Davy Jones is up to no good, and it’s up to us to stop him! He is summoning his own dark Brethren Court. If the corrupted allies he has asked to join him agree to join, he will have more power than ever!
With Captain Jack Sparrow at your side, you must sneak into the fortress where the court is convening, retrieve the Treasure and stop the insidious alliance from forming!
If you are looking for a guide to find each journal throughout this Tall Tale, check out our journal guide here! In that guide, we will go into great detail on finding each journal hidden throughout the Tall Tale.
The Dark Brethren Tall Tale: Step by Step
Step 1: Starting the Dark Brethren Tall Tale
Once you have completed the previous three Tall Tales, you will be able to vote on and start this Tall Tale at the Castaway’s camp on any Outpost.
As soon as you start the Tall Tale, The Castaway will begin talking to you and your crew. She explains that Davy Jones is distraught that his plans for Jack have been thwarted and that the Sea Queen has been vanquished.
The Castaway will reveal Captain Jack Sparrow, who has secretly been listening to the entire conversation. She then reveals herself to be Calypso!
She came to the Sea of Thieves to protect the waters from Davy Jones. The pirates of the Sea of Thieves threaten Davy Jones and he wants to put an end to this domain for which he has no control over.
As he has had to put up a good fight, he has summoned his own version of the Brethren Court.
With Jack at our side, we need to break into the Coral Fortress, where he will be holding his court.
Step 2: Sail to the Coral Fortress
Turn to the last page in your Tall Tale book and you will find a map of where you need to sail to.
The Coral Fortress is located above I1 and J1, just a bit into the red sea, extremely North on the map.
Start sailing North with Captain Jack Sparrow. You’ll know you are heading in the right direction as you should spot large ominous clouds over the Coral Fortress.
As you approach, you will be greeted with large waves, cold rain, and harsh winds.
Step 3: Enter the Coral Fortress
Sail up to the Southside of the fortress, and you should find a large entrance highlighted with blue coral.
Head inside and you’ll come to a stone door with two large mermaid statues on either side and Captain Jack Sparrow. Jack will open the door with a locket from Tia that was left on the Black Pearl ages ago.
The lock plays music that is near and dear to Davy Jones. Jack will hold the locket up to the door and after it plays its tune the stone door will open. After Jack opens the door with the locket, head inside.
How to complete the Siren's Call commendation
Along your journey through the Coral Fortress, you will come across five different areas that each have three levers to pull. Finding and pulling all three levels in the correct order in each room will reveal a hidden Siren Mural.
The order is very important! You won’t trigger the Siren Mural if you pull the levers out of order.
We will make a note of each room and where the levers are as you progress through the guide.
The first area you will find three levers is in the room directly after the locked stone door that Jack just opened with the locket. Next, you will find two coral levers to the left of the room and one directly in front of you. All three are just barely above the water.
First, interact with the closest lever on the left that is in-between some seaweed and coral.
Then follow the left wall to interact with the next lever on the left.
Finally, interact with the lever near the front of the room. It is next to the white coral that climbs up the wall.
Switching all three will reveal a hidden Shark mural.
Back to the Tall Tale. Accompanying the three levers in this first room is a journal. You can find it tucked away to the right of the room on a piece of shipwreck.
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Once you are ready to leave, dive down and swim through an underwater tunnel. You’ll find a second journal on the left side of the tunnel as you swim along.
Click images to Enlarge
You will eventually swim to a dead end. Not to worry, Jack will help you and remove the blocking stone from your path. Swim up and continue on.
Step 4: Traveling through the Coral Fortress
You will wind up in a small cavern with a geyser. Stand on the geyser to be pushed up to a ledge. Use the pulley to bring a wooden beam closer to you to jump on.
Jump across to the yellow platform. You can continue to make your way up the path or jump down to the other side of the yellow platform first to read a journal. Once you have climbed up past the wooden beam and yellow platform, you’ll find Jack waiting for you just before he slips backward down a slide. Follow him for the ride!
How to complete the Secret Waters commendation
As you slide down to follow Jack, hold right on your joystick or ‘D’ on your keyboard to slide right to a secret pathway.
Step 5: The Chamber of Sorrow
The water slide will spit you out into a giant chamber with the Flying Dutchman. Before heading up its ladder to board, you’ll want to pull three more levers for this room.
The Siren's Call commendation continued...
The second area is the room with the Flying Dutchman. You’ll find one lever to the right of the Dutchman, one lever to the left of the Dutchman and one lever directly in front of the Dutchman. All three are just barely above the water.
