"Secrets" of Tortage

Most people have gone through Tortage a few times.  Including characters I've deleted, I'm guessing I have run around the Barachan Isle more than twenty times (including a few times to make notes for guides and such).  Despite its familiarity, it's still one of my favorite places in the game.  Partly due to characters you interact with and partially because the area was so detailed and full of interesting quests.

This post is going to focus on a few special quests.  Special because it requires the completion of another quest before it becomes available, its reward is a blue item, or both.  There's also a few Night bosses sprinkled about White Sands Island, the Volcano, and the Underhalls.



One of the things that makes Tortage a drag is how frequently you have to run back and forth between areas.  Even when combining quests, it can be tedious.  So, obviously, two of the quest chains I'm going to outline will have you wearing out your pirate boots as you trek back and forth between Tortage and the Acheronian Ruins.

The first is the Bat Demon quest line that starts with everyone's favorite one-armed bandit Otho inside the Thirsty Dog.  The other starts with Royo over by the Rum n' Rumble Inn that sends you looking for Genzio.  Might as well pick up the Veil Dawn fruit for Royo while you're going over there, but don't make a special trip to drop that off until you need to speak to him again.

Since the Bat Demon quest chain is so well known, I'll skip the details on what to do there (it's pretty self explanatory).  Some classes may need to be higher level than others, but by level 20, most should be capable of taking him down.  On the last step, there's a few tricks to help anyone beat the Bat Demon:

1. Stay away from the edges so you don't get thrown off by his knock back
2. Kite the boss when your health is dropping

3. Use your own CCs including double tap forward
4. Avoid the boss's CCs using double taps backwards and sideways

In general, when people say they want off of Tortage, I encourage them to do the destiny quest for the blue chest and blue weapon and bat demon for the blue pants.  These three items will make the next stop in your journey that much easier.

But on to one of the lesser known quest chains with a (relatively) great reward.

"Caught in the Shadows" and "Xantia's Wrath"

Even sites like 10 Ton Hammer think this quest chain is useless for the amount of time it takes.  And it is, except for completing it opens up two more quests "Tarisha's Sorrow" and "Tarisha's Sacrifice" with the latter of those two providing a blue ring as a reward.  Sacrificial Ring has +10 Constitution, +3 Hit Rating, and +3 Perception Skill.

Talk to Genzio who sends you to Ninus for a potion.  Take the potion back to Genzio who is still a tin-foil hat away from being a scary homless person.  He sends you to his house, which is back near the pirates Donus asked you to kill earlier during your Tortage adventures.  Inside you battle a giant panther and then talk with some ghosts.  There's something to be said for Tortage basements; those things are huge.  Between Renton and Genzio, these guys have some serious underground real-estate.  Anyway, go back to Genzio to get the skull and then to Ninus to get the last part.  Take these to Royo to bury in Zingarian soil.  You have to go back to Genzio and then back to Royo to find out that he didn't do anything (shocker!).

Talk to Sakumbe, then Captain Phoenic, and lastly Tarisha, who's shop is near Bartholomo's.  Then talk to Padraig who, unlike the rest of the city, actually helps you.  You get transported to a little courtyard with lightning and bodies floating up.  You also get attacked by three giant cats.  Padraig tanks one of them while you battle two down before you focus on the third.  He doesn't hold aggro very well so the first time you attack the panther he's engaged with, it'll attack you.  There's a short rest before a boss cat appears which you kill because you're awesome.  Or you die and have to try again, feeling a little bit of shame.

Talk to Padraig to return to Tortage and then go to Turach to smash the skull and Tarisha to remove the curse.  At this point, and if you're level 17 or 18, you can get a new quest from Bartholomo.

A lot of people, myself included, thought that quest Wisdom Through Venom, which is given by Valerius was required to unlock this but, while having finished it during writing this, I hadn't turned it in yet.   That quest is pretty simple to complete now either when going into the Coastal Cave as part of the Ruins and Demise chain involving yes man Raboz or Proxima's quest to gather poison to give to the Red Hand.

Tarisha's Sorrow

This quest and its follow up each have a cut-scene that help advance the story and make full use of the high-quality voice actors used in Tortage.

Letter to the King I is an additional prerequisite for this quest (thanks to Endurium on the forums for the information).


