Origins: Human Noble

Nov 5, 2009

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Daytime at Castle Cousland
Night at Castle Cousland

The Human Noble origin begins in Castle Cousland, with the main character's old brother
about to set off to join King Cailan at Ostagar. Unfortunately, things are about to horrible
awry.

Daytime at Castle Cousland

After a brief discussion with the newly-arrived Grey Warden Duncan, Arl Howe and your
father it's off to meet your brother but there are a few things that you'll want to do first.
Among them, you'll want to collect your dog and if you're a Rogue, you'll want to do a little
treasure hunting.

Kill the rats with your dog's help

Leave from the exit to the north and you'll bump into Ser Roderick Gilmore. Your dog is
making trouble in the kitchens and it's up to you to stop him. Make sure you go looking for
the dog, because he's a useful party member and ignoring the quest means he won't be
joining you.

The map will be useful for finding the kitchen but you shouldn't have too much trouble. Head
north and go in the first door on the left. Calm down Nan and you'll be able to enter the
pantry where the dog will join your party (we called him Char). A moment later you'll enter
your first battle.

A horde of giant rats will enter the pantry and you'll get to enjoy your first bloodbath. Pause
the game, issue your orders, and then get to work. The rats aren't very tough opponents and
should go down in relatively short order. Check the special crate and sack for minor items.

Meeting with your brother initiates the final portion of the Origin

After killing the rats you will have a brief discussion with your mother, then you will be free
once again to have a walk around the castle. You can go and find your brother at this point,
but there are plenty of NPCs to talk to first. Here's a list of possible encounters:

Catch two guards gambling outside the treasury

Pray with Mother Mallol in the Chapel (Unlocks Maker and Commandments of the
Maker codex entries)
Study history with Scribe Aldous (unlocks the Geography of Ferelden and Noble
Families of Ferelden codex entries)
Sedeuce Iona or Dairren. Offer them lots of compliments and you will be rewarded
with a nighttime encounter. Seduce them both though and they will both be unhappy.
You can find them in the Study.

When you are ready, go and chat with Fergus (found in the southwest room). Giving him
your father's message will end the conversation but you can chat about the family a bit.
When the cut-scene ends, the real bloodshed begins.

Night at Castle Cousland

You awaken to find Castle Cousland under attack and the bad guys are literally knocking on
the door. Begin by pausing and putting on your clothes and then have at it with the dog's
help. Your goal now is to escape the castle and meet up with Duncan of the Grey Wardens.
Crowds of soldiers lurk in the corridors. Let the dog take point, and make sure to use his powerful Dread Howl
ability

There will be two more fighters waiting for you down the hall. When they go down, you'll find
your mother, who will join you in battle. Make sure she's properly equipped before you take
on more foes. Eventually, you'll be stopped for another conversation. If you want to open up
the Cousland Treasury side quest, then answer, "Is there nothing else we can do?" when it
pops up. Battle your way to Treasury and recover your family's heirlooms, including their
sword and shield.

Dark days. Time to become a Grey Warden

With your new weapons in hand, make your way to the main hall where you'll find Ser
Gilmore under siege. Join him and drive off the invading forces, with special attention given
to the Mage. You'll want to make your way to the Pantry that contains a secret exit. A knight
will be waiting with a gang of soldiers when you approach. Take out his lackeys first and
then focus on the knight. Otherwise you may find yourself quickly overwhelmed. After
another cut-scene, you will escape to Ostagar.
Part 01: Ostagar

Apr 30, 2010

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Contents
Ostagar
Korcari Wilds
The Initiation
The Invasion
Boss Battle: The Ogre

No matter which origin you choose, you will eventually end up in Ostagar. Here you will undergo your
basic Grey Warden initiation while meeting Alistair, a former Templar. After your first mission and
initiation, the invasion truly begins.

Ostagar

Meet with Duncan and King Cailan. The glowing arrows will be a helpful guide

Your first order of business will be to meet with King Cailan and Duncan. There you will learn of their
basic plan of attack against the Darkspawn. Afterward, you are free to spend some time walking
around the camp. A soldier will give you some basic directions and then it's off on your own.

When you walk around camp, you will find a prisoner stuck in a cage. He will ask you to talk to the
guard by the cage about getting him some food. In exchange, he will give you a key to a chest that will
be guarded by a mage until you return from your trip into the wild. The guard will not help you unless
you have a level in coercion and a decent cunning modifier but you can kill the prisoner to get the key.
Just tell the guard when he stops you afterwards, that the prisoner attacked you, and you were forced
to kill him. The guard will believe and back up your story to others.

You can do a quest for the hound as a companion in camp. Talk to the man beside the dog pen and he
will ask you to help with is muzzling the hound. You can easily muzzle the dog. Then the man will ask if
you are going into the wilds, if you answer maybe he will ask you to find a flower so he can treat the
hound. The flower can be found easily on your quest into the wilds. It sits in a few places but the
easiest is after bandaging up a wounded dying soldier. It is just past that beside the log before you run
into a mess of darkspawn. I always turn it in before talking to duncan after the trip back from the wilds.
This will get the hound in your party if you are anything but a noble human which already has the dog
then the reward is money. The dog will find you after the final battle as you on your way to lothering.

Go find Alistair, who is busy arguing with a mage. Alistair will be the first character to join your party
and makes for a very good tank no matter which class you choose. If you plan to keep him in your
party, his points are best invested in the shield and sword skills.

Meet Alistair, and get to know him well. He makes for a fabulous tank for your party

When you're ready, go back to Duncan, who is standing near the temple in the upper left-hand corner
of the map. He will assign you to find three vials of Darkspawn blood which will be used in your
initiation as well as to retrieve some Grey Warden Treaties. Alistair and a couple other initiates will
give you a hand.

Korcari Wilds

You'll need three vials of Darkspawn blood and some materials from the Grey Warden ruins

Set off into the wilds, where you will encounter several batches of wolves in addition to Darkspawn like
Hurlocks and Genlocks. Among the tougher enemies are a Hurlock Alpha and a Hurlock Emissary, the
latter of which likes to cast irritating magic. However, they will pose little obstacle when it comes to
collecting the vials of blood.

Hurlock Alphas are just stronger Hurlocks. Engage them last, but try to keep them stunned or off
balance in the meantime

With the Darkspawn dealt with and the vials of blood obtained, continue on down the path to find the
Grey Warden cache. There you will encounter Morrigan for the first time, who will take you to meet her
mother Flemeth who has what you need. Be polite to her and she'll eventually give you the scrolls.

The Initiation

Yes, you will spend most of the game covered in blood

When you get back to the camp, find Duncan where you left him and give him the blood vials and
scrolls. He will commence the initiation, which will unfortunately claim two of your companions. You
can beforehand remove their armor and weapons to sell for a small boost in cash. When the scene is
finished, it will almost be time to commence the battle with the Darkspawn.
As a newly initiated Grey Warden, you are given a special task - Head to the Tower of Ishal and light
the fire, which will serve as the signal for the king's reinforcements to strike from behind and destroy
the Darkspawn. When you are ready the battle will commence.

The big battle begins. Run toward the tower in the northwestern portion of the map

With the battle raging all around you, make your away across the bridge and toward the tower. When
you arrive, you will learn that it has been occupied by monsters, and that you will have to fight your
way to the top. First though, you need to get past a few Darkspawn mobs, including a Hurlock Alpha. If
you are a Human Noble or you have completed the Mabari Hound side quest, you should have a full
complement now with the addition of a helpful mage. Battle your way through the Darkspawn and into
the tower.

The Invasion

The first floor has a trap. Move quickly into the center area, or you'll be barbequed

When you enter the tower, the first thing you will see are several fiery barriers, with several Genlocks
waiting for you in the middle of the room. There is a tripwire trap waiting for you when you try to pass
through the only entrance to the room and that will activate a Grease trap. Either move quickly into the
center area or if you are a rogue disarm the trap or else the Genlock Emissary waiting for you inside
will cast Fireball and barbecue your party. Once the battle really begins, prioritize the Emissary or he
will likely give you trouble.

With the mobs in the central area dealt with, start working your way around the outside ring to get to
the stairs, which will be right behind the ladder that you see in the main area. Stay on your guard,
because Hurlocks and Genlocks will often be waiting for you behind closed doors. Unless you're really
hurt though it's in your best interest to open them, since the Hurlocks and Genlocks will yield valuable
experience. After each battle, take care to wait a moment and allow your party's health, mana, and
stamina to recharge. Don't blunder into another battle if your characters are still hurting.

The second floor is swarming with Hurlocks and Genlocks

It's pretty much the same deal on the second floor, where you'll find a whole mess of Hurlocks and
Genlocks waiting to ambush you if you're not careful. The mobs reside in separate rooms, with the
other mob running in to join the fight when you try to attack the other. Your best bet is to go into the
door on the right and try to take down as many Genlocks as you can while taking care that the
Hurlocks don't flank you. Your mage's Fire spells will help a lot, just take care that your allies aren't
caught in the crossfire.

Watch out for the mage and his lightning attacks on the third floor

The third floor is the final floor before the boss. There are plenty of Darkspawn to fight, as usual,
including a ranked Genlock Alpha. However, if you look carefully, you'll find a switch on the floor of the
north side of the room -- that will open the various dog cages. The dogs will give you a hand against
the Darkspawn and continue to follow you if they survive. When you reach the stairs, get ready
because you're about to fight your first major boss.
Boss Battle: The Ogre

The Ogre is the most powerful foe you've encountered so far. He's vulnerable to being stunned though

The Ogre is brutally strong and if you're not careful he can wipe out your whole party in short order.
The mage will be helpful here as his spells will do a nice amount of damage, and his flaming weapon
spell will add some oomph to your attacks. If you're playing a Warrior, a skill like Riposte will freeze the
Ogre while everyone pounds on him, but be aware that he's resistant to many normal skills that you
may have been relying on to this point.

Use your helpful mage to good effect, and you'll eventually be rewarded with this awesome scene

Watch out for the Ogre's ramming attack, which will scatter everyone and knock them over. If you see
him preparing to attack, try to stun him, or simply try to get out of the way. His nastiest attack is his
Grab move, which has a high probability of killing one of your party members. There's no way to
counter it, really, except to keep your health up and keep pounding away. Don't be afraid to retreat a
party member who's badly hurt and keep a tank like Alistair up front. When the Ogre goes down, make
sure you loot his body before you light the nearby signal. You can also loot a couple barrels in the area
before your first journey concludes.
Battle Tip: Set up two ranged characters in far corner of the tower (turn on Hold Ground), sacrifice one
of your melee characters, then take control of your main melee character and run around the Ogre in a
semi large circle. Make sure you're running just far enough to keep him from attacking. While running
just have the mage and your ranged attacker firing at the ogre. The Ogre should continue to chase the
melee character as long as you don't take him close to the ranged attackers but if he does then simply
move them to the opposite wall and have your melee character attack, then start the process over.
Using this method i was able to kill the ogre without getting a scratch (other than the sacrifice of
course).

Part 02: Interlude and Lothering

Jan 28, 2010

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Contents
Flemeth's Hut
Lothering
Leliana
Sten

You've defeated the Ogre and lit the signal, but your victory is short lived. The Darkspawn are
victorious and your team atop the tower is swiftly overrun. You awaken back at Flemeth's Hut, aware
that you are the last of the Grey Wardens and that you are now outlaws.

Flemeth's Hut

Morrigan is the newest addition to your group, and wields powerful spells

When you awaken, you'll find yourself back at Flemeth's Hut, which you last saw when you were
collecting some lost documents ahead of your initiation. Flemeth is waiting for you and she'll give you
an idea of the overarching quest that awaits you. With the Darkspawn now running wild, it's up to you
to raise an army to combat them. That means visiting the leaders of the mages, Humans, Elves and
Dwarves and commanding them to service.
As a going away present, Flemeth will send along her adopted daughter Morrigan, a shapeshifting
mage. She is a highly useful character and you'll want to keep her in your party, even if you chose to
be a mage. She not only has excellent offensive and defensive magic, she can turn into a vicious
spider and dish out some heavy damage in the absence of a more standard tank. Besides, she's funny,
and makes for an entertaining foil over the course of your adventures.

Lothering

These bandits want your money. Just kill them.

Before beginning your quest to build an army, you'll need to make a pit stop at Lothering to gather
supplies and catch up on what's been happening. Unfortunately, the road into Lothering isn't entirely
clear. Some bandits will be waiting for you on the bridge into the village. You can either pay them 10
silver to pass, try and intimidate them, or fight them (this option is the best, since it offers loot and
experience).

When the bandit leader is sufficiently hurt, he will beg for mercy. You can extract some money from
him, kill him, or let him go. If you decide to kill him, he'll say that he's not going down without a fight
and you'll have to fight a little longer. Thankfully, it's an easy battle. When you're finished, check the
fallen knight for an item that will help fulfill a side quest.
The Chanter's Board in each city has a number of useful sidequests.

For such a small village, there's actually quite a bit to do in Lothering and it makes for an excellent
opportunity to get a foothold to start building up your characters. This guide will mostly cover the
main storyline, but if you check out the Chantry Board in each town, you'll find a number of side
quests. In Lothering, there's a call to take out several groups of bandits lurking around the city limits,
so you should take the opportunity to get the money and experience. When you're finished, talk to
Chanter Devons to get your reward.

Continuing along the main quest line, head into the Chantry first to meet Ser Donall. Speak with him to
fulfill the "Fallen Templar" side quest and to learn about Arl Eamon's illness. If you ask for a reward,
he'll give you one piece of gold. Next, go to Dane's Refuge, where you'll meet some soldiers who want
to give you a rough time for being a Grey Warden.

Leliana

Leliana joins your party at the Dane Refuge

At the Dane Refuge, you will encounter some of Loghain's soldiers, who will promptly attack. The
Rogue, Leliana will come to your aid, so use her Dirty Fighting technique to keep them off balance.
When the soldiers go down, the commander will beg for mercy. Release him and Leliana will offer to
join your party. There's no harm in taking her with you, not the least because she can pick locks. Her
bardic talents also make her interesting, particularly the Bard's Captivating Song, which can lock down
several attackers at once. If you let her join your party, arm her with dual daggers or use her as a
archer. Inside Dane's Refuge, you can pick up a couple side quests, so make sure to ask around if
you're interested.

Sten

One last point of interest is the caged Qunari Sten. If you free Sten, he will be amiable to joining your
party, but you'll need to get the Reverend Mother's permission (or you can just lock-pick the cage, if
you have a character with high enough skill). With Leliana in your party, the Reverend Mother will
automatically agree to release him. Otherwise, she will be agreeable depending on how large a
donation you offer to the Chantry. Sten can easily replace Alistair on your team, and is best with two-
handed weapons, so take care to raise those skills.

Two merchants will begin to follow your party after you save them from the bandits

When you have finished with Lothering, head to the northwest corner of the map to find a road out of
the area. Some Darkspawn will be attacking a Dwarven merchant and his child -- you'll have to drive
them off. Take down the Darkspawn and the merchant will follow your party from that point forward,
setting up shop in your camp. Head out of town, and move onto toward the Lake Calenhad Docks to
begin the "Broken Circle" quest.

Part 03: The Broken Circle

Dec 9, 2011

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Contents
Lake Calenhad Docks
The Circle Tower
The Fade
Darkspawn Invasion
Mage Asunder
Templar's Nightmare
Boss Battle: Sloth Demon
Circle Tower - Finishing The Fight
Boss Battle: Uldred

You are now ready to embark on your quest to reunite the races against the Darkspawn. You can go
anywhere, but a good place to start is the Broken Circle quest. It's relatively easy, has an impact upon
the Arle of Redcliff quest, and gives you access to the Healing Mage, Wynne. When you're ready, set
off for Lake Calenhad.

