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Thread: Dragon Age: Origins Cheat Codes

  1. #1
    Senior Member boomermitra's Avatar
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    Default Dragon Age: Origins Cheat Codes

    Item Set Bonuses
    When you equip the following item set you will recieve the corresponding bonus.

    Item Set 1:
    Griffon - Immunity to Flanking

    Item Set 2:
    Effort - -10 Fatigue

    Item Set 3:
    Juggernaut Plate - +3 Strength +3 Constitution

    Item Set 4:
    Imperium Rings - +2 Armor

    Item Set 5:
    Legion of the Dead - +3 Damage, +3 Constitution

    Item Set 6:
    Dalish Leather - +5 Defense

    Item Set 7:
    Duster Leather - +2 Armor

    Item Set 8:
    Wade's Drakeskin - -10 Fatigue

    Item Set 9:
    Wade's Dragonskin - -25 Fatigue

    Item Set 10:
    Wade's Dragonscale - -20 Fatigue

    Item Set 11:
    Wade's Dragonbone Plate - -10 Fatigue

    Item Set 12:
    Leather Armor - -5 Fatigue

    Item Set 13:
    Studded Leather Armor - +1 Defense

    Item Set 14:
    Chainmail - -2.5 Fatigue

    Item Set 15:
    Scale Armor:
    - +4.5 Defense vs. Missiles

    Item Set 16:
    Splint Mail - +1 Armor

    Item Set 17:
    Dwarven Medium Armor - +1 Armor

    Item Set 18:
    Ancient Elven Armor - +5 Defense

    Item Set 19:
    Ceremonial Armor - +6 Defense vs. Missiles

    Item Set 20:
    Diligence - +5 Willpower

    Item Set 21:
    Dwarven Heavy Armor - +1 Armor

    Item Set 22:
    Heavy Chainmail - -3 Fatigue

    Item Set 23:
    Chevalier Armor - +3 Willpower +3 Constitution

    Item Set 24:
    Commander's Plate - +5 Willpower

    Item Set 25:
    Dwarven Massive Armor - +2 Armor

    Item Set 26:
    Heavy Plate - +7.5 Defense vs. Missiles

    Item Set 27:
    Wade's Superior Drakeskin - -10 Fatigue, +5 Defense

    Item Set 28:
    Wade's Superior Dragonskin - -25 Fatigue, +5 Defense

    Item Set 29:
    Wade's Superior Dragonscale - -20 Fatigue, +5 Defense

    Item Set 30:
    Wade's Superior Dragonbone Plate - -10 Fatigue, +5 Defense

    Secret:
    Warden's Commander - +10 Health, -10 Fatigue

    Secret:
    Armor Of The River Dane Set - +6 Willpower, +1 Cunning, +6 Attack, +4 Defense

    Console Codes

    Add Indicated Amount Of Experience Points:
    Runscript addxp (number)

    Add Indicated Amount Of Copper:
    Runscript zz_money (number)

    Cannot Die:
    Runscript pc_immortal

    Add Party Member:
    Runscript zz_addparty (NPC name)

    Add To Companion Approval Rating:
    Runscript zz_addapproval (companion) (number)

    Break The Party Companion Limit:
    Runscript zz_addparty

    Add Talent Or Spell To Your Character:
    Runscript addtalent (number)

    Heals Player Or Party:
    Runscript healplayer

    Kill All Enemies In Area:
    Runscript killallhostiles

    Knock Back Enemies And Form A Shield Around You:
    Runscript bowlingforferelden

    Removes Indicated Talent From Character Personal Profile:
    Runscript removetalent (talent number)

    Origin Screen:
    Runscript chargen

    Party Select Screen:
    Runscript selectparty

    Remove Entire Party:
    Runscript zz_dropparty

    Talk To Nearest NPC:
    Runscript zz_talk_nearest

    Teleport To Duncan's Fire In Ostagar:
    Runscript zz_pre_strategy

    Teleports To Ostagar:
    Runscript zz_pre_demo2

    Transform Into Level 2 Mage:
    Runscript wizard

    Transform Into Level 2 Rogue:
    Runscript rogue

    Transform Into Level 2 Warrior:
    Runscript warrior

    Disable AI:
    Runscript ai off
    __________________
    enjoy
    BOOM IT GUYZ!!!

  2. #2
    Junior Member abears47's Avatar
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    Default

    Talk To Nearest NPC:
    Runscript zz_talk_nearest

    Teleport To Duncan's Fire In Ostagar:
    Runscript zz_pre_strategy

  3. #3
    Senior Member boomermitra's Avatar
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    Default

    Thanks buddy for adding more cheats.
    BOOM IT GUYZ!!!

  4. #4
    Senior Member boomermitra's Avatar
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    Default

    Walkthrough
    ================================================== =======
    Joining the Grey Wardens
    ========================
    Once the origin story has ended you will find yourself speaking to the young
    king Cailan. Plenty of talking ensues until you're eventually left on your own
    to explore Ostagar. However there really isn't much to see in the ruins, a few
    patches of Elfroot you can snag up and a couple of sacks with minor items in
    them. Even when you head across the bridge into the base camp there isn't much
    to pick up unless you're a rogue who can open all of the chests. What is here
    are a bunch of NPCs to talk to that will get you plenty of XP and Codex entries
    to help you level up.

    Whenever you're done with all of that follow the quest marker to find Alistair
    talking to a mage. After some brief introductions he will join you. Now you
    need to find the other two Grey Warden apprentices although this is easily done
    by simply checking near the Quartermaster and just past him up the stairs near
    the priest. With them in hand head back to Duncan to get this whole ritual
    business underway.

    ========================
    Tainted Blood & The Grey Warden's Cache
    ========================
    Tainted Blood is very easily completed by simply going in the direction that
    the quest marker for "The Grey Warden's Cache" points you. Anytime you kill one
    of the many Genlock or Hurlock enemies there is a good chance that they drop
    the vial of blood you're looking for so don't bother going out of your way to
    get this quickly.

    Keep in mind that this is a pretty dangerous walk, there are lots of wolves
    here and then the path will bring you right through Hurlock central. Try to
    stay together with your battle party since they can be overwhelming if you end
    up fighting more than one at a time (rogues and mages) or two at a time (for
    the warrior sorts). You will likely have to push through two large encounters
    with the Hurlocks to get here. Luckily the game autosaves before either one.

    The first one is easy to see coming since you will see a Hurlock Emissary, a
    spellcaster, standing on a bridge waiting for you. Don't rush him though, walk
    to the fallen tree to the right of the bridge and wait. A group of Genlock
    Rogues will attack you here. Once they're wiped out you can cross the bridge so
    rush the Emissary, taking him out as fast as possible or his spells will really
    whittle you down. With him dead you can now clean up the rest of the 'locks and
    move along on your way.

    The second is nowhere near as dramatic as the first one. There is a large group
    of melee Henlocks that will come rushing, one who is covered in red. These pain
    in the rears are hard to knock down and do a lot of damage... they're basically
    Henlock knights. However they don't stand up to a fully armed group of trained
    warriors! Gang up on this guy with at least two people, preferably one behind
    him so as to flank, and he won't give you too much grief.

    When you finally reach the Grey Warden's Tower a cutscene will ensue. Speak to
    Morrigan and she will take you to her mother who has the scrolls. After much
    dialogue you will obtain the scrolls and be teleported back to the camp which
    is really convenient. Head on over to Duncan to find out what is next.

    When the cutscene is over you'll get the equipment from the party members that
    have left. Oh and you'll have your pet Mibari Hound back so that's nice. Equip
    yourself before heading towards the quest marker to find out what the battle
    strategy is going to be in the coming time. However all doesn't appear to be
    well with Teyrn Loghain... After some more conversation you'll need to head
    towards the quest marker again to get this next section started. An awesome
    cutscene ensues before you're under control again.

    ========================
    The Tower of Ishal
    ========================
    Start making your way across the bridge although be mindful that you'll get
    knocked over by several catapult hits so stop on the far side of the bridge if
    you need to heal. However it seems that the Tower of Ishal has been taken by
    some Darkspawn who came up from underground. You'll be joined by a Circle Mage
    in your attempts to retake it so head on through the gate.

    Once you enter through the gate you will find a battle in progress between the
    soldiers guarding the tower and enemies. Take out the enemies right here before
    going to sweep around to kill the archers near the wooden structure. The whole
    process of fighting them is made much easier thanks to the mage and his ability
    to enchant your weapons to do fire damage. Loot the bodies and chests here
    before moving forward.

    When you head a bit more towards the quest marker you will find that a large
    group of darkspawn is fighting more soldiers so this is a good place to send
    your men into melee quickly as you have plenty of support. Make sure that the
    mage stays back to keep using arcane bolt and watch the area you're in. As you
    fight enemies will come from the ramp ahead and on top of the wooden scaffold,
    firing arrows at you. Be careful about rushing up the ramp solo as there are a
    total of three archers up here and a Hurlock Alpha, another knight type enemy.
    Try to pummel the Alpha with magical spells before he closes to melee so as to
    weaken him a bit before you take him out.

    This clears up the outside so loot all the bodies before going on in.

    The game auto-saves once you enter which is a good thing as the next room is
    pretty rough. Once you enter the wooden barriers are set on fire to try and
    disorient you. Immediately have your mage cast Paralyze on either the melee
    Hurlock to the right, behind the first barrier, or the Genlock Emissary to the
    left behind the far barrier. This takes them out of the way for a moment and
    leaves you with the other one as well as a pair of archers. Send your party to
    handle the Emissary while one person keeps the melee Heurlock busy, if you're a
    melee warrior then you can do it but if not send Alistair and have him keep on
    knocking the big guy down. When the Emissary and melee fighter are dead clean
    up the archers and head into the next hallway.

    Here you can either head into a room to the south or to the north. In the south
    room plenty of Hurlocks wait to be fought, with Genlocks ambushing from the
    rear, so be ready for a fight. If you go to the north you'll likely end up with
    the enemies in the southern room ambushing you so clear them both. Now you can
    open the crates in the south for more items as well as a locked treasure chest.
    Go into the next room, fight more darkspawn, open the chest if you have a rogue
    and then head upstairs to the next level.

    There is another locked chest and wooden crate in the first room on the second
    floor. Go through the southern door when you enter the hallway, this serves an
    important purpose in the coming fight. Head through the room, picking up any
    objects you see, and go out into the hallway. Here, to the north, is a Hurlock
    and four Genlocks. As soon as they notice you two Hurlocks come out a door to
    the side. Seven enemies? Yeah that's bad.

    But there's a trick! Have your party hold position and have one of your
    characters run between the two ballista in this hallway. You can fire flaming
    arrows at the enemy. When they start getting close have your mage cast spells
    to either hurt or paralyze them and have your party move to attack. They should
    be hurt enough that taking them out is no problem so slaughter them and search
    the bodies. A group of five Genlock is guarding the stairs to the third floor
    so be ready to fight through them before going up.

    Search the pile of bones in the first room and head into the next room for a
    fight with a bunch of darkspawn, nothing too serious. The next room has several
    Genlocks as well as an Alpha with a bow so be careful here. If you'd like to
    make your life easier ignore the enemies with one party member, a rogue who is
    sneaking does well at this, and use the cage release. This allows three Mibari
    hounds to attack the darkspawn for you. Take them out, search the bodies and
    open the locked chest if possible.

    In the next hallway is three rooms along one wall and a door at the far end.
    The far door leads to the stairs but the other rooms lead to side rooms with a
    bit of treasure in crates. It is suggested you open the first door and go in to
    fight the enemies. As you do this more enemies will come from the other two
    rooms, responding to the noise, and fight you. However it's better to do this
    here rather than getting ambushed from behind in the staircase room. Take them
    out, being mindful to protect the mage, and then gather up loot. Head into the
    stairwell to find a Hurlock and two Genlocks. Defeat them, loot the bodies and
    search the weapon rack for some arrows. To the top floor!

    Here you will get your first taste of a "boss" fight although this one isn't
    all that bad.

    -------------------
    Boss: Ogre
    -------------------
    While the Ogre is very big, and very scary looking, he's not actually all that
    hard. His main advantages are that he has a lot of hit points, can attack you
    if you go behind him and can kill the mage in one, harsh, attack. So you'll
    likely want to control your mages for this one to keep them well away.

    The ogre attacks pretty rapidly but not so fast you should ever die without a
    chance to heal... unless you're a mage. Try to focus on hitting him with as
    many spells and special attacks as possible. Your hound will do a good job of
    damaging him while not taking too much damage and Alistair can go toe to toe
    with it so long as he has Shield Defense, not Shield Cover as he likes to use,
    going at the time.

    What you do is dependant upon your class. If you're a warrior try to let the
    game control you while you use the mage to keep hitting him with spell after
    spell. Should he start to move towards you run for your life and hope the other
    three distract him. But if you're a rogue things are harder to judge. Try to
    stay back, shooting arrows at him from a far distance, and keep watch on the
    mage so that he doesn't get too close. The same goes true for mage PC's.

    Even if he ganks the mage the fight shouldn't last much longer. Keep at it and
    watch the awesome special attack that kills this bad boy off.
    -------------------

    Search the Ogre and barrels in the room before activating the signal light. A
    cutscene will play showing yet more wonderful people in this world that you
    should totally be saving. When the cutscene ends you will be having a talk with
    Morrigan in her mothers hut. Once you're done speaking to her head outside to
    the Korcari Wilds to have a chat with Alistair and Flemeth.

    After a long conversation with Flemeth, Alistair and Morrigan you will leave
    the wild with a new party member. Head out onto the world map to see the...
    well, to see the world map. From this you can pick to head straight to the
    village of Lothering.
    BOOM IT GUYZ!!!

  5. #5
    Senior Member boomermitra's Avatar
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    ========================
    Lothering and the Imperial Highway
    ========================
    Bandits on the Road
    ===================
    When you arrive at Lothering a bunch of bandits will attempt to extort silver
    pieces from you. There are a few things that can be done with this situation:

    - If you have a good enough Coercion skill you can talk them into letting you
    by via Intimidate. It's then possible to demand they pay you for your trouble,
    which causes them to offer 20 silver. This allows you to go on your way.

    - Just flat out attack them. If a fight breaks out they prove to be fairly
    tough. The big guy with the hammer needs to be a priority target, followed by
    the leader who is fairly capable in melee combat and will stun you quite often.
    Once the leader is hurt enough he will attempt to talk the situation out. You
    can either ask him a few questions and let him go or kill him. He will not join
    your army, asking him to do so just leads to having to kill him.

    Search the bodies, as well as the fallen Templar to start "A Fallen Templar", a
    side quest based in Lothering. Search the bodies, nearby chests and then head
    on into the town.

    Here you can get involved in plenty of small things, talking to people all over
    the town. Sometimes your party will disapprove of your actions, it will often
    be Morrigan, but there's plenty to do. Main things of note are the squabble
    with the merchant and priestess (someplace to unload equipment!), the Chanter's
    Board and a hysterical man near the Chantry who you can calm down with several
    Persuade checks. However do not head inside of the Tavern until you're ready
    for some trouble. Hold off on entering the Chantry until you've spoken to Sten
    outside the village and gotten "The Qunari Prisoner" quest.

    When you enter the tavern several of Teyrn Loghains men will harass you before
    attacking. They're not terribly difficult and the only one you need to kill to
    end the battle is the Commander so have everyone target him. This is especially
    easy thanks to Morrigan - simply use her Vulnerability Hex and then hit him
    with her ice and lightning attacks. His health will plummet even if the others
    aren't going after him. Once he has lost most of his life you can either let
    him go or finish him off. The only difference in your decision is whether your
    new lay Priestess friend, Leliana, approves of your decision or not.

    With them defeated Leliana will offer to join your party. It's nice to have a
    Rogue at this point so you'll want her coming along. Now speak to Barlin,
    another shopkeeper, before talking to the Blackstone Liason. This will open up
    a line of quests that are worth doing.

    Leave the tavern and head out of town to the north. Here you will find a man
    inside of a cage, speak to him. Sten, as he is named, is guilty of killing a
    whole family but he could be useful to your quest. Head back to the Chantry and
    go on inside. Once in speak to Ser Bryant for a reward for handling the bandits
    as well as asking about Sten. You could also ask him for help which results in
    him giving you a key to use on a cupboard, this nets you a good pair of boots
    as well as some healing items.

    You can turn in the "Fallen Templar" quest here if you are doing it. Now head
    into the back to find the Revered Mother. Speak to her about your quest, you
    can even get a blessing if you like. If you're looking to recruit Sten finish
    up that quest now before moving on. There's little else to do here besides the
    various side quests.

    When you head to the north to try and leave Lothering a group of Refugees will
    attack you for the bounty that has been placed on your head. There's nothing to
    do but kill them. Be careful that Leliana and Morrigan aren't left on their own
    to handle these enemies or they will likely fall. This is especially important
    since enemies will likely come up from behind you to attack so watch out for
    your two ladies.

    Continue towards the Imperial Highway to get out of town where you will meet up
    with a bunch of darkspawn killing a Blood Mage while two dwarves cower. Go kill
    the lot of them, speak to the dwarves, loot the bodies and then be on your way.

    When you leave the limits of the city you will be in a party camp although you
    have a cutscene first. Once you're awake you can speak to Alistair and the rest
    of your party. There is a quest here to learn about Enchanting your equipment
    but this is really just a small break in the game to let you talk to your party
    members before heading into the next area.

    The quests will be attended to in the order they appear in your quest log.

    ========================
    The Arl of Redcliffe
    ========================
    On the map screen choose Redcliffe Village as your destination point. As you go
    to cross the bridge towards the town a man named Tomas will speak to you. It
    seems that monsters have overtaken this village and only Bann Teagan has been
    holding everything together. You're taken to see him which leads to a nice long
    conversation that explains the situation in this village.

    ===================
    A Village Under Siege
    ===================
    When the talking is over you'll have to head out into the village itself to
    find Murdock and Ser Perth. Speaking to Murdock is simple as he's just outside
    of the Chantry. He explains that the blacksmith has lost his daughter inside of
    the castle and will not help the defenders at all. It's up to you to talk some
    sense into him.

    Talking the Blacksmith is kind of a pain and it's not suggested that you bring
    Morrigan along. He's almost impossible to force into doing the work, you're all
    but certain to end up having to promise to rescue his daughter, starting the
    "Lost in the Castle" quest. Morrigan will, of course, mock you for this which
    causes her to lose a good chunk of approval. Ugh.

    You don't have to do anything else for Murdock but you can help him to recruit
    some allies for the coming battle. Find Dwynn's house along the waters to the
    eastern part of town and either lockpick the door open or bust the lock. Once
    inside you can either hire Dwynn to protect the locals or intimidate him into
    doing it. Either way he'll be out there on the field.

    Now for Ser Perth. To find this schmo you're going to have to head up the hills
    and then over a stone bridge. Before going up there find the general store in
    town and search the barrels. This will let you know that you have some oil to
    be used against the monsters. Now speak to him to find out that there isn't
    really anything he needs. If you feel up to it you can go to the Revered Mother
    and ask her for some holy protection. She can't use magic to do so but you can
    give them some amulets to con them into thinking the Maker protects them. If
    you do this Morrigan approves, Leliana doesn't.

    Whenever you're ready tell them that you're done to start the night attack.

    ===================
    Attack at Nightfall
    ===================
    From where you start the undead will be rushing your position. This part is
    very simple if you've gotten the flames laid out by talking to the knights. The
    undead will continually rush at you through the flames taking a lot of damage
    and being very easy to cut down. Just try to keep your idiot allies from going
    right into the fire and you'll be fine.

    After fighting here for a bit the undead will attack from another angle forcing
    you to rush to the Chantry to defend it. This part of the fight is once again
    just you standing your ground against constant waves of enemies. This one is a
    bit easier thanks to how many men you have at your side so even though you're
    fighting four or five at a time the militia will make your life much easier.

    Just keep on fighting and don't let your party members get knocked down or they
    won't be getting back up anytime soon. Keep your health up to make this as easy
    as can be.

    * NOTE: If you've defeated all enemies but the cutscene doesn't play go towards
    the water. Sometimes a lone zombie ends up stuck on something over here and you
    need to go kill him to advance the game.

    When the fighting ends a cutscene will play with the townsfolk thanking you for
    saving them. If you let him Bann Teagan will give you a helmet passed down in
    his family. It's pretty good so you might want to take it rather than going the
    selfless route. Once the talking is over the Blackstone Liason and Chanter
    Board in town will open up for your use so if you feel like side questing that
    is the time.

    Make your way to Bann Teagan to talk about the situation going on now. This
    sets you back on the Arl of Redcliffe quest. Speak to Ser Perth after the talk
    has ended to have him go to the castle gates and then head into the windmill.
    Straight ahead of you is a trapdoor that will take you down into the passage.

    ========================
    The Arl of Redcliffe
    ========================
    Right in front of you, through the door, you will find three walking corpses
    trying to get into a jail cell down here. Defeat them and then speak to Jowan,
    the blood mage trapped in the cell. This will be familiar to Magi characters.
    Either set him free, kill him or leave him alone - it only matters later on in
    this mission. None of your allies like you killing him but Alistair really does
    not like letting him go. The others seem to think that giving him another
    chance to set things right is the proper thing to do so make up your mind.

    Continue forward when you've made your decision. Search in the next room for a
    letter that goes into your Quest-related notes as "A Rolled-up Note" for a
    quest to do later on. When you approach the door to the main floor four undead
    will attack, three from the rear and one from the small alcove to your left. Do
    your best not to let Morrigan or Leliana get surrounded or they will suffer for
    it. Try to keep at least one fighter near the rear as you approach this so that
    they fight the horde instead. Head upstairs after searching the bodies.

    Inside of the castle you will find that if you dally too long enemies will come
    after you so it's best to move throughout this place as quickly as reasonable.
    Open the door to the room you start in and open the door across the hall. In
    here you will fight some Shades and a Greater Shade. These guys are tough since
    you can't knock them down and stunning doens't work very well on them either.
    It's best to immobilize them with ice attacks if you have them since that works
    pretty well. If not them just hit them hard, focusing on one at a time until
    only the Greater Shade is left.

    When he's dead go out into the hall to find more corpses needing to be killed.
    To the north, in the corner, is a locked door to the armory. If you can get in
    then there's a bevy of equipment to pick up so go for it. Continue further into
    the castle to find one of the most frustrating sections in the entire game.

    As you go to enter the small hallway you will be attacked by a group of undead.
    There is a Devouring Corpse amongst the lot of them and he does a whole lot of
    damage. This isn't so bad at first but if you don't kill them fast enough then
    more undead come as reinforcements. Don't count on killing them though since
    they have a lot of health. Plus they're basically immune to corrosive damage as
    well as nature damage so you can't use acid flasks or most poisons to help out.

    The only thing to really do is try to bottleneck them if you're feeling up to
    it. Have your fighters hold position (in the advanced menu) in the doorway. Any
    ranged attackers should hold position behind them. If your fighters are using
    sword and shield style have them use one of the sustained skills that gives the
    better defense boost, Shield Fortress works well. Your main damage should come
    from the ones in the rear while your guys up front focus on staying alive.

    It is is possible to fight up to thirteen undead total here so be ready for a
    long hard slog through this but eventually you will come out on top. Loot the
    bodies before heading forward or retreating to town if you need more healing
    items to get through this place. Just don't forget that if you have potion
    making you can likely make some more healing items for free.

    Head north from this hall to find a group of Mabari War Hounds eating a dead,
    charred body. When they attack try to hit them with a group attack or two
    before they even reach you to help get the jump on the fight. Then try to have
    Leliana and Morrigan focus on whichever ones are hurt while your fighters run
    interference. Make your way to the east after that, ignoring the door going to
    the south, searching all of the rooms here for loot. The last door has Valena
    in it which solves the blacksmiths quest.

    Going to the south you will find that the door to the Main Hall is locked which
    means you have no choice but to the go east, towards the basement. To get to
    the door going down you're going to have to fight your way through a bunch more
    undead but they're not quite so bad, the Devouring Corpse amongst them isn't as
    strong as the first one you fought.

    Take them out, head down into the basement and then enter the courtyard. Make
    sure to search everything you see as you go since there's lenty of stuff to
    sell amidst all of this.

    Once in the courtyard there are no enemies immediately in sight but there's a
    group of Shambling Corpses led by a Revenant on the far end. If you've spoken
    to Ser Perth rush for the gate, open it and then charge the Revenant. These are
    really powerful, capable of using magic to hurt you from a distance or a big
    sword to do it up close. Try to keep him stun locked by alternating use of
    Shield Bashes / Pummels, Dirty Fighting and Ice spells to prevent him from
    being able to fight back. Just don't forget to keep an eye on your HP meter!

    When he's defeated speak to Ser Perth who is eager to enter the castle with you
    to help reclaim it. Agree to this whenever you're ready for trouble.

    No matter what you do once you enter the Main Hall you will end up in a fight
    with several soldiers and Bann Teagan. If you were smart enough to bring along
    the soldiers you will find that this is an incredibly easy fight. Simply let
    your party spread out, slowing down the soldiers from getting near your back
    line of characters. Let your fighters handle Bann Teagen when he gets close and
    the enemies will fall rapidly. Should you have chosen to not bring the soldiers
    along at any point then this fight is really hellish and will require a lot of
    healing. Focus on taking out Teagan as he is the strongest one before starting
    to take out the other soldiers. Try to use any sort of stunning abilities you
    have for crowd control to help out.

    After the conversation ends you will have a couple of options with how to
    proceed from here.

    - If you have freed Jowan and brought a Mage along (PC or NPC) then you will
    have the option of sending them into the Fade to defeat the demon there. This
    will free Conner of the demon but it will mean the death of Isolde. Going into
    the Fade like this is key to getting the Blood Mage specialization unlocked.

    - Should you have not freed Jowan then you will have to kill Conner. Unless...

    - If you refuse to make a decision at that moment and then come back to speak
    to them you will have the option of asking if there are any other ways to
    help Conner. The Circle of Magi will be mentioned as an option here which will
    allow you to get through this without making use of the Blood Magic. By going
    to the Circle of Magi you will be able to request their help so long as you
    complete "The Broken Circle" in favor the Mages. This allows someone to go into
    the Fade to fight the demon without Isolde dying thus saving both nobles. It
    will cost some commoners their lives but it's for the greater good.

    Before making a decision end the conversation and explore the floor you're on.
    There are animated suits of armor in the hall to the west of you. They're very
    resistant to non-blunt physical damage but if you have magics then they'll go
    down pretty fast, giving a nice chunk of experience out. Now go into the west
    room and search the desk to find Alistair's Mothers Amulet. Give this to him to
    cause a huge boost in approval.

    Now search the room to the north off of the west wing to find more corpses led
    by a possessed Chamberlain. They're not that powerful so long as you're careful
    about not letting them swarm your weaker characters. Search the Chamberlains
    body for a Redcliffe Vault Key and then check inside of the room for valuables.
    If you would like you can explore the second floor as well, this is where the
    Vault is located, but be careful not to head too far to the east. You don't
    want to run into Conner if you aren't fighting him.

    Should you be looking to fight him he's not terribly difficult. This is the
    quick and dirty way to complete this but you're going to be upsetting both the
    Arlessa and Eamon once he's better.

    If you choose to use Jowans ability to send a mage in via Blood Magic you will
    have to either send the PC, Morrigan or Wynne. It's not advised to send Wynne
    since she's not very good at fighting. Should you have enlisted the Circle you
    can actually send Jowan in there. He's not a bad choice nor is he a very good
    one. Should Morrigan not be an option then Jowan is a better call than Wynne.

    Arl Eamon is in the first section of the Fade but he's no use to anyone with
    the state he's in. Go through the portal in the next area to find Conner up on
    a cliff. When you speak to him he will change into a Desire Demon to attack you
    even if you try to be gentle with the boy. This fight isn't too hard so long as
    you use any sort of paralyzing or status ailment spells. Reducing the attack
    rating of the demon will actually help, as will stunning. Jowan can make use of
    Stonefist to knock her down, Mind Blast to stun and Lightning / Flame Blast to
    do damage to her.

    When she goes down head back to the portal you used and pass through. After a
    bit of walking here you will find Conner again. He attacks after you speak to
    him except this time he has a Lesser Rage Demon with him. Stunning the demon
    with Mind Blast may work every so often but Paralyze works much better. Use it
    on the Rage Demon before turning to the Desire Demon. Hit her with Lightning
    and Stonefist to take her out before whittling down the Rage Demon. Head back
    to the portal to be teleported yet again.

    In this area you will be attacked by the Rage Demon / Desire Demon combo yet
    again. They're no harder than before so defeat them before heading back to the
    portal. This last fight though... oye.

    -------------------
    Boss: Desire Demon
    -------------------
    The Demon fights basically the same way she's fought you the previous times
    except that this time is the real demon. She's more aggressive, uses stronger
    attacks and has way more health. Worst of all is that since you have no easy
    way of healing she can kill you pretty fast. This is hard no matter how you cut
    it but there are ways to make it easier. If you're playing as an ice using mage
    spam those on her to keep her from being able to attack. A mix of Cone of Cold,
    Winter's Grasp and, if you have it, Stonefist can really keep her stuck.

    If you're using Jowan things are going to get pretty tough for you since she's
    so strong and aggressive. As soon as the fight starts hit her with Stonefist.
    This almost always knocks her down. Now while she's on the ground hit her with
    regular attacks, maybe one Lightning spell, until she starts to get up. As she
    does so try to use the Paralyze spell to leave her stuck. If this works hit her
    with an Arcane Bolt but then leave Jowan to just keep using his staff. By the
    time she unfreezes you should be able to use Stonefist again to knock her down.
    If not then just run away until you can do so, you'll take minimal damage as
    she slices at your back.

    After you hurt her enough she will split up into a number of clones in a circle
    around the area to confuse you. Don't get flustered here, this is easy. Watch
    for one of the clones that is more "real" looking than the others, darker
    colored than the bright pink illusions. Hit this one with a spell to distract
    her. If you don't do this then she will be able to heal herself or do anything
    to you. When she's been distracted the clones disappear and she comes to attack
    you so just repeat what you were doing before. So long as you keep this up she
    will not be able to stop you.

    Once she's dead this section is over. You will be taken back to Redcliffe where
    you get to see all of the dead being cremated. It's... pretty depressing to
    think about really.

    This will complete this quest. However Teagan will request that you search for
    the Urn of Sacred Ashes to heal Eamon. This is pretty necessary if you are
    looking to get his aide. Consult just below here for more information. For now
    you may proceed to your next destination. However if you've done this and the
    Mage's quest now may be a good time to check out Denerim to clear up some side
    quests that have likely been clogging your Quest Log.

    ===================
    The Urn of Sacred Ashes
    ===================
    You will now have to head to Denerim to search the chantry for any information
    on Brother Gentivi. When you arrive at the Market District you will see his
    home, clear as day. Inside you will find his aide, Weylon, who knows where the
    Brother has gone. If you press him he will tell you that he went to an Inn near
    Lake Calenhad. Keep talking and you will get a Cunning option to try to coerce
    more out of him. After this comes an Intimidate option. If you pass these, or
    annoy him enough, he will blast you with a spell. Jump on him with everyone,
    stunning or freezing him repeatedly, to take him out in short order. Now search
    the home to find the real Weylon's body as well as Genitivi's research. It's
    just flavor but it's an interesting read.

    Now we need to head towards Haven. However when you arive in the city it's
    fairly apparent that there's no love for outsiders. Great. You're told to go to
    the store, restock and then get the heck outta town. Go to the shop and speak
    the shopkeeper to get a less hostile but still awkward reception. Trade with
    him if you like but this is where you have a few ways of going about this.

    If you try to enter the back twice you will be attacked by the shopkeeper. Kill
    him and look around to find the body of one of Arl Eamons knights. Alternately
    you can enter a villagers house and find the bloody altar, this too causes you
    to be attacked. However you do it you need to be attacked and then head towards
    the hill to the northwest, this is where Father Eirik is. As you go up the hill
    more cultists will attack you, take them out and enter the building.

    After a bit of conversation Father Eirik will attack you with several guards.
    This is a pretty easy fight as the only real danger is Eirik as he's pretty
    tough and has a number of spells at his disposal. However if you get a warrior
    into his face then this won't be a problem. Keep hitting him while your party
    deals with the rest of the enemies, using crowd control to minimize damage.
    When they're all down search the bodies before going into the western room and
    searching in there as well.

    Go back into the main room and examine the brick wall to the east. This will
    open the door, allowing you to reach Brother Genitivi. He will take you to the
    Ruined Temple where the Ashes are kept. After a bit of talking he stays behind
    to look at the carvings while you go in deeper. Leave him to it and head down
    the hallway to the west. There are some cultists in a room so defeat them
    before looting the room of stuff.

