No one would see or hear from Sailor Leviathan. At least, no one did until Shadow's words seemed to stir something in her.

"Weird that we see eye to eye on something," came a quiet whisper only Shadow might hear. "So be it. I'll follow you guys from a distance."

Sailor Nocturnus

If she had been a different type of child, Nocturnus' ego would have swelled beyond the capacity of the maze--so many people had complimented her in the span of less than an hour. Thankfully for the rest of the group, they would be spared that kind of unbearable cockiness. It did put a spring in the small sailor soldier's step, though~ Her heart fluttered to have Ribbon acknowledge her in a serious manner; very little would have hurt her feelings more than being brushed off or dismissed.

As to whether they'd move towards signs of life or not, Sailor Nocturnus didn't have much of an opinion. She prefered to leave that type of decision to the more experienced team members--and so far she couldn't think of anything that hadn't been brought up yet. She hoped they would be moving soon; it didn't feel safe to remain in one place considering the teleporting man they had fought previously. The dark-haired sailor soldier-in-training stayed alert to the possibility that he would return.

Hahaha nice thinking, assigning partners based on experience and power. So I'm at the back with Shadow and Ribbon has Nocturnus with her.  They're also surrounded by Europa, Soul, Andromeda, and Panacea.  The conversation quickly moved onto her ability to locate life forms and should they follow them. Before we entered this place I had confirmed two life forces which we assume are Ribbon and her captor.  So keeping with that thought and the assumption that the two Senshi were still alive there should be three life forces separate from the group.  "If we were to look for the generator, how would we find it? If we can confirm that the two senshi are alive then I think that they would at least serve as some focal point for direction."  She paused for thought, that would be a two out of three chance that the lights are one of us. "Although breaking the generator would make it easier for us to move around. Unless Ribbon's captor is guarding it or one of the senshi was taken near it, we would still need to be able to locate it."

"The generator is either at the very center or at the very back," Soul suggested. It made more sense, at least to her, to have in the center as to have a more dependable position, as you'd be able to see people coming from any direction. The downfall was that you could be put in a siege position. 

"Either way, we need to decide soon. We're sitting ducks if we stay in one place to long."

"Looks like our best option then would be to follow the signs of life and hope they've taken the defensive and are guarding the generator," Enyalius decided. She looked over to Achelois, "Which way should we head first, then? North or South?"

DM wrote:

When Achelois uses her meditation technique to locate the life forces, she will be given a general set of directions for the lifeform(s) she senses. 


If she chooses to meditate again later, I'll send her an updated "location" for the feel of the sources compared to where we are at that point.

"Well then, let me see," with that she numbly sat on the ground, crossing her long legs and laying her staff in her lap.  She rested her hands on her legs, her palms open and facing upward.  She began to glow a faint green color, her eyes becoming a brilliant shining green as they began to see.  She reached out and felt the energy all around.  She counted everyone in their current group and then extended her reach stretching over the entire maze.  One, two, three, four, and fi-her entire body tensed as it felt the last life form.  She felt her muscles squeeze even as she pushed herself to remain calm.  Her breath caught just for a moment until she backed away from the form.  She stretched to the end and after being sure she released her state.  She stood up and looked to Enya, for a moment she doubted what she should say.  She didn't want to instill unneeded fear and panic in the other girls, but she had to let Enya know somehow."I felt five different life forms, there were two faint sparks below us, one to the southeast of here and two that were east of us, however," she paused, how much should I say? "I would strongly suggest not going in the east direction."  She grinned at Enya, "you know I was just suddenly reminded of that Queen from planet Zeshade, something about the atmosphere here." Although her face was split with a grin, the eyes that looked to Enya held no laughter.

Now that the others had discussed following the life signatures, maybe it would be a better idea than her own. The odds of the generator being guarded were pretty high, so they would just have to fight if the need arose. And finding the missing senshi was another priority. Like Enyalius, she waited to see where Achelois thought they should go. 

