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

Aida's outfit today:

Reducio

There were times when it seemed like no one could hit anything, and then there were times when everyone seemed to just be standing around taking whatever peopled dished out. To Aida this was one of the latter, which was fun because it was fast, but was this really in the best interest of the Ravenclaw team? Well, either way, the round was exciting at least. The move that particularly caught the wix’s light blueberry indigo eye, however, was the confrigo Astrea launched at Cassius. It had been conjured with just as much skill as Aida’s own confrigo.

“Hey, you’re Astrea, right? Like the star maiden of Greece yeah?” Smiling brightly before the stage could flood with smoke, the white Ravenclaw giggled. “You’re so pretty! Do you want to be friends?”

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

Interacting with: @Astrea Soleil Neptune

Credit to Prat Pass

As soon as she heard Cassius incanting Nebulus, Bridget cast the same spell. She'd suspected that Ravenclaw might use this tactic, flooding the stage with fog to drop visibility, and if she was going to be left guessing after outlines and straining to place people by noise, she was going to ensure they did the same. It made the overall coverage of the area worse, thicker, but at least it wasn't smoke and still easy to breathe through.

The fog exchange, though dramatically changing the duel's environment, was the calmest part of those opening moments. All around her were much more violent spells, but none headed her way. Ruby seemed to have a much rougher time of it, bombarded two of the most hard-hitting spells they faced as duellists. She was tough, though. Both teams had shaken things up, now it was a question of who could tip the scales.

Action: Doing as strategized

For all of Ravenclaw’s strategic cleverness, their affinity for smokescreens had become a veritable staple of greater habits. It was no surprise, then, for the explosive remnants of two brilliant blasting curses to inaugurate the duel’s first exchange of spells. Surely goaded into familiarity— for their albino opponent seemed both elusively talented and yet evidently oblivious to Astrea’s stoic rebuke—, the curling fog obscuring their vision was but a small mercy to save her from the disgraces of acknowledged unprofessionality.

Her teammates, who had by now surely recognized her professional vow to silence, likely knew too well the social faux paus of socially provoking the young heir. While the wix’s sentiment certainly aimed to charm, if not completely flatter considering their current gamely antagonism, Astrea had long ago found her niche dealing only in precise incantations and silvered stares. Detesting the small-talk and casual familiarity of her most social peers, interaction would meet marginal success only off of the piste, safely away from the occupational risk to both their duelling careers and reputations. Fog-hindered after the brief meeting of eyes, the complete lack of response from Slytherin’s side of the piste offered as much detached disapproval as possibly acceptable. Offering friendship amid direct conflict was something that Astrea would have more readily associated with their long-underclassmen’d Hufflepuff peers, not quite Ravenclaw.

In direct contrast to Astrea’s infamous reticence, their moderator’s dubiously discerning commentary cut through the fog with as much crowing enthusiasm as a brass instrument to silence. Though painfully Gryffindor in flamboyance, its begrudging usefulness was clear. Amidst the quid-pro-quo of nebulus, measuring both opponent and teammate success required a measure of guesswork that often inspired defensive sacrifice. Yet familiarly cornered and ever-dependent upon her own skill and instincts, Astrea could instead stand upon solid ground with greater awareness. Fittingly snake-like, ready now not to engage themselves in passive defensiveness but opportunistic ambition, Slytherin needed now to tip the early scales further to their advantage.

Action: Doing as strategised.

Middle of 2024-2025 Year

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

Well that hurt.

Though he cast his fog spell particularly well, he was unable to avoid the incoming blasting curse and wind charm. To make matters worse, he too was soon after engulfed in fog. How inconvenient. How was it that every time he faced off against the Slytherin team he was forced to fight upperclassmen? At this point it felt like someone had rigged the system though part of Cassius felt emboldened. Were they so cowardly they needed to send higher years to face him and his? The Murder of Merlin's reputation as the championship team was well-deserved and though the odds were against them, no matter what happened it would be a duel worth spectating.

Action:
As strategized.

Both sides sent out a multitude of fog spells, and in the brief seconds before it fully covered the piste, the rest of them sent out offensive spells. Unfortunately, the Ravenclaws’ both hit her and she stumbled backwards, gritting her teeth. At least she had hit both of her targets, bringing some small satisfaction despite the pain.

