Denerim Part 2

Denerim Part 2

On the way back to Denerim you get a combat stop and a CS in which you see your arch nemesis learning that all is not going well for him there is a call for him to step down, and there is news that Grey Wardens that would be you and Alistair survived the battle.  Assassins are to be hired to go after you!

After you receive a Codex Entry, you find yourself facing a small force ahead of you on the road well what are you waiting for??  After you take out Joam, his Thugs, and his Mage, make sure you search the area for loot before you continue on to town.  There is a Deathroot plant on the hill where the Mage attacked from, and Joam has some nice loot items on him as well.

Once you reach town depending on the loot you have picked up you may want to go to your camp and distribute the armor and weapons to your other party members.  It is an idea, because it will reduce your item count and they are items you do not want to sell anyway.

Back in town, the first thing we should do is turn in any completed quests!  That should include a trip to the Mage's Collective Agent, the Chanter's Board, and Wade's Emporium.  At the Emporium speak with Herren and choose the selection to make the Drake Scale Armor.  Remember those scales we were collecting?  Yes!  As it will take some time, head on out to the Market Square now.

Now chat with Sgt. Kylon for your reward, then back to Wade's and claim your armor!  Wade doesn't think much of it, but this armor is a lot better than what we are presently wearing!  Wade will make you additional sets of armor when you return with more scales bear that in mind.

A Fistful of Silver

Now that we have turned in our completed quests and obtained our rewards, let us head to the outstanding quest in the area A Fistful of Silver!  Now that we have better kit and some level-ups, these guys will be cake!  After you loot their corpses, head over to the three chests and loot the silver bars, and the return to Slim Couldry to turn it in.  He does not have another mission for us just yet, but that's okay, we'll be back!

Deserted Building

Head over to the gate and select the Deserted Building as your destination, and when you arrive note the concealed door in the back of the room.  Click it to reveal it, and then open the door and go carefully down the stairs, avoiding the trap below.  Fight the Blood Mage and his crew, and once they are dead, disarm the trap for an easy 40 XP and then start looting corpses. 

The Blood Mage has the key to the Metal Door here so loot that and some potions from him next, and then hit the door!  Wouldn't it have been cool to be able to retain the Fade Forms in the real world?  Sigh.

As you progress through the rooms you will see a barrel you can loot a piece of velum from before passing through another Metal Door and killing a trio of Merc's.   Mind the tripwire that is stretched between this room and the next there should be enough time for you to disarm it for a quick 40XP before the Rogue's and Merc's descend on you.

For an abandoned building this is a pretty nice layout and I would not mind having that painting in the left corner of the area up the stairs...  So once you have the enemy dead here, hit the next door, and you will find yourself facing a mixed group from the room on the right of the hall you are now in a combination of mages and warriors.  I went for the mages first, since they have a more practical ability to hurt you and your party and then took out the sword jockeys.

The door to the left as you entered this hall has a chest and a create to loot the crate has one of the Private Letters that we are collecting.  In the room that the enemy came from is a chest with Red Steel armor in it you might want to give that to one of your warrior class party members if they can wear it.

Back in the hall, beware the pressure plate trap in the center of the floor that looks like an area rug disarm that for another easy 40XP, and then go through the door ahead and take out the Rogues there.    Loot the bodies and chests here, and continue through the hall to the next pressure plate trap, and disarm it.  As you step past it you get attacked by some war dogs.

In the next room there are archers and a Blood Mage behind a barricade and you cannot quickly reach them, so your mage and your archer are going to keep them busy while you attack the barricade, and then your team can mop-up!  You head into the room beyond the barricade, or go through the last door in this hallway and clear out the group of enemy in that room, loot what you can, and then head through the next door for another small fight.

After this fight, head through the next door, and then open the Metal Door on the right to clear that room before you continue on. There is a chest here that contains a Magister's Shield, some money and a Silk Carpet that you should loot.  Read the Codex Entry for the Shield now if you like  interesting story.

The Blood Mage Leader

In the next room you get a brief CS as you enter, and you find yourself facing the Blood Mage Leader and his minions.  I love that word minions.  Anyway, you kill him, and then loot the bodies of course.  The Leader has a key on him, and there is a World Map door in this room to make leaving easier!

If you were looting as we progressed through the building you picked up some half-decent mage gear and fighter kit and you should have some kit you have been saving from the earlier areas, so now would be an excellent time to visit our camp!  The door in this room is an exit to the City/World Map, so head for the Camp now.

While in camp remember to do the conversation options with each of the party members, especially the ones that you are not using regularly in the active party, as this is when you will be triggering the various conversations that lead to their personal quests as well.  Remember that Sandal can do enchantments so you should check to see if you have better runes for your weapons ever time you hit the camp and if you do, have Sandal install them.

Now that you have gained one of the four allies for your army the Mages you have a representative from the Circle in your camp behind the tents near the main fire.  Next to the representative and as you gain more allies there will be a representative for each present there is a set of crates into which you can put supplies for your allies.  You should be doing this because it strengthens the troops you will later use when fighting your way to the Arch Demon and in your fight WITH the Arch Demon.  I am not sure precisely what the increases are for providing supplies here, but as every little bit of an advantage is good, you may as well do it too.

When you click on the supply boxes it will prompt you for what you can deposit when you are depositing supplies for potions and such, be sure that you do not end up giving them all of what you have, since you may have need of some of it yourself!  We are about to visit the Brecillian Forests, which is home to the Dalish Camp, and we can buy a nearly unlimited supply of Elfroot there so bear that in mind.

Now that we have finished with this minor side-task, let us head to the Brecillian Outskirts!

