Roger Archibald's page

Roger grimaced.

"I see... so we have to deal with an interloper. That is indeed unfortunate. I shall have to change my plans..." He gestured, sending out 40 of the fair folk to give him coverage of Fuyuki. Their mission was to hide in the shadows of the city and mentally report any and all activity that they saw back to him. It would allow him to scout the area while doing some much-needed work in the library.

Roger went down to the library, stepping through the door and immediately checking through the place for his records. While he was there, he also tried to track down some of his resources on the subject of [subject].

My apologies for being gone. Things happened and basically I have been playing Internet Whackamole.

I sahll be posting in a few seconds.

Roger folded up the newspaper and put it to one side, preparing to spend his long-awaited freedom. He turned to his servant, a slight grin on his face. "Ah, [servant]! There you are! I was thinking we could do some, ah, reconaissance today. How did your little project go today?" he asked, getting up from his frozen throne and looking out over the town of Fuyuki from his window.

You've heard of the slow teleporter, now check out the slow nonchalant stroll. :P But seriously, are we still go?

...

Is Ace dead?

Roger didn't sleep that night, for what [servant] had told him was far too interesting. And besides, what good would sleep be, anyway?

It didn't take him long to tell his Servant to get to work on their little scheme, which gave him plenty of time to ruminate on his next move. He sat upon his frozen throne in foreboding silence as a fairy floated up to him with the morning paper. It was funny, he thought while staring at the paper's headlines, that even through this catalogue of tribulations there must always be a morning paper to report all of this. Ah, well, no point worring about that now.

Thumbing through the pages, he took a cursory glance out of his window and at his pocket watch. Ah, yes, 9am. If his servant started late last night then... he sighed and put his watch away. Looked like he was being the manservant again...

Roger's expression changed subtly, losing its hardness ever so slightly as he was given the message. Stepping back, he paused for a moment before ploughing right into another plan. "That... is an interesting observation, to say the least. Sterling work. Follow me, if you would."

Heading back to the ice bedroom away from eavesdroppers and sitting down on a nearby chair, he crossed his leg and got on with the plan already, keeping his voice to a whisper. "Better keep it down, just in case... hmm. If what you've said is true, it could be very useful indeed. Several thousand times less subtle than what I'd go for normally, but... judging from what you've seen, how long would this take to set up, and where could it be activated?" he asked, wondering if Touko got the newspaper out here.

I'm doing fine, but everyone else? I dunno. We were moving along quite nicely a few days ago, though.
Speaking of which, how is everyone? Still here?

Roger raised his eyebrow. "A frequent napper, eh? Really let yourself go in the centuries, haven't you... I was there for your life, [servant name], and I am VERY sure that late to rise and early to bed made you healthy, wealthy and dead back then." He folded his arms and sighed. "You're going to have to put a bit more effort into it, I'm afraid. Now, tell me what you were doing while I was Touko's guest." he said, mentally beginning to search his mind for the Command Spell should things go awry.

"...trust me, ma'am, I do not need reminding..." he replied to the redheaded terror before heading back upstairs. His Servant, being the kind that puts knives into people's backs as a happy pastime, had not appeared during the dinner. Roger hadn't blamed him - after all, it would have been awkward as hell for... those people to sit down for tea with [servant name].

Still, though? Untrustworthy as hell. Putting his eyes to good use, he examines the upstairs area for any sign of treachery and traps, while thinking to himself: If I was a mass-murdering monster, where would I hide?

Perception 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (11) + 20 = 31

Roger was feeling more and more out of the water, and he was glad when the ensemble looked like it was wrapping up.

Then dinner came.

Hiding his despair, he turned to the homonculus who asked the question. "Ah, Of course! I am Roger Archibald, and let me just say it is a pleasure meeting you all." Secretly glad that he no longer had to serve everyone, he decided now would be a good time to actually participate. Or perhaps not, something about her smile was putting him on edge...

Eh, he'd break the ice if it came to it.

1d20 + 30 ⇒ (2) + 30 = 32
Teatime with OH MY GOD

Teatime with OH MY GOD

Roger knew exactly what had happened, and realised that a good chunk of his plans had plummeted screaming out of a window while on fire. Still, he rallied almost instantly and bowed respectfully to Touko. "Of course, ma'am, I will be along for tea later. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I have a room to attend to." With that, he went upstairs.

Picking out a likely-looking bedroom, he sat down on the bed and thought through his options, muttering to the incorporeal Monster. "Well. That was unexpected, especially my memoirs... Still, this should not interfere in my mission. Once I have created the [spoiler] my [spoiler] will matter little... besides, can't you feel the [spoiler] here? I have an excellent position with only a single price to pay. Although steep, it will hopefully not prove too intrusive." Turning away from his Servant, he raised his hand and encapsulated the entire bedroom in thick ice. "Aesthetics are king, and functionality plays the part of the prince." he muttered to himself before prepring to meet Touko's guest.

OOC: I assume the roll is done here. 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28

"An Englishman never offends his host, ma'am," Roger replied, his smoothness already returning. "and I do not intend to start that now. I did not burn down the library because I did not want to destroy my own notes. I would be honoured to accept an invitation."

