2021, Stage 2 Group E: Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff

Banner by Lucia Fox c:
Mentioning: @Willow Anderson, @Thomas Baines & @Callie Jensen

Everyone was in the year above.

Tina clutched her wand, smiling in such a manic way that she managed to look incredibly excited, but also terrified. Among these more experienced witches and wizards, she felt worlds out of her depth, and what wasn't helping was the fact that she'd been partnered with Willow.

Though her partner hadn't been at fault for her frightening outburst last Halloween, Martyna couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved standing so near to her, as though she was going to snap around and curse the younger badger any second. The (small) rational part of her brain told her to stop being ridiculous, but that did nothing to quell the awakening butterflies in her stomach. Still, she was adamant not to let any fear show on her face. She wanted them win, after all.

"G'luck!" She didn't look at Willow as she said it, pointing her wand out in front of her and preparing to cast.

Action: Doing as strategised

They say that one of the greatest sins a man could bear was pride, and at the moment Thomas was a powder keg full of it. At the moment he remained calm, the Ravenclaw's demeanor muted and still, but even the slightest sign of victory would be enough to set his ego alight. In his eyes, if he and Callie could defeat a duo of third years, surely a first and second year would be easy as pie. Last official match, they were the underdogs. This time, they had an edge.

"I wonder if this'll go by as quick as the last match did," Thomas noted to Callie, although he was likely audible to all in the room. Though his frame was still smaller than most, perhaps he was the shortest on the stage at the moment, his body language spoke of quiet confidence. There was a twinkle in his eye that made him look unmistakably dangerous; Thomas was far from world-renowned, but his reputation was one of countless Incendios and a certain lack of mercy.

"Good luck," Thomas offered his opponents. There was a notable bite in his tone, as if to imply you will certainly need it.

Action: Doing as strategized.
Abilities: Evasive Maneuvers, Statistically Relevant (+2 Wisdom)
Stats: Sta 5 || Eva 7 || Str 1 || Wis 9(+2=11) || Arc P 9 || Acc 10

Unlike her similarly tiny counterpart Callie did not seem to exude pride but rather a strange sort of excitment judging by the way she constantly rocked back and forth on her feet. On the surface the pair didn't look particularly deadly given that they were both on the shorter end of the spectrum but looks could be decieving. They'd managed to best a pair of upperclassmen against all odds..so hopefully this one would be a little easier. However Callie knew better than to underestimate the pair before her and made sure to stay on her guard in spite of her seemingly careless exterior. "We've got this!" Callie reassured Thomas with a toothy grin as she twirled her cherry wood wand around in her right hand. "Although if I get hit with that bogies spell again I think I might cry a little." She remarked with a mild chuckle at the memory of their series of practice duels. They hadn't exactly gone..smoothly to say the least.

Eventually Callie focused her attention to the pair of Hufflepuffs opposite and flashed them a friendly grin followed by a thumbs up. "Good luck guys, this'll be great!" While her tone was reassuring something about it may have seemed..unsettling. Clearly a certain Thomas Baines was starting to bring out her ruthless side when it came to duelling.

Action: As strategised.
Abilities: Calming Presence [Ally: Thomas], Prodigal Charms
Stats: STA: 6 | EVA: 7 | STR: 3 | WIS: 10 | ARC P: 7 | ACC: 8
Trunk: here

Banner by Lucia Fox

Willow was amped up and ready to go for her second round of duelling. Her first one she had won with May, and it was a brutal fight that had left her feeling exhausted and defeated physically. This time she had a new friend by her side, Martyna. Someone that had actually come to participate in the field day that she had with Ami. There was another misty memory with her that she couldn't quite place. Maybe she had a dream? Eh, it wasn't much to think about.

The typical pep in her step was present for the bright badger as she arrived last to the stage and took her place next to the girl, she gave her a small shoulder nudge of encouragement before moving away. "We got this~ We're Blazing Badgers!" She scrunched her face up and made a little claw motion as if to imitate a badger, giggling at herself. Her head turned when the other team sent them well wishes. If there was an uneasy tone, Willow's naivety had missed it. She sent a small wave their way. "Aw thanks guys! You too! I'm excited to be here!" The kind badger meant it, competing against fellow students really gave her a happy pride in her school and the wizards within it.

✿Action✿
Doing as Strategized
✿Interacting✿
@Martyna Romero @Thomas Baines @Callie Jensen

Round 1

It would appear chaos was the popular order of the day. The duelists wasted no time flourishing their wands and slinging all kinds of spells at each other.

Thomas was quick to cast a curse at the stalwart Hufflepuff, one Willow Anderson. His aim struck true, however. It seemed Willow wouldn't be outdone, if anyone was cursing her today it was going to be her! Perhaps it was the wand movement or the incantation she had fumbled on, in either case, AJ wasn't eager to see how much snot she could stand to lose.

The other side of things didn't fair much better. Well, at least not for Callie. Whom managed to pull off a near perfect Knockback Jinx. Good news so far, but perhaps the excitement had overtaken her, because her aim was not nearly as flawless. The blue shot whizzed off course and instead struck her very own teammate!

The nervous first-year seemed to be handling things well for her first round. Successfully sending a flurry of bubbles towards the opposing Thomas. Perhaps that had stopped him from seeing the Flipendo coming? In either case, he was probably going to be keeping on eye on three directions now.

