Republic of Dhar - Solo game - 003
After defeating Moltenjaw on the second part a period of peace and preparation follows before the Rift opens again.
Front 2 - The Rift
Four years have passed since the last Kaiju invasion…
Humanity is weary. The waiting, the anxiety, the dread of the Kaiju returning, it all weighs on you. What does in mean to live, when your priority is to just survive?
The plan remains the same. We must push into the Rift and find the Source.
Sensors show the Rift is open again. Our probes broadcast images of a truly alien world, a place of awe and terror. You are brave to venture in there, Pilot, braver than the rest of us.
It’s time to bring the fight to them.
As Zawadi has survived the last Kaiju encounter with some minor burns, the first thing we need to do before answering some questions is to draw a new upgrade on our home. I decide to pick up the Research Institute upgrade which will give me a bonus die when I decide to Study the Kaiju during preparation moves.
The upgrade
Next to the ruins of Tibira things have changed in the last 4 years. The packed tents around the city have been replaced by a big dome to the north. Clean and sleek buildings are organised inside the protective cocoon, where new samples are brought. Outside entire teams work in the ruins digging and making new discoveries with the freshly uncovered samples which interact in weird ways with an environment that is alien to them.
Zawadi has visited a few times over the last few years, sometimes to have some blood samples taken, other times to be questioned and observed in the hopes of that being useful for some kind of scientific breakthrough. Many scientists and doctors are fascinated by what happened inside the mech and they are still trying to understand what made Zawadi special and what triggered some sort of connection with Valor.
Then we try to answer some questions about the world and the current situation when the Rift opens:
What has become scarce in the world and where is the only place where you can find it in abundance? Minerals to build and repair mechs have become more scarce. The improvements made to the new and existing tech have become more and more depending on rare metals and resources that come from the Rift for their resistance and conduction properties. The place from where those can be extracted in big enough quantities is Moltenjaw Island, where the remains of the beast are now mined and studied in the Research Institute.
How do children in your Home learn about the Kaiju? The children on the Republic of Dhar now learn about the Kaiju as part of the science classes and on the regular drills where people is led to the shelters. These have relaxed a little bit over the last year but the opening of the Rift has put everybody on edge again.
What does it look like in the Rift? Rolled on the table provided and got impossibly tall mountains.
Embrace your connection
Now it is time to dig into our Pilot and their Connection before we start with the preparation moves.
The alarms blare once again in Sky City and people move towards their designated shelter areas. Zawadi thinks at first this is one of his dreams, he has been having them since vanquishing Moltenjaw and have become more recent in the last month or so.
Sky City is smaller than it was. Some of the people that run away came back, but not enough to return the city to its previous population levels. The Haven of Refugees, as many people used to call it, is no longer an attractive destination now that it is close to the Rift. Everybody saw that it was the first target chosen by the previous Kaiju and the city escaped tragedy by a few thousand meters.
Working in Sky City has become harder too. Jobs have been prioritised to the mech warehouses and to Kaiju mining, a dangerous task that consists on sending crews to Moltenjaw Island to extract valuable materials that are now core to building new mechs and improving existing prototypes. This is the closest humanity has gotten to exploring a dangerous alien planet. Even if the beast is dead, their guts are still hot in some points and their internal crust is unstable and shifting constantly, ready to eat a few humans at a time, and having succeeded a few times over the last years.
Sky City is hurt but not broken. Despite losing population, despite a dent in hope, it remains tall and enduring. Its citizens gear for the next Kaiju menace, with the Kaiju miners diving deeper and facing the dangers of the newly formed island, and the technicians preparing and assembling new mechs and fitting Valor with new equipment. New test pilots join Zawadi in their daily practices and manoeuvres increasing the roster. Sky City, with the refugees committee at their head, has its most decisive members at the front, people like Zawadi and Sarah, who are tired of running, either from the old powers as Hiberia or the Kingdom of Thea, or the more recent alien menace of the Kaiju.
Zawadi and Sarah are just returning from a training session when the sirens ring and they receive the news, the Rift has opened again. Both carry fear and courage in their eyes as they are met by the technicians and engineers gathered in the mech warehouse. This time they are ready to fight back.
