JoJo's Bizarre Grail War - A Fate/Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>Can we make a guess as to whether the ghosts are moving towards Ford, Archer's general location, or us? Or does our clustered position on the roof make this impossible to tell?
>How much room do we have before we'll be forced to run into either a ghost or the fight itself?
>And no sign yet of a ghost doing anything more than walking?

>It seems like they are angling toward the fight, now that you look at it, but there's enough of them that take take up much of the roof anyways.
>You have a few yards between yourself and them for the moment.
>Not yet.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Just stumbling towards you. I don't know what they're planning.
>If I could distract him for a sec, could you use that?

[Hello Purvis]

>Just stumbling towards you. I don't know what they're planning.
>If I could distract him for a sec, could you use that?

>"Definitely!" Archer sends back!

>_

[DracoOmega]

Now here's hoping this isn't entirely stupid....

>Here goes nothing.
>Loud and clear: "Hey, Henry! How's it feel for your son's name to have become a byword for failure?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Here goes nothing.
>Loud and clear: "Hey, Henry! How's it feel for your son's name to have become a byword for failure?"

>Frankly, you don't think this would have worked beforehand. You're dealing with someone who has, if nothing else, gone through a lifetime of business dealing with great success and probably has enough pride to ignore petty insults, as well as enough humility to pose as an average limousine driver for a different billionaire. On the other hand, he is also clearly operating off of rage and fighting for not only his life due to Archer's poison, but also likely his own pride after how this battle is gone.
>"You damned miscegenated harl-!" He cries, not really daring to look away from his fight. But it's enough as something Archer does sends him stumbling back! Then just as suddenly she is visible and holding her bow, as a pair of daggers tumble down to the roof. Ford is already on his feet and lunging as her bow takes on a greenish hue, you can just make out ghostly vines seeming to sprout from it. He makes a choked noise and stumbles as a ghastly green aura flares around him; just looking at it makes you feel queasy. A split second later, she launches a kick as his face as he stumbles out of his lunge and sends him flying backward! Within another split second she has an an arrow nocked and lets it fly.
>The arrow flies true, sinking right into Ford's chest as he falls to the roof below from her kick. The sort of strangled noise he makes is...grotesquely fascinating and will almost certainly haunt your nightmares as he crumbles to the ground, blood quickly spreading through his vest.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>How are the ghosts doing?

[Hello Purvis]

>How are the ghosts doing?

>Glancing over, they seem to be fading like mists in the morning.
>"D-damn the lot of you," Ford gasps. "You deserve to dance...like puppets at the hands of the war financiers...You'll never know peace..."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Peace begins with treating people like people - no matter what blood they carry."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Peace begins with treating people like people - no matter what blood they carry."

>He just gives a hollow laugh in response.
>"We don't have time to be dickering with the merchant who think's he's a king," Archer says aloud as she gathers her daggers. "We have to go before those constables find all this! And maybe get that other guy, too!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Right, right."
>And here it seemed like we might have been able to collapse for a bit....
>Can we estimate where that ejector seat contraption might have gone?

[Hello Purvis]

>"Right, right."
>And here it seemed like we might have been able to collapse for a bit....
>Can we estimate where that ejector seat contraption might have gone?

>Presumably skyward.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Let's pull out our phone and see where we currently are in relation to where we parked our car

[Hello Purvis]

>Let's pull out our phone and see where we currently are in relation to where we parked our car

>"What're you doing, let's go!" says Archer.
>"S-scurry," Ford spits. He says more, but it doesn't really come out as anything comprehensible.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>I'm checking what direction we left the car, but I guess I can do that on the move. Let's get going.
>Have Archer get us out of here in some direction, check where we ought to be headed, and keep an eye out for any police activities or sign of Koch

[Hello Purvis]

>I'm checking what direction we left the car, but I guess I can do that on the move. Let's get going.
>Have Archer get us out of here in some direction, check where we ought to be headed, and keep an eye out for any police activities or sign of Koch

>Archer scoops you up again and hops off the roof. It's somewhat different experience now that you can see her rather than see through her.
>As she dashes past the wrecked vehicle, you notice that it is no longer a limousine at all, but what appears to be a car from the early 1900s. As well, you notice the front seat is splashed with blood' another thing you didn't really need to see right now. Just the amount tells you there's no way that cop could have survived whatever happened.
>It's a bit difficult to focus on directions right now, as you keep an eye out for the police while Archer runs between houses, assuring you she is going the proper way. However, it doesn't take long for you to note there is definitely a parachute descending toward the ground to the south.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Look, a parachute.
>Point it out
>I'll bet it's Koch.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look, a parachute.
>Point it out
>I'll bet it's Koch.

