The Golem in Honnleath

Background
The Golem in Honnleath is a quest that introduces a new character, a golem named "Shale." After downloading and installing the DLC The Stone Prisoner, you are given a new area to go to, Sulcher's Pass. The merchant in this area will give you a control rod which is supposedly used to operate a golem; all you need to do is hold it up and say the command phrase. If you ask for more information, he will let you know that the last owner was located in the town of Honnleath, and that the town is overrun by Darkspawn.

Walkthrough
When you enter the town you will be attacked by Darkspawn. There aren't many and the area is fairly small, with the golem easily noticeable in a circle of stones. After killing all the Darkspawn, head to the golem and try the command phrase the merchant told you. It will not work, and you will get an update telling you to seek out the previous owner.

There will be a villager's corpse near the golem that holds a key. This key will unlock Olaf's chest and give you Olaf's Cheese Knife.

After you're done exploring the village, enter Wilhelm's Cellar. The first room has some Hurlocks and Genlocks to dispatch. A second room will quickly follow where you will find several Hurlocks and Genlocks, as well a Genlock Emissary and a Hurlock Alpha. All are focused on attacking what seems to be an energy barrier; once all the darkspawn are defeated you will be able to talk to the refugees behind the energy barrier. You will find out from Wilhelm's son, Matthias, that Wilhelm was the mage that previously owned the golem, Shale. Shale was blamed for Wilhelm's murder by his wife, and as a result she sold the control rod for the golem. If you have already tried to activate Shale, you will learn that the activation words that Wilhelm's wife provided were wrong. Matthias will agree to give you the correct words, provided you rescue his daughter, Amalia, who wandered deeper into the cellar, which also used to be Wilhelm's laboratory.

Further into the cellar, there is an area in which Lesser Shades and an Ash Wraith will ambush you. The Ash Wraith drops the Harvest Festival Ring. If you use stealth with a rogue, you will cause the enemies to appear without them attacking you. After they appear, you should kill them if you wish to loot the ring.

After you follow the path deeper into the cellar you will discover a dilemma: a Desire Demon who possessed a cat (named Kitty) was sealed in the laboratory. Amalia, Matthias' daughter, believes the demon is a talking cat and will not leave until you help free the kitty. You can attempt to kill the demon immediately, although your attempts will be in vain. Any confrontation without first releasing the seal on the doorway will cause the demon to possess Amalia, forcing you to kill them both. Your other options are to help the kitty escape by solving the puzzle in the room (See Puzzle for solution) or return to Matthias. If you choose to return to Matthias, you can either lie to him about her death or let him run toward the demon in a frantic attempt to save his daughter. If Matthias runs into the dungeon, he will be possessed by the demon instead. Based on your choice, you can vary the approval of your companions as well as which quest items you receive. (See Result for approval changes and items for each choice)

You can also lie to Kitty (if your Persuade is high enough) and tell her you are going to help her. Then after you solve the puzzle, you can say "you're not going to touch the girl" and the girl will get away unpossessed. Then you will have to fight Kitty and 4 Shades.

After the first dialog with Kitty, you will be ambushed on the wooden bridge as well as in the root room by Lesser Shades. They will always spawn, even if you choose to do the puzzle and slay the demon.

Once you have the correct command phrase, head back to the village square. A ladder on the wall, in the room where you find Matthias, provides a short-cut to the surface. Once top-side, you can now activate Shale.



Puzzle
The puzzle in the room is a 5 by 5 sliding puzzle with a twist. The objective is to get the flame to travel from one corner of the board to the other by moving the tiles. Each tile has an arrow on it, pointing in the direction the flame will jump. Once the flame has reached the end tile, the seal on the door will be released and the kitty will automatically resume dialog.

From the initial board position, it is possible to solve the puzzle using the following steps. This may not be the fastest method, but it will give you the solution if you find you are unable to solve sliding puzzles.

The steps tell you which way to move a tile, not the tile to move. Therefore, left means you move the only tile that can move left, and not the tile to the left of the gap.

