Kraken priest

Kraken priests were devout evil servitors of krakens, who worshiped them like gods and were imbued by them with powers.

Abilities
When one became a kraken priest, their body underwent a minor physical transformation that reflected the influence of a kraken, though the nature of this varied for each priest. Features included eyes as black as ink, a featureless face, a suckered tentacle for a tongue, eyes covering the body, or mouths covering the body that dribbled seawater. They also gained the ability to breathe water and swim with some expertise.

If on the same plane of existence, a kraken could read the thoughts of its priest and even take control of their mind, using them as a mouthpiece for their own words. When this possession occurred, the physical manifestations of their reverence would intensify. Regardless of what languages the priest knew, the kraken spoke through them in either Abyssal, Infernal, or Primordial. And when they spoke it was thunderous, audible out to, and struck fear into creatures of the kraken's choice.

Kraken priests could innately cast a number of spells, owing to the power imbued in them by krakens. At will they could cast command and create or destroy water. Three times per day they could cast control water, darkness, water breathing, and water walk. And once per day they could cast call lightning and Evard's black tentacles.

History
By the time of the War of the Silver Marches in the late 15 century DR, the people of the Purple Rocks were dominated by the kraken Slarkrethel and his kraken priests, most of whom were natives of the islands.

Also around this time, the Thayan navy was en route to the city of Myth Nantar to assault it and among this fleet two ships were noted as having kraken priests among their crew. One longship had a kraken priest as its captain, while one of the Thayan navy's death knight-dreadnaughts had a kraken priest as a quartermaster.

Around the 1480s DR, two Thayan slave women, Fhenimore and Whymsee, sought to avoid their planned execution and resurrection as undead servitors by escaping into the Sea of Fallen Stars. While drifting on a destitute skiff they were come upon by a kraken, mortally wounded from an assault by adventurers, and explained its plight to them through its telepathy. Before passing away, the kraken transformed both of them into kraken priests, investing them with the duty of protecting its sole young offspring. The two took to this new lease on life with great enthusiasm and spent the next ten years searching for a save haven for the kraken.

Around the 1490s DR, the two were approached by Gar Shatterkeel, who convinced them that the coral mountain Umberlee's Maw was a safe space for the kraken to be raised. In reality, Shatterkeel was planning to eventually kill both priests, then use the blood of their kraken to fuel a great necromantic ritual.

Notable Kraken Priests

 * Captain Smoke, a kraken priest and pirate captain in the Chultan Peninsula.
 * Nixoxious

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Storm Lord's Wrath
 * Board Games
 * Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Begins
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * Peril at the Port • Assault on Myth Nantar • Saving Silverbeard • Locathah Rising