As for why I voted for this, I do like to be as good as possible when I game. I can understand the sentiment of enjoying the world and I would also like to do that, but there was a winning vote which includes trying to aim for the top.
To get to the top of duelling we need spells and a high DADA Skill. Which this plan does focus on.
We are obviously in a bad head space due to the revelation, and since social actions are out I don't mind focusing on training. As for not doing any exploration actions, it's just one turn mate. We have years to explore, but only a few months remaining to get champion level duelling skills and mastery over the Patronus.
One of the best parts about this quest is undoubtedly the mysteries and world building which I have enjoyed thus far. And many have pointed out that we get mechanical benefits as well, which is enough to satiate my inner gamer. So I totally don't mind focusing on exploration actions next turn and still kind of avoiding social. Balance is key after all.
Just woke up. It seems that there is no reasonable expectation to be had, that this is going to be a clear vote.
One option is in the lead by one vote now. So, closing the vote. I hope I'll be able to write today.
As always: Thank you guys, seeing you argument with passion shows that you care about this, which is all kinds of nice. And even in discussion most of you stayed pretty civil Happy to see that.
Adhoc vote count started by Tabula Rasa on Oct 7, 2020 at 2:43 AM, finished with 278 posts and 58 votes.
[X] Plan Empathetic Adventures V3
-[X] Break through your Horizon I – Hogwarts is built in a valley area — surrounding mountains are part of the landscape. You had always wondered about them, because they were your daily horizon. Usually there would not have been enough time for you to get there, wander around to explore the lands and come back in time for curfew. Having access to a broom would have helped you, but now that you had secret exits out of Hogwarts… the horizon was not your limit anymore. Use the unknown passageway in the north end of the castle. (Takes 3 Actions, can't be taken in the same month as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and What hides behind trees)
-[X] Business School of Hogsmeade (Multiple Actions on this count as multiple rolls stacking) – This is the first year, in which you can go to Hogsmeade. Good that you've been planning for this since first year: Buy Books, Ingredients, Joke Shop Articles, Instruments and other things. Go and look, if you can make some money by buying things for first and second years. Roll for how many are interested and then for how much they want to spend. Take 15% as a fee.
-[X] 8x Personal actions
--[X]1x Training Empathy
--[X]1x Train Intelligence
--[X]1x Training Potions (Hits P-)
--[X]1x Training Alchemy (Hits D-)
--[X]4x Spell learning (Focillo, Draconifors, Glacius, Diffindo)
[X] These are for Exploration Only – Use these boots for Emergencies and during your Exploration Activities only. While you are of no particular mind to keep their existence secret, you don't want everyone to know them either and it might be useful to have a set of trump card in place for a later time.
[X] I don't understand the Question – These boots are now your everyday boots. You will wear them at all times and use them freely. There should be no rules against this in place in the castle, because quite frankly, an item like this has never existed. Use the boots in any kind or form to have fun, for duelling club and whatever you have in mind. No further votes for when to use or not. The sky is yours to play with.
-[X] Break through your Horizon I – Hogwarts is built in a valley area — surrounding mountains are part of the landscape. You had always wondered about them, because they were your daily horizon. Usually there would not have been enough time for you to get there, wander around to explore the lands and come back in time for curfew. Having access to a broom would have helped you, but now that you had secret exits out of Hogwarts… the horizon was not your limit anymore. Use the unknown passageway in the north end of the castle. (Takes 3 Actions, can't be taken in the same month as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and What hides behind trees)
-[X] Business School of Hogsmeade (Multiple Actions on this count as multiple rolls stacking) – This is the first year, in which you can go to Hogsmeade. Good that you've been planning for this since first year: Buy Books, Ingredients, Joke Shop Articles, Instruments and other things. Go and look, if you can make some money by buying things for first and second years. Roll for how many are interested and then for how much they want to spend. Take 15% as a fee.
Present Date: 08th January 1994
Current Wand: Fagus wood, Phoenix feather core
Three days passed, in which you were not able to focus. You lost some points during Astronomy because you were simply neither following along and nor had you brought in the short homework your Professor had given you on Thursday. You didn't ask any questions in History of Magic, looking down at one of your Notebooks instead. Friday came and went.
