ooooO yay i joined this ski lodge!!!! I just read through the whole thing and I love it!!!

(By the way, i forgot the exact page, but I made a post and everyone thought it was an impersonator. Guys, that was me! Thanks for the concern though!)

I feel like I'm the murderer. I don't know why, I just think I am? 

*sees # of comments*

198? 199?

...Do I hear 200? 200, anybody? 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SKI LODGE!! And a big top to you :)

TOP!

Day four part four

Nihil sat placidly on the hardwood, watching as Mor, Artimerrx, Gracia, and Wren played Sorry! and Wendy read a book of allegorical poems in the corner. They feigned competitiveness for the fun of it, making attempts to lighten the mood of what was obviously a very somber vacation. Nihil felt stabs for the losses of her companions as well, but it didn’t take her long to begin thinking morbid thoughts on the whole matter- before remembering those who had indeed been killed, and she started feeling bad all over again. 

“Soooor-ryyyyy!” Artimerrx singsonged to Gracia as he sent her pawn back.

“Hey!...” Gracia whined briefly before accepting defeat.

Wendy shut her book placidly and stared at everybody in a rather uncomfortable kind of way. Gracia and Artimerrx didn’t immediately notice this, though. That stare did stress out Wren, though, and it made Mor giggle a little bit. Nihil took it as a challenge and stared right back.

After a few moments of this, Wendy made a noise of interest and looked away dreamily, which confused Nihil, but she took this as a triumph all the same.

And then, suddenly, all of the light around them vanished.

There was instantly panic and confusion, which was the appropriate reaction to the situation. However, it was not in anyway helpful to them.

Nihil, remaining the most calm out of all of those in the room, teleported into her CBer’s shadow.

“-down, you guys, you’re acting like you’ve never seen a power outage b- NIHIL WOAH when’d you get here??”

“Just nnow,” Nihil shrugged in reply. Just then, Simul’s voice began to echo through the castle.

“Okay y’all, don’t panic! If you’re handy, come down to the entrance hall and stay there til I get this sorted out!”

“How?” asked Reese. “We don’t have any light!”

Nymph rolled her eyes and shape-shifted into some sort of pulsing, spherical being that shone brighter than the stars.

Winter shrugged. “Okay then! Let’s go!”

“Arnt youu nrvs?” asked Boo- he knew he was. He didn’t understand much, but he did know that being somewhere a murderer is on the loose when the lights are out was not a good combo.

Nihil shrugged, and Rogue responded similarly. 

Winter was less practiced at hiding her fear. “Whaaaaat? Noooooooo…” She glanced around before taking a deep breath and opening the door, doing so far too slowly. “Er, Nymph, could you get up here?”

After check- and- double-checking to make sure the coast was clear, Winter finally started stepping out into the hall, tiptoeing with exaggerated steps. Several people rolled their eyes. Nymph stood out in the hallway, waiting for everyone else, utterly unconcerned, as well as silent. This wasn’t strange behavior at all for Nymph, though. The five guests from air, Rogue, Nihil, Boo, Winter, Reese, and Nymph (who was in the lead) trooped down hallways and stairs until they met up with the group from water, consisting of Viola?, Marigold, Far and Wren, who were very relieved to find a source of light. Together, the four CBers, three AEs, one CAPTCHAE and one CAPTCHA made their way downstairs to the entrance hall, where Simul Stoicheio, the elemental instructors, and most of their fellow guests were waiting, the life students clamoring down the ladder, lead by the flashlight on Night Vision’s phone.

“Alright, is that nearly everybody?” asked Simul.

“Think so,” grunted Terra. He looked the least concerned of all the instructors, but what was going on inside his head hardly ever showed on his face- he wouldn’t allow that. (Angsty, I suppose.)

Once the last of them were in the entrance hall, Simul cleared her throat. “Okay, lovelies, er, as you can see, the power’s out…”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Nymph muttered to herself. Gracia threw her a dirty look, but (thankfully for Gracia) Nymph didn’t notice.

Simul continued. “So uh, me and the dudes- and dudettes- looked around and found some flashlights to go around. Kudos to Nymph for being a humanoid flashlight herself.”

A few of the AEs began to clap for her. At first, Nymph scowled, but then rolled her eyes and bowed dramatically. Inwardly, she was enjoying the attention.

Simul politely waited for the applause to stop before continuing. “So, those are being passed around, if you would like one. And…” she gulped. “I have some bad news.

“The murderer left us a note. And it’s bad. It says, 'Dear Chatterboxers and all the like, it’s a pleasure to write to you again. I thought it was time to play a game.

“'You know that our beloved Leafy is now gone. This is a terrible loss; I almost felt bad to do it. But instead of being mopey and disheartened by this, I thought I could get you off your butts with something new and exciting.

“'You may have noticed that one of your own has disappeared from your group. That’s because I have poor little Sea Glass in my clutches.'” Simul paused here, gasping for her own breath and waiting for the immediate chatter and concern to die down. She could hardly continue, what with the horrible words that came next. “'Xe is depending on you, and vice versa. I’ve worked out a deal- Sea Glass is hidden somewhere in the castle, and you have to find xyr- time is running out for everyone. You see, xe has the option to either die of thirst where xe is, or aid me in killing off all of the rest of you, using xyr fire magic. But, there is hope yet for poor Sea Glass. If you can find xyr before time runs out, everyone is safe. So it’s up to you what fates will be suffered.

