Contents
Introduction
All credit goes to Preechr!
This guide will attempt to answer common questions seen in /Global or /Help chat in game from new players that have left Anagoge Island and made their way to Serbule Keep.
Please keep in mind that the game intends players to discover and explore, so every bit of this is [Spoilery] and only intended for those impatient players that have been programmed by playing modern games to ask for or otherwise find the most efficient way to “win” the game.
First off, this is NOT that kind of game!
Project: Gorgon is intelligently designed to present you with more stuff to do and learn than you can possibly master right off the island in hopes that you will quickly learn to relax and have fun with what you have and patiently discover the breadth of skills and abilities available to you over time.
That being said, I understand that speeding through a new game is an addiction a lot of us have developed in other games, so consider this guide your Methadone treatment intended to help with your recovery.
The main reason I’m writing this is because I’ve already seen many new players leveling up their combat skills without having discovered the basics, mostly due (probably) to not actually reading what the NPCs say or putting any effort into figuring out how the game systems work.
That being said, if you stop reading now, I’m fine with that, but for those of you that are in a hurry: I get it, so let’s get started.
Vendors and Storage
Once you locate Serbule Keep, the town in the middle of Serbule Zone, you should talk to every NPC in a shop to get acquainted with them, though there are some that may have value to you that you’ll find wandering around or standing in the open.
Here is a map:
Many new players sell everything they find to get as much money as they can, but in P:G you will find that giving appropriate items to certain NPCs in order to increase their Favor is much more valuable, even in the short term (and Favor Value of many items far outweighs vendor value, so try to get an early feel for items best sold to other players).
Of Note: Even though I’ve covered it with the individual NPCs, take care to acquire a shovel (Mushroom Jack,) a saw (Therese,) a butcher knife (Fainor,) and a skinning knife (from Yetta in Eltibule but better to get a better version from a Player Vendor) to go along with the autopsy kit you should already have from Anagoge island (but that you can also buy from Mushroom Jack, or obtain a better version from a Player Vendor).
These items will sit in your inventory (yes, taking up space) but will provide you and others with GREAT benefits I will describe later… I bring it up now because you have already admitted by reading this that you are impatient…
*** With all of these NPCs, you should complete their Favor Quests as soon as possible as this gives you things to do while you are out and about doing what you would be doing anyway… I won’t list the individual quests though there are a few quest items I’ll discuss.
Serbule Keep: Around the Well
The following NPCs can be found around the Well in the middle of Serbule Keep, which is a major gathering point in the game where you will usually find musicians and dancers (free buffs) and where many players will meet up for trading or to form groups:
Marna: There is a pop-up when you first speak to Marna that explains she is one of few NPCs that will buy anything you have at full price, but the total amount of councils she has available is fairly limited… This pool of money refreshes each week and can be increased with favor.
Clicking on the “Small Talk” tab in her UI shows you that she prefers certain types of gifts, and the easiest way to favor her up early is by skinning animals and giving her the skins, though once you learn farming and cooking to the appropriate level (later on) you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck by gifting her vegetarian prepared meals like Baked Beets and Glazed Beets.
To skin animals, you will need a skinning knife in your inventory, and you should get one of those as soon as you can (you can get a low quality version from Kleave in Eltibule, a neighboring zone, but you can usually find a much better “Amazing” skinning knife in the player vendor stalls in the enclosed area dominating the south part of the keep… The better knife will give you a +10 to skinning and they usually are found for 700-1000 councils.
Marna also likes it when you give her certain recipes and staves, but those tend to be better sold or used.
Marna offers increasing amounts (12-56 slots) of personal storage of any type of item as you favor her up, which you will definitely appreciate.
She will send you on fairly basic Favor Quests, the only one of note is the one that sends you into the Serbule Crypts dungeon, which is your introduction to grouping if you skipped that on Anagoge Island.
Marna will also get you started with First-Aid and Armor Repair, for which you will need to keep 5-10 of the appropriate level kits in your inventory and you will use them by slotting the appropriate skill (not the kit itself) in your side-bar (look under “Special Abilities” at the top of your Skills UI.
As you favor her up, you will eventually be able to buy potions that will cure some of the common lesser ailments like Lice and Roundworms from Marna, but as you level up First-Aid you will find that you’ll be able to cure those ailments using that skill instead (before/during each fight, use these skills to gain XP in them).
Marna should be your vendor of last resort, in that you should find vendors that specialize in the item you are trying to sell before you sell it to her, as you don’t want her to run out of money early in the week… That being said, check her Used Tab when you are buying stuff, as there are often some pretty good deals to be found there.
All NPCs’ Used Tabs contain the stuff players have sold to or gifted them, with the latest to be sold at the very bottom.
