Wizolympics 2020: Expedition Wandless Day 3
This is Hypatia Shilling-Shaw with your Day 3 update for that challenging Wizoylmpics event, Expedition Wandless.
Last time we checked in with our teams, all but the Germans had boarded boats from Okinawa bound for the mainland. They had better luck catching a ferry on Day 2, though their luck didn’t last when they touched down on Shikoku today to begin the pilgrimage route and almost immediately ran afoul of a kappa’s pond. Franz Schmidt tried to use his Tamagotchi to bait the kappa into bowing and draining the water from its head but ended up dropping the device into the pond. Helga von Trapp suddenly remembered that she left her Tamagotchi on the ferry. (Keeping one alive is a mandatory task, so they better take care of the lone survivor!) Kornelius Klause had packed cucumbers among the food supply and recalled that offering a cucumber with a name carved into it to a kappa will persuade the water demon not to harm that person. He pulled out the knife he had brought, carved all three team members’ names into it, and tossed it to the kappa, who allowed them to pass. The judges were impressed by his ability to confront a magical challenge without the use of magic and awarded bonus points.
Team Philippines, having opted for the ferry directly to Tokyo, is making quick work of its tasks. Roderick Goson used a Japanese toilet on board, earning bonus points for his impressive balance and aim while squatting on a moving boat. The team took advantage of the long journey to learn origami and earned further bonus points for a variety of complex designs. Rose Dimanno made an entire bouquet of various flowers and presented it to Judge Baxbe, who blushed as pink as the paper Dimanno used. Goson created a hippogriff with wings that flapped when the tail was pulled. Simone Santiago folded an aerodynamically excellent broomstick, which sailed so smoothly to the judges when thrown that they searched her for a hidden wand, thinking she must have enchanted it.
Upon disembarking in Tokyo, the Filipino team quickly located a vending machine in the city and managed to obtain a chocolate bar, which the Filipinos claimed tasted nice but was a bit boring for its lack of animal shape or movement. They took their time to ensure they performed the traditional Japanese tea ceremony correctly and then set off in the direction of Kahaku Dome using their Muggle mapping device.
Team India, meanwhile, discovered fishing gear on its rented motorboat and successfully learned how to use the complex mechanism consisting of a wire and hook with a worm on the end to lure fish. The first creature the team reeled in was a jellyfish, which stung Rahul Nagra and lost the team 3 points. He dropped his Tamagotchi in the water while instinctively searching his pockets for his wand to heal himself, only to remember that he didn’t have it, and instead tried to soothe the pain by dipping his hand in the water, forgetting that it was saltwater. While he uttered a string of swears that cannot be printed here, his teammates, Divya Ravi and Aamir Gupta, managed to reel in a huge mahi-mahi together, for which they were awarded an additional 15 points.
Considering its own cultural proclivities, it is perhaps unsurprising that the British team immediately set off for a teahouse upon reaching the mainland and completed the tea ceremony smoothly. Not to be a Rita Skeeter, but I couldn’t help but notice that Carnation Willoughby-Myers and Femi Emezi often seemed to be whispering together when we checked in during their voyage and appeared to exchange more than a few grins and glances during the tea ceremony, even while Emezi was being served tea by their other teammate, Dwight Reginald. Perhaps there’s some chemistry brewing. Could we be in for an intra-team romance between the lovely Willoughby-Myers and the dashing Emezi? Hopefully Reginald doesn’t feel too left out.
But that’s enough speculation for today! Check back in with us in two days to see what else our teams have gotten up to.
