@Silver Crystal: tysm! :) 

@Chaser & Jay: ahh thank you! welcome to the CB! perhaps I will host another ski lodge, we'll have to see how this one goes :) 

~~~ 

Day 2, Part 2

Eclipse was seated in a dark red Adirondack chair, watching as Socie ran about, setting up the archery targets and gathering bows and arrows for all the guests. The Osorthe forest’s flora was still sparkling with the morning’s dew, dampening Eclipse’s shoes as she rested them in the grass. Eclipse scratched absentmindedly at the peeling paint on the arm of the chair, and a fleck of crimson came off onto her finger. She examined the bit of paint, the way it clung to her skin, the way the scarlet hue was uncomfortably close to...blood. The thought entered uninvited into Eclipse’s mind, and suddenly memories of pangolin came rushing back before she could stop them. 

~~~

The murderer ransacked pangolin’s room, throwing aside the clothes the CBer would never again wear and the items she would never again use, searching for the weapon they knew she had packed. Finally, their eyes landed upon their prize: a narrow, medieval-style quiver, filled with slender wooden arrows. At a glance, it looked beautiful, with hawks’ feathers on the end and light ash wood, but the murderer knew they were tipped with poison. 

They grabbed the quiver and raced from pangolin’s room, down the steps, and out the door. The murderer smoothed down their shirt and adjusted their hair, trying to look natural among the rest of the guests.

~~~

The guests were clustered around Socie who, after she had finished setting everything up, was giving everybody a demonstration on how to aim and shoot. She explained that each ring on the target meant a certain number of points. “White’s one point, black’s two, blue is three, red is five, and yellow – that’s the bull’s eye – is ten. Whoever gets the highest number of points will be the winner.” 

Everybody murmured amongst themselves with excitement, some of them were finally looking enthusiastic for the first time since pangolin’s death.

Firelily was first in line, and they grinned as they took the bow and an arrow from Socie, and allowed her to help their stance. She couldn’t help thinking that, if pangolin’s death had been intentional and there was a killer running around, it wouldn’t hurt to know how to defend herself. Firelily closed one eye, and pulled back on the string until his elbow was brushing against his ear, and he released. The arrow made a “fwoop” sort of noise and completely missed the target. Firelily couldn’t stifle her disappointment. 

“Ah. Well, barely anyone gets it on their first try anyway,” Socie remarked, offering some comfort. 

Firelily nodded and walked to the back of the line, eagerly awaiting their next attempt at archery.

~~~

With pangolin’s quiver and all but one arrow safely and discreetly stowed beneath a pile of leaves near the gardens, the murderer was ready. 

They pulled pangolin’s arrow from beneath their shirt, glad the rest of the guests were too busy cheering on the archers to notice. The murderer grabbed one of the bows on the bench and took a deep breath. They only had one shot. 

They squeezed one eye shut, focusing on their target. “Um...what’re you doing?” somebody asked, panicking the murderer. They let go of the string, and the arrow flew, piercing Oliver, who was first in line, in the arm. The murderer whirled around. 

“Socie!” 

She opened her mouth as if about to speak, when a frenzy of shouts broke out. Oliver had fallen onto the grass, writing and thrashing about in agony. “Oliver! Oliver!” screamed Writing_in_the_Dark, kneeling down beside xyr AE, eyes wide and wild, face drained of color. 

Socie fixed the murderer with a stone-cold glare. “Go. Back to the house. I’ll deal with you later.” 

~~~

The dew on the grass had soaked the knees of Writing_in_the_Dark’s pants through, but xe didn’t even notice as xe hunched over Oliver, praying for anything that would spare xyr AE. Fat, hot tears ran salty rivers down xyr cheeks as Oliver's eyes screwed shut in pain. 

Oliver’s death was merciless. The other guests tried to comfort Oliver, but their words were empty, and saved Oliver no pain as the end drew ever nearer for him. His screams turned to whimpers as the poison drained his life force, and finally, his hazel eyes glazed over, staring up at the slate gray sky. 

He was gone. 

~~~

Alive: 13

Dead: 2 (pangolin, Oliver) 

This is eerily spooky. Poor Oliver...Hope he survives this!