You spent two nights in bed, not able to sleep for more than an hour either night, all the while thinking of the words that Perenelle had shared with you. How could the world act as if nothing had happened, when for you everything had changed in nothing but a day.
And then, it was Saturday morning. It was still dark outside, when you relinquished any chances of getting a full night of sleep. You rolled out of bed, landing on your feet and grabbed for the black box that you had stored below. Thirty minutes later you were dressed, had taken something to eat on the way from the kitchens (where the House-elves were busying around even on a Saturday at 6 am) and found yourself in front of a hidden corridor in the northern end of the castle.
This one had been one of, if not the most difficult, to solve. Where the other corridors and secret entrances where riddles that were clear in their problem at least and only needed a good solution, this one was not like it. You would have never found it, if not for Nally, the single most capable House-elve you had ever known.
Once you had the knowledge that there was an entrance behind a seemingly random wall in the castle, you had been pressed hard in finding an answer - any answer really to pass. None of the standard solutions fit here; the wall was not an illusion, not guided by any passphrase, not a riddle that gave you the information you would need. No, for all intents and purposes, this was a normal wall in front of you.
You had spent hours searching the floor above and the dungeon below for other clues, without any success. In the end, you had almost given up. Only then did you ask yourself one question, that you'd never thought about in this new context; what was Hogwarts really about?
The professors were there to teach and guide the students, that one was clear. Going one level deeper, there was your assumption that the castle itself was there to teach you the intricacy and dichotomy with which one must think about magic. That was where your theory had ended. It was all that you needed, because it addressed your needs and worldview perfectly.
It was no secret that you were not good with people in general, not because you weren't able to feel love or attraction, but because you simply cared much deeper about many other things. Because people slowed you down, because they were a hindrance to the things that you wanted to do. Luckily your parents had taught you, to admit to such weaknesses and character flaws. So, you did and deep down, even if you knew that this was nothing but a major character flaw, you also knew that it was integral to your character. So, you accepted it.
But here, for this specific riddle that could have been the problem.
You took out four pictures out of your Notebook, before pressing them against the wall – all at the same time. A badger was running around a tree in the most left picture, a snake was slithering through the grass in the second, a lion stood proud and high on a hill on the third and an eagle flew out of a cloud in the fourth. The moment all four pictures touched the wall, the ground started trembling around you, as a hidden corridor opened up in front of you.
The third layer, one level deeper than you had thought out, because it was simply not in your interest to understand; there was more to the school than just the magic. Hogwarts wanted to teach you that even the founders had needed to group together for this biggest of their achievements. This hidden floor taught you, that there was merit in friendship.
"Lumos", you said passing into the corridor, as the entrance closed behind you.
To be honest, while you certainly understood the implications, you didn't completely like the concept. Anyone could reach any height on their own, if they put enough effort and raw talent into the matter. Perenelle, evil as her actions had been, had shown you that. There was nothing in this world that you couldn't achieve on your own.
When you had found this exit, you had realized that no one had exited it in quite a long time. There were no prints on the thick layer of dust but yours. Your wand shined brightly deep into the corridor, showing a long floor following deep into nothingness. Just from the short stretch that you were seeing here, you could clearly tell that it headed out of Hogwarts and below the ground.
For the first time in days, you felt your mind click back into its original place. Where doubts, pain and emptiness had been an hour prior, now there was nothing but a clear focus.
And so, Jacob Marvan Basques, third-year, Ravenclaw student, son of the oldest first-time parents in the world, product of evil, product of great, made out for the first real adventure in his life. The echo of your own steps reached your ears, as you walked into the darkness – a small smile making its way onto your face for the first time in days.
On and on the way went deeper and deeper into the ground, before levelling out. After an hour of walking you felt the corridor under your feet rise again and while it moved to the right and left somewhat at times, the general direction stayed the same. You couldn't be too sure though, as it was difficult for you to say without any sense for your surroundings outside the tight stone corridor.