    Head back to the main chamber, going down the eastern hall this time. The north
    path is a dead end and the door along the southern wall is a dead end but the
    east door actually leads somewhere so go that way. Search the scroll pile to
    get the side quest "Forgotten Verses". Now head to the north in the main hall,
    going up the stairs. Numerous enemies will attack, Reavers and Archers, but
    there aren't too many of them so they shouldn't pose much of a problem.

    Head through the western doorway to be attacked by two archers and a Bronto.
    These are basically small Rhinos. They're hard to kill, knock you around and
    are generally pains in the butt. However they're fairly susceptible to ice so
    use that to keep control of them. The next hallway has a trap in it with some
    enemies just beyond it - two archers wait in the hallways while four Reavers
    wait inside of the room just waiting to come rushing out. Take them out and
    search the room.

    Now head towards the south where things can get a bit dicey. The two rooms to
    the southernmost side of this area have a mage in them, these guys love using
    Cone of Cold and Winter's Grasp to freeze your party. As you're fighting them
    three Reavers will come up behind you to beat on your now frozen punching bags.
    It's important that you have plenty of crowd control skills at the ready for
    this or you will likely die. Stunning the mages and keeping the Reavers out of
    the fight will help keep you out of harms way.

    With that room cleared go into the eastern room to find a bunch of Cultists, a
    Reaver and a Mage. This shouldn't be a problem at this point as there's only
    one mage to deal with. Search this room, open the door to the south and search
    that room as well. Inside of the ornate chest is a south-eastern chamber key.
    Take this back to the locked door you passed earlier to find a couple of chests
    with treasure in them as well as the main hall key.

    Now head to the eastern side of the main stairwell to the door. Here you will
    find the Armor of Diligence, a good suit of heavy chainmail armor that you some
    good health regeneration and armor boosts.

    With the key to the main hall in hand head for the northern door. After the
    auto-save open the door and go through. Far down the hall, atop the stairs, a
    group of enemies wait - a mage with a quartet of archers. As you run towards
    them a pair of Ash Wraiths will appear on the sides of the lower level to try
    and box you in. Send your men after the mage immediately while your mage uses
    their crowd control spells to keep the wraiths under control. Ignore the
    archers until the mage and wraiths are dead since these do the most damage.
    Take out the rest of them once these three die and then loot the bodies.

    The next room contains four archers which would be easy prey if not for the
    fact that there are a number of traps littering the floor of this room. Trip-
    wire in the middle of the room will cause the two ballista to fire off while
    the leg hold traps on the sides of the carpet will immobilize you for easy
    archer pickings. If you can knock them down with a spell (like Fireball) this
    is easy. Otherwise you're going to have to rush them with a few people getting
    caught by the traps. Try to use your magic to slow down their assault or to
    protect / heal your party while doing this.

    The game autosaves before you head into the next room which is another great
    sign. Once you enter an elite Ash Wraith will appear in the center of the room
    while enemies come out each of the doors; a Cultist Reaver and Archer from the
    room on the left while a Reaver and Mage come out from the right. This is going
    to be pretty rough for most parties.

    While most Ash Wraiths are powerful this one is incredibly strong. It does a
    lot of damage to your party and can cause an explosion of energy that knocks
    everyone nearby it down to the ground. In addition to that you're going to need
    your mage focusing on this enemy since it doesn't take much damage from melee
    or ranged attacks. Poisons don't work and most nature / spirit energy attacks
    are likewise useless which rules out most of the bombs or poisons you might try
    to use. You're just going to have to do this the old fashioned way.

    Pick your strongest tank, the one who is the hardest to hit and has the most
    hit points, and have him get right into the face of the Ash Wraith. Send your
    next warrior to go to the left to keep that Reaver and Archer busy while the
    mage heads out into the room to go deal with that mage. As soon as the fight
    starts send the mage over to the right door and use whatever crowd control type
    spells you have to prevent these enemies from getting into the fight. Kill the
    mage as quickly as possible so you can turn your attention to the Reaver. You
    should be fine taking them both out with a good offensive mage. Your final
    character can do whatever you need them to do, be it helping get rid of the
    mage or keeping one of the Reavers busy.

    Once the mage is defeated you can turn your attention to the Ash Spirit. Your
    fighter should be done with his Reaver by now so turn to the second one and get
    rid of him as quickly as possible. Once both Reavers and the Mage are gone you
    can send your rogue to deal with the Archer while you take down the Ash Spirit.
    So long as you don't let anyone die here this should take no time.

    Go through the eastern door and through a few doors to find another group of
    enemies, two reavers with a mage and two archers. They're no big deal at this
    point so take them out and keep moving. In the next room is a Cultist Mage who
    will summon up two Ash Wraiths to attack you. Just get rid of that pain in the
    butt before worrying about the Wraiths. Yet again the next room contains more
    Cultists, two archers and a reaver to be precise. This is easily gotten past so
    long as the trap in the room doesn't do too much damage. Up the stairs is the
    way to the Wyrmlings Lair.

    If you should instead pick the western door the first enemy is inside of the
    room to the south. Here a Cultist Mage will summon up to Ash Wraiths to attack
    you. He's the main threat so take him out before worrying about the Wraiths.
    You can head into the next room to find four chests, one near the eastern wall,
    two on the south and one on the west. The one on the eastern wall has an Ash
    Wraith in it. The first one on the southern wall has a pair of them while the
    second has three, two of which are elites. The final chest is locked and has a
    small amount of treasure in it.

    Up the stairs to the north are some more Cultists, two Reavers and a pair of
    archers, who will be the last obstacle between you and the Wyrmlings Lair.

    Inside you will find that no matter which door you used you're inside of the
    same hallway. From here you can head into the northern room to find a trio of
    Cultist Reavers with a Cultist Overseer. After some of the fights you've been
    having this shouldn't be an issue at all. Just try to keep the Overseer from
    being able to fight back via stunning, freezing or knockdown and this fight
    will be over in no time. Loot the bodies and then continue to the north.

    The next room has a pair of mages who will try to ambush you. This can either
    be a really hard fight or really easy. It's easy if they don't use any Mind
    Blast or Winter's Grasp spells since you can get into their faces and beat them
    into the ground. Should they actually use these then things can get tough. Loot
    the room when you're done before continuing.

    Here you will encounter three Cultist Reavers and an Archer. Take them out so
    you can head deeper into this place. As you attempt to pass through this room
    a trio of leghold traps will try to snare your party as six Dragonlings attack.
    These are basically slightly weaker versions of the Drake. They can claw you or
    breathe a weak fire on someone. Try to take out the three behind you first as
    the ones in front don't necessarily rush your position. Then take out the three
    in front of you so you can continue onward.

    As you traverse this hallway the game will auto-save which is, as always, a bad
    sign. Here the fight looks like it's against a single Cultist Mage and his lone
    Reaver buddy. Howeve when they're defeated a Dragonling, Cultist Reaver and a
    Mage will be to the northeast. When you move to go after them another Reaver
    pops up as does about five Dragonlings. So long as you get rid of the Mages as
    quickly as possible you should find that this goes without a hitch. Crowd
    control spells are necessary if you plan on keeping your party alive through
    this as those Dragonlings can really lay on the damage rapidly.

    With that done make your way through the northern tunnels until you reach the
    next room. Here you will find a Cultist Reaver, Cultist Mage and an army of the
    Dragonlings. One will come from the north while the rest pour from the eastern
    side of this room. This is tough if you're not expecting it. Send someone to
    deal with the Mage, preferably Allistair, while your ranged attackers help him
    out if you have any. Your mage who has crowd control spells should focus on
    keeping the Dragonlings at bay with Mind Blast, Cone of Cold or anything else
    you might have. Cone of Cold, a few Walking Bombs and then some power spells
    can make short work of this lot.

    The path splits here, to the north and northeast. It's suggested that you go to
    the northeast as that's just go some treasure and a hard fight.

    - Northeast: The path goes for awhile before you enter a large open room. Here
    a pair of Drakes will emerge, one from in front of you and one behind you. This
    fight is ridiculously annoying for one reason and one reason alone: because of
    the small space you will find yourself fighting in (the tunnel area) their roar
    attack will stun almost everyone every time. Once this happens they will then
    pounce on the character, pushing them to the floor and nibbling their face off.
    These attacks are annoying at the best of times and having half of your party
    floored by them is intensely obnoxious. Plus there's nothing you can do to stop
    it since everyone will be stunned. If this gets Morrigan she's a goner.

    What you need to do is very quickly kill off at least one of the Drakes, namely
    the one right behind you. If you're lucky, and quick enough, the first Drake
    may not have even moved by the time you kill this one. This allows you to take
    them one at a time which makes this infinitely easier to handle. Take the Drake
    Scales off their bodies and search the Pile of Dragon Filth for treasure before
    going back to the fork.

    - North: As you travel you will see a Cultist Mage off in the distance. When
    you move to attack him a pair of Cultist Assassins (elite enemies) will pop out
    to attack you. Try to use some stun / ice attacks to keep them from doing much
    of anything or they can cause some serious pain in a very short amount of time.
    This is doubly true when they attack from behind due to their backstab ability.
    Once again there are two ways to go. It is suggested you continue to the north
    before doing anything else.

    - Continue North: After a bit of walking the game will auto-save. In the next
    large chamber you will be attacked by two high level Cultist Reavers, a Drake
    and a mage Cultist Overseer. Send a warrior to get rid of that mage while your
    party plays distraction. It shouldn't be too hard to wipe this out considering
    some of the other fights we've been caught up in. Continue going along this
    path to find a real fight: a Cultist Mage will attack, backed up by a Drake,
    Cultist Archer and, eventually, a Cultist Assassin. Try to get rid of the Mage
    ASAP and then the Drake. When everyone's dead search the room (namely the
    Dragon Egg) and then double back for the Western path.

    - West: A short ways down the tunnel you will encounter another Drake. Take it
    out and keep moving. Up the stairs into the next chamber are a pair of Archers
    to your left, with their Reaver buddy, and a Mage and Reaver to your right. In
    both directions are a blade trap so head up onto the dirt to avoid them. Take
    out the mage as usual before turning your attention to the Reavers. Past them
    in the next tunnel is another Drake waiting to be slain.

    In the very next chamber you will meet Father Kolgrim. This lunatic thinks that
    Andraste has returned to the world as a Dragon, an Old One. There are three
    ways to go through with this situation. You can either refuse to help them,
    fighting the lot of them here, agree to help them and mean it or agree to help
    them and then betray them.

    If you should choose to fight them now...

    -------------------
    Boss: Kolgrim
    -------------------
    Honestly this isn't much of a "boss" fight. The entire difficulty of this
    fight lies, not in the boss himself, but in his two annoying ass mages. Since
    you HAVE to get to them or they just spam off spells without any cares towards
    their supposedly limited MP you have to ignore the three ginormous warriors who
    love to get in your face and spam knockdown attacks over and over again. They
    are also quite fond of just... walking away from melee combat to randomly kill
    your archers for no real reason. Hard? No, just very annoying.

    Try to let one fighter tangle up Kolgrim in melee, preferably a tank, while
    another fighter begins to distract one of his two Reaver allies. Your archer
    type should spend it's time focusing on whittling down the health of whatever
    Reaver is busy with another party member. If you've got poison-making then try
    to throw an acid flask to hit all of the three melee enemies. Your mage should
    move on towards the other mages to deal with them.

    Now this is where it gets tricky. If you throw a flask then there's a good 50%
    chance that these guys will ignore your melee team and go straight for the
    archer. This is bad. Try to get your archer away from them ASAP so you can try
    to focus on more important matters, like the mages. This is the other reason
    that this is tricky. If your mage approaches one of them and gets hit by a Cone
    of Cold then they're probably dead. You need your mage to take them out quick
    and deadly without being frozen for this to work.

    Of course there's a number of ways to take them out. Heck if you've got three
    fighters then the fight practically wins itself for you. But if not then there
    is this strategy.
    -------------------

    When you get outside a few things can happen. First you will see the dragon fly
    overhead in a cutscene. Now search to the east to find a crate and chest you
    can loot. Now continue forward. If you are siding with Kolgrim, even a little,
    you will see him interact with the dragon. Now go into the Gauntlet. If you are
    not siding with Kolgrim, as in he's already dead, then DO NOT RING THE GONG!
    This is touched on further down but do not ring the gong unless you're ready
    for a world of pain. Just go into the Gauntlet.

    Once inside of the Gauntlet speak to the Guardian. Speak to him to find out who
    these others are in the temple as well as a bit of backstory. He also asks you
    about your Origin story which is a neat little addition. However you will have
    to get through the Gauntlet before you can get to the Ashes. Enter the door
    when you are ready.

    In the first room there are some riddles to answer so let's go from left, front
    to rear, and then right front to rear. You will likely have little trouble with
    guessing these if you're clever or read the info on Andraste throughout the
    rest of the game.

    - Brona: Dreams
    - Thane Shartan: Home
    - General Maferath: Jealousy
    - Archon Hessarian: Mercy
    - Ealisay: A Tune
    - Lady Vasilia: Vengeance
    - Disciple Havard: The Mountains
    - Disciple Cathaire: Hunger

    Next room! When you enter you will get a short scene that is based upon what
    Origin you played through with this character.

    Human Noble: Your father appears an gives you Reflection, a pretty good amulet.

    When you pass through this room into the next chamber you will find ghostly
    images in the shape of your own party. It's hard to give suggestions for this
    fight since this can literally be any number of variable fights. As a general
    rule have melee warriors fight their image, Sten vs. Sten while Alistair beats
    on Alistair, except for your archers or mage. Have this one focus on helping
    the two warriors get rid of their mirror images. Once the warriors are defeated
    you will have an easy time cleaning up the others.

    The next room has a number of odd floor tiles around a giant pit. This one is a
    bit trickier. You'll need to stand on these floor tiles to make a bridge appear
    but it's not so simple. Depending on which tile you stand on different bridge
    sections will appear. You need to step on two of the same tile to make the
    bridge solid enough to walk on. When you find two of these tiles that cause one
    of the floating ones to become solid it will lock in place. You can then move
    on to making the rest of the bridge. It's really simple, so long as you have a
    character run up each set of tiles you'll get it eventually.

    For this next room examine the altar. You will be told to remove all equipment
    and then walk through the flames. Go ahead and do as instructed, choosing to
    remove all equipment when the altar prompts it. Now run through the flames to
    prompt the Guardian to reappear. You can now approach the Sacred Ashes of
    Andraste and either poison them with the Dragon's Blood or leave them be after
    you take the ashes you need for the Arl.

    If you choose to poison the ashes then you will have to fight the Guardian as
    well as Leliana and Wynne if you've brought them along. You will get a chance
    to intimidate them into staying in your party but it requires high Coercion and
    Strength scores that, even at level 20, are easy to fail.
    BOOM IT GUYZ!!!

  6. #6
    Senior Member boomermitra's Avatar
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    -------------------
    Boss: Guardian
    -------------------
    How difficult this fight is depends on who you have in your party. Should you
    have brought Leliana and / or Wynne and fail to keep them from turning their
    back on you then this fight will be hell. If you can keep them from turning or
    only have one turn then this fight is only fairly difficult.

    The Guardian starts the battle by summoning up two Ash Spirits who will attack
    you with him. For his part the Guardian is actually fairly easy as he's just a
    very strong two-handed weapon wielder with a lot of health. The trick will be
    getting rid of the two elite Ash Wraiths as well as any rogue party members.
    When they're all dealt with gang up on the Guardian with everyone you've got.
    He will go down fairly quickly although you should still watch your health or
    he might kill someone totally out of the blue.
    -------------------

    With the Guardian dead you can now return to Kolgrim for your reward: he will
    unlock the Reaver specialization for your party.

    Should you not poison the ashes then when you attempt to leave here you will be
    attacked by Kolgrim and his cronies. See the boss description of Kolgrim just a
    bit earlier to see battle suggestions on how to handle this fight. It's not all
    that hard either although it is actually a bit harder than the Guardian due to
    the two mages. The one advantage to doing it this way is that you will only
    have to fight Kolgrim and two Reavers at first and then, by moving ahead, you
    will find the rest of his retinue although it's a mage and a Drake now instead
    of the two mages.

    Lastly if you have already killed Kolgrim then all you have left to do is just
    get the heck out of here. Search the unfortunate adventurer as well as the two
    locked chests on either side of the staircase for some extra treasure.

    ************************
    * NOTE: There are a few things you can exploit here. If you're after trophies
    or achievements then take the vial from Kolgrim when you meet him the first
    time. Go into the Gauntlet, make your way through it and then save right after
    you walk through the flames. You can now
    ************************

    However there's one last thing to do here if you're feeling bold enough for it.
    There is a gong resting on a cliff on this mountain top. By ringing it you will
    call down "Andraste" the High Dragon for a really serious fight. As this fight
    is mostly similar to the Flemeth fight tips will be reposted here although more
    information will be added due to this dragon's unique combat strategies.

    -------------------
    Boss: High Dragon
    -------------------
    The High Dragon has a number of powerful combat maneuvers at his beck and call.
    The first is basic claws and bites, these aren't anything all that big. They do
    a good bit of damage but they're not the problem. The only real issue with
    these are that she can hit you no matter where you are. If you're fully behind
    her expect to be kicked instead. Her second attack is a weird flailing type
    attack that knocks down the people standing near her while doing a good bit of
    damage to them. The third attack is a roar that will stun almost everyone that
    you brought along thanks to its tremendous radius. Her last attacks are two
    different fire breaths. If you're close by then she will use a sweeping wall of
    fire but if you're far away she spits out a ball of fire that explodes. Both of
    these can leave you on fire, dealing damage over time to whomever it hits.

    What ends up making this fight so hard is that of the Dragons chew attack.
    She can pick you up in her mouth, gnawing on you for a bit before throwing you
    up into the air, doing it some more and then slamming you into the ground. This
    does about 300 points of damage or so, give or take, and can wipe you out in no
    time even if you have someone heal them while they're dragon bait. Only allow
    your strongest characters to stand in front of her face as she can't do this if
    you're near her rear flank. Keep any melee rogues back here or watch them die
    in very short order.

    In addition to what you may be familiar with from the Flemeth fight you will
    also find that she can do two new things:
    - Leap into the air and land somewhere else. The dragon starts the fight to the
    north of the gong but it will occasionally jump up onto the hill near the gong.
    When it lands it will hurt those who are too close by a bit. However this is a
    blessing in disguise as you can get some free hits in on her so long as you're
    standing by the gong itself. This will allow you to keep hitting her no matter
    where she lands.
    - Rearing up the dragon will flap its wings and pull you into melee range. This
    sounds really bad but it isn't all that dangerous. The dragon spends time doing
    this and will only do it if your melee types are out of the picture really. If
    that's the case she will start using this after landing to pull you in close.
    Should this happen quickly switch to that character and simply run away. The
    dragon will usually stand there for a moment watching them, almost like it's
    very confused, before leaping again. For some odd reason it prefers to do this
    more than just breathing fire at you.

    All of this sounds bad, and it really is, but your ability to defeat Flemeth is
    based upon how prepared you are. Activated skills, potions and salves aren't
    going to be enough to defeat her due to their short duration. You need good
    equipment, weapons, skills, spells and to be fairly leveled. There are some who
    have beaten her as early as level 9 while others end up waiting until level 13
    or even later. That's not necessary but it may be necessary depending upon what
    sort of character you've built.

    Regardless of what you normally travel around with you're going to want to have
    at least two Warriors and one healing dedicated Mage. Some people find that
    having a third Warrior works out while others prefer an archer. Depending on
    your class you will find different strategies to be more effective:

    Mage - If you don't have healing magic then it's best to wait until you have
    gotten Wynne. If you're not going to be able to get her, or have killed her,
    make sure you have at least some minor healing capabilities since you'll need
    to heal anyone who gets grabbed in her mouth. However you do have choices in
    what to do here: you can either bring in two warriors and an archer, two
    warriors and another mage (to either heal or attack) or, my favorite as a mage,
    three warriors. Just make sure you keep your health up as much as possible to
    get through her attacks alive.

    Rogue - Let's just hope you're playing an archer type rogue, as a dual-wielder
    is likely to get killed. Archers can hang back near the mages, spread out a bit
    so that they don't both get hit by any stray fireballs, peppering Flemeth with
    Rapid Fire arrows. Dual-wielding characters should get behind the dragon and
    start cutting... and praying. You will need a healing mage here as well to keep
    everyone who'se chopping away alive.

    Warrior - This is easy! Either bring two fighters or a fighter and rogue with
    your healing dedicated mage and just go to town. You, Alister and Oghren or
    Sten can do incredibly well just cutting at the thing, especially if someone is
    using two-handed swords (you should have Yusaris which works great here). If
    you're finding that she does too much damage with her fire attacks swap out
    Alister for Shale (if you have the DLC) and equip him with Flame Crystals to
    protect him from fire attacks quite a bit.

    Honestly this fight comes down to tanking her damage while doing as much damage
    to her as possible. Mages do the most damage but die easily if it turns its
    full attention to them. Archers aren't a really good idea unless you're using
    a strong bow (Ice Arrows help with this). Fill her full of arrows to pick her
    apart little by little.

    *******************
    * NOTE: Ironically enough this fight gets easier as more people in your party
    die if you have an offensive mage. Typically the dragon will focus on whomever
    is doing the most damage although any melee attack will distract her. But if
    your melee types die just have your offensive mage run away from the dragon at
    all times, so you're about twenty steps away, and fire off your spells. You are
    going to be pulled in so quickly run away before attacking again. The dragon
    will then leap and repeat this. This FAQ writer took off the last 1/5th or so
    of the High Dragon's health by just doing this over and over with Morrigan as
    the last party member left.
    *******************

    Whatever you may have done you can now return to Redcliffe with the Ashes in
    hand so you can finally heal the Arl. Oh yeah, don't forget to tell Brother
    Genitivi that you succeeded in this endeavor so he finally goes home. You can
    go thim for a reward later but for now it's on to Arl Eamons!

    If you have not poisoned the Urn of Andraste you will be named as Champion of
    Redcliffe which unlocks the Champion Specialization. As you can see you cannot
    get these two on the same playthrough. If you've done well then you can get a
    shield from him as well, it's a decent shield but nothing all that fantastic.
    Regardless of what you have done he will call the Landsmeet to try and take
    Loghain off of the throne. In addition you will have to judge Jowan depending
    on what course of action you have taken.

    With that done you can now move on to the next quest!

    ========================
    A Paragon of Her Kind
    ========================
    As you head towards the entrance to the Deep Roads a group of Bounty Hunters
    will attack you. These guys are pushovers though so long as you take out that
    archer and mage quickly. Loot their corpses and move on. Past the outdoor
    market you will find a few of Loghains men arguing that the dwarves must swear
    fealty to Loghain. They're not getting far but you can enter with no problems
    thanks to your nifty treaties. The others will not take this well but if you
    Intimidate them they will back down like the non-threats they are.

    Walk through the hall to find the door to the Commons. Once here you will get
    a cutscene showing the chaos that the city has fallen into. Speak to the
    Captain of the Guard to get an idea as to what's going on / who to speak to.
    Now talk to the woman to your right, Navea will tell you about Lord Harrowmont
    and how he's the only one to be trusted. With that said you can explore now.

    Take note that if you enter Dust Town you will have to fight some thugs. They
    don't have much on them nor are they any real threat, they're just there to be
    trouble for you.

    To start the main storyline here you should make your way down to the Diamond
    Quarter. Head to the far end of this street to find the Assembly Chamber and
    head on inside. After watching them practically ready to attack each other you
    can speak to the Steward. He informs you that without a King there's no help to
    be found in Orzammar and that the only way to stop this fighting is for either
    Bhelen or Harrowmont to come out on top. To do this you'll need to speak to the
    men who work for these two longs, Vartag and Dulin respectively, to try and get
    an audience with these men and hopefully settle this affair.

    There are two ways to handle this, via Lord Bhelen's route or Lord Harrowmonts
    route. These are split into two different paths below although it is possible
    to go through these quests in such a way as to not alienate either side until
    near the very end. You'll need a pretty good Persuade skill to get this to work
    though as when you complete a quest for one the quests for the other will just
    poof from your codex. However be mindful of doing this too much and keep s save
    to the side. There's a game breaking bug that can cause both sides to refuse to
    speak to you preventing you from going any further. This happens at the point
    you are asked to spy on both sides at the same time but not every time.

    ===================
    Lord Bhelen
    ===================
    A Prince's Favor: The First Task
    ===================
    To begin with Vartag will tell you to speak to two of Harrowmonts supporters to
    show them that he's been double dealing two of the noble houses. Speaking to
    Lady Dace is easy, she's in the Diamond Quarter. Unfortunately she can't make
    the decision for her house as her father made the alliance. So if you want to
    have him change his decision you'll need to find him in the Deep Roads. Agree
    to this and recieve a pass into the roads from her.

    Now go to find Lord Helmi in the Tapster Tavern in the Commons. As you head
    that way you'll see a scene between Loilinar and Oghren that you can speak to
    Loilinar about when the other leaves. This gives you some more information on
    this Branka you've been hearing about.

    When you find Lord Helmi he will believe the letter easily enough although he
    complains about having to deal with politics more than he wishes. Now return
    to Vartag in the Assembly Chambers to tell him of your completion.


    ===================
    Lord Harrowmont
    ===================
    A Lord's Favor: The First Task
    ===================
    Dulin will send you to the Proving to find some information on what's happening
    with the fighters that Harrowmont sent there. So make your way to the Proving
    Grounds in the Commons to find these two warriors. Baizyl Harrowmont is to the
    left as you enter and he will need to be Persuaded or Intimidated to find out
    just what bug crawled up his butt. A woman named Myaja has blackmailed him with
    some love letters that you'll need to find if you want him to fight. You can
    head to the south to find Myaja's chambers, a simple lockpicking gets you into
    the room as well as her chest to get those letters. Return them to Baizyl to
    convince him to fight.

    Gwiddon is the second one you need to find, he's through the doors to the south
    in the back of the Proving areas. It seems that he believes Harrowmont is about
    to give in to Dulin. If you Intimidate him, or Persuasde him, he will be more
    than happy to believe that this isn't the case and get back into the arena for
    his lord.

    There may be other ways to get these two to fight, convincing Gwiddow and
    getting those letters back, but nothing that's been found so far. An update
    will contain any information on this that's acquired through more playthroughs.

    With that done speak to the Proving Master to fight for Lord Harrowmont. This
    starts the arena leg of this quest.

    First Round: Seweryn - As befitting the first round this is a simple fight that
    isn't all that tough. Rogues should try to keep some distance, as should any
    Magi, but warriors can get right into his face and start hammering away. He'll
    go down in no time flat.

    Second Round: Myaja and Lucjan - Now we move onto something a bit different.
    These two are allowed to fight as one person since they're twins so you get to
    fight in a two-on-one. There are a few ways to handle this fight but they all
    involve beating down on Lucjan first as he's able to do a lot of damage via
    hitting you in the back repeatedly.

    As a Mage try to use crowd control spells to control this fight. Keep going
    after Lucjan with your damage spells while stopping them from fighting back. If
    you find yourself stymied by spell cooldown then run away until you're able to
    start fighting back.

    Fighters and rogues should stand their ground, using their skills to keep
    Myaja stunned and the both of them away from your back, while damaging Lucjan
    as quickly as possible. Once he goes down you can handle Myaja easily.

    Third Round: Hanshar - Since she's using a two-handed weapon this lady does a
    lot of damage but she's slow about it. Any character should have little problem
    with stopping her from attacking by using your skills constantly. This will
    keep her on the defensive and unable to deal any appreciable damage, ending the
    fight rather quickly. If she starts hitting you then healing will be needed,
    doubly so if you're a mage, but it shouldn't come to that.

    Fourth Round - Wojech Ivo & Valance, pairs - This is where it gets hard. Ivo is
    a pain as he has a lot of health and does a lot of damage. Valance is a rogue
    so he will use stealth, dirty fighting and backstabs. Lots of backstabs. As a
    partner you may bring in either of Harrowmonts fighters or your own party (not
    including Shale for whatever reason). It really shouldn't matter who you pick
    so long as you focus on Wojech. He's the main problem so deal with him as fast
    as you can to prevent him from hammering on you and this won't be a big deal.
    If you don't attend to him then he will bring the pain and make your life very
    difficult. As a note if you do choose a party member to help then another
    fighter is a good idea. Mages don't do as much damage as they normally would to
    a dwarf and it'll show here.

    Fifth Round: Piotin Aeducan, squads - See below.

    -------------------
    Boss: Piotin Aeducan
    -------------------
    Party on party combat is the name of the game here. He's a high level boss
    enemy and you've got your party. So this is going to be a brawl. You can call
    for Baizyl and Gwiddon to join you in the arena instead of your party but this
    can be a problem. If you get KOed then you're going to lose entirely so don't
    make this decision unless you know you can handle the fighting. It's best to
    bring your party along to the battle instead.

    If you have a full four party members then this is easy as it gets since two
    of these four are pushovers. Simply have your men target the two regular dwarf
    enemies before turning to deal with Piotin's Right Hand Man. Lastly you can
    turn to dealing with Piotin himself. Use your Mage's crowd control skills to
    keep control of the enemies, stopping them from fighting back, since that's
    easily enough done.

    With just the two dwarves helping you this fight plays out mostly the same.
    However since you can't control them there's no real way to make them do what
    you want. So you'll have to handle the specifics yourself. The one to your left
    usually ends up fighting Piotin and his Right Hand while the one on your right
    goes after a regular enemy, leaving the archer to annoy you. Try to stun Piotin
    before going after his Right Hand and pray that the dwarves live long enough to
    keep you from being ganged up on.
    -------------------

    With that done this is completed and you may return to Durin. You can find him
    in Tapster's Tavern waiting to take you to see Lord Harrowmont now. This takes
    you to Harrowmonts Estate in the Diamond Quarter, walk forward to speak to him.
    He will send you to deal with Jarvia in Dust Town.

    ************************
    *NOTE: By siding with Harrowmont you will find that as you move around groups
    of Bhelen Fanatics will be waiting to attack you. These will respawn but they
    aren't hard to defeat but they can be annoying nonetheless. Luckily annoying
    doesn't mean useless as they can be a nice source of money and potions.
    ************************

    ===================
    A Lord's Trust: The Second Task
    ===================
    This is actually two quests in one, the listed quest name above and "Entering
    Jarvia's Hideout". To take down this dwarven thug you will have to go down to
    Dust Town and speak to the people there for information. This is exactly what
    you need to do - go down to Dust Town and speak to all of the beggars, as well
    as the shopkeeper about her. Now walk into the Slums House for a fight. There
    are a lot of dwarves here but if you have a combat mage they shouldn't be too
    difficult. If you don't have that then AoE effects from skills or bombs will
    make short work of them.

    When the enemies are all dead except for the leader, or if you get his health
    down low enough, he will surrender. The dwarf offers you the finger bone you
    need as well as telling you where the base is. You can either let him go or
    kill him off now, it's your choice. Regardless, leave the house and walk to the
    Suspicious Door nearby. Open this with the fingerbone to find Jarvia's base.

    Inside of the tunnels head straight forward to find the Carta Doorman. Since we
    don't have the password we're going to have to fight our way through so let's
    get to it. Since this is a small area with numerous enemies all it takes is one
    solid Mind Blast to keep everyone under control. In addition you shouldn't have
    much difficulty moving around to find places to use cone spells or other such
    spells. An Affliction Hex makes this all the easier.

    Loot the bodies and then continue through the door to the next hallway. Take
    a right to find a bunch of enemies waiting for you, as well as a trap right in
    your path. This is a large group so once again your mage will find lots of use
    here. Search the bodies and the room for treasure (as well as a sidequest). Now
    go down the eastern path to find a room with a few more enemies to take out and
    some more loot.

    Continue to the south when you're done. At this next intersection there will be
    more enemies to the west and in addition to the ones in the hall more emerge
    from the room to fight. There are enough people here for your rogues or mages
    to be taken down before you know it so fight carefully. It's far too easy for
    everyone to target Morrigan and find her locked in place, dying rapidly. Loot
    their corpses and search the room before heading to the eastern room. Here you
    will find an NPC party of sorts (Assassin, Fighter and Mage). Take out the mage
    first and then deal with the others. Loot the room and keep moving south.

    Go straight south now to find a room full of enemies. Four melee types charge
    you while three hang back shooting arrows at you. Make sure to get rid of the
    melee fighters before going after the archers as the trap on the ground can
    paralyze your party members. Search the room for stuff before going back and
    taking the eastern path you ignored.

    Inside of this room are more dwarves waiting to attack but there's nothing else
    of note. Continue forward and go west at the next intersection. Here you will
    find a jail with a few archers, a Carta Jailor and Carta Assassin to deal with.
    These enemies aren't too strong but the Assassin can pull off a move that marks
    someone for extra damage from all attacks. This is indicated by a red circle
    moving around their feet. Attack the Assassin as quickly as possible so that he
    doesn't get the chance to do this because him and the Jailor can hurt whomever
    is like this badly.

