Event The Fall Ball (The Hunt) Finished

lettering in header done by the wonderful serena towers

"It can't be opened with Alohomora?"

Action: Smashing the trunk against the wall to break it.
¹Ami's childhood best friend grew up with Mexican immigrant parents, which is how Ami learned her basic Spanish and why his voice sounds somewhat familiar.

stats stamina: 475/700 evasion: 8 strength: 15 wisdom: 5 arcane power: 3 accuracy: 12

abilities the martial artist prodigal transfig spell spread

the masquerade ⓢ ⓒ ⓐ ⓢ ⓒ ⓐ the hunt ⓐ ⓒ ⓐ ⓒ ⓐ ⓐ ⓐ ⓐ ⓐ ⓐ ⓐ

Eris' cheerful smile faultered when the girl with the chest seemed intent on using it against the matagot. She looked back and forth between the boy and the girl he held hands with as they made some small exchange of words and looks. Then gave a small sigh and hovered somewhat anxiously as each student seemed to think of something different to do.

Two of them left to head to the Potions classroom, but some stayed behind. The girl trapped in the office did not seem to be there out of choice, but Eris was fairly certain she'd already given the girl her own advice as to how to take her leave - put down the chest. Unfortunately, the fourth year didn't seem like she was having any of it.

Gregori's suggestions drew Eris' attention and caused her to smile appreciatively at him. Of course. Leave it to a student of the Serpent House to be so clever. She knew she liked him. However, she wasn't sure such cleverness was necessary in regards to the chest.

It was too late, though. The Slytherin girl was already deciding she wanted to open the chest after all - and with brute force, no less. She yelled at Gregori to move the cat - presumably the matagot - aside before launching the chest at a stone wall. Eris' eyes widened and she threw herself after it. She hoped to get between the wall and the chest so as to protect the latter with her body to keep from smashing against the former.

Interacting directly with @Elisabeth Erner, @Ami Procoppio, & Gregori Erkens (@Ginevra Tsuchiya)

As Lindsey Springhall | open to interactions
Interacting with @Scarlett Aden @Lucia Fox as Cassie
Mentioning see names bolded below

Ah, her spell missed the damn cat. It was an impressive spell, probably one of the best ones she had casted, but still, there wasn’t much use of it. The Matagot nimbly darted out of the spell’s way, but thankfully it didn’t attack Ami — or any of them, which was good enough.

She still wanted to linger longer here, seeing if there’s anything she was able to help with. But…like what Giselle had said, they’ve got to be quick. As quick as possible. Time had been lost, and they couldn’t lose more. Probably…probably…

Before she could even notice, her legs carried her downstairs, leaving her captain and the massive cat behind. Well…it wasn’t long before she spotted Scarlett’s fiery red hair and her companion, the French [Cassie]. Waving a little bit and nodding to them, she silently walked towards them and approached. Ah, she was just in time. Scarlett was declaring something to those portraits, and she decided to join.

“Not only two, but three, ladies and gentlemen.” her pleasant voice started, echoing in the empty corridors. “Who, among you, are Laiks Denbora and Paran Taja? We’ve found Giselle, and she directed us here. She is safe, and would probably arrive here later, carried by our very own teammates, so you do not have to worry about her safety.” she said calmly, large chocolate brown eyes fixed on the paintings. Well…were they, attempting to have some sorts of sacrifice ceremony? And they were sacrificing…whom? Was it Laiks or Paran? But why? She glared at the paintings.

“First of all, stop this nonsense.” she declared. While raising her voice a little bit, she continued. “Who is the one you are sacrificing? Why are you doing this?” her volume started to raise, upon every syllable she uttered out, while she made her voice as cold as possibly (this was not easy for the badger, but somehow she managed to do that). “Number one, tell us what’s the plan, or the plot. Number two, tell us who’s the organizer behind the scene of all these. And number three,” she pointed at the man being tied by a hood over his head. “Free. Him. Now. I give you thirty seconds to consider. Or the consequences are all yours.” and she started counting silently, according to her own heartbeat. Thirty, twenty nine, twenty eight…

Three, two, one, zero. She raised up her head, and faced the paintings again with a determined look.

“The time has run out. Your decision?”

