Treasure Hunt - Sienna Gibson

Posts : 1364 Join date : 2015-12-20

The Great Hall begins to empty as the students trickle out from breakfast. Eventually, the Hall is bare of any students except for you, and as you stand from your seat to leave your attention is pulled away from the treasure hunt by something unusual out of the corner of your eye. At the front, where the Professors usually sit, is a pedestal. It’s not that tall, perhaps only half your height, and is pure white. You can see intricate designs of leaves carved around it.

On top of the pedestal is a chest. You take a few steps closer to investigate. It’s not too large but you know that with magic, it could hold far more than meets the eye. It is a bit shabby and old looking, as if it's gone unopened for many years, a layer of dust and what seems to be cobwebs covering it. There are hints of water damage; the lock is tight and made of a strong metal that has some traces of rust on it, and there is moss growing on the side of the chest.

What do you do?

a) Approach and investigate the chest
b) Open the chest with Alohomora
c) Ignore the chest and leave the Great Hall

(OOC: At the end of your post, please make your choice clear by writing it in another color, or bolded.)

Guest

The announcement of a school-wide treasure hunt had come as somewhat of an interesting notion to Sienna. Already it was the talk of the school, and with news that it was starting soon made her curious. It wasn't something particularly fascinating per se -- it was a game made by Professors for students, so how actually dangerous could it be? -- but it was still an interesting notion.

Looking up, she realised she was alone, and she stood, starting out of the hall. An inkling at the back of her mind told her something was off, different, and she glanced around, listening to her instincts as always. That was when she saw it -- the white pedestal, the chest...

Abandoning everything planned for the day, she stepped forward a little, eyes scanning it. It was old, and she wrinkled her nose at the amount of dust. Still she slipped out her wand, holding it loosely in her hand. Was this the start of the hunt? There hadn't been many specific instructions as to when it would start or now, and something as out of place as this chest in the middle of the hall had to mean something.

Sienna glanced around the room, looking for a clue. There was nothing, and she frowned slightly. If it was part of the hunt, surely there would be a sign, somewhere? But no, all that existed was the chest and the pedestal. Perhaps a tad overdone in terms of attracting attention, especially with the contrast between the clean pedestal and the moss-covered chest, but Sienna couldn't shake the feeling this was something important.

Not moving any closer -- if something happened, she wanted to be far enough away to cast a defensive spell -- she pointed her wand at the chest and muttered, Alohomora.

Option b) Open the chest with Alohomora

Posts : 1364 Join date : 2015-12-20

Deciding that the best option is to use Alohomora, you get out your wand and cast the spell, moving the wand in the familiar ‘s’ shape. The purple light hits the chest and a click echoes around the hall as the lock opens and drops to the floor. Nothing happens for a moment and you take a step closer. Suddenly, the top bursts open and there are squeaks that fill the empty hall. There is a blur of blue as something emerges from the chest and flies over your head.

The door to the great hall slams shut and you turn to find that it’s being guarded by six creatures. They are eight inches high and are electric blue. They have long pointed ears and long arms, three fingers on each hand. You recognise them as Cornish Pixies.

They start chattering to each other, loud, shrill noises that hurts your ears. You notice one of them is holding a piece of paper -- that must be the clue! Gripping your wand tightly, you prepare to fight them.

a) Defeat the pixies in order to receive the clue. End your post with picking up the clue.

Guest

Sienna waited for a moment, wand up, as the lock opened and fell. If anything was going to happen, it would be now. But, as seconds pass, she nodded to herself and took a step forward to go and open the chest. A curse escaped her lips as the lid flew open, and automatically she cast a simple shield, free hand automatically moving towards her bag; she stopped herself an inch into the movement. She had a spare wand concealed in her handbag, shrunk to the size of one that would appear to be a keychain (and she did use it as that at times, in the muggle world) but she wasn't to use it except for emergencies. And this wasn't one; this was school. This was safe. An environment that wouldn't be suitable for her to expose the fact she had an illegally obtained wand, even if it was allianced to her.

