peckenpaugh | SKI WEEKEND! Day 1

to helvetia!

what's up? It’s frigidly cold this morning when students gather in town to load onto buses for the big ski trip this weekend. After boarding and a final head count, everyone is off, chased by a light snow that ramps up the higher into the mountains they climb. Out of the holler and headed southward, Peckenpaugh’s students are in for a bit of a bumpy ride as flurries give way to a total white out. It’s two hours of wintry driving before the buses arrive in the magical half of Helvetia, West Virginia.

The view is gorgeous, a winter wonderland spilling out across the hills. A shop-lined cobblestone street winds up into the hills to the main resort, a tiny hamlet of swiss chalet houses unto itself. Around all that? Acres and acres of hills, slopes and even ramps for winter recreation. Snow-capped and decorated for the season, Helvetia is so breathtaking, it takes a minute to realize: the seniors never arrived...

visuals!

volunteer slots! While unpacking Uriah Hatfield opens a drawer and a dang boggart pops out, revealing their greatest fear to their roommates. Great start to the trip (Happy Friday the 13th). Their roommate/chalet-mate 💯 Presley Mondragon steps in and banishes the creature with an expert Riddikulus. Mr. Purcell hears about the fiasco later and awards Presley with 5 points to their house.

💯 Tony and 💯 Adrian each lose 5 Points for their House(s) for decorating the balcony of their chalet with an anatomically correct snow person. Honestly worth it.

Well, Elflock Liquor might’ve been closed, but thank god the wizards out here in Helvetia have a liquor store, too. This evening Wyatt Webberley and [CHARACTER F] head on down to stock up at the liquor store. The moment they walk in, an age line at the door causes them both to grow beards, but Wyatt kind of works it. (If they can get a thread to six replies, consider the trip, somehow, a huge success.)

roommates list!

CHALET 1

Adrian
Eddy
Skip
Tony
Wyatt

Armani
Chanel
Honey
Laszlo

Elijah
Harrison
Lionel
Nico

Desmond
Patrice
Presley
Uriah

CHALET 2

Claudia
Holland
Maisy
Merlin
Val

Felicity
Fiona
Lydia
Pax
Scarlett

Constanza
Echo
Magnolia
Ramona

CHALET 3

Bijou
Cedar
Hawthorne
Willow

Mary Grace
Trudy
Xenia
Zadie

Atlas
Gideon
Josh

CHALET 4

Audrey
Freya
Fred
Jupiter
Kermit

Imogen
Poppy
Viola
Winter

Aristotle
Fitz
Maverick
Tybalt

how this works! ⬥ Students left Peckenpaugh bound for magical Helvetia, West Virginia at 10AM. With the snow, the bus ride should take about two hours.

⬥ Juniors and sophomores (and freshmen) arrive at the resort at ~12:00 PM. They're able to settle into their rooms, claim a bed, and explore a little bit!

⬥ The first day of the ski trip leaves most of the afternoon and evening open for students to explore the grounds. After you've gotten your stuff set in, get some skiing and sledding in if you want, hit the shops or grab a bite to eat.

⬥ A second post will go up on Saturday featuring a day on the slopes (with RNG games for sledding/skiing and more emphasis on that portion of the resort, so don't worry if you want to get up to some serious winter sport threading) and then a cozy evening party with an ugly sweater contest. Day three is our return trip, plus another surprise.

⬥ Curfew is 10:30PM so get back to your assigned chalet by then! Head counts are done shortly after that.

⬥ What about the seniors?! The seniors will get to the lodge eventually! After a spot of bad luck on the ride in (Happy Friday the 13th), the senior class is currently stranded on the side of the road and needs to figure out how to get out of this jam.

No matter what, seniors will arrive safe and sound, just a few hours later than everyone else!

This is a bonding experience! We’ve split the senior class into groups and given each group a prompt. This prompt is not a puzzle or task that needs to be solved/completed, but rather something specific for your characters to thread or discuss over the journals.

