Completing the Operation: Finding the VIPs

The PCs took their first steps towards accomplishing their mission in Nov Elysia. Now all that’s left is completing Operation Solstice Rain by finding the Union VIPs: Captain Farris and Ambassador Bannerjee. To do so, the PCs must overcome significant Vestan resistance, racing them to the VIPs and impeding their progress along the way. Disabling the signal jammer may facilitate the discovery of the VIPs — if the PCs can overcome its defenders. Captain Farris and enemy supply lines await in the Harbor, while Kiros’s Furies hunt for Ambassador Bannerjee in the Hall of Consuls. One thing is certain: The operation isn’t over until the VIPs are safe — a feat that must be performed over Kiros’s dead body.

An Operation, Not a Mission

Unlike the original module, there is no eventual coordinated push planned between the PCs and LSA. The jamming transmitter thwarts any attempt for the LSA to easily regroup over the Operation, so it is simply up to the PCs to go where they feel they are needed the most. If the PCs are on a roll, they can resolve Nodes 4, 5, and/or 6 even before they take their Full Repair, though they may be stretched thin at that point. The players are in the driver’s seat, so tell them their options, warn them of foreseeable risks, and let them drive.

Stop the Signal: Node 4 – Jamming Transmitter

Along the way to this node, Rio provides the PCs with her code-spike for disabling the jamming transmitter. The transmitter itself is well-hidden in the residential district, both geographically and electronically. The Mirage and Witch have draped the region in digital fog, making it easy to get lost in the area. Once at this node, the PCs must spend 1 hour to attempt a skill challenge to find the jamming transmitter. All skill checks in this challenge are Difficult. If the PCs fail the challenge, they become lost and misdirected, and must spend another hour to retry the challenge; however, they receive a cumulative +1 Accuracy to all of the challenge’s skill checks for each failed challenge. Once the PCs succeed on the challenge, they find the jamming transmitter — and its defenders — at a broadcast center in the district. Run Combat 4 – Clear the Air when this occurs. Change the stakes and results of the fight as follows:

Victory

As written, with the following note: The PCs can now easily communicate with FOB Saber and the Rio Grande. This means they can request allied help they secured earlier (like Garcia in Node 2 and the dropship in Node 3) from anywhere on the map. In addition, the PCs glean the following clues:
- If the PCs have yet to clear Node 2 – Downtown, they hear distress signals from Garcia and the LSA militia stationed there.
- Intercepted VSAF communications mention that “the Furies” secured the LSA representatives, who will be used “as leverage to buy time for TARTARUS.” “That Union captain” will be on the next submarine; the VSAF hope to convince the “Union scum” to leave Cressidium in exchange for their prisoner. Reveal Node 5 – Harbor.
- LSA troops report a mech that “slips through space, with a wicked plasma rifle” roaming the Hall of Consuls and capturing diplomats. Reveal Node 6 – Hall of Consuls.
In addition, provide the PCs with a special Scouting reserve: 1/mission, at the start of any combat, the PCs may consume this reserve to receive full combat statistics about all enemies for the rest of the scene, as if they used the Scan action.

Defeat

Unlike the original defeat conditions, failure is an option. The window of opportunity to disable the signal passes, and the Vestan tech team devises an electronic countermeasure for Rio’s code-spike. If the PCs still want to find some way disable the signal, they will need to dedicate time and resources to do so. Otherwise, they can retreat to lick their wounds; the remaining Vestan forces do not pursue, opting to defend their transmitters.
Despite the loss, Rio was able to catch a small bit of information through the noise: VSAF communications indicate that a black ops team called the “Furies” are hunting diplomats at the Hall of Consuls. Reveal Node 6 – Hall of Consuls to the players.

O Captain My Captain: Node 5 – Harbor

When the PCs arrive at the Harbor, in addition to the description of the area provided in Beat 3, the VSAF currently hold Captain Farris in a prisoner cage on the submarine. Her IFF tag can be detected as the PC mechs enter sensor range. As soon as they do, the Vestan forces begin to scramble a retreat as the submarine prepares to dive. Run Combat 5 – Leviathan to simulate the rush to stop the submarine, but replace the victory and defeat conditions with the following:

Victory

The PCs rescue Captain Farris and either disable or drive off the submarine. Farris is not truly safe until she is secure back at FOB Saber.
The VSAF invasion relied upon the Harbor and the nearby river for their supply lines. Since the PCs cut off those lines, for the rest of Solstice Rain, Vestan NPC mechs can no longer take the Stabilize action, representing a lack of supplies and inadequate reactor maintenance. If relevant, any Vestan mechs can also no longer repair nor replenish their ranks outside of combat.

Defeat

The Vestan forces manage to capture Captain Farris, but not Ambassador Bannerjee. Their fate instead lies in the events that occur at Node 6 – Hall of Consuls.

