Save Our Senshi

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Save Our Senshi
GM: Keith
Season: Spring 798 WK

Party

• Sh'rel, Female Human Binder, noted for her good looks and sexual proclivity.
• Antonio, Male Elven Ice Mage and wandering tree, best known for ice-bolts.
• Gideon, Male Elven Earth Mage, with strength in support spells.
• Flamis, Female Human Fire Mage, whose scribe notes these are.

Time on adventure

1 Thaw 798 to 16 Tahw 798 WK

Employer

Luna (a cat)

Mission

Rescue the Champions of Justice

Original Scribe Notes

Media:Snsp9803.zip

Scribe Notes

1 Thaw 798

I’ve come across some unusual employers before at Guild Meetings, but this one was a pussy cat. Literally. A handsome dark grey shorthaired female feline who said her name was Luna. Yes, she could talk. And she had this odd marking, like a crescent moon, on her forehead. Turned out she wanted to hire a bunch of adventures to go rescue the Champions of Justice on her home plane, the Sailor Senshi, who had apparently gone missing. Now, there was something about that cat that intrigued me. Could she be an incarnation of the Counsellor to the Champion, even as I am Consort? Maybe so. Anyhow it sounded like an interesting enough excursion, and I needed and adventure. Motherhood was sending me stir-crazy. Again. So, I presented myself at the proper meeting room, where I met my fellow-adventurers, Gideon, Antonio, and Sh’rel. Luna introduced her companion, a white male cat named Artemis who was sleeping on the windowsill. We had no military scientist among us, and chose no leader. Antonio had offered to be the scribe, but I ended up writing these notes from memory, when he defaulted. So, you’ll forgive any errors. The cats told us that their own plane was in danger of an invasion by forces from what she called the Dark Kingdom. It’s Queen, Beryl, had been vanquished long ago, but her allies were now assembling forces, and attack was imminent. After the last battle, the enemy had retreated through a portal and the Senshi attempted to follow. Unfortunately they hadn’t returned. The enemy were probably responsible. Luna wanted us to try to find them, and in the meanwhile, to defend her world against the Dark Generals and their servants. Sounded like a tall order for a party of two blast mages and two support mages, none of us with much in the way of fighting skills. It helped that Luna could perform enchantments for those who, like me, did not have them. This involved a simple ritual which climaxed in a light beam shining out of Luna’s crescent moon and striking the recipient. There wasn’t much else in the way of research or preparation to be done, so we agreed to leave the next morning. I had only to pick up the Waters of Healing Aqualina had made for me from the Water College. There was a new girl there, short with dark hair and unusually large eyes. She said her name was Amy, and she had the package for me. When Luna addressed her by name, she nearly freaked out. Guess she hasn’t been in the Guild long. When she recovered, I thanked her and left. Curious though, Luna acted as Amy should have known her. I have no idea what the others did that night, but I had a very pleasant evening with Basalic and the children.

