Vigil's Keep is your new home and base. This means that we need to pay for a few upgrades and help our soldiers get ready to fight the Blight. We can this quite easily by just keeping our eyes open during the main quest. Note that the quests under "Letters for the Commander" which comes from your private by the gate have their own section.
What Is Built Endures – Voldrik
Voldrik is in charge of maintaining the walls of Vigil's Keep. He wants the walls to be up to Dwarven standards. Chances are that you should want them to be the best that they can be too.
We need to start this all off by spending 80 sovereigns. If you"re importing a warden into Awakening, then this shouldn"t be a problem. I assume that you should still have a half decent war fund from the last game. If not, just do a main quest mission first. Wending Woods wouldn't be a bad place to start, since you can finish the "Trade Must Flow" quest, which I"ll cover below. That will net you enough sovereigns. The Merchant's Guild quests aren't bad though and even the chantry pays decently for it's quests.
There also wasn"t too much that I felt it was absolutely necessary to buy. So hand over the coins when you get them. Once that"s done, he"ll state that he needs some better materials. This means some good granite.
This is actually easy though. There"s a large deposit of fairly white granite just sitting at the end of the path in the Wending Woods. It should show up if you use TAB too. Just click on it to get a sample and record the location. Tell Voldrik about it and send a few soldiers and servants to mine it. The walls will be perfect shortly afterwards.
This appears to have some fairly significant consequences for the final battle, especially if you expect Vigil's Keep to stand on its own.
Bombs Away! – Dworkin
Well, just keep your eyes open for lyrium sand while you"re adventuring.
There are two samples in Kal"Hirol, after you enter it from the Knotwood Hills. One is on a "lyrium-infused skeleton" close to the Main Hall. There"s also another sample lying a little further inside.
There is one in the basement of Vigil's Keep. You"ll run right into it during the "It Comes from Beneath."
You can get one more in the Silverite Mine when you go to kill the dragon-tamer for Keenan's Last Wishes.
You need to get one sample to let him experiment. For each one after that, you"ll get some explosives that you can use. The strength of the spell depends on just how much risk you told Voldrik to take (and men to sacrifice in accidents basically). I didn"t find much use for them, but rogues could really like it.
The big benefit is if you plan to defend Vigil"s Keep at the end of the game. Having all four samples of lyrium sand will let him make an incredibly powerful explosive that he can use in bombardments from the Vigil"s Keep catapult.
Trade Must Flow
Well, the title says it all. You have to find some new traders for Vigil's Keep. There are two that you need to find and recruit.
Lillith is the first one. You should just find her along the main road at some point in a random encounter. She"s a bit to the west usually, so take a trip to the Knotwood Hills or any of the estates out that way and then walk back. Save her from some bandit darkspawn and she"ll be quite grateful. She"ll happy reward you and go to Vigil"s Keep to start trading.
Armaas is the other one and he"s the potential problem. You"ll find him near the box holding your gear while you escape the Silverite Mine. If you didn't get the "Trade Must Flow" quest before going to the Wending Woods, then he will not be there. This means that you cannot complete the quest.
If he"s there though, just talk to him and ask if he"d like to trade. He'll agree.
Once you have both of them there, report back to Mistress Woolsey and she"ll reward you with 60 sovereigns from the new flourishing trade. Yuriah will also have new gear for sale.
Elemental Requirements
As usual, Wade feels that he needs some much better resources in order to make good armor. Our old friend is right though. Your soldiers will be much equipped better if you have all three ores available for his use.
You should find one right off the bat. There's Veridium ore in the Vigil's Keep basement. It"s right next to Adria for the "Adria"s Plight" quest. Just grab a sample.
The iron ore sample is in Kal"Hirol. You can get here by going through the new hole in the ground at Knotwood Hills. It"s by the large forge room. You can't miss it. Just grab a sample.
Shockingly, the silverite sample is right in your way in the Silverite Mine. You"ll get put into here during the main quest. When you fight the last group of experimental subjects, you should be able to find it on the ground.
Just hand the samples over to Wade and he"ll organize a mining trip. Go ahead and loan him a few soldiers. Your general infantry will be practically immortal gods in the final battle.
