The Masquerade Ball Event Closed

SMACK! The head of Jorah's bat made contact with another head of sorts, crushing the half-giant's family jewels. It was super effective! With a single blow, Jorah had not only dealt his foe excruciating pain, but the long term existential pain of not being able to father children. Was there a Mrs. Butthead at home with plans to start a family? Would the news of her partner's infertility be the last straw in a failing marriage? The loss of the half-giant's legacy would be a mark from the young wizard that he would bear until the end of his days. Jorah knelt down near the fallen half-giant whose huevos he had just scrambled and whispered in his ear, "If you ever try to touch my friend again, I'll kill you." Jorah stood back up and walked away, leaving his would be kidnapper to the mercy of a girl shouting "Detention, you bastar-" while wielding a chair as a weapon and a boy brandishing a torch.

He had accomplished his mission, it was time to find Ruthie and get out of Dodge. He looked across the room, spotting a small crowd of students huddled behind a table, likely caring for the student he saw on the ground earlier. Jorah was about to make his way over to them when another table propelled by a Knockback Jinx bull-dozed into Jorah, sending him flying into the air and slamming face first into the Ballroom wall. Jorah peeled himself off of the wall. The impact of his forehead left him with a splitting headache, a broken nose dripping with fresh crimson blood, and likely a mild concussion. He continued facing the wall, leaning against it with outstretched hands as he tried to breathe through the pain. He inhaled and exhaled through his mouth as blood ran down his face before dripping from his chin unto the fancy shoe's his parents bought for his big date. The stars he was seeing were beginning to dissipate however his headache continued to throb with severe pain with each beat of his heart. Then came a new pain, a deadly pain.

It was like someone punched him just below his right scapula, but something was wrong... it was burning! It was hurting him to take in a deep breathe. Restricted by the pain, Jorah took in rapid but very shallow breathes through his mouth. He tried to reach his back with his right arm but the movement sent a debilitating sharp pain through his back. "AAAAHHHH!!!" he cried out, tears from the pain streaming down his cheeks and mixing with the blood from his nose. He felt cold despite the searing sensation in his back. Jorah reached over and across his back with his other hand before resting it on the handle of the knife lodged into his back. He had been stabbed!

The collapse of his right lung and the blood loss was a double whammie for the young Ravenclaw. He felt the world he knew begin to leave him as the effects of poor ventilation and decreased cerebral perfusion took their toll. It began with lightheadedness which soon became generalized body weakness. The naturally strong young lad collapsed under his own weight as his legs turned to jelly. His vision was closing off on him, first losing the edges of the ballroom before he was completely lost in darkness, without sound, and nothing but the feeling of the cold...nothing to keep him warm but the recent memory of a girl smiling as he put flowers in her hair. That was Jorah's last thought before slipping into unconsciousness.

Mentions: @Dorothy Shafiq @Christopher Madson @Ruthie Greer

Interacting with @Ruthie Greer @Thora Larkston @Oliver Hart 

Mentioning@Dymphna Teague @Alan Noble @Jorah Moussa @Adam Harringtom

It wasn't easy guiding the group through the black smoke but they had no choice but to continue to walk forward. Griseldis hoped that Alan would be fine and also follow them. She wouldn't forgive herself if he got lost because of her. She knew that Ruthie and Thora were both trying their best to carry the other girl who was injured pretty badly. At first, Griseldis thought she shouldn't have joined the Masquerade ball but at the same time, she was glad that she did because who would have thought that such a terrible incident happen here. Griseldis wasn't sure how the other students are so far but right now, she could only focus on helping to guide them, not only to find the exit but also find Jorah. She promised Ruthie and Thora after all, so she had to keep her words.

