Underwater adventuring

The Sea (and a few other bodies of sea water) contains a number of underwater zones which involve special mechanics.

Air supply

In order to access underwater zones, the player must equip a source of air such as makeshift SCUBA gear or have an air-supplying effect.

Trying to adventure underwater without an air supply yields the message:

You can't adventure there without some way of breathing underwater...

Trying to adventure underwater with insufficient adventures remaining yields the message:

You don't have enough time to adventure there...

Trying to access The Sea Monkees' Castle without an air supply yields the message:

You can't visit the Sea Monkees without some way of breathing underwater.

Trying to access Anemone Mine with a Mer-kin digpick equipped yields the message:

You need some way of breathing underwater to mine there. Maybe something in your inventory can help?

Because of this, adventuring underwater can factor in a large penalty to Combat Initiative and Item Drops, as all current air supply equipment has those effects.

The following is a list of all sources of air:

Name	Source	Air duration	Notes	Restrictions
aerated diving helmet	Hat (requires quest)	Always	Serious Stench Resistance (+3) -25% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -50%	Cannot be traded
crappy Mer-kin mask	Hat (requires quest)	Always	Serious Stench Resistance (+3) -25% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -50%	Cannot be traded
makeshift SCUBA gear	Accessory (part of NS quest)	Always	So-So Stench Resistance (+2) -50% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -100%	Cannot be traded Quest Item
Mer-kin gladiator mask	Hat (requires quest)	Always	Serious Stench Resistance (+3) -25% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -50%	Cannot be traded
Mer-kin scholar mask	Hat (requires quest)	Always	Serious Stench Resistance (+3) -25% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -50%	Cannot be traded
old SCUBA tank	Back	Always	-50% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative -100% Sold by An Old Man Offered post-level 11 10,000 Meat	Flagged as Quest Item
Mer-kinny Flavor	mer-kin paste	10 Adventures		Fills 4 spleen Level 4 required
Oxygenated Blood	ballast turtle	20 Adventures	Only Turtle Tamers can obtain this item	These items cannot be traded. Only one of each of these items may be used per day.
Pneumatic	pressurized potion of pneumaticity	20 Adventures	Only players with Deep Saucery can craft this item
Pumped Stomach	tempura air	20 Adventures	Only players with Tempuramancy can craft this item
Really Deep Breath	hyperinflated seal lung	20 Adventures	Only Seal Clubbers can obtain this item
	fish juice box	30 Adventures	Item also gives 20 adventures of Fishy

Adventure cost

Adventuring in an underwater zone costs two (2) adventures unless you have the Fishy effect active. This applies to any underwater encounter, including special holiday monsters encountered while adventuring underwater. At the end of any combat which costs two adventures, the following message appears:

"Being underwater makes it hard to move -- it's really slowing you down!"

This extra adventure cost is applied after the combat has been completely resolved. This means, amongst other things, that escaping from combat with items like tattered scraps of paper will still result in you losing one adventure, not 0 or 2, if you are not Fishy. Similarly, status effects gained at the end of combat, such as Beaten Up, will lose one more turn of duration than normal, if you are not Fishy.

Pressure Penalties

Furthermore, underwater zones all give a penalty to meat drops, item drops, and initiative, depending on how much pressure there is in the zone.

Underwater zones by pressure penalty

Pressure	Zone	Penalty
Minor	The Briny Deeps	-25%
Moderate	The Brinier Deepers	-50%
High	The Briniest Deepests	-75%
The Sea Floor	An Octopus's Garden	-100%
	The Wreck of the Edgar Fitzsimmons
	Madness Reef
	The Mer-Kin Outpost
	The Skate Park
	The Coral Corral
The Mer-Kin Deepcity	Mer-kin Colosseum	-150%
	Mer-kin Library
	Mer-kin Gymnasium
	Mer-kin Elementary School
Intense	The Marinara Trench	-200%
	Anemone Mine
	The Dive Bar
	The Caliginous Abyss

Certain items and effects help to reduce these penalties. The reductions stack up to the penalty the zone imposes. For example, equipping a diving muff while having a Brined Liver in The Briny Deeps changes the pressure penalty of the zone to 0%; not a bonus of +5%. Penalty-reducing equipment and effects are labeled with the description "Makes you a better diver."

The following is a table of all known penalty-reducing effects.

