Act Three, Chapter Twenty Two: "Let's get kraken! (on an escape plan 'cause oh god we're gonna die)" (2022/11/05)

 *Downtime Research recap:

Cade: Lands of Desolation are dangerous, Wyldlands Exaltari temple location north-ish between Zazuza and Mm'Voko, Simulacrum stuff.

Flynn: Human!Flynn has been spotted in Portas (home of the famous Ashen Company coup d'état).

Silas: Dad books!

Null: Learned the cipher from the orphanage. Discovered some blank pages in the orphanage records have a weird sheen to them - anything about Null and Vi is notably absent.

_______

Comforted by an extra-long casting of Oasis, the Ashen Company scatters to peruse the books while Cade tries to maneuver to keep everyone in his range. Flynn finds a book on cigar-making. Lotty throws magical books at Berrik while he searches for something that will help to make his spellbook. Silas and Null inspect the way out and notice a collapsed passage that presumably leads deeper into the complex. Berrik is hit in the back of the head by a heavy tome, courtesy of Lotty's impressive arm. Inside he finds a strange trinket - the Diviner's Archive. This object starts as a metal disc, but can be expanded and manipulated in different configurations. Berrik can store all of his spells in here! This will come in handy next time he is engulfed in flame.

As we exit the library through the ceiling, it becomes evident that the entire city is affected. Cade contacts Mira to inform her of the soggy situation we find ourselves in. She had no idea Zazuza was underwater. The Ashen Company notes that there are no bodies anywhere and that the situation appears to be new (besides the sahuagin, ocean life and debris has not settled here).

The journey to the surface is arduous and much longer than anyone anticipated. That city is sunken as hell. Even with a boost from Fervor (courtesy of Silas), Lotty and Flynn are afflicted with exhaustion. Finally breaching the surface, we take a moment to assess our surroundings. Land is 1500 ft away. Everyone feels movement below them as a colossal kraken makes its play. We roll initiative!

Our first instinct is to flee to the skies, as many of us take flying potions. The kraken, however, has other ideas. The creature quickly grapples half the party and it's all downhill from there.  Berrik spends most of the fight inside the kraken, caught in a cycle of being revived and then knocked unconscious again by the acid in the kraken's stomach. Lotty is flung far afield. The party is pummeled and nearly everyone gets a turn inside the kraken's gullet. Every attempt to escape the kraken's range is foiled and did I mention it can also rain lightning down from the heavens? All this violent flailing just to snack on 6 adventurers? Surely we can't be that appetizing! There must be a school of tuna floating around here that won't fight back and isn't outfitted for war. Is Cade even edible? 

ANYWAY

We end the session with: Lotty and Flynn flying safely out of range, Cade grappled and unconscious, a freshly regurgitated Null, and Silas (barely alive) who is trying to shield Berrik's unconscious body a few feet away from the kraken's toothy maw. Damn, that's bleak. Sure hope we make it!