Suggested Level: 33

While the quest “ Playing with Fire “ seems like the next natural quest to do - save Kade, kill Agrippa, conquer a mighty Roman citadel - the quest description mentions a Roman engineer named Vitruvius. This isn’t an idel mention, either, as if you intend to complete “ Playing with Fire “ you’ll be forced to deal with Vitruvius’s quest “ The Good Roman “ in the middle of the former quest. That being the case, why not just go get Vitruivius’s quest out of the way, first, so you can deal with “ Playing with Fire “ without interruption or detour?

Lumber Depots¶

Nead northwest from the farm where you met Praxilla to find Vitruvius - or rather, one of his workers - who lurks near the Lumber Depots point of interest. Before you talk to him, however, you might as well complete this point of interest. Use Senu to spot the treasure nearby, kill the two Romans guarding it, then loot the red chest. Easy-peasy.

Aquaductus Kyrenaike¶

Talk to the workers and, after some initial confusion, they’ll complain about Vitruvius, properly starting this quest. Continue northwest a distance until you find the aqueduct the workers at the Lumber Depots were talking about, where just so happens to have a fast travel point at its southeastern end, and another point of interest centered on the northwestern end. You know what to do, synchronize with the fast travel point to save yourself some travel later, use Senu to spot this Vitruvius and the treasures at the point of interest.

There are three treasures you’ll need to claim, one of which is on the aqueduct itself, near the fast travel synchronization spot, another is further northwest, on the ground near the base of the aqueduct (it’s a restricted area, and you’ll probably have to fight off some Romans to get this one), while the third can be found in a tent near Vitruvius. Claim them all to complete the point of interest, hopefully not getting sucked into conversation with Vitruvius in the process…

The Stolen Dioptra¶

When you’re done looting the area, head to where Senu spotted Vitruvius and you’ll watch a Roman soldier mistake “lash” with “giant spikey hammer”, and “tongue” with “skull”. Not being capable of bearing this common misunderstanding, Vitruvius steps in on the Egyptian’s behalf, an act with doesn’t make him very popular with his fellow Romans. After the soldiers are scolded off, Bayek will confront Vitruvius, who explains the problem. His surveying tool, a dioptra, was stolen, and General Agrippa and his soldiers are taking their frustrations stemming from the resulting delays out on the workers. If somebody, say a Siwan Medjay, were to find this tool, it would help the workers, Vitruvius, and all the farmers in the province. How can you turn that down?

First step is to talk to Dedi, who possessed the dioptra last. Head north to reach the aqueduct, climb it, then confront Dedi atop the construct, who, fearing Roman punishment, promptly flees. Chase him down, but don’t worry about catching him too much, as he’ll stop after a while allowing Bayek to talk to him. Apparently the device went missing in some caves to the northwest, and it’s split into three different parts.

A cursory glance at your map will reveal that… sure enough, there are three search areas, and in the vicinity of these search areas is an enemy camp point of interest, the Necropolis Hideout. You might as well complete this point of interest as part of this quest. There’a also another quest up there, “ Taking Liberty “ (Suggested Level: 33), which you’ll get to once you’re done with “ The Good Roman “ and “ Playing with Fire“ .

Necropolis Hideout¶

Deploy Senu to mark the locations of the three pieces of the dioptra, as well as other location-specific objectives, such as treasures, the target beast for the leopard lair, and the captain and commander of the Necropolis Hideout. Once done, head northwest into a cave running off the aqueduct, then scale the northwestern wall near a waterfall to reach a higher ledge. Continue through the water and follow the waterfall uphill until you reach a large chamber with a pool of water in it. Dive in and swim to the wall to the north and scale the wall there to reach an elevated section of cavern where around half the bandits from the Necropolis Hideout reside.

Kill them and note if you head east you’ll reach another exit to the cave, which is north of the adqueduct. This may be interesting, but it isn’t terribly useful, so instead head up a wooden ramp southeast of the watery pit you climbed up to find an exploration area. Grab the Dioptra Stand off a table, smash a large urn on the floor nearby, then slide under a hole in the wall the urn blocked to reach a treasure room, where you’ll find a small white chest on a table.

Slide back under the wall and return back west to the chamber with the pit in it, then continue west to exit the cave via a different opening. Climb some stairs, then a ladder, beyond which you’ll find yet another cave entrance. Continue west, killing any bandits you encounter along the way and you’ll reach a campsite open to the sky, west of which is yet another cave. Enter this newest cave and follow a ledge running along the northern end of the chamber to find a table with a note on it, which will start the quest “ Taking Liberty “ if you read it. You might as well, as it’ll save you a trip back later.

Continue southwest from the table with the letter until you reach the end of the platform, where you can search the ground to find the Dioptra Sight . Two down, one to go. Jump off the ledge to the southeast and follow a tunnel to the southwest to exit the cavern complex under some ruins. Kill any bandits that contest your passage, then climb up the cliff to the north to reach the ruins, where the last of the bandits can be found. One of the bandits should have the final piece of the dioptra, the Dioptra Protactors on him, after which you can just loot a large red chest to complete the Necropolis Hideout, too.

Fast travel back to the fast travel point on the aqueduct, jump down, then return to Vitruvius to complete the quest, too.