Quidditch Game Hufflepuff v Slytherin

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Serena flew beside the Slytherin’s Seeker (She thought that Dan might be his name, but she wasn’t sure) close enough to block him in, seeing that Atlas had done the same on his other side. And soon after that, her former broom buddy, Heinrich, rammed into the poor kid.

Serena winced at the crunching sound that followed. That must have hurt…for both of them… But, at least the plan worked, and Dan fell from his broom. However, he wasn’t entirely out of the game because one of his teammate’s caught him. Still, at least they might have been able to buy Ethen enough time to find and catch the Snitch.

Action: Doing as strategized

Stats: STA: 6 EVA: 7 (+1=8) STR: 7 (+1=8) WIS: 7 (+1=8) ARCP: 6 ACC: 8 (+2=10)
Abilities: None at this time
Broom: Nimbus 1700: Fast and tough racing broom. Stats: +2 accuracy, +1 evasion, +1 wisdom, +1 strength (added above)

Even Thora wasn't quite sure why she was attempting a third blatch after the first two had gone so terribly, but orders were orders. Besides, she'd never been one to give in to failure so easily and wasn't about to back down now simply due to her past mistakes. It seemed she was currently the Slytherin most suited for blatching, anyway, and since it was crucial now that they take out the biggest threats to their team's wellbeing, she no longer had any qualms about performing the foul, all of them having been eliminated either by past attempts or simply pure annoyance.

She barely thought as she flew, aware only of the quickly decreasing distance between her and her definitely-more-than-several-times-larger-than-her target. It wasn't too necessary, her having adjusted to the live gameplay and having to dodge players left and right rather easily, and she needed all the concentration she could muster for the blatch, judging from how difficult she'd found the previous two. It wasn't until she neared the giant of a Hufflepuff beater, about to flatten herself to her broom in an attempt for more speed before proceeding, that the sheer absurdity of what she was attempting hit her like a bus, throwing her slightly off-kilter.

After all, Hufflepuff Captain Healy was by far the most enormous player on the field - or in the air, rather - while Thora was undoubtedly among the smallest, and she was almost certain he'd be able to snap her entirely into two if he wanted. While not exactly frail, the she was quite small and most certainly far weaker despite her likely being older than many others in the match. She'd just seen display after display of strength as he knocked out her teammates, most (if not all) in just a single shot, and she knew full well that the last thing she wanted would be to find herself on the receiving end of one of his bludgers. There was no doubt he frightened the little chaser - but wasn't that exactly why they needed him out? One could call it cruel, but knocking players out simply was an integral part of Quidditch.

So without a further doubt, she breathed a last deep breath and shot forward, every muscle tense as she braced for an impact - assuming she'd hit, of course. Pure adrenaline coursed through her veins as she cut through the air, wind whistling past her at alarming speeds and yet not strong enough to force her to change course. She would've paused time if she could, stayed in this exact position for just a few moments more, but of course, it was rudely interrupted by a jolting impact and a bit of unexpected pain lancing through her side.

The impact - her first blatch - had been akin to sprinting full-speed into a brick wall, an accidental collision with something immovable. Even though she'd undoubtedly hit the captain, she wasn't sure whether he'd even fall, his size being so great compared to hers. So she turned her broom, swiveling a full 180 degrees only to find Quinn Healy no longer atop his broom, but rather falling, plummeting towards the ground with absolutely no safety net. Feeling conflicted, she flew off to take her third penalty lap, warmed by pride and filled with a new hunger to clinch the victory, and yet slightly uneasy with guilt. Though Thora was bolstered by her success, she still didn't feel entirely great about sending an opponent to the ground - but that was Quidditch, right? Besides, Hufflepuff was in no position to argue, two of their own players having just fouled as well.

A glance around the pitch, her gaze seeking out each of her teammates, brought a sense of dread which quickly overtook her satisfaction. The past moments had seen both beaters felled, their unmoving bodies still lying on the grass below. Dan hadn't caught the Snitch, but rather had been knocked off his broom as well, and additionally factoring Thora's current status in a penalty lap, Slytherin wasn't in a great position. The game was not yet won, but then again, neither was it lost. They still had time to fight, and fight to the end she would.

Action || As strategized

OOC: Again, Thora's sentiments are not mine

What caused Dan to hesitate on the snitch when he had spotted the stupid golden fleck already? It wasn't like him to get nerves, though maybe he had been thoroughly enraged at this point by the game. Gods did he sometimes have a bit of a temper when things did not go as planned for him. Despite this, she still found the boy decent to hang around, especially since they shared a mutual acquaintance, Andy Vance.

