pawnstorm | INTRO ♚ FEBRUARY

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INTRO ♚ FEBRUARY

WELCOME TO CAISSA

We’ve all had those dreams: you wake up on a table, to blurry, ominous images and the certainty that you are absolutely buck-naked in a room full of strangers. This is not quite it.

Instead, you come awake to the sun on your face. The soft burble of water nearby. The hustle and bustle of a busy street and the faint, fortifying smell of bread. You open your eyes and there’s no one there at your bedside, but there is what appears to be the end of the world happening just beyond your window.

There’s a crack in the world across the sky, the “sun” is the totally unnatural light spilling from that crack straight into your eyes, and someone’s left a neatly pressed and folded uniform at the foot of the bed that isn’t yours. Somewhere in the room, there’s a strange clatter like beads, the click of claws on the floor.

Something’s in here with you.

Also, you are naked.

ONE ♟ Settling In

Welcome to Blanc! You wake up on one of the beds inside the Hall of Glory. You might still be feeling a little light-headed, but sudden dimensional travel will do that to a body. You could have sworn visions of a fantastic world flashed before your eyes not long ago: monsters, magic, and a mission to save the world. You can't quite recall much beyond the basics, but could this be it?

Save your questions for later! The room nannies are quick to urge Heroes into their uniforms (with their beaks if necessary) and to point them to the pick-up locations for their Blanc-issued Weapons and Carriers. Hopefully, nobody but the pigeon’s watching you change. On the other hand, maybe you're the type to turn every roommate into a new friend before you even step foot outside the room.

As you make your way down the halls, you might notice strangely familiar faces around you. But don’t linger too long to chat—the people in charge of the armory and the menagerie have gone through many Heroes before you, and still have many more to go after you. NPCs need meal breaks, too! If you don’t make a decision in time, the random Weapons and/or Carriers they pick for you can be just a little odd.

And if you’re hungry? No matter how rich you were in your homeworld, you’re penniless now until you earn some colle. Thankfully, the Hall of Glory provides free meals to Heroes and those associated with them! Sunday’s breakfast and lunch are bananalicious and seafood pasta. A friendly visiting scholar may have a word of advice for you: “Beware the dining hall on Mondays.”

But you’ll barely have time for lunch before guards come and round you up. “For the parade,” is the only reason they’ll give you.

TWO ♟ Welcome Celebrations

Trumpets sound, cymbals clang and the crowd roars as the parade gets underway! What’s all the fuss about? Well, you Heroes were sent by the gods to save Blanc, right? Of course they’d celebrate! Smiling and waving at the citizens of Caissa from your uniquely crafted float might be a chore, but hey, they love you. Are you really going to let them down, or lose the spotlight to the fellow Heroes sharing your float?

The reception after the Prime Minister’s speech is like some kind of idol session, with Caissa citizens coming up to shake hands and welcome the Heroes warmly. Some are even asking for autographs!

There’s a lot of things to do in festive and lively Caissa, even late into the night under a light fall of snow. Sparrow Town is all lit up, ready for another festival next week.

While some shops are closed for the holiday, others have buffet tables or are giving out free samples to the Heroes. The food stalls here are way better than the bizarre cafeteria menu at the Hall of Glory! Why waste the opportunity to finally gorge on real food? The shop owners have done their best to impress, showing off their local cuisines proudly along the city streets: from the local hamburger joint to the exotic L'adderan curries, you'll find a little of everything to whet your palate. Your growling stomach will likely thank you for the food. … Oh, wait. That wasn’t you? You think the fish sandwich on your plate just sang? Nonsense. That just means you had a marvelous piece of fish bread. Please remember to visit them again sometime when you have the colle, okay?

Various stalls with games and activities have also been set up. Maybe you can impress the crowd by nailing an apple with an arrow or by sacrificing your friend(s) at the water tanks! An unusual Go-style stall offers something like fish scooping, but be careful: touching the fish with your bare hands will leave you feeling funny… Wow, you’ve never seen that color before! But whatever it takes to impress the children, right?

Said children might try and get you to dance in the falling snow. Better not mess up, though, because everyone in Caissa seems to be watching.

THREE ♟ The Day After

Hopefully, you didn’t sleep too late after yesterday’s celebrations! Or maybe you slept badly, since it felt like something was watching you…

The free breakfast that awaits you at the dining hall is… something special. Please enjoy it to your heart’s content! Remember: no food fights, and leave no leftovers! Nothing will save you from the chef’s disapproving mustache swirl if you do!

