The Lady of the Wood Ravenclaw Murder Thread Finished

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Pericles was not a brawny weightlifter or Quidditch player. He was a duellist, and a runner. His strengths lay in speed and strategy, and so- forsaking the siren's call to excitement and adventure- he ran away from the fight. It was not an easy decision for a young teen with something to prove, but the former fiasco in the Forbidden Forest was humbling, sobering. He had wanted to stay and help his Housemates, yet what could he do that a professor couldn't do better...? While he had shed his starstruck perception of all adults, along with the childish notion that they were all infallible, Pericles was certain the right thing to do in this situation was get help. So, he ran. He ran as if lives depended on it, as in this case, they very possibly did. The toes of his hiking boots barely seemed to touch the ground as he tore across the grounds. Hands swung swift at his sides, cutting the air, breath drawn and huffed in full-body synchronization. An entire year of early morning jogs along the lake were about to pay off, albeit in a way he had not anticipated.

Now for the hard part: yelling. Pericles was not necessarily a mumbler. Mumbling was poor presentation, an heir ought to speak loudly enough to be heard and understood, though it was boorish to shout. Even in the midst of adrenaline-fueled duels, his incantations were typically spoken at a firm bark rather than a frantic cry. But today, he was feeling at least a little panicky. He could give yelling a go. "HELP!" The cry was short, and did not carry. He had to bellow, if he could, so a deeper breath was sucked down deep into his diaphragm, an uncomfortable and unusual feeling. "SOMEONE HELP!" There, that was better... though he hardly recognized the harsh voice compared to his usual dreamy, drifting drawl. He desperately wanted to find @Marcus Iwasaki, as it was his eagles in danger, though he would breathlessly explain the situation to any adult he came across between the catastrophe and camp. "STUDENTS ARE UNDER ATTACK IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST!" Senior staff could save them, could set this right. A fresh third-year couldn't do so, but he would find someone who would.

Summary: still tearing towards camp screaming about troll in the dungeon students in the Forbidden Forest. Telling anyone he comes across about what's happening.

Stats

Reducio

Perfectionist, Perfectionist II, Keen Eye
Stamina - 7 | Evasion - 9 | Strength - 4 | Wisdom - 9 | ArcPower - 8 | Accuracy - 9

Interacting: @Zoë Fresnel and @Pericles Dralt
Mentioning: @Sylvain Wyllt
Correct me if wrong Lear, but I believe this is happening just before the surviving Koldovstoretz students have returned with news of the bombing in Hogsmeade, so Marcus/Zoë would not yet have knowledge of that

Action: Demanding Pericles catch them up to speed on what the hell is going on

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 (+15% strength) | Martial Artist

Stats: Stamina: 15 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 20 (23) | Wisdom: 4 | Arcane Power: 4 | Accuracy: 15

Interacting with @Lavinia Cloven

It was hard to see what was going on inside the forest. There were screams that were coming in there. Bloom knew that she was useless, but she was a fifth year and needed to be there for those who are younger. Maybe, just maybe, she would remember something from her classes to help. But one thing was for sure... She couldn't be on the sidelines and listen.

Lavinia had the idea for them to wait there in hopes to help those who come out. Bloom shook her head. "Lavinia, what if they never come out? Us waiting out here is pointless. I know you risked your life to save me before, but I need to go in. I can't stand here listening to their pleas for help from... Who knows what...," Bloom said and whispered at the end, staring into the hard-to-see Forbidden Forest.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking back at Lavinia and looking back ahead of her. Bloom held onto her wand and ran into the woods, unknown of what was going to be before her. "Lumos," she whispered, hoping to make some light as she started to venture in through the trees.

Bloom's heart was racing. Was this the right thing to do? Should she have stayed with Lavinia? Probably, but she could not help those when she had the opportunity to do so. Bloom was often a follower, and perhaps now was the time to be a leader.

ACTION: Bloom enters the forest and casts LUMOS to lighten the area

The smell of smoke hung in the air as the forest fire grew in size. As much as Thomas wished to simply grab @Callie Jensen by the arm and drag her out of the woods, not only did she exceed him in strength but also his conscience was clawing at his insides. There were other students in the woods, the Ravenclaw had seen them enter and had heard their incantations even after he entered himself. Though Tom didn't care much for the older student, Vladimir, regrettably others that he did care about were in there. Perhaps injured, perhaps in terrible shape, perhaps they were about to be cursed by the strange spider creatures. Speaking of, he hoped the forest fire would allow enough gap in the thick canopy of foliage to send one flying later... If one appeared, of course.

