Previously, on the Caretaker...

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

You can see the door almost closing, wind pushing out of it as it does.

“Brandon! Vhat do ve do?!”

“Im thinking, one second!”

“Brandon!”

“...”

“BRANDON!”

“Agh, son of a-RUN! WE TOOK SALAZAR DOWN BEFORE, WE CAN DEAL WITH WHATEVER HE WAS TESTED WITH!”

You feel Willow pull you alongside her, she is way faster than you so you are almost being dragged by her.
The closer you get to the door, the more you can see thanks to the bit of light that's still pouring out of it, the blue sparks dim out as you get closer, the floor goes from rugged and rocky to smooth and evenly flat.

But you made it, the giant door closed behind you and you could have sworn your prosthetic foot was about to get trapped in between the doors, luckily for both of you, you managed to get in with just a moment to spare.

Being here makes your eyes hurt, you have to raise your arm to block the light, but you realize it's doing nothing since the light comes from all places, it's not just a singular source of light, it's like you are INSIDE the light, it's blinding.

“Ugghh, zhis is making my head hurt”

“Are you ok?”

“Ja, it's just…it's coming from everyvhere, now I can't see for an entirely different reason, and closing my eyes isn't helping a lot.”

You try it, and just like she said, it's so bright it's like you are staring directly into the sun even with your eyelids closed.
You force yourself to blink, one, two, three times, expecting to slowly get used to the new environment.

What you didn't expect was for the light to suddenly disappear in between blinks and be standing in the middle of Hogwarts, clear as day, though there is something off with it, the castle looks…younger.

“Willow…i think you can open your eyes now”

She slowly does so.
“...huh…”

The sky is getting darker, stars slowly blinking into existence as the sun hides behind the mountains.
There are a few students still roaming around the outside of the castle, you can see most of them heading towards the main entrance where you are currently standing next to Willow.

“Are…are ve back?”

“I think we are? im not sure…Hey, excuse me, could you-”
You begin talking to a student, but stop the moment he walks through your body.
“AAHH WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“OH MEIN GOTT! ARE VE DEATH?!” Willow slaps her hands across her whole body, testing to see if she can go through herself.

You were about to do the same but a familiar face shows up, walking across the road that leads to the main entrance. It makes you freeze in place.

Merlin himself, wearing a dark forest green robe, a shorter, black beard and looking younger than what you could see when he was in your head but still older than you.

He walks past you and into the castle, completely ignoring you as he does.

You and Willow follow him, you try interacting with him, but stop trying soon after realizing nothing you do in this place has any effect on anything.

“We must be in some sort of…illusion or memory of some kind.”

“Merlin´s memories perhaps?”

“No…im positive this is part of the test…and remember, this hasn't reassembled yet…this has to be from Salazar's point of view”

You both follow Merlin into the castle, you notice how the floors, the walls, the bricks, all of the material that was used to build the castle, it all looks almost brand new.
You slide your fingers across the brim of the bricks on the walls, they are still perfectly cut and “sharp”

“This was definitely a long time ago…”

you quickly arrive at the entrance of the Great Hall, just in time to see Merlin open the doors and walk in, you follow.

The first thing you notice is that this room didn't have its current use back then, instead of being a sort of communal dining room, it was instead the founders main office, with each founder occupying each corner of the room. Each area is filled with their respective colors, decorations and tools for their specialties.

In the middle of the room, a singular big square table overflowing with paperwork and parchments of all kinds, you can't tell exactly what they contain but you are willing to bet it's an early draft of the school´s usual paperwork.

“I see that you at least still have the honor and common sense to show up when you are called here.” Godric Gryffindor begins as he walks from his corner to the table.
“I was half expecting you to hide in the mountains and us having to hunt you down”

“Im sorry that you feel that way, but i have to admit i also feel a bit offended and disappointed to have the great Gryffindor think so low of me” Merlin answers, you could hear a bit of venom in his voice, though you could tell he was trying his best to remain neutral.

“You would be wise to hold your tongue, Merlin.” Rowena Ravenclaw interrupts.
“You should consider yourself fortunate that you have not been struck down where you stand after disobeying our commands”

Merlin says nothing.

“You were warned not to dabble with ancient magic, yet you disregarded our warnings, you caused a disaster!” Gryffindor barks at him.
“Hundreds, perhaps thousands are now dead! because of your stupidity and arrogance!...What reason could you possibly have had to ignore our clear warnings?! what is it that you were planning to do with such unstable and untamed power?!”

Merlin stays quiet.

“You say nothing…is the reality of your actions finally catching up to you? Is this why you do not explain yourself?”

“Oh, now you want me to talk? Ravenclaw said I should hold my tongue, I was simply obeying your commands” Merlin says almost mockingly.

Merlin crouches under a red volt which you and Willow end up instinctively avoiding when it was going your way. Gryffindor´s wand being the source.

“Is this a game to you? does the loss of so much human life not weigh on you?!”
This comes from a familiar feminine voice, you find that it came from Helga Hufflepuff herself.

“She sounds like…” you say in a whisper.

“None of you could even begin to understand, this is a necessity, im making sure that the world survives, making sure that we have a future” Merlin says, interrupting your train of thought.

And then, from the shadows in the last corner, the final founder shows himself.

