Quidditch Game Hufflepuff v Slytherin

The wood planks of the bench burned under Alexx as her fingers gripped it tighter and tighter, and she was sure to be pulling out splinters later. She bit her lip until it drew blood. Any minute now Slytherin was due for an injury, for someone to plummet from the sky and fall to the ground, breaking several bones, ensuring Alexx her spot in the air. Any minute now. Of course Alexx would never admit she was wishing injury on her own teammates, but everyone knew that success came with sacrifices.

Actions: Benched

It was a fuming Thora that took to the perimeter of the field again, an uncharacteristic anger brought by irritation boiling in her stomach and twisting her features slightly. Here was her flaw - though she could handle disappointment or pain and tended to just generally be easygoing, her failures were often what really set her off, what really spurred the transition from annoyance to fury.

As if her second failure blatch and subsequent penalty lap hadn't been enough, the Hufflepuffs continued to score, pulling ahead as she simply stood by, unable to help the situation in any way. All she could do was to take her lap as fast as humanly possible, although she doubted speed would do anything to allow her back into the game as early as possible. As she flew, the chaser once again trained her eyes on the handle of her Silver Arrow, still unable to meet anyone's gaze, whether teammate or opponent, player or spectator, for by now, surely they were doubting her Quidditch ability as much as she was. First games always came with nerves, and for Thora, that promised slipping up at times, but how could she be doing this badly?

The match was already dragging on, and she still had nothing to show for the time she'd spent in the air. There was no telling how much longer they had before one team clinched the victory, but there seemed to be time for now - time for her to turn things around.

Action || Penalty Lap/As strategized

At the point in the game, she knew that time was ticking by, each second felt slower, yet the world around her continued to speed up. She was aware of the target that was growing ever larger on Dan's back, and she was prepared to help her fellow Captain. Despite his experience and his knowledge of the threat that was placed on him, he had always proven to be a competent player, dodging all kinds of attacks. That didn't ease her nerves though as she watched him flying around, monitoring the field for any sign of attack that could make him fall. If he did, she would be ready.

Time continued to slow as she waited, watching him. Suddenly, there was the slightest change that caught her attention. Was it a change in posture of the seeker, or perhaps she too had spotted a small gold glint, but she could sense the atmosphere alter. Time sped up again. "Praise the gods!" The young chaser shouted out her joy. Dan had spotted the snitch. With the next round quickly approaching, she could only hope for the best, a light at the end of the tunnel appearing. At least she was not needed this round.

Stamina: 9 (12)	Evasion: 7 (10)	Abilities: Seer Effect: 10% auto-dodge & auto-hit Lovely Creature Effect: Affects the snitch search DC for the opponent team
Strength: 5 (8)	Wisdom: 4 (7)	Broom: Silver Arrow | +3 to all stats as indicated by the bold numbers in (#)
Arcane Power: 3 (6)	Accuracy: 7 (10)	Position: First-String Chaser

Action: Getting into position | Doing as strategized
Mentioning: Members of both teams

Things were really starting to heat up he would occasionally glance to Nico when he could before turning his full attention back to the game. This was going to be something interesting after all and Quinn would be remiss if he said he wasn't feeling nervous. But he couldn't show that he was the captain after all. So he smiled and continued on.

Action : Doing as Strategised~

Action: Benched

Stats: Stam: 8(11) | Str: 7(10)| Eva: 7(10) | Wis: 8(11) | Acc: 7(10) | Arc Power: 3(6)
Abilities: Evasive | Evasive x2 - 20% chance to auto-dodge
Broom: Silver Arrow - +3 to all stat categories

M O D E R A T I O N — R O U N D 5

H U F F L E P U F F

FIRST STRING Keeper: @Altas Reid Chasers: - - @Aaron Jones @Serena Bowen @Heinrich Bezuidenhout Beaters: - @Quinn Healy @Lindsey Springhall Seeker: @Ethen Emrys

