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11 The Hidden Smuggler Base is the Smugglers of Port Royal faction's main camp in Windrose. It sits inside a region called Smugglers Waters (marked by green-striped water on the world map) and is accessed via a hidden cave on a small island within that zone. It is the only location in the game where the Smuggler Buyer NPC purchases luxury and contraband items.
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33 How to Find
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66 The Hidden Smuggler Base is not marked on the starting map and cannot be found by casual exploration. It is unlocked through the Underground Network quest chain, which begins after the player reaches Tortuga and finds a smuggler camp with a Letter to a Good Friend in one of its chests.
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88 What the Base Contains
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1010 Smuggler Buyer (next to Marita). The only NPC who purchases luxuries and contraband. Pays in Piastres for bulk items and Guineas for the rarest relicsSmuggler Provisioner. Sells rep-gated gear including Conquistador's Armor, Pikeman's Armor, Hull Bracing variants, and Windrose Naval TacticsPiastres-to-Guineas currency exchange. The only exchange in the game; rate strongly favors the houseKetch refit opportunity. After clearing the cave, the player can refit a Ketch on the beach to unlock persistent fast-travel to the base
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1212 Luxury and Contraband Inventory
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1414 CategoryRepresentative ItemsCurrency PaidLuxuries (250 Piastres)Ancient Chalice, Silver Candelabra, Silver Chalice, Silver Earring, Clay VasePiastresContraband (150 Piastres)Piastre-tier contraband (various trade goods)PiastresHigh-tier relicsAncient Statue, Ancient Incense Burner, Pot with Golden HornsGuineasGold artifactsGold Mask of the Priest, Gold Temple Jug, Gold Vase of the Chief5 Guineas each
1515 Why Push Smuggler Reputation
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1717 The Smuggler base is uniquely valuable because its buyer is the only sink for contraband/luxury relics, and its Provisioner is the only source for Windrose Naval Tactics and Smithing Flux. Players who plan to naval-combat through the late game typically push Smuggler reputation to Rank 3 as a priority path.
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1919 See Also
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2121 Smugglers of Port Royal the factionUnderground Network unlock questWindrose Naval Tactics Rank 3 reward categoryAncient Chalices highest-value luxury item
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2323 Discovery via the Hidden Network Quest
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2525 The base is invisible on the world map until the player completes the early steps of the Hidden Network quest line, which opens both the route to Tortuga and the chain of port hand-offs that eventually points at the cave entrance. The starting clue is hidden, not handed out by an NPC, so the trigger has to be found in the world. The first step is a small underground basement on one of the little islands clustered near the player's spawn region. These islands appear on the world map as floating question marks, and the basement chest is reached by scanning the islands closest to the starting position rather than chasing markers far from home. Inside the basement chest sits the note that becomes the quest opener once it is read from the inventory.
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2727 Once the note is in hand, the next quest waypoint pins to Tortuga, where the bartender takes over as the contact handler. Speaking to the bartender turns the single note into a multi-port investigation: each conversation forwards the player to another harbor where a contraband contact, dead drop, or supplier handoff has to be cleared before the next port unlocks. Several of those legs include the smuggler hideouts where contraband is bought, and the chain ends with the Hidden Smuggler Base itself becoming a fast-travel-eligible vendor stop instead of a one-shot quest objective.
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2929 Hidden Network Quest Steps
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3131 Open the world map and look for question-mark icons on the small islands clustered near the player's starting region; these are unexplored points of interest the game flags before they have been visited.Sail or row to the islands one at a time and search each for an underground basement entrance tucked into the terrain. The entrance is usually a stone hatch or a cave mouth rather than an above-ground building.Inside the basement, open the chest and read the note it contains. Reading the note in the inventory adds the Hidden Network quest tracker and pins a waypoint to Tortuga.Travel to Tortuga and speak with the bartender at the tavern. The bartender becomes the chain hub and forwards the player to the next port in the line.Visit each port in sequence as the bartender names them. Several legs route through the smuggler hideouts where Contraband is bought at premium prices.Complete the chain to confirm the Hidden Smuggler Base location, refit the Ketch on the beach (see Ketch for the small-hull refit), and lock in persistent fast travel back to the buyer.
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3333 Contraband Resale Loop
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3535 The reason a new captain chases this quest line as soon as possible is the resale economy it unlocks. Contraband and luxury relics that pile up in the cargo hold during exploration are nearly worthless at the regular port traders, but the smuggler buyer at the end of the chain pays out in Piastres and Guineas at rates the open ports cannot match. That makes the Hidden Network the gateway to the early-to-mid game's most efficient on-land money loop: clear question-mark camps and ruins in the Cursed Swamps for the high-value drops, then haul the bag back to the smuggler buyer for the silver bump. Multiple smuggler-themed locations exist in the world, including the Smuggler's Cache and the Smugglers Main Base, and not every leg of the quest chain points at the same one, so it pays to compare buyer payouts after each unlock to confirm which hideout is the canonical Hidden Smuggler Base referenced by the chain's final waypoint.