[x] Master Saboteur
[x] Master Saboteur
[x] Master Saboteur
Currently, dementors are on standby, while the saboteurs get to work on the barrier protecting the rebel fortress. It is an admittedly impressive piece of work, capable of hiding those within from those who do not already know they are there, or of repelling the assaults of a fairly large number of assailants. But you bring with you not merely a squad or a platoon. You have an army, with dedicated saboteurs - cursebreakers who have honed their craft against other terrorist hideouts, or against the strongholds of goblins and others who resisted the new order - and can bring down their barrier.
Your human lieutenant, a girl you think might be named Parkinson, gives you two options.
The saboteurs can either gradually wear away at it over the course of about half an hour and sap its strength slowly, or they can deploy various spell anchors and try to have it down in five. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages - the first will certainly be safest for the saboteurs, but gives the enemy time to prepare for an assault they know is coming; the second gives them almost no time, but with a barrier of this size and power, risks an...explosive...outcome.
"What is your will, commander?"
Which approach would Hermione like to take?
[ ] Slow and Safe
[ ] Quick and brutal
[ ] Consult the Assault Commander
And what about the dementors?
[ ] Send them in as soon as the barrier falls
[ ] Hold them in reserve - their morale effects could be useful in crippling the enemy
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Consult the Assault Commander.
[x] Hold them in reserve - their morale effects could be useful in crippling the enemy.
[x]Consult the Assault Commander
[x]Hold them in reserve-their morale effects could be useful in crippling the enemy
Shields: [x]Consult the Assault Commander
Dementors: [x]Hold them in reserve-their morale effects could be useful in crippling the enemy
In the Great Hall of Hogwarts, the entirety of the First Years had been assembled for a special gathering, courtesy of the Defense Professor, Quirinus Quirrell. Or rather, they had been asked to remain following dinner, though none of them knew why - only that it must be important, as he wouldn't have interrupted their normal routine otherwise.
"I suppose you're all wondering why I've gathered you here..." the man in question drawled as he stood before them, his black robes billowing behind him dramatically, even in the absence of any wind. "At least, those of you who are present. Can anyone tell me who is absent?"
There was some murmuring as people looked around, with Pansy Parkinson quickly raising her hand.
"Yes, Miss Parksinson?"
"Malfoy is missing, and some of the other Slytherins too," the brunette called out, with the Defense Professor nodding.
"One point to Ravenclaw for being so attentive," the man noted warmly, a hint of a smile crossing his face. "Indeed, Mister Malfoy and a number of his companions are missing tonight - but don't worry, they aren't far away." His smile widened as he withdrew a book from his robes - titled the Book of Spells, a book that most of those present flinched at the sight of.
They remembered the scenario that the Professor had put them through, after all - involving a Hogwarts that had been overrun by the living dead, with the corridors slick with blood and creatures of nightmare lurking around every turn.
"Tonight, your colleagues - those intrepid first years who discovered the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw, have volunteered to take on a special challenge, one that will test their cunning, their courage, their wits, and their loyalty to one another." He tapped on the cover of the book, opening it as dozens of images appeared in the air before them, with five in particular showing the adventurers in question, each of whom were engaged in a different task. "You see, unknown to them, they have been split into two groups - one of which is tasked with defending the isle of Hos - and the other, charged with taking it, with each one taking on one of several command roles. It will of course be a terrible, brutal affair, given that one group has been told that the base is full of terrorists, while the other has been told that the army attacking them has been sent by a terrible Dark Lord, but that just makes it more fun, doesn't it?"
He grinned.
"You, on the other hand, can see what is happening to both sides, without being charged with commanding either," the man uttered with some amusement. "But...I do not want you to be left out of the suspense - or to feel that I am offering them and them alone a special opportunity. I have given them a chance to improve their grades, and so I want to give you an opportunity to improve your standing as well - though not your individual standing,"
The students looked around in confusion at what he could mean.
"You are aware of the House Cup, and how this is dependent on House Points, yes?" the Professor asked, with the students suddenly sitting up straighter. "Yes, there is an opportunity for you to win House Points tonight, depending on how they do. I assume you are all curious?"
