Mutated lobster
Amid the golden sands of the Thracian seashore dwell numerous beasts both bizarre and deadly. Among the strangest are the mutated lobsters. Once normal lobsters, these humanoid-crustacean hybrids are believed to be the result of a failed (or perhaps successful) experiment of a twisted archmage. What's worse, they possess the intellect of a humanoid and are fully aware of their plight. With the ability to speak, they often constantly bemoan the cruelties Fate has bestowed upon them.
Many times I have looked out from my deck, noting that this bizarre amalgamation between a man's brain and a sea creature's body that are accepted by neither. Vacationing Thracians or adventurers will either shun or attack these pitiful, but deadly beings. And their mundane lobster brethren avoid them, perhaps perceiving their mutated counterparts as another form of mankind.
Often found muttering to themselves about a "wrinkled old air-sucker," one can only assume they refer to the madman who created these beasts. During a conversation with one rummaging around my front yard, she explained to me that she was once a normal lobster until captured and subjected to numerous experiments in some tower, which left her a giant monstrosity.
Description
Possessing a hard outer shell and enormous claws, calling this foul creature hideous is an insult to those who are ugly. Though they do not walk upright as humanoids do, they stand between 4 feet to just over 5 feet high and generally weigh over 600 pounds, much of which is their hard, chitinous exoskeleton. Their shells are always bright red in color and they possess eerily beady, intelligent eyes that reflect tortured sentience.
Biology
It's believed that, like the normal lobster from which they originated, the mutated lobster is a scavenger, devouring whatever can fit between in its foul maw. Rotting fish washed ashore by the tide, indigenous animals, and the occasional young adventurer provides the bulk of the mutated lobster's diet. An air-breather who can no longer survive extended periods underwater, mutated lobsters are forever denied their prior life scrounging for rotten fish at the bottom of the deep, blue sea.
Behavior
Instability is perhaps the best word used in describing these bizarre creatures. Though deadly and often volatile and violent, these unpredictable creatures will alternatively attack on sight or remain passive allowing beach-goers to study and converse with them, only attacking if attacked first (if not for these latter specimens, this report would not have been possible). Fully sentient, these beings are tortured with thoughts of their past lives in the sea often become suicidal, willingly seeking solace in the arms of death to escape the torment.
When agitated, mutated lobsters will use their primary weapon: its two oversized claws. Their favorite tactic is to grab some hapless adventurer, holding them fast and slicing the poor sod to ribbons with its second huge pincer. However, tail swoops are not uncommon, a move that bashes everything nearby and sends opponents reeling.
Habitat/Society: These creatures are only found on the beaches of Thrace. It's presumed they flourish in the warm, damp climate that kingdom is known for and remain dependant upon the Regellian Sea for survival. Mutated lobsters are solitary creatures, and there is no known record of a group or even a mating pair being spotted. It is also unknown how — or even if — they breed. It's quite possible that since they are repulsed by their own existence, they reproduce asexually or the creator of these beasts merely mutates more for his own mysterious reasons.
P.S. This piece was as complete as I could make it. Upon returning to the beach for further study, I encountered an aggressive specimen who immediately initiated combat. I panicked and fled to a random direction and stumbled upon the subject of my next study: the sand horror. Life's a beach and then you die, they say.
Submitter
Tychaios
