Lock-in Hufflepuff Gryffindor Event Closed

Alright, Rosie. You need to think. You are smart. You're smart as any of your other friends. You can figure this out, can't you? Right?

Think.. Think... Think- Where was Eris going.

In the time Rosie was spaced out trying to think of a solution. A lot had happened. She glanced up to see a.. A snake. Rosie's eyes widened and she clasped a hand over her mouth, trying not to scream. Her ears twitched and her tail wagged out of fear. That was an entire snake. She took a few deep breaths and turned her attention to Eris, lowering her hand. She had seemingly just... dodged some stone that had fell. "Be careful, Eris!" She yelled, as the girl came back over. And Rosie's worst fear came true.

Eris was leaving.

She started talking about how she couldn't help Rosie. No. No don't leave. That she was sorry. I'm scared. Eris please. You don't need to help but don't- She felt Eris hug her lightly. She was right. There was a prize. There were people more important than her. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she watched Eris walk away with her wand. And she was alone.

You are alone. You need to do something. Anything. You're smart. You can do it. Find something. Find anything.

But could Rosie? She wasn't a Ravenclaw. She wasn't an O average student. Nobody expected her to be able to find out some riddle involving her turning into a half cat. She squeezed her eyes shut. Every other noise started to fade out.

There's a chain. There's a lock. You don't know the unlocking spell yet, so that won't work. Eris said to follow the chain. You still have your hands as well, and a wand. You can use that. Maybe if you find something hard you can break it. After you get up, go follow the voice you heard. But don't anger the snake. Do NOT anger the snake.

Rosie's eyes fluttered open and she shakily stood up, turning towards her chain. She held it up slowly and took her wand out. "Lumos." Rosie whispered, and started following her chain to the door. While walking, she looked at the chain around her neck. What was holding her in place?

And how in the bloody hell was she gonna get out of it in time for the end of the Lock In?

Aurelia crawled, it was hard for her to be slithering on her stomach with a heavy torch in her hand. The girl though it was best if she switched form the army crawl to the inch work, though it wasn't very pleasant for a girl to do such, it was dark and no one might be able to see. She continued making her way to the mounds, there was something there.

Her core ached as she crawled further, it proved to be an effective workout to possibly get the abs she wanted. But as a few minutes passed, she felt and unbearable pain shooting through the left side of her back. Fire. It wasn't possible that the torched had burned her, it was a spell. The INCENDIO. She was being attacked. However, instead of getting up, she continued moving on her stick. She was going to get to the mounds and it was less likely of her to be attacked again if she was on the ground. The area where the spell had hit was screaming with pain for her to stop. She would, once she had gotten to the mounds. However, was she even going anywhere? The last time she ran, she barely even moved an inch.

Then her right hand felt something cold and solid it. It began to shake and rise up. It was a box... No a coffin! It should be one of Lear'spranks but she was having none of it. Aurelia had just been attacked with the spell that had caused a dozen of burned Hufflepuffs. She needed to get out of the room as soon as possible. The girl leaned against the coffin, trying to get herself to stand up despite the excruciating pain on her back. Her long beautiful hair was singed and her clothes were black in ash.

Oh! Hello there!

Aurelia instinctively whipped out her wand from her back pocket. However, the sudden movement caused a jolt of pain to shot up from her burnt back and she stumbled forward, accidentally tripping over on the boy on the ground. Fortunately, Aurelia had caught her step but had apparently kicked him hard. She reconised him. He was a writer for the Gryffindor Papers.

"I...I said I was sorry!"

Aurelia was not very sure why he had appologised. She was supposed to be the one doing so since she had just kicked him.

Another girl approached the two. Her fairy red hair was singed too. Apparently, she wasn't the only one that had been attacked. Anatole claimed that he had missed the fire nearly and explained he had twisted his ankle. He instructed her to check on the others. They had travelled together. Anatole than turned to her.

I...I'd really like it if you'd do two things for me, one being not kicking me again..."

He paused before lowering his voice down to a whisper and saying,

"And two, don't tell them I burned them."

"You did what?!" Aurelia whiper-screamed. He had burned them, he had burned her and now she would have to bear a nasty scar on her back or the rest of her life. She had almost almost wanted to punch him. But what had been done had been done. It was the main reason why she wasn't fond of travelling in groups. You never know when one would cast a spell that went out of control. Anatole had liked to the Hufflepuffs but had trusted her most likely due to hee being in the same house. She didn't want to get on someone's bad side.

If you want to help me, you can."

Aurelia truned her head towards the boy, realising that he was referring to the coffin. There might be goodies inside. Who knew. Aurelia placed her hands on the corners of the box and pulled hard.

ACTIONS:
Kick Anatole Accidentally.
Agree not to tell the Hufflepuffs that he had burned them.
Attempt to lift up the lid of the coffin.

