Tacit Ronin vs. The World Grand Archive

Captainwolf · Nov 10, 2020

You guys were waiting for your weekly kaiju, weren't you? Well, might as well give it to ya!

[---]

Week 45. Wednesday evening.
Space Needle LOCCENT.

"...It's been storming for two days straight, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," the other technician replied, pulling up the meteorological report on their screen. "If our readings are right, one of the worst ones yet, actually."

"Assuming they are right," a third one interjected. "This damn EM storm's dropped us to less than 75 percent effective capacity with its interference. Iblis must be fuckin' pissed or something."

"It's a kaiju. Why wouldn't it be pissed off?" Retorted the first, staring out the window. While Seattle was naturally on the stormy side, the electromagnetic slurry of rain and sleet blending together over their heads was something else entirely. Unnaturally coloured bolts of lightning crackled across the sky, their thunderous howls nearly drowned out by the shrieking wind. For seemingly the hundredth time today, a patch of the city's lights flickered, power flow momentarily disrupted by the clashing charges above. A second later, the redundancies activated, and the lights steadied.

"It'd be hell to fight in these conditions," they muttered. The other two technicians paused, and whirled around in their seats.

"Hey! Don't jinx us or anything!"

"Yeah, you know how that always turns out!"

The first snorted, and glared back.

"Oh, knock it off! We know there's gonna be a kaiju this week-- there's one practically every week! Talking about having to fight a kaiju won't make anything worse happen that wouldn't already happen, even if this particular weekly kaiju turns out to be a real--"

The kaiju alarm went off. Three technicians turned to their stations. The first one, cut off by its sudden occurrence, was ironically the first to read the reading.

"...Son of a bitch! Get the Council on the line, now! It's a cat five!"

<ALERT: NEW KAIJU SIGNATURE DETECTED>
<INBOUND FROM WESTERN SECTOR>
<CLASSIFICATION: CATEGORY V>
<ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS>

Due to interference from the electromagnetic storm, all Scanning actions you take roll during this fight at a -2 penalty. Therefore, you're rolling at 1d10+5!

Scanners: 1+5=6

It is unfortunately a few seconds later that the entire sensor grid goes down. Frantically, what little data could be gathered before the grid cut out-- the last known position of kaiju SE-27-011 "Heartbreaker", and a rough estimate of its Serizawa qualifiers (pretty fucking big, radioactive as any kaiju, and a good deal more toxic)-- is compiled, as the PPDC scrambles into action. It's barely anything to work with, and there's minutes at best before this thing hits the Miracle Mile, but there's no other choice.

They can't give up now.

Heartbreaker is an unknown distance away from Neo-Seattle, but it is no further than 50 km away. Irregular power fluctuations and the collapse of the sensor grid will hinder your deployment of all land or air-based units, and cause them to deploy later in the battle. However, the position of the Dockworks and Shatterdome allow all Naval assets and Jaegers to deploy as normal.

Due to the (incredibly strong) electromagnetic storm, the following Battlefield Environmental traits are in effect:
- All combatants are treated as being obscured by default (+1 Difficulty to-hit). If the combatant is within a well lit area, or engaged in melee combat, there is no penalty (but only as long as they remain in that area, or only for those engaging them in melee combat). Underwater, this penalty increases so as to treat all Blind against an obscured combatant, who must be located with a Dexterity Test (DC 7). However, the underwater combatant treats everyone else as automatically obscured.
- All energy weapons on the field can only fire out to Medium Range. If they lack a Medium Range bracket, they can only fire out to Short Range.
- Arges and other visual targeting assists are hindered, and may only net a maximum of +1 bonus.
- All scanners take a -2 penalty due to electromagnetic interference.
- Fliers' movement speed is 5 units less than normal.

I think you'll like Heartbreaker-- or at the very least, appreciate what they stand for.

Combat Deployment

[X] Deploy the three Murasames and the two Gunboats in the Western sector, 10 units away from the DP. Each Mura is four units apart, with the Gunboats between them.
[X] The Jaegers are deployed in the West 15 units away from the DP.
-[x] Phenom has his Barrier Shield active.
[X] Everyone is to scan to narrow down the Kaiju's position.
-[X] Yes, even the Condors.

Jagdhund is the first jaeger to launch, her lack of separate piloting components allowing the autonomous mecha to start up and exit the shatterdome in a little under a minute after the order is given. Two and a half minutes later, Tacit and Phenom's pilots have hooked themselves in, and activated their own jaegers-- by which time their teammate already stands at the Miracle Mile, waiting with weapons drawn as the storm boils in the sky.

While the navy launches-- their vessels the only ones that won't be inhibited somewhat by the storm-- Tacit Ronin exits the Shatterdome, legs pumping as it surges through the freezing water. The white machine comes to a halt at Jagdhund's side, and powers up its fangblades, which are immediately sheathed in a cloud of steam as the rain around them vaporizes. Noah and his copilot clench their fists in readiness, as the machine's golden visor stares into the darkness.

[---]

Meanwhile, down at Boeing Field-- the current air force base-- technicians try their best to get the vehicles up and running. Unfortunately, weather conditions are going to put serious strain on their engines, so even if they do get them running they'll have to work a lot harder to maintain position. The rotary frames are going to need a bit more work, as are the Quetzals, but Condor Flight's planes were made for difficult flights, and they're all ready to help out! The sturdy little planes are brought out on the runways, and launch!

It'll take a bit, but hopefully they'll be able to make it in time.

[---]

Finally, Phenom Sable arrives, lumbering and growling like an angry bear. The shield plate on its shoulder is active, air rippling and shimmering around the machine as the electromagnetic storm sets off some strange but harmless resonance within the device. Clawed fingers curl in the air, testing their fluid pressure as the black mecha's tendons flex beneath layers of superalloy armour.

Now all together, the jaegers focus on the Sound. With the scanner grid still unusable, the only things they have available right now are their own suites-- which are still affected by the storm. Even so, it's the best shot they've got, short of running out into the bay to hunt it down with the naked eye.

Roll 1d10+1 for Tacit and Jagdhund's scans, and 1d10-2 for Phenom's scan.

PPDC:
- Tacit, Jagdhund, and Phenom are stationed at the Miracle Mile, ~15 units from the city.
- Naval forces will be in position in 1 round.
- It will take 4 more rounds for Condor Flight to arrive at your jaegers' position (though they'll enter the battlefield at around 2 rounds).*
-- It's 120 units between your position and your air base, in case you were planning on launching other vehicles.
Anteverse:
- Heartbreaker's position is unknown. However, it is likely underwater, and is definitely within this sector.

*Note that Condor Flight launched earlier than the actual battle started, so they've got two rounds head start of travel. Without it, you'd be waiting 6 rounds (and they're your fastest units right now).

Combat Round 1

[X] Everyone is to scan to narrow down the Kaiju's position.
-[X] Yes, even the Condors.

(7)
(5)
(3)

Jagdhund's and Phenom's scanner return nothing of use-- the atmospheric conditions are simply too much to compensate for, and the results are a chaotic mess. Tacit, however, gets a stroke of luck-- maybe the heat and electric field of its Fangblades are softening the storm's scrambling effects a little? In any case, an anomaly flashes up on the jaeger's scanning grid, about five or six kilometres out. A patch of water where the shifts in conditions seem more.. orderly. Patterned, almost. Like something swimming.

Unfortunately, before anything more can be gathered, the pattern vanishes, leaving the jaeger with only a hint at the kaiju's location.

It is now your turn.
Yes, Heartbreaker did stuff-- you just didn't see it.

PPDC:
- Tacit, Jagdhund, and Phenom are stationed at the Miracle Mile, ~15 units from the city.
- Naval forces will be in position at the end of the round, unless you change orders.
- It will take 4 more rounds for Condor Flight to arrive at your jaegers' position (though they'll enter the battlefield at around 2 rounds). At the end of this turn, it will be 3 rounds.
Anteverse:
- Heartbreaker's position is unknown.
- The anomalous area was detected 50-60 units out from the city (35-45 from Tacit).

Combat Round 2

[X] Plan Knee Deep 1.5
-[X] Phenom Sable Runs 10 units towards the anomaly.
-[X] Tacit Ronin advances 8 units towards the anomaly and scans
-[X] Jagdhund advances 6 units towards the anomaly and scans.
-[X] Ensure that all Railguns move to the Western Sector, or as close to it as possible.
-[X] All forces are to deploy and make haste to the Combat zone. Equip the Brontes on the Scouts and everything that can equip Torpedoes does so.

But though it's just a hint, it's all they've got. As the naval forces slide up behind them, and orders are given for the deployment of all forces, the jaegers advance on the anomalous area. Phenom leads the charge, closing in as fast as it can. Jagdhund and Tacit lag behind a little, trying to use their scanners again to relocate the kaiju.

However, the results are even more useless this time. The jaegers' own movements have interfered with the hydro-acoustics, covering up any patterns from further away that the sensors could isolate. By this point, the water's getting rather high up on them-- especially for Phenom, who's submerged up to the neck, and only visible thanks to the lights around its joints and shoulder plate.

PPDC:
- Tacit Ronin has advanced to 23 units from the city (8 past Miracle Mile)
- Jagdhund has advanced to 21 units from the city (6 past Miracle Mile)
- Phenom Sable has advanced to 25 units from the city (10 past Miracle Mile)
- Naval forces are 10 units from the city, deployed in a 13-long line (Mura - GB - Mura-RX - GB - Mura, 2 unit spacing)
- Condor Flight will enter the battlefield in one round, after which it will take two more rounds to reach the initial deployment locations of the jaegers (Miracle Mile)
- 9 rounds until NW and SW Railgun Batteries finish shifting to Western Sector.
- Ground Force deployment times (to enter the battlefield)*:
-- 4 rounds for most/all self-propelled units (Tanks, AKBs, Mortars, Hlin)
-- 5 rounds for Heimdal (it's slow)
-- 6 rounds for Artillery (the tractors are also slow, and they're stored further from the Shatterdome than the Heimdal)
- Air Force deployment times (to enter the battlefield)**:
-- 16 rounds for Hellhounds (armed with Neptune-43s)
-- 8 rounds for Banshees (armed with Neptune-43s)
-- 6 rounds for Scouts (armed with Brontes)
-- 6 rounds for Quetzalcoatl Gunships
Anteverse:
- Heartbreaker's position is unknown.
- The anomalous area was previously detected 50-60 units out from the city, or 35-45 from the Miracle Mile (for the sake of simplicity, we'll say ~55 from the city, ~40 from the Miracle Mile).

*for ground units, "entering the battlefield" is, in this case, at the Defense Perimeter/edge of the city.
**for air units, "entering the battlefield" is, in this case, considered to be 40 units south of the original deployment locations for the jaegers.

Note: if you move any further than 30 units from shore, you're gonna be submerged, which... well, considering you can't friggin' see anything, really the only change that'll make is that your armour's Pressure Intolerance is activated, and Heartbreaker's gonna have to start making Dex checks to find you as well. So... bit of good, bit of bad?

Combat round 3

[X] All Jaegers start Scanning again.
-[x] The Navy advances 5 units.
-[x] The rest of our forces keep moving towards the battle.

Behind the jaegers, the navy moves forwards, taking new positions at the Miracle Mile. The sound of propeller engines is just barely audible beneath the booming thunder, as Condor Flight enters the battlefield, swooping in from the south. From the city and the air base, more vehicles launch, closing in as fast as they can despite the difficult conditions.

Phenom's sensors pick up another anomalous area-- but it's overlapping the first to such a degree that it's impossible to nail down exact location. Tacit and Jagdhund, meanwhile, continue to find nothing, much to the irritation of the rangers.

"LOCCENT, what are we actually doing here?" Kanji asks, bouncing Phenom's laser comms off the destroyers and back to the shoreline. "Are we just waiting for this thing to ambush us, or what?"

What's gonna be the plan? Obviously, your non-present forces are gonna be heading out towards the battle, but...
[ ] Hold position, rangers! Keep on trying to get a good scan!
[ ] This is no good! Rangers, fall back to the Miracle Mile-- we'll wait for the kaiju where backup's better!
[ ] We'll put an end to this game of hide and seek! Rangers, advance, and pin that kaiju down before it gets any closer!

PPDC:
- Tacit Ronin at 23 units from the city (8 past Miracle Mile)
- Jagdhund at 21 units from the city (6 past Miracle Mile)
- Phenom Sable at 25 units from the city (10 past Miracle Mile)
- Naval forces are 15 units from the city, deployed in a 13-long line (2 unit spacing)
- Condor Flight is 40 units south of the Navy.
- 8 rounds until NW and SW Railgun Batteries finish shifting to Western Sector.
- Ground Force deployment times (to enter the battlefield)*:
-- 3 rounds for most/all self-propelled units (Tanks, AKBs, Mortars, Hlin)
-- 4 rounds for Heimdal
-- 5 rounds for Artillery
- Air Force deployment times (to enter the battlefield)**:
-- 15 rounds for Hellhounds (armed with Neptune-43s)
-- 7 rounds for Banshees (armed with Neptune-43s)
-- 5 rounds for Scouts (armed with Brontes)
-- 5 rounds for Quetzalcoatl Gunships
Anteverse:
- Heartbreaker's position is still unknown.
- The anomalous area was last detected ~55 units out from the city, or ~40 from the Miracle Mile. Your newest roll hasn't been enough to narrow anything more down.

Combat Round 4

[X] Hold position, rangers! Keep on trying to get a good scan!
-[x] Condor Squadrons, move towards the possible contact at full speed.

Unfortunately for Phenom, as they make their next attempt to scan, a crackling bolt of lightning loops down, and strikes the top of the jaeger's head! There's no actual damage to the armour, but almost every sensory system in their suite promptly shuts down, eliciting several curses from the rangers as they suddenly have to try and reboot the thing.

Phenom Sable's sensors have been disrupted! No ranged attacks, and -3 to Dexterity, for 5 rounds!

With Phenom Sable effectively blinded beyond straight visual, the others move to assist. Three squadrons of aircraft bank in, trying to make their way over to the jaegers, while Tacit and Jagdhund focus their efforts, trying to overcome the scrambling through their combined results.

And this time, they succeed. A solid area resolves on their maps, its shape finally revealed through the cloaking waves. Dense exterior, abnormal salinity, and the underlying, repetitious thrum of a massive circulatory system all confirm it.

Heartbreaker located!

It's the kaiju, barely two kilometres away from their position.

As if sensing that it's been found, Heartbreaker's signature surges towards the jaegers, rising towards the surface as it reaches shallower waters. A swell appears among the lashing waves, growing greater and greater, until the monster bursts forth at last! Lightning streaks across the sky, silhouetting its form as bioluminescent tissue flares with unnatural light, affording the city their first proper look at their enemy.

Humanoid in shape, the kaiju's body is well-armoured-- with its arms and legs clad in segmented carapace, and far more flexible hide protecting its centre mass. Its head has no neck, instead sunken between its shoulders, just above the clavicle. Glittering black eyes stare out from sunken sockets, while a crab-like maw shifts and clicks beneath. A glowing, turquoise web of bioluminescence snakes up the front of its torso, branching across its chest and face like a twisted tree. Smoothly, the kaiju raises its lower arms-- each one a forty metre cylinder of black flesh and gunmetal armour, thick with coiling muscles and tipped with hooked talons.

Heartbreaker slows for a moment, fixing the machines with its gaze. Cold, alien intelligence shines behind its eyes, carefully appraising its enemies without heed to wind or rain.

Then, without a single hiss, snarl, or shrieking cry, Heartbreaker wades forwards once more.

PPDC:
- Tacit Ronin at 23 units from the city (8 past Miracle Mile), 10 from Heartbreaker.
- Jagdhund at 21 units from the city (6 past Miracle Mile), 12 from Heartbreaker.
- Phenom Sable at 25 units from the city (10 past Miracle Mile), 8 from Heartbreaker.
- Naval forces are 15 units from the city, deployed in a 13-long line (2 unit spacing)
- Condor Flight is 20 units south.
- 7 rounds until NW and SW Railgun Batteries finish shifting to Western Sector.
- Ground Force deployment times (to enter the battlefield)*:
-- 2 rounds for most/all self-propelled units (Tanks, AKBs, Mortars, Hlin)
-- 3 rounds for Heimdal
-- 4 rounds for Artillery
- Air Force deployment times (to enter the battlefield)**:
-- 14 rounds for Hellhounds (armed with Neptune-43s)
-- 6 rounds for Banshees (armed with Neptune-43s)
-- 4 rounds for Scouts (armed with Brontes)
-- 4 rounds for Quetzalcoatl Gunships
Anteverse:
- Heartbreaker is 18 units from the Miracle Mile, 33 from Neo-Seattle.
-- Heartbreaker's distance from the Jaegers is noted under their positioning.

(For reference, I'm just gonna put the distances in spoilers, since it'll take too much space otherwise.)

Well, it took you guys 4 rounds, but you did it! You found the kaiju!

Now you just need to survive it.

Combat Round 5

[X] Plan ... This is awkward: electric boogaloo
-[X] Murasame Type RX fires railgun at Heartbreaker
-[X] The other two Murasame fire Dragon's Blood missiles at the big nasty
-[X] All present Missile Boats fire Oceanus torpedoes
-[X] Jagdhund fires a Full Auto Burst at the kaiju
-[X] Tacit charges using the Sound Breaker after Jagdhund is done shooting
-[X] Phenom moves five units towards the kaiju
-[X] Everything else, please, hurry the fuck up

"Open fire!"

A cluster of cavitating torpedoes fire from the navy's ships, arcing around the jaegers to strike at the advancing kaiju! Plumes of water erupt around Heartbreaker's waist, as the warheads detonate-- but none seem to have any effect on the monster. The central Murasame opens fire with its railgun, sending a tungsten-cored slug screaming past Tacit's shoulder. The projectile glances off one of Heartbreaker's armour plates, spiraling away into the roiling waters.

No damage!

Of all three jaegers, Jagdhund is the first to regain her bearings, and unleashes a barrage of gunfire at the kaiju. Faster than expected, Heartbreaker swings its massive arms in front of its face, using their thick armour plating to weather the attack. And here, the kaiju's defensive prowess is shown, withstanding Jagdhund's concentrated firepower even as flecks of armour chip and shells ricochet away. At best, it's scratch damage.

Hit to head! No damage!
Hit to R. Arm! Glancing Wound!
Hit to L. Foot! Glancing Wound!
Heartbreaker takes 2 Strikes!

However, the drumbeat of gunfire soon stops, as the crash of waves on metal grows louder. Sure of its resilience against the jaegers' ranged weaponry, Heartbreaker relaxes its arms, swinging them out of the way to regain its view of the battlefield.

"Sound Breaker-- ignite!"

Sound Breaker activated! +2 Agility for 2 Rounds!
(14)

But as the Category V drops its arms, Tacit Ronin blasts forwards, flames bursting from its back as it strikes with the full force of its charge!

[ ] Rear Thrusters engaged! (May be done in concert with another option, increases the listed bonus by +1, once per battle only)
[ ] Fangblades! (2x 1d10+7, Damage Bonus 3, AP 3)
[ ] Punch! (1d10+7, Damage Bonus 3, AP 0)
[ ] Kick! (1d10+6, Damage Bonus 6, AP 2)
[ ] Slam! (1d10+5, knocks enemy prone on a success, deals 3 Blunt, AP 0)
Edit:
[ ] Flourish! (see Flourish)

Tacit Ronin Charge

[X] Rear Thrusters engaged! (May be done in concert with another option, increases the listed bonus by +1, once per battle only)
[X] Fangblades! (2x 1d10+7, Damage Bonus 3, AP 3)

Block (Fated to Win)

(17)
(16, 27)

Immediately, the kaiju throws its arms back up, catching the jaeger's swinging blade before it can hit. Armour plating flexes and dents inwards, microscopic fractures running through the outer layers as the force is dispersed. Heartbreaker glares back, its crustaceal maw sliding open to expose a grotesque set of orifices and tubes around its throat, pulsing and bulging as pressure builds within them.

"Oh, no you don't!" Noah yells, before smashing Tacit's knee into the exposed organs! Flesh yields to metal, and the projectors burst apart in a spray of hypothermic acid, burning away at the outer layers of Heartbreaker's facial armour. The kaiju convulses in pain, giving Tacit enough of an opening to bring his other fangblade into play! Shoving Heartbreaker's arms away, the jaeger throws its left arm forwards, driving its fist through the weakened tissue of the kaiju's throat, and into its chest cavity.

"Left Fangblade, fire!"

Tacit's fangblade explodes out the small of Heartbreaker's back, punching through its spinal column in one decisive blow-- then Noah jackknifes his arm back upward, eviscerating the Cat V from the inside out as the blade bisects its spine lengthwise.

SE-27-011 "Heartbreaker" defeated!

With practiced grace, Tacit pulls its arm free, the limb steaming and painted in alien blood. Heartbreaker's eyes dull, its bioluminescence dimming out as it goes slack.

Despite the thunder and rain, it seems... quieter.

Combat End
It's with renewed vigor that Tacit Ronin returns to the shatterdome, leaving the broken body of Heartbreaker where it stood. The electromagnetic storm continues to rage (though meteorologists predict it will dissipate in at most a day or two), limiting how fast the news can get out, but it's clear enough for the recently arrived SDF-- they've won, with just a single blow.

In the aftermath of the confrontation, only two things can be considered in need of some repair; Phenom's sensor suite, and Tacit's blood painted arm. However, these are something that can be dealt with without much hassle. Phenom Sable has its sensors temporarily removed and checked over for flaws, while Tacit's left arm is stripped of armour and given a thorough alkaline bath to wash the acidic fluids off.

No damage to repair!

Thankfully, neither pose any complications for engineering to worry about.

While the actual SDF weapons aren't needed for the fight anymore, their assistance is still useful in getting the kaiju's body onto land for K-Science to examine (not to mention prevent any further leakage into the bay).

It takes a surprisingly long time for the report to finish, even considering the storm. Part of that's because the kaiju itself seems to resist the xenobiologists' necropsy attempts. The main entry wounds are soaked through with some sort of... ultra low temperature acid, freezing parts of the kaiju's bodily fluids into solid obstructions. Sawing through a different point is just as difficult-- the armour on Heartbreaker's arms and legs is as hard as Jagdarium, and even the softer portions aren't much better. Even when they do manage to neutralize some of its acid and saw through the armour, the thing still doesn't want to give up. While the inner tissues are far easier for the examiners' tools to cut through, it only takes half a minute before they try to knit back together again, constantly fighting against progress. In fact, it's over an hour before the healing factor stops kicking in, having finally drained the last of its residual energy. It's fortunate that the same abilities that obstruct the scientists' progress also obstruct the force of decay, leaving Heartbreaker's body still fairly fresh by the time it runs out of steam.

The rest of it is... well, in general rather par for the course. Its internal organs are pretty much useless for examination, given that they had a jaeger's forearm shoved through them, and its central nervous system is even more so. The cranial area is completely ruined, since the acid sacs have either dissolved or frozen everything around there. Fortunately, Heartbreaker's arms and legs are virtually untouched, leaving one thing K-Science can look at. The arms in particular are interesting-- they're actually structured like a giant solenoid ran, with loops of modified muscle tissue surrounding a central, free-floating shaft of ferromagnetic bone. It seems that the kaiju would have been able to project these spikes out of its palms with some force, though without combat data it's unclear how much force they would have had. Then again, "lack of clear capabilities due to insufficient data" seems to sum up the kaiju as a whole.

But, of course, there's one thing even more worthy of the council's attention; Ashley Langley has woken up.

It appears that the Ranger regained consciousness at some point shortly before the end of the fight-- an act which definitely caught the staff's attention. So far, she hasn't shown any signs of panic at her physical condition, despite being seemingly aware of it. In fact, she seems rather... detached. Essentially, it's likely the result of shock, or something with similar effect (though they're hesitant to give a definite diagnosis before they have the chance to actually run some tests with her, given the unusual circumstances she's been under). One thing they can say right now, though, is that she hasn't talked very much since waking up. She isn't mute-- the staff have gotten a few verbal responses out of her-- but other than that, she hasn't really said anything, or paid much attention to them beyond that. It's really just too soon for them to say.

Ashley has returned to consciousness at last! However, she will still need to recover, both physically and mentally. The former will require the use of one of your special medical options, while the latter is... more complicated.

So once again, peace returns to the city.

It is now downtime.

Kaiju Stats:

SE-27-011
Heartbreaker
Class: Category V Kaiju
Broad of shoulder and long of limb, Heartbreaker's most distinctive features are the massive spike rams on either arm, each one capable of firing a blunt-tipped spear of metal-laced kaiju bone with enough force to shatter a jaeger's internal frame. A few hooked claws sprout from the ends of the limbs, but they're far from its main weapons. Interestingly, the kaiju has no real neck-- what exists of its head is sunken between its shoulders, with a couple black eyes peeping out from sunken sockets. Below them sits a crab-like maw, which hides an array of hypothermic acid sprayers behind its mandibles. Heartbreaker's arms and legs are heavily armoured in chitinous plating, while slightly more flexible hide defends its main body, and displays a spider-webbed, tree-like pattern of luminous veins on its chest and spine.

Stats:
HtH: 5
Ran: 1
Str: 6
Tou: 8
Agi: 3
Dex: 3

Structure:
Dura: 17
Stru: 20

Category V: Has all the following rules:
- Flat stun immunity. A stun instead inflicts a -1 penalty to a random stat for one round.
- Universal, unbreakable AV of 2 on all locations
- +10 to all the instant death thresholds
- Ignores the extra effects of the first two Minor Wounds it receives. Automatically heals 1 Ongoing every round, and rolls +2 for Ongoing.
- Immune to "Scratch" Damage
Fast Healing (5): Your Fast Healing rating is equal to half your base Toughness (4) plus one (5). Once every round, roll a 1d10 plus your Fast Healing rating (1d10+5), and if the result is 10+ then you heal 1 Strike. Alternatively, you may choose to heal 1 (additional) Ongoing Wound instead of a Strike. Fast Healing does not alleviate Wound effects, but can remove Universal Penalties by bringing you above your Durability. Fast Healing does not confer additional Strikes if you are at 0 Strikes already, but may stabilize your Ongoing Wounds at such a time. Your Fast Healing may be suppressed if you desire to do so.
Cold-Hearted: Every round Heartbreaker is in a Grapple, it inflicts 1d5+1 Ice damage to all other participants. Heartbreaker passively deals 1 Ice damage to anything within 3 units of it each round.
Fated to Win: Things just seem to go your way. As a Free Action at any point during the round, you may roll a 1d5, and modify any roll you wish by that amount, in either a positive or negative direction. This roll need not be one made by you, and may be made after you. Once Fated to Win has been used, it cannot be used until the next encounter.

Weapons:
Spike Ram x2
Built-in Melee Weapons
Attack Dice: 1d10+1
Parry Dice: 2d5
Block Dice: 1d10+1
Armour Penetration: 0
Grappling Bonus: -1
Damage Type: Blunt
Damage Bonus: Strength
Special:
Deals +2 damage for the purpose of overcoming Armour Durability.
Shockwave Punch: -2 Attack, +3 Damage. On a hit, the opponent is thrown back as many units as Heartbreaker has Strength and knocked prone. Must cool down for a round after use.
Jackhammer: -2 Attack, Attack Dice to 3/d10. If all three attacks hit, the target is Stunned for 1 round.

Crescent Claws x2
Built-in Melee Weapons
Attack Dice: 1d10-1
Parry Dice: 1d10
Block Dice: 1d5
Armour Penetration: 6
Grappling Bonus: +0
Damage Type: Edged
Damage Bonus: Dexterity

Hypothermic Acid Sprayer
Built-in Ranged Weapon (Scatter)
Attack Dice: 2x 1d10
Armour Penetration: 1d5+1
Damage Type: Ice
Damage Bonus: 2d5
Range: 10/15/20

Armour:
Ultra-hardened Chitin Plates
Coverage: All but Eyes, Head, Neck, Chest, Torso, Spine
AV: 5/3
Resilience: All, +1 Impact, +1 Edged, -1 Blunt
Durability: 9

Low Temperature Kaiju Hide
Coverage: Head, Neck, Chest, Torso, Spine
AV: 4/2
Resilience: All, +1 Fire, +1 Electric
Durability: 10

Optic Plating
Coverage: Eyes
AV: 2/1
Resilience: All
Durability: 6
Special:
Eye Damage never causes extra Head Damage.

Category V Kaiju killed: +10000 Resources
Salvage Facility Bonus: +5000 Resources
Quick Kill Bonus: +1000 Resources
Flawless Victory: +1000 Resources
Manufacturing: +4500 Resources
Morale Bonus: +2475 Resources

Total Resources to Spend: 53315

Free Actions:
[ ] Kaiju:
-[ ] Clean up the contamination (-1100 Resources)
-[ ] Don't clean up the contamination
[ ] Other* (requires GM permission)

*for example... something involving Ashley? I dunno.

Now, time to pick your actions (detailed in your city sheet)!

Captainwolf · Nov 10, 2020

[x] Plan Commitment 1.NE
-[x] Normal Actions:
--[x] Send a full team to Everett; prepare to colonize/bring existing Everett within our sphere of influence (Comms)
--[x] Hold Until Everett Trip Results
--[x] Hold Until Everett Trip Results
--[x] Hold Until Everett Trip Results
--[x] Hold Until Everett Trip Results
--[x] Hold Until Everett Trip Results
--[x] Hold Until Everett Trip Results
--[x] Hold Until Everett Trip Results
--[x] Hold Until Everett Trip Results
--[x] Hold Until Everett Trip Results
-[x] Free Actions
--[x] Research a less "temperamental" but still Mark IV viable Fury Supercell. See if Barriers, Goryo's plating or the Super-Coolants previous Kaiju have used can help. (B-Tech) [Safe Research mode]
--[x] Research Better Fangblades, focusing on increasing damage or Armor-piercing ability. Look into known Kaiju records and their samples for inspiration on how to do that. (J-Tech 1)
--[x] Examine the Ascalon Blade non-destructively. The focus is on structure and composition so we can try to make our own blades in the future. (J-Tech 2)
--[x] Investigate how the Myrmions' mini-hivemind worked. (K-Sci 1) (Use Cosma bonus)
--[x] Research a way to create naval units with MPFs (C-Tech 1)
--[x] Mobile C&C Super-Heavy unit that can increase coordination and provide extra processing power for targeting for our forces, incorporating aspects of Commander Kaiju and the RWCS (and possibly a Barrier for protection) (C-Tech 2)
--[x] Research a very large blast radius One Shot missile for clearing Cat 0 hordes, the "Sunfire". Focus on Blast-radius above all else, within practicality. (C-Tech 3)
--[x] Scan Naval Station Kitsap (Comms)
--[x] Scan for nom nommy Kaiju (Kaiju Hunt Scan)
--[x] Recycle Nothing. (J-Recycling)
--[x] Build (5) Free Conventional Units. (3 Autogyro Scout Squadrons, 2 'Banshee' Assault Helicopter Squadrons) (-440 Resources)
--[x] Clean up the contamination (-1100 Resources)
[X] Other:
-[X] Have Noah handle Ashley's debrief, and have him present the treatment options to her.
-[X] Do a bureaucratic organization: what kind of government/economy are we running here?

As the week continues, the council gets to work, organising what they can before their focus is taken up by the task of tackling their newest project-- the re-establishment of the city of Everett.

Contamination cleaned up!

One thing of more unfortunate note is that Neo-Seattle is finally starting to run low on quality salvage for their combat factories. Recycling only goes so far, and these things have been running pretty much nonstop since their creation, so it does make some sense. In any case, more work will now have to be put into refining available salvage, and supplemented with non-salvage materials. It'll still be pretty low-impact, and the automated nature of the facilities means they won't infringe on the project economy of other things, but it's something to keep in mind.

MPFs reworked!
3 AG-60 Autogyro Scout Squadrons built!
2 A-KA-78-L 'Banshee' Assault Helicopter Squadrons built!

For a group of people whose original purpose was to determine the science behind the Breach and other such phenomenon, Breach Tech are surprisingly good at improvising from stuff that's not at all related to that. Well, technically one could argue it is related-- since their current task is improving the design of the VI-Y4 into something more stable. While Barriers aren't going to help here with containment, the reactor's cooling system and core composition can always use more work. Using K-Sci's analysis of Goryo's carapace, the scientists propose a different material to be used in the reactor's main containment core. This should help keep the temperature lower, lowering the risk of catastrophic failure in the event of system shutdown. Another thing they've found is a difference in the Breach profiles of the VI-b and the VI-Y4-- specifically in the points where radiation and temperature are highest. This sparks a quick rearrangement of the cooling system, to more efficiently deal with the core temperature. This should also reduce the strain on several other points. However, Breach-Tech can't really make it any cheaper by themselves, or fix the issues caused by the Supercell Discharge-- to the latter, their advice is basically "don't use the discharge mode, ever". Still, it's quite impressive the improvements they've managed to produce.

The VI-Y4 "Fury" Supercell no longer inflicts an extra Vital Damage roll upon Incapacitation. Extra stat penalties no longer occur on a Minor+ Wound to the Torso (only the Chest).

For the first time in a long while, J-Tech's planning to make some Fangblades. Their material engineering ability has improved, their designs have gotten better, their experience is greater-- they know they can do this. And, indeed, they do.

The proposed VX-3 "Super" Fangblade is a clear departure from the previous versions of the weapons system. While the original Fangblades and HF-2 model used of a thicker, solid blade and relatively limited positioning geometry, the VX-3 takes the opposite route, drawing from Striker Eureka's Stingblades and Heartbreaker's armour-piercing claws to produce a narrower, more flexible sort of weapon. Each Super Fangblade is composed of three main parts: the mounting rail, a single-edged oscillating blade, and a jointed and armoured "hilt" section between the two. While expensive, it is this hilt that is the key to the VX-3's abilities-- not only does it house the oscillators for the blade, but it contains a second set of gyroscopes and sensors to ensure every strike is aimed for optimal penetration. Just as impressively, they've added a new feature-- or, more accurately, added back an old feature. Back in its heyday, Tacit Ronin was known for its signature "cobra strike" technique; an attack with a single fangblade, focused enough that it would instantly sheer through armour and bone as a hot knife through butter. Coincidentally, while its second reconstruction and new pilots left it unable to perform this technique, Tacit's black box still has the data from the times when it's used it. Thus, with a little work, J-Tech's new weapons should be able to return this famous technique to Tacit Ronin once again! That said, the Super Fangblades have their own price-- due to their intricate structure and thinner blades, they're not as durable as the originals, and Tacit won't be able to use its full, raw strength in handling them. Even so, these weapons are by far the strongest of their kind available to Neo-Seattle's defender.

New Weapon available to Purchase: VX-3 Super Fangblade!
XV-3 Super Fangblade
750 Resources
Built-In Melee Weapon
Attack Dice: 2/1d10 (pairs)
Parry Dice: 1d5+1
Block Dice: 1d5
Armour Penetration: Dexterity+1
Grappling Bonus: -3
Durability: 6
Damage Type: Edged
Damage Bonus: (Strength/2)+1
Special:
Cauterizes wounds.
Cobra Strike: One use per battle. Attack Dice to 1d10, Add Dexterity to Damage Bonus, +3 Armour Penetration. Cobra Strike does not gain Charge bonuses.

GM's note: these were inspired by a combination of the Magoroku-E Progressive Sword, AdEva's Hyper-Progressive weapons, and the curious Fangblade designs on the front page picture. Mechanically, they're a straight up improvement over your current blades, with AP 4 instead of 3, and the same damage bonus (it's Strength/2, rounding up-- so 2 plus the intrinsic +1 of the blades). Cobra Strike is a fun super move that nearly doubles your DB and AP at the expense of an Attack Dice and Charge Bonuses. All around, I think they're pretty good!

Unfortunately, the other project on J-Tech's plate does not go as well. The Ascalon Blade, while incredibly useful, is essentially one-of-a-kind, and losing it would be a great detriment. Thus, J-Tech is to try to analyze its structure and composition, so that they can at least replicate its abilities. However, the blade itself proves quite resistant to their initial attempts at non-destructively imaging its internal structure. At the most, they can say that it's built a bit like a bone-- with a hard outer layer and a softer, shock-absorbent inner layer-- though it's not all one continuous layering from tip to guard. While some of the engineers are asking to be given more time for a second attempt, others suggest that Kaiju Science might have an easier time here, considering the more biological nature of the weapon.

New Disposable +1 Research Bonus available: Ascalon Structural Reverse Engineering!

However, the decision will have to wait a while, as Kaiju Science taking full advantage of the new lab to get some work done on their own project; examining the mechanics behind the Myrmions' localised hivemind.

