Dragon Age Origins Walkthrough Part 15 – The Attack At Nightfall, Investigating The Castle
The Attack At Nightfall
Once you talk to Murdock and choose to wait until nightfall, you will enter into the battle. You will need to kill five waves of varying numbers of walking corpses. After those pass through, you tell the knights to guard the path as you move to defend the village.
Again, four waves of a good number of walking corpses. Defeat them, watching everyone's health. It is important to keep them up.
When dawn comes at the end of the battle, it is time to head into the castle itself. Bann Teagan will ask you to meet him at the mill. Restock on anything you need and head up there.
Investigating The Castle
Meet at the Windmill
Head up the slope to the windmill to talk with Baan Teagan. He will explain that there is a secret entrance in into Redcliffe Castle through the Windmill. After he explains things, a lady will escape from the castle and explain some of what has been happening there. Go over all the dialogue options so you know what is going on.
When this is all done Teagan will head for the Castle with you headed there through the secret passage. Head into the mill itself and go to the left. There you will find the secret passage that Teagan mentioned. Interact with it and you will be taken into the castle.
Head through the first door. There are 3 enraged corpses attacking a cell. Move forward and they will attack you. After the fight you will start talking with a mage. Talk with him to find out more about the corpses. He will reveal that Loghain was the one behind the poisoning. Talk with him more to learn that he was hired to tutor the Arl's son in the mystical arts. You have a number of options now:
Kill Jowan - Understand that if you kill him now you will need to travel to the Circle of Magi to complete this quest!
Approval:
Hardened Alistair: +2
Sten: +3
Morrigan: -5
Leliana: -3
Alistair: -5
Free Jowan and have him aid the party - Allows you to finish the quest this trip
Morrigan: +7
Leliana:+2 (Only if you choose the dialogue to “allow Jowan to accompany the party” and “help without making things worse”.)
Alistair: -5 (persuasion makes it possible to avoid this)
Sten: -5
Free Jowan and tell him to run – This forces the party to kill Conner
Morrigan: +7
Alistair: -5 (can be persuaded to avoid the penalty)
Wynne: -5
Sten: -5
Leave Jowan Locked Up – Will remain there until you change or mind or Bann Teagan retrieves him
No approval change until your mind is made up
Explore the Castle
Basement
Once you have made your choice with Jowan it is time to explore the castle proper. Head out through the doorway into the basement. Be sure to explore the two open cells here for a codex entry and a little side quest from a rolled-up note. Now head along the path and as you approach the entrance to the main floor you will be attacked by 4 corpses. Kill them, loot them and the last cell, then head up the main floor.
Main Floor
Head out through the door to the right. Head down the hall to the left and you will be attacked by 5 corpses. Kill them then it is time to explore the nearby rooms. The room directly across from the entrance holds 4 shades, one of which is a Greater Shade. Kill them then look at the book on the podium to get the codex entry “History of the Chantry: Chapter 2”. To the east is the armory. With Deft Hands you will have no problem breaking into it. Loot it to stock up on better armor and weapons. Now head to the east through the corridors.
Through the next door you will encounter 5 corpses, 4 shambling and 1 spellcaster. Make a quick venture to the north. There you will find 4 mabaris who will attack you. Kill them and loot the room. Be sure to get the charred corpse as well. Now continue east. Just as you entrance the next hallway you will encounter tripwire trap. Disarm it and head forward. Be sure to also go into the first room to the north in this corridor. A pair of Enraged corpses are found here and some cabinets with helpful loot. Search the far-right room in this corridor to find Valena, the blacksmith's daughter. Talk with her to get her to leave the castle and return to her father safely. Be sure to loot the crates in the room she is in. After all that, start going to the south.
The first room to the south has 4 Enraged Corpses inside it. Kill them then continue to the next corridor to the east. The passage into the main hall is blocked by a door requiring a key, no matter how skilled the lock picker is. Head to the east instead. You will encounter 6 corpses, a few enraged, one devouring with the rest shambling. After that fight, continue east, then head north when you must. BE sure to loot the wooden crates that you find along your path. You will find the entrance to the cellar through this path.
Cellar
This is just a quick detour so you can access the rest of the castle. Head forward into the next room. Be thorough in the room, in particular, look in the northwest part and find the note. This is important for a side quest you can get in Denerim. Now, after the looting, head the other side of stairs in the northeast corner to reach the courtyard.
Courtyard
Just as you come up you will be assaulted by 3 shambling corpses, 3 skeleton archers and 1 revenant. Focus all your attention on the Revenant, especially on the higher difficulty settings in the game. You can head over to the gate and open the gates with the lever in the northeastern part of the courtyard. It is sitting to the right of the gate. Open the gate during the fight to receive some quick reinforcements if they are needed. Otherwise, do it after the fight.
Head up the stairs and through the double doors. Just head to the west to reach the main hall. You can also just talk with Ser Perth and be taken to the hall immediately. There you will see Bann Teagan and Connor who are both possessed. After the dialogue, you will need to fight Bann Teagan and his possessed men. Everyone will be fine after the fight.
