intro ♚ april

[boardmaster]

WELCOME TO GRAUPERA

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 ♟ CAPABLANCA & AIRY

As much as Blanc’s capital welcomes its Heroes, new arrivals such as yourself won’t have much time to settle. Get dressed and pick up your weapon and Carrier, because sometime in the afternoon, all floor nannies and Carriers will broadcast an announcement by Commander Lisbrand. She delivers a brief greeting to their new members, but gets straight to the point: they will be headed for Capablanca and the open sea beyond, in order to restore the fortress of Graupera for battle with Noir looming on the horizon. All new Heroes are expected to report to the Airy at the Caissa aeroport on the 8th along with their seniors.

On the morning of the 11th, Airy alights on Graupera, an island about two hours away from Capablanca by ferry. From here, you can either help the navy with Graupera repairs or assist in Verdoni’s investigations and head for Capablanca proper. Heroes will be staying in the (in)famous Hotel Caruana: they say you can check in anytime you like, but you can never truly leave. Nobody will quite meet your eyes or tell you what it means.

Wherever you are, the Airy will remain parked at Graupera.

TWO ♟ GRAUPERA, CAPABLANCA SEA FORT

What was once a heavily fortified island rests a ways off the coast of Capablanca; it looks a little too much like one of the thunderclouds slowly swarming on the horizon. Graupera has seen many battles and withstood the ebb and flow of wars. Formerly the city’s first line of defense until it was abandoned after the Reclamation, its dilapidated condition is the current bane of the Blanc navy. Blanc needs to bring it back to its former glory before it can face a single warship, much less Noir’s fleet of magical cannons. Blanc’s government has no doubt Heroes will do a fine job at returning the fortress to its former glory!

A ♙ The great stone and iron wall facing the wide open ocean has seen better days and is full of holes overgrown with stubborn clinging vines; cannonballs used a lifetime ago litter the grounds. The vines are extremely thick and may tangle the careless beyond hope of escape, not to mention filled with a pungent sap that will seep into your clothes and hair for days. It makes a great adhesive, though? Conveniently, parts of the wall are strewn across the floor, so at least some of the cannon holes can be repaired with enough improvisation, desperation and a bit of spit. The rest need new material provided by our helpful Heroes in Option C. Furthermore, the lingering damage from a previous attack and old age have turned the floorboards weak and unstable. The wood creaks ominously beneath the mass of even a single average-sized person, so watch your step.

B ♟ You might want to get your weapon before you descend into the dank depths beneath the castle. Once you make it down the steep, slippery stairs, you’ll be meeting the gigantic, hostile rats that infest the castle cellar from top to bottom. It looks like magical residue from long-ago battles has seeped into both the foundation and its inhabitants. The cellars have become a huge warren filled with strange mana currents, and sometimes flooded with water. If you're going to start an extermination campaign, you may want to recall the magical residue: chopping off a rat’s head and limbs will barely slow it down. It will keep going for hours unless you either lop off all its limbs or pierce its heart.

If you manage to make it all the way up into the castle’s two intact towers (the other two are half-collapsed), the uppermost levels are utterly covered in bird crap. You’ll be encountering the kings of this castle: the unusually large, grey-feathered sea birds that have taken up residence here. Albatrosses, gulls, pelicans, even sand pipers: they all share nesting and pooping space here. The feathers of each bird seem to have taken on stone-like properties not unlike the castle’s walls. They’re extremely ferocious and protective of their nests, which are filled with all kinds of things: twigs, shiny things, coin money, Option C’s supplies, feathers of all kinds, and some completely ordinary tools that seem too small for human hands, and much older than anything else in the place save for the walls. If you look closely, you might be able to see a few baby rats scattered in amongst the eggs and the peeping chicks. They’re being fed, too.

You’re meant to be moving the birds out of the place, but you might have enough trouble just moving their offal.

C ♙ Don’t feel like dealing with pest control? No problem! Blanc will need materials for rebuilding and other supplies for the coming battle! Everyone knows how important it is for the fortress to remain standing, so Heroes will be provided with gadgets and weaponry that should make it difficult for enemies to penetrate the walls yet again. Word has spread that the Heroes are transporting valuable goods, though, so you might have to fend off the occasional hopeful man or annoying mouse (rat) who wishes to borrow much-needed material.