    Now you can free Leske from the cell with the key from the Jailors body. This
    is only relevant to those who are not playing the Dwarven Commoner.

    Double back to the tunnels and go east this time. Inside of this room you will
    be attacked by a trio of cloaked Assassins. Deal with them quickly and try to
    keep them stunned or frozen to stop them from marking people. It's possible to
    get your whole party marked if you don't do this and your mages will likely die
    if that happens. Search this area and move into the next one to find yet more
    enemies waiting for you.

    Just beyond them are some more enemies eager to be slain by your swords. This
    is a pretty eager bunch of lambs I'd say. Go through this door and follow the
    hall to reach a room with a slew of enemies. It starts off simple with just a
    few Carta Thugs. But a Carta Assassin pops-in and a Elven Mercenary mage starts
    to cast spells. Since the mage is fairly deep into the room getting to him is
    not going to be easy. Rushing him may not be possible if you're lower level so
    try to get rid of the Assassin with your mage and rogue while your fighters
    deal with the enemy melee attackers. Then let your rogue and mage move into the
    room and try to remove the mage from the picture.

    Loot everything and head through the door. At the next intersection there are
    three ways to go. The southern path locked door has a locked chest inside with
    very little in it as well as three Giant Spiders watching it. The northern door
    has a tunnel with a number of Carta Thugs in it that leads to treasure. Going
    through the eastern door will take you to Jarvia.

    -------------------
    Boss: Jarvia & Co.
    -------------------
    As you may have guessed this fight isn't so much about Jarvia as it is about
    the numerous allies she has in the room with her. Once the fight starts you are
    stuck in close range with her and four of her allies. There are three more in
    the far end of the room using crossbows. Unfortunately as you hurt her more of
    these monkeys will pop up, namely weaker Carta Assassins.

    Since you're fighting so many rogues there is potential for a lot of Stealth
    useage, backstabs and Dirty Fighting to cause you trouble so it's important
    that you have a party that can handle this. It's heavily suggested that, even
    if you've ignored such so far, to make sure you use a mage with crowd control
    spells. No matter how much you might like Wynne bring Morrigan along instead.
    It's imperative that you be able to freeze people to stop them from going four-
    on-one with somebody.

    Jarvia does a good bit of damage, especially if you're very low level, but she
    isn't enough to take out your party. So long as you keep the others off of your
    fighters they should be able to mostly handle her. Let your mage keep everyone
    stunned / frozen while your archer picks people apart with special arrows.
    -------------------

    When Jarvia is dead loot her and her buddies before going to the southern door
    at the far end of the room. Search the two chests before leaving via the north
    door. This will take you out of the tunnels finally. Harrowmont is pleased to
    hear of your success but it seems that without the Paragon Branka there will be
    no chance to sway others to your side. So now we have to hunt her down in the
    Deep Roads... where all the darkspawn come from. Great.

    As you head towards the mines Oghren will ask to join you. He's a two-handed
    axe loving Dwarven Berserker so you could do much worse than getting him to
    join up with you. However you're going to need to baby sit him since the drunk
    doesn't seem to love life, frequently dying all over the place.

    As a warning the Deep Roads are one of the least enjoyable sections of the
    whole game. Since the enemies level with you the Hurlocks and Genlocks manage
    to always be capable of dealing a good bit of damage. Unfortunately the lot of
    these enemies seem to loathe dropping health, Lyrium or injury potions, often
    dropping crappy Darkspawn equipment or a piddling amount of silver. So you're
    going to need to make sure you're well prepared for this one.

    ************************
    *NOTE: If you have Shale from the Stone Prisoner DLC then bring him with you
    into the Deep Roads. You'll need him in your party when you reach Caridian's
    Cross if you wish to pursue his backstory. He may sometimes speak to you in the
    camp about it instead but it's best not to leave it up to luck as it has been
    known to glitch.
    ************************

    Make your way to Caridan's Cross. As you start to enter you will be confronted
    by a trio of thugs. They're working for Bhelen so you'll have to kill them to
    get by. As per usual take out the mage first and then clean up the rest of them
    however you please. Continue forward where you will find two tunnels that lead
    out of the main one you are walking in. The eastern tunnel is the easier of the
    two by far but the western one has more experience gain.
    -----------------------------
    - Northwest: After walking through a small tunnel you will enter a large
    chamber full of Genlocks. You will start off fighting a small group of them. As
    you move further in, battling them, more can be found off to the west. However
    there is a trick here that can be really bad for your party. On the bridge that
    goes to the south is a Hurlock Alpha whose mere presence will keep you stuck in
    battle mode. When you move to attack him a bunch of archers will magically
    spawn up behind you. This can easily kill wounded party members so be mindful
    of it and keep people healed up.

    Cross the bridge to find more Genlocks as well as a new enemy, the Shrieks.
    They're nothing too special, basically just darkspawn rogues, but they can do a
    good bit of damage if they surround you. What you want to watch out for here is
    further to the south, near the archers, as there is an Ogre there. This pain in
    the rear is often a death sentence for Oghren as he tends to charge the archers
    and dies at the Ogre's hand. Keep an eye on the dwarf if you've brought him.

    When they're defeated you can head through the tunnel to the south to reach a
    new section of the Deep Roads. To your west is a way to leave if you so choose
    while to the right are some enemies, one with a Bronto. This is likely a new
    type of fight for you but it isn't anything special. Take out the enemies and
    keep going. To your east you will find three Runners, one of whom stands to
    fight while two of his fellows run down a tunnel to the south.

    From here you can either go down the tunnel or towards the intersection to the
    east. If you go there you will find numerous enemies; a Genlock Emissary and a
    trio of archers, one of whom is manning a ballista, as well as three more of
    the Genlock archers to the north. Watch your health here as that Emissary is in
    love with the Fireball spell. Both paths converge at this crossroad.
    -----------------------------
    - Southeast: After walking through the tunnels a bit you will find a lone Deep
    Stalker. It may attempt to run off since, as you walk past the next bend, there
    is a fair sized group of them just waiting for you. Take them out and continue
    on your way. In the larger room ahead there is only treasure on the eastern
    path so head down to the southeast again. More Deep Stalkers will attack, this
    time from in front and behind, so be ready to take them out.

    Walk forward into the next chamber for some more Deepstalker combat. Head into
    the next tunnel to find your way to the Deep Road again. A Bronto and some
    Genlocks wait here for you. After killing them you will notice that the way to
    the south is just full of Genlocks. There are two near the dirt mound itself,
    one near the ballista, a Genlock Emissary further back and a trio of more
    Genlock archers near him. It's very easy to see someone die here so watch your
    party hit points. Both paths converge at this crossroad.
    -----------------------------
    From the intersection you can either go to the east or west. West leads to a
    small tunnel to the south that two Runners disappear down while the East stays
    on the Deep Road.

    - Western Tunnel: As you go down this tunnel to the south you will very soon
    find those Runners. They are waiting with a Hurlock and Genlock Emissary to
    ambush you. It's no big deal, the fight is easy, just be ready for a Shriek to
    pop up and attack you from behind. On the Emissary you will find Topsider's
    Hilt, a piece of a sword. Keep going through the tunnels until you find a very
    nasty surprise...

    Waiting for you at an intersection are a trio of Shrieks who ambush you. But
    that's not the surprise. That honor belongs to the Ogre Alpha. Yes, a boss Ogre
    who was not so long ago a boss itself. Ogre Alpha isn't that bad as far as the
    "boss" type monsters go but he's still pretty bad. He doesn't have any new
    attacks, he still charges, stomps to stun everyone and picks people up to try
    squishing them, nor does he do that much more damage. But oh boy does he have
    more health.

    To get past this behemoth with minimal difficulty you will need to rely heavily
    on stunning attacks. He resists these fairly well but when he goes to pick up a
    party member you'll want to throw everything you have at him. If you can stun
    him he will drop your ally, leaving you free to start attacking again. Freezing
    attacks also work but they can be dangerous as he will usually focus on the
    mage after being frozen once or twice.

    When he goes down you can head to the east out of the tunnel. South is the exit
    to Ortan Thaig from here.

    - East: As you start moving this way you will find a Glass Phylactery amidst
    some rubble. This is part of the Unbound quest although it's not a official
    quest. Touching this unleashes a powerful Revenant that is dangerous in both
    melee and ranged combat using his spells. Try to keep him frozen and stunned to
    minimize risk of your life. He doesn't take damage from ice spells at all but
    he can be frozen solid briefly, buying you time to beat on him further.

    From here it branches off in three directions: One to the east, one to the west
    (although this only doubles back on a previous path) and the exit to the south
    that leads to Ortan Thaig.

    Going down the eastern tunnel is a short trip. A group of Genlocks are waiting
    for a fight in the very first room. The next room has a bunch of those little
    chicken like Deepstalkers except it's got a whole lot of them. They spawn in
    large groups, attacking you from all sides. However after defeating three of
    these groups you will be able to fight the Deepstalker Matriarch, a boss type
    Deepstalker that isn't all that hard. Once she's down search the sarcophagus
    and then head out of here.

    To Ortan Thaig!

    After a chit-chat with Oghren you will be ready to move through Ortan Thaig.
    Just up ahead you can find a dead Ogre with some Giant Spiders nearby. This is
    a bad sign. Head down the tunnel nearby to find an interesting situation.

    This next room is full of Giant Spiders, Thaig Crawlers (stronger spiders) and
    some Giant Poisonous Spiders brawling it out with darkspawn. First you will see
    them attacking an Ogre for all they're worth. If you have area of effect attack
    spells this is a great place to use them. A Cone of Cold here, Fireball there
    and voila! Lots of easy experience.

    Head to the north when they've all fallen to find yet more chaos. Spiders are
    fighting regular darkspawn here so start throwing off spells again. After a bit
    a Shriek Alpha will pop up out of nowhere. Focus on this guy since he can do a
    lot of damage surprisingly fast if you happen to lose track of him in the mess.
    When they're all down search this area for treasure and loot before moving on.

    The next tunnel has a Giant Poisonous Spider in it who will sprint away at top
    speed. Stop your party from chasing after him and try to draw him back to you
    with ranged attacks or spells. If you run through the web four more spiders are
    going to attack you and dealing with them, plus the Poisonous Spider, can be an
    issue. Handle it before heading to the west.

    Stepping out into this chamber will see you attacked by dwarven spirits and a
    Stone Golem. The spirits are totally immune to cold magics and don't take very
    much from any other type of magic spells. Mind Blast has some success and they
    can still be frozen solid so that gives you some options. The Stone Golem is
    the real danger since he can stun your party with his Quake attack (punching
    the ground repeatedly) and is hard to do much of anything to, magic wise.

    When they've all fallen start following the path to the north through the Thaig
    proper. Here you will see a dwarf leaning over a darkspawn corpse who runs off
    as you approach. Here is where you can work on the "A Mother's Hope" and "The
    Lost Memories" quests. From here go to the southwest just a bit to head around
    the buildings to the Altar of Sundering. This is relevant to the "Asunder"
    quest if you've been working on it. While none of these need to be visited to
    go on with the main quest it's suggested that you speak to Ruck since he can
    act as a merchant if you can calm him down. This is a great place to unload all
    of the crappy darkspawn equipment you've been picking up.

    Whenever you're ready to proceed to one of the bridges to the west. Both of
    them have a Stone Golem on them with two dwarves at the far end. In the middle
    of the far bank are three more dwarves. It's suggested that you walk onto a
    bridge, kill the enemies and then go to the other bridge and do the same before
    actually trying to cross it. Search the bank before continuing on, into the
    tunnel on the other side of the river.

    As you go you will see Giant Spiders retreating from you, both running away and
    slipping up into the ceiling. Don't get too proud of that fact, the reason why
    they're doing this is just across that bridge...

    Once you near the far bank a group of Corrupted Spiders will come out to attack
    you with a Genlock Emissary. Four come from the front while one attacks you
    from the rear. If you don't move forward quickly then they will block off the
    way to the Emissary, leaving him free to pummel you with Winter's Grasp, lots
    of Fireballs and a number of other "kill you stupidly fast" spells. Oh and the
    spiders can not only web you but they can tackle you to the ground to nibble on
    your face meaning it's possible for them to incapacitate your entire party in
    very short order.

    The best way to deal with this is to send someone across the bridge with a very
    high natural armor rating as a target. The spiders will go after him as one big
    group. Use your mage to stun / freeze them all and send another fighter to go
    after the Emissary, preferably a Templar. Now let the mage keep the spiders
    busy while the fighter, if he still lives, helps when he unwebs. Your last man
    should be keeping the rear attacking spider busy unless it dies in which case
    he can help out the mage as well.

    With that done loot the Emissary and head for Branka's Journal. If you go to
    the east there are more Corrupted Spiders with another Emissary. But beyond
    that lies the Corrupted Spider Queen, the boss of this place.
    BOOM IT GUYZ!!!

  7. #7
    Senior Member boomermitra's Avatar
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    -------------------
    Boss: Corrupted Spider Queen
    -------------------
    The main body of this fight isn't going to be against the Spider Queen herself
    but against the many Corrupted Spiders she calls up. Most of these only come
    down two or three at a time and they don't use their web attack very often if
    at all. For the most part it's an easy fight thanks to this fact but it can be
    dangerous if you're not careful.

    Dealing with the Spider Queen is simple enough. She will come down on a line of
    web to start spitting venom at you. When you near her she will wait between one
    to four seconds before webbing up everyone around her and retreating to the
    ceiling. Then she comes down somewhere else, usually away from your party, and
    starts it all over again. You're basically forced to chase her around while you
    try desperately to wail on her.

    The trick to this fight is your mage, as usual. If you have freezing spells she
    can be easily locked in place to allow your fighters to deal some solid damage.
    Then, when the Corrupted Spider reinforcements arrive, the mage can use things
    like Mind Blast or Paralysis to prevent them from ganging up on the fighters.
    Honestly this is a fairly easy fight unless people start getting pounced in
    which case you desperately need to get them off ASAP or you will likely lose a
    party member, especially if it's a mage or rogue that they hit.
    -------------------

    When the Queen dies loot her body before scouring the area for stuff. Then go
    on over to Branka's Journal and read it to learn a bit more about where she has
    gone. Now we're going even deeper into the Deep Roads so you may want to go
    back to Orzammar to restock on supplies, this trip isn't over yet.

    Welcome to the Dead Trenches, home to the... Holy Sweet Mother what the hell is
    that thing?! Okay, wow. After that cutscene you may feel the need to proceed
    slowly forward so as to not get eaten alive. Heading down the ramp you will see
    some dwarven Legionnaires fending off a bunch of darkspawn. This bridge seems
    to have a never-ending flow of darkspawn across it. When you near it you'd best
    be ready to fight since that flow only stops when you kill enough of those damn
    darkspawn so be ready for a protracted battle.

    Speak to the dwarven leader before crossing the bridge. Your first fight will
    be against a group of regular Hurlocks and Genlocks. But once you reach the
    other side you will find eight Genlock archers and an Ogre waiting for you. Try
    to let your mage go after the Genlocks since crowd control spells will stop
    them in their tracks and they like to stay clustered. Your warriors should make
    it a priority to get rid of the Ogre before worrying about the archers. This
    whole group is kind of weak so you shouldn't have too many difficulties.

    To the south is just some treasure while north will lead to a tunnel that takes
    you deeper into the trenches. You will have to battle some darkspawn after an
    auto-save but that's all that's between you and Bownammar. Once inside you will
    find a pair of Hurlocks to the south who charge you with a Bronto. While you
    fight them a pair of archers with a Genlock Emissary are by the large doors and
    will be throwing off attacks at you. Aim for the Bronto first while your mage
    tries to incapacitate the Emissary.

    With that done you have a few ways to go. There are two doors to the sotuh and
    a single one to the north. The southwestern door contains a squad of darkspawn
    and has a few sarcophagi to loot as well as a locked chest. The northern door
    leads to another small room with some darkspawn and treasure. South is the way
    to go if you want to go deeper.

    The door to the south contains a number of enemies, as well as traps, but the
    sarcophagi here have a few decent items inside of them, notably a great pair of
    gauntlets. Inside of the tunnels past this room lies your next challenge. A
    squad of enemies, namely Hurlocks and a Genlock Emissary, wait for you with a
    number of Corrupted Spiders. Getting past this fight without serious damage is
    difficult since the spiders and Emissary can immobilize you while they all are
    capable of dealing significant damage. Try to get a large group of enemies all
    together so you can hit them with AoE attacks and then quickly get rid of that
    Emissary before his damage adds up too much.

    Past this is yet another rough patch - an Ancient Darkspawn awaits around the
    corner. While his name is colored like a boss he isn't really one. However he
    is a very smart fighter with a number of skills. He seems to be something of a
    Champion / Ravager mix based on the skills he uses, capable of going into a
    frenzy to cut your party up as well as hitting everyone around him with his big
    ol' axe. Your best bet is to keep stunning him but don't let your mage get too
    invovled. He's smart enough to go after mages in the first place and if you get
    too happy about casting spells he will charge your mage in an attempt to knock
    them off. Don't let that happen.

    Loot his corpse to find The Topsider's Blade, the final piece of the sword that
    you have been finding parts of. You'll need to return this to the tomb in the
    Ortan Thaig but that can wait. Head into the next tunnel to find a bunch more
    traps with a few darkspawn. There are some Shrieks hidden there as well so try
    not to leave your mages undefended.

    Loot the bodies and continue into the next chamber to find more trouble. To the
    south are a number of Genlocks and Hurlocks accompanied by an archer Hurlock
    Alpha and a Genlock Forge Master, basically a Genlock boss. This fight is a big
    pain in the butt since this is a fairly large group of enemies that can cut up
    your health in short order. To say nothing of the fact that whether you're at
    close range or at a distance the obnoxious ass Forge Master can cleave your HP
    apart with no problem. It's nice to see someone so versatile. And annoying.

    Part of this fight is strategy and part of this fight is luck. The first times
    you try this you will likely use up most of your health potions if not have a
    full party wipe. But then miraculously you will get through it with minimal
    issues. If you have any defensive skills now is the time to activate them!

    Try to go for the first group as quickly, and brutally, as possible without
    letting your mage use too many spells. Save up their big spells for just a few
    moments. Wipe out that first group and then rush forward to where the Alpha is
    with his two archers and the Forge Master is with his two archers. Send your
    fighters and archer to deal with the Alpha and his men as fast as possible, use
    all of your skills up if you must. While they do this have either a rogue or
    your mage keep the Forge Master and pals busy with bombos or crowd control type
    spells. If you're using Morrigan you should have Cone of Cold by now - keep on
    casting this as much as possible, with whatever stunning / freezing / paralyze
    spells you may have.

    This keeps the Forge Master busy until all other enemies are down. Now have the
    whole party gang up on him to take him down in no time at all. Loot the dead
    and then double back to the north. In the eastern room there are some items in
    the sarcophagi, grab them before continuing north. Your path brings you to a
    bridge but as you try to cross it Shrieks will attack from both directions. It
    seems bad but it's pretty easy to get through. Just focus on letting them get
    clustered up and then hamer them with AoE attacks.

    Continue north until you reach a large chamber where skeletons come out to
    attack. There are at least ten of them in here and while not individually very
    strong they can really lay on the damage as a unit. More importantly there is
    a Genlock Emissary so make taking him out a priority unless you like watching
    your party members die. The skeletons may annoy via shield bashes and going out
    for your mages but overall this shouldn't be too bad. Make sure to search a
    nearby sarcophagus to find the next to last piece of the Armor of the Legion.

    As you start heading down the tunnels beyond the door a strange voice will be
    heard. Follow it to a fork in the road - north leads to two Genlock Emissary's
    and Corrupted Spiders guarding some locked chests while east keeps on going in
    the direction of the voice. When you reach the end of the hall go through the
    door to find Hespith, a dwarven victim of some crime perpetuated by Branka. It
    seems like she was tainting her own family members for some reason connected to
    the Anvil of the Void. She runs off after you're done talking so follow her.

    There's a surprise in here for you: a pair of Ogre's to fight. It shouldn't be
    too hard for you so long as you focus everything you have on one and then the
    other. Just try not to waste your skills (ie. don't have two people try to stun
    at the same time) so that you can quickly turn from one to the other.

    When they both go down loot them, search the nearby rubble for a great joke on
    the elevators in Mass Effect, and then go through the smaller door, not the big
    Ominous Door. Here you will see a bunch of spirits praying, these are the souls
    of fallen Legionnaires of the Legion of the Dead. There is a stone you can look
    at here that speaks of the Gangue of the stone. Think of it as a corruption of
    the very essence of the world. Beyond that is an altar with the key you need as
    well as the last part of the Armor of the Legion.

    When you take the key and helmet the dwarven spirits will attack you. They're
    nothing too bad though so this shouldn't be a huge issue. Just don't let your
    stupid party go running off by themselves to fight five of them, especially the
    mages, to avoid any silliness. Once they're defeated you can activate the
    Legion of the Dead Relic to call up a Gangue Spirit to fight. This is just a
    really durable Shade / Ash Wraith so don't worry about it. Take it out and then
    loot its corpse. Mosey back to those Ominous Doors so you can use that key you
    just got to open them up.

    Move forward, searching everything as you go for treasure, until you reach a
    cutscene that shows... some really messed up crap. Welcome to the Broodmother
    boss battle and this one can be a doozy.

    -------------------
    Boss: Broodmother
    -------------------
    This seems to be that beast that the crazy dwarf lady was talking about. You
    will be fighting not just the Broodmother itself but its tentacles which can be
    a real pain in the rear to handle. She's a veritable flurry of attacks, both
    from herself and those freaking tentacles of hers. These pose a serious issue
    to engaging her in melee and this limits your options considerably. Oh you can
    try to battle her in melee but you will use up a whole lot of healing potions
    even if you brought a healer along.

    The Broodmother has three methods of defense. Firstly she herself has a number
    of physical attacks that will knock people around, stagger them or just beat
    the crud out of them. She also has a scream attack that stuns everyone even
    remotely near her. If you try to stay at a range she will spit on you and she
    can pick people up to blow chunks all over them.

    Secondly her tentacles will attack you. Unlike her these aren't really that big
    of a threat but they can contribute to your HP dropping rapidly. Lastly when
    you deal too much damage she will summon up darkspawn. The first wave is called
    when she's lost about a third of her health and is fairly small. It's just a
    few Genlocks and Hurlocks to start with. But when you take down a bit more than
    half of her health she summons a number of Hurlock, Genlock, Shrieks and, if
    that wasn't enough, Genlock archers.

    Her only weakness is cold attacks. Whether it's Winter's Grasp, Cone of Cold or
    even Blizzard this will do a good amount of damage to her. If she's frozen then
    there's a chance that even weak little Winter's Grasp will refreeze her which
    works wonders for taking her out.

    Here are a few suggested strategies to battle her:

    1. If you're willing to be a bit cheesy then try this. Equip everyone with a
    ranged weapon and hang back all the way away from her. Continually shoot her
    with your bows and watch her health tick down. Any spells you use will only
    speed this up. Now this isn't foolproof since her tentacles may make their way
    over to you and when the darkspawn attack you'll need to deal with them, and
    she can spit at you all the while, but you won't take nearly as much damage.
    Just keep on the stone to reduce how many tentacles can reach you.

    2. Get right in her face, freeze her, and start going to town with your party.
    If you happen to have Death Hex cast that on her and then have your men rush in
    to beat her down. While they're doing this you can have your spellcaster just
    beating on her. Your pattern should go like this:

    a) Mage: Death Hex, Others: Hang back until CoC casting begins
    b) Mage: Cone of Cold, Others: Rush in and hit the frozen boss with as many
    powerful skills as possible. Try to use ones that cause critical hits and
    the like first.
    c) Mage: cast as many damage dealing spells as possible, Others: Stay focused
    on the boss unless others have spawned in. If this happens pull back to deal
    with them without Broodmother hitting you and then attack.
    d) Later, rinse, repeat

    3. If you're feeling really cheesy you can just hang back on the stone roads to
    either side of the Broodmother where she can't reach you and spam spells.
    For example if you have Blizzard drop that right on top of her to cause a
    serious amount of damage. Use Death Hex to make this all the harsher.

    ************************
    *NOTE: For the super cheesy amongst us there's an uber combo you can use to end
    this fight faster than you might ever dream. Have your mage activate the Spell
    Might skill before casting Blizzard and Tempest. This will cause a spell combo
    called Storm of the Century to go off. This deals about 5-30 damage per second
    to enemies, or allies, in the area of effect. Watch it tear the boss to pieces
    especially if you happen to cast off Death Hex before doing this.
    ************************

    This fight can be something of an endurance test but you shouldn't have too
    much trouble defeating her. Just be mindful of your health and you'll be fine.
    -------------------

    When she falls loot the body as well as the area before going through the hall
    to the east. On the map choose the Anvil of the Void area and let's get to the
    bottom of this mess.

    After talking to Branka for a bit start walking forward through the tunnels...
    as if you really have a choice. Listen to her rambling as you go to see just
    how far gone she is. When you enter the large room you will be attacked by a
    large group of darkspawn with most coming towards you and the rest near the
    back of the chamber. Heading towards those in the back causes more to pour out
    of the tunnel and when you go into the tunnel there are some more of them with
    an Ogre. Yay! This is a huge brawl so make good use of your mages here and
    watch your health. With proper crowd control you'll be just fine.

    Head through the tunnels until the game auto-saves for you. In this next room
    you will have to shut four gas valves to stop the flow of poison gas. While you
    try to do this you will be attacked by a Stone Golem. It's important that you
    ignore the golem for the moment and shut off those valves. This is easier to do
    on the PC where you can easily click on where you want your people to go while
    it's a fight on the consoles. Get those valves closed and start killing Stone
    Golems. After taking out the first one four more will awaken so defeat them all
    to unlock the door to this room.

    The next room is a trapped room. If you have a skilled enough rogue they will
    note the traps on the floor which you can then disarm. Should you not disarm it
    then you will have to fight golems which aren't terribly hard to fight although
    they come in pairs. Reaching the far end of the room opens the door to allow
    you out.

    Go through the tunnels to reach the Anvil of the Void. There is a test in this
    room as well and this one is a bit of a puzzle to figure out what's going on.
    As you enter the room the tower in the middle will begin to spin in place. It
    then summons up four spirit dwarves, one to guard each spirit anvil in a circle
    around it. As you kill these dwarves they are respawned but the anvils light up
    in positions that correspond to the dwarf you kill. This may lead you to think
    that you need to light them all up which isn't the case.

    What you need to do is kill a dwarf that is standing near an anvil and then
    activate the lit anvil. This will fire a blast of energy at the tower which
    causes it to bleed and begin firing off attacks at you. To destroy the tower it
    is necessary to hit each face with two blasts of energy from the anvil. Try to
    watch where the faces turn and hit each face twice instead of hitting random
    faces. The more injured faces the more damage it deals. Also note that while
    the dwarves don't attack you until they're attacked your party has very serious
    issues with controlling themselves here. Even if you tell them to attack the
    northern dwarf they may decide to hit him and then go after another one which
    means dealing with two enemies instead of one.

    Once you've hit all four faces enough the fight ends and the door unlocks. Open
    the three chests near the door (one of which is locked) and then go down the
    tunnel. This takes you straight to Caridin and his army of Stone Golems. Speak
    to him to learn about the Anvil of the Void.

    ************************
    *NOTE: If you happen to have Shale with you at this point then he will have a
    small conversation with Caridin that reveals more of his background. This is
    the talk necessary to work towards unlocking Shale's memories. It's also the
    start of his personal quest. However he will also betray you if you try to side
    with Branka here so don't bring him along if that's your intention. You can try
    to speak to him in camp later on. There's a 50/50 chance he will actually talk
    about his memories although this may be a bug in the DLC as he seems like he
    should always talk to you about it afterwards.
    ************************

    There are two ways to go from here, siding with Branka the insane or Caridin
    the big metal booty. If you side with Branka you will have to fight tall dark
    and stainless with the aid of Caridin's golems but if you choose to side with
    Branka then you have to fight Caridin with the aid of some of her golems. This
    isn't exactly easy either way.

    -------------------
    Boss: Caridin
    -------------------
    If you side with Branka then you will have to take down Caridin and his six
    Stone Golems. This is a tough fight since the only backup you have is the two
    golems that Branka brings in with her. Plus Caridin is a serious powerhouse who
    has all the traits of golems and is much stronger than they ever are.

    Defeating him is really difficult if you try to just powerhouse your way past
    the big guy. He hits for a lot of damage, he has a lot of help just nearby and
    it's quite easy for him to suddenly kill you. Defeating him is a matter of not
    letting him move around too much. As such try to junkpile on him with lots of
    skills that stun him while your mage freezes him when possible.

    Now that's not going to solve the whole problem, there are other golems that
    want to kill you as well. It would be best to allow two of your party members
    to keep Caridin busy while your mage and another character deal with the two
    golems. If you've got freezing capabilities now is the time to abuse it. You
    want to get rid of those two before the other two kill Branka's golems and then
    come after you.

    Once the golems are gone you can focus on Caridin who will go down eventually.
    He does make the area dangerous by punching the ground, causing first electric
    energy to spark up in the middle of the area and then it changes to flames that
    leap out of the ground. Try to avoid these while battling him.
    -------------------

    After the fight speak to Branka and ask her to make a crown using the Anvil to
    be given to the next king of Orzammar as a sign of her favor.


    Or...

    -------------------
    Boss: Branka
    -------------------
    Fighting Branka isn't much easier than fighting Caridin but it's not likely to
    feel that way. This fight is rough - there's no real way around that fact. You
    will probably feel that it's impossible if you find yourself dying here since
    it all feels very overwhelming thanks to not only the overwhelming odds but the
    fact that Branka herself is a helluva powerhouse for a craftsman.

    Much as when you fight most enemies it's important to get rid of the flunkies
    first and then go after the boss. In this case it's doubly important to do so
    thanks to the sheer power of these freaking golems. Ignore Branka as much as
    possible and lure the golems to you. Then focus on the yellow named ones and
    try to hit them with freezing spells to lock them in place. With that done you
    should use your strongest skills to cut them down. Amusingly enough if you have
    Cone of Cold and Stonefist or Crushing Prison you can destroy the white Golems
    with easy spell combo.

    When it comes to fighting Branka she's not that complicated at first. She has
    moves to stun you and knock you down, all of which deal appreciable damage. The
    rub of it is when you do about half of her health in damage to her. This will
    prompt her to summon up a trio of mirror images that fight alongside her. It's
    possible to destroy these quickly if you focus on them as they die pretty easy
    but it's hard to do this with her herself still beating on you. Try to let your
    mage focus on freezing them and dealing whatever damage they can while one more
    character helps out.

    It may take some time but you will be able to defeat Branka so long as you try
    to keep your health as high as possible.
    -------------------

    Now you may return to Orzammar for a nice cutscene where you choose who will be
    the next king. It doesn't matter who you've helped so far you can pull a total
    180 here and just give it to whom you like. Regardless you will be given a
    reward for your efforts and the aid of Orzammar.

    If you've chosen to side with Harrowmont then you will get to engage in a fun
    little melee within the council chambers. This is actually a pretty easy fight
    since there are so many allies taking part in it. Just be careful with your AoE
    attacks as you can kill the nobles. Focus on Bhelen and tear him a new one. If
    you go into the Royal Palace and speak to Vartag he will attack you as well.
    Just an FYI.

    Now it's time to move on to the next quest.

    ========================
    Nature of the Beast
    ========================
    When you arrive at the Brecelian Forest you will be stopped by a group of Elven
    warriors. You can either tell them of your business to try and convince them to
    let you into the camp or simply use Persuade to let you in. Once you're brought
    to the Keeper he will explain what is going on with the Elves and how you will
    have to help them if you wish for their aid. Of course.

    Speak to Sarel and Lenaya to gather some more information on what's going on in
    his area as well as the forest, Zathrian and the Werewolves. You should next
    find Varathorn to open up the shop. Take note that this man sells you as many
    Elfroot as you can carry so grab them up and, when paired up with the flasks
    and distillation agents in the party camp, you can now make as many healing
    potions as you can afford. Once you're ready head into the forest.

    Navigating the Brecelian Forest is kind of a pain, as are giving directions for
    much of anything here. This is due to the fact that the paths are hard to tell
    apart on the map, it's generally hard to tell where and when you need to
    deviate from the paths to move around. It's generally confusing... like trying
    to walk around in a forest would be.

    Follow the path north then east as it curves around a hill. You will pretty
    immediately be attacked by some Wolves (Blight Wolves at higher levels) and
    Werewolves. The Werewolves aren't really anything all that special. They hit
    kind of hard and have a moderate amount of health but your warriors should have
    no issue taking them down even when outnumbered so long as you make good use of
    your skills.

