Tohsaka Mansion - A New Day

"As long as they agree, anyways. We can't rule out the possibility that someone now has control of Archer and Rider both, and is foolhardy enough to think they defeat the Dead Apostle on their own."

"This is true. I am going to contact the other masters anyway. It will be the safest option for everyone." He sat down and began penning letters to send out to all the masters. "Could you perhaps ready some of your birds to take these, Miss Yui?"

Yui was about to respond, when she heard Risei's voice echoing in her mind through her familiar. She stared off into the distance, listening to him speak, then looked back at Lazarus when he had finished.

"Well, I guess that takes care of it."

Lazarus sighed. "I think my plan would have been more ideal, but this isn't a war of niceties I suppose." he turned to Caster. "The mediator of the grail war has ordered everyone to stop what they are doing immediately and attack the Dead Apostle."

"Also," Yui added. "He's offering a free Command Spell to whoever takes him out." She tapped her chin in thought. "I wonder if that still counts for Masters who still have all three? If so, having four would be in even bigger advantage."

"Adding an element of competition, and so incentivizing working alone, intended or not." He leaned back against the edge of the table and sighed, eyes falling closed. "One could always hope to appeal to a better nature, I suppose, but considering this is a war I shan't be holding my breath. At least it will keep us from attacking each other, for a time."

Lazarus nodded in agreement. "Well, if there's anything to be done I suggest we get moving. I can't really imagine where to begin looking."

"Me neither." Yui thought hard. "It won't come out in the day, so it will stay well hidden. There's a good chance it's hiding in the sewers, but..." She sighed. "I'll be honest. Fighting a Dead Apostle on its home turf may be suicidal. It will have magical protections that put the ones around this mansion to shame."

"Well then I suppose we should wait it out. However what Caster mentioned does intrigue me. As I think about it...the supposedly neutral mediator has foregone preparation and wants us to fight seperately. This decreases the chance that the Dead Apostle will be defeated, which means another motive must exist. We also know that one master might have two servants. If that's true, that team has an advantage, and it's possible the mediator may know them, or be allied with them. Which would be very against the rules, but honestly they don't seem to matter much when it comes down to it." He paced as he talked, moving with his thoughts. "Perhaps our time waiting for nightfall could be spent investigating. Trying to find one master with two servants. I assume they're on a leyline, or they might not be able to support them..."

Caster fell into step next to Lazarus. "They would have to be on a leyline, and there are a limited amount in this area, yes? Did the mediator give a name?"

"He did not, but it shouldn't be too much trouble to search the other leyline and just...see who we find!"

Yui leaned against the wall, and sighed. "It's looking more and more likely that our mediator isn't so impartial after all. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. But that means the War is at risk of falling into total chaos. Again."

"Since we know Assassin is dead, and the Masters of Archer and Rider are dead, we can assume it's probably Assassin's former Master commanding them both. But we still don't know anything about them." She thought hard. "If they are on a leyline, that'd put them either at Ryuudou Temple or the church itself. If the mediator really is planning something behind our backs, he could be sheltering our mysterious Master. I'd love to investigate, but if we act against him and turn out to be wrong, that'll draw the ire of the church."

"Well then we won't act against him unless it's necessary. For now, I just want to investigate, nothing more. If we make it through the night with our dead apostle friend, then we'll want to know if this is something we need to prepare for."

"The church is the perfect place to hide. Hiding on supposed impartial ground that we can't touch? The conceit is diabolical. And, unfortunately, genius."

"Agreed." Lazarus admitted with a sly smile. However, that would mean it would be quite a task to get to the church at all. "Here is a thought. What if we send someone who is not involved in the war? Someone who needs the services of a church? We might be able to pay someone homeless or addicted to drugs to seek help, and report back with how many people they observed or anything they heard. It may not work, but it might be worth a try."

"Diabolical and genius in its own ways, but that's the level we'll have to play on to figure this out. Let's assume though, for now, that we can't divide our efforts right away. If a Dead Apostle is like the strigoi, he'll be weakest during the day, and we need to strike. We won't be able to expose corruption in the war if we're dead."

Yui laughed. "That's actually a pretty genius idea. No civilians ever really go to Fuyuki Church, but even if they suspect something, they still can't touch him. Caster's right, though, it might be a better idea to focus on the Dead Apostle first."

"Well it obviously will be. But since there isn't anything we can do right now about him, I was trying to do something to advance our position in the war. If you like, we can prepare some defenses instead, or we can head into the city and wait for the apostle to wake up. Perhaps scout someone who might be of use to us later."

"I like the idea of working on defenses for the rest of the day. Perhaps if there's some time left over, we can scout for a potential spy."

"Alright then! Let's do something fun! Perhaps we even have time to make a trap for our dear apostle." Lazarus waggled his eyebrows suggestively at the plan.

"Perhaps, we can bait him with a victim?" Lazarus thought for a moment. "Would it be possible to make a homunculus resembling Yui, and perhaps pump some mana into it to make it seem like it's her?"

Yui considered his words. "That's... not a bad idea at all. He already knows what I look like, and with enough mana, it could be enough to pass for a Master." She smiled excitedly. "A no-risk, but convincing lure. I'm game!"

Lazarus immediately began helping Yui drum up some mana (considering the channels down to the leyline he'd dug in the basement, that wasn't a large task) as Caster built a perfect homunculus.

Lazarus, Yui and Caster began to prepare for sending out their lure. They hadn't been working for more than a half-hour, though, when they felt an aura washing over them.

A battle had begun, several miles north of them.

Yui stopped working and turned in the direction of the aura. "Seems like someone might already be starting without us."

"Indeed," the mage agreed. He thought for a moment. "Miss Yui, I can't decide. We have some options. We can wait here and let them tire themselves out, or go join the frey and take advantage of the chaos, OR, my personally favorite option, wait until the battle reaches it's height, and THEN go join them. Thoughts?"