“You are a fool, a stupid child pretending to be wise, a cockroach playing god!”

“You are a disgrace to the Slytherin house, you are a disgrace to yourself, so much power, so much talent, so much potential…and it's all attached to the dimmest of minds” Salazar says with clear disapproval of Merlin.

“None of you would oppose what I had to do if you had seen what I've seen! I alone am keeping us from a future that would end our existence as we know it, I alone have saved our world from the greed of humanity! Countless times have I already protected all of us from certain doom, taken the hardest decisions that none of you would dare to entertain! If it weren't for me none of us would be alive now!”

“And was it worth it? to sacrifice so much for…for…a premonition? something that wasn't set in stone, you saw a glimpse into the future and decided to take the most drastic of actions, instead of looking for alternatives, instead of waiting just a bit more to be sure…the first thing you do…”
Helga Hufflepuff says, it sounds like she is holding back tears and despair.

“And because of it, we are alive now, we can forge a better future!” Merlin shouts back.

To your surprise, it's Salazar who speaks next.

“You eradicated countless magical families! generations of pure blood magic! Your actions alone have put the stability of the magical population in jeopardy for generations to come! and all for what?! SAVE A BUNCH OF MUDBLOODS AND LOWER FAMILIES?!”

“Salazar! That's enough of that” Gryffindor commands.

“Those “lower families” will be more valuable in the future than any of the stuck up elite that you so desperately tried to bring to power”
Merlin says without a hint of doubt nor remorse.

“Regardless of their status, we simply cannot ignore the atrocity of your actions, “lower families” or not, the ritualistic sacrifice of so many people will not go unpunished. I'm afraid that your days of freedom are done, you are no longer allowed to roam free to do as you wish and will be dealt with accordingly, it is over…”
Rowena declares matter of factly, not as a suggestion, but as a law that she and the rest of the founders will undoubtedly carry on.

Merlin sighs and folds his hands together, making sure that they go inside his sleeves as he does so.
“No…no, it's never over…”

And in the span of a second, Merlin pulls out a familiar looking wand of legend, it had bulbous orbs of white bone going across the length of the wand which was made of elder wood.
At the same time, reacting faster than anyone else thanks to his experience in combat, Godric Gryffindor stood in the way, defending his comrades by absorbing the full brunt of the magical blow.

Gryffindor was the first to fall, Ravenclaw followed soon.

Hufflepuff and Slytherin worked together, fighting like they have never fought before, an unprecedented dance of green and yellow against the pale violets of Merlin and the Elder wand.

But not even the founders of Hogwarts could stand against their combined power.

After a long duel, Hufflepuff fell, she managed to injure Merlin, but it wasn't enough to stop him, in the end, only Slytherin remained.
Severely wounded, tired and without any aces under his sleeves left, Slytherin went down, but not before making an oath.

“You fool…So many wizards and witches…my comrades, all sacrificed for something so vague, something you aren't even sure will happen!”

“Their sacrifice will ensure that it will happen, im sorry professor, but this is something i must do, even if it takes the lives of so many innocent bystanders and yours, in the end, this will be a footnote, but it will be worth it”

“you are interfering with destiny, you are keeping things from how they are meant to be! I promise, even if it takes me a thousand lives, I will see that you don't accomplish your goal, that I swear! I will avenge every single innocent life you have taken!”

Slytherin made one last effort to stop Merlin, but Merlin ended him before he could accomplish anything.

With all founders dead, Merlin took their souls and their magic, and then, everything froze in time.

The memory ended and everything went back to being a white void.

You and Willow stood side by side, unmoving trying to understand what you just witnessed.

“So…vait, hold on…Is Salazar zhe “good guy”? but…Merlin is also a good guy? i zont understand…”

“I think it's a bit more complicated than that…it appears that they both had their motives, they both wanted to “do good” but it was at the expense of other people…and they both committed unforgivable acts to do so…we might still lack some information to make an actual judgement, though…i´ll have to ask Merlin about it later…”

“You still vant to talk vith him? Did you not see vhat he did?! he murdered hundreds, THOUSANDS! for something he vasnt even sure, for all ve know, zheir deaths could have been for nozhing! Ve have to confront him about it…Vhat if he does the same vith us?”

“And we will, but we have to make sure that we have all the facts before we do anything”

“But…vhat if Salazar ends up being right and ve are helping the “bad guy”?”

“I don't think Merlin is a bad guy…maybe a bit extreme, but he surely must be doing all of this for a reason…”
You turn to look at Willow.
“...Right?”

She looks at you with worry and doubt on her face, neither of you sure of anything as of this moment.

You look away from her and into the distance, and notice a golden ornate door appeared suddenly where there wasn't one before.

“I think that's the exit! come on!”

Both of you run towards the door, it opens as you get closer to it, but before you could leave, you notice an unusual scene next to it, it doesn't cover the entire place nor does it suck you into it like the previous one did, this one is just a small room you could see into.
In it, a small boy with golden blond hair is on top of a beaten and old bed. He appears to be holding a pillow firmly over something, but it's too small for you to see clearly what it is.
2 different voices cry at the same time, one sounds smaller and muffled while the other sounds desperate and fearful.

