Abyss · Old Duke

The Old Duke is Calamity Overhaul’s story version of Calamity’s The Old Duke boss. He was an authority on marine archaeology at Sulphurous Sea University and once a colleague of Halibut. These days he is in no hurry to fight. He would rather gather a batch of Ocean Scraps and read back a piece of history that was wiped away. The whole arc plays out with the Sulphurous Sea silhouette portraits and presentation.

Single-player only: the Old Duke’s story meeting and campsite appear in single player only. During Boss Rush he stays an ordinary boss and never enters story mode.

Links to Halibut, legend, and systems

Link	Notes
Halibut	If Halibut is present at the first meeting, she adds two lines and recognizes the “old professor”
Halibut legend	The NPC arc and the weapon trials run separately; the abyss-sampling backstory is echoed on both sides
Commission system	This line’s commissions sit under the Old Duke category, tracked with the Sulphurous Sea skin
The Forgotten Tome	Using it wipes this line’s progress and removes the current campsite

Flow overview

First meeting branches

Choice	Outcome
Accept cooperation	He leaves on friendly terms, then settles a campsite along the Sulphurous Sea and opens the commission chain below
Refuse cooperation	He dives away; summon him again to choose once more
Refuse and draw weapon	Permanent hostility; from then on he behaves as the ordinary boss

Cooperation route (after accepting)

Step	Content
1	Commission 1, “The Abyss Calls”: find the campsite and finish the first long talk
2	Commission 2: gather 777 Ocean Scraps and turn them in at the camp
3	Collect the Ocean Devourer, and unlock the scrap shop, chat, sparring, and the Merman’s Perch relocation

First meeting

When the Old Duke has locked onto you and you have not yet settled on cooperation or a fight, he flies up and stops above your head to speak first. That first approach records that the two of you have met.

He calms the situation before he makes his offer:

• “Sheathe your bloodlust, youngster. There is no need for swords to be drawn the moment we meet.”
• “I am old. I have grown weary of such violent games.”
• “We can cooperate.”
• “I am collecting something special: Ocean Scraps.”
• “If you can find more for me, I will make it well worth your while.”

He then hands over 1 Ocean Scrap as a sample. The line is “Here is a sample,” and you click to claim it. This sample is a real scrap that counts toward the 777. After that he lets you choose:

Choice	Old Duke’s response
Accept cooperation	”Excellent. I hope we have a pleasant partnership,” then he sets up camp
Refuse cooperation	”…Then I shall take my leave. If you think it through, you are welcome anytime,” and he dives away
Refuse and draw weapon	”…It seems you insist. Then let me measure your worth,” and the fight begins

If you decline and summon him later, he opens with “Have you changed your mind?” so you can pick again. Refuse a second time and he leaves with a flat “Farewell, then.”

With Halibut present: she pauses, then blurts out “The old professor…? Though, he doesn’t seem to recognize me.” She vouches for him next: “His words are credible. We were colleagues at Sulphurous Sea University. He is a titan in the field of marine archaeology.”

Commission chain

Both commissions share the title “The Abyss Calls” and are tracked under the Old Duke category in the Commission Panel.

Step 1: Find the campsite

Field	In-game text
Summary	Find and speak with the Old Duke
Tracker	Go to the Old Duke’s campsite; the tracker shows your distance to the campsite
Hint	Hold Ocean Fragments to see direction

Active when: you have accepted cooperation and the campsite has finished spawning in the world.

Complete: right-click at the camp and finish the first long talk with the Old Duke. He explains where the scraps came from, and once you are done the next commission registers on its own.

While this commission is tracked and the camp exists, a sulphur-green arrow floats on screen and points toward the camp, labeled with the camp’s name and your distance to it. The arrow tucks itself away once you are close.

Step 2: 777 Ocean Scraps

Field	In-game text
Summary	Collect 777 Ocean Fragments
Tracker	Shows current/777; once you have enough, it highlights “Return to campsite to submit”
Hint	Fish or hunt ocean creatures

Active when: the first long talk from step 1 is finished; the commission registers automatically.

