Mark of the Deep One

Malach's relationship with the Deep One. How it affects him, what the Deep One wants in exchange.

Malach's Pact

During the Elven/Human Conflict Instigation Malach was seemingly killed by Vaeri, but instead of dying was brought to the bottom of the ocean where he spoke with a Kraken who offered him power on behalf of a mysterious master. Malach was brought back and healed, but in exchange was told to grow stronger and that he may one day be required to perform tasks in return for this power.

Discovering the powers of the pact

When Malach was brought back he quickly chased after his would-be killer and accomplice who were chasing his sister, Cait, to do the same to her. After getting ahead of them he felt a cold power in his chest that he was able to channel into energy and throw at Filaurel and Vaeri, dispatching them.
Over the next several days while aboard the Winddrift he would find opportunities to be by himself and try to use this power again. At first nothing would happen, but after numerous attempts that ended only in failure he began to get frustrated and felt that cold sensation of power welling in his chest, and then was able to focus and release it as before. Malach found that as his frustration disappeared, so did the feeling of this power. Attempting to use this power again after losing the feeling resulted in another failure, but after thinking through it he focused on his memory of the cold sensation in his chest, the memory making the feeling real and he was able to channel it again.
With some practice he was able to bring the sensation of cold power back with just a thought, and then could focus it into an Eldritch Blast. The more he used it, the more he understood it, its name and purpose coming into his mind seemingly from nowhere. Over the remainder of his time on the way to Ebonwich he immersed himself in this power whenever the opportunity arose and was able to discover several other ways to channel it into different spells. At the same time, he found in his daily life that certain feelings, frustrations, anger, and other negative feelings would also cause this cold energy to come surging into his chest unbidden, with this insistent suggestion, urging him to use the power.

Return to the Depths

Within the first few weeks of entering his pact Malach had grown quickly, forced mostly due to circumstances. He had to use his powers in earnest and confronted death multiple times in order to capture a Vargouille and save Captain Trem. While recuperating, one night in his dreams Malach found himself back in the underwater cave where he had made his pact with The Deep One, only this time the altar was gone and a podium with a book was before him. The book was thick and full of spells, although only a handful were comprehensible, the rest were illegible or hurt Malach's head to look at. The ones he could read, he had great understanding of and received visions of various ways they could be cast and used. Malach knew that he was being offered a chance to learn a new spell, but only one, so carefully chose. And once he did it wasn't like learning skills or his craft or anything else, it wasn't a process of him slowly studying to gain the knowledge, it was as though he had always known it.

The Deep One's First Gift

Malach didn't return again for some time, after months of both practice and using his powers seriously, notably in the Juthannan Ruins in Sennid Kingdom, after going to sleep one night he found himself back in the underwater chamber of the Deep One yet again. Although this time there wasn't just the spellbook and podium in front of him as last time, but several objects lying on the altar on which he received his Mark. Malach knew the objects on the altar were important to him and his future, but also that he could only choose one.
The first was a black sword, which as he approached he received visions of himself calling it out of nowhere to appear in his hand, wielding it expertly. He saw himself transform the sword into his carpenter tools, then to lock picks and saw himself skulking in a dark passage, opening a locked door despite never having known how to that before.
He moved on to a black octopus floating before him, and saw him learning how to summon it, another servant of The Deep One, binding it to him. He saw that he could manipulate it, that it would change its form to suit his purposes, that it was intelligent and wasn't just a servant but an ally. He saw himself speaking to it, sharing his thoughts with it, across any distance, and it aiding him.
The third item was a small amulet, a black chain with a pendant in the shape of a tentacle. He saw himself trying to do various things and struggling or failing, then in each vision the amulet would appear around his neck and then just as suddenly he was able to succeed at the tasks. He saw himself transforming the talisman, making it seemingly innocuous, and giving it to first Captain Trem Phoenixwinds with similar results then his sister, Caithyra. He even saw a potential scene where the talisman even protected her from danger.
The final item was another book, a cousin to the spellbook on the podium. Malach saw himself casting new spells, minor spells, but spells that clerics have access to, the natural magic of a druid as well. Then he saw another vision, of him being given another gift to accompany this book, he could create new pages, add new spells, arcane, divine, primal, it didn't matter as long as it was a ritual, simpler but powerful spells, similar to recipes, that he could just follow the instructions and cast as long as he had this book. This could make him strong. Very strong. It had so many possibilities. He could almost hear whispers to take the tome.
Malach had second thoughts however, he returned to the first item, however the black sword had been replaced with the black hammer from his carpenter's tools that he had seen in his vision before. He wasn't sure, and while he stood before it contemplating he saw a new scene, one that felt more real than anything he had experienced yet. He saw himself with Naki, and oh did Naki look majestic, so c̶͕̥̝̼̪̩̙̤ͥ̃i̴̇̈́̐̂̇͊ͤ͒͏͕͎͖̞g̈͋̑̂̓̽҉̢̛̯̰̦̜̬̘ ̻̯̭̝̘̊̌ͮ̎͂̏̀͟a̧͙͍̐̈́͒͌ͮ̕ͅn̴̰͗d̢͓̹̓ͨ̈́͗̈͑̕ ̸̢͓̣͇̬̮ͤ͢q͔̞̺̯̯̩̼̳ͧ̂͛ͧͥͣͭų̡̘̦̳̪̘̲̲̖̇̎͆ͦ̽̚͡w̡̻͇̹̺̣ͯ̔͗̐̾ͥ̀̈ͤe̶͇̥͉̙͒ͨ̍̏ͩ̿̀͟ͅr̨̛͕͔͖͉̞̙͚͍̅ͨ͑̽̑͢f̷̢̰ͯ̏̎͠o͉̠͖͇̰̪̜̟̤͆ͫ̿̎ͨͥ̀̚j̶̶̼̞̙̠̤ͦ̓̑̃̒̎͆̓͛͢, and in front of him was a powerful weapon, a r̟̹̻͇̊͊̂͐ͧ͛͟t̶̮͓̜̓̎̄ͬő̮̻͐f̳̍͆͊͆͑̄̓͜ṳ̟̹̦̼̈́͐̌̄ͅm̩͕͉̼̂̿̿̅y̹̜͎̤͇ͥ̉̅ͯ̚, a s̩ŗ̝̙̟̠̝̺ͣ͌ͤ͐ͅi̲͎̘̯̣̹̕f̻̹̯͈̈̚ȋ̵͎̳̹͐n͇̭͉͉̳ͮ̎̾̎̆͋̏͟t͏̭͚̥͚̠̯ that could talk to him, that resisted him, that he dominated. As he grabbed it he felt his power course over it, and he could dismiss this artifact, make it disappear and reappear on command.
It felt natural.
And it felt right.
And as he grasped the mallet it disappeared, as did everything else on the altar. He thought back to his favorite mallet he had ever used, one that he had lost years ago while still working as a shipwright, and suddenly it appeared in his hand, but it was even better than he remembered it, it fit in his hand as though it was made for it, an extension of himself. Yes, this would work for Malach.
Somewhere in the distance behind the altar, beyond his sight he suddenly felt the presence of The Deep One, cold and alien, but also a feeling of approval came to him.
And then only one thing was left to do. Upon opening the spellbook he found that some entries previously illegible burned brightly on the pages, easily comprehensible. He chose a spell and again he just suddenly KNEW it. After this final choice he woke up, but this time with a splash of ice cold sea water, like the first time he had visited, while in Rivertide. His neck burned with an ice cold pain and the splash startled his companion Trem awake, and causing Malach to have to reveal his bargain, at least in part, to her.

Subplots

• Girl Protected by God-like being