After our preparation in the first part we move into the first front where we define our preparations made to deal with the Kaiju and the final showdown with the creature when the Rift opens.

Front 1 - The Blockade

The past year has been hard. Engineers barely slept as they built the Mechs. Pilots spent countless hours in training, scientists studied the Rift with every possible sensor. We prepared the Blockade, the emergency shelters and the warning systems. We’ve pushed as if every day was our last, because it very well could have been.

The wailing sirens mean the day has come, and the Rift is open again. We have no idea when they will arrive, but it’s inevitable now. The Kaiju are coming.

We need to keep them within the Blockade and away from the cities. We need to stop them before they reach our homes.

It’s time to show what your Mech can do, Pilot. Good luck.

We start by drawing out our starting upgrade from the playbook. As you could see from the pictures in the previous post, the one for the Consul playbook is the Nexus.

The Nexus help us when we make preparation moves to Unite the Nations. I envision the Republic of Dhar building a satellite to monitor, stream and transmit information from orbit. I picture how this satellite has broken frontiers and has shared information across borders and publicly with the population when possible, Kleya’s Station effectiveness is still recent in the memories of the people of Dhar. That kind of intelligence sharing gives the world a better chance to fight the Kaiju when the Rift opens.

Then we answer a few defining questions that will help us flesh out a bit more how things might play out when preparing for our fight:

Who is your Home’s closest ally or sworn enemy? The Nisha Peoples are very close to The Republic and their ties have grown stronger since the Kaiju attacked.

How did your home helped create the Blockade?: They created The Net, a sensor threat alarm with mines that can be remotely activated.

What is the entrance to the Rift?: A shimmering Aetheric portal

Preparation moves

Unite the nations

Boon dice: 6, 4 (+1 die per Nexus)
Result: boon die gained

There is a summit between the four nations to work together in the blockade. Permission to expand The Net over the maritime area of the Kingdom of Thea and Hiberia is granted after negotiations and the agreement to share intel.

Where is the summit? Maybe this is held on the Kingdom of Thea as a neutral territory. Maybe this is an opportunity to portray the differences between the four nations.

How does the Nexus help with the negotiations? The Nexus is a powerful tool, maybe having the Kingdom of Thea and Hiberia as partners helps to keep the dissent down while also being able to get their eyes into some intelligence. Maybe they censor some of the information that is streamed from the Nexus so it is not that useful as an influence tool for Dhar.

---

The doors of Thelon, the capital of the Kingdom of Thea, open to the visitors. Isha looks with her eyes wide open from the hover limousine as she enters the city. Tall walls built from old renovated white marble, decorated with bronze and silver figures and inscriptions, and no doubt kept spotless for the occasion. This would be seen as a complete waste in The Republic and part of her feels uneasy in contempt and disgust when thinking how many people had to work in this when they wouldn’t be able to repair their leaky roofs or be able to afford rent. The other part of her was impressed and satisfied they had put all this effort for the occasion. She had the opportunity to have some leisurely aesthetic views before what was going to be a fun few days of negotiations with rooms full of people who hated her and what she represented. She didn’t have many moments of that over the last year, it was all a blur, and even if she would not change Thelon for Marada it was good to have a break.

They went into the palace and there she met with her team and other representatives. A bunch of well dressed servers passed drinks and food. She didn’t take any of the drinks but the food was exquisite, although a bit pretentious. All that fanciness could not beat the fried spicy squid stall down the corner just after leaving her flat in Marada. In the reception she clocked the faces, the gentle but hardened Nisha group, a bit displaced and perplexed, maybe also a little bit disgusted by the ostentatious display but they hid it well, she could only notice because she had been in their shoes before. She eyed the Hiberia reps, altive, wearing expensive suits, polite but looking down on the Nisha. They were going to be a pain to deal with, but the real demands would be coming from Thea. The Kings chief councillor, a tall bald man with no facial hair nodded and smiled faintly at her. Those were the dangerous ones.

After the reception and eating the hard work began. They were received on a room full of ebony furniture, no electronic devices were allowed and they were back to pen and paper. Vintage and retro, these guys were old school, but she already knew that, and that they didn’t particularly like the Republic’s interest in new toys, specially the ones that take out all their dirty little secrets.

The negotiation was intense and took four days, but it was done now. It had involved calling back to Central a couple of times to see how far they could go with the concessions. Of course Thea wanted to get control of the Nexus and in the end it was agreed every nation would have veto rights over what was streamed from the Nexus and to whom, but in the event of Kaiju or activity in the Rift space communications would not be jammed and they would feed information to the satellite. Once Thea agreed, Hiberia moved in line to not be left behind but they would certainly be the first ones to break the agreement at the first opportunity.

The other positive news was that they had gotten the green light to expand The Net to the whole blockade. They would have to share their design for the mines and hand over complete control of the sections of the blockade to Hiberia and Thea, which would piss off more than one in engineering and had also pissed off a few in Central but in the end you do what you have to do, and in this case it was handing cash and a small advantage to them at the price of having less holes in the whole Blockade.

“All in all I would call it a success, but I am so very tired”, thought Isha just before falling asleep on her fancy thelonese room.

---

Study the Kaiju

Boon dice: 5, 5
Result: boon/bane dice gained

The ruins of Tibira have become a research lab and people buzz like a swarm of bees there since the Rift opened again. Tents all around the ruins of the city are set up. There, samples are collected and sent back to Marada, where components for the prototype mechs are produced and shipped to Sky City. There the new pieces are tested and pilots are trained due to their proximity to the blockade and ability to deploy them faster.