How progress counts

• The tally uses the same storage the turn-in later draws from: your inventory, the four bank tabs (Piggy Bank, Safe, Defender’s Forge, and Void Vault), and ImproveGame’s big backpack.
• The 1 sample from the first meeting is a real scrap and counts toward the 777 like any other.
• The tracker updates current/777 live and prompts you to return once you have enough.

How to get scraps

Scraps only begin dropping from fishing and kills after the camp is set up. Farm them in the Ocean, the Sulphurous Sea, and the Abyss:

Source	Chance / condition
Fishing	About 1/4 of your catches become Ocean Scraps (never in honey or lava pools)
Killing creatures	About 1/4 drop, for creatures with over 100 max life killed in the Ocean, Sulphurous Sea, or Abyss

Turn-in

1. Right-click to talk at the Old Duke’s campsite.
2. Choose “I brought the things you wanted.” This option is greyed out below 777 and reads “Insufficient Ocean Scraps.”
3. The turn-in removes 777 scraps at once from all of the counted storage, then plays the completion scene.

Reward: Ocean Devourer ×1. He says “Good. These scraps are sufficient. This is your due reward,” then adds “I will spend the next few days deciphering these scraps. I will notify you once I am finished.” The commission is now marked complete and the turn-in option leaves the menu.

The Old Duke’s campsite

After you accept, the Old Duke looks for a dry, wide patch of ground along the Sulphurous Sea coast to pitch his camp. If he cannot find a suitable spot, he falls back to higher ground toward the edge of the world. The camp is made up of the Old Duke himself, a few pots, and a flag. It shows on the map as “Old Duke’s Campsite,” and you can right-click to talk once you walk up.

Once the camp exists, summoning the Old Duke no longer starts a field fight. Instead he sends you back to the camp to talk. Acid rain is the exception: speaking to him during acid rain goes straight into a spar.

“Defeat”: in story mode the Old Duke cannot be killed. When his health hits zero he says “The Old Duke dove into the water…” He still leaves his usual drops, then sinks into the water and departs.

Ocean Scraps

A mysterious trinket. The Old Duke might be interested in it.

The inventory item is named Ocean Scraps; the commission tracker labels the same item Ocean Fragments.

When you can collect them

Scraps only drop from fishing and kills after you accept and the camp is set up. Before the camp appears, the only scrap you own is the sample from the first meeting; fishing and hunting do not produce any until the camp is in place.

Collection

Source	Chance / condition
Fishing	About 1/4 of your catches become Ocean Scraps (never in honey or lava)
Killing creatures	About 1/4 drop, for creatures with over 100 max life killed in the Ocean, Sulphurous Sea, or Abyss

Counted storage

Scraps in the following places all count together toward commission progress, your shop balance, and the turn-in deduction:

• Inventory
• The four bank tabs
• ImproveGame’s big backpack

Uses:

• Currency at the camp’s scrap shop (the shop screen shows your total on hand)
• Progress and turn-in for the step-2 commission (777 in total)

Camp interaction

Walk up and right-click the Old Duke to talk. If he pulled you back to camp himself, he hands you a Teacup ×1 the first time you speak.

While the 777 commission is active

His greeting is “What do you require?” with these options:

Option	Effect
I am here to trade	Opens the scrap shop
I brought the things you wanted	Only available at 777 or more; turns in and starts the completion scene
I want to spar with you	Summons the Old Duke for a friendly spar
Just wandering around	Ends the talk

After the 777 commission

The turn-in option disappears and his greeting changes to a busy line: “Hmm… Do you have any new discoveries? I am very busy right now.” You can still trade, spar, and leave, and a new chat entry appears, “Tell me about your past.”

Chat

Once in the chat you pick a topic, and afterward you can switch topics or wrap up. The Old Duke is a man of few words, but each answer fills in a little more of his history. Here are a few of his lines by topic:

About your current state: he describes the accident at the bottom of the abyss and how he was assimilated.

Since there was no escape, I joined it. I forced it into my body. Since then, I am not truly alive, nor can I die.

I just want to guard this sea. If those things try to crawl out of the abyss, that will be the moment I risk total resurgence and death to stop them.

