Start your investigation into the monster

Author's note: I guess this branch has been abandoned for two years after one chapter, so I don't see any harm in trying to add my own bits of story unless someone more experienced wants to take the reins. I've dropped "Xander" as the protag's name and will refer to him as John. I've also made him more innocent and curious (possibly naïve), instead of an asshole. With that, let's get into some monmusu.

Hunting cabin to the west. It occurs to you now you did not ask for a name. Lesson learned. It's not too long a walk into the forest trail before you find signs pointing to the only hunting cabin in the region. It's Fall, so there's bound to be someone in there this time of year. Pelts of various woodland critters are stretched outside, being made into tradable goods.

Knocking on the door yields a man on roughly the same age as his (you assume) brother, slightly more tan and worn in complexion, but the resemblance is there.

You stand silently as he looks at you plainly in return. He's the first to break the few seconds of silence.

"You, uh, come to buy something, chief?"

"Oh, uh... no, actually. I'm here about... a sighting."

"Sighting?" he says a little more interested.

"Yeah, I heard something about someone seeing a red snake in the area."

You leave out the details about it being the size of a man, in case this isn't your guy.

The hunter thinks for a second before looking at you suspiciously.

"Where did you hear that?"

"From someone at a tavern in town. I asked them where to find the person who saw this snake, and now I'm here."

"... come inside."

The man turns away and walks into the cabin, waiting for you to follow as well. You enter and close the door behind you. Various horns are mounted on the walls, maybe the odd paper with an outline of a large fish drawn on too, all trophies of tough game. The man grabs a paper with something on it as he walks over to you.

"What exactly did you hear about this snake?" he asks.

"Nothing much, just that it's red of some shade, and... particularly large."

"Damn right." the hunter says as he lays down the paper he was holding for you to see.

On it is a rough sketch of some sort of large worm or snake creature, just as you imagined it would look like.

"I saw it while hunting yesterday. Damn thing scared the hell out of me. I had laid out a trap for boar using some mushrooms. Fellas can smell 'em for leagues around. I was sitting with my bow ready for maybe 10 minutes, when something moved in the bushes behind me. As I turned around, a huge **** knocked me to the ground." he says making a shoving motion. "Couldn't get a good look at it, but when I got up, I saw the tail of the beast slithering away. Bright shade of red, completely out of place for something that lives in the forest. Couldn't tell you how long it was because it already half-escaped into the brush by that time, but at most the tail was thick around as the thickest tree you've ever seen, and at it's end it was thin enough to grab with your hand. Managed to hit it with an arrow before it completely disappeared. Made an awful noise, that thing. Almost like a cougar."

You take in the story, adding some notes to your journal where applicable. Giant, red, some sort of snake, maybe worm? Hostile?

"Damn thing had probably scared off any animals nearby, so the hunt was ruined. Not that it mattered, my mushrooms were gone too."

Now that's interesting.

"Snakes are carnivorous, right? They only eat meat?"

"The ones I've seen, yeah. Bugs and insects, small rodents, other snakes, things like that."

"Do you think it attacked you to take the mushrooms?"

"I couldn't tell you. Maybe it just swept them away somewhere accidentally. Probably just squashed them."

"But you're still here and breathing. If it wanted meat, there were options, one that's a lot more filling."

"Guess so. Whole thing is just straight-up bizarre."

More information to mull over on the way. Speaking of, it's about time you stop standing around and go try to find this thing. This is exactly the kind of story you're looking for. Human history doesn't go back too far, but we've always kept to ourselves. We turn away from venturing further out beyond where the lights of our towns stop illuminating the dark. No one's gone out to sea further than the horizon. You've only seen one map of your world, but it burned into your mind how much blank space there was all around. Ever since you were a boy, you wanted to know more. What few books you could get, you read over and over until the covers fell apart. Now at 18 years old, you know your place in the world isn't in your village, it's anywhere there's something new to learn.

"Where did this happen?"

"You meaning to go out there and look for it? You dumb?"

"Are you gonna tell me or not?"

The hunter eyes you for a second before chuckling to himself.

"Hm, can't tell if you're brave or suicidal, but I'll take you as far as I can. I'm not stepping a foot further into that thing's territory, though. You prepared to fight it?"

You stop and think. You actually hadn't considered the need to fight. You're not the strongest boy around, but growing up on your family's ranch meant you worked hard from sun up to sun down most days. Your body is as muscular as can be expected of a young man of soldiering age, and your father always told you to look out for your siblings, being you were the strongest. But even with muscle you're not as strong as some of the guardsmen around your hometown, if your arm wrestling matches with them in their free time were anything to go by. You had never even been in a real fight, at least not anything more serious than a tussle amongst angry brothers.

As such, you had only brought along a knife of decent length (more for utility than anything), a hatchet, a fire starter, and a shepherd's sling that you used to keep sheep in line at the ranch, among other miscellaneous tools and trinkets from home.

"Uh... I guess so?" you say more sheepishly than you'd like.

"You don't sound like it." the hunter says as he sighs. "Well, I'm not into giving away stuff for free, but I'm gonna at least give you a fair chance if you find this animal."

He gets up and goes into another room for a second, before coming back out with a wooden bow and a few arrows.

"It's an old training weapon, but it'll kill as easy as anything else."

You take the bow and shoulder it, and shove the arrows in your bag as best you can manage, since it's nowhere near deep enough to accommodate their length. You count maybe 4 arrows altogether. Not much, but what're the odds you'll need to use them?

"So will you take me?" you ask, excited more than scared.

"Yeah, yeah. Out the door, let's go."

It's an uneventful and silent walk through the forest. Eventually, the hunter stops and points forward. "This is as far as I go. Just keeping heading that way. If you get lost, head opposite the setting sun to get back to town."

You don't have many hours of daylight left anyway, so you're not sure how that's supposed to be of much help, but you'll keep it in mind anyway.

"Thanks for all the help. And the bow."

"Hey, I'll still be needing that back when you're done. And if you die, try to keep the bow clean as best you can."

He smirks, but you aren't entirely sure it's completely a joke.

"I'll... try. Thanks."

With that, you head your separate ways. As his footsteps get quieter, you head further into the forest, the sounds of birds and the occasional rustling of trees the only noise this deep in.

You pass by some edible fruits, as you learned from one of your books. The kind of person who would eat unknown food to learn if it's poisonous or not, that is exactly the kind of person you look up to. The adventurers of this world are few and far between, but we owe everything to them. You can only hope to be like them one day.

That being said, it's not like you need food right now, considering you still have some biscuits packed somewhere in your bag, a parting gift from your mom. But you still pocket them anyway. Might as well get used to being without homemade food if you're serious about this journey.

The hunter didn't say exactly how much further, but as you walk, you see a clearing come into view. It's not too big, you'd guess the length from one end to the other is as long as your family's barn was. But being the only clear patch of land you've seen yet, it stands out.

Author's note: Alright this chapter has gone on far enough sex, let's continue.