SECOND STRING Keeper: @Howard White Chaser: @Aspen Summers Beater: @Ami Procoppio Seeker: @Stanley Buttons "Only the gentle are ever truly strong"

B U F F S
10% auto-hit/auto-score (Calming Presence [Ethen])

D E B U F F S
+2 to Snitch Find/Catch (Lovely Creature [Dan, Nico, Tyranni])
10% auto-failure on actions (Unsettling Aura [Nico])

S L Y T H E R I N

FIRST STRING‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎ ‎ Keeper: @Koko Riddle Chasers: - - - @Nico Shymane @Tyranni Whitethorn @Thora Larkston Beaters: - @Erin Ryan @Cassandra Ironwoods Seeker: @Dan Palmer

SECOND STRING Keeper: @Thomas Lestrange Chaser: @Alexx Séverin Beater: @Percival Rainwood Seeker: @Flash Holmwood "The power to make people fear is the only power you need."

B U F F S
n/a

D E B U F F S
+2 to Snitch Find/Catch (Lovely Creature [Lindsey])
10% auto-failure on actions (Unsettling Aura [Nico])

* * *

C H A S E R S

───── Hufflepuff ───── Aaron: Cobbing Dan Serena: Parkin's Pincer @Dan Heinrich: Parkin's Pincer @Dan Performing the blatch Atlas: Parkin's Pincer @Dan‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎

───── Slytherin ───── Tyranni: Lifeguard Prioritizing Dan Nico: Alley-Ooping Dan Thora: Blatching Quinn Koko: Starfish and Stick

K E E P E R S

Score Attempt #1

───── Hufflepuff ───── n/a

───── Slytherin ───── Koko: Starfish and Stick

Score Attempt #2

───── Hufflepuff ───── n/a

───── Slytherin ───── Koko: Starfish and Stick

Score Attempt #3

───── Hufflepuff ───── n/a

───── Slytherin ───── Koko: Starfish and Stick

───────────── Results ─────────────

The shift in the game's dynamic that had no doubt been felt only just recently (i.e. last round) was only gaining in momentum. Like a ripple, it moved outwards, picking up in intensity and luring the players ever away from the heart of the game. Soon enough, the quaffle had been all but abandoned, the chasers nowhere near the center of the pitch when next the referee had called them all for the next quaffle toss. Only one answered the whistle's summons, and she only did so at a distance. Alone to monitor the red ball, Koko lingered within the confines of her hooped kingdom. None would come for her, however, and so she would lose no points to the badgers. For several minutes (not rounds as rounds are an ooc mechanical rather than IC practical application), the scoreboard would go unchanged.

B E A T E R S || B L A T C H E R S

───── Hufflepuff ───── Quinn: Defending @Ethen D[77] | success [!] Bludgers @Cassandra UA[32] | CP[38] | B[15]+ 10 = 25 [!] Cassandra: Evade E[9]+ 5 = 14 Dmg: 18(str) x 75(B) x 1.3(GS) = 1755 HP: 600 - 1755 = 0 [KOB] ───── Lindsey: Bludgers @Erin UA[31] | CP[91] | auto-hits [!] Erin: Evades VA[83] | EM[26] | does not evade Dmg: 9(str) x 75(B) = 675 HP: 1 - 675 = 0 [KOB] ───── Heinrich: Parkin's Pincer @Dan UA[85] | CP[33] | Bl[19]+ 11 = 30 [!] Dan: Evades (with disadvantage) EM[5] | E #1:[11]+ 13 = 24 E#2:[9]+ 13 = 22 [fails] [KOB] Dmg: 9(str) x 100(PP) = 900 HP: 1200 - 900 = 300 Dan is caught by Tyranni ───── Aaron: Cobs @Dan +10(acc)+3(MT)+2(MC)+2(Cob) UA[73] | CP[81] | Cob[12]+ 17 = 29 Dan/Tyranni: Evade EM[40] | SI[91] | [auto-evade]

