Cool! Great writing, Goldie!

The CBers in the Amethyst Room entered to find simple four poster beds with shimmery lilac-colored satin hangings, deep purple comforters, and lilac embroidered pillows. Each bed had a dark wood table next to it with a small reading lamp and a glass of water. In the center of the room was a fuzzy shag carpet. The walls were painted berry purple. In addition, each bed had a little name card with a CBer’s name on it in neat calligraphy. Each CBer and AE found his or her bed and put their stuff down. Cass decided she wanted pie, and ran all over the room knocking on walls. After her seventh knock, a plate with a piece of pie appeared on her nightstand, with a note saying,

‘Jeez, chillax. I can only make pie so fast.’ The CBers puzzled over this strange note while Cass, oblivious, dug into her delicious apple pie.

Meanwhile, in the Tourmaline Room, the CBers found mattresses suspended by ropes from the ceiling, mint green walls with a pastel pink accent wall, and multi-colored bean bags on the ground. Each mattress had a little beaded cord hanging down to about eye level on most of the CBers. Vyolette walked over and pulled the cord with a letter ‘V’ on it, and a rope ladder descended. Everyone found his or her appropriate mattresses and climbed up. They swung easily, and some of the AEs attempted to jump from bed to bed. In doing so, they crashed to the floor below. The bean bags cushioned their fall (they seemed to have been placed there for that particular reason).

In the Tanzanite Room, there were four bunk beds, dark blue walls, and a ceramic tile floor. The CBers were skeptical at first- wouldn’t the tile be cold?- but soon found that the floors were heated. Since there were seven CBers and eight beds, Icy called a whole two bunks for herself, saying,

“I can use the bottom for my journals!” In no time, as promised, there were journals of all shapes and sizes spilling over the sides of the bed, with Icy sitting contentedly in the middle. Blaiyre and Cecily argued heatedly over who would get the top bunk, in the end deciding to play rock, paper, scissors.

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” Blaiyre threw a rock, and Cecily threw paper. As she pumped her fist in the air, Blaiyre called,

“Best out of three!” And on they played, Blaiyre growing increasingly desperate each time she lost. The others left the room to check on their CAPTCHAs around ‘best out of fifty five’.

The CBers couldn’t fit through the door of the Sapphire Room, so they contented themselves by squishing together and watching through the open door. The CAPTCHAs were playing together on a fuzzy little pink rug, and the CBers could see little beds with velvet pillows. There was a section of the room filled with bowls of candy, piñatas, and gourmet food. The CBers shook their heads in wonder. Their CAPTCHAs were even more comfortable then they were! They decided to split up. Cecily and Blaiyre (who had joined up with them outside of the Sapphire Room, Cecily claiming victory) decided to go exploring with Mysterious, and Icy, Evergreen, Shoshannah, and Winterbranch decided to find the banquet hall. The AEs set off, and the CBers turned a corner to find Goldie deep in conversation with a wood nymph. Icy recognized him as the driver from the way there. Goldie looked up, saw them, and said,

“That will be all for now, Jeremy.” The nymph vanished in a swirl of leaves. Goldie smiled.

“Hi guys! How can I help?” Shoshannah stepped forward.

“We’re looking for the banquet hall?” Goldie beamed.

“Right this way! Turn right, left, left again, go up the stairs, down the slide, and it’ll be right behind you.” She skipped off down the hall. Winterbranch was the best with directions, so she led the way. The stairs were steep, but the slide was fun. It was yellow, and twirled around in a spiral. The CBers took turns going down. It was thrilling. Evergreen was the last to go down, and she yelped as the slide creaked under her. When she finally slid to a stop, she turned around and hurried after the others into the banquet hall. It was a high-ceilinged room with an overlarge, glittering chandelier. Everyone else was there. There was a nymph flying around serving nutelly (nutella and jelly) sandwiches. AutumnArtist ran over to greet them.

“Isn’t this place fantastic?” she said. “I’ve never had a nutelly before, but it’s really good!* Try one!" The nymph floated over, carrying a plate of sandwiches. They all accepted one, with misgivings. To their surprise, it was really good. Cass wandered up to Evergreen.