The students nodded as a flock of paper birds appeared in midair, with one flying to each of them and unfolding itself.
"Simply put, you may bet House Points on how each team will do...and on who the traitor is." Quirrell paused, raising an eyebrow as someone's face scrunched up in confusion. "Yes, Mister Weasley?"
"What do you mean a traitor?"
"Ah? Did I not mention that part?" the man asked in a faux innocent manner. "One of the people on each side may be a traitor."
"...but one side only has two people!" Miss Parkinson blurted out, "Unless...you mean any of the other commanders?"
Quirrell smiled.
"Perhaps - but if so...which one?" he asked pleasantly. "In any case, you may write down your bets - and should you jointly wish, you can vote to take control of one of the commanders, that you may help one side or the other collectively. So you know, Miss Granger is the Master Saboteur of the Imperial Forces, while Miss Spencer is their Siege Overseer. On the side of the Rebels, Mister Malfoy is the Wing Commander, Miss Moore is Base Commander, and Mister Matou is Logistics Coordinator."
Returning to Hermione's perspective, Assault Commander, a young woman named Eltnum, recommended a slow and steady approach, as it would take time to deploy troops around the barrier and a quick and brutal collapse risked injury to their own forces. Hermione agreed, since she was cautious by nature, only only minutes after she sent them out...the barrier collapsed explosively, roiling outward in a storm of force that wiped out her initial squad of saboteurs, while Draco Malfoy led a squad of broom riders forward close on its heels, lobbing vials of bottled fiendfyre down upon the army below.
What will Hermione do?
[ ] Send out dementors - they can disorient the enemy forces while others snipe the broom riders
[ ] Try to rally those left of her saboteurs
[ ] Contact the Strike Leader and fall back
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; February 14th, 2019 at 09:09 PM.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Try to rally those left of her saboteurs.
More infiltration for us. Let the other commanders deal with the siege.
[x]Try to rally those left of her saboteurs.
[X] Send out dementors - they can disorient the enemy forces while others snipe the broom riders
Now is the time to attack. Given that they do not have any plan defenses. Once this line falls they got nothing.
[x]Try to rally those left of her saboteurs.
Even as inexperienced as she was, even as little as she knew about leadership, war or other things, Hermione Granger could feel that this was a pivotal moment. If she - if the forces assigned to her - broke here, the fear and uncertainty they felt would spread to her allies. And then it wouldn't matter that she was in the right, or that their forces outnumbered those of the terrorists. She had to rally her saboteurs - whatever was left of them - somehow.
"To me!" she cried out, using her wand to launch a series of red sparks into the air. "To me!"
Her small figure was overlooked by the broom-riders, already past her and looking for larger masses of troops to drop their bottled hellfire upon, but it drew the notice of a handful of shaken survivors, looking for some sort of direction.
"Ma'am, what do we do?"
Hermione had never counted herself as particularly brave or particularly daring, but...
"We move in, under the cover of the blizzard and the fighting," she ordered.
"Ma'am? Are you...sure?" one of them quavered. "But what about...?"
"I'll have the dementors crowd around our main forces, since they're a fair bit more noticeable, but the broom riders can't kill them. We though...we have invisibility cloaks. We can sneak in."
"...yes, Ma'am."
With that, the much reduced company faded from sight, heading towards the distant fortress.
As they draw near, they see a great fortress carved out of ice, looming out of the night. It is a mountain, with battlements armed by dozens, if not hundreds of people, and what look like trebuchets high above, lobbing great orbs of fire towards the army in the distance.
Towards one side of the mountain, a great set of doors is open, with a line of magic carpets streaming out in single file.
What is the plan of the Saboteur division?
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Aim to cut off the rebel's escaping route - closing and disabling this set of doors should do the trick.
Last edited by Daiki; January 21st, 2019 at 08:49 PM.
[x]Aim to cut off the rebel's escaping route-closing and disabling this set of doors should do the trick.
[x] Aim to cut off the rebel's escaping route - closing and disabling this set of doors should do the trick.
Hermione bade the saboteurs follow her, as they made their way though the ravening storm towards the great doors in the distance. If she could just reach them, if she could just find a way to seal them so that the terrorists would be trapped inside, then all would be put right at last.