Lake Calenhad Docks

Welcome to the Tower. Well, almost.

When you arrive at the docks, you can either stop in the Spoiled Princess to replenish your supplies,
or talk to Carroll to head over to the tower. If you don't have a lot poultices and other equipment, you
might want to pick some up - you won't be able to leave the tower until the quest line is finished.

Carroll will be reluctant to ferry you over to the tower. You can either persuade him by asking about his
superiors, intimidate him, or try to work something out. In the case of the latter, he'll let you in if you
have Sten, Shale, Morrigan or Leliana in your party.

The Circle Tower

You'll meet Wynne near the stairs to the basement. She's quite helpful

You'll arrive to find the Circle Tower in ruins. Speak with Greagoir, who is waiting near the entrance,
and he'll explain that the tower is now overrun by demons. The Templars are planning on annihilating
the mages just to be safe, but he's more than happy to let you go into the tower and try to stop the
demonic infestation yourself. Your conversation with Greagoir marks the point where you can either
begin siding with the mages or the Templars, and thus determining who will be in your army for the
final battle. When you cross the barrier, be warned -- there's no going back. Pick up some extra goods
from the quartermaster before you go.

The first mage you encounter on the first floor will be Wynne, who has erected a magical barrier. Offer
to help rectify the problems in the tower, and she'll offer to join the party as well as let you pass.
Wynne is an excellent healer, and her talents are well worth adding to your party, especially since
you've probably been relying exclusively on poultices to this point. If you're anything but a Healing
Mage, add her for the group healing ability, if nothing else. Be aware that Morrigan will not approve of
any offer to help the mages.

Hit that Rage Demon with ice magic, if you have it

With or without Wynne in your group, you'll need to fight your way to the stairs. On this floor, you'll
mostly encounter abominations that are easily taken down when they try to charge you. The Greater
Rage Demon you encounter in the center will pose some problems though. Pick off the abominations
that are helping him, then get your main damage dealer to take him down. Wynne's group heal will help
a lot here. When you're finished, head upstairs.

Shambling Corpses and Blood Mages are added to the mix. And, of course, Owain

The second floor is set up in much the same fashion as the first, but adds Shambling Corpses and
Blood Mages to the mix. The former aren't too bad, but the latter will harass you with ranged magic. If
you see any mages, you might want to use your primary damage dealer to take them down while your
tank holds everyone else.

Early on, you'll encounter Owain, whom you might remember if you chose the mage origin. Owain is
hiding out in the stockroom and is waiting for the demonic invasion to subside. Loot the stockroom to
find the Black Grimoire -- a key item for Morrigan's personal side quest (update: this was found in
Irvings Chest in the First Enchanter's Room on Senior Mage's Quarters Level) -- then continue onward.

Not far behind Owain's room you'll find that some Blood Mages have constructed a barrier to block
your way. You'll have to fight them to get past. When the fight finishes, one of the Blood Mages begs
for her life. You can either let her go, or kill her. The former choice will put you on the path toward the
mage army, while the latter will put you on the path of the Templars.
Kill this poor fool, and you'll be one step closer to a Templar army

You can make it to the next stairway fairly quickly if you ignore the outer arc. Most of the rooms have
Shambling Corpses, though they include some decent treasure as well. In particular, the Small Painted
Box can be traded in later in the game for a substantial sum of money. You'll also have another chance
to show your preference for mages or Templars when you find a mage hiding in a closet. As before, it's
up to you to decide whether you want to kill him or let him be.

Watch out for a big ambush early on

The third floor doesn't have much in the way of treasure, but it does have a ton of nasty enemies. To
the ranks of abominations and corpses is added Possessed Templars, Charmed Templars and a Desire
Demon. The Templars hit hard, so if you have to choose, go for them over the abominations and other
lesser creatures. You'll be in for a tough battle early in the area. Stepping into the second room, things
will seem fine at first. But once you cross the midpoint, tons of corpses will reanimate and attack. It's
extremely easy to get overwhelmed and killed here, so back off and try and draw some of the corpses
with you. When the Arcane Horror shows up, hit it with everything you've got. His spells are brutal.
Gang up on the major demons and take them down before they do much damage

As you continue around the arc, you'll encounter more rooms filled with foes. When you reach the
Templar room, watch out for a bear trap that can catch and hamper you. A skilled rogue can detect and
disarm it. Watch out for the Desire Demon as well, which can pack quite a punch.

To get to the fourth floor, you'll have to plow through a large number of abominations, skeletons and
lesser shades. The shades can be beaten with magic, so let your mage handle them. The skeletons are
another a nuisance that can be quickly and easily defeated, so let your damage dealer take them out
before dealing with the abominations. Now you're ready to go to the next part of the quest.

Both fights here are optional.

There are two optional battles on the fourth floor, both of which yield some decent loot. However, be
aware that they are quite tough, and you may find yourself being quickly overwhelmed. Whatever you
decide to do, make sure you rest of up first.

You will see two rooms to your left as you enter the floor. The first contains a Desire Demon and a
Templar, the latter of which is under a spell. Breaking the dream will prompt the Templar and the
demon to attack along with a couple corpses, and it's quite easy to be overwhelmed. Take out the
Templar first, since he can deal some nasty damage, and do what you can to slow down the demon.
When the Templar goes down, shift your efforts to taking her down.

The next room contains a Blood Mage and some more Templars. Get the mage first, since he's capable
of making some serious trouble with his Fire spells, and have your tank handle the Templars. The
mage should go down quickly, after which you can focus entirely on the Templars.

Look into my eye. You're headed to the Fade, baby.

In the center chamber is the Sloth Demon, which will send you plunging into the fade. You will have to
escape if you want to have a chance of ending the demonic infestation once and for all.

The Fade

Guess Duncan was really a jerk after all. And now you have to kill him. Again.

You're now trapped in the Fade. To escape, you'll have to conquer the demons inhabiting each of the
islands, and eventually take out the Sloth Demon himself. Unfortunately, the way is blocked by all
manner of obstacles, and you'll have to find a way to take on four different forms to conquer them.
Edited: There are Lyrium veins scattered through out this entire fade area, which can be used to
restore health and mana. But if you are using a dwarf as PC, you will not be able to use these lyrium
vein.

When you begin, you'll find yourself in a Grey Warden fortress where you'll have to fight Dunan and
two other Grey Wardens to continue. Duncan hits harder, so focus on him first. The other two wardens
should go down in fairly short order. When they're defeated, go to the Fade Pedestal to continue.

Niall is a wimp, but a useful wimp

When you arrive, you'll encounter Niall, who is also trapped in the Fade. He's feeling pretty down about
your chances of escaping, so it's up to you to show him how it's done. Have a quick look around, and
you'll find a Fade Portal to the east. Enter it, and you'll find yourself face-to-face with a Rage Demon.
When it goes down, talk to the mouse that it was attacking. You'll gain the Mouse form, which will
allow you to go down mouse holes. Go down the hole nearby to continue to the next area.

Your very first form. Not the most glamorous life

When you arrive, you'll encounter a Lesser Rage Demon. Take him out, wait for your health and
stamina to regenerate, then continue to the Fade Portal. There will be three more demons as you
continue down the L-shaped area. Take them down one by one, and use the Lyrium Vein halfway to the
next portal to replenish if necessary.

When you're finished, you'll be back at the original area with Niall. He'll suggest that you get more
forms, so that's just what you should do. Begin by heading to the Darkspawn Invasion, where you'll get
the Spirit form.

Darkspawn Invasion

Guess what? You'll be fighting a lot of Darkspawn here.

When you appear, you'll be in a mostly empty room to the south. Head through the mouse hole in the
northeast corner and head down to the end of the next passage. Enter another mouse hole to find
yourself in a room containing a Permanent Cunning increase. Go back to the main corridor and you'll
have a choice - take the mouse hole shortcut to the right for a shortcut or exit via the main door to
fight a Genlock Alpha and his lackeys. If you're a warrior, try to draw the lackeys away from the Alpha
and get them first. After you've knocked out the Hurlocks and Genlocks beyond, jump down the mouse
hole.

If you take the shortcut, you'll find yourself next to two Flaming Darkspawn. Take them out, then head
to the next room to face a Hurlock Emissary. As always, get the Emissary first, since he's capable of
casting some pretty nasty magic. When they go down, you'll find the way ahead blocked by fire, so
you'll need to go down another mouse hole.
Fend off the darkspawn spirits to obtain the Spirit form

When you pop out of the hole, you'll find a Templar spirit under attack by Darkspawn. Work with him to
take out these foes and you'll gain the Spirit form. As a spirit, you can see things that are normally
beyond your vision, and you gain a nice resistance to spells. Your most useful ability will be
Regeneration, but the Ice spell, Winter's Grasp is also good for taking out enemies at range. Before
you leave, use Spirit form to snag the etheral +1 Willpower bonus located in this room.

Your next stop is the Burning Tower. As it happens, you'll be encountering quite a lot of enemies who
are in fire, so Winter's Grasp will come in handy. When you arrive, change into the Mouse form and
head through the hole to west. You'll find another essence of cunning, so upgrade, then change back
to your Normal form and open the door out into the corridor.

A flaming dog! Ice helps a lot here

You'll find two doors. One contains a couple Burning Templars, and the second one contains the way
forward. Open the second door, then proceed the first door to your left. Defeat the Burning Templars
that await using Crushing Prison on one and Winter's Grasp on the other, then continue up the stairs.
Fire is not good for your health at the moment.

You'll now find yourself in a maze of fire barriers. Take a left, then go right to find a mouse hole along
Burning Hounds and a Burning Templar. Once again, Winter's Grasp and Crushing Prison is good for
taking them down. Go down the mouse hole, and you'll encounter a Dreaming Templar and a Burning
Demon. Just lock onto the Templar with Winter's Grasp and Crushing Prison, and use Regeneration to
keep your health up. You'll be granted access to the Burning Man form when the Templar goes down.

Burn baby burn.

The Burning Man form will help you get past those pesky fire barriers. You'll also have access to the
Fireball spell, which is great for clearing out crowds ahead of the Golem form and you're immune to
fire.

After recieving the Burning Man form, head back out through the south door and to the right where
you will see a door. Switch to Spirit form and enter the door to find a Con +1 and a Cun +1 upgrade.
On to Mages Asunder...

Okay, time to get the last form. Use the Pedestal to go to Mage Asunder.

(Optional can be done later: return to the Raw Fade, Enter the Spirit Door here in the first area and
you'll be transported to Yevena's lair. She's got two shades with her, so use the Spirit Form's Crushing
Prison on Yevena and Winter's Grasp on one of the shades, then start hacking away at Yevena. When
you can, use Winter's Grasp on her again, then go back to your normal form to finish her off. Once she
and the shades are dead, enter Spirit Form to claim the nearby Essence of Willpower.

Go back through the Spirit Door now and go east to the Fade Portal. Use it. Become a mouse and use
the mouse hole here to travel to the north side of this island. Step through the Fade Portal here, then
take on Spirit Form and enter the Spirit Door just to the north. You'll emerge on a new island in the
northeast. Kill the Wisp Wraiths here, then claim the Essence of Dexterity.

Go back through the Spirit Door now, then take the Fade Portal at the east end of this island to return
to the first island. There, use the Fade Pedestal to travel to the Mage Asunder.)

Once at the Mage Asunder take the mouse hole to your left to pick up a Strength +1, then return to the
second room and take the other mouse hole. You'll find yourself in the midst of a couple crazy mages,
but they won't notice you because you're a mouse. The Burning Man form's Fireball will take them
down in a hurry. Do the same to the mages in the next room, then change into Spirit Form to pick up
the ethereal Magic +1 bonus located there.
Stupid Rage Demons

Pass through the fire barrier to find some Rage Demons. Luckily, they are no match for you in your
Burning Man form -- in fact, they can't even touch you. Take them down, then move toward the next
room to find a whole lot of mages. Whatever you do, don't rush in. Instead, torch them with Fireballs
from the doorway. Head upstairs when you're finished.

On the next floor, you encounter Chantry Priests and Stone Golems. The Golems are particularly
dangerous, as they can use Smash to smash you. Thankfully, they're still vulnerable to fireballs, and
it's really the only thing that seems to do much damage to them. Target the Chantry Priests with a
fireball to take them out, then move quicly around the room to keep out of the way of the Golems. If
you need to, switch to Spirit form and cast Regeneration, then switch back. Your reward is the Golem
form -- the only form you'll need from now on.

Now we're talking.

The Golem is outrageously good at crowd control, and it will have absolutely no problem taking down
the major demons that are guarding the various realms. Quake will handle large groups that surround
you, while Hurl will do massive damage to anything it connects with. Use Smash as a last resort to do
some good damage and knock your opponent down. You'll be using Golem for the rest of the Fade, so
get used to it.

Good news -- you've got all four forms! That means you get down to killing all those pesky Great
Demons. Since you're already in Mage Asunder, why don't you start there? Smash open the metal door
in Golem form and head on through.

Mage Asunder

In the next room, you'll encounter a couple more Golems in addition to some priests. Take your new
Golem for a test drive and wipe them out, then proceed into the mazelike area. You'll have to fight
some more Golems, but it's worth it -- it's possible to get six different essences. Just head down all the
available side passages, and you'll find them.

The Golem form is better for this guy, but this is still a cool pose

In the last room, you'll encounter Slavren. This will become a familiar refrain after a while -- switch to
Golem form and pound the stuffing out of him with a combination of Quake and Hurl, with a few Slams
in there for good measure. If you need to heal, retreat and switch to Spirit form before the situation
gets dire, and heal up. When Slavren is down, you'll be done with Mage Asunder. Your next stop is
Templar's Nightmare.

Templar's Nightmare
Getting ready to check out the Templar's Nightmare

This is the only area that doesn't contain a form, so chances are you haven't visited it yet. With all four
forms, it should be a cinch to get through. Start by turning into a mouse and head into the house, then
change to Golem form and kill the Arcane Horror. With your rock hard skin you'll probably resist the
poison trap that's been set, but if not, then just regenerate it away in spirit form.

Change back to Mouse form and head through the hole that leads to an ogre. Just as before, the ogre
is tough, and he can even go toe-to-toe with your Golem form, so be careful. Keep him off-balance with
Slam, then use Hurl to inflict maximum damage. Alternatively, Crushing Prison does well, but the ogre
may resist it. When he goes down, switch to Burning Man form and head through the fire barrier. Kill
the Rage Abomination, then switch to Spirit form to see the spirit door.

You'll be fighting through three more rooms containing a variety of abominations. Switch to Golem
form and have at them -- they are no match for you. Should you get low on health or mana, there's a
Lyrium Vein nearby. When you get to the last room, switch to Burning Man form and head through the
Fade Portal.

The next room will burst into flame, but you'll be okay in Burning Man form. The Shambling Corpses
and other foes that you'll face will actually struggle with the fire, but your fireballs should do the rest.
Beware the Arcane Horror -- take it out first, or it may take you down with spells of its own. When the
Arcane Horror goes down, switch back to Mouse form and head down the mouse hole to meet the
area's demon.
The spells are dangerous, but Golem is still a great option

You'll meet the Desire Demon Vereveel here. You could actually be forgiven for opting not to use the
Golem here, since Vereveel's spells can do some nasty damage. However, the trade off is that you can
take her down with Hurl extremely quickly. Burning Man form's Fireball is a good alternative, as is
Crushing Prison.

Ow. Uthkiel the Crusher lives up to his name, even when you're in Golem Form.

Time to go and take out the rest of the demon's guarding the fade. Start by going back to the
Darkspawn Invasion, where you'll encounter a whole mess of genlocks and hurlocks when you smash
through the previously inaccessible metal door. They're no match for Golem's earthquake -- let them
surround you, then crush them with Quake, or knock them out with rubble from a hurl. The Emissary
should be a top priority target here, since his magic will actually do some damage.

