SuperSonicSound
Shadowmancer of the Shadow Cabal
Yay. 
Gotta admit I'm excited to see the next update. ^^
Gotta admit I'm excited to see the next update. ^^
A Harry Potter Quest: He who was not
- Thread starter Tabula Rasa
- Start date
3.3 November, 1993
- Location
- Germany
[X] "This is the Road to the Top" – Tracey's goal seems to be clear. She wants to rise in ranks, however long it takes her. Her fierceness inspires you as well; this is something you can do. You will aim to win the duelling tournament at the end of this year, however farfetched that goal is. Because this feels like something that could be a lot of fun.
Present Date: 23rd November 1993
Current Wand: Fagus wood, Phoenix feather core
The third weekend was a calm and uneventful one. Slytherin flattened Hufflepuff on a cold rainy day, the yelling and shouting reaching far up to the Astronomy Tower, where you were watching dark clouds swallow the world. This time there were no Dementors descending from the sky.
And then it was Monday again, early Potions in the dungeons with a bat as a teacher, followed by DADA and the werewolf Professor, then a Ghost teaching History of Magic and a cat teaching Transfigurations. Not for the first time did you ask yourself were the headmaster had found this cast of eccentric Professors. While the Monday ended with a class in 'Study of Ancient Runes' and homework on translation of basic numeric runes, Tuesday evening saw yourself sitting next to Megan Jones in the Runes club favoured classroom.
Most of the times you were sitting together like this neither of you talked, working on different things at your leisure. More often than not did you spend the time with other subjects instead of studying runes. Which meant that Megan, not weighted down by a thousand other interests and hobbies, was getting quite ahead of you in this subject.
Runes Club Roll → 1D100+4 → 70 (66 + 4) → Something of moderate interest.
Hurried steps made you look up from your potions book. Megan, startled out of her reading herself, looked first at you and then at the older student that had rushed into the room.
"Guys, I've found something!"
And as always the boys gathered around him in seconds, leaving their game of 'Exploding Snape' behind to rush into the middle of the room for the new entrant.
"What is it?" One of them asked. "Is it a wand?" Another asked, as you heard Megan whisper something: "I bet it's a nail again." You chuckled when you heard her comment, closing your book and heading towards the small group as well; as if you could ever tame your curiosity on matters like this.
"It's outside," the first boy said – a Gryffindor.
That caused one of the others to frown and ask: "Why haven't you brought it with you?"
"I couldn't, you Knob head. It's on the castle walls."
First, he had your curiosity, now he got your attention.
"On the walls?" you asked him. The Gryffindor looked at you in return, as if he hadn't seen you before, before he nodded vehemently.
"I'll show you. Guys, take your coats." It was a command, if you had ever heard one.
And so, it was that the five of you packed your things together, made your way down the stairs and exited the castle a few minutes later. It was cold, rainy and a miserable day to be outside altogether, but you still followed the Gryffindor around the castle, driven by your curiosity. You walked a distance on one of the many paths of the school grounds, before you had to follow the way downhill and pass by Hagrid's hut first, before walking a short stretch alongside the forbidden forest. When you then started climbing the hill back up, you asked yourself how exactly the Gryffindor had found whatever it is that he wanted to show you. What had he been doing this far outside in the rain? You didn't ask the question though as all five of you finally reached the castle wall.
"I'm bloody wet and cold, mate," one of the others said - a Hufflepuff, as was the third boy that had come along. You didn't know any of their names, because you had never asked and they had never offered. Following the boy's words, a blast of cold wind lashed from the side against you, making it painfully obvious that water had seeped deep into your clothes. What kind of wizard were you that didn't know any spell against this?
"You are an ungrateful wanker," the Gryffindor answered.
"Eat me," the Hufflepuff said.
Something pushed against your right side and it took you a moment to understand that Megan was trying to stay warm by hugging herself and keeping close to you.
"What did you find here?" She asked, trying to stop their bickering and move on with what you had come to achieve in the rain.
"I found the most beautiful thing you guys have ever seen," the older boy said. He pointed upwards and as you guys followed his direction, he added: "This has to be important!"
Deciphering on the spot (DC 70) → 1D100+4 → 94 (90 + 4) → Great Success!
