Lucretia was chilling on the docks of Astera, reading over some of the local newspaper nonsense while one of the fishermen bickered with their wife. Hearing that it was hard to fish in this sort of situation lucretia was quickly drawn to the conversation. She’d approach the two and ask what the fisherman meant by that. He’d explain to her that there was a creature in a nearby cave that was scaring away all the fish. She’d frown a bit and consider what could be scary enough or eat enough fish to cause an actual problem for a big city like this.

It was something that warranted investigating and she would do exactly that. Offering to go take a look the fishermen agreed that if she could prove that there was some kind of creature there’d be a hefty reward from the fishing guild. She’d make a dismissive motion figuring that it was just all talk. She didn’t particularly like swimming and doing so in her armor would be a problem honestly. She had the thought of hiring a fishing boat to take her there but many of them wouldn’t even hear her out once she stated her intent.

After a while she would leave in frustration; managing to bump into a captain that asked her what had her so steamed. She’d explain the situation and he’d blink; pondering what the woman was talking about and eventually nodding. He’d agree to take her there if only because he was curious himself about this entire situation. She’d shake his hand and they’d head off to the ship he called home.

She’d help him cast off and make sure to tie herself to something with a life line knowing that it would be very important due to the heavy nature of her body. But if things really came to it… She’d turn into either the wolf or lion to help swim upwards. It was not something she looked forward to doing but it was something that she knew that she needed to address. She’d hum a little bit as they made some good time sailing through the waters.

The sailor didn’t seem too worried about having a woman on board either; most people thought that was bad luck but he seemed to carry a different opinion. When asked about it he’d just wave his hand. Stating that the ocean was a lady and would respect another lady that respected them. So long as lucretia didn’t make issues for them they’d leave them alone. Lucretia chuckled a bit and leaned on the railing.

”I have a healthy fear of the water.”

”Fear n respect by the sounds of it. Shoul’ be fine.”

The captain chuckled a bit and turned the wheel of the ship, sending them peaking over one of the waves. Lucretia would lean as she noticed one of the coves from the explanation of the fisher. She’d point and the captain would nod his head. He could see it too… so they’d need to start to work towards it and hopefully the pair would get to the bottom of this entire situation.

Once they arrived at the cove lucretia hopped out of the ship, looking around a bit as the captain moored just off shore. It was a pretty dark and dank place; plenty of crevices for the creature to hide if it was there and plenty of places that a warrior could get tangled up in if they weren’t careful. She’d frown a bit as she started to explore; figuring that some of the wreckage here was the fault of the waves more than whatever made it’s home here.

She’d note that there were a lot of claw marks here or there. Some fresh some not; meaning that the creature had until very recently not been a problem. She’d also note that the claws differed in size so that meant that whatever creature was here now was too large and impacting the local ecosystem to the point of being a problem for the fishermen.

She’d grit her teeth a bit and move on, checking through the waist high water as she went with her spear; figuring that if she was going to fight this thing she’d need to be careful. She’d maybe spear a crab or two but nothing too impressive otherwise.

Eventually she’d make her way to what was the home of the creature; she could tell given that it had a very large nest. Plenty of driftwood and other softer materials for it’s bedding. Ranging from old seaweed to some blankets that no doubt fell off a ship. Was that a chair made from barrel parts? She’d frown as she was given the idea that this creature had rudimentary sentience… Which could pose a problem when fighting it.

She’d go through some of the blankets to see if she could find evidence of what it might be. Locating some eggs she’d grimly set her jaw. They were all cracked or broken but they were from a sizeable creature. She’d turn her head and note the scales. Was this some kind of serpent? Some kind of beast that was capable of building? Or maybe they just were able to piece that nonsense together.

It was hard to really tell at this phase so she’d poke through the items; eventually finding what she believed to be a very rudimentary spear. For fishing no less; but the hand prints on it looked like they belonged to something much bigger than lucretia. At that revelation she’d stiffen as she could smell something incredibly foul and turning she’d be greeted with the milky eyes of a monster nearly twice her size.

