Poorly Matched Underdog?

september 18th 2023; interacting with @Kit Isabelle Blaine, mentioning @Rodney Hughes, Zach Zaphiere, and Raizel Voltrouz

How long had it been since she last stepped foot into the Duelling Club? It was almost two weeks at this point. Quite frankly, she didn't think she'd be going back into the place, but Rodney sounded enthusiastic about learning and using spells. Since Alyssea signed herself up for the duelling team not long after the duel with Zach, she figured more practice would suit her aspirations.

Raizel was a busy girl, so Alyssea didn't want to impose on her by asking to moderate this one. So, after owling Rodney to meet her after classes today, Alyssea came into the Duelling Club and just asked the first person she saw who wasn't duelling. Not a great way to introduce oneself, but the girl didn't seem that annoyed by the request.

She vaguely remembered the girl's name to be Kit, but Alyssea didn't ponder on it for too long until she took her position on Kit's left.

Alyssea learnt her lessons after the last duel with Zach. Don't use Fumos was the first (hard) lesson. While it was tempting to use the spell again, she didn't want to impair her accuracy. The last thing she needed was being humiliated by a First Year.

action sent.

Dialogue: #03733b

@Kit Isabelle Blaine

@Alyssea Brown

Monday, September the 18th, 2023

Today was the day of my first duel, and I was excited. I had already practiced some spells in the dueling room, and now I had the chance to test them out on Alyssea in an actual duel. Oh what a duel it would be. Now generally, I wasn’t a violent person, both normally, and during practice, so I wouldn’t be lighting Alyssea on fire today, except to give her a taste of her own medicine if she decided to do it to me. No, fire hurt and burns took a while to heal, even with burn healing paste, and I didn’t want to give anyone such a long lasting effect.

As a matter of fact, I actually had some idea of how much burns hurt given that I had gotten one while experiment with a candle. What was I experimenting with exactly? How close my hand could come to the fire before I had to pull away. And I wasn’t worrying too much about getting a burn because we had burn healing paste at home so my burn would be healed long before my parents came home. And while that was true, my grandparents still found out about me playing around with fire in ways I wasn’t supposed to due to my palm being covered in some kind of orange paste, and they weren’t too happy about it.

Needless to say, that day taught me a pain that I definitely wouldn’t want to give others, even if their burns could be magically healed without much problems. I still had a few spells in my inventory that I could use, although whether or not they alone could bring me to victory was still a question to be answered. After all, Alyssea was a second year and knew more spells then me, so my chance of beating her was not in my favor. But then again, with a bit of luck, I just might knock her out before she did the same to me. I heard the kid Alyssea hired to moderate the duel introduce us both before staring the match. My wand was already out, and I was ready to cast a spell, I just didn’t know which spell I should use. Well, there was one particularly good spell that might turn the battle in my favor should I hit. But who was I kidding? Of course I was gonna miss.

Kit felt like she started to understand why some people chose to become duellists. It was, above all, exciting. This duel had just started with an absolute bang. She had thought Rodney would be out soon, but that was not the case. Alyssea had chosen a spell that was, in Kit's opinion, poor spell: the Tickling Charm. Kit had never been hit by such a charm before - nor did she know how to cast it. But, it seemed like it not only hurt, at least a bit, it was also absolutely torturing. 'Laughing's good for you, Rodney!' Kit shouted above the noise of the Duelling Club. 'I'm seventy per cent sure that you wouldn't die,' she teased.

But Kit's attention snapped as Rodney decided to retaliate with something much much better: Kit's favourite spell, Flipendo. Or maybe it was Incendio that was her favourite? She forgot, but it doesn't matter. His accuracy was perfection, hitting Alyssea directly in the chest and sending her back. 'Bravo!' Kit clapped. She was genuinely jealous of Rodney's aim. If Kit ever wanted to go into duelling - which she probably didn't, but just in case - she certainly needed advice from this guy. But she turned her attention back to the piste, as the two duellist should be preparing for the next round.

september 18th 2023; interacting with @Kit Isabelle Blaine and @Rodney Hughes

Alyssea was tempted to throw a bubble spell at Rodney since she knew what kind of effects that would have on his future actions. But then it'd turn out too much like her first duel and she'd look like she was copying from her opponent.

If there was one thing she did take away from her first duel was that strategy did more damage than just throwing around random spells and hoping for the best. Now, that's not to say that wouldn't be her strategy at some point because she'd definitely do it towards the final rounds if Rodney was still standing.

She threw the tickling charm at Rodney, hoping it would impair his accuracy for a few rounds until she got her strategy up. While it was too early to say whether it would work, she had a good feeling about it now that she'd thought the whole thing through.

"All you've got, Brown?" The moderator chided.

Alyssea shook her head. No, of course not.

Then came Rodney's spell. Alyssea must've slipped because she couldn't dodge in time and that Flipendo hit like a truck. Despite the hit to her body (and confidence), Alyssea threw Rodney a thumbs up.

"Nice Flipendo!"

So what now?

Alyssea raised her wand again. She could only hope this would work.

action sent.

Dialogue: #03733b

@Kit Isabelle Blaine

@Alyssea Brown

Monday, September the 18th, 2023

“Flipendo!” I said as I cast the spell, and to my surprise, it actually managed to hit the intended target. I didn’t have time to celebrate however, because just as my Flipendo hit Alyssea, her spell hit me. I felt like I was being tickled and I immediately burst into laughter. “Laughing’s good for you, Rodney! I’m seventy percent sure that you wouldn’t die.” I heard the moderator say. She was right, laughter was good as normally, it supports the immune system, helps reduce stress, and helps relieve pain, among other benefits, but laughing too much could kill you.

