Front Lawn

I apologize for the delay. I have experienced multiple family deaths (all unrelated to one another) in a short span as well as competing site obligations.

Attention: @Finnegan Connor, @Opeila Winters, @Cassius Eden

These two creatures were not hags, they were something else entirely. Dark magic does more than curse, it manipulates and it makes. Dark magic is not an element, it is a series of spells that come with too great a cost. The sort of cost that saps ones very humanity and leaves the caster broken and hollow. 'Tis the cost of this power: everything else one might have.

From beneath the veil of obscurity, Cassius Eden would emerge, his invisibility cloak rolling off his back. Acting quickly, the Ravenclaw would point his wand at Simone and cast the Conjunctivitis Curse. "Oculitumescere!" This was the Ravenclaw's word of power and intent.

Cassius Casting Conjuctivitis Curse at Simone. (Rougarou Crit Secondary Target: Twofer)
Passively met WDC (15)
Attack 8 (+14) Success!
Evasion 5 (+15)
Duration Roll: 2 (1 round)

A flash of searing violet light cracked across the air like lightning splitting glass. The hex hit her full in the face.

There was a wet sound.

Simone shrieked, a sound that started human but ended in something certainly not. Immediately the whites of Simone's uneven eyes would become an angry red. The thin skin about her eyes, including her lids would become thick and swollen.

Her hands, oddly all of the fingers were the same exact length, flew to her face as the curse took hold. Her shriek became laughter, but now she was partially blind and furious, the kind that anger that belonged to a predator striking at ghosts.

“You would blind me?” she hissed.

She reeled backwards, nearly colliding with her strange partner. The conjunctivitis curse was doing exactly what it was meant to do.

Opeila had cast Entrancing Enchantment, a Restricted Charm, and one she wasn’t supposed to know, much less use. But desperate moments called for beautifully bad ideas. The spell didn’t end a fight, didn’t disarm, didn’t kill; it simply made her unappealing to harm. In the warped hierarchy of a hagspawn’s mind, she was no longer a target, merely a “friend.” Whatever that might have meant to a creature whose genesis and being were as alien as a dream dreamt by a course, something of half-memory half hunger... stitched together by a dark and strange hand that created an imitation of life.

This thing, whatever it was, was her friend... For now.

Twofer’s six-fingered hand flew to her mouth in an almost girlish gesture of surprise. “Oh, shit,” she murmured, voice doubled, like two women speaking with the same exact voice were speaking in near unison through one throat.

“Reparifors,” Opeila incanted, wand cutting the air in a precise flick. The spell was meant to undo injury, or at least mend what she could still reach "Now please stop attacking me," she tried, with a level of forced politeness that bordered on ridiculous. Worth a shot.

Opeila cast Reparifors
Passively met WDC (11)

Twofer tilted her head, hair dripping down one side of her face. “Well, crap…” Twofer sighed, running her free hand through her hair. “Sorry, girl. Let me just get this loser out of here, finish up, and we can go get some fro-yo or something.” The loser, of course, was Cassius, Opeila’s previously invisible boyfriend. He was one of the only offending targets within the immediate vicinity, that meant bad things for the boy.

She was holding her wand still. Where in Merlin’s arse did this creature even get a wand? Did it matter? Not really. "Malefactum." The wand did not move much, but that did not seem to prevent the spell from being cast. This was not a normal spell, but not much was 'normal' with this due. Malefactum could be best described as a distorted Expulso, it warps air pressure in a five-foot radius around the target, crushing the lungs and popping blood vessels in the eyes.

Not a clean spell. Not a legal one. But then again, nothing about tonight had been clean.

Twofer casts Malefactum at Cassius
Attack 12 (+20) Hit
Evasion 1 (+15)

A pulse rippled outward, invisible but terrible. The air crushed in around the teen, collapsing space like a fist. Blood vessels burst in his eyes, his chest convulsed with a wet sound as the pressure warped inward.