Cosma serves as the chitinous guinea pig in this situation, scaled up MRI systems being used to check its brain as the researchers compare their readings to those from the previous battles. The main difference in the actual structure of the link is how much neural tissue is linked-- not only are parts of the primary brain linked up, but so are the equivalent parts in the secondary brain. This offers a more stable link across short distances, which would enable the rapid data comparison/analysis and neural load support exhibited by the Myrmions. The easiest comparison would actually be to a Drift-- several minds linked together, all sharing the same memories and resources, and able to bring them to bear with far greater efficiency than just one individual. This even matches the way that a death forces the collapse of the hivemind, as the involuntary loss of one individual splinters and destroys the connection. Really, the notable things are the distances this operated across, and how specialised the parts of the Myrmion brain structure are to use this at full potential.

On a related note, Kaiju science warns that unless someone figures out some way to get a Drift to work over long distances (i.e. without being physically hooked together), they won't be able to make this sort of thing into something that's... well, effective.

Meanwhile, one of the conventional weaponry research teams tries their hand at a mobile C&C centre, designed to enhance targeting and coordination of assets. The end result is... surprisingly small for a "superheavy" unit, though that's mainly due to its lack of a nuclear reactor. No railguns, no plasma cannons, no fancy kinetic shield barriers to suck power away-- just a giant supercomputer, a bunch of sensors, and more communications link-ups than you can shake a kaiju tail at. The actual vehicle is a sort of oversized ATV truck, designed to operate in a variety of environments. In fact, with some modification, the core systems could probably be shifted over to a naval platform with relative ease.

The "Tyr" itself is pretty useful, able to switch between a variety of coordination schemes to optimize certain abilities of nearby units-- though it can only perform one at a time, the issue can be easily solved with additional Tyr units. And just in case, there's even an Arges array available-- though focusing on that alone is a bit of a waste when compared to what the vehicle's otherwise capable of. The main drawback is its lack of armaments and worse fragility when compared to other superheavies-- though, to be fair, that just means it's about as durable as any other normal unit in the force.

New Superheavy Unit available to Purchase: TCC-4 'Tyr' Mobile Command/Control Station!
TCC-4 'Tyr' Mobile Command/Control Station (Superheavy Unit)
4000 Resources
A large all-terrain vehicle equipped with a supercomputer, advanced sensor suite, and variety of comms systems, all made to assist in the coordination of allied assets.
Tou: 0 (AV 1/-)
Agi: 1 (Moves 4 Units per round)
Dex: 2
Durability: 0
Structure: 2
Abilities:
Arges Laser-Targeting Array: Hits on 5+. Range 10/15/-. On a successful hit, guided munitions are treated as having gained 1 Ranged against the target. This point of Ranged may be used for accuracy, or Called Shots. Stacks to a bonus of 2 (1 against underwater targets). All bonuses are removed at the end of the round.
Tyr-class Command Uplink: With its powerful computation skills, a mobile c&c station can provide a variety of beneficial effects to its allies. As a Standard Action, the Tyr may select one boost effect from the list below to use for the duration of the round. The Command Uplink can affect any and all compatible player owned units within 15 units, as long as there are at least two such units within range. Command Uplinks of the same boost type from multiple Tyrs will not stack with each other.
- Remote Analysis Consolidation: Affects all units that can make scanning actions. As long as at least two compatible units are within range, they may add the Tyr's Dexterity as a bonus to all scanning or searching actions they make this round.
- Multiple Vector Fire Control: Affects all units armed with a common weapons system (choose one when this boost is selected). As long as at least three compatible units are within range, then for every three in range and using that weapon this round, a single such unit may reroll its attack dice, choosing the better result.
- Repeat Targeting Sequence: Affects all units armed with a common weapons system (choose one when this boost is selected). Choose one location struck by that weapon last round. As long as at least two compatible units are within range and using that weapon, they may automatically shift their hit location results one slot towards the chosen location.

I think the wording on this one's more than a little iffy, but... eh, I don't know how better to phrase it.
Also, you can always research more types of Command Uplink boosts to use-- in case none of the ones I came up with are appealing.

Next, another group of military researchers try to figure out how to reconfigure an MPF to build naval craft parts. Calculations show it won't have any beneficial impact on construction time or resource savings. Oh well.

Finally in the military developments department is a brand new warhead. Why a warhead? Simple; the order was to make the biggest practical explosion possible without bringing in nuclear weapons, in order to wipe out large hordes of Cat 0s. Well, they've got most of the warhead-- but it's too damn big to fit on any of the missiles. Maybe if there was some sort of... bomber?

New Disposable +1 Research Bonus available: "Sunfire" Wide-Blast Bomb!

Bombs are a thing that is possible, and will support a large blast radius more easily than your current missiles. You are, however, going to need to make something capable of launching them-- or any really big missile, if you still want to go missiles.

Unfortunately, attempts to investigate Naval Base Kitsap are foiled by a combination of issues. Interference from the EM storm still lingers in the area, making a proper scan hard to conduct, while the remnants and residue of several kaiju from the initial apocalyptic wave post-TDJ promise to hinder physical investigations. Too far decayed to be useful, they were originally just left there because their positions wouldn't allow leakage into the bay-- only to now discover that they're providing an entirely different issue. It's quite annoying.

Fortunately, the widespread search and locate operations assisted by the new Kaiju Hunt Scanner are across a large enough area that they're unaffected. The news they bring back is... well, both good and bad. Good, in that they found more kaiju. Bad, in that... well, they found more kaiju.

The first thing that the report brings up is not actually a new kaiju, but an update on some previously found ones.

SE-27-003-H "Tara" has continued its landscaping efforts, and begun work on what seem to be fortifications-- defensive walls of packed clay and stone surrounding its territory, complete with an external moat (it's more like a ditch, really). Condor Flight's also gotten a look at Tara herself. The kaiju is... well, fairly normal looking. A basic, bipedal build with developed hands, and a head resembling a very carnivorous ceratopsian. It doesn't seem like Tara's got many fancy weapons, but her craftiness may well make up for that in a fight.

Meanwhile, SE-27-004-H "Rime" seems to have had some action recently. The shore around its area shows signs of battle-- and, on closer inspection, the remains of several DGINN "dragonfly" VTOLs. Water samples show heightened toxicity levels and the presence of ammonia, suggesting that Rime was indeed injured, though not very much. The kaiju itself is currently sitting further offshore than normal, on the bottom of the ocean floor. Its readings are effectively unchanged since its initial detection, and it's definitely still alive.

That's it for the old kaiju-- leaving now the new kaiju to be addressed.

The first new one can be found northwest of the city, near Cowichan Lake. A Category II, codename "Armstrong" sports striking resemblance to a giant weta, albeit with far more armour. It's actually rather big for a Cat II, balanced out by minimal toxicity and rather low radiation levels-- though, as always, it's a bad idea to underestimate a kaiju. Armstrong appears to be very aggressive, spending most of its time patrolling its territory and tearing apart things with its mandibles and spiked legs.

The other two are, troubling enough, a pair. Codenames "Smirker" and "Dissenter" reside to the east, and appear to be living around Moses Lake. Both are Category IIIs, though they're incredibly different in readings and body plan. Smirker is the more toxic of the two, and appears to be some sort of snake or worm, though not of the burrowing sort. The bigger and more insectile Dissenter, meanwhile, spends most of its time in the actual lake, though even fly-by readings suggest that it's soaked through in radiation. Safe to say, the pair have rendered everything in the nearby area either dead or sterilized.

New Anteverse Activity within Territory!
- SE-27-005-H, "Armstrong", Category II. Location: Northwest. Well-armoured, big, and notable for its high aggression.
- SE-27-006-H, "Smirker", Category III. Location: East. One of two kaiju living around Moses Lake. Serpentine and highly toxic.
- SE-27-007-H, "Dissenter", Category III. Location: East. One of two kaiju living around Moses Lake. Large, insectile, and soaked in dangerous radiation.

With that finished, the council organises the initial party for reclaiming Everett, and sends them out!

...only for them to call back in a short while after arriving, with some rather unfavourable news concerning the city's status.

Everett is mostly empty-- most of its populace have actually fled to Neo-Seattle-- and kaiju incursions from the north have not been kind to it. Sections of the city have been turned to rubble or doused in toxic materials, badly damaging the pre-existing infrastructure. The few people who remain aren't nearly enough to keep the city running properly, though they're still surviving and living there. Worse still is the loss of one of Everett's main draws; the Boeing facility. Previously one of the largest buildings in the world by volume, the entire factory has... well, to be blunt, it looks like a kaiju tried to somersault across it. Very little remains, but there's at least a little that can be salvaged.

+900 R for Everett

Thankfully (if confusingly), the naval station is in somewhat better shape-- its location in the east waterway has at least spared it from environmental damage, if not kaiju damage, and with some extra work it could start to be brought back to activity.

Everett begins with the Naval Base (Non-Augment) Defense trait. Everett must reach Defense 2 before it can access this trait. Other benefits from this trait may be regained with further repair.

With that cleared up, the council has some time to think about it. The city isn't hopeless by any means, even if most of what first made it attractive to them is mostly gone, and expanding their sphere of influence is still going to be useful.

You've established a point of influence in Everett, and can begin stat upgrades to it (though these will be using Neo-Seattle's own actions to accomplish, and each level costs 120% normal cost-- e.g. Pop 0-1 costs 600, Pop 1-2 costs 1200, etc). You'll receive the sheet for it once work is begun on it.

By default, Everett has Population 1 and 0 in all other stats.
Everett's Morale will default at Steady once you begin work on it.
However, its Environment score is currently Unstable, giving a penalty of -1 action per turn (effectively, it has no actions available).

Of course, there's still plenty of time left in the week.

===

Part 1 has concluded. You have 9 Population-based actions remaining, and Ashley's debrief will occur during part 2. Figure stuff out.

Also, I'm gonna go with "Northwestern Protectorate of Neo-Seattle" for your faction name. The last bit may be removed eventually if you really want to, but for now, I'm gonna leave it on.

Downtime Part 2

[x] Plan Further Commitment
--[x] Increase Everett Manufacturing from 0 to 2 (-1800 R)
--[x] Increase Everett Research from 0 to 1 (-600 R)
--[x] Increase Everett Communications from 0 to 1 (-600 R)
--[x] Increase Everett Scanners from 0 to 4 (-6k R)
--[x] Increase Everett Population from 1 to 3 (-3k R)
--[x] Increase Everett Defenses from 0 to 4 (-6k R)
--[x] Using Cosma as a biological basis, try to figure out how to generate "Raubtier" silicon based flesh (Use Cosma bonus)
--[x] Research supercoolant systems for Phenom Sable to mitigate ongoing wounds. Refer to Kaiju with similar traits, such as James and Kaizoku.
--[x] Research a weapon designed to allow initiating a grapple from range. Something like Grae's grapple claws or Sickletongue's tongue, perhaps.

With a point of influence established in Everett, it's not long before Neo-Seattle gets to work. Defensive reinforcements and kaiju shelters are among the first things planned out, alongside the reactivation of the city's naval base. Fibre-optic cables are laid between Everett and Neo-Seattle, roads are repaired, and a new scanner grid is hooked into a somewhat jury-rigged operations centre. Devastated blocks and buildings are cordoned off for reconstruction, while rapid-deploying modular shelters are set up to temporarily serve in their place. It's not long after that a fair number of people, familiar with the reliability of Neo-Seattle's protection, start moving in from across the city-state's territory. A small scientific group is among them, and are set up in a hastily-established research centre near the autonomous manufacturing modules. Finally, sections of the Boeing building are cleared out, providing a fairly basic location where a jaeger can be stored and tended to. It's no shatterdome, but with the city so close to Neo-Seattle, it shouldn't really be necessary.

Jaegers held in Everett currently have the following limitations:
- Only one Jaeger may be held in Everett.
- Jaegers must be transferred to Neo-Seattle in order to repair any Major+ Wounds.
- Everett may not construct Jaegers.

Thus, the city of Everett returns to life.

Everett Established!

Everett Sheet

Manufacturing to 2!
Research to 1!
Communications to 1!
Scanners to 4!
Population to 3!
Defenses to 4!
Naval Base unlocked!

Meanwhile, back in Neo-Seattle itself, there's yet more research and design being undertaken.

Referring back on their previous notes, Kaiju Science and J-Tech try ironing out the basic concepts more. Tests on samples of preserved kaiju flesh offer more insight into nutrition and development of it, and Kaizoku's regenerative ability can almost certainly be used to jump-start growth of key components. The kaiju-taffy-puller idea is looked over, and seems to be a decent way of exercising growing tissue sections. Everything looks pretty promising as to how they'll do the actual creation-- now they'd just need something to start themselves off. While there are several samples of kaiju DNA, the fact is that there's quite a lot of identical pieces (mainly because of samples from similar parts, but the fact that kaiju are genetically-programmed bioweapons can't be discounted), and they're all of somatic cells. The closest to a proper base would be Kaizoku's regenerative cells, which aren't actually something that can be reverse engineered into a kaiju by themselves. No, Kaiju Science needs access to gametes-- or at bare minimum, different stem cells, though gametes are definitely preferable. Once they have those, they could implant one with-- for example-- the primary DNA of Waltz's sample, and use that to start on the foundations for a more seijin-like bio-jaeger.

Methods developed for production and shaping of silicon-based biomass! Genetic base cells still required!

Progress! Science! Cloning!

One of Phenom Sable's weaknesses that's recently come up is their hydraulic muscle strand system, and its naturally high pressure. While normally the tubes and Hyper-Vascular cables can contain this pressure without issue, a hit to somewhere like the throat can, if it opens up several strands too fast to compensate for, cause some serious damage. As such, it needs some way to mitigate this damage. The council's initial suggestions of "super-coolant" as the solution are... interesting, to say the least. While the idea has some merit (better coolant would make loosing coolant less dangerous) none of the kaiju suggested for reference have fluids that are actually suited for use as coolant-- both James' and Kaizoku's blood are pretty toxic, and definitely aren't chemically inert outside their bodies. Furthermore, James' bodily fluids were about as viscous as honey, which is not a good trait for coolant.

However, that doesn't mean that something can't still be done, and the idea of "clotting" the jaeger's wounds is still very much on the table. In fact, there is a kaiju whose data could be helpful here; Terrornook. Though it was initially thought that its curious, oily blood would be useless in jaeger applications, due to their inorganic nature, Phenom's biomechanical, silicon-based motive system is a lot closer to a kaiju or seijin's than normal. After a battery of tests and examinations, it's determined that, by introducing special micro-fibres and treating the kaiju's platelets, a powerful coagulation and clotting factor can be provided! Of course, there are some drawbacks to this; namely, it will only function in things that actually have a somewhat biological circulatory system-- such as the Hyper-Vascular strand system, or the proposed "Raubtier" bio-jaegers. However, this should pose no trouble to Phenom Sable, since it already fulfills this condition.

New Jaeger/Raubtier Modification Available: TN-0 Rapid Clotting Factor!
TN-0 Rapid Clotting Factor (Torso)
Costs 1500 Resources
Drawn from data on the unusual blood possessed by the kaiju Terrornook, the TN-0 Rapid Clotting Factor is a specially treated mix of silicon platelet-equivalents and shaped micro-fibres meant to be used within a silicon-based circulatory system, and renewed by an artificial regenerative organ in the torso. When present, the micro-fibres in TN-0 enhance its medium's fluid tension, reducing the risk of losing vital fluids, while the special platelets rapidly respond to any cuts or breaks in the vessel, sealing up wounds within minutes. The only disadvantage of this modification is that it will not function for purely mechanical jaegers-- some sort of biomechanical circulatory arrangement is necessary for there to be any effect.
A Jaeger or Raubtier with TN-0 treats its current Ongoing Wounds as one lower for all relevant purposes, to a minimum of zero. In addition, it automatically heals 1 Ongoing Wound each round.
The TN-0 Rapid Clotting Factor can only be used by raubtiers, or jaegers with a pre-existing Hyper-Vascular Modification.

So, this isn't actually super-coolant, but I'm gonna be honest and say that super-coolant is not exactly what you want for Ongoing mitigation. The kaiju have weird biology that allows them to work that way, and toxic kaiju sludge is typically not gonna be good for reactors.

On the plus side, this actually partially fills in your "life support" requirement for raubtiers (specifically, in the healing bit)! Yay!

Attempts at replicating Grae's "Grapnel Claws" fall flat when designers run into a few problems. While a the fluid-pressure launching mechanism is simple enough, and they can easily refer to the Hyper-Vascular Muscle Strands for the high-tensile cables one would need for such a weapon, the problems are 1) actually hitting the target, and 2) preventing the weapon from getting ripped out of its mounting when they inevitably try to pull back. Examination of the samples from Grae's arms suggest a more layered structure to the cables, which may be involved in its control scheme. Furthermore, there's evidence that several hollow or oddly ridged bones in the kaiju's forearms served as "guides" for the grapnel cables, though this too will need further examination. It's definitely not impossible-- they just need some more time to figure out the specific details.

Grapnel Gun research difficulty lowered!

Honestly, if it hadn't been a nat 1, I'd have given you your grapnel gun.

Interestingly enough, the next time an alarm goes off, it's not the kaiju alert-- but something completely different.

<ALERT: INCOMING ANGEL-NET TRANSMISSION>

[ ] Pick it up!
[ ] ...nah, not today.

Captainwolf · Nov 10, 2020

[X] Pick it up!

As soon as the council accepts the transmission, one thing becomes clear: it's not from KRAUN's leaders. It's a distress call.

Outpost MICHAEL Emergency Transmission said:
KRAUN OUTPOST MICHAEL TO ALL ALLIED FORCES REQUEST IMMEDIATE AID REPEAT REQUEST IMMEDIATE AID MULTIPLE KAIJU INBOUND ONE CAT FOUR THREE CAT TWOS REPEAT ONE CAT FOUR THREE CAT TWOS OUTPOST LOCATION SPOKANE VALLEY WASHINGTON STATE REPEAT OUTPOST LOCATION SPOKANE VALLEY WASHINGTON STATE ALL ALLIED FORCES PLEASE ASSIST

While completely and utterly unexpected, the actual message does seem to check out-- it's using the same transmission frequency as previous KRAUN forces, after all. However, this does leave a slight problem. Spokane is three hundred and sixty five kilometres from Neo-Seattle, and only five less from Everett. At best, it'd still take over an hour to get the jaegers there, by which point aid may very well have come too late. But they won't know unless they try.

What's the plan, guys?
[ ] Contact them back, and ask for specifics. We have to know what we're gonna be up against before we can render a decision. (increases time before arrival, greatly increases situational awareness, redoes vote after gaining results)
[ ] Get the jaegers and our fastest air force units ready, and launch asap! We can ask questions while we're on our way. (minimal time before arrival, minor increase in situational awareness, pretty much just jaegers and air force)
[ ] Gather everything, and send them out! We'll crush the kaiju with overwhelming force! (increases time before arrival, minor increase in situational awareness, same units as above plus however many ground units you want to bring)
[ ] Well, I'm sure one of KRAUN's jaegers is closer than we are. They can handle it, probably. (no arrival, no situational awareness, complete dick move, don't choose this one)

Combat Deployment

[X] Get the jaegers and our fastest air force units ready, and launch asap! We can ask questions while we're on our way. (minimal time before arrival, minor increase in situational awareness, pretty much just jaegers and air force)
-[X] Prep a second wave of reinforcements; no reason we have to hold our fastest units back and not bring our secondary forces.

With no hesitation at all, Neo-Seattle's swiftest forces are scrambled, and rush out to the east-- a cloud of helicopters, planes, and all three jaegers held beneath a trio of Meganeuras.

===

As the three jaegers underwent their startup sequences, the long wait affording plenty of time for the pilots to tune and tighten little bits of their machines, the Neo-Seattle operations centre filled them in on the situation.

"Outpost MICHAEL has confirmed the kaiju as a quadruple event, composed of a Cat IV and three Cat IIs," LOCCENT reports. "Based on what data they've been able to give us, it seems like they're all quadrupeds, and the big one masses about the same as the other three combined. It's also expected to have some sort of ranged attack. We can't confirm it for ourselves-- our sensors don't extend that far-- but your suites should be able to gather a bit of data in the field. That's all we've got, unfortunately."

"No problem," Noah reported, giving a somewhat distracted shrug. The ranger had seemed a little focused on something else recently, and Tacit's neural handshake was a bit more fidgety than usual as a result. Thankfully, it wasn't going low enough to affect combat performance, but it did seem a bit concerning. "It's good to know anyways."

"What of their bearing?" Jagdhund asked.

"Thankfully, they're on the western side of the city, so it'll be faster to get to them. We still don't have precise estimates on when they'll reach the city in relation to you, but "

Then Phenom's team spoke up.

"Hey, one last thing, LOCCENT," Kanji said. "What are we calling these guys? We can't just say 'the Cat IV', or 'the Cat II', or 'SE-something something'."

"Don't worry, Phenom, we've got you covered there," came the answer. "The Category IV is codenamed 'Euphonium'-- and the three Category IIs are 'Flugel', 'Alto', and 'Mello'."

"We're naming them after brass instruments?" Noah's copilot asked, further displaying their knowledge of random trivia. "Is there any reason?"

"Dunno. The codename generator's got its own sort of style, it seems."

"In any case, good hunting, you three!"

===

- Spokane, WA. Ninety minutes since receiving distress call from Outpost MICHAEL.

As the air force of Neo-Seattle approaches the Spokane River, they're met with a sight not seen in a long time. Devastation.

A path of carnage and ruin snakes its jagged way into the city, marking the trail of the kaiju. It's clearly new-- Euphonium and the others must have reached Spokane just a few minutes prior, and are rampaging their way through on the way to Spokane Valley. Fires sweep across the outskirts, burning unnatural colours and smoldering with the toxic fumes of boiling acid. Multiple blocks are already reduced to rubble, torn apart or smashed by brute force.

One thing is clear-- even though they've arrived quickly, they're still going to be cutting it close.

Out amongst the smoke and ruins, something pauses mid-stride, and swings a massive head westward.

Your scouts, Condors, and Quetzals will arrive on the battlefield at roughly 140 units from the Outpost MICHAEL. Banshees, Hellhounds, and the Jaegers will arrive next round at the same point.
Visual contact will be established on your first round, but you estimate the kaiju can't be more than half your distance into the city.

Also, goddammit; I forgot to write up the downtime bit of you having Noah talk to Ashley and present the options. That's gonna be something I'll have to do at some point during or after this fight.

Combat Round 1

[X] Full Speed Ahead!
-[X] Phenom activates his Barrier Plate.

Engines snarl as the air force's advance team swoops in, closing distance to get a better idea of the situation. Behind them, the main group follows, reaching the river as the three Meganeura teams drop altitude. Solenoid bolts at the ends of lift cables unlock with synchronized precision, and the trio drop to the ground, the earth shaking beneath their feet. Mechanisms shift and twist beneath layers of armour plating, transferring force and torque as the jaegers rise to their feet, steam curling from reactor vents as lights flicker on across their frames. Tacit's fangblades slide forwards into a ready position, Jagdhund's backpack and weaponry unlock from their compacted state, and Phenom's shoulder plate shifts open to activate his Barrier Field. Together, the jaegers stand, ready for the fight.

Then, as a gust of wind blows the smoke away, and the scouts' transmissions arrive, they see them; the kaiju.

Euphonium is, unsurprisingly, the biggest. A living fortress of pitch black chitin and slate grey scales, the kaiju's absurd size is only made more apparent by the quartet of spike-tipped legs that are somehow supporting it without being driven through the ground. Rows of parallel armour plates line its dorsal half, going all the way back to the spiny, peacock-like tail that plumes out behind it. Disturbingly, the creature seems to lack a neck, or even much of a head-- instead, everything in front of its forelegs is one giant set of jaws, clamped shut in an ear-splitting, glowing blue grin of teeth the size and shape of freight train cars. As the scouts watch, Euphonium turns further towards them, and widens its stance.

Spread out around the Category IV are its fellows-- and while not quite as massive, they still seem to be just as dangerous in their own ways. All of them share a basic lupine form, as well as the pitch black and glowing blue colours of Euphonium, but each is radically different from the others after there.

Flugel is situated on the northern flank, though she comes stomping around westward as soon as she hears the crafts' engines. Of the three, Flugel seems to be the most physically durable-- stocky proportions, a short but thick tail, and what seems to be a frill of armoured plates around the back of her skull. A thin stream of acid dribbles from the kaiju's mouth, leaking from between her peg-like teeth.

Alto is the furthest, maintaining her position to the southeast of Euphonium. In comparison to the other Cat IIs, Alto seems very square-- possibly more so than Euphonium is. Also like the Cat IV, she has an almost disproportionately large head, and equally well-developed throat. As her fellows turn, the kaiju lets out a high-pitched whine of curiosity, and glances over her armoured shoulder, head tilting at an almost ninety degree angle.

Finally, there's Mello, the closest kaiju to them. Long-legged, narrow-faced, and built like an alien greyhound, it's pretty obvious that this kaiju will favour speed over armour. That said, while she may be more fragile than the others, there's something... disconcerting about how her two whip-like tails flick and twirl about, shimmering a bright, almost metallic blue. Unlike the other kaiju, Mello has simply turned in place, staring coolly at the buzzing aircraft with slit-like eyes.

Your main forces and jaegers are 60 from the kaiju, scouts and airplanes about 40. The kaiju themselves are 80 from the Outpost.

Oh, and some appropriate mood music.

Combat Round 2

[X] Our forces advance.
-[x] The Air Force spreads out and advances along with the Jaegers.
-[x] Taunting the Kaiju is encouraged.

In moments, the air force scatters, spreading thin to approach the targets from a wide front, before beginning their advance. The scouting craft continue to close in, similarly spreading out as they close in.

Evidently, however, the kaiju aren't the only ones who've seen them arrive, as the Condor groups pick up a radio broadcast-- over a frequency they recognise as the same one used by KRAUN forces during their expedition to the GLA. Seems that the distress call was indeed legitimate!

Outpost MICHAEL's units consist of 3 light Auto-Tank squads, and 3 VTOL scout squads. They'll stay back by the Outpost by default, but you can request their assistance if you want. Your choice.

Glad to have that cleared up, the jaegers begin their advance, Tacit leading from the centre with Jagdhund and Phenom on either side. As they make their way into the city, Noah blares Tacit's horn, the pneumatic klaxon howl issuing a challenge to the kaiju.

Surprisingly, it actually seems to work somewhat.

At least two of the four kaiju immediately respond back, their attention clearly drawn by the white jaeger. Flugel snarls, neck frill flaring like a set of hackles, while Alto lets out an excited shriek, already scrambling westwards to stand beside her sibling. Mello's expression doesn't appear to change at all, though she does step aside to let Alto past.

Euphonium shifts, as though considering its options. Then, with a nearly subsonic groan, the Category IV thrusts itself forwards, smashing its pointed feet into the concrete. Without delay, the three other kaiju take off as well, Flugel and Alto taking spots next to Euphonium's head, while Mello darts around the side, maintaining a bit of distance from the others as she strides noiselessly* alongside them, keeping a watchful eye on the metal gnats up above.

Distances:
PPDC:
- Tacit 47 from kaiju.
- Jagdhund 49 from kaiju.
- Phenom 50 from kaiju.
- Attack Helis (Hellhounds and Banshees) 50 from kaiju, 135 from Outpost, very spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes 20 from kaiju, 105 from Outpost, also spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 18 from Outpost.
- MICHAEL scouts 24 from Outpost.
Anteverse:
- Euphonium, Flugel, Alto, and Mello are ~50 units from your jaegers, 85 from the Outpost. Flugel and Alto are the closest to your forces, with Euphonium right behind them, and Mello taking up the rear. Flugel and Alto are 1-2 units from Euphonium, while Mello's around 4 units south.

*not literally noiseless, but Mello might as well be in comparison to her siblings or Eu.

Combat Round 3

[X] Jaegers and Attack Choppers keep advancing until the distance between them and the kaiju is about 35 units or something of interest happens
-[x] Planes and scouts keep their current distance to the Kaiju until they link up with the Jaegers

With the sudden advance of the kaiju, the airplanes and scouts pull back a little ways, trying to keep a safe distance from the quartet while their backup arrives. Of course, the attack helicopters are moving quick enough, keeping ahead of the jaegers as they advance. Tacit strides across the ruined streets, legs pumping in loping, purposeful steps. Keeping pace is Jagdhund, throwing noticeably more weight behind her movements to stay abreast, while Phenom's accelerated to almost a stampede, just a short ways behind the two. Just a little bit longer, and they'll be able to engage the kaiju as a group alongside the rest of their military forces.

Of course, that's when the kaiju stop acting according to plan.

As violently as it threw itself forwards, Euphonium smashes its forelegs into the earth, killing its velocity fast enough that its hind feet actually lift a few metres off the ground for a couple seconds! The ground shatters around it, any remaining pieces of asphalt exploding under the load of over ninety thousand cubic metres of giant alien monster, before the Category IV finally skids to a halt, legs bent to the point where its underbelly nearly scrapes the ground. With far more grace than anything its size has a right to have, Euphonium straightens up, widening its stance as it levels its head towards the approaching forces.

A shrieking, muffled noise warbles out from behind the kaiju's sealed grin, before its tail unfolds, expanding out behind it like the ribs of a multi-layered umbrella. Rows of grey spines erect along the sides of each arc, their tips nearly touching as they fill with luminous blue fluid. Armoured sections flare along Euphonium's flanks like gills, as flattened blades swing from the gaps between its carapace. The air begins to ripple around the dish-like thing that its tail has become, the glow of its concentrically ringed spines starting to grow brighter.

"...Oh, that's not good," Tacit's pilots note in unison.

Distances:
PPDC:
- Tacit 39 from kaiju.
- Jagdhund 39 from kaiju. (ran this round)
- Phenom 40 from kaiju. (ran this round)
- Attack Helis (Hellhounds and Banshees) 38 from kaiju, 123 from Outpost, very spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes 25 from kaiju, 110 from Outpost, also spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 18 from Outpost.
- MICHAEL scouts 24 from Outpost.
Anteverse:
- Euphonium, Flugel, Alto, and Mello are ~40 units from your jaegers, 85 from the Outpost.
- Flugel and Alto have come to a halt just over 1 unit diagonal to Euphonium's front. They are the closest kaiju to you.
- Euphonium is pretty much just 1 unit behind Flugel and Alto, and is doing something that is definitely of interest.
- Mello is chilling 4 units south of Euphonium.

Your turn.

Combat Round 4

[X] Phenom runs for cover.
[X] Tacit and Jagdhund advance at a "V" angle, to create some distance between each other.
[X] The Air Force advances and every unit that enters range fires at Euphonium.

"All jaegers, evasive maneuvers!" Noah shouts. Tacit Ronin jukes to the side, accelerating northeast to put some distance between itself and the other. Jagdhund follows suit, heading southwards to further her teammate's efforts at scattering. Phenom Sable, not designed for such high-speed maneuvers, is forced to improvise. The Uemuras throw out their left arm, snapping the Destroyer Talons out in time to grab a shattered building nearby, and use it as a pivot point. The black jaeger swings around, hunkering down as it comes to a halt in a side road. Simple buildings aren't the best cover, but they'll hopefully cushion the blow a little.

Meanwhile, the air force shoots forwards, closing distance as fast as they can in hopes of stopping Euphonium from doing whatever it's doing before it finishes doing it. Unfortunately, the attack helicopters are still a few seconds out from effective range, leaving the scout craft and Quetzals the only armed forces capable of actually hitting the target. In an attempt to make up for missing firepower, only about two thirds of the autogyros activate their Arges systems, the rest preparing their rocket pods for the one of the first times in a long, long time.

Fortunately, Euphonium is very, very hard to miss.

7 Arges Hits! +2 Ran!

A dozen warheads slam into the front of the kaiju's body, bursting apart into plumes of fire upon impact. And yet, when the flames flicker out seconds later, the only signs of damage are the cracked and pitted blades above its right foreleg-- even blows that seem like they should have done something appear to have been warded off entirely by the kaiju's armour.

6 hits! Glancing Wound to R. Shoulder!
Euphonium takes 1 Strike!

But while Euphonium doesn't seem very perturbed, its teammates are practically livid.

Alto draws a deep breath, and lets out a particularly high-pitched wail at the aircraft. The windows of nearby buildings shatter, and even the reinforced windscreen of one of the Quetzals sprouts a tiny fracture. Worriedly, the crew don their face masks, the copilot getting on the radio to warn the rest of the air force.

Unfortunately, that's not the only threat to be worried about.

Tail Thrash!:
(4,8,8)

Before the southernmost AG-60s can react to the sudden proximity alarm, a pair of metallic blue ribbons shoot into their midst, crushing the lead airframes in their coils, and smashing them through the surrounding helicopters! Discarding the splintered wrecks, Mello's tails retract to their normal length as their owner strides silently forwards, eyes shimmering like sunlight on water.

2 AG-60 squadrons destroyed!

Flugel, meanwhile, takes a defensive stance against the forces on the northwestern flank, pawing the ground as her armoured neck frill flares open like a shield. Acidic saliva bubbles from between her teeth, sending up fumes as it splatters along the ground.

Armoured Frill Flared! Flugel provides Light Cover to Euphonium!

Undeterred by the barrage it just absorbed, or the evasive maneuvers of the incoming jaegers, Euphonium continues to stand its ground as the glow builds. A sudden crack comes from the kaiju's tail, as the inner layers of the structure begin to rotate around a common axis, slowly spinning up in opposite directions. With a strained snarl, Euphonium's jaw unlocks, armoured plates sliding away in sections as its luminous grin pulls apart, revealing the glowing, pulsating innards of its maw-- and the cylindrical apparatus protruding a short ways from the back of its throat, a blue-white light flickering at its core. Whole slabs of carapace have shifted from the front of the kaiju's increasingly intimidating maw, leaving swaths of indigo membrane and turquoise muscle tissue exposed as the Cat IV's radiation levels begin to skyrocket.

Distances:
PPDC:
- Tacit 30 from kaiju, 5 units north of Jagdhund.
- Jagdhund 30 from kaiju, 5 units south of Tacit.
- Phenom 37 from kaiju, in Medium cover (+2 Difficulty).
- Attack Helis 23 from kaiju, 108 from Outpost, spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes 10 from kaiju, 95 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 18 from Outpost.
- MICHAEL scouts 24 from Outpost.
Anteverse:
- Euphonium, Flugel, Alto, and Mello are 30 units from your closest jaegers, 85 from the Outpost.
- Flugel and Alto are 1 unit diagonal to Euphonium's front.
- Mello 5 units in front of Euphonium, 2 units south. She's now the closest kaiju, but we're still measuring your position from Flugel and Alto because reasons.
- Euphonium is 1 unit behind Flugel and Alto, and continues to get more and more interesting with each passing second.

Combat Round 5

[X] Jagdhund keeps walking in the same direction and fires a Full Auto burst at Euphonium.
[X] Phenom keeps moving closer to the Kaiju, getting to more cover
[X] Airforce fires everything at Euphonium, called shot to the Head, shifting one.
[X] Six Arges scouts target Euphonium, the rest shoot it with rockets.
[X] Tacit runs for Flugel.
-[X] Activate Sound Breaker

Frantically, the order to fire goddamn everything surges through the air force. Arges systems are trained on the exposed flesh, basic targeting data sent (2 Arges Hits), before the onrushing helicopters spew out their entire payload of missiles-- hundreds of writhing, burning trails swooping through the air at the kaiju!

Barely a second later, an ear-piercing scream erupts from Alto's throat, meeting the wall of missiles halfway and slamming into them! Nearly half the warheads are blown apart prematurely, exploding in a spray of burning acid and shrapnel. Alto stumbles, gagging and panting from the strain of the sonic attack-- unable to respond to the remaining warheads in time.

Sonic Interceptor:
(3,4,9,9,1,4,10,8,4,8,2,10,2,5,3,8)

7 Attacks intercepted!

But Flugel's already in action, swinging her upper body and armoured frill straight in front of her teammates-- just in time to block the remaining missiles with herself! Bands of chitinous plating crack and splinter under the barrage, several fins along the left side of her frill straight up breaking off as a pair of warheads detonate against the side of Flugel's head. Still, that doesn't stop the stocky kaiju from shielding the others, until the last missile finally detonates.

Euphonium takes 5 hits! No damage!
Flugel takes 7 hits! Glancing Wounds to the Torso, Chest, Head, Right Shoulder! Frill Overlay Left Arm Group destroyed!
Flugel takes 4 Strikes!
Alto takes 4 hits! Glancing Wound to the Left Arm!

