Banishment PV Professors

TL;DR - Wrote this a week ago and honestly, nothing happens, I'm just too lazy to cut this down soooo... feel free to just read the action.

The figure was getting close. Again. In yet another attempt to tackle her it would appear. Her heart pounded, having absolutely no clue how long she could continue to evade his attacks. There were more. She could see them appearing from the corner of her eyes. How many of them were there? She thought there had only been four but there were more. So many more. This one seemed hellbent on trying to destroy her, taking her down. It was only a matter of time before he likely succeeded but Hjørdis was not going down without a fight. She was not willing to let him back her down without giving everything she had. There was far too much at stake. Even if she did not care about herself, she had to fight for her friend. It was not just her life at stake here. Of course, she did also care about herself. A lot, in fact. She would do everything she could to evade his attacks, stay out of his reach.

Not just his but the others too. One of the other figures, not too far away, shot a spell at her. She had no idea what it was for she did not hear the figure call out anything if they had, but she saw it coming towards her from his direction. Two attackers. As quickly as she could, she attempted to duck away from the spell coming towards her before sidestepping the other's physical lunge attack.

She could not see her teammate but she would continue to fight. She had to respond, she had to buy them some time and reduce the number of attacks. If she had just a moment to breathe, perhaps she had a chance of getting them out of this but she needed to stop the constant barrage of attacks against her to do that. There would be no hope if she was caught.

Raising her wand, she wasted no time in retaliating, throwing a spell at the physical attacker to quickly try and bind his arms. It would prevent him from being able to lunge at her for a third time, at the very least. Her breathing deepened, panting audibly as she quickly went to move again.

It was too late.

That was when she felt someone or something. It touched her head. A hand... Two hands. On either side. Sh- She started to curse but it was too late. There was no opportunity to turn around. Hjørdis had no idea how it happened but someone had snuck up on her, taking advantage of her distracted mind. This was their gameplan? Distract her upfront with two direct attacks whilst the third came from behind? In all honesty, she had no idea that there were even further figures up behind her. It was a fool's mistake, not to be aware of their surroundings and she had made this grave mistake indeed. There was nothing she could do to stop what happened next. She had failed.

A whisper reached her ears.

* * *

It was beautiful. The whole situation was like a dream. It felt real. So real, like this was actually a memory or perhaps really happening. Whatever it was, though, it was perfect. What more could someone want when they had a beautiful environment and got to spend time with their favourite people?

The softest smile appeared on her lips as she allowed her gaze to fall on his handsome face. She loved him. Whether they were reading a book on the beautiful sandy beach or dancing in the snow, it did not matter. Even if she did not love to dance, it did not matter. It made him happy. That was all there was to it. Her eyes locked with his. This truly was a beautiful dream. He was still humming to the tune that was being played by the guitar in the room.

Hjørdis continued to sway with him, watching the snow fall around them as she moved to rest the side of her head on his chest once more, her gaze falling onto the wooden panels beneath their feet before lifting to look out into the sea. It was so beautiful. The gorgeous sand overlooked a calm ocean in front of them. She could see the water gently rippling from the beach hut. The water coming up onto the shore slowly before sinking away. It was in time with her breathing. Inhale and the water gently reached a sandcastle that was made not too far from the edge. Exhale and it would sink back away. It was soothing to see.

"How long are we going to dance like this?" She asked him softly after some time a teasing voice coming out of her lips. She heard a chuckle. His chuckle, of course. She could recognise that laugh from anywhere, though she had no idea how long it had been since she last heard it. Without even looking at him, she could tell that the man of her dreams was smirking at her with that really irritating and infuriating smirk he usually had on when he was trying to bother her. She was certain he did it on purpose, of course, he did.

He did not even answer. But he did not need to. It did not stop her from continuing to hold him close and dance with him. The snow from the ceiling continued to fall, building up around them but it did not feel cold. Hjørdis laughed softly. Never did she think she would be at the beach on a warm and sunny day - clearly in the middle of a hot summer - whilst also being in the middle of falling snow. That was magic for you, it would seem. Or perhaps dreams. "Til... you tango with me?" He asked after a while.