Action: attempting to free the man and get information via intimating
Location: fifth location
Stats: Stamina 7 | Evasion 6 | Strength 8 | Wisdom 7 | Arcane Power 6 | Accuracy 8
Abilities: Statistically Relevant | Lovely Creature

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][0][1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Reducio

ALLY LIST
-Wyatt Starkey
-Elizabeth Isaacs
-Scarlett Aden
-Leonard Oaksworth
-Marshal Mozor
-Casandra Ironwoods
-Mars T’ien

Cassie followed Scarlett down through the castle, towards the potions corridor. Hogwarts, she decided, was quite different to Beauxbatons - while the palace her own school resided in was refined and elegant, the Scottish castle was more of a mystery, waiting to be solved. Cassie thought Hogwarts was far more exciting than Beauxbatons, though she probably wouldn't admit it. Beauxbatons was still pretty cool. She reached into her bag and pulled out a hair bobble before tying her hair up. For some reason, Cassie Heather always felt more... ready for action with her hair up, for reasons she couldn't exactly describe. Maybe it was the image which long, flowing hair portrayed to her, or the fact that it tended to get in the way - whatever it was, Cassie was certainly more comfortable without it.

The second-year wasn't quite sure what she was expecting from this new painting, but it wasn't this. "A... ritual?" she blinked. "Magnificent," she added sarcastically, talking now to Scarlett. "Just what this night needs to get better and better - a satanic ritual involving human sacrifice. Or, painted sacrifice." Cassie thought for a moment. If someone died in a painting, did they just... die? Or did they come back to life? They'd never been taught that in the Beauxbatons Magical Arts classes, and Cassie made a mental note to ask about it when they went back to France. "Scar, you wanna do the honours?"

Scarlett seemed to agree, and put her hands on her hips in a commanding position. Cassie mirrored her stance but crossed her arms - the pair were not to be moved. Then she realised she was still holding her wand and stashed it in her bag. Wands were pretty awesome, what with the whole magic thing, but they were annoying sometimes too. Couldn't someone make a fold-up wand or something, so they'd actually fit in places? A long wooden stick was just impractical, no matter how magical it may be. Cassie noticed that Scarlett asked what was going on twice, but decided not to tell her; it would spoil the effect of the other girl's rather impressive (in Cassie's eyes) speech.

Then, Cassie heard another voice and spun around, uncrossing her arms so they were freer. But it was only the blonde from earlier, and the French-English girl relaxed. But the questions were all wrong! "We already know who they are!" she hissed. "Laiks is the guy from upstairs, who was bleeding in the first portrait, and I'm pretty sure Paran Taja's the- the ghost-" Cassie's eyes widened, and she spun around, ignoring the rest of the blonde's words. She cupped her hands over her mouth and screamed, "PARAN TAJA! GET DOWN HERE YA LAZY CREATURE! NOW!"

MODERATION POST

Moderation Post Tracker:
[Start] [Interlude] [First] [Note] [Second] [Third] [Fourth] [Fifth] [Sixth] [Seventh]
[Eighth] [Ninth] [Interlude] [Tenth] [Eleventh] [Twelfth] [Thirteenth] [Fourteenth]

FOURTH LOCATION

Giselle had told them where to go and what to do next to save her love, Laiks Denbora. While roughly half of the core party left to go to the dungeons, @Elisabeth Erner listened to Scarlett's suggestion and stayed behind to get more information out of the girl in the painting. She had learned from the first painting - there was no way to heal Laiks, so how should they free Paran then? And another important fact was caught by the attentive Hufflepuff girl. Giselle’s brother had stayed behind. Probably as a ghost? A ghost had sent them to fulfill this quest in the first place. Was he probably Paran Taja?

Charisma Roll (DC 15): 22

The blonde and pretty girl had calmed down as soon as the first students had left the group to follow her advice. Her eyes were fixed on Elisabeth and she listened carefully to the questions she was asked. Slightly frowning, she tilted her head. ”It’s true, you can’t support us in a physical way. I- I am not quite sure, but he would manage almost impossible feats if it was to help others, even if not for himself.” The frown was replaced by a soft smile as Elisabeth described the ghost rider. Yes, that sounds like my brother. I don’t know where he is, but even as a ghost he can’t influence the painting. You have to free the painted version of him to save my poor Laiks. Her eyes flickered to the corridors and worry slided over her face again. ”I hope they hurry…”

While his girlfriend was getting some useful information from the painting, Gregorí’s (@ Ginevra Tsuchiya) focus shifted back to the angry Matagot and the chest. Maybe, it hadn’t been important in the original plan - but things had changed, so double checking seemed like the best idea.
He would try to calm the Matagot down one more time like he had managed to do it before and came up with an idea to open the chest: Let’s try to destroy it!

