Hi, stopped reading the series for a while but i see that its still going full strength and even had some spin-offs.
I saw that the story is also published in fanfic.com, is there anything missing there compared to the posts here? I noticed that some of the posts that had only choices also had a little bit of narration in them.
Choice 208: [X] Turn over the blade - for an artifact
Choice 209: The man nodded.
"Very well," Lockhart said. "Do you have an idea of what sort of artifact you might be looking for, or would you rather see an assortment?"
[ ] A weapon - something offensively oriented
[ ] Something more defensively oriented
[ ] Something small and unobtrusive - a ring, perhaps?
[ ] Show me a little of everything
Nothing is missing - I end up integrating the narration from the choices into the chapters when I finalize them.Originally Posted by saki
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[ ] Something more defensively oriented
[x]Show me a little of everything
[x]Something more defensively oriented
Last edited by Dracueri; September 24th, 2021 at 06:30 PM.
[X] Something more defensively oriented
I feel like we should go offensive or defensive here. Given the stuff Shinji tends to run headfirst into battle with. He needs something so he can survive or hurt the crazy monsters he fights. I pick defensive cause every...girl Shinji fought besides knows the damage he takes in fights.
Choice 209: [X] Something more defensively oriented
Choice 210: Lockhart has the Quartermaster - the same one Shinji had fooled before - escort him down to the armory, after explaining the situation. The quartermaster looks someone chagrined, but accepts the Mentor's correction, noting that he should have been more cautious himself, though Lockhart mentions that with how many of the volunteers who had come to Albion had operated out of different locations prior to this operation and hadn't met before, it wasn't his fault.
Either way, Shinji felt he should have been surprised when the armory was revealed to be rather expansive, though knowing that Lockhart was an Assassin - perhaps he shouldn't have been.
The defensive artifacts available to Shinji, given the tier of his trade-in, are as follows. Choose one
[ ] Enchanted Mirror Shield - a physical shield which offers some degree of magical resistance and can be used to reflect spell-beams. Equipped with a "boomerang effect" (can be thrown and will return to thrower)
[ ] Shield gauntlets (with regenerating shield charm) - allows one to maintain a basic defense against single-action spells. (Auto-cast)
[ ] The Ring of Eternal Ice - grants the wearer partial resistance to ice spells
[ ] Goggles of Sight Protection - actively filters visual input to protect against extreme variations in light (e.g. flashbangs, lumos maximus in the face, etc) or more cognitive hazards
[ ] Choker of Clear Mind - provides a degree of resistance to mental effects, especially those originating from an outside source
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[X] Enchanted Mirror Shield
Maybe its because Captain Atlas sounds amazing but I am bias towards this choice.
Honestly I like that this option can cover a lot of needs for Shinji. Something to block physical attacks with. Yet can block some types of magic attacks (mostly wizard spells as they tend to be rays/beams). All while having an attack option with the throwing effect. It might not do any of its jobs extremely well but it does a lot of stuff well. Which is Shinji's build in a nut shell.
But I also like the Shield gauntlets if I had to go with something else. Ring of Eternal Ice would have been amazing if we still had the weakness to Ice spells, which we don't have now that we are not Dragon Shinji. The googles throw off the cool Nines look that I thought Albion was going to adopt. Choker is useful but not sure Shinji would wear a collar...but if he did his dogtag could go there.
No.
Last edited by skulkidcachi90; October 13th, 2021 at 09:03 AM.
[x] Choker of Clear Mind - provides a degree of resistance to mental effects, especially those originating from an outside source.
More worried about mental interference (especially after how much we have seen Shinji being under influence of various kind until now). Especially since he learns Atlas mental skills and teaching from Kohaku this very year. I want to max out his brain processing all the while keeping his mind protected as much as possible.
I still like the idea to roleplay as Captain Britain but we're still a wand-staff + ofuda user at the end of the day (which requires both hands for the most part). I'd rather avoid another piece of gear that would require yet another training to use effectively, even if it seems fun.
