Summer Camp Mysterious Maze Group 5 Closed

INTERACTIONS n/a | OPEN TO INTERATION | MENTIONING n/a
SWEDISH | NORWEGIAN | ENGLISH

The day of the maze had arrived. Ever since her arrival (again) at Hogwarts, the hedge maze on the ground in the distance from the camp grounds had drawn her attention. It hadn't been there the last time she was here a mere months ago. Who knew what lurked in its depths. What trouble. What treasure. Neither of those were what captured her curiosities, however. It was the notion that perhaps she might be able to navigate the maze with her friends: Ella, Milo, the rest. Or perhaps even better... get lost with the company of none other than Niche.

How wonderful would that be? One wrong turn and a well-timed creep of shrubbery could see the two sequestered and separated from the rest. Reliant on each other to find their way out. The idealistic notion settled into her mind of him showing his true knightly colours, sweeping her off her feet to protect her from the various dangers within and seeing her safely to the exit. But not before they could share a little bit of private time together. Converse, get to know each other. Perhaps even a...kiss? She could hardly suppress the smile that threatened to break out at every thought of such an outcome.

Unfortunately, despite having confirmed that he had likewise joined the activity to investigate the maze, she would not find him in her group. Or anyone familiar at all, really. Which seemed to have become a rather annoying habit at this summer camp. Helplessly, and with increasing deflation, Greta looked around to those gathered. Not a single one from Durmstrang. Nor any of the few from foreign schools with whom she had struck up some sort of connection. Chewing on her lips with hands wringing in the skirts of her layered patchwork dress, Greta's great seafoam green eyes darted from the nearest entrance to the maze then to the group to look from face to face just waiting for some sort of direction.

"Ehm... I... I am Greta..." she offered sheepishly—although to her, quite bravely—to anyone who might have been able to pick up her barely audible words. "I am student of Durmstrang? It.. it is game of maze, yes?" There was always the possibility that these students weren't actually gathered for the same thing that she thought they were. "Is to do all together?"

Action: Arriving — trying to decide where to enter

Nate Smirnow
Stamina: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 10 |Wisdom: 5 |ArcPower: 6 | Accuracy: 7
Broken Broomshaft | Obnoxiously Strong

It had been two days since the explosion and the loss of many. Nate was at his wits' end and really just wanted to go home. The events at the ball were one thing but an explosion, an attack and deaths? That was too much, even for Nate. As he walked around the campgrounds with an emotionless expression, he came close to just turning around at least three times, but he didn't, for whatever reason. In the evening light he arrived at his destination for today and saw high hedges forming a maze. He could only hope that no terrible things would happen here.

He could make out three entrances, but before he would take a closer look, he turned his attention to the girl who had just introduced herself as Greta. He puffed once slightly, actually he didn't want to talk to anyone anymore but the others couldn't help his situation and he didn't want to be rude. He tried to put on a small smile, which he only managed moderately well, and introduced himself as well. "Hey, I'm Nate. Koldovstoretz." He looked down at the floor for a moment, not wanting to see the stares from the others. Everyone had caught on and he couldn't take another pity look.

Unfortunately, he was in this group without his best friend Irina and even if he wasn't dependent on her, he could use her by his side right now. The last few days had taken a toll on him, even if you couldn't tell from the outside. He didn't know anyone in this group but at the same time he wasn't really in the mood to make new acquaintances. He just wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"It looks like it." Nate remarked dryly and headed for the entrances. Why the question? It was clearly the maze and why the bad English? Nate, just because you were born in America doesn't mean everyone else can speak good English! He admonished himself inwardly, feeling bad, but at least he hadn't said it out loud. "Smells weird." He remarked at the first entrance, trying not to seem so rude. "So um, which entrance should we choose or would you rather split up?" he now asked without even really looking at the rest of the entrances.

He would get this over, but he didn't care how. He didn't care which entrance they would take, whether they would split up or not. He didn't care if they went right or left in the next step. He just wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible, go back to his Cabin and get into bed. Then he would find that he couldn't sleep again, and probably he would keep Irina awake then, too, and just sit outside on the patio.

