Dragon's Dogma 2 Off the Pilfered Path walkthrough and guide

The Dragon's Dogma 2 Off the Pilfered Path quest is a follow-on quest for the Mercy Among Thieves mission that players did later, where you have to direct the kid Hugo towards a better future - or let him him die attempting to get revenge against the thug Lanzo, head of the Coral Snakes. This is one of those Dragon's Dogma 2 quests with multiple endings where players can direct Hugo down all sorts of different paths, the best of which actually tie into other, seemingly unrelated quests. If you want help and to get the best possible outcome for the kid, or just find yourself stuck during the early sequences in the Gaol, here's everything you need to know about the Dragon's Dogma 2 Off the Pilfered Path quest.

Off the Pilfered Path walkthrough for Dragon's Dogma 2

The Off the Pilfered Path quest in DD2 can't be started unless you've completed the Mercy Among Thieves quest, as mentioned, but completing other side quests prior to this one will offer more options at the end. Finishing any of the following quests before doing OtPP will result in having a wider choice of endings (though you can't get multiple options), as they effectively open new paths:

• Completing the Dragon's Dogma 2 Short-Sighted Ambition and getting the bad ending
• Completing the Every Rose Has Its Thorns quest and helping Wilhemina complete the assassination for the good ending

It's possible that there are more quests tied into this (this being Dragon's Dogma 2, we're still exploring), and you can still complete the quest without doing them, but if you want the best options, you should complete either of the above in the way explained.

Once you've done those, as well as the mandatory Mercy Among Thieves, you can start Off the Pilfered Path. We've laid out the steps below for the best possible ending, though further down we've also got the variant endings and how you can get them.

1. Head to Bakbattahl Gaol on the Northeast side of town, above the palace. You can find Hugo, the young boy from Mercy Among Thieves, and speak to him in his cell.
2. Keep talking to Hugo until you exhaust his dialogue. You'll get information about his parents and backstory.

1. Head down the cells to speak to another Prisoner named Brefft. Exhaust dialogue with him too, discovering that Hugo's parents were actually killed by his mentor, Lanzo, who's apparently hiding in the Ancient Battlegrounds in Northwest Vermund.
2. Go back to Hugo and tell him about that. He'll go silent after some initial anger and refuse all dialogue from that point on.
3. Come back to the Gaol the next day. You'll discover that Hugo broke out and killed Brefft along the way. Good for him.

1. Get to the Ancient Battleground as fast as possible! This is a timed element, where Hugo will die if you take too long. Use an Oxcart to get from Bakbattahl to the Checkpoint Rest Town, then take the Northern trail into the wilderness. Do not rest or make camp!
2. When you reach the Ancient Battleground, go into the Northern fortress overlooking the area and ascend through it. There'll be enemies and skeletons, but on the top of the fortress you'll find Lanzo, along with his goons. 
3. Kill Lanzo and the others. These are a mix of normal bandits with no major wildcard elements to worry about, but if you want to be safe, they generally have a melee focus - keep at the back and sling ranged attacks.

• Hugo will show up. He's pretty upset that you killed Lanzo first, but the alternative outcome is you show up late and both he and Lanzo kill each other.
• Hugo will ask what to do. Tell him, in order: "Live an honest life", "I do", "I know of a place that might." At this point, you can direct him to any of the job opportunities you set up in the quests mentioned at the beginning.

Completing the quest gets you 7000GP and 4500XP, as well a weapon called the Frosted Edges for the Thief (one of the starting Dragon's Dogma 2 vocations), and a piece of face armor called the White Leather Kerchief - though the last two are dependent on Hugo surviving the quest. If he dies, you only get the gold and experience. While you’re in the Ancient Battleground area, you can head up the mountain and through the caved to eventually reach the Mountain Shrine, where you can ponder the first set of Dragon’s Dogma 2 Sphinx Riddles.

Off the Pilfered Path endings

There are several endings to the Off the Pilfered Path quest, some clearly better than others for all those involved. Here's how they're all obtained:

• Hugo leaves the Gaol. You don't even have to tell Hugo about his parents and Lanzo while he waits in Gaol, instead using a Gaol Key and fighting the guards, or bribing the guard Ekratt in increasingly large amounts to see him freed. At this point you can direct him to the various job opportunities mentioned.
• Hugo dies. If you fail to reach the Battleground in time, or at all, Hugo and Lanzo kill each other in battle. The quest, unsurprisingly, ends there.
• Hugo gets no revenge, and no career. You kill Lanzo, but afterwards don't have to direct Hugo to any sort of work - instead allowing him to just disappear, somewhat jaded about his future.
• Hugo gets no revenge, but does get an honest life (best ending). As outlined in the walkthrough above, once you've completed the two quests mentioned, you can direct Hugo to work either in the Brothel in Vernworth, or the abandoned Store in Bakbattahl.

There is no way that we know of for Hugo to get revenge on Lanzo and survive, though perhaps that's all for the best that the kid didn't have to kill somebody (even somebody as obviously evil as Lanzo is). Once Hugo is directed to either of the two jobs, you'll be able to find him working there later on.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission