The Deep Roads Expedition

The Deep Roads Expedition is a 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
This quest is started right after Hawke ends his/her debts with the smugglers/mercenaries, when he/she and their surviving sibling unsuccessfully try to persuade Bartrand to let them on to the Expedition. A pickpocket then attempts to steal Hawke's money, but is caught by Varric. Varric then offers to Hawke the opportunity to become business partners with himself and Bartrand. The quest requires 50 sovereigns to start, along with finishing the quest Tranquility and several others.

Walkthrough
Upon giving Bartrand the 50 sovereigns (and completing all other main quests in chapter one), Leandra will appear and attempt to persuade you not to bring Carver (if Hawke is a mage) or Bethany to the Deep Roads in fear something will happen to you both. You will then be prompted to choose party members, with Varric locked in.


 * or if taken;
 * or if not.

Upon arriving in the Deep Roads you discover that the passage is blocked by a collapse and must attempt to find a side passage. You will also be informed that Sandal has wandered off into the passages and you must attempt to find him as you search them.

If you agree to search for Sandal, you will get:

If you refuse, it will not appear in your quest log, and you get:

Refusing allows you to save Bodahn and later Sandal, but without a quest entry.

After finding Sandal (surrounded by darkspawn corpses) you continue your search while fighting many different enemies. After slaying many darkspawn, golems, and a dragon, you discover a side passage. The dragon may drop a variety of items: The act 1 armor set chest part

You then return to Bartrand and he will be "pleased" that the expedition is moving again.

After the cut-scene with Bartrand, you are transported to an undiscovered Thaig, the Primeval Ruins, which you must explore. Beyond Bartrand's camp (where you can talk to Bodahn to get his thanks for saving Sandal) you move to the northwest passage where you battle a number of shades and a stone golem.

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

To find your way out you must enter the Ancient Crypt. You 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 you the location of a key to a locked door that leads to higher tunnels.

if you accept the deal; if you refuse.

if you accept the deal; if you refuse.

if you refuse the deal. Having Merrill kill the demon for you results in no change.

if you accept the deal, unchanged if you refuse. Alternatively, you can kill the demon (or ask Merrill to do it if she's with you), after which you have to battle more shades, profanes, and an abomination.

In either case you forge ahead to where you battle the 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 your characters hide behind the pillars, away from the Rock Wraith. After this attack, the Rock Wraith 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.

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 you out of the crypt. This moves your party's physical location slightly, so you might want to go back to where you fought the Rock Wraith to pick up loot that it dropped before leaving.

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


 * if you let Varric kill the demon. (There is no fight in this case.)
 * Attack the demon, leading to combat with it and its minions.
 * Tell the demon you only want the key, in which case it summons minions and attacks you anyway.
 * Tell the demon to back off. It will do so, and you are free to loot all the treasure without a fight.

When you exit the Ancient Crypt, you will get a cut-scene featuring discussion with Varric showing that you are back at the original campsite. There is an extended cut scene should you have either Bethany or Carver in the party. If you do have either Bethany or Carver in the party, they will promptly collapse due to being infected with the Taint, and dialogue options will open up. The only choices available will lead to their death, unless Anders is also in the party. Ander's presence will open up additional dialogue options to seek out and present Hawke's sibling to the Grey Wardens as a recruit, thereby curing them of the Taint. You will lose all equipment held by either party member, so be sure to take all equipment you'd like to keep off before the leaving the Crypt.

,, if you take him to the Grey Wardens to save his life.

After meeting and convincing the Grey Wardens to take your sibling with them, Act 2 begins.

Trivia
If you do bring Bethany or Carver into the Deep Roads, they contract the Darkspawn taint during the fight that takes place prior to finding Sandal. When Hawke and co. notice Sandal, Hawke's sibling will be standing behind the group holding his or her head.

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

2 Deep Mushroom (Dragon Age II)
 * The first is located to the left 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

Silverite located in the SE valley where the Monstrous Spider attacks you.

Raw Lyrium is located in the room before you fight the Ogre.

Orichalcum located at the top of the stairs in the first room after reaching the Primeval Ruins (where you fight the first golem)