The Drowned Palace Group 12

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The Drowned Palace

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Interacting w/:
Date: 04.10.25
Outfit: portkey
WC: 237
#38466B, #1A1A1A, #806251
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Interactions: @Robin Marie + the group Mentions: @Costanza Jewelweed

Outfit

Another ball, another escape room. Pyxis didn’t know who planned these shindigs, but he hoped they kept including things like this for him specifically, or something of equal fun. He much preferred it to suffering through the social scene that reminded him of his time before Hogwarts, so once the announcements were out, the lad excitedly jotted down his name on the sign-up sheet. He considered asking his partner for the last two events, but he decided against it for fear of being too annoying. His friendship with Costanza was… not really a friendship, but it was getting somewhere and he didn’t want to ruin that.

Instead, he was put in a group with none of his actual friends, so even though he signed up for these things to avoid socialization, he always ended up having to do it anyways. At least I’m good at it.

Upon entering the room, the Slytherin was greeted by something that felt a little more complicated than the last time. For one, it was quite dark and he had to wait until his eyes adjusted before looking around. There were no obvious clues, no slip of paper with quite solvable riddles. He and his team were going to have to work for it, and Pyxis was excited to be challenged.

This year’s theme seemed eerie on purpose, and he felt like he was hours deep into a save of Subnautica. The algae on the walls was the first thing that caught his interest. They formed vague shapes that looked like words on one wall, and patterns that looked like his homework questions on another wall. He was going to put some thought into that corner, but a song stole his attention. Within the castle, far below. Where shadows feast and silence calls. It’s the dungeons, innit? His first instinct wasn’t to look for the words or any associations in the algae. It was to try the door behind the group and see if it could open again. Perhaps their escape was a search for treasure like the song said, and they would have to leave the Small Hall to find it. Before he could turn the handle though, someone started casting next to him. Ah, some wand light. He hoped she succeeded with that.

“Yeah, I got you,” Pyxis responded to the girl, withdrawing his outstretched hand and producing his wand. The two of them wouldn’t know it, but focus on duelling spells was something they shared in common, though the snake did have some extra practice with the second year curriculum. “Don’t suppose we’ve got to leave and head to the dungeons? Somebody mind trying the door handle? Or is that stupid? Anyways, Revelio.”

Action: Casting the Revealing Charm on the room.
STA: 10 | EVA: 5 | STR: 3 | WIS: 12 | ARC: 8 (+2) | ACC: 9
Perfectionist | Stat Relevant | Spell Spread

MOD POST - GROUP 12

The room was lit up in light. Quite a bit of it too, maybe a tad bit too much. But it was clearly enough to show the room they were crammed into. Nonetheless, @Robin Marie would find her wand lighting up brightly illuminating everything around her. This allowed the group to see more details such as the door they came through now faded and almost "hidden" in the wall. There was no leaving for now. After all this was an escape room, all that they had to do could be found here.

While the light shone on everything, the algae seemed to shrink from it, sliding back and blending into the foliage of the wall. Whatever semblance of "words" that were not even clear as to what they were before, were not even less so. No, this algae thrived in darkness.

@Pyxis Hellebore would cast a well-timed and well-cast revelio, and the algae seemed to grow brighter and sharper, allowing him to read the words - sort of. The algae seemed confused, whether to hide from the light or come out to the revelio, and each word seemed to make up its own mind, half of them choosing to rebel from the light, half choosing to spark under the revelio.

and xxxxxxxxxxxxx search, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx through xxxxxx is xxxxxxxxxxx so
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxyour xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx treasure

Note: I am aware this is a bit early given that the thread opened on Tuesday and I apologize for that, but this was done as to then keep on track with the every Saturday mod post schedule as much as possible. (as during the week it is less likely I'll be able to get the mod posts done)

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The Drowned Palace

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Interacting w/: @Pyxis Hellebore & crew
Date: 04.10.25
Outfit: portkey
WC: 252
#38466B, #1A1A1A, #806251
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Interactions Reducio @Robin Marie + the group

Outfit Reducio

When the room was bathed in light, Pyxis forgot about the algae entirely and turned to look for the door. No one had moved to try the handle. Well, no one had moved at all with the exception of the Lumos Duo caster. But from the sight of the entryway, the lad lost hope that his theory of leaving the Small Hall was correct. The door almost looked fake as it blended in with the themed decor, and Pyxis knew from experience that the door wouldn’t be hidden within the surroundings if it was meant to be used. So he turned his attention back to the algae. What he saw was an oddly unsettling scene of squirming patterns. Eugh!