But there were three directions to choose from now, so which one was the generator?

"That strange force you felt might be the leader..." Europa said. "But would he personally be guarding the force field?"

Andromeda watched as Achelois tried to sense the life forms, a bit surprised that there were so many of them. She had expected four at the most, so that would mean there was yet another enemy they hadn’t encountered beside the boy who could teleport and the big boss. She suspected one of the two-person groups were Aktypris and Zorya, and was glad that they appeared to still be alive for now. But which one were they?

That question was soon answered when Achelois recommended not to go to one of the directions the two-person groups were in.

“Below us?” she wondered. “There’s another level? If so, that may be where prisoners are kept… But how would we get down there?”

Dungeons. This place had dungeons, too? It was just a guess… but if they couldn’t find a way down, it seemed heading to the lone life form at the south east might be their only remaining option.

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus watched and listened intently as Sailor Achelois used her abilities to determine other occupants of the maze. It was so neat that the older woman could not only heal, which at this point Nocturnus had witnessed numerous times, but also search for life like this. She felt lucky that their team had such a wide range of abilities. Hopefully that would help them make it through the maze and succeed on their mission. She couldn't quite put Aktypris or Zorya out of her mind. She hoped desperately that those two were the faint marks sensed below them, and that both were safe.

"I think we should head to the single southeast one," she said. "It's closer."

She wanted to rescue their missing party members, but being sensed "faint" and "below" made her worry that heading that way would give the enemies more time to make more traps and fortify the maze even more.

Hopefully the single source would be the generator for the force field. Or at least, not something horrific.

"I would guess that it's Flax, shifting the maze to suit his needs." Shadow finally responded with a tone of thawing warmth after a decidedly long period of silence. He was happy to address Nocturnus and the group as a whole, as it allowed him to focus on something that wasn't the source of his current resentment. 

The co-leader paused to consider his next words, then resumed speaking. "If a direct approach to the east is not favorable, then I vote to explore our options to reach the southeast area."

Enyalius waited patiently, watching Achelois get settled and start to glow; she wondered what Achelois would find, for the most part hoping that it would be the missing senshi, the Flax character, and nothing else - they didn't need any other obstacles. Her search took her longer than the original one, where she had been searching in one single direction, following the signal locator, to see how many people were below them; she must have been reaching out in all directions equally. Enyalius wondered for a moment whether she could still sense Sailor Varuna, outside the maze, or if she had extended that far, considering current circumstances. She tensed as she watched, noting slight discomfort in Achelois's features - she had found something unexpected. She waited, her copper eyes solely on her partner, for Achelois to return to them.

Her eyes finally faded, and their pupils met as Achelois stood and looked at her; she looked uncertain, but Enyalius didn't push her towards revealing what she felt faster than she intended. Enya listened closely - five sparks; the two below must've been the missing senshi, as Aktypris's screams had faded below their feet. One to the southeast - if they took the southern hallway they could probably reach that one; two due east - they could probably find an eastern branch off of either hall, north or south -- Achelois's next words stopped Enyalius's planning immediately, as her partner's green eyes bore into hers. "I would strongly suggest not going in the east direction," the warning began, and the seeming non-sequitur that followed cemented it: unless forced to, she would not lead this team in that direction.

Zeshade's demented Queen had been possessed by Chaos, and fighting her had been one of the hardest battles they had been through. They had been lucky to have survived, and that was with the added support of Zeshade's own senshi, who could draw upon her planet's elemental forces to bolster her powers. To have one of those here, in this maze... Enya's eyes slid over to Ribbon, contemplating the girl as she halfway listened to Europa and Andromeda.

