A Village Under Siege

"We aren't going to turn aside anyone who wants to help, though. Don't take me for being an ingrate or nothing."

- Murdock

A Village Under Siege is one of the main plotline (sub)quests in Dragon Age: Origins. It is activated upon arriving at Redcliffe Village -while pursuing the Arl of Redcliffe quest- and speaking with Bann Teagan Guerrin.

Background
Every night, undead corpses descend from Castle Redcliffe to attack the village. No one in the village knows where the creatures come from, and no one has been able to reach the castle. The attacks grow worse each night and Bann Teagan Guerrin predicts tonight will be the worst. He pleads for the Warden's assistance. The Warden may choose to help Redcliffe Village defend itself. The more help the village has, the easier it will be to defend. Alternatively, the Warden may abandon the village and let it fend for itself. When the Warden returns, Redcliffe Village will be a ghost town, all inhabitants presumed dead.

Walkthrough
Bann Teagan asks the Warden for assistance in fending off the undead. Agreeing to help fight off the undead without reservations will result in approval from Alistair, Leliana , Wynne , and Oghren as well as disapproval from Morrigan  and Sten  (although Sten can be persuaded that helping the village is a good idea, in which case ). Bann Teagan sends the Warden to talk with the mayor, Murdock, and Ser Perth about the militia and the knights, respectively.

Help the militia
Murdock is found right outside the chantry. He makes two requests, convince Owen to make repairs and get Dwyn to assist in the defense of the village.

If you continue to question Murdock, he explains that he is stationed outside the chantry in order to protect the women, children and elderly within. If Sten is present he will object to this, saying that no Qunari would act in this manner - that all would fight. (If Leliana is also in the group, she will interject that the comment is unworthy of him.) Murdock will point out that the villagers are not Qunari; the end result is from Sten.

Convince Owen
In order to convince Owen to help the cause, you can agree to help find his daughter, which annoys Morrigan and Sten ( each) but impresses Leliana and Wynne. See Lost in the Castle for further details.

If you'd rather not help Owen, you can kill him. This loses from Alistair and Leliana and  if performed through dialogue, or none if he is provoked by the player's inspection of his locked floor trap. If he is killed, take a key from his corpse. This will open a secret cache where you will find equipment for the militia. Killing him gains from Zevran. A Village Under Siege cannot advance without accepting Owen's task or killing him.

Convince Dwyn
Head to Dwyn's Home in the village. Gain entrance by picking the lock (having a companion with such skill in party doesn't help) or breaking the door down. You can do one of three things to convince Dwyn to defend the village: persuade, intimidate, or bribe him.

If you ask him why he shut himself in there and call him a coward this nets if Oghren is in the party. Asking him to join the militia because of Murdock asking nets for Oghren.

If Dwyn is not convinced to help before the battle starts, he will not participate. If the Warden kills Dwyn and then tells Murdock that they did so, the milita's attack score will suffer.

Additional militia assistance
The bartender, Lloyd, has been charging the militia for ale. As they have very little coin remaining and are fighting just to survive, they believe they should drink for free.

Talk to the Redcliffe Militiaman seated on the far left at the table in the tavern (The readhead), and complete the conversation tree associated with him.

You can either:
 * Pay Lloyd 100 to cover the militia's drinks.
 * Persuade Lloyd to give the militia drinks for free (high Persuasion required).
 * Intimidate Lloyd into giving you ownership of the tavern (medium Intimidation required) and then insist he give the militia drinks for free.
 * Kill Lloyd, or Intimidate him into fighting alongside the militia, and ask Bella to give the militia drinks for free.Note that if you intimidate Lloyd into fighting right away, you may not be able to get Bella to give out free ale later.

The optimal path is to sell to him what you want, then threaten him, intimidate him into giving you the tavern, then ask to see what he has (which he will now give you for free, but you will not be able to sell him anything). Then talk to Lloyd again and once again, you can choose "I hear you're charging the militia for ale," but this time follow up with, "Maybe not, but I would. And this is my tavern, remember?" After this point, you can Intimidate Lloyd as you please

Depending on how you succeed, the following may happen:
 * The morale of the militia increases.
 * Paying for the militia's drinks, or asking Bella to give them drinks for free, gives Oghren.
 * Persuading Lloyd to give the militia free drinks gives Oghren.

Help the knights
Ser Perth stands watch with his fellow knights by the windmill, guarding the approach from the castle's bridge.

If you ask him what you can do to help, he will ask the Warden if Mother Hannah will bless the knights for the attack.