"Callie, this light I've got probably isn't bright enough," he implored, hoping that she understood what he had been implying. Before Lumos Maxima had been banned from dueling, the two had discussed its potential strategic usage particularly considering her extracurricular study of Charm. "Just give me a second's notice to look away," Thomas clarified, hoping that the Blinding Light Charm wouldn't blind him today.

"I don't know where everyone is with all of the shouting, but I smell smoke, and smoke in the forest is always a sign that there are Hogwarts students around. If you're comfortable with it, we should try and find the others." Perhaps Thomas had a stroke of valor in him, the once anxiety-ridden boy now opting to go out of his way to help others. "We'll get in trouble if we don't have a reason for running in here in the first place." Or, maybe not...

Gesturing for his friend to follow, Thomas forged onward through the Forbidden Forest to the likes of @Cade Darkbound and @Dealla Prince, pointing his wand up at the canopy of leaves before offering any explanation for his appearance or greeting. "Extinguo!"

"Is anyone hurt?" There was a startlingly uncharacteristic amount of concern in Tom's voice, it was rare that he allowed himself to be so worried about the wellbeing of others. "I can't exactly lift anyone, but Levitation Charm works just as well..." Thomas remembered the last time he tried to cast that spell in the woods. Hm. Hopefully someone else had a better plan.

Action: Dropping Lumos Solem, trying to put out the looming forest fire with Extinguo
Abilities: Evasive Maneuvers II, Statistically Relevant
Stats: Sta 5 || Eva 12 || Str 1 || Wis 11 || Arc P 10 || Acc 10

Interacting With: @Marcus Iwasaki and @Pericles Dralt

It had already been an event-packed week at Summer Camp as Zoë had completely lost her sleep schedule, lived off of junk food and seen far too many bugs for her liking. It still felt odd to not wear a pair of heels or a dress out here but slowly she was coming to terms with the temporary changes in her life. Some of her favorite moments were staying up late with her cabin buddies and getting to know each of them on a level she never had time for in the classroom. It seemed like everyone was enjoying themselves and even she and Maya seemed to hit it off from the first day prompting what Zoë hoped to be a fantastic friendship.

Double checking the schedule for the day, Zoë was a little relieved to see that no major events were on the agenda as students and staff were encouraged to get to know other students or catch up with their friends on everything that happened prior to camp beginning. Zoë was sure minute events may be created as the day went on as camp, so far, hadn’t been leisurely but she had asked Eliseo to meet her near the lake in the afternoon so the two could finally have a moment together and enjoy the beautiful day before they were to go back to their cabins to watch their students.

Eyeing her casual look for the day in the mirror, Zoë spun around feeling her euphoric emotions overtake her as she slipped her wand in her back pocket and headed out the door of the Kelpie Cabin. Thankful that the weather was not too overtly hot, the young woman stood on the cabin steps for a moment breathing in the air as she found a soft smile gracing her lips.

Nodding her approval, Zoë made her way out onto the grass in the direction of the lake as someone called her name pulling her from her thoughts. Pausing for a moment before turning, Zoë quickly placed the voice to Marcus as she felt her chest tighten. Since their less than ideal first encounter the two had not really talked since then except for small pleasantries so it was jarring to hear her directly call to her.

Professor Fresnel...God did he have to sound like he was scolding me...We aren't even in school right now...Did I tell him my name? Yes...I'm sure I told him to call me Zoë...I swear he is just doing this on purpose...

Rolling her eyes, and turning on her heels, Zoë began walking over to the man as she forced a small smile on her face stopping a few paces from him. Student business? That sounds so formal...What business were students involved in this early in camp and why did he think to go to her? Was it one of her students in question?

As Zoë opened her mouth to tell Marcus that she had prior plans for the day, a piercing cry for help sounded, causing her to turn her head as her heart dropped to her feet. Instinctively both she and Marcus raced towards the student who she immediately recognized to be Pericles as her eyebrows furrowed in despair.

At first glance, the boy did not look injured but the grave look in his eyes let her know that this wasn’t some cruel prank being played on them. Marcus wasted no time in interrogating the student as her eyes grew in size at the note he was holding in front of Pericles. Zoë felt out of place as she desperately waited for Pericles to speak to catch both she and Marcus up on the situation but a part of her wondered if now was the best time for that and if they should just follow him into the forest.

There would be plenty of time to get stories straight and recount events once she knew all the students were safe but not wanting to anger an already tense Marcus, Zoë turned her focus to the forest for a moment before resting her eyes back on the boy.

