The Cost of a Wish (Fate: Oath Under Snow/DnD) (Patreon)

If Kiritsugu could see him now, he'd kill him without any hesitation.

It was a despondent thing to think about your own father, Shirou reflected even as he lay dying on the cold cavern floor that housed the Holy Grail. His body pushed well beyond its limits, trading his entire life for five minutes of power. Five minutes that were absolutely worth it because he fulfilled his duty as an older brother.

He saved Miyu, his little sister.

Ironic, now that he thought about it, Shirou thought, managing to crack a smile as his vision grew blurry and dark. The sound of approaching footsteps sounded distant even as they drew near. That his life would end here -- with the Holy Grail. The wish granting device at the center of so much conflict. Wishes seemed to define his life -- wishing to be saved, wishing to be fulfilled like Kiritsugu, then finding Miyu to grant Kiritsugu's wish of creating a perfect world… then Miyu's own wish for him, a wretched shell of a human being, to be her big brother.

A wish he fulfilled.

And now he died, denying Julian -- perhaps his only friend in the world -- his wish of a utopia. Damning the world to its current state of disaster, starvation, violence, and strife before coming to an abrupt end in another century. All because he usurped the wish to be made on the Holy Grail. A wish that could have saved the world instead saved a single person, whisking her away to a place where she could be happy. Where she could find friends, love, and joy.

For that matter, it seemed fitting, Shirou decided, that his own last thoughts were a wish. A wish he wasn't at all entitled too, or had any expectations of being granted.

'I wish I could have seen her again.'

…

"Hnngh…" Shirou groaned as pain seemed to assault every sense he had. He tried to open his eyes, but light pierced them like knives. Light? It confused him so much that despite the pain, he managed to squint to see what seemed to be a blue sky above him. That was… surprising. Had Angelica and Julian brought him out of the cavern? He figured that they would let it be his tomb, much less that they would save his life.

Off to the side, Shirou heard a rustling, "You're awake!" An unfamiliar voice observed with obvious relief, looking over him and entering his sight- was that a devil? Grayish almost blue skin, glowing yellow eyes in a pool of black, with horns jutting out of her skull.

Given the circumstances of his death, Shirou didn't feel that surprised that he was in hell. Honestly, it made a lot of sense.

Shirou opened his mouth to respond, but only a croak escaped him. It felt like his throat was covered in sand. The devil seemed to realize this because she gasped, "Oh! You must be thirsty!" There was another sound of rustling and as the haze of unconsciousness faded away, he became aware that whatever he was laying down on was moving based on the bumps that came every other second, each one accompanied by a squeak of… wood? A wagon? A second later the devil returned and pressed something to his lips.

Caution gave way to need and Shirou drank deeply. To his immense relief, it was water that tasted faintly of leather rather than anything sinister. Only when his thirst was sated did he pull back, a relieved sigh escaping him. Everything else hurt, but at least he wasn't thirsty and now he could speak. "W-where am I?" Shirou questioned, the wagon jetting harshly as it found a hole in the road.

"You're on the road to Phandelver, just outside of Neverwinter. We found you on the side of the road, but we couldn't find any sign of what attacked you," the devil explained, and the explanation didn't explain anything. If anything, it left him with more questions -- how did he end up on the side of the road? If Angelica and Juliean were going to take him out of the cavern, it made little sense for them to just drop him by some random road in hell. "And I'm Alfira! A bard! …In training," Alfira added the last bit with some reluctance.

A bard? Now that he moved past her appearance, he realized that she sounded rather… exuberant? And this didn't match the descriptions of hell that he heard about. He wasn't exactly religious, but Shirou figured that if there was an afterlife, he was bound to one of the bad ones and beyond everything he had inflicted on himself, there wasn't gratuitous torture or suffering.

"Shirou Emiya," Shirou introduced himself. Now that his eyes adjusted, he could see Alfira light up. Unless this was some kind of trick, Shirou was starting to doubt his assumption that he was in hell.

"It's nice to meet you. I wish we could have met in more pleasant circumstances, though." Alfira noted, hovering near him when Shirou tried to force himself up in a sitting position. His body screamed in protest, and he ended up needed help from Alfira who propped him up against the back of the wagon. A small gasp escaped him, his body settling. "Do you know who attacked you? There's been word of some goblins in the area…"

Goblins?

Now that Shirou looked at her, he saw that she wore a brightly colored dress that matched her hair with what seemed to be a lute slung over her shoulder. It was a puzzling sight, and only made more so when he glanced at the front of the wagon, only to see a blonde haired and blue eyed woman sitting on a crate. She was the size of a child given that her legs didn't reach the floor, but she was a fully developed woman nonetheless. Just one the size of a small child. She met his gaze and cocked her head, "Finally up, huh?"

