Warden's Keep

Warden's Keep is downloadable content available for 560 Microsoft Points (US$7) on the XBox Live Marketplace, US$7 for the PC and the Playstation Store. It is available without extra cost for players who purchased the Digital Collector's Edition.

Warden's Keep grants players access to the fortress of Soldier's Peak, a quest to unlock the mysteries of the fortress, two new talents/spells for each class from the Power of Blood school, two achievements, and various items. In addition, Warden's Keep includes two new merchants and a Party Storage Chest that allows the player to store additional inventory.

Background
Centuries before the events of Dragon Age: Origins, the Grey Wardens of Ferelden took up arms against their kingdom's rulers. This tumultuous event led to the expulsion of the Grey Wardens from Ferelden, leaving their ancient fortress of Soldier's Peak to the ravages of time. This downloadable content provides The Warden with an opportunity to aid Levi Dryden in redeeming his family name by proving that Sophia Dryden, his grandmother and commander of the Grey Wardens at Soldier's Peak, acted honorably.

Overview
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Soldier's Peak
The highlight of this downloadable content is the fortress of Soldier's Peak and the eponymous quest. The quest takes The Warden through the forgotten keep, where the restless spirits of the Grey Wardens who died there re-enact the moments of their deaths. The keep is also plagued with undead wardens and soldiers, and demons left behind which were summoned during the battle. The Warden uncovers the motivation behind Sophia Dryden's treasonous rebellion against King Arland from the Demon that possesses her corpse, and within the castle's tower, an ancient Grey Warden Blood Mage, Avernus, works to repair the damage in the veil.

The Warden can choose to free the demon into the world by slaying Avernus, or to destroy the demon. The Warden must also seal the veil, with or without the demon's help, preventing more demons from entering the keep and laying its spirits to rest.

Soon thereafter, Levi Dryden and his family move into Soldier's Peak, preparing the keep as their new trading outpost and setting up a smithy.

Alchemical Concoction
On a desk in Avernus' study - the final chamber before the room where the Warden encounters Avernus himself - is a jar containing an "Alchemical Concoction". A journal documenting Avernus's experiments lies on another desk nearby; reading it triggers the final cut scene, which reveals he was learning how to tap the power of the Darkspawn blood ingested by Grey Wardens during the Joining.

If the Warden interacts with the jar before reading the journal, the jar is unidentifiable; only if the Warden triggers the cut scene will they realise it is the final fruit of Avernus' horrific research. Whether or not the Warden knows what the jar is, drinking it unlocks the Power of Blood talents, as well as the Diabolist achievement.

Party members do not seem to react to any of the Warden's decisions.

Secret Chest
There is a secret chest in the castle. In order to find it, you must find four clues before leaving Warden's Keep because you may not re-enter once you leave. The clues can be found, from a in the corner of the first floor right next to the Archivist, from a  before Sophie Dryden's room and an  in Avernus' study.

The chest is found after closing the veil. On the way out, look at the just down the stairs (before going to the first floor) and above the fireplace. If you have found the four clues you will be able to recite the warden's oath and a chest will emerge from the wall. This chest contains Asturian's Might, a longsword; the Shadow Belt, a belt that reduces hostility; and a small amount of gold.

This is your only chance to obtain the contents in the chest - once you exit the Keep, you will not be able to re-enter.

The Drydens
Once the quest is completed, the Dryden family will set up shop outside the Keep. Two merchants will be available, and they give the best discount in the game (better than the dwarves at your party camp). Levi Dryden's brother, Mikhael Dryden, is a smith, and has every conceivable non-magical weapon and armor for sale.

Meteor Metal Ore
While traveling overland, the player might come across a crater. Within the crater is an ore that Mikhael Dryden can fashion into a longsword or a great-sword. This sword of unsurpassed craftsmanship is given the name Starfang, and it is made of star metal, a unique untier material. }}

Items
The following items are available in this downloadable content and may be found in Soldier's Peak or during their travels in Ferelden.

, an above average Crossbow. , the longsword of the Grey Warden Asturian. , a robe that improves Blood Magic. , a belt that reduces hostility. , the two-handed greatsword or: , the longsword. , set of armor once worn by Warden Commanders. , a shield with a low random drop chance identical to Duncan's Shield. , a powerful magical staff.

Codex Entries
The following codex entries are available in this downloadable content. They can be found in Soldier's Peak.

Bugs
The following is a list of bugs that the player might encounter and their work arounds.


 * If the player or a companion levels during the first fight with the demons on the second floor, the door into the next room (the Shrine) will stay locked, and the only way to complete the quest will be reverting to a prior save.
 * After completing the keep, it is possible to zone back into the tower and then back again and Levi has dialogue meant for later.
 * Occasionally, the trade option will not bring up the trade screen.
 * Sometimes the location on the map disappears along with items found (this is probably due to the deactivated status of the DLC). If that happens, just quit and restart the game, and, (untested, I don't know if it's required or not), make sure your Internet connection is online, and you're logged to your EA/Bioware Social Network account. It may happen with any of the other DLC's, too.
 * In a rare occasion the player might face 9 undead skeletons instead of the Archivist and the two rage demons, it may drop a heavy metal shield with the grey warden emblem on it, comparable in looks to the grey warden tower shield, at first it may appear to be invisible but re-equpping might show the shield...
 * After killing Avernus, in some cases you may find that once the cut scene completes, enemies are detected in another room, which may require opening the door prior to fighting them. Once battle mode commences, doors cannot be open, and there is no way to escape battle mode without resorting to a save, due to the room being too small to get far back enough to dis-alert the party. This can be averted by quickly opening the door before battle mode kicks in.
 * During the scene of repairing the veil, the demons that should emerge never do. Sophia or the Blood Mage who is commencing the repair just moves to the side and does nothing. This error was on the PC version. Using a non-character targeting effect(eg. fireball) to knock Sophia/Avernus into the ritual circle he/she was heading towards begins the sealing ritual and the demons begin to emerge.
 * For the people who get's the error just use the consle cheats and type zz_gwb_debug and choose jump to > warden keep (repaired) and that will fix the end of the campaign.

Trivia

 * Levi Dryden is also present in the game before the DLC is installed and talking to him will let you purchase and download the DLC through dialogue choices. This has been criticized as breaking immersion - for example, in Penny Arcade comic of 6th November, 2009. (The comic is also notable in that the Grey Warden in the comic named Dog "Barkspawn", and Bioware later referenced this in The Darkspawn Chronicles.)


 * If the Warden returns to the cleared keep with Shale as a party member, there will be a group of three ravens on the ground who hop around and follow Shale. It's not possible to interact with them, but anytime Shale moves the ravens are quick to follow.


 * In Dragon Age 2 it is possible to find Avernus's research on a dead body on The Wounded Coast. There is a potion which will grant 2 attribute points upon drinking.


 * In Dragon Age 2 if you let Sophia go in the previous imported save, you meet her again in the quest Terror on the CoastTerror on the Coast.