Name	Type	Reduction	Requirement	Other
aquamariner's necklace	Accessory	10%	85 mys	Regenerate 10-15 MP per adventure +15% Meat from Monsters
aquamariner's ring	Accessory	10%	85 mys	Regenerate 10-15 HP per adventure +10% Meat from Monsters
Brined Liver	Effect	20%		Obtained by drinking Salacious Cocktails (20 turns / 30 turns garnished) and other underwater booze
cozy bazooka	2-handed weapon	30%	85 mox	Moxie +15% +20% Meat from Monsters Wears out after ? Adventures
cozy scimitar	2-handed weapon	30%	85 mus	Muscle +15% Weapon Damage +50% Wears out after ? Adventures
diving muff	Accessory	10%	85 mys
Donho's Bubbly Ballad	Effect	20%		AT song
Finstrong	Effect	30%		Obtained from Comet, the Roller Skate (30 turns, 1/day)
gnomish swimmer's ears	Familiar Equipment	10%		Reagnimated Gnome equipment. Also allows gnome to breathe underwater.
Hairless and Airless	Effect	20%		Obtained from using a shavin' razor (30 turns)
Juiced Up	Effect	10%		Obtained from using Mer-kin fastjuice (10 turns)
saltwaterbed	Campground furnishing	10%		Replaces any other bed at your dwelling
Salty Dogs	Effect	10%		Obtained from using a sea salt crystal (5 turns) or eating salty sushi (10 turns).
Staff of the Cozy Fish	2-handed weapon	30%	85 mys	Mysticality +15% Spell Damage +150% Wears out after ? Adventures
Swimming with Sharks	Effect	20%		+20% Meat from Monsters (independent of pressure) Obtained from using shark cartilage (15 turns).
teflon swim fins	Accessory	10%	85 mus	Moxie -5% Combat Initiative +25% (independent of pressure)

Dolphins

Every so often a dolphin will steal an item at the end of the combat. This only applies to items that would have dropped but didn't due to the pressure penalty.

You are slowed too much by the water, and a stupid dolphin swims up and snags <an item> before you can grab it. As it swims away, it flippers you off. What a jerk! or As it swims away, it wags its fluke as if to say 'fluke you, Adventurer.' Man. That dolphin is a jerk. or To add additional insult to insult, it sprays you in the face with a blast from its blowhole as it swims away. Man, dolphins suck.

In order to get the item, you must use a dolphin whistle from Big Brother and beat up the dolphin who stole your item.

Note: Employing enough "better diver" equipment and effects to completely negate the pressure penalty of a zone will not prevent the dolphins from appearing. The exact mechanic has not been determined yet.

Immunities

CLEESH

All monsters encountered while underwater are immune to CLEESHing. This includes special holiday encounters such as the Feast of Boris monsters. Trying to cast CLEESH on any of the monsters gives the message:

"You cast CLEESH at your opponent, but it apparently doesn't work on things that already live underwater."

Pickpocket

All items found on undersea monsters are, by default, unable to be pickpocketed. This includes pickpocket, divine crackers, and V for Vivala mask critical hit item steal.

Exceptions to this rule are bazookafish bubble gums, bottles of Alewife™ Ale and booze slugs from monsters in The Dive Bar.

Yellow Ray

Since all underwater item drops are conditional drops, any effects that disintegrate an underwater monster will not force its items to drop. The only exception to this is the pulled yellow taffy.

Familiars

To adventure underwater with an air-breathing familiar, it must have the little bitty bathysphere or das boot equipped, or you need the Wet Willied effect. Otherwise, this message appears:

"You can't adventure there now -- <familiar name> wouldn't be able to breathe!"

Water-breathing familiars operate underwater without any restrictions. The following are the only water-breathing familiars in the game:

ID	Familiar	Effect	Underwater bonus
8	Barrrnacle	Delevels at the start of combat.
30	Emo Squid	Combines the properties of a Levitating Potato and a Barrrnacle.
100	Cuddlefish	75% Levitating Potato and 75% Ghuol Whelp on land.	100% Levitating Potato and 150% Ghuol Whelp underwater.
102	Imitation Crab	Attacks enemies 4 times per round. Caps at 10 damage per hit on land or 20 with imitation whetstone.	No damage cap underwater.
104	Magic Dragonfish	Boosts Spell Damage% equal to Weight x2. Damage bonus caps at 50 pounds (+100%) on land.	Spell damage bonus uncapped underwater.
106	Midget Clownfish	Sleaze alignment Star Starfish: 100% Star Starfish on land.	150% Star Starfish underwater.
114	Rock Lobster	Hot alignment Star Starfish: 100% Star Starfish on land; sometimes drops floaty sand at the end of combat.	150% Star Starfish underwater.
115	Urchin Urchin	Acts as a full Leprechaun on both land and sea.
116	Grouper Groupie	Acts as a full Baby Gravy Fairy on both land and sea.
117	Squamous Gibberer	Acts as a full Levitating Potato and Ghuol Whelp. Also grants bonus rollover adventures like the Wild Hare	Bonus rollover adventures counter is counted double while underwater.
119	Dancing Frog	Acts as a full Leprechaun/Baby Gravy Fairy.	Water-breathing with amphibious tophat equipped.
162	Reagnimated Gnome	Acts as a Baby Gravy Fairy.	Water-breathing with gnomish swimmer's ears equipped.
172	Adorable Space Buddy	Acts as a Spooky Lime/Ghuol Whelp with huge stat bonus every 300 combats.
209	Space Jellyfish	Drains your enemies and makes "delicious" jelly, delevels and grants the jump at start of combat.	100% Volleyball and 100% Baby Gravy Fairy underwater, plus some surprises.
211	Robortender	Acts as a Leprechaun, grants PvP fights, discovers new cocktail ingredients and more.	Water-breathing if fed either low tide martini or Bloody Nora.
266	God Lobster	Acts as a Volleyball or other basic familiars with familiar equipment. Gives 3 free fights per day that give familiar equipment, buffs, or experience.
275	Red-Nosed Snapper	Acts as a Baby Gravy Fairy. Allows you to track phylum-aligned monsters, and drops items based on the tracked monster type.	150% Baby Gravy Fairy underwater.

