2021, Stage 2 Group A: Ravenclaw vs Slytherin

Another day, another duel, another opportunity for the birds to stretch their wings with a test of skill. Though their first match hadn't ended in victory, it was a learning experience all the same. Practice exercises since had proved promising. Pericles met Dealla's pace, sticking to her side as they made for the stage, expression unreadable though his eyes shone bright. They gave away what barely restrained exhilaration coursed through him. In his hand was that trusty aspen wand, and on his chest gleamed a shiny new badge. The team had pulled together to design and acquire bronze eagles, an elegant symbol of their comradery, a weight on his chest reminding the young wizard of his place in the flock. He touched two fingers to it absently, drawing encouragement from the metal.

He heeded their referee respectfully, and when the time came to face their opponents on the piste, Peri bowed his head and sent forth firm smiles. If practice had taught his teammates anything, it was that the lad was terrible at trash talk, though that was one skill he hardly seemed interested in improving. While his gaze fixed on the boy across the way, his thoughts still tilted towards his captain. Ready? No, he wouldn't ask- of course she was. Good luck? They wouldn't be needing that. He settled on something and spoke to the side, murmur tense with excitement. "Strike true, Dee." Pericles had faith in their strategy, and in her.

As strategized.

Dee seemed unusually quiet as she headed towards the stage, Pericles at her side. Her expression was grim, eyes sharp, there was little of her usual bright energy or humour. Their first duel had left its marks, she could feel pressure weighing down on her that hadn't been there the first time they had stepped out onto the stage. She lacked the unwavering optimism she'd had. But she didn't seem subdued, no, not even worried, really, her back straight, head held high. All of her energy had compressed into single, sharp focus, her confidence had started to morph from blind faith into something based on her abilities, on the effort and work she'd put into them. She wasn't playing this time, wasn't the same.

Pericles was a close, steady presence next to her. It had grown more familiar in the past months, something reliable and comforting, even. She wore the same symbol on her chest as he did, as would the rest of their team. Her team. Her ambition had grown beyond her personal wins and losses, she wanted all of them to succeed, in a way that was hungry and fierce, deep in her belly.

She nodded at their referee's instructions, unconcerned--no danger of rule-breaking from her, not here, at least--and headed to take her position on the stage. Her wand felt warm between her fingers. She could feel her heart beating in her chest, hard, but not hurried. Time to see if her work had paid off.

Thump.

Pericles's words received a tight smile in return. "I will." She would. He would, too.

Thump.

She focused her eyes on her opponents across the stage.

Thump.

When the signal to start came, she was ready.

Stepping foot into the dueling room only brought one memories that the twelve year old didn't need right now. The boy had to focus and stay alert so his team could win and provide another victory for the slytherin dueling team and also hopefully not let his dueling captain down which frighten Henry just a little probably why he couldn't imagine losing the duel.

The boy shook his head since he couldn't lose the duel mostly out of fear of what his captain might do if he did lose.

However not want to dwell on the worst even through he couldn't help it, Henry looked around the room and saw clear memories of his first duel in that room except instead of having a third year partner, he saw Amara. Even through they did bicker, Henry thought they still made a great team and may even had started to develop feelings for the girl especially after she found out his secret.

Henry chose to keep those memories and thoughts quiet as his mind tried to focus on the upcoming duel because losing wasn't a option at least for the Vipers and in Henry opinion especially not for his captain as the boy lightly touched the ember brooch pinned on to his jacket.

A smile spread across his face ever so lightly as the coolness of the brochu filled him with courage almost before the smile fading and hands falling to his side with his left clenched tight but also loosey around his wand when he heard the moderator for his duel.

As Henry step on his end of the platform across from his opponents he noticed that they were both the captain and co captain for the ravenclaw team.

What are the odds? I went against a captain in my first duel now I have to go against two...

The twelve year know didn't let fear or emotions fill his judgment or face as his face became almost stone like and his main focus was on winning the duel, he had to right.

Henry eyed his new partner. New what a weird word, most other duelers had a partner that they already experienced one duel with and knew each others strengths and weakness so they could be better prepared for their next duel. While this would be his first duel with his new partner, one he knew nothing about. Not her strengths. Weakness. Nothing. They never interacted or met before the dueling team so the thought only allowed for his anxiety to increase making sure not to show it especially toward his opponents who might be able to use that against him.

