IMOG Bobsledding Years 4-7 finished

ROUND 1

A note to all players: The word count minimum is 200 words. The next deadline to post and submit strategy is 120 hours from the time this is posted. If you believe a mistake has been made in the calculations of this round, please reach out to me, Aulis Vorozheykin, ASAP so it can be addressed promptly. Rolls can be found in the roll-channel chat on the Discord. If you do not have Discord and wish to see the rolls, please owl me.

Cheat DC: 20 (average wisdom of all players + 10)
Average player stats: STA 10, EVA 16, STR 9, WIS 10, ARC 8, ACC 16

Hostile Actions

Movement Attempts

Outcome

Miles and Stephen fail to blatch Della and Andrew.
Miles and Stephen take 60 damage each from the trees for two failed rolls.
Della and Andrew take 30 damage each from the trees for one failed roll.
Even though they set off the ashwinder eggs, Greta and Felix don't suffer its effects because Della and Andrew saved them (I think - see notes below).
Ending positions are shown below with colours & initials.

Current Map: (see Actions Reducio for team colours)

START LINE (M&D) Unit 1 - Unit 2 - trees moderate Unit 3 - (M&S) Unit 4 - ashwinder eggs Unit 5 - Unit 6 - snowfall easy (A&D) (G&F) Unit 7 - snowfall hard

Unit 8 - fog moderate Unit 9 - Unit 10 - Unit 11 - high winds hard Unit 12 - Unit 13 - maze near impossible Unit 14 - FINISH LINE

Submitted Plays

Health and Post Tracker

Some notes:
- You all get +3 to all stats, basically like a Silver Arrow, from your sleds to help with the obstacles. No, these do not count towards the overall player averages, nor does it count towards your health count.
- Your sleds come equipped with a compass. You don't need to worry about stating that you have one.
- Player stats are averaged for everything you do together, like flying, dodging obstacles, blatching, etc. Only for casting spells, etc. would it be considered separate.
- I am presuming that because the ashwinder eggs were beaten by one team, the other team also does not take damage and does not have their speed halved for the next round. However, I have questions out to the broom captains about this and will let affected teams know if this changes in the next 24 hours.
- I have a renewed respect for the broom racing captains and moderators.

• It was pointed out to me that I had accidentally swapped Greta's EVA and STR scores. This does not affect any of the rolls, but does affect the average player scores, which I have updated to be correct in the original post now.
• I have confirmed with the racing captains that Greta and Felix are not at all affected by the ashwinder eggs going off because it was nullified instantaneously by Della and Andrew.
• Original deadline from my moderation post still applies.

@Della Barfield / Feb 20th, 2026
┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☽【❖】☾━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

It wasn't long before the rest of the contestants showed up, including Della, who asked him if he was ready. "Oh, definitely ready and excited. A little cold," he admitted. "But I think once we start racing, I'll forget all about it."

She pointed out one other girl that she knew [Dealla], and Drew nodded, following her indication. "Well, if the worst thing she can do is cast spells at us, I think we'll be fine," Drew said, half-joking confidence in his voice. "We'll be too far ahead for her to hit us."

As instructed, Drew got into position for the start of the race, giving a respectful nod to his opponents and feeling a grin grow across his face. He let Della take the front as long as she was okay with it, wanting to be able to watch her back.

And they were off!

Drew had been exaggerating his confidence when he told Della they would be too far for the girl she recognized to hit them, but he ended up being, fortunately, correct. As three teams sped from the start line at the beginning of the race, her partner was just getting to her, leaving them stranded behind.

It wasn't long before they started that another team, two boys he recognized from Ilvermorny [Miles & Stephen] swerved their way, attempting to slam into them with their bobsled. Della and Drew were able to steer out of their path, still moving swiftly ahead while their attackers slowed due to their attempt at violence. They would both hear a laugh from Drew as the distance between them stretched. It was them and another bobsled in the front of the race now, tearing through a copse of trees. Once they emerged, Drew gave his partner a once-over, neither of them looking much worse for wear despite the thick branches.

