Nix stayed out of the argument until it was over, having no strong opinion in particular to share. Once they were talking about strategy to move on, she took her position back among them.



Your words are noted, and thank you for telling us the truth about why you’re here, she addressed Enoch.

She didn’t quite agree that she wouldn’t pick him as the leader if it had been Leviathan who had been corrupted, but then again, it seemed everyone had differing opinions on the matter. Either way, that was not relevant now.

She considered Nikos’ words.

Speed is not the top priority; I don’t believe Achelois’ life is in danger. However, the same can’t be said for ours, and we are down a healer. Let us go for the safest path, especially if there is potential of us being spied on. I trust your call, Nikos.

"Please, let's not argue over leadership any longer. I will not force myself on anyone if they don't agree with it. I'll follow your judgement, Andromeda." Callisto said. She had never meant to look like she deserved the position, and would rather the issue be dropped completely than start to fracture their already fragile group any more. That wasn't her goal at all in volunteering. If anything, she was relieved that someone had stepped up. She would not stand in Andromeda's way if it made tension. She was good at support position and would stay there if needed, though her shielding would be less useful with less healing available.


"The side streets sound like a good idea."

Enoch sighed again, but it was more of a happy one. He was truthfully distressed that this group could not decide on something as simple as a leader, but he was glad that they at least came to some kind of understand.

Your wisdom in this situation is exactly why you'd make the perfect leader, Sailor Callisto. I suggest we look to Sailor Callisto and Sailor Andromeda to make important decisions together then, that way we at least know who to turn to when things get rough. This mission is not likely to succeed otherwise.

If there is any one of you that I could transform into to make things easier on our journey, please let me know at any time and I will do my best.

Nix thought about everything she learned from the previous confrontation with Sailor Enyalius, and decided to speak now that they were on the move again.

I noticed that Enyalius—or Enyo as she called herself now—mentioned that we have managed to avoid being seen so far, and that they only saw him. I assume this means Nikos, who is not carrying The Crone’s talisman. Nikos, do you want to carry mine, since I am already able to cloak myself? That way we can all be invisible. Unless, of course, these so-called Eye can see through my camouflage...

I also think these people who are spying on us are the Three Fates that The Crone mentioned; that means aside from Enyo, there are three more potential enemies we have to take care of.

She considered other ways to reach their destination without having to battle their way through hordes of corpses every time.

Do you think flying would be an option? We could go straight to the palace from the sky without running into more undead. Nikos, do you know if any of our enemies could fly?

Let us stick to ground paths for now, then. From what you’ve said, these two enemies sounded more dangerous than what we’ve encountered so far.

She went ahead of the group again as they continued, checking streets to make sure they were clear before they entered while thinking about whether or not handing the talisman to Nikos was a good idea or not. Their presence was already known now, and whoever was watching would know to follow Nikos to find them. If they could get the entire group invisible, that would be a big plus. Even if this ‘Eye’ could see her after all, it wouldn’t make a big difference than what they started with; they’d still be able to follow the group by monitoring one person but the rest would be invisible.

On the other hand, Nikos was the one doomed to be the last person alive on this planet, which meant he was probably the best protected person right now and it wouldn’t matter if he were visible or not. Still, if they could find him, they could find the group…

She saw no downside to the plan, but decided to hang on to the talisman for now and  waited a little bit more to see if their enemies would attempt to sabotage their journey again.

Sailor Panzer followed Nikos and the others, her bright eyes still scanning the area for anything that might seem amiss. She knew that the frosty one was still out there, invisible, scouting for them, but she wasn't about to fail to search for danger herself. She was a soldier, after all, and this was a battle. There was protocol to be followed.

So far their path seemed clear—almost too clear. She mulled over what had been said before: mentions of "Fates" and an "Eye". These things would be only distractions on the way to their mission to end Enyo's reign of terror. Hopefully they could encounter and remove these obstacles first.



As they moved on, Sailor Nocturnus kept close to Andromeda. Her mouth formed a small, hard line, her brows furrowed from thinking too much about what had just happened and what might happen in the future. The conversation between Nikos and Nix regarding these "Fates" and this "Eye" was just one more problem (potentially two or more problems...) for the group as a whole. She thought of what Enyalius had said and remembered the talisman from the old woman...

It was her attack that gave them away. They would have been fine, at least for a while, if she hadn't been noticed. But what did that mean, now? Did that mean she couldn't use it again? If she attacked again, would Enyalius see it again? Know it again? What about these other things, whoever or whatever was helping her? Did they know?

