#shell monster

Image © @a-book-of-creatures, accessed at their site here

[For a small island, Iceland has a huge number of monsters, possibly as a result of their strong oral and written traditions and cultural continuity for the last thousand years or so. They tend to fall into a fairly small number of categories (mother-of-sea creature, evil whales and hybrid mammals that act like basilisks have multiple representatives), but the shell monster is one of the more unique takes, well suited for RPG use. The book Meeting with Monsters, which is a translated Icelandic book, is hard to get hold of (check out the used prices on Amazon if you don’t believe me) but well worth a look. It helps that it’s gorgeously illustrated.] 

Skeljaskrímsli CR 10 CE Magical Beast This creature is as massive as a horse, but slung lower to the ground. Its body is covered with a coat of shell-like armor, except for its underside with has a thick dense fur. Its mouth is faintly luminous, and is filled with sharp teeth. Its four feet all have long curving claws with webbing between the bases of the toes. Its tail ends in a mace-like structure.

The skeljaskrímsli is also called the shell monster or beach roamer, which aptly describes both its appearance and its habits. They are hunters and aggressive scavengers of rocky shorelines and ocean floors, slowly roaming along and eating whatever meat they can find. Skeljaskrímsli are actively malicious, and go out of their way to hunt aquatic sapient species for sheer love of causing pain. When the weather is bad or prey is scarce, they emerge and travel inland in search of meals. They are especially attracted to light—wise villagers douse their lanterns on dark and windy nights.

A skeljaskrímsli is outfitted with a wide variety of natural weapons—claws, teeth and a clubbing tail. They are not very intelligent, but are smart enough to take advantage of their ability to move along rocks with ease, attacking from heights or scrambling around boulders for cover. Their shell armor creates an awful noise when they are agitated, enough to disrupt spellcasting, and these shells can only be penetrated by silver weapons. They can even deflect bullets. Even if a creature successfully injures a skeljaskrímsli, the shell monster’s blood is acidic enough to etch stone and melt flesh. Victims that escape a skeljaskrímsli but are not slain may slowly succumb to a numbing disease similar to leprosy, carried in the beach roamer’s saliva.

A skeljaskrímsli is about ten feet long, and its humped back is five feet at its tallest point. It has a smell like the beach on a low tide.

An older drawing of the Icelandic shell monster. Aside from some odd details (humped back, broad neck), few sources clarify any other physical description. The name also highlights the obscure appearance: shell monster. With this in mind I wanted to draw it as a deliberate, generic sort of kaiju monster. The sort of thing that wouldn't look out of place in tokusatsu or gen 1 pokemon.