Matagot is defending the chest and listening to suggestions → Charisma Roll: Auto Fail

This time, however, the Matagot was not willing to let the student touch her. Maybe she had understood what the boy had been suggesting, maybe it was due to Ami’s obvious goal to keep the chest, the one item the Matagot was protecting. With an aggressive hiss she made sure that the boy wouldn’t reach out and touch her.

@ Ami Procoppio, who was still trapped in the office, became even more furious after she had missed the cat with the chest. She wasn’t open to Eris advice either - leaving the chest behind in order to leave the office. No. Her curiosity was too huge. Gregorí should take care of the Matagot and she would try to smash the chest.
So, instead of leaving it behind, she retreated into the office and tried to make a swing against the wall to destroy the property of Beauxbaton’s headmaster.

Ami tries to carry the chest and smash it against the wall
Ami Strength Roll (DC 20 (carrying + swinging)): 19

Even though she was an athlete the chest was heavier than expected. Perhaps her strength was slowly leaving her, but when she lunged to hurl the chest against the wall, she suddenly could no longer hold it. Instead of crashing against the stone wall, it slipped from her hands and fell to the floor in front of her - obviously without even a scratch.

Eris (@Kit Paine) could now experience firsthand how intransigent some Hogwarts students were in the face of rational and reasonable advice. Put the chest down and leave. They had what they needed - but as always they wanted more.
Although she was sure the physical approach would not open the chest she wouldn't let them try to destroy the property of the headmaster. It was up to her to protect the chest in case the Matagot failed. One thing was clear: She would do everything in her power to stop Ami from destroying it.

Eris tries to jump between the wall and chest
Eris Evasion (Reflex) Roll (DC 10 (chest isn’t smashed against the wall)): 15

She made a huge leap to throw her body between the chest and the wall just when Ami tried to swing it. The chest didn’t make it to the wall, but the girl in the cat costume jumped gracefully to her desired spot: between the chest and the wall.

The Matagot obviously took offense at the fact that the Hufflepuff now wanted not only to take the chest she was trying to protect, but to destroy it. If she had been aggressive before, now she was outraged. With a hiss she bristled her fur and suddenly there were two of her kind. She had multiplied.
Hadn’t one of the students pointed that out before? Matagots were able to multiply if there was an aggressive approach. Well, trying to destroy the chest obviously counted as an ‘aggressive approach’.
The first and original one focused on the main villain: Ami. With one leap she followed the Hufflepuff deeper into the office and with extended claws struck at her thigh again.

Matagot 1 attacks Ami
Matagot Auto-Miss (Terrible Presence): 2 -> No Auto-Miss
Matagot accuracy: 23
Ami evasion: 24 → miss
Damage: Ami bleeds: 25 dmg/round
Remaining health: 475/700

This time the attack was well aimed, but Ami managed to jump out of reach - a movement way more easy without the heavy chest in her arms.

The second Matagot focused on the other source of trouble: the boy who had calmed her down twice before. But now he had suggested destroying the item of her protection and he was the easiest one to reach.

Matagot 2 attacks Gregorí
Matagot Auto-Miss (Terrible Presence): 3 -> No Auto-Miss
Matagot accuracy: 20
Gregorí evasion: 23 → miss

Again, sharp claws scratched the air and the boy sidestepped to avoid the attack. It had been close, but he stayed unharmed.

FIFTH LOCATION

@Scarlett Aden and Cassie had no idea about the trouble their classmates were causing at the caretaker’s office. They were following the quest, focused on solving the quest and saving Laiks. The two were followed by @Lindsey Springhall, so three people were facing the human sacrifice situation next to the potions classroom. Scarlett approached the figures first, showering them with questions and presenting her most important demand: Stop it and free the man!
Lindsey joined her approach and added some more questions, trying to threaten the figures and thus making the stop their stupid little ritual.

Scarlett Intimidation Roll (DC 15): 23
Lindsey Intimidation Roll (DC 15): 18

The threat and the angry voices of the two girls seemed to agitate the figures in the painting even more. Their movements became faster, but it was obvious that they would not stop.
One paused briefly and glared at the two. "I don't know who Laiks or Giselle or the others are. And I don’t care. We need a pure soul to complete our sacrifice. And this man here is ideally suited for that. Now go and mind your own business. You can't stop us!"

