[Quest] True Name Discernment

[zikari8]

When you’ve eliminated all the impossibilities from the mountain of legends, only one name can be true…

For as long as I remember, there have always been Holy Grail Wars. Whether I was a child or an adult, some epic ritual battle must’ve been happening somewhere else in the world. After all, we now live in the Age of Miracles.

The inner mechanics of the Grail have been well-known for decades now and there isn’t a magus on the globe who hasn’t heard of it. Holy Grail Wars are so commonplace, you’d swear there was a bargain sale on wish-granting devices. Nowadays, even a regular old chump like me could summon and meet a legendary, ephemeral hero if I wanted to.

Of course, along with the new age comes a brand-new set of professions. Like they say, where there’s war, there’s money. Information brokers, surrogate Masters, catalyst rentals, Magic Crest preservers, regular old mercenaries… once Grail Wars became common, all the shady folk popped out of the woodwork to sniff after some cash. Well, I guess I’m not much different.

Who am I? Don’t worry about that. My name isn’t important. The names that are important are the Servants’. ‘Cause in a Holy Grail War, knowing a Servant’s True Name means knowing their legend. And knowing their legend means knowing their powers and weaknesses. And knowing their weakness means knowing how to win. So, you see, the first step to beating a Servant is always finding out their identity. And no one is better at that than me. No matter what Heroic Spirit, no matter what war, for the right price, I’ll find their True Name.

Even this battle is just another chapter in my legend.

True Name Discernment is a Fate-based Quest set in the Apocrypha universe. You’ll play as a freelance magus who has been hired to partake in a Holy Grail War. However, you are not a Master and your goal is not to defeat other Servants or obtain the Holy Grail; your mission is only to investigate and determine the identity of the Servants in the Holy Grail War for the sake of your client, who will use that information to win.

The core of this quest will be solving the mystery of the Servants’ True Names as well as surviving the many dangers of a Holy Grail War. Think of it primarily as a mystery adventure game. Over the course of the War, you’ll be sent to investigate the identity of one of the Servants, scour the city for clues, and avoid dying to the Servant you’re studying. Each Servant and Master is a potentially fatal threat, but also someone who you must encounter and investigate to succeed. Once you’re confident in your answer, you’ll submit it to your client who’ll act on that info. Even without a Servant, you are a crucial player in this Holy Grail War.

Now then, the true test of your useless Wikipedia knowledge unfolds. Through the fancy special attacks, genderbends, and Nasu-type bullshit, can you uncover the one truth?

---

Before we can begin, please select a difficulty setting:

1. Famed Heroes: Servants will be relatively more famous, making their identities easier to guess. However, they will also be more powerful, and it will be proportionally easier to reach a dead end.
2. Obscure Servants: Servants will be relatively more obscure, making them more difficult to guess. On the other hand, they will be somewhat weaker, and it will be easier to survive encounters with them.
3. Mix: There will be a mix of well-known and obscure Heroic Spirits among the roster.

[Zurvan]

3. Mix

I shall watch this with interest for now

[SleepMode]

​3

[Spartacus]

seems like a light and fun quest

3

[Faux]

3 seems like the way to go.

This looks pretty interesting anyways.

[Draconic]

3. Mix: There will be a mix of well-known and obscure Heroic Spirits among the roster.

This looks promising.

[zikari8]

Day 1 Morning
Location: ???

I awoke to the sound of sizzling. The sharp, steady noise pulled me from my deep slumber.

It must’ve been morning. A vaguely bright light was assaulting my eyelids, so the sun must’ve been up already. Though faint, the smell of something savory caught my nose and soft metal sounds could be heard alongside the sizzle. As time went on, I dipped further out of unconsciousness and my senses grew sharper.

However, the more my consciousness returned, the more I realized how sleepy I was. I was tired. Really tired. And the more the noise pushed me to get up, the more the fatigue pulled me back to dreamland.

I was starting to get annoyed, so I turned my body away from the light. In doing so, I quickly realized that I wasn’t in a bed.