2 Thaw 798

We met the following morning at the Guild Refectory. Artemis told us over breakfast that he had obtained an astrology reading as to the whereabouts of the Sailor Senshi. "Lost in time, lost in space" was the answer. Luna suggested that since time was involved, we should perhaps consult the Guardian of Time on her home plane, Sailor Pluto. Luna had no idea where she could be found. Another astrology reading gave us ‘Look for the sign, listen for the sound’. Once we were ready, we went out into the Courtyard. Luna asked if we were ready to go, and when we assented, the cats got us to stand in a circle and, after the cats jumped on two opposing characters, told us to shout "Alusia power, Teleport". As we did, we were enveloped by light emanating from both the cats’ crescent markings. Then the courtyard around us spun out of view and was replaced by a grassy meadow. Almost immediately we were set upon by an assortment of monsters. Behind them, Sh’rel noticed a group of five people dressed in austere grey uniforms. But we were beset. I remember little of the fight, because as it appeared we were in some difficulty, a young man in a white vest, black coat and breeches (later identified as Tuxedo Kaman) tossed a red rose at the foot of the largest of the demonic creatures. I am told that I transformed at that point into a blonde maiden with two long pigtails, wearing a strange outfit consisting of a white leotard with a very short skirt who threw a discus at the monster, crying "Moon tiara magic!". Unfortunately she missed. Obviously not the most competent of my alternate selves. Fortunately Antonio’s ice bolts did not miss, and as the monsters started to lose the battle, the Dark Generals (for that is what Luna named the grey suits) vanished. The mysterious stranger also left us, and I returned to myself. Once we had the time to examine our surroundings, we saw that the meadow was outside a village. The aura of the grass allowed Gideon to identify the plane as Anime. Luna told us that the village was called Juuban, and it was where the Sailor Senshi lived in their guise of ordinary young girls. We headed straight for the Inn so that we might eat, rest and heal up after the fight. We were required to remove weapons and shoes at the door by some local custom. Not that weapons are what made this party dangerous! Then we were led a private eating room with low couches called futons which were also for sleeping on, and eating sticks such as they use in Kin-Loo. The food was akin to that from Kin-Loo also, with delicacies of fish wrapped in rice and seaweed, and fried deep-fried calamari rings. Over the meal we discussed what to do next. Luna suggested that I take the semblance of a Shinto priestess that I might use the holy fire at the Shrine to divine where we should begin in our search. When I pointed out that I had no means of disguising myself, the cat did a backward flip in the air, and a cigar-shaped device fell to the ground. Luna told us it was called the "Lunar Disguise Pen" and could be triggering by shouting the phrase "Lunar Disguise Power". Magic on this plane did appear to involve a lot of shouting! First, however, we needed some local coin. That led to a visit to the marketplace. Even the men were talked into purchasing some of the local fashions, loose garments called kimono and gi. Sh’rel and I had a wonderful time. I found a bright red gi with a golden dragon embroidered over the back for me, and a green one with a flowering tree on it for Basalic. There were also exotic toys for the children.

3 Thaw 798

The next morning, we made our way to the temple. I used the pen to change my appearance to that of a Shinto priestess, and found myself in a white blouse with a red skirt, both embroidered with characters from the local script. Ah, I forgot to mention that. The people here spoke an accented common, but they used a different script, formed of angular pictograms. These adorned the tall uprights and curved crosspiece adorning the gate to the temple. I adopted, what I hoped, was an appropriately priestessly demeanour, and presented myself as Yum-yum, a priestess from the far-off village of Titipu. I must have been sufficiently convincing because the resident priest, Grandpa Hilo, accepted me and allowed me to use the sacred fire in the shrine. Or was it Sh’rel, distracting him with her curvaceous figure? No matter, because we got to use the fire, and I must say it had interesting effects. I was somehow able to combine my Flame sight with Converse with Other Selves rituals and ask questions of the flame. Neat. Here follow the questions and their answers: Where was Pluto last seen? An image of a valley with lots of pools, a stick standing in each pool. None of the symbols was Pluto’s. Who would know where to find Pluto? Vision of two people, a person with short brown hair, and a woman with long green hair. Who can help us? A man in a Tuxedo, the destined companion of the Moon Princess. Where can we get help? Tomobiki, a town on the other side of the country. This also gave us a vision of a girl with long green hair, two stubby horns on her head and wearing only a tigerskin bikini and boots. Is Queen Beryl still alive? No. Is she behind this? No. Where are the Dark Minions from? A dark plain with a brooding gothic fortress. Does Pluto have a different form? A cat with long green hair. Where is the cat with long green hair? Another vision of the valley. Who would know where the valley is? An image of a dark-haired boy with a pigtail, superimposed with a picture of a red-haired girl with a pigtail. At that point the sliding doors opened and the priest came in. He offered us tea, and we learned that his daughter had gone missing. We promised to look for her in our travels and obtained a picture. Luna told us afterwards that this was Hino Rei, otherwise known as Sailor Mars. We spent most of the evening deciding how we would get to Tomobiki, some 300-400 miles across a mountain range and concluded that we’d walk part way into the mountains, and then fly. I’d use fire-flight, and the others would go on Sh’rel’s carpet. Artemis would stay behind to sort out local defence efforts with the help of Tuxedo Kamen and anyone else that could be found, but Luna would accompany us.