First, interact with the lever to the right of the Flying Dutchman.
Then, swim underneath the Flying Dutchman to the other side to interact with the left lever.
End with the interacting with lever in front of the Flying Dutchman.
Switching all three will reveal a hidden Mermaid mural.
After you reveal the mural, you’ll want to board the Flying Dutchman. Unlike most ships, you’ll find the ladder up near the front of the ship.
Head down into the hull to the map table and remove the dagger. Doing this will awaken the ship and the door to the organ room will open. Walk back up one level and head inside the organ room.
Inside the organ room, you will find a journal to the left and Jack straight ahead holding Sheet Music. Pick up the Sheet Music and use the organ.
Step 5: Solve the Organ Puzzle
To solve the organ puzzle, you will want to take note of which keys are more worn than the others. You’ll notice a set of keys to the left that are more worn. The leftmost white key has a big scratch on it that looks like the number 1. This is your starting position, key one. The last key in the grouping is key eight.
If you look at the sheet music, you will see the keys you need to play and in which order. The number on each key is the order. If you need a better look at the Sheet Music, you can take a look at it in your Tall Tale book.
You can move around the piano keys by pressing left, right, up and down. You play the key by pressing your jump button.
Following the sheet music: play key one, play key two, play key three, play key four, play key five, play key eight, play the black key between key five and six, play key five.
Playing the keys in the proper order will light all the candles and start a large battle!
Step 6: Defend the Flying Dutchman
After completing the organ puzzle, five waves of enemies attack the ship you on the ship. Defeating all five waves will open the giant stone door behind the Flying Dutchman.
The waves will alternate between enemies on the cliffs overlooking the ship and enemies you have to fight on the ship.
Use the cannons on the ship to take out the enemies on the cliffs and save the Tridents of Dark Tides for the boarders.
Each wave you complete, a giant siren statue will emit a red glow and a horn will blast. Once the fifth statue glows and the waves are over, the giant stone door behind the Flying Dutchman will open.
Step 7: Travel Through the Fortress
Jump down into the water and head to the back of the Flying Dutchman. Swim through the area just opened up, and you will encounter a few sirens. Dispatch of them and move forward to a large room with water pouring down.
Dive below, and you’ll find three pieces of shipwreck tied down by weak rope. Break all six pieces of rope, and the platforms will rise.
You will also find a journal below the water resting in one of the three cages tied to the chamber’s floor.
The Siren's Call commendation continued...
The third area is the room where you need to cut loose wooden debris to make a pathway on the water.
After creating the floating wooden platforms, hop across them and interact with the lever just to the right.
Next, you’ll interact with the lever against the wall behind a waterfall. This lever is above the waterline.
The last lever is underneath the water on the opposite side of where the second lever is.
Interact with all three in that order. Switching all three will reveal a hidden Trident mural.
Use the newly created platforms to jump across to a platform with a ladder on it. Underneath the platform with a ladder is a journal to read. After reading the journal, climb up the ladder and use the pulley to lower a wooden structure nearby.
Head to that wooden structure, and Captain Jack Sparrow will appear. You are currently blocked from progressing, but Jack will help you out. He will open up the rock door, and you can continue up.
Once up top, you will meet Jack again, but your progress will be blocked by a wooden door this time. Jack will give you a Siren Heart that will hopefully help you solve the Siren Statue puzzle blocking your way.
Put the heart in the Siren Statue that is missing one. Match up the painting in the room with the two Siren Statues so that both Siren Statues have their arms raised high. Damage the Siren Statue with the conch to submit your solution, and the wooden door will lift for you to proceed.
The next large cavern has three Siren Statues you need to match with their paintings. As you walk in you’ll see a pulley against the wall. Ignore it for now.
You will also immediately see the Coral Siren Statue in front of you as you walk in. Its corresponding painting is just to the left of it. Make this Siren Statue’s arm low to match the painting.
You can find the next Siren Statue if you walk away from the first Siren Statue toward the end of the hanging shipwreck. Look to your left, and you will see the painting for the Chain Siren Statue. You will also spot the Chain Siren Statue above its painting to the left.
You’ll need to shoot the Siren Statue to raise its arm to the middle position. You can find an Armoury next to the first Siren Statue if you need a different weapon.
You can find the third statue, the Mineral Siren Statue, directly behind where you were looking to shoot the Chain Siren Statue. Turn around to see this final Siren Statue high up in the cavern. You’ll need to shoot it until its arm is high.