The imagery was gross, but he began to understand that the movement of the algae was in response to the magic being cast in the room. Certain patterns stood out as words, but others had no consistent structure. In fact, it looked like the algae was shying away from the bright light in the room. Before Pyxis could ask the only other active person in the room to out their Lumos, the girl was already on it. And she’d taken on his theory.

“Ah, looking for secret passages instead of trying the door… It’s much smarter than what I was thinking, heh.” He nodded to the girl’s introduction and gave a little wave. “I’m Pyxis… Uh… I can’t really make out what these other words are, and I don’t really know how we’re supposed to put them together. I’m not really a poetry guy,” he shrugged, a bit embarrassed at how lost he was. “I wonder if the words aren’t in the right order and we have to swap them around to finish the lines of the song.” He closed his eyes and listened intently to another iteration of the song. “The last word of every two lines rhymes, but nothing rhymes in these words here.” There was also the matter of the fill-in-the-blanks algae to deal with.

“If letter spacing means anything on this side,” he said, pointing with his wand at the algae lines, “then ‘treasure’ should be the second word in the second line because there’s only one spot where eight letters can fit. And look here. ‘Search’ has a mark next to it. That could be a comma, which means that ‘search’ could possibly be the third or last word in the first line.” He paused, using that theory to try to fit some of the words in. “Wait, no. Because ‘through’ is a word, and there’s no space for a word with seven letters. Is that an error, or am I way off? Er, maybe I should do this again without the light… Revelio!”

Action: Casting the Revealing Charm again in the absence of light.
STA: 10 | EVA: 5 | STR: 3 | WIS: 12 | ARC: 8 (+2) | ACC: 9
Perfectionist | Stat Relevant | Spell Spread

Ripley woke as if in a dream -- this moist room smelled like the inside of a moss house and the distant singing took the boy momentarily to a long ago, far away place. It was no surprise that the algae, bewitched or not, probably thrived in such a dark, wet environment. His fellow players were already in the throes of the game, casting spells, attempting to decipher the message the walls were playing at revealing -- or hiding. Ordinarily, Ripley would have been at the forefront of this mission, but he had decided to go against type and hang back briefly. But now it was time to help. If there were clues here, they would find them.

"Nice to meet you guys. I'm Ripley," he paused, observing the algae moving, "Pyxis, I think you're onto something with giving that stuff some unlighted space to move into shape. But I wonder if it responds to touch...If your spell doesn't work, I'll poke it."

In the meantime, Ripley left Pyxis to his experimentation and looked up at the ceiling. What was up there? After all, anything in the room could be the key to leaving it. As a first year, he didn't yet know many spells, so unless a ghostly tickling or lighting someone's clothes on fire would somehow fit in here, his wand remained stowed.

MOD POST - GROUP 12

@Robin Marie would most likely think that there was something hidden around the room, like a passage or a corridor. But as it turned out, once the spell was successfully cast, it...unfortunately for the group, was just a normal room. The spell exposed nothing. But at least, when casting that, it also meant that the light from her wand extinguished.

@Pyxis Hellebore followed right through afterwards, though, with a well-cast revelio. And thanks to the no extra light around, the algae seemed to cooperate quite a bit with them this time as they seemed to grow brighter and sharper, allowing him to read the words blending into the foliage.

your xxxxxxxxx treasure xxx Fail xxxxxxxxxxxx stays xxxxxx do xxxxxxx the xxxxxxxxxx The and xxxxxxxxxxxxx search, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx through xxxxxx is xxxxxxxxxxx so xxx timexxx you

The words were scrambled; they needed to be rearranged, though that was a much easier task now that they could actually see them properly, too.

@Ripley Cunning would in the meantime find that there was nothing too interesting about the ceiling, well nothing out of ordinary for Hogwarts and for this room itself, as it didn't seem to be of help for the puzzle they had to solve.

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The Drowned Palace

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Interacting w/: @Pyxis Hellebore @Ripley Cunning & crew
Date: 04.10.25
Outfit: portkey
WC: 280
#38466B, #1A1A1A, #806251
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MOD NOTE - GROUP 12

MOD POST IS POSTPONED THIS WEEK - Only one person wrote, and I do not want to bother anyone with more owls, so I'll write it here. This is in no way to rush anyone. I am aware you likely are busy in real life, but mod posts for this group will be moved to once every 2 weeks to reflect that. If you do not want to continue this for whatever reason, please do owl me so I know.