Event The Fall Ball (The Hunt) Finished

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[font=times new roman]OCTOBER 16TH
Roleplaying as PC, Scarlett Aden
Interactions @Lucia Fox @Lindsey Springhall @Kara Capricorn @Wyatt Starkey @Lily Cawthi
Open to Interaction

Just then, a fair face approached the hunting party. Scarlett easily recognised the warm brown eyes and golden-brown hair, which appeared to be fancily pulled up for the night. The girl's usual Hufflepuff robes had been replaced in favour of an elegant pink gown with netting and flowers and other aspects Scarlett couldn't name, as she wasn't much of a fashion expert. The girl had on some delicate jewelerry and a silver mask. Lindsey Springhall did look good tonight.

Scarlett greeted her friend cheerily, and at first glance, you might've thought she was oblivious to the events happening around her. However some could see her determination if they looked past the happy face, her strong will and need to get to the bottom of this mystery. "Oh, Lindsey, hi!" said Scarlett brightly. "You here to investigate as well? You look fabulous."

"We're good," said Scarlett in response to Lindsey's next question. However her next statement did throw off the girl a bit. "The ghost might not be an ally...I hadn't thought about that. He warned us though - doesn't that show some form of allegiance? And he pointed us in the right direction..."

She trailed off, thinking. A boy joined them, a dark-haired one who seemed to be previously acquainted with Lindsey. Scarlett wove her way through all of the most logical options and jumped straight to one particular conclusion. "Why hello there," said Scarlett peering at the new boy carefully. "Are you and Lindsey by any chance dating?"

A new voice spoke up. Ah. Oops. In their haste, Scarlett and Lucia had left Andre and Lily behind, though in their defence, the two had told their group they would be leaving. "Sorry 'bout that," said Scarlett briskly to Lily. "We're just figuring out what to do next, following the cat and hoping no one gets set on fire. By the way, Lily, meet Lindsey and Lindsey's friend. Lindsey and Lindsey's friend, meet Lily."

She then turned to Lindsey's friend, the dark-haired boy. "And what's your name?"

Now that introductions had hurriedly wrapped up, Scarlett returned to searching. She would speak up when she needed to, but she had to find out what was going on. Suddenly, as she was walking back, she tripped over something. Scarlett picked the something (or rather, somethings) up. A sherbet lemon. An acid pop. Scarlett's mind instantly flashed back to when she had left the ballroom, and saw a Toothflossing Stringmint that she had picked up just in case it was a clue. Paired with Kara's sweets, it might be one.

Staring in surprise at the sweets, Scarlett choked out a quick, "Have to go - speak to Kara - sweets - come with if you want -"

She then rushed to Kara, the girl in question still present. Scarlett almost thrust the sweets at her face. "Kara, Kara look!" said Scarlett. "I found an acid pop, a sherbet lemon and a Toothflossing Stringmint. What about you? Do you think it means something? Well, sweets can't mean something, but....I, er -"

Scarlett stopped, unsure of where she was going with this. She just knew that the sweets were something important.

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Action (previous action did not count) Trying to figure out what the sweets mean, embarrass Lindsey and Wyatt
Stats Stamina | 7 | Evasion | 5 | Strength | 6 | Wisdom | 6 | Arcane Power | 9 | Accuracy | 7
Abilities Prodigal Charms Learner, Fearless

Interaction Status: Open
Outfit | Mask

Interactions
@Henry Knight and others listening
Mentioning
@Astrea Soleil Neptune

Following the mismatched group of students along the corridors, Søren only recognized a few faces that he’d interacted with before. Henry Knight was chatty as always, attempting to determine the best course of action to solve this mysterious puzzle. The second face Søren recognized by the unsettling shiver running down his spine as he turned to face her. One of the girls whose names he hadn’t gotten while as Anastasia’s bedside during her stay at the infirmary last year. Mind running wild at the thought of what they could have spoken about after he practically ran away, Søren waved to Henry.

“Hey man,” he said, patting Henry on the shoulder to announce his approach. The Slytherin did him a great service during the apple bobbing competition, fouling another participant to ensure his win. At the time, Søren thought the action brilliant, but he kept it to himself, humbly accepting his prizes and celebrating in private later. Cheering for a cheated win seemed like the kind of thing that plebs would do. “It does look like a patronus, you’re not wrong there. I’m terrible at riddles, though. I’ll leave that to you guys,” he spoke to Henry and those nearby.

