Event Blossom Ball- Trial of Hades

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Currently closed to interactions
Interactions: None
Mentioning: None
Word count: 334
Hex Color: #0080FF
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For Moderation:
Action: Attempt trial
Health: 500/500
Abilities: Lovely Creature | Fearless | Terrible Presence
Stats: Stamina 5 | Evasion 10 | Strength 5 | Wisdom 9 | Arcane Power 10 | Accuracy 8

Hades. God of the Underworld and the dead. Not death though, that was Thanatos. Another thing that Ana found rather interesting about the god was the fact that his name had become nearly synonymous with the Underworld since he almost never left it. If she refused to leave her dorm, would that get it named after her?

She mentally chided herself and focused. She was almost halfway done, but she still had several more trials after this. Unnerving as the trial of Orpheus had been, she had centered herself and was ready for anything.

As she entered her third trial, she could it rather interesting that all of the ones she had done so far seemed rather related. Orpheus was actually not a god, at least not that Ana could recall, which set that trial apart from the rest. Still, his story was related to Hades and the Underworld. Hecate was Persephone's friend once the latter wed Hades. There was a trial of Persephone that Ana had yet to complete, but the connection was obvious.

Having received the instructions, she began to blindly navigate the maze. Every now and again, some voice asked a question. She wasn't sure who, but she confidently answered each. "An aging potion requires newt spleens, bananas, an orange snake, and a green leaf," she said to the first one. She rather hoped the next question would be a bit more difficult. It wasn't.

"A Blemish Blizter blitzes blemishes," she said drily. "Aside from the obvious, it treats acne." Not that Ana had ever needed it. While she had a great many problems that came with being a teenaged witch, acne was not one of them.

The third question was similarly straightforward. "A Bundimum? A nasty little pest. Far too many eyes and most hideous looking, like a fungus. I suppose the fact that it would destroy a house is also a downside, but really, Bundimums are complete eyesores," she said confidently. She had to be nearing the end, right?

Post tracker: Underworld entry | Orpheus | Hecate | Hades | Persephone | Apollo | Hermes

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

After leaving the chaotic Underworld, the dramatic and angry Anastasia went directly to the trials. She was a brave girl, always up to challenges and new things, so the Trials certainly piqued her interest. With a quick pace, she went to follow up to the so known as the first trial, the trial of Hecate.

She didn't know much about Greek mythology, and she certainly did not know what godess Hades was. The only two Greek deities she knew, ( and by 'knew' I mean heard about) was Athena, Zeus and Poseidon. The Greek world of mythology was completely unknown to her, and she clearly had no idea what she had to do until Kage Suzuki announced what it was supposed to be done.

The Russian child's first thought was that this was easy as pie. A maze? Pfft, what in the world could be easier. She stepped into the maze, trying to solve it until she arrived at the questions, The moment she was dreading, since she had t talk english, and it wasn't entirely perfect. She tried to leave her Russian accent behind, and listened to the questions she was being asked:

"The, uh, the Age-Ageing Potion is made with Newt S-Spleens, and bananas, and a orange snake, and a leaf- a green leafe that is." she said, slowly, so that she could be understood.

"The Blemish Blitzer treats blemishes like, acne usually." she answered the second question, which kind left her kind of stuck since the words were pretty difficult to pronounce.

The second and last question now: "Bunde-Bundimuns, are little beasts that destroy houses and they leave acid everywhere, uhhhh" she didn't know anything else about Bundimuns, so she stopped there, which she thought was more than enough and went off to the rest of the maze.

Reducio

Stamina: 8
Evasion: 5
Wisdom: 10
Strength: 2
Arcane Power: 3
Accuracy: 5
Health: 800/800
Action: Doing the trial

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Hades

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BLOSSOM BALL 2021

Interacting With: Kage Suzuki
Mentioning: N/A
Hex Color: #800000

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“It’s a death maze,” Rafael sputtered in bitter awe and dread alike, eyes shifting in exasperation between the maze and its benefactor. “You – it’s a fucking death maze.”

