Group #11

[Hogsmeade Trail]

EVENT ANNOUNCER - ROUND 1
After spending three and three-quarters hours wandering through the maze of the Ministry with several cramped lift rides (at least one having been uncomfortably haunted by a grumpy and blood purist old ghost), you have been given your supplies and map stuffed into a grey knapsack. If you are the first group member, you have also been given the responsibility of caring for a Ministry owl and are told to keep it with you at all times - you don't need to worry about feeding it, as it can hunt for itself. Then, you are shown the door and instructed to meet with your group members at a designated spot. You are also issued a harsh reminder of the consequences of being a deserter before you're shoved out into the spring's early morning sunlight.

The adventure has begun.

You have been informed that your group members are:

Callum Baines, 34, Hogwarts Caretaker, Lower Class
James Riley, 26, Assistant Head of Spell Damage, Upper Class
Sam Bowen, 24, Healer, Middle Class
Everett Grimm - 24, Unemployed, Middle Class
Ezekial Aesalon, 19, Hog's Head Bartender
Cassandra Trelawney, head maid, 23, lower class

You introduce yourselves, review your maps, and then must come to a decision of which direction you need to start in.

Which part of Hogsmeade do you disembark from?
a. West Slums
b. East Slums
c. South Slums

OOC DIRECTIONS:
1.) Have your character introduce themselves. Mention in their post (doesn't have to spoken aloud) what else, if anything, they have brought with them. If it isn't mentioned here, then they won't have it later on in the trail unless it is found/made. Those who post first will be assumed to have spoken first.

2.) Assume all introductions have been made and then have them choose a direction/remain neutral. Points 1 and 2 should both be included in your character's first post.

3.) If the group comes to a decision before the round ends, you can have your group head in that direction. (Decisions will be made when all characters have had a turn to state their choice or the three days are up. Special instances are allowed and must be discussed with Lola.)

Round 2 begins May 19th

  

[Cassandra Trelawney-Bowen]

Cass liked being first everywhere. Being a seer always helped her with it. So, as they reached the destination, she waited with Sam for the others to come. When they finally did, she was already there, standing. They looked just like in her dream. If it was indeed true, they will have quite a bit of trouble. She convinced her fiancee to take some first-aid needed things, so they had bandages etc. She had also studied transfiguration a lot recently, so she doesn't get surprised. Not that she could. She also borrowed some hunting knives from her employer. Never enough preparations.
She felt strange wearing trousers, but it was the most comfortable outfit she could put on.
"Hello, gentlemen." She greeted the others as they arrived. ""My name is Cassandra Trelawney and I can tell you that the east is the best starting point for us."

outfit

  

[Ezekial Aesalon]

Eze was not drunk, although after spending almost four hours in the Ministry of Magic, he wished he was. The bottled of firewhiskey and mixed alcohol - he had combined his emergency liquor for this trip - clinked around in his bag, and he was debating whether or not it would be bad form to get rid of some of the 'useless' supplies the Ministry had given him.

Luckily James, Callum, and Everett would be in his group. Fun times were ahead, he knew it. There were also two people he didn't know, at all, but he didn't really care.

This was, in his head, basically an enforced camping trip.

While the people introduced themselves, he took a quick sip of the firewhiskey from the silver flask in his pocket. He coughed. "I'm Eze Aesalon, and... uh... yeah." He didn't care who they went. He also didn't care for the woman and her mysterious sentences about the east. Pah. He thought she sounded familiar, though...

  

[Callum Baines]

• Though Callum did not imagine many were thrilled to have been drafted, he was certainly one of the few that was. True, the circumstances were not exactly ideal, but the payout at the endùwell, that was more than a man of his position might hope for. While he had a small residence in the slums and a small income from Hogwarts, the thought of having ten galleons at any one time was a seductive one, and owning his own land would only be a boon for him. As such, it was with enthusiasmùas enthusiastic as he could look, at leastùthat he made his way to the Ministry of Magic offices.
  
  His face fell slightly as an owl's cage was thrust into his hands; he had not expected having to actually take care of anything, just show up and walk in the direction he was focused. If he were a betting man (he was, but that was irrelevant), he would not wager on the bird lasting particularly long in his care.
  
  The caretaker approached his groupùa good group if ever he saw one; Eze and Everett alone were more or less a guarantee of less-than-wholesome adventures aheadùin a more pleasant attitude than he had harboured for some time, raising his flaskùfull to the brim with firewhiskey; he had even acquired the aid of one of the seventh years (a rare move for him; he tended to have little to do with the students) to ensure that it would stay full far longer than it ought toùin Eze's direction. No doubt the barkeep had brought supplies of his own to their little party. "Callum Baines," he said simply and without elaboration when it came time for introductions. Of the unknown faces in the group, James Riley, as far as he knew, was decent sort (for all that he was upper class)ùa friend of Everett's. The other two were strangers to him, and he would reserve judgment until later.
  