A Master's Work
Once again, Wade can make some really cool stuff if we can bring him cool ingredients. Each of the main areas presents an opportunity for some cool stuff.
For the quick rundown, you can get three special pieces of equipment. There"s the heartwood from The Old One in the Wending Woods. It"s just a big sylvan and it goes down easy. There"s the spectral dragon in the Blackmarsh (Also called the Queen of the Blackmarsh). You get one of the Eldest Dragonbone by finishing the "Lost Dragon Bones" in the Blackmarsh. Killing this big dragon takes a big strategy and that has it "s own article, linked above. The last one is the Inferno Golem. You have to fight him for the main quest in Kal"Hirol.
Once you get these pieces, you need to do a little shopping.
Worked to the Bone
For worked to the bone, you need a few extra things besides the Eldest Dragonbone.
You need a Diamond. I"d be shocked if you didn"t find one along the way. If you already sold one, then you can just buy it back from the merchant.
Greater Warmth Balm can probably just be found or bought from someone. No big worry there.
A Fresh Dragon Egg can be found in the Silverite Mine when you go to kill the dragon-tamer in the back. There"s a fresh dragon egg sitting in the nest. Just grab it. If you didn"t grab an egg during your egg escape, then I"m sorry. You can go back to the Silverite Mine. You just can"t finish this quest. Don"t worry that much. It"s a decent sword but isn"t something to freak out over. It"s only slightly better than Dumat"s Spine.
You also need a Grandmaster Flame Rune. You have to craft this one, if you don"t already have on from Origins. I didn"t, so you probably won"t. Do go ahead and check your weapons before you waste a lot of money crafting though. You basically just have to buy about eight novice flame runes from Ambassador Cera. Then buy the journeyman and expert tracings along with the grandmaster flame tracing.
You can then climb the ladder. Make four journeymen runes that can make two expert runes and one gradmaster flame rune.
Turn it in to start crafting Vigilance. You actually have a little more customization here. You can get a longsword or a greatsword. You can then have it be powerful or flexible. Flexible has a bonus to base attack and ice damage. Raw power should give a boost to amor penetration and fire damage.
Heart of the Forest
Once you"ve got the heartwood, you need to go on a bit of a scavenger hunt.
The bottle of oil is in the Crown and Lion Inn, close to the entrance. Just grab it.
Catgut can be taken from the dead Marbari Hound in the ruins of Blackmarsh Village. It's pretty easy to spot.
The Flawless Ruby can be found in loot throughout the game. You should also be able to buy one from a few merchants in Amaranthine.
The Grandmaster Lightning Rune is a bit trickier than the Grandmaster Flame Rune. You have to buy the Grandmaster Lightning Rune tracing from Yuriah, but he"ll only have it once you complete the "Trade Must Flow" quest and talk to Woolsey. You may have to walk in and out to register it.
Once it's there, you can buy it and walk up the rune ladder again with novice runes going to journeyman lightning runes and then expert and grandmaster.
Once you're done, you can turn the gear in and Wade will give you an option. You can get a nice bow or a good shield. It looked a little bit better than the Landsmeet Shield that I"d been carrying for awhile.
Golem's Might
Well, we're going to have to go to a lot of trouble to put that golem shell to good use.
You can buy some Pure Iron from Glassric. He's the weaponsmith in the Amaranthine Market.
The Wool Padding is just in a box in Amaranthine. If you"re a good looter, you already found it. It"s close to the spot marked as the Commons. TAB is naturally a big help. If you already sold it, check your usual merchant's inventory. They should still have it.
The Blood Lotus is all over the Wending Woods. One is right next to the burning caravan at the start. Just take one.
The big challenge is the Master Lyrium Potion. You have to finish the quest that you started in "It Comes From Beneath." If you were really good in searching the area, then you should have found four keys. One is a key to the crypt and the rest are oddly named, like Key of the Lady, Korth and Haakon. Two of them are locked up though, so It"s possible that you missed one. To be honest, I"m not sure it"s worth a second trip.