As the group made their way into the rehearsal room, Søren moved away from the pack to observe the space. He’d never been in here before. There was no performance talent he could speak of so there was never a reason visit. The centre chandelier was beautiful, its ever-flickering flames casting shadows across the walls. It definitely added to the creepy atmosphere created by the rider. Noticing the curtained portraits along the shadows, an idea popped into his head. Sidling up to one of the walls, he looked upwards to address the portraits.

“Good night, ladies and gentlemen. I apologize for our intrusion on your rest. We’ll be out of your hairs in a jiffy… I think. Anyways, have you seen a ghost on a horse riding through here tonight? If so, do you know what his name is? Or if he hasn’t passed through tonight, have you ever seen a ghost like that in here? Sorry, one more. Has there been anything odd going on here today? Someone planting pranks or er...writing riddles on the walls, or something like that?”

Action
Speaking to portraits

Ability: Charmer | Health: 800/800
Stamina: 8 | Evasion: 8 | Strength: 8 | Wisdom: 6 | ArcPower: 2 | Accuracy: 8

Post Tracker
1 2 3 4

Everything was just getting overwhelming. There were sweets scattered on the floor, a ghostly cat was leading them away from the safety of the party, and there were way too many people. "Mm-hm... Yeah..." Lucia murmured in response to Scarlett's words, though what the girl was saying she wasn't sure. Everything was just a little... much.

Then Lily, who Lucia actually hadn't forgotten about, just lost for a second, piped up and told them not to run off again. "I... Yeah..." Lucia mumbled.

Then, Lindsey and a boy Lucia didn't recognise joined them, and Lucia replied, "I dunno... I'm fine..."
Lindsey seemed to have loads of ideas, which was great, and certainly better than Lucia's idea, which was run back to the ballroom and pretend everything's okay. For a fleeting moment, Lucia remembered something her sister Willow had told her once. Lucy, you couldn't get into Gryffindor if you tried. It was true.

Then Scarlett rushed off, which gave Lucia the strength to do what she wanted to do. "I think... I'm going to go back to the ball... I didn't even get to dance with anyone... I'm sorry.... Good luck..." she mumbled, then took a deep breath and hurried away, back to the ball. You couldn't be in Gryffindor if you tried, echoed a voice in her head, and Lucia silently told herself to get a grip.
They'd be fine without her.

Wouldn't they?

Though her mind was spinning with what Charles had told her, Cassie still excused herself and practically ran out into the corridor like Cinderella at midnight - only considerably more independent, and with a dress covered in pumpkin seeds.
She wasn't exactly rocking the carved a pumpkin in my ball gown look, but who cared? She didn't even like her dress anyway. The only part of her appearance she currently cared about was the rosary bracelet around her wrist; it was the only article which meant anything to her.

Pulling a bobble out of her bag, she tied her hair up into a messy ponytail and looked around for something she recognised. There was the cat she had seen, and there was Scarlett - wait. Scarlett.
Cassie immediately changed course and made a beeline for her fellow Trooper, grinning the moment Scarlett saw her. "Hey, Lettuce," she said, making a joke of Scarlett's reluctant nickname. She was talking excitedly to someone a little taller than Cassie - but that didn't mean anything. Cassie herself was a second-year, but looked like she was only ten and a half years old in comparison to her thirteen. The fact frustrated her hugely. "And random stranger," the muggleborn added, acknowledging the other girl. "I heard the words danger and tragedy, so here I am!" Cassie struck a joking pose. "Di'ja miss me?" she asked Scarlett with a grin, then relaxed. "Okay, seriously though, what's going on?" Cassie asked, then noticed the items in her friend's hands. "And why're you holding sweets?"

Once Scarlett had told her where the sweets had come from, Cassie would pull out her wand. "Lemme try something. Revelio." she cast, hoping fervently it would work. She had never been very good at magic.

_{Banner Credited to the amazing @Amara Dragamior}

As Henry Knight: Main Character

Open to Interactions
interacting: @Kara Capricorn | @Søren Silverwood | @Piper Clark | Cassie Heather _{@Lucia Fox}
Mentioning: @Scarlett Aden | @Hanako Tone
Action: Examining the room for anything suspicious, following the cat
For Mods:

Reducio

Stats: Stamina: 5 | Evasion: 5 | Strength: 5 | Wisdom: 10 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 5 | Total: 35
Abilities+Race: Prodigal Charms Learner+Werewolf

Pendant
Brooch

Before the Candy

Henry continued to examine the room as he listened to the girl speak and agreed with her as he nodded, " your definitely right since we have little evidence then the possibility of the danger can be anything," Henry turned to her for a minute as she continue before again searching for clues again. When she made her introduction however and also mention that Hana was her childhood friend, Henry turned to her with a smile as he spoke " well it's nice to meet you Kara," noticing her hair Henry then spoke again " I like your hair by the way, it's uh nice," Henry truly sucked at compliments.

