It's much darker in the small antechamber, so dark you can barely see a few inches in front of you. Hands out in front of you, you take [[a tentative step forward|p1_3]]
and your hands encounter something papery and warm, almost [[buzzing with activity|p1_4]]
you hear a tearing sound then [[suddenly--|p1_5]]
You're suddenly enveloped in a swarm of tiny, angry insects, buzzing about your head and stinging you. It feels as if tiny ice crystals are biting into your exposed skin.\n\nICE HORNETS OH THE INSECTITY! THE INSECTITY OF IT ALL!!\n<<set $visited_hornets = "yes">>\n\nYou should probably opt for [[running screaming now|runscreaming]].\n\n\n
<html>\n <audio controls autoplay>\n <source src="fire_crackling.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">\n <source src="fire_crackling.ogg" type="audio/ogg">\n <embed src="fire_crackling.mp3">\n</audio>\n</html>\n\nThe makeshift fire quickly restores some of the chill you'd been feeling, and before long, you feel better than you have in several thousand feet. \n\nNow that your good humor has been restored, you contemplate the way ahead.\n\n<<display 'cave_hub_directions'>>
<<silently>>\n<<set $visited_hornets = "no">>\n<<set $fire_lit = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>\n\n\nDucking into the cave through a narrow opening, your eyes take a moment to get adjusted to the dim light.\n\nIt's a larger cave than you thought it would be, and littered with many kinds of different bones, all of which -- ye gods! appear to have been gnawed.\n\nEverything is covered with a thin rime of frost. Light sneaks in through chinks in the rock, which you suspect to be the source of the eerie whistling sound you hear from time to time.\n\n<<display 'cave_hub_directions'>>\n
[[You head along the trail towards the entrance to the cave.|go_inside]] \n\n[[<html>\n<iframe class="vine-embed" src="https://vine.co/v/hVIWwPrm1Kh/embed/simple?audio=1" width="600" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>\n</html>|go_inside]]\n\n\n
You bolt through the outer chamber in a panic, gasping for frigid fresh air and blessedly large spaces not filled with bones. Or ice hornets. \n\nShaken by your experience, you bend, hands on knees, and try to catch your breath. \n\nAfter a moment, you [[remember your students|getbackinthere]]
You follow it, and rise to your feet with relief, brushing dirt from the front of your parka and jeans. \n\nThe ceiling of this new chamber slopes up to easily 20 feet above your head, and the room itself is much larger than the one you just left.\n\nAnd... it's been decorated.\n\n<<display 'yeti_home_hub'>>
You wriggle your shoulders through the opening with some difficulty, twisting as you push your pack deeper into the tiny tunnel. \n\nMaking your way along the passage on your belly, you propel yourself along with your feet, some deft hip action and a powerful wriggle that would've made your elementary school teacher proud.\n\nAfter a few minutes, you feel the pack break through [[into another chamber|p2_3]]
<html><iframe class="vine-embed" src="https://vine.co/v/hEzb6jb1r5t/embed/simple?audio=1" width="320" height="320" frameborder="0"></iframe><script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script></html>\n\nThe warmth of the fire is mesmerizing and you sit, captivated, for a good half hour in front of it. \n\nSlowly you realize that you have yet to complete your quest and summit the peak. Still, what was it one of your students had said? \n\n"The best way to get done is to get started."\n\nGroaning as you force yourself to your feet, you contemplate the way ahead.\n\n<<display 'cave_hub_directions'>>
[img[lit_match.jpg]]\n\nA tiny flame springs to life under your fingertips, and you carefully [[hold it to your kindered pile|itgoesout]].
