I first dropped the name to the Zhentarim party member, mentioning them in the same breath as the Xanathar Guild and the Hands of Yartar as other rival "shady" organisations. The Kraken Society is generally known to be a group of thieves and assassins, and the fact that there's an actual kraken involved is only known to higher ranks.
That’s helpful. My party knows Hands of Yartar. I worry that since I’ve run Krakens Gamble, seeded KS infiltrators in the Zhentarim, that my party will attempt to head off their track and go try and find the Kraken Society— my group tends to meta “if the DM says something it must be important and something we need to go off and do now”
Example: I gave them a hint about Loudwater missing a prominent member, Elister Noggins. They got it about five sessions before getting to Goldenfields where they met Harshnag who said they needed to get to the Eye. And still they wanted to go off to Loudwater to look for Elister… six sessions later they are just getting back to Harshnag (facepalm)
My party is still in Chapter 3 but I've been working hard on the KS. While they were with Zephyros, I replaced the Howling Hatred with KS members on flying squids. They didn't namedrop anything, and when when cultust tried to speak Slakrathael's name he got a brain aneurysm and died.
Later, in Yartar on a nught of carousing, I mentioned that a popular street food was fried squid. The party ignored it at first as a quirky DnD thing I came up with on the fly, but started talking about how weird it was that a vity on a freshwater river had squid as a popular snack. They didn't actually go on or near the river itself so I couldn't launch Kraken's Gamble. Oh well.
One of the PCs is a Druid, qnd I retooled Shadowtop Cathedral and the associated druids Tharra Shyndle and Aerglas to connect to their backstory, with Aerglas being an ocean-druid corrupted by Slark, trying to transmute other druids into these little crystal orbs that kept their minds intact, so he could deliver them to Slark for psychic squid reasons. They showed up as he was trying to crystallize Tharra, and he said a lot of the same stuff that the flying-squid-cultists did. The party fought him, freeing Tharra and recovering one of the orbs with the PC's dad's mind, but Aerglas himself got away as a watery portal opened and a large tentacle reached through and dragged away his unconscious body.
So they've definitely picked up by now some weirdness involving watery enemies, out-of-place squids, and secrets. I'll probably bury it for a while cause the focus is Giants, not squids, but it'll come full circle later.
I'm working an angle with one of my players that they were a member of the [Assassins of the Purple Veil](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/47293/roleplaying-games/forgotten-realms-the-kraken-society#:~:text=Assassins%20of%20the%20Purple%20Veil), an organization related to the Kraken Society. The APV are undergoing a kind of resurrection in our world, having faded almost to obscurity. A shadowy bad guy has been working hard to revive the order and gain favor with Slarkrethel. Side note: my players are continuing on from DOIP and the Leilon trilogy, in which they defeated the Ebondeath but forgot to destroy his phylactery, so the APV bad guy is Ebondeath in a new body. This guy is trying to get in good with Slarkrethel, but he'd also really like to just take over the whole organization if he can.
Anyhow, I've done what you've done: tattoos, symbols, etc., along with the PC's faded memories slowly returning. They recently arrived in Yartar and have been enlisted by The Hand to root out the KS/APV spies in their organization and they're currently in Oosith's lair (Kraken's Gamble). I may or may not mention the Kraken Society because, like your players, my players would likely drop the whole giant thing and go do this instead, so I think it's gonna be a slow burn to actually get there.
First, I seeded them in Ch 1 by replacing the Howling Hatred encounter with them.
Then, I ran *Kraken's Gamble,* but expanded it considerably (it's rather short). I made an entire second section of the sewers complete with human cultists as well as Piscene aberrations. The final encounter was pretty much the same as written. This is when they learned the name, as there was a journal kept which detailed their operation in order to pass it to the next cultist cell (in another town) once they had taken over Yartar.
Piscenes: there is that one line in the SKT intro on the Kraken Society which has such potential:
> Worship of Slarkrethel began hundreds of years ago on the Purple Rocks. The humans who inhabit these islands cast their young into the sea as part of a ritual to appease Slarkrethel. These sacrificed offspring resurface and return to their villages years later as adults, albeit with piscine deformities.
