KAIJU FIGHT #1

[synfluxmods]

KAIJU FIGHT #1

CONTENT WARNINGS: thalassophobia, natural disaster, drowning, body horror, violence, blood & gore.

▶ 001. SEAS THE DAY.

On the morning of the 1st, sirens will blare, forcing every Outsider and Neo Tokyo civilian awake. While it hasn't been activated for a while, every citizen within the city knows this alarm all too well - it wails through the city whenever a Kaiju has been detected, ordering everyone to return to their homes immediately and stay there until they receive further information. Outsiders gazing at Neo Tokyo will see the armored city in its full technological splendour for the first time today. Once the civilians have returned to their homes, machinery within the buildings will work like clockwork, sinking each and every LILITH-augmented building beneath the ground. Just in time, too, because the waves are starting to roar again, crashing beyond the shore and flooding the city once more. Observant Outsiders may note that not every building has been modified. The older ones remain standing, vulnerable to the impending flood. Does anyone live in those buildings? The answer is yes, but that's not a priority at the moment.

Every Outsider will receive a summon, ordering them to prepare for battle. The Kaiju has been identified and located. It's show time.

"Angels of LILITH. We have located the Kaiju coming from beyond the sea. A full mission brief including the information we have gathered will be sent to you immediately. For now, make your way to the bay where your transport will be waiting. Be prepared for anything, but mostly, be prepared to swim."

Waiting for the Outsiders at the bay appear to be ... expensive-looking, personal yachts? This has to be a mistake, right? It's no mistake. Through intel LILITH has exchanged with international companies, it appears that this particular Kaiju has a fondness for overturning civilian yachts, and there's no better way to attract it than to leave it its favourite bait. The goal is to attract these Kaiju towards the boats and then attacking.

The ships may look like they're outfitted for a fancy yacht party. In fact, some exploring down below deck in the lounging room, one may find caviar on fancy ritz, oyster tower, little finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off and bougie smelly cheese that nobody in LILITH's pay grade can identify. On another table, there is fancy ramen spoons filled with microgreens, crystal jelly vinegarette, and a thin slice of parmesan cheese. Some further looking may find some fine aged wine, but you're not here to drink and party, you're here to fight a Kaiju! Right? Right.

Despite the fact everything about these yachts just look like... fancy yachts... they are actual warships that are mounted with naval artillery such as swivel guns, missiles and torpedos. Spears, harpoon guns and fishing nets can also be found and used if an Outsider is more comfortable getting extremely close to the monsters. There's no time for a proper seafaring course, so Outsiders will be given a quick run down on how the controls work, and be sent on their way. They will also be given a special jewel-like implant that attaches to the skin, right along the forehead, and told to wear it if they need to go into the water. "Don't worry about it," the LILITH crew says. "But it'll be one hell of a ride if you use it."

Alongside the crew, Seok Dang seems to be also assisting (?) though he's gotten a hold of the reception food down below. Did he smell like fine wine? Possibly. But that's definitely a fancy, half eaten cracker in his hand. He's also got on a bright, neon life preserver. Maybe someone doesn't know how to swim.

"WHOOO HELLA YEAH, MOTHERFUCKERS. Don't know how to swim? Don't'cha worry. Daddy Dang has got you covered. I know CPR! I give the best CPR! 💖 I'll rescue ya. TONIGHT, WE BALL!"

Nobody uses that phrase anymore, but you know what? You do you, SD.

▶ 002. WHALE WATCHING.

Minutes into their ship's course, the boats will rock violently, as if those already violent waves have somehow come alive. There is something in the water! The mission brief would have been shared with them sometime during their trip, but maybe Outsiders want to pull up on their implant the image and debrief shared once again now that there is some action. The orca-like Kaiju trying to reach the shores of Neo Tokyo is called Shachimon, and she's been the cause of the violent waves and flooding we've seen for the past few weeks. Alongside of her and are her children orca who love to mimic everything their mother does. The biggest one, the matriarch of the pod, is over 60 meters in length - large enough to swallow a boat whole. The younger ones are smaller but just as ferocious, spanning from the size of a car to the size of a bus. The youngsters are a size small enough that they can leap out of the water, sometimes crashing down onto people and ships. Beware!

Shachimon will be fighting to knock over boats, or climbing on boats with their amphibious legs. Once they get their hands on humans or Outsiders, they pull them into the water, tearing them limb from limb to feed. Their control over the waves are no joke, either. With a powerful swing of their tail, they can conjure up tsunamis capable of overturning ships. The matriarch, if left to her own devices, seems bent on submerging Neo Tokyo to make food of all its citizens.

