If you decide to join the New Camp in the Gothic 1 Remake, you’ll need to earn your keep and convince this group of cutthroats why you belong. As you work through the quests, the Rice Lord will eventually task you with finding Bran, a member of the camp who’s gone AWOL.
This starts the Up to His Neck quest, which will help you earn your place at the New Camp. But first, you’ll have to actually find Bran and get to the bottom of his disappearance. Before starting this quest, it pays to have leveled up a bit and have a basic weapon and armor.
Starting the Up to His Neck quest
The Rice Lord will tell you to go and speak to the farmers. This is because the farm was the last place Bran was seen, so head to the farms and chat to the NPCs.
Speak to the NPC called Malon and make sure you’re polite. If you’re too forceful, he’ll not speak to you, and that risks putting the quest in jeopardy. Make sure you save the game before this conversation in case you mess up the dialogue.
Malon will tell you that Bran went to investigate a cave near a pond. This is located east of the small settlement outside of the New Camp, where you’ll spot an NPC guarding a cave. Ignore the guard and enter the cave.
Inside the cave, you’ll find an NPC called Jacko, who was mentioned by Malon earlier. You’ll eventually need to fight him, so beat him down with your weapons, and he’ll eventually yield.
Jacko is no pushover, so if you can’t beat him. Load an earlier save and return to this fight when you’re more powerful. If not, Jacko will steal your items and make life even harder. Save-scumming is recommended here.
If you do win, be sure to look at his unconscious body for his Bloodfly Sting mace. When he gets back up, Jacko will tell you that Bran owes him money and has been sent to rob a tavern to clear the debt.
Bran’s location in Gothic 1 Remake
Luckily, the tavern is pretty easy to find. It’s the one by the lake near the New Camp, so you’ve probably already been at some point.
To find Bran, you’ll need to get into the basement. You can do this by lockpicking the door behind Silas, or you can swim under the tavern from the lake to find a secret entrance.
You may have already been told about the secret entrance from conversations with Rayk in earlier quests. If so, this will be mentioned in your quest log.
Swimming to the cave can be tricky, and you can risk running out of air, so don’t be afraid of swimming around to get an understanding of the location before doing the run for the entrance.
You’ll need to swim through a flooded cellar once you enter the cave, but you’ll be able to surface and catch your breath once you reach this point.
Once you arrive, you’ll be in darkness, but you’ll be able to make out some stairs; head up those to find out what happened to Bran.
Finding Bran
RIP Bran. Now loot his body and be sure to pick up and read the note. There are some chests here that you can lockpick, but the rewards are meagre, so if you can’t be bothered, swim back out the way you came and head back to the tavern.
Go and speak to Silas about Bran’s note, as you’ll want to report this information back to the Rice Lord. Once you’re done speaking to Silas, return to the New Camp and tell the Rice Lord what happened to his foreman.
The reward for this quest will be a nice chunk of XP (300 XP) and the warm regards of the Rice Lord, who’ll now have your back as an ally in the New Camp.
