Sea of Thieves – The Shores of Gold Tall Tale Guide - Rare Thief (2024)

You’ve made it! You have found all the missing stones to the Shroudbreaker and are now ready to sail to the Shores of Gold!

Beware:

for those trying to solve the Tall Tale themselves

This Guide Contains Spoilers!

Step 1: Shores of Gold Tall Tale Book

As Sandra, the Shipwright from Dagger Tooth Outpost, mentioned, we must head to Morrow’s Peak Outpost in The Devil’s Roar. We will seek advice from Gracie, who resides there. Gracie is one of the only living pirates to use the Shroudbreaker and live to tell the tale!

Once you reach Morrow’s Peak Outpost, head to the tavern on the hill, and you will spot Gracie standing just outside. Sitting next to her is the Tall Tale book. Vote on it, and the book will be in your Quest Radial. Gracie will then tell you everything you need about the adventure ahead!

Step 2: Reach the Shores of Gold

You now have the Shroudbreaker and are ready to sail to the Shores of Gold! The Shroudbreaker will automatically be on your ship after starting the Tall Tale. You will find it strapped at the helm near your ship wheel. Before leaving for the Shores of Gold, you might want to bring a Treasure Chest along with you to help carry a few items you’ll be collecting during the Tall Tale. However, if you don’t have one, it isn’t necessary to complete the Tall Tale.

Jump on your ship and head straight North from Morrow’s Peak Outpost. You should aim for Y3 on the map. This is where the giant island that is Tribute Peak will be. With the Shroudbreaker equipped on your ship, you will have no problem sailing through the Shroud to the Shores of Gold.

See the vault’s location on your map:

As you get closer to Y3, the island you are destined for will slowly come into focus. Once you arrive and step on land you will unlock The Fabled Island commendation.

Step 3: Acquire Vault Medallions

Your first step once on Tribute Peak is to solve four puzzles. There is a puzzle for each of the four vaults found on Tribute Peak. Each one is different from the last and will require different solutions.

Solving the puzzle in a vault will present a hidden vault medallion. You will be collecting these medallions as you will need one from each of the four vaults to proceed into the belly of the island! If you fail to solve the puzzle in time, you will drown and be sent to the Ferry of the Damned. You’ll respawn on your ship and can try the puzzle again.

The vaults on the island can be found inside the base of the giant rock formations located at the tips of the South, West, North and East sides of the island. You will find a cave entrance at each that will lead down to the vault for that side of the island.

Let’s start with the Southern Vault to collect the Shark Medallion first! Equip your compass and head to the giant peak on the island’s South East side. You’ll find the vault entrance on the massive rock’s East side.

See the vault’s location on your map:

Southern Vault (Shark)

Head into the vault, but wait to start it! Before lighting the braziers around the altar and beginning the vault, read about the Southern Vault on the tenth page of the book. On the tenth page, you should see three groups of symbols circled. Each group has four symbols representing the four blocks you’ll rotate.

Like vault puzzle from the Shroudbreaker Tall Tale, the Southern Vault requires you to rotate blocks to match the symbols in your Tall Tale book. You’ll need to enter three solutions, one for each circled symbol, to complete the vault. However, this vault is more complex than you might think, as one of the blocks is blank and does not rotate.

Since one of the blocks is blank and does not rotate, you won’t be using all four symbols. You’ll need to solve each puzzle without one of the symbols. You also can only use a symbol once per group.

For example, the first group includes an arrow, a kraken, a feather, and a bear.

Block #1 has four symbols but might only have two symbols that match that grouping: an arrow and a bear. Which symbol do you use?

Well, let’s pretend that on Block #2, the only matching symbol is an arrow, while on Block #3, there are two matching symbols—a bear and a feather.

In that case, you’d need to use the bear symbol on Block #1, so you could use the arrow symbol on Block #2. You’d need to use the feather symbol on Block #3 because you already had to use the bear symbol on Block #1.

Once you are ready, light all four braziers around the altar in the middle of the vault and the puzzle will start.

The first four blocks you need to match are from Group 1: Arrow, Bear, and Kraken.

Next, you’ll need to match the next four blocks from Group 2: Queen, Boat, and Snake.

And finally, you’ll match the last four blocks from Group 3: Turtle, Scarab, and Kraken.

If you don’t successfully complete the vault before it fills with water you will drown and go to the Ferry of the Damned. Once you return, you can try the vault again.

