Village of Haven

Village of Haven

As you will no doubt recall, the quest line Urn of the Sacred Ashes is why we have come this way as Brother Genitivi's last known destination, this is the best place for us to try to pick up his trail.

As you enter the Village you are stopped by a guard who blocks your entry.  No matter what you say to him, he stonewalls you, and when the conversation ends you have permission to trade for supplies at the shop but that is all he wants you to do.

After you walk past him, if Sten is present you get a CS in which he pretty much questions your leadership and courage.  Go into the house to the left and loot the chests for a Codex Entry and some minor items.  Outside you will encounter a rhyming child a very evasive rhyming child at that and his secret (if you can persuade him to tell you about it) gives me the heebie-jeebies about this town!

Head up the hill to the Shop, and head inside there is a chest with some gifts in it you can loot, and of course there is the Shopkeeper to talk with.  Buy what you want, sell what you want, because when you try to look into the back room he freaks, and if you want to look I did you are going to have to kill him!

In the back room you find what is left of the corpse of one of Arl Eamon's Knights!  And he looks like someone has butchered him for meat!  As you exit the shop you are set upon by cultists take them out  and then head up the hill to fight more of them, as you work your way to the Haven Chantry.

The Padre stops his service when you arrive, and tells his flock you have to die you know where this is going, right?  There are some containers to loot in the room on the left that include a gift, and then you open the secret door on the right and enter what is clearly the private quarters of the Padre.  Here we find the wounded form of Brother Genitivi!

You learn from him that the Urn is close to you he has been listening to the villagers even as they were torturing him, and he discovered how to get into the Temple above the Village.  I let the Brother know about the fate of his assistant, checked outside to make sure that the coast was clear, and then returned to get Genitivi and head for the Temple.

The Ruined Temple

When we arrive, Brother Genitivi takes the medallion and uses it to unlock the door and then open it.  Inside is the main hall of the ruined temple and he tells you a little about the temple itself, and then decides to stay in the hall to study the statues while you go after the Urn.  All things considered that is likely a good decision...

As you progress through the area, loot what you can including books for Codex Entries, and as you approach the stairs you will find a group of cultists to kill.  In the rooms to the side are more cultists and monsters and in the barracks room behind them is a container with the fourth Scroll of Banaster in it!

The door in the back is locked and you need a key, so go ahead and clear out the side chambers up here, looting and killing, and then head back down the stairs and do the same for the side chambers down there.  On the right side there is the 5th Scroll of Banister which means we now have them all!

The room at the back of the chambers that are on the left side as you reach the top of the stairs has a chest in it with the door key for the Southeast Chamber grab that and head to the Southeast Chamber to open the door there that we could not open before.

Inside that room in the Southeast Chambers is the Main Hall Key the one we need for the door all the way in the back so let us open that door!

As we approach the door this time there is a checkpoint save, and as we enter, we encounter demons and a group of cultists and after a brisk fight we find the Holy Brazer at the top.  Click it to light it, and then open the door behind it to find more cultists and traps to deal with.  When we move through the next door we get another checkpoint save and some more demons to play with as well as cultists and there are several more groups to be killed as we clear the rooms ahead.

Eventually we work our way up the tower to the door to the Wyrmling Lair an area with many diverging paths.  You are basically going to work your way through systematically, killing the baby dragons, drakes, and cultists until you arrive at the upper chamber and the three Temple Leaders.

It turns out that their entire religion is based around a dragon well that was not so hard to imagine, was it?  After all the place is thick with them!  The fact that they are sincere in their beliefs gives you options because like all religious zealots, they would really like it if you believed like they do...

There are several approaches that you can take with them appeasement obviously, and violence.  If you appease him, he will control the dragon for you which will let you get up the mountain easier.  If you kill him, you are going to have to deal with the Dragon.  Clearly this is one evil outfit, so I chose to kill him and deal with the Dragon myself!

Right killing the dragon was a monumental task I burned through a HUGE number of healing potions and still was not able to keep everyone alive because of the massive amount of damage that thing did.  But eventually I did defeat it, picking up the Achievement: Dragonslayer (30 GP)! 

The Gauntlet

The door ahead leads into this area but fortunately it is only a short distance to the Guardian.  To get to the Urn you have to prove yourself worthy and to do that, you have to pass a test.  Before you can do that however, the Guardian asks you questions that lay bare your souls.

Before you enter to take the test, grab the book on the right for a Codex Entry, and then go inside.  There are a series of ghosts inside who will ask you to answer riddles for them.  Get the answer wrong, and you have to deal with a strong demon!

Here are the correct answers for each, going clockwise and starting with the closest.

Brona: Option 4: Dreams
Thane Shartan: Option 3: Home
General Maferath: Option 3: Jealousy
Archon Hessarian: Option 5: Mercy
Disciple Cathaire: Option 5: Hunger
Disciple Havard: Option 3: The Mountains
Lady Vasilia: Option 4: Vengeance
Ealisay: Option 3: A Tune

Once you answer all of these questions, and hear the answers, the door at the end of the hall opens and you see Shianni standing there.  You are confronted with your past again and pain.  When you step through the archway you get a checkpoint save and end up fighting spectral versions of yourself!  That was weird.

The next puzzle requires some brain sweat and trial and error to get well it did for me, but not for you!

There are 6 tiles on each side, and the 4 in the middle that you need to be able to cross.  By using your party individually, you can unlock the middle tiles.  To make sense of this, look at the diagram below:

L6          R6
L5  M4  R5
L4  M3  R4
L3  M2  R3
L2  M1  R2
L1          R1

L obviously is Left, R is Right, and M is Middle.  The answer to the puzzle is as follows:

Step 1 Move a character into L3, R1 and R2, and then on M1
Step 2 Move the character on R1 to L6.
Step 3 Move the character on M1 to M2.
Step 4 Move the character on L3 to R4, then the character on R2 to L1.
Step 5 Move the character on M2 to M3.
Step 6 Move the character on L6 to R5, and the character on R4 to L5.
Step 7 Move the character on M3 to M4.

Now you are on the other side approach the alter in the room and click it, and read the text, then select the option to remove your kit.  Doing that allows you to walk through the flames unharmed.  You get a brief CS, and then when you move to the stairs, another CS, and then you have the option to take a pinch of the ashes which you do, placing them in a leather bag.

There are two chests one on either side of the stairs to loot, and the body of an Unfortunate Adventurer that has a gift and a decent belt on it.  After you grab what you want, take either of the doors to the Mountain Top.

Making your way back is a long run but if you plan your route so that you return on the opposite side that you came up when you are going back through the ruins at least you can pick up some more XP on the enemies you did not kill yet on that side.  When you get to the Brother he is thrilled with what you have to tell him and show him and after a fairly long CS, he takes off for home and so do we!

First though we should head to our camp so we can distribute gifts and kit to the other members of the party and once that is out of the way, we can head back to Denerim to turn in the quests that we have now completed!

Back in Denerim

As we arrive back to town we get another CS with Loghain, in which we learn that the situation is looking rather grim for their side.  Clearly he has lost the support of his daughter, and maybe he had lost touch with reality?

Take the scrolls we found in the Ruins to Sister Justine at the Chantry for a nice reward and another completed quest!  Now head over to the Tavern and turn in the hit contract to the Crow Representative for your reward.  Now drop by Wade's to have him try to make another set of Drake Armor, and then visit the Mage's Collective to claim the reward for the scrolls quest!

Finally drop by Genitivi's place for the reward that he promised you he gave us items but I have no idea what items :(

Now hit the World Map and select Frostback Mountains!