City of Abandoned Ships Quest - Step by Step Walkthrough - Spoiler Alert!
1. To get there you must finish the quest "Kill the beggars" before. It doesn't matter if you accepted the quest or rejected it. And even if you rejected it in the final dialogs the game still "thinks" you accepted it
2. Before proceeding talk to the beggar who told you about the Dutch governor slave trades. He will give you a "diffindur key". I don't know if it is impossible to enter Coas without this key or it is just optional.
3. You will lose your ship and your officers and most of your money. So put your money besides some 250,000 golds in the bank, store all your stuff with the officers and put all your officers as captains of cheap ships and store those ships in the town port controls (you can store 3 ships with officers per town).
4. If you have aztec totems with you they will remain with you because they are considered quest items. Anyway - I stored my totems in the officers too so I cannot confirm if this is true or not.
5. If you have the diffindur key you will be able to save your personal belongings - but not the items which are equipped and which you cannot remove. So before entering Coas equip some cheap weapons and spyglass. Actually if you have diffindur key you don't even need to bring weapons with you but a cuirasse may be usefull.
So when you are ready go to Havana, buy a tartana, hire crew and sail to the most north-west corner of the map. You may want to wait for a storm there (it will appear after about a day) but it seems it is not really needed. Just exit the overhead map and voila - you are in the middle of a storm already. Wait untill the icon for the exit to overhead map appears and surprise - instead to overhead map you will have the choice to go to COAS North or COAS South. Save the game before traveling and go. You may have the bad luck to meet the boss of the place at the very second you get there and you lose all your items and all your money - so if this happens relod the game and choose the other destination... although quite honestly this doesn't really matter.
Before proceeding keep in mind the quest is buggy. On several occasions you must wait between 2 and 5 days the story to advance. If nothing happens after the fifth day you have to reload. And while you wait change the location every day - change it through the real doors, not through the fast travel.
Also note I wrote this from memory so some of the names may differ slightly...
Anyway... you just saved yourself form the storm, your ship, your crew and your officers (if you had any) gone forever. You personal belongings and your money are still there but not for long... So at the landing point you meet a guy which explains you this city is made from wrecked ships stuck together and will tell the local rules... blah... blah....
The important points are:
1. No one ever left the COAS (which is obviously not true) because this is against the law - and this law is enforced by the local self-appointed admiral Chad Chapper. Plus you must find him before the storm ends (it will end in 2 days) or the admiral will be very angry... which is pure bulsh*t - no matter what you do the admiral will take all your items and all you money. So just ignore the admiral (after the storm ends he will "teleport" himself near you when you change the location and will take your stuff anyway) and do what you you need to be done.
2. "Diffindur" (the key) is the name of the ship where no one lives. The ship is broken in two and you must swim to go there.
3. COAS is like a real town - it has tavern, store, church and even moneylender. But he warns you to stay away from the moneylender because he is an evil black magicians (or something like this). Anyway - you can take up to 1,000,000 golds loan from him but then you always will have to keep in yourself 5,000,000 golds to return the debt... and as a matter of fact there are more then enough money in COAS so you don't really need a loan...
4. Besides the citizens and the militia there are two criminal gangs - Narwals and Caspers. They kill you on sight but luckily they stay only inside their own ships. So just ignore them for a while and don't enter the ships (but you can freely walk on the decks).
Now it is up to you - you can swim directly to Diffindur or you can go first to the store to buy yourself a map of the city. The admiral probably drinks in the tavern so it is easy to be avoided (a sturdy bald guy). If you decide to swim directly jump in the water and just hug the ships untill you see at some distance a lonely broken in two parts ship. Go there and swim between the two parts. Circle a little and a hand will appear - congrats, you just found a chest for the key you have. There are lot of weapons in the chest and a letter from Teaser Dan. Store your stuff there and take the letter (one swimming less). Do not put money inside - they will disapppear.
Return back in the city and try to find the store (or find the store from the very beginning for one swimming less). Buy a map of the city from the store. The map costs more then 200,000 golds but if you don't have the money you can talk to Sandra Gomez for discount. But if you buy it you can always sell it back so you actually don't lose that much... Swim back to Diffindur and put the map in the chest too. If you still have money left you can try to leave them with the moneylender (didn't do it so I don't really know if it is possible). Of course you can buy everything from the shop and store it in Diffindur.
