Windrose guide: How to clear Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest early
If you just started Windrose and got confused by the Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest side quest, good news, this one is pretty simple once you know the one thing the game does not hand to you immediately: you need a shovel first.
This is one of the earliest side quests you can pick up on the island, so a lot of players will run into it almost straight away. If you are the type who likes clearing objectives early before settling into crafting and base building, this is worth doing because it gives you some quick rewards and helps you understand how the game ties exploration, crafting, and combat together.
How to start the quest
To begin Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest, head to the Pirate Remains point of interest, which is east of the spawn point.
Look for a chest there and loot the Blurry Sketch of the Island inside it. Picking up that map starts the quest and places a marker north of the Pirate Remains.
The same chest also contains:
- a random uncommon weapon
- a Lamp
The Lamp is especially handy if you are planning to mine ore, so jangan ignore that one.
The part that blocks most players
Before you run to the quest marker, you need to unlock and craft a shovel.
You do not start with it. The shovel only becomes available after you make a Copper Ingot from Copper Ore.
So if the quest marker is active but you still cannot progress, keep following the tutorial and push your crafting a bit further first. Specifically, you need to build:
- Charcoal Kiln
- Smelting Furnace
Once those are up, smelt your materials into a Copper Ingot. That unlocks the shovel recipe. As a bonus, Copper Ingot also opens up recipes for the Saber and Fast Travel Bell, so this step is useful beyond just this quest.
After that, craft the shovel at the Workbench.
What the shovel actually does
The shovel is mainly a terrain tool. You can use it to:
- dig holes
- raise the ground
- flatten uneven land
- reshape terrain for building
Funny enough, it can also be used as a weapon. Its damage is roughly on par with a level one uncommon Club or Saber, though the downside is that you cannot upgrade the shovel for better damage.
So yes, it works in a pinch, but it is still better treated as a utility tool first.
How to finish Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest
Once you have the shovel, head to the quest marker.
At the location, you need to find four skeletons. The treasure spot is in the middle of them, so dig there with the shovel to uncover the chest.
When you interact with that chest, four Drowned will spawn.
This is the real completion check for the quest. To finish it, you must:
- Open the buried chest
- Defeat all four Drowned
- Interact with the chest again
Be careful here, because if you die or run away, the enemies reset. That means you will have to deal with the encounter again instead of half-finishing it and coming back later.
Rewards for completing the quest
After beating the Drowned and interacting with the chest, you get:
- five Guinea
- four Silver Ingots
- XP
For an early-game side quest, that is a decent little payout, especially if you are still building momentum in your first few hours.
Why this matters for Malaysian and SEA players
For players here in Malaysia and across SEA, this is exactly the kind of early-game objective you want sorted fast. If you are hopping into Windrose after work, between classes, or during a late-night grind with the squad, wasting time hunting for a solution can be quite sien. Knowing that the shovel is locked behind Copper Ingot progression saves you from aimless running around the island.
Basically, if the quest feels bugged, it probably is not. You are just meant to craft first, then come back.
Source: Dot Esports
