Revision 5

The Bloodstained Message is a quest note in Windrose, a one line scrap of paper used as a clue or turn in item for a side quest. The page is marked with old, dried blood and carries a single threatening line, the kind of evidence left behind after a debt has gone unpaid in the lawless ports of the Caribbean.

In-Game Description

YOU OWE ME, HENRY

Reading the Note

Four words in capitals do most of the storytelling here. The note is addressed to a man named Henry and frames him as someone who owes a debt, which fits the web of smugglers, creditors and double crosses that runs through many of the game's quests. The name Henry surfaces in more than one strand of Windrose dialogue, so treat the message as a thread to follow rather than a closed case: which Henry it points to depends on the quest you are carrying when it turns up.

As a piece of writing it sits alongside the other found papers scattered across the world, short in world documents that flesh out grudges and rivalries without a narrator. It is flavour with a purpose: hold on to it, because a quest giver will usually want it back.

Where to Find

The Bloodstained Message drops from a specific enemy or chest tied to its parent quest rather than from the general loot pool. Quest notes of this kind do not roll on generic loot tables, so finding it almost always means picking up the matching side quest first; without the quest active, the note may not appear at all. If it has vanished from your bags, check your quest items rather than your trade goods, since story papers are filed separately from sellable cargo.

Related Notes

The Bloodstained Message is one of several short written items used to carry story and quest clues. Others in the same family include:

See Also

• Side Quests

• Quests

• Pirate's Note

• Officer's Notes