4 Thaw 798

We set forth on foot, and walked up the mountain road until the signs of habitation faded. Then we cast our spells. Knowing that the differing speeds would make it impractical for us to stay together we arranged that I should fly ahead and prepare a campsite on the other side of the mountains, where we would camp the night before heading into Tomobiki. I would be there some eight hours ahead of the others, and with any luck would be able to trap some game. I crossed the mountains without mishap, and found a nice campsite beside a stream. I snared a couple of rabbit, and a nice casserole was cooking when Sh’rel and the others flew in. Luna had a frazzled expression that seemed to say that cats were not meant to fly, and promptly set about smoothing her fur and her dignity. She was soon distracted by the rabbit offal I had set aside for her however! We had just finished eating when we heard a shout. "Destroy them, my minions," cried a voice from the trees. We grabbed our weapons, as a score of pinkish-white amorphous creatures rose up from the ground surrounding the campsite. Our first strategy was to ignore the monsters, and to try to spot the Dark General in the trees and fire spells at him. That worked initially, but he soon transported himself away, leaving us to deal to the monsters, which were by that stage upon us. We soon learned that although the creatures were vulnerable to fire and to ice-bolts, edged weapons only served to multiply the monsters. Their tactic was to attempt to engulf each person. Didn’t work very well when the person was immolated and heat-proofed, but Gideon was in trouble when I got free of mine. I cast Dragon-flames at that one, and tripled the damage. Ash drifted down around Gideon. "Toasted marshmallow monster!" I yelled. Luna was impressed. We cleaned up the campsite, and spent the night undisturbed.

5th Thaw 798

The next day we were woken by the sounds of some sort of thumping sounds. When we investigated, we found a young dark-haired girl crushing large multicoloured insects with a long-handled mallet. She had a diamond symbol on her forehead. After we showed ourselves she told us that her name was Skuld and she was getting rid of some bugs that had escaped from the system. We tried to help her, but none of our weapons or spells would affect them. Only Skuld’s ‘debugging hammer’ could dispose of them. During conversation she claimed to be some sort of goddess. We left her to it. We walked into Tomobiki. Just inside the village we were nearly bowled over by a fast running boy. He suddenly stopped, spun around, and leapt onto Sh’rel. Just then a flying girl, with green hair and wearing just a tigerskin bikini and boots, came around the corner and blasted both of them with lightning. The flying girl apologised to Sh’rel then picked up the boy. She introduced herself as Lum and the boy as Ataru. It was then we remembered that she was the one in the vision so we explained that we needed to speak with her. So she took us to the Moroshobi residence, dragging a dazed Ataru with her. Once there we explained the situation and she agreed to go to Juuban and help out there. So Luna did another of her backflips and a transformation pen dropped to the ground. Seemed that Lum was the current princess of the planet Uru and the Urusian Empire had good relationships with the Silver Millennium in the past. This meant Lum was the current incarnation of Sailor Uru. Luna took Lum away to show her how her senshi powers worked while Sh’rel tried to straighten Ataru out. We heard the story of the impending Urusian invasion and the First Tag Race and how, at the end of it, Lum had believed that Ataru wanted to marry her. Now she was acting as his fiancé and zapping him if he even so much looked at another woman. Ataru just wanted to be a free spirit while he was still young. Finally Lum, as Sailor Uru returned and said that she would depart in the morning. To her delight, Ataru also offered to help. Sh’rel then took Lum aside to try and explain a few things to her - presumably about men. Ataru did have one interesting piece of information in his little black book. The red headed pigtailed girl was called Saotome Ranma and she lived in Nerima, a village not far from Tomobiki. She’s a well known martial artist there. Her last known location was at the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Ataru also noted that she was dangerous to tangle with - as he had found out. All this took a while and it was getting dark so we stayed the night at the Moroshobi residence.

