UPDATE: If you are trying to find out how to get an Ashen Tome of Power, head on over to our Ashen Tome of Power guide here.

Where in the world is Duke? And why has the infamous backstabber, Stitcher Jim, taken his place? Yes, yes, we know he is trying to change his ways and repent by doing good deeds for Duke but we aren’t sure if we fully trust him just yet.

Well, word on the sea is the pesky skeletons that inhabit the Sea of Thieves have been accumulating a hoard of Ashen Tomes of Curses.

According to Stitcher Jim, these Ashen Tomes tell the secrets of Ashen Lords!

These Ashen Tomes and the secrets they hold are so valuable that the skeletons have taken great precautions to protect them and the mysterious pages they hold by locking them inside Ashen Chests that can only opened with Ashen Keys.

The lengths that the skeletons have gone to to protect these Ashen Tomes has Duke all riled up. He has left the Outpost to seek council from Larinna.

In the meantime, Stitcher Jim is in charge of Duke’s usual business dealings. Stitcher Jim will be your point pirate for purchasing the monthly mercenary voyages and anything in the Black Market.

So about those valuable Ashen Tomes of Curses…

How do you get a Tome of Curses?

To get an Ashen Tome of Curses you will need to acquire an Ashen Key and an Ashen Chest.

You will need both because only an Ashen Key can open an Ashen Chest. Once opened, you will find an elusive Tome of Curses inside. Along with the Tome of Curses will also be some extra goodies such as a gold pouch or doubloon pouch! Bonus!

There are a total of five different Tomes of Curses. One for each chapter of a five chapter volume.

On your hunt for the volume, you will be looking for:

• Tome of Curses I
• Tome of Curses II
• Tome of Curses III
• Tome of Curses IV
• Tome of Curses V

There is no telling which one you will get when you open an Ashen Chest so you will most likely open many more than five to collect each different Tome.

Bring back these precious Tomes you collect to Stitcher Jim for doubloons! You will also unlock new commendations related to the Tomes that will allow you to purchase the brand new Ashen Dragon cosmetics that Stitcher Jim is selling!

Here are just several of them to get you salivating!

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We can’t wait to get our hand on that Cutlass of the Ashen Dragon and put some skeletons in their rightful place!

So now that we know what we need to find a Tome, how do we get an Ashen Key and Ashen Chest?

How do you get an Ashen Key?

There are two main ways to acquire an Ashen Key. One way is to kill a Key Master and the other is by completing one of the new Mercenary Voyages.

Key Masters

So what exactly is a Key Master? A Key Master is a new special type of Skeleton Captain that holds the Ashen Keys you seek. These tougher than usual Captains have been entrusted to keep the Ashen Keys safe and out of the hands of pirates like you!

Killing a Key Master will drop an Ashen Key for you to collect. You can find them guarding buried Ashen Keys or out in the wild as they can spawn randomly without any voyage required.

Emergent Key Masters

While you sail about the Sea of Thieves you might spot an emergent Skeleton Captain on an island. If it is glowing red and has the title Key Master in its name, this is one of the elusive Key Masters.

If you manage to slay this Skeleton Captain, it will drop an Ashen Key for you to use on any Ashen Chest you find or sell back to Stitcher Jim.

So earlier I mentioned buried Ashen Keys. Yes, the skeletons are so paranoid about their precious treasure that they have buried Ashen Keys on various islands in the Sea of Thieves. Their locations can be found through completing Ashen Key Mercenary Voyages bought from Stitcher Jim.

Ashen Key Voyages

Ashen Key Voyages are brand new Mercenary Voyages that can be purchased from Stitcher Jim. Stitcher Jim’s scouts have acquired the general whereabouts of skeleton crews guarding Ashen Keys in each region of the Sea of Thieves.

You will be given a skeleton captain bounty quest, similar to an Order of Souls quest, to track down the island where a Skeleton Captain with the whereabouts of an Ashen Key is hiding.

Sail to the island and dispatch of the Skeleton Captain and the surrounding skeletons. The Skeleton Captain will drop a Skeleton’s Orders envelope that contains a X Marks the Spot quest to the location of the Ashen Key.

Upon arriving at the island the voyage directs you to and digging up the key, you might be ambushed by another Key Master. While it might seem unlucky at first for this deadly Skeleton Captain to pounce on you, killing it will drop another Ashen Key.

Two for the price of one ain’t bad!

You can either hold onto Ashen Keys and use them to open up any Ashen Chests you gather, or you can sell them to Stitcher Jim for doubloons.

How do you get an Ashen Chest?

On top of Key Master Skeleton Captains, there are also now Ashen Guardian Skeleton Captains. These Skeleton Captains have been tasked with protecting Ashen Chests.

Like the Key Masters, you can find Ashen Guardians through the new Mercenary Voyages or emergently in the Sea of Thieves.

These Ashen Gaurdians will drop a Skeleton’s Orders envelope that holds a riddle quest pointing to an Ashen Chest.

