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

[meanballerina]

1. On the Airy

[There is nothing about waking up in a strange new world that Natasha trusts. So, business as usual. She doesn't resist being herded onto the airship with the other new heroes -- she doesn't have any resources or a place to run to. But once the Airy takes off, she decides to do what she does best: gather information. Anything she can get about this "hero" business, Blanc, Graupera. Whatever she can pick up with a little legwork and careful eavesdropping.

Leaving the uniform jacket and her weapon in her room do help make Natasha less obviously a hero. However, she hasn't quite figured out how to talk to her carrier, which apparently doesn't like whatever lingua franca she's using. Despite her best efforts, the red-and-silver matryoshka doll insist on following her through the Airy, bobbing gently through the air. It makes staying inconspicuous a little hard. The crowd of delighted children her carrier attracts? That makes staying inconspicuous even harder.]

Don't you have anything better to do?

[Is she talking to the carrier or the children it's entertaining? It's a mystery.]

2-C. Transporting Supplies

[Legendary weapon on her arm or not, Natasha refuses to rely on a mysterious artifact she barely knows how to use. Being assigned to accompanying supply runs gives her the chance to stock up on weaponry and she takes shameless advantage of it, laying hands on as many knives as she can find. And she'll need them, since the stream of thieving rats and would-be bandits is seemingly never-ending.]

Great. More rats. Incoming on the left.

3. Training Montage

[In her downtime, she can be found in the common areas of Hotel Caruana, muttering in...Chernovian? Yes, she seems to be carefully and deliberating talking to her floating doll(s) in nonsense Russian. The hotel staff are giving her and her Noir-themed carrier a wide, wide berth.

At the training dummies, she practices with her weapon, taking aim at the dummies with the metal bracer on her right arm. Cord after cord of bright red light shoots out of the bracer's sole decorative jewel, some making successful contact with the dummy, some shooting wildly off in wild directions -- including at you, if you get to close. Careful the cord's sticky tip doesn't stick somewhere unfortunate!

And of course, Natasha's pretty deadly even without magical weapons. She doesn't like where she is, she doesn't trust Blanc, but she does want to be ready for whatever's coming. Every day she can be found keeping up with her usual training, moving through complex combat forms with swift and deadly speed.]

4. Wildcard

[If you have something specific in mind, feel free to ping me at ivoryandhorn.]

3

[mithrarin]

Whoa!

[In a hearbeat, Dust's sword is in his hand, deflecting the cord with a phenomenal clash that, let's be real here, really oversells the gesture considering he's using his full-strength to parry a cord. But Dust doesn't know how to understate things like this.]

[Even more damaging to his dignity is the complete uselessness of the gesture, because parrying the cord just means its tip sticks to the sword no matter how dramatically he follows-through.]

That... was not what I expected to happen.

[meanballerina]

[Natasha doesn't bother dissipating the cord, watching it whip harmlessly through the air. In a few seconds, both the cord and the tip will dissipate in a flutter of red sparkles, but she's still getting the hang of how long it lasts.]

What were you expecting?

[mithrarin]

Normally when I parry things, I actually parry things.

[He gives the sword a little shake expectantly, and when the cord finally vanishes, he flips it back into its sheath.]

Interesting weapon.

[meanballerina]

Interesting, but not useful.

[She looks down at the metal bracer on her right wrist in frustration, half at being caught mid-mistake, half at the fact that it still won't work right.]

Not yet, anyway.

1

[drawmecute]

*Lola continued to break in her new weapon. They were a pair of new boots, they needed some wear to be comfortable. Plus she was still looking around for clothing supplies and other odds and ends. She was sitting down and watching, amused at the little parade. However the other teen clearly needed some peace. Quick loud clipped Spanish shooing the kids off. Which worked pretty well, in spite of her dominuative size.*

My abuela would be so proud.

*Lola was decked out in her full uniform, with a pink stone pendant on a gold chain as her only accent right now. Other than the hair, she seemed like a completely normal teenager.*

[meanballerina]

[As grateful as she might be for the temporary peace, Natasha can't actually bring herself to say it.]

Don't relax yet. They'll be back.

[drawmecute]

Then... maybe we should find somewhere else they won't find?

*Simple answers to simple questions?*

[meanballerina]

[There's so much stuff left for Natasha to examine, but she has to (reluctantly) admit, after several hours of trying to avoid excitable children, she could use a break.]

Any suggestions?

[drawmecute]

Um... kids hate boring, so... somewhere without anything going on? Maybe like a library?

*Nothing quite like shelves and shelves of books to drive off kids.*