Task #2: Beauxbatons

[Aubrey Derlinch]

The brunette haired Beauxbatons champion entered the ice caverns, her body clad in warm outer flesh unique to her school's team. She walked onwards through the entrance and her face absorbed the sudden temperature change, and she exhaled a long and bewithered breath. She had to forfeit her amulet to the board for it may be an unfair defense against any entities that may restlessly be contained in the caverns. She lit the tip of her wand with a quick thrust of her arm and her path was made clearer as it the darkness made not much effect, as she desired and gave a hard sigh. The wight aura on the tip of her wand rippled over the air, and refracted off of the ice, and she could see the dim tinted blue walls of the maze, she was yet to give a sigh of defeat to know she can't just climb up and look over the walls, because, although she did have great athletic ability, she had not yet conquered the obstacles of climbing up ice.

Aubrey stepped forward lightly anticipating something to come out and cause her to release her bladder unintentionally, she heard a raspy sound, like a whispery sigh, and looked behind her, scattering her eyes left and right to see if anyone or any thing was beside her. She soon came to realisation that it was just her own breath and chuckled lightly to herself as she hurried forward, on instinct she made a left and looked around her surroundings to make sure she didn't miss anything that was of importance of completing the task. She came to a halt as another whisper passed her by close enough this time, that it was almost in her ear. It enhanced the terribly low temperature that made haste to excavate every inch of her spine, Aubrey froze in place and anticipated more sound to rush by her, but the eerie silence she wasn't hoping for, forced her to push forward with her head held high, masking her fear with pretend courage to boost her self confidence.

 

[The Cavern]

(Out of Character Note: Please do not roleplay your character's spells working. The cavern is enchanted, and only spells it wants to work for its own purposes will work within it. For instance: Lumos did not light up a three mile radius. In fact, at this time, the cavern is stiffling all Lumos spells.)

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As the girl attempted to cast a spell with her wand to see her path, the cavern once more stiffled the spell, so only a few centimetres around the tip of her wand were illuminated. All else was kept pitch-black.
As the girl turned left, the cavern grew displeased with her apparent arrogance. It would not be defeated by some girl who figured this event to be a cake-walk; it was charmed to be one of the fiercest challenges known, and the cavern would make that known to her as soon as it could. Immediately a new wall of ice, three feet thick, slammed down in front of Aubrey's path, blocking her from continuing that way. She would have to take a new path now, and perhaps be a little more cautious and thoughtful in her actions.

Spoiler: Aubrey's Position in the Cavern

 

[Aubrey Derlinch]

Aubrey gasped and stumbled back to fall onto the gritty ice floor of the cavern. A step further and the wall could have flattened her to a pancake. It was as if the cavern was alive, and the hiss of air in the chill void felt like some sort of monstrous breath. But surely the officials had control of the situation? They wouldn't let her be eliminated so early (and so literally), would they? Swallowing nervously, Aubrey scuttled to her feet and brushed flakes of ice from her pale blue jacket. No, this was what the competition was all about; the danger, the tests of courage and ingenuity. If the wall had slammed onto her leg, then she'd be darned if she didn't drag herself through the cavern with a broken leg. With the clearing of her head, Aubrey was gifted with a far more useful emotion; vexation. Well, if that was how this game was played then she was playing it. Her original path was blocked, so it was time to find a new one. Turning on her heel, Aubrey muttered "Game on," and continued on directly opposite of where she had been headed.

So far there were no obstructions, but still she kept the tiny speck of light her wand offered her high above her head and the other hand out and feeling for any more 'sudden walls'. It felt like she had been walking forever, so she jumped as her hand touched cold ice. Another wall, it seemed. Running her hand along it, she came to a join, indicating that she had reached a corner. Then, cautiously making her way around, she stretched out both arms to touch either side of the new path. "Ahh," muttered Aubrey. Then it was this way she'd go. Shrugging her jacket closer around her shoulder, she plodded on, eyes darting at every crunch of her boots. There were surely more than walls as a danger in this ice cave.

 

[The Cavern]

The cavern enjoyed the girl's persistent confidence. This one would be fun to confuse, to be sure. As the girl rounded the corner to take the alternate route, the cavern shook violently, icicles from the cavern ceiling coming crashing down toward the girl, each one apparently aiming to take her life for its own.

Spoiler: Aubrey's Position in the Cavern

 

[Aubrey Derlinch]

Walking along the slippery floor of the ice cavern, Aubrey suddenly found herself flat on her face. A great rumble had shaken her from her feet and she spat out a mouthful of snowy residue. "Urgh. Brilliant." muttered Aubrey, making to climb to her feet. But something clattered onto the floor beside her, and she curiously lifted the barely glowing tip of her wand ahead of her to make it out. It was an icicle, barely intact. Aubrey took a hold of it and inspected it, bemused. She hadn't much time to wonder when something shattered inches from her left elbow. "Oh-" she began, before a hailstorm of icicles began to pour from the previously untouched ceiling. Aubrey gasped and slid her way at top speed over to the walls. In the back of her mind information whizzed at top speed, informing her that the majority of icicles would be clustered in the middle of the ceiling due to where the water built up. Aubrey began a frantic vine-walk down the wall, lifting her wand and shouting "Protego!" above her. Whether it worked or not remained to be seen. Now what little light her wand had offered was gone and this spell might not work at all. Sitting still would lose her time and that was one thing she couldn't afford to waste.