Of course, all this rebuilding will be for naught if you are not prepared to defend the stronghold! Ammunition such as cannonballs, bullets and arrows needs to be transported to Graupera en masse, pronto. Equally important essentials include first aid supplies and enough non-perishable food and water to last a small army (you) a month or two. You wouldn’t want to have to scavenge for rat meat.

No one knows just how long this battle is going to last.

THREE ♟ Training

It’s time for you landlubbers to learn how to swim! Commander Lisbrand won’t be tolerating any sinking stones on her task force. The upcoming battle will be fought on the sea so your instructor, one of Blanc’s many fine captains (when she isn’t intoxicated), will make every single individual who hesitates at the sight of the open ocean walk the plank. She’ll even give you a helpful kick if necessary! Once that’s over, she will show you how to steer a ship. However, wandering eyes that land anywhere on the inebriated captain’s assets will be swiftly and spectacularly dealt a large bottle of the harbor’s best swill right where it hurts.

Blanc has also provided training dummies dressed suspiciously like prominent figures of the Othellian underworld. Now might be a good time to branch out and learn about your affinities. Heroes who have recently been promoted in Rank might want to set some time aside for getting used to their new abilities, too. Power and responsibility come hand in hand, after all!

INFO ♟ Welcome!

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

Comments

[showsnopiety]

[He's so odd. Like the dream, but not; a king, but not. A sacrifice, but more. To be cared for because she exists, to accept her as if it were nothing at all, such a thing...she can not accept it. It's annoying, all in all.

Even if he were to give out the suggestion that this were nothing special, that he would do this for anyone...he truly does not understand why she is supposed to exist. What her purpose is.]

I suppose.

[It is a sort of agreement, and she would look out and after her allies. She just doesn't expect the same type of treatment in return because...truly, it would be a waste of time. With a sigh, she walked over to her weapon, placing the shield down. It was small, more of a buckler, and it was there she picked up an oddly familiar snake and wrapped it around the shield.

With a shake of the cloth, the weapon was in her hand.]

I would. I may be a disappointment at this stage though.

[A warning, since it is true. There are many weapons she has to master in one, and the mana channeling to boot.]

[sunderings]

[ For all that goes unsaid between them, there is little which is not perceived—she is well and truly vexed, unable to reconcile the care which he would freely afford her. Just as he'd been rendered tangible and present by her touch, so too had she been proven to be far more than her purpose with her own too-fetching blush. She exists, and that is enough; that is valuable, a blessing greater than any his hands could give, and he would shield her. Protect her. And in their own way, his measures would be cruel beyond himself.

To heal someone so given to laying down their life, prolonging the duration of that sacrifice is...

Kind and heartless both. ]

I could say the very same. [ —he hums, his demeanor and voice gentle where they had been flawless and steeled once before, upon the plane which they had walked so very far from here. ] If I've your word that you'll not be too disenchanted with me, I will turn my eyes toward the progress we will make together.

[ Not that he wouldn't have done as much without it, of course. ]

Tell me, then, which would you have as contest? My Guiding Light— [ The sword at his side, the gleaming blade which she would surely recognize. ] —or perhaps...

[ It is of note that his uniform is modified, its epaulettes discarded in favor of jewels. And though he is in King in both rank and by crown, Sion Astal does not seem the sort to favor finery in any capacity, lending to the fact that such a pretty adornment is no such thing at all. ]

[showsnopiety]

[He was far too real. What a vexing problem she had on her hands. He existed, and he would try to shield her, and protect her, save her as if she were meant to be saved, or more importantly, wanted to be.

She'd have to show him how far she would go some day. All he had was a dream and a sight of her trying to find her wings.]

I would have to be enchanted in the first place, Sion Astal. Would it surprise you if I said I am not easily moved?

[That being said, however, her eyes draw upon his sword, his shoulders. The former would be good for a practical lesson, but the jewels that adorn him so...

Her eyes narrow, before they relaxed.]

The other. I don't recall that being on you. Is it another weapon perhaps?

[Such finery doesn't seem to suit him. Oh it does, in appearance, but personality, he seems...far more low key when it comes to what he would wear.]