As soon as he was able, Roger planned to make a break for the library downstairs and get all of his notes back. He also had to kill Touko at some point, but only when the battlefield favoured him. Until then, the only thing he could do was endure his humiliation.

The look on Roger's face is frankly amazing as Touko goes through his life story. His expression shifted between outrage, horror and pure rage with a dash of astonishment, almost like water flowing down a river as his features contorted themselves into heights of expression that would make a poet weep. He stood, struck speechless by the girl's revelations and unable to do anything at all. Eventually, he spoke.

"...hgruk." he began in a fit of eloquence. "Buh... guh... urg..." he continued in truly artistic style. "You... how... where..." he extolled to the heavens, causing angels to shed tears of pure liquid sorrow at such soulful rhetoric. Finally, he managed to form a coherent sentence. "Ah. I... apologise for the regretful misunderstanding, ma'am. I merely... sought... a base of operations and I did not know you were residing here. My humblest apologies for my... transgression." His face still in total rictus, he tried to say something else. "Could I... have... those p-papers back, please...?"

Roger threw his head back and laughed in her face. "Pfhahaha! [censored 1]? Me!? Oh you poor deluded little girl..." Bringing his gaze down towards the woman, he glared right at her. "I am no [censored 1], my dear, and I will not tolerate that kind of foolish talk."

He paced aggressively around the woman as he spoke. "Why am I here? I am here because I liked the look of this place and wanted it, that is all. Normally I'd be the gentleman here and leave you to your matchstick-house but you have been a most unpleasant host, and I have half a mind to make sure you don't bother anyone else." he growled, standing next to his servant and narrowing his eyes at Touko.

"SOMEONE BURNT DOWN THE LIBRARY!?" Roger roared, completely ignoring the woman in front of him. "I PAID THOUSANDS FOR SOME OF THOSE BOOKS!" He clenched his fist, his unease completely gone and replaced with righteous fury. "Such mindless vandalism! I tell you, back in my day worthless criminals like that got a red-hot poker up their-" He stopped, his illusion now completely gone, not that it survived much to begin with.

"Well, that's just another what? 5 thousand pound on the place? I mean, it's a rickety old deathtrap already, what's one MORE problem, eh?" He said, still not recognising the intruder, walking around her and looking at the place. "I don't know what I expected, really. Look at this place. Old, decrepit... And it's got squatters!" He finally looked around at the redhead with a look of annoyance mixed with mild contempt. "Who are YOU, madam?" he demanded.

As you leave the area Monster tells your, "Ah I do not believe you will have to worry about that" and disappears for a bit.

the next day you see on the news a report of a murder in that very location. The police have already arrested a suspect, a homeless man who is expected to make a plea of insanity, and is believed to have lived at that spot.

(OOC: no one suspects a thing, yeah he's that good at this)

"Capital!" was all he said in response before heading off towards [location], nearing towards his locale while glacing around furtively and as subtly as possible. Tracing his steps carefully, he made sure to look as nonchalant as his skills at deception would allow, normal procedure for walking across a Holy Grail battleground even at this early stage.

Still, these were just precautions, and as he became more and more sure he was not being followed his gait tightened up and so did his movement pattern. He was now making good time towards [location].

"Quite so! Before we do anything else we need a place of operations somewhere in this town. If you would care to follow me?" he half-asked, half-ordered his monstrous Servant. After cleaning up the majority of the ritual while leaving only a few flaming candles and a pot of blood he stepped out into the streets, Presence Concealment magic ensuring that it looked like he had never been there.

Weaving an illusion to look like an average Japanese citizen, he turned to Monster. "I'm going to have to ask you to stay in spirit form during the journey. Don't want to play my hand too soon, after all..." he said, before heading down the street away from the old building. "I have an apartment around here, but methinks that would be too obvious... " he murmured loud enough for his servant to hear. "The body will be found, and it will look like a ritualistic killing, and it WILL bring magi from all around trying to hunt down the mage who summoned. I have some things I want to prepare, and it will take time."

Gradually he meandered his way over to [location], trying to avoid looking like he was heading straight there.

Can I get a reply off Monster? I replied but there was a problem with the alias, which might also be why I'm marked as Steilos on the character list.

Roger looked at his servant critically, before breaking out into a grin. "Indeed we shall, [SERVANT NAME], indeed we shall." he said, regretting not bringing his own billowing cape to the occasion. Getting out-caped just wouldn't do for a man in his position, but fortunately that was a trifling worry compared to the ones he had right now.

Or should that be unfortunately?

No matter, he thought as he prepared to get started. "So, I suppose we should get started. Fifteen other mages, fifteen other servants, blah blah lah di dah KILL EVERYONE. I think that about covers it. Although..." he paused in thought for a moment, before remembering something rather important. Keeping his own contingency magic up, he carefully erased part of the circle. "Now, we must leave. Someone will notice what has happened here..." he gestured to the corpse with a sharp object through its heart over yonder, "and I'd like to not have to deal with rowdy locals as well as our competitors."

And I have a character now. Just dropping in to make sure this alias works and to show I'm here.