Final Task Pericles, Dealla, Aly The Wizarding Schools Potions Championship

@Aly Salinger | @Pericles Dralt

Earlier during the brewing section of the championship, Dee had been... uncharacteristically nervous. Who could blame her? Mopsus potion was anything but easy to brew, and she'd only done it once before. But she was as confident as she could be that they had done every step correctly. Had never doubted it, really. Her fingers moved to the two phials that were safely strapped to her belt, in easy reach for her to use them, lingering on the smooth crystal for only a moment. Nope, not a doubt.

She was bouncing on her feet now, her ponytail jumping with her, and peered through the greenhouse door into the dome, not that there was much for her to see through the thick vegetation. Their mystery item was, apparently, a fruit - a fruit that seemed nearly indistinguishable from a swooping evil cocoon, and Dee knew neither the fruit nor the creature well enough to be even halfway confident about distinguishing them.

"So... invisibility first, right?" From what she'd heard muttered around, swooping evils ate brains and could turn you insane with their poison, and neither of those sounded very enticing. Better not get noticed while they tried to get a closer look. A quick discussion ensued, but it didn't take long for them to come up with a rough strategy. The rest they'd have to adapt on the fly, but if there were two people at this school that Dee trusted blindly, it was Aly and Pericles.

Upon confirmation from her team mates, Dee slipped the phial from her belt, then shot her friends a quick grin. "Let's not get eaten, eh?"

The first step through the door took her from frigid Scottish autumn air into the damp, muggy climate of a rain forest. Breathing immediately got harder, the air seeming much thicker and... wet. "Ew," she muttered, then flicked the stopper off the potion and downed its content without hesitation. Now... quick and quiet, and hopefully they'd be gone again before any evil decided to get a taste of her brain.

Bonus Action | Drink Invisibility Potion
Action | Sneak closer to the fruit baskets!

Aly was certainly not about sitting around brewing potions - the action, the nitty-gritty, the hands-in-the-dirt was more her style. Sneaking around was something she'd grown quite good at in the last few years, and she also quite enjoyed finding things she wasn't supposed to; her eyes, keener since the summer after a decision to play Seeker for Ravenclaw. Between the three's athleticism, potion-brewing abilities, and penchant for getting themselves into (and, hopefully, out of) trouble, it seemed that the task had been made for them, and she reached up to tighten her ponytail as the bronze-and-blue trio approached the entrance to the makeshift greenhouse.

"Invisibility," she confirmed, taking the aforementioned silvery potion from where it had hung on one of her belt-loops since receiving the dose in the Great Hall after brewing it. It still smelled faintly of chicken, but then again, Aly had a feeling that the three birds would smell of that for days. "It'll make it difficult to see each other, but I think we'll be fine. Finely-honed team senses and years of friendship for the win, am I right?"

Aly followed her best mate through the door to the greenhouse, holding the door open for Peri behind her, and immediately followed her lead in downing the faintly chicken-scented silver brew. It bubbled on its way down, and as she recorked the vial into her belt loop, Aly began to glance around at the wicker baskets on the floor and hanging from the trees nearby. "Some have Swooping Evils, some have soursops, and very little way to tell them apart," she murmured. "Why don't I peek around at them and I can shout out to you which basket to go for? They won't even be able to see where the sound is coming from, so it should be safe. Here, you go that way, I'll go over here..."

| @Dealla Prince | @Aly Salinger |

┏		┓
	Pericles' mentality wavered between caution and curiosity, resulting in a state of restrained excitement. The event organizers had spared no spell in concocting an immersive experience, placing fifth-years and above in a dense jungle, challenging them to use only potions and wits for the task at hand. As deep as his faith was in his compatriots, the wizard couldn't shake a lingering sense of trepidation. He didn't doubt their collective abilities. All the same, there was no shortage of liability involved when multiple hands were tasked to one brew. It was always possible that one may have misheard or misunderstood an overly precise instruction. With so many moving variables, the chance of error increased. Pear made an effort not to get caught up in mental statistics. Instead, he honed in on the plan unfolding, slipping in after Aly and nodding along as the moment of truth slinked ever nearer. "I wouldn't risk disturbing them. Even if they can't see the source of the sound, we might send them into a panicked frenzy." He hesitated, looking over the path ahead with a pensive frown, deliberating their approach. "We could always link arms. Step soft, speak low, and levitate the lids. Use stealth to our advantage. That is... if the potion works. I s'pose we ought to start there. If worse comes to worse, I might be able to distract them." Fishing the silvery vial from his pocket, Pericles uncorked it with a thumb, then held it up with a suspenseful glance between Aly and Dee. "Cheers." He closed his eyes, scrunched his nose, and knocked the potion back.
┗		┛