You are not sure how to interpret this or what to think of it, but it makes you feel…sad and pity for whoever that child is supposed to be.

“Brandon!”

“...Coming”

You walk through the golden door and finally leave the white void.

When you step out of the door, the first thing you feel is a chill wind hitting you in the face.
As your vision slowly adjusts, you can see a blue sky with a few grey clouds covering part of the sun, there is a lake with a single island with lots of trees in its center, everything else around the lake is nothing but green plains with small hills here and there, all of this surrounded by mountains far away, creating an enclosed but huge area from which you can't see any other road or path going nor coming.

You hear a small *click* sound behind, you turn and see that the golden door is now gone, leaving you and Willow stranded in this…place.

“Look, over zhere!”

Willow points towards the island at the center of the lake. In there, you can see a silhouette disappearing into the trees.

“There you are…Let's go, we have almost caught up with him”

When you get closer to the lake, you see a small dilapidated pier with a couple of small row boats strapped to the poles of the pier.
You and Willow board one and begin rowing towards the island.

The waters are calm, it's an easy trip so far.

“So…” Willow grunts in between words each time she rows along with you.
“Vhat are ve *grunt* going to do vith *grunt* Salazar?”

You do the same.
“What do you *grunt* mean?”

“Are ve going to kill him vithout knowing Merlin's side of zhe story? Are ve going to just stop him and drag him back? are ve taking his side? Vhat are ve going to do?”

>”We can stop Salazar…we can stop Merlin if necessary, im going to kill him, we'll figure out the rest later”
>”It might be more work, but i'll drag him back so we can hear Merlin's side of the story first”
>”...If he has an actual GOOD point to all of this and stop Merlin…we might join him instead…we´ll see”
>Other (Write in:)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
And now, we continue.

You stop rowing, Willow stops after she notices you deep in thought for a moment.
The boat slowly crawls to a complete stop in the still waters of the lake, a small breeze gently rocks the boat from side to side.

“I think…i think it might be more complicated than what we expected, definitely more work, but we have to drag him back to Merlin, if everything we have seen, known and deduced so far is true, then we are going to need as many facts and details as possible, the fate of…everything and everyone might depend on it”

“I only hope ve are enough to take him down and all the vay back to Hogwarts”

“Well…” You hold the paddle tightly, suddenly lost in thought, feeling its texture, its weight, you doubt yourself. But then, you think of all the things you have gone through, the battles, the questions, the previous doubts.
You and Willow have gone through all of them, it's the reason you are currently in the middle of this lake rowing towards a mysterious island.

No, you have made it this far, there is nothing stopping you, not before, not now.

“...We are both here, that should be more than enough proof that we can, right?” You give Willow a confident smile.

She smiles back.

“Right! Ve have both made it all the vay here, if nozhing stopped us before, zhen nozhing can do it now!”

“Thats what I like to hear! come on! we have a lunatic to stop!”

You both continue rowing, more determined than ever.

…

You pray to god that you both are enough…

…

After rowing for some time, you finally make it to shore.

You beach the boat and step into the gravely dirt of the island.

Without you needing to say anything, Willow pulls out her wand, readying herself for the worst.
You do the same.

“This island doesnt appear to be that big, but i wouldnt trust even that in here, keep your eyes open”

“Vay ahead of you” She says as she casts a gripping spell on hers and your wand.

“Thanks”

You stretch, making sure that your joints pop.

“Let's do this”

Both of you leave the shore and venture into the small forest.

As you walk between the trees, you notice that their canopies cast thick shadows, the overcast weather becomes foggy the deeper you wander into the forest.
The trees are slim, yet tall, with grey pale trunks and dark green leaves on their branches. They are close to one another, but not enough to make it too hard to navigate, just a bit tight.

You feel Willow hold your hand. It almost startles you for a moment, but you managed to control yourself.

“I dont like zhis place…could it be anozher test?”

“I…never thought about it…”

You look around, fog is getting thicker, trees disappearing from view from closer distances than before.

“It might be…do not let go under any circumstances, ok?”

“Ok”

You even make sure to intertwine fingers so you´d have a solid grip on her hand.

You continue walking in as straight of a line as you can, only doing small turns when the trees create an almost solid wall, too thick for you to go through.
Not because you couldn't, you could easily cut them down with a single spell, maybe even a strong enough kick, the trees were thin enough for you to think it was possible, but because you didn't want to blow out your cover.

*Kroom* *Kroom* *Kroom*

Far in the distance, you could hear…something…crashing into something else, it sounded heavy, powerful.
You couldn't tell what it was, the fog was too thick, but whatever it was you didn't want to alert it.

“Vhat is zhat?”

“I can't tell, but I'm sure that Salazar has something to do with it”

You both whisper as you talk.
“Shh, dont move…”

You stand still for a moment.

*Kroom* Kroom* *Krack*

…

The crashing sound suddenly stops.

“Vhy did it stop?”

“Shh, dont-”

A white volt goes flying a few meters away from where you are standing, it disturbed the fog, leaving a long, tube shaped hole in the fog before quickly reforming and leaving the mist just like it was before, solid and unperturbed.

You and Willow crouch, trying to make yourselves as small as possible.

Several volts of magic whizz by pass you, none of them being that close to hit you, but getting dangerously close with each one that goes by.

