Cruel Sethropod

“And I ventured round to yon starboard side, scrubbing the barnacles and what have ye off the hull,” the old sailor said. He had gray hair and a long, grizzly beard and wore tattered leather breeches and a shirt that might have been white once but had faded to a dull color that was somewhere between gray and brown.

His young nephew, who had arrived in Praetoria from Azmare the night before, yawned. His parents had left him at his uncle's little shack while they went out to get the lay of the town. Now, they at the kitchen table, the old sailor sipping from a mug of ale and his young nephew wishing he was at the beach, swimming in the ocean and chasing girls instead of listening to his uncle's boring stories. He'd told the man as much, which is what prompted the old sailor's latest tale.

“Cruel Sethropods ain't from around here, ya ken,” the old sailor said with a belch, and his young nephew grimaced in disgust. “They came whence the Chaos Legion came. Invasive little buggers spread fast. Hadn't heard naught but rumors afore.

Well, I was maybe waist high in the water, scrubbing at them barnacles, when one swam up out of the water and latched onto my chest. Tried to pull me under. Woulda' had me for lunch if I hadn't had my wits about me. I drew my daggers and jammed 'em hilt-deep into its eyes. Still, it stayed on, with them teeth deep in my skin. Staggered into town, I did, and the doc had to cut the damnable thing off with a hacksaw.”

The young nephew rolled his eyes. “Probably slipped and cut yourself on some rocks,” he said.

The old sailor stared. Then he stood lifted his shirt. His young nephew gasped and made a retching sound.

In the middle of the old sailor's chest was a massive, circular scar. The grooves of the Cruel Sethropod's teeth were still visible like the mouth of a volcano, swollen and red in the center.

The old sailor downed the rest of his ale and punched the boy on the arm. “Ye still up for that swim?” Sailors tell many tales of the dangers of the Cruel Sethropods. Armed with strong pincers and teeth as sharp as spears, they attack anything that gets within range. It is nearly impossible to remove a Cruel Sethropod once it has latched on, and many a sailor has the scars to show where they ventured too close.