If you want to make money (to get away from Monday’s Horrors), there are now jobs up for taking at the Hall of Glory and the Poisoned Pawn! If there’s nothing to your taste, check back again every so often. Something new might pop up!

Heroes not in the mood to be errand-runners (it’s understandable, you’re Heroes after all!) can hang out in the parlor, read in the library, or express yourself in one of the Hall’s many studios or other rooms.

If lying back and taking it slow isn’t your thing, you could train or spar! Being summoned to a new world takes a toll on the body, and some Heroes have lost abilities familiar to them. Besides, it’ll take a while to get used to your weapons. Some of them might even be disobedient, backfiring at worst and unresponsive at best. Try not to hit your fellow Heroes (including yourself), or you’ll either have to find enough Heroes to cast weak healing spells or carry the wounded to the infirmary. While the snow has been cleared overnight, it’s still very cold!

INFO ♟ Welcome!

Welcome to Crosscheck's grand opening log! For any further questions, please see the FAQ or reach us at the Contact Us page. Have fun!

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[ The reflexive, immediate emotion racing through Shinya's mind when his eyes first open to the light is relief. It's the sun, or at least some sort of light, and not the faces of hostile vampires. At the very least, he had been knocked out long enough to be transported to safety. That initial feeling of relief is quickly replaced by bewilderment, his eyes widening as he sits up and finds himself in remarkably unfamiliar territory.

Sans his black uniform. Sans his undergarments. As bare as the day he was born. It was bizarre, to say the least. Quickly, he stands, scanning the room for signs of life and simultaneously working his way into his issued uniform. He works quickly enough that the room nannies leave him alone, for the most part. This sort of uniform is almost reflexive to get into. It's also no coincidence that it fits exactly to his size, as tailored as his old one. ]

What sort of strange predicament have we landed ourselves in, stranger? [ His gaze falls on the strange, mechanical birds. ]

[ Despite his alarm, he keeps his voice leveled, and he does avert his gaze and turn around for his roommates' modesty. They don't seem hostile, not at the moment, at least, and if they've found themselves in the same situation, they might be of some help. He finishes buttoning up his jacket and sighs. ]

Whatever this place is, they could do with a nicer welcome...

[ The sun is definitely a surprise. There's the whole thing that "they" say about the light at the end of the tunnel, although Minato could have sworn that he was following a blue butterfly into oblivion. Because oblivion is pretty much what he imagined would be waiting for him, or it's what he hoped, considering the possible alternatives. There's no room for regret, though. He made his choice.

He just...didn't imagine it would feel a whole lot like sleeping in a bed?

He must be dreaming. Can he dream? An existence living in a dream might not be so bad, except it sounds like there's something talking to him and poking him. No, no five more minutes... ]

...

[ No. This is wrong. He can't just shrug it off, not if it means undoing what he did. Minato's eyes blink open, surprised to find a strange room full of strange people. And he's pretty sure that's a mechanical pigeon staring him down.

Catching the tail-end of that comment, Minato sits up on the bed and rubs his eyes. If he's noticed he's naked, he doesn't seem to care. ]

...I take it you just woke up here?

[ Marie had been disoriented by the unfamiliar place around her, following the nanny's instructions in a daze and earning herself a few pecks when she stopped to look at the uniform skirt. She was not alone, thank goodness, however the faces sharing the room with her are entirely unfamiliar and any that should be present- were not. It was a worrying situation, however, being the entirely optimistic type, she does her best to put herself together when others began getting up. Looking at the young man who spoke first, she shook her head.

What, indeed, was this strange predicament? ]

I... don't know.

[ Less than how they got here, she's concerned about where exactly they are. If it was necessary, she could fight a bad situation, but if she doesn't know where she is, then it'll be harder to get back. It doesn't help that she still feels a little light-headed. Just what had happened to them...? Just to be safe, she sits back down on the edge of her bed. Turning her head towards the second young man she nodded. ]

Then- you don't recognize anything about this place either? It sounds like we're all in the same situation here.

[ He focuses his gaze on the two of them just long enough to register their faces. A young man, and a young woman, neither of which he's ever seen before, which only makes the situation more confusing rather than provide clues. ]

The same as you. I expected to wake up in a vampires' lair, awaiting my turn to be subjected to torture, so this might be an improvement for me.

