pawnstorm | intro ♚ may

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intro ♚ may

WELCOME TO Caissa

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.

WARNING: Contains death and related graphic descriptions.

ONE ♟ P.S. I Love You

It's a perfectly ordinary morning in Caissa. Enprise’s two suns peer over the horizon and smack into your face through the large bay window. At half past six in the morning, the floor nanny’s built-in alarm goes off and plays Prime Minister Teddy’s hit song Love Me Like Your Doughnuts. Once everyone in their rooms is up and awake, this mechanical pigeon announces that letters and small packages have been delivered to every Hero’s personal box in the mailroom. Yes, even you, Naked Newcomer! These letters are from the Heroes’ many fans all over Blanc. No matter who you are, there are small tokens of appreciation attached to the letters: these may include candies shaped like stars, chocolates with a surprise gooey center, or even a can of rainbow beans for those not fond of sweets.

Letters for veteran Heroes are full of praise and gratitude for the success of the naval battle at Graupera. New Heroes receive mail that express support towards their future endeavors as the Blanc military’s most formidable task force. That’s not all the letters contain, however; the citizens also plead for our Heroes’ help with new problems that have arisen in the fields surrounding Caissa. However, the details the letters provide are scant and vague. The fans seem more concerned with recent damage caused by some unknown entity. There is a 15-page narrative of how a man built this beautiful house for his lovely, sweet wife who did nothing wrong, but nothing about why the house is in shambles now. A market on the outskirts of Caissa lost 30,000 colle’s worth of food, but the writer neglects to explain what happened to the food. All you know is that this person stayed up all week taking inventory and now it has gone to waste.

Sharing letters with each other might give you a clue on where to start your investigations and figure out which areas were hit the hardest. Or you can talk about how cute your adoring fans are. One way or another, you’ll have to get tongues wagging to make any progress. Unfortunately, Blanc isn’t going to save itself and from the sound of it, this problem is bigger than expected...

TWO ♟ Distant Howling

After pooling information, the new objective is clear: to investigate the damages. The vast, vibrant fields around Caissa seem a good place to start. They are mostly empty, but here or there you will see some people from nearby smaller villages and farms. The villagers will admit to having seen threatening shadows move over the fields and having heard harsh, high-pitched howling. They are willing to point Heroes toward possible shadow sightings, but are otherwise reluctant to act as guides. They are simple townsfolk who wish to return to their quiet lifestyle.

You may come up with small settlements (e.g. villages, farms, inns, taverns, etc.) as they are considered minor locations.

Heroes will soon discover that some of the smaller villages have been burned down entirely. The smell of ash and charred wood is thick in the air, though some buildings are also smashed as as though by something large and heavy. Nearby trees which haven’t been uprooted or knocked over are scorched and their blackened branches crackle ominously in the breeze. There are large marks dug deep into the ground and—is that a cow? Heroes will find tagged fruit cows scattered everywhere, scared, confused and mooing sadly next to their dead fruit cow friends. Fruit cows are usually found in Gresser, how strange...

A couple of days’ worth of exploration may help you realize that whatever is terrorizing Blanc doesn’t only devour hapless animals. While trying to navigate the numerous backcountry roads and farmlands, Heroes may stumble upon some gruesome clues: a charred limb—or what’s left of it; teeth, half-eaten ribcages, melted jewelry, and other smaller bits; the less fortunate may actually trip over a corpse staring unseeingly into the sky. It has been gutted, half-roasted, and seems to have lain in the sun for some time; and if someone is brave enough to roll the body onto its stomach, they may discover claw marks on its back. The victim must have tried to flee from something.

The amount of damage grows the more our Heroes travel south. What could be awaiting them?

THREE ♟ Breath of Fire

Let’s put the clues together. Fire? Check. Claw marks? Check. Large shadows seemingly from something flying overhead? Check and check. Congratulations, Blanc, you are suffering from a dragon plague.

It will take several days for the Heroes to locate the source of the rumors. The dragons seem to have taken up residence in the hilly area near Caissa, where the slopes grow steeper and then drop suddenly off into cliffs. The beasts are quite willing to greet guests warmly: there’s nothing like a burst of dragonfire and a deafening screech to brighten your day.

The only warning you’ll get before they launch themselves into the air and at Heroes is the sound of trees bursting beneath their claws. Beware: a single swipe can cause some serious damage and their fire breath, fast, frequent and garnished with the occasional, boiling hot drop of saliva, is nothing you want to stick around for. The dragons cannot be reasoned with, nor can they be tamed. A queen’s Charm magic WILL NOT work. Should someone try and reach out with their senses to see if the dragons are somehow hurting, they will only feel something alien and terrible.