The wagon itself trotted along a path between and over some rolling hills with shrubbery and trees dotted around. A well worn path based on how many holes the wheels found.

Shirou licked his lips, "You didn't find anyone with me?" He questioned, rapidly processing the information available to him. Kiritsugu had trained him and brought him to some of the most chaotic and dangerous places on Earth with the expectation that he could protect himself -- and he had. More than that, his body was not just his own anymore. Throughout the Grail War, every battle he fought and every time he used the borrowed powers of the Archer Card, his body was invaded by the Counter Guardian Emiya. A future version of himself that had a near limitless well of experience to draw from.

Up to and including waking up in strange places heavily injured without a readily available explanation.

Alfira shook her head, now looking worried. "We didn't see anyone. We just found you and you were in really bad shape. We thought you were going to die," she admitted, and he was going to.

To that, the small woman snorted. "You would have if she hadn't shoved a healing potion down your throat." A healing potion? His gaze flickered to Alfira to see her… blushing, he thought.

"It was given to me by my teacher. Just in case someone would need it. She says that adventures are the best way to learn what to sing about, so she sends me out with a task and calls them such," Alfira deflected and Shirou felt a rush of guilt for making an assumption based on her appearance. "It's more like she just sends me on her errands though. We're making some coin for the long road to Elturel…" she trailed off, realizing that Shirou was only listening with half an ear.

He was here alone.

His head tilted back, looking up at the bright blue sky above. He still recalled his last wish, one that he didn't expect to be fulfilled.

Could this be it?

Could this be the world that Miyu was taken to? Where she would be happy?

Hope was a dangerous thing, Shirou found, but he clung to it. He had been fully prepared to die in that cave, and now he was forced to live. He might have wasted away if it wasn't for the thought of reuniting with Miyu, and he felt strength returning to his limbs.

The first thing he did was bowed his head to Alfira, "Thank you for saving my life." He said, and he saw the sincerity made her shift uncomfortably. "Its… something of a long story, but people were trying to take my sister. I stopped them and saved her, but now I don't know where she is."

Alfira gasped while the other woman stiffened, "That's dreadful!"

It wasn't. This was a chance. An opportunity. One that Shirou wasn't entirely sure he deserved. "I hate to ask more from you, but do you have any idea where I could start looking? I… I don't know where I am," Shirou admitted, feeling like that was a vast understatement.

The small woman frowned, "There's a Druid up in Phandelver. He usually knows the comings and goings of everything in the area. You could try him."

Druid?

Shirou inclined his head in thanks before someone called out, "Whoa there," he said. Behind the small woman were two more people that sat at the front of the wagon. A man that seemed to be wearing some kind of plate mail, and a woman with dark hair. The wagon lurched as the… horses had their regins pulled back to slow the wagon. "Dead horses ahead," he called back. Shirou leaned his head out to the side of the wagon to see what he was talking about.

Two dead horses that had a half dozen arrows sticking out of them.

"Those are Gundren and Sildar's horses," the small woman remarked. "You see their bodies, Regdar?"

Regdar shook his head, making the chain mail that dangled from his helmet jingle. Shirou focused on the arrows and felt his circuits fire.

Trace on.

The bit of magecraft, one of the few he had any degree of talent for, fed him information even if he couldn't understand most of it. It was less that the arrow was comparable to Ea, something fundamentally alien in nature and designed for the hands of Gilgamesh, and more that the history of the arrow was… it felt like he opened up a novel at the middle instead of the start. Basic context was missing that made the arrow hard to grasp.

Shaped by Gnasher, stolen by Tesser, used to kill Tesser by Gnarl, claimed by Yip on death of Gnarl, used to kill Gnasher when he tried to take arrow back… it went on like that for some time, referencing people and places that he didn't understand until the recent history said, Used in ambush to slay horse Clippity Cloppity.

His gaze flickered to where the arrow came from, just in time to meet the gaze of a…

A goblin, Shirou supposed. Short, a long break of a nose, motley green skin that had a long burns scar on one side of his face thar claimed a long tampered ear. His mouth was full of sharpened teeth, some of them black with decay, and he wore a piecemeal collection of furs an leathers. Shirou was broken out of his befuddlement when the goblin pulled back an arrow, hidden behind a tree and some bushes. "Get down!"

