boardmaster: (Default)
BOARDMASTER ([personal profile] boardmaster) wrote in [community profile] pawnstorm2016-04-09 04:30 am

intro ♚ april

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!
mithrarin: (smile)

[personal profile] mithrarin 2016-04-13 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[Dust, for his own part, could fight all day and all night without tiring -- but not with any use of magic. Coming here had been quite an adjustment.]

[And he's adjusting.]
Maybe alone... [He lowers the staff, lifting one hand from it to gather mana around it.] But you're not alone. Give me a moment and I'll finish this.
couldntpullthetrigger: (Hey hey but no anal man)

[personal profile] couldntpullthetrigger 2016-04-13 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Ah, the differences between being a pawn and a higher rank. She'd almost be envious, but he seems really good! And a lot less tired than she is.] Don't... overdo it, though... [Well, he kinda looks like he's going to get it done, though. She steps back and nocks an arrow just in case, but this looks like it'll be a good show, either way.]
mithrarin: (dust storm)

[personal profile] mithrarin 2016-04-13 02:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[He'd worked hard and leveled up the same as anyone -- but it also helps that he exists purely for battle. That mindset, more than anything, drives him to improve in a way that a person who has ever imagined they could have a normal life might not.]

[And on the other hand, he couldn't really cast a spell like this without someone to cover him. She might not be unleashing magical devastation on their foes, but she's doing her part in seeing it unleashed.]

[Dust twists his wrist as he snaps his fingers shut like he's crushing the gathered mana. A vortex erupts in the air, sucking in the three largest birds to slam into each other as the wind twists around them. That's abuse enough for the gathered avians, who -- wanting none of this -- reluctantly abandon the field of battle.]


Sorry. I'm not particularly good at understatement.
couldntpullthetrigger: (Oo babe)

[personal profile] couldntpullthetrigger 2016-04-13 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[Yeah, probably. She has definite experience in battle - but it's not her entire life. That kind of improvement is more for Akihiko than herself. She does want a normal damn life, and this place is putting a serious cramp on that idea.

Still, even if it wears her out, she can keep at it - she's great at backup and pretty much always will be, so covering him until he unleashes his attack is easy enough...

... And she is pretty impressed at what it looks like when it's finished.
]

Um... no, that was fine! That was a great attack. I wish I could do something like that... um, still, I guess. [No Magarula for her here...]
mithrarin: (smile)

[personal profile] mithrarin 2016-04-14 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
I've been practicing. And... increasing my rank, apparently. [Dust brushes the Queen insignia on his uniform a little self-consciously.] You've got a useful weapon, and just as much ability to use magic, so if you work at it you'll find your own strengths.
couldntpullthetrigger: (pic#10154354)

[personal profile] couldntpullthetrigger 2016-04-15 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Increasing... rank...? Oh, yeah, I remember them saying something about that. It makes you that much more powerful, huh? [Cuz that was impressive.]

... Mm, it'd help if they hadn't... like... totally removed my usual way of fighting. I'm weaker now than I ever really thought of myself at home...

I mean, I can train, but why would they start me out at a lower level than what I could do if they're so desperate for people to fight for 'em?