Action: Talking to Greta, waiting for the group to decide the next step

Reducio

@Opelia Winters
Katherine Felix ( @Lea Hirsch)
@Winter Wolfhartz
@Katrina Walker
@Flash Holmwood
Greta Fransson (@Evelynn Decipio)
@Lavinia Cloven

August 10th, 2021

Lavinia Cloven signed up for a maze. Again. When she was in her first year, the annual Blossomfest held a maze and being the naive first year she was, she signed up. It didn’t really go to plan and even if she didn’t get physically injured, her two partners did and the maze was a huge fail. Mentally though, this is where some of Lavinia’s anxiety always came from. At the moment of the maze, she was having fun but when she looked back on it, so many things went wrong and injures did occur. They were teleported out of the school grounds and placed in a black room, it was not safe at all. Why in the world would she sign up for another one than?

Fear conquering. She had already gone through enough this summer but felt the need to try and conquer this one fear. Lavinia had been to a school event and now was the time to give another attempt at a maze. Her experience would help and this was her chance to really face that fear. This was an opportunity that somewhere inside her, she knew she had to take. This year and summer were all about becoming a new person so, this was another step towards being the person she wanted to be.

Arriving at the hedge maze, deep breaths were needed. This will be just fine, it will not go like the previous one, this is much more organized than that. Just take a deep breath and take charge, your an older student now so don’t be afraid to lead the group. Collecting her thoughts, Lavinia paid attention to the group and scoped out the maze. There were 3 entrances, which was the same as last time, and without saying anything, Lavinia inspected each one.

One smelled of watermelon, another had a note that Lavinia tried not to think on because it said, ‘are you sure’, and a bucket placed in front of another entrance. In her brain, she was selecting the best choice of action and middle path was ruled out immediately. No need to read that note more than once. The watermelon smelling one just gave her bad vibes so by process of elimination, she choose the bucket one. Wanting to take charge in this maze because it made her feel like she had something under control, Lavinia added onto the conversation and spoke to the group in a sort of leader way.

“Hi everyone! I’m Lavinia and I’ve participated in a maze like this before. The best strategy is to stay together so no one gets left behind or lost. Judging from the three entrances, I say that we should go through the one with the bucket in front because it seems a little less ominous than the other two.” As frightened as she was inside, Lavinia’s brave face was doing wonders. Trying to be as confident as her words, she walked over and entered the maze while stepping over the bucket in the process.

Action: Entering through the Southern Entrance

INTERACTIONS @Lavinia Clovven, @Nate Smirnow | OPEN TO INTERATION | MENTIONING n/a
NORWEGIAN | SWEDISH | RUSSIAN | GERMAN | ENGLISH

Well, at least she wasn't being ignored. That was a plus. After introducing herself a boy had kindly obliged her, offering his introduction. And from it, she picked up one specific word that flooded her with a drastic sense of reassurance: Koldovstoretz. He was from the Russian school. A relieved smile graced her lips as she transitioned seamlessly from her broken English into Russian, common to each of their schools as the language of choice in which to provide instruction and education.

"It's nice to meet you.." She offered simply, fingers wringing absently in the fabric of her skirts. Sure...it might have been significantly easier for her to communicate, but that didn't mean she'd suddenly gotten over her aversion to interacting with strangers.

"Ehm..." What? It.. what did he say? He'd skipped along spouting something that sounded like.. swell? Smell? Oh goodness... Her brows furrowed as she tried to remember what that meant. And hung up on that one word, she missed part of what he'd said after, the sense of helplessness pervading her as colour drained from her face. With the introduction of a second girl, it was all Greta could do just to look sheepishly between them and hope she didn't look like a complete dullard. Oh... why oh why couldn't they have at least grouped her with someone she knew. Anyone. Where was Ella... Hanzo.. Milo...

