THE HIDDEN CITY – Side Mission: Dice with the Dead

Updated: 8/18/21()

Dice with the Dead has two main objectives with separate mission givers. The first, a boy named Takiy, is sitting on a tree stump on the west side of the bridge where Unuratu leaves you when you first enter the city. Talk to him and he'll tell you that someone named Pisco the Dead stole his dice. Lara agrees to investigate. (screenshots)

You can track Side Missions by opening the Map screen then paging once to the right or clicking the Side Missions icon. Each mission, along with its current and completed objectives will be displayed here. Right now it should say DICE WITH THE DEAD > Find Takiy's Dice > Find Pisco the Dead. (Ignore the fact that it says "Cozumel" instead of "The Hidden City." That's a bug.) Pisco's location, in the southwest part of the main city, is marked on your map with a green icon. Head there now. (screenshot)

NOTE: On the way you'll probably pass through the PAITITI MARKET. You may want to stop and do some trading. This is covered in a separate section of the main walkthrough. I recommend saving 6,100 gold pieces to buy the LOCK PICK and ROPE ASCENDER. The TRAVELING MERCHANT who sells them is part of this Side Mission. You will also pass by a few monoliths, documents, relics, etc. These are covered in the main walkthrough.

Pisco the Dead is is in the building just west of the monolith where a bunch of citizens are assembled. (Lara probably can't read this monolith yet, so it's covered later.) Talk to Pisco to hear an interesting tale of how he became an outcast and his side of the dispute with Takiy. He offers Lara a deal: if she speaks with 5 other outcasts then tell Pisco what she's learned and he will give her the dice. (screenshots)

NOTE: If you start this mission later in the game, you may need to change back into the Blue Heron Tunic, otherwise Pisco won't talk to you.

BUG NOTE: If you arrive at this location only to find that Pisco the Dead is invisible, it's crucial that you reload an earlier save and restart the mission. If you talk to Pisco while he is invisible, you may still be able to interact with the other NPCs involved in the mission, but when you return to Pisco later, you won't be able to talk to him and therefore will not be able to complete the mission. This will prevent you from getting 100% completion. See this Reddit thread for details. If you've already triggered the bug, try loading an earlier save (last campsite, backup, etc.) or, if you're playing on PC, download a save file.

After talking to Pisco, you recieve a second mission: Seek Out the Outcasts and a new objective, Talk to 5 Outcasts. The locations of 4 of them are marked on your map. The first outcast is nearby. Leave Pisco's building, turn right, and climb the stairs just beyond the shrine where several Paititians are kneeling.

The first outcast, a woman who doesn't give her name, is standing near the top of the stairs. Talk to her to learn that she was cast out when she fell in love with an outsider. She also tells Lara that she sometimes visits the cliffs to collect condor feathers, which remind her of her long-lost love. The condor's territory is then revealed on your map. (screenshots)

To find the second outcast, head to the south. Go past the monolith and the stern-looking cultist. Turn right and climb the stairs to the top. Instead of entering the cave directly ahead, make a U-turn to the right to find the outcast. He and Lara don't exchange names, but he tells her he was cast out for telling the truth about the Cult of Kukulkan's shady dealings. He also tells Lara about some hidden gold, which is then revealed on your map. (screenshots)

To find the third outcast, return down the stairs to the east, the way you came. Keep going all the way to the bottom. Then drop down several ledges to the muddy, open area with the fire burning in the middle. Turn around and head up the stairs to the southwest, into a cave. Here you'll discover the Village Caves Base Camp and the next outcast, a woman named Chaska. She says she was cast out for when she confessed to a crime she didn't commit. She was a nanny and one of the children in her care stole a jade necklace. To protect the girl from being cast out, she took the blame and says she has no regrets. After speaking with her, a hidden cache of jade ore is marked on your map. (screenshots)

The fourth outcast is fairly close by. Exit the cave and head down the steps to the open area with the fire. Follow the steps up to the left. At the top, turn right and you'll see a teacher telling a story to two children. Enter the house behind them, the one with the blue cloth tied onto its unfinished roof. The outcast is inside. He tells Lara how he was cast out when he rejected his family's plans for him to be a farmer and decided to be a hunter instead. He had been dissatisfied for some time, but one night a herd of white capybara trampled his field, and he took it as a sign. He now calls himself Paimo the White. When he finishes his story, an albino capybara hunting ground is marked on your map. (screenshots)

The location of the fifth outcast is only revealed after you've spoken to the others. She can be found just north of Paimo's place. If you exit through the upper door, climb up and go around the corner to the right. If you exit through the lower door, go around the corner to the left and climb onto the ledge. Pass through the next building to the north, and you'll find the outcast just outside. The woman, Moraekah, already knows who Lara is and that she was the one who took the Key of Chak Chel and started the Cleansing. But rather than being angry, she offers her some words of wisdom, the crux being that change is inevitable; fear is the only true enemy. (screenshots)

She then offers Lara a look at her wares, and the MERCHANT interface opens. If you can afford it, I recommend buying the LOCK PICK and ROPE ASCENDER now. Moraekah moves around and she's not always easy to find. If you don't have the gold now, don't worry; there are notes about her in the PAITITI MARKET section of the main walkthrough.

Before or after speaking with Moraekah, use a rope arrow to pull down the pole with the purple frog totem for the Changing the Weather Challenge. Lara can't use her weapons in the city, but you can target the rope coil holding up the totem in order to pull it down. The other totems are covered in the Challenges section. (screenshots)

After speaking to Moraekah, Return to Pisco. He's in the same place you found him before, which is now marked on your map with a green "Mission" icon. As Lara relates the lessons she learned from the other outcasts to Pisco, it's clear that their wisdom applies just as well to her own situation. The Mission Seek Out the Outcasts is marked complete.

Pisco also gives Lara the dice and you must now Return the Dice to Takiy. The boy is also where you left him, near the bridge. Head down the hill to the northeast, past the MARKET, to get back there. Check your map or use Survival Instinct if you need help finding him. Talk to him to complete the mission Find Takiy's Dice. You'll also earn XP and 250 gold pieces, though I'm not sure where a little kid would have gotten all that money.

At this point the 2 completed missions, Find Takiy's Dice and Seek Out the Outcasts, should be checked off in the Side Missions screen (screenshot), and added to the tally at the top of your in-game map. (screenshot)

The various "secrets" revealed by the outcasts are covered later in the main walkthrough when we explore those areas.

[Hidden City Walkthrough]

UPDATE HISTORY: 10/14/18 - First draft of walkthrough posted online.
11/11/18 - Attempted to clarify the numbering of the side missions.
12/8/18 - Added gold awarded for completing the missions.
10/20/20 - Added bug note about Dice with the Dead mission.
8/18/21 - Renumbered missions and made a few minor tweaks while working on the Guide to 100% Completion and Quick Collectibles Guides.


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