Thomas vs Willow

Reducio

Thomas casts Curse of the Bogies at Willow
Wisdom DC: 14 WDC = 12 + 2 due to Willow's Lovely Creature ability.
Wisdom Check: [d20: 9] + 11 = 20 → Success
Duration: Until Nullified or target falls unconscious.
Auto-Hit: [d10: 4] → Fail Due to Callie's Calming Presence.
Normal Hit: [d20: 13] + 10 = 23 → Success
Dodge attempt: [d20: 3] + 6 = 9 → Fail
Effects:
- Willow suffers -1 ACC and -1 ARC. The penalties will increase in the following rounds to a maximum of -4 in each. Willow will faint in 9* (+1 round due to strength stat.)rounds unless the effect is nullified.

Callie vs Martyna Thomas

Reducio

Callie casts Knockback Jinx at Martyna
Wisdom DC: 11 WDC = 9 + 2 due to Willow's Lovely creature ability.
Wisdom Check: [d20: 19] + 10 = 29 → Success
To Hit: [d20: 1] + 8 = 9 → Critical Miss
New Target: 1 = Thomas, 2 = Willow. [d2: 1] → Thomas is the new target.
Auto-Dodge: [d10: 8] → Fail (Due to Thomas' Evasive Maneuvers)
Normal Dodge: [d20: 1] + 7 = 8 → Fail
Effects:
- Callie brutally betrays accidentally hits her teammate, dealing 170 damage (100 + (7*10)

Martyna vs Thomas

Reducio

Martyna casts Bubble-Producing Charm at Thomas
Wisdom DC: 9
Wisdom Check: [d20: 11] + 6 = 17 → Success
Accuracy Check: [d20: 9] + 7 = 16
Auto-Dodge: [d10: 5] → Fail (Due to Thomas' Evasive Maneuvers)
Evasion Check: [d20: 7] + 7 = 14
14 < 16 → Hit
Effects: Thomas' evasion is lowered by -2 until this effect is nullified.

Willow vs Thomas Herself

Reducio

Willow casts Curse of the Bogies at Thomas
Wisdom DC: 12
Wisdom Check: [d20: 1] + 10 = 11 → Critical Fail
Effects:
- Willow decides one load of Bogies isn't enough. However as the effects do not stack with multiple casts, she is left with the same negatives.

Information

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As his spell landed, and Willow’s backfired, the young Ravenclaw boy felt the taste of victory early on. The bubbles surrounding Thomas restricted his motion, a mild inconvenience, but at the moment he was at least on the winning end of an exchange of spells. As he listened closely to Callie’s incantation, he noted that the spell didn’t backfire. This was good—better than a few practice duels where his partner was occasionally hasty—but Thomas didn’t pay any heed to the direction the spell was headed.

A shame.

Far too late to move out of the way, the young boy noted a light barreling towards him from the corner of his eye, a wayward Flipendo with his name all over it. ”GREAT SCOTT—“ Thomas called out in shock, and as the spell hit him he grumbled bitterly. ”Watch where you’re freakin’ casting those spells, Callie! I thought you got your glasses repaired!”

Action: Doing as strategized.
Abilities: Evasive Maneuvers, Statistically Relevant (+2 Wisdom)
Stats: Sta 5 || Eva 7 || Str 1 || Wis 9(+2=11) || Arc P 9 || Acc 10

Banner by Lucia Fox
Mentioning: @Willow Anderson, @Thomas Baines & @Callie Jensen

"Yes! Take that!" Tina cried out as a whirl of adorable bubbles erupted from the end of her wand, causing perhaps a minor distraction to her opponent.

...Nice.

She took the time for an indulgent fist pump, her reward for this towering and impressive triumph, before turning to see how her partner was faring. As it turned out, not so great. Whilst she'd been caught up with her victory, Willow had literally cursed herself, with bogies no less.

"Oh my gosh! Are you oka-" Tina stopped mid sentence to repress her own disgust.

Needless to say, it was a pretty gross sight. It must have been even worse to experience it though: a double whammy when paired with the more successfully aimed curse Thomas had fired off. Luckily for Tina, Callie also decided to self sabotage. She liked to think that her bubbles had done the trick upon noticing that the Raven had targeted her teammate.

Probably not, but it was a nice thought.

Action: Doing as strategised

Banner by Lucia Fox

Duelling definitely had a love-hate relationship in Willow's mind.

On one hand, going into the duels she felt hyped and ready to fight for her house. On the other hand... She was tired of Curse of the Bogies. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Martyna's spell go off without a hitch, for a second she felt hopeful. Then she was hit with two spells. "Mucus ad Nauseum- AH!" There was a familiar sickness rising in her, luckily not twice as bad by being hit twice.

She really didn't even realize Callie's had backfired, too caught up in her nose beginning to run, and a nausea in her head beginning to take over. "I'm fine Marty- achoo!" The first sneeze of many, she was sure. "Focus, don't worry about me." She had experienced this before, and knew she would have to put her all into this.

✿Action✿
Doing as Strategized
✿Interacting✿
@Martyna Romero

For a brief moment things seemed to be going well! But then the ever familar sneezing started and truthfully was surprised it wasn't her for a change. Sadly her glasses slipped in the brief moment of excitement that Callie was so focused on being able to see properly that she accidentally sent the spell flying towards her poor teammate. It wasn't until she straightened out her glasses on her face that she even realised what she'd done and that Thomas was looking rather....bubbly. "Oops, sorry! Glasses fell, I couldn't see!" She apologised with a sheepsih grin and a slight red tinge on her cheeks. That was certainly embarassing.

Action: As strategised.
Abilities: Calming Presence [Ally: Thomas], Prodigal Charms
Stats: STA: 6 | EVA: 7 | STR: 3 | WIS: 10 | ARC P: 7 | ACC: 8
Trunk: here