Eighth: Grail War (Video; un: Caster)

[colchismagecraft]

(TW: Arson, Kidnapping, Death Threats, Magical Torture, Grief)

[The video starts with smoke billowing into the night sky, and as the camera pans down, the source becomes plainly clear. The edge of the Brocéliande woodland is ablaze, and the fire is starting to spread. Silhouetted against this ominous backdrop is the figure of Caster, using subtle magical manipulation to make her usual, heavy cloak cast an even darker shadow than it should as it billowed out around her.

Her eyes can't be seen under the hood of her cloak, but even in this darkness a broken smirk can be seen across the Witch of Betrayal's face. The twisted ritual dagger she held gleamed a sickening red in the light of the flames.]



Archer... we need to talk.

[For what sounded like a declaration of a grudge, it wasn't entirely clear whether or not she realised she was broadcasting to the entire network.]

You enjoy continuing battles that have already reached their conclusion, don't you? Well, it's time that I do the same.

The Holy Grail War isn't over. Our battle hasn't ended, not so long as I exist in this world... haha, I was a fool to delude myself into thinking otherwise. Hahaha...!

[She could hardly contain that bitter laughter, coming out in bursts, but she forced it back enough to continue.]

You know exactly what you did.

And I will have my revenge... I'll destroy anyone I have to until you come and face me. Oh- you won't crawl out of your hole without any motivation, will you? Well, I do have a little something to help convince a heroic sort like you.

[Caster flipped the picture on the camera, directing it to where she'd got an unconscious Darin tied up against one of the trees, a strange dark mist flowing around his body. And with a flick of Caster's wrist off-screen, the shadows intensified- sinking into him. Even unconscious, he started to writhe in pain.]

Hmhm, I don't know how long he'll last with my curses... so I suggest you hurry up. I'd hate it if I had to dispose of a body.

I will burn it all to the ground- and make you watch them all suffer for your choices. You know I will, Archer, it wouldn't be a first for me.

[She flicked the camera back to herself, now holding what appeared to be dragon fangs, hovering over her palm and pulsing with a strange, dark energy. Her familiar - now much larger than the housecat size it usually appeared - rested its head on her shoulder, watching the magical items with a fierce intensity.

And then, her carefully planned stagecraft started to crack, as a crazed grief started to inch it's way to the surface.]

I just want you to suffer. Do you really think I care what becomes of me in this world? Of what fate befalls the other realities?

They can all perish for all I care-!

Hecate curse you all!

[Before her composure can crack any further, she ends the broadcast.]



[ooc: The log itself will go up tonight/tomorrow for getting involved stopping this mess- note that if you have a heroic character who'd ICly get involved but you don't want to deal with this mess OOC, she's recording late at night in somewhere with ropey network signal, so feel free to assume the memo didn't get through or that your character couldn't track her down in the chaos.

Also- threadhopping totally welcome for this one.]

Comments

video; un: bladeworks

[unknowntodeath]

[Archer had a feeling that eventually, Medea would find out what happened and would break down over it, but this... was a bit of an overreaction in his opinion. Then again, knowing who she is through the legends, it's really not.

He's no longer the ideal hero type, but kidnapping someone (most likely) innocent and torturing them? Yeah, that didn't sit well with him.]

Where do you want me to come, Caster? Your grudge is with me, so set the person you have free.

[See, you know him too well.

... mostly he just wants to get this over with.]

tw murder

[colchismagecraft]

[Considering her reaction in the legends to being betrayed? At least she hadn't started outright killing people.

Seeing his reaction, though? That brought a smug smirk to her face. It looked like her bait had worked.]

Ah- there you are, Archer... I'm outside the Brocéliande woodland. I'll consider setting the man free, once you've shown your face, but not before-

I hope you don't think I'm foolish enough to let you stab me in the back again?

[Video; UN: JustLuke]

[faithfulson]

[ Luke, having been keeping to himself for the last few months, hadn't seen Darin much in that time. Still, as strange as he was, he was fairly certain that he didn't deserve to be caught up in whatever grudge match just got announced to the entire network. ]

Miss, I won't pretend to know or understand what you have going on between this Archer and yourself, but please. Leave Darin out of it.

