CYOA W2: LAN XICHEN + OGATA + BINGHE

[snowmods]

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[snowmods]

[He reaches over to jovially pat Ogata on the shoulder.]

Aha, the thin air getting to you, bros? I told you at Base Camp, we’re going on your lesson! Scoping the Slopes: Skiing For Scaredy Cats! Don’t worry bud, I know it’s not your first time. That’s why you’re my little deputy! Help keep these champs in line! Ha ha!

[You’re rising higher and higher into the air. Suddenly, the ski lift comes to a jarring halt, ice shaking off the cables and a screeching sound reverberates through the canyon. But then it starts moving again after a second!]

Woah! Make sure to hold tight to all your things! These cables could use some work.

[Steve points down below you, where you can see a ski lane cut through the trees below you. It seems . . . steep.]

That there is the Nutcracker! Quadruple Black Diamond! That’s where we’re starting today! [He laughs! The ski lift swings a bit.] No, just kidding, we’re going up to the Sugarplum Gumdrop Bunny Slope.

[snyaiper]

[Ah right I forgot, Ogata has become Jogata, but honestly as far as he's concerned, the other ski suits are far worse. He startles when the ski lift suddenly stops, one eye going wide and catlike.

He does like the idea of having power over the other two, on the other hand, he doesn't want to be here at all.]

And how long, exactly, has it been since these cables were serviced? What are we supposed to do if they break?

[baoying]

[ binghe is already calculating what way to best fall that will keep him alive when this death trap inevitably hits the ground. benefits of being an OP protagonist if it wasn't for these stupid fucking skiis and stupid fucking skiing. this is the worst. ]

Great.

[ you get the feeling it is not great. ]

[dynasty]

[ current concern: dying like bedivere - by being dropped to his death by a fool who doesn't know what he's doing. ]

How far are we exactly from this slope?

[snowmods]

[Steve just laughs!]

Wow, you guys really are a bunch of scaredy cats! Who knows, man.

[Doesn’t the resort take care of all that? Steve doesn’t seem concerned.]

Maybe another 10 minutes! Sit back and enjoy the view.

[The view is very nice. However, they may notice that it seems the sun is setting. With that over-confident statement, the ski lift very suddenly screeches and stops with a HUGE jolt again - though, uh, this time I’ve done a roll for each one of you! Hello Binghe, you’ve now slid halfway out of the ski lift! Oh no! Will your new friends and deputy help you back in?]

Woah, gnarly!

[snyaiper]

[Tbh Ogata assumes Xichen will take care of saving Binghe. Saving people isn't his style. Instead he's going to see if he can take advantage of the confusion to shove Steve Ski Instructor out of the ski lift. Die, monster, you don't belong in this world.]

[baoying]

[ ogata he's going to stab you with one of these ski poles if that's what keeps him from falling off. binghe grunts when he slides, not quite swearing, but throws his right arm out with the pole so he can try and catch it at an angle against the bar so maybe if it's vertical he doesn't go careening out. frankly he doesn't trust either of them (or steve) to keep him from dropping and he has falling off of cliff trauma -

ogata, meanwhile, is not helping, by upsetting the balance of the entire lift, and just for safety (?) he's grabbing ogata's leg, too, because if he fucking falls you're going down with him you weird little cat man ] What the hell are you doing?!

[ DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW EQUILIBRIUM WORKS!!!!!


unbelievable ]

[dynasty]

[ xichen however, will not let binghe careen out of the ski lift. as soon as he sees binghe slip he reaches out instinctively to grab his arm with one hand and the other at the back of the seat as an anchor, using all of certified beefy lan arm strength (tm) tug him back up.

of course, that's when he sees ogata shoving steve. he can't reach both of them at the same time, not if he's going to stay stable, but it doesn't stop him from yelling. ]

Don't shove him!!

[snowmods]

[Binghe is successful! He hauls himself back into the ski lift. Steve would have helped him, but, someone shoved him. :/ He rolled a 19 though, so. For now, he lives. The ski lift swings, sending echoing metal sounds bounding down the mountain. Steve sits firmly on his butt. Reaching to pat Ogata on the head.]