So yeah. It was only the first damn challenge of the night and the young Captain’s mental health was already being severely threatened. Really, Rafael didn’t know what the hell he expected – was it too much to ask for, just a normal challenge, for once? What about hide and seek? Or, like, a scavenger hunt? Maybe a high-stakes game of dodgeball? Isn’t that what every other normal school did? Nothing at this godforsaken school can be normal, he noted to himself bitterly, a scowl crawling across his features as he gazed onward towards the veil of shadows. Oh-fucking-well. He’d dealt with scarier, he supposed. And he was a Gryffindor, for Chrissakes – this shouldn’t be a problem for him. “What kind of pussy’s scared of the dark?” he muttered to himself in distaste, shoving quite rudely past the girl in charge and pushing his fringe out of eyes in apprehension. “Get it the fuck together. It’s only a death maze. Jesus.” Fuck, he would need Jesus or… or some divine intervention to get through with his dignity intact. He hoped beyond hope that this was the only distinctly masochistic trial of the night. Taking the wand in his hands, he shoved it deep into his left pant pocket, tying his suit jacket around his waist – his instincts told him to cast a charm, to light up the air beyond his gaze. The less convenient his magic was, the better.

Taking a breath and steeling his nerves, he relocated his right hand from his fringe to the nearest border of the maze, his feet planting themselves at the entrance in a rather impressive display of faux fearlessness. And without further hesitation, he pushed forward, into the darkness.

The Captain decided to close his eyes in an attempt to subconsciously trick his mind into the false pretense of selective blindness – and, to an extent, the mental trick was doing its job well. He was, after all, better at convincing himself of lies than he’d care to admit. Even so, such incessant convincing could only do so much to rid his head of the whispers he swore he could tangibly sense in the shadows lingering about his unprotected form, or shake the unsettling feeling of dread that settled on his shoulders like a blanket full of undesirable creepy crawlies. The cocoon of discomfort, in the least, he could recognize to a certain extent – after all, many students at Hogwarts had a sort of unsettling aura about them, credits to their terrifying demeanor or mixed race, for some even a mixture of the two. He’d navigated such irrational emotion in the past – though, in this instance, it was difficult to tell whether the danger was real or a figment of his imagination.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t have time to further ponder such an inquiry, as his thoughts were soon occupied with far more important matters – more specifically, the questions promised at the beginning of the trial. The first question, in particular, was perhaps the most difficult to address – he could faintly recall the concoction, or in the least… he thought he could. His mom used it, right? His closed eyes would flutter open in the moment, meeting nothing but pitch darkness – his voice would resound out hoarse, muffled from the fear closing up his throat. “Newt spleens,” he muttered, detached. “Bananas. A…” a few incoherent mumbles would escape his mouth as he reasoned about in his head, before continuing his thought, “an orange snake, I think. And a green leaf.” It was all he could remember in the moment – though, now that it was all said out loud, he was 95% sure it was correct.

The insecurity of his initial answer would riddle his brain painfully, up until he arrived at the scene of his next inquiry. The second question would come in similar fashion as the first – as would his answer. “It… you know, what’s the word? Washes… cleans… blemishes and acne. Yeah.” His eyes roamed wildly once more, his dominant right hand still firmly glued to the wall of the maze, the same wall he’d been following for the entirety of his journey so far. He can’t remember where he’d learned of it – perhaps from his sister, or maybe in one of the classes at the school. Despite his confusion, he was at least pretty confident in this answer.

The last question was most certainly the easiest – of course, he knew what a bundimun was. His uncles had contracted them at their shared house once, which led to many long, frustrating talks about the fickle beasts around the family table several years back. Luckily enough, he found himself well-prepared. Even so, his voice still resounded hoarsely into the unsettling air, his eyes blinking blindly as he gazed towards the ground or… or whatever was in front of him. “It’s a class three beast,” he recited, almost mechanically. “Looks kinda like a fungus. Gets in your woodwork, eats away at the house,” he ended that thought with a nearly coherent, “nasty little fuckers.” Then, continuing in his normal volume, “It’s green, got lots of eyes. Smells like rot. That’s…” he paused, “… that’s all I got.”