Stitcher Jim is also offering Ashen Chest Stash voyages for a pretty penny. These are similar to the Ritual Skull Stash voyages in which it provided an on-demand Ashen Chest!

On top of these several methods of obtaining Ashen Chests, you can also head towards the glowing red Skeleton Ship Clouds. Skelly Fleets that spawn during these Skeleton Ship Cloud battles will carry Ashen Chests for the taking!

Ashen Chest Voyage of Legends

While pirates still hoping to attain Pirate Legend status will have to look elsewhere for Ashen Chests, Pirate Legends can conveniently purchase a Mercenary Voyage from Stitcher Jim leading them to one.

The Ashen Chest Voyage of Legends will have pirates digging up Ashen Artifacts that have mysteriously started to appear in all the regions of the Sea of Thieves. Upon finding and digging up these artifacts, an Ashen Guardian will ambush you. The Ashen Guardian on death will drop a Skeleton’s Orders envelop that will give you a quest leading to a buried Ashen Chest.

Ashen Chest Stash Voyages

If all else fails, Stitcher Jim is selling Ashen Chest stash voyages so if you have a key but no chest for a chance at an Ashen Tome, you can purchase one of these and quickly find yourself a chest on your nearest Outpost.

Ashen Skeleton Ship Clouds

If you are not a Pirate Legend or are one but looking to shake things up a bit, you can head over to the glowing red Skeleton Ship Clouds in the sky. This indicates that the Skeleton Ship Battle that will take place here will result in Skelly ships carrying Ashen Chests.

Once you sink them, their precious cargo will float to the surface and you can nab yourself one of these elusive Ashen Chests.

To guard these chests, the Skelly ships have upgraded their arsenal and can now shoot Firebombs at you. You will need to make sure you have plenty of planks and understand how to use the Water Barrel now found in every ship.

Emergent Skeleton Ships

The random skeleton ships that now roam the seas looking for trouble now have a chance at dropping an Ashen Chest for you and your crew to pick up.

The Key Masters, Ashen Guardians, Ashen Chests, Tomes and cosmetics will all be permanent additions to Adventure so there will be no time-pressure to get them all within a month.

Ashen Rewards

While browsing through Stitcher Jim’s Black Market offerings, you will notice a new tab of cosmetics to purchase. These are the new Ashen Cosmetics. These cosmetics are rewards for players collecting the different Ashen Tomes of Curses.

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Ashen Treasures Achievements

Along with The Seabound Soul Tall Tale achievements, a range of Xbox achievements have been added for the Ashen Treasures activities. A total of 35 Gamerscore is available to earn from six achievements.

Ashen Tome of Curses, Chapter 1 Found (5G)

Ashen Tome of Curses, Chapter 2 Found (5G)

Ashen Tome of Curses, Chapter 3 Found (5G)

Ashen Tome of Curses, Chapter 4 Found (5G)

Ashen Tome of Curses, Chapter 5 Found (5G)

Ashen Tome of Curses, Complete (10G)

Ashen Treasures Commendations

Ashes to Ashes – Defeat 5 Ashen Guardians. (10 doubloons)

Guardian’s Grave – Defeat 15 Ashen Guardians. (20 doubloons)

Ashen Reaping – Defeat 30 Ashen Guardians. (30 doubloons)

Key Victory – Defeat 5 Key Masters. (10 doubloons)

Master Blaster – Defeat 15 Key Masters. (20 doubloons)

Master of Masters – Defeat 30 Key Masters. (30 doubloons)

Ash Money – Sell an Ashen Chest. (10 doubloons)

Key Cash – Sell an Ashen Key. (10 doubloons)

Ashen Haul – Open 5 Ashen Chests. (10 doubloons)

Ashen Trove – Open 10 Ashen Chests. (20 doubloons)

Ashen Hoard – Open 30 Ashen Chests. (30 doubloons)

Tome Raider – Open a stolen Ashen Chest. (10 doubloons)

Key of Thieves – Use a stolen Ashen Key. (10 doubloons)

Tome of Curses I – Sell the Tome of Curses I. (15 doubloons)

Tome of Curses II – Sell the Tome of Curses II. (15 doubloons)

Tome of Curses III – Sell the Tome of Curses III. (15 doubloons)

Tome of Curses IV – Sell the Tome of Curses IV. (15 doubloons)

Tome of Curses V – Sell the Tome of Curses V. (15 doubloons)

Tome of Curses Collector – Sell all 5 Tomes of Curses. (50 doubloons)

Duke Departed – Read Duke’s note in the tavern. (5 doubloons)

With this latest update, The Seabound Soul wasn’t the only new adventure to experience in the Sea of Thieves. Below you can find articles to many of the other stories, mechanics and cosmetics added to the game!

Sea of Thieves: The Seabound Soul Tall Tale Guide

Sea of Thieves—How to set the World on Fire!

What is Duke Selling? Nov. 20th – Dec. 11th 2019