Love at First Slug PV Group closed

Never one to be dejected by a lack of romantic development - maybe because Galton hadn’t known that’s why one would attend such a tea party - Galton Lansdale exited full of stomach and a smile on his face. Along with the feast of treats and finger foods they’d served, his belly hosted a formidable amount of candy on account of the large amount he’d been given as a gift. A truly wonderful day, the teen made his way from the hall.

And was it not for a curious commotion, and an iconic spell shout out, the teen would have most likely continued on towards whatever activities (or food) the rest of his day contained. But ever since the fall, a hero could not ignore a casual casting of one particular slug producing spell. And, once he had focused on the source of the spell, one could certainly not ignore the mention of a Hag slug. Those vile, slimy, slippery villains that had almost done Erin in.

There could be no ignoring such an event. Much like at the fall ball, this creature would have to be dealt with. And who ever better to help out than Galton the Glorious: seasoned slug hunter!

He made for his wand. The usual fumbling and fishing that was required to fetch it from where it hung around his neck below his robe enfolded until the lengthy piece of wood was brandished just as he neared in on the group. It was quite the collection of folks, and it seemed that Willow, his favorite duelist moderator, was in the most danger. “Ah- anyone have any slug repellent? All I have is this!” He shouted the question to the others as he began his wrist movement.

“Ventus!” The incantation followed the movement. Hopefully some wind would be enough to put a damper on the slug.

Action: Casting Ventus at the hag slug

Spectacular Banner by Leonard Oaksworth

Interactions: @Evelynn Decipio @Flash Holmwood @Percival Gray @Willow Anderson @Jack Burnett @Galton Lansdale

Mentions: ============= ============= ============= ============= ============= =============

As per the time-worn saying, abused by enlightened tongues and recast in naive minds, ignorance was bliss. An excuse for the latter, a form of justification for the explicit avoidance of information that might shatter their glass shields of innocence. A warning from the former, to cover their footsteps of mental acquisition, and to protect the innocuous from the wraiths buried in knowledge.
Wisdom. A haunting asset. A necessary burden. The vice that ever tightened about a growing mind in an unavoidable consequence of age, shaping the wise and cropping the youthful.

As one bearing the essence of uninformed youth, Marshal would yet be convicted of that reality, and tonight would play a vital role in his cerebral advancement.
For all the facets lending to his distraction, the boy possessed an uncanny sense for the position of Evelynn’s fiery hair. Like a flame beckoning at the fringe of his vision, it had drawn his eye, pioneering the revelation that its owner was striding to exit the tea party.
That fact on its own would have been sufficient to foster his interest; but what ultimately impelled his feet to mirror her path had been the determined set of her jaw. Ignorant though he was in many ways, he was gaining an increased understanding in the subject of this girl through the study of time spent with her. Tone inflections were logged in relation to specific emotions, body language was recorded alongside parallel moods, and expressions served as reference points for varied intent. And if her current expression aligned with previous record, then there was clearly something amiss.

Unaware - even ignorant, one might say - of the result his actions would induce, he had bade farewell to those at his table before hurrying to make up lost ground. Though the foundation of Evelynn’s concern escaped him, it was there for one reason or another, and she rarely entertained baseless notions. The very idea viciously contradicted her even approach to life, in fact. And thus, a resolution to assist in any way he could trumped uncertainty.

Guided by a glimpse of ginger hair through a crowd of peers, or the swish of her dress disappearing around a corner, he fought the tide in an effort to close the distance between them. Ultimately, however, the girl’s head start and several unfortunate formations of pressing bodies proved too much.
Reaching a divergence of halls, he came to a halt, breathing slightly exacerbated as glances were cast in vain down one path, then the next. Nowhere to be seen was the telltale flash of red, leaving him as a ship on the midnight sea, without a lighthouse to coax his aim.
Options were weighed via the tried and true means of eeny, meeny, miny and moe, wherein miny caught its tiger by the toe, revealing the direction he should go. But even as past miny’s walls he began to flow, a familiar call sounded from the depths of moe. (Apologies. From here on, the rhyming I’ll forego. You have to admit it was fun, though…)

Renewed vigor lengthened his strides, enhancing his pace as the urgency of Evelynn’s voice pulsed through his veins. The surname she’d intoned bypassed his recollection, though its inflection suggested that he pursued not one individual, but two - at the very least.
Continued exclamations drifted to his ears, leading him around a final bend, where the unsettling clues of a baffling scene began to piece unevenly together before him.
There was Evelynn, wand pointed in the wake of a recent spell - or perhaps in preparation for another. But the number of people gathered around her was entirely unexpected. And with that realization came another, in that he did not recognize any of those faces beyond passing acknowledgment in the past. That said, all of them appeared to hold the elevated status of tenured students.