Heroes aren't the only ones suffering under the dragons’ claws, unfortunately. Scattered around the area are a few small and isolated farms, and the animals and the farmers are easy prey and unlikely to flee in time. Heroes will want to intervene before the dragons can devour and destroy. If they are too late, they will need to provide support. Put out fires, heal the injured, catch panicked cows before they become pot roast! The dragons might be coming around for another attack, so it would be a good time to test barriers and other damage control skills.

To make matters worse, Blanc’s weather has decided that now is the perfect time for a hailstorm. It’s barely anything at first, beginning with small kernels the size of corn here and there to wet the grass and ruin your footing. Then it becomes much larger and greater in number. Dragons are not exempt from this hailhole: large enough pieces may rip holes in their wings! Heroes may want to use this to their advantage; additionally, casting ice and wind spells will suddenly become a lot easier, and the dragons will struggle to navigate in the stormy weather, forcing them to land more often. Better get up on that dragon’s back!

In the end, survivors of the dragon horde let out one last, collective shriek before they turn southward. The battle has been won, but the war is just beginning: the dragons have only been chased away. Their nest seems to be elsewhere and that is a worrying prospect. Dragons aren’t native to Blanc, which can only mean one thing…

Meanwhile, a new job opening has appeared at Gresser. At least you finally know what to do with all those fruit cows.

INFO ♟ Welcome!

Welcome to Crosscheck's May intro log! For any further questions, please see the FAQ or reach us at the Contact Us page. Have fun!

Also by request, here are some Player Endorsements that may be of interest!

Heaven's Feel: Looking for something else to do? In the mood for more light-hearted mingling? Check out Heaven’s Feel, Caissa’s first heroic matchmaking service! Opening week is going on now.

Training Notice: This training notice is located on the bulletin board. You might want to take a look.

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[ The second throw makes it more obvious she's a novice. This doesn't necessarily make things more difficult, Sasuke has done his share of protecting civilians and youth while simultaneously staying alive. It only means he has to change his tactics slightly, to account for her inexperience.

This isn't the first time he's missed his dojutsu since his arrival in this country, which is part of the reason his brow creases so severely.

She may not have the skill yet, but her weapons work. The minimal barrier, or whatever magic it does, seems to confuse the dragon. It throws it's head again, blood streaming down the side of it's face. Sasuke has effectively created a permanent blind spot with his knife, and combined with the girl's chakram attack, they may have a chance of just driving it off.

Anyone else might have encouraged her to hide, or to run. Sasuke draws his chokuto from his hip to replace the knife he lost, and charges forward after shouting: ]

Throw again!

[ She's silently grateful that he accepts her help without question, even with her inexperience... a part of her was resigned to the possibility that he would turn her away, since she would only get in his way. But she wants to help... even if it isn't much, she doesn't want to be useless here!

So she's quick to follow his instructions, using all her strength in her next throw, which... she misses again... but now that their ability is active, her chakrams are returning to her no matter how wild her aim is. So she throws the other one, and this one glances off the dragon's side, adding some more power to the repulsion.

Which, by the way, only repels things away from her and not Sasuke... sorry, bud... but she has a feeling that she's mainly running distraction here, and for the most part it's working.

Maybe a little too well—the dragon lunges for her, its jaws snapping, but the repulsive force from her chakrams slow it down, and she manages to jump out of the way before she's... eaten. ]

[ Sasuke's hope at driving the dragon away dwindles some as the dragon turns it's attention away from him and goes for the girl. It's an unfortunate turn of events, but there's only so much they can do in this situation, and if the dragon won't surrender they'll just have to kill it. In the seconds it takes the dragon to bypass him and reach, jaws snapping, for the girl, Sasuke swings his blade up and cuts across the under side of the beast's throat.

He can assume that, generally, the anatomy of this thing is likely not much different from a lizard. Those scales are a good defense, and Sasuke knows he doesn't slice an artery because the blood that spills isn't as fast and dark as it should be. It does, however, slow the dragon down.

Once more, he puts himself between the monster and the girl. The repelling force may be linked to her, but he can use it to his advantage. This time, when the dragon lunges desperately, the slight drag created by her magic gives Sasuke the time to shove his chokuto into it's open maw, where he drives the roof of the blade through the dragon's mouth into soft tissue. ]

[ A-Ah... Sakura is used to seeing blood and gore, but as a healer, she's more exposed to the aftermath of battle than watching it happen in real time, let alone so close... she's been on her fair share of battlefields, but somehow it still isn't much easier to watch.

For a second, as the man drives his blade home—twice—she finds herself frozen in place, watching with wide eyes. The poor dragon... even though it tried to make her dinner just a second ago, she can't help but hate watching it suffer... but they have to protect this family, because she doesn't want them to suffer either. (She really is too soft-hearted, isn't she?)