Convince Mother Hannah
She will initially refuse, believing that Ser Perth wants mystical protection from the Maker - which it is not within her (or anyone's) power to give. Ser Perth's request can be resolved in one of two ways:


 * Coerce Mother Hannah. She will provide ordinary amulets for the knights, letting them believe in their "holy" protection to raise their morale. Informing Ser Perth that they may pick up the amulets will result in from Leliana (and ( from Morrigan, but only if she and Leliana are present). {{{platforms|ps3}}, This requires a skill total (Intimidate or Persuade) of 50.}
 * Tell Ser Perth he will have to do without the blessing. He will accept the decision, and the knights' morale will be unchanged.

Visit the general store



 * Go to the general store, select the oil barrels there, then talk to Ser Perth and he'll agree to set up a flame trap for the undead on the upper-level path.

This will add fire to the village defenses and increase the morale of the knights. (See The Attack at Nightfall regarding potential drawbacks to this strategy).

1.04 If you discover the oil barrels, but choose not to tell Ser Perth of them, he can still have an active quest marker after you finish this quest.

Berwick
An elf named Berwick sits in the tavern, avoiding attempts at conversation. There are several ways to recruit Berwick:


 * 1) A Warden with enough cunning can point out Berwick's suspicious behavior and reveal him as a spy without outside help.
 * 2) With Leliana or Zevran in the party:
 * 3) Talk to Berwick. Leliana will notice he's a spy.  Zevran will simply point out that he's acting extremely suspiciously, Berwick's nervous reaction reveals that he has something to hide.
 * 4) Ask him about what he's told to do.
 * 5) Ask him for proof, which can be done after using coercion to get him tell the Warden everything "because that will make things easier".
 * 6) If the Warden has enough coercion s/he can talk him into defending the village.
 * 1) Pickpocket Berwick for a letter.
 * 2) Call Berwick by his name.
 * 3) Ask about the letter.
 * 4) If the Warden has enough coercion s/he can talk him into defending the village.
 * 5) Talk to Bella or Lloyd to learn Berwick's name.
 * 6) Call Berwick by his name.
 * 7) Ask him for proof, which can be done after using coercion to have him reveal everything "because that will make things easier".
 * 8) If the Warden has enough coercion s/he can talk him into defending the village.

Making Berwick defend the village will earn approval from Sten. Letting Oghren talk the Warden into killing Berwick also nets +4 approval from him (only tested on PC).

LLoyd

 * Intimidate Lloyd the tavernkeeper into joining the defense (, if you let him give free ale to the militia instead). Bella is left in charge (unless you intimidated Lloyd into giving you the tavern) and will give you Lloyd's stock for free. Note that you will also be unable to sell any items to Bella; however, if Owen is alive and cooperating this is not really a problem.

Crate

 * In the Blacksmithy is a crate on top of a Hidden Trapdoor. If Owen is helping, then he will offer to unlock it, revealing a set of old Tier 1 weapons and armor. You can take it and immediately sell it to him, but it's not worth much.

When you are done with preparations, you can end the quest and start The Attack at Nightfall by talking to either Ser Perth or Murdock and saying "I am ready."

Abandoning Redcliffe
The Warden can initially refuse to help the villagers defend Redcliffe Village. However, speaking with Bann Teagan allows a chance to offer aid. If the Warden leaves Redcliffe and moves to any location in the World Map, except the Party Camp, then Redcliffe will be marked as abandoned, even if the Warden offered aid. When the Warden returns, the village is a ghost town. Most buildings are empty and there is only one scavenger outside. The scavenger directs the Warden to the Chantry, where the only survivor is a wounded Bann Teagan. The Warden heals Bann Teagan's wounds and he hastily runs away. Things will then proceed as if the Warden had saved Redcliffe, except for minor dialogue changes.

Later, when infiltrating Castle Redcliffe, the Warden will find most of the named villagers from Redcliffe turned undead. They present no more of a threat than the normal corpses found there and none contain any special loot.

Refusing to help also removes the Chanter's Board, The Mages Collective and The Blackstone Irregulars from Redcliffe, including their respective quests. There is no way to obtain these quests in-game if this route has been chosen.

The following quests are unique to Redcliffe and will not be available if Redcliffe is abandoned:

Blackstone Irregulars:
 * Grease the Wheels

Chanter's Board:
 * Caravan Down
 * Brothers and Sons

The Mages' Collective:
 * Justice Must Be Served

Result
By accepting this quest and completing the assistance quests, you will begin The Attack at Nightfall with better-equipped/stronger allies.