This cushioning… this texture… am I sleeping on a couch? Why am I on a couch? No, wait. If this isn’t my bed, where am I?

The question raises my alertness slightly. With a half-functioning conscience, I try to remember the events leading up to this.

Last night, I… I don’t know. I’m drawing a blurry blank. Perhaps, it was because I was barely even awake, but my memory’s fuzzy and I can’t focus enough to delve deeper into it.

I know. If I open my eyes and get up, I can confirm where I was and recall how I got here.

But my eyelids refuse to part. My body struggles to move. The more questions that pop into my mind, the more I’m tempted to forget it all and deal with it when I wake up later.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

Suddenly, a voice reaches my ears. It’s coming from the same direction as the sizzling.

“Breakfast will be done shortly, so wait just a bit longer.”

Semi-conscious, I barely understand what it’s saying. I don’t recognize the person speaking either, but the voice feels refreshing to me, like sunshine or fresh flowers.

“Oh, but you must still be jet-lagged. If you want, you can keep sleeping. I’ll save some food for you.”

Keep sleeping? What a tempting offer.

Yeah, it’d be nice if I could keep sleeping. I feel like if I get up now, I’ll just be tired for the rest of the day. So, I might as well rest up…

Oh, but isn’t there something I have to do today? I can’t recall, but I feel like there’s something I need to do.

Oh well, if I can’t remember it, it’s probably not important. Plus, if the voice is telling me I can keep sleeping, there shouldn’t be any problems, right?

So, before I fall back to sleep, I should –

---

Mystery:
Where am I? Who is the person speaking to me?

Action:
A) Get up now and have breakfast
B) Ask the voice to wake you up a bit later
C) Sleep in and get more rest

Notes

Like most quests, True Name Discernment will let you vote on what actions your player character takes. However, there will also occasionally be Mystery choices. These will present questions which you will give an answer to or vote on an answer. Some will be multiple choice, and some will be freeform write-ins. For example, a potential question might be “What is Saber’s True Name?”.

These will mostly be for the mystery portion of the quest. The deduction that you vote on will be the train of thought that your player follows, so they may not only affect the story progression but also the choices you may take. Not all Mystery choices will be crucial, and some won’t be logically solvable, so don’t worry too much and make educated guesses. Well-reasoned guesses will be rewarded with certain boons. You’ll be told when there’s a crucial Mystery choice and those should have enough clues for you to make proper deductions.

[SleepMode]

Mystery:
Where am I?
My Flat, maybe? Dammit, too tired to think...

Who is the person speaking to me?
My roommate- wait, do I even have a roommate?

Action:
A) Get up now and have breakfast

I tried
Tempted to choose C, but must remain active to push the fatigue away!

[Spartacus]

Uhh... ohh....

Mystery:
Where: The enemy base-!!!!

Who: The enemy captured you and has enchanted some sort of suggestion magecraft to you!

Action:
A) Get up now and have breakfast (to play along)

[Zurvan]

Man either we had a good bit of drinking fun after our travels, or we're in trouble

Better find out which one it is, A (and if its all clear we can return to sleep)

[Bird of Hermes]

A

Man either we had a good bit of drinking fun after our travels, or we're in trouble

Lads went on tour and had a cheeky nandos

[zikari8]

Day 1 Morning
Location: ???

This is no time to be sleeping.

I don’t know where I am or who the person speaking to me is, so I can’t just peacefully sleep now. I need to get up and check where I am. If everything’s fine and I’m just being paranoid, then I can just go back to bed later. But if this is dangerous territory, leaving myself defenseless is the worst idea.

With all my force of will, I fight off my drowsiness, open my eyes at last, and push myself off the couch. Facing the potential threat before me, I see-

Huh. Looking around, I find myself in what seems like an ordinary apartment living room. It’s moderately sized and simply furnished with a few modern appliances. The only couch in the room is the one I was sleeping on, but there’s also a dining table and a few shelves. Outside the window is a modest balcony and the room is separated from the kitchen with a passthrough, or whatever you call those walls with a cutout in them. No matter how you look at it, it seems just like a mundane living/dining area. It’s rather different from the enemy base that I expected to find myself in.