You simply put your finger in front of your lips, Willow understands.

“I am outside of your domain, creature! i bested you! stay in the fog where you belong!”

You think that's Salazar, but he sounds different, he sounds…younger, but also bigger…and scared.

Another few volts of magic go by before it finally stops.

You whisper with the softest voice you can possibly make, almost mouthing the words.

“We must be closer to the exit than we thought, he sounded really-Willow?”

You turn to look at Willow once you are sure that no more volts are coming your way, but to your horror, she is no longer there.
You look at your hand and see a ball of mist shaped like a hand holding yours, it disappears soon after you notice it.

A chill runs down your spine.

“When did she-Where-How?!” You think, but even those thoughts seemed to have been too loud.

Another volley of volts come from outside the fog.

Your chest hits the ground and you cover your head, spells getting closer this time.

A short time later, the spells stop and you could hear footsteps running away.

“That had to have been Salazar, what was he so afraid of?”

You slowly stand up, making sure no more spells come your way.

“Wait, did he say “creature”?”

You hear some of the gravel on the ground shift…somewhere around you.
The mist appears to swivel and form small spirals that you can barely perceive.

“Willow?”

You then notice 2 small white dots deep in the fog, those are eyes…

…And definitely not Willow´s.

>Forget about Salazar for now and look for Willow in the fog, but something else might be in the fog with you. Roll 1D100, Highest roll will be used against an opposing roll.
>Willow is strong and can take care of herself. You can't let Salazar escape, follow the sounds of Salazar's running steps. Roll 3D100, your LOWEST roll will be used against the HIGHEST opposing roll.
>Other: (Write in)

File: IT BEGINS.png (369 KB, 706x402)

369 KB PNG

Well, the holidays are over! time to continue and finish this quest!
i hope you all had some nice holidays and a great new year so far! lets hope it stays like that the whole year!

Rolled 24, 99, 6 = 129 (3d100)

>>6358400
>>Willow is strong and can take care of herself. You can't let Salazar escape, follow the sounds of Salazar's running steps. Roll 3D100, your LOWEST roll will be used against the HIGHEST opposing roll.

>>6358476
a fucking 99's got to be enough to balance back out the 6

>>6358477
yeeeaaah...sorry anon, your 6 will have to fight against whatever comes out in an opposing roll.
your only salvation is for the other vote to win, that somebody else has an amazing roll to overpower yours or for my rolls to suck MAJOR ass.
...i´ll roll when i get back home

Rolled 45, 44, 72 = 161 (3d100)

>>6358400
>Willow is strong and can take care of herself. You can't let Salazar escape, follow the sounds of Salazar's running steps. Roll 3D100, your LOWEST roll will be used against the HIGHEST opposing roll.

Rolled 29, 47, 66 = 142 (3d100)

>>6358476
>6
>>6358708
>44

i will not proceed to add these 2 results together and the result (50) will go against an opposing roll, good luck

>>6358819
holy shit, it was actually close, not enough tho, but since it wasnt that far off, it wont be THAT bad...still bad tho

You stare at the white dots, they don't appear to move…You wave your arms at it, just to be sure, but they appear to ignore you.

Whatever, you don't have time to focus on that, you need to find Willow…But the sound of the steps are getting further away, fast.

You look back and forward between the eyes and the white deepness of the fog behind you.

“...I trust you, Willow, please be safe”

You make your way deeper into the fog, following the steps of Salazar.
*step step step step*
Left…
*step step step step*
Right…
*step step step*
Right again…
*step step step*
Left?
*step step*
wait…
*step…*
You stop, the fog is getting thicker and the steps are becoming harder to hear.

“Shhhit…”

You turn around, you look to the sides, you even look up and down, but all you can see now is the gray fog all around you, you can barely see the ground under your feet.

“Salazar! show yourself! Coward!”

…

“Salazar!? Salazar!...Willow?”

It suddenly becomes quiet, too quiet, so quiet you can start hearing your own heartbeat in your ears, slowly becoming more aware of it, the beating becomes stronger as you start to panic.

There is nothing in front of you, there is nothing behind you, just a solid wall of mist in every direction…And then you see the eyes again, same distance, same position, never moving from where they are.

Are they following you? or did you not move at all?

It's getting harder to fill your lungs, you take deep and long breaths each time trying to control yourself.

You struggle with it, but you manage to get your panic under control…barely, and take another look, trying to find your bearings inside the fog.

But just as you are about to fully fall into a spiraling panic, you hear him.

“Get away! creature!”

Salazar.

But something isn't right…

“HAHAHAHA!”
“You never had a chance, rubbish boy!”
“STOP IT!”
“Filthy blood traitor!”
“HELP!”

His voice, it comes from all directions, asking for help, cries of desperation, old taunts you know all too well.
They sound both far away and right next to you.

You are about to hold your wand and cast a spell in a random direction, when suddenly, as you turn around looking for the latest source of his voice.

“FUCK!”

Without any warning, in the time it took you to blink once, the white eyes are right in front of you.
You curse at it, adrenaline quickly running through your veins due to the sudden jumpscare.

You fall and try to crawl backwards away from the eyes, but no matter where you go or how fast you move, they are always in front of you.

