The Final Stand - Spellcaster's Society One-Shot

Saturday, May 7, 1921
The Spellcaster's Club Room

You stand before the door to the club room as you've always done before a drill. This one is the final one for the term, the last chance to prove your competence to yourself and perhaps even your professor, who stands just by the entrance. Maddox suggests you keep a cool head throughout, reminding you that you've all already had plenty of practice and have already survived the previous pair of drills.

Whether this boosts your confidence or not, it is your turn next.

As you enter, the door slowly creaks shut behind you. There's no going back now, only forward. The only problem with forward is that it is actively hostile toward your goals. No sooner than when the door closes, you find yourself under immediate attack. Bolts of electricity are hurled at you in rapid succession. They are unrelenting, one or two managing to zap you as if to assure you that they are real and need to be stopped. They are a painful reminder of what's at stake and encouragement not to get struck again.

On the other side of the room, you spot the culprit. It's a training dummy with an imitation wand that keeps sending lightning. Imitation or not, they certainly feel real, and it's abundantly clear that that little magic stick is the source of your discontent.

Trying to cast at it will reveal a shield charm in place. Curiously, it cracks before mending, as if it is being renewed. All the while, the attack continues. You'll have to find a way to get through the shield in order to get to what you want while trying not to get yourself electrocuted in the process.

Whatever you do will require great...force. Any force substantial enough.

Fallen debris is scattered all around the room, some big enough to hide behind...or to make use of in other ways.

In a minute, it will become clear where they came from. The entire room begins to shake, and a low rumble can be heard from the ceiling. All that lightning isn't good for the environment, as it actively compromises the structural integrity of the room. It appears the next bit is preparing to collapse, and it will in a few minutes. Either get through the drill in time or be prepared to handle the chunks of debris as they begin to fall.

Good luck!

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Welcome to this term's Spellcaster's Society One-Shot. As the name suggests, you only need to make one detailed post in this thread, reacting to the scenarios laid out for your character. This thread is not mandatory for passing, but it is another means through which you can earn points toward passing. As this is not a regulated thread, please do not attempt to use spells that are not currently on your character's willow unless for the purpose of RP, solely with the outcome being failure for that particular spell. Similarly, this means there will technically not be any 'wrong' answers; however, try to remain logical with the spells chosen for the scenarios. You do not need to state your character's magical strength for this one-shot. This thread will remain open until November 20 for any who wishes to participate. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Note: Your grade is not determined by your character's success or failure within the drill, but the quality and content of your post. If it's something they wouldn't think of or something they can't do, get creative with it. Have fun!

Note Also: This one-shot requires 2-3 spells before completion. Should your character manage to end the assault before the ceiling begins to fall again--as you are free to assume--be careful that you still offer enough detail within the post and a reasonable explanation for how your character was able to get it all done so quickly. The attack ends and the drill stops when the fake magic stick is dislodged. If your character is not good at magic/lacks the necessary skill, feel free to conclude the drill with them either surrendering or needing to be pulled out in the end.

She hated to admit it, and she would deny it if anyone asked, but Spellcasters had helped her casting immensely. Why this annoyed her so much, she wasn’t sure. Her friends had tried to get her into dueling in the past, and she had always said no. Now, if dueling ever came back, she wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

Great…

Seeing Maddox standing by the door Tilly nodded in greeting. “Professor.” He tried to instill some confidence, mentioning that they had survived everything else tossed their way. Awesome. Just what she wanted to hear.

Entering the training room, Tilly surveyed the scene in front of her, and immediately regretted her life choices. “SHIT!” A bolt of lightning skimmed her ear, burning a lock of hair. The smell filled the air, burning her nose. Wand out, Tilly ran towards some large debris on the ground, hiding behind it while she took stock of the area.

It was a dummy, with a wand?! Wait, not a wand, but casting magic all the same. The room shook, more masonry falling. The task was clear, stop the dummy and get out without getting crushed. First, Tilly cast “Protego!” Hoping it would help with the lightening constantly heading her way.

Tilly watched closely, trying to find a spot where she could jump out and cast at the Dummy. Sensing a break, she popped up and pointed her wand at the Dummy yelling, ”Immobulus!” The Dummy shuddered to a sudden stop, letting Tilly take a breath, happy with her success… Then it started back up again. Well crap. A bolt of lightning grazed her arm as she took shelter once again.

This time, hoping to crush the fake bastard, Tilly focused on a piece of stone closer to the dummy. Pointing her wand at the stone, she said “Wingardium Leviosa!” The stone, larger than anything she had ever tried to lift before, lifted a few feet off the ground and dropped. “Fuck!” She needed to calm down and focus. Trying a different tactic, she called “Relashio!” hoping for the magic stick… thing, would be tossed, but the shield covering the dummy made that impossible.

The lightning kept coming and the room shook harder. A large piece of masonry came crashing down feet from where she stood. This needed to end before she flattened like a pancake. Taking a deep breath, Tilly focused her attention on the stone close to the Dummy and called out “Wingardium Leviosa!” This time, the stone lifted off the ground and flew at the dummy. It wasn’t smooth, it didn’t fly with speed, but the size was too much for the Dummy, knocking it down, dislodging the magic stick from its hand.

