Factions quests are as straightforward as anything else, but their rewards and outcomes aren’t quite as clear. Most of these questlines contain turning points in which your decision will grant you only one of two rewards. As such, we’ve shown the benefits of joining each faction the ramifications of your end-of-quest decisions.
However, no matter what choice you make, the achievement/trophy will unlock at the end of each questline.
Warsworn Faction
Travelers Faction
Scholia Arcana Faction
House of Sorrows Faction
House of Ballads Faction
This faction is perfect for those with physical might builds. It will probably be the first faction you encounter as well. Kick things off by speaking to Ost Odura in the Gohart Inn. He’s the dude leaning against the wall looking all emo (pictured above). He’ll give you the first quest.
You need to track down the Krast brothers and take their daggers. Their locations are given on your map, and there’s no real difficulty involved with this quest. Once you have the daggers, return to Odura for his commendation and the next quest.
Head to Shieldring Keep, just east of Gohart in Yolvan. With commendation in hand, Tine Delfric will give you some work. Didenhill is your next destination, so head east.
Enter Healer’s Cottage and speak to Wyl Rendig. He asks you to meet him at Warden’s Bridge in Lorca-Rane. There you will meet Ost Odura again. After speaking with him, investigate all of the clues that pop up on your map. You’ll eventually run into a single Niskaru Hunter, which should be no problem regardless of your level. Follow Odura until you run into two more Niskaru. Defeat them to finish this quest.
Follow Odura into Brigand Hall Caverns and ‘explore’ it with him. Be wary of the many traps laid out here. You can see them easily enough even without the detect hidden skill, and you need only disarm a few in order to pass safely.
At the end of the dungeon you’ll face a Niskaru Tyrant. If you haven’t run into one of these before, they are one of the toughest enemies in the game. The Tyrant uses ranged attacks, quick swipes, and tackles, meaning you’re not very safe at any range. Keep moving and be prepared to whittle down its health bit by bit. Finish it off then grab the artifact and head back to Shieldring Keep.
You are now a member of the Warsworn, and Tine Delfric wastes no time in putting you to work. Head to Helmgard Deep, found between Tala-Rand and Forsaken Plain, and speak to Grian Shane. He’ll want you to meet with Gwyn Anwy at the ancient vault to the south.
Inside you’ll run into several mages, so be prepared to deal with some ranged spells. Take them out and head back to Helmgard. Gwyn Anwy has been locked up, so go to the prison and speak with her. Get the key from her and show it to Grian.
Next, visit Tefroy Tarion in Tirin’s rest. He’s inside the Locksmith building, down in the lab. Be ready to take out a few mages before talking to him. If you have the cash, Tarion can also train you in Lockpicking. Head back to Helmgard.
It’s time to question Livia Fenan. After that, speak to Shane before heading out to the Tywili Coast to speak to Elbin Meroch. If you can successfully persuade him, you won’t have to fight. If you do fight, simply focus on taking out Elbin to end the battle quickly. Head to Customs House in Rathir.
Talk to the window grill. Again, if you can successfully persuade, you can avoid a fight with two mages. Enter the secret lair. At the end of this dungeon you’ll have to battle Mad Harst along with a couple mages and a Niskaru hunter. The Niskaru will stay on you while the mages use ranged spells, so try and take out the beast first. If you have a full fate meter, you can end the battle very quickly. Exit the dungeon and head southwest to meet up with Gwyn.
Follow Gwyn to the docks. Once on the island, find Eamonn’s Fortress and enter it. Near the end of the dungeon, you’ll have to battle waves of mages. Find the mural, examine it, then head back to Shieldring Keep.
Go to Eagonn’s Tomb, which is found in Detyre. Grab the Mystic Hammer from the sarcophagus then head to Ironfast Keep, which is to the southeast. Speak to Gwyn then head to the Hall of the Firstsworn to the south to re-forge the hammer. Inside the hall you’ll run into a magic-locked door, one which Gwyn does not know how to open. Open the door by going into reckoning mode. Re-forge the hammer on the other side and speak to Gwyn.
