Rock Lobster!

[Play Back]

"Play Back, I have a case for you," Sued's voice was calm as he shifted through the folders on his desk. Finding the proper folder, Play Back's boss quickly opened it and faced it towards to teen. "There have been damages to various boats in port towns around Scara Brae." Play Back sat in the chair across from his employer, blinking curiously.

"What's it got to do with us? I'm not a carpenter," the boy's sarcastic tone did not fall of a deaf ear, for Sued gave PB a menacing look. "It's our business," Sued continued on, "Because the owners of the ships are getting tired of having to rebuild because of these holes." Sued pushed the file a little closer to the child. Play Back picked up the folder and looked at the pictures with the case summary.

'Damages' was an understatement to what was happening here. Various ships, from the fishermans rowboat to the merchants flag ship, all suffered from giant holes. "Notice anything odd about the pictures?" Sued asked his employee hoping that the teen would catch it. Play Back nodded as he looked back to Sued. "Two things actually. First, the holes are very precise. They're not enough to sink the ships, but they are extensive enough to require several months of repair work."

Sued nodded, that was exactly what he was hoping the masked teen would find. "What is the second? I didn't catch anything else." Play Back smirked from behind his mask and stood up, still focusing on Sued. "All the holes are on the port side of the boats. Whatever's doing this has enough intelligence to know where to hit, and how hard." Sued was quite impressed with the child for taking note of such a detail.

"Yes, well, that's the thing," Sued said as he looked down at his conglomerate of folders and papers across the desk. Somehow finding what he needed just by sticking his hand out, Sued grabbed a picture and handed it to Play Back. "The boat owners have one more thing in common. They've all sighted the Rock Lobster."

"I'm sorry, the -what-?!"

"The Rock Lobster," Play Back looked at the photo as Sued conrinued, "It is a type of legendary lobster made completely out of stone. It is sentient, and adapts to both land and water quite well. Up until now, I've only thought that the Rock Lobster was a legend, but this picture was taken by a passenger on a ferry."

The picture was as Sued had described. Brown and gray stone covered the entire body of this beat. Two large mandibles and two beady eyes. It was indeed a lobster of pure stone. "Play Back, I want you to go find this Rock Lobster. Find out why it's attacking these ships, and try to prevent another attack from happening." Play Back nodded and stood up, starting to walk out the boss' door.

"Oh, and Play Back," Sued said, stopping the boy before he went to the port nearest to the office, "I've arranged for you to have some help on this case. I think you'll be pleasently surprised..."

[Tristam]

The door to Sued's office banged open and a stack of paper bustled in supported by two hands and pair of legs beneath them.

"Sorry I'm late but the state of scholarship in Scara Brae is sorely lacking if you ask me." The papers sighed in exasperation and staggered towards a nearby table. "No proper library unless you're royal or rich or both. I had to spend days tracking down every old salt and graybeard and try to sift out the wheat from the chaff of their stories as best I could. No help that most of them wanted drinks so the tales got wilder with each gulp down their gullet. What I wouldn't give for a proper elvish historian about now." The papers were deposited on the bench with sigh and Play Back could now see the excited eyes and grin that belied the excitement behind the frustration.

Sued shook his head and made the introductions. "Play Back. This is Tristam, a scholar newly moved to the area. I found him already trying to track down the stories of the Rock Lobster before I got the job from the merchants. So he'll help you know your enemy and he's got another little knack that might help us." Sued gestured for Tristam to elaborate.

"Well, it is a minor blessing of the divine Aurelius, the deity I serve." Tristam paused a moment to brush some paper slivers from his clothes. "I absorb new languages very easily. All I need is hear someone conversing in a foreign tongue and I can pick up the basics pretty easily."

Sued cut in. "All the reports say that the Rock Lobster was making a horrible racket like it was screeching at them. If this thing is as clever as we think, then maybe it was yelling at the boats. Tristam here is our best bet for talking to it. It's a long shot but we might be able to tell it bugger off rather than break out the harpoons."