What was a much closer call were the ashwinder eggs. He supposed they weren't the worst creature to be lying in wait on a racing course, but as soon as the other team [Greta & Felix] sped by, they burst into flame. Drew and Della were quick, though, whipping out their wands. With a hearty "Nix Facitur!", snow was conjured on the eggs, soothing their flames. Drew let out a breath- he had never been amazing at casting spells, but he was relieved that his knowledge had paid off. "Whew- we're off to a good start," he said to his teammate, and they were soon surrounded by gently falling snow.

Stats & Abilities

Obnoxiously Strong: +15% strength Fearless: immune to fear effects Charmer: -1 acc to opponents (all other racers besides Della) Paragon of Health: Up to two allies (Della) gain +10% sta Wandmaker (Dragon Heartstring): +3 to arc, 5% rebound chance Apparition

xx

sta: 14 eva: 9 str: 16 wis: 5 arc: 14 acc: 7

Nothing from the get go went as planned. From a bobsledding/broom racing aspect of things, that was just par for the course. Always the supreme optimist, Stephen was not of the mindset that a win in this race was completely out of the question, but his equally steadfast pragmatism — call it the yin to to his optimistic yang — kept such expectations squarely in check.

He both recognized and had competed against everyone here, he believed. The only exception was the platinum blonde girl Andrew was sledding with. She was a complete unknown to him, and that was likely part of the problem he and Miles suffered in their unsuccessful attempt to blatch the two.

He and Andrew had flown together for a few years on Ilvermorny's Broom Racing team, so he was somewhat familiar, or had been, with Andrew's strengths and thoughts on strategy. But that was once upon a time ago and that stale knowledge bank had largely informed Stephen's ill-advised decision to do what they did. Time away from broom racing, not to mention the added variable of an unknown (the girl) into the equation, had his former teammate and blonde sledding partner swerve cleanly out of harm's way as they all banked into a turn heading into a straight away.

Stephen's calculation had been that if they hit them just right, Andrew, his partner — and their bobsled — would have flown right off the track, finding themselves side-lined. His optimism regarding their failed maneuver had him telling himself it could have been worse; it could have been he and Miles flying off the track instead.

Missing their target was bad enough. Hearing Andrew laughing at their failed attempt as he sped ahead was merely a sprinkle of salt in the wound, but nothing he couldn't shake off. The worst part of it was how missing had slowed them down.

Waaaaay down.

At least being slowed down meant they were still in this thing. He quickly attempted to regain control of the bobsled as it slammed into the icy turn. What should have been a whisper clean WHOOOOSH was accompanied by the percussively hollow sounds of their bobsled thudding against the track wall, momentarily sounding, and feeling, like they were sledding over gravel. But it wasn't gravel. It was ice. The sled's nose was shaving ice off the snowy embankment at a rate that would have made Edward Scissorhands proud, but was pelting it back into their faces. He didn't even register the wet stings. All he registered was the nuisance of it all.

To his credit, they bounced only once off the other side of the wall they had catapulted themselves into before he got them stabilized, but the damage had definitely been done. They were losing momentum. He hurriedly swiped the shaved ice off of his goggles and a thought came to him. Two thoughts actually. A cherry snow cone suddenly sounded good, but he shook that idea off immediately.

The second, more important thought began to crystallize. It was true they may have slowed down, but his brain had not. While this was definitely not the auspicious start Stephen had hoped for in an attempt to win Miles over to Broom Racing, he thought he had discovered a way to redeem himself and the proud tradition of broom racing in his buddy's eyes.

Seeing most everyone ahead of them, and knowing the team behind them was not to be trifled with, he felt a renewed sense of purpose.