Head to Cloudcrest, which is to the west. Enter the passage and proceed until you come across the first of six pillars. They need to be destroyed with the Mystic Hammer. Let your allies fight the enemies near the first pillar and head up the path to the peak, destroying pillars as you go.
Eventually you’ll have to fight Anru Besin, his mages, and his Niksarus. He will heal his last Niskaru when its life gets below a certain point, and if you manage to kill it, he’ll summon four more.
After the fight you’ll be given a dialog choice. This is where things get complicated. Just know that whichever you choose, the achievement will unlock (this is the case with all factions).
Choice: “Make me your instrument!”
Obviously, this is the ‘evil’ choice. If you select this, you will be tasked with killing the other Warsworn. First take out Gwyn, then head back to the keep and kill the entire group. Head to the vault and take the Heart of Siburn. As soon as you do, you’ll get the “Forsworn” twist of fate card. See the screen below for the effects:
Choice: “That will never happen!”
Speak to Gwyn and head back to the Hall of the Firstsworn. Upon speaking to Tine Delfric, you’ll get the “Truesworn” twist of fate card. See the screen below for the effects:
This faction is definitely one for the sneaky, thieving
kind. Most of the questline involves stealing and picking locks, and the
rewards absolutely favor those who’ve invested in the stealth skill and finesse
abilities. You’ll first encounter this faction on the path from Glendara to
Lorca-Rane, where you can find a sentry named Grim Onwig near the Star Camp (on
the south side of the path). He’ll give you the first quest.
Pray at the Heirophant temple and you’ll be given three tasks involving theft. If you are having trouble stealing these items stealthily, don’t worry; you may get caught, but that’s not the end of the world, especially considering a few achievements are tied to clashing with the law. Return the items to Crilgarin in the Star Camp to get your next quest.
Go back to the shrine to pray. You’ll be tasked with stealing some boots, but not before traveling to Aodh and speaking to Aergase to learn their location. You have to go north to Arduath and defeat Ametair.
Upon speaking to Ametair for the first time, you can win “The Hunter’s Friend” amulet (+6% Damage with Ranged, +6% Damage vs. best, and +1 Stealth) if you successfully persuade him. Unfortunately, you’ll still have to go through the dungeon and kill him.
Ametair isn’t particularly difficult to defeat, but he does have a habit of retreating further into the dungeon after taking damage. Just keep up the chase and be patient. Loot the boots from his corpse and take them to Crilgarin.
Grim Onwig has been captured, and it’s up to you to rescue him. Ohn’s Stand is your destination, and it is filled with locked chests and doors. If your lockpicking skill isn’t very high but you still want the loot, bring plenty of picks. Speak to Onwig through his cell door. He’ll outline three possible ways you can free him. There’s no significant benefit to be had by choosing one over the others, but it’s probably easiest to steal the key from the guard (or kill him and loot it). Free Onwig and return to Crilgarin.
Head to the Moon Camp near Rathir and speak to Irion. Pray at the nearby shrine to get your new mission - stealing three more items. Like before, you can use your skills and/or potions to get these items without being seen, or just take them by force. Even with a low stealth skill, it’s quite easy to get these items quietly.
After turning in the items, pray at the statue once again. You and Phasmer Humm must work together to crawl through the Rithen dungeon and steal and Amulet. After you’ve finished up there, Grim Onwig will give you your next task.
Head to the Blackened Hall on the Tywili Coast. Just note that there are significantly more traps in the Blackened Hall than there were in Rithen, so take your time if your detect hidden skill isn’t high.
The Guardian at the end of the dungeon is actually a Niskaru Tyrant. If you haven’t faced one before, always be on your guard; Tyrants have a variety of ranged and melee attacks and a large pool of health. As always, a full fate meter can do wonders. After taking out the Guardian, finish up head back to the entrance to The Blackened Hall to speak to Grim.