After the Candy

As everyone begun to find candy Henry did to as he picked it up and looked around with questions forming in his mind, who would drop them and why? However he was pulled from his thoughts when mention of the headless hunt came up and for the boy who spent too much time in the library he spoke up " that's a good guess, the heedless hunt are made up of ghost but I don't recall them ever visited Hogwarts? Does anyone know anything about them?" Henry then heard Kara's response and nodded to her as he spoke " a ghost knight from the school I think makes more sense, maybe their doing this as a prank or something?"

Henry laughed a bit at Kara's next comment before joking himself " I'm not a big candy person so if you want to take one for the team then please," another joined them this one with blonde hair and possibly a year younger as she stated her own candy that she found. Henry looked over at her as he spoke " I have the same, I'm sorry I don't know your name? I'm Henry," he offered her a smile before continuing to look around this time his eyes wandered on the paintings as he spoke out loud " maybe the printings know something? Should we ask them?"

However someone beat him to that idea as he felt a pat on his shoulder and a greeting, Henry turned to look and saw the slytherin boy; Søren from the apple bobbing event during field day. Henry sort of cheated to help him win but in his mind Henry thought he was a cool dude as he spoke " hey," then hearing his response about the patronus Henry smiled before speaking " you think so? Corporal patronuses have the ability to send messages but the only thing is they usually have their casters voice. Did anyone recognized the voice? Maybe it's not a message, maybe someone cast the patronus and is near by leading it to the answer? Patronuses are held by a happy memory and as long as that memory is focused on," a bit awkward from his facts spiraling from his mouth Henry spoke " sorry about that, no worries Søren I'm pretty good with riddles and I'm sure others are to. You can contribute with some other skills like coming up with ideas," Henry said that to mention his idea on talking to the paintings.

Henry then saw Scarlett join them and decided just a smile and small wave will do since the two still weren't on good terms even though they were close friends as children. However her question could have meant something and Henry decided to play on it as he spoke " maybe the sweets are a hint to the answer of the riddle? Maybe someone should cast revelio on them?" And again someone beat him to it and another girl joined their party, she clearly knew Scarlett as she even addressed her by a nickname. Henry was a bit confused since she thought Scarlett hated nicknames, either their beyond close that she does it to annoy Scarlett or she doesn't know her that well," either way Henry moved past it as Henry continued to look for anything really.

The new girl seemed excited and from her accent possibly not from this school but he didn't know for sure as Henry heard her try revelio on the sweets which allowed Henry to turn to her and say " smart idea to cast revelio, it is a halloween party and what better then to disguise the clues as a piece of candy," Henry continued to follow the cat as a million thoughts filled his head unsure which to concentrate on now.

OPEN TO INTERACTIONS!

[/quote]

Jo entered just in time to hear some students talking amongst themselves, one of them just within earshot repeating the ghost's enigmatic riddle.

“Time is running out!

Something terrible is creeping about this castle, and if no one stops it, tragedy cannot be avoided.

If no one steps up to face this challenge, we are all doomed.

Follow the graceful apparition to find the riddle’s first piece - and if you need my help, call my full name.”

There weren't many people here that she knew - in fact, many of her acquaintances had been curiously absent from the festivities. Where in the world was Evelynn? Or Rafa, for that matter. Now that things were starting to go down, Jo felt like she needed their help more than ever. Maybe not even their help... just their company, really. There were so many students running around and talking at the same time; Jo felt a little bit lost.

Suddenly the apparition of the cat, accompanied by a flurry of student activity, slunk out into the hallway. As Jo grabbed her purse and prepared to follow it, a prickly feeling at the back of her neck stopped her in her tracks. She was being too hasty. Too eager for adventure. This wasn't what Lady Aithne would have wanted her to do. The girl stole a sideways glance at the rest of the students.

Could the ghost have been trying to trick them? Jo had had enough of being tricked tonight, and she wasn't about to go prancing around trying to solve the ghost's problem for him unless she knew who he was and why he needed help. There was probably a reason he was keeping so much from the students and speaking in riddles. He was a riddle himself at the moment. If he really needed help, he would have contacted a professor instead of a bunch of students.

The girl herself, of course, had no intention of contacting a professor and having the whole mystery of the night ruined for her. Any threat of danger to the students might end with them locked safely up in their dorms while professors patrolled outside. And one word got out that Jo was the one who "snitched" and got the whole Masquerade Ball ruined for everyone, she'd probably never hear the end of it from anyone. She might even have to switch schools if the bullying got really bad. And yet... it could be that the ghost had something to hide. Perhaps his intentions were nefarious, and he relied on the naïvety of the students to complete his plan.