Cassie (@Lucia Fox) had all the pieces in her hand and finally put them together. Snapping at Lindsey for her questions, she presented the facts: Laiks was the one bleeding and dying, Paran Taja was the one who was supposed to save him and… didn’t he say he would come to help if they called his name? So, she screamed his name as loud as she could - for sure, he would help them, right?
And indeed, as she called his name, Paran Taja, something happened. It was not the ghost who appeared, but something in the painting changed.
The prisoner who was held by two of the hooded figures and had been struggling to free himself suddenly managed to break away. With one fluid movement he tore the sack from his head, knocked over his guards and jumped into the next painting. He clearly did not intend to stop there, but was already running through the painting, weaving his way through the bookshelves depicted on it. "I'm already on my way. Hurry!"
At the same time, the ghost cat, star, stepped out of the wall just below the painting and ran down the hall beside Paran Taja.

WHAT HAPPENED SO FAR…

OOC Information:

• From now on, if you want to switch from the first location to the fourth, you have to post in the third location first.
• From now on, please state where you are above your post (e.g. First Location, On the way, Second Location)
• If you have the ability Lovely Creature, Calming Presence or Charmer, and you haven’t done so yet, please define your allies in your next post. This decision applies from the next moderation post to the end of the thread.
• The next moderation will take place on Saturday, February 27th.
• This is a moderated event, please state your actions (spells, attacks, observation attempts) accordingly. We will be rolling for them during moderation. You only have one action per moderation post.
• You can return to the Costume Party and the Masquerade at any point (as long as you're not involved in combat )
• If you have any questions feel free to owl Dealla Prince or Ileen Knight.

Cassie wasn't listening to the weirdos in the painting. Seeing as they were conducting a ritual which involved human sacrifice, they would probably be too insane to tell the trio anything useful. Still, though, she caught the gist - whoever they were sacrificing (they didn't say what for, or answer any of Blondie's questions, as Cassie had suspected) had a 'pure soul'. Cassie would have snickered if she hadn't been too caught up in relishing her own discovery. No-one had a pure soul, she thought, apart from Jesus and Mary of course. And God? Did God count? Either way, they couldn't be sacrificing Jesus or Mary or God, so as far as Cassie was concerned they were either lying or wrong. Probably both.

But that didn't matter - as soon as Cassie screamed the name of Paran Taja, something happened which the French-English girl hadn't expected. Paran Taja heard her, all right, but he wasn't a ghost... he was a painting! "That makes sense!" Cassie said under her breath. The painting of Laiks Debora had a second occupant - Paran Taja. And, presumably, Gaiz Toa had needed Paran out of the way before he could attack Laiks... so he'd had the poor guy kidnapped first. But why hadn't Paran freed himself first if he could do so so easily? Maybe it was just another stupid painting thing.

Paran told the girls that he was already on his way, which just confused Cassie even more. He only just set off! How did that even work?! "About time," she snapped, and grinned at the ghostly cat, Star, who re-appeared from somewhere behind the wall and followed the painting. Cassie grinned infectiously and raised her hands for a group high-five. "CassieHeatherMcGregorMartinbytheway," she told the blonde girl so quickly that it sounded as if all her words were just one. "ButyoucancallmeCassie. Now-" Cassie spun around - "follow that painting!!"

────── ☆ ───────

[font=times new roman]lé cínq locátíón
OCTOBER 16TH
Interactions @Lucia Fox as Cassie @Lindsey Springhall

Soon after, Lindsey joined them and Scarlett grinned and made finger guns at her badger friend. The Hufflepuff also announced her presence loudly, asking the same questions Scarlett had. Earlier on, she heard some students talking about it, but really had no idea what was going on. All she knew was that the man in the portrait they had left at the office was Gaiz Toa, and the other portrait was Giselle and there were some other people by the name of Paran Taj and Laiks Debora. Lindsey barrelled them with questions, Scarlett sending stern glances towards the occupants of the painting before Cassie suddenly shouted something out and proved their idiocy.

"Wait - so -" spluttered Scarlett, her mind scrambling and reeling to catch up with what was going on. If Laiks Debora was the first guy, who looked half-dead, and Gaiz and Giselle were their respective selves, then Paran Taj was a...ghost? Which ghost? She racked her mind. A ghost...a ghost...the cat had been a ghost, but she was Star, no Paran Tag. But who had lead them to Star?

Oh.

"Paran Taj was the ghost knight at the beginning?" yelled Scarlett in confusion. She didn't have to yell it so loudly, but Cassie was. And anyway, if Paran Taj really was the ghost at the beginning then Scarlett wanted him to know. And - and didn't the ghost say that they could say his name if they needed help? Suddenly, one of the figures - why did all of the paintings have to be so sassy? - broke free and told the trio about how they needed a pure soul to complete the ritual, and how he didn't care for Gaiz or Giselle or Laiks.