>"Wanna finish this, then?" says Archer.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>I... I've never killed a person before. Rider didn't give us a lot of choice, but... But I know he's done a lot of bad things - worse than just trying to kill me....

[Hello Purvis]

>I... I've never killed a person before. Rider didn't give us a lot of choice, but... But I know he's done a lot of bad things - worse than just trying to kill me....

>"You don't have to do it," says Archer. "But at least, we need to deal with those Command Seals."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I know. But it's still my responsibility whether I do it with my own hands or not, but... I'm sure you're right. Let's go."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I know. But it's still my responsibility whether I do it with my own hands or not, but... I'm sure you're right. Let's go."

>Archer nods and cuts southward.
>The parachute descends slowly, and Archer's skills at making her way through the urban terrain are not to be underestimated. You don't think you'll catch him before he lands, but you doubt he'll get far away after landing. Soon you leave the neighborhood you were in behind, passing across a major street with some moderate traffic on it. It is suddenly very embarrassing to be carried by a tall woman with a green cloak, but you don't think anyone really notices, there isn't too many people here and the only things open are a gas station and half of a shopping center. You do recognize this area; your car should be a few blocks up the road. Then you plunge onward into another neighborhood, this one with older and smaller houses than the last. The parachute is getting low to the ground, some distance ahead.
>"How do you want to approach this, Master?" Archer says as she makes her way down the road. "We're getting close."

>_

[Stuffman]

Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but I don't actually know Grail War rules that well! What do you have to do to take another player out of the game and have it be considered a win?

[DracoOmega]

This is honestly a fair question, as this Grail War wasn't anticipated to even occur, we have no idea who is supervising it, and we're not even in the city where the grail seems to be. I'm not sure if all of the rules of past wars even directly apply to this one - and Lily wouldn't know the details of any of them anyway.

>What do we know about the rules regarding elimination of other masters, for it to actually 'count'?
>For that matter, do we have any idea how we might find out who is supervising this war?

But there's the additional issue that even if Koch isn't a candidate to win anymore, it might nonetheless be in our best interest to kill him. He has more than enough money at his disposal to cause further problems for us (and is possibly motivated to do so) and it would probably be good if he couldn't provide testimony to the police that would implicate us in the death of that police officer or any other part of this mess. Though I also find myself wondering if there's anything useful we wrestle out of him at this point. I don't think we have any means to take his command seals, handy as those might be, but he still is definitely more knowledgeable about the players in this war than we are, if he knew where to find us.

[Hello Purvis]

>What do we know about the rules regarding elimination of other masters, for it to actually 'count'?
>For that matter, do we have any idea how we might find out who is supervising this war?

>You have to get a master to give up their command seals. In theory, the church could do that, but...you aren't even certain how the church is involved in this. They never contacted you, that's for certain. You don't know who is supervising.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Can a master just transfer their seals to another at their own discretion? Or would this require magic or materials we don't currently have access to?

[Hello Purvis]

>Can a master just transfer their seals to another at their own discretion? Or would this require magic or materials we don't currently have access to?

>This is a fuzzy area that hasn't been well explored. It's plausible he may have already lost them, not that you're thinking on it. You're sure that's happened to some grail war participants.

>_

[DracoOmega]

I'm honestly a little torn. We could just kill him, we could try to see if there's some way to take the command seals, we could try to press him for information on other masters or the unusual parameters of this war (since he clearly seemed to know more than we did) and could even do that before one of the other two. Possibly there'seven something more interesting we could strongarm him into doing at this point (since we presumably have leverage), though I'm not sure what. Opinons?

[Stuffman]

I'm getting caught up on the whole story before making that judgement. Right now I am not keen on killing him since he tried to negotiate with us initially (and we are obligated to be on the level since we tried to pull the moral high ground card on him). I doubt we'll be able to really get anything out of him except a surrender though...

(As a side note, ironically, what Koch wants to do with the Grail is exactly what I would personally do. But Lily isn't me.)

[DracoOmega]

The idea of using it to end grail wars isn't such an inherently awful idea, but I frankly don't trust Charles Koch of all people to actually be looking out for the little guys.

(Also, the casualty rate of grail wars pales in comparison to those of actual social policies of which he's had influence and could easily still have influence without any magic at all being involved)

Also also, I'm not at all convinced that he wouldn't have immediately tried to run us down with Rider after leaving, even if we did give him our command seals. You know - have your enemy surrender their weapons and then kill them.

[Stuffman]

Well, in any case I don't feel like Lily will have it in her to order his execution.

Alright, how's this? Let's track him down, have Archer point an arrow at him, and tell him to make us a new offer. Let's see what he's willing to spill.

> Can command seals be simply relinquished, in the event that we can't get them from him? (I'm not sure how a surrender would play out.)