@everyone who replied: interesting speculations! and thank you for your comments :)  

~~~ 

Day 2, Part 3

Socie’s office was on the second floor, where a small hallway branched off from the main one. It was separated from the guests’ bedrooms, and the murderer could only hear muffled voices from where they sat – in an antique armchair, with a dark ornamental wooden frame and red cushion, patterned with subtle floral designs. The murderer dug their fingernails into their palm, leaving red crescent marks behind. How could they have been so careless? Two days in, and they had already been caught by the hostess. 

The door to the office banged open and Socie walked in, collapsing into the chair on the opposite side of the desk. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “So. You must be the murderer. You don’t really seem the type, but there’s no telling with these things, is there?” 

The murderer felt like Socie wanted them to respond, so they said, “No. I guess not,” even though they had no clue what she was talking about. “These things”? Was this whole vacations-being-ruined-by-murder-mysteries a regular occurance? And why didn’t Socie seem angry about having a literal murderer running around her house? 

“You were careless. I’m sure you can see that. But you’d better thank your lucky stars that I was the one who found you, not some ignorant guest. You do realize that you are the single most important person right now.” 

“Um...”

“The fate of the Osorthe Forest, and every person here, rests on your shoulders.” 

The murderer wasn’t so sure about this whole “chosen one”-type business, but Socie’s words held a certain...well, certainty. Like she held the answers the murderer was looking for. The answers about what had happened to them, what they had become.

So they felt themself nodding, saying, in that cold voice, in that voice that didn’t belong to them, “What do you need me to do?” 

~~~

Writing_in_the_Dark had found a small frog pond, a little ways off the property. Trees rose tall around it, blocking out the sky, obscuring the small clearing. It gave xe a sense of security and privacy, to mourn Oliver’s death. The frog pond was small, encircled by a stone wall and covered in fuzzy-looking green algae and lilypads. Writing_in_the_Dark sat upon this stone wall, feet dangling into the tepid water, xyr shoes and socks on the wall beside them. 

They heard a rustling in the undergrowth, and Firelily emerged, brushing away the dense, rusty foliage, and stepping over the nettle and hemlock that grew on the forest floor. She sat down on the cold, mossy stone wall beside Writing. “I’m so sorry about Oliver,” Firelily murmured, their voice barely audible over the bubbling of the frog pond and the shaking branches and leaves of the trees. Around them, crimson and browning leaves tumbled down to earth, occasionally landing in the frog pond, sending out ripples. Firelily produced a carnation, handing it to Writing. “I got it from Socie’s garden. I thought it looked prettiest.” 

Writing_in_the_Dark accepted the delicate flower, tucking it behind xyr ear. Xe gazed off into the frog pond, without really seeing it. “At least we now know pangolin’s death wasn’t an accident,” xe said grimly.

~~~

Alive: 13

Dead: 2 (pangolin, Oliver)

@Writing_in_the_Dark: I saw your pronoun update on the Random Thoughts & Things thread, so I started used your new pronouns here. :) 

@Silver Crystal & Reuby: "Ohohoho" is right...

@Chaser & Jay/just Jay: That is interesting theory indeed...oh, and btw, i really appreciate you taking the time to comment even if you aren't in the ski lodge :) 

~~~ 

Day 3, Part 1

The day began slowly. The sun took its time rising above the distant mountaintops, and the guests, now two less than they had been when they arrived, took their time waking up. The deaths of pangolin and Oliver had burdened them. Some of them didn’t even know pangolin and Oliver that well, and that might’ve been the worst part of it. How can you mourn someone properly when you barely knew them while they were alive? Their regrets and fears were bogging them down, making it nearly impossible to properly enjoy this vacation. 

Socie, however, seemed more or less oblivious to what the guests were going through. When the last of them stumbled downstairs and examined each other, ensuring no one else had gone missing during the night, Socie practically shoved them into the dining room and began piling unholy amounts of sugar and fruit onto everybody’s waffles. 

“Everybody, listen up!” Socie called once everyone had gotten their waffles. “Today’s activity will be a scavenger hunt. There are things you’re supposed to find – in this case, antique keys – and clues to locate them hidden all over the property. I’ll divide you all into teams, and at the end, the team with the most keys wins the ultimate prize...popcorn.” 

