Halloween Shenanigans pv Liana Kerr and Aryaan Shamsi

Burn wounds caused a nasty pain, yes. However, strangely, her opponent's sudden expression of worry for her well-being hurt Liana even more. Did she really make an impression of being so fragile? Her image needed to be redeemed, immediately. The resolve to just take it easy and have some fun with spells she rarely ever used evaporated quickly, burned away by the flames of her pride. One wise Gryffindor fifth-year had told her that duellist tended to take themselves too seriously, and made fools of themselves that way. Apparently, in this scenario, it was not taking herself seriously that made her look like a fool. A weak fool that needed pity and protection.

The redhead felt anger rising inside her chest. She wasn't really angry at Aryaan, although she was about to take it out on him nonetheless. It wasn't his fault that she failed to cast an offensive spell from the get-go, instead going for silly bubbles that were supposed to hinder one's evasion attempts. It was all on her. She adjusted the grip on her wand, wishing he would lift his own back up, too.

''Yeah, I'm fine, you should worry about yourself,'' she shot back at the kid. By now she had even forgotten the pain in her shoulder and arm. And, from now on, she must learn to ignore any such unpleasant sensations; being pitied by a rival would not do. That was not the way she wished to win duels. Quickly, smoothly, she drew the checkmark with a hook at the end with her wand, incanting, ''Flipendo!'' The boy had predicted her attack and attempted moving out of the way. She had predicted he would dodge, and, luckily, foreseen the trajectory of his movement with enough precision to hit him anyway. Somehow, being infuriated helped her concentrate this time. ''Are you sure you want to do this?''

Action: As strategized.

It was an honor watching the two fight, well, duel, that was. He allowed them to cast their spells, if any, but Cody figured he should put a cap on the rounds, it wasn't an official duel after all.

"Alright you two, after this round, and the next, this duel is over. I don't want to take anyone down to the nurse, mainly because I don't- I mean, I can't lift anyone, not that I don't want to." He said, then went back into the shadows, just to watch the battle unfold.

Liana casted a rather immersing Knockback Jinx, or Flipendo, and it seemed to be nearly perfect. Was she really that good? That deceptive? Based on history, or the History of Hogwarts, Slytherin residents have been known for mischief and cunningness. Well, that had to be a lie, as Cody was mischevious in his own way, proud to represent Hufflepuff, even if it's all in the wrong ways.

"Good job Liana!"

But Aryaan didn't seem to move. What was wrong? He got hit by Flipendo, that's what's wrong.

Liana seemed to be casting Incendio towards Aryaan, perhaps as a form of revenge. Well, it'd make sense, wouldn't it? How he kept trying to light Liana on fire, like a candle? Or make her the brightest in the room like the sun?

It would be a complete possibility of Aryaan being ignited on fire if it were to hit. A few moments would pass, Cody watched the spellcasting carefully, knowing this was the LAST ROUND before he would interject and try to stop the duel.

"What the?!" Cody shouted out in utter awe, she absolutely nailed Aryaan, he was finally lit aflame, but you'd tell that it'd probably hurt more.

"Ok, good job Liana and Aryaan. I figure I should end it, before it gets too horrible and gruesome? Eh, thanks for joining me today Aryaan and Liana! And as for Aryaan, Extinguio!" Cody would state, his eyes a little overjoyed. If this was a TV show, Cody would've subscribed to the channel!

With that, Cody would take off. Whether Aryaan dodged Cody's attempt to prevent the flame from spreading, or not, he'd still leave knowing that he had something to sleep easy about overnight.

ROLLS

Reducio

Liana casting Incendio at Aryaan-
d20: 20+9 (acc)= 29 (Nat 20/Critical success)

Aryaan Evading Incendio
didn't know if you wanted to follow the dueling rules, so I rolled anyways
d10: 1 (failed roll)
d20:7+10=17


Cody Casting Extinguio on Aryaan to Prevent the Fire from harming him
d20:19+4(acc)=23
d20:7+4(wis)=11



Aryaan evading Extinguo from Cody
why do that? I'm saving your life
d10: 4 (failed)
d20: 11+10=21 (dodge if you want, its up to you)


Damage from Incendio: 50+(6x10)=50+60=110+50 (crit success)=170 hp lost

[Font="Lucida Bright"]Aryaan Shamsi[/Font]

Roleplaying as Aryaan Shamsi from Mahoutokoro

English | Japanese | Hindi | Cantonese

A lot of things happened rather quickly. One moment, he was attempting to talk @Liana Kerr out of this fight, and the next moment a barrage of spells came hurtling in his direction.
Shamsi knew he tended to get on people’s nerves sometimes, but what did he even- WAS HE ON FIRE?