This had been a trap set for Neo Queen Serenity's senshi, who had hundreds of years of experience under their belts, both with their powers and with each other. Their team had been tested time and time again, and this trap was set specifically for them, complete with a chaotic presence at the end. Chaos wasn't stupid - it wouldn't've invited them here without believing it could win. But instead of getting what it wanted, it got a ragtag group of practical trainees; what would it do with them? Would it let them go, sparing the little fish that had tripped the trap for the bigger one? Her heart sunk - no, it wouldn't. If your original bait wasn't tempting enough, you go up a size.

Her eyes swept over the group as Nocturnus and Shadow offered their opinions, and she forced her heart back into place with the sheer force of her determination. She hardened herself - she wasn't going to let them be used as bait. She called forth her sword and shield, the implements of war appearing through a small starburst of light at her side, and adjusted her stance to offset their weight. If there had been a change in Ribbon's captors plans, if they eyed them as a new opportunity to gain the Solar System Senshi's attention, they would find a fight in them they had never encountered before. 

With that in mind, she nodded, agreeing with the Nocturnus and Shadow's opinions - if they could find that generator and destroy it, they could get the less-experienced ones out without fear of their capture, but even if they could not, finding, isolating, and eliminating one of the Chaos agent's servants would help them in the long run.

...and if they happened upon a path downward, they could figure out their plan from there. "We'll head south, then, and try to find the single source."

Before they left, Enyalius went through a quick tutorial of military hand signals and what they meant, just in case there should be need of them in the corridors ahead.

"Watch out for your partner," Enyalius finished, "If anything happens to them, get someone's attention as quickly as possible - we don't want anyone else to get trapped in here. And," her eyes paused covertly for a moment on Shadow, "Don't leave the group." She spoke just a little louder, calling out to the room at large, "Leviathan, if you're coming with us, please say something if you see anything out of order. We can protect you if you give us warning."

She turned on her heel and walked the short expanse of open hallway towards the north/south T-branch and waited just a moment for the group to partner up behind her; her own partner having yet to become visible, she took the moment to stretch out her shield arm and rotate her shoulder. Then, feeling their presence behind her, she stuck her head out into the hallway, peered both north and south, and silently struck out on the hallway to her right.

DM wrote:

The Map has been updated, as has Achelois's MP reserves link

The hall was short, and turned right again in no time; she took that path, a frown creeping through her lips as she realized they were heading west again, instead of east, but was determined to follow the path they had chosen without backtracking until they saw real need to. After a stretch - she guessed they were directly south of Ribbon's Room now - the hall turned left, and she crept forward to peer around the side.

This hallway was longer, and ended in, guessing from the lighting on the floor and ceiling runners, ended in a room; there was one more hallway branching off and to the east. She held up the hand sign to keep quiet, not knowing what to expect, and crept forward cautiously. 

As she approached the eastward hall, her eyes immediately caught on the three-dimensional motif in the wall; it was near identical to what they had seen when they first entered the maze, and now that she had seen what it could be, she recognized it for what it was: a metallic scorpion, coiled in the wall, ready to unravel itself with any provocation. Barely daring to breath, she crept forward as silently as her armor would allow, hoping that they wouldn't have to move past it... and, to her relief, found that they didn't. It was a dead end.

Her caution still on high, she warily approached the room. Putting her sword ahead of her, she entered. Seeing that the room was clear, she stepped forward, looking at the two exits: one east, one south. She waited for the rest to regroup, to see if they had spotted anything she had missed, else offer opinions on which path to take next.

DM wrote:

In the future, I'll be sending messages if anyone sees anything down alternate hallways and stuff. u.u this time though it's kinda straightforward so no one really saw anything beyond yaaay that scorpion monster in the hallway

Sailor Nocturnus

She nearly held her breath as the group continued onward. For a moment her gloved hand reached up towards Ribbon's, but at the last moment she halted with indecision and returned it to her own side. Maybe it would be too childish to actually hold hands in the pair groupings... but if anything else started happening to their party, she would certainly reconsider another attempt. If anything were to befall Ribbon and they were holding hands, presumably she'd have a slight advantage at avoiding separation from each other. Not that she wanted to strike out on her own--she didn't--but she didn't want to see anyone else alone as Aktypris and Zorya had been when they accessed those traps. Sailor Nocturnus kept her hands far from the walls and hoped Ribbon was doing the same.

