The Drowned Palace Group 13

Date	:	October 4th, 2025
Color code	:	Written|Thought|Said

"Revelio!"

Sere casted the Revelio Charm, though she wasn't sure if this spell would work. Slowly but sure, she saw some words grew brighter, while some others chose to hide in dim. Right, bioluminescence. Sere had a hunch that light wouldn't be the algae's best friend. That was the only reason she didn't cast Lumos Duo or even Lumos Maxima, which were enough to bright up the entire room.

"So, his name is Kafelé?" @Kafelé Kahotep Sere turned to look at the tan-skinned boy, his golden-brown eyes reflecting the magical candlelight beautifully. "I'm Sere Nade... If you guys can see me, hi!" She waved, the candlelight was enough to make everyone visible in her sight. "Gryffindor's third-year. Nice to meet you all." She gave a small bow, looking more like a royalty on the dance floor than a pirate on the high seas.

Yeah, this was not exactly the right timing, but she hoped they could also utilize this chance to introduce themselves. Not a good idea to call everyone 'hey you' and something like that until the end of the game. @Tatiana Contraire @Shelowyn Bloomthorn @Evony Senoj @Aisling Doyle

"She's right, Kafelé. I think you should blow out your candle for now." @Kafelé Kahotep Sere turned to those who were trying to find an answer from the few words, "Such a nice idea, you two, but it still feels completely random to me." @Evony Senoj @Aisling Doyle Sere raised her wand again, "Then, I'll try to cast the same spell." She waited for Kafelé to put out his candle, and hopefully no one was free-minded enough to complicate things by playing some tricks at this very moment.

Action : Casting Revelio again at the strange patterns after all lights are off.
Interacting with : This group, tagged.

Thing(s) : Her Wand
Stats : STA 10 (+4)| EVA 15 (+2)| STR 4 | WIS 8 | ARC 8 | ACC 9
Abilities : Statistically Relevant (STA) | Statistically Relevant (STA) | Statistically Relevant (EVA)

Kafelé scanned the room in the light of his candle observing the shapes that were previously hidden. He was about to move closer when he heard a familiar voice call out his name. Aisling and another girl were asking him to blow oit his candle. "Im s..s..sorry i was only t..t..trying to help. he stammered Kafelé didnt do well with social situations. Hurriedly he went to blow out his candle and after it was out he put it away. Kafelé was blinded by the sudden chamge in light. The algae wasnt glowing brightly like before and Kafelé was begining to get scared. Nervously he reached into his robes and pulled out his magic moth. He animated it so it would fly around him the soft flitting gave him some piece. Slowly his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he walked over to the group slowly. His arms were pinned against his chest and he was hunched over as he slow stepped over. His moth confidently flitting around his scared face. S..s..sorry. he stated quietly to the Griffindor girl. He found a place near them to stand and observe silently. Kafelé wanted to be useful but didnt know what to do in the moment.

Aisling looked over at Kalefé. She frowned at seeing him anxious like this. Just like him, she knew he was someone who struggled in social situations. He needed a confidence boost, and it showed. She cleared her throat. "You can see the riddle, right?" she asked him, "what's your best guess at it, you think?" She knew putting Kalefé on the spot like this could easily backfire, but perhaps letting him know that someone valued his opinion on something could reassure him. Maybe the other girls would follow her lead, too. After all, they did seem friendly enough. Two of them were even Hufflepuff like her and Kafelé. She would be hard-pressed, as well as fuming, if the girls didn't give him some grace.

Aisling turned to the other girls. "My ... my name's Aisling," she introduced herself, following Sere's lead, "I'm a first-year in Hufflepuff." Was the timing a tad off? A touch perhaps, but Aisling didn't really care all that much. They were a team, and if they wanted to solve the escape room, she knew they needed to work like one. The first step to that was at least saying who each other was so that they could get each other's attention.

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Alliast felt a chill; she hadn't expected this place to be like this. For once, the girl's bright smile felt a little unsure of herself. And for once, she was a little quiet, a little tense as everyone moved. She wasn't usually like this, but it was the darkness that frightened her. The darkness terrified Alliast. I mean, how could it not be? A lot of things might be happening around her, but the darkness would conceal them like cryptic curtains.

But then she looked around; everyone was trying to help, and when they found a clue, her fear faded a little. At least she wasn't the only one. Alliasta took a deep breath; there was a smell of seaweed.

"Hey Hi I'm Alliasta and I'm a third year Gryffindor. Uhm I have a phobia of the dark so uhm is it okay if I stay close to any of you?"