[colchismagecraft]

[The username seemed vaguely familiar, but she was in no state to remember who this was- but at least he was asking her politely! That came as a surprise.]

...I'll consider releasing him once I'm certain Archer isn't going to run away like a coward.

This man's a friend of yours, I take it?

[video; un: crimsonflame]

[crimsongirl]

[No. No no no, not this, why now!? Homura had dropped the phone beforehand at such...well, darkness. Not even in the dream pool had Caster looked so menacing. For once, Homura was actually afraid. Though more for Caster's sake given what she was doing. Arson, kidnapping, and now attempted murder...It took all of Homura's willpower to even turn the phone on and--]

WHAT THE FLYING FUCK ARE YOU DOING!? RELEASE THAT GUY NOW!

[Well, at least she could still shout, mix of anger and confusion adding to the sheer shock of it all.]

1/2

[colchismagecraft]

[Oh. There was a falter in her expression as Homura replied...of course she was getting involved. Of course she was.]

...Homura.

[Evidently, hearing from her had gotten Caster a little on the back foot.]

video; un: Creati

[recommendations]

[ Momo doesn't interact with the AOL network often these days. But she still browses it from time to time, to stay informed as to what's going on in Camelot.

But when she sees a familiar shock of blue hair, she can't stay silent. ]

Ma'am, please! Let Darin-san go. He had nothing to do with this, I'm sure!!

[colchismagecraft]

[...Another friend of Darin's, she supposed.]

You're right. He doesn't have anything to do with this.

...But I needed someone I could manipulate, that's all. He really is a gullible man.

private text; un: didnot

[morns]

( you ever been scrolling through the network to find one of the people whose company you appreciate is apparently having a full breakdown on it?

yeah. this is... interesting. )

you know everyone can see this, aye?

( oh boy, she has Thoughts about that last part, but first things first: seeing if Caster will even respond to people. )

[colchismagecraft]

[She definitely isn't in the right mind to type a reply, so she'll stick to video.

And hey, if Kate's world had Greco-Roman mythology and she knows of it, there's sure some things that can be drawn from that response.

Still... she wasn't going to admit whether or not she had intended to broadcast this to everyone- but at least she was replying?]

Is that important?

un: naurfin

[sighsheavily]

Really? "Revenge?"
How droll.
Keep your nonsense to yourself and leave others out of it. Release that man.

[colchismagecraft]

[She's sticking to video- typing would take far more energy than she was prepared to give right now.]

My name was recorded in legend for my vengeance. What else do you expect from a being like me?

...I'll consider releasing him if my demands are met, but not before.

video; un: red gem

[greedyvixen]

[Why isn't Rin even surprised? Oh wait, because this isn't exactly new to her and even if she was surprised, she wouldn't exactly let people see it.]

So, you're doing this thing less quietly this time.

[Archer should have possibly grabbed Rin's phone and make it disappear for a while to stop her from making anything even worse but hey, what's the fun in that??]

[unknowntodeath]

Don't make things worse, Rin.

[not here]

[dragongrrl]

[barbara sees this, barbara is not going to respond, barbara is just going to sharpen her spear and storm the fuck OFF to put a stop to this]

[not actually replying but]

[patchricide]

[ATTAGIRL, BARBARA]

Voice, un: MadeinHeaven

[cameprepared]

[Claire's voice comes through sharp as a whip but concerned and confused? Had something happened to trigger this? Was it more fae nonsense, or had she misjudged Caster that badly?]

Caster, what the fuck are you doing?

[And with Darin of all people.]

Let him go.

[colchismagecraft]

[...Claire's voice. She knew she'd end up burning all her bridges by the end of this, but in her grief, she was beyond caring.]

I'm taking my revenge against a man who wronged me. It's none of your concern.

[She's just glancing Darin's way- he'd really made himself so popular with the women of this world, hadn't he?

...Ergh. She hated men like that.]

text; un: stargazer

[leicesters]

This is very cute and all, but there are better ways to get someone's attention than tying a guy to a tree.

Have you tried a strongly-worded letter?

tw caster being a pyro

[colchismagecraft]

[What. What even is this. She's just giving the most frustrated glare at the phone.]

...I wasn't looking for advice.

