User blog:Dargoo Faust/Dargoo Faust's Fate Tourney: Recap and Story

And the curtain closes, with only one master and servant standing before the Grail. Twists and turns, bloodshed and freindships, this user has survived trial and tribulation of all sorts to get to this spot, and it looked like brute strength didn't cut it for this tourney, as is the case with much of Fate. Now, it's time to look back at the tourney and see our rankings, and why users placed in them, just to make sure there are no lose ends. Also, there was a secret reward for the winner, and the runner up, which I kept secret so you blokes wouln't rig the votes! See below for more!

'''Great work, everyone! I was surprised at the number of entires, thinking I would have to push and scrape just to get ''seven. Let's give a send off to all of our entries!'



Now, It's time to remember. WHO WAS THE DEADLIEST?!  RECAP: Mage's Association Dossier

The Clock Tower, London
"..."

It was a slow day for Lord El Melloi. Too slow, which made what would have been an utter surprise of the news in front of him hit like less of a bulldozer. An Enforcer stood in front of him, madly grinning, while what appeared to be a sibling sat across from him, with a sort of bodyguard. What he had to say was utterly ridiculous, but it fit the profile of the reports filling in of a nuclear bomb setting off in one of the largest cities in the world.

"Mr. Faucheux. I'm aware a Grail War was declared in Paris. That much is true. But you're telling me, that not only did you actively participate in it, you managed to acquire the Holy Grail?"

The man gingerly nodded, sweating a bit. He was hiding something.

"One of the most powerful magical relics, accurately reported to have been lost after the Third Fuyuki Grail War?"

Another nod. More sweat. With the world of magecraft becoming a madhouse, he didn't have time for this.

"What are you not telling me."

"Well... um... sir... I wasn't selected for the war. I was, well, in the right place at the right time."

"Yet you came into possession of the Holy Grail, without summoning a servant?" Something clicked in Melloi's mind. "Oh. I see." He turned towards the woman to his left, who was relaxing while reading a book that looked more heavy than her. He couldn't exactly grasp how she was handling it beyond a hefty dose of reinforcement magecraft.

"Ms. Faucheux. You... were selected for the Grail War?"

"Yes."

"And, you acquired the Grail from a threat that downed dozens of our finest enforcers, and killed four major magus families in Japan?"

"Yes."

"And, where might be this Grail be?" Melloi had to push for an answer fast. If word got out that someone acquired the Grail, he wouldn't hear the end of it. Especially if the owner was in his office.

"I'm holding it."

"You're..." he looked at the book. It seemed to be impossibly thick, and was bound in a leather that could only be described as flexible gold. Again, facts began to click in his mind. "You already made a wish with it."

Her bodyguard stepped in. Melloi didn't expect a talkative guard, nor did he expect one so impeccably dressed. Facts clicked again, yet at a slower pace. It was as if something was throwing him off about this man.

"Three wishes. One of them is yet to be set into action. You could say it had a timer on it, in a way."

Melloi arched a brow. "Interesting. You two realize this proves nothing. In fact, all that you've said so far has only made me have greater suspicion in your words. Especially you, Hector."

Hector butted in, looking slightly angry. "Hey, now, look, she snagged the cup and had at it before I could do any-"

Tanis looked up from her book, with a red mist surrounding her head, and shot a glance directly at Melloi. Her brother quieted the moment she did this, and the room fell still.

"I'm reporting, Melloi. This is to get you and the association off of my back."

"The fact you've even left your household has already broken endless agreements with the Faucheux family on our end. You coming here doesn't change anything."

Hector looked more nervous. He didn't seem to be in the loop on this, despite attempting to look confident and in charge nearly seconds ago. Tanis regarded Melloi once more.

"You already know what I wished."

"If you had the grail, I'm fairly very certain what you'd intend to do with it. Your brother's complaints to me before this incident I assume are still true. A waste of such a potent artifact."

The bodyguard chimed in, smiling at Melloi. He hated it when people acted confidently in front of him. It made his skin itch, reminding him of the predecessor of his house. "One man's trash, as a western proverb put it."

