Haunted Halls Fall Ball

Yasha raised an eyebrow as his spell revealed some set-up markings. Well, it didn't seem there was much to this first room and he couldn't decide if that was surprising or not.

What was surprising was the distinct THUMP of someone stamping the floor in the dark, and then another THUMP as, probably a different foot, kicked the wall. What kind of children go to a game and then throw a temper tantrum in the dark? Use your brains and your wands for Rasputin's sake.

It seemed the house agreed with him as there was a distinct, ominous change to the air. Yasha moved to wrap his arm protectively around Kaya. "Don't move." He said as the ground began to shake and while he couldn't see anything, he heard the shifting of the floor like a sinkhole opening up, a scream that reverberated throughout the room, and then the sound of the hole closing up with a shoop. He swore in Russian as the lights in the room flicked on.

It wasn't even like anyone knew who was taken because of the darkness. A girl, obviously. "Do not abuse the building, apparently." He said flatly to no one in particular, rubbing the space between his eyebrows with his index finger and thumb in frustration. Once he had a look around at the shabby surroundings now bathed in the dull light of way too many lamps for the room, he released Kaya from his protective grasp and turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Shall we pick a door then?" He asked with a small smirk as others seemed to have the same idea. One older student (Madhup) seemed to have the right idea in not opening the door and sticking their head in immediately and Yasha nudged Kaya that way. If she protested, he would follow of course, but it would do well to stick with people who had some intelligence and skills with a wand if the structure was going to be swallowing them. "Let us go that way." He said, readying his wand once more and waiting to see if the door would let them through unscathed.

If there was darkness once again waiting on the other side of the door, his personal plan was to cast Lumos and at least have some light to see if anyone succumbed to a sinkhole once more or was otherwise attacked by the now upset entity, or, if they were met with a lit room, he would cast Revelio once more on the room and search for any clues.

ACTION:
Attempting to protect Kaya from nothing, choosing the left door, but waiting to see if Madhup's spell does anything.

MODERATED ACTION:
If the next room is dark, cast LUMOS.
If the next room is lit, cast REVELIO.

ABILITIES AND STATS:

Keeper's Catch | Inapplicable Quidditch Ability
Perfectionist 1/2 | Immune to critical failure.

STAMINA: 12 | EVASION: 12 | STRENGTH: 3 | WISDOM: 4 | ARCPOWER: 3 | ACCURACY: 13

INVENTORY: Wand, Black handkerchief,

Standing permission to godmod given between Kaya and Yasha's writers.

Interacting with: @costanza jewelweed
Word count: 230
Outfit description: here

Reducio

Stats: Stamina: 5, Evasion: 6, Strength: 4, Wisdom: 7, Arcane Power: 7, Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Perfectionist (immune to crit failure at this moment due to no increased chance)
Inventory: Wand, sharp hair pin

Poppy did stomp too hard, and it did very much hurt. The floor was hard, and there weren't any hidden mechanisms there, so the pain was for nothing. it made Poppy want to scream. However, she didn't want to seem weak with so many people around, so she swallowed her pain before feeling a rush of panic as the other girl was swallowed by the floor. That could've been her. The room shifted when she stepped down hard, it almost took her with the other kid. She could only be glad she wasn't taken as survivors guilt set in.

She had to find that other girl. It was her duty now that she made the same mistake but was left standing while the poor girl wasn't.

Poppy ran up to the middle door to stay behind the older girl going that way. She recognized her from hogwarts which was comforting. Poppy wanted to be with a capable (which to her currently just meant older) student, preferably one from her house, but one from her school worked well. "I'll back you up," Poppy announced to the fellow hogwarts student.

She maybe didn't have many spells, or the same skills as the older student. She wasn't given gifted with a special talent, but she wasn't going to back down. She was going to outwit this maze, doing whatever it takes.

Action:

• casting Verdimillious if the room is dark
• casting Curse of the Bogies if animal/person on the other side (she may be a little paranoid due to the hogesmade incident)
• if neither investigating the other room

—post tracker [ 1 | 2 | 3 ]

She felt around in the water. Ugh. Just a lot of unidentified goop. She heard the other girl say she was Costanza. She didn't seem happy to be having an interaction with Silva. She sighed. Maybe this person hadn't been good to approach. "Sorry for bothering you...."