Familiar Equipment

Certain special pieces of familiar equipment have unique effects when adventuring underwater:

Equipment	Effect
fishy wand	Causes damage or produces meat sometimes
Li'l Businessman Kit	Produces a sand dollar sometimes
oversized fish scaler	Produces a dull fish scale sometimes

Underwater-specific items and effects

Besides the pressure penalty mitigation effects and familiar equipment listed above, there are other items and effects which operate differently underwater.

Source	Source Type	Underwater effects	Duration	Cost	Prereq	Notes
Busker Do	Effect	Acquire a sand dollar at the end of every underwater combat.	30 turns		None	Obtained from visiting The Bandshell 1/day
Colorfully Concealed	Item	Monsters will be less attracted to you. (Underwater only)	10 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from Mer-kin hidepaint
Crocodile Tear	Item	Familiar weight +10 lbs (underwater only)	15 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from temporary teardrop tattoo
eelskin shield	Off-Hand Item	Damages Attacking Opponent (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Musc	Maximum HP/MP +55
eelskin hat	Hat	Damages Attacking Opponent (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Myst	Spell Damage +15%
eelskin pants	Pants	Damages Attacking Opponent (Underwater Only)	Always		85 Mox	Mysticality +5%
Emotion Sickness	Item	Item drops: +X% Item drops from Monsters Meat drops: +2X% Meat drops from Monsters	5/50 turns	Item loss 1 Spleen or 3 Spleen	None	Obtained from bottle of melodramamine/bottle of extra-strength melodramamine X is equal to 25 minus your Drunkenness, minimally 0.
Eyes of the Dragon	Effect	Item Drops: +100% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	20 turns		None	Obtained from Dragon the Line
Familial Ties	Effect	Familiar weight +10 lbs (underwater only)	30 turns		None	Obtained from visiting The Eclectic Eels 1/day
Fishbreath	Item	Monsters in The Briniest Deepests flip out, increasing their attack. Allows shark cartilage, eel battery and temporary teardrop tattoo to drop.	5 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from Bazookafish bubble gum +15 Stench Damage
Fishy	Several (items + effect)	Underwater adventures take one turn instead of two	Varies	Varies	Varies	Many sources, see the Fishy page for details. The Warm Belly effect grants 10 additional turns of Fishy when eating either sushi or fish meat.
Glowing esca	Off-hand item	Item Drops: +20% from Monsters (Underwater only)	Always		85 Mys	Obtained from Fisherfish
Greased-Up Familiar	Item	Familiar weight +5 lbs (underwater only)	40 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from sea grease
It's Electric!	Item	Damages Attacking Opponent (30-40 damage above water, 60-80 damage underwater)	15 turns	Item loss	None	Obtained from eel battery
Mer-kin sneakmask	Hat	Monsters will be less attracted to you. (Underwater only)	Always		85 Mox	Moxie +5% Combat Initiative +30%
Mer-kin takebag	Off-Hand Item	Item Drops: +5% Item Drops From Monsters (+15% Underwater)	Always		85 Mys
octopus's spade	Weapon (1H, melee)	Enables the Sunken, Buried adventure in An Octopus's Garden	Always		85 Musc	+5% Item Drops from Monsters Combat Initiative +10% Weapon Damage +15
pearl diver's necklace	Accessory	+30% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	Always		85 Mys	+4% Chance of Critical Hit +20 to Monster Level
pearl diver's ring	Accessory	+20% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	Always		85 Mys	+3% Chance of Critical Hit +15 to Monster Level
straw hat	Hat	Enables the In the Shade adventure in An Octopus's Garden	Always		85 Mox	+10% Item Drops from Monsters +15% Food Drops from Monsters +15% Booze Drops from Monsters
Swimming Head	Effect	Item Drops: +25% Item Drops from Monsters (Underwater only)	30 turns		None	Obtained from visiting A Merry-Go Round 1/day
Ze™ goggles	Hat	Item Drops: +25% from Monsters (Underwater only)	Always		None	Found while diving for treasure in an Olympic-Sized Swimming Pool

Combat Items

Some combat items work differently or only when used underwater:

• Imitation crab meat
• Ink bladder
• Live nautical mine
• Mer-kin killscroll, Mer-kin pinkslip and Mer-kin healscroll have special effects on mer-kin enemies.
• Pool torpedo
• various colours of pulled taffy
• S.A.V.E. flyer
• underwater slingshot

Notes

• Violet Fog flashbacks can happen even if you lack the ability to breathe underwater.
• An extremely helpful guide to Seaventuring was compiled by cannonfire40 and is available here.
• The May 22, 2013, trivial update on removed the previous 10 turn refractory period between dolphin whistles. As a result, you can now obtain any item a dolphin steals, regardless of how often he appears.