It took you another half hour to find a change in the immaculate floor that directed you out of Hogwarts; a single brick that had fallen out of the ceiling, breaking against the ground. From here on the architecture started morphing into another. But still, the floor went on and on.
Only the sheer will to see the end of this was keeping you still going. Without the knowledge of what was to come, the long floor in itself seemed like a test of will. It was bare of any decoration or other ornaments that would give a sense of progress. Even in your usually calm self, a sense of dread had started creeping in, as you asked yourself what it was that you would find at the end of this.
You imagined that a group finding their way in here would have the same difficulties, because that was certainly what the entrance had implied, that this was no challenge for anything but less than a group of students pertaining to four different houses. You were on your own here. Still, your focus didn't waver. When you felt the fear grow, you took another step, extinguishing it in its wake. A group of four would have to argue against each other and it would need at least one with the fortitude to argue for marching on even as the temperature dropped. For ever and ever the corridor went on, you marched for what seemed to be hours.
In your right hand was your glimmering wand, the light of which just showed the ground before your feet, when the passage twisted round a few turns as it began to ascend in circles. The air that had fallen in temperature drastically before, grew hot and stifling, but it was not foul, even this deep in the corridor. Here the surroundings finally started to change again. Where it had been indiscernible from any corridor in Hogwarts before, here it began merging with another structure. At times you felt currents of cooler air upon your face, issuing from small openings in the walls. There were many of these and when you chose to direct your wand at one of those openings, the bright ray in your hand shining into it, you were able to catch glimpses of stairs and arches, and of other passages and tunnels, sloping up, or running steeply down, or opening blankly dark on either side.
You climbed up, you walked on, finding steady footing and started a climb down again, you felt nothing but awe at the structures that you were able to see beyond your own tunnel through the darkness. The sheer masses of structures were bewildering, beyond hope of remembering. You were troubled by the mere darkness in itself, feeling your knees weaken with every step, even if unclear if it was the sheer exhaustion that this march was bringing you to, or if it was because you realized that you were on your own, far away from any possible help.
The grounds you were travelling were vast and intricate beyond your imagination, but even in the gloom and despite all windings of the road, you did not falter, as long as there was a path that led towards your goal. One step, followed the other.
There were not many roads to choose from on your way, even if you found yourself crossing many a place with holes and pitfalls into dark wells below. The further you marched, the more the familiar Hogwarts Architecture around you changed into a dark and old one. At times you heard a deep rumbling beside the path in which your steps passed an echo. There were fissures and chasms in the walls and floor, and every now and then a crack would open right before your feet, causing you to stumble away.
The widest was more than seven feet across, and it was long before you could summon enough will to cross it, the shoes Nicolas and you had build together filling out where your feet found no ground. It was an intricate set of magic, half steered by your will and half by the reflex of finding steady ground below.
As you stepped over the dreadful hole into nothingness, the noise of churning water came up from far below, as if some great mill-wheel was turning in the depths. As these dangers became more frequent your march became slower. You started looking for holes and traps, while ascending again. You were focused and weary, choosing not to seek comfort in the thought of halting anywhere. Soon you had eaten the last of your foods and drank half of your waters, as you tried to fight the deep uneasiness, growing to dread, creeping over you again.
Down here, your senses were sharper. You still remembered how Basques had felt in the sense of danger, remembered your own actions in the face of possible death. Right now, you were more aware of things that could not be seen. When you halted for a moment to put the rest of your water away, you heard nothing at all, unless it was occasionally a faint trickle and drip of unseen water. Yet when you started moving again, you began to hear, or to imagine that you heard, something else: like the faint fall of soft bare feet. It was never loud enough, or near enough, for you to feel certain that you had heard it; but once it had started it never stopped, while you were moving. It was not an echo, for when you came to a stop at times, it pattered on for a little all by itself, and then grew still.
You could not tell how much time had passed, when you arrived at the end of the passage. In front of you stood now a wide dark arch opening into a large stone gate behind a small room. The room, more than the endless floor you had followed to come here, was intricately decorated. It felt just like something you could have found at Hogwarts, even if you had almost forgotten what the castle was like while walking through darkness and deep caverns under the ground.