Just as she was about to stand again a boy came over. "Umm no.. the puddles are just gross......" She stood up and smiled awkwardly. She hesitated and then added "The towel would be gr-" All of a sudden the ground shifted. EARTHQUAKE!!!! She threw herself down and clung to the wet floor. A scream pierced the night and the movement stopped.

She slowly pushed herself up and looked around. Wait a sec. Where was that girl who had kicked the wall? She was just gone. She stared around horrified. The older students had seemed immediately to know what to do. Several had put their arms around the people they were with to protect them and were only now releasing them. Some of them even seemed to be enjoying the fear. Someone made a remark about not hurting the building. Did this kind of thing happen a lot at Hogwarts?

She saw people were already beginning to move to different doors. An older boy had gone to the left. She knew his left hand rule was good. She also saw Costanza going to the middle and another first year following her. "Hey... wait... we should come up with a strategy..." She awkwardly looked around at everyone moving about. What if the house got mad again and swallowed someone else.

If anyone turned towards her she'd pull out a piece of soaked chalk from her dress and say "Umm... to get through a maze you follow the left side, but that only works if the maze follows a regular pattern... Some mazes have loops around the center or are broken up irregularly so they need a more complicated method." She hesitated, wondering if anyone was actually going to listen to her "I mean... I know it's just doors so far but.... still we want to be smart about this..."


Action: Trying to get people to slow down and strategize
No moderated action

Inventory:
Soggy dress
Soggy chalk
Soggy sneakers
Soggy paper
Pencil

Role-playing as approved Castlelobruxo iNPC Ariam Vargas
Open to interactions

Ariam's laugh at their friend's expression of frustration was quickly cut off by the ominous rumbling of the room, then replaced by a scream upon seeing what happened. The floor under Acacia opened up, she herself falling into the opening. Ariam reached out and tried to grab her but they just weren't quick enough. The floor closed up again right after Acacia fell through, not giving Ariam even a chance to see if she landed safely.

Ariam's attempt to see the room more clearly did pay off, they managed to see three doors at the end of the room, along with some furniture. Though they still had a court mood. That had to be part of the game obviously, but after that whole attack at their arrival made Ariam feel far more paranoid than usual. They even started getting some nightmares for gods sake! All we have to do would be to finish the game right? Then we can get Acacia back, okay I got this. Ariam walked over to the three doors after giving themselves that pep talk they needed.

After some thought they decided on the middle door, based on nothing but a feeling, hoping that they will get their friend back soon. They decided to cast Alohomora on the door before trying to open it and see what's in it.

Word Count 223/200

Aly's solitude only lasted a few moments before students began to flood into the courtyard behind her - mostly younger folk, though a few in her year and even some familiar faces mixed amongst the unfamiliar. She felt some of them glance her way, not an alien sensation as of late - with her newfound stardom from Headliner writing, summer-camp planning, Quidditch seekerdom, and a host of Outstanding O.W.L.s, she wasn't an unknown anymore.

Even though most of the faces didn't ring bells in Aly's mind, a few did, and the Ravenclaw was glad to see some of her mates in attendance. The first to show was none other than @Lindsey Springhall, a Hufflepuff who had always seemed to mutually float in Aly's orbit as much as Aly had in hers. Aly turned at the sound of Lindsey's voice, matching her friend's energy with a bright smile - as bright as she could, in this dark room, anyways. "Lindsey! Oh, thank Merlin, I was beginning to think I was the only sixth-year here," she said with an exaggerated sigh of relief, reaching out to cheerfully squeeze the Hufflepuff's shoulder with one hand in some semblance of a one-palmed hug. The girl in front of her had chosen not necessarily to match the theme, but to stand out from the crowd in a very Muggle-esque green vest and matching miniskirt; though Aly loved a good theme, she could respect a spotlight moment, and Lindsey could pull it off more than most! "I love your outfit too," she gushed. "That colour looks so good on you!"

