Task One - Beauxbatons Champions
 

In a clearing somewhere in the midst of the Forbidden Forest, is a group of caves known as the "Fire Seed Caves." It is in these caves that the Champions' wands have been hidden. Champions must use their wits to navigate through the dark and survive unknown dangers to reclaim their wands. From the outside, there is no indication how deep or how large these caverns are, only darkness as you look into it. Each champion stands alone and will not see another person until they emerge.

One of the entrances to the cave stands before you. The Goblet chose you and so, enter you must.


ooc: Only Beauxbatons Champions should post in this thread

This was an unexpected turn in events he had not intentionally prepared for.

Walking through a dark cave was one thing, but walking through it without his wand? His very precious wand? This was a completely different situation.

Standing outside the cave entrance, he stared at the ground where the light met the darkness of the cave. Tapping the side of his legs with his fingers in the beat of the song he had played in the Ravenclaw common room on the first night he came to Hogwarts since with the absence of his wand, he didn’t know what to do with his hands, Noel took a deep breath and licked his already chapped lips as he swallowed uncertainly. His gaze followed the ground around to the sides of the entrance, his eyes tracing the nooks and cracks all around to the top before lowering his vision to look at the middle of the entrance.

He needed some form of light which could have been easily done with his wand, but to do so, he needed to go inside. He was told he could not take anything with him but his own clothes on his back, which he obviously grumbled about when hearing so. Sucking up all the courage he had, he raised his hands and shifted them through his fluffy hair. Letting out the long breath, the Beauxbatons student took his first steps, placing his right hand on the side of the rough stone entrance before walking into the darkness, his eyesight trying to adjust to being practically blinded. While outside was noisy and full of life, even if it was in the middle of the Forest, inside the cave, it was deafeningly quiet with just a few steps inside. He could hear nothing but his calm heavy breathes, despite the fact that his heart was beating like a hummingbird’s, and his footsteps sweeping the hard cave floor as he searched for any light. Any at all.

Being an outdoor’s kind of guy, he knew he had the strength to do this task, though what he needed was his eyesight to do so! For now, all he had to rely on was his instincts, and his sense of smell and hearing. With his hand still lightly touching the side of the cave wall, staying as focused and vigilant as possible, Noel continued to slide his feet forwards, making sure he was not to step on anything sharp, and would be able to know if there was a fall in front of him, all the while keeping his senses open to any movement or possible things that would help him.

He definitely didn’t need to fall to his death in the first task.

Jermaine was prepared to conquer anything that was thrown his way in this tournament... that was right up until his wand had been taken. Now here he was, alone and unarmed about to go into an unknown cave.

Stopping right outside the entrance to the cave he looked around and carefully listened for any odd noises that may alert him of danger ahead. Even though it was light outside he could tell by looking in the cave that it was nothing but total darkness inside. Yep, his wand sure would come in handy now. Instead of his wand though he would have to rely on his keen sense of hearing, touch, and smell to guide him through the cave and ultimatly to his wand. Of course that would only be half of the task. He would still have to make it back out of the cave. But at least on the way out he wouldn't be unarmed.

Taking a deep breath he instinctively reached for his wand only to find an empty holster. Right, that was the whole reason for him going into the cave... to retrieve his wand. Before entering the cave he told himself he could do this. The Goblet had chosen him which meant he was a champion, he was capable of handling anything that interfered with him getting to the end of the last task and ultimately becoming the winner.

Stepping carefully into the cave he put one hand on the wall and held the other out in front of him to help guide him along. He then proceeded to take very slow cautious steps making sure not to trip over anything or fall in any holes all the while listening carefully for any clues of things around him.

He could and he would do this.

He was not about to let a little darkness deter him from getting his beloved wand back.

As you enter the cave, the last bit of light from the outside is extinguished as the entry squeezes closed behind you. Without your wand, you're pitched into darkness and no matter how you try to adjust your eyes, it is without use. There are no shapes, no shadows, nothing.

That is, until you notice a faint glow around what seems to be a twist in the cave. As you draw nearer, it illuminates the area around it, but if you look further past, it is again black. Light, and heat, radiate from the now visible bush, indeed, radiate from each seed.

A fireseed bush.

To say that Brielle had been pretty annoyed when she woke up to find her wand missing, was an understatement. Her first thought was that it had been that Nik Strang boy. However as she discovered it was in fact the first task, the girl turned her annoyance into steely determination.

