Asklemmy

Good reasoning, but unfortunately that’s not why they discarded clothes. You’re close enough that I’ll give it to you, though.

SPOILER:

Here’s the narrative: A group of friends were taking a ride in a hot air balloon one day. After some time, the igniter which gave their balloon altitude broke and they began descending faster and faster. After dropping all of their sandbags, the descent was only marginally slowed. They came to the conclusion that one of them must jump in order to save the rest. The leader tore off sticks from the railing of the wicker basket that made up the cradle of the balloon. Everyone drew straws and the subject of our story was the unfortunate man to lose. In order to give the man the best chance of survival from the fall, each passenger removed their clothes and tied them together to lengthen the rope they had aboard. They lowered the makeshift rope overboard. The group waited until they were close enough to the ground to hopefully allow the man to survive the fall. The man held firmly to the short straw he drew for good luck and climbed over the side of the basket to begin descending the clothes-rope. As he was nearly at the end, the knots connecting the clothes unraveled and the man fell before he was ready. He landed naked in a field, dead. His only possession was the fateful stick which sealed his fate.

Thanks for playing!