Doing as strategized

Round 2

A counterspell from Damion finally let Piérre see both him and Cassius again, alleviating at least for a little while the fog from a third of the stage. Eyebrow raising slightly, Piérre smiled slightly when he saw a shimmer of silver both inside the fog that wasn't due to light reflecting off of water and from Cassius as the clouds fully parted. "A pair of Protegos!" He said, his voice low. "A famous protective spell, and quite good at bouncing as some of you might remember well from the last time I had the pleasure of moderating with Miss Cazarez on the stage."

A blinding spell split though the mist for just a second before darting into the cloud where Aida had to be, and then a subsequent explosion rang out that shook the ground... but this was followed up by another Confringo from the wix back in the same direction as the shield--but there was no sound. "Well well! An incredibly powerful Confringo from Slytherin finding joy on Aida... but I think that the spell in retaliation may have run into a silvery shield from the defender on the other side!"

And then the world was sparks and noise.

Nobody on Ravenclaw was safe from the spread Firecracker Jinx--all three would suffer blinding lights that would pop and hiss on all sides, though to various degrees. From what Piérre could see, Damion certainly got a gobful. He didn't quite see how Aida was faring, though considering the circumstances in which both fog and wind were hindering he was willing to place money on 'not well'. Cassius, surprisingly, despite being the most impaired of the three of them on his team, managed to evade one volley of side-sparks but was not quite fast enough for the other, which spat through a gap on the side of his shield to sear his ribs slightly.

Despite Slytherin still fighting in soup... Ravenclaw was starting to look haggard. Piérre pursed his lips in consideration. "The infamous Nec Divinos Crepitus, or as I like to call it "The Poor Man's Spell Spread". It started to become meta around two years ago, and it seems that it hasn't quite made its way out of the spin cycle yet. Seems it becomes even more crushing when in the hands of an actual spell spreader..." He remembered the first time he himself had taken advantage of the strategy, and from there it had only gotten more and more intense--every house started to copy the strategy and to incredible effect, particularly against younger and more frail opponents. But it seemed that even the mighty could still suffer, and whomever had cast the spell had had sparks fly back in their face as well.

It was only round two yet, though. There was still a lot of room for developments and brilliance to make themselves known. "Slytherin has a commandeering lead, but I don't put anything past Ravenclaw. We've seen wilder turns of fortune before!"

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.
Come cheer for your House and friends!

Aida's outfit today:

Reducio

Aida’s attempt at forming a friendship with Astrea met with only silence in return, and yet, Aida was not ignored. No, quite the opposite. Both Astrea and her team mate decided it was about time to serve Aida some damage. The problem was, this only served to encourage the poorly socialized wild child. Laughing through the pain, Aida patted out minor singeing on their twill coat.

“That one was really good, too! Hey what if we went and shot some fireworks over the lake? I can catch a fish for you. My campfire cooking is really good, you’ll see! Do you want to meet my mermaid friends? I bet they’d think you’re super pretty, too! Well, by human standards anyway. I still think you’re cuter than all the mermaids in Black Lake!” Probably the point of a smokescreen was to conceal oneself, but Aida couldn't shut up. The wix was used to encountering taciturn creatures in the course of studying magizoology, so never did such behavior serve as a true deterrent. If anything, stand-offishness only signalled to Aida that there was a heart worth guarding under all the defensive structures. Besides, they were in the middle of a duel. All of the explosions and posturing were precisely the festivities of the party.

“I’d love it if you’d come by my corner of the lake sometime, Astrea.”

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

Interacting with: @Astrea Soleil Neptune

It was normal that when one was hit that badly, they would try to Protego, and that was what Ruby did. Evidently, it was the right choice, as a Blasting Curse shot through the fog towards her, dissipating as it reached the shield. That would’ve hurt. She heard the incantations of Confringo and Nec Divinos Crepitus from her teammates and subsequent explosions erupted around the duellists.

Doing as strategized

Middle of 2024-2025 Year

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

Not great, not terrible.

That was the phrase going through Cassius' mind as the duel progressed further. It had been some time since he was hit so frequently during a duel. Even during the bout with Dmitri he hadn't been hit this much. Though he was hurting, he knew he needed to concentrate on the matter at hand and see it through for his team.

Action:
As strategized.