Speak to Argine in the Sun Camp in Deytre to get your next assignment: stealing the Master Pick from Eloren Criet in the Adessa Laboratories. Steal the key from Eloren (who will be asleep, making the task easy), use it to get into the Armory, and steal the box that contains the Master Pick. Head back to Argine.
Head to Stebic’s lab in Apotyre to find the Arrivus Engine. The door will be locked (hard). The lab contains a handful of Faer Gorta, so be prepared for a fight. Using the Arrivus Engine will break the pick, so head back to Argine.
It’s back to the statue for another round of ‘prayer.’ Head for Convict’s Cavern to the northwest. Once inside, speak to Maun Cointaker. He’ll give you a key and tell you that his hoard is at Snaketail Grotto. Head there. Once inside, follow the quest markers to assemble Maun’s key. Be warned that this dungeon is crawling with Bandits, though most of them are fighting amongst themselves.
Once you have the key ready, meet Grim at the dungeon’s entrance for your next quest.
Go to Adessa and meet with Phasmer, then enter the Livrarium Vaults. As you head through the vaults you’ll run into several sentries. You can sneak past them, but they aren’t particularly difficult to kill. Once you have the Missives of Sable, your cover will be blown anyway. Leave the library and return to Grim, who is in the Hospitalis Headquarters.
Note: to access the chest in the room near the Missives of Sable (which contains the vault key), use the nearby lever to extinguish the flames, then, going clockwise from the lever, interact with each brazier in order (if you stand in front of the lit braziers for a couple of seconds, you can interact with them). This method of toggling the torches will eventually lead to them all being lit simultaneously.
It’s time to confront Argine. Go back to the Sun Camp and use the secret entrance to Hierophant’s Den. Once inside, no matter your initial choice, Argine will give you the Sanctum Key.
Speak to Crilgarin, and she’ll give you some advice, saying you need to find a bag of winds to breach the Sanctum. Continue following the quest markers until eventually you are forced to choose a wing. This is where the faction quest finally branches.
Taking this path means you want to frame Grim. You can sneak up behind him and plant the Missives on him without him noticing, or knock him out and do it that way. Note that you cannot kill Grim or the gnomish sentries that come to aid him. After framing him, jump off the jump point nearby and head for the quest marker. Escape the ruin with Argine and she will reward you with the valuable Shadowskin Armor set, which increases your critical hit %, significantly improves critical hit damage (55% with the full set), adds +1 to stealth, and boosts your gold drops and experience earned by 10%. It requires a Finesse level of 28 and offers a total 413 armor. Speaking to Argine from now on will erase any crimes you have committed. You’ll also receive the Temperance Twist of Fate card (see screen below for effects).
Taking this path means you want to frame the Hierophant. The framing works in almost the exact same way as it would if you choose Grim, so read the above information if you need help. Like Argine, Grim will give you the Shadowskin Armor set and offer to cleanse your criminal record whenever you like. The main difference (beside the moral one) is the Chariot Twist of Fate card:
This faction is perfect for mage-centric builds. Throughout
the questline you’ll earn rings that improve your elemental damage, reduce your
mana cost, and increase your mana pool.
Scholia Arcana has an embassy inside Ysa, on the south side. Enter and speak to Docent Augra Tenet. Accept her quest to kick things off. You can also begin this questline by going to Scholia Arcana’s Main Hall in Rathir, just in case you don’t have access to Ysa yet and don’t feel like progressing the main questline.
Go to the Delving Hall in Ysa, which you can now unlock. It’s here that you need to complete the trial of initiation. You’ll be transported through a series of dungeons. There are plenty of enemies, but nothing too severe. When you talk to the sorceress at the end of the trial, a successful persuasion will simply earn you a bit more information. After the trial you’ll be given your next quest.
