Start of Summer Scavenger Hunt PV SHC Finished

Evidently, there wasn't anyone that minded enough to interfere with the progression for the Red Team soon found their way to the Outdoor Club Area. Having sprinted at full effort, Evelynn was red-faced and breathing heavily by the time she arrived. Did that make her less than presentable? Perhaps. Was it a little childish to be racing against the rest in her own personal contest that noone else had agreed to? Oh, most definitely. With Quidditch having been finished for the season, however, and the martial arts club yet to really take off for her, and examinations forcing her to hole up even more than usual to study, she had been experiencing a significant lapse in physical exertion; and with the slumber party and return to home on the horizon, she had an overflowing amount of nerves and energy to dispense of.

First to arrive on scene, she swiped up the flag mid stride before skid-hopping to a stop and spinning about to face the rest of her team closing in. "It appears we were right," she smiled, cheeks ablaze with excitement. Holding this second one out in her opposite hand as the other, she waved it before her, asking, "Who wants to hold onto this one?" Whoever would take up the mantle to relieve her of this flag would find it released to them without question.

It was strange though. At the last clue destination, there had been a large chest. Not only that, but also the flute and the paper clue in addition to the flag she now carried. But here... Even before the flag had been taken from her, Evelynn had begun panning her gaze about in search of... anything, really. There hadn't even been any more of those gold coins on the way here, and if there were no obvious clues, then how were they supposed to know what to do next? When the flag was gone, however, that left her free to invest her attention fully into the search. There had to be something here, surely..

And then she spotted them. Not too far off, there were a handful of abandoned spheres. Gobstones, by the looks of them. Which was odd, given that a scan of the area indicated that there were no games in progress nearby, and noone who appeared to be in search of wayward marbles. With a tilt of her head, she jogged over to them, crouching to take a better look. Not quite sure how the game of Gobstones worked and only knowing that they could spray ink at people, Evelynn regarded them with cautious disdain. She was in no mood to accidentally provoke a staining attack. Instead, she moved her head about to inspect them each from various angles such that no contact with them would have to be made. What she noticed immediately was that each of the four of them bore a letter.

"I believe I've found something," Evelynn announced, rising calmly to look back over her shoulder to the rest of her team again. "There are gobstones over here, and I think they may be our next clue. They have letters written on them: O, C, C, and M. What do you think that might mean?"

Already she had been racking her brain trying to think of how they might decipher that particular clue. She concluded that it had to be an acronym of some sort, but as she was only a first year with limited exposure to some of the classes at the school, nothing immediately came to mind. But hopefully someone else in the group might be able to think of something. Meanwhile, as she waited for the others' insight, she began mentally cycling through the various areas and buildings on the grounds in an attempt to see if there might be any sort of correlation that could be identified.

Action: Idly glancing about her immediate area while trying to think what O C C M could mean and asking her team for help in deciphering it

[font=century gothic]INTERACTING WITH @Ariana Walker, @Adonis Thorn, @Sapphire Riddle and @Taylor Natalie Rogers-Freeman[/font]

UPON ARRIVING AT THE OUTDOOR CLUB AREAS, the pale-haired girl opted to just stand to the side. She didn't intend to take the flag. She just stood to the side, watching Evelynn. She followed quietly after the other girl, cat-quiet footsteps making no noise against the floor. She was always afraid of surprising someone by creeping up on them, but she forgot that in the rush of the scavenger hunt.

She watched over the redheaded girl, looking at the letters on the gobstones that the girl had pointed out. She thought over the letters. O C C M... If you rearrange the letters, it's C O M C, which is the acronym for Care of Magical Creatures... Does that mean anything? Maybe, she thought. She ran her tongue over her teeth as her thoughts ran on her own.

"It could be rearranged to spell CoMC, the acronym for Care of Magical Creatures..." she said aloud, loud enough for the members of her team to hear. "That's also one of the locations we can go to, isn't it? What if we tried going there?" Her voice was quiet still, barely a whisper. She wasn't really comfortable with these people yet, since she barely knew them.

She looked towards the others, eyes gleaming in very faint excitement. "Are there any other ideas?" she questioned. If she got no rejections, she would go in that direction, but she waited for any answers first. She didn't want to make a wild assumption like she had the last time, but she was fairly certain on this one. She also couldn't think of anywhere else that they could go. The Great Lake was her second thought, but that would be a bit of a stretch.

She could only hope that her guess was right.

Action: Going towards CoMC if no rejections are made. Otherwise, going wherever others decide if they shoot down her thoughts on it.

