Bestiary of the Bladeseekers #2 - The serpents of tree bay

Today I shall describe a beast of the sea. Beings like this are always tricky to handle for us landdwellers.

— Tyson MacBogard, Lord Founder.

Giant Ringed Seaserpents

These beasts are a relatively new addition to the local fauna. In fact my words here may be the first dedicated description ever written, if I am not mistaken.

Appearance

We have either not yet seen young or adolescent sea serpents, or all of the ones we have seen are in fact adolescent and none really survive to their hypothetical full size. I dont really know which of these options is more terrifying to me. In any case the serpents we do see are usually about twenty meters in length and about half a meter thick at the head. Their thumbnail sized scales form striped patterns in various shining colours, making their hide a highly sought after new material in wealthy circles. The head, which is flatnosed with two deep green eyes of uniform colour, seamlessly transitions into the body, one long muscle ending in a tail with a fin.
The way of telling male from female serpent is twofold. First females are slightly larger on average, but since this is also influenced by food availability, so not reliable. Secondly male serpents have a split mouth, allowing them to split open their jaw when opening the mouth.

Who are Tyson MacBogard and the Bladeseekers?

Tyson MacBogard, was one of the founding members of a adventurers/mercenary guild in a place outside of the world.
He does not exist within the world of Focis at all, but somehow his writings in the form of the Bestiary of the Bladeseekers have found their way to the world.
More strangely, many of his descriptions match beings that exist on Focis and even more so he sometimes accurately described beings that did not exist in the world of his origin, but do exist on Focis.
The existence of the Bestiary is a mystery still unsolved and the book and its many copies are prized curiosities among many civilisations.

By this fin the sea serpent can swim surprisingly quickly. I have seen them catch up to boats going ten knots without problem. In addition their body has a crushing strength, with which they break apart any boat small enough for them to wrap around, which generally are smaller fishing boats and similar vehicles.

Habits

Sea serpents mainly spend their lives in the depths, but have recently begun emerging within the bay of trees to hunt for food. As far as I known, we don't know the reason for this change in behaviour, but my guess would be that something about the food availability in the depths has recently undergone a dramatic decrease.
Male serpents are highly territorial and will relentlessly track down and fight any rival male they detect. The reason for their split jaw seems to be, that the winner of a confrontation will attempt to swallow the now dead loser whole, a process that takes several days during which the male floats near the surface. Its quite a sight to behold.

If my saddle was not fashioned from basilisc leather, serpent scales might look nice. Given the recent surge in activity, I doubt we will have a shortage of serpent leather any time soon.

— TMB, Lord Founder.

Weaknesses

Luckily, these serpents are not the smartest. You can easily bait them to follow your boat into an ambush and/or shallow water. Their scales, while pretty are also not impregnable, with the neck and jaw being the weakest spot.
Additionally, the eyes of the serpents are adapted to dark waters and as a result, the serpents hate and avoid direct sunlight. They mostly hunt at night or during completely cloudy weather.

Advice

Take the fight to a place where you can fight it. Out in the open sea you should only even attempt a confrontation if you are positive you can keep your boat from sinking. Once you land in the water, it is game over. Luckily getting to a place of your choosing is not impossible. Serpents will follow you for miles upon miles once you have angered them.
Alternatively, if your ship is large enough to overpower the serpent, you can also use harpoons to draw a serpent to shore and even on land. There the scales are inverted. You should have no trouble killing a beached serpent. In general, go for the jaw, eyes or neck. Avoid getting grappled at all costs.
Finally, if things don't go your way, use the serpents light sensitivity against them. A bright flash of light from arcane sources or some alchemical trickery can reliably scare off any serpent that I have met so far.
Good luck and keep the blades honored, Tyson

This increase in activity does worry me though. Generally beasts do not change their feeding, hunting and ranging habits so rapidly without good reason. Whatever force is pushing these beasts up from the depths might be trouble for us down the line as well.

— TMB, Lord Founder.