Stay out of my business.

Video; un: saber

[excalibeam]

Caster, release your hostage.

[ She wasn't surprised, just disappointed. Still, what else could she have done? Lie to her? She knows Caster well enough to know that she'd see through it. ]

Or else I will take your claim seriously when you state that the Grail War is not yet over.

[ She doesn't expect this to work. She's already donned in her Armor. ]

[unknowntodeath]

[Oh no you don't.]

How about you just leave this to, Saber. I'll handle her.

[Video] un; lightfellowc

[ofsilverflame]

I don't know what quarrel you have with this marksman fellow, but I do not especially care if you're going to involve innocents.

Release your prisoner now, or I will take action. Whatever this feud is, it is not more important than the threat currently facing us.

[colchismagecraft]

...You say that as if I care about the threat facing all of us.

So long as I have my vengeance, this world and all the others can burn for all I care- there's nothing-

[Her voice cracked, then.]

Haha... There's nothing else.

private text; un: wolfcountry

[impostorsyndrome]

Where are you?

[Honestly, the question probably isn't necessary in the strictest sense of the question and answer themselves. Kadoc didn't ask it to get the answer, though it'll be a bonus; the clues in the video are enough to give him at least some idea of where to head (they'd run this way together, hadn't they, on that awful quest?), and the swarm of people he's sure will be heading out in that same direction soon will be another dead giveaway.

So he asks it so that she knows: he saw this, and he's coming. Even if she doesn't answer. He doesn't wait for a response to begin getting ready—dressing, pulling on his mask (also the same one from that awful quest), packing his bag with food, water, first aid materials, the potion he'd bought from Rinea. It's something to do mindlessly while he thinks about why he's doing this in the first place and what he hopes to do once he gets there. Anastasia had been dead wrong when she said he was someone who would always do the right thing in the end. But—

It was so tempting to just ignore that any of this was happening, but even if that wasn't true of him at all . . . he can't. He can't just do that, though what the "right thing" to do in this situation is a mystery even to him, the one getting ready to head out there into it anyway.

Almost as an afterthought, he does something he never does:]

. . . Hey. Kovalyov. . . . We'd better go.

[and calls for his familiar, quietly and casually, to sling around his shoulders and accompany him out into whatever this is going to end up being.]

1/2

[colchismagecraft]

[She's going to keep to video, typing is too much effort right now.

Kadoc...what side would he fall on, in all of this? He's a Master, so if she called a Holy Grail war, who would he choose to side with?

...

Well, she'd see.]

Are you going to fight me as well? I'm sure you recognise this place.

[A confirmation. He was good at reading between the lines, wasn't he? He'd know where to find her.]

video; un: shepherdess

[troubadamsel]

Cas... Caster...?

[ What is this? What is she seeing? Medea... why is she doing this?!

Her room-mate, her friend, the one who saved her life... how can she be capable of doing such a thing? Her mouth is dry, and there are tears in her eyes. ]

... Someone... someone tell me this is some kind of... sick joke!

[colchismagecraft]

...I told you I was called the Witch of Betrayal in my lifetime, didn't I?

[She could see those tears, hear the shaking in her voice.

...It hurt, hearing Maribelle like that.]

VIDEO | un: sparklythings

[patchricide]

Have you completely lost your senses? Because this is nothing short of madness!

[She rises up in her seat to get closer to the camera. However, she's more aggressive about doing so than she likely intended — her hands slam down on the table so hard that the camera shakes. The image blurs briefly before automatically refocusing on her glaring eyes.]

Release him immediately, or I promise that you'll be the one suffering for it!

[colchismagecraft]

Maybe I have. It wouldn't be the first time.

[Oh, she remembered this one.]

Haha... I don't care. I don't care what happens, so long as I get what I want.

voice; un: ensignledo

[ferrytale]

[ sure is a lot of outrage going on here. ]

No wonder so many speculate that everyone will be here for a very long time. Fighting amongst yourselves. Ridiculous.

[colchismagecraft]

...Perhaps we will, perhaps we won't. It doesn't particularly matter to me anymore.

And what do you intend to do?

Video | un: greywords

[heartlessswordsman]

I don't know what you're going on about, and I don't really care, but did you have to kidnap that particular idiot?

