2022, Stage 3 Ravenclaw vs Slytherin: Match 6

N.b. Aida now officially takes they/their pronouns.
Action: Doing as strategized.

Callie wasn't exactly in the best of moods but that could quickly be rectified by the beginning of a new round of duelling. Duelling was exciting! Homework was not. Duelling meant spells and chaos! Homework meant pain and suffering. Lamentations aside, the point remains that Callie was rather excited to kick off a new duel session - especially with another new partner to stir things up. She wasn't overly familar with Aida just yet but held a degree of respect for the girl and her rather impressive abilities. "Hell YEAH. I mean heck. You get the point!" Callie exclaimed in response to her new duelling partner before turning her gaze across the platform to her opponents.

With the year's end coming ever closer, there was a strange sense of finality that came with the beginning of Stage 3- it was the culmination of a year's worth of practice and experience, placed into a spectator-lined piste with a round limit that had severely confined her last duel's ability. The hard limit made sense logically, yes, but the hidden stress of time wasted could not escape them all. This duel would be Astrea's last official duel of the school year and of her overall fourth-year career, not to mention the only true activity she would see until the coming summer games, to which she sacrificed the bulk of her summer towards the continued horror of communal living.

This year of the championships had been, suffice to say, a mixed bag. Unlike the previous stages, the team partners had been shuffled strategically and Astrea had once again been forced to get over the learning curve that was training to coordinate with a previously unrelated party. It was a combination of Astrea's own anti-social nature and the culture of Slytherin's duelling team that prevented inter-team interactions unless forced to acknowledge, but even then it was a challenge to stake claim to the practice rooms with the new influx of prospective duelists within all of the houses.

Ravenclaw was perhaps one of the most worthy of rivals within the duelling sphere, having proved quite formidable in all previous engagements, but the Viridian Vipers did not reach such a reputation of victory for nought. The Gryffindors from her last duel had had only derision for Astrea's contentment at an act of silence, but, blocking out the chatter of spectator spots, she supposed that such bold stripes were beholden to point out those who were different than they. In ready position for the first round of spells, Astrea sent a sharp look of preparedness towards her partner and turned to meet eyes with their two blue-boasted opponents.

Action: Doing as strategised.

The last time Sarah had been on the piste had gone considerably less well than she would have liked it to. That was, what she could remember at least. The entire thing remained such a blur to the Slytherin that she sometimes felt as though she’d watched it happening to someone else rather than living it. She’d not been in the right headspace to be duelling, so caught up in the cross words of her father and cruel stares of those who so often visited the manner. She’d been running away the last time she was here - trying to escape by throwing herself into danger, into a situation which she couldn’t predict and loved for precisely that reason. Sarah had since learned that that was precisely the opposite of what she wanted to be doing when stepping out into a duel lest she find herself waking up in an uncomfortable hospital bed, soaked to the bone and with bruises blossoming across her body. She had to be there because it was where she wanted to be, not because it was where her father didn’t want her to be. And this was exactly where she wanted to be, to prove to her team and to herself that she was meant to be a Viper.

Nova had sensed the determination in her human the moment the pair had woken up and had since not left the Slytherin’s side. The silver cat had spent the morning purring at Sarah’s feet and following wherever she went. It was only when she walked up onto the piste that the cat finally left her owner, gently butting her head against Sarah’s ankle before wandering towards the gathering crowd to hopefully find another young witch or wizard to pester.

Sarah readied herself as she allowed her eyes to glance over the other people in the room, sparing a look at her opponents before they fell onto her partner. She offered the slightly older girl a smile, knowing that they’d have each others backs today despite being little more than acquaintances outside of duelling. As she readied herself for the duel to begin, Sarah twirled her wand around deft fingers - once, twice, three times - before steadying her grip on light aspen. Here we go again, she mused as her eyes narrowed in on her targets and the duel began.

Action | Doing as strategized

ROUND 1

Callie Jensen vs Astrea Neptune & Sarah Lightwood

Reducio

Callie casts Wind Jinx with Spell Spread at Astrea and Sarah.
Wisdom DC: 11 + 2 Slytherin's Lovely Creature + 2 Spell Spread = 15
Wisdom Check: [d20: 12] + 12 = 24 > 15 → Success

→ Wind Jinx's Spell Spread 1 (at Astrea):
Auto-Miss (19-20): [d20: 5] → No auto-miss Astrea's Terrible Presence
Auto-Split (10): [d10: 6] → No splitting.
Accuracy Check: [d20: 4] + 12 - 2 Spell Spread = 14
Evasion Check: [d20: 20] + 10 = 30
14 < 30 → Miss

→ Wind Jinx's Spell Spread 2 (at Sarah):
Auto-Miss: [d20: 17] → No auto-miss Astrea's Terrible Presence
Auto-Split (10): [d10: 6] → No splitting.
Accuracy Check: [d20: 12] + 12 - 2 Spell Spread = 22
Evasion Check: [d20: 11] + 9 = 20
22 > 20 → Hit
Duration: [d3: 3] → 2 rounds
Damage: 50 + 7 × 10 = 120 –10% = 108
Effects:
– Callie's Wind Jinx hits Sarah and deals 108 damage.
– Sarah suffers –4 Evasion for 2 rounds.

Aida Ellwood

Reducio

Aida casts Smokescreen Spell.
Wisdom DC: 8 + 2 Slytherin's Lovely Creature = 10
Wisdom Check: [d20: 16] +10 = 26 > 10 → Success
Duration: [d6: 4] → 2 rounds
Effects:
– Everyone except Aida (Blindvision) suffers –5 Accuracy –3 – 2 (for 10 ARC) = –5 for 2 rounds.

