Banishment PV Professors

That didn't go well. River thought to himself as the scene played out infront of him. It was clearly becoming apperent to the man how poorly meshed the Hogwarts Staff was. None of them seemed like they would be able to work together well, and that would mean that their odds of success were even lower then what he had previously thought. The group desperately needed to go through some team building excersizes, he decided. Maybe River would even run a few with whoever survived today? That's an image... he thought. Trust falls with Solomon Le-

River froze, his eyes narrowing as he turned towards the headmaster. "SOLOMON. STOP." He half-yelled, watching the old man do his thing. The battle-ready Santa Clause clearly wasn't thinking clearly. In fact... well... River recognized the behavior. He had seen similar things occur a million times with Quidditch players. He could be very wrong, of course, but the professor of flight briefly wondered if whatever the headmaster was doing had to do with fear. Maybe Solomon was afraid of the darkness. Maybe he hid this by turning his fear into aggression. Sighing, River raised his wand and aimed it at the Headmasters heart, hoping that his choice wouln't make everything worse. "Animosus."

Ivar chuckled lightly to himself as the shimmering light of his wand created a barrier around him. The spell had been successful, magic had blessed him with its protection, and Ivar would gladly take it to avoid the gaze of the other professors. His first meeting with most of his new colleagues had not been what he had expected, and Ivar couldn’t understand who would want a man as crippled in the head as this headmaster as one's superior.

But with the help of magic and a little bit of luck, Ivar could melt away from the old man's mind and follow at a safe distance, Ivar had said he would help, and a word said is a word one has to keep… Even if he wanted nothing more than to go back to his stables and see none of his colleagues again.
Others seemed to have had the same kind of ideas, as the old lady with the walkingstick exited the dungeons. Ivar shot her an envious glance, even if no one could see him do it.

"It was the hag! She is here, somewhere,". Ivar shifted his focus back on the lunatic, raving his ideas to the other professors. The man was spouting nonsense, slandering one of their colleagues, but still no one seemed to be more than uncertain. No one seemed to want to do anything in particular to help poor Ivar, seemingly more concerned with hurting the feelings of that old bag of bones. "Reveal yourself foul creature Revelio! She has to be here somewhere!" Ivars' ever present smile tensed as the headmaster shouted another spell. Damn it! Damn it all…

“Immobulus!” Ivar said between gritted teeth as he pointed his wand at the headmaster. Ivar had tried, really tried to hide away and not create more trouble, but of course that old bastard wouldn’t let him stay hidden that easily. Ivar wasn’t sure if the old man had broken his concealment spell, but he couldn’t let the headmaster get the chance to fire off another one of his explosions, it was pure luck none of them was killed by it already.

Actions:
1.Cast Immobulus on Solomon Lear

Stats:
Stamina: 12 | Evasion: 15 | Strength: 13 | Wisdom: 7 | Arcane Power: 10 | Accuracy: 13

Abilities:
Cats's Grace
Fearless
Keen Eye
Evasive Maneuvers x2

Reducio

I am also currently working on the application for the two abilities:
Corporeal Patronus Messenger
Apparition
But i'm not entirely done, so haven't posted the application yet.

Seeing the shadow creatures - spiders, centipedes, snakes, rats - was odd. To think that the darkness took the shape of such vermin was a bit unsettling when it could just become a giant dragon or something (in theory). Marcus didn't have much time to think about that part, though, because Nora's sunlight charm worked and the darkness was driven away. Not before giving Caradoc a run for his money, though. The first victim of the night. But he would not be the last.

Marcus had reacted on instinct, grabbing Nora as she raised her wand and pulling her towards himself with the intent to shield her from harm. There was nothing she could have done to prevent what happened next - because it happened far too quickly. The spells cast by the professors still up above caused quite a commotion, and when Marcus finally looked - having closed his eyes to shield them from the dust and debris that shook the air - he saw some of the other professors had followed behind only to get smashed against a wall or protected by a shield charm.

Marcus did not protest when Nora rushed to Browne's side, instead turning his attention to the footsteps that she pointed out moments later. One pair of the steps bigger than the other. A child? Why was there a child? Could hags take the form of a child? Was it a trap? Well, it didn't really matter if it was a trap, because the whole point of this mission was to move forward and eliminate the threat. He lifted his eyes and met Nora's for a brief moment - acknowledging her nod with one of his own. No need to voice what had happened, it was already in the past and they needed to move forward.