Socie divided the guests up into three teams: Daisy, Silver Crystal, Ronin, and Eclipse were one team; the second team was Tsuki, Echo, Kyanite, and Reuby, and the final team was Firelily, Artemis, Writing_in_the_Dark, Hex, and Sterling. Socie then handed a cream-colored envelope to each team. 

Tsuki ripped open her group’s envelope and her three teammates crowded around to read it. “‘Although it must remain silent, it’s high in volumes,’” Tsuki read in a hushed tone. 

The group was silent for a moment, contemplating the riddle, until Echo spoke up. “Geddit? That’s a play on words. It means volume as in a book, not a degree of loudness. And a place that’s supposed to be silent...well, it’s obviously referring to the library.”

Echo sprinted up the stairs, the rest of her team right behind her. The third group had already run outside, and the first was still puzzling over the riddle they’d received.

“See anything?” asked Echo as they looked around the library. The four guests scanned the library, looking for keys or anything out of the ordinary that might lead them to their next destination. 

“Guys!” exclaimed Reuby, standing by the roll top desk and holding aloft a golden key. “I found a key! And there’s a clue too, see?” A piece of paper was sticking out of the top of the typewriter. On it was a sentence: it’s a hollow desire, pining away for victory.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Kyanite. “That we’re not supposed to want to win this scavenger hunt?”

Echo repeated the key phrases, rolling it around in her mouth, as if that might provide her with a hint as to what it meant. “Hollow desire...pining away....”

“Pining....” Tsuki’s eyes widened. “Wait a second—”

She ran back down to the entrance hall. Reuby stuffed the key into her jeans pocket, and then the three of them ran after Tsuki. They found her staring at a gorgeously illustrated map of the Osorthe Forest. 

“See? Look, right there.” Tsuki pointed at a spot on the map, right above a bright blue river. The elaborate cursive read, Pine Hollow. “I’ll bet you that’s where we’re supposed to go.” 

~~~

Hex had figured out their last riddle – “if your ambition is to win this game, set your goal and then take aim” – which had led her team to the archery targets. 

Upon seeing the archery targets, Writing_in_the_Dark was overcome with emotion. This was the place where Oliver had died, this was the place where it had all ended for their AE. How terribly cruel was it that the rest of the guests got to continue living, continue having fun and going on scavenger hunts, when Oliver was gone? Writing pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying not to cry. Firelily comforted Writing_in_the_Dark, sitting them down on an Adirondack chair and telling them it would be okay — sweet words that meant nothing. 

Artemis located the antique golden key. It was tied to the back of one of the wooden legs of the targets, and it was accompanied by an orange chrysanthemum. 

“Chrysanthemum. That’s the clue, I guess,” said Sterling, trying to figure out what it could possibly mean. “Do we rearrange the letters? Or maybe it has something to do with something that’s orange, or—”

“Or maybe, it could just be telling us to look in the garden! Look, there’s a whole bunch of orange chrysanthemums there.” Artemis pointed across the lawn at Socie’s garden, overflowing with all sorts of beautiful flowers. Indeed, when the rest of the team looked over there, they could see several bushes of bright orange chrysanthemums. 

The five of them ran over to the garden and looked at the bushes of chrysanthemums, their petals, as orange and fiery as the setting sun, contrasting dramatically with the dark green leaves. 

Writing_in_the_Dark saw a glint of bronze in the dirt and they dropped down to one knee. The loose soil moved aside easily as he unearthed the antique key half-buried beneath the chrysanthemum bush. There was something else hidden in the dirt too — a bit more digging revealed a small glass vial filled with sand, presumably the next clue. 

Sterling held the glass bottle up to the sky, letting the mid-morning autumn sunlight illuminate its contents. The sand wasn’t fine white sand, nor was it a subtly multi-colored beach sand akin to the seeds of an everything bagel. No, the sand was almost brown in color, more of a deep tan than anything. It was a very sand colored sand, it lived almost exactly up to your expectations of what color sand should be. Once Sterling was done over-analyzing these weathered-down mineral particles, they announced quite proudly, “This is a sample of the sand down at Alaway Lake. I think we’re meant to go there next.”

Hex pocketed the key they’d just found, and the team raced down to the beach, exhilarated from the exercise and having figured out yet another clue.

~~~

Alive: 13

Dead: 2 (pangolin, Oliver)