2024/25 Stage 3 Slytherin vs Hufflepuff: Match 1

In truth, though Astrea loathed to admit it, duelling involved greater damages than expected when initially posited to a young wizard. Perhaps such sudden retrospectiveness was a side effect of seniority, but their great reliance on bombastic destruction to pave the path forward was effective to the point of crudeness. A perpetual ringing now accompanied every breath and movement— an off-putting staple of most of her mid-duel acknowledgements, but never more distracting than now. The glancing heat of a dodged Confringo was by now a greater expectation than exception to the duel’s painfully impending end.

Aiming to clear her head of its audial assault and reaping the crops of benefited doubt from her otherwise stern duelling reputation, she opted to focus all of her attention on evading the plentiful explosions cracking across the piste. Her talented teammates could bring up the offensive as she bided her time, surely. Chipping away as surely at their Hufflepuff opponents as the piste itself, it was increasingly clear that their last duel would end just as bright and explosively as they’d anticipated.

Action: Doing as strategised.

Heraclitus claimed that no man ever steps in the same river twice, however Lindsey thought that she was, pathetically, stuck in a loop. Same spell, same target, same posture, same everything - and same result. She didn’t even have the patience and energy to sigh. Defeated. Perhaps that was the word to describe her feelings.

She gratefully smiled to her teammate when Haven performed healing on her, but the next second she was stumbling backwards, the full force of Confringo weighing her down. Pain rose in her chest as she inhaled sharply, wincing when she saw Haven was hit as well. With Lea now gone, they indeed had a tough battle to fight.

The bitter pain of explosions finally hit her, her ears ringing and her vision going white for just a moment as she stumbled backwards. "Don't look, Marcus," she mumbled to her pygmy puff, though he wouldn't be able to hear her, especially not over the explosions. Haven still had determination that she'd be fine and would make it out, but she hoped that if she didn't, someone would make sure Marcus was okay. The poor little puff was probably so worried about her.
In reality, Marcus had stopped paying attention about five minutes ago and was now attempting to flirt with a rogue dust bunny. Typical.
Even still, Haven still wanted to try and show off her best to her pet, so she took her scariest duelling stance and tried to give an intimidating look, though the other team probably just thought she had something stuck in her teeth. She wasn't particularly known for being menacing. She she probably start practicing her duelling faces in the mirror.

Round 8

Astrea vs Haven

Reducio

Astrea Soleil Neptune casts Nec Divinos Crepitus at Haven Bohannon
Wisdom DC: 12
Wisdom Check: [d20: 18] + 16 = 34 > 12 → Success
Blowback Check: [d20: 4] < 19 → No Blowback
Accuracy Check: [d20: 17] + 20 = 37
Haven Evasion Check: [d20: 4] + 11 = 15
37 < 15 → Hit
Damage: 50+ 10 ARC× 15 = 200
Duration: 1 round (2+targets)
Lindsey Auto-dodge Check: [d20: 18] < 19 → No auto-dodge
Lindsey Evasion Check: [d20: ] + 8 =
< → Hit, Crit. Fail protego
Damage: 20+ 10 ARC× 8 = 100
Duration: 1 round (2+targets)

Bridget vs Haven

Reducio

Bridget Collins casts Nec Divinos Crepitus at Haven Bohannon
Wisdom DC: 12
Wisdom Check: [d20: 11] + 17 = 28 > 12 → Success
Blowback Check: [d20: 3] < 19 → No Blowback
Auto-miss Check: [d20: 14] < 19 → No auto-miss
Accuracy Check: [d20: 12] + 17 = 29
Haven Evasion Check: [d20: 8] + 11 = 19
29 > 19 → Hit
Damage: (50+ 10 ARC × 15) * .9[TP] = 180
Duration: 1 round (2+targets)
Lindsey Auto-dodge Check: [d20: 3] < 19 → No auto-dodge
Lindsey Evasion Check: [d20: ] + 8 =
< → Hit, Crit. Fail protego
Damage: (20+ 10 ARC× * .9[TP] = 90
Duration: 1 round (2+targets)

Ruby vs Lindsey

Reducio

Ruby Cazares castConfringo at Lindsey Springhall
Wisdom DC: 17 + 2 [LC] = 19
Wisdom Check: [d20: 1] + 17 = 18 < 19 → Failure to cast (but not a crit. fail bc of perf. II)