Action - Sneak - Drink Invisibility Potion

Round: 1

Identifying the right fruit - WDC:27
Dealla:
d20(14)+15= 29 success
Aly:
25% chances of immediately find the fruit [16-20] (keen eyes):
d20=14
d20(9)+17=26
Pericle:
25% chances of immediately find the fruit [16-20] (keen eyes):
d20=15
d20(16)+14=30 success

Rolls for Swooping evil attacks:
10% chances that they will attack instead of 50% chances due to the invisibility potion [19-20].
There are 9 swooping evils around, 3 for each player.
Dealla:
d20=14
d20=10
d20=16
Non attacked Dealla
Aly:
d20=17
d20=20
d20=7
One of the Swooping Evils was able to sense Ally and would attack.
Pericles:
d20=10
d20=8
d20=3
Non attacked Pericles.

Swooping Evil acc:
d20(20)+15=35
Aly Eva:
d20(7)+11=18
200 damage and 50% chances of attacking herself or a teammate in the next round.

Summary:
- Dealla found the fruit and didn’t disturbed the swooping evils;
- Aly did not found the fruit but disturbed one of the creatures while searching for it and got bitten by one of them. [stamina: 800/1000] and [50% chances of attacking herself or a teammate in the next round].
- Pericles found the fruit without disturbing the swooping evils.

Important Reminder:
Moderations take place roughly weekly. The deadline for posting is six days (144 hours) after the moderation is posted. The word requirement is 200 words per post.

@Aly Salinger | @Pericles Dralt

"Communication via the power of friendship, we got this," Dee muttered as she watched her friends disappear next to her, each of them having swallowed their dose of invisibility. A glance at her own hand proved beyond any doubt that the potion had worked - she could barely make out her own silhouette, and only because she knew it must be there. "Freaky." On the plus side, this might be the best invisibiliy potion she'd ever brewed.

With careful steps, she approached the first cluster of... well, perhaps fruit, perhaps magical creatures that wanted to eat her. What a delightful high stakes guessing game! She paid attention to each step she placed, avoiding anything that might crunch beneath her soles, and tried not to be disoriented by her inability to see her own toes. Tripping over her own feet would probably be counterproductive. Luckily, the rainforest ground was mostly soft and spongy, with few leaves or twigs that would cause a disturbance. Instead, she could listen to her heart beating loudly in her ears, but she was reasonably certain the swooping evils wouldn't be able to notice that.

She stopped a safe distance away, squinting and trying to catalogue the differences between the cocoons. Fruit or brainsucking monster? There, that one had a slightly different shade of green, and did those look like sections that could unfurl? Once she was as sure as she was going to get that she had spotted the correct target, she turned to signal her friends - they really should have come up with a better communication method than the power of friendship - when she noticed one of the cocoons some distance away snapping open and swooping towards a slight shimmer in the air.

"Oh shit," Dee mouthed, now even more unwilling to make a sound that would attract attention. She crouched down a little as if she was not already invisible, her hand twitching towards her wand. It was time to snatch that soursop and get the hell out of here. Aly and Peri could handle themselves, she had faith in them. Without hesitating, her fingers found the second vial in her belt by touch, and she flicked it open and downed the sea green potion inside. If it worked, she should be able to gently levitate the fruit over, and then leave the same way she'd come.

Bonus Action | Drink Mopsus Potion
Action | Snatch soursop and sneak out!