The inquiries posed had been addressed – that being said, the first journey was far from complete. Thankfully enough, the young man had begun to grow a bit more accustomed to the lack of light. His nerves loosening in the slightest, he silenced his latent fear to the best of his ability, looking past the sirens in his mind. He’d already made it this far, after all, and it would be embarrassing to give up at this point. It was time to wrap this the fuck up – and onward he foraged, further and further into the abyss…

STA _____ 10 EVA _____ 4 STR _____ 9 WIS _____ 10 ARC _____ 2 ACC _____ 8

STATS & ABILITIES Interception Reducio When a Quaffle is being passed, users with this ability automatically get a chance to Intercept the quaffle. This does not replace their normal action for the round. This put the quaffle in your and by extension you teams' possession. Also, if the Quaffle is dropped for any reason, you would automatically (without it taking up an action) attempt another Quafflegrab. At present there would be no mid-round way to drop a quaffle due to the order of operations, however there will be certain effects in future patches that can cause this effect. Catch Reducio Able to catch two falling players on your broom when playing Quidditch. These additional caught players would be brought to the ground safely and they would be allowed to retrieve their broom and enter play again the next round. This can be done every round as the player's action if they choose to do so. With brooms that have the feature where an additional player may be caught (such as Bluebottle) where there is a stackable chance of failure with each additional person caught, there is no stacking failure chance for players with this ability. YEAR III AB Reducio TBD

Action • Entering the Death Maze

Lily speaking in English
Lily speaking in Welsh
Others speaking

Lily had decided to do the trials since their announcement, but she had no idea that they would be like this.

She was about to enter a dark maze, with absolutely no light whatsoever. And the only way to navigate was through feeling.

When she got nearer, it seemed even scarier. What dangers are lurking in there, I don’t really want to know. She told herself. Time to go in, and face my fears.

Swallowing hard, she walked in. Whether or not she would complete it, she didn’t know. All she could be sure of, was that she was scared. Of the maze itself, the darkness, and anything that could be hidden inside.

Once she had stepped in, she was instantly covered by the darkness. Trying to stay brave, she thought about the light on the other side. Or even if there was any light on the other side.

No. She had to stay positive. “It’s all going to be fine” She whispered to herself, not knowing if anyone else could hear her. Once or twice, she thought she saw the light, but it turned out it was just her imagination. Will I ever get out of here? She thought.

Banner by Lucia Fox

Closed to Interactions
Trial Tracker: HADES | HECATE | ORPHEUS | HERMES | PERSEPHONE | APOLLO

Starlee followed after Everly into one of the Trials. She really wasn't sure she wanted to do this, but if she did, she was going to give it her all. The room she entered was dark, almost to the point where you couldn't see, and Starlee strained to look at the girl giving her directions.

This trial was a maze, in which one had to navigate it blind and answer questions - no wands allowed. She pocketed her wand, sighing in both happiness and concern. It was dark, and while she wasn't afraid per se, she had a bad feeling about it. But she was also grateful, she wouldn't have to worry about her spell casting. She took a deep breath, and began making her way through the maze.

The first section wasn't so bad. It seemed they had kept it easy, and she only ran into one dead end, having to backtrack. A voice finally boomed from nowhere, asking her what ingredients are needed to make an aging potion. She almost laughed, it was so easy. She had spend who knows how long engulfed in her fathers potions books, so she quickly blurted out, "Well that's obvious, Newt Spleens, Bananas, an orange snake, and a green leaf." She continued forward, stopping again when she heard the voice asking another question.

'A Blemish Blitzer?' Another question that seemed almost too easy. "Well it gets rid of blemishes of course. No more Acne!" she smiled sweetly into the darkness, and continued walking forward again.

