I'm joining, and bringing my obsidian staff, books, and private stache of weapons and chocolate.

Thank you all for joining!! All the spots are filled, so I will start writing in 3 days. .  . Also, don't forget to guess who I am!!

Day 1- Part 0

Jarvis slid off of her snowflake hoverboard and landed with a plop on a cushioned seat. Her baggage and Emerald followed close behind. “Ouch!” she yelped as bar of marzipan bounced off her head. “Emerald, where are we?”

“Beats me.” replied Emerald. Jarvis looked around, and to her surprise, saw a few other CBers seated in what seemed to be a tour bus. More were appearing out of thin air, on their snowflake hoverboards.

A hand suddenly tapped her shoulder. Jarvis whipped around to find Clouded Leopard munching on a rice cake. “Did you sign up for the Ski Lodge excursion too?”

“Yeah,” replied Jarvis. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Clouded Leopard opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the appearance of the Lodge Manager.

The Lodge Manager was definitely a girl, from what they could tell. She was completely outfitted in ski gear, so no one could see her face.

“Ahem.” She cleared her throat. “ I am the Lodge Manager, and I’d like to welcome you all aboard the Snowflake Lodge Tour Bus.”

So Jarvis was right! It was a tour bus!

“ We will be arriving at the Snowflake Ski Lodge in about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I’ll take any burning questions you have.”

Nougat raised her hand. “Who are you?”

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that.” replied the Lodge Manager. “Anymore questions?” she glanced around the bus. “No?”  

The Lodge Manager flipped through her orange clipboard and pulled out a page. “ Aha! Here it is!”

“What is it?” asked Shadow Dragon.

“ Your room assignments!”

Everyone stopped talking. They were apparently very eager to hear what rooms they were in.

“In the Hot Cocoa room:

September

Mew Four

And Kate-the-Great

In the Candy Cane Room:

Clouded Leopard

Brian

And Dolphin

In the Marshmallow room:

Hotairballoon

Emerald

And Cardinal

In the Cinnamon room:

Brookeria

Spyro

And Jarvis

And in the Gingerbread room:

Shadow Dragon

Cortana

And Nougat”

All of the AEs erupted into ear-bursting yelling while their sane counterparts chattered excitedly.

“Gingerbread! GINGERBREAD!” screamed Cortana.

“Marshmallows!” yelled Emerald. “See, Jarvis! Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde LOVE marshmallows! They should’ve come!”

All of the noise stopped when Mew Four yelled, “Look out the window!! It’s the Lodge!!!”

Everyone rushed to their windows and stared in awe at the Snowflake Ski Lodge.

~~~~~

We’re starting today instead of in 3 days!

*Don’t forget to guess me!

Day 1- Parts 1, 2, and 3

The Snowflake Ski Lodge loomed over the tour bus. “Wow!” breathed September. “It’s huge!” Like the invitation had described, the Snowflake Ski Lodge resembled an enormous wood cabin covered in a layer of soft powdered snow. In the distance was a ski lift that deposited skiers at the top of a gigantic mountain.

“Here we are! Behold. . . the Snowflake Ski Lodge! Your luggage has already been deposited in your rooms. ” Everyone looked around, and saw that their luggage was in fact gone. Hmmm. . . When had that happened?

“Let’s head inside,” continued the Lodge Manager. “ If you liked the outside, you’ll love the inside.”

The CBers, AEs, and CAPTCHAs disembarked the bus, excited to see what was in store for them inside the Lodge.

~~~~

The Lodge Manager stood in front of the Lodge’s door and whispered a few words that no one else could hear. The doors swung open to reveal a banner that said: Welcome to the Snowflake Lodge, CBers, AEs, and CAPTCHAs!!!!

“ Is the door only openable with a password?” asked September. “Like the doors to the Wizard Tower in Magyk?

“Yes.” replied the Lodge Manager. “ And I’ll give you all the password once the doors close. I’ve heard of a murderer at other ski lodges, and I don’t want one here.”

The doors slammed shut with a loud BAM! Everyone but the Lodge Manager jumped at the  sound.

“Well,” remarked the Lodge Manager, “At least we know that a murderer can’t get in!”

Everyone nodded in agreement. They definitely did not want their peaceful vacation to be ruined.

“ Well then, let’s get started with our tour! C’mon!” the Lodge Manager waved them over from her perch on the staircase. The CBers stared at her in amazement. How did she get there so quickly?

“I thought that it’d be best to start with your rooms.”

~

The Hot Cocoa room was everything that Kate-the-Great had imagined. The walls were chocolaty-brown, and the ceiling was spotted with glow-in-the-dark marshmallow constellations. In the back of the room was a long table that held a massive vat of hot chocolate. “Well,” she said to herself, “I guess I didn’t need that endless bottle of endless hot chocolate after all!”