Uthkiel the Crusher hits even harder than a normal ogre, and you may find that you have trouble
staying on your feet. Keep him offguard with a steady diet of Slams, and reserve Hurl for the big
damage. When in doubt, Quake will slow him down too.
Rhagos is no match for Burning Man form

Next up is the Burning Tower. Smash your way through the last two rooms in your Golem form,
scattering anything that gets in your way. Rhagos is absolutely no match for your Burning Man form --
he can't even really touch you. Destroy him quickly and move along.

Golem will make short work of Yevena

Finally, it's back to the Raw Fade. Yevana is waiting for you nearby, and you can reach her using Spirit
form. Golem form will smash her into dust like the others.
Uh Morrigan, behind you. Go and rescue your compatriots from the Fade

With all of the major demons out of the way, there's one last order of business before you go fight
Sloth. Each of your party members are trapped in a nightmare, and those nightmares become
accessible as you beat the demons. Enter each one, and speak with your party member. Eventually,
you'll get the minor demon that's tormenting them to fight you. Crush the demons with Golem form,
and then prepare to fight Sloth.

Boss Battle: Sloth Demons

Doesn't seem very slothful. Watch out, because this guy is tough

Sloth is one guy you cannot simply beat down with Golem form. Hopefully you have something that
will defend against ice attacks, like an ice salve, or you will get destroyed when Sloth gets to his final
form. Consider this fair warning.

Sloth cycles through several different forms, starting with an ogre form. Engage him point blank with
Golem form -- standard procedure here. When his health runs down, he'll switch to a Rage Demon
form. Jump to Burning Man form, and hold his attention. If Morrigan is in your party, then Winter's
Grasp is a huge help. Otherwise, you can also use Winter's Grasp in Spirit form.

The first form isn't so bad, but watch out for that last form

From there, Sloth will cycle through to an Abomination form, which should be your cue to go back to
Golem form. There's nothing special about him, just take him down. His next form is a little harder,
using spells to keep you at bay. The last form is brutal. After a few hits, he'll cast Blizzard, which will
freeze your entire party. Even if you're a fairly high level, you stand an excellent chance of dying right
here. If you survive, group heal immediately with Wynne. If you're dying, equip or use anything that
can resist ice on your character before Sloth uses Blizzard. After you've survived Blizzard, pound him
with everything you've got and he should go down.

Circle Tower - Finishing The Fight

What, you thought you were finished? Ice works well on dragons

With Sloth down, you're back in the Circle Tower, and it's time to finish the fight. Pick up the Litany of
Andralla, and head toward the stairs. Enter the room with the giant globe, you'll notice a soldier's
corpse and a locked chest. Try touching the treasure and you'll be beset by a Greater Shade, a few
Lesser Shades and a Greater Rage Demon. Back off and fend them off with magic, focusing on the
Greater Rage Demon first. A little later you'll have to fight dragonlings, which succumb quickly to ice
magic.

Before heading up to the Harrowing Chamber, you'll discover a trapped Templar. He'll urge you to kill
all the mages, and at that point you have to decide who you're siding with. Keep in mind that if you
decide to kill the mages, Wynne will turn on you and fight you to the death. If you're not sure, you can
opt to put the decision off until you've seen for yourself what's happening upstairs.

Boss Battle: Uldred

Compared to the Sloth Demon, Uldred isn't too bad. He transforms into a big, bad demon, and you
won't have the Golem form to get you out of trouble anymore, but you should be more than capable of
tanking him and holding him off.

Uldred will try to make your life difficult with claw swipes and ice attacks

During the fight, he'll try to change mages into Abominations, but the Litany will stop this. Just listen
to Wynne's voice cue, then activate the Litany, and the action will be interrupted. Keep in mind that if
you save even one mage, you've effectively sided with mages, and that means no Templar army for
you, unless of course you were smart enough to get the Knight Commander to promise you aid for the
Blight in the begining regardless of the outcome, , then remind him of that promise when you return
with the First Enchanter. If you don't have Wynne in your party, just watch for a suspicious white glow
around one of the mages.

Uldred will smack your party around with heavy claws, and he likes to use an ice attack that will freeze
your party solid. Pour on the damage, and keep Wynne rotating between Regeneration and Healing if
you have her in your party. Uldred will go down in no time flat, and you will have completed your first
major quest.
That glowing light means that it's Litany time

Speak with First Enchanter Irving, and Wynne will join your party if you allow it. If you admit to being a
Blood Mage, everyone will attack you, including Wynne, and you'll have to kill all of them. At that point,
you won't have a Templar army or a Mage army, which will likely make you pretty sad when the final
battle arrives.

Assuming that you decide not to kill everyone, you'll have access to either the mage army or the
Templar army at the end of the game. The mages are lousy at melee combat, but have excellent ranged
attacks. The Templars are the opposite, and do well against spellcasters. In the end, you're probably
better off with the mages since you'll have plenty of melee attackers in the end, but the choice is yours.
Now it's on to the village of Redcliffe.

Part 04: The Arle of Redcliffe

Jan 3, 2010

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Contents
Redcliffe
Heading Toward Castle Redcliffe
Hunting Connor
Back to the Fade

With the mages in line, it's time to get the rest of the humans on your side. That means going to
Redcliffe, where the Arle has mysteriously fallen ill. Drop by your campsite to talk to your party
members, stock up, then head to the Village of Redcliffe to see what's going on.

Redcliffe
Welcome to Redcliffe -- Zombie Invasions every evening at 8.

You arrive just outside of the Redcliffe limits, where you soon bump into Tomas. He'll explain that
there's trouble in the village and take you down to the Chantry. Bann Teagan will be waiting for you,
and after brief introductions, he'll explain that the village is in grave danger, and that the castle has
been locked up while the Arle is sick.

It seems that the forces of the undead have taken to attacking the village every night, but nobody is
entirely sure why. All they know is that the attacks are getting worse, and they need help to stop it.
Naturally, it's up to you and your four-person army to help get them out of this jam. You'll need to start
by helping Ser Perth and Murdock prepare the village for battle. Keep in mind that if you leave the
village at this point, you're essentially abandoning them to their fate. When you return, the village will
be empty.

Murdock needs help with the blacksmith. That mustache of his could use some help too.

As he's standing right in the middle of the village square, you'll probably run into Murdock first. He'll
tell you that the town guard needs weapons, but that Owen the blacksmith is currently refusing to
work. Offer to give him a hand, then head across the way to the smith's house.
The door will be locked, so you'll have to persuade or intimidate Owen into letting you in. Failing that,
you can either pick or smash the lock. Once you're insider, you can gain his help by offering to look for
his daughter, which will add the "Lost in the Castle" sidequest. If you're in a bad mood, you can simply
kill him, take his key and open up the trapdoor to gain access to his equipment stash. Either that, or
simply tell Murdock that the equipment cannot be repaired and that the guards will simply have to fight
with the weapons they have.

Look for Ser Perth near the windmill.

When you're finished convincing Owen (or sending him to an early grave), head on up the hill toward
the windmill to see Ser Perth. Take note of the windmill because you'll be back here a litte later. He'll
ask you to get Mother Hannah's blessing for the battle, but she'll be reluctant to give it without a
decent amount of persuasion. It won't make much difference one way or the other in the battle ahead,
so don't worry about it.

Keep poking around the village, and you'll find a number of other sidequests that will help you prepare
for the zombie assault. When you're ready, confirm with Ser Perth and Murdock that they're ready, and
you will shift automatically to night.

The undead attack! You'll begin on the hill, then battle zombies in the square

The battle ahead is actually fairly easy. Your forces will largely outnumber the zombie hordes, which
will ensure that they go down in a hurry. If you want to draw more zombies to the slaughter, just head
up the hill a bit, and more will appear. Eventually, you'll receive word that some of the undead have
managed to break through the lines and attack the town square, so head down as quickly as possible
to help.
After you've mopped up the last of the zombies, head back to the mill to talk to Bann Teagan. He'll tell
you that he plans to enter the castle through the main gates while you take a secret passageway. Once
you've finished restocking your supplies, head into the mill and enter the secret passageway.

Heading Toward Castle Redcliffe

And you thought you were finished with the undead

The basement is quite straightforward. As soon as you enter, you'll come face-to-face with some
enraged corpses, which will promptly charge. Knock them down with ranged magic or arrows, then
finish off the stragglers. You'll have to deal with more of them when you reach the stairs, but they'll be
more dangerous the second time around, since they'll rise up all around you. Do your best to retreat,
then strike your usual tactics.

Along the way, you'll encounter the blood mage Jowan in a cell. You can either kill him, leave him in
his cell, set him free or force him to leave the castle. Killing him or forcing him to leave will mean that
he can't help you later. However, since you should have completed the Broken Circle quest by now,
that won't be an issue. If you haven't completed Broken Circle and you set him free, you'll have no
choice but to embrace a substantially less appealing alternative option.
More corpses await on the main floor, along wih some Shades

The main floor is a bit more convoluted than the basement. When you appear, you'll be in the map's
northwest corner, with the goal being to get out to the Courtyard. Battle the various corpses that you
encounter, and be sure it pick the locked door on your left down the hallway. You'll pick up a nice
variety of treasure there.

Remember the Blacksmith's daughter? You can also find her on this floor. She'll in the northwest
corner of the map, in a small room near the end of the hall. You'll also be near the cellar, where there's
plenty of treasure.

When you get to the courtyard, make for the gate lever as quickly as possible.

When you arrive in the Courtyard, all will seem quiet, which of course means that you're walking into a
trap. Sure enough, venturing out into the courtyard will prompt a host of archers to rise up and attack
near the door to the castle. The real threat, however, is the Revenant lurking in the far corner, which is
quite capable of annihilating your party.

If you try to fight them all at once, you'll be swiftly overwhelmed. Instead, hit the Gate Lever to bring in
Ser Perth and company. They'll tie up the undead, which will give you a chance to kill the archers and
overwhelm the Revenant. Once they're gone, you can reenter the castle through the main door. Be
sure to bring Ser Perth with you, since he'll be of assistance in another fight just ahead.

Don't worry about killing Teagan, he'll be fine.

You'll arrive to find the Arle's son possessed by a demon, and Bann Teagan under his thrall. After a
few choice words, he'll command his soldiers to attack, then flee. Don't hold back -- defeating Teagan
will only save him from Connor's mind control.

Your best option is to head back to the Circle tower and grab a spare mage

If you opted to allow Jowan to live, he will suggest using a blood ritual to send a mage into the Fade,
where they can hunt down and destroy the demon investing Connor. Unfortunately, such a ritual
requires a sacrifice, and Isolde is the only viable option. However, sacrificing her will greatly lower
Alistair's opinion of you, which will have an impact on the endgame. A better solution is to head to the
Circle Tower and pick up a few mages, who will use lyrium to perform the ritual instead.

Edited: (The only way to use the mages and the lyrium is to have sided with the mages in The broken
Circle. If you have sided with the mages you can go back to The Broken Circle. Once you enter talk to
Irving and you can be able to enter the fade without sacraficing Isolde. You will get Alistair's approval.)

Along the way, you may end up bumping into the Elven rogue Zevran, who will join your party if you
defeat him. Jump to the next section if you decide to head back to the Circle Tower or sacrifice Isolde
(and remember to get some extra lyrium!). Otherwise, read on.

Hunting Connor

These knights will try to surround you. Lure them to the door back into the main chamber and use it as
a bottleneck.

You'll find Connor outside the bedchamber. Speak with him to get the Desire Demon to appear, which
cause the battle to commence. When you get her down to about 1/4 health, the demon will vanish and
a variety of corpses will animate around you. You'll have to take them out to continue.

Later on, the demon will vanish again, and this she'll be replaced by Lesser Rage Demons. As usual,
ice spells are extremely effective against them. This is a battle of attrition, so hopefully you're well-
prepared. When Connor is defeated, Isolde will run in to plea for his life. You can either knock her out
and do the dirty deed yourself, or convince her that her entire family will suffer if he doesn't die. Either
way, be prepared for some heavy disapproval from your party.

Back to the Fade

Isn't the Fade great? Now go hunt that demon

Oh good, the Fade again. You can only send yourself (as a mage), Morrigan or Wynne, with the rest of
the party staying behind. As you can see, we opted to send in Morrigan for her superior offensive
magic and her ability to shapeshift. If you chose to be a mage though, your own character will likely be
the better choice.

Edited: if you let Jowan live, and ask for Circle of Magi for help in getting you into the Fade, you will
also have the option to send "Jowan" into the fade and fight the demon. Although Jowan is capable of
casting blood magic, he has only crappy gear with him. And in the end, you won't have the option to
talk out of the fight.

Step through the first portal that you see, and you'll find Connor standing near his bed. Goad the
Desire Demon into attacking you, then defeat her. She's quite weak, and should go down very quickly.

The Spider form's web ability is an excellent way to immobilize the demon

Head back to where you came, and you'll find Connor and his bed again. When the demon appears this
time, she'll bring a Lesser Rage Demon with her. If you're playing as Morrigan, crush the Lesser Rage
Demon with cold spells, then focus on the Desire Demon. She'll go down quickly, especially if you're
going into Spider form.

The demon still isn't finished with you though. It's back to the other area, where you'll again find
Connor. This time, she'll bring two Lesser Rage Demons with her. Same process, though you may
need lyrium this time around.

The final battle will be a bit tougher than the others

The final battle will be a bit tougher than the others, but you don't necessarily have to fight her.
Instead, you can make a deal for Connor's soul. She'll give you a reward in exchange for the right to
return for him at some later date. In the meantime, you'll get the specialization, and the right to
continue fighting the Blight. The decision won't have a direct impact on your gameplay experience, but
you'll be a bad, bad person nevertheless. In exchange, you can receive the blood mage specialization,
an increase in approval with any party member save Oghren, a tome that grants a talent point, or uh...
"pleasure." It's up to you.

Otherwise, it's a battle to the death, and you'll find that she's much more resilient against your spells
this time around. She also has the ability to split into many different copies, and will only return to
normal when you choose a form and attack. This fight will be a battle of attrition, so hopefully you've
saved some lyrium and poultices for yourself.

Edit: When the demon "splits" into many different copies, a flash of light will emanate from one of
them. Attack this one and the others will disappear. This speeds up the fight considerably.

No matter how you go about it, Redcliffe will eventually be free of the Desire Demon's influence.
However, Arl Eamon still needs curing, and that means seeking out the Urn of Sacred Ashes. However,
don't forget to give the castle a good lotting before you depart. There are lots of good items, including
a special pendant to gift to Alistair. Your next quest awaits!

Part 05: The Urn of Sacred Ashes

Nov 18, 2009

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Contents
Denerim
Haven
The Ruined Temple
Caverns
Boss Battle: Kolgrim
The Mountaintop and the Gauntlet
Back at Castle Redcliffe

In order to get the humans on your side for the battle against the darkspawn, Arle Eamon must be
revived. That means uncovering the Urn of Sacred Ashes, which is unfortunately be guarded by a
rather insane cult. Your first job is to find Brother Genitivi, an expert on the Urn who lives in the human
capital of Denerim. As ever though, even that simple task isn't as easy as it sounds.

Denerim

Denerim is your first stop in the search for the Urn. Check out the market, and look for Brother Genitivi

Denerim is the bustling capitol of the human empire, and home to a huge market. As you might expect
from such a large location, there's plenty to keep you busy, even if you opt to put your hunt for the Urn
on the backburner. Check out the market for a variety of goods, and ask around for sidequests. When
you're ready, head to the southeast section of the market district to find Brother Genitivi's home.