No. No apparently Cody had put the fire out and….. left?

“Oh. Well, that’s anticlimactic.” The Indian boy said, disappointed. “Did he just run away? Does that mean you win…. Or?”

It would be fair to say that the boy was more than a little bit confused. Battered and bruised, yes. But nothing too bad. Yet. It took him several moments to recover from the rush of spells and actions – he was glad that the girl had not cast even more spells to overwhelm him then. But now that he had pulled himself together, he drew his wand back in front of him. After all, he couldn’t quite say that he lost to a girl now could he?

“Well come on, now.” He said slowly, his voice all bravado. “Let’s not stop now. The fun is only just getting started, isn’t it?”

And with those words, he launched into action.

Action: casting the Dancing Feet Spell

Her momentary flash of pride and anger inspired a spark of cruelty in Liana. Since the boy seemed to enjoy setting her aflame, she ought to pay him back in kind. Inflict the same pain he had inflicted on her, make him see that it wasn't all that easy to withstand the frightening and torturous effects of fire. And yet again, her spell managed to hit the boy, not only hurting him but actually setting him on fire, too. At least for a few glorious seconds, before the supposedly-neutral moderator of the duel stepped in to put out the flames. The girl stared in confusion, wondering whether that meant she had been deemed victorious. Why else would Cody come to Aryaan's aid? If the combat was to continue, that wasn't fair towards her at all.

And anyway, she didn't want to stop. This was going far too well, and felt like an actual duel rather than pure chaos like the Wargames, a group exercise like S.W.A.G.'s Dodge Spell, or an unfairly matched stand against a weaker team like Battle of Wits. For the first time she felt like she had an actual opponent who wasn't much worse or better than her. Luckily, the foreigner seemed to agree.

''Oh yeah, this was just a warm-up,'' she responded, not lowering her wand. Of course, with the Hufflepuff boy gone, if one of them was rendered unconscious, their fate would be unclear. Would Aryaan bring her to the hospital wing or just leave her to be consumed by flames? She'd better not get into a position where she could find that out.

Action: Casting Flipendo at Aryaan.

[Font="Lucida Bright"]Aryaan Shamsi[/Font]

Roleplaying as Aryaan Shamsi from Mahoutokoro

English | Japanese | Hindi | Cantonese

A 'warm up', @Liana Kerr had said after casting a fire. Was that meant to be a pun?

Shamsi has hardly a moment to spare, having to leap out of the way of her latest spell – it wouldn’t do to be hit now. It was all fun and games until some curse hit you somewhere soft and sensitive. Like the eyeballs.

“Ooooh, good one there! But it’s your turn to dance for me” he laughed, before sending his own spell hurtling at the girl. For all that she was a girl, she wasn’t half-bad at this sort of thing. Maybe signing up for this wasn’t such a bad idea after all…
His own spell was probably not as damaging as hers, but then he wasn’t much of a spellcaster, having focused more on sports and evasion. And so, if he wanted to win, he had to keep her off-balance.

He twisted his wand theatrically, getting ready to cast a second spell.

“Come on then,” He called out to her, half amused and half serious. “You manage to hit me once more time, and I’ll concede.”

He jumped from one foot to another – a motion more like a boxer than a duelist, but it would have to do. “But CAN you hit me?”

Action: Casting Curse of the Bogies
Aryaan's HP: 180/500
Effects on Aryaan's Stats: -2 ACC (Until end of Duel)

Her short streak of successes had to end, of course. It always did. She missed her opponent now - narrowly, true, but missed nonetheless, the blue Knockback Jinx beam disappearing down the field. Hopefully it wouldn't hit anyone or anything. How far could a spell fly before it lost velocity? She had no idea. And she had no time to try and calculate, since Shamsi managed to hit her yet again. This time it wasn't fire, however. Although Liana really thought she'd have preferred being scorched by flames. Her self-esteem had suffered so much already thanks to the Dancing Feet spell.

