2022, Stage 3 Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff: Match 3

What she couldn't have expected once she was back, and even after her joke about only joining duelling if Meenauh the Mighty joins Galton the Great on the stage again. Destiny decided: let's do it.

Once again, the epic duet, standing just down the stairs leading to their duelling battlefield. First duel this year for her, third for Galton. He practiced a lot and surprised her when they were practising. Both of them were captains now, which was only proving the epicness of the duet.

She looked at their opponents and it turned out they (okay, she) didn't find out in advance who they'd be. She needed to practise in order to get back into the proper duelling shape that the whole strategising went past her. Not entirely, of course, but the opponents' strengths and weaknesses definitely weren't considered. So whatever the Hufflepuffs could accomplish, MM and GG had to accomplish it first, and with raw power alone. And, of course, the secret ingredient.

Once they were on stage, she, as usual, simply and silently nodded and smiled to Galton before getting into the stance. The moderator, who turned out to be their first opponents when they only started, announced the start of the battle, and she felt the forgotten feeling of arcane power streaming through her veins, mixing up with the pumped up adrenaline and flowing into her wand as she was focusing already on her opening spell.

Autumn sighed. She was trying her very hardest to remain optimistic. A new duel meant a new chance, or whatever, but she still had to face against two fourth years, and her terrible track record wasn't helping make the whole optimism thing easier. Still, stepping onto the podium already feeling defeated probably wasn't doing her any favours.

As the moderator- A Ravenclaw she recognised to be her year- listed of the rules, she studied the Gryffindor team. Meenauh and Galton; two fourth year Gryffindor duelling co-captains. She had spent more time practicing her duelling than learning about the opposing team; what was the point of adding more fuel to her overthinking fire?

She nodded, first at her partner, AngelFyre, and then at her opponents. Usually she'd be sarcastic and sneering at the beginning of a duel, but the odds really weren't in her favour; it felt safer to be respectful. Autumn got into a duelling stance and used the remains of her willpower to not immediately run away.

STATS | Stamina - 7 | Evasion - 7 | Strength - 7 | Wisdom - 7 | ArcPower - 8 | Accuracy - 9
ABILITIES | Sixth Sense - Perfectionist - Comprehend Languages (Mermish)
RACE | Human
HEALTH | 700/700 - 100%

The day had finally arrived. AngelFyre would be casting on the piste rather than watching as a spectator as spells flew across the stage. She had been practicing hard, both on her own and with her friend, David Howard. She admired his confidence. She smiled wryly as she wished she had even a sixteenth of it right now, but AngelFyre was a realist. She felt it was more than likely that she and her partner, Autumn, would not be the victors in today's match, but AngelFyre was nonetheless happy and excited to be a part of house Hufflepuff's Blazing Badgers. Every experience was an opportunity to learn and to grow and something told her this would be a steep learning curve.

A win today, in AngelFyre's book, would be standing in the direct line of fire and finding that she could, indeed, withstand the pain. Even if for only a little while. The flip side, and also a win in her book, would be the knowledge that she could cast at another individual with the express purpose of doing damage to them; actual harm. Casting at enchanted practice dummies was one thing. This, however, would bring a whole new level of focus, determination, and grit.

Was she up to the task? Yes. Would it be pretty? Likely not. But she would give it her all for herself, her partner, and her team.

Walking onto the piste, she took her place next to Autumn and nodded. Looking across to one of their Gryffindor opponents, she nodded again and then closed her eyes, silencing her mind to the din around her, drilling down to that wellspring of peace and calm. In position, with her wand raised, AngelFyre waited and visualized her first wand movements.

[quote][quote]

It was a bit surreal being reunited with his now-no-longer-ex-dueling partner. He had an odd mix of emotions, odder than he had expected, switching partners. One part was extremely happy to be back with the his original magic mate - Meenauh. He'd learned a lot from her, and was sure there was much, much more he could continue to learn. The other part of him was sad he wouldn't close out the year with Alan.

No matter what he had felt leading up to this duel, when the day itself came, Galton was ecstatic, like most days he had a duel. He'd made sure to not eat too much candy to insensitive the win-or-lose candy he'd set aside for the post-match recovery period. It was show time.

Once walking into the dueling club Galton would take the stage with haste. Galton the Glorious and Meenauh the Mighty were here to show their stuff. He would give a wave to their moderator, and the two opponents. They looked like fun. This would be fun. As the pairs were ushered into the ready position Galton would return Meenauh's nod with his own. He'd only add his smile. Then his wand was up. It was time to earn his show name! For Glory!

Action: Trying to bring glory to his name

Round 1

Meenauh Silmataurea vs Autumn Ivy & AngelFyre McCubbin

Galton Lansdale

Autumn Ivy vs Meenauh Silmataurea

AngelFyre McCubbin vs Galton Lansdale

With that, the duellist on stage sprung into action. Meenauh's first order of business was to obscure the vision of her opponents, successfully conjuring a cloud of fog that simultaneously made it difficult for the Hufflepuffs to see and to be seen by the average person. Her partner Galton seemed to be having less luck, spell backfiring and causing him to be buffeted by his own Ventus. The badgers for their part were keen to take advantage of their opponent's less than aggressive start, with Autumn casting a flawless Incendio Duo and setting Meenauh ablaze. AngelFyre was prepared to make Galton pay for the attempts to blow her away, a nasty Curse of the Bogies from her wand sent the boy sniffling and coughing. It would only get worse with time.

