BlossomFest Great Maze - FFLs PV

Winifrey stood nervously with Della and Aurelia, eyeing the three paths. Which to choose? Which to choose? She held her wand nervously in her hand, not exactly sure what she would be using it for in the near future of this game. The thought of using defensive spells sent shivers down her spine.

She heard stories of the games played at Hogwarts, although none of them were good and all were filled with danger. Some even deaths. Winifrey simply hope this wouldn't be the case.

"Where do you want to go?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She was scared she would awaken some awful beast that would devour them whole. Winifrey was leading more towards the eastern direction. Her mother use to tell her to always go towards the sun. Since the sun rose on the east, that was feeling like the safest bet at the moment.

A twig snapped in the distance, causing Winifrey to stiffen and hold the wand tighter in her grasp. Hopefully this wouldn't be a terrible mistake.

ACTION: East

Aurelia scanned around, however, onnly could see walls draped with ivy plants and other greenery. There were a few routes they could start from. It was hard to decide as one might just lead to a dead end and they would have to turn back around.

Aurelia turned to the other girls for advice. Winifrey was clearly nervous. There wasn’t anything dangerous at least that’s what Aurelia thought. She hoped the people who organised the maze wasn’t that cruel to put creatures in for eleven year olds to defend themselves from.

“Calm down, Wini. We are all in this together and there’s nothing to be afraid of.” She reassured the terrified girl.

Then she heard a crusty sound of twigs snapping from a distance. Winifrey heard it too as she instinctively whipped out her wand and turned towards the direction the sound came from.

“The goat!” She exclaimed. She assumed it was.
“Come on. lets get it before the other teams do.” She said, turning in the direction where the sound was emmited from and started walking in the direction.

As she walked, she reminded them, “try to find anything decent that can be traded off later. We can split the rewards.”

ACTION: East

Mardella followed closely behind the two other girls as they left the entrance to the Maze behind them. The event had been set up on the grounds seemingly overnight, tall rows of hedges that seemed almost double her height, narrowing the view of the overcast sky above. Wini and Aurelia snapped their wands out as soon as they approached the split path, looking curiously down each fork. She followed suit, although she wasn't sure how useful it would be.

Wini seemed to be leaning more towards the eastern direction even as the girl voiced her question about where to go. According to the rules, there was no need to solve the plant-based puzzle, only find the random goat wandering within. Mardella eyed the surrounding foliage suspiciously - couldn't a goat just eat through it? How awful would it be to have the goat escape from the Maze before the competitors?

She was just about to suggest this jokingly to her roommates when both the other girls' heads snapped towards the eastern path. Mardella paused, head tilting. Had they seen something?

“The goat! Come on. lets get it before the other teams do.”

Aurelia exclaimed, moving forwards with Wini close behind. "You saw it?" Mardella asked, trailing behind them. Two tall figures and a short one - she stifled a giggle - they must look like Wini's bodyguards!

ACTION: East

As your team takes the path to the East, you become more and more engulfed by the maze. The hedges grow taller, taller than you are, and the light seems to fade slightly as the sun passes over top of your heads. The further in you go, the more you wonder when you will be getting out, even though it had only just begun. The ground was beginning to turn from beautifully taken care of grass to rough dirt and stones that scattered randomly across the ground. Not the best to walk on but still tolerable. Halfway to the next fork in the maze, an animal darts out in front of your group from underneath the hedge to your right, causing a slight panic. It was black and white to the eye and about knee-height, but not much else could be told about the appearance, or the type of animal it could have been. Perhaps it was an animal that escaped Professor Lear’s classroom, or maybe it was an animal straying away from the Forbidden Forest, trying to find its way out of the maze itself? You won’t find out. Soon enough, you come to the next turning point, giving you three options to choose from.

Choose between North, South or turning back. Remember that teams can not split up.

Winifrey gulped as she followed the two taller girls. It was a comfort to have something bigger than her in front of her, but she could no longer see very well about what lay ahead, which left an uneasy feeling in her stomach. The maze was only growing darker as they moved east, Winifrey's wand held tightly in her grip, although she wasn't exactly sure what she would do with it. She could only make something grow larger,maybe. And that was a long shot.

She stayed silent as they moved on, and when everything seemed like it could be ok, an animal scurried out of the hedge right in front of them. Winifrey gasped lightly, her heart leaping out of her chest as the silence was suddenly broken. But before she could get a good look at what it was, it was gone.

"Was that the goat?" She whispered lightly, some of her hair falling in her face. It was too late now to investigate it or chase it.

When they finally arrived at the next fork, Winifrey stepped forward past Aurelia and Della to look down the two paths. North and South. Which way?

The small brunette pondered on it for a few moments before she pointed her wand towards the northern path.

"I say we go North," She stated, confidence in her voice.

ACTION: North

The path seems to get darker and darker as they walked further. She pointed her wand and incantated, “Lumos” the tip of her wand glowed warmly light the light of a candle. She only done the spell a couple of times and it didn’t light up as brightly as she expected. She managed to see the surroundings a little better.