Still eyeing his partner unsure what to say. Should he wish her good luck? Or say nothing? The relationship between him and Amara was gone, their bickering was gone, their entertaining duel was gone, everything he remembered from last time was gone.

It was time to start fresh.

Start over on a clean page.

The page is clean and waiting to be written....


Henry would offer his opponents a smile to wish them luck not sure if he should say anything to them before taking his emotionless face and taking a dueling position awaiting for the start of the duel when he would strike.

Eyeing his partner, Henry would look ahead at his opponents as he whispered "let's get this over with, shall we."

Action: As Strategized
Interacting: @Astrea Soleil Neptune
Brooch

Unlike the other duellists to cross the room, Astrea had not yet the official experience of a competitive duel, having been inducted into the action proper far after the victory of Stage 1. Of course, she had many a time exchanged spells against a foe- whether under the discerning eye of Aurelia during S.W.A.G meets or running on the white-hot adrenaline of a dire situation- but allies had always been tentative and improvised, the threat of betrayal looming high over their heads at every turn. Illegal and unofficial duels were not guaranteed to be as clean as the ones proper, with what an unlimited usage of whatever spell needed for that situation. Be it fire or water to douse the flames of conflict, there were always ulterior motives to begin such a fight- out of loyalty or recklessness it was both the same- and to end one, a bit of extra force was needed.

And yet to step upon the duel strip promised a duel experience very different from the ones under her belt, a new perspective strangely similar in a vaguely related way. For the first stage of the championships- when Astrea's place upon the team had been taken up by snarky fellow pureblood Amara Dragamior and she waitlisted- she had taken quiet refuge in spectatorship, hollowed out an enclave in the bleachers and taking meticulous notes. Now she maintained a duty to the emerald brooch upon her chest and her partner of unknowns, a duty to the Vipers that laid less on membership alone and more on proving the merit of said allegiance.

A loose bubble of expectant confidence surrounded Astrea as she brushed up the steps and readied herself on the stage, her expression flinted with the hard glint of ever-existing aloofness. The twisted handle of her wand would carry her forward, the aid of her ally unfamiliar and yet not unwelcomed. At her side, her second-year partner breaks the frosted silence as their opponents shared a moment- a whispered pre-duel snippet.

Nod towards the junior Slytherin. "Of course." Survey the room and opponents. Swing the gaze toward the referee as a familiar voice rings out. Willow, pretty pink and victorious already, warns against the dangers of rule-breaking. Another person to dedicate the bubbling anticipation blooming within, one more to keep up appearances.

Get ready, the brief announcement seems to hint at.

So came the signal, so came the firefight.

Action: As Strategised.

Round 1

Dealla Prince vs Astrea Neptune

Reducio

Dealla casts the Levitation Charm at Astrea
Wisdom DC || 9 + 2 Astrea's Lovely Creature = 11
Wisdom Check || [d20: 13] + 10 = 23, Success
Auto-Miss Astrea's Terrible Presence || [d10: 4], No Auto-Miss
Accuracy Check || [d20: 10] + 8 = 18
Evasion Check || [d20: 4] + 9 = 13
18 > 13 → Hit
Effects || Floating until effect is nullified, -4 Evasion, Control Check for Dealla until spell end.

Pericles Dralt vs Astrea Neptune

Reducio

Pericles casts the Disarming Charm at Astrea
Wisdom DC || 10 + 2Astrea's Lovely Creature = 12
Wisdom Check || [d20: 1] → Critical Failure
Duration || [d3: 3] → 2 Rounds
Effects || Pericles is disarmed for 2 rounds, must Search for Wand to decrease duration.

Astrea Neptune vs Dealla Prince & Pericles Dralt

Reducio

Astrea casts the Blindfolding Spell at Dealla & Pericles
Wisdom DC || 10 + 2 Spell Spread = 12
Wisdom Check || [d20: 5] + 9 = 14, Success
Accuracy Check (Dealla) || [d20: 1] + 10 - 2 Spell Spread - 1 Dealla's Charmer = 8→ Critical Miss
New Target (1: Pericles, 2: Henry) || [d2: 2]
Evasion Check (Henry) || [d20: 1] + 5 = 6
8 > 6 → Hit
Effects || Blindfolded, 0 Accuracy & Evasion, must use a full action to remove the blindfold.

