Team Chess (Men's Team)

{if Male = true}You sit over with the other men,{else}You elect to join the men's team,{endif} while Giovanni pulls a hexagonal board from beneath the table and places it on top. Qilen simply stands up without further word, saying, "heh, guess I better observe." You look confused, but then Giovanni shrugs and says "the reason the men's team is always the dark pieces is because Aaron and I tend to make moves that result in victory. If one of us were to sit out of this game, it would basically be a guaranteed loss." Irina speaks up, "I presume you know the basic rules of the game?" You nod. "Well, we've had to make a number of changes to accommodate six players. As you can see, the board is hexagonal, which means that a rook would have rather . . . unique challenges." She continues. "Pawns keep their movement rules, while rooks can move indefinitely in any direction. Priests keep their diagonal movement, meaning that they must stay on their color - this essentially means that they adopt the movement of the old rook, traveling through space edges to do so - if two pieces are on either side of the edge, the priest may not move along that edge. The grand advisor keeps their combination of priest and rook, being able to move in any combination of either piece. The cavalier moves two in one direction and one in any new direction, keeping its ability to jump over pieces. The emperor retains their ability to move one space in any direction that the grand advisor can." You nod along, vaguely understanding the changes.

You look at the board and see three sets of light colored pieces and three sets of dark colored pieces.

(sorry for the low-resolution image; this was far easier than explaining it in words. modern chess notation for pieces incorporated, even for pieces whose names have taken an alternate path in this world)

"We've named the six armies for ease of reference. The central light army is the aasimar army, the other two light armies are the elven and Tonite armies. The central dark army is the human army, the other two dark armies are the dwarven and gnomish armies." You're seated at the elven army, and Irina, predictably is seated at the head of the aasimar army. I bet she was the reason the head of the light armies is the aasimar army. "As for why the side with the advantage is the side with elves, aasimar, and non-imperials, that would be because we win too much when we go first," Aaron pipes up. Irina shoots him a sharp look, "yes, but nothing wrong with stating things gently, Aaron." Ah, that explains that then. "Wait, but why those three?" Giovanni chuckles, "those are the three that actually give women some form of equity with men". You look across the board, where Irina is sitting next to you controlling the aasimar army, while you control the central human army. To your left sits Giovanni, controlling the dwarven army whereas to your right sits Aaron with the gnomes. Next to Aaron is Faexina, with the elves - wait, that means the elves and dwarves are opposing each other. You shake your head at the tired joke; elves and dwarves haven't actually been in opposition in centuries, even politically. Finally, Violet is sitting between Irina and Giovanni, controlling the Tonites. "Oh and one last thing. You're permitted to leave your emperor in check in this variant, as the emperor must be captured for your army to fall out from their leadership."

Irina makes the first move by moving her cavalier out in front of the two pawns in front of her emperor. Not knowing much about this variety's practicalities, you follow suit with your own cavalier. Violet moves her central pawn towards Faexina, which Aaron mirrors. Faexina and Giovanni both move their pawns between priest and advisor towards the center. Irina now quickly moves her other cavalier to barricade her pawns. Studying the board, it's very obvious what the four other players are doing: they're simultaneously freeing their advisor's movement while putting pressure on the central emperors, forcing the two central players to be defensive. Very well, you oblige them. Your cavalier joins its compatriot, forming a wall in front of your power pieces. The next move Violet makes is to move her right-most pawn further right, putting it directly in line of fire of Giovanni's neighboring pawn; Aaron responds in similar fashion. Faexina simply moves her last remaining central side pawn in front of her emperor, forming a triangle, to which Giovanni responds by capturing Violet's pawn. "Let's get the game moving, then. I know how you play, Violet - whatever you do next will be reckless, and backfire."

Irina frowns, and looks at the board. After looking it over for a moment, she says, "Violet, whatever you do next, don't take Giovanni's pawn." She then turns to look at the other side of the board, and moves her second left-most pawn in front of her left-most. You look at the board, trying to figure out why Irina did what she did. First, the situation with Giovanni's pawns. In order for Violet to capture one, Giovanni's pawn would have to advance one further, which if she were to capture it, would result in his priest being able to capture her priest without repercussion should Aaron move his pa- ah, that explains that. As for her move, you can clearly see now that Irina's priest now has an open line of fire on your priest, in the event that you move a pawn. It's also warding Aaron's advisor from threatening Faexina's emperor via the open column. Hmm, what can you do to support either of your teammates? Your pieces are currently boxed in, except the cavaliers. Nothing's urgent, which means that you have time to set something up if you need it. Your emperorside cavalier pawns are currently pinned to your priest, but your advisorside pawns could theoretically move. The outermost pawns moving further out would box in Aaron's or Giovanni's pawns, so should be reserved for an urgent move if needed, although if you start seeing any funny business from either Violet or Faexina you should probably do so anyways. You could always mirror Irina's move, to prevent her from doing the same to you with her other priest. Yeah, that seems good. So you move your rookward priest pawn towards your the outside of your area, in order to free your priest.