Up, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Down, Left, Up, Up, Left, Up, Left, Down, Left, Up, Right, Down, Down, Left, Up, Up, Right, Down

Result

 * No matter how you deal with the demon, you will be able to activate Shale as a companion.
 * From the locked chest outside one of the first houses, you will find Olaf's Cheese Knife (requires key from the bloody corpse).
 * The Ash Wraith in the cellar drops the Harvest Festival Ring.

All other items and approval changes are based on how you dealt with the demon.

Choosing to let the demon possess Amalia before solving the puzzle will cause you to battle the demon. The demon drops both the Helm of Honnleath and the Cord of Shattered Dreams. You will also experience the following approval changes
 * Wynne -5
 * Zevran 0
 * Alistair 0
 * Sten +4
 * Oghren +2

If you ran back to the father and lied to him about Amalia's death, you would aquire no loot and notice the following approval changes:
 * Leliana -5
 * Zevran 0
 * Alistair -3

Choosing to run back and causing the father to attempt to save his daughter will provide you with the Cord of Shattered Dreams and the following approval changes:
 * Leliana -15
 * Wynne -10
 * Zevran +2
 * Alistair -10

If you decided to help the kitty with a promise to release the girl, solve the puzzle, and then allow Kitty to possess Amalia for a reward, you will recieve Wilhelm's Magus Staff from the demon and then the Cord of Shattered Dreams from Matthais. As well, the following approval changes will occur:
 * Leliana -15
 * Wynne -15
 * Zevran +4
 * Alistair -10

If after solving the puzzle, you go against your promise to the kitty, Amalia will run away and you will fight the demon which drops both the Helm of Honnleath and the Cord of Shattered Dreams. You will also experience the following approval changes:
 * Leliana +7
 * Morrigan -3
 * Wynne +4
 * Alistair +2
 * Zevran +4

If you fail the persuasion check, Kitty will posses the child and attack you. You will have to kill the demon and then report to Matthais. The demon will drop the Helm of Honnleath and the Cord of Shattered Dreams.

No approval changes happen in this case.

Choosing to solve the puzzle and allowing the demon to possess Amalia without a reward, you will recieve the Cord of Shattered Dreams from Matthais and following approval changes:
 * Leliana -15
 * Wynne -15
 * Zevran 0
 * Alistair -10
 * Morrigan +7

Note: Not all approval ratings are known yet for each companion, but the general idea is thos e who usually agree with good deeds will be opposed to anyone being possessed. On the flip side, those with an evil side usually perfer if things go bad. Also, the values posted here may not be 100% as hardenning a character changes how they react to choices you make. Dog, as usual, does not gain or lose any approval regardless of your choices.

Note: The original approval changes can be viewed in the history if anyone wants to consult them.

Note: Persuade options were successful with 2 points into Coercion and +12 Cunning.

Upon activating Shale you will enter a dialog with her that will allow you to choose wether or not to recruit her. It is possible to gain approval from Shale depending on your responses here (my best was +7).

Additionally if Alistair is in your active party he will lose approval if you choose to recruit Shale based upon your final response in the dialog.

-4 for choosing the first option "Thank you for stating the obvious"

-1 for choosing the second option "(Persuade) Think of it as a portable battering ram"

-7 for choosing the third option "I could tell it to do something else..." and then reaffirming you choice to recruit shale

-8 for choosing the forth option "I said it is coming, and that's final"

Note: Asking Shale to attack Alistair as your first command during the middle of the conversation does not appear to have an affect on Alistairs approval rating.

If Oghren is in your party he may also approve, but testing is needed to determine what exactly he approves of. If Oghren is in your party, it's possible to give Shale the command to "dwarf toss" him to test the control rod. (This dialouge option may depend on who else is in your active party.)

Bugs

 * After defeating the Darkspawn, you are unable to speak to the villagers on the other side of the energy barrier. Your best bet is to go back to a previous save file, and do it over.