Sailor Nocturnus

She stared down at her forearms, looking at the dark metal of the strange new armor. The gauntlets provided only a glint of sheen in the right light, sharing the dark colour of her gloves. Nocturnus was appreciative that Enyalius has fastened them for her; she knew she would have struggled to manage them on her own. Unlike the others, she had not even a faint memory of meeting this crone... but she felt something familiar. The armor was warm, reminding her of something--of someone.

Mother...

Sailor Nocturnus felt a lump rise in her throat, a strange mixture of lonesomeness and relief blended together. Her mother was still alive. Her mother was still so far away, endlessly and unknown. Yet she had found a way to send these gifts. She blinked back the tears in her eyes, trying to seem as stoic and ready for battle as the others. Her ears heard the old woman's words and committed them to heart. Yes, she would do her best to pay for the last gifts given.

The wind of the hurricane was far too much for the young sailor soldier-in-training to master. Her small  body and tiny wings would be useless against a gale of that force. She nodded at Achelois' suggestion and Andromeda's comment, but kept her eyes on Sailor Enyalius, wondering if their leader would have any input. Nocturnus was ready to follow whoever would lead into the eye of the storm on whatever path she was capable of following.

Eshana looked at the two items in her hand, considering them before she stored them away with her water pouch. They would be safe there and she had easy enough access. However, with all the water on the planet, she doubted she would need to touch her own personal store of water.
 
Her eyes easily tracked the old woman, watching as she continued to pass out items, giving the youngest senshi in their group gauntlets, which Sailor Enyalius helped the girl attach.
 
Unfazed as the world around her returned to normal, she was use to travelling between her mother’s realm and earth after all; she considered the old woman’s words; become the senshi they were meant to be. What could that possibly mean? Had they not yet reached their full potential?
 
27 hours. That was all they had. She knew from experience that 27 hours was a long time, but also could go by so quickly. Easily following Enyalius’s orders, she lifted herself back into the air and away from the mob.
 

“I think it’s a good plan and the only one that we have at the moment,” Sedna called. She herself may be able to make it through sheer force of will, but there were others who would not and she found herself reluctant to leave them. “Shall we head up then?”

DM wrote:

Strength Check
Strength of Hurricane Wind: 11
Callisto Strength: 10
Callisto Control: 1
Callisto Magic-Enhanced Strength: 11

Callisto can withstand the wind.

Turning to see how the others fared, battling to keep generally in place against the ever-raging wind, Enya could barely see that both Makemake and Callisto had been able to brace the storm, but as Makemake turned to retreat from it to converse with Varuna and Andromeda, Enyalius flew closer in an attempt to understand what was going on, motioning to Callisto to hold on before going further in. She could barely hear the high notes of Achelois's laugh, but from that she knew that her partner had come up with something; laughter was her usual first response after a eureka moment.

She couldn't hear what Achelois was saying over the rushing wind, and could barely see her beyond the rain hitting her face, but she did see Achelois's arm move upward, pointing towards space, and then it hit her, too. Why go through when you could go up and over? She had only been considering the problem in front of them, rather than the entire situation. She, too, pointed up, to second Achelois's idea, but didn't leave the storm just yet.

Spoiler:

Amatheia followed the others as they took to the sky and headed towards the storm. She glanced regretfully down at the churning ocean, wishing she could go for a swim. She always loved the sensations of the waves from above. But then there was the concept she had learned of business before pleasure. Perhaps after Chaos was dealt with, she would be able to take a brief dip before moving on to whatever the future held in store for her.

Yet when she got closer to the storm, the wind made it more difficult. Her wings fluttered ineffectually against the wind, only able to get to a certain point. She was much more skilled in the water than the air, no surprise of course. She frowned lightly but noticed others who were in the same situation as her. And she heard the suggestion of going above. “Yes, I agree. I cannot fly in this strong a wind. It is too much for me.” Again she regretted she couldn't ask about going from below, but then it would be better to remain with them instead of seperating.