Even where the frill has failed to completely protect Euphonium or Alto, it's taken enough of the initial impact that their own defenses can deal with it. The only place where one of the two has been hurt is a scorched and warped area on Alto's left foreleg where a bit of Dragon's Blood splashed into the seams of the armour. Flugel, by comparison, looks far worse-- aside from the damage to her frill (now drooping limply towards the ground), there's an ugly melted burn across her right flank, indigo blisters oozing acid blood from between the armour plates, and a smaller wound of the same sort on the left side of her head.

The battered kaiju sinks to the ground, the cover she provided for the others falling away.

Taking advantage of the kaiju's temporary loss of their living shield, Jagdhund and Phenom close in-- the latter trying to stay in cover, while the former fires a clumsy spray of bullets towards the Category IV. With no time to line up a shot, the gun's aim is poor, and its shells simply bounce off Euphonium's angular spine, completely failing to pierce the armour.

Hit to R. Thigh! Hit to Spine! No damage!
8/12 Ammunition Units remaining!

Mello's legs tense for a moment, before the lupine kaiju takes off towards Jagdhund, sprinting across the ground. As she passes under the scouts, her tails lash out before her, tearing apart a squadron of second wave helicopters that are in the way.

Tail Thrash!:
(5,4,13)

Banshee Assault Helicopter Squadron destroyed!

Meanwhile, as Euphonium's weapon continues to charge unabated, Noah steps his efforts up a notch. The fuel tanks on Tacit's back swing up like wings, before their engines spark and ignite, thrusting the mecha forwards as it dashes in at even greater speeds!

Sound Breaker Activated! Tacit gains +3 Agi for 3 rounds!

Flugel and Alto take immediate notice of this, their hackles raising in alarm as they look over at the jaeger. The two let out twinned cries, seemingly trying to alert the Category IV of the rapidly-approaching enemy.

As it turns out, they needn't worry.

Tails spinning like the blades of an alien jet engine, blue-white light gushing from the cannon that its gaping mouth has become, Euphonium twists-- tearing its spiked legs through the ground as it swings its entire body a few degrees northwards. The humming and whirring has become a climbing, ultrasonic shriek, resonating in time with the stuttering glow of its weapon. Flugel throws herself back to the ground, flattening her frill as much as she can to get out of the line of fire.

A moment later, Euphonium unleashes its fully-charged Siege Cannon.

Roll 1d10+9 to Dodge!

Distances:
PPDC:
- Tacit 9 from kaiju (Euphonium), 5 units north of Jagdhund.
- Jagdhund 12/24 from kaiju (Mello/Alto), 5 units south of Tacit.
- Phenom 32 from kaiju (Flugel/Alto/Euphonium), in Medium cover (+2 Difficulty).
- Attack Helis ~15 from kaiju, 100 from Outpost, spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes ~10 from kaiju, 95 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 18 from Outpost.
- MICHAEL scouts 24 from Outpost.
Anteverse:
- Euphonium, Flugel, Alto, and Mello are about 85 units from the Outpost.
- Flugel and Alto are 1 unit diagonal to Euphonium's front.
- Mello is 12 units west of Euphonium, 2 units south (12 from Jagdhund).
- Euphonium is 1 unit behind Flugel and Alto.

This is it.

Combat Round 5 Reaction
(16)

Siege Cannon:
(12)

With all the ferocity of a master warrior, Tacit Ronin throws itself to the side, desperately trying to avoid the kaiju's incoming attack. However, Euphonium's not that easy to escape.

A solid blue-white line, surrounding by a burning halo of ionized air, lances out of the cannon's bore, exploding forth like water from a pressure cutter. After the fight, rapid analysis will reveal that the beam itself is only just under half a metre wide in this more coherent state-- but with the sheer energy pumped into it, that's more than enough to wreck havoc on anything in the immediate vicinity.

While Tacit Ronin's reflexes and speed are enough to get free of the beam itself, it's insufficient to fully evade the column of plasma trailing half an instant behind it. As the line passes by, blasting out until its charge can sustain coherency no more, a wave of burning blue-white light washes over the jaeger's right arm. Tacit jerks leftwards, the grace of its evasive action interrupted by searing pain. Though there's no time to properly examine it, it's clear that even a brush with the attack did some serious damage. Plates of superalloy have melted and sloughed off, the remnants fusing into the jaeger's forearm enough to inhibit motion. The fangblade, made of materials far less durable than Jagdarium, is straight up gone from the limb, leaving only a ragged stump of metal.

Hit to Right Arm! Minor Wound! Right Fangblade destroyed! Armour destroyed!
Tacit takes 3 Strikes! +1 Ongoing! -1 HtH, -1 Dex!

Noah and his copilot hold their mouths shut, trying to force away the instinct to clutch at an arm that feels like it's been drenched in molten lava. Even with their practice, it's not easy.

It's a few seconds later that Euphonium's Siege Cannon seems to exhaust itself, the beam guttering and dying out. But even used for only that short a time, the weapon has still left its mark. A burning line of destruction has been carved from Spokane, cutting a melted path over five kilometres in length through the city.

The Category IV stands frozen in place, steam boiling from its exposed tissues.

Your turn.

PPDC:
- Tacit 9 from kaiju (Euphonium), 5 units north of Jagdhund.
- Jagdhund 12/24 from kaiju (Mello/Alto), 5 units south of Tacit.
- Phenom 32 from kaiju (Flugel/Alto/Euphonium), in Medium cover (+2 Difficulty).
- Attack Helis ~15 from kaiju, 100 from Outpost, spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes ~10 from kaiju, 95 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 18 from Outpost.
- MICHAEL scouts 24 from Outpost.
Anteverse:
- Euphonium, Flugel, Alto, and Mello are about 85 units from the Outpost.
- Flugel and Alto are 1 unit diagonal to Euphonium's front.
- Mello is 12 units west of Euphonium, 2 units south (12 from Jagdhund).
- Euphonium is 1 unit behind Flugel and Alto.

Before you guys call bullshit, Euphonium's Siege Cannon has a number of special rules concerning its operation, in return for the lengthy and vulnerable process of using the weapon in the first place.

Combat Round 6

[X] Less Obvious Consequences with Less Thrusting
-[X] Tacit Normal Charge Stabs Flugel
-[X] Phenom Sable Runs towards Euphonium
-[X] Everything that can shoot at Mello lights up on Mello.
--[X] Jagdhund goes Full Burst on Mello, because it's standing between her and Euphonium.
--[X] scouts go four Arges, all other missiles

Alright, screw hiding any longer-- we've got an opening, and we're going to take it! Phenom Sable, moving in to assist!"

With a squeal of metallic joints, the black jaeger bursts from cover, stampeding forwards towards the trio of kaiju as clouds of steam erupt from Euphonium's flanks and tail array.

Meanwhile, the air force finds itself tied up in dealing with the rampaging form of Mello, who's currently tearing her way through them in the opposite direction. Whole chunks of aircraft pull away from their previous lines, trying to move to surround the lupine monster as several scout groups engage their Arges systems. Even Jagdhund swings her gun up, ready to blast the kaiju into pieces.

3 Arges hits!

Mello's eyes shimmer, as if sensing what's about to happen.

And everything opens fire.

Dance Aside:
Crit?!:
(15)

In moments, a dust cloud explodes up around Mello from inaccurate munitions, swallowing the kaiju in smoke and debris as the collective remaining firepower of the Northwestern Protectorate's forces is brought to bear upon her. But it's almost instantly clear that something's wrong-- namely, when a flurry of laser fire ricochets out of the cloud, slashing through an incoming wave of friendly munitions! Flashes of blue light flare to life inside the cloud, dashing from side to side with confounding speed. Then, without waiting for the barrage to finish, Mello explodes from the westernmost side of the cloud, the exposed flesh between her armour plates shining a brilliant azure!

All attacks evaded!
4 Scouts out of Ammo!
4/12 Ammunition Units left!

The kaiju rushes forwards on all fours, shifting out of the way of the last of Jagdhund's gunfire before leaping into melee, tails slashing!

Charge!:
(12)

Reaction!
[ ] Block! (1d10+1)
[ ] Parry! (1d5+3)
[ ] Dodge! (1d10+4)
[ ] *startled cursing*

With a shout of pain and retributive fury, Tacit Ronin dashes across the last few hectometres, aiming for the frilled Cat II! Unhappy with its survival of Euphonium's attack, Flugel leaps to her feet, frill flattening and folding against her body as she moves to meet Tacit's strike!

Block!:
(7)
(13)

A half-melted fist slams into the blistered flesh of Flugel's head, knocking her response out of true as Tacit's left arm comes hurtling around from the other side! However, Flugel's not quite as stunned as she appears to be, and throws herself forwards, trying to get inside the jaeger's reach before it can land another blow. Noah just barely narrows the arc in time, slashing the edge of his remaining Fangblade against his foe's reinforced spine-- right where an armoured frill plate has failed to completely retract!

Hit to Spine! Minor Wound! Flugel suffers a 1 Universal Penalty!
Flugel takes 3 Strikes! +1 Ongoing!

Flugel squeals, pulling back momentarily as blue blood spurts from the wound. The kaiju's lips pull back into snarl, before her jaw yawns open, tube-shaped glands bulging out in the back of her mouth as she prepares to spit acid!

Reaction!
[ ] Block! (1d10+3)
[ ] Parry! (1d10+2)
[ ] Dodge! (1d10+9)

Good armour saves Flugel's bacon. Yay!

Also-- fucking hell, Mello, where did that come from?!

Edit: fixed Tacit's dodge.

Combat Round 6 Reactions

[X] Dodge! (1d10+4)
-[x] *startled cursing*
[X] Dodge! (1d10+9)

(13)
Tail Thrash:
(9)

Letting out a startled spray of machine code, Jagdhund dodges away, sidestepping the first of Mello's strikes. The second tail slashes around, though she manages to duck in time, as Mello skids to a stop-- barely a block away from the machine.

(14) Emergency Rectifier used up!
Acid Spray:
(11,4)

With a mere thought, Tacit's pilots engage their gyroscopic rectifiers, twisting the jaeger around in time for another pulse of solid rocket fuel to shove them towards the side. A loose jet of azure solvent sprays out of Flugel's mouth, passing by the white machine before splattering against the scorched ground.

Before Noah can ready a counter-attack, however, a high-pitched squeal cuts through the air-- as Alto pounces, tombstone-shaped teeth bared!

Second Reaction!
[ ] Block! (1d10+2)
[ ] Parry! (1d10+1)
[ ] Dodge! (1d10+7)

Meanwhile, Euphonium-- though standing still in place-- begins to show that it's not wholly immobile. Its tail array has spun down to a near complete stop, and armour plates along its flanks have started to slide back into place. As steam vents through the peacock-like caudal frill, the barrel of Euphonium's Siege Cannon retracts into the back of its throat, and bladed shoulder fins fold away under carapace panels. Slowly but surely, it's recovering.

Combat Round 6 Reaction 2
Lol crit time.

[X] Dodge! (1d10+7)

(15)
(17)

Alto slams into Ronin's side, her snout smashing into its armoured ribcage hard enough to knock something loose. The kaiju bites down on the angular surface, trying and failing to tear something free before the jaeger grabs ahold of her snout, and shoves the Cat II away.

Glancing Wound to Chest! Tacit Ronin takes 1 Strike!

The attack's damage is minimal in the long run, but it's another hit they didn't need to take.

Alto and Flugel are both engaged with Tacit now. Other than that, there's been no change in distances.

It's now your turn (and the last turn of your SFTs).

Combat Round 7

[X] Plan Retreat and Link Up
-[X] Tacit disengages the Kaiju and retreats to Phenom's position.
-[X] Jagdhund drops M-99 and draws the Ascalon Blade, then attacks Mello.
-[X] Phenom Sable runs to meet Tacit halfway.
-[X] Any Air Force units capable of engaging, fire at Flugel (cluster with Alto). Four Scouts mark the target with the Arges.
-[X] Contact the city's defenders and ask if they would be willing to hit the Kaiju from the back when the chance presents itself.

On the other end of the city, the defensive line of KRAUN forces receives a message relayed by Condor radio, asking for their assistance in performing a pincer attack on the kaiju, with the KRAUN forces striking while the kaiju are distracted.

They agree-- after all, without their allies, there's no way they're strong enough to beat the kaiju on their own.

Thus, Outpost MICHAEL's defense force starts to close in.

[---]

As their thrusters' burn begins to gutter and run out, Noah and his copilot send Tacit into a run, aiming to retreat from the fight. Flugel and Alto dart towards it, trying to take a bite out of the jaeger -- but misjudge the distance, and the two merely collide with a comedic clonk.

(18)
Chomp:
(4)

(16)
Nom:
(5)

A few seconds later, the last of the booster fuel burns out, and Tacit stomps to a halt, the empty propellant tanks ejecting from its back. Phenom Sable runs up, stopping next to the white machine as they both turn to face the kaiju. (SFTs used up.)

Alto and Flugel stumble away from each other, their head shaking as they recover from their awkward collision. As they steady themselves, the mechanical whirring of numerous helicopters grows louder. The two look up, and see the air force swooping in, with readied weapons.

2 Arges hits!

As the helicopters open fire, Alto sinks her claws into the ground, sucks in a breath, and screams.

Sonic Interceptor:
(7,1,1,9,9,2,10,7)

5 Attacks intercepted!

Unlike before, it's not nearly as effective. While the blast of sound readily tears through over half the micro-missile swarm, it does nothing to stop the Banshees' laser attacks-- which strike to notable effect. Beams of heat and light slash across Flugel and Alto's armoured bodies, scorching and searing lines into the plating. Several hit them in the joints, almost immediately causing the flesh to blister and inflame, before the remaining missiles slam into the kaiju. When the smoke clears, both are still standing, but the painful barrage has clearly left them dazed and in far worse condition than before.

Flugel takes 14 hits! Glancing Wounds to Thigh, Arm, and Shoulder!
Flugel takes 3 Strikes!
Alto takes 7 hits! Glancing Wounds to Arm and Pelvis!
Alto takes 2 Strikes! Alto is Stunned!

Meanwhile, Jagdhund casts her weapon aside, and pulls the Ascalon Blade, before rushing towards Mello. The jaeger thrusts out, aiming for the kaiju's ribs--

Parry:
Crit:
(17)
(11)

Critical Parry! Jagdhund cannot react!

--only for Mello's tail to shoot out, wrapping around arm and sword before smashing Jagdhund sideways into a nearby building.

Stunned by the sudden impact, the Mark VI is unable to respond in time, as the kaiju's other tail wraps around her left arm, its flattened edge digging into the exposed joints. Jagdhund struggles, attempting to rise to her feet.

From the east comes a cluster of explosions-- the air force's attack on Alto and Flugel. For a moment, the kaiju pauses, head snapping over just in time to see the billowing fireball of over a dozen munitions swallow up her siblings. Jagdhund struggles again.

With a furious shriek, Mello spins back to her opponent, and rips the jaeger's arm off.

Counter-Attack:
Crit?!:
Double Crit?!:
(31)

Critical Wound to Left Arm! Left Arm Destroyed! Armour Destroyed! -3 HtH! -3 Dexterity!
Jagdhund takes 5 Strikes! +3 Ongoing!

Jagdhund's shoulder joint shatters, tubes for oil and hydraulic fluid splitting open as the entire limb is messily torn from its socket.

Muscle tissue flaring Cherenkov blue beneath the skin, lungs screaming bloody murder, Mello's arm-laden tendril thrashes into the air, before hurtling down like a sledgehammer!

Reaction!
[ ] Block! (1d10-2)
[ ] Parry! (2d5)
[ ] Dodge! (1d10+4)

Mello why do you do this to me. I mean... a critical parry, followed by a double crit counterattack?!
Was that really necessary?!

PPDC:
- Tacit 12 from kaiju.
- Jagdhund engaged with Mello, 24 from other kaiju, 13 from Tacit.
- Phenom 12 from kaiju.
- Attack Helis ~10 from kaiju, 100 from Outpost, spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes 5-10 from kaiju, 90/95 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 24 from Outpost.
- MICHAEL scouts 36 from Outpost.
Anteverse:
- Euphonium, Flugel, and Alto are about 85 units from the Outpost. Mello's like 110 units.
- Flugel and Alto are 1 from Euphonium.
- Mello is 24 units west of Euphonium, 2 units south, and engaged with Jagdhund. She is currently the exact opposite of mellow.
- Euphonium is 1 unit behind Flugel and Alto.

On a different note, I'm gonna wait until you hopefully avoid Death By Mello to resolve Euphonium's stuff.

Combat Round 7 Reaction

[X] Dodge! (1d10+4)
-[X] Emergency Overclock!

Thankfully, defenders have advantage on a tied reaction, and improvised weapons aren't so nice.

Also, no crits this time. Thankfully.

(11)
Stop Hitting Yourself:
(11)

Rerouting power from the lost arm to her legs, Jagdhund manages to dodge forwards, the mangled hunk of metal whistling past with centimetres to spare!

Slowly but surely, Euphonium moves, turning back towards the west as its body frees up. Strips of carapace slide and lock back into place around its head, covering the exposed flesh once more until it's all hidden beneath layers of black chitin. The last of the steam boils off its caudal array, as the peacock-like arrangement begins to deflate and retract back to a proper tail-shape. Pointed feet are pulled from their anchoring points in the ground, and placed back beneath the kaiju to lift it to a proper height.

Finally, with a metallic clang, Euphonium's mouth slams shut, solidifying into its ghastly blue grin once again.

Euphonium has exited Siege Mode.

Combat Round 8

[X] Jagdhund fires the IE-10.
[X] Phenom runs to reinforce Jagdhund.
[X] Tacit Charges Mello and strikes with the Fangblade.
[X] Conventional forces keep firing at Alto. Any scouts that ran out of missiles are to switch to the Arges. Anyone who can't attack with a chance to deal damage, however slim, is to fall back.

Caught off guard by the jaeger's dodge towards her, Mello slips up, wasting just enough time for Jagdhund to tackle the kaiju with her right shoulder. Her left pauldron-- only surviving thanks to its attachment point connecting between the arm's joint and the body-- swings forwards, bringing the boxy shape of the IE-10 to bear on Mello's face.

Unfortunately for the kaiju, it's not so easy to dodge a blast of artificial lightning at point blank range.

Dodge:
(8)
(11)

Well, Mello, it was fun while it lasted.

Hit to the Eyes! Mello is Stunned! Mello takes 7 Temporary Strikes! Mello is Incapacitated!

The discharge hits Mello dead between the eyes, sending arcs of electricity shooting through her brain. The kaiju's limbs seize up, some nerves straight up burning out under strain that they were never made to take.

Jagdhund slams her forearm into the kaiju's throat, sending Mello stumbling back on her hind legs-- right into the blades of the charging Tacit Ronin.

Critical Wound!
SE-27-015 "Mello" Defeated!

Split open by the jaeger's Fangblade, Mello drops like a sack of potatoes, body jerking and twitching as her bioluminescence dies out. Tacit comes to a halt, staring down at the dead kaiju before they look up to Jagdhund, clearly concerned. Fortunately, the autonomous jaeger is still working-- not particularly well in some ways, but she's not out of the fight just yet, even missing an arm.

No damage from Ongoing!

Off in the distance, MICHAEL's forces are booking it towards the fight, making their way down streets and over buildings at considerable haste. There are only two types observed-- a light VTOL with two large, vented engine pods and a small missile payload, and an armoured land vehicle somewhere between a four-legged spider tank and a proper MBT. The VTOLs seem only about twice as fast as the tanks, though the tanks are clearly faster than the Protectorate's Type 100s.

Of course, these are mostly the observations of the Condor teams. Every other present unit in the NWP's air force is focused on the kaiju.

Ammunition is starting to run low in the scout craft-- they were never intended to actually fight for this long without a larger force. Still, they all still have their Arges systems, and that means they can contribute.

1 Arges Hit!

As soon as a lock is confirmed, the aircraft fire. Without Alto's sonic attack available, every warhead that should hit its target does. And it's Alto who suffers the brunt of this attack.

Dozens of laser pulses and rocket attacks whittle away at the lupine kaiju's armour, precision strikes against her ribs and head aimed to try and disable her sonic abilities, while a lucky barrage from one of the Quetzals blows open Alto's foot. A couple fragmented attacks strike Flugel instead, though only one has any real effect-- a missile from the other Quetzal which explodes right against the kaiju's injured eye socket, spewing fragments of hot metal into the armoured lid.

2 Scouts out of Ammo! 4 Scouts have one shot left!
Alto takes 13 hits! Glancing Wounds to Spine, Chest, and Head! Minor Wound to Foot! -2 Agi!
Alto takes 7 Strikes! Alto is losing Stamina!
Flugel takes 7 hits! Glancing Wounds to Foot and Eyes! Eyes Irritated!
Flugel takes 2 Strikes! Flugel is losing Stamina!

The Cat IIs aren't dead yet, but they're barely operational in this state, limping back in an attempt to hide behind the bigger kaiju.

Euphonium, however, is more than happy to provide such respite.

The colossal monstrosity, now shaped more like a dinosaur than an extraterrestrial artillery piece, stomps a few steps towards the air force, grin shimmering with blue, liquid light as it lets out another muffled howl. Standard angry kaiju display.

At least, until a pair of flattened, metallic blades swing out from the gaps in its shoulder plating. The air hums, a hellish blue halo surrounding either fin, before two ravening bolts of electricity leap out from them, tearing into the far too close aircraft before they can evade!

Arc Lightning:
(9,13)
Arcing:
Arc Lightning 2:
(11,4)
Arcing 2:

AG-60 Scout Squadron destroyed!
AG-60 Scout Squadron destroyed!
A-KA-78-L Banshee Assault Squadron destroyed!

The electricity arcs from one target to the next, burning out electronics and frying internals before leaping into the next closest enemy. By the time the three-second pulse runs out of power, three squadrons of aircraft have been blasted out of the skies. They're not all dead-- a good number of the autogyros in particular have simply fluttered to the ground-- but there's not doubt the machines have been put out of the fight permanently.

The Category IV lets out another warble, light shimmering over its boxcar teeth.

PPDC:
- Tacit and Jagdhund are engaged, 24 from kaiju, 3 from Phenom.
- Phenom 22 from kaiju.
- Attack Helis ~10 from kaiju, 100 from Outpost, spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes 5-10 from kaiju, 90/95 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 32 from Outpost.
- MICHAEL scouts 48 from Outpost.
Anteverse:
- Euphonium, Flugel, and Alto are about 85 units from the Outpost.
- Flugel and Alto are behind Euphonium. Euphonium is apparently not a one-trick pony.
- Alas, Mello, we hardly knew ye.

Your turn.

Combat Round 9

[X]Plan Reversal
-[X]Air Force disperses out as far as they can fly in one round.
-[X]Jagdhund goes Prone and Readies the Dolch Gewehr
-[X]Phenom Sable Runs 8 units towards the Kaiju
-[X]Tacit Ronin lopes 8 units and then Overwatches with 2 Laser Vulcans

The air force doesn't need any further persuasion. As the order to retreat spreads through the aircraft in the same way Euphonium's arc lightning did a few seconds ago, the mix of planes and helicopters fall back, putting distance between themselves and the Category IV. It's time for the jaegers to take command.

MICHAEL's forces, meanwhile, continue to close in, getting ready to strike the kaiju from behind.

Tacit Ronin and Phenom Sable stride forwards, the former readying their chest-mounted lasers while the latter simply advances. Behind them, Jagdhund sheaths the Ascalon Blade, before kneeling against the side of a ruined building, and unfolding her shoulder-mounted plasma cannon.

Euphonium warbles, sending another fat arc of bio-electricity crackling between its bladed "horns". It's clearly somewhat anxious-- one of its entourage is dead, and the other two are having trouble even standing by this point.

Which is why it's such a shock when Flugel limps around from the kaiju's left flank, and plants her feet unsteadily before it. Despite her injuries, the Category II seems to have worked up the determination to fight to the bitter end-- an assumption which is soon confirmed, as the kaiju unfolds her armoured frill once more, shielding Euphonium and Alto behind an umbrella of chitin.

Alto seems ready to try and join in as well, despite her hind leg having been pretty much flayed open by missile fire. However, another sound catches her ears before she can try, and the Cat II turns eastward, mouth opening to emit a warning keen as her sonic weapon charges up.

As for Euphonium? It tenses its limbs, radiating blue-white light from its bladed shoulder fins as it braces itself beside Flugel. Another pair of lighting bolts erupt from the blades, aiming to strike the black and silver form of Phenom Sable!

Arc Lightning:
(6,11)
Arcing:

The Uemuras skid to a halt, instinctively raising their arms in defense against the attack-- only for their Barrier Shield to activate, surrounding Phenom in a bubble of iridescent light! The twin strikes splinter as they hit the field, warped and redirected by its repulsive ability!

Barrier Shield absorbs 3 Damage! Attack Nullified!
Barrier Shield absorbs 4 Damage! No damage!
Barrier Shield at 7/11 Integrity!

However, all that does is force Euphonium's attack towards a different target-- forcing Tacit Ronin to evade as a fused bolt of electricity erupts off their teammate's shield, heading straight for them!

Roll 1d10+6 to dodge!

PPDC:
- Tacit is 16 from the kaiju.
- Jagdhund is 24 from the kaiju.
- Phenom is 14 from the kaiju.
- Attack Helis ~22 from kaiju, 112 from Outpost, spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes 25 from kaiju, 115 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 38 from Outpost (47 from kaiju).
- MICHAEL scouts 60 from Outpost (25 from kaiju).
Anteverse:
- Euphonium, Flugel, and Alto are about 85 units from the Outpost.
- Flugel is beside Euphonium, and providing cover to the others.
- Alto is behind Euphonium, and thus the hardest to hit of all (medium cover).

This has to have been one of the longest fights in the game-- though a fair chunk of it is due to your guys' talking.

Combat Round 9 Reaction
(8)
Arc Lightning 2:
(7)

Tacit jerks away, barely managing to get enough distance from the bolt before it falls apart, the charge bleeding off harmlessly into its surroundings.

You got lucky this time, Ronin!

In other news, it's your turn.

Combat Round 10

[X] Plan Well let's kill them v2
-[X] Tacit moves 6 units towards the Kaiju and then holds a charge at Flugel for when it gets within 9 units
-[X] Phenom walks 6 units towards Flugel
-[X] Jagdhund shoots Flugel with the Dolch
-[X] Air force bravely advances away from the Kaiju

As the air force continues to retreat, Tacit, Phenom, and the MICHAEL forces close in from both sides-- the latter's aircraft holding position while the tanks catch up with them. Tacit's muscle strands tense, ready to discharge and send the jaeger into a stampeding rush if the smaller kaiju comes near.

Jagdhund, however, has other plans. Dumping reactor charge into her shoulder cannon, the jaeger takes aim, planning to disable Flugel once and for all. As the hum builds to its full level, she taps the firing stud.

"Disable" is an understatement.

Hit to L. Leg! Minor Wound!
SE-27-013 "Flugel" Defeated!

Before Flugel can turn to adjust the facing of her shield, the boiling blast of plasma smashes into her side, liquefying armour and flesh as it tears its way through her hind leg. Pushed beyond her limits, the Cat II is blown sideways, smacking into Euphonium with a breathless squeak before she simply topples over.

For its part, the Category IV-- despite lacking any facial features besides its obscenely wide grin, jutting brow, and massive chin-- is looking utterly out of its depth, and the loss of its second teammate isn't helping.

Time to go.

Cutting Losses:

Flipping its shoulder fins down under its armour, Euphonium backs up, and slides its tail underneath Alto. The Cat II squawks in surprise, as her teammate stands, flaring open their tail array to shove the smaller kaiju onto its back. Euphonium turns around slowly, giving enough time for Alto to get a little purchase on its flattened dorsal surface, before shoving off. As before, it's not a graceful action in the slightest-- Euphonium throws its body into a thunderous gallop, charging a line across the city in almost the opposite direction its Siege Cannon had fired, if a bit more southward. Given the heading of the Outpost forces, it doesn't seem like it's heading in that direction-- just away from the other forces.

Congratulations, you're starting to make kaiju run away rather than face you guys. Though I suppose that's partially my fault, since I keep putting some sort of familial-esque bond between cohesive squads like these guys.

PPDC:
- Tacit is 15 from the kaiju.
- Jagdhund is 29 from the kaiju.
- Phenom is 13 from the kaiju.
- Attack Helis ~39 from kaiju, 124 from Outpost, spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes 50 from kaiju, 135 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 44 from Outpost (38 from kaiju).
- MICHAEL scouts 60 from Outpost (22 from kaiju).
Anteverse:
- Euphonium and Alto are 83 units from the Outpost, heading south-southeast.
- Flugel is dead, and the world is all the emptier for it.
- Euphonium's decided to leg it, and is bringing Alto along for the ride.

Combat Round 11

[X] Chase
-[X] Phenom Sable Runs 8 units
-[X] Tacit saunters 8 units and fires all the Laser Vulcans
-[X] Jagdhund gets up (and moves towards them as far as she can)
-[X] Air Force moves back in pursuit.

Seeing the kaiju flee, Phenom Sable and Tacit Ronin pick up their pace, trying to catch them. Jagdhund also rises to her feet, though one of the pipes in her flank, damaged from the brutal loss of her arm, tears open in the process, spraying internal components with fluid before running out of pressure a moment later. The jaeger stumbles, but keeps her balance, standing at her full height a few seconds later.

1 Strike from Ongoing! 1 Ongoing Wound healed!

Meanwhile, Tacit Ronin takes rough aim at the retreating monsters, before widening their stance, and firing off a rapid salute of laser fire! Pulsating beams erupt from lenses on either side of the machine's torso, slashing across their targets' bodies in a flurry of boiling hot light!

Unfortunately for the kaiju, it's Alto who takes most of the fire. It doesn't take long to push her over the edge, the kaiju crumpling against Euphonium's back as flesh blisters and scars between armour plates. By the time the laser pulse finishes discharging, Alto's not going to be able to fight for a while-- though she's by no means dead yet.

Euphonium takes 5 hits! No damage!
Alto takes 7 hits! Alto is Incapacitated!
SE-27-014 "Alto" Defeated!

I'm not adding Alto to your Kill Count just yet, due to her current situation of being carried and stuff.

However, Euphonium remains completely unaffected, and it's not giving up. The Category IV continues its rush towards the south, plowing through a building that's in its path. It may not be fast enough to outrun everything, or even most things that the Protectorate's got, but it's putting up some pretty respectable resistance.

PPDC:
- Tacit is 17 from the kaiju.
- Jagdhund is 39 from the kaiju.
- Phenom is 15 from the kaiju.
- Attack Helis ~37 from kaiju, 112 from Outpost, spread out.
- Scouts and Airplanes 40 from kaiju, 115 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 50 from Outpost (40 from kaiju).
- MICHAEL scouts 60 from Outpost (30 from kaiju).
Anteverse:
- Euphonium and Alto are 80 units from the Outpost, heading south-southeast.
- Alto's Incapacitated, so you needn't worry about any sonic attacks.

Choo choo.

Combat Round 12

[X] Plan Yakety Sax
-[X] Tacit runs after Euphonium.
-[X] Phenom Runs after Tacit.
-[X] Jagdhund runs after Phenom.
-[X] The Air Force flies after Euphonium.

Switching their lasers back to cooling mode, Tacit rushes forwards, chasing down the errant monstrosity. Phenom Sable, Jagdhund, and the remaining military forces on both sides follow soon after, like some... absurd cartoon chase scene or something.

Euphonium, as expected, keeps on running. Everyone's catching up to it, and it won't be long before it loses what little distance it gained, but that doesn't mean it's going to stop.

Alto remains barely conscious and thoroughly incapacitated as she clings to Euphonium's back.

PPDC:
- Tacit is 11 from the kaiju.
- Jagdhund is 37 from the kaiju.
- Phenom is 15 from the kaiju.
- Attack Helis ~35 from kaiju, 100 from Outpost.
- Scouts and Airplanes 30 from kaiju, 90 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 50 from Outpost (46 from kaiju).
- MICHAEL scouts 60 from Outpost (28 from kaiju).
Anteverse:
- Euphonium and Alto are 80 units from the Outpost, heading south-southeast.

Finally managed to work up the will to finish this or something. Not that exciting a round, tbh. Your turn.

Combat Round 13

[X] Tacit Charges, using the Rear Thrusters' bonus, and Grapples with Euphonium.
[X] Jagdhund and Phenom keep running.
[X] Air Force continue to pursue.

(13)

As the others continue their struggle to catch up, Tacit Ronin puts on a burst of speed, covering the last kilometre between themselves and the kaiju, before springing into combat!

Please no grapples?:
(5)
(12)

Grapple initiated!

Euphonium tries to dodge, but with its momentum there's no way for it to change direction in time! Tacit leaps onto the kaiju's flank, forcing the massive creature to contort awkwardly in order to not only keep its balance, but prevent Alto from falling off as well! With its bulky, handless form, Euphonium already seems at a disadvantage-- one Tacit is more than happy to exploit!

Roll 1d10+5 for your first Grapple Round!

PPDC:
- Tacit is grappled with the kaiju.
- Jagdhund is 25 from the kaiju.
- Phenom is 5 from the kaiju.
- Attack Helis ~23 from kaiju, 90 from Outpost.
- Scouts and Airplanes 10 from kaiju, 80 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 53 from Outpost (40 from kaiju).
- MICHAEL scouts 66 from Outpost (16 from kaiju).
Anteverse:
- Euphonium and Alto are 80 units from the Outpost, previously travelling south-southeast.
- Euphonium is grappled with Tacit Ronin.

And I've just looked at Euphonium's sheet and realised that, by complete coincidence, I was actually right on the penalties! So yeah, this is not fun for Euphonium. If only Alto wasn't Incapacitated, she'd be able to stand a chance in a grapple.

Combat round 14 Grapple
(10) (7) (N/A)
Tacit Ronin wins the Grapple! 3 Advantage Points!

Unsurprisingly, against a walking artillery piece and an unconscious Cat II, Tacit does pretty well. The melted arm slows them down a little, but it's still not enough to cripple the machine's close combat abilities!

Time for horrible Grapple things! Remember, Alto is a potential target as well!

[X] Tacit gives Euph a Submission Hold

Clamping one hand down on the closest blade-fin, Tacit Ronin pulls, wrenching the flattened spine slightly out of alignment. There's not much actual damage, but boy is it painful for the Category IV.

Euphonium takes 7 Temporary Strikes!

With a keening scream, Euphonium jerks its body to the side, using its incredible core muscles to try and throw the white jaeger from its side!

It's the Kaiju's turn-- and that means more grappling! 1d10+8 for this round!
Combat round 14 Grapple Pt 2
Curse you, 10-1 crit rolls!

(22) (15) (Still N/A)
Tacit Ronin wins the grapple! 7 Advantage Points!

Despite the kaiju's thrashing and twisting, Tacit refuses to let go, though they're still being flung about like a rag doll. Using the fin as leverage, the jaeger swings themselves around, twisting low enough to kick Euphonium's feet out from underneath it! The behemoth of muscle and chitin crashes unceremoniously to the ground, leaving a chance for Tacit to strike once more!

Two crits walk in, one crit walks out. Use your violence on this poor gun-beast.

Combat round 14 Grapple Pt 2 Results
By the way? I don't know if the city terrain counts as hard enough objects, or if falling damage ignores Armour, or whatever-- but I'm the GM, and I've already thrown my support behind this plan, so I'll say they do. Besides, it's not like this ruling is an unreasonable decision, since you've used buildings as Cover and armour really shouldn't do much against that sort of landing.

Hence, this happens.

[X] Tacit Throws Euph to Phenom's right and Chokes Out Alto

The momentum of their kick still strong behind them, Tacit Ronin twists at the torso, grabbing Euphonium's foreleg in their left hand as their lower body pivots opposite. Attitude systems in the jaeger's torso let out violent squeals of protest, the reinforced spinal column pushing its torsion limits from the nearly disjointed position it's put in. There's so many things that could go wrong from this maneuver-- jaegers simply weren't made for these kinds of inhuman movement.

Then Tacit's foot touches down, and its pilots heave.

Like a spring snapping back into shape, Tacit Ronin's upper body wrenches back into alignment, yanking Euphonium off its feet with enough speed to tear Alto from her purchase! With the reactor's full output and more behind them, the jaeger gives a final heave, and releases-- throwing the Category IV as hard as they can!

Like something out of a super robot show, Euphonium tumbles slowly through the air, travelling in an almost lazy arc. It's almost graceful, in a way-- the sheer size of the monster makes it seem like it's moving in slow motion.