The final puzzle piece to clamp jaggedly in place was the image of an enormous slug, undulating viscously on the ground beside a rather pale boy.
Frankly, though the pieces were all there, the image still seemed vague and out of focus, leaving Marshal more baffled than before.
That confusion echoed in his voice as he drew alongside Eve, his own wand pulled from one sleeve to mimic those around him. ”What’s going on here? What’s a hag slug?” The questions were not directed at anyone in particular, though Evelynn was the intended recipient.
The subsequent incantation of a spell from her lips jolted him into action. He was entirely uncertain as to what was happening, but felt confident that Eve taking the offensive against the creature meant he should do the same.
The first spell to emerge from the depths of his mind immediately leaped from his tongue. ”Flipendo!”

Action: Casting Flipendo at the hag slug.
~
Stats: Stamina 6 | Evasion 5 | Strength 9 | Wisdom 7 | Arcane Power 6 | Accuracy 8

Hag Slug
Y??, Slug
100% HP[/b] (1500/1500)
STA: 15 | EVA: 15 | STR: 15
WIS: 15 | ARC: 15 | ACC: 15
──
Hag Slug is going to Grapple Willow

Reducio

Accuracy: [d20: 17] + 15 - 1 Charmer = 31
Evasion: [d20: 13] + 8 = 21
Effects:
- Willow is bound and cannot attack.

It seemed like chaos erupted from everywhere as Willow called for help. Evelynn was first to show up and make Percival vomit up a slug. Willow couldn't help but feel a little sick as she watched it emerge, quickly moving to heed Evelynn's warning and get both her and Percival away from the large, red, disgusting, awful thing. Both her and Flash, who had now followed suit, attacked once more. Evelynn going for a slowing charm to stop any movement, and Flash going for the severing charm to cause it some damage. However, for a slug it was quite elusive. Dodging both spells as it squirmed it's way to its next victim.

Willow was surprised to see a few others show up. Burnett being one of them, but if Flash was there it kind of made sense. He also went with a spell that seemed suitable, the fire-making spell. But he only left char on the floor where the slug had been. A ferocious duellists Galton joined too. Casting once again, one of the most beautiful wind jinx's she had ever seen. She really had to get some tips, even though it was quite beautiful it was style over substance as it missed entirely. Then someone she didn't really know, and who apparently didn't know what a hag slug was, joined the action. Leaping straight into battle without a second thought. Perhaps it was his newness to the situation but... that didn't go that well either.

Willow was left with a slobbery Percival, trying to understand the situation and calculate what was going on. But it seemed like just as her hand started to point her wand at the slug, she was knocked down. The large slug seeming to have her under it's grasp as she seemed unable to move or attack. Her eyes went wide in horror at the realization, she could not turn into a hag. No way no how. She was WAY too cute for that. "No, no no! Please no. I can't become- Please don't let it get me!" Her friends, and strangers, and acquaintances were going to do her best. She knew that, none of them wanted another hag wandering the halls. But the idea of becoming one made her scream in fear, shrill teenage voice ringing outside of the Valentine's Day Event.

☁ Outfit Reference ☁

Reducio

@Willow Anderson, @Evelynn Decipio & @Galton Lansdale

House Colours: Slytherin

In the midst of the chaos, a Bengal with green eyes would be glimpsed as it ran back the way it had come 's Grace d4(4): 3, Failure, through the doors of the small hall and up to a boy in black suspenders, an emerald green long sleeved shirt, and a green and silver scarf thrown over both shoulders who had been waiting in the main entrance. The boy smiled as he held out a hand to his feline, and Figaro rubbed his hand fondly with a loud, rumbling purr.

Piérre had heard the small grouping leave the Valentine festivities, and he himself has not been interested in the proceedings of the festival up to that point, more content to explore the corridors and experiment with the staircases before gradually rounding back to this spot where he could watch couples leave together (or isolated if a falling out had occurred). Piérre watched after them with a mixture of both curiosity and envy. True, he had never really found himself in a deep "romantic" connection with anyone. Indeed, he found that when put into a mushy situation anywhere near that, he became more antsy and nervous, eager to deflect attention or otherwise focus it somewhere else. But... That didn't mean that he didn't desire after a functioning, affectionate relationship where he felt safe enough to take a breath and be himself when he wanted to be. So many masks, and not one of them able to be worn as genuinely as a real face.

Figaro pulled away from the boy as the noises in the smaller hall heightened a bit more, and emerald eyes followed with intrigue. Was someone... Throwing up?