The moment you stepped into the room, torches ignited guided by old magic. Three familiar statues stood most prominently in the room. You walked on and passed them by one by one, your eyes were wide open, trying to commit any detail to your memories; the first stone statue you passed was of a woman. Beautiful and wise, Rowena Ravenclaw looked like the very pinnacle of a witch. The diadem und the large statue was as large as your arm, as the founder of your house looked down at you, her stone eyes moving with your body until the moment you passed her.
The moment her eyes stopped in their track, it was for Godric Gryffindor to look at you. The statue's beard reaching down to his waist, his eyes moving with you as you walked and passed him. The sword in his hand, on which he was putting his weight, was double as tall as you were. And then you came up to the last statue. Someone who could not be anyone other than the creator of Slytherin himself; Salazar. Where Godric's beard was long and thick, his only reached as far as to hide his neck. Where Godric's beard looked wild and unkempt, hia was cut precisely. His eyes on yours made you feel weary. You could almost imagine that he was trying to convey something to you.
Then you made your way to the stone gate, larger even than any of the statues, the room growing in height as you walked through it to even accommodate such a large structure at the end of it. Here on the stone gate, where you had expected anything in the world, you had not expected what it was that you were seeing.
No glyphs, or old runes, no form of Old English or Anglo-Saxon words; instead you found a poem engraved into the old stone. The language was one that was very familiar to you.
'Le monde était jeune, les montagnes vertes,' the first line read in French as you kept reading on, your eyes not blinking once as your lips tried to find the rhythm that had been playing in the authors mind.
The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone.
When he woke and walked alone.
He named the nameless hills and dells;
He drank from yet untasted wells;
He stooped and looked into the skies,
And saw a crown of stars appear,
As gems upon a silver thread,
Above the shadow of his head.
The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In Elder Days before the fall,
Of mighty kings in mighty lands,
A king he was on carven throne,
In many-pillared halls of stone,
With golden roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.
The light of sun and star and moon,
In shining lamps of crystal hewn,
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night,
There shone for ever fair and bright.
There hammer on the anvil smote,
There chisel clove, and graver wrote;
There forged was blade, and bound was hilt;
The delver mined, the mason built.
There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
And metal wrought like fishes' mail,
Hammer and cord, axe and sword,
And shining spears were laid in hoard.
Unwearied then were this one folk;
Beneath the mountains music woke:
The harpers harped, the minstrels sang,
And at the gates the trumpets rang.
The world is grey, the mountains old,
The forge's fire is ashen-cold;
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:
The darkness dwells in this ones halls;
The shadow lies upon his tomb,
In this mountain, in Nei'it-ruˆm.
There lies his crown in water deep,
Till he wakes again from his sleep.
My children, you now came here,
You will find the dream of one sightseer.
So, say my children, who is amiss?
That they may remain, so the others see bliss.
When your lips stopped moving, you didn't need to think for the answer. Where you had at first been led to believe that this was a test only a group of four could solve, now it seemed as if that group of four would have to fight another problem still.
"Hufflepuff," you said aloud. For a second there was nothing but your echo. Then a rumbling again, as the gate opened up before you, giving you entry to the hidden wonders of what lay beyond. "That they may remain, so the others see bliss," you whispered more to yourself, than to activate any hidden mechanism.
The riddle would have needed for someone to stay behind, someone who would put all his hope into his friends, who felt such a strong loyalty for his group, that he would stay alone in the dark, while they passed this gate.
You had no such problems, for you were alone either way.
Behind the gate you found a great hall, much greater than Hogwarts Hall even. It was round and high, but you could make out only your corner in it until you stepped past the gate. Then suddenly, a thousand flames appeared on the walls, submerging the hall in bright light.
To your left there was a wall that was half see-through, allowing you to see the entrance to a mine and through it you could see outside. There were familiar mountains beyond it, reminding you of what your ghostly Professor had once told you.
"And that brings us to the 12th of May, 1612," Professor Binns said and paused, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise. With his notes open, his guiding finger went from the end of one page and to the beginning of the next. He began to read again, still in his always hypnagogic flat tone.