Alliasta smiled, a bit sweetly and frightened. She tried to stay as close as possible to everyone in the group. In fact, her fear was gradually diminishing, because the dark didn't seem so scary when she was around others. She was used to being surrounded by people, so the cramped space in the room was a relief.

"I'm usually a forgetful person because I don't have a very long attention span, but if the writing on the wall is connected to the song we're hearing, maybe if we all hum the parts we remember, we can somehow find a connection? So maybe the writing is a continuation of the song? And that's how we find the clue?"

Ability: Lovely Creature| Calming Presence|Chasers Interception
|Accuracy 9||Strength 8||Evasion 8|
|Stamina 7| |Wisdom 7|
Arcane Power 6|
Word Count268

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Shelowyn shimmied over to make room for the others who had come to look at the glowing algae. Before she could make anything out, a light flickered on behind her. The filaments shrunk back, in the same moment an older student cast a spell. Some of the algea stopped, revealing words as clear as day. 'Search, through, your, treasure...?' She closed her eyes, listening to the song.

"I think the song and these words go hand in hand. Both speak about a treasure anyway..." Shelowyn mumbled just loud enough for those paying attention to hear. She hummed along with the song, squinting at the words in front of her. "The song is missing two lines to finish the stanza or whatever it's called, I don't remember. It looks like there are two sentences here," she waved at the wall. Shelowyn didn't speak loudly and was startled out of her spoken thoughts when the others began to introduce themselves. She turned to face them, nodding in acknowledgement to each name and new face. As they were all clearly seen in the candlelight. "I am Shelowyn, Bloomthorn. First year, Hufflepuff. Glad to make your acquaintance." Her lips smirked, and she nodded stifly before the light went out. Her gaze returned to the filaments.

"I'm usually a forgetful person because I don't have a very long attention span, but if the writing on the wall is connected to the song we're hearing, maybe if we all hum the parts we remember, we can somehow find a connection? So maybe the writing is a continuation of the song? And that's how we find the clue?" One of the girl's remarked. Shelowyn looked over at her, trying to recall her name.

"I agree, Alliasta." She responded bluntly as if she were bored but her eyes, shielded in the dark, glimmered with anticipation. "The song is structured in stanzas, four sentences that are connected. The first two and last two end in words that rhyme. Except the last stanza, when she stops singing...she only sings the first two. She's missing the last two lines to finish the stanza..." Her voice was finally clearly heard, speaking up so that all could hear her in the cramped space. She then quietly hummed along with the song, doing her best to remember the lyrics.


Action: Trying to remember the tune to the song

@Tatiana Contraire
@Evony Senoj
@Alliasta Holista
@Aisling Doyle
@Sere Nade
@Kafelé Kahotep

"It ... it's nice to meet you, too," Aisling said to Shelowyn. She was surprised she hadn't seen Shelowyn before, mainly because they're both from Hufflepuff. Out of the other Hufflepuffs here, she had only known Kafelé. Speaking of which, she glanced back at him. She pursed her lips together. I hope he's not too scared, she thought.

Aisling glanced back at the riddle on the wall.


Words were clearly missing. But from what she could tell, it seemed to be a directive, but that could've been too obvious. No way were the organizers going to play it easy, especially at Hogwarts of all places. She glanced around the room. She was still insistent that the song's lyrics were a clue to find a way out, or at least a potential key. But perhaps she didn't think about its phrasing. "A song that tells us what to do," she muttered. She thought back more at the prior lyrics before looking over at the others. "The next lyrics could be about a treasure, but we might need something that rhymes with 'search'," she said, "maybe we need to find something made out of birch," she said, "or that if we have a hard time finding it, we'll be in a 'lurch'. Maybe something's hidden on a perch somewhere?" She shrugged. "I ... I know they rhyme with 'search'," she said, "but the lyrics ... it's telling a ghost story while also giving us a clue, maybe a cautionary tale?" She sighed. "I'm fierce stumped on this one," Aisling admitted.

MOD POST - GROUP 13

After @Kafelé Kahotep extinguished his candle, the algae seemed to have relaxed a slight bit, as if thankful that the light (that for them was far too much despite it not being in the slightest bit problematic for people) was no longer an issue now. They seemed to take back their places.

@Sere Nade followed with a revelio, but her wand unfortunately decided not to cooperate with her for that spell, as it backfired a bit, the crackling on the wand being the only thing noticed before...well...nothing happened. Or so it seemed. Maybe the algae took mercy on them, or maybe it was how the room was designed, but...