6th Thaw

We headed off to Nerima through the forest. At about lunch time we met up with another traveller who introduced himself as Hibiki Ryoga. He said he was also on his way to Nerima, but he seemed to be going in completely the wrong direction. So it was decided he should come with us. Shortly we stopped for lunch and Ryoga offered to catch us some rabbits. In hindsight, one of us should have gone with him for we never saw him again. I guess he’s still looking for the campsite. We had been told that the journey to Nerima should take about a day but night was falling while we were still an hour or so away. We decided to camp so we could enter fresh in the morning. During the night the camp was raided by a small, fast-moving, elderly man who was rummaging through our packs. He was scared off but did get away with a few of Sh’rel’s underclothes. We later found out that was Happosai, local master martial artist, pervert, and panty-thief.

7th Thaw 798

Once in Nerima, we made our way to the "Anything Goes School of Martial Arts". It wasn’t hard to find. The sound of hardened fists bashing piles of tiles gave it away. We introduced ourselves as mercenaries from a far place, and were asked to demonstrate our fighting styles. Then we were offered tea and conversation. When we asked for Ranma, we were introduced to a dark-haired boy instead of the red-haired girl we were expecting. Ranma knew about the place with the pools all right. He had had personal experience of their effects. Now a dose of water was sufficient to cause him to shapechange from male to female and back again. His father could shapechange into a giant bear-like creature they told us, was called a panda. The pools were dangerous. Not something I wanted to play with, although one could tell that Sh’rel was tempted by the male-female shape-change thing. Finally Ranma and Akane (his fiancee by an arrangement between the Saotome and the Tendo fathers) decided to go to Juuban to help out. We were told that the pools were across the sea, at a place called Juseyenko, in China but, as we left, we realised we didn’t know exactly where Juseyenko was. Just then someone beckoned to us from behind a bush. It turned out to be one of the Tendo sisters, Nabiki, and she had a map which she was willing to sell to us - for a rather high price. We paid up. China was located across the sea. Fortunately not too wide a sea, and we were able to fly across. Sh’rel and company had just landed on the beach where I had set up camp, when trouble appeared in the form of a sudden and most unnatural storm. Above us, out of spell range, we could see a Dark General and some sort of storm demon. It started chucking lightning bolts at use. Antonio raised ice constructions as protection, but I could see that their protection wouldn’t last. I had no choice, but to use the fire-flight spell I still had on, and to attempt to attack with my shock-bolt rings. However brave this may have been, it was very frustrating, and ultimately futile as first the Dark General, and then the storm demon blinked out. We spent the night in a cave beyond the beach.

8th Thaw

After breakfast we made our way to the pools which were located in a valley in the middle of a mountain range. There was a small hut nearby and inside we found the local caretaker who explained about the pools and pointed out which as which. He also had scratches on his hand which he explained as being caused by a long-haired green cat when he had pulled it out of the Pool of Drowned Cat. The cat had run off in the surrounding long grass. So we started searching. Soon we heard meowing. Luna ran into the patch of grass the sound was coming from, but ran out even more quickly as she was chased by the cat we were looking for, confirmed by the mark of Pluto in lighter green fur on its forehead. It was a bit of a chase but finally the cat was caught. Its aura told us it was a Long Lived Sentient and was a human under a curse. Luna had to use her Luna Mind Meld to fix up the cat’s memories. Once that was done it calmed down. We took the cat to the caretaker’s hut and poured hot water on it. It instantly transformed into a tall woman with long dark-green hair and a tanned skin. Fortunately there was a martial artist gi hanging on a nearby hook which we could use to cover her nakedness. She introduced herself as Meiou Setsuna and had come here to see the sights. However the last thing she remembered was slipping and falling into one of the pools. She also had a large lump on her head which had caused the amnesia. Gideon did what healing he could then we rested in the hut while Setsuna healed up. While she did so, Luna explained the situation. Setsuna said we would have to go back to Juuban to the spot where the Senshi had been swallowed up by the portal so it could be reopened and let them out. As we had surmised, the astrology reading meant that the Senshi had been caught in the portal when both ends closed.

