Tamais - Sea Puppy - Deep-Water Monster

Taken from The Musings of a Wanderer by Bevel Dart

Monster Summary

• Size: Special (about the size of a blue whale)
• Motivation/Temperament: Defensive and playful
• Preferred Environment: Coastal Shoals and the ocean
• Prevalence: Rare
• Danger Level: (situational, assuming it is in its element)Large Group
• Attack Description: as a puppy would play, ramming, occasional biting and slapping
• Monster Core Size and Appearance: blue and twinkling

It was on the Alvanian ship Swift that I caught my first sight of a tamais. I stood up at the fore, taking in the chaotic, salty breeze of the sea. We were well off the coast of Vas’tek, roughly halfway through our journey from Nashriam and Alvania.

The lookout above called out “sea puppy,” valiantly attempting to keep the panic from her voice. She pointed astern, and my then-young legs hastily took me across the ship to the aft railing of the poop deck. Our first mate had the ship buzzing, pulling in lines and furling sails. The ship’s congruence user reversed the wind, bringing the ship to a stop, drifting idly on the waves.

Size

I watched a colossal shape approach at speed, an immense shadow beneath the waves, causing water to mound high above the surface as it shot straight for Swift. The creature dove just as it reached the ship. All was silent. Waiting. Then a massive head breached the ocean’s surface at our starboard side. The head was twice the size of our ship with two inquisitive eyes and a great blunted nose. It stared at us. We stared at it. It breathed out heavily, washing us with the stench of its recently-monched sea cuisine. It looked like a massive harbor seal.

Temperment

It reached out and nudged our vessel with its nose, as if trying to make it move and run. I was thrown violently to the deck from the impact and banged my knee real good. The creature, finding no response from its apparent plaything, dove again and began circling the ship impishly, from time to time breaching. Water and waves crashed into and over the ship. We did the one thing we could do: hold on. Several sailors were swept overboard in the turmoil and all efforts turned to pulling them from the waves with lines and congruence alike. All were fortunately salvaged.

It didn’t take long before the sea puppy lost interest in its new-found toy. With a final crash of its tail upon the surface and a last massive wave over our forecastle, the creature shot off to the east.

The captain had us sit there for three hours, concerned the monster would return and again find interest in our ship. Injuries were tended to, lines were restrung, and many thanks were given to Elvitri.

Details

I learned a great deal from our captain about our curious friend: Tamais, colloquially called sea puppies, live in the deep waters all around our continent. Their danger comes from their size and playfulness - they will play with a ship like a dog plays with a stick. The only defense is to make the ship as boring as possible. Their size, speed, and agility makes them extremely difficult to hunt at adulthood. Tamais pups are born the size of our ship. Their blue, twinkling cores are a major prize, but finding such a pup away from its protective mother is rare.

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Note to writers: the Ion’cavar’s Council of Three Masters holds the head-sized congruence core that came from an adult tamais. The story of how the guild came to possess the core has been lost to time, though the assumption by the current masters is it was salvaged from the carcass of a creature that washed ashore.