The scorpion on the wall, silent and sleeping, made her feel like someone had let a wintry breeze into the maze. She did her best to step past that hallway opening with as little sound as possible, glad not to cross it directly. Enyalius and Shadow had fought these before, and she didn't envy them the experience.

"Will we know if we're any closer?" she asked Achelois, unsure of how the woman's ability to sense life would work. It was hard to choose between south and east. She tried to keep her voice as quiet as she could.

Panacea kept quiet while the others discussed the next problem. It would be better to leave it to the more experienced ones, right? Although she didn’t want to meet Flax again, Panacea herself would prefer it to go towards the signs of life – she was sure they would control and protect the generator by all means. But on the other hand…what if they would walk into a giant trap? And they would be caught in there for the rest of their lives? Or what if it would be even worse? If they would kill them? She shivered at the thought, banishing it from her mind.
 
After Achelois sensed the life forms in the maze, they decided to head to the south-east. Panacea looked for Andromeda, her new partner, to check if she was ready to go. Together with the group she slowly started moving, leaving Ribbon’s room. At least the hallways were lighted now. It wasn’t very comfortable but better than walking through the darkness.
 
It was quite quiet. Vulpix lay on her shoulder, pretty sleepy, and Panacea didn’t know what to say to Andromeda. Should she say anything at all? Or would it be better to keep quiet? She felt uncomfortable running next to someone without saying anything.
“And?,” she eventually started, looking at Andromeda. “Do you think we’ll make it? Save Ribbon, Aktypris and Zorya? Defeat Flax? And get out of here?” Panacea herself was quite relaxed. She had to be calm now – panicking wouldn’t help at all.

"How do you think Vanth and Ganymede are getting alone while we're away," Soul asked Europa as they walked down the hall. She'd be surprised if they hadn't gotten into a fight at least once. "I wonder if he's feeling any better..."

Europa followed closely behind Enyalius, staying quiet as the more experienced senshi checked around corners for danger before leading them further ahead. She stopped as she saw her make a hand signal, and waited until Enyalius checked the next hall. After she came back and led them past the hall instead, Europa peeked into it. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the strange image, but she spotted the scorpion soon enough. Unlike the creatures they had encountered earlier, this one was inactive. 

As the group started to gather in another empty room, Europa heard Amina's question. She had to smile at the thought.

"I'm sure he's still arguing with her, even as he's bent over a garbage can," Europa said. Nothing stopped Ganymede from saying what was on his mind, no matter how bad he felt. "Though I'm sure she's taking it easy on him." She'd talked with Vanth about trying not to antagonize the poor knight, but that didn't mean that she had listened. Europa sighed. "I do miss her though..." she said, quieter.

As she had suspected, their only remaining option was to go south east, and there they proceeded. She wasn’t quite sure what they’d find there—the lone life form. Perhaps Flax; their fight was unfinished after all. She just hoped he was guarding the generator.

As they passed a hallway with another strange-looking thing in the wall, she realized the form looked familiar and shivered at the memory of the metal scorpion. Still, if they were all electronically-controlled, she took comfort in the fact that her power could easily short-circuit them.

They entered another room that branched off to two directions. Since they were proceeding south east, either of these exits could lead them there. Her thoughts about which path they should take were cut short when Panacea spoke up beside her. At first she was confused by the nickname—no one had ever given her one before and it sounded like another word, so for a moment it was as if Panacea was continuing her sentence from a nonexistent one—but she found herself amused by it. Her senshi name was pretty long.

“I believe we will,” she said honestly. It wasn’t a promise, because she knew she couldn’t make that kind of promise, but it was a sincere truth. “Some of us have been in worse situations than this. Enyalius and Achelois especially. And a couple months ago we were in some kind of death trap planet that in my opinion was way worse than this, and we beat that too. We may not be the solar system senshi, but we’re pretty good too, if I do say so myself,” she said with a smile to Panacea.

