Athene had continued to focus his attention on the tree, trusting in the others about Maia to help the curly-haired eternal.
He hadn't been the only one, the orange-haired eternal (Penthe) and Ganymede also focusing their attention on the tree.
For his part Athene had found another rock and had thrown it at the tree as hard as he could, wishing as he did so that his magic was more offensive. More reliable.
It wasn't the first time that he had wished so and it wouldn't be the last and at least the flung rock looked like it had hit the demented tree pretty solidly.
He hadn't been expecting the Royal aura to suddenly make itself known - had for a moment turned to look - only to see Ganymede changed, garbed in a white ruffled dress with dainty glass shoes and diamond jewellery.
He gave her a startled glance for a moment, perhaps two - until his attention was forceful returned to the shrilly ringing tree by way of a shock from a passing tendril of electricity that was all the more painful given that it had caught him off guard, reminding him that the demented thing was very much still active.
Athene hits the tree for 20 damage and pays for his moment of inattention by getting shocked once again
It seemed to Babylon that pretty much everyone had decided to chase after Maia. There was really nothing he could add there - he didn't know her. He was here because he'd been in the right place at the right time and wanted to help, and that was honest but it was also... well, he figured that if someone was going to get through to her, it was going to be someone like Valhalla or Ganymede who obviously had a lot of history with her (was there anyone those two didn't have history with?) and not a total stranger like himself.
Besides, it wasn't Maia doing this, as so many people had pointed out. It was the tree, which was evil and awful and needed to die, like, yesterday.
So, like, he was going to attack the tree again. But like - not directly. Not after how that had gone down previously. He'd seen some other people throwing debris, which seemed like as sound an option as any.
Locating a likely rock, Babylon picked it up and closed in (well, closed in as much as he felt comfortable - his teeth still felt kind of weird from the last electric shock). With a grunt, he hurled the rock towards the tree - and nothing awful happened to him in return.
With a whoop, Babylon went looking for another rock.
Shalott felt that she barely had a chance to properly take in what was happening around her. Sherwood was at her side in a moment and she reached out to squeeze the page's hand reassuringly. She did not want someone so young seeing a battle like this but so far it looked like she wasn't harmed, which was good. She wanted to it continue that way.
And then she was darting away from her toward Shangri-la.
"Sherwood!"
She barely noticed Antares as they came up to her, focusing on the retreating figure. It took a moment for the question to be heard, absorbed, and she nodded offhandedly.
"Yes, I'm fine."
Something like this was not going to take her down right now.
"We'll attack together, ok?"
She gathered her garland up and summoned the vines, taking more gouges out of the trunk of the tree, exposing more of the softer wood beneath. Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing: defeat the tree and Maia would come back to them.
It didn't take long for lightning to come lashing her way again and, like before, it smacked her and her concentration was broken, the vines withering away. She knew she wouldn't be able to summon them again so whatever she had to contribute had to come from her own ingenuity at this point. And, man, those electric vines hurt like a mofo...
Antares nodded her agreement when the green haired knight suggested they attack together. The sooner the tree was defeated the sooner her friend would return. She took a few steps forward with the plan on getting close so her scorpion wouldn't miss but she skidded to a stop when she saw out of the corner of her eye the flower garland that the knight held sprouted thorns.
Cool! She smiled when she saw the damage the thorn garland was causing but jumped into action herself when the tree struck back at the knight. "Scorpion Sting!" The ghostly scorpion traveled true and struck the tree with a vicious blow. Antares had no idea if it was affecting the tree but it had to be doing something since a bolt of electricity headed her way in retaliation. She dived out of the way and inched her way back towards the knight. "Is it me or is the tree sending out more shocks? Are we really helping?" Maia still seemed bonkers and the tree showed no real signs of dying.... Antares wasn't giving up but she wondered what could be done to finish this fight once and for all.
Pompeii was angry that it seemed Maia would never really snap out of it. People were getting hurt! Shang and Antares were getting hurt! And Maia didn't seem to care! The Jupiter knight, someone she had a sneaky suspicion she had met before seemed to have Maia well in hand so Pompeii turned to study the fight against thee evil tree. It was lashing out with its electrical pulses as senshi and knight alike threw magic and mundane objects at it. Nothing really seemed to affect it much. Its bark was scared and scratched where weapons struck true but it seemed like the jolts of electricity were getting stronger not weaker. Since she wasn't helping much with Maia the Saturn knight decided to focus her anger and determination on defeating the tree.
With a growl of frustration she scooped up a rock and hurled it at the tree. Sadly since Pompeii's aim was horrible it did nothing more then sail through the branches and knock a few leaves down. The tree however retaliated with a vicious lash of lightning that left Pompeii slumped on the ground gasping for breath.