-RED TEAM-

Ariana arrived right behind Evelynn, her cheeks a little flushed, but nevertheless she felt relatively fresh post the sudden burst of physical exercise.

Her Quidditch co-captain was swift in snatching the flag from its position, holding it out in a request for someone to keep a hold of it. “I'll take it.” Ariana offered, stepping forward and grasping a hold of the red streamer. The young beater's eyes strayed in the direction of the gobstones and resorted to follow Eve as the girl stopped to examine them.

“O, C, C, and M. What do you think that might mean?"

Ariana immediately recognised this as an anagram, her mind was slightly sharper than it had been before. The puzzle offered quite a simple term in the fact that it contained few and repeated letters. “I can only think it must be an anagram, so I guess the word is relatively simple; it has few letters within it.” She was thinking of a full word though, and so she didn’t immediately recognise that the it was in fact an acronym for further relations. However a moment passed and something clicked inside of her; could it be Care of magical creatures? COMC?...that seems to work? Doesn’t it? She didn’t voice this thought aloud at first however, still intent on reaching other various possibilities. It seemed that another girl was certain of the answer though, and as she spoke up Ariana turned to focus on what she was saying.

The gryffindor smiled at her in acceptance, “I think you are correct,” she mused, frowning slightly in concentration. She paused her thoughts again, listening carefully to the slytherin girl, [Ariana didn’t yet know her name] who’s voice was now barely a whisper, as though she was hesitant of putting forward her idea.

"That's also one of the locations we can go to, isn't it? What if we tried going there?"

“¡Excelente!” The gryffindor exclaimed in spanish, beaming as she gave the girl a friendly clap on the back. “Did you hear that everyone? Great ideas have been said over here!” she gestured cheerfully with her thumb to Sapphire, “Any objections? Welp then, let’s go to Care of Magical creatures.” she swivelled on her heel and turned towards their next destination.

|| Open to Interaction || - interacting with his team - Active Ability: Calming Presence (Team)

Alan looked at the new obstacle before he looked over to Tiger and then his team. He remembered that he put athletic onto his sheet so perhaps this could include those obstacles? Nothing of it seemed all too difficult at least and Alan was sure it was doable for him if no one else wanted to go ahead and give it a try. "So does anyone want t-to give it a t-try? I could, if no one is against it-" he offered with a curious hesitance. He was not all too sure if someone else was going to do this or if someone had put something like this into their application for this club. Either way, Alan was willing to go ahead and give it a go. He just knew a few of the students in this group and not all too well, so he did not actually know their skill sets and whether they were more suitable for this task than he would be, even though he obviously could go ahead and do it if he wanted to. It just would not look as spectacular as when someone who knew acrobatics did it.

If no one else wants to give it a try, aka no one posts before the deadline...
The following only happens in case May does not reply in time!

Alan would give a solemn nod, his eyes fixating the obstacles and the goal of reaching the piece of paper that could be found at the last bit of the obstacle run. Well not a run, really, as it had to do with balance and stuff, but without paying it much attention he would walk over and climb up the ladder. Luckily the kid was not afraid of heights and quite good at stuff like this. Quickly he found his way up into the tree and took hold of the thinner rope above, before stepping on the slack line. At first he would test how much it would yield if he applied pressure to it, but it seemed fairly solid and in place so slowly and carefully he would make his way over to the other side of the slack line, tucking his lower lip between his teeth in concentration and focus as he made his way over with a frown on his face. The thin rope lightly burned his fingers whenever he needed to catch or balance himself in the air but in the end he made it safely across the obstacle and jumped onto the safety platform. Once he made it, he would take the piece of paper and unfold it curiously.

Interacting with the Blue Team

Bridget was glad when Alan and Mars pointed out the clue was more likely to be referring to the Campgrounds. It made much more sense, although it wasn't something she would've thought of on her own--she had a vague recollection of there being such a place on the Grounds but couldn't profess to have ever been there.

She followed Alan as he lead towards the Campgrounds, spotting the rope and ladder instantly. Her eyes widened a bit; they were supposed to cross that? It was such a thin rope! Well, she wouldn't have to, anyways, something she voiced to her team. "I definitely did not put anything remotely related to this on my application."

Writing this as Alan doing this one as May hasn't posted, but would be in relation to her if she does.