“Ah, good morning. Did you sleep well?”

Still somewhat dazed, I’m greeted by a young woman in the kitchen. Chopping something with a knife without needing to look, she smiles at me through the kitchen passthrough. It need not be mentioned that she’s the source of the voice I was hearing.

“Oh, so it’s just you.”

I release a sigh of relief upon recognizing her. The woman expresses visible confusion, but I don’t elaborate.

Yup, now that my eyes are open, everything becomes clear and my memories catch up to me. I’m still a little sleepy, but I’ve more or less composed myself. This isn’t an enemy base or anything, the woman isn’t a threat to me, and I’m not in any immediate danger. On the other hand, this isn’t my familiar flat nor would I necessarily call the woman my roommate. The situation’s a bit more complicated than that.

Right, from now on, this simple apartment is my home.

---

Day 1 Morning
Location: Living Room

“So? How does it taste? Is it good?”

“… yeah, it’s good.”

After I wash my face to wake myself up, I have breakfast with the woman. The menu is white rice, some sort of soup, and pan-fried fish. It’s a strange choice for breakfast, if you ask me, so I try it cautiously. Meanwhile, the woman and I eat in relative quiet, almost awkward silence. Besides a few questions about the food, she doesn’t seem to know what to say to me. I also don’t have much to talk to her about, so the living room is tranquil. It’s awkward but I guess it can’t be helped considering the circumstances.

Allow me to explain.

My name is Hayama Haruto. I’m a 22-year-old bachelor and an all-around normal guy. I have few eccentricities and I don’t stand out very much. I wouldn’t call myself bland, but I don’t think I’m very strange either.

You see, while I was born here in Japan, I’ve been living abroad for a long time now. For certain reasons, I’ve ended up returning to Japan. Just last night, I arrived at my old home and saw my family for the first time in years. Since my return was a little sudden, there wasn’t a bed prepared for me, so I just crashed on the couch for the night.

The woman sitting across from me and skillfully eating with chopsticks is Hayama Haruka, a 20-year-old college student. In other words, she’s my little sister. Even though I say that, I haven’t seen her for a long time, so our relationship can’t be considered very familial. We’re practically strangers yet we’re also family. That’s probably the reason for this awkward atmosphere. Our estrangement is at the point where I didn’t recognize her voice just now. Although part of that might be due to how tired I was from the jetlag (and all the magical energy I spent last night), she’s grown so much that I can’t recognize her at all.

Well, I have my own reasons for coming home, and staying here is much more efficient than camping at a hotel but living with an estranged family is a bit troublesome.

* * * * *

“Oh, Haruto. Do you have any plans for today?”

After breakfast, Haruka suddenly asks me while washing the dishes. As an aside, she forbade me from helping her clean up and even waited patiently for me to finish as I was having trouble using chopsticks for the first time in years. She’s really grown into a fine person over the years.

“Hm? No, not really. Why?”

Thinking a bit, I can’t recall anything off the top of my head. I do have some work to do, but nothing urgent, I think. Honestly, I just want to go back to sleep.

“I was thinking I could show you around town today. You’ve been gone so long, you don’t remember anything, right?”

“Well, that’s true but…”

What should I do? It’s true I’ve been meaning to acquaint myself with the town since I’ll be living here from now on. But I don’t want to trouble my little sister with being my tour guide, and I don’t think she’d be interested in the places I’d want to check out. Furthermore, I’m still exhausted so it might not be the best day to tour the city.

---

Plans for today?

1. Go look around town with Haruka
2. Go look around town alone
3. Go back to sleep

[Spartacus]

1. Go around town with imouto

[SleepMode]

1. Go look around town with Haruka

C'mon, how can we not​ hang out with our little sister?

