The Drowned Palace Group 10

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The moody atmosphere which seemed to have embedded itself in every corner of the ball reigned in this particular room. They'd shuffled inside, the lot of them, door slamming ominously and plunging the group into a stagnant darkness.

Draven sighed.

"Lumos," he commanded, the tip of his wand exploding with cold white light.

His eyes travelled along the walls, taking in the vegetation growing in intricate patterns. The little plants seemed to emanate a light of their own, cold, blueish hues dancing among the objects littered about the room. And-

Despite the shuffling of feet and chatter from the other students, it wasn't hard to distinguish the song. The voice was eerie. It burrowed into Draven's brain, digging into its crevices and embedding itself so deeply he couldn't hope to pry it out. There was a hazy quality about it, something that made the pit of Draven's stomach knot up even as his thoughts went foggy.

The boy's fingers fell on his bag, worrying at the strap. He knew the professors were somewhat sane, but there was something about the room that sent a cold chill down his spine. He couldn't place it, exactly. A weird unease had settled upon his chest.

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IN THE ENCHANTED SATCHEL

potions • antidote to common poisons • antidote to uncommon poisons • herbicide potion • forgetfulness potion • confusing concoction • dizziness draugh • drowsiness draught • muffling draught • dogsbreath potion • gregory's unctuous unction • black fire potion • anti-paralysis potion • pepperup potion

• sleeping draught • murlap essence • draught of peace • calming draught x • bruise removal paste • burn healing paste • herbicide • zonic pouches

x

magical items • majesto tent • portable couch • marauders' map • fake permission form • locksmith's knife • teapot of tea time • melting candles • charlatan's dice • face mask

items continued • lunar moths • jar of crickets • cheap cigarettes clothes • trenchcoat of sneak • robe of warmth • protective gloves • ear plugs

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Dad

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Pa

Andrea

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Interacting with @Avis Greymond | @Draven Mirador @Cade Darkbound | @Fire Davies @Aodhan Shaw	Date - 04/10/25
WC 238/200	Color Legend - Mylo | BSL | Thoughts

The loud bang of the door slamming behind the group startled Mylo, even more so as the 6 of them were plunged into near darkness. At least he was here with a few of his friends which helped alleviate some of the tension they felt settling into their body as the eeriness of the room made itself known.

The tension was lifted even more as a white light flickered into existence, cutting through some of the darkness. Realising that it might be a good idea to have a light of his own Mylo followed in Draven's steps and took out their own wand and casting Lumos, a similar white light emerging from the tip of their wand.

Before it sprung into existence Mylo noticed a green glow coming from one of the walls, which wasn't eery at all followed by, again totally not eery, singing. A weird feeling rooting itself in Mylo's stomach at the melody, maybe they'd eaten something weird.

Looking to the group they hoped that they weren't the only one noticing the weirdness of this place.

"Okay, I'm assuming this song is a kind of riddle and we have to fill in the gaps. Anybody any ideas?" They asked noticing that the singing seemed to be waiting for an answer, and had started up again at the lack of response. Listening carefully they tried to pick up on any potential clues they might be missing.

ABILITIES | STATS | ACTIONS

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Abilities: Perfectionist | Wandmaker [Dragonheart, Elm wood] | Calming presence
Stats: sta • 8 | eva • 7 | str • 5 | wis • 10 | arc • 7 | acc • 8
Inventory: Burn healing paste, Bruise healing paste, wand
Actions: listening for clues in the song

OUTFIT

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Code by Ara Villa

October 2025 | Studying the glowing lines lol same brain @Mylo Atkins

The door sealed with a faint hiss and the sound of the corridor disappeared as if it was swallowed. Cade Darkbound blinked against the darkness, a pulse of dim green light flickering somewhere to his left. He didn't need his eyes to adjust to see, on account of his newfound darkvision. But it that would hardly matter since @Draven Mirador lit his wand immediately.

The air had the damp chill of a dungeon, and the scent of moss clung to his throat. The greenish glow deepened, spreading like ink in water. And Cade would take a careful step forward. The floor was uneven stone, each movement stirred faint echoes that made the space feel vaster than it was. His brows knit, the filaments upon the walls were twisting now, curving into strokes that might have been letters.

A riddle, then. Typical. It reminded him, unexpectedly, of the door to Ravenclaw Tower. The damned bronze eagle that demanded wit as an entry fee. How many nights had he stood before it, books under one arm, a half finished essay in the other, blearily listening to that calm disembodied voice ask something impossible? Which weighs more, truth or mercy? Those moments always felt like this one-- like stepping into a conversation already in progress.

Then came the hum, a tremor that seemed to live inside the walls. It swelled into something melodic, a low choral vibration that made the air tremble. Cade's chest tightened. The sound seemed to be inside his ribs too. He listened keenly but the melody hung unfinished. The song stopped. Cade's eyes darted around the room to the others, as though expecting movement in the dark. He realized with a strange chill, that the voice was listening.