And then the guy being sacrificed answered to the name Paran Taj, saying he was already here. Did that mean the real Paran Taj was dead, a ghost and a portrait? Paran broke free from his captor's bonds and ran to the next painting. Star appeared and followed him, a wild chase down the hall. Scarlett's heart was beating fast and she high-fived along with Cassie and Lindsey.

"BothofyouknowwhoIam," said Scarlett, speaking as quickly as Cassie. Her friend was already sprinting after Paran, and Scarlett suspected Lindsey would be soon. Scarlett hurriedly grabbed the ritual painting and ran after Star and Paran and Cassie.

────── ☆ ───────

Action Grab the painting and run
Stats Stamina | 7 | Evasion | 5 | Strength | 6 | Wisdom | 6 | Arcane Power | 9 | Accuracy | 7
Abilities Prodigal Charms Learner, Fearless

As Lindsey Springhall | open to interactions
Interacting with @Scarlett Aden @Lucia Fox as Cassie
Mentioning n/a

It was to her disappointment that the paintings did not answer as the way she had wished and suspected. She had supposed that they’d throw tons of information under Scarlett and hers pressure, or at least name them some names or useful clues. But now. These brats just wanted to sacrifice a poor soul and continue their stupid little experiment. She rolled her eyes, and then widened it with surprise when the foreign girl called out for Paran. Oh Merlin…

She remained quiet for a moment, considering the move of the Beauxbatons student. It did have a point…since if she remembered correctly, in Giselle’s words, her brother “stayed behind in the world” for her. So he was a ghost. And the only specific ghost they knew here…was the one at the very beginning of this chaos. Good enough. At least he wasn’t Peeves. And finally they knew his full name, and called it out. Finally. She had to admit that this French was sorta smart and bold, somehow reminded her of her French cousins - but not the little de Fostoncy brat.

Still in surprise she watched the poor man being brutally sacrificed freed himself. And he almost immediately fled, seeming unwanted to stop. And he told them to hurry up, yet again, just like Giselle. …truly a family. She thought, chuckling slightly at it. Sometimes rather unexpectedly she and Edmund would do the same thing, like offering a same plan or reaching out for the same item at the very same moment, every time unplanned. Maybe that’s what siblings do.

It was to her surprise again that the ghost cat showed also. Well…it seemed that every place Paran was, the cat was there also. Was it a pet of Paran when he’s still alive? Lindsey regretted not asking Giselle, but yet, who knew it? They didn’t even suspect that Paran was the ghost. Well, not they, but she. She heard the girl uttered something in French. About time?? Thank Merlin, although she sucked at speaking French, she could at least understand it. 1/4 of French blood in her vines wasn’t kidding. But, well, did she mean that -?

That they should set off and follow?

She wanted to confirm, but the girl had already run off. Ah, at least she left her name. CassieHeatherMcGregorMartin. Dear, did she have that weird McGregor as a second female middle name? Wasn’t it a last name or at least, a male name? But anyways, it seemed that it was proper to state every single name, including middle names they had (she thought Heather’s Cassie’s first middle name and McGregor’s the second o.o). Her chocolate brown eyes wandered back and focused on her own wand. She grabbed it hard, attempted to analyze the situation, but just couldn’t concentrate on it.

Scarlett soon ran off as well, speaking as quickly as that Cassie girl. Oh Merlin - she had to catch up with them. By all means Lindsey didn’t want to be left out in this cold isolate dungeon. She somehow regretted that she hadn’t lit her wand before, but she didn’t have time now. Quickly running towards the direction that the two girls had run off just now, calling after then. “LindseyFlorenceEvantheSpringhall!” without hesitation she spoke as quickly as Cassie and Scarlett had just done. “ButLindseyorLynnworks!”

Action: following the ghost and storming through the corridors!
Location: fifth location
Stats: Stamina 7 | Evasion 6 | Strength 8 | Wisdom 7 | Arc Power 6 | Accuracy 8
Abilities: Statistically Relevant | Lovely Creature

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][0][1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Reducio

ALLY LIST
-Wyatt Starkey
-Elizabeth Isaacs
-Scarlett Aden
-Leonard Oaksworth
-Marshal Mozor
-Casandra Ironwoods
-Mars T’ien