Woah there, deputy! I know it’s scary but lets not panic yet!

[The ski lift swings. The sun drops a little lower. Is it getting colder out here?]

Huh! Seems like we aren’t moving!

[You guys are pretty high up still.]

Uh-oh!

[You guys swing there for a minute more. A wolf howls in the distance.]

. . . Uh-oh. I knew I should have told the operator we were going out on one last run.

[Steve gestures to you all.]

Better check your pockets. You guys bring anything good to pass the time?

[So if you manage to wiggle your gloves off and hold onto your poles, you will find the following items in your ski suit!

OGATA has GORP IN A ZIPLOC BAG and a BEAUTIFUL SHINING GEMSTONE, THAT IS OBVIOUSLY CURSED
BINGHE has GORP IN A ZIPLOC BAG and a 40OZ GLASS BOTTLE OF EGGNOG
LAN XICHEN has A GUN WITH ONE BULLET IN IT . . . and some GORP! In a ziploc bag!

Why did you all roll 2s. Anyway.]

[snyaiper]

[Ogata's mood is worsening by the minute. First Steve resists his murder attempt, then he gets yelled at and grabbed. Then he finally gets into his pockets and finds a bag of nuts, dried fruit, and weird colorful tablets? Oh and a gemstone, but even as a layman who barely believes magic exists, he can tell this thing is cursed.

Then he looks over at the others, and spots the gun.]

Why do you have that? Do you even know how to use it?
[GIVE ME THE GUN.]

[baoying]

[ isn't this that stuff that showed up on whatever his name was's hands (rude)

why he has a forty is unknown. where it fit? also unknown. i could make a dick joke here but i won't. you're welcome. he pulls it out anyway, and tucks the food back in his pocket since they all seem to have the same, and readjusts so he's more firmly on the seat.

and just to be contrary because ogata was unhelpful: ] Why do you have that? [ at the magicky gemstone ] Do you even know how to use it?






[ i'm so sorry, xichen ]

[dynasty]

[ xichen does not know how to use a gun. actually, this is the third time he's seen one in his life, with the other two being this week. he does know however (from belial of all people) that they are powerful, and kind of like a crossbow.

he also knows ogata wants to try and kill steve, so. ]

I will keep it, thank you. [ puts the gun away in the pocket that's opposite of ogata, thanks ]

Do you have anything, uhm, Steve?

[snowmods]

[Steve seems . . . worried. While you’re all enjoying GORP and arguing over phallic objects, he’s looking at the ground. It’s getting darker and colder. Not even your beautiful 80s one-piece ski-suits can stop all of the chill starting to sink in.]

Bros I think I gotta go get help! You stay here! I can totally make it! Just remember, if you gotta ski down, use the wedge!

[It’s.

It’s pretty high up!

But Steve pushes the bar up and, with all the grace of an expert he jumps!




There’s a pretty nasty crack as he hits the ground.]

AAAAAAH OH GOD IT HURTS! THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT THE BUTTCRACKER! OH FUCK ARE THOSE WOLVES? OH NO! OH GOD!

[There’s a sudden snow drift, so no one up high can see what’s happening but . . . there is lots of howling and screaming and once the snow drift clears. It seems Steve is gone.

It’s very, very cold up here. What now?]

[snyaiper]

[Ogata stares down at the snowy depths for a long moment. Huh. That sure happened. He has nothing to say.

After a moment he's going to look back up. How high up are the cables? And how spaced apart are the lift seats?]