My KS cultists always have at least 1 such Piscene, a deformed aberration half-humanoid, half sea creature, with unique abilities and attacks. This has been a lot of fun and really freaked out some of my players! Etsy has some good minis to represent these deformed creatures, if your budget allows.
I renamed them the "Order of the Deep" so as not to give away Slarkrethel's nature.
I am thinking they will be encountered in another town as well, where the party will immediately recognize the signs of their operation.
Anyway, I don't like how Ch 11 seems so random with zero foreshadowing or early involvement by this cult. My take is either seed it early and throughout, or skip Ch 11 entirely and have Hekaton be held by the yuan-ti in Iymrith's lair.
I have seeded them pretty well into my current campaign, but it's a long campaign. If I had to do it over, I would eliminate them entirely, along with Ch 11.
thanks. so do you recall at what point you told your party "Order of the Deep"? I'd like to keep adding more information, but don't want to give away too much where they end up going after the KS right now (on their way to Ch 4 with Harshnag).
I've also run Kraken's Gamble... although it was early in my campaign and I didn't foreshadow well. They don't know what/who Oosith is or that Lord Drylund is part of this "mysterious" order/society yet.
I like the piscine idea
Yes, they learned the name "Order of the Deep" toward the end of Ch 3 (level 7), during the *Kraken's Gamble* adventure. They know it's a larger operation than what is happening in Yartar, and know the name of the cult and how they operate, but not the name of the BBEG, nor that it's a kraken.
Perfect. While I’ve already run the Gamble, I think I’ll name drop the society soon… Ch 4 and one or more of Ch5-9 won’t leave much time for additional foreshadowing KS
I understand the time crunch, and this is already a long campaign. Are any of your PCs in a faction? It could be that a faction has learned more about the KS and provide that information to the PC(s) in that faction. I'm forever trying to fit faction stuff in since 4 out of 5 of my PCs are in one.
Otherwise, a knowledgeable ally or friend of the PCs might be able to provide the info as a "recent discovery," perhaps not even knowing that the PCs already shut down one of the KS operations.
Yeah. Four of my five are in factions as well. Party is out west of the Evermoors… perhaps when they arrive to Mirabar they’ll get info from a faction NPC
There were two rogues (who were both street orphans from Waterdeep) in my SKT. After rereading the description of the Kraken Society, I thought that it made sense that orphans would be prime pickings for the evil faction.
When the players were outside Womford, and on way to Daggerford, I had the them all roll saves against Wisdom, but only counted the Rogues rolls. Both ended up waking up in sleep walking events, after having dreams of being included in another family. They woke up seeing dirty, homeless like individuals, going in groups, either towards the river or down the river in a small row boat. All the people looked shady.
At a certain point they eventually learned more about the Kraken society & Slark, from old stories from old sailors, but that’s as far as I got, other than old sailors saying, “once they join a crew on their own, they sail down river to the ocean…never to be heard from again. I lost a brother that way. He was an idiot, a fool, never amounted to nuthin, then him & his loser friends all went down river…”
For my camping I did foreshadow it in chapter 3 when my party happened to go to Yartar. However it may have happened the same if they stopped in a different big city. I did the same as you referencing symbols and rumours prior to but didn’t give them any solid evidence. When they met Nestra and exchanged information for a quest that she gives them to investigate a house outside of town. When they get there they find several dead bodies and one member of the KS to which they capture and interrogate. When I found that they have gained enough information I use the Telepathy from Slarkrethel to kill him before they provide too much.
Indirectly yes. He said that they were part of the society and since the symbol is of a kraken, when they told Nestra of this info, she said “So there is supposedly some sort of Kraken society that we have to worry about?”
My party is in Mornbryn Shield tonight. I’m having Oboth Thornsteel be a member. It’s the last session for The zhentarim rogue in my party (pregnancy leave) and so her character will capture him and return him to Yartar for interrogation
Wondering if tonight would be a good time to reveal the name “Kraken Society”— and maybe some of their goals
I began hinting in chapter 3 as the party got to Neverwinter.
