Revision 2

Thomas Richards is a named boss encountered in the Coastal Jungle biome of Windrose. He is the primary boss of the "Revenge Is Best Served Cold" questline, which is given by Doctor Galen Skelton after the player completes I Need a Bigger Boat. He is tuned for gear tier 1 to 5 and serves as the first named major boss players encounter during the early hours of Early Access.

Questline: Revenge Is Best Served Cold

Thomas Richards lives in a Coastal Jungle encounter tied to the Black Marks quest chain. The fight pairs heavy two-handed axe swings with thrown grenades, and he carries a poise guard that must be broken before you can open a reliable damage window. Because the arena is generous and he does not regenerate health between your retreats, attrition strategies remain viable. In co-op play, one player should hold aggro and absorb the axe windups while the rest of the group focuses poise and flank damage.

The quest structure requires the player to collect 4 Black Marks scattered across the Blackbeard Waters region before the encounter opens; each Black Mark ties to a small Coastal Jungle objective and progresses Doctor Galen's intel on Richards's location.

Discovery Tracker Context

Community-built discovery trackers (such as windrose.tools/discovery) list a "Local Threat" discovery slot for each biome. There is community discussion about whether the Coastal Jungle Local Threat is Thomas Richards or a separate, currently-locked entry tied to 1.0 release. A Steam forum thread titled "Anyone found the Local Threat?" reports that the Local Threat discovery item is gated behind release-version content in some players' experience. Treat Thomas Richards as confirmed via his boss guide, but do not assume he is the Local Threat entry without in-game verification.

Gear Tier and Recommended Preparation

Combat Approach

Thomas Richards wields a two-handed axe as his main weapon and supplements it with thrown grenades, forcing the player to manage both melee spacing and area denial. A poise guard covers his early health bar and must be broken before melee strikes connect for full damage. General Soulslite combat principles apply:

• Lock onto the boss with T so your dodges and guard track the enemy

• Watch for telegraphed windups; each axe swing has a visible animation before impact, and grenade throws have a distinct overhand tell

• Use Perfect Blocks (parries) to stagger him when possible; parries do not consume most weapons' poise

• Do not fully deplete stamina; recovery from zero stamina takes significantly longer than from partial depletion

• Retreat to recover stamina between aggressive windows rather than trading blows

• Red-glow unblockable attacks must be dodged, not blocked

• Enemies do not regenerate health between your retreats, so attrition strategies are viable

Rewards

Defeating Thomas Richards advances the "Revenge Is Best Served Cold" questline and unlocks progression toward the next biome (Foothills). Specific drop data for his loot tables continues to be refined by the community during Early Access.

Lore Context

Thomas Richards is not a historical figure; he appears to be an original character created for Windrose's alternate Age of Piracy setting. The "Revenge Is Best Served Cold" quest name suggests a personal grievance motivation, likely tied to the player's shipwreck prologue or to one of the secondary characters encountered in the early game.

See Also

• Procedural Biomes - biome progression and boss placement

• Enemies - full enemy roster

• Israel Hands - Foothills boss, next in the gear-tier progression

• High Priestess - Cursed Swamps boss at the final tier

• Combat - core combat mechanics

• Doctor Galen - quest-giver for Revenge Is Best Served Cold