And then…

“There you are!”

You turn, the eyes finally disappearing from your sight, only for you to find green robes and a long gray beard, Salazar standing a few meters away from you.

You roll away from a sudden blast coming your way, debris flies away as a spell hits the ground where you just were and use the momentum to stand up and be in a battle ready stance.

“Salazar! stop this! I will take you to Merlin one way or another, so save us all the trouble and give up!”

Salazar laughs.

“Oh don't worry! I'll go by myself and I'll make sure to take your lifeless body to him!”

He throws another spell and you jump out of the way and counter attack with some of yours.

“I really want to see his face once he realizes everything he has done vith you has been for nozhing!”

“Wha-” You are interrupted by another spell going your way.

“And once I'm done vith you i´ll go right after your little mudblood girlfriend!”

He continues throwing spell after spell, not giving you much space to counter attack.

You quickly look around and see nothing but thick fog.

>Stand your ground and fight.
>Hide into the fog and run away.
>Other (Write in:)

REGARDLESS OF YOUR CHOICE:
Roll 2D100+15 against an opposing roll from Salazar.
1st result will get the +15 and will go against the opposing roll.
2nd result has no bonuses and has to beat a DC: 75.

>Stand your ground and fight.

Rolled 28, 48 + 15 = 91 (2d100 + 15)

>>6360255
>Stand your ground and fight.

Rolled 67, 18 + 15 = 100 (2d100 + 15)

>>6360255
>Hide into the fog and run away.

>>6360305
if you could please roll, that would help a lot, thanks

Rolled 27, 79 + 15 = 121 (2d100 + 15)

>>6360255
>>Stand your ground and fight.

Rolled 3 (1d100)

>Highest 1st roll: 67+15=82
>Highest 2nd roll: 79
well, looks like you managed to beat the 2nd roll, lets see if you can beat the 1st one, good luck

>>6360660
>almost a critical fail
holy shit, you guys just keep winning somehow...

>>6360660
>>6360663
i thought we were going to lose hard on that one before HeadQM showed up lmao

>>6360755
oh, dude, i was already getting ready to write shit going down, HeadQM came down with angel wings and a halo and saved you all

>>6360755
>>6360974

I aim to please, after all

You look around you, nothing but fog.

Running is not an option now, you have no idea what's in this fog and if you get even more lost then it's over for you.

No, Salazar is here, you are ending this, here and now.

But…

You dodge another one of his attacks, but in between his many taunts…

“You have no chance against me, rubbish boy! might as vell save us some time and give up!”

Wait just a second…

Salazar continues his attacks.

“Expelliarmus!” “Immobulus!” “Petrificus Totalus!”

Those….he never used those before…

“Rictusempra!”

“Ok, thats enough”

You parry the tickling spell and fire back with one of your own.
He blocks it and immediately starts going into defense mode, he dodges, blocks and tries his best not to get hit by your attacks…he is surprisingly agile for somebody that old.

You continue your barrage of attacks, pushing him back into some of those thin trees, until…

While walking backwards trying to defend himself, Salazar collides with one of the trees, slightly shoving him to the side and under some of its branches.

“Locomotor Mortis!”

Your spell lands and his legs immediately lock together, making him unable to walk.

“Accio!”

Using the summoning spell, you try calling on one of the branches of the tree, but it doesn't break away from it, instead it bends, just like you wanted.
You end the spell and the branch flicks back, slapping Salazar in the face and knocking him down.

“Petrificus Totalus!”

With barely any sweat, you paralyze Salazar and he falls to the ground, completely immobile.

“Well!” You begin as you get closer “That was unexpectedly easy!”

You crouch next to him, putting the tip of your wand on his nose.

“But that's because you are not Salazar…are you?”

Salazar mumbles something, but you can't understand any of it since his mouth is shut together thanks to your spell.

“Right…”

You wave your wand a bit, letting his head free.

“You insolent child! I vill destroy you zhe moment I get zhe chance! you'll regret ever crossing paths vith me, rubbish boy!”

That accent…no…

“...Willow?”

“Salazar” thrashes as much as he can, but all he can do is move his head side to side, all while screaming insults and taunts at you.

“What the hell? Willow? what happened to you?!”

You get closer and try to touch his face, but he tries to bite you the moment your hand gets close.
You take your hand away, you dont want to risk your fingers.

You stand up and point your wand at him.

“Finite incan-wait-wait-wait…”

You look around you once again, you feel like you are being watched…

“Lumos”

The light that comes out of the tip of your wand illuminates a tiny area, not enough to cut through the fog, but you notice that some swirls form in the distance, almost as if reacting to it.
However, you feel a tug on your wand and the light disappears.

“You don't like the light, do you? Alright…Lumos Solem!”

A ray of sunlight comes out of your wand, it cuts through the fog like a laser.
For a moment you can see a clearing not too far ahead of you.

There is a screeching coming from behind you and before you could get out of the way, the white eyes show up once again and tackle you to the ground, they are enveloped in a misty, swirling figure, it almost reminds you of a dementor but there is no cloak or body, just an angry mist around those eyes.

You try getting up, but it feels like something or someone is on top of you, holding you by the wrist and pinning you to the ground.

