User:Andy mci/Mountain of Madness Sandbox

Plot
Mr. Burns goes to work and decides to skip his usual morning coffee. But within an hour, he feels sleepy and has his drink. Energized, Burns decides to hold an evacuation drill but ends up settling for a good old-fashioned fire drill. However, instead of clearing the plant complex, the employees panic, and fail to get out in less than fifteen minutes. Outraged, Burns declares that everyone shall be subjected to a teamwork competition at Mt. Springfield. Homer gets partnered with Burns while Smithers has to journey on his own. The object of this competition is to reach a cabin at the top of the mountain; the last team to arrive will be fired.

Along the way, Burns talks Homer into cheating and they use a snowmobile to reach the cabin. Arriving several hours early, they get comfortable. Burns and Homer quickly form a friendship. However, while clinking their champagne glasses, they cause an avalanche that buries the entire cabin. They are unable to get a message to the outside world. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa meet Smithers and agree to help him, though they do more stalling than helping. In the cabin, Burns and Homer fail to tunnel out. Each time they speak, they cause more avalanches that put more snow between them and freedom.

Soon, cabin fever begins to fall upon the two men. They build snowmen to pass the time (though Burns insists they build real men out of snow) and give them their clothing. As for the other workers, they reach what they think is the cabin. However, it is actually a ranger station and they realize that something bad has happened to their colleagues. In the cabin, Homer and Burns stare at each other's eyes, filling their minds with paranoia. Burns is driven mad and attempts to kill Homer. After a struggle, Burns ignites the cabin's propane tank, launching the cabin out of the snow and next to the other workers. Reminding everyone of the contest, all the workers run in and Lenny, being the last one to reach the cabin, is fired (though Burns decides that everyone has learned their lesson and that no one is fired after all). As for himself and Homer, the episode ends with the two of them exchanging paranoid glances.

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Start of the Story
Mr. Burns arrives at work and decides against his usual coffee. However, within an hour he is sleepy and desperate for the hot drink. Refreshed, he decides to hold a fire drill. However, instead of getting out of the building quickly, employees are shown mistaking the fire alarm for a microwave and waiting for their drinks to come before leaving. Others go crazy and start knocking people out with fire extinguishers. After 15 minutes, Homer makes it out and bars the door with a bench for some reason.

Outraged, Burns decides to host a teamwork competition with a pair climbing the mountain together. The first one there would get champagne and sandwiches, and the last would be fired.

Homer and Burns
This is the central story of the show. Homer and Burns are climbing together, and Burns starts talking about cheating. Homer, nervous, decides to agree that they should cheat, and Burns pulls back some bushes to reveal a snowmobile. They drive it through the snow to the cabin and arrive many hours before everyone else.

They enjoy relaxing together with the free food and warm fire, but this comes to a sharp end when the clink from the champagne classes knocking together sets off an avalanche that buries the cabin under several feet of snow. After opening the door twice and the window once, Homer realises that they're trapped, and starts digging his way out.

They manage to puncture the surface and escape, but they make so much noise that another avalanche starts, sending them rolling back down and putting out the fire. Homer says they should make snowmen to keep themselves sane. Even though Burns thinks they are making real men out of snow, they complete two snowmen, and their growing insanity makes them take their clothes off to dress them. After the snowmen are completed, Burns and Homer stand opposite them wearing rags and thinking their snowy counterparts are mocking them.

After hours of being trapped, they become even crazier. Homer and Burns imagine that they both have armies behind them, and they attack each other. However, Burns manages to pierce the propane tank with his weapon. The jet from it sends the house bursting out of the snow and crashing down the mountain, killing a squirrel. It manages to stop just in time.

Other Stories
There are a few minor side stories in this episode.

Lenny and Carl
Lenny and Carl are second to arrive at the spot the cabin should be. After standing above it for a while and discussing whether the cabin was metaphorical or not, they decide it wasn't due to the fact there should be sandwiches. They set off again and find a Ranger hut nearby which they assume is the cabin.

Lisa, Bart and Smithers
After being let out of the Ranger station to run around outside for a while, Lisa and Bart meet Smithers and decide to help him. However, they are more of an obstruction than a help to him due to Lisa's desperation to help injured animals and Barts stupidity.

Eventually, Smithers reaches the hut, thinking he was the last to arrive and would be fired, but it turned out that Burns and Homer had not reached what they thought was the cabin and were still searching.

Marge and Maggie
After the whole family minus Homer wander around the exhibition looking at it, Bart and Lisa leave. Marge and Maggie search for them but can't find them, until the Ranger recommends to check outside. They take the chairlift to the top of the mountain, as it 'gives an eagle-eye view of the area directly below the chairlift'. On the way up the see the kids and Smithers, before saying they'll meet them at the top.

Ending
The rocket house stops just shy of the hut. After standing outside for a while, Burns reminds everyone that the last into the cabin will be fired. They all pile in, but Lenny is last, and Burns sends him away. However, in a speech, he says that due to the teamwork displayed by all teams, noone will be fired. Lenny doesn't hear this, and complains about being fired while walking away before falling down a hole in the snow.