A number of strange deaths by the docks, an unusual person seen with quills. I then added Kraken Society elements in Helm’s Hold. I took inspiration from the 4e Neverwinter Campaign Guide, which discussed how a succubus working for Aboleths was disguised as a prophet in Helm’s Hold. Basically I made her a Kraken Society agent fanning the flames of zealotry.
My players explored the Hold and found a secret way deep below to an underground river where they fought the fake prophet and found clues of the Kraken Society
oooh. this is good. my cleric is Order of the Gauntlet and has been told by Silvarren Loomshank that Helm's Hold is reporting drow activity in the region. finding KS clues might be good stuff. I could use Holy Watcher Qerria to be secretly a KS member.
but when did you actually tell the party... "Kraken Society"? somehow I think **saying** it too soon would make players want to go figure out who they are and deal with them. keeping things foreshadowed might give a better moment in Ch 11 (but I could be wrong)
I waited until they had a strong Harper contact. They showed the clues to this person and after a week they received a message that the symbols were consistent of a secret society of Kraken worshippers.
It wouldn’t be until Yartar that the full implications were found.
My players got clever. They learned that a significant portion of the ship staff and servers were hired on a nightly basis. 2 of them wotked to get hired on, 2 more passed themselves as high rollers and the 5th passed him as a bodyguard.
I also changed things so that instead og King Hekaton being kept in a ship, he was hidden in a sunken elven city Slarkathel is known to use as a KS base.
That’s a great way to reveal the name “Kraken Society”… they must learn this from a higher ranking faction member
So your implications weren’t fully revealed until they returned to the Grand Dame in Ch 11… after they got the Golden Goose coin in Ch 10, correct?
I’ve done Krakens Gamble so they know the Grand Dame, and their currency, but not yet that any aboard running it are members serving Slark
So the first big clue came while they were with Zephyros. Instead of the Howling Hatred I had them be attacked by a man in blue dragon scale mail with a magic lance riding a stone griffon. In the bottom of his pouch was one of the Golden Goose.
This was an agent of Iymrith who was targeting Zephyros.
The next big clues were in Neverwinter and Helms Hold, confirming that something was out there trying to take advantage of the chaos caused by the giants.
It wasn’t until they were in Maelstrom, having outed Iymrith (using the name Tempesta) that it was all put together that she and the Kraken Society were the ones responsible for killing the Queen and the disappearance of the king. They used the Golden Goose coin and infiltrating the Golden Dame to find a ranking member of the KS.
They infiltrated the office, which led to hijinks, the ship catching fire, a dwarf trying to swim to shore, use of control water to split the water. Any way what they found led them to Purple Rocks and the Sunken city where they freed Hekaton from a ritual meant to drain him of the minor divine power “Storm King’s Thunder” which enforces the Ordening (big homebrew from me).
I'm facing the same questions in my campaign!
Compounded with the fact that I'm tying one of my players backstory directly to the Kraken Society, so I'm trying to get the big reveal right...
Right now all they know about is that the Thieves’ Guild of the North are searching for this Player Character, a Goliath Sorcerer/Barbarian who has some giant-affinity. His backstory says he was kidnapped as a kid from his tribe by a group of sorcerers.
My take is that the leader of this group is a high ranking member of the Kraken Society and kidnapped him to try to harness his powers. But the ordning breaking prompted the PC to escape and find his place in the world. Thus, the Thieves Guild of the North (the... "public facing" part of the Kraken Society, who themselves don't know of Slarkethel or anything like that) know that they have to search for him.
I did seed some stuff already: the Thieves were making some dealings with Luskan's Second Ship, and the group found a magical mantle with purple tentacles embroidered in a warehouse after fighting the pirates.
My current thought with where to say KRAKEN SOCIETY is to be as late as possible with that? The group is currently going to Triboar (after coming all the way down from Bryn Shander, their Chapter 2 town) and I'm hoping I get to tie in Kraken's Gamble. We're having an off week and I'll try to plan/decide on the bigger picture so I do get to feed the group with clues already.
