Haunted Halls Fall Ball

Action: standing closer to Yasha, relatively prepared for whatever will happen next
Moderated action: none
Sta 7 • Eva 7 • Str 8 • Wis 9 • Arc 8 • Acc 7

Fearless (Y1)|Calming Presence (Y2)

Roleplaying as iNPC Quentin Gagné of Beauxbatons
English | Français
interacting with @Linda Ramirez
outfit: a simple black suit

Thankfully, Linda followed Quentin into the room, and she didn't let go of his hand.

You can keep holding my hand if you don't mind me holding yours.

That familiar hop in his stomach was back. "I'd love nothing more than to hold your hand." He gave a wide grin, but it quickly diminished as he remembered that they were playing some kind of game, and a girl was swallowed up by the floor. "Do you think that girl is okay? Should we be looking for her?" It could be that's what the groups were doing—going deeper into the rooms to find the girl. Was it race? Which door had an advantage? Or were they all working together? Quentin hoped that the girl was in fact part of the puzzle, and not some unrelated misfortune that they should be informing an adult about.

In the room in front of them were a series of objects, and some kind of number combination they needed to guess. Quentin didn't really see the connection between an eight-legged bug next to one leg, one clown riding a three-wheeled contraption, five rings, and a clock stuck on eight. To Linda and the whole middle room group, he declared, "I think the objects have to be a red herring. Just creepy stuff to trick us. If no one else has any combination ideas, I'll start with one, two, three, four and work my way through all the combinations."

Calming presence: active on everyone
Action: doing as threatened if no one else puts in the correct combo (and still holding Linda's hand!)

Zach entered the right door as the first person to open it. Without thinking too much or assessing the condition inside, Zach cast Purple Firecrackers-Conjuration Charm. "Violaceous." His wand vibrated and made a loud crack in the end. "Oof!" The boy with pink hair exclaimed. It followed with a giggle and turned out to bring the attention to him. Some girls, perhaps first-years, approached him. One asked if he was okay while the other asked what he was trying to do with the spell. "I'm okay, don't worry," Zach grinned at them. "It's Purple Firecrackers-Conjuration Charm. Such a long name, haha. This spell could conjure purple fire-crackers, obviously. I remember it could also show any hidden things." Zach gave them the explanation. "Well, I didn't use this spell often, maybe that's the reason it's backfired." He giggled again. "And yeah, I'm a prefect. I know you guys from Ravenclaw. Please be careful. Prepare your wand ready because things could happen unexpectedly." @Maisie Gemmell @Silva Melinora

Zach then responded to Raizel. "You try it, huh," he challenged the girl. Mischief and mockery could be seen on his face, things that seldomly appeared from him. Not in a bad way, it was just when Zach was comfortable enough around her. The boy looked around to get a glimpse of Sere. He wondered what she would think about this embarrassing backfire. @Raizel Voltrouz @Sere Nade

Zach followed the group to look at the clue until he heard Raizel call his name. He also heard a familiar voice and another mockery. "Huh?" Zach looked behind. "Alyssea!" @Alyssea Brown His face lit up until he saw the person who was with her and what they were doing. "Ew?!" He exclaimed. "You are holding hands? Are you dating? Mom said we shouldn't date before we graduate." He told all of that to Alyssea with a disbelief face. "And who are you?" He looked at the boy suspiciously. Maybe the danger wasn't the room. Maybe he was the danger. A danger to his friendships. @Ulysses Drake

There was another girl in the room @Colby Vidler. She was different from the Ravenclaw girls. While they were thinking and suggesting, this girl was the most vocal, somewhat leading them and taking action. "It could be the answer." He agreed with the girls and left them to take further action and decision while himself having this thought to try something else.

Open to Interaction
Mention: People in this post
Statistics: sta 7 | eva 9 | str 3 | wis 10 | arc 8 | acc 12
Abilities: Prodigal Charms | Blindvision | Healing Sage
Action: Casting Lepidterio because why not.