Once you have all the positions correct, shoot the Siren Statue with the conch. You can see this statue if you are standing at the end of the hanging shipwreck.
Once you have completed the puzzle, the waterfall in front of the shipwreck will go away. Walk back to the first siren statue near the ammo and armory to find the pulley. Use that pulley to lift the shipwreck. Run up the shipwreck and jump across to the other side that the waterfall was blocking before.
Continue to make your way up and cross several masts that are creating bridges over large drops.
The Siren's Call commendation continued...
The fourth area is near the two masts you climb across just after using the pulley to lift the shipwreck up.
First, interact with the lever at the base of the first mast you come across.
Then run across both masts to interact with the lever at the end of the second mast.
Finally, go back to the base of the second mast to interact with the final lever.
Switching all three will reveal a hidden Diamonds mural.
After crossing the masts, you’ll come to another siren statue puzzle. Both arms should be high. You’ll find the conch siren statue you need to damage at the other side of the mast you just crossed. Damage the statue and the door will lift.
Fall down into the next room and prepare for battle!
Step 8: Deep into the Fortress
Several waves of Ocean Crawlers will ambush you! After dispatching them, find the journal sitting in the yellow coral and then make your way up to a small room blocked by a wooden door. Use the geyser in the room to get up onto an otherwise inaccessible ledge.
Climb up a few feet to find a large spool of rope with a weak rope attached to it. Damage the rope, and the door will fall out of the way.
You will need to damage a pink plant to break the airlock and get into the next room. You will encounter another Siren Statue Puzzle. Solving this one will raise the water level.
Hit the Chain Siren Statue until its arm low. Then hit the Flora Siren Statue until its arm is high., And finally, hit the Mineral Siren Statue until its arm is medium.
Damage the conch holding Siren Statue to confirm your solution and raise the water level. At the top of this room will be a journal to the left of the exit.
The next room will have two masts and two pulleys on each side of the room. Quickly use both pulleys to make a walkway for you to climb up the room. Before you do though, you’ll want to interact with the last set of levers.
The Siren's Call commendation continued...
The fifth area is the room where you raise the water level with the siren statue puzzle. Once you raise the water, swim up to find one lever. Follow the path to the area with two half broken masts you need to raise with pulleys to create a path. In this area is two more levers. One by the farther away half mast, and one in below the water.
First interact with the lever in the room where the water was raised from the siren statue puzzle.
Leave this room and follow the tunnel to the room with two half masts. Jump over to the higher half mast and interact with the lever out of the water.
Then dive below the water to interact with the final lever.
Switching all three will reveal a hidden Ship mural.
After crossing the masts controlled by pulleys you will come to a water slide that will lead you to the next chamber.
Step 9: The Court Convenes
You immediately start eavesdropping in on an interesting conversation between evil foes as you fall into this next area. You’ll want to keep your distance to listen to the entire conversation.
How to complete the Dark Desires commendation
Slowly walk up but stay hidden so you can hear the conversation between the Brethren Court take place. If you wait the entire conversation, about three or so minutes, you will unlock the Dark Desires commendation.
They will eventually leave to start the ritual. You can walk through the room towards the next large chamber or stay to complete the Heart of a Thief commendation.
There are also two journals to find in the court room. One leaning on a chair by the large table and one on the ramp that you walked down to enter the court room.
How to complete the Heart of a Thief commendation
To complete this commendation you will need to solve the five-block puzzle in the Brethren Court. To properly find the solutions to the block puzzle yourself, you will have had to been working on The Siren’s Call commendation which requires you to discover all the hidden Siren Murals in the Coral Fortress.
How to Solve the Five-Block Puzzle
To solve the puzzle, you will need to match the five hidden murals up with the five blocks found in the Brethren Court.
Rotate the blocks as such from left to right: Shark, Mermaid, Trident, Diamonds, Ship.
Solving the puzzle will open up a secret compartment with the Dead Man’s Chest Key inside. Take the key to the Dead Man’s Chest near the table in the room. Open it up and you will find a Mysterious Parchment inside. You can read the parchment in your Tall Tale book. This will complete the commendation.
Step 10: Ritual of Thieves
You will enter the final room with the final showdown. You and Captain Jack Sparrow are trying to disrupt the ritual, but Davy Jones has put a forcefield of sorts around them.
While you and Jack try to figure a way to break through, you will fight off waves of Ocean Crawlers. Throughout the fight, Jack will ask you to use a pulley to help him gather supplies.