Her chakrams zip back towards her, swinging into a steady orbit around her body, reminding her that she needs to keep paying attention. The dragon, half-blind and wounded, flails around erratically—she has to jump out of the way again and run out of its range, finally of the mind to put herself between the dragon and the fleeing evacuees. She glances behind her, towards them, and is relieved to see that they're very far away by now. At least... the two of them succeeded in that.

Well... he succeeded, mostly. As she expected, she didn't really do much... he took care of everything, and he made it look so easy! She throws one of her chakrams to help, but her heart really isn't in it. Do... do they have to k-kill it...? ]

[ The more difficult part of this is, having only one arm, Sasuke can do little to steady himself against the brute strength of the dragon. It's wings beat haphazardly, wounded neck wrenching in a last ditch effort to shake Sasuke off. The thrashing does little but exasperate it's condition, and Sasuke does his best to keep a hold on his blade and not be flung wide. It tries to close it's mouth on him, but in shifting his grip, it only wedges his chokuto in it's mouth and impales the beast fatally.

Sasuke doesn't get out of it without injury. He releases his weapon as the dragon falls, but his mouth twists in an open expression of pain. Striking a killing blow without being bolstered by chakra means one of those massive teeth cut through part of his arm. He's certainly had worse, but it's left his sleeve torn and bloody— with his own blood and the dragon's.

He straightens, looking over his shoulder at the girl and the family through the curtain of his hair. Seeing they're both safe, he closes his eyes and sighs, then turns away to retrieve his blade from the dragon's mouth. ]

[ Ah... well... bye, dragon...

More importantly, she notices the pained look on the older man's face and the tear on his sleeve. As the dragon falls, she runs towards him, her chakrams orbiting around her and gently shedding cherry blossom petals. There's a thin trail of them on the ground behind her as she approaches him, concern written all over her features. ]

Are you all right?

[ She reaches towards him without thinking, but her chakrams are still floating around in the way—she still has to get used to these things! Clumsily, she grabs them from the air, then tucks them back into the belt on her uniform, looking embarrassed. ]

U-Um... I can help... [ She's actually qualified for this! She might be used to healing with magic, but she knows more practical healing as well. ]

[ He doesn't look to her at first, busy using his foot to push the dragon's slack jaw wide enough that he can reach into it's mouth and start unsticking his weapon from the roof of it's mouth. He's crouched down when she gets to him, which is how his gaze goes past her completely to the trail of cherry blossoms she leaves behind. He doesn't smirk, but the sight of them eases the impassive expression on his face into something softer when he tilts his head to look her in the face.

Even now, he's not the most approachable individual. It seems his default expression is generally "scary", even if it isn't on purpose. Regarding her a moment, he glances back at his arm. It hurts, of course, but Sasuke has had worse. Nevertheless, he didn't plan on turning back so early, and if she has some skill to offer he isn't going to turn her away.

Standing again, Sasuke drives the tip of his blade into the earth so it stands straight up next to him. He'll have to wipe it down before putting it away, but he has to concentrate on one thing at a time and admittedly, his wound is more important. He offers his injured arm to her. ]

[ He's not very approachable and she's easily intimidated... this is a great combination. In fact, she starts to look a little nervous the longer he goes without saying anything, her gaze darting back and forth between him and the dragon. He doesn't... talk much... does he. She can't really read his expression either... he's so serious! U-Um... what should she do? He's just looking at her...

Then he extends his arm to her, and a look of relief washes over her face. She seriously thought he was going to refuse or something! ]

U-Um! [ All right... she steps closer, gently grasping his arm so that she can get a better look at the wound. It's long and wide, because of the dragon's large teeth, but... it doesn't look too deep. A healer will have to close it up as soon as possible, but she should definitely wrap it in the meantime to stop the bleeding. If only she could still use staves... ]

Um... C-Can I...? [ She gestures towards his ripped sleeve... that's the best option she can come up with for a dressing at the moment, unless he wants her to take off her stockings... in any case, she doesn't want to just start ripping his clothes off without permission. ]

[ It's strange, in a way, for someone so small and so young to be looking out for him. Sasuke has, for the most part, been looking after himself since he'd left Konoha the second time. He's far from helpless, but traveling alone, he'd have certain luxuries the ninja world offered him that he doesn't have here. Medicine, for one. Chakra boosts, that would speed his healing.

Watching her look over the injury on his arm makes him think of a younger version of his wife, though she's far more tentative than Sakura had ever been. Sasuke hadn't been there for her transformation from slightly useless team mate to powerful medic. Healing was always a necessity for Sasuke, not a priority like it was for her, or Karin. ]

It's fine.

[ He finally says, as she gestures to his sleeve. Undoubtedly they can give him another uniform when they get back, and regardless, he isn't using that sleeve for anything else. ]

[ She still hesitates a little even with his permission, but that's just her nature—as she starts tearing off his sleeve and carefully turning it into a long strip, though, her expression is focused, her eyebrows knit together in concentration. This is, perhaps, the only thing she can do that she has confidence in... healing and helping others is her self-proclaimed purpose, so it would be pretty bad if she wasn't decent at it, wouldn't it?