Meanwhile, in the Candy Cane Room, Dolphin squealed with delight. The entire room was, well, candy-cane themed! And who doesn’t like candy canes?

Cardinal was already bouncing off of the walls in the Marshmallow Room. After having consumed 3 pillows and half of a bed post (marshmallow, of course) , he was extremely hyper.

Before Brookeria put one foot into the doorway of the Cinnamon Room, she could already smell it’s heavenly aroma. Upon further inspection, she found a dazzling display of cinnamon treats stored in every corner of the room.

The Gingerbread room was complete chaos. Between Cortana, (who was being excessively loud) and Nougat (who was trying to eat everything) Shadow Dragon wasn’t sure how she’d get a peaceful night’s sleep.  

~

An hour later, after everyone had gotten settled into their rooms, and their CAPTCHAs and AEs had calmed down after their sugar spree, the Lodge Manager appeared again to continue the tour.

“Now, I trust that most of you have read the invitation,” she looked around. The CBers were nodding their heads, while the AEs looked guiltily at the ceiling. “ How many of you would like to visit our library?” This was met with a roar of approval.

~

The Library took up the entirety of the Lodge’s top floor. On the way, the Lodge Manager pointed out all of the interesting knick-knacks that had been collected over the years, like knives that were used to carve skis and ancient snowshoes.

The murderer had been lying low,(when you have a security freak for a Lodge Manager, it’s best to stay hidden)  but now was the perfect time to acquire a murder weapon. Quietly, they grabbed one of the ski-carving knives and re-joined the group before anyone noticed their disappearance.

~

“You may take any book you want back to your rooms, CBers. Just don’t take all of them!” The Lodge Manager stood at the doorway and watched her guests swarm the shelves. She breathed a sigh of relief. All was going well. Maybe there wouldn’t be a murderer at this ski lodge, and it would be a normal vacation.

~

Cortana was nearly sure that she had discovered a secret door in the very back of the library. “Just a . . . little. . .  more. . .” she murmured to herself as she shoved at the tiny compartment. Suddenly a hand tapped her shoulder. “Stop bothering me, September! It’s not like I’m doing anything illegal.” she grumbled. The hand tapped her shoulder again. She whirled around. “Oh, hey - - -” Before she could finish her sentence, the murderer plunged the knife into her heart.

~

Hotairballoon had just found a particularly interesting novel when he heard a blood-curdling scream. It seemed to be coming from the back of the library. He turned to Brookeria, who was standing next to him, her nose buried in a book on Marvel comics. “Did you hear that?”

“Huh?” Brookeria looked up abruptly.

“The scream. Someone was screaming.”

“Really? We should probably check it out.” Together, they headed to the back of the library to investigate the screams.

~

Oh, great. thought the murderer. They could hear the footsteps heading toward the back of the library. So much for a quiet escape. The footsteps were getting closer. Instinctively, they ducked behind one of the heavy curtains and hoped they wouldn’t be noticed.

~

The Lodge Manager was startled out of her thoughts by the scream. She looked up to see Brookeria and hotairballoon walking to the back of the library. She screamed silently in her head. She had taken all the necessary precautions to prevent a murderer! How was this even possible?

~

Brookeria and hotairballoon arrived at the crime scene, and found that the rest of the CBers had followed them. They gazed sadly upon Cortana’s fallen body. September was especially miserable.

~

The murderer slipped out quietly from behind the curtain and re-joined the group without anyone noticing.

~

The Lodge Manager looked around to see if anyone was missing from the group. No one but Cortana. Catching the murderer was going to be harder than she thought.

~~~~~~

No one was in the mood to eat dinner that night, even though it was delicious. The Lodge Manager tried to lighten their moods, but it was of no avail. Suddenly she remembered something. “Tomorrow, we’re going on the ski lift! There will an equipment rental form in each of your rooms.” Some brightened up considerably, especially Clouded Leopard who loved to ski. The Lodge Manager excused herself from the table and bid them all a good night.

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

R.I.L (Rest In the Library)  , Cortana

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

So, you all need to fill out your equipment rental forms! It’s going to be charrie sheet style:

Name:

Equipment:( Choose between skis, snowboards, sleds, or make your own! 1 per person)

AE’s Name:

Equipment:

CAPTCHA’s Name:

Equipment:

Oh dear, Cortana, you're dead. 

Wait. What? I'm. . . DEAD? 

Yup.

I'm dead? Me? Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm never going to another ski lodge! They're dangerous! You could die! 

Anyhow, here's my equipment rental sheet:

Name: September

Equipment: Orange skis (I ski, but not too well!)