He grabbed Alfira just as the goblin released the arrow. It proved to be unnecessary because the arrow sailed wide overhead, but a half dozen other arrows managed to strike the wagon while the horses whined and bucked. Alfira hid beneath him and behind the cargo while the other three leaped into action. Regdar lept from the wagon, drawing a sword and raising a shield while the small woman drew a crossbow that had been leaned against the crate she sat on.

Most notable of all, however, was the dark-haired woman who simply stood up as fire gathered in the palm of her hand before she flung it at one of the goblins that sprinted forward. It struck him in the face, making him reel back, and his pained screams intermingled with the war cries of a dozen other goblins. The casual display of magecraft caught him off guard for only a moment, but more distracting was that the action revealed something -- her long and tapered ears.

An elf, Shirou realized. And, in that moment, he forced himself to throw out every expectation and what he thought he knew. Goblins and elves were a hallmark of fantasy, a genre that Shirou regretted neglecting now that it suddenly seemed so very relevant. The point being, he couldn't have expectations on how the rules worked here. And, as if to prove him right, an arrow sailed forward and struck the elf in the chest, only to bounce off a shimmering field of energy that faded from view the moment the arrow fell away.

Shirou took in a breath, having processed enough.

Then he stood.

His body protested the decision harshly, but it was just pain. Nothing he couldn't deal with. He pulled the trigger in his mind, a gun firing, and in response, his magic circuits activated. They ached from overuse, but during the Grail War, Miyu had provided him with mana, so he had plenty to use. A nameless black bow materialized in his hand along with an arrow -- an old favorite of Emiya's, and as a result, it was his natural choice. Given that it was made for a Counter Guardian, Shirou was forced to Reinforce his muscles to even draw the bow.

In a single smooth motion, he brought the drawstring up to his ear, pulling with his back, and let the arrow go. It shot forward in a blur of speed, slamming into the chest of a goblin with enough feet to knock it off its feet. The goblin next to it whipped around to look at his fallen comrade while Shirou Projected another arrow. It leaped from the bow just as the goblin cried out, "Ghuur-ghk!"

Shirou's heart clenched at the sound. He had hoped that the goblins were simply mindless monsters rather than sapient creatures. People, even. All the same, they were attacking… and it wasn't as if he hadn't killed before, and he killed them for no reason greater than they were in his way. Gritting his teeth, he notched another arrow and fired it before an archer could take a shot at him. His muscles burned, aching with effort, but he didn’t let it affect his aim.

Archery was always something that he was good at. He had only missed one shot in his life, after all. Just to see what it felt like. For better or for worse, that same aim transferred to hitting live targets. One by one, the goblins began to fall. A dozen of them became a half dozen, and the sight of the first goblin throwing down his weapons to flee inspired the remainder to do the same. All the while screaming, “Run! Run for your lives!”

It was nothing less than a relief to see them go and Shirou half collapsed against the crate that the small woman had been sitting on. Goblins and elves… a dwarf, maybe? The goblins vanished into the sparse woods, but it would be a simple thing to track them if it came down to it. Sweat dripped from his brow and his arms trembled, the bow vanishing into motes of light.

“Fascinating,” the elf uttered, immediately turning her focus to him. He saw her eyes were an unnatural shade of blue, and that she was quite pretty. A regal beauty with a lithe body, though he noticed ink stains on her fingers. “I’ve never seen such magic before -- conjuration? And to cast without a focus… a sorcerer, perhaps?” She questioned, sounding like she was talking to herself as much as him.

The dwarf nudged her, “Mialee, you’re drooling.”

Mialee shot the dwarf an idle glare while Regdar approached, wiping his blade free of blood. “Fine shooting! Suppose this counts you in as one of the caravan’s defenders, so I reckon that you’ve earned a bit of pay when we get to Phandelver,” he offered with a smile. He wasn’t a handsome man -- a wide face with wide lips and a broad nose, but based on the scars that marked him, he did seem strong. Or, at the very least, hard to kill.

Pay? Shirou glanced at the wagon to see that it was full of supplies, the boxes shoved and stacked to make room for him to lay down -- all of the boxes were marked with an emblem that Shirou didn’t recognize. Not that he expected to, at this point. As he glanced at the wagon, he saw Alfira’s expression twist into a frown, seemingly upset for a moment until she pulled out the lute. “H-hold on, I can…” She began, clearing her throat before strumming a chord-

Then she sang, “We've crossed these battle lines too many times, it passes through the heart, but it never leaves a mark.” As soon as the lyric was finished, Shirou felt the pain in his muscles lessen, as if he went from mostly dead to half dead. As soon as she was done, Alfira’s eyes lit up. “I did it! That- ah, well, that’s the first time I’ve managed to cast a spell with my music,” she said, sounding immensely proud of herself.