The final question was the one that stumped her. She remember from her fathers potions books that it was a creature, and that it did have some sort of use in potion making. Something about secreting a sort of acid? Gross.

"Well..." she began, "A Bundimum is a creature that secretes acid that is extremely destructive. When diluted, it's can be used in a few cleaning potions." She tried to think of something, anything else she could add to her answer, but alas, that was all she knew.

She continued into the darkness, feeling a little bit better about her decision to compete in the trials, but not entirely.

Action: Attempting to Complete the Trial
Stats: Sta: 4 | Eva: 6 | Str: 6 | Wis: 8 | Arc: 6 | Acc: 5
Abilities: Healing Sage

posts i. ii. iii. iv INTERACTION───────────── @ info─────── Reducio action | completing the trial health | 600/600 stats | sta 6 eva 7 str 0 wis 7 arc 4 acc 6 (first year stats) abilities | seer year 1 • 10% autododge, 10% autohit

trials i. ii. iii. iv ────────────────MENTION @ Reducio link ───────outfit

And onward, to the next trial. Everly decided to go for the Trial of Hades. It was spooky in a way, Hades being the god of death, she recalled. The trial was a maze, apparently, listening carefully to the instructions. With no light as well, they were careful to point out multiple times. There were questions, too, apparently - well, this would be quite entertaining. Everly found her way to the entrance, and plunged into complete darkness.

It was a miracle, really, how the Gryffindor managed to even find her way through at all. There were occasionally noises that drifted over, making the girl shiver, and she bumped into something often. Finally, finally, she found herself at the end of the first section of the maze. The question, something about a potion and its ingredients, made Everly exhale a large amount of air she was holding in relief. Yes, finally, she'd found something that made her aware that she wasn't just completely lost yet. It almost made her lose track of the fact that she actually had to answer the question. What ingredients does it take to make an Ageing Potion?

Everly had to carefully think about this one. She wasn't the biggest potions person, but she knew a decent amount about the Ageing Potion. Where had she heard about it before - other than possibly in a book she had read - she knew it made someone age faster and become older, but temporarily. But the ingredients? Blank from her mind. Everly had read it before though, somewhere... she knew it was in her mind, she just had to think. She'd never learned it in class before, so she couldn't ponder on that. But... it was on the tip of her tongue. It clicked almost instantly after she thought about it, and she remembered where she'd read it before - "Aha - okay, so the ingredients are... er, newt spleens," she said confidently after a moment, "and there's some green leaves in there too..." she noted thoughtfully. "And then an orange snake. Oh, and don't forget the bananas." She nodded, quite sure of herself, with a triumphant smile on her face. First question, down. Only two more and a maze to navigate in the dark!

And so, Everly reentered the darkness and unknown, trying to make her way. She wasn't scared of the dark, per se, she just found it unsettling at times if with the right circumstances. For instance, right now, you could certainly say she was scared - she just probably wouldn't admit it to your face, however. But Everly was Everly, and she had this determination within her to keep going. So she did, making her way through, slowly and slowly, running into all sorts of different things. When Everly finally did make it to the end of the second section, she felt very, very happy. The question was both different and not so much from the first one, this time not asking about the ingredients for a concoction, but this time about the usage, about something Everly had never before heard in her life - a Blemish Blitzer. Everly was truly stumped. If she'd never heard of it before, how was she to provide the answer to what it does? After a moment to calm herself, the girl tried to think more about the title and the clues it provided - blitzer, what did that word mean? Well, in a way, the word sort of meant to remove, or "blitz" something. And blemish? Well, then the product would be blitzing blemishes. Everly almost laughed. "Well, it blitzes blemishes!" She said jovially. But then she felt weird for feeling so cheerful in the dark, alone, and her smile slowly seeped away. Keep a positive attitude, we're almost at the last question, she told herself, and continued with the maze.