After you secured you stuff you can go see the admiral. If you talked to the barkeep in the tavern before this he will tell you to keep your mouth shut about Teaser Dan and to come to him after several days for more info. If you see the admiral after this talk no option about Tease Dan appears at all. But it seems you cannot talk to the Admiral about Teaser Dan even if you didn't see the barkeep before so it doesn't really matter...
Anyway - to advance the story you must talk to the barkeep about Teaser Dan then wait several days and ask the barkeep what he new learned about him.
Meanwhile it is good to use the spare time and make couple sidequests. Of course first swim to Diffindur and get and equip your gear. Do not forget to take some pots too.
Now start looking around and talk to the people and use all the dialogue options...
You will learn:
1. Some Maxim Taylor is in the jail again
2. Some Layton Dexter - a close friend to the admiral, disappeared without a trace some times ago
3. Dominic Legro asks to find a bottle of wine and bring it to his friend which "works" as a jailor in the jail ship Tartarus
4. Pedro Hurtado offers you to rob the owner of the shop.
5. Padre Angel (the priest) ask to find 400 candles for the church.
Lets start from the last sidequest - finding 400 candles for the church... They are easy to be found - there are exactly 400 candles in a chest in the store... only that this chest is quite locked:-(
Now basicly there are only 3 kinds of "standart" chests in the city - "simple" (with the cheapest loot), "average" chests (with average loot) and "complex" chests with top loot (and of course there are unique chests which need unique keys exactly like your chest at Diffindur). So find a "simple" key and you will be able unlock all the "simple" chests etc etc... But know that only the chests which are on the open decks are free fo all. All the chests inside the ships have owners. Getting something from those chest is considered stealing... Of course only if the owner sees you
All the other people can see you but they will not react so you can empty any chest freely when the owner turns you back to you.
Back to the quest - the chest with the candles is simple... but you have no keys at all. You will get keys from the sidequests but there is an easier way... Go to the admiral ship. He lies upon the sloped decks of an older ship. There is a catwalk upon one of the sloped decks. Enter the water from this side and swim around the admiral ship to the other side. Get out the water on the other sloped deck and you will find a "simple" key. Go to the store, wait untill the owner turns his back and loot the chest (you probably will need to make this 3 times to get all the 400 candles). Remember - only the chest owner matters. Everyone else will ignore your theft. Bring all the 400 candles to the padre and surprise, surprise... you can fast-travel now
Let's proceed with number 4 now... Talk to Pedro Hurtado. He will offer to rob the shop-owner. ACCEPT IT. You will get very precious "complex" key which unlocks the "standart" chests with the best loot in them. Pedro will bring you to a locked cabin and will unlock it. Your task is to enter and kill the three guards inside. Then find the complex key and loot the cabin. Get outside and share the loot.
Congrats... You already have 2 from the 3 available keys. It will be while untill you find the third key so maybe it is time to loot the chests... carefully of course. And while you are collecting the stuff stash away 1 lute, 3 bottles of wine, 10 bags of salt and 10 grapes.
Now Dominic Legro... he wants from you to find a bottle of wine and to bring it to his friend the jailor (Thomas Boyle). You can buy the bottle, loot it from a chest (even Diffindur chest has some wine stashed) or get it from the admiral (when you are talking to him about the Maxim Taylor from the 1st sidequest). Bring the wine to Tartarus and give it to his friend Thomas Boyle... only to find out the friend is very pissed... now you must go back and forth 2-3 times untill the misunderstanding is cleared. It appeared Dominic was talking to the jailor's girlfriend Arno Duline - a barmaid in the tavern and Thomas decided they are flirting. The reward from this quest are three: a simple key; you can eventually ask the jailor about Layton Dexter (but you don't really need it); and the third reward is Thomas Boyle can help you as a fighter later in the main quest.
Free Maxin Taylor from the jail... the reward is simple key (not again!) but you will need something from his wife later in the main quest... I guess she will refuse to deal with you untill her husband is in the jail.
The task is quite easy... talk to Maxim in the jail, talk to his wife Alice, ask the Admiral for mercy... but you will learn Maxim got very drunk and attacked the admiral with a knife asking to be let free to leave the city... go to the tavern and ask the barmaid Arno Duline about the evening when Maxim got drunk... will learn Maxim left the tavern with his friend Gilles Baru... Find this Gilles Baru and he will confess it is him who incited Maxim to attack the admiral thinking it will be a nice joke. Go back to the admiral and tell him about Gilles Baru and his "joke" and voila - Maxim is freed from the jail and you are a proud owner of another simple key.
