I will post soon, I promise!  I've unfortunately been very busy and stressed lately.

OK. I'll keep topping then. BRING THIS TO THE TOP OF INKWELL!!!!!!

I feel like I've let you all down by not keeping up with this and I'm very sorry. Unfortunately due to a number of reasons including school and mental health I'm not able to currently continue this ski lodge. Thanks to everyone for being interested, and I look forward to when I will hopefully be able to reboot it.

Day 1, Part 2

As the sun set over the snow-capped mountains in the distance, the Manor's guests made their way to to the dining room.  Pancake was one of the first to arrive.  She admired the long wood table set with exquisite china plates, crystal glasses that caught the evening light, and tall white candles.  The centerpiece was a vibrant bouqet of flowers set in a vase seemingly designed to mimic a Grecian urn.  Pancake soon found a placecard marked with her name and adorned with watercolor dandelions, and sat down in the cushioned chair ajacent to it.  She smiled, enjoying the mansion's splendor.  Being able to experience it made her feel like a princess or celebrity.

The other guests slowly joined her, each one finding a place at the table.  The head seat, however, remained empty.  They chatted amongst each other as they waited for dinner to start.  Those who had visited the library were talking animatedly about the books they'd read, which all happened to be mysteries.  Jinx was examining the table spread and noticed something they found interesting. "Isn't that bouquet kind of strange?" they asked Sammy Everlast, who was seated next to them.

Sammy squinted at the centerpiece. "What do you mean?  It looks like something an eccentric, rich person would display, for sure."

Jinx laughed. "I meant the choice of flowers.  Tulip, poppy, dandelion, lavender... It's pretty, but I've never seen a flower selection like it before."

"All of our placecards have flowers on them, too," Sammy noted. "Mine has a begonia, and it looks like yours has a honeysuckle flower.  I wonder if they're connected somehow?  Or maybe it's just themed decorating."

At that moment a loud ring cut through the chatter.  Everyone fell quiet and turned to the head of the table, where the sound had come from.  Standing there, tall and statuesque, was an elegantly dressed woman. The lines etched across her pale face and her sleek silver hair worn in a braided topknot alluded to her great age. "I apologize for keeping you waiting," she said, her voice as rolling and strong as the ocean.  Her sharp ruby eyes scanned her guests as she spoke. "Welcome to Vertumnus Manor.  I hope you have enjoyed your stay thus far.  I am Lady Eloise Grenadine, although the title is a bit grand for my liking." With a flick of her hand a silver mist suddenly hung over the room and then dissapated.  When it had vanished, the table was set with a feast of food, including a large pizza, steaming bowls of soup, and pitchers of sparkling water. "Eat whatever you like, and please enjoy yourselves," she instructed.

The CBers and AEs filled their plates, as did the Lady of the Manor. "Did you... conjure all of this or something?" Silver Crystal asked the elegant woman, unable to mask her curiousity.

Eloise smiled and shook her head. "It was all prepared, I merely summoned it.  I am somewhat of a scholar of magic, you see."

"That's so cool!" Silver Crystal exclaimed. "What's it like?"

"It is very complicated," the Lady answered curtly. "Maybe I will tell you another time."

Dinner eventually wrapped up after much conversation, eating, and Spontanaiety as well as a couple of CBers seeing how many foods they could roast over a candle flame.  The sun had set and the sky, adorned with stars, was a deep velvet blue.  Wyyiz yawned and decided to head up to her room, but most of the others were too curious or excited about the Manor to be tired. "Ooh, let's play board games!" Pancake suggested as she walked through the candelabra-lit hall alongside he companions.

"We're in a mansion, right?" Tsuki said. "We should play Clue!"

Eloise watched them go from the shadows, a mischevious smile playing on her lips. "Clue, huh?  The Mystery must truly be powerful.  Who shall be our first victim?"

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It's back!  What do you all think?  Things are getting interesting...

This is wonderful!!!!  I'm so glad you're backkkkkkk

It's very suspenseful and I'm very curious about the flower thing!  Also, the Clue thing?  That was such an amazing coincidence because my favorite game in the entire world is Clue!  Anytime anyone ever mentiones games to me I will immediately suggest to play Clue.  (It's getting very annoying  to my family.)

Day 1, Part 3

There ain't language for the things I've seen                                                                 And the truth is stranger than my own worst dreams

The woods surrounding Vertumnus Manor were beautiful and verdant in daylight, but turned when dusk fell.  Shadows prowled the ground like monsters, and bright leaves and flowers appeared black under the night sky.  The wind was as cold and brittle as bone, bone that should have been laying six feet under the earth. The groundskeeper lived in a cottage at the edge of these woods.  He usually patrolled the long path around the house at this time, but tonight he stayed inside, watching the flickering fire inside his hearth.  Its sparks and blaze were reflected in his deep red eyes.  He pitied the children, for they knew nothing.  He pitied the not-yet-dead.

Meanwhile, the Manor's guests gathered in the warmly lit common room.  Tsuki took her game of choice from a wide shelf of old board and card games and sat down with Sammy, Lightning Girl, Minx, and Pancake, opening the dusty box.  Cards were dealt and Lightning Girl, having chosen Miss Scarlet, took her turn first and rolled the dice. "I'm going to guess... Colonel Mustard in the library with the dagger," she suggested, moving her pawn into a room.

"It wasn't Mustard," Quill said, revealing the character's card.  Minx, who was playing Mustard, breathed a small sigh of relief.

The game progressed until every option but Professor Plum with the candlestick in either the ballroom or study remained. "I think it was Plum in the ballroom with the candlestick!" Sammy proclaimed confidently.  When none of the players revealed cards, she grinned. "I knew it!"

"Good game everyone!" Tsuki said with a smile. "That was really fun!  Does anyone want to play another round?"

It was almost midnight when the last of the guests headed up to their rooms.  Moth was one of these stragglers, and as they walked up the spiral staircase and down the dark hall they couldn't help glancing behind them.  Even once they had entered their room they still felt uneasy.  The room's wardrobe and four-poster bed cast long shadows, and the long curtians that hung on either side of a large dormer window seemed to flutter in an invisible breeze.  Moth sat at the foot of the bed and put their head in their hands.  Were they just paranoid, they wondered?  Why had they felt a lingering dread ever since they set foot in the Manor?  Why did everyone else seem fine?

Their head was spinning so they took a deep breath and made their way back downstairs to the library.  The grand room was dark and empty, but Moth lit a lamp and picked up the book they had been reading earlier in the day.  Reading always calmed their nerves, but at the same time they swore to find out exactly what this mansion was hiding.  Unfortunately, they never got the chance to.  The library doors slowly creaked open, a crack of thunder in a clear sky.  Moth stood up with a start.  They should have run when they saw a glint of steel in the intruder's hand.  They wanted to.  But by then it was already too late.  The thunder had warned of lighting, and that lightning had struck.

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A/N: From now on I'll try to make the update schedule more regular (probably once a week)