The trek from the school into the depths of the Dark Forrest, was the perfect chance for Brielle to calm her nerves and come to turns with what was about to happen. It wasn’t really until this moment that she had fully come to understand, she was a Triwizard Champion. At first the idea had been something abstract. Now it was really.

Brielle had a small smile on her face as she approached the cave, this was her first chance to prove she was not just a pretty girl with a stick, but in fact, a powerful and determined witch……without a wand, at present.

It was truly a pit of black. A hole of gapping darkness, like an ink blotch on a previously perfect page.

Starring into the cave, Brielle momentarily lost her nerve, her hands began to shake, and her knees to give out. “contrôle-toi” she muttered, little slapping her own cheek, her words echoing away into the depths of the cave.

Breathing in deep, the girl began to walk into the cave, her steps light and cautious, all it took was a small mis-step and you had a broken ankle.
“Ouch!” she cries as a she steps on a rather sharp stone, causing her to become the slightest bit unbalanced. However the girl was a dancer - The best Ballerina in Beauxbatons, and with the use of her core strength, she regained her composer and continued on.

Dark. Silence. Her heartbeat. It’s all she can hear.

As you enter the cave, the last bit of light from the outside is extinguished as the entry squeezes closed behind you. Without your wand, you're pitched into darkness and no matter how you try to adjust your eyes, it is without use. There are no shapes, no shadows, nothing.

That is, until you notice a faint glow around what seems to be a twist in the cave. As you draw nearer, it illuminates the area around it, but if you look further past, it is again black. Light, and heat, radiate from the now visible bush, indeed, radiate from each seed.

A fireseed bush.

The sound of crushing rocks, made Brielle's hair's stand on end.

Whipping her head around, causing her ponytail to crack like a whip, Brielle was horrified to see the entrance of the cave disappear.

There was no way back, only forward.

Thinking of a trick she had learnt from an adventure book, the girl sat and starred as a spot in-front of her for what left like 10 minutes. In the book, she had read that by allowing one's eyes adjust to the darkness, the smallest available light would allow the eyes to 'see'.
However, she sat and she sat, and nothing changed, in fact, she thought the darkness only grew darker.

Returning to her feet, she carried on, one hand dragging along the wall, the other waving blinding out in front of her, protecting her from walking into any pillars or walls.
On and on, the French girl, went, distance meaning nothing when in the dark, she could have been walking on the spot for all she knew. The only indication of movement was the changing of walls under her hand, that was until.....


A flash of light illuminated a twist up ahead, "Non?" the girl whispered, afraid she could wake something in the dark. "It cannot be!" Brielle dismissed the light as her imagination playing tricks on her. She wanted light so bad, that she was imagining it! Or was she?
The light flickered, it was not so much a light, rather a glow. Only small enough to cast it's light on small patch of darkness. A solo beacon in a-forever dark cave.

Moving closer to the plant, she saw that it was a bush, a glowing bush. Then it dawned on her, it was not just a bush, it was a Fireseed Bush!

"Professor Dodzon I love you!" she cried, as she stumbled the last few steps. It seemed luck, or destiny was on her side. In the throws of her school girl crush, Brielle had checked out all the books she could on plants, all in an attempt to woo her Plant Man, and of all the countless shrubs, flowers and vines she had read about, one of the ones she had found most interesting was now lighting up her life.

Dropping to her knees, the girls, snapped off some of the small branches. Next she untied the ribbon that held together her ponytail, and using the ribbon she tied the branches into a bouquet of lights.

With a huge smile on her face, Brielle set out once more, however now the scariness of the dark, had been replaced by a greater nemises, the cave.

The girl's profession of love for the Herbology professor echoed down the tunnel as she pulled off the branches. They were HOT and singed the ribbon she used to tie them. It would be miraculous if her hand went remained unscathed.

Like most hot things the first few seconds of contact with the girl's skin, had been nothing to comment on. But as she went to take a step, the reason for fire in the name Fire Seeds, made it's presences felt.

"Ahh!" Brielle hissed, as the collection of branches, singed through the ribbon and scalded her exposed palm. "You little -" she spat as she kicked at the branches on the cave floor.

Now her hair was out, her ribbon was destroyed and her palm was stinging; "Génial!" she called into the darkness.

The burning plant was a rather large spanner in the works. She needed light and the seeds provided it.....That was it! It was the seeds she need not the branches holding the seeds. But what to carry them in?
There was nothing of the floor the cave to carry them in, they were far to hot to hold at present.

