The Basement Fall Hufflepuff MS

“Arresto Momentum.” A voice would call out as the figure of a man slowly descended into the hallway. Surely adding something new to the scenery of children screaming for help. The Head of Hufflepuff would safely land besides his students, and he was not amused. Though he did not encounter any immediate danger, the state of panic he found his kids in told him it was option A, rather than B, after all. A pity and a dangerous curiosity. Professor Browne clenched his jaw as he looked around the hallway, taking in their surroundings. There were the few who were calling out for help. Slytherin was next door. Not a bad plan per se. He noticed one light further down the hall, the silhouette of a smaller individual trying to make their way further in, alone…

“BE QUIET!” Caradoc would yell at the cete of badgers around him before pointing his finger through the air at the singular student walking away. “I do not know who is running down that hallway, but you will stop. Right. There.” He'd order towards @Atlas Reid, they weren't far, they'd hear his voice loud and clear within the echoing hallway. “Now… Can anyone explain to me what in the blazes has happened?” he wanted to add more words to that sentence, accuse them for making a mess this early in the year, a record for sure. His eyes briefly shot back upwards as he made a note to reinforce the entire floor of the Hufflepuff common room. And if danger still persisted to come from downstairs… He'd have to arrange another expedition.

“I swear, if this is some joke…” he eventually hissed with gritted teeth. They'd never hear the end of this one, woe the prankster that got the brilliant idea of dropping their fellow students into unfamiliar territory. At the very least, he could be grateful it wasn't the same room they ended up in last time. He could do with a bit less scarring across his body. The injury on his knee still left him walking funny to this very day.

Slowly, he got himself calming down. Ignoring half the chaos and just praying that one of the students could give him a sensible answer. A single explanation that would tell him it was some harmless accident and there had been no one to blame. Something that could get solved with the snap of his fingers. Sadly, he half knew it would not be. The world was cruel that way, and rest was for the dead. Though, they might as well soon be.

☁ Interacting ☁
All of Hufflepuff Basically, @Caradoc Browne

The sound of Willow's own yelling and her heart pounding against her chest was all she could here. People were talking behind her, attempting to make a plan. Trying to press forward? Press forward? As if they were prepared. As if the entire Hufflepuff house hadn't just been bested and stolen a member of their house. Another voice joined hers, banging against the wall with her. If she thought they had time she might smile at @Martyna Romero, her old Duelling partner. But her fists were growing weary and her voice hoarse. Surely, they had heard them by now. Were they not coming?

Finally she turned to see what was happening behind them. Lumos was already being cast, yet still the darkness laid ahead. Unknown. What were they supposed to do now? There was no guarantee that Ethen was even down here. Who knows where they went. But surely, he was somewhere and this was as good as place as any to begin their search. Maybe the only option at this point was to press forward. She looked up at the hole she had made, at the mess she had helped create.

As if she had summoned him, which she didn't, she heard Caradoc's voice coming from above. Then shortly after, descending. Her heart seemed to skip a beat hearing him yell at them. She had to force tears back down that were attempting to claw up her throat. He was mad, probably for good reason. Or maybe just a concerned dad, also for good reasons. Either way. He had just stepped into a basement of panicking badgers which was not the first time. She had a huge lump in her throat knowing what she had to confess to her Head of House.

"After we got back, something got into the Common Room. I don't know if we let it in or if it came in. Do you know what Slenderman is? The muggle horror thing? It looked like that. It had gifts. It brought us gifts, people opened them. I think. Then there were spiders. I don't know where they came from. We tried to light up, with lumos, the common room- I think the spiders are gone now." She took a big gasp of breath before continuing. "Then he took Ethen, I don't know why. I think Ethen gave it something. It just- It went through the floor like it was nothing. So- I-. I- um." Was she really about to tell Papa Badger what had happened? She could say the floor exploded. She could say someone else did it. But no, everyone in her house knew what she did so there was no point in hiding. "I- I- panicked. I cast the Severing Charm and cut open the floor. I just wanted to get Ethen, but now he's not here. The Common Room has no floor. Slytherin isn't answering. We don't know where he is, we just want to find him Papa Badger. We can't leave here until we find him, please." The tears once again fought to the forefront of her tear ducts, and this time she let him. This was an awful situation to be in, and they were all just doing their best but still they lost one of their own, and Willow wouldn't leave the dungeons without him.

