One of the main story quests in Dragon’s Dogma 2 forces you to search for a library full of books — and when we reached this point, we had absolutely no idea where to look. During the quest ‘The Caged Magistrate’ you’ll need to help an official escape jail with the help of Captain Brant. But the Magistrate simply refuses to leave his jail cell unless you can find a better place to hide him. We’ll explain how to escape and how to complete the Magistrate’s weird request right here.
The Caged Magistrate | Quest Guide
To begin this quest, meet with Captain Brant at night in Vernworth and ask about the magistrate. Captain Brant will give you the Gaol Key — which is a fancy way of spelling jail. This key will unlock all the doors in the Vernworth Jail, but if you’re caught by the guards, they’ll attack you on-sight.
- Where To Find The Magistrate: To sneak into the jail, go to the Slums and walk along the rocky ledge to the south. Climb up the rocks past the Charnel House bottom entrance door, and you’ll find a locked door.
- The Gaol Key will unlock this door — go up the spiral stairs and unlock the second door. This leads to the main jail floor. Two guards will patrol here.
- Walk and try to avoid being spotted. The Magistrate is located at the last cell on the left (when entering from the spiral staircase path) — unlock his cell and talk to him inside.
After talking to the Magistrate, he’ll request a place with “plenty of tomes” or he won’t leave his cell. We’ll talk about how to find such a place below. You can find the place before reaching the Magistrate.
- How To Find A Mountain of Tomes: To find a place with a mountain of tomes, you’ll need to complete a quest in the Slums. Go to the Gracious Hand convent in the Slums and talk to Kendrick. This begins the quest ‘The Heel of History‘ where he asks you to find Malcolm.
- Talk to two of the children outside the convent — two will tell you Malcolm went exploring in the tunnels. Talk to Kendrick and he’ll clear a path in the old tower. Drop down and enter the tombs.
- Follow the passage until you find Malcolm. He’s waiting inside a massive lost library. After leading both of them out, Kendrick will tell you to keep this place secret.
Complete the quest ‘The Heel of History’ and you’ll be able to tell the Magistrate about it. Don’t worry — Kendrick is delighted that the Magistrate wants to use this place.
- Escaping With the Magistrate: Tell the Magistrate about the Gracious Hands secret library and he’ll agree to escape.
- To make escape easier, pick up and carry the Magistrate, then exit through the back doors. You can sprint out while carrying him. If he follows, he’s extremely slow and prone to getting caught on the guards.
Once you leave the prison area, you’ll complete the main portion of the quest. Talk to Captain Brant to earn your reward. You’ll also want to revisit the Magistrate in the library from time-to-time — he may have secret information you’ll need for future quests.
You will also return the Gaol Key to Brant after this quest is complete. If you go to Ibrahim’s Scrap Store in the Checkpoint Rest Town you can make a forgery of this key — now you’ll have a permanent way of escaping the jail.
And that’s how you complete another tricky quest. Finding the convent quest is required before the Magistrate will escape, but you can leave the jail and complete this quest, then return to the Magistrate without failing anything.