On their way to the door, they did bump into a few students. She recognized the voice from a chubby Ravenclaw, she remembered clearly that he was the boy who tried to defend Erin before. He seemed to know the unconscious girl and Griseldis could hear the worry in his voice. And that was how she learned of that girl's name being Dymphna. The chubby Ravenclaw tried to help out and cast "Wingardium Leviosa", but somehow...it didn't seem to work well. She almost wanted to facepalm when the spell only fluttered the poor girl's skirt up, she could already imagine that the chubby Ravenclaw would have a nose bleed of this. The spell could never work on a person and even when you try to levitate their clothes, their body weight would still affect it and lowers the success rate.  She didn't know what the chubby Ravenclaw's name so she could only try to be polite and asked, "Ermm, I think it would be better if you can help carry her. You seem stronger than the girls.", Griseldis could only let him decide what to do but she believed he would pick the right choice. Thora decided to get the girl's ankles while Ruthie would lift the girl's arm.

Finally, the smoke slowly faded away and her vision returned. Thank Merlin! Griseldis thought in relief but that relief didn't last until she heard Ruthie's gasp in horror, she sounded so shocked and it really alarmed the Gryffindor Prefect. Did something bad happen? Griseldis turned around and saw Ruthie sprinting towards a fallen boy...wait, isn't that!? She caught a glimpse that the boy had a knife on his back, which also shocked her, "No way!? Ruthie! Wait!" They were almost to the open door but they couldn't just leave another injured person alone. Griseldis knew the chubby Ravenclaw would take good care of Dymphna so she would go after Ruthie. Thora seemed to had the same idea, also went to Ruthie's aid. She could only hear Ruthie's panicking scream of their names, well, she didn't know someone with the name "Adam" yet. She shouted back at Ruthie to let her know they were on their way, "RUTHIE! WE'RE COMING!"

Once they arrived, Ruthie was crying helplessly, she truly cared a lot for the boy Jorah. Thora already took action by casting the spell "Ferula" in order to bandage Jorah's injury. The brown-haired Slytherin girl tried her best to comfort Ruthie, calming her down. Griseldis looked up and saw a very tall man who was being bounded in ropes. Was he the one who did this? Anger started to boil inside the lioness, made her clutching her fists tightly. Griseldis would only use violence when they were really in danger and now this was the right time to use her martial arts! She dashed towards the giant and jumped up, "HII-YAAAHHH!! TAKE THAT!!!", Griseldis did a short shout uttered when performing an attacking move and landed her powerful punch on the sides of the giant's chin, right where the jaw was attached to his skull.

Not writing a massive moderation post as of yet. But I am addressing an adjacent thread that has become relevant.: The Other Wizards.

Interacting with: @Nico Shymane @Oliver Hart @Dymphna Teague

Actions: Picking up Dymphna's body and getting out of the room.

With his strength slowly flooding back in his arms, the part giant managed to get himself back on his feet. He had noticed a figure that must've landed right under him and Reid as they barged through the doors. Looking around, he noticed they all had either fled the scene or ran back inside to help others get out. Nico would have still been in there. Otherwise she'd have found him out by the door and he did not see her as the type to leave him lying on the floor for his kin to pick him up and kidnap.

He stumbled back to the door and straightened his back. One hand leaning on the doorframe, the other covering his eyes from the smoke. The fires were extinguished and the giant's were being handled. Adding another fist to the fight would not matter much with these dwarves running and jumping around the fray. He might hit one of them instead of the intruders. Several other students were crawling away from Dymphna, a second year Raven, as he recalled. Noticing the pool of blood, she must be in a bad state right now. Almost instinctively he stepped forward through the smoke, only to meet his red haired friend ( @Nico Shymane ) along the way.

"Nico!" he exclaimed. "People are hurt. I can carry that girl over there, help me get her up." He grabbed her by the shoulder and looked into her eyes. "Time to be brave again. Fast and strong remember?" He ran past her and moved over to Dymphna's locations. He placed his hand on the older Ravenclaw's shoulder ( @Oliver Hart ) to allow him passage. His knee would be soaked in blood as he kneeled over and placed his hands under the unconscious girl's body. "I can carry her. But I could use some guiding out of here. You up for that?" He asked the Ravenclaw boy. "Nico should be able to keep us safe, she's quick I can assure you." He said with a sad smirk as he looked behind to see if Nico had followed him. Regardless of whether or not she did, he would make his way to the door with Dymphna's body in his arms.