Accuracy Check (Pericles) || [d20: 20] + 10 - 2 Spell Spread - 1 Dealla's Charmer = 27
Evasion Check (Pericles) || [d20: 10] + 6 = 16
27 > 16 → Hit
Effects || Blindfolded, 0 Accuracy & Evasion, must use a full action to remove the blindfold.

Henry Knight vs Pericles Dralt

Reducio

Henry casts the Tongue-Tying Spell at Pericles
Wisdom DC || 9
Wisdom Check || [d20: 14] + 10 = 24, Success
Auto-Miss Astrea's Terrible Presence || [d10: 5], No Auto-Miss
Accuracy Check || [d20: 16] + 6 - 1 Dealla's Charmer = 21
Evasion Check || [d20: 17] + 6 = 23
21 < 23 → Missed
Effects || None

Willow perhaps had set the wrong mood for the four that she was moderating for. There was a thrum of intense, focused energy... and she started with a karate chop. Nevertheless! She quickly recovered from the embarrassment that briefly colored her cheeks as the spell's began to sling across the room. It seemed like this would be a duel to watch.

Dealla and Pericles were quick to shoot out spells as soon as the duel began. Astrea was blasted with the Levitation Charm in an to attempt to send her off into the atmosphere, or at least a meter, into the air above the duelling platform. Pericles was much less successful, fumbling right off at the start of a gate like a horse bucking off their rider. His attempt at a spell backfired sending his wand whirling through the air away from him. While Dealla was luckily successful, Astrea wasn't going up, up, and away without a fight and sent a spell not only towards Dealla in retaliation but towards Pericles as well. Why not kick a boy while he's down?

While Henry had gone scotch free from the Ravenclaw team, he was already out on the attack attempting to make quite an eloquent and studious boy stumble over his words with the Tongue-Tying spell. Despite losing his wand, Pericles was on the dodge and easily avoided the strong spell shooting right at him. Seriously, Pericles was being put through the wringer today.

Perhaps the nerves were sending a thrum through this field of people that might benefit from some yoga to loosen up their muscles and brains before the match to prevent the mishaps that seemed to be rampant in the first round. Not soon after Pericles had lost his wand he would find himself with a nice, soft cloth tightly wrapped around his eyes. Now this was like a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, but now it was Can the Duellist find his wand? Astrea was thrown off, who knows by what, perhaps it was the gorgeous scene of her crush staring down at her in anticipation, or simple jitters. But, instead of sending a spell towards Dealla she promptly had blindfolded her duelling partner in crime instead! It was very cute of Pericles and Henry to wear matching blindfolds to the duel today, but perhaps a wrong time for this fashion accessory.

First round done, there were two duellists blindfolded, one without a wand, one taking a nice little fly above the duel, and one trying her best to assist the other one fly for as long as possible.

OOC Notes

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@Dealla Prince @Pericles Dralt @Astrea Soleil Neptune @Henry Knight

In duels, every second was critical. A single misstep in those first few moments could seal the fate of a match. As Pericles very narrowly dodged the Mimblewimble headed his way, ducking just in time for it to tickle his hair, he enjoyed a fleeting prickle of confidence. With its momentum, he flung forth his hand, barking "Expelliarmus!" But confidence wasn't enough to get by on. Something went terribly wrong, something he had yet to experience before this moment: he critically failed and disarmed himself. Pericles felt the wand wrenched from his hand. The world seemed to slow, dread dragging the seconds out, his head swiveling to watch with wide-eyed mortification as the aspen wand darted behind him. He scrambled to snatch it from the air, and in that moment a different spell slapped against his skull. It wasn't painful. The young bird might have preferred pain to the blackness which obscured his vision. It was a terrible position to be in: not only was he wandless of his own doing, but he couldn't even see the wand to retrieve it now. Battling the paralyzing sense of alarm creeping through his limbs, Pericles hastened against the darkness.

