Celebrating with the Dead PV

tags: @Victoria Blythe @Gabriele Ricci-Armani @Pamela Graham @Mikey Forville @Hana Suzuki @Livia Machavariani @Aleks Drašković @Damien Dragonclaw| date: 31-10-2025 | fit: x

Avis watched a slow smirk curl on to Gabriele's face that suddenly made her wish she hadn't said anything at all.

"Pervert," she muttered. "And I'm paying 1 Galleon no more," she added as a quiet afterthought. Might as well play along, the Ravenclaw supposed. She scoffed at his last sentence. "Keep tabs all you want. I've got nothing to hide from you." Wrong. Very wrong. But that was a topic for another time. And an inkling of a feeling she hadn't quite accepted herself. Instead, the girl scowled at her unfortunate assigned companion, which seemed to be the usual expression she'd reserved for him.

She let out a cold laugh at his accusation. "Cold? No no. Just the truth, however embarrassing it might be," she chuckled. It was the truth after all, even so bluntly put. The Ravenclaw briefly wondered if she could beat him in an arm wrestle. Hmm, perhaps an adventure for another time. Before she could add another thought to that particular train, Avis found herself staring directly into Gabi's brown eyes as he leaned in, the smirk ever present on his face. She refused to react, holding every muscle as still as possible even as their noses almost touched.

"You're the one that leaned in closer, not me," she pointed out at his mention that she of all people wanted to touch him. Gross. Avis leaned back with a huff. "I might have to resort to swaddling. How old are you again? Three?" she taunted. He sure acted like a toddler at times, although she hated to admit that she tended to lean towards that age when her anger popped out unprovoked.

As Gabi turned to shout something obscene to his other party-goers, Avis took the moment to study their environment. It was completely dark now and the grouping of trees ahead did indeed look spooky. She was far from superstitious and not in the least bit jumpy but going with something she already had her guard up against might make matters worse if they bumped into something truly scary in there. Avis wondered what exactly the boy had planned. And if he intended to make it 10 times worse just for her. She rolled her eyes. Couldn't be worse than the potions fiasco they went through at their first meeting. Avis was still recovering from that. Potions had never been more stressful and Professor Sauber certainly hadn't forgotten that particular mishap.

Avis turned back towards the Hufflepuff when he began to speak again, wiggling his eyebrows in a sort of way that made her want to laugh. She held it in but a small amused smile slipped out unbidden.

"I guess it is," she replied, folding her arms and banishing the amused expression with an angry thought. "So what now?"

[quote]


Interacting with @Avis Greymond @Pamela Graham @Mikey Forville @Victoria Blythe @Gabriele Ricci-Armani @Olivia Williams @Livia Machavariani @Aleks Drašković @Damien Dragonclaw

Dialogue
Thoughts

Mikey's gaze followed Hana's and he stopped. Web strands caught his wand light, white threads stretching between trees like silk cords, swaying in the wind. Far away, the forest replied with a deep, tired creak.

"Right," he replied, "that's… not great." He leaned in, squinting at the new obstacle. "You think they really went whole giant spider on this? Even for Gabriele, that's… ambitious."

He looked from Hana to Damien. Hana was set; her shoulders had all but locked up; Damien wore a combination of caution and interest. Mikey swallowed hard. The webs were supposed to be fake. They must have been. But the tiny, rhythmic clicking far back in the black sounded anything but "pretend."

"Okay, plan," he wheezed, instinctively dropping his voice as though the trees would overhear. "I will go first. If something happens, you two are free to skip rescuing me and make up a believable story."

He attempted a smile. He edged forward slowly, waving his wand, and advanced a step at a time. Webs rushed over him. Far more silk than he'd expected was racing down branches, across the path, even sticking to the ground. He had to fight through cloudy curtains of it to get by.

"Lumos," he breathed, illuminating the tip. The beam fanned out and showed him a trellis of white lines in every direction he gazed. Then he heard a desperate scurry, like claws rasping on bark.

Mikey stood perfectly still. "Please say that was you, Damien," he whispered, not braving to move an inch.

Made by the amazing Matthew Campbell

Just a note, I will write the post first and then add rolls.

CW for spiders and blood.

It had been... quiet. For a while, the children bumbled through the woods, more concerned with each other than the darkness around them. After all, nothing was happening yet. But that was all about to change.

@Hana Suzuki had been correct – and perhaps that was why she managed to avoid the first obstacle. One did not need to concern themselves with how Livia and Aleks had managed to acquire the spiders. Perhaps it just happened that the spiders were there! But each group would run into hanging webs of arachnids. Avis would end up with a spider crawling upon her arm and hand; Pamela would find them on her hair. Mikey would end up with spiders trying to crawl up his sleeve. Hana, aware of the threat if only subconsciously, managed to evade and bat the spiders away. Gabriele's fearless nature would prevent him from freaking out perhaps as much as the others, but he still ended up with spiders on his face. Damien, too, was not spared. A rather large spider caught itself in the crook of his arm.

Of course, they weren't done! Perhaps courtesy of a quickly-cast fumos, the shadows of the trees seemed to change. Were they moving? Were the trees getting bigger? Was the moon fading away as the night grew darker? Although not everyone would be plagued by these worries, Avis and Gabriele would not be spared from the visual illusions.

