The Hardships of Seafaring is the first major quest chain in Of Ash and Steel. It unfolds on the Starting Shores of Grayshaft and quietly locks in some early character progression, including a small but permanent stat bonus. The area is compact, but the game gives little explicit direction, so it helps to know where everyone is and which conversations matter.
How The Hardships of Seafaring is structured
On the Starting Shores, you control Tristan, a cartographer who wakes up near a makeshift camp. Speaking with Sirdar right in front of you not only anchors the opening story beat, but it also kicks off the overall Hardships of Seafaring chain.
From there, the questline effectively splits into four linked tasks around camp and the shoreline:
- Provisions in Danger
- Break Time
- Fish Steak
- What Use is a Cartographer
You can start most of these in any order, and they share locations and NPCs. The main limitation is that finishing What Use is a Cartographer ends your time on the Starting Shores and moves the story forward, so leave that one until you are done with everything else you care about here.
Starting the chain with Sirdar and Emmett
Step 1: After you gain control of Tristan on the beach, walk forward to Sirdar and speak with him. Tristan mentions seasickness, which prompts Sirdar to tell you to seek out the crew’s physician, Emmett. This conversation starts The Hardships of Seafaring.
Step 2: From Sirdar’s position, find Emmett. Take the path directly behind Sirdar up into camp, or circle around the tents; Emmett stands in a small makeshift stall, close to some glowing mushrooms that make the spot easy to recognize.
Step 3: Talk with Emmett. He is preoccupied with more serious injuries and is dismissive of Tristan’s mild nausea, but he offers to help if you bring him some Brandy from his locked chest. He hands you the key but does not spell out its location.
Emmett’s request sets up the central puzzle of the shoreline: you’re now looking for a chest, but the reward has uses beyond placating the physician.
Finding the Brandy chest near the wrecked boat
Step 1: Return toward the starting area by Sirdar. The chest Emmett mentioned is very close to where Tristan first woke up, sheltered under a small improvised covering near the shoreline.
Step 2: Interact with the chest and use the key from Emmett. Inside, you’ll find three bottles of Brandy and an apple. Take everything; there is no downside to emptying it.
Step 3: Before you rush back to Emmett, note that Tristan comments that the physician probably does not need all three bottles. That’s a subtle hint that the Brandy is more valuable if you spread it around.
Provisions in Danger: clearing the bugs around camp
Provisions in Danger is a short combat tutorial and one of the easiest tasks in the chain.
Step 1: From Sirdar, walk left toward the shoreline. Near a boat, you’ll find Chump sitting by the water. Talk to him to start Provisions in Danger.
Step 2: Chump asks you to kill three bugs that are threatening the camp’s supplies. The pests patrol along the lane between the shoreline and the medical camp.
Their rough locations are:
- One behind the first tent just inland from Chump.
- One near a point where the path slopes uphill to the right, blocked by a soldier.
- One roaming around the front of the medical stall where Emmett works.
Step 3: Hunt down and kill all three bugs, then return to Chump at the shoreline to turn in the task. Once this is finished, you’ll be able to trigger What Use is a Cartographer later by speaking with Sirdar again, so keep that in mind for the end of your time on the Shores.
Break Time: Emmett, Squid, Rutmane, and the stolen Armor Reinforcing Kit
Break Time ties together several characters: Squid, Emmett, Rower, and a piece of medical equipment hidden up above camp.
Step 1: From Sirdar, walk straight forward into camp and then turn left down to the shoreline again. There you’ll find Squid sitting by the water. Speak with him to start Break Time; he’s looking for Rutmane (tobacco) to enjoy a smoke.
Step 2: Squid sends you to Emmett, the physician. From Squid’s spot, walk inland to the medical stall. Emmett tells you he doesn’t have any Rutmane, but he still wants Brandy from his chest.
Step 3: With the Brandy already collected, bring one bottle back to Emmett. Give him a single bottle and keep the remaining two. Emmett accepts it, but still cannot help Squid with tobacco.
