Duelling Beta Test Match 3 - River vs. Hengist

The feeling of sympathy had passed and now all Hengist was feeling was confidence. He had no idea how much of a knack for this he had. Sure, he felt bad that River was having a hard time, but he wasn't doing anything outside of the rules. He just made sure he'd studied up before the duel.

With those last two attacks, Hengist saw his path to victory. Keeping his opponent from either casting or hitting him with spells would minimize his own risk while making it easier to plan and choose the correct spells to use. Hengist does tend to overthink things, so more time to make a decision would be a massive boon to this duel, and any others in the future.

His mind made up, he waved his wand and exclaimed "Mucus ad Nauseam!" He could tell that his first attack was wearing off, so she should start getting her spells out more effectively. This should keep her from hitting him with them.

Action: casts Mucus ad Nauseam at River

I’m never laughing again after this, River thought as her throat was actually beginning to hurt slightly. Had she been prepared for something like this to happen? Yes. Did she remember what she was going to do in the case of this...? Yes, yes she did.

Her brain had decided to lose it’s grip for a while, but she remembered a spell that she’d been wanting to try out in the case of things going badly.

River was beginning to feel some control over her legs again now, the spell was about to wear off. Finally

As River noticed that Hengist was about to cast his next spell, her brain quickly focused. She knew exactly what spell she wanted to cast, all that was left was managing to do it correctly.
«Mucus ad Nauseam!», River exclaimed as precisely as she possibly could.

Action: River casts Mucus ad Nauseam

10 will be the Spell DC used for the duration of this Test Duel

The round

Chancing a look around he was quite surprised how psyched some of the students were at watching a duel. As a student he would have preferred spending his time with other things than spectating a duel, no doubt, but he supposed he'd been a bit of an odd ostrich growing up.

Returning his attention to the duel, he winced. Both duellists cast nearly simultaneously and he had to hurry to cast a shield to stop the stray spell to hit one of the bystanders. That would remind him to keep his attention on the duellists in the future, not the spectators. That had been too close for comfort – not that the students had learned any truly harmful spells yet.

At first he was not sure whose stray spell he had blocked but then River began to sneeze. Poor girl, this duel was really unlucky for her. The curse was not the most comfortable one to get hit with – there was also far worse certainly. Still, he could not help but wish he could whisk her away to the hospital wing so for the nurse to give her a pepper-up potion. But medical care would have to wait until after the duel ended.

He fixed his eyes on the duellists – he would not allow himself to almost miss another stray spell.

Hengist attempts to cast Mucus ad Nauseam. Spell hits.
River attempts to cast Mucus ad Nauseam. Spell misses.
River to post first.

He felt his spell go off, but he had no time to see if it had hit it's mark or not. Just about as soon as he saw his spell leave his wand, he noticed a similar spell coming right at him. It seemed to be coming at his so fast, in fact, that he felt he had barely enough time to dodge it. 'Wow, that felt really close!' he thought as he side stepped just in time.

With the opposing spell past him now, he reoriented himself and took stock of the aftermath. Even from where he was, he could hear River suffering from the effects of his spell. 'I'm so sorry, River!' Hengist thought, 'I swear it's not personal...' He was thinking of trying the fire-making spell again, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. 'Let's try a classic,' he thought. He flourished his wand at her and exclaimed "Flipendo!"

Action: Cast Flipendo at River

The round

Zahid winced in sympathy as River kept sneezing. This duel really wasn't going her way. He wondered if Hengist's being older was to his advantage or if it was simply (bad) luck. Either way, the duel was a tad one-sided. Well, he'd seen worse. There was that time in Marrakesh... But he digressed. This was not the time to reminisce, he had a duel to oversee.

”Bullarum Immortalem” Oh, good choice! That should make it easier... ah, but it missed. This really wasn't her day it seemed. Hengist on the other hand seemed to have grown in confidence and managed to hit with his spell yet again, knocking her back.

River attempts to cast Bullarum Immortalem . Spell misses.
Hengist attempts to cast Flipendo. Spell hits barely.
Hengist to post first.

With River flying back after his spell made a glancing contact, Hengist was starting to not like this as much. Not only did a one-sided duel teach him nothing, but he revolted at the mere idea of picking on someone, and that's exactly what this was beginning to feel like. He wished he could bring this duel to a swift end, but he didn't think he knew a powerful enough spell to do so. He was even entertaining the idea of quitting the duel to save River from as much humiliation and pain as possible. His brain was in a whirlwind; he didn't know what to do.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't even notice her spell coming. Even with being distracted, however, some twisted luck made it go quite wide of him. The feeling of it's force as it passed him was the only reason he knew she'd even got a spell out. 'She must have sneezed right as she cast her spell, causing the miss,' he realized. Just then, Hengist had a revelation. 'Even with so much bad luck, she's still giving it her all...incredible.' That decided it. He couldn't quit. That would be an even bigger insult to River.

With that moral dilemma over, he had an idea of the best way to get this miserable duel over with. It would take a little luck for him, but this match had been nothing but that for him so far, so he felt he had little to lose. With new resolve, but his smile long gone, Hengist swish and flicked his wand at River and yelled "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Action: Casting Wingardium Leviosa at River

This day was just simply a bad one. Perhaps the morning had set her off on the wrong foot or something? After forgetting her book, and nearly stumbling into a group of second years on her way down the stairs like a bowling ball, her brain had just simply left it’s station and fled off somewhere else. Somewhere far, far away from River’s own body, with no way to know she could have really needed the help of her mind today.

As the sneezing continued on, making her nose feel slightly sore, she could feel a headache was on it’s merry way. Suddenly, something, hit her right in the chest, and threw her back. River flew through the air in what seemed like minutes, before her small body hit the floor with a great thud.
Ouch! She grabbed the back of her head, which was throbbing after hitting the floor.
She sat up carefully.
I’m not giving up! I’d rather collapse in front of everyone than do that, I want one more attempt at that one spell again... She thought, as she got to her wobbly feet, aimed her wand and called out «Incendio!»

Action: River attempts to cast incendio at Hengist

The round

Now this duel was finally starting to get interesting. For the first time, one of Hengist's spells went astray. Zahid couldn't help but wonder at the choice of spell as River hadn't dodged a spell yet but maybe he'd grown cocky with his successes so far... Or he just wanted to experiment when he was comparatively safe in the duel? Well, creative spell use always made for the more intriguing duels.

The girl's tenacity on the other hand was admirable and it seemed to finally pay off as she hit him with her Incendio almost before she was back on her feet.

Hengist attempts to cast Wingardium Leviosa. Spell misses.
River attempts to cast Incendio. Spell hits.
Hengist is not aflame.
River to post first.

Yes! Finally, I can give myself a little credit for at least hitting one spell during this duel. *Achoo* River smiled slightly through the sneeze, she was proud, even though she’d been thrown around and barely done any magic, she was still quite content with herself, and her opponent too.

Did River feel bad for hitting him though? Not really, there was perhaps a tiny bit of an urge to apologize. Still, when thinking of how the duel had been going so far, River really had no reason to feel bad.

She could feel the atmosphere around her changing as a gush of wind, as Hengist’s spell flew right by her. He missed, she looked at Hengist, a little shocked. This was his first time missing. first time for everything I guess. Her spell had hit him, though, he was not aflame. Right, what to do next?, she thought, and with barely any hesitation, she aimed her wand and exclaimed «Rictusempra».

Action: River attempts to cast Rictusempra! at Hengist