It was a while before Everly found herself at the end of the third section, with the last question. It was kind of draining, really, but this section felt like it passed by much shorter than the other two had. Perhaps it was because Everly knew it would be over after this, or because she felt motivated to suck it up and finish, but she'd finished and just had one more question. Thankfully. This time, the question, not about a potion, nor a product, but a creature, of all things. One she vaguely recalled; her memory and knowledge seemed to escape her today. A Bundimum, to be exact. What was it? She remembered some bits - it was a greenish creature, with lots of creepy yellow eyes. Everly cringed slightly. And what did it do? She knew it was a pest. It ate something... yes, that's right, it ate dirt. It secreted acid too, she knew, that could rot building structures and destroy things. Oh, yes, and it smelled quite foul as well. "It a yellow-eyed green creature that can infest places and destroy things with the smelly acid it secretes," Everly answered confidently. She felt a surge of happiness. Finally, the last question. She had completed the questions, and what was next was to find her way out.

lettering in header done by the wonderful serena towers

ACTION:
Traversing through the maze and answering the questions.
stamina: 7 | evasion: 8 | strength: 15 | wisdom: 6 | arcane power: 3 | accuracy: 12

Entering thread from the Orpheus

Serena was on a roll, happily making her way through all of the trials. She had done, what, five now? They were so much fun! Making her way to the final trial, she wondered what it could possibly be. The trial of Hades. Oh, well, that was... Quite a scary name, to be honest. Wasn't he the God of the Underworld? Terrifying. The other trials had not been that bad, though. Whether or not they were successful did not matter, they had been fun for the most part.

Her hand curled up into a tight ball as she paused by the entrance of the maze, listening to the words. The maze looked rather... dark and it was quite upsetting to see. Serena had no idea why it looked so dark but she did not like it. Of course, as the judge of the trial began to speak, everything became clearer.

Without a moment's hesitation, her hand pat her pocket from the outside, quickly to check for her wand. It was on her. She might need this, she knew that very well. The trial required her to go through the dark? Was this even safe? Serena stepped back, her mind racing with thoughts of the shadow monsters that she had come across time and time again. Clenching her teeth, she stared at the entrance.

Before she realised it, she was panting softly. Her breath was clearly audible to those around her. Her body shook a little as she listened to the task. The idea of going into the dark started to terrify her. What if this was the same as last time? There was no way this was okay.

Her heart pounded in her chest. What if they got attacked? She instantly wished she had brought the nightlamp that sat on her bedside table with her in this trial. But alas, she had not. They were not allowed to use light... Staring at the maze, she had no idea how long she had stood there. Minutes, likely, just staring into the dark without even moving an inch.

Every single fibre of her being told her to just turn around and leave. There was no point in doing this. There was nothing to be gained from this.

But she did not leave.

Her mind raced with thoughts, her heart ached, her breathing became erratic. Her body was shaking as she stood her ground. A voice entered her head as she recalled the words she had heard in the past. She could hear things that @Solomon Lear had said to her in the years passed, during that awful campout. Light was important, light saved lives. That day had taught her that. It had taught her to fear the darkness. It had been several years since then and she was so much stronger. When they fell through the floorboards of their common room last year, she had learned just how much stronger she had gotten. She had prevailed where she had failed in times past.

But despite being able to cast a successful lumos now and then, there was something that she could not shake. The fear of the dark. She was not as bad as she had been before but it gave her this horrible feeling of anxiety and stress. She remembered the words that @Caradoc Browne had written to her on her birthday last year.

When the world gets dark remember, you are your own light. Remember this, and you will light the path for others as well.

She swallowed as she stared into the pitch-black maze. She had to know. There were unanswered questions and she had to know what the answers were to them. Serena took a step forward, despite her body begging her to turn around. Her chest felt like it was going to explode, it was starting to feel so hot - was she sweating? She had no idea. She just... took a step forward.

One by one. One hand gripped her wand, that she had taken out - just in case she needed it. At the first sign of danger, she was ready. If she saw a shadow, she would be ready. Her free hand shook as it ran across the edges of the maze to try and navigate her way through it. Tears started to stream down her face but the darkness hid the evidence of them.

