The source of the smoke can be traced to fissures in the ground. The smoke rises from openings within the ground, suggesting an outbreak of ongoing, underground fires, likely created by rich vegetable matter composting without any water to smother the flames.
Mobius recalls that yetis were reported to be mysterious and rarely seen creatures, often dwelling among the loneliest and tallest mountain peaks. They can be fierce, stealthy, and immensely strong creatures, but are communal. They dwell in small tribes atop their distant mountains, where they are sheltered from contact with most other races. Those with violent or cruel natures are usually forced out of tribes to live lonely lives as exiles, and without the support of a tribe such yeti are often driven to raiding lowlander settlements, thus perpetuating the myth of the yeti as a demon made flesh. Yetis generally have a neutral disposition, that most known populations of yetis understand Aklo and some common, and that yetis are vulnerable to fire.
As Ashtif activates the translator and sneaks ahead and the remainder of the party approaches the village, the yetis seem to pay little attention to the Starfinders at all.
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The exocortex feeds Mobius with a ton of information regarding the yetis. "This looks like a good sign. The fiercest of the yetis tend to live in isolation. Perhaps this tribe would be safe to communicate with."
He faces Brook and the rest of the party. "Let's go talk to them. We might know more about this place from them." He then starts walking toward the yetis urging the rest of the group to follow him.
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Brookwillow gives his fellow Starfinders a nod, then begins to advance slowly toward the yeti encampment. He whistles softly so they won't be alarmed. He tries hard to look non-threatening, even submissive, to the yeti.
When he believes he has been noticed, he plants his spear in the ground, and continues to advance with open hands.
In a gentle, quiet common, he'll say "greetings, friends, we come in peace."
As a reminder, his translator is recording.
In a gentle, quiet common, he'll say "greetings, friends, we come in peace."
If the yetis have heard the ghoran speak, or are even aware of his approach, they are--quite literally--unmoved by it. The yetis continue to lie on the ground.
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"It would seem so, Shelldrake. Perhaps some large buckets of coffee may help rouse these creatures."
Brookwillow hopes that the yetis don't wake up in a foul mood. He decides to take a more direct approach.
"HELLO YETIS! WAKE UP AND MEET YOUR NEW FRIENDS!"
He'll then gently poke the foot of the nearest yeti.
Gil-Oloth makes her couch moves closer to one of the Yetis and observes the creature, intrigued that they do not react to their actions.
Upon observing the yetis further, the lounging elf concludes that the large, fur-covered creatures are under the influence of some substance or effect that has hallucinogenic properties.
He begins moving through the huts, trying to determine what happened here. In particular, since he assumes these huts do not belong to the yetis, he is looking for evidence of the creatures that may have been here before the huts were demolished.
Ashtif can see that the huts were clearly built for humanoid creatures of a smaller size and somewhat different anatomy than that of the yetis. Among the buildings, he spots a few agrarian tools, which are poorly maintained. Some are even falling apart from disuse. A few areas, clearly once used for the storage of dried grains or other foodstuffs, lie mostly empty.
The halfling also spots a few stacks of dried peat, which could once have been used for fuel for a fire pit or an oven. However, the material largely lies deteriorating. Amidst one such stack is a load lifter armor upgrade and a dented, but otherwise perfectly usable advanced medkit.
"HELLO YETIS! WAKE UP AND MEET YOUR NEW FRIENDS!"
He'll then gently poke the foot of the nearest yeti.
After spending a few minutes persistently trying to get their attention, the Starfinders manage to rouse a few of the yetis from their current torpor.
”New friends?” one of the yetis replies not bothering to get up. He opens one eye slightly to look at the ghoran. “Nope.” he says slowly. “You’re not a member of the tribe. Only supposed to talk to members of the tribe.”
Another roused yeti, stumbles out of the damaged doorway of a nearby building. He speaks to the horizontal lying yeti.
”Who you talking too?”
The yeti on the ground responds.
“'New friends', or so they say.”
One of the yetis that was lying nearby, now rises to his feet.
“They aren’t in our tribe. We’re really not supposed to talk to anyone not in the tribe.”
The yeti in the doorway shouts back at the one who just stood up.
“He already said that, Larrix!”
Shuffling sounds from the nearby structures, make it evident that the other yetis are also coming round and are now rising to their feet.
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Ashtif holds up the medkit and load lifter. "Well, I could try to treat them for poison, perhaps counteract the effects. Alternately, someone could give them a piggyback ride out of here with the load lifter." He holds up the translator, to see if it is able to process any of the unknown language the yetis are speaking, and whether it can translate to them yet.
