THE FATHOMLESS
Your patron is a dark and mysterious entity from The Fathomless Sea…the wide body of water at the center of the world, beneath the raging Maelstrom. Perhaps you bargained with this entity to save yourself from shipwreck or drowning. Or maybe you seek to control the sea itself as a quick path to wealth and power within the Merchant Guilds? While there are many dangerous and powerful creatures in the Fathomless Sea, only three of them will make deals with mortals in this campaign: Otaria, Slarkrethel, and Vog.
Warlocks who form pacts with the Shadowfell follow the progression for The Fathomless, from page 72 of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
OTARIA
The Angel of the Deep, the Fathomless Pearl, the Queen of Fathoms
Alignment: Neutral
Weapon: Bident (use stats for Trident)
Familiar: an albatross
Tome: a scroll of parchment, wound on a wooden spindle and decorated with pearl beads
Otaria (pronounced “oh TAR e uh”) is a triton archdruid of incredible power, who rules a vast aquatic kingdom south of the Maelstrom. When Otaria appears to mortals, she most often takes the form of an enormous blue whale with bioluminescent markings along her fins, a beautiful triton maiden with fins for hair, or a mermaid with the lower body of an octopus. She makes her presence known through the sound of seabirds, or the movements of air or water.
SLARKRETHEL
The Kraken God, King of the Trackless Depths
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Weapon: Tentacle (Whip)
Familiar: a slug or snail
Tome: a heavy black book, bound in sharkskin leather.
Slarkrethel (pronounced “SLARK ree thell”) is a kraken of immense size and power, who rules an underwater realm on the northern fringe of the Maelstrom. While he is still mortal, he aspires to greatness: his ultimate goal is apotheosis. From the dark waters and uncharted caves of his domain, he works tirelessly to ascend to godhood. When he wishes to be seen, he appears as an impossibly huge purple squid, miles long, with bright orange eyes. He communicates through the sound of dripping water or crashing waves, the appearance of tentacles in unlikely places, and the smell of seawater.
VOG
The Drowned, The Dreadnaught, The Ship of the Dead, Sea Devil, The Dead Captain, Old Scrattle, The Gray Lady, etc.
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Weapon: Cutlass
Familiar: a hermit crab
Tome: an old ship’s logbook, with an unlabeled compass rose on the cover.
Vog (rhymes with “fog”) is a ghostly entity that formed from the souls of men who were lost at sea in the centuries following the Cataclysm. When it takes the form of a derelict, weatherbeaten ship or shipwreck, it is known as The Dreadnaught or the Ship of the Dead. When in human form, it appears as a skeleton or corpse dressed in sailor’s clothing, and is known as Sea Devil, the Dead Captain, or Old Scrattle. But most often, when it chooses to appear to mortals, it takes the form of a gray, luminescent fog that sailors call Vog or The Gray Lady. It rarely speaks, preferring to communicate through feelings and emotions: pangs of hunger or fear, the sensation of warm or icy water, a vague sense of calm or unease, etc.