Kal'dazzum

Not to be confused with the Kraken.

Kal'dazzum, the Terror of Aquos, was a young kraken who partially led the takeover of Aquos at the Burning Knight's command. It was slain by the Pog Champions.

Appearance
Kal'dazzum is a massive beast with many tentacles. It has a pair of yellow eyes with slit pupils, as well as a mouth filled with sharp teeth.

Personality
Kal'dazzum was quite haughty, claiming that the storm covering the Eadrenan Sea was a small feat for it and showing no concern when the Pog Champions arrived to kill it. In fact, it called them foolish for challenging it, referring to itself as the rightful heir of the seas. However, when the battle began to turn against it, Kal'dazzum became consumed by blind, mindless rage.

Background
If legends are to be believed, Kal'dazzum was created by the gods, possibly Eadro or Persana, but was cast away. Furious at its abandonment, Kal'dazzum became an enemy to all living things. Considering that Kal'dazzum is believed to be a fairly young kraken, it is unknown what the timespan on this process was, or if it was simply something that happened to its ancestors, rather than Kal'dazzum itself. Typically, krakens are thought to sleep for ages until they receive some sort of sign to awaken. At some point, it entered an alliance with an aboleth named Ryl'dhagt in service to the Burning Knight, which possibly served as this sign for Kal'dazzum. The specifics of this alliance were never learned by the Pog Champions, but both Kal'dazzum and Ryl'dhagt seem to have been offered dominion over Aquos in exchange for retrieving the city's Abyssal Crest. Kal'dazzum created a large storm over the Eadrenan Sea, blocking most sea travel in the region. It was also part of the main force that overwhelmed Aquos during the Stormbringing Festival of 598, which included Ryl'dhagt and a large force of sea spawn and sahuagin. With the royal family driven from their home and Aquos in disarray, Kal'dazzum took up residence in the Coralpeak Citadel, favoring the throne room as its quarters. While there, it had its sea spawn thralls bring captured tritons back to it, eating some and dominating others into becoming more servants.

The Desperado Arc
As the Desperado sailed into Laverathian waters, Kal'dazzum sent Nakros and a few of its other thralls to eliminate the intruders. When Nakros boarded the ship, Kal'dazzum spoke to the Pog Champions through him, claiming responsibility for the attack on Aquos, as well as the storm that the ship had been contending with over the past few days. However, Kal'dazzum seemed confident that no further intervention would be required on its part and left Nakros to (unsuccessfully) do its bidding.

Reides' Homecoming
Upon arriving in the triton refugee camp, the party learned from Viglis that a young kraken had been among the invading forces at the Stormbringing Festival, although they did not yet know for certain that this was Kal'dazzum or if the aboleth was responsible for the storm. When the party was attempting to recover the armory in the Crystalline Trench, Jorah understandably mistook their first encounter with Ryl'dhagt as the arrival of the kraken. A triton scouting party also spotted Kal'dazzum in the Coralpeak Citadel's throne room at this time, where it was eating captured triton refugees. It also discussed its plans to transform many more Aquosians into sea spawn and take a certain treasure for itself. Kal'dazzum also seemed aware of Ryl'dhagt's efforts to break Emperor Khavas's will to learn the Wreath of Persana's location.

As the Aquosian forces planned to retake the capital, a small strike team consisting of the Pog Champions was sent in to the throne room through a secret tunnel in order to take out Kal'dazzum before searching for Ryl'dhagt. However, due to a key figure in the Aquosian camp being dominated by Ryl'dhagt, Kal'dazzum had advance warning of the attack and prepared a cadre of sea spawn allies to help defend it. It taunted the adventurers for thinking they could possibly stand up to it. In a battle that sorely tested the party, Kal'dazzum devoured Briar (who was later vomited back up) and nearly killed Reides before finally being killed by Jorah, who cut off many of its tentacles before plunging Quickbrand into the kraken's remaining eye, having already shot out the other one. Upon its death, the sea spawn under Kal'dazzum's control seemed to lose focus and abandoned the fight with the main Aquosian force outside the citadel.

Goals
Kal'dazzum wished to take what it thought was its rightful place as the ruler of the seas. As part of this goal, it may have wished to seek vengeance against its creator, whether Persana or Eadro, for abandoning it. While Ryl'dhagt seemed to be the alliance member more interested in obtaining the Wreath of Persana for the Burning Knight, Kal'dazzum may have been tasked with this as well. However, during a meeting with its sea spawn lieutenants, it mentioned wanting to take a treasure for itself, which may or may not be related. As a discarded warrior of the gods, Kal'dazzum also has no desire to be bound to another being.

Abilities
As a creature of legend, Kal'dazzum had a wide variety of abilities, such as the ability to speak telepathically and project its consciousness through those who had been twisted into serving it. As a divinely sourced being, it was assumed to be able to see through illusions. It also wielded its tentacles as lashes and used them to grab its foes, sometimes flinging them away. It was also large enough to potentially swallow its human-sized enemies. Kal'dazzum was also able to magically produce a massive storm, which prevented most surfacers from sailing in the Eadrenan Sea. It displayed a number of other storm-related powers, such as the ability to charge the water in its lair to increase one's vulnerability to electricity, cause waves to surge away from it, and send pulses of electricity through the room. Kal'dazzum additionally seems responsible for the transformation of the sea spawn and controlled the actions of many of them, although some still remained under Ryl'dhagt's control after Kal'dazzum's death.

Kal'dazzum and Ryl'dhagt
Kal'dazzum and Ryl'dhagt allied with each other in order to conquer Aquos. However, the details of this alliance never became known to the Pog Champions. Kal'dazzum was alternatively described as being led by Ryl'dhagt and being served by the aboleth as its general. Considering that Kal'dazzum told its lieutenants that it was planning to take a treasure for itself, it may have been planning to betray Ryl'dhagt and the Burning Knight, but the inner workings of the kraken's mind are unclear to others.

Quotes

 * Name: "Quote."

Trivia

 * Trivia 1
 * Trivia 2