Thank you! I really appreciate the feedback too. It helps a lot.
The weirdest bits about the Dandan are 95% straight from the 1,001 nights. As are the three NPCs with the same name. The Dandan dies if it hears a human voice or tastes human flesh in the story. I think this information either needs to be really easy to find out or I need to drop it. Maybe these do damage to the Dandan rather than insta-kill.
Also the protection from the liver fat was in there although I think it was about breathing underwater in general which is probably better in retrospect. My wording was not clear.
The idea of giving boons was from another myth about a large water creature that swallows people and spits them back out.
It got a bit unwieldy trying to tie everything together and make it coherent and make the deadline so feedback like yours really helps as I am excited to add a couple more pages to make it easier to understand/ run / include more information
I should have hooks, boons and possibly curses (I wrote a table that I had to cut), secrets and clues, random encounter tables for overland and catacombs, and a more defined take on the Dandan. I think Sly Flourish’s ideas about having a list of secrets and clues that can be revealed when appropriate (party is asking good questions) in addition to NPCs having specific information is a good approach.
Also in my play test I realized there was info that could be red herrings. So I’m going to re read Justin Alexander’s chapters about running mysteries.
I see the Dandan as an innocent creature that is being worshipped by the cult and the imposter priest is taking advantage of both the cultists and the creature. I was thinking The cult knows the risk/ reward of entering the Dandan’s mouth. Some people may scream in terror on the journey and be lost at sea, some return with a boon (I had to cut that NPC unfortunately), some die trying to get back to the village. If you return with a boon you are “pure” of course.