The yeti on the ground gives a quizzical glance over at the elf speaking Aklo.
"Whoah! What did you just say?" he asks.
One of the yetis that had spoken previously speaks again.
"She just repeated what we had said earlier."
The yeti in the doorway cries out in response.
"We know already, Larrix!"
The yeti on the ground, now rises to his feet and begins speaking with the other yetis.
"We're talking. And then, like, they join in saying the same things that we 're saying in our tribe. What should I say next?"
There is a period of quiet. Then, one of the yetis in the back says something meekly.
"Join the tribe?"
Soon, another says more loudly, now speaking in common. "Join the tribe."
"Join the tribe!" shouts another in response.
Still others speak.
"Join the tribe."
Soon, a few of the yetis begin chanting in unison.
Others, respond in Aklo.
From a tent nearby, a pair of two other yetis emerge, drawn to the location by the sounds of chanting. One carries a fangblade while the other has a pistol of somekind dangling from his belt.
Even as the chants of the other yetis threaten to drawn out his words, the yeti with the fangblade looks at the Starfinders saying, "We yetis can speak openly only with other members of our tribe. Just what do you think you are doing here?"
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Kat tenses and is on high alert as the yetis rise and begin speaking. She watches closely as they communicate with each other until Gil-Oloth translates.
She tries her hand at communicating in common. "We've come from far away, we are explorers. We would like to learn more about your tribe. Are there other tribes here as well?"
Confused with everything that's happening, Mobius holds up his hands, looks around, and answers, "Uhm...Join the tribe?"
“Welllllll….” the yeti with the fangblade slowly ponders, “things have been pretty boring around here in the Party Downs lately.” He ponders for a moment, pulling on thick fur that covers his chin, as well as much of the rest of his body. In the heat, it is clear that much of his fur, like those of his fellow yetis, is matted in sweat.
Turning to the other yetis, he loudly and eagerly declares,
"We've come from far away, we are explorers. We would like to learn more about your tribe. Are there other tribes here as well?"
“Well, there’s that one group that was here. With tails.” pipes in one of the yetis. “And, then there’s also the Swamp Ghost…”
“Shut up, Lannix!” responds another yeti. “You aren’t supposed to talk to them. They aren’t in the tribe yet.”
“Not….yeti.” mutters the one referred to as “Lannix”, clearly pleased with himself.
Ashtif nods excitedly. "Yes, let's join the tribe! Does your tribe have a name?"
“Muckfurs!” one of the yetis cries out. raucously responds most of the other yeti in not-quite-unison.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to talk to them yet.” says Lannix as he wipes a furry arm against his brow, which has been moistened by the heat.
“Shut up, Lannix!” the largest yeti responds.
"WHAT MUST WE DO TO BECOME A MEMBER OF YOUR TRIBE?"
A number of the yetis begin jump and hoot in response. ”Jump ditch!” one yells.
”Jump ditch!” shouts another, waving one of his dirty claws.
declares the leader with the fangblade, who then motions for the party to follow.
The yetis lead you all to the nearest muddy ditch. With a great deal of hooting and hollering, the yetis begin egging each one of the Starfinders on. They shout.
The ditch is 10 feet across, but the muddy ground is slippery.
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Kat makes a mental note of the tailed creatures and the swamp ghost, but presses no further as Lannix is silenced.
She follows the group to the ditch. When the yetis start to egg her on, she peels off her leather jacket, tosses it onto a spot of dry ground and takes a running start.
Ashtif runs 10 feet toward the ditch and jumps. He clears a mere 8 feet horizontally ...
Falling short of the edge of the ditch, Ashtif collides with the muddy ground. The soft, wet material prevents any injury to the Halfling, but he is now covered nearly head to toe in muck and mud.
There is a hush of the small crowd of yetis, which is suddenly interrupted by uproarious sounds of laughter as the yetis laugh and cheer. "Mud! Mud! Mud!" chants the members of the Muckfur tribe.
Gil-Oloth activates her couch's jetpack and flies over the ditch.
Another hush comes over the furred spectators at the sound of the elf's couch jetpack igniting. The yetis eyes closely follow the trajectory of the Starfinder's couch, from its moment of launch, through the air over the ditch, and down to its gentle, nearly spotless landing in the soft ground.
The various yetis begin exchanging confused glances among one another in utter silence. Then, from the back, one of the yetis says, "That was different."
"Shut up, Lannix!" responds others.