9th Thaw

Next day we started on our return trip. I fireflighted over while the others followed by flying carpet. Just after I landed on the beach the carpet was attacked by the same Dark General and the storm demon. Antonio succeeded in dropping both of them into the ocean. After the battle, Setsuna and Luna were having a quick discussion. From what we could surmise, the Juseyenko curse was blocking Setsuna’s ability to transform to Sailor Pluto. We needed to get the curse removed before we could do anything else. Fortunately Luna remembered Rei talking about a Shinto priestess, called Sakura, who lived somewhere near Tomobiki who may be able to perform the ritual. So we went to find her. The Shinto shrine turned out to be in the middle of the forest and there were quite a few more steps up to the torii. Inside we were greeted by a shrine maiden with long dark hair. She had Setsuna sit in the middle of the floor then commenced the strangest exorcism we had ever seen which involved a lot of frenzied chanting and leaping as well as waving a stick with diamond shaped paper streamers attached to it. I don’t know how long this went on but, after a while, a translucent figure of a cat rose out of Setsuna’s body. Sakura then began chasing it all over the room while continuing to chant. Finally she started throwing pieces of paper with strange symbols written on them at it. One hit it and it dissipated. Sakura explained that they were called ofudas and they are used as evil spirit wards. Luna later told us that Rei uses them as well. Once Setsuna recovered (she had collapsed after the cat spirit left her) we headed back to Juuban.

10th Thaw

On the way we were attacked by another Dark General. Setsuna shouted ‘PLUTO PLANET POWER MAKE-UP’ and was briefly covered in a shower of light. When it dissipated she was now dressed in an outfit consisting of a white bodysuit, short dark-green skirt high dark boots, a tiara on the forehead, and dark bows on the back and front of the bodysuit. She was also carrying a very long key shaped staff with a large garnet in the handle. She pointed it at the Dark General, whispered ‘Dead Scream’ and a blast of energy leapt out of the garnet and slammed into the Dark General. Between that and a combination of our attacks we drove the Dark General off.

