The Cursed Rogue Tall Tale
The Cursed Rogue is the second Tall tale in the Sea of Thieves from the Shores of Gold series. Once you’ve completed the first Tall tale, The Shroudbreaker. The mysterious stranger will mention that the Shroudbreaker is missing four jewels which is needed to break the Devil’s Shroud surrounding the Sea of Thieves.
He also mentions that Captain Briggsy reached the Shores of Gold, so they should have knowledge of where the jewels are located but has recently turned into a Skeleton Lord. So you will need to talk to Madame Olivia at Plunders Outpost to help track the Skeleton Lord down.
Madame Olivia will send you on a task to find some of Captain Briggsy’s belongings and bring them back to her, so she can perform a ritual that will reveal the location of the Skeleton Lord.
The Cursed Rogue Commendations
There is a total of 9 commendations for this Tall Tale, which are listed below.
 | The Rogue’s Key | Find the Skeleton Key |
 | Relics of the Cursed Rogue | Return Captain Briggsy’s Artefacts |
 | Free at Last | Defeat Captain Briggsy |
 | The Cursed Rogue | Complete ‘The Cursed Rogue’ |
 | The Hunter’s Trail | Discover all 5 of the Bounty Hunter’s Journals |
 | Briggsy’s Greatest Foe | Complete the Tale 5 times |
 | Fateful Memories | Complete all commendations for ‘The Cursed Rogue’ |
 | Briggsy’s Sword | Complete ‘The Cursed Rogue’ |
 | Order of Souls Eye Curse | Complete all commendations for ‘The Cursed Rogue’ |
Starting The Cursed Rogue
In order to start the quest, you must complete ‘The Shroudbreaker‘ Tall Tale, then you will need to go to Plunders Outpost (J-18 on the map) and talk to Madame Olivia, who is the founder of the Order of Souls, located under the stairway, near the tavern.
Start the Tall Tale and listen to the dialogue from Madame Olivia. You will then be told you will need to find the Skeleton Lords belongings and bring them back to Madame Olivia.
But before we follow the quest, we will need to sail around the sea to get the 5 journals that are needed for a commendation.
Shark Bait Cove
The first journey you will need to take is by heading south-west to Shark Bait Cove (H-19 on the map). We strongly recommend parking your boat in the bottom right corner of the island too. This makes it a lot easier to find the journal.
As shown in the photos below, you will need to take a short walk inside the island at the south-east point. You are mainly looking for a cave tunnel entrance as an indicator of being at the right spot.
Once you are at the location that we have shown, look around and search for a broken boat. Inside the broken boat is the first bounty hunter’s journal called ‘A New Prey’.
Discovery Ridge
Now that you have got the first journal, you will need to get back on your boat and sail north-west to Discovery Ridge (E-17 on the map). We recommend you to anchor your boat at the top right of the island.
When you arrive at the island, you are looking for a waterfall on the coastline as shown in the images below. Then on the right side of the waterfall is a broken boat with a skeleton next to it. Inside the broken boat is the second journal, which is called ‘Surrounded By Fools’.
Wanderer’s Refuge
Now you will need to sail north-east to Wanderer’s Refuge (F-12 on the map) as this is where the next journal is located. It is in the middle of the island, but we have noticed parking your boat on the left side of the island is the easiest way to reach it.
Once you arrive at the east side of the island, run up the hill until you reach the middle point. We have added some reference points below that you will be able to see, such as a ‘well’ in the southwest direction.
You are looking for a broken stone/wood shelter area. Once you find this, look behind the stone wall, and you will see the third journal called ‘Closing In’ which is hidden away behind the building.
Crooks Hollow
Once you have finished at Wanderer’s Refuge, sail far east across the map to Crooks hollow (M-16 on the map).
When you arrive at the island, it is best to park on the east side of the island where the wooden decking is. You will also see an NPC ‘Wild Henry’ in the wooden area too.
As shown in the images below, you will notice a cave entrance from the wooden deck area. Head through the cave and follow it through, until you get to a big room and on your left is a skeleton and the fourth journal called ‘Defeated?!’
Krakens Fall
Finally, you will need to go to Krakens Fall (R-13 on the map) to get the final journal before finding where the Skeleton Lords belong. Locating this journal can be very tricky, so we have tried to provide the best images below.
From the images we have shown, our team parked the boat on the west side and headed inland, then if you look towards the south side, you will find a skeleton effigy with the fifth and final journal next to it, called ‘At last, a clue!’
You should now have achieved the commendation – The Hunter’s Trail for finding all 5 Bounty Hunter’s Journals.
Finding the Skeleton Key
Now that you have got the Bounty Hunter journals, we will now begin the first part of the quest to find the skeleton key.
You will want to start by opening the quest book that was given to you by Madame Olivia. Flick through the book until you get to the first story in the book called “The Memories of Captain Marrow”. This will show you where the key is located.
PLEASE NOTE – This location will be different every playthrough
Below we have attached all the other possible locations, so you will just need to match up the images to your quest book to determine what island the Skeleton Key is.
Barnacle Cay (O-15 on the map)
Castaway Isle (K-14 on the map)
Devil’s Ridge (P-19 on the map)
Shark Bait Cove (H-19 on the map)
Snake Island (K-16 on the map)
Wanderers Refuge (F-12 on the map)
As you can see from our quest book on our playthrough, it shows the image of three small islands next to each other, and the text we have underlined, shows it is at the northern part of the Ancient Isles, which matches up to Snake Island for us.
