Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 8

Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 8

Parhelion jellyfish

Encyclopedia #149

Aberrant form of aurora jellyfish

Description:

Two spires of light shine from within its hood. Stinging spiked tentacles trail below.

Comment: “Parhelion”, also referred to as a sun dog- a bright spot in the sky appearing on either side of the sun, formed by refraction of sunlight through ice crystals high in the earth's atmosphere. Photo example of what this kind of glare appears like in life. A rare phenomenon.

It is worth curious reflection on whether there is a relation at all between these animals and the hostile "jelly bombs" that pepper the nighttime stellar basin like sea mines.

How to catch: The quickest way to end up with one of these is to have great luck while completing the main story objectives for the region. Otherwise, this one can be a challenge in patience to catch. Aurora jellyfish can only be caught within trawl nets, when they emerge at night in the Stellar Basin's costal range.

Cursed Fangtooth

Encyclopedia #150

Aberrant form of fangtooth

Description:

A small and feeble mind, easily conquered. Now, brought screaming from the depths, it lies powerless.

Comment: On the bright side, real fangtooths… fangteeth?… these fish are calmingly tiny. On the dark side, they look not much less intimidating.

How to catch: Living at greater depths than most sealife, these critters will require special equipment to reach down into the abyssal zone. Rod for them day and night, if you can find a shoal around the Basin.

Voideye

Encyclopedia #151

Aberrant form of barreleye

Description:

Inside its eye, a perpetual pattern repeats. Red cyclones meld through shimmering green swirls. The abyss burns through you.

Comment: Dare say, an eye constructed with the most peculiar sense of irony. Formed not to look, but to show. It beckons for your gaze, unable to pull away.

How to catch: Identical method as the above fish.

Radiant Squid

Encyclopedia #152

Aberrant form of firefly squid

Description:

A beacon from the depths below. A glimpse of a new sky.

Comment: Born from that which loathes the light, it seems to almost rebel against the Deep’s law. Could it be a child of the stars, instead? Perhaps not. In either sense, its light is not our light, and its world is not our own. Pray that its blinding skin will be the only glimpse gained into these far places.

How to catch: Firefly squid can likened to the arrow squids in The Marrows- coastal depth, nocturnal, and vulnerable to trawl and rod. Generally they tend to be found among the shallow reefs that encompass the heart of the Basin.

Blood Snapper

Encyclopedia #153

Aberrant form of red snapper

Description:

Blood leaks endlessly from under its scales, pooling beneath it no matter where it's placed.

Comment: This masterpiece is a sanguine gem among stones. Of all the harvestable fauna within the sea, you, blood snapper, you are among my most beloved.

How to catch: Snap up one of the reds about anywhere in the coastal waters of the Stellar Basin. They are an easy tug and an even easier find in your net.

Latching Snapper

Encyclopedia #154

Aberrant form of red Snapper

Description:

Swollen flesh folds back over its eyes. Cracked lips bleed through mounted scar tissue.

Comment: PUT THAT THING BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM OR SO HELP ME.

You are not beautiful like your complementing variant. You are abhorred and detested. All about you only reveals the profanity of your existence and I know not whether to toss you back to the waves or do them the kindness of your removal.

That all said, latching snapper, it is admittedly impressive that you managed to land a role in SpongeBob.

How to catch: ^^^

Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 9

Ruptured Vessel

Encyclopedia #155

Aberrant form of giant amphipod

Description:

Willing host, or sacrificial receptacle?

Comment: I'm going to go with the latter; although, the bigger question may be to what this creature served to hatch. Whatever the answer, it apparently fetches a nice price to the traveling merchant, relative to cargo space it takes.

How to catch: This crustacean is one of a couple of trickier finds in the Stellar Basin. Deeper than deep, they are only able to be angled up from the hadal zone. Pursuing amphipods generally will require an advanced upgrade along to the abyssal-suited rod line, as well as story progression through the way of operating the generator at the abandoned research outpost. Be wary of those limited windows of safety its pulse will provide. Thankfully, amphipod presence is not determined by night or day.