As the mist cleared, a hero rose. Badgers and lions alike, once caught in an endless dance loop, were suddenly free. John Johns, Freer of the Brave and Loyal, the Boy Who Rhymed, Charmer of the Dead, challenged the ghost girl to a dance off and danced straight into her heart. Their burning passion exploded all around them. Was this love that he was feeling? Was it the flames of passion that caressed one side of his body? And if so, why was Anatole’s face in the middle of their burning passion? That was weird. It was question John would ponder for years, but not tonight. Tonight, John would celebrate his victory with the fellow Huffrindors.

Love was indeed a battlefield, for as other students emerged, wounds were quite evident. One girl was even unconscious on the ground. It was almost as if the fires were real. Luckily, Amadea and Anatole were alright. At least they were conscious. The former began barraging him with a series of questions, one of which mentioned a wand in his hand. John looked over and indeed he did have a blue wand. This was great! Now he could duel wield!

“Oh yeah, the dancing ghost girl!” John replied. “Yeah, I danced right back at her and I guess I got this cool wand for winnign the dance off. Maybe it will make homework easier! Though…I wish she didn’t leave so soon. I didn’t even get her name…”

As the adrenaline from his dance session finally wore off, John felt the burning pain across his arm. He looked over and realized that it wasn’t love that gave him a tingling sensation. It was actual fire that burned his sleeve into his flesh. By reflex, he put his wounded left arm close to his chest.

“Why does love hurt so much?” John lamented as he grinded his teeth to hold back the tears. He needed to get his mind off of the pain. As Amadea and Anatole went to help the others, he was reminded of what the ghost girl said of the mounds. His friends were there, somehow. One of them was even crying out for help. Putting the new wand away (though that cooling touch sounded very good right about now), he walked up to the mound he could hear calling out. It didn’t seem too suspicious, so naturally, he stuck his hand right into it. He attempted to grasp whatever was calling for aid. Perhaps it was a tiny man?

Move: John moved to the east side of Howie’s square.
Action: John sticks his hand right into the mound
New Inventory: Enigmatic blue wand, the heart of a ghost girl

TRANSLATIONS

✸ "Faex!" - "Sh*t!"
✸ ""¿Por qué no volaron?" - "Why didn't they fly?"
✸ "Cos'è questa merda" - "What is this sh*t!?"
✸ "Hoc est phaulius!" - "This is nasty!"
✸ "Deodamnatus!" - "Dammit!"

Actions

✸ Cry bloody murder!
✸ Ask Max to step on the birds with his fabulous heels
✸ Maintain Lumos

It is a peculiar feeling, to think something in your head and then have it answered. This was a feeling Parcel got to experience. As he looked up at the great serpent slithering around on the ceiling, it seemed to answer his thoughts. Was it perhaps a mindreading serpent? But Parcel had never heard of a basilisk with the power to read minds. Had he spoken his thoughts out loud? Could the Serpent perhaps talk in human language?
This was things Parcel would have to ponder on later, for now was a time more suited for listening to what it had to say.

Still focusing on the serpent, Parcel went over what it had said. So, there had been several people through? The mice? And the one that made it dark? Parcel could imagine the mice being house-elf’s, for wasn't they kind of mice like in their features? But they hadn’t come back… was there perhaps an exit further in? or... or was the faint voices Parcel heard earlier actually real? Parcel gulped as he tried to imagine what might be ahead of them, if that was the case.
And who was the one that made it dark? The only possibility Parcel could come up with was that it had to be Lear or Cazarez. For there was no other candidates Parcel could think of that would have anything to do down in these caves.
And also, the snake seemed to want to leave. It was-… it was becoming too hot? Parcel didn’t really feel the heat the serpent was talking about, but if he could help, then he would at least try to help it out.

Parcel had just moved one foot towards the nest when things seemed to happen all at once. The first thing he heard was an ear deafening shriek as Lucy, the girl that had dragged him in, ran away in fright of the snake. The serpent seemed to hear the same, because Parcel glimpsed its great big body wriggling around in surprise. This resulted in a stalactite being ripped loose from the ceiling. And in an instant, Parcel heard a great crack from where the big hunk of rock hit the floor.
Parcel had to close his eyes as he felt dust and debris shower over him, luckily for him, none of the wreckage seemed to be big enough to hurt him.

Holding the torch in front of himself, Parcel walked over to the nest. He reached it just after the small gryff girl had darted past. She had even picked up an egg it seemed, because there was one less then what he had counted when he came in. Locating the yellow egg, Parcel pointed his wand at it. “Wingardium Leviosa” He said loudly.
The room seemed pretty big, so Parcel thought it would be easier to float it up to the snake instead of throwing it. He also made sure to look closely at the remaining eggs, trying to work out if the images on the eggs had any meaning to him, or if he could see any other oddities with them.