Astrea Neptune vs Aida Ellwood

Reducio

Astrea casts Wind Jinx at Aida.
Wisdom DC: 11
Wisdom Check: [d20: 14] + 11 = 25 → Success
Auto-Split (10): [d10: 7] → No splitting.
Accuracy Check: [d20: 8] + 12 = 20
Evasion Check: [d20: 12] + 6 = 18
20 > 18 → Hit
Duration: [d3: 2] → 1 round
Damage: 50 + 10 × 10 = 150
Effects:
– Astrea's Wind Jinx hits Aida and deals 150 damage.
– Aida suffers –4 Evasion for 1 round.

Sarah Lightwood vs Aida Ellwood

Reducio

Sarah casts Disarming Charm at Aida.
Wisdom DC: 10
Wisdom Check: [d20: 10] + 12 = 22 → Success
Auto-Miss (19-20): [d20: 3] → No auto-miss Astrea's Terrible Presence
Accuracy Check: [d20: 14] + 9 = 23
Evasion Check: [d20: 7] + 6 = 13
23 > 13 → Hit
Duration: [d3: 3] → 2 rounds
Effects:
– Sarah's Disarming Charm hits Aida and Aida loses the wand for 2 rounds (requires Search for Wand action to reduce the duration).

The pure awe painted Meenauh's face as she saw the first spell from the Ravenclaw's duellist split in half, just like Galton's. The girl kept improving and reach the heights to manage the splitting. Meenauh clapped in her mind as she wouldn't allow herself to express her actual feelings at that moment. The moderator has to stay in a clear mind and as neutral as possible. While one of the windy branches missed Astrea, the other properly hit Sarah, sending her into a temporary fighting against the wind.

Slytherin seemed to have some strategy as they instantly sent two spells towards Aida. Unfortunately for Aida, both spells hit Ms. Ellwood hard. One sending Aida's senses away, the other sending Aida's wand away. The next second the smoke filled the stage and Meenauh at first almost stumbled thinking that Aida cast a wandless spell, but then she realised it takes time for the smoke to dissipate properly, so she must have cast it right before losing her wand.

The start was an interesting one, Meenauh noted. Considering that fact that Meenauh was unaware of Aida's abilities to orient in complete darkness.

The spectator thread for this duel can be found here.
Come cheer for your House and friends!

Information

1. You have 96 hours from now to write your entrance posts (50 words min).
2. In the same time period, send me (Meenauh Silmataurea) your team's actions per owl. Do not hint at your actions in your post.
3. If you don't post in the allotted time frame, your action is void.
4. Your stats, abilities, and spells have been locked to what they are now for the duration of this duel.
5. If you haven't yet, please familiarise yourself with the system and our latest patch.
6. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to owl or DM me.
7. Good luck, and have fun!

Duelling Spells

Duelling System

Newest Patch

Action: Doing as strategized.

Ah......chaos.

At least this specific brand of chaos was particularly entertaining compared to being stabbed by a spider. Even if she couldnt exactly see but then again Callie never had perfect vision to begin with. Hell, without her contact lenses or glasses she often compared herself to a lost mole.

"All good!" Callie called back to Aida, giving the girl a thumbs up in the general direction of her teammate. It was hard to find something to be particularly mad or disappointed at thus far. Callie was still riding the high of watching her spell split successfully for the first time in an official duel.

Both spells struck their intended destination before Astrea was forced to dodge a wind jinx that could have twinned her own, her partner not so lucky. The two teams were closely matched- an expected beginning. A thick plume of fog billowed out from her target's dark wood wand, which went flying out of their hands with an arcing movement that unintentionally spread the spell much quicker than it would have settled normally. The Slytherin made a mental note that the blonde other shared the same magical ability to multitask spell targets. To display such competence, to reveal a hand of cards, so early in the duel was a bold move indeed.

If Astrea was not so focused on keeping her bearings within the sudden screen of magical smoke and were wholly a different person, perhaps she would have had some sympathy for their sharp-eyed viewers who were being placed into great suspense. But alas, spectator eyes, including that of their steady moderator, were the last thing upon Astrea's mind when the duelling clock began to tick. Whether closely watched or not, she trusted no foul play would come to pass, if not from the deeply personal consequences of such obvious ploys than due to the innate shame of such desperately illegal resorts. Indeed, the actions they were to do now would set them up for the end.

Action: Doing as strategised.

Sarah stumbled backwards as a strong wind engulfed her, thanking her years of ballet training for allowing her the balance to stay on her feet. Deep green hair whipped around her head as she mentally cursed herself for not following her own instructions from the last time she’d duelled and tying it up and out of the way - not that she’d likely be able to see much better than she currently could with the thick smoke covering the piste, even if her hair wasn’t an issue. Still, she was pleased with how the duel had started, with one of their opponents wandless and the other with the same limited vision that the Slytherin’s themselves had.

The duel had started in a surprisingly predictable way, despite the flurry of spells which were thrown. The lack of unwanted surprise was welcomed by the Slytherin - even hit by spells she was unnerved if they were those she expected to be sent her way. It was the curveballs she most dreaded, and with the thick smoke surrounding her she knew they were likely to begin flying. She’d not let her guard down, even as she settled into the excitement of the duel.

Action | Doing as strategized