'I can do this,' she told herself. 'I can do this.'
She told herself that as she reached the mountain, her forces moving into position to--
There was a terrible roar, and suddenly the girl found herself on the ground, utterly dazed, her ears ringing as if the biggest gong in the world had been struck right next to her ear. She...
'What...? What happened...?' she asked herself, trying to...
She couldn't move. Why couldn't she move?
...why was there a lump of...
'My arm...why is my arm laying on the ground...?!' she thought in a panic, her eyes growing wide as she began to hyperventilate, reacting as the smell of burnt flesh wafted to her nostrils. 'No...no...nononononononononoo!'
Horror, despair, and not a little terror cycled through her as she caught sight of other broken lumps.
Heads severed from bodies.
Broken bodies, black against the snow.
A dark figure looming in the air, with a wand outstretched, a figure with cold grey eyes, and hair blue as midnight.
"You..." she managed to croak out, recognizing this as...
"Heh, it's a good thing I expected them to do something like this," Matou Shinji sneered. "I thought were too easy, so I set up a trap."
"And you were right," an all-too-familiar voice spoke up, as the Logistics Coordinator's second walked up to him, with Hermione thinking that it was impossible, that the person couldn't be...couldn't be...
"So I was, Lieutenant Granger," the Japanese boy agreed. "Though I have to thank Selina for the suggestion. I thought about asking for a detachment to come from the wall to guard the door, but its so much more satisfying to see the assault forces mess up, even if I expected something better from something designed by Quirrell."
'Why. Why am I...how I can I be...?'
How could she be there, laughing? How...why was Matou there, speaking so casually - so cruelly about...
...wait. What had he said?
Designed by...Quirrell?
This didn't make any sense.
Why would a creation of the Book of Spells speak like that?
Unless...
...no...
...no...
Nononononononononono!
Was it...had she been opposing her classmates this entire time? Had she been planning to kill them...for extra credit?! Only for Matou to kill her first?!
'No...'
That horrible realization was the last thought she had, as her consciousness faded away, and everything went black.
Back in the Great Hall, the spectators took in the gruesome sight of Miss Granger's death in silence, a bit unnerved by how quickly - and bloodily - her bid for glory had ended. Her death was followed by the fall of Mister Malfoy, whose broom was disabled as he made a bombing run over the army by none other than Assault Commander Eltnum herself.
"You," he had snarled, as he raised himself to a crawling position, his body screaming in pain as he tried to put pressure on his...on his arm. He bit down, driven only by his hatred as he saw red, a particularly nasty curse coming to his lips. "I will end you! Cruc--"
But before he could speak his spell, the purple-haired Commander completed hers, as a bolt of sickly green sped from her wand and struck him in the face, his body going limp in the snow.
Miss Spencer, of course, had burned alive, due to one of the bottled fiendfyre bombs that Malfoy had dropped, along with most of Siege division.
Still, the army advanced, slowly, methodically dismantling the rebel opposition and eventually breaking through into the fortress, where they slaughtered everyone within...with Matou Shinji being found in the Command Center, resisting to the last, his death triggering a terrible explosion that collapsed the base on the heads of the entire invading army.
In the end, only one survived - Miss Moore, who had evacuated at Mister Matou's suggestion, as he was obviously more expendable than she.
"...what just happened?" Zacharias Smith demanded, unable to comprehend the situation. "Who won?"
"The rebels of course," someone insisted. "One of their number escaped, while the entire invading army died."
"Is that really winning when your base, and most of your commanders are dead?" another countered. "Besides, if the Dark Lord controls a whole continent, this can't be all the forces he has left, while this was the last stand of the rebellion."
"But as long as one person lives, the Rebellion isn't dead!" a Gryffindor spoke up. "Surely the righteous and right thinking will join Miss Moore, and they will strike down the Dark Lord in the end!"
"This isn't a movie, Phelan," a chestnut-haired Japanese girl replied - a Hufflepuff, it seemed. "Things don't just turn around like that. Most people won't stand up like that, won't put their lives on the line, not when it is easier just to bend the knee."