Haven vs Astrea

Reducio

Haven Bohannon casts Nec Divinos Crepitus at Astrea Soleil Neptune
Wisdom DC: 12 + 2 [LC] = 14
Wisdom Check: [d20: 12] + 11 = > 14→ Success
Blowback Check: [d20: 2] < 19 → No Blowback
Auto-miss Check: [d20: 12] < 19 → No auto-miss
Accuracy Check: [d20: 1] + 11 = → Crit. Miss
New Target: [d3: 3] → Lindsey (1: Bridget, 2: Ruby, 3: Lindsey)
Lindsey Auto-dodge Check: [d20: 10] < 19 → No auto-dodge
Accuracy Check: [d20: 10] = 10
Lindsey Evasion Check: [d20: ] + 8=
> → Hit, Crit. Fail protego
Damage: (50+ 10 ARC × 15) * .9[TP] = 180
Duration: 1 round (2+targets)
Haven Evasion Check: [d20: 17] + 11 = 29
10 < 29 → Miss

Lindsey

Reducio

Lindsey Springhall cast Protego
Wisdom DC: 12
Wisdom Check: [d20: 1] + 12 = > 12→ Crit. Fail (TP makes crit range 2, perfectionist makes it 1)
Effectcs: Any incoming spell won't require the Accuracy vs Evasion roll (can still auto-dodge).

10:30 on Saturday the 3rd, May 2025...

If you had guessed that there would be more explosions - you'd be right.

The Vipers were in the lead and had no intentions of putting the fangs away. Astrea and Bridget would return to cracker jinx while Ruby would attempt to cast another confringo. If Merlin had any mercy, it would be shown in the fact that Ruby would fail to produce any explosive magic. Haven would not let the Snakes be alone in their escapades, and would throw in yet another cracker jinx to the loud mix. The final spell from Lindsey would be the loudest, to Galton at least.

Protection magic was a tricky thing - seemingly all powerful if aced, but incredibly fickle. And, Merlin forbid, one suffers a complete failure of a cast? Debilitating vulnerability. Lindsey's cast would be one of those rare, horrific cases of complete failure. Galton's attention snapped strait to the witch, hand ready to call for a pause.

If one could make matters any worse, Haven's spell would never make it across the piste. The spell would crack wildly upon it's flight past and crash right into the defenseless Lindsey. The radial cracker jinxes headed her way would similarly consume the badger. Haven would be enveloped in the two main cracker jinx explosions, but she would be left standing.

"PAUSE!" Galton would call out. It was rare he felt pity for any of the duelists he watched over, but this situation was such a novelty of disaster that he couldn't help feel anything else for the witch. When she was safely off piste he call the for the match to "RESUME!"

Information

1. You have 96 hours from now to write your posts. A minimum word count of 50 is needed per post.
2. In the same time period, send me (Galton Lansdale) your team's actions per owl. Do not hint at your actions in your post.
3. Unless asked not to, if all actions have been submitted and posts made, I will (hopefully) be moderating before the deadline
4. If you don't post in the allotted time frame, your action is void.
5. Your Stats, Abilities, and Spells have been locked to what they are now for the duration of this duel.
6. Please owl or message me if you have any questions or concerns!
7. Best of luck, let's have some fun!

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

Credit to Prat Pass

Learning to predict when an opponent would throw up a shield was an important part of duelling once they'd all learned the spell. Today had not seen the best of Bridget's guesswork, but that mistake had improved her read on Lindsey, which was why she shifted from a direct attack to a Cracker Jinx, trying to leverage the sideways blast it created.

She hit Haven squarely, and from there some of the crackers exploded toward Lindsey, but Bridget lost focus on pretty much anything else happening after that, including the failure of Ruby's cast. Because Lindsey's cast acted as a magnet, essentially, the Protego so butchered that it turned against her, and it was fascinating in a way that was very, very unfortunate for Lindsey. Even her own teammate's spell veered off course for her, and some combination of all the surrounding crackers proved to be too much. Lindsey went down, leaving only Haven and limited time left on the clock.