Perished Loosejaw

Encyclopedia #121

Aberrant form of Loosejaw

Description:

A few ragged scraps of skin hang like cobwebs from its fins. Its exposed muscles are riddled with small white worms.

Comment: Why the fish markets will accept one of these at the price they do is beyond the scope of my own comprehension. A shudder rolls through my body to consider the fishmonger scraping this morsel’s bones for the tainted scraps he seeks.

How to catch: Haul up from the inky depths of the abyssal zone. Circling the Stellar basin should reveal the glowing “stoplights” of their shoals before long.

Calcified Snailfish

Encyclopedia #157

Aberrant form of Snailfish

Description:

Waiting in dormancy for its moment to arrive.

Comment: Even at the bottom of the world, this vessel found no respite from the hook to hide its transformation from the light. Appearing as a fossil, but functioning as a calcium chrysalis. Few could truly appreciate the metamorphosis taking place within- just as the caterpillar that is unmade and rebuilt for a new purpose, its fate belongs to a new cycle.

How to catch: Sailfish are a bottommost inhabitant of the hadal zone, only hooked from the treacherous core of the Stellar basin. Narrative progression is the pathway to accessing these few harvesting spots. Ensure it is safe to do so before fishing for this.

Seizing Snailfish

Encyclopedia #158

Aberrant form of snailfish

Description:

Fingers of flesh hold teeth on their tips, a grasping grip that feels through the dark depths.

Comment: It may be a further leap of logic to guess that this is the matured form where the previous aberration is the pupa, but it is a tempting consideration. At least, it is a superior form to the merchant’s appraisal.

How to catch: ^^^

Consumed Grouper

Encyclopedia #159

Aberrant form of coral grouper

Description:

Once dazzling skin now bleached and eroded. It barely resists, relieved at a final end.

Comment: Another reminder that the Deep’s influence is partial and without compassion. It knows nothing of worthiness, and less of mercy. There are simply those it gifts, and from those it takes. Without rhyme. Without reason.

How to catch: Haul by sunlight, only in the shallow waters about the Basin’s reefs.

Very First Time Playing Amnesia: The Dark Decsent is going… not well but it is going at least.

Fam, I’ve beaten two dead space games, little nightmares and its sequel, good fractions of multiple Resident Evil games, Haunted Cities,

This damn title is about 13 years old now and it’s got my nerves up so badly I need to walk away from it every here and there. I don’t understand why, but it kind was exactly the hype it had been all this time. I finally get it.

Off my chest but I hate that Cthulhu is the flagship lovecraftian figure I hate that all eldritch horror icons get to be compared to Cthulhu in our timeline now that it’s all called the “Cthulhu Mythos” and what for???

I got into HP for the short stories, but I did eventually get around to the bulkier, connected stuff, and honestly? “Call of Cthulhu” is one of the weakest and underwhelming examples of the guy’s work that I’ve gotten through. THIS is the monster that in huge part made Lovecraft a pop culture name? THIS story?

Like sorry not sorry but Cthulhu is a little bitch boy stuck in timeout. Yes yes, I admit he’s pretty cool in a vacuum and I guess the “that is not dead which can eternal lie” quote does go pretty damn hard. But put into context it’s just…. Eh… like, I’m not going to even touch the overflowing can of worms that is the racist overtones since it’s already-taken low hanging fruit at this point. I honestly just found CoC boring and anticlimactic because I made the mistake of chomping through so many of huge other monster stories first. Once you’ve inoculated yourself into the stakes of At the Mountains of Madness or gotten in the know on Innsmouth or Yog-Sothoth, you feel like squidboi doesn’t really throw much punch even for the amount of suspense that he does build up to. He’s the first and only otherworldly deity so far I’ve even read to be defeated and shooed back by mere mortal men- mortal men, ones that didn’t even know wtf they were doing or facing, mind you.

