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]

[Careful, cautious. That's how he appears to her: a man who thinks in battle, better cool than hot. She could relate, being of the same type. This feels more like a game of chess then not.

But while it feels as if that opening is merely a trap, Caren takes it anyway. A backhand swing, meaning to kiss him in the ribs, perhaps slither over his calf. She could not be certain if the hit would happen but...such as it was with risk.]

[praises]

[ In a controlled environment, there is nothing if not the ability to push the boundary here and there. Or as controlled as it can be, with a complete stranger on the opposite end of a weapon poised for him. Allelujah meets the attack with a swift duck, the whisper of the leather loud as it sails past him. A risk for a risk, this time — only half of him is so cool and rational, prone to thinking. Go, Allelujah. — is what the other half says.

Using his crouched stance as an anchor point, he pushes off and starts at her, pooling weight into his shield arm. It's a blunt tactic for a blunt weapon, dependent on if he can get by the length and speed of the whip. ]

[showsnopiety]

[With a stranger, it may not be very controlled at all. Risk is taken, and she has little in the way to defend herself.

But then, she never had it, with the whip; its primary means of defence was offence. So that, ultimately, is what she has to do. For she would not be able to whip him in time, even enough for him to back off. The length is too much. But the handle...

Caren turns it about, and just as he's charging her with his shield, she makes to slam the handle down, onto his thigh. She fully expects to go flying, to fall and hurt. But that's all right. She's used to this. A few hurts go a long way for a practice session. ]

[praises]

[ He instantly realizes he's managed to gain the upper hand by bypassing the time it takes for the whip to fully execute an attack. Instead of using the breadth of the weapon to bodily greet her, his shield arm defers at the last second. His other arm rises, baring the flat of it to come against her downward swing. It stalls them both there, with him lunged beneath the curvature of how she'd intended to attack him.

A breath comes and goes, and Allelujah pushes her off with his arm, arcing the shield at her legs. There is time to move, and more than that, a rhythm, should she choose to accept it. ]

[showsnopiety]

[It's a near thing, and she knows it. There's a moment, no more than a breath where they're pressed together in the stall. Then it shifts.

There's enough time to see it coming for her to move out of the way by a step or two. Not enough for her to use her whip again in the ways she's familiar with.

Instead, her foot comes up to a sweeping kick at his torso, as if to knock him off balance with her heel. This may or not be the intended rhythm, but something seems to click-what, exactly, she can't articulate.]

[praises]

[ Lifting his shield against his side, her hit sweeps and connect high and solid with its surface, forcing him aside. It resonates through the metal, through bone. Allelujah circles in the direction she'd put him at, gaze bright over the edge of the weapon, drawing back a measure. He fights as though he could harm easily, should the circumstances be slightly different, but mindfully collars that instinct. Whether or not it's just for the sake of the exercise isn't clear.

Distance is on her side again as the ball of his foot slips back, the other anchoring. ]

[showsnopiety]

[She can feel it go through her foot, vibrating through her body. Her eyes are bright but focused, as she circles opposite, letting the gap between them. He could harm her easily, but so could she.

He might be going for another rush, and she might let him, if she's generous. But not so easily. Seeing a moment of opportunity, her arm draws back to crack him with the whip-not once, but twice, in the X formation across his body she had been drilling in before.]

[praises]

[ He senses it in that moment, the whisper of potential that makes the hair on the back his neck stand up. Once, the whip cracks, then twice, and the speed needed to alter to a purely defensive stance in the face of it leaves him immobile. Caren's first strike crosses his shield, then the second forces him to step back to take advantage of the lag. Hits like that toll through him. Like bells, the attacks reverberate in the air, ringing loud and chilly.

Not wanting to chance being at the mercy of her reach, he doesn't cast the safety of the shield aside to attempt another defensive rush. He'll stay on the outskirts of that weapon's slither for a moment longer. ]

[showsnopiety]

[It's loud, over the sound of their breathing. The chimes almost remind her of home, in the strangest of ways.

But she doesn't let up. As he backs up, she presses forward, her whip moving to strike his shield again, his shoulder, before her arm moves back, golden eyes still on his person.]

Do you yield this round?

[It wouldn't be a bad idea, she thinks. The whip is a 'light' weapon compared to some, but his arm may still a quick check over.]

[praises]

[ It's not the weapon's fault. He's felt like this before, in the absence of his other. This time, it's just the static of a Pawn's mana coming down between him and how he's used to fighting. A whipcrack across his deltoid muscle is proof enough of that, forcing a pulse of shock through his system. She poses the question, and his stance breaks. ]

I yield.

[ A normal person might have had the skin shear beneath it, but he simply bears the ugly mark of a future bruise. ]

[showsnopiety]

[She nods once, sharply, before she tucks the whips length against her arm, and underneath it to free her grip. And that is her cue to move forward, the steely look in her eyes replaced with concern.]

Good. But I apologize-it wasn't my intention to hit so soundly.

[It's a practice round, and bruises happen, but the last snap had been rather...well.]

Are you all right?

[praises]

It's all right. I wouldn't have agreed if I wasn't prepared for it.

[ Lowering his shield arm, he glances over at the angry welt reddening on his arm, expression mild, all things considered. ]

You're quite good.

[showsnopiety]

[She nods, glancing over the welt reddening on his arm. Well then.]

You're better. I've a little experience with long range weapons, so you can say I had an advantage.

[praises]

A decent match, then. I'm still adjusting to the concept of mana and how it affects perception. Melee isn't new to me, but you could say I'm more used to vehicle-based combat.

[ He inclines his head to her regardless. ]

[showsnopiety]

[She nods once. Then pauses, and inclines her head, more grave this time.]

I see. A very well balanced match then. Though I find myself curious as to what vehicle-based combat entails.

Perhaps we can discuss it while walking to the infirmary?

[praises]

I'm afraid I can't discuss in any more detail than that, but you can think of it as being a pilot, if you'd like.

[ The truth, if not a vague one. He tempers the brevity with a smile. ]

And the infirmary isn't really necessary. Some ice will do fine.

[showsnopiety]

That's fair.

[She tips her head with a faint smile.]

But ice...I haven't figured out how to do an ice spell so-either we can part, or I can see about grabbing a few cubes from the kitchen?

[praises]

Neither have I, but I'll manage from here. Thank you for the spar, miss.

[ Really, it's a welcome and familiar set of motions, even if he comes away with a few lashes for it. Then, as if a thought occurs to him — ]

Because I forgot to mention it, I'm Allelujah.

[showsnopiety]

You're quite welcome.

[It's helped making her more comfortable in using her weapon. At least, if it comes to a whip. Pity she didn't get one of those.

Ah, right.]

As did I. Caren Ortensia. May we fight well in the future.