Banner was made by Zach Zaphiere

Date	:	October 19th, 2024
Color code	:	Written|Thought|Said

Following Zach and Raizel to enter the right door, Sere found a rectangular vacant with many items displayed all over the room. Her eyes traced every detail of the objects as well as the layout of the room itself. Strange, I see no exit. If this room was narrow, people with claustrophobic would definitely feel very uncomfortable.

Sere could only raise her eyebrows in surprise when she saw Zach @Zach Zaphiere randomly cast a spell that created purple firecrackers. What's in his mind actually? Without her full consent, her feet reflexively took a few steps back from Zach. Then, that random spell was failed to cast. Fortunately there was no significant impact from the failure. Sere created a very little smile when hearing Raizel and Zach jokingly mocked each other. Such a cute friendship.

One thing that Sere just realized was Zach's popularity. Well, it seemed like almost everyone in this room knew him. Starting from two girls Maisie Gemmell & @Silva Melinora that Zach said they were also from Ravenclaw, to the girl @Alyssea Brown who came with a boy @Ulysses Drake and made Zach -also Raizel- immediately divert their attention to this couple. Sere gave some attention as well and approached Raizel @Raizel Voltrouz, whispered just to ask "Feels like I've seen the girl somewhere. Who are those two? A dating couple?"

Sere then focused back on the room and found a mural under her feet. The other students had already said the answer to the riddle clearly. It was indeed pretty easy, the bald eagle must be the right answer. Sere approached the student that seemed to sniffing and then rubbing her nose earlier, that now had reached out the stuffed bald eagle @Colby Vidler, and said, "Yep, I think that's the answer." also briefly introduced herself, "I'm Sere by the way. Second year Hogwarts student."

Sere saw the brown-haired Ravenclaw girl that noticed Zach earlier about to put the stuffed bald eagle under the mural @Maisie Gemmell. She nodded again, agreeing with the girl's action from some distance. "And then what?" Sere had no clue about what to do after solving the riddle, but what concerned her more was what kind of thing would happen next, so she kept her wand and her senses ready.

Action : Agreeing with everyone that choose 'Bald Eagle' as the answer of the riddle. Still, preparing herself to cast Flipendo if only something jumped to anybody in the room.
Interacting with : Basically everyone.

Thing(s) : Her Wand
Stats : STA 9 (+4)| EVA 8| STR 4 | WIS 8 | ACC 8 | ARC 7
Abilities : Statistically Relevant (STA) | Statistically Relevant (STA)

As the students split off into their own groups and cliques, one by one they began to make progress. It was astounding, frankly, and if one were to walk in they’d witness a group of the brightest minds from Hogwarts (and schools all around!) working furiously. They were quick to it - and soon they would reap what they sowed.

Middle Room:

In the middle room, a trio of three students was hard at work trying to crack the code. @Costanza Jewelweed was the first to come to a conclusion, entering the numbers 9385 into the lock. The lock doesn’t budge, refusing to open like a child rejecting their vegetables at dinner. But it gives a light hum, a small, subtle vibration. She is close. @Poppy Lytle gives it a go, but is also unsuccessful at cracking the code. Meanwhile, Quentin @Della Barfield is less patient and decides to enter any code possible starting with 1, 2, 3, 4 since none of their companions could crack the code. The lock, of course, doesn’t budge at all. It seems they will be there for a while.

Left Room:

Meanwhile, the group in the left room seemed to be having more success. @Aly Salinger is confident in her answer of “CLOAK” and steps on the corresponding tiles with ease and grace. The girl doesn’t seem to have much fear of what could happen if she were wrong - but she doesn’t have to worry. Yasha @EmmaLee LeDames is prepared to cast a spell to save Aly in case anything happens. But they won’t have to! The tiles click and glow, a soft, comforting, golden glow. Aly was correct. The next door in front of them creeks open. What will they do now? Go forward, or right?