And then, after travelling nearly half a kilometre, the kaiju lands, plow-shaped head smashing into the ground barely a block from where Phenom Sable is. In a split second, Euphonium's head comes to an almost complete halt, while the rest of its body keeps moving. Unfortunately for the kaiju, physics beats biology, and the sudden sheer force twists its vertebrae out of true. Dorsal armour splinters and ruptures as it bends, chunks tearing free of their moorings to expose the indigo flesh beneath. An instant later, the mix of concrete and steel shatters around Euphonium's head, letting it crash down to the ground once again.

Tacit Ronin throws Euphonium 500 metres! Double Damage! Euphonium removed from Grapple!
Euphonium knocked Prone! Minor Wound to Spine! Spinal Armour destroyed!
Euphonium takes 3 Strikes! -1 Universal Penalty!

At this point, though, Tacit's attention has gone elsewhere. Blue-stained gauntlets clamp tight around the last kaiju's throat, squeezing and crushing as they hold Alto above the ground.

Alto is being Choked! 1 Strike!

The other soldiers aren't sure what to focus on at this point.

PPDC:
- Tacit is grappled with Alto.
- Jagdhund is 25 from Tacit/Alto.
- Phenom is 1 from Euphonium, 5 from Tacit/Alto.
- Attack Helis ~23 from Tacit/Alto, 90 from Outpost.
- Scouts and Airplanes 10 from Tacit/Alto, 80 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 53 from Outpost (40 from Tacit/Alto).
- MICHAEL scouts 66 from Outpost (16 from Tacit/Alto).
Anteverse:
- Euphonium and Alto are ~80 units from the Outpost, previously travelling south-southeast.
- Euphonium is next to Phenom Sable, 5 units from Tacit Ronin, and prone.
- Alto is grappled with Tacit.

And now, technically, I suppose it's your turn again!

On a side note, I was actually trying to channel some of this into the "Tacit throws Euphonium" bit. Just as a neat little bonus.

Combat Round 15

[X] Phenom deactivates the Barrier Plate, shifts into range and Grapples Euphonium.
[X] Jagdhund switches target and runs for Euphonium, stores the Dolch Gewehr.
[X] Tacit continues to Grapple Alto.

(12) (N/A)
Tacit Ronin win the Grapple! 12 Advantage Points!

Ronin barely even moves. It doesn't have to, not when its opponent's a few steps from losing consciousness completely. Steam curls from its exposed cables and hydraulics, bubbling from its arm and flanks as the overburdened reactor tries to cool itself. Fortunately, that's more than doable-- all Tacit really needs to do is keep its arms up, and keep squeezing.

Honestly, given the rework of the Break action, you could probably just snap Alto's neck and be done with it. Unless you want to kill the kaiju slowly, that's also fine I guess.

After several seconds of lying there, Euphonium finally manages to pull its brain back into working order. Just in time for it to see a humanoid mass of black and silver leap down on it, arms unfolded into a quartet of whining, shimmering talons.

Euphonium is not having a good day.

Nooooooo:
(7)
(13)

Grapple started! Roll 1d10+11 for horrible violence (Phenom has to go prone as well, so there's a bit of a penalty).
Also a 1d10 for Prog Vice, and a Hit Location for same.

PPDC:
- Tacit is grappled with Alto.
- Jagdhund is 13 from Tacit/Alto, 8 from Phenom/Euphonium. Dolch Gewehr retracted.
- Phenom is grappled with Euphonium, 5 from Tacit/Alto, and also prone.
- Attack Helis ~23 from Tacit/Alto, 90 from Outpost.
- Scouts and Airplanes 10 from Tacit/Alto, 80 from Outpost, spread out.
KRAUN:
- MICHAEL ground defense units 53 from Outpost (40 from Tacit/Alto).
- MICHAEL scouts 66 from Outpost (16 from Tacit/Alto).
Anteverse:
- Euphonium and Alto are ~80 units from the Outpost, previously travelling south-southeast.
- Euphonium is grappled with Phenom Sable, 5 units from Tacit Ronin, and prone.
- Alto is grappled with Tacit.

To be completely honest, at this point, part of me just wants to have the next in-game post be " you beat the kaiju to death with your giant robot hands! Gain 1d5 Insanity and 6500 Resources!" After all, there's basically no way these kaiju can put up a remotely worthwhile defense anymore, save some hideous double/triple-crit on Euphonium's part.

But... I guess I can wait to see how Phenom does first, before making any rash decisions.

Combat Round 15 Grapple
(16) (7)
Phenom Sable wins the Grapple! 9 Advantage Points!

I really don't have any fluff for this. You've got 9 AP here, the Prog Vice did nothing at all, and... yeah.

9 points for Phenom, 12 points for Tacit. Time for violence, I guess.

Combat Round 15 Grapple Results
I think you guys are misunderstanding a little bit. I'm happy to see this fight end. Sure, I'm mildly miffed that not one of these guys would end up surviving, but that's kinda in the job description for kaiju, and... they had a pretty good run, compared to quite a few things I've designed. I mean, when's the last time I've shown off practically every ability and attack that a kaiju has, let alone for an entire team of them? And it wasn't just in a "kaiju brings out their special ability at the last moment, only to die horribly before they can show it off"-- no, these guys brought it in as soon as possible, and rocked their specials! I'm quite happy that I was able to let them do all that, as well as give you guys a more unique mission parameter and combat environment in the process. They've shown off their abilities, they've put up an excellent fight on their part, and now you're back on the winning streak. Ending the fight now is... good. Certainly better than dragging it out another ten pages.

And of course I'm glad you all enjoyed it!

[X] Tacit: Break Alto twice, use all points in HtH to shift Hit Location to Spine.
[X] Phenom: Break Euphonium's Spine, shifting with all of his HtH, then inflict a Submission Hold.
[X] Jagdhund: Run close to Phenom and watch him savage Euphonium with gleeful satisfaction.

It's with wordless agreement that the two halves of Tacit Ronin come to consensus-- it's time to end this. The jaeger forces one hand up, right under the kaiju's mandible, and flexes. With a wet crack, Alto's head jerks back at an obscene angle, the shattered occipital bone having torn straight through her brain stem.

Successful Break to Spine and Head!
Alto takes 6 Strikes! Extra Brain damage inflicted!
SE-27-014 "Alto" Defeated!

Tension bleeds out of Tacit's limbs as the kaiju stops completely, the momentary battle-fury that shrouded them finally disappearing with the death of their foe. The jaeger's chest lets out a shuddering sigh, as steam swirls from their cooling vents.

Euphonium doesn't get a chance to fight back. Despite the kaiju's great size and vigorous thrashing, the injury to its spine is already slowing it down-- and any weakness against Phenom Sable is an opportunity that the jaeger will capitalize on. Holding tight with one enormous hand, the black jaeger digs into the exposed flesh of the kaiju's back, slicing through musculature and fat with its progressive talons. Its true hand finds something hard, and grabs hold.

And then Phenom Sable ripped Euphonium's secondary brain out, followed by several large chunks of spinal cord.

"Guess he wasn't as spineless as he seemed," Kanji quips.

Successful Break to Spine!
Euphonium takes 5 Strikes! Euphonium is Paralyzed!

Despite the resilience of the rest of its body, Euphonium doesn't survive much longer.

SE-27-012 "Euphonium" Defeated!

The kaiju are all dead. The city is pretty badly trashed. The Protectorate's forces are battered and reduced.

But as the jaegers turn back to each other, there's still technically one last thing to address-- the ones who called them here in the first place; KRAUN Outpost MICHAEL.

I guess now would be the time to... talk to the MICHAEL forces? I'll be honest, I haven't actually figured this part out much. Really, I'd be fine with you just throwing out a well-wishes and farewell, and then leaving.

Also, technically you just barely failed to inflict Destruction Wounds on both of them. Phenom would have needed to deal 25 points thanks to Cat IV rules, and only managed 21 (Cat IV rules give that minimum 1 AV). Tacit was literally one point short. But even so, Paralysis basically means death if you don't have backup, and the brain damage for Alto would have killed her off in one round anyways.

Combat End

[X] Greet the forces of the Outpost, ask if there's any matter that requires immediate attention and if our forces can assist in any way.

With the kaiju threat defeated, the focus now turns to communication and reparations. The three jaegers, beaten up and tired from the fight, simply sit down on the shattered pavement. Tacit and Jagdhund drop into power-saving mode for the time, trying to slow the lingering effects of their wounds, while Phenom remains active and ready.

Meanwhile, the air force hails the Outpost, offering a quick greetings from the Northwestern Protectorate. MICHAEL responds, more than grateful for their assistance, before Neo-Seattle starts asking some questions.

First off; is there anything that will require immediate attention, and can the Protectorate's forces assist? To this, MICHAEL replies that they're still analyzing, but there's definitely at least one thing that they'd need help with-- the kaiju. The Outpost itself holds mainly combat vehicles, and doesn't have the equipment needed to relocate four corpses out of their city in time before they start breaking down into a toxic mess. Even the civilian vehicles would be of little use in this situation, but a group of Jumphawks-- or whatever those VTOL craft the Protectorate's used to bring their jaegers here-- could easily take the dead bioweapons off their hands.

The actual outpost base is still intact-- Euphonium hadn't gotten close enough to fire its main weapon at them by the time the Protectorate's forces appeared-- and MICHAEL had managed to get people from Spokane evacuated over to Spokane Valley. That means, for the most part, all the damage they'll be trying to fix is rebuilding the devastated city (far from a short-term task).

But really, given that most of what the Northwestern Protectorate's brought was their combat forces, there's probably not that much else they'll be able to help out with.

Bit basic, but to be fair you asked a very straightforward question. True to my promise, you guys get to ask some more questions now. However, I would like to try and limit it to three more of these post-battle negotiation posts at most, if only to make sure that we can get back to the proper Combat End post.

On a side note, do you want a full-blown Bonus Chapter thing for Ashley and Noah's conversation, or just Noah's report from it?

[X] "Are attacks on this scale unusual here? I can't help but notice the lack of Jaegers, and we couldn't identify any Superheavy units among the wrecks."
-[x] "Do you think something might have drawn them here? We've been attacked by Kaiju that seemed specially built to fight against us in the past."
[X] Call in additional Meganeuras to drag the Kaiju corpses.

The rear forces are contacted, and arrangements are made to organise removal of the kaiju bodies. It'll still take a while for them to get here, but they'll be able to clean up before any environmental damage occurs. In the meantime, there's still a few questions that they'd like to ask. Namely, was this sort of attacks... odd?

The answer is yes. MICHAEL's no stranger to seeing combat before, but usually their opponents had been more along the lines of Cat Is or Cat IIs-- things that their defense forces could deal with before they got to the city. They'd kept a fairly low profile most of the time-- regular shelter evac and a smaller number of human operators in the outpost itself usually hid them from the kaiju's attention, up until today at least. So to find a Category IV bearing down on them was quite the shock.

As for the lack of jaegers or large-scale combat vehicles? MICHAEL never had any of their own. They're meant as a resupply point and early warning hub for KRAUN units, not a full-blown repair facility. They can restock a Mark VI's armaments, refuel their systems, and maybe bang out some dents in their armour or fix some loose wiring, but that's about it.

The next question; does MICHAEL think of or have anything that might have drawn this level of kaiju to them?
(10)
This time, there's a little more hesitation from the outpost, before they answer. They don't think it was ANGEL-Net-- they've used their transmitter before, and there's been no correlation between usage and kaiju attacks. However, they can think of one event that might have caused something. A couple days ago, a small group of KRAUN transports from one of their northern research facilities stopped by for refueling. They didn't stay long-- only about a day before they flew off towards the south-- but their cargo registered the same sort of Breach radiation that Supercell reactors give off. That radiation signature is the only thing they can think of that would draw the kaiju-- unless the attackers were heading for KRAUN HQ, and just wanted to take out one of their facilities on the way over.

When your backup forces arrive (in about half an in-game hour), they'll pick up the kaiju and be ready to bring them back. However, as this was sort of a joint Seattle/Everett operation (since Phenom's gonna be presumably transferred over), I'm going to offer you choices on what to do with them. Each kaiju body, you can decide whether it goes to Neo-Seattle or to Everett. If one goes to Neo-Seattle, you'll reap the benefits of the Salvage Facilities, but you'd have to manually transport resources to Everett if you wanted to transfer them. If one goes to Everett, it won't benefit from the Salvage Facilities (Everett has none), but it'll go straight in their resource pool. Basically, it's down to "which city do you want to get the resources/research tokens from each kaiju?"

[X] Thank them for answering our questions and make any necessary preparations to return.
-[x] Take all the corpses to Neo-Seattle.

There's not much else to say. The Protectorate's forces offer a simple thanks for the answers, and prepares to return as soon as the second wave arrives to pick up the kaiju.

Arrival back in Neo-Seattle comes with somewhat mixed responses. There's a notably smaller number of aircraft in the force from before, and the damage to two of the three jaegers is plain as day. However, just as plain are the four dead kaiju, hanging heavy in their impromptu harnesses, and the un-scarred form of Phenom Sable. While they've taken some hits, the Protectorate's forces have been victorious as always.

The situation changes a little bit once the jaegers reach the Shatterdome. Jagdhund's right arm is almost completely unsalvageable-- everything from the shoulder joint down to just before the wrist is going to need a brand new frame, and most of the Jagdarium armour's been ripped open like soggy cardboard. That said, the wrist and gauntlet assembly's still usable, though it'll need some work to rewire it into the new forearm. Tacit Ronin's damage is about as tricky, though the fact that the inner frame's still in good shape makes it less of a hassle resource-wise. They're lucky it only took a glancing wound-- most of the damage is just from the thermal wash melting the armour and shorting out the circuits.

Phenom, of course, is in tip top shape. All it needs is a minor checkup and a good wash, and it'll be good to go again.

Tacit Ronin requires an action and 400 R to repair. You'll also need new armour and a new Fangblade for the arm.
Jagdhund requires an action and 3530 R to repair, as well as a new piece of armour. See below for further explanation.
Phenom Sable requires no repairs!

Salvage/Recycling (Jagdhund):
- The arm frame cannot be recycled, due to structural damage.
- The Jagdarium armour can be recycled at a maximum of 100 R, due to structural damage.
- The CMP-5 gauntlet can be salvaged and reused after 50 R repair. This Resource cost is factored into Jagdhund's repairs, and requires no extra actions.

Fortunately, beyond that, there's more than enough good things to go around. The admirable performance of the Air Force during combat, despite certain unforeseen developments and heavy losses, is a crowning herald of their abilities, and several squadrons receive promotion!

AG-60 'Dragonfly' Autogyro Scout Squadron promoted to Elite!
AG-60 'Dragonfly' Autogyro Scout Squadron promoted to Elite!
A-KA-78-L 'Banshee' Assault Helicopter Squadron promoted to Elite!
A-KA-78-L 'Banshee' Assault Helicopter Squadron promoted to Elite!
A-KA-78-L 'Banshee' Assault Helicopter Squadron promoted to Elite!

Additionally, it seems that this far-away fight was just the relief that the city's local ecosystem required! Already, efficiency is increasing, and dramatic cleanup operations aren't required this week, freeing up more time for projects and planning!

Environment to Growing!
New bonus: 1 Free Downtime Action!

Meanwhile, Kaiju Science goes absolutely nuts as soon as they get their hands on Euphonium and the Cat IIs. The latter are definitely interesting-- their reaction speed, structural alterations, and offensive abilities are all well-integrated, plus they've got very well developed neural centres for monsters of their scale, and yet have no localised hivemind or pheromone-based communications like those of previous teamwork-oriented kaiju. Very interesting to see, and there's potentially a lot of bits that could have their properties or functions applied in other manners (such as Mello's elastic tails, or Flugel's flip-up frill). All in all, they're just really neat finds.

It's Euphonium, however, that draws the most maniacal cackling and excited squeals from those nerds. The kaiju's entire biology was constructed around a beam weapon completely unlike any previously observed in kaiju. Whereas previous energy weapons have been based around bioelectric strikes, lasers, or superheated ions, Euphonium's Siege Cannon appears to have involved the use of an accelerator array in its tail to produce what is confirmed to be a focused beam of positrons suspended in a lingering electromagnetic field. This explains a lot of the kaiju's curious biological traits-- its light weight is because much of the kaiju was actually hollow or devoted to power generation, while the "lightning fins" could adjust the weapon's aim and bolster its containment field during firing. Such complex electrical systems would have strained its homeostatic limits, requiring a cooldown sequence almost as long as the charge-up did in order to keep it from shorting itself out the next time it tried to charge an attack, which would obviously have had disastrous consequences for Euphonium. Yet even so, the kaiju was sturdy enough and strong enough that it would have been able to brawl without too much fear of malfunctioning. The only real chinks in its armour were the literal ones it had to expose when preparing the weapon, and the lack of prehensile digits on its anchoring feet. But then again, that would have been what the Cat IIs were for.

Overall, they're just... amazed by the work put into this. Enemies of humanity the kaiju masters may be, but their expertise at bio-engineering is unquestionable. In fact, despite the normal unfeasibility of positron weapons, Kaiju Science thinks that the data from Euphonium could actually make such a thing viable-- though it almost certainly wouldn't be able to get very small.

New Research Token: Euphonium (Heavy Positron Weaponry)!

Yep, the Siege Cannon's a positron gun. How does it work? Because giant goddamn robots, that's how.

Anyways, as with Laidon, I'm not giving you tokens for the Cat IIs, but if you do perform research related to their abilities, I'll lower the difficulty as appropriate.

Oh, and one last thing comes in-- Noah's report from Ashley. The young woman hadn't given much in reply to the question of which treatment option she'd prefer to take, though her reaction to A.R.T. was less favourable than that to the Cyber-Prosthetics. However, she's made clear mention of... well, wanting limbs again, and mechanized prosthetics are far less permanent than regrowing appendages wholesale, so they're the safer option to go for. Ranger Williams deigned not to reveal anything further about their conversation.

Yeah, you're gonna get your Bonus Chapter later. I don't really have good ideas how to write it right now, but I still plan on doing it.

It is now Downtime.

Kaiju Stats:

SE-27-012
Euphonium
Class: Category IV Kaiju
Resembling a living fortress of pitch black chitin and slate grey scales, and standing on four conical legs, Euphonium is massive to the point of absurdity. The front of the kaiju is mostly mouth, clamped shut in a glowing, blue-toothed grin of teeth as big as freight train cars, while a spiny, almost peacock-like tail plumes out from its other end.
Even as is, the kaiju's combat abilities are prodigious-- its sheer mass makes it deadly in melee, while folding blades in its shoulders can unleash an arcing bolt of electricity to strike at range. But when even that is insufficient, Euphonium can lock itself down, unfolding its tail into a toroidal accelerator and transforming the front of its body into a giant particle beam cannon. Though it's nearly immobile in this state, and exposes its delicate innards, this is the only way it can access its most powerful weapon.

Stats:
HtH: 4
Ran: 5
Str: 6
Tou: 7
Agi: 2
Dex: 1

Structure:
Dura: 16
Stru: 19

Category IV: Has all the following rules:
- Flat stun immunity. A stun instead inflicts a -1 penalty for one round.
- Universal, unbreakable AV of 1 on all locations
- +5 to all the instant death thresholds
Tough Stuff: Immune to Scratch Damage.
Siege Mode: In order to fire its Siege Cannon, Euphonium must enter a dedicated firing sequence, so as to charge the weapon and brace itself for the stresses of firing. Euphonium activates Siege Mode as a Full Round Action, and follows the rules set out below. During Siege Mode, Euphonium cannot be Stunned, but may not move beyond Shifting, or add its Stats to any Reaction it is called to make, among other things. Thus, it is quite vulnerable in this state, and depends on Flugel, Alto, and Mello to defend it. However, Euphonium is still capable attacking with its other weapons (though at a -3 penalty). As long as it has not reached Round 3 of charging, Euphonium can choose to exit Siege Mode at will.
- Round 1: Euphonium designates a target location to attack, and activates Siege Mode as a Full Round Action. It braces against the ground, and expands its tail into a toroidal accelerator.
- Round 2: Euphonium continues to maintain Siege Mode. Its tail accelerator is spinning up, and it now opens its mouth to expose the cannon. The armour on its Eyes, Head, and Neck changes from Superheavy Carapace to Biocannon Flesh, and remains so until after it has fired (see Cooldown). At this point, it cannot attack with Skull Ram until after firing.
- Round 3: The Siege Cannon is charged. At the end of the round, unless its weapon has been disabled, Euphonium fires its Siege Cannon, resolving the attack as normal.
After the Siege Cannon has been fired, and everything has been resolved, Euphonium switches into Cooldown.
For Massive Damage: If Euphonium suffers damage to its Biocannon Flesh during Round 2 or Round 3 of its Siege Mode firing sequence, it must make a Difficulty 13 Toughness test, with a roll penalty equal to the amount of Strikes the Biocannon Flesh took that round. If all prompted tests are beaten, it continues and resolves Siege Mode as normal. If a test is failed, then it must roll on the Misfire Table as well. If Euphonium has failed the test twice, it rolls two times on the Misfire Table, taking the worse result.
Cooldown: After resolving the third round of Siege Mode, Euphonium must vent the prodigious heat and excess energy of its main weapon, and so enters Cooldown. Cooldown has all the restrictions of Siege Mode (cannot be stunned, no movement beyond Shifting, cannot add Stats to Reaction rolls, -3 attack), requiring the further aid of Flugel, Alto, and Mello-- however, it lasts a shorter amount of time. Cooldown is structured as below, as though it were a continuation of Siege Mode:
- Round 4: The Siege Cannon has been fired. Euphonium will stand still unless provoked, venting the heat through its tail. Parts of it that are not needed for cooling begin to retract.
- Round 5: Euphonium seals its mouth again. The armour on its Eyes, Head, and Neck changes back to Superheavy Carapace, and Skull Ram may be used again. At the end of the round, its tail collapses in, and Euphonium concludes its Cooldown. It may now engage normally in combat once more.
Cooldown must be resolved after each firing of the Siege Cannon.

Weapons:
Skull Ram
Built-in Melee Weapon
Attack Dice: 1d10+1
Parry Dice: 1d5
Block Dice: 1d10+1
Armour Penetration: 4
Grappling Bonus: -3
Damage Type: Blunt
Damage Bonus: Strength+2

Arc Lightning
Built-in Ranged Weapon (Scatter)
Attack Dice: 2/1d10-1
Armour Penetration: 4/2
Damage Type: Electric
Damage Bonus: 2/1
Range: 18/27
Special:
Arc: Jumps to another target within 5 units on a 5+. For each additional target, arcing and attacking rolls take a cumulative -1 penalty. A negative roll on an arcing bolt will not trigger a misfire.

Siege Cannon (Siege Mode only)
Built-in Ranged Weapon (Scatter)
Attack Dice: 1d10-1
Armour Penetration: Ignores Armour (see Overwhelming Force)
Damage Type: Burst
Damage Bonus: Ranged
Radius: 0/1/2
Range: 20/35/50
Special:
See Siege Mode for firing sequence details.
Never makes Called Shots.
Beam: Roll once with this weapon, and apply the result with full bonuses against all targets intersected by the Siege Cannon's central line of effect, half bonuses against all targets within the Radius but not the central line, and no bonuses against Clustered targets outside the Radius. If the attack would hit normally against a non-Clustered unit (i.e. one within the beam), but the target has sufficient evasive ability to avoid it, they are still struck as though they lacked that ability, but the attack halves the total damage it would deal (rounding down) for the purposes of Wounding or Strike damage (weapon/armour durability is still resolved).
Overwhelming Force: This weapon treats the AV of any armour it strikes as zero, before resolving damage or Burst Resilience. Against the Defenses stat, it instead halves the provided AV. If this weapon hits any city infrastructure, it automatically destroys 1 point of Defenses after being resolved, alongside any other effects it would deal, even if it would otherwise deal no damage.

Armour:
Superheavy Carapace
Coverage: All/Special (see Siege Mode)
AV: 5/1
Resilience: All
Durability: 9

Biocannon Flesh
Coverage: Eyes, Head, Neck (see Siege Mode)
AV: 1/-
Resilience: All, +1 Fire
Durability: 7
Special:
Euphonium's "Tough Stuff" trait is not in effect on these locations when Biocannon Flesh is active.

SE-27-013
Flugel
Class: Category II Kaiju
Considerably smaller than Euphonium, and sporting a more lupine appearance, Flugel nonetheless displays some similar physiology; a quadrupedal body, pitch black armour, and glowing blue musculature. The toughest of her sisters, Flugel is characterised by a short tail, thick proportions, and an armoured, expandable frill around her neck. Her toothy jaws drip with acid.

Stats:
HtH: 2
Ran: 1
Str: 3
Tou: 4
Agi: 2
Dex: 3

Structure:
Dura: 11
Stru: 13

Bodyguard: As long as she is not Stunned or Paralyzed, Flugel is considered clustered with all allied combatants within 2 units of her, for all purposes that would benefit said allies. If Flugel is considered clustered or is engaged with a friendly combatant, she may Shift 2 units as a Free Action when they move, but only in order to maintain engagement/clustering with them. When Flugel is Clustered in front of an ally, she provides Light Cover from that facing and both immediately adjacent facings (e.g. if Flugel is Clustered North of Euphonium, she provides Light Cover against attacks from the North, Northwest, and Northeast), as long as her Armoured Frill is intact.

Weapons:
Corrosive Teeth
Built-in Melee Weapon
Attack Dice: 1d10
Parry Dice: 1d10
Block Dice: 1d5+1
Armour Penetration: 0
Grappling Bonus: +2
Damage Type: Blunt, Acid
Damage Bonus: Strength

Acid Spray
Built-in Ranged Weapon (Scatter)
Attack Dice: 2x 1d10
Armour Penetration: 1d5+1
Damage Type: Acid
Damage Bonus: 1d5
Range: 10/15/-

Armour:
Armoured Frill
Coverage: Head, Neck, Eyes, Spine
AV: 4/3
Resilience: All, +1 Impact
Durability: 11
Special:
Flare: instead of moving, Flugel can flare out her frill, shielding the rest of her body, and anybody nearby. Flugel may still Shift while Flare is active. All locations not protected by Armoured Frill on Flugel, any allied combatant engaged with her, or any allied combatant Flugel is vertically clustered with (i.e. in front of), gain the benefits of Frill Overlay as long as Flare is maintained.

Frill Overlay (special)
Coverage: special (see Armoured Frill)
AV: 2/-
Resilience: All
Durability: 6
Special:
Once five sections have been destroyed, Frill Overlay collapses until it can be repaired.

Black Chitin
Coverage: All but Head, Neck, Eyes, Spine
AV: 3/2
Resilience: All
Durability: 10

SE-27-014
Alto
Class: Category II Kaiju
Considerably smaller than Euphonium, and sporting a more lupine appearance, Alto nonetheless displays some similar physiology; a quadrupedal body, pitch black armour, and glowing blue musculature. The most versatile of her sisters, Alto is characterised by her squared-off proportions, defined jaw, and developed throat. She tends to be very vocal, and her roars are notably high-pitched.

Stats:
HtH: 2
Ran: 2
Str: 3
Tou: 3
Agi: 2
Dex: 2

Structure:
Dura: 7
Stru: 11

Sonic Interceptor: When a projectile-based ranged attack is conducted against any allied combatant within 5 units of Alto (including Alto herself), she may emit a sonic shriek to destroy it before it can strike. Roll 1d10 for each ranged attack being made that provokes this ability. On a 7+, the attack is intercepted and destroyed before it can hit. After using this ability, Alto is at -1 to Ran and Sonic Interceptor rolls until the end of next round, due to the strain on her vocal chords. Alto may use Sonic Interceptor against both Conventional and K-Scale ranged attacks in a single round, though she will take the appropriate penalties to the K-Scale rolls.

Weapons:
Powerful Jaws
Built-in Melee Weapon
Attack Dice: 1d10+1
Parry Dice: 1d10
Block Dice: 1d10
Armour Penetration: 2
Grappling Bonus: +3
Damage Type: Blunt
Damage Bonus: Strength+2

Sonic Wail
Built-in Ranged Weapon (Scatter)
Attack Dice: 2x 1d10
Armour Penetration: 2
Damage Type: Ice
Damage Bonus: 1d5+1
Radius: 3
Range: 10/12/-

Sonic Cutter
Built-in Ranged Weapon (Carbine)
Attack Dice: 1d10+2
Armour Penetration: 1d5+2
Damage Type: Edged
Damage Bonus: 2
Range: 10/15/20

Armour:
Black Chitin
Coverage: All
AV: 3/2
Resilience: All
Durability: 10

SE-27-015
Mello
Class: Category II Kaiju
Considerably smaller than Euphonium, and sporting a more lupine appearance, Mello nonetheless displays some similar physiology; a quadrupedal body, pitch black armour, and glowing blue musculature. The swiftest of her sisters, Mello is characterised by her athletic build, narrow head, and thinner armour. Her pair of whip-tails flick about, bending and stretching like elastic ribbons.

Stats:
HtH: 4
Ran: 0
Str: 2
Tou: 1
Agi: 4
Dex: 3

Structure:
Dura: 4
Stru: 7

Dance Aside: Mello may attempt to Dodge any non-Radius ranged attacks as a Reaction, as long as she has not passed her Durability. A failed dodge causes the attack to resolve at normal to-hit difficulty. On a critical Dodge, Mello may move up to 2 units instead of 1.
Blitz: Mello only suffers -1 to attacking and moving.

Weapons:
Whip Thrash x2
Built-in Melee/Ranged Weapon (Carbine)
Attack Dice: 1d10
Parry Dice: 1d10
Armour Penetration: 0
Durability: 5
Grappling Bonus: +2
Damage Type: Edged
Damage Bonus: Dexterity
Range: 1/5/10
Special:
Uses HtH when making Ranged Attacks.
As long as she is not engaged in melee with an enemy, Mello can resolve her Whip Thrash attack against any number of targets within range equal to her Dexterity (3), rolling each attack separately. Mello may not target a single unit multiple times in the same round this way.

Armour:
Black Shell
Coverage: All
AV: 2/1
Resilience: All, +1 Fire
Durability: 8

Neo-Seattle:
Category IV Kaiju killed: +5000 Resources
Category II Kaiju killed: +1500 Resources
Salvage Facility Bonus: +3250 Resources
Manufacturing: +4500 Resources
Morale Bonus: +2475 Resources

Total Resources to Spend: 50500

Everett:
Manufacturing: +1000 Resources

Total Resources to Spend: 1900

Free Actions (Neo-Seattle):
[ ] Write-In* (requires GM permission)
*e.g. Ashley's treatment options.

Now, it's time for Downtime stuff! You've got lots of resources, a brand new action from good Environment, and lots of stuff to do! So decide!

Captainwolf · Nov 14, 2020

[] Plan Work no longer in Progress 1.2
-[] Neo-Seattle Actions:
--[] Normal Actions:
---[] Build 2x VX-3 Super Fangblade (-1500 R)
---[] Build 5x Jagdarium Superalloy Composite Plating (-1750 R)
---[] Install a pair of VX-3 Super Fangblades and Super Composite Plating (Right Arm) on Tacit Ronin, Repair Tacit (-400 R)
---[] Repair Jagdhund, install Jagdarium Plating on Left Arm (-3530 R)
---[] Research J-Scale Munitions Factory City Augment
---[] Build 4x M-99 Bakelite Magazines (-400 R)
---[] Build 1x Solid Fuel Thrusters with SFT Cut-off Switch (-1225 R)
---[] Install 1x Solid Fuel Thrusters on Phenom Sable
---[] Build 1 HGE-33 'Skadi' Transonic Deployment Craft. (-5800R)
---[] Contact KRAUN leadership via ANGEL-Net
---[] Reverse-Engineer Euphonium's Siege Cannon as a Defense City Augment (Use Euphonium Token)
--[] Free Actions
---[] Research Grae's method of Teleportation, starting with moving a single target if necessary. (No Token) (B-Tech)
---[] Increase Phenom Sable's Toughness (15 rolls) (-300 R) (J-Tech 1)
---[] Analyze the Jagdgewher and it's ammunition needs. (J-Tech 2)
---[] Research Movement-Enhancing Leg Modifications, based on HVMS. (K-Sci 1)
---[] Research a supercooling system for the Surtr. If necessary, draw inspiration from or study supercold or cold Kaiju we have fought.(C-Tech 1)
---[] Improved the defenses and/or armor on the Tyrs (C-Tech 2)
---[] Upgrade Laser Vulcan technology to UV lasers (C-Tech 3)
---[] Send 16500 Resources and Units to Everett (Comms)
---[] Scan for Kaiju (Kaiju Hunt Scan)
---[] Recycle Ruined Jagdarium Plating (+100 r). (J-Recycling)
---[] Build 2x Autogyros, 1x Type-100 squad, 1x Banshee Squad, 1x Artillery unit (-230 R) (MPFs)
---[] Build 1 Moray-class Submarine (Dockworks)
-[] Everett Actions
--[] Normal Actions
---[] Increase Population from 3 to 6 (-7500 R)
---[] Increase Manufacturing from 2 to 6 (-9000 R)
Total cost: -31535 R
Resources Remaining: 50500-31535=18965 R

Despite now knowing Ashley's... preference for her treatment method, it's decided that they'll wait before trying it, to hopefully give her mind more time to recover.

In the meantime, there's much to do.

First on the list is Breach Tech's new project; figuring out the teleportation ability shown by Grae during his two appearances. Right away, however, they run into difficulties.

The first problem is the lack of data. Grae's only been seen to teleport three times (records show four 'ports, but the first one only picked it up on scanners), and only one of those times showed both the start and finish of the jump. While it's more than can be said for any other kaiju, it's still very little information.

The second problem is the delay. Not in research; in the teleports themselves. Each time Grae had been seen to teleport, there was a delay of several seconds between the "jump" and "landing", which seemed to be roughly the same length over both long and short distances. This means that Grae's method doesn't fit with either of the current teleportation methods known. Were it somehow quantum teleportation, or even disassembly/reassembly, it wouldn't have that long a delay (or give off Breach radiation, for that matter). Were it a Breachgate, however, the longer distance teleports would have had a longer delay than that over short distances (which it didn't, at least not to a long enough duration). It's clearly somewhat related, but in almost all other ways the current data just doesn't match up with that of the Breachgates.

In short, Breach Tech's main stumbling point is figuring out where to begin with this.

Meanwhile, Kaiju Science is given the job to try and reconfigure the Hyper-Vascular Muscle Strands used in Phenom Sable into something that can assist in general mobility. It seems like a fairly simple task-- just replacing the normal muscle strands with the bio-tech ones, right? Unfortunately, their simulations show that half-arsing the job like that would leave some major weak-points, potentially resulting in the legs essentially exploding as the muscle strands rip off on one end and take the armour with them. Given that unpleasant image, it quickly makes sense why Kaiju Science is requesting more time to design leg frames of a more organic configuration, to better accommodate the altered motive systems.

On a more positive note, however, J-Tech's doing excellently. Without damage to worry about, the resilience upgrades for Phenom Sable are finished and installed in no time, improving the jaeger's ability to soak up punishment without impaired functionality. As the Uemuras test out their machine's new improvements, Kanji finds he's able to take advantage of the shock-ablative gel layer, squeezing a little more performance out of his defensive technique, despite it not yet having seen use in the field.

Phenom Sable to Toughness 5! 14/15 Stat Points occupied!
Phenom Sable gains +1 Durability!
Deflective Guard Perk upgraded! When reducing damage before Armour, Tou/2 rounds up, rather than down!

As GM, I am allowed to arbitrarily give your perks improvements. I felt this made sense here. Even though you've not used it yet.

The Jagdgewehr is dragged out of storage, and, with a bit of help from Jagdhund (she needs something to focus on while she's busy being repaired), designs for its ammunition are finally drafted out. While the M-99 series uses battleship shells to fair effect, the Jagdgewehr's rounds are far superior-- the main disadvantage is that they're almost twice the size of said battleship shells, and the anti-kaiju cannon's rectangular magazines don't have nearly as much space as the M-99 drum mags, thus forcing their user to make each shot count. Still, definitely an acceptable trade-off for being able to use the gun now.

New Miscellaneous available for purchase: 420mm Jagdgewehr Magazine!
420mm Jagdgewehr Magazine
100 Resources
Provides ammunition for the 420mm Jagdgewehr. Contains 6 AUs.

Of course, the slightly higher cost of the ammunition is almost immediately nullified by the plans for a brand-new munitions factory, designed to lighten the load on a city's primary resource stores by providing the ammunition for J-Scale weaponry using dedicated, more efficient means of production. While specialty rounds require more investment, they can still benefit from it, as can the weapons that use them.

