2024/25, Stage 2 Slytherin v Ravenclaw, Match 1

“Oh hi, elfy!!” called Aida upon entering the arena. The usual accompanying desert owl found a perch in the corner of the room, already sizing up the ringmaster’s cat as if it were on the lunch menu despite being more than five times its own size. “You’re so glittery. Are you putting on a show? Why don’t you join the duel with us and throw glitter to make it more difficult? Shoot spells, too. We could really use something unexpected in these fights you know. Always so regimented. It’s hardly real combat training if there isn’t a lot of unexpected stuff to handle. Why do you think they are training us for this anyway? This goes a bit beyond self-defense, don’t you think?” The motor mouth white wix was known to unload question after question, and it was only the movement of a silver bengal that distracted Aida long enough to shut up. It had been quite some time since the wilderness dweller had an occasion to talk to Piérre, which was apparently reason enough to swarm him with attention despite the impending combat. However, eventually Aida looked up at their Slytherin opponents to get a feel for what was to happen next.

“Hey I remember you guys. You’re all really good! Do your best, okay??” Nodding to Cassius and Damion next, Aida took up a pre-strategized position and grinned back at Astrea. “You’re more spooky than I remember from last time! How do you do it? Can you teach me??”

Stats: Stamina✵ 10 / Evasion✵ 16 / Strength✵ 1 / Wisdom✵ 15 [17] / Arcane Power✵ 11 / Accuracy✵ 18
Abilities: Blindvision - Sixth Sense - Beast Master - Wandmaker - Comprehend Languages (Mermish) - Non-human Enthusiast

Doing as strategized.

Wand: Chestnut, Phoenix Feather, 26,6 cm, Whippy; "Ancient, ideal for magizoology, has a will of its own, showy, prone to giving away tells"– details

Reducio

Middle of 2024-2025 Year

Interactions: @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood @Damion White Mentions: n/a

Cassius stepped up onto the duelling platform feeling confident. Unlike with prior duels, this morning the Ravenclaw duelling captain woke with a full and satisfying night of rest and a filling breakfast. Later, whether they won or lost, he would take a relaxing dip in the tub of the prefect's bathroom. In all it was looking to be quite a good day.

That is, if he did not end up in the infirmary. That was always a possibility with duelling. Luckily, he had mostly avoided such a fate the entirety of his tenure on the team even when facing off against opponents a year above him. As he gazed out at his opponents he sighed. Again an unfortunate match-up against upperclassmen. It was growing tiresome duelling the same Slytherins every year. He felt like he only ever duelled Slytherins. There was too little variety and it made things boring.

What he did not mind, however, was duelling with his teammates again. Coming off a win against Hufflepuff he knew they worked well together which would make the situation somewhat better. To each he offered a nod and a reassuring wink before taking his place on the platform. Wand raised towards their opponents, he prepared himself for the start of a new duel.

Action:
As strategized.

It was time again for an official duel, this time against Ravenclaw. She wished that the match would just start already—did they really need such lengthy and dramatic introductions? Her spellwork could speak for itself. And that glitter had better stay far away from her. What was wrong with using magic for sparkles instead of those irritating little specks that refused to leave? “Hey I remember you guys. You’re all really good! Do your best, okay??” Already unimpressed by the glitter, the Ravenclaw’s friendly addressing of the Slytherins just caused Ruby to raise an eyebrow, resisting the urge to roll her eyes and glancing instead at her teammates to check if they were ready.

Doing as strategized

Following the historic, if not somewhat unsatisfying, first duel of their seventh year, the team compositions of the senior Vipers had otherwise become exceedingly predictable. There were few 7th years still upon the duelling rosters for most any house, and as such the principles of both fairness and dignity dictated partnership permanence. While Astrea rather preferred the professional familiarity of consistency, it also meant the frequent and often colourful quirks of their eldest ranks.

Regarding one individual in particular, it seemed their moderator had taken 'colourful' to heart. Between the routine pre-duel preparations and polite avoidance of their referee's enthusiastic peacocking, Astrea's mannerly tolerance of the crowd's theatrics was well at odds with the vague irritation that swept her upon taking her place. Leftover from the Gryffindor's theatrical introductions, the piste lay already in mild disarray with great scatterings of multi-coloured, unbound sequins all over the soon-collateral and often-ruined floor. Underfoot and easily disturbed, she expected that the abandoned decorations would only inconvenience everyone's typical strategy of wind-blown definite explosions. Into the mix of unpredictability now trod the inexplicable glitz of skilful endangerment. The duelling world would never cease to amaze her, for better or worse.

Addressed as seemingly "more spooky" than their last encounter, Astrea's frigid calm permitted little of the frivolous levity that often characterized their underclassmen. She gifted to their Ravenclaw opponents but a discerning stare, quite unable and only partially willing to gauge the albino's intentions in engaging with, of all duellists, the most taciturn Viper in reputation. If the other sought to destabilize the current balance of professionalism with long-winded and friendly enthusiasm, they'd meet very little success. Astrea truthfully held few extracurricular friends, within her house and out, and did not seek to ruin that careful distance. An olive branch, no matter how teasing it potentially was, would only ruin the both of them in preparation to chip at every opponent's weakness. Wand in hand, marked by stoic determination, she ultimately dismissed the strange behaviour in favour of readying herself for another duel well-fought.