Whatever semblance of "words" that were not even clear as to what they were before (more like blanks), barely visible before, almost seemed petrified now, taking clearer shapes. It was still hard to distinguish much, only about 3 NEW words could be made out and even that with quite a bit of difficulty because of how they "revealed" themselves.

In total now they had 10 words, which was still something compared to nothing.

your xxxxxxxxx treasure xxx Fail xxxxxxxxxxxx stays xxxxxx do xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxx search, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx through xxxxxx is xxxxxxxxxxx so xxx

It also became quite clear by now that the words were scrambled, quite a bit at that too. Though the putting in order would be much easier than finding out the words at least by the looks of it.

Aisling examined the writing on the wall. Were the words scrambled? Aisling supposed that they had to be. After all, the only capitalized word was right in the center. She knew it could be at the start of a second sentence, but considering how the stanza before them was structured, that seemed to be a stretch. She pointed at the first line. "Fail," she said, "that's where 'Fail' has to go. The 'f' would only be capitalized if it's at the start of a sentence. And an instruction at that." She pointed at the rest of the stanza. "And there isn't another sentence," she added, "it wouldn't really make sense for it to be capitalized in the middle of a sentence." She took in a deep breath after talking. Did it come off as a bit know-it-all-ish? Perhaps, but Aisling was confident she was onto something. If I'm right, she thought, I never want to hear someone say that Hufflepuffs are stupid ever again.

As for the rest of the stanza, well, Aisling was still at a bit of a loss. The word "search" was next to the comma, so she figured it would go there. But everything else was up for debate. She let out a sigh. "That ... that's all I got, though," she admitted, "but if what ... what I think is the case, then it's a warning. If ... if we fail to find a way out, we'll miss out on some kind of 'treasure'." Well, no duh, she thought to herself directly after speaking.

The group was all busy trying to solve the riddle as a team. Social Anxiety had its grip on Kafelé and he had been silent. He was standing just to the side of the algae looking at the words and quietly humming the tune from before. He had been examining the message but coming up blank. The group was introducing themselves and he was unfamiliar with anyone save for Aisling. He wasn't very good with puzzles like this but the algae itself fascinated him. He whispered to himself I wonder it doesnt like candlelight but doesnt mind its own green glow. Would it....? Maybe if he backed away and cast the green sparks charm the algae would reveal more? he stepped back until he was at the edge of the glow, but not out of it and readied his wand. "I'm gonna try something. Im not sure if it will work. But if that plant doesnt mind its own glow maybe i can imitate it. Maybe.. it will.. help." He was nervous trying something after his candle caused issues. His idea was simple if he could cause a glow similar maybe the algae would respond and reveal more naturally. With a slashing motion of his wand he spoke the word "Verdimillious".

Evony nodded at the others as they introduced themselves. "Evony," she said simply before stepping closer to the revealed words again. They were already onto something for sure. Finish the song, try to make it follow the same rhyme scheme. There appeared to be 13 spaces for missing words and they had 10... but just looking at the scrambled words wasn't making it very clear what order they should go in. It seemed the blanks had subtle spacing that she suspected matched with the number of letters. She counted:
_ _ _ _ (4) _ _ _(3) _ _ _ _ _ _(6) , _ _ _ _(4) _ _ _ _(4) _ _(2) _ _ _ _ _ _(6) ,
_ _ _(3) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _(8) _ _ _ _(4) — _ _ _(3) _ _(2) _ _(2) _ _ _(3) .

And then counted the letters of their words: your(4); treasure(8); Fail(4); stays(5); do(2); and(3); search,(6); through(7); is(2); so(2)

"I agree that 'Fail' must come first, because of the capital," she said pointing at the first space, "and 'search' already has a comma attached, so it goes either here or here," she pointed to the third and seventh words. "It's an end rhyme, so like... Aisling?" she hoped she got the girl's name correct, "...said, this last word must rhyme with 'search'." She thought a moment, mumbling, "A three-letter word that rhymes with 'search'."

Coming up with nothing after a moment, she continued: "'Treasure' has 8 letters and this space has 8 blanks, so it likely goes there, but..." She stopped to count again. "But a couple of these words don't fit at all. 'Stays' has 5 letters and 'through' has 7, but there aren't spaces with that many blanks..." She turned toward the others to see their expressions; were they as confused as she was?

She sighed and turned back around to face the puzzle. Well, that wasn't very helpful. She felt further away from solving it than ever now. Maybe the number of blanks in each space didn't mean anything after all? It doesn't make any sense...

Interacting with: The group, in general and speaking to @Aisling Doyle directly.
Evony's Dialogue: 2d005f
WC: 356
Stats and Abilities in sig; Y2 ability not yet applied.