Windrose Stargazer Tower Guide: Puzzle Solution
If you are currently running laps around the perimeter of the Stargazer Tower looking for a hidden switch or a secret lore note, stop. You are overthinking it.
Once you reach the Cursed Swamps biome, you will eventually stumble upon small, ziggurat-style temples known as Stargazer Towers. At the bottom of the front stairs, you will find a locked door flanked by two rotating stone dials. Each dial can be rotated into one of four positions.
The game does not give you a quest marker or a text prompt for this. However, the solution is painfully, embarrassingly obvious once you realize where to look. Before you waste another ten minutes trying random dial combinations, here is exactly how to open the door, loot the ruins, and survive the subsequent boss fight.
How to Solve the Stone Dial Puzzle
First, clear the immediate area. The tower exterior is usually swarming with high-level Plague enemies, and you cannot solve a puzzle while actively being eaten.
Once the perimeter is secure, walk up to the locked door and stand directly in front of the right stone dial. Tilt your camera up. Directly above the rotating plate, carved into the stone wall, is a panel displaying a specific symbol.
That panel is the answer key. Simply interact with the stone dial below it and rotate the plate until the top symbol perfectly matches the carving on the wall above it. Repeat this exact same process for the left stone dial. The moment both dials display the correct symbols at the top of their rotation, the heavy door will automatically unlock.
Walk inside, kill the Plague Thralls guarding the interior, and open the Ancient Chest to claim three Tumbaga Ingots. Looting this chest officially clears the Point of Interest (POI) and grants you your experience points. If you are confused by how POI clearing works, reference my Windrose leveling and XP guide.
The Fate of the Prophets Questline
Solving one tower is just the beginning. Inside the first Stargazer Tower you open, you will find an Observatory Stele sitting on the floor. Interact with it to officially trigger the Fate of the Prophets side quest.
This quest is the single best source of rare metals in the entire mid-game. To complete it, you must track down two more Stargazer Towers in the Cursed Swamps and solve their respective stone dial puzzles.
Every Ancient Chest inside a tower yields 3x Tumbaga Ingots.
Turning in the completed quest yields a massive 10x Tumbaga Ingots.
By the end of this quest chain, you will walk away with 19 Tumbaga Ingots, which is enough to ascend multiple pieces of your ship gear to Epic rarity. If you do not know how to spend these ingots at the Wharf, check out my best ship gear loadouts guide.
Tower Defense Warnings
Do not sail to these secondary towers unprepared. The subsequent Stargazer Towers are heavily fortified by Level 15 Plague enemies. Ensure your primary weapon is at least Level 10 to 15, and bring a massive stack of Healing Potions. If you are still relying on cheap bandages, stop what you are doing and read my potion recipes and alchemy guide.
Defeating Chick Chan
After you successfully loot all three Stargazer Towers, the quest log will update, directing you to find the "Warlord's Death Site" located near the center of the swamp island.
When you arrive, you will not find a tombstone; you will find Chick Chan, a massive, named Plague Crusher boss wandering through the muck.
Do not try to stand still and trade melee blows with this monstrosity. Chick Chan possesses an absurdly high health pool and will flatten you if you stay in melee range for too long. Instead, equip your best Musket or Blunderbuss. You will notice large, glowing "boils" on the boss's body. Use your ranged weapons to snipe these boils from a distance.
Bursting the boils inflicts massive structural damage and instantly shatters Chick Chan's posture. The moment the boss collapses into a stunned state, sprint in, unleash your heaviest melee combo, and immediately dodge backward before it recovers. Rinse and repeat this hit-and-run tactic until the Crusher is dead. Claim your final Tumbaga payout and check the Windrose Hub for your next major bounty.