[x]Shield gauntlets (with regenerating shield charm) - allows one to maintain a basic defense against single-action spells. (Auto-cast)
This gear does not require extensive training to master. It can automatically protect against most wand users spells. It can also be used to create openings in a fight.
Well, make up your minds for Choice 210, please.
While you do that though, you may as well get started on something for Tohsaka Rin.
Choice 211: While the Tree is going to rebuild her "a perfect magus" - the issue is that there is no one understanding of what a perfect magus truly is. Ask a dozen magi, and you'll probably get a dozen different answers. And so, the Tree, in its wisdom, resolves to go back to Rin's roots, as it were - to the aftermath of one of the great incidents that shaped who she was and later became: The Fourth Fuyuki Grail War.
Tohsaka Rin wakes up the day after the end of the war, in the aftermath of a fire that has consumed a good portion of Fuyuki. Hundreds of buildings - mostly in the new Shinto district - have gone up in flames, including a new civic center that was still under construction. Hundreds, if not thousands, are dead.
...including her father, meaning that she is now the Second Owner of Fuyuki, with all the rights and responsibilities this entails.
In this case, since parts of Fuyuki are a burnt out wreck, means getting on the phone with the Association to beg for/borrow/ask for resources to cover up / help deal with the aftermath of this colossal fuck up.
(Normally this would fall to her mother, but with the older woman in a coma, that's not really an option right now. If she trusted him, her father's former apprentice might also be able to provide some aid, but...well, she doesn't trust him as far as she can throw him - which is not particularly far, given that she is 8 years old and he...quite a bit older. And larger.).
Failing to handle this will result in Fuyuki being taken away from her and given to someone more deserving / able to handle this sort of responsibility, which leaves the girl more than a bit nervous.
Fortunately, however, she's always been gifted in a number of areas - and not just magically, either, though she is an Average One, with the not inconsiderable prestige this grants. What is likely to help her most in this case, however, is her affinity towards...(choose one)
[] Logic: the ability to analyze the living daylights out of things. It enables her to piece evidence together, detect inconsistencies in statements, and impress everyone with astonishing conclusions - or at least satisfy them with ones that make sense.
[] Recall: Like a living encyclopedia, this helps her draw upon and think of facts, trivial or otherwise, including any local lore or history which some might find obscure. It also helps out with your ability to remember things you saw.
[] Visual Calculus: the ability to understand the laws of nature at a glance, using her mind's eye (true).
[] The Moonlit World: From a young age, Rin has always implicitly understood the world of magi, including its unwritten rules, its politics and divisions, and what magi tend to think or want.
[] Suggestion: the skill that governs lying, persuasion, and the deception that happens when two people open their mouth. It can easily be overestimated, but it can certainly help.
[] Pain Threshold: Rin has always been good at ignoring injury so she can push on, bloodied and crawling, to the bitterest end. Even mental pain – heartache and loneliness - can be put aside.
[] Electrochemistry: An understanding of her inner impulses and her body - and her ability to use this understanding to push herself beyond her limits. It enables her to endure and survive taking supplements or using reinforcement to make herself better than she is, helps her better enhance her baseline ability to function - but also makes her somewhat reliant on such enhancements, and more vulnerable to physical pleasures.
[] Savoir Faire: the ability to put her best self out into the world. The skill keeps you from being off-balance, literally and metaphorically, and is useful for dancers, pickpockets, and magi alike. Being skilled at this makes you the coolest, and most graceful, person in the room.
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; October 15th, 2021 at 08:51 PM.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[] Savoir Faire: the ability to put her best self out into the world. The skill keeps you from being off-balance, literally and metaphorically, and is useful for dancers, pickpockets, and magi alike. Being skilled at this makes you the coolest, and most graceful, person in the room.
Last edited by skulkidcachi90; October 16th, 2021 at 04:53 PM.
This one seems safe enough without breaking character;
[x] Logic: the ability to analyze the living daylights out of things. It enables her to piece evidence together, detect inconsistencies in statements, and impress everyone with astonishing conclusions - or at least satisfy them with ones that make sense.
