A Viper in the Snake Pit closed

Opeila had started off the year, agreeing to an experiment proposed by one of the newest third years, her ex-prefect-colleague Ming. Her in a... well, it wasn't really a duel anymore, was it? Opeila was facing four second years and a third year at the same time, on her own. The young fifth year was not quite sure yet if this had been a smart idea... but maybe, maybe she would be able to take them. After all, she had become quite a good duellist over the last two years, after her second year had been such a failure.
Now she felt like people were actually a little scared of having to compete against her.

But not the five kids who were facing her today, each of whom Opeila felt she could probably take down easily on their own. But in a group... maybe they did actually stand a chance. Three of them she knew quite alright. There was Colin, one of her- not hers anymore, she had to remind herself- basilisks. And Lucian and Ava, of whom one had tried to murder the other, not even a year ago. Ava she would keep her eye on, Opeila had never really managed to shake off the grudge that her acts of that one night had brought.

But generally the fifth year was in a good mood. "I'll try to be nice.", she would joke, getting into her favored duelling position, posed on her tip toes, ready to jump aside. She was indeed ready.

Doing as strategized.

Action: as strategized

A duel like this was going to be chaos. For her opponent, probably not for her. All snakes, but instead of balanced teams, it would four against one. Only one spell could be fired from the older snake, and four would be fired against her. The chances that the singular spell would be targeted toward her was slim, close to none, and Ava was confident that this was a duel she would win. Well, not her specifically, but her entire team.

When she had agreed to the 4v1 duel, she hadn't realized who she would be dueling with. She seemed to know every. Single. One. And they weren't good acquaintances either. Colin McCoire, a werewolf and a frequent visitor of her nightmares, although not as often as the next member of her team. Lucian Mornstern, a name she tried not to think about and always avoid. That was all to be said about that unwanted member of the team. Rebecca Loops, a lesser-known member of the team but known all the more as one of her classmates. She thought him to be one of Colin's friends, but she was unsure. Mellani Miller. Neither here nor there, neither enemy nor friend. Their interactions had been breif, and Ava didn't have any particular thoughts or feelings for this girl.

Their enemy she knew as well. One of the prefects of Slytherin, the stare/glare she shot at Ava said all she needed and wanted to know. Opeila hadn't forgot about Ava, and she was going to be keeping a close eye on her. Ava cringed at the stare, but she knew she full well deserved it. All of it. She would do best to hang out near the back of the group and hope she went unnoticed.

@Ava Winchect, Y1, Metamorphmagus 100% HP (700/700) —————————— Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 5 Wisdom: 5 | ArcPower: 5 | Accuracy: 6 —————————————————— Metamorphmagus (-5 DC Transfig Spells as Y1 Metamorphmagus) ————————— Effects: none

Lucian was pumped for this duel. He had got a knack for duelling and so when it came the time to duel Prefect Winters (he mainly remembered her from the two big issues he was in both sides of Christmas just past) he forgot about his momentary troubles and focused solely on the fact in hand.

They had to win and she had to lose.

Of course she had to lose! How embarrassing that a group of second years couldn’t thwart one girl! Strength in numbers! This made him think of the pack and was comforted to know that Colin, the Alpha, would he fighting side by side him. Although, he was, admittedly, unnerved by the appearance of Ava; wherever she goes trouble follows. Or near death.

Wait. So that means the tides are not in the favour as she chickened out — which Lucian is incredibly thankful for. Lucian turned his attention back to his opponent, this would not be an easy battle but he felt that his team would try their best. Multitudes of spells floated around his head as his mental hand struggled to chose which to attack the young woman with. Of course he could go for his usual flipendo or incendio but there was time for that later.

He heard Ming call out to them and was slightly comforted by the fact he would be around, Lucian’s ears tipped red in embarrassment when Pei said she would try and be nice. "We’re not babies," he found himself muttering under his breath.

He was confident we could take her.

Attire: Usual weekend kit: Slytherin pride, kilt, no shoes, wolf fang necklace, feathers in his braid.