Taking advantage of being in close to the tree, he didn't move back, instead he pulled his weapon back and slammed it into the tree as hard as he could. He could hear the tree shrieking a haunting cacophony of sounds into the grove and he was certain he was adding to it.
He closeness to the tree, got him the shock of his life, causing him to scream out involuntarily and jump back. He scrambled trying to cover he page not wanting the girl to get shocked again after she had kept him from getting shocked. He was bigger and higher ranked, which made him think he'd handle it better than she might.
He felt a large energy appear and turned to look at the senshi Maia called Gany change. He was certain she and the knight could handle his sister. They seemed very close to her.
"Leave Maia to those to. Everyone focus on the tree. We beat it and she's free," he shouted out to those around.
He looked to Sherwood and to Penthe, then Antares and Acrucis, then Ida and Chaldene, and Phact and Babylon, as well as Pompeii and finally Athene.
"We can do this, together now."
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:02 am
Tree HP: 361 of 600
With each piece of magic and every hit landed the tree seemed to pour out more electricity, but at the same time, the air seemed a little less dark and a bit less oppressing. Could it be that they were breaking through. It was peppered with petal arrows, slashed by throws, accosted by rocks and weapons and it seemed to week, though the electricity it shot out hurt no less. It crackled and the whole grove sizzled shocking everyone briefly, a small quick zap before more tendrils of electricity shot forth and to strike those that tried to take it out.
Chaldene found himself saves as Valhalla tackled the eternal senshi to the ground knocking the wind out of her and causing her to knock her head slightly.. She looked at him and growled reaching up to choke him before his words filtered to and she knew what he was talking about. They saved her. Her expression shifted and turned to wide eyed.
"Val ... Val I'm so sorry," she whispered, "... I can't ... I can't control it."
She looked around, "we should have some here."
Everyone was fighting and getting shocked and she wanted to cry. "The electricity is the chaos, the more you get shocked the more gets in you. If we can't beat it, everyone will end up like me then dead."
She wanted nothing more than to cry, but her attention was stolen by a shift in power and she looked in awe at Ganymede. She smiled, then frowned and shock her head clearly fighting something. Her hand went to her hair and she heard Ganymede words.
"No," she shouted with her eyes closed, not at Gany, but just loudly outward.
She seemed to calm a moment later and look at them once more, "we have to beat the tree. You can't save us all."
This is the last round, you need not roll for damage, everyone (not transcended) gets knocked out once the trees HP hits 100. Add 10 to you roll if it is under 10. The tree is weak and the attacks are getting more effective.
Sherwood was struck by the electric lash and cried out in pain, unprepared for how much being a hero would hurt. She clutched her side where it hit her, gritting her teeth against the pain to try and block it out. She had done it on purpose to help him and in her eyes it was the best she could do. The few hits she got in were lucky, and the latter ones had been small at best.
"I wanted to," she assured the knight beside her, trembling a little but feeling brave. "I'm not much of a fighter but I can try to protect those that can."
But it seemed he believed the tree was the cause. She turned her focus on that, nodded solemnly at the thing and hoping to figure out some way to better help everyone. She darted past one vine of electricity and barely glanced the tree, instead one of the tendrils lashed her again for coming close enough to let it. That was the trouble with having to use melee combat. She ought to know, she played enough roleplaying games.
Sherwood screamed again, the sound echoing around her. Her entire body buzzed with pain and electricity.
Penthesilea had never felt anything quite like Ganymede's Princess aura. It was incredible -- and she found herself turning to look at the Princess in white, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. This, she realized, was the true peak of power and magic that Order could give -- and it was inspiring simply to be near it.
The redhead Eternal pushed herself off the ground. It had been long enough, now, for a proper strike of her magic.
Maybe if she was less sure of herself and of her planet's power, she would have feared the shocks of Chaos coursing through her, because another one struck as she reached for her magic. But she knew what she was, and standing so near someone as powerful as Princess Ganymede was practically inspiring.
"Penthesilea Warpath!" She declared, and then she swung her energy-sword twice, slamming two powerful bursts of red energy into the tree.
The pain from the last shock had been enough to knock the breath from him, a sound that was more akin to a hoarse wheeze than anything else rattling past parted lips.
Athene wasn't sure he could take another shock like that, as he stood on legs that felt far to trembly and far to shaky, pain continue to spark against his senses in a dull ache that wouldn't go away.
He forced himself to reach down and pick up another rock, hand curving around the smooth stone and scooping it up.
Perhaps he couldn't take another shock like that, but he was going to try his hardest to do his best to do his part to help take that tree down.