Speaking of, Marcus would head forward with the short man who gripped a warhammer. He had called it Bernice, meaning it was probably important to him. "We should stick together - you saw what happened to Browne when he tried to go first on his own," Marcus said to the groundskeeper. He thought his name was Dunaid but he wasn't going to risk being wrong. "DuPont can probably heal him enough to walk or at least send him back before we move on," he said to the man. Jean-Papi Dupont was familiar to Marcus through a single interaction over the summer. He was the new school nurse, and seemed to be bringing his skills to the table already.

Action: Join @Gargott Dunaid on the front lines and recommend that they not move forward until Caradoc is mobile again

Racial Abilities: Werewolf Form (Rend, Bite, +10% damage) | Heightened Senses (tell familiar people by smell) | Track Hidden People (within 24 hours) | Wolf's Cry | Predatory Abilities (+25% chance to enter hidden, +2 stealth) | Intimidation (uneasiness, -1 acc, +1 crit fail to all around)
Chosen Abilities: Obnoxiously Strong (+10% strength) | Martial Artist

Stats: Stamina: 15 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 20 (22) | Wisdom: 4 | Arcane Power: 4 | Accuracy: 15

Everything had happened in a instant. Ready or not, the professor couldn't help but still feel unprepared for the chaos that followed all the casting. Rubble and yells, Caradoc and Gargott injured, Nora and the new nurse Kateri hadn't met til now was attending to the badger... Solomon Lear once again lashing out and what seemed to be something rather concerning happening to the Divination professor.

They needed to regroup... Kateri nodded her head in thought as Zahid brought up having a strategy. It was true... so far they all seemed way less prepared and were barely into the real danger that she could only imagine awaited below. There was some conversation going on between the others, 'a girl..?', but Kateri was preoccupied by the flight instructor calling out to the headmaster. It seemed like a good idea to try and help give a boost to Lear. Comfortable that clearly nothing would go wrong with that cast she turned her attention to

"If there is.. a girl, something down there then we really do need go have some plan before rushing down there.. otherwise-" She spoke to the others. Her voice trailed off as her eyes fell to the direction of the pair injured from the hasty casting earlier.

"As hilarious and infinitely entertaining as it may be, could we please cease trying to blow Professor Browne into smithereens, at least for the time being?" Aleks said to the crowd of his cohorts, not looking up from the ground as he spoke.

"For the time being, we have an objective, and I would like us to at least get off the starting base before we are eviscerated by Dark Magic. Let's make our deaths a tad less embarrassing, hmm?" Anyone observing could probably tell he was doing everything in his power to prevent his voice from failing, whilst simultaneously he held his shaking hand still.

"I propose a possibly terrible idea. Two teams!" He began, knowing that this was starting to sound like the start to a Scooby-Doo trope. "Half of us will seek this child, if they are indeed a child. The other half will see if there's anything else to be found."

"I can take Karr, Pendrast, Galim, Jemari and the Hag suspect himself." He cast his eyes to where Eide had been but was no longer. Clearly he had quite enough of the old man villainizing him. "Or at least I will if he turns up. Likely best to keep him and senile Solomon separate anyway."

"Feel free to disagree, but it seems in larger numbers we allow our fear to turn to chaos, and we need to get moving."

He took a few steps further into the dungeons, but not far enough to be split off from the rest. "If there's trouble, I'll know where to find you, and Marcus..." He cast an eye at the caretaker. "I trust you will know where to find me..."

Unfortunate as it was, they didn't have time for everyone to be unanimous on everything, they needed to elect Leaders to defer to. Aleks didn't care if it was him or not, he just wanted it to be someone.

Action:

Reducio

Trying to establish a command structure, taking a few paces forward. Carefully

Intimidation is Active

Reducio

STA: 15 | EVA: 10 | STR: 15 | WIS: 10 | ARC: 5 | ACC: 10
Abilities: Werewolf Form | Lupine Senses | Wolf's Cry | Intimidation | Components

Artemis looked over at this friend, kneeling next to him as Hjørdis handed his friend back his wand. The older man greeted Artemis warmly and the younger man smiled back at him. "Looks like you do. Can't keep yourself out of trouble just a little bit, huh?" the Charms professor joked lightly as brushed a bit of small rubble from his friend's head. A quick 'Ferula' was cast and then Caradoc was telling others not to touch his leg, though Artemis was sure that he would be overruled with that. They needed him; both Caradoc and Hjørdis as they were the only ones who had been down there in the dungeons before anyone else. So Cara would have to allow either himself or Jean-Papipi to actually heal his leg as best as they could.