Reducio

The thick and solid wooden portals to the duelling hall stood closed before Colin. He remembered the first time he ever set foot in here. It was to duel against Dan Palmer. The memories of that day were still fresh in his mind. Since then, he'd been in here many times, either to watch the official duels or else to participate in an unofficial match. That's what brought Colin here today.

Yet another duel against yet another fifth year!

Colin smiled. Today was so unlike that first time. Colin had stood alone then, Dan had sought to punish him for calling him a fake Slytherin. And he had indeed been punished! Today, though, his cat Greebo twined himself between Colin's bare legs and, giving a slight glance to his left, his twin, his Liam, stood by his side.

"Well? Get in there, lad!" Liam shoved Colin towards the doors. He shouted as Colin tumbled in: "I'll be watching! Don't die on me Cail!"

"Thanks for the encouragement, lad!" Colin called back, with a slight shake of his head. He trotted up towards the piste and saw Opeila waiting there. She was to be his team's adversary. Somehow Ming had gotten him and bunch of second years to sign on to duel a fifth year together. She seemed rather serene. Well, she was a practiced duellist and thus had quite the advantage over them all. But Colin was single minded about this one thing today: accomplished duellist or not, they would do whatever they could to bring her down.

He grinned as he saw Luci already there. His fellow packmate. A good lad. They disagreed on some things, Colin had learned, but he was certain of one thing: he and Luci shared a bond that would overcome any small disagreements. He checked to see if his mate Loops or great gobstones adversary Mells had arrived yet. They'd be here soon.

Then Colin saw --- her --- a dark haired girl standing on the piste, facing Opeila. Winchect, some people called her. His smile flattened. How many times had he dreamt, even now, of him fighting against her? Bare hands against her wicked sharp knives! Always stabbing, always slicing, always with a smile on her face! Sometimes he fought alongside Luci, sometimes alone, sometimes with Lily or Ciarán. Colin hated her. The nameless girl. The girl who should have been packed off to Azkaban and left to rot.

Technically she was on his team, but Colin had secret doubts about that. Quietly he came up behind her. He never touched her or even greeted her. He did face her, though, almost nose to nose. His lips curled into a snarl. "Don't mess this up," he whispered so that only she could hear. He stared into her eyes for a moment before going over to stand with Luci. He made sure to place himself between his mate and Ava. And not for the first time.

At least his smile returned. He just hoped Ava wouldn't turn on them. Again.

Action: Wondering how many of them Pei can turn into sparrows.
Stats: Stamina: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 4 | Wisdom: 7 | Arcane Power: 6 | Accuracy: 6

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DUELLING ROOM Sept, 2023 . . OUTFIT Reducio _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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@Fang Hui-Ming @Opeila Winters @Colin McCoire @Lucian Mornstern @Mellani Miller @Ava Winchect

Rebecca squinted at the thick wooden doors he was ninety percent sure led to the Duelling Room. He'd already poked his head into a nearly dozen wrong rooms, but he had a hunch that he'd finally found the place he'd been looking for. He took a steadying breath, then pushed his way through the doors. At least-- that's what he meant to do. They didn't budge. Merlin, they were heavy.

Squaring his shoulders, Rebecca tried again, feet scrabbling on the floor for anchorage as he leaned his full weight on the doors. They finally swung open with a reluctant groan, and Rebecca stumbled forward before swiftly regaining his footing. He dusted off his shirt with a disgruntled sniff.

Rebecca took quick stock of who had arrived. The older Slytherin they'd be fighting was already there, of course; one could generally assume a Prefect to be punctual. Hui-Ming was milling around as well, giving the room a critical eye. Rebecca sent a friendly smile in his direction, but he was more focused on his teammates for the moment. Colin and Lucian were huddled close together. Lucian looked sullen and dyspeptic-- but that was how he always looked, so Rebecca figured all was well. Colin, however, seemed weirdly uncomfortable. A mere friendly duel wouldn't have been enough to warrant that stiff posture and those wary glances around the room. What on Earth would he...

That was when Rebecca noticed the third member of their ragtag little team hiding in the corner. Ava Winchect, a girl he hadn't spoken to since January. His grip tightened fractionally on his wand. Obviously he didn't trust her, but the fact that she hadn't been expelled meant that the staff at Hogwarts didn't think she posed anymore danger. Rebecca was forced to trust their judgement.