☁ Action || Confessing and Panicking ☁

It would turn out that Howard had a knack for DIY torch making as the one he fell with quickly burst in to flames. Using his long limbs he would hold it high above the other's heads as he grouped up with Serena, encouraging the other to do the same. Not too long ago the antisocial Dhampir would most likely have struck off on his own or stuck to the fringes of the group, but given time all things are capable of change. One thing he now knew above all other was that no single person was capable of taking on the darkness alone. That team work would be their only chance of success. Howard would call to his fellow Badgers to rally around the light. One of their own was missing and the rescue mission started now!

Arresto Momentum

Howard would turn to see the figure of a man slowly descending into the space from the hole above and as they made their way into the light he would recognize Professor Browne right away. His lips parted to speak, but he would fall silent as the Head of Hufflepuff demanded quiet. However, he would call after Atlas as she began to walk away. "Atlas! Come back. We'll find Ethen together!" Willow would be the first to provide an explanation when Caradoc called for one. Howard would just stand close, holding the torch high with one hand while the other rested upon Willow's shoulder. It wasn't much, but as she spoke he could hear the panic in her voice. He may not be the most reassuring presence in the world, but he would try. After she finished, Howard would do his best to explain further.

"Professor Browne. It looked like the figure from before. When those...hands came after us. It grabbed Ethen, but like Willow said, they didn't fall through the floor. They...phased through it or something. We were just about to go looking." Howard would leave it at that and await further instruction.

Action: None for now.

It had all happened very fast. Julian had managed to make it to the window, a little dazed, eyes tearing up in the bright light someone had summoned behind him. He'd only stayed at the window long enough to make sure that his spell had gone off, and then he'd turned back intent on helping... somehow. The next thing he knew, the ground had just fallen under him. The fall hadn't lasted very long, but it had felt like a small eternity until his feet finally hit the ground, his legs immediately crumbling beneath him.

He lay on the floor for a while, eyes closed. Everything hurt, and he was scared to move in case he'd broken something. He didn't want to make it worse. After a minute or two, though, when his heart had stopped beating quite so fast, and it occurred to him that his wand, which he'd been holding in his hand as they fell, and which was definitely no longer there, might not have survived the impact, he finally cracked an eye open and tried wiggling his limbs experimentally.

It didn't take long to reach the conclusion that he was probably fine. Everything ached, but there were no particularly sharp pains, which he imagined might be what breaking something might feel like. He breathed a sigh of relief, reaching out to touch his hand to his face to make sure his glasses were still on his face and then for his wand, which he'd spotted a few inches away, thanks to the light coming from one of the older students' wands.

He raised himself on shaky legs, and took in his surroundings, quietly muttering 'lumos' to help the others with illumination.

He couldn't tell where they were exactly, though it didn't look all that unfamiliar. The shouts for Slytherin's password quickly clued him in, however, even if he didn't know the answer. He stood there, taking in the scene. There was more shouting and calls to actions. It seemed a boy, Ethen apparently, was missing. Some of his older peers seemed keen on going to find him, but Julian couldn't help but notice some of the Hufflepuffs still hadn't really moved, including the boy who had cast the charm to make the floor slippery. They should probably be organising to get them to the hospital wing, or get someone from the hospital wing there. You weren't supposed to move someone who'd fallen, right?

And what had happened to the spiders? He'd seen some spring up upstairs as he'd been trying to reach the window, attaching themselves to a few of the kids, including Paige. Annie had cried something about feeling a pinch. Julian shuddered as he squinted at nearby shadowy corners, looking for any hint of movement. He wasn't normally afraid of spiders. In fact, he kept a couple as pets in a jam jar. But those spiders had been much bigger than usual, and he knew some spiders could be pretty deadly.

Miraculously, as he was still busy scanning for the critters, a figure he recognised suddenly made its way down the hole and started demanding explanations.

It was an adult! Finally. Someone who would know what to do.

Instinctively, he ambled over to professor Browne, catching part of the explanation one of the older students was giving. Julian glanced at the place they'd fallen through. Had that really been the work of a student? That was pretty impressive.