The noise was startling, but Sienna kept her cool, not so much as twitching. Fear was something one didn't show, ever. Still she turned, almost casually, to regard what was there. "Pixies," she muttered, disgust in her tone. They were harmless -- mostly -- and child's play. If it had been a boggart or something, then that would've been a challenge, but this? This was nothing.

She lowered the shield, casting a quick silencing charm towards them; the chattering was annoying. What now? The piece of paper caught her eyes and a smile touched her lips. It was an invitation to show off, it seemed, and Sienna stepped forward, taking careful aim with her wand.

Almost neglectfully, she muttered, immobulus, and watched as all six creatures seemed to freeze. With six quick and efficent flicks, she sent six stupifys at them in succession, waiting and watching as they fell out of the sky and onto the floor. And then, without hesitating, she summoned the paper; she wasn't going to go close to them, oh no. She was much smarter than to approach a fallen enemy.

Deftly catching the paper as it came flying towards her, she kept the wand in her hand. One never knew what else might come flying out of the chest, after all.

Posts : 1364 Join date : 2015-12-20

The clue reads:

Brewing potions isn’t easy unless you have all the ingredients and the skill. Luckily, three have already been made for you. Find them where you first learnt how to use your cauldron. Choose wisely and your next clue will be revealed.

Quickly, you make your way down to the dungeons, bypassing empty classrooms until you reach the Potions Classroom. Stepping inside, you find, as the note had said, three small glasses on the table. You approach them.

The first contains liquid that is clear and has no special scent, instead appearing to be water. Upon closer examination, you realise that it’s slightly thicker than normal water, but other than that there’s nothing to give away what it could be.

The second glass has a light gold liquid inside, reminding you of the sky at sunset. It’s got swirls of orange inside, and smells faintly of carrots, but other than that has no scent. It’s thick, like medicine, but doesn’t look unpleasant.

The last glass contains a beautiful dark blue liquid that sparkles in the light. There appears to be bits and pieces of glitter inside it as it refracts the light. It smells familiar, but you can’t quite place it. It makes you feel safe and relaxed.

You are now faced with a choice.

Which potion do you drink?

a) The clear, almost water-like liquid
b) The bright golden liquid
c) The dark blue, sparkly liquid

(OOC: At the end of your post, please make your choice clear by writing it in another color, or bolded.)

Guest

It wasn't so much a clue as an instruction, and she rolled her eyes. It wasn't even a test of understanding or skill; it was simply telling her exactly where to go. The doors to the hall opened and she didn't falter in her footsteps, moving past the pixies (and perhaps 'accidentally' stepping on the wings of one or two on the way out) and made her way down to the dungeons. The potions classroom was a familiar sight and she glanced around, doing a quick scan of the area before entering lest something else be waiting to surprise her.

There were three potions on the table, and -- wand still drawn -- Sienna approached them, walking around the table and closely examining each of the liquids. Picking up the first glass, she sniffed it, a light frown, and then gave it a slight swirl. It's too thick to be water; what could it be? she wondered, placing it back down.

The second potion was a beautiful colour, and a tentative sniff provided something that reminded her of carrots. She wrinkled her nose; she disliked carrots. It was thicker than the first one had been, and she sniffed at it again before placing it back down.

Lastly was the most beautiful one -- dark blue, sparkly, almost as if there was glitter... There was something almost ... safe about the way it smelt, although she couldn't quite place her finger on what it reminded her of. Love? Home? A warm, crackling fireplace? Sienna put it down immediately. If something made her feel safe without her consent, it was probably dangerous; after all, that was what she did, before stealing from a mark. There were many things that could make one feel like that, and none of those things were to be trusted.

That left her with two choices. Water was harmless, but it wasn't water. Still, it felt like the safer choice of the two -- and that meant it was probably the wrong one. Unless, of course, it was a double psych, making one think it was the wrong one and actually being the right one. But there was also the possibility it was a tripple psych; she'd done that before. It was all about knowing the mark.

