Session Summary

AI Generated Summary

The first half-term is nearly done, but your work as D.I.A.D.E.M.s has ramped up the intensity, plunging you straight into action and uncovering deep secrets that seem to link at least one of your families directly to the heart of Hogwarts' mysteries.
Last session, you answered a call to arms, heading back to the Forbidden Forest to assist Kiko, the Goblin Engineer, at the Hogwarts Valley Mining Co's Forbidden Forest Test Pit - one of at least 7 that have sprung up in the Hogwarts Valley since the recent and unprecedented cooperation agreement signed between the Headmaster, the Ministry and the Goblin authorities. Vi, your unique, but unexplained, connection to the castle’s Ancient Magic proved instantly invaluable, as you sensed the illusory dome hiding the mine entrance, a skill Kiko told you is very rare smongst wandwielders.
Leading the charge into Test Pit 7, you successfully cleared the chamber of Giant Spiders and an even larger Acromantula, demonstrating remarkable - in some cases perhaps surprising - bravery and resourcefulness on your first true combat mission. While combing the perimeter, and having sadly failed to harvest the valuable acromantula venom, Vi did manage to skillfully gather some of unexpected and subtropical Angel's Trumpet, again hinting that something strange is happening to the forest’s magical ecosystem. You then made a strategic withdrawal, using the Messaging Scrap to communicate back to Jackdaw Finch—now desperately "smoothing things over" at the Ministry—who warned you to "Speak to no one on your way back to the castle".
Your hunger for answers led you back into Hogwarts, diligently hitting the library to hunt down leads on Eleonora Humblewood and the arcane. Cassie confirmed that the elusive Room of Requirement was last reported (as a lavatory) eighty years ago whilst Vi struggled to turn up any new information on this so-called Ancient Magic.
The biggest breakthrough, however, occurred back in the dimly-lit Cold Plant Room. You investigated the strange latrine-like chest and discovered a mysterious crystal, identical to those you saw within the mine tunnels, but somehow imbued or activated with some power.
In a moment of pure, unplanned magic, Vi touched the crystal, getting jolted backwards first into the Freezing FIeld before being electrocuted back out by a lurking conjured spider. A swift Episkey may have mended the physical damage, but Vi - like Cassie since the last visit - may remain very wary of that room and the secrets it holds.

• But in that instant, Cassie shared a profound, sudden memory—a vision of Vi as a young child being cared for by her mother, Morwenna Thorne, applying Star Grass Salve to a scraped knee. This intensely personal bond seemed interwoven by the raw magic of the crystal, urging you to ponder the true nature of this ancient power.
  Seizing the momentum, Cassie the renowned Troublemaker broke into Professor Finch's desk, as both revelations and yet more questions came tumbling out:
• You discovered a paper co-written by the missing Septimus Finch and Vi’s own mother, Morwenna Thorne, titled On The Properties of Star Grass. The threads of this mystery tightening now, and connecting to your own family
• You also secured valuable, coded papers from Septimus and from a family newsletter discovered Jackdaw Finch's true first name is Titus.
• Most ominously, you intercepted personal correspondence revealing that Alastair Thorpe-Wick, the Head of the Department of Mysteries, sternly ordered Jackdaw/Titus to "Give up on Septimus. Concentrate on your mission. The children must not fall into darkness".
• The Ministry is clearly concerned about you, your Head of House's missing brother may be somehow distantly connected to one of your home lives, and you now possess the knowledge and papers he left behind. The first half term is all but over, but the dangerous secrets of Hogwarts have only just begun to unfold, and your own influence over events yet to come does not require Cassie's divination talents to see as undeniable.
  So what will you do this half term holiday?

Session Events

Event:: Vi senses the Goblin's illusory magic hiding the entrance to the HVMC-run Forbidden Forest Test Pit

Event:: Basil speaks of an old - and by him, largely unexplored - cave beneath his home at Mallory Court. In grounds that included and abandoned well and old ice houses, beneath the East Wing there was a cave that cut through the bedrock. Comprising small branching tunnels, Basil never went further than sitting in the entrance

Event:: Kiko begins to explain the nature of magic in the Wizarding World. The power that witches and wizards draw through their wands is inherent in nture, and emanates especially strongly from certain locations. Hogwarts Valley, Diagon Alley, Godric's Hollow and the site of the Ministry of Magic are all examples of this. This magic is ancient and raw. Wandlore allows witches & wizards to control it, whilst other magic beings (Goblins, Centaurs, House Elves and the like) have to embrace it in its rawer more natural state

Event:: Kiko confirms that Vi is one of the rare wizards/witches who is able to see vestiges of this Ancient Magic

Event:: Kiko goads the party into entering the Forbidden Forest Test Pit ("test pit 7") to clear it of its spider denizens.