As she took a glance around the room, her green gaze adjusting to the space enough to spot three doors within the darkness, Aly finally settled upon a pair of elder students who seemed to have just entered - one face more known to her than the other. The Prince had arrived, and Aly waved enthusiastically at @Dealla Prince as if she hadn't just seen her half an hour ago. The best mates had taken to always getting ready together for school dances, but that didn't mean that Dee wasn't as equally breathtaking now as she had been back in the Ravenclaw dormitories: a vision in a maroon dress-coat-thing, the likes of which Aly had never seen. Aly made a mental note to develop the photograph of the two of them that she'd taken back in their dorm so she could hang it beside her bed - with both of them looking their best, this wasn't a night she was likely to want to forget. (So far, anyway.) As for the boy on Dee's arm (@Pericles Dralt as Madhup Hexum), Aly did vaguely recognise him as the Durmstrang boy she'd heard so much about - Madison, maybe? He'd also dressed in that same burgundy shade, bringing an unconscious grin to Aly's face. Good. Dee deserved someone who was going to step up for her, in fashion and in everything else. The Ravenclaw Seeker was going to go make her way over to the pair to say hi, more than just a very fast-paced wave, but then, as was likely to happen at a Hogwarts ball, things began to occur.

One of the younger girls who had seemed to be looking Aly's way, a small likely first-year in a sparkly black dress (@Poppy Lytle), stomped on the ground near her; at the same time, another younger girl who, judging by the accent, didn't seem to be from Hogwarts (@Cass Ito as Acacia Murillo) kicked the wall. Instantly, the atmosphere in the place was different - Aly could feel it as strongly as if she'd been electrically zapped by some Muggle technology, leaving a burn on her mind rather than on her skin. A scream tore through the air, as raw and as painful as a stab wound, and Aly's gaze flicked immediately over to the latter of the two younger girls just in time to catch a glimpse of her as the floor opened up and swallowed her whole.

The breath left Aly's lungs in a fraction of a second, some invisible, irresistible force pressing down on her chest from all sides. No. No - not again! She rushed to the spot where the foreign girl had vanished into the cold cobblestone, pressing her hands into the rock as if to tear it apart with her own fingers, but it had resealed itself as solidly as if it had never opened up at all. Clicks emanated from the three doors she had noticed earlier, and Aly's head jerked up to look at them.

Whether this was planned by the ball committee or another horrible accident as so often befell Hogwarts' events, there was only one thing to do: go through the maze and save the girl.

Her peers began to flock towards the doors, and Aly scrambled up off the dirty floor and followed. The boy on Dee's arm was heading for the left door, and Aly took a single step to follow, half-torn between protecting the younger years and making sure her best mate ended up all right. Seeing as how her close friends had ended up at the end of the last Hogwarts ball, care for her loved ones won out, and Aly too continued on towards the left door. She withdrew her wand from her pocket and whispered under her breath, "Lumos Duo." If they were going to be wandering into dark halls, the least she could do is provide a beam of light by which to see.

Interactions: Open Speech: #926f34

Date: October 19th Location: Courtyard

Boots: x

- Haunted Halls -

If Acacia's opinions on Hogwarts had been at rock bottom before, they were about to break through into the void now. Before all of the chaos though, she had been peacefully (or as peacefully as Acacia got) making conversation with the other people who had also decided to tackle the "haunted" house-maze-thing. Some of them didn't seem to share her opinions though @Colby Vidler. "Yeah right" she scoffed "why would you put these weird-ass puddles in a ball? Not all of us can afford to replace every dress we wear every time it gets stained with who-knows-what". At least Ariam @Aston Beckett didn't seem to have lost every inch of brains they had just because the event had been advertised as a big fancy ball. "Ew" she said in response "Those candles sucked. We totally could do way better though. It's certainly not hard". They had echoed her own thoughts.

A girl @Poppy Lytle stomping on the floor made her laugh, but didn't put her off from doing her own bit of abuse towards the house. She hadn't really intended to kick the wall that hard- it had sort of just happened. She didn't really hear the noise either, or feel the floor doing whatever it did. "What ar-" she began to say, her voice getting cut off by the scream that came out of her mouth when the floor opened up beneath her. Then she was falling, down down down, to who knows where. She didn't have a lot of brainpower left to processing what had happened at the moment, most of it being taken up by all that panicking that one understandably did when being pretty much eaten by a random floor that 5 seconds ago she had been thinking was completely safe.

Action: Attempting to not break all her bones upon landing
Muggle condition | Chasers Interception
Stamina: 8 | Evasion: 8 | Strength: 8 | Wisdom: 6 | Arcane power: 0 | Accuracy: 10

Zach gave Sere a wide grin. His teeth would reflect any incoming light to them and blind everyone if only there was any light there. "I tried to dye my hair pink. What do you think?" Zach shook his head like a dog after its bath.

