Go find Rufius. He can usually be found somewhere near the temple or the garden below: exit the market (by heading towards the large villas) and take a left once you pass into the 4-way arch. If he isn’t in the garden to your right once you go up the first flight of stairs (1), then continue up the stairs to the palace and continue your search for Rufius (2). Tell him you have a cure for his rheumatism, and give him the willow bark.
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Then tell him you’ll be going, and head down to where the large villas are, by way of the 4-way arch. Head to the doorway just down the stairs past a burning brazier (to the left of Malleolus’ Villa). Domitius will try to talk you out of going into the cistern — say whatever you want to him, then ignore his advice and go through the blue door that leads to the cisterns.
Head through the next door just beyond, then continue through the hallway and down a couple flights of stairs. There will be a peeled (those enemies from the temple) once you reach the bottom of the stairs, so draw your bow and be ready to use it. Go straight from the bottom of the stairs and take your first left, and you’ll see a waterfall and some ivy.
Shoot the ivy with your bow, then climb up. You’ll have to shoot a few more sections of ivy, and jump from ivy to ivy, in order to reach the top of the cistern. Once you make it to the top, you’ll see a woman tied up — save your game, then go talk to her. Ask “What will you do if I release you?” when you can, then tell her “I’m sorry, but if I let you go, everyone else is going to die”. If you want to see one of the “bad” endings, go ahead and let her go instead, then reload your save and continue with the walkthrough.
Then tell her “It’s too dangerous. Let me see if I can go persuade Sentius to let us go” to make sure you have an objective marker for Sentius. Continue with the conversation, and just make sure you don’t select the “I’ve changed my mind…” option. You’ll have to exit the upper cistern the way you came in, via the golden ivy, so I suggest you save your game again before you begin the climb down.
Take a right once you’re back in the main cistern (we’re still simply retracing our steps), then go up the stairs and through the doors, then follow your objective marker to find Sentius (he should be standing out in front of his villa). Speak with him, and once you can, tell him “I know what you did to Sentilla”. After that, it doesn’t matter what you say to him.
Once you’re finished talking to Sentius, you should have a new Main Goal, “Divine Intervention”, and a quest maker for Equitia. Track it if you aren’t already, and follow the objective marker to speak with her. If you don’t have this quest for some reason, just look for the woman in a white robe, who is usually under the 4-way arch, or else somewhere in the market.
Equitia
Once you find her, Ask her “How would I go about talking to whichever god is responsible for The Golden Rule?” or “What’s your story?” if the first option isn’t available. Eventually, she’ll ask to you ask around and see if anyone has noticed any patterns. Tell her “Alright, I’ll do that.” and then “I’ll get right on it”.
Now you need to go speak with a bunch of NPCs. Most of them should be located as described in the following section, but you might have to hunt for them a bit. Generally, if these NPCs aren’t where they’re described below, they’ll be in the apartments just below the shrine with the portal. You can take the path you took when following Sentius back through the portal to reach the apartments. From the 4-way arch, when facing the market, turn left and follow the path, keeping the rocks to your right, until you find the apartments.
The entrance to the apartments, as seen when approached from the 4-way arch
Ask each of the below-listed NPCs “What’s your story?” and, if it appears, “How did you end up here?” Note that you don’t have to speak to every single one — after you’ve spoken with a few, use [TAB] to check your Quest log, and look at “The Common Thread”. Once you have at least 3 things that “people mentioned” in your Quest log under The Common Thread, you can return to Equitia — she should also show up as an objective marker on your screen once you’ve talked to enough people.
Here’s who you can speak with for this quest:
Fabia – Somewhere in the market, usually in the bakery (second shop on the left from the 4-way arch)
Desius – In his shop in the market (3rd on the left from the 4-way arch)
Lucretia – In the Shrine of Apollo or on its porch (1st building on the left from the 4-way arch)
Iulia – In the Shrine of Apollo
Georgius – In or in front of his shop (2nd building on the right from the 4-way arch). You’ll have to also ask him “Why don’t you tell me what you remember?” when he tells you he doesn’t remember much.
