Heart of Fire

"A dark ritual threatens to consume the souls of a proud and noble crew..."

Heart of Fire is a standalone Tall Tale released with the March 2020 Heart of Fire Content Update.

The Tall Tale can be found and voted for at The Charred Parrot Tavern found on Morrow's Peak Outpost. The Tale giver is Tallulah who directs players outside to Grace Morrow and Sir Arthur Pendragon.

The details on the location of the Tale Book and the Commendations and any related unlockable Items are all presented in the Tall Tales Reputation menu.

Upon completion, players receive a reward of 8000 Gold.

Heart of Fire
The Tale Book can be found on the counter of The Charred Parrot Tavern, on Morrow's Peak Outpost.

Once the crew has voted on the Tale Book, Tallulah will greet you.

Head outside to speak with Grace Morrow and Sir Arthur Pendragon.

The Tale Book
After the introduction, the Crew is given The Journal of the Forsaken Shores Alliance (...and it's betrayal by Stitcher Jim) Tale Book, which they can find and take out in the  menu. Any Tale Book can be viewed with the  button (Left Mouse Button/Right Trigger). Once taking a closer look at the Tale Book, it's pages can be turned with the  and   keys on a Keyboard and the   and   buttons on a Controller.

The contents of this Tale Book will always be the same:

Tracking a Traitor
The Tale Book details the journey of the Forsaken Shores Alliance through The Devil's Roar Region, the discovery of a Box of Wondrous Secrets and how it influenced Stitcher Jim to betray and murder most of his Crew. Grace Morrow has since been trying to keep track of Jim and to have him killed. Her notes track Jim to Liar's Backbone in The Wilds. The first part of this Tall Tale will be straightforward. Just sail to Liar's Backbone and look for Jim's Lair.

After finding Stitcher Jim's Hideout on Liar's Backbone, the Crew will acquire The Liar's Hideout Commendation.

The Liar's Lair
Once players have located and entered Stitcher Jim's Lair on Liar's Backbone, they are free to explore the Hideout, which is filled with opened Boxes of Secrets, incantations of Skeleton Glyphs, carved in the stone walls and a Journal and a shrine dedicated to Captain Flameheart. Players will have to solve a small block puzzle at the Shrine to uncover a Mysterious Key and further notes as to the potential whereabouts of the resurrected Flameheart.

''Note: During the Tall Tale, 5 Journals will be hidden at the locations that players are taken to. These need to be found and read to finish the Stitcher's Schemes Commendation. The first of these Journals can be found and read in Jim's Lair on Liar's Backbone.''

Hints, Walkthrough & Images
Below are a handful of Clues and Hints to complete this section of the Tall Tale. If these are not clear enough, then a full Walkthrough with images is provided below.

Walkthrough
Once you make it into Stitcher Jim's Lair on Liar's Backbone, you will find a small Block and Lever Puzzle on the Altar dedicated to Captain Flameheart inside. Each side of the three Blocks has a single Skeleton Glyph on it. Some of these Glyphs can be found scribbled all over the Walls of the cave:

The only logical Combination that can be formed of these Glyphs in the Block Puzzle is KING FLAME HEART. Look to the Gallery below to see the location of the Glyphs and the Solution of the puzzle.

Once the correct blocks are aligned, pull the Lever right beside them to open up the Heart shaped safe. The contents of the safe are a Mysterious Key and Stitcher's Notes, which hint to the location of Flameheart's Lair. Take the Key with you on the ship and follow the additional Tale Book pages to determine the next destination.

Don't forget to read the first Journal of Stitcher Jim on the wooden shelf in the cave.

The additional Tale Book pages indicate that Captain Flameheart's Lair is on Devil's Thirst in The Devil's Roar Region. According to the journal, the entrance is hidden below the shoreline. The location is indicated by lighting a lonely Chalice on the highest point of Devil's Thirst (aside the Volcano). Once the Chalice is lit, the torches light the way to the Lair. Note that lighting the Chalice can be skipped if players already know the location of the Lair, however the Vault will only open if players have picked up Sitcher's Notes from Liar's Backbone.

