Find out how to start and complete the side quest chain A Critical Encounter in Assassin’s Creed Shadows – a crossover with Critical Role. The rewards include a new ally, unique banner, gold, mastery points, and a decent amount of XP.
Table of contents
How to start the Critical Role Story Pack
To start the Critical Role Story Pack, you’ll need to meet the following prerequisites:
- Complete “Way of the Blacksmith” quest where you recruit Heiji to be a blacksmith for your hideout.
- Complete Act 1 and unlock Yasuke as a playable character.
These prerequisites are necessary for progress in the game, so it’ll be no issue starting this quest once you finish Act 1.
Once you have met these prerequisites, go to the Hideout and head to the stream on the east side.
An unfamiliar face has appeared inside the Hideout and now Naoe and Yasuke must investigate this stranger.
You’ll find a man hiding in the bushes near a boulder, talk to him to start the quest, “A Critical Encounter”.
A Critical Encounter
As you talk to this mysterious man, you’ll learn that his name is Rufino. He knows Tomiko and Heiji and is welcomed to the hideout. He’ll tell you of a group killing innocent civilians to replace them with strangers.
After the cutscene, you’ll be tasked to board a ship that has research on targets this group is looking to kill. This ship is found southwest of Sakai. Commandeer a boat from the ports of Sakai and make your way to the boat.
Board the ship and take out the guards on the deck. There aren’t many so it’ll be easy to clear out. You’re looking for three crates, two are in the main deck and one is in the Captain’s Quarters. Destroy the crates then help Rufino.
Rufino will be at the aft of the ship and you’ll find him in trouble. Kill the reinforcement to start a cutscene. You’ll learn that this group hides their messages in code that Rufino can decrypt.
With this new lead, you’ll learn the whereabouts of this group’s killers. This will complete “A Critical Encounter” and start the next quest, “Hunting the Hunters”.
Hunting the Hunters
Your goal with this quest is to eliminate the threats to the civilians. If you go to your Objectives menu, a new objective circle will appear.
This new circle is the Seta River Killers circle and you’ll need to assassinate them all to complete this quest.
The Tormentor
The Tormentor is located southeast of Takatsuki Castle in the Izumi Settsu province. He’ll be armed with a bow and will be walking near the river.
After assassinating the Tormentor, you’ll pick up his Kill Assignment. This unlocks the Exterminator as a target in the Setsu River Killers circle.
The Builder
The Builder is located in the Bamboo Cutters Watchtower south of Yawata Plains in Izumi Settsu. She’s a good target to take down after assassinating the Tormentor as she’s a short trip southwest of him.
This area is heavily guarded so be sure to take down any of the lookouts in the area before going for the Builder. After assassinating her, you’ll pick up an encoded message.
The Collector
The Collector is found on the opposite side of the river from Oyamazaki Village. This village is in the southern end of the Yamashiro province, south of Kyoto. You’ll find her harassing a fisherman on a dock.
After assassinating the Collector, you’ll pick up her Kill Assignment. This will unlock a lead on a new target, the Trader.
The Stalker
The Stalker is in southern Omi east of the Seta Bridge in the Mouth of Seta. He’ll be hiding in the bushes near a fisher-woman. Kill him to pick up another note from the Exterminator.
The Trader
The Trader is located in a small shack near the coast in the Omi province. She’s northeast of the Stalker’s location, so summon your horse and assassinate her while she’s distracted by her poetry.
The Exterminator
The Exterminator at Koriyama Camp, south of the Muggy Lands in northwest Izumi Settsu. He’s heavily armored and will hit hard with his kanobo, so be careful if you end up fighting him. Defeating him will give you an encoded message.
Return to Rufino
With two targets left to take down, you must return to Rufino at the hideout so he can decrypt the encoded messages you picked up.
He’ll tell you about a meeting point where the Architect and Scholar will be. This will complete the quest “Hunting the Hunters” and you’ll start the final quest of this story pack, “Man Behind the Curtain”.
Man Behind the Curtain
The island that Rufino mentioned is the island of Okinoshiroishi. It’s the small island in the middle of Lake Biwa in the Omi province. Be sure to grab a boat at the nearest fast travel point then make your way there.
Land at the southern end of the island and take out the two bandits camping there. Climb up the plateau using the wall with the white marks going up along it. Once you’re there, go to the meeting point.
You won’t find the Architect and the Scholar, so you’ll end up decoding the message yourself using Rufino’s notes. Rufino sent you to the wrong location and you’ll learn that they’re actually meeting up at Kashiwabara Fortress in the Ibu Highlands.
Assassinate the Architect
Reach Kashiwabara Fortress and you’ll find Rufino talking to a man named Ermigo. Once you get close enough, a cutscene will start.
Go through the cutscene and you’ll end up being surrounded. Choose to play as Naoe or Yasuke for the following fight and assassinate the Architect.
You might have guessed it, this mystery group killing innocent civilians are none other than the Templars.
Take out his two bodyguards first otherwise you’ll be shot at constantly. They use a lot of unblockable attacks so you won’t get too many chances to parry unless you unlocked the capability to parry unblockable attacks.
The Architect himself is a tricky fight if you’re unprepared. He uses his pistol along with swift sword attacks. If you’re going to parry his blue ones, be prepared to do so in quick succession.
Once the Architect is defeated, another cutscene will play. This concludes the Critical Role story pack and you’ll get some nice goodies to go with all the XP and Mastery Points you earned.
Rewards for completing the Story Pack
After completing “Man Behind the Curtain”, you’ll gain some mon, a piece of Gold, the Critical Role Banner decoration, and you’ll unlock Rufino as an Ally you can summon.
Rufino as an Ally
Rufino is a combat-oriented ally that will attack with a sword and pistol. His specialty is to build up the Bleed affliction on enemies. He’ll pair well with a bleed affliction build.
For what he gives in power, he lacks in durability. He’ll flee after taking a couple hits so using a tank build on Yasuke would compliment him.
Like other allies, you can upgrade his capabilities at your Hideout’s Dojo where he can learn the abilities Kidney Shot and Destabilize. Unlike the other allies, he does not have any alternate outfits gained when trained.
Critical Role Banner
Just like the last story pack, you’ll gain a new banner decoration for your Hideout after completing this story pack. You’ll gain the Critical Role banner that features the d20 die used as Critical Role’s logo!