But the floor gave her an idea nonetheless.

Remembering the plant book she had read, Brielle recalled the need of an icing charm on the seeds to cool them down. But she didn't have her wand obviously, but she did have the cave.
Brielle was rather a practical thinker, even though most people just assumed she wasn't. The cave was underground, cold and slightly damp, and the floor was even cooler.

Dropping to her knees once again, Brielle began to dig, not caring in the slightest about the dirty that was compacting under her nails. Once she had a nice hole, about twenty centimetres deep, the girl returned to the Fire Seed Bush.
"Ohh! Aww! Ouch!" she called as he plucked seed after seed and threw them into the hole. When the seeds amounted to about two hand fills, Brielle pushed the loose soil over the seeds.

Voilà! Brielle had created her own working refrigerator!

Sitting in the dark, dank cave, Brielle was rather proud of herself.

Welts and burns on the hands would be most unpleasant, though likely, the heat from the seeds being what it was. Though, in the girl's dirt refrigerator, they began to cool. As they cooled, they did begin to fade, though with enough, light would still be possible.

Digging them up before they went out completely, however, would be the trick.

Continuing on the path in the cave and trying to see anything and everything, Noel frowned deeply when he realized that it was in fact, getting darker. How was that possible? It was dark enough as it was!

Hearing a scrape and small rumble from behind him though, the wizard’s head whipped around as both hands grasped the side of the wall, looking for the source of sound. The entrance! It was closing shut! The last remaining light in the cave was dwindling as well as his nearest exit, however, he did not move towards the entrance to try and stop it. He did not want to walk the steps he already took in this extreme darkness that would very soon overtake the cave and himself. Once the last bit of light from the entrance was gone, a shaky breath escaped him as he looked the other way; or at least tried too. Time to move on.

Letting his left hand fall to his side, he kept his right fingers gliding across the rough cave wall as he willed his feet to move forward. Usually he didn’t have a problem with darkness, though sooner or later, he knew he was going to grow tired and agitated if he did not get his sight back. Not to mention walking through it without a wand. This dark was swallowing him whole, and he needed to keep his head. Wait…Up ahead…

Squinting his eyes to see if that would help his vision, and to make sure what he was seeing was not the darkness tricking his eyes, it finally register in his mind that there was indeed something glowing up ahead. The thought of any light up ahead had him moving quicker down the cave’s path, his feet scraping against the ground to push any potential sharp rocks or objects out of the way of his path. As he moved closer, he could see the light of the glow play across the near walls and ground around it, showing that there was a turn in the cave though the darkness once more consumed the glow up ahead. Looking down to the source of light, he was aware that it was a plant and not just any plant; a fireseed bush.

If he remembered correctly, then these seeds on the bush were much too hot to handle. Waving his hand over the weak glow, a faint smile played across his lips as the heat bounced off his hand. Hastily taking off his jacket, he laid it on the ground, making a small nest with it as he fell to his knees. His hands searched for a rock blindly as his eyes were glued to the glowing seeds on the bush, making sure this all just wasn’t a trick. He didn’t need the fireseed bush to disappear when his back was turned. As his hand clutched around a good enough size rock, he held it up near the glow examine it before looking for the nearest seed on the bush. There. Hitting the stem where it connected to the branch hard enough for the seed to fall to the ground, resulting in a soft tap noise echoing down the path, Noel scooted it close to his jacket, using the rock to push it before going after another, and another. Soon he had a small pile near his blue jacket, and he waited for a minute or so before using that rock to push them into the little nest he made. If they burned his jacket, fine, but he knew they should be cooling off now anyways. He didn’t have time to waste for them to completely cool. He needed to move forward.

No use in worrying about burned clothes when he could be finding his wand. They could be fixed later.

Resting her stinging hands in the soil, allowing them to cool just as the seeds were, Brielle counted. "Fini" she muttered to herself, then began scrapping the loose soil off the collection of seeds.

Her hands were slightly shaking, whether from the burn, or anticipation she could not be sure. Uncovering her clutch of seeds, the girl's heart fluttered as she saw the light appear from under the soil, they had dimmed, but they were still the brightest things inside the cave.

Reaching out a cautious hand, Brielle tested the seeds, they were cool, and a welcome relief to her palms. Scooping them up, she had two glowing hands, both full of seeds, and she saw for the first time how long the cave tunnels were. Their darkness carried on, way beyond the throws of the Fire Seed Light, they seemed to be endless.