She quirked an eyebrow. Oh dear, for the love of Flamel... She forgot that that was a thing. It had been so many years since she had tangoed. At least a decade had passed by. There was just no way she was going to be doing it again. Though, she supposed she ought to question if he was actually any good at it either or knew how to do it. She had had lessons back in her youth. Quite a while ago it would seem. Far too long ago, according to most students apparently.

Opting for silence in response - which was much deserved given how long he made her wait for a response in the first place - she continued to sway for some time. She had no idea how long had passed, in reality. It was likely time to go check on Jeger. And that puppy. Where did that puppy even come from? Hjørdis figured she ought to ask about it, he would likely know, right? This was his place, surely? She did not own a house on the beach, after all - though she would have loved that. It was clearly much more exciting than Hogsmeade.

Hjørdis lifted her head up to ask him. He was still humming along. She did not recognise the song anymore but he appeared to. It did not matter how many times the tune changed or what song it was, he always seemed to recognise it. But as she did, she noticed the twinkle in his eye. An obvious mischievous one that made her want to question everything. She quirked an eyebrow, highly concerned about what he was up to. It was something silly, most likely! About having a snowball fight or going swimming in the sea or...? Her mind raced with options but she did not get the chance to voice them. "How about... we dance..." He whispered suddenly into her ear, leaning closely, "Til the light goes out..."

He whispered to her. As soon as he said those words, everything went pitch black dark for a moment. It was as though the light had just flashed on and off again.

* * *

She opened her eyes, groaning slightly without meaning to. It was as though she was adjusting to the room that she was standing in for the first time. Though... she was no longer standing upright like she had thought she was. Stumbling backwards? Or perhaps she was falling. But... not fast. Hjørdis was kind of - though barely - aware of what was happening, though her body could barely react fast enough to do anything. She felt like she was falling but then also thought she was getting caught before she could even try and stop herself from crashing into the ground.

Arms. They were arms that she fell into. It must have been. They were not as hard as the stone-cold ground between her feet. Her silver eyes adjusted to the light, falling on a familiar face in front of her. She could hear the words whispered in the air but she failed to register what he was saying, "Elskede..." She whispered softly as her gaze met his, still unable to comprehend where she was or that this, perhaps, was not a dream. A soft smile appearing on her lips once more. A sense of hope and comfort filled her in an instant. It took her a second or two for her mind to process the words or that it had even heard them in the first place. A single tear left her right eye, falling down the uninjured cheek before she could stop it. Hell, she was not even really aware of it. She could not explain what was going on or what was happening or why she was behaving in the way she was... She could not control her emotions or even fathom how she felt at this point. She just felt something. Or perhaps, the truth was that she felt too much.

She groaned some more. Her head was particularly heavy. Her mind hurt a little, feeling particularly... sore? It was hard to describe. So did the side of her face. It stung as the cold air hit it. And her shoulder or chest or arm? No... everything hurt? It felt like she had multiple wounds all over, all competing for her attention but she could not focus on anything. Her brain felt foggy, unsure, uncertain. Like a crystal ball with smoke swirling around it. She needed clarity but she could not see through the smoke in her mind.

Her brain was still miles behind, trying to catch up. It was like a person running along the platform, trying to stop the speeding train from leaving the station or running over the tracks behind the train as though it would have any chance of catching up.

What was going on? What happened to the dancing? Did she get too dizzy from it? She certainly felt like that might have happened. But how was her body so sore? And to the snow around her? Did it suddenly disappear or was that why she was starting to feel cold? And the sight of the beach? There had been a lot of sunlight shining in her eyes moments prior but there was none anymore. It was dark. It was... damp? It felt cold. The warmth from the sand and the sun had faded. The soft tune of the guitar had been replaced by... screams?

It must have been a few more seconds till she started to realise what was going on. She was not on a beach, she was not discovering a cool new beach house and playing dress-up with a magic mirror or seeing the cutest pets around. She was not dancing. Well, perhaps she was. But not in the way she had thought. She was not dancing with the cute guy of her dreams, she was dancing with death.

