An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Dec 1, 2022 3:54:47 GMT 10
His exams over, Oscar was in search of anything to help him to just forget the whole ordeal. A nap had been a tempting idea, but even with his temporary Wispae buddy, he had been worried about bad dreams that went over all that he had done wrong in the exams.
No, that would not be a fun time.
Instead he found himself at the bottom of a staircase that he was sure held many other different terrors. Or at least, that was the idea that he had received the last time he had gone up them and used a key.
Surely it could not be that all of the rooms held scary things though, Hogwarts would not allow that, right? He might have been beginning to doubt that all of Hogwarts was safe, but some faith still remained.
It was that faith that had him climbing the stairs and shoving a bronze key in the first door that caught his attention.
The average-sized room was deceptively ordinary -- with stone walls, stone floor, and an ornate table in the middle. Atop the table were nine wooden boxes, filled with different types of small yet strange stones. Hovering above each box was a blank card, turning gently in the air as if by a unfelt breeze.
There was an uneasiness about the room and its boxes that couldn't quite be described.
A plaque reads:
"Poisons -- cursed objects -- deadly spells... one may never truly know or anticipate dangers hidden in ordinary places. If you choose well, we may spare you. If you choose wrong, may mercy grant you favor."
How to Play
Pick a card, indicated by its letter. The letter is for your reference only; it doesn't appear to your character.
Submerge the chosen card into its allocated box, keeping hold of it the entire time (due to the levitation charm).
A mod will roll a die to determine which of the three painful outcomes occur for your character:
Burning -- Spell Card
Icy sting -- Poison Card
Bite -- Book Card
The pain is brief and doesn't leave any marks. Lift the card out and release it to hover again.
You can pick one card per post -- up to a max of six cards. If you've matched 3 of the same card, you win.
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Winning earns 200 exp to their Curses skill, and 20 exp to every other skill.
Although playing a mini-game, this is still an RP-thread. We strongly encourage immersing your character in this experience and challenge, as these threads are also designed for character development.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Dec 2, 2022 1:39:33 GMT 10
Oscar took a deep breath to calm himself, then poked his head around the door to see what he was about to walk in to.
It was just a room. Just a room that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, and left him wanting to leg it straight back out of there.
He didn't. Instead he told himself that the feeling was just him being paranoid and to get in the room to properly see what it held. Reluctantly, that was what he did.
The door thumped closed behind him, trapping him in the room. He wondered why that noise sounded so final and damning.
Oscar eyed the boxes of stones, wondering what they were for, before he turned his attention to the plaque and suddenly regretted all of his life choices.
"How fun," he muttered as he resisted the urge to slowly back up to the door. If he could get through his exams though, then he figured he could at least attempt to deal with the room.
He hesitated for a moment longer before he decided that he had to just go for it. He reached out and, with the tips of his fingers touching the card, pushed card C into the blue stones below it.
Oscar's hand tingled at the fingertips and the sensation slowly grew - the icy bite of a chill covering his hand with an uncomfortable numbness. Luckily, it didn't last long and he was able to remove his hand once it subsided. The card he had picked changed colour, showing a symbol which indicated Oscar had revealed a poison card.
One of the six chances gone, he had five choices left. Which would be his next?
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Dec 2, 2022 2:44:10 GMT 10
Oscar hissed in a breath through his teeth as the icy bite travelled up his fingers. Oh dear sweet Merlin that was cold! Cold and horrible!
He ripped his hand away as soon as he felt able to, clutching it to his chest with the other as if to protect it from any further unpleasant temperatures.
"So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" he grumbled, glaring down at the cards. How he wished he had just gone to soak up the sun outside instead. That sounded a lot more pleasant than having his hand frozen off.
Finally releasing his hand from his safe little bubble, Oscar shook it out and then held it up to eye height so that he could check that there was no actual damage. It felt normal after he had let go of the card, but there was no harm in double checking.
He did not fancy losing a hand after all. He liked that hand. It was useful for drawing.
Seeing as his hand was okay, Oscar braced himself and then once more reached out to the cards.
