at you before Deis clucks her tongue.

"That's right, there was someone else. 'Giltless' and … she said something about a 'Headless,' right?" You shoot her a surprised glance and she shrugs. "What can I say? I've got a pretty good memory. Not much to do in here, anyway." Caster's odd expression dissolves and she smiles, bowing slightly at both you and Deis.

"I don't think it would have caused any problems this time, but thank you for the warning. Now, Flandre, if you would stand in front of me and stare into my eyes. I will also need you to lower any protections against intrusion you have …." Your gaze matches hers, red eyes boring into blue, and you feel her power coiling around her before it surges into you. As an unfamiliar element settles alongside your mind, Caster moves to sit at the table, and the scrying ball changes to show an endless succession of scrying balls until you jerk your head away. Oddly, neither Headless nor Giltless investigate Caster's presence; maybe they're asleep?

"Should I worry if the image gets cut?" You grin at Deis; she's still worrying about you.

"If the connection is cut, I will return here. We can make a joint effort, if necessary. If you see something you think we missed, say so - I can hear you through my body, and can relay requests to Flandre." You stretch and hop back and forth.

"So, can I go now? Do we need to wait for anything else?" Deis smiles and rolls her eyes, and when Caster speaks, you hear it in your head before it comes through her voice, almost like an echo.

"Everything seems to be in order. I don't expect this to take too long." You grin and dart forward to hug Ershin and Deis as best you can before hurrying out of the building. "I have not sensed any other presences," she says, almost nervously. You grin.

"It's fine; they're probably just asleep. If you were in the castle, I'd be worried, but you're just a passenger right now, so it's fine." You wave at Sasaki as you launch yourself from the temple gate, turning invisible as you hurtle through the air over the steps.

"Castle …?" You ignore her curiosity for now; it's not important. You focus more on getting used to the sundress - it's not something you'd normally care about, but it's a brand-new dress and you're going sneaking, so its unfamiliar flapping is a minor concern. "Flandre, wait." You slow to a halt over a hundred meters from Rider's lair and start looking around, wondering what Caster saw that you missed. "No, no! Look at the mansion." After several seconds of nothing happening, your eyes start tingling, and after you blink away the sensation your eyes widen. Over the house are several transparent domes, murky and mottled. You start looking for openings - the second has a man-sized opening at the top of the dome, the fourth is broken at the walkway …. "There. Alright, get as close as you can to the first field without touching it." You make you way forward.

"He told me that he was able to detect me by the hole I made in his protections," you say. A tingle runs through your body, then a slight shock. You dart back and look around for an attacker, spinning quickly.

"Ah, Flandre! Wait!" You reorient yourself and wait for Caster to explain. "I'm sorry, I didn't think you would notice it. Instead of making a hole, you should simply fail to be noticed by the barrier - I put a layer of magic over you that will maintain the field's integrity as you pass through it. The image will distort briefly, Deis, as the connection reestablishes itself through the opening in the field." You slip through the barrier, and after another jolt, the next, repeating the process a total of five times before you're past the final barrier. Resisting the temptation to giggle, you quickly circle the building, hoping you don't have to go through the chimney again, and find Rider's Master in the back, throwing stones into the yard. Your eyes narrow as he mutters to himself.

"Stupid Sakura. It's all her fault! I did what I was supposed to do, I didn't do anything wrong. And now I'm stuck here! … Well, I guess it's not all bad … heh. Heheh. -Damn you, Tohsaka!"

"Flandre." You nod and turn away from the Master; he left the door open behind him, to your great fortune. You still think he should be smothered within stone. The house is still as gloomy and dark as it was before, and you relax somewhat in the comfortable atmosphere. Rider isn't waiting in the room she was in earlier, however, and you hesitate. "Upstairs, please." Caster seems nervous about something, and you carefully make your way to the upper level. This time, a different room is occupied, and you find both Rider and the girl Sakura within. The Servant is sitting in a chair, the girl lying on the bed. "This is … how did they do this?"

"Is something wrong?" You drift closer to Sakura; like the Servant, she is impassive, emotionless, lying with her eyes open, staring up at the ceiling.

"She is the Master, not the boy outside. And her Servant … Rider is the stronger for it. How did she …? Hm." You tilt your head, examining the girl. You can't tell anything different about her, although ….

"Caster, why do her clothes look like one of the outfits you had me try on?" Caster waits a few moments before responding.

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking she might make a good candidate for Deis. If she is able to boost a Servant this much …." You 'clear' your mental voice.

"The outfit, Caster?"

"Oh, it's the school uniform for girls where Souichirou-sama teaches. You were so very charming, Flandre! When will you be ready for the rest of the outfits?" You scowl, but before you can respond, Sakura sits upright and turns to stand up.

"Sakura?" Rider's question is quiet, and at first you don't think the girl hears her.