    At the top of the hill head to the east, under the fallen tree, to reach a
    waterfall where you will be confronted by a trio of Werewolves who talk to you.
    You can try to talk to them but you're pretty much guaranteed to end up in a
    fight with them. However it is possible to chase them off with a very high
    Intimidate score or talk to them via Persuade. It's even possible to talk them
    into leaving via Persuade by telling them you can't leave but don't wish to
    fight them.

    If it does come to blows then it's really not that big of a deal as it's simply
    a fight against two werewolves and one werewolf elite. Get rid of the regular
    ones first as they can do serious damage to your mages and archers should they
    slip over to them. When they're down you can deal with Swiftrunner.

    Go over the eastern bridge from here to be attacked by a larger werewolf pack.
    This one will likely have some more elites within their ranks so be ready for a
    bit more of a toussle. Once again, do not neglect AoE attacks and crowd control
    spells, namely Cone of Cold or Mind Blast. After you've defeated the lot of
    them head a bit more to the east to find a group of darkspawn. By now the only
    real threat here should be the Ogre so focus everything on him. Since this is
    not a boss, just a regular one, he will go down relatively fast to concentrated
    assaults. Once he's down wipe out the rest of them.

    To the north of here is a way to the northeast section of the Brecelian Forest.
    If you head to the east you will find another pack of werewolves guarding the
    exit to the southeastern part of the Brecelian Forest. Or you could swing to
    the south along the path to find a bunch of Wild Sylvan, animated trees, who
    are guarding the way. Fight them as you would Ogres since they're essentially
    the same enemy except the Sylvans replace raw damage with the ability to trap
    you up in entagling vines, damaging and immobilizing you.

    You will have to fight a good three of these things before you will find the
    Grand Oak. Speak to the Elder Tree to find out that he has a favor to ask of
    you. He has a request of you but it's worth it coming this way just to listen
    to him talk. When you're done with that walk to the southwest to find an oddly
    abandoned camp site. By examining this enough times your non-mage party members
    will all spontaneously die, leaving your mage to fend off a Greater Shade by
    themselves. This isn't that hard as long as you have some means of healing from
    the damage he deals constantly or the ability to freeze him (he can't really be
    stunned or knocked down). When he dies you can search the area for treasure
    from the remains that lie around.

    Now the way further into this area is by going to the Eastern part of the
    forest. Unfortunately you will encounter a barrier in this area that you can't
    get through without some help. Luckily that's what the Grand Oak is for! This
    talking tree will ask a favor of you. Someone has stolen his acorn and he will
    die if it isn't returned. The thief has apparently gone off to the east so
    let's head that way. By helping him you will be able to get through the barrier
    so you are forced to follow the quest at least this far.

    Now head into the Eastern part of the Brecilian forest, it doesn't matter what
    path you pick out of the two. This next part of the guide is written from going
    into the Eastern part via the southeastern path.

    Walk forward along this path, fighting another Wild Sylvan, until you reach a
    crossroads in the path. To the south is the way to the werewolf lair but it's
    blocked off by a barrier seemingly created by the forest. To the northwest is
    Danyla who will either start, or finish up, the Lost to the Curse quest. The
    northeastern path is guarded by some bears but it also has Andraste's Grace, a
    flower that Leliana loves to recieve. Beyond that lies a pair of Ogres who are
    guarding a gravestone but there's nothing you can do with this yet. Lastly the
    easternmost path leads to the Hermit you're looking for.

    This man is the one who stole the Grand Oak's Acorn so we need to get that back
    from this lunatic. There are a few ways to go about this section. First you can
    just kill him to take the acorn, it's found inside of the tree stump. Secondly
    you could trade with him, he accepts either books or scarves. However it is
    very possible to side with the madman by going back and killing the Grand Oak.
    How you finish this quest is up to you as all you need is the bark from the
    Grand Oak which he will give you if you get the acorn.

    Some notes: Taking something from the cubby cut into the tree stump results in
    the Hermit attacking you. In addition to that he has an Elven helmet and old
    book for trade. You will need to trade him a book or scarf for this as well.

    -------------------
    Boss: Mad Hermit
    -------------------
    Fighting the Mad Hermit may make you panic a bit as the fight begins. Not only
    do you have to fight a powerful mage but he summons up two Rage Demons. It's a
    sort of "oh crap!" moment until you actually start to fight them. The pair of
    demons are actually fairly weak, going down pretty easily especially if you are
    using cold attacks to take them down. The Hermit himself is something of a
    problem if you aren't very careful. Immediately get right up into his face and
    start to hammer him with your strongest attacks. Keep him stunned, knocked down
    and frozen as much as possible to prevent him from ever casting a spell. As
    long as you can keep this up you shouldn't have too many problems.
    -------------------

    Now take the acorn back to the Grand Oak in exchange for a branch.

    or...

    -------------------
    Boss: Grand Oak
    -------------------
    Basically this walking pile of firewood is just an overpowered Wild Sylvan. He
    can do a lot of damage with his physical attacks, entangle your party members
    and he has a fair bit of health. The only major difference between him and the
    Wild Sylvans is that he, very rarely, will pick someone up and start to squeeze
    the life out of him. That's bad by the way. Make use of fire arrows, flaming
    weapons and fire spells to cut down the Grand Oak in record time. Honestly he
    should present little problem.
    -------------------

    You will be able to loot a branch off of the Grand Oak.

    Regardless of how you completed this section you can now go through the barrier
    that was stopping you from going into the werewolf lair. When you pass through
    you will encounter Swiftrunner again and there's no way to avoid a fight here.
    Him and his three werewolf buddies will leap to attack. However just as you're
    about to defeat him a white wolf leaps into the middle of the fray allowing
    Swiftrunner to escape. Just beyond this is the way into the ruins.

    Head down the path straight in front of you until you reach the central hall.
    You will fight two werewolves here but they're pushovers. To your north is a
    hole in the wall that will take you to the Lair of the Werewolves. Sadly they
    have barred the door from the other side so we have to take the long way around
    to get in. That involves going through the western door.

    Follow the path west until you reach the second intersection. As you near it a
    large number of spiders will come out to attack so be ready to handle that. It
    isn't really a hard fight although the constant web attacks may draw your ire.
    When they're dead you have a few choices on where to go - the north and west
    rooms contain some treasure while south takes you further in. It will lead you
    right into a boss fight.

    -------------------
    Boss: Dragon
    -------------------
    For some this will be a really easy fight while others might see some of their
    party members dying here. It's not that the Dragon is particularly hard to take
    down but it can be generally hard to do this while keeping your party alive.

    When you enter this chamber three traps will be right in front of you. Try to
    disarm at least one or two of them before you actually bring the Dragon out or
    your party members may blunder into them which is basically a death sentence.
    The dragon is powerful offensively, able to dish out damage with its claws and
    bite quickly while any who are caught in the flame breath will be burned badly
    and possibly set on fire.

    Luckily for you this beast is actually fairly easy to kill thanks to his body
    being made of glass. If you have any strong skills wait until the dragon is
    immobile in some way (stunning or freezing) and then just unload on the thing.
    It honestly shouldn't survive very much of this. The trick is to kill it before
    it slaughters someone which can be hard but overall it should be doable in a
    try or two.
    -------------------

    Loot this large chamber, especially the Dragon Hoard, before continuing forward
    into the Lower Levels of this dungeon.

    Straight ahead you will see what appears to be the ghost of a young boy that
    runs off once it spots you. Following it causes you to run face first into a
    bunch of skeletons. They come from all angles but your warriors should be able
    to do most of the work here with your other characters as just icing on the
    cake. Search the rooms to the east and west for treasure before heading south.

    Turn to the east when the path splits and be ready to fight some spiders. The
    webs that are hanging in the corridor will tangle you up if you touch them so
    try to avoid them until the spiders are dead, then it doesn't really matter. Go
    into the large chamber once they're defeated to find that boy ghost again.

    Regardless of what you do here he will flee and a bunch of skeletons will pop
    up to attack you. While they're fairly easy to take out they will come from all
    sides which can cut down your party ridiculously fast if they go for your more
    vulnerable members. Try to get your mage and archer away from the melee so they
    can fight in safety while your warriors take the brunt of it.

    When they all fall search the room as well as the southern room. Make sure to
    search the sarcophagus so you can get the tablet as well as "The Elven Ritual"
    quest which will come up later in this dungeon. When you've gotten all the
    treasures fro these rooms and the north room go through the western door. The
    game will autosave in this corridor which is a great sign. The path goes to the
    north and south, let's head south for now since that's where the enemies are.

    Walking down the stairs towards the room will cause three skeletons to attack
    you. While they are easily dispatched going into the room to loot causes about
    a hal dozen more to pop up. This gets tricky since the space is tight which
    means AoE attacks can be a dicey proposition. Try to use skills to knock people
    down or moves that stun enemies (Mind Blast won't work on undead) to handle
    this brawl without too much damage. Now search the floor in the corner to find
    a Phylactery.

    Picking up this Phylactery will allow you to learn the Arcane Warrior skill.
    You need to ask it about the specialization first through conversing with it.
    Once you've asked about it bring it to the altar and it will teach you how to
    become an Arcane Warrior. Now place it on the altar to shatter the gem and free
    the spirit. You could throw it aside or simply refuse to help but there doesn't
    seem to be any real advantage to doing so.

    When you're done here head to the north if you're doing the Elven Ritual side-
    quest (found in that section of this guide) or to the south if you're going on
    with the main quest. Eventually the tunnels will lead you to an area where you
    have enemies to your south, east and west. The eastern and southern enemies are
    inside of regular rooms with open doors so they will come to attack you once
    they get the slightest wind of you. An easy way to handle this fight is to toss
    a fireball or some other spell into one of the rooms to draw all of the undead
    to you instead of you going to them. This causes them to attack and let's you
    take them out very easily.

    Search the bodies as well as the two rooms to find some loot. There's also a
    glass phylactery in the south room that will release a Revenant for you to
    fight. If you touch this vial you will call up a very powerful Revenant for
    your party to fight. Defeating this gives a big reward of experience but it's
    hard as hell. Be sure to save before attempting this.

    Once you're ready to continue head into the large room to the west. There are
    a number of skeleton archers here but they're not hard to defeat. The trick is
    dealing with all the pressure plates on the ground. Low level parties might
    just kill themselves running over all of these so it's worth keeping control
    over your party members for this section. Once they're all dead search the room
    before continuing on.

    Inside of the next room you will fight five Skeletons which is fairly easy and
    may make you wonder why the game autosaved. Well further down the stairs is...

    -------------------
    Boss: Arcane Horror
    -------------------
    This guy is waiting to tear your face off and use it like a mask. Possessing
    a number of potent magical abilities it's very easy for this one to be the end
    of your party. What makes it even harder to fight is the fact that it teleports
    away from you when you get to close, moving to the other devices on the floor
    nearly at will. Oh and six skeletons will come rushing out to attack you as
    well, adding to the general chaos.

    The Arcane Horror isn't too hard to kill once you can get him to stop moving
    around so you can beat on him. A good strategy is to send your fighter forward
    so that the Horror beans him in the face with a Fireball. This prevents him
    from using this on your mage or rogue for a bit. Now have your mage move in on
    him and, once he teleports from your fighters rushing him, freeze him with a
    Cone of Cold to lock him in place.

    Now that he's stuck there you can open up on him. Hit him with your strongest
    attacks as quickly as possible. If you're lucky you will take most of his
    health away before he teleports again. Should his health be low just try to
    finish him off with spells or arrow attacks. But if he still has a fair bit of
    health you'll have some issues since the skeletons constantly cause your dumb
    fighters to lose their focus on him when he teleports. Just wait until you can
    freeze him again and manually make the fighters go after him. This will likely
    be enough to kill him.

    All that's left is to mop up the skeletons.
    -------------------

    When everything is dead... again, loot this room as well as the rooms to the
    south. Head to the north when you're done, killing the last of the skeletons
    and then entering the pool to reach the Lair of the Werewolves.

    The first room you walk into will lead to a few battles with werewolf groups.
    It shouldn't be difficult to take them out by now but be wary of the Shadow
    Wolf enemies as they love to Overwhelm your party members. Anyone who isn't too
    familiar with this oh so annoying attack will become so in the future. It is
    basically the enemy jumping on your face and gnawing on it while you lay there
    totally helpless. Fantastic.

    To the south you will enter a room with the Gatekeeper. Regardless of how you
    plan to solve this situation you will be able to change your mind later. So you
    can go ahead and agree to see their Lady, then fight the wolves, or kill the
    Gatekeeper and then agree to help the Lady of the Forest. If you choose to
    fight him then it's best that you spam your stunning / knockdown attacks so you
    don't get overwhelmed by the six werewolves that come out to play.

    There are a few ways to go about the Werewolf / Elf problem from here.

    1) You can just slaughter the lot of the Werewolves. This is actually pretty
    tough since the wolves in this room are masters of the ancient martial art
    style: knock you down whenever we please. This ancient style makes it nearly
    impossible to mount a solid offense since people will be randomly knocked on
    their butt by Swiftrunner or Witherfang. To top it off Witherfang is really
    ridiculously hard to hit and she lands almost every single attack, doing a
    lot of damage per hit. The only really easy way to complete this fight is to
    use something overpowered like Death Hex + Death Cloud to tear them up while
    you hide on the far side of the cloud sniping them with ranged weapons.

    After they're dead you can loot their corpses, clear out the rest of the
    level and then return to Zathrian for your reward.

    2) If you have a high enough Persuade skill you can actually convince the
    Werewolves to just wipe out the Elves. This is the only way to actually get
    the achievement / trophy for siding with the Werewolves and it isn't really
    suggested since the Elves make for much, MUCH, more useful allies later on.
    But if you're hell bent on it simply make the suggestion to Swiftrunner and
    then agree to help during the fighting.

    You will be returned to the Elven camp with the Werewolves in tow. Zathrian
    will be unrepentant and unwilling to help so you'll have to kill him as well
    as his Elven friends. This is a really easy fight. Really easy. Just send
    your people to kill Zathrian alongside the wolves, thus making it really
    really easy, and then move on to slaughter the camp. It's quite easy thanks
    to the Lady, Swiftrunner and friends. Once they're all dead you can loot the
    bodies and the Werewolves will swear to join you against the Blight.

    3) The best method of going about this is as follows. Agree to speak to the
    Lady and when asked to bring Zathrian to see her tell her you will do so.
    Search the Lair of the Werewolves for treasure before leaving via the newly
    opened door and start heading back to the Dalish camp. Zathrian will be
    waiting for you on the upper level. Convince him to go down and speak to the
    Lady about getting the curse lifted.

    Now that you're down here you can either side with the Zathrian or help him
    destroy the wolves. The second option is just as hard as #1 since these guys
    are tough. But the ideal resolution to this is to side with the wolves and
    fighting Zathrian. This prompts a "boss battle" but it's anything but. It's
    simply him and a pair of Wild Sylvans but the only one you need to kill is
    Zathrian. Focus on him and him alone, hitting him with your best attacks to
    drop his health in record time.

    When his health is almost totally gone he will be start to speak to the Lady
    of the Forest. This prompts lots of cutscene goodness that ends in him and
    the Lady passing on and the curse being broken. Return to the Dalish to get
    a promise of assistance from Lanaya, empty your inventory and move on.

    To the next quest!

    ========================
    Broken Circle
    ========================
    Make your way to the Lake Calenhad Docks to start this quest. Here you can
    speak to Kester to find out that something has gone wrong in the Mage's Tower
    and that transport there is impossible. Make sure to speak to the Mage's
    Collective Liason just behind him to start these quests up. There isn't much to
    the Spoiled Princess tavern, just a place to sell goods really, so head down
    the dock to continue the quest.

    On the dock you will meet Carroll, a newbie of a Templar, who will attempt to
    pull the tough guy routine. The easiest way past him is to either Persuade or
    Intimidate him into letting you by. However if that's not an option having
    Morrigan in the party works well - simply ask him if you can work something
    out. She will handle it for you.

    ************************
    * DLC NOTE: If you have Shale in your party he will handle the threatening for
    you which automatically causes Carroll to let you cross the water. This may not
    be ideal if you're looking to get the achievements for Persuade and Intimidate
    checks but it can be helpful if you don't wish to bother.
    ************************

    Regardless of how you get there you will be taken to the Mage's Tower. Griegor
    will speak to you about what has occurred here. There's only one real course of
    action - head inside of the tower to find what has happened to the Mages,
    clearing it of the Abominations. Make your way through into the next room,
    stopping only to speak to the Quartermaster if you can afford his pricier but
    powerful pieces of equipment. Once through the doors they're sealed behind you.

    There's no threat at first so search the two rooms for treasure and notes for
    some info on what happened. When you open the first door though you will find
    Wynne, the Circle Mage from the kings camp at Ostagar. Here you can make one of
    two choices: either press that the Circle must be cleansed, siding with the
    Templars, or agree to help her rescue survivors, siding with the Mages. If you
    are trying to help Conner you must side with the Mages. Also if you agree to
    help the Mages then you will have Wynne force herself onto your team after a
    bit of Morrigan complaining.

    Whenever you're ready head for the magical barrier, with it gone you can head
    further into the tower.

    When you enter the library you will be attacked by a Lesser Rage Demon as well
    as several Abominations. The Abominations are hard hitters but they aren't all
    that dangerous, it's that Rage Demon you need to watch out for. They do a good
    bit of damage with their attacks and they can cause explosions that set your
    party on fire as well as knocking them down. Your best bet is to focus on the
    Rage Demon and handle the Abominations afterwards.

    Search the area before continuing into the central room. Here are yet more of
    the Abominations with a Greater Rage Demon. It's the same situation except the
    demon has more health. Try to use stunning or freezing spells to keep it unable
    to fight back while you whittle away its health. After that turn your attention
    to the Abominations. When everyone is defeated search the room before going up
    to the second level.

    Speak to Owain just ahead to find out a bit more of what has gone on in here.
    Continue into the next room to be attacked by a bunch of Blood Mages. They can
    stun you but they die easily enough since they're weak... well, weak mages. As
    you defeat the last one she will beg for mercy. If you have Allister and / or
    Leliana they will debate over whether it's a good idea but it's ultimately up
    to your judgement.

    The next hallway has two doors along the wall and one at the far end. The first
    door leads to a room with a few Abominations, easily defeated. Search the room
    before heading into the next one to find some undead and Abominations. They're
    split up into two groups so it's quite easy to take them down. Inside of the
    closet in the corner there is a mage hiding although nothing special occurs
    with him. Go to the door at the end of the hall and open it to continue.

    The first room here contains little but more enemies, notably another Lesser
    Rage Demon, but the second room needs warning. By examining the fallen statue
    of Andraste you will find a vial hidden inside of it. If you touch this vial
    you will call up a very powerful Revenant for your party to fight. Defeating
    this gives a big reward of experience, as well as a nice shield, but it's hard
    as hell. Be sure to save before attempting this. The final room is the most
    important one as it is the First Enchanter's Office. There are numerous things
    to pick up here, mostly flavor notes or items, but inside of his personal chest
    you can find The Black Grimoire. This is important to Morrigan so hand it over
    whenever you're ready to watch her approval leap.

    Take the stairs to the third floor but be ready, this is where things get even
    worse.

    Search the room you start in before going to the west. Here you will be
    attacked by several undead when you try to search the room. After defeating the
    lot of them you will be attacked yet again when you near the far door. Numerous
    undead will attack backed up by an Arcane Horror. It's imperative that you get
    people to that Horror and kill it ASAP or it will tear you apart from the door.
    It's spells are very powerful, capable of stunning, freezing and seriously
    damaging your party otherwise.

    The next room has a trap in the doorway, you can sneak around it but it is kind
    of difficult, but the real problem is the horde of enemies. Two Lesser Rage
    Demons will spawn in, three Abominations are in the room and a few more will
    come from the next room. Ironically enough this room is a bit easier than the
    last one since the Abominations are fairly easy to beat.

    Next comes a hallway with one door leading into the central room and several
    leading into side rooms. The first side room has a pair of Possessed Templars.
    Defeat them, search the room and move on. The second room is empty but the
    third has a Desire Demon and five Charmed Templars. There's no way to uncharm
    them so you're going to have to kill them all. Try to get rid of the Desire
    Demon first since she'll be a nuisance otherwise. Then whittle down the Templar
    cronies as quickly as you can or you'll find yourself overwhelmed. The last
    room contains only a bit of treasure.

    -------------------
    Boss: Abomination (Elite)
    -------------------
    Heading into the middle room leads to a boss fight. In here you will find an
    Abomination with two Skeleton Archers. If you leave the Abomination alive long
    enough he will start to summon up Lesser Shades as well. The archers are more
    of a nuisance but they should be dealth with. The Abomination though is a real
    powerhouse. His melee attacks are powerful and he has a lot of health to hang
    in there with. If anyone can use poison, Deathroot Extract will allow you to
    keep him stunned especially if using skills that stun as well. This wil allow
    you time to kill the Archers and then focus on him. Wipe out the Shades once he
    is gone and turn to looting.

    On to the fourth floor! The first room contains a hottie... er, Desire Demon
    with an Ensorcelled Templar. There are only two outcomes to this situation -
    either you fight, and kill, the both of them or leave them both to their fates.
    If you fight them you will have to deal with the two of them plus three undead.
    They're not so bad as long as you go after the Desire Demon first. Put any
    Templar specialized fighters up in her face to drain her mana reserves quickly
    and the fight will end fast enough.

    The next room contains three Possessed Templars with a Blood Mage. So long as
    you get to the mage before he gets to paralyze, stun and generally beat on your
    party this fight shouldn't be too difficult. Search the room for some minor
    treasures and then head into the central room. Here you will be pulled into the
    Fade in your dreams.

    ========================
    Lost in Dreams
    ========================
    Walk forward to find Duncan, speak to him. Resist his attempts to lull you into
    beleving the dream. This causes Duncan and the two others to attack you. Get to
    the mage first, then the archer before going after Duncan. These guys have very
    little health while doing even less damage so this shouldn't be a problem, even
    for a non-combat oriented character (like Healer Mages). Click on the Fade
    Pedestal when it appears and then choose The Raw Fade, the next step on your
    little sojourn.

    In the Raw Fade you will find Niall who serves the purpose of explaining what
    you need to do here. Travel to the five islands, find your party and figure out
    ways past the variety of barriers. There are a few ways to go from here so we
    will touch on them.

    - The Fade Portal at the back of this area should be an immediate target. Go
    through to find a Rage Demon, kill it. A mouse will speak to you for a bit and
    then give you his shapechanging ability allowing you to become a mouse. Shift
    into one before going to the mouse hole. Activate this form as well as the new
    Stealth ability the mouse possesses before going into the hole. You emerge near
    a Lesser Rage Demon. Shapeshift back and kill the demon before activating the
    Fade Portal in this area. Kill the two Rage Demons in this area, ignore the
    Spirit Door for now and head for the next Fade Portal. This takes you back to
    Niall and the Fade Pedestal will be accessible now.

    - The Fade Pedestal can take you to one of four areas: the Darkspawn Invasion,
    The Templars' Nightmare, the Burning Tower and the Mage's Asunder. Let's get to
    handling these in order of the skills you must acquire.

    -------------------
    The Darkspawn Invasion
    -------------------
    Head on over to the side and go through the mouse hole. Take the eastern mouse
    hole in this hallway to find an Essence of Cunning. You will find many of these
    and they confer +1 bonuses to the stats of whomever uses them. Try to use them
    appropriately since you can always return for them. Double back and go to the
    north this time, entering this mouse hole as well.

    You appear in a room with two Flaming Darkspawn but they're very easy to fight.
    Take them out and look around. You have two ways to go; north or south. The
    southern path is blocked with flames, you can't go this way yet. Start heading
    to the north to find a room with two Hurlocks and a Hurlock Emissary. It's best
    to fight this carefully so stay in the hallway, letting them come to you. This
    should let you fight the warriors while keeping the emissary out of the way. As
    soon as you've killed those two head after the Emissary.

    The door to the east is blocked with flames so head into mouse form and go into
    the mouse hole. You can kill the three Genlocks in the room to the west if you
    wish to, there's no real reward to this though. Go through the northern mouse
    hole to find yourself in a battle. To the north a group of Darkspawn Spirits
    will attack a Templar Spirit. The three melee enemies are pretty tough and the
    spellcaster is a real pain in the ass. Target him first, sneaking up on him as
    a mouse works great, so that he can't screw up your combat skills and then get
    rid of the others.

    The Templar will give you access to the Spirit form now. This allows you to see
    hidden doors as well as getting Essence boosts from the big glowing red things
    you've seen around. There's one in this room that increases your willpower. If
    you wanted to fight more there's three Genlock through the door to the east but
    don't bother with that yet as it's a dead end. Use the Fade Pedestal to get
    out of here for now.

    -------------------
    The Raw Fade
    -------------------
    Before going to the next area return to The Raw Fade at this point. Find the
    Spirit Door you ignored earlier, change into the Spirit Form and go through it.
    Fight off the two Wisps and you will find an Essence of Dexterity here. Leave
    via the other Spirit Door and go back to Niall. Near him is another Spirit Door
    that will take you to Zevanya. If you can take this Desire Demon, her millions
    of ice attacks and her two Shades then it's best to get it out of the way now.
    She's not easy but she isn't too hard either. The trick is that if you're not
    careful she will Winter's Grasp you as well as Cone of Cold, freezing you in
    place for her to pound on. If you're careful you can get her to freeze the two
    Shades as well by standing in the right spot and they'll stay frozen longer
    than you will allowing you time to kill her.

    You can also obtain an Essence of Willpower form the statue behind her here.
    This will clear The Raw Fade completely and remove on part of the barrier that
    is protecting the Sloth Demon.

    -------------------
    The Burning Tower
    -------------------
    From the start head through the western mouse hole to find an Essence of
    Dexterity. Now head down the hallway through the door. Inside the first room
    are a pair of Burning Templars but the next room contains nothing. You have to
    use the second room to get to the third room as there's a fire blocking the
    hall. In here is a door up some stairs, two Burning Templars and a massive door
    that you can't do anything with yet. The only way is through the stairwell.

    This area is pretty straightforward as the flames will herd you through the
    hallways. Around the first corner two Burning Hounds attack, they're just like
    regular Mabari except weaker, and around the next corner a Burning Templar and
    Burning Hound will attack you. When you head to the east, towards the mouse
    hole, a Hound from straight ahead and two more await you on each side of the
    mouse hole. Defeat them before heading on in.

    In here you will have to fight a Templar Dreamer as well as a Rage Demon. Go
    after the demon first as his Damage over Time (DoT) attacks can really drain
    your health. When you've dealt enough damage to the Templar Dreamer, who can
    lay the hurt on you - don't forget about the Lyrium Vein, he will give you the
    Flame Form before dying.

    You can leave now but before doing so search to the north western side of the
    previous room with all of the flames. There is a Spirit Door here that you can
    enter to find an Essence of Cunning and Essence of Stamina.

    -------------------
    The Templar's Nightmare
    -------------------
    This place is a bit confusing since there are Fade Portals to teleport you all
    over, rooms to search and mouse holes to explore. It's complicated so going
    through it slowly is advised. From the first room head down the hallway to the
    east. The first room has three Abominations to fight so handle them and search
    the room for any Codex entries. The second room has an Arcane Horror in it and
    he's way weaker than the earlier fight so don't stress over it. Now you have to
    pick between the three Fade Portals.

    * NOTE: Using the mouse hole in the first room with the Abominations will take
    you to a room with a Blight Wolf. Defeat the beat before activating the Essence
    of Dexterity in the room.

    Ignore the lot of them and go into the mouse hole in the room with the Arcane
    Horror. This takes you to an Ogre who'se just waiting to bash your face in. If
    you don't think you can handle him then avoid this for now but with the Lyrium
    Vein in the room this shouldn't be a huge issue. Stuns and paralysis effects
    work well on him for the most part so they'll make your life much easier. The
    only threat here is that you need to be able to take about 100 damage or so
    without dying, around 150 if you count damage dealt beforehand, as his grab and
    crush move can easily kill you. Take out the Ogre and its Abomination minion to
    open the door to the next area.

    * NOTE: The Fade Portals are a waste since they all lead back to the first door
    near where you entered. Don't bother with them unless mentioned.

    The first room in this hallway is blocked by a fire while the second is blocked
    by massive doors. Switch to the Burning Man form, go through the flames and
    then into the mouse hole. You will appear behind the massive door with two Rage
    Abominations right near you. Kill them before going to the spirit door in the
    corner, swapping forms and heading on through.

    Take out the two Abominations and head for the door. Defeat these two as well
    before using the mouse hole to get you past the massive door. This leaves you
    behind an Arcane Horror with a Shambling Corpse. Take out the Horror first
    before getting rid of the undead. Swap to the Flame shapechange and go through
    the door. This room will light up into flames after a few moments so use that
    fire form to get through the flame blocked door.

    Defeat these two Abominations so you can continue forward. Be ready for trouble
    when opening the next door - two undead with another Arcane Horror wait for you
    inside. Get rid of that Horror first to save yourself a lot of trouble. Stand
    off to the side of the door if you need to lure him in for melee types. With
    him dead head on through the next door. Here you will see a Desire Demon named
    Vereval shapeshift into a mouse before running through a mouse hole. Chase
    after her.

    If you've already fought Zevenya or any Desire Demons she fights exactly the
    same way. She's not that hard but the constantly being frozen can be annoying.
    Try to have any Anti-Ice equipment ready before going into the fight. When she
    dies you will be able to use the Essence of Cunning in the room as well as have
    removed another impediment to your progress. This should fully complete the
    Templars' Nightmare level.

    -------------------
    The Mages Asunder
    -------------------
    From where you start there is a regular door, a massive door and two mouse
    holes that need to be explored. Head through the northeastern mouse hole to get
    to a Font of Strength. The second mouse hole will take you to the next room, a
    room you can get to from the hallway, with a pair of mages inside. They will be
    going hostile as soon as they see you and they love to freeze you with spells
    so try to stun them as quickly as possible. The next room contains two more of
    these magi, these love earth magic, as well as Essence of Magic. You need to be
    in spirit form to get this one.

    Inside the next room are four mages who can be tough to defeat. They're fond of
    using glyphs to stun you while they hit you with a wide variety of attacks. It
    is suggested that you use the fire form to fireball them from the hallway and
    then hide out there. Only one or two will usually chase you out while the rest
    burn to death. Mop up the leftovers and keep moving.

    The room at the end of the hallway contains two easily defeated servants in a
    pair with a third off in the corner beyond them. Defeat these three so you can
    keep going. The next room is blocked off by a flame barrier on the entrance
    and exit doors so head on in as the fire form. Two Rage Demons will attack but
    if you're still in fire form you're invulnerable to them. Open the next door to
    find an unpleasant surprise.

    Two Rage Demons spawn up behind you while a group of mages come to the attack.
    Make this easier by hanging back until the second group of demons spawns and
    then use the fire forms Fireball spell to beat on the mages. This will help to
    wound them while they're knocking you down and / or stunning you. Try to hit as
    many of them as possible before using the walls as cover from their attacks. If
    any come out at you kill them before using another Fireball.

    In the last room of this area a group of four mages will be waiting for you.
    Staying in flame form is the best idea here since you're going to be having
    fireballs thrown at your face. You will be immune to these and thusly able to
    stay on the offense, hammering them with fireballs of your own. Go after the
    Instructor on the left first, this one can heal, and then get the pupiles. The
    other instructor is the fireball happy one and she can't harm you. Take her out
    when you're ready to proceed through the door.

    Up here you will find three Chantry Priests attacking a Cursed Dreamer with a
    pair of golems. Don't be intimidated, this is one of the easier fights of the
    tower. Focus on the priests as the golems go straight for the mage. Once they
    are defeated you can go after the golems who will fall readily enough to most
    attacks. They're surprisingly weak. The Dreamer will give you the ability to
    change into a golem yourself, this form is used to get rid of massive doors.

    With that in hand head up the stairs to the next area. There is a mage pupil,
    a mage and a golem here. They're not too difficult so long as you get that mage
    first. Now use your golem form to open the door, take out the two priests just
    beyond it and continue.

    When you enter the outdoor hallways go straight south before turning to the
    western door. Go into the room to find an Essence of Willpower guarded by two
    golems and a priest. Take out the big guys first if possible as the priest is
    very weak. Use the Essence and then head to the northeast. A stone golem is in
    the halls but he's nothing. Enter the room to find a mage, priest and mage
    pupils, as always go for the mages.

    Now head to the southeastern room to find three Stone Golems guarding another
    Font of Strength. If you have some way of knocking them over use this to keep
    them from ganging up on you. Shield warriors can find the shield bash skill to
    really save their hides here. Use the Font and continue towards the southern
    door to advance.