Head to Aodh in the middle of The Sidhe. This previously locked dungeon is filled with Sprites and mages. Always remember to use the element opposite of the Elemental Sprites you are facing for maximum effectiveness.
There will be a powerful mage named Nuala Ignis at the end of the dungeon, and she’ll call in Sprite reinforcements during battle. Be ready to block magic! Loot her corpse then return to Savant Engar in Ysa.
Meet up with your contact at the eastern edge of Tala-Rane. Be prepared for a small ambush (3 bandits) then get your next task from the contact. Now head to Mel Aglir to meet with Patrick Morkan. After speaking to him, head upstairs and loot the journal from the footlocker. Read the journal to proceed.
The next step is to head north to Tulan. After fighting Patrick Morkan, loot his body for the key that will allow you to proceed. After doing so, return to Mel Aglir, speak to Lerkara Fel, then go back to Savant Engar in Scholia Arcana.
Head to Emaire on the Forsaken Plain and speak to Anker Edmure. He’ll tell you to hunt the Paragon Barghest to the north. Kill the beast, loot its beating heart, and take it back to Edmure.
Time to head to Shardfall. It’s in the western part of the Cradle of Summer. Make your way through the dungeon until you run into Cadoc Reen. He’s a powerful mage who will call in Sprite reinforcements. Kill Reen and loot his corpse, then return to Engar.
Skycrown is just southwest of Rathir, in Acatha. Enter but be wary of the Ettin Brutes and Ettin Shamans inside. If you haven’t fought these beasts before, the Shamans in particular are extremely powerful and don’t become stunned easily. Also be careful of the traps hidden in the glowing glyphs on the floor.
After reaching the peak, your next step will be finding where Engar’s body landed. It’s actually far to the south, in the southwest corner of Kandrian. Loot Engar’s corpse and return to Scholia Arcana.
Go to the Archsage Quarters nearby for your next task. You’ll be zapped into the mind of the Archsage, where you have to free him from possession. In here, make sure to dispel the first chest on the right for a note and key that will unlock the next chest. The chests in this area have keys in the them that unlock other chests, so try not to leave any unopened if you want to read all the notes (they are the only loot in these chests). Before leaving, Caledus will give you a choice. If you choose Fearlessness, you get the following twist of fate card:
If you choose discipline, you’ll get the following:
Place the keys in the nearby statues. Doing so will summon Ciara Sudanus, who you will have to defeat. She is a powerful mage whose noteworthy abilities include summoning both mages and skeletons and laying traps on the battlefield. This can make the area very crowded, so either enter reckoning mode to do some massive damage, or stick to ranged attacks to avoid the traps.
Defeating Sudanus will complete the questline, and earn you the most powerful sage ring yet:
This faction is definitely one for mages, as the rewards - a
staff and mage armor - only benefit magic users. The questline is available
after you’ve reached Mel Senshir (across the water) by progressing the main
questline. As you leave the city of Mel Senshir, you’ll run into Bisarane, who
will give you your first quest. If he’s not there, look for the House of
Sorrows in the southwestern part of The Midden.
You’ll have to find the Proving Halls, which is only a small distance east of Mel Senshir. You’ll meet the voice of Bisarane inside, then have make your way through the hall while fighting monsters. Your first encounter will be with three poison-spewing Crudoks, so be ready.
You’ll be given chances at persuasion during your conversations here, but there is no tangible reward to being successful - only slightly more information.
Meet with Bisarane in the House of Sorrows. Exit the house and talk to Taibreah. Simply follow her and ‘protect’ her until the quest is over, then head to the Sioran Crypt. Kill Cadoroc and return to the House of Sorrows.