Alice was distracted; her performance with everything (except her hospital wing duties) had suffered ever since just before Easter break. She felt like a shell of herself, especially when trying to break through to her sister. Ever was going to classes, but not saying much. She didn’t do anything, to be honest. And for some reason that just… drained the older of the two.

Stepping up to the Spellcasters door, Alice tried to focus on the task at hand. She’d struggled with casting this term and it was embarrassing. She would not be getting an Outstanding on anything from this term, likely, and her parents were not going to be happy. She was prepared for their verbal assault though, the one that she knew was coming. Especially since Ever was a lost cause now, that just put more pressure on Alice.

She looked blankly at Professor Barlowe, listening to his words, and somewhat computing what he was saying. But really? She wasn’t here. Her mind was elsewhere. Probably trying to ready herself for whatever her parents were going to throw at her this summer.

Finally, the Hufflepuff stepped into the room and heard the familiar sound of the door shutting behind her. She knew that Professor Barlowe was only trying to do his job, and yet… it felt… like he just didn’t care. Maybe if his feral daughter had been taken instead of Everleigh, he’d act differently. But no, the Gryffindor was still wandering around happily with her damn toad.

Her eyes slowly moving around the room, a bright flash made her jump. Alice was slow to react too, which just made it worse. A bolt of lightning hit her right in the chest. She stumbled back as another one came at her, this time she was able to turn and it got her in the arm.

She yelled in the direction of the stupid dummy and his stupid wand. The least that Professor Barlowe could do was warn her that she didn’t even have a fucking second to think before getting hurt.

Finally, the girl was able to get behind a large piece of masonry quick enough to prevent herself from getting hit a third time. She’d be going to the wing after this. Definitely. And complaining to Tilly about it too.

“Protego!” Alice attempted above her, but nothing happened. She was going to die.

She turned and peered over the edge of the stone, her eyes finding the stupid practice dummy holding a stick. That piece of shit.

“Depulso!” she cast at the dummy, and she watched as nothing happened. Again. What else could she do? More lightning, more ducking… more thinking…

“Flipendo!” Alice tried, though honestly the confidence she usually had was long gone at this point. She’d done so well with the last drill, and had been so damn proud of herself. And now this?

Brown eyes looked back at the shut door. There’s no way she could get it to open. She was sure Professor Barlowe had it spelled to only open once the damn dummy was incapable of continuing. But what about her?

You could have done better, Alice. Why are you such a failure, Alice?

Her parents' voices rang around in her head, and she hugged her knees to her chest. She wanted to give up. But she couldn’t. The part of her that had been brainwashed into being the perfect representation of the next generation of Ravenstones refused to give up.

“Accio!” Alice attempted, finally deciding to give it one last try. She had pointed her wand at the stick in the dummy’s ‘hand’. And it moved… but didn’t come to her. The stupid thing still had a hold of it. And, in retaliation for her failure, rumbling from above distracted her. She jumped out of the way of falling debris, and right into the line of fire.

The last thing Alice remembered was the world going black mere seconds after searing pain on the side of her face.

There was a reason Rosalie had never participated in dueling.

It wasn't that she didn't think she'd be good at it. Her casting was relatively strong and she studied hard enough to know a few good spells. Rather, it was the pressure of it all, and how quickly everything moved. The girl who flourished under the stress of Quidditch banners and wielded quaffles and bats like it was nothing, found herself nervous when it came to showing off her magical prowess.

Still, Spellcasters Club had done well to bolster her confidence in this area, and she was sure she'd handle the grand finale reasonably well.

A small smirk curled the edge of her lips as Professor Barlowe ushered her through the door. "Morning Professor," she said sweetly, pulling her wand from its holster at her hip. There was no need for any other formalities.

As the door clicked shut behind her, Rosalie barely had a moment to take in her surroundings before a bolt of lightning raced towards her, catching her shoulder in a burning zap. She shrieked, diving behind a large piece of rubble as more bolts shot over her head and crashed into the walls of the room. The girl fought for her breath, looking down at her shoulder, where the lightning had burned away a piece of her sleeve, searing the skin beneath.

Rosie shrugged it off, feeling the room rumbling around her. Whatever was causing the lightning was also inadvertently - or purposely, she didn't know - destroying the room. She had to work fast. Barely peeking her eyes over the edge of rubble, she spotted a training dummy across the room, a wand in hand.

Well, that solved it. The girl took a deep breath.

Popping out only fast enough to cast, Rosie flicked her wand, "Reducto!" Blue light flashed from the Gryffindor's wand and crashed into the...shield. "Merlin," the girl breathed, rolling her eyes and ducking quickly back down. The shield had cracked momentarily before regenerating. It would take something hard and powerful to break it.

She glanced up at the crumbling ceiling, as the room continued to rumble with the impending collapse. Quicker. She needed to be quicker. "Accio," she said pointing her wand at a chunk of debris that fit into her hand. Not quite sure if this would work, but willing to give it a shot, the girl tossed the debris into the air. "Engorgio!" As the debris flew through the air, it expanded into the size of a large boulder. Before it could hit the ground, Rosie flicked her wand again. "Depulso!"

The debris flew at the dummy, the shield no use against the physical assault, slamming into it with a hard crash. The wand flew from the dummy's hand but not before a huge bolt of lightning rushed from the spinning object and up towards the ceiling.

Rosie gasped, ducking down back into place and squeezing her eyes shut, as the rubble came down around her.