King of the Hill Wargames fin

Action: As strategized.

Mentions: @Liana Kerr | @Avery Chen

A graze, what a perfect way to stay in the game but look bad doing it. From a miss to a critical hit to a graze, Matt's casting was all over the place and utterly unpredictable. It was a wonderful show of enigmas since he could claim beginner's luck if he wasn't hitting what he set out to all the time. The near-miss also quieted down both Liana and Avery, so all was well in the house.

Preparing his next move, he was about to cast when suddenly one of the duel moderators sent a stream of fog out onto the battlefield. Visibility went from perfect to a near-zero, and any words of praise or encouragement for his fellow housemates died on his lips as he looked around. Liana's incredible cast of a spell he'd only briefly heard of in his travels through spellbooks would have to wait for its verbal due when speaking might give his position away. Instead...

He kept silent, eyes darting around as he dared not move his wand from its position. Now this was an adrenaline rush, taking a random stab spell through the proverbial dark and hoping it all turned out well. It was like the movie The Fog - the 1980 one directed by John Carpenter, though, not the shitty remake. Anything could creep out of the thick mist, from a wayward spell by an ally to a vengeful mariner's ghost who'd been shipwrecked on the Hogwarts shores a hundred years ago. His imagination was spinning out of control, and in every swirl of gray he saw an enemy or an eldritch horror reaching out of the depths to drag him to a watery grave.

His shoulders shook with silent laughter as a wolfish grin replaced his thoughtful expression of neutrality. And why not? No one could see him anyway. If he got his kicks from pretending that this situation was now life or death, it was no one's business but his own. Flourishing his wand with an overtly graceful flick that was now more pleasure than duty, he decided he'd Call this round - no Folding when the gamble was finally getting interesting.

ACTION: Doing as strategized

@Liana Kerr | @Avery Chen | @Matthew Gray | @Maggie Hawkins

Action: as strategized

mentioning: @Matthew Grey | @Avery Chen | @Liana Kerr | @Della Barfield

No, Maggie hadn't chosen to target Liana out of any malice. In fact, she liked to think that she had little to no malice in her heart, thanks very much. Instead, she had chosen Liana simply because she thought her luck might run out. Maggie wasn't particularly gifted at spellcasting, and often screwed up her wand movements. Liana was quite a great deal smarter and more skilled than she, wasn't it common sense and valid thinking to assume that she could dodge? Seemed not. Still, it looked as if their friendship was spared, at least momentarily.

Thank god.

"Won't happen again, Li, honest!" Maggie insisted, offering up a little smile as truce. No more spells at Liana. After all, her legs did look like they were getting tired, worn out from all the dancing she was doing. More dancing than she'd ever done before, no doubt, judging by the way that she seemed out of breath, motivation, and far less enthused than she'd been just minutes before.

Yeesh. Looked like she needed some good old-fashioned dance conditioning. Like that muggle show. Dance Moms. Liana needed Dance Moms.

Except, did she really? Maggie thought that show was probably damaging to one's mental state and wellbeing, when it came down to it. Stronger people than her had prevailed!

The targeting of Avery was simply because he hadn't seemed to retain any damage at all yet, and Maggie thought that quite unfair. If Liana had been targeted so early on, how come Avery hadn't? Far as Maggie knew, he wasn't inept.

Whatever. She readied her wand and considered her next target.

action: doing as strategized

Interacting: @Evelynn Decipio | @Vale Ashwood

English | Mandarin | French | Quotes

"Well cast, Miss Decipio," Ming observed. It was not so much a congratulatory note at the successful cast of a spell he had not mastered, so much as an acknowledgement of the task well-performed, and of the debt owed, as the elder moderator returned to the sidelines to watch the play unfold.

His classmates had performed exceptionally at spellcasting, and it was a good sign that they would band together in a sense of... fraternity. It meant that if push came to shove, they were inclined to trust each other and work together. Well, with certain caveats.

Speaking of the rest of Slytherin, it appeared that the final member of their little impromptu study group had made an appearance. The girl who could be outright outlandish without ever crossing the boundary into rude. The Chinese boy raised a hand to wave at her, before turning his attention back to his more immediate company.

