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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!

[personal profile] theskyenceguy 2016-04-15 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
"All the time?"

[her gaze narrows, and she stands up, allowing the hand with the hammer to fall loosely at her side]

If it happens "all the time" then I feel like you might have a problem. And shouldn't our "employers" be more than wiling to spare us medical supplies?

[she'd think it'd be in Blanc's best interest to keep them in good health]
long_live_the_queen: (are you talking about my hat)

[personal profile] long_live_the_queen 2016-04-16 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
This thing does that.

[She pointed at the poleaxe with her elbow, which continued to sit there quite innocently. It has no idea what this slander is about.]

They need them for when people start trying to kill each other in the next few days, or so they keep telling me.

[personal profile] theskyenceguy 2016-04-17 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
[is it slander if it's the truth!! Ema won't defend you, poleaxe]

Why do you use it, then?

[Ema asks as she crouches down in front of Kaede, trying to get a closer look at those injuries]

They should be willing to spare some bandages and burn cream to a "hero" who needs it. If they won't give it to you, then I'll throw things at them until they cough them up to me.

[how. . . nice. . . of you to offer, Ema]
long_live_the_queen: (Close to a smile)

[personal profile] long_live_the_queen 2016-04-18 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
I don't have much of a choice.

[Ema's...offer makes her smile, though. And it's not even a cruel or otherwise weird smile, at least not completely. It still looks strange, gone in a moment, and like she's kind of forgotten how to. But it did exist! For a second!]

How generous of you.

[personal profile] theskyenceguy 2016-04-19 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
Only major jerks would let you try to repair a run down fortress with hands like those and no medical supplies with which to treat them.

[and Ema wasn't-- okay no, she was a jerk sometimes. but not that kind of jerk!]

Hey, stay right here, okay? I'll be right back.

[TIME TO GO YELL AT SOMEONE GUARDING THE MEDICAL SUPPLIES. and although Ema disappears out of sight to do so, her voice doesn't move out of hearing range. so. . . Kaede can probably hear the loud way she corners an innocent Blanc soldier who was tasked with guarding said supplies, the way he protests and insists that they are for the upcoming battle, annnnnd the way Ema cuts him off continuously with threats of chucking apples slices at his forehead]

[u go girl]
long_live_the_queen: (lookin kinda smug there)

[personal profile] long_live_the_queen 2016-04-19 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
If you insist.

[Kaede stayed resolutely in place on the piece of rubble, idly unwinding the gauze from her burnt hands. If the girl meant what she said, she'd need to remove them anyway. If not, well. The burns probably needed to breathe some.

In the meantime, Kaede kept her head slightly tilted for any further shouting. And there was plenty of it. She almost—almost!—started laughing, a rarity for Kaede. She almost never really laughed, and didn't quite this time, but she did rasp out a chuckle.

Apple slices, really.
]

[personal profile] theskyenceguy 2016-04-20 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
[REALLY. the only proper substitute for Snackoos]

[at any rate! once the yelling dies down, it only takes Ema a few minutes to return, clean bandages and proper burn cream in hand. looks like she frightened the Blanc soldier enough for him to cough up some supplies after all]

[she's grinning. something that's also a rarity for this otherwise grumpy woman]


And this is what I call a total victory!
long_live_the_queen: (guess she doesn't need a nose)

thanks inbox

[personal profile] long_live_the_queen 2016-04-21 06:28 am (UTC)(link)
You actually did it.

[She didn't sound...dismissive; amused partially, astonished secondarily, disbelieving last of all. What had Kaede done to deserve people being kind to her, even obliquely.

She didn't reach for the bandages and medicine immediately, though, still possessed of wariness she couldn't shake. That wasn't all for her, surely.
]

inboxes are hungry these days

[personal profile] theskyenceguy 2016-04-24 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[if Ema notices Kaede's wariness, she doesn't let this fact on, especially not as she approaches and crouches down in front of her fellow hero again]

Of course I did it. I hope you didn't doubt me. I can be very persuasive when I need to be.

[she begins to screw the cap off of a bottle of burn ointment]

Your hands, please.
long_live_the_queen: (lookin kinda smug there)

[personal profile] long_live_the_queen 2016-04-25 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
That's one way to describe it.

[Well, it was certainly less violent than whatever Kaede considered "gentle persuasion".

She hesitates for another wary moment—finally extending the less burnt hand of hers. The newest branding marks were obvious, angry red lines along her palms, though there were many older healed burn scars underneath them.
]

[personal profile] theskyenceguy 2016-04-26 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
[yeesh, that looked like one nasty injury. Ema applies some burn cream directly to the lines]

. . . hey, have you thought about getting heat resistant gloves? Something to protect your hands whenever you wield your weapon?
long_live_the_queen: (are you talking about my hat)

[personal profile] long_live_the_queen 2016-04-26 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[The burning pain began to give way to a cool sort of numbness, which at least smoothed away a little of her tension.]

Brought some gauntlets back from that...temple. With all the snakes in it.

[She scowled. Again. It was a displeased scowl this time.]

They're too small and I can't afford to have them modified.

[Something about magical items requiring vastly different and more skilled services]
Edited 2016-04-26 20:13 (UTC)

[personal profile] theskyenceguy 2016-04-27 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
. . . how expensive is it to get them modified?

[Ema asks idly, though she knows she can't exactly contribute any funds to the cause. she's dirt poor, for crying out loud]

I suppose buying a new pair would be even more expensive than just altering them, too.
long_live_the_queen: (slightly less of a scowl)

[personal profile] long_live_the_queen 2016-04-27 05:56 am (UTC)(link)
More than I want to bother with.

[She had priorities. Like buying her dog a nice collar.

Or keeping her axe from petulantly burning down something important. Fireproofing charms on cloth got expensive. Especially since Kaede kept breaking them nowadays.
]

[personal profile] theskyenceguy 2016-05-03 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ugh. that's too obnoxious]

Maybe you should use your power and influence as a "hero" to secure yourself a discount.

[Ema that sounds unethical]