    It is advised that you open the door as a golem from the side so that the
    enemies inside don't see you. You can then switch to spirit form to gain some
    resistance to the spells about to come your way as well as for the Crushing
    Prison spell. This will automatically take out one of the two Arcane Horrors
    inside of the room. Just be ready to abandon the form as the other won't die so
    easily to Winter's Grasp and you'll need to kill him quick. Now head on over to
    the spirit door and go on inside.

    Defeat the stone golem so you can use the Essence of Dexterity. Now go into the
    mouse hole and quickly swap to Stone Golem form. This will be of great help,
    even to most warriors, against the two golems that jump you. Activate the
    Essence of Cunning here and then go into the next room, opening the door with
    the golem, to find Essence of Constitution and Dexterity. Now you can go to
    deal with the boss.

    Slavren is one of the easier demons to defeat since he uses only physical
    attacks to fight back. As such just start attacking him and watch him fall in
    record time compared to those golems. If you're not a warrior then just take
    on the Golem form and punch his head in.

    You should now have someones nightmare activated. You will have to head on in
    to get them out of their nightmare. Generally speaking if you can't persuade
    them that it's all in their head there is someone nearby that you must talk to
    to get them to snap out of it (ie. Goldanna for Alistair). You will also have
    to fight as the demons don't want to let them go. Free whomever is now open and
    then head back to the Darkspawn Invasion.

    -------------------
    The Darkspawn Invasion
    -------------------
    Head back to the very beginning of the stage and use the golem form to tear
    open the massive door. Inside you will find a Font of Strength. Go back to the
    area where you found the Templar Spirit to open that massive door as well. If
    you'd like to hurt the Hurlocks / Genlock out there then fling a Fireball with
    the flame form. Dispatch them how you like so you can get to the far end of
    this courtyard. Here you will find a Darkspawn Emissary, Genlock and Hurlock.
    If you'd like to make your life easy again you can use the golem to mop them
    up pretty easily.

    Now tear open the rear door to find Uthkiel the Crusher. He's something of a
    terror in melee combat as a named Ogre. However the golem form is very good at
    damaging him and he seems very reluctant to perform the grab attack on that
    form as well. Obviously this is the ideal way to defeat him so hammer him into
    the ground. With him defeated another ally will be available to rescue. Go to
    do so before returning to the Burning Tower.

    -------------------
    The Burning Tower
    -------------------
    Go back past the burning area and through the door to find the massive door you
    couldn't open before. Open it now to find an Essence of Magic. Go back to the
    room you teleported into and open this door as well. Pass through the flames in
    fire form but quickly shift to golem. There are a bunch of enemies in the next
    room that can hurt you pretty bad but if you're in golem form they're not a
    problem at all. Dispatch them before going to the far door to find the boss.

    Switch to the fire form to fight Rhagos as he's using fire attacks almost
    exclusively. By using this form he's unable to really hurt you beyond some very
    minor damage every now and again (10 - 20 damage). When he falls you can use
    the Font of Strength before leaving here.

    Your final party member will have opened up now. Retrieve them before going to
    tackle this demon of Sloth.

    -------------------
    The Inner Sanctum
    -------------------
    Fighting the Sloth Demon is done with your party and is one of the most drawn
    out battles in video game history. To begin with he will start out in the form
    of an Ogre but he won't stay that way. When you drain his health he will change
    forms, gaining a new life bar in the process. He goes from Ogre to Rage Demon
    to Shade to Abomination to Sloth Demon. However most of these are no real
    threat so long as you have the healing items to hold out. If you've brought
    Wynne along then she will solve the problem for you.

    The only complication comes from the final form, that of the Sloth Demon. He is
    prone to throwing out fireballs and surrounding himself in a tempest of ice. It
    is pretty damn hard do much of anything at this point as your health plummets.
    Your best bet is to pull people back, except for one melee sacrificial lamb,
    and have everyone use ranged attacks on him. This should whittle his health
    down enough that when the spell drops you can kill him.

    After a brief conversation with Niall you will be back in the tower.

    Search Niall's dead body for the Litany of Adralla as well as the soldiers
    corpse in the room as it usually contains healing items you very likely need
    desperately at this point.

    Head into the next room to find a Drake of all things. These guys aren't too
    hard although they don't get knocked down or stunned easily. What they do like
    to do is jump on someone and start to eat their face. Try to get this done to
    one of your melee types so as to avoid any unecessary deaths at this point. Go
    into the next room to find a bunch of Dragonlings. These are basically weaker
    versions of the Drake so go in to slaughter them. Search their bodies for
    healing items and unlock the nearby chest for yet more of them.

    Keep on going, you're almost done. In the next corridor an Abomination waits.
    As soon as you start to fight him more will come out of both doorways so be
    ready for a brawl. The enemies are weak though so this shouldn't be any issue
    at all. Search the two rooms for stuff before opening the next door. This next
    room is a pain - as you approach the chests a Greater Rage Demon, Greater Shade
    and two Lesser Shades spawn into the room. It is imperative you get to the
    Rage Demon ASAP since he loves throwing off fire spells that make it impossible
    to do much of anything. Get rid of him and the rest should fall easily enough.

    Walk into the next room to find Cullen, an imprisoned Templar. He suggests that
    you wipe out all of the mages simply to be safe. This is your decision to make.
    Head on up the stairs to the Harrowing Chamber once you're ready. After talking
    with Uldred, either trying to side with him or kill him, you will end up having
    to fight him.

    -------------------
    Boss: Uldred
    -------------------
    Uldred is a huge pain to fight. He's got a lot of powerful attacks, both melee
    and otherwise, and he loves to use area of effect spells around himself that
    either knock you down (fire) or freeze you (ice). It's also hard to do a good
    amount of damage to him with a hit plus he's got a bucketload of health either
    way. This isn't going to be quick or easy.

    Set the Litany of Adralla to a talent slot and head on into the battle. Take
    out the Abominations before focusing entirely on him. Have your melee types
    tank his attacks while dealing as much damage as possible while your mages /
    archers hit him from a distance. Keep trying to stun / freeze or knock him down
    as it's hard to do but it can happen (especially stuns). When you hear Wynne
    yell to use the Litany, or if you watch the mages for a white glow, use the
    Litany to stop him from turning the mages into Abominations.

    Honestly that's all there is to it although you're going to be at this for a
    good bit of time.

    Here is where the decision comes in - you can either spare the mages (siding
    with them) or wipe them out (siding with the Templars). It's up to you but if
    you're trying to save Conner you'll need the mages alive and on your side. To
    make this happen be sure to side with the mages, pushing for their innocence in
    what has happened.

    When you're done leave this area. If you're using the mages to rescue Conner
    head on back to Redcliffe. Should that not be the case then simply head on to
    your next objective. Take heed that when you arrive you will see a cutscene
    that indicates an Assassin has been hired to handle your merry band. Heading to
    the next location after this will result in you being attacked by this band.

    ========================
    Assassin's Ambush
    ========================
    When you get into the next random encounter a woman will beg you to come help
    her with her caravan. Following her, and yes you must follow her as there's no
    other way to go, leads you into an ambush. The assassin attacks with a number
    of his fellows. Ironically enough they're not the major threat, the traps are.
    The whole forward area of this place is covered in traps that will damage you,
    leave you held in place or knock you down... if not all of the above.

    As such it's heavily suggested that you let your magic users / archers handle
    the enemy archers from a range while your melee types focus on the "Travellers"
    near you. Go after Zevran, the head assassin, first as he's the toughest of the
    bunch. Then get the enemy mage if your archer hasn't already done so. Now all
    you need to do is clean up the rest of the enemies. Now comes a decision.

    You can either kill Zevran or wake him up. If you kill him the situation ends
    here but if you wake him up you can learn some things from him. Should you take
    him along Morrigan disapproves (even if her dialogue indicates otherwise) as
    does Allistair whom you will have to pass a Persuasion check or be a real jerk
    to get him to let Zevran join. Sten gives you little difficulty though so it
    may help to have him along.

    Now continue towards your next objective.


    ========================
    The Landsmeet
    ========================
    Once you've completed all four main objectives, having gotten four allies to
    join your cause, it's time to head back to Redcliffe. Tell Arl Eamon that you
    are ready to go to the Landsmeet and off you go! Once there you will have a
    meeting with Loghain and his cronies. When he leaves you're tasked to find out
    how the various nobles are feeling about the Loghain vs. Eamon situation. So it
    is out into town with us.

    In the Gnawed Noble you can overhear Ceorlic and Sighard chatting about the
    situation. Ceorlic doesn't believe Loghain is a traitor while Sighard is a bit
    more thoughtful on the matter. Bann Alfstana and Bryland are talking in the
    other corner and she doesn't seem to buy into the true story either.

    As you travel around the map you will be attacked by another group of Antivan
    Crows. These assassins can be fairly tough thanks to their ability to mark you
    for extra damage but that's not the main problem here. The main problem is that
    if you don't have a good relationship with Zevran (about 60% at least) he will
    betray you to join with Taleisan. If you do have a good relationship then he
    forces himself into the party to fight alongside you which can be bad if you're
    not using him and haven't given him any new equipment. Do your best with him
    since this can be a real problem.

    As far as the fight itself goes try to have your party split up so that each of
    your fighters is keeping one pair of enemies busy. Zevran should help one of
    them deal with the assassins by getting behind it, using some skills and just
    backstabbing the hell out of them. Let your mage handle one of the groups on
    their own, even a healer can do this by just keeping their health up and
    whittling down the enemy HP with their staff. When they're dead loot the bodies
    and then get your party back to normal.

    Whenever you're done with fooling around in the city head on back to Arl Eamon
    at his estate. Speak to him fo find out that Queen Anora has been taken captive
    by Arl Howe. You're going to have to go to his estate to free her.

    ===================
    Rescue the Queen
    ===================
    When you reach the Arl's estate you will find the Queen's Handmaiden, Erlina,
    off to the side behind a cart. Speak to her to find out that you'll be sneaking
    in via the rear entrance. Walk past the cart and around the house to the west.
    If you have the stealth skill here use it to avoid any guards noticing you. If
    you don't have it then you'll have to fight one group of soldiers as you walk
    along the west wall and another as you go along the north wall if you don't
    move fast enough.

    When you reach the eastern side of the estate you will have a few options on
    how to handle getting in. Put on the disguse if you don't want to fight every
    single enemy you encounter inside of the Arl's estate. It's suggested that you
    do this even if for no other reason than to save time. Should you want to take
    them off then simply speak to Erlina. Now you can either hide in the bushes or
    go just kill the two guards.

    Once inside Erlina will catch up to you. You have the choice to fight or just
    sneak through this place now - it's suggested that you sneak to save yourself
    some grief but if you choose to fight do so from the start. If you happen to
    mess up part way through the enemies will call down most of the guards you
    managed to sneak by making this a mess. So if you're going to sneak don't talk
    to any of the guards, notably the Guard Captain, as that's the only way to get
    yourself caught.

    If you're going to fight through this place then just follow the directions for
    the sneaking part of this guide. The fights aren't really complicated since it
    consists of 99.9% melee or ranged enemies anyway.

    Head into the kitchen and then out into the mess hall. Exit into the hallway to
    the west and then start heading north. You can loot the armory to the west in
    this hallway without any trouble. Go into the northern hallway and continue in
    that direction past the main hall. Passing the four rooms in the short hallway
    you can loot these for stuff just don't talk to anyone. Continue north until
    Erlina leads you off down a side hall to Queen Anora.

    Anora explains that she's been locked in by some sort of mage's spell and you
    will have to kill the mage to free her. This mage is likely with Arl Howe so
    you're going to have to head on over to his rooms to find him. Walk to the east
    past the north / south hallway and do not enter the room in this next hallway.
    If you enter the first room to the north your disguise will be broken up by a
    guard who is dawdling with a servant. On the other hand do unlock the southern
    door and loot that room for some really good treasure.

    To the north is Arl Howe's room, search it for a Chest of Documents. Take out
    the Grey Warden's Documents which will come in handy soon and then go through
    the door here. You will have an encounter with a man who kills a guard to get
    out of his cell. When speaking to him mention the documents and then ask about
    the Joining and the like. This will enable you to learn where the Grey Warden
    Cache is inside of Denerim when you speak to him later.

    Now go down into the dungeon to find Arl Howe. You may as well get rid of the
    disguise since it's not going to be of any further use. If you find that you
    can't take it off exit and enter the dungeons a few times as this will usually
    help get it off.

    It's no use taking your disguise down the stairs as it acutally works against
    you most of the time. The guards here will automatically see right through your
    disguise and then attack you. If you're even remotely leveled then they will
    start to shoot off Scattering Shot after Scattering Shot, stunning your whole
    party and dealing a lot of damage to your mages and archers. While they do this
    your melee fighters will set off a trap in their path that damages everyone
    nearby. Overall it's a really bad start.

    Try to back up into the ramp you came down to get into this room and let the
    enemies come to you. This will prevent you from getting messed up by all of the
    soldiers at once. Your party will still get paralyzed by the mess of arrows but
    then they will not be able to continue hitting your mages / rogues so you will
    be able to focus on defeating them in small groups more easily rather than just
    drinking down potions.

    When the enemies are defeated make your way to the south. The first room that
    you pass has only some loot in it. Defeat the lone guard in the hallway before
    hitting the auto-save. From here you will want to ignore the western room first
    since they will stay in there until you open the door. Instead deal with the
    enemies in the southern room.

    This room contains a number of fighters, archers and an elite mage so deal with
    it carefully. If you can throw an AoE spell into the room to lure them out. As
    they rush for your mage use any crowd control spells you might have to stop
    them in their tracks and let your fighters clean up. Then feel free to tackle
    the room in much the same manner except being doubly careful as this room has
    three Mabari and three archers. It's very easy to get stunned and then never
    get up again thanks to this setup.

    At the next intersection you will have a room to the north and east full of
    enemies. Enter the north one, dealing with the Torturers. Here you will find a
    man named Oswyn, son of Bann Sighard of Dragons Peak. This starts the "Tortured
    Noble" sidequest but that's an issue for later. Next head into the room to the
    east. In here you will find more warriors and archers with a Jailor. The archer
    types are still huge pains in the rear thanks to their stunning attacks but the
    Jailor is a huge threat courtesy of that big old Maul of his. Try to keep him
    stunned or frozen while dealing with the others and then deal with him before
    turning to his melee allies.

    Get the key to the jails off of his body and then head into the eastern room.
    Here you will find Rexel from the "Missing in Action" quest as well as Soris,
    from the City Elf Origin story. Soris will always be there unless you are a
    City Elf who took the blame for what happened during your Origin story.

    The path is now clear to reach Arl Howe.
    BOOM IT GUYZ!!!

  8. #8
    Senior Member boomermitra's Avatar
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    -------------------
    Boss: Arl Howe
    -------------------
    Fittingly enough that swine Howe is an assassin and he's certainly not alone.
    There are two mages and two guards with him and although he's your primary
    target you will want to get rid of them ASAP. The mages are especially of some
    concern since they are able to heal themselves, and others, from the wounds you
    dish out. If you can get a warrior right up in their face so as to take them
    out one by one then you should have few issues.

    As soon as the fight starts send one of your fighters right up into Arl Howe's
    face to keep him busy while your party goes after a mage. Be careful not to hit
    Howe with any AoE attacks or he will likely switch his attentions to your rogue
    or mage permanently. Just focus on taking down one mage and then the other.
    When they're both down for the count turn to the guards, removing them from the
    picture as well.

    You can now focus all of your attention on Arl Howe, cutting him down pretty
    fast now that there are no distractions.
    -------------------

    Loot the Arl's body and then go to the north. There are two people in here you
    can free. The first is Irminic, a Templar, who asks a favor of you if you help
    him out of his cell. This starts the "Lost Templar" quest. The second is known
    as Vaughn, the son of the Arl of Denerim... unless you killed him during the
    City Elf Origin. If you didn't then there are a few things you can do here. You
    can leave him to rot, you can kill him, you can ask for his voice during the
    Landsmeet or you can free him for a price. If you have a high enough Persuade
    you can even get the key to the money he offers and still leave him locked up
    in the cell.

    Now leave the room, open the cell door to the west, head on up the stairs and
    back into the main hall. Make your way to Erlina and open the door to free the
    Queen from her room. Escort her just to the west to reach the main hall where
    you will be stopped by Cauthren. You can either surrender to allow Anora to
    escape, fight Cauthren or try to explain what happened. Don't bother with the
    last one as it will cause Anora to betray you for... some reason. Great logic
    in her head... just like her father.

    -------------------
    Boss: Cauthrien
    -------------------
    Okay, obviously Bioware didn't think the earlier fights were annoying enough
    so they bring us the Cauthren fight. Welcome to the wonderful world of "I want
    to throw my controller across the room because the computer only wants to spam
    a single goddamn attack!" This ridiculously stupid fight consists of one boss
    who wields a two-handed sword, a pair of melee soldiers, an elite mage and
    eight, EIGHT, goddamned archers. Yeah you can already tell this is going to be
    sheer fun and wonderment.

    Honestly this fight isn't hard at all. On the PC. When you can get everyone out
    of that main room this fight is easy as can be. But good luck with it on the
    consoles since it's frankly the height of goddamned stupidity. As long as you
    stand in that room you're just going to get stun after stun after stun on your
    party members while the pansy ass melee fighters whittle your health down, the
    mage hits you with spells and Cauthren wrecks you.

    Defeating this group of enemies is as simple as preparing yourself, getting the
    fight started and then quickly retreating. Make sure everyone has all of their
    defensive abilities activated so as to reduce damage or make themselves harder
    to hit. Now walk into the room enough to activate the fight and then get your
    party the heck out of there. Retreat into one of the rooms in the previous
    hallway so that the enemies have to come to you.

    As they're busy filing into the hall to attack you they will be vulnerable to
    crowd control spells and any bombs you wish to throw. Engage them in melee with
    your fighters while your mages and rogues keep hitting Cauthren, her guards and
    the mage with everything they've got. This shouldn't take very long. Now comes
    the hard part as those archers will almost never follow you.

    Get into that room as quickly as possible and rush one group of archers with
    two of your characters, preferably fighters. Let them tangle up these idiots so
    they don't fire off any Shattershots while you fire off a shattershot of your
    own. Let your mage use Cone of Cold or Earthquake to keep the other group of
    them busy. Once you've engaged them in melee they can do a lot of damage but it
    isn't actually all that threatening, just keep using your skills to prevent
    them doing too much damage and you will win this.

    Loot the Summer Sword from Cauthrens body and you can now head to Arl Eamon's
    estate to get ready for the Landsmeet.
    -------------------

    It is heavily suggested that you allow yourself to be captured. There is one
    location that you can get into only by allowing yourself to be taken captive
    here. If you don't visit this location then you will not be able to get the
    Traveler achievement.

    There are two ways to get out of this place. Firstly you can try to escape on
    your own, requiring that you and Alistair make your way through this place. If
    that's not your cup of tea you can wait, which will allow you to control your
    party to storm this place. If you're trying to play through the game as "good"
    then it's suggested that you escape as there's much less bloodshed.

    ===================
    Captured! (Escape)
    ===================
    If you happened to have Alistair in your party when captured you will have his
    help in getting out of the jail. Going this route without too much frustration
    requires a fairly high Persuasion or Intimidate so let that figure into which
    path you choose.

    First things first we need to get out of this cell so click on the door to call
    the guard over and then choose from one of the below options:

    - If you have a high enough lockpicking skill the door will be unlocked now.
    - You can either pretend to be sick and then take him out.
    - Use Persuasion to seduce the guard into entering the cell.
    - Once he's inside of the cell you can convince him to remove his armor.
    - Sucker punch him. This requires a high Strength.
    - Slip out of the cell. This requires a high Dexterity.

    Whatever you do here go to the chest to the south to reclaim your equipment.
    Head south through the door to find a guard with some Mabari hounds. Take them
    out and then head up the stairs, out the door to the east. Inside of a room to
    the south you can find a Regulars Armory. Go into the room and take the armor
    off of the stand so you don't have to fight every single guard you see.

    Now you can either try to bust on out of here by going to the north (not a very
    good idea) or just head to the Colonel's room. He assumes that you're the new
    recruit thus sending you into storage to meet the rest of your squad so as to
    pass inspection. Go into storage and use Persuasion to convince them you're
    supposed to be getting ready for inspection. They will talk about how they need
    swords to pass inspection so lead them into the armory and use Persuasion to
    convince the Assistant Quartermaster that you're his relief.

    With him gone you can collect the swords off the rack. Now head on back to the
    Colonel for inspection. With a good Persuasion skill you can respond to him
    with a "Yes, Sir!" which will make him happy. You're sent out on your first
    patrol now so head out of the room and to the north. A guard at the door will
    ask for the password which your new buddy tells him. From there, so long as you
    have passed inspection, you have a straight shot to the exit all the way to the
    north. You can just walk right on out the front door.

    ************************
    *NOTE: If you don't want to go through all of this you can pickpocket the two
    guards in the storage room to get their password. With that in hand you can go
    to the central hall, in uniform, and tell the guards the password when asked.
    Once you've gotten past the checkpoint you have options. You will either have
    to convince the Sergeant that you're off-duty or you will have to fight your
    way out of this place. Luckily for you if you can get to the Captains Quarters
    any party members with high approval will come to assist you.
    ************************

    ===================
    Captured! (Jailbreak)
    ===================
    When you tell Alistair that you will wait for your friends to help you out you
    will be able to pick two party members to help you get out of here. Try to pick
    one person with good Cunning so as to convince your way through the guards and
    another who will be helpful in fights, Leliana and Morrigan make a good pair.

    Now when you enter the Fort speak to the guards near the door in front of you.
    They will wish to know your business so let the person with the highest Cunning
    talk to them both times. You will then wait in the waiting room for the Captain
    to come speak to you. Once again let that character talk and he will allow you
    to enter the prison.

    When you enter the prison itself be careful not to enter the chapel unless you
    are sure you can talk your way out of it. Mother Augustine can break apart your
    little charade pretty quickly if you're not careful.

    In the next room you will have a slight problem. Sergeant Tanna is waiting to
    get in the way of your plot to break out your friends. Should you have Leliana
    with you she should have an easy enough time talking her out of the way. But if
    you don't then it's time for fun. Get up onto one of the ballista platforms
    closest to the door and activate it twice to fire it. This will cause all of
    the guards to run away from you to investigate what just happened. In that time
    run through the door into the next room.

    In here four guards will attack you, two in melee and two with bows. Once they
    are down head towards the quest marker with as little deviation as possible.
    You will have to fight another group of enemies, a guard and two Mabari hounds,
    as well as a Jailor and Guard before you can free the Grey Wardens. With that
    done you can either meander the grounds, fighting everyone in sight, or just
    head straight for the exit. You will have to fight five guards at the exit but
    they're no threat for your party. Defeat them and leave.

    ========================
    The Landsmeet
    ========================
    As soon as you arrive at Arl Eamon's Estate you will have some things to tend
    to. If you have begun work on the Lost Templar or Tortured Noble qeusts then it
    is a good idea to turn those in at the Gnawed Noble before continuing any
    further with the game.

    Once inside speak to Eamon and Anora to find out that there's trouble in the
    Elven Alienage. But before that's investigated you will have to speak to Anora
    in her room. Also Riordan, the Grey Warden you met in Howe's Estate, is here.
    Speak to him about the cache and he will tell you where it is and how to get
    into it so you can take the things there for the defense of Ferelden.

    Now go to see Anora to see what it is that she desires. When you speak to her
    she desires that you support her bid to rule as King... Queen. There are a few
    ways to get through this section. You can either convince her that you will
    support her bid for the throne or ask her to marry Alistair. If you ask her to
    marry Alistair you will have to use your powers of Persuasion to convince her
    and Alistair of this. It's no easy feat but it is the most ideal of the various
    solutions to this.

    If you're a male human noble you can instead ask Anora to marry you in exchange
    for your support. With a high enough Persuasion skill you can convince her to
    take you as her prince consort. This doesn't go over so well if you're in a
    relationship with Morrigan or Leliana (unless you've gotten her to harden up a
    bit). This doesn't really add any support or anything it's just fun to do.

    Regardless of what you plan on doing at the Landsmeet promise Anora that you
    will support her bid to the throne and make no mention of killing Loghain. Do
    this and you will get a fair bit of support.

    Now go to Alistair and speak to him. If you want him to marry Anora you will
    need to use your Persuasion skills to do so. Convincing him to support her or
    to take the throne himself is actualy a fair bit easier.

    With all of that done it's time to check out the Alienage.

    ========================
    Unrest in the Alienage
    ========================
    If you have saved Soris from Arl Howe's place then this will be a bit easier.
    Walk into Cyrion's house and speak to Soris. He will tell you of a plague that
    has been going on as well as asking you to speak to his cousin Shianni near the
    center of town. Should you have chosen not to save him then head into Alariths
    Shop and speak to him. Either way you will find out that people are going into
    the hospice and then very, very rarely ever coming back out.

    There are two ways inside, you can either fight at the front doors or go on
    through the back. The guard at the back can either be bribed for six gold or
    just killed. Take this entrance into the room to find two guards and a
    supervisor. They're easily taken out so defeat them and then search the room.
    Notably examine the note on the table before opening the door to the back room.

    After they've been freed you will be able to leave out the front door. Here you
    will be attacked by two Tevinter Guards and a pair of Healer mages. This is a
    really easy fight so long as you're smart. Send one of your fighters after one
    of the healers while your mage chases the other one and continually uses spells
    to stun, freeze or otherwise contain it. This allows you to keep them under
    control, or dead, while your other two characters get rid of the other guards.

    Show the note to Shianni outside and you two will try to figure out what's been
    going on. Your next stop is the apartments in that back alley.

    Once inside search the building, making sure to speak to the lone Elf hanging
    around in here. Next go to the westernmost part of the building and pick the
    lock into the room. Kill the four soldiers in here before looting their bodies.
    Now head through the southern door back out into the Alienage.

    Here you will have to fight an Alley Guard with around five other guards. Three
    of them like to stay back and just pummel you with arrows while the others will
    fight in melee. Let your mage and one fighter entertain the archers so they are
    not a constant thorn in your side and just focus on killing the melee fighters.
    When they're all down head on into the warehouse.

    In here you have a few ways of dealing with Devera. You can either Persuade or
    Intimidate her into letting you past or just killing her and her men. Unless
    you are planning on ending this peacefully it's best just to kill them now. The
    hard part of this fight is that there are traps that will stop you from getting
    to Devera or her two archers. So while you fight the melee troops she will be
    free to pepper you with arrows. The best way to handle this is to put your mage
    at an angle, on the side of the door, and let them cast spells partially right
    through the wall. By doing this you can freeze them with Cone of Cold or Mind
    Blast every so often to slow their attacks.

    While they're held up with this you can feel free to handle the fighters. Once
    they're all down try to wait off to the sides until they're frozen. Then have
    one person set off or disarm a trap and then rush them. They'll go down pretty
    quick to melee attacks. Loot the bodies and then move on.

    The next room contains a few more enemies, mixed between archers and fighters.
    As usual try to let your mage keep the archers busy while you handle the melee
    and then clean up. Proceed forward and down the stairs to find three archers at
    the end of a long hallway. There is ale on the floor to slow you down and a
    tripwire to set off a trap that will stun you so be wary of those and rush the
    archers. Once they're dead you can head into the next to last room. Defeat the
    four warriors here in the usual manner and head on to deal with the boss.

    As usual you have a few options when it comes to dealing with the boss. You can
    either agree to pay him money and get evidence while he leaves with the slaves
    or you can battle him. Should you choose to fight him then when he's near dead
    you can "re-negotiate" the terms which is what you should always do.

    -------------------
    Boss: Caladrius
    -------------------
    This fight will be against Caladrius and six of his allies. Two of them are
    archers which means the odds aren't too bad here. Send one fighter immediately
    to each staircase while your archer supports one of them as there is a fighter
    on each of the stairs. Have your mage start to use spells to whittle down
    either the archers down the stairs or Caladrius himself.

    Once everyone is downstairs go after the archers with everything you have with
    the exception of one single fighter - Let him start to entertain Caladrius.
    This is a fairly typical battle with the main exception being that the boss is
    fairly resistant to cold attacks. He tends to break free of it really quick but
    he's still very easy to beat. Simply focus on the archers and then the mage and
    lastly clean up the warriors.
    -------------------

    If you agree to let him go you can get a few things out of him. In exchange for
    the lives of the elves he will bolster your Constitution. Should this not mean
    much to you then you can Persuade him to give you the documents and he will
    leave. Or if you have a high Intimidate you can force him to give you that as
    well as the profits he's made so far. But killing him nets you the documents
    too so don't let that change your mind.

    Speak to Valendrian afterwards before looting the bodies. Now go out into the
    Alienage and then speak to Valendrian inside of his house to get Duncan's
    dagger, Gift of the Grey. Also, if you're a City Elf, you can go to your home
    to get your mothers dagger.

    With that done return to Arl Eamon and you can now leave for the Landsmeet at
    the Royal Palace.

    ========================
    The Landsmeet (It Begins)
    ========================
    Upon your arrival you will be confronted by Cauthrien if you haven't already
    killed her. You can either fight her now or use Persuasion / Intimidate to get
    her to stand down. If you should fight her then it's a whole lot easier than it
    was the last time so there's no real special strategy needed. If you do kill
    her make sure to loot her sword.

    Now starts the hard part of the Landsmeet, gathering support. Before now you
    should have already spoken to Anora and promised her your support while not
    saying that Loghain has to die. If you're putting Alistair up there or him and
    her together then you need to have spoken to him already too. Here is a good
    way to go about this mess.

    1. Persuade - I'm not the one who betrayed Ferelden. The lesser choice would be
    The Blight is the threat here, not Orlais option. The second option will net
    you the help of Arl Wulf but the first wins you more support overall.
    2. NEVER mention Alistair until it comes to a later point or things will only
    go in Loghains favor.
    3. NEVER mention him leaving Cailin to die in the battle.
    4. If you rescued Irminric and gave his sister his ring then you can mention
    how he let Arl Howe torture innocents. But it's generally best to say that
    he allowed Ferelden citizens to be sold into slavery.
    5. If you have a very high Persuade you can tell him that he should instead be
    supporting Maric's son. However a generally better idea is to mention him
    allowing Howe to torture citizens as above or stealing the throne from his
    own daughter.
    6. When confronted about the queen tell him you rescued her.
    7. "The Queen speaks the truth."
    8. Ask him to step down gracefully.

    Loghain will basically be asking for a fight at this point so you'll have to
    give him one, one way or another. You can either fight him in a duel or as a
    whole group. If you fight him as a group then you will still end up dueling him
    when you have beaten him down to a certain point. It's possible to appoint
    another character entirely to fight in your stead.

    -------------------
    Boss: Loghain
    -------------------
    Amusingly enough Loghain isn't that hard... for particular characters. If you
    are a warrior with a shield or a mage then you can tear him a new one with real
    ease. As a warrior with a shield just use all of your abilities in sequence to
    try and keep him stunned, knocked down or generally unable to fight back. It's
    easy to take more than half of his health before he's even had a suitable
    chance to really fight back.

    If you're a mage then your best bet is to use any and all spells that allow you
    to freeze, paralyze, petrify or stun Loghain. Get him unable to move and then
    hit him with your strongest spells. When you run out of ways to stop him from
    moving around then simply run away from him until your skills recharge and do
    it all over again.
    -------------------

    After you have defeated Loghain you will be in a position where you can choose
    what will happen to him. You now have two main options - make Loghain a Grey
    Warden or execute him for his crimes. If you make him a Grey Warden he will
    essentially replace Alistair since blondie abandons your party. If you choose
    to kill him either you or Alistair can do the deed. However Anora will not side
    with whoever kills her father so if you're looking to marry her then don't do
    the killing yourself and if she's to marry Alistair don't let him do it.

    From here you can decide whether Ferelden will have a king, queen or some mix
    of the two. Make your decision and be ready to stand against the darkspawn. On
    to Redcliffe to start the final section of the game.

    ========================
    The Final Battle
    ========================
    Redcliffe is apparently well on its way to being overrun by the darkspawn. As
    you arrive they are already sieging the castle, having attacked the town. You
    can fight them in the town but there's little reason to do so. Kill any who
    come after you and then head to the castle.

    Once here you will have three main groups of Hurlocks to deal with. The first
    is a group of Hurlocks near the center of the courtyard who have a Hurlock
    Emissary with them, the second is near the doors to the castle and it has a
    Hurlock Alpha with it. Finally the last group is a huge one that comes in small
    groups to attack you via the front gate after you take out the other two groups
    of enemies. Try to get rid of the Emissary and then move your people around as
    needed to take out the rest of them.

    When you clear out all of the Hurlocks an Ogre Alpha will come through the
    front gate to attack. By this point he shouldn't pose even the slightest threat
    to your characters so drop it like a bad habit.