"Apologies, Miss Ashwood has a nasty habit of causing trouble if left unsupervised for too long," Ming said sheepishly to his elder. It would not do for her to wander off and get caught ogling a death-eater portrait somewhere.

In an effort to chase away that from mental image, Ming dove back into the conversation they were having. "An interesting proposal surely." For all that the redhead could be a force to be reckoned with, he did not see her lasting when the snakes fell upon each other. "Certainly, I'll take you up on that wager. As I said, Gray, I think is likely to be the last one standing."

A pause, before he added one more word. "Stakes?"

━━━━ PARTICIPANTS ━━━━
────────────

[ @Liana Kerr ]
54% HP (270/500)
Affected by Smokescreen [-3 ACC] (1 round)
────────────
Flipendo @ Della

Reducio

STA: 5 | EVA: 5 | STR: 1
WIS: 9 | ARC: 6 | ACC: 9-3
Prodigal DADA

Wisdom DC: 9
Wisdom Check: [d20: 7] + 9 = 16, success
Accuracy Check: [d20: 4] + 9 - 3 = 10
Evasion Check: [d20:19] + 0 = 19
10 < 19 → Miss

[ @Avery Chen ]
100% HP (600/600)
Immune to Smokescreen
────────────
Dancing Feet @ Della

Reducio

STA: 6 | EVA: 6 | STR: 6
WIS: 7 | ARC: 4 | ACC: 6
Blindvision

Wisdom DC: 9
Wisdom Check: [d20: 5] + 7 = 12, success
Accuracy Check: [d20: 20] + 6 = 26
Evasion Check: [d20: 12] + 0 = 12
26 > 12 → Hit
Duration Check: [d3: 3]
Effect:
Della dancing for 2 rounds
-70 HP

[ Geoffrey Donovan ]
100% HP (700/700)
Withdrawn from Event
────────────

[ @Maggie Hawkins ]
100% HP (500/500)
Affected by Smokescreen [-3 ACC] (1 round)
────────────
Levitation Charm @ Della

Reducio

STA: 5 | EVA: 10 | STR: 4
WIS: 3 | ARC: 6 | ACC: 7-3
Calming Presence

Wisdom DC: 9
Wisdom Check: [d20: 12] + 3 = 15, success
Accuracy Check: [d20: 8] + 7 - 3 = 12
Evasion Check: [d20: 15] + 0 = 14
12 < 15 → Miss

[ Hildegard Schneider ]
0% HP (0/400)
-
────────────

Reducio

STA: 4 | EVA: 0 | STR: 4
WIS: 10 | ARC: 10 | ACC: 7
Prodigal Charms

[ @Matthew Gray ]
85% HP (425/500)
Affected by Smokescreen [-3 ACC] (1 round)
────────────
Flipendo @ Della

Reducio

STA: 5 | EVA: 7 | STR: 1
WIS: 10 | ARC: 4 | ACC: 8-3
Impartial

Wisdom DC: 9
Wisdom Check: [d20: 2] + 10 = 12, success
Accuracy Check: [d20: 3] + 8 - 3 = 8
Evasion Check: [d20: 8] + 0 = 8
8 = 8 → Partial Hit, half damage
Effect: -70 HP

[ @Della Barfield ]
20% HP (100/500)
Affected by Smokescreen [-3 ACC] (1 round)
Affected by Dancing Feet [-1 ACC] (2 rounds)
────────────
Removes Blindfold

Reducio

STA: 5 | EVA: 7-2 | STR: 3
WIS: 6 | ARC: 5 | ACC: 4-3-1

━━━━ SUMMARY ━━━━

Back in the planning phase, Ming had hoped that the introduction of external factors would serve as a counterbalance to the powerful pair of Liana and Schneider, who he had expected would run away with the contest. He had hoped that this intervention would make things more even, and might even promote some degree of caution into the duellists. If they cast at us, he had wanted them to ask, would they cast at us again? Surely, the fact that no foul had been called at the interference should be warning enough that this wasn't quite a traditional duel?

It would appear the Ming had miscalculated: instead of a lull in the action, or even some crafty backstabbing amongst the established alliance, the smokescreen did little to allay the carnage. In fact, Avery seemed to revel in the chaos, even calling out to a certain eccentric spectator.