He waited patiently until the two older students had finished explaining, fists clenching and unclenching nervously as he looked from them to their head of house.

"Should we be helping the others to the hospital wing? I think a couple of people got bitten by spiders, but I couldn't tell what kind of spiders they were, so I'm not sure if they were venomous. I wasn't sure if we should move people either, though, in case it was the fall and not the spiders. Maybe we should try to catch one, though--a spider, I mean--if they're not gone. If they were venomous, then that should help, right?" He cast a pleading look in the direction of their head of house, hoping for a little direction or reassurance. He didn't offer to go help find the missing boy. That seemed to him more a job for professors than students, considering they hadn't been able to fend off the creature before falling down one whole story.

Actions: Casting Lumos and trying to get direction from Papa Badger.

Interacting with: Caradoc Browne
Mentioning: Aaron, Willow, Howard

Interacting with: Lydia Cooper, Caradoc Browne
Mentioning: Willow, Ethen, Howard, Julian

"Are you alright? What happened to Ethen?"

Lydia's presence was somewhat comforting, perhaps because she didn't look quite as panicked as some of the other Hufflepuffs. Even when the she suggested that Slytherin would be able to hear them, however, Tina didn't feel secure in stopping the beating of her fists. After all, if this was the case, why weren't they bursting through the door to save them? Had a silencing charm been pre-emptively cast? Was there no-one inside to hear them? Or worse, were the Slytherin's facing the same common room invasion as them?

Something in her stomach stirred. It was unfortunate: the most horrifying possibility felt like the most likely one.

"Ethen?" came her belated response, her hands still thumping flat against the door till they stung, albeit with less force now than before. It felt like her brain had been sucked out of her head, and someone was pinching her voice box, making it difficult to speak. She could put a face to the name: Ethen was one of the older boys who'd been in the common room earlier. Martyna looked around, vaguely aware of other people repeating his name alongside words like 'find' and 'taken' and 'thing'. "What do you mean? Have we lost him? Did something happen with-"

"Arresto Momentum."

It was rare for Tina to feel such a wonderful swell of relief upon seeing a teacher. She let her arms drop to her sides (as she now realised Willow had done) following Professor Browne with her eyes as he descended into the dungeons from their ruined commons. It was only now that the adrenaline was leaving her veins that she felt the cold chill that came with being in the basements of the castle tickle her arms, making the hairs that lined them stand straight. Despite this wave of calm, there was little time to be rejoice, as less than a second later they were being yelled at by their Head of House, who was quite fearsome when he wanted to be, as it turned out.

Willow was the first to offer an explanation. Tina nodded along fiercely at the mention of Slenderman, although the resemblance only occurred to her now Willow had mentioned as much. Perhaps that was the key to solving... whatever it was they were solving. Her eyes flitted to the sides, and she muttered, "Lumos," hoping to further protect herself from the unknowns of the darkness. That was what the others had done, and now that her mind was more clear, maybe she'd be able to do so. Howard supplemented Willow's explanation with what he'd witnessed, and Julian, so sensible, made a comment about going to the hospital wing. It was true, some of the students had been more injured than others.

"It's not a joke, sir! It was horrible!" Tina insisted. Hopefully, Professor Browne would drop the scepticism. We shouldn't have to deal with this, she thought spitefully, unsure if she'd ever be able to go to sleep in her dorm again, for fear she'd wake up with an enormous hairy spider chewing her shoulder. "And- we've been trying to get Slytherin, but- they won't come out!" The implication was clear. If they'd followed Ethen and the creature though the floor, and yet they weren't here, there was no way of knowing where they were. Perhaps the Slenderman was transporting them to another plain of existence, and doing the same thing to the other houses. "What's it gonna do, sir?" Tina asked meekly. Whether or not she actually wanted to know was another matter. "It's not gonna hurt him, is it?"