Sailor Nocturnus looked down at her gloved hands, thoroughly disappointed in herself. She knew that her powers were weak and mostly ineffective compared to everyone else... but now it was a liability in other ways. Was she just going to slow them down?

As they moved, Eshana took the time to replenish her magical energy with the amulet the Crone had given her. 

Mother, Father, give me the strength I need in order to keep these people alive. 

It hadn’t felt right for her to consider someone else the leader, but now that the adrenaline had slowed down, the responsibility settled on her shoulders like lead and memories of coming face to face with Enya’s less nice half brought feelings of dread upon her. She had stared into those eyes and they did not harbor any gentleness or any hint of care in them. The blood from Enyo’s hand had stuck to her cheeks and she’d washed it off at some point on the way, horrified at the idea that it belonged to the people Enyo had killed.

She tried to walk tall behind Nikos, beside Nocturnus, and not shake in terror, but she felt so… alone and naked without Achelois. Now there was not one but two missing pieces—two people she cared about that had been taken from her. It had taken her four years to trust people again—to let them in again—and now she might lose them all.

The shield’s weight was a comfort at least, and it would help her in battle, maybe, paired well with her blade. She would protect Nocturnus and the others with this. No one else would be taken or slaughtered. Not while she was breathing.

Beside her, Nocturnus looked just as distraught, though it seemed she was pondering something else. The way she looked at her hands… Andromeda had noticed how shaken she was earlier when Enyo appeared and had regretted not being able to comfort her sooner.

She moved the shield to her other hand and carefully took one of Nocturnus’ with the now free one, threading their fingers together. It wasn’t just for Nocturnus’ sake. She was seeking comfort as well.

“Something bothering you?” she asked gently in a low voice, wanting the conversation to remain private. “I mean, aside from the obvious.”

A hand slipped into hers, and Nocturnus knew without looking up that it was Andromeda's. She was the one other familiar constant here, considering that... She blinked, hard, and inhaled slowly. No, that was not the right thing to focus on. Not now. There would be time later.

She held carefully to Sailor Andromeda's hand, feeling some comfort from the warmth and nearness. Answering the well-meaning question took a moment.

"She found us because of me," she whispered back, the voice almost inaudible. It wasn't sad, per say, but it carried the weight of her fear—that she would cause the same thing to happen again, putting them all at risk.

Andromeda remembered what Enyo had said—there was no mistaking Nocturnus’ Ecliptic Rotation. She couldn’t imagine the guilt that the young senshi in training must be feeling. She knew because she would feel the same way.

“That is unfortunate,” she said slowly, “but it’s just bad luck. If it hadn’t been you, it would have been anyone else eventually. It could have been me. And you had no idea that that would happen. It’s out of your control. Don’t blame yourself for something you couldn’t have known.”

She knew Nocturnus would probably be doubtful about using that ability again. “She knows we’re here now. There’s no point in trying to hide anymore, so don’t worry about not being able to use your powers.” She offered a comforting smile even as she herself wondered if Enyo might take Nocturnus next.

“I won’t let anyone else be taken from us. And we will get Achelois back no matter what.”

Callisto hung further behind the group as they walked, her mind on how to best assist with Achelois gone. The less they were all injured, the more efficiently they could heal after a battle. And her shields were draining as it was. Her hand went for the red bottle attached to her belt, and she drank the HP potion in a long swig. She barely flinched at the taste, keeping her thoughts on the benefits instead. Now she's no longer be a liability if she needed to protect someone again.

DM wrote:

Through the rest of the streets of the city, things were relatively quiet. They chose paths cleverly, and hid in abandoned buildings when Androktsiai patrols walked aimlessly past; sharp ears picking up louder sounds, Nix doubled back at one point to find that most of the Androktsiai had been released from Achelois's trap, but did not seem to know where to go to follow them. They were spreading out rather than going in one specific path, which was worrying as, if they were correct, the Fates should know where Nikos was, and then could assume to know their own location, if Enyo had filled them in about what had happened...

From natural regeneration from planetary contact, injured senshi regain 3 HP.
Residual Oberon Shields have faded.


They were nearing the center of the city.
Buildings now towered on either side of them, stretching skyward on either side of the widening streets for two three stories, old and older in years, made of stone and metal and wood, kept well by their occupants. They cold clearly see through side-streets even larger structures that Nikos would identify without being asked - aqueducts, the coliseum, universities - all as the worked towards an area ahead devoid of buildings altogether, before a looming hill and structure that could only be Enyo's palace.