“Get down, girl!” was all the warning Twofer managed. Whether the words actually registered or not didn’t matter, the Seer was already moving. The blast wasn’t meant for her, but she was too close to the “loser,” as Twofer called him, to risk hesitation. Her reflexes flared, Seer instinct or dumb luck, giving her just enough of an edge to perhaps dodge and live to see what came next.

Opeila attempts to avoid the aftershock of Twofer's attack.
Attack 16 (+20)
Evasion (advantage from warning) 4, 3 (+14) Hit
Auto-dodge (Seer) 75
Finnergan attempts to avoid the aftershock of Twofer's attack (he is not granted advantage)
Attack 14 (+20) Hit
Evasion 11 (+15)

Opeila didn’t have time to brace before it hit: a vibratory shockwave that rippled through her bones like sound turned solid. The air itself trembled. It was over in a heartbeat, yet it left her breathless, her ribs aching as though her own lungs had been struck. For all that violence, she was still standing... shaken, yes, but intact enough to carry on. If she could keep her head. If she didn’t look too long at the boy she loved or consistently liked as much as if not slightly more than Aaron about to break if his luck did not turn around.

Finnegan was faster. Reflex or panic, it didn’t matter, he threw himself clear of the blast, skidding across the lawn in a graceless sprawl. But it was not enough, he would feel the concussive force of the blast and the scent of blood would fill his nares.

August VanCleaf, a full-grown wizard, an Auror, a man who could have flattened Finn with a look, had been dismantled by this eerie duo in seconds. August's wand could be snapped like a dry twig. The famed Auror's magic stripped from him in this grievous state, leaving him an empty, dying vessel. That was no duel. That was execution.

August death saving throw: 5 Failed 1 of 3

Bravery wasn’t the absence of fear; it was the choice to move despite it. But knowing that didn’t make it easier to breathe. “Eve!” Finn cried, voice cracking against the chaos. “Eve, help!” She had enough to deal with in the ballroom, a raging part giant who seemed to be beyond rational conversation and reason. Had there been an ally he had known, perhaps they would have an alternative perspective. Brock had a deep hatred for the wizarding aristocracy, but he was not one for an act of hollow self-sacrifice like this.

Does Eve hear Finn's cries for help?
Roll: 20 critical success

@Evelynn Decipio would be able to hear Finnegan's distress over the din of chaos in the ballroom. (Pinged for awareness) But was she in a place where she could help?

Opeila, meanwhile, was playing a very different game. Her reaction might have seemed absurd to anyone by her, but she had a plan. A terrible plan. A dangerous plan. “Apologies, I’m late,” a potentially very stupid plan. “How can I help? I wasn’t briefed.” The attack had to have some level of organization considering the seeming level of organized chaos. She knew how to feign calm. “I’m here undercover. The guests won’t attack me.”

And here’s to hoping Finn didn’t believe a word of it. Because if he didn’t, if he did what instinct screamed and struck first, he might just kill them both.

Twofer had no damn idea what she was going on about, but she did not much care. "What brief?" She would reply, as casual as if someone said that the restaurant no longer sold fish. "This is a smash and dash, I wonder what'll be left of the big guy..." She seemed to almost smirk, but the expression seemed more like the emulation of emotion than a true expression of.

Simone, blinded by Cassius would lash out wildly. She did not have the same affinity for Opeila, but she did have a shared target: Cassius.

Simone casts Malefactum at Cassius
Attack 6 (+20/2) Miss
Evasion 14 (+15)

The blinded creature would miss, her spell would hit the side of the building, tearing the frame from the door. An aftershock would still threaten Finnegan as he called out for help and Opeila who was in the wrong place at the worst possible time.

Opeila attempts to avoid the aftershock of Simone's attack.
Attack 1 (+20/2) Critical Failure
Evasion 17 (+14)
Auto-dodge (Seer) 28 No effect
Finnergan attempts to avoid the aftershock of Twofer's attack (he is not granted advantage)
Attack 11 (+20/2), 4 Miss
Evasion 6 (+15), 9

Both Opeila and Finnegan were able to avoid the attack, but the raining splinters were like a storm of daggers. Simone's was showered in a hailstorm of splinters. She would raise her arm to protect her face, her wand in hand, vulnerable.

