Release the Kraken

General Summary

After giving Grom a disturbing vision, the strange purple crystal floating in the cavern fell to the ground. As the party explored the rest of the cavern they uncovered a ratty journal, seemingly belonging to the dark mage they recently defeated. Carmilla recognized the language of the journal as High Déonian but was unable to accurately translate it. She recognized the crystal from some sketches she had seen in old books before but was unsure of the crystal's purpose or nature. She suggested heading back to Meicor to get in touch with her old professor Maximilian Miralos, an expert on Déonian history. He had been sent to Meicor to take over an archaeological excavation of a Four Diamonds Civilization ruin in the nearby Katalian mountains.
On the way back to Meicor, the party spotted a ship sinking in the distance. Getting closer they found a survivor hanging onto a board, a blue dragonborn woman. Pulling her aboard she introduced herself as Raporra, a sailor aboard a trading vessel that had just been destroyed by some sort of sea creature. The crew allowed her to stay onboard until Meicor and soon after getting underway again the ship was attacked by a massive tentacled sea monster, presumably the same one that destroyed Raporra's ship. A tense battle ensued as the party sliced at the tentacles that were attempting to destroy the ship, eventually ending when Grom jumped onto the creature's head and killed it using the Shatter spell.
With the creature destroyed, the party utilized a Scroll of Waterbreathing to swim down to Raporra's ship and retrieve the cargo. They then continued towards Meicor.
When reaching the city, the crew voted to allow Raporra to stay on as part of the Tranquil Angel's staff. While the crew went for a drink, the party and Carmilla hired a carriage and headed into the Katalian Mountains towards the dig site. Once there, they journeyed into the excavation and found Maximilian attempting to open a sealed chamber. They showed him what they found and he identified the crystal as the Heart of Déon, an ancient artifact of immense power from which the rulers of Déon drew their power. The journal he identified as that of Kallindor of Gellos, confirming Carmilla's suspicions of the identity of the dark mage from the cavern.
While Miralos began translating the journal, the party agreed to help him unseal the chamber. They noticed the four diamonds on the doorway corresponded to four gems in the breastplates of nearby suits of armor. As Ra'zon removed one gem, the others began to glow and the suits of armor began moving as ancient magic awoke them. The party battled the armor and narrowly defeated them, with Grom falling unconscious during the fight. After the suits of armor collapsed, the party put the gems into the doorway and opened it up. Miralos allowed them to take some of the treasure in payment, before revealing what he had found in the journal.
According to the journal, Kallindor smuggled the Heart out of Estariol as it fell to keep it out of the hands of the advancing Ajokai armies. Keeping it secret, he tried to reach the Kingdom of Adarna but his ship was caught in a storm and ran aground in the Argendives. The power of the Heart slowly drove him mad, and as his mind decayed he began using dark necromantic arts to create undead defenders of the Heart.

Characters Interacted With

• After rescuing her from the wreckage of her ship, Raporra Verthetoc joined the crew of the Tranquil Angel
• The party met Maximilian Miralos in the Four Diamonds dig site

Chapter Five

"Release the Kraken"

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Previous Chapter: Bring Out Your Dead

Next Chapter: Take This Quest and Shove It

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Ingame Date: 24-30^th of First Bloom, 1855
Real-Life Date: April 19, 2020
Protagonists:

• Grom
• Ra'zon the Broken

Featured NPCs:

• Carmilla Valenti
• Raporra Verthestoc
• Maximilian Miralos

Locations:

• Wreck of the Sword of the North
• Achinad Sea
• Katalian Four Diamonds dig site