He heard Shangri-La call out as he forced himself to straighten, heard the Pluto Squire tell them to focus on the tree.
His words were repeated, surprisingly by Maia - a Maia who no longer sounded cold and cruel - who actually sounded normal.
He focused his attention on the tree and then deliberately threw the rock in his hand at it.
He knew Maia would come at him, there was no doubt about that, so when the senshi of song turned on him he had braced himself for her incoming attack. "I think not." Not with so many people here, not when he had to keep her attention on him for as long as possible. He needed to give the others enough time to handle that tree.
He fought against looking toward Phact and instead shouted back toward her. "I'm fine." He hoped he would be at least. He was surprised to see the dove though, he really hadn't seen the senshi's magic so forgot what it was exactly she did - doves as a distraction. He wanted to smile, hoping it would distract Maia from wanting to kill him, and trying to do so. But he didn't think it would work well at all. It was just as Maia's fist connected with his face, sending him staggering backward, that Valhalla was tackling the crazed senshi. "s**t." Cursing he rubbed at his sore, it would certainly bruise, cheek as he righted himself.
"I know she's not herself but she is homicidal and I'm not going to hurt her Valhalla." His magic wouldn't hurt her, which was good in this instance. "I'm going to keep her distracted." So his magic could be used on her, not the tree. He wanted to keep her attention on him and only him if he could. Why was it so hard? How had she broken his spell like it was nothing? He'd never seen that happen, not that he'd used the spell all that often, but still! It should have held, right? He really needed to work on betting himself and his magic....this wasn't acceptable - not any longer.
Everything around him was blurred as he was focused on those directly around him, including Maia, until he felt that aura of a princess and his attention, and eyes, snapped right to the source of it and landed on Ganymede. Oh! She was a princess...that was a new thing, at least for him it was. He would congratulate her later perhaps but right now...right now his attention was on Maia and Valhalla as he approached, watching Ganymede jump in, sort to speak, to help Maia and he heard Shang and he wanted to keep his attention on Maia but he turned his focus to the tree and decided to try his magic on it though he doubted it would do a thing.
Fingers formed a familiar shape before he called his attack, blowing across his finger tips as he did so. "Chaldene Wisp's Secret!" Just as the attack left him he found himself unable to dodge the electrical currant which came out at him, it was too fast and unexpected. The shock which hit and the electricity which coursed through him brought the super senshi to his knees with a cry of pain. For a moment, as he was on his knees, he thought of that scene in the x-men movie when Storm shocked, and killed, the other mutant and her piercing was glowing from it. Was his glowing or could it if he got shocked enough? "******** hurts." Climbing up onto his feet slowly, pushing himself up and gaining his balance, he kept his eyes on the tree that was the cause of this all.
Sailor Scout Attack: Chaldene Wisp Lure. Raising his hands, much like a child would when imitating a gun with their hands, Chaldene blows at the tip sending little wisps of blue energy at his opponent. These little wisps of energy would appear to do nothing at first, as they'd vanish upon "impact" with the opponent. But then the opponent would start seeing a wisp of light just in their peripheral and it would last twenty seconds. This wisp flashing in and out of being and in slightly different places, it would certainly be enough to distract most people. And that's all it is - a distraction, a distraction which can be used twice per battle.
If Chaldene is attacked the spell is broken and if the opponent is attacked it breaks the spell as well, snapping their attention to where it needs to be, for obvious reasons. If someone attacks the wisp it does nothing, the wisp will simply reform - it is after all just a wisp of light that vanishes and reappears anyway.
Super Sailor Scout Attack: Chaldene Wisp's Secret. This attack would go the same as above only this time the attack would last thirty seconds each time it's used and could now be used three times per battle. The significant difference however is that this time a person isn't simply distracted by the wisps appearing and vanishing only to reappear. But they are compelled, by magic and whispered words of encouragement, to look toward the wisps.
The same things can break the spell as before only now when the spell is broken the opponent would feel slightly confused and perhaps even a little disoriented.
Even after seeing the woman stand there as a Princess, Phact could not put what she felt into words. It was breath taking.
But now was not the time to stand there and gawk. Now was the time to focus on making sure the planet of someone close to them all was protected. And in return, her life.
Shang's voice had been what snapped Phact's attention back to the tree. So that was the source. That was what was controlling Maia.
Well then, it needed to die before anyone else could be hurt. "Friendly Neighborhood Senshi..." Phact mumbled to herself as she noticed another's actions.
Touching it resulted in a nasty shock. She wondered though what is she used something else to keep her body away from it. On earth she had seen trees be damaged by people carving into them. If only she could...
Ah Ha!
Finding a pointed rock, Phact made her move towards the tree and began attempting to carve through the bark to the softer wood underneath.
