Glorious Hunters

Glorious Hunters is an early side quest in Windrose given by Henri Boucher of the Rogue Buccaneers faction. The quest sends players across three abandoned Buccaneer sites on the starting island chain to recover evidence that Henri's brother Marcel was killed by Blackbeard-aligned pirates, then out to open sea for a three-ship revenge run. It completes quickly, typically in under an hour, and pays out a named musket plus a sizeable early faction reputation boost.

Quest Overview

How to Start

Glorious Hunters is not handed out by a single NPC conversation. It seeds itself as soon as you interact with evidence at the first abandoned Buccaneer site on the starting island chain, usually the Abandoned Buccaneer Camp. Looting the Broken Musket or reading Marcel Boucher's first diary page adds a tracked quest line to your journal and places a new map pin at the Rogue Buccaneers Main Base. Some players also pick the thread up at the Main Base first by talking to Henri directly, which flags the three camp sites on the map.

Either way, the full questline cannot progress past the reporting step until you own a seaworthy vessel. Complete I Need a Bigger Boat before trying to sail to Henri. The Seafarer Quest is not required to start Glorious Hunters, but its naval combat tutorial makes the final step far easier.

Quest Steps at a Glance

Step 1: Loot the Three Buccaneer Sites

The first half of Glorious Hunters is a scavenger loop across three hand-placed points of interest on the starting island chain. All three sites are reachable on foot or by short coastal swim before you have a proper ship; you do not need to sail to start this step.

Abandoned Buccaneer Camp

Sits on the west side of the starting island, inland from the initial shipwreck spawn. Two aggressive Boars guard the approach. Lead with a melee weapon, hold a bonfire or cook meal in reserve, and clear them before looting. The camp has three chests:

• An elevated chest on the warehouse roof reached by stacked crates. Contains a Rapier, Homemade Gunpowder, a Rum Bottle, and a Tumbaga Ingot.

• A hidden-button chest under the south staircase; a circular button on the wall opens it. Contains a second Tumbaga Ingot and additional supplies.

• The quest chest with the Broken Musket and the first page of Marcel Boucher's Diary. Picking up the musket is the trigger that seeds the Glorious Hunters journal entry.

The camp also contains the player's second Fast Travel Bell, which is worth grabbing on this run even if you are only here for the quest items.

Abandoned Buccaneer Warehouse

A ruined warehouse structure a short hike from the Camp. The quest chest sits atop stacked wooden platforms. Climb the scaffolding, drop onto the top platform, and open the chest for a Damaged Flask and a second diary page. Wild animals, usually Boars and the occasional Wolf, patrol the approach; clear them before climbing so you do not get pulled off the platform mid-loot.

Destroyed Buccaneer Fort

The third and most elaborate site. It has three distinct loot points:

• A watchtower chest on an upper deck reached by a short platforming climb.

• A pile of Old Skeletons in a side room. Searching the skeletons yields the Torn Hat and Marcel's Last Letter, which are flavor items that confirm the hunting party's fate.

• A walled-off chest behind a breakable-looking panel. The wall is NOT breakable; a circular button on the right-hand side of the wall unlocks it. Pressing the button opens the chamber and lets you collect Copper Bullets, Iron Bullets, and a Sturdy Rapier alongside the quest items.

If you skip any of the three sites the journal will warn that evidence is incomplete, but the quest does not technically block progression. The Broken Musket is the only item Henri Boucher specifically asks for; the other pieces are for flavor and full-credit completion.

Step 2: Report to Henri Boucher

Once you have the Broken Musket, a new map pin points to the Rogue Buccaneers Main Base on a remote island, separate from Tortuga. You must sail there; swimming is not a viable route. If you have not repaired your first real ship yet, go finish I Need a Bigger Boat before attempting this step, because the base is outside the swimmable starting cluster.

At the Main Base you will find a small NPC cluster: Henri Boucher, a Bounty Agent, a Buyer, and the Buccaneers Provisioner. Speak to Henri, ask about his missing brother, and hand over the Broken Musket. Henri's dialogue confirms Marcel's death and opens the revenge phase of the quest, adding three new pirate ship markers to your minimap.

Step 3: Sink Three Named Pirate Ships

This is the naval revenge leg. The objective reads 'destroy three pirate ships,' but the actual trigger is narrower: only the named pirate ship at each of the three map markers counts toward completion. Killing escort ships at the same marker does nothing for quest progress. Players have reported 'Old Debbie' as one of the confirmed named targets, though the full roster can vary by world seed.

Before sailing out, top up at the base and at your home wharf:

• Fill every cannon with Copper or Iron cannonballs.

• Carry spare ship repair materials; three named ships usually chew through hull plating.

• Stock healing food and rum for the captain's stamina.