The group that has the most activity relating to the senior stranding by Monday, December 16th will be awarded with a spook in the pcal in January. How are we calculating activity? Well…
- Throughout this weekend, any narrative tags made under the Trouble header on this IC/OOC by seniors within their group will be worth 5 points.
- For Friday, December 13th only, any journal posts made by a senior, pertaining to the senior stranding and tagged with "* event: senior stranding" are worth 5 points.
- Throughout the weekend, any comments made by seniors on a seniors stranding tagged post will count for 1/2 point. Reaction icon comments will not count for points.
- We'll tally the numbers up next week and announce a winning group.
Click here for groups and prompts!
GROUP 1: Fred, Freya, Josh, Kermit, Maisy, Tony
PROMPT: Group 1, you're on tire duty! Staff needs help digging the bus out of the snowbank. Listen to Mr. Stirling curse under his breath as he fiddles with the engine. Watch Ms. Kwan find it highly amusing.

GROUP 2: Elijah, Imogen, Mags, Merlin, Val
PROMPT: Mr. Trullinger's taking Group 2 out on a "nature hike" to figure out just where they are. Turns out, y'all are in Lepidopterite country. There's a settlement nearby — that explains the anti-apparition. The Lepidopterites are not open to outsiders, so Mr. Trullinger leaves the kids outside the town to go in and ask for assistance.

GROUP 3: Claudia, Constanza, Echo, Harrison, Nico, Trudy
PROMPT: Group 3 fixates on survival, gathering blankets, casting warming charms, accounting for food. They're in the middle of discussing where to find water and build a camp fire when Ms. Kwan wanders over and suggests that it'll only be an hour or two at most, why don't you kids quiz your friends on their upcoming midterms?

GROUP 4: Audrey, Holland, Jup, Lionel, Xenia
PROMPT: Group 4 swears they just saw something HUGE moving in the forest! Ms. Dorkins won't let them investigate any further. Maybe they can distract her and sneak past. Maybe they can convince her to join them.

locations! ⬦ PACKING & BUS RIDE: Peckenpaugh is using four standard magic buses to move its kids from Elflock Falls to Helvetia, one for each year. These enchanted vehicles move a bit faster than normal, passing by muggle traffic with ease, but with the weather it still takes about two hours for the first buses to arrive at their destination. Rows of seats comfortably sit two to three students, and the back of the bus is always wilder than the front. Grab a window seat if you can, the snow and scenery on the drive is lovely.

⬦ SENIOR STRANDING: Elflock Falls is barely out of the rear view when the snow starts to really pick up and before long it's dumping on them. For the most part, aided by magic, this just means it's slow going, but the senior bus hits a patch of bad luck and black ice. The magic school bus swerves right off the road and into a big fluffy snow bank. Thankfully, everyone is unharmed, but with no cell service, no GPS, and (as Mr. Stirling learns the hard way) finding themselves in an unknown Anti-Apparition zone, everyone's going to have to pitch in or sit tight to get this bus back on the road.

⬦ THE LODGE: The centerpiece of magical Helvetia’s ski resort is its lodge, a massive wood structure with Swiss-influenced architecture. Upon entry, visitors find themselves in a warm and warmly lit lobby decorated with boughs of pine and wintry garlands of berries, fitted with furniture fashioned from old ski lift parts. The front desk is alternately staffed by a harried-looking college aged witch and an extremely low key sasquatch throughout the weekend, both of them happy to help with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Adjoining the main lobby is a restaurant and bar — you can spot the staff at the bar in the evenings, but you have to be over 21 to sit there. Sorry kids! Beyond the restaurant is a cozy reception room with tall windows and a fenced-in balcony overlooking the slopes and an absolutely massive fireplace fashioned from copper, iron and stone. There’s a basic amenities shop, in case you forgot deodorant, and a heated indoor pool, hot tub and sauna also host to a fantastic view of the mountains.