Melloi had already called an entire squadron of enforcers to his room. At his command, they could handle anything that the girl could throw at him, although her brother would be a problem, considering his experience. "You've still proved nothing, other than you've broken agreements with the Association, claim to have the Holy Grail, which the Church has sole jurisdiction over, and claim to have participated in this Global Grail War."

Tanis held him with a passive stare, as if his accusations didn't register. "I proved something. Give it two seconds."

Melloi's experience meant his first action was to signal for the enforcers to handle the Faucheuxes. The house's patrons and subsidiaries could annoy him later if they were injured during incarceration.

Yet, as he was about to signal, he froze.

It wasn't Hector's magecraft, he had already made preparations to deal with him should the time have come. The enforcers outside would have already killed him should he have tried anything like this. This was something far above Hector Faucheux's paygrade.

"That should be it, Assassin."

Tanis calmly walked up to Melloi, and laid out a paper in front of him. "This is my second wish."

It appeared to be a legal document, outlining some sort of agreement. He noticed the Mage's Association, the Church, and several other major magecraft organizations mentioned in the first page. He could already assume what this meant.

"In short, I wished for peace and quiet, Melloi."

Tanis walked out of the room, her servant following her. Hector looked dumbstruck, and the enforcers waiting outside of the room were about as immobile as Melloi. After she had moved dozens of meters he could move again, with the Enforcers running in her direction. Melloi knew that she was above the abilities of the Association at this point, and didn't even bother to call for more support. Instead, he picked up the document, noticing Tanis Faucheux's brother running out as he shifted his focus.

Oddly enough, the front of the document was a sort of list, labelled with what looked like Command Seals. It was a history of the Grail War Tanis had fought in. Melloi read through it.

The First Death: Dante


The Colombian Rune Mage intrigued me. How a man hailing from South America had mastered a magic thought to be lost to the Celts, was beyond my comprehension. It would have been interesting to look more into him, however he perished too early in this conflict for me to properly understand him. He was killed by Umber, upon his arrival in Paris. Cannavale's reports said he had no clue what was even going on, and had summoned a berserker, at that. Luckily, its battle with Umber's Archer proved to be useful information, in spite of the loss of an even greater mystery. Lacking understanding of his situation, and a servant that would draw him into more violence... I'm not too surprised by this one.

The Second and Third Deaths: Mercy Reyes and Colleen


Cannavale and I had agreed on a temporary truce to take down this pair. Dealing with the Saber class servant was a chore, yet Christian's Caster made away with it by somehow meddling with its Noble Phantasm. The master was executed by Cannavale himself. The Reyes family was powerful, notable for its use of enchantments and illusions. Apparently illusions weren't enough to compete in this.



As for Colleen, her servant blundered into Umber before myself of Cannavale could pin her down. Apparently they had an explosive battle, that quietly ended. The Master appeared to be burnt out, circuits fried from overuse, leading me to believe that the servant had used a defensive phantasm too many times while within a reality marble, while the master was engaged with Umber himself.

The Fourth Death? Unknown Master, Assassin-Class Servant


It appeared that some masters had voluntarily left the fray, likely valuing their own lives before the Grail. I'm guessing his servant tricked him into entering the war, since he had to have had some desire to use the Grail. Hector's reports claimed that an Assassin-Class servant was killed while battling another servant, with the master fleeing as they engaged. The Assassin lasted much longer than he should have, implying the use of several command spells. Motivation is a key factor in an arena of death, I guess.

The Fifth Death: Marcus Burroughs


It surprised me to see several American magi in this war, considering the country's lackluster magical lineage. Burroughs appeared to hail from one of the oldest practitioners of witchcraft, if my texts on Salem proved accurate, which led me to be even more confused by his lackluster employment of magecraft, even for an American. His servant was particularly annoying, almost killed me if it weren't for my servant's intervention in killing the master. Luckily, I had yet to employ my reality marble.

