Well well well... haven't u ever wanted to see ur enemies have a change of heart? Perhaps they can fight amongst themselves for your love! Enemies destined for your unrequited love. With the jar of mind maggots u can! Simply combine the jar of mind maggots with an empty cannister AND BOOM!!! u got urself a mind maggot grenade!!! . A better version of a charm grenade with an 8 METRE radius (thats right I said METRE! thats how aussies say it!) The hard part is... getting this jar of mind maggots; one of the rarer items in the game that only appear mid to late game and apparently as others have pointed out only a few spawn in the game.

However one of the interesting parts about this game is that it always appears in the hold

Jar of mind maggots+empty cannister= mind maggot grenade

Basically in order to get the jar of mind maggots; u need to get to level 3 telekinesis before u leave the tutorial ship. This may sound impossible but there is a way.

For the expert players who want the quick summary on how to get the jar;
1. save talent pt when ur in character creation
2. Kill all magisters that includes the three talking to Wendigo, the witch (before she triggers her source ability); also make sure to leave ur potential companions alive.
3. Play the game normally and get to the top of the deck; killing all magisters and frightened puppy dogs.
4. trigger the quest to rescue ur potential companions
5. Go down to the Hold as soon as ur main character shouts out to everyone in the hold; Run back; make sure to allow the fight to trigger
6. It should take 2 turns for the fight to end; Ur first turn should be spend running back (make sure to close the doors bh u, ur second turn should be going back up to the top deck)
7. At this point you should be level 2; invest ur talent point now in "all skilled up" and invest the 2 civil points into telekinesis.
8. Go towards the jar of mind maggots approaching from the left side (side where boat with kids are). Be quick a timer is ticking off.
9. grab the jar before the cutscene triggers

Now Now settle down. I'm not asking u to ONLY be a certain race or restricting you to a certain class. You can be any class of wizard/fighter and lizard freak you want, all paths will lead you to becoming a beautiful Lohse Divine (Fighter. Human. Beautiful Chick.).

All i'm asking is that you place 1 point in telekinesis and save your talent point.

As an example; Here we have the Lovely Lohse

Just like in metal gear solid; boxes are your only true friend in this world. Waking up to a world where everyone in the first 2 or 3 rooms is dead or soon to be dead .. no matter how hard you hold that cloth to her neck or how skilled you wrap that bloody tourniquet!!! (haha bloody tourniquet.. no pun intended). Only you come out of it; alive... and alone.. (oh you AND your weird potential companions who ALL... for some reason... WANT to go to the creepy gaol island and the stinky kids... oh and gil) oh well at least that sheep got what was coming to it.

In this section of the guide, I'm gonna tell you which box is the bestest friend in the Hold. (my englishy is the bestest) Someone who won't leave you by dying. Someone strong, heavy and at the same time; someone you can put inside you. I'm talking about this here metal crate!



You can pick it up, store it in your inventory and throw it at people.

Fill it up with the other metal crate so that it has a weight of 300. If you have the definitive edition fill it up with the 2 oil barrels and poison barrel which you can find below deck.

Oh my god... is this one of those guides where you tell me the next step is to whack everyone with a heavy object to one hit KO them.... kinda exploitive don't you think?? =/

No that wasn't the next step but that is a good idea!! I'll keep that in mind =)

Ahem.. this is the part where you kill the magisters in the first 3 rooms. I'm not gonna go into detail on how to fight. All my screenshots were taken on tactician regular and i didnt come across much trouble so i assume you won't. SO crate it! Your all big boys now and you should know how to fight honourably. (I genuinely HAVE fought all the magisters in the hold without exploitively throwing heavy metal crate at them. It's not hard.)

If you have the definitive edition and have access to below deck; you can kill the sleeping magister and the fire maniac but they won't give xp.

I recommend starting with the 2 magisters guarding the room to Magister Waters (cuz if u kill siwan first; there is a chance the magisters in the other room will come in to check up on the noise). Then moving to magister waters and magister siwan.

ALL 4 magisters will give you 400xp (100xp each).

You can skip magister siwan if you want.. you know just saying.. not everyday that a beautiful woman puts a collar around your neck you know... blue eyes brunette. (it is possible to trigger the romantic last goodbye cutscene if u are quick enough to getting the jar of mind maggots)

After handling the 3 or... 4 magisters. Move on to the main hold. This time you need to kill all the magisters here. As soon as you aggro one magister; the other 2 and a half magisters come after you. That's okay.. This fight is really easy cuz your potential companions give you a helping hand. See image below.


Again each magister gives 100xp and the dog gives 75xp. In total you should have around 775xp. If Gil was to somehow meet an untimely death during the battle, later on a different conversation plays out with the kids on the boat; before they ask you to rescue the other prisoners.

Sidenote: Killing your potential companion does not give XP. And its also impossible to kill the kids. Children in this game; at least in this part of the game are immortal.

Now get the stern key from the dead magister payde and enter the next room where windego and 3 magisters are having a stand-off. Magister Payde what a nice fellow.. shame what had to happen.

This is the tricky part. You need to kill all 3 magisters BEFORE Windego releases her source ability. If Windego kills them, you don't get their xp. You only get the base 400xp that you get from progressing the story. However any damage to the magisters will trigger Windego into casting her source spell. This is the part where our best friend; the metal crate comes in.

Image below shows how close you can get to the magisters and how you need to throw place the crate to kill all 3 magisters. TIP: It helps to rotate the crate.


This should net you 300xp from the kills and an extra 400xp from story progression; giving you a total of 1475xp. Yep; your starting to see where I'm going with this. We need to get to 2000xp to level up to 2 which is our real aim. At this point, we can say goodbye to our friend, the metal crate. But later on if you want to bring 3 deathfog barrels with you, your gonna need to keep him.

