One of the many sub-plots in The Forgotten City involves the election between Malleolus and Sentius to become Magistrate. Although you can at first ignore the election, later in the game you’re going to need to free Duli to get access to one of the tablets that he’s grabbed. Oh, and be a good person by freeing him, I guess.
To do this, you’re going to need to get Galerius elected as Magistrate. We’re getting way ahead of ourselves though, as before you do any of that, you’ve first got to find a way into the villa and gain an audience with Malleolus in the “Locked Villa” quest.
How To Start Locked Villa In The Forgotten City
To start off this quest, you first need to talk to Domitius outside of the villa. He’ll tell you that you can’t speak to Malleolus as he’s busy practising a speech for the election. At this point, you’ll get the “Locked Villa” quest, which is essentially the game telling you to ignore Domitius and find a way in there.
There are a few different ways you can do this. Talking to Domitius further will reveal that he’ll let you in if you give him something good. What he wants is 1000 denarii, and then he’ll give you the key to the villa, which you’ll keep on every subsequent loop. This is by far the worst way to do it, however, and very unlikely to be how you get in.
The other way to do this, and the smarter choice, is to go up the stairs towards the Great Temple. Once here, you’ll see Octavia and Ulpius. Octavia will start talking to you for a bit before Ulpius approaches the edge of the cliff. After talking for a bit, Ulpius will jump off the cliff. You can’t save him the first time you talk to him, although you’ll be able to pursue some quests that will help save him later in the game. We’ll get to that in a different guide.
With Ulpius gone, you can then jump off the cliff where he did to fall into some water in a hole below. You’re now in Malleolus’ villa and can talk to him near the exit. Better yet, you can take the key from next to the door and will now have access to it in subsequent loops. Getting access to Malleolus’ villa will be key to completing key quests later in the game involving saving Ulpius, getting him to drop out of the election, and getting Galerius elected, as you'll need to talk to Malleolus to see these quests through.
You can also find his wife in a room upstairs, who you can interact with later to get Malleolus to drop out of the election. You can also rob the chest next to her to get a quick 2000 denarii, although this will set off The Golden Rule.
If you want one more way of getting into the villa, you can also use the golden bow on some vines on the outside of the villa to turn them into gold and climb your way in. If you happen to follow that quest line first, it’s a good way of doing things without running into Ulpius and Octavia.