And now the sidequest with the best reward - where is Layton Dexter? The first to tell me about Dexter was was Rojel Haag; Lea Toors told me later she witnessed a quarrel between Dexter and Chad on Tartarus; ask Chad about Dexter and he will tell Dexter was punished to guards the treasures!!! Go to Tartarus and maybe you will get the option to ask Thomas Boyle about Dexter (or maybe you will not). If you are able to ask Boyle will tell you Dexter is very close - behind the nearby locked door (but you don't really this info to find Dexter so don't reload if the option does not appear). It seems there is no way to unlock the door so... just jump im the water and swim around Tartarus... and voila - a large hole in the board! Crawl inside and find Dexter... or at least what remained from him. Mots important is there is a chest which presumably holds Chads treasures too! Unfortunately the chest is locked and even the complex key cannot unlock it... So just fast-travel to the tavern (you can fast-travel even when swiming) and start talking to the people... untill someone tells you Chad is very frustrated because he lost some very important key! Now... isn't this Chad a real sweetheart! To lose this key exactly when you started to look for it? Anyway - the key is somewhere upon the decks on a random place (only on the upper decks - never inside the ships). Good luck finding it because it is extremely hard to be spotted (you may browse the cheat topic in the forum for help). When you find it go back to Tartarus and grab the treasures. They are realy worth the efforts!!!
This is the last side quests. Now the only thing you can do is to sleep for several days (5 days for me) and to talk with the barkeep about any additional info about Tease Dan...
He tells you to come at midnight in the wine cellar - a cabin at the bow of the same ship. Go there and few seconds after 00.00 hours the barkeep will appear. The first thing he will ask for proof about Teaser Dan successfull leaving the Coas. Show him the letter you found on Diffindor (you must swim there if you don't have it in your inventory) and the barkeep will tell you probably someone helped Dan to escape and this someone should have knowledge to the carpentry. Well, looks the barkeep is a big thinker after he needed only 5 days for such obvious guess... Anyway now you must talk about Teaser Dan with the local carpenter Andre Labore.
Talk with Andre and he asks to meet him in a cabin on the ship Protector. You go there but guess what - Andre brings a militaman with him. Luckily the soldier decided to play a hero and looks like Chad still knows nothing. Kill them both and go again to talk with the barkeep. The barkeep suggest to blame the criminal gangs for the killing says it is good if you can get an Narwal clan amulet. This is best done in the bow store cabin of the Narval clan ship Velasko where you should lay in ambush. You go there and after a while a Narwal member appears. Kill him, take his Narwal amulet and go to Chad. Tell him you accidently found something near the place where Andre and the militiaman were killed and luckily Chad buys the story... Even more - he gives you 3 militamen for sidekicks and sends you to exterminate the whole Narwal clane.
Go there and kill all the bandits (funny no one wears the Narwal amulet). The killing itself is not a problem; the problem is to kill the bandits and preserve the militiamen alive (I had to reload several times). Actually there is no need to care about them besides Chad rewarding you according to the number of militiamen left alive... Also there is an average key upon the wooden crate right before the mast near the entrance.
Go talk with the barkeep again and he needs several days more to think what to do (another 5 fays for me)...
The new proposition of the barkeep is to go at midnight in the wine cellar cabin again and to try to eavesdrop the conversation between Chad and some other person. The problem is you must stay hidden behind the mast so you must turn at 90 degrees and stay quietly untill the conversation lasts. The task is easy to screw if you are not on the exact spot so you may have to reload several times. But even if you screwed it nothing bad happens - talk to barkeep again and he will imply you are a lamer and next time he will go to eavesdrop the next conversation.
One way or another you will learn what exactly Chad talked and who was the other person... Surprise, surprise... It appeared Chad was talking with the boss of the other gang (Caspers clan). Not only this - it appeared Chad and the gang boss were planning to collect enough valuables and to leave the city. And actually you helped them in this plan by eliminating Narwals which left Caspers clan power unchalenged... too bad you killed the carpenter too which makes the leaving of the city impossible untill the storms bring some other carpenter... unless they use The Mechanic... but Chad disagree because The Mechanic is wacko and he doesn't trust him...