They came to a stop as they reached the last building and looked out upon a grassy field devoid of structures but paved with cobblestone pathways that framed what used to be an idyllic garden atmosphere, a place obviously meant to meet and converse peacefully. Markets flanked the agora... or what remained of Markets, anyway. 

Trees were uprooted.
Fountains were decimated, flooding parts of the street.
Flower beds were decimated.
Bodies were strewn about as though tossed, some of which were slowly getting up yet again to hobble back to the middle of this terrible mess, near the base of the hill that supported the palace.

 And there, curled up lazily, was a chimera.

Far seeing eyes can determine the following and may choose to share it:
The front body was that of a lion, its larger-than-normal paws splayed out around it; though its hindquarters could not be made out from this angle, the shading and texture of the fur appeared different, and the hind legs were cloved, rather than pawed, and rather than a mammalian tail, the back-end seemed to be covered in fine scales; however, the most upsetting was the head - or, rather, heads. 
Three it had, two sleeping - the maned head of a lion and the red scaled head of a dragon. The third head was that of a curly-horned bearded goat with blue hair, and it was awake, and watching with glowing green eyes as the Androktsiai approached. As one neared its range, it spat at it, and the Androktsiai slowed, then stopped moving, falling to the ground - a small radius was growing about the dozing form of the Chimera, showing the range of the paralyzing spit.

"What is it?" Nikos asked in a whisper, the figure far ahead difficult to make out in his eyes. Judging from the destruction, the damage dealt to the gardens and trees of the agora, fear rose in him slowly, taking hold gradually as his mind could only imagine the monster responsible for such damage, for a monster it must have been - no humans could have made those kind of marks in the beds, or in the trunks.

Even from this far away, she could see that whatever was up ahead was trouble. This creature would certainly pose a challenge for them, even with their numbers. After all, the destruction around it was massive. She paused, wondering about the best way to approach this. Nikos didn’t even know what it was, which meant they’d be fighting it blind.

Nikos, is this the only way to get to the palace from here?

Again, she considered flying. But which was the lesser of two evils; this creature or vengeful spirits and those who could control the dead?

'It's surrounded by the agora on this side, and the coliseum and racetrack on the other side; we could try going around?' He glanced in that direction, but got an uneasy feeling; the day Enyo landed was the day of a festival - many of the citizens would have been in either of those places celebrating, and may have died there. They hadn't run into any children Androktsiai, and he'd prefer to keep it that way. ... he decided to warn them, 'but there would have been crowds in either place when Enyo landed, and if they hadn't moved on from that spot, we might find more Androktsiai or Keres there.'

He followed quietly, keeping a certain eye on the back by habit, then doing a double take when his eyes got used to his surroundings. Words were weak and often led to misunderstanding, so, to get his point across, Oberon visualized the grand horror - he couldn't help but actually admire the beast(s) - in great details in his mind, then carefully broadcasted it to everyone.

I can check out how it reacts to an attack and what powers it wields or what it's capable of, she offered as the others paused. The image Oberon showed them was definitely unsettling, but it seemed they would have to defeat it to go past it.

After receiving a reluctant Be careful from Sailor Andromeda, Nix moved silently forward, still invisible, approaching the chimera from the sleeping lion head's side, and whispered, "Arctic Blizzard."

The creature awaiting them looked like some of the freakish monsters Callisto used to fight before Crystal Tokyo, but this one looked far more intimidating than the lackeys and fodder her team had faced. When Nix volunteered to check it out, Callisto hoped her invisibility held up against whatever abilities it had, or else she'd really be in trouble.

Battle wrote:

The Map has been Updated; a Coordinate System has been implemented

Quote :

Along the top and the sides are a letters and numbers; when moving your characters, include the square your character finishes in. I will assume all attacks require the character to stop moving in order to concentrate; therefore, after you attack, you are unable to move until the next turn. If your character has a high Dexterity (>2x enemy) you may attack and then move. 
Your coordinate is the square your sprite's feet are in; they have a natural reach of one coordinate in every other direction.
for example, if Nikos is standing in GG45, he can attack/defend other characters/enemies in squares:

FF44	GG44	HH44
FF45	Nikos	HH45
FF46	GG46	HH46

Magical attacks default to a maximum 20 square "radius" for both allies and enemies. The Chimera's spit attack range is outlined in blue on the map; its magical attack range is outlined in orange. 