As strategized.

The strategy had been agreed upon beforehand, and there was no hesitation in Dee's voice as she cast her first spell, movements and incantation firm and decisive. "Wingardium Leviosa!" It felt like there was half a breath of silence, the world pausing just long enough for a thread of anxiety to unfurl in her stomach, before it started moving again, her magic flowing beautifully, like there'd never been any doubt.

There was a surge of triumph rushing through Dee's veins when her spell not only set off properly but made contact with the intimidating third year girl they had to face. This, this was what duelling was supposed to feel like, she thought as she lifted her wand, sending the girl spinning upwards. This sense of exhilaration.

Maybe she had been aided by the fact that none of the other four spells around her had been aimed at her... Wait, four? Caught up in her success as she'd been, it had taken Dee a moment to realise what else had been happening in the same time, a second of delay before she turned her head to see Pericles scrambling backwards, wandless and blindfolded, and her stomach tightened. Stable, reliable Pericles, she hadn't expected him to be the one to upset their strategy, it had always been her so far.

On the other side of the stage, Astrea still had her wand, but Henry, oddly, was also blindfolded. Dee blinked. What had just happened? Neither her nor Pericles had been supposed to be targeting Henry.

"Don't panic," she told Pericles firmly, her eyes pinned on their opponents. No losing focus here, now. "No reason to. Staying calm will have you back with me sooner." But either way, for the moments to come, she'd have to stand her ground against their opponents alone.

Henry shot his wand forward like a snake on the attack but a quick glimpse toward his partner caused him to miss his target. Henry cursed to himself as the boy had little time to think when he saw out of the corner of his eyes that his third use partner cast the blindfolding hex at the ravenclaw boy and himself.

As the blindfold tighten around his eyes, the last thing the twelve year old saw was the blonde haired ravenclaw boy losing his wand and also wearing a matching blindfold.

Now Henry felt his anxiety rise as well as his nerves as memories if his first duel flooded his head, hiding his emotions from the others as he relied on his other senses since his sight was taken away from his new partner.

"Amara never targeted her partner before, maybe you should take a page out of her book Naptune!"

Henry snapped out at his partner clearly his nerves was getting to him along with the sense that a part of him missed his first partner as darkness overtook him the boy started seeing visions of his first duel with Amara as the voices sounded like they were real, like he gone back through time.

Taking a few seconds to breath and get hid focus back as he knew that every moment in a duel was crucial and not to be taken.

Henry retook his dueling positions while blocking out all other distractions no matter how hard it was since he was determined to not let anything else happen during that duel. He was determined to win.

Action: As Strategized
Interacting: @Astrea Soleil Neptune
Mentioning: @Pericles Dralt

A spark of satisfaction struck within her as one of their opponents was magically handicapped, the boy white-haired and frantic as his wand was flung out of reach at the same time a blindfold appeared. And yet, as she was midway through another quickly-timed cast- to gain an edge, the legalities of power would be exploited to the moon and back, as was the power of loopholes- she was suddenly lifted high above the ground in a clever usage of the levitation charm. Her balance suddenly taken from her as she rose, it was to her great despair as the spell went sidewards, blindfolding not the Ravenclaw with a wand raised threateningly at her but instead her partner.

How grating it was to be compared to Knight's previous partner. Even if the slight had an inkling of truth within, she was not Amara. The previous duo had traded comments against each other as often as they did blows to their opponent, a strange dynamic that worked well until the other pureblood left the team. A strict sense of propriety kept her as seeming unaffected as she worked to save face, the possibilities now with one opponent incapable of casting for a round and the other forced to maintain.

Biting back a slight snarl both at her compromising position and the snappiness of her partner, Astrea made a personal note to approach her partner after the duel in apology- or as close to an apology she could create- for the detrimental mistakes that would no doubt litter at least a small portion of the duel. It was her fault not but fault mattered little in the face of the win. What a foolish move, to announce such action to their opponents. Perhaps she had overestimated the brunette's ability to keep his tongue in check- though then again, team 3 had been riddled with snarky comments the first stage of Championships, so it was to be expected. How unfortunate.

Action: As Strategised.