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Quest
The Deep Roads Expedition

Act:

1

Location:

Deep Roads

Start:

Hightown, Kirkwall

Appearances:

Dragon Age II

The Deep Roads Expedition is an Act 1 main quest in Dragon Age II. After being allowed to enter Kirkwall and working for a year, Hawke needs to join an expedition to the Deep Roads to gain money and status within the city. The expedition is run by the brothers Bartrand and Varric.

Acquisition Edit

This quest begins after Hawke's year of servitude ends. Hawke and their surviving sibling try to unsuccessfully persuade Bartrand to let them join the expedition. After speaking to the dwarf, a pickpocket attempts to steal Hawke's money, but is caught by Varric. The latter then offers Hawke the opportunity to become business partners with himself and Bartrand.

The quest requires 50 to start, and you must complete the following quests:

Walkthrough Edit

Upon giving Bartrand the 50 sovereigns and completing all other main quests in Act 1 (or letting Dougal Gavorn pay your fee if you made a deal with him in Friends in Low Places), Leandra will appear and attempt to persuade Hawke not to bring their sibling to the Deep Roads in fear something will happen to them both. Hawke will then be prompted to choose party members, with Varric locked in.

Carver: friendship (+10) or Bethany: friendship (+10) if taken.
Carver: rivalry (+15) or Bethany: rivalry (+10) if not.

Note: Regardless of whether or not Hawke takes Carver or Bethany along on the expedition, you will lose them as a party member for much of the game. Also if Hawke takes Carver or Bethany they die at the end of this quest unless Hawke also takes Anders in the party and listens to his proposal.

Finding another route Edit

As the party arrives in the Deep Roads, Hawke discovers that the passage is blocked by a collapse, forcing them to find a side passage regardless of the danger. Bodahn cries for help, asking Hawke to search for the lost Sandal as well.

If Hawke agrees to search for Sandal:

Aveline: friendship (+5)
Varric: friendship (+5)

If Hawke refuses:

Aveline: rivalry (+5)
Varric: rivalry (+5)

Choosing this option will make Hawke save Bodahn, who attempted to find his son himself, and later Sandal, but without a quest entry.

Note: The rivalry gained does not appear in your quest log.

Proceed down the passage and battle the various darkspawn. Beside the first set of stairs is a Deep Mushroom. Around the corner is a chest with Oath-Breaker. Continue along and you will come to a room where you must fight a darkspawn emissary. The pit on the right contains Silverite, and ascending the stairs in the pit activates a trap, spawning a monstrous spider. The left path is blocked so proceed straight ahead. In the next room, you will find another Deep Mushroom. Exiting this room causes a cut scene with Sandal.

After finding Sandal surrounded by darkspawn corpses (receive 400 XP - quest progression), you continue your search while fighting many different darkspawn.

Note: In the spider pit, there is a small room with a locked door. As soon as you approach the door for lockpicking, the spiders spawn. To make sure you get the XP for lockpicking, you must do it during the fight. Otherwise, the door is open and you miss the XP for picking the lock.

Note: Shortly after exiting the room where Sandal and the frozen Ogre were, you will see a stone column with the Codex entry: Deep Roads.

Note: In the room with the living ogre, be careful of the many (6) complex traps, they require 30 cunning to detect and disarm. Also, letting the ogre charge is advisable, ducking back out of the door and avoiding the charge causes the ogre to get its horns stuck in the opposite wall. This trivializes the fight on any difficulty setting. But, be careful, as the ogre can hurl rocks outside the room and can occasionally glitch when charging and go through the door. Also, the ogre's slam can instantly kill weaker party members, so I suggest walking up the stairs to the landing (about 12 steps down from the door), selecting hold party members' movement, then run inside door and back out. The ogre will charge and and often will slam afterwards which can hit party members too close to the door. After running back outside of the room, have those with area effect and long range abilities attack the ogre while using your active character to distract ogre so that he does not hurl rocks at the group outside the room. Then, after you kill the ogre and loot his corpse, bring your rogue inside to disarm the 6 complex traps. There is 1 trap in each corner (approximately), and 2 in front of the door on the west side (straight across from the entrance) of the room

After the room with the ogre and traps there will be a large open room with a dragon and several dragonlings, so prepare your party for a tough fight. If you are having trouble with the dragon and have Anders in your party, I found that if you keep him alive you can run the dragon and dragonlings in a circle by going up the stairs and across to the other stairs will give you a few seconds reprieve in which to attack or charge your mana enough to cast regroup as needed until you can defeat them. Also works well for ranged attacks with Varric or other ranged fighters if need be. After slaying the dragon, you discover a side passage. The dragon drops a variety of items:

Depending on Hawke's class:

Last Descent Armor

Warplate of the Fallen

Robes of the Spiral Eye

No matter Hawke's class:

Winter-Weight

Nevarran Lancer

Hawke returns to Bartrand, who is "pleased" that the expedition is moving again.

The Primeval Thaig Edit

After the cut-scene with Bartrand, Hawke and company are transported to an undiscovered thaig, the Primeval Ruins, which Hawke must explore. Beyond Bartrand's camp (where Hawke can talk to Bodahn to get his thanks for saving Sandal) is a passage to the northwest where the party battles a number of shades and a stone golem. ( There is also a deposit of Orichalcum nearby ).