[Zurvan]

3.

(Lil sis cute...)

[Faux]

1. Let's go for a walk with sis.

[zikari8]

Day 1 Morning
Location: Hayama Apartment - Living Room

“Then, if you don’t mind, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

After thinking about it for a bit, I decide to go with her. It’s true that I’m sleepy, but if she offers to show me around, I won’t say no. I suppose trying to be too considerate right now would be rude.

“Great. Then let’s go, immediately.”

In contrast to my ambivalence, Haruka seems enthusiastic about my reply. Grinning, she finishes washing the dishes and instantly gets ready to head out.

I don’t have anything else to do, so let’s spend the day with my newly acquainted family… When I see her smile as she does, that sentiment grows a little stronger.

---

Day 1 Morning
Location: Sakazuki City – Neighbourhood

We leave the apartment and begin to walk around the neighborhood, heading through the open streets towards the city center. As we do, Haruka gives me the rundown on the town I don’t remember.

Sakazuki City is a coastal city in rural Japan. It’s surprisingly large for a town of its nature and has a few notable landmarks worthy of tourism. It has nice hot springs and a pretty beach so it’s a popular destination for day trips among residents of the region. Right now, it’s apparently some Japanese holiday called Golden Week or something, so there’s a lot of people in town right now. According to Haruka, they’ll leave by the end of week and it’s usually not this crowded.

The main street of the city leads up from the beach to the big shrine up on the mountain and runs parallel to the Shion River which bisects the town. On the west side of the town is the modern developing area centered around the main street while the suburbs, surrounded by forestry, are in the east. To the north are a few old Japanese style-houses near the shrine, but most of the normal houses are in the eastern residential district. Our apartment is near the city center though, so we’re close to both the station and main shopping district. There a few schools in the area, but the only university in town is the one Haruka attends, Sakazuki Women's University. In the suburb area, there's actually an old hot springs inn that's popular with tourists. It's not rare to even find foreigners staying there during the holidays.

Not only does Haruka explain the geography of the city as we walk, but she also points out all the notable locations near the apartment, like the convenience stores or her favorite café. It’s a bit awkward just having her talk like a tour guide while I silently listen, but the information’s nice to know. Honestly, I don’t remember much from way back and apparently the city’s changed a lot, so it’s a big help. From how Haruka describes it, though, it seems like a good town. Maybe it’s the location, but the air here feels refreshing. A mountain to the north, a forest to the east, a river to the west, and a bay to the south… The city certainly sounds like it’d be good for Feng Shui. Is this what they call Furinkazan? No wait, that’s something else. Also, there’s no fire.

After a bit of walking and explanation, we arrive at a wide-looking street with even more people. It must be the main street Haruka told me about.

“If you keep going down this road, you’ll reach the station front. The shopping mall’s right next to it and there’s also a big park nearby. And that’s most of the important stuff. What do you think?”

“Huh… I guess it sure is convenient.”

From what I can tell, everything’s pretty close together so going around even on foot should be convenient. That must be one of the benefits of small cities like this.

“Is there anywhere in particular you want to go see? Both the shrine and beach are probably crowded today, but we can go if you’d like.”

She asks eagerly. She must be committed to going where I want. However, I don’t want to just drag her around, so let’s limit today to more normal locations. I can check out the weirder places like the backstreets or suburbs on my own time, later. Let's see... Right now, it's about 11 in the morning. There's plenty of time left in the day.

For now, where should we go next?

1. Go to Shrine
2. Go to Beach
3. Stay in this neighborhood
4. Go home for today

Also, now that the explanation is over, it’d be a bit awkward to travel in silence. Is there something I can talk to her about?

1. Get to know Haruka
2. Ask about local news and recent events (strange occurrences in the city)
3. Stay silent
4. Write-in

[Spartacus]

1. Shrine
2. News

[SleepMode]

1: Go to the Shrine

1: Get to know Haruka more

[Bird of Hermes]

1, 1