"The growing tension lead to a first altercation to the north of Hogsmeade, were Goblins found a desolated mine, which would contribute heavily to the efforts of making a swift victory impossible for wizards."
It seemed that you were in one part of the mines' construct. Your hand landed on the wall that was only partly see-through, keeping you from climbing down to the entrance of the mine. While old, what you could see down there in front of you, had nothing on the ancient structures you had seen on your way up.
"… or on this," you said, turning around to look at the hall again. All around the walls, you could see broken and rusty chains that trailed the torches. These in here, didn't look like those in the room with the founder statues. They were of a different material, black and brilliant like a crystal. Their flames were blue and cold.
Your hand went through one of the flames, sensing nothing but a tickling as the blue fire passed by your skin. You took one out of its place … and all others stopped working, throwing the hall into darkness again. The only light now came out of the room you had stepped out of and the wall to its left that was partly see-through.
"Well," you said, putting the torch back. Instantly, the hall was bright again. "It seems as if you have some set of rules, huh?"
You started walking deeper into the hall. It was wide and round, but something large was standing in the middle of it. A large statue, it seemed, even larger than the ones you had left behind. Fragments of stone lay over the ground, some crunching to dust under your boots as you drew closer.
The statue you were closing in on was large and solid from afar. Where it once might have been majestic, it turned out from close up that it was nothing but a ruin. Both of its arms were missing or had turned into rubble around the large statue. Its head had been ripped of and large chunks of his body were missing.
"What has happened to you?" You whispered, when you had almost reached the statue.
If your words or your actions had woken something, you did not now. But suddenly, the mighty statue moved forward as if alive.
Its movements were clunky and stagnant, his legs producing further rifts in the stone as they moved around. But once the statue committed to a move, it got fast. A leg kicked the particular spot where you had been standing just a second earlier as you jumped to the side. The spot was kicked with such a force that the wind reverberated, before you felt a strong gust of wind rushing back into the direction you had come from, filling the space in the air that had been kicked away there.
"Bloody hell," you said aloud, when you moved to the side again just a moment before the statue had blindly turned around and located you without a head on his shoulder. He kicked at you again - again, it didn't find you.
You rolled down on the ground and away from the statue, sprinting away from it as fast as you could, even if your legs felt like butter after having walked such a long distance below the grounds.
You ran and ran, feeling it almost atop you. When you made for a turn to look back at the statue and try to slow it down with a spell, you saw that it had come to a full stop. It stood a few feet away from you now, but it didn't move. You kept moving, walking backwards with your eyes on the statue, but even after a few moments, the statue didn't seem to move … when his legs started creaking again, he turned around in one fluent move and walked back to the very centre of the room, where you had found him minutes earlier.
When he came to a standstill at the very place he had begun his hunt on you, among the rubble that had once been his body, the statue snapped back into its prior posture and stopped moving again. You broke down and sat on the ground panting and fighting for breaths for minutes, looking at the guardian of this hall.
There was a meaning there, something that you should understand, but it was difficult to focus on anything right now, feeling exhausted and fatigued. Now, the statue stood between you and the exit you had come from, which meant that there was only one way to proceed; your eyes fell on the second gate. At the end of the hall, now very close to you. It was almost identical to the one you had just passed to come into the hall. It was large, massive and old and even from here you could make out a faint engraving on it.
When you finally stood up from your place, having rested for a bit at least, you walked closer to the second gate. The blue flames surrounding you and the hall were humming softly to a tune, you could not quite place. This place was the most frightening and magical … and beautiful … and perfect thing you had ever seen.
Only when you reached the second gate, where you able to make out its writing. Again, it was in French, a detail you didn't quite understand the meaning of either. At least you understood the language.
The three are here now, may smart or bereft,
For one foot they set down, three there still left.
For the guardian is whole, all other were cruel,
As one they will act and follow the jewel,
With their swords in hand, swift and gallant,
Then at last trick and dupe, make the mountain a fool.
This gate will open only after walking all distance,
The Riddler will speak to offer assistance,
You may then greet, and then be persistent.
The last step is the fourth, the fourth is the first.