If you"ve got them though, go back into the first basement and walk to the prison area. You know have a key to get into the crypt. Go in and fight a few more skeletons. They aren"t too bad, but someone should run up and handle the skeleton archers at the start to keep them from annoying you.
Once they"re dead, you have to start looting. There should be one more key in the sarchopagi in the room. Run around and put a key into each of the keyholes. The door should open and you"ll have to face an old friend and the three Avaar Lords. Just grind right through them. Since you had to handle "It Comes From Beneath" I assume that you can handle them. The reward is some good loot, you can grab Howe"s Bow as a gift for Nathaniel from the crypt itself and the all important Master Lyrium Potion Recipe.
Just craft one up and get some nice armor.
This post is part of the series: Dragon Age: Awakening Side Quests
There are a whole lot of side quests to do in Dragon Age: Awakening. Each area has its own series of missions. You can do everything from minor choices to slaying dragons. If you need any help with side quests in Blackmarsh, Amaranthine, or Vigil's Keep, then look here.
Smuggling route/law and order
Two mutually exclusive quests. In Amaranthine, the city guard fights smugglers. If you talk to the dark person in the left alley of the refugee quarter, you will receive a task from the smugglers, but if you talk to Constable Aidan at the gate to the main part of the city, you will receive a task for the guard. You can take both quests, but as soon as you complete the first condition of one of them, the second one will close with a note that you have chosen the opposite side. Each task consists of a number of small tasks, for which you will pay a certain amount of gold.
For the smugglers
1. Convince the innkeeper of the King and the Lion tavern to open a secret passage to the smugglers' lair. It's simple, go to the innkeeper and convince him to do this (you need a level 2 persuasion skill). Reward 10 gold (given by dark personality).
2. After this, a dark person will ask you to free the smugglers' hideout from thieves. We will get the key to the shelter from him. We go down into the dungeon through the hatch in the nearest shack (or through the hatch in the tavern) and kill all the thieves. Reward 15 gold (given by the head of the smugglers).
3. As soon as we kill the thieves, the leader of the smugglers will appear in the shelter, he will pay us for our work and give us the last task. We need to kill the lieutenant of the city guard. First, we climb the wall through the left door from Aidan (if you are facing him) and kill the sergeant to take the key to the guardhouse. Now we go to the guardhouse (there is a marker in the form of a cross on the mini-map, so you will find it). After a short conversation, the lieutenant will attack you, kill him and take the key to the cells located on the other side of the site. You release an elf from the cage, who can be taken into service in the Vigilance Tower (though after that I personally did not see him in the tower). Return to the leader in the dungeon and receive your reward of 20 gold.
Note: The advantages of this option are that you will hire an extra person to guard the Vigilance tower and receive a considerable amount of gold, the disadvantage is that you will not receive one item from the Agile costume (a very good set of armor for a robber).
For custody
1. Aidan will ask you to find out from the smuggler in the market where their lair is located. We go to the market and talk to him. He will decide to run away, setting his accomplices against you. We run after him throughout the city, fighting off attacks 4 times. As a result, you will see how the smuggler hides in the hatch of one of the shacks in the refugee quarter. Tell Aidan about this. There will be no monetary reward for this part of the task.
2. Aidan will ask you to go to the smugglers' hideout and deal with them. First, we kill the dark personality and take the key. Then we go down inside and kill all the criminals, including the leader. Search the drawers and take Agile's boots and many other goodies. now return to Aidan for a reward of 10 gold.
Note: the advantages of this option are the boots of the Agile and an increase in reputation with Nathaniel Howe, the disadvantages are that you will not gain access to the guardhouse and will not save the elf, and you will also receive 15 gold coins less money (if you take into account not only the pure reward, but also the money from selling smugglers’ junk ).
Attacks on caravans
As soon as you receive the quest “The Righteous Path” from Mrs. Wolsey, go to Amaranthine and talk to the merchant Mervis. He will tell us about the attacks on caravans in the Vending Forest. Actually, we already know all this from Ms. Wolsey, but that’s okay. We listen carefully to the honorable gentleman and promise to sort everything out. Next, we complete the task “The Righteous Path” and report to Mervis that the Vending forest is now safe. Here it is important not to go into details (not to reveal Velanna’s involvement), then the merchant will generously reward us with gold, and Velanna’s favor will increase by 10 points. Otherwise, the points to the elf’s reputation will either be fewer, or they will be completely negative.