Breathing in deeply, she started moving once again. One hand was held aloft, so too light her passage, and the other lower, so too shine light onto the floor. With her vision sharpening with every moment with the Fire Seeds, Brielle glowed, not due to the plants, but the burning confidence in side her.

As the fire seeds dropped to the ground, soft thud-type noises echoed off the tunnel walls. As a result of the minute-long wait between the fire seeds dropping to the ground and being pushed into the little nest, the temperature of the seeds dropped considerably. Their light, however, remains just as strong.

So you have a little nest of fire seeds now--how many are in that nest?

The way before you is lit at least a bit by your fire seeds, and as you walk, you'll see a fork in the cave. To the right, a cacophony of sound echoes off the walls, its source yet unseen. The dischord crescendos and speeds before disappearing from notice. It then begins again. To the left, a partial cave-in and silence. If you linger too near the left, however, a foul smell reaches your nostrils. It is pungent: the kind of smell that sticks in your head.

Choose your way carefully. There is no telling whether you can retrace your steps.

The way before you is lit at least a bit by your fire seeds (how many do you have?), and as you walk, you'll see a fork in the cave. To the right, a cacophony of sound echoes off the walls, its source yet unseen. The dischord crescendos and speeds before disappearing from notice. It then begins again. To the left, a partial cave-in and silence. If you linger too near the left, however, a foul smell reaches your nostrils. It is pungent: the kind of smell that sticks in your head.

Choose your way carefully. There is no telling whether you can retrace your steps.

Monique continued blindly down the cave. Then she saw a faint glow. She hurried toward the source. After turning a corner she it - a fireseed bush! She walked around the bush examining it. What would be her best course of action? She knew that the bush was too hot to touch, but she also knew she had to act quickly or the seeds would disappear.

She spotted a lower branch protruding from the rest of the bush to the ground. Perfect. Now all she had to do was break off the branch. She looked around for something that could be of use, but the area was empty.

*le sigh*

She knew what she had to do. She just wished there was some other way.

She took off her precious shoe and with it began beating at the branch until it broke loose. It plopped to the floor of the cave. Luckily some seeds were still attached to the branch. That would make things easier on her.

Using the heel of her shoe she drug the branch toward her and away from the rest of the bush. Taking off her jacket she waved it over the branch. She was glad she gave in to wearing a jacket this morning - she almost hadn't.

After a little bit she decided to check on the cooling progress. She hesitantly reached toward a lone seed that must have dropped when she hit the bush to break of a branch. She didn't feel any heat radiating from it. She then touched the seed. It was, to her relief, cool. She gathered a handful of the loose seeds and stuffed them in her jacket pocket. She had no idea if she would need them later or not. They were used in potions. Maybe she had to brew a potion later...

She then put on her jacket, grabbed her fireseed stick, and slowly continued on her way.

In an odd way, the clutch of Fire Seeds, eight in each palm, have a cooling affect on the girls singed palms.

"Idiot!" Brielle mutters, berating herself for her stupidity in grabbing the hot branches. However she decides to move on from it, she forcibly forgets her mistake, she needs to concentrate.
Walking down the stone tunnel, all concept of time is lost, the French Girl is unsure how long she has been in the cave for. It could have been two hours, it could have been twenty minutes. All she can do is carrying on.

The ground is lumpy underfoot, the light of the fire seeds, show her the rough terrain she is traversing. However it is not the floor beneath her that concerns her, but rather the fork up ahead.

Coming to a stop, Brielle looks into the two tunnel openings. The one on the left is partially caved-in, a sign the girl does not like. Looking at the ceiling of the cave, she tries to see whether or not it looks stable, a further cave-in would do more than just make her lose the tournament, it could kill her.

Studying the interior, Brielle sniffs the air, follow your nose the adventure book had said, but instantly Brielle wishes she had not breathed in at all.

"Mon Dieu!" She cries, putting her face into her jacket sleeve. A foul stench wafts on the air, with the smallest breath has trapped the hideous odour in her lungs. She retches trying to expel the smell, but it is no use.

The cave's have decided for her; Right it is.

Until...

As she turned her body to enter, Brielle was knocked back by the an earth-shattering sound, the noises echo in the darkness, rattling her brain. Unable to use her hands, due to them holding the seeds, Brielle is unable to cover her ears. All she can do is stand there and listen.

Silence. As quick as the sound had come, it was gone.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she goes to move on again, however the sound erupts once more, "Non!" she cries. She has to choice a way, and fast. She is between a rock, a hard place and one that smells like death. She goes with her gut, not her head, with a battle cry, Brielle takes off running into the echoing chamber.