Right Room:

The right room seemed to harbor the most visitors. The students are puzzled by their surroundings, but seemed to pick up on the clues quickly. The eagle plushie stares back at the group with blank, unfeeling, goofy looking eyes as the students scrutinize it. @Maisie Gemmell is the first to make a guess, guessing ‘bald eagle.’ @Silva Melinora, @Alyssea Brown, and @Sere Nade all seem to agree with her. If the bald eagle stuffie were sentient, it’d probably be sweating nervously now. As the group came to a consensus, @Colby Vidler reached for the plush eagle. Placing a hand on the toy, she could feel that it felt soft and slightly ragged on the surface, perhaps indicating age. How old was the toy? Who knows? It seemed almost ancient. As soon as the girl’s palm came in contact with the plushie, the doors in front of them gave a loud, tremendous groan as it clicked and opened. Which door would they choose now - left or forward?

Meanwhile, @Zach Zaphiere decided to cast lepidterio.

Reducio

[d20 : 14] + 10 = 24 success

This time, he was successful, filling the room with distractingly beautiful butterflies.

OOC INFORMATION:

Reducio

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"the night beckons...will you succumb? fear not her cold, icy touch, but her unforgiving gaze."

Confrontation was the last thing he could think about the response from Alyssea's date. But there he was, releasing the holding hands and moving closer to Zach, so close that their chest bumped. Zach was flustered and scared and didn't expect such an aggressive act from the boy. Fight or flight response was triggered as the distance between their faces was so close. Not 'fight', Zach wasn't a fighter himself. His body immediately chose the 'flight', taking some steps back and hiding behind Raizel. His heart beat so fast, as a response of fear and something else that he didn't know what that was. "Don't do violence at me or my friend here will whack your butt," Zach said to the boy @Ulysses Drake. "Show him, Raizel." He nudged Raizel's back @Raizel Voltrouz.

But then Alyssea stepped in to break the tension, telling them that they were just hanging out for the ball @Alyssea Brown. "Is that so? Then I'm sorry for my... uh... words that might hurt you in any ways." Zach gave the boy an awkward smile @Ulysses Drake. Zach thought of something that might help him out of this awkward situation. "Uh... Lepidterio." Butterflies were conjured out of thin air. "Butterflies!" he shouted before running towards Sere direction @Sere Nade.

He stood near Sere after that and didn't dare to stand closer to the boy. The answer to the riddle was also right and there were other opened doors ahead, forcing them to choose left or forward. Zach asked Sere, "What door should we choose now?" He lowered his voice, barely whispering, "It would be better if we choose a different door than that boy." @Sere Nade Zach quickly averted his gaze after taking a glance at him, not wanting eye contact with Alyssea's scary date @Ulysses Drake.

Open to Interaction
Mention: Tagged people in this post
Statistics: sta 7 | eva 9 | str 3 | wis 10 | arc 8 | acc 12
Abilities: Prodigal Charms | Blindvision | Healing Sage
Action: To be decided

There had been a coalescence of agreement around the bald eagle. A small smile of confidence crept over her face. Despite the daily practice that being a Ravenclaw provided, Maisie never thought herself the best at riddles. But now, there was a concensus around the answer she'd put forward.

In that moment, she heard another firstie (@Silva Melinora) who she had seen around the common room introduce herself and rather timidly at that. "Maisie," she introduced herself in return with a nod. A girl had gone missing—that was true—but Maisie didn't really see any reason to be as nervous as this girl seemed. You'd never get through any adventure without some faith in yourself. She shrugged.

Meanwhile, the boy (@Zach Zaphiere) they'd rushed towards revealed himself indeed to be a prefect, who urged them to have wands at the ready. "Right you are," Maisie replied holding her wand up, ready as ever. She might not know nearly as many spells as probably most people here, but she could certainly try.

It was just then that another girl (@Colby Vindler) placed her hand on the bald eagle. Almost magically, a door opened in response straight ahead of them. Others may have been considering which way to go, but for Maisie if they were going to get that girl back, there was only one choice: forward.

Attempting to light her wand with a simple Lumos charm, Maisie headed through the door that had been revealed to them as bright butterflies filled the room.