Action: Doing as strategized

A corner of Ruby’s mouth twitched in disapproval. It had been quite a while since she last failed to properly produce a spell, but she supposed things like this happened eventually and she had had impressive success with most of her casting in the duel until now. The Blasting Curse was a tricky one and she had made the stupid mistake of actually looking properly at her opponents’ faces. Transfixed for a moment by Lindsey’s appearance, something inside her stuttered. Even though, theoretically, Ruby would have been happy to deal the blow that knocked her out, it was like something was preventing her from changing that pretty face… Well, either way, the Hufflepuff was gone now, with Galton pausing to have her removed from the piste, enabling Ruby to focus again.

Doing as strategised

The ringing in Astrea's ears had not abated, but neither had the pressing necessity for action. Her experienced teammate could easily handle a single, weakened opponent, especially one who seemed liable to throw up a defensive counteroffense at any moment. Luckily for Slytherin, there was still another, more fortunate one to target. Taking a page out of their infernal playbook of explosions, Astrea chose to place pressure with yet another Cracker Jinx.

Between the shuffle of incantation, it was evident that all but Ruby had the same idea as she. The overlapping cascades of light and noise were deafening and, with a silvery shimmer of magic from Hufflepuff's side, Astrea expected at least one spell to be absorbed, or even to bounce right back towards the Vipers, as such cleverly timed Protegos tended to do. At the very least, her own had certainly struck true. Yet, in a beautifully terrible display of magical carnage, their opponents' collapsing strategy had taken on the strangest effect. What otherwise would have been an optimally timed shield charm instead fractured, attracting spellwork rather than repelling it. With Hufflepuff's own explosions as unintended assistance, Slytherin had somehow seized their second downed opponent. Only their chattiest and most overly, incomprehensibly friendly combatant remained. While it was not exactly their current intention, it was not so far off that Astrea would feign ungratefulness. If anything, such unhappy incidents worked in their favour.

Action: Doing as strategised.

Well, crap.

The smoke cleared a bit, Haven in a considerably greater amount of pain than before ("OUCH! Did you have to hit that hard? Can you pick something that hurts less next time?") when Haven realized they had taken her other teammate. Now, Haven was not the best strategist. Or duellist. Or anything really, she wasn't particularly skilled at much anything in particular, though she was pretty sure she held the school record for most consecutive bubbles blown on Tuesday the 14th in March, though most people didn't really consider that much of an accomplishment. Haven still wrote it down whenever someone asked for her accolades, not like she had anything else to put there. So, when she stood facing the three vipers, Haven was freaking out a little.
"LOOK AWAY, MARCUS, LOOK AWAY!" she yelled to her pygmy puff. "IF I DIE, PLEASE SOMEONE REMEMBER TO FEED HIM! HE ALSO HASN'T BEEN ON A WALK TODAY AND I THINK HE MIGHT BE ANGRY AT ME IF I FORGET. AND HE REALLY WANTS BEANS FOR DINNER." She wasn't sure what pygmy puffs were actually supposed to eat, but surely some beans every so often would be fine. "HE ALSO DOES NOT LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE CROSSING THE STREET SO PLEASE HELP HIM FIND HIS WAY BACK." She was just worried about her poor little fluffball!

Now that she had that under control, she could turn her attention back to the duel. It really was not looking good for her. Now, she didn't know the rules all too well, but she was pretty sure tackling was frowned upon, so maybe she shouldn't do that. She should probably stick to spells. Right, spells.

"Think Haven, think," she told herself, racking her brain for a useful spell.

A tumbleweed rolled across her brain.

How useful.

Haven stared between her wand and the opposing team as if her wand was trying to tell her something. Her face lit up with an idea, as if it did tell her something after all. (Maybe all the explosions were causing auditory hallucinations?)

Haven took a deep inhale, and screamed at them, pausing only to take a deeper breath and hold it, prepared to exhale when she cast her spell.

Maybe duelling was a little fun, after all.

