You didn't hear it from me, but Some People Are Saying... One tale speaks of a glowing magic stone that somehow ended up in the swamps south of Oasis. A mother gator laid a clutch of eggs near the stone. These baby gators would have grown up big and strong! But Ogres and Trolls came, looking for the stone. When they found it, they smooshed most of the eggs and baby gators! But one got away, and that was Lockjaw. Someday, Lockjaw will return to have his revenge for what the tall ones did to his siblings. Others say that once, the inhabitants of Takish Hiz kept a menagerie of the most fearsome creatures they could find. When the city sank beneath the sands, these beasts devoured each other or were lost to the sands, but a few escaped.. One such monstrous alligator must have been an ancestor of Lockjaw, remnant of a time when creatures of enormous size were common in Norrath. Still others disagree and claim that one (or more) of the Gods looked down upon the adventurers in Oasis, viewing their attempts to gain power and experience in the easiest possible way with displeasure. A chasm opened in the skies over Oasis, and far out in the ocean a tremendous splash was heard. Soon after, Lockjaw began to ravage the beaches of Oasis and foil those who would pray on the peaceful caimans and gators to fuel their ambitions of power.
From the Everquest Atlas: "For years, this behemoth crocodile was thought to be merely a myth. Although travelers would often return to the human city of Freeport with tales of a great, monstrous beast emerging from the waters of the oasis and destroying entire caravans with little effort, these reports were never believed until the grew too frequent and strident for the people of Freeport to ignore. A small band of armed mercenaries led by a wizard and a scholar, both of great repute among the Arcane Halls of Freeport, ventured into the oasis in search of the legendary monster - to either dispose of him or permanently dispel the myth. After three days of searching and finding nothing, the mercenaries were ready to give up. Suddenly, the wizard's arm was caught between two rows of enormous, jagged teeth. The beast pulled the wizard beneath the waters in a brief and irrefutable proof of his existence. Feeling outmatched in their current condition - sunburned and horribly weary, the mercenaries fled back to Freeport to officially give their story to the great scholars of the Arcane Halls. The ensuing report of the scholars finally convinced the people of Freeport that the creature, duly named Lockjaw, was in fact an unfortunate reality. To this day, Lockjaw roams the desert sands of the oasis, searching for adventurers that will briefly sate his immense appetite"
Thanks for the note! I'm glad that even those Ivory Tower shut-ins from Academy of Arcane Scientists have felt the bite of His Mighty Jaws.