They were in a fight. She and Artemis had come to help Marcus, free him from the hag's grasp. The others had gone elsewhere. Caradoc had gone to the runes. Wait. Caradoc had gone to the runes. Her eyes widened, "Cara-" She blurted out suddenly, snapping out of her daze as she realised that he was actually here, he was the one holding her. He was not by the runes. He was here. Right now. He had caught her? Though she had no idea why she had fallen or what was going on, she registered that he was actually here, next to her.

Did she somehow get to the runes or...? Her gaze quickly dropped to look past him and search the room, or at least what she could see of it. It was very obvious that they were still in the lair. The hag's lair. It was dark and gloomy and gross. How did he get here? When did he get here? There were a million questions running through her mind as she spotted the others.

Everything looked so different from what she thought it would like but she also could not quite recall what she had expected. It was just... different. Right in front of her, her gaze fell on a familiar sight that gave her relief. Marcus Iwasaki. He was alright. He was... injured. What? He looked beaten up. He had ropes binding him. A look of panic crossed her face, mixed in with severe amounts of confusion. It was evident that Hjørdis had absolutely no clue what was going on. She had to cut the binding! Why was he bound? Right, of course, he had been kidnapped by the hag. That made sense. Of course, he was bound.

She did not get to spend long thinking or figuring it out though. Her brain raced a million miles an hour but it was still not fast enough. It was, however, severely distracted. Why could she not recall much past the beach? What was the last thing she remembered? Marcus getting kidnapped? There was a tunnel? Artemis and her where there... Right...

Hjørdis started to piece things together but it was not enough. She was getting stuck and time had run out. She looked from Marcus to Caradoc, searching for answers, hoping for something. Hag. Right. She had to find the hag. Where they still in the middle of the fight or...? Her eyes darted around, spotting a cloud of smoke starting to appear. Was that where the hag was? Was the hag even still here? She had a gut instinct that gave her a plan, as though she knew what to do. Hjørdis might have had absolutely no idea what was going on, but she did have a plan. Two plans in fact. She just did not know which one to prioritise or execute or really just call Plan A because she had no idea what was going on.

She went to raise her wand. But there was no time to do so. Her mind might have been racing around, trying to catch up as the adrenaline seeped in but her body was not nearly as fast. If anything, it was likely slower than usual in the soreness that started to numb quickly. At the very least, the adrenaline had seeped in enough that she could just no longer feel the pain. At least, not right now. But time had run out.

It was too late, "Arg-" She groaned as something suddenly hit her. Then another. Then another. In an instant, everything started to go dark again as she found herself getting buried in... something. She had no idea what as it happened far too quickly and her mind was still trying to figure everything out. Her arm might have covered her head, her body might have turned to try and reduce the impact of the falling rubble but she had no idea. It all happened far too quickly and her mind was still trying to make sense of everything.

After the ceiling seemingly settled, Hjørdis coughed a little, dust or dirt getting caught in her throat. Another groan escaped her lips as she tried to come out of her daze. With whatever strength she could muster up, she started to push the rubble above her away in an attempt to pull them out of it. "Browne, Iwasaki?" She would manage to get out in a low groan through some coughs as she pushed the rubble, "Are you okay?" Was the hag even nearby? She had no idea in all honesty. Her mind was still thinking of sand and desperately wishing she was back there. But she was not. They were not.

They were all buried under the rubble of whatever this ceiling was made out of. She did not care at this point, it did not matter. She should have used a spell. That would have been more effective. But... she felt a particular type of exhaustion that she could not describe. Her mind felt tired. Foggy, too. The confusion was not doing wonders on her ability to think. Everything was messed up. Everything was confusing. Everything was happening far too quickly.

What the hell was going on?