[baoying]

[ well.

bye steve. that just gets addressed with a scoff before he gives ogata a nudge over so they don't tip over from being unequal in weight.

that's unfortunate. binghe's with ogata, too, checking their surroundings. are there any seats going the other way? are there seats behind them? how far are they from the lift station?

also, any trees nearby? ]

[dynasty]

[ uh

alright then.

xichen just looks a little dazed for a second before he shakes his head and tries to check out what's below them - can he see anything down there besides snow? ]

[snowmods]

[The cables above them . . . they look as if they could be reached if someone other than Ogata stood up on the seat. So. Maybe 5 and a half to six feet or so. The other seats are pretty far away! Perhaps 20 feet between each lift, and they are all facing the same direction. It’d be dangerous otherwise, geez! There are seats behind and in front of them. They can’t tell how far they are from the lift station. But it’s definitely not in view anywhere.

There are in fact some trees! But also fairly fair away. The tippy top of a pine tree does seem to end near them . . . perhaps about 5 feet away from the edge of the seat.

On the ground? Well. There’s some blood. :)]

[snyaiper]

[Well. None of this looks good, does it!!!]

I don't suppose either of you have any idea how to get down from here?
[His short ass does not.]

[baoying]

[ cool. well, binghe's ignoring steve's bloodied corpse. time to get a move on. ]

These lines have to connect to something. Either we can use the seats to move, or we can use the trees to climb down.

[ not that he can climb with these fucking skis on his feet!! this is the worst. ugh.

time to turn that OP protagonist braincell on. binghe gives a test to the ski poke in his hand, experimenting to see if it bends or breaks in his grip with pressure. it doesn't, does it. ]

If the pole or a ski can support weight, we can use it to slide down to the seat back there. [ he jerks his thumb back towards the seat behind them. since. logically they're going up a hill? ] Then we wouldn't have to - [ nose wrinkles ] - "use the wedge" or whatever that means.

[ if he just had his powers he could just jump down and obliterate whatever's down there but NO ]

[dynasty]

Are you suggesting we use the poles to slide down seat to seat until we get back to ground level?

[ it's not... the worst idea, and they might be least likely to fall like steve did. still risky though.


probably better than skiing.]

[snowmods]

[Notably, Steve’s body doesn’t appear to be there. Not that Binghe notices. The pole does not bend!

Anyway, you’re welcome to try whatever you wish. It gets colder still though. Their hands and feet might be feeling numb.

:)]

[snyaiper]

I thought of that, but it's too high up for me to get a ski pole over the cable.

[He'd need to be tall enough to grab the cable to stick something over the top of it!!!]

[baoying]

[ the look on binghe's face screams "oh, that's too bad for you". ]

I'm sure there's a way. [ better jump

anyway. with the cold starting to set in and these useless skiis making it difficult to move, we're going to try at least starting to get up. at least with steve gone and not a corpse in the ice because i can't read, there's enough room to grab onto the back of the lift chair and turn over, to at least get up to his knees. the poles can dangle from his wrists for now because of the straps. ]

These things are useless. [ fuck these skis they are so!!! cumbersome!!!! ] If either of you have a better idea, now's the time to think of it.

[ are they near one of those ski lift towers anyway? or just right in the middle?

binghe's gonna keep trying to stand up in the meantime bc he doesn't want to freeze to death. ]

[dynasty]

[ xichen could help ogata up to do it but he'll let binghe try first to see if the idea is even viable. for now though he'll just keep his arms wide over the back of the seat to make sure the seat doesn't wildly swing again. ]

We either climb the cables straight forward to the nearest tower or drop-off point, or they break and we have to climb them down.

[ the second option doesn't sound great though, especially if their are wolves and they have skis stuck to their feet. especially because he agrees with binghe - these things are annoying and he certainly doesn't know how to ski. ]

[snowmods]

[It’s nice you’re all so dedicated to the ‘fit that you just keep the skis on. Since he looks, Binghe can, in fact, see that there’s a tower further down the hill and one at the peak of the rise. They are both a fair distance away - perhaps 10 seats - and you’re pretty much right in between the two.

Anyway, it seems that with both Xichen and Binghe working to keep the seat steady, you don’t rock it too much. Success!

It gets colder still. You start to feel as though you’ll get a disadvantage on any sort of roll for athletic movement.]