Assassin’s Creed Mirage: How to solve the A Challenge Enigma

About as challenging as you'd expect.

Basim on a balcony
Screenshot by Dot Esports

The A Challenge Enigma is one of three of the Enigmas in the Abbasiyah district of Baghdad in Assassin’s Creed Mirage. This one is an actual riddle written by some smarty pants. That means it rhymes and that it’s annoying.

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This guide will explain where to find the A Challenge Enigma in the first place, how to solve the riddle, and where to find the treasure “hoard” described in the riddle. And I promise there’ll be no rhyme, except just this one time.

Where to find the A Challenge Enigma in Assassin’s Creed Mirage

A map showing the location of the A Challenge Enigma
It’s right there. That’s all you need to know. Screenshot by Dot Esports

The A Challenge Enigma is on a small balcony on the side of a house in the Yasiriyah part of Abbasiyah. It’s southeast of the House of Wisdom, south of the Scriptorium, and close to the city walls.

How to solve the A Challenge Enigma in Assassin’s Creed Mirage

The A Challenge Enigma riddle
I’m not sure a pouch of dye constitutes “an intellect’s reward.” Screenshot by Dot Esports

So, the first important part of the riddle is “Turn east from where the learned observe The Ram, the Scales, the Gourd.” The Ram, Scales, and Gourd are constellations of stars, so this means you need to head east from the Observatory, which is between the House of Wisdom and the Scriptorium.

East of the Observatory, there is indeed an “isle where waters split,” meaning the island which has the Gate of Tahir and the Tomb of Zubaydah on it. And on the banks of that island, there are three huge water wheels. The riddle says, “at my flanks, wheels churn”, so the treasure is among those three wheels. Also, “what once stood proud, now felled and cowed” refers to trees, and “that scriveners might record” refers to paper, which is made from trees. Sure enough, this whole area is a paper mill. To find the treasure, you have to “look within my walls,” so it must be inside one of the buildings.

Where to find the A Challenge Dye in Assassin’s Creed Mirage

A map showing the location of the paper warehouse
The paper warehouse is right here. Screenshot by Dot Esports

The warehouse is the largest building in this area, the one with four paper drying racks on its roof. It has a barred door in its southeast wall, a locked window hatch in its northwest wall, and two other windows that you can see through but that have bars (so you can’t climb through them.)

Basim throwing a knife at a lock
In these situations, the red reticle is your friend. Screenshot by Dot Esports

You can, however, throw a knife through one of those windows at the lock inside the window hatch. That will remove the hatch, leaving you free to climb in through the window in the northwest wall.

Basim finding some dye
The dye isn’t as shimmering as it looks. It’s black and grey. Screenshot by Dot Esports

The Black Rostam dye is on the lower floor inside.

Author
Image of Gavin Mackenzie
Gavin Mackenzie
Gavin Mackenzie has been playing video games since the early 80s, and writing about them professionally since the late 90s. Having been a writer and editor on various British magazines including PLAY, GamesTM, and X360, he's now a freelance guides specialist at Dot Esports.