The moment your eyes found the spot he was pointing to, you completely forgot about the cold. Leaving Megan behind, you stepped closer to the wall, trying to get a better look. One of the bricks had fallen off – it didn't look like a recent change to you. There was moss and dirt that had accumulated in the opening of the wall. Below it was something that was uncanny - some kind of runes, even if only a part of them were visible.
"What does it say?" one of Hufflepuff's behind you asked.
Even if you had never seen the runes before, that were poking out of the illusion that was the castle wall, you knew one thing: "It is part of something bigger," you said. "I couldn't tell you what it says, but there might be more of it hidden beneath the rest of the wall."
"Should we take out a few of the other bricks and have a better look?" He asked again. This time it was Megan who answered: "Tampering with the castle in any kind or form is expulsion worthy."
Your eyes didn't leave the empty spot on the wall. A round glyph staring back at you. Only now did you realize that your heart was beating hard against your ribcage. Your breath was short and puffed, producing a faint cloud of mist in front of your face.
When you turned around, you were grinning.
"Then we may have to find other spots like this!"
→ 1/10 progress in putting the runes found on the castle wall down to paper. Every successful roll of the Runes Club's findings will advance this progress. You can also spend actions on this.
→ ???
New Spell Research: Focillo - Charm. The Warming Charm creates warmth from the tip of the caster's wand in a small cone. It can also be casted on a person. With more willpower, the heat can intensify and hold for longer stretches, though never hot enough to become dangerous. Slow clockwise circles that continue while you concentrate, while the spell builds up. (Comment: That's new. Why is it a continuous movement until it builds up? What do the wand movements do?) DC: 50.
Present Date: 27th November 1993
Current Wand: Fagus wood, Phoenix feather core
Peque was sitting on your right shoulder, gently nibbling at your earlobe as you ascended a set of stairs. Even half distracted by the handwritten letter in your hand, you knew to come to a halt for a moment, before moving on to the next set of stairs. On cue, the stair below you started moving, guided by a hidden logic most students thought of as random and infamously working against you crueller the tighter your schedule was to get to the next lesson. The months searching for hidden secrets in the castle had taught you otherwise.
There was a hidden rhythm to it, something that could not be written down and calculated, but that needed to be felt instinctively. Laid down as the foundation to all secret passages of Hogwarts, that were mostly to be found by applying different sets of logical deduction, the founders had built a set of staircases that defied all reason and logic.
The moment the first stair arrived at its new position, now leading to a corner that would have made you backtrack, a new set of stairs clicked into place right in front of you. You proceeded descending into the fifth floor, before leaving the Central Staircases for one of the many corridors leading out of it. If you were right about your theory about the Hogwarts castle in itself being a method to teach students, the staircase would be a metaphor for the dichotomy of magical theory; while one side of magic was clearly structured following a more or less sound logic, other parts of it were driven by pure instincts and meaning. A wizard needed to understand both to be able to dive into any kind of deeper understanding.
"Peque," you said, looking up from the piece of paper on at the small owl sitting on your shoulder. While your parents weren't exactly consistent with it, they were in some forms more modern than many wizards much younger than them (which was most the population of the magical world if you thought about it). The paper in your hands felt criminally smooth in contrast to the parchment you used for school. Even their handwriting hadn't been done by using a classical feather.
"How are they doing?" You asked Peque.
Your small owl turned its head in confusion, as if not understanding why you had to turn your head and take those sweet and wonderful earlobes out of his reach. Then he spread his wings, whiteish and dark brown feathers rising as if set to attack. You smiled at this display of emotion by your owl. He was either telling you that they didn't fed him with enough treats or that they sent him out too early to fly back with an answer. Peque had never seen the amusement of flying the long distance between southern Europe and this northern part of the world with long patches of water that had to be quite the challenge for the small owl.
"Oh, come on. You want to tell me that you aren't happy to be back?"
Peque chirped happily in return.
"Yeah, I've missed you to, little owl," you said caringly as you took one of your hands up to your feathered friend and caressed the back of his head.
"There should be some things in the kitchen that you might like, do you want to go?" Again, a happy chirp and a spread of his wings as he danced from one leg to the other.