If the PCs rescue Farris, she can provide them with the following information:

Captain Farris remarks that the Anti-Aircraft battalion at the Train Depot will hamper ground-to-orbit extraction for herself and Bannerjee.
Colonel Kiros personally captured Captain Farris around the Hall of Consuls and handed her off to a prisoner transport. Farris recognizes him, and can provide his name and combat doctrine once rescued. Reveal Node 6 – Hall of Consuls, and give the PCs a Knowledge reserve that gives them all +1 Accuracy when making skill checks to find or evade Kiros and the Furies.

If the PCs don’t reach this node before 6 PM on the second day, the submarine escapes with Captain Farris.

The Colonel & The Ambassador: Node 6 – Kiros & the Furies

For this remix, I make drastic additions to Beat 4 and Combat 6. In terms of location, Node 6 covers the entire capitol district surrounding the Hall of Consuls. The region has the following features:

Government buildings of varying sizes primarily compose the region, with the Hall of Consuls being the largest. The buildings are tall and imposing, making frequent use of Doric columns and relief sculptures.
Monuments, memorials, and statues of historical figures long dead heavily populate the area.
The Furies themselves haunt the area, searching for Ambassador Bannerjee.
Uncontrolled fires rage sporadically throughout the area, set by the Furies to smoke out any hiding diplomats.

Finding the Ambassador

PCs searching for Ambassador Bannerjee in the area need to engage in an extended skill challenge. For each of the following steps, they must take 1 hour to attempt a standard skill challenge:

Locate and secure Ambassador Bannerjee. Success means that the PCs find Bannerjee, but are locked down in the capitol district, unable to travel to other nodes until they complete Step 2.
Escape the capitol district. Success means the PCs can once again travel to other nodes with Bannerjee in tow.

If the PCs fail at either, the Furies catch them, and Combat 6 begins. Its victory and defeat conditions are modified as follows:

Victory

If the PCs defeat the Furies, the rest of the Vestan strike forces remain in force at their respective nodes until the end of Solstice Rain. If the Furies captured Captain Farris and/or Ambassador Bannerjee, the PCs rescue them. The PCs still gain Exotic Gear from their victory.

Defeat

If the PCs have Captain Farris or Ambassador Bannerjee with them, the Furies capture them and flee. If the PCs can repair their mechs, they can track down the Furies and retry this combat by taking 1 hour and succeeding at a skill challenge. Each hour that passes after the combat, the Furies can perform a repair (see Escaping the Furies).

Escaping the Furies

Besides completing the typical objective of the fight (defeating Kiros and his lieutenants), the PCs can choose to mount a retreat instead. A PC can retreat from the fight as a free action while Hidden and at the edge of the battlemap; if they do so, they are removed from the combat unless they choose to rejoin it. Once all PCs retreat, the combat ends without triggering victory or defeat conditions. To resume the extended challenge, they need to re-attempt the skill challenge at the step they failed; each failure once again triggers Combat 6. The PCs can rest between skill challenge attempts, but each hour they do so allows Kiros and his lieutenants to perform a repair: The Furies restore all lost HP, clear all heat, reload all weapons, and regain 1 Structure and 1 Stress each. If the PCs won Combat 5, the Furies may no longer repair.

Hunted!

If the PCs escape with Ambassador Bannerjee, the Furies continue to chase them across Nov Elysia for as long as they can, even if Bannerjee is secured at FOB Saber. As a result, all subsequent random Military Encounters become Combat 6 – Wake the Furies. If the default battlemap for Combat 6 doesn’t thematically fit the PCs’ current location, feel free to use one of the other battlemaps instead.

Kiros’s Clues

If the PCs scan Kiros or the Furies, they can retrieve the following clues:

The PCs can extract the exact location and full combat statistics of the Jamming Team. Reveal Node 4 – Jamming Transmitter, and the PCs may automatically succeed on the skill challenge to find the jamming array.
Scans of Kiros’s mech indicate it uses a “miniaturized EREBUS power supply,” whose specs frequently reference a VSAF project called “TARTARUS.” Weirdly enough, the specs seem to originate from an unlisted Omninet node in the Republic of Okasnia.

I dangle that last Okasnia-related hook as an excuse to incorporate this blank slate of a nation-state into future adventures.

Ending the Operation

Operation Solstice Rain ends at 6 PM on the second day. The PCs accomplish their primary objective once they escort Captain Farris and Ambassador Bannerjee to FOB Saber. However, Kiros and the Furies remain a complication. If the Furies are still alive by the end of the operation, they make a choice depending on the status of the VIPs:

If Bannerjee is not under the PCs’ care or at FOB Saber, the Furies capture the ambassador and escape with them.
If the Furies somehow capture Farris, they escape with the captain.
If the Furies cannot capture either VIP, they mount an attack on FOB Saber. They raze it to the ground until the PCs stop them by initiating and completing Combat 6 one last time. Luckily, an allied LSA Sniper NPC is present to help defend the base (their presence does not increase the number of turns Kiros can take as an Ultra).

The remaining Vestan forces withdraw or surrender by the end of the operation. All that remains is picking up the pieces, burying the dead, and planning the next steps of the campaign on Cressidium.