This task was a bloody nightmare. Aly tried to look around and find soursops, whatever those looked like, but her inexperience with the fruit and with the Swooping Evils made them nearly impossible to distinguish between the two. She groaned in frustration. As if that weren’t bad enough, one of the giant ugly butterfly-like things uncoiled itself near her at the sound of her groan; Aly froze, but it was too late. The thing might not have been able to see her, but maybe it could sense her or something; too quick for her to grab her wand to defend herself, it swooped at Aly (Oh, so that’s where they get the name…) baring sharp teeth, and the sixth-year could only throw up her arms to try to fend it off. Unfortunately, flesh seemed far too tempting for it, even invisible, and its razor jaws sunk into her arm; Aly cried out in pain, perhaps alerting her teammates to her precarious plight, though luckily not any other Swooping Evils (at least for now).

You know, she’d rather liked butterflies before this, because of her Patronus. She was going to have to rethink that after this…

Clearly, she couldn’t fend off any of these creatures without magic, and she didn’t want to hurt them for loss of points. That left only one option - or, really, an anagram of option: potion! Aly pulled the second brew from her belt, uncorking it and chugging the greenish liquid, which tasted faintly of seafoam (though maybe that was just a placebo because of the colour). She would keep an eye out, taking a defensive pose and looking for any other diving Swooping Evils, because if she could control them from afar with her newly-acquired telekinetic powers, maybe she could keep any of them and any of her invisible teammates from getting injured. Plus, Dee looked like she was close to getting their main objective done. Aly was happy to play defence in the meantime…

| @Dealla Prince | @Aly Salinger |

┏		┓
	In the seconds after swigging down an invisibility potion, Pericles stood still, tensely waiting for the results to manifest. His doubt melted away as his fingertips faded into total translucency. "Freaky," he heard Dealla say somewhere to his left, and answered with an airy laugh. Pear had prior experience with the brew, but the batch they three had made together seemed to turn out especially well. Navigating through the Swooping Evils would be far safer out of sight. The risk at hand, however, remained all too real. Although Care of Magical Creatures was one of his electives, this particular beast wasn't introduced until seventh year. To prepare themselves for the final task, the Ravenclaws did what they did best: built a strategy based in independent research. Books were an easy go-to. Most valuable was the first-hand experience of Professor @Sabine Blumenthal, who had proved receptive to her student's extremely specific questions after class. What was the texture of their wings? Did they move when cocooned? Was there a trick to distinguishing them from soursops? He replayed her guidance in his mind as he crept towards the trees, each step softened by a roll from heel to toe. Pericles held his breath as he examined a potential prize. That was how he identified the thing- it was breathing, swelling and deflating with exhales so soft that they were nearly imperceptible. He repeated the process until certain that the pod he eyed was inanimate. The accompanying burst of euphoria was cut short by a cry, sending an icy jolt through his veins. It sounded like Aly, only he couldn't be sure. Pericles craned his neck, aiming a wide eye back in time to see one of the Evils on the move, gnashing its teeth. He wrenched out his wand. Their venom was said to drive the victim mad, and he wasn't about to risk getting too close to a classmate under the influence of a dangerous creature. That was a good way to lose an eye. Instead, he scoured the mock forest floor, looking for a disturbance in the dirt where his partner tread. "Reparifors." The incantation was ushered as a whisper, but there was a quiet force behind it, fueled by both the desire to win and urgency to help his friend.
┗		┛

Action - Cast Reparifors @ Aly - Attempt to help her escape

Round: 2

Pericles
Cast Reparifors at Aly. WDC: 11
d20(11)+14=25 Success
- Aly regains 50+10x8=130 stamina and 30% chances of attacking herself or a teammate, instead of 50% chances.
10% chances of a Swooping Evil attack [19-20]:
d20=3
d20=11
d20=17
- Non of them attacked
Mosps invasion:
1. Mosp vs Pericles
d20(13)+8=21
d20(17)+15=32
2. Mosp vs Pericles
d20(12)+8=20
d20(17)+15=32
3. Mosp vs Pericles
d20(2)+8=10
d20(11)+15=26
- He evaded all Mosps.