Preparation moves
Unite the nations
Boon dice: 6, 5
Bane die: 1
Result: Success, boon dice gained
A Conference between the nations organised, funding gets through and Hiberia and Thea reluctantly contribute despite lowering their levels of involvement.
Isha eats avidly after the last of the Conference sessions. It has been a few hard days, but at least at the end of the day she knew she could go back to her flat and pick up a box of fried squids from the corner stall on her way up. They have something warming, homely, and the fact that it was Mario serving them and offering a listening ear instead of the non stopping demands of the Conference was a nice change at the end of the day.
The Nisha representatives were the only exception to all the moaning. They were always eager, always knowing what was at stake and quick to take real actions. But from Thea and Hiberia it was all complaints and demands. Isha doubted they would be able to get any more contributions from them.
Isha rummages with forming thoughts in an internal monologue: “I can feel it on their language and their excuses. They are pulling back from fighting the Kaiju, but they are still not ready. So they have just given us some scraps of funding. They see the Kaiju as an us problem even though they pad that with kind works and cosmetic praises.”
Study the Kaiju
Boon dice: 6, 5, 5
Bane die: 1
Result: Success, boon die gained
The Research Institute organises an expedition to collect samples from the other side of the Rift. The samples are collected via drones and they also manage to draw a map of the surrounding area of the Rift.
Build an outpost
Boon dice: 6, 6, 5
Bane die: 2
Result: Critical success, double boon dice gainedA team escorted by Zawadi and Valor is sent to the other side of the Rift to establish a comms link so command can guide the pilot and information can get to the other side in real time. They hide it fairly well so it will be difficult to disrupt.
Valor dives into the Rift for the first time. Engineers have worked under the clock as well as scientists from the Research Institute. From the samples collected in drones they have discovered the atmosphere at the other side of the Rift is weird and contaminated by Aetheric particles. Electronic systems also behave in strange ways and devices require to be shielded with heavy electromagnetic protection, obtainable via heavy metals that hamper mobility or by very precious shielding and light ores found in the shifting guts of Moltenjaw Island. Only Valor has those components and that was at the cost of one of the best Kaiju mining crews being decimated in their effort to extract the valuable materials.
Zawadi feels his head and guts spinning like water escaping through the drain as he enters the red shimmering light. He immediately appears on a dim, alien landscape. Very tall shadows of rock can be seen at a distance, but it is hard to distinguish more than the shapes, even with night vision mode. A group of choppers follow the mech and engineers with thick suits land and start unpacking heavy pieces with the help of some machinery. All of those pieces are shielded by pure tungsten and are extremely clunky and painful to handle.
He stays close to the team, vigilant, but the Rift seems to be dormant and silent, almost dead, although Zawadi can’t shake the feeling that he is being watched and he has to resist the urge of going deeper into the darkness.
The engineers work quick despite their bulky suits and they manage to activate the comms link, drilling it into the landscape to camouflage it. The mission is a success and they are able to open comms with Central Command.
The Final Showdown (Front 2)
Reveal the Kaiju
Our enemy Kaiju is revealed. Old Witch is a weird aether touched creature with the ability to control minds and we are fighting them on their territory, where they are strongest.
After the comms link has been installed it takes a few days to prepare the expedition. Zawadi takes the chance to go back to Sky City to stay with Sarah and other members of the committee, some of them now fellow pilots, part of the engineering teams, or miners. They are less than before, but more tightly knitted than ever.
Everybody leaves his flat after a night together and it is just Sarah and him. She has been like a mother to him. She is 50 with all her hair greyed out, but that didn’t stop her from becoming a mech pilot. Resolute, strong, and unapologetic, the thelonese refugee shows a similar link to Zawadi and has been an ocasional visitor to the Research Institute. Some of the scientists there have been theorising if sync percentages might be higher for those who volunteered in ground 0 after the destruction of Tibira.
“They shouldn’t have sent you alone. What is the point of the other mech prototypes if they can’t fit them for battle in the Rift?”, complains Sarah.