What are you piecing together?: the scraps hold the memory of an old civilization, and he wants to find a way to fight the abyss.

To fight that kind of terror, brute force is useless. You must find their ‘killing rules’ and exploit them.

But deciphering them is dangerous. These fragments are conduits themselves. Stare at them too long, and you might hear sounds you shouldn’t.

The truth of this sea: the Sulphurous Sea is only the surface, with an old disaster pressed underneath.

This was once the Sapphire Sea, until the source went out of control.

If you ever see the dead waving at you, or hear familiar calls… remember, that is just this sea of corpses mimicking the living.

About those fragments: to him the scraps are bloodstained archives.

Each fragment is a ‘conduit’. Alone, they may be harmless, but when enough gather, they create a collision of eerie forces.

You don’t look so good: his daily routine, that cup of tea, and whether he still counts as a fish.

I spend most of my time sleeping to reduce fluctuations in my consciousness. If my emotions get too intense, the thing inside me gets… restless.

If not for that accident… I would probably be lying peacefully in a grave by now. Instead of being like this, unable to die even if I wanted to.

When you wrap up he sometimes adds one more warning: “Be careful, youngster. In this world, a peaceful end is a luxury.”

Scrap shop

The currency is Ocean Scraps, drawn from the same counted storage at checkout.

Item	Scrap cost	Notes
Merman’s Perch	1	One per world; placing it moves the camp to the fishing spot
Ocean Devourer	220	Needs the 777 turn-in done (the commission already gives one)
Trident	15
Frost Staff	25
Bubble Gun	30
Flairon	45
Tsunami in a Bottle	20
Shark Tooth Necklace	12
Diving Helmet	8
Diving Gear	18
Jellyfish Necklace	15
Coral ×10	5
Starfish ×5	3
Seashell ×10	2
Shark Fin ×3	8
Gills Potion ×5	4
Sonar Potion ×5	3
Water Walking Potion ×5	3
Reef Block ×99	2
Seaweed ×20	1
Old Duke drops	dynamic	After you defeat Polterghast or The Old Duke, the more valuable part of his loot is listed at a scrap price

Merman’s Perch and camp relocation

Increases fishing power by 20 when fishing nearby The Old Duke will move his campsite here

• Buy it from the shop for 1 scrap. Only one may exist per world, and placing a second warns “A Merman’s Perch has already been placed in the world!”
• Fishing near it grants +20 fishing power.
• Once placed, the Old Duke moves his camp to the perch as soon as the spot is off your screen.
• If you mine the perch back up, the old camp clears out after you walk away, and the Old Duke finds a new spot along the Sulphurous Sea.

Ocean Devourer

The story reward for the 777 turn-in. After the commission is done you can also buy another for 220 scraps (the commission already gives you one free). See the Ocean Devourer item page for details.

Consumes power to extract resources from water bodies Right-click to open internal storage

• Place it above water; it draws on power to pull resources out of the water.
• Right-click to open its internal storage. It needs a power network to run.

Old Duchest

The Old Duchest in the camp is the Old Duke’s former storage chest, with a huge capacity. It is not tied to the main commissions and is part of the camp’s flavor.

A storage chest with immense capacity “The Old Duke’s former chest. If he is nearby, he might toss some things inside.”

Summoning him again: back to camp

Once the camp exists, summoning the Old Duke sends you back to the camp:

• While the “find the campsite” commission is still open, he only says “Come find me first. You’d best learn the path,” and leaves you to walk there.
• After that talk is done, he offers ”…Come have a cup of tea when you have time.” Pick “I have business with you” to be brought straight to the camp and start talking, or “I was just fishing for fun…” to end the visit.

Summoning him during acid rain skips this and goes straight into a spar.

Progress

State	Meaning
Unmet / met / cooperating / declined / fought	Result of the first-meeting branch
First camp long talk done	Step 1 commission complete
777 collection registered	Step 2 in progress
777 submitted, Ocean Devourer received	This line’s mainline complete

Using The Forgotten Tome resets everything above and removes the campsite.