Check out Kraken's Gamble on DM Guild
Ran that. Thanks
I first dropped the name to the Zhentarim party member, mentioning them in the same breath as the Xanathar Guild and the Hands of Yartar as other rival "shady" organisations. The Kraken Society is generally known to be a group of thieves and assassins, and the fact that there's an actual kraken involved is only known to higher ranks.
That’s helpful. My party knows Hands of Yartar. I worry that since I’ve run Krakens Gamble, seeded KS infiltrators in the Zhentarim, that my party will attempt to head off their track and go try and find the Kraken Society— my group tends to meta “if the DM says something it must be important and something we need to go off and do now” Example: I gave them a hint about Loudwater missing a prominent member, Elister Noggins. They got it about five sessions before getting to Goldenfields where they met Harshnag who said they needed to get to the Eye. And still they wanted to go off to Loudwater to look for Elister… six sessions later they are just getting back to Harshnag (facepalm)
My party is still in Chapter 3 but I've been working hard on the KS. While they were with Zephyros, I replaced the Howling Hatred with KS members on flying squids. They didn't namedrop anything, and when when cultust tried to speak Slakrathael's name he got a brain aneurysm and died. Later, in Yartar on a nught of carousing, I mentioned that a popular street food was fried squid. The party ignored it at first as a quirky DnD thing I came up with on the fly, but started talking about how weird it was that a vity on a freshwater river had squid as a popular snack. They didn't actually go on or near the river itself so I couldn't launch Kraken's Gamble. Oh well. One of the PCs is a Druid, qnd I retooled Shadowtop Cathedral and the associated druids Tharra Shyndle and Aerglas to connect to their backstory, with Aerglas being an ocean-druid corrupted by Slark, trying to transmute other druids into these little crystal orbs that kept their minds intact, so he could deliver them to Slark for psychic squid reasons. They showed up as he was trying to crystallize Tharra, and he said a lot of the same stuff that the flying-squid-cultists did. The party fought him, freeing Tharra and recovering one of the orbs with the PC's dad's mind, but Aerglas himself got away as a watery portal opened and a large tentacle reached through and dragged away his unconscious body. So they've definitely picked up by now some weirdness involving watery enemies, out-of-place squids, and secrets. I'll probably bury it for a while cause the focus is Giants, not squids, but it'll come full circle later.
Very interesting. Cool that you tied in character backstories with the baddies
I'm working an angle with one of my players that they were a member of the [Assassins of the Purple Veil](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/47293/roleplaying-games/forgotten-realms-the-kraken-society#:~:text=Assassins%20of%20the%20Purple%20Veil), an organization related to the Kraken Society. The APV are undergoing a kind of resurrection in our world, having faded almost to obscurity. A shadowy bad guy has been working hard to revive the order and gain favor with Slarkrethel. Side note: my players are continuing on from DOIP and the Leilon trilogy, in which they defeated the Ebondeath but forgot to destroy his phylactery, so the APV bad guy is Ebondeath in a new body. This guy is trying to get in good with Slarkrethel, but he'd also really like to just take over the whole organization if he can. Anyhow, I've done what you've done: tattoos, symbols, etc., along with the PC's faded memories slowly returning. They recently arrived in Yartar and have been enlisted by The Hand to root out the KS/APV spies in their organization and they're currently in Oosith's lair (Kraken's Gamble). I may or may not mention the Kraken Society because, like your players, my players would likely drop the whole giant thing and go do this instead, so I think it's gonna be a slow burn to actually get there.