For here to pass, your words must be reversed.
"Une autre énigme," you said, still speaking French yourself, not able to jump quite as fast between languages. "But how do I go to solve this?" Scanning the poem again, you felt a sense of familiarity. This felt like the culmination of all of the Castle's small mysteries and riddles. As if it had been made only for those that were used to solving them.
You turned on your heel and let your bag fall on the ground. There was no food left, only some water that you were now rationing for the rest of the day. It was clear to you that you needed to pass. This here, even if partly older than anything you had ever seen, still had some basic feeling of the castle to it. Even if it looked completely different and alien for someone who was used to the castle's architecture, you could simply feel the similarity.
"You are a last riddle, aren't you," you whispered, looking back at the statue at the centre of the hall, tall and menacing, but broken and ridiculed. "For the guardian is whole, all other were cruel," you repeated the line, before walking into the direction of the statue again.
Someone had not understood this riddle and destroyed the statue instead, failing to complete the mystery.
"It is 'the steps' that are of importance," you said, coming closer, thinking already of what to do after repairing the statue.
First you would have left someone behind. Now it seemed, that you needed to portray traits of a specific house for the second step.
"Reparo," you said, once you were close enough. The statue only activated when you had been very close. Chunks of stone started to move below, some of them flying upwards and falling into old paces again. "Reparo," you said again, when the process slowed down. Then another and another until the statue was back to its old self. It was large, and naked, majestic and so very frightening. Out of part of the rubble, you had created an old sword that had been in his right hand. There was a shield in his left and his head was that of a lion.
"Swift and gallant," you said and followed to the next step, as you came closer to the statue. As if on cue, it moved again. This time it moved faster than before. His body was whole and build anew.
His sword moved out, rushing through the air to then rebound against the shield charm you had cast. At the same time the large sword-stone was thrown back, your shield broke under the shier force of the statue's attack.
This time you felt calmer than before. You had gone into this fight with a plan. There was method to the madness and you had just an idea as how to do find it.
"I will make a fool out of you," you said, as you turned and started running again. Where the statue had been fast before, almost catching up to you, this time it was even swifter. It caught you after but a few of your steps. His sword crashed down at the exact spot you had been a second before.
"Spongify," you said, from above the sword. Your feet were carrying you up as if on invisible stairs. The merlot-coloured leather boots were pushing you onwards, while you turned in kind to make the statues life harder. Your spell hit one of his feet, instantly robbing him of his secure footing. The large statue tumbled, but was able to regain its balance. His face contorted, an expression of mindless rage as his mouth opened to a soundless scream.
You ran further, crossing half the distance to the second gate, when he caught you again. Even limping on one foot, he was faster than you. You were at the height of his face, when he tried to swipe you from the sky. Waiting for the last moment to cross as much of the distance as possible, you turned around at the last second, to jump and shout: "Protego!"
By then, you had lost your footing completely, jumping backwards into the direction of the second gate. When the sword hit your shield again, bereft of anything for you to hold onto, you were thrown back. You fell back, crashing down at the same spot where the statue had stopped its movements last time. With the last of your energies, you crawled another few feet. The earth rumbled behind you, but at last you were only able to fall on your back and look up at the statue with a raised sword. He was mad, the expression on his face was of pure rage, looking down at you, but he didn't move.
"That is your range," you said. "You cannot move past it. So, I made a fool out of you, didn't I? I fought you in your prime and still passed to the second gate. You have lost against me!"
You were sure of this, but still, nothing happened. The statue was still looking at you in rage and the gate behind you didn't react at all. This was not enough. You needed to win this it seemed …
"Spongify," you said, from your position on the ground, before pushing yourself up. The statue was still holding his sword high up, ready for an attack. You were already in his range, but he didn't dare to cross the line that made up his invisible cage.
The moment his other foot turned into soft butter, you ran into him. He was stumbling, almost hitting you by accident when you ran through his open legs. His sword hit the ground to your right, but not in attack. The statue was still trying to stay on his feet, when you had passed to the other side, turned around and raised your wand.
"Flipendo!"