Looking on in concern, biting down hard on her lower lip, she wondered how this could possibly be safe. She couldn't imagine Katrina setting up anything unsafe, though, especially since she doubted she'd be allowed to keep her club if someone got hurt. Unless her friend had secret acrobatic training, she didn't really see how she could've tested the rope's integrity.

To make herself feel a little less nervous, she drew her wand, holding it at the ready. If Alan fell, maybe she'd be able to cast the Levitation Charm fast enough and stop his fall. The third year Gryffindor seemed nice enough, at least not deserving of an impact with the ground like that, and she certainly wouldn't want Katrina's club to be shut down. The fingers of her non-dominant right hand crossed behind her back, she watched on, hoping that rope was much, much safer than it looked.

Action | Not that it's going to happen, but will cast Wingardium Leviosa on Alan if he falls

─────────────────── ROUND 4!──────────────────────────

────────────────────────── Team Blue: @May Moonstar @Mars T'ien @Bridget Collins @Autumn Ivy @Alan Vanes Team Red: @Ariana Walker @Adonis Thorn Taylor Natalie Rogers-Freeman @Sapphire Riddle @ Evelynn Decipio Next Modding: Tuesday, August 11 ──────────────────

Team Red
Katrina watched from her hidden place as the red team raced to their next destination. Evelynn quickly found the clue and Saphhire and Ariana quickly put together the clue. CoMC, Care of Magical Creatures. The team was off in a blur, heading to their next destination.

When they arrived there, they would find one thing. A slip of paper.

Team Blue
This clue was meant for May, but it seemed there was a daring lion in the group. Alan would step out from the group and approach the slack line. He seemed confidant in the air, making across with no trouble at all. One he was at the top, he would find that there was a hidden ladder on the back side of the tree for him to get down. If only they had spotted it beforehand.

Alan would find there was something written on the slip of paper. Something to lead them to the second to last clue.

Hidden Clues
It seemed like the Hidden Clues were a bit too hidden this time. Maybe more luck would befall the teams next round.

Team Blue Clue: Reducio

How does this work? Reducio OOC Info Rolls= May: 13 | Mars: 16 | Bridget: 5 | Autumn: 1 | Alan: 13 | Ariana: 10 | Adonis: 8 | Sapphire: 16 | Evelynn: 16

Team Red Clue: Reducio

Interacting with the Blue Team

Alan didn't fall. The Slytherin breathed a small sigh of relief, tucking her wand away. He didn't need to wonder if she'd doubted him. And she hadn't doubted him, exactly; it was more like a general concern because what he was doing hardly looked safe. If anything, she doubted the safety of the rope. The little knot of worry in her stomach dissipated entirely when he was back on the ground. Bridget wasn't scared of heights, but broom-riding was, in her opinion, significantly less sketchy.

No one's posted, so assuming Bridget has access to the clue.

Bridget turned her focus to the clue he'd obtained, squinting as if that would make the letters easier to read. It wasn't that she couldn't see them, but that they were weird--flipped, it looked like. A mirror would be awfully helpful about now, but she didn't have one, so she'd just have to put in the effort to read it this way. The cursive script didn't help, but eventually she managed.

"This one is the Quidditch Pitch," she declared. Gesturing for her team to follow, she lead the way to the familiar Pitch, the place she spent a significant amount of her time. Even if they argued, she wouldn't stop; the clue left no doubts as to where it meant for them to go. Two teams? Check. People watching? Check. A whirr of gold? That was the Snitch. She couldn't recall the exact date of its inception, but Quidditch was an old game. As for the last line, she wasn't quite sure. Could it mean the hunt was drawing to a close, that this was their last destination? Or was it referring to the careful strategies put into place by Quidditch teams? Either way, she supposed she'd find out once she got there.

Action | Heading to the Quidditch Pitch

Alan took the piece of parchment and gave it a quick read, his brows furrowing as he couldn't quite decipher it. He would just give it to the team, perhaps someone could read this better or had a mirror with them of some sorts. The third year noticed the ladder but found that the slackline was way much more fun and decided to use the way he had taken up here to also get back down. It might have cost him a couple of seconds more but it was worth it. As he made his way towards the group he would hand the piece of paper to them. "Can anyone read this out loud?," he wondered as he tilted his head ever so slightly. He truly hoped someone would read it out loud now so that they could hurry up and possibly go to win a price.