Abilities:

Reducio

Lovely Creature:
You are very distracting to look at. This increases the Control DC of spells in duels and adventures by +2 as well as the DC for finding things in adventures.
Perfectionist:
You have a reduced critical failure chance range by 1. In addition, you can counter up to 1 point of additional critical failure chances caused by abilities or spells (not potions). In other words, if you have an extended critical failure chance range (as is the case with certain races, the effect of certain spells or potions), this reduces that range by 1. So if you have a +2 critical failure chance range (meaning if you roll a 1,2, or a 3 you critically fail), this ability makes it a +1 critical range instead (meaning if you roll a 1 or a 2 you critically fail).

OOTD:

Reducio

Under normal circumstances, Callie might have been quite fond of a forest like this one. After all she grew up amongst the trees back home and held a love for climbing trees with reckless abandon. However nothing about this particular forest was welcoming, especially not the voice yelling at her to slow down. Part of Callie was going to completely ignore the instruction until she recognised who exactly it came from. "Me? We need to get out of here, idiot! I only came here to find your stupid face!" Callie defended as she fully started to realise the gravity of the situation she had found herself in. Even with contact lenses in Callie seemed to have been rather blind up until now considering she hadn't at all registered the dangers of the forest. "You know, I don't want to meet my end like a marshmallow. That would suck and I don't think I'd be all that tasty anyway."

"Light? Ah, gotcha." Callie confirmed with a simple nod, fully aware of the various conversations they'd had about the spell in question over the past few months. It truly was a shame that it had been banned from duels entirely as the pair had cooked up quite a few devious plans that relied on Lumos Maxima. However she didn't move to try and cast the spell immediately and instead followed Thomas. "Why do they ALWAYS insist on using fire in incredibly flammable environments? Argh!" Callie complained as she ran behind Thomas, opting to entirely ignore his comment about how much trouble they'd be in at the end of this.

While Thomas decided play the honourable hero, Callie figured it was well past time that she helped solve their light problem. So whilst her companion sought to extinguish the ill advised forest fire, she pointed her wand skyward with the intention of casting Lumos Maxima.

Action: Casting Lumos Max
Abilities: Calming Presence [Ravenclaw Students] | Prod Charms | Spell Spread
Stats: Stamina: 6 | Evasion: 8 | Strength: 3 | Wisdom: 12 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 11
Mentions: @Thomas Baines

Mentioning: @Dealla Prince, @Cade Darkbound, @Thomas Baines, @Callie Jensen, @Pericles Dralt, @Kelsey Brumby, @Vladimir Thanos

Interacting: @Bloom Silverton

Hexcode= #507091

As the blue flames licked its way up the branches of the trees within the forbidden forest, Sylvain's eyes grew wide and awestruck in wonder at the magic he had performed. He had practiced the spell in class, but never quite thought he would use it so soon. Sure, cold fire wasn't all that different than regular flame in shape or form, the color and its effect however were intrinsically unique sensations to behold. A little worried that the flames might be hurting his housemates, despite knowing better, Sylvain concentrated on the mote of fire he'd conjured and willed it to move away from what was now a fairly large gathering of Eagles.

"Can any of you even hear me!?!" He shouted across the grounds, feeling helpless yet too terrified to move further towards the encroaching darkness. He honestly couldn't tell if what he was doing was considered helping or hurting but the movement of others into the forest was enough for him to still make an attempt to warn the others away from their now pending doom. "NO! Bloom! Don't go in there!" He would yell angrily to her, the odd light of blue flames illuminating the both of them. Why was she so unconcerned for her own safety? What was it she thought she could do alone that they couldn't do better together? "Dang it." He mumbled as she tumbled past him and into the woods. Why hadn't she listen to him?

Turning his attention from Bloom back to the commotion from within the wood, Syl saw that Dealla's light still shone brightly through the collage of tree limbs and creeping shadows. Now that Thomas's light seemed to have joined hers in proximity, whatever sparks Cade had fired appeared to started a separate fire of its own. The orange kind. "Crap," Syl muttered, frustrated that regardless of the Kelsey's fire safety training course, Cade was somehow still not entirely aware of his surroundings before casting a sparking spell. An honest mistake, but a rookie one nonetheless. At least he heard someone attempting to put it out, probably Thomas or Callie from the sounds of their lover's spat argument. Epic of them to keep trying.

