The Shelev - Horrors in the Deep

Monster Summary

• Size: 20-30 meters in length
• Motivation/Temperament: Opportunistic (Nocturnal) Hunters
• Preferred Environment: Lake Kea
• Prevalence: Few - Rare
• Danger Level: Dangerous to individuals and small groups. A large group could probably take one down.
• Attack Description: Shelev will illuminate the tip of one of their longest tentacles to lure prey into the water so it can be dragged down into the water to be devoured.
• Monster Core Size and Appearance: Fist sized cores that emit the same bluish-white glow as the creature.

A great tragedy has struck our camp. I knew that there were great mysteries in this part of the world, but no stories I have heard could have prepared me for such a sudden, horrific death of one of my closest confidants.

We had been traveling through Caliharah and had camped for the night along the bank of Lake Kea. I’d heard of the inhabitants of what the locals referred to as Whioma Resort and hoped to meet with them to learn something of their purposes in this remote part of the continent. Rumors of strange goings ons within the lake abounded across many nations; they seemed so fantastic I felt I had to see for myself if even half of them were true.

The party had made camp for the night, so Garlosh and I decided to take a walk along the lake shore in search of anything out of the ordinary. Garlosh had made a living collecting and studying rare creatures; he had traveled with my party for the last two years and I’ve found his expertise invaluable more than once. Unfortunately, like myself, Garlosh had never traveled this far east and he was eager to see what new beasts were waiting for us.

A Dangerous Venture

In the darkness of the water we both saw a bright light emerge from the depths. It was quite small at first, slowly moving towards us. At first I thought it was merely the reflection of a star, but as it drew closer it became clear this was no reflection. It appeared to be orb shaped, about half a meter in length, and glowed a bright bluish-white light. It moved some 20 meters from us and then stopped, waving slowly back and forth as if beckoning us to come in and play. From the light it emitted we could see the water was not at all deep and we could easily wade out to it if we so choose.

Garlosh was immediately intrigued and decided to go in to capture the creature. I strongly suggested that we wait until daylight and come back with more of our party. He responded that this may be our only chance, besides he was adept enough with congruence that there was little chance such a small creature could do him any real harm.

The Shelev’s Attack

He waded out to the light. As he approached the waving stopped. The light moved to face him. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I could feel a sudden influx of congruence around the water where I stood. Frantically, I begged Garlosh to return to shore, but he paid me no heed, seemingly transfixed on the glowing light. He reached out to take the hold of the creature when suddenly he screamed in pain. The darkness of the night was overwhelmed by a burst of overwhelming light. I shielded my eyes from the glare until they had a chance to adjust. When I was finally able to look again I beheld a sight both wondrous and terrifying.

The source of the light was a creature of unfathomable proportions. Never before had I seen, on land or sea, a creature of such magnitude. *Virgil’s shock in this instance may have caused him to overestimate the creature’s true size. In actuality the Shelev averaged between 20-30 meters in length. Still huge but not on orders of magnitude of a Kraken.* From the beast’s body came the same bluish-white glow we had seen from the orb but now infinitely brighter. The creature had many long arms that thrashed about, and from one of them I could see the outline of Garlosh dangling high in the air.

I stood there, frozen in terror. Garlosh launched every congruence attack he could at the leviathan, but they glanced off, having no visible effect. I could only gaze in horror as the great arm lowered down into the water, bringing Garlosh to his inevitable fate. The sounds of his screaming haunt me to this day.

Garlosh’s body plunged into what must have been the creature’s horrible maw. Then there was silence.

The whole thing was over in a matter of moments. Then the creature just sat there. I swear that I could feel its gaze boring into me. Still I could not move save to slightly shiver. My mind screamed to run but my legs would not move.

Then the beast turned away from the shore and sank to the depths from which it had emerged. I watched the glow fade and the darkness of the night again enveloped me.

A Frantic Retreat

I ran back to the camp as quickly as my human legs would carry me. We’d pitched our tents close to the lake's edge. I woke the rest of our party and began ordering everyone to pack and move out at once. I must have been quite incoherent as my man-at-arms had to slap me across the face quite hard to break me out of my hysterics. I was finally able to relay my story as best I could. I’m not too proud to say when I was finished I wept - I wept as I have not wept since I was a boy.

My second quickly got the camp broken down and we moved out that very night. As I write this we are moving back across the path we took from Caliharah. I have abandoned all thoughts or learning whatever secrets Lake Kea might hold. I only pray to whatever divinity is listening that I am the last sentient creature to lay eyes on what I witnessed that night.

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For Writer’s Reference

*Virgil may not have been able to get a great look at the Shelev that night, but as writers we’ve been granted access to the inner secret of the 4th Epoch.

The Shelev look and generally behave like giant squid, with the ability to illuminate either part of or all of their body. A common hunting tactic is to illuminate the tip of one of their longest tentacles to lure prey into the water so it can be dragged down into the water to be devoured. This is the example given in the above story.

It's likely that the Shelev did not occur naturally and were bred by the inhabitants of Whioma Island as guards. They hunt exclusively at night and dwell on the bottom of Lake Kea during the day. They mainly live off of ambient congruence but as we saw above are also opportunistic hunters that will eat anyone or anything unfortunate enough to come to the lake’s edge at night. As congruence creatures they are immune to minor congruence attacks. They also have the ability to attack and sink boats and ships that attempt to cross the lake. They are exclusively solitary hunters and only come together for breeding.

Very little is known about the Shelev as very few meet one and live to tell the tale. It is possible to hunt one but is exceedingly difficult. A successful hunt would require a large party of skilled hunters and careful planning. If one could kill one it would be well worth it as they do possess fist sized cores that emit the same bluish-white glow as the creatures. Also it would be possible to fashion many interesting congruence devices from one of their corpses.*