"It's decided then," you said and pushed a seemingly random door to your left open that ended in a dead end. You still walked inside, closing the door behind you so that the small walk-in closet fell into darkness. Bending your knees to take momentum first, you then jumped upwards. The moment you landed, the ground below gave in and you landed in a slide that could be used as the fastest method to reach the dungeons from high up. Peque had detached from your shoulders the moment you jumped up, so you weren't afraid of hurting him in the landing that would follow.
"Spongify," you called out as you felt the end of the slide nearing. Just a moment later you were thrown against a softened-up wall, six floors below, but managed to come to land on your feet this time.
Peque chirped behind you as he descended the dark slide, before he flew out of the exit that was usually hidden by a picture. The moment your animal friend passed, the painting fell back into its original place to reveal a man who was as wide as he was tall and had only a few patches of white hair left on the top of his head.
"No respect for your elders!" He shouted out, rubbing one of his eyes with his left hand, while raising a fist menacingly with the other. "Walk the stairs and let me sleep in piece, damnit!"
You laughed in return, coming back to the answer you gave every time: "I'll keep that in mind. See you next time, old man!"
"Bloody young ones."
You raised your hand in farewell, before turning around and jumping out of the small room. This had been the fastest and most fun route to the kitchens and judging by the happy dance Peque was performing on your head, it seemed as if he had liked it as well.
You resumed reading the letter in your hand. The front of the letter had been about how the inhabitants of your home island were doing. Your parents (this time it was your mother's handwriting, but as always, they had both put their thoughts into the letter) went into detail about how all other people were doing, forgetting to tell you how they were feeling in the process. It was a trait of them that you had always assumed to be caused by the fact that they didn't want to burden you with their problems, but it was frustrating at times.
Your father has made various conjectures on how the situation would turn out once you got to experience your family's heirloom. Life is a constant probing and testing as he says and while I think it might be too early for you to delve into such matters, it is in the end your decision, as always. A personality can only find its unique defining traits with autonomy and epiphany through substantiated decisions, so it was up to me to forget about presumptions this time and let it be. As I am your mother, I nonetheless hope that you do not rush into things and give yourself time to adapt.
Your father is forcing me to write the following, with which I do not agree: 'Do not listen to her and limit yourself. Life is a constant defiance against adversary circumstances. You can only grow by pushing through.'
As I said, I do think that his viewpoints are just as antique and out-of-vogue as your dear father is at times.
Your smile grew to a grin that reached from one end to the other as you kept on walking through the long corridor. There was an inert understanding between your parents that reached phenomenal depths at times. You could only imagine how they had lovingly reviewed each other's thought process to arrive at advice for you that shared both their worldviews.
We hope to see you here next month, our neighbours have asked for you, so mind writing us if you will need one of us to collect you from London. As we said last time, this stays your decision, we will not pressure you in any kind. It would be understandable for you to want to explore the castle in a time with fewer inhabitants. We would just be glad to see you, that is all.
You are the love of our lives,
Isabella Mia Cortez & David Marvan Basques
Turning a corner, you took the time to carefully fold the letter back to its original form and pack it into one of your many pockets.
A yell made you look up to see a small gathering of students. Only when you stepped closer, did you see that the group wasn't a homogenous one.
Three people were staring down a single figure, who had fallen to the ground before them and was looking up at the other three. A wand clattered over the floor to land near the feet of the student, who had shoved the fourth figure to the ground; Gregory Goyle, who was as stupid as he was mean. There were few people you disliked more than Michael Corner – Goyle was leading the list among a few others.
"I told you to stop looking at me like that," Goyle said, stepping over the wand and stepping closer to the boy on the ground. When he stooped down and leaned forwards menacingly, you couldn't help but think that he looked like a gorilla to you. The third-year Slytherin had small and dull eyes, feet that were too large for even his big frame and long arms – his hands reaching down to the ground from his crouching position. His dark blonde hair had been cut short, now looking darker than it had previously been.
"A manky Mudblood is not s'pposed to act like that - told you to piss off." His voice was getting louder with each word until he was almost shouting at the Hufflepuff boy. Justin Finch-Fletchley winced back. While you had gotten to know the third-year as a jovial and happy nature, right in this moment he looked scared and in over his head. He crawled backwards and tried to stand up, when a spell hit him, throwing him backwards against the wall. A painful yelp cut through the corridor, before Justin hit the ground a second time.
"Let me go, please," he finally said. Without a wand in his hand, he had nothing but to plead against the three students.