Yeah, no. Recall is probably the worst option to pick - what happens if she remembers traumatic stuff as a side-effect? I don't want to deal with that drama again. Even if she doesn't recall what happened with Shinji, etc... she might still end up crippled by her experience with the sea demon that attacked her during the previous grail war.
She fell into a coma because of her fear, I don't want a repeat of that.
In order to my personal preference roughly
[] Visual Calculus - IMO Always useful to have minds eye for just about any situation. A hyperfocus Rin. That will do great at any task she sets her mind to.
[] Savoir Faire - About the best Rin we can get in social functions and not bad on her feet. But on the other hand, not the most in the combat/field mentality
[] Electrochemistry - Enhancement. Reinforcement. About the best Rin we can get in hand to hand. Downside sucks but I really like the self-enhancement mindset this Rin will have.
[] Logic - I agree with basically everything people already said about this one. This Rin just might not be the most social with most people as people tend to not be that logical.
[] The Moonlit World - Best Magus Rin but...she not operating with a bunch of magus at the moment. A mindset fully set on magus like thinking does not lend itself well in Albion.
[] Recall - Hermione 2.1, ok seriously. Having someone on the team that can remember all kinds of data and study many obscure magic could be useful.
and a distant
[] Suggestion - Not bad per say but I don't really want to deal with expert liar and manipulator Rin. We already got Emilia. Just feels like a pain to deal with.
[] Pain Threshold - Tough Rin is useful in melee but having to deal with a person that likes throwing themselves into danger...hey that our job~
My vote is [X] Electrochemistry.
I am not fully in love with Electrochemistry as its got some horrible downsides with that pleasure weakness. And its not as shiny as Sherlock Rin with Logic. But the reason I am for Electrochemistry is because its the best Rin with reinforcement magic and melee. Combine this with a later vote option of a Crafter Rin (like we were attempting to do before the crash) and you got a Rin that can use her gauntlets that she was building to highest level verses any other Rin. That and a Rin that can focus on making items that enhance the Squad. Faster. Stronger. Better.
Last edited by Skull Leader; October 17th, 2021 at 07:34 PM.
[x]Visual Calculus
This one seems to have least visible drawback. The other two choices I found acceptable is Logic and Savoir Faire. Electrochemistry downside with supplements and physical pleasure makes it an unacceptable choice for me.
Choice 210 is in 3 way tie with one vote each.
Change to.
[x]Visual Calculus
[x] Choker of Clear Mind - provides a degree of resistance to mental effects, especially those originating from an outside source.
Choice 210: [x] Choker of Clear Mind - provides a degree of resistance to mental effects, especially those originating from an outside source.
Choice 211: [x] Visual Calculus
Choice 212: In the days to come, Tohsaka Rin found that Visual Calculus was indeed a very useful skill to have, as it allowed her to reconstruct what happened "at the scene of the crime", as it were. It didn't take much to work out that the fire had started - and quickly spread - from the location where the Grail was supposed to descend at the end of the War. That, coupled with abnormal prana that was all over the site of the Shinto Development Area, was enough for her to realize that the fire was of supernatural origin.
...and given that Caster had been killed quite a bit earlier in the war, that the most likely culprit was the Grail itself. Which meant either the destruction of the Grail had somehow set the city on fire (unlikely, given that no similar phenomenon had been recorded during prior wars), or someone had wished for Fuyuki to be set aflame...
A rather chilling piece of information, that, but one that the Association noted with some interest. Not because of the cost in civilian lives or destruction of property, but because the Association did not much wish for the moonlit world to become public knowledge, and something like the Fuyuki Fire would not be...convenient to cover up. Especially not with the local representative of the Holy Church having been gunned down by a master during the war (which posed its own issues, given the Non-Aggression Pact that existed between the two entities), and the death of the Second Owner prior to the fire (meaning there was no way to blame him for it).
So they provided aid. Not eagerly or entirely willingly, but they provided it all the same. In time, the situation was covered up. What could be repaired was. And what could not was buried, like so many other secrets the Association wanted kept.