She shook her head slightly, amused at her overthinking. This was Hogwarts. This wasn't the playing field or work. That meant they wouldn't be so devious -- and none of the potions would particularly be dangerous.

It hit her, then, what the blue potion had been, and she almost kicked herself. She'd need to revise on her less-harmful potions this term; she'd been so focused on deadly things during the holiday that she seemed to have forgotten the basic ones. Harmless, but effective nevertheless. So she'd been right; she had smelt home.

A wry smile touched her lips. The water one could be a few things; it could even be half of a potion. Step ten of the Draught of Living Death was to stir the potion until it was see-through. Of course, it could also be quite a number of other things, and without the ability to test it, Sienna couldn't be certain.

It wasn't so much that she didn't know how or couldn't; it was simply that this was a game in school, and to show she had such knowledge as to identify potions with a strip of hexed paper wasn't going to be helpful. It would raise far too many questions, and then her father would have to send in a team of private oblivators, and... No, it would be too messy.

So Sienna did the only thing she could do and went back to the very start. What had the clue said? The next one would be revealed?

"Carrots," she muttered, glancing at the golden potion once again. "This isn't anything I know. A one-of-a-kind creation, then?"

Bypassing the others, she picked up the glass and took a careful sip, waiting. Nothing happened, and she sighed softly, not liking having to take risks, and then gulped the rest down.

b) The bright golden liquid

Posts : 1364 Join date : 2015-12-20

8a.

The golden liquid seems to be a wise choice and you down it. It’s not unpleasant, tasting only slightly of carrots, but it’s thick and hard to swallow. For a while, nothing happens and you wonder if you’ve wasted your time -- but then, slowly, your start to see a tint of gold around your vision. You blink a few times, trying to clear it, but it only gets worse until all you can see is a film of gold.

Abruptly, the film clears, and as you look around, you realise you can see something written on the wall that wasn’t there before. Written in gold letters, it says:

Make your way to Greenhouse Two to find the next clue. Remember to watch your step, but don’t be afraid to take a leap of faith!

You leave the potions behind and make your way outside to the Greenhouses, finding Greenhouse Two easily enough. Opening the door, you find it’s pitch black. You take a while to adjust, but once you do, you realise that in front of you is a pit. Remembering the instructions of the clue, you take the jump and find yourself being grabbed by a plant! It twists itself around you and starts to squeeze.

You realise that you can’t reach your wand.

What do you do?

a) Struggle
b) Don’t struggle

(OOC: At the end of your post, please make your choice clear by writing it in another color, or bolded.)

Guest

Making a face at the texture, Sienna nevertheless got it all down. Seconds ticked by and she frowned a little. Was this the wrong choice? No, she didn't think so; it couldn't have been the sleeping potion, and the water was too suspect to have been it... Something caught her attention and she turned, only for whatever it was to move with her head.

It took her but a split second to figure out that what she'd seen was in her eyes; for whatever reason, her vision was turning golden. She tightened the grip on her wand, aiming it at her eyes, a healing spell she'd learnt (far advanced for her age, but that was the benefit of having her parents doing... well, what they did) on the tip of her tongue. But she waited, forcing herself not to follow her natural instict to fight. That was not the kind of instict she knew to follow.

Instead, she blinked, watching and waiting, even as everything turned to gold. Panic, however, was not something she gave into, and she remained calm and collected -- although inside she could feel the faint traces of fear of the unknown starting to rise -- as she waited it out.

One more blink later and everything returned to normal, she Sienna lowered the wand from the side of her head, still keeping it up and ready, though. Slowly, experimentally, she turned her head, something else golden catching her attention. "Revealed, it seems," she muttered dryly. "Carrots for eyesight..."

Glancing around, she made sure there were no cameras or anyone watching before she reached into her backpack and removed a cotton swab. There were minute traces of the potion left in the vial, and this she collected deftly, storing the swab in to seal tight container. She'd send it back home and ask her parents to check with their potioneer expert; alternatively, her mind suggested, she could warn Alexei, and ask him to save a small sample for his brother to figure out.