Note: Bodahn has a shop if you need potions or anything of the sort.

Beyond that point, the party enters the Primeval Thaig, where they discover a pure lyrium idol. Bartrand, unwilling to share the profits of the expedition, takes the idol and locks them in the thaig.

To find the way out, Hawke must enter the Ancient Crypt. The party will battle a large number of shades and profanes, until the battle is stopped by a hunger demon in the form of a profane. He offers a deal: stop killing the profanes (he feeds off their hunger), kill a rock wraith up ahead, and he will tell Hawke the location of a key to a locked door that leads to higher tunnels.

Hawke accepts the deal:

Anders: rivalry (+15)
Aveline: rivalry (+5)
Fenris: rivalry (+5)

Hawke refuses the deal:

Anders: friendship (+10)
Aveline: friendship (+5)
Merrill: rivalry (+10)

Letting Merrill kill the demon (Call on companion) results in no change.

Alternatively, Hawke can kill the demon (or ask Merrill to do it if in the party), after which the party has to battle more shades, profanes, and an abomination (arises from the former rock demon). Warriors have a special choice in which Hawke refuses the deal in a unique way. This results in no approval change, the same as if Merril killed it.

Note: If you're interested in maximizing your experience and profits, refusing the deal results in more enemies to kill (22 vs. 7) and about 200 more experience points.

In either case, Hawke forges ahead to where Hawke and company battle the Ancient Rock Wraith. Periodically the rock wraith will disappear and respawn in the center of the four pillars and emit radiant red energy which damages all party members, regardless of range. This damage is rather severe, but can be negated by having the party hide behind the pillars, away from the rock wraith. After this attack, the creature will collapse and raise profanes to help him. On normal difficulty, the radiant energy phase of this boss fight will restore the party's mana and stamina bars.

Note: Drawing out the fight so that the wraith continues to summon profanes can leave many corpses to check for random items. Equipping gear that improves item drops or coin amounts is useful here.

After the rock wraith is defeated, there is a cut scene where the party walks forward to a stash of treasure chests, one of which contains the key to let them out of the crypt.

Note: You might want to go back to where you fought the rock wraith to pick up loot that it dropped before leaving the area.

If Hawke made a deal with the demon, it will appear before they lay claim to the treasure, telling them to take only the key and leave the rest. Hawke has several options at this point:

Varric: friendship (+10) if Hawke lets Varric kill the demon ("Call on companion"), leading to a fight with only its followers.
Attack the demon, leading to combat with it and its minions.
Hawke tells the demon that they only want the key, in which case it summons minions and attacks you anyway.
Tell the demon to back off as a special choice if Hawke's personality is aggressive. If not, it attacks anyway.

When the party exits the Ancient Crypt, you will get a cut-scene featuring discussion with Varric showing that you are back at the original campsite. They then head for Kirkwall.

“There are men who embrace destiny; these are the ones that change the world forever.” — Flemeth
This article contains spoilers for Dragon Age II. Click here to reveal them.

Should Hawke have Bethany or Carver in the party, there is an extended cut scene in which their sibling collapses due to symptoms of the taint. Regardless of any dialogue option selected, the sibling will die. However, if Anders is in the party, he will propose that Hawke search for a Grey Warden, Stroud. After some negotiation (and a fight with darkspawns - make sure to loot the bodies as the conversation with the Grey Wardens automatically starts with the last enemy dying) with the Grey Warden Stroud, he will allow Bethany or Carver to attempt the Joining. Doing so will allow the sibling to survive.

Note: You will lose all equipment held by either party member, so be sure to take any equipment you'd like to keep from them before leaving.

If Hawke takes Carver to the Grey Wardens:

Anders: friendship (+5)
Varric: friendship (+5)
Carver: friendship (+5)

If Hawke takes Bethany to the Grey Wardens:

Anders: friendship (+5)
Varric: friendship (+5)

Result Edit

over 20 (from the treasure)
over 10 500 XP (from the Ancient Rock Wraith)

Hawke and their companions arrive safely in Kirkwall, and Act 2 begins.

If Hawke did not accept Dougal Gavorn's proposal, Varric pays him/her back the 50 sovereigns, serving as profit from the expedition. Otherwise, he will visit the Hawke Estate to extort money from Hawke, which can be refused.

“There are men who embrace destiny; these are the ones that change the world forever.” — Flemeth
This article contains spoilers for Dragon Age II. Click here to reveal them.

If the sibling was not taken to the Deep Roads, Carver is recruited to the templars, while Bethany is captured by the templars to be taken to the Circle; both of them leave. Consoling Words shows up in the quest log.

Crafting resources Edit

If you are seeking the Supplier achievement, be sure to grab:

2 Deep Mushroom
- The first is located to the west side of the stairs in the very first room you encounter dark spawn.
- The second is located in the blue room where you fight the emissary
1 Silverite located in the SE valley where the monstrous spider attacks you.
2 Raw Lyrium
- The first is located next to the frozen ogre that Sandal mysteriously froze.
- The second is located in the room with the pillars immediately before you fight an Ogre yourself.
1 Orichalcum located in the Primeval Ruins in the room where you first encounter shades and a golem.

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