There was no way in heaven she going to take that smell over a bit of a headache.

Jermaine made his way further into the cave keeping one hand on the wall and the other in front of him. Sensing something strange behind him he turned just in time to see the opening to the cave close. Oh this was not good, not good at all. Now not only was he unarmed in a cave that houses Merlin knows what surrounded by total darkness, there was also no turning back. Of course knowing his wand was somewhere in that cave there was no way he was turning back. He was determined to get his wand back.

Standing there in the pitch black he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. Listening for anything that may help him all he hears is the pounding of his heart. Knowing he will never find his wand if he just stands there he continues further into the blackness.

Searching for things in his mind to give him hope and inspiration to get through this task he suddenly remembers his dear Aunt Genevieve who has been blind since she was a child yet gets through every day of her life not seeing a thing. Stopping in his tracks he closes his eyes and mentally imagines himself being blind and walking in darkness every day. 'Zis is for you Tante Genevieve.' he thinks as he opens his eyes and proceeds forward with thoughts of his aunt helping him 'see' the way.

After what seemed like hours (but was in reality only a couple of minutes) of feeling his way along the cold, damp cave his heart started to race again when he noticed a glow in the not so far off distance.

Could it be the glow radiating off his beautifully polished wand?

Rushing towards the light he is slightly disappointed to see that it is not his wand. Right, he should have known that it would not be that easy to get to his wand. However he is delighted to see that it is a fireseed bush. A bush that has light... and lots of heat.

Looking around the area he tries to find something that can help him utelize the light from the bush since it is total darkness again not far past the bush. There has to be a way for him to get the light from the bush so he can take it with him as he ventures deeper into the cave. Spotting what appears to be a stick on the ground (maybe a broken branch off the bush) he gives it a little nudge with his foot before picking it up... just in case it isn't a stick but maybe a snake instead. Relieved that it is indeed just a stick he picks it up. Now what to do with it? The only logical thing he can do...

Beat the bush with it.

Whack... Whack... Whack...

Hot seeds start to fall from the bush as he hits it with the stick. Seeds that are glowing, seeds that he will be able to take with him... once they are cool enough to touch that is. Once he feels he has beat the bush enough plenty of seeds he starts to gather them together in one area. Using the stick he eventually gets them all together.

Now to wait for them to cool.

Starting to get a little impatient with the waiting he puts his hand just above the seeds to see if he can still feel heat coming from them. Yep, still some heat there. Probably not enough to burn his hands but enough that it would be uncomfortable to carry them. If only he had something he could put them in.

Tugging on the scarf he has around his neck he gets an idea. He wraps the scarf around his hand and scoops up the seeds. Feeling the slight warmth through the scarf he holds his hand out in front of him. The light may not be the brightest but it is enough to help him see where he is going. Praying the glow of the seeds doesn't go out too quickly he moves on deeper into the cave and hopefully closer to his wand.

He would have to remember to thank Rhea later for the scarf that was now helping him complete this task.

Picking up his jacket carefully, he held the little nest of fireseeds in his arms, making sure there was no hole or opening at the bottom of the light blue jacket for the seeds to fall out of. It seemed fine for now and with the little nest of glowing seeds cradled in his arms, Noel let out a slow confident breath and continued down the path, thankful that the jacket seemed to be unharmed. Then again, there wasn’t all that much light in the cave and he could be wrong. It could be burning to pieces, but no smell alerted him to such a thing.

Making the slight twist in the cave before setting off further, once again, he could only hear his breathing and sliding footsteps on the ground. However, he was beginning to become more aware of how loud he was being. His confidence had grown after getting the fireseeds which caused his breathing to become a bit quieter, though the sliding of his careful footsteps, the rustling of his clothes and his own loud drumming of his heartbeat was beginning to worry him. He didn’t know what could be lurking in these caves. Creatures that live in the dark, magic that was left from years past, cliffs and edges…

He could not hold the fireseeds out further in front of himself for fear of having them fall, nevertheless, the little light that he was being given was a great comfort. He could see at least where his feet were going and anything that was coming up a few feet in front of him. Even if it wasn’t enough, it was good enough for now. Perhaps he should have taken more seeds. There couldn’t be more then eleven or twelve in the small nest. Should he go back? Get more?