Unfortunatel, Brother Genitivi is out when you drop by. You are instead greeted by his assistant
Weylon, who informs you that the brother has been missing for a while now. Weylon will say that
Brother Genitivi was last seen at Lake Calenhad, but you can save yourself a trip if you have a high
enough cunning score. Either you can trick him into revealing that he's lying through dialogue, or you
can try opening the door to Brother Genitivi's room. He will try to interpose, at which point you can
insist on opening the door. Whether you trick him, or you try and open the door, Weylon will attack.
Weylon is a pushover. Kill him to see what exactly he's hiding

Weylon is a pushover, and he will go down quickly under the weight of your party. If you listen to his
lies and go to the Spoiled Princess, the bartender won't know who you're talking about, and you'll find
a pack of cultists waiting for you outside. When you get back to Denerim, you'll have to fight Weylon
anyway. It's up to you whether you want the extra experience.

Either way, after Weylon goes down, search Genitivi's bedroom to find some of his research. The
Village of Haven will be unlocked on your world map, and you can be on your way.

Haven

Yes, you will have to butcher the entire village. Have fun.

The village of Haven lives up to its name, but unfortunately it's a haven from people like you. The
villagers will treat you with extreme suspicion and basically do everything in your power to make you
go away. Poke around enough, and you'll eventually be attacked.

There are a few ways to get waves to cultists to descend upon you. You can check the back area of the
shop to find the body of a Redcliffe Knight, you can investigate the bloodied altar in the abandoned
home, or you can persist in questioning Father Eirik in the Chantry. In all three cases, you will
inevitably be attacked.

However you do it, you goal is to kill Father Eirik. Eirik has a few goons, but he isn't tough. Get him to
focus on your tank, then have everyone take out the mooks. When he's down, you will recover the
Cultist Medallion from his body, which is your key to the Ruined Temple nearby. There's also a secret
passageway in the corner of the Chantry, where you'll find Brother Genitivi.

Genitivi will open the secret passageway for you

After some minor chit-chat, Genitivi will ask to go with you, then open up the secret passageway into
the Ruined Temple. Now the hunt is really on.

The Ruined Temple

You need to go straight ahead, but the door is locked. The key can be found in the Cultist Chambers.

You'll begin in the Ruined Temple, which is crawling with Cultist Mages, Archers and Reavers, as well
as the dangerous Ash Wraiths. The mages should be your top priority, as their fireball attacks can be
brutal. If you find yourself drawing Ash Wraiths, trying to knock them out with magic. Be warned that
you are apt to be overwhelmed if Ash Wraiths mix with cultists, so do your best to keep them separate.

Using the map above, head to the Cultist Chambers, where you'll be able to find the Southeastern
Chamber Key. Make sure you take it as slowly as possible because there are a ton of cultists, and they
are quite capable of overwhelming you. Cone of Cold will really help, as if I can freeze several enemies
at once. If you have someone with Stone Fist, they can even shatter a foe. Otherwise, try to bottleneck
them and hit them with Area of Effect spells. Grab the Southeastern Chamber Key from the ornate
chest, then head to the locked door in the southeastern corner.

Area of Effect spells work quite well if you can trap your foes in a doorway

When you arrive at the door, you'll be ambushed by more cultists. Thankfully, these cultists aren't very
smart, because you have a ton of room to maneuver. Once you have dispensed with them, go in and
grab the Main Door Key and open all the treasure chests you can.

The Cultist Mage is your top priority

You can now open the main door, but as you might have guessed, there will be more baddies waiting
for you when you do. As before, the cultist mage is your top priority -- if you don't take him down, he
will destroy you with AoE spells. Second priority should be Ash Wraiths, which are more dangerous
than your average cultists. The whole time archers will be peppering you with arrows, so remember
Heroic Aura or other missile defenses if you have them.

Ignite the magic brazier, and continue on your way to the next section of the dungeon. At the top, an
Ash Wraith will materialize to menace your party, and cultists will rush in through doors on either side
of the chamber. Back off, regroup, and try to take out the Ash Wrath as quickly as possible. Frost
spells like Winter's Grasp work well, and AoE magic is useful for keep cultists off your back. You'll
need to heal early and often to survive with spells like Group Heal and poultices.

You might want to avoid getting greedy and opening those chests

At this point, you will find yourself at a fork in the road. The good news is that it doesn't matter which
way you go, so head west. Kill any cultists you see, and keep walking when you come upon the
treasure chests -- they all contain Ash Wraiths. The only one with treasure is locked. The stairs at the
end of the hallway lead to the Caverns.

Caverns
This section is grueling. Keep to the left to get out alive, hit the side roads to find Drakes and cultists

Almost as soon as you enter the Caverns, you will come under attact by a cultist overseer and his
goon. Luckily, you've got plenty of cover, and it's quite possible to lure enemy combatants to your
position. Crush them as they approach.

The overseer is your toughest foe when you enter this section

Beyond the entrance, you wiill eventually encounter Drakes and Dragonlings. The latter you've met
before, but the former are older and much more dangerous, using an overrun attack that will do
devastating damage. If you don't freeze and shatter them with the Cone of Cold/Stone Fist
combination, they are more than capable of overwhelming your party. Drakes lurk in the chamber at
the very top of the map, and a smaller chamber to the side, so beware. Unless you're looking for
scales, you probably don't want to venture into the rightward chamber.

Heading down the left side, you will encounter a lone mage and a couple assassins. The assasins are
nasty, and will use backstabs to keep you offguard. Do your best to keep your tank on them while you
go for the mages, and focus your fire as much as possible.
Cultists will attack first up top, then Dragonlings, then Drakes and cultists together

If you decide to tempt the topmost chamber, you will find yourself beset by three waves of foes. First
cultists will attack, with a mage bringing up the rear. After that, the much easier Dragonlings will come
in, but they will be aided by the magic-wielding Cultist Overseer. Finally, two Drakes will join a bunch
of cultists. The final group is obviously the most dangerous, with the two Drake's being overwhelming
on your own. Freeze them and shatter them, or try to knock everyone down with fireballs. Don't move
into the open, or you will be surrounded and killed by all three waves at once. Stay in the hallway, and
try and bottleneck them. Your reward will be a couple Drake Scales, three of which will gain you the
excellent Drake Scale Armor from Wade's Emporium in Denerim.

Boss Battle: Kolgrim

You can either defile the Urn for Kolgrim, or you can simply fight and kill him

Kolgrim is the leader of the cultists, and believe it or not, he's actually optional. If you agree to taint the
Urn with a vial of Dragon's Blood, he will let you pass. More on that a little later.

It's easy to provoke Kolgrim into a fight. When you do, he and a couple other soldiers will immediately
rush forward, while two mages and a couple archers will take up positions to the rear. Run past
Kolgrim, then if you have a lockdown spell or attack, use it. You need to hold Kolgrim in place while
you take down your ranged foes. Have each party member work to hold him down in turn, or he will
swiftly overwhelm you.

With the mages out of the way, you're free to focus on the reavers, so long as you remember to keep
Kolgrim from attacking. When he does get a chance to attack -- and it'll happen at least a couple times
-- be ready to heal. With the the reavers out of the way, he will be outnumbered and vulnerable. Take
him down, and collect his horn, along with the rest of the available treasure.

The Mountaintop and the Gauntlet

Unless you want a nasty fight, don't use the horn here

There's a dragon waiting for you when you go outside. He wants to eat you. Don't worry though, he'll
leave you alone as you cross. If you decide to get cute and use Kolgrim's Horn though, he will swoop
down and crush you. Unless you have a very powerful party, consider this fair warning.

Edited: This High dragon drops a fair amount of equipments along with a piece of "Dragon Scale",
which can be used to craft into "Dragonskin Armor" by delivering it to the armor smith Wade in his
shop "Wade's Imporium" in Denerim.
You have chosen wisely. Be nice to The Guardian, and he'll let you in

The Guardian is waiting for you at the entrance to the Gauntlet. He'll ask you a question about your
past, but the answer won't matter much so long as you don't directly insult him. Continue to treat him
kindly, and he'll let you pass.

More riddles! They aren't very hard though

Your first task will be to answer the riddles. They're pretty self-evident if you take the time to listen to
them, but in case you're stuck, here are the answers:

Ealisay: A tune
Lady Vasilia: Vengeance
Disciple Havard: The mountains
Disciple Cathaire: Hunger
Brona: Dreams
Thane Shartan: Home
General Maferath: Jealousy
Archon Hessarian: Mercy
Answering incorrectly will cause each riddler to turn into an Ash Wraith and attack. The door will open
when all Ash Wraiths are defeated and all riddles solved.

The next test is a fight against a duplicate of your party

After a brief run-in with a figure from your past (answer however you like), you'll find yourself in a
battle with the unlikeliest of opponents -- your party. Four ghostly dopplegangers will appear to do
battle, and you'll find all of your usual tactics thrown in your face. Exercise common sense -- you
should be able to recognize your own most powerful attacks. If you have mages in your party, you
might want to target them first, because they are likely to be the most powerful spellcasts you've faced
yet. Beyond that, have fun -- this is one of Dragon Age's cooler fights.

Finally, we have the third puzzle. Use the images below for a step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Right One, Right Two, Left Three. Main character moves.
Step 2: Right Two, Left Three, Left Six. Keep moving.

Step 3: Right Two, Right Four, Left Six. Then shift Right Two to Left One. Keep moving.
Step 4: Right Four, Right Five, Left One. Then have Right Four move to Left Five. Finish crossing.

Time to bare it all

At last, you will arrive at an altar. Remove your equipment, then step through the fire. Take a pinch of
the ashes, and don't forget to pick up a treasure from the poor, dead adventurer nearby. If you want to
defile the ashes now, this is your chance, but beware -- both Wynne and Leliana will attack along with
the Guardian if you do. In exchange, you'll get the Reaver specialization from Kolgrim and the
satisfaction of being really evil.

With the ashes in hand, you can now head out.

Edited: If you agreed to defile the ashes with Kolgrim but you didn't, Kolgrim will be waiting you out
side of the Gauntlet at this point. You will have to fight him here if you insist not to defile the ashes.
Fighting Kolgrim here is easier than fighting him in the cave earlier as you will be only engaging
Kolgrim and two of his reavers here. A mage and a draking will also turn hostile at the same time
but won't engage you unless drawn upon.

There's a shortcut back to the Ruined Temple that you can use, and on your way out, you'll bump into
Brother Genitivi. He'll want to bring people to visit the Urn, so agree with him. If you don't, you'll have
to kill him. If you let him live, he'll give you a reward back in Denerim.

Back at Castle Redcliffe

Use the ashes on Arle Eamon, and he will awaken at last. Confetti will fall, trumpets will play, and the
whole kingdom will rejoice. Well, not really, but he'll be pretty happy. You will gain the services of the
Redcliffe Army for the final battle, as well as the Champion Specialty if you opt to accept Eamon's
reward.

If you chose the warrior, you will probably want to be greedy and accept the reward. Being a Champion
means abilities that will buff the whole party, and will come in quite useful. With Redcliffe now back in
order, it's time to move on to Orzammar to gain the service of the dwarves.

Part 06: A Paragon of Her Kind

Mar 3, 2011

Edit | History | Contributors

Contents
Frostback Mountains
Orzammar
Siding with Bhelen
Siding with Harrowmont
Dust Town
The Carta Hideout
Boss Battle: Jarvia
Caradin's Cross
The Dead Trenches
Boss Battle: Brood Mother
Anvil of the Void
Boss Battle: Branka/Caridin
Crowning a King

Get ready, because you're about to embark on the longest, hardest quest of the game. You'll be
fighting your way through multiple dungeons and some vicious boss fights. Go and do some
sidequests, collect yourself, then head to the Frostback Mountains. Be warned, Orzammar is not for
the faint of heart, or for someone who's just getting started with the quests.

Frostback Mountains
Sorry Imrek, no entrance for you. Unless you persuade or intimidate him, you'll have a fight on your
hands.

On the way up to the front steps, you'll bump into a group of Bounty Hunters. You shouldn't have
much trouble with them so long as you keep an eye on the mage. When they go down, continue past
the gossips and up to the front door, where you'll find a messenger for Loghain arguing for the right to
enter Orzammar.

It's possible to dissuade or intimidate Imrek from attacking, but he will most likely attack in the end. He
has some reasonably tough bodyguards with him, but they're no worse than the Bounty Hunters you
just faced. Defeat them, then head into Orzammar.

Orzammar

There are lots of vendors in the commons. Make sure to have a walk around.

After passing through the Hall of Heroes (the statues are worth codex entries), you'll find yourself in
the Orzammar Commons. There are lots of vendors here as well as the usual array of sidequests, so
make sure you have a walk around before you continue. When you're ready, head to the Diamond
Quarter.

Bhelen's representative is in the Chamber of the Assembly, Harrowmont's guy will be at his estate.

You now have a choice between supporting Lord Harrowmont and Prince Bhelen for the throne. You
eventually have to pick one, so just pick one and stick with them. Think of it as a necessary evil.
Depending on who you pick, you'll have separate tasks.

Siding with Bhelen

Bhelen's representative will want you to deliver two notes for him.

Bhelen's representative will be waiting for you in the Chamber of the Assembly. He won't let you meet
the prince until you're proven trustworthy, and that means running a couple errands for him. He'll ask
you to deliver a note apiece to Lord Helmi and to Lady Dace.

You'll find Lady Dace in the Diamond Quarter, but she'll tell you that she doesn't have the authority to
vote. You'll have to go and seek out her father in Aeducan Thaig. Helmi is in Tapster's Tavern, and he'll
be amiable to changing his vote.
Head into the cavern, where you'll encounter a large number of darkspawn and deep stalkers. It won't
take long to find Lord Dace, who is being overrun by Deep Stalkers. After you beat back the first wave,
more will show up, along with the deep stalker leader. Keep Dace's forces in front and support them as
best you can. After you've saved Dace, show him the papers. Return to the Chamber of the Assembly,
and you will be deemed trustworthy. Head to the Royal Estate to meet with Bhelen.

Siding with Harrowmont

You'll need to fight in the Proving Grounds for Harrowmont.

If you decide to side with Harrowmont, his agent will be waiting in his estate. Head in, and he'll tell you
that the best way to show support for Harrowmont is to fight in his name at the Proving Grounds.
Agree, then head back to the Commons and down to the Proving Grounds to get started.

Two of Harrowmont's fighters withdrew from the Proving, and both of them can be found in the waiting
area. If you persuade or intimidate them into joining you, they will give you a hand in the battle.
Otherwise, they'll leave.

The first fight is one-on-one, and it should be quite easy. Use your normal abilities, and Serewryn will
go down swiftly. The next fight is a 2-on-1 -- likewise, this should be an easy fight if you focus on one
first, then the other. The third fight is another one-on-one, and the "silent sister" will go down every bit
as quickly as Serewryn. In the fourth fight, you can choose your companion. Pick your other best
fighter, or a mage that can help with healing, and have at it.
Careful, this fight is really tough.

The final battle is quite tough. You get your whole party, but they get four fighters as well. Piotin and
his Right Hand are very tough fighters, so focus on the henchmen first. Do your best to keep them
locked down over the course of the fight or you will find yourself quickly overwhelmed. When you're
victorious, go and report back to Dulin at Tapster's Tavern, then go meet Harrowmont at his estate.
From this point, the two quests merge.

Dust Town

Unfortunately, the entrance to the Carta Hideout isn't quite so obvious as it appears

Your mission is to find the Dwarven crimelord Jarvia and kill her. Unfortunately, her whereabouts
aren't exactly obvious, and the people of Dust Town are too scared to talk. You'll have to do some
bribing in order to find the entrance to her hideout.
Your best bet is Nadezda, who is huddling near a fire in the center of town.

You have a few options for finding the entrance to Jarvia's hideout, but your best bet is Nadezda, who
is huddling by a fire in the center of town. With a little prompting, she'll tell you that you need token to
get through Dust Town's suspicious door. Other alternatives include bribing Rogek, or talking to
Alimar.