Rally the people

Boon dice: 5, 5, 3
Bane dice: 3
Result: boon/bane dice gained

The people join and volunteer to help with the defenses of Sky City, mounting some guns on the beaches in case The Net is broken. There is also another side of the coin. Ever since the Rift opened, casting a foreboding shimmering light in the horizon, many people have started packing. Not even the big mech prototypes brought to the big warehouses are enough to give many people sleep and fear prevails over hope and courage in many. This also has an effect on outside immigration. The more normalised relationship between the nations and the menace of the Kaiju has almost stopped the flow of migrants looking for the mantel of protection of Sky City and the Republic.

The Final Showdown

Reveal the Kaiju

Now it is the time to reveal our major enemy for this front. If I was playing coop another player would be revealing their Kaiju and playing against me, having offered previous hints about their nature during the preparation moves. Given that I’m playing solo I create the Kaiju now on the fly so it can surprise me. To envision our enemy we make use of the tables provided in the game rolling 3d6 for category, name and trait.

The Kaiju is an Elemental of name Moltenjaw and their trait is trail of fire. Its fire is so intense that it burns in the ocean like Greek fire.

---

Radars blare and The Net reverberates, signals rippling across all the nodes and all monitoring detecting a big heat signature coming out of The Rift. The waters are choppy, unsettled and nervous and from the entry to The Rift steam rises in the distance, so high that you can see from Sky City. From within the steamy salty clouds a creature emerges, tall like a massive volcano with titanium jaws and molten lava as saliva.

Zawadi is already in the mech warehouse along with other pilots but his mech is the one finely tuned to be up for the task. He’s lived there during the last few weeks waiting for the sirens to blare at any moment. Now it is his moment, the moment he has been preparing for. He jumps into Valor and accommodates in the seat, the neural connections plug in and the cabin hisses closing and leaving him in faint darkness adorned in the dim glow of electronic devices. Valor and him are now one.

Outside everybody moves frantically, helping with the defenses of the island, running into the shelters. Sirens blast the air in distress and Valor flies with determination traversing The Net and leaving it behind. Moltenjaw grows closer and bigger, a colosal beast the size of an island with a massive roaring peak.

---

Showdown Move I

Boon dice: 6, 6, 5, 2
Bane dice: 5, 3
Dice cancellation: 5 (removes 1 bane/boon)
Result: 2 Damage to Kaiju (1/3)

Zawadi shows neither doubt or mercy and skilfully rides Valor, the fading ring of the sirens in Sky City a motivation fuelling his determination. The fists detach from the mech powered by powerful rockets mining and cracking the sides of Moltenjaw with loud punches. The creature cries and spits liquid fire while Valour taints from a safe distance. But even from that distance the temperature rises inside the mech, cooling systems for electronics working at maximum capacity and the mech energy draining quickly.

Showdown Move II

Special move: Team up - The Nisha peoples respond (+1 die)

Just as the systems starts to overheat multiple incoming missiles appear in the radar. “Good thing that The Nisha peoples stayed true to their words and decided not to just watch”, Zawadi thinks as Moltenjaw gets closer to Sky City. The naval and aerial forces from the 4 nations contain Moltenjaw’s prole with the help of The Net, miniature versions of the creature crawling out of the water, some of them blowing up in pieces. The whole world expectantly watches what is streamed from The Nexus.

Boon dice: 5, 2, 1, 3
Bane die: 3
Special move: Improvise - reroll 1 to a 5, no change to outcome
Dice cancellation: 3 (removes 1 bane/boon)
Result: 1 damage to Kaiju (0/3), 1 damage to Mech (1/2)

The barrage of missiles peels layers of rocky and hot skin from the Kaiju who shouts making earth and ocean tremble. Then with impressive speed they move towards Sky City, leaving behind a trail of vapour, fire and unquiet waters. Zawadi recovers Valor fists and uses its propulsion rockets to keep up with the speed of Moltenjaw who gets closer to The Net, picking up some of its mines as if they were annoying ticks. But that is enough to let Zawadi catch up. The mech ascends into the sky at the same time it cuts some distance between him and the beast and then falls in diagonal like a sharp arrow, letting gravity do its job and assist his descent.

The impact is brutal and Valour fists drive the Kaiju’s face down to the ocean. The heat is horrible, the ocean floor crumbles and Zawadi screams in pain at the same time the mech arms start to melt. He is forced to eject the arms and there is shouting over the comms, overpowered by the dying Moltenjaw groaning. Zawadi feels like his arms are ripped apart and barely makes it out to the coast, losing consciousness.

A rescue team and a fire brigade helicopter arrive to the scene a few minutes later. They have to cool down the mech before taking him out and transporting him to the hospital. There he is treated and slowly recovers from severe burns on his arms as if it was his skin the one that was melting below the ocean. Surprisingly Valor’s command cabin remains intact despite the outside damage and the cause of the burns remains a mystery many prefer not to think about.

The Aftermath

The Kaiju was so big and hot that when they cool down a whole new island forms. The creature is now Moltenjaw Island, visible from Sky City, dark and distinct and a start reminder of both the Kaiju menace and the power of people when they band together to survive.

Even if Sky City has changed and many have left the symbol remains, a symbol of resistance about the Kaiju but also the old ways of Hiberia and the Kingdom of Thea, where the dissident and the dispossessed from both nations found refuge.

A big celebration is held on the city a few weeks later, the Moltenjaw Island cooling off, The Rift closed again. People gather together with representatives and visitors from The Nisha Peoples. On the west Hiberia and the Kingdom of Thea remained untouched. The Net defenses with some aerial and maritime support from their armies held off the minor attacks from other creatures, and some over there start to question if it was worth the expense. Some others were also sour about having left the initiative to The Republic of Dhar, who so eagerly had encouraged others to resist and rebel against their “tyranny” for a few years later ask for military support.

But for now, the world can breathe…until The Rift opens again.