There were lots of spells being cast... Too many for Piérre's comfort.

Who was fighting who? What lover's quarrel had been so severe that it had come to blows in order for there to be peace?

Almost greedily, the boy finally put his ear up to the door, listening quietly for any other clues he could pick up about the fighting within. Mm, yes, the vomiting... The casting of several dueling spells, a severing curse (not Sectumsempra, thankfully)...

Piérre pulled back with distaste. That didn't sound like an ordinary lover's quarrel. At his feet, Figaro pawed the door, looking up at Piérre with wide green eyes. "Me-e-e-owah!" It complained, scratching the doorframe again..

“I know. But, like, we don't want to get hexed in the face, right Figaro?” Piérre crossed his arms at the cat. “For all we know, Bridezilla is in there and we would get utterly destroyed by her.”

Another casting of a spell. Was that a more frantic pace? More than one person in the fight.

What kind of Holy love war was this?

There was a lot of shouting about a slug. Yeah, well, that's what you got when you cast a slug-vomiting curse on someone. A lot of slugs! “Oh for the love of...” Pierre sighed at last, pinching the bridge of his nose and peeking in quietly. “What's going on in there...?”

A girl fighting a black blob that had latched itself onto her, and six other people who were rapid fire casting at the thing that was the dark black blob.

Figaro growled a bit, and Piérre glared at him, startled. “Wh- Figgy! No growling! You're not supposed to growl at people!”

Unless.

“The blobby thingy? Is that what you're mad at?” He asked his Bengal. Figaro only quietly purr-growled again, stretching with a yawn. Piérre shrugged. “Well... It doesn't look natural, I guess...”

Red hair, a Gryffindor girl. Evelynn? Another boy with a familiar face. Candy King?

Things just kept getting better and better. Red hair boy? Burnett, was it? (Pierre still didn't know if the kid was related to comedian Carol Burnett... Hmmm...)

Obviously there was something wrong, something that was not being handled easily. Piérre wanted to jump in and help, but...

Did he want to go out there? Would he really end up helping out or would he just cause more issues if he tried? That was a common occurrence for him, unfortunately. The whole... "The second I show up, things go wrong."

Marion... Victor... Vladimir... Lestrange... and a bunch of other names and faces now forgotten or else unable to be contacted. Piérre had not seen hide nor hair of Rafael around the school yet either (outside of a Quidditch game). All of these vanished after speaking and interfacing with the boy.

Who was to say that if he stepped out now that these too would not vanish?

So why had he opened the door and crept across the dead space with heart echoing in his ears, a pale yew and snallygaster heartstring wand fluttering in his left hand's fingers from its former spot at a sheathe strapped to his left thigh. He was gaining his footing, turning, angling his wand at the unnatural blob. Piérre commanded his silver leopard with a single word command in native motherland tongue; “Colpire; entit. Strike/Attack entity.” A point with the tip of the wand towards the black shadowy thing.

Figaro would leap into the fray, claws unsheathed and teeth bared, his fur bristled and sticking up, making him appear far larger than his usually relaxed, soft and lean form usually was.

The yew wand in the boy's hand made a sharp slash, downward, then another angled upwards. "A checkmark on its side" Piérre remembered his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher saying.

“Verdimillious.” He breathed, remembering an oldie... But a goodie.

A colorful green sparks charm.

Allies: All except Hag Slug

Action: Cast the Green Sparks Charm at the Hag Slug
Beast Master (Figaro [Cat]): Bite & Scratch Hag Slug (2 attacks at 10 Acc, each dealing 25 damage on a hit)

───Interactions─── Reducio @Willow Anderson @Percival Gray @Flash Holmwood @Jack Burnett @Galton Lansdale @Marshal Mozor @Piérre Marchonné

OUTFIT Reducio Chanel Spring 2022 Collection

────Mentions──── Reducio n/a

It wouldn't take long at all for the commotion to draw the eyes of others. Flash had already caught up to her, following her cue to attack the creature. Burnett had likewise turned up out of the woodworks, throwing his wand arm into the mix as well. But they weren't the only ones. Several other voices would pipe up, most belonging to the fabled House of Godric. Leave it to the lions to put their bravery recklessness on display and descend upon the prey like a pride on the hunt.

A shake of the head would be afforded to Lansdale when he inquired about slug repellent. "We will have to rely on spellwork!" she shouted back. Although, that would plant a seed that a healthy stock of slug repellent on hand would not be a bad idea at all.