Using his finger tips again, he pushed card E down into the stones.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Dec 2, 2022 3:10:33 GMT 10
Oscar cursed as an icy chill once again bit through his fingers. Oh how he hated the cold. The way it would numb limbs to the point where it felt like he could not move them from the sting, and if he did they would drop off.. Disgusting.
He tried to pull his hand out sooner on the second card, yanking at his sleeve in an attempt to remove it from the chill. He had no such luck though, the card only releasing his poor frozen digits after what seemed like the same amount of time as the last one.
Once again, after he had inspected his newly freed hand, he saw that there was nothing actually wrong with it. Was the icy pain all just in his head?
Shooting the cards and the boxes below them a distrustful look, Oscar reached out to try another one. All the while questioning his sanity.
He pushed the card (I) down into the darker stones.
When Oscar pushed the card into the book something bit his hand. Razor sharp fangs pinned his hand in place for a moment and he could feel them sinking into his skin. As with the previous cards, the sensation didn't last too long and he was free to remove his hand a moment later. If he looked, he wouldn't be able to find a mark but it was hard to ignore the sensation that felt so real. The card changed colour and the symbol was revealed - he had found a book card.
He had used up three of his chances, which card would he pick next?
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Dec 2, 2022 5:12:51 GMT 10
Even though he would rather not feel it again, Oscar was still momentarily shocked to not be plunged back into the horrible chill.
That shock did not last long however once his brain caught up to the pain that was something with very sharp teeth biting into his hand. That was it! The moment that he lost his hand!
Oscar let out a yell of pain, his eyes watering as he attempted to rescue his trapped hand without the teeth doing more damage.
Eventually the card released his hand on its own, leaving Oscar to fall backwards, his hand held delicately against his chest. His.. perfectly fine hand.
No blood, cuts, or stray teeth to be seen.
Oh, he really did not like whatever game the room was playing. What was the point of it? To teach them that Hogwarts apparently liked to hurt them? Or maybe to teach them that sometimes you just had to push past the pain to be better?
Whatever it was, Oscar did not like it.
And yet he was still going back for a fourth hit, because apparently the spiral staircase rooms just messed with your head like that and made you do silly things.
Grumbling to himself, Oscar straightened back up and reached out to the cards again to push card H down into the stones below it.
After the pain from the card subsided, they all caught fire and turned to ash. This spiralled around Oscar, almost threateningly but then faded to nothing. There was no pain, no consequence and no sign that anything had happened at all. He had won, but it didn't feel rewarding in any way - rather, as though he had just survive something that could have been much worse.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Dec 2, 2022 11:22:38 GMT 10
Oscar hissed as he was met with the familiar hand numbing cold. He knew by then that there was nothing to do but to wait it out. So, with gritted teeth and his eyes screwed shut, Oscar did just that.
All the while he mentally prayed to anyone who might listen that his hand remained as unscathed as it had previously. It would be just his luck for the boxes to lull him into a false sense of security just to trick him several cards in.
Nothing felt different though, as hard as it was to tell when everything felt so real and the sting was still happening.
Soon enough the icy pain disappeared, only for the whole thing to give Oscar a new fright.
He scrambled back in an attempt to escape the fire, but even though it seemed like it was going to burn him, he remained untouched.
Untouched and sat with his back right up against the door from where he had inevitably tripped.
He took a moment to catch his breath, staring wide eyed into the room, before he slowly stretched his hand up to the doorknob and pushed the door open. He shuffled out, his eyes remaining locked on the room just in case there were any other unpleasant surprises.
Soon enough he had the door slammed behind him and he was sat on the stairs trying to figure out what the point in all of that been.
In his pocket his remaining keys weighed heavily.
He was not sure where the bad thought came from but he had the absurd thought to try another door. Just to really see if all of the rooms were as crazy.
He wasn't going to do that though... right? No, he wouldn't. He had more sense than that.
Or at least that was what he told himself as he pushed himself back up on his feet and wandered the stairs looking at the other doors.