If someone were to read what was written on the paper the third year would encourage the group to hurry and get to the quidditch pitch as this was what must be the destination of the slip of paper after all it was talking about a game with two teams and something golden with must have been a mention of the snitch. Also Quidditch was a pretty old game so Alan was sure that it could mean nothing else than that. "Come on, let's hurry!"

head towards the quidditch pitch

Care of Magical Creatures. CoMC. Of course. A mental groan — and very nearly an audible one as well — accompanied the revelation spoken by her teammates. There was little wonder it had sounded familiar, as though she should have known what it had stood for. Naturally, it wasn't as though she was anywhere near high enough a year to be attending that class to have the acronym be second nature to her, but neither was this the first time that she had heard of it. Aside from the fact that she had taken a peruse through the classes that she would be taking in future years, she recalled towards the beginning of the year an occasion of shareed chocolate frogs in teh Gryffindor common room when Vanes had spoken passionately about the subject. It had been his favourite, if she recalled correctly. Nevertheless, with the help of the others on the team, they sorted out the clue and made their hasty way over.

And they were doing well. At least insofar as Evelynn could tell. Clearly their deductions had been correct, as they were met with the existence of another slip of paper. Admittedly, she felt a tinge of disappointment that there wasn't as much to-do as there had been upon finding the target destinations ciphered by the other clues. There was also a vague haze of skepticism. Every other time, there had also been a flag on display somewhere nearby for them to grab. But this time... nought but the paper. On approach, Evelynn actually wondered if perhaps they'd gotten it wrong, and this wasn't anything but a scrap discarded by a wayward student departing from a Care of Magical Creatures class. Naturally, after stooping to retrieve the parchment, such notions were wiped clear. The writing on the note was backwards, and at a glance, it appeared to be a poem.

Had it been written in print, reading it backwards would have been a simple enough matter. Cursive was another beast, however. Evelynn was able to read it regularly, but backwards made the letters appear distorted and foreign. But, there was an easy enough fix for that. Turning the parchment over to the blank side, she held it up to the sun so that the letters would show through in proper configuration. Then she read aloud:

"Students comprising of two teams
Watching friends live their dreams
A whirr of gold
A game of old
It was all prepared in an intricate scheme"

"Well.. That seems fairly straight forward," she noted, lowering the paper, and flipping it over once more before offering it up in case anyone else wanted to take a look. Even before she'd finished reading it, she knew where their next destination would be. "Two teams, the stands, the snitch, Quidditch, and the cup tourney. Or maybe just strategy and game-play in general, for that last line. Sounds to me like we'd best wander off to the Quidditch pitch, though. And something tells me we'd best hurry on this one as well.."

With that, she'd do as she had done until that point and begin veering off in the direction of the stated destination slow enough for the others to interject if needed. But if there would come no counters or objections, she'd soon break out into a sprint, hair whipping back from her face as she raced towards what was arguably her favourite place among the castle grounds.

Action: Racing to the Quidditch Pitch and keeping eyes peeled for shinies along the way

[font=century gothic]INTERACTING WITH @Ariana Walker, @Adonis Thorn, and @Sapphire Riddle[/font]

─────────────────── ROUND 5! ──────────────────────────

────────────────────────── Team Blue: @May Moonstar @Mars T'ien @Bridget Collins @Autumn Ivy @Alan Vanes Team Red: @Ariana Walker @Adonis Thorn Taylor Natalie Rogers-Freeman @Sapphire Riddle @ Evelynn Decipio Next Modding: Whenever most people post ──────────────────

The Race
Katrina followed closely behind the red team, a grin spreading across her face. It was the last clue, or, sort of second to last. This bit had taken the most planning out of it all, and she was ecstatic to see it all in motion. To set up this clue, she had to convince @ River Jemari to let her borrow two school brooms and take some time out of his day to supervise her club.

The red team arrived just as the blue team did. It seemed like her club was evenly matched. Not for long. People started to look around, spot the flag, but there wasn’t one to be found. Instead, Professor Jemari was standing with a broom in each hand a stone’s throw away.

Katrina emerged from behind the group and made her way close to the Flying Professor, “Welcome club, to the last clue of the hunt! I hope you all have enjoyed playing as I did planning and setting up. I’m sure you are all waiting me to hurry up and get to the point, but I have some ground rules to put down along with some explaining. “
“Adonis and Mars, you have been chosen for your skill on a broom. You will have to race one lap around the pitch and the first person to do so and grab their flag with the last message written on it from the center of the pitch,” Katrina pointed to the almost perfectly hidden flags in the middle of the pitch, “wins the first portion on the hunt. The second portion of the hunt, I still have to explain and will as soon as we have our clue winners, so hold tight.”
“In the air, there will be no spell casting, no bludging, and no foul play. It is just you racing to win. Without further ado, Adonis and Mars, get your brooms and take off when I say ‘go’”
Katrina paused a moment to let the two contestants approach River and mount their brooms.
“On my mark, get set, go!”