Round 9

Astrea vs Haven

Reducio

Astrea Soleil Neptune casts Expelliarmus at Haven Bohannon
Wisdom DC: 12
Wisdom Check: [d20: 12] + 16 = 28 > 12 → Success
Protego Check: [d10: 7] → The spell ricochets off to a random target (including allies, avoidable).
New Target: [d2: 1] → Bridget (1: Bridget 2: Ruby)
Auto-dodge Check: [d20: 11] < 19 → No auto-dodge
Accuracy Check: [d20: 20] + 11= 31
Evasion Check: [d20: 20] + 15 = 35
31 < 35 → Miss

Bridget vs Haven

Reducio

Bridget Collins casts Confringo at Haven Bohannon
Wisdom DC: 17
Wisdom Check: [d20: 2] + 17 = 19 > 17 → Success
Protego Check: [d10: 7] → The spell ricochets off to a random target (including allies, avoidable).
New Target: [d2: 2] → Ruby(1: Astrea 2: Ruby)
Auto-miss Check: [d20: 19] = 19 → Auto-miss
Damage: (10+ 10 ARC × * .9[TP] = 81

Ruby

Reducio

Ruby Cazares spell spreads Reparifors at Astrea Soleil Neptune and herself
Wisdom DC: 11 + 2 [LC] + 2 [SS] = 15
Wisdom Check: [d20: 4] + 17 = 21 < 15→ Success
Healing: 50 + 12 ARC × 8 = 146

Haven

Reducio

Haven Bohannon casts Protego
Wisdom DC: 12 + 2 [LC] = 14
Wisdom Check: [d20: 7] + 11 - 3 = 15 > 14→ Success
Effectcs: Fun stuff:

Reducio

• When a spell hits the shield, there are several scenarios (1d10):

• 1: The spell pierces the shield (avoidable)
• 2-5: The spell dissipates.
• 6-8: The spell ricochets off to a random target (including allies, avoidable).
• 9-10: The spell rebounds back towards its caster (avoidable).

• If the redirect targets the caster's ally, use the shield user's accuracy.
• If the redirect targets the shield user's ally, use the caster's accuracy.

10:30 on Saturday the 3rd, May 2025...

One had to admire a final stand. One against three - one sixth year against three seventh years intent on securing their last win a Hogwarts - it was a monumental task. How had Haven thought Marcus would be able to look away from such a nail biter?!

Haven would throw up a hasty protego, potential protection against the viper's fangs. Fangs in the form of the token every-round-required confringo from Bridget and an expelliarmus from Astrea. It seems the snakes had a little mercy, knowing they were so close to victory. Ruby would ensure the vipers exited with as little non-hearing related damage as possible with a double dose of Reparifors.

Haven's protego would have it's intended effect, sending both of the spells flying back towards the snakes. The confringo would fly wildly near Ruby, and catch her with piste confetti. The expelliarmus would be aimed with adept precision back at Bridget, only to be met with equally adept footwork - leaving the snake in possession of her wand.

Ruby's healing would leave the Viper's looking nearly as healthy as they did when they'd walked in. And Haven had been able to avoid a forced hospital-wing visit for another round. With any luck she'd be able to feed beans to Marcus herself tonight.

Information

1. You have 96 hours from now to write your posts. A minimum word count of 50 is needed per post.
2. In the same time period, send me (Galton Lansdale) your team's actions per owl. Do not hint at your actions in your post.
3. Unless asked not to, if all actions have been submitted and posts made, I will (hopefully) be moderating before the deadline
4. If you don't post in the allotted time frame, your action is void.
5. Your Stats, Abilities, and Spells have been locked to what they are now for the duration of this duel.
6. Please owl or message me if you have any questions or concerns!
7. Best of luck, let's have some fun!

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

Credit to Prat Pass

This close to the end, the Shield Charm was pretty predictable, with Haven all alone and yelling about... dying? She knew that wasn't how regulated duelling matches went, right? Either way, it was a pretty logical choice--a win likely could not be clinched even by a miracle, so Haven might as well reduce the harm to her person. And though the Viridan Vipers were not going to kill her, they were not easing up.

A Blasting Curse was not strategically necessary. It was more like a test of the strength of Haven's shield, seeing which would buckle to the force of the other spell. Today, still the Blasting Curse. Shield-Penetration Spells were not allowed. The explosion was thrown back to Ruby's feet, and Bridget had to twist away from Astrea's rebounded Disarming Charm, which was one of the better tests of her evasion she'd faced today. Being caught with that, ending the duel wandless, would have been unfortunate, but she was pretty sure they'd all been on the same page of throwing out a few spells and being ready to dodge them if they came back. Ruby, meanwhile, had taken care of extending their lead. They were really just waiting on the clock, now; they looked like they could fight another duel, back-to-back.

Action: Doing as strategized