''I thought we came here to throw spells at each other, not words,'' she hissed, agitated by the discomfort in her feet and the embarrassment of knowing how ridiculous she must now look. A part of her observed that his spell was far less painful than the average Tarantallegra - and she was something of an expert in the field, having suffered half a dozen of those already. ''Two girls have hit me with this spell before and both times it hurt way more than this.'' Liana had no idea why she said that. It just seemed like a thing that might annoy him. Not that the potency of magic was gender-related. It very much wasn't.

Trying to ignore her restless legs and adjust her aim despite her body moving unpredictably, the girl prepared to cast her next spell.

Dice roll summary:

Reducio

Liana vs Aryaan

Reducio

Liana casts Flipendo at Aryaan
Wisdom DC: 9
Wisdom Check: [d20: 19] + 9 = 28 → Success
Autododge: [d10: 10] → Success
Outcome: The spell misses.

Aryaan vs Liana

Reducio

Aryaan casts Mucus ad Nauseam at Liana
Wisdom DC: 12
Wisdom Check: [d20: 7] + 10 = 17 → Success
Accuracy: [d20: 12] + 9 = 21
Evasion: [d20: 2] + 3 = 5 -2 Evasion due to being affected by Dancing Feet Spell
21 > 5 → Hit
Duration: [d12: 9] → 4 rounds
Outcome: Liana suffers and –1 Accuracy and –1 Arcane Power per round to stack up to –3, and gains one Phase-Out counter each round, each of which adds a 10% chance to phase out (i.e. skip the next round, but not fall unconscious).

Action: Casting Flipendo at Aryaan.

Health: 350/500 (70%),
Debuffs: -1 Arcane Power and -1 Accuracy for next round, 10% chance to phase out.

[Font="Lucida Bright"]Aryaan Shamsi[/Font]

Roleplaying as Aryaan Shamsi from Mahoutokoro

English | Japanese | Hindi | Cantonese

“Yeah, well…” the Indian boy stumbled, trying to find a suitable comeback and failing spectacularly. “You- you…”

A moment’s hesitation, and before the boy switched the fire-making spell for the dancing feet charm instead. It was a smooth wand motion, and hopefully, the girl did not realize that he changed his mind. It would not do for her to get on his case about that as well.

“Tarantallegra” the boy cast confidently, before saying the first thing that popped into his head.

“Well. YOU’RE the one who’s hellbent on seeing this through to the bitter end or whatever.” His retort was indignant, impatient. He was not in the wrong here! The nerve of this girl!

“And it’s not MY fault Cody doesn’t like you,” he raged on, not properly thinking through his words before he hurled them at his ginger foe. “Perhaps if YOU had spent some more time being nice to him and getting to know him, he wouldn’t side against you like this!”

The moment he had said the words he wanted to take them back. It was a horrible thing to say to someone, especially when he was only here as a visitor. But then the words were already said, and he would not see them unsaid.

@Liana Kerr
Action: Casting Dancing Feet
Aryaan's HP: 180/500 (36%)
Effects on Aryaan's Stats: -2 EVA (Until the end of Duel)

Letting herself get involved in a verbal battle along the magical one was a grave error. Not only did it hinder the girl's focus on her aim, but it also slowed down her reaction enough for the opponent to land a spell on her. Which turned out to be a curse. A nasty, nasty one. An immediate sense of a horrible head-cold overwhelmed her, and she could feel an irritating tickle inside her nose as thick, disgusting greenish stuff started evacuating from it, running down her face in a sticky, icky flood. So this boy was not only sadistic, but mean as well. Setting her on fire had not been enough. He had to humiliate her as well.

