Banishment PV Professors

Short and not particularly good, but did not want to hold you up. Carry on.

There was a foreboding chill in the air. They could all feel it but only Solomon would act on it. Ivar was the ugliest woman Solomon had ever laid his eyes on. Hiding in plain sight as most fiends do, depending on the trust and compliance of those around them to merely abide. Abide by the social standard, that she was a peer because he said so. That she was a friend. That she was safe.

He would save them. You simply cannot trust anyone. Solomon lunged at Ivar, but he had lost a great deal of weight. His limbs felt lame and stiff but he still had to try. Lear would attempt to grab the fiend and his hands would find purchase on his garments but he would not find the strength to pull him down. Ivar would break free and stumble away. Solomon would brandish his wand, a murderous intent in his eyes. He lacked the physical prowess to subdue the hag but he still had the arcane skill of a wizard and very little to lose less his station.

A cane would come swinging down, from his alleged ally. At least he believed that. Yes, believed in the past tense. In truth he could not trust her, he could not trust anyone. Friends were an illusion. No. a delusion. How pretentious to consider friend, another hag? He could feel the panic swelling within him. They were everywhere. They could change form. Invade dreams. Make nightmares a reality. He had to run. He should run. Flee from the grinning threat before him or the stern woman behind him. A portent of things to come, he would suppress his terror as he was not a fearless man. He was filled with dire trepidation but he would not run, leaving his allies if any remained behind. He was a Hufflepuff after all. His greatest strength was also his most painful burden. He needed people despite the fact the he did not seem the type. He would not abandon them until he felt the knife in his back or cane on the back of his head.

His pale eyes would look back at Beatrice's face, her expression dour from his crouched vantage. He would feel a pair of hand reach for him, his body would tense as he tried to spin around quickly. He saw the Astronomy Professor's pulchritudinous face. It should have been a comfort but in Lear's unreasonable state he stiffened, prepared to lash out when he was simply helped back to his feet. "I'm fine.... I fine...." he insisted, not being one for the small chatter as he pointed at Ivar with his wand. No time to explain, it was hero time.

The only thing that stopped the Headmaster from casting a curse he would forever regret was because Caradoc broke the first rule in horror: Don't Ever Investigate Or Say You'll "Be Right Back. He should not have wandered off alone, went ahead of the party. Any dungeoneer also knows that you never split the party. That is also horror movie number five: Don't Ever Split Up. So many warning signs. So many guidelines for survival. He apparently never got the message.

The Professors sprung to action, attempting to save Caradoc from the unseen menace. He would deal would Ivar later, Solomon was going to take something from the book of his kids. Little survivors each of them, he just knew a bigger spell than Incendio. "Bombarda Maxima" Solomon shouted as he blindly shot the spell over Caradoc and into the darkness he was being pulled into. The plan was as simple as the children they taught. Make the bad thing go boom. Don't hit Doc. Higher level functioning was still beyond the traumatized man that suffered from more than night terrors and paranoia.

Abilities:
1 -- Evasive Maneuvers (10% auto-dodge)
2 -- Evasive Maneuvers (10% auto-dodge)
3 -- Spell Spread (can target a second target with spells with an increased critical fail chance and a bebuff to checks)
4 -- Monster Hunter (additional accuracy against non-humans)
5 -- Crucio (bad boy)
6 -- Imperio (bad boy)
7 -- Apparition (let's run away when not at Hogwarts)
8 -- Advanced Apparition (let's run away together when not at Hogwarts)

Stats
Sta| 8
Eva| 20
Str| 8
Wis| 9
Arc| 15
Acc| 15

"Just trying to lighten the mood," Kibitzer said, letting the levity drop as Zahid shot down the sarcastic comment. Maybe it wasn't appropriate at a time like this, but there was still a part of her that was miffed she was caught up in this whole mess. She'd face harassment, stress - even the first vision she'd had in a while had been centred around these damned hags. The things didn't even have the courtesy to shrivel up and die in a timely manner - they had to be rooted out of the dark like roaches and ended more directly. But for a band of capable adults, she was sure it'd be no issue.

Looking around again, Rosalind found herself wishing she was in the company of a band of capable adults, rather than the gaggle of misfits ensconcing her currently. The strange professor of runes made to apply her walking stick to the Headmaster's head - a move that instantly earned her respect in the eyes of Kibitzer. It was nice to see someone with such a direct approach among the staff. Professor Karr's remark seemed to evoke an unusual dread in old Kibitzer - her face grew a degree paler, and she held her hands in front of herself, pacifying herself with idle touching of her own hands. She'd been called a hag before, but she felt that something different might be ahead of her now.