Actions:
- Walk up to nest, keep holding torch with left hand.
- Cast Wingardium Leviosa on the yellow egg and float it up to the Serpent
- Perception check on remaining eggs

Stupid spell, failing again. Max uttered a low curse under his breath as he kept his wand held high, the light from Dorian's scattering the darkness briefly as he reached the room his friend had zoomed into. At least he had managed to make it across the room in the stupid goddamn shoes, constantly looking down to make sure the thin spikes on the bottom didn't get caught between some tiles on the floor and trip him up. By the time he reached where Dorian was, he had gotten the hang of it just enough that he didn't have to keep his arms held out to the side like he was doing some sort of T-pose. Still embarrassing, but based on some of the sounds behind him, maybe no one had time to notice.

His scan of the room showed him a few important things, one such being a statue that was clearly part of some sort of puzzle. Heads and arms that looked like they needed to be put together to make something that made sense, though what faces went with what arms was hard to determine. He could also hear water from somewhere, and he was suddenly glad of the teacup he'd brought carefully tucked into his robes - stress always seemed to make him thirsty and if there was fresh water somewhere then he and Dorian could share so they'd calm down, avoiding dehydration. Was that a... a voice somewhere, as well? He cocked his head to the side, curious but wary because it was just as likely another one of Professor Lear's tricks. His patience was at the end of its tether now, and with it, his sympathy. If someone was stuck here then let them be bloody stuck; there were more important things to deal with concerning his and friend's own safety.

Speaking of his friends... He stared at Dorian's feet with an expression so fixed it could give the statue a run for its money. He was in such complete and utter shock that his features couldn't seem to rearrange themselves from the slack-jawed, mystified look he wore - were those... live birds? As if to compound the situation, two more people drifted in after him and he turned to see that Alan kid simply following and that Hufflepuff girl, Dorothy, step right up to the statue and challenge it to an arm wrestle. Like the situation beforehand, this was complete and utter madness. There was no other way to describe it.

Horrified and more than a little sick, Max cast his gaze back to the... erm, situation, on Dorian's feet. He couldn't begin to imagine what that felt like - if it looked disgusting from the outside, the inside must feel like... No. No, he didn't want to think about it. But Dorian was suddenly begging him for an out, not even stopping to make fun of him about the heels. That said something about the situation and Max realized with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was much more empathetic than he'd ever thought. To humans, at least. Humans and cats.

"In a mad world, only the mad are sane," he murmured to himself, trying to take comfort from some Kurosawa as he stepped up to his friend, ignoring the rest of the room for the time being. Cronch them. Unlike what some people likely thought, he'd never been the kind of child to hurt animals - he'd once nearly broken a kid's arm for messing with a kitten, but that was in a fit of temper and it had been well deserved. He'd also hurt various other kids throughout the school year, but that had been all under provocation. Was it okay to do this? If you were putting something out of its misery? Killing something...

"Okay. They can't be real, they can't be real." More to reassure himself than anything. "Dorian, hold very... very still." He was close enough that all he had to do was lift a foot. Digging deep, he found that one pocket of coldness he'd never really let go of since what had happened after the library and hoped it would be enough. Lifting his heel, he sucked in a sharp breath of air and allowed himself no time to hesitate before slamming the sharp spike down straight on one of the bird's heads.

The feeling... the feeling... He had to resist gagging. Sight, sound, and touch had all turned completely against him as he drew in another shuddering breath, stumbling a bit before setting his foot down to balance him with a sound that made him never want to eat meat again. Before anyone could yell or protest what he'd done, he lifted the other foot and did the same even harder so that this bird wouldn't be able to make a sound like the other one had right before perishing.

"Oh god," he moaned under his breath, dropping his wand to flatten his palms against his trousers and dry heave. Even if the birds hadn't been real, the way they'd gone had been horrible. He didn't think it would be possible to forget the crunching squelch or the colour that now stained the bottom of his heels. As a matter of fact, he was fairly certain that if he saw similar shoes ever again, he might completely lose his bloody mind. Piss on the profs, piss on the whole bloody lot of them.

Deciding to just go all the way, his crouch became him falling to his knees. He'd put the things down, but they were still problematic. Crawling over to Dorian, he took in shallow gasps of air through his mouth as he gave the other Gryff a grim nod and reached out with his hands. Ohhhhh Merlinnn, this was even worse. Speaking of bloody... he'd never use red ink in school again. But the thought of ink made him think of inkwells, and what filled them. The colour red filling something...

"Sometimes," he told the air, avoiding looking anyone in the eye because his own thoughts ashamed him. "I do truly hate the way I think." It was the amount of history he'd read. Everyone, all the time, used to do sacrifices and pay their weird heathen gods in blood. If Professor Cazarez had anything to do with these puzzles, then perhaps...