Zach could hear the explanation from the second year but did he really listen to her? Perhaps. He was too focused to look inside the building. His wand was ready in his right hand. He stepped inside with a slightly trembling hand, imagining any worst case that could happen inside while the logical part of his brain looked for any useful spell he could do. Then Sere said something about 'creeping creatures'. "What?" Zach looked around. And Sere was right. "Ew ew ew!!" Zach wanted to use Incendio so much but he still had his sanity intact so he gave up on this intrusive thought.

Then he heard something, something so shocking that could make his heart run from his chest. "AAAAAAA!!!" Zach screamed. Sere also almost used Knockback Jinx towards the surprise source. "Raizel!" Zach giggled. "You are here too?! Cool cool!" Zach exclaimed. "The more the merrier!"

Then Sere explain about the building. "So this is part of the Ball?" Zach tilted his head. "Well... Let's see..." Zach cast Revelio to check around. But nothing he could find except the puddles. "Nothing..." Zach said to the girls. Sere also cast something. However, nothing happened at her place. It was like that until the sound of screaming could be heard in the room. "What is that?" Zach tried to look at the source of the sound, but he couldn't see anything.

The room lit up. There were three doors, each Zach didn't know where will the door would lead them. "What door should we choose to enter?" Zach asked to both Sere and Raizel.

Open to Interaction
Mention: @Sere Nade & @Raizel Voltrouz
Statistics: sta 7 | eva 9 | str 3 | wis 10 | arc 8 | acc 12
Abilities: Prodigal Charms | Blindvision | Healing Sage
Action: Enter one of the door (to be decided, if it's too late, put him in random door). If possible, cast a Violaceous after entering the door.

❂ ⌜ Fall Ball: Haunted Halls ⌟ ❂ ❂ October 19, 2024 ▎ --:-- ❂

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“Okay, woah, woah, easy now!” Raizel responded to the sudden wand point from the younger Gryffindor, raising both her hands in front of her with a nervous grin on her face. She didn’t expect for her surprised greeting to work this well but maybe she shouldn’t have done that. With a scary vibe like this, people will get a bit jumpy and sometimes, that leads to accidents. Luckily, Sere didn’t finish her spell. She just just came out of the Hospital Wing earlier, she’s not going back there to get herself treated again. The older Gryffindor chuckled as Sere apologized. “What? The walking dead?” she wondered out loud but she didn’t let that thought linger.

“Yeah, nothing much is going on.” She said, crossing her arms as she took a look around her surroundings. Nothing weird so far, maybe a couple of nasty things on the floor and she’d rather not find out what those are by stepping on them. Then her gaze fell on her two companions that were trying out spells, maybe to find out what else they could do here or maybe to find something hidden in the shadows, in those walls or beneath the floors like some sort of secret passage. She won’t be surprised if they found anything but judging by Zach’s reaction, there was nothing. No secrets here. To be honest, what were they supposed to do here again? Did they give them an objective? If they do, then she has completely forgotten about it.

She kept close to the two, wherever they go she will follow. If they wanted her to cast spells, then why not. That was when a low rumbling resounded throughout the whole room, and then… a scream broke out, a loud one at that. Instincts kicked in. For a brief moment, her thoughts went back to that incident, like she was back there in Hogsmeade once more, hearing the screams, the cries, seeing the fires and the smoke. That made her draw her wand, preparing for what’s to come until she realizes that she probably was overreacting. She looked towards the direction where she thinks the scream came from but she can’t really see that well with dim lighting, touching the back of her neck.

Did she imagine all that? No, she did not, Zach heard it as well. “Beats me.” she shrugged, holding onto her wand this time instead of returning it to her coat’s pocket. Who knows when she’ll need it. She looked back at her two companions and then to the door before them. “I don’t know. Maybe just pick one randomly. That'll be fun.”

▪ ▫ ◙ 439/200 ◙ ▫ ▪
▪ ▫ ◙ Dialogue | #800000 ◙ ▫ ▪

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◘ ◘ ❂ Interactions: @Zach Zaphiere | @Sere Nade | @ - Open ◘ ◘ ❂ Mentions: @ | @ | @

Outfit Reducio

Items Reducio Wand Enchanted Satchel Potions: See Inventory

STATS AND ABILITIES STA: 7 | EVA: 8 | STR: 3 | WIS: 10 | ARC: 8 | ACC: 10 Prod. Charms | Perfectionist | Fearless

Action I am a chaperone. I follow Zach and Sere wherever they go... for now...