"Tch.." A hiss of clipped air quietly expressed her irritation. Her spell had been successful, light trailing out from its tip in a clean trajectory towards the bulbous monstrosity. Somehow, however, it seemed to defy all sense in its dexterity, undulating in a way to withdraw itself from the immediate line of fire. Her missed projectile would go wasted, colliding against little more than stone.

Her momentary annoyance would find itself curbed with the arrival of the next. She had felt his presence before she had heard him, his form entering into her wide personal space to draw alongside her. Eyes had snapped in his direction only long enough to confirm an identity before darting back to the fore. "Never mind that now," she dismissed.

This was no time for questions. And even if it was, she wasn't certain she would entertain the notion of answering him more than she had to. A great deal of effort had been made to keep him sheltered from all of this. She wasn't about to break that mind-set now. As she saw it, Marshal was one who would not necessarily have the sense to hold back when need be. In her mind, he would invariably charge forward with every good intention, bleeding in earnest effort. Only to find himself then exsanguinated when the situations proved too advanced for his developing skills to manage.

Even now, she felt a distinct up-tick in the rhythm of the blood pounding in her ears. It was only a slug. It shouldn't prove to be a challenge. But this encounter left him brushing uncomfortably close with the world she tried in vain to keep barred. If he were to be injured here... No. She wouldn't allow herself to think on it. He was here now, and she knew already it would be futile to try to make him leave. Their best approach, then, would simply be to deal with the hazard swiftly. "Just destroy it," came her ultimate command to Marshal, one that he had already taken to heart without prompting. "Stay as far from it as you are able, but do what you can to help us kill it."

Try as they might, though, none of them seemed to be able to land a blow on the slug. How was it so slippery. Possessing an uncanny ability to evade their attacks, it also proved to be deadly swift. Evelynn had thought they would have a bit more time before it became a real threat. How very wrong she was. But she wouldn't know that quite yet. Rather than dismay, her expression would distort with disgust as the slug launched itself at Anderson and adhered itself to her leg.

Evelynn hadn't stuck around at the ball long enough to know what happened after that. Her attention had been on the hag and the hell-bent chase that had taken her through the twisting bows of the Forbidden Forest and the shadowed spiders that had lurked there. She wouldn't know just how much danger Anderson was in. That said, neither would Evelynn underestimate the potential. Enough knowledge had been passed to her through the various classes to know that the secretions from the mucoid membranes could contain any number of substances with properties ranging from caustic to numbing to neuropathic to a number of others. And all of them were bad.

"Get it off of her!" And raising her own wand anew, she would chant, "Ventus!"

Of course, she could not have expected the direction some might take to carry out that mission. A blur would enter into her peripheries, eyes drawn to the movement in time to see Flash darting in to the immediate action. "Flash, no!" Earnest dismay slashed across her expression, and for a split second, she was gripped by the very real reaction to try to catch him by the collar and pull him back. A step was taken subconsciously to that effect. But he was too far ahead. She wouldn't catch him. "Don't touch it!" Propriety be damned, the alarm of the situation would drive her to use a contraction. "Get Gray out of there!"

ACTION: Casting Wind Jinx @ Hag Slug

──────────────────────────────

──────────────────────────────

Shortly after Jack arrived, others were drawn to the commotion; three male lions. Jack had crossed paths with Piérre once or twice in the past since they were in the same year and Galton was known to Jack mostly by reputation. Marshal was someone Jack had seen around the school before but had never really talked to, so he wasn't much familiar with him. He seemed to be pretty familiar with Evelynn, though, which made sense given they were in the same house.

Galton seemed to jump in the fray knowing exactly what was going on and the Slytherin recalled that he had been present when Jack had at the Samhain Festival with Erin. Marshal and Piérre understandably had more questions to ask about the situation, but readily lent their assistance nonetheless. Though no one seemed to have the patience or time to explain what was going on, it was pretty evident that the unnatural, giant red slug in their midst needed to be exterminated and as soon as possible.

But despite the number of people and thus the number of attacks against the slug that there were, despite the variation of the attacks and the skills of the casters, somehow, none of them were hitting it. Perhaps it was just too small and none of them wanted to get closer to it for a better target, but it was also alarmingly fast, especially for a slug. It latched onto Willow which caused her to scream.

Suddenly, Flash put away his wand and darted to Willow's rescue. Jack hesitated, not wanting to accidentally hit his dormmate, but other spells had already started to fly. He jerked his head at the sound of Evelynn's voice crying out what he himself wanted to, calling Flash back, but then she barked out a different command: get Gray out of there.

With Flash going to Willow's aid and Willow too panicked to move a dazed Percival Gray any more out of the way, Jack cursed under his breath and pocketed his own wand. He ran over to where Percival was slumped and slung the taller teen's arm over his own shoulders, attempting to assist him in moving out of the range of the slug and the magical attacks. If they were going to bring down the slug, they first needed to make sure it wasn't able to get to anyone before then.