"AH- O-oh," She started as she heard the first question, "Urm, I- I don't know- I-" Her mind was distracted with thoughts of shadows, the fear of dying to them, the desire to run away. It took all of her concentration to walk into the maze instead of running out. It was taking every tiny bit of willpower that she had to control herself. The tears, the shaky hands, her audible breathing were all signs of things that were happening without her control. How was she meant to use her faculties at a time like this? Even her voice was shaking.

Nonetheless, she would attempt to continue to the next section. She heard another question. "Er. It uh." She started, not quite following the question as she tried to fight her fear. It took her a moment or two before she gathered her thoughts, "Removes blemishes, I guess?" Wiping her face with her sleeves, she noticed she had stopped crying, "Probably to help clean up spots or acne or something?" She offered as answers.

By third question, she had started to get numb. How long had she been in the maze by now? She had no idea. It felt like hours. Was she lost? Was she even getting any further? Was she even breathing? Serena had no idea. She just wanted to leave. She wanted to get out of here alive... "A what?" She asked, not quite paying attention for a moment. It then came to her, "Oh! That's uh one of those beasts. Or is it more like a pest? It's that green thing that smells super gross," She rambled out as quickly as she could, realising that the faster she managed to navigate through the maze, the faster she could get back to the light.

If she managed to get through the entire maze without giving in to cast light, she would be a very happy lady. At the very least, her tears had stopped, her hand shook a little less... The pounding of her heart was not ringing in her ears as much. This was... progress, right?

ACTION: Attempts to do the trial

Stamina: 10 | Evasion: 10 | Strength: 1 | Wisdom: 13 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 10
Abilities: Part-Goblin [Gobbledegook and Wandless] and Evasive Maneuvers
Status: Energetic | Health: Full

Post Tracker: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Outfit of the day: [1][2][3][4]

Closed to interactions.
Wearing a deep plum chiton and cloak and grape headpiece inspired by Dionysus.
[1] [2] [3] [Hades] [Hecate] [Orpheus] [Hermes] [Persephone] [Apollo]

This wasn’t your average, everyday darkness; this was advanced darkness. First Trial of the night, and Phaedra was already realising just how dedicated the ball organizers must have been to put together something of this quality. It seemed otherworldly, almost, bright red eyes clearly in reference to Cerberus looming above as she took her place near the start of the maze. Phaedra felt a chill go through her, arms prickling with goosebumps. Bad things happened to students in the dark. She’d experienced what lurked within it first hand. But with her wand not allowed…

“Well. Here goes nothing,” she reassured herself. No. No talking herself out of what she agreed to. There was no looking back now.

Phaedra entered, and it took no time before bumping into walls and corners before she heard it. The first question asked her to recall the ingredients of an Ageing Potion. Dammit. It’d been a while since she’d brewed one of those. Almost fifteen herself, there was just no practical use for it anymore in Hogwarts; few locations were off limit to her. Phaedra paused in place, briefly thankful the darkness could hide her concerned expression. Think, Phaedra, think. Silence, then the clearing of her throat would signal her readiness.

“A snake—an orange one, specifically—with a green leaf…” She trailed on, having forgotten the reason why the exact colour of those things mattered if she had ever learned it at all, only to confidently finish with, “Bananas, and lastly, a newt spleen. Yes.” …Right? One odd recipe, indeed.

After a bit of fumbling in the dark, Phaedra made a right turn into what she hoped was a new area. One dead end long behind her and feeling rejuvenated from overcoming it, she listened as the voice, or rather sound, rang out again from the void. Another question? This was all really starting to remind her of the Ravenclaw Common Room door, but less abstract and yet more… disorientating. Phaedra squinted as she hopped over a root, her cloak just barely getting snagged.

Second question. Basic potion theory at that, and Phaedra let out a breath. There were no difficulties answering this one. “It’s a tonic for blitzing blemishes. You know, acne.” One of the girls in her dormitory had a jar of the Tolipan brand. Just as Phaedra had discovered her shampoo bottles (jasmine scented, her favourite) with far less content than she remembered using, she too was guilty of sticking her grubby hands into her dormmate’s canister of face cream. It was just the once and her skin had thanked her! And maybe it was a small act of revenge, too.