Once you have your info, head into the Slums Household, and you'll find Jarvia's men waiting for you.
Beat them, and the leader will surrender when he's low on health. With high enough persuasion or
intimidation, the thug will tell you how to get in. Otherwise, you'll have to kill him and take the token
from his body. Use it on the suspicious door, and you'll be into Jarzia's hideout.

The Carta Hideout

If you see a side room, you can pretty much guarantee that Jarvia has waiting hiding there.

When you enter the hideout, you'll run into a doorman who will ask for the password. Obviously, you
don't know the password, so you're going to have to fight. Pick whatever sounds good to go (we just
said "Uh-oh"), then get to work your usual tactics. Get use to the mix of thugs that you'll meet at the
door, because you'll be fighting them throughout the hideout.

In the bottom middle portion of the map, you'll find a prison along with a bunch of heavily-armed
jailors. If you played through the Dwarf Commoner origin, this is your chance to rescue your pal Leske
and set the record straight. Otherwise, set him free because it's the nice thing to do (or don't). The
jailors have the key.

If you played through the Dwarf Commoner origin, this is your chance to make things right with Leske.

Jarvia's hideout is quite straightforward so long as you realize that all of the siderooms contain thugs.
If you have a rogue in your party, you'll be getting a lot of trinkets from the chests you find. Otherwise,
just battle the thugs for experience. That goes for the cross-shaped intersection near the top of the
map. If you want to get to Jarvia, just go straight ahead when you reach that insersection, and you'll
find her. Be wary in the latter portions of the hideout because you'll eventually run into assassins, and
they absolutely love to backstab you.

Boss Battle: Jarvia

Like the Kolgrim fight, but with a twist.

This fight has a fair amount in common with the Kolgrim fight form the "Urn of Sacred Ashes" quest,
but with twist. As before, goons will charge while ranged fighters hang back, but Jarvia won't engage
right away. Instead, you'll need to defeat her melee-based thugs and assassins before she wades into
the fray and engages.

Jarvia is tough, and she's even tougher if you've got ranged fighters shooting at you. Trying to knock
them out with AoE attacks, and keep Jarvia locked down by any means necessary. After a certain
amount of damage, she'll retreat and more assassins will appear. Disengage and go for the goons, take
them out, and she'll attack once again. Be aware that if you get too close, she has no qualms about
attacking, so don't get too far from the doorway. Beware -- if you venture too far into the chamber,
there are explosive traps, and they will mess you up. Added incentive to stay in the doorway.

Caradin's Cross

The main highway is broken, so you'll have to go around. You know what that means.

With Jarvia gone, your chosen candidate has one more task for you. You'll need to venture into the
Deep Roads and recover the Paragon, who has the power to cast the deciding vote and thus decide the
king. This is the meat of the quest, and can be extremely difficult if you're not prepared. You'll be
battling through three separate dungeons and two difficult bosses, so have plenty of lyrium, poultices
and injury kits with you. If you're still early in the game, you might want to turn around now! The final
boss is absolutely brutal for early characters.

Caridin's Cross is relatively straight-forward. The main highway is broken, so you'll have to go around,
which of course means battling through tons of darkspawn. The gang is all here, incuding Genlocks,
Hurlocks, Emissaries and Ogres. Luckily, you'll have a fair amount of room to operate, which means
that you'll be able to set up a gauntlet of pain for their approach.
If you're not careful, you'll provoke a ton of enemies into swarming you.

Before you even get started, you'll have to make your way past some hired goons. These are of the
same sort you fought in Jarvia's hideout, so dispatch them as you usually do. When you're finished,
head down the highway and make a right into the large open cavern. Be extremely careful when you
enter the open area, because the darkspawn are everywhere.

Inch your way forward carefully, and tempt out whatever darkspawn you see with ranged attacks.
They'll rush you, and you'll be able to take them down quickly. If you simply run in, you'll probably be
cut down by the oncoming tide, so take your time. When you reach the first campire, an Emissary will
be waiting for you. If you approach, he'll immediately run into a corner, where he'll make your life
miserable with AoE attacks. With the rest of the darkspawn gone, try to snipe him from a distance if
you can.

The first of many Ogres that you'll meet down here in the depths.

Make your way over to the bridge. Take it very, very slowly. A Hurlock Alpha will attack, and you
should be able to take him down 4-1 as long as you don't move forward too quickly. If you do move
forward, archers will appear behind you and make your life miserable. When the Alpha is gone, be
ready for the archers. More campfires are up ahead, so use the tactics as before. You can probably get
quite a few shots on the Ogre lurking near the fire before he gets up close. When he does, get your
tank up there and lock him down with your mage.

Beware of the Ballista. And whatever you do, don't rush this area.

When you pop out, you'll find yourself in the midst of some Genlocks and an enraged Bronto. Focus
on the charging beast first, then knock out the Genlocks as usual. You now have a choice -- follow the
main highway and brave a fortified position, or head down another side road. The fortified position is
tough, but the side road has a number of vicious Shrieks as well as an Ogre Alpha. You will have
encountered a Shriek earlier, but they can be tough -- they charge very quickly, and are only really
susceptible to magic. If one approaches, have your mage ready. Either route will get you to the next
area, so the choice is yours.

If you decide to attack the Ballista, try to hang back and snipe the darkspawn that's firing the bolts. It
might seem counterintuitive, but if he's getting nailed by magic or arrows, he'll have a hard time
targeting and taking you down. With the Ballista out of commission, you can more safely attack. With
the position under your control, the darkspawn will charge, but this time you'll be the one with the
Ballista. Use it wisely.
Dodging the main highway means you get to fight this guy, who will be lurking up a side passageway.

Whichever route you choose, you'll eventually make it to the route leading to the next area, which is
Ortan Thaig. Take a deep breath -- you're not even close to being finished yet.

The crazy dwarf in the area marked by the "x" in the corner" has a few goods to trade, but not much.

When you roll into Ortan Thaig, you might notice that most of the darkspawn are not in the best of
condition. Actually, they're all dead. Want to guess what did it? That's right, now you get to fight tons
of giant spiders. They're tough little buggers, and they love to use their Overwhelm attack to bring
extra pain to your caster's fleshy bits. Destroy them before they get too close.
Yeah, this happens quite a bit. Be ready to be be webbed.

You'll run into your first batch of spiders as you exit the long passageway near the beginning or Ortan
Thaig. They have a tendency to swarm, and the little buggers move quickly, so watch out. If they get up
close, they'll use webbing to hold you down. Burn them with fire, or freeze and shatter them. Beware
that a number of them will be ranked (their name will be yellow, not white), which will make it
impossible to shatter them.

Further up the passageway, you'll actually bear witness to a large scale fight between the darkspawn
and the spiders. You don't have a particular rooting interest in either side -- other than to see them
both die, of course -- so hang back and shoot the spiders. The darkspawn will probably be
overwhelmed, but you can knock out quite a few spiders before that happens. When you move up
ahead, take care because there's a Shriek Alpha lurking around. Take it down with magic.

Walk into this web, and you'll have to deal with a lot of spiders.

When you've finished off the spiders and the darkspawn, you'll head back into the tunnel network to
find a spider, which quickly scuttles behind a web. Walk (or charge) into this web, and you'll find
yourself quickly surrounded by hordes of Poisonous Spiders, at which point you'll likely lose a
character or two (or three). Snipe the spider and make it charge, then continue across.

Remember the Golems? Well, they're back.

In the city proper you'll get a temporary respite from spiders, only to have to fight Golems and Enraged
Spirits. If you remember how tough Golems were in the Broken Circle quest, realize that they aren't any
easy here. Worse, you don't have the Golem form with which to deal with them anymore. Make them a
top priority target, taking care to pummel them with magic. The spirits likewise go down fairly quickly
to magic.

After talking to Ruck, continue across the bridge.

Ruck will be waiting for you in the upper portion of the city, but he'll be nervous at first. Be nice to him,
and he'll grow to trust you (even characters with low cunning shouldn't have trouble -- he's not what
you would call "smart"). When you're ready, make your way to the bridge crossing, where you'll find a
large number of Golems and Forgotten Spirits. Lure the Golem away one at a time, then engage.
Otherwise, you risk being overwhelmed.

Down the narrow passageway, the spiders will return. They love coming down from the ceiling, so get
ready for a few good scares. Your biggest concern should be the Genlock Emissary waiting for you in
the opening ahead, which will try to pelt you with AoE attacks, as per usual. Do your best to snipe him
lest you be overwhelmed.

There's no such thing as a "Spider Queen," except in fantasy. This one will give you a rough time
though.

Shortly after the Genlock Emissary is defeated, you'll find the Corrupted Spider Queen. She'll attack
with some of her minions, so get her kids out of the way before you strike. Beware, because she not
only has a decently strong spit attack, but will web up your entire team as well. Cycle through your
normal spells and keep her locked down. When she's hurt enough, she'll vanish into the ceiling, and
more spiders will attack. When the mooks have been defeated, mom will attack again. Rinse and
repeat, and the Spider Queen will go down. Have a look at Branka's Journal, then continue into The
Dead Trenches.

The Dead Trenches

And you thought you were almost finished. Get ready for the longest dungeon yet.
Congratulations, you're mostly rid of the spiders. Unfortunately, you've still got another long dungeon
ahead of you, with a tough (not to mention disgusting) boss waiting at the end. Not long after arriving,
you'll find a host of Dwarven Legionnaires guarding the bridge into the area. Waves of darkspawn will
pound your position, making forward progress difficult.

Fend off the initial charge, then push slowly across the bridge

You'll need to fight slowly across the bridge to get a foothold on the other side. If you get too
damaged, run back to the Legionnaires to take a quick break, then jump back into the fray. You'll
encounter Ogres, Hurlocks, Genlocks, Shrieks -- pretty much everything you can think of. Your best
bet is to set up a gauntlet and let them run through your hail of arrows, where they'll be cut down by
your swords. When the bridge is clear, the Legionnaires will run to the other side and thank you. Later,
you can persuade the head Legionnaire Kardol to join your cause against the darkspawn if you have
enough cunning and persuasion. Otherwise, he'll thank you politely and leave.

Lots of treasure to be had in the tombs

Head to the left of the massive gate and take the narrow, winding trail. More darkspawn will attack, but
they will come from straight ahead, so you can take them out with the gauntlet. When you pop out into
the main area, you'll find that you can investigate a number of side areas. These are all tombs, and
each of the coffins are full of treasure. If you're hurting for items, it's not a bad idea to investigate them
thoroughly.

This guy drops a killer bow

After working your way through another gaggle of Genlocks and Hurlocks (and a Genlock Emissary --
watch out), you'll find that there's a forge area to your right. An extremely powerful archer is waiting for
you there, along with two normal archers and a complement of Hurlocks. He's tough to take down, but
it's worth it. He drops a some good items, and a positively murderous bow. You will not find anything
better for quite a while, so get it while you can. Be careful though -- if you rush him, you're apt to be
overwhelmed by Hurlocks from behind. Wait until the coast is clear, or just snipe him from afar with
your whole party.

Get to a corner quickly, or you'll be flanked and destroyed

Just before you reach a massive bridge, you'll reach a room where you'll be assaulted by a large
number of skeletons. Keep to the door and pick them off. When you're finished, make your way across
the bridge. A little way forward, Shrieks will suddenly come from both sides. Quickly get to one of the
little alcoves on the side so that they come from front. If they flank and surround you, you will die.
There's a lot of them, so break out the crowd control, then move on.

A peculiar altar lies ahead, along with an Emissary and some more skeletons. Take out the Emissary,
then focus on the skeletons. If you let the darkspawn mage do his thing, you know what will happen.
Make your way down the tunnels ahead, and you'll eventually come upon a thoroughly messed up
dwarf who used to work for Branka. She'll ramble on for a bit, then flee.

The spirits won't attack -- until you have the key, that is

Past a locked door, you'll find a room with a lot of Forgotten Spirits just kind of chilling out. They won't
attack, so just head past them, grab the codex from the altar, then go a little further and get the key
you need (along with a piece of armor of the "Lost Caste" sidequest. The spirits will promptly attack,
so use the natural chokepoint to your advantage. Be careful -- there's a lot of them. Lock them down
with your mages and take them out. The answer to all this madness isn't far now.

Boss Battle: Brood Mother

The God of War team called - they want their assets back. In the meantime, kill those tentacles

Oh yes, the Brood Mother, a boss that seems to have been plucked directly from God of War, tentacles
and all. The Brood Mother will seem quite formidable, but that's only the case if you get too close to
her. Stay back, and focus on one tentacle at a time, and she's actually a cinch.

When she sends out her tentacles, focus fire them with your party. They'll go down quickly and ensure
that you don't get too damaged. When they're all gone, open up with all of your ranged powers -- bows
and magic most likely. Save your magic points though, because you're going to need them for what is
a pretty long fight.

Kill the Hurlocks as fast as possible, then focus on the tentacles

Being the Brood Mother, she'll start spawning more darkspawn for you to fight when the tentacles
return. Kill the darkspawn as fast as possible so they don't get in the way of the tentacle killing. When
you're finished, start focus firing again until they tentacles are gone, then open up on the Brood
Mother once again.

When she gets down to 25 percent health, archers will appear along with more tentacles (oh lovely).
Kill the archers, then prepare for a couple Shrieks. They're every bit as annoying as usual, and you'll
have tentacles waving everywhere besides. Kill them as fast as you can before refocusing on the
tentacles. When the appendages go down, fire everything you have at that Brood Mother. She'll go
down in no time. Head to the Anvil of the Void, and prepare for another boss fight.

Anvil of the Void

This is the last area. Promise.

Make room of Oghren in your party, because he's joining you whether you like it or not. Luckily, he's
splendid as a two-handed weapon user, so let him jump up front and deal out the damage. In the
meantime, not long after you enter the Anvil of the Void area, you'll bump into the Paragon Branka, and
she's every bit as crazy as you might imagine. Seems there are a large number of traps ahead, and she
wants you to disarm them so she can get the Anvil of the Void. Sounds lovely.

They just keep on coming. Use your standard tactics.

Unfortunately, you're not done with the darkspawn just yet. Waves of Genlocks and Hurlocks will
attack as you trudge your way through the rubble. Use the same tactics that you've used over the
course of this whole dungeon, and you'll be fine.
Whatever you do, don't fight the Golems in the gas room.

When you arrive at the room full of gas, don't panic. Your characters can handle the gas just fine, but
not when fighting the Golem that springs to life when you enter. Lure it out, then use standard Golem-
fighting tactics on it -- basically, lots of spells. There'll be another one waiting when you go back in, so
rinse and repeat. When they're both gone, find all of the gas valves and shut them down.

More Golems! Don't let them use Hurl on you

More Golems await in the next room, only you'll have to fight two of them this time. When they spring
to life on either side of you, they'll both immediately use Hurl. Stop them, or you'll regret it. In our
party, Wynne used Stone Fist while Morrigan used Cone of Cold. From that point, focus fire on one and
take it out as fast as possible. Beware of Quake -- it will seriously mess up your characters. Use Group
Healing immediately if it happens. Two more Golems will spring to life up ahead -- use the same tactics
on them.
Focus on the anvil near the entryway

Another miniboss coming up. From the entryway, run up and engage the nearest Forgotten Spirit and
kill him. Then use the flashing anvil to blow up the Spirit Anvil's face. He'll spin, more spirits will
appear, rinse and repeat. Stay in the entryway simple so you have room to maneuver. When all the
faces are gone, you're not finished. Keep killing a spirit at a time and activating the anvil, and the
number of spirits will begin to diminish. When all of the spirits are gone, you'll be finished.