Well, either way, the idea of adventure was just too good to pass up. Jo hadn't punched or hexed anything or anyone in a long time, and...wait a moment, was that a sherbert lemon?

She picked it up off the ground. It was cleanly wrapped, and there were even other candies nearby along with it. She picked up what she could and stared at them inquisitively. People didn't leave so much candy lying around on the ground! But perhaps these were no ordinary candies. Jo had just barely escaped a ruined night back at the costume party when she decided to eat some tricky treats. These were likely no different. And yet, the prefects had been so adamant at the party that nobody leave the Costume party with the tricked food. Wasn't it a bit careless to leave charmed candy lying around?

Well, there was only one way to find out, and wizarding candy was expensive anyway. If it tasted the same as mundane sherbert lemons, who was Jo to judge the mysterious candy's origins? Jo popped the sherbert lemon into her mouth and rolled it around thoughtfully with her tongue as she transcribed the riddle onto her notebook to remember for later.

ACTION: Jo eats her sherbert lemon.

Thank goodness @Dan Palmer had scooped up his Batman mask on the way out of the Rehearsal room. Fortunately Reparo did the job in mending the broken string and few cracks in the mask, so Andrew could put it on to hide his shame and identity.

"Manegro Potion," he'd briefly say to anyone that stared or asked out of curiosity.

Okay, so maybe "shame" was a strong word for it. Nevertheless, it was slightly embarrassing. Walking around with a waist-length ponytail clipped with a silver barrette, possibly being mistaken for a girl; not to mention uncomfortable, with an extra pound of silky brown tresses weighing his head down and flicking loose strands out of his face. As soon as this little "investigation" was over, Andrew was going to chop it all off in the bathroom. No way was he going to bed with this mane!

If not for Dan dragging him by the wrist, Andrew would have never followed the group on a wild cat chase. But… Okay, he couldn't let his best friend go alone. Whatever happened, they were in this together.

At least Penelope and Loki were safe and sound. Andrew wouldn't have risked his pet's life on an uncertain mission such as this. He hoped to get it over with as soon as possible, so he could go back to his dorm for a haircut.

Open to Interactions!
Interactions: @Søren Silverwood

Being at the back of the congregation was infuriating. There was a reason for Calanthe’s love of tank classes. Up close and personal with the action is the best spot, obviously. Unfortunately, the lion cub was far from a lioness and she knew that her recently-subsided anxiety would peak to alarming levels if she were to set foot anywhere closer to the group. Unwilling to let her heartbeat distract her from the mystery at hand, Calanthe maintained a safe distance away from the others, while still stewing at her inability to be up front. The rest of the kids prattled on, their words bouncing off the corridor walls. Calanthe was unsure of where they were headed, but she assumed those at the front of the group would be able to see the spectre, or the odd cat that slinked out of the room behind him.

Amidst talk of The Headless Hunt and candy, she was led into the Rehearsal Room. It was not a place the witch visited frequently, but the aura was calming, almost making her regret not picking the room as her hideaway of choice. But it was visited by too many students for the girl to be at peace. As the group settled in the room, not many things of substance were done. It seemed like most of the crowd were content with observing the surroundings. Calanthe could not blame them - there was not much to go on. No mounted obelisks or glowing runes graced the group with their presence. The room was entirely boring. A couple minds were at work. One girl called out an introspective Revelio. At what? Calanthe could not see.

Mosquito was here too, chatting with the paintings. Smart… or whatever. Though, the girl was not sure how open the paintings would be to conversation this far outside school hours. “Lay it on thicker, why don’t you?” she called out to him. Yet, she could not tell what the best course of action would be. Revelio was her first instinct, but there was nothing she could cast it on. Maybe I can get my hands on some of those candies that they’re all excited about... But then I’d have to talk to them. Blegh. Her next idea was terribly mundane, but Calanthe, practically a muggle for most of her life, was comfortable with that.

Action: Looking out for anything out of place.
STA:10 | EVA:5 | STR:2 | WIS:7 | ARC:9 | ACC:9
Statistically Revelant (+2 Stamina) | Prodigal DADA

Satisfied that she had her posse now, her team, she took Alexa's hand with one hand and grabbed Logan's with the other. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" She was no longer worried about fancy dances or carving pumpkins. Instead, she was filled half with the adrenaline rush of a possible adventure and the other half of her flight or fight response kicking in just in case there really was doom or tragedy ahead. She wasn't the flight sort of girl. No, if she or her friends were in danger she was going to do her part in trying to help fix things. It's what Hufflepuffs did and she was a true and true Hufflepuff.