[sunderings]

Your eyes are keen. [ —he affirms with a nod of his head, his own eyes falling closed, silvered lashes fanning against the curve of his cheek as he seems to turn his focus upon something fathomless and far away. ] It is a weapon newly granted to me in the wake of being promoted to rank, though I've come to find it lacks offensive ability entirely.

[ Rather, it stands to complement Guiding Light: for the blade which would carve a path through the dark, a pair of wings to herald the way. But invoking the weapon is the tricky part, and Sion hears its murmurs even now, whispers which he quiets, silences with an offering of mana too great to ignore. And as it bends, resonating with the force of its Master's will, wings effloresce from the Hero King's back, comprised of a light which holds no glimmer, no after-image, but is much too radiant to gaze upon for long.

And then, his eyes are open. ]

It is far from surprising, that you are a woman of curious passions— [ If he seems to be teasing, it is very much because he is, voice lilting as he bridges the distance which she'd placed between them by reclaiming her weapon, not by foot, but by flight. ] —but to say that you are not so easily moved...

[ ...would be wrong, wouldn't it? In his arms, he's certain that she would be breathtakingly light. Again, he extends to her both his hands, hovering in the air at her side. ]

Perish the thought, and let us take to training at a new height.

[showsnopiety]

[She nods, but her eyes are on him, watching him quietly. She had thought she had seen weapons that were completely...odd, if not strange in their entirety. An oar, her own shawl. But one that had no defensive or offensive ability whatsoever...

Isn't that why weapons existed in the first place? Unless it was meant, as a form of support, an arrow for the bow.

Which soon comes to light, literally in this case, what it can do initially. Her eyes widen, and water, but she does not look away. Even if it hurts, she refuses to. What she feels...it's almost a twisted kind of revulsion. It's as if that light is supposed to purify. But if it did such a thing...there would be nothing left of her.]

Are my passions so curious? Ha. I'm sure there are others that feel the same.

[But did he seriously just float like he was supposed to be divine and...Caren blinks, her eyes smarting from the light being so close.]

You're offering to...no, you're not. No. You cannot be serious.

[She bristles at him. She would be light and delicate in his arms, barely any weight at all. But from the look of her, she was not about to make it easy for him to be romantic in the least.]

[sunderings]

Am I not?

[ Is his face not completely, thoroughly, and utterly serious as he hovers in the air about her, the blades of light at his back (truly, they are the very opposite of the article which channels them, a blazing spear for each and every faceted stone in the link of chain which adorns his shoulders) bathing the area surrounding in their phantasmal glow. It could be a consecration (he has oftentimes been called Divine, the people of his country bowing their heads not on account of his crown, but because of the path which he walked, heavensent in his campaign to unite the world, to sunder its evils and allow peace to preside), but Sion Astal is anything but holy, despite being God incarnate.

(He is only a monster.) ]

You bid me to practice, and practice we will. I've never once carried weight aside from my own while in flight, and should an ally of mine become so imperiled...

[ What would be the purpose of having wings at all, if not to shepherd those who were lost to safety?

Floating close and closer still, one of his outstretched hands finds a lock of her hair, his finger twirling about its end before he lifts it to his lips, bestowing upon it a sweetly chaste kiss. What they had shared was a dream and little more than that, but for all his life the Hero King has chased a beautiful illustration of his own design, a dream-like illusion which he wished, with every fiber of his being, to actualize.

And Caren is still, in his eyes... ]

Allow me this. Grant to me your permission, and I'll not let you fall.

[ ...purity worth guarding. ]

[showsnopiety]

....Are you pouting?

[She can't believe this. For a man who clearly having spent his share of battles, wearing wings of light that look as if it could destroy the enemy with an application of will, he wants only, just only, to carry her around.

And while he is speaking well, it's more or less the usual for him. Her face is incredulous, close to the point of sputtering. If she hadn't been so put off by his display, she would have smacked him.

As it was, at the chaste kiss on her hair, her cheeks became violently red. Caren was torn. Utterly torn. She wanted to visit violence on his person; she wanted to walk away. She wanted to rage because she was no ones precious thing. She was, and would always be, her own.

But with an exhaled breath through her nose, she knew he wouldn't stop until he achieved what he wanted.]