"What do you think, Professor?" another of the Gryffindors asked. A copper-haired girl who was quite pretty, if somewhat imperious. "Who won?"
"Oh? Well, what I think is it doesn't matter who won, because none of you predicted this outcome," the Defense Professor said with a smile, as the entire room froze. "Which incidentally means the point totals of all four Houses are now negative." He chuckled, a sound filled with dark amusement. "After all, to win the Cup at the end of the year, a House must have a total above zero. I must congratulate you - all of you - for making this possible - for cratering the values of House Points so greatly that it is possible no amount of work by your peers may save them."
Color drained from the faces of the students, as they realized just who their upperclassmen would blame for this turn of events.
"B-but those points weren't ours to bet, were they?" Zacharias spoke up, trying desperately to dig himself out of this trap. "Y-you can't just take points away from us like this, can you?"
"As a teacher, I can do more or less whatever I want with regards to your house points, so long as you give me a reason," Quirrell replied coldly, his stare causing Zacharias to shrink backwards, wishing he could sink into the ground. "And I have to say, Mister Smith, betting four hundred house points...more than Hufflepuff earned in all of last year - that is certainly a reason." He laughed then. "But...I am not without some mercy. If someone can tell me who the traitor was and explain why, I am willing to grant the house they belong to, oh...fifty points, shall we say? Of course, if you are simply guessing or are wrong, then you will lose your house a further twenty-five. So...any takers?"
One hand went up in the entire crowd, unheeding of her classmates' pleas for her to not chance things any further.
"Yes, Miss Suzuki?" the man said, calling on her. "Stand, if you will, and tell us who you think the traitor was."
"You," the Japanese girl stated, pointing at the Defense Professor, as her classmates gasped. "You were the traitor, Professor."
"Oh, and what makes you say that, Miss Suzuki?" the man asked solicitously.
"Because both sides received their information from you," the Japanese girl said solemnly. "They trusted you to tell them what the situation was - to know what they were facing, yet you did not. You orchestrated the fall of both sides, betraying those who trusted you, betraying either side - and so in that, you are the traitor."
"Say I was - why did I do it?"
"Because you had a lesson you wanted to teach, and you used them to teach it," Natsumi reasoned. "You said yourself in our first class that there is no such thing as good or evil - that there is only power, and those too weak to seek it. So you exercised your power, and showed them that despite how strong they believed they were, they were still weak in the end."
"And?"
"And you taught us a lesson - to question our assumptions."
"Like what?"
"The assumption that house points wouldn't go below zero - or that magic made things easy. All the magical power in the world won't save you if you don't know what is happening. And all the knowledge in the world won't save you if you can't trust it - or those around you."
Quirrell was silent for a long moment, long enough that people began to speak badly of Natsumi, thinking she had messed up - that she had cost them more points.
"There is two bits you didn't mention. That you needed the courage to act in order to achieve your goals - much as Mister Matou did," the Defense Professor stated. "He understood that in the end, sacrifices sometimes needed to be made, and he made it in order to make sure some of his confederates lived. The second is that life is often messy - neither complete victory nor utter defeat are common, and plans often fail in the face of the enemy. Still, you touched on the key points, Miss Suzuki. Fifty points to Hufflepuff." And with that, he turned away, striding towards the doors to the exterior. "Dismissed."
When Hermione Granger wakes up in the infirmary, she sees Professor Quirrell standing by her bedside, and her fellow Slytherins mostly lying in the beds next to her. What does she say to the man...?
[ ] (write-in)
[x]What was the point of having the group fight one another. Why was there a copy of her fighting as a lieutenant for the insurgents and how come he hid the fact that the Slytherins were split into two sides.
[x]What was the point of having the group fight one another. Why was there a copy of her fighting as a lieutenant for the insurgents and how come he hid the fact that the Slytherins were split into two sides.
Quirrell seemed almost amused by the girl as question after question fell from her lips, with the Slytherin making an almost heroic effort to fight off disorientation and nausea to try get answers out of him. While dying within one of the scenarios he created wouldn't lead to the person experiencing true death (as this would bring down the wrath of Dumbledore, for as naive as the Headmaster was about things like redemption, there were lines that even he was not willing to compromise on).