He wasn't actually going to-... He had put another bronze key in a door.
"Why am I doing this?" he muttered as he pushed the door open.
The moderate-sized room was warm and cosy. Velvet curtains obscured the walls, and the floor was smothered by a soft rug. There were stacks of tiny, ever-varied cages everywhere -- containing lit candles that flickered light around the room. A fireplace burned low, its crackling wood the only sound.
A silvery goose slept beside a comfortable armchair. It hiccupped, releasing a snort of fiery embers from its beak. Opposite the armchair was a table with a stack of square cards. Three shuffled themselves out of the deck, then neatly aligned on the tablecloth.
A plaque reads:
"Three of us before you, yet not all is what it seems. Some of us climb in jungles, yet others swim in streams. We have many things in common, but can you spot the odd? Perhaps we fly, burrow, meow, or trod. Perhaps we come in blues, whites, yellows, or greens. So take a closer look upon our every feature, and don't be shy. One of us doesn't belong -- so simply tell us why."
How to Play
Look at the pictures and spot the odd one out based solely on what you can see -- colours, backgrounds, etc can all be taken into consideration. You only get one guess, and your character must say why it's the odd one.
If you're right, you win. When the pictures are chosen, there's an answer in mind. However, it's possible there may be more than one. If you pick an answer we didn't consider, but it's accurate, it still wins.
Winning earns 200 exp to their Creatures skill, and 20 exp to every other skill.
Although playing a mini-game, this is still an RP-thread. We strongly encourage immersing your character in this experience and challenge, as these threads are also designed for character development.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Dec 3, 2022 20:07:49 GMT 10
Oscar peeked his head into the new room before he cautiously entered it. His second room of the day seemed much more welcoming than the first had been, he was just not sure if he should trust that or not. It would be nice if he had struck gold though, if he had found a nice safe room for once.
He paused by the fireplace to let his eyes trail over the rest of the room. It really did all seem as cosy as it had first looked, so maybe he had.
Well.. other than the goose that snorted fire. But nothing could be perfect.
Oscar slowly made his way to the table and sat down in the comfortable chair. As tempting as it was to greet the goose, to see if he could find out more about it, he did not fancy finding out what a fire breathing goose felt like if it bit him.
Instead, he turned his attention to the cards that had shuffled themselves and then the plaque that he hoped would tell him what was expected of him. It did.
"The odd one out," he hummed, leaning closer to the cards to look them over properly. Straight away he could spot several things that he could point out, but he decided to take his time. That was not just because he was comfortable in the chair.
"The moose," he finally said to the room as he reached out to tap under the middle card. "It's the only one with antlers."
The tiger yawned and stretched like a house cat before it got up, strolling out of the card. It vanished before it reached the edge of the table. Next, the kangaroo sprang to life, hopping from its card. It circled Oscar playfully before it also vanished.
The moose card remained, still. The cards shuffled themselves back into the deck and the goose slept on, content and undisturbed.
Post by Oscar Tinkle on Dec 4, 2022 1:40:38 GMT 10
Oscar cracked a smile as he watched the tiger and then the kangaroo come to life. It was nice just getting to watch animals without any immediate danger that he could see. Even if they were not real.
Staring down at the reshuffled chards, he contemplated what the point of the various rooms was. The animal card one had proven that they were not just all for scaring the pants off of students, so what had it been for? To teach people to notice the little details? He had no idea.
He wondered if opening another room would help him to figure it out. He had nothing else to do with his exams finished with and the nice cosy room had filled him with a confidence that the castle was not out to get him. Oscar tried to ignore the little voice in his head that said that might be a bad idea.
One last curious look shot at the goose and he stood to exit the room, happy to be leaving on his feet this time.
Oscar looked up the stairs and then down, before he shrugged and headed down them. Going out to catch the last of the sun sounded like a better idea than testing his questionable luck. He was sure the tower would still be there if he ever wanted to try to figure out the rooms another time. [exit]
Last Edit: Dec 4, 2022 4:42:42 GMT 10 by Oscar Tinkle: exit
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