ACTION: Attempt to get out of rubble and figure out what is going on
STATUS: Injured, Confused, Under Rubble | HEALTH: 500/1500

Stamina: 15 | Evasion: 9 | Strength: 2 | Wisdom: 20 | Arcane Power: 10 | Accuracy: 14
Abilities: Sixth Sense | Evasive Maneuvers | Perfectionist | Poison Resistance [others pending]

Outfit of the day

Rosalind saw the charms professor flying backward. She could feel her hands shaking. Was he dead? In all her years of visions, she ha never really felt what it was like to be this close to death. It was him now. Maybe it would be her next. Rubble and knives flying everywhere, the heat of the flames filling the cavern like an oven. She could feel sweat beading and falling down her face, hands struggling to maintain a grip on her wand.

But he spoke - cast a spell, even, from out of sight. He was alive. They hadn't lost anyone yet - although Jensen was something of a loss, considering the control the hag was currently exercising over her. The room continued collapsing as the hag cackled, and Rosalind could feel a tightness in her throat as she looked around and saw more of the ceiling collapsing as tremors shook the room. She barely dodged out of the way of some collapsing stalagmites, starting to breathe heavily as her anger gave way to fear. Were they really going to die down here? What about the kids?

Looking left, she saw a pile of rubble where Marcus and some of the others once stood. They couldn't be gone. Not like this. She felt that anger bubbling up inside of her again - shielding her from the fear as she pointed her wand upward toward the ceiling. A long shot, but it was worth a try. "Reparo!" she called, trying to undo the collapse of the ceiling to free her colleagues.

action: Repairing the ceiling. I learned this trick from George.
Stamina: 8 || Evasion: 13 || Strength: 10 || Wisdom: 12 || Arcane Power: 10 || Accuracy: 12

Action: Try to push away the rubble and unbury himself
Health: 100/1500

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

It was such a pleasant and quick conversation with Zahid. Why hadn't she connected with him over the years? Perhaps it was because their paths never really crossed. Over the summer, it slightly did, but it wasn't enough to really feel a sense of content that she was feeling now.

"Maybe its best not to learn about the bones on the ground," she suggested, remembering Ivar mentioning that it wasn't just varmint remains on the ground, but could possible be human bones. How they were there was not one she wanted to figure out.

Caradoc turned on them? Maya thought, wondering how he would know if he snapped back to normal. Couldn't he pretend to snap back? Nothing was certain in these dungeons anymore. "Couldn't he snap back? How do you know if he is fine? Where did he go?" she asked, wondering if he was safe and if his safety was fine to be around the other professors.

"Let's go catch up with them. They may need us," she suggested to Zahid, and Maya turned herself back around and back into the darkness. She tried to listen for sounds to find where the other professors are located. The more, the merrier in this fight. Maya tried to catch up with the groups.

ACTION: Catch up with a group who is closest to the entrance

Zahid did not want to think to deeply about why there were bones on the ground, either. At least not right now. So he left the comment unanswered. That would be something to worry about once they were back to safety. For now though, they should probably venture close to the rest of the group.

No, he sure as all heck did not know that Caradoc is fine. He gave her an incredulous look. He absolutely did not trust the man at the moment. Was she trying to imply-- He took a calming breath. That was not important. Concentrate on the now. “I have no idea if he is fine, but his eyes lost the purple glow – for the moment at least. Does not mean he is to be trusted right now.” He sighed. “And he ran past you down the corridor.”

Zahid had been relieved a moment ago that Caradoc had disappeared but now he began to worry if it would spell doom for the rest of their colleagues. If Caradoc was still under whatever influence made him an enemy (if he was not one period.) they would not know before it might be too late.

Nodding to his fellow professor's words, he agreed. “Yes, we should probably warn them.” He would turn to follow Galim before hesitating and turning to Eide. “Are you joining us?” He would wait for a beat to see if what the man's answer would be. Whether or not Eide would join them, Zahid would then follow her to catch up to the others while keeping a wary eye out and his wand at the ready for another attack.

Action(s): Following Maya while keeping an eye out.