Galerius – On the farm in between the portal and the villas
Octavia – In front of the great temple on the hill above the villa
Horatius – In front of Sentius’ villa
Rufius – Either in the garden near the 4-way arch, or else further up the stairs
Once you’ve gotten at least 3 threads to tell Equitia about, return to her and say “I’ve been asking people about how they wound up here…” Tell her about the 3 patterns you saw, and she’ll ask you to meet her in the baths. Follow her (if you lose her, just go to where you found the assassin, through the market from the 4-way arch, or make sure you’re following the quest “The Common Thread” and use your objective marker).
Once you and Equitia make it to the far end of the baths, she’ll speak to you, and drop some truth bombs on you. Speak to her as much as you like, then tell her “I don’t have any questions right now” to continue the conversation. Choose “Tell me more about confronting the God of the Underworld head on”; you’ll also have to choose “Tell me more about escaping with a guide” to exit this conversation. When you do so, say you’ll start by talking to Livia.
Exit the baths the way you came in, and head through the market to the 4-way arch. Turn right and head to the apartments — follow the objective mark for Livia to help you find your way (if for some reason she isn’t in that direction, just trust the objective marker and head towards Livia). Speak with Livia, and tell her “I figured it out. I know where we are”. Misery loves company, so that’ll brighten her day (or evening).
Now go into your Quest Log with [TAB] and start tracking “The Roman Plaque”. You should see a few objective markers pop up on your screen once you leave your quest log; find Rufius (he should be nearby in the apartments, hopefully) and speak with him. Ask him if he knows anything about a Roman Plaque, and when he says he has no idea what you’re talking about, say “Come on. You owe me one, remember?” He’ll relent and give you a key, plus some directions. Note: if you click too quickly through Rufius’ lines, it’s possible for him to not give you the key, so save before you speak with him, and go slow.
Even though Rufius helped us, we’re going to do some snooping now. Before we look for the plaque, we’re going to go into Rufius’s room. Go to the apartments if you aren’t there, and then head up the wooden stairs that are to the right of the entrance (if you came in from outside). Turn right at the top of the stairs and head into the room there. On your left on the table is an Incomplete Note — examine it, and then leave.
Head back to the 4-way arch, then go through the marketplace, and take a left once you go up the ramp(1). Continue straight, keeping the amphitheater on your left, and enter the caves(2). Take a right(3), then another right(4), to find the shrine.
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Unlock the door with your key and head inside, then grab the plaque on the table to the right. Then leave the shrine, and take your first right through a stone arch. You’ll go down some stairs, then stay straight at the fork and go down the next flight of stairs. Once you reach the golden statue of a woman, go right (instead of down the stairs). You’ll come across a ruined hut — inside, open the chest and grab the wine inside.
Once you have the alcohol, exit the hut and take a left, going back the way you came (1). When you reach the stairs, go right, down the staircase(2), and then head left up the next stairs you see (3) to return to the apartments.
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Go through the apartments, and then head back to the market by going left after exiting the apartments. Open your quest log and start tracking “The Greek Plaque” if you want some help finding Georgius. Then continue to the market, turning left at the 4-way arch (1). The second building on the right is Georgius’s shop (2) — speak with him, and tell him you’re looking for the Greek plaque, then say goodbye.
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The next shop down the road on the right is Vergil’s — talk to him next, and ask him about the graffiti on the front of his shop, and then ask “Why does somebody think that?” Then ask “You like men?”, and continue the conversation until you can say “I think I already know who it is.” Vergil will then ask you to talk to Rufius for him, and then you can tell him “I’ll be going now”.
Vergil in front of his shop
If you’re tracking “The Greek Plaque”, you should have a waypoint to Duli’s Cell now. Head further into the market, and then go into the building just past Desius’s shop, on the other side of the path that leads to the amphitheater and the caves. Inside, approach the cage to speak with Duli. Ask him about the Greek plaque in his cell, then once you can, ask “Alright, what’s it going to take for you to give it to me?”, then after a bit more convo say “So all I need to do is persuade everyone to vote for Galerius?”
Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.