Given that what she said would have mages of his world weeping tears of blood in jealousy, she had good reason to.

Shirou offered a small smile, “Congratulations.” Alfira simply beamed in response.

“Bardic magic,” Mialee said, sounding dismissive. “I’m far more interested in what you just did. A pact weapon, perchance?” She fished, sounding like she was implying something, and Shirou wished he knew what it was. He glanced at Alfira, who was so thoroughly pleased with herself that she didn't notice the look.

"I'm more interested in what happened here," Shirou sidestepped the question. "Who was attacked before us?"

It was Regdar who answered, "Gundren and Sildar. The men our employers hired for this quest before us, but they rode ahead of us. I don't see their bodies," he observed.

Mialee didn't seem interested, "Their corpses were probably carried off to some hole in the ground to be eaten. A tragedy. More importantly, we were charged with the delivery of the wagon and goods to Barthen's Provisions -- he will have our money." His lips thinned at that before he looked to the horses -- they were marked with arrows and the saddlebags were empties, but beyond that…

"Why didn't they eat the horses, then?" Shirou prompted, and to that, Mialee didn't seem to have an answer. Her eyebrow furrowed and she glanced at Regdar, who tilted his head in thought. Perhaps goblins simply preferred the taste of… whatever Gundren and Stilgar were, but to not touch the horses at all? To leave them in the road to act as a roadblock? That told Shirou that the goblins had been expecting them. And if both Gundren and Stilgar were gone rather than dead, then it stood to reason that maybe the goblins had anticipated them as well.

It was the dwarf woman who answered, "Goblins ain't usually in the business of taking prisoners," she pointed out.

"Unless they intend to take slaves, Lillia," Regdar refuted, naming the dwarf woman. "I don't see evidence of a fight. The goblins got the drop on them, as far as I can tell. Stilgar is a member of the Lord's Alliance -- an old one, sure, but I'd expect him to at least kill a handful if he was going to die fighting."

A picture was being painted and he had no reason to leap to the assumption that he did. A desperate hope after a desperate wish was made. "Would Stilgar surrender if they had a hostage?" Shirou questioned, his heart clenching in his chest. His mind leaped straight to the worst possible conclusion -- that the goblins had Miyu. There was absolutely no evidence that supported the conclusion that he came to beyond the fact that he was here, in this world, and Miyu could be as well.

His heart clenched when Regdar seemed pensive, "Aye, I'd say so. Seemed to be the honorable sort to me."

Lillia scoffed, "He got himself captured and whisked away to a goblin camp on the chance that he could free himself and a hostage. That's not honorable-- that's stupidity, clear as day."

Alfira raised her hand, bringing their attention to her before she awkwardly lowered it, "Unless he had a reason to think he had reinforcements? Like us?" She ventured, sounding nervous but she was doing her best to put on a brave face.

Shirou nodded, seeing the logic. In any case, their presence would draw out the goblins who wished to ambush them, making the numbers wherever they were taken more manageable. If that was the case, it was a cunning move. Shirou just hoped that it was the right one.

Lillia, however, seemed to hold a different opinion. "That's not our problem," she dismissed the entire issue out of hand. "I took the job to get the goods from point A to point B. I know Barthen. Grew up in that little town. He's a skinflint if there ever was one, and he won't pay us a copper more for any rescue of his business partner." She crossed her arms over her chest muscles with a scowl on her face.

The point seemed to resonate with Mialee, who tilted her head in consideration. "A favor from a member of the Lord's Alliance wouldn't go amiss. Influence is a currency in itself. Don't look at me like that, Regdar. You're my bodyguard. Technically," she tacked on, making Regdar sigh like a deflated balloon. Shirou could feel the balance swing in the opposite direction.

Alfira could too. "You're adventurers, aren't you? I mean… this is what you do, right?" She questioned, visibly let down while Lillia let out a bark of laughter.

"You bards are the ones obsessed with a good story and a song. I'm just here to get paid. I got a family to take care of in Phandelver, and I can't do that if I'm dead. And with no promise of coin for my troubles, I'm not going to be sticking my neck out for anyone." She summarized her thoughts and the general feeling of the others. Shirou wasn't surprised, even if he did find himself a little disappointed. It was a common enough attitude that he had seen before when Kiritsugu brought him across the world.