“You know that every second it passes the Kaiju can be heading here. We can’t risk waiting more time. Besides, you and the others are the last line of defense if the Kaiju gets through the Rift”, answered Zawadi
She tries to argue, but she knows it is pointless, she just needs to vent, to show support. In the end she just embraces Zawadi and both cry silently hoping they can see each other and he comes back victorious from the Rift.
At the warehouse all of their companions and friends wait in supportive silence while he steps up into Valor. A swarm of heavy tungsten drones takes off behind him and flies towards the Rift.
Valor walks first into the Rift and activates the comms link switch. Drones follow, buzzing, operational support enhanced now that they can get a clean feed from the comms link.
At the north west something from the distant top of one of the colossal rugged mountains seems to call him. Zawadi does not see anything at first, and then panels start illuminating and flickering. His mind becomes fuzzy and dreamlike and he feels unable to describe any of that to command at the other side of the comms. A group of drones fly to the mountain trying to map the area and they promptly disappear from the radar, stirring disquiet voices over the comms warning the pilot to proceed with caution.
Zawadi approaches. There is no fear, only the feeling of wanting to get there, without really being able to control it. As he and Valor get close he sees them, a head of many eyes that are bright and emit light, levitating at the top of the sharp mountain. A translucent black bubble regulates the light emitted and stands like a veil.
“Old Witch is their name” says Zawadi over the comes as a big massive mouth opens from the mountain and tries to engulf mech and pilot.
Showdown Move I
Boon dice: 3, 2, 2, 2
Improvise (x2, as I am now a more experienced pilot I can do this twice): 2, 2
Result: Failure, 2 damage to mech, Health 1/3
Zawadi, still dreamlike, reacts very slowly and the opening rocks crush the mech, pieces flying and scattering, screens screaming red, following by shouting over the comms. From below the mountains start to move and screech like steel worms taking over drones and getting closer to the Rift.
Showdown Move II
Boon dice: 6, 5, 5 ,2
Old Witch uses their ultimate power
Bane dice: 6, 6, 3, 3
Result: lost 1 die (4), will die if I don't use special skills
Valor seems to be sleeping, unresponsive and falls into their knees waiting for the next crush. Zawadi makes a conscious effort to connect, wake up the mech and leave the debilitating state he is in. But it is so tempting to just stay as he is, leave things as they are and stop struggling. Memories slowly flow into his mind, Sky City, his parents and their effort to take their child to safety. Did they die for nothing? And what about Sarah, at the other side, waiting for him to go back, ready to fight. But he’s got the best piece of equipment, the best chance to have a go at this thing. He can’t let Old Witch take control, this is not what he has been training for.
Special move: Remember why you fight - Special skill that grants me a re-roll
Boon dice: 6, 5, 4, 3
Result: 2 damage to the Kaiju, 3/5
Valor comes back to life as if awaken by Zawadi’s memories. Screens flicker alive and they dodge and punch with one hand, avoiding the next crushing move from the mountains. The other punch flies away powered by the rockets, repeatedly and furiously smashing the translucent shell that protects Old Witch, that holds but shows some cracks.
Showdown Move III
Boon dice: 5, 5, 3, 2
Result: 1 damage to Kaiju (2/5), 1 damage to mech (0/3)
Zawadi hears the voices over the comms, huge mountains advancing from the Rift, tearing apart any military resistance, mechs at home unable to cut through this menace. The shell does not break completely and the jaws of the mountain close off again ready to strike again.
Sky City and the Research Institute both brace for impact with an ETA of 5 minutes. There is only one option and Zawadi knows what to do. He pushes forward towards the shell: “Take this you fucking Old Witch”.
Special move: Detonate Core
Boon dice : 6, 3
Result: 2 damage to Kaiju (0/5)
As Valor smashes against the shell with their head, cracking it open, Zawadi presses the manual trigger to detonate the mech core. The Rift rumbles and there is a big crater at the top of Old’s Witch mountain, where everything explodes and melts. The comms link with Dhar is broken, the shimmering red light subdues and the portal closes once again.
At the other side of the Rift the advancing mountains that approach Sky City and the Research Institute stop abruptly, still salty and wet from an agitated ocean all around them, but no longer moving, dead and still.
Our Home is safe, but at a high cost.
