In Dragon’s Dogma the cypher quest is part of the Wyrm Hunt Quest, where the hero must decipher a cypher in order to continue in the main quest and hunt down the dragon. The cypher quest is picked up after speaking to Ser Duncan and accepting Ser Maximilian’s invitation to interpret a cypher written in dragon tongue. This will guide the hero in knowing who to speak to and where to go in understanding the cypher.

The first part of the cypher quest involves talking to people. These people include (in sequence)-

• • Josias who can be found in the fields at the Craftsman Quarters (near where the pawns guild is)
  • the Forge at the Black Cat Store. The Black Cat deals in rare goods that cannot be found in normal shops. Use the quest and map to guide you to the Black Cast store. Speak to the storekeeper and learn of the next person to speak to.
  • At Fountain Square, stay for some time and look for the red question mark (make the cypher quest the priority quest) above the person to speak to. In some games, this person does not appear.

If the person at the fountain square does not turn up, the hero should proceed straight to Hillfigure Knoll. The hero can find Hillfigure Knoll using the following route –

• from Gran Soren, exit from the north or northwestern gate and head north. Aim for a bridge north of this gate.
• Reach this bridge and cross it. Continue going north, aiming for the Windbluff Tower. This fortress can actually be seen from a distance.
• The Hillfigure Knoll is northwest of the Windbluff Tower. Continue on the path there and reach Hillfigure Knoll. Use the map repeatedly to make sure one is on the right path.

Dragon’s Dogma Defeat White Wolves and Harpies in the Cypher Quest

In the Cypher quest, the main monsters to defeat are the white wolves and the harpies, which will litter the path to Hillfigure Knoll. There will also be some bandits and goblins, but these are easy to defeat. When the white wolves attack together with the harpies, they can be difficult to defeat because the hero may be subjected to the effects of petrification for this battle, if hit by the monsters. Once petrified the hero will harden and then slow down and be defeated as he slowly turns to stone. Bring along some stone softener for this fight. The key feature of this fight is to attack the white wolves and the harpies from a distance and to use mass attack spells on them as soon as they are seen.

This means using the Comestion skill to incinerate these monsters before the party gets near (for the mage hero or pawn). Spot the monsters from a distance, save the game and then approach and burn the monsters skyhigh with the spell repeatedly. The hero still needs to do some maneuvers and dodge some of the monsters and find a safe spot to cast more spells when the monsters get too close.There may be more than one pack of white wolves, but once they are defeated, the hero can proceed to Hillfigure Knoll.