Years after the initial announcement, Ubisoft finally brought their AAAA game Skull and Bones in February 2024. Since this game has taken years to develop, fans have been expecting something extraordinary from it, and unfortunately, Skull and Bones pathetically let them down. Despite maintaining all the action RPG features properly, this game failed to reach the expectations.

However, if you are among those players who are playing the game and trying to progress through the story, you must be aware that this is impossible without completing quests. So, if you are trying to figure out how to complete A Covert Initiation mission in Skull and Bones, this guide will help you with all the necessary details. Before we progress further and jump into the process of completing the mission, players must first check out the objectives to understand what the quest wants.

A Covert Initiation Contract Objectives in Skull and Bones


Whenever you are trying to complete a contract, it is always the primary thing to understand the objectives, so you won’t face confusion while doing it. Otherwise, you will get confused about the steps and lose clues to progress. Precisely, you need to know the requirements of the contract to complete it without any issues.

a covert initiation skull and bones
A Covert Initiation Contract

If you are trying to complete A Covert Initiation, go through the below objectives and learn what you need to do:

  • Read the letter from the mysterious correspondent
  • Speak to the Yanita, the Barkeep, at Le Pont Muet in Sainte-Anne
  • Continue with Yanita when ready

These are the simple tasks that players need to complete. Though they seem simple, they are enough tricky if you are unsure of the strategy to progress. A Covert Initiation is the first Helm Main Contract players will receive in the game after they have progressed to a certain point in the main story.

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Now that we have learned some initial information about the contract, let’s check out the steps to complete it.

Skull and Bones- Strategies to Complete A Covert Initiation Quest


This section will elaborate on the strategies to complete the contract, but before that, you need to know the purpose of completing it. In Skull and Bones, all the quests have some purpose to serve. Similarly, A Covert Initiation quest will be vital to complete if you are looking for the Black Market in the game.

In Skull and Bones, the Black Market is the primary source of purchasing all the smuggled resources, weapons with special perks, rare cosmetics, blueprints, etc. However, this is not unlocked by default. Instead, players need to unlock it by completing A Covert Initiation Contract. Therefore, this is one of the most important quests that you can’t ignore, but want to complete as soon as possible.

a covert initiation skull and bones
Interaction with Yanita Nara

Once you go through the objectives of the quest, you will clearly see that it revolves around finding and talking to Yanita Nara. At this point, we are not sure what really triggers this quest, but you will automatically get it as you focus on completing Scurlock contracts and increase your infamy level. Some players reported that they received this contract after they reached the Marauder rank.

To begin this mission, players need to make their way to Sainte-Anne, the most important area of the game and the hub to every necessary item. Once you are in Sainte-Anne, check your mail and then you have to talk to Yanita Nara. She is the owner of Le Pont Muet tavern at Sainte-Anne. Once you are at the local tavern in Sainte-Anne, enter it and you will find the NPC on the counter inside. Once you start talking to her, the contract will be completed.

a covert initiation skull and bones
Smugglers’ Hideout Location

As the interaction progresses, she will gradually reveal about the Smugglers’ Hideout that is located behind a hidden door. Interestingly, the big barrel next to her is the way to enter the hideout. With this access, you will start the new questline named: The Helm’s Questline.

Black Market in Skull and Bones- A Few Necessary Details


Interaction with Yanita Nara will give you access to the Black Market. This is going to be your heaven to purchase smuggled goods, like exotic blueprints, armor and weapons. The best part is that these purchases won’t require Silver. Instead, this location requires a different currency: Pieces of Eight. Each item you need to get from the Black Market has a set price of Pieces of Eight, and players need to pay it to acquire the item.

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Pieces of Eight is the second in-game currency in the game and it can be used to purchase rare or exotic items. However, the Black Market only accepts this currency for purchase. Unfortunately, you can’t have these currencies, unless you begin with The Helm Questline. Missions you complete in The Helm Questline will give you this special currency. 

a covert initiation skull and bones
Sambuk Blueprint Purchase

This market has a huge collection of resources and crafting materials that players need to make their ship and armor stronger. Most importantly, the Black Market has the Sambuk ship blueprint. If you are unsure of the ship, let me tell you, Sambuk is one of the best ships of the game which focuses on DPS mainly. However, there are a few criteria to get the ship: first, players need to reach Cutthroat infamy and second, they must spend 5000 Pieces of Eight to purchase this blueprint.

Once you have the blueprint, you need to look for the materials to craft it. It includes:

  • 4x Wood Tar
  • 4x Cogwheel
  • 2x Torsion Spring
  • 1x Eel’s Twine
  • 15x Greenheart Plant
  • 15x Magnetite Ingot
  • 12x Roselle Cloth
  • 12,000 Silver

Collect all these resources and you can craft the best DPS-based ship of the game.

That’s everything you need to know about how to complete A Covert Initiation quest in Skull and Bones and the purpose of doing it. This is a lengthy process as players need to reach a certain infamy level to unlock the contract and find Yanita to trigger The Helm quests. However, if you want to access the Black Market as soon as possible, you have to complete these steps faster.