Violet's turn is next, and she examines the board, clearly not liking what she sees as she continuously moves her hand towards it, and then moves it back away. Eventually she simply just sighs in exasperation and moves her out and about pawn leftwards. "Check." Aaron frowns, clearly not having expected that. "Who knew? Apparently getting Vi frustrated rather than emotional actually causes her to play well. No matter, nothing I can't block on my next move. "Oh, you're really sure about that, are you, Aaron?" Huh, seems like the silent edgelady of an elf knows how to talk, after all. From mysterious woman in the corner of the inn to active participant in conversation, just like that. "Oh, quite su-" suddenly, Aaron stops talking. "Fae, are you cheating?" "Oh, I wouldn't call this cheating, just acquiring a non-traditional advantage." "Ah, is that what it is? Perhaps I should acquire a bit of advantage myself." Irina simply buries her face in her hands, "please tell me you two are not playing with each other under the table." You look over, and each only has one hand above the table; yeah, that's probably what they're doing. Aaron, still mostly having his focus, moves his other emperor's pawn to the left, interposing the threat with said pawn. That makes it Faexina's turn, who manages to steel her focus, and moves her left-most pawn forward. Giovanni simply moves his cavalier to the left, protected by his pawn, stating "check." Violet looks to Giovanni, "I hope you know you're coming to my room tonight, especially with what those across the table from us are doing. And I'm not subbing." "Oh, I know. But it'll be worth it when we win." Violet clearly isn't happy about that, but the good news is that it seems Violet is back to her emotional self. Irina looks to the board, looks at the two people next to her, and sighs, probably wishing her allies weren't so easily pulled into their opponents' traps.

After quite a bit of deliberation, Irina finally decides on a move: she moves her cavalier onto the white space, as far to the right as it can go. Your next move is simple: you just move your rook right one, to the open column. Violet quickly moves her emperor out of check, seemingly not wanting to capture Giovanni's cavalier. Aaron, on the other hand, struggles to make his move, apparently losing his focus as he lets out a slight moan; his move reflects this, simply moving his rook forward two spaces. Faexina, now moaning as well, moves her advisor out. "Check." Giovanni, however, seems to maintain his focus, as he analyzes the board. He moves his rook forward, over to Aaron's side of the board, interposing it between Aaron's emperor and Faexina's advisor. Now it's Irina's turn once more, who studies the board briefly before moving her cavalier mostly to the left, and slightly forward, ending it on a dark space. That brings it to your turn, which is simple: you move your rook forward three spaces, declaring, "check." Violet simply sighs, clearly not having a good time being teamed by you and Giovanni. She simply responds by moving her pawn forward to interpose. Now for Aaron's turn, who is still having a hard time focusing, but manages to slide his rook over, announcing "check" to Faexina, who is currently having a rather hard time keeping her moans quiet, but nevertheless interposes with her pawn, only to have Giovanni take said pawn with his priest.

Irina then follows up with moving her forward left pawn forward left further, threatening Aaron's rook. You look at the board, and notice that Violet's pawn is under threat from Giovanni's cavalier, and so almost capture it with your rook, only to notice that Violet's own cavalier is protecting said pawn. "Aww, it's a shame you hadn't taken the bait there, you likely would have been cute with your cheeks red in embarrassment." Your cheeks flush slightly anyways, however, at the flirting. "I was right, you are cute with reddened cheeks." This merely causes your cheeks to flush further. You instead move your advisorside cavalier left, in front of your pawn. Violet now ponders her next move, eventually saying, "aha." She moves her cavalier to the other side of Giovanni's pawn, stating, "Giovanni, I do believe your advisor is in danger." He briefly glances at the board, "thanks for letting me know that your own advisor can take my emperor if I move my advisor." Aaron manages to maintain a modicum of focus, and takes Faexina's furthest left pawn with his advisor, right as her back slightly arches. "You wanna know the difference between me and you, Fae?" After she regains her faculties, she asks, "huh?" "Refractory period." Her eyes widen in realization, "you wouldn't." "Yet have I stopped pushing you towards your second?" A moan comes once more from Faexina's lips, clearly answering his question. Faexina somehow manages to move, moving her emperor to the left by one space. Giovanni simply responds to the display of sexuality by moving his priest back, to the row in front of his pawns. "Check." Irina moves her cavalier forward once more, now being on the same diagonal as Violet's emperor. You respond by moving your advisor side priest's pawn to the spot where your rook had been previously. Aaron, despite his impressive endurance, loses focus once more, a moan coming from his lips once more. He simply moves his advisor next to Faexina's emperor; resulting in him announcing, "check."