Once you arrive at the island, read the next pages of the book, and you will notice it gives you some more information about where you need to go. It says “We camp atop the centre isle”. So we headed to the Middle Island.
To confirm that you are on the correct island, you will hear Captain Avery speaking to his skeleton crew. Follow his voice until you find him as he holds the key.
When you locate Captain Avery, you will need to defeat him and his crew. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Just equip a sword and keep attacking him until he is defeated. Once Captain Avery has been defeated, he will drop the Skeleton key.
Pick the key up and head back on to your ship.
Finding the Skeleton Lords Belongings
Now you have the Skeleton Key, we need to find the chest that contains Captain Briggsy’s Belongings. You can go ahead and read the second story in the quest book called “The memories of Blackheart Bill”.
You will need to look at the first page in the quest book to determine where to head to. As you see in our playthrough, we need to head west from the Ancient Isles, where we end up at Discovery Ridge (E-17 on the map).
PLEASE NOTE – This location will be different every playthrough
Below we have provided all the possible islands, match up the images from your quest book and the ones we have provided to determine where the Chest is.
Crooks Hollow (M-16 on the map)
Discovery Ridge (E-17 on the map)
Lookout Point (I-20 on the map)
Mutineer Rock (N-19 on the map)
Plunder Valley (G-16 on the map)
Thieves’ Haven (L-20 on the map)
Once you arrive at the location, you will need to look at the fourth page of the story and this will show you the location of where the chest is hidden (Located below Captain Blake)
The easiest way to find the chest is to roam around the island and listen out for Captain Blake, Goldtooth and Molly talking and follow their voices to them.
Remember the chest is located below the enemies. So keep a mental note of where they are before you attack them.
They are not too difficult to defeat, but fight them and then dig below where they were to reveal the chest with Captain Briggsy / Skeleton Lords’ belongings are.
Returning to Madame Olivia
Now you have got both items, open up the chest that you just got with the Skeleton Key and you will find two items inside Briggsy’s Broken Spyglass and Briggsy’s Star map.
Turn your ship around and return to Plunders Outpost (J-18 on the map) and talk to Madame Olivia about Briggsy’s belongings.
Make sure to bring the chest with you and give the items to Madame Olivia. You can also sell the chest itself to her for some extra gold. She will then proceed to use Captain Briggsy’s belongings and create a compass that is imbued with the Order’s magic, Which will point to Briggsy’s location.
Finding the Skeleton Lord
Pick up the Enchanted Compass from Madame Olivia and Equip it from the quest menu. You will need to follow the path it sends you and arrive at the island where the Skeleton Lord is.
PLEASE NOTE – This location will be different every playthrough
Below we have provided all the possible islands the enchanted compass will take you to, where Captain Briggsy is located.
- Mermaid’s Hideaway (B-13)
- Discovery Ridge (E-17 on the map)
- Wanderer’s Refuge (F-12 on the map)
- Cannon Cove (G-10 on the map)
- Lone Cove (H-6 on the map)
- Shipwreck Bay (M-10 on the map)
- The Crooked Masts (O-11 on the map)
- Kraken’s Fall (R-13 on the map)
Our team were directed to Shipwreck Bay by the enchanted compass. When you arrive at the island, continue following the compass until you see Captain Briggsy.
Before you engage in combat with the Skeleton Lord, we highly recommend stocking up on firebombs and good food and a blunderbuss.
Throwing firebombs at Captain Briggsy is super effective. You only throw another firebomb when the fire has been extinguished. While Briggsy is on fire, continue to use the blunderbuss on her,
Remember this is a Skeleton Lord and does have a lot of health. Doing this, as 4 players can massively increase the Skeleton Lords’ health, we have noticed the fight can vary from 5 to 40 minutes.
Captain Briggsy has three main moves. One of them is spawning in skeletons to fight by her side, the second ability is teleportation and the third move that you need to mainly watch out for is the ground pound. Briggsy will slam the floor and knock all players into the air.
Fight the Skeleton Lord until she’s been defeated, Captain Briggsy’s Skull will be dropped on the floor. Pick this up and store it somewhere safe on your ship.
Returning Briggsy’s Skull
Now you have defeated Captain Briggsy and got her skull, board your boat and sail back to Plunder Outpost (J-18 on the map).
This is where you will give the skull to Madame Olivia, who will perform a ritual which will discover four names: Tasha, Sudds, Salty and Wild Rose.
Madame Olivia goes on to mention that she can not help any further, but you should meet these wanderers as they know where the precious stones are.
This leads you to the next Tall Tale episodes of the Shores of Gold series.
The Cursed Rogue Rewards
If you have followed our guide correctly, you will have unlocked nearly all the commendations for this tall tale. In order to get the final ones, you will need to do this tall tale a total of 5 times. This will then give you 9/9 commendations for the tall tale.
For completing the Tall tale, for the first time, you will be awarded Briggsy’s sword and 2400-8000 gold (This can vary on higher or safer seas).
If you wish to carry on the Shores of Gold Tall tale series, head towards Ancient Spire Outpost (Q-17) and talk to Tasha in the tavern to start The Legendary Storyteller Tall tale.