Fine. But don't think this is a free pass to carry me everywhere.

[It's practice, and nothing more. This does not mean picking her up in their shared rooms, or any sort of...weird display of affection.]

[sunderings]

[ Pouting? Aah, aah, she's caught him! But it is a stratagem as good as any to employ, especially where a so-proclaimed immovable woman is concerned. ]

Can a King not pout? Can he not boast emotion beyond a regal temperament— [ A pause, a gentle hum of consideration. ] —and can he not, on occasion, be given to whim?

[ She is not wrong: it is unusual for him, to realize his own wants beyond the single wish he carries for the world; to give voice to what is, perhaps, much too frivolous, too innocent a desire to take to the skies and to be free with her, if only for a moment in time. For she is lovely, a mirror of himself in more ways than one, and if by being selfish he might be able to grant her a foolish experience, something new, then he'll not have a single regret.

...not that he could possibly possess one, even now, if he were to be honest. Her blush is much too charming as it heats her face, flushing her skin rosy and red as his own will never be again, and her fluster...

Well, altogether, she's quite adorable, isn't she? What's more, she humors him, consents, and in the very next instant he's whisked her away, her back supported with one arm, the delicate bend of her knees with the other, and then, then they are flying. There are thunderclouds on the horizon, but they have no bearing upon them, the Hero King carrying his ward higher and higher still until the fortress Graupera seems to be a cloud itself beneath them, a whisper of a thought in the distance.

Here, he chooses to hover, suspended in the air with Caren who most certainly isn't a free pass to carry everywhere.

Softly: ]

What do you make of it, this world?

[showsnopiety]

[His words had her roll her eyes briefly. Given to whim, wanting to handle her like a doll or no...in some ways, he is a child. Clearly all he wants, he wants it now, at least where she is concerned. Foolish, foolish man.

All because he wants to play with her, out of concern for her being perhaps. Sion was truly...something else.

But she allowed this so he wouldn't bother her with his sulk, enjoyable as it would be to watch. But she ends up crying out in surprise, a gasp of all things!

And they move higher and higher, far enough away that without mana, they would surely be crushed. The very thought of it...it was a death wish, to be certain, but there was a part of it that wanted to see it. Thankfully, he distracted her with his question.]

This world...

[She considers the question seriously. But then, she is a somber person in the first place.]

Nothing is what it seems. We're being used as the pawns we're named, in a war we know nothing about. We hear how wonderful Blanc is supposed to be, how wicked Noir is. However...nothing is ever so simple. Such things are children's stories.

[sunderings]

And yet we are to play a part of the tale, summoned as Heroes by the Gods themselves.

[ Gods which the King holds no faith in and would see dead by his hands one way or another—by nature and by design, it is his purpose to tear down such constructs, putting an end to the exertion of their will upon humans. Humans, like Caren, held safe and dear in the bassinet of his arms as they gaze down at the world below. ]

I woke in Caissa two months and some weeks ago. I regaled stories to children, built snowmen with young ones, and helped to free toys from the ice of frozen-over canals. For all intents and purposes, the Capital is a peaceful place; the people who call it home are unused to talk of war.

[ Funny, how capricious his moods can be. Playful, in one instant, and solemn in the next. It is as though he could be many people; that he either is accustomed to wearing many faces, or has no true sense of self. ]

Noir changed that in a day. There was an attack upon civilians at Palamède, and the casualties were great. Blanc's military is ill-prepared for combat, and we are the country's first and last line of defense.

[ As much as evident in the present state of Graupera, the clamor surrounding as it undergoes swift repair in preparation for a battle on the heels of the stormclouds above. ]

And while I share your sentiment, I cannot turn a blind eye to needless loss of life. I will fight, and I will learn the true nature of the forces at work here in this world.

[ At such a height, the wind is fierce, and though Sion's wings spare them the brunt of it, he would not expose Caren to it for long. Slowly, he descends, circling at his leisure for there are the bonds of mana exchange between them, and where alone he might have depleted the whole of reserves, with delicate weight in his arms...

Could he not fly forever? ]

I should enjoy watching you as well, I think. You are no pawn, Caren.