I then heard Alyssea compliment my Flipendo and I replied through bursts of laughter by saying “Yeah… thanks… Your spe… spell was… good… too.” But with how hard it was for me to speak, I’d rather be hit by my Flipendo. Honestly, how was I even supposed to cast my next spell? I’d open my mouth and out would come some incomprehensible mumbo jumbo that no one would understand. And then there was the wand movement itself which, honestly, I could pull off if it wasn’t complicated.

Anathema Daphnis had a very simple wand movement (literally pointing your wand at the ground by your targets feet) but aside from the spell name being really complicated, I had never actually casted the spell before so that was a no go. Perhaps a spell that would give Alyssea a taste of her own medicine, I had a few at my disposal. One had an easy wand movement, the others had complicated wand movements. Well, I didn’t have much time to choose, so I chose the one that came to my head first. As I pointed my wand at Alyssea, a single thought came to me. This time, I was actually going to miss.

Alyssea v.s Rodney

Reducio

Alyssea casts Obscuro; WDC 10
Alys wis [d20 : 3] + 8 = 11, success
Alys acc [d20 : 13] + 7 = 20
Rodney eva [d20 : 16] + 5 = 21
20 < 21, miss

Rodney v.s Alyssea

Reducio

Rodney casts Tarantallegra; WDC 9
Rodney wis [d20 : 12] + 7 = 19, success
Alys auto-dodge (EM), 19-20 to auto-dodge
[d20 : 2], failed
Rodney acc [d20 : 5] + 5 = 10
Alys eva [d20 : 13] + 7 = 20
10 < 20, miss

september 18th 2023; interacting with @Kit Isabelle Blaine and @Rodney Hughes

Alyssea should've known that casting a newly learned spell would be a bad idea. Still, now was a good a time as any to try things out, right? You know, like YOLO. So, she raised her wand to aim for Rodney's eyes. "Obscuro."

The conjured blindfold just formed at the tip of her wand which, honestly, was a relief. The worst thing that could happen was the spell backfiring and blindfolding her. But somehow, somehow, Rodney just dodged the blindfold and came out unscathed.

Aw man, Alyssea thought. There goes my grand plan. She had this whole lineup of spells ready if the blindfold hit. It would end the duel quickly if the blindfold hit its mark. Oh well, time for a change of plans.

The next spell Rodney cast was a good ol' dancing feet spell that Alyssea despised with a capital d. Alyssea lowered her wand and spun out of the spell's firing line, determined to not get hit by it. Sure enough, the smoke cleared and it was just the two of them standing on opposite sides of the piste.

"Good choice of spell," Alyssea said, "I like casting it, but it's not my favourite to be up against."

Dialogue: #03733b

@Kit Isabelle Blaine

@Alyssea Brown

Monday, September the 18th, 2023

I was right, for once, because I had indeed missed with the spell I had cast: Tarantallegra. This was not surprising of course, considering the fact that I was still laughing when I cast it, but at least my opponent had struck the same fate. What was more important however, was that Alyssea was clearly much more skilled than I was, and she was not afraid to use this to her advantage. I knew this because she had cast a spell that shot a blindfold right at me, a spell that I only barely knew about. In fact, the blindfold almost managed to wrap itself around my eyes, and should it have hit me, I would’ve basically lost the duel right then and there. Luckily for me though I had managed to quickly moved out of the blindfold’s trajectory, so I still had a barely decent chance of winning. “Good choice of spell.” I heard Alyssea tell me. “I like casting it but it’s not my favorite to be up against.” By this point, the laughter of Alyssea’s first spell had already worn off, so I responded to Alyssea in my normal voice, without any laughter. “Thank you for the compliment Alyssea. Your spell was good as well. It’s a shame that I was lucky enough to avoid it.” So what now? What spell could I possibly cast on Alyssea that would damage her hard enough to give me better chance of winning? But then I had to ask the question, was damaging Alyssea even necessary?

Alyssea v.s Rodney

Reducio

Alyssea casts Incendio; WDC 9
Alys wis [d20 : 17] + 8 = 25, success
Alys acc [d20 : 9] + 7 = 16
Rodney eva [d20 : 5] + 5 = 10
16 > 10, hit!
duration [d6 : 3], not aflame
Rodney takes 50 + 6*20 = 170 HP dmg (as per newest patch)

Rodney v.s Alyssea

Reducio

Rodney casts Verdimillious; WDC 6
Rodney wis [d20 : 5] + 7 = 12, success
Alys auto-dodge EM, success on 19-20
[d20 : 15], failed
Rodney acc [d20 : 2] + 7 = 9
Alys eva [d20 : 9] + 7 = 16
9 < 16, miss

september 18th 2023; interacting with @Kit Isabelle Blaine and @Rodney Hughes

Despite only being a Second Year, Alyssea knew one thing that stood out about Hufflepuffs: fire. Like, literal fire. But while Hufflepuffs aren't actual arsonists, they were often the victims of it. Rodney was no different.

Alyssea only liked to bring out this spell as a last resort. The last time she cast this, she burned off someone's entire sleeve (it was a nice shirt, too! What a waste, honestly). She traced the wand movement and said the incantation of the fire-making spell. Sure enough, little bursts of flame shot out from the tip of her wand and flew in Rodney's direction.

And what do you know? The spell hit its mark. Rodney should probably count himself lucky that his sleeve wasn't burnt off like the last time Alyssea did this. He would just feel a little hot. Shame she wasn't an avid potions fan because a burn healing paste would be useful for him.

As for Rodney's spell, it was the classic sparks charm intended to blind her. How did she manage to dodge it? Who knows. But the good thing was that she wasn't blinded and she also wasn't on fire. Always a good thing.

Alyssea took a deep breath. Hopefully this would end soon.