He Who Fights with Monsters, #1
He Who Fights with Monsters
by Shirtaloon
Contents
26. Waterfall
Overview
Jason hikes with Hiram to the waterfall’s source, an aperture-fed channel inside the mountain. After touring the sealed observation room and meeting Griff, the waterfall abruptly stops. Hiram opens the safety gate, revealing the glowing aperture to a rainforest. A hostile shab crawls through, triggering Jason’s quest and forcing a confrontation.
Summary
Jason accompanies Hiram up the shaded mountain trail to the waterfall’s source, appreciating his new iron-rank attributes in the heat and mist. They enter a cave with a wooden walkway, emerging into a chamber where a torrent of luminous blue water shoots through a fenced tunnel.
Hiram brings Jason into a sealed observation room, where they dry off and greet Griff, the assistant on duty. After Griff departs, Hiram leads Jason back to the fence for a closer look, the vital, refreshing spray hinting at the water’s magic origin.
They follow a side tunnel to the mountain’s exterior, admiring the vista over the pool, village lake, and desert. Suddenly the waterfall’s roar fades; the torrent diminishes to nothing, leaving a smooth, empty conduit. Concerned, Hiram retrieves a key, unlocks the gate, and drops into the water tunnel, with Jason following.
Inside, they see the aperture: a vast, blue-shimmering circle revealing a rainforest beyond. As they watch, a new creature—a shelled, crab-limbed shark called a shab—pushes through like passing a water membrane. Jason’s system issues a quest to defeat it before it harms anyone. With no prior encounters to guide them, Hiram draws a knife and Jason readies his dagger, bracing to fight.
Who Appears
- Jason AsanoProtagonist; tours the waterfall aperture, observes its sudden shutdown, and prepares to fight the emerging shab.
- HiramAperture watcher and guide; leads Jason, manages the facility, unlocks the tunnel gate, and readies to confront the shab.
- ShabHostile monster from the rainforest aperture; shelled shark body with crab legs and huge pincers, triggers Jason’s quest.
- GriffAssistant on duty in the observation room; greets Jason and Hiram before leaving his shift.