The one who had casted the spell had his wand in his hand still; an older Slytherin you didn't know, maybe a fourth-year or at the most a fifth-year. "Gregory here tells me that you are quite the bother to him, talking bad and all," he said, a menacing smile on his face as he looked down at the Hufflepuff boy. The older Slytherin was heavily built, large and muscular, even more so than Goyle.
"I think we'll have a fun time here," he said, before turning to the third Slytherin. "Theo, you wanted to practice a few jinxes, didn't you? We have the perfect opportunity at hand."
While the older boy was looking at the third Slytherin and Goyle was still keeping his eyes on Justin, only Nott had detected you by now. His face was a mask without emotions, he hadn't even been surprised when he saw you. It took a few moments for the older Slytherin boy to realize that something was afoul, before he followed Nott's eyes and finally found you standing at the corner of the floor.
His posture changed instantly as it was getting clear that this was not a private gathering anymore. His wand moved from pointing at Justin, to then point at you instead.
"And what are you looking at, exactly?" He asked threateningly. "Bloody move and go back or …"
Or … Yes, or what exactly? Three Slytherin and a Hufflepuff, three purebloods and a Muggleborn, three bullies and a victim. This is the first time you saw something like this happen, being aloof and distanced had kept you out of these little conflicts but it seemed as if your luck was catching up to you. The question now was, what would you do next? How did Jacob Marvan Basques act in a situation like this?
[ ] The castle is large – In the end, this doesn't concern you. You barely know any of the four, don't even remember having interchanged a word with any of them. Don't say anything and pass by them to head for the kitchen.
[ ] Let's just talk, no wands – You don't think you will be able to argue with either Goyle, nor the older Slytherin, but you might be able to reach an agreement with Nott. Both of you still remember the debt he owes you. If it doesn't work, go on with your life. You won't participate in their violence. (High DC for talking them out of it.)
[ ] This is no laughing matter – You don't think you will be able to argue with either Goyle, nor the older Slytherin, but you might be able to reach an agreement with Nott. Both of you still remember the debt he owes you. If it doesn't work, pull your wand out. You do not think that you can hold yourself against three students, no matter their talent, but you'll be damned if you go down without hurting them. (High DC for talking them out of it, High DC for the ensuing fight.)
[ ] Words are Winds – You don't think you will be able to argue with either of them. Pull your wand out, while you do not think that you can hold yourself against three students, you have an advantage in initiative. (High DC for ensuing fight, but you'll be able attack first.)
Last edited:
- Location
- Europe
Are you sure we don't want to stay ahead of the normal learning curve of the other students?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Almost missed the moratorium notice and just voted. But yeah, gotta fight. I'm... less than sure the advantage of striking first is worth being cast as the aggressor if this gets back to a professor. But that's still better than getting beaten up. Holding the initiative is likely to be the difference between victory and defeat in this scenario. Also, I don't trust our, shall we say lacking, social skills to fix this. Our dueling has been solidly above average though.
SuperSonicSound
Shadowmancer of the Shadow Cabal
Yea I'm tempted to go guns blazing on this one. They're not going to back down and frankly I don't want Jacob to be the kind of person that pretends the bad stuff around him doesn't happen. I'd be much more sanguine about walking away if it also meant going to the 'proper' authorities but tbh the professors are kind of pathetic when it comes to dealing with this kind of nonsense based on the books.
Soooo I'm for Words are wind.
@Tabula Rasa
Apologies I'm trying to pin down the mechanical effects of using time echos and I can't see it one front page or the mechanics page.
edit: found it later on in the thread. At +5 an echo I think they're both to rare and to precious to use in a situation where the consequences of failure are not that significant.
Soooo I'm for Words are wind.
@Tabula Rasa
Apologies I'm trying to pin down the mechanical effects of using time echos and I can't see it one front page or the mechanics page.
edit: found it later on in the thread. At +5 an echo I think they're both to rare and to precious to use in a situation where the consequences of failure are not that significant.
Last edited:
wonder if this is part of making the school map or the defensive runes of the school or both?
an indication that shows this can be researched further to deeper understanding as well?