[showsnopiety]

[The whole selection of gods, the idea that she has holy magic...it does not make sense to her. And as the wind chills her body and tosses her hair to and fro, she listens.

Public relations in a public place, for little ones and their like. It would be enough to make her sick, even as she listens. He lives for the people, by the people. And that makes little sense to her. But there was an attack on a city and they...so called heroes...are to be used.

This makes little sense to her. Unless this is a game by a greater hand that she can not see herself. She has no belief in gods. God, it could be seen as dubious.

She's quiet, considering, her arms followed against each other. But she takes in a slow, deep breath.]

You are a coward and a tease. You can not let others die around you, and you let yourself be used, little better then a pawn yourself. A pawn for gods where we have seen none.

[Her golden eyes flicker up to his face, no sneer, no smirk. Her expression is surprisingly impassive.]

There is nothing to watch, Sion. I am a pawn, and that will not change whether I live or die.

[sunderings]

[ He has been called many things: Hero, weakling, child, saint, that diabolical, workaholic King!. By those that opposed him in the North, realms away from here, he had been so christened a monster, and the Goddesses who feared him cried mad devil, the one who will take the light away from everything!. And so, when she so cares to term him coward and a tease, gentle things, his expression warms; his golden eyes poignant and somehow fond as they bore into her own. ]

You are wrong. [ Though perhaps not where he is concerned. ] You are a girl, featherweight in my arms, one who has her dislikes and joys; one whose purpose is her own. Could you ever be infringed upon?

[ Cradling her close to his chest, he becomes playful again in flight, the spread of his wings catching a current of the wind as he spins, making a graceful pirouette of their descent. ]

I will drag them down, the Gods of this realm, whether they are divinities true or some self-styled pretender. [ It is a smile which he wears now, beautiful, even as he promises ruin, and softhearted as he continues on: ] And because I am a coward, I will protect all those that I am able to; life is ephemeral, much too precious a thing to be lost to conflict.

[ Slowly, slowly, they bridge the distance to the ground, returning to the very place he'd whisked her away from as though they'd never looked down from upon high at all. ]

...and because I am a tease, I would ask that join me in this goal, even if I can expect your swift refusal.

[showsnopiety]

[It seems that he takes her words and things them compliments. Or, that he is denying her what she wants, like a child holding another child's sweet over their head. But then, what does she truly know about him? A dream is a dream, and this is reality.

And he keeps saying all sorts of things. Useless things. Even as graceful as he is, holding her life in her hands...there is a part of him that wants to strangle him.

In part.

What he does declare is alluring even in its insanity. However...]

That's because you're an idiot as well as a tease.

[An eye roll, before she glances down, wondering if he will let her touch the ground just yet.]

Whether I am by your side or not, I want to see it when the Gods fall.

[sunderings]

Then...

[ Gently, and ever-mindful of her balance, he sees her two feet placed upon the ground, though he continues to hover, testing himself in the absence of the mana-link between them. Already, he's been airborne for far longer than he's ever been before, and though there is some distant part of him which would like to truly discover his limitations; to return to the height from which they'd surveyed Graupera, the great fortress of old, there is work yet to be done upon the ground.

(And many, many more useless, guileless sentiments which he has yet to convey.) ]

We are cut from the same cloth, you and I. [ Which is quite the declaration, is it not? ] And if the Gods of Enprise should at all resemble those which hail from my realm, you will never forget the sight.

[ Monsters, all of them, so very much like himself—he would not suffer a single one. ]

Now that we are so united by common cause, will you use weapon against me...?

[ No, he hasn't at all forgotten what he'd offered before, to put the versatility of her Sinner's Shawl to the test. ]

[showsnopiety]

[She finds herself gently on her feet, and she steps back, letting the mana link dwindle and stop. As it is, she's uncertain how her mana flow will be. Then again, she needs but a trickle to ensure that it would work the way she wants it, if not for a long duration.

He's dribbling all sorts of sentiments though...if the Gods are horrors, she wants to drink it in and enjoy the sight. Enjoy it right before she kills them. If it's possible.

Most likely she will.]

Naturally I will. A moment. And-

[She holds up a finger as she turns away, to pick up her Sinner's Shawl-]

Unless you're planning to play dodge and weave, please land. You're wasting mana that either of us could use later.