When you get to the entrance, Taibreah will be waiting for you. She’ll give you your next quest, along with most of the Sorrow armor set (gloves, sandals, and cowl). The cowl offers 75 armor, +15% mana regen per sec, and +1 mana regen per sec. The sandals offer 37 armor, +10% mana regen per sec, and +10% health. The gloves offer 37 armor, -20% mana costs, and +10% mana regen per sec. The full set increases your elemental damage by 15%, grants +2 to your sorcery abilities, and +15% to elemental resistance. To do that, you’ll need the Robes of Sorrow, which are rewarded to you later in this questline.
Head for the Proving Halls. The large Bolgans inside are tough enemies, but their attacks are restricted to melee only, so as long as you don’t let yourself get overwhelmed you should be ok.
Your next destination is the Fallen Hall, which is under attack by the Tuatha. Defeat the enemies inside until you get to the locked door. You’ll have to release three locks in the area to proceed.
Myrcyr is the boss of this area. Fortunately he is stunned easily and only needs to be partially defeated. After the fight, return to Bisarane. Upon doing so, you will get the Robes of Sorrow. These offer 30% mana regen per sec and +1 health regen per sec.
Take the key that Bisarane gives you and head to Damalroc on the Caeled Coast. When you reach the great scale, activate the switch and stand on one of the glyphs. Wait for the monsters to come to you, then kill the, making sure they fall dead on the glyph. Doing so will allow you to proceed in one direction. Speak to the person you gain access to, then return to the scale and repeat for the other direction.
You’ll have the option of taking Alarane or Caelrod with you on the next quest. Alarane is a Faeblade user, while Caelrod is a mage.
The next destination is Sinsear to the south. You’ll have to go around the dungeon collecting three votives to proceed.
When you get to the crying eyes, stand on the central platform and look up at the face statues above the switches. The order in which they cry matches the order in which you must pull the switches. Grab the key and continue to Bisarane.
It’s time to stop Bisarane from releasing the sorrows. Speak with Taibreah, the go around the area dispelling the four Nexuses.
Bisarane is a strong boss. He uses very powerful magic, though if you keep your distance you can dodge most of it easily enough. Like a lot of other bosses, he’ll summon minions during the battle.
After the dust settles, you’ll be awarded the following twist of fate card:
Don’t forget to walk forward and grab the Sorrow, a very strong staff:
This faction is pretty non-specific, but the twist of fate
card awarded at the end rewards Faeblade users. Travel to the House of Ballads
found in Odarath, found at the northwestern corner of the eastern section.
Enter, and speak with Hallam the White about a vacancy in the house. Tell him
you want to fill the seat, and he’ll give you a quest.
This is a straightforward quest to kill the Grave Thresh. Head to Gorguath, a cavernous tree just south of the House of Ballads. Upon entering, speak to the other pledges, then start hunting down the three Heartvines (they’ll be displayed on your map).
Once you’ve taken care of all three vines, head back to the central area and take out the Grave Thresh. After you defeat it, head northeast towards Sir Sagrell’s ring. Before grabbing it, though, know that two more Threshes will attack once you loot the ring.
This is a tough battle, so we recommend having your fate meter full. Doing so turns the difficulty into a non-issue. If you don’t have the fate, be prepared to roll a lot to avoid projectiles and turn the battle into a series of hit & run attacks. Remember, Threshs are vulnerable to fire.
Loot the corpses, then return to Hallam the White.
After speaking to Hallam to end “Song of Sir Sagrell” and kick of this new quest, go to the Oratory in the southern part of Ettinmere and speak to King Wencen.
Wencen will point you towards Uduath, a dungeon in the northernmost part of Ettinmere. Once inside, you can find Farrara fighting a trio of sprites. Kill off the baddies and speak to Farrara. You’ll then need to go around the dungeon and open 5 prison cells.
After freeing the prisoners, speak to Bloody Bones. Be ready for a fight unless you have a high persuasion skill.
Bloody Bones will throw a lot of fire and lightning magic at you, and you’ll have to deal with a handful of sprites. Take out the sprites first, then focus on Bones to wrap up the battle. Afterwards, revive Farrara with the potion you were given. Leave and return to Wencen, who will give you your next quest.