Slowing down his turtle pace to a stop, his shining blue eyes looked downward to the glowing seeds before casting a glance to the way he came just came. There was still the faintest glow from the seeds he had left behind. Frowning and creasing his forehead in thought, his gaze turned back to the seeds before looking towards the path he was going. No, he wasn’t going back. He was wasting time as it was thinking this over and he needed to keep moving forward. Making up his mind, Noel set off for the way he was going, cradling the seeds even more to not only to keep the light close, but to keep his arms warm as well. Stiff, cold arms would do him no help if he had to defend himself in the cave. It did not take much longer for his ears to pick up a new noise. One that he was sure wasn’t being created by him. It was loud, holding no particular rhythm to it, and seems as though is was matching his own thoughts; confused, not knowing what to do.

Moments later, the glow of the seeds picked up to large shadows in his path, a fork in the cave; but nothing held his attention more then the loud ruckus going on to the side. The noise was harsh almost, growing louder then softer, quicker then slower, before stopping completely. Peering to the way of the right, where the noise was coming from, he stretched his head forward and squinted again as if that would show him what was making the noise. Unsure of the right path, he hesitantly took the steps towards the left, hearing no noises coming from here. Was it safe? No. It wasn’t. Just as he took a few more steps towards the left fork, a foul stench filled his nose, causing him to scrunch up his nose and take a step back, trying to get it away from him. But it seemed as if just stepping up to the smell, it stuck to his clothes. "C'est horrible." He muttered, coughing as his lungs seemed to close from the foul smell. The wizard moved further away from the left side and towards the right, resisting the urge to hold his arms up to cover his mouth as he coughed, only to be startled and jump in surprise when the loud noises started up again. He would not be able to cover his nose and hold the fireseeds at the same time without difficulty. There was only one way he had to go.

Heaving a sigh as some slightly fresh air filled his lungs, Noel turned around and went down the right side. He would rather face whatever the noise was then to risk losing his light source.

Hopefully your shoe and jacket were not prized possessions. If your shoe was made of something that could melt, you'll likely have a hard time putting it back on, as the heat will have distorted it after the amount of time it was used to beat the bush. But it shouldn't be too terrible to continue sans one shoe. As for your jacket... small singes and tiny holes have formed from its proximity to the bush.

But you have your seeds. The way before you lit at least a bit by your fireseeds, you see a fork in the cave. To the right, a cacophony of sound echoes off the walls, its source yet unseen. The dischord crescendos and speeds before disappearing from notice. It then begins again. To the left, a partial cave-in and silence. If you linger too near the left, however, a foul smell reaches your nostrils. It is pungent: the kind of smell that sticks in your head.

Choose your way carefully. There is no telling whether you can retrace your steps.

As you walk, the source of the sound eventually makes itself apparent. Honking daffodils. Noisy, to be sure, but harmless. Unless, of course, you value your eardrums.

As you proceed further through the tunnel, you come across an area that is, for the most part, quite sparse. There are a few patches of grass scattered here and there, but nothing is thickly, grown, or settled. Then suddenly, the surroundings change, and although the area is very dark and it’s difficult to see, a few creepers and tendrils can clearly be seen. As you walk a little closer, you can see that there aren’t just a few creepers and tendrils, but there are many, and all are blocking every single way around the plant that lies before you. There’s no other way out than to figure out what you’ve come across and to find the solution to getting past it.

Hopefully, the stick wasn't covered with some of that muggle poison ivy. If it was, the heat will certainly cause a rash almost immediately. The scarf smokes a bit from the heat of the seeds.

The way before you lit at least a bit by your fireseeds, you see a fork in the cave. To the right, a cacophony of sound echoes off the walls, its source yet unseen. The dischord crescendos and speeds before disappearing from notice. It then begins again. To the left, a partial cave-in and silence. If you linger too near the left, however, a foul smell reaches your nostrils. It is pungent: the kind of smell that sticks in your head.

Choose your way carefully. There is no telling whether you can retrace your steps.

The source of the sound eventually makes itself apparent. Honking daffodils. Noisy, to be sure, but harmless. Unless, of course, you value your eardrums.

As you proceed further through the tunnel, you come across an area that is thick with massive plants in the shape of an umbrella. Plants with long, swaying tentacles are growing in large quantities on the walls of the tunnel. The plants closely resemble Devil’s Snare, but as you get a little closer, you can clearly see that those tentacles don’t belong to a Devil’s Snare but to something that looks almost just like it. You can see fairly well, but as soon as you take a few steps forward, the pathway begins to drop sharply into the dark, and you can no longer see the bottom of the cave floor. To proceed forward, you must go down---but how? Just jumping will result in broken bones.

