A Sign of Good Luck

Leviathans are a rare sight, and to see one is considered good luck by the Crew's simple superstitions. {if A Heretic = 1} Uncommon wisdom and all-too-common delusions mixed in equal measure. {elseif An Occultist = 1} Uncommon wisdom and all-too-common delusions mixed in equal measure. {endif}

But you do see it. It emerges with the setting Sun, the waters calm and golden red everywhere else. A giant mouth opens, disturbing the Sea and causing house-high waves. A single baleen plate is longer than your ship is high, from the tip of the chimney down to the keel. It is covered in barnacles and Seaweed, another layer of armour surrounding the thick, pig-iron black scales of its skin. {if Connected: The Almost Archaeologist < 1} You order the Crew to secure the Cargo and wait.{else} You order your passenger to seek shelter inside her cabin and your Crew to make sure that the cargo is secured. Then you wait. {endif}

And you see it again, with the first light of the next morning. Another spout rises from the depths, closer now. And it resurfaces once more, at noon, yet closer again. A gargantuan eye, a primeval mirror for your small, frail ship. Ashen faces surround you, and you can taste sickly **** on your dry tongue.

The Leviathan moves closer, thrashing the water behind. Its sheer size revealed detail by detail, and its bulk is enough to crush the Demeter without a second thought.