The first pulley you’ll need to use is on the Northside of the room. The second pulley is on the Southside.
You will also find Tridents of Dark Tides around the room. You will want to save these for the larger foes and impending boss.
Upon defeating the final boss, you will complete the Ritual of Thieves commendation.
After you’ve dealt with the boss, Jack will finally give you access to cannons where the fight will come to its climax.
Fire as many cannonballs as you can into the forcefield! Once you have broken the forcefield, Davy Jones will disappear, and the Tall Tale will end.
All Commendations
Secret Waters: Discover a different way to descend.
Dutchman’s Rest: See a sailor’s worst nightmare with your own eyes.
Symphony Of Sorrow: Survive a fierce battle aboard a ship.
Dark Desires: Learn more about the Dark Brethren.
Ritual of Thieves: Overcome greed’s fury before time runs out.
Dark Brethren: Complete ‘Dark Brethren’.
The Siren’s Call: Discover all the hidden Siren Murals in the Coral Fortress.
Heart of a Thief: Peek at the contents of some private correspondence.
Lost at Sea: Discover all the hidden Journals in the Coral Fortress.
Fortress of Sorrow: Legendary Commendation: Complete all Commendations for ‘Dark Brethren’.
Ready for your next adventure in A Pirate’s Life? Head on over to our Lords of the Sea guide to continue the story of Captain Jack Sparrow and his Treasure!
we didnt wait or eavesdrop on the conversation, we just walked in and they disappeared half way thru conversation. we solved the block puzzle but we just got the key to the extra page in the book. what should we do?
That should have gotten you the commendation related to the block puzzle. You can now go on to engage in the last battle. There are also two journals in this room.
it never opened, we server hopped and threw away the tall tale. we’re doing it again! i’ll make sure to follow the guide this time 😉
the pulley at the mermaid statue puzzle is not allowing me to interact with it to lift the hull after i close the waterfall. anyone else encountering this same thing? or am i just missing something?
We haven’t ran into that yet. Have you tried all angles of looking at the pulley. Sometimes we have found ourselves really having to try to get the “Interact” prompt to show up.
For the Siren’s call commendation there’s an order in which you have to pull the levers in each scenario. If you mess up that order it restarts the room. Took me a bit to figure why I wasn’t getting it, yet I was pulling all of them and they would reset.
Aye, you are right! We mention the order but have emphasized it more. Good catch! Sorry that it took you some time to figure it out. We should have all the correct orders now though it sounds like you’ve got it figured out. Cheers!
Without these guides I’d never complete the Tale Tales. They are great but way to cryptic in how to complete all the Tales without spending hours upon hours doing the same thing over and over again. Thanks to all the RareThief crew for creating these.
Thank you for leaving such a wonderful message 🙂 We really appreciate it! We are glad to hear that we were able to help you on your adventure!
Why does the guide tell you where SOME of the journals are… missed some because they are not included. Have to replay now.
Ahoy there! We do mention the dedicated journal guide at the top of article, though we can see how mentioning a few in this guide can make you assume we will mention all. We’ll make changes to clear that up. Sorry you have to run through it again! Hopefully now that you know what to do, you’ll breeze right through it!
Second this! Seems silly to not include ALL of the journals, especially if it counts towards a commendation.
I have been following these guides when doing the tall tales and it’s been very helpful, you’re not making it very clear at some points though where it is crucial to not move on if you want to collect a commendation, for example the heart of a thief, I misunderstood and moved on beyond the point of no return and only after that I read on in the guide and realized I missed the commendation.
Ahoy there pirate! Sorry to hear that you missed out on that commendation. Thank you for the feedback and letting us know. That’s a great point and we will make updates to help prevent pirates from missing out on crucial steps. Cheers!
Please update this guide to include all journals. I know you have a one for just the journals themselces, but it is very hard to follow two different guides at the same time. Why not just include everything in one?
Ahoy there! We did end up adding the journal locations to the full guide so you can find them as you follow along without needing the dedicated journal guide open. Are you not seeing them in the text?
My apologies! I must have missed it when skimming through.
No worries! Now that you mention it though, we could bold the text for the journal locations and include the images to make it more obvious. Thanks for the feedback 🙂
Got stuck between corals and respawned on my boat … Im at chapter 3 in the tale – how do I get back inside the Coral Fortress ?
Do I have to redo the all tale again ?
No, there should be a Tall Tale Progress mermaid statue near the entrance that can take you back inside. Interact with it and choose “Resume.”