───── Slytherin ───── Erin: Defends Dan D[26] [redirection fails] ───── Cassandra: Bludgers @Ethen Quinn redirects the bludger ───── Thora: Blatches @Quinn UA[59] | Bl[15]+ 14 = 29 [!] Quinn: Evades E[2]+ 5 = 7 [KOB] Aaron: Wisdom Roll Avg Slytherin Wisdom = 8 W[9]+ 3 = 12 Jones! Penalty Lap! Bezuidenhout! Penalty Lap!

───────────── Results ─────────────

Instead of the quaffle, the players seemed to have turned all attention upon each other. Perhaps rivalries were heating up. Or perhaps with all players nearly simultaneously returning from their penalties and doubled up individuals returning to their own brooms, the return to ground zero had sparked a new frenzy. A thirst to make a significant impact to steal and secure the momentum of the game. Hufflepuff had a streak to maintain, one that now rested at least four games long. To lose now would not only injure their pride, it could potentially land them in a motivational slump from which they might not so easily recover. Slytherin, on the other hand, surely felt the effects of the reverse. Not having tasted victory for a year, halting the badgers in their tracks would instil a resurgence of confidence for which they desperately hungered. It was anybody's game, but there was no question as to either team's level of commitment.

Slytherin would be first to strike. The snakes had had their eyes fixed on the Hufflepuff seeker from the outset of the game, and that fact had not changed. Finding an unoccupied bludger, Cassandra would zip off to meet it. With the snap of bat meeting iron, they sent it spiralling towards the opposing seeker. It would never find its mark, however. Although Lindsey had abandoned they post she'd held to so vehemently at Ethen's side, Quinn would take her place. Despite Cassandra's strength and the precision with which the bludger had been struck, the half-giant would make quick work of it. Like an adult in a game of T-ball, a resounding CRACK!, he would wind up his response and send the effective canon rocketing right back from where it had come. Cassandra didn't stand—or sit—a chance. Striking squarely, they would find themselves blown from their broom, and the first victim of the match to fall to the grass. Had their fall not been arrested and slowed by a timely charm by a staff members on standby, the impact surely would have been an excruciating one.

Percival would have to take their place.

Cassandra might have been the first, but they wouldn't be the last. With his attention preoccupied with his task to protect their beloved seeker and sending one of Slytherin's beaters to an early grave elimination, Quinn would leave himself open to assault. Something that, really, was only all too easy to do given his enormous 8 foot something stature. And something that Thora was only too quick to take advantage of. Whether of her own volition, or at the behest of her commander, she came whistling in towards the giant. One could only imagine what must have been going through her head. At only a quarter of his weight (if that?), how could she possible hope to knock him from his broom? She must have managed it somehow, however, as not a moment later, Quinn would be seen falling to the ground. Unfortunately, just as Cassandra, none of his teammates were near enough to catch him and prevent his descent. Soon, he too would be lowered safely to the grass, still conscious, but unable to return to the game.

Where one falls, another would fly. Ami would be called to action, and a small consolation would be felt at the call of, "LARKSTON! PENALTY LAP! AGAIN!"

If there was anyone in the audience or among the Slytherin ranks were under the impression that the badgers were soft, they may be required to reassess the new dynamics of the team after the recent roster changes. While the teams were busy exchanging beaters, the hufflepuff chasers and keeper formed up for an organized assault on the Slytherin seeker. In order to get to him, however, they needed to get through the bulwark that was Erin Ryan. Already having proven her mettle time and again and recently having shoved Dan out of the way of a bludger with his name on it, she was a formidable barrier. But she was bruised and battered. And marked.