Until the death separates us
The girl Alma in the Amaranthine church asks to find her missing husband. She says that the search should begin at the King and Lion Tavern. We go there and find the first note, which will mention the city walls. We go to the city wall through the door to the right of Aidan (if you are facing him) and find a second note, which talks about a shack on the outskirts of the city in the refugee quarter. We go to the house closest to the exit from the city and find the poor fellow who committed suicide. We return to the church and tell the sad news to Alma.
Nerd Ines
Near the church we will meet our old friend from the Original, the sorceress Wynn. She will ask us for a favor. You need to go to the Vending forest, find a certain Ines there and inform her about the upcoming meeting of the college of magicians. When we find Inez, she will ask us to bring her northern thornweed seeds. The plant can be found on the rocks to the right of the entrance to the silverite mines. As a reward, we will receive from Ines several potions and recipes for making them ourselves.
Last will
In the silverite mines of the Vending Forest you will find a half-dead gray guard with broken legs. He will ask you to kill the creature of darkness that crippled him and take the wedding ring from the creature, which must then be given to the guard’s wife Nida with the words “He died trying to make this world a better place.” The Spawn of Darkness is located in the northern part of the silverite mines. We kill him, take away a good two-handed hammer “Nogolom” and a wedding ring. When we return to Amaranthine, we will find Nida. It is located in the inn of the King and the Lion inn in the right room on the second floor. Be a witness to the sad family scene for a while, hand over everything that is due and return to your business. You won't get a reward from Nida.
Trade Guild Board
Merchant's goods
We need to return the silk lost during the attack on the caravan in the Vending Forest. We go there and collect 9 rolls of silk (found in chests, boxes and looters). As soon as we collect silk, we return to Amaranthine to the representative of the trade guild, Kendrick, for a reward.
Maferath statues
You need to go to the Vending Forest and examine the 8 ancient statues of Maferath. Once the job is done, we return to Amaranthine to the representative of the trade guild, Kendrick, for the reward.
Keep away from children
You need to go around the streets of Amaranthine and collect all the vials of poison. The poison is located:
- from Master Henley;
-at the gunsmith Glassrick;
-at two commoners next to Aidan;
-at the entrance to the guardhouse.
Once you have collected everything, return to Amaranthine to the representative of the trade guild, Kendrick, for your reward.
Sir's missing sword
Alvarda
Many years ago, in the village of Black Marshes, a sword was forged for Ser Alvard. He asked that the sword be taken to Amaranthine, but the caravan never came to the city. Sera Alvard has already died without waiting for the family heirloom, but if we go to the black swamps, we can find this blade. It is in one of the boxes on the pier (you can get there after completing the main quest "Shadows of the Black Swamps").
Preacher board
Living tree
The Church wants to improve the armor of the templars, for this they need the bark of the ancient sylvans. These creatures are found only in the Vending Forest. We go there, kill the walking trees and take 5 pieces of bark, after which we return to the preacher for a reward.
At the expense of the weak
Robbers are rampaging through the refugee quarter. We go there and kill three groups of bandits, after which we return to the preacher for a reward.
Uncontrollable
After taking the task from the preacher's board, go to the church and talk to Riliena. She will ask you to find three Malificars in the city and kill them. They are not difficult to find. They will be signed yellow and a mark will hang above each of them. They will not engage in battle right away, so follow each of them a little and get on your nerves until they attack you. Once you kill all three, you will need to find their leader. It is located near the market rows in a nook next to the warehouse, where we will go on Anders’ personal quest. After dealing with the malificar, return to the preacher for your reward.
Note: Do not take Anders with you on this mission, he is very sensitive about killing magicians in the name of the prosperity of the church.
First aid kits as a gift
Donate 5 first aid kits to the church (you need the ones that are simply called “first aid kit” and not “small first aid kit”). Just give them to the preacher and get the money.