Fighting back a rush of emotions, Greta bit down on her lip. She didn't want to seem weak in front of these people, even if she did want to just drop on the spot and cry. Rubbing her knuckles into her eyes as subtly as she could—maybe they'd just think she was tired?—she tried to get a grip on herself and just offered a small smile and nod, hurrying after the girl as she headed for the southern entrance to the maze. Even if Greta had grasped exactly nothing of what had just been said, she could gather enough that she didn't want to be left behind. This girl seemed confident. And older. So she probably knew what she was doing. Hopefully.

"Ehm..." After a dozen steps or so, Greta chanced to speak up from where she trailed behind, he voice practically a squeak. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Ehm...Is it you speak Russkiy?[Russian in russian]" Greta asked hopefully, thinking perhaps that of the options, Russian might be the most likely. "Deutsche? [German]" If the answers to both of those were no, she'd inquire about Swedish and Norwegian as well... but after that... she would be out of options and would just have to plod forward as best she could.

Action: Speaking with Nate and Lavinia, entering south entrance with Lavinia

Nate Smirnow
Stamina: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 10 |Wisdom: 5 |ArcPower: 6 | Accuracy: 7
Broken Broomshaft | Obnoxiously Strong

Now he still had a chance, he could turn around, collect Irina and run away. He thought about it for a moment but what would it change? Nothing. So he stayed here, listened to his assigned group members and looked blankly at the maze that lay before him. He hated everything about this situation, but he had to give it a chance.

He took a deep breath and quietly puffed the air through his nose. "I'm Nate." He introduced himself succinctly now as well, the others didn't deserve him being rude to them so he tried his best. He cleared his throat and forced a smile. "Nice to meet you too." He replied and the smile disappeared again. His face was expressionless again, his jaw tense, which only made his face look more prominent. "Да, русский." (Yes, Russian) he replied in surprise. "Где вы выучили русский язык?" (Where did you learn Russian?) he now inquired curiously, forgetting for a moment that he had yet to decide on an entrance.

The two girls had chosen the south entrance. They were nice but Nate would not be able to make new friends today. The entrance with the strange smell was also out, he couldn't stand having that artificial sweet smell in his nose all the time. He decided to separate from the group and walked towards the middle entrance. Normally he wouldn't have done it after what had happened at the ball but it couldn't get any worse. Maybe he would never make it out of this maze, but the thought of it didn't stir any emotions in him. It didn't matter to him.

"Good luck." He said quickly to the others, "Maybe we'll meet again on the other side." With these words he disappeared into the middle entrance.

Action:Entering the middle path.

Reducio

Greta Fransson (@Evelynn Decipio)
@Lavinia Cloven

The last errand with the groundkeeper in which the students had to dig out plants was still fresh in Opeila's memory. A good memory for sure, she had spent that afternoon with Flash, but she would never have expected what would become of the cleared grounds. They had been here, on the campgrounds and now she couldn't recognize them. Instead of a wide and free area, there was a gigantic maze- not the kids version, no, what was ever child conform at Hogwarts. There was fog in the air and Opeila felt a nervous chill run down her back.

However, even if it didn't look child-conform, the Slytherin was certain that the Professors wouldn't put their students into that much danger. Maybe they would encounter a fire or... well, what would she know. As long as there were no mosps or hags waiting for them, they would be just fine!
They had been split up into teams and Opeila was glad that she had been put into one team with Flash again. When they met up in front of the three entrance paths she walked over to her friend. "Hi", she greeted him, "Is it only me or do you also feel like we might get eaten when we step in there?" It was only a joke of course... partly.
"How about we stay together? I don't care where we enter."

Roleplaying as iNPC Katherine Felix

Interactions | The Group
Mentions | Lavinia, Greta, Nate

Why Kit hadn't bothered to sign up for anything else, the girl wasn't really sure. Perhaps it was because summer was for relaxing and doing things in your own time. Maybe the redhead just wanted to explore this unknown campus, imagining herself as going to school here rather than Beauxbatons. Of course there was some school pride now, but the pureblood still didn't like how her parents got to choose.

