Gothic 1 Remake: How To Get A Scavenger Mount
Walking everywhere in the Colony is a miserable experience that usually ends with a monster chewing on your ankles.
Fast travel doesn't unlock until much later in the game when you finally get your hands on teleportation runes. Until then, you're stuck running back and forth between camps on foot (which is just as tedious as it sounds). It's slow, it's exhausting, and it puts you in constant danger. Fortunately, there's a well hidden secret that solves this massive headache early on. You can actually tame a two legged Scavenger and use it as a personal mount. It speeds up your map traversal significantly, but getting one requires a decent chunk of Ore and some very specific skills.
The Beak Performance Quest
To get your bird, you need to find a guy named Cohsel. He runs a small hunting shack hidden out in the wilderness, and tracking him down is the first real hurdle.
Finding Cohsel
Start at the North Gate of the Old Camp. Turn left and follow the dirt path until you hit a crossroads with a sign. Turn right and head down the curving trail. You'll pass Cavalorn's hut on your right. Keep pushing forward until you see a small hill with a broken log on the right side of the dirt road. Turn left, climb that hill, and you'll spot Cohsel's shack. You'll know you're in the right place when you see a Scavenger sitting in a stable and a tame wolf named Dandy resting on the floor.
Annoying The Trainer
Talk to Cohsel and exhaust all his dialogue options until he mentions riding a Scavenger. Ask him to teach you how to do it. He'll flat out reject you. Keep asking. You literally have to pester him three times before he finally breaks down and hands you the Beak Performance quest. He agrees to make you a saddle, but you have to bring him the materials.
Gathering The Saddle Materials
You need three specific items before Cohsel will do the work. Before you start hunting these down, make sure you have at least 280 Ore Nuggets and 6 Learning Points saved up. If your pockets are completely empty, check out my guide on how to farm Ore and make money fast to get your finances in order.
Diving For Kingstide
Kingstide is a glowing purple algae that only grows at the bottom of deep water. Head to the massive lake right next to the New Camp in the northwest. Go to the top of the dam and talk to Homer. Pay him 30 Ore and 5 Learning Points to teach you the Diving skill. Jump into the lake and look for long stems with pinkish flowers near the bottom. I found two right near the base of the dam itself. Do a lap around the lakebed to grab the remaining three.
Hunting Wolves
Next, you need the pelts. Head west up the valley from Cohsel's shack until you find a hunter named Aidan. Pay him 250 Ore and 1 Learning Point to learn the Skin Fur skill. There are plenty of wolves wandering around right next to Aidan, or further up the trail past the lumberyard. Kill three and skin them. You'll need a decent sword to take them down without getting ripped apart, so make sure you track down some of the best early weapons first.
Buying Leather Strips
You need two Leather Strips to finish the list. I happened to have some already from exploring (and stealing), but if you don't, just buy them. You can grab them from any camp blacksmith, or you can head to the southern market area in the Old Camp and buy them directly from Fisk. The wilderness is incredibly dangerous, and if you've already made enemies out of the local thugs trying to rob you (you really should figure out whether to kill or spare Grim before going too far), you know exactly how fast things go wrong when you're just trying to run errands.
Claiming Your Mount
Take all the materials back to Cohsel at his shack. Hand them over, and he'll tell you the saddle takes time to craft.
Waiting And Riding
He needs one full in-game day to finish the job. Head back to your hut in the Old Camp, sleep until the next day, and run all the way back to his shack. Talk to him, and he'll hand over a Scavenger Whistle while also teaching you the Riding skill.
Equip the whistle to your hotbar to summon your new bird. Press F to climb on, and hold Shift to accelerate. You can even pet the thing if you want to. Just keep in mind you can't fight while riding, and the mount gets heavily spooked if you ride it into a camp or a cave. Always dismount and leave it safely outside before walking into a settlement or starting a fight.
