Stars of a Thief - Sea of Thieves Guide - IGN (2024)

Welcome to the Stars of a Thief page of the official IGN Wiki Guide and Walkthrough for Sea of Thieves. Here, we'll break down everything you need to know about this Tall Tale including how to use the constellations to guide your sailing and find the Star Jewel, how to solve the Ancient Vault Puzzle, and everything else you'll come across in Stars of a Thief.

Please click or tap the links below to jump to different sections:

• How to Begin the Stars of a Thief Tall Tale
• Where to Find the Enchanted Spyglass
• How to Use the Constellations to Guide Your Sailing and Find the Star Jewels
• How to Find and Open the Ancient Vault
• How to Solve the Ancient Vault Puzzle
• What to Do With the Shroudbreaker Stone

How to Begin the Stars of a Thief Tall Tale

You cannot begin the Stars of a Thief Tall Tale until completing The Legendary Storyteller Tall Tale.

To begin this Tall Tale, you must sail to The North Star Outpost. It's a very small outpost with only two NPCs. Speak to Sudds and then look at the book to the right of him. Interact with it to begin the Stars of a Thief Tall Tale.

Sudds will explain that he used to use an Enchanted Spyglass to sail the seas with that lassy Captain Briggsy. He's not going to give you his spyglass, but he'll speak of another. That's our mission: find the enchanted spyglass. Savvy?

Where to Find the Enchanted Spyglass

To find the Enchanted Spyglass, you're going to need to open up your new Tall Tale book. Inside, you'll find notes that will point toward one of two islands: Rum Runner Isle or the Twin Groves.

• Rum Runner Isle Notes: Face North Star...I can se the island where we left it. Hidden out of sight. My Captain Briggsy buried it there...Right near a solitary hanging lantern. I do miss it. "Sail with me?" I shook my head. No Shores of Gold could shine like my friends in the sky.
• Twin Groves Notes: My back to the North Star...Saw the island where we parted, not far from here. One small island made of two. Left it there in case my Captain Briggsy needs it...Beneath a tree between the two largest rocks. Sudds misses it so! "Sail with me?" I shook my hed. No Shores of Gold could shine like my friends in the sky.

Depending on the notes you have, matey, head to the proper island. If you're on Rum Runner Isle, look for the only lantern in sight and dig into the ground beneath it. If you're on Twin Groves, head to the Northernmost side of the island and you'll see two large rocks. Dig beneath the tree in between these rocks.

You'll find the Enchanted Spyglass in the chest you dig up. Now, what to do with that spyglass? Aye, you're in the right place.

How to Use the Constellations to Guide Your Sailing and Find the Star Jewels

Now that you've got the Enchanted Spyglass, open up your Tall Tale Journal and you'll find multiple pages with constellations on them, each accompanied by a brief description. Here's what you need to know about the constellations:

• Each constellation represents somewhere on the compass: the one that looks like a kraken represents North.
• Pull out your compass and point yourself North. Use your Enchanted Spyglass to look at the bright stars and eventually, a kraken symbol will appear out of the stars. This is the North Star constellation essentially.
• You're free to look around the sky and find the rest of the constellations in the book on your own but here's the direction that each constellation represents:
  • Great Kraken: North
  • Sea Queen: North by North East
  • Old Boar: North East
  • Glimmer Fish: East by North East
  • Great Warrior: East
  • Courting Crab: Easy by South East
  • Iron Scarab: South East
  • Golden Feather: South by South East
  • One-Eye Shark: South
  • Sleeping Bear: South by South West
  • Obsidian Arrow: South West
  • Unending Flame: West by South West
  • Tar-Pitch Boat: West
  • Singing Snake: West by North West
  • Proud Eagle: North West
  • Patient Turtle: North by North West Inside your Tall Tale journal, past the constellations, you'll find two unique stories (there are numerous stories they could be — you'll be randomly assigned two) followed by An Elusive Story.

You need to use the constellations and the directions they're associated with to locate the island where one of two Star Jewels will be located. For example, if you have the Great Eagle Landing story, start on Lonely Isle because that's the island Sudds referred to in his journal (see bottom right of page).

Use the constellations (and their associated compass directions) in the story to navigate your way across the sea. For example, the Great Eagle Landing story features the Sea Queen and the Proud Eagle. Head North by North East, because that's the Sea Queen's direction, until you reach an island — in this case, that island is Lone Cove.

As you can see in the journal, this story's second page places the Proud Eagle on top of a rock of sorts so that it looks like it's perched on the rock. You need to position yourself in such a way that the Proud Eagle lines up with the large rock on Lone Cove when viewed through the Enchanted Spyglass (as pictured above). Dig wherever you're standing to make this line-up happen to find the Star Jewel.