11 Thaw

At the point where the portal was, Setsuna again transformed into Pluto, raised her Garnet Staff and commanded the portal to open. A black swirling hole appeared in midair and two female figures fell out, both dressed like Pluto but one in orange with long blond hair with a big red hair bow(Venus) and the other in blue with short dark blue hair(Mercury). Venus managed to land on her feet by using Mercury as a springboard. However, that sent Mercury spinning into the nearby river. The next two were one in red with long black hair(Mars) and a tall girl in green with brown hair in a ponytail(Jupiter). Both landed on their feet and started shouting attack phrases. We scattered while Luna ran up at them yelling at them to stop. However their attacks were disrupted when the fifth senshi fell on top of them knocking them over. This was the one I had transformed into earlier - Sailor Moon. Once everyone recovered and regrouped, including a dripping wet Mercury, we explained who we were and what had happened. It was then someone noticed that Pluto had slipped away. Jupiter commented that she has a habit of doing that. Gideon used cantrips to help Mercury dry off while Sh’rel was examining Venus’s senshi uniform with a view to creating a duplicate I presume. Venus was lapping up the attention and assisted by assuming various poses. The rest of the senshi just looked on in resigned disbelief. Finally they detranformed and introduced themselves as Tsukino Usagi(Moon), Hino Rei(Mars), Mizuno Ami(Mercury), Kino Makoto(Jupiter) and Aino Minako(Venus). Now I could see why Luna was confused as their Ami looked nearly identical to the Amie at the Guild. They then told us that they were going to have a meeting at the shrine later that day and could we join them there. In the meantime they had to try and figure out an excuse for their disappearance. Sh’rel went off to do a bit of shopping for a private project of her own while the rest of us returned to where we had been staying. At the appointed time we turned up in the shrine. At the shrine, it was decided to take the fight to the Dark Kingdom so Rei did a fire reading and got the image of the castle in a desolate plain that was lit by a dull red sun. We then had to figure out how to get there. Ami had a device that had analysed the other portal and, according to that, a special form of energy was required to open it. So she asked us to do some spells while her device analysed them. So we did some demonstrations. After that she sorts of disappeared behind the device while the rest of us discussed tactics - except for Usagi who was engrossed in reading Rei’s comic books, much to Rei’s annoyance. Finally Ami came to the conclusion that a combination of Venus’s Crescent Beam, Mars’ Fire Soul, Jupiter’s Sparkling Wide Pressure and Antonio’s Ice Bolts concentrated on one spot in midair while Sh’rel did a Binding spell would momentarily open the portal. The direction would be provided by both mine and Rei’s vision. However, the best time to do this would be at midnight on the night of the next full moon. This would occur in the next few days. On the way out we met Grandpa Hino who thanked us for returning his grad-daughter. As a reward he offered to have some of our weapons enchanted with ofudas. The only stipulations were that the weapon could not have any existing enchantments and could not receive any other enchantments after that. The charms needed to be charged and, once charged, a successful hit would be more effective against evil creatures or undead. Once used the correct incantation would recharge them. So we agreed to have some weapons done, including my quarterstaff. The process would take a few days. I also got the impression that Grandpa Hino knew more of what was going on than he was admitting to. While waiting for the right time, we relaxed. Curiously we didn’t see much of Sh’rel as she was tinkering away on some private project. Meanwhile I spent some time with Luna (the local incarnation of the Councillor) who was helping me sort out my nightmares and my Contact Other Selves ritual.

15th Thaw

We had collected our enchanted weapons and went up to the temple just before the appointed time. The senshi, already transformed, and the two cats were waiting. On the stroke of midnight, we combined our powers with the senshi and the portal was opened. Just before we leapt through, I thought I saw a short figure watching us from the cover of a nearby bush. We appeared on a small rise overlooking a large plain. In the distance was the hill with the gloomy looking castle in the distance. Between us and that, the plain was full of creepy looking vegetation and undergrowth. Even the air felt evil and oppressive. It was also rather cold. Don’t know how the senshi could tolerate the cold dressed only in those skimpy skirts. It was decided to split up and approach the castle from two different directions. So the senshi and Artemis went one way while Luna and us went the other. The first attack was from some ambulatory plants followed by some tumbleweeds but Antonio’s ice spells made short work of them. Then, much to my annoyance, a rain cloud appeared above my head and I was being rained on, effectively cancelling out my magic. A female Dark General, who proclaimed herself to be Sodalite, appeared accompanied by some watery, jelly cubes which tried to swallow us and drown us. She also fired Water Bolts at us. Sh’rel flew up to challenge her but she disappeared. Finally we reached the edge of undergrowth. Just then a narrow beam of light flew over our heads and we ducked. Luna ran off in the direction the beam came from. A short while later, a rather embarrassed looking Venus appeared from nearby cover followed, a short time later, by the other senshi. There was a clear area between the base of the hill and the undergrowth. Crawling between the two was a horde of snakes. So we blasted a gap through for long enough for Gideon to create a rock bridge over them. Once over we reached a path which spiralled up the side of the steep hill. Part way up we were buzzed by a creature that looked like a small globe of light. It threw electrical discharges at us. While the others fended it off, Mercury used her visor and discovered the hill was hollow. So Gideon used a Tunnelling spell so we could get in and take shelter. What Mercury had found was a large cavern mostly consisting of a lake in the middle. The water was cold but, from the beach, a path ran up to a smaller pool which flowed, via a waterfall, into the main one. The water here was warmer as it was fed by a hot spring. After Jupiter did miracles with our trail rations to produce dinner, we rested for several hours.