\nThe middle of the cave is dominated by a fire ring, <<if $fire_lit eq "no">>which looks to have been used recently.<<else>>\nin which a roaring fire crackles happily, filling the small chamber with the welcome scent of woodsmoke.<<endif>>\n\nAt the far end of the cave, two passages lead off in different directions.\n\nDo you:\n\n<<if $fire_lit eq "no">>\t[[try to rekindle the fire for some warmth|firebad]]<<endif>>\n<<if $visited_hornets eq "no">>[[follow the passage leading left|passage1]]<<endif>>\n[[follow the passage on the right|passage2]]\n[[run screaming from the cave|runscreaming]]
You retrieve the stone mug from where it sits next to the nest and peer inside. A small puddle of residual light-brown liquid sits in the bottom, smelling faintly sweet. \n\nYour stomach gurgles, unnaturally loud in the silence of the cave, and you remember how strenuously it's been objecting to your Hershey's-only diet. \n\nYou give the mug another sniff, then dip a pinkie in the liquid and take a tentative taste. \n\nIt is the most delicious tea you have ever tasted. \n\n[[But how on earth was it made?|tea_hub]]
.body { background-image: url("http://fredlum.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/campfire.jpg"); }\n\n.passage { max-width:50%; }
Cave of the Yeti
[img[family_photo1_small.jpg]] [img[family_photo2_small.jpg]]\n\nYou move closer to the photos, squinting a little in order to see better. You decide to take them down off the wall so you can examine them more clearly.
Sliding your pack from your shoulders, you turn sideways and crouch a little in order to slip into the [[small opening|p1_2]].
You step confidently toward the passage on the right. The entrance is low to the ground, so you slide your pack off and drop to your knees, pushing it in front of you [[into the tiny entrance|p2_2]].
The chamber has been made to seem kinda homey. \n\nFamily photos have been hung crudely at intervals on nails hammered into the rock. Off to one corner, a pile of books and a rough stone mug sit next to a nest of lush, fragrant pine branches. A much smaller fire-pit sits in the farthest corner, surmounted by a crude grill is a soot-smudged kettle.\n\n[[Investigate the books|books_hub]]\n[[Look at the family photos|photos_hub]]\n[[Check out the mug|mug_check]]\n\n<<set $found_photos = "no">>\n<<set $drank_tea = "no">>\n<<set $solved_books = "no">>
Stuffed into various crevices near the fire are the following items:\n\n--several sprigs of cluster of small white star-shaped blossoms\n--a chunk of honeycomb\n--one small brown dried lizard \n--\n\nChoose an item to add to the kettle to begin to replicate the Yeti's tea recipe.
It resolutely burns along the length of the match, then just before the flame reaches your fingertips, it gutters and goes out.\n\n\n\n\nYou curse loudly and with great feeling, creating a blue cloud of your own, that hovers over the small space. \n\nYou reach for a second match--\n\nWait. This fire needs something. \n\nYou pull out a couple of Hershey's wrappers and crumple them into balls. A few more get wrapped around some of the larger pieces of kindling. \n\nFinally, you reach for a second match and, striking it, [[extend it to the amended pile|success]]\n\n\n
The eager flame leaps from your match to the pile, and hisses as it catches the nearest wrapper alight. In a few seconds, some of the kindling has caught. \n\nIt's not long before you're sitting in front of a passably warm fire, resolutely ignoring the piles of bones that surround you.\n\n<html><iframe class="vine-embed" src="https://vine.co/v/hEzb6jb1r5t/embed/simple?audio=1" width="320" height="320" frameborder="0"></iframe><script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script></html>\n\n<<set $fire_lit = "yes">> \n\nAre you warm yet? [ [[yes|p2_transition]] | [[no|sitdown]] ]
Audrey Homan
You crouch at the edge of the fire ring and use your gloved hands to rummage among the ashes and the remaining kindling, assembling a small pile. You take your matchbook from the pocket of your parka and remove your gloves, in order to better grip the tiny instrument. \n\nWith deeply chilled hands, [[you strike a match|strikematch]]
<html><i>What kind of an example am I setting here,</i></html> you think forlornly. Every day in the classroom, your students present you with so many examples of overcoming obstacles and powering through adversity. <html><i>What kind of an example would I be setting if I returned to the path without locating the Yeti?</i></html>\n\nYou take a deep breath. Overhead, a convenient eagle zooms through the picture, wings spread, letting out a majestic squawk.\n\nThen, resolutely squaring your shoulders, you head back inside the cave. The bones are just as unsettling as when you last left them, but you focus on the openings in the far wall.\n\n\n<<display 'cave_hub_directions'>>