Interacting with @Dymphna Teague, @Hugh Lowe

Mentions @Oliver Hart

Action: Follows Hugh from a small distance to keep an eye out for danger

'Yi!' The little dhampir jumped abit when her best bud suddenly appeared from the smokey shadows. It's not that she didn't hear him coming. She recognised his grunts and the way he walked. And yet, he spooked her. 'O-Oh, there you are.'

As he mentioned the Ravenclaw girl who seemed to be badly injured, Nico froze up abit. Before she laid eyes on her, Nico had nodded with a soft smile at the encouraging words of the Scottish boy. This girl was in real danger. So much blood. The thick layer of smoke had dazed Nico a little, however seeing the blood drip out of this girl and now smelling the strong sense of iron sharpened her senses. The blood looked rather inviting, fresh and probably still warm. Her ice blue eyes showed small hues of red. Nico made sure Hugh didn't see it. No, she wasn't out to drink students, even though she had gotten significantly more hungry. 'Later..' she whispered under her breath, trying to control her breathing. 'Y-You'll eat later. Once this is over.' She clenched her nails into her arm to distract herself from the bleeding girl. She had to focus and be a good Prefect. Hugh was strong enough to carry the Ravenclaw, Nico wouldn't have to come too close.

She approached them carefully, not too close, not too far. Her eyes fell on the rather large boy kneeling besides the girl. He seemed oddly familiar to her, but she wouldn't come closer. At this distance, she was in control of herself. Closer and she might start acting... obviously weird.

As Hugh mentioned she would watch their back, Nico smiled softly and nodded. She made sure her hair was casting a shadow on her eyes. Whenever a wiff of blood flew blew her way, she'd dig her nails a little deeper in her arm, lightly bleeding.

As dNPC Astrid Kovac | @Bridget Collins (Phyllis) | @Thora Larkston (Karilyna)

As they walked in, Astrid quickly ducked as a piece of wood flew past her, looking quite similar to the 'weapon' she was holding. While the rest of the group decided to simply walk in a be somewhat smart about the entire situation, Astrid ran towards the giant, managing only to flail around, the piece of wood hardly staying together as it started to crumble. She stopped, staring blankly at the fallen giant, before running back over to Phyllis who had called her. She blushed as she saw them, her idea suddenly clearing to show how silly she was being. She was a First Year!

"I guess we all get our turn at running into trouble." She mumbled, looking down at the piece of wood in her hand. She grimaced at it, but decided to keep it. She kept staring at the 'splinter' as Phyllis talked about leaving. It was probably the best decision for a few first years, but her heart seemed to enjoy a bit of danger, not entirely aware of the possible worse affects of staying in the burnt and broken ballroom.

Reducio

DC 10:
d20-1: 8 (9-1)

"Yeah, it would probably be best if we were to leave, huh?" Astrid shrugged, before turning to Karilyna. Karilyna could probably get them both to stay, as Astrid was easily on the fence, although her current decision was to leave. As for Phyllis, well, she assumed that the other girl would follow if two of her friends stayed.

Despite the idea of leaving, though, Astrid decided to- steal? Take? Borrow?- the piece of wood that had splintered off of the ballroom door. She tucked it into her boot, awkwardly taking a few steps to see if it would hurt her. It didn't, but it was slightly uncomfortable. She shrugged, slowly realizing the random little dance she had done. She doubted the two would really care, though.

Action 1: Galton would try to eat @Hugh Lowe 's hair

Action 3: Galton would give @Griseldis Edelhardt 's eyes a nice wet lick

Mentions: @Hugh Lowe @Dymphna Teague @Nico Shymane @Galton Lansdale

Action: Cast Flipendo on Galton

Mentions: various friends
Interactions: @Ruthie Greer , @Thora Larkston , @Jorah Moussa

It was a relief to see that Adam hadn't been too badly damaged in the crash. In fact, in some weird way, he was better now than ever -- the counterspell that he'd cast on Ruthie had felt like some of his best magic yet. Call it luck or call it adrenaline, it felt good to be a hero at last. As she darted away, free of her curse, Adam rolled onto his back and took a few deep breaths.

