Aozaki Aoko Case File [515] (Patreon)

With the aid of magic, the party quickly climbed the rope to the top of the cliff with ease; magic truly makes things absurdly convenient at times.

“This is the easiest I’ve ever climbed this path,” Garrett exclaimed. “Magic is wonderful!”

“Where exactly were you attacked by the yeti?” Aoko asked. “Can you still find the spot?”

“Of course,” Garrett answered. “Let me see… There! Over there.”

He pointed north, slightly higher up. From their vantage, Aoko’s group could see a gentle slope with a cave at its end.

“Looks like a yeti lair,” Doric commented. “We’ll probably have to fight. Let’s hope your employers are still alive.”

“Let’s go, everyone. Stay sharp and let’s check it out,” Edgin led the way, carefully watching for ambushes.

Though the spot Garrett pointed to looked close, it took the group two full hours to arrive.

“See those bloodstains? My employers and I left them,” Garrett said, frowning at the messy ground. Despite the snow, traces were obvious. “They might have been dragged into the cave—there’s blood at the entrance, too.”

“How many yetis attacked you?” Holger asked.

“Just one,” Garrett replied. “A large male yeti. It hid in the snow by the cave and attacked as we approached. That’s when it bit through my shoulder.”

“What about your employers?” Edgin asked.

“Goliah Mojingo was the first to protect me,” Garrett sighed, “but he couldn’t last long and was quickly defeated. Asterix ran up the mountain, Perio ran into the cave, and the male yeti chased me downhill. I fell and passed out where you found me.”

“So, there are at least two of your employers in the cave,” Edgin concluded. “Let’s be cautious and check inside.”

The natural cave entrance was about 15 feet high and 10 feet wide—large for a human but small for a yeti.

Holga, in her adamantine breastplate, axe in hand, led the way, followed by Edgin. Doric and Simon accompanied Garrett and Jasrah in the middle, while Aoko brought up the rear.

Inside, the cave was higher—about 20 feet. The ceiling was concave, and most of the floor had collapsed, forming a chasm some 80 feet deep.

This pit split the cave into two routes, roughly forming a ring-shaped structure—not complicated.

The left route was a natural stone bridge, seemingly safer than the steep slope to the right, so they chose the left.

“Why not take that way?” Edgin pointed at the surface across the chasm—it looked shorter and straighter.

“Take a closer look. What is that, really?” Jasrah whispered. “If three people stepped on it, it’d collapse, and everyone would fall.”

Simon brought his Light spell closer. They saw the ground was just a huge frozen chunk of ice, riddled with cracks and ready to break at any moment.

With the shortcut ruled out, Edgin obediently joined the others on the rough stone bridge.

The crossing went smoothly—the way was solid, and magic kept everyone’s footing steady.

But just past the bridge, they found something grim.

Beyond the bridge was a 10-foot-high passage. At its entrance, several bones lay in a heap—stripped of flesh.

Farther on, a mutilated corpse lay on the ground, most of the flesh eaten away. Its head seemed torn off and shoved into a wall niche, the face unrecognizable.

“It’s Mojingo!” Garrett said, trembling. “He was killed by the male yeti!”

Besides the ill-fated Mojingo, there were many other adventurer corpses—most picked clean, leaving only battered armor fragments and bones.

The yeti had a strange habit: it tore the heads off its victims and stacked them neatly in wall niches, making the scene eerie.

There were seven visible heads, two of them dwarves. Jasrah’s face showed recognition.

“Oh no, that’s Oberk and Barthem,” Jathra exclaimed. “They went missing about a month ago—so they died here!”

“That beast is probably nearby,” Holga tensed, whispering. “I can feel it.”

The party pressed on through the foul-smelling corridor, and after about three minutes, reached a wide nest—the yeti’s lair.

A large and a small yeti were playing with a halfling woman in winter clothes, curled up like a fetus, tossed about like a ball.

“Perio!” Garrett cried out, catching the yetis’ attention.

Perio Fishfinger, a halfling acolyte, was always kind to her teammates and a good cook. Now, she was weakly sobbing as the yetis toyed with her.

The adventurers’ arrival startled the yeti cub, who let out a threatening cry and scrambled onto its mother’s back.

The mother yeti roared, trying to scare the party away—a tactic that might work on others, but was useless here.