Her gaze shifted across the field, watching her team take on the Badgers. Poor Thora was trying her best to blatch all game, and she lined up for yet another attempt. You got this. He's too big to keep getting lucky with dodging you, the young girl thought as she watched Thora target the half-giant yet again. There was no escaping this time. Down fell the boy, his large body crumpling on the ground.

Suddenly she saw green start to fall from the air all around her. Erin. Cash. Dan. Shit, shit, shit! All were equally important, but with Quinn finally down, she knew that the Badgers had lost their largest force, and she zipped off towards Dan. Hopefully Erin would not blame her for choosing to save Dan instead, nor go after Thora for being the one to take Quinn down. Twisting around, she would have to plan carefully how to catch him. With a quick weave and dip, she caught Dan on her broom, hoping he would realize quick that he was no longer falling and grab on tight.

"Hey Dan. Couldn't let you fall to your death. Andy would have never forgiven me." In agreement with Dan, she raced off. Captain and co-captain sharing one broom. Both friends with the same boy. Who didn't like a little friendly rivalry among the Snake leaders.

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: Sharing broom with Dan | Doing as strategized
Mentioning: Members of both teams | @Andrew Vance

Heinrich did not quite know what went through his mind when he made the decision to steer his broom and charge towards the Slytherin seeker. It wasn't like him. the usual, soft-spoken Hufflepuff, but rather his other self. He was part creature, and perhaps his agitation was growing with his nerves during this game. Right after the nasty collision, the regret hit the young boy almost instantly. He almost took the initiative at diving down to rescue the poor fellow, fortunately, Heinrich would not have to deal with the guilt for too long as one from the opponent team was quick to make a prompt save. Unfortunately for Heinrich, his blatant actions were not to go unnoticed. The referee would call him out and Heinich would proceed to serve his short punishment.

For the most part the game thus far had been civil and organized with a few exceptions one of which was Atlas trying out her untapped chaser abilities but as she once again wandered away from her hoops to help her team she quickly saw the tension and competitive nature of both team growing in nature.

She could see Quinn staying within distance of Ethen as an expected bludger was sent his way but she had trained herself not to worry about Ethen especially when he had a part giant on his side and with a winding crack Quinn had sent the bludger back towards its original sender completely knocking Cassandra from her broom and out of the game.

“One down, one less problem to worry about.” Atlas said out loud knowing a professor would stop the girl from impacting the ground rapidly and a night or so in the Hospital Wing would have her back to her old self. It wasn’t like her to negate someone’s injuries so dismissively but her competitive nature and the fact that she knew it was a game caused her to minimize her empathy. It helped that she had never actually felt a bludger hit but she figured no matter how hard it hit it would never compare to her time in the basement and the horrors that mauled her and Ethen.

Just as she felt her shoulders starting to relax her eyes focused in once more on Quinn just as Thora knocked him from his broom. Desperately leaning forward she was nowhere near him to catch him in time and it looked like no one else on the team was either as her face contorted watching as her beloved captain fell to the ground.

“Fu---” She scoffed lowering her head as she realized too late that she should have been closer to him so that they wouldn’t lose him from the entire game. She had gotten cocky and now they were down their strongest player.

As she heard another familiar crack, Atlas nodded as Lindsey expertly sent a bludger at Erin completely removing her from the game. She knew what she had to do. She needed to so something she had never tried and as she saw Serena make her way to Dan, Atlas quickly swooped down.

Swerving to his side, Atlas could feel the boy struggling to get out from she and Serena’s hold but Heinrich quickly barreled in colliding with the boy as he was abruptly knocked from his broom. To be expected, Dan was caught by one of his teammates but at least she had bought Ethen a little time.

ACTION: Doing as strategized.

Reducio

STATS:
Stamina: 8
Evasion: 8 (+1) = 9
Strength: 4 (+1) = 5
Wisdom: 7 (+1) = 8
Arc. Power: 7
Accuracy: 9 (+2) = 11

BROOM:
Nimbus 1700
Effect: +2 accuracy, +1 evasion, +1 wisdom, +1 strength

ABILITIES:
Fearless
Effect: Fear effects such as a dhmpir's aura, the ability terrible presence, a lycanothrope's intimidation or certain charms, potions and jinxes that would normally cause a fear effect do not work on you as you are immune to them.
Keeper's Catch
Effect: 10% chance to automatically block an attempt to score a goal as long as the Keeper is in the goal area. If an attempt to score has been blocked through this effect, the Keeper may as a free action hurl the quaffle at the opponent team in an attempt to injure a player of their choice (it would be recovered with a quaffle grab action) and treated like a bludger or pass the quaffle to a teammate. This must be declared by the Keeper if either of these free actions are to be utilized.