Faexina now fails entirely to suppress her moans, also not finding a way out of check. Shrugging, she says interspersed with moans, "guess I'll just be as annoying to Giovanni as I can." She captures Giovanni's rook with her advisor. "By the way, check." Giovanni frowns, "I was using that." He takes Violet's cavalier using his priest. Irina frowns, clearly not liking the situation. Nevertheless, she takes Aaron's rook using her pawn. For your move, then, you move your priest out, pinning Irina's cavalier to Violet's emperor, who for her part just sighs and moves her advisor's pawn to the left. Aaron moans, and loses focus entirely, seemingly forgetting that his advisor can capture Faexina's emperor, and capture's Violet's pawn with his priest. Faexina, delighted by the sudden change, captures his advisor with her emperor, seemingly forgetting that she, too, could have captured Aaron's own emperor. Giovanni simply captures Violet's central pawn with his cavalier. Irina simply sighs, and moves her rookward emperorside priest's pawn to the right. Noticing the change, but ignoring it, you simply capture her cavalier with your priest. "Check." Violet responds by capturing Aaron's priest with her emperor. For his part, he seems to have remarkable restraint, but also doesn't have much he can do. In a rare recent moment of clarity, he captures Faexina's advisor with his cavalier. Undeterred, Faexina moves her cavalier behind his pawns. "Check." Giovanni responds by moving his advisor far forward to a dark square, announcing "check."

Irina moves her cavalier between her pawn and Giovanni's advisor, to which you respond by moving your advisor forward, hoping that Faexina is too busy focusing on not cumming to realize that she can capture it with her rook. "Check." Violet sighs, but then puts her hand to her mouth as she realizes that Giovanni made a mistake: she moves her advisor to capture his emperor. Giovanni leans over and whispers something into Violet's ear, whose cheeks go crimson, and she nods. Aaron shudders slightly, letting out a low moan, followed by him moving his emperor towards Faexina's cavalier, who then captures his pawn with said cavalier. "Check." Irina moves her priest, skewering your priest to your advisor as she announces "check", which then moves to capture Violet's emperor. At this point, Giovanni stands up, and Violet follows him out of the room. With the two players out of the game, play continues.

Looking at the board, Aaron moves his emperor left, which is met by Faexina cumming again. After recovering, she does manage to have enough focus to capture Aaron's priest; Irina simply captures your advisor. You frown, this makes her the sole player with an advisor on field, and Aaron doesn't look particularly coherent enough to promote a pawn. Guess you better start trying to do that yourself; you do have the advantage of Aaron still having most of his pawns in a row, unlike Faexina. Thus, you move start advancing your right-most pawn in front of Aaron's home row of pawns, also freeing your rook's movement. Speaking of Aaron, he moves his cavalier in front of his pawn. Faexina, in her reduced mental state, captures said cavalier with her priest. On Irina's turn, she quickly moves her advisorside priest's pawn to the right. "Check." You frown, not a whole lot you can do about that; you advance your pawn. Aaron moves his emperor forward-left, out of check, causing Faexina to move her priest forward, "check."

Irina moves her advisor forward, to the first diagonal in line with one of Aaron's pawns; you respond by capturing Faexina's priest with your own priest. Without needing to worry about getting out of check, Aaron captures Faexina's other priest with his pawn. Hmm, I wonder if there's a way I can prevent the capture of that pawn next turn? But your musing is too late, for Faexina moves immediately after Aaron, and she does have enough wit about her to capture his pawn, to which Irina responds by moving her advisor to the dark space immediately next to Aaron's emperor. "Check." You look at the board, and see one method to check your opponent. The first, is to move your left rook to the white space two in front of Faexina's emperor, giving check. Hopefully that buys Aaron the time needed to capture Irina's advisor? At the very least, it will result in both players losing their emperor. You move such, "check." Aaron, for his part, does capture Irina's advisor, leaving the board advisorless. Faexina responds by moving her emperor to the left, out of check.

Irina moves her priest out one space, threatening your rook. Well that's annoying. Now you deliberate between delivering check again or moving your rook to safety, but after you realize that Faexina could simply move to safety, you move your rook forward one space. Aaron, for his turn, moves his emperor back to where it had been, and Faexina moves her rook forward. "Check." Irina now activates her right rook, moving it one space, to which you respond by moving your cavalier forward-right; Aaron simply captures Faexina's cavalier. Cumming again, Faexina afterwards does, to her credit, capture your rook - it would seem you forgot about diagonal movement. "Any chance we could surrender?" you ask. "So long as Aaron agrees," Irina responds. You look to Aaron, who nods. Thus, the game goes to the women, likely because of sexcapades.

Faexina and Aaron leave the table, going off to somewhere else, likely to finish what they started. "I suspect that those four will be busy for some time, and I have no idea where Qilen has gone off to. Would you like to help me fix dinner?" You nod, and follow her to the kitchen. "First, though, because it's not good to cook on an empty stomach, let's each have a slice of cake." You and she eat a slice of the whole chocolate cake each, taking the next ten minutes to enjoy said slices.

Author's note: seeing as there is currently only planned to be one male and one bigender character, and their paths separate after this chapter before remerging at the polycule dinner chapter, this is as far as this branch goes until version 0.3 is complete, unless the writer for the paladin gets to the point where they're ready before then, in which case the earliest sub-version in which this branch could continue is 0.1.