Once you have successfully entered the three symbols for all three groups, you will acquire the Shark Medallion. You’ll eventually need to take the Shark Medallion to the Compass Vault, but that is quite the trek. For now, place it outside of the vault somewhere you’ll remember to get later or in your Treasure Chest.

Before heading to the next vault, go North from the Southern Vault, and you will shortly run into a shipwreck in a thick grouping of trees. It is between the Southern Vault and a waterfall. Inside the shipwreck is a journal that you can read for The Stain of Greed commendation.

See the journal’s location on your map:

After you’ve read the journal, head West to the Western Vault for the next medallion!

See the vault’s location on your map:

Western Vault (Boat)

Once you’ve entered the Western Vault, equip your lantern and light the four braziers. A picture of Tribute Peak will appear on the altar. The picture of Tribute Peak will have four circles on it, each with one to four little dots. The dots represent which column they belong to, left to right.

You must visit each of these circles on the physical island to find a symbol they represent. Some require you to stand on a pressure plate to reveal a hidden panel with the symbol, while others are just visible for you to note.

Vault Block 1

Head towards the North of the island. West of the Eastern Vault and South of the Northern Vault is a small rocky hill you can climb. You will make your way up the rock formation and find a stone torch. Stand on the pressure plate there and look to the South East. You will see a rock emerge from the water with the symbol you seek, a Kraken.

See the symbol’s location on your map:

Vault Block 2

Head back to the shipwreck with the journal. Just North East of the shipwreck is an ancient statue with two levers on either side. Interact with both to have the middle panel present itself with the symbol you need: a Shark.

See the symbol’s location on your map:

Vault Block 3

This third block will have you climbing up the middle of the island as you were going to the Compass Vault. You can find the path up the middle of the island just East by North East from the Western Vault.

About a quarter of the way through the path, you’ll walk below some vines. Walk past them, and to the right, you should see a pressure plate to stand on.

Stand on the pressure plate and look to the South. You will see a stone come out of the ground. On the other side of the stone is the symbol you need. The stone is timed and will go back into the ground so you only have a short time to run down and see the symbol, a Turtle.

See the symbol’s location on your map:

Vault Block 4

For the fourth and final block, you will go to the fourth location just West of the aisle of thrones. You should find a structure in the middle with several smaller structures around it. Walk down the stairs and pull the lever on the left. It will make the panel in front of you drop to reveal where the symbol is.

You should now see an image showing which of the smaller structures around you is the one that contains the symbol you need. Head to that structure, the one in the North West, and interact with it to get your symbol, Flame.

See the symbol’s location on your map:

Before heading back to the vault, go back down the stairs to find another journal at the bottom.

Once you find all four symbols on the island, head back into the Western Vault and enter them in the corresponding block. Enter the solution Kraken, Shark, Turtle, and Flame, and the Boat Medallion will reveal itself.

Eastern Vault (Warrior)

From the Western Vault, head North East to the Eastern Vault. Walk inside the vault, but don’t start it just yet! The East Vault requires you to construct a key with blocks. Each pillar has a block with a piece of a key on it, forming the complete key.

Before starting the vault, visualize the key shown in the room and break it into four pieces. In the center of the room, there is a picture of the key you will be building with the blocks for reference.

You will place the base of the key on the rightmost pillar and the tip of the key on the leftmost pillar. The middle two blocks will fill in the rest of the key. Below is a picture of what each block should have from left to right:

Start the vault and form the key with the blocks. Enter your solution back at the altar and grab the Warrior Medallion that is revealed before heading out to the next vault.

You should now have three medallions with the last one being in the Northern Vault!

See the vault’s location on your map:

Northern Vault (Kraken)

The North vault is going to keep you on your toes. While you try to solve the puzzle, spikes will continuously pop up and try to kill you.

The key to this puzzle is that you must enter the same symbol on each block. Some of the blocks do not have a particular symbol so you must inspect each one and keep track of the common one between them.

Once you find which symbol is on all four of the pillars, rotate them to the front and enter the solution. For the first round, you should discover that the Snake symbol is on all four blocks. Once you have four Snakes, enter the solution and solve on more.

This time, put the symbol of the three worshipers on all four blocks, enter the solution, and retrieve the Kraken Medallion.

Step 4: Take Medallions to Compass Vault

Now that you have all four medallions you will want to take them to the Compass Vault. This vault only has one access path. Head to the center of the Southern part of the island to find the path up. It is the same path you used to find one of the block solutions for the Western Vault.