• If you have not unlocked Naval Tactics yet, at least equip the Rank 1 Buccaneer cannon passive from the base Provisioner first; it compounds with this quest's reward.

Combat approach is broadside-first. Match your speed to the wind, angle the hull, and fire a full volley as you cross each ship's broadside. Avoid boarding the named targets unless you are already confident at sword-and-pistol duels; cannon kills are faster and keep you out of reach of the enemy crew. If you are running a pure Ketch, expect to take one or two hull cracks per named ship. A Brig or Frigate handles the whole run with cannonball spare.

A common source of confusion is the bug-like behavior of the quest tracker at this step. If Henri does not react after your third kill, check the minimap: you may have sunk three escort ships at the same marker rather than the one named ship at each of three markers. Sail to the other two markers, engage the named vessel there, and the counter will advance correctly. This is not a bug; the quest text is just vague.

Step 4: Return to Henri

Sail back to the Rogue Buccaneers Main Base and speak to Henri Boucher one final time. He closes the quest and pays out the rewards. A short dialogue beat acknowledges Marcel's fate and reinforces the Buccaneer faction's wider grievance with Blackbeard's Crew, which sets up later Buccaneer-aligned side content.

Rewards

The Buccaneer's Friend is the headline reward. Its published card is 100 ATK and 585 Pierce damage on the Rare variant, scaling with Precision. The Epic conversion (via Tumbaga Ingot at an anvil) unlocks a 15% damage bonus against animals, which makes it a strong side-arm for hunting runs. It is one of the few named muskets available before you cross into Foothills boss content.

The 200 Rogue Buccaneers reputation does not by itself clear a rank threshold, but paired with a handful of Newhand or Deckhand Insignia turn-ins at the Bounty Agent it is usually enough to push a player from zero into Rank 1 territory, where the Buccaneers Provisioner starts listing Flibustier armor plans and Rank 1 cannon schematics.

Tips and Traps

• Loot every site before sailing. If you report to Henri without the Broken Musket the conversation will not advance, and if you skip a diary page you miss flavor beats that matter for other Buccaneer dialogue later.

• Press the circular wall button at the Destroyed Fort. The walled-off chest is not breakable. Ranged attacks, picks, and melee all do zero damage; the only way in is the hidden button on the right side of the panel.

• Prepare for boars, not pirates, at the camps. The land-side combat is almost entirely Boars; carry a stamina flask and a reliable one-handed weapon rather than your best pistol loadout.

• Named ships only at sea. Only the named pirate vessel at each minimap marker counts toward the three-ship counter. Sinking escorts at the same marker wastes cannonballs.

• Do not board. Cannon kills are faster, safer, and easier on hull integrity. Save boarding combat for ships that carry boarding-only loot.

• Stack this with Blackbeard Insignias. Every escort ship you sink drops Insignias that you can then hand in at the Bounty Agent at the same base, so the naval leg doubles as a standalone rep grind.

• Bigger ship first, if you can. If you have not yet repaired your Ketch or upgraded to a Brig, consider pushing I Need a Bigger Boat and the Seafarer Quest first. Glorious Hunters is a forgiving fight on a Brig and a painful one on a raft.

Story Context

The quest's narrative role is to put a face on the Buccaneer faction's resentment of Blackbeard before the player takes the main story's later Blackbeard-facing steps. Marcel Boucher led a hunting expedition against a Blackbeard-aligned pirate cell, was ambushed, and his crew was scattered across the three sites the player loots. Henri's reaction to the Broken Musket is the first time a named NPC acknowledges that the Abandoned Buccaneer Camp and the nearby ruins are not randomly abandoned; they are crime scenes.

That framing is one reason the Buccaneers feel less like generic pirates and more like a faction with stakes. By the time the player has completed Glorious Hunters and started turning Insignias in to the Bounty Agent, the Buccaneers read as wounded partners rather than hostile opportunists, which in turn makes their eventual cannon and Flibustier's Attire unlocks feel earned rather than transactional.

See Also

• Buccaneers: full faction overview, provisioner inventory, and cannon roster.

• Faction Reputation: how the 200 rep payout fits into the wider Bounty Agent and insignia economy.

• Buccaneer's Friend: detailed stats, crafting chain, and Epic conversion for the reward musket.

• Abandoned Buccaneer Camp: the first loot site, including the hidden button chest walkthrough.

• I Need a Bigger Boat: ship-repair tutorial quest; prerequisite for sailing to the Main Base.

• Seafarer Quest: naval combat onboarding that makes Step 3 considerably easier.

• Naval Combat: cannon aiming, broadside timing, and wind reading.

• Bounty Agents: turning Insignia drops into reputation on top of the quest's flat 200 payout.

• Pirate Camps: non-abandoned equivalents where active pirate crews spawn and drop more Insignias.