After the conversation ends go back to the barkeep and tell him what you heard... Guess what? The barkeep asks for several more days to gather info about this mistery Mechanic. Sleep for couple of days (do not forget to change locations) and suddenly the barkeep you know is no more here! Instead of him another man makes the drinks! Talk to him and he tells you the previous barkeep was found dead in the wine cellar and Chad appointed him as a new barkeep...
Remember the french barmaid Arno? Talk with her about the murder and ask what the barkeep was talking about before his death. She will tell you he was asking about some unknown mechanic and also was asking which are the oldest citizens of the coas... At the end of the conversations Arno will say she is very angry at the barkeep killers and will be glad to help to find and punish them.
Well, it is time to start asking the same question himself... But first go to Chad and ask a permition to investigate the murder of the barkeep. He will agree but will tell you not to take the task very seriously...
Start asking around who is the oldest citizen of the coas... untill suddenly in one of the ships 3 killers jump and try to kill... no, not you... but an elderly lady called Cecille Galard. Save her if you can and she tell you about the Mechanic and his real name - Vedeker and it will appear it is him who succeeded to bind all those ships together so they don't sink and stay against the storms... but after a while he started to talk too much about some imminent danger for the city and apparantly Chad with the help of Caspers clan imprisoned him somewhere.
If you don't succeed to save the granny proceed to talk with the other citizens. There is another old citizen which will give you the same info and her name is Orelie Bertine. If you asked Orelie before the killing of Cecille she will hesitate a little but will refuse to talk. So go again to meet her and this time she will tell you everything.
Now you have one small problem... you have to extreminate the whole Caspers clan and this time Chad definitely wouldn't give you militia helpers. Besides they are definietly stronger then the Narwals. Of course you can enter their ship and just kill everybody and this will work especially if you use god mode. But if you don't cheat probably it will need zillions of reloads
So instead go again to the french barmaid. Tall her the Caspers clan is to blame for the death of the barkeep and she will offer to help. It appears she used to bring food to Caspers and has lots of admirers between them. She will offer to wait couple of days (again) during which time she will try to lure someone from them outside. Sleep for couple of days and Arno will tell you she will have a midnight date with a Caspers member at the stern of the nearby ship. Also she warns you not to fight too close to the Caspers ship because the gang members will hear the fight and will get out to help. So just go at the stern of ship where the date was appointed and kill the lover-to-be guy. Report to Arno and she will try to lure another member of the gang. Wait couple of days, talk to Arno, go the same spot and attack the next in the line...
But here comes one small catch... if you kill this guy too and report to Arno she will lure a third guy and then she will be killed. After her death you can offer to her boyfriend (remember the jailor Thomas Boyle) to revenge her so you both will attack the remains of the gang inside their ship. Basicly this is this is what exactly the devs had in their mind about this part of the quest so the Arno line is not very developed after and you will leave her to die anyway...
But still if you want to save her (at least temporarily) and for more fun you can either enter their ship and kill the whole clan alone after the second victim or do not be quick to kill the second victim but run closer to the gang ship and start to fight. The Caspers will hear the fight and will jump to help. Find some good bottleneck and kill them one by one (but beware the pistols).
Now go and find The Mechanic. Talk to him and he explain you the whole city is kept at the surface thanks to just three entangled ships... and that some very strong storm may destroy and sink the whole city... and if you wondered how he knows all this... well it is simple... he just went underwater and saw it with his own eyes... and don't look at him like this... no, he is not crazy... he just created a suit for underwater diving which still can be used. Ask about leaving the city and he will tell you there is a corvette in the city which is almost intact and can be yours for merely 1,500,000 golds (which is not really that much). But (again) there is a catch... The corvette is entangled with the other ships and can be released only by a special winch... the bad news is Vedeker dropped a gear from the winch at the bottom under the city and it is up to you to dive with the underwater suit and find it... "oh, and you know... there are lots of giant poisonous crabs under the city... of couse you will have a whooping six minutes to find it... hope they will be enough for you... good luck with this..."
So you have three tasks for now - to collect 1,500,000 golds (you can take a loan too but it is not really needed), to dive under the city and find the gear and to brief Chad on the last events... - Remember Chad, you allowed me to investigate the murder of the barkeep? - And? - I found the responsable! - Great! Bring me proofs and will punish him according to the laws of the city! - Errr... Chad... quite accidently he fell and hit with his head my bullet... too bad but he is a little bit dead now... and you will not believe what happened after that! All the Caspers clan attacked me and I had to defend myself! And I am afraid they are all dead too... but hey Chad! Rejoice! Caspers are dead and the city is no longer threatened by them! This makes me kind of a hero, right, Chad?