Allies
Marcus Iwasaki
525/1500

Artemis Vernatis
475/1200

Gargott Dunaid
850/1300

Rosalind Kibitzer
300/800

Maya Galim
1000/1100

Zahid al-Benghazi ibn Masoud
1300/1400

Ivar Eide
1100/1200

Caradoc Browne
1000/2000

Aleksander Ostrowski
1100/1500

Hjørdis Jensen
500/1500

Enemies
Auntie Etta
590/1500

Sister Hattie
Disintegrated.

Third Hag
Escaped.

So that had been a mistake. It seemed he had dithered too long when he addressed Eide and now Galim had disappeared into the darkness ahead of him. Zahid made to follow her for about half a step before freezing again. “Shit.” She had already run off ahead and split from the group (tiny as their group was), so maybe he should stay with the CoMC professor. Splitting up so that all three of them were on their own seemed like an even worse idea suddenly.

Maybe he should stay back after all, so that the two of them could at least cover a retreat if it came to that. (Besides, Eide seemed relatively safe betrayal wise. Given that the man had already been needlessly attacked by their headmaster out of the blue, he might be less quick to randomly attack another in turn.)

Decisions, decisions. He really should decide and then stick to it. He supposed he could see the woman's disappearance without waiting for him as a sign that he should just stay and keep watch on the tunnel ahead of them as the rearguard. Yes. (That it was the path that did not lead him to have to put any trust in Caradoc again had nothing whatsoever to do with his decision. Nope. - Oh who was he kidding.)

“I guess we will keep watch on the exit then.” He commented wryly. ”Running in one by one seems ill-advised.”

Action(s): Try to stay ready to cover a potential retreat if necessary.

Reducio

Rolled if he stayed or followed, got a stay

Reducio

Stats: ♦ Stamina 14 ♦ Evasion 8 ♦ Strength 4 ♦ Wisdom 25 ♦ Arcane Power 7 ♦ Accuracy 12

Abilities: The Muggle Condition ♦ Comprehend Languages: Gobbledegook ♦ Comprehend Languages: Mermish ♦ Perfectionist ♦ Wandless Magic ♦ Non-Verbal Magic ♦ Apparition ♦

Action: Throw knives at the hag
Health: 525/1500

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

Pushing more of the ceiling off her, she coughed as she crawled out. Her eyes spotting the others who had also resurfaced. Marcus asked her to define 'okay'. She could not. At this point... she had no idea what okay even was, she was still very much piecing the situation together. She spotted Caradoc, before noticing that the pieces around them were starting to lift. A breath of relief escaped her when she noticed it was being repaired, rather than used as yet another attack. For some reason, she felt exhausted. She could not recall why but her body felt particularly shattered, as though it had been constantly fighting. Though, she could not recall anything major happening before the rubble.

Right. The wounds. She had been cut a few times, wounded and... Ah yes. Perhaps exhaustion was a side effect of the curse that was seeping into her body and blood. This was not over though. The hag was pinned up against a wall, the smoke pushed aside to reveal her location. Her wand raised in an instant, she knew what she had to do.

What she did not understand was why Marcus was... behaving oddly. It was almost as though he was looking right through her, as though she was not there. But she also did not really have enough time to process this or bother to figure it out. There was a far more important mission to hand. Perhaps he was just in a rush to get this over and done with. Who knew?

Certainly not Hjørdis. Raising her wand, she muttered out the incantation as her eyes narrowed on the target. Unknowingly to her, she had already cast this spell once before tonight. Perhaps that was why it was the first that came to mind or perhaps she noticed the daggers in Marcus and sparked the thought. Either way, she attempted to cast it once more. This time at the right target hopefully. She would happily use the hag's own smoke against her.

ACTION: Cast smoke to daggers again at Etta this time.
STATUS: Injured, Confused | HEALTH: 500/1500

Stamina: 15 | Evasion: 9 | Strength: 2 | Wisdom: 20 | Arcane Power: 10 | Accuracy: 14
Abilities: Sixth Sense | Evasive Maneuvers | Perfectionist | Poison Resistance [others pending]

Outfit of the day