''At least I didn't get any help from the duel moderator,'' she tried to snap back, her speech sounding odd in her ears due to the leaking nose. ''Cody saved your arse, if not for him you'd still be on fire.'' And while he was distracted while trying to put the flames out, she could have hit him with another spell and end his misery. Instead, the silly Hufflepuff boy had to step in, and that was the reason she was losing now. Or at least it felt like she was losing, since she was hit by two horrible spells in a row. The redhead pressed the left sleeve of her robe to her nose, trying to wipe the repulsing slime away and to cover her face. She hoped she could still pronounce incantations clearly enough. Well, she would find out soon.

Action: Casting Flipendo at Aryaan.

Dice roll summary:

Reducio

Liana vs Aryaan

Reducio

Liana casts Flipendo at Aryaan
Wisdom DC: 9
Wisdom Check: [d20: 3] + 9 = 12 → Success
Autododge: [d10: 7] → No Autododge
Accuracy: [d20: 1] → Critical Miss, no other targets available
Outcome: The spell misses embarrasingly badly.

Aryaan vs Liana

Reducio

Aryaan casts Tarantallegra at Liana
Wisdom DC: 9
Wisdom Check: [d20: 14] + 10 = 24 → Success
Accuracy: [d20: 16] + 9 = 25
Evasion: [d20: 20] + 5 = 25
25 = 25 → Impaired Hit
Duration: [d3: 1] → 1 round
Outcome: Liana suffers 25 damage, –1 Accuracy and –1 Evasion for the next round.

Health: 325/500 (65%),
Debuffs: -1 Evasion, -2 Arcane Power and -3 Accuracy for next round, 20% chance to phase out.

[Font="Lucida Bright"]Aryaan Shamsi[/Font]

Roleplaying as Aryaan Shamsi from Mahoutokoro

English | Japanese | Hindi | Cantonese

“Yeah, well…” the Indian boy stumbled, trying to find a suitable comeback and failing spectacularly. “You- you…”

A moment’s hesitation, and before the boy switched the fire-making spell for the dancing feet charm instead. It was a smooth wand motion, and hopefully, the girl did not realize that he changed his mind. It would not do for her to get on his case about that as well.

“Tarantallegra” the boy cast confidently, before saying the first thing that popped into his head.

“Well. YOU’RE the one who’s hellbent on seeing this through to the bitter end or whatever.” His retort was indignant, impatient. He was not in the wrong here! The nerve of this girl!

“And it’s not MY fault Cody doesn’t like you,” he raged on, not properly thinking through his words before he hurled them at his ginger foe. “Perhaps if YOU had spent some more time being nice to him and getting to know him, he wouldn’t side against you like this!”

The moment he had said the words he wanted to take them back. It was a horrible thing to say to someone, especially when he was only here as a visitor. But then the words were already said, and he would not see them unsaid.

@Liana Kerr
OC Note: I accidentally edited the last post instead of posting, and IDK how to undo this. Whoever is moderating this thread, please help
Action: Casting Dancing Feet
Aryaan's HP: 180/500 (36%)
Effects on Aryaan's Stats: -2 EVA (Until the end of Duel)

''Of course I want to see it through, you don't just back out of a duel because things don't go your way, that's weak and cowardly,'' she retorted, half-wishing she wasn't so proud. Calling for an end to this clash was starting to look like an extremely attractive idea right about now, with unspeakable goo running out of her nose and her legs twitching uncontrollably. But she just couldn't forfeit. ''I don't even- Cody didn't side against me, he just helped you because he thought the duel was over!'' Or so she thought. After all, she hadn't even interacted with the Hufflepuff boy, only seeing him in some of the classes. He couldn't dislike her for that. ''Enough talking. Flipendo!'' Of course, she didn't cast it with enough focus. Didn't move her wind precisely enough. Didn't have the right intent. She didn't enunciate clearly enough with her left arm covering the lower portion of her face, to try and block the nasty flood. A myriad of reasons converged into one big failure, causing the cherry wand to eject the Knockback Jinx out of the wrong end, hitting Liana in the neck and chest. She struggled to draw a breath in for a second or two, before forcing herself to cast yet again. ''Flipendo!'' This time, the spell didn't backfire. This time, it only flew wide.

“Well, the duel COULD be ov- whoa” his question was answered in rather spectacular fashion by another Knockback Jinx, which he sidestepped with a flamboyant flourish. After dodgeball, after Quidditch where bludgers could come at any time and from any direction; having just one person targeting him from a largely stationary point seemed very much like a bad joke.