It wasn’t too hard of a challenge, and Mars took off at frightening speed. They zoomed across the pitch almost too fast to see. Adonis, however, didn’t mount his broom. “Adonis, hurry!” Katrina called at him, wondering if her instructions hadn’t been clear enough.

Mars continued to race around the pitch, two thirds of the way before Adonis had gotten into the air. It would take a miracle for Adonis to over come Mars’ progress.

Mars landed in the center of the pitch just as Adonis had gotten into the air. Mars had won the race. For their expert flying, Mars got the flag. As they picked up the blue flag, they would find that under it was ten marshmallow biscuits in small plastic bags, each sporting a name of one of the contestants. Under those bags was another bag, this one containing five serbert lemons, on that bag was the words, “for the winning team of the race” and another bag whose inside was hidden in tissue paper with the words, “for the hidden clue discoverers”.

As Mars inspected the plastic bags, Katrina waved the members to the center of the Pitch. “Congratulations Team Blue! You are the winners of the second ever scavenger hunt! For your hard work and amazing dedication to the game, you each get serbert lemons, in the bag that is labeled for the winning team. And as a surprise, everyone gets a marshmallow biscuit! Thank you all for participating in my hunt!”

As everyone went to find the bag with their name on the biscuit, Katrina took a step back to River. “Thanks for overseeing this! Want a marshmallow biscuit for my gratitude?” Katrina smiled and offered one in an unlabeled bag.

When the hubbub of everyone died down, there would be the mysterious bag left over. “Everyone! Don’t leave yet! Along the way, there were people who may have spotted gold coin looking things like this,” Out of her pocket, Katrina would draw out a disk identical to the rest of the hidden clues, “Get them out and talk to me!”

Hidden Clues
This round seemed to make up for the lack of clues previously. Katrina had also put out a lot more coins as they neared the final stretch. In all, eight coins were found between the previous destination and the Pitch.

First to find a coin was Sapphire. Her shoe would have kicked it just as the rest of Red Team turned from the slack line. This coin was identical to the rest of the hidden clues, metallic gold spray paint covering a disk of cardboard a bit smaller than her hand.

May would be next to spot a hidden clue, it wasn’t too far away from the gobstones that had lead her team to this point. It was dug in mostly to a small mound of dirt, but when she brushed away the brown, she would find the gold staring back at her.

Bridget had been a big help to Team Blue so far, maybe it had been her concentration keeping her from finding a coin this whole time. But nonetheless, she would spot a coin as she tucked her wand back in her pocket.

Autumn would be next to find a coin, she may have been pretty quiet this whole time, but they didn’t keep her from helping her team in other ways, by discovering coins. This time, it would catch her eye from under a small pile of branches, not so subtly placed just off the trail.

Alan was next to get a clue, however it wasn’t him who discovered it. Tiger would bound off mid-way from the slackline to the Pitch and return with a coin clamped in his jaws. It seemed it wasn’t just members of the club that had found clues.

Ariana also found a clue, this one at the base of a tree a little ways off the trail. It had been in the tree, but it seemed a squirrel or a bird had knocked it off the perch and it had landed in the perfect spot to reflect yellow light right into Ariana’s eye.

Last, but certainly not least, Evelynn would discover yet another coin. This one she would find nestled in the grass, just outside the entrance to the Pitch. Another coin to add to her growing collection.

Team Blue Clue: Reducio N/A Reducio

Please Read Reducio Important Info:OOC Info Thanks everyone for participating, everyone who posts after this gets their respectful treats IC and OOC! Hidden Clue people, I will post explaining what you won as soon as most people have posted. I had a blast making this and will post as not a modpost again a few times so feel free to interact with Kat. Keep a lookout in your inbox and in discord for more notifications for next hunts. Thanks again! Special thanks to @May Moonstar for her donation! Thanks for @Aurelia Notrésvace for being my helper. Thanks @River Jemari for letting me godmod him and overseeing this so I don't get in trouble. And thanks @Alan Vanes for helping with the rolls! And of course, thanks everyone for participating! Rolls= There were lots of them, you can find in the discord server, if you do not have discord I can assure you that it was all done correctly and you can owl me if you have any questions.

Team Red Clue: Reducio N/A Reducio