Joeh: Next door to Marna’s shop is Joeh, who specializes in Armor and Weapons but also sells Surveying supplies.
Joeh will be your primary vendor for buying and selling gear, and he likes gifts of meat and swords… Most folks prepare him tons of bacon using pork shoulder they get from pigs (though he will also take any raw meat) and any sword they loot and don’t need.
Joeh offers 24-72 storage slots with increasing favor, but only for equipment items, but you still want high favor with him to increase what he can pay you for individual items and to increase his weekly pool of councils.
Of note, One of his early Favor Quests has you looking for a Pig Snout, which is a fairly hard to get drop from a pig until you increase your Butchering and “Non-Ruminant Ungulate (pig) Anatomy” skills, so many players buy these for 50-100 councils from other players (though you can just wait until you get one if having an open quest doesn’t annoy you).
He will also send you out to hunt down “Old Fangsworth,” which is a mini-boss tiger with other tigers that guard him (see the Serbule Map)… This guy is frequently killed and has a large roaming area so it may take some time to find him and you may not be able to kill him alone at low level.
While the gear you can buy directly from Joeh is not recommended, check his Used Tab for new gear often as your combat skills increase (also a great place to find musical instruments if you find a desire for those).
Pennoc: This guy hangs out next door to Joeh, and he is basically a rich jerk that will give you random quests to do for the entertainment value.
These mini-quests are intended to introduce you to certain game concepts and invite you to explore areas and skills, and the rewards can be surprisingly good, so check in with him often.
Elahil: If you want to progress in Archery, which will generally require learning Fletching with it, you will need to talk to this guy, though there is no pressing need to build favor with him right out of the gate, even if you want to be an archer.
Mushroom Jack: Grab all those mushrooms growing around his shop and listen to him rant about Myconids, then you can sell him any oddball animal parts you find and favor him up if you want to use Mycology for Alchemy or Spore Bombs.
Mushroom Jack is where you can obtain a shovel, which you carry in your inventory so you can Bury the Dead things you make in your travels… This is important to do as burying corpses in open world areas makes mobs respawn quicker so that other players aren’t stuck waiting around for things to kill while your corpses slowly time-out and despawn… plus you get Compassion XP… In dungeons you may want to avoid burying corpses, but if in doubt you can always ask /Nearby if anyone cares.
The “Miscellaneous Junk” items he will take for Favor are not really easy to figure out, so experimentation is advised: Gift him one thing to see if he gives favor for it before gifting him a stack of stuff you could have sold… Even when an item’s “More Info” tab shows he would like it, often he gives very low amounts of favor.
Gaining favor with this guy is usually not advised until later in the game, so don’t worry too much about him right off.
Velkort: If you want to learn Fire Magic, this is your guy, but be warned: That’s a fairly expensive skill to level up as a new player.
Velkort also plays a minor part in a certain quest and he is a great resource for scrolls and recipes, but if you aren’t trying to be a Fire Mage, there’s no real pressing reason to favor him up at low levels.
Hulon: Like Velkort, this guy’s “Buy Used” tab is a great place to shop for scrolls and recipes, and you may wish to favor him up in order to sell him those, though most people only use him for “Council Storage,” which is a small (but increasable for $$) amount of bank space you can access from other zones.
Increasing Favor with Hulon will not increase storage space available.
Next to Hulon is the “Transfer Chest” that you can use to store a small amount of items (or stacks of items) that can be accessed by other characters on your account… Since you can’t transfer Money, this mechanism will be the only method by which you can move stuff around among your alts (though there are other transfer chest type options in the world).
Next door to Hulon’s shop is a bookshelf that you can use to remotely access certain NPC storage in the Zone… Each Zone has one of these but there is no remote access for storage between zones.
This is a convenient mechanism to access storage with Marna, Joeh and Ivyn, which are the easiest and most convenient “banks” to gain early on in the game, but other storage slots will show up here as well if you open them up.
Nelson Ballard: This guy exists to block my way when I’m just trying to get into the room with the Bookcase… He wanders around aimlessly and essentially just gets in the way… Oh, and he can also offer training of limited use to those using sword and/or shield.
Sebule Keep: North of the Well
Fainor: If you are interested in cooking or just want a place to sell the various meats and ingredients you’ll loot up while exploring, Fainor is a great guy to Favor up, even if he doesn’t offer storage.
Fainor will also sell you a cheap butcher knife that you can use to butcher animals you kill to get meat and (later) organs (yes, gross, but useful).
The Inn (Chortling Beaver) where you find him is also a hub for social events like Poetry Readings and Giveaways.