┏		┓
	The only thing getting "crushed" was about to be Madhup's ego. He had spared no expense in preparations, splurging on gear and pouring time into training. The only element of his fit which wasn't new were his boots, once considered lucky, now about to be the bane of his wardrobe. Countdown had commenced. The young man braced against the bobsled behind Dealla, crouched low with a wide and wild look of violent intent in his eyes. Each breath from his flaring nostrils formed bullish jets of condensation. Yet when the pin dropped and Mad heaved with all his strength, somewhere under the sound of their opponents taking off, he heard a high-pitched twang. A loosening sensation around his right shin suggested his bootlace had broken. In those first critical seconds, he still tried to shove his way forward, but the shoe was lodged deep into the snow from the force of his pushing. It slid clean off, leaving him stumbling forward with a string of bi-lingual swears. Shock plastered itself across his face as freezing sleet sank through his sock. Snapped out of concentration, he glanced over his shoulder with a panicked look, contemplating going back for the boot before desperation compelled he abandon it entirely. Madhup didn't need clothes to race.
┗		┛

Calming Presence: @Dealla Prince

English | Parseltongue
interacting: @Andrew Lycan; mentioning: @Stephen Schwartz & @Miles Thatcher

Drew took Della's word of warning about the older Ravenclaw racer in with an air of confidence. Americans, amirite? They both had their shared strategy in mind: go fast and don't look back. Della hoped some of that confidence would rub off on her and that she could get some of her racing oomph back, even if she wasn't on a broom and she was working with a stranger—but Drew's temperament made it seem like he could rather be a new friend.

They took their positions at the starting line, and Della plopped in front. She supposed the larger of the two people should be in the back. She was tall, Drew was tall, so maybe it was chivalry instead that pushed him to the back. As they sat down on the sled, the one thing Della tried very very very hard not to think about was that she was now in close quarters with a handsome boy. She hadn't had a single thought about Drew's looks until now, damn girl, just concentrate on the race, please. She may not tell her long-distance boyfriend (not-boyfriend?) about this race.

But the race started, and Della forced her thoughts in a forward direction, i.e., steering the sled, which was now careening down the mountainside. Honestly, racing was much scarier when the ground was this close. Going fast meant friction, or lack thereof, a variable she didn't often consider in broom racing.

Two other Ilvermorny boys were getting too close to Drew and Della's sled (that had a nice ring to it, Drew and Della—goddamnit, girl, concentrate!). Oh! They were attempting a blatch—was it called that on the ground? Both she and Drew leaned at the right moment and avoided the attack, leaving them behind. "Friends of yours, I take it?"

But before that conversation could continue, some ashwinder eggs began to explode in a fiery blaze. Both Drew and Della cast the correct spell in unison, bringing the temperature back to its original absolutely freezing. "We're off to a great start, but let's not get too cocky. There are probably more horrors up ahead."

Action: as strategized
Stats: stamina: 8 | evasion: 16 | strength: 5 | wisdom: 11 | arcane power: 5 | accuracy: 13
Abilities: Evasive Maneuvers (10% auto-dodge) & Snake Spy (?)

𝙾𝚄𝚃𝙵𝙸𝚃: Reducio

│ │ │

▪ 𝙴𝙽𝙲𝚈 ▪ ▪ FELIX ▪ KOLBECK ▪ ▪ DURMSTRANG iNPC ▪ FIFTH YEAR ▪

│ │ │

𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂: Reducio @Evelynn Decipio as Greta

The moment Greta's lips met his own Felix felt heat bloom in his cheeks and flush up to his ears. The two had been dating for over a year now and he was usually about to keep it cool around her, but when Greta took the incentive and caught him by surprise...

Well, that was just completely UNFAIR.

He froze in place, his brain short-circuiting the same way it usually did she made the first move. Not that she probably wasn't weaponizing his reaction. He'd be annoyed if he wasn't so proud of her. His hands hovered over her waist awkwardly before he broke out of his trance and pulled her flush against him.

When they broke apart he cleared his throat, his cheeks still pink, "fine, but if we're rushing towards our deaths in a sled... We're going for gold."

When they loaded into the sleigh, his arms wrapped around her tightly, likely to remain that way the entire trip down. "If you think I'm letting you fall out, you're crazy." He mumbled into her ear before kissing the side of her head.

"But I hope you know what you're bargaining for, because when we win," not if, but when, "you'll have to do whatever I say for an hour."

With that warning, they took off, speeding towards the bottom of the hill. It was mostly smooth sailing, but when the eggs were set off his arms squeezed her even tighter, his body coiled and ready to jump at whatever next unfortunate thing or person tried to harm Greta.