The eyes are right in front of you.
You try aiming your wand at them, but its hold is too strong.

You try kicking it away, but your feet go through it, and that's when you notice that the fog is becoming thicker, you see all of it converging into a single spot right on top of you and from it a maw begins to form right under the eyes.

“What.the.hell. are you?!”

It says nothing, instead it just opens its misty jaws and clamps down on your left shoulder.

You scream in pain and try your best to get away from it, but it simply holds you in place as it tries its best to rip your arm off.

“AAAAAAH!!”

And just as you feel something about to tear in your shoulder.

“Lumos Solem!”

A beam of sunlight goes through the creature, splitting it in half, both pieces fall to each side and disappear with a “puff” in a cloud of mist.

You crawl away as fast as you can while holding your shoulder and see Salazar making his way to you.

“Brandon! are you ok!?” Salazar says with Willow´s voice.

You shake your head and rub your eyes to make sure your mind isn't playing tricks on you.

Salazar´s body quickly dissolves into thin air and from it you can see Willow step out.
She runs to you and kneels to your side.

“Vhat the hell vas zhat?!”

“Willow?! oh Merlin´s beard, there you are! i-i dont know, i´ve never seen anything like that!”

“Vell…at least it's dead now, right?”

She extends her hand to you and both of you stand up.

“What? no way, a most likely ancient…creature? curse?...thing? all the way down here? There is no way that a bit of sunshine is enough to kill it.”

You look around you, the mist from the…thing…is dispersing back to how it was before, slowly expanding but not rising to form a solid wall of fog like it did previously, this time it only reaches around your shins.

“Lets get out of here before it comes back”

“Vait, what about your shoulder? are you ok?”

You rotate your shoulder a bit, pain is still there but not nearly as bad as you expected.

“I think I am, whatever that thing was, it wasn't doing any physical damage, otherwise I wouldn't be able to move my arm at all, I think it was messing with our minds instead.”

“Vhy do you think zhat? Vait, is zhat vhy you looked like Salazar?”

“You too? Is that why you were attacking me?”

“Ja! i vas right behind you and zhen you disappeared right in front of me! Before i knew it i vas lost in the fog until i saw Salazar and decided to attack, but i guess zhat vas you instead…Sorry”

“Dont worry, at least we managed to figure it out before we did any real damage to each other…but if that's the case, then Salazar couldn't have gone far”

Now that the fog is low to the ground, you can see the rest of the island.
It curves from both sides, creating something closer to a crescent moon shape. The trees are visible now, hundreds, maybe thousands of trees all over the island, you can see apples hanging from their branches.
Far in the distance, you see a singular giant apple tree, standing tall far above everything else, you are 100% sure that tree is magical just from looking at it.

From where you are standing, it appears that you are directly in the middle of the island, a small but jagged mountain is right in front of you, it has a shallow cave, you can easily see the end of it, if anything it looks more like the curved back wall of an opera stage, there appears to be a white structure inside of it, you can't really make out the details, but it almost looks like a mausoleum…it appears there is movement inside of it.

Where would you go?
>The mausoleum
>The giant apple tree
>Other (Write in:)

>>6362103
>>The mausoleum

>>6362103
>the mausoleum

>>6362103
>The mausoleum

“Not far indeed, over there”

You point to the mausoleum and Willow turns to watch.
There is indeed something moving in there and as far as you know, there are only 3 people on this island.

You both make sure to cast a few healing spells on each other to make sure you don't have any injuries or pains that would hinder your movement, luckily for you, you made it all the way here with nothing but bruises and scrapes, things that the spells can easily take care off, the only lasting pain is that one in your shoulder, but it's quickly fading away now that you are out of the fog monster's maws.

Once you make sure that everything is fine with both of you, you make your way to the mausoleum, making sure not to make any sound. After all, if you have the chance to end up this quickly and without a battle, a surprise attack is definitely something you are willing to do.

You make your way through the rows of apple trees until you reach a clearing next to the mountain, letting you see a simple stone path that goes all the way to the white building, the path is flanked by small wooden posts with extinguished torches strapped to them.
And as you walk along the path, the mausoleum gets closer and closer, and with it, the sound of rock against rock.

*Kroom* *Kroom* *Kroom*

You see him, a hunched figure, lifting his wand up and down, levitating a big boulder over what appears to be a white coffin. You can't tell why or how, but something tells you that somebody in another life, in another world, did this exact move to help save the world, but now it's being done to doom it, it feels almost blasphemous.

*Kroom!* *Kroom!* *KRACK!*

“YES!”
The figure celebrates as it jumps into the coffin.

You use his own distraction to run up until the entrance of the building and stand right outside of it, protecting yourself behind the walls, You on the left, Willow on the right.

But just as you are about to jump in and unload everything you got into him…

“Where is it…? WHERE IS IT?!”

“That…doesnt sound good” You think as you take a peek inside, only to jump out of the way as a giant slab of white rock is thrown right at you, destroying the entrance of the mausoleum and the wall where you were hiding.

“YOU! WHEN DID YOU TAKE IT?! WHERE IS IT?!!”