Now where was Vlad? Sylvain thought to himself. After the mental assault Sylvain had endured, the lad had done his best to push the older boy out of his mind entirely but in doing so he had lost track of his actions. He would keep his eyes out for Vlad, but it was far to dangerous to go searching for the boy himself. Especially while others were trying to fight for their lives. Perhaps there was some intelligence in his warning, but Sylvain would damn the stupidity of trying to fight this thing on his lonesome. He needed their help, even if it would kill him to admit it. "Can anyone see Vlad?" Sylvain shouted once more into the woods. Wherever the boy had gone, he was still likely the conduit for all of their current problems and someone had to be responsible for figuring out where.

Only captain obvious could point out that the situation was worsening by the second. Holding on to hope and staying in control of the situation until Pericles returned with an adult was proving to be more and more difficult than he had imagined but part three of his plan was on the way. He just had to believe they would make it soon! From where he was standing what few shadows there were had so far seemed uninterested in attacking him, so he still had time to think before acting. It occurred to him, as he willed the fire to move, that perhaps he might get in trouble for burning down the Forbidden Forest.

Shaking the negative thoughts away after figuring that at this rate he would rather have a life of detention than lose even one of his dear friends. He chose not to stop the flow of his flames. If he was going to brighten things up a little bit then he had to prove to himself that he had control over his magic.

Action: Spreading Bluebell flames to other parts of the forest hoping to engulf any shadows still lurking at the edges of the light.

Calming Presence- An aura of calm. Allies (House Ravenclaw) gain a 10% chance to auto-hit their chosen target. This does not stack.

Interacting with | @Vladimir Athanatos | @Cade Darkbound | @Thomas Baines | @Callie Jensen | @Sylvain Wyllt
Open to interactions.

Vladimir wanted to be left alone. He'd said so, clearly and repeatedly. He was trying to save their life, wanted them out of the forest. But what about his life?

A lot of the students had seen terrible things. More than children should, really, pain and darkness and yes, in some cases, even death. But the latter was still a rare thing; not many of them had seen one of their peers die by the dangers that they had faced. Not many of them were numb or hardened enough to just watch another kid walk into his death and not at least attempt to do something about it. Maybe it was this part that Vladimir didn't understand: It wasn't only the questions Dealla had, the information she wanted. Stupid as it may be, risking her own life, she had to feel like she had at least tried. Even if just to selfishly soothe her own conscience.

However, a hero she was not, and the forest attacking her took priority over arguing her point.

When the tree that was holding her went up in a rush of flames, she flinched away from it, terrified, until her rationality caught up with what she was seeing and she calmed down slightly. Blue flames, no heat. She was in no danger. Was it a good idea, setting the forest on fire when it was already this agitated? She wasn't sure, but it was certainly better than doing it with real flames.

Such as the ones that spread from where Cade had shot up his distress signal, and she groaned. "Not again." It really was time to get out of here, but it seemed the forest was still not done with her.

Dealla was twisting around, trying to sit up and get a good angle to free herself when she felt the piercing, stabbing pain in her side and cried out. "Ow, shit, what the hell!" Finally sitting up, she stared down at the spreading dark red stain at her side in something between shock and outrage, the pain only filtering through in a dimmed extent, numbed by adrenaline. Bruises, burns, scratches, she'd seen a lot of those over the past two years, but the sight of her own blood had her stomach twisting in an odd sort of fear.

The last time she had seen this much of her own blood had been at least year's summer camp, when an unseen force had caused her to stumble into a broken bottle of glass. She'd almost forgotten about it and the threat that had come with it, until this moment. Nothing had come of it beyond a bloody hand, quickly healed later on, at least nothing she was aware of.

This was not the time to reminisce, however, so she shook off the trance, managing to free herself with a well placed spell. Pulling her leg free from the sliced root, Dealla stumbled to her feet, a little dizzy, one hand clamped around her wand, the other pressed to her bleeding side. Her back ached, the pain beating in time with her heart.

She blinked when Thomas came charging towards them, closely followed by Callie, hadn't been aware that those two had even been around. "Just a little," she replied to the boy's question after their well-being, voice tight between clenched teeth but trying for amusement. Nonetheless, she obviously wasn't doing too well. "I'll be fine, please don't levitate me." At least if she managed to get out of the forest soon. Yes, she had memories of the last time as well.

A different voice got her attention, ringing between the trees, and Dee turned her eyes towards the darker, thicker parts of the woods, the light still shining from her wand. "Yeah!" she shouted back towards Sylvain. "But probably not much longer, he's going in further."