“Whoops, haha you’ve got to try harder than that if you want to hit me,” he called out in a faux-cheerful voice. The girl had tenacity, and a sharp tongue. In many ways, she reminded him of Shimizu-kun. But unlike him, she was not better than Aryaan.

“Well, what good are strong spells if they never hit? Hmmm?” His voice was light, but there was just a smidgen of something darker there. Just to prove his point, the Indian boy cast again. And he chose specifically the weak spell she had mocked before. “Tarantallegra!”

The boy's attack hit her yet again, and, despite it being far weaker than some other spells she'd suffered, the damage tended to add up. Her legs were now cramping rather badly, her sleeve was drenched with semi-transparent yellow-greenish mess, and her head was spinning, as if she got out of bed while running a high fever. She felt dizzy and was suddenly gripped by a desire to lie down for a moment. It was yet another Dancing Feet spell connecting with her lower body that made the redhead find her way out of the brain fog that had descended on her.

The redhead seemed to be struggling against his onslaught. Or maybe she was waiting for just the correct moment to spring a trap when his guard was down. Unfortunately for her, his guard would not be down. Not this easily.

“Now, what were you saying about my spells,” the boy lightly as he sent another dancing feet spell her way. It was almost laughable how one-sided this was. And if he had to suppress the sick feeling at the pit of his gut as he continued on this one-sided affair…well.

He had told her he’d make her dance. “Something about it being nowhere near as good as some girls’ hmmm?”

''Expelliarmus!'' she incanted, hoping that switching spells would bring her luck back. Alas, it didn't work. The boy evaded it effortlessly. This was no good, holding a hand to her face impaired her vision and balance too much. She quickly wiped her nose one last time with a remaining clean corner of her sleeve and lowered her arm. Strangely, it didn't seem like anything else was coming out of her nostrils, and the itching had ceased. Perhaps she could still turn this duel around.

Aryaan danced out of the way of the spell, giving the girl an exaggerated bow.He even stowed his wand then, looking at the girl with an unspoken challenge.

He did not feel bad about hurting this horrible, thick headed girl who would only just mock him, and didn’t know when to give up. He did not. No, this was just him giving the girl a chance. To try and let her show off. To push her buttons to see if a product of Hogwarts was really worth all the hype that they’d come here for.

And he was not disappointed. Coming at him was a spell he had never heard of before. A new incantation, an unfamiliar wand motion. Best not get hit by the spell.

”Oooooh, that’s new.” He cooed, equal parts excitement, mockery and adrenaline. His muscles tensed as he prepared to jump out of the way of whatever other surprises the ginger had in store for him. ”Or maybe not. Spells are useless in the end if they don't hit their mark.”

''Flipendo!'' If the zero damage attack didn't work, she should probably come back to actively attempting to knock her enemy out, right? If only she could hit him. If only he stopped moving around and stood in one place. If only she didn't feel like she was about to collapse. Much like she felt in Wargames, right before her second spell in a row backfired.

Another Knockback Jinx. It was perhaps her signature spell, and the one she took the most pride in. Or at least the one she had the most faith in, if she kept coming back to it over and over again. Despite its straight trajectory. This time the spell was better aimed, but it was still targeted where he was right now, and not where he would be.

He waited until the last possible moment before executing an ostentatious backflip. It was borderline insubordinate, moving like that in a formal duel. But this was no longer a proper duel, was it? With the judge gone and one of the contestants barely standing straight due to magical exhaustion.

''Stop dodging and start attacking!'' she called, frustrated. Was this foreigner not casting at her because he was pitying her? If anything, that only made her feel worse.

“What’s the matter? Out of tricksy little spells already?” The Indian boy burst into motion, moving a little to the left and then the right; never quite closing the gap but never increasing it either. For all that this girl was a pain, she was still a girl and he’d get into trouble before he actually knocked her out. That would be unmanly, and so uncool. Maybe he should wait for her exhaustion to kick in instead?

''Flipendo!'' Yet again he moved out of the way, easily predicting the trajectory of her spell. Her aim was so horribly off today.