“Can I borrow your polaroid camera?” she asked. “I want to get a picture of the slide.”

“Sure!” said Evergreen, taking it out. The CBers all abandoned their sandwiches at the sight of the camera and decided to take a photoshoot. After much debate, it was decided that they’d hike out to the trails mentioned in their letters and take some pictures there after Cass was done. They waited patiently (well, most of them waited patiently) while Cass snapped some pictures of the slide. Then she decided she wanted pie. The rest of the CBers groaned, but Cass was adamant. She would have her pie, or she threatened to drop the camera off the highest turret of the palace.

They let her eat the pie.

She had just shoved a huge forkful into her mouth when Evergreen shouted,

“Wait!” But it was too late; the white powder Evergreen had seen on the pie had already been eaten.

“No!” shrieked Vyolette. But Cass just chewed thoughtfully. She swallowed.

“Powdered sugar,” she said, grinning. The CBers let out a collective breath. Thank goodness. As the group dispersed, there was another creak from above them. Evergreen looked up- and began to scream as the gigantic yellow slide tumbled through the air towards her. Her screams were cut off too quickly.

The funeral for Evergreen was held at noon. Unsuspectingstrytllr comforted LilyCat as she sniffled, tears streaming down her face. Unsuspecting was crying too. Only a few CBers had dry eyes. Evergreen was buried under a willow tree on the grounds, and LilyCat chose a stone from the garden for her. They laid it on the grave. Their first casualty. Goldie apologized profusely for this awful, awful accident.

But it wasn’t. The murderer, amid the shock and tears, slipped away from the scene and ran to the banquet hall. They climbed the stairs to where the slide had been previously, and fingered the suspension cords- cut neatly all the way through. The murderer pulled out a knife and made jagged, hacking cuts. Then they pulled the end of the rope apart, fraying it. By the time the murderer was done, it looked like it had just snapped- an accident, like everyone believed. The murderer grinned, then sprinted back to the others before anyone noticed they were gone.

I'll come, but I won't bring anything...

Oh boy! You had me there for a minute! I was actually thinking, Wow. This is only the second time I've joined a Ski Lodge and Cass is the first casualty in both of them! Farewell, Evergreen! Death by giant yellow slide...how tragic!

Umm... this has already started, so spots are closed. So sorry!

Sorry for the short post, but I just wanted to let you guys know that this is not dead! My schedule will be lightening up soon, so I'll post much more often. Keep this topped!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The CBers went back to their respective rooms for the rest of that day, for it had begun to rain- a perfect reflection of the day. Unsuspecting tried to keep LilyCat distracted, playing board games with her and playing hide-and-go-seek, but LilyCat kept curling up and tucking her head under a pillow. Eventually, Unsuspecting just gave up and stroked her gently. Cass kept wailing that it was all her fault, and she wished she had never asked for the polaroid camera. The rest of the CBers were bored and upset. Just then, Icy ran into the room, out of breath.

“Everyone… meet… in… Tourmaline Room!” she wheezed. “Found… something!” Glad for a distraction, they all rushed to follow Icy to the next room. All the others were already there, waiting attentively for Icy’s return. She quickly ran to her bottom bunk and began flipping through the journal that lay open on top of the pile. She hurriedly read over her notes, then waved the book triumphantly.

“Look!” she said. “After the funeral, I found Goldie and asked her about the thickness of the rope- she said it was an inch thick. So I went up to check the rope, and it is.” The other CBers nodded along, unsure where this was going.

“So I did the math, and a rope that thick wouldn’t have snapped from that little weight. Cass, give me the camera,” she added, holding out a hand. Cass obliged, and everyone huddled around the photos that were rubber banded to it. Icy flipped through them, and stopped on one. It was of Cass posing with the slide in the background, and the CBers were confused. Then, Icy pointed to a shadowy point in the top right corner of the picture- they all gasped as they saw what was unmistakably the glint of a knife falling to the ground.

Ah Haha! There is a saboteur in our/their midst! XD

You could add more people as late arrivals.....????

Just an Idea.  

Can I join late?