Event:: Cassie, Vi & Basil successfully repel the Acromantula and Giant Spiders within the HVMC controlled Forbidden Forest Test Pit. Kiko behaves protectively towards them throughout, though allows the students to lead the assault. Whilst there they briefly observe some strange crystals, the effects of which later become apparent in the Cold Plant Room

Event:: Vi fails to successfully extract acromantula venom but does successfully find Angel's trumpet, Bundle of & Death cap mushroom. The former very much out of its element as a subtropical species.

Event:: Cassie, Vi & Basil use the Messaging Scrap to contact Jackdaw Finch at the Ministry of Magic. Jackdaw explains that he is 'smoothing things over. Speak to no one on your way back to the castle'. With which, the party returns stealthily to the safety of the School grounds.

Event:: Cassie & Vi ponder Vi's ability to sense Ancient Magic, associating it with the strange windows in the Cold Plant Room. Vi questions how the ministry knew of her ability even before she did, and resolves to ask her mother about this at some stage

Event:: Vi & Cassie hit the library in the final week of the first half term. Cassie seeks information on the whereabouts of the Room of Requirement, whilst Vi researches ancient magic. Both also seek any information about Eleonora Humblewood (dec.) or The Humblewood Crypt but find nothing more.

Event:: Cassie learns that the Room of Requirement last manifest (as a lavatory) some 80 years ago and has not been seen since

Event:: Cassie, Vi & Basil return to the Cold Plant Room hoping to better understand some of its strangeness. They explore the freezer field, a Strange Latrine-like chest and the desk of Jackdaw Finch, and presumably his brother, Septimus Finch before him

Event:: Cassie, Vi & Basil find, in a weird latrine-like chest, a crystal of the same kind as they saw in the Forbidden Forest Test Pit. It is suspended on an invisible platform a few inches above an illusory chest base which sits atop a vertical drop of several hundred feet into darkness

Event:: Vi touches the mysterious crystal and is fired backwards directly into the Freezer Field, whereupon she is electrocuted back again by a solitary conjured spider that remains in the room, presumably since the last lesson. In a brief moment where they were both connected to the stone, Cassie shares a memory of Vi as a child with a grazed knee being administered Star Grass Salve by her mother, Morwenna (Moira) Thorne. Vi Episkeys herself back to health, with obvious cause to further ponder the nature of ancient magic

Event:: Opening the second Strange Latrine-like chest chest in the Cold Plant Room, Vi observes a long vertical drop. Basil fires a Periculum into the void and it recedes beyond sight. Cassie & Vi give Basil a cautious and consensual 'swirly' to see what lies down there

Event:: As Basil dangles in the vertical void beneath the Cold Plant Room he sees a blue light streaking towards him. After retreating once he remains longer on his second swirly and sees a horrifying visage of a wailing ghost, mouth agape with jaw dropped to its waist in an unnatural and silent scream

Event:: Cassie busts into the professors' desk in the Cold Plant Room and finds a paper Book - On The Properties of Star Grass, co-written by Septimus Finch and Morwenna (Moira) Thorne. She also finds a large stack of seemingly coded papers, taking a random sample of 12 for future use or investigation. Drawing this to Vi's attention, Vi gathers up 10 further papers from the collection of Septimus Finch on various herbological and alchemical subjects.

Event:: Cassie reads some personal correspondence of Jackdaw Finch. 1. A letter from Alastair Thorpe-Wick, Head of the Department of Mysteries telling Jackdaw to "Give up on Septimus. Concentrate on your mission. The children must not fall into darkness". 2. A family newsletter from a family member Olivia Finch (addressed to Titus, apparently Jackdaw's real name) and 3. an apparent Messaging Scrap bearing the remaining messages "Now" and "Where are you?". Basil's investigation of the latter revealed that it was written by Jackdaw whilst on broomback

Event:: Contemplating the fate of Eleonora Humblewood (dec.), Basil recalls seeing The Fat Friar watching her sadly during her school years. Cuthbert Binns (Ghost) would also have been post-deceased by then and has an active interest in the history of magic and Hogwarts itself.