Take the Mysterious Key with you, light the Chalice with your Lantern, follow the lit torches down to the shoreline, swim below to the entrance of the Lair and place the Key on the Pedestal by the Mermaid Statue to gain access to Flameheart's Lair!

Secrets in the Deep
Once players have located and entered Flameheart's Lair on The Devil's Thirst they will get a welcoming from Flameheart himself, who accompanies the crew with threats the whole time through. Players are tasked with navigating the underwater tunnels, rooms with boiling hot lava and treacherous traps and puzzles to catch Stitcher Jim and put an end to his machinations.

Note: The final four Journals of the Tall Tale are all hidden inside Flameheart's Lair on The Devil's Thirst.

Hints, Walkthrough & Images
Below are a handful of Clues and Hints to complete this section of the Tall Tale. If these are not clear enough, then a full Walkthrough with images is provided below.

Walkthrough
Once you place the Mysterious Key on the pedestal, you can enter Captain Flameheart's Lair inside The Devil's Thirst. Flameheart will immediately begin to taunt you as you go deeper and deeper into the lair:

Players have to navigate through a couple of underwater pathways and a lava lake to get to the central catacombs of Flameheart's Lair. First off, players will need to swim through the cave system and surface in a larger cave. A plank over the edge leads to another pool, which hides a passageway ahead below. The passageway leads to another cave opening, where players will have to jump down a hole and dive down into yet another underwater cave passage. This passage opens up in a large cave with a massive lava lake in the middle of the room. Players will have to jump the boulders. If players fall into the lava here, they will die and get sent to the Ferry of the Damned, but they will spawn back in the lava lake room. After the lava lake room, there is a final underwater cave passage, that leads players to the central catacombs chamber.

The Central Catacombs chamber has a small lava river flowing through the middle, with three closed doors, each with a flaming Skeleton Glyph printed on it. Players can also find Barrels with numerous Firebombs in them. This acts as a hint of what Players will need to do to proceed. Each of the Glyph doors has a corresponding marked carved Skull in the ceiling or sides of the Central Chamber. These Skulls are the keyholes to each of the three doors and have to be set on Fire, for the doors to open. Throw Firebombs into the openings to make the corresponding doors to open.

This part of the Tall Tale leads into three distinct Pathways, which each have their own Traps, Puzzles and Challenges. All of these pathways converge into a single room, so it does not matter, which pathway is taken. Completing each of the three Pathways reward players with three Commendations: The path of the Eternal King, The path of the Forsaken Flame and The path of the Burning Heart. You will get the Commendation for a path even if you yourself don't go through it, so if you want to get all three commendations at once, have a pirate each take the three separate pathways. If the player uses a Mermaid Statue in the pathways or rejoins the session, they can get back to their Ship on The Devil's Thirst, rejoin their crew by interacting with the Mermaid Statue outside the lair entrance and take another path.

The Central Catacomb Lair houses one of Stitcher Jim's Journals right before the middle door. Additionally, each of the three pathways has Stitcher Jim's Journals placed inside them, so players will have to either redo the Tall Tale three times or rejoin the session or grab a mermaid statue to return to the entrance.

Flameheart will continue to Taunt you during these the traversal of the three pathways:

The Path of the Eternal King
The first & left (Blue) Doorway leads to the Path of the Eternal King, designated by the KING Skeleton Glyph. The Room can be opened by throwing a Firebomb at a Skull in the ceiling right behind the first doorway. This is the longest of the three Pathways.

Walkthrough & Images
Below is the Walkthrough with an image Gallery of the first Pathway.

Walkthrough
The The first room starts out with a couple of Flame Traps, spewing flames left and right from the walls. These Flame Traps do not instantly kill the Player, just put them on Fire. There are a couple of Barrels with Food at the end, followed by a Pulley Door.