"You should really let either myself or Nurse boy over there to heal your leg as best as we can. I know I'm not as advanced a healer as you or Jean-Pupori, but if you guided me, I could help you at the very least heal it so you could walk on it. Ferula only bandages and splints the leg. It doesn't exactly heal broken bones if there are any. But you know that better than I do, don't you, buddy?"

He smiled softly as he left those words with his old friend and stood up again when Hjørdis mentioned something about footprints belonging to a child. "What do you mean...never mind. So these footprints weren't there before. And Ostrowski wishes to go and split up." Artemis sighed heavily. "As much as I also think it is a bad idea, there is no merit to us all going in the same direction. However, I think you guys should take Lear while we take Eide. And he should wait until your group leaves first before he reveals himself...unless the old man's spell actually works. Then we'd have to subdue the old man." he added as he heard the old man he once looked up to cast "Revelio" to try to find their Care of Magical Creatures colleague.

He looked down the hallway that they were all standing at and into the darkness. It seemed as if something were calling out to them; to him. He shook his head at the temptation to walk into the dark alone. Seeing what happeend to his friend, he wouldn't dream of waltzing into the unknown alone.

Action: Wait for everyone to agree to the group split or for Caradoc to let him heal his leg a little better than what it is

Abilities: Perfectionist - Fearless- Evasive Maneuvers- Non-Verbal Magic - Wandless Magic

Stats: Stamina: 12 ~ Strength: 6 ~ Evasion: 8 ~ Wisdom: 20 ~ Arcane Power: 12 ~ Accuracy:12

Zahid asked the question that Hjørdis was wondering. Smaller footprints could likely be that of a child. But if it was a student, they would have known - right? Her mind went back to her meeting with Erin, who spoke very confidently about students going missing and no one noticing. It filled with dread, even though it seemed ridiculous. Of course someone would notice. If they were not in classes, someone would realise. If they weren't in their dorms, their friends would notice.

Kibitzer spoke of a girl. She did not say much about who the girl was. No name, no description. Perhaps it meant that the girl was not one that she recognised. If she recognised the child, she would have said a name - right? Of course, the Divination professor might have more encounters with third years above, rather than the younger years but... it gave a hope that possibly it was not a student. But it did, unfortunately, mean there was a child here. Either a trap or an actual child...

The two werewolves said the exact opposite statements. Marcus spoke of sticking together, Ostrowski of splitting. When Hjørdis walked through the doors of the dungeon, she was deadset on the first. It was certainly the smartest option. Failing to do that was the very reason that Caradoc and Gargott were in the conditions they were currently in. Splitting was bad. Especially if one group found the coven of hags together. There simply would not be enough people against an entire coven.

But with all of the infighting, she considered the same. At the very least, Eide and Lear should be split up from the looks of it. Lear was a loose cannon at this point. A double edged sword. He had more information than any of them in this situation, he was more determined to stop this than any of them but... his paranoia and fear also made him attack first and question later. Her eyes searched the room, moving to Marcus for a moment. "It's dangerous but... I agree. We split," She replied with a nod in agreement as she glanced at Ostrowski, "At this point, the only ones we're harming are ourselves anyway...".

Artemis spoke about taking Eide instead of Lear. "I'll go with Lear," She announced, not really caring where everyone else went. Taking Lear into their group was dangerous. She knew that. If there was a hag in front of her, he was very likely to blast his way through her to get to the hag. But she had no idea what everyone's relationship with the headmaster was. She did not know if he trusted any of them. But she knew he trusted her. At least, she thought he did. He did not suspect she was a hag, at the very least. He was less likely to attack her. She had spent many days with him over camp, feeding him and tending to him.

Admittedly, he could still throw any of the spells in her face but that was a risk that she was willing to take. And unless Artemis could explain why she should not, that was her decision, "We can go to the runes and in search of anything else," She added, as she was one of the only two who knew where the runes were. She had no idea if anyone else wanted to take Lear into the group but... she would go with him, whichever group he was assigned to. She looked at the victim's of Lear's last attack with baited breathe, unsure of how they would feel with this plan or if they would want to be in that group after what just happened. She would understand if they did not.

ACTION: N/A - just posting dialogue to move the plan along
Permission from Mod

Stamina: 15 | Evasion: 9 | Strength: 2 | Wisdom: 20 | Arcane Power: 10 | Accuracy: 14
Abilities: Sixth Sense | Evasive Maneuvers | Perfectionist | Poison Resistance [others pending]

Outfit of the day

Can anyone really blame @Béatrice Lydursdattir for turning her back to this lot? The professor of Ancient Runes was old and barely managed to get past the stone steps that had led her down here. Now she was not only facing an imminent threat, but something far worse on top of that: An unprepared group of misfits. While the professors of Hogwarts came in all shapes and sizes, the sheer lack of planning seemed to have doomed already one of them. Albeit his own fault for most of it. Her tired old bones would struggle to bring her up top. But she would get there eventually.