New Manufacturing Augment: Heavy Munitions Factory!
Heavy Munitions Factory (Manufacturing)
1300 Resources
As a Free Action each downtime, a Heavy Munitions Factory can do one of the following:
- Construct up to (Manufacturing/2, round up) magazines/units of standard ammunition for a K-Scale weapon, without spending Resources. These units need not all be the same type. (Compatible magazines: M-99 Drum Magazine, M-99 AP Magazine, 420mm Jagdgewehr Magazine)
- Construct up to (Manufacturing/2, round up) magazines/units of complex or specialty ammunition for a K-Scale weapon, at a 50% discount. These units need not all be the same type. (Compatible magazines: M-99 Bakelite Magazine, High Capacity Burst Fuse, High Capacity Fuse Clip)
- Provide a 20% discount off the purchase of any one type of ammunition-based K-Scale ranged weapon (purchasing multiples of the same weapon retain the discount). (Compatible weapons: M-9914 Machine Cannon, JED-2-f Fragmentation "Jaegrenade")

The list of compatible magazines/weapons will increase as you research more stuff, but for now I'll stick with these.

C-Tech starts off their weeks projects with an addressal of the newly-designed Surtr's major flaw; its suboptimal cooling systems. It goes pretty well; less vital sections of armour along the sides of the cannon are swapped out for more heat-sinks, while the magnetic containment field is constricted, reducing the power consumption (and thus electrical resistance) without compromising its ability to fire. Heat will still build up, of course, but the weapon can cool off during the reloading sequence, rather than worrying about it during the firing stage.

IDB-50 "Muspel" Plasma Cannon no longer requires a cooldown round!

Attempts to improve the Tyr's survivability, however, don't go quite as well. Somehow, the focus ends up switched from "functional armour plating" to "conventional warfare electronic defenses", and the whole week ends up being spent on fitting ECM pods and flare launchers onto the Tyr prototype's frame before the researchers realise they've been barking in completely the wrong forest. Hurriedly, they retract their additions-- while such systems may be useful against mechanical foes, they're next to useless in the context of kaiju battles.

Consumable +1 Research Bonus to Anti-Conventional ECM Defenses!

Yes, I did actually give you something despite the nat 1 roll. I just saw "defenses and/or armour" and had this hilarious idea of "accidentally researched the wrong type of defenses". Whether or not it'll actually be useful is for you to decide.

Given the performance of Laidon's UV laser weapons compared to that of the Protectorate's own visible-spectrum beams, C-Tech decides it's time for an upgrade.

Moderate Success!
Micro Laser Vulcan blueprints upgraded to Micro UV Lasers!
60mm Laser Vulcan blueprints upgraded to 60mm UV Laser Vulcan!
All UV Laser weapons gain +1 Damage Bonus and 1 AP!

All future Laser weapons will be constructed as UV Lasers. All current Laser weapons in service may be upgraded during next downtime as a Free Action.

The Kaiju Hunt Scanner continues to be a useful investment. As before, there's a mix of new kaiju and updates on old kaiju-- though mainly the latter this time. First, the newcomers:

To the south is a kaiju that's being tentatively designated a Category II, codename "Bristlethorn". Named for the branching, spiny limbs on its spine and head, the kaiju seems... off, somehow. In most respects it's a normal, standard Cat II kaiju, but the patrol dispatched to observe it have consistently reported a distinctly uncomfortable feeling in the back of their head when they got near it. What actual effects this oddity may have are unknown, but the scouts advise to treat this one with caution,

However, much further south is one that's just as, if not even more worrisome. Codename "Leadhead" has only recently arrived from the Anteverse, and yet already calls the city of Portland, Oregon its home (though to be fair, it's likely that Leadhead simply finished the job there, as opposed to taking the city down in the first place). Deceptively simplistic in its appearance, reports of Leadhead say it doesn't have any spikes, any extra limbs, any horns, any weird powers-- and the readings support that. Its toxicity and radiation levels are very, very low for a kaiju of its size. However, its physical results alone are enough for it to straddle the line between Categories IV and V. Packing more muscle, bone, and armour into one creature than anything previously seen, Leadhead seems like it could shrug off a nuclear bombardment, and deal that same amount of punishment back in return. In other words, not someone Neo-Seattle would want to tangle with soon.

After this comes the updates on the older ones. Boreas finally shows up on the sensor sweep, and it seems to have grown a little bigger since last time. Tara's building project is still going strong, though with only a week since their last check-up there's not much change. Rime is still sulking offshore, but they've actually gotten a glimpse of it on the move-- he's a massive, flattened beast, like some sort of flatfish or ray.

Nothing's changed with Armstrong, but a bit more data has arrived on Smirker and Dissenter's morphology. The former seems more built for cobra-style strikes with its front half, rather than constricting or strangling opponents, though that doesn't mean it won't be able to do so. The cobra comparison continues, as it seems that Smirker actually has a hood around its neck. The latter kaiju, meanwhile, has a very... tokusatsu-esque stance. Essentially, Dissenter's upper body is held vertically, while its hind legs and long tail act as a tripod. It's a very stable stance, hard to knock down or overbear, especially with the sort of size and weight Dissenter's readings are showing.

New Anteverse Activity within Territory!
- SE-27-008-H, "Bristlethorn", Category II. Location: South. Sports spiny antennae on its head and back, and a disquieting aura.
- SE-27-009-H, "Leadhead", Category IV-V. Location: far South. Big, heavy, and extremely well-armoured, with a reinforced skull and core. A recent arrival, who resides in Portland, Oregon.

You may notice that Everett has no "Territory Activity" section, while Neo-Seattle does. This is because Neo-Seattle is the capital/hub of your faction, and thus anything that would be in Everett's territory is also in Neo-Seattle's territory. You can obviously still launch missions or hunt kaiju from Everett, but you'd just refer to Neo-Seattle's Territory Activity section when doing so. In case anyone wanted to know that.

What little of Jagdhund's arm plating remains is salvaged and broken down.

Broken Armour recycled for 100 R!

And as some things are broken down, other things are created-- new vehicles, new armour plates, new ammunition, new weapons, and more are churned out of the auto-jigs to outfit the jaegers and the defense force. Among these, one of the most prominent is the (still very experimental) Skadi, whose flattened shape and massive bulk is plainly obvious. However, there's much, much more besides it.

AG-60 ' Dragonfly' Autogyro Scout Squadron created!
AG-60 ' Dragonfly' Autogyro Scout Squadron created!
Type 100 Anti-Kaiju Tank Squadron created!
A-KA-78-L 'Banshee' Assault Helicopter Squadron created!
T-95 Anti-Kaiju Artillery Team created!

2x VX-3 Super Fangblades built!
5x Jagdarium Superalloy Composite Plating built!
Solid-Fuel Thrusters with Cutoff Switch built!
4x M-99 Bakelite Magazines built!
HGE-33 'Skadi' Transonic Deployment Craft built!

As the new craft are busy being managed and assigned to pilots, the armour and weapons go straight to the jaegers. Phenom's new boosters are set in place, their designs slightly shortened and doubled up to keep them from getting in the way. An entire new arm frame is fabricated for Jagdhund, and the new plating fitted as soon as the limb is attached. Tacit's right arm receives similar treatment, new parts being built as the armour's planned out-- though unlike Jagdhund, the jaeger's left arm is also temporarily stripped of armour-- in order to remove the other fangblade. Now, Tacit Ronin will sport the newest and best pair of fangblades available to it, and regain its old signature technique.

Super Fangblades installed! Armour installed! Tacit Ronin fully repaired!
Armour installed! Arm reconstructed! Jagdhund fully repaired!
SFTs installed! All Augment slots filled!

Immediately capitalizing on the breakthroughs provided by Euphonium's corpse, a second mass project is brought underway, focused on developing a positron weapon of the city's own. Though initial prototypes show issues, each iteration improves on the design, focusing on getting a functioning, powerful weapon that won't explode upon firing. And, to the engineers' credit, they manage to fill those requirements, despite having essentially no prior experience with antimatter weapons. Fifth in the line of prototypes, the T-5y Toroidal Accelerator Positron Cannon is physically stable, potent in output, and able to threaten a wide range before its payload disintegrates-- some of the best results a spontaneous project like this could have hoped for. That said, it is in no way a subtle weapon; even without the reinforcing armour or mounting structure, the finished T-5 would be about the same size as a jaeger's torso, and weigh almost as much. As a turret, it'd be pretty much stationary during a fight-- unlike the railgun batteries, moving the T-5 between Sectors and preparing it can take up to twenty minutes-- and armoured enough to shrug off a blow from a kaiju. And that's not even getting into the output of the thing. However, as with many impressive weapons in the Protectorate's arsenal, the T-5 comes with a few obvious flaws. While potentially devastating, the cannon's output is not very consistent, not to mention somewhat slow to recharge, and its awkward design makes external targeting assistance next to useless. Ironically, though, its power supply is not the biggest issue here-- in fact, the city's combined power grid provides more than enough power for the weapons system! No, the problem is that the weapon can't actually handle the amounts of power it's using; each time it fires, the T-5 burns through several vital fuses and internal mechanisms, rendering the cannon inoperable after only four shots, and requiring the replacement of these components after each battle it sees use.

Heavy Positron weapons unlocked!
New Defense Augment available: T-5 Heavy Positron Defense Turret!
T-5 Heavy Positron Defense Turret (Defense)
4000 Resources
- T-5 Toroidal Accelerator Positron Cannon: 1d10 Burst damage. +2d5 Damage. AP /2 (see below). Range 20/-/35. Hits on 5+. Four Shots Only. Does not benefit from Arges. Requires a turn to charge up between shots.
-- This weapon treats the AV of all armour it strikes as halved before applying Resilience.
-- This weapon cannot be reloaded during battle.
- Structure: AV +1/-, Stru 2. Strike Repair costs 75 R/Strike.
- Perimeter Defense: When purchased, the T-5 is assigned to cover a specific Sector of the Defense Perimeter (or other equivalent city limits). When a fight occurs in that Sector, the T-5 may participate.
- Mobile Rail: Provided it has been given adequate warning, the T-5 Heavy Positron Defense Turret may participate in a battle situated in a Sector adjacent to its default one. The T-5 cannot shift Sectors once Combat has begun.

Positron cannons, yay! This took a while to write up, but I'm actually pretty happy with it. It's not as strong as Euphonium's Siege Cannon (well, consistently strong), and you only get a handful of shots with it each battle, but it doesn't take a minute to charge up, and each shot can really hurt, thanks to that /2 AP ability. I think it's a good trade-off, and I'm happy to give this to you guys, what with the increasing difficulty.

Meanwhile, another major project takes place; vast shipments of supplies and manpower are transferred over to Everett, accompanied by a large number of military units-- not to mention the formidable, and now upgraded, Phenom Sable! With the re-founding of the city, it's only a matter of time before kaiju start paying attention to it again, and the place should at least be able to hold its own in a fight.

16500 Resources transferred to Everett!
Military Units transferred to Everett!

1 Elite Tank
4 Regular Tank Squads
1 Elite Artillery Team
1 Normal Artillery Team
3 Mortar Squads
1 Elite Dragonfly Scout Squad
3 Regular Dragonfly Scout Squads
4 Jumphawks.
5 Meganeuras.
3 Hellhound Squadrons.
1 Elite Banshee Squadron.
3 Regular Banshee Squadron.
1 Condor Squadron.
The Murasame Type-RX.
The Heimdal.

Phenom Sable transferred to Everett!

Said resources are immediately put to use improving the city's infrastructure, offering improved production facilities and repairing damaged buildings and streets even more. The city's beginning to return to its old glory.

Everett Population to 6!
Everett Manufacturing to 6!

There's just one thing left for the Council to take care of; KRAUN.

<ANGEL-NET CONNECTION ACTIVATED>
<TRANSMISSION SENT>
<PREPARING VIDEO-CALL SCREEN>

And that ends part 1!

Captainwolf · Nov 14, 2020

<Call Accepted>

The communications screen opens. KRAUN sits at their table, performing minor adjustments to their masks and postures, which soon peter off as they find comfortable placements. Well, most of them, at least; two of the five members are nowhere to be seen, the absence made even more conspicuous by the open spaces they would have taken.

"So," KRAUN-03 says, head tilting conversationally. "You've called again."

"Before you begin, there's one thing we'd like to do," 01 speaks up. Their voice modulator is slightly out of true, lending an awkward echo to their words."And that would be to express our gratitude that you were able to intervene against the attack on our outpost. Without your assistance, the effect would have been devastating-- both from the damage to our assets, and the loss of life there."

The final member, 04, just sits there, waiting and listening behind their mask.

[X] "It is our duty to defend not just our territory, not just our citizens, but all of Humanity, wherever we can. Showing up to protect the citizens of Spokane Valley and helping the soldiers on your outpost is part of that duty."
-[x] "Speaking of which, is there any news about the outpost since our return to Neo-Seattle?"

"They're handling the situation well," 01 replies. "Support assets have been dispatched to aid in the reconstruction, as well as provide reinforcements. This attack has... definitely drawn our attention, to say the least."

-[X] "On a more... delicate matter, we are understandably concerned about what could trigger an attack like this. For the sake of both of our groups. When we asked Outpost MICHAEL they said it might have had to do with an experimental Supercell moving through the region.
-[x] "We would also like to inquire why Jaegers were not available. Considering the number of Jaegers we've seen at your disposal and the near-instantaneous nature of ANGEL-Net Comms, it seems strange that no reinforcements arrived in time for the fight. Were you dealing with some kind of attack elsewhere?"

At this, 01 pauses, hesitating a little with their reply. Instead, it's 03 who takes the lead.

"Yes," they respond. "Our jaegers were either occupied or otherwise too far from the site, and thus unable to respond in time. We were able to send our conventional autonomous forces-- but as we've mentioned, they arrived later. None of our forces are suited particularly well to fast responses over long distances, unfortunately."

[X] "Its good to know the people of the Outpost are doing well. Please send them our regards and best wishes."

"Of course."

-[X] "As for your troubles with fast response over long distances, I'll confess it was one we shared until very recently. We decided to research and develop a method to transport a Jaeger between nearby cities within a combat timeframe, and the result was a Superheavy Jaeger transport that can move surprisingly fast for its size. As I understand it, it is capable of breaking the land speed record several times over. It is highly experimental, but it is also remarkably effective. The Northwestern Protectorate would be willing to share its blueprint with KRAUN."

KRAUN-01 and KRAUN-03 look at each other, clearly giving the idea a fair amount of thought. The two turn back to the screen, shifting in their seats as they prepare to--

04 speaks up.

"Is there a price?"

X] "The price, as it were, lies partially in the fact it is bleeding edge tech. We built the first one just this week, actually. We hope that, should you accept the blueprints, you would be willing to share any advancements or modifications made to them as well as any derivatives. We would do the same on our end, of course."
-[X] "Actually, for the sake of honesty, we'll send the specifications as well as some photographs. I'm sure you'll agree it is very impressive and not something most people would consider building. Or possible. And we haven't even had the time to figure out how to add the ramming prow yet."

Unfortunately for the council('s potential amusement), KRAUN's masks stop them from being able to actually see their reactions to that last sentence. However, there is a slight pause before their reply.

"...Fair enough," 04 says, unfolding their arms. "I find that reasonable enough, especially with the addition of the data."

-[X] "That aside, we want to know what could have drawn a Kaiju siege team armed with a Positron cannon to an outpost. I'm sure you know attacks of that scale on a relatively small settlement are highly irregular, and there's talk a Supercell or some other thing outputting Breach Radiation passed through before the attack. This is worrying us and reassurances aren't enough when antimatter is involved."

The three look at each other, then back to the camera.

"One moment, please," 03 says, before a mute icon flashes in the upper corner of the screen, and the sound cuts out from KRAUN.

Without visible faces or any sound, KRAUN's conversation seems to consist completely of hand gestures and posture adjustments, which is definitely an... interesting sight to see. Somewhat hard to track, as well, since the members continue to switch between which of the others they appear to be addressing.

A couple minutes later, though, the wordless pantomime ends, and the sound turns back on.

"...before we explain, we request that all subordinate personnel of your exit the room," says 04. "The information we are sharing is still quite classified, and we would prefer to avoid leaks until we're ready to go public."

With a bit of cajoling, the room empties, until only the highest council members (read: the players) are left in it. KRAUN-04 nods in appreciation, and sighs.

"The rumor of a Supercell engine is correct, but not in the way you'd think," begins 01. "Active supercell reactors themselves do not produce anything that will instinctively draw kaiju to their source, aside from a healthy dose of the electromagnetic radiation some of them recharge themselves with. Otherwise, the final stages of our Mark VI project would likely have wiped us out already."

"The engine itself is not the important factor," 03 continues. "It's a Mark Six Delta-class Quantum Reaction Chamber, which we're planning on using in our final run of Mark VI Jaegers, as well as the Mark VII project. It has a similar output to our Beta-class and Gamma-class reactors, with a smaller and more efficient design than the previous models, but that's all. What was important about this particular reactor unit was what it was powering-- and what's so classified about it."

And now, it's 04's turn.

"The component it was attached to is... an emitter, of sorts, which is able to feed off the radiation of a Supercell," they explain. "In response, the emitter creates a region of altered space around itself, which possesses several unique properties-- properties that we're currently investigating in an attempt to improve the performance of our upcoming Mark VII project. The reason it was on during transit was because one of those properties appears to be... in a sense, reducing the effects of inertia. As such, the plan was to test if the emitter's activity would improve the speed or fuel efficiency of its transportation. Results haven't come back yet."

"Now, it's unclear if the emitter itself caused the kaiju's path to intersect Outpost MICHAEL through some unforeseen side effect of its operation, or if it was always the kaiju's plan to pass through on their way eastward. Previous active trials haven't shown any increase in nearby kaiju beyond normal levels, so we can't say it was definitely the reason," added 03. "But even if it was the cause, the emitter's in Nevada now."

"That's all we can say on the matter of the kaiju," 01 finishes. "We don't know if our transportation and test caused the attack, or if the correlation between the two was just illusory. However, as far as we know, you aren't at risk of provoking an incident through the same method."

"Now, was there anything else?"

-[X] "As for other things we'd like, there's new and interesting tech and support for our next raid on Oblivion Bay. We'd be more than happy to negotiate until we reach an agreement."

"...On one hand, it depends what sort of tech you're interested in," KRAUN-04 replies. "Obviously, we'd prefer to keep our own bleeding-edge experiments to ourselves, at least until we've completed work on them, but there are many things we'd be happy to share."

"As for Oblivion Bay..." The councilor trailed off, and looked at their comrades. The three share momentary glances, before KRAUN-01 picks up the slack.

"We're willing to provide support and participate in a mission to there. However, it will be around two months before we can assist."

And so, the grand (sorta) reveal of what was really going on! Ta da!

[X] "First off, thank you for trusting us and sharing that information about your altered space project. It sounds extremely interesting, and it gives us a few ideas of our own."
-[X] "Secret projects aside, we also appreciate your promise of support. The timeframe is no problem and actually works out on our end as well. We'll send you the data from our last attempt to strike Oblivion Bay, to make sure we're all on the same page regarding the expected resistance. The Cat V residing there is particularly interesting, given it can apparently control gravity."

KRAUN's leaders simply nod, acknowledging the responses. As always, they're a little hard to read, but it's clear enough that the news about Anaklusmos isn't exactly spirit-lifting.

-[X] "As for what technologies we're interested in, we'd love to have your Drone tech. Our Conventional forces tend to take losses when facing Kaiju with Ranged weapons... and that's most Kaiju these days. The Air Force, and the Scouts in particular, have taken heavy losses in the past."
-[X] "Actually, we're very interested in AI technology in general."
-[X] "Jaeger construction techniques could also be very useful for us."
-[X] "If you're not willing to share those techs, then that's fine, but it'd be best if you sent a list of what you are. We don't exactly have the most complete knowledge of your capabilities to know what to ask."

"Providing drone technologies won't be a problem," KRAUN-01 replies. "And, if you wish, we can include blueprints for several different chassis we've used as bodies for the drones, if you wish to save time figuring out how to integrate them into your own vehicles."

"Now, regarding Artificial Intelligence..." says 04. "The main problem we'd have there is that our own AIs tend to fall into one of two groups; the weak/narrow AIs used in drones, and the strong AIs that control our Jaegers. And while there's no issue providing instructions on the drones, the ANGEL-class AI is..."

"They're close enough to being human that we're not quite comfortable having them produced outside of a controlled environment," KRAUN-03 explains, taking over for 04. "For their own sake, as much as ours. Our apologies, but we won't give you access to the ANGEL blueprints-- not just yet."

"That said, we are currently developing a support AI that stands somewhere between the two in intelligence and cognitive ability-- sort of like that used in piloted jaegers, but playing a more active role in both mechanical operations and the Drift itself. Once it's finished, we can see about putting ARCHANGEL on the table."

"Anyways, the last thing-- Jaeger construction," 01 says, bringing it back to them. "While we can construct jaegers faster and more efficiently than the old PPDC, it's not without trade-offs. Our production facilities are optimised to make a limited selection of jaeger designs, and little else. We can modify their equipment and capabilities afterwards, but it's still essentially meant for mass production, and we're not sure how much that lies in line with your own philosophies of jaeger design. At best, we may be able to share our experience with homogenized parts to help reduce the effort of making completely unique components for each jaeger."

"How does that fare with you?"

[X] "Your stance on high-level AIs is more than understandable. And your Jaeger production techniques would still be useful to us as they are, and would probably help our Mark 0 project as well..."
-[X] "Oh, that's our project to create a platform that can combine the power and relative affordability of a Superheavy platform with the speed and adaptability of a Jaeger. Essentially, they'd be miniature Jaegers piloted by a single Ranger. It's still in the drawing board, however."
-[X] "In any case, we are willing to exchange the Skadi's blueprints in exchange as much of the AI and or Jaeger mass production tech as you are comfortable providing. Additionally, we promise to share any modifications we make to these technologies or their derivatives, provided you promise to do the same to any modifications made to the Skadi and or any derivatives you develop. Is this acceptable?"

"Hm," 04 notes. "Interesting..."

"This proposition is completely satisfactory for us," KRAUN-01 says. "We'll accept your deal, and honour it."

At this, the other two members nod in agreement.

"Now, if that's all we need to address, we can start the data transfer, and get this done."

[X] "I believe that will be all for this call. It has been a pleasure working with you, gentlemen. Good luck and good hunting."
-[X] Exchange the data and then close the call.

"And to you as well."

With that, KRAUN's video feed closes off, and the data transfer starts.

===

It takes a little while to get all the data across and backed up, but there's still plenty of daylight by the time it's done. Not long after, an overview is compiled and presented to the council.

First among the files are blueprints for a fairly simplistic AI core-- which further files show is the primary core used in KRAUN's autonomous vehicles. The core is pretty compact, and well-equipped with components and link areas to allow it to hook into a chassis' mainframe and systems. Instructions are also offered in the files on how to activate, program, and command the cores, as well as operational reports and what to expect from them. Other than a weakness to electromagnetic disruption, the only real potential drawback of the cores is that they're not particularly clever-- intelligent, yes, but they're more reliant on orders and pre-programmed reactions to adapt to changing conditions than active calculation of countermeasures. KRAUN recommends keeping orders in the field on the shorter and simpler side, as particularly lengthy or uncertain commands will take longer for the AI to decipher. Admittedly, the nature of combating a kaiju means that most orders will tend to be optimal for drone craft, but a warning never hurts. With these blueprints, the Protectorate should be able to design or convert its own Drone-operated craft.

Drone Core blueprints obtained! Drone vehicles unlocked!

Autonomous/Drone craft will cost less than piloted variants of vehicles, due to not having to worry about training pilots or the addition of life support systems, and will not impact morale when destroyed. Drones are, however, not the sharpest of AI, and may have some difficulty executing overly long or complex commands (though they're not incapable of doing so). Obviously, all Drone craft are far more vulnerable to electrical or electromagnetic attacks than piloted vehicles.

By the way, Drone Cores aren't something you'll get a physical, out-of-game blueprint for-- it more means you can (for example) say "research Autonomous Type 100 Tanks" and get a working Drone Tank easily, without a bunch of research into actually making the Drone Cores and software and stuff.

Of course, the Protectorate's going to have to make their own, since KRAUN's remaining drone blueprints are mainly just examples of modified cockpits/piloting chambers that have been changed to accept the drone cores, rather than the whole vehicles. A useful jumping point, but that's all. The rest concerns manufacturing and production.

The files on parts homogenizing are a little more esoteric, but still clearly useful. As they'd suggested, it's detailing a limited sort of mass production-- not for jaeger frames as a whole, but specific parts such as those used for joints, muscle strands, or other internal components. By improving compatibility of pieces across the jaegers as a whole, new frames and their replacement pieces wouldn't need to be completely designed anew, lightening the load needed for their creation. For example, instead of using three different types of binding ring for a jaeger's ankle, knee, and elbow joints, one all-rounder piece could fill their place instead. It's not a perfect idea, but it could definitely be useful.

New Research Token: KRAUN (Parts Homogenization)!

Since your jaegers aren't all the same as KRAUN's, you'll need to do some research. However, the basic effects of this token can range from compacting repair actions (due to jaegers being able to use the same parts), to dropping the cost of post-Mark-I frames past your current limitations (for a similar reason of parts compatibility), to both, to anything you all and I can agree it's applicable for. Really, as always, it kinda depends how you roll.

All that's left is the data on jaeger mass production, which details how to set up and specialize production lines towards one final product. Obviously, mass production itself isn't new, but KRAUN's information would make it far easier to implement into something as large and complex as jaegers. While the basic data assumes complete, full mass-production along the lines of KRAUN's own jaegers, there's also elaborations on the optimization of frame designs, reducing the initial flexibility of one's loadout in exchange for more efficient construction.

New Research Token: KRAUN (Mass-Production Jaegers)!

Like the Parts Homogenization Token, this is kinda flexible in how you use it-- but unlike the latter, it's a bit more clear-cut in what you can do with it. There's specific ranges you can aim for, in terms of how much you want to integrate mass-production. To use (so far the only) two examples I've come up with;
- Partial Mass-Production: Somewhere between Full Mass-Production and Parts Homogenization is this option. You can set up a line to make a specific type of frame that specializes in something, but the rest of the jaeger production process goes on as normal. You get a jaeger for cheaper than normal, but it's partially locked into its initial stats. For example, a "Ronin Mark I Frame" (obviously based off Tacit Ronin) might not let its jaeger begin with a Toughness above 2, a HtH below 3, or an Agi below 2. It's always going to start inclined towards one sort of specialization, but it's faster and cheaper to make in exchange for less flexibility.
- Full Mass-Production: This is what KRAUN does, and what seems like your preference for Mark Zeros. Essentially, you set up production lines to build one specific type of jaeger, which always starts with the same mark, stat arrangement, derived augments, and basic equipment, and you can make that same jaeger over and over for a lot cheaper than you could make several unique jaegers. Armour, weapons, other equipment can be swapped out and individualized post-production, but the immediate end product will always be mechanically identical.
These are, of course, just examples.
Again, this isn't the actual data itself-- just a simplified summary of what it contains.

Hopefully, the fact that I've just given you a couple of tokens isn't too big a deal. I just don't have specific ideas for them right now, and flexibility is better than no options.

===

And that should close off downtime for this week! Any further comments or questions before I throw giant monsters at you guys?

Captainwolf · Nov 16, 2020

Quick question for the kaiju incursions: how do you guys wanna do this?
[ ] Clarity over speed! One city at a time!
[ ] Finish it faster! Both cities simultaneously!

[X] Clarity over speed! One city at a time!

In that case, let's get this show on the road!

===

It's been a couple of days since the Uemuras were transferred to Everett. It's not too big a problem, and they've managed to settle in fairly well. Phenom's doing fine as well, despite the lack of proper facilities for him.

And just like in Neo-Seattle, the sudden sound of a kaiju alert immediately gets them up and ready to roll. Time to test out Phenom's upgrades.

<ALERT: NEW KAIJU SIGNATURE DETECTED>
<INBOUND FROM WESTERN SECTOR>
<CLASSIFICATION: CATEGORY III>

At almost the same time, however, Neo-Seattle's own systems read three more kaiju incoming, their headings aimed towards the bigger city. It seems like they're not going to be able to lend any backup to Everett-- not without sacrificing their own defenses.

<ALERT: MULTIPLE NEW KAIJU SIGNATURES DETECTED>
<INBOUND FROM NORTHWESTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN SECTORS>
<TRIPLE EVENT - CLASSIFICATION: CATEGORY II, MULTIPLE CATEGORY III>

Throw me some dice! 1d10+4 for Everett's scan, and 1d10+7 for Neo-Seattle's!

Edit: Also, gonna have to figure out if I want to have this Everett kaiju be SE-27-019, or set a new designation for the kaiju of different cities and go with EV-27-001. Choices, choices.

We'll do Everett first, just to get it out of the way. Besides, the kaiju's going to be a lot closer with this roll, so it's better to get it over with first.

Scanners: 1+4=5

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately, the detection grid in Everett seems to have inherited all the instabilities of Neo-Seattle's network, and promptly flashes several bizarre messages across the main output screen before spontaneously crashing. With no intact data beyond the initial signature identification, Everett's scout groups are sent out to try and get a look at the kaiju-- tentatively designated as EV-27-001, or "EV-1" for short (nobody's thought up a good codename for it yet). Fortunately, the autogyros are one thing that doesn't crash, and manage to report back some information on the incoming threat; EV-1's approaching at high speed, and seems to be moving above the water-- though the amount of spray and smoke it's giving off makes it hard to tell whether the thing's running on water or just flying really low. In either case, they can outpace it, but it's gonna be a close one at the kaiju's current distance. Everett's gonna have to figure out their plan quickly.

EV-1 is about 15 kilometres from Everett, approaching from the west towards Possession Sound. What's the plan?

Combat Deployment

[X] Plan Hat Trick Mega
-[X] One Meganeura carries Phenom Sable, hovers about ten units west of Hat Island
-[X] Everything else that can be carried over to Hat Island gets carried over to Hat Island; they Overwatch.
-[X] Air Force deploys to fifteen units west of Hat Island
-[X] RX-12 deploys just south of Hat Island

Hurriedly, Everett's defense forces hurtle into action, the Meganeuras and Jumphawks deploying their passengers as fast as safely possible in the middle of Hat Island. At the very least, the island's deserted, so nobody's really going to complain about the golf course being used as a staging point for the Protectorate's land-bound forces.

Phenom Sable isn't really given a chance to prepare itself-- the pilots have to run through the startup sequence en route to the battlefield (though the challenge suits them both just fine). By the time they've reached the deployment point, the jaeger's fully roused, systems winding up to normal levels with a slightly sleepy rumble.

EV-1's arrival is far from subtle. The kaiju rounds the corner of Whidbey Island, misty spray and ash-choked smoke surrounding its form as it rushes across the top of Possession Sound. At the sight of the awaiting forces, it surges up into the air, dispelling the shroud of smoke and mist with a thunderous clap of its wings. Nearly a hectare long from head to tail, EV-1 could best be compared to a cross between dragon and leech, though that only partially does it justice. It's slimy, smoky, twisted and looks just plain wrong, with four spindly hind legs, oddly-jointed forelimbs sporting massive hooked talons, and an interlocked zigzagging pattern down the centre of its belly and spine. Translucent webbing runs not only between the fingers of its wings, but between its other limbs as well, creating what seems to be an extra pair of control surfaces between its pinions. Plumes of thick, clingy smoke pour from two backwards-pointing vents on the small of its back, and rise into hazy clouds from the corners of its mouth-- or rather, mouths, as EV-1 clearly doesn't know where its abominable appearance should end. A pair of tubular necks erupt from the front of its body like living smokestacks, ending in a hook-toothed maw and scattering of beady black eyes. As it flaps its wings again, swooping down once more, EV-1 howls, directing a challenge towards those who would stand against it.

Phenom Sable blares its horns back in defiance.

Distances:
Phenom Sable is 94 units from Everett, and just over 30 units from EV-1.
The Air force is 5 in front of Phenom. All ground forces are about 80 from Everett (roughly a third of the way from Hat Island's west edge), 14 from Phenom. The Type-RX is 19 units behind Phenom.

Yep, EV-1's one of the weird kaiju.

Combat Round 1

[X] Phenom deploys from the Meganeura at the northwesternmost tip of the Island and activates the Barrier Plate.
[X] All conventional Units reposition to get closer to EV-1 (maximum distance from Phenom: 5 units, if possible); make sure to stay on overwatch for when it enters shooting range. Maintaining battle spacing to avoid clusters.
-[X] If possible, Arges.
[X] Meganeuras are to leave the operation area.

"All mobile combat units, advance positions! Prepare for firing as soon as it enters range! Transport craft are to unload any remaining cargo, then retreat!"

Around the island, Jumphawks and Meganeuras pull back, fleeing the combat zone, save for one group. Moving closer to shore, the VTOL craft give a quick alert to their payload, before disengaging the tow cables. Reactor rumbling in his chest, Phenom Sable splashes down in the shallows, and rises to his full height. An iridescent bubble of light blooms from the jaeger's shoulder plate, momentarily surrounding the machine before fading from the visible spectrum.

Meanwhile, the rest of the defense force heads the other direction. The ground forces stand their ground-- not all of them can move closer in unison, and doing so would screw with their preparations-- but the air force and navy have no such issues. The Murasame-class pulls around the south of the island, its Pilum railgun turning to track the incoming kaiju, and the attack helis ready their missiles, while the scouts swoop in from the sides to lock on.

1 Arges hit! +1 Ranged Bonus!

Unfortunately, only the elite squadron manages a solid connection, before EV-1 scrapes its wings against the water, throwing up a plume of mist that ruins the rest's attempts.

With another harmonized howl, the two-headed kaiju accelerates, skimming underneath and past the rest of the air force as it closes in!

And then the Heimdal opens fire.

Overwatch activated! Heimdal within firing range!
1d10+4 Longspear Overwatch (hits on 8s), and a hit location!

Distances:
Phenom Sable is 89 units from Everett, and just over 13 units from EV-1.
The attack helis are 20 in front of Phenom, and scouts are in Arges range of EV-1. All ground forces are about 80 from Everett (around Hat Island's west edge), 9 from Phenom. The Type-RX is 6 units from Phenom.

This round was a little weird on your part, since the ground forces can't move fast, and moving would screw with overwatch anyways. I just figured they'd do better staying in place, while the air force can get away with sacrificing overwatch due to mobility. Phenom also was not at the island's tip before, so he had to be moved back a little. Hopefully it's a fair compromise.

Combat Round 1 Overwatch
EV-1's roars cut off into a startled squawk, as the railspike flies past, barely missing one if its hind legs.

"Load the next flechette!" the Heimdal's commander cries."Charge the launch rails! We've got our bead on this bastard-- next time, our spike's gonna nail him!"

2 units closer, and you'd have hit.

Combat Turn 2

[X] Phenom goes into Full Defense with Deflective Guard.
[X] Scouts paint the Kaiju with the Arges.
[X] The rest of the Air Force move in and fire their Missiles at EV-1.
[X] Ground Forces move closer to EV-1 and fire if in range.
[X] The Heimdal Overwatches for when EV-1 is within 20 units from it.

Phenom drops into a readied stance, the armoured sections of his forearms shifting to better deflect any incoming attacks.

Meanwhile, the airforce wheels around, lasing EV-1's back before a flurry of missiles slam into it!

3 Arges Hits!

Several shots narrowly miss the wings, detonating against the thruster vents instead, while others burst across the kaiju's left, but a pair of warheads catch EV-1 at the base of a neck, shocking it and flinging droplets of molten acid into the right head's eyes. The two-headed kaiju shrieks painfully, the rhythm of its sides disrupted, but the minor inconvenience isn't enough to knock it from the skies.

6 hits! 4 deal no damage!
Hit to Chest! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Eyes! Glancing Wound! Right Side Eyes irritated!
EV-1 takes 2 Strikes! EV-1 remains aloft!

Unfortunately for the kaiju, the next barrage comes from the advancing ground forces. Tank shells pummel the monster's underside, accompanied by the shrapnel-filled clouds of mortar fire. Tiny cuts are opened in its slimy skin, shredding pieces of epidermis and layers of mucus. While damage is minimal, it's a very noticeable distraction, and a lucky shot bounces into the left side vent's intake.

7 hits! 5 deal no damage!
Hit to Spine! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Thigh! Glancing Wound!
EV-1 takes 2 Strikes!

1 Mortar team out of ammo!
And it is at this point that I realise you have no FRS in Everett. That mortar group is completely out of the game for the rest of this fight.

Sparks fly from the back of the biomechanical engine, the internal mechanisms momentarily cutting out. EV-1's heads cry out in alarm, before its wings lose rhythm, and the kaiju tumbles into the surf, the water bursting up in a steam-filled plume around it.