Finnegan Connor saw it. Their source of power: the wands.

That single piece of wood and core was the line between wizard and monster, between civilization and chaos. Every curse, every horror that tore through the cloister, it all came through those slender instruments. The laws of wandlore were strict for a reason: ownership, crafting, distribution. All meant to prevent exactly this. If Finn could sever that bond, even for a heartbeat, he might live. If not, he’d die here, nameless among the rose petals and ash.

“Expelliarmus!”

Finnegan casts Expelliarmus at Simone
WDC 18 (+5) Success
Attack 13 (+19) Success
Evasion 5 (+10/5)

A blinding flash tore through the air.

The spell struck true. Simone’s arm snapped backward, her wand wrenched from her grip with such force that it spun end over end, glinting once before plunging into the mud. Her palm hit the earth with a wet crack, fingers sinking deep into the muck like claws blindly grasping for the remains of her power.

For an instant, the air stilled. The hags would feel it from afar: that flicker of imbalance, the disruption in their shared current. Simone hissed, low and serpentine, dragging her hand free of the soil. Her blood-shot, puffy eyes met Finn’s, and in them burned something offended.

Finn had drawn blood. Not literal, not yet. But to disarm her, to strip her of her focus, was as close to sacrilege as it came.

Front Lawn
Augury Cloister

It was one thing to attack him. That was acceptable. Expected even.

But to call him a loser? Coming from hags who appeared to do their shopping at medieval Old Navy?

Such impudence demanded a response!

Alas, before Cassius could respond with a quip of his own, he was hit was a spell that he did not recognize. Even if he did, he barely had time to acknowledge it before the air around him distorted, the air pressure crushing inwards causing a flare of intense pain in his lungs and eyes. It was a pain unlike anything he had experienced before and it took every ounce of his strength to not fall to his knees and scream.

What was that?! He managed to think as he steadied himself on his feet, coughing hoarsely. That thought was all he managed to conjure as the other creature attempted to attack him. Luckily, that

Malefactum, huh?

Cassius made a mental note to do some research on that particular spell. That is, if he managed to survive this. Both hags were still standing but so was he.

"Someone claim that wand!" he shouted, pointing at the disarmed hag's wand on the ground as he raised his own towards the pair. Eyes now bloodshot from the effects of the curse, Cassius stared down the two hags with a sinister look and newfound fury long repressed.

"Expulso!"

If they wanted to play with explosions he would be happy to oblige.

Action: Casting the Expulso Curse at Simone.
(Rougarou Crit Secondary Target: Twofer)
Mundane Action: Pointing at the disarmed wand and shouting.

Stats & Items

Reducio

CHARACTER STATS
Stamina 11 - Evasion 15 - Strength 0 - Wisdom 20 - ArcPower 10 - Accuracy 14

ABILITIES
Advanced Casting | Perfectionist | Perfectionist II | Spell Spread | Wandmaker |
Occlumency | Wandless Magic

ITEMS
Wand, Invisibility Cloak, Locksmith's Knife

WANDMAKER (ROUGAROU HAIR)

Reducio

• 10% of the damage done by a "dark" spell is done to a target that was successfully hit by a dark spell every round for the duration of the thread. This is considered to be "bleeding" and can be countered with the bandaging charm.
• In Duelling: This bleeding effect is limited to 4 rounds. If hit by another dark spell in the meantime, the bleeding effect is replaced with the new one.
• On a critical success with a "dark" spell, a second target (only if defined by the caster before this has been rolled) can be targeted, if no secondary target is declared then nothing happens.
• -10% damage done with non-dark spells.

Everything was going wrong. One thing Opeila hadn't considered when she made herself Twofer's new temporary bestie was, that this left Cassius and Finn as her target. And Cassius, as the older and likely more skilled wizard, was now hit by both her and Simone's wrath.
Everything happened in under a second.