    With the outside of the castle clear you're given the option of going inside or
    doing more things outside. The reason for this is that once you enter Redcliffe
    castle you're stuck going straight to the end of the game so only go in when
    you're sure you are finished with the outside world.

    After some yammering with the Arl and his men you can wander the castle and
    talk to people, buy supplies from Bodahn and Sandal or just head on over with
    Alistair to speak to Riordan. That's some... chipper news he's got there for
    you. Go to your room now for a deciding point in the game.

    Morrigan will offer to spare you from the sacrifice that must be made at the
    end of the game. If you (or Alistair or Loghain) will lay with her then she
    will concieve a child using a ritual. This child can then be used basically as
    a receptacle to house the spirit of the Archdemon. Nobody will have to die if
    you accept her offer. However if you refuse her she will leave the party now
    and forever. So if you're not going to take her up on it you should make sure
    that Wynne is ready to take over and strip Morrigan of any equipment that you
    don't want her to run off with.

    ===================
    Save Denerim - City Gates
    ===================
    You will be controlling the main character now while everyone in your party is
    running around fighting the enemies with you. Due to this it's important to not
    get yourself KO'ed when dealing with the numerous darkspawn here. However doing
    that is incredibly difficult since most of the enemies here are incredibly weak
    and easily enough dispatched. The only real dangers lie with the Genlock Alpha
    enemies since they have a fair bit of health and can still deal out damage. If
    you're a mage try to stay back from these guys when getting rid of them.

    Once you've taken out the last of the enemies loot the bodies for any healing
    items before talking to Riordan. You will now need to pick your party for the
    final part of the game as well as a character who will lead the defenses at the
    city gates themselves.

    As an additional note when you're in these new areas you will gain the option
    to call upon reinforcements from those you previously recruited. This will give
    you melee or ranged assistance depending on who you recruited of the up to six
    possible allies. Dwarves, Werewolves, Golems and human soldiers are all melee
    fighters while the Elves and magi are your ranged attackers. When you deploy a
    unit they can't regain any troops lost in battle. Do things very sparingly and
    try to save at least one ranged and one melee group for the final fight.

    ===================
    Save Denerim - Market District
    ===================
    When you enter the Market you will be immediately set upon by a whole bunch of
    Ogres. At first you're fighting two of them and a Genlock Emissary but they
    very rapidly start coming at you three at a time. By this point in the game you
    should be used to dealing with even two ogres so the third shouldn't present
    too much of an issue. You should also have plenty of crowd control spells,
    namely Ice magics, so keeping your allies alive through this should not be a
    hard thing to do.

    At no point should you ever really need the help of any of the allied troops in
    this section.

    Keep on killing the ogres until they stop coming and then make your way across
    the Market. As you near the far side you will be attacked by a pair of Ogres
    with one of the very powerful Hurlock Generals. You don't want to fight all of
    these guys at once since they're very capable of killing you due to the fact
    that Ogres can pick you up to hammer on you while the General is a master of
    knockdown and stun, cheesy punk he is. Plus all three of them love ignoring the
    melee guys that are attacking them to go after your mage who hasn't actually
    done anything to them. Cue running for your life.

    The trick to making this area less frustrating is to draw off that first Ogre
    that comes after you without getting the attention of the General. Then draw
    the general to you, hopefully with only the one ogre. Now you will have to jump
    all over him as quickly as possible. Take out the other ogre and then just lay
    on the pain so that he goes down before the other ogre elite and Genlock
    Emissary manage to make their way over. Otherwise this fight just gets annoying
    to manage since the big guy will pick you up, Emissary will spam magic and the
    general will slaughter your archers and mages.

    Note that it is possible to have everyone hold position, send one person ahead
    very carefully to lure off the Hurlock General and then have everyone jump all
    over his face to killify him as quickly as possible. Sometimes you will draw
    one of the ogres over anyways but you can often get a major jump on damaging
    the general before it comes over.

    With all that done loot the generals body for a really good helmet, finish off
    the last of the ogres and then head back to the city map.

    ===================
    Save Denerim - Alienage
    ===================
    This is probably the first area you will want to summon up your allies for any
    help but it may not be necessary. Do so as a last resort if you find yourself
    having serious difficulty completing this on your own. When the time comes for
    it, call upon one of the melee armies, humans preferably, and they should help
    to tip the scales in your favor.

    But to begin with there's nothing happening here. Walk towards the tree in the
    center of the Alienage to find some survivors. You can either have them help
    you out in the coming fight or try to handle matters on your own. Even if they
    are left behind they don't help too much compared to what your soldiers can do
    so it really doesn't matter either way.

    Rush to the southwest where the gate is holding back an ogre with a whole bunch
    of darkspawn behind him. You can either wait for him to plow through the gate
    and start fighting him or, a better idea, is to pick the enemies apart. One
    skill as simple as Scattershot can wreck chaos upon your foes with them sitting
    behind that barrier.

    If you have any archers send them and your mages up onto the raised platforms
    up on either side of the gate. From here they have a good vantage point to view
    the enemies... to better rain death upon them. Any area-of-effect spells that
    you have, like Tempest, Inferno, Earthquake or Blizzard, can be freely dumped
    onto the enemies from here. Try to use Cone of Cold to freeze the Ogre before
    starting to rain destruction upon them. If you have both Tempest and Blizzard,
    as well as Spell Might, you can cause a major spell combo to go off that will
    absolutely wreck every enemy back there including the general.

    Once the fence is broken down you will want to summon up the Redcliffe Soldiers
    since there are a lot of enemies incoming. There's an almost constant stream of
    regular Hurlock Grunts to deal with, the Hurlock General (who is a powerful
    mage this time), numerous Ogre Elites and Genlock or Hurlock Alphas. It gets
    really chaotic and it is very hard to do without any support so don't even
    bother with trying. Just make good use of everything you've got and you will be
    fine. The only way they can really kill you is via overwhelming you.

    After you've defeated all of the enemies return to Shianni for a reward before
    heading on your way. Make sure to loot the Hurlock General as well for his
    boots and staff.

    As you head to the next location a random encounter will provide a slight
    change of pace. It isn't a fight so much as an event at another location.

    ===================
    Hold the Gates
    ===================
    Your reserve unit will be forced to hold the gates from attacking darkspawn.
    This can be pretty tough if you haven't been using your party members at all or
    equipping them with things. Who exactly is in your party seems to be totally
    random - the first time this was done with Sten as leader had the dog, Shale
    and Oghren while the second time with Wynne leading it had Zevran, Sten and
    Shalde pop up. If there's any pattern to it, it's hard to tell. But take note
    that those who aren't active party members are still moving around, fighting
    the darkspawn alongside you. They're just not controllable.

    Speak to the Officer and you will have to rush to the south to defend the gate
    against the incoming darkspawn. This is actually really easy and you shouldn't
    need much healing and you should definitely never, EVER, summon up any of the
    other armies to your aide.

    Once you're done speak to the Messenger to be head onward with the main fight.

    ===================
    Save Denerim - Palace District
    ===================
    As you head to the palace you get a pretty badass cutscene. At the end of this
    you will have to make your way towards the palace. There are two staircases
    here, one to the north and one to the south. Both of these have enemies hanging
    out on them so you'll want to clear both stairs. Doing this map is generally
    easy and you shouldn't need any help. If you find yourself having too many
    issues though, summon up whatever remnants exist of the group you called for in
    the Alienage and hope that's enough.

    Go to the north one first, taking out the Genlock Alpha, Ogre and others. Then
    double back to the west and go to the southern stairs. This will allow you to
    clear them both without dealing with any excess enemies from the east. At the
    southern stairs you really only have an Ogre to deal with so focus on that
    before cleaning up the other darkspawn.

    The next group in this area is a fairly large amount of Hurlocks with Genlock
    Emissaries, an Ogre and a Genlock Alpha with a bow. Try to get rid of the Ogre
    first, then the Emissary and lastly the Alpha so as to spare yourself all of
    the varying levels of frustration.

    Finally there is only one last group stopping you from entering Fort Drakon.
    This group consists of a Genlock Emissary, numerous Hurlock Grunts, several
    archers, a Genlock Alpha and Shrieks. Oh and to get up to their level you have
    to get past a trap that will stun you if you get hit by it. Try to have someone
    disarm it while stealthed if at all possible before rushing up there. Your main
    target will be the Emissary first and foremost with all others coming second.
    Once him and the Alpha are dead you just need to prevent the Shrieks from
    taking out your mages / archers and you should have no problems cleaning this
    area up.

    Loot all of the dead bodies and head into Fort Drakon.

    ===================
    Save Denerim - Fort Drakon
    ===================
    Okay, this area is a doozy and it may be helpful to summon up some allied troop
    assistance, namely mages or elven archers. The reason for this is that there
    are a whole bunch of archers here, more than is reasonably dealt with easily by
    just your party so you'll want to be ready for it.

    Directly to your left are a trio of archers behind a barricade while to your
    right is a single archer behind one. Further ahead a Dragon Thrall, essentially
    a Dragon like the one you fought during the "Nature of the Beast" quest, lands
    near a trio of archers behind another barricade. Beyond them lie three paths up
    to the doors of Fort Drakon proper, each with a different guardian. The left
    has a Hurlock Emissary, the center has a Genlock Alpha and the right has yet
    another Hurlock Emissary. Oh and there are alot of grunts and Shrieks guarding
    that path as well.

    It's suggested that you summon up the mages for this as they can help a great
    deal. Also the archers are much more useful against the final boss than any of
    the other units are so keep that in mind.

    To start with fire off some sort of AoE attack at the archers to your left. It
    will more than likely kill them as they're quite weak. Any archers you may have
    should focus on taking out the single archer to your right. Now have your melee
    units rush forward to deal with the Dragon Thrall, using all of your stunning
    attacks to keep it from doing too much damage. If you have another AoE spell by
    this point use it on the second group of archers, if not then just use acid
    or other bombs to deal with them.

    Rush one of the Emissaries with your entire group to take them down and then
    cut across. So if you went left take him out, then the Alpha and then the far
    Emissary (and vice versa obviously). This will help you cut them down before
    they do too much damage with paralyzing spells or fireballs. It also keeps your
    party together so the vulnerable ones don't get cut down by Shrieks. Head into
    the fort now to work on the final dungeon.

    Once inside you will have gained "The Defender" achievement / trophy if you
    have preserved the lives of at least half of the troops under your banner. This
    means that if you've been holding back because of that it's time to cut loose.

    Head into the western room here for an item in a locked chest before continuing
    to the south. Once you're inside of the "ballista" room you will be attacked by
    a quartet of Lesser Shades and a Greater Shade that have been summoned by a
    Genlock Conjurer. This guy is basically a boss Genlock Emissary with the added
    ability to teleport, switching places with the Greater Shade regardless of what
    is going on or where it may be. This is annoying but manageable.

    Try to focus on the Lesser Shades first, using things like Walking Bomb or just
    Cone of Cold to slow them, damage them or whatever. They're not the problem,
    that lies with the Greater Shade / Conjurer tag team. Send one of your tanks to
    tie up in melee with the Conjurer, chasing it around while your party focuses
    on the Greater Shade. Once it's dead you can pin the Conjurer down and pummel
    him into the floor. If you're finding this too hard then let your mage handle
    the Conjurer while everyone else goes after the Greater Shade. You can use your
    magic on the Conjurer to freeze / stun / crushing prison or even just use Force
    Field on him - whatever you do keep him busy until the Greater Shade is dead...
    again and then take out the Genlock.

    Continue to the south until you reach the hall that goes east and west. There
    is a trap here at this intersection so make sure to find it before proceeding.
    When you enter this corridor you will be ambushed. From the west will come a
    number of corpses with a Genlock Emissary elite, a frustratingly strong foe,
    and from the west comes a Genlock Shapeshifter. This is basically another boss
    Genlock Emissary so you're going to want to get to him and beat his face in as
    fast as possible. Try to let one person keep the Genlock Emissary busy while
    the rest of the team handles the Shapeshifter problem. If you move fast enough
    it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

    Head into the easternmost room to find Sandal hanging out with a bunch of dead
    darkspawn in the room. Nice work! Do any last minute enchantment or purchasing
    with him as he's the last merchant you'll be interacting with. Buy up every
    healing potion you can get your hands on.

    Loot the first room and then head down the path to the west through the door.
    In the large room with the staircase check upstairs to find some locked chests.
    When you're ready to fight head through the door to the east to find a pair of
    Hurlock Alphas with a Genlock Alpha. Send one tank to your right to keep this
    particular Hurlock busy while the rest of your party goes left towards the
    second one. Use all of your AoE, crowd control and power spells to get rid of
    that Genlock first before turning to the Hurlocks. They'll go down quickly
    enough at this point.

    The rooms to the north contain some minor treasure and the room all the way to
    the east contains a fight with numerous archer Genlocks as well as a Genlock
    Alpha but it's a waste as there's no treasure or reason to go into this room.
    Make your way to the south into the hallway but don't go too far forward. There
    are five traps lining this hallway and if you get caught in one you will die
    easily to the Genlock Master Assassin and Genlock Assassin Acolytes that come
    out of the doors to your east. Truth be told this isn't too hard but it can be
    really troublesome if your main fighters are caught in leg hold traps.

    If you have a high stealth you can try to go into the hallway and disarm them
    first. Should that not be an option have one person go far enough forward that
    he gets caught in a trap. When the assassins come rushing out to kill him hit
    them with every stunning or freezing spell and skill in the book. This will buy
    you enough time for your character to free himself before fighting them. Take
    out the Acolytes first so that you can gang up on the Master Assassin. They go
    down easily enough.

    The next room to the south is the final one you will have to deal with before
    the final boss himself. Inside of this room is a Hurlock Emissary and on each
    side of the room is an Ogre elite. Make it your primary goal in life to get to
    that Emissary ASAP or he will beat you down with spells. Focus on stunning him
    so that you can catch him and kill him before turning to the Ogres. They will
    go down quickly enough without his help.

    Now search the room, including down both stairs on the sides of the room, to
    find chests with lots of healing items inside of them. With those in hand it is
    time to do your final preparations.

    ------------------------
    Final Boss: Archdemon
    ------------------------
    This dragon is just ridiculously powerful. Ridiculous amounts of health and
    defense, deals damage like a chainsaw on legs and it even has the audacity to
    use a number of spells on you!

    Let's run down the list of the most important attacks in its arsenal:
    1 - Basic claw and bite attacks. These can hit everyone anywhere near its front
    or even on its sides.
    2 - Those behind it are in danger of being lashed by the tail, sending them
    flying away from the dragon.
    3 - Those in front of the beast are in danger of being picked up in its mouth
    and chewed on. That's just great.
    4 - Leaping into the air it flaps its wings sending everyone nearby flying away
    from it. This isn't bad as it gives your people some space to heal.
    5 - With a great roar your entire party is stunned for some time.
    6 - The ability to spit balls of energy at a far away target in front of it or
    breath a gout of this energy at those close to it. This isn't fire damage
    as you might expect and is instead spirit damage. Weird.
    7 - While not strictly an attack it can leap up into the air, coming down in
    another location to strike at your vulnerable party members or just to put
    some space between you and it to use its breath weapon.
    8 - After losing 75% of its health it will begin to use a weird swirling vortex
    of energy to attack your party. This is a funnel of purple-black energy
    that swirls in place, expanding to cover a large area. This does damage to
    any who remain in it while also debuffing your attack and defense. Try to
    get out of the radius of this storm as soon as possible. And yes, this is
    yet another spirit damage attack.
    9 - After losing 50% of its health it will begin to use a weird attack where it
    drops bursts of spirit energy from the sky onto your party. These are hard
    to dodge so just muscle through them and keep on healing.

    Another thing to note is that the combat tactics of this beast change as you
    deal damage to it.

    100%-76% Health: The dragon attacks as normal with no special surprises. It is
    not yet using either attack #8 or #9.
    75%-51% Health: The dragon will call up some darkspawn to attack you while it
    also begins to use attack #8.
    50%-26% Health: Now the dragon will retreat from you, leaping to a far away
    platform outside of melee range, where it can use its spells
    in safety. It will begin to use attack #9 as well as summoning
    up a whole lot of darkspawn.
    25% Health to Death: More darkspawn are summoned up but this is basically just
    a retreat of the first phase. However he will continue to
    use attacks #8 and #9 with gusto.

    As soon as the fight starts you should summon up the mages, if you have them,
    or the Redcliffe infantry. Mages are good because they deal damage to the beast
    quickly but they die just as fast. This is actually a good thing since it means
    they will hurt it and then make room for other support. If you get the infantry
    instead it doesn't matter if they're messed up badly, that's ideal as well.

    With your allies in tow make a beeline straight for the dragon and start to
    attack it. Try to keep your melee units to its sides while your mages and / or
    archers hang back while split up from each other a bit in case of "fireball"
    attacks. Your physical attackers should use their strongest skills as often as
    possible while your mage should prioritize their actions as follows:

    1. Heal any party members who are hurt more than 50% immediately.
    2. Make sure any support skills are running. It may behoove you to have as many
    Rejuvenation spells running as possible, especially on archers, to help them
    attack the dragon with everything you've got.
    3. If you have any spells that can stun, or even slow, the beasts onslaught
    then use it. Cone of Cold can do this well but it doesn't last long and very
    precious few other spells can do even that. Experiment to find useful ones.
    4. Use offensive spells to damage the dragon.

    Whether it is through a mages healing or use of your own potions try to never
    let your health dip below half. Even a max level party can be cut down quite
    fast by this beast so don't take any chances especially on harder difficulty
    levels and just keep that health up.

    Simply attack the dragon until it is down to 75% health. Here it will begin to
    use attack #8, the spirit vortex spell. Don't allow your party members to stand
    within this, have them immediately move to get out of it and heal up before
    taking the fight back to the dragon.

    When the dragon has lost half of its health it will jump to a far platform.
    Immediately run to the ramp that leads up to a ballista near the dragon. Send
    one fighter to man the ballista while your mage and archers continue to attack
    the dragon. If you have the ability to do so summon up the elves to help attack
    the beast. With the offense you're putting forth have your fighters alternate
    between activating the ballista to puncture the dragon for about 50 damage and
    attacking the darkspawn who come to mess with you. If possible try to defend
    the elves as well to keep them around longer.

    Once you reduce his health enough he will leap to a far away platform and ready
    himself for the final showdown. Get over there, taking out any darkspawn who
    get in your way and attack him with everything you've got. Use any bombs you
    may still be holding, every Lyrium and Health potion and just about anything
    else you can pull out. This is the final stretch and now isn't the time to fail
    in this endeavor.

    Keep up the pressure and the beast will finally fall.
    ------------------------

    That's it, you've done it! Sit back and enjoy the ending, you've earned it. Do
    take note that there are four endings. One with Morrigans ritual, one where you
    strike the final blow, one where Alistair does it and one where Loghain is the
    one to sacrifice himself.

    ************************
    *NOTE: Human Nobles who feel like their Origin didn't have much impact on the
    game, besides enjoying killing Arl Howe even more, will find the ending to have
    a little bonus in there for you. It's kind of annoying that there's nothing
    else based on your Origin but hey, at least it's something.
    ************************


    ================================================== =======
    5. Side Quests
    ================================================== =======
    Ostagar
    ========================
    The Mabari Hound
    ===================
    Speak to the Kennel Master to find out that one of the Mabari is sick. To treat
    it he needs to beast muzzled. If you agree to help you can go into the kennel
    to either muzzle it or,if you're feeling like not getting a party member, kill
    the poor thing. If you muzzle it he will ask you to look for a flower that
    grows in the swamps.

    Shortly after enering the Korcari Wilds you will find the flower the Kennel
    Master asked you to pick up. You can now head back to Ostagar. Give it to him
    so he can use it to help the dog. When your time out in the Korcari Wilds is
    over you will now have a new ally, your very own Mabari Hound. He will find
    you when you leave for Lothering after the battle, joining up with you for a
    random encounter before becoming part of your party.

    ===================
    The Hungry Deserter
    ===================
    If you speak to the prisoner inside of the hanging cage and press him on what
    he was doing sneaking around he will offer to give you a key to the mage's
    treasure chest in exchange for food and water. The guard watching over him is
    supposed to still have his so speak to the man. You can either pay the guard
    ten silver for the food or you can Persuade him into giving it over. Give it to
    the prisoner for the key. Now take the key over to the Tranquil nearby the
    mages to find the chest. Unfortunately you cannot open it with him nearby and
    will have to wait until you've finished your ritual.

    Alternately if you're feeling like being an absolute bastard you can kill him
    and just take the key from him. This doesn't get you into much trouble, nor is
    it really shortening the quest too much.

    ========================
    Korcari Wilds
    ========================
    The Mabari Hound - Human Noble
    ===================
    Even though this is said to start in Ostagar it is really started by going into
    the Korcari Wilds. Here you will find a white flower with a red center that you
    can pick up. When you go to do so your companions will explain that the Kennel
    Master is looking for flowers like these so you should bring it to him. Do so
    for a reward of 20 silver or no reward if you're feeling particularly giving.

    ===================
    The Missionary
    ===================
    * NOTE: Hold off on trying to complete this quest until you have the "Last Will
    and Testament" quest since they're in roughly the same areas.

    After you battle the first group of wolves look near the body of water to the
    east. You will find a dead body face down in the water, search it to find a
    letter. This is your starting point for the quest and you must read the letter
    to find the directions to the camp where this boy is supposed to meet his dad.
    They are as follows:

    - Look for a tree leaning on a ruined building.
    - Pass under a fallen tree "bridge"
    - Pass a submerged tower on the right
    - Look between a high, ruined arch and a mossy standing stone
    - Walk along a path of roots and stones
    - Look for two large statues with a chest between them.

    Be careful when doing this as you will have to fight a whole bunch of wolves
    with a seriously strong Alpha Wolf leading them. This bad boy is really strong
    and more than capable of killing party members. As a matter of fact he's taken
    down Jory every time this quest has been done. Once he's defeated you can open
    the chest for some good rewards.

    ===================
    Last Will and Testament
    ===================
    This body is found at the top of a tall hill to the south of where you start.
    Once you've found the dead body you need to find the sealed box with all that
    he left for his family. He explains in the letter that it's found in a Tevinter
    Ruin all the way to the western reaches of the Wilds. Make your way south until
    the road splits in all four directions and then go to the west. Keep going that
    way and north where possible until you see a bunch of bodies hanging from a
    ruins. You may have to fight a Hurlock and four Genlock Archers along the way
    but that's nothing too hard.

    When you find the camp you will have to fight a larger group of Darkspawn so
    try to stick together. Once they're all dead head into the camp to find the
    hidden box in a campfire. You can either open it up to keep for yourself or
    keep it closed and bring it to his family. It's your decision so do as you will
    but MAKE SURE to open the chest near this. Inside is a journal that you will
    want to read. The quest ends here but you can get more treasure.

    Walk to the first trail sign (a white X on your map) and activate it. Now you
    will be following these through the swamp so use your map to guide you. After
    you run all over this damnable place the actual cache will appear on your map.
    Run on over there and open it up for some good equipment. Yay!
    BOOM IT GUYZ!!!

  9. #9
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    ===================
    Pinch of Ashes
    ===================
    This is an unmarked quest that can be completed but it's mostly for experience
    as the quest reward is fairly weak unless you're a mae. You will find the note
    about this quest and a bag of ashes on a dead Genlock Emissary after crossing
    a trapped bridge (one of the first big encounters here). From the bridge you
    crossed to get here go to the left where you will see a cliff that overlooks a
    dome that's sunken into the water. Here there is a pile of rocks that you can
    sprinkle the ashes over. Doing this causes the spirit from the story to come
    out to attack you. He's pretty tough, doing about 30 damage a hit, and he has a
    lot of health. Make sure everyone continually uses their abilities to take him
    down before he does too much damage to your party. On his body you can find a
    good healing item and a pile of rags under it gives you mage boots.


    ========================
    Lothering
    ========================
    A Fallen Templar
    ===================
    This quest starts by finding the locket and note on the body of the dead
    Templar on the bridge going into the city of Lothering. When you go into the
    city you can find Ser Donall in the Chantry. Give him the locket to end this
    quest. You can ask for a reward but he does not offer one so keep that in mind.

    ===================
    The Chanter's Board
    ===================
    Activating this quest, just near the Chanter, is more like activating a series
    of sub-quests. When you look at the board a quest will present itself, by
    completing this quest you will recieve a monetary award. The first one is just
    below:
    -------------------
    Weed Out the Bandits
    -------------------
    Apparently a group of bandits are lurking to the north of Lothering, three
    groups in all, and they need to be wiped out. While this doesn't sound like it
    is going to be anything too difficult, you'd be quite surprised how all of
    this plays out. The first group, found north and a bit west out of town, isn't
    that bad. It mostly consists of archers and a few Mabari hounds to keep you
    busy in melee while they fill you full of arrows. This isn't terribly difficult
    to handle - just keep the hounds stunned, or knocked down, until they fall and
    then take the fight to the melee enemies.

    The second and third groups are quite tough though. The second group consists
    of a pair of dual-wielding rogues and a few archers. This doesn't sound bad but
    the dual-wielders are capable of doing a lot of damage and stunning you while
    the archers pick away at your health. It's imperative that you keep your party
    tight, focusing on a single enemy and getting rid of them. It's easily enough
    done by using Winter's Grasp (Morrigan) on one and then having everyone attack
    that person. Once the dual-wielders are defeated you're free to pick off the
    archers who will pose little threat now.

    Lastly comes the Bandit Leader and his gang. One archer and three melee rogues
    accompany the two-handed sword wielding leader. Your best bet is to immediately
    have one of your warriors get right up in the leaders face. Make sure you watch
    his hitpoints so that he doesn't go down and have him focus on stunning or
    knocking down the leader. It won't kill him but it will keep him busy. Now have
    your other three focus on killing one of the enemies at a time. If your fighter
    isn't doing so well you could have Leliana or the Mabari Hound focus on helping
    your fighter keep the big guy busy but you shouldn't need to, either Alistair
    or Sten are more than capable of this as are most melee oriented PCs.

    When the leader and archer are the only ones left you can kill the leader. When
    he's dead the archer will fall quickly enough, leaving you free to loot the
    bodies. If you have Leliana open the chest for some more treasure. You can now
    return to the Chanter to turn in this quest.
    -------------------
    When Bears Attack
    -------------------
    You may panic a bit when you realize that you're going after a FAMILY OF BEARS
    but it's not as bad as it sounds. Make your way to the northeastern part of the
    woods to the north of town. Here you will find a trio of black bears, raging
    from the Blight. This makes them do more damage but they seem to take more as
    well. Focus on one of them, taking them out sequentially. If you have Morrigan
    as an active member have her use Vulnerability hex on one and then hammer it
    with spell after spell while your party members are taking out one of the other
    bears. Return to the Chanter for your reward.
    -------------------
    A Last Keepsake
    -------------------
    If you spoke to the boy as you were crossing the bridge you'll be familar with
    this one. His mother is still missing and presumed dead and the church would
    like a keepsake from her body for the child. This is easily done by just going
    to the north in the wilderness to find a pack of wolves circling the body. It
    might seem like there are a helluva lot of them but they go down pretty fast so
    long as you use your abilities. Try to spread out your party here rather than
    sticking to one at a time since this will actually get rid of them pretty fast.
    Grab the keepsake from the body and return to the Chanter for your reward.

    ===================
    A Poisonous Proposition
    ===================
    Speaking to Barlin at the tavern will unlock this quest so long as you have
    someone who can actually make and use poison. Basically all you need to do is
    get the supplies to make some poisons and sell them to him for some coin. You
    will need to make three flasks of Venom, no other poison will do. It's likely
    that you don't have enough, or even any, Toxin Extracts or Venom flasks so you
    will have to get some from spiders. Leave town to the north and then head to
    the east to find a bunch of Giant Spiders just loitering about. Kill them, loot
    their bodies for the Toxin, have Leliana make the Venom and then turn the quest
    in to Barlin. This nets you a good chunk of silver.

    ===================
    More Than Just Plants
    ===================
    Speaking to Elder Miriam reveals that the town is short on healing supplies. If
    you can go to the woods nearby to find the items needed to make three lesser
    health poultices she will reward you. You can either go into the woods or just
    make it with stuff you already have on hand. In either case you're rewarded
    with 50 silver.

    ===================
    The Qunari Prisoner
    ===================
    Sten is locked up in a cage near the rear exit of the town. Speaking to him
    will reveal his crimes but he's also someone that you could use in your quest.
    Head back to the Chantry after finishing up with him and find the Revered
    Mother. Speak to her to find out about the Qunaris crimes. You can either ask
    kindly to have him released, in which case Leliana helps you convince her, or
    you can bully your way through this. In either case get the keys and then go to
    release Sten.

    You could choose to send him away, refusing to let him join you and just let
    him go free but that's a waste. He wishes to join you so let him. He's a pretty
    powerful warrior so let him come along. Having him and Alistair in your party
    at the same time is something of a waste so pick one and stick with it.


    ========================
    Redcliffe
    ========================
    A Missing Child
    ===================
    Speak to Kaitlyn just inside of the Chantry to find out that her brother has
    run off towards the castle. Leave the Chantry and go to the south a bit to
    find Kaitlyn's home. Walk inside and go into the bedroom. When you enter you
    will hear a noise inside the dresser. When he comes out you can convince him
    that you're a friend by mentioning his sister. From there you can just talk him
    into going back to the Chantry or you can convince him to give you the key to
    his fathers chest containing a sword used to kill dragons. You can Persuade him
    if you have that high enough, Intimidate him or just offer to give him and his
    sister money. Return to the Chantry and speak to Kaitlyn to finish this quest.

    ===================
    Lost in the Castle
    ===================
    This is started up after you've promised to help Owen, the blacksmith, find his
    daughter in the castle. You won't be able to do this until after completing
    your defense of the town. Once you enter the castle continue forward until you
    fight the Devouring Corpse in the long hall. Continue to the east all the way,
    past two doors on the north wall and one on the south. The last door is a store
    room that Valena is hiding in. Speak to her and she will be able to make a run
    for it so long as you've killed most of the zombies, and those Mabari, along
    the way. You can now return to the Smith to speak to him about this.

    ===================
    The Chanter's Board
    ===================
    Caravan Down
    -------------------
    A caravan is under attack and has sent for help from the Chantry. Unfortunately
    with the situation in Redcliffe they can't send any help so it's up to you.
    Head over to the Caravan on your map to find that it has been wiped out, only
    a group of enemies remain. This is probably one of the most annoying fights in
    the game thanks to the Genlock Emissaries and their penchant for making your
    characters go berserk. When they're surrounded by the red aura they won't take
    orders, don't use skills and can't heal at all. If you don't have a mage with
    healing abilities then they're likely going to fight themselves to death.

    If possible try to have one fighter go after the Genlock Emissary near the two
    Genlock warriors, have the other fighter go after the Genlock Alpha and have
    your Rogue go after the last Genlock Emissary. Your mage can help the first
    fighter with crowd control while also helping to keep the others alive. If you
    do this then they often won't cast anything too dangerous allowing you to take
    them out with ease. Return to the Redcliffe for your reward.

    -------------------
    Brothers and Sons
    -------------------
    Company Easthill, a band of conscripts, has gone missing and it's up to you to
    find them. Travel to the battlefield, far to the north, to find the company.
    As you proceed forward you will be assailed by numerous wolves but you can find
    a diary on the dead body nearby the rocks where you begin. This will explain
    that the conscripts have been wiped out unfortunately. If you decide to search
    everything in the field you will have to fight yet more wolves and even a big
    brown bear so decide if it's worth it or not and head back to Redcliffe.

    -------------------
    Skin Deep
    -------------------
    The Chantry would like samples of Corpse Gall to better study the monsters that
    have been infesting the town. These are gotten easily by proceeding with the
    main quest, The Arl of Redcliffe, as the undead are plentiful inside of the
    castle. Once you have nine of them you can turn them in to the Chantry for free
    or you could gather up 18 of them for an actual reward.

    -------------------
    Desperate Haven
    -------------------
    A group of refugees have attempted to travel to Redcliffe only to be waylaid.
    It's up to you to get there to rescue them. When you arrive at their camp a
    large group of Hurlocks and Genlocks will be attacking them. There are two
    groups of refugees - a man and woman near the far left side and three men near
    a cart in the middle. The man and woman are being attacked by several Hurlocks,
    a Genlock archer and an Emissary so it's best to leave them to their fate or
    you might get killed.

    This is because a large group of Hurlocks / Genlocks are rushing at the three
    by the cart and you don't want to find that they've killed those three and are
    now moving to flank your party. You can really only save one group and trying
    to help those by the cart is the safer option. Use crowd control spells to thin
    out the enemies as quickly as possible and move your people into position to
    try and flank them. They will usually ignore your people since they're trying
    to kill the refugees so they leave themselves a bit open.