@Dan Palmer, @Heinrich Bezuidenhout, @Quinn Healy, @Tyranni Whitethorn, @Ami Procoppio

After his glance at Captain Quinn and then evaluating the rest of the field, Aaron was alerted to the fact that the Slytherin seeker had seen the snitch! He knew exactly what he needed to do next. For now, the quaffle would have to wait while he rocketed towards Dan Palmer - the Slytherin seeker. They had never interacted before today, but Aaron still knew who the upperclassmen was given his status as the Slytherin Quidditch Captain.

Aaron Jones was about to perform his first foul of his Quidditch career, and he was gunning for the Slytherin captain with no hesitation. He knew this would likely be seen by the referee, but this had to be done. As he was rocketing towards the Slytherin seeker, though, he saw that his fellow chasers had formed into a Parkin's Pincer and Aaron's dark eyes widened. In disbelief, but also in awe at their form - perfect! Heinrich Bezuidenhout performed an excellent blatch - not that it was a sight that Aaron liked to see, given blatching was a much worse foul than Aaron planned on carrying out - but it was a well-executed move!

Aaron almost stopped in his tracks given that the seeker no longer needed to be fouled, but - Tyranni appeared and caught her captain easily! Aaron's vigor to impede the seeker was renewed and he rocketed towards them. But somehow, Tyranni seemed to see him coming (did she even turn to look at him or had she just known he was coming?!), and she dodged Aaron's elbow attempts with ease. Drat! The referee blew their whistle and Aaron was ordered to take a penalty lap, much to his dismay. Perhaps he needed to work on hiding his foul attempts. Not that he wanted there to be a lot, but in cases like this a good cobbing would have helped out in slowing down the Slytherin seeker and giving Hufflepuff a better chance.

No time to linger on that train of thought, though. Aaron would begin flying in a lap around the stadium - his first ever penalty lap - as he evaluated the field and tried to gauge how the team should continue their play. As he did so, though, he saw Captain Quinn going down! Aaron felt his stomach drop at the sight of him falling with no one to catch him, and he couldn't watch the part-Giant connect with the ground. Instead, he refocused looking straight ahead as he took his penalty lap. He just had to focus on the fact that, thankfully, the Hufflepuff Co-Captain was Ami, who would now be called onto the field in Quinn's absence. She was a great strategist in her own right and would surely still lead them to victory!

Action: Doing as strategized (penalty lap)
Stats: STA: 9 | EVA: 8 | STR: 9 (+ 3 = 12) | WIS: 3 | ARCP: 3 | ACC: 10 (+ 3 + 2 = 15)
Abilities: Martial Artist | Muggle Condition (+2 to ACC)
Broom: Moontrimmer (+3 to two stats of choice: ACC and STR, +10% auto-dodge)

The chaos of the match seemed to erupt as his team shifted to a more aggressive strategy. Part of Ethen wanted to be out there causing mayhem and trying to knock people off brooms but he knew he had an important task at hand. There was still the little golden pest flying around somewhere and he had to find it. It was clear that his temporary rival had caught a glimpse and Ethen didn't enjoy the thought being a step behind. But the pace of the game could change and in an instant and he had faith that his team would do what it took to come out on top. They may have been the team of friendly Hufflepuffs, but they remained fiercely competitive.

Ignoring the desire to watch his team assault the other, Ethen searched as hard as he could. His eyes strained for the slightest glint. Finally, he had it. A brief zip of fluttering gold wings crossed his vision and Ethen's eyes locked on. "Oh, you can't escape now little potato! You will be mine," Ethen growled as he launched into pursuit. The aggressive game would no doubt only escalate and Ethen knew that he needed to be warier of his surroundings. He was keenly aware that the other team may begin targeting him and he had no intention of being thrown from his broom two games in a row.

Alexx stared up at the sky, hand gripped firmly around her broom. This was exhausting. She felt like she was on the outside looking in, and not even a real part of the team. Alexx was not one to ever be excluded,
but now, more than ever, she did. Her foot was tapping aggressively and she couldn't make it stop, but now, it felt like the only thing gounding her to this game anyways. The best she could do was wait it out.

actions: benched

Thomas remained silent on the bench, intense blue hues following the action from his teammates. Thoroughly engaged in his own activity, the casual twiddling of thumbs, feeling the intensity building as his teammates continued to fall.

A morale boost did arrive with the entrance of Alexx, esteemed blatch specialist and his superior for the school’s paper. After covering statistics for Chasers, Thomas knew better than anyone about her abilities. The Slytherin team was better off with her out there.

Koko showed no signs of wearing down, perpetually able to compete at a high pace. Yet the Slytherin rookie knew not to slack with his preparation. Thomas would rise from the bench and travel behind his peers, beginning to pace with various stretch movements for his upper body. He had to stay loose, to be ready if his number was called.

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

Thank you for the strategies and posts — the deadline has been reached. Rolls will be conducted today in discord and you can anticipate the release of the mod post within the next couple days.