The second room is the first Skeleton Room. The Skeleton Rooms are all large cave openings with different Traps in the middle. These Traps can be activated by throwing Firebombs at a Skull on the ceiling to help you get rid of the Skeletons. This Skeleton Room has Spikes on the middle of the whole area. Watch out, these traps can also kill you. Each Skeleton room will spawn 5 waves of Ashen Skeletons with 3 Skeleton Captains at the final wave. These rooms also have an Ammo Chest and Barrels with Food or Firebombs. The end of the room has a Pulley door. The Pulley door can easily be raised and run through without fighting if you can keep yourself from getting hit by the Skeletons.

The third Room is another Flame Trap room, this times with the Flames spewing up from below in a pattern. The second part of this room has a swirling Flame Trap that can easily be jumped over. The third part of this room has a lava lake with small boulders that can be used as stepping stones. In the middle of this lava lake, if you look left, you can find the 3rd Journal by Stitcher Jim. Falling into the lava lake will kill you immediately, but you will respawn right back at the latest room. The lake is followed by a Mermaid Statue, which you can use to return to your Ship (if you just need the Journal, you can grab it and go back here). The room leads into an underwater cave, with a Spike trap below.

The underwater passage leads to the fourth room, which is a Skeleton Room. This room is essentially identical to the first Skeleton Room, with the only difference being the trap, which this time is the Swirling Flame Trap. You can get out of this room quick too, by distracting or destroying a wave of Skeletons and pulling the Pulley up enough to run through.

The fifth room has Flame Traps on the floor, constantly spewing flames, with swinging Spikes and Logs in between the Flames. The next part of this room has a crevice in the middle of the room with Spikes below and three pillars of Flames going back and forth. Avoid the Flames by jumping left and right between the chasm, or just run through them and heal the Fire damage. The final part of the room has a Pulley, that needs to be pulled to make large Boulders appear in the following Lava Lake. You need to run across the Lava Lake before the boulders sink back into the lava. Finally, you will see another Lava Pit with the Lever to the Final Chamber. Jump across the pit and open the door to acquire the The path of the Eternal King Commendation for your Crew (Note that only one of the Crewmates has to finish the Pathway to unlock the Commendation for the whole crew).

The Path of the Forsaken Flame
The second middle (Green) Doorway leads to the Path of the Forsaken Flame, designated by the FLAME Skeleton Glyph. The Room can be opened by throwing a Firebomb at a Skull in the ceiling right behind the center doorway.

Walkthrough & Images
Below is the Walkthrough with an image Gallery of the second Pathway.

Walkthrough
The first room starts out with timed Flame Traps. These only set the player on Fire when run through, but they are fairly easy to avoid. The room leads to a closed door with the KING Skeleton Glyph marking on it and a lava lake to the left of you. This door can be opened by throwing Firebombs into a Skull carving marked with the Glyph. The carving is at the end of the lava lake. You will have to cross the lake, aim and throw a Firebomb inside the opening to open the door. Dying in the lava here will spawn you back by the lava lake. Once the Skull is lit, a swinging Spike Trap will appear above the Lava Lake. If you don't have any Firebombs, you can find some in the Barrels by the lake.

The second room has a couple of Barrels with Food and a Pulley door leading into a Skeleton Room. The Skeleton Rooms are all large cave openings with different Traps in the middle. These Traps can be activated by throwing Firebombs at a Skull on the ceiling to help you get rid of the Skeletons. This Skeleton Room has a swinging Log Trap in the middle of the room. Watch out, these traps can also kill you. Each Skeleton room will spawn 5 waves of Ashen Skeletons with 3 Skeleton Captains at the final wave. These rooms also have an Ammo Chest and Barrels with Food or Firebombs. The end of the room has a Pulley door. The Pulley door can easily be raised and run through without fighting if you can keep yourself from getting hit by the Skeletons.

The fourth room has a Mermaid Statue in it to help you return to the Ship. Opposite the Statue is a pile of Skulls with the 4th Stitcher Jim Journal. If you only need the Journal you don't have to finish the path and can just take the Mermaid Statue back. The room leads into a narrow passage with spinning Fire Traps. Some parts of the Traps don't have flames on them and can easily be passed. The passage leads to a cave with timed Spike Traps going across the room. These Spikes will instantly kill you. Jump from wooden board to wooden board to progress. The room leads to a lowered Ship Mast. You have to lower this Mast with the Pulley right next to it. You will have to run across the Mast and jump over the Grated wall. There are Spikes on the ceiling, so if you are not quick enough, the mast will throw you in the Spikes.