Some brave professors had taken the lead - those leading seemed quite equipped for it, while the more deranged individuals were kept on the back line. She was somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. She would try her best to help, but she knew that with her 'talents', she could become a liability at any moment.

The group stepped forward... and she had not expected the action to start so soon. Caradoc Browne, a professor she had no good feelings toward, was suddenly thrown into the dark. With a quick thrust, she pushed her wand forward, pointing out into the dark - but what spell was the solution for this?
"It's got the Hufflepuff!" she shouted, hearing the french fella say something about the probleme. She didn't know a whole lot of French, but she could identify a probleme when it was sitting in front of her.

The headmaster, too, was a man of action. A man of inspiring action - violent action that she would follow swiftly with her own. Aiming above the disappearing Hufflepuff, she'd thrust her wand out into the darkness that seemed to consume all light. Let's see if it could swallow fire. "Incendio tria!" Perhaps higher level functioning was beyond this old bat, too - or maybe she just had something against poor Doc.

Actions: Throw an incendio tria past the Hufflepuff. Nothing ever goes wrong when you combine those.
Stamina: 8 || Evasion: 13 || Strength: 10 || Wisdom: 12 || Arcane Power: 10 || Accuracy: 12
Abilities: Just Seer abilities.

He didn't think. He didn't even acknowledge the people around him. They weren't as important as the very first person to be his friend stupidly walking past him and Hjørdis and stepping off the stairs into the darknes just as the light from his spell filtered out. All he saw was the look of surprise on his friend's face as he was grabbed by something. The look of horror marring his features as he was pulled backwards and to the floor, knocking his head on the last stair of the staircase hard. It was a wonder that Caradoc was able to even scream as he was pulled into the darkness. He truly wasn't thinking as he raced head first into the darkness, scowling at the insanely irresponsible spell casting of his colleagues as they cast dangerous spell after dangerous spell into the darkness that they couldn't even see into.

The only thing that would break through this darkness was the Hand of Glory. Not even Lumos Maxima could penetrate the darkness before them...at least not the initial darkness. Maybe the darkness would weaken as they went further in. But now wasn't the time to think about the possibilities of the darkness.

Now was the time to search for his best friend.

'Damn it, Al. Why couldn't you be here with us now?' Artemis would think as he raised his wand and pointed it at his back to cast a quick "Protego" behind him to protect him from any poorly aimed spell into the darkness that may accidentally hit him. As mentioned, these people were aiming blindly into the darkness and honestly? They all were being stupid right now.

Artemis was stupid for now putting his life in danger running blindly into the darkness without a source of light to guide him or protect him. Even if it were for his friend, he knew that once Cara knew what he had done, the man would probably give him an earful.

The ones in charge of the old Headmaster were misinformed if they thought he was capable of being there without causing more trouble.

The old woman, grateful for her being there, was just as silly as he and Lear were for casting a blasted HIGH LEVEL Incendio into the damned darkness to attack something that NO ONE COULD SEE!

And the damned Game Keeper zipped by Artemis on a...was that a hammer?!

If Artemis were one of the calmer professors, and usually he was, he would think these people would need to go back to their quarters for their hasty spell casting. But right now, he was acting completely like a headstrong, gotta save the day, Gryffindor instead of the "always think things through" Ravenclaw he was and rushing headfirst into a dangerous situation to save one of the only best friends he had left in the castle. He knew he just needed to get to Cara before whatever it was that had him tortured him.

Or worse.

'I'm coming, buddy. Just hang in there and fight your ass off until the goblin and I get there.' was the thought the young Charms professor had as he continued deep into the darkness, hoping that nothing ended up grabbing him as well.

But even if it did, maybe it would drag him to where his friend was at too.

Action: Casts Protego as he runs into the darkness after Caradoc

Abilities: Perfectionist - Fearless- Evasive Maneuvers- Non-Verbal Magic - Wandless Magic

Stats: Stamina: 12 ~ Strength: 6 ~ Evasion: 8 ~ Wisdom: 20 ~ Arcane Power: 12 ~ Accuracy:12

What could be said now that had not already been said time and time again by each and every person present. These were supposed to be the Professors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Some of the best the Wizarding world had to offer, but all they had to offer in this case was an old man trying to violently beat one of their cohorts and their brave...'Leader?' Gallantly sauntering off to try and become something's breakfast.