A comparatively soft push to his breast was everything that was needed. And then the giant fell back through the air, crossing the invisible line that had been right behind him.
When he crashed on the ground, there was no life left in the statue. It lay still and unmoving, nothing but ornament of the large hall; a giant that had been slain by the contester. A bright light caught your attention. The dark gate was now alit itself, a blue fire radiating out of it, brightening the poem on its doors. You quickly crossed the distance to hear a soft female voice. It was that of an old woman, her words both scratchy and rough, as she asked one question again and again.
"Who are you?"
One thing was left for the riddle to solve. An answer had to be given, only one was true all others were danger.
[ ] I am the Ravenclaw
[ ] I am the Hufflepuff
[ ] I am the Slytherin
[ ] I am the Gryffindor
Three-hour Moratorium!As always, please take time to discuss the chapter and the vote first.
This gate will open only after walking all distance,
The Riddler will speak to offer assistance,
You may then greet, and then be persistent.
The last step is the fourth, the fourth is the first.
For here to pass, your words must be reversed.
Feels like theses lines should be the focus because the mountain has fallen. This might be off but we had Hufflepuff stay behind, fought Gryffindor as the stone statue, and Ravenclaw is the riddler maybe?
[X] These are for Exploration Only
21 people have voted
[X] These are for Exploration Only – Use these boots for Emergencies and during your Exploration Activities only. While you are of no particular mind to keep their existence secret, you don't want everyone to know them either and it might be useful to have a set of trump card in place for a later time.
6 people have voted
[X] I don't understand the Question – These boots are now your everyday boots. You will wear them at all times and use them freely. There should be no rules against this in place in the castle, because quite frankly, an item like this has never existed. Use the boots in any kind or form to have fun, for duelling club and whatever you have in mind. No further votes for when to use or not. The sky is yours to play with.
4 people have voted
[X] I don't understand the Question
1 people have voted
I must say, I'm not a fan of those riddle votes (because the thread has to be as smart as the character (or smarter) and it just feels strange to me)...but, otherwise the chapter was very nice!
edit: Did I just tag a bunch of people? If so: sorry! Copied the tally and didn't remove the user names at first...
I do not like this. None of the available answers seem to be in sdrawkcab, so reversed meaning? Or is this just one of those lines that riddles have in order to sound more riddle-y?
The moment you stepped into the room, torches ignited guided by old magic. Three familiar statues stood most prominently in the room. You walked on and passed them by one by one, your eyes were wide open, trying to commit any detail to your memories; the first stone statue you passed was of a woman. Beautiful and wise, Rowena Ravenclaw looked like the very pinnacle of a witch. The diadem und the large statue was as large as your arm, as the founder of your house looked down at you, her stone eyes moving with your body until the moment you passed her.
The moment her eyes stopped in their track, it was for Godric Gryffindor to look at you. The statue's beard reaching down to his waist, his eyes moving with you as you walked and passed him. The sword in his hand, on which he was putting his weight, was double as tall as you were. And then you came up to the last statue. Someone who could not be anyone other than the creator of Slytherin himself; Salazar. Where Godric's beard was long and thick, his only reached as far as to hide his neck. Where Godric's beard looked wild and unkempt, hia was cut precisely. His eyes on yours made you feel weary. You could almost imagine that he was trying to convey something to you.
Isn't it Hufflepuff if this challenge is meant for a group of four, where the first person through the gate is meant to be the fourth person?
But the fourth was left behind, so it's a test for them to go back and get them and they're the first one to go through the gate.
So it's also a test of loyalty and teamwork, one person was willing to sacrifice themselves to let the others go forward, are the others willing to go back and get them. This also makes sense if you consider it from the perspective of who created it, as a test of teamwork between the houses but the first person is left behind at the start doesn't really make much sense if its trying to teach them all something, so they have a need to reunify the group.
I think it's Hufflepuff since it was the answer to the first riddle. It was also the missing 4th statue as someone pointed out. Persistence or hard work and patience is also one of the traits that the House value.
Assuming that the long hallway is the first test. I think that it would be clear that it would be Gryffindor's test.