The Sixth Death? The Phantom Don


Hector would ramble on an on about the magical underground of Paris, especially when it came to the Don. He was even more annoying about it when he figured out the Don was a master in this war, which made him act like a particular breed of idiot when Risei Kotomine had entered the fray. Simply put, my theory is that the Don left Paris the moment his servant was slain by the second Archer. Hector would like to think of him as dead, but I don't see a man that paranoid staying within a doomed city, or even risking his life over the Grail.

The Seventh Death: Rhoswen Lloyd


I was lucky for Llyod to hate the rest of us so much. Very lucky. Cannavale and I avoided Llyod entirely when this conflict arose. The Llyod family had been a great trouble to both the enforcers as well as Cannavale's old groupies, and both of them knew to keep their distance. Lucky for us, she was struck down by Risei and his Archer, leaving an opening for an alliance between me, Christian, and Erwin to spearhead an attack against him. Assassin has commented that I would have likely perished if she was left alive. Thankfully, flexibility has its perks.

The Eighth and Ninth Deaths: Christian Cannavale and Risei Kotomine


It was only a matter of time before Cannavale would bite the dust. His alliance with me would have ended with either of us dead, so I don't think he minds me thinking that. Thankfully Risei was the one who put him down, not before his servant distracted the Archer long enough for us to employ three reality marbles on the servant at the same time. Christian managed to lethally wound Kotomine, before going mad after being hit with the sludge. After he and his servant were dealt with, it was clear how this would end.

The Tenth Death: Erwin van der Zwan


The van der Zwans are arguably the most powerful Dutch magus family, so it didn't surprise me to see their heir make it this far. Granted, with what I have heard about their family, their "heir" had left the house years ago, which made Erwin's selection particularly interesting. He and I had formed an impromptu alliance to take out Umber, yet he and his servant perished to a phantasm of the Lancer. He seemed content, although I didn't care much for whatever he planned to tell me or his servant.

The Eleventh Death: Marshall Umber


The moment I saw Umber's servant I knew this Grail War would have the odds stacked against me. Umber's family was a boring read, but the man himself was a particularly perplexing novella. Spacial manipulation was a rare power among Magi, and it made my head spin whenever I thought about ending the man. Assassin pointed out, however, that Hector may have been of use here. You'll find Umber's body somewhere in a heap in the ruins of Paris. You can't exactly teleport when you're restrained, and with a phantasm sticking out of your chest.

Tanis Faucheux


And now you've reached me, Melloi. Below is a set of terms I have wished for with the grail, I'm certain your assistants will thoroughly look it over. Hector will continue to lead the house, don't worry. And you, and him, and the rest of the mage underworld won't be seeing me anymore. Peace and quiet. That's what I wished for after asking for a book describing the Grail. In the end, I just wanted to read. Writing this  was a chore, but less of a chore than telling you myself. Now, I have a book about the size of one of your archives to entertain myself. Although, you might hear about my servant in a couple of years. His wish might trouble you a little more than mine.

Goodbye.

User Placements
If Tanis' recap wasn't enough for you, here's a more direct, to your face ranking, naming the users.



Tourney Navigation Submissions → First Five Elims→ Special Round → Final Battle (3-Way FFA) Recap

11th Place: Duncan322

9th Place: Venus01 and BattleGames1

8th Place: Yours Truly

7th Place: LB&amp;SCR

6th Place: Wassboss

5th Place: Laquearius

4th Place: Cfp3157





Top Three:

Bronze Medal: Appelmonkey

Silver Medal: WanderingSkull

GRAIL WAR WINNER: Leolab 

The winner of the Grail War, Leolab, will be allowed to post this award on their profile page:

'''The dweebs that entered the tourney and decided not to participate, Venus01 and Duncan322, you get this award. I don't expect you to put it on your profiles, but you have rightfully earned it.'''

There will also be an award for the first and second place winners, which will be a super secret until it's ready. Stay tuned for that!

The Narrative
This page will be periodically updated with parts of the narrative for the tourney. I plan to update frequently and when I can, but don't expect anything. Below will be the story for the Global Grail War, each chapter focusing on a different user character as they fight their way towards the Holy Grail.

Chapter 1: History Lives (Marcus Burroughs)
TBC