16th Thaw

Mercury decided to go for a swim in the warm pool before we moved on. Suddenly something dragged her under the surface. Sh’rel dived in to see what the problem was and saw that Sodalite had swum in from an entrance at the bottom of the pool and was dragging Mercury downwards. Mercury was trying to fend her off but wasn’t having much luck. It was obvious that Sodalite had a Water Breathing on. While Sh’rel went to help Mercury, Venus tried firing a Crescent Beam from above the water which missed. Meanwhile Gideon opened a Tunnel behind the waterfall. The resulting tunnel quickly drained the pool causing all three women to tumble out. As Sodalite emerged, both Jupiter and Antonio let loose with their attacks. Finally Mercury and Sh’rel made it to the lake shore dragging Sodalite’s dead body behind them. I then used an Alter Temperature to warm and dry them off. The only other way out was a narrow shaft, going straight up, on the other side of the ledge. A narrow ladder was etched into the side. I used a Crystal of vision and discovered that the shaft went a long way up. At the top was a closed stone door with an empty, dusty, room on the other side. We split up again. The senshi decided to explore Sodalite’s tunnel before the pool filled up too much while we went up the shaft. The room at the top turned out to be an observation room overlooking a large torture chamber containing well-used instruments. This level turned out to be the dungeon level and the only other noteworthy thing we found was a large room. When we reached the door, Sh’rel did a Transparency on the door so we could see what was on the other side. What we saw was rows upon rows of crypts. We could just make out shapes moving in the dark. We decided to leave this room alone. We later discovered that the senshi had gone in there, and after blasting several undead, they retreated. Mars then left several ofuda on the door to keep them in. A long flight of stairs led up to the next castle level. At the top room we encountered a shadow monster and were forced to retreat to the top of the stairs. Just then we heard footsteps coming up. Fortunately it turned out to be the senshi. Between us all the shadow monster was soon wiped out. This level was full of those small globes of light. Jupiter threw a Sparkling Wide Pressure at one but all it did was make it glow more brightly. We figured that she had actually recharged it and made it stronger. Jupiter was not at all happy about that. Finally Antonio used Walls of Ice to keep them at bay and to box them in. During our explorations we discovered an old kitchen. A bunch of zombies were hiding in the large cooking pot so Mars sealed the lid down with several ofudas. A short while later we encountered the last Dark General, Celestite. Celestite was also a woman but, whereas Sodalite was a short woman with long blond hair, Celestite was tall with shoulder length bright red hair. Celestite was also a Celestial Mage which was obvious after we were being blasted with Bolts of Starfire, Increased Gravities, and more of her minions. Finally we defeated her. A search of Celestite’s quarters didn’t reveal much treasure apart from a small spherical object containing a shaped illumination spell, a yellow comb with magical disentanglement, a Dark General uniform and a sailor senshi uniform matching Mars’ colours. Mercury then told us that they had discovered similar items in Sodalite’s quarters except the senshi uniform matched Mercury’s and the comb was blue. Documents in Celestite’s quarters also indicated that they were planning to discredit the Senshi by disguising themselves. Up some more stairs. This was the level containing the main entrance and we were able to avoid several youma guards. There was a youma sergeant major drilling youma outside in the courtyard and some of us felt a compulsion to obey what it was saying. However, we all resisted. Up a grand flight of stairs and we reached the throne room. Through Sh’rel’s transparency we could see Prince Jaedite lounging