Should she waste more time trying to stop him? Was she in any condition to, really? The answer was no to both, she decided. "Perhaps we were trying to save you, ever thought of that?" she called towards his retreating back, then resolutely turned around, towards the forest's edge. She had to save herself first.

"Let's get out of here," she said to her team mates, her voice just a little unsteady, her side throbbing with pain.

Action | Maintaining Lumos Solem, heading towards the edge of the forest

Stats
Sta 6 | Eva 11 | Str 3 | Wis 10 | Arc 6 | Acc 10

Evasive Maneuvers | Charmer | Perfectionist
Allies: All Ravenclaws except Vladimir

350/600 HP

Terrible Presence

Sta - 5 | Eva - 8 | Str - 5 Wis - 8 | Arc - 4 Acc - 10

Evasive Maneuvers

Interacting with :
@Winnie Harper
Mentioning :
Vladimir, @Violet Carrington, Pericles

She was safe, for now, despite the burning sleeve that she cast upon herself, at least Aurora would not have to go back to the cabin being the cursed child. But that was not what she thought happened. She was bitten, thus, in her mind, the blood inside her will turn into spiders just like that intimidating bare chest guy that allegedly wanted to hurt the Ravenclaw Prefect, Pericles. Terrified. Her upper arm hurt like hell, but the girl did not notice that she was literally on fire. Instead of putting it out, now her concern was her dorm mate, Winnie Harper that for some reason tried to give her wound a little light, for what reason? We would never know. Am I a shadow? Will lights kill me now? WHAT IS HAPPENING!? “N-NO WINNIE! D-DON’T COME NEAR ME! Y-YOU WILL DIE IF I TOUCH YOU! I DON’T KNOW! MAYBE? JUST DON’T GET CLOSER!” No, I don’t want that. “B-BUT DON’T GET TOO FAR AWAY EITHER!” It was like a movie, everything made the girl felt like she was hallucinating. The theory kept lingering inside Aurora’s head that she was locked up in a mental asylum somewhere, living the life that was all made up, only happened inside her head. That would be her new biggest fear.

The forbidden forest. If it was that forbidden, why did no one with the higher power build an unbreakable gate or a wall or something? No one surely could not be trusted in Hogwarts, especially the suspicious adult. The trees and the rocks seemed to have their spirits taken then controlled by someone like a puppet. But who would be that puppet master? Must be someone with really advance magical knowledge. One of the professors, maybe? The headmaster? It could be anyone including the students. There were too many mysteries left unsolved and will never be understood. “This is not normal, is it?” Anyone with a pair of eyes would notice that nothing in that situation was considered normal. “I mean, how would I know? I am not a tree-“ A foolish realisation, indeed. Aurora was looking at both of her hands frantically, searching for any signs of her skin turning into woods. “- AM I? AM I A TREE? WHAT DO YOU SEE WINNIE? WHAT AM I?” After her situation finally resolved, or possibly come to an acceptance that she was indeed a human tree, now it was the time for her to worry about the Vlad guy. “Do you know that Calvin Klein model guy? The bare chest person? Should we- should we help him?” No doubt, that guy was a harm to the others. Judging from how others acted around him, he was not the trustworthy one. Though, the fact that he was injured couldn’t be ignored. Maybe he was misunderstood, or maybe he was pure evil. The evidence was not enough for Aurora to end up in a conclusion.

His blood was where the spider came from, was it? A list of actions to possibly help the older guy from dying was dancing around her mind, from putting her jacket on his wound, dragging him out of the woods, levitate him, and last but not least, burn him. Fire was indeed an effective tool to get rid of the spider and yet a dangerous thing. “BUT HE HAS SPIDERS COMING OUT FROM HIS LEG! SHOULD WE BURN HIM INSTEAD?” It was out of her ability to keep her mind in check while the fog was surrounding her thoughts. Her life might end here, so the Ravenclaw’s logic told her to might as well try to help someone and learn a thing or two of this situation. The movement of the trees both scared and intrigued the girl. Was it part of the necromancy magic? Would it be possible to bring back the dead? “You know what? I- I am going in. I- I wanna know what’s going on, I-“ Her teary eyes looked straight into Winnie’s, “Y-you stay here and tell that stupid Violet Carrington to take care of my cat, okay?” If nobody tries to stop her, she would run straight to the deadly forest and not forgetting to cast the wand lighting charm beforehand. “Lumos” Smooth pecs magazine guy, where are you now?

Action Casting Lumos and trying run into the forest

Outfit Reducio Without mask and sunglasses

HP : 320/500