Prepare for an Explosive Adventure!

Black Powder Stashes have arrived on the Sea of Thieves! These special new Voyages are the centrepiece of the first in our ongoing series of Monthly Content Updates, and will be available to all players from today.

Black Powder Stashes Voyages can be obtained from Duke in any tavern, and task pirates with retrieving gunpowder caches hidden across the Sea of Thieves by skellies who have mischief in mind. There are two Voyage variants – Reaper's Black Powder Runs and Black Powder Smuggler's Runs – and recovered stashes can be turned in to the Order of Souls, Merchant Alliance or Gold Hoarders for a reward of coin and reputation. Pirate Legends can cash in with Athena's Fortune too! Completing voyages will earn new Commendations, unlock new Titles and an exclusive Reaper sail, flag and Mercenary figurehead for your ship. Want a little taster?

But that's not all you'll find in our Monthly Content Update for July, so make sure you also look out for:

• Mermaid Gems – Duke has heard word of Mermaid Gems being scattered throughout the world, washed up on islands, inside Skeleton Fort Vaults and shipwrecks, and even inside the bellies of Krakens and Megalodons.
• More rewards – improved Hunter's Call rewards for cashing in fish and meat, more fruit, cannonball and wooden plank resource crates washed up on beaches and improved sunken shipwreck rewards including gunpowder kegs, Mermaid Gems and resource crates.
• Game balancing – improvements across a wide range of areas including Cursed Cannonballs, Tall Tales boss battles, returning to ship via a mermaid and encounters with Megalodons, Skeleton Ships and Eye of Reach skeletons.
• And lots more – a range of accessibility improvements, new puzzles for three of the Tall Tales, the chance to dig up fishing bait, new interactive hatches for Sloops and Brigantines, crew member 'join' and 'leave' notifications, audio improvements and over 60 fixes to reported issues across Adventure, The Arena and Tall Tales. For a full list of everything included in this update, check out our full patch notes.

As mentioned earlier, this is the first in a new series of ongoing Monthly Content Updates so you can expect to see more new content dropping on a more regular basis. It's a big change in the way we want to deliver updates to Sea of Thieves, but one that we're excited about and think will make the game feel more alive and varied than ever before. For more information on our Monthly Content Updates and what's coming, watch this week's Developer Update video.

See you on the seas for guaranteed explosive adventures!