It took a bit to fill the teacup as he repeatedly apologized, whether it was to Dorian or to the birds he wasn't sure, but he felt like he ought to. By the time he was done, his hands looked like he'd gotten into a particularly grueling fight with the paint his parents had used in the dining room, but he'd managed to get his horror under control and now felt dully repulsed more than anything. Standing up on shaky knees, he tripped and wobbled to the statue, giving Dorothy a brief glance before taking up position at the other arm with the glasses. "In offering, I give you the blood of an... innocent." Wasn't that what people usually sacrificed? A lamb or something equally as innocent? If these birds weren't real or had just been created, they were probably innocent because they hadn't had time to do anything. And Max had just totally wiped them out of existence. Nice.

Shaking his head at how traumatized everyone would be by the time this was over, he emptied the teacup, half of it into each glass.

ACTIONS:
-Get the things off of Dorian's feet
-Gather up a teacup of blood and dump into the cups of the statue
-Pretend not to die inside

Alan just again kept close to Max no matter what? Why was Max talking to the other guy, who so rudely ignored his presence earlier. One thought cleared up in Alan’s mind, one memory just mere minutes ago was played in his mind over and over again. This boy, this boy with the weird fashion sense – bird as shoes, how cruel – how he dragged Max away from him, tugging his arm as if Max was not meant to be close to Alan. Alan shook his head and narrowed his eyes as Max went to help this… this boy. What even was his name? He surely would have to remember him, keep a close eyes on him. Maybe he would try to steal his Max? No way he would let that happen! Alan walked up to Max, finally had the ability to catch up to him and just watched his movement while also keeping the other boy in his mind. “Why not use a scouring spell?” He asked, a thought that had fought itself to the surface. Scouring spell? For what please? He shook his head until he saw the birds or what was left of them. “How nasty…” he muttered. That boy was nowhere good enough for Max. “Max! He should clean them right?” He asked while scooting closer to the boy, to him. The most amazing person alive.

Action
Suggests using Scourgify
Follows Max/Gets closer to Max
Not really productive, not fighting the potion

Eris & Rosie

Being good is easy when there are rules, proctors and limited risk. It is easy to be good because it benefits everyone. But being a hero is a different thing entirely. Being a hero means more than defeating a terrible foe, it is about overcoming a seemingly insurmountable challenge. This snake, this monster, was not something that she could confidently defeat. The most logical course of action would be of course to run but Eris was left with a moral dilemma: Rosie was trapped in this room. The others had already fled, barely taking notice of the unfortunate furry. 

It takes something that not everyone has to be truly brave. Self-preservation and a treasure versus the life of a classmate, a friend. The decision might not have been easy but it would be made. Rosie would be left behind, there might have been a cheap apology, a verbalized regret but there were prizes to be had and there was a monster on the ceiling.

Eris would rush away but not before embracing the chained child, recommending that she follow the chain back to its point of origin. That if she gets away that she should seek a Professor. When Eris' hold broke, Rosie would still be chained beneath a gargantuan snake.  The girl would take Eris' advice, it was all she had. Even if she begged Eris, there was no reason for her to stay. There was no reason for anyone to stay, there were no heroes here. 

Not yet in any case. Heroes are not born, they are made. This was not Rosie's chance to be brave, this was where she tried to survive. She would follow the chain, it was heavy and thick, her hand would barely reach around the circumference. The chain would rattle and clamor as it was dragged across the uneven stony floor. She would reach the point of union between the chain and the frame. 




As she found the connection at the threshold of the room, a noise would probably direct her attention to the room. The snake was now on the ground and it was HUGE! All she would see was a wall of scales millimeters from the tip of her nose. If she sucked in her stomach and pressed against the wall she might get three inches. There was a door, one that she might side-step through to avoid the creature, one she might not considering what happened the last time she traveled through.

The snake was moving. OH MERLIN IT WAS MOVING! Its face, that terrible snaky face, with all those teeth would be pointed her way. Then it would go for the door. She would be a fool to try to block the Basilisk's path of egress, so the moderator assumes she attempts to evade.

Roll: 14, 15

Rosie would avoid death, somehow. Perhaps the old duck and curl fetal position. Perhaps a matador style action involving some fancy footwork. Perhaps something involving back-flips and fancy acrobatics. All the same, it did not matter, adrenaline does wonderful and fortunate things for for her it might have helped her to survive.

Sadly, from the sounds of things back in the common room from where they started -- the same could not be said. There were screams. Terrible noises. A final pleasing "no!" and then silence.

Meanwhile, Eris had rushed away snatching a prize as her midget-like legs carried her as fast as they could towards Max and Dorian. The precious cargo she carried was a sky blue egg with small white stars drawn sloppily with what appeared to be white chalk. There would be a fine seam around the center and she would feel the contents shift beneath that 'shell' as she carried it in her hands.

She would enter and see Max pouring blood from the carcass of a dead bird into the glasses. 