Poultices as a gift
The task appears on the board after completing the previous quest with first aid kits. This time the church needs to donate 5 effective medicinal poultices (the last or second to last in terms of potency). Just give them to the preacher and get the money.
Orphaned due to pestilence
A cool and quickly completed branch of small quests, the reward for which will only be experience. You can get it at the King and the Lion tavern by going to the wooden board and box to the right of the entrance to the establishment. Just like on the preacher's board, just accept the tasks offered to you (they will be written in very cool language). Below they are listed in order of appearance.
Orphaned due to pestilence
Place 50 silver coins in the box. This will open further quests.
Note: In order for the quests to be updated on the board, you need to leave the tavern and enter it again.
Orphaned by pestilence (again)
This time the orphans need to put 2 gold pieces in the box for bed linen and brandy (you can buy it from the innkeeper.
These cute orphans
Take a basket of lavender leaves and pour them onto the bed of Reverend Mother Lianna in the Amaranthian church. There will be a reaction from your companions to this action (due to a bug, even those who are not currently in your party can react, but the change in reputation will not be more than 1, either positively or negatively). For example, Nathaniel will not approve of this action, but Ogren, on the contrary, will be very pleased.
Note: if you want to have a good laugh, then listen to the conversations in the tavern later (it turns out that the lavender was not simple, but soaked in something that causes itching; sleep well, Reverend Mother).
Sermons of Giustinia II
Take the book with the sermons of Justina II from the central altar in the Amaranthine Church and put it in the orphan box.
Moonshine for kids
You need to go to the lair of moonshiner Hubert and bring the orphans a box of illegal booze (like for cauterizing bruises and bumps). The entrance to the moonshiners is in the shopping arcade. We go into the house, kill three criminals, take a box of moonshine, swill for Ogren and return to the tavern. Place the moonshine in the box and the quest will close.
Hunt for marauders
The orphans will ask you to return the following things that they lost while running around the city:
-forks (to the left of the entrance to the tavern, if you stand with your back to it)
-hammer (to the right of the entrance to the tavern, if you stand with your back to it)
-doll (behind the cart at the foot of the stairs, if you follow the road from the inn to Constable Aidan)
-shoe soles (in shopping malls)
-pie (in shopping arcades)
Having collected all the things, put them in the box and close the quest.
Gift for Melissa
Old woman Melissa constantly chases the orphans. We need to teach her a lesson. Place a scarecrow with a knife in front of her house. First, take a knife (it lies in the inn kitchen). Then go to the refugee quarter and pick up the scarecrow there. Then go to the house to the right of Constable Aidan (if you are facing him) and stick the scarecrow into the soft ground. Return to the tavern for the last task from the orphans.
Compensation for damage
Melissa was seriously afraid of the scarecrow. The orphans want to make amends for their guilt. Go to church and stamp flowers from the Reverend Mother’s table. Then go to Melissa's house and leave the flowers on the doorstep. That's it, this completes the orphan quest line.
Brainless creatures, whose reflexes were previously sharpened only for the simplest actions (gnaw a corpse, fight for a female, tag a bush and troll on forums) suddenly began to acquire some semblance of intelligence. The genocide we committed in the original benefited the evolution of Darkspawn. It got to the point that in their once friendly party there was a split into two camps with all the consequences in the form of mutual extermination and the attraction of unexpected allies to their side.
The parties in every possible way spoil each other's unlife, while in the sweat of their faces they continue to exterminate progressive humanity. It's time, it's time to return to the lands of Ferelden! Blowing away the dust from magical tomes, darning capes Gray Wardens and remember what the smell of the blood of the Corrupted is like.
We need heroes again. Former, current, random - a little bit of everyone. The part - not the most popular, led by the drunkard Ogren - will return from the original, some will appear in the videos, but the five will come completely new. Alas, the newcomers are not pleasing to the eye and ear with their antics and squabbles. One of them is a bitch, the other is a whiner - doesn’t remind anyone of them? The rest don't even deserve a mention. Run through all the regions, collecting a travel companion in each, and you will forget.