After another right turn and then one to the left, she kept straight, unsure if she had turned around on herself or not. Her hand brushed up against something unpleasant and she retreated it with a wild shake, scowling. Maybe her nerves were just getting the best of her. How much longer did she have to go? In the darkness, the last question was proposed.

“What is a bundimum?” she reiterated, needing clarification because it almost seemed like a trick question. What wizard didn’t know what a bundimum was? “A common pest, that’s what.” Phaedra came to a sudden stop. Another dead end. It took effort to keep her wits then, and the fifth-year turned around on her heel to retry. “They feed on dirt, destroying structural foundations if left uncontrolled. A magical termite, I suppose, but slimy and acidic.”

A minute went by without another sound and she could only assume that meant the end of the interrogating. It was too bad she was still stuck in this blasted maze until she could locate the exit. Phaedra huffed. Better get to it, then.

Action: Attempt Trial.
STA: 7, EVA: 8, STR: 1, WIS: 15, ARC: 10, ACC: 10
Perfectionist, Perfectionist II, Spell Spread, Advanced Casting

Reducio

Seeing as Lucia and Carolyn had done the Trials back-to-front, the Hades trial was last.

It was quite possibly one of the scariest things Lucia Fox had ever seen.

The whole area seemed to be cloaked in a suffocating kind of darkness which threatened to completely obliterate anyone who stepped into its embrace. The only faded light was glowing orbs of red dotted around the edge of some sort of structure, like warning lights. Run away, they seemed to tell the girls as they made their way towards it, Lucia rather hesitatingly. Run away and never come back.

Maybe that was the trial, then. After facing their desires in the Orpheus trial, now maybe they had to face their fears. Lucia shuddered at the thought. She could think of a whole lot of fears she'd rather people didn't know about, or at least that she'd rather not encounter in the pitch blackness of this trial. Whenever she blinked, she could see them, and she hadn't even started the trial yet.

Spiders. Scuttling all over her feet, all over her legs, a very wave of them, covering her almost entirely...
Her sisters. Running towards her, reaching out for Lucia to save them, falling behind at the last moment, falling, falling, falling, and they were gone, and it was all Lucia's fault...
Darkness. Covering her entirely, squashing her, the walls invisible with no light but closing, closing in...

Lucia forced herself to listen as the trial was explained. That was the thing with having an imagination - sometimes you imagined things you'd rather not see.
The explanation itself wasn't as vague as the ones for the other trials had been, which was lucky. Plus, the girl said nothing about facing your worst fears. Lucia breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good luck, then," the part-veela told her friend. Carolyn was sure to do well here, being a Ravenclaw and all. Lucia shivered a little looking at the maze but forced herself to step forwards. She couldn't give up now - she was so close to completing them all! And she'd look so stupid to Carolyn if she stopped.

Lucia braced herself and stepped into the maze.

She decided to move as forwards as she could, shuffling along and using her hands to work out where the walls of the maze were. It was a little disorientating to have her eyes open and yet see nothing, so Lucia quickly decided to close them. It was terrifying enough, at first, but when the first voice came out of the darkness she nearly flew backwards in shock. But when she realised it was asking her a question, she relaxed.

An aging potion? Lucia paused. Wasn't that a third year potion? Or maybe it wasn't and Lucia had just forgotten it. Yeah, they wouldn't ask something that hardly anyone would know the answer to, right? "Uh. I think it's got bananas in it?" she replied doubtfully.

Next, an easy one. Lucia had used a blemish blitzer before. "Oh! That's easy," she said, relieved. "It removes acne and spots and stuff like that. It's usually acne though, right?"

The next question wasn't too bad either. "Horrid pests," Lucia muttered with feeling, then raised her voice. "They're kinda green, and they eat dirt, and they stink really, really bad."