Dorothy

There was no noticeable difference in Dorothy's behavior. Her ataxic gait, her slurred speech, her weird questions. Seemed totally the same... good thing too, the future Deputy Headmaster might have a qualm with the good Professor getting his students drunk even if it did not involve a drop of booze.

Cazarez or however it is said/spelled was a stick in the mud and he was not here and she would be sober by the time she got back anyways so nobody would believe her. Dorothy was having a good time, everyone looked awesome, that's beer goggles in a nutshell. 

Then Dorothy waged a battle with the floor.

Agility: 10

It was indeed just 'magnificent' enough for her to avoid face-planting. It was less a jump and more a complex array of movements that somehow allowed her to defy gravity via antics.



A trail of blood from her injured arm would delineate her random-seeming path across the room. She would not quite reach the statue, she was not that quick, her legs kept on getting tangled but she would see the end of a rather enlightening scene a few moments before Eris. Max was helping Dorian take off his wet socks and then he was wringing them out into a pair of glasses. 

She would try to wack Dorian, thinking she missed by only two feet but it was closer to fifteen. Her depth perception sucked when her eyes were crossed. She was not quite at the statue, not yet but she would see the mess of body parts and a few spare. Whoa... That was an issue. Someone was gonna be missing those!

From afar Dorothy would challenge the statue, sadly the statue's arm was still on the ground.

GIVE DOROTHY A WORTHY OPPONENT!

Max & Dorian

Spoiler due to graphic content:



What Happened for those that do not want to read:
- Max killed some birds with his heels.
- Max stabbed Dorian in the foot by mistake.
- Alan thinks Max is the best.
- Max emptied what blood was left inside the birds into the glasses being held by the statue

Paracelsus

Paracelsus had decided to help the snake. There was something trustworthy about a massive serpent coiled up on the ceiling of a dark cave with a gaze that could in theory kill. The snake only wanted one thing from Paracel: an egg, the yellow one to be specific. 

He would see a house elf take one after she abandoned her friend, a blue one. Paracel would have no need or reason to intervene. His wand drawn he would cast a simple spell, one he in fact knew quite well.

“Wingardium Leviosa”

Roll: 18

The young boy proclaimed and with a wave of his wand the egg was aloft. What did the giant serpent want with the colorful egg? Paracel would soon find out. A rumbling laughter would erupt from the ceiling as the snake caught the egg and drew it closer to its core. Invisible through the coils and scales, a soft and distant *crack* would suggest that something was about to happen.

"This was everything I needed," the Basilisk declared as it crashed down the twenty or so feet there was between itself and the floor. A loud crash would herald quivering earth as the body of this beast filled the room. 



It would leave through the door Rosie was chained to.

The creature to great to see through, Paracel would not know Rosie's fate, not that it likely mattered. Who was she anyways? It was not like anyone cared, they all left her although some had a bit of ceremony about it. 

After the tail escaped he would see Rosie, frazzled but alive. Yay? Probably, she was not relevant enough to even wish death on. Then Paracel would hear something else, it was a scream. Well several screams. First he would hear Professor Lear -- some profanities and then a manly shout. Then Cazarez's girlish scream followed by a cacophony of noises. Shouts, pleas, a few spells well above Paracel's grade. Then a final "NO!" Then there was silence.

Paracel, you might have killed the Professors. We hope you are pleased with yourself.

Oooo! A shiny!

If Paracel looked down, he would see something. A silver ring with a blue stone. Strange... eerie.


It seemed to call out to him, but there were no words only feelings...

Lucy

The girl would duck and cover as a swarm of angry bats flew over her head. She would let the pass over her, some bat guano would also find her but the bats did not appear to be the biting kind or the vampire kind. Vampires turned into bats, right? Or was it mist? In either case, she was safe for the time being.

Behind her there was a great deal of commotion, a great crash and a wall of serpent if she dared look back. There would be no way for her to know what happened, the snake was too large for her to see through and she was face down on the ground. With a rumble, the monster behind her would depart. She would hear the screaming somehow even from where she was. 

She would wiggle her way to the edge. There was a precipitous drop and as she peered over the ledge she would see only a distant darkness. Perhaps it was a way out. Perhaps it was a path less traveled and rife with monsters and fiends. It might be safer here... with the terrible things she knew. 

Amadea

"Nox."

The girl extinguished her wand, the light from her cohorts was sufficient to light the area.

Amadea would be the only one that seemed to notice or at the very least care that Rosie was unconscious, possibly head. She would see Rosie, face-down on the ground badly burned. her pretty curls blackened. She was not moving, from afar Amadea would not even be able to tell if Rosie was still breathing. Amadea would rush to the poor girl's side. Her fingertips would press against the crispy student's radial pulse, just below her thumb. She would feel a weak, thready pulse.

She would ask her friends for guidance. She was not a doctor, she was a student! The others were busy, some playing with the gravel and another pair opening a treasure chest that looked suspiciously similar to a coffin. Amadea was on her own, even though she probably did not notice it at first. It was an uncanny feeling, this sense that she was all alone in a room full of people. People she could touch and see that were living their lives and she was an irrelevant. 