With the number of their team that seemed agreeable to the plan, Enyalius figured that most, if not all, understood what was going on and what they would do. While she could withstand the storm, she would rather not tire herself when flying around it in relative ease was an option. With a few strong pumps of her wings, she directed herself upward and outward, leaving the true storm with its wind and torrential rain for the zone just beyond it at a steep angle to gain altitude quickly. The higher she went, the colder it got, and the water covering her arms and legs began to freeze; she shook herself to be rid of it and emerged from the atmosphere feeling cold and damp, but not frozen.

Up here, away from the thick clouds, the flying was easy. She skimmed the uppermost surface as to not waste time with a height that was unnecessary, aiming ever inward atop the enormous hurricane. Impatiently she beat her wings faster, wishing to find the eye and the tower the old witch had spoken of -- 

When she reached the calm center, she paused, awaiting the rest, staring down at the odd site presented below.

The eye of the storm did not move or waver; it seemed to put in place precisely to surround this one inexplicable tower that broke the water's surface and had already climbed high into the air. The tower was black and pointed, as though torn from jagged rocks at the bottom of the sea, and, from what she could see from this vantage point, it had no ready openings. The mother star of Andromeda shone light down into the vortex of clouds, but their height and thickness allowed for none of that light to touch the sea or the tower, leaving it in perpetual twilight.

As the group gathered in the skies of Andromeda, Panacea stood pretty much at the edge of the group, watching how Enyalius and Callisto started to approach the storm and the heavy wind that came along with it.
She herself was just about to start, too - however, as she heard Varuna worries about not being able to withstand the wind, she hesitated, stopping herself from approaching the storm and instead returned to the rest of the group a few meters behind her.

Feeling a bit helpless, but also a bit worried that she would maybe have to wait and watch, she listened to the others as they discussed what to do, she herself keeping quiet as she joined the group.
To her ditriment it really seemed hopeless; she gradually got used to the idea of standing in front of the storm and waiting for the others - however, that changed once Achelois shared her idea of flying above the storm.

Granted, it first seemed a bit too easy for her - because if she learned something from previous missions, then it was the fact that things never went that easy. However, she didn't want to abandon the idea either. It was worth a try, after all.

Trying to look confident, she nodded at the others, spreading her wings once more and following Enyalius into the thinning air.

Sailor Nocturnus

Fluttering her translucent golden wings, Sailor Nocturnus stared in awe at the sight below her. She hadn't seen the thing take shape until she hovered over it. As usual, the cautious child soldier kept a distance while remaining in sight of their leader Sailor Enyalius. From this height, peering down through the stillness of the eye, the black tower loomed ominous and silent. She felt unease, but this time it was not the effect of a siren's song--it was just the memory of their previous missions and the promise of the Chaotic entity they were sure to face on Andromeda.

She waited for the group to assemble, hoping it wouldn't take too long. Their time to reach the tower and remove the seed was ticking away all too quickly...

Varuna felt a wave of relief wash over her after hearing that she wasn't the only one who couldn't make it through this storm. The fact that even Andromeda couldn't do it boosted her confidence just a little bit. Maybe this mission wasn't so hopeless for her, after all.

Agreeing with Achelois's idea, Varuna gave her a grateful smile before following Enyalius and Panacea. For the first several seconds, Varuna felt fine, but when the temperatures started to drop, she began to slow down. She had always had trouble functioning in cold or icy conditions, so even though this route was supposed to be easier for her, she was struggling all the same.

Gritting her teeth, Varuna pushed onwards, ignoring her muscles screaming at her to stop and her wings feeling as if they were about to fall off. The freezing water on her body caused her to shiver uncontrollably, but Varuna did her best to hide it from the others. She would not let them think she was weak.