Action: Attempting to move Percival Gray away from the slug
Interacting with: @Flash Holmwood, @Percival Gray, @Willow Anderson, @Evelynn Decipio, @Galton Lansdale, @Marshal Mozor, & @Piérre Marchonné
Stats: | Sta 6 | Eva 7 | Str 3 | Wis 15 | Arc P 7 | Acc 7 |
Abilities: Prodigal Charms Learner, Binding Mark, & Perfectionist

Ever a duelist, and ever a prideful young teen, Galton would frown as his ventus went awry. It was certainly not the entrance that Galton the Glorious was hoping to make. If it wasn’t for his aim he would have had it all. It was a beautiful cast, perfect some may say (Galton would definitely be one of them). But alas, Galton is not truly perfect, no matter how much he wished so.

Never mind his own ego, there were much greater issues at hand. Maybe not by much, but Willow having a slug latch on was going to go south rather quick. It was a true shame that no one had brought slug repellent to a tea party. The thought may have crossed Galton’s mind if it had taken place outdoors. But it hadn’t, so he hadn’t been so smart. He would let a audible “Merlin guide us!” Slip out as he thought of his next move.

Surrounded by a good crowd of casters, some he knew through interactions, and some, through the grapevine (and class), he wasn’t too worried about damage being done. Now it was about getting Willow free.
And he could think of one spell that would perfectly fit the bill. “Relashio!”

Action: Casting Relashio at the hag slug

Interacting with everyone

Percival fell to one knee as many more began to pile into the hall, many of which he could see properly. His vision was blurred as he let out another strained cough, the slug in his throat increasingly getting to the top of his throat. Opening his mouth wide, the red creature found its way to his mouth before he managed to vomit it out onto the floor with a pained choke.

Gray fell to his back and looked up to the roof in exhaustion, body, and soul from the trauma he went through. Weakly, he pushed his arms under himself and push his upper body up from the floor to glare at the scene in front of him. All hell seemed to be breaking loose only a few steps away, something which was too close for comfort. As he began to slowly crawl away, Jack came from behind and hooked both of his arms to try and drag him away "Fucking hell Jack, I've never been so happy to see you..." he said with a sore voice, an indication that the old Gray they all knew was starting to come through once more.

"J-just put me against that wall and go help them!" he grunted in clear discomfort as he pulled out his wand and extended it. His hand was shaking quite noticeably, and it wasn't because of the state he was in from the bug..."

"Flipendo!"

Action: Gets dragged away by Jack and casts flipendo at the slug

Initative: Slug (40), Pierre & Figaro (67), Percival Gray (87), Galton (84), Evelynn (77)
[Order: Slug, P & F, Evelynn, Galton, then Gray]

Willow is grappled by slug and automatically takes 500 damage from Crush

Slug attacks Willow with Bite, Flash uses Body Block
Calming Presence: [d10:4] (no effect)
Flash accuracy: [d20:13] + 10 = 23
Slug accuracy: [d20:2] +15 = 17
-> Flash takes 200 damage and has -1 on all stats

Piérre casts Green Sparks at Slug [WDC 6]
Wisdom check: [d20: 16] +10 =26 (success)
Calming Presence: [d10:6] (no effect)
Accuracy: [d20:3] + 10 = 13
Evasion: [d20:2] + 15 = 17
-> miss

Figaro uses Bite and Sratch at Slug
Bite CP: [d10:9] (no effect)
Bite accuracy: [d20:9] + 10 = 19
Evasion: [d20:7] + 15 = 22
-> miss
Scratch CP: [d10:2] (no effect)
Scratch accuracy: [d20:12] + 10 = 22
Evasion: [d20:19] + 15 = 34
-> miss

Evelynn casts Wind Jinx at Slug [WDC 11]
Wisdom: [d20:17] + 15 = 32 (success)
Calming Presence: [d10:2] (no effect)
Accuracy: [d20:3] + 10 = 13
Evasion: [d20:7] + 15 = 22
-> miss

Galton casts Relashio at Slug [WDC 13]
Wisdom: [d20:2] + 11 = 13
Calming Presence: [d10:6] (no effect)
Accuracy: [d20:10] + 11 = 21
Evasion: [d20:13] + 15 = 38
-> miss

Gray casts Flipendo at Slug [WDC 9]
Wisdom: [d20:1] + 7 (critical failure)
Damage: 50 * 7 = 350

Health:
Willow: 700/1200
Flash: 600/800
Percival: 350/700