Tom couldn't help but smile a little. Some small part of his otherwise neutral disposition was rooting for these underdogs. "It seems the Hufflepuffs mean business," he observed, quietly.

OOC Info

Hey all! Made a minor oopsie in the mod, I put the wrong rolls for the durations of Galton and AngelFyre! Good news is there was no change

- The minimum WC for this duel is 50 words.
-You now have 96 hours to post before the next round.
- In the same time period, send me, Thomas Baines, your team's actions per owl. Do not hint at your actions in your post.
- If you don't post or owl in the allotted time frame, your action is void.
- Your stats, abilities, and spells have been locked for the duration of the duel (you cannot cast spells that are added to your trunk during the duel, for example). Check out the latest patch so you're on top of things.
- If you have any questions, don't hesitate to owl me, or feel free to reach out on Discord as well! If you notice any mistakes in this duel you're probably not going crazy, I might've just missed something!
- Good luck, and have fun

Spectator Thread

The two things the Gryffindors agreed since day one to not use on their opponents: fire and bogies. It was the perfect gift from destiny to be hit with those two in their first round.

They never overestimated or underestimated their opponents. Their first match against Thomas and Callie taught them well. This was no different. Despite the huge year difference, the duelling was partially about luck as well.

The fire emerged on herself, which she didn't like, of course, but could bear for a while. Galton got his the most hated state now and needed some treating before he'd phase out, which could have happened at any point now. They have to either win the duel before that, or prolong his conscience as much as possible.

"Plan B, huh?" she whispered to Galton, while their opponents were being embraced by a thick fog, blocking her view of them almost completely. Enough time to re-arrange their tactics and live up their stance a bit.

Autumn gaped in disbelief. She had almost been expecting to be wiped out on the first round, but no, she was perfectly safe and sound. The fog wasn't ideal, sure, but there wasn't a scratch on her. The universe had answered her pessimism with a miracle.

Of course, she had felt that too familiar feeling in her gut when she realised the forming of fog around AngelFyre and herself. After her last duel, that was a given. But then, through the dark, dark fog, she had barely seen Galton's spell backfire, and it gave her a bit of hope when casting her very own spell.

She couldn't see whether she hit or not, but she heard the sizzling of the fire, and that was enough. This was it. This was what she was comfortable with; fire and havoc. Maybe the duel wouldn't go that badly after all. Her slowly growing optimism was only supported as she heard AngelFyre muttering the incantation for the Curse of the Bogies and Galton coughing and sniffling in response.

She barely heard the duel moderator saying quietly that it seemed their team meant business, and she couldn't help but agree.

STATS | Stamina - 7 | Evasion - 7 | Strength - 7 | Wisdom - 7 | ArcPower - 8 | Accuracy - 9
ABILITIES | Sixth Sense - Perfectionist - Comprehend Languages (Mermish)
RACE | Human
HEALTH | 700/700 - 100%

Truth be told, when Thomas Baines gave word that the match was now on, AngelFyre was completely unprepared for every single thing that happened. Watching from the Spectator area and actually living it were two entirely different things.

The first of many surprises was how quickly everything happened. As soon the metaphorical 'Go' flag waved, AngelFyre cast her Mucus ad Nauseam at Galton pretty flawlessly as it turned out. She knew the casting itself was successful when her wand emanated that familiar warmth in her palm as her incantation and wand movements synchronized, producing the desired green flash of light. She was even more surprised to find that she had landed her spell on her intended target when she heard Galton sniffling. Wow! Definitely chalking that up to a win no matter how the rest of this match goes, she thought.

Then it occurred to her that she was feeling no pain and was still standing on her feet. A quick scan of the surroundings showed a dark fog quickly surrounding both her and Autumn, but before her vision was completely shrouded, she noted that Galton appeared to be suffering the effects of a misfire. Ahhh! That might explain the no pain, still standing conditions she and Autumn currently enjoyed. Best part was she could hear and, sadly smell, the success of Autumn's casting on Meenauh, not that AngelFyre was in any way happy for the pain that would bring to the Gryffindor. But pain was something all of them knew would come from this sport, so there was some small consolation in that knowledge at least.

Surprised and happy with the first round, AngelFyre quickly tamped it all back down and centered herself again for Round 2. She had seen enough duels to know that their current good fortunes could turn on a dime, so focus was of paramount importance now. Celebration or commiseration would have to wait until the end of the match.

[quote][quote]

Galton Lansdale wrote: 18 Apr 2022, 18:35

Glory went out the window pretty much as soon as he started to cast his own spell. Never mind the magic that the Badger's were going to be throwing at the pair them, his own spell was enough. Like last match, Galton's wand found it pertinent to remind him of his place in their relationship. Magic - Mr. Wand's magic, could (and would) be taken away if the Wand so deemed it. Or worse, it could be thrown back into Galton's face.

So when he blew a torrent of wind into his own face, he was caught off guard, his evasion skills went out the window, and he ended hit with the Boogies. A truly horrid spell. Visions from duels prior to the terrible cold ran past his eyes as he attempted to cough them away.

Galton would offer a meek thumbs up in reply to his partner. With the coughing words were a bit difficult.

Action: Boogieing