Stone, the master blacksmith of the Old Camp, ends up locked in Gomez’s dungeon late in Gothic 1 Remake, and freeing him is what unlocks the Between a Rock and a Hard Place side quest. The reward is worth the trouble. Save him correctly and he relocates to a forge where he applies one of the best armor upgrades in the game. Do it wrong and the quest can break, sending him to the New Camp tavern where he only hands over weapon blueprints.
Quick answer: Reach Stone’s cell in the Old Camp dungeon, ask Darrion in the Swamp Camp to forge the cell key (tell him Stone will work under him), wait one in-game day, open the cell, and get Stone out of the camp. Never lockpick the cell door, since that turns Stone hostile and can break the quest.
How to reach Stone in the Old Camp dungeon
After the events of Chapter 3, you lose your standing with the Warders, so you can no longer walk into the inner circle of the Old Camp without triggering a fight. There are two ways to slip into the dungeon underneath the camp and talk to Stone through the bars. Speaking to him there is what actually starts the quest.
Method 1: Secret entrance through Santino’s cabin (recommended)
Method 2: Meatbug entrance near Syra’s kitchen
How to get the cell key
Once you have talked to Stone, he gives you the diagram for the cell key and points you toward Darrion in the Swamp Camp. There are two reliable ways to get a working key, and one of them protects the all-important armor reward.
Have Darrion forge the key (keeps the armor reward)
Take the Dungeon Key from Gomez
From Chapter 5 onward, the other route runs through Gomez himself. Kill him in the Old Camp and take the Dungeon Key off his body. Reaching and beating him means cutting through the inner circle, so this is the violent, high-risk option rather than the clean one.
Tip: Do not lockpick the cell door as a shortcut. Forcing the lock immediately makes Stone aggressive toward you, and it frequently bugs the quest so he refuses to speak with you afterward. Always use a real key.
How to free Stone and escape the Old Camp
Open Stone’s cell with the key and tell him to follow you. The whole camp turns hostile if guards spot the breakout, so plan the route before you open the door. Doing the run after midnight, when most of the camp is asleep, makes it far easier.
Use the same secret exit: If you came in through Santino’s cabin, leave the same way, then head for the south gate while sticking to the shadows. If you have to fight, knock guards out and run past them rather than killing them, and save often. Since patch 1.0.2, the named NPCs of the inner circle have much higher health and damage, so brute-forcing through them is no longer easy.
Teleport-and-sleep shortcut: Once you are clear of the dungeon, use a teleportation stone to travel to the Swamp Camp. Find your cabin and sleep for 12 to 24 hours. When you wake, Stone appears inside the cabin, and speaking with him completes the quest. This skips most of the sneaking and fighting, though a future patch may change it.
How to know the quest is complete
The quest closes out once Stone reaches safety and you speak to him at the Swamp Camp smithy, where he settles in next to Darrion. If he instead ends up in the New Camp tavern, the quest has bugged. That happens most often when you lockpicked the cell or never told Darrion that Stone would work for him. In the tavern state he only offers weapon blueprints, not the armor upgrade.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place rewards
Talk to Stone at the Swamp Camp smithy and exhaust the dialogue by asking how he is doing. He then offers you a choice of three rewards: a special ring, a heavy two-handed sword, or a free armor upgrade. Take the armor upgrade. It produces the strongest defensive gear in the game.
Which upgrade you can get depends on the armor you already own. If you joined the Old Camp Warders, Stone can produce the Shadowbeast Breastplate, a Warder armor variant with defense second only to Gomez’s Ancient Ore Armor. If you already have the Ancient Ore Armor, he engraves it into the Improved Ore Armor, the best melee armor in the game.
| Resistance | Ancient Ore Armor | Improved Ore Armor |
|---|---|---|
| Edge | 90 | 100 |
| Blunt | 90 | 100 |
| Point | 25 | 30 |
| Fire | 25 | 40 |
| Wind | 15 | 20 |
| Ice | 15 | 20 |
| Energy | 15 | 20 |
With the Improved Ore Armor on, you are in good shape to push into the Sleeper’s Temple for the endgame. The cleanest path to that payoff is the same throughout: get into the dungeon quietly, let Darrion forge the key, never pick the cell lock, and get Stone to the Swamp Camp forge so his upgrades stay on the table.