His voice is different, younger, yet still arrogant and angry, but despite talking with another voice, you recognize the malice of Salazar Slytherin, using a body with blond hair and a few freckles on his face.
You recognize this kid, he was the brother of that little Hufflepuff girl that hung around with creatures most of the time, the student who offered to help you in the battle in the infirmary, Apollo Pertinger.

You stand up from the ground, not even bothering to dust yourself up, Willow at your side doing the same.

“WHERE DID YOU HIDE IT?!”

He pulls out his wand and throws some of the debris around him.

You and Willow defend yourselves by blasting the boulders away.

You are almost sure he is talking about that piece of The Beast that was supposed to be here, so you decide to play along.

“Play nice and i might let you see it, Salazar, maybe i´ll even let you play with it, just give up and come with us…nice and easy…”

He scoffs and stands up properly, he dusts himself up, removing some bits of debris from his gray cardigan and black trousers. He then chuckles for a moment.

“Im sorry, im sorry, i let my emotions get the best of me”
He combs his fingers through his hair and exhales as if forcing himself to relax.
“That would be giving you too much credit, it's obvious that you don't have it and are simply trying to bluff, i respect the attempt but i know better than that”

“Had to try” you respond with a smirk.

“However, despite everything I've said, I have to give you credit, both of you. Not anyone has what it takes to make it all the way here…Perhaps i treated you too harshly”

“I guess i can appreciate the compliment, after all, its coming from one of the founders, too bad it had to be you”

“Hmm, haaa that's a shame, really…you possess a gift, to have such superiority over everyone else and you squander it without giving it a second thought.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your blood, your purity! an incredible gift that becomes rarer and rarer as time moves forward and you do nothing with it, you mingle with…things…like that” He waves at Willow as if too disgusted to even point in her direction.

“Dont tell me you are doing all of this because of your stupid blood purity thing”

Even Willow rolls her eyes, unable to believe that this is the reason for all this trouble.

“Oh how i wish that were the only reason, sadly for me but luckily for all of you…im doing this because im trying to fix Merlin´s mistakes…Im trying to save us all!”

“Yeah right, like you are actually trying to save us all, vhy vould you even do zhat?” Willow asks.

“Despite what you might think, little mudblood, there is still one use for people like you, you make excellent play things”

Salazar throws a spell at her but you manage to divert it with one of your own.

“She only gets to play with me, you filthy snake”

“Hmm so you rather mingle with those things instead of taking our rightful place as the rulers of this world? So be it, once i get rid of you, nothing will get on my way of taking the world back to its rightful owners”

“Not happening, worm brain”

You attack with some red volts to begin, but he blocks them with something you were not expecting.

Holding it in his hands, Salazar blocks your spells with a bright, silver sword.

“You know, I was disappointed when the piece of The Beast wasn't there, but there was a nice consolation price”

“Is zhat…?”

“I think it is…shouldn't that thing be nailed to an anvil on top of a rock?

“I thought that too, but it appears that the legends were wrong and he was buried with it instead”

Your throat becomes dry and you struggle to swallow your nervousness.

“N-no matter, we can still take you down!”

He chuckles and simply beckons you with a hand gesture.

>BOSS BATTLE: VS SALAZAR SLYTHERIN
>Roll 2D100+30 (1 roll for each +15 for each) Both rolls must beat an opposing roll from Salazar
>This is the first battle, you must beat 2 out of 3 battles in order to win.
>good luck.

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485 KB GIF

>>6365492
>forgot to add the gif for dramatic effect, god dammit...

Rolled 60, 83 + 30 = 173 (2d100 + 30)

>>6365492

>>6365574
feeling good about these rolls

Rolled 19, 77 + 30 = 126 (2d100 + 30)

>>6365492

>>6365627
good thing we already have a 75 for the first roll

Rolled 86, 41 + 30 = 157 (2d100 + 30)

Rolled 50, 48 + 30 = 128 (2d100 + 30)

>>6366009
>>6365627
>>6365574
>Highest first roll: 86 for a total of 101
>Highest 2nd roll: 83 for a total of 98

Salazar has to beat these two, good luck.
Salazar´s Bonus 1: Prowess of the Founders +15
Salazar´s Bonus 2: Excalibur, Sword of King Arthur +15

>>6366080
>Highest first roll: 50 for a total of 80
>Highest 2nd roll: 48 for a total of 78
...jesus christ...

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>>6366080
>>6366081

You look at his hand, another taunt…You are not falling for it.

Instead, you hold your place, wand in hand, solid as a statue, legs tensed and ready to explode at the most minimal of movements.

You steal a quick glance at Willow and she does the same, both standing perfectly still.
You have never seen a movie before because you have lived your entire life in the wizarding world, but this sounds exactly like to what Willow describes as a “Mexican Stand-off”
The only thing missing is the lonely tumbleweed rolling across the soon to be battlefield, but there are no wind currents down here, it's all perfectly still, even the water could be mistaken for ice due to how solid and unmoving it was.

“Well?...”
Salazar begins and you almost jump out in a random direction thanks to the suddenness of his voice.
“...Are you not going to make the first move? I'm giving you a chance…”

You steal another glance at Willow, no words needed, you both already know what NOT to do, so you stand still.

“Oh, I see what you are trying to do, you are expecting to answer to whatever I do first, aren't you? Well, two can play that game”

He holds the sword in front of him and then…he opens his hand, letting go of it.