[what a pain in the ass. He's going to smack the shit out of Darin for letting himself get kidnapped by some power tripping weirdo.]

[colchismagecraft]

[Well this...was an interesting looking individual.]

...I didn't realise he was such a womaniser. I hate obnoxious men like that.

[Someone was slightly regretting her choice in targets, given how many people had risen to his defence.]

video, un: filament

[omnicrafter]

...Caster. You're making an awful lot of enemies by doing something so unnecessary. Having a bone to pick is all well and good, but why does Darin need to be involved?

[colchismagecraft]

Because he was someone easy to manipulate...and I needed to lure Archer out.

It's necessary to me.

text; un: selcouth

[sulit]

[There's a lot of things going through Klaudia's mind when she sees this. She doesn't care one whit about the person that Caster has captured and is presently torturing... but other people are going to. They're going to come after her, and it's not going to end well.]

[The instinct to say something to defuse this is strong, but... what could she actually say? "Try not to actually murder anyone"? They probably deserved it. "They're going to come after you"? She seems to be aware, even asking for it. She feels helpless to do anything about this, and it makes her want to put it all away and put it out of her mind. She doesn't want to see how it turns out. She wants to pretend it isn't happening, and she doesn't want to know.]

[She just wants Caster to be okay.]

Be careful. If you need a place to hide, come find me. I won't let them find you.

[Another message gets sent a moment later:]

You'd better not die. I'm not making a box for you.

[colchismagecraft]

[Caster stared at the messages for a long time, and she felt desperate tears start to prick in her eyes. It all hurt so much, and in all her grief she didn't think- no, didn't care- what became of her after it was all over. After she'd already burned through it all.

But Klaudia...she was openly defending her. Without demanding an explanation, or for her to release her captive, or calling her out on her awful nature-]

yuo mean tht

voice; un: 0123

[scension]

[Whatever fight this lady is trying to pick, Sagi has no personal investment in it. Sure, he had a totally civil conversation with this handle once, and he doesn't recognise the guy tied up in the video, but it's obvious that she's in the wrong, not to mention in no state to be argued down. Torture isn't exactly morally ambiguous. Rushing to the rescue is the only reasonable thing for even a bystander to do.

And yet - right at the end of the broadcast, where she sounds so sad - part of him can relate. Just a small part. Especially late at night.]

Enough people are asking already... Please, let that man go. Before one of you does something you'll regret.

[A quiet comment from someone missing the context isn't going to work if all the louder outraged responses didn't. He just feels compelled to try anyway.]

[colchismagecraft]

[She did recognise the username- she'd spoken to him before, hadn't she?]

...The only thing I'll regret is not being able to get my vengeance.

Nothing else.

Video / un; Chasseur

[resistetmords]

Hm, so I'm sure you've already heard people asking you to let him go enough times now, with no real intentions of doing so. Not until you get... whatever it is you want. So I won't.

In any case, what exactly has set you off? You haven't really struck me as the person who would lash out without meaning.

[colchismagecraft]

Good, because I have no intention of it until Archer shows himself...

[But Belgium was the first one to ask what actually triggered this to start with, and she felt her composure waver.]

...I...I found out everything he took from me, after I disappeared.

And I'm going to make him burn. I'm going to make him suffer- I will have my vengeance, however many enemies I make.

voice | un; RocketMan

[vrepit_no]

[Shiro's voice is gentle and worried, an undercurrent of alarm buried deep beneath it all.]

Miss Caster, what's going on? Can you please banish the curse on Darin and talk to me for a little bit?

[colchismagecraft]

Shiro.

[Worried about the hostage, she assumed. So Darin was a friend of his, as well...

After the kindness he offered her before, though? She held out a hand Darin's way- the curses didn't vanish entirely, but they lessened enough that it didn't look like he was in as much pain.]

...I'm dealing with an unfinished battle from home, that's all this is.

Video UN: GhostType

[dolcedeleche]

Caster.... Have you really thought this through?

[colchismagecraft]

I have.

...She'd understand, I'm sure.

[If something happened to Dolce, she was sure Pico would react terribly- she'd already seen how the little girl had responded when she'd been brought here alone, after all.]