Outside the Inn are a couple of NPCs (Blanche and Rita,) gossiping like old hens, that aren’t completely useless to talk to, though they aren’t vendors.
Larsan: Next to the Inn is a Jewelry Shop owned by a giant Smurf-Elf that will buy jewelry that you don’t need and can be favored up by gifting him rings you don’t want… Over time he becomes more useful, so save those rings and give them to this guy!
Avoid selling him actual Jewels as you can usually sell them to players for at least twice what he will pay, and Necklaces may be better to gift to Therese or Yetta (in Eltibule,) but your call.
Sebule Keep: South of the Well
Echur: Standing beside a Meditation Pillar is this drug-addled weirdo that can unlock Mentalism for you if you run some errands for him… He’s not of much use other than that.
Therese: Behing Echur is the Serbule Gardening area, and Therese is the NPC that is related to that sort of activity, but she also offers some odd training you might check out as well as supplies related to Tanning.
Therese will also sell you a cheap saw that you can keep in your inventory and use to forage wood.
If you want to learn Gardening, which is awesome btw, save up Necklaces you don’t want and give them to Therese.
Tadion: Just inside the enclosed Player Vendor Stall area (to the right) is a forge and a tanning rack overseen by this guy, that will Teach you Blacksmithing and sells stuff related to that skill.
Tadion also offers storage, but at a fairly high level of favor that can wait until later.
Take a moment to acquaint yourself with the Player Vendor area while you are there… not only is there a back door and a training area, exploring the Player Stalls will give you a great idea of what is considered valuable in the game and what are fair(ish) prices for stuff… You can also buy food to raise up your Gourmand skill, which will be of value later on (especially if you avoid cooking).
Outside of Serbule Keep
Ivyn: Out on the farm to the west of town, near Jara (who teaches Carpentry,) is another easy source for storage… Once you have done a couple of his quests and/or gifted him the appropriate amount of Seedlings or Prepared Foods (Fruit Cocktails work very well once you can make them) he will give you the combination to his storage locker that you can then access from the bookshelf back in the keep and you never have to talk to him again.
*** These are the high points of Serbule Zone, but absolutely not all there is to explore and learn… I cannot stress enough how important it is to talk to every NPC you come across, as there are many more and they all have value.
I am only addressing the most commonly asked questions I see in Global from new players that aren’t willing to explore and discover, but I hope that after meeting these initial important people you will see what else is available to you.
Serbule Hills
Next, I’ll go over the high points of visiting Serbule Hills Zone, to the South of Serbule.
Storage: Rent a room from Durstin Tallow at the Tapestry Inn just south of the entrance to gain access to a storage chest that is remotely accessible from the Bookcase in the Inn, and you can also gain easy upgradeable storage from the Baroness to the South.
There is other storage available that is not super easy to get and the favor required just won’t really be worth it yet (probably).
In the Inn…
You can (with little effort) favor up Lana Songtree to learn Dancing and Jaime Fatholm to learn start Surveying.
Surveying may seem like a chore, but it is very worth it as you can quickly get Amethysts and other valuable gems for next to nothing, so do it.
Rappanel: If you want to be a Bard, this is your guy… You will want to start hoarding Pickled Fish (Food that can be found around the Ranalons in the area,) Boar Tusks (Drop from Wild Pigs,) Cat Meat and Grapefish for his quests and favor.
Tyler Green: If you want to train the Shield skill, talk to this guy and start bringing him any Shields you don’t want, Rubbery Tongues you get from killing Ranalon and Oranges you forage in Eltibule, but you probably want to hurry up and do his Melted Shield quest early on because it gets you a pretty sweet Shield (make sure you have your primary skills equipped when you finish the quest).
(No, Seriously, make sure you have your primary skills equipped when you finish the quest).
If you manage to get Tyler to Best Friends, he also offers a bunch of extra storage.
Outside the Inn…
Baroness Marith Felgard: South of the Inn in her wrecked home, the Baroness is basically your Serbule Hills version of Marna, and once you do some Ranalon extinction based quests for her you’ll be able to access her storage from the Inn… But as with Marna, sell to her as a last resort.
She also sells some Therese-like crafting supplies but not as wide of a selection.
Sammie Grimspine: Teaches Calligraphy and sells related supplies for Swordsmen, also storage at high favor.
Gershok: Teaches Shamanic Infusion, which can be nice to know.
Just as with Serbule, this is not all you need to know, but just enough to get you started in Serbule Hills… Hopefully you will have curbed your advancement addiction enough by now that you have learned how to be patient and let the game guide you the rest of the way.
Remember: Explore and Discover! There is so much depth to Project:Gorgon that you will miss if you treat it like other games and skip all the talking and reading stuff!
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