Tohsaka Rin would remain Second Owner.
Yet though she held the title - and her family's Crest - the girl realized all too well how perilous her situation was. This was merely the first challenge she would face as Second Owner - given her age and inexperience, there would no doubt be other challenges to deal with, those who looked at what she owned with covetous eyes. Assassination attempts. Sabotage. Subversion. All sorts of games - political or otherwise - that sought to unseat her from her holdings before the next war in sixty years.
...there was no guarantee she would survive that long, but if she did, she - or someone in her family - would be participating. That was almost a lifetime away, but there was no harm in laying a solid foundation, was there?
The question was simply what form the foundation would take. Certainly her family's arts would provide the core of what she built on, but those hadn't been enough for her father, now had they? He'd died and then her mother had nearly been choked to death. She could try to arrange for tutors from the West - there was no shortage of mercenaries (or other magi without notable bloodlines, or who simply weren't heirs to theirs) - and there was no denying that their family's arts had been bolstered quite a bit by the incorporation of Edelfelt techniques two generations ago, so there was precedent for that. On the other hand, given that all the participants in the War tended to be from the Association - or at least, practiced Western magecraft - perhaps she should look into what local magi in Japan had to offer? There were enough stories about the supernatural history of the islands that there had to be some useful tricks she could pick up.
...or, she supposed, she could do something entirely different. Perhaps focus on building up Mystic Codes and other devices to complement her family's style?
In the end, what most appealed to her was...
[ ] Focusing exclusively on her family's arts - there is a wealth of techniques and possibilities there that just have to be studied and applied properly
[ ] Arranging for trainers from the West - preferably mercenaries or other freelancers with skill and no great attachment to family
[ ] Seeking out the local magical community - there must be some truth to the stories and she could do with allies that aren't tied to the Association
[ ] Looking into crafting - if she does not have the skills to defeat her enemies, then she just has to imagine - and create - tools that would allow her to do so
Choice 213: Of course, whether she looked into the local magical community or not, the girl found that she could not remain entirely aloof from it, whether she liked it or not, as she received a missive several years later from an individual claiming to be the Second Owner of Kyoto. This individual claimed to represent a victim of the Fuyuki Fire, and requesting an audience with her to discuss the unfortunate events that had been allowed to occur in her spiritual land. Somewhat annoyed that the Grail War continued to haunt her, despite how she wanted to leave the memory of it behind, the girl had agreed, making arrangements to meet with the representative from Kyoto. At the very least, it would be polite to see what he wanted and not go out of her way to make enemies.
She had plenty enough of those as it was!
They arranged for Tohsaka to come to Kyoto, where she found herself face to face at last with the eerie Kaiduka Shiosai, a man of indeterminate age who she could easily believe was a Second Owner of some location, given the sense of grace and purpose with which he moved...as well as his ward: Fujou Shiroe, heir to the Fujou Clan...and apparently, the sole remaining survivor of the Fuyuki Fire.
In course of a rather uncomfortable conversation that took hours, and felt much, much longer, the girl learned that the heads of the Fujou clan and their heir had been visiting distant Fuyuki several years ago, and that they had been caught up in the disaster that had occurred at the end of the Fourth War. The Fujous, she would learn, were an ancient family, having been involved with magical society in Japan for millennia - a fact that her own family was not aware of given that Tohsaka Nagato, the first Tohsaka magus, had also been a "hidden Christian" - and had first been instructed by a Westerner - and thus had no desire or inclination to seek out practitioners of other traditions (especially when faith and magic were so intertwined in Japan).
Given that they had met their ends in a magical incident on her lands, it had been assumed at first that the Fujous had been assassinated by the Second Owner of Fuyuki and by the Association as a whole, especially since agents of the Association had been thick on the ground covering everything up. This assumption of malice - which had had lasted until Kyoto had discovered that the Second Owner of Fuyuki was also dead (along with a noble of the Tower) - had initially led to calls for the violent expulsion of the Association from Japan - especially as inquires over the Fujous went nowhere, with the Association denying any knowledge of a supernatural incident. What happened in Fuyuki was nothing more than the result of a gas leak, it was claimed, and anyway, there were no survivors that could be questioned.