Boss Battle: Branka/Caridin

Choose your sides. The fight is brutal either way

Time for a choice -- Branka or Caridin. Pick Branka and you'll get a Golem army, but you'll suffer heavy
disapproval from your good characters. Pick Caridin and you'll get a dwarven army, with only Oghren
disapproving. Either way, you've got a fight on your hands -- a big one. You'll have to fight no fewer
than four Golems along with whichever character you picked against.
When Branka is badly injured, she'll make multiple copies of herself

Your strategies will differ depend on the makeup of your party. If you have powerful AoE attacks or
grease attacks, then you can keep the enemy Golems off-balance while you damage them from afar.
One quick way to do it is to freeze and shatter the two non-ranked Golems as quickly as possible with
Cone of Cold/Stone Fist, then focus-fire on the two remaining ones. You'll have two Golems on your
side -- don't waste them. They are invaluable against the boss. Try to

Your aim is to have at least one Golem still standing when you engage the boss. Try keeping it healed
with your spellcaster while pounding on the enemy Golems. At some point, you'll probably Quaked, so
have Group Heal ready, or at least a lot of poultices. When the last of the enemy Golems go down,
focus on the boss.

Caridin is a bigger, meaner Golem. Branka has a sword and shield and uses a variety of nasty
techniques to keep you off-balance, such as making multiple copies of herself. If she does so, don't
panic -- whichever one doesn't turn into a ghost when you attack it, whereas nothing will happen if you
attack the real one.

If you still have one or both Golems left, they'll immensely during the fight by offering a sturdy shield
and using their devastating Area of Effect spells. When the boss finally goes down, pat yourself on the
back -- Caridin/Branka are arguably the toughest non-optional bosses in the game.

Crowning a King
One last battle. Don't worry, this one is a piece of cake

Whichever Paragon you choose, you'll have a shiny new crown to award to the candidate of your
choice. If you choose Harrowmont, the other side will be most displeased. So displeased, in fact, that
they'll attack. If you choose Bhelen and say the paragon picked the King, then Harrowmont will back
down. avoiding a fight. If you dont mention the paragon a battle royale will ensue, but you don't have
to be too involved. The enemy is outnumbered, and will eventually be defeated. The succession battle
is over, but its legacy remains to some extent. Be ready to encounter Dwarven Rebels on the road.

With a new king crowned, you can now move on to your final quest -- a bid to get the Dalish Elves of
the Brecilian Forest onboard for the final fight.

Part 07: The Nature of the Beast

Dec 8, 2009

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Contents
Dalish Camp
East Brecilian Forest
Elven Ruins - Upper Level
Lair of the Werewolves
Keeper Zathrian

This will be your final quest, but it's actually quite easy, so you can finish it much earlier if you want. If
you're a mage and would like the Arcane Warrior specialty, you should probably do this one right after
Broken Circle.

Dalish Camp
Elves are always so prickly. Talk to the Keeper to receive your mission.

When you enter the Brecilian forest, you'll immediately be stopped by the Dalish. Ask to be brought to
their leader, and you'll meet Keeper Zathrian. He'll explain that werewolves have infected his people
with a terrible curse. Destroy the werewolves, and you'll have his support.

Before you go, you can get some equipment. If you ask Zathrian about equipment, he'll tell you that the
armorer has some available for you. After speaking with the smithy, you'll find the chest right behind
his area. It contains a fair amount of valuable equipment, including a decent bow and lyium potions.

edit: There is a young Dalish hunter in the camp who has some trouble with "girl problem". If you help
him out of it, whether by hunting pelts for him or simply talked the girl out of it, you would be rewarded
a history book, which could be useful later in trading with the mad hermit.

Make sure to talk to the Grand Oak before heading to the eastern part of the forest.

Without defined roads, the forest is actually a bit harder to navigate than most areas. Keep making a
general progression to the northwestern corner though, and you'll eventually make it.
Swiftrunner doesn't like you. Kill his lackeys, and he'll flee.

As you move through the forest, you'll encounter wolves, darkspawn and bears. You'll meet
Swiftrunner for the first up at the little crossroads island near the waterfall. He doesn't like you, and
will make his disdain clear by attacking. The werewolves are fast and like to use frenzy and overwhelm
attacks, so take care lest you suddenly find yourself with a dead tank. When Swiftrunner is defeated,
he'll flee.

You'll eventually meet the tormented werewolf Danyla. She'll beg you to kill her, but you can get some
information from her first. Agree to give something special to her husband and tell him that she's dead,
and she'll give you a scarf. You can give it to him, or you can use it for a task a little later in the woods.

The Ents, er, "Wild Sylvans" don't like fire. Wonder why?

Wild Sylvans dot the road to the eastern part of the forest. Burn them with the fire, and they'll go down
quickly. Their leader is next to the southeastern exit, and he's looking for an acorn. In exchange, he'll
give you a branch that will help you get past the next area. You can either go looking for it, or kill him
and take his reward for yourself. If you opt to fight him, he'll call in his Wild Sylvan buddies, and will
root your entire party in place for moderate damage. Use fire to kill him as fast as possible.
East Brecilian Forest

Head for the Elven Ruins at the bottom of the map. The Hermit is in the northwestern area marked by
the "x."

Your first stop after arriving in the East Brecilian Forest is the Hermit. After going around in verbal
circles for a bit, you'll have the opportunity to ask if wants to trade. Offer to trade for the acorn, and
he'll ask what you have. You have several options, many of them from sidequests, but the most
immediate is the scarf you may have obtained from the tormented werewolf Danyla earlier. Give it to
him, and you'll get the acorn. If you have other items (all of which are listed as options), you can use it
to get two other items from him as well. Be advised, if you trade him with a plot item, such as the scarf,
you can never have it back, not even by killing the hermit.

The "Mad Hermit" label isn't just for show. Don't feel too bad about killing him if you need to, but
trading is also good.

If you have nothing to trade, you'll either have to kill the Grand Oak and report what you did to the Mad
Hermit, or you'll have to take the acorn from the Hermit by force by poking around in his tree stump. If
you side against the Hermit, he'll reveal himself to be a powerful mage and strike. Use your anti-magic
skills, and try to take him down quickly. If you kill the Grand Oak, he'll ask you to bring him a werewolf
pelt, after which he'll make you a handy dandy disguise with which to slink around the forest.

However you obtained, it, you now have the means to get through the barrier blocking you from the
southern part of the map. Step through it, and get ready to fight Swiftrunner again. The fight is almost
exactly them as it was before. Defeat him, and he'll flee once again. After a brief encounter with a
Gatekeeper that will quickly flee, you can enter the Elven Ruins, which is where the werewolves call
home.

Elven Ruins - Upper Level

You'll be righting a real dragon before you exit this floor (bottom lefthand corner). Don't worry, he's a
pushover.

Werewolves will be around to great you when you enter the ruins. The spiders are back as well, so
remember that they like to use webbing attacks and other nasty moves. The side chambers are like
tombs, and contain plenty of treasure if you're willing to look.
No, you're not done with the spiders yet.

There are secret passageways as soon as you enter, but they contain little more than skeletal warriors.
Likewise, if you go north after killing the werewolves in the center area, you'll find that the entrance to
the "Lair of the Werewolves" is locked. You'll have to plunge on through, where you'll encounter more
spiders. Watch out for webbing and overwhelm attacks and knock them out.

Oh look, a real dragon. In a game called Dragon Age no less!

Depending on how long you spend exploring the side chambers, you should get out of the upper level
pretty quickly. Before you do so though, you'll have to content with an actual dragon. The dragon will
start out on the far end of the chamber, and if you give chase, you will be mauled by fireball traps. Stay
back, and pelt him with ranged attacks, using spells to lock him down as he tries to approach.

When he gets close enough, he'll probably want to back up. He has a deadly fire attack then get hit
your entire party, and loves to rend tanks with his claws. Keep locking him down with whatever you
have (cold spells work quite well) and inflict as much damage as possible. At this point, we had
Cleansing Aura, which offered continuous healing to the whole party. It's a massive help, but if you
don't have it, just hold on tight and maybe apply some anti-fire ointments.
You can get the Arcane Warrior specialty on this floor. In the meantime, be ready to fight skeletons

Almost as soon as you enter this floor, you'll be beset by Poisonous Spiders, which obviously isn't the
funnest thing in the world. They'll come in from two sides, so get your party's back to a wall and use
crowd control measures like Cone of Cold. The little passageway nearby is a good spot.

That little passageway behind the party is a good spot to make your stand

After the spiders are disposed of, skeletons will become your primary foe in this stage. You'll soon run
into a small boy, who will not respond to anything you say. A small horde of the undead will soon
battle, so dig in and use whatever AoE spells you have. A well-placed fireball can really do a lot of
damage here.

As a rule of thumb, any large chamber you encounter will have a mess of skeletons. Always proceed
with caution. For those looking to be an Arcane Warrior, eventually you'll find a phylactery with a spirit.
Speak with it by examining the phylactery, and it'll eventually offer you a chance to share memories.
Accept, and you'll get your specialty.
Looks can be deceiving. Beware of being barbequed

When you arrive at the large, square room in the bottom right of the map, take special care, When you
open the door, you'll be pelted by skeleton archers. If you charge in, you'll immediately be barbequed
by fire traps on all sides. Keep out, and shoot the skeletons from afar. When you're done, send in a
rogue to disarm the traps, or simply hurry through and risk the traps.

This Arcane Horror can hit from a long way away

When you reach the large chamber in the bottom left, you'll find an Arcane Horror. His attacks aren't
too bad from afar, so stay back and pelt him with arrows or magic. He'll go down quickly, but watch out
for his large AoE spell. As you can see from the image above, it can hurt just a little bit. Make your way
up into the next chamber, and you'll find a pool of water. Enter it, and you'll be in the Lair of the
Werewolves.

1Inside the lair there is a puzzle involving an earthen jar and a pool of water. To successfully complete
this puzzle you need to have read the three tombstones in the forest you explored earlier. The order
you must follow to complete the puzzle is as follows:

1. Fill the jug with water and take it.

2. Place it on the altar.
3. Kneel and pray.
4. Take a sip from the jug.
5. Pour the rest of the water back into the pond.

Inside the newly opened door is the final piece of the Juggernaut Armor.

Lair of the Werewolves

Kill a few more werewolves, then parlay

Shocking news -- you'll find more werewolves waiting for you in the Lair of the Werewolves. Kill them
all, and continue forward in you meet The Gatekeeper. He'll ask to parlay, and if you agree, he'll take
you to their "Lady." Otherwise, you can just kill him, loot the room and continue until you find the Lady
yourself.

Parlay with the Lady and find out what's going on.

When you meet the Lady, you'll learn about the true nature of the curse, and the Keeper Zathrian's role
in it. Only he can break the curse, but he refuses. The Lady and the wolves want you to help, but it's up
to you whether you want to do so. You can still try to kill the Lady, at which point you'll have to kill a
large number of werewolves. Use crowd control spells and AoE to keep them at bay, and try to lock
down the Lady. Alternatively, you can convince her with "I have a new plan. Kill Zathrian. Kill the
Elves." If she agrees, you can annihilate the village together, and the werewolves will join your army
for the final battle. As the last option, agree to bring Zathrian to the Lady.

He'll be waiting for you right outside the lair, and a tense conversation will follow. If you press on the
point that the werewolves have regained their intelligence, and he'll eventually, reluctantly, agree to go
and meet them. If you are non-confrontational he will more easily agree to speak with the Lady. As
long as you get Zathrian to talk with the Lady, you can convince him to lift the curse. You simply have
to remind him that his clan is suffering. Choose the "I prefer a peaceful solution" option, and when
asked if Zathrian told you how the curse was created, tell the Lady he told you how he summond her
and bound her to a wolf. After the Lady explains how Zathrians life is connected to the curse, choose
the "How far would you go?" option. After Zathrian tells you to either help or get out of his way, tell
him you don't care, and won't help him. Zathrian will attack. Once you defeat him, Zathrian will explain
that he is too old to know mercy. Ask him if he is willing to let his clan die. After this he agrees to lift
the curse and himself and the Lady both die in the process. If you choose any side in the matter, by
threatening to fight one side or the other, Zathrian will not lift the curse. In the end, either you ahve to
kill Witherfang, or you have to kill Keeper Zathrian. If you choose the former, remember the advice
above. Otherwise, get ready for a mage fight.

Boss: Keeper Zathrian

Ignore the Ents and kill Zathrian as fast as possible

Zathrian is a big fan of cold spells, and he will try to use Blizzard on you at least once during the fight.
Ignore the Sylvans he and Shades that he summons and rush him. Surround him and pound him with
your best lockdown attacks and spells. He'll use Cone of Cold to freeze your party, but otherwise he'll
go down with shocking ease. With Zathrian defeated, the Sylvans and Shades will vanish.

If you choose not to focus on Zathrian early, you will in all probability be overwhelmed by the large
number of enemies that he summons, along with his Blizzard spell. Either way, you'll have to get next
to him, and being a mage he's quite fragile.

The quest is now over, so head back to the Dalish Camp and talk to the representative there. The new
Keeper will agree to help you in the final battle against the Blight, which will give you access to the
Elven armies. If you've been following this guide all the way through, your horde will now be
assembled. When you're ready, go to Arle Eamon to initiate the Landsmeet, and commence the
endgame.

Part 08: The Landsmeet

Nov 5, 2009

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Contents
Denerim
Boss Battle: Arle Howe
Fort Drakon
The Alienage
The Warehouse
The Landsmeet
Boss Battle: Loghain

You're almost to the end of the game now. Head to Redcliffe and talk to Arle Eamon, and he'll call the
Landsmeet. You've got a couple dungeons to fight through, but you're also going to be doing a lot of
politicking. Think hard about your actions from this point on, because they will have a great affect on
which character ends up on the the throne.

Denerim

Your pal Loghain is back. If you want Alistair to be king, don't push his candidacy too hard.

After a brief chat with Eamon, you'll head to Denerim. The first person you'll encounter is Loghain, who
will immediately start giving you trouble about the succession. When dealing with Loghain and
company, try to be as political as possible. If you want Alistair to be king, for instance, the best thing
you can do is to not mention him at all.

You'll head to Eamon's estate, where he'll tell you to have a look around the capital. Go and get
equipped for a long quest, and when you're ready, return to speak with Eamon. At that point, you'll
learn that Queen Anora is being held prisoner by Loghain, and that you need to rescue her. Head to the
Arl of Denerim's Estate to begin the quest.

If you weren't nice enough to Zevran through the game, he'll turn on you here.

On your way to the estate, you'll be ambushed once again by the Crows. At this point, Zevan will turn
on you if he has a neutral or low opinion of you. On the other hand, he'll fight alongside you if he likes
you, or he'll simply leave but remain in the party. If he turns on you, you'll have to kill him, and that will
be that. In the meantime, the fight itself can be quite brutal. Back into a corner as quickly as possible,
and lock down the enemy archers if possible. With your back to the wall, enemy assassins won't be
able to backstab you, and you should have the advantage.

Sneak around the side, and be prepared to deal with a few soldiers along the way.

When you arrive at the Arl of Denerim's estate, you'll find that the front door is blocked by a large
crowd of protesters. Slip around to the side alley and toward the back door. Some soldiers will spot
you, so try to snipe them from afar if you can. When you arrive, you'll find two soldiers guarding the
door. If you want lots of combat on your hands, just kill the soldiers and head on in. Otherwise, let
Erlina distract the guards, take the option to put on your disguise, then head in. If you don't go in
wearing a disguise, the cooks will think you're brigands and call for the guards.

Be ready for tons of fighting if you opt not to wear a disguise.

Without the disguise, you'll have to hold a particular doorway and use tons of AoE spells to keep from
being overwhelmed. With the disguise, you're free to make your way to the dungeon where the Queen
is being held. Unfortunately, the doorway is blocked by magic, and the only way to disengage it is to
find the mage who created it.