That was when things began to get worse. Or better, depending on who you were. Branches began to snap – under their feet, above their heads, perhaps even in Livia's hands as she watched from afar, amused. One fell rather hard in front of Avis (critical failure), who would have to deal with splinters and debris and perhaps dirt in her eyes. Pamela would almost be hit by the branch itself; it landed with a hard thud next to her, causing twigs to hit her legs. Mikey and Hana would jump as a particularly large branch landed between then, causing them to create a bit more distance between themselves. Damien, too, was affected, but perhaps worse than the others (terrible presence proc). He would appear visibly shaken as a tree creaked above him and a harsh gust of wind sent a large branch tumbling down.

For just a moment, it was Livia's and Aleks's turns to shine. Their costumes and masks would prove effective – no one would be able to tell what creature they were, just that there were things crawling about the woods at this hour. Vampires? Hags? Something out to get them? Or was it just Livia and Aleks? Pamela and Mikey would find it difficult to tell, their attention caught by the unnamable creatures they would see out of the corner of their eye, coming closer. Gabriele and Avis would deal with the worst of it; although they would not exactly be able to say where it came from, a sharp gust of wind greeted them, alongside a cloaked creature that let out a strange, nearly inhuman hiss as it physically brushed past them. Only Damien and Hana would not be accosted by a creature.

As the groups progressed through the trail, not all of them would be lucky enough to evade more traps. Avis was able to catch a break, as was Pamela, but their companions were hardly as lucky. Gabriele's leg would brush against a carefully-laid tripwire. Quickly, before he could dodge it, something that looked suspiciously like blood would tumble onto him. It also smelt strongly of iron. Whether it was really blood or the result of a science experiment, who could tell... Mikey and Hana were also accosted by this sticky red substance; it would coat their heads and upper bodies. But Damien once again dealt with the worst of it. He very much tripped over the wire, landing on his knees as the 'blood' spilt all over him, coating him from head to toe (TP proc + crit fail).

Even bloodied and battered as they were they were not done. No, the blood would make the next obstacle stick to nearly all of them. Avis attempted to bat a cobweb out of her way but only made it get more stuck; Pamela would catch one on her face before she could dodge. Mikey ran straight into one, while Hana would catch her leg in one and nearly trip. Damien, covered in blood, would end up looking a bit more like a cotton ball soaked in blood by the end of the cobwebs. Gabriele would be the only one to get out more or less unscathed by the webs.

Then, it would be silent. They could keep walking, could discuss how things had paused, until –

A blood-curdling scream echoed from elsewhere in the woods. Perhaps not right next to them, but certainly not too far off. Everyone aside from Mikey and Damien would be chilled by it, perhaps Hana more so than the others (terrible presence proc). Mikey, however, would be completely unfazed (nat 20 on wisdom roll).

Would they investigate? Or would they simply rejoice that they seemed to have passed through the worst of it?

Mechanics notes:
Rolls
Pings:

One​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ minute he felt a tickle on his wrist, the next he was looking down at a spider that was going up his sleeve, then he found another on his arm, and another. "Oh, that's not good," he hissed shaking his arm in vigorous attempts to get rid of them. The spiders were sticking firmly to the cloth, the movements of their legs doing the same thing to his skin as if they had a dance recital.

"Alright, that's enough," he said, finally flicking them off. His wand hand was trembling slightly. It is not that he was scared of spiders, he was just extremely against them sharing his personal space.

The forest they were venturing into was becoming increasingly dense. Smoke? Fog? No, it was something heavier. The light from his wand went much farther than it normally would, and the shadows looked like they were wrapping around the trees, which seemed to be bending closer and listening. The woods, for a fleeting moment, appeared to be alive. Breathing. After that, there was the snap.

Mikey's head was like a cannonball turning up to see the branch falling off the trees and hitting the ground with a loud crack between him and Hana. He was so startled that he went off balance, and hit the ground with dirt flying. He lifted his wand hastily as if it could offer some help. "You good?" he shouted with his hand on his heart. His voice was higher than normal. Silence. Only the wind and the creaking of the old tree trunk were there to answer. He took a deep breath and moved forward.

That was the moment when he saw them or rather thought he saw them. Figures. Wrapped, having a ghostly look, and being incorrect. They were moving swiftly at the verge of his visual field, and he could not focus on them, as they were tall and of an unearthly nature. His heart rate was so high that every nerve in his body wanted him to flee. He looked once and then looked again, but they were not there.

Trying to keep his composure, he moved forward once more, and his foot hit something that was low and stretched. The tripwire broke under his shoe, and he couldn't even think of doing something else splash. Thick liquid of some kind was dumped over his head straight from a container. The liquid had a strong metallic scent. It went down his hair, neck, collar, and sleeves, and was spilled all over the place. "Oh, come on!" he exclaimed. "Is that blood?!" He was only able to spread it more by dragging his sleeve across his face. "Great. Just great."

He noticed his companions then. Hana, who was equally splattered, he then looked at Damien, who… seemed as if he had been thrown headfirst into a pot of the stuff and jumped back in for seconds. "Mate," Mikey said, holding back a laugh, "you look like a cursed snowball." Still holding back a laugh he gave him a hand to lift him up.

They were almost at a loss of words for another four or five steps when another web hit him in the face. Because of the 'blood', it was sticky, and thus, was glued to his hair and cheeks immediately. "WHY," he yelled through the pieces that covered his mouth in a muffled way. "Why does everything in this forest hate me personally?" He pulled it away with a sound of aggravation and finally was able to free his eyes just as the forest had become quiet again. Then the scream came.

The sound was a slice through the night, high and raw and very close to the point that it made the earth shake. Mikey did not even blink. After spiders, blood, and sentient trees, one scream wasn’t going to crack him, he hoped. He slowly let the air out of his lungs, and he was removing a wet lock of hair from his face with his hand. "Well," he said in a dry tone, "How much worse can it get?"