This feels like it might be the threads conflicting viewpoint in the future
Warmach1ne32
Machine of War and Quests
- Location
- Indonesia
Hmm, talking only works if both sides want to talk, I doubt that will happen. I also don't think Nott would help us if it meant burning bridges with the other snakes. He has to live with them after all so if we got him to join us, he is going to get a Lot of heat from the others. So I think it is best to fight now and do the Ravenclaw thing of using logic to justify our Griffindor bravery as the best option.
SuperSonicSound
Shadowmancer of the Shadow Cabal
Alternatively walking away is possible. I'm just throwing it out there. It'd be a shitty thing to do though.
DarkKing98
Certified Village Idiot
- Location
- USA
[ ] This is no laughing matter – You don't think you will be able to argue with either Goyle, nor the older Slytherin, but you might be able to reach an agreement with Nott. Both of you still remember the debt he owes you. If it doesn't work, pull your wand out. You do not think that you can hold yourself against three students, no matter their talent, but you'll be damned if you go down without hurting them. (High DC for talking them out of it, High DC for the ensuing fight.)
This looks like the best option. Try to talk these people down, and if negotiations fail, THEN you fight. Shooting first and asking questions never is a bad habit to have. Also, remember guys, talking may allow us to better understand this mentality. Don't be so narrow minded and think the only answer is always violance.
This looks like the best option. Try to talk these people down, and if negotiations fail, THEN you fight. Shooting first and asking questions never is a bad habit to have. Also, remember guys, talking may allow us to better understand this mentality. Don't be so narrow minded and think the only answer is always violance.
We're already ahead of the curve, and acting otherwise is bullshit.
Did you mean ask first then shoot later
Warmach1ne32
Machine of War and Quests
- Location
- Indonesia
It is an option but would Jacob be able to live with himself afterwards? "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
- Location
- Europe
We aren't. From the description of the potion class we had a month ago, having a D- is being below the curve.
Due to what vote won before on dueling, I think we are going to train Dada anyway soon if the thread doesn't change idea.
SuperSonicSound
Shadowmancer of the Shadow Cabal
I mean categorically yes? He's seen worse and experienced worse first hand. That doesn't mean I want to do it.
@Tabula Rasa if we choose to walk away could we look at doing something after the fact, getting the house elfs involved, telling a professor?
I think it's worth considering that most of the people will have T's in their electives. No one has been learning this stuff ahead of time. D+ is ahead of the curve in potions categorically and I suspect is ahead of the curve regardless.
That said it's worth considering that the curve has such a tiny sample size it's irrelevant. I think we're almost definitely equal to all of our peers or better in most subjects that they don't specialise in. I'd like to zoom ahead in DADA and I think it's perfectly possible.
Last edited:
DarkKing98
Certified Village Idiot
- Location
- USA
No I mean shoot first and ask questions never. Unless you think that's a great method to have, which I'd love an explanaion for that.
Ah yes, because being at D+ and P- in skills at the beginning of Third Year when most Seventh years don't even reach a flat A is so behind the curve /s
- Location
- Europe
You are forgetting, like, more than half of the other classes we follow.
Oh sorry I thought that said shoot first and ask questions is never
DarkKing98
Certified Village Idiot
- Location
- USA
You're bringing up the 'trying to be ahead of the curve' mentality about a fight. Where our skills for fighting are far further ahead of the curve than the rest of our year already, without counting the free points we'll be getting.
- Location
- Europe
If we get them.
The other classes are needed to not be blocked by the cap, which is something we should always think about when trying to go up to the higher numbers.
Especially because all clubs will eventually be closed off in the sixth year.
- Location
- England
Don't know what they're planning to do to Justin but if we choose to fight and lose there's not only the chance of lost actions or bonuses due to injury from fighting but they might choose to escalate what they do to both of us. I also wouldn't put it past snape or other slytherins to cover for them then start bullying us more frequently with whatever penalties that could impose. This is worst case scenario though, well worst case is death but that's unlikely. I hope.
DarkKing98
Certified Village Idiot
- Location
- USA
It's amazing how you've made an utterly irrelevant post and act as if this at all has any bearing on the argument. Yes, we will get those free skill points, there's literally no reason we wouldn't short of never going to class again
We don't need to obsessively raise the stats and skills at the neglect of everything else. Doing so just massively fucks us over.
That's a problem for Sixth Year. We're not even half way done with the Third one.
- Location
- Europe
Thanks my master.