The next Room has some Skeleton Cages with a door blocking the way. You will need to Light two torches held by the Skeletons on Cages. You will find two Pulleys in the room. You will need to use Firebombs and throw them at the Skull right next to one of the Cages and the Skull way above in the ceiling. Use the Pulleys to bring the Skeleton Cages to these Lit Skulls, which will then open the door below.

The final room has a Capstan in the middle with two periodical Flame Traps spewing Flames towards it. There is a closed door at the very end of the room, preceded by a Spike Pit and swinging Blade Traps. You will have to raise the Capstan here to uncover a secret room. You can hold the Capstan before the Flame Traps not to set yourself on fire. The secret room will open behind you, uncovering a Lever. Push the Lever down to open the Door at the end of this room. Jump across the Spike Pit and the swinging Blade Traps. Run ahead to find the Door to the Final Chamber. Pull the Lever to acquire the The path of the Forsaken Flame Commendation for your Crew (Note that only one of the Crewmates has to finish the Pathway to unlock the Commendation for the whole crew).

The Path of the Burning Heart
The third (Red) Doorway leads to the Path of the Burning Heart, designated by the HEART Skeleton Glyph. The Room can be opened by throwing a Firebomb at a Skull in the wall right next to the last doorway. This Pathway seems to be the quickest.

Walkthrough & Images
Below is the Walkthrough with an image Gallery of the third Pathway.

Walkthrough
The first room has an instant kill Spike Pit and two instant kill Swirling Blade Traps in the middle. The opposite end of the room has a door with two burning Skeleton Glyphs (FLAME and HEART). You can find two Skull carvings with the Glyph markings on the wall. The first one can be seen in the wall before crossing the Swirling Blades, the second one is hidden in the wall behind you once you have passed the Swirling Blades. Throw Firebombs in both of them to open the door (you can find Firebombs in the Barrels by the door.

The second room starts out with rotating Flame Traps that won't kill you, but set you on Fire. Avoid them or run through and heal yourself with Food. The passage leads into a larger cave with a pool in the middle. The way ahead is blocked by constantly rotating Spinning Blade Traps. These Traps can be turned off by locating and pulling four Levers in the Cave room. The first Lever is right by the Traps. The second Lever is right next to the Cave Wall before the pool of water. The third Lever is underwater in the pool, next to glowing lava crystals. The final lever is hidden behind a wooden pillar in the back of the room. Note that you don't have to press all the Levers. You can run through the Blade Traps if you time it right.

The next room has the Rotating Flame Traps from before, but this time with a Spike Trap on the floor in between them. Jump across the spikes and avoid the fire to make it into a cave with a massive Lava Lake and a large Swinging Axe Trap in the middle. You can see a platform with a Ladder on it ahead. You will have to wait for the Swinging Axe to pass, run, jump and catch the Ladder to progress. If you fall in the Lava Lake or get hit by the Axe, you will immediately die, but you will spawn right by the lake when you return from the Ferry of the Damned. After passing the Lake, you will have to use a Pulley to pull up the door.

This leads you into a Skeleton Room. The Skeleton Rooms are all large cave openings with different Traps in the middle. These Traps can be activated by throwing Firebombs at a Skull on the ceiling to help you get rid of the Skeletons. This Skeleton Room has spewing Flame Traps in the sides of the room. Watch out, these traps can also kill you. Each Skeleton room will spawn 5 waves of Ashen Skeletons with 3 Skeleton Captains at the final wave. These rooms also have an Ammo Chest and Barrels with Food or Firebombs. The end of the room has a Pulley door. The Pulley door can easily be raised and run through without fighting if you can keep yourself from getting hit by the Skeletons.