When the yetis start to egg her on, she peels off her leather jacket, tosses it onto a spot of dry ground and takes a running start.
Leaping over the ditch with room to spare, Kat easily sticks the landing. Her efforts are met with several seemingly approving nods as well as a few claps.
"She...cleared it." notes a voice from the back of the crowd of yetis.
comes the response from the others.
She will turn around and offer Ashtif and hand up from the ditch, as well as anyone else that might not have made it.
The result are cries of joy and rauscous laughter from among the assembled yetis. Some even reach down, scooping up from with their claws and tossing it around.
The yetis look at remaining Starfinders expectantly.
Ashtif takes the offered hand, finally pulling his way up. He holds up his mud-covered arms and says, loudly, "Muckfurs!"
"Muckfurs!" respond the yetis along with rousing cheers.
Brookwillow gets a face full of mud as he misses the mark on his jump. He stands up, looks around, shakes some mud off, and once again yells:
cry the yetis in joyous response.
Shelldrake also jumps across.
"Whoop?" one of the yetis offers.
" responds another yeti.
The yeti with the fangblade, which you can now see is clearly damaged, looks over the Starfinders, his expression not quite readable.
Mobius takes a deep breath and takes a jump following his companions.
The yeti with the fangblade looks impressed, though just slightly, saying, "Time for second test."
"Smokehole hunting?" asks one of the yetis.
" the others respond with obvious glee.
The yetis, lead the Starfinders over to a fisher within the ground, its edges clearly having been extended by large, curved claws. Here the underground fires are especially active and smoke pours forth freely into the surrounding air.
"This is a smokehole." says the yeti with the fangblade, breathing in deeply of the emanating smoke. "Now, you find one."
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Brookwillow taps into his connection with nature to seek this smoky conduit into the vault these creatures live in. What geography would be most likely to have smoldering peat just below the surface?
"HERE is your smoke, Muckfurs!"
Brookwillow pulls the surface vegetation away, letting the smoke pour out of the hole he found.
"MUCKFURS RULE!"
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Shelldrake covers her ear for a second listening intently to an earpiece before replying "What? no, smoke, s m o k e, smokehole, they definitely said smokehole. No there is no volcano around that I can see... what? ok" she starts looking around following the advice she is given over comms.
Hireling - Physical Science
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Kat collects her jacket and follows the group, running her clean hand through her hair to fix it after jumping. She relies on her exocortex to visually scan the area to attempt to find a different smoke hole.
Brookwillow, Mobius, Ashtif, and Gil-Oloth each not only find promising areas for smokeholes, but each finds one with such an especially large fire underneath.
Using his hands, he digs through the dirt and mud. He tries to feel for an increase in temperature before digging further.
After a few minutes of digging, Mobius is covered in dirt and grime. The sight of the now filthy Starfinder sends the yetis howling with laughter.
Upon completion of the Starfinder's work, heavy lavender smoke rolls out of the freshly-dug opening and covers the yetis. Remaining within the smoke seems to improve the yetis' attitude, particularly that of the yeti with the fangblade.
After reveling in Mobius' work and inhaling the results of it, the yetis turn expectantly towards the other, more clean, Starfinders. A number of them point towards the ground or their claws, indicating that they consider the task of the other Starfinders to be unfinished.
"Oh, yeah, smoke-HOLE. Got it." He begins digging at the location he found.
The yetis cheer and holler as the halfling's efforts end in him getting even more filthy than before. The smoke that results from the efforts seem to have a narcotic effect on the yetis.
When the Starfinders have finished their work, the yeti leader declares, "Just more test. Take a huff."
"Huff! Huff! Huff!" chant the yetis as they insist that each of you take a deep breath of smoke from one of the holes.
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Not wanting to dig herself Gil-Oloth commands her drone to use its pike to dig the ground.
how dirty, boring and tiring is this task! I will not do it myself...
As the smoke arise from the hole, Gil-Oloth analyse it
As she realize that it's no more harmful than basic smoke for her, she inhales it.
Use to smoke different herbs, the vapors don't seem to affect Gil-Oloth at all!
Turning to the Yetis, she says. You know, I have different herbs that could help you in many ways if you want to try them...
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Kat shares a knowing smile with Sheldrake and places her face into the smoke for a few moments. Happy she doesn't breathe as an android, she takes the time to assess the smoke.
While she can't quite make out the exact nature of the smoke, she hopes that the length of time she has been exposed to the smoke leads the yetis to believe she's had a good, long haul.