“'Good luck to you all. Yours most sincerely,

“'The murderer.'”

There was a pause. Then-

“NO!”

The scream came from Viola?. Most people jumped with shock. Caribbean, Marigold, Gracia and Song rushed to comfort her.

“B-but xe would never agree to hurt anyone!” she sobbed. “Xe’s alone somewhere, knowing- knowing what…” Viola?’s sobs overcame her.

“It’s not over for Sea Glass yet!” Gracia reminded her determinedly. “We can still find xyr!” Viola? shook her head.

“My poor little cinnamon roll,” she whispered. “Why do you have to be so good?”

~~~~~

Sea Glass’s eyes were still red, though it had been hours since xe had found xyrself bound to a chair in a small, dimly-lit room with no windows, and indeed, nothing but the chair xe was in and a small nightstand with one drawer. Whenever Sea Glass looked at said drawer, a strange sensation came over xyr- like a force pulling xyr closer and pushing xyr away at the same time, creating a painful sort of pressing, suffocating aura around xyr.

Sea Glass had not seen who the murderer was, they had been very careful about that. Yet here xe was, suffering and trapped because of them and- though this wasn’t known by Sea Glass- the hold that the Mystery had had on the murderer at the time. The words written on that letter were not chosen by the murderer’s own accord. They held the pen that the cruel words of the Mystery were scrawled with.

The “deal” that had been described to xyr in a hasty note had been devastating- enough that xe summoned up enough fire to burn the note. But seeing its ashes gave xyr more sadness than satisfaction, and getting rid of the words didn’t erase their meaning. 

The rest of the guests were on a scavenger hunt- for Sea Glass. And even xe didn’t know where xe was.

And with that, Sea Glass’s eyes lowered to the floor, and xe felt a kind of despair xe had never known.

~~~~~Woww that got dark--- 

Oh wow yup, it's been way too long sinced I've posted anything yaaayy. Also top.

Day four part five

The recovery from such happenings were difficult, to say the very least; so many terrible and surprising things were happening in quick succession, another shock after the other, until the guests felt saddened into submission. Something as frightening, pressuring and imminent as this had not happened to them beforehand, and they were in a flurry of panic before shoving their heads back onto their necks and realizing that they should start looking for Sea Glass right away.

The power came back on promptly after the note was read. Magic lessons were cancelled for the day, and unofficially, lunch- for all but Devin, of course, who was rather a bottomless pit. Leeli could spare no time to scold him, though; she was intent of finding Sea Glass, as most of the other guests were.

Magic lessons that afternoon were canceled; Simul knew that searching for Sea Glass would be far more important than trying to learn a few magic tricks. The guests tried looking everywhere they could think of; Caspian suggested the dungeons, but no-one was there; the life guests thought about a locked room in their corridor, and Simul gave them permission to use her key, but they found nothing except for a dusty cardboard box that was so light it might as well have been empty; Nihil teleported into the shadowy depths of many small closets and found nothing.

The rest of the day, as a whole, was rather panicked and somber; hardly a second was wasted from searching for their fellow guest, but, to the murderer’s mixed feelings of dismay and delight, Sea Glass was not found. The hours slipped by in a haze; hardly any words were exchanged, looks of suspicion were shared, sighs heaved, and an overall feeling that the hands of all the clocks were moving at an alarming rate filled the dense atmosphere.

Before they knew it, it was dinnertime, but hardly anybody showed up to pick at Simul’s sparse meal. Devin and Reese were the only ones who looked like they were actually hungry; a number of other guests were there for lack of hope and contentment. They slumped in their chairs, forks waving around aimlessly, heads resting in chins. Nothing was truly happy. Nobody even bothered to start a conversation; they knew it would be aimless, and avoiding what was really going on around them. Besides, they were mostly introverts anyways, and unlikely to engage in conversation no matter the situation.

The members of TAMPS, by a silent agreement, decided that they should look for Sea Glass into the night instead of patrolling the corridors for the murderer; most of them were uncertain if the organization of TAMPS would continue. Either way, Simul dug out flashlights from a closet and gave them out to the people who were so determined to find Sea Glass that they were willing to search late into the night. Nymph’s behavior that night was most peculiar; she took the modest form of a young, chesnut-haired girl with a sweet, childish face and hazel eyes. And a pair of fluffy little angel wings. Viola? would normally have puzzled over this for an elongated amount of time, but then, she was intent on finding her AE.

The elemental instructors helped out late into the night as well; Ingus carried a small flame in her hand rather than a flashlight, searching for her student. Aqua quit after only fifteen minutes, but not because he didn’t care for Sea Glass, but rather because he was scared of the thought that a murderer could be wandering around the same halls, searching in the dark fr their own captive.

And indeed they were…

The murderer was searching for Sea Glass with the others, careful to be as alert as they would be regularly; and they were rather observant. They knew that they could never wander over to the area where they had hid Sea Glass, but they also knew they couldn’t be idle; they had to find a balance, and they had, rather quickly too.

Their headache had subsided; the Mystery was at rest, now that its actions had lead the ski lodge in a more murdrer-focused path, and the crimes they commit; instead of the truth about what was lying beneath. It was at rest because the murderer’s secret was their identity, and not their place in a broken plot.

For them, the rest of the night passed in peace.