Several children (and only children) were known to have survived the fire, but all but one vanished in the months after the incident, disappearing entirely from the public record as if they had never existed to begin with - and that one child was left with no memory of his life prior to the fire. Yet through odd twists and turns, Fujou Shiroe had eventually found his way back to Kyoto after the death of the man who adopted him, and had been able to take his proper place as the heir of his family.
And while the Second Owner of Kyoto did not blame her personally for the Fire, he suggested that Kotomine Kirei - a survivor of that war as well her father's secret apprentice and her guardian - might have been responsible for causing it. A Master had to have made the wish, and he was one who Emiya Kiritsugu, the man who had adopted the amnesiac Fujou Shiroe - had been fighting as the Grail descended, commanding the Tohsaka family's Servant.
Tohsaka Rin had reeled at this revelation. That...no, it couldn't be true. It...it couldn't. Kotomine...the priest was the one who handled her financial affairs and her estates. Someone who her father had trusted, even if she didn't. If...if it was true, if the fake priest really had been responsible for the fire, then her family did bear some measure of guilt for the disaster - and she had enlisted the help of the Association to try and cover up her family's sins.
"It...it wasn't the Matou master?" she'd asked. As much as she hadn't wanted to think badly of Uncle Kariya, she remembered how twisted and strange he had looked before the War. He'd done something to himself that twisted him, and if he'd been willing to go that far to fight in the War, she didn't know what he might have been capable of. As such, she'd thought that perhaps he had been responsible for the fire - had called it down on the city out of spite, cursing the world in a last act of defiance.
"Given that he was not there," the Second Owner of Kyoto noted, "it is unlikely."
...which meant that in the ways that mattered, her family had wronged the Fujous - killing them, and hundreds of others - and then covering up their deaths and stonewalling any inquiries.
"Why didn't you...?"
"Why didn't we contact you earlier? Because we do not blame the child for the sins of the father - or the father's apprentice," the white-haired man noted, not unkindly. "And at the time, we did not know that one of the Fujous had survived at all. As you can see," he said, gesturing at Fujou Shiroe, "the situation has changed. We may not blame you for your father's sins, but a victim of malice deserves recompense for his suffering, for the loss of his parents, his memory - his life."
"I...I understand," Rin whispered. All these revelations coming at once...it was too much. "I don't know what I can offer now, since the priest does administer so much of what I possess, but if it within my power...I...I..."
She didn't know to say, what she could do, but--
"I don't mind tabling the matter to revisit later, when she has control of her holdings," Fujou Shiroe spoke up. "I have no doubt that when the time comes, she will do the right thing, but for now, with how little she can do, despite being Second Owner in name, we're just making her uncomfortable."
"Hm. Fair and fairly spoken," the Second Owner of Kyoto noted. "For now then, Tohsaka Rin, know that you owe the Fujou family a debt - one you will repay in time. We shall revisit this when you come of age, and truly take possession of all that is yours."
Little more was said.
Tohsaka left that meeting confused, with the feeling she'd become involved in something far larger than she knew, with all these new facts spinning through her head. Still, there was one thing - no, two things - that particularly stood out to her about all of this - something about the people she'd met with...something she wished to emulate to become a better Second Owner.
The first was...
[ ] Fujou Shiroe's Composure: Despite everything he suffered, he kept what he felt hidden from her - yet was able to read her body language and emotions like an open book
[ ] Fujou Shiroe's Empathy: His ability to understand what she was feeling, to put himself in her shoes
[ ] Fujou Shiroe's Endurance: Despite the odds - he survived, making his way through the fire, never stopping, never ceasing, until he reached safety
[ ] Fujou Shiroe's Recall: A double-edged sword that, given that his first memory now is the fire - and yet he was able to recount the experience in excruciating detail
And the second...