By the time she reached the top, Varuna felt for sure her body was going to freeze solid and drop to the ground any second. The momentary rest from pushing her wings helped, though. Her eyes scanned the tower below, widening in horror. This place looked like it had been fashioned straight out of the rocks surrounding it, and it did not look inviting at all. Swallowing her moment of fear, Varuna looked down to see how far the others were. The sooner they could get in that place and out of these conditions, the better.

Andromeda shot up higher toward the sky, leaving the atmosphere of her planet and back into space. She flew past the wind and the rain and the clouds until she reached the clear area beyond everything else. Once she broke through, for a moment it felt peaceful and quiet. She wished she could stay up there where she could pretend everything was fine.

But then she looked down into the hurricane and felt the cold catching up to her.

She hovered directly above the tower in the eye of the storm, a tower that had not existed before. Even just looking at it made her sick—everything about it felt wrong and she knew this was the object that was poisoning her planet. Darkness and storm surrounded it, but this was where Chaos dwelled.

And she would go into that tower to battle it just like she always had, as the princess of this planet blessed with the sword to protect it.

Achelois waited until the others began to follow Enya towards the top before heading upward herself.  She felt the cold wind and rain beating against her skin but she could withstand it.  She broke through and found herself once again staring at the storm from above, though this time closer.  She joined the others, checking that everyone had made it through, and quickly found what had caught their attention.  A tall tower was in the eye of the storm, though the light could not reach it.  She felt dread when greeted with sight of the tower, this place was filled with Chaos.

With Enyalius leading the way up into the atmosphere, Amatheia followed. A wide smile broke out on her face as she felt the chilly change of temperature, glad to be, for the moment, in more civilized temperatures, the freezing water on her skin comforting and she felt refreshed. How these folk ever could manage to survive in this warm conditions still escaped her. It was a wonder they didn't dry out. She took a moment to take in a deep appreciative breath of the coldness, then fluttered over towards Enyalius. She looked down at the tower and tilted her head a bit.

It seemed like it would be an easy thing to drop down to the tower, but she looked at the whirling storm with a critical eye. “Do you think we will be sucked into the storm if we drop into the center?” She asked aloud to anyone who would answer. She glanced around and noticed some were not handling the cold as well. The girl who had grabbed her even seemed to be shivering, and Amatheia couldn't help but give the girl a small sympathetic smile.

Enyalius glanced over to Achelois before answering Amatheia's question, as though she were a student checking with a teacher before answering a question on a pop quiz. "The eye of the storm should be the calmest part," she reported, "If this is normal, we should have an easy time of it." She paused suddenly, and pointed below, "There, see?" Far below them, coasting calmly, a bird circled the top of the tower. The longer Enyalius looked, the more birds she spotted, and none away from the eyewall seemed to have any problems. 

They were wasting time, though. They needed to get into the tower. "Watch out for any defenses," she called, bracing, and then swiftly tucked her wings in and dove into the center of the storm, aiming for the tower.

Noticing that most of the other senshi were not diving through the storm, but goign over it, Callisto watched as Enyalius ascended to join them. It was an interesting idea, but Callisto didn't see a reason to go all the way back up when she was in the storm already. She might as well just go through it. They would all meet at the tower on the other side anyway, and this seemed more direct to her. 

Callisto braced herself again and flew further into the hurricane. The wind intensified and the rain became more blinding, and she struggled to move in a straight line, the chill seeping into her armor and leather clothing.

Sailor Makemake

Sailor Makemake watched as several of the senshi flew upward. She didn't know that she was likely the least intelligent person there, but she knew that she should probably listen to the others to know what to do. She went to follow them, but noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

Sailor Callisto was flying into the storm.

Without thinking, she flew off after her, fearing she was going into terrible danger. She was about to call her name when she got a mouth full of water. It wasn't good water either, like the water on her planet. It had a strange taste that she remembered from tiny white specks sprinkled on food in a past life.

Following Callisto, Makemake was separated from the others.

