Wiki › The Drowned Halls
The Drowned Halls
The second band, from 20,480 to 40,959 rows below the old floor of the world, under the Bone Gardens. Before Nyrath there was a kingdom here, older than Aldhearth: Hallowmere, its halls tiled, its bells full of air, its king on his throne. Then the water came and stayed. Down here it is water instead of lava, and the air is what you run out of. See The bands below for how the bands work.
Getting in
- The band begins with its seal, 8 rows of tidestone. It wants an embersteel pickaxe with a pick temper of I, raised with the Bone Gardens' old ivory, and so does every rock of the band.
- The Grown here are born with a Might of ×1.5 at the top of the band, rising to ×2.3 at its bottom: see Might and temper.
- What you dig here tempers your gear to II.
Water that stands still
The water of the Drowned Halls lies where the land was made, and it is still: it does not run when you come, and nothing floods for being found. Each hall has its own level. Where a wetter hall meets a drier one, a bulkhead of tidestone tiles walls them apart, as the old kingdom laid them. Every great one's hall is dry, until its king calls the tide.
If you dig a bulkhead out, the water behaves as water does anywhere: see Fire and fluids.
The three strata
- The Tide Halls: long straight halls, one above the other every 28 rows, floored and roofed with tidestone tiles where the old kingdom laid them, with wells running between them. The water stands at every height in them, highest in most. Pearl lamps hang on the walls, kelp grows in the water, and the urns and bones of the drowned lie on the floors.
- The Pearl Deeps: open water, almost all of it, with lantern kelp glowing on the floors and pearl beds in the rock. The bluest and the darkest.
- The Sunken Courts: the old kingdom's rooms, side by side and one over the other: walls of tidestone tiles, colonnades in the wide ones, doorways at the floor from room to room, lamps on chains and statues. The tide stands in them at every height.
What the rock gives
| Block | Gives | What for |
|---|---|---|
| Tidestone | Tidestone | The band's rock and its seal. Four make four tidestone tiles at a workbench. |
| Tidestone tiles | Tidestone tiles | The floors, roofs and bulkheads of Hallowmere. |
| Tide-iron ore | Tide-iron | The band's ore, and its temper material. Buried, it looks like the rock it lies in. |
| Pearl bed | Pearls | In the rock, most of all in the Pearl Deeps. A pearl is worth its weight. |
| Lantern kelp | Lantern kelp | Grows in the water and glows. For breath draughts and tide glass. |
Tide-iron tempers: 12 of it and 688,000 gold raise a temper from I to II, for each place (weapon, armour or pick: all three take 36 tide-iron and 2,064,000 gold), with Hild at the Master Forge or at a Deep anvil. See Might and temper.
Breath
In the Drowned Halls your head under water means your breath is going.
- You have 20 seconds of breath. A bar under your life shows it as it goes, and bubbles over your head.
- At 6 seconds left a line on the screen tells you to find air, and the bar turns red.
- At none the bar says Drowning! and you lose 12% of your life a second. No armour helps.
- Put your head in the air (the surface of the water, an air bell, the air under a vault) and your breath comes back, six seconds of it every second.
What helps:
| What | Where from | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Breath draught | a glass vial and 4 lantern kelp, at a cauldron | For three minutes your breath lasts four times as long. |
| Gill charm | 4 tide-iron, 3 pearls and 6 lantern kelp, at an anvil | Worn as your amulet: your breath lasts three times as long, six with a breath draught, and you swim faster. |
| Air bells | found | Swim up under one and breathe (below). |
Your breath is never short in your own lit Home.
Swimming
Hold jump to swim up and hold down to dive; let go and you sink, slowly. Water slows everything you do in it, a gill charm a little less: with one you swim about a third faster.
Landmarks
| Landmark | How rare | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| An air bell | common, under water | A dome of tide glass full of air, standing in the water with its way in through its floor: swim up under it and breathe. A pearl lamp hangs in its top, a chest stands inside, and its keeper left a slate. Kept as it was: its glass holds the air. |
| The Sunken Court | rare, in the Sunken Courts and the Tide Halls | The throne hall of Hallowmere, drowned to its vault: four columns, banners, lamps on chains, statues of its kings, and on a dais of three steps the Drowned throne, the royal chest beside it. There is air in the top of the vault, enough to put your head up. Kept as it was. |
| A tide gate | in the Tide Halls and the Sunken Courts | A sluice of the old kingdom: a gate of chains across the water and a gatehouse with air in it, a chest, and the gate-warden's log. Kept as it was. |
| A cold camp of the Survey | in both bands | The Survey's journal goes on here too, one page for each kind of stratum. |
The pages you find (read them in your codex) tell Hallowmere's story in its own words.