Ahead of the rest, Lindsey flew after a free bludger, lining up for a shot. In that moment, it was as though the clouds had parted and the sun shone through to alleviate even a small amount of the weather's chill gale. Unaffected by the unease that seemed to permeate the field and impact the performance of some of the other players, Lindsey would feel an unusual level of calm. In a moment of clarity, she struck the bludger true, sending it streaking fluidly towards Erin. Bad luck on the latter's part. Perhaps if the rest of the Huffles weren't so focused on Dan and had glanced the beater's way, they might have felt an inexplicable need to veer off course and take the hit in order to spare her divine features from yet another marring. None were so allured, however; Erin didn't stand a chance. Once again, she would feel the familiar impact. And then the familiar fall.

Slytherin would lose their second first-string beater with none to replace her.

And with Erin removed, that opened up the field. Shaken and perhaps distracted (as shall be described in the next section), Dan would make for an easy target. Whether he saw them coming in or not, Atlas and Serena would soon close in to either side of him. While some might not have minded such a close encounter, he would not be one such individual and would no doubt find their attentions nothing but a sign of trouble. Trouble would arrive in the petite form of Heinrich barrelling towards him. With his movement limited, there was only so much that Dan would be able to do to avoid the collision. In the end, he wouldn't be able to avoid it. A cringe-worthy crunch would echo painfully through the crowd as the two boys collided. Somehow, with a strength defying his stature, Heinrich would come away relatively unscathed.

"HEINRICH! PENALTY LAP!"

The same could not be said for Dan. Winded, bruised and knocked from his broom, he would find himself freefalling immediately after the contact. Miraculously, however, he would be spared the dreadful fate of elimination through the swift actions of Tyranni swooping in to take him onto her own broom. Even after all of that, the onslaught would not quite be over. Hot on their heels, Aaron closed it, brooms nearly sparring in their own duel as elbows flew aggressively towards Dan. Or that would have been the intent, at least. Intuition had sparked in the back of Tyranni's mind the moment that she had caught her Captain. A nagging sense that they were not quite out of the fire. As though she knew Aaron would swoop in on them, she managed to keep herself and her passenger a hair's breath ahead of the Hufflepuff, although not quite out of reach enough that he hadn't attempted to make contact at least a few times.

Enough times, anyway, for the referee to catch on. "JONES! PENALTY LAP!"

Never-the-less, the damage had been done. Quinn, Cassandra, and Erin had all been removed from the game. Ami and Percival would be called in to take their places. Even Dan had nearly been removed, now forced to ride double with Tyranni. And for the next while, Thora, Heinrich, and Aaron would be racing around the perimeter of the pitch to complete their penalty laps as swiftly as possible in order to re-enter the game.

S E E K E R S

───── ‏‏‎Hufflepuff ‏‏‎───── Find DC: 15 + 11(LW) + 2(LC) = 28 Ethen: Find UA[41] | KE[47] SF[19]+ 11(wis) +4(bonus) = 34 [!] Ethen finds the snitch!

───── Slytherin ───── Catch DC: 15 + 10(LA) + 2(LC) = 27 Dan: Alley-Oop UA[1] | [auto-fail] Dan does not catch the snitch.

Audience please note: You don't know that Ethen has found the snitch until he makes an action that makes it known that he has

───────────── Results ─────────────

If anyone could focus on hunting or chasing after a tiny little ball with all of the commotion going on around the pitch with the sudden unleashing of an all-out battle, it would be miraculous. And yet, that is exactly what each seeker did. Of course, Dan had spotted that snitch moments before and he had not for a moment let it out of his sight. A sign of some sort had obviously been given as Nico broke away from her previous focuses in order to ready up for an alley-oop. Or perhaps she had missed the signal? Or maybe Dan second guessed himself? Something happened, anyway. As the Slytherin captain readied up in a break-neck attempt to get a bit of a boost towards the snitch, a sense of dread would wash over him. Perhaps it was the sudden loss of two of his beaters. The pressure of a storm brewing and the uncertainty of a game's outcome riding on his shoulders. There is good reason that the position of seeker is often as glorified as it is. It is a terrible burden to bear, the knowledge that one's performance may singularly turn or break a team's chance at victory. Dan had seen the snitch, but he couldn't close in on it. Instead, he would be the one closed in on (as per the Parkin's Pincer described in the section above).

