Tidal Blades
Mudcrabs used to roam the entire lagoon and make life impossible for settlers until they were progressively beaten back by organized hunting parties. Now they have mostly relocated in the soaked wilderness known as the Mudflats.
Young mudcrabs are rather harmless but get quite dangerous as they grow in size. The oldest and largest of the giant mudcrabs can grow as tall as a house and make formidable foes.
Motive: Hungers for flesh, defending their family and territory
Environment: Almost anywhere, but especially the Mudflats
Health: 24
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (6 points)
Armor: 2
Movement: Short
Modifications: Speed defense and stealth as level 4 due to size and speed
Combat: Giant mudcrabs fight just like most crabs, with the notable difference that they can fit whole creatures inside each claw (and inside their large mouths as well). A single pinch from a mudcrab claw catches the character and inflicts a moderate wound (6 points).
If a caught character is then stuffed into the mudcrab's mouth (a level 6 Might defense roll to escape), they move one step down the damage track.
Mudcrabs are more than happy to let their opponents wear themselves out trying to smash through their thick armor, sometimes holding their action until they sense that their foes are tired. If a mudcrab doesn't attack for two rounds, on the third round, it unleashes a two-pincered attack that catches up to two close foes in each claw and inflicts a moderate wound (6 points) on each.
Interaction: Mudcrabs can't be reasoned with. They can, however, be tricked, especially if food is involved.
Use: Mudcrabs are regularly captured to be part of the Chronosseum challenges. Characters in need of money or food might decide to take on a mudcrab. But more often than not, mudcrabs come out of nowhere and surprise the characters with an intense fight.
Loot: Mudcrabs are prized for their meat, which is often roasted, and for their carapace, which is used to make crab-bone weapons and armor.
Young mudcrab: level 2 Adult mudcrab: level 4 Mudflats, page 246 Unlike most crabs, it is believed that mudcrabs do not molt, although this could be apocryphal.
Due to their ubiquitous nature, mudcrabs are often used as a measure of comparison, as in "Its head was as large as a giant mudcrab" or "Strong enough to wrestle a mudcrab."
GM Intrusion: On a failed Might defense task, the mudcrab's pincer attack also crushes, damages, or destroys the character's armor or weapon. An exceptionally large mudcrab might move a watercraft down the object damage track by one or two steps if its pilot fails a Speed defense task.