The fifth room is filled with wooden boards that activate Flame Traps all over the room. You will have to pull a Pulley in the beginning of the room to open the door at the end. Run through either avoiding the Traps, jumping over them or simply eating Food to recover from the Fire damage.

The final room has timed Wooden Spike Traps that come out of the walls of a narrow passageway. Wait for the Spikes to retreat and head forward. There are two Alcoves that you can hide in while the Spikes pass you. The second Alcove has the final Stitcher Jim's Journal. After the Spike Trap, you can pull a lever to go on to the Final Chamber and acquire the The path of the Burning Heart Commendation for your Crew (Note that only one of the Crewmates has to finish the Pathway to unlock the Commendation for the whole crew).

Since there are no Mermaid Statues in this path that allow you to return to your ship, it is recommended to leave this Journal to be your last. If you have other Crewmates, you can have them do the whole Pathway and open the door from the other end to let you access the Pathway and claim the final Journal.

The Fire Rises
After overcoming the challenges of the Three Pathways, Players will find that the paths converge to a single Central Room, leading into the heart of Flameheart's Lair. It is here that they will finally face Stitcher Jim.

Hints, Walkthrough & Images
Below are a handful of Clues and Hints to complete this section of the Tall Tale. If these are not clear enough, then a full Walkthrough with images is provided below.

Walkthrough
Right before you make it to the Central chamber, Flameheart will continue to taunt you, continued by his introduction to his Ship and Lair. Once inside, you will see Stitcher Jim across the Lava Lake trying to open a Chest of Rage and getting burned for his ambitions.

You will need to traverse the Lava Lake by jumping across the Boulders and climbing the Ladders. The Lava Lake here will kill you if you fall in here, but you will spawn back at the Lair. Once the scene is over, you can pick up Stitcher’s Chest of Rage to earn The Fire Rises Commendation.

Stitcher's Sorrow
With Stitcher Jim gone, all that's left is to grab his Chest and return it to Pendragon outside.

Keep good watch of the Chest, as losing it means failing the Tall Tale.

Once delivered, the crew of the Blackwyche can be reunited and the Tale will be complete.

Walkthrough & Images
As this section is fairly straightforward and composed of just challenges, no hints will be provided. A full Walkthrough of the section with images is provided below.

Walkthrough
You will find yourself next to a Mermaid Statue, the closed door that Stitcher Jim fled to, and another doorway with a CHEST Skeleton Glyph on it. You can now pick up Stitcher’s Chest of Rage. This is an unique Chest of Rage that acts identically to regular Chests of Rage, but has the emblem of the Blackwyche on it. The Pirate Chat indicates that you need to return it to Pendragon outside. Pick it up and carry it with you throughout the next section.

Watch out, if you drop Stitcher's Chest in Lava or leave it behind after jumping off edges you cannot return to, the Tall Tale will either fail or cannot be completed until you go through the Lair again to retrieve it.

The Chest will begin heating up until it explodes with Fire just like a regular Chest of Rage. Thankfully, there are numerous sources of Water to douse the chest ahead.

To begin, take a Firebomb and throw it in the Skullface to open the door ahead. Flameheart will continue taunting you with the same taunts from the previous sections.

The first room ahead has a small pool of water followed by three different Flame Traps. Grab the Chest and carefully walk it through the gauntlet of Flame Traps. If you get put on Fire with the Chest in hand, it will get agitated faster. The Flame Traps are followed by a waterfall and a closed CHEST Glyph door to the side. There is a Skull face that you have to Firebomb on the other side of the Waterfall. Take the Chest and continue in the next room.

The second room will have even more Flame Traps, this time like laser security in an action film. These are fairly easy to avoid, so continue on with the Chest in hand. The Traps are followed by a Waterfall chasm. You have to take the chest and jump over it. Falling down drops you back into the previous Waterfall room.