The “old people” won’t even remember who kept you warm on cold evenings in a sleeping bag embroidered with runes, and many fateful decisions will also not be reflected in “Awakening.” Again, no romance. The harsh new lands do not allow you to be distracted by frivolous thoughts.
Alas, it's still not Mass Effect 2 with its meticulous calculation of your good and evil deeds, however, in the addition we will more than once be faced with a choice of very ambiguous decisions, the consequences of which you will more than once experience on your armored buttocks. In short, our choice usually consists of two evils, and our companions will not miss the opportunity to loudly and pompously express their opinion about our inconsistency. Or they will applaud, which is less common.
If for some reason the save file with your hero has sunk into oblivion, then you will be offered to make a new one: level 18, in decent equipment and with two specializations at your disposal. But if suddenly in the original you took the wrong path, pumped up the warrior’s bow skills, or pushed the magician’s “cunning” to the maximum, then don’t worry, calmly transfer it to the sequel. Firstly, rare stones have been brought to stores, allowing you to rethink the entire path traveled and re-spread your skill points. Secondly, the epic armor and weapons of mass destruction that your hero sported against the backdrop of the tortured carcass of the last boss will be an order of magnitude cooler than the nonsense that will be given to a newcomer.
Although you don't have to worry about that either. The equipment obtained and crafted in Awakening can be so powerful that the fangs and blades of the abominations will not cause much harm even to a lazy group of adventurers who forget about side missions. So you will often take risks. Risk falling asleep right in the middle of a dungeon. Just during the extermination of the next batch of abominations that are not very convincingly attacking you.
The new Runecrafting skill will turn excellent gear into excellent gear using generated runes. How do you like, for example, three stones that add up to +30 stamina? While the last boss, swallowing tears of impotence, will pick a hole in your armor, you will have time to check your email, read new fairy tales in the Codex and pose for your admiring fellow travelers and the camera. To be fair, we note that new system weapon and armor upgrades are very confusing and resource intensive. But those who break through the barriers and master the difficult art of forging runes will be fully rewarded.
Again, the authors remembered that not all specializations in the original were beloved by players, and added two new ones for each class. Coupled with the bar being raised to level 30, enthusiasts will be able to spend hours calculating the optimal combination of talents, equipment and stones to obtain virtually unkillable characters, invulnerable to spells and even the most powerful attacks. In general, Bioware has tried hard to make this new adventure easier for us. More precisely, not to us, but to those unfortunate people who stubbornly flooded the official forums with tears, accusing the original of being overly complicated.
Outside the main storyline as usual, you have to help the indigenous inhabitants of fantasy countries: the cowardly, the lazy, and other sufferers whom the script does not allow to stand up and personally deprive the desired goblin of life, cash and experience. We spit deliciously in the ale of the ruling families, splash up to our nostrils in stinking swamps, shower our companions with trinkets and breathe the musty air of the ancient catacombs - everything is traditional. There are, of course, missions in which the discrepancy between the reward and the process of completion shocks even seasoned old-timers of dungeons, but what role-playing game does not suffer from this?
I was also pleased with the new opportunity to start rebuilding my own castle, giving out orders as to who should guard which chicken coop, and how many guards to send to guard the strategically important bridge over the stream. Alas, the local capital - Amaranthine - is quite pale, boring and does not evoke the feeling of a lively city of dozens of cultures and thousands of inhabitants, as it was in the original. Several lazy and expressionless residents, empty streets and gray buildings - apparently, the swamp climate greatly influenced the builders and the local population.
Diagnosis
We received a very good addition, which for some reason they want to sell us at the price of a full-fledged game. Most players will be delighted with new specializations, equipment, an increase in the maximum level and other joys, with the help of which they can now easily destroy a legion or two of evil spirits and skewer a dragon. Serious players, who primarily want story and characters in their role-playing games, will likely be disappointed by the weak connections to previous events and the less-than-ideal selection of companions.
- New skills and talents, increased level bar
- A full-fledged new region with a rich history
- Long duration (for an expansion) and an abundance of missions with difficult moral choices
- Most useful Runecrafting skill
- Predictable plot
- Not very interesting satellites
- Quite monotonous locations
- The combat part is much larger than the plot part
