Session 21: Coral’s Call

Pegport — Town Preparation

TONE: The arc turns serious. Every NPC is a node of information;
the party assembles its toolkit before diving.

A Departure

If any party member formed a strong bond with Clingy Pete during the
previous nights, this is when Pete (and possibly that party member)
announces something unexpected. There is a note. The note says: ‘True
love conquers all.’ Whether this is played for comedy or genuine feeling
is the party’s call. Either way — give them a moment to react, then move
on.

Coral’s Message

A young sailor arrives at the Salty Siren with a seashell and solemn
instructions to put it to one’s ear. From inside: Coral, Chieftain of
the Merrow Council.

‘Heroes of Pegport — I am Coral, Chieftain of
the Merrow Council. A shadow stirs within the abyss. The Kraken’s Tooth,
an item of immense power, has been disturbed. We suspect the
Veil-Renderers are involved. Terrible things will happen to Neverland if
they are allowed to retrieve it. Will you help us? It has been so long
since heroes have walked these shores…’

Information Gathering:
Pegport NPCs

Ol’ Nessa Copperhook suggests four contacts. Each has unique
information the party needs before descending into the Abyssal
Trench.

Silas Barnacle — The
Lighthouse

A steep goat-track leads to Silas’s lighthouse. The lamp turns with a
constant, low thrum. Silas has wispy white hair, milky eyes, and a gruff
voice that hides genuine sharpness. He trades information for a week of
Ma Gristle’s meat pies.

• Trench depth: 8,000 feet — cold, dark, predatory jellies,
  terrifying aberrations

• Strong currents and riptides; one massive maelstrom

• Two sunken ships: The Harpy’s Teat and the Squall Dancer —
  rumored treasure, no one’s reached them

• The Kraken’s Tooth is enormous, glowing, pulsing. He tells the
  legend of the First Kraken (see lore notes)

• Gives a map of the Trench in exchange for pies

Ma Gristle & Ambrosius
Peppercorn

The bakery is a war zone — Ma trying to destroy a sentient bag of
flour, Ambrosius defending it. (‘But we could be so much more efficient
with some helpers!’) Ma trades pies-for-Silas in exchange for the party
convincing Ambrosius to stop animating the baked goods.

• Veil-Renderers recruit on new moons; next new moon is in 14
  days

• Baptism ritual happens on the beach at Fulldark

• Smugglers bring in cursed items and move kidnapped children —
  buyers in the Lowlands and the Impassible Desert

• Ma does not believe in the Kraken’s Tooth (‘A children’s story’)
  — irony noted

Mad Moll — Treasures of the
Deep

Half-sea hag, barnacle jewelry, peg leg of coral branch, hair
streaked with seaweed, skin mottled green. Her shop smells of brine and
old magic.

• Veil-Renderers are serious; locals avoid the beach at new
  moon

• Cult hideout in a coastal cave — location unknown

• Oceana: a girl in town suspected of being Riven, lives near Vella
  Knotts

Mad Moll’s shop inventory is listed fully in the campaign notes — see
the item tables for prices. Key purchase recommendations for the
descent: Merfolk’s Tear Gem (spots the blackwater algae), Vial of Kraken
Ink (emergency darkness), Merrow Harpoons (useful for the Deep
Wretches).

Tilda Bramblehook
— Fresh Fish & Stranger Things

Grizzled halfling, always whittling. Will share the smuggler’s
schedule and the location of the pressure-glyph scroll in exchange for
the Doppelganger Blood and Cloak of Spider Silk.

• Smugglers use the cave every other day at Fulldark; gone by
  Firstlight

• Glyph scroll hidden in a vein of quartz at the cave’s
  back

• Activating the glyphs: a bard must sing a ballad or tell a tale
  of treachery under at least one full moon

Captain Godwick Cragg — Hook
& Bait

Retired shark wrangler, missing three fingers (all self-inflicted),
chews dried squid. Knows the Trench hazards better than anyone.

• Thermal vents — get caught in one, you’re boiled alive

• Blackwater algae — bioluminesces when disturbed, attracts
  predators; Merfolk Tear Gem needed to spot it

• Deep Wretches — drowned sailors, immune to charm, resistant to
  non-magical weapons

• Blind Maws — jet-black anglerfish with telepathic psychic
  lures

• The Watcher — colossal jellyfish aberration that senses
  thoughts

• Has pixie dust if the party catches and dries 3 squid for
  him

Vella Knotts — Latch & Key
Security

Sharp-eyed, wiry, voice like gravel over silk. Knows the cult ritual
in detail — her great aunt sailed with Captain Lirra before the Harpy’s
Teat vanished.

Describes the full Veil-Renderer baptism ritual (coral masks, Deep
Speech chant, spiral glyph, forced submersion, the walk backward into
the waves). This is the party’s best intelligence on how the cult
works.

Oceana

Oceana is nineteen, pale, with eyes that have drifted slightly
further apart than they should be and veins that trace faintly
luminescent blue under her wrists. She is frightened of what she is
becoming and will talk to the party if approached with genuine kindness
rather than alarm.

She knows how the Riven survive pressure — her own transformation has
adapted her to it. She can describe the sensory experience of
descending: the cold, the dark, the way Dagon’s presence intensifies the
deeper you go. She does not know how to stop her own Riving.

DM NOTE: Oceana is a seed for later — her transformation continues.
She could become an ally or a victim depending on whether the party
intervenes in her arc.

Auralith the Octopus

A massive octopus who lives in the deep harbor pool, accessible at
low tide by following a particular sequence of stepping stones the Lost
Boys know. Auralith is ancient, formal, and has agreed to provide Glyph
of Abyssal Endurance tattoos to those who have proven worthy of the
Trench.

The tattoos are applied one at a time, each requiring the recipient
to hold still for the precise application of ink via Auralith’s
specialized tentacle tip. The process takes ten minutes per person and
is uncomfortable rather than painful. The glyph grants resistance to
cold and pressure damage and allows breathing up to 10,000 feet depth
for 24 hours.

• Gathering all four NPCs’ information: 300 XP

• Getting the glyph tattoos from Auralith: 200 XP

• Finding the pressure-glyph scroll: 250 XP