  Or now, he thought as the witch opened her mouth. "Oh? And here I fancied going west instead," he offered offhandedly, not deliberately impolite but not particularly full of warmth either. Cal would be damned if he let a woman prance about as if she owned the place, as this one seemed to be doing.

  

[Samuel Bowen]

Sam enjoyed being with Cass. He loved her deeply and was thrilled she had accepted his marriage proposal, but he also loved being with her because he was never late for anything. No one could say that Sam was someone who was always late, but, like everyone, he had the tendency to show up late sometimes. Cass's ability to see things and keep him on track and in line helped them never be late for anythingà such as these expeditions they were going on. He knew he was blessed to have been placed with Cass, and felt terrible that her mother, who was pregnant, was off on her own and the man who had impregnated her wasn't even drafted. Sam harbored no ill will towards Jonathan Abbott, and felt that he was a good man who had just gone astray, but the situation he and Freya were in because of the excursions made Sam appreciate his even more.

Cass had lead Sam into the ministry and through the maze. They picked up their supplies from the ministry and after their packs were securely on their backs, the couple found their way to the designated meeting spot. They hadn't needed directions; Cass already knew where they were going. When they got there, Sam crouched on the ground and opened the second pack he had brought. On his fiance's suggestion, he took medical supplies with him. Yes, he was a healer and yes, he could do the basic healing things (and even some muggle healing as well), but his specialty was obstetrics and gynecology. At least they had James Riley in their group. He wasn't exceptionally close with the man, but he knew James's reputation well enough to know he was good at what he did. Sam had also taken extra food, extra clothes, his wand, a canteen for water along with some books and a magical tent. Hopefully the tent could fit everyone comfortably.

Sam stood up and took hold of Cass's hand, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek right before other people started to arrive. "Samuel Bowen," he said, as he introduced himself to everyone else and shook hands with those who took his offered one. He signed when the man, Callum, argued with Cass. "Good sir, I believe you should listen to Cass. Trust me on this; her advice is a good thing to have and you'd do better to listen to her than to try and fight against her." Sam shook his head. It was a blessing someone didn't know who Cassie was, but at the same time it could end up being a nightmare. This wasn't the time for someone to start bickering with her on what she said.

OOC: Please note, if I cannot get on to post while away, I give Kat (Cass) permission to write Sam for me. She knows Sam well enough ;)

  

[Callum Baines]

• The wizard raised an eyebrow as one of their healers seemed almost to jump to the woman's defense. Well, Cal could clearly see whyùshe was an attractive woman and, from the looks of things, she belonged to this Bowen. Still just because Bowen was fine with being castrated by his woman did not been that Callum was similarly inclinedùparticularly when she wasn't even in his bed. "If I wanted to take orders from a woman," he pointed out gruffly, "I would have found me a wife."
  
  That he had a wife and that the two were no longer on good terms was completely irrelevant. There were very few circumstances under which he would listen to the direction of a womanùparticularly one little more than a girl, attractive as she might have beenùand traipsing off into the wilderness with a troupe of men with money on the line was as far from one as it could get.

  

[James Riley]

James had been trying to avoid the expedition for as long as humanly possible, which meant that he hadn't bothered to think much about any additional supplies he would take, though Ev had asked him what he was taking a few times. The fact that they were in the same group was ridiculous. Random group assignment, his ass.

Still, as the group's only real healer, he supposed he had some sort of obligation to be able to keep them in moderately good comfort should anything happen, and it probably would. James wasn't very optimistic about this whole exploring Hogsmeade thing. He had his wand, of course, which was in most mild cases all he would need for spell damage work (and in any case, unless they turned on each other, it probably wasn't spell damage healing they'd be needing). He'd grabbed a potions and plant poisioning book from his shelves, since it seemed far more likely that one of them would accidentally eat something deadly, and had packed a few basic potions ingredients into a tight little leather sachel, though he didn't have room for a cauldron, so if they did need to brew an antidote they would need to find or make one along the way.

The little bag he set out with consisted of just the prepacked supplies and the little leather collection of potions, as far as he knew, but when he reached the Ministry and checked to make sure both were still there, he also noticed a small collection of bottles. Just a glance could tell him they were probably liquor, and they'd probably been stashed in James' bag by Everett. Whether he hadn't bothered to enchant his bag to be weightless, or whether he'd simply put so much alcohol in his that he'd run out of room, for some reason he'd felt the need to put a few bottles in James' bag. The recovering alcohol. Brilliant. He'd have words with Everett later.