DM wrote:

Perception Check + Placement:
Shadow and Achelois hear a slight clicking noise coming from behind them.
Andromeda and Enyalius hear slight metallic screeching coming from the eastward passage.
Soul hears metallic tapping and Nocturnus get a sudden bad feeling from the southward passage.

Enyalius stiffened, moving slightly to fully view the eastern passage. Something was coming - could she get everyone out of the room before it came? "I think we should turn south," she voiced.

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus blanched at Enyalius' suggestion.

"W-wait!" she protested, voice shaky. "I think something bad is that way."

It was rare for the dark-haired child to speak up against anything that Sailor Enyalius would recommend. Typically Nocturnus was one of the first to fall into ranks and march towards the armoured sailor soldier's goals. Something clearly had the younger girl spooked, even if she couldn't fully articulate what it was. She just felt that something was off--something was not right in that direction. Not that the other passages seemed any better, given by the general unease for the entire group.

Soul couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her at the image Europa painted. "I miss them too," she said, smiling at her friend. Before she could say anything else, a weird noise had her pausing in her tracks. 

"Stop for a moment." Reaching out she grabbed Europa harms to halt her movements. There was some sort of weird...metallic tapping? When she heard Nocturnus mention something bad, Soul paled. This wasn't what they needed right now, but she supposed they were due for another run in with something that wanted to kill or eat them. 

"I think she's right, I can hear a metallic tapping noise," Soul said loud enough that Enya could hear her.

Something caught her attention, which made her stand perfectly still. There was definitely someone—or something—coming from the east. It sounded like the metallic things from before… had they awakened the scorpion on the wall after all?

Enya considered going south, but then Nocturnus positively freaked out. Soul confirmed that they were hearing what sounded like the same thing, and Andromeda’s blood ran cold. So they were ambushed in both directions.

“Should we turn back?”

Enyalius's last advisory felt more like a warning to Shadow, who brought up the rear of the group with Achelois. Though it served to reason that he would be part of the first line of defense and thus in need of healing support, the nurturing senshi was also a close ally of Enyalius and would likely not hesitate to inform her of any sudden developments.

Such as him stepping out of line, wherever that line was now drawn.

"Can't do that now, we have movement." Shadow spoke up from behind as he turned his back towards the senshi and prepared to intercept the approaching construct.

"Tsk," Everyone was reporting hearing clicking sounds from all directions and of course, she could hear some from behind them.  They had stopped moving and Shadow turned around, she thought for a moment before speaking to the group in front of them, "There's also a sound behind us, be on your guard."  Then she turned to face the hallway behind them, trusting her back to Andromeda and Panacea behind her.  Her wings were ready, her staff in her hands, her green eyes peered into the hallway behind them.  "Good thing its us back here, are you ready Shadow?" She joked with a grin, hoping to ease some tension.

Cursing softly to herself, Enyalius backed up, keeping both the Eastern and Southern exits in sight, trusting the Northern to Achelois and Shadow. "Get ready," she cautioned. 


Terrified, Ribbon both loved and hated where she was, in the middle of the room. She wanted to hide in a corner, but corners and walls weren't safe anymore. Being in the middle meant that everyone was around her, but that also meant she was in the way of everything. Tense, she waited.

Europa stopped when Soul grabbed her, refocusing on the mission. As the other senshi heard sounds coming form almost every direction, Europa grabbed her scythe with both hands, scanning the area. At least Ribbon was being guarded on all sides as well... 

They should be ready no matter what hallway the threat came out of first.

"According to Ribbon, Flax has been naughty.." Shadow kept his gaze towards the hallway, allowing for a slight amount of humor to creep back into his voice. A fight would be a good distraction from his current range of emotions, and Achelois would be able cover any injuries sustained in keeping the metallic scorpions at bay.