Brecillian Outskirts

Travel in these lands is not without risk and on the way to the Outskirts we encounter a refugee girl asking for our help.  As we approach we get a CS that suggests that all is not as it seems remember the  Assassins that we learned about earlier?  Yes, this is them.  There are traps laid all over the place and assassins on the ledges above so take them out carefully and disarm the traps leading to the ledges before you send your party up there!

When the battle has finished, you get a brief CS, and the opportunity to interrogate the Elven Assassin.  As you question him, he reveals some interesting information about his organization, and he even admits that Loghain is who hired him though we already knew that.  As the Elf says Loyalty is an interesting concept.  Once you have pumped him for all of the information you could get, he has an offer for you he does not want you to kill him, and he does not want to be killed by the Crows what he wants is clear enough: to join your group!

I suppose it is no surprise that Alistair is not real happy with this decision but hey, a new party member!  Cool!  Now to the business of looting one of the travelers has a letter on them that gains us the Codex Entry  "Friends of Red Jenny" and as this is also a side-quest be sure that you loot it. 

Once you have looted all that you want, head back to the World Map and continue our journey!

Dalish Camp

As we arrive we get a brief CS and a challenge after a short if hostile chat in which we inform her that we are Grey Wardens, we are taken to The Keeper Zathrian.  He sounds a lot like the guy who played the Vulcan on the Star Trek show with Captain Janeway...  Not that this is relevant here! 

He gets right to the point a very direct fellow and explains that they may not be able to honor the treaty that they signed so long ago and he shows you why.  Werewolves!

As the story unfolds, it becomes obvious that we are going to have to help the Elves and take on the King of the Werewolves!  The task is simple enough hunt him down, kill him, cut his heart out, and bring it back to the Keeper...  No worries mate, we can have that done in two shakes of a Jiffy, right?

Now before we get started, lets ask the Keeper a few questions to get as much of the 4-1-1 as we can, and then hit up his supply guy for whatever we can get, and have a chat with some of the other Elves. 

After we finish talking to the Keeper, the Dalish Camp is unlocked as an area we can access, and as Lanaya is standing next to us, she is our logical first chat and she has some questions for us...

This is actually an interesting story and worth listening to, not that you have to or anything, but you might enjoy learning her story nonetheless so why not?  You gain a Codex Entry for your patience as well I should add.

There are some objects in the camp that will also give Codex Entries a statue of a wolf near the fire gives the entry Fen'Harel: the Dread Wolf, a headless statue near the pens gives the entry Ghilan'nain: Mother of the Halla, a small statue behind a half-wall gives the entry Elgar'nan: God of Vengeance, in the center hut is a small statue called God of the Craft, from which you obtain the Codex Entry June: God of the Craft.  A statue near that called Sylaise (a woman holding a bowl) that gets you the entry Sylaise: the Hearthkeeper, and across from her is another statue called Andruil, that gives the entry Andruil: Goddess of the Hunt.  There are some Colored Inks on a fur gives the entry Vallaslin: Blood Writing.

There is a chest next to where Lanaya and Zathrian are standing, but you will have to be deceptive to get whatever is in it, and I chose not to do that.  

Sarel invites you to have a meal by the fire, and introduces himself as the Clan's Storyteller.  He does not have much faith that your mission will succeed, thought he seems enthusiastic about you and your courage nonetheless.  After dis'ing you and getting upbraided by a nearby Elf woman, he apologizes and offers to tell a story to the children.  If you have not heard this story before you may want to listen to it, as it gives you the Elven take on the world.

After you listen to the tale, Sarel tells you about the forest that you will be adventuring in the information is not really all that valuable, but he does give you some information about Witherfang, and the forest spirits, and at the end of this you receive the Codex Entry for The Dales.

Cammen, a Hunter Apprentice sitting nearby, gives you an opportunity to persuade or intimidate to get his story, and in the process you learn about the girl he loves.  You get another chance to persuade if you want to convince him to allow you to get the pelt for him which adds another quest to your outstanding list.

Athras is near a wagon and in the conversation that you have with him, you are presented with another opportunity to persuade I took this, and if you have been following this guide, you should also have picked up the Achievement: Persuasive (10 GP) here as I did.  I told him that I would look for his wife in the forest, and after the conversation ends you get a Quest Updated notice.

Elora is by the pens she is the Master Herder who cares for the halla that are the Elven beasts of burden.  You can have a quick chat with her to learn about her and the halla.  You can try to use your Survival Skill (if you have it) to calm the halla that is ill, I was not able to help...  There may be a quest attached to this I will look into that later.  Either way, you also get another Codex Entry when you finish talking to her.

There is a Deathroot plant behind the pen that you can harvest before you move on.

Varathorn is standing nearby with his weapons arrayed on a table talk to him for a brief CS in which he yells at his apprentice, after which you can ask him for the gear he is supposed to have for you and then you can barter with him for other stuff.  It would be an idea to do that, because this guy has an almost unlimited supply of some of the resources that you need like Elfroot, agents, as well as some good recipes.  You need the Elfroot to make the healing potions that for one of the quests that we have, and the Toxin Extract can be bought here so that you do not have to try to collect it the hard way.

When you are done with him, look around his area there is a crate with a helm in it, a pile of books behind him with two Codex Entries, a barrel with a weapon called Dar'Misu, and a chest with some supplies in it.

Now go back and chat with Varathorn again and ask him what he does.  He will tell you about a special wood that he needs to make his finest crafts.  Here is your chance to pick up another quest, and offer to get him some Ironbark.  He will tell you how to recognize it, and offer to craft something for you if you bring him some.  Excellent!  Yet another quest!  This camp is a fertile place for adventure!

Mithra is standing by the entrance to the camp, and if you talk to her she will give you her blessing on your task or you can find some things to argue with her about, your call.  There are some Elfroot plants you can harvest off to her right, and that pretty much wraps up the camp!  Time to go kill werewolves!