Erlina suggests checking Howe's bedroom, but your disguise will be uncovered if you decide to check
it out. Nevertheless, it's worth the trip -- Howe's bedroom contains the Grey Warden documents which
lead to a massive cache of weapons and armor in the market. After speaking with Riordan later, check
out the warehouse behind the Gnawed Noble Tavern to find a treasure trove of weapons. There's also a
small room nearby containing Howe's treasure. If you have a rogue, you can unlock it now. Otherwise,
use the key you get from Howe's body.

Arle Howe is waiting for you in the dungeon.

When you arrive in the dungeon, a guard will immediately spot you and you'll lose your disguise. Get
ready for some fighting. Before you do so though, make sure to free Riordan, who will helpfully kill the
guard watching after him and change into his armor. You'll be dealing with Riordan a fair amount later.
The rest of the enemies in this area are fairly standard jailers, and they'll go down without much
trouble.

Boss Battle: Arle Howe

Arle Howe himself isn't too bad, but his mages are trouble.

Arle Howe is waiting for you near the top center portion of the map (marked by a big, hard to miss
white arrow). He isn't a particularly nasty fighter, but his two mages can give you a lot of trouble if
you're not careful. If possible, lock Howe down and go for the mages first, who like to lurk down the
hallway and use area of effect spells. One of them is a high-level shapeshifter, and he'll turn into the
usual array of bees and spiders. With Howe gone, you'll have his key and you can go and loot his
personal treasure room before freeing the Queen.

Vaughan is quite useful at the Landsmeet. That's politics for you.

Before you go, make sure you've paid a visit some of the cells along the way. If you decided not to kill
him the City Elf origin, Vaughan will be in one of the cells. Your options are to kill him, let him rot there,
or free him in exchange for a Landsmeet vote, or free him for money. In the latter two cases, Morrigan
will approve (as she always does in cases like this). The choice is yours, but Landsmeet votes are
precious. Next to his cell is Irminric, who will give you the "Lost Templar" sidequest. Succeed, and
you've got another Landsmeet vote.

Free Anora, and prepare to head out. She's one of the central players in this whole saga, so be as nice
as possible to her, even if you're planning on depose her. Head for the exit, where you'll be stopped by
Ser Cauthrien. You can either surrender (which looks good for the Landsmeet), try to explain that
Anora was captured and have her betray you, or simply attack Cauthrien. If you opt to fight, realize that
you're in for a tought battle against dozens of guards and Cauthrien herself. Victory earned you
Cauthrien's Summer Sword, which is a nice upgrade for two-handed warriors.

If you surrender, you'll be imprisoned in Fort Drakon.

Fort Drakon

You might want to break out yourself, but it's more fun to use your other characters.

You have two options -- either you can break in with your companions, or break out yourself. If you
choose the former, you'll have to figure out a way to get out of the cell then fight to the entrance. If the
former, the perspective will switch to your other party members, who will help only if they have a high
enough approval rating. They'll use various stories to try and get in, and provided their cunning is high
enough, the guard will let them in. Otherwise, your compansions will have to kill the guard and take the
key. Either way, they'll have to make their way to your characer's cell, then escape.

If you choose to escape, you have several options. You can seduce him as either sex (with the right
Persuade score), pretend to be ill, pretend there are darkspawn nearby, pick the lock, or simply knock
the poor fool out with a punch. With the guard out of commission, you can take his key and open up
the door. Head to the chest and grab your equipment (or don't, if you want a massive handicap).
It'll be easier to with Alistair. Otherwise, try to draw guards away from the pack.

If Alistair was in your party, he'll be with you when you escape. Otherwise, it's just you. If you're alone,
don't worry -- most of the guards are alone. There will only be a few instances in which you'll be
rushed, which is when you should flee and try to drawn them/snipe them down (or if you're a mage,
just fling a fireball at them).

Alternatively, head into the kennel and fight the guard with his Mabari War Dogs. When you're done,
look for the storage room on the right after you leave the kennel and grab the armor. From that point,
you'll be in disguise and you don't have to worry about fighting so much.When you reach the guarded
checkpoint though, the guards will ask for a password. If you've passed inspection (talk to the Colonel
in his room and use Persuade him that you're ready), you'll be able to pass freely. Otherwise, you'll
need to give a password. If you didn't steal the list of passwords from the guards in the storage room
to the east of the kennels, then the password you're looking for is "rabbit." Otherwise, you'll have to
fight your way out. Conversely, when your companions reach the checkpoint, they'll have to fight from
that point on.

Kill the captain for an easy final battle.

Head to the righthand room just before the exit to find the Captain of the Guard. He'll attack, and he's a
fairly formidable two-handed weapon user. Take him down now, or you'll have to fight him when you
try to leave. When you're done, go and get your companions, who will pop out in the Chantry (only the
people that like you will show up). Fight the rest of the guards, and escape back to the Estate. Back at
the Estate

Anora is your ticket to the throne. Support her, even if it's a total lie.

Before the Landsmeet can finally get underway, you need to investigate strange doings in the
Alienage. Before that though, you have some business with Anora. Her support during the Landsmeet
will be a big positive in defeating Loghain's argument for the throne. Head to her room and talk with
her.

The key things to keep in mind is that she still loves Loghain, and that she really wants the throne for
herself. Promise your support, even if you have no intention of supporting her. She'll be believe you
and speak out against Loghain in the Landsmeet. When you're done talking to her, head back into the
city.

The Alienage
Strange doings at the Hospice. Don't br afraid to kill the guard to get in.

Before you go to the Alienge, make sure you stop by the tavern and meet Alfstanna. If you rescued
Irminric the slightly crazy Templar from his cell, give her the ring you have. Make mention of Loghain
hiring a blood mage to poison Eamon, and you'll get a heavy positive at the Landsmeet.

Shianni will tell you that there's something strange going on in the Hospice

Now head to the Alienage, where you'll find that many of the elves are sick with some sort of plague. A
large crowd of elves are at the local hospice near the top of the map, demanding answers. Talk to
Shianni, and she'll fill you in a bit on what's going on. Sneak around to the side entrance, and you'll
encounter an elven guard. Bribe him to let you in, or simply kill him and take his key. If you're an elf,
you can feign illness to get in, then resist the healers and take them out before going to get your own
party.
Strange doings indeed. Take out the soldiers and healers in the Hospice when they attack

In the Hospice, soldiers and healers alike will attack. Loot everything, including a note containing a key
that unlocks the Apartments' main door. Head outside, and be ready for another large fight. Get your
back against the door, and take everyone out as quickly as possible. When you're finished, talk to
Shianni, and she'll direct you to the run-down apartments in the alleyway.

Inside the apartments, you'll encounter an elf who will tell you that elves are being marched into the
landord's office and vanishing. Pick the lock to that office, and you'll find some Imperial guards. Slay
them, and you can get some decent loot from the chests. It's worth it to briefly drop a rogue into your
party to do so. With the key from the Hospice, you can unlock the other door and emerge into the back
alley.

More guards await in the back alley

There are more guards in the back alley, and they'll fight no more matter what you try to say. This can
be a tough fight if you're not careful, because there a large number of archers in the back who will
snipe you at range while the rest of the guards pin you to the door. Use an AoE spell like Fireball or
Blizzard to keep them off-balance while you engage the soldiers up front. With the bad guys out of the
way, you can make your way into the warehouse.

The Warehouse

This fight is in close quarters, and can be really tough

When you arrive in the compound, Devera will challenge you with her soldiers. With a high enough
persuasion/intimidation score, you can convince her to take you straight to her boss. Otherwise, you'll
have to take her out, and it's quite a tough fight. She hangs back near the side door and snipes while a
large crowd of soldiers attack you.

It's a small room, and you won have a lot of room to maneuver. Start by back into the right hand
corner, away from the snipers and getting your tank out there. If you can, get an AoE spell into the
sniper alcove to give yourself some breathing range and possibly take out the archers. In the
meantime, use spells like Cold of Cone to help you against the soldiers. Beware if you try to rush the
archers -- there are a line of bear traps on the floor. In the meantime, spells like Captivating Song (for
Bards) and Mind Blast can keep the soldiers attacking off-balance.
Caladrius will want to bargain. Another fight is ahead if you don't

When you reach Caladrius (a few more soldiers are in the way before you get there), he'll want to
bargain. You have a few options here:

He'll try to bribe you. If you accept, he'll take the profits and slaves and leave while leaving you
with the evidence against Loghain.
Intimidate him, and he'll leave with everything but the slaves.
Persuade him to give you the evidence for free. He'll leave with the profits and the slaves.
Fight him. If you win, you can just let him go and keep everything. Otherwise, you can get him
to drain the slaves' life force and give it to you,then force him to leave. Either way, you get
everything.

If you fight Caladrius, you'll notice that he's in perfect position for a well-placed AoE spell. Blizzard
positive wrecks his forces, with only a few stragglers able to charge up the stairs after you. With his
followers down, Caladrius will try to use cold attacks like Cone of Cold and Winter's Grasp to give you
trouble. Beat him, and he'll surrender. Make sure to return with a rogue and check the treasure box in
his room to get the profits and other goodies.

The Landsmeet

The big moment has arrived at last. Loghain will make his case to the assembled masses, and you will
be able to present evidence of your own. Here are a few things to remember:

As mentioned earlier, having Anora's support will be a huge boost.

Don't mention that King Cailan was left to die. It's always a negative.
Don't mention Alistair. It's always a negative.
Mention the darkspawn threat when you have the chance, and you'll get a vote with only a
small persuasion check.

With all those points in mind, Loghain will almost surely go down in defeat. He'll rebel, and you'll either
to fight his forces, or you can face him in a duel. Conversely, if he wins, you will rebel. Either way,
choose whether you want a large battle royale, or a personal duel.

Boss Battle: Loghain

You'll have to duel Loghain no matter what

If you go for the battle royale, your allies will jump into the fray against Loghain and his forces. Let
them do the dirty work, and pick off enemy forces from the rear while trying to avoid being flanked.
Attack Loghain with your whole party at the end, and when he goes down, the battle will be halted by a
noble. At that point, you'll have to face him one-on-one with your main character or a champion
(another party member).

Up close, Loghain is very powerful. He's a high-level warrior who wields a sword and shield, and he
has powerful attacks like Assault He'll use War Cry to knock you off your feet, and he's resistant to
most stun checks. Chances are you'll have to use a lot of potions to have a chance. Use your skills
wisely and try to keep your stamina up for the battle. In the end, you can probably defeat him by sheer
attrition.

You have another choice now -- kill Loghain, or let him live and have him go through the joining. Allow
him to live, and Alistair will leave the party for good. However, he will still be king if you completed his
personal quest and changed him. If you decide to kill him (or have Alistar do the deed), some of the
consequences are listed below.

Now the big moment arrives: Who will be crowned? Here are some of the options.

Alistair rules alone: Basically the default.

Alistair rules with Female Human Noble PC: If you have him interested in you, he'll go for it
easily. If you toughened him up during his Personal Quest, it'll be even easier.
Anora rules alone: If Alistair doesn't want the kingship, it'll go to her. Leave Loghain alive
without changing him.
Anora rules with Human Noble PC: Let Loghain live, or have Alistair kill him in your place.
Alistair rules with Anora: If you let Loghain live, Alistair will only keep the throne if he has
changed, at which point it's easier to get him to marry Anora. Otherwise, you'll have to kill
Loghain yourself. You'll also need a decent Persuasion rating to talk Alistair into going through
with it.

Whomever ends up on the throne, the die will have been cast. Prepare for the final battle.

Part 09: The Final Onslaught

Mar 16, 2010

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Contents
Redcliffe
Denerim Gates
Your Armies
The Alienage
The Marketplace
The Palace District
Fort Drakon
The Conjurer
Final Fight: Archdemon

It's time for the final battle. Eamon will head back to Redcliffe, and you can make the rounds with your
favorite suppliers before heading into battle. You can also stop into camp. Once you head to Redcliffe,
the endgame will begin and you won't be able to leave. This is it!

Redcliffe

When you arrive at Redcliffe Village, you'll find that it's destroyed.

When you arrive at Redcliffe Village, you'll find that it's been destroyed, and that darkspawn are
crawling amongst the ruins. The villagers have all fled back to the castle. After a brief conversation
with a terrified villager, make your way into the castle.

This is your chance to feel completely awesome. The darkspawn you encounter will all be Hurlock and
Genlock grunts, and they will all go down in one or two hits. No matter which class you chose, they
will go down like wheat before a sythe. There is a Hurlock Alpha that's lurking up top, but the
combined forces of your party should be more than enough to handle him.

Your biggest threat is an Ogre Alpha that shows up in the courtyard. Like all Alphas, he's mostly a
really strong version of the normal boss. He doesn't like magic though, and a steady diet of offensive
spells will take him down quickly.
Morrigan wants to... talk.

When you get into the castle, go and talk to Eamon and Riordan. They'll explain that the darkspawn
horde has attacked Denerim, and that you'll need to march with your armies to stop them. Riordan will
want to speak with you alone, so go and talk with him.

After you're little chat, go and seek out Morrigan. She'll be waiting in your room, and she'll have a
proposal for you. To save yourself or another Grey Warden from having to make the ultimate sacrifice
in the final battle with the Archdemon, you'll need to have sex with Morrigan and impregnate her. After
the battle, she'll take the resulting child and leave. If you agree, then congratulations, you're saved. If
you don't, then she won't offer again, and someone will have to die.

If you have enough approval or enough persuasion score, and you refuse Morrigan's offer, she will tell
you that there is another option that is convincing Alistair of having sex with her, since he will not
listen to her, she tells u to do the talk. (as described below for woman chars)

If you're a woman, there's one extra step to this whole process. Since you obviously can't impregnate
Morrigan, you'll have to get Alistair or Loghain to do it for you. Break it to them gently, and you'll be
able to convince them even with a low Persuasion score. Once again, congratulations, you're saved.
After you've finished stocking up supplies, commence the final battle.

Denerim Gates
Fight alongside all of your comrades and feel cool doing so.

Once again, BioWare has decided to let you, the player, feel awesome. Waves of Hurlock and Genlock
Grunts will attack, and you will be able to crush them with only a few shots. All around you, your party
will be fighting at your side, though you won't be able to control them. Eventually the supply of
darkspawn will run low, and you'll need to go and talk to Riordan to continue.

Your Armies

You now have access to your armies. The composition will be different depending on the decisions
you've made, and they will have different strengths and weaknesses.

The Redcliffe Army is a decent melee army. Use them for close quarters combat.
Dwarves are very good defenders, but do little damage. An exception is if you convinced the
Legionnaire's to help you -- they will periodically spawn with the rest of your armies, and do
great damage.
If you sided with Branka, you'll get a contingent of Golems. As usual, they are wrecking
machines, and great crowd clearers. If you have them, you may want to save them for the
Archdemon.
Elves are terrific archers. Since they stay out of battle and rarely die, they offer great chip
damage.
Werewolves have terrific offense, but poor defense.
Mages will cast devastating spells. Another good option for the archdemon.
The Templars are slightly better than the Redcliffe Army. If you have them, use them instead of
the Redcliffe group.

You can only deploy one army in each area. Take stock of your situation, and deploy the group that fits
the situation, or they will get slaughtered. When their count hits zero, that's it -- you're on your own.

The Alienage
Start things off with a nice area of effect spell.

Your goal is to take out the Archdemon's two generals before the final battle. There's one in the
Alienage, and one in the Marketplace, and it's up to you which one you want to engage first. The one in
the Marketplace is definitely much easier, but it doesn't make a ton of difference either way.

