Iron-Scale received the digital transmission while standing on the Tarnstead docks. He adjusted his dark coat and signaled Krax to join the expedition.
They descended into the ocean to rendezvous with Sludge and Old-Shell. The miserable Ash-Drake was forced to accompany them as their primary thermal deterrent.
The Vanguard team waded into the deep trenches to approach their first target. The Coral Sovereign, a Rank 11 deity resembling a massive armored crab encrusted with venomous anemones, occupied a sprawling underwater canyon.
The Coral Sovereign spotted the intruders and clacked his massive claws together. He summoned a swarm of ten thousand stinging jellyfish to block the canyon entrance.
"You dare enter my ancient reef?" the crab deity bellowed, snapping his pincers to intimidate the Vanguard. "I will string your corpses across the coral as a warning to all surface dwellers."