    Once they're dead you can move on to the other group that's killed the couple.
    They should go down pretty quickly as there's only four of them. Just get a
    fighter or two up on top of the Emissary and watch it end.

    Bring news of this back to the Chanter for your reward.

    -------------------
    Unintended Consequences
    -------------------
    Something in the wilderness has been killing defenseless merchants and the
    Templars are too busy to do anything about it. It's up to us then. Head out to
    the world map and start adventuring. Eventually you will be find a caravan
    surrounded with bloody corpses only to be attacked by a Trickster Whim. Yep,
    that's right. It's the one that you summoned in the mage's tower while doing
    those rituals. He calls up a number of mirror versions of himself although they
    are quite a bit weaker. One is an archer, one is a mage and the rest are melee
    types although their dual-wielding style is pretty deadly. This isn't too hard
    so long as you can get rid of the mage and archer quickly, or at least tangle
    them up. Their picking at your health will really drag down your party so get
    rid of them while the melee bunch kill everything except the main Trickster.

    Eventually all that will be left is the main one whom you can then gang up on
    to finish him in short order. Return to the Chantry Board to finish this quest.

    ===================
    Denerim
    ===================
    Pearls Before Swine
    ===================
    It seems that things are getting so out of hand that the Sergeant is having
    some issues with keeping the peace in the Market District. The leader of the
    guards, Arl Howe, has let his mercenaries roam free. These men have been
    causing difficulty in the Pearl, a whorehouse. We have to go over there to beat
    them down but not kill them. When you arrive speak to the White Falcons to be
    told to piss off. You can either Persuade them away, Intimidate them or just
    beat them into the ground. They're not especially difficult if it comes to a
    fight so just choose as you like. When they're gone you can go back to the
    Sergeant for your reward.

    However as you make your way back to the Market District the Sergeant will come
    across you in a random encounter. As you begin to talk a man named Cristof will
    attack you with some more White Falcons. Since you have Sergeant Kylon and his
    men with you this is really easy. Make your melee characters focus on Cristof
    while your mage deals with archers / crowd control once again. If you can use
    ice spells to fully freeze some enemies then there's a good chance they will be
    shattered, making your job even easier.

    After they're wiped out return to Kylon in the Market for another quest.

    ===================
    The Crimson Oars
    ===================
    It seems that the mercs in the Gnawed Noble Tavern have been causing a bit too
    much trouble so they're getting evicted. Much like the White Falcons you don't
    need to fight them to get rid of them. If you have Persuade you can ask them
    if they wouldn't rather drink by the docks. Then ask if they wouldn't prefer a
    bar with "friendlier" women. This will cause them to leave for a different bar
    that doesn't have nobles. If you have to fight them it can be kind of a pain
    since the room is so tight. Use crowd control spells but be careful not to hit
    your own people. Mind Blast is a godsend here.

    Return to Sergeant Kylon and speak to him for your reward. Now speak to him a
    few times more to get a little extra as well as his personal thanks for all of
    your help with the Market District.

    ===================
    Friends of Red Jenny
    ===================
    While adventuring in the Mage's Tower you will find a Small Painted Box in
    First Enchanter Irvings office. Take this and, upon return to Denerim, bring it
    to the back alleys of the Market District. Here you will find a Mysterious Door
    that you can knock on. When it opens present the box to be rewarded with some
    gold for your troubles.

    ===================
    Honor Bound
    ===================
    A fool named Ser Landry will challenge you to a duel for allowing the king to
    be killed. Unless you're incredibly Cunning with a high Coercion skill it's
    nearly impossible to talk him out of this (Cunning: 21, Persuasion rank 2 was
    not enough) you will have to meet him for this duel in an alley. Great. If you
    refuse to fight him you will be jumped while traveling from location to
    location within Denerim so it's better to just duel him. This is much easier
    since all you need to do is keep on stunning or freezing him so that he can't
    fight back and take him out. He isn't terribly difficult.

    ===================
    Drake Scale Armor
    ===================
    This is listed as a Denerim quest but it actually starts in the wilderness. If,
    or rather when, you fight a Drake you will be able to loot a Drake Scale off of
    the corpse. These fine scales could be used by a master armor smith to fashion
    a very strong suit of armor. As you can guess this person is located in Denerim
    so that's where you need to go. Before even going further you will need to be
    sure that you have three Drake Scales, no less will suffice.

    When you reach Denerim you will want to head to the Market and to Wade's
    Emporium. Ask the guy at the counter about it and a conversation ensues where
    Wade offers to make Drake Scale armor for you. What you will want to do is to
    give him a gift of gold as well, this causes the armor to turn out better than
    it would have otherwise. It's expensive but worth it. It takes time before this
    will be finished though so you'll have some waiting to be doing. Come back
    later to find out that he ruined the armor. If by ruined he means made a really
    great suit of studded leather armor. Equip that and leave. If you've paid him
    then it will be a better suit of armor than normal.

    You now need to get three more drake scales. If you're having a hard time with
    finding enough of them, look for more during the "Urn of Sacred Ashes" quest
    as there are some more scales for you to get. Once you have the scales return
    to him and pay him the gold once again (yeouch, that's a steep price) and when
    he gives you this set, which doesn't take as long to make, it will be much
    better than normal. If you don't pay him either time you get two decent suits.
    If you pay him the first and not the second you get two good suits. If you pay
    him the first and the second you get a great pair of armors.

    There's a last step to this quest below...

    ===================
    Dragonscale Armor
    ===================
    By killing the High Dragon located on the Mountain Top during the "Urn of
    Sacred Ashes" quest you will be able to loot its body for incredible equipment
    as well as a Dragon Scale. Take this back to Wade and he will offer to forge a
    suit of Dragon Scale armor for you. Sure! Make sure to give him the 30 gold you
    can offer to him for this to ensure you get the best possible equipment that
    you can get out of this situation.

    And that's the end of your dealings with Wade's Emporium!

    ===================
    Forgotten Verses
    ===================
    This quest is picked up during the "Urn of Sacred Ashes" quest. You will find
    a scroll in a scroll pile, an Encrypted Scroll. Pick this up but you can't do
    much with it until you get out of the temple. When you get the chance return to
    Denerim and speak to the Sister Justine right outside of the Chantry. She takes
    them off for a bit before turning to you to talk about Maferath's final days.
    That's not what matters, what matters is the seven and a half gold she gives
    you as a reward for that. Holy crud!

    ===================
    The Last Request
    ===================
    You will find this quest by locating the body of Sir Friden in the Rundown
    Back Street. It seems that this templar was hunting down a blood mage in
    Denerim which resulted in his death. His journal gives you the location of the
    blood mage and asks that whoever finds it kills the blood mages. Let's get to
    that since maleficarum are bad news. These blood mages are located in the
    Deserted Building on the Denerim city map.

    Do yourself a favor and do this quest early on. The longer you wait to do this
    quest the stronger the enemies are. By the time you're level 13 or 14 the enemy
    archers are firing off every special ability in the book one after the other
    and killing your mage in short order while also stunning your whole party.

    Head to the back of the deserted house and check the concealed door then the
    door behind it. Go down the stairs to find a bunch of mercenaries, some melee
    and some archers, with a Blood Mage. Get to that mage with your fighters while
    your mage tries to stop the archers from killing people with special attacks.
    When they're all dead search the bodies for the key to the next room, using it
    to go through the locked door.

    Keep moving through the building until you see an enemy in the next room. Poke
    your head out of the doorway to goad the enemies outside the door to come into
    the room. This is a great chance to freeze them with Cone of Cold or stun them
    with Mind Blast. However you handle it kill them off. There is a trap in your
    way from getting to the next area but if you try to disarm it mages will often
    take your face off. Get past it however you choose.

    Past the trap you have a number of enemies to face. A mercenary will charge you
    as two Mercenary Archers will begin firing arrows at you. When you move into
    the room more a Mercenary moves down the steps to attack while an archer and
    Blood Mage on the elevated area will begin to attack you. If you tell a fighter
    to go after the Blood Mage he will usually get right past the merc on the steps
    so try to let one go that way while you go after the archers and then the two
    mercenaries. Otherwise you'll get plucked apart.

    When they're all defeated loot the bodies and then continue on. In this next
    area once you go into a room or walk too far down the hall enemies will come to
    attack you. This group, comprised of powerful melee Mercenaries and a pair of
    Blood Mages, can be pretty tough since those two mages, working in tandem, can
    really ruin your day. Try to freeze them if possible, along with a merc or two,
    so that you can hopefully shatter them and get through this quicker.

    There's little of note in the eastern room but there are af ew things to find
    in the western room so loot them. When you go into the north room be wary since
    a rogue archer will attack you while another tries to stealth backstab you. A
    Qunari Mercenary will come out of nowhere to attack as well. This isn't that
    hard though so eliminate them before looting the room. Continue to the east.

    There is a large pressure plate here so disarm that. This hallway has some...
    ale on the floor that slows you down. Making this situation worse is that the
    enemies are around the corner just looking to start some trouble. There are a
    bunch of archers behind a barricade with a Blood Mage. If you try to rush in,
    even with the slowdown inducing floor, you will face a hail of arrows and magic
    attacks. Should you survive the rush in Mabari Hounds come out to attack so you
    need to be very careful here. If you have a spell like Fireball now's a great
    time to use it.

    When you get past this you can go through any door to reach the next room. You
    should enter through the center door as this puts you closest to the Blood Mage
    elite and his two archer buddies who are the worst of the enemies here. The
    north side, and south side, of the room just have a Mercenary and Blood Mage.
    It's suggested that you just rush into the room and annihilate the mage and his
    archer buddies and then worry about the rest of the enemies as this makes your
    life much easier.

    This next room can be really miserable depending on what sort of party you have
    at your command. This entire room is full of archers, all along the eastern
    wall and a few to the south. There's at least four of them, plus an elite Blood
    Mage by the door to the south. With the barricade blocking off one archer and
    all the booze on the floor this is a really annoying room to get through. Try
    to bum rush the southern side of the room with a fighter and mage. If you're
    really lucky the enemies will cluster together and you can hit them with crowd
    control magics. If you're not so lucky then you'll just have to try to kill the
    enemies fast enough that it doesn't matter. Try to let a ranged attacker, be it
    a second mage or archer, get at the enemy behind the barricade so you don't
    waste time trying to destroy it.

    When the room is cleared you're almost done. If you can unlock doors then open
    the door to the west to get some goodies before going through the southernmost
    door to find the boss.

    -------------------
    Boss: Blood Mage Leader
    -------------------
    Honestly this fight is harder than some of the main quest related bosses thanks
    to the support he has. With a blood mage, Qunari Mercenary and a Mercenary
    Leader (elite) this is no pushover of a fight. You'll need one warrior to get
    right into the face of the merc leader so that he's kept busy while the other
    goes right after the Blood Mage Leader. Let your mage get that blood mage while
    your archer either helps out with the merc or blood mage leaders.

    Now you'll need to focus on getting rid of the regular blood mage ASAP or he
    will be a drain on your health. Once he's gone you can focus on the leaders as
    your mage can handle the Qunari merc alone. If you can freeze the Blood Mage
    leader and the Qunari at the same time then this goes by all the faster. Try to
    prevent the leader from doing much of any spellcasting and this will be a quick
    fight. Otherwise it may drag on until you lose via attrition.
    -------------------

    Loot the bodies, getting a key to open the bedroom if you didn't already pick
    the lock, and then get the heck out of here.

    ===================
    Unbound
    ===================
    There are a number of ways to start this quest and they all are part of the
    same quest. To sum it up there are three pieces of information you need to get
    your hands on before the quest itself properly opens up, before that it will
    simply be notes in your codex.

    1. Inside of the Ruined Temple, southwestern corridor. On the Adventurer's
    corpse you will find a journal with some information.
    2. Orzammar, Tapster's Tavern. Speak to the adventurer to find out that he is
    being hunted by something (or thinks he is).
    3. Elven Ruins, southern center hall. Search the Adventurers Corpse to find a
    second journal with some information.

    Now the Unbound quest will appear in your journal. You need to go to Denerim
    and try to vind this Vilhm Madon. Search in the Dirty Back Alley where you will
    find the Quaint Hovel. Knock on the door and mention Gaxkang to be allowed in.

    -------------------
    Boss: Gaxkang
    -------------------
    That name should sound familiar to anyone who played Baldur's Gate II - Kangax
    the Liche anyone? Well he's just as much of a pain here as he was in that game
    just in an entirely different way. But Kangax is a royal pain in the rear end
    in either case.

    Kangax comes in two very distinct forms. His first form, which looks like a
    Revenant, fights pretty much exactly like one. He uses his sword and shield to
    hurt people in front of him as well as on his sides. Using his magics he can
    blast you with fire or electricity or pull you into melee range, a treat that
    he usually reserves for mages. Plus that shield of his is quite adept at
    blocking your attacks. He doesn't use his magics all that often though so that
    will make your life a good bit easier. Be wary of his ability to stun people
    who are near him with his yell or knocking you down with his shield swipe.

    His Arcane Horror form is a problem as well although not as great of one. This
    form is basically exclusively a spellcasting form although he does use his
    melee attack every now and again. This is the form where he throws out Cone of
    Cold, Fireball and Shock with a good bit of regularity.

    Slugging it out with Kangax is really just a war of attrition. Cone of Cold is
    really weak against him, not freezing him for all that long, Mind Blast doesn't
    do jack, most elemental damage spells do very little damage (ice does nothing)
    and just about every other skill has a very high chance of being resisted. Even
    physical attacks tend to do very little damage to him so you're not going to
    have much of any choices here.

    Come into the battle with as many healing potions as you can as well as lots of
    Lyrium potions. Activate any abilities that you have to help you raise your
    defense as well as elemental resistances and anything that will help you resist
    knockdown or stun.
    -------------------

    ===================
    The Tortured Noble
    ===================
    While adventuring inside of The Arl of Denerim's estate during "The Landsmeet"
    quest you will come across Oswyn, son of the Bann of Dragon's Peak. He has been
    held hostage by Howe for some time while investigating the disappearance of a
    friend. Release him to gain the support of his father, Sighard, during the
    Landsmeet. You can find Sighard in the Gnawed Noble Tavern with his friend,
    speak to him to acquire his support at the Landsmeet. If you tell him that you
    require no reward for doing compassion you will gain more of it.

    ===================
    Lost Templar
    ===================
    While adventuring inside of The Arl of Denerim's estate during "The Landsmeet"
    quest you will come across Irminic, a Templar who has been captured by Howe. He
    asks you to deliver a ring to his sister, Bann Alfstanna. Alfstanna, like most
    of the other nobles, can be found at the Gnawed Noble Tavern in the Market. Go
    to her and give her the ring. She is more than willing to support you once you
    tell her where her brother currently resides. If you're a human noble she even
    mentions offering you some bowmen for when you take back your Teyrnir.

    ===================
    Something Wicked
    ===================
    Ser Otto, a blind Templar in the Elven Alienage, has sensed something foul in
    the air. He's managed to get some information from the elves but he would like
    your help in the matter. Agree to this and then speak to the Deranged Beggar
    near Valendrian's House. Next search around and you will find a dead rabid dog.
    Report this and then come back. You will find some blood near a feral dog that
    smells like rotten eggs. Go back to Otto and tell him of this. The two of you
    will now go to investigate the orphanage.

    The inside is empty and it looks like a slaughterhouse. Walk to the west, north
    through the rooms and into the hallway. As you head to the east a bunch of
    Rabid Wardogs will attack from the doors to the north and south. After they are
    dispatched continue to the east into the next room to find a Tormented Woman.
    She's easy enough to defeat although the webs in the room can make it a bit
    trickier than it might otherwise be.

    In the next room you will be attacked by a quartet of Rioting Spirits. These
    are pretty weak but they can be a pain if they should gather around one of your
    weaker party members. Keep moving forward until you reach the quest marker. A
    Demon will attack you with a bunch of Lesser Shades that are easily dispatched.
    Focus on the Demon first and then the spirits but be careful not to hurt Otto
    in your AoE attacks.

    Continue into the next hallway when the talking is over and go into the room.
    Here you will fight a pair of spirits and a total of four Lesser Shades. When
    they're down continue to the north to find a pair of Lesser Shades with four
    Spirits in the room just beyond. Two Lesser Shades and a Great Shade await in
    the next room and this one can be tough. Try to get rid of the Lesser Shades
    first since they're easier to hit. Only when they're dead should you turn your
    attention to the Greater Shade. Let your mage try to contain him with freezing
    spells and hope he doesn't do too much damage.

    In the next hallway you will be attacked by four Rage Abominations. These are
    easily enough defeated due to their reliance on melee attacks so get rid of
    them before going into the boss room.

    Here you will fight another Demon that is easily enough dispatched. Once it is
    dead then the real boss will show itself. This Demon is fairly tough due to its
    serious amount of health. Let your whole party focus on it and don't let the
    Lesser Rage Demons that get summoned up distract you from beating his face in.
    Once he goes down, easily enough with cold attacks, you will be able to clean
    up the Lesser Rage Demons. Pick up the amulet from the chest in here to start
    another quest before leaving.

    ===================
    Hearing Voices
    ===================
    Take the amulet you found inside of the chest at the end of the Something
    Wicked quest and bring it to the Deranged Beggar. Give it to her to help clear
    her head of the problems she was having. There's no real reward for this but
    there's no gain in keeping the amulet either.

    ===================
    The Trial of Crows
    ===================
    As you move to leave the Market Place a young boy will deliver a note to you.
    It's from the Antivan Crows, they wish to meet with you. Make your way to the
    Gnawed Noble Tavern where you will find Master Ignacio in a room. Speak to him
    to find out that he has an offer for you. This is a series of quests that he
    wishes for you to partake in. Even for a "good" character it's worth doing some
    of these since there are some bad guys in here.
    -------------------
    The First Test
    -------------------
    A man named Paedan is currently using The Pearl to gather up people who will
    "support the Grey Wardens", you can find one of his posters in the Market. The
    scroll that Ignacio gives you indicates that this man is working for Loghain,
    trying to lure people into a trap. Head on over to The Pearl and tell the owner
    that you're looking for the men. She will send you into the back where you can
    find them behind the rearmost door.

    When you knock on the door they will ask for the password. "The Griffon will
    rise again" gets you inside. However once you're in the men here will attack
    you no matter what you do. The small space works to your side though since they
    haven't got any mages. A Cone of Cold does wonders here. Just focus on Paedan
    first, then the Qunari. Let your mage keep Shaevra out of the fight like you
    would an archer and the fight ends quickly. Return to Ignacio for... nothing.
    The game says you got a reward but instead all you get is two more contracts
    instead. I'm not sure if this is what's supposed to happen but as of this FAQ
    there is nothing else to be had.
    -------------------
    Mercenary Hunt
    -------------------
    This scroll indicates that a band of mercenaries in the forest south of Denerim
    need to be wiped out. They are Qunari mercs called the "Word of Kadan-Fe". When
    you next get to the world map you will note a "Kadan-Fe" hideout on the world
    map. Go there to find these warriors. This isn't a particularly hard fight if
    you're prepared for large groups of enemies. Alternating between stunning foes
    or knocking them down, or freezing them if possible, you can keep these guys on
    the ropes. Just go for the yellow named elite Qunari Mercenaries first since
    they're the main damage dealers. When this is done head back to Denerim for the
    reward
    -------------------
    An Audience with the Ambassador
    -------------------
    Next is Ambassador Gainley who is currently in Orzammar. After you take him out
    a servant in the employ of the Crows will clean it up. You can find this man in
    the Royal Palace inside of the Diamond Quarter. He's located far in the rear of
    the building with about seven bodyguards. These guys are well armoroed and well
    armed so be careful about how you do this. It's best to use AoE crowd control
    to stop them from beating on one person as they like to take your party apart
    by ganging up on one person and then the next. Lastly will be Gainley and his
    three archer buddies. They're easily taken out so remove them and go back to
    Denerim for your reward.
    -------------------
    The Ransom
    -------------------
    Now he wants us to help his assassins kill a bunch of Arl Howe's elite men,
    namely their leader Captain Chase. Sign me right the heck up for that! Head to
    the location on the Denerim city map and be ready for a brawl. These soldiers
    are fairly tough and they love nothing more than focusing on your archers or
    mages so you have to do a lot of babysitting because they can kill them faster
    than you might think possible.

    This section may require a few reloads if you're trying to get through it with
    nobody getting KO'ed because of this so you need to be extra careful. Let your
    warriors go rushing into melee while your archer hangs back, using skills to
    keep Captain Chase from fighting at 100% effectiveness. While they're doing
    that let your mage move around trying to catch as many people with AoE crowd
    control spells and the like.

    Once you've taken them all down head back to Ignacio. Get your reward from the
    chest before talking to him. You can either get some information from him, kill
    him or do both. If you choose not to kill him then his friend Cesar near the
    cages in Market Square has some special wares for you.

    ===================
    Chanter's Board
    ===================
    Back Alley Justice
    -------------------
    Some thugs are robbing and killing people in the back alleys so we get to kill
    them for money. Sounds good to me. Your first stop should be the Dirty Back
    Alley. If you've picked up the Blackstone Quest, Death Notice, you can tell
    Tania here about her husbands passing. In addition there is a Blood Mage's
    relative door to mark here. The enemies aren't too rough although you will end
    up using healing items. The two Thugs and Leader that enter melee with you are
    pretty tough and those archers will be picking at you. Try to let your mage
    deal with the archers while your party tangles with the fighters.

    Next we can move onto the Dark Alley. This is more of the same as before but
    with more melee types. Unlike last time the six enemies are five fighters with
    one archer. As such crowd control is really important here so good use of Cone
    of Cold, Winter's Grasp, Mind Blast, Stonefist and such spells can make a huge
    difference. If you're lucky one good Cone of Cold can freeze three or four of
    them who may then be shattered.

    Lastly on to the Rundown Back Street. This is a really big group of enemies who
    can really hammer you down if you're not prepared. You'll either need a whole
    lot of expendable healing potions or crowd control spells since there are a
    whole lot of enemies. Three archers and four melee warriors, one of whom is a
    pretty strong warrior... it can get ugly. As usual try to let your mage snipe
    off the archers while hitting the group of enemies with whatever spells will
    help your fighters out. It shouldn't be too bad.

    Return to the Chanter's Board for your reward. Heh, that rhymed.
    -------------------
    Missing in Action
    -------------------
    It seems that a soldier from Teyrn Loghains army is having some issues. We have
    to find him for his family. There's no real way to find this guy without going
    through the game until "The Landsmeet" quest. Here you will find your way into
    Arl Howe's estate and into the dungeons. Rexel has been imprisoned down here
    and you will need to kill the jailor to set him free. Get the key off that ones
    corpse and then let Rexel out of his cell. You can either kill him to put him
    out of his misery or set him free. Regardless, return to the Chanter's board.
    -------------------
    Fazzil's Request
    -------------------
    Now we're trying to find the people who stole an old mans sextant? Odd but if
    the pay is there we may as well. You're not told much besides it being a
    foreigner who did this. Really narrows it down.

    -------------------
    Loghain's Push
    -------------------
    They want us... to help out Loghain's troops? You've gotta be kidding. Well it
    is not quite what you may think. Your party can use this as a chance to mess
    with Loghains troop movements. Head back to the world map and go towards the
    Civil War location on the world map. When you arrive you will see the Bannorns
    troops entering combat with Loghains. Quickly move to start killing Loghains
    troops. They're pretty weak so you shouldn't have much difficulty especially
    with the allied troops. Simply spread your men out, helping an allied soldier
    kill an enemy soldier while your mage incapacitates Loghain's Sergeant. This
    should take little time or effort. Return to the Chanter's Board to report the
    loss of these poor troops.

    ========================
    The Brecelian Forest
    ========================
    Cammen's Lament
    ===================
    Cammen can't seem to convince Gheyna to marry him since he's never been able to
    become a full hunter. There are a few ways to finish this quest but they're all
    pretty easy. Firstly you could kill a wolf, take its pelt and bring it back to
    Cammen. With a little bit of Persuasion he will agree to show it to Gheyna as
    his own kill. Or, if you're very persuasive, you can just talk to Gheyna and
    convince her, with two progressively harder Persuasion checks, to marry Cammen
    without him completing his hunt yet. Either way you will net you the Tale of
    Iloren, a book.

    ===================
    Elora's Halla
    ===================
    Look for Elora in an area off to the side where she is tending to the Halla.
    There are two ways to handle this problem. If you have a moderate Survival
    rating you can calm the Halla down. This allows Elora to figure out that this
    isn't the injured Halla, it was just concerned for one of the others. Should
    you have a higher Survival you can figure out that this Halla isn't injured but
    this causes you to not find out about the other Halla in the herd who may be
    sick so it's your call how to end this.

    ===================
    Rare Ironbark
    ===================
    Find Varathorn in the center of the Dalish camp. During conversation he will
    mention that if you gets his hands on Ironbark he can make you something really
    good. That sounds good so let's keep our eyes open for the blue wood on the
    floor in the forest. After encountering Swiftrunner and his two werewolves you
    will head to the east over two bridges. Head to the north from here to find the
    fallen tree that was mentioned although it doesn't look blue at all.

    As you near it a tree will attack you, holy crap! This creature, Wild Sylvan,
    is pretty much a nature oriented Ogre. It doesn't do as much damage as the Ogre
    does per attack but it makes up for it with the ability to capture everyone
    nearby in roots, doing damage while they're tangled up. Fire attacks do a lot
    of damage but it doesn't have much health anyways so just take it out however
    you like. Once it's down get the wood from the tree and head back to Varathorn
    so you can get your reward.

    There are three things you can get here of note. Firstly if you ask for him to
    make you a longbow you get a pretty strong bow. It's especially useful if you
    can get it early on. Secondly you can ask for a breastplate that's not quite as
    useful but it may be helpful if this is the first story location you went to.
    Lastly if you choose to give Varathorn the Ironbark without asking for a reward
    he will instead give you an amulet that provides nature resistance.

    ===================
    Lost to the Curse
    ===================
    Athras has a problem but you're going to need to Persuade it out of him for the
    most part. Luckily it isn't that hard to do. But it seems that his wife may, or
    may not be, a werewolf and he'd like you to find out some information and in
    return he will give you an amulet. Sounds like a fair trade so let's do it.
    Once you're inside of the Brecelian Forest you will be able to find the path to
    the eastern part of the woods. Once there follow the quest marker to find his
    wife, Danyla, burning up with pain. She asks you to tell her husband that she
    is dead and to give him a scarf. You are then asked to mercy kill her so that
    she doesn't have to suffer anymore.

    ************************
    *NOTE: Alternately if you didn't start the quest with Athras you can still come
    upon Danyla here. It all runs the same way except that she starts the quest for
    you. That's the only difference.
    ************************

    You might hope that there's a way to make this all have a happy ending but it's
    not possible at all. Even if you know how to end everything with the main quest
    well you still have no choice but to either kill Danyla or have her attack you,
    thus forcing you to kill her. As such just mercy kill her and be done with it.
    Now return the scarf to Athras for your quest reward.

    ===================
    The Elven Ritual
    ===================
    After seeing the ghost child for the second time in the Brecelian Forest temple
    you will find a scarophagus in a room to the south. Inside of it is a tablet
    that explains how to perform an elven ritual for some purpose. When you reach
    the lower level head towards the northeast part of the dungeon to find a pool
    of water with an altar.

    - Go to the fountain and examine it.
    - Take the earthen jug.
    - Fill the earthen jug with water.
    - Leave the fountain.
    - Head on over to the altar just west of the fountain and examine it.
    - Place the filled earthen jug on top of the altar
    - Kneel before the altar and pray.
    - Take a single sip from the water in the jug.
    - Take the earthen jug.
    - Leave the altar and go back to the fountain
    - Dump the water in the jug back into the pool.

    Now the room to the north will be open to you so head inside. Search the three
    sarcophagi around the room while killing the two skeleton archers. Now walk up
    the stairs in the center here to find a ghostly woman that will attack you. She
    is am elite Shade who will summon up two other Shade enemies to fight you. This
    can be a tough fight if you're not ready for it. Try to get them to cluster so
    you can use Cone of Cold on them if you have it. Otherwise use spells to knock
    them down while you take them out one at a time. It shouldn't be too hard. Now
    you can loot the Elven Burial Chamber sarcophagus to find Juggernaut Plate
    Armor which starts the next quest.

    ===================
    The Mage's Treasure
    ===================
    There are four pieces to this armor as you might have imagined but there are a
    few ways to start this quest up. The first is to go to the northmost part of
    the eastern Brecilian Forest and kill the Ogres there. Examine the gravestone
    to prompt an attack by a Revenant and skeletons. Killing them all off will get
    you the Juggernaut Plate. The other way to start this up is to complete the
    Elven Ritual quest inside of the Elven Temple. This will net you the Juggernaut
    Plate Armor.

    With those two pieces accounted for the other two can be found pretty easily.

    - In the Western Brecilian Forest, north of the Grand Oak's Clearing you can
    find a gravestone that's clearly marked on your map. Examine the grave to find
    wards that, when disturbed, call up a Revenant and some Skeletons to fight.
    This isn't a hard fight so long as you don't let the Skeletons distract you too
    much from the Revenant. As long as the Revenant doesn't take out your mages or
    archers distract you too much it shouldn't be an issue. This nets you the next
    piece of the armor.

    - In the Eastern Brecilian Forest there is a locked chest just past the barrier
    that was preventing you from going to the Elven temple. Nearby this, along the
    eastern wall, you will find a somewhat hidden gravestone. Examine the grave to
    find wards that, when disturbed, call up a Revenant and Skeletons to fight.
    This isn't a hard fight so long as you don't let the Skeletons distract you too
    much from the Revenant. As long as the Revenant doesn't take out your mages or
    archers distract you too much it shouldn't be an issue. This nets you the next
    piece of the armor.

    This completes the set of the armor as well as the quest.

    ===================
    Panowen's Revenge *Unmarked*
    ===================
    If you have freed the Werewolves from their curse via Zathrian's death then you
    may find Panowen hanging out in the western forest with two hunter friends. She
    demands to know where the wolves went, even as humans, so she might exact her
    revenge on them. If you don't tell her then she will attack you and you'll be
    forced to kill the lot of them. However if you can use Persuasion to convince
    her that you don't know where they are or mention Zathrian's death then it will
    be no problem getting through this.
    BOOM IT GUYZ!!!

  10. #10
    Senior Member boomermitra's Avatar
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    ========================
    The Circle of Magi
    ========================
    Watchguard of the Reaching
    ===================
    You start this quest by finding the first note in the first floor bedroom. A
    note is found in an Apprentices Cabinet with a second in the next room. Finding
    all of these will allow you to look for this thing the apprentices found. This
    quest is easily completed by searching each room for anything of interest. The
    notes are spread out between the first and second floors so keep searching.

    You will find the last note on the third floor in the common room. Here there
    are three statues on the wall, activate them in this order - left, right and
    then middle. With that done head to the central room on this floor, where the
    Abomination boss waits, and activate the statue here. Now go back down to the
    first floor. Once you're ready for trouble go to open the basement door.

    This causes a Shah Wyrd to be summoned, a boss Rage Demon basically, that will
    start to go all stompy stompy on your party. Anything you have that protects
    against fire will help obviously, as will any salves for said purpose notably
    on your rogue / mage. When the beast dies it will drop some chainmail as well
    as a powerful great sword.


    ===================
    Summoning Sciences
    ===================
    This quest is activated by searching the textbooks in the first floor library.
    However you cannot start it until the Tower has been cleansed of the Fade taint
    that has caused everyone to be Possessed. Once it has been cleared you can go
    ahead with this quest. Activate the items in the following order:

    - Summoning Font
    - Tome of Spirit Personages
    - First Summoning Flame

    This summons a Spirit Hog, a non-combatant that drops a gem.

    - Summoning Font
    - Rodercoms Uncommon Calling
    - Silver Coin at the feet of the Magus Gorvish statue
    - Second Summoning Flame

    This summons a Trickster Spirit that does nothing.

    - Summoning Font
    - Elvorn's Grande Beastiary
    - Trace sigil on first area common table
    - Spiritorum Etherialis
    - Statue of Magus Gorvish
    - Novice Phylactery
    - Third Summoning Flame

    This summons a Fade Rifter that attacks you. When it dies you can find a few
    pieces of armor on its body.

    ===================
    Five Pages, Four Mages
    ===================
    When you reach the fourth floor you will pick up a scrap of paper from a what
    appears to be a writing table. This paper rambles on about the tome that this
    person has acquired. There are more of these in each room on the floor. Once
    you have all five of them you will be told to be on the lookout for the man who
    scammed these mages.

    Eventually you will have a random encounter with this man. When confronted on
    his constant scamming he will attack your party for quite possibly the most
    annoying fight in the game. It's not that it's hard, no. But apparently when
    coming across travelers he stashes a mage up in the hills for no reason other
    than to spam fireballs when your party catches on to him. It's almost as dumb
    as the "wolves who have apparently set foothold traps for you" random encounter
    you'll find early on.