Bartholomo sends you to spy on Tarisha who will be at the Ritual Chamber in the eastern section of,  the Acheronian Ruins.  If you climb down the ledge and head towards where Genzio is rocking himself back and forth.  Then head south towards the water.  Keep on the west/left side of the water and you'll come to a small porch and door for the Ritual Chamber.  Report back to Bartholomo after you watch the exchange.

Tarisha's Sacrifice

Not to be deterred, Bartholomo, who seems to have a bit of a thing for this Stygian sorceress, sends you to talk to Valerius.

Valerius sends you to talk to Nadini who asks you to gather the following items (with locations given in parenthesis):

1. A cannibal's tooth (Askia's domain - Kill a cannibal)
2. A ring of set (Acheronian Ruins near Genzio from a level 17 Boss mob named Tham'kur)
3. A pirate's gold earring (Rum n' Rumble - kill one of the Boozy Pirates)

"Honey you got reeeal ugly."

Talk to Nadini again and then Valerius.  Finally go back (again) to Ritual Chamber to watch how everything plays out. Hint: Not well.  This involves magic and a curse. 

If you complete this quest before your destiny quest, Valerius is replace by Tarisha coming back from the underworld, for some reason.  On defeat one of the things she drops is Tarisha's Fetish, a green level 18 Talisman that gives +3 Constitution, +50 Mana, and +8 Magic Damage.

The next two quests don't really have great rewards but are either hidden or require another quest to be completed before you get them.

Xan's Bounty

At level 16 and on if you click on the half buried bottle located near where you start on the island (419, 828) it starts a quest to save a pirate named Xan.  If you go to the location where you gather bottles for Ninus, you can swim out to the large island (which now has it's own rez pad!).  The island is populated by level 19 gorillas and one Boss gorilla which is the Gorilla Queen.  Kill her to complete the quest.  Xan didn't make it but the Gorilla Queen carries (in her stomach, presumably, a necklace worth a few tin).  Its seems like Funcom also added a treasure chest on the island so there's a bit more treasure than there used to be, which is nice.

Return to White Sands Island.  There's a second boat nearby that you can use to return back to Tortage. This second rowboat is handy for making a loop when questing on White Sands.

Breaking the Bones

Padraig is just your run of the mill ex-pirate bar owner.  In his spare time he just wants to lay down on some pillows and relax.  By pillows, I mean Hortensia's massive hammers and by relax, I mean do whatever people in Tortage do with whores.  So, after you free her from the Black Ones (Queen of Punishment and Abandoned in the Halls of Fear) Padraig wants you to go kill the pict Chieftain, who's hut is located in a hut at (554, 245).  The reward is a choice of three green weapons (2HB, dagger, 1HE).

Smuggler's Note

Behind the building at (1150, 827), there's a note that you can click on to try and leave Tortage early(if you're level 16 or greater).  HenryX has an efficient write-up on this short quest.

Night Bosses

When you first go to White Sands Island to help Arias there's two Pict bosses, and one chest in/about the Pict camp near where you land.  The first is at (445, 679) and there's a treasure chest nearby, just to the left of the hut's entrance.  There are a bunch of pict minions around the camp fire in the center of the camp.  Draw them out with ranged attacks or kite around the huts, so you can engage them with drawing the boss into the fray.

The other, named Elder Panther Pict Shaman, is outside the camp on the non-coast side around the area (491, 671).

Later when you go into the Sewer section of the Underhalls as part of the Awakening II quest, there's a crocodile boss at (363, 355) and a chest in the pool behind him.

During the Letter to the King II quest chain, when you have to swap the virgin's blood with that of Casilda's, there's a boss right before you can swap the blood named Proto-Ocha.  There's another amongst a group of tents near where the top of the long ladder that advances the quest chain.  If you head towards the grouping of tents, going left around the burned out tree you'll see Proto-Vogis standing around coordinate (671, 395).  Be careful approaching as minions pop out of the tents and there's another regular Archeron Mercenary nearby.  Behind Proto-Vogis, in the last tent, is a treasure chest.  That treasure chest is also available during your first trip to the volcano (Thanks again to Endurium on the forums).

There is another Boss in Mirthelle's Garden, Bartholomo's Wife, who is part of the Priest's destiny quest Awakening III.