“This is spooky... I think we should head some other direction, I don’t think it’s safe here...” she commented with a shaky voice.

Her body turned to her right when she heard rustling. Something small ran out of the bushes and into a hedge. Her wand wasn’t lit brightly enough to catch what the creature was. It might have been the goat, however it was awfully small, maybe it was just a young one?

Was that the goat?

Winifrey asked.

“I think it probably was,” Aurelia said unsure.

“Should we follow it?” She turned to them as if they knew the way.

I say we go north

Winifrey said confidently, pointing her wand in the path nearest to where the goat had just exited from. Aurelia nodded in agreement.

“By the way, should we discuss our strategy on catching the goat when we see it?” Aurelia asked as she walked.

“Not to brag, but I’m pretty strong and I think I’m capable to tackle the goat if it ever comes across out path. I’ve entered a lot of races in muggle school so I could say I’m also pretty fast. Do you guys now any useful spells that can help? My spell casting skills are only on the average. I’m more physical than magical,” Aurelia explained, she hope that by talking, she’d be able to take her mind of the dark spooky path.

“I know a few spells, Incendo, Flipendo, Engorgio, Rectusempra, wingardium leviosa...” She listed.

“Well incendo might actually fry the goat, but the rules didn’t say anything about winning with a delicious cooked lamb. And engorgio would just make the goat huge.” She joked.

Action: Proceed North

A flash of black and white out of the corner of her eye made Mardella jump as something raced across the path and disappeared again, out of sight.

Was that the goat?

“I think it probably was.”

"Kind of small though," Mardella pointed out, "I thought a goat would be bigger." She gestured to about mid-thigh height. "You know." She'd never actually seen a live goat before, of course, so maybe they were just bigger in TV than real life?

The girls debated if they should follow after the animal, turning back, or proceed onwards to either the southerly direction or the northern routes. After a moment of deliberation they settled on heading north. "We can always turn back this way if we don't think we're going the right way." Mardella said as the path began to get rougher underfoot. Hopefully, it wasn't going to get swampy or too muddy - she was glad she'd opted for old clothes but she only owned two pairs of shoes and she wasn't sure if this set would survive those conditions...

Aurelia seemed to take charge as the most sensible of the group, suggesting they think of a strategy for the goat. People always said to Mardella that tall people sometimes just seemed more 'commanding of respect' although they'd never really applied the phrase to herself. She kind of wished she could borrow some of Aurelia's.

“Not to brag, but I’m pretty strong and I think I’m capable to tackle the goat if it ever comes across out path. I’ve entered a lot of races in muggle school so I could say I’m also pretty fast. Do you guys now any useful spells that can help? My spell casting skills are only on the average. I’m more physical than magical. I know a few spells....Well incendo might actually fry the goat, but the rules didn’t say anything about winning with a delicious cooked lamb. And engorgio would just make the goat huge.”

Mardella laughed at the idea of presenting the goat like that to whoever was judging (in real life that might be pretty gross, but the idea was funny at least!) "Yeah, I was thinking of tackling the goat too, to be honest...most of my spells are still pretty shaky. What about you Wini?"

ACTION: North

One step after another, your team is heading deeper into the maze. Taking in the green hedges and breezy wind, the hedges seem to begin to bloom more and more with flowers and buds. The hedges become prettier the further you venture towards the east path of the maze. Strange. Perhaps it is the right way to go as increased growth is happening towards the direction. As you walk further and further down the path, you realize that not only are there more flowers, but there are many more bumblebees. Luckily, they were cast not to attack and only be idle among their flowers. You keep going, past the bumblebees and towards what finally seemed like a dead end of the maze. Oh no! Your team turns around and you now walk past the flowers and bumblebees and decide on a new path.

You must choose South or return to entrance now. Teams cannot split up.

Winifrey laughed lightly at her friends' comments, although it was nervous and shaky as they moved North into the maze. Aurelia's wand gave off a soft glow of light in response to a spell. Honestly, it was nice to have a little bit of light in the maze that only seemed to grow more and more dark.

"Umm.." Winifrey started, "I'm pretty fast and obviously smaller. I could probably chase it down if I needed to and I could also get around the turns quickly." Her thoughts went back to games of tag in Cambridge where the alleys were tight and narrow, buildings close together. The only reason the boys would let her play with them was because she was faster than most of them.

"I wouldn't trust any spells coming out of me, though," She stated sheepishly, giving the girls an embarrassing smile. "Unless you want me to set the maze on fire because I would probably miss the goat entirely," Winifrey laughed lightly.

Winifrey frowned slightly at the sight of the bees, not exactly sure how she felt about them. She had been stung several times. This fueled the hate. But at the same time, her mother loved the bees because they helped the flowers every spring.

"You've got to be kidding me," Winifrey muttered under her breath as they came upon the dead end wall. Now they had to turn back. And go through the bees again. She scowled slightly.

"So should we try South now?" Winifrey asked as they began walking back, no other choice having presented itself in light of the dead end they had stumbled upon.

Action: South