"… Grandfather is calling me. Wait here, Rider." An expression almost crosses Rider's face, a brief shadow of emotion, and her head dips in an almost-unnoticeable nod. You follow her down the stairs and into the hidden basement. There are many more of the worms in the second room than there were before, and Sakura reaches the landing she reaches down to let one that was crawling around the platform wriggle up her arm.

"They're familiars. Perhaps one is combat-oriented and the other is for another purpose?" You sweep your gaze across the teeming swarm in the sunken area, then jerk back as the old man seems to rise from the worms themselves.

"Sakura." She turns to face him, and the worm on her shoulder slithers onto her other shoulder. "You need to eliminate Caster. She has been far too persistent in her attempts to scry this place." Her expression doesn't seem to change, she doesn't seem to react at all, but the old man grunts, reacting as if she had. "You want to save the Emiya boy, don't you? Caster aims to take Saber from him. The only way she can do that, however, is by killing the Master. She's already done it - she betrayed and murdered the mage that summoned her, and set herself up in her current position."

"Senpai …." Sakura does react to that. So does Caster.

"Flandre, it's - it wasn't like that. I didn't -"

"Yes. You needn't go out, so you aren't suspected; Rider should be enough to deal with the temple's guardian. I will make sure Caster is unable to interfere." The girl nods.


What do you do?

[ ] Attack immediately.
- [ ] Burn everything.
- [ ] Burn the worms and the old man; incapacitate Sakura and take her back to the temple to see if she can be useful to Deis.

[ ] Withdraw.
- [ ] As fast as you can; intercept and eliminate Rider.
- [ ] As fast as you can; get back to the temple and assist Assassin if he needs it.
- [ ] Without being noticed; try to catch and eliminate Rider.
- [ ] Without being noticed; get back to the temple and assist Assassin if he needs it.
- [ ] Ask Caster where the hospital is.

[ ] Stay and talk to Sakura and her grandfather.

[ ] Other?
 
[jk] Sit back and watch the action. Preferably with some popcorn.
 
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[X] Attack immediately.
-[X] Burn the worms and the old man; incapacitate Sakura and take her back to the temple to see if she can be useful to Deis.
--[X] Wait for Rider to leave first. Assassin and Caster can handle her, but fighting a magician in his own workshop is going to be hard enough without a Servant intervening.
---[X] And if it all goes smoothly, don't actually enter the temple with Sakura until Caster can check her out for any oddities.
 
Hmmm... A couple plans... Any thoughts?

[o] Suggest a plan to Caster.
-[o] Flandre hides in the mansion while Rider goes to the temple.
-[o] When Rider reaches the temple (known through Caster's spell), Flandre kidnaps Sakura and razes the rest of the mansion and the inhabitants to the ground with spell cards. Focus fire on the old man; if Flandre doesn't see his corpse, she needs to find him and make him dead before continuing with the rest of the mansion.
-[o] Flee to the Emiya residence before Rider returns, dropping off Sakura there before fleeing to throw off the trail. Take a couple of her hairs to make sure she can be tracked down by Caster more easily later.

OR

[o] Speak with Sakura and her grandfather.
-[o] Flandre would really like it if they didn't attack her host.
--[o] If they'd kill Lancer for them, Flandre will do what she can to make sure the Emiya boy will not be harmed by Caster, Flandre, or any of their allies unless he does something monumentally stupid.
---[o] His Servant, however, would still be fair game, and would likely be focused on to get Emiya uninvolved quicker.

Perhaps, when we leave this world, we can give Sakura, Shirou, Rider, Assassin (if he's still around), Caster, and Souichirou a lift to Gensokyo. The only one who'd really complain would be Shirou, since there would not be as many people that need saving there.
 
[X] Attack immediately.
-[X] Burn the worms and the old man; incapacitate Sakura and take her back to the temple to see if she can be useful to Deis.
--[X] Wait for Rider to leave first. Assassin and Caster can handle her, but fighting a magician in his own workshop is going to be hard enough without a Servant intervening.
---[X] And if it all goes smoothly, don't actually enter the temple with Sakura until Caster can check her out for any oddities.

Seeeems legit.
 
Hmmm... A couple plans... Any thoughts?
Spell cards aren't particularly efficient for property destruction and killing (I'd have to go back and see if the spell cards she made are lethal-capable).

Can we sneak up and intsagib Rider?
You'd want
- [ ] Without being noticed; try to catch and eliminate Rider.
With a clause specifying that you're trying to crush her eye.
 
[X] Attack immediately.
-[X] Burn the worms and the old man; incapacitate Sakura and take her back to the temple to see if she can be useful to Deis.
--[X] Wait for Rider to leave first. Assassin and Caster can handle her, but fighting a magician in his own workshop is going to be hard enough without a Servant intervening.
---[X] And if it all goes smoothly, don't actually enter the temple with Sakura until Caster can check her out for any oddities.
 
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