"It wants... an answer. A verse for a verse." He said, tasting the idea aloud. He hesitated. The notion was absurd-- singing back to a room-- but Hogwarts had never shied away from the absurd when it came to enchantments. "We just need the right words."

Items
Antidote to Common Poisons, Burn Healing Paste, Notebook, Locksmith's Knife

mentioning: @Draven Mirador | @Mylo Atkins | @Fire Davies | @Aodhan Shaw date: 04-10-2025 | fit: x | action: taking a guess at the riddle and suggesting a classic crossword puzzle | inventory: fire-breathing potion, antidote to uncommon poisons

The familiar butterflies that took up residence in Avis' stomach before every Quidditch match she'd ever played were back for this particular venture it seemed. Outside in the hall, where the warm glow of the hearth had filled the room, the Ravenclaw had been all bluster and stalwart bravery but now, as they were doused in darkness, a cold finger was tracing icicles down her spine and Avis couldn't help but give in to a little shiver.

The darkness didn't last long as both Mylo and the boy she'd met awhile ago in Gladrags lit up the room with a simple spell. Avis herself hadn't thought of Lumos but she was glad, for once, to let go of her stubborn youngest mindset go and let the older students take charge. Having Mylo around suddenly felt like the safest thing in the whole world and she took a slight step closer to them as the chill began to settle into her bones.

The glowing wall algae was an obvious thing to have one's eyes drawn to as they stood out in the darkness and Avis narrowed her eyes, almost making out a few words inscribed in the eery glow before a sound began to grow in volume. It made her heart stop and her hairs stand on end as the sound became a voice...or was it several voices? Whichever it was, it was unearthly at best and Avis swallowed nervously as it filled the room....only for it to stop as quickly as it had started.

A long silence filled the room, broken by Mylo's question. Another older boy answered, someone Avis thought she might've seen around the Ravenclaw common room once or twice. The phrase "words" suddenly struck her with an idea.

She stepped forward, shaky confidence beginning to fill her voice. "Has anyone ever done a crossword puzzle out of a Muggle newspaper?" she asked, glancing around at her companions' faces lit up in the ghostly glow. It was a common game she'd learned from her Muggle friends around her village back home and was something they always resorted to on Sundays when they were extra bored. She'd never been particularly good at filling in the words, but Avis did know how it worked.

The girl stepped towards the algae wall and cocked her head, squinting at the words once again. Then, she look back at the blank spaces as the voice began to sing again, dropping her stomach into her feet. The faster they figured this out, the better.

"Basically," she said over the eery tune, turning back to the group and hoping her hunch was right. "You have a word bank." The Ravenclaw gestured at the glowing inscriptions in the wall. "And you have somewhere to put the words," she continued, pointing at the blank spaces. "We just have to figure out exactly what order to put the words in, I suppose...in order to answer the song," Avis added, nodding at Cade and folding her arms against the strange chill.

This was the part she'd leave to the more clever, much more rational Mylo. Avis was too impatient to figure out silly word games. Her frustration always seemed to get the better of her in the end and she'd give up, spouting a flurry of not necessarily kind words. The Ravenclaw stood there, glancing back and forth between the words, her companions and the blank spaces on the other wall. Merlin, she hoped she wasn't wrong. She'd be quite out of ideas then.

October 2025 | Puzzling out the words
@Mylo Atkins, @Draven Mirador, @Aodhan Shaw

Come seek us where the torches glow, Within the castle, far below. Cade frowned, turning the phrase over. It didn't sound metaphorical... It sounded geographical. A direction, even. Below the castle... the dungeons? The Chamber of Secrets? The Black Lake's edge? Hogwarts had no shortage of hidden depths, and the phrasing where shadows feast and silence calls made him think of those submerged passages beneath the school where few students ever went.

"Fish-head's right," Cade would nod towards @Fire Davies in agreement. "It wants us to follow. I reckon the missing words are clues to a specific site."

Cade would break out his notebook, thinking hard. "Four... three... six," he whispered, tapping the first half of the line. "Then four, four, two, six." He wrote the counts in the margin of his notebook and beneath them started sketching possibilities in pencil, letting sense come second to cadence. Deep the caverns-- cold ways of vaults... No, caverns was seven. Halls ruined the count. He tried again: seek the depths,-- the letters lined up neatly: seek (4), the (3), depths (6). It landed like a stone in still water, the right weight and splash.

He looked up at the wall. "First three done, we need four, four, two, six." Down near of vaults fit the numbers, but the grammar left a sour taste in his mouth. He crossed it out. Deep ways of waters... That hardly made sense. It ought to be easier than this. This felt blunt, imprecise.

If this was a crossword like @Avis Greymond suggested, the solution wouldn't just meet the count; it would mean something. He thought of the dungeons, the washed sort of green lake light that tinted the stone. The words rose together, already arranged. Down (4), here (4), in (2), waters (6). He wrote the full first line in the notebook, hand steady.

seek the depths, down here in waters,
___ ________ ____—___ __ __ ___.