Amidst the smokescreen, it was difficult to ascertain exactly what was going on. But one thing was clear: Liana Kerr had successfully managed to allay Hawkins, as the emerald alliance continued their onslaught against the sole Gryffindor. Even while struggling with the blindfold, Della Barfield performed admirably, avoiding one, two, thr- ohhh. The third spell clipped young Gryffindor, leaving her squarely in the way of the fourth – a dancing feet spell. Ming had read in the non-magical world about people with hearing was so advanced that lack of sight did not bother them. Could this Gryffindor have the same gift?

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Players have until November 10th, 23:59 PST to post and send in actions

Why couldn't duelling have commentators, like Quidditch did? It would have made it a whole lot easier to make sense of what was happening, since Liana couldn't see much of it. She could only wonder what the spectators were getting from all of this. Did her spell hit? Probably not, since she didn't hear any grunt of pain. She could vaguely see Della's shape removing the blindfold, twisting away from a charm, being staggered by another offense, and then finally being hit in full force by someone. Was that four attacks all directed at her? It seemed so, although it had all happened so fast and the visibility was so poor that she couldn't be sure. She did want to believe that all of the snakes had banded together to vanquish the lioness. That would be such a proud moment of Slytherin unity, if one could ignore the fact that two and a half of the four attacks missed a target that was supposed to be utterly deprived of vision and thus the ability to evade. This was the fault of that damn smoke. Favouritism had saved Della, letting her stay in the game for a little while longer.

Well, at least someone had managed to get back at her for all the dancing she had inflicted on others. Even with the fumes obstructing her view, Liana could see the Gryffindor girl's legs twitching wildly, and that warmed her heart. Yes, let her have a taste of her own medicine. Who had accomplished this feat? She tried to come to the answer logically. Matt had cast nothing but Knockback Jinxes from the start, and he probably hadn't altered his strategy now either. Avery tried the Dancing Feet spell last round, hadn't he? But Maggie had also cast it twice at different opponents. It had to be one of the two of them. She wondered which one.

She also wondered how long this blasted smoke would linger. It was clearly reducing her accuracy, making her miss a yet another potentially painful attack that might have actually rendered Della unconscious. The only solace was that now, instead of having finally escaped the onslaught of foes that pecked away at her endurance, she was suffering the same humiliation she had caused to Liana. Too bad her performance was partially hidden from spectators.

The frivolities would have to come to an end, though. This was Wargames, after all, not Dance-Off. The redhead raised her wand.

Action: As strategized.

@Liana Kerr | @Maggie Hawkins | @Avery Chen | @Matthew Grey

Action: as strategized.

mentioning: @Matthew Grey | @Avery Chen | @Liana Kerr | @Della Barfield

Unlike some of the attendees of the event, Maggie wasn't here for blood and guts and glory. She was here to support her friend and help to make his little event a reality, in essence. Of course, there was nothing at all wrong with being here to win, but that just wasn't Maggie. So the alliances, the grim reality of the fact that maybe some of these new friends she had were angry at her for perhaps betraying them in unspoken links, made no sense whatsoever.

Still, though, Maggie thought her obligation to Liana was quite great. Don't hit Liana. Not only was she sure to be a formidable enemy (and, if they both stayed in much longer, should their luck not run out), but they were friends. Maggie valued that more than any prize.

Who next, then? Who should Maggie choose to target? Who should she select to be the victim of her next big spell? Avery? No, surely not. Yes, he still hadn't been hit and it seemed almost unfair that someone like Avery Chen, a mystery when it came to spells and his formality, had not yet been targeted. Plus, Maggie assumed that Avery and Liana were allied up. Same for Matthew. Had they conferred prior to the event to form an alliance? If that was the case, Maggie wondered why she hadn't been asked to join them. She surely would've! A pang of upset shot through her chest at the concept, but quickly dissipated when she reminded herself that a little nerd's alliance didn't mean anything. They were still her friends anyhow.

So that left Miss Della Barfield. And, while Maggie hadn't been planning on ganging up on the only Gryffindor in their little competition, figured that it was better Della than anyone else.

Sorry, Della.

action: doing as strategized

Action: As strategized.