EV-1 crashes!

For a moment, there's silence. Then EV-1 explodes out of the surf, its forelegs treading water as it hisses in discontent. There's a bit of discolouration on one of the arms, where it hit the water funny, but other than that the only visible injuries are the tiny fragments of Kaiju Blue leaking into the churning bay around it.

Glancing Wound to Right Side Forearm! EV-1 takes 1 Strike!

However, said injury doesn't last long. As EV-1 finds its footing, the discoloured flesh softens back to grey-green, losing the bruised texture in seconds. Hundreds of tiny cuts seal shut as it flexes, stemming the trickling wounds and healing its body. Soon, EV-1 looks much better than it did a few seconds ago.

(10, 10)

Fast Healing heals 2 Strikes!

Spreading web-fingered wings like fins, EV-1 surges forwards, flapping and thrashing its way towards the island--

"Target in range!"

"Rail charge complete!"

"Open fire!"

--unfortunately, right as the Heimdal's targeting system locks back on.

Overwatch activated!
1d10+5 for Railgun, hitting on 5s, and a hit location too!

Distances:
Phenom Sable is 89 units from Everett, and just over 10 units from EV-1.
The air force are in Arges/weapons range of EV-1. Immobile ground forces (arty and Heimdal) are about 80 from Everett (around Hat Island's west edge), 9 from Phenom, while mobile forces (tanks and mortars) are 2 closer to Phenom. The Type-RX is 6 units from Phenom.

Flight isn't Ee-Vee's only special ability...

Edit: melee combat will almost certainly start in a round or so, assuming the kaiju doesn't die, so I promise you'll be able to test out your cool perk.

Combat Round 2 Overwatch
Unlike last time, the railgun's aim is dead on, and a tungsten spike flies into the spray of water, tearing a bloody blue gash across EV-1's right flank. The kaiju howls, its regeneration abilities hurriedly working to replace the toxic blood pouring out.

Hit to R. Thigh! Minor Wound! -1 Agi!
EV-1 takes 3 Strikes! +1 Ongoing!
Ongoing damage healed!

Nonetheless, EV-1 pushes on, throwing itself through the waves persistently. A few jets of sparks and tarry smoke erupt angrily from between its teeth, none making it very far before fizzling out.

(2,3)

And yet, it's still coming. And very, very angry.

EV-1 has moved 3 units closer, to 7 units from Phenom. It's now your turn.

Combat Round 3

[X] Phenom Charges EV-1, using his STFs for the extra boost, and attempts to initiate a grapple.

It's at this point that Phenom Sable abandons any attempts at subtlety. The new boosters on his back roar to life, before the jaeger leaps forwards, Destroyer Talons sliding out of their rest positions to seize the foe!

Counter!:
(8,13)
(14)

Hooked claws slam against splayed double-hands as EV-1 meets Phenom head-on. The two-headed kaiju snarls, trying to pivot into a throw-- but unfortunately, Phenom's grip is rock-solid, and the jaeger just twists around in midair, burning through the last of his rocket fuel to slam down on top of EV-1!

Grapple initiated! Roll... um... 1d10+13 for your first grapple round. Note to self; gonna need better grapplers if Phenom's gonna be a regular thing. At bare minimum, something that can hope to counter a grapple attempt would be nice. Eventually.

Distances:
Phenom Sable is 96 units from Everett, and in melee with EV-1.
The air force are in Arges/weapons range of EV-1. Immobile ground forces (arty and Heimdal) are about 80 from Everett (around Hat Island's west edge), 16 from Phenom, while mobile forces (tanks and mortars) are 2 closer to Phenom. The Type-RX is 13 units from Phenom.

Combat Round 3 Grapple
(22)
(22,9)
Grapple tied!

While Phenom is very good at grappling, EV-1 has twice as many limbs, and a far more flexible body. The two wrestle and twist in the surf, each trying to gain the upper hand but unable to overcome the other's strength.

Kaiju's turn! Grapple keeps going, so throw me 1d10+16, and another Vice roll!

Combat Round 3 Grapple Pt 2
(22)
(20,19)
Phenom wins the Grapple! 2 Advantage Points!

Fighting furiously, Phenom finally managed to eek out a small advantage against his sinuous foe, momentarily holding it in place. The knife-tipped claws of the jaeger's hands fail to pierce skin, their oscillations slowed by EV-1's mucousy coating.

No damage from Progressive Vice!

Yet even as the black Jaeger moves to strike, EV-1 repairs itself, the clotted gash on its flank starting to knit back together!

(13,7)
Fast Healing heals 1 Strike!

Now, time for your two-point grapple thing. Or pair of one point grapple things. Whatever you guys go with.

Combat Round 3 Grapple Pt 3

[X] Standard Attack

Phenom swings down an arm, talons stretched out to rend the kaiju--

(12)
(12)
+1 to next Grapple check!

But EV-1 twists to the side, coiling around the Jaeger as the swipe hits nothing but air!

1d10+16 and a Vice roll for further grapples!

Combat Round 4 Grapple
(22)
(27,32)
EV-1 wins the Grapple! 10 advantage points!

I swear I'm not cheating, guys.

Unfortunately for Phenom, the kaiju's maneuver shifts the machine off balance, forcing the rangers to pull back upright before they fall into the bay. EV-1 takes full advantage of the situation, seizing the jaeger in its coils and grappling onto his shoulders from behind. Two heads bare their fangs and hiss-- the closest they can get to a grin.

What happens next is outside Phenom's field of view, though the defense force gets a very clear view. Some would wish they hadn't.

A quiver runs through the kaiju's body, from the tips of its tails up to its two heads, as its spine seems to ripple. The zigzagging band of armour running down its centreline flexes, bulging out on either side, as EV-1 stretches and strains. Then the plates unlock, flipping out like lines of bony hairclips, and the kaiju rips itself in half.

At the same time, Phenom's scanners go wild.

Surprisingly, the break is clean-- no blood or trailing strings of flesh, just rows of interlocking organs and bared muscle before the armour plates flip shut again, sealing both parts off from the air. Joints twist and snap into new positions, adjusting each half from eight limbs to four. The wings fold up, spiked thumbs pivoting to act as hammers; the clawed arms flex, wrists reversed to opposite directions; the necks turn on their axes, tendons shifting beneath the scaly skin.

Now completely separated, the two new kaiju reassert their grip, and bellow out their screeching howls-- their forms mirror images of each other.

Geminus separates!

<ALERT! NEW KAIJU SIGNATURES DETECTED! DOUBLE EVENT!>
<CLASSIFICATIONS: CATEGORY II>
<DESIGNATIONS: EV-27-001 "CASTOR" -- EV-27-002 "POLLUX">

Though divided, the now two kaiju waste no time bringing their strength to bear on Phenom Sable. The right one swoops around, yanking Phenom's arm up before hammering its right claw into the machine's thigh! The armour holds, but not without taking a dent.

Free Attack!
Hit to R. Thigh! Glancing Wound!
Phenom Sable takes 1 Strike!

Meanwhile, the leftward kaiju hooks its wing around Phenom's arm, and tears its right down the jaeger's spine. The claws squeal and spark against the armour, before catching in a gap and ripping open the control circuits to Phenom Sable's legs!

Free Attack!
Hit to Pelvis! Minor Wound! -2 Agi!
Phenom Sable takes 3 Strikes! +1 Ongoing!

The Uemuras cry out in simultaneous pain, and Phenom redoubles his efforts to win!

1d10+16 to fight back, and another Vice roll!

Highwind was pretty close with his guess; EV-1 was actually two kaiju all along! Of course, this is why I didn't give you guys a proper name for your opponent from the start; revealing that the kaiju is called "Geminus" would give everything away!

Combat Round 4 Grapple Pt 2
(23)
(11) (11)
Phenom Sable wins the grapple! 12 Advantage Points! No damage from Ongoing!

With a foghorn roar, Phenom reaches behind, and yanks the two kaiju off his back! With a startled cry, Castor-- the one on the right-- swings into Pollux-- the one on the left-- crashing against the sinister Cat II before it can adjust! Unfortunately for Pollux, the movement knocks it back against Phenom's claws, which rip out a vicious scar across its hindquarters!

Hit to Pelvis! Minor Wound! -2 Agi! Armour destroyed!
Pollux takes 3 Strikes! +1 Ongoing! No damage from Ongoing!
Castor takes no damage!

As Pollux screams and flails in the painful grip Phenom has on it, Castor finds its throat crushed behind Phenom's forearm-- not comfortable in the least, but far enough from the whining blades that its own healing factor can keep repairing its steadily fading wound. Pollux has no such luck with its own wounds.

Castor:
(13)
Fast Healing heals 1 Strike!
Pollux:
(8)

Phenom sounds his horn again, ready to show the pair why splitting up was a bad decision.

Well. Talk about a comeback. Kinda hilarious that the first time the twins split, they roll snake eyes for their grapple, and then Pollux goes and flunks his Fast Healing roll.

Anyways, go! Inflict violence upon these two! Just be sure to specify to whom you're inflicting it on.

Combat Round 4 Grapple Pt 3

[X] Three Free Attacks against Pollux.

To put it simply, Phenom's pilots sink their fingers into Pollux, and pull it apart like brisket. Kaiju blue floods out of the shredded mass, immediately burning off the outermost layers of Phenom's paint and scoring lines into the armour. It's messy and graceless and violent-- in other words, it's exactly what one should expect from Phenom Sable.

Pollux didn't stand a chance.

Instant Death!
EV-27-002, "Pollux" defeated!

However, Phenom's victorious foghorn call is cut short as Castor roars furiously, and wrenches itself from the machine's grip! Before their eyes, the kaiju's metabolism accelerates, stitching the last of its wounds shut and infusing it with alien adrenaline!

Revengeance activated! All damage healed!

Eyes stained red with sudden madness, Castor throws itself at Phenom Sable, sending the pair beneath the churning waves!

Roll for grapples and prog vice!

Yep, I also threw in the ever-terrible "one powers up when the other dies" gimmick! Have fun with Castor!

Combat Round 4 Grapple Pt 3
(25)
(21)
Phenom Sable wins the Grapple! 4 Advantage Points!

Even as the whirling, scratching, biting coil of flesh and fury batters at the Uemuras, the siblings return the effort tenfold. Phenom grabs and punches and twists viciously, his claws tearing several rents in the kaiju's throat as they struggle.

Hit to Neck! Minor Wound!
Castor takes 3 Strikes! +4 Ongoing!

Alright, time for grapple things. Seems like we're actually gonna finish this fight pretty soon-- letting us move on to the main event; Tacit and Jagdhund versus the other kaiju!

Combat Round 4 Grapple Pt 4
Unrelentingly, Phenom retracts the Talons on one hand, and slams a fist into Castor's face. The kaiju reels, coming back around before taking another blow to the cranium. With a foghorn bellow, Phenom strikes again and again, until the kaiju's rage hazed mind simply can't handle it any longer, and drops into unconsciousness.

Castor takes 8 Temporary Strikes! Castor is Incapacitated!

A few seconds later, Phenom awkwardly claws his way to the surface, paddling back towards Hat Island with a bleeding, concussed kaiju hanging from one arm, and the remains of another splattered across his armour.

EV-27-001, "Castor" defeated!

And just like that, Everett's first fight is won.

Yay, Phenom!

I'll probably start up the Neo-Seattle fight tomorrow, so in the meantime you all can... celebrate your victory here or whatever.

Captainwolf · Nov 16, 2020

scanners: 8+7=15

Unlike Everett, Neo-Seattle's scanners work just fine, pinpointing the three kaiju easily, and relaying in detailed reports. Two of them are coming from the northwest, with the remaining kaiju approaching from the southwest along the shore.

First off is the Cat II-- SE-27-016, designation "Barb"-- who's accompanying the northwestern Cat III. True to its name, Barb's defining characteristic appears to be several rows of quills or spikes that line its body. Combined with its serpentine build and fast movements, it's likely that the kaiju's main weapon will be constriction.

Approaching with Barb is the Category III, SE-27-017 "Traverser". Traverser's body plan is semi-humanoid in an almost tokusatsu-esque way, with a simian build, flattened head, and supple tail. Its readings don't suggest any form of ranged attack, though two projections on its back do contain heavy metallic elements.

Finally, the Cat III kaiju from the southwest-- SE-27-018, codename "Malisaur". Like several kaiju before it, Malisaur possesses a centaurian version of the common hexapedal structure-- that is, four legs and two arms, rather than the other way around. Its dorsal surface is completely covered in segmented plating, from its short tail to the end of its snout. Notable weapons appear to be its hooked claws and enlarged jaw, though reports of constant drooling and slobbering suggest a caustic ranged attack of some sort.

There's not much pattern to the kaiju's approach, though they're nowhere near as fast as EV-1. At most, all three are keeping a similar pace with each other.

Barb, Traverser, and Malisaur are all about 37-40 kilometres out from Neo-Seattle, albeit in different directions. You can intercept them en route, wait for them to come to you, or whatever you want. What's the plan?

Combat Deployment

[X] Move the Northeast Railgun to the Northwest and the Southeast Railgun to the Southwest.
[X] Deploy the Tanks, Artillery, Mortars, two scouts plus the Elite scout and the Hlin 8 units forward of the DP, in the SW Sector. Group under the Hlin's aegis and wait for the Kaiju to enter. Tacit deploys alongside them.
[X] Deploy the rest of the Air Force to the Northwest, five units forward of the DP. Jagdhund deploys at the DP, prone and with the Machine Cannon equipped and loaded with Assault Rounds.
[X] The Navy splits up and deploys a Mura' and a Gunboat to the North- and Southwest, with the single Moray going to the Northwest. Deploy five units away from the beach.

NW:

Most of the city's naval and air forces meet just outside the limits, waiting as Jagdhund joins up. The Jaeger takes a sniping stance behind the Defense Perimeter, using the wall itself as a support for her weapon. On either side, the railgun batteries wait, charged and loaded and ready to fire.

Off in the distance, two shapes pass through the waves.

Barb resembles a sea serpent, long and sinuous and scaly-- aside from the several hundred, bright red quills running along its body, or the six luminous eyes embedded in its skull. The kaiju loops out of the water as it approaches, loosing a bell-like cry before diving back beneath the surface.

Traverser swims like a human, performing what seems to be a modified breaststroke through Puget Sound. However, its body is clearly far from human-- even from several kilometres away, the beetle-black gleam of carapace is visible on its back, as are the pair of silvery fins sticking up into the air. Every so often, its head breaches further above the water, exposing tusk-like mandibles and orange, egg-shaped eyes.

The two approach confidently, undeterred by the sight of the firepower waiting for them. One way or another, they'll have their fight.

Barb and Traverser are 55 units out from the DP (50 units from air force/navy).

===

SW:

Unlike the northwest battle, it seems this one's destined to happen on dry land. Malisaur's path has snaked more along the south than the east, following the shoreline up towards the city. Maybe the kaiju can't swim well, or maybe it just doesn't like getting wet-- whatever the reason, Neo-Seattle will have a much easier time deploying their army against it.

Tacit Ronin sees the kaiju coming from a mile away. It's not hard.

A hulking, armoured monstrosity, Malisaur seems to lack any subtlety at all. The kaiju stands almost ninety metres tall, over one and a half times that in length, on four trunk-like legs, while a pair of viciously clawed arms hang beneath its neck. As reports suggest, its ridged back is completely covered by thick plates of armour, running up over the upper half of its skull all the way down to its short tail. However, the armour on its head doesn't trouble its sight in the least-- Malisaur has no eyes to see with. In fact, the part of its head that isn't armoured is little more than a grossly reinforced mouth, filled with rows of serrated teeth and dribbling streams of acrid, steaming fluids.

As the kaiju stomps its way closer, it pauses momentarily, and flares the gill-like organs behind its jaw, sniffing at the air. Then whatever internal radar guides the creature clears up, and Malisaur growls low and long, before setting once again on its path towards the city.

Malisaur is 50 units out from the DP (42 from your forces). Your naval forces are roughly equivalent in distance from it as your own forces, though you cannot use torpedoes against it.

Combat Round 1

[X] Railgun batteries stay on Overwatch for when the Kaiju enter their range.
[X] All other units stay in place.

NW:

The forces simply wait, letting the kaiju close in. Barb weaves back and forth a little, while Traverser simple continues its breaststroke.

Barb and Traverser are 43 units out, 38 from the conventionals.

=====

SW:

Pretty much the same as in the northwest. Malisaur makes its big, stupid way towards the city, the only notable thing possibly being the speed at which it does so.

Malisaur is 38 units out, 30 from Tacit and your forces.

Meh. Nothing exciting going on here.

Combat Round 2

[X] Scouts advance 5 units.
[X] Everybody else, stay on overwatch with your reusable weapons. Fire if the enemy enters your range.

NW:

Everyone simply readies their weapons, the scout craft hovering slightly closer as they wait.

However, the plan breaks when Traverser suddenly slows down. Rising up from the water, the kaiju finally shows its form-- the grey pinecone scales on its belly and limbs, the insectile face with no neck, the three-fingered hands-- all of it. Orange eyes glow like coals as the silvery blades on its back splay apart... before Traverser bends forwards, and resumes its advance in a much more upright stance.

The sudden surfacing seems to have surprised Barb as well, as the serpentine kaiju breaks off from its coiling approach momentarily as well, swimming a little closer to the other creature out of curiosity.

Unfortunately, the commotion has left both kaiju squarely out of range of the city's weapons.

Barb and Traverser are 35/37 units out, 30/32 from the conventionals (25/27 from scouts).

=====

SW:

As the southwest group does the same, Malisaur continues its approach. It's unclear whether the kaiju can even see the offensive actions being readied against it-- or if it just doesn't care.

Either way, the centaurian monster promptly waltzes right into the defense forces firing line without a single bit of hesitation.

Overwatch activated!
1d10 Elite Arges (hits on 5s)
2/1d10 Arges (hits on 6s)
1d10+A Elite Corrosion Shell (hits on 5s)
9/1d10+A Corrosion shells (hits on 6s)
4/1d10 Mortars (hits on 6s)
4/1d10+A Hellfires (hits on 5s)
6/1d10+1+A Railguns (hits on 6s)
Locations too, obviously.

Malisaur is 26 units out, 18 from Tacit and your forces (13 from scouts).

Combat Round 2 Overwatch
SW:

It's easy.

The scouts manage a full lock on the monster as it lurches forwards, cleanly painting flesh and chitin with their laser light.

3 Arges hits! +2 Ran to compatible units!

Seconds later, and the army fires.

Shells erupt from the tanks and artillery in an enthusiastic hail-- almost too enthusiastic, as several vehicles manage to jam their guns before they can get a good hit in-- swooping in to meet the monster. Most of the shots hit the kaiju's carapace, staining the indigo plates with steaming, acrid solvents. One lucky shot manages to catch it in the underbelly, burning a shallow rash where it hits. Malisaur doesn't even slow down. As expected, the mortar attacks fail to do anything as well, their shrapnel fragments simply lodging themselves in Malisaur's epidermis.

Hit to Pelvis! No damage!
Hit to Head! No damage!
Hit to Spine! No damage!
Hit to Torso! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Chest! No damage!
Hit to Chest! No damage!
Hit to Neck! No damage!
Hit to R. Thigh! No damage!
Hit to Torso! No damage!
Hit to L. Shoulder! No damage!

The second wave is all missiles and railguns-- and it's much nastier. The Murasame and missile gunboat unleash a hail of Hellfire+s, blasting the kaiju's flanks with sheets of fire. Malisaur staggers, finally taking some more serious damage. Moments later, the rail spikes hit, fracturing the kaiju's legs and nearly tearing its left arm free as they dump round after round into it! With the heavy armour confined to its core, Malisaur simply lacks the defenses to protect its limbs from the hail of fire. Its only respite is that one of the gun batteries suffers a partial jam.

Hit to R. Ankle! Minor Wound! Malisaur is On Fire!
Hit to R. Shoulder! Minor Wound! Malisaur is On Fire!
Hit to Spine! No damage!
Hit to L. Shoulder! Major Wound! Armour destroyed!
Hit to R. Thigh! Glancing Wound! Wound ignored!
Hit to L. Ankle! Minor Wound!
Hit to Spine! No damage!
Malisaur takes 15 Strikes! Malisaur is losing stamina!

Elite Type 100 squadron out of Ammo!
2 Type 100 squadrons out of Ammo!
Railgun Battery out of Ammo! Attack Dice temporarily reduced to 2/1d10+1!
Murasame missile launchers out of Ammo!
4/9 FRS uses remaining!

However, Malisaur is still pretty much out of the game. With a pained groan, the kaiju stumbles, and sinks down, legs splaying to try and support its weight. The left arm dangles by a few ropes of muscle, toxic blue blood pouring from the wound. Between the bleeding and the burns, the kaiju seems liable to fall in the next minute if Neo-Seattle somehow fails to finish it off.

Distances same as before. Your depleted units will be resupplied by the end of your next turn, but they can't fire in the meantime (well, the rail bat can, just at a lesser capacity). Obviously, for, say, the Murasame, you've still got the cannons, so some of the depleted units can still attack while they're reloading.

I need to armour my kaiju better.

Combat Round 3

[X] Tacit Runs to 8 units away from Malisaur
[X] NW conventional units advance to get the Kaiju in range, wait for an Arges lock and then fire on Barb. Boats and Moray use Torpedoes, everybody else can use missiles.
[X] Jagdhund overwatches on Barb with burst fire.

NW:

Jagdhund lines up a shot, while the assembled navy and air force dart forwards! There's a moments pause as a series of targeting lines flash across Barb's scaled hide-- before a swarm of missiles and torpedoes slam into it.

2 Arges hits!

A barrage of Dragon's Blood warheads detonate against Barb's upper body, leaving deep scorch marks-- though their characteristic acrid flames barely last a few seconds before some fire-retardant secretion snuffs them out. Unfortunately, the rest of them have even worse luck, landing only glancing blows that soon extinguish themselves, and even the torpedo attacks somehow detonate at just too far of a distance to penetrate the scales. Barb's hurt, yes, but not as badly as one would expect.

Hit to Chest! Glancing Wound!
Hit to R. Body! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Torso! Glancing Wound!
Hit to R. Upper Tail! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Neck! No damage!
Hit to Body! No damage!
Hit to Body! No damage!
Hit to Chest! No damage!
Barb takes 4 Strikes!

With a pained squeal, the serpent rears out of the water, spines flaring, and rushes forwards, closing distance as fast as it can! Traverser decides to join as well, shrouding itself in ocean spray as it courses behind its fellow.

Jagdhund shifts her sights a little, and pulls the trigger.

Overwatch activated!*
2x 1d10+5 for Jagdhund Burst, hitting on 7s, and a hit location!

Barb and Traverser will be 21/25 units out. They're -4/0 from scouts, 1/5 from Banshees, 4/8 from Hellhounds, 8/12 from Mura and Moray, 12/16 from missile boat. *you're attacking just as the kaiju gets into range, rather than at the end, and so are receiving full range penalties.

=====

SW:

As Malisaur stumbles and struggles forwards, Tacit Ronin steps up. Striding forwards purposefully, the jaeger unsheathes its Fangblades, and blares a horn. Malisaur's lips pull back in a furious grimace, a deep snarl echoing from its throat.

Then it speeds up.

Charge!:
(11)

With surprising force, Malisaur accelerates, blood spraying from its wounds as it hurtles its armoured bulk at the jaeger!

Reaction!
[] Block! (+4)
[] Parry! (+3)
[] Dodge! (+6)

Malisaur is 18 units out, in melee with Tacit, and 10 from your forces (5 from scouts). Keep in mind you can use Cobra Strike as a counter-attack, if you want.

Combat Round 3 Overwatch/Reaction
NW:

(6,10)

A somewhat sloppy burst of gunfire erupts from the rifle, pelting Barb's right flank with explosive rounds. Scales are knocked loose and scattered to the wind, flecks of viscous secretion splattering like blood as the attack batters the approaching kaiju!

Hit to R. Body! Glancing Wound!
Barb takes 1 Strike!
9/12 Ammunition remaining!

But Barb's advance is not to be slowed, and the kaiju darts past the Dragonflies, plunging into the middle of the air force!

Distances are as above.

[---]

[X] Dodge! (+6)

SW:

(14)
(12)

Though its movement is casual, Tacit is by no means caught off guard. The jaeger dances to one side, letting a howling Malisaur stampede past! The kaiju stumbles, having over-committed to the attack-- which gives Tacit Ronin a clear chance to strike!

Passing Attack!
[ ] Super Fangblades! (2x, +5, Damage Bonus 3, AP 4)
-[ ] Cobra Strike! (+5, Damage Bonus 6, AP 7)
[ ] Punch! (+5, Damage Bonus 3, AP 0)
[ ] Kick! (+4, Damage Bonus 6, AP 2)
[ ] Nothing at all.

Keep in mind you can also Flourish with this, in case your really wanted to go overkill.

Combat Round 3 Passing Attack

[X] Super Fangblades! (2x, +5, Damage Bonus 3, AP 4)
-[X] Cobra Strike! (+5, Damage Bonus 6, AP 7)
-[X] Flourish

Tacit draws back one Fangblade, pausing a moment to gather its focus, and--

Dodge!:
(1)
(22)

"Cobra STRIKE!"

--in one stroke, slices clean through Malisaur's front half. Everything right under the kaiju's shoulders and up simply falls off, flopping to the ground as the rest of the kaiju's body goes limp.

Hit to R. Shoulder! Destruction Wound!
Malisaur takes 5 Strikes! Instant Death!
Successful Flourish! +1200 Resources!

SE-27-018 "Malisaur" defeated!

Tacit straightens back up, and flicks its arm to the side, cleaning its weapon of the kaiju's blood.

And just like that, their battle's over.

You're definitely getting the Quick Kill Bonus for that. Now all that's left to deal with is the Northwest sector!

Combat Round 4

[X] Tacit runs to reinforce Jagdhund, if possible.
[X] Jagdhund fires another Burst at Barb.
[X] Cons move so that distance to the nearest Kaiju is 15 units and fire at Barb.

Spinning and backing up to move into a more comfortable range, the armed forces only pause to reacquire target lock on Barb before unleashing weapons fire into the kaiju! The rockets and lasers find their efforts blunted by the kaiju's scales and secretions, and even the torpedoes barely manage more than light scarring-- but it's the rail batteries that prove themselves once again, gouging great wounds in the serpentine kaiju's upper body with their high-velocity rounds!

3 Arges hits! Full bonus!
15 Hits!
Hit to Lower Body! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Chest! Minor Wound!
Hit to Upper Body! Minor Wound!
Hit to Upper Body! Glancing Wound!
Barb takes 8 Strikes!

As the kaiju trashes, the damage heavily compromising its ability to function, Jagdhund opens fire again. A five-round burst rips open the kaiju's already wounded side, causing Barb to fall forwards-- and the next burst to hit its unarmoured eyes, blowing the serpent's head open like a scaly grapefruit.

Hit to Upper Body! Minor Wound!
Hit to Eyes! Major Wound!
Barb takes 8 Strikes!

SE-27-016 "Barb" defeated!

However, behind the shredded carcass of Barb, the second monster closes in. Without so much as a glance towards its dead companion, Traverser surges towards the defense perimeter, its fins buzzing like leaky power lines.

"Activate neural disruptor!"

Behind the Perimeter, a series of dishes rise up, and power on. For the most part, the military units can shrug off the side-effects of the scrambling broadcast, though the Murasame and gunboat are reporting some adverse effects in their crew.

Neural Disruptors active!
Surface Navy adversely affected! -1 to all stats until negated!

Neural Disruptor:
(12)

Unfortunately, Traverser is similarly able to shrug off the disruptors' signal, and shows no signs of irritation. The sound's floor rises, and the humanoid insect touches down on the murky earth. With traction now available to it, Traverser abandons its breaststroke, and rises to its full height, staring at the line of guns-- and Jagdhund-- with featureless orange eyes.

Traverser is 13 units out. It's in range of scouts, 1 from Banshees, 3 past the Hellhounds, and 7 from the navy. You'll need to succeed on a Difficulty 5 test to negate the effects on your two boats, or just deactivate the disruptors to automatically clear the effect. Either works, especially since Traverser's successfully saved against them.

Combat Round 5

[X] Deactivate the Neural Disruptors.
[X] Everyone in range, wait for an Arges lock and then fire their weapons.
[X] Jagdhund fires at Traverser, set the gun to fully automatic.

As the disruptor dishes are shut off, another barrage shoots forth, slamming into Traverser from all directions. However, the pinecone-scale plates on the kaiju's limbs and hardened back carapace are more than tough enough to weather the attacks, turning blasts and beams into scars and minor burns that merely mar its surface. The kaiju soldiers on, soaking up the military's efforts.

3 Arges hits!
Hit to Spine! No damage!
Hit to Neck! No damage!
Hit to Arm! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Spine! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Pelvis! No damage!
Hit to Thigh! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Shoulder! No damage!
Hit to Spine! No damage!
Hit to Spine! No damage!
Traverser takes 3 Strikes!

However, it's when the hum of the railguns fills the air that Traverser shows some response. Halting in its advance for a few seconds, the Cat III throws its arms around itself and doubles over, fins squealing as their vibrating edges burn white on the air! Three volleys of railgun flechettes lance out, aiming to spear the kaiju's head and legs, only for a glowing shield to burst around the monster, lashing outwards as the darts slam into it!

Reinforced Barrier Field Activated!
Hit to Barrier!
Hit to Barrier!
Hit to Barrier!
Hit to Barrier!
Hit to Barrier!

By the end, the shield's flickering and stuttering with excess heat, barely holding together, but the kaiju doesn't have a scratch on it. Slowly, Traverser begins to uncoil...

And that's when Jagdhund stands up, flicks the switch to full-auto, and hoses the monster down. With a thundering snap, the shield blows out, slagging the metallic fins on the kaiju's back in the process. High-explosive shells tear into layers of hardened armour, fracturing and shattering chitin, and shredding the kaiju's plated spine. A few rounds fall short, blowing apart those glowing orange eyes just to add insult to crippling, battle-ending harm. Without a hint of a squeal or cry, Traverser topples forwards, crashing into the surf.

Hit to Barrier! Barrier Over Capacity!
Feedback:
No damage from feedback!
Hit to Spine! Major Wound! All Spinal Armour Destroyed! Traverser is Paralyzed!
Hit to Eyes! Minor Wound! Eyes Irritated!
Traverser takes 8 Strikes! Traverser is losing Stamina!

The purple and grey jaeger steps forwards, approaching the twitching, stiffened shape bleeding in the shallows, and puts a four-round burst through its cranium.

The kaiju stops twitching soon after.

SE-27-017 "Traverser" defeated!

*Sad GM noises*
> Adds "make better barrier shields" to patch notes for future.

Combat End
Victorious, the jaegers return to their cities. Jagdhund and Tacit bear no damage, save some marred paint, but Phenom's lower flank has a long gash running down its side, and several damaged control circuits that will have to be addressed.

Tacit Ronin requires no repairs!
Jagdhund requires no repairs!
Phenom Sable's repairs will require 340 Resources and an Action to complete.

Another problem is the... rather overzealous manner the kaiju were dispatched in. Railguns aren't known for their neatness, and all three jaegers finished off their kaiju with the use of some particularly messy weapons. The shredded lumps of alien that used to be kaiju are therefore drenching their surroundings in toxic fluids, and are going to require some serious cleanup efforts to contain and neutralize. And speaking of kaiju...

While they weren't particularly hard to kill, the kaiju do sport some interesting features. Barb's entire body contains a number of hyper-elastic tendons, which would have allowed it to whip itself around an enemy and impale it on its spikes, and its outer dermis contains modified sudoriferous glands that secrete a fire-retardant substance. Malisaur not only featured fully-realised blindsight, but a number of redundant internal organs and structural supports that would allow it to shrug off damage more easily. Traverser's structural anatomy seems optimized for executing a number of combat maneuvers similar to martial arts-- throws, pins, rapid strikes, and other actions to deal with an enemy around as it wished-- and all its limbs would make effective striking surfaces. Of course, its main draw seems to be the advanced Barrier Field projector built into its spine and shoulders. Despite the near-total loss of the fins, it would be possible to use their readings and the kaiju's autopsy to further advance the power and capacity of the Protectorate's own Barrier Fields-- though this fight does show a major flaw in their ability to handle mass fire.

New Research Token:
- Traverser Token (Reinforced Barrier Fields)!

And then, of course, there's EV-1-- or, as the combination is now being called, "Geminus". The idea of a combining kaiju is one that nobody expected to face, but this has proven that it's both possible and feasible. Not only did the two show that ability-- they also displayed several other powers that proved even more effective when operating as one; their flight, their healing factor, and even their offensive potential. While Pollux's carcass has been rendered next to useless for research purposes, its twin, Castor, is not only mostly intact but still alive! This means that not only does Everett have a chance to retrieve a fully-formed secondary brain, they could even take the kaiju alive much how Neo-Seattle has done before! This would deprive them of the resources its body holds, but would allow a chance to explore all of Geminus' secrets, rather than being limited to only one route of research.

New Research Token:
- Geminus Token (Fast Healing or K-Scale Flight or Drift Shenanigans)!
If Castor is kept alive, then whichever Token options are not used will have their research difficulty reduced as long as it survives.

With the kaiju incursion finished, it's time to make decisions, and get back to work.

It is now downtime.

Kaiju Stats:
(Neo-Seattle)

SE-27-016
Barb
Class: Category II Kaiju
A serpentine kaiju, covered in hundreds of retractable spines, and crowned with a trio of spikes on its head. Its flesh is a dull blue-grey, its six eyes blue, and its spines an angry rust red.

Stats:
HtH: 3
Ran: 0
Str: 4
Tou: 4
Agi: 2 (4)
Dex: 2

Structure:
Dura: 8
Stru: 12

Bed of Nails: Deals 1d10 Edged to all other participants each round it spends in a grapple. During Full Defense, deal 2/d10 Edged against any melee attack that strikes Barb. On a natural 10, Bed of Nails deals an extra point of damage, but does not explode.
Aquadynamic: Barb gains+2 Agility as long as it is at least partially submerged in water.

Weapons:
Keen Jaws
Built-in Melee Weapon
Attack Dice: 1d10+1
Parry Dice: 1d5
Block Dice: 1d5
Armour Penetration: 5
Grappling Bonus: +0
Damage Type: Blunt
Damage Bonus: Dexterity

Thorny Coils
Built-in Melee Weapon
Attack Dice: 2x 1d10-1/1d10
Armour Penetration: 0
Grappling Bonus: +5
Damage Type: Blunt or Edged
Damage Bonus: Strength
Special:
On a hit that deals damage, Barb may immediately attempt to Grapple the opponent at a -2 penalty.

Armour:
Fireproof Coating
Coverage: All
AV: 3/1
Resilience: All, +3 Fire, -2 Ice
Durability: 10

SE-27-017
Traverser
Class: Category III Kaiju
Semi-humanoid, with a flattened head and a supple tail, Traverser looks like something out of an old monster movie. Its belly and limbs are covered in grey pinecone scales, with a matte black dorsal carapace and streaks of orange along its sides. Each arm and leg ends in three phalanges-- forming simple but flexible hands and feet, tipped in short talons. Two tusks grow beside its insectile mandibles, while a pair of flattened, metallic blades sprout from its scapular armour.

Stats:
HtH: 4
Ran: 0
Str: 3
Tou: 3
Agi: 3
Dex: 4

Structure:
Dura: 6
Stru: 12

Clever Wrestler: Automatically adds half Dexterity to Grapple checks. May take a Difficulty 10 Dex check to equip or sheath a weapon as a 0 AP action.
Horn Tackle: On a successful Slam, Traverser may instead act as though it had taken the Throw grapple action instead of resolving the Slam as normal.
Multiattack: As a Long Action, Traverser may make two attacks with any Weapons it possesses, taking a -2 penalty to the second, and a -1 penalty to any and all Reactions until its next turn.
Barrier Field: Traverser may activate or deactivate its Barrier Field as a Free Action or Reaction.

Weapons:
Flexible Claws x2
Built-in Melee Weapons
Attack Dice: 1d10+1/2x 1d10
Armour Penetration: Dexterity
Grappling Bonus: +3
Damage Type: Edged or Blunt
Damage Bonus: Dexterity

Three-Toed Feet x2
Built-in Melee Weapons
Attack Dice: 1d10
Armour Penetration: 2
Grappling Bonus: -1
Damage Type: Blunt
Damage Bonus: Strength
Special:
Pain Crush: A hit to a prone opponent will Stun them.