Ezekial was also in his group--again, random my ass--and two men James vaguely knew, Sam Bowen from the hospital (who worked with questionable at best healing, but was pleasant enough), and a man he'd seen around the pub, who introduced himself as Callum Baines. Not bothering to address himself to the rest of the group, since they already knew him or they were that woman and James wasn't sure how to address her yet so he just decided not to, James held out a hand for Callum to shake. "Mr. Baines, I think we've met once or twice, but never for long--James Riley. And I believe that since you've got the owl, that makes you the one in charge. West it is."

  

[Everett Grimm]

While he found it immensely strange and even though he still had mixed feelings about this whole expedition thing. James had clearly been very distraught over the whole thing, especially because Felicity had been also drafted. Ev understood his friend's concerns over the entire process and the expedition itself, and he hadn't said anything yet because James had been such a good mate all through this baby drama, but James had everything. He had a house, a good job, he was courting a girl, the rewards from this trip meant nothing to him. However, to Ev, who had no job, a baby to take care of and who owned nothing in life, ten galleons and a plot of land would certainly be a welcome addition to his rapidly diminishing wealth. Of course his brother was trying to help him out, to find him a new job and possibly letting him move in with him, but Edmund had also been drafted, so that was on hold for the moment.

Packing for this little adventure had been interesting. James seemed determined to bring every possible healing ingredient and tool he owned, and Ev had nothing erroneous to pack. The ministry would be providing them with enough to get them by, though Ev highly suspected that no alcohol would be provided, so he decided to stock up. He hadn't packed much and he had lightened his pack so that it all fit, but he also tucked a couple spares in James' pack, miniaturized of course.

Ev probably could have packed more, hell bent on having a good time on this little camping trip, but in all reality, he was feeling more like it would ward away the worry about Ella. He knew she would be well taken care of, probably more so than in his own hands, by Eurydice, but he had become increasingly attached; it was hard to leave her. Even so, there was no getting out of it, so he was at least going to try and enjoy himself as best he could and that required alcohol; he didn't want his group members lynching him because he was mopey.

Strolling through the ministry with James, he was hardly phased by the crazy lift ride, preoccupied by wondering if Ella had given Eury and problems at nap time. His spirits were raised however, when he noticed both Callum and Eze were waiting at their designated group spot. Ev knew the sorting was random, but honestly, it had worked out in his favor; big time. He shook hands with Cal and Eze quickly, noticing that the other two in their group, who he didn't know, seemed to be together. Great, couples were always annoying. "Everett Grimm." He introduced himself to the two he learned to be Samuel and Cassandra. "And I could really care less which direction we go in." Really, what did it matter?

  

[Ezekial Aesalon]

Eze watched, bemusedly, as events unfolded. Callum disagreed with the woman, Samuel Bowen backed her up. Ooh, were they an item? How positively fascinating. Meanwhile, Eze tried to place her name, as James backed up Callum and Everett announced that he didn't care.

Eze took the opportunity to take another sip of his whiskey and gave up on his attempts. "I'm with Ev on this," he said. "We're ending up in the Untamed Wilderness whichever way we go."

He carefully closed the lid of his flask and put it back in his pocket. If this was setting the stage for the rest of their trip, he planned on being drunk for most of it.

ooc: short post is short

  

[Cassandra Trelawney-Bowen]

Cass smiled to her fiancee and caressed him softly on the cheek. "It's alright, Sam. If the man wants to go west, we can go west." She saw this man in her visions and knew his attitude. She knew that if she says "east" he'll surely say west. She looked at her fiancee quite amused by the companions there were assigned to.
"For the future, dear sir, I encourage you to treat me with respect and do not try to blackmail me or sell news about my alleged impropriety, because it won't work." She said, with an innocent smile on her face.

  

[Callum Baines]

• Blackmail her? Had that ever been in question? Well, it was something he might have done if he had so an avenue for it, but thus far he saw little purpose in such an action. Plainly, this girl not only fancied herself a princess or some such, but was rather peculiar as well. Greatùhe needed a crazy on the road with him. This was going to be a long, long trip, and he could only hope that the boys had enough alcohol to keep them all sufficiently cheerful, since with this witch on tour, maintaining such an attitude could not be done otherwise.
  
  "You can earn my respect, Missy, if you're so fixed on it." His tone was probably the least surly it had been since making her acquaintance, for all that his words still refused to kowtow to her whims. He was not the sort to offer respect where neither circumstance or experience requested itùand he sure as hell wouldn't change his attitude about her for as long as she swanned about as if she owned the place. James' commentùthat Callum was in charge because he had the owlùhad only strengthened his resolve; plainly he was not the only one who was not entirely happy to take a woman's word as gospel.
  