Aubrey neglected to register that she was still holding the original icicle and was therefore thoroughly surprised with herself when the following occurred. An icicle skidded by her cheek; far too close for comfort. It was on pure instinct that she lashed out at it with the icicle she was currently wielding, and it hit hard. Aubrey and the floor in front of her was peppered with stinging shards. "Oh, heh heh." mumbled Aubrey, belatedly finding amusement in a very unamusing situation. She pressed on as fast as caution allowed, skidding across the wall and doing her very best not to get impaled.

 

[The Cavern]

The cavern's shaking subsided, but now blocking Aubrey's retreating path was a large pile of ice that had fallen in from the ceiling. The cavern would let her move freely on for now, the larger tricks were yet to come.

Spoiler: Aubrey's Position in the Cavern

 

[Aubrey Derlinch]

The last of the rumbles from the cavern shook Aubrey from her feet again; she tripped, sliding forward on her knees and crashing into another wall. Aubrey grappled her way to her feet, and though slightly miffed she was simply glad to be out of the line of fire. Slipping and sliding was unavoidable and a few bruises were nothing to getting lynched by an icicle, so she tarried no longer in case it began again. Aubrey lifted her wand and whispered "Lumos," again, hoping to see the speck of light she had been gifted previously. Lifting it high, she looked as far as she could to her previous path and found it blocked - a solid wall of fallen ice and snow. It didn't appear to be melting anytime soon, but that worried her not. Aubrey refused to go backwards. Though it was with more caution that she began trekking her way along a new path, she was still determined to plow through anything in her way. Aubrey now knew to look more than just ahead, but backwards, upwards, sideways and downways, which wasn't much of a way at all; but just in case.

Suddenly she was quite aware of another path leading off to her left. Aubrey frowned. Apparently she could still move ahead, but to move to the left was tempting since she was given the choice. However her previous principle still stood; she was to go onwards when applicable, and so she did. It seemed like a long time before she came to another choice. This one was trickier. There was no ahead, only left or right. "Damn," muttered Aubrey. Eeeny meeny miney ... left. she thought. The paths looked exactly the same and if she came to a dead end then she'd simply turn around. But there was no 'simple' in the cavern. Instinct told her to go left; Aubrey stopped. Instinct said left, but stubbornness now said right. Swiveling on her heel, she face the right path and forged down it, wand erect and ready. "Right, bring it." she muttered.

 

[Aubrey Derlinch]

Right brought her only a little bit further down the corridor before she was faced with another choice of paths. Her arms were out as she slid to the side every now and then to touch the walls, making sure that she wasn't missing a hidden corridor or another trap or suchlike. Coincidentally, Aubrey leaned over just as the wall to her left disappeared. After a lot of careful feeling of the walls, she reckoned that she could either keep going the way she was going or choose this new route. As far as she could tell, neither were necessarily favourable or unfavourable ... yet. Transferring her wand to her left hand, Aubrey licked her index finger and lifted it into the air, circling it around once. There was no indication of wind down either hall, which meant she either had a long way to go or she had not yet found the path to the exit. So what was it to be? She flipped her wand to her right hand again and lifted the tiny Lumos spell to each vast cavern hall. Icicles, icicles. Stalactites. Stalagmites. Or are they the same thing? thought Aubrey as she lowered her wand once more. Well, who cares. I'm wasting time.

So it was leftways or downways. With no indication of which was the better route, Aubrey figured that she could always just continue the way since she was going, since she was heading in that direction anyway. There were sure to be great challenges down both paths and she was determined to face whatever came. Aubrey fixed her jacket and plowed down the way she had been going. It was all she could do.

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The nothingness was getting to her. It was just like Aubrey to start losing her nerve when nothing at all was happening. It wasn't that she was nervous with anticipation of a surprise, but the silence, the dark and the cold conspired to have her shivering every now and then. There would be no greater relief at this time to be faced with another challenge. Anything but being left alone in the still and malevolent cavern that threatened to leave her alone for eternity. But that was her imagination going wild, of course. She wouldn't be trapped anywhere forever since that was entirely counterproductive to what they were told to achieve - escape. The problem was, it might just be that if Aubrey became trapped in the cavern she might not be found for quite some time. "I would never send up red sparks," said Aubrey out loud to herself, angry even at the thought of it. But I wish I would come upon something soon, for I don't like the way I've yet seen nothing else. Those icicles were quite thrilling! Aubrey thought with relish. No doubt she'd jinx herself and find herself in a far worse predicament because of her eagerness for excitement. The goal was not supposed to be entertaining herself, it was simply to get to the end the fastest.

Aubrey slapped a hand on the cavern wall as she paused for a moment, having reached a corner. After closer inspection of her surroundings, it turned out that her only option was left, anyway. "Maybe I should've gone left back then anyway." She'd hex herself if she'd just accidentally gone a longer way around.