"You ask why I did these things?" the Defense Professor questioned mildly, with a hint of a smirk. "Why I had you oppose one another? Why I had you fight and kill one another - all in the name of extra credit? The answer is simple: I wanted to see what you valued most, and if you would be so blinded by what you desired that you would give up what you believed in. And you did - you chose to try to kill your fellow classmates for points. Strange, isn't it, how those of us who believe themselves righteous are so easily tempted to destruction."
"...I - no, that is..." Hermione sputtered, confused. "In the scenario, we were told that the base was full of terrorists. That they were evil and didn't deserve any mercy. How can you say I gave up what I believed in when I was just following orders? I didn't have a choice!"
"It is simple, Miss Granger," the man replied solemnly. "You always have a choice. Do you blindly obey everything you are told to do?"
"Well, no, but--"
"Then why did you do so here?" Quirrell asked reasonably. "You could have chosen to stop any time you wanted, and yet you persisted, accepting the orders given to you, never questioning the rightness of your cause despite the...monsters you worked beside. The giants. The dementors. And more."
"B-but they were...they were t--"
"Terrorists?" Quirrell echoed. "So your side might have called them, while they called themselves freedom fighters as they opposed the regime you served. It all depends on your point of view, doesn't it."
"No! There are things that are right and--"
The Defense Professor chuckled.
"There is no such thing as right and wrong, Miss Granger, no such thing as good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it. After all, it is those who gain power who make the law, and the law which many accept to be the standard one must live by, no? There is no universal sense of morality, only what the weak come to accept."
"B-but there are things are wrong. Killing someone--"
"--can sometimes be useful, or even necessary," Quirrell interrupted, with Hermione's eyes wide as she stared at the Professor's shocking statement. "What is necessary however, can depend on who you are. Perhaps for a terrorist - or freedom fighter - it is necessary to execute a hostage to demonstrate the seriousness of your demands, forcing an authority to negotiate or comply. Perhaps for a government it is necessary to kill a criminal - with or without the benefit of a trial - in order to not be seen as weak on an issue, to keep the people in line."
"I...that's not--"
"When you get to my age, Miss Granger, you will learn that the world is not so black and white as you believe. It is my hope that you will learn from what you experienced in this scenario, that you speak with your colleagues and...come to an understanding, but I realize I cannot force you. If you wish to throw my efforts in my face and believe in your misguided philosophy, you are welcome to do so, but I wonder...will that make you any friends?"
Hermione flinched at the question.
"Ah, but then, you don't need friends, do you, Miss Granger? As soon as they do something wrong, they might as well be trash to you, to be disposed of - isn't that right?"
"I - no."
"And yet that is what your actions showed. If you continue down this path, Miss Granger, it will destroy you. Consider this your first and only warning."
With that he left, leaving the girl with much to think about.
What does Hermione do once she is released from the infirmary?
[ ] Seclude herself in her room
[ ] Go to the library - she wants to avoid those who hurt her
[ ] Talk to Matou, Malfoy and Selina
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[X] Talk to Matou, Malfoy and Selina
Becoming more a hermit is not going to help anything.
[x]Talk to Matou, Malfoy and Selina
[x]Talk to Matou, Malfoy and Selina
The mood in the empty classroom was awkward at best as Hermione entered, seeing the three people who had gathered there at her request. Her...killers? Erstwhile friends? Acquaintances gone bad? Fellow Slytherins, anyway - which was about all she could call Matou, Malfoy, and...Selina these days, ever since the bungled caper that had revealed them all for what they were - people out for themselves, who didn't really care about the rules.
And yet...
"...did you know?" she asked of them.
Matou Shinji only shrugged.
"Does it matter?" he asked disinterestedly.
"What do you mean does it matter?" Hermione sputtered. "You...you killed me!"
"Am I at fault for eliminating an enemy within the confines of a game?" Shinji inquired, his gray eyes unsympathetic as he looked at her like one might look at a worm crawling on the ground. "You were leading a division of saboteurs to clear the way for us to be slaughtered. Did you expect mercy, even if we thought it was you and not just a copy of you made by the simulation?"
"I..." Hermione trailed off, not knowing what to say. "I..."