Slowly, he started to see more and more of the ceiling above. It took him a minute to realize what that meant: the smoke was finally starting to clear out. Blinking a few times to make sure he wasn't imagining it, Adam watched the dark clouds disperse and felt another rush of relief. They might be able to make it through this okay after all. He'd done something good this time around; he'd helped instead of hiding. Although his chest was still sore, and there was a nasty ache in his arm, the rescue he'd been able to bring Ruthie made it all worth it.

Adam hadn't forgotten where he was, or the situation that he was still in. The darkness might have been gone, but the giants certainly weren't, and he wasn't contributing anything by lying on the ground. Unfortunately, he knew that getting up would mean more discomfort. The thought of staying down for a while was compelling -- but the Ravenclaw wasn't wired like that. For every moment that he lay on his back, one of his friends could be in danger. Max. Phae. Reid. Dymph, Serena, Jorah... Oh god, he hadn't even thought to run back and check on Eris! The memory of his Gryffindor date pushed Adam back up to his feet, and though he stumbled a little bit standing up, he set his shoulders and started to run back towards the dance floor.

Until a familiar voice tugged at him from the opposite direction. It was definitely Ruthie -- had she gotten herself back in trouble already?! Adam had barely had time to stand up! Hesitating in place, waiting in vain to see if Ruthie would call out again, the boy looked back and forth in conflict. Finally, he let out a frustrated groan and turned on his heel, running to meet Ruthie's shout. Eris was an even better witch than he was a wizard, and he had no doubts that she could take care of herself. Ruthie and Jorah were only first years, no matter how brave they were; they might seriously need his help.

As he caught sight of his housemate's blond hair, Adam skidded to a stop, his feet sliding a little bit over the ballroom floor. He was glad that he had abandoned his mask, because he didn't think that he could handle all of this with that ridiculous thing on his face. Of course, it would've covered up the pallor that spread across his cheeks when he caught sight of Jorah lying unconscious on the ground. What the hell had happened? Had the giants done this? He didn't think they were armed, and they definitely would've used a bigger knife than the one currently buried in Jorah's back. The means of assault was something that he would have to investigate later, but for now, the younger Ravenclaw needed some serious medical help.

Luckily, they'd already started without him. A student that he didn't know was attempting to conjure a bandage over the wound, but there was no telling how the spell might turn out. No matter the outcome, Adam knew that the hospital wing could help Jorah a lot more than any of the three of them could. Nodding briefly to the stranger, he turned to Ruthie and looked her in the eyes. "It's gonna be okay. I can help move him. Are you guys ready?" It took all the strength Adam had not to ask more questions, but he knew that he shouldn't overwhelm the Ravenclaw girl with so much already going on.

Taking care not to touch the wound or the knife still sticking out of it, Adam awkwardly took hold of Jorah's unconscious body, almost like he was trying to give the boy a hug. Standing back up slowly, letting the body slump against him as he maneuvered, Adam tried not to think about blood, or death, or anything of the like. He positioned himself at Jorah's side and slung one of the younger boy's arms around his shoulders, taking on much of the weight there. He'd seen people do this a lot in action movies -- but in the movies, both parties were usually conscious. If he tried anything this way, Jorah's feet would just drag across the floor and slow them all down. He needed a Plan B.

Dropping Jorah's arm back off of his shoulders, Adam hooked one arm around the unconscious boy's back and another one under his legs, picking him up with both arms while still trying as hard as he could to leave the knife untouched. He might be breathing a little harder than before, but he was sure that he could do this. He'd just have to really, really wash his robes when it was all over. Looking back over at Ruthie and her friend, he nodded towards the doors, gesturing for the two girls to follow him. "We can make it from here -- come on!"

So, feeling more heroic than ever before, Adam began to carry Jorah towards the exit, with the rest of their party close behind. Once he made it to the hospital wing, he would come back for Eris and the others. This was far from over. Adam wouldn't let anything else happen on his watch.

ACTION: Carry @Jorah Moussa to safety.