█ █ █ MONSTER DEBRIEF SHEET
NAME: Shachimon
HEIGHT: Younger whales are 4 - 18 metres. The matriarch is 60 meters in length.
WEIGHT: 1500kg - 5000kg
CLASS: Highly dangerous.
LOCATION: Large bodies of water
ABILITIES: Use of sonar to detect any water movement. Fast swimmer. Very sturdy body thanks to all that whale blubber. High intelligence - commonly works together as a pod to take down prey. Capable of creating tsunamis that overturn boats. The largest Shachimon can sink a city if not stopped.
WEAKNESS: Electricity (since it will be inside water), dissection, spearing its eyes or blowhole. Loud vibrations within the water can stun or confuse it.
EXTRA NOTES: Dislikes and will attempt to overturn civilian yachts. Carnivorous, eating marine life and human flesh. Sadistic personality, may play with their food prior to eating.

█ █ █ MISSION OBJECTIVE:
✖ Lead the Shachimon away from the shore.
✖ Extermination of Shachimon in the water and if they reach the shore.
✖ Protection of nearby fishermen's boats and civilians within those boats.
✖ Teamwork to destroy the matriach Shachimon.
✖ Bring back specimens (live or deceased) for research purposes.

█ █ █ ATTACHED PHOTO:

As a note, Outsiders who wish to remain on land and help civilians there may do so. There are waves flooding the city, and some of the smaller, quicker Shachimon will have made it to shore. They will need to be taken care of before they can terrorise the city.

▶ 003. OCEAN GEMS.

Shachimon are most deadly in the water and their go-to strategy is to pull others into their turf, where they have the advantage. That's where those jewel-like implants come in. These implants, called OCEAN GEMS, when attached to the skin, temporarily modify the body. Once activated, nanobots will invade the bloodstream and alter the user's lungs, giving them a set of breathable gills. Their legs will also be altered, giving them fins and the tail of a fish. This is a recent invention by LILITH ever since the first Shachimon was spotted a few years ago, and the technology is still experimental. This means that the transformation process will be significantly uncomfortable, feeling a bit like being asphyxiated and having your legs sewn together at the same time. Deactivating the gem and turning back feels just as uncomfortable, and being experimental technology, it can take a while before the user can successfully revert back. Those who want to fight in the water and lack any weapons or abilities that can be used can request Seok Dang for a weapon. There's a limited supply, but they will be given a special trident. Directly driving the spear into one of the kaiju will electrocute it, giving a higher chance for higher damage. These tridents will be handed out to those who want to use their Ocean Gem and ask.

It's up to Outsiders whether they want to use this new technology or not. Being able to fight the monsters on their own terrain is certainly an advantage, so LILITH would highly encourage it.

▶ 004. MEDICAL BAY.

Healers and those with medical experience will be placed on the warship with a red flag on it. Dr. Spim & Alex will also be present on this ship to assist any major injuries to both LILITH and civilian fisherman alike. This ship is bigger than the others, and while stocked up with the same artillery, it is also stocked with beds and medical supplies. This will be the Outsider's naval medical bay during the siege on the Shachimon and all injured Outsiders or civilians will need to be transported there. This ship will also need to be protected heavily, because once the Shachimon catch on that all the injured, vulnerable prey are being transported to the larger ship, they will start to target that ship in particular. Characters that need immediate medical help should be transported to this ship via a dataportal. Each yacht has a dataportal that can teleport anyone instantly to the medical ship. The dataportals are also located down below deck to prevent them from getting damaged.

▶ 005. THE CALM AFTER THE STORM.

It's a bloody, soggy and gruesome battle and the seas' waves begin to calm down, the sea filled with kaiju carcasses. LILITH's clean up crew is working hastily to collect these corpses, but with the Outsiders' occupied and recovering from their fresh battle, help is limited. Search and rescue scavenges the sea to find any civilians who didn't make it or may need medical help. Meanwhile, the valiant teamwork and effort has paid off. After many hits from many different weapons, artillery, natural abilities, etc. the matriarch kaiju has been downed and sank to the bottom of the ocean floor. LILITH's team will work to retrieve the massive carcass, though it will take awhile. Those who put in notable effort will receive praise and a little extra payout. Outsiders will see an instant transfer of funds to their account: 340,000,000 KRYPTOS. This is roughly about 2500 USD.