Amatheia listened to Enyalius. She saw her gaze focused on the center of the storm, then Enyalius was pointing out the birds flying easily near the center and she directed her attention to them as well, watching them for a moment. Well that certainly answered her question, and it was a relief to her. Then Enyalius was folding her wings and being the first to dive towards the center of the storm, giving warning to watch out for something defending the tower.

She briefly wondered what could be guarding the tower ad musing over how Enyalius most certainly would fit the role of an army general. But, there was no point in delaying. She pulled her wings in and placed her hands in front of her, and aimed downwards towards the tower.

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus followed Enyalius, vaguely worried about the two team members that had chosen to traverse the storm instead of flying above it. She hoped they would make it through safely and quickly, ready to rejoin near the tower. If they were strong enough to withstand the winds and rain, the child reasoned, they must be very capable. If that was true, it shouldn't be too hard for them to pass into the eye. She had no idea what it was truly like for the two trapped below, bracing themselves against driving rain and blustering wind.

As she sank into the stillness of the storm's center, she kept her dark eyes wide and alert, searching for danger.

Andromeda followed Enyalius as she started to descend, heading straight for the tower and watching out for anything coming their way as instructed. It was calmer here already, which she was glad for because now she could hear things better. She did not expect to be able to just enter the tower easily, which was why she kept waiting for an attack.

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to be the easy part," Eshana commented, loud enough that anyone close by could hear her.

As some of the group members started to descend towards the tower, Varuna took a deep breath to try and forget about her nerves and the fact that she felt as if she were freezing to death. She glanced over at Eshana, biting her lip at the comment. "You are probably right, but we might as well enjoy it while it lasts," she replied. Without hesitating a moment more, Varuna tucked in her shivering wings and dove downward, watching carefully ahead of her for any signs from her teammates on what to do next.

Enya stiffened her wings and abruptly flipped around, heading in feet-first towards the area near the top of the tower, using her downward momentum to create a more powerful force, one she was hoping to use to break into the top of the tower - a good option for the location of the chaos seed, she figured. Just before her foot hit the surface she clenched her teeth, remembering suddenly what had happened the last time she had tried to kick her way into a place, and then remembering that the person who had made that field was the same person who was behind the chaos seeds, thus made this tower, effectively another of his creations, which meant she might have to go through that pain again. 'Don't be stupid,' the crone had said - was this what she had meant?

Quote :

Enyalius attempts to kick in the wall of the top floor of the tower. 
She is unsuccessful. 


Enyalius incurs (roll) 5 points of damage.

Fortunately, her legs were not immediately electrocuted with chaotic energy; instead, they just really hurt.

The pointed side of the spire barely budged, which meant all of her force went back into her feet and legs, and she grunted with the pain, putting her hand out to bounce off the sloped and ragged surface to stop her face from hitting it straight-on; her wings fluttered drastically, attempting to slow her down and right her, but she had been going far to fast to avoid most of the harm; by the time she managed to push herself off the jagged wall, she had skinned her knees, the sides of her shins, most of her thighs, and the palms of her hands, which now bled meagerly. 

Quote :

If Achelois, Andromeda, Nocturnus, Varuna or Amatheia were to take a closer look at the "birds" Enyalius pointed out, they would notice that they were not birds at all.

They were gulper eels, large and unfriendly looking, flying with flipper-like wings.

And they seemed to be drawn to the scent of blood.

Sailor Nocturnus

The birds were edging closer to Enyalius, as she gritted her teeth and moved away from the spire's surface. Nocturnus could tell that the armored woman was in pain, and she moved forward without thinking about it. She knew there wasn't much she could do, as she didn't have healing powers, but the situation unfolding below near the tower attracted the young sailor soldier-in-training out of sympathy.

It was then, as she moved every so slightly closer, that she saw the flying creatures more clearly.

"Enyalius! Look out!" she called.

Her muscles cried out that she should fly to the other woman's defense, but she was held back with the desire not to become a greater burden if the beasts were strong and she could then require rescue.