Tail Smack
Built-in Melee Weapon
Attack Dice: 1d10-2
Armour Penetration: 1
Grappling Bonus: -3
Damage Type: Blunt
Damage Bonus: Strength x2

Armour:
Rigid Shell
Coverage: Head, Neck, Shoulders, Spine, Pelvis
AV: 2/-
Resilience: All, +1 Impact, -1 Blunt
Durability: 6
Special:

Scaled Exoskeleton
Coverage: All
AV: 3/2
Resilience: All
Durability: 8

Reinforced Barrier Field
Power: 7
Dispersion: 6/3 (see below)
Capacity: 21
Defends all clustered units against ranged attacks only.
Activates and deactivates as a Free Action. When inactive, halve Dispersion, but continue to apply it.
If the shield goes over capacity, it shuts down for 2d5 rounds, and Traverser rolls on the Vital Damage table.

SE-27-018
Malisaur
Class: Category III Kaiju
A hulking, armoured monster, Malisaur stomps forwards on four trunk-like legs, as two hooked arms wave beneath its neck. The kaiju's ridged back is covered in segmented plating, running up from the front of its snout to the tip of its short tail. Its eyes are nonexistent, but most of the head is taken up by a hinged, slobbering mouth.

Stats:
HtH: 3
Ran: 1
Str: 5
Tou: 6
Agi: 3
Dex: 2

Structure:
Dura: 12
Stru: 17

Sightless: All hits to the Eyes instead hit the Head.
Power Through: Ignores Glancing Wounds. Ignores stuns on a 5+.
Stampede: Double Agi on charges (before penalties are applied).
Maul the Weak: If Malisaur knocks an opponent Prone, it may immediately make a melee attack against it at -1.

Weapons:
Caustic Fangs
Built-in Melee Weapon
Attack Dice: 1d10
Armour Penetration: 4
Grappling Bonus: +0
Damage Type: Edged, Acid
Damage Bonus: Strength+2

Hooked Claws
Built-in Melee Weapon
Attack Dice: 1d10+1
Parry Dice: 1d10
Block Dice: 1d10
Armour Penetration: 0
Grappling Bonus: +2
Damage Type: Blunt
Damage Bonus: Strength

Searing Retch
Built-in Ranged Weapon (Scatter)
Attack Dice: 1d10
Armour Penetration: 0
Damage Type: Fire
Damage Bonus: 4
Range: 4/6/10

Armour:
Impenetrable Skin
Coverage: All but Head, Eyes, Neck, Chest, Spine, Pelvis
AV: 2/1
Resilience: All, +1 Blunt, +1 Fire
Durability: 8

Ribbed Spinal Plates
Coverage: Head, Eyes, Neck, Chest, Spine, Pelvis
AV: 4/2
Resilience: All, +1 Impact, +1 Edged
Durability: 7

(Everett)

EV-27-001/002
Geminus (Castor and Pollux)
Class: Category III (II) Kaiju
Long and serpentine, the first things really notable about Geminus are its two heads, each ending in a circular, hook-toothed maw and several black eyes. The body of the kaiju resembles a cross between dragon and leech, with six webbed legs, two membranous wings, and a coat of slimy, grey-green scales that cover its strange, twisted form. A pair of rudimentary organic jets sit between the wings, helping propel the creature at high speeds through the air.
Of course, the truth of the matter is that it's not one kaiju, but two working together. Castor and Pollux are mirror images of each other, with snake-like bodies, tube-shaped heads, and four webbed limbs-- two legs, one wing-arm tipped in a striking hammer claw, and one forelimb with a set of knife-like talons, with the last two swapping sides between the kaiju. Though individually, they're somewhat limited, together the pair prove that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Stats: Geminus (Castor/Pollux)
HtH: 3 (3)
Ran: 2 (2)
Str: 5 (3)
Tou: 4 (3)
Agi: 4 (2)
Dex: 2 (2)

Structure:
Durability: 14 (7)
Structure: 20 (10)

Two Heads are Better Than One: Geminus is actually composed of two kaiju operating in tandem-- Castor and Pollux-- and enters the battlefield in this form. This combination has its own special rules, detailed below.
- As long as Castor and Pollux are both still alive, they can elect to combine into Geminus, or separate into their component kaiju. Combining is done as a major action, but separating is only a minor action. Castor and Pollux must be within 5 units of each other in order to combine.
- While capable in their combined form, Geminus has a limit to how much punishment they can take before becoming unable to maintain the combination. Once Geminus has passed their durability threshold, they must succeed on a Toughness test (Difficulty 7) each round, or be forced to separate into Castor and Pollux by the end of their turn. If Geminus regains enough Strikes so that they are at or within their durability threshold again, they no longer need to test to maintain cohesion.
- Upon combining, Geminus adds together all the damage that Castor and Pollux have taken. However, any Major Wounds either of the two have taken are treated as Minor Wounds while combined. If Castor and/or Pollux are over their durability limit, they may still combine into Geminus, though they must test each round (as above) in order to maintain cohesion.
- If Geminus is struck by an attack in their combined form, in addition to hit location, the GM must roll an extra d10 to determine which half was struck. On an odd result, Castor's half is struck. On an even result, Pollux's half is struck. This dice may be rerolled against up to four attacks per round. This must be tracked, as Castor and Pollux have different armour and weapon configurations. The effects of Wounds and armour/weapon destruction is tracked and applied normally, but Strike and Ongoing damage is aggregated as detailed below.
- When Geminus separates, count up all the Strikes and non-Wound Ongoing they have currently taken in combined form (noted separately), and distribute half the damage to each component kaiju. If the number of Strikes or Ongoing is an odd number, reduce it by one and distribute as normal. Any Temporary Strikes are healed at this time, were they not already.
- When combined and above their durability, Geminus may elect to take an additional Standard Action, ignoring the one-action restriction (it may take a different action with the extra Standard Action, or perform the same sort of action it did before). However, this causes both Standard Actions to resolve with a -1 penalty. Additionally, as long as the same conditions are still fulfilled, this allows Geminus to perform a Standard Action at a -3 penalty after Running.
- When combined, Geminus only increases the Reaction penalty for every two Reactions made per turn. Geminus cannot suffer penalties for having both hands occupied, and at most can only ever be treated as having one hand occupied, as long as at least one of its forelimbs is not occupied.
Jian: As long as they are in their combined form (see above), Geminus can fly under their own power, and follows the rules for Flying characters when doing so. Castor and Pollux cannot fly when separated.
- Can take off as a move action or as a 2 Advantage Point Grappling move provided their durability limit has not been exceeded. When airborne, double base Agility for movement purposes only. Movement may be executed vertically, instead of only horizontally, and may influence your ability to fight or be fought. Grounded characters may not make Charges or Melee Attacks against a Flying character, no matter their Altitude. Ranged Attacks from the ground are at +1 difficulty to hit the target if it moves while flying, though a hit may knock the creature out of control. Each time a Flying character takes a Strike while flying, take a toughness test (6). If the test is passed, they keep control, if failed, they immediately crash 1d5 units away in a random direction and takes 1d10 blunt damage. If they would land on someone, both characters take 2d10 blunt damage, are knocked prone and immediately become locked in a Grapple. See the Altitude System for more information.
- Dive-Bomb: When conducting an Aerial Charge against a landbound target, Geminus may immediately disengage after resolving it, moving the rest of their charge distance away. This still provokes an attack of opportunity, but the target takes a -2 penalty to hit.
(Lightweight): Castor and Pollux halve all falling damage they would take before applying Armour, and treat themselves as one Altitude lower for the purposes of such. Lightweight only has any effect when Castor and Pollux are not in their Geminus form.
(Revengeance): Should either Castor or Pollux die while separated, the remaining kaiju immediately refills to full Strikes, heals all Ongoing, and downgrades the effects of any Wounds it was suffering (aside from Destruction Wounds) to that of the next lower stage Wound. They gain a permanent +2 to all Attack actions, and can no longer be Stunned for any reason. Once Revengeance is active, Castor/Pollux must attack the nearest K-Scale enemy in melee combat, or if that is not possible, move towards them at maximum speed, Charging if they are in range. It will not take obviously suicidal actions to accomplish this, but cannot elect to behave in a non-aggressive manner by any means.
Fast Healing (3): Your Fast Healing rating is equal to half your base Toughness (2) plus one (3). Once every round, roll a 1d10 plus your Fast Healing rating (1d10+3), and if the result is 10+ then you heal 1 Strike. Alternatively, you may choose to heal 1 (additional) Ongoing Wound instead of a Strike. Fast Healing does not alleviate Wound effects, but can remove Universal Penalties by bringing you above your Durability. Fast Healing does not confer additional Strikes if you are at 0 Strikes already, but may stabilize your Ongoing Wounds at such a time. Your Fast Healing may be suppressed if you desire to do so.
- Because of their unique nature, the combined Geminus rolls two times per round, once for each half. As long as they are combined, either Castor or Pollux may "spend" their Fast Healing roll to apply its results to the other as a Free Action, effectively granting themselves an extra attempt to repair damage.

Weapons:
Sawblade Maw x2 (Castor/Pollux Head)
Built-in Melee Weapon(s)
Attack Dice: 1d10
Armour Penetration: 0
Grappling Bonus: +2
Damage Type: Edged, Ice
Damage Bonus: 1d5+1
Special:
Consumption: whenever Geminus, Castor, or Pollux inflicts damage with this weapon to a K-Scale target, they regain 1 Strike, and heal 1 point of Ongoing.

Dagger Claw x2 (Castor L.Hand/Pollux R.Hand)
Built-in Melee Weapon(s)
Attack Dice: 1d10+1/2x 1d10+1
Block Dice: 1d5+1
Armour Penetration: 4
Grappling Bonus: +3
Damage Type: Edged
Damage Bonus: Dexterity
Special:
When combined, use the second set of Attack Dice.

Wing Hammer x2 (Castor R.Hand/Pollux L.Hand)
Built-in Melee Weapon(s)
Attack Dice: 1d10
Armour Penetration: 0
Grappling Bonus: +2
Damage Type: Blunt
Damage Bonus: Strength+1
Special:
When used as part of a Dive-Bomb attack, double damage bonus.

Immolation Breath x2
Built-in Ranged Weapon(s) (Scatter)
Attack Dice: 1d10/2x 1d10
Armour Penetration: 0
Damage Type: Fire
Damage Bonus: 2d5
Range: 5/10/-
Radius: 3
Special:
When combined, use the second set of Attack Dice.
When combined, Geminus may take a -1 penalty to the attack in order to split their attack dice between any two targets in range.

Armour:
Slime-covered Scales
Coverage: All but Eyes, Wings (Castor R.Arm/Hand, Pollux L.Arm/Hand)
AV: 3/1
Resilience: All, +1 Fire, +1 Electric, +1 Acid
Durability: 8

Supple Hide
Coverage: Wings (Castor R.Arm/Hand, Pollux L.Arm/Hand)
AV: 2/-
Resilience: All
Durability: 6

Neo-Seattle:
Category III Kaiju killed: +2000 Resources
Category II Kaiju killed: +500 Resources
Quick Kill Bonus: +300 Resources
Flourish: +1200 Resources (already factored in)
Salvage Facility Bonus: +1250 Resources
Manufacturing: +4500 Resources
Morale Bonus: +2475 Resources

Total Resources to Spend: 31290

Free Actions (Neo-Seattle):
[ ] Post-Fight Cleanup
-[ ] Clean it up! (-4890 Resources)
-[ ] Leave it be!
[ ] Upgrade lasers to UV lasers.
[ ] Write-In* (requires GM permission)
*e.g. Ashley's treatment options.

Everett:
Category II(I) Kaiju killed*: +1000 Resources
Quick Kill Bonus: +200 Resources
Manufacturing: +3000 Resources

Total Resources to Spend: 6100

*Okay, Castor's not actually dead yet, but I'm counting him here because it's easy.

Free Actions (Everett):
[ ] Post-Fight Cleanup
-[ ] Clean it up! (-2500 Resources)
-[ ] Leave it be!
[ ] Castor
-[ ] Take the brain! (-300 R, Castor Secondary Brain get)
-[ ] Leave the brain! (full resource gain)
-[ ] Take the whole Kaiju! (-500 R, Castor get, will have to build a containment facility or risk breakout)
[ ] Upgrade lasers to UV lasers.

And there you go. Now, time for downtime plans and stuff! As usual, I will answer any and all questions (within reasonable limits), if you have them.

Captainwolf · Nov 16, 2020

[x] Plan Crusade Build Up: Initial Phase v 1.2
-[x] Begin designing personalized cybernetic prosthetics for Ashley; make sure to consult her during this process
-[x] Neo Seattle
--[x] Normal Actions
---[x] Build 1x Heavy Munitions Factory (-1300 R)
---[x] Search waters around Naval Station Kitsap for wrecks, retrieve/salvage the most intact ones
---[x] Research high-capacity Barriers (Use Traverser Token)
---[x] Research improved J-Scale Flight, available to Jaegers with less powerful reactors
---[x] Research ground-based Fangs armed with weapons that can use the same ammo as Jagdhund's Machine Cannon (Bakelite, etc)
---[x] Scan and analyze Ascalon Blade, focusing on being able to replicate or repair, without damaging it. (Safe Research)
---[x] Research Electrical Grenades that explode in a shower of electrified liquid, using data from Laidon as relevant.
---[x] Build 1x "Tyr" Super-Heavy (-4000 R)
---[x] Hunt Boreas
---[x] Reserved for After Hunt
---[x] Reserved for After Hunt
--[x] Free Actions
---[x] Upgrade All Lasers to UV Lasers (Free action, -100 R)
---[x] Clean Up (-4980 R)
---[x] Transfer 10000 R to Everett (Comms)
---[x] Attempt to further Research Grae's Teleport (Breach)
---[x] Research Movement-increasing Leg Mods based on HVMS (K-Sci)
---[x] Research Power Armor for AKBs, including strength augmentation (Con Tech 1)
---[x] Research Sonic Weaponry (Con Tech 2)
---[x] Research Bomber Aircraft (Con Tech 3)
---[x] Research ranged Grapple weapon, similar in function to Grae's claws, for Phenom Sable (J-Tech 1)
---[x] Reverse Engineer Jagdgewher for Plans (J-Tech 2)
---[x] Scan for Kaiju (Hunt Scanner)
---[x] Build 2x Autogyros, 2x Fafnir Gunships, and 1x Laser Tank Squad (MPFs, -2020 R)
-[x] Everett
--[x] Actions
---[x] Clean-up (-2500 R, Free)
---[x] Upgrade Lasers to UV (Free)
---[x] Upgrade Research from 1 to 5 (-7000 R)
---[x] Build Kaiju Research and Containment Facility, put Castor in it (-2000 R)
---[x] Build 4x Kaiju Salvage Facilities (-4000 R)
---[x] Build 2x BRM Class Environmental Stabilizers (-2400) R
---[x] Repair Phenom Sable (-340 R)

Neo-Seattle Starting total: 31290 R
Total expenses: -22400 R
Final total: 8890 R

Everett Starting Total: 6100+10000 R
Total Expenses: -15740 R
Final Total: 360 R

Neo-Seattle:

First things first, while the battlefields undergo cleanup, Neo-Seattle's defense force receives a slight tune-up. The old Laser Vulcan weapons systems are removed from their casings, taken in, and reconfigured for a shorter wavelength ultraviolet beam-- one much better at penetrating armour than the old visible-spectrum output. Even Tacit Ronin's are upgraded, though their size and higher output requires that they require a little more time and effort to modify.

Laser weapons upgraded to UV!
60mm Laser Vulcans upgraded to UV! -100 Resources!

Meanwhile, a group of various J-Tech personnel are conscripted by Medical, and given the task of working with Pilot Langley to develop personal cybernetic prostheses for her. With no major repairs to busy themselves with this week, they're more than able to assist, and certainly happy to do so! That said, their enthusiasm is perhaps a little too strong, as it soon becomes clear that it's going to take a lot more time than expected. In the meantime, medical plans to try and help Ashley regain her physical health through the use of some less advanced, but far less intrusive older prostheses-- which will hopefully help her adjust to mechanical limbs while the personalized ones are under development.

Unique prostheses will be finished for Ashley in 3 weeks! Medical says it'll take at least another two weeks after that for her to adjust completely and regain a level of fitness sufficient to pilot.

Mental health, is, of course, a completely different beast, but there you go; five weeks, and Ashley will be physically ready to pilot again, if nothing else.

Another shipment or resources finds itself send off to help with Everett's efforts.

Breach Tech continues to try and replicate Grae's confounding teleportation ability, despite how little it makes sense. And, to give them credit, after one particularly fruitless day, they do end up coming up with something. Mind you, they have next to no idea how they did, or how it works, but... well, it does. The highly-experimental prototype is able to execute macro-scalar teleportation across non-insignificant distances, somehow. As best as they can figure, one of them must have hit the Ballmer peak and cobbled something together, which at least partially explains how they managed it in such a short timeframe, as well as why they've lost recollection of it. Still, on the plus side, the sheer fact that they have something that works like Grae's ability means that understanding it is no longer completely impossible-- just really difficult.

In any case, they think they can upscale the teleportation prototype for Jaeger use, and provide a crude sort of control system, but asking for anything other than "jump the mech in the vague direction of the target" would be a fool's errand. Especially since Breach Tech's requesting not to try anything else involving nonsensical teleportation for the next few weeks.

Teleportation Research difficulty reduced!

New Jaeger equipment available: Experimental Macro-Scalar Teleport!
Experimental Macro-Scalar Teleport
7500 Resources
As a Full Round Action, a Jaeger with an XMST can attempt a teleport. Roll 3d10 to determine the current jump's maximum range in units, and select the exit point up to that distance. Afterwards, roll 1d5-- on a natural 1, the jaeger lands right on target, otherwise roll 1d10-1 to determine how far it is displaced north (2), east (3), south (4), or west (5) respectively. After a teleport, the jaeger must wait 2d5 rounds for it to recharge, and counts as having moved on its next turn for any Standard Actions it would take.
Each time a jaeger teleports with the XMST, roll 1d10. On a 1-2, the XMST shuts down until it is repaired.
The XMST may only be equipped to Mark II+ Jaegers.

I have decided to give you a teleport. And some miscellaneous bullshit to explain why you got it without having to come up with a whole new sub-branch of physics.

That said, while teleportation may be a lovely trick to have up your sleeves, you'll need some good ol' Joint Research if you want to make this thing remotely resemble something useful.

Kaiju Science gets the extra time they requested, and they deliver. By restructuring the internal skeleton of a jaeger's legs, the Hyper-Vascular strands are able to be refitted, so as to provide improved speed and athletic abilities on land. Of course, the pressure issue is still there, and the strands don't do so well if they're only attached to one leg, but when used properly they're able to clearly enhance a jaeger's performance in combat, making it faster, harder to hit, and able to kick like a mule on a bad day.

New Jaeger Modification available: High-Mobility Hyper-Vascular Strands!
High-Mobility Hyper-Vascular Strands (Legs Modification)
Costs 4000 Resources
Instead of the usual muscle strands and hydraulics, the Jaeger's legs make use of an advanced, high-pressure fluid motive system. Based off of the designs of Kaiju and Seijin musculature, the hypervascular bundles dramatically improve a jaeger's raw speed and athletic abilities on the ground. However, the massive amount of pressure concentrated the artificial muscles use for their immense strength can be easily lost if the vascular system is damaged.
- Hyper-Vascular Mobility: The modified Jaeger increases its Agility by 1 for the purposes of movement while grounded. If 2 or more Ongoing Wounds are inflicted on the Legs, the Agility bonus is lost until these Ongoing Wounds are healed. Additionally, the Jaeger gains a +1 bonus to attacks with its legs, and increases its to-hit difficulty by 1 whenever it runs or Charges.
Each set of High-Mobility Hyper-Vascular Strands is only enough to fit one (1) Leg location, and so more than one is required to gain their full benefits. If only one Leg has Hyper-Vascular mobility, the jaeger only gains the bonus to attacking with its legs.

C-Tech is very busy this week, as they've got several projects to fulfill, all of which are very intricate.

First off, an upgrade to the long-outclassed Anti-Kaiju Brigades. While a fully-fledged mechanized battlesuit is still out of reach, by drawing on the other divisions' experience in the design of jaegers and cyber-prosthetics, C-Tech is able to design a powered exoskeleton that's fairly affordable and effective in its role. By equipping the Brigades with this new armour, they're able to lift more move faster, and carry grater loads-- and are thus able to bring both the UV Laser Vulcans and a K-Buster launcher with a slightly beefed-up warhead. That said, it's still faster for them to ride their vehicles than run about in just the armour, and scale requirements will mean they can only use one of the weapons at a time, but for just about the same price as a normal Brigade they receive a very clear upgrade to their abilities.

Anti-Kaiju Brigade blueprints upgraded to Mechanized Anti-Kaiju Brigade!
Mechanized Anti-Kaiju Brigade
70 Resources (25 to convert pre-existing AKBs)
Highly trained and outnumbering any of Neo-Seattle's other conventional units in sheer manpower, the Anti-Kaiju Brigades can be seen as an upscaled equivalent to mechanised infantry-- albeit ones sporting powered armour and wielding enough firepower to damage a kaiju. Making their way to the fight by means of ATV, APC, or motorcycle, each of the 30 or so soldiers in each unit is equipped with a strength-enhancing robotic exoskeleton that allows them to run faster and carry greater loads than any normal trooper. AKBs concentrate their firepower in order to wear past a kaiju's thick armour, and operate with two main weapons-- the 'K-Buster' smart missile launcher, and a repeating Ultraviolet laser cannon-- though they're limited to firing only one at a time.
- Takes a turn to mount or dismount.
- Move up to 4 units a turn mounted, 2 units a turn dismounted.
- 'Kaiju-Buster' Super Micro-Missiles: 1d10 Impact/Fire damage. -2 Damage. Range 5/-/-. Hits on 4+. Fire only when dismounted. Cauterises Wounds. Benefits from Arges.
- Micro UV Laser Vulcans: 1d10 Fire damage. -1 Damage. AP 1. Range 10/-/-. Hits on 5+. Fire only when dismounted. Cauterises Wounds. Benefits from Arges.

Existing AKBs can be upgraded to the Mechanized version for 25 R each as a Free Action next downtime. And yes, they're a bit faster, don't have to choose which weapon to bring, and their K-Busters only have the -2 damage of the helicopters, rather than the -3 they used to, so they're a bit more useful.

Next up; sonic weapons, take three. While the Oceanus torpedoes-- also known as take two-- are able to deliver an impressive sonic attack with their cavitation warheads, the council's interested in something a little more useful on land. With other routes unclear, it's decided to try and make something that's not just brute force lethal, and instead just makes kaiju have one hell of a rotten day. The result is the Type 108-AD Acoustic Tank, mounting a scaled up LRAD cannon on its turret, and capable of doing just that.

New Conventional Unit available: Type 108-AD Acoustic Tank Squadron!
Type 108-AD Acoustic Tank Squadron
200 Resources
Based off of the Type 100 Tank, the Type 108-AD replaces the dual cannons with an amped-up Long Range Acoustic Device designed to suppress targets or even kaiju size. Aside from this modification, the chassis and operation of the unit is practically identical to the Type 100, right down to the fielding doctrine of three-member teams.
- Move up to 4 units a turn.
- LRAD Cannon: 1d10 attack. Range 10/15/-, hits on 5+. Radius 1. On a successful hit, inflict 1 Temporary Strike. Should this attack beat the target's Toughness, inflict a -1 penalty to actions for 1 round, which may stack up to -3. Never benefits from Arges.

I was inspired by the Suppression mechanic in regular Hardboiled when designing this. Obviously, I haven't actually tested it out yet, so it may be subject to changes in the future, but this will do for now.

And finally on C-Tech's roster, more planes. With the "Sunfire" warhead unable to be mounted on any missile in Neo-Seattle's current armoury, it's decided to pursue a new route of delivering powerful explosive weaponry onto kaiju heads; bombs. And with bombs comes a need for a means to drop said bombs, which means planes.

Said brand new planes are actually pretty nice. Thanks to some overcharged engines, they're able to keep up with the zippier Condors, and hit a much higher flight ceiling than the rest of their brethren TdJ planes, giving them a bit of safety from any rampaging monsters underneath. While C-Tech hasn't had time to fit any weapons beyond the bomb bay onto the design, they were able to scrape together a bomb design to fill it with-- a bigger, noiser version of the underused "Cracker" warhead, made for blowing through armour and making some big holes in things. It's admittedly a stopgap weapon, but it should be serviceable if the new planes are ever made to sortie before the Sunfire can be finished.

New Conventional Unit available: PB-20 'Drakon' Bomber Squadron!
PB-20 'Drakon' Bomber Squadron
1400 Resources
Taking cues from a variety of bombing craft and mixing it with Post-TdJ aeronautical engineering, the Drakon is a fast-moving beast with a flight ceiling higher than many other Neo-Seattle craft, but the same characteristic ruggedness of its brethren aircraft. Thanks to its reinforced bomb bay, it is able to carry a variety of payloads too heavy for smaller missiles to mount.
- Move up to 25 units a turn. Must move at least 10 units a turn. May use the Altitude System up to Altitude 2.
- Expensive Components: Only discounted to 60% price when constructed by a Military Production Facility.
- Cracker Bombs: 2x 1d10 Impact damage. +0 Damage. AP 2. Range Special. Hits on 6+. Radius 1. One Shot Only. Does not Cauterise Wounds. Benefits from Arges.
Special: A Drakon can only drop a bomb on a target it has passed over in that turn.

Bam, shiny new bombers. You'll need to see about adding other weapons if you want, but the Drakons can handle your Sunfires-- maybe even a nuke, if you ever get one. I just gave them the Cracker Bombs because you didn't have anything else finalized for them.

The grappling gun project goes well enough. To reduce the failure chance, the weapon only fires a single large harpoon, whose head breaks open into a half dozen hook-tipped cables, rather than launching a bunch of super-elastic tendrils or the like. While it works, the weight of the harpoon causes it to drop off a bit, making landing accurate shots a little more difficult. Furthermore, the due to the stress placed on the weapon when winching in opponents, it's been decided that the grapnel launcher should only ever be placed in the jaeger's main body to maintain properly supported mounting-- though this isn't a problem for Phenom Sable, whose arms can't mount any weapons anyways.

New Jaeger Weapon available: Hydra Grapnel Launcher!
Hydra Grapnel Launcher
Built-In Ranged Weapon (Carbine)
400 Resources
Attack Dice: 1d10+1
Armour Penetration: 1
Damage Type: Impact
Damage Bonus: -3
Range: 10/15/25
Special:
Lash: A successful attack, regardless of damage dealt (if any), grapples the opponent. If the opponent wins the grapple, they may break free and can act as normal if it is their turn (other rules may apply based on successes). If the jaeger wins on its turn, it drags the opponent closer to it by (1d10+Str-Opponent's Str) Units.
If the opponent is dragged adjacent to the shooter (or vice versa) The jaeger can resolve a standard melee attack, slam or grapple as a free action after the attack is fully resolved.
On a result of 0 the victim breaks free and can act as normal. On a negative result, roll a 1d10 and consult the Lash Misfire Table below:
Roll: Effect
1: Critical misfire. The weapon catastrophically fails, inflicting 1d10 Burst to the location the weapon is mounted, and destroying the weapon.
2-4: The mechanisms of the weapon break, and the weapon can no longer fire until it is repaired. Discard the current attack dice.
5-7: The jaeger is yanked off its feet as the opponent pulls hard! The jaeger is moved a number of units closer to the opponent equal to the negative result (e.g. a result of -2 moves them 2 units closer), and is knocked Prone.
8-10: The jaeger skids forwards as the opponent overcomes the pull, and yanks back! They move 1d5+1-Str Units directly towards the opponent. If the result is negative, the jaeger may attempt to regain control of the attack, and another grapple check is made as if the weapon had just been fired.
While participating in this grapple, the Grapnel Launcher cannot be used against any other target.

The Hydra Grapnel Launcher is only mounted in the Chest or Torso of a jaeger.

Unfortunately, there's a communications issue somewhere in the chain of command, and the equipment maintenance team gets assigned to the Jagdgewehr, rather than the engineers intended to reverse-engineer it. It does shine like new though, so that's at least something nice.

Searching the countryside for kaiju goes rather poorly. Apparently, everyone's just hiding, or otherwise not doing much. Nothing of note really shows up in the results this week.

The MPFs construct a number of airframes-- both scout craft and the heavier gunships-- as well as a batch of armoured vehicles for addition to the army. Alongside this comes the creation of a mighty 'Tyr' Mobile Command/Control Station, though this is performed by more conventional construction facilities, due to its large size and complexity. Nonetheless, all these vehicles will be a welcome addition to Neo-Seattle's defense forces.

AG-60 'Dragonfly' Autogyro Scout Squadron created!
AG-60 'Dragonfly' Autogyro Scout Squadron created!
PL-161 'Fafnir' Heavy Gunship constructed!
PL-161 'Fafnir' Heavy Gunship constructed!
Type 105 Anti-Kaiju Laser Tank Squadron created!
TCC-4 'Tyr' constructed!

With the planned development and use of more and more weapons with limited ammo, it's decided to do something about it. A brand new factory is constructed for the sole purpose of turning out new weapons and ammunition for the jaegers.

Heavy Munitions Factory constructed!

Meanwhile, another investigation is (finally) sent out to search and salvage the waters around Naval Station Kitsap for anything they can find-- especially things that are in potentially reparable condition. As it turns out, there's still quite a few wrecks that are salvageable, and could even be potentially repaired and pressed back into service. Most of the more serviceable ones are unfortunately limited to surface craft-- a scattering of patrol boats and a couple guided missile frigates-- save for a single Seawolf-class whose hull remains almost completely intact, if a little beaten. Sadly, it seems to be the only one outside the base they can retrieve, as every other submarine shows a variety of vicious, kaiju-inflicted scars, and a complete lack of familiarity with the phrase "structural integrity". It's possible they could salvage some useful things from them, but nothing other than what they're already retrieving seems likely to sail again. Still, orders are orders, and all the broken vessels-- plus whatever the base itself may hold-- is left for later, while the salvage party returns home with their finds.

5 Damaged Patrol Boats added to inventory!
2 Damaged Guided Missile Frigates added to inventory!
Damaged Seawolf-class Fast Attack Submarine added to inventory!

All of these are going to require Research rolls for their anti-kaiju refit/blueprints, and various amounts of resources to get them back into functional shape (listed cheapest to most expensive above), much like with the Murasame-class.

Taking advantage of Traverser's combat data, the exotic physics team sets to work on developing an even better Barrier Field Generator, one capable of absorbing far more punishment than any of the previous models. By fitting in an array of external heat sinks similar to the fins on Traverser, along with several modifications and redundancies to the internal mechanisms, the shield has a dramatically increased capacity and dispersion rate, as well as the ability to be reused in combat, though its ability to absorb damage doesn't reach quite as high as Traverser's, and it retains the old danger of catastrophic internal damage if overloaded.

New Jaeger Augment available: EXB-05HC Barrier Shield!
EXB-05HC Barrier Shield
2300 Resources
Power: 4
Dispersal: 5/3 (see below)
Integrity: 21
Defends all clustered units against Ranged Attacks only. Activates and deactivates as a Free Action, as long as it has not collapsed. When inactive, halve Dispersal, but continue to apply it.
As long as the shield is active, take a -1 penalty to physical stats. If the shield collapses, roll on the Vital Damage table. A collapsed shield cannot be reactivated for 2d5 rounds.

With the advances in Neo-Seattle's technology, and more examples of Blade-Class kaiju to examine, it's decided to give the flying jaeger project another shot, this time focusing on a smaller, less energy-intensive system that can be used in machines with a lower reactor output. And, while the resulting flight pack isn't exactly small-- each of its primary aerofoils will need to fold double to keep to a manageable size on the ground-- it's certainly a lot more manageable than the Allegorica prototype, and a lot friendlier to lower-Mark machines. Several major modifications have reduced the amount of power it requires from the jaeger, as well as the support it requires, though not without some compromises in return. The addition of a hypercompact nuclear reactor appears to provide a great advantage, allowing the pack an instantaneous supply of electricity and heat to work with, which furthers the new thruster design. Rather than the Allegorica engine, which relied more on a fusion-derived ion accelerator for thrust, the design of this engine draws from nuclear thermal rockets-- using the intense heat of a nuclear reactor to superheat liquid fuel-- and combines it with the Allegorica's ion engines to create equivalent thrust with much less effort. The main downside of this method is that the flight pack can't just suck in the atmosphere and blast the ionized plasma out the other end-- it will requires specially polarized hydrogen fuel, which noticeably limits the jaeger's flight duration and aerial range. Partial mitigation is possible through gliding, but it's not possible on heavier machines, and it's certainly not perfect. Finally, due to the expanded aerofoils, external reactor, and fuel tanks, the flight pack takes up a fair bit more space than the Allegorica does, and will require more sections of the jaeger to be cleared of any weaponry or extraneous equipment in order for it to be mounted.

New Jaeger Equipment available: S-3 Vortex Flight Booster!
S-3 Vortex Flight Booster
21 000 Resources
May be used by Mark IV+ Jaegers only.
The S-3 Vortex Flight Booster takes up the equipment slots of the jaeger's Shoulders, Torso, Spine, Pelvis, and Thighs when installed, as well as an Augment slot. The jaeger may not have any weapons or augments installed on these locations aside from the Vortex, though it may still have Modifications.
The jaeger gains the "Aerial Ace" and "Atomic Engine" traits, as well as the following sub-traits and rules.
- Aerial Ace: The jaeger can fly under its own power, and follows the rules for Flying characters when doing so.
-- Can take off as a move action or as a 2 Advantage Point Grappling move provided its durability limit has not been exceeded. When airborne, double base Agility for movement purposes only. Movement may be executed vertically, instead of only horizontally, and may influence your ability to fight or be fought. Grounded characters may not make Charges or Melee Attacks against a Flying character, no matter their Altitude. Ranged Attacks from the ground are at +1 difficulty to hit the target if it moves while flying, though a hit may knock the creature out of control. Each time a Flying character takes a Strike while flying, take a toughness test (6). If the test is passed, they keep control, if failed, they immediately crash 1d5 units away in a random direction and takes 1d10 blunt damage. If they would land on someone, both characters take 2d10 blunt damage, are knocked prone and immediately become locked in a Grapple. See the Altitude System for more information.
-- Limited Fuel (21): The jaeger carries a limited quantity of fuel onboard, and can only Fly for a sum of (21) rounds before it has to refuel. Refueling is automatically performed as part of Downtime maintenance or Repairs. If the jaeger runs out of fuel while still flying, it immediately begins to fall on its next turn, unless capable of Gliding (see below).
--- Glider: The jaeger is able to maintain an aerial presence without too much effort. As long as the flying jaeger is not attempting to run, grapple, or increase its Altitude by any means, it may attempt to Glide. On any round you attempt to Glide, take an Agility (10) test using base Agility; on a success, you may take any legal move action this turn to remain airborne without reducing your Fuel count. Each subsequent round you attempt a Glide test to stay airborne, the Glide test difficulty increases by 1 until you do not Glide. If you would crash due to damage, you may attempt a Glide test to halve your falling damage. A jaeger with a Toughness of 5 or greater is too heavy to Glide, though they may still try to slow their fall.
-- Atomic Engine: The jaeger treats its durability as +6 higher for the purposes of taking off/flying. Once a battle, the jaeger may initiate a Charge immediately after a move action.

So, there you go! You've gotten yourself a pretty nice flight system that works on Mark IV Tacit, in exchange for some limited flight time and having to ditch your Solid Fuel Thrusters and half your Laser Vulcans. I think that's pretty fair over all, especially since you can stay airborne a little longer with that Glider ability. And it's only a bit more expensive than the Allegorica!

Next on the list; Fangs. Or, at the very least, some remote unit that'll respond to the Sovereign system. In this case, however, it's a little more special, as these are essentially meant to be land-bound units that carry copies of Jagdhund's M-9914, and can share the same ammunition with her. With a little work, and more than a few sleepless nights, J-Tech unveils the prototype Fang-- a squat, lumbering tank of a weapon that bears a passing resemblance to a crustacean, given its jointed treads and armour-plated battery "abdomen". Christened the Garnele, the gun-bodied machine is thoroughly examined, and soon given approval. It's not without its limits-- the unit can only take a few hits before shutting down, it's rather awkward to mount, and it's completely reliant on outside assistance to reload-- but it fulfills the role of a remote weapon carrying J-Scale weaponry, and a group of these under control of a jaeger would be a sight to behold.