The intense battle will have lasted several days and Outsiders are free to go from land to sea as little or as often as they like. It is all over, though, and Outsiders will be called to return to the MAIN BASE for rest and recovery. LILITH will also be searching for the rift where the kaiju came from while Outsiders recover. A message from an unknown voice will pop up an hour or so after all Outsiders have returned to the MAIN BASE. Outsiders may use this time to socialize in a commons area, wash up in the showers, get a meal in the cafeteria or rest.

"Good work."

▶ 006. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our first Kaiju log! All prompts are highly encouraged but OOCly optional. ICly, characters can choose to fight in the ocean, on the ships or stay behind on land and protect the city. At the end of the siege, characters who accepted an Ocean Gem will be asked to return it. It's experimental technology, so LILITH will need to do more tweaking before they can properly release it. Outsiders who use the gem may have whatever fish tail they like, as long as it is a sea creature.

Feel free to NPC your characters' fights with the smaller kaijus. The main fight with the Shachimon matriarch will be determined via a HP-based system (See below).

Please note that all tags in this log count for 2 reward points each. Ask any further questions below!

Below is also the month at a glance. We understand the CALENDAR has been a little inconsistent, but the mod team is sorting all of this out. Expect a FEEDBACK POST this month as well so we can check in with the playerbase and make any adjustments to the game. This log, even if the time stamp says JANUARY, will count for FEBRUARY AC.

FEB 1st: Kaiju Fight Log in LOG COMMUNITY
FEB 15th: Text Post in NETWORK COMMUNITY
FEB 25th: Mod posted MEME COMMUNITY; FEEDBACK POST is live.

Thank you all for being a wonderful and understanding playerbase!

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Comments

full speed with bon voyage for set up

[kubricks]

[So much for being the normal one…

Not that Makima says that. She might with other people even if this isn’t the time or place for sarcasm. But no, she won’t, just watching carefully as the new captain gives orders. She seems used to this at least, so that’s...well, she’s not sure it’s good, but nothing Ishmael’s yelling sounds wrong to her.]

All right, though I hope we can talk about this.

[That’s the only comment she’ll make about it. She isn’t particularly thrilled about being ordered around, but that’s how things go. She understands even if she doesn’t like it.

Though she’s not entirely how much she understands after all of the everything else happens.

Which is why she’ll find Ish later over at the pool, though it’s not so much find as she happens to be here too, still partially jellyfish.]

Not that I wouldn’t have done it anyways, but I wish I’d known about this when I took the gem.

[Not quite the way she was planning to start a conversation but she wasn’t expecting to still have her sea legs so to speak.]

[wheft]

[ not gonna lie, ishmael wanted to see how makima fought out there. out of everyone in brimstone so far, the other woman is by far the most ordinary of the bunch? and that has always struck ishmael as weird...

but of course, there was no time to address that. she'd only given makima a curt nod before leaving the other woman to her business while she attends her own --

and the scene changes, this time at the pool where ishmael turns to look at the other woman later that day. she can recognize makima's thinner, translucent tentacles as ones belonging to a jellyfish or something, which is certainly a choice. ]

Mm. They did say it was experimental, but of course we had to put up with this for a couple more hours. [ her own tentacles flop in the water as she sighs. ] I was wondering - what kind of weapon did you use back there?

[kubricks]

[Unfortunately for now Ish is in the same boat as so many people in Public Safety, having not seen and wondering what exactly Makima does. But there’s always next time!]

One of the spears that was on deck.

[That’s an easy enough question to answer. No need to hide that one. It’s not a fun or interesting answer, sure, but it’s the truth.]

The javelin probably would’ve worked better, but..well you know how it was.

[Kind of a mess there. For a number of reasons.]

Had to work with what I had on hand at the moment.

[wheft]

You could use the spear like a javelin. Although that also depends on the material used, and the air currents that could help in throwing...

[ ahem. sorry, she can be a nerd when it comes to these things. ]

Well, never mind about that. At least this doesn't seem like your first time fighting a monster like that. [ is it? ]

[kubricks]

Not that particular kind and being underwater was new, as is this.

[She'll wave her tendrils for emphasis, not that it's needed. The equivalent of kicking her feet a little in the water, but if she had feet she wouldn't have done it.]

But yes, I'm used to fighting things like that. And it didn't seem like your first time taking them helm either.

[Figuratively and literally. Which does line up with what they spoke about during the bonfire.]

Still, I wasn't expecting how different you were.

[Is that a good way of putting it? She doesn't know. Honestly, that's a little out of her wheelhouse. Congrats? For giving her some sort of new work situation to think about.]