The Drowned
The band's family of Grown. Some of them swim: they are born in the water, go through it as they please and never leave it. Out of the water a swimmer flops and dies slowly.
| Kind | What it is |
|---|---|
| Glass minnow | The swarm: little fish of glass and silver, seven to twelve at a time, in the water only. |
| Tide Eel | A long dark eel with lights along its side. It swims, and lunges like a storm. |
| Crab Knight | A crab in a helm of tide-iron with a pearl crest, one claw bigger than the other. It walks the floor, claw first. |
| Lanternmaw | A mouth that swims, with a lure glowing on a stalk over it. It spits from a distance. |
| Drowned Courtier | A drowned noble in court robes with a ruff and a circlet, a cold orb in its hand. It walks, and throws cold. |
| Pearl Drifter | A bell of pale glass with pearls in it, its threads trailing. It swims, and stings. |
| Barnacle Warden | Plates of tide-iron crusted with barnacles and hung with kelp, one eye in its helm. Slow, hard to break. |
The Drowned King
Every lair in the Drowned Halls holds a king of Hallowmere, still sitting up: the Drowned King, the Tide-Crowned King or the King Under the Tide, in a crown of coral and a robe of the deep, a trident in his hand. His hall is dry when you find it.
- The trident. Every few seconds he throws it at where you stand. A ring is marked on the ground a second before it lands, and it hits half again as hard as his blows. Step out of the ring.
- The tide. Now and then he raises his trident and calls the tide: the hall is marked for a little over two seconds, then it floods for seven. In his tide your breath goes twice as fast, and he swims. Then the water drains away, all of it. Have your breath ready, or a draught in you, before the hall fills.
- At 60% and 30% of his life he calls his knights, and in his tide, his court of glass minnows.
- He throws cold like his courtiers, and bursts with force now and then (his Nova).
Killed, he leaves tide-iron, pearls and breath draughts; one time in five the Tidecaller trident, a weapon that reaches far; once in twenty the Crown of the Drowned King; and half the time his trophy, The Drowned King's seal. The world hears who brought one down first.
Things to make
| Make | From | At |
|---|---|---|
| Tidestone tiles ×4 | 4 tidestone | workbench |
| Tide glass ×4 | 4 glass, 1 lantern kelp | workbench |
| Pearl lamp ×2 | 1 tide-iron, 1 pearl, 2 tide glass | anvil |
| Breath draught | 1 glass vial, 4 lantern kelp | cauldron |
| Gill charm | 4 tide-iron, 3 pearls, 6 lantern kelp | anvil |
| Drowned throne | 1 tide-iron, 2 pearls, 8 tidestone tiles | workbench |
A Home's raid chest in the Drowned Halls holds tide-iron and a breath draught, and sometimes the band's trophy. See Home raids and defence.
Weapons
Weapons of this band. At a Deep anvil, 16 Tide-iron, 6 Pearl and 400k gold make the Tide-iron spear, a spear of 160 damage. Its great one's own weapon, the Tidecaller trident, is 176 now. To forge it you must first read its forging notes, Forging notes: Tide-iron spear: the Drowned King always leaves them the first time you kill it, and one kill in four after that; the band's Grown drop them now and then (an elite more often), and the chests of its landmarks may hold them. Vesna in the Delvers' Lodge sells The Drowned King’s pike (spear, 176) to anyone who has been this deep. See Weapons of the Deep.
Tips
- Count. Twenty seconds is less than it sounds; a breath draught and a gill charm together make it two minutes.
- Learn where the bells are. Your minimap marks one once you have seen it.
- The swimmers cannot follow you out of the water, and the walkers are slow in it.
- Bram, who has been down there: "Hold your breath and count. I count to twenty, then I find a bell."