It was, after all, a rather smart way to hide messages in plain sight.

Pushing that aside for now, she turned her attention to the clue, once more rolling her eyes. Whoever came up with these 'clues' really needed to take a course on the art of writing; they were ridiculously worded.

Making her way down to the Greenhouse, she entered, squinting at the darkness. Cursing herself mentally, she almost cast lumos before deciding against it. Instead, she waited, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness before looking around. In front of her was a pit, and her expression hardened. "Jump into the pit, it seems," she murmured, rolling her eyes again.

But despite not liking it, Sienna tucked her wand neatly away and leapt into the middle -- only to find something wrapping around her waist. Second guessing her earlier decision not to use lumos, she tried to reach for her wand, letting a cuss word slip as she found the tentacle wrapped around her blocked it. Twisting slightly to see if she could find a way out, she felt the plant squeeze tighter, and her lip curled upwards in disgust.

It wasn't hard to guess what the plant was; darkness, sensitive to movement... What could it be but devil's snare? If only she could cast lumos or set the thing on fire -- but she couldn't, and the only thing left was to relax and wait for it to let her go naturally.

b) Don't struggle

Posts : 1364 Join date : 2015-12-20

10a.
You relax, deciding not to fight the plant. The tentacles tightens a little, but still you do nothing, and a moment later you feel it stop. Bit by bit it loosens its grip until you find that you are slipping down, past it, and a few seconds later you drop down softly and unharmed onto the ground below. Already adjusted to the dimness of the area, you look around and find that you are in the middle of a small hallway. In front of you is a door with a note on it.

Your next task brings you into the lake. Choose wisely.

To your left is what appears to be a dead tree stump on top of a bottle of something green. From where you are, it looks like slimy, grey-green rat tails. There’s a label on the jar, but you can’t make it out from here.

To your right is a small table with ingredients and a cauldron in the middle of it. There’s a piece of parchment beside it, and while it appears to be a list of instructions, you can’t read what the potion is or how to make it.

Which do you choose?

a) Investigate the potions table
b) Investigate the mysterious jar under the stump

(OOC: At the end of your post, please make your choice clear by writing it in another color, or bolded.)

Guest

It certainly took its time, but eventually, Sienna slipped through, landing on the ground below without so much as bending her knees. Glancing around, she took note of where she was. It seemed there was a passage under the Greenhouses -- whether made for the hunt specifically or not, Sienna couldn't be sure, but she sure as heck was going to find out -- and although a small one, she took in her surroundings, wand already out. This time, she promised herself not to let go of it or to put it somewhere she could definitely reach it.

Reading the note, Sienna sighed. She was not dressed for water related activities. Clothes like hers did not wet nicely; indeed, they were muggle-made, and she hadn't opted to charm them to suit some of the more annoying part of the magical world, not having counted on the fact she'd be doing anything in them other than show off or hang out.

That was a mistake, and already she was penning a letter in her mind to her parents, asking them to send someone over as soon as possible to charm the rest of her muggle-bought outfits.

She already knew what was in the immediate surroundings, and the note helped to make context of it. Now, at least, she knew why there was a jar of gillyweed under what was most definitely not a dead tree trunk. She'd been taught to extract the pods during the summer holiday -- her parents had said something about not solely relying on the skills of others, even if that's what servants were for -- and been thoroughly grilled in the properties of said Snargaluff pods.

The tutor hired by her parents had been relentless, and it had taken three potions to completely get rid of the scars left by the first couple or so attempts at extracting the pods, so to say Sienna recognised a Snargaluff plant on sight would be an understatement. Still, where the jar was would make it easy to extract, a few seconds of being fast-fingered that she'd mastered...

But gillyweed tasted like shit, and made her look ridiculously ugly with the gills and all, so, while it was technically the smarter option, her pride and ego made her write it off. That only left one option, and she turned towards the potions table, moving closer to see exactly what potion she'd be making.

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