I have less than nothing against people who enjoy the story and Cthulhu, but I just want to know… why? More specifically why this one got so famous and influential for a whole genre of horror. Cthulhu is just not really even scary to me. Ephraim Waite is scary. Shoggoths are fucking terrifying. The lore of Elder Things are everything I never knew I wanted in eldritch horror, and their story was genuinely compelling. The Deep Ones I thought I got their gist and wasn’t so interested in before reading, and they actually pulled me in past expectation. Cthulhu’s like…. A “safe” to “euclid” class scp at worst. The Innsmouth plot is the real setting for the theme of serious danger that is plotting and bubbling just beneath the uncanny surface.

I’m not telling anyone to not read Call of Cthulhu, but if you already have and you didn’t really get the appeal and hype for Lovecraft, Don’t be afraid to try explore down a different branch of the Mythos. You might be surprised. If you did read and enjoy CoC, make sure you check out the other stories because in my opinion it’s pretty uphill from there.

Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 10

Medusa Octopus

Encyclopedia #160

Aberrant form of glowing octopus

Description:

Eight snapping mouths crawl over each other at the behest of a silent master.

Comment: Eight times the mouths for eight times the menace. Notably, it has also forsaken the bioluminescence of its natural kin, suggesting alterations to living more as an active hunter in the night, rather than potential prey.

How to catch: A shallow swimmer within the Basin's coral reefs. Only comes out after sundown, but can be passively caught with crab pots (10 meters of above) in addition to the reel. The telltale blue glow of the regular octopi make their harvesting spots easily visible in the darkness.

Bursting Anglerfish

Encyclopedia #161

Aberrant form of anglerfish

Description:

The deep faces its own consequences of creation. In the darkness, brutality becomes the ultimate filter.

Comment: It is aptly put by the first source. Even moreso, there is an additional familiarity that is all too tantalizing to see in this design.

How to catch: Available through day and night, lurks the abyssal depths around the Basin.

Savage Baracuda

Encyclopedia #162

Aberrant form of baracuda

Description:

It thrashes about ruinously, jaws snapping and tearing its own flesh apart. A body sundered by ravenous hatred.

Comment: It can’t go unsaid that source did a strangely phenomenal job on the art delivery with this. The description as well, since it invokes to me another disfiguring madness I’ve seen before.

How to catch: A Day-swimmer found in shallow shoals in the Stellar Basin.

Concertina Baracuda

Encyclopedia #163

Aberrant form of baracuda

Description:

Its body extends, then collapses together with each gasping breath. Nature dissected into mechanical motion.

Comment: Your childhood accordion fish paper crafts, brought through the stark filter that is reality.

How to catch: ^^^

Gazing Shark

Encyclopedia #164

Aberrant form of hammerhead

Description:

Huge bulbous eyes move about on large fleshy stalks, siphoning energy from its body. Its search is not over.

Comment: Disfigurement and intrigue aside, what makes this mutation particularly notable is its bounty- starting at base of $425 per head. Prior to the discovery of The Pale Reach, this was actually the most valuable individual aberrant available in the sea. While later outshone by expanded entries in the encyclopedia, it is still not a wretch to be completely overlooked by any means.

How to catch: Giving one of the biggest vanilla bangs for a buck, a couple of these could go a decent length towards your next ship renovation. As with other large sharks, hammerhead spawns are few and far between at oceanic depths. This species called the Stellar Basin its home. While it will be available night and day, it may be worth risking a trip or two into the fog after this beaut, for the slightly raised chance of an aberrant appearance. As with any abominable fish, bait and the fishing tools from the deep can only help in your search. Before anything else, a sturdy and spacious hull must be considered before seeking out the beasts, keeping in mind their 9 Slots of cargo requirements.