on a throne surrounded by lots of youma. While the senshi joined hands and started powering up for a group Planet Power attack, I used my gloves to carve a hole in the door. The senshi let loose their attack and it flew through the hole towards Jaedite. Jaedite just smiled, caught the bolt, and hurled it back, shattering the thick wooden double doors. We had to dodge flying shrapnel. So we charged in, the senshi forming a semicircle around Sailor Moon. The youma ran to meet us and the battle was on. Soon the air was full of flying spell attacks and the sounds of clashing weapons. Youma fell quickly but there was always more to replace them. All through this, Jaedite just sat there and smiled, occasionally throwing power bursts at the senshi. Finally nearly all of the youma were down. We were rather battered ourselves and the only senshi left standing was Sailor Moon. The others were lying on the ground, virtually exhausted. Moon produced, seemingly out of nowhere, a wand with a large crescent moon on it. Mounted in the middle of the crescent was a large silver crystal. Luna had already told me that this was the Ginzuishou, an ancient artifact from the Silver Millennium, which had the power to alter reality. However, so much power also drained the wielder and can kill them. As Moon aimed the crystal at Jaedite, her sailor fuku transformed into a long, flowing white princess dress. Also her tiara disappeared and a glowing crescent moon appeared on her forehead. Jaedite projected a black beam at her but a glowing white beam leapt out of the ginzuishou and met it halfway. For a while the two beams stayed motionless. To complicate matters the rest of the youma charged her in order to disturb her concentration so we formed a wall to protect her. While we fought off the youma, Sailor Moon (or Princess Serenity) struggled to maintain concentration on the crystal. For a while, it slipped and Jaedite’s beam made progress. Luna and the other senshi shouted encouragement at her and her resolve strengthened causing the white beam to gain ground from the black. Finally Jaedite couldn’t hold it any longer and the light from the Ginzuishou overwhelmed the black beam. Once it hit Jaedite, he was overwhelmed and disappeared. The Ginzuishou then flared with light and, for a short while, we were blinded. Once we could see again we saw that Jaedite and the youma were gone. Sailor Moon was lying unconscious on the floor, back in senshi form. Also the light from outside was brighter, the air sweeter, and the sense of evil we had felt since arrival was gone. Mercury and Mars were tending to Moon. We encountered no opposition, apart from some spiders, as we searched for any treasure. Finally, we found it. A collection of assorted gems, more spare Senshi uniforms, more magical combs, Crystals of Vision and an item that pleased me a lot, i.e. a version of Mercury’s crystal visor that allowed me to see auras. A good replacement for my Mirror of Auras. Sailor Moon then produced the Ginzuishou and asked us to touch it in order to receive a reward. I found that my Weapon of Flame spell had been altered in order to allow me to shoot arrows of fire. Just then Sailor Pluto appeared. She was ready to take us home but we convinced her to send us with the senshi back to Juuban. Once there, at the party, we found out what Sh’rel had been up to. She had produced appropriate jewellery for all the Sailors, including Lum, Neptune and Uranus. Finally, after gifts have been exchanged and goodbyes made, Pluto raised the Garnet Staff and sent us home to Alusia

GM Notes

Sailor Mercury - Mizuno Ami Sailor Mars - Hino Rei Sailor Jupiter - Kino Makoto Sailor Venus - Aino Minako Sailor Moon - Tsukino Usagi Cats: Luna and Artemis Sailor Uru - Redet Lum Sailor Pluto - Setsuna Meiou Sailor Uranus - Ten’ou Haruka Sailor Neptune - Kaioh Michiru Dark Generals: Sodalite, Celestite, Dolomite, Haematite, Magnatite, Prince Jaedite Juuban -> Tomobiki, -> Nerima -> Juseyenko Tendo Akane, Saotome Ranma, Tendo Nabiki, Moroshobi Ataru