Action: Attempting to cast Lumos, adding to the explanation

Stamina 7 • Evasion 8 • Strength 4 • Wisdom 6 • Arcane Power 8 • Accuracy 7
Abilities: The Muggle Condition • Healing Sage

Reducio

outfit of the evening

==============

==============

- Open to interactions! -
- Interacting with @Willow Anderson
Mentioning: Martyna, Howard, Serena, Prof. Browne, Ethen & all the badgers present -

Seeing the tip of her wand successfully light up brought a wave of relief that washed over Lydia; her light, plus the Lumos Maxima that Serena had cast, allowed her to see that basically everyone that was in the common room had fallen down. Except that for Ethen of course.

Speaking of which, Martyna also didn't seem to know what had happened to him, but as Lydia heard more and more people calling out to him, the realisation that something bad must have happened to him started to settle into her mind, and the anxiety threatened to take control. How could something like that happen to them? On their very first day back to school? And what was that creature, did it took Ethen?

Lydia didn't know she was holding her breath until she found herself gasping, and she forced herself to try and get back to a normal breathing pattern, as she tried her best to keep her wand lit up. As she was doing that, she heard a familiar, adult voice come from above, and when their Head of House appeared, she couldn't help but think that things would have gotten better- after all, there was an adult there with them now, they would be able to tell him what happened, and they would have been okay. Of course, the man didn't sound pleased at all, and of course he wanted to know what happened. Willow had started to talk, and Lydia stayed close by, trying to keep her wand up in order to extend the light as much as possible; she listened to what the fellow badger was saying, about how the Slenderman-like figure had gotten Ethen, and Lydia felt a lump in her throat.

That wasn't good... a monster had taken one of them and brought him who knew where.

Willow's confession made Lydia ache for her; she clearly didn't mean for any of this to happen, she just wanted to help their housemate. "Willow... It's not your fault, you didn't know this would happen..." Lydia tried to offer some comfort to her friend. Another Hufflepuff that Lydia recognised as an upperclassman Howard started talking, and his words made the redheaded girl tighten the grip on her wand; so this thing wasn't new to Hogwarts, it wasn't the first time that it appeared to students.

Feeling like everything about what happened had already been said to Professor Browne, Lydia decided not to add anything to that, and instead kept her place near the Head of House and her housemates, trying to process everything that had happened.

Action: Maintaining Lumos;
Stats: Sta: 5|| Eva: 7 || Str: 5 || Wis: 15 || AP: 5 || Acc: 5
Abilities: Alluring || Lovely Creature || Scream

Open to Interactions
Mentioning: @Caradoc Browne and @Howard White

There was a faint pain. A pain that likely would have been more pressing if not for her overwhelmed emotions. Beyond the emotional pain, Atlas could feel the occasional shooting pain of some injuries. The injuries were likely a result of the fall but remained firmly pressed to the back of Atlas’ mind. She would have time to mend herself later. Finding Ethen couldn’t wait. She was still lost in a conscious daze and barely holding it together but that much she knew. She knew that no matter what, she would not stop until she found him.

She was conscious enough to be able to flick out a spell. The faint light of Lumos would allow her at least a bit of guidance but it hadn’t been as strong or perfect as her casting usually was. With Atlas’ mind lost in the turmoil and dazed confusion of losing Ethen, she was just happy to have been able to cast the spell at all.

Faintly, she could hear a familiar voice suddenly within the darkened halls of the dungeons. The panicking badgers were ordered to quiet down by Papa Badger. Atlas then heard the voice call out. It called out and told someone, presumably her, to stop. For a brief second, Atlas halted. She almost immediately dismissed the command without a word and continued to walk away. She had a task and would not stray from the path. Her hyper fixation on finding Ethen would not be broken by anyone.

A second familiar voice also called out to her. This time it was Howard, claiming that they would be able to find Ethen together. The words entered her ears and somewhere in the logical point of her brain, she knew that was likely the best way to find him. But any logical capacity had been silenced by her devastated emotions. She could hear the words but her body would not respond to them. There was only the task. The singular task that would keep her from melting down completely. She had to find him.

With her light and all the noise, it was pretty clear that Ethen couldn’t have been in the immediate hallway. It was just wasting time to keep walking down the hall. Atlas would continue forward but would attempt to open any doors she came across to deepen the search. With each second, she could feel the panic rising and it threatened to devour what remained of her will.

ACTION: Continuing forward, will try to open any door she sees (will maintain Lumos if possible).