When you arrive in the Alienage, Shianna will tell you in a panic that the darkspawn are breaking
through the gates. Ask her to fight with you. Run up to the gates, where you'll see an Ogre trying to
break down the doors. This is the perfect chance to start things off with a bang, so use an AoE spell on
the waiting horde. Either Blizzard or Inferno does quite nicely.

Lure the Alienage General into the teeth of your army, then attack.

When the gates go down, retreat immediately and call in a durable melee army. Dwarves work well, but
so do Redcliffe Soldiers and Templars. While they handle the darkspawn, you can engage the Ogre
that charges into the battleground. Stay around the corner to avoid the general's magical strikes, and
keep killing darkspawn until you have an opening.

Only engage the general if your army is surrounding him. He's extremely tough, and loves to use
Paralysis Glyphs and spells like Chain Lightning to make your life miserable. If your army isn't around
helping you out, you will in all probability die. Focus fire on him and keep him off-balance until he dies,
then mop up the rest of the darkspawn.

Note: If you asked Shianna to help you fight, she will give you the Dawn Ring as a reward. The Dawn
Ring gives you +4 Strength and -1 Cunning. Paired with the Dusk Ring, you'll have +2 Armor.

The Marketplace

Ogres swarm the Marketplace.

You'll need another strong melee army in the Marketplace. Ogres will come swarming in, and they are
quite capable of overwhelming you if you're not careful. Templars, the Redcliffe Army and Werewolves
are great for dishing out the damage. You might want to hold off on sending in Golems until a tougher
situation.

The Hurlock General is a brutal melee fighter.

Kill enough Ogres, and the Hurlock General will charge in to engage your forces. He's a tough two-
handed melee fighter, but with no Ogres to help him and your army giving you a hand, he'll go down in
no time flat. Just make sure to keep an eye on your health while battling him, and keep him offbalance
with Dirty Fighting and various spells.

The Palace District

Fight your way through the Palace District to Fort Drakon.

The Archdemon is grievously wounded, and waiting for you on Fort Drakon. Some evil overlord. You'll
have to battle your way through hordes of foes to get their. Once again, strong melee fighters work
well, so hopefully you've got plenty of Templars, Dwarves and Redcliffe Soldiers on hand.

Your goal is to fight your way up each individual tier until you can eventually make your way to Fort
Drakon. You will be facing the usual array of Genlocks, Hurlocks Grunts, Ogres and Shrieks, as well as
the occasional Genlock Emissary and Genlock Alpha.

When you've cleared out the main area, head up to the stairs to the right of the gates. You'll find
yourself on a landing with a very large number of archers, as well as two Genlock Emissaries. If you
want to die, charge in. If you don't want to die, stay back and snipe them while letting the Redcliffe
Soldiers charge in for you. Area of Effect spells like Fireball, Blizzard and Inferno will do massive
damage. From that point, you'll be able to enter Fort Drakon.

Fort Drakon
Time to bring in the archers.

You'll begin in the Fort Drakon courtyard. Three sets of Archers will be waiting behind barriers for you,
and two Dragons will appear if you try to venture forward. Call in the Elven Archers or Mages, and
snipe the darkspawn behind their barriers. If you stay back, you'll get a quick breather to heal.

Start forward a tiny bit, and the Dragons will appear. Keep them frozen or locked down, and try to fill
them arrows as they approach. When they get close enough, knock them out with melee, taking care to
avoid the fire breath. When they're gone, take another couple step forwards, and commence sniping
the archers and emissaries waiting on the steps. As always, Area of Effect spells work wonders here.

With the bad guys down, you are now free to enter Fort Drakon. You now have just two floors between
you and the Archdemon.

Be wary of the Conjurers and Shades that stand in your way

Fort Drakon seems quite enough, save for all the dead bodies lying about. When you enter the main
chapel (you'll know it by how big it is), you'll immediately be accosted by a horde of Lesser and
Greater Shades. Obviously, magic helps a lot, so have your main attack spells at the ready. Since they
move in so quickly, you probably won't be able to launch an Area of Effect spell. Cone of Cold is still
great for knocking out Lesser Shades though.

The Conjurer

When the Conjurer shows up, get ready for a fairly serious magical battle. He's more powerful than the
Emissaries, and wields all of the dangerous Area of Effect spells like Chain Lightning. You can try to
snipe him from afar, but he's apt to make that hard with his AoE spells and spells like Death Cloud. If
you have to get in close, be ready to support heavily with magic to keep him offguard.

Beware the ambush by the Hurlock Emissary, Genlock Shapechanger and accompanying ghouls

Toward the bottom of the first floor, you'll suddenly be accosted by a mass of corpses along with a
Hurlock Emissary and Genlock Shapechanger. Like the Conjurer, the Hurlock Emissary carries the
nasty Swarm spell, which will drain energy from you and restore life for him. Do whatever you can to
lock him down alongside the Shapechanger. If the Shapechanger transforms, let your tank handle him.
The corpses are weak, and relatively easy to deal with.
The Assassins will soon try to make your life miserable

Up to the second floor, where you've got another miniboss encounter waiting for you. First though,
you'll have to deal with a Genlock Alpha and two Hurlock Alphas waiting in ambush. Luckily, they
aren't all that tough, though they can hit hard if you're not careful. Lock down one at a time with spells,
and keep the other others off-balance with cold spells and stunning attacks while you do so.

They want to stab you in the back. Don't let them

Your main foe on this floor is the Genlcok Master Assassin and his acolytes. They await in the western
portion of the floor, near the top of the map. Like all assassins, they'll appear and disappear, all the
while trying to stab you in the back. They can be handled so as long as you find a corner and keep
your back to it. They aren't particularly strong, so the acolytes in particular should go down fast. Just
don't let that master assassin backstab you -- you'll die, and fast.

Your final foes will be a Hurlock Emissary and two Ogres. At this point, the Hurlock should take
precedence, since the Ogres can take a bit to take down. Freeze or lock them down with something like
a Force Field, and pound the Emissary. When the Ogres are gone, you are ready to take on the
Archdemon. Make sure you're fully prepared and have all of your healing and magical restoration items
at the ready, then head upstairs.

Final Fight: Archdemon

Watch out for his tail sweep and flame breath

Dragon Age's final boss is, of course, a dragon. A twisted, demonic dragon, but still a dragon. He's not
nearly as scary as he looks though, and is every bit as vulnerable to powerful spells like Cone of Cold
as a normal enemy. Just keep your head about you and keep healing, and you'll be fine.

Attacks to watch out for are a magical breath attack, a powerful tail sweep, and a roar that will stun
your whole party. He also likes to suddenly take flight and land on top of you. If he leaps in the air, run
away and keep moving. When he lands, resume pounding on him.

Ranged armies are a must. Summon whatever archers and mages you have, though Golems help too.
If you chose Templars instead of Mages, They are a good choice for this fight. They are strong fighters
up-close and they are equipped with Longbows. They'll chip away at the Archdemon's health, and even
take the brunt of some of his attacks. You spent the whole game recruiting them, so let them earn their
keep.

At 50 percent, the Archdemon will jump out of range. Activate ranged attacks
When the Archdemon retreats out of reach at 50 percent, it's time to break out your ranged attacks.
Have your mage kick in any AoE spells that they have, and call in your ranged armies if you haven't
already. If you look around, you can also find ballistas that can be used to hit the Archdemon. These
will do good damage( The closer the ballista is to the Archdemon the more damage it does, all the way
up to 99 damage),but they have a chance to jam with every shot. If that happens, have a rogue repair it
as soon a possible.

The 50 percent point also marks the appearance of lots of Darkspawn. Shades, Hurlock, Genlocks, the
works will pour out to attack. To counter them, characters like Arle Eamon and First Enchanter Irving
will come out to fight. If you have Blizzard, don't forget that you can lock them down en masse, and
potentially nail the Archdemon along with them.

At 25 percent health, the Archdemon starts blowing up darkspawn, which causes substantial damage
to any party members nearby. Throw the kitchen sink at it, because the thing is nearly dead. Beware of
its Vortex spell -- it will suck health from your party at an alarming rate. If you see powering up, trying
to get out of the way, or just freeze it with Cone of Cold. Hopefully you've been stocking up poultices
and lyrium, so if you have them, use them here.

When it comes time for the final blow, you'll be fine if you went through Morrigan's ritual. If you
refused, you'll either have to sacrifice yourself, Alistair or Loghain. It's a bitter choice, but you had
your chance.

Congratulations, the Archdemon has been defeated! You've finally brought peace back to Ferelden. Sit
back and enjoy the credits -- after 75 hours or so, you've earned it.

Side Quests

Feb 3, 2010

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Contents
Side Quest Hot Spots
Side Quests

Recruiting Dog
Drake Scale Armor
Unmarked Quests
Add your own quests below!

Dragon Age posts dozens of optional side quests. Some are necessary for recruiting new characters,
while others are simple fetch quests. Here are a couple useful places to look for side quests, as well a
couple quests that you definitely shouldn't ignore.

Side Quest Hot Spots

The Chanter Board

The Chanter Board is good place to find some quick quests.

Many of the major towns like Lothering and Redcliffe have Chanter Boards. On these boards are
postings from parties who are looking to get various jobs done. Complete the tasks that are assigned
and then report back to the party that is listed.

The Blackstone Irregulars

The Blackstone Irregulars can be found in the Inn at Lothering and the back room of Denerim's
Gnawed Noble tavern. Like the Chantry Board, check regularly to find various requests and accept
them. When you're finished, report back to the Irregulars to receive your reward.

Exclamation Marks

Look for exclamation marks on the mark for additional side quests. The Blackstone Irregulars also
reside in the Gnawed Noble tavern.

Finally, anyone with a white exclamation point over their head can usually be counted upon to have a
quest for you. Whenever you enter a new town, keep an eye out for them for the chance to get
experience as well as valuable treasure.
Side Quests

Recruiting Dog
Location: Ostagar

If you didn't choose the Human Noble as your origin, visit the Kennel Master in Ostagar. He introduces
you to Dog who was recently tainted by a Darkspawn battle. You can either kill or muzzle Dog but if
you want him in your party, you'll want to muzzle him.

When trekking through the Kocari Wilds, keep a close eye out for a wild flower. Pick it, and return it to
the Kennel Master to heal Dog. He'll join in a random encounter after Flemeth rescues you from Ostar.

Alternatly, if you missed this quest, it's still possible to recruit Dog later in the game. He'll appear in a
random encounter in which he's under attack by some Darkspawn. Rescue him and you'll be able to
recruit him into your party. If you opt not to recruit him, your last chance to have an adorable canine in
your group will be lost.

Drake Scale Armor

Location: Denerim Quest

The High Dragon awaits you on the mountaintop just outside the Wyrm's Lair.

The propietor of Wade's Emporium is a master smith who is willing to make you a set of Drake Scale
Armor, provided that you get him the right material. As you might have guessed, the key ingredient is a
Drake Scale and you'll have to kill Drakes to get them.

Luckily, you'll bump into a few of them in the Wyrm's Lair during the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest. You'll
need three scales and you'll have the opportunity to fight five Drakes in the caverns. Once you have all
of the necessary items, return to the Emporium in Denerim to get your armor.

If you want to go further, beat the High Dragon that resides on the mountaintop just outside the
Wyrm's Lair. Use the gong to call it down and prepare to an absolutely brutal fight. Being as the High
Dragon is an optional boss, you might want to leave it until just before you're ready to embark on the
endgame. With his scale, Wade will make you an even better set of either heavy, medium or massive
armor. You will have the option to pay him 20 sovereigns extra to make the armor perfect. DO NOT do
this as it doesn't change the outcome of the armor.

The Crows
The Gnawed Noble Tavern, Denerim

The Crows offer a few quests in which you assassinate people for moderate rewards. There are four
assassination quests.

Juggernaut Armour Set

Location: Braellian Forest
There are Three Ancient Tombstones Located in the Braellian Forest. Disturb the stones and you will
have to fight a Revanent or Arch Revanent and several Shades. For your reward you will get one piece
of the Juggernaut Set. Juggernaut Plate Helm, Juggernaut Plate Gauntlets, Juggernaut Plate Greaves
and finally the Juggernaut Plate Armor.

For the Juggernaut Plate Armour you will need to go into the Northern Braellian forest near where you
found the Mad Mage. You need to threaten the group of Malifecar that are conjuring near one of the
Ancient Tombstones(Make sure you deal with the Tombstone first otherwise you'll have to deal with
the Arch Revanent as well as the Mages at the same time.)

This set when complete has a lot of fatigue associated with it(52% or so) but, you are compensated
with significatn bonuses to Armor, Constitution and Magic. Well worth the effort.

Quest Name Goes Here

Location: Location listed here

Text describing quest goes here.

Quest Name Goes Here

Location: Location listed here

Text describing quest goes here.

Quest Name Goes Here

Location: Location listed here

Text describing quest goes here.

Unmarked Side Quests

Mysterious Campsite
Location: West Brecilian Forest (Past the bridge behind the Grand Oak)

Upon entering the campsite you are prompted to examine the area for clues. Investigating the Firepit,
Tent, or Bedroll prompts you with a description of how tired or drained you feel. You are then given
choices to either succumb to your desires or to leave.

If you decide to sleep or examine the firepit, tent, and bedroll, all but one of your party members will
remain conscious and you will be forced to fight a Greater Shade using that character. If the chosen
character has the spell Revive (brings unconcious party members back to life), he/she can use it to
awaken the rest of the party to fight. This is useful for low-damage characters such as Wynne, who
may have trouble fighting the Shade on her own.

If you examine only one of the objects and then attempt to leave the area, you will be given the choice
to either stay and sleep or to leave. Choosing to leave allows you to use your entire party to fight the
Greater Shade.

Reward: Various Loot

Achievement Help

Mar 16, 2010

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Acheivement

Last of Your Line (10)

Corrupted (10)

Conscripted (10)

Harrowed (10)

Casteless (10)

Kinslayer (10)

Help: You get these acheivements after completing each of the Origin stories. If you don't want to play
through the game 6 times, just play the beginning stories and quit the game after you get the
acheivement.

Perfectionist (50)

Help: This is from playing all the endings. Again, if you don't want to play the game multiple times,
make a save just before the Landsmeet and play through each of the 4 endings from there. The
endings are: 1. Help Morrigan sleep with Alistar to perform the dark ritual. Everyone stays alive. 2.
Alistar sacrifices himself to the Archdemon. He will do this whether he is king or not. 3. You (the main
character) sacrifice yourself to the Arhdemon. 4. Loghain is sacraficed to the Archdemon. You will
need to spare his life at the Landsmeet and allow him to become a Grey Warden. But remember this
will force Alister to leave your party.

Veteran (25) and Elite (30)

Help: These are from learning one and two specializations, respectivly. You get a specialization point
at level 7 and level 14. Here's all the specializations and how to get them.
Rogue:
Assassin: Learn from Zevran (companion) or Alarith's Store (Denerim, after Landsmeet starts)
Bard: Learn from Leliana (companion) or Alimar (Orzammar)
Duelist: Learn from Isabela (The Pearl inDenerim)
Ranger: Learn from Bodann's Wares (Party Camp)

Mage:
Arcane Warrior: Learn from The Presence in Brecilian Ruins ("Nature of the Beast" quest line)
Blood Mage: Learn from Desire Demon in Fade ("Arl of Redcliffe" quest line)
Shapeshifter: Learn from Morrigan (companion) or Varathorn (Dalish Camp)
Spirit Healer: Learn from Wynne (companion) or Wonders of Thedas (Denerim, after Landsmeet
starts)

Warrior:
Berserker: Learn from Oghren (companion) or Gorim (Denerim Market)
Champion: Learn from Arl Eamon (at the end of the "Urn of Sacred Ashes" quest line)
Reaver: Learn from Kolgrim (Wyrmling Lair)
Templar: Learn from Alistair (companion) or Bodahn's Wares (Party Camp)