Karrak

Karrak is an NPC from the Temphere campaign universe. Karrak is a deep scion, a water-based monster born from a drowning sailor who is transformed by a powerful evil entity. He is at present one of the main antagonists of the campaign, having menaced the party directly across multiple adventures and presumably the authority who ordered their woes in several others where he didn't appear in person. Karrak has an as yet unseen humanoid disguise. Because of the actions of Cree during one of the party's encounters with Karrak, he has a dramatic burn scar across the left half of his face.

## History

Karrak was first encountered by Fracture, McGuiggan, and Athelia when they were exploring a lighthouse overrun by kuo-toa. They encountered him in a hidden basement below the lighthouse, where he was using a human he'd captured from the crew of a passing ship to awaken the power of the Aquan Bowl and summon a water elemental. He sent a wave of kuo-toa to distract the party, and succeeded in summoning the elemental. Ultimately his plans were thwarted and the bowl was taken from his possession, but Karrak escaped.

Fracture and McGuiggan would later encounter Karrak again after splitting from Athelia and joining up with Cree, Anther, and Dahlia. While tracking a shambling mound through the Frostfell, the party ran into Karrak, along with a huge hoard of kuo-toa and sahuagin. It soon became clear that they were attempting to take down the shambling mound in order to claim the black thorn inside. The party was outnumbered and outmatched, and after managing to get a hold of the thorn they started to try to disengage from the battle and flee. However, Karrak unleashed some sort of sonic attack that stunned most of the party- Cree, high above the battlefield on a hippogriff's back, was unaffected. In retaliation, she set a log on fire with magic and tossed it at Karrak's face, badly burning him. The party was finally able to escape shortly after that.

Upon asking some questions of the monster hunter Ash and doing some research at a ball in the Feywilde, the party learned a little more about Karrak's species. He is a deep scion, a monster born of a drowning sailor who is saved by an evil sea entity, in exchange for servitude. Scions can assume their original humanoid form at will, to disguise themselves and walk freely among surface dwellers. Though the magic was originally created by the now extinct aboleths, it has been known to be practiced by storm giants, sea hags, and many others.

The party next became aware of Karrak's activities shortly after the ball, when a massive storm blew in over Caellond and refused to dissipate. Upon capturing and interrogating an ice mephit that inexplicably showed up in Caellond, they learned that Karrak was hanging out at a nearby beach, opening portals to the Frostfell to bring more sahuagin through, as well as consorting with a manticore... and a storm giant quintessant, explaining the constant rain. The party knew that they had no hope of facing down so much firepower alone, but fortunately the librarian Itisko was able to dig up records of a friendly bronze dragon who lived near the Rowshaw Coast, where Karrak was believed to be.

Upon securing the help of Thesdian, the dragon in question, the party stormed the coast to confront Karrak again. They triumphed in that battle, though not before the storm giant ordered Karrak to retreat. He used a small boxlike object to open a crossover to the Everdeep, the plane of water, before vanishing.

## Personality

For obvious reasons the party has never had a sit-down conversation with Karrak, so details about what sort of person he is are sparse. From his actions, however, it can be gleaned that he is ruthless and uncaring about the lives of others. Whatever his ends, whoever his master, Karrak will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, and damn the consequences for anyone else.