Swamped

The first thing you notice is that it's got quite a few tentacles. More than you care to count at a glance. The color's off from any type of kraken you've ever seen, though.

The second thing is that it seems to be flailing at not only your ship, but the enemy's as well. It's probably not sent by Nual, then; if he were angry with you, the Captain would have made sure you knew about it.

The third thing you notice is that it's not just striking randomly. It's not so big as to be able to threaten the ships with one strike; but it is going after parts of the hulls that have been damaged by cannon fire. And it's not just that the cannons struck there - it's ignoring several spots on less critical structures, where the cannon wasn't quite on target.

So this isn't just some beast. Someone's commanding it. Someone who considers both ships a problem.

You turn your attention to the deck. You want to see if you can catch the warden. From what the stranger said, she can probably disguise herself - but you know every face on this ship. She knows that, so she'd likely disguise herself as someone else, someone who wouldn't draw attention if they were wandering around. Probably incapacitating the real sailor.

That's when you notice the scout on the deck. Standing behind a pile of ammo, where few people would look too closely. Glancing at the boarding plank for just a moment before turning away as somebody gets close.

And, most of all, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that Mr. Woods just ran down from the crow's nest with the eyepiece that's critical to the job.

So she's in place, at least. But you doubt she'll be crossing while that beast is in the middle. Especially as you're not likely to be able to clear the deck while it's there. In fact, you'll probably have to resume the cannon fire to get rid of it.

You're going to need to think carefully about how to handle this.