But instead of falling to the ground, the sword floats and aims itself towards you.

“Now, which one will attack first? Me? or the sword? care to take a guess? Hmhm”

You were not expecting that, the sword floats menacingly in front of Salazar, pointy end aimed at you, is he controlling it somehow? Is the sword moving by itself? you can't tell what it is, you´ll have to-

“CONFRINGO!”

Salazar attacks and you react, you jump to the side to try and get out of the way, but the explosion does not come out of his wand, it comes out from the tip of the sword.

And you jumped directly into its way.

You close your eyes and cover your face with your arms, expecting to be blasted to the other side of the island.

“PROTEGO!”

You fall behind a barrier of magic, Willow being its source.

You pat yourself, making sure you didn't receive any damage, but besides landing sideways on the ground you are pretty much intact.

You look at Willow and smile.

“Thanks! He got into my head for a second there”

“Dont vorry, i got you. Now let's teach zhis snake a lesson!”

You stand up and quickly assume your battle stance. Knowing that Willow is right by your side, it fills you with confidence and determination.

Salazar looked annoyed.

And so, Salazar makes the second move…and third and fourth.

He attacks, one spell after another, creating a lightshow of spells heading your way, both coming from his wand and the tip of the sword, the spells are headed directly at you.

But you stand your ground, the first spell is blocked by Willow, the second by you, the third and fourth are parried and dodged.
The ones that you can't dodge or counter are instead blocked by Willow, she covers your blind spots and you cover hers.

It takes a minute or two of pure defensive movements before Willow starts firing back when you block something.
She stands behind your shields and attacks when they go down for a moment so you can start making some ground.

You take a couple of steps, a shield goes up and then down, followed by a small and quick barrage of spells, it's an almost perfect dance, one you can almost not believe you are pulling off.

Salazar looks like he can't believe what his eyes are seeing either.

“no…NO! Dont even THINK that you have a chance! not against ME! EXCALIBUR! PESTIS INCEDIUM!”

From the tip of the sword comes out a stream of fire and begins to pour out like a firehose, it falls and pools on the ground like lava and from it, a pillar of fire erupts.
It has a mouth and a forked tongue, slit eyes and a long body, a snake made out of fire, it crawls and slithers out of the pool of lava, scorching the ground it moves on.
The sounds of the fire sounds like a hiss, the cracking rocks under it sounds like a rattle, it's a haunting sound that ironically chills your soul.

And it looks at you, with paradoxically cold eyes and an evil gaze.

“Fiendfyre…” The same spell that killed McGonagall in her office that night.

“SPLIT!” You command and Willow obeys just in time to escape the fire snake lunging at you.

It explodes when it crashes into the ground where you just were, only for it to also split in two and chase both of you at the same time.

You run and Salazar laughs.

“Yesss! YES! RUN! RUN! RUBBISH BOY! HAHAHA!

There isn't much you can do with that thing chasing you, you try throwing some water spells at it.

“Aguamenti!”
A stream of water shoots out of your wand, but it fizzles out the moment it makes contact with the fiery snake.

“Meteolojinx!”
The magical sky is suddenly covered with dark clouds and an almost torrential rain drops on top of the island, it slows down the fire, but it's still not enough.
The enchanted fire burns too hot to be smothered by the rain, it leaves a path of burning trees and melting rock as it chases you.

But then…an idea.

Instead of running away, you run towards Salazar.

“HAHAHAHA haha haaahh…no NO!”

Once again, he starts shooting spells at you, trying to make you change course, but you parry, block and counter attack, maintaining your path towards him.

“Hey Salazar! I found your pet!”

“You think you are clever?! I CONTROL THAT FIRE! IT OBEYS ME AND ME ALONE!”

Just as you are about to reach his position and tackle him, he waves his wand and the fiery spell disappears, immediately you feel the heat in your back cool down, it's an almost soothing sensation, but it was the perfect distraction for Salazar to land a hit on you.

The spell hits you square in the chest and it knocks the wind out of your lungs.

You fall at his feet, directly in front of him.

“Immobilous!”

Your body becomes numb and you suddenly can't move anymore.

“What's the matter? things didn't go according to plan?”

He raises his foot and stomps on your chest.

You grunt in pain but try to tough it out, not wanting to give him any satisfaction.

He stomps again.

“I got to say, usually I would have used a spell to do this, but right now i really want to feel your bones break under the weight of this new body!”

He stomps once more.

“What even was your plan? run straight at me and knock me down? This new body is too big and heavy for you to do that”

You try to respond and cough instead, hurting inside your chest every time.

“Di-*cough*-dis…”

“Whats that? speak up, i cant hear you over the sound of your broken ribs”

He stomps one more time and you can feel something crack in your ribcage.

“AAAGH! *cough cough*...Dis…traction”

“huh?”

There is the sudden sound of a sprint followed by Willow landing a knee strike on the back of Salazar´s head.

…

This is the 2nd roll. You can end the fight right now if your rolls are good enough.
>Roll 2D100+15 (Only the first roll will have the +15) against an opposing roll from Salazar.

The first roll (+15) is to end the battle.
The second roll is only in case you don't roll high enough.
both rolls will go against an opposing roll.

Good luck.