Right now, she didn't have any idea on what that could be. She just had Logan with her and Alexa and the three made their exit from the Rehearsal Room of the Costume Party and took to the corridors of all the students that were following the ghost cat. "I hope you two brought your wands," she said to them. A good witch or wizard nearly always carried theirs. She learned that over the Summer when she was visiting Clifton in Rye and they came across some unsavory characters trying to harm him.

Kara watched as the group dispersed, and she turned back to some of the suits of armor herself. The candy, the ghost, the cat, the riddle, all of those thoughts were racing through her mind. Like, what was the danger, who is the ghost and what's so important about his name.

All of those thoughts mentioned were only a few out of the maybe millions. Her eyes batted around, looking for anything else, but then again, everyone so far had found the same pieces of candy, so it seemed unlikely for any other things to pop up. She scratched her head in frustration, but as she turned around her saw someone running at her.

The girl, whom she knew as Scarlett now, thrusted her hand to her face, to which Kara flinched a little, but she then noticed what was in her hands. More candy.

"Kara, Kara look!" She started off.

"Woah Woah, calm down. No need to try and punch me in the face, now, explain what you need."

"I found an acid pop, a sherbet lemon and a Toothflossing Stringmint. What about you? Do you think it means something? Well, sweets can't mean something, but....I, er -"

Kara looked at the candy in Scarlett's hands. She was right, once again the exact same.

"I got the exact same type of candy, and I agree with you that they mean something, but I don't know the spell Revelio, which I had suggested before." She sighed in disappointment of her ignorance towards the Revealing charm.

As she was about to send Scarlett to try and find anything else, she heard someone pipe up.

"Hey, Lettuce," A girl with brown wavy hair in a blue and white lace dress had cheerfully said to Scarlett, but Scarlett didn't seem to enthusiastic about the nickname "And random stranger,"

"The name's Kara, not 'random stranger.'" She added in briskly before the girl continued.

"I heard the words danger and tragedy, so here I am!" She struck a pose, to which the short haired girl let out a "Hmph" of laughter.

"It's confusing how the words danger and tragedy amuse you, but whatever floats your boat I guess..." Kara said giving the girl a sly look until returning to her normal, neutral face.

"Okay, seriously though, what's going on?" The girl paused, then looked at the sweets in Scarlett's hand "And why're you holding sweets?"

"Well, it's a long story..." Kara said, trailing off crossing her arms, listening as Scarlett explained.


The girl then pulled out her wand.

"Lemme try something. Revelio." It's like the brunette had read her mind.

"Smart idea to cast revelio, it is a halloween party and what better then to disguise the clues as a piece of candy," Henry had suddenly appeared, but Kara agreed with the boy.

"He's right. I had suggested casting Revelio from the start. Let's just hope it actually reveals something." She said, looking at Henry, then back down at the candy with a hopeful look.

Interacting with: The ghost (Open to interactions but DM or owl me first)
Mentioning: @Marshal Mozor
Action: Searching for clues and talking to the ghost

Melissa followed the cat along with a few other students from the ball. She was glad that she didn't decide to wear heels and wore her chucks instead because there was quite a lot of walking around happening. As she followed the cat with the others, she kept on glancing around, looking for any signs of danger or something. Even though her head was mostly filled with thoughts about this "hunt", she also thought of Marshal quite a bit. She felt bad for leaving him behind but he was probably going with his friend... Shaking away her thoughts, the ginger focused back on where they were going and her surroundings. She wasn't going to let her guard down, especially on that night. She knew that all the past balls have been chaotic so why should this one be any different?

When they finally stopped, they were in a corridor. What's so special about this corridor? It's just like every other corridor... she thought. Wait...there has to be something special about this corridor though or else we wouldn't have ended up here- As a train of thoughts rushed into Melissa's head, she looked around, hoping to find a clue of some sort. After looking for a while she gave up and thought about what the ghost had said when he crashed into the ballroom. Maybe there was a secret that she had missed while listening. Hmmm, what could possibly be hiding in his words... What did he say again? Something about darkness creeping up on the castle and us being in danger, then something abo- Wait! He said that if we needed help, then we can call for his name. What is his name though? Mel quickly made her way to where the ghost was and asked, "Excuse me, what is your name sir?"

Stats: Stamina: 5 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 6 | Wisdom: 6 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 7
Abilities: Sixth Sense