Whatever the case for her previous inactivity, Kit was here now. Because who didn't want to get lost in a maze? It was an adventure crammed into as little space as possible by weaving around hedges and getting lost at intersections. Surely it had to be more fun in 3d than those 2d puzzles. It would be her feet that formed the line between entrance to goal, although likely not nearly as neat as on paper.

The Beauxbatons student wore comfortable clothes, a pigtail, and a smile. Eyes never lingered long, already on a search for clues or an idea what this maze would be like. The entrance gave her a clue, watching as part of the group started to form their own smaller groups, trying to make note of their directions. Bucket, paper. Bucket, paper- watermelon? The last surprised her, stepping back as she questioned how and why that scent was there. Maybe it wasn't watermelon, at all- she'd have to get a second opinion on that one. Both the paper and bucket would get further inspection, softly muttering to herself, "why wouldn't I be?" when the note questioned her authority. But satisfied with what information she had gathered, Kit would turn back to the remaining group members with her thoughts. "I don't think anyone's gone down the scented path- anyone want to join me?" She wouldn't leave quite yet, but if no one did decide to join her, then the girl didn't mind going off alone.

Waiting for others
Entering the Northern Entrance either way

Flash was enjoying the summer camp immensely. In fact, he didn't realize summer could be so... fun. Usually summers went hand-in-hand with being at home, ever since his time at the Durham School. His first year, he tented alone and ended up in an underground fight club. Really, things could only go up from there. It was in that refreshed, unusually chipper mood that he arrived at a maze. It was meant as some kind of entertainment... at least, that was the only explanation for the activity that didn't raise concern. He was feeling up to socializing and 'playing', as it were, so something outside with some physical element to it appealed to him the most.

He brought along a cardigan, thankfully so since the maze would be shadowed from the light of the sun. He could recall a faint memory of a book that referred to the symbolism of the sun as it related to knowledge. It was an archaic belief that light was revealing, and darkness was concealing in more ways than only literally. For that reason, he brought a magic candle with him. He got the idea from Evelynn back on his last birthday, when they explored the dungeons together.

When he arrived, he saw he had been paired with mostly strangers from other schools. He had at least one extremely familiar face to cling to, like a lighthouse in the fog. Opeila was there, as she always seemed to be whenever Flash was trying to reach out. Always involved, always participating. It was nice to have someone around who could keep up with him. He'd naturally gravitate to her side as they saw one another, conversation sparking with little effort, as though they had been spending the entire morning talking.

"I feel calm, actually." Flash's face broke into a smile, giving her a playfully admonishing look for her skepticism, joke or not. "With us together, certainly we'll have everything under control."

The few that were gathered had all investigated the three entrances. As far as Flash was concerned, the entry point was irrelevant, they couldn't make an informed decision no matter what excuse they used to justify their choice. It was all a big unknown, too much speculation was a waste of energy. One girl with a follower made an effort to take control and suggest everyone stay together as one, while one boy wandered off into the middle entrance alone without doing much else besides introducing himself. Then, one young girl ignored the plea as well, wondering who was going to join her on her separate expedition.

"Yes, definitely." He'd reply to Opeila's plea to stick together, realizing that most of them didn't have a friend to cling to for familiarity. "Honestly, watermelon sounds more enticing than a bucket."

He didn't want to undermine an older student's efforts to band everyone together, but unlike the surely loner boy, this girl was going to be a lot more defenseless if she went off by herself. He thought he might suggest the other two join them, but it seemed they were already on their way. A shame, as he was sure she was a Quidditch player as well, though he hadn't really tried to make many friends from the students abroad. The allure of being the knight in shining armor to two girls definitely had nothing to do with it.

"We'll go with you." Flash answered, his next smile for the diminutive redhead. "I'm Flash, this is Miss Opeila Winters."

