Finding the Observatory Tale of Baghdad starts an Assassin’s Creed Mirage side quest called A Life’s Work. In this short mission, you’ll meet a scholar upon arriving at the Observatory in the Abbasiyah district who will ask you to save his life’s work.
Tales of Baghdad are side quests that allow AC Mirage players to experience storylines around the city. After starting this quest, you’ll need to find three pages, which are all near to where you talk with the scholar. While the first paper will be easy to spot with Eagle Vision, others won’t appear on your radar; that’s where this guide helps.
How to start the A Life’s Work quest in AC Mirage, the Observatory Tale of Baghdad
To start the A Life’s Work quest, you’ll need to travel to the Observatory viewpoint in the Abbasiyah region. Jump off the viewpoint or tour around its ground level until you see two boards filled with papers.
You’ll need to speak to the man sitting right in the middle of those boards, Al-Mahani. Throughout your conversation with them, you’ll discover that Al-Mahani’s health is in critical condition.
While he would also like to speak to his son before it’s too late, Al-Mahani wants you to find the three papers first and save his life’s work.
Where to find the three pages in the A Life Work quest, the Observatory Tale of Baghdad
The first page will appear in Eagle Vision after you follow Al-Mahani until he sits down again. You’ll need to help him up first, and you’ll be able to find all three papers as he waits for you on a bench.
Look toward the left from that bench, and you’ll see the first page on top of that building. When you get to its roof, however, it’ll fly away. You can’t prevent this event, and you’ll need to chase the paper to collect it. The chase will lead you to the northeast of the Observatory, and you’ll be able to collect it off the floor.
Finding the second page will be more difficult since you’ll need to break into the Observatory first. Climb down the stairs where you found the first paper, move the bookshelf, and then climb on top of it. Throw a knife inside so you can use the front door to enter. Return to Al-Mahani’s side and enter the building from the door behind his bench.
Go up the stairs and the second page will be on a desk.
To find the third page, you’ll need to interact with the window located where you found the second page.
Open the window and use the rope to rotate around the building. Move the bookshelf to the balcony and climb up to the top floor, where you’ll find the third page sitting on a desk.
When you have all three papers, you can return to the bench and give the old man some good news, but a twist will be waiting for you.
A Life’s Work dialogue choices and outcomes
Upon returning to Al-Mahani’s location, you’ll find out he has passed away while you were collecting the papers. This is an event you can’t prevent, and AC Mirage will present you with two different dialogue options while talking with Al-Mahani’s son:
- The treatise mattered most.
- You mattered most.
If you choose the treatise that matters most, Al-Mahani’s son will despise his father for prioritizing his work over his family. The son also swears his father’s work will never see the light of day, indicating he would not publish it.
The son will still get mad if you choose “You mattered most,” but his anger will be toward you. He’ll call you out for finding the papers first rather than him. While he doesn’t say anything specific about what he would do with his father’s work, he doesn’t say anything negative about the papers.
I chose the second option and picked “You mattered most.” I figured if the son would get mad at me instead of his father, he would have a higher chance of releasing his father’s life work, which was what I wanted to happen after parkouring around the Observatory.
The dialogue choice doesn’t impact anything in terms of AC Mirage’s storyline, and you’ll get a skill point regardless of your preference. If this also happens to be your first Tales of Baghdad, you’ll receive the Crossing Paths achievement.