Kick things off by finding the Ballads Library and speaking
to Tenhwa. Tenhwa will need you to go to Sunder Caverns, which lies east of the
library.
You need to locate and collect the 5 Fae Cairns. One is just south of the
entrance to Sunder Caverns, and the rest are inside. They are all marked on
your map. After doing so, return to Tenhwa.
Speak to Tenhwa, then use the nearby echo stone to listen to all 5 parts of the ballad. Go back to Tenwha and select “You are human, now go.” Any other choice will earn you a cursing. Return to King Wencen. You’ll find him missing, and have to speak to Hallam the White to get your next quest.
St. Eadric’s Mission can be found in the westernmost part of The Sidhe. Once check upstairs, you’ll then be required to speak to the monk outside. After that, you’ll need to search Etair’s study. Loot his desk key from the chest upstairs in order to gain access to his desk on the first floor. You can pick the lock if your skill is high enough. Loot the desk, then descend the well outside.
Underground, you’ll have to find four crystals. Beware of the many traps in this area. If your detect skill isn’t high enough for the traps to display on the map, you’ll have to use your eyes. Check for trip wires, bear traps, and arrow traps. Once you have all the crystals, return to Hallam the White to get your next quest.
Head northeast from the House of Ballads to find a wall of thorns. Once there you’ll have to fight for the armor that opens the wall. Equip the full House of Ballads armor set and walk towards the wall of thorns.
You can now venture past this blockade and into the area known as Windemere. Not only is the beneficial for the task at hand, but you can find more Summer’s End Lorestones in this area.
Once you get to the gorge, you discover you’ll need to find Sir Elswin’s corpse to proceed. Find the nearby jump point on the map to reach the objective marker. Revive Elswin with the potion you were given, then kill him after the conversation. You’ll now be able to cross the gorge, but prepare for a similar battle when you do.
Inside Summer’s End, speak to the Maid of Windemere to begin the final quest for this faction.
Enter the nearby Chantry and speak to the chancellor. He’ll tell you that you need to find some invisible crystals. Use the whistle you picked up during “What Lies Beneath” to find them in the surrounding area.
Blowing the whistle makes the blue crystals appear for a short period. When they are visible, destroy them. Note that once you destroy the fifth crystal every creature in the area will turn hostile immediately. Go back to speak to Sagrell and follow his instructions to gain access to the castle.
It is up to you to search the castle and free those being held captive. They are all marked on your map, so start dungeon crawling.Unfortunately everyone except for the king is hostile. The court members will have a posse of weaker enemies with them when they attacks, so just remember to keep moving, use wide-area attacks, and take out the weakest foes first.
The castle is also full of dangers that aren’t as apparent; beware of piranha plant-like traps. Avoid the slime-green water when you can, for it saps your health, though the effect disappears when you exit the water.
When you finally get to the maid, she will start to fight you after a short conversation. Manually save before talking to her, because...
There is an exploit here: if you quickly speak to her again before attacking (the window is very small, so just start mashing A before the initial conversation ends), you will have the option of avoiding the fight altogether.
Should you choose to fight, we definitely suggest having a full fate meter. She will summon more and more beasts to her side throughout the fight. As such, it’s best to take her out as quickly as possible. She is easily stunned by normal attacks, so hack away while doing your best to avoid the lesser beings’ attacks. If you do let up on her, beware of her charged-up purple projectile attack. This does massive damage, but can be dodged with the proper timing.
At the end of the battle, you will be given the choice (again, if you tried the exploit) to kill her and rule alone or let her live and rule with her.
Killing the maid nets you a lot of gold and experience, but other than that, we didn’t find anything of real value on her corpse. So, if you are having trouble with this fight, we recommend the above exploit.
You get the same twist of fate card and achievement/trophy regardless of your choice:
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