Stay to watch Fay's duel

Fay and her opponent had drawn a bye in the first round. This means that the result of the next duel, Fay's first, will determine whether you face each other tomorrow or whether you'll be consoling her tonight. Either way, you suppose you should pay attention, particularly if Fay doesn't prevail.

You hope Fay will win, but at the same time you hope she doesn't, so that you don't have to face her in the dueling pit. At the same time, it could be handy to have a rather libertine girlfriend as your, ah, pocket prefect.

Sitting among the audience, you pay attention as the Tutor and the Assistant Warden re-weave the wards surrounding the dueling pit, letting the onlookers look on while mostly protecting them from the effects of stray dueling magic. Despite the wards, some leakage isn't uncommon, so you notice some of the students -- particularly those guesting in from other houses -- quietly rehearsing protective charms and fending-off gestures.

Fay's opponent is Emily Leopard, a fierce and intense third-year with a reputation for being a powerful witch, able to raise dueling spells to batter down her opponents, but a reputation of making trouble for herself by raising more energy than she can control. Twice before, you'd learned, Emily had been in the running for Prefect via dueling, but had been knocked out in the final round -- once with a fumbled spell, once by disqualification.

Emily is already on her side of the pit. She wears a loose, brief dueling costume rather than full robes, her long limbs shining in the glow from the ceiling, her skin dark as Leontes' Warden Barbara Torch. Her hair is cropped close, velvet-short on the sides, and in tiny curls atop her head.

Fay steps in to her side, wearing Leontes robes -- well-filled in front and behind, you'd allow -- silver slippers, and a figure-flattering waist sash. Her concession to the occasion is that she's pulled back her blonde hair from her round face and girt the sleeve of her wand arm back to her elbow.

Preston Sharper stands in his place at the centre. He raises the ward, calls for Fay and Emily's acknowledgments of readiness, and pauses, letting the moment hang.

Emily stands tensely, her knuckles standing out as she grips her wand.

Fay focuses her concentration down the long alley of the dueling pit, holding her wand poised.

Down sweeps the Tutor's wand, away goes the ward, and Fay and Emily put each other to the test.

Emily hurls a ferocious, overloaded STUN. Fay twirls her wand. Her image doubles forward, her ghostly twin absorbing Emily's attack and dispersing its energies into the wards, which flicker with the deflected ****. Taking the initiative, Fay casts her own attack at Emily. "AD NAUSEAM!" she incants.

Emily shrieks, pulling up her wand to deflect Fay's spell. The clashing energies fly straight against the wards, which crumble and spill the disgusting magical spell into the observers' gallery.

The wards have broken. Roll +CUNNING(+2) to protect yourself and other bystanders.

• On a 10+, you restore the wards. Take +1 XP and the congratulations of the Tutor and Assistant Warden.
• On a 7-9, you protect yourself, but wind up amidst a set of groaning and vomiting onlookers.
• On a Miss, take a CONSEQUENCE (Nauseated).