The next area is composed of numerous Swinging Axe Traps made out of Ashen Skeletons. These Traps kill you instantly. Take your Chest and carefully jump over the gaps. Luckily there are no traps below, so if you fall down, you can try again. You will have to look out for Flame Traps on some of the stepping stones, though. Ahead is another water pool followed by another Skeleton room. This time, there are no triggerable Traps to help you out, although you can agitate the Chest of Rage to damage the Ashen Skeletons. Again, the Skeletons will spawn in 5 waves with a 3 Skeleton Captain wave to end it all. Instead of a Pulley door, this time you will have to slowly raise a Capstan, making the part difficult to skip solo. There is a pool in the room where you can calm the Chest down at. Raise the Capstan and go on ahead.

The next room has a plankway above a pool of water with Swinging Spike and Flame Traps to stop you. These are fairly easy to avoid if you wait for them to pass. Mind your step, though!Finally, you come to a cave opening with a view to the Skeleton room below. Go ahead and dive into the underwater passageway with Chest still in hand. Take the final leap into another pool with the Chest to escape from the Lair.

Flameheart will take a chance to say some final words to you in quite the somber tone, after which, you will be greeted by the ghost of Pendragon on the shoreline outside.

You are back on the surface of The Devil's Thirst, take Stitcher’s Chest of Rage and give it to Sir Arthur Pendragon so he can use his Sword of Souls to release the souls of the crew of Blackwyche from the Chest.

And with this the Tale is complete!

Rewards
After you have finished the Tall Tale, you will receive a 8000 Gold reward (this is also shared in Player Alliances). If it was your first time completing the Tale, you will unlock the Hull of the Ashen Dragon in the Ship Customization Chest. If you have finished all of the Commendations related to the Tale, you will receive The Ashen Curse as a reward!

Stitcher Jim's Journals
Once the Tall Tale is active, five Journals will appear on the Islands that the Players are taken to during the Tale. These Journals document Stitcher Jim's agenda with the Bilge Rats, Pendragon and the Blackwyche crew, the Masked Stranger and Captain Flameheart. These Journals are only present for the Crew who is doing the Tall Tale itself. These Journals have to be found and read for Stitcher's Schemes Commendation.

Click on the Expand to see an image of the journal's location.

We Need a New Plan= The We Need a New Plan Journal is found inside Stitcher Jim's Lair on Liar's Backbone. It's in the middle of the cave, placed on a makeshift wooden shelf.

The Disorder of Souls Journal is found inside Flameheart's Lair on The Devil's Thirst. This one is located in the central room with the three doorways leading to three distinct paths. The Journal nests on rocks by the middle Path of the Forsaken Flame.
 * -|Disorder of Souls=

The Bye Bye, Blackwyche Journal is found down the Path of the Forsaken Flame after the second wooden door in Flameheart's Lair at The Devil's Thirst. The Journal is placed on rocks beside a pile of skulls above a lava pool in the trap room after the first Skeleton room.
 * -|Bye Bye, Blackwyche=

The Fourth Journal is found inside the Path of the Eternal King behind the first door in Flameheart's Lair at The Devil's Thirst. The Journal is placed on a pile of skulls in the trap room after the first Skeleton room. The Journal is placed right before a set of swirling flame traps.
 * -|A Chest of Rage...=

The Final Journal is found inside the Path of the Burning Heart behind the third door in Flameheart's Lair at The Devil's Thirst. The Journal is in the final alcove of the last trap room with spikes coming out of walls. Since this Journal is right before the exit of the third path, a player can stay by the lever and let other crewmates in the room to read the journal without completing the third path themselves.
 * -|Departing=

Commendations
Heart of Fire Heart of Fire

Trivia

 * Grace Morrow claims that "She's always used her journal to keep track of Jim's whereabouts". For a period of two months, Stitcher Jim was the Bilge Rat representative in every Tavern, including The Charred Parrot on Morrow's Peak Outpost. It seems that this was not meant to be canon, as Captain Morrow would have definitely noticed Jim in her own Tavern.
 * The Lever leading to Stitcher Jim's Lair on Liar's Backbone has Jim's old Forsaken Ashes necklace placed on it.
 * The Masked Stranger briefly appears in the scene where the crew encounters Sticher Jim.
 * The missing cannon on the Burning Blade can be found in Wanda's Hideout.