    How easily this fight is depends on how quickly you get rid of that damnable
    mage. The merchant and his guards are strong, yes, but the mage is the one who
    will drain your health like water through a sieve. Try to have your mage focus
    on getting rid of him. If you have an archer let them start picking at him as
    well to get him dead faster. Once the mage falls just focus on the merchant
    since he is, oddly enough, the biggest damage dealer there. However with the
    mage out of the way he will fall quickly enough, allowing you to end the quest.

    ========================
    Orzammar
    ========================
    The Lost Nug
    ===================
    Boermor needs you to help him find a Nug so that he can save his business
    venture. You can find this down to the southwest from him, near the mines.
    These are scattered all over the place so search thoroughly for them and he
    will give you silver for every single one you can locate. There are ten of the
    weird little things in total to find and they're basically all located in hard
    to see spots around Orzammar. The real reward comes at ten but it never hurts
    to accept it and then just find the ones you can as you're going along.

    ===================
    An Unlikely Scholar
    ===================
    Dagna wants you to bring a message to the Circle magi asking to go study there.
    It's odd, but sure why not? Make your way to the Circle Tower and speak to
    First Enchanter Irving, asking if he is willing to bring Dagna on to study with
    the mages. He will agree fairly readily and you can return to her with the good
    news. As a reward you can ask for a rune or some Lyrium Potions.

    If you don't wish to help her out you can try to talk her out of it. Speak to
    her father and then talk to her. You should be able to convince her that she
    needs to stay home for the good of her family. This takes the wind out of her
    life but she can be convinced of it.

    ===================
    A Mother's Hope
    ===================
    Filda has lost her son in the Deep Roads. Since you know you're going to end up
    down there at some point you may as well accept the quest. Eventually the main
    quest will bring you to the Ortan Thaig where you will see Ruck scavenging off
    of a dead darkspawn. Speak to him and he will run off, leaving you to deal with
    a bunch of Giant Spiders that attack.

    Head towards his camp and speak to Ruck again. It seems that this is her son
    after too many years in the Deep Roads. You have a few options now: you can be
    honest to the mother, telling her of what became of her son, or you can choose
    to tell her you found him dead, as a hero. If you so choose you can even kill
    Ruck to make it the truth... well closer to the truth. Oghren suggests this
    last one as the state Ruck is in is pitiful.

    Going back to Filda and telling her that Ruck is dead will lead to her giving
    you the shield she was holding for her son.

    ===================
    The Chant in the Deep
    ===================
    Brother Burkel needs you to help him open up a Chantry in Orzammar of all
    places. But sure, why not. When you head to the Diamond Quarter go into the
    Shaperate and speak to the Shaper about this. You will need to convince him via
    one of three ways: high Cunning, Persuasion or Intimidate. Persuasion is done
    easily enough if you have a high enough Coercion skill, as is Intimidate. But
    to get him to do this via Cunning involves telling him that the Chantry has
    charities that care for orphans and widows. He doesn't always respond to the
    other two dialogue choices well, especially the Casteless remark, unless you
    have a stellar cunning score. Now return to Burkel with the good news.

    ===================
    Zerlinda's Woe
    ===================
    You can find Zerlinda begging for money in the far back corner of Dust Town.
    There are a few ways to handle Zerlinda's problem. You can either talk her into
    leaving for the surface, Persuade her into abandoning her child in the Deep
    Roads or you can speak to her father. You can find her father in Tapster's
    Tavern in the Commons if you go that route but you'll need a good Coercion
    rating to convince him. If you can convince him to take her back return to her
    with the good news.

    There is a fourth option that comes up if you complete The Chant in the Deep
    before doing this quest. You can suggest that she goes to Brother Burkel for
    shelter as that's one of the charities of the Chantry. This gives her a place
    to stay if not a happy ending since the other two routes aren't exactly happy
    endings (the surface isn't safe these days).

    ===================
    Thief in the House of Learning
    ===================
    A Shaper in the Diamond Quarter Shaperate asks you to find someone who stole
    a text from the memories, their histories if you will. This man has supposedly
    gone down into Dust Town so that's where you'd want to start looking. You will
    find Shady Corebit easily enough but he will only attack you when you speak to
    him. Kill him and search his body to find a reciept for the Proving Grounds, a
    good indicator that someone there may have it. Look to the north for Fixer
    Gredin and his cronies who will attack as soon as you even attempt to speak to
    them. Defeat them and you have two ways to handle the situation. You can either
    sell the tome to the gnearby man Jertrin or you can take it back to the Shaper
    and return it to him. Jertrin will give you some money while the Shaper will
    not so choose your path.

    ===================
    Lost to the Memories
    ===================
    Orta is looking for help with finding information on the Ortan Thaig. She feels
    very strongly that her family is descended from a noble family called Ortan. To
    prove that she's a noble she needs you to find their thaig, lost outposts of
    the dwarven families. Once again we're going to go into Deep Roads eventually
    so we may as well accept this.

    You will eventually find yourself at Caridians Cross heading into the Ortan
    Thaig for the main storyline. When you arrive you will go through some tunnels,
    fighting darkspawn and spiders, until you reach the Thaig proper. Take out the
    spirits here as well as the Stone Golem and go towards the center. Here you can
    find a treasure chest. This Ortan Thaig Chest contains the records that Orta is
    looking for so head on back to her.

    She tells you to find her in the Assembly after they have acknowledged her
    family's claim. Head to the Assembly and speak to her. You can either ask for
    money, of which she gives you a small amount, or simply ask her to support one
    of the people fighting for the kingdom.

    ===================
    Figor's Imports - **Unmarked Quest**
    ===================
    As you pass by Figor's Imports you will see a man forced into his shop by some
    thugs. If you follow them in they will try to extort you as well. Hah! You can
    either Intimidate them into fleeing or fight the lot of them. They're not that
    hard to take down though so either way works just fine. Speak to Figor to find
    out some information about Jarvia.

    ===================
    Jammer's Stash
    ===================
    This is started inside of Jarvia's base. Inside of a room you will find a
    journal that tells you how to get into Jammer's stash of goods. You need to
    take only the three cheapest items in each of three treasure chests. Taking any
    of the other items will only injure you. As such you're going to have to be
    fairly careful.

    The first stash is Kanky's Common Box. Open it up and take out the Silver
    Costume Ring from within. Next take the Iron Letter Opener from Jammer's Common
    Box. Lastly take the Garnet Trinket from Pique's Common Box. You now bring this
    to Jammer's Stash to recieve a good cap as well as almost eight gold.

    ===================
    Asunder
    ===================
    To start this quest you will need to head to the Aeducan Thaig. Make your way
    to the crossroads area, a very large chamber with a number of tunnels running
    off of it, and search to the west. If you look carefully you will be find some
    sort of Bloody Sack. Inside of it are a set of limbs as well as a note. It
    seems that some creature has been dismembered, its pieces scattered throughout
    the Deep Roads. You need to find all of the pieces to figure out what's going
    on here.

    Head on into Caridin's Cross and start looking around. Early on you will find
    another Bloody Sack and the next one can be found in a tunnel northeast of the
    exit to Ortan Thaig. Lastly you need the Altar of Sundering, this is found in
    the Ortan Thaig itself. When you find it place the parts on top of the altar to
    prompt the Fade Beast to reappear. You can either fight him or ask for a reward
    for freeing him. Should you free him you get 25 gold. If you fight him...

    -------------------
    Boss: Fade Beast
    -------------------
    Yeah, this guy is far scarier looking than he actually is. To be fair to him he
    does do a good bit of damage with each hit. The Beast can knock people down
    with melee strikes, send out an explosion of fire to burn everyone nearby and
    he's remarkably magic resistant. Top it off with a lot of health as well as a
    high armor rating and this is a pretty serious enemy for a side quest.

    Defeating this guy will either be really easy or really hard. Since he is ever
    so magic resistant you will not be able to Mind Blast him or paralyze him with
    any ease. But he's still just as vulnerable to being frozen as basically every
    other enemy in the game. If you've got Cone of Cold it's no problem to just hit
    him with that so you can get some free shots in.

    Should you not have access to Cone of Cold then you're going to want to bring
    Wynne along for this as it's going to take awhile. Try to keep hitting him with
    your special abilities to lower his attack rating, defense rating and even,
    hopefully, stunning him every so often. Wynne, or another spirit healer, can
    keep the party alive while they just hammer away on the big guy. He'll go down
    eventually.
    -------------------

    There's no reward for doing it the good guy route though so that's all there is
    to the quest.

    ===================
    An Admirable Topsider
    ===================
    When fighting some of the Genlock Emissary's in the south caves of Caridin's
    Cross you will find a hilt of this sword. The next part is found inside of a
    vase in Ruck's Cave, this is the Topsider's Pommel. Now go to the Dead Trenches
    to find the blade of the sword on the corpse of the Ancient Darkspawn. Now take
    the whole part of the warrior's grave in the Ortan Thaig. This completes the
    quest and nets you your reward, the Topsider's Honor. One of the best of the
    longswords you can find, it deals a lot of damage and has three spaces for you
    to put runes in it. Awesome.

    ===================
    Proving After Dark
    ===================
    These are basically just arena battles against teams of enemies. The first is
    against a blood mage and three warriors. As usual target the mage before going
    after the warriors. The next battle is against a Dust Town Thug, Champion and
    two warriors. This is a pretty easy fight so don't worry about it. For all of
    this all you get is money so don't stress over missing this quest.

    ===================
    Of Noble Birth
    ===================
    **MALE DWARF NOBLE ONLY**
    If, during your Origin story, you met Mardy and decided to have her and / or
    her friend join you for the night then find her again. She will have a child,
    your child, but it is considered Casteless because of your exile. To get her
    out of this state you will have to speak to either Bhelen or Harrowmont about
    taking the child into your family. Speak to whomever you're siding with before
    you give them the throne to get your child off the streets.

    ===================
    The Golem Registry
    ===================
    After siding with either Branka or Caridin you will be inside of the Anvil of
    the Void room. In a corner of the room is a large golem shaped carving holding
    a tablet in its hands. Take a tracing of this and return it to the shaper for a
    reward from them.


    ========================
    Blackstone Quests
    ========================
    These quests are special in that they can be picked up from any Blackstone
    outpost or near your first liason you meet in Lothering. By opening the chests
    nearby you can find letters that represent quests you may understake for them
    and then return to these liasons for your reward. Many of these require a bit
    of travel to them so be sure to check in often and see if they compliment where
    you are about to travel.

    ===================
    Lothering
    ===================
    Scraping the Barrel
    ===================
    This requires you to travel to Redcliffe, Lothering and Denerim. You're going
    to be heading to all of these places soon so pick up this quest. Since you're
    already in Lothering, let's find the Patter Gritch. Go into the Chantry and
    head towards the rear where the Revered Mother is. Speak to the man just on the
    outside of the doors to find Patter. He will go without trouble. Next comes the
    one in Redcliffe, Dernal Garrison. He's found up a hill from the chantry in a
    house that lies just under the windmill. Unfortunately the man in Denerim is
    inside of the Alienage which means he's locked off until it opens up after you
    complete all of the main quests. After the Landsmeet starts you can enter the
    Alienage and talk to him by the gate. This completes the quest.

    ===================
    Dereliction of Duty
    ===================
    Much like the above quest you will be heading to Denerim but you'll also need
    to go to the Frostback Mountains and Lake Calenhad. The first one you should
    come across is Sammael at Lake Calenhad Docks. When you speak to him he will
    attack you no matter what dialogue choices you make. He's a pretty tough nut to
    crack but his two allies are much weaker. It's easy to keep him subdued with a
    few good magic spells while you take out the other two. Then everyone can focus
    on him for a quick kill. Loot his body for the Guild Supplies and head off.

    The next one is Layson in Denerim. You'll find him in a Dirty Hovel in the Run-
    down Back Street. He too will attack you when spoken to but if you could beat
    Sammael then he should be no problem. Lastly you will find Tornas hanging out
    near the entrance to Orzammar. Just like the others you will have to fight him
    so grab the Guild supplies from his corpse and head to the Blackstone Liason to
    turn this quest in.


    ===================
    Redcliffe
    ===================
    Greasing the Wheels
    ===================
    Now you get to go to Denerim to bribe some people for the Blackstone Mercs.
    Isn't that a noble cause? This is a simple if somewhat annoying quest. You'll
    be travelling around the city, looking for hooded couriers. Speak to them and
    they will sneak off to give the gift to their masters. Find all five of them to
    end this quest. One is in the Market District, one is in the Dark Alley, one
    is in the Rundown Back Streets, another is in The Pearl and the final one is
    found in the Elven Alienage. Now return to the Liason for your reward.

    ===================
    Denerim
    ===================
    Notices of Death
    ===================
    You're going to be the bearer of sad news to four new widows. The first one is
    Sara in the Market District in Denerim. She's located in a corner straight
    ahead from the entrance to the district. The other one in Denerim, Tania, is
    found in the Dirty Back Alley. The rest can be found outside of Denerim;
    Larana is located in the Lake Calenhad Inn and Irenia is found in the Redcliffe
    Chantry so give them the bad news and then return for your reward.

    ===================
    Restocking the Guild
    ===================
    Come forward with a gift of 20 health poultices and recieve a reward. It sounds
    simple enough but that's a lot of health items to be handing over. Don't take
    this quest until you're willing to do it since they will snatch your potions
    the next time you talk to one of them with those in hand. A good way to do this
    is to buy the flasks from Bodahn in the camp, as well as the distillation
    agents and get elfroot from the merchant in the Dalish camp. Then you can make
    as many as you like to turn in the quest.


    ========================
    Mage's Collective Quests
    ========================
    These quests are special in that they can be picked up from any Collective
    Liason or near your first liason you meet in Lothering. By opening the chests
    nearby you can find letters that represent quests you may understake for them
    and then return to these liasons for your reward. Many of these require a bit
    of travel to them so be sure to check in often and see if they compliment where
    you are about to travel.

    ===================
    Lake Calenhad Docks
    ===================
    Herbal Magic
    ===================
    One of the Mages needs ten Deep Mushrooms to make the herbal remedy that will
    allow his mind to better percieve other worlds. Who knew that mages were really
    drug addicts? In either case you will get Deep Mushrooms as you go through the
    game and it's simple enough, although time consuming, to let it happen over
    time. Should you find yourself needing to buy these to simply get this quest
    over and done with them all you need to do is buy them at Orzammar. They will
    sell up to 8 of them. That's a good start to finishing this quest off.

    ===================
    Thy Brother's Killer
    ===================
    Kill the Blood Mages in the Brecelian Forest before they draw foul attention to
    the mages sanctum. Simple enough.

    ===================
    Notice of Termination
    ===================
    It seems that three of a mage's apprentices are being given the door since they
    are not up to his standards. It's up to you to give them the "good" news. Two
    are in Denerim and the last is in the Frostback Mountains. The first two are
    found in the Market Place so they're easily gotten to. One is standing near
    the Market Square while the other is inside of the Wonders of Thedas shop to
    the south. Now to the Frostback Mountains. He's just outside of Orzammar,
    near the western side, so speak to him to finish off this quest.

    ===================
    Careless Accusations
    ===================
    Due to a blood mage being found near this mage's home he is being accused of
    being a practicioner as well. Three witnesses are traveling from Lothering to
    Denerim and you're going to have to intercept them. They are a random encounter
    that can occur when you pass Lothering on the map, anywhere between it and the
    city of Denerim. When you encounter them you have two options: kill them or
    use Coercion to talk them out of it. You can use persuasion or intimidate to
    talk them out of it. If that's not in the cards then you will have to fight or
    let them go. Take out the mages first if you have to fight them as they're the
    main threat. Then go after the leader, using whatever stunning / paralysis, as
    he is the last main threat. Now take the letter to the Mage's Collective for a
    very nice reward.

    ===================
    Places of Power
    ===================
    You need to activate four mystical sites for your benefactor. Essentially this
    consists of little more than going to that location, finding the Place of Power
    and then activating it. In the Mage's Tower it is the table located in the
    first floor study. In Orzammar it's inside of the Ortan Thaig, a main story
    quest location. This altar is the same one used in the "Asunder" side quest so
    you may have already been near it. In the Brecilian Forest you will see an
    Ancient Tombstone indicated on your map. Examine the nearby rocks to find this
    place of power. Lastly in Denerim

    ===================
    Denerim
    ===================
    Blood of Warning
    ===================
    The mages wish you to take four vials of goats blood to mark doors in the city
    of Denerim. This will allow the homeowners to evacuate before the Chantry comes
    in, smashing everything to get at a few supposed evil magi. Two of them are
    found in the Market District while the others are around the city. The next one
    is found in the Dirty Back Alley so head there, mark the door and then move on
    to the Dark Alley where you will find the last door. Now return for your quest
    reward from the Liason.

    ===================
    A Gift of Silence
    ===================
    In order to keep the Templars happy with the Collective you need to get them
    some Lyrium for their addiction. You'll need 10 Lyrium potions to appease the
    knight Commander Harrith in Redcliffe. All you need to do is get those Lyrium
    Potions and bring them to Harrith to complete this. Alternately you can speak
    to the Knight-Commander in the Market District of Denerim to turn them in to
    him so as to get the Mage's Collective in trouble. Both ways take your Lyrium
    potions so don't let that decide the situation for you.

    ===================
    Have You Seen Me?
    ===================
    A group of mages want you to find their friend Renold who was last seen heading
    towards the Brecelian Forest. Obviously we need to travel from Denerim to that
    place to find him. Make your way from Denerim to the Brecelian Forest. As you
    go you're hoping for a random encounter that will feature an Abomination. It's
    easy enough to defeat and once dead search the dead mage lying nearby. This is
    Renold and the Abomination was his apprentice. With both of them at peace now
    head back for your reward.

    ===================
    The Scrolls of Banastor
    ===================
    This sounds a bit dubious but there's coin in it for us so why not. You will
    find a pair of these Scrolls while going through the Mage's Tower but there
    are more that you will need to find. Two more can be found in the Ruined Temple
    as you go through the "Urn of Sacred Ashes" quest. This leaves you a last one
    to locate. This one is found inside of the Ruins inside of the Brecilian Forest
    in the Lair of the Werewolves. Inside of a room to the southwest you will find
    the final scroll. Return to the Liason for your reward.


    ========================
    Favors for Certain Interested Parties
    ========================
    These are like the Blackstone Irregulars and Mage's Collective quests except
    for the Rogues. However these are mostly contained to Denerim, requiring very
    little in the ways of travel. As such they're easier to do.

    ===================
    Correspondence Interruptus
    ===================
    In your travels you've likely come across love letters. Well now you know what
    to do with the blasted things - give them to the thieves so they can cause some
    trouble. You need to find twelve of the blasted things though which is a bit of
    a trial and will take you forever. A list is below:

    Brecilian Forest- Elven Ruins, Upper Level
    Circle Tower - Senior Mage Quarters
    Dalish Camp - Near Varathorn
    Denerim - The Pearl
    Denerim - Market District Wade's Emporium)
    Denerim - Arl of Denerim's Estate
    Haven (must start Urn of Sacred Ashes Quest) - Villager House
    Lake Calenhad Docks - Inside The Spoiled Princess
    Orzammar - Carta Hideout
    Orzammar - Royal Palace
    Redcliffe - Basement passage
    Redcliffe Village - Windmill

    ===================
    Solving Problems
    ===================
    You need to dump some bodies so that nobody gets in trouble for removing those
    loose ends. The first body is located near the Chantry, pick it up and dump it
    into the Chantry well. The second is located in the warehouse. While here be
    sure to loot the chests. Pick up the body, dump it and then head over to The
    Pearl to find the last one. Take it to the well, dump it and then head on back
    to the Gnawed Noble for your reward.

    ===================
    Negotiation Aids
    ===================
    You need to deliver fifteen toxin extract samples to the bartender for "K". It
    is fairly hard to do this since it's pretty rare that these are sold and when
    they are it's only one or two per store. Your best bet is to go into Orzammar
    for this one. While doing the main storyline quest you will have many chances
    to fight spiders and they are a fairly reliable source for this item. If that
    doesn't work head to the Brecelian Forest and into the Dalish Camp where you
    can buy as many of these as you like. Once you've gotten the fiften samples go
    on over to the Gnawed Noble for your reward.

    ===================
    Sign of Safe Passage
    ===================
    Only opened up after completing the "Solving Problems" quest.

    For this one you're going to have to head to the Brecelian Forest to fire off
    a signal arrow to bring some allies of "D" into Denerim. This is going to be
    pretty tough since the woods aren't very safe. After entering the Western
    Brecelian Forest head to the east, along the path, until you see a fallen tree
    up ahead to the northeast. Directly to your east walk off the road and head
    down to the south. Here you will find the firing point so equip a bow and fire
    off an arrow from here.

    Doing this unfortunately has the end result of getting you attacked by a group
    of Denerim Mercenaries. They're not the strongest lot of enemies but it can be
    tough since you're backed up against a cliff. Use any and all AoE attacks that
    you have to seriously cut into the enemies health as quick as possible or they
    just might overwhelm your mages and rogues. The mercenary leader should be
    engaged by a warrior so as to keep him busy while this is going on.

    When they're defeated you can return to Denerim for your reward from that punk
    "D" who sent you out here.

    ===================
    False Witness
    ===================
    Only opened up after completing the "Solving Problems" quest.

    Some thieves are going to be turning their back on their allies, going to the
    right side of the law for redemption. We can't have that now can we so let's
    go wipe them out. One is in Denerim, one is in Orzammar and one is near Lake
    Calenhad. Brian, at Orzammar, will fight you by himself while Skinny Frank at
    Lake Calenhad has a pair of buddies with him. Neither fight should present much
    difficult for your party. In Denerim Cam can be found in the Wonders of Thedas
    shop in the Market District. This guy has three allies with him but he's not
    much harder than Frank. Return to the tavern for your reward.

    ===================
    Untraceable
    ===================
    Only completed after completing the "Negotion Aids" quest.

    So that he can bribe the right people K needs you to get him 10 garnets. This
    is actually a whole lot harder than it sounds since you really don't find them
    all that often and they're mostly gotten early on, when you're prone to just
    selling everything that isn't nailed down. The only real suggestion that might
    help is to visit merchants you've sold to in the past and see if they have any
    that you can rebuy back. When you've gotten them all return for your reward.

    ===================
    Dead Drops
    ===================
    Only opens up after completing the "Untraceable" quest.

    You need to deliver rewards to four locations for "K". The first is in Denerim
    Market Distrct near the animal cages. The second is at the Spoiled Princess Inn
    at Lake Calenhad Docks. The third is near the docks in Redcliffe Village. Last
    you have one in the Frostback Mountains near the merchants.

    There are two ways to resolve this quest. First, if you head on over to the
    Frostback Mountains first you can choose to disarm or detonate the packages
    instead of delivering them. This will cut you off from the final "K" quest. If
    you choose not to detonate them or deliver to Orzammar last then you will end
    the quest and can head back for your reward. How you finish this one is really
    up to you so do what your character would do.

    ===================
    Harsh Decisions / New Ground
    ===================
    Harsh Decisions opens up after completing False Witness. New Ground opens up
    after completing the Dead Drops mission.

    These are essentially two sides of the same coin. With Harsh Decisions you're
    going to be trying to get the attention of K's men so that you can kill them
    and then K for D while New Ground is vice versa. Pick whichever of the two that
    you like and then off the other guy.

    Once you pick up Harsh Decisions it will begin but New Ground takes a bit more
    to start up. Find the three characters you must signal with K's wink and nod.
    Now signal the guard contact. With that done you can leave the Market District.

    While traveling around Denerim, for either quest, you will soon be attacked by
    your targets men. This fight consists of one Lieutenant, four henchmen and
    three archers on a raised platform. Make sure to get rid of the Lieutenant
    first and then go after the rest of the men. This isn't a hard fight regardless
    of the number of enemies you're dealing with. Loot their bodies once you've
    killed them to find directions to your targets hideout.

    Once there you will find yourself up against your target, three rogue henchmen
    and a pair of archers. Ironically enough this fight is almost as easy as the
    last fight even with the inclusion of a "boss" enemy. Let your mage and rogue
    take out the archers while your fighters handle the melee types. When those two
    are dead you can then focus on getting rid of the henchmen en masse with any
    crowd control or AoE spells you might have.

    When they're all dead loot the bodies before heading back to the Gnawed Noble
    Tavern for your reward and the end of the rogues quests.


    ========================
    Party Camp Quests
    ========================
    Enchanting
    ===================
    When you rest in your camp for the first time after Lothering the two dwarves
    you rescued will set up shop there. Bodahn acts as a merchant while Sandal
    will enchant your weapons for you. That's really all this is - a tutorial to
    get you learning about Enchanting your equipment.


    ========================
    Companion Quests
    ========================
    Leliana's Past
    ===================
    If you can get Leliana's approval up to around 65% or so she will tell you of
    her past the next time you go to the party camp. It seems that she is being
    hunted by some people from Orlais which might come up in the future. Lo and
    behold that the next random encounter you get into involves a bunch of hired
    assassins coming after her.

    This fight can be rough since there's a fair number of strong enemies here as
    well as a few Mabari and wolves to get in your way. The easiest, also quickest,
    way to complete this fight is to have Morrigan cast Vulnerability Hex on the
    Assassin Leader before starting to hammer him with every elemental spell you
    have as well as Drain Life. You can also use stunning spells to keep him from
    trying to kill her. Once his health is low enough he will beg you to spare him
    in exchange for information.

    After he tells you where his contact is located you can either kill him or not,
    it's your call. However you will need to head to Denerim to find this contact.

    When you enter Denerim head forward and watch the houses on your right to find
    a house with "Assassination Contract for Leliana" on a door. Walk inside to be
    immediately attacked by two huge guards. Don't bother trying to knock them down
    as it doesn't work, pretty much at all, stunning works well as does freezing.
    Take them out and then open the door to head further in.

    Here you will meet Marjolaine. There isn't much to say about this conversation
    besides it having two conclusions: you can either kill her or let her go. If
    you choose to let her go then that's the end of this. Should you not want to
    let her go then you're in for a tough battle.

    -------------------
    Boss: Marjolaine
    -------------------
    Marjolaine is a powerful melee combatant as well as spellcaster. She will make
    liberal use of a Mind Blast like spell that stuns everyone as well as cutting
    people down in melee. She has two more guards, one in each side room, that is
    watching over a mage. If you leave these two mages alive they will kill you in
    very short order. As such there are two ways to approach this fight.

    1 - Rush them. Take control of a melee fighter and have him slip past one of
    the pressure plates to get into the side room. From here you can get into the
    mages face and pummel it down. While he's doing this have your mage go to the
    other door and use paralysis / freezing / knockdown spells to make short work
    of the other one. This isn't hard at all but you'll still have to deal with the
    rest of the enemies.

    2 - Be tricky. Force your party to leave the room, disabling tactics if you
    have to, and have them hold position in the first room. Here, where you fought
    the two guards, you will force them to come to you. Tuck into a corner and
    wait. Marjolaine will come to you so use a spell to make it easier for your
    party to beat on her. Shortly after the mages and guards will come to you. Now
    move Morrigan to the door and have her use Cone of Cold to freeze the lot of
    them. Focus on a mage with everything you've got to take them out quickly. Try
    to get them both dead regardless of what it takes, even if you have to heal the
    heck out of Morrigan. Now have her pull back and help the party with Marjolaine
    as she's likely almost dead. All that's left is clean up.

    Regardless of what you do search the bedroom for a treasure chest with some
    very good items, notably a great bow, before leaving.


    ===================
    Alistair's Family
    ===================
    To start this quest up you will need to get Alistair's approval up to about 75%
    or so. This is easily done by going to Redcliffe and finding his mothers amulet
    in the Arl's study. Once his approval has reached the desired amount he will
    ask to go to Denerim and speak to his sister Goldanna who lives near the Elven
    Alienage. This is easily done by going to Denerim and heading to the center of
    Market Square where you will find her house. No matter what you do things don't
    go very well. If you'd like to not be a jerk you can tell him that you're his
    friend but otherwise things end poorly for the guy.

    ===================
    Flemeth's Tome
    ===================
    Morrigan desperately wants to get her hands on her mothers tome, something she
    will tell you once you've completed a Blight quest. If you've done the mages
    tower then you will have likely found the Black Tome but if you haven't it's in
    the First Enchanter's Office on the second floor. Go inside, open the treasure
    chest in the rear of the room and take the tome.

    Go to the party camp and give her the tome as a gift. This prompts a long bit
    of conversation. That's where this ends for now but it's not done. After some
    time she will ask you for help when you talk to her in the party camp. She has
    discovered Flemeth's intentions towards her and isn't happy about it. You're
    asked to go, without her, to Flemeth to kill her.

    You can go one of two ways with this. If you don't want to, or can't, beat
    Flemeth then you can agree to lie to Morrigan and tell her Flemeth is dead. By
    giving her Flemeth's Tome you can see to it that Morrigan believes the lie. If
    you don't want to do this then you can fight Flemeth. This is one of the harder
    fights in the game thanks to the raw power this beast of a woman wields.

    -------------------
    Boss: Flemeth
    -------------------
    When she changes into her dragon form Flemeth has four primary means of attack.
    The first is basic claws and bites, these aren't anything all that big. They do
    a good bit of damage but they're not the problem. The only real issue with
    these are that she can hit you no matter where you are. If you're fully behind
    her expect to be kicked instead. Her second attack is a weird flailing type
    attack that knocks down the people standing near her while doing a good bit of
    damage to them. The third attack is a roar that will stun almost everyone that
    you brought along thanks to its tremendous radius. Her last attacks are two
    different fire breaths. If you're close by then she will use a sweeping wall of
    fire but if you're far away she spits out a ball of fire that explodes. Both of
    these can leave you on fire, dealing damage over time to whomever it hits.

    What ends up making this fight so hard is that of Flemeth's special abilities.
    She can pick you up in her mouth, gnawing on you for a bit before throwing you
    up into the air, doing it some more and then slamming you into the ground. This
    does about 300 points of damage or so, give or take, and can wipe you out in no
    time even if you have someone heal them while they're dragon bait. Only allow
    your strongest characters to stand in front of her face as she can't do this if
    you're near her rear flank. Keep any melee rogues back here or watch them die
    in very short order.

    All of this sounds bad, and it really is, but your ability to defeat Flemeth is
    based upon how prepared you are. Activated skills, potions and salves aren't
    going to be enough to defeat her due to their short duration. You need good
    equipment, weapons, skills, spells and to be fairly leveled. There are some who
    have beaten her as early as level 9 while others end up waiting until level 13
    or even later. That's not necessary but it may be necessary depending upon what
    sort of character you've built.

    Regardless of what you normally travel around with you're going to want to have
    at least two Warriors and one healing dedicated Mage. Some people find that
    having a third Warrior works out while others prefer an archer. Depending on
    your class you will find different strategies to be more effective:

    Mage - If you don't have healing magic then it's best to wait until you have
    gotten Wynne. If you're not going to be able to get her, or have killed her,
    make sure you have at least some minor healing capabilities since you'll need
    to heal anyone who gets grabbed in her mouth. However you do have choices in
    what to do here: you can either bring in two warriors and an archer, two
    warriors and another mage (to either heal or attack) or, my favorite as a mage,
    three warriors. Just make sure you keep your health up as much as possible to
    get through her attacks alive.

    Rogue - Let's just hope you're playing an archer type rogue, as a dual-wielder
    is likely to get killed. Archers can hang back near the mages, spread out a bit
    so that they don't both get hit by any stray fireballs, peppering Flemeth with
    Rapid Fire arrows. Dual-wielding characters should get behind the dragon and
    start cutting... and praying. You will need a healing mage here as well as the
    two warriors to keep cutting at the dragon.

    Warrior - This is easy! Either bring two fighters or a fighter and rogue with
    your healing dedicated mage and just go to town. You, Alister and Oghren or
    Sten can do incredibly well just cutting at the thing, especially if someone is
    using two-handed swords (you should have Yusaris which works great here). If
    you're finding that she does too much damage with her fire attacks swap out
    Alister for Shale (if you have the DLC) and equip him with Flame Crystals to
    protect him from fire attacks quite a bit.

    Honestly this fight comes down to tanking her damage while doing as much damage
    to her as possible. Mages do the most damage but you're probably not going to
    have that option unless you're a mage PC since you can't bring Morrigan. Archer
    types with Rapid Fire going can do a good bit of damage but this isn't a really
    good idea unless you're using a strong bow (Ice Arrows help with this). Fill
    her full of arrows to pick her apart little by little.

    When she goes down search her body for a key; use this to get into the hut and
    open the chest. Take Flemeth's Tome to Morrigan in the camp to make her your
    bestest friend evar!
    BOOM IT GUYZ!!!

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