[ ] Kaiduka Shiosai's Authority: The way the other Second Owner effortlessly controlled the situation, from the first time he contacted her, to how he concluded with a statement she could not dispute - he is far more worthy of his title than she of hers
[ ] Kaiduka Shiosai's Logic: How he had analyzed the situation, piecing together information, taking apart inconsistency until he arrived at the truth of the matter - seeing through the Association's coverup
[ ] Kaiduka Shiosai's Savoir Faire: The way he moved and acted, commanding attention, with a presence that could not be denied
[ ] Kaiduka Shiosai's keen Perception:How he was always aware of everything around him, taking in what others don’t notice
Choice 214: This meeting - and the mention of the Matous - brings to mind an incident from a year or so ago with the former Matou heir (who had been supplanted by Rin's former sister) - a boy who had come to her, letting her know that he was leaving Fuyuki to go to the West to study Witchcraft of all things. At the time, she'd laughed...but now, thinking back, she's not quite sure why...
No, she does know why. It was because something in the way he acted struck her as off for the message he was conveying. It was his lack of...
[ ] Composure: He was too...giddy, as it were, about leaving. He tried to wear a serious mask, but he couldn't hide his feelings from shining through
[ ] Pain Threshold: It was obvious that he disliked his family - that being replaced had wounded him and left him bitter.
[ ] Conceptualization: How could he think learning Witchcraft was something to aspire to? Did he have no dreams of anything bigger?
[ ] Understanding of the Moonlit World: He was no magus, yet wasted her time with his story of his ambitions. She needed to be better than that.
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; October 18th, 2021 at 05:11 AM.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Crafting
[x] Composure
[x] Logic
[x] The Moonlit World
I went with;
Crafting because Batman Rin would be great. (We already have the Green Goblin doing his thing and Ilya developing exo-suit armors for combat, so they could all compete)
Composure and Logic so we can have a Complete Analysis Rin which can come up with counters for any foe or situation (crafting the adequate tool as needed when combined with crafting). Plus, I would like to see Touko find out Rin becoming suddenly competent at thinking (for once) and creating solutions rather than blowing up her way through problems.
Also Moonlit World, because there is more than one form of power. And one that understands how power balance works, can get farther than anyone else.
Last edited by Daiki; October 18th, 2021 at 04:38 AM.
[ ] Looking into crafting - if she does not have the skills to defeat her enemies, then she just has to imagine - and create - tools that would allow her to do so
[ ] Fujou Shiroe's Empathy: His ability to understand what she was feeling, to put himself in her shoes
[ ] Kaiduka Shiosai's Logic: How he had analyzed the situation, piecing together information, taking apart inconsistency until he arrived at the truth of the matter - seeing through the Association's coverup
[ ] Pain Threshold: It was obvious that he disliked his family - that being replaced had wounded him and left him bitter
[X] Seeking out the local magical community - there must be some truth to the stories and she could do with allies that aren't tied to the Association
This is the one I personally want as I like the idea of Rin also bridging the two worlds as well as understanding the magical community that she is around. But hey I am all for Crafter Rin as well of course so carry on with making BATRIN.
[X] Fujou Shiroe'sEmpathy
I could go for Endurance here cause that the skill that causes the BAR to be a thing. But really I want to pick Empathy here cause without empathy for others you are a monster bound forever to always making the people around you upset with your every word and action. It hopefully will counters some of the issues that batman suffers being super logical revenge seeker.
[X] Kaiduka Shiosai's Logic
While I could really go with any of the other options for this one, I agree that the Rin we are building should have Logic in some form. Certainly goes well for a Batman Rin.
[X] Composure
Not sure if this one is just assigning a value for Rin, a weakness of Shinji or both. But to me I think Composure is the safe answer here. Moonlit and Conceptualization both are true but I think they leave the wrong impression. If I had to pin down the reason why Rin laughed back in first year in reality, I would say it was Conceptualization, her thinking that Shinji lowered himself down to Witchcraft and having no ambition. When that very much was not the case.
Still I rather have Rin have some composure so I will vote for that.
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