It was an eerie, uncanny feeling. It was how people survived, by compartmentalizing goals, placing up the blinders so that they would not see. 

OK... THINK fast girl. She has a pulse. Is she breathing? Will give this one to you for free, yes she is but the breaths seemed ragged. 

Pulse. Breath. Terrible burns. 

What makes burns so dangerous? Well, several things -- and what did she know in terms of spells? Not much... What can she do to stabilize her? 

Winifrey: Has not posted in more than one round in a row, removing her from the maps and assuming she returned to the common room to die with the Professors.

Rhea: has not posted in more than one round in a row, removing her from the maps and assuming she returned to the common room to die with the Professors.

Duncan: has not posted in more than one round in a row, removing her from the maps and assuming she returned to the common room to die with the Professors.

John John

John John was the dance king and he could drop a decent rhyme to boot. If he was a muggle, his vocation and life would probably be that of a star, winning the hearts of thousands of young women. But alas, poor John John just has magic powers. No worries, you will always have the strange ghost child's heart. 

In all seriousness, John defeated the specter in true Hufflepuff fashion. It was indeed impressive, exactly what he the little girl wanted to see. So she was gone, but her heart belonged to John. Well, her icy heart shaped like a wand. It was complicated. Yeah... That's it, complicated. 

John would identify one unusual object, well aspect of the setting besides the crispy students that surrounded him. The mound of earth in an oblong shape, as long as the tallest members of his class were tall. A bit wider than the heaviest kid in class too. It was very grave-like, or one could suppose filled with tiny men.

Absolutely, totally safe. Nothing could go wrong here.

John would plunge his hands into the gravel-like earth and he would feel around. There were no tiny men waiting for him. but a few inches down he would feel a smooth, lacquered surface. The stones were heavy enough to weigh the lid down of course, the lid of a very large box. What was inside of this box calling out for help? Candy? Small men? A normal sized man? One of the missing students whom would now have to swear loyalty to the Huffinidors before he could earn his freedom.

Aurelia & Anatole

Anatole told Aurelia his terrible secret. Perhaps he could not stand to keep it a secret any longer. The guilt like a cancer. After apologizing to Aurelia for being kicked, he asked her to keep a secret.

"...I burned them."

Anatole was not a Hufflepuff and did not want to take their reputation as pyromaniacs away. He was a good little sociopath. From there they had two options: one, help the unconscious girl Anatole might have killed. Two, check out the casket.  The later not seeming ominous at all, likely filled with candy or goodies rather than terrible things like bodies or zombies they would ignore Rosie (the Rosies of this day had no real luck did they) and attempt to open the casket.

The casket would feel cool and smooth, the lacquered white surface  made it look simple but somewhat formal. As they reached around the lip of the casket lid they would hear raucous laughter erupt. Whatever was inside, it seemed rather amused.

With a heave, they would try to open it.

Strength Check (Anatole) 4
Strength Check (Aurelia) 11 

Anatole was not of any great use in attempting to open the casket, his feeble attempt would however loosen the lid and Aurelia's brawn would unseal the lid.

There was no treasure inside unless friendship counted as treasure. They would see an unusual scene: Leslez and Ami together in this tiny space. They were not making out, at least whoever created this prank was smart enough as to layer them face to foot. Well. good for the Professors, bad for Leslez's face. It would look like Leslez fell on their face before (or after) being inserted in the coffin. 

Ami & Leslez

Inside the lid Ami let out her frustrations with a kick towards the lid, forgetting that Leslez's face was around the location of her feet.

Ami (attack) 15
Leslez (evasion) 8 (disadvantage due to confined space) 12

A foot straight to the face. Ami's attempt to kick open the coffin lid would prove to be a failure. her foot now hurt because Leslez had a hard head, but Leslez's face would hurt more...

[Leslez suffers 175 damage]

Try as she might, Ami lacked the space to rip off the babbling necklace with an affinity for grade school skellyton jokes. At least Ami was humoring the hilarious artifact. 

"Why can't a skeleton be a church musician?" 

"Hmmm-- Letmesee. Letmesee..."

"I got this one." The necklace declared "A trom bone!"

The artifact would pause for a moment, reconsidering what it just said.

"No-no, that's their favorite instrument! Darn," it complained before Ami gave it the answer.

"Because he doesn't have any organs!"

"Ha Ha Ha! HAR HAR HAR! Ha Ha Ha! You slay me kiddo. Not really, I have probably already been slain... But you I know what I mean!"

The lid would shift slightly, believe it or not she was helping or in game terms she was lowering the DC by playing along. She would be able to hear something past Leslez who was laying on top of her. Some movement beyond the roof. Who or what was out there? She could hear voices but they were muted, she could not understand what was being said or who was saying it.