As the noise grew a bit louder as he followed the path, he couldn’t help but wince every time the noise was exceptionally deafening. Finally though, he saw a little movement up the ways, causing him to pause and try to see what it was before going any further. It wasn’t dangerous apparently since he wasn’t being tackled to the ground or fighting for his life, it was just…very loud.

Moving closer, the glow of the seeds shined onto yellow flowers. These were making the noise?! Nonetheless, he couldn’t just stand and examine the flowers since they seemed harmless enough. Since he wasn’t being attacked and he found no use for a honking yellow flower, he needed to keep going forward. Scowling, Noel scoffed and muttered a few choice words of French under his breath before kicking one of the flowers, hoping that it would quiet the thing. Despite the fact that it was only one of the flowers, it was part of the collection that had made him jumpy. Shaking his head and chuckling more out of embarrassment then amusement, the Beauxbatons wizard continued on his way, already receiving a headache from the loud little monsters.

HA! Scared of flowers? No way…

He was however, scared of the drop in front of him that seemed as if it came out of nowhere. "Non!" he yelled, taking several steps back away from the fall, his breathing turning into hurried small breaths, matching his heart race. Perhaps, he should be paying more attention than laughing at some silly flowers. Staring at the dark hole, and as if to counter his thoughts, he had not noticed the things around him until he happened to wipe his somewhat sweating forehead onto the sleeve of his shirt. How did he miss all these plants in the first place?! The enormous umbrella shaped plants were the first to catch his eyes before his gaze trailed along what looked to be the walls of the cave. Though, were the walls moving? With his heart still pounding, he moved nearer to the walls before having to stumble back in shock once more. Devil’s snare! He needed his wand! But of course, he HAD NO wand!

A few moments of standing completely still passed before he realized, nothing was attack him once again. Not that he wasn’t thankful that he wasn’t being attacked, all this caution and barely any LIGHT was getting to him a bit. Glowering, he lowered his jacket with the seeds down to the ground before hesitantly taking one step after the other towards what he thought was the devil’s snare. Nothing was grabbing him though, which rose suspicions. Raising his hand, he slapped one of the vines before taking a leaping jump backwards just in case it caused some kind of reaction.

….Flitterbloom plants. Rubbing his face in frustration, more from himself and his actions than anything, he kept his hands over his mouth as he glanced around for an exit. Though, there was none. There was the way back from where he came and…down deeper into the cave from the drop there. It had crossed his mind that maybe he should have gone left instead, but he shook his head at the thought. He didn’t want to be breathing in whatever foul stench. Grasping his hair, causing it to mess up slightly, Noel cautiously moved closer to the drop in the cave, trying to see how far down it was. He had no way of telling! Or, perhaps he did? He didn’t want to waste any of the glowing seeds though. "Zis iz ridiculous." he quietly chuckled, taking a deep breath and looking around once more at the plants. Well, he supposed he could use the flitterblooms as rope to get down. Were they strong enough though? How far down was the drop? What if…HE dropped!? And how was he going to get these fireseeds down with him? He believed he could stuff most them in his pockets or something, but that would mean leaving some behind.

And the umbrella like plants, well he could use those as some sort of armor like thing for himself should he fall. Were they stuck to the ground though? Letting his arms drop to his sides, the champion went over to one of the plants and started to at least try to tug it away from the ground, using all of his muscles.

As she continued through the cave, Brielle tried her best to drown out the noise, but there was no way she could.

She pushed on, her head pounding as the sound reached its crescendo, over and over and over again. It may have just been inside her head, but the Beauxbaton was sure that the sounds was growing, getting louder with every step. Her heart began to race, nervous at what she may find as the origin of the sound.

Rounding a corner, Brielle’s Fire Seed Light, fell on what seemed to be a simple Daffodil, expect for one crucial fact; it was Honking. So she had found the source of the horrific sound, and she couldn’t help but wonder whether it was her Plant Man that was the creator of this task, so far it had been plants galore!

The closer she got, the louder and more incessant the noise became. “Soyez tranquille!” she called at the plant, hoping it had ears aswell as a honking mouth, however it didn’t seem like it had worked. Giving the flower a wide berth, just in case it should decide to attack her, Brielle scooted past and tried to put as much distance between her and her head ache.