Here you will come to three choices:
Kill Connor
This one just sounds simple but there is much more to it than you would think.
Accept Jowan's Help
Keep talking about how you can enter the fade itself then exploit the connection between Connor and the Demon to find it. Jowan will hesitantly offer up the option to sacrifice someone to put another into the fade. If you take this option, Isolde will be killed and the Mage will depart from their body, which will be badly wounded, being thrown into the Fade.
Get the Mages' Help
This option is only open if you have not completed “The Broken Circle” or, if you have, having sided with the Magi at its completion. This will mandate you travel to the Circle Tower.
For either “Getting the Mages' Help” or “Kill Connor”, it is a good idea to head as far as you can into Redcliffe Castle before you depart. Head to the east of the main hall. You will be assaulted in the corridor by 4 animated suits of armor. Defeat them then open the western door. Inside you will encounter 3 corpses. You will also find some nice loot in a locked chest, Grey Iron Commander's Plate Boots, in the locked cabinet, a small silver ring and amethyst and a small yes shield in the vanity, and the codex entry, “Geography of Ferelden” to the right of the door. As you loot these bodies, be sure to get the Chamberlain's as well. He has the vault key which will allow you get some nice gear. Head to the east from there and investigate the office there. Inside the desk you will find Alistair's Mother's Amulet and some blank vellum. The book on the desk has the codex entry, “The Orelsian Empire”. After all that, head back into the hallway and take the stairs up to the second floor
Floor 2
Go south into the room on your right. You can loot the vanity and a bookcase. Now head into the second room on the right-hand side. As you approach all the inanimate corpses will rise and attack you. 6 are assaulting, mostly shambling though. Through the door you want to first go into the southern room. In there you will find 2 Devouring Corpses and a chest with a health poultice and a stone dragon statuette. Now head to the left and through the door there. The room there has the codex entry “Journal of the Tranquil”, to the left of the door, and a locked chest with a steel longsword inside it. Head back to the corridor that you first entered on this floor.
When you go through the sole eastern door in this corridor you will find the vault but also a horde of corpses. There is at least 1 devouring corpse in there and 5 shambling corpses. If you have the vault key from the chamberlain below, head into the vault. Inside you will find the following:
Veridium: Heavy Plate Boots, battleaxe, soldier's helm
Steel: Chevalier's Mace, Metal Kite Shield, Eamon's Shield
Ash: Crossbow
Yew: Large Wooden Round Shield
Sylvanwood: The Fox's Bow
Whitewood: Heavy Wooden Shield
Miscellaneous: 17 Explosive Bolts, 36 Ice Arrows, Silver-Framed Still Life (a gift)
Continue to the east. This will lead to the Family Apartments. Here, if you do not want to kill Connor, turn around and exit the castle!
If you are after Connor, continue on to start the fight with him. It will trigger when you talk with him so you can explore the chamber to the west if you desire to gain the codex entry “Aveline, Knight of Orlais”. This is not an easy fight:
Battle against Connor:
Enter the room and talk with Connor and he will lose control completely, transforming into the demon within him. The same will happen if you enter the room behind him. Begin attacking the Desire Demon. This creatures loves to start with area of effect spells and will use them periodically throughout the fight. Keep your party healthy to avoid losing members to these blast.
She will vanish once you manage to get a quarter of her life. This unleashes 5 Devouring corpses at your party. She will reappear after you defeat them. Likely she will unleash another of her Area of effect spells. Keep at her until she is just below half. She will once again vanish into a burst of light. This time she unleashes 3 lesser rage demons on the party. Now you need to bring her all the way down.
At this point Isolde will intervene and plead for Connor's life. You can show mercy or just kill him. The choice is yours.
In the Fade Concerning Connor
If the main character is a mage, you will have the option of going into the Fade yourself. This will give you a unique chance to unlock the Blood Mage Specialization through dialogue. Otherwise you can send in one of the Mages in your party.
This area is very straight forward thankfully. Follow the single path forward. Listen to what is said between Connor and the Arl Eamond to learn more about what has happened here recently. Just move forward, through the ghost to the first portal.
Now head to the right. Go up the slope and you will find Connor at the top of a hill. Talk with him to bring the Desire Demon inside him out. You must fight the demon for the first time.
Defeat the demon and return to the portal. Head to the right from where you start. You will find Connor again. Once again, talk with him and fight the Desire Demon. This time it will summon aid in the form of a Lesser Rage Demon. Defeat them then return to the portal and head back through it.
Head to the right and talk with Connor once again. Again the Desire Demon will appear with a Rage Demon in tow. Defeat her and she will once again vanish. Return through the portal to the first area.
On the other side you will encounter the Desire Demon. She will then offer to talk and from there, if it is the main character who entered, you can gain the Blood Magic Specialization. This will also end the conflict peacefully. Otherwise you will face the Desire Demon once more in combat. She will come at you heavily with spells so do your best to stay alive. Thankfully this time she will not summon aid but can knock you over. Defeat the demon to finish the encounter if you chose to battle it.
