River Monsters

River Monsters is a side quest in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on, Honest Hearts.

Quick Walkthrough

 * 1) Deal with the Yao Guai at Pine Creek then head up the road.
 * 2) (Optional): Kill the Yao Guai that block the road in order to get through.
 * 3) (Optional): Destroy the Yao Guai Cave by planting Explosives inside.

Detailed walkthrough
Head to Pine Creek. From here you can either enter the nearby cave to set explosives and close off the entrance, or kill the yao guai outside the cave. The cave option does not require combat. Completion of either option ends the quest successfully, and the particular method chosen has no effect on the rest of the game.

If opting to collapse the cave entrance, enter the cave. From here, explore the cave, looking for each of three marked positions on the floor where you must place the explosives. Note that the "mining explosives" are not "items" carried by the player; they are part of the cave and need only be enabled. They appear somewhat like lunchboxes on the cave floor.

There are three yao guai in a central area of the cave, but killing them is not a requirement for this quest—they can be avoided while "placing the explosives." When all three explosives are set, exit the cave and trigger the Mining Detonator, sealing the cave and completing the quest.

If opting to kill the yao guai outside the cave, simply follow the map markers to the targets and dispatch them. Once all of the target yao guai are killed, the quest is complete.

Bugs

 * The cave entrance may not be blocked off by rubble if you decide to blow out the tunnel in the quest.
 * The Yao Guai may become stuck in the rocks, making killing/targeting them hard or impossible.

Behind the Scenes

 * This may be a reference to a Discovery's true River Monsters.