No doubt Ethen felt that same pressure just as acutely, if not moreso. Riding the wave of a winning streak, if he did not catch the snitch, surely Slytherin would. Would he then feel it was his fault that their streak was broken? Would his team mates feel the same way? What was more, the erratic movements of the Slytherin seeker and the sudden shift in flight patterns would likely tip him off that Dan had seen the snitch. Unless it was a fake. But then... no. The glint of gold would be enough to refute the latter possibility. Although the alley-oop might have fallen apart, the attempt was not a farce. As Dan had seen the snitch, so too did Ethen. Although at somewhat of a disadvantage of Slytherin having a head start, it could be anyone's game.

The race was on.

S C O R E B O A R D

SLYTHERIN 20

HUFFLEPUFF 50

* * *

A C R O N Y M S Reducio —B = Bludger [d20] —Bl = Blatch [d20] —Cob = Cob [d20 +2] —CP = Calming Presence [d100: 91 – 100 = automatic success of hit/score] —D = Defending [d100: 76 – 100 = successfully redirect incoming bludger back at attacker] —E = Evasion [d20] —EM = Evasive Maneuvers [d100: 91 – 100 = automatic dodge] —GS = Giant Strength [increases damage by 30%] —KC = Keeper's Catch [d100: 91 – 100 = automatic block, roll rng target (quaffle dmg like bludger)] —KE = Keen Eye [d100: 91 – 100 = automatic snitch find] —KOB = Knocked Off Broom —LA = Lowest Accuracy [lowest accuracy between opposing seekers] —LC = Lovely Creature [increases opposing team's Snitch Seek/Catch DC by 2] —LW = Lowest Wisdom [lowest wisdom between opposing seekers] —MC = Muggle Condition [+2 to non-magical accuracy checks] —MT = Moontrimmer [d100: 91 – 100 = automatic dodge] —OS = Obnoxiously Strong [increases base strength by 10%] —QG = Quaffle Grab [d20] —S = Score attempt [d20] —SC = Snitch Catch [d20] —SF = Snitch Find [d20] —SI = Seer's Intuition [d100: 91 – 100 = automatic success of hit/score] —SFS = Starfish & Stick [+3 to block attempt | disadvantage on dodging] —TB = Tinderblast [Chaser: +3 to pass recipient's attempt to score] —UA = Unsettling Aura [d100: 1 – 10 = automatic failure of action] —VA = Veela's Allure [d100: 91 – 100 = attack is redirected/forces score automiss]

H E A L T H Reducio Hufflepuff Altas [800 / 800] Aaron [900 / 900] Serena [600 / 600] Heinrich [1 / 600] Quinn [KOB] Lindsey [700 / 700] Ethen [700 / 700] Stanley [benched] Howard [benched] Ami [700 / 700] Aspen [benched] Avg Wis = 6.7 = 7 Slytherin Koko [1800 / 1800] Nico [1300 / 1300] Tyranni [1200 / 1200] Thora [1100 / 1100] Erin [KOB] Cassandra [KOB] Dan [300 / 1200] Thomas [benched] Alexx [benched] Percival [600 / 600] Flash [benched] Avg Wis = 7.9 = 8

Players have until March 26th @ 0800 PST to post

Sylvian Wyllat

Aspen rubs her hands together as the bitter cold bites and nips at her skin. She cheers loudly as her team continues to do well, but, as the game goes on, begins to feel nervous about the snitch. They could be a hundred points ahead of Slytherin, but if the snakes get the snitch then it is over for the badgers.

Action: Benched and bruised

Erin has been rendered unconscious.