New Jaeger Weapon available for purchase: JF-99R Garnele Autonomous Rifle!
JF-99R Garnele Autonomous Rifle
1875 Resources
Carried Remote Weapon (Fang/Rifle, M 12)
Attack Dice: 1d10+1/2x 1d10/3x 1d10-1
Armour Penetration: 0
Damage Type: Impact
Damage Bonus: 2
Range: 15/25/30
Capacity: 12
Reload: 1 Full
Durability: 4
Structure: 2
Movement: 6 (Land only)
Special:
Compatible with the Sovereign RWC.
May reattach to (its assigned controller) as a Standard Action when Engaged.
Cannot reload by itself. To reload, another combatant must Engage and perform a Reload action with the correct ammunition.
Any time the JF-99R is fired, chose the firing mode: Semi-Auto, Burst, or Fully Automatic. The JF-99R may be loaded with the same specialty ammunition as any M-99 weapon:
- Assault Rounds: As above. Standard ammunition.
- AP Rounds
- Special Bakelite Rounds

Currently, you can mount 3 Garneles on Jagdhund in a fashion that lets them attach and detach without too much hassle-- two on the rear waist skirt (Pelvis), and one on the Right Thigh (since the Left has a Jaeger Sheath attached). There's just not really any other good mounting points to carry land-based Fangs.

Unfortunately, attempts to copy the Ascalon Blade non-destructively continue to fall flat. The molecular structure of the weapon is very unique, and whether it's bad luck or some other factor, your engineers just aren't able to copy it. Frustrated and wanting to get something out, eventually they just try to duplicate the armour-piercing attribute of the sword, and come up with a short, fragile gladius-esque weapon, before promptly quitting the assignment out of irritation. The weapon itself is... well, it's only serviceable in an offensive role, but it can definitely punch through armour-- assuming the force of impact doesn't just shatter the blade. It could probably make a half-decent bayonet, with a bit of work.

New Jaeger Weapon available: Georgius Blade!
Georgius Blade
Carried One-Handed Melee Weapon
500 Resources
Attack Dice: 1d10
Parry Dice: 1d5+1
Block Dice: 1d5+1
Armour Penetration: 4+Special
Grappling Bonus: -1
Damage Type: Edged
Damage Bonus: Dexterity+2
Durability: 3
Special:
Armour Penetration receives a bonus, equivalent to 1 for every 4 points the wielder beats the opponent's reaction by.
When this weapon rolls exploding dice, it immediately breaks after the attack resolves.

You got a good roll, yes, but only because of your bonus. Hence, you get this very fragile dagger that can stab the absolute bajeesus out of armoured kaiju and is useless defensively due to its brittleness.

In an attempt to further enhance another of Neo-Seattle's old projects-- the "Jaegrenade" weapon-- engineers draw up plans for a new variant, designed as an electrical grenade. The so-called "Thunderspray" Jaegrenade operates on a double-action system; the outer casing shatters explosively on impact, showering the immediate area in a conductive fluid based off of Laidon's electricity-storing liquid, before a viciously strong electrical charge is sent between the exposed core and outer fragments, electrocuting anything within the initial blast radius. Due to the fact that a fair amount of the "battery fluid" vaporizes during detonation, the charge can hit things even if they're not touching the ground. Given the advances in technology and much finer design of this weapon, the Thunderspray is only about as expensive as its earlier variant, despite its more complex operation!

New Jaeger Weapon available: JED-3-ec Thunderspray Jaegrenade!
JED-3-ec Thunderspray Jaegrenade
650 Resources
One Handed Held/Throwing Weapon (Explosive)
Attack Dice: 1d10
Countdown: Impact
Armour Penetration: 0
Damage Type: Electric
Damage Bonus: 3d5
Radius: 2
Range: 1/2/4x Str (see below)
Cauterizes wounds.
Throwing Weapons may use the wielder's Dexterity or Ranged stat to resolve the Attack, chosen at the wielder's discretion.
Grenades may be thrown with a Range determined by their wielder's Strength stat. Upon reaching their target, Impact grenades will detonate immediately. Non-Impact grenades will detonate after their Countdown timer has passed, and must be Primed as a Standard Action. Should a Grenade be used as a melee weapon, it immediately detonates, and all within the radius suffer damage (as the damage bonus). Grenades never reroll exploding dice.
A Jaeger can carry up to their Strength in grenades without encumbrance or extra equipment.

The Thunderspray is compatible with the Heavy Munitions Factory.

With almost everything taken care of, it's time to get to hunting. This week, the target is the Category IV kaiju "Boreas"-- a curious beast that seems to be able to control the weather around it. Whatever its abilities are, Neo-Seattle's jaegers are going to get a nice, close-up view of them.

Figure out what you'll be bringing to fight Boreas, and be sure to consider what you know about it thus far.

Everett:

As Everett's management gets to work cleaning up the damage, a refit goes through of their air force's laser weaponry, and Phenom's damaged parts are somewhat awkwardly repaired.

Laser weapons upgraded to UV!
Phenom Sable fully repaired!

Still, with the current environmental status, they're a little limited. And it's because of this that the construction of two new BRM-class Environmental Stabilizer projects are authorized-- hopefully, they'll help return the city to its pre-kaiju glory.

2 BRM-class Environmental Stabilizers constructed!

To help with this, Neo-Seattle's most recent shipments of materials are promptly put to use-- improving research infrastructure, adding salvage projects to increase the yield from kaiju, and constructing a large containment zone for Castor to be held in.

Research to 5!
4 Kaiju Salvage Facilities constructed!
Kaiju Research and Containment Facility constructed! Castor captured!

Though they've used up most of their materials, with these additions Everett is sure to get back to business soon enough.

And thus, downtime is done-- save for your hunt.

Captainwolf · Mar 12, 2021

[X] Plan: To hunt King Cold 2
-[x] Elite Type 100 Anti-Kaiju Tank Squadrons
-[x] 6 Type 100 Anti-Kaiju Tank Squadrons
-[x] Type 105 Anti-Kaiju Laser Tank Squadron
-[x] 3 T-95 Anti-Kaiju Artillery Teams
-[x] Jagdhund and Tacit Ronin
-[x] The Tyr
-[x] The enhanced Hiln
-[x] Enough Meganeuras to carry everything
-[x] All Queztal and Fafnir aircraft
-[x] Approach from the South

Given the danger that the storm system provides to small aircraft, it's decided to leave the scouts and attack helicopters behind-- only the gunships and Meganeura transports are to fly there, as they're able to withstand the winds.

The other forces are quite simple; all of the city's main armour divisions save the mortar groups, the Hlin, Tyr, and its two jaegers. There's nothing much else to bring.

Up and up the hunting party goes, passing Victoria to the west and Everett to the east as they make their way north, into the storm. And the further they get, the stronger the effects become; whirling clusters of snow, biting winds, and a faint static charge in the air make it hard to discern anything beyond a couple kilometres, and even more difficult as distance increases. The Meganeuras and Gunships are handling the weather well enough, but anything the size of the Dragonflies would be facing a lot of trouble if they tried to fly in these conditions. As is, the ground forces are gonna be the lucky ones.

While within 75 kilometres of Boreas, the following Battlefield Environmental Traits are in effect:
- Combatants at a range of 16+ units are treated as in Light Cover (+1 difficulty). At 26+ units, this increases to Medium Cover (+2), and at 36+ it increases to Heavy Cover (+3)
- This Cover bonus also applies to sensor checks, as well as attacks.
- All flying craft (Class 0 or below) have their speed reduced by 5 units. Particularly small units may need to pass checks to move (non-applicable).

By the time the party hits 10 kilometres, it's time to look for a landing point. A small road winding up the valley to the south of Mt. Meager is the best they can find, but the aircraft pilots are happy to get out of the air for a couple minutes. The ground forces pile out, including both Superheavies and both Jaegers. While their enemy is too far to be seen right now, above the howl of the winds comes a clacking, creaking call-- the roar of Boreas.

This is it.

First off-- unlike the Goryo battle, I'm not gonna make a fancy text-based map, since it was kind of a hassle last time. If I could get a mapping site recommended, I could try throwing something together with that, but otherwise I'm just gonna be writing the distances out and abstracting a little.

For distance, you're currently stationed about 8 kilometres south of Plinth Peak, 6 south of Mt. Meager, on the road along that valley/river bit. Boreas is stationed atop Plinth Peak, and currently surrounded by its storm system (effects noted above).

I was gonna say that by default, your combatants will be packing default ammunition, but I've just remembered that that's only really a concern for your air force, and your ground units can just switch on the fly. Huh.

Combat Round 1

[X] Plan: ADVANCE! With an Umbrella v2
- Power up the Hlin, put it in the center of our formation with the Tyr 2 units behind it
- Have Jagdhund be 3 units in front of the Hlin under its cover, Machine Cannon drawn
- Tacit Ronin 3 units to the right of the Hlin
- Everything scan, with Tyr support using Remote Analysis Consolidation
- The rest of the Conventionals spread out within 3 units of the Hlin, making sure to maintain greater than 1 unit separation
- All units advance towards the valley between Plinth Peak and Mount Meager at best Conventional speed
[X] Have the Fafnir's and Quetzals circle around the Hlin.

As the Hlin powers up its Barrier Field, erecting a bubble of protective armour around everything in a half-kilometre radius, the various ground forces and jaegers squeeze themselves close. It's a little awkward for the tanks to aim around the pair of massive giant robots standing in front of them, but not impossible-- it'll still do. Unfortunately, the gunships' stall speed makes it hard for them to stay within the bubble constantly, thus forcing them to circle around its outside and weave in when they can. Again-- awkward, but manageable.

As they advance, the jaegers set their scanners on a sweep, trying to pinpoint the kaiju, and hopefully discern more of its biology. The Tyr links up with them, offering its vast computational abilities and scanner suite to assist their efforts.

(7)
(6)

However, while the Tyr's rapid analysis and data consolidation does help, the polarized snowstorm is thick enough that any otherwise useful readings are thoroughly scrambled. Even with the mark one eyeball, it's hard to make out distinct shapes past a few hundred metres at best.

That said, there's still the naked ear, and Boreas is far from trying to hide. Another warbling shriek rips through the storm from far before them-- Boreas is still atop its peak.

[ ] Keep moving and scanning. (2x 1d10+2 again)
[ ] Different plan! (Write-in)

Your forces are 7.2 kilometres south of Plinth Peak/Boreas, 5.2 south of Mt. Meager. Your transports are hanging back at 8 kilometres from Plinth Peak.

Combat Round 2

[X] Keep moving and scanning. (2x 1d10+2 again)

Still moving along as best as they can, the jaegers give it another shot.

(3)
(5)

Nothing. They might as well not have had their scanners turned on for all it does against the kaiju. Whatever this thundersnow* is, it's seeming more and more likely that it's not normal in more ways than one. Silicon particulate mixed in with the ice crystals, maybe? Metallic chaff? An electromagnetic field? The other option could just be that the jaegers' sensor suites haven't been calibrated right, of course. But in any case, at least whatever's causing this seems to be nontoxic-- no traces of gas or airborne Blue to worry about, just static electricity, frozen water vapour, and freezing cold winds.

Boreas remains hidden from sight.

[ ] More moving, more scanning (2x 1d10+2 scans)
[ ] Pause for a moment, see if that helps (2x 1d10+5 scans)
[ ] Other plan (write-in, as usual)

Your forces are 6.4 kilometres south of Plinth Peak/Boreas, 4.4 south of Mt. Meager. Your transports are hanging back at 8 kilometres from Plinth Peak.

*snowstorm with thunder and lightning. It's an actual word.

Combat Round 3

[X] Pause for a moment, see if that helps (2x 1d10+5 scans)

Putting their advance on hold for the moment, Tacit and Jagdhund shunt computational power to their sensor arrays, and aim everything they've got to the north-- just as a small gap in the storm opens.

This time, they get something.

(13)
(18)

More than six kilometres away, a hazy outline materializes on their extravisual scanners, perched atop the mountain's peak. Taller than a jaeger, standing on six sinewy, jointed limbs, with a triangular mantle splaying from its back. A quick switch to infrared reveals a burning hot core temperature, painting Boreas' silhouette in vibrant reds and oranges against the freezing purple of its surroundings. The Tyr runs through numerous calculations, assigning statistics to the creature as fast as possible before the window closes. Radiation levels, air current effect, volume estimates, dimensions...

Boreas shrieks, opening its maw wide to release its crackling cry, and steps forwards down the mountain's flank. Spidery legs dig their claws into rock with ease, letting it descend slowly towards the waiting forces.

Then the storm's heart shifts, dragged along in its master's path, and the data's cut off, a whirling wall of snow obscuring the kaiju.

Fortunately, dispensing this information doesn't take more than a few seconds with the Tyr around. And thus, the troops of Neo-Seattle are granted their first view of Boreas, wielder of the northern winds.

Kaiju Identified!
SE-27-001-H, Category IV - Boreas

As before, Your forces are 6.4 kilometres south of Plinth Peak, 6 south of Boreas, and 4.4 south of Mt. Meager. Your transports are hanging back at 8 kilometres from Plinth Peak. Boreas has obviously moved.

For the record, your crit scan means you can now roughly track Boreas' location (within a few hundred metres' worth of error), as long as, say, the storm doesn't spontaneously spike in intensity or something.

Combat Round 4

[X] Keep moving! If we lose track of Boreas, scan again.

With their target spotted, the assembled forces step it up. Marching up the side of the mountain, the jaegers, tanks, and other vehicles try to make the best time they can before Boreas can slip off the map again. Admittedly, that's not as big a worry, as Boreas makes excellent time climbing down towards them.

However, as they approach fifty five hundred metres, something changes.

Boreas' marker pauses, claws dug in around Mt. Meager's top, before another shriek echoes down-- one even louder and higher than any of the ones before! As if to answer the kaiju, a flash of lightning rips across the sky, the storm bellowing out a furious thunderclap! Alarms go off as the ambient electrical potential spikes, seconds before a branching cluster of lightning bolts stab down at the forces!

Thunderstorm:
(4,10,7,3,5,8,1,9,4,3,5,4,9,7,3,6,6)
Recharge:
(4)

The Hlin's shield reacts, blazing to life as it soaks up the electrical charge. Unfortunately, the strikes have too much energy behind them, and several arcs splinter off inside the bubble, jumping at Jagdhund and the leading tank squadrons! While the jaeger's built-in Faraday cage is sufficient to save her systems from any damage, the Elites aren't so lucky, and the sudden shock blows out their circuits, leaving the vehicles dead where they sit.

Damage:
(10,10,3)

Lightning strikes Jagdhund! Barrier absorbs 4 points! Faraday Frame negates effects!
Lightning strikes Elite Type 100 squadron! Barrier absorbs 4 points! Elite squadron incapacitated!
Lightning strikes Type 100 squadron! Barrier absorbs 3 points! Attack nullified!
Hlin Disperses 4 points! Barrier at 7/12 Integrity!

Warmth boils off the Hlin's heat sinks, melting a circle in the snow around it and the others. The Barrier had come very close to overloading against that electrical strike, but if the sluggish crackle of the storm clouds are anything to go by, it'll hopefully take a while for the thundersnow to build up another charge.

Still, it confirms Neo-Seattle's initial reports-- Boreas really can control the weather.

The thundersnow's electrical activity has increased! Every few rounds, your units have a chance of being struck by lightning!

Your forces are about 4 kilometres south of Boreas, 5.6 south of Plinth Peak, and 3.6 south of Mt. Meager. Your transports are hanging back at 8 kilometres from Plinth Peak.

Each round (starting from now), you'll need to roll a 1d10 to reboot your Elite squadron.

Combat Round 5-6

[X] Plan Snow Run
-[x] Tacit and Jagdhund run forward.
-[x] Conventionals and Hlin keep advancing
-[x] Keep trying to reboot the Elite Tanks.

With no time to waste, the jaegers rush forwards, Tacit slowed to Jagdhund's speed by the incline and ice but still moving very fast. The storm's getting easier to see through as they close, and with the advanced sensors onboard, it's possible to make out the kaiju's tar black flesh latched on the other side of the ridge.

Behind them, the land forces press on, while the Elite team tries to restart their tanks as fast as they can.

(3,9)

Fortunately, luck is on their side, and the rest of the armoured vehicles haven't gotten too far away by the time the white-and-red fighting craft power back on, jerry-rigged into operating again. It's not perfect, but it'll last long enough to finish the fight.

Elite Tanks reboot! No longer Incapacitated!

However, Boreas is far from inactive. Rising into the air with its great, triangular wings, the arthropedal kaiju glares down with burning eyes, and lets out a creaking hiss.

Several things follow.

As the hiss spikes into a shrill cry, Boreas swings its foremost pair of legs above its head. Red light ignites beneath the skeletal armour of its chest, before racing up through the outstretched limbs to shine inside the claws. Alarms go off, detecting a spike in ambient potential as electricity seems to funnel in from kilometres around.

Boreas' arms swing down.

Roll 1d10+6!

Jaegers are 16 units from Boreas (28 as this is being resolved)
Your conventional forces are about 3.2 kilometres south of Boreas, 4.8 south of Plinth Peak, and 2.8 south of Mt. Meager, while your Elite Tanks are 8 units further south. Your transports are hanging back at 8 kilometres from Plinth Peak.

I'm gonna change this back to the standard "one post, roughly one round" format. Two rounds per post is just too odd now that we're in actual combat-- but I'll make use of it this last time.

Combat Round 7

[X] Dodge!

(20)
Super Electrical Discharge!:
(5)

The storm clouds above flash, before shooting down a white hot stream of electricity at the spot the jaeger stands-- or stood, since it's no longer there anymore. Tacit Ronin throws itself to the side, spraying up a cloud of snow as it swings clear. The lightning bolt explodes against the mountain's side, sending fragments of rock flying from the force of the blast.

Without slowing, Tacit scrambles back into a run, charging in alongside Jagdhund to close the distance even as a thunderclap follows the tremendous strike.

Boreas screams in fury, and, with a few flaps of its wings, shoots forwards, swooping down to strike the agile jaeger!

Charge!:
(12)

However, it doesn't make it far enough. Misjudging the jaegers' speed, the kaiju dives a few hundred meters too short, and slams its claws into the rocky peak. While the impact is strong enough to shatter stone, it's also enough to completely throw its momentum off, and Boreas finds itself jolted to stall speeds in a very awkward position. Flipping head over tail, the arthropedal monster crashes into the icy ground, bringing its forwards momentum to almost a complete stop and giving it a nasty smack to the cranium.

Charge fails! Boreas crashes! Boreas is dazed!

As the indignantly screeching kaiju struggles to right itself, its movements are clumsy and imperfect-- clearly, the jarring impact has left it slightly concussed-- and in very short range to the jaegers bearing down on it!

Jaegers are now at 4 units from Boreas, who charged forwards 12 and crashed into the mountain. That said, since he was flying and you were not, you don't get a counter-charge.
(Your conventional forces are about 2 kilometres south of Boreas, 4.8 south of Plinth Peak, and 2.8 south of Mt. Meager, while your Elite Tanks are 8 units further south. Your transports are hanging back at 8 kilometres from Plinth Peak.)

Hm, maybe my luck's just really sucking today? Normally, I roll at least decently well for the kaiju.

Combat Round 8

Boom Boom
-[X] All Cons scoot closer and fire at Boreas.
-[X] Jagdhund fires at Boreas, Full Auto.
-[X] Tacit fires ALL the Lasers.

Fortunately for Boreas, the two jaegers don't immediately dogpile it. However, what happens instead doesn't seem much better, as a barrage of fire rains down upon it from the advancing conventional forces!

Hit to R. Shoulder! No damage!
Hit to Chest! No damage!
Hit to R. Shoulder! No damage!
Hit to Chest! No damage!
Hit to L. Arm! No damage!

Yet, it soon becomes clear that mere conventional weapons are far outclassed here. Boreas' storm wrecks havoc on the ground forces' aim, and while the gunships can get close enough to mitigate the obstruction, their attacks do little more than show off its defenses. The tar-black coating that serves as Boreas' hide is more than equipped to absorb laser fire and shell bombardments, and those rounds that strike its bone-plated chest are even more firmly rebuffed.

Then Tacit and Jagdhund come to a halt, and open up with their own weapons.

Hit to R. Ankle! No damage!
Hit to R. Arm! No damage!
Hit to Eyes! Glancing Wound! Temporarily Blinded!
Hit to Neck! Glancing Wound!
Hit to L. Ankle! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Head! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Spine! No damage!
Hit to Pelvis! Glancing Wound! Boreas is Dazed!
Hit to L. Hand! Glancing Wound!
Hit to Chest! No damage!
Boreas takes 6 Strikes!

2 Ammunition Units left!

As it did seconds prior, Boreas' hide does a fine job of absorbing energy, and most of Tacit's ultraviolet lasers accomplish nothing more than the discolouration of its armour-- and setting off quite a number of subdermal nerve endings, if the kaiju's screeching is any indication. Jagdhund's fire accomplishes little as well, save for draining her magazine of bullets. But then Boreas' shrieks go up a pitch, and it stumbles back, forelegs pulling up to cover its eyes! With so many of Tacit's beams hitting it head on, the kaiju seems to have lost its eyesight temporarily!

And yet...

As the kaiju cries, its clacking vocalization repeats itself-- once, then twice, then more and more, until it's an underlying pattern. It's echolocating.

Echolocation (Dex Check):
(8)

Slowly, the kaiju's arms sink back down from its face. Its eyes are dim and dull, flecks of red shimmering beneath the surface. Then Boreas points its blind head towards Tacit Ronin, and lunges.

Reaction!
[] Block! (+4)
[] Parry! (+3)
[] Dodge! (+6)

Tacit is in melee with Boreas, with Jagdhund 3 units away. Your ground forces are 1.2 kilometres south of Boreas, 4.4 south of Plinth Peak, and 2.4 south of Mt. Meager, while your Elite Tanks are 8 units further south. Air force is around 5 from Boreas. Your transports are hanging back at 8 kilometres from Plinth Peak.

I apparently forgot that I'd made Boreas surprisingly tanky for a flyer.

Combat Round 8 Reaction

[X] Dodge!

(9)
Claw attack:
(9,14)

Tacit Ronin dances right, dodging the first pair of hooked claws, only for Boreas to bring its other two arms slashing around, gouging channels in Tacit's abdominal plating! Fortunately, the Jagdarium's strong enough that the attack can't penetrate any further, and the jaeger gets away with what amounts to a few scratch.

Hit to Torso! Glancing Wound!
Tacit Ronin takes 1 Strike!

Up above, the clouds begin to spark again, fingers of electricity dancing between them.

It is now your turn.

Combat Round 9

[X] Jagdhund Shifts back, away from Tacit and Boreas, and fires her Electromagnetic projector, sacrificing 2 points of her Ran bonus to not hit her husband partner.
[X] Tacit hits Boreas with the Cobra Strike and Flourish.

Stepping back slowly, Jagdhund engages her shoulder-mounted electrolaser, before hesitating. If she simply opens fire on the kaiju, there's a good chance the electrical attack could jump to Tacit as well. To be safe with this, she's going to have to dial down its output.

Fortunately, even with less power pumped into the system, the IE-10 is plenty strong. A writhing bolt of electricity lashes against the back of Boreas' neck, delivering a nasty shock to the kaiju! Far from battle-ending, but the jolt's strong enough to leave it open for an attack by Tacit!

Hit to Neck! Boreas takes 4 Temporary Strikes! Boreas is Dazed!

Drawing back one arm, Noah and his copilot ready their jaeger's signature move, and strike out!

Unfortunately for them, Boreas isn't as stunned as it may have let on.

Parry!:
Critical Explosion!:
(23)
(12)
Critical Parry! Tacit Ronin is Stunned!
Boreas takes 1 Strike!

In a blur of motion, the kaiju's forelegs shoot up, their hooked ends yanking the blade up and over Boreas' head. Rather than a graceful lunge, Tacit practically trips over its own feet, its entire body left exposed for the kaiju's counterattack!

Flaring its wings for stability, the Category IV strikes with its other pair of arms, the left claw glowing with a crackling red light!

EM Punch:
Critical Explosion!:
(0)
(14)

The claw slams into the jaeger's upper leg, punching a hole straight through the armour plating before discharging its built-up energies! Electricity rips into the surrounding servos and control circuits, and though the Faraday Frame mitigates a little harm, it's sorely outclassed. The limb goes almost completely dead in seconds, most of its internals overloaded by the attack. Boreas shrieks, and shoves Tacit Ronin away, ripping off the punctured armour as its claw catches on the inside.

Major Wound to R. Thigh! Armour Destroyed! -3 Agility!
Electrical Damage inflicts an additional Strike! No Vitals Damage!
Tacit takes 6 Strikes! +3 Ongoing! Tacit Ronin is at -2 Universal from being over its Durability!

Boreas steps back, loosing a howl into the wind before dropping back down to all sixes with a thud. A moment later, the storm's electrical energy strikes out, sending tendrils of forked lightning dancing across the clouds-- and a number of metallic objects.

Thunderstorm:
(1,5,6,10,6,9,3,4,10,1,7,2,1,6,4,10,8)
Recharge:
(2)

While the jaegers are left alone, plenty of other targets suffer the storm's wrath. Two of the Gunships find their systems shut down, forcing their pilots to devote effort entirely to keeping them from crashing, while the Hlin's Barrier is forced to fend off another flurry of strikes. Worse still, while some of the bolts are intercepted by the shield, a few lack the force to set it off, and risk scrambling the systems of their mobile command centre!

Damage:
(7,4,8,2)

Lightning strikes Quetzalcoatl Gunship! Quetzalcoatl Gunship is Stunned!
Lightning strikes Fafnir Heavy Gunship! Fafnir Heavy Gunship is Stunned!
Lightning strikes Type 100 Squadron! Barrier absorbs 4 points! Type 100 Squadron Incapacitated!
Minor lightning strike to Type 100 Squadron! Must Save or be Stunned!
Lightning strikes Hlin! Barrier absorbs 2 points! Attack nullified!
Minor lightning strike to Tyr! Must Save or be Stunned!

Meanwhile, Boreas launches itself back into the fray, biting blindly at the jaeger with its vicious beak! Despite their injury, Tacit's pilots are able to respond, and defend themselves!

Reaction!
[ ] Block! (+2)
[ ] Parry! (+1)
[ ] Dodge! (+1)

What even, Boreas. What, even.

In any case, I need some two d10 rolls (total) for the T-100 squad and Tyr to see if they avoid being stunned (6+ saves). Your gunships are meant to fly in some fucked-up atmospheric conditions anyways (and they've got analogue control surface... controls), so they won't crash-- you'll just lose your attack action with them and only be allowed to move your minimum speed with them for next turn. Oh, and a third d10 for that Incapacitated Type 100 squad to reboot.

Distances are the same as last turn, but Jagdhund's 4 units away from Boreas and Tacit. NOMWMP has activated, so once this is resolved Jagdhund can lay down the pain.

Combat Round 9 Reaction

[X] Block! (+2)

Desperately, Tacit Ronin flings its arms up, slamming its armoured vambraces into Boreas' open maw before the jaws can snap shut!

(14)
Bite:
(7)
Critical Block! All damage negated!

Several of the kaiju's teeth shatter from the impact, spraying flecks of Blue across the white paint, before Tacit shoves the kaiju away. Boreas staggers back, gagging slightly and wringing its head, while the pale jaeger shifts its weight onto its intact leg.

It is now your turn.

Combat Round 10

[X] Jagdhund drops her Machine Cannon, draws the Ascalon Blade and Charges into Melee, using the Rear Thrusters, the Emergency Overclock and No One Messes With My Hus- I M-Mean Partner! bonuses.
[X] Tacit slashes with the Fangblades.

Tacit Ronin throws a few awkward fangblade cuts towards Boreas, mainly trying to drive the monster back from it. The blinded Cat IV takes a few steps away, taking a nick to one of its arms in the process, but otherwise managing to evade the jaeger's weakened attacks without too much trouble.

No damage from Ongoing!

Dodge!:
(6)
(7,6)

Hit to R. Shoulder! Glancing Wound!
Boreas takes 1 Strike!

However, Tacit knows exactly what they're doing-- and Jagdhund's not going to fuck around with ranged attacks any longer. This is personal.

Tearing her mighty Ascalon Blade from its sheath and tossing her rifle to the side, the jaeger ignites her boosters, and charges in! Boreas, unprepared for an attack from a different direction, reacts to the attack far too late.

Dodge!:
(10)
(40)

AP 14!
Destruction Wound to R. Thigh! Armour Destroyed! Limb Destroyed! -3 Agility!
Boreas takes 5 Strikes! +3 Ongoing!

A piercing scream echos over the storm's thunder. Moments later, the reasons become clear, as Boreas' severed leg crashes down several hundred metres from the aggregated conventional forces, toxic blue blood trailing from the stump.

The Category IV stumbles, immediately starting to bleed out from the uncauterized wound-- though its own natural healing abilities are already hard at work sealing it shut.

1 Strike from Ongoing! 1 Ongoing healed!

Wheeling awkwardly around, Boreas lashes out with all four arms, trying to retaliate against Jagdhund!

Reaction!
[] Block! (1d10+1)
[] Parry! (2d5+3, roll explodes on double 5s)
[] Dodge! (1d10+4)

Combat Round 10 Reaction

[X] Parry!

(10)
(10,12)

Jagdhund manages to fend off the first set of blows, and even the second are inhibited to the point where they leave only superficial wounds!

Hit to R. Arm! Glancing Wound!
Jagdhund takes 1 Strike!

Catching the monster on her weapon, Jagdhund finds an opening in its defenses-- big enough to take advantage of with a counter!

Make a Counter-Attack at -1?
[] Yes!
-[] Ascalon Blade! (1d10+3, DB 5)
-[] Punches! (1d10+1, DB 3)
-[] Kicks! (1d10, DB 4)
-[] Lightning! (1d10+7, DB 3)
-[] Other! (grapple, slam, etc)
[] No, continue on to the your (the players') turn.

You still get a counter attack, since you did block one of the attacks. Jagdarium armour OP.

Combat Round 10 Counter-Attack

[X] Yes!
-[X] Ascalon Blade! (1d10+3, DB 5)

(7)
(12)

Jagdhund's counter slams into Boreas' chest, cracking the cage of bone protecting its core-- as well as several internal components.

Hit to Chest! Minor Wound! Critical internal damage! Boreas' time is limited!
Boreas takes 3 Strikes! +1 Ongoing! Boreas is losing Stamina!

A mix of steam and Kaiju Blue sprays from the wound, and Boreas lets out a staggered cough. Clearly, the attack's done more than just superficial damage.

It is now your turn, and both jaegers are in melee.

Combat Round 11

[X] Plan Cross Slash
-[X] Tacit slashes with the Fangblades.
-[X] Jagdhund stabs with the Ascalon Blade.

As one, Tacit and Jagdhund strike, bearing down on the kaiju in a simultaneous attack!

(9)
(12,11)

Hit to Right Arm! Minor Wound! -1 HtH! -1 Dex!
Hit to Right Arm! Glancing Wound!
Boreas takes 4 Strikes! Boreas is losing Stamina!

As Boreas cants to the left, Tacit's blades flash, and strike Boreas' arms! One is left with a simple scar, but the other is struck at a weak point, and sliced off at the wrist!

Boreas screams. Above it, the storm begins to destabilize, clouds coming apart as lighting and wind rips through their structure! The kaiju's clearly on its last legs, and so Jagdhund moves in for the kill.

(8)
(8)

Boreas flaps its wings, providing enough momentum for it to spin itself around once more, and knock Jagdhund's blade aside with its forelegs! Balancing precariously on its single back leg, held aloft by the barely sufficient flapping of its pinions, Boreas still doesn't abandon the attack. Three hooked claws rise up, and swing down.

Reaction!
[] Block! (1d10+1)
[] Parry! (2d5+3, roll explodes on double 5s)
[] Dodge! (1d10+4)

When I say Boreas is on his last legs, I do mean it. Well, technically, it should be last leg, but...

Combat Round 11 Reaction

[X] Parry! (2d5+3, roll explodes on double 5s)

(12)
(4)

Irritated by the setback, Jagdhund slashes her sword back across her body, knocking the claws away in turn.

Counter-Attack?
[ ] Yes. (1d10+3 Ascalon Blade)
[ ] Yes, but differently (write-in weapon)
[ ] No.

Combat Round 11 Counter-Attack

[X] Yes. (1d10+3 Ascalon Blade)

(5)
(10)

Eye glowing gold, Jagdhund thrusts her arm forwards, and drives the Ascalon blade into Boreas' mouth. Carried by its own momentum, the kaiju falls forwards, the armour-piercing weapon punching through its softer inner flesh and out the back of its neck.

Hit to Neck! Major Wound!

SE-27-001-H "Boreas" defeated!

Slowly, the kaiju falls limp, what sparks remained in its eyes dying out in a few seconds. The cloud of steam from its core dries up, and its colours seem to dull.

Up above, the thundersnow's unnatural fury tears itself apart, unlocking from the pattern its master had set it in. Without whatever Boreas did to generate and enhance it, it should only take a few days or so for it to revert to a more 'normal' atmospheric phenomenon, if it doesn't dissipate entirely by then.

But in the meanwhile, there's a city that needs its guardians to return, and wounds that need healing. Discarding Boreas' corpse onto the icy cliffs, Jagdhund sheaths her weapon, and walks over to her partner. Gratefully, Tacit takes the offered support, and the two begin their trek back down the mountain.

It's time to go home.

Next post will give you your repair stuff and the boost to Jagdhund's perk. However, as I mentioned before, you won't receive Boreas' stats or Token until the end of the upcoming weekly fight (you'll also be able to upgrade your AKBs to exoskeletons then).

Captainwolf · Mar 12, 2021

While the combat data is still under analysis, the jaegers are set up in the Shatterdome for their repairs.

Jagdhund's damage is minimal, and easy to fix. Tacit, however, is going to need most of its upper leg frame replaced, along with a significant number of control systems. Not to mention new armour plates.

Tacit Ronin's repairs will require 1420 Resources, a new piece of armour, and an Action.
Jagdhund's repairs will require 60 Resources, but won't take an Action.

Meanwhile, Jagdhund does her best to review the fight in her own time, and seems to be developing a more advantageous close-quarters style. With her knowledge of Tacit's combat techniques, she can adjust her own strikes to mesh better with it, and hence improve her abilities in melee.

New Perk: Double Team!
- Double Team: Whenever Jagdhund and Tacit Ronin attack the same combatant in melee, Jagdhund gains a +1 bonus to her melee attacks that round.

So yeah.

[] Repair.

[X] Repair Jagdhund and Tacit for a total 1480 resources and a Jagdarium plate.
-[X] Research Sunfire Bombs for Drakon use.

Tacit's leg is repaired with thankfully few problems, and the dents on Jagdhund are barely worth mentioning in terms of expenses. By the time the next kaiju attack rolls around, both jaegers should be fully combat ready again.

All damage repaired!
All damage repaired! Ammunition refilled!

Meanwhile, C-Tech decides to form a joint effort, and try to scrape together the signature weapon for their newest aircraft-- the Sunfire warhead. And, to be honest? It works. By themselves, the Sunfires aren't likely to deal any serious damage to higher-Cat kaiju, but their signature disc-like blast zones are capable of scything through large numbers of smaller opponents-- anything from man-size to tank-size can be taken down with a nearly kilometre-wide radius of such a bombing run, as long as they're not packing heavy armour or something.

Sunfire bonus used up!
New weapon for PB-20 'Drakon' Bombers!
- Sunfire Spread Bombs: 3x 1d10 Fire damage. -2 Damage. Range Special. Hits on 6+. Radius 4. One Shot Only. Cauterises Wounds. Benefits from Arges.

As with anything, of course, you must choose between these and the Cracker Bombs each time you field a Drakon squad.

However, the new weapons and new aircraft are going to have to wait before either can be constructed-- soon enough, there's kaiju to deal with!

As before, there's a threat for each of the cities to handle. Unlike before, however, there aren't five kaiju. Just two; one for Neo-Seattle...

<ALERT: NEW KAIJU SIGNATURE DETECTED>
<INBOUND FROM SOUTHERN SECTOR>
<CLASSIFICATION: CATEGORY IV>
...and one for Everett.

<ALERT: NEW KAIJU SIGNATURE DETECTED>
<INBOUND FROM NORTHWESTERN SECTOR>
<CLASSIFICATION: CATEGORY III>

Roll me some scanning dice (1d10+7 for Neo-Seattle, and 1d10+4 for Everett)! Then, decide how you want to handle this;
[] Resolve Neo-Seattle's incursion first, and Everett's second!
[] Resolve Everett's incursion first, and Neo-Seattle's second!
[] Resolve both Neo-Seattle and Everett's incursions simultaneously!

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