In Dead Island 2, there’s a type of side quest called Lost & Found. These quests ask you to chase down loot (or a missing person), though you’ll have to follow a trail of clues.
In Venice Beach, there’s a Lost & Found quest called “Jo’s Rainy Day Stash.” I’m going to walk you through the entire thing and explain all the clues to you so you don’t have to waste hours running around Venice Beach while being attacked by the undead.
First up, you’ll pick up the quest at Jo’s Rentals, which is super easy to find because it’s labeled on your map with a cartoon shark. Well, there are two cartoon sharks on the map; the one you’re looking for is the northern one (the other one is a promotional statue that’s located near the beach).
And when you get to the shop, there’s a cartoon shark statue outside it.
This shark was featured in the 2022 trailer for Dead Island 2, so it might look a little familiar to anyone who followed the prerelease hype.
Anyway, you can get inside the shop by smashing your way through the windows. Note that this will set off an alarm and summon a swarm of zombies, so get ready for a fight. Once you’ve dispatched the zombies, you can pick up Scotty’s phone off the service desk inside the shop.
Picking up the phone will trigger the Lost & Found quest “Jo’s Rainy Day Stash.” Note that if you go around to the back of the opposite counter, you will also find an item called Jo’s Staff Room Key. You can pick that up if you want to, but you actually don’t need it for this particular quest.
If you read the messages on Scotty’s phone, you’ll see that two of Jo’s employees (Scotty and Nick) were conspiring against him. Jo had been hoarding stuff in a secret stash not far from the shop, and the employees were thinking about hunting it down so they could take it for themselves.
Now that all of these folks have been zombified, there’s nothing wrong with taking the stash for yourself, right?
This text gives you some information about where Jo was running off to, which is where you’ll find the next clue. According to the text, there’s a place of residence not far from Jo’s Rentals, which is where you want to go next. There’s actually only one place that truly fits the bill: some apartments located above the Muscle Street shops.
If you can’t find the building, it’s right across the street from the Strongman gym (which you’ll visit during the main story quest “The Giant-Slayer”). Here’s where it is on your map:
Go around to the back of the building, and you should eventually encounter Jo’s Shambling Body wandering aimlessly near a red truck. This is not too far from Marla’s Tapas & Tacos. Remember this taco place for later (and you might as well remember that truck too).
Kill him and pick up his phone so you can read “Jo’s Final Farewell.”
In this message, Jo talks about getting shot at while trying to access his stash (which was on the rooftops), and he moved everything to Marla’s. If you don’t recall the taco place I mentioned earlier, you might think Marla is the woman Jo was having an affair with, but it’s actually the name of the taco place (actually, I think it’s both — I think Marla owns the taco shop and is also the woman Scotty and Nick were texting about). The stash is on the roof of the taco place, which is not too far from the apartment (Marla’s is almost right next door to Burger ’66, which is right across the street from the Blue Crab).
It’s a little tricky to get to the location, so I made a video that will guide you right to it:
Be careful, because the rooftop is rigged with a tripwire and explosives, which you will set off if you’re not careful. You will also encounter Scotty and Nick, both of whom have turned into zombies. Once you’ve killed them, the stash is yours.
You’ll also learn that Jo’s “baby” was the red truck.
And that’s how you find the stash to complete the Lost & Found quest “Jo’s Rainy Day Stash” in Dead Island 2.