As you walk along the path, you will come to a beam lodged between the rocks, and draped in a tattered cloth. Just before that wooden beam, on your left, you’ll see two crates with a journal between them.

See the journal’s location on your map:

After reading the journal, keep going forward North to the Compass Vault.

You will cross a wooden bridge and find the Compass Vault room at the end of the path.

See the vault’s location on your map:

Putting all four medallions into the door will unlock the Gold Hoarder’s Coin. Unlocking the Gold Hoarder’s Coin will unlock the Path to Forsaken Fortune commendation.

Before taking the coin and leaving the vault, look for the journal in the creates inside the Compass Vault.

After you’ve read the journal, take the coin to the row of giant ancient thrones.

Step 5: Path to Forsaken Fortune

Now that you have the Gold Hoarder Coin, you must place it on another lock to enter the belly of the island.

To the North West side of the island you will find a row of large statues. These statues are of ancient thrones! Bring your Gold Hoarder’s Coin here and find the ancient throne that is missing its head. The throne with the missing head is the North East most throne closest to the nearby bay. This throne leads to the entrance of the tunnels below the island.

At the base of the beheaded throne will be an opening to a door. You will notice that the door inside the throne is blocked. We must get in from the top of the throne and unlock the door from the inside as mentioned in the Tall Tale book.

Pull your boat to the North side of the island and park in the bay near the thrones. You will find a waterway into a bay near the ancient thrones.

Line up your cannons so you can shoot yourself onto the broken throne.

Once on top of the ancient throne you can fall into it and pull a lever to open the door. Before venturing down into the belly of the island, you’ll want to go to your ship and aim the cannon at the fourth throne down on the West. On top of the throne, sitting on the arm of the statue is another journal.

See the journal’s location on your map:

Once you read the journal, grab the Gold Hoarder’s Coin, go through the door you opened with the lever at the bottom of the throne and follow the tunnels below. Place the coin into the key slot to unlock the next section of Tribute Peak.

Step 6: Belly of Gold

The next stretch of your adventure will involve lots of traps, skeletons and jumping sections.

Don’t worry though, each section has a checkpoint so if you get past the huge trap section and die in the platforming section, you only need to start over at the platforming section. Each person in the crew has their own checkpoint though so it isn’t worth getting too far ahead if your crew needs help.

The first area you’ll enter past where you put the Gold Hoarder Coin is a large descending staircase. Before heading down the staircase, read the journal in the crates at the top of the stairs.

Once you reach the bottom of the stairs, you’ll come to a fork. To the left is the way forward, to the right is a dead end with a journal at the end of it.

After you’ve read the journal, head back and make your way through the walls filled with spike traps.

After that, you’ll come to a dimly lit jumping section. You’ll need to carefully maneuver your way over the spikes to the other side of the room.

One the other side you’ll come to some wooden crates and swinging spiked logs. Read the journal in the crates before running and jumping through the trap.

You’ll continue down into the depths of the island and will start to come across capstans guarded by waves of skeletons. You will need to clear the waves of skeletons so you can raise the anchor and lift a locked door blocking the path.

One room you enter will have dozens of traps on the floor and will require you to interact with three levers to move onto the next room. You’ll also want to read the journal in this room on the scaffolding above the third lever.

Once you have made it past several more traps, you’ll walk down a path surrounded by wooden scaffolding on either side. Read the journal on top of one of the crates on the scaffolding.

You will finally enter the final room where the mighty Gold Hoarder awaits you. Make sure you’ve done everything you want to and read every journal before entering this final chamber. You won’t be able to leave until you’ve defeated the Gold Hoarder!

Step 7: Defeat the Gold Hoarder

This is a grand battle that will put the toughest of pirates to the task.

Similar to Briggsy and Graymarrow, Gold Hoarder has three special moves up his sleeve. One teleport, one summoning and one ground slam.

The Gold Hoarder will also use his cutlass and flintlock against you.

There are plenty of barrels scattered across the room to gather fruit from for the long battle.

Once you defeat the Gold Hoarder, the Pirate Lord himself will appear and you will have completed the Shores of Gold.

You can take the Gold Hoarder’s skull back to any Order of Souls tent to sell it for a huge sum of 10,000 gold.

Congrats on completing the Shores of Gold! Your Tall Tale adventures are not over yet though. There are plenty of commendations to get and journals to find with extra lore.

If you need some help finding any of the journals, be sure to check out our guide here!