Reducio

STATS:
Stamina: 10
Evasion: 1o
Strength: 4
Wisdom: 7
Arc. Power: 7
Accuracy: 10

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.

Was that @Caradoc Browne coming down from the heavens like Glinda the "good witch"? Yes, in fact it was. Shimmering and lovely, Caradoc would float down to the ground and his not particularly dainty feet would touch the stone floor.

“Arresto Momentum.” An incredibly manly voice would boom. It was none other than Caradoc Browne, the Head of House for House Hufflepuff. He somewhat resembled a big-haired gameshow host but he lacked the ear-to-ear cheesy smile one would often don on television. This was not exciting, nobody was going to win a new car. There were no smiles to be had for his house of miscreants.

“BE QUIET!”

Caradoc would roar at his motley assortment of badgers before pointing his finger at the student walking away. None other than @Atlas Reid, close friend, partner, potential soul mate of the weird little boy that somehow got himself kidnapped rather than killed on the spot. He was taken through an intact floor to the dungeons to places unknown. The Hufflepuffs essentially the marines of Hogwarts truly took to heart that you never leave a man behind.

“I do not know who is running down that hallway, but you will stop. Right. There.”

As if being told what to do would stop her as she continued with a brisk pace down the hall, Lumos lit wand in hand. There were infrequent doors on either side. The common area as well as dormitories took up a large portion of the subterranean real estate. There would be some doorwars far down that lonesome seeming hall. The maze of passageways that seemed unmapped in spite of its age as new routes through this castle were continually discovered, there was no knowing where Ethen could have gone. She was not going to give up, she would search these dungeons until he was found, recovered and brought home.

@Atlas maintains Lumos
Roll: 19

She gave the Head of House no reply as she ventured farther, she would quickly come to recognize this hall as one that is infrequently traveled. At least this far. There were doors off to either side, offices and storage rooms it would seem. All locked. All seemingly undisturbed. If any of the rooms housed young Ethen, he was being incredibly quiet.

Howard was not going to address Caradoc, he was told to remain silent. He was not very good at following directions. He would shout after Atlas but the girl would not heed his call. She was not stopping for anything or anyone.

"Atlas! Come back. We'll find Ethen together!"

@Howard White would call out after her, a ghoul himself with a softer side and a sense of loyalty. Almost a cliche that covers can be deceiving. He was a Hufflepuff in strange packaging. He did not look like a 'nice guy' a compassionate one. He looked like a predator, a killer. He was not going to abandon Ethen or let Atlas run off on her own. Yet even he gave pause as he remained at Willow's side. Split between pursuit, a hunt and comfort for one of his peers. One would have thought he would have chosen the hunt. He was faster, stronger and incredibly dangerous. A monster that was created but he had control. The torch would crackle in his hand as it waves side to side. His free hand on Willow's shoulder. He could feel the panic rushing through her. A fluttering panic, a sense of dread that was like an intoxicating energy. Those primal senses, that dark nature was in there but he could control it. He could lend a comforting hand but was that needed right now?

Atlas was not about to wait up for Howard, she would grip each and every door she found. Rip the door to the side as hard as she could and push the door inward. Storage rooms, dusty storage rooms.



Atlas would descend a flight of stairs, the the stones had weathered the test of time. The chatter of her peers as Willow explained, as the others delayed their search to find safety in the Slytherin common room or add to their reckless and unprepared numbers.

"Lumos," Martyna announced, taking a cue from the others who found light a priority in this dank passageway. It kept the darkness at bay. It weakened them. It promised them without words but rather grand gestures.

“Now… Can anyone explain to me what in the blazes has happened?”

Caradoc sounded like a man from the 1940's. Who uses 'blazes' anymore. He knew some of it, there was a damned hole in the common room floor. The kids were in a panic, clawing at the Slytherin common room door.

This was going to have to be an interrogation. The sort that ended in tears most certainly.

“I swear, if this is some joke…”

The Head of House complained.

"It's not a joke, sir! It was horrible!"

@Martyna Romero would cry. This was not a dream, this was not a joke, this was their reality. Caradoc needed answers and he needed them right now. Not that he had to work very hard to get anything out of his badgers, @Willow Anderson broke immediately. She would do a terrible job murdering someone. She confession in what seemed like a single breath.