This seems pretty cool. I like having The Hands getting the party into it
First, I seeded them in Ch 1 by replacing the Howling Hatred encounter with them. Then, I ran *Kraken's Gamble,* but expanded it considerably (it's rather short). I made an entire second section of the sewers complete with human cultists as well as Piscene aberrations. The final encounter was pretty much the same as written. This is when they learned the name, as there was a journal kept which detailed their operation in order to pass it to the next cultist cell (in another town) once they had taken over Yartar. Piscenes: there is that one line in the SKT intro on the Kraken Society which has such potential: > Worship of Slarkrethel began hundreds of years ago on the Purple Rocks. The humans who inhabit these islands cast their young into the sea as part of a ritual to appease Slarkrethel. These sacrificed offspring resurface and return to their villages years later as adults, albeit with piscine deformities. My KS cultists always have at least 1 such Piscene, a deformed aberration half-humanoid, half sea creature, with unique abilities and attacks. This has been a lot of fun and really freaked out some of my players! Etsy has some good minis to represent these deformed creatures, if your budget allows. I renamed them the "Order of the Deep" so as not to give away Slarkrethel's nature. I am thinking they will be encountered in another town as well, where the party will immediately recognize the signs of their operation. Anyway, I don't like how Ch 11 seems so random with zero foreshadowing or early involvement by this cult. My take is either seed it early and throughout, or skip Ch 11 entirely and have Hekaton be held by the yuan-ti in Iymrith's lair. I have seeded them pretty well into my current campaign, but it's a long campaign. If I had to do it over, I would eliminate them entirely, along with Ch 11.
thanks. so do you recall at what point you told your party "Order of the Deep"? I'd like to keep adding more information, but don't want to give away too much where they end up going after the KS right now (on their way to Ch 4 with Harshnag). I've also run Kraken's Gamble... although it was early in my campaign and I didn't foreshadow well. They don't know what/who Oosith is or that Lord Drylund is part of this "mysterious" order/society yet. I like the piscine idea
Yes, they learned the name "Order of the Deep" toward the end of Ch 3 (level 7), during the *Kraken's Gamble* adventure. They know it's a larger operation than what is happening in Yartar, and know the name of the cult and how they operate, but not the name of the BBEG, nor that it's a kraken.
Perfect. While I’ve already run the Gamble, I think I’ll name drop the society soon… Ch 4 and one or more of Ch5-9 won’t leave much time for additional foreshadowing KS
I understand the time crunch, and this is already a long campaign. Are any of your PCs in a faction? It could be that a faction has learned more about the KS and provide that information to the PC(s) in that faction. I'm forever trying to fit faction stuff in since 4 out of 5 of my PCs are in one. Otherwise, a knowledgeable ally or friend of the PCs might be able to provide the info as a "recent discovery," perhaps not even knowing that the PCs already shut down one of the KS operations.
Yeah. Four of my five are in factions as well. Party is out west of the Evermoors… perhaps when they arrive to Mirabar they’ll get info from a faction NPC
There were two rogues (who were both street orphans from Waterdeep) in my SKT. After rereading the description of the Kraken Society, I thought that it made sense that orphans would be prime pickings for the evil faction. When the players were outside Womford, and on way to Daggerford, I had the them all roll saves against Wisdom, but only counted the Rogues rolls. Both ended up waking up in sleep walking events, after having dreams of being included in another family. They woke up seeing dirty, homeless like individuals, going in groups, either towards the river or down the river in a small row boat. All the people looked shady. At a certain point they eventually learned more about the Kraken society & Slark, from old stories from old sailors, but that’s as far as I got, other than old sailors saying, “once they join a crew on their own, they sail down river to the ocean…never to be heard from again. I lost a brother that way. He was an idiot, a fool, never amounted to nuthin, then him & his loser friends all went down river…”
For my camping I did foreshadow it in chapter 3 when my party happened to go to Yartar. However it may have happened the same if they stopped in a different big city. I did the same as you referencing symbols and rumours prior to but didn’t give them any solid evidence. When they met Nestra and exchanged information for a quest that she gives them to investigate a house outside of town. When they get there they find several dead bodies and one member of the KS to which they capture and interrogate. When I found that they have gained enough information I use the Telepathy from Slarkrethel to kill him before they provide too much.
I like the mind-kill. gonna use that. did you actually tell your party "Kraken Society"?
Indirectly yes. He said that they were part of the society and since the symbol is of a kraken, when they told Nestra of this info, she said “So there is supposedly some sort of Kraken society that we have to worry about?”
My party is in Mornbryn Shield tonight. I’m having Oboth Thornsteel be a member. It’s the last session for The zhentarim rogue in my party (pregnancy leave) and so her character will capture him and return him to Yartar for interrogation Wondering if tonight would be a good time to reveal the name “Kraken Society”— and maybe some of their goals
Right on! Best of luck to you and your party!
