so let’s take a look at the dialogue options of mr Arcos :
Greeting
“ Another new one, eh? I can smell it on you. Veterans tend to smell just a little more like despair. I’m Arcos, once a sailor, now a wanderer. You didn’t think you were the only one, did you? Hah! You should go north, there’s whole cities of Exiles up there. „
“ Back again, Exile? I like familiar faces. Helps me to remember that not everyone dies out here. „
“ Seen enough of the desert? Better get used it[sic], it’s all we have. „
Conversation
“ In the beginning there were only a few of us. But now… seems like fresh faced fools are showing up every week. Not all of them are as friendly as I am, mind you. Watch your step - there are a lot of desperate people out there. „
“ The bracelets? You can’t remove them. Saw one fool cut his arm clean off trying to get rid of it. He bled to death right there on the sand. Nasty business. Leave it on. You’ll start to hear the voices soon enough. Then you’ll start seeing the ghosts. I don’t think the voices are for us. Not for us here and now. I think they were talking to somebody else. Back then. Wherever it was. Whenever it was. „
“ Those pillars keep us confined here. Some call it the cursewall, or the ghostfence or just, the boundary. Doesn’t really matter what it’s called, does it? I walked all the way around it once. Had to be careful not to cross it, of course. Once, in the north, I saw a few people on the other side. Wearing bracelets just like ours but with gems of amber. It makes you wonder… „
“ I’m no scholar, but I’ve met a few who passed through. They all have mad theories about what the ruins scattered around here are. Lemurians, Giant-kings, Khari, Valusian Serpent men - do those names mean anything to you? Never mind. It’s my experience that men who have their minds in the past get eaten by crocodiles in the present. „
Farewell
“ Good luck, Exile. It’s a tough world out there. „
“ Farewell. I won’t pin my hopes on seeing you again. „
So yes , Mr Arcos tells you to go North … but first it is in the context of you seing the cities of exiles ,and second he also states multiple times that the world is not as friendly as he is and to watch your steps . he also informs you of how dangerous it is to try to go through the cursed wall or take off your bracelet , and finaly as a Farewell dialogue you’ll hear him say it’s a tough world out there or that he won’t pin his hopes on seeing you again ( if you follow his advice to go north ? )
so if you have common sense you should take the advice of someone that don’t think you’ll survive the trip with some grain of salt . and not follow them blindly . 
