The Tears of Andraste
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The Tears of Andraste is the final sub-quest given by Slim Couldry in the burglary part of the Crime Wave quest series in Denerim. It is only available after the Landsmeet when Slim re-appears in the Denerim Market District to make up for the previous near-disastrous burglary mission (The Private Collector) where the Warden was set up in a trap laid by Bann Franderel.
Slim takes no payment for this tip (since he feels that he messed up on the last one) and proposes that this particular burglary is made simply to embarrass the nobles. He says that he will make sure that the Tears are returned to the Chantry with no way to trace their theft back to himself or the Warden. The object is to go back into Bann Franderel's Manor by an alternate route (which is of no real consequence except that the Warden starts out at a different location in the manor from the last time).
The purpose this time is to steal (or steal back if you will) the tears of Andraste, which is a vial containing the (allegedly) actual tears shed by Andraste herself before her first vision of the Maker and collected by her mortal husband Maferath during a series of nights. According to Slim, the Tears are just about the most holy thing there is, but they are not mentioned in the Chant, only in stories handed down through generations.
Walkthrough 
Edit
On your second visit, you're placed at the far eastern end of the map and must make your way to the north-west corner. Be wary of traps again. This time, the mission can be completed without engaging in any combat by a character with sufficiently high stealth skill, due to the medium-sized room at the far south of the map. This room acts as a 'safe room' and can be entered by a character with sufficiently high lockpick skill. Once in this room with the door closed, The Warden will drop out of combat and can thus sneak back to the exit to the East.
The area transition that was used in the first visit is still available to be used, but as before, there is no way to use it while in combat mode, unless you kill the enemies closest to it.
You also have the option of sneaking into the kitchen and drugging the guards' drinks, provided you have a character with a high enough stealth skill to get past the patrols and traps and have the poisons skill.
At the "Drinks Table", the player is given the option to:
- Pour a mild poison into the mugs.
- Pour a deadly poison into the mugs.
- Pour a sleeping draught into the mugs.
- Pour rat poison into the mugs.
- Leave the table alone.
Depending on the type of poison you administer to the guards, they will make specific comments about the drinks they were served as the poison takes effect. For example, if you used deadly poison, they will comment "That cider, it tastes odd... What? Poison..." before dying.
| Bug! Prior to Patch 1.04, the poison options did not work. The servant would deliver the drinks to the guards, but nothing happened afterwards. As of Patch 1.04, the poison options are working as intended. |
The vault door is one of the hardest locks to pick (70), and it must be opened before collecting the Tears, so be sure to bring a rogue with enough skill.
Result Edit
After the mission is completed, the Warden can choose to return the Tears to the Chantry (through different means), drop them off personally, or to keep them.
If you return the Tears, either via Slim or dropping them off yourself, you are rewarded with 250xp and 10 sovereigns.
Bugs Edit
- Confirmed 
:If there is a rogue in the party, you can unlock the door to the Captain of the Guard's room (before you go down to the basement to steal the Tears of Andraste), inside you can kill the Captain of the Guard, several archers, and a couple mages. Later, after you steal the Tears of Andraste, the doors will close on your way out. When you open one, the Captain of the Guard and his men will respawn and you can fight them again for more experience. Confirmed that this does not occur on 
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- : The first room mentioned above contains a Mercenary Captain, who is alone and can be killed without raising an alarm. His body can be looted for a Captain's Key which can be used to open at least two other doors in the area. Upon retrieving the Tears, a group of guards and mages led by the Captain of the Guard will be waiting outside the door to the wine cellar. Based on the naming of certain guards as "House Guards", it appears that the suggestion is that there are two forces here, the normal guards of Bann Franderel, and a complement of mercenaries to supplement them, and that each force has its own captain.
- : After completing the quest, the quest marker may still appear above Slim Couldry's head and he will speak to The Warden as if the tears have not yet been retrieved. He will say "Good luck in Franderel's Estate, Warden, this is the big one." The quest is marked as completed, however, and the Tears are removed from the Plot Items. Also of note, the "Captain's Key" picked up from the Mercenary Captain in the estate is labeled as "Captain Key", at least in the Xbox version.
