Dragon’s Dogma 2 throws a lot of missions at you from the moment you start the game. Some of them require you to play detective and find a missing person, and some are affected by the passage of time. “A Beggar’s Tale,” meanwhile, may have you lamenting time’s slow passage as you watch a certain NPC and wait for him to do something other than stand there in the town square repeating the same story over and over again. You may even start to wonder if he’s ever going to do anything, or if you’re missing some key part of the quest. Let me clear it all up for you with this quick guide on how to knock this quest off your mission list.
A beggar and his double life
To start A Beggar’s Tale, head to Vernworth’s central plaza where all the shops are. In the middle of the promenade, right in front of a huge statue, is Albert, a panhandler beckoning anyone to listen to his grandiose tales of adventure—for a modicum of coin, of course. Offer the dude 100 gold for his wordsmithing, then turn around and chat up the Beastren NPC Benton, who swears Albert’s up to something. To allay his concerns, Benton asks that you follow Albert as he goes about his day, which means you’ve gotta sit in Vernworth’s plaza and listen to him ramble on and on and on. Don’t worry, though. Eventually, Albert will start making his move toward Walter’s Tavern, which is just outside Vernworth’s eastern walls. Follow that beggar so you don’t lose sight of him.
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Albert will hang around Walter’s Tavern for hours, meeting a woman named Celina, seemingly his wife, there. Interestingly, though, when night finally comes, he’ll scramble away, mentioning that another woman, named Hilda, is likely to be upset. It seems our storytelling beggar is living something of a double life.
In any case, after a day of spinning tales and sipping ales, Albert will start his trek back home. Tail his ass back to his house in Vernworth’s common quarter. Upon arriving, Albert will lock the door behind him. Privacy and safety are important, but you’re the Arisen, you don’t care about that. You’re questing, and that comes first. Anyway, instead of incessantly running into the door like I did, just stand around and wait a few minutes for Albert to exit, leaving the door unlocked. Now’s your chance! Head inside and you’ll find that Albert is indeed just posing as a lowly beggar, and has left his Beggar’s Garb behind. Snatch it up!
To snitch or not to snitch, that is the question
This is the quest item you need, and with it, you can come to one of three endings. You can give the clothing to the wife Albert keeps in his guise as a beggar, Celina at Walter’s Tavern, the wife he lives with as a noble, Hilda at Vernworth’s Baldwin’s Estate, or you can hand it over to Albert himself in the center plaza. (You’ll have to wait some days before you can turn the clothes over to someone.) What you do here is totally up to you, though one option has deadly consequences. Below are the rewards for each of the three outcomes of A Beggar’s Tale:
- Outcome One: If you give the Beggar’s Garb to Celina, she’ll kill Albert and herself. For your troubles, you’ll get 900 XP, 3,000 gold, and one Noonbloom curative item.
- Outcome Two: If you give the Beggar’s Garb to Albert, you’ll get 900 XP and 5,000 gold.
- Outcome Three: If you give the Beggar’s Garb to Hilda, you’ll get 900 XP and three pieces of Onyx, a stone used to either increase NPC affinity or enhance equipment.
Personally, I opted for outcome three here. The three Onyx pieces Hilda gives you can be sold for 2,400 gold each, making this the most lucrative of the choices. And since the XP is the same across all three choices, what you’re vying for here is money.
Here’s a quick little tip, though: You can skip much of the time-wasting by fast-forwarding to nighttime, sauntering over to Albert’s house, and collecting the Beggar’s Garb. This way you’re not wasting your time trailing behind such a slow-walking NPC. Make life easy for yourself.
Once you select your outcome and hand the garments over, A Beggar’s Tale will get checked off your (probably) ever-growing quest log. With this handy little guide, I hope you get this done quickly so you can move on to more pressing matters, like dealing with that dragon who stole your heart.