Dredge - Too many Fanatics in this game!

In my last post on Dredge, I saved a castaway stranded on a deserted island and later made some upgrades to my boats like installing a new Hull and researching some nets to catch fish passively. These upgrades feel so good, especially the addition of new cargo slots. That means I don't have to come back to shore as often to sell my catch. Also, the net allows me to get more fish without doing anything.

I was selling some relics that I found close to the shipwrecks in The Marrows. I had a chat with the Dockworker who received the package that we helped deliver from a stranded courier. He was behaving weirdly.

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I wonder what was in the package and did he consumed something. He got angry when we asked him what was going on and we left him there standing on the dock. This guy is acting very sus.

Anyway, another interesting NPC here is the Grieving Father. He gave us a task to find a Belt Buckle of his son who was lost at sea. And today, I dredged it out of the sea and returned it to him. He had no money to pay us but gave us a valuable research part. This was exactly what I needed.

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I was getting ever so close to researching the versatile rod. Now I just needed one more part to complete the research. I finished reading The Relaxed Mind book as well. This gave me a '10% resilience to panic' buff.

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The only thing I was lacking in the game was lack of exploration. I had explored a bit in the early game but the slow engine and limited cargo was such a pain that I decided to upgrade my boat a bit first. Now, that it had more space and a better engine I went on to explore the northeastern part of the map called the Devil's Spine.

A strange island with a ruined structure caught my attention and I sailed closer to get a good look and see what was going on. The name of the region did not give me much confidence either.

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At least there was a dock. A 'Fanatic' showed up on the dock and proclaimed that his prayers had been answered because we were there. He was talking about some ritual of purification or something. He asked us a few questions and concluded that we still have to learn more things.

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And you thought it was just another fishing game? lol

I knew this would be a big quest. I keep collecting these quests and completing them on my terms. I am never rushing to get anything done. This quest is one of the core pursuits called Flames of the Deep. I have to light three statues at the temple on this island with fathomless flames. I have no clue what this fathomless flame is and am not so interested in it right now as well. But thankfully, they marked the location on our map.

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I was so disappointed that I couldn't catch fish from this part of the world. Turns out I need another fishing rod that I have yet to research.

One more thing about this guy. He showed us an antique watch which will be our reward for completing this task. I am guessing this might be a magical watch that can affect time itself. If I get the ability to skip nights without docking my boat, that would be a huge thing. But I am just guessing at this point. It could very well be just an ordinary antique item to sell for some cash.

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I couldn't catch fish from the deep but could dredge some raw materials from the ocean floor. I got a couple of bolts of cloth from there and some more items.

I caught some rare fish as we still could catch shallow-water fish. My storage locker was almost full, this was the first time I was able to fill my storage.

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I had to come back to the Marrows and spend this raw material on upgrading my boat. I checked my Crab Pots and found a rare Malignant Pincer. I think this was requested by the painter to make some sort of dye but my stupid ass sold this along with the other fish to the Fishmonger in the Marrows. Just because I have this habit of selling everything and holding the 'f' key. I was a bit disappointed with that.

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I installed 4 new cargo spaces on my vessel. These recent upgrades combined with the new hull are such a quality-of-life upgrade in this game. You may think how can just 4 extra spaces make life easier or they are too small. But trust me every extra box of space is so worth it in this game. Makes it easier to catch more fish and make more money per day.

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I had enough raw materials and cash to add 1 more engine space to my cargo. This will allow me to add a little part of the engine and make the boat a little bit faster. I continued to dredge more raw materials and crates from the ocean. My aim slowly shifted from catching fish to collecting more raw materials and upgrading my boat. Of course, you need to catch fish and sell it to buy those upgrades so fishing is not going anywhere.

Up next will be to explore more parts of the map and collect some more quests.