Action: Doing as strategised.

Credit to Prat Pass

Coming off a win in the first stage of the year, Slytherin's trio of upperclassmen had firmly established themselves as a talented team, enough so for Pierre to introduce them as thoroughly intimidating-sounding witches. Which she supposed was true, they were the top duellists in the house of ambition and Astrea even had a way of radiating it, but right now she was mostly picking up on mild annoyance from her teammates at the spectacle their introduction turned into. Bridget didn't need a high-energy entrance, she duelled best when cool-headed, and the cards and glitter definitely weren't necessary, but it wasn't unexpected coming from this moderator. She supposed the audience must find it entertaining, and in a much less violent way than they would find the rest of this showcase.

They were up against three sixth years this stage, the result of no seventh year Ravenclaws sticking around in duelling this long. It wasn't such a dramatic difference, all of them NEWT-level students, and Aida had fit in well alongside the even older Phaedra and Delilah last year. It was still an advantage, though, and Bridget did not intend to fumble it. They were prepared. From here it was all muscle memory: settling into stance with her right foot further back, readying her wand, waiting for the signal.

Action: Doing as strategized

Round 1

The boy's nose wrinkled slightly with childish amusement at Aida's delighted if swift flurry of queries and stream of consciousness methodology of speech. "Well, since I'm your moderator, I have to be unbiased. Allegedly." He shrugged. "I'd love nothing more than to give you all a duel to remember complete with potentially bludgers flying around the stage that you have to fend off at the same time, but then I guess that sort of loses the plot of dueling." His eyes glittered. "Make it interesting, though. I'm all for it--and it makes putting on the show of both life and sport much more fun as well."

Within a matter of seconds, a tried and true tactic came out in full force once more as the entire stage was filled with a shimmering, magically-induced misty fog that clouded the air and began to tumble over the edge of the stage like smoke. It curled about the arena, and pretty soon got to the point where only those who were adept at picking out either the flashes of lights the indicated spells being cast or that knew how to interpret the noises of movement within the soup would be able to tell what was going on.

Piérre himself was not gifted with the latter talent, but he was pretty good with object permanence and recall, and his eyes were quite keen. Therefore he was pretty well suited for making good guesses, and he had seen who had caused the stage to become flooded with the clouds. "A frequent tactic of the upper echelons, the teams are opting to try to cripple each other with the Nebulus charm! Cassius has made quite a large bit of it settle on Slytherin and on Aida, but Bridget has ensured that Damion and Cassius himself get to join in on the little bit of delightful disorientation!"

A pair of CRACK!s echoed in the muffling cloud, accompanied by a familiar boom that indicated a blasting curse's evocation. Not one blasting curse, oh nonono. There had been two. "Two blasting curses! The infamous Confringo! I can't quite make it out but I think it was from Astrea as a gift to Cassius and then from Aida as a memento to Ruby!" He rocked a bit on his toes, leaning in to squint a little harder. A white flash rippled across the stage and smacked Ruby in the chest, even as a hard wind spell from her began to slice into Aida and Cassius, ensuring that they would be hard-pressed to resist the sudden cutting tempestuous winds.

"I think that was a Flipendo from Damion--it caught Ruby completely off guard! But she bites back with a bitter Ventus--it just snatched up both Cassius and Aida! They're gonna have to fight through fog AND wind, it seems! What other elements do you think we can add to this little game, eh?" He raised a brow expectantly.

Well.. the stage was set and rather even all things considered. Although they had all just disseminated heavy debuffs, the debuffs were almost to the point where they didn't matter due to intensity. What exactly was the next play here going to be....?

Information

1. You have 96 hours from this post's timestamp to owl your moves to me (Piérre Marchonné) and to make your 50+ word post.
2. Do not hint at your move in your post, as this can give an advantage to the other team.
3. Remember to send your move and make your post before the deadline. If either of these are not completed in time, your move will be void.
4. I will try to moderate early if all actions and posts are in before the deadline. If you do not wish for me to do this, please owl me.
5. Your stats, abilities, and spells are considered locked for this duel. If any are added to your trunk since 25 January 2025, they may not be used.
6. If you have any questions or feedback regarding this match, please feel free to owl or DM me.
7. Handy links: Duelling Rules, Duelling Spells, and the most recent patch.
8. Good luck and happy duelling!

The spectator thread for this duel can be found here.
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24 Hour Extension

Due to a site access issue, we are granting a 24 hour extension. This is calculated using the last moderation post. To be clear, you normally have 96 hours to post and submit strategies. You now have 120 hours (24 extra hours) from the last moderation post.

Note: This is not a moderation post, this is an extension post.