Rudimentary intellect indeed, but part of the reason that it likely had trouble building things was due to it being blind. Meaning that it would just eat n eat n eat. This would be a problem. Before it could make it’s move lucretia would hop back; she knew she had to fight this thing. It would be a large problem if they didn’t. Hell it was sometimes hard to feed her she didn’t even want to think of this creature…

That was sporting an anchor for a bloody weapon and how much it would need to stay well fed not to be annoyed at those that tried to care for it. It was a frustrating decision but one she didn’t regret making. She’d adjust herself, reading her spear for combat and looking over the creature one last time…

Lucretia’s motivation for this creature turned into a bit of frustration when she realized tha the creature wasn’t going to put up much of a fight. In fact the anchor seemed more like a scare tactic as it wheezed again. She had stabbed it several times, making some serious headway through it’s scales. It seemed as though it was far more tired than it should be which made lucretia squint her eyes. Eventually pulling back to inspect what she was seeing.

A naked egg sack near the back of it’s body brought the idea that the reason it was here was to try to make the woman think that it’s nest was broken and that there wouldn’t be others. She’d grit her teeth; that rudimentary intelligence would have tricked a lesser adventurer but lucretia was a bit smarter than your average one. At least in terms of experience when it came to fighting monsters.

She could see that the weak point of this creature was the gills, she’d adjust her spear again and thrust into the beast’s open spots. Finding that the spear sank nearly down to her hands causing the creature to gasp in pain. It couldn’t breath through those so it obviously couldn’t even make it away from here. She’d twist it and bring the assegai up, slicing the creature’s head in half and watching it flop to the ground lifeless. She’d step out of the cover after a little bit and wave the captain to come over.

”Whatcha find lass?”

”Older creature seemed to be a mother. Get the body on the ship while I poke around for the eggs would you? Be careful though there could be hatchlings.”

Lucretia set her jaw and the captain nodded, going over to hoist the body of the creature up on his back before heading out. The older man was surprisingly strong but lucretia would attribute that to working on the ocean for a long long time. She had a job to do to make sure that the future of the ecosystem here wouldn’t be upset by a creature’s hatchlings or more of the same showing up.

She’d eventually make her way through a small cave system, systematically breaking any egg she found and stomping out the few hatchlings that reared up to try to scuffle with her. There were so many of them that she’d have to be very thorough. Once she arrived near the end of the cave she’d note that there was a underwater tunnel which prompted her to sigh a little bit.

She’d be damned if she was going down that; but the fact that there wasn’t much of an option didn’t fill her with relief. Going back to the captain she’d explain the problem and he’d fish around for a crystal like object. Holding it up to her he’d explain that if she kept this near or in her mouth that it’d provide the air she needed like the gills provided air for the creatures of the ocean. It had a fairly long charge so she should be fine…

Lucretia had an easy time getting back to the tunnel, nothing had come through it and she’d move to swim through it with all haste. She hated swimming in full armor like this but with the air crystal that was given to her by the captain it was less of a problem. While swimming through the tunnel she’d note some broken eggs here or there but there was nothing present underwater. Either they had run off or had been the hatchlings she had killed before.

She’d continue on and eventually would rise out of the water. Looking around she’d stow the crystal in her tunic. Noting that this area was well lit by what looked to be torches. She’d stare quietly at another one of these creatures; younger by the looks of it and very very much so carrying a lot of eggs. Some looked just about ready to burst and she’d step forward.

The splishing of the water made the head of the creature turn and it’d shriek when it saw her; unable to move because of the burden of it’s eggs. It’d struggle and try to flee but lucretia’s boot on it’s tail would stop that abruptly. It’d flail around and she’d note that there was no real way for it to go other than the tunnel. She’d sigh a little bit; this was probably a mated pair that was having eggs or something.

She’d draw her arm back and with a fierce thrust would punch through the creature’s skull as it flailed. She’d watch for a moment while it struggled against it. Still clinging to life but she’d go a step further and gut the damn thing from head to fin. Noting the eggs she’d make sure to stomp those out too. She didn’t like what she had to do but if they didn’t that meant that the ecosystem would never bloody recover from this.

She’d make her way back to the ship after dragging the other body with her through the water. The captain seemed surprised to see the younger version and was happy that they had some crystal clear evidence of what had been going on. So the both of them would take the ship back to the pier and after an explanation to the fishing guild lucretia was given a sizeable sum of money.

She wasn’t exactly sure about what she did; but honestly if it meant folks could fish again it probably was the right move. It was another thing she’d have to live with which honestly was fine. She’d have to investigate later and find if any of the eggs or hatchlings survived by sheer luck. She wasn’t about to have this occur a second time…