The typical panicked spell flinging came afterwards. Well at least if they hit the man himself he would be saved from feeling himself be consumed or, whatever.

'Almost makes me miss the army.' Aleks thought to himself, sighing quietly as he ran a hand through his blonde hair, casting a steel blue eye over to his peers. He wasn't going to join the firing line, wasn't going to join the cacophony of panicked shouting and spells shot into the darkness, or any other 'brave' Professors charging into the dark dungeons.

Something felt off about this. He may not have known Browne particularly well, but he didn't seem like the sort to foolhardily leap into the darkness by himself when he knew the threat they faced. Perhaps Ostrowski was wrong and the Hufflepuff head truly was a fool, but this felt like something more. Like something was luring them, distracting them...trying to divide and conquer.

He turned his back to the rest of the group and tried to drown them out and focus, listening for anything else that was more than the typical drip drip dripping of the leaky walls and rooftops.

He clutched his wand a little bit tighter, taking a deep sniff of the stale air once more. He couldn't shake the feeling that whatever they were fighting was cleverer than they were, and was about to take full advantage.

Action:

Reducio

Staying on guard, listening and sniffing for anything that shouldn't be down here, apart from us of course.

Giving another once over, her eyes scanned the Headmaster trying to gage his reaction to her attempt at helping. His response left her feeling less than satisfied. He said he was fine but clearly there was more going on that had resulted in him lunging at a fellow companion.

"A-Alright.." Kateri's gaze fell upon the old man's victim, Ivar as she managed a smile. Her mouth opened about to ask if be was okay when a commotion erupted from behind her. Whatever had transpired sent some of her colleagues into a casting frenzy. Standing up abruptly, the young woman felt for her wand and barely caught the flash of Gargott speeding off on a... weapon? Kateri blinked wondering if she had truly seen that, incantations being shouted around her.

This wasn't good... what had they all been focused on? Quickly studying the faces around her she noticed Caradoc was missing from the party. Had the hags already reached them? They had just barely set out on their task. She hadn't even seen what it was with her back turned to help the Headmaster. Her hand grabbed at her wand from the holster on her hip and eyes focused in the direction the others were tossing spells at trying to stay alert should something else lash out. With the others casting she decided it might be best to keep a look out for now.

Ivar was looking frantically around himself when he felt the skeletal hands of his senior professor and headmaster latch onto him from behind. Giving out a shrill yelp Ivar started fighting against his opponent, and unceremoniously albeit fairly ungracefully he would eventually pull free from the headmasters surprisingly feeble gripp.

Ivar scurried away from the headmaster, and didn’t stop before he was a fair bit behind the group of professors, closer to the stairs they had entered from. Ivar turned around with a strained grin on his face and indignation flashing in his eyes. His pearly white teeth flashing even brighter in the light of the spell that now illuminated the whole corridor. Ivar was dumbstruck at what had transpired… he had been attacked by one of his companions. Someone he just moments before made a vow to help in whatever way he could, albeit a silent vow, only heard by himself, but this rocked his faith in the professor thoroughly. They were led by a man that wouldn’t hesitate to attack one of their own? Without any explanation? What kind of lunatic was that, he hadn’t felt such indignation since the incident that led him to leave the Ministry he had worked at for most of his adult life. He had hoped this place was different, that these people were different. Ivar chuckled, more to himself than to the professors around him. He seemed to be as much a fool as that ancient great magician he had heard stories of when he was young, the foolish one, the jokester.

He gave the old lady with the walking stick an impish grin as she tried to whack the craving fool in the head with it, but didn’t try to hold eye contact with her. His eyes instead jumping around the room, like a cornered rat Ivar was anticipating where the next attack would come from, which of his so called fellow professors would attack next. He had a fair bit of practice in this regard, from evading attacks from dragons in the Norwegian mountain ranges. Ivars eyes stopped on the same old fool that had tried to attack him once before. The headmaster pointed his wand at Ivar, seemingly ready to attack again.

Well, Ivar was not about to just take it a second time, pulling out his own wand. He did however not have time to point his anywhere as the commotion in the front put a hold to the troubles in the back of the group. Ivar saw one of the professors disappearing down the hall, and the other professors letting out a barrage of spells, creating a close-up firework display one doesn’t often get to witness.

“Cave Inimicum” Ivar whispered to himself, hopefully succeeding in creating a barrier that would hide him from the others. Undoubtedly the old fool of a headmaster would blame him for whatever transpired, so he would rather stay still and hidden until he could follow the group at a safe distance.