⬦ CHALETS: Four chalets have been reserved for students, large wood-and-stone buildings in the Swiss style with wrap around balconies on the second and third floors. Each one is decorated in Peckenpaugh colors with string lights and large banners welcoming the teenage guests to their homes for the weekend. The interiors are all roughly the same, three floors with five total bedrooms (each with its own bathroom!), vintage and antique alpine furniture and ski lodge equipment repurposed into more modern furniture and decor. The common area on the first floor of each chalet features a comfortable, cozy seating area with fireplace, kitchen and dining area.

⬦ THE SLOPES: Helvetia's magical ski resort spills out across acres and acres of tree-dotted hills and mountains. It features slopes rated green circle (easy) to the expert-level double black diamond. Magical ski lifts lit by bobbing magical lanterns carry skiers up from the bottom of the slopes. There's even a fenced in area specifically for large donut-shaped sleds that seat up to four. Once you ride to the bottom of this sled hill, the sleds are enchanted to carry you right back up again for another go.

⬦ AROUND HELVETIA: The magical side of Helvetia is a great deal bigger than its teeny tiny muggle counterpart, but it’s still comparable to Elflock Falls. The area is considerably more upscale than Peckenpaugh’s home town, with expensive outdoor supply shops, a couture boutique and a couple of very fancy looking restaurants. Not the sorts of places that like teenagers poking around, but there’s still plenty for students to do and see! Magical Helvetia has many shops that are kid friendly, a chocolatier/cafe, a restaurant known for its raclette dinner and street carts peddling warm rosti. Roads are cleanly shoveled and the streets are lit by both lanterns and string lights. Despite the cold, a live goblin band is playing outside one of the taverns, filling the tiny town with music. The snow has slowed to a light flurry by late afternoon, and the big fluffy flakes hold steady well into the night.

⬦ OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It was right there, behind that shrub," Jupiter goes right on pointing, thinking she's being helpful indicating exactly which sort of dark patch of trees Holland should stare at.

A grin spreads across her face next. Pure and unadulterated Trouble. "We should go check it out."

Holland's eyes sweep the area, mouth flattened into a very thin line as she processes 'maybe bigger than an abominable snowman.' Her attention quickly goes to Jupiter once she suggests they check it out though, and while her initial response is almost 'are you crazy?', she reconsiders. Everyone has been treating her like she's been overreacting lately.

"Sure." Her voice isn't strained, you're imagining that. "I'm actually wearing boots."

Audrey's answering smile is just as mischievous, if slightly muted. She's also already half out of her seat. "Oh. Yes." She zips her coat back shut. It's very unlikely The Big Thing has anything to do with one of the nigh dozens mysteries they're juggling, but there's always maybe.

Lionel stands. But it's only to let the others get around him. "Okay. I'll watch your stuff," he offers.

"And try to be safe." He doesn't mean to say that right at Holland; that's just where he happened to be looking when he lifted his head.

"No, you have to come too," Holland says the moment Lionel finishes speaking. She's not sure why he decided to add an extra warning for her, but she's not having it.

"We can't protect you if you're here."

"C'mon, Tiger," Jupiter loops a hand around Lionel's arm and gives him a tug. "We need some of that delectable nerd meat to lure him out as bait."

It's meant to be a clear "No," but the noise that comes out of Lionel's mouth is much more like a tired groan. He tosses his book back onto his seat, pausing only to memorize the page number. "I'm not going to be used as bait. That doesn't make any sense. There's nothing out there." There's judgement in his voice. They're all being so childish.

Even still, he zips up his jacket extra tight. To project from the cold... but also to keep any delectable nerd meat smell bottled up. You can never be too safe.

SKI WEEKEND! Day 1

SENIOR STRANDING: GROUP FOUR

SENIOR STRANDING: GROUP FOUR

SENIOR STRANDING: GROUP FOUR

SENIOR STRANDING: GROUP FOUR

SENIOR STRANDING: GROUP FOUR

SENIOR STRANDING: GROUP FOUR

SENIOR STRANDING: GROUP FOUR