He kept walking towards the center of the room and tapped a comforting hand on Colin's arm. "Sorry I kept you waiting. Am I the last to get here?" Rebecca asked.

Action as Owled

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𝑀𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈: @Ava Winchect, @Opeila Winters, @Lucian Monstern, @Rebecca Loops, @Colin McCoire 𝐼𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈: @

⟵ ---------------------------------- Thoughts | Speech

𝒪𝒪𝒞 𝒩𝑜𝓉𝑒 Reducio

Mellani did not know why the hell she had chosen to participate in this duel. She hated magic, hating being a witch, and hated everything about this stupid school in general. Then again, maybe this duel would be a way of removing all of that anger out, even if it was just on one, significantly older person who had almost given her detention once.

Mellani took a deep breath as she entered the dueling club. She would do this. She would win for her team, if not herself, and she wouldn't mess things up like she always did, and she would definitely not think about Olive and how she had died. Oh no, she'd just thought about that. What a goddamned surprise! Mellani closed her eyes for a bit and tried to hold back all the tears.

She looked around and noticed that she was the last one there. Of course she was. She could never be punctual, could she? She silently took her place on the Second years' side and noticed everyone looking at Ava as if she'd committed a huge crime or something. Mellani shrugged, pushing away her curious and caring side. It was none of her business what Ava had or hadn't done to the others, and what the others would do to her. She quietly took out her wand, ready to face Opeila in the duel.

She knew most of her teammates, some better than others, although she wasn't exactly friends with any of them. Colin was probably the one she had interacted most with, during their game of gobstones. As for Lucian, she knew him only because of that stupid Spin the Bottle game which she did not want to recall. Rebecca, she had only had a small interaction with, and to be honest, she admired the guy's carelessness towards what others thought of his opinions. Ava, she had had a small interaction with when they had sneaked into Hogsmede, very much against the rules.

WIS: 8 ACC: 9 STA: 5 EVA: 6 ARC: 6 STR: 7
Fearless

𝒜𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃
As strategized

━━━━ ROUND 1 ━━━━

Duelling, Hui-Ming had found, had layers. When you started in the sport, you thought it was rather similar to the video games -- shoot enough at the enemy, and some would inevitably connect. As one becomes more adept at the sport, understanding of tactics, spell selection, and versatility make themselves apparent. But then fifth-year comes, and all everyone knows about duelling goes right out the window.

It is not for nothing that the highest skill duel of the previous year ended in a draw, with all duellists practically unharmed after ten rounds. For those that were truly talented at the sport saw conflict through a lens beyond the scope of mere third-years such as himself.

And here, right now, the skill difference became most apparent. For even as Opeila was met with a myriad of incantations as soon as the duel had started, Hui-Ming wondered which of the plethora of tricks the senior duellist would choose to unveil.

Lo and behold, Winters chose Protego, a dreadfully advanced if useful spell; though one that had let her don the last time she had relied upon it. Would it be able to stand up to the tidal wave of spells sent her way? It seemed so, for the shield created easily absorbs a typical dancing feet spell from Ms Miller; and a rather devious duo of debilitating debuffs in the excellently-cast tongue-tying spell from Mr McCoire; and a slightly more unorthodox sneezing hex from Mr Mornstern.

Ms Winchect's incendio bounced off the shield and towards Mr Mornstern just a moment after, and Hui-Ming cannot suppress the suspicion that the girl might have intentionally angled the spell to try and hit her ally. A narrowing of eyes, but as moderator he would do nothing to intervene in the cracks of the younger Slytherin team unless it became absolutely necessary.

And the cracks were showing; for Mr Loops, either panicked or nervous, had miscast his Weather-modifying Charm; causing dark clouds to coalesce form over himself and Mr Mornstern. A bolt of lightning shot down and struck Mr Loops almost immediately, as if to cement his ill-luck.

"Oh dear me," Hui-Ming said in a voice of exaggerated faux-boredom. "Do be careful, if you will. I imagine clearing a charred corpse would be a lot of tedious paperwork."