 

[The Cavern]

The Cavern had decided to see how the girl worked. So it let her continue on, entirely unhindered by its charms. Perhaps a little too far. Deciding now that she had to be prevented from escaping so quickly, red sparks started to appear all around Aubrey - mocking her speech that she'd never send them up. The sounds of the fireworks all around her echoed through the chambers and masked the sound of a new wall being dropped to cause her a great detour in her route. This would be fun.

Spoiler: Aubrey's Position in the Cavern

 

[Aubrey Derlinch]

Perhaps she had spoken too soon, for the moment she spoke the words then the icy hallway exploded into ... fireworks? Aubrey cried out and dropped to the floor at once in an attempt to flee the burning sparks. The noise was deafening and the lights so bright that she was just as lost as if she had been in the darkness again. What on earth was the point of this obstacle? It suddenly occurred to Aubrey that the fireworks were specifically red. Why, she was being laughed at! There she'd said that she'd never send up read sparks, and now she was being utterly smothered in them. Aubrey was flooded with irritation and she growled into the ice. She flinched as the sparks stung the back of her neck and decided that she was not going to sit there and be tormented. She lifted her head and squinted cautiously up the path, wincing as the light almost blinded her. Aubrey then began to crawl as fast as her arms and legs would allow and headed towards whatever was ahead. The band of fireworks was stretching forever, and it was slow going when she was slithering on her belly like a snake. It was quite humiliating, fueling her anger and determination.

There came a point during the long crawl that she reached a dead end. At this, Aubrey surged to her feet amongst the burning lights and cried out in frustration. Would she have to go all the way back through the lights and choose the left path again? But by this time her eyes had become used to the fireworks and it occurred to her to check her surroundings once more. It seemed there was one consolation to being mocked by the cavern; it had lit up a new path for her that she might otherwise have missed. Unwilling to stand amongst the sparks any longer, Aubrey surged to the left and fled down the hallway, still feeling the burning as a stark reminder on the back of her neck.

 

[The Cavern]

The cavern, knowing that the girl had tried to detect the presence of wind to discover her exit, now caused a gentle breeze of wind and chill come from directly ahead of Aubrey. It wasn't a large gust, she would have to be looking for it to notice it, but it was certainly was enough to lead her astray.

Spoiler: Aubrey's Position in the Cavern

 

[Aubrey Derlinch]

After the stifling heat of the fireworks behind her, Aubrey was quite sensitive to the change in the atmosphere. For a moment she was gladder of the cold, where as before it had only made her grumpy. But for a moment, a breeze gently brushed her cheek and she turned towards it instinctively. It was coming from directly ahead of her and as soon as it had came, it was gone. Ha! So she was close to the exit! Aubrey had been all over the darn maze of a cavern and wanted nothing more than to find her way out safely, just like the other champions, she expected. Perhaps she hadn't much to go before freedom! Aubrey shrugged her shoulders a few times and grinned as she held her wand aloft. Whatever was up that corridor was worth facing if she could reach the exit in good time. As usual, she charged up the path for a good minute before realizing that she had just passed another passage, which was now a little way behind her. That was strange ... but it was probably just a detour designed to confuse her. The wind never lies, thought Aubrey with a grin to herself.

"Oh, hang on ..." she said out loud. While walking, she had created a vague mental map of the path she had traveled, and realised that she had come almost in a full circle. She could have saved time by taking the left path all that time back. If she was correct, then she was heading up again, in a similar direction to where she had entered. So either she was going to exit on the same side as she had entered, or she had been fooled somewhere. Aubrey glanced behind her, worrying over whether she had enough time to check the passage she had passed, just in case. It was better to be safe than sorry. There was a nagging suspicion that she had missed something vital hanging around her now. Aubrey turned hesitantly and began walking back to where the other passage had been. She couldn't afford to be negligent in checking every option.

 

[Aubrey Derlinch]

Sliding her hand along the slippery wall of the cavern, Aubrey finally felt her hand leave the surface and touch thin air. This must be where the other corridor began; she felt that she didn't have much time to check and so, quickening her pace, she padded down the passageway. She expected some sort of trap to swing out of the darkness and finish the job that the icicles hadn't, but so far nothing came a-bludgeoning. It was a short walk to the corner of the passage and it was just as dark as it was before. "Cr*p," muttered Aubrey anxiously. You're just setting yourself up for trouble here, you know. Some wall's gonna come down and flatten you to a pancake and then your ghost will be saying 'Should've taken the right path, remember?'. Bugger, this is just what I need. she thought, almost slipping as she rounded the bend. Even now there was still no fresh air or light to guide her way, yet somehow in the back of her mind came light chatter of an expectant crowd. Walking slightly slower, Aubrey was suddenly blinded by the white sky, and a great cheer came up as she walked directly into the spotlight of the outside.

She paused, mouth slightly open and stared at the exit. However, the pause was so brief that only the quick noticed it, for she took off like a cannon and burst into the open air. Aubrey was finally free; with her heart beating like a jackhammer, she lifted her arms into the air and jumped in the snow. "Yes! Finally!!!". It was all over.

(( Escape approved by the Cavern ))​

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