Then suddenly the lid would be ripped from the casket and fresh cave air would fill the coffin. It was hot inside that coffin, two sharing such a cramped space. Leslez was still draped over her, likely nursing their face-injury thanks to Ami's mighty feet.



Cynthia, Reid & Serena

Cynthia was along for the ride, hoping that this time things would be different. This time everything would work out and she would not have to carry the guilt that she did something terrible that would nearly kill her whole house. That she was not a jinx. 

She would not be that lucky, she was on one of Solomon's adventures.

Reid and Serena would also make their way into the room. Something was wrong with this place, they could feel it in their bones. That ominous ascent up the stone stair. Their entry into this room was puzzling, they were tasked with solving a riddle without instruction. Their process was intuitive. Reid was able to identify the symbols on those tiles. They were part of a language that was taught in transfiguration class by Professor Yornikovych, each tile represented a letter. Like a word jumble, he puzzled over what the letters might mean. The came up with a pair of words: DRAGON and KELPIE. Interesting, they found animal names among the randomly listed letters.

The red runes would be placed into the grooves on the floor. The betters would light up as each tile was fit into the floor. As the -N- fir into place and the word DRAGON was placed. As the final tile was placed, the floor would start to glow red. Not every part of the floor, just cracks that were not there before but were now. It was like tributaries... like veins. Red and HOT. Smoke would billow from the lava and then...

They figured it out. THIS IS AWESOME RIGHT?

The silhouette of something with a tail and a lizard-like body, a great shadow would be cast upon the far wall. Whatever it was, it looked dangerous. Great claws and teeth - check. An intimidating pose? Check.



Oh god, they summoned a dragon!

Frost: made no post, she is just standing there looking into the room.

Interacts with Rosie Parker
Mentions Paracelsus

The unending dark chasm below stirred up a pit of anxiety in Lucy's stomach. The mental image of freefalling forever lodged itself in her brain, and she carefully, carefully scooted backwards on her stomach until she was a good two feet from the edge. A relieved breath escaped her body only to hear an impossibly loud sound echo through the cavern, combined with trembles that shook the ground. She twisted on her stomach and only managed to see a giant wall blocking the way she came in. A WALL?! Was she trapped here forever? How the heck did that happen?!

She jumped to her feet and walked toward the wall slowly, cautious in case there was an actual cave in. No - wait - the wall was... moving? Were the rocks still shifting? She noticed the wall gleam, reflecting the light from her wand. Wait - walls don't gleam, right? And they definitely don't move. By this time, Lucy was close enough to see that the wall had a scale-like texture. Movement, gleaming, scales... OH MY WORD IT'S THE BASILISK. She froze, figuratively petrified, as she watched the giant snake body move. It wasn't long before it was no longer blocking the entrance to her little dead-end tunnel, and the snake had seemingly left the room.

Tremors shook Lucy's body, imagining what it would be like to be in that room when the snake crashed down. Wait a minute, that basilisk was huge! What if it crushed someone when it fell off the ceiling? Thoughts of self-preservation momentarily gone in concern for her fellow students, Lucy sprinted back into the room, looking around wildly. She confirmed that the giant snake was gone - thank goodness - and observed the people in the room. Parcel was still standing near the nest, luckily, thankfully , impossibly unharmed. And now she saw Rosie for the first time since this whole adventure had started.

"What in heaven and earth?!" she cried, running to the weird furry thing. "Who are you? What are you? And are you okay?" she asked, taking in the leash, furry ears, tail, and dishevelled appearance all at once. "Do you need help?"  She came up next to the girl-cat, or... cat-girl? "Are you a student?" She asked, narrowing her eyes. Perhaps this was another one of Lear's tricks. If Lucy was more observant, she would have recognized Rosie from the group that came up behind them in the tunnel before they got into this infernal room. At the time, she was only thinking of treasure. "Why are you wearing a collar?"

Lucy's frazzled nerves made themselves known through her rapid-fire questioning, hardly allowing time for the poor girl to speak. "Did the... basilisk go by you?" she asked a final question, almost whispering the word basilisk as if saying its name would cause it to return. She hadn't actually watched it exit but was definitely glad it was gone.

ACTIONS

Movement: Run back into the room and over to Rosie Parker. (Assuming a character can move diagonally, approx. 4 squares)
Speaking: Releases a torrent of questions on Rosie Parker.

**likely will post again with more exciting actions after Rosie responds

TRIGGER WARNING: Depictions of blood, gore, and animal death. Not mentioned in graphic detail, but may be disturbing to some readers.

Was she a bad friend? Of course, but did Eris think that? Evidently, she chose not to think such things. She had seen enough movies and read enough books to warp her thinking patterns into believing herself a hero. The girl thought she was doing the right thing, leaving Rosie, which any sane person would claim was wrong.