━━━━ SUMMARY ━━━━

OC Notes:
1/ Remember that this duel follows the dueling system outlined here
2/ deadline for posting and owling action to in 7 days or 168 hours from the timestamp of this post
3/ Remember that this is an unofficial event, and that the wordcount thus remains 200 words

COMMENTARY

"Did someone say something about a charred corpse?!"
A boisterous voice, almost loud enough to fill the entire stone room. There were only so many people who would find the thrill of burnt carcasses of fellow students. And one of them, is none other than Vale Ashwood. A hyena-like escaped the girl's throat, and her body would appear from the shadows with bright, amber eyes. Any bugs wandering the room immediately rushed away. Her sharp, black nails scrapped the stone wall she passed by as her legs sent her up the wooden steps of bleachers. There she sat, in the most open-ended area for all to see.

"Well damned I be! That's quite an abundance of spells going on here! Hm, I suppose I can see that duelling maybe isn't as boring as I thought!" Vale scanned the room, watching all the spells from the younger years casually brushed off by her former captain. Vale twisted her head, laying slack among the bleachers as she turned her head towards Opeila. "Nicely done, captain! You still look alive! It'd look bad if you let your underclassmen throw you around firsthand!" Vale made a large smile, one not meant with hazardous sarcasm. Though for Vale, it seems she enjoyed what was happening regardless.

A whistle escaped Vale's lips, as she sniffed the air. Well, she knew why there was some sort of concerns for carcasses in the middle of the duelling room. It was a familiar, lovely smell. Reminded her of home, of her mother's wonderous cooking. Were they attempting to cast a storm in the room against her former captain? Or, just maybe, there was someone willing to turn the cards against their own team, even if it injures themselves? Quite Slytherin! "Oh! All that and for what? You might as well have set yourself on fire! It would be just as entertaining! Good shot, I'd say!" Vale clapped her hands loudly, as if she was assuring everyone knew she was in the room. Her eyes immediately took to noticing her fellow broom racing teammate on the field, and her smile only widen. "Colin! Playing with your underclassmen? Don't play too rough now. Who knows how frail their bones might be! They surely don't have as tough bones as we do!" And just like that, the older girl sat back, wishing to see just how their next course of action would be. Was this a match meant to show off the skills of a professional duellist? It surely was working so far.

Attire: Usual weekend kit: Slytherin pride, kilt, no shoes, wolf fang necklace, feathers in his braid.

Reducio

The instant the duel's opening salvo began it was all over!

Ming called for them all to start, and that they did: bowing properly, for we must preserve the niceties, six wands aimed at one person! Immediately Colin thought Sus! She's up to something! And indeed, Opeila cast a shield charm onto herself, all the efforts of his team mates slammed against the shield and dissipated harmlessly.

Well, harmlessly for their opponent. Colin caught the angle of Ava's incendio as it zang first towards the older Slytherin girl and then bounced off the shield and then zipped to Colin's side heading towards Luci! He glared briefly at the girl's aim, if aim it was. Fortunately, his mate was able to step aside just in time! Unforunately, his other mate, Loops, was not quite so lucky! His weather charm backfired, and the resulting micro storm began to pack a severely low pressure punch over himself and Luci!

And just like that, the sound of spells ceased, leaving only the rumble of thunder in the duelling hall, and the thundering of a couple friendly voices! Apart from Liam's whooping cheers, Colin's racing mate, Vale of the Fire Storm, offered her commentary. She was right, though, Opeila's choice was brilliant given what the rest of them had thrown her way!

Colin looked over towards her, and she gave him a huge smile. "Colin! Playing with your underclassmen? Don't play too rough now. Who knows how frail their bones might be! They surely don't have as tough bones as we do!"

"Pfft! They've got to learn sometime, right mate? Might as well snap their ickle bones now and see what they're made of!" Colin knew well that Vale was made of stern stuff, and on the racing course he had demonstrated that he was actually pretty tough, even though he looked like might break in half like a storm tossed twig!

Action: Considering how a spell might get around the shield charm.
Stats: Stamina: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 4 | Wisdom: 7 | Arcane Power: 6 | Accuracy: 6