Sailor Nix uses Arctic Blizzard (3MP) and attempts to attack the Lion Head of the Chimera!
Does it hit?
--2
Did it hit the Dragon Head?
--1
Did it hit the Ram Head?
--2
----It misses!


The Ram Head sounds an alarm! The Chimera is Awake!

---

Battle Round One: 
16 Snake Head
9  Nix
9  Andromeda
9  Nocturnus
9  Sedna
8 Oberon
8  Callisto
8 Ram Head
8 Dragon Head
8 Chimera Body

6 Lion Head
5  Nikos
3  Enoch
1  Panzer

As soon as the beast was moving again, Nix having missed the first strike, Callisto moved towards it. If it was awake, there was no point in being stealthy anymore. She would have engaged it as a bear, but she'd seen how it could paralyze someone if it pat on them. It'd be best to attack at a distance or find good cover. 

Callisto stopped at UU21 and used her Callisto Disc, aiming for its group of heads. 

As the others began to attack, Andromeda moved as well to PP17 and unleashed her attack. "Wave Tide Maelstrom!"

Sedna decided to hang back for now. It went against her instincts not to fight, but with Achelois, their main healer gone from the group, Sedna found herself reluctant to use her magic or put herself in harms way physically that may leave her unable to heal anyone who needed it.

Quote :

battle map reminder spoiler:

 Andromeda uses Wave Tide Maelstrom (5MP) and attempted to attack the Chimera!
Did it hit?
--5
How much damage?
--6 Critical damage!
--CTRL 6
--MP 3
----Total of 15 points of damage!

---The Chimera is caught in a Maelstrom! It cannot change positions for 2 turns!

Callisto used Callisto Disc (5MP) and attempted to attack the heads of the Chimera!
Did it hit?
--6 Critical hit!
Dragon, Lion, or Ram?
--Ram
How much damage?
--2
--CTRL 1
--MP 2
----Total of 5 points of damage!

----The Ram Head is stunned for one turn!

The Dragon Head spits fire, aiming for Callisto!
Did it hit?
--5
How much damage?
--4
--CTRL 10
----Total of 14 points of damage! Additional Effect! Callisto is on fire! 

---

Battle Round One: 
16 Snake Head
9  Nix
9  Andromeda
9  Nocturnus
9  Sedna
8 Oberon
8  Callisto
8 Ram Head
8 Dragon Head
8 Chimera Body unable to change positions until Round Three

6 Lion Head
5  Nikos
3  Enoch
1  Panzer

She caught her shield as it rebounded hard off the Ram's head, stunning it, and was about to go for a second throw when the dragon retaliated instead. The fire fell so suddenly that it caught her before she could hope to react. 

Callisto had never been on fire before, but she could now definitively say it sucked. It was hard not to scream loudly as it licked at her armor and exposed skin in places, and she didn't notice Nikos approaching until he tackled her down. Taking his advice, she rolled back and forth in the dirt to smother the fire.

Fire. Callisto's scream made him shudder violently and Oberon suddenly landed on QQ11, wings disappearing from sight as his feet got reacquainted with the feeling of ground under his membranes. It was uncomfortable, but he had run in worse.

He lifted an arm and pointed his open palm towards the chimera, bracing for the winds it would conjure up.

"Titania's Fury!"

Before she could react Nikos tackled Callisto to the ground, yelling at her to roll to put the fire out. As she ran forward (28 WW), she summoned water from her pouch that she kept on her at all times, she sent it towards Callisto, spreading it out as much as possible to heal as much damage as she could. She wasn't sure if she was able to heal a burn with her healing powers, but at least she could try. 

How she longed for the herbs on Earth she knew she could use on the burns. 

Sedna used Ocean's Grace on Callisto:

Quote :

battle map reminder spoiler:

 Oberon uses Titania's Fury (6MP) and attacks the Chimera!
Critical hit?
--4
Normal hit; no knockback
How much damage?
--1
--CTRL 4
--MP 3
----Total of 8 points of damage

Sedna uses Ocean's Grace (5MP) on Callisto 
How much restored?
--CTRL 10
--MP 2
--6
--1
----Total of 19 points restored. 

---

Battle Round One: 
16 Snake Head
9  Nix
9  Andromeda
9  Nocturnus
9  Sedna
8 Oberon
8  Callisto
8 Ram Head
8 Dragon Head
8 Chimera Body unable to change positions until Round Three

6 Lion Head
5  Nikos
3  Enoch
1  Panzer