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

3c

[powerdriven]

[ Although he has come here to train, he is neither interrupting nor spying, for Caren's information. Back in Caissa's Hall, they had to learn to share their space as well, and this is no exception. Inasmuch, Levi would be content to sequester himself across the room were she inclined to let him get there first.

Though briskly passing behind her dummy, it seems he doesn't take kindly to the attitude and would continue on his way with or without her permission. ]

Who's watching?

[ With the swords holstered on his belt and the rifle hung over his shoulder by its strap, it should be clear enough what he's busying himself with instead. Nevertheless, rather than jump straight into action, he first begins to arrange the scenery to his liking: targets at different distances, a few found liquor bottles strewn on the floor set upright. The Blanc Captain's, no doubt. ]

[showsnopiety]

You were, a few moments ago.

[Her eyes follow him, golden and lively with curiosity. This is...different from what she new. Swords and gun, together? Most people she had met had only one weapon, not two. That was different. Well, there had been Sion, but he was a brat and he confessed that his was for support.

Her gaze went to his uniform, looking for signs of his rank. No sign of a pawn there. Huh. Seemed that there was some perks to all of this. But...

Caren's eyes narrowed in consideration, and she turned, following him as he set up the dummies and bottles. ]

...would you like a moving version better?

[Her tone has completely changed, and she's watching him. She's serious. She's totally fine with someone shooting at her.]

[powerdriven]

[ If watching and briefly casting his eyes over were the same thing... then, yes. Sure. He doesn't raise any fuss, regardless, and since he'd not bothered to stop back in his quarters to unload, the pin attached to the collar of his jacket remains for her scrutiny, emblazoned by the horse-headed knight piece. The swords, actually, could be considered another part of not making any pitstops. It wasn't particularly useful to train with real blades unless he intended to fix up the ship's dummies when he was finished. One can see where the thoughts of wasted time have already died.

The rifle, on the other hand, is newer. Some of its projectiles manage to serve another purpose than simply tearing through flesh and organ. Targets like these bottles... they would do the trick, if he set them up somewhere more atypical.

He's in the process of doing that when her presence beside him, something he's already aware of, becomes disturbing. His dull eyes narrow. ]

That's not funny.

[ ...of course, he hadn't yet experienced the inability of heroes to remain dead. It isn't as though she knows these bullets are magical blanks. ]

[showsnopiety]

I'm not joking.

[She peers at him, golden eyes on his duller brown. A knight, she didn't know what their specialties were but...it was a rank up. And it did not, she think, have the abilities of Kings, who were healers, which she knew directly from Sion being an annoying busy body.

Still. She made a small gesture, still a small, small pawn. She didn't know about the coming back from the dead deal either.]

If you're not used to using the rifles, that's one thing. But there's also a difference between a moving target and a motionless one.

[She made a small gesture.]

And it could make the difference between your life and the life of your allies.

[powerdriven]

[ Then she's aware of the danger she's inviting already. Her serious expression may already have said as much, but Levi didn't think to invest his trust in the face of a stranger's morbid jokes. Not until now. Though he doesn't let it stop him in his tracks just yet, steps back to find himself a suitable place to take aim and cradles the rifle loosely, one hand beneath the guard.

His behavior is lackadaisical, at the moment—though given his care not to touch the barrel, to keep his finger outside the trigger guard, his knowledge of the weapon is overt. Therefore she can see for herself, if she's familiar enough to know, that it isn't that he's not used to them. It simply makes him no more interested in moving the scope. ]

I'm not practicing my aim.

[ Never mind the dozens of reasons he could list off for why he wouldn't use her as a target. ]

You were called to arms in Blanc as a 'hero,' weren't you?

[showsnopiety]

[She moves around until she is standing behind him, out of the way of his sight, and out of the way so she won't accidently get in the way of the kickback. He's got a confident grip, reminding her of hunter she had seen in the church. They came in all types. For her, it marked him as a hunter. No, he was likely a professional killer.

The title of mercenary, soldier and the like only spoke of his motivations for doing so.

She dips her head once, acknowledging that he might be practicing for something else. But his question...]

I woke up naked in a bed, like most people. I suppose by that criteria, I was called.

[She doesn't feel like a 'hero', noble and just. She feels the same, even if the uniform is far too white for fighting.]

[powerdriven]

[ That's a broad assumption to make. He tries not to judge people in ways that don't personally affect him. Granted, the reason he brings up coming here as Blanc's heroes, insincere emphasis on heroes purposeful, is because that does give everyone who came here under that premise one thread of connection. Several, depending on their priorities.

Her answer fulfills his expectations. Where he's concerned it makes her his comrade like anybody else. ]

If I'm acting for my future allies, it seems like shooting myself in the foot to kill them during target practice.

[ In short, it isn't in his best interest, or theirs. But he wasn't lying about not practicing his aim. Not entirely. Frankly, his confidence in that isn't in any uncertain state even if he never allows himself not to consider the conditions that he might fail.

When he pulls the trigger, he hits one of the bottle straight on. As should be expected, it shatters to pieces—but more importantly, the ammunition emits a glow. The shards come almost to a stop, Levi's brow tense in concentration, and then scatter from the scene with lurching slowness. Eventually, they come to rest where they should naturally have been expelled to, and Levi lets out a breath. ]

[showsnopiety]

I may not die.

[Her shoulders lift in a shrug, but she doesn't force it on him. She doesn't have a death wish; merely a way to tease him and make herself useful, one way or the other.

She instead watches quietly as he aims, and fries. That...spell is not one she's encountered. But the theory is one she can understand at least, and her eyes narrow in thought. That...would be useful, even if it was a glancing blow.

But...her eyes went to Levi's back. How much mama did it consume? That is the question.]

[powerdriven]

[ Actually, she definitely won't. But again, she's not filled in on what he's got loaded in this thing; it doesn't look any different from a regular rifle around these parts, and he can load regular bullets into it just fine as well. Was this... a slowed down status effect?

...He still hasn't even seen everything it has yet to offer, so he shakes his head a little at that and a little at Caren. ]

Why chance it?

[ The price, as it turns out, is slightly more than if he were firing any non-magical ammunition—that's not an issue right now when he's not expending anything else. As for the part he needs to practice, it's the needed concentration. As she may or may not know, there's something like an acclimation period for magical weapons. ]

[showsnopiety]

[It's interesting. He might be an interesting companion for war or dungeon. But she wouldn't put it past him to refuse because he thought she wanted to die.

Or simply because she was foolish.]

It's exposure in an controlled environment. I also know a healer, if I am not killed outright.

[There's a slight change of expression, which could be taken as disgust or annoyance.]

I may be used as practice.

[He does it anyway, might as well make him work for it for once. It'll give him something to do in between being a complete bother.]