• Not every story requires the use of the Enchanted Spyglass on the designated island — some stories simply tell you where to go (via following constellations, of course) and where to dig once there.
• Here's where every story leads:
  • Great Eagle Landing: Lone Cove
  • Battle in the Heavens: Mutineer Rock
  • The Patient One: Thieves' Haven
  • The Man Who List HIs Gem: Mermaid's Hideaway
  • Lost an Eye: Shark Bait Cove
  • A Hunt: Reaper's Hideout
  • Sea Queen's Promise: Isle of Last Words
  • They Were Voyagers: Discover Ridge
  • Snake's Deception: Rapier Cay

You could be taken to any number of islands via your stories — use the constellations and their associated directions to solve the journal's story to find a Star Jewel. Once you have two Star Jewels, it's time to find an Ancient Vault.

How to Find and Open the Ancient Vault

The third and last story in the Tall Tale journal is the same for everyone: An Elusive Story. The story is hinting at an uncharged island in Quadrant N13.

Head there and when you arrive, you'll need to dive underwater on the West side of the island and swim into a cave down there.

You'll see a statue of sorts with two sockets for the — you guessed it — Star Jewels.

With the Star Jewels placed into the socket, the statue will yield a special totem. Grab this totem and grab the notes on the statue.

The totem you receive determines which island you must head to next:

• Shark Totem: Kraken's Fall
• Scarab Totem: Crook's Hollow
• Boar Totem: Devil's Ridge
• Crab Totem: If you receive this totem, you are extremely lucky because you're already in the right place: the uncharted island located in quadrant N13.
• Snake Totem: Mermaid's Hideaway
• Moon Totem: Crescent Isle

Once you arrive to the island, follow the paintings that match the totem animal or creature you've received. Those paintings will lead you to the vault — you'll find a small square that you need to place the totem onto in order to actually reveal the vault. We did something similar back in The Shroudbreaker Tall Tale.

How to Solve the Ancient Vault Puzzle

So matey, you've found the ancient vault, but all is not as it seems and that's because there's a puzzle to solve. Similar to The Shroudbreaker Tall Tale, you'll find a rectangular altar with four unlit torches. Light them with a lantern and the puzzle will begin.

The room will begin to fill with water — you only get one shot at this so solve the puzzle quickly before the room fills with water (which kills you).

In your journal, you'll find "The Unsolved Story?" The story consists of two paragraphs that use terms that represent different constellations. These constellations are what you'll need to rotate each of the four pillars to show.

The first sentence's description corresponds to the first pillar on the left so if the first sentence describes the kraken, you need to rotate the pillar on the left to the kraken picture. The second line corresponds to the second pillar (the one to the right of the farthest left one) and so on.

Each Quoted Phrase Corresponds to the Constellation in Bold

Your story will use a combination of the quoted phrases below. We've categorized those phrases based on which constellation said phrase is referring to. Study these and determine your order of constellations before beginning the puzzle.

• Great Kraken: "old mother was angry," "and went to hunt a bigger foe."
• Sea Queen: "as the queen bided her time," "her friend made an everlasting promise," "the queen plotted."
• Old Boar: "the grump now happy with the season," "old grump would welcome them in spring."
• Glimmer Fish: "as glimmer showed man the way," "the last of its kind showed him the seas," "the last of its kind would guide them."
• Great Warrior: "even the warmonger was brought to peace," "protected by eternal warrior," "and gave it to eternal man," "and all taught the warmonger to reason," "warmonger was angry," "but the warmonger did not listen," "and his two legged pupil," "but warmonger was ready and won the fight."
• Courting Crab: "the courter danced in the new light," "the queen's lover guarded her beaches."
• Iron Scarab: "he was taught more than war by iron shell," "teacher warned of needless violence," "the iron one would teach them," "they would kill the teacher."
• Golden Feather: "proud one gave up part of himself."
• One-Eye Shark: "destined for old mother's spy," "along with the one eyed spy," "one eye attacked under cover of night."
• Sleeping Bear: "to the one respected by all," "old judge spoke to those who listened."
• Obsidian Arrow: "this part of proud one made a weapon," "he made a weapon of the victim's tooth."
• Unending Flame: "a tear of the sun fell down to land," "who were sailing out on warmer seas," "tear of the sun had touched his home."
• Tar-Pitch Boat: "and lit the way for man to sail," "she protected those who rowed by hand," "the vessel continued on its way," "he was taught to build with tar and tree," "the vessel lead man on a journey," "tar covered vessel carried them to land."
• Singing Snake: "as the singer whispered deceitfully," "but singer would always put them in peril."
• Proud Eagle: "without landing he watched from high," "he sought a proud one's help."
• Patient Turtle: "the oldest creature watched them at play," "an old one raised a spit of land," "and patient one raised them land to sleep on."

After completing the puzzle (twice, technically, since there are two paragraphs of phrases and each paragraph is a puzzle), you'll receive the Shroudbreaker Stone. It's a red stone that fits into the Shroudbreaker.

What to Do With the Shroudbreaker Stone

Now that you've got the Shroudbreaker Stone, head back to The North Star Outpost and give the stone to Sudds. This concludes this Tall Tale.

Head to the next page of this guide — Wild Rose — to continue this walkthrough: Wild Rose.