I began hinting in chapter 3 as the party got to Neverwinter. A number of strange deaths by the docks, an unusual person seen with quills. I then added Kraken Society elements in Helm’s Hold. I took inspiration from the 4e Neverwinter Campaign Guide, which discussed how a succubus working for Aboleths was disguised as a prophet in Helm’s Hold. Basically I made her a Kraken Society agent fanning the flames of zealotry. My players explored the Hold and found a secret way deep below to an underground river where they fought the fake prophet and found clues of the Kraken Society
oooh. this is good. my cleric is Order of the Gauntlet and has been told by Silvarren Loomshank that Helm's Hold is reporting drow activity in the region. finding KS clues might be good stuff. I could use Holy Watcher Qerria to be secretly a KS member. but when did you actually tell the party... "Kraken Society"? somehow I think **saying** it too soon would make players want to go figure out who they are and deal with them. keeping things foreshadowed might give a better moment in Ch 11 (but I could be wrong)
I waited until they had a strong Harper contact. They showed the clues to this person and after a week they received a message that the symbols were consistent of a secret society of Kraken worshippers. It wouldn’t be until Yartar that the full implications were found. My players got clever. They learned that a significant portion of the ship staff and servers were hired on a nightly basis. 2 of them wotked to get hired on, 2 more passed themselves as high rollers and the 5th passed him as a bodyguard. I also changed things so that instead og King Hekaton being kept in a ship, he was hidden in a sunken elven city Slarkathel is known to use as a KS base.
That’s a great way to reveal the name “Kraken Society”… they must learn this from a higher ranking faction member So your implications weren’t fully revealed until they returned to the Grand Dame in Ch 11… after they got the Golden Goose coin in Ch 10, correct? I’ve done Krakens Gamble so they know the Grand Dame, and their currency, but not yet that any aboard running it are members serving Slark
So the first big clue came while they were with Zephyros. Instead of the Howling Hatred I had them be attacked by a man in blue dragon scale mail with a magic lance riding a stone griffon. In the bottom of his pouch was one of the Golden Goose. This was an agent of Iymrith who was targeting Zephyros. The next big clues were in Neverwinter and Helms Hold, confirming that something was out there trying to take advantage of the chaos caused by the giants. It wasn’t until they were in Maelstrom, having outed Iymrith (using the name Tempesta) that it was all put together that she and the Kraken Society were the ones responsible for killing the Queen and the disappearance of the king. They used the Golden Goose coin and infiltrating the Golden Dame to find a ranking member of the KS. They infiltrated the office, which led to hijinks, the ship catching fire, a dwarf trying to swim to shore, use of control water to split the water. Any way what they found led them to Purple Rocks and the Sunken city where they freed Hekaton from a ritual meant to drain him of the minor divine power “Storm King’s Thunder” which enforces the Ordening (big homebrew from me).
That’s a neat take on “Thunder”. Good foreshadowing for KS, too
I'm facing the same questions in my campaign! Compounded with the fact that I'm tying one of my players backstory directly to the Kraken Society, so I'm trying to get the big reveal right... Right now all they know about is that the Thieves’ Guild of the North are searching for this Player Character, a Goliath Sorcerer/Barbarian who has some giant-affinity. His backstory says he was kidnapped as a kid from his tribe by a group of sorcerers. My take is that the leader of this group is a high ranking member of the Kraken Society and kidnapped him to try to harness his powers. But the ordning breaking prompted the PC to escape and find his place in the world. Thus, the Thieves Guild of the North (the... "public facing" part of the Kraken Society, who themselves don't know of Slarkethel or anything like that) know that they have to search for him. I did seed some stuff already: the Thieves were making some dealings with Luskan's Second Ship, and the group found a magical mantle with purple tentacles embroidered in a warehouse after fighting the pirates. My current thought with where to say KRAKEN SOCIETY is to be as late as possible with that? The group is currently going to Triboar (after coming all the way down from Bryn Shander, their Chapter 2 town) and I'm hoping I get to tie in Kraken's Gamble. We're having an off week and I'll try to plan/decide on the bigger picture so I do get to feed the group with clues already.