Okay fun and games were all well and good, but the girl seemed to keep going, casting recklessly at him even as she struggled to keep herself upright. It was a sad, pitiful sight. But at the same time, it was damn near impressive. Well, then perhaps the best thing to do would be to put an end to this circus, but how to do it?

Aryaan stopped dead mid-step in his evasive maneuvers.

Of course

He didn’t need to take the girl down, he just needed to disable her long enough to be able to get away safely. And hopefully the girl didn’t come after him later.

“Verdillious.”

Somehow she managed to move sideways, away from the shower of emerald sparks sent her way. It triggered a memory from three weeks ago, when she was participating in a friendly game of Dodge Spell. She had managed to hit Delilah Stewart then, a fifth-year duellist. And this boy was only a peer. Perhaps a more practiced duellist than her, but then again, Mahoutokoro housed a lot of 'overachievers', as the underachievers would call them. Liana paused enough to take a deep breath and steady her wand-hand, which was trembling slightly from the exertion.

''Expelliarmus!''

It was almost like Quidditch practice - you needed to pass the Quaffle at exactly the right moment to make it count. And for the longest time in this duel, Aryaan had been landing his timing well enough. Not this time though. Perhaps it was his own tiredness. Perhaps he had actually overestimated how tired his opponent was. Perhaps his own casting was unacceptably slow. Whatever the reason, one moment, the boy was attempting to cast at the girl opposing him, and the next moment his was was spinning out of his hand and towards his opponent.
There was a moment of stunned silence. Aryaan had not been expecting that. At all.

Like… at all.

And he did not get a moment to process it either. Before the reality of the situation could truly sink in, a great mirth overwhelmed him, and he found himself bawling with laughter.

So, she had done it after all, huh. She had managed to hit him, and with a weird spell that took his wand from him too. Oh, that was just too ironic! He had just been thinking how bad her aim was and how he should end this before he hurt her too badly, and she had put an end to any chance he had had to fight back, all in one fell swoop.

“Oh, well done. Very well done,” he’d call out after he’d managed to get his laughter under control. “You’ve managed to hit me in the most amazing way. And it seems I have no choice but to concede”

Feeling immensely relieved, Liana snatched the boy’s wand from the air, lowered her own wand, and did her best to act amicable. Even though all she wanted to do now was to run and hide in the darkness of her dormitory for a week or so.

''That was an impressive performance. How long have you been practicing duelling?'' Perhaps he had been trained rigorously at Mahoutokoro. She could accept having struggled so much against someone who had more practice than her.

”Uhm, not very long to be honest. I;m not much for flashy spells and big bangs. But then, dueling is a lot like tag: if they can’t tag you, you’re not ‘it’.” He laughed it off, even as guilt and anger battled to rage at this girl. She was tenacious and vitriolic, but she was also just a girl. ”I don’t think I remember a time when I wasn’t good at playing dodgeball or kabaddi*, so I’m quite good at not being hit. ‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’, and all that, y’know?.”

The boy wasn't a duellist. Liana could feel the tendrils of shame starting to crawl in her chest, much like they had after Wargames. At least back then she was facing multiple opponents - not that it mattered since she had been her worst enemy at the end. But here, fighting a single person with little to no duelling experience and still failing so badly...

“You’re not bad with your spellcasting, though.” He tried to backtrack, having realized his words were not being taken quite how he meant them. “Those were some pretty hard hitting spells, and that last one? Whooo”

So what if he didn’t mention the bit about being used to harder hits from a bludger? It’s not like he’d lied to her in any way.

“Uhm. Well, well fought and all of that. It was really cool getting to see Hogwarts students in action. But. Uhhh” he looked just a tiny bit sheepish as he continued. “I’d really like my wand back now, please.”

She swallowed a lump that was starting to swell in her throat, the compliments uttered by the boy remaining unheard due to the noise her self-doubt was making in her brain. Liana barely even registered Aryaan's request to get his wand back.

''Sure, here,'' she mumbled, approaching the boy and handing him the arcane weapon. ''I have to go now, it was nice meeting you,'' the girl added, more out of courtesy than because it was true. She could have done without encountering him. Perhaps her pride would still be alive then.

*Indian variation on tag.