Dragon's Dogma 2 The Beggar's Tale: Who should you present the Beggar's Garb to?
This quest is a treat for literary fans, as you're tasked with finding out where the storyteller Albert gets his money from.
Everybody loves a good whole-plot reference, and it seems that the writers of Dragon's Dogma 2 are no exception! The side-quest The Beggar's Tale, available from the time you start exploring the city of Vernworth, sees your Arisen giving their best Sherlock Holmes impression (plus a party of pawns as willing Watsons, naturally) while investigating how a street performer scrabbling for tips in the Merchant's Quarter somehow always has loads of ready cash.
There are a few steps to this quest, as well as a choice near the end that results in different story outcomes and different rewards. So, read on for our full walkthrough of The Beggar's Tale quest in Dragon's Dogma 2. Beware spoilers, naturally.
The Beggar's Tale quest walkthrough
The Beggar's Tale side-quest begins in Vernworth's merchant quarter, in the square with the dragon fountain at its centre. During the day, a man named Albert will be standing beneath the fountain statue, telling stories in exchange for tips.
Most people in the square seem to find him annoying, given that his stories are rather boring and always end with him extolling the virtues of House Berkeley. If you talk to him and give him the 100G tip he requests, a beastren bystander named Benton will collar you and gossip that Albert always seems to have a lot of money for someone who makes so few tips. He'd like somebody to keep an eye on Albert to find out more; this adds the quest to your log.
Do as Benton suggests and follow Albert. This involves hanging around the square listening to him drone on until late afternoon in-game time, when Albert will leave his post and begin to make his way through Vernworth's Common Quarter towards the slums. You need to be a bit stealthy in this section, since Albert reacted every time I started to run after him while in a direct line of sight. However, when I slowed down to a walking pace, only speeding up to catch up to him if he turned a corner, he stopped spotting me and carried on to his destination.
Said destination is Walter's Tavern in the slums just outside the city walls. He'll briefly greet a beastren woman named Celina as his lovely wife before rocking up to the bar, where you can chat to him — but he doesn't want to be bothered. Don't push it at this stage; instead, keep a discrete distance and pass some time drinking, chatting with the other patrons, or just generally lurking. (Just be wary about using the option to time skip at the bar, since Albert will eventually leave and you'll have to come back another day if you lose the trail.)
As the sun begins to set, Albert will exclaim that Hilda's going to kill him if he doesn't get home soon. He'll then run off; I found that he wasn't so concerned about being followed this time, so light your lantern and run after him in order to keep him in sight.
Albert returns to the maze of streets within the city walls and eventually enters this house, loudly locking the door behind him.
There's no need to overthink how you're going to gain entry into the house. Ignore the upstairs balcony that's frustratingly just out of jumping range and instead just wait a few moments, and the door will have magically unlocked itself. Good! Oh, but Albert's just as magically disappeared. Not so good!
However, you can examine the bundle of clothes left on the bedframe to figure out the trick (which you may well have already guessed, especially if you've ever read a little story called "The Man with the Twisted Lip" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Turns out our Albert is some rich bloke who gets his jollies from pretending to be a beggar!
Your Arisen will then identify two potential courses of action. There's no option to go back to Benton, the guy who set you the quest in the first place, but you're presented with two choices as to who to inform of Albert's double life: Hilda or Celina.
Who should you inform of Albert's double life?
After picking up the Beggar's Garb, you have two locations marked on your map. These indicate the two people you can choose to inform of Albert's double life, but you can only give the clothes to one of them.
Inform Hilda: Your first option is to investigate a location in the Noble Quarter of Vernworth, on the Baldwin Estate which sits right at the district's eastern wall. Head to the house and you'll be met by a woman named Hilda, whose name you'll recall from Albert's ranting at Walter's Tavern about how she's going to kill him if he's late home. (It's unclear exactly what Albert and Hilda's relationship is, although I suspect that his double life extends to having two wives, one in each part of town.)
Show her the clothes and she'll grumble about that good-for-nothing secretly cosplaying as a poor actor when he's always refused to get a proper, respectable job. She'll thank you for letting her know and ask you to come back in a few days, once she's had a chance to confront Albert.
Return after at least one in-game day has passed and talk to Hilda again. She'll reward you quite handsomely with three chunks of Onyx, and explain that Albert will be getting a proper job from now on. It's fairly clear from the tone of the conversation that you're meant to feel a bit sorry for Albert: you don't see him again, so it's hard to say whether you've just snatched away the sole creative outlet of an aspiring storyteller, or if maybe he was just trying to spend as much time as possible away from a clearly unhappy home life.
Inform Celina: Picking up Albert's clothes also gives you a yellow location prompt on your map indicating that you should return to Walter's Tavern in the slums. You might recall Albert greeting a beastren woman named Celina there as his wife, so she'll surely want to know that her husband isn't all that he seems.
Celina's initial reaction is much the same as Hilda's, in that she requests a couple of days to confront Albert. We're currently waiting to see what outcome and quest rewards you get if you choose to inform Celina!
Looking for more Dragon's Dogma 2 quest walkthroughs? Here's The Caged Magistrate and The Ornate Box, both of which you'll likely be attempting at around the same time as digging into the mystery of Albert.