  But with west now as the "winning" decision, at least the group could depart at last. Cal took a large swig from his flaskùcurious as to just how deep the spell had made itùbefore settling his belongings on his person and setting off.

  

[Samuel Bowen]

This adventure wasn't something Sam had been pleased about when he first found out about it. He hadn't wanted to leave Cass, but out of sheer luck she had been drafted and placed in the same group. That had made the entire thing much better and, dare he say?, he was actually looking forward to it. Sam had wanted to take Cass camping for some time, though they hardly got the time between his work load and her desire to keep everyone happy. Had he been so naive to believe this was nothing more than a glorified camping trip with a prize at the end?

Yes, he had been, and he had even thought to bring a tent that was magiced to be able to fit everyone in their group. Sam's opinion of Mr. Riley went down drastically when he agreed with a man who, by the looks of it, was a cranky, drunken rat bastard. His professional opinion and respect for James was still where it had started, and would stay there unless James proved himself completely incompetent, but Sam knew quite well by their obviously drastically different choices in friends that they came from completely different stock.

Sam leaned into Cass's hand when she caressed his cheek tenderly, feeling for a moment as though there was no one else around. She was a seer, and though she hadn't told him the specifics of her vision she had asked him to go along with her, so that's what he planned on doing. "Alright," he said softly, when Cass said that they'd go west. He sighed and looked at the drunkard, Callum, and Sam realized that no one would be allowed in his tent save for himself and Cass, unless there were dire circumstances. He was going to need a respite from everyone else.

  

[James Riley]

James was happy with the decision; he didn't really know how to react to the woman in the group, first and foremost because she was wearing pants, which in James' mind put her in some weird half-world between two genders. There was also the fact that he had not been introduced to her by anyone else, which was the usual way of meeting ladies, so he somehow felt as if he didn't really have much right to address her. Then, of course, there was the flippant way in which she had ordered the group around--which, if he had judged Mr. Baines correctly, was probably more of the problem than the actual direction. It didn't matter much to James either way which way they set off; it was a stupid, frivolous campaign either way.

Then there was the fact that Bowen and the woman were obviously a couple. And they were probably going to have lots of Moira-Prewett-less free time together. Hell, if he had Fee had been assigned to the same group he might not have been so sore about this whole ordeal; an excuse to see Fee alone, without a chaperone and without the burden of hospital work? Certainly. Of course, there was also the fact that she was probably going to get hurt to contend with, and that, apparently, he would have to have introduced her to Everett and Ezekial who were probably going to drink themselves to death before leaving the slums.

Speaking of which. He shot Ev a look as they started off for the west, mumbling under his breath, "I'm sure you've a perfectly good reason for sneaking bottles into my bag, but I can't really think what." Really, had the whole becoming a father thing not made Ev even slightly more responsible?

  

[Ezekial Aesalon]

Eze grinned broadly as the group came to a decision. "Alrighty then," he said, mostly deciding to ignore the woman because she spoke far too mysteriously for him. He took a swig from his flask as they walked, intent on being inebriated by the time they got out of the Slums.

His own desire for conversation was drowned out by his urge to get far away from his mother before announcing how much liquor he had brought with him. He slipped the flask out of his pocket again, checked that the lid was shut tightly, and dropped it unceremoniously into his bag as he walked.

He winced as it clanked against some of the bottles but decided to act as if nothing had happened. After all, it was his own damn business what he wanted on the trip, and the sound hadn't been too obnoxious.

  

[Hogsmeade Trail]

EVENT ANNOUNCER - ROUND 2
You spend all day traveling west and see nothing but miles and miles of forest - completely unchanging. It seems as if this might not be the way... or something might jump out and surprise you if you continue. By mid-afternoon, your group needs to come to a decision. Do you continue with where you're headed or do you turn back and choose a different direction?

What do you choose?
a. Keep going
b. Turn back

OOC DIRECTIONS
1.) Have your character vote which route they are to take.

Round 3 begins May 23rd

  

[Callum Baines]

• He would not have said he was drunk, but the tedium their route had provided thus far saw him well on the way towards it. Thus far, the group seemed to have accomplished nothing but bicker and drink, only the latter of which was remotely appealing to the caretaker. Still, he was loathe to turn backùthat would acknowledge that he had been wrong and Miss High & Mighty had been perfectly correct, which Cal was far from prepared to do. Instead, when the time finally came to make such a decision, the wizard offered "Nothin' ever got discovered by going back the way you came." Besides, the fact that they hadn't come across anything yet did not mean they wouldn't if they pressed forward. At the very least, finding a place to camp soon would be an assetùhe imagined that this early in the journey, the boys were going to have an interesting evening.