"After we got back, something got into the Common Room. I don't know if we let it in or if it came in. Do you know what Slenderman is? The muggle horror thing? It looked like that. It had gifts. It brought us gifts, people opened them. I think. Then there were spiders. I don't know where they came from. We tried to light up, with lumos, the common room- I think the spiders are gone now."

How certain was she that it was slenderman? The slenderman is a muggle, suburban ghoul. What it wants, what it needs, what it would take to appease it is largely a mystery. Eight feet tall, largely humanoid less the vectors, additional twisting, tentacle-like appendages that had an unknown utility. A featureless face, made of pure darkness and gloom.

A bit more exposition. Howard never understood what happened on that evening where he had met with the crones. The significance of petty words. The power of change. How he had chanced, lost his innocence. How he was driven to anger, to violence. How blood was more than a hunger or a thirst but rather a carnal drive. How his worst facets were encouraged, nurtured. In spite of it all, the hags had not quite won, there was a golden youth in there and he was not that deep down. For now in any case but he was a work in progress. For now he needed to get Caradoc on their side.

"Professor Browne. It looked like the figure from before. When those...hands came after us. It grabbed Ethen, but like Willow said, they didn't fall through the floor. They...phased through it or something. We were just about to go looking."

Howard added a clarifying statement. That they had seen this, that they had experienced this before. The pieces were not quite entirely together, not yet but there were pieces of a massive puzzle that were slowly moving adjacent. Willow was still rambling.

"Then he took Ethen, I don't know why. I think Ethen gave it something. It just- It went through the floor like it was nothing. So- I-. I- um."

Yes, Ethen Emrys, the odd little Hufflepuff that usually stayed out of trouble. What else was she going to do besides tell Papa Badger what had happened? She could not do this on their own. Time was of the essence. They could still be in danger! Willow would not stop explaining.

"I- I- panicked. I cast the Severing Charm and cut open the floor. I just wanted to get Ethen, but now he's not here. The Common Room has no floor. Slytherin isn't answering. We don't know where he is, we just want to find him Papa Badger. We can't leave here until we find him, please."

Did she just admit to exploding the common room floor? Yes, she did. Were there waterworks? Yes, indeed. From Willow came a tearful confession. Also, blame leveled on Slytherin who had perhaps learned from previous mistakes. A lesson to betray common sense this time would prove troublesome if there were adventures of a similar nature. To betray notions of caution and safety. To open the door. To escape into the unknown. To let the unknown enter their places of safety.

"And- we've been trying to get Slytherin, but- they won't come out!"

Yes, she expected the Slytherin students to open their door. Although she perhaps did not consider why. What did she think was going on in there, that they had Ethen tied up in the common room? Did they think that Slytherin was going to risk their safe space for the sake of them? To open themselves up to an unknown danger when they could not even ascertain that the Hufflepuffs were on the other side. That even if they truly were, that they were not going to let an unseen passenger inside.

"Willow... It's not your fault, you didn't know this would happen..."

@Lydia Cooper tried to comfort the sobbing girl. It was a partial lie, a dismissal from blame. That had ripped open the the floor of Hufflepuff before, they had fallen before. They had nearly been overwhelmed by the creeping darkness, the terrors that were hidden in the corners of this Scottish castle. They knew the consequence of reckless casting of spells yet history was bound to repeat itself until they got it right.

"What's it gonna do, sir?"

It being the 'slenderman' as Willow called it. The strange analogous being that had absconded with their housemate. Did she really think that Mr. Browne knew? Without seeing, only hearing their panicked accounts.

"It's not gonna hurt him, is it?"

Martyna asked but Caradoc had no way of knowing what would happen. What that thing even was.

Willow was basically a stereotype, where @Julian Pritchard seemed to defy the conventional cliche. He was a bit more cautious, analytical. He still carried the same sentiment and respect, loyalty to his fellow peer. A respectable combination, a tribute still that fact that these children are more than one-dimensional charactures.