Interacting with tagged folks.
Open to interactions.
Action: Heading through our new door (forward) with a Lumos charm.
Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 2 | Wisdom: 7 | Arcane Power: 4 | Accuracy: 8
The Muggle Condition

| @Dealla Prince | @Aly Salinger |

┏		┓
	As far as Madhup was concerned, summer camp had been an interview. His shining personality had nabbed Dee's eye at the dance, while his vainglorious performance in Quidditch had earned an introduction. A night of back-and-forths about life, the universe, and everything had won him this spot at her side. Determined to keep on proving himself, he happily executed his role as Mister Utility. He had essential oils to fight the funk threatening his date's sense of smell, and when she started sneezing, he yanked the pocket square from his coat to offer with a flourish. "No problem," Mad purred through a smile, satisfied with his contribution. Using his whole self to shield her might have been a bit "much", he realized, unfolding his arms from around Dee's head. That smarmy grin wavered into sheepishness as he smoothed a stray hair for her. "If you wanted to cuddle, you could have just said so." And just like that, the posh act was gone. His lower lip stuck out in mock pleading. "...can we?" But it would have to wait. This wasn't exactly a romantic venue, given the stink goop and student-eating floor. He settled for holding hands as they traversed the Hall, back to being blissfully untroubled. A much more pleasant surprise came next. "Aly!" The Durmstrang guy's focus fell on the girl waving back, recognition kicking in after a few seconds of staring. Dee introduced her as a best friend and, to Mad's absolute delight, introduced him as "the terror of Durmstrang Quidditch", yet somehow, the best friend title felt like the more formidable of the two. He knew he wanted to make an impression. Apparently, he already had. "Wait - nogtail shit bloke?" "Big head girl!" he gushed back, all glowing grin and Russian accent, gesturing at the massive curls he had to lean around during their time in the bleachers. She was astonishingly pretty, but if she was as brilliant as Dee described, he was going to have to work double-time to impress them both. Mad approached enthusiastically only to fumble between knowing whether a hug or handshake was in order. Ultimately, he settled on offering a knuckle bump. "It is nice to meet a friend of Dee's. And a Quidditch player? I Chase." For all his nonchalance, his heart had lurched, only settling when she confirmed they hadn't played against each other. Mad had a reputation for playing the heel in games. The last thing he needed was running into an old opponent he had called some stupid insult, or bodily bludgeoned into unconsciousness. "I thought maybe you were a green-eyed 'fan' too. Already we have things in common." He lowered his glasses to the bridge of his nose for a wink. They were sunken with stress shadows, likely why he was keeping them covered, though the circumstances of the foreign schools' arrival surely spoke for itself. Mad turned to toss in context: "We cheered for you at your race. I said some..." he waggled his hand in a so-so gesture "...probably, not good things about the green team." Shouting profanity and wishing injury on one's opposing team was just what one did at sporting events. "This will be better together. Three heads to a Runespoor, right?" The colorful analogy didn't account for the fact that each head had its own role: the analyzer, the planner, and the dreamer. Maybe it was more apt than even he realized. In a display of both reasoning and chivalry, Madhup thrust his wand towards the leftmost door. The only trouble was that he held it in an entire fist, jabbing it forth with all the grace of a teenager poking something with a stick. When Dee helpfully readjusted his fingers, he flashed one of those grateful smiles, muttering "Ah. Right. Thank you." Mad cleared his throat and announced the incantation with bravado. To his immense relief, it swung open. There was no bucket of goo or spiders on top, no apparent trap set off, but he was pleased to prove he could cast in front of the witches. He gestured onward with a sweeping two-handed motion. On they went, Aly lighting the way with a spell as a trail of unfamiliar faces followed (@Lindsey Springhall, @EmmaLee LeDames as Yasha Volkov and @Linda Ramirez as Kaya Bennet). The riddle work was left to Aly. Sufficient as his grasp of English was for conversation, he wasn't going to try unpacking this. Unsurprisingly, Dee's friend tackled it with all the efficiency he'd come to expect from a blue-wearing Hogwarts student. Impressed, Mad pursed his lips and golf clapped, nodding in approval as the doors swung ajar. "Hmmm... no more of the 'stay left' rule," he mused, leaving the choice to someone else this time. "Forward, or right?"
┗		┛

chilling
Calming Presence allies: Dealla Prince & Durmstrang students or staff