But Eris was not sane, and as proven earlier in the night, she was quick to forget Rosie Parker when she was around Max Avery and Dorian Gray. A bad friend, or perhaps a distant acquaintance that Rosie had assumed too much about. Either way, Rosie shouldn’t of put her trust in the fiery haired girl, who she had only met once before. How ironic that one of the people that saved Rosie from trouble would be shoving her into trouble through her own carelessness.

People were different when you got to know them, and Eris was no different than the rest of the masses, as much as the girl wanted to think other wises. Rosie could scream, could call out, and Eris would turn back, but the small girl assumed that Rosie was fine, as there was no pinprick of noise in the darkness, no notion that something was wrong and that Rosie needed help. The snake had seemed calm when Eris left, which lead her to assume that the monster's maw would stay on the ceiling, with the rest of it's body, and Rosie would be able to escape and warn the professors.

Oh, how wrong she had been. Eris would not know this fact, not until much later, when the damage had already been done, and malice would be the only emotion Rosie Parker felt towards Eris Falwey. But for now, those thoughts did not plague Eris's mind. All that prickled in the back of her head was anxiety for the girl behind her, and anxiety for the boys in front of her.

The snake would be busy talking to the boy, right? Eris tried to reassure herself, promising to come back to Rosie after she found her best friends in the whole adventure, tiny legs rushing forward with the egg--until she halted, and the egg fell to the ground, the sound of the crash echoing, as Eris's hands moved upwards to clutch her mouth in an expression of horror.

One would think that Eris Fawley, practitioner of beating up hufflepuffs & punching ravenclaws, could handle blood and gore, but the sight of the pathetic birds, wings still flapping feebly was enough to set her stomach churning, as the dying bodies of the birds lay on the floor at her friend's feet.

They were all she could see, the sickly puddles of blood under the broken wings flooded Eris's vision, and she found herself transfixed, staring at the loss of life that should not have been.

They were small, the size of pet birds that one could buy in a pet store. The small bodies cluttered the floor, and the short girl was suddenly aware of tears trailing down her face. The birds hadn't done anything wrong, they hadn't hurt Eris or her friends, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, another sick trick of Lear's that had backfired. The hufflepuff professor was not kind, he was not a hufflepuff.

He had started the campout on the grounds that had gone horribly wrong, and now he had lead Max to kill innocent lives. The copper-y tang of blood was everywhere, burning at Eris's nostrils, flaring at her eyes, and she wanted to go home. She wanted to go home to her horrible mother, to her sister, to anybody. She just didn't want to be here, with dead birds similar to the birds that had woken her up every day at the park, the birds who's chirping had always brought a smile to Eris's face.

Than there was Max, covered in blood and feathers. A bringer of death. That was not her friend. That was not someone she knew. How had he killed two innocent lives? She had thought their callous treatment of other students and their bullying had been a joust, a way to make those who hurt them feel some sort of vengeance, but clearly, he had a different plan, if he had been able to kill the two birds. Yet, there was something about his appearance that stopped Eris from running back the way she came.

There was profound sorrow in her friend's eyes, as he poured.. oh god, cherry soda. Yes, cherry soda, into two bowls. Then, there was the other girl, the strange one. She was acting stranger than normal, and Eris quickly shut out everything about the girl, who seemed to have a dispute to settle with the statue.

Eris quickly looked around, spotting a blonde haired boy clinging onto Max, Dorian, and the girl. All of them were in various states of disarray, and Eris felt even more sick, just looking around the group. Dorian was bleeding, and Eris didn't even want to know where the blood had came from. A sneaking suspition lurked at the back of her head, but Eris refused to think about the blood, feet moving forward to offer Dorian a hand up, her own hand shaking mildly.

"Dorian, are you okay?" If he chose to take her hand, Eris will pull him up and wrap the boy into a hug. Apparently, it was a night for hugs. If he declined to take her hand, Eris would drop her hand. Either way, Eris would turn back to Max, his strange new friend, and Dorothy.

Oh dear, the shock had really went to her head.

"We need to get out of here. I left Rosie Parker behind to get you lot, but things are going really badly. We need to get back to her, and we need to find the professors. I don't think the adventure matters anymore, I heard voices just a while ago, I think we're in real danger." Eris rambled on and on, light from her wand still flickering uneasily. Just minutes before, all she had cared about were the eggs, but now, in light of the situation, the girl wanted her bed and friends safe.

"Please, let's go, all of us." Eris begged the whole group, still queasy, unable to understand why Dorothy was acting so strange. Her body and mind were in a strange sense of numbness, the carcasses of the birds flashing through Eris's mind over and over again.

Of course Dorothy was acting strange. Eris didn't blame her, and hadn't seen enough of the girl's oddness to really suspect what was going on.

ACTIONS:
۞ maintain lumos.
۞ pleading with new group to find professors & leave.
۞ likely will post again with more exciting actions after others respond.