Step 4: Return to Squid and report that Emmett does not have Rutmane. This will push you toward talking with Rower, another sailor on the shore who is more interested in drink than medicine.
Step 5: Locate Rower along the shoreline. When you talk to him, he asks if you have anything to drink. Offer him one of your spare Brandy bottles. In return, he admits he stole something from Emmett and tossed it onto a rock, describing its general location.
The “something” is an Armor Reinforcing Kit that Emmett needs.
Step 6: To find the Armor Reinforcing Kit, go to the opposite side of the medical camp. Use a ladder there to climb upward, then jump across a few ledges. At the top of this short climb, you’ll find the kit resting on a rock outcrop.
Step 7: Take the kit back to Emmett and tell him you found it. He asks where you got it, and you’re given two broad dialogue options: one that protects Rower, and another that calls him out and can trigger an argument between them. The choice is social flavor; Emmett still takes the kit back either way.
Step 8: As a thank-you, Emmett finally gives you Rutmane. Bring it back to Squid on the shoreline to complete Break Time.
Fish Steak: helping Fish with a sparring partner’s “stick”
Fish Steak is a short, combat-flavored diversion that you’re likely to run into while chasing Brandy and talking to sailors.
Step 1: While you’re moving between the Brandy chest and the shoreline, you’ll come across a crew member named Fish. Speak with him to start Fish Steak. He wants to spar but needs “some kind of stick” to use as a weapon.
Step 2: Go back to Chump by the boat and ask if he has any sort of weapon Fish could use. Chump offers his false leg — a Pirate’s leg —, and he is entirely serious about lending it.
Step 3: Take the Pirate’s leg back to Fish. This lets you initiate and complete a friendly sparring match with him. Once the spar is finished, Fish Steak is complete.
What Use is a Cartographer: the final conversation on the Shores
What Use is a Cartographer is the last task tied into The Hardships of Seafaring and acts as the trigger to leave the Starting Shores behind.
Step 1: After completing Provisions in Danger, return to Sirdar and talk with him again. This conversation starts What Use is a Cartographer and sends you toward a brief chain of dialogues.
Step 2: Sirdar directs you to Murray, who stands next to the medical camp. Speak with Murray and work through his dialogue; the exchange is mostly about Tristan’s role and value to the expedition.
Step 3: From there, head back toward the shoreline near Chump’s usual spot. Talk with Gellert, who adds his own perspective on what a cartographer is worth when the crew is stranded and disoriented.
Step 4: After those conversations, return to Sirdar one last time. He asks you a set of questions about how you handled things and how Tristan sees himself. Your answers here grant a small permanent boost to specific stats that match the tone of your responses.
Once this final talk ends, What Use is a Cartographer completes, and your time on the Starting Shores wraps up.
Finishing the physician’s seasickness help and leaving the beach
Emmett’s original offer to help with Tristan’s nausea is the narrative thread that frames the physician segment of The Hardships of Seafaring.
Step 1: After you give Emmett Brandy and later help recover his Armor Reinforcing Kit, talk to him again. He asks whether you still want help with the seasickness or if you plan to endure it on your own.
Step 2: Choose whichever response you prefer. The choice does not have long-term mechanical consequences; if you say you still need help, Emmett gives you something to take before sending you away. If you say you’ll tough it out, the scene resolves more briskly.
From here, you’re free to make one last pass around the camp, ensure you’ve dealt with Squid, Chump, Fish, and Rower to your satisfaction, and then commit to What Use is a Cartographer with Sirdar to move into Act 1.
Handled in this order — Brandy, Rower, Armor Reinforcing Kit, Rutmane, and finally Sirdar’s closing questions — The Hardships of Seafaring turns a small strip of beach into a compact introduction to Of Ash and Steel’s priorities: careful observation, social consequences, and small but meaningful character decisions.