Actions:
- Cast Cave Inimicum around himself.

Stats:
Stamina: 12 | Evasion: 15 | Strength: 13 | Wisdom: 7 | Arcane Power: 10 | Accuracy: 13

Abilities:
Cats's Grace
Fearless
Keen Eye
Evasive Maneuvers x2

Reducio

I am also currently working on the application for the two abilities:
Corporeal Patronus Messenger
Apparition
But i'm not entirely done, so haven't posted the application yet.

She felt her stick hitting nothing but air. How odd, she thought, he was right in front of me, how could I miss with him not even paying attention to me. With frowned eyes, she looked at the ending tip of her walking stick rather than the headmaster. She felt certain, that he would come to his senses after he got a few more seconds to realise, that there certainly is no danger lurking for him in the shadows. When she looked back at him, he still was staring into nothingness and was not reacting at first to the helping hand a young girl was presenting to him. This was taken care of, she nodded and stepped aside to give him enough space.

What a weird assemble of people, she noted to herself when she looked at the folk in front of her. Children, most of them, but they surely had to excel in their respective subjects, so she had hope, that this was just a rocky start. That the pile of headless chicken would prove their worth.
The two women in the front had stern eyes, ready to brace whatever was coming. Those two were leaders. Béatrice smiled at herself. Then there was a pretty boy, at least he kept his cool. She frowned when he started to sniff the air. Was there something smelly? She mimicked his actions and took a deep breath, smelling her surroundings. All there was, was dry stone, dust and some old mold. She shrugged and deemed his nose to be picky.

Béatrice wanted to reach once again to her pouch to get another ginger candy when there suddenly were fast movements around her. She stepped back slightly to give the others more space that started to rush towards the hallway as if there was a start signal. "What?" she managed to say when she saw a boy flying by her on ... "Wait what." She did not know what amazed her more. The fact that there was a little boy among them, well little as in too young, he surely ate too much. Or the fact, that he had managed to despite his young age put a glamour on his flying broom to make it look like a giant weapon of destruction. The professor must have decided to take the head boy with them. Now she had seen everything.

With one hand she steadied herself to rest on her walking stick and once again reached to her pouch to get a ginger candy.

Actions: enjoying a candy

Abilities:
Calming Presence
Statistically Relevant
Fearless
Sixth Sense

Stats
Strength: 2
Stamina: 2
Evasion: 4
Accuracy: 12
Arcane Power: 25
Wisdom: 27

Marcus wrinkled his nose at the smell of the rank dungeons. He couldn't discern the smell of rotting from just the disgusting smells of the place itself. Perhaps it was just because he was so used to smelling clean - a glance at Nora at this thought - that he couldn't handle all this at once.

His eyes landed on Browne as the man began to head further down into the dungeons. Marcus quirked an eyebrow at the joke he made, prepared to follow him immediately. He was used to being on the front lines, and he even remembered one of his old sparring partners having a similar sense of humor. It made Marcus take a step towards Browne when it all happened. Lights going out and Nora's spell taking place. Marcus' attention was drawn to the footsteps rather than focusing on Browne, so he did not react in time to help the man when he was suddenly yanked down into the darkness. It happened so quickly.

Marcus' amber eyes grew wide when he did process what had happened, and he took another step forward as suddenly spells from behind were being cast and Nora was rushing down into the darkness while casting a light spell. Her crying out for Browne had been a lot of emotion - she sounded angry and upset - so he had a feeling she was not in her right mindset.

Without hesitation, he followed his best friend down the stairs. "Be careful-" he warned the woman, knowing exactly why she had not hesitated to chase after Browne. In reality, Marcus was here for a fight but he was also here to try and protect. Nora had taken a risk not only being one of the staff to hire him, but by allowing him to spend the summer in her house and they had grown close from that. They were both private people, but perhaps that had strengthened the budding friendship because when they did talk, it was usually meaningful and insightful.

"Stay close," he asked of her, knowing it might be a bit of a useless request, but he would ensure it stayed that way. Marcus himself didn't how to battle the "darkness." Yes, he had been told light would drive it away, and that Nora had felt it on her skin before, but he did not know if he could grab it or punch it. Instead, he was ready to grab Nora if anything were to grab her. He was confident he could at least prevent her from being pulled into the darkness now that he knew that's what the threat was. Not hags that he could punch, but darkness that yanked people away from light.