Her expertise is reflected in the attentive way she cleans and wraps up the cut, each loop of fabric even and straight. When she's finished, she steps away and gives him a fleeting, tentative smile. ]

Um... there. [ Then she wrings her hands, looking like she's about to say something else... it's coming... she'll definitely get it out eventually... he's just so intimidating...! ]

Th-Thank you! [ There it is. ] For helping me... I-I'm really grateful. [ She would've been toast otherwise, and she knows it. ]

[ Sasuke is glad his hunch isn't misplaced. It rarely is, but watching the deft movement of her fingers and the focused crease of her brow makes it clear where her expertise lies. The chakram might be new, and the killing of opponents, but she'd been brought here for a reason and Sasuke has no doubt her ability as a medic is one of them. He lowers his arm after she's done, and waits for her to stutter out her thanks (maybe she's more like Naruto's wife than his own) before speaking. ]

Don't worry about it. [ His gaze goes over her head to the family nervously skirting the corpse of the dragon and looking hopefully back at their miraculously untouched house. ] You should all find a safer place to stay for the time being.

[ That sounds more like an order than a request, and after some nervous 'thank yous' and mumbling about collecting some of their things, the family rushes back to their home. Sasuke watches them disappear over the threshold before looking back at the girl. ]

Who are you out here with?

[ She's quiet, still wordlessly fretting about the injury on his arm, as the family gathers their things and hustles off. He said not to worry about it—but still! He was hurt because of her... maybe this kind of thing is normal to him—judging by his skill, he has to be some kind of fighter or soldier—but it's consuming her with guilt... she'll have to make it up to him someday. ]

U-Um... [ She looks a little startled by the question, mostly because she suddenly has his full attention directed at her again, and nervously knots her hands together in front of her. Will she ever not be intimidated by him... ]

I-I'm not out here with anyone... I was just t-trying to help everyone evacuate...

[ She sounds a little ashamed for getting herself into trouble... but she just wanted to help the people left behind. She hadn't known that there was still a dragon lingering behind! ]

[ The look he gives her is appraising as she answers. Sasuke can't decide if it's foolish or simply naivety on her part, to be out here on her own. For Sasuke it was one thing: he was a skilled fighter, and even without his chakra could fend for himself unless cornered. These dragons were dangerous, but slow, and while he wouldn't be able to take on more than one at a time, single combat was possible&mdahs; just difficult.

He also had a weapon he could use effectively on top of his mask, which was not something she seemed to be able to do at this point. ]

I'll stay with you for now, then.

[ It'd be a waste of a hero if she accidentally got herself killed, after all. ]

[ Of all the replies she'd been expecting... maybe some admonishment for being caught unawares and unprepared, or maybe an order to return to the city... even disparagement for her lack of skill in a fight.

But this wasn't it. ]

H-Huh? [ She looks surprised, her eyebrows lifting under the curtain of her bangs. Wouldn't she just slow him down? Besides, there are other dragons out there that will need to be fought by capable fighters—people like him. Shouldn't he be on the front lines like the rest? Maybe he's just taking pity on her... ]

Y-You don't have to do that! [ She looks surprised... again... but this time by her own outburst, an expression that quickly transforms into a guilty one, and she looks away anxiously. ] That is... I-I don't want to trouble you.

[ He watches her evenly as she stutters and nervously glances away. It's strange to think he had been this age, once. That the people he had known were this anxious about their own worth. Even Hinata, now, is grounded in her convictions. It takes time. For the briefest moment, he entertains what this girl might grow in to, even just during her time here. ]

Let's go. [ He turns to step past her, walking toward the house so they can move further down the road. ] Try to keep up.

[ A-Ah... did he... hear her at all... ]

U-Um... [ She just stands there and stares at him as he walks away, blinking in confusion at the direction this conversation took. Is this just his strange, roundabout way of denying her protests? It must be... she can't say that she isn't a little grateful, though, because she definitely feels better about having someone as skilled as he is to keep her company in such a dangerous area, but...

Well, at least this way she can make sure he gets to a healer? (Not to mention that it's been ingrained in her from a young age to listen to her elders.) After a moment of hesitation, she rushes to catch up to him, jogging a little until she falls into step at his side. ]

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intro ♚ may

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Local Princess Horrified to Discover Cold-blooded Killer Disguised as Fashion Disaster

(ὀ _ ὀ｡)

(*´꒳`*)ノ❀(ὀ _ ὀ｡)

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❀(◍•ᴗ•◍) (u _ u｡)❀

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(´꒳`)ノ❀(ὀ _ ὀ｡)

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