"Should we be helping the others to the hospital wing? I think a couple of people got bitten by spiders, but I couldn't tell what kind of spiders they were, so I'm not sure if they were venomous. I wasn't sure if we should move people either, though, in case it was the fall and not the spiders. Maybe we should try to catch one, though--a spider, I mean--if they're not gone. If they were venomous, then that should help, right?"

To date nobody ever consider that. Capture a spider, attempt to study it rather than destroy it in a panic. Kid, if only you were here about four years ago when this all started, things might have panned out differently.

It slowly began to set in that Atlas didn’t actually know where she was going. Not only did she not know where Ethen was, but she didn’t actually know where she was. Clearly she was in the dungeons but the specific portion of the dungeons was lost on her. The had never truly been a place that she explored so Atlas had no idea where they could have possibly been or what places may have been worth checking.

Despite her scattered mind, Atlas was able to maintain her spell and Lumos continued to light her way. On either side of the corridor, there were doors. It was impossible to know what might be behind them or where they might lead. But what she did begin to notice was that the corridor looked almost undisturbed. As if it had been a considerable amount of time since anyone actually travelled this way. It felt almost stagnant as Atlas paused to consider the doors. She couldn’t see any indications on what might lay behind. Checking a few of the doors, Atlas grumbled quietly as they proved to be locked.

Undeterred, the girl would press forward. A growing anxiety began to creep through Atlas as she realized that she could not hear even a faint sound of Ethen’s presence. Had she been taken, she thought that she would make sure to be screaming so she could be found. She knew that Ethen’s approach to situations could be...weird and unpredictable. But she had to think that he would be calling out for help somewhere or there would at least be some faint sound produced by him. But her ears could find no indication that Ethen was anywhere close. Maybe he was unconscious in one of the rooms? Or hiding...or maybe he wasn’t remotely close to them.

Not wasting any more time wallowing about, Atlas began to swing any door open that would open. Each time she was disappointed. Long forgotten storerooms sat stagnant and covered in dust. But one after another there was nothing that indicated she was growing any closer to her goal. With each door, Atlas would become slightly more frantic.

Her frenzied door opening was halted when she arrived at a flight of stairs. Stairs that appeared to lead even deeper into the dungeons. She wondered momentarily if she should wait for the rest of the group to join her, maybe they would be more successful...Her lack of patience in such a dire situation won out, however. After barely a second of waiting, Atlas proceeded down the stairs. The time for logical caution was over. Only forward! The trepidation was left behind as she wandered further into the unknown.

With her wand stretched out in front of her Atlas would continue her search. “Ethen?...Ethen please be down here,” Atlas began to say. But she realized her tone was likely too quiet for him to hear if he was locked away somewhere. “ETHEN! GET OUT HERE!” For the girl’s small size, she was able to project her voice quite loudly. Even if she might sound more akin to a banshee wailing, she hoped that something might come of the screaming. Regardless, however, she would continue forward checking any doors that would allow her to open them.

ACTION: Descending the stairs and continuing forward trying to open any doors she finds. (Hopefully still maintaining Lumos).

Reducio

STATS:
Stamina: 10
Evasion: 1o
Strength: 4
Wisdom: 7
Arc. Power: 7
Accuracy: 10

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.

Howard would fall silent after he offered his explanation. He was unable to see the entire puzzle, only pieces at a time and he hadn't tried hard enough to put them all together. That's assuming any one person was capable of doing so. The long time loner was beginning to understand how this darkness that haunted them may be defeated as he further immersed himself within his community. Many of them had the pieces, but it would take a collective effort to put them all together. Not one individual or even one house. Time would tell if they would be up to the task, but for now he had his Huffles to worry about.

He would do his best to soothe those around him. Well, as soothing as a clawed hand on the shoulder could be. Howard's red eyes would bounce between his peers as they offered their panicked explanation, but they would wander as Atlas continued her desperate search for Ethen. He would call after her to no avail. Nothing was going to stop her from finding her boyfriend, however to descend into the dungeons alone could only spell doom. "We have to go after her Professor Browne." Howard declared more than offered. "C'mon you lot! We have to stick together." It surely wasn't his place to command the group with his Head fo House present, but the adrenaline urged him forward.

Action: Trying to catch up with Atlas. Encouraging the group to follow.