Kiritsugu shielded him from the worst of it -- leaving Shirou to refill magazines, forge fake IDs, and research targets. But the general attitude was a familiar one to him. In the end, it was normal to put your own self-interests ahead of people that you didn’t know. He was the abnormal one.

Shirou bowed to them, "Thank you for taking me this far and helping when you didn't need to, but this is where we part ways." He told him, standing up to see Lillia's eyes popping out at him, her expression one of disbelief. Alfria was every bit overjoyed as Lillia was baffled.

"Mate, you're half dead as it is. You really think some goblins have your sister?" She questioned, proving that she had Bern listening to the conversation. "It's more than likely that that the gobs got their hands on Gundren -- he couldn't fight to save his life."

Shirou nodded, "I'm aware." It was by far the most likely possibility. "But if there is even the slightest chance, then I have to go. I don't expect you to follow me," he told them, jumping out of the wagon and he felt lightning rave up his spine with the action. A glance at his discolored hand -- darkened skin as a result of his projection… or the barrier between Shirou Emiya and Counter Guardian Emiya getting thinner. It had the slightest of trembles that he vanquished by curling a tight fist.

"I'll go!" Alfira boldly declared, but she followed it up with, "I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do my best." She swore, and if Shirou was being completely honest, she was better off going to Phandelver with the others. Only before he could say as much, Mialee spoke up.

"I shall go as well then. I've taken an interest in the magic you use, and it would be quite a shame if you got yourself killed unnecessarily due to your own shortsighted stupidity." Mialee said, sounding ambivalent about the entire ordeal. "Come, Regdar." She bayed him, almost as if he were a dog, but Regdar seemed pleased to obey.

Lillia rolled her eyes to the sky, "You really fancy yourself as a hero, then?" Lillia seemed to spit the word at him like an insult, grabbing the reins of the wagon in a declaration she had no intention of joining them.

To that, Shirou gave her a humorless smile. One that made the indignation bleed away from her. A hero… if Shirou ever has any right to be considered such a lofty title, then he had undoubtedly lost it with his action in the Grail War. He had no regrets about what he did, and if given the chance, he'd do it all over again. Still, he couldn't deny the results of his actions.

A world full of people that could have been saved, but wouldn't.

"No," Shirou replied, turning away from Lillia. "I am undoubtedly a villain."

Lillia didn't seem to know how to reply to that and simply watched them go off into the forest, following the goblin trail in the desperate hope of a reunion that Shirou knew he had no right to expect.

...

I finally got to get a play-through of Baldur's Gate 3, and in a pretty loaded couple of months for gaming, I have to say that BG3 is a head and shoulders above the competition. This idea was particularly inspired by Fate/Alternative - (Pre-Route Shirou x Pathfinder RPG) by TurtSnacko over on SB. Great story and I highly recommend it, and that's coming from someone that knows literally nothing about Pathfinder. Between the two, I ended up brushing off some of my DnD modules and started getting ideas.

A few things to note -- This is Miyuverse Shirou, who had a rather different upbringing in comparison to regular Shirou. Most of the differences stem from the character Miyu, his adopted little sister, who was the lesser grail for the Miyuverse. The reason I went with him over one of the mainline Shirous is mostly because I feel like Miyuverse Shirou is in the most interesting spot character-wise. He cast off his dreams of becoming a Hero of Justice to embrace the role of the 'Villian' who essentially damned the world for the sake of one person -- so, exploring the fact that he has to live with choice was a big factor, in addition to having an instant motivation to explore the world.

Powerwise, this Shirou is the most busted. The TLDR is that in his world, Gaia was mostly dead, thus the normal limitations didn't really apply to him allowing Shirou to trace Divine artifacts, combined with the fact that CG Emiya more or less got copy and pasted into Shirou's soul. Kiritsugu didn't sabotage his magecraft training either and dragged Shirou around to hotspots across the world until Kiritsugu physically couldn't do it anymore. So, sky is the limit in terms of Tracing and Projecting.

In terms of story, Shirou's motivation to find his sister would serve as the initial driving force. And, I can go ahead and say that Miyu did end up in Faerun. That motivation would see us through a few introductory modules. As for what modules I'll be using, in no particular order: Lost Mines of Phandeler, Ghosts of Saltmarch, Curse of Strad, Decent into Avernus, Candlekeep Mysteries, Waterdeep Dragonheist, and go through the Baldur's Gate 3 plotline. Some might get switched out, and I might splice in some homebrew stuff -- all depends on what people want, I guess.

And... I think that's it. Let me know if you have any additional questions because I feel like I'm forgetting something.