"We'll just have to take his toys away."

"Perhaps you should spank him instead," Soul called back to Shadow as she tightened her grip on her staff, easily moving into position. Being in a hallway like this wasn't very good for defense reasons, not being able to move much and they had to be careful of the walls.

So they were surrounded then, and there was nothing else to do but fight. Well, that was probably just as well. Andromeda was tired of walking around and being toyed with. She turned to the east so that she could cover both the east and north exits, leaving the south one to the rest of the group at the front. She moved ever so slightly in front of Panacea, worried for her partner’s safety.

Sailor Nocturnus

Nothing in the maze was safe. Dark eyes watched as the others took stances facing the various hallways that opened up from where they had paused for a moment. Nocturnus hoped that her position in the group would make it easier for her to help--at least a little bit. She had to protect Ribbon! She took a careful step to position herself as "in front" of the pink-haired girl as she could, given the number of doorways.

The young blonde shivered as she spotted the scorpion on the wall, not sure if it would attack. For a while she stopped. Was it alive? Would it attack? After a few moments of investigation she reached a result: It wouldn’t. Thank goodness, she thought, exhaling with relief. Panacea turned back into a more relaxed position and eventually caught up with the others.
 
“Ah, I see,” she said smilingly when she was finally back, next to Andromeda. “I guess you’re right.” Andromeda’s words were encouraging and gave her hope – that was what she was searching for. For the first time after a good while she was relaxed, really relaxed. However, it shouldn’t last for long – fate just hated her.
 
Suddenly the others, including Andromeda, shifted into a defensive position, ready to fight – apparently they heard some odd noises again. Am I deaf?, she thought doubtfully. Throughout the mission she was the only one who didn’t hear a thing – or at least the one who heard it at last. She felt how her heart beat faster and faster.
 
Worried about a new fight, she noticed Andromeda moving in front of her. Was she going to protect her? Panacea’s eyes widened; she couldn’t believe it – someone would protect her, the eternal loner. Resolutely she shifted into a strong position as well. She couldn’t protect her – but she could heal her. And she would, at any cost.

DM wrote:

Through all entrances, monsters emerged in the hallways and rocketed forward at great speeds towards the group!


Metallic Scorpion c hops out of where it had lain dormant in the connecting dead-end hall, and launches itself towards Shadow and Achelois from the North!


Metallic Scorpion d dashes out of a branch from the hallway to the South and rockets into the room, its intended target not clear!


Xenorobots A and B, large, 8-foot long and tall creatures who, if extended to their full heights, would have easily hit the ceiling with their long, armored heads, skidded into view in the hallway to the East, their intelligent robot eyes making soft whirring noises before they rushed forwards, their long tails whipping out to either side of them! ((think Xenomorph from Alien(s)))

For creature strengths, see the stat page. 


As the creatures are rushing in, there is a chance for characters with appropriate dexterity to try to attack them before the creatures reach the group:


Able to attempt a first-attack on Scorpions (Dex=4+)
Enyalius
Achelois
Shadow
Andromeda
Soul
Leviathan
Europa
Nocturnus

Able to automatically hit Scorpions (Dex 15+)
None


Able to attempt a first-attack on Xenos (Dex 6+)
Enyalius
Achelois
Shadow
Andromeda
Nocturnus


Able to automatically hit Xenos (Dex 25+)
None

What were those things?! Enyalius tensed, falling into a ready position as the strange, metallic creatures whipped into view; she couldn't see their eyes, but she could hear something like cameras zooming in and out as the pair regarded them, and started to dash forward.

She didn't have any long-ranged attacks, so instead she brought her shield before her and prepared her sword, ready to strike if or when they came into range; she hoped one of the more magically-inclined senshi would attempt a strike before the room became filled with thrashing bodies, but they were coming in so quickly she thought calling out directions would serve only to distract the team.