[wheft]

Different in a good way, or...?

[ because... well. she has pretty strong feelings about the sea. probably the only one who does around here. ]

Well, they wouldn't just pluck anyone off the street if you don't have experience in fighting things like that. But now I'm wondering - where did you get the experience?

[kubricks]

I would just say different.

[She'll do her the courtesy of actually answering that first question. As much of an answer as that is anyways.]

And it's work experience. That wasn't entirely different from what my division does. I'm not usually on the front lines unless there's a need for it, but that's obviously different here.

[On the plus side less reporting. She doesn't mind that tradeoff.]

[wheft]

Your... division? That also fights monsters?

[ huh, that doesn't sound a whole lot different from what ishmael does either. ]

[kubricks]

Yes, that's more or less what we do. What they are and how we handle it seems to differ, but the job itself is pretty much the same.

[Monster shows up, stop and get rid of it. There's even some real oddballs conscripted to fight them here, in some respects it's like she never left Public Safety. Minus all the other differences of course, some important, some not.]

Though I do wish that I'd been consulted about salary beforehand if I was going to be doing some of the same work.

[wheft]

I think most of us got a hefty payout for defeating the kaiju, but... [ shrugs. ] I'm just happy we're being paid at all.

[kubricks]

Oh, I'm definitely not complaining about that.

[Just joking around really. She'll smile a little about it. The bonus is nice, it really is.

But jokes aside...]

And I don't think that's a bad way to look at it, especially if you've done the work without reward before.

[wheft]

[ she sighs again. ]

No one wanted to do this without pay, anyway. They've got to keep incentivizing us if they want us to cooperate. Though, calling this an incentive is a little...

[ her tentacles flop on the water for emphasis. it's not bad? at least for ishmael. but not exactly a good thing either. ]

[kubricks]

[She's not going to bring up that sometimes want doesn't really matter, especially not after the bonfire conversation but...]

I can't tell if being able to gesture with these is a good thing or not.

[It helps? Sometimes? But she'd rather they be gone by now.]

[wheft]

At least you can still get around. If you want, you can go and see if you can sting a nearby LILITH staff member.

[ it's joke. maybe. only one way to find out if certain defense mechanisms are intact. ]

[kubricks]

I feel like I'd end up paying for that someday.

[Which isn't a no. She can't say the thought hasn't occurred to her to give that a try. Maybe not to a staff member, but to someone surely.]

[wheft]

So you aren't opposed to it...

[ 👀 ]

[kubricks]

Not necessarily.

[She isn't all work and no play, at least not all the time.]

[wheft]

[ she huffs out a short laugh. ]

Never mind. At least you seem to be dealing with this better than the others. Most landsmen would swear off fighting on the ocean till further notice.

[kubricks]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'd be in a hurry for a repeat.

[A wry smile there, she'd still go without too much complaint. But she still wouldn't be in a hurry to.]

But as far as missions go, I've experienced worse. I know not everyone has, it's not really a good thing. But it does help with adjusting afterwards. Though these have probably been the biggest adjustment.

[Another little wave of her not so figurative sea legs.]

[wheft]

[ she nods in response. at least makima has an okay head on her shoulders. her own moodswings don't help at all, sometimes. ]

You've experienced worse, huh. What kind of threats did you face back home, then?

[kubricks]

They're called Devils. Sometimes they wreak more havoc, sometimes less. And their abilities aren't always so straightforward. We had one not too long ago that trapped a team of mine on an an endlessly repeating hotel floor.

[An example that won't cause any real problems if it's brought up to the two other Public Safety people here.]

That was one of the more interesting ones. Some of the others are...well, just kind of a big creature to deal with.

[The Bat Devil comes to mind, but she doesn't feel a need to really give an example there.]

[wheft]

That sounds like a nightmare.

[ at the same time, why didn't they just make a hole in the wall? though ishmael figures that it probably wasn't that easy... ]

At least yours are easy enough to deal with. Back home, we have monsters and then Abnormalities. They're basically entities made from the human mind that represent fear and desire. And with how complicated human minds are...

[ yeah. ]

[kubricks]

Ours are connected to fear too.

[How interesting!]

So there's an interesting commonality. Desire, not so much. Like you said, human minds can be complicated, so I imagine that creates all the more issues there.

[She doesn't actually think people are that complicated, but she's not going to argue that during this explanation.]

[wheft]

[ an interesting commonality indeed... curiously: ]

Can you... lend their powers somehow?

[kubricks]

People can form contracts with them to use their powers. But they almost always want something in return.