"Here," he said, glancing up between his teammates. The green glow from the algae shimmered across the parchment as he tilted it toward them. "This is only a start... But something tells me I'm getting it wrong. The song talks about pearls and gold, right? Perhaps it means sunken treasure... Like in the black lake. Or even somewhere in the dungeons. Of course, that's only a guess. But what do you think?"

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Draven rolled his shoulders back, trying to dislodge an uncomfortable chill. The damp air around them was inundating his nose, trickling down his throat, and spilling over in his lungs. Each shallow mouthful was suffocating, wrapping round his chest and squeezing.

The pale light around them flickered as Draven choked. Where before his spell had reached every crevice of the room, blinding in its brilliance, it dimmed now. A wet, hacking cough bounced off the walls. Merlin. For perhaps the third time that evening, Draven wondered what in God's name had inspired him to leave his dorm.

Finding a nearby chair, the boy dragged it over to the wall with a little difficulty. He sank into it, shaking his wand as if to flick water off it. The light reappeared, illuminating the wall. He was horrible at puzzles. So he'd pretend he was useful by holding the flashlight and passing proverbial screwdrivers.

While he awaited, his gray gaze settled on his compatriots. Mylo was there, in his ridiculously stylish pirate outfit. Then there was Avis- Draven's brows knit together. He knew her by name, could recall a Quidditch match or perhaps two. She'd won, if he could remember the scoreboard correctly.

"Didn't you stop by my work like a year or two ago?" Draven asked her, shifting his wand to see her face a bit better. "I think your owl ate your socks?" Or was it her dog? Merlin, with every passing year, his mind degraded a little more. He was sure he'd be left unable to tie his own shoelaces before long.

Next came Cade. They shared a Charm's class- that he knew for sure. He recalled being sat directly in front of the kid, and spending the entire class trying to position himself so the other boy could still see the board. About halfway through, Draven had given up and proceeded to take a nap on his desk, Deimos chewing very determinedly on his hair all the while.

Turning his attention to one of the smaller forms in the room, Draven flinched back in his chair so violently his elbow slammed into the wall behind him. Where the boy's head should have been, a wet blob with gaping jaws and dead eyes sat quite comfortably. "Is there a setting on that thing?" the creature demanded, its voice horribly muffled, black scales glinting wetly in the pale light. Draven cleared his throat, shaking the wand again. "Merlin, you're lucky I was sitting," he said. "My first impulse was to drop kick you-" His brain caught up a moment later. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that-"

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IN THE ENCHANTED SATCHEL

potions • antidote to common poisons • antidote to uncommon poisons • herbicide potion • forgetfulness potion • confusing concoction • dizziness draugh • drowsiness draught • muffling draught • dogsbreath potion • gregory's unctuous unction • black fire potion • anti-paralysis potion • pepperup potion

• sleeping draught • murlap essence • draught of peace • calming draught x • bruise removal paste • burn healing paste • herbicide • zonic pouches

x

magical items • majesto tent • portable couch • marauders' map • fake permission form • locksmith's knife • teapot of tea time • melting candles • charlatan's dice • face mask

items continued • lunar moths • jar of crickets • cheap cigarettes clothes • trenchcoat of sneak • robe of warmth • protective gloves • ear plugs

mentioning: @Draven Mirador | @Mylo Atkins | @Fire Davies | @Aodhan Shaw date: 04-10-2025 | fit: x | action: attempting to read the words on the algae wall and showing off her lucky socks | inventory: fire-breathing potion, antidote to uncommon poisons

Avis jumped as she realized a voice was in fact coming out of the angler fish head in the corner and it wasn't just a haunting decoration but a fellow student. She squinted in confusion for a moment before realizing the costume was technically on theme and shrugged it off. Glancing down for a moment at her own pirating gear, she tugged on the tight corset for the thousandth time that night, reminded herself that Maisie's mam had hand-made it so she had no room to complain, and glanced up as the older Ravenclaw from earlier agreed vocally with "Fish-head".

Then he started rambling on about numbers and Avis' eyebrows immediately furrowed in helpless disgust. This was getting much too complicated and she rather hated arithmetic but she was determined to help regardless. The girl edged closer to the other Ravenclaw, peering over his shoulder at the notebook he'd procured, only to glance up when the Gladrags boy, with the concerning cough, mentioned something familiar.

"Oh aye. A couple months ago, I think," she replied, grimacing at the memory of soggy socks. She cocked her head curiously at his next sentence. "It was my cat. Quigley. 'Fraid he ate a pair of the ones you sold me too, but I still have the Viktor Krum ones!" she said, pulling up the skirt of her pirate dress to reveal the famous Bulgarian Seeker's face plastered over the length of a knee-high sock. The image let out an unappreciative huff and glowered at the group before Avis covered it once again. She shrugged. "I suppose he doesn't much appreciate being on a sock. Ah well. I think they're lucky."

She turned once again to study the notebook, hoping the boy wouldn't mind her prying and nodded along to his very logical guess.

"Perhaps the words written on the algae wall could help us fill in the rest of the blanks?" she said finally, straightening and walking over to the wall. Squinting hard, she tried to make out the words through the faint glow as the haunting song started up again.