Northern Entrance

@Opelia Winters, Katherine Felix (@Lea Hirsch), @Flash Holmwood

The great scent of watermelon proved too good of a lure for some of the students who decided they would try their luck along the sweet path. While young Katherine was leading the Northern charge, Opelia and Flash had decided remaining together might yield the best results in the ominous maze and were quick to accompany Katherine. So the small group began their might quest into the entrance, starting off with all of their limbs intact but how long would that last?

The path immediately bent to the left before taking a second sharp turn to the right down a somewhat long corridor where the hedges seemed to be closer together than the entrance. The narrow corridor would force the students into a single file line. The fog only grew thicker inside the maze but the scent of watermelon held strong.

Eventually, the narrow corridor would reach a fork. One path turned sharply to the left and the other path gently curved to the right. There wasn’t anything inherently different between the paths at first glance. But keen ears might hear a soft rumbling noise coming from the right path. It was faint but a careful student may catch it. Were the northern students condemned to a night of chasing after watermelon smells or was there a chance that they had could make it out unscathed?

Available Directions: Turn Left, Turn Right or Go Back

Middle Entrance

Nate Smirnow (@Haley Rose)

Well, it seemed that the note left at the central entrance was no deterrent for one of the students. Instead of taking the note as a warning, it seemed that the young student was up for the challenge or at least proved more daring than their peers. Hopefully, they wouldn’t regret it…

As soon as Nate crossed into the central path there was a low rumble from behind. Suddenly tendrils of roots and vines erupted from the opening. Branches weaved and pulled together as the hedges quickly closed off the entrance to the middle path, leaving the student standing in the dark corridor with no way to get out except through the maze. Hopefully, they would not mind the temporary solitude.

With the entrance now closed, the path became darker and more still as the hedges offered no more movement. The path inside would quickly weave to the right through a winding, but open path. A short way down the path, however, the students would be faced with a new option. A narrow path branched sharply to the left while the main path seemed to continue forward for a short way. In the darkness, which path would they choose?

Available Directions: Turn Left or Go Forward

Southern Entrance

@Lavinia Cloven, Greta Fransson (@Evelynn Decipio)

A pair of students thought that they would try their hand at the bucket path...but with no bucket? How terrifying... But perhaps there would be more to collect along their long path to see them through. So into the southern path they went, likely hoping that they would not face anything terrifying like giant spiders or judgemental rock friends. It was true that the southern path might have looked the less intimidating of the three but perhaps that was the trap. To add to the challenge it seemed that there might be a small language barrier with the two students but with any luck they would be able to work through it in the darkness.

The path quickly arched to the left, taking the students on a short walk through the dense hedges. With the fog and tight turns, it was challenging to see more than a few paces in front of yourself. But eventually, the path opened into a small fork and the students would be forced to make a decision.

A new path branched off to the left, shrouded by fog but looking no different otherwise. Or the students could continue forward. However, through the fog on the path they were currently on, the students would be able to hear the soft twang of music. The faint sound of a solemn violin placing somewhere down the path in front of them. Perhaps a dance in the maze appealed to them or perhaps a strange violin in the middle of a fog-filled maze was too ominous. The choice rested with them...

Available Directions: Turn Left, Continue Forward or Turn Back

No Posts

@Winter Wolfhartz, @Katrina Walker

For those still standing at the entrance, they would still have a chance to enter the Northern or Southern entrance but the middle path was no longer available after it seemed to close itself.

How to Navigate the Maze

1. Each round you can choose an available direction to travel or to take a different action.
2. Each moderation will list the available directions for each student.
3. You can choose to stay as a group or wander off on your own. But if you are alone...beware of the orange.
4. Depending on the paths chosen, you may encounter challenges or changes within the maze.
5. Stats will be used in this tread and thus you will need to ensure they are in your trunk.
6. There will be a moderation post at least once a week. Quicker moderations will be done if all active participants have replied.
7. If a participant misses two weeks of moderation, it will be assumed they decided to take a nap and will be removed from the maze for their safety!
8. As always...clothing will be required in this thread!