On the team assembled, Caradoc should know better than most what he was meant to face down here. But who could rob a man of his collection of curses? How many was it he currently had? Two, three? He doubtfully knew himself. The man's knee was looking ugly. Black veins sprouting from the charcoal black wound as the light shimmered above him. With the snap of his fingers, bandages spun up his leg, strapping it tightly to a splint. It did not look pretty.

Moving over to him, was someone much prettier though. Though her wrath and worry struck him like a storm on a breeze of spring. Yes, she knew of his many curses. Yes, she knew what a dumbass he was, is and always would be. @Hjørdis Jensen's gaze would burn through the Head of Hufflepuff's bright blue gaze if they could. As the Irishman's guilt had the man crawling back against the wall, she would focus her attention on more useful matters. Pointing out the difference in footprints was one thing, knowing they were close to the runes another. It would only be a bit more through the hall. The familiar cold caused her breath to fume out to the gaping hole behind Gargott and Marcus.

Ever wonder what use muggles have in the magical world? Well @Maya Galim would surely have a reply for you on that topic. As the professor of Muggle Studies, she opted to find materials she could light on fire. What use was magic anyway, huh? Looking past the snuffed out torches of the staircase and behind the rubble of the brightly lit hallway, she would indeed see bones on the floor. The vermin that had been present before were long gone, skittered in the chaos. Or maybe worse. She would easily be able to fashion some torches out of those. Maybe even use the ones hanging on the wall as a way to replicate them. Ah, muggles, they're adorable.

In serious situations as this, it is important to have capable hands on your side. Freshly appointed and barely arrived at the castle, Hogwarts' newest Frenchman would step forward to show these old-timers how healers get the job done. After all, they all had been sure from the start that some of them would end up wounded or even dead. As his backstory would tell you, @Jean-Papi Dupont was not able to raise the dead. But he could keep people alive. Flicking his wand in front of the rotund goblin getting up from the rubble, a loud crack could be heard across the hall. A lot was happening at the same time and it was the man's first hour on the job. Did the new nurse really deserve to go down in history as breaking a staff-member's nose the first time they tried to heal someone? @Artemis Vernatis would receive a knowing glare from his old friend, clearly proving how right he had been in not letting the new guy touch his leg.

No one would remember that small error better than @Gargott Dunaid, that much was certain. The part-goblin would swiftly make his way past the nurse. What did he do to deserve a broken nose? Blood would start to trickle down his beard as a bright light was cast from his wand. @Marcus Iwasaki walking up beside him, the pair would peer into the darkness. A long and narrow hall would continue for a while. There was no sign of torches and if Marcus' eyes did not deceive him, the path seemed to split towards the en- Were those? Gargott would see them too. Two small orbs of light bopping up and down. Twinkling as they seemed to rapidly come closer. Marcus's hairs on his arms and neck would stand up straight as the smell hit his nose. It was...



Someone's a cat? How the creature managed to survive would have been anyone's guess by now, but she surely had given most of the group a good scare. With a quick leap past the two men up front, the young feline tried to flee through the bundle of professors that were scattered across the stairs and hallway. As she reached the upper floor, the entire scene would startle her. With a look of shock in her eyes, she'd flash past the others and up the stairs following right behind Beatrice.

In the eyes of some, the headmaster's behaviour would have to seem rash, volatile. Brave in a way, but he was not thinking clearly. A paranoia had filled his mind. It was true, the man had been through a lot. But wasn't there another that showed this sort of behaviour before? It was curious to see what it meant to simply not be on the receiving end this time, wasn't it @Rosalind Kibitzer? Newer professors could not have possibly known what their group had already been through.

Dashing forward as his voice would echo in the room, @Solomon Lear broke the hag from her hiding place. But with a quick response from his opponent, the headmaster's body almost locked into place. There was no charge for the old man as he was left frozen in movement. @Ivar Eide may have seemed peculiar to some of his colleagues, but no one could doubt his wit now. On top of his predicament, Solomon would feel another spell hit him from behind. @River Jemari was closer with his reasoning than he would have others believe. While Lear's bravery had never suffered under any doubt. The young man wasn't too far off the truth. If only some people realised what they were seeing.