“Malefactum. Get down, girl!”
"NO-"

The spell that hit her boyfriend nearly knocked her off her feet. For a few moments, Opeila wasn't sure she hadn't been hit, pressing one hand on her chest. But she wasn't. Cassius was. Opeila spun around, scared of what she would find. If the aftershocks were that bad...
Cassius hadn't fallen, but Opeila could see the pain in his eyes. When she tried to get to him, she found herself unable to get closer than a few feet without pain. What was wrong with the air pressure? And Cassius was at the center of it.

Then Twofer answered Opeila's question.
"What brief? This is a smash and dash, I wonder what'll be left of the big guy..."

Opeila froze, when the meaning of this hit her. The big guy had to be what she had already identified as a diversion inside the building. But clearly they had made a mistake and run into a second diversion outside. Which meant... there had to be something or someone else around. The real danger. Shit.
Well, they had to figure out this situation first. Cassius could hardly endure this spell for a long time and who knew how much longer Twofer would be Opeila's friend.

Finn took action, disarmed Simone and Opeila didn't waste a second. "Accio!"

My turn to apologise for this very, very late post 0.O. Better late than never...

A blinding jet of violet light shot past him and hit one of the creatures square on the face.

Finnegan glanced over his shoulder to make sure that the curse had not been aimed at him. No more than a second did his eyes need to recognize the thin and pale frame of Cassius Eden whose features were hard set and determined. There was Winters too, close enough, and easy to recognize from the shade of her hair. Both teens were little more than acquintances to him, but acquantances were most welcome in this fight and if Opeila hadn't spoken just then, he would never have questioned just whose side they were on.

Yet Opeila was spared having a reluctant wand pointed at her by the simple fact that the two creatures with their doubled voices had just downed a full-grown man. The danger, the real danger, was in front of him and there was no time to consider who was with who beyond what common sense dictated. As if to prove a point, the creature who'd last spoken raised its wand and-

-he hit the ground flat on his belly. A searing flash of light overhead.

Not a moment too soon, he thought grimly.

A wall of rippling air, stiff as a sudden gale washed over him, making his eyes water. And yet that was the smallest of inconveniences compared to the fate that befell Cassius. The retaliatory spell struck with a vengeance and some part of him half-expected the teen to go limp and not rise again.

With a voice that sounded nothing like his own, he'd cried out for help, yet there was no sign of Evelynn anywhere, which meant...

He swallowed hard, and forced several unbidden thoughts out of his head. Evelynn was a most capable witch, she would have gotten out, she would've thought of something and gotten to safety with Winnie and-

-Apologies, I’m late. How can I help? I wasn’t briefed.

Through the blood rushing in his ears, he alnost didn't recognize that it was Opeila who was conversing with that thing. Her voice was entirely too casual, like they were discussing the state of the weather in the midst of a bloody battleground. Yet before he could even formulate a thought about Opeila's tie to these foul creatures, the half-blinded one sent forth another deadly curse.

Her aim was poor and Finnegan had had the nouse to remain flat on the ground. A loud bang sounded, followed by an even louder crash and a cloud of dust and splinters. Somehow, through it all, he managed to disarm Simone, though it would have been better if he would have managed to get rid of her arm entirely.

"Someone claim that wand!"

"Accio!"

"Expulso!"

Almost together the voices of Cassius and Opeila sounded, sending spells flying the other way once more. Hope rekindled and with a grunt, Finnegan forced himself to his feet and dashed toward the downed and lifeless frame of August Vancleaf. Was he still alive? If he managed to make it across the battered lawn, Finnegan would press his ear to the man's chest, checking for a heartbeat, however faint.

Mundane action: rushing toward August.
Magical action: will attempt to cast Protego Maxima if any aimed spell, stray spell or other AoE damage is at threat of hurting him. Will leave the effect of this, if casting is succesfull, to the discretion of the moderator.

Edit 16-12-2025:


@Cassius Eden @Solomon Lear @Opeila Winters