He Who Fights with Monsters, #1
He Who Fights with Monsters
by Shirtaloon
Contents
78. Jason Has the Good Biscuits
Overview
The reduced escort team crosses harsh desert as Jason’s preparation and gear give him a clear edge. When a sand shab ambushes them, Jason baits and kills it, unveiling a new doom spell and shadow teleport. Lighthearted banter follows, but ends as tremor-sense warns that the very sand encircles them, escalating the mission’s danger.
Summary
The seven-person escort departs into true desert, where Phoebe Geller leads by precise heading. Jason’s extensive preparations—oasis bracelet, new boots, food, water, and utility items—let him travel comfortably while several others struggle and burn spirit coins. Tension lingers over the missing healer, lost after Jason’s tirade at muster.
When tremor-sense flags movement ahead, Phoebe orders Jason to act as bait. Jason uses a green-corded dart to project a false aura, drawing out a huge sand shab. He follows with a black-corded shadow field, vanishes into it, and reappears beside the team via Phoebe’s shadow, revealing shadow teleport.
As the shadow fades and the wounded shab advances, Jason stacks afflictions and casts Punition, a doom spell that inflicts necrotic damage per curse, disease, poison, or unholy effect. The shab’s shell crumbles, flesh withers, and it dies, alarming the team with the brutal efficacy of his “evil-seeming” powers.
Resuming the march, Jason and Humphrey banter about the widespread recording of Jason’s earlier fight and the perception that he controls monsters. Humphrey’s familiar, Stash, fawns over Jason’s homemade biscuits, irking Gabrielle. Phoebe and Gabrielle privately discuss a goddess’s interest in Jason and her warning that he could influence impressionable minds.
The mood shifts when tremor-sense again triggers—this time detecting presences on all sides. The group realizes the threat is not localized prey but the surrounding sand itself, signaling a larger, imminent danger.
Who Appears
- Jason AsanoWell-prepared outworlder; baits and kills a sand shab using shadow tactics and Punition; displays shadow teleport; center of team banter.
- Phoebe GellerLeads the desert trek decisively; assigns Jason as bait; evaluates his tactics and coordinates team responses.
- HumphreyTravels comfortably; discusses Jason’s reputation and recording; his familiar Stash bonds with Jason.
- GabrielleKeeps pace with leaders; jealous of Stash’s affection for Jason; shares that a goddess is wary of Jason’s influence.
- StashHumphrey’s shapeshifting familiar; dotes on Jason’s biscuits, shifting forms playfully.
- Tremor-sense adventurerDetects the buried shab and later warns that threats surround the team in the sand.