Ahhh so you want to bring our good friend along for the ride. I knew it! Your a loyal fella! A decent man that never abandons a friend!

Easy! First you need to put the metal crate that weighs over 9000 next to the exit/entrance to the next floor. Then position yourself close to the entrance/exit to the next floor such that you can enter the floor without visibily walking. In this case; next to the ladder to the upper floor. Click on the crate to put it in your inventory then enter the next floor.

Go upstairs. First off I recommend saving that water barrel in the hallway. Its not completely necessary but it does make the playthrough a tiny bit easier. Either put it in your inventory or in the metal crate.

Progress the game as you normally would; make sure to kill the two magisters in the opposite room and put down the dog.

Again the magisters give 100xp and the dog gives a lousy 25xp.

When ur done go upstairs and kill the voidlings (each a 100xp). At this point you should have 1900xp or 1800xp if you didn't kill Siwan.

When ur done go towards the stern of the ship. At this point a small cutscene triggers where a void tentacle cockblocks 200xp from you. That's okay, let it happen. Nothing we can do to take out the two magisters before the void kraken. The most important thing to do is to put out the fire. In order to get the jar of mind maggots, we need to approach it from the starboard side (the side where the kids and gil are on the boat). This is where the extra water barrel comes in handy.

When your done, make sure to save before you approach the kids. Do everything you want to do because after this, there is no turning back

haha so you noticed the intro picture had 3 deathfog barrels and you want to know how I got them out of the Hold.

Its a secret! Never telling.

jokes i'll tell you. I'm not mean. I promise. I'm simply exploiting a mechanic in the game. Here's how to do it. (BEFORE YOU DO IT, Make sure to get the skull key.)

In the screenshot above, I am placing a barrel from my inventory on the ground beside me. As the telekinesis animation is rolling; i simply click into the other room as shown below and my character phases through the wall.


Grab all the barrels and place them near the door. Then exit the room with the key. Da-da! Like magic! OOps remember when I said to get the skull key... ummm... yea....

Okay but I can't exactly move around with 3 deathfog barrels. Putting safety aside, I can 't move around with an extra 270 weight can I?

That's okay there's a solution! Remember our good mate, metal crate? Well all you need to do is put all 3 deathfog barrels in him. Then carry him upstairs like i told you before. And put him here near the stern of the ship on top of some ropes as shown below.


Leave it here for now, when we make our final escapade; we'll be taking him with us. Again I recommend to save the game here.

This is the last step and the most tricky part of the process. To recap; you now have 1800 or 1900 xp depending if u kill Siwan or not. In my playthrough it makes no differences. You now need 100 or 200xp to get to level 2. Talk to the kids and trigger the quest to go downstairs to rescue the other prisoners. At this point there is no turning back. So again I recommend for the 3rd time to save the game.

Go downstairs and trigger the fight sequence by either going towards Lohse if you didnt pick her as your main character (shame on you) or towards Sebille.

In the upcoming fight between the voidlings you need to have killed 2 or 3 voidlings to get to level 2 (Each Voidling here gives 75 xp). In most of my playthrough it usually takes the first turn for ur crazy companions to kill 3 out of 4 voidlings and 2 turns for all 4 voidlings to die.

Therefore this is what you do after you trigger the fight sequence:
Turn 1: Turn around and run away. (make sure to close the doors behind you or the voidlings sometimes follow you out. If they make it out on top deck, cutscene triggers) Do not leave the main hold just yet. When your potential companions kill the 3 out of 4 voidlings you will get enough xp to get to level 2

Turn 2: Go back to the top deck.

At this point the fight is still going on but at a slower pace. You also have freedom of movement again. BUT Hurry!! You don't have much time! At this point, a timer starts ticking. When it ends whether you get the jar of mind maggots or not; cutscene WILL trigger.

Hurry to the stern where I told you to place the metal crate. During walking animation movement open your character sheet and finally invest that talent point into "All Skilled up"; then place the remaining 2 civil points into telekinesis (you get an extra civil point cuz of "all skilled up"). Now you have level 3 telekinesis which allows you to pull items within 12m away from you. Dw about the other attribute points cuz you don't have time.

Once you get the starboard side of the stern (side where tiny boat for tiny people are); grab the metal crate if u want to take the deathfog barrels with you then grab the jar of mind maggots.

Below is the exact spot you need to be on to pull the jar of mind maggots. At that spot the jar of mind maggots is 11.8 metres away from you (measure via dimensional bolt).

If you wish to take the metal crate full of deathfog barrels with you to fort joy; make sure to put it into your inventory first before you click to grab the jar of mind maggots. TIP: Click don't drag the jar of mind maggots.
As soon as you grab the jar of mind maggots, cutscene triggers...

Congratz! you now have brought the jar of mind maggots which you can now use to wreak havoc upon the hapless population of fort joy!

Hmmm... Magister Siwan? Who's that? Ahh! the woman who collared us. What about her?

OHHH you found out that you didn't have enough time to talk to Siwan after getting the jar of mind maggots? That the cutscene triggered too fast before you could make it downstairs?

Yeah... I lied about that. Getting crated to death in one hit is too good for the woman who collared us like a wild animal. Neither is killing her in a fair fight. I figured we didnt need her xp anyways.. Let her die slow and painful on the floor of a sinking ship in terror as the ocean water gushes through, as her blood gushes out from her neck. Can she stand? Can she breathe? Can she cry for help?

I always wondered about Magister Siwan... Did she die from blood loss or from drowning. Hmmm...