"Why did you call us here?" Selina inquired, with the bespectacled girl's voice seeming utterly cold and dismissive. "Was it to tell us we are terrible people because we didn't let you have your way? Because we dared to side against you? If that's the case, I can see why you had no friends before Hogwarts."
"Now, that might be a bit harsh," Draco interjected. "We shouldn't judge her without knowing why she called us here, and what she's thinking. That would be something only ignorant muggles would do. We're wizards - we're better than that."
"What is it you wish to say?" Matou asked then. "You wanted to talk and called us here, so the move is yours, Miss Granger."
What does she want to say?
[ ] That all of them have made mistakes, perhaps it is time to move on
[ ] That the only terrible one here is Selina, who is manipulating the others into doing her will
[ ] To say that she won't apologize - she only did what she thought was right.
[ ] To inquire what they'd asked for as rewards, and whether there was a way they could come to a...mutually beneficial understanding
[ ] To let them know she's decided to ask for a change of House
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] That all of them have made mistakes, perhaps it is time to move on.
[x]That all of them have made mistakes, perhaps it is time to move on.
[x] That all of them have made mistakes, perhaps it is time to move on.
The three regarded the bushy-haired girl impassively as she spoke of how they had all made mistakes, and how perhaps it was time to move on. When she finished saying her piece, the others turned to one another, communicating with subtle glances and gestures that...wait, were they using Rune-Sign Language? The girl recognized a few of the signs they were flashing to one another, but the exchange ended too quickly for her to pick up much, with the three nodding to one another and Selina and Draco stepping back, leaving Matou to be the speaker for the triad.
"What you suggest is that we let bygones be bygones?" Matou summed up. "That we should let the past be and look to the future?"
Hermione nodded, somewhat worried as to what he would say.
"Well, I'm not opposed to the idea," he said. "We had been half-expecting something of the sort after the whole fiasco with that scenario - though it wasn't really our fiasco as much as everyone else's."
"Everyone...else's?"
"We weren't the ones who cost the House hundreds of points - it was the ones who bet points they weren't supposed to be able to bet," Shinji explained, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Which leaves us in an interesting situations, doesn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
"For at least the next month or so, all the other first years will have to keep their heads down, lest our seniors take out their ire on them - but we don't, because we didn't lose any House points. We were just taking part in an exercise, after all. It was everyone else who chose to get ahead of themselves. Who fell for the trap."
"But Quirrell set us against one another - that was part of the trap too," Hermione pointed out. "We were caught in it too."
"Ah, but were we caught in a trap...or did we learn a lesson?" Shinji countered. "Those are two different things, you know." The boy huffed. "Either way, making peace is good - it shows we were not truly divided, that we weren't so rudely surprised by what he sprung on us. Even if we were. Ana is still rather put out at Malfoy for burning her alive with those fiendfyre vials, once she learned it was him, you know."
"...well, I didn't know it was really her," Malfoy grumbled. "Does she expect me to apologize for it? I mean, I died too!"
"She doesn't expect you to apologize," Shinji replied. "She does expect you to make peace with Sokaris though."
"What." Draco's voice was low and dangerous. "After everything that...purple...witch did to me, you expect me to--"
"Yes. Because it would help our cause."
"...what do you mean?"
"What all the first years saw was her crushing all resistance until the point I sacrificed myself to destroy the rebel base - and the entire enemy army," Shinji pointed out. "If we were all seen together, as one unified force, is there any first year that could hope to stop us?"
"Well, no, but..."
"Then let us set aside the past. Granger seems to be wiling, so why can't you, Malfoy?"
"...fine."
"Look at it this way, with a Ravenclaw co-conspirator, we might be able to get one up on the Weasley Twins - the ones you think stole Granger's items."
Draco grunted.
"Well, when you put it like that...why not?" the blond said, shaking his head. He stepped forward, turning to look at Granger. "If I'm going to have to do that, then I suppose I can't be angry at you over...getting tricked, really. Shall we make an oath, here and now, to put the past behind us and work together?" he asked, his voice quite grave as he held out his hand.
How does Hermione answer?
[ ] An oath sounds good
[ ] There's no need for an oath
[ ] ...what kind of oath?
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