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Dragon Age: Origins Nightmare Guide by David Milward


INTRO & ABOUT  |  CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES  |  EQUIPPING CHARACTERS  |  COMBAT GUIDELINES  |  CHARACTERS
Areas in Order of Appearance:  
Origins  |  Ostagar  |  Lothering  |  Circle Tower  |  Warden's Keep (DLC)  |  Return to Ostagar (DLC)  |  Stone Prisoner (DLC)  |  Brecilian Forest  |  Redcliffe  |  The Urn of Sacred Ashes  |  Orzammar  |  Deep Roads  |  Denerim  |  Final Onslaught  
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Denerim  
To Denerim  |  Antivan Crows  |  Crime Wave  |  Arl of Denerim Estate  |  Arl of Denerim Dungeon  |  Fort Drakon  |  Arl Eamon's Estate  |  Chantry  |  Blackstone Irregulars  |  Mages' Collective  |  Miscellaneous Quests  |  Deserted Building  |  Sergeant Kylon  |  Favors for Certain Interested Parties  |  Elven Alienage  |  Landsmeet  

DESERTED BUILDING

The Last Request

I return to the Rundown Back Street. Still lying within view is the dead body of Ser Friden. I take Ser Friden's Journal from the body, and this starts a quest called the Last Request. A Deserted Building is now revealed on the map of Denerim.

Entry Door Key

There will be a bookcase straight ahead. I click on it to reveal a Concealed Door.

Past the door will be a Qunari Mercenary, a few more thugs, and a Blood Mage. I don't want to rush them, as there's a trap leading up to them. Aldarion kills the Blood Mage instantly with Mana Clash. He then covers the small room ahead with a Tempest. Wynne also adds in a Fireball-based Grease Fire. This pretty much takes care of things. The Blood Mage leaves behind the Entry Door Key, which can be used to open the next door.

Archers' Balcony

I continue on to the next room, and kill another group of Thugs. The room after that is trickier. A tripwire is placed just at its entry. There will also be a lot of Archers, all of them capable of Scattershot and other archer talents, waiting to open fire from a balcony on the left as soon as I enter the room. There will also be a Qunari Mercenary wielding a maul. The archers and the tripwire together can make the situation quite dangerous. First, I have Aldarion step forward and lure the Qunari Mercenary onwards so that he can be killed by himself, leaving only the Archers to deal with. One of the beauties of the Storm of the Century is that it has such a wide damage radius. I thus have Aldarion deactivate his combat-related sustainables, and obtain a line of sight to a far point in the room that's next to some of the Archers but without bringing any of them into view. He then completes the Storm of the Century. The party simply hangs back and lets the Storm do its work. Leliana can then disarm the tripwire at her leisure.

There will also be another trap at the top of the stairs leading to the top of the balcony.

Blood Mages

I continue through a series of rooms to the north. Two Blood Mages will be in one of the rooms, but Aldarion braves their head start in order to get them both with Mana Clash. Wynne undoes the damage from the early Fireball with a Group Heal. The fighting becomes much easier after that.

Greasy Barricade

Now I follow a hallway that goes a little east, curves north, and turns southeast. There's a pressure plate in the middle of the hallway that Leliana disarms.

At the other end of the hallway will be several archers hiding behind a barricade, with a few Mabari Hounds in front of the barricade. I retreat somewhat. I then have Aldarion go on ahead by himself in order to lead the Mabari forward and away from the barricade. The Hounds are then easily taken care of after Aldarion hits them with a Cone of Cold.

There is also a solid layer of grease on the floor leading up to the barricade, which is supposed to make it harder for any melee warriors to reach the scouts. But this only presents an opportunity for Wynne to roast them with an Inferno-based Grease Fire.

Magister's Shield

I am now faced with three doors, one straight ahead and another two just to the left and right of the straight ahead door. There will be a LOT of enemies on the other side of the straight ahead door, including a pair of Blood Mages. Also, if I send storm spells through, they'll often try to escape through the side doors.

But I do it anyway, with some clever use of crowd-control spells. First, I position everybody well back from the doors. Aldarion deactivates his combat-related sustainables. He then goes on ahead to open the straight ahead door to get things started, and runs back to the party. Wynne holds the enemy in place with an Earthquake, and then a Paralysis Explosion spell combo. This gives Aldarion free reign to plant a Storm of the Century through the door and at a safe distance. Wynne throws in an Inferno-based Grease Fire for good measure. Everything dies in a matter of seconds.

I continue further on. I open another door, and a lone Archer takes aim at me. Leliana and Wynne shoot him down. I then enter the room itself, and several Archers and a Blood Mage are well to the right in the room. Aldarion takes out the Blood Mage instantly with Mana Clash. Wynne knocks the archers off their feet with a Fireball, letting the rest of the battle take care of itself.

I explore further in, looting any treasure that I can find. One of the containers has an amulet, the Magister's Shield (+6 defense, +6 defense vs. missile weapons, +4% spell resistance, -10% nature resistance). This will be Alistair's amulet for the rest of the game, as the bonus to defense is certainly helpful, and the bonus to spell resistance will help in his role as occasional Mage killer.

Blood Mage Leader

In the last room waits the Blood Mage Leader, another Blood Mage, a Qunari Mercenary, and the Mercenary Captain. Aldarion hits both Blood Mages with Mana Clash. It kills off the other Blood Mage, but only reduces the Blood Mage Leader to about half health. Nonetheless, this battle shows how Alistair can himself be a very effective Mage killer. He hits the Leader with Holy Smite. He then runs right up to the Leader before the Leader can recover. From that point onwards, Alistair keeps the Blood Mage Leader off his feet through the use of activated shield talents and thus unable to cast any spells. This leaves the rest of the part free to kill off the Qunari Mercenary and the Mercenary Captain.

The Blood Mage Leader leaves behind a ring called the Dalish Battery (+10% electrical damage). A nearby door allows the party to travel elsewhere in Denerim.

Now I do some quests for Sergeant Kylon.


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