When she neared the tower, Enya wasn’t slowing down. Andromeda didn’t immediately catch on to what she was trying to do until she hit the spire and seemingly caused herself injuries as she tried not to absorb all the impact.

Clearly she did not learn from the last mission.

At Nocturnus’ call, Andromeda looked around, her heart jumping at the thought of an incoming attack, but then all she saw were the birds.

Except, of course, they weren’t really birds. They were some kind of creature that she had not seen before—if that thing was native to this planet then she had yet to encounter it. Almost physically shrinking from their terrifying mouths, she realized that they were slowly converging around Enya.

She rushed toward the other senshi, her blade materializing in hand, ready to help fend them off. As she flew, she also looked for any window or door that could gain them access into the tower.

Amatheia continued her dive, as if she were going to the depths of the ocean. She mentally chuckled at the reversal, that she was diving into lighter pressures rather than higher. She noticed Enyalius aiming for the tower, and watched as she swung her leg to kick at the tower. She opened her mouth a bit, then gave a slight sympathetic flinch as Enyalius' foot connected, to no result except her harm. Amatheia immediately began slowing down the closer she got, until she was fluttering next to the tower. She opened her mouth once more to inquire to her status when one of the young girls cried out for her to watch out.

She quickly looked over at her then looked around for what could pose a threat, and saw the winged eels. She blinked a bit startled, then raised an eyebrow, wondering how such things would be captured. Then she was aware they were aiming towards Enyalius. She glanced quickly between the two then gasped softly. Predators, drawn by the blood as surely as any sea dwelling meat eater of her planet!

But then predators could not be entirely intelligent either. It was worth a try. "Everyone, cover your ears! Try not to listen!" She closed her eyes and opened her voice full throat, singing clearly towards the flying eels. Her song was cold, clear and beautiful, like a shard of ice, as she envisioned concepts of staying in one place, concepts that melded into her song in her attempt to keep them still in one place.

As she hovered in space, waiting for the others to arrive, the group gradually managed to come together for a second time, one after another looking down at the storm as well as at the tower located in the middle of the absolute chaos.
Panacea herself, however, tried to avoid the sight of it as far as possible - seeing a planet in conditions like these, knowing that it was the home of one of her comrades, just made her feel queasy and reminded her of her own home; basically things she wasn't in need of at the moment.

Instead, she just nodded as Enyalius announced the next step, saying that they should watch for defenses when approaching the tower, so that Panacea just followed quietly, trying to concentrate her thoughts on only that instruction and nothing else.

Once near the tower, she slowly applied her inner brake, using her wings to slow to down and eventually to stop, so that she could finally try to get a fair impression of the whole situation. However, at the end, she had to admit that she would have also been fine without inspecting it that much.

Because from close up, the planet just looked even worse.

Eventually her eyes went back to the group as she heard the foot of her leader banging against the wall of the tower. For a moment she startled, surprised by the sudden bang, until she then regained composure, looking at Enyalius who was obviously in pain.
"Are you...okay?" She asked softly, the tone in her voice subliminally offering her healing powers in case she wasn't.

However, her attention immediately switched to Nocturnus's call to look out, making her turn around, just to see the 'birds' - who apparently weren't birds - Enyalius was talking about just a few minutes ago.
Quickly her body shifted into a defensive position, her arms protecting her torso and her fists showing that she was ready to fight if she needed to.

OOC:

DM wrote:

Andromeda is unable to see an entrance to the spire.

Amatheia uses innate ability: Mind Control It was ruled the intent was to stop forward outward motion, rather than freeze completely in place.
Gulper Eels A-D stop their forward motion upon hearing Amatheia's song, but their gaping mouths move up and down and their beady eyes look between the senshi furiously.