Eventually, unusual times would often call for unusual leaders to step forward. The youngest member present that day would be the one to speak up. @Aleksander Ostrowski likely did not come here tonight with the expectation of offering any of his peers guidance, but it had clearly become a necessity. He offered the group a plan, or at the very least the beginning of one. Perhaps enough to have @Zahid al-Benghazi ibn Masoud jump on his proposal and add reason. The two of them would make an unlikely pair, but a particularly intelligent one. Mixed with @Kateri Karr's readiness, they might just make it as a team.

Unfortunately, there were bones that were laying on the ground. Maya, hoping there was something else, gathered the bones together. Who or what it belonged to, she did not care too much. It was the deep dungeons. Anything could have happened and it did not seem "fresh" from how dry they felt for her to be worried. There were a good handful of bones that were gathered and Maya looked at the hem of her cloak. It was tattered from always dragging on the floor as she walked about. Maya tore the hem of her cloak and wrapped it around the bones. She wrapped the top part of the bones, separating them into two, making two handmade torches.

It was so that she could have used the torches that were on the walls, but who knew what could happen by taking one. She would not be surprised if there were traps or shifts by using the staples around them. Plus, it was better to use something that she knew was safe to begin with. At least she thought so. The torch, not yet lit was in her right hand, waiting for what everyone was going to do, while the second torch, she tucked away in her cloak.

As she was waiting, Rosalind had a vision about a girl. Their dangerous adventure was now coming to layers. They were not only going to confront the Hags, but now, there was a child that is missing-- or at least some believe so. Who knows if it was a real vision or not. Maya believed in Rosalind's visions as she was not the Divinations teacher if it wasn't for her skill in being a Seer, but the question was, whether or not it was a true vision or if it was the Hags that implanted it.

The Potions Professor, @Aleksander Ostrowski, stated the idea that they would all split up. Maya, knowing that it was a dangerous move, decided that perhaps it was best. Some would be able to go after the Hags while the others would go and find the missing girl-- if again, there was a missing girl.

"Fine, we split. But that's not a plan. We still need to decide how we want to move forward," she said. "If we just go, we'll end up like him," Maya crossed her arms and looked over at Caradoc. His wound looked excruciatingly painful. He hoped that he would get it healed soon as too much pain on the body can really take a toll on someone's sanity.

Maya looked down the stairs to where Caradoc nearly got swept away from. It was dark and now ever so dusty from all the rubble that fell from Lear's blast. So far, a child was down there, lost. And according to Hjørdis, there were footprints. Maya wondered what else could be down there. She was intrigued, but she was not insane to take a step into the darkness without a way to defend herself. Maya began to think of ways to keep moving forward without a surprise attack happening.

ACTION: Perception check to determine the best way to move forward.

Reducio

Stamina: 11 || Evasion: 7 || Strength: 7 || Wisdom: 20 || ArcPower: 15 || Accuracy: 10

Currently applying/pending for:
The Muggle Condition
Wandless Magic
Non-Verbal Magic

Crack!

Was the only sound that was heard as Jean-Papi's spell had failed him. Merde!*, he exclaimed in utter embarrassment. How had he failed such a simple spell? He had used hundreds of times before without failing him and of course at the moment his colleagues were depending on him, he had given them a very, very wrong first impression. Before he could excuse himself to the part-goblin in front of him, he had hastily taken his leave. Probably not waiting to hear his sorry excuses and the old healer couldn't blame him. And why would he? I just broke his nose...

JP facepalmed as he pinched with his index and middle finger the bridge of his nose whilst sighing. There he stood wallowing in self pity silently pleading for someone to just strike him down already. Things couldn't get worse than this. That was the part where he was wrong. He heard professor Jensen mention something about a child's footsteps. Immediately he walked over to her and noticed she was pointing at the footsteps. A small gasp was heard. Could it be? Are these the footprints of one of my children? Are they actually here? Possibly around the corner after all these years? The Frenchman couldn't stop the plenitude of questions seeping into his mind. Nor could he stop the feelings that had seemed to flood and breach the dam he had built to contain it. Hope poured over and he couldn't restrain himself any longer. This was what he had been waiting for all these years. A chance to find his children and now they were here. The nurse was sure of it. Every doubt had left his mind and so nothing would stop him from being reunited with his children.

I-... I'm sorry guys. Best of luck. I need to find them. He left his colleagues with that cryptic message as he turned towards the darkness and pointed his wand at it. Lumos Maxima! After that he sprinted towards the darkness prepared to face any danger that stood between him and his children. Victor! Nicolette! Papa est là! Attends encore un peu!**

*Merde! = Shit!
**Victor! Nicolette! Papa est là! Attends encore un peu! = Victor! Nicolette! Dad is here! Hold on a little longer!