With how quickly the darkness had dragged away his future best friend Browne, Marcus was of the mindset that they would not catch up easily. So in the event that Nora's light was enough to see by, he would look at the stairs to see if Browne had dropped anything. He had not done it often, but he was capable of tracking better if he had an item that belonged to him. And hopefully that would lead them right to the enemy.

Action: If Nora is grabbed by the darkness, intervene by grabbing her and keeping her with the rest of the group rather than letting her be dragged off. Otherwise, search for anything that Caradoc might have dropped.

Racial Abilities: Werewolf Form (Rend, Bite, +10% damage) | Heightened Senses (tell familiar people by smell) | Track Hidden People (within 24 hours) | Wolf's Cry | Predatory Abilities (+25% chance to enter hidden, +2 stealth) | Intimidation (uneasiness, -1 acc, +1 crit fail to all around)
Chosen Abilities: Obnoxiously Strong (+10% strength) | Martial Artist

Stats: Stamina: 15 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 20 (22) | Wisdom: 4 | Arcane Power: 4 | Accuracy: 15

Well. This had devolved very quickly. Someone was getting grabbed and dragged off by something again. Though this time far more quickly than that night. At least no one had gotten pierced through the chest – No, don’t think about that.

What was it about this castle and its grounds that wanted to harm its occupants... Hags was what they had all assumed but what if it was cursed? Though it should not have survived as long as a school if that was the case. Surely the school would've been closed by now of that were the case - but then again, if he considered everything in the year and change since he joined the faculty ... better not think about it. This school was cursed to stay open, more like. But now was really not the time to despair, Caradoc needed their help!

Zahid cursed silently. As one of the later arrivals he was too far away still to be of any help to his friend. And unlike certain reckless others he wasn't going to blindly cast spells in Caradocs direction hoping not to hit the man. But maybe he could make aiming easier for the others.

He had to do something after all.

Zahid got as close as he could safely get (without getting in the way of the others) to the corner Caradoc disappeared from and aimed his wand above their heads and down the corridor (if he could get close enough). "Lumos Maxima."

Action: Cast Lumos Maxima (pointing his wand toward down the scary corridor if he got close enough) to help with properly aiming spells.

Too many people. Too many distractions. Caradoc was pulled away by the shadows, deeper into the dungeons, as the lights flickered out, feeble and short-lived.

Elena's body subconsciously shifted to half shield Aleksander, her student turned colleague, because old habits die hard. The aurochs took her left arm then, that was extended in a movement she wouldn't remember making, an instinctual urge to protect what was hers. It was the protector of the four, the steady, warm presence, the huge body and with sharp horns to turn against those who dared attack its herd.

The new Care of Magical Creatures Professor and the Headmaster broke apart, both largely unharmed, ruffled feathers more than anything else.

"Bombarda Maxima"

Solomon Lear, weakened and paranoid he may have been, had the right idea. Attack the threat, kill what was trying to kill hers, make sure that it would never be able to come back. It was easy, to fall into the rage, to raise her wand, the tip already glowing blue with the light of a Reductor Curse. The Dark Arts had always come easy to Elena, however. Giving in to the urge to destroy, to delight in the carnage, the violence-

She was running before she realized it, pushing past the others mostly unseen, doing what she shouldn't have, leaving half the group alone in the back. So what if her eyes were huge and dark and murderous and her fingers shaking around her cheery wand with the want to hurt?

The half-eagle was upset, screeching, or maybe that was only in her head, warning her, penetrating through the blood-red haze of the hunt. Its talons burned in her wrist as if it were a real, living thing, not only a shadow created by memories and blood magic.

Alexandru, the sword through his chest, his eyes wide.

Her brave, cocky, arrogant idiot of a dead husband.

Bombarda Maxima. The Headmaster had cast the strongest Exploding Charm. In a dungeon, far beneath the grounds of Hogwarts. A spell that could crumble walls as if they were nothing.

With a curse on her lips, Elaine skidded to a halt behind her niece and the Groundskeeper with her wand raised. The blue light of her spell died. There were already spells flying everywhere: a Fire-Making Spell, an Immobulus, Nora was conjuring another enormous light source. They didn't need another body running into the crossfire or throwing spells – sometimes courage meant not taking the easy way, but to have faith, to support each other, to believe in your party.

"Protego totalum," she wheezed out, hoping that the ward would protect them, hoping that Professor Venatis' Protego would hold, that the Groundskeeper who had shot ahead on his Warhammer would be protected by his armor, praying that somehow Caradoc would get out of the blast radius.