The second task was to leave someone behind, some would say that it was a test of faith and thus Hufflepuff.
The third part should be the Ravenclaw test. It was not needed either exceptional bravery, faith in other people, or even the need to be exceptionally cunning. Just a good eye for patterns and the knowledge to make use of that information. Thus Ravenclaw.
Now, this should mean that Slytherin is the answer. We could also view this thing as a long and complicated riddle. A plan to get rid of other people and make the last question for one person alone.
The long hallway to make people falter, the need to let someone behind to pass the test, the test against the statue that could eliminate even more people. Perhaps this was a test designed to have just one person to face the end alone. If it was designed like this then it really was a masterwork of a cunning individual. Thus Slytherin again.
Anyway, this is just my first thoughts on this vote, perhaps seeing other opinions will change my own.
I think it's Hufflepuff since it was the answer to the first riddle. It was also the missing 4th statue as someone pointed out. Persistence or hard work and patience is also one of the traits that the House value.
Isn't it Hufflepuff if this challenge is meant for a group of four, where the first person through the gate is meant to be the fourth person?
But the fourth was left behind, so it's a test for them to go back and get them and they're the first one to go through the gate.
So it's also a test of loyalty and teamwork, one person was willing to sacrifice themselves to let the others go forward, are the others willing to go back and get them. This also makes sense if you consider it from the perspective of who created it, as a test of teamwork between the houses but the first person is left behind at the start doesn't really make much sense if its trying to teach them all something, so they have a need to reunify the group.
I like this answer. I suck at riddles, but it makes sense.
The first part of the riddle point out "The three are here now..." which means we know that the fourth would be Hufflepuff since, in order to get this far, it was expected that Hufflepuff would be left behind.
Thus, the part of the last is the fourth (Hufflepuff) and the fourth is the first (to enter) makes sense.
As does the last part "For here to pass, your words must be reversed." What are the only words that we know the trials would require to get this far, and thus the only words that the riddle maker would know were spoken? "Hufflepuff" when it was decided who to leave behind. Therefore, by bringing Hufflepuff back, we are "reversing the words" that we did by literally reversing our actions of leaving someone behind.
Also, I assumed that Ravenclaw's participation in the riddle is actually understanding the riddles as they are written in French. Which I believe was the language of the court and not necessarily something that a lay person would be expected to speak, but one may expect of a scholar.
Also, I assumed that Ravenclaw's participation in the riddle is actually understanding the riddles as they are written in French. Which I believe was the language of the court and not necessarily something that a lay person would be expected to speak, but one may expect of a scholar.
Yeah the long journey through the darkness was Gryffindors, the three statues Hufflepuff where in a group setting you may start having arguments at this point about who stays, this fight with the golem requiring cunning to beat was Slytherins, and this final one to open the gate is Ravenclaws. Its both a test of knowledge for knowing French (although depending on when the challenge was built, French may have been the lingua franca for nobles so perhaps not) but more importantly wisdom. Thus going back and getting the fourth person, as you said literally reversing your words from before and them being the first one through the gate.
As I also mentioned, it also makes sense from the design perspective of the creator where the team reunifies.
Someone who could not be anyone other than the creator of Slytherin himself; Salazar. Where Godric's beard was long and thick, his only reached as far as to hide his neck. Where Godric's beard looked wild and unkempt, hia was cut precisely. His eyes on yours made you feel weary. You could almost imagine that he was trying to convey something to you.
It does make this section seem more ominous and relatable. Slytherin had a major fallout with the rest of the Founders, so he sort of goes off on his own. He finds something resembling success, but no man is an island. Unfortunately, I don't believe Salazar every makes amends, and this plagues the modern House relations. Slytherin and Gryffindor are at each other's throats, Ravenclaw does whatever, and poor Hufflepuff gets looked down upon. Here, Jacob is both, being a Ravenclaw, as well as alone like Salazar in this dark forgotten place. Which is terribly unfortunate as it seems Hogwarts has not been given a chance to give this test with how bad interhouse relations are.
All this, and we still haven't discussed the specifics of what plague each house like the effects of pure blood propaganda, or prejudice of each house
Happy to see that.