“Finally!” Brielle muttered, as the she stopped and realised she could no longer hear the Daffodils. Taking stock of her surroundings, Brielle was surprised to see the cave section was rather bare, hardly any stalactites, or mites, just a few tuffs of some sort of cave grass.

Moving off again, this bareness quickly changed.

The light of her seeds cast shadows over what Brielle thought to be slumbering snakes, “Aww!” she muttered, she hand no wand, and she would not be able to defend herself and hold the seeds at the same time. Raising her hands, Brielle held the seed-lanterns aloft over the ‘snakes’, snaked that turned out not to be snakes, but rather a creeping vine that had blanketed the floor, and walls.

It was a dead end.

The vines were so mattered, that all she could see were walls of green vines, perhaps she should have chosen the smell over the sound back at the fork. However, in a divine reply, a small gust of air ruffled the girl’s hair, and alerted her to the fact, that the vines were blocking the entrance to another cave system.

But how to get past them?

Staring at the green sinuous tendrils, Brielle’s stomach dropped; her best guess was Devil’s Snare. She couldn’t help but break out in a wave of shivers, of all the plants in the world, the one she had to face was the one that would kill you, or kill you faster. However there was one way past, Fire, and Brielle had fire seeds, but it would mean sacrificing some of her collections. It was going to be hard but it had to be done.

Hoping they were still hot enough, Brielle calmed herself down, and then dropped one seed into the heart of the vine nest, all she could do was hope.

A few tugs was all it took to uproot the umbrella flower. Despite the uprooting, the umbrella shape held firm. The stalk was stiff, the petals resisting against the air.

The one you're holding is a lovely purple. If it were a sunny sort of place, the umbrella flower would provide tremendous shade.

The vines parted as the seed fell toward it, leaving room for it to fall through, but then closing back up again when the seed had passed.

Wherever it had gone, it certainly was not visible. Perhaps the vines had domed over the seed, hovering far enough away. Perhaps the seed had fallen through to elsewhere. In either event, it could not be seen and on the surface, little looked different.

He was surprised, that it only took a few tugs to pull the, purple by the looks of it, flower from the ground. Taking a step back, he shook it slightly to get any dirt or rocks off of the bottom. He would like to stay somewhat clean and unharmed when he got out of this cave. If he ever got out that is. It didn't seem likely that he was going to stay clean either and he had no knowledge if he was going to get out completely unharmed. He got himself this far, so it only encouraged him some that he would make it through the rest.

Raising the umbrella flower like thing, the stalk of the plant surprised him. It felt almost as durable as wood, yet soft as any stem of a plant would be. Noel’s eyebrows knitted together with the frown on his face as he turned and twisted the plant around to get a better look at the stem and roots. Well, it wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, regardless of it's nice color, but it would definitely do with protecting himself. Or used as a weapon. Smirking at the thought of finding something that he could use to defend himself, the wizard lowered the plant to have a look at the top only to realize, that it gave resistance as the wind hit below it.

Resistance? This, could perhaps help him in any case if he were to fall down the drop in the cave; if only enough where he wouldn't break all his bones. If he had a bunch of them tied to him though? Looking around at all the umbrella flowers in the area he somehow gotten himself into, the wheels turned in his mind as his eyes finally laid upon the flitterbloom vines swaying against the wall. He seriously hoped that he was able to use those and not have to rely on these flower things to get down to the bottom of the hole in the ground.

Setting the umbrella flower down on the ground near the fireseeds, giving no look to see how those glowing miracles were at the moment were doing, his eyes were fixed onto the vines as he drew nearer, looking for one that he could use.

He could use all of them really, but he didn’t want a weakened vine. Falling to his death was not on his list of plans to do in life as of yet.

Picking a vine, he took several steps back before giving a might tug to the thing.

The vine was soft and squishy in the champion's hands. It seemed to hold against the wall, but after only one tug, who could tell if it would continue to?

The tunnel was full of these vines, piled along the sides, creeping up the walls, jammed between the colorful umbrella flowers.

Monique proceeded down the cave when she came to a fork. She took a few steps toward the right when all of a sudden a loud sound met her ears. No way, she did not want a headache.

She then took a few steps to the left. This wasn't so bad. And then it hit her. A horrible smell filled her. They really were going to make this hard, weren't they?

She took a few steps back to the center of the fork. Which way to go? The left path had a bad smell and the right path had loud noises.

Looking from left to right she chose to head left toward the smell. Using her free hand she held it up to her nose in an attempt to block some of the smell and started down the path.