Then you can proceed with the diving (possible only between 10.00 and 17.00). Just get close to the suit and you will wear it; go near the winch in the middle and icon for entering will appear. Remember you have exactly six minutes to find the gear and return to the surface. The gear is somewhere at the random place at the bottom but luckily it is much bigger then the admiral's key and is easy to spot. Besides the gear you will find a chest with priceless aztecs artefacts and chests with lots of money and jewels. The good news is you can pay 30,000 golds per dive and go underwater more then once if you need it.
Now it is time to start collecting supplies for the journey. You need food, planks, sailcloth, medicines, powder, weapons, cannoballs, bombs, chainshots and grape shots. The store owner will sell you food, sailcloth and planks, the priest will give you medicines - you probably will need to do his quest if you missed it - and you will find at the sea bottom a barrel with more then 400,000 candles if you still need them
. The women from the ships will give you bombs, cannoballs, grape shots and chainshots. You will need for this 10 grapes, 10 bags of salt, 3 bottles of wine and a lute. Also I guess you will have to finsih the quest for Alice Taylor if you missed it. Besides finding the stuff you will need to arrange the supplies to be transported to the place where Vedeker is (ex-Caspers ship) but it is easy - just read the logbook if you mess something.
Unfortunately finding powder and weapons will not be that easy. All the powder and weapons are collected and locked at the admiral ship and Chad refuses to give anything to you... Luckily John Workman is nearby too. Talk to him and he will give all you need if you promise to take him with you. You can promise and still leave him but I strongly advise to take him. He will remain as a quest officer with you, is very good fighter, and what is much more important his stats allows him to become one of your uber-captains. And being a quest officer he will always remain with you and there is no danger he may leave with some of your ships.
Now you have all the needed suplies... so go to Vedeker to report... only to learn the bad news... Vedeker constucted some kind of barometer and this device shows a storm with incredible force is coming... and the city probably will be destroyed when the storm full force hits the ships... but you still need to recruit a crew for the ship. So don't lose time but start running and talk to the people. Of course most of them will agree... Be carefull not to forget John Workman. He will agree of course but will remain to the last moment at the admiral ship to watch what Chad is doing... So recruit fifteen people and run where the Vedeker was... only to find out there is the last man (or woman) you recruited staring in frustration... the militia just came and arrested Vedeker... tell him/her where is the ship (as Vedeker told you) and run to the admiral's ship. The fool Chad still doesn't understand what exactly is going on and of course do not believe you the end of the city is quite near. Fight and kill him as well the other militiamen (John Workman will help you but the fight is easy and you don't really need him in this). Talk to Workman and run to the jail ship Tartarus AND NOW THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT and will save you lots of frustration... stop right before entering the cabin and turn left. Right before you will see the Ceres Smithie ship (where you fought the french barmaid Arno lovers-to-be). Look very carefully not at the ship itself but on its masts. Memorize how exactly the masts looks. It has three masts, with square rigging at the first and the second, and triangular sails on the third. Ready? Then save the game and enter Tartarus, kill the main jailor and talk to Vedeker. If Thomas Boyle is still alive he will attack you when you start to talk to Vedeker but this is just a nuisance. Unfortunately you will not be able to free Vedeker - the full force of the storm already hit the city, Vedeker cell is locked and the key is nowhere to be seen... So he tells you to leave him at his fate and to run for your life... actually to swim for your life. You must to swim exactly where the Diffindur chest was... easy task, right? Well, get quickly out of Tartarus and... surprise, surprise... the city ls already destroyed! Only a stern here and there and some masts are still above the water. Turn right ASAP and look for the masts you just memorized. Start swimming trying to get to the spot between the first and the second mast of Ceres Smithie. It will not be an easy task, believe me! When you get there look ahead and you will see more masts... if you didn't mess of course
. Those masts are the masts of your old friend Diffindur and you must reach the spot between the first and the second mast but closer to the second mast. Get to the correct spot and the icon for the sea travel will appear. Hit space and congratilations! You just left the city of abandoned ships!
