Pip & Pearl

The halfling couple who run The Driftwood Inn at The Hollows — the party’s first safe harbour, their first hangover, and the archipelago’s best source on Salt-Sage.

[!note] Name collision There is a second, unrelated Pip — a young goblin who runs Bones & Baubles at The Drift and acquires things “by accident.” Do not merge them.

Canon Facts

• They run The Driftwood Inn (S03). The big tavern in The Hollows: a multi-level upside-down hull, built for shorter people, spiralling up a central stalagmite. Taller patrons bounce off the beams. They don’t run the city, but everyone knows them, and the inn is effectively their realm.
• Warm, fast, and constantly working. They clocked the party the moment they walked in and waved them to seats before being asked. Pearl had worked the whole night through and was still cheerful about it.
• Pearl — the bigger of the two, though not tall; loud, relentlessly happy, works the morning shift and the floor. She took the party’s first order (ale before noon, no judgement) and fed them fresh bread with “orca butter.”
• Pip — the more standoffish and cagier of the pair; the brewer. He makes the inn’s Seaweed Gin, and he is the one the party was pointed to for anything to do with sage.
• The inn is where the party learned to blend in (S03). Briony got drunk for the first time on the local cider (magical hiccups). Oszchwald taught the group the art of nursing a drink. Morrigan’s attempt to pump Pip for Atlas gossip fell flat on a Performance 8.
• Pip is the Salt-Sage expert (S03/S04). Pip brews with Green sage (the relaxer, used in the Seaweed Gin to keep patrons calm). Finn sells to him and repeats his line: “Mr Pip says the green ones are good for the gin, and the blue ones — those are for the special people.”
• Pip lied about Deep Blue (S04). Briony asked him directly about the sage varieties. Pip’s Deception 3 lost badly to her Insight 15: he is hiding something about the Deep Blue variant specifically. This has never been resolved.
• Pip named the Children (S04). In the same conversation he confirmed the Children of the Salt are likely behind the dredge sabotage.
• They gave the party a deal (S04) — a notable discount, read as either buying goodwill or plain sympathy.
• They employ Finn. The boy dreams of buying his own boat with gold earned from Pip & Pearl, and Pip is the one who taught him what the glowing stuff is worth.

[!warning] Naming correction Older files call their inn the “Ironwood Inn” (World_Locations.md, Isla_Aethel_Region.md). Per the September 2026 rulings the correct name is The Driftwood Inn. Ironwood Atoll is a separate place.

Description

• Visuals: A halfling couple who look almost exactly alike at a glance — the S03 running joke. Pearl is the broader of the two. Their inn is built to their scale, not their customers’.
• Voice/Mannerisms: Pearl was played with a broad, cheerful, unapologetically bad Irish accent and a stream of good-morning patter. Pip is quicker and more clipped — “Okay, hurry it up, the crowd is growing” — and winks when he goes for the drinks.

Roleplay Traits

• Ideal: Everyone drinks here. The Driftwood is neutral ground and they keep it that way — the S03 encounter doc rates the tavern’s risk as low, because Pip & Pearl keep the peace.
• Bond: Each other, the inn, and the kids who work for them (Finn).
• Flaw: Pip will lie to a customer’s face to protect a supply line. He already has.

Background

Long-established fixtures of The Hollows’ shantytown economy — hospitality rather than politics. They pay attention to who walks in, which makes them one of the best low-risk intelligence taps on Isla Aethel, and they keep it survivable by never taking a side out loud. The Hollows Travel Guide records a visiting writer being served Seaweed Gin by “a delightful if frantic halfling named Pip.”

Mechanics / Stats

• No stat blocks exist and none should be invented. They are non-combatants.
• The only mechanic ever rolled for them is Pip’s Deception +3 (S04, lost to Briony’s Insight 15). Keep him a poor liar.
• For Salt-Sage lore checks, Salt_Sage_Reference is the authority and names Pip as the primary contact for medicinal or defensive inquiries.

Relationships

• Finn — their young sage-forager and errand runner.
• Umaro / Harbormaster_Verge / Aluthra — fellow Hollows fixtures; the Driftwood is where their customers drink.
• “Watchers” — Isla_Aethel_Region.md flags the Driftwood as neutral ground where outsiders watch. Vorlan marked Briony’s and Morrigan’s magical signatures at this inn in S03.