You're both very calm about all of this. Do you find yourselves being kidnapped often? [ His gaze continues to wander around the room, and finding nothing recognizable, he shakes his head at Marie.

His gaze then falls upon the letter, still neatly folded, and fallen to the ground after he'd quickly put on his new uniform. There are two others, still placed atop the others' uniforms. It must be important. ] Eh? What's this? [ He picks it up, breaking the seal. ]

...Vampires' lair?

[ Awaiting his turn to be subjected to torture? He can't be serious, right? Unless it's some sort of weird S&M club. No judging...Is there any way he can't not comment on that? No matter how strange this situation is, that's not something people would just say casually. Except for this guy, apparently.

He spares a glance towards the girl, as if to gauge her reaction first, before shrugging. It's happened on and off, to be honest.

Should he put on pants?

His gaze falls on the folded clothes at the end of the bed, but he pauses when the other boy mentions a letter. ]

...A note?

[...so she wasn't the only one surprised by the talk of vampires and torture. Still-- she can't say she isn't accustomed to her own brand of oddness.]

If it's kidnapping then, no, this is the first. But I can think of a few reasons that individuals might like to see me captured.

[Her alliance with Celestial Being meant that she would be a target of anyone who opposed the group as well as hundreds-- maybe thousands of discontent civilians who had been hurt by their method. And more than a few people wanted information on the secretive group as well... So- surprising, it is not.]

...what does it say?

[ There's a perfectly reasonable explanation to vampire torture, guys. Okay, maybe not, but it's not something to dwell on at the moment. He looks at her, curious. ]

Could you be the reason we're in trouble, miss?

[ He doubts it, and reading the letter just increases his doubts further. ]

Greetings, to our most esteemed Heroes, to the city of Blanc.

[ ... he pauses. ] Blanc? Can't say I've ever heard of it.

[ But also, before he continues, he'll very quickly divert his gaze to both of them and make a small request. ]

Ahaha, could you guys get dressed, by the way?

[ Hey, hey, Shinya. No judging, man, no judging. We're all pantless friends here. It seems like the other two have a plausible reason to be taken away. Minato was also waiting to be taken...somewhere, but decidedly not to a nice bed. He's pretty sure the whole point of sacrifice wasn't to live in a cushy afterlife.

City of Blanc? He's never heard of that before, either. Not that geography was his best subject. (That was fusing things and forming bonds.) ]

Huh?

[ Oh. Pants.

Right. ]

...Sure.

[ He glances at the girl--maybe he shouldn't, maybe he should also be giving her some privacy--before reaching for the pants folded at the end of his bed. Minato hops into them with about as much modesty and accord as one might expect of a guy who was willing to sit there naked in the first place. ]

I'd like to say that without any ties to the organization you wouldn't be taken, however...

[As ugly as the truth was, she knew that there was still a chance it could happen; although the contents of the letter begin to point away from that.]

Blanc... [No, it's not any city she recalls. If she'd never seen it, but only heard of it, then perhaps-- but that's not the case.] Honestly, neither have I.

[Sheepishly, she hurries to dress herself as well; trying to keep her eyes squarely focused on the clothes themselves. But it's impossible not to recall that these are guys and not girls that she's getting dressed in front of. Well-- there's nothing she can do about it. And as she guessed, once she's dressed she feels much more comfortable.]

...the letter sounds more like something you'd send to an invited guest, not a prisoner...

The organization?

[ That's a fairly broad condition, and one that he wonders if Marie will elaborate on. He looks away while the two of them get dressed, taking a moment to read the rest of the letter. ]

You're right-- but, good treatment or not, we're clearly not here just to enjoy the scenery. It says here we're to report to the armory to pick up our weapon.

[ Minato pauses as he grabs his shirt. Glancing between the other two, he tilts his head to the side, his lips turning into a confused pout. ]

A weapon? [ Ah. Minato looks around his bed. It...doesn't look like he really came with anything from home, did he? ] Who are we fighting?

If it is related, you're better off knowing as little as possible although--

[Thinking on what he said, a few things didn't add up.]

I can't think of an enemy that would give us weapons. If they're going to give us something like that then they probably have some idea as to how we might be useful.

[More fighting... she can't say she likes it, even if there may be good reasons they were chosen by these people to fulfill that purpose.]

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INTRO ♚ FEBRUARY

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