Recently I've been considering what the best courses of action might be to undertake should you be trapped in the jungle and you happen to encounter a harbour with a sea monster in it. My general consensus is that the first thing you should be doing (before you even evaluate the harbour) is to identify what type of monster it is likely to be, because if it's a Nessie-style cryptid then you might get away with tickling it's back at least some of the time, whereas if it's an eagle or a land-dwelling beast that has fallen into the sea then your chances of a successful back-tickling are generally next to nil. If you're trying to back tickle a sea monster and it doesn't comply then chances are you won't get a second chance to rescue yourself if the harbour isn't really all that manned or otherwise capable of providing assistance. If the harbour is the better type of harbour then you might have more luck, albeit you have to content with the monster preying on the locals afterwards, and possibly have to utilize a sword, gun, or some sort of monkey king in order to fight back. I mean, this is feasible but I think we can all agree that this is hardly ideal, especially if you can't find a monkey. Any more thoughts on this or similar matters?
I roll to befriend the sea monster. But really, if it's actually a land monster that's just hanging out in the harbour, so far I just feel out of luck. At least if it's purely aquatic, hiding inland and looking for a high vantage point has some options. Land monster could be hostile and pursue me through the unfamiliar terrain faster than I can go.
I'd feel safer if it were a land monster chilling out in the harbor, or amphibious. Frogs are bros, so are newts and turtles (crocodiles are an outlier and should not be counted). Birds are crazy, but cool, and will probably be down to help if you rescue them from drowning. Mammals can usually be persuaded with offers of food and companionship. Fish? Fish are evil and want to kill you. In the water there are no friends, only predators and prey, and anything big enough to ride off the island to safety is big enough to swallow a human. Or drown a human. Or fuck a human up enough that sharks come in and take care of the rest.