Dexterity Check: like battles, as those around her did not receive ample time to prepare, dexterities will be compared. Also like battles, any dexterity greater than twice Amatheia's will result in an automatic miss (they covered their ears in time); dexterity less than half Amatheia's will result in an automatic hit (they were too slow); Dexterities between those extremes will roll to see if it hits or misses.
Amatheia's Dexterity: 9
Dexterities between 5 and 18 will roll
Enyalius rolls 5
Achelois rolls 5
Andromeda rolls 3
Nocturnus rolls 6
Sedna rolls 4
Panacea rolls 3
Varuna's Dexterity is 3

 Andromeda, Panacea, and Varuna are unable to cover their ears in time and hear Amatheia's Siren Call

Siren Call Effectiveness depends on relative intelligence
Perception Check: As perception measures a character's openness to their surroundings and being able to piece things together, I will use perception as the check to see whether Amatheia can force her will upon them. Perceptions higher will be over the influence, perceptions lower will be under, and equal perceptions will roll.
Amatheia's Perception: 7
Perceptions of 7 will roll
Andromeda rolls 6
 Varuna rolls 1


 Varuna and Panacea are under Amatheia's influence; they are unable to move beyond their wings keeping them hovering in place. 

Enyalius cursed under her breath, minding the sting of losing some skin, examining herself for the moment, until Nocturnus's warning cry. Her attention shot outward, past Panacea and her soft questions to the potential threat angling towards them. She opened her hand to accept her sword, but quickly changed tactics at Amatheia's suggestion, her hands quickly covering her ears before the blue-skinned senshi did whatever it was she was planning, wondering what the slim terrors would do if Amatheia started to scream like she had back at the square.

As she watched, the flying eels stopped moving forward, though they did not seem to have decided that on their own. Her eyes slid to Amatheia, her hands pressing harder against her ears, watching as the woman sang and drawing connections. They were here to fight a Siren; did they already have a siren among them? Regardless, whatever Amatheia was doing seemed to be working, and Enya started looking around, hoping to use this time to find a way into the tower.

Achelois watched as Enya dived feet first at the spire, following her into the eye but stopping with some distance between the obstacle and herself.  She cringed when she heard the loud thud and then saw her smash against the spire's side.  That's two for two, she thought to herself, pressing her hand to face.  She was about to patch up her scrapes when she noticed one more time the "birds" flying around.  Nocturnus and Andromeda had also noticed them as well and had shouted a warning.  Then Amatheia had shouted about a song and covering ears.  Achelois quickly covered her ears, her staff in the crook of her left elbow.

She smiled at Varuna before she began to descend. She watched as Enya attempted to break into the spire only to cause herself injury, as she was unable to absorb all of the impact of her hit. Wincing internally in sympathy, her attention was directed when the youngest member of their group, Sailor Nocturnus, yelled for the senshi to look out.
 
Summoning her halberd, she quickly flew towards the injured senshi. While she had a feeling that Enya was perfectly capable of handling herself, a little backup in these situations never hurt. She stopped her decent when she heard a shout to cover her ears, dropping her weapon, knowing that she would be able to get it back easily enough later when she called for it, she quickly put her hands over her ears.
 
Her song can control beings? She thought astonished as she watched the creatures, as well as a few of the senshi who been unable to cover their ears in time stop, their wings continued to beat, keeping them from falling.

Andromeda did not have ample time to follow the warning before the song sounded, and, having heard stories of sirens before, she was very alarmed. But she soon recognized it for what it was and found herself able to fight back the urge to stay in place despite the fact that her ears were not covered. While their foes seemed to be frozen where they were, she looked at the tower again, noticing that the bottom was submerged in water. Which meant…

Without thinking much about it, she dove straight into the water below, sinking into the ocean in order to find an entrance from underwater.

ooc:

Unable to hear or see Sailor Makemake in the storm, Callisto pushes onward, unaware that she'd been followed in. It was only a matter of time before she got to the other side... And considering how waterlogged she was, she wanted to at least get something out of her decision.