Aly
30% chances of attacking herself or one of her teammates [15-20]:
d20=10
- she managed to escape the poison effect.
10% chances of a Swooping Evil attack [19-20]:
d20=7
d20=13
d20=2
- Non attacked.
Mosps invasion
60% chances of auto-evade one of the mosps due to the mopsus potion effect. [9-20]:
d20=4 (doesn't evade)
1. Mosps vs Aly
d20(19)+8=27
d20(13)+11(+2)=26
- 50 damage
2. Mosps vs Aly
d20(3)+8=11
d20(1)+11(+2)= 14
- evades
3. Mosps vs Aly
d20(17)+8=35
d20(7)+11(+2)=20
- 50 damage
+2 potent invisibility potion

Dealla
60% chance of grabbing the soursop without being attacked [9-20]:
d20=1 crit failure
- I'll need to roll the attacks
10% chances of a Swooping Evil attack [19-20]:
d20=13
d20=8
d20=12
- Non attacked
Mosps invasion:
1. Mosp vs Dealla
Acc: d20(4)+8=12
Eva: d20(14)+16=30
- evades
2. Mosp vs Dealla
Acc: d20(14)+8=22
Eva: d20(19)+16=35
- evades
3. Mosp vs Dealla
Acc: d20(7)+8=15
Eva: d20(5)+16=21
- evades

Summary:
- Aly defeated the poison and did not attack anyone
- Aly got bitten by two Mosps and lost 100 stamina
- Pericle cast reparifors and helped Aly. Gave her 130 stamina and turn her chances of attacking herself or someone else to 30%.
- Dealla grabbed the fruit without disturbing the Swooping Evils.
- They all got out!

Important Reminder:
Moderations take place roughly weekly. The deadline for posting is six days (144 hours) after the moderation is posted. The word requirement is 200 words per post.

@Aly Salinger | @Pericles Dralt

That yell of pain had been Aly's. Dee flinched, her hands curling into fists in a visceral reaction at her friend's cry. She turned, instinct demanding that she go and help Aly, fight whatever was causing her pain. The wood of her wand dug into her palm - a wand that was all but useless, because uttering an incantation to cast a spell meant drawing attention to herself. But there was something else moving towards the source of the yell. Or, rather, someone, judging by the faint shimmer, the outline among the trees. Which meant that the best thing Dee could do was to get them the hell out of here, by completing their task.

Taking a deep breath, Dee turned back towards the cluster of swooping evils and soursops. Truly, their professors had an odd sense of humour. She focused on the fruit cocoon she had determined to be their target, trying to utilise the power of her... brain... to get it to move towards her. The thing twitched, just a fraction of a centimetre. "Oh shit, it works," was her first thought, relief flooding her, even if she had denied being worried about the success of their potion in the first place. "Oh wait, oh no," was her second, because the thing proved to be way more difficult to move than anticipated. Somehow intractable and slippery in the mental grasp of her thoughts, she felt like she couldn't get a good hold on it, sliding off as she tried to pull on it. Merlin be damned, perhaps she should have practised more with this. Perhaps if she sort of... twisted it?

But that proved to be a bad idea, because while she twisted and the fruit came free, it also started slipping. Right among the swooping evils and towards the ground. Her pulse jumping, a whispered curse was all that Dee could manage as she darted forwards, hands outstretched to stop the thing from his journey downwards. She froze when she had it in her fingers, prickly against her skin, and watched the other cocoons, barely daring to breathe. They... didn't move. Lucky. Backing away slowly, heart beating loudly in her ears, Dee slipped the fruit into her jacket to get her hands free, then ducked in a motion that was pure reflex when something came soaring towards her. A... was that a mosp? She hadn't seen one of those things since that disastrous blossom ball in her first year, but the angry buzzing was a clear giveaway. And where there was one mosp, more were usually not far off.

Dancing around another creature on collision course, Dee abandoned caution for speed, jogging towards the exit. "I've got it, let's go!" she called to the others, now that she had a decent distance to the nests of swooping evils. Stepping around one last mosp, Dee finally reached the gate, and then she was out, laughing even as her heart raced in her chest. She retrieved the fruit from her jacket, waving it at the judges - could they even see her with the invisibility potion? - then turned to watch for the glimmer in the air that promised the arrival of her friends.

"Not to brag, but I think we crushed this," was her first, flippant greeting, before worry took over. "Are you okay? Do you need a healer? Did it bite you? I heard swooping evil venom can turn you insane, so, uh, perhaps we should get you an antidote." The volley of questions was fired with barely time to breathe in between. She squinted at the shape of her best friend. "This invisibility potion is starting to be really inconvenient right about now."

Action | None! Just posting for the reward requirements.