The Nedrassian Trench

[Tehol Nookington]

Tehol continues to fire arrows at them while keeping K’rull on a leash lest he gets eaten.

[Dr. Archimedes Steller]

"Their carapace is composed of softer tissue near the lower side of their abdomen!" Archimedes shouted at his companions, but then realized he might not have been clear enough. "AIM FOR THEIR BELLIES!"

[Nigel Thornheart]

With the smell of burnt gunpowder fresh in the air, and the imbibed potion coursing through his veins Nigel drew his sword and shield to charge into the fray, Imperial plate gleaming as the cover for his next book already formed in his head. "Mighty Thornhearts! Chaaaaaarge!" He tried to bury his sword into the belly of the nearest shrimp. In the novelization, he would take full credit for the idea, while likely saying the good doctor spend the combat cowering in the corner. 

[The Forgotten God]

Nigel Vs Bubba Gump

Nigel: 177/153/155
The Shrimp: 171/102
Shrimp takes fatal damage
Nigel takes 22 damage

Nigel is an arrogant blowhard, but the man can fight. His magically empowered blows smash through the shrimps underbelly and cleave deep into it. The rushing Arthropods weight slams into him and nearly knocks him off the railing but he catches himself at the last instant.

The remaining adventurers join the captain in driving the other shrimp off the deck while the remainder under the water scatter as the boiling water instinctively causes them to flee.

[The Forgotten God]

End of combat

//

Sabrina peers up from below deck. “Professor? Are you all right up here?” The deck is stained with shrimp ichor and some sailor’s blood. The cabin boy just sadly hangs his head at the mess.

The captain takes a swig from her flask and hands it to Nigel. “Not bad,” she said. “And before anyone chimes in, no, I have no god damned idea what those things were.”

[Dr. Archimedes Steller]

"We are, Ms. Melchior... Except for Lenny. Poor lad. Let's all take a moment of silence in his honor." Archimedes said solemnly, putting his right hand on his chest and closing his eyes. The moment didn't last much more than a dozen heartbeats, the Professor quickly openeds his eyes and paced towards the cabin boy. "See that he is properly seen to and you will be rewarded."

"Well,now... That dead specimen is mine. No one dare touch it before I get to study it!" He cried, his mood completely changed from the solemn tone he had just taken, back to his usual energetic self. "Come one, Ms. Melchior, bring me the dissection equipment! And some jars of course. Science waits for no one."

The professor knelt beside the specimen that Nigel had just disposed of, and started analysing it up close.

[The Forgotten God]

The captain motioned for the cabin boy to take Lenny’s head (which had rolled back into the ship from a wave), and put it in a jar of preservatives. Sabrina brought the professor’s tools up and he began the dissection. As he did, he noticed a curious effect. The creature seemed to be slowly but visibly shrinking as he worked. Within ten minutes it had lost a full third of its size, making it a still terrifying but much less intimidating specimen.

[Thalia Vedas]

Thalia looked at the creature, and saw that the good doctor and his assistances were busy, so headed down to the cabin to release the animals he’d caged.

[The Forgotten God]

She doesn’t have any trouble freeing the assorted birds and strange little fish in their tanks.

[Thalia Vedas]

After that she headed to the mess area for some food. Magic was hungry work.

[Justine-Juliette de Vair]

Not having learned her lesson at all, Justine went to check on Nigel who seemed to have gotten on the wrong end of one of the shrimps. “Are you alright?” She asked, looking him over. She had very little medical training.

[The Forgotten God]

Elise is eating a bowl of normal shrimp, somewhat ironically. “That was exciting,” she said in a deadpan voice. “Something sent them here. Probably after us specifically.” She said it as though she was discussing having bought a new pair of shoes.

[Thalia Vedas]

“Yes I imagine, since the sea farers had no idea what it was, that it’s from a place no ones been in a very long time, which also means, somehow whatever’s there just know.” She surmised, “any insight into that?”

[Dr. Archimedes Steller]

Archimedes bit his lower lip while he made the shrimp look like a scene worthy of the famous painter from Bastion, Fablo Ficasso. The creature lay on the ship's deck sperad open, there was ichor everywhere, organs floating in jars and bits and pieces of carapace categorized by thickness and size.

"This is quite an impressive specimen, but I am afraid there might be unnatural, outside forces acting on them." He said to the rest of the team, removing ichor covered gloves and handing them over to Sabrina. "You see that swelling on the lower abdomen?! That, my friends, is a petasma. And what can we under from a swollen petasma? Well, first, that it is a male, but that's not the point. What matters is that the there is rarely swealing in the petasma and one of the reasons this can occur is due to exposure to magical energy. More especifically, augmentation magic."

"Where am I going with this?" Archie cleared his throat. "This, couple to the fact that we have just witnessed this new shrimp specimen... Which by the way, I am naming the Heterocarpus Magnus Stellerensis, Ms. Melchior, Please note that down... Reduce it's body mass by more than half, I am led to believe that someone or something turned them into the monstrosities that assailed our ship."

[The Forgotten God]

Elise put a piece of the creature on the table and moved her hand over it while muttering under her breath. Thalia sees it glowing a second then she saw an island with a scummy looking port on it and an unfamiliar man casting a spell, then nothing. “You didn’t recognize that place did you?”