Watchguard of the Reaching

Watchguard of the Reaching is a side quest that occurs in Circle Tower during the Broken Circle main quest in Dragon Age: Origins.

Acquisition
Finding any of the six Apprentice's Notes will trigger the quest. Note that it is possible to start or finish the quest before leaving the tower, and after the cleansing is complete as well.

Find the notes
Begin the quest by finding any of the six apprentice's notes. On the PC version you can make this easier by pressing TAB every now and then to highlight objects (such as the books containing these notes). On the PS3 version you can do this with the left and right d-pad buttons. Please see Codex entry: Watchguard of the Reaching for full text of notes; only the first few words of each note are given here.

(the first floor) (the second floor) (the third floor)
 * In an Apprentice Footlocker in the middle of the first dormitory before you meet Wynne ("No, no, no and stop asking...").
 * In an Apprentice Footlocker on the south wall of the second dormitory before you meet Wynne ("I'm telling you guys...").
 * Apprentice Note in the middle of the room filled with bookcases, the final one before the central room with stairs to the second floor ("First Enchanter Dorval fell suddenly to a disease..."). The "x" for this one is wrong in the picture (leftmost x of first image). It should be in the middle library room.
 * In the room south of the staircase that leads to the lower floor ("Today we passed even further...").
 * In a pile of books on the floor of the room where blood mages are ambushed by an abomination ("His silver cord transmuted black...").
 * In the room with the three statues ("(Hastily scribbled) Whispers say Great Hall?").

Complete the ritual
When you have the notes, go to the third floor of the Circle Tower. Right-click on the statues in the following order. Note that you can't just click anywhere, there is a very small area on the base of each statue where you will get an inspect icon. You must right-click when you see that icon.


 * 1) The statue holding a bowl in the Common Room
 * 2) The statue holding a sword pointing UP in the Common Room
 * 3) The statue holding a sword pointing DOWN in the Common Room
 * 4) The statue holding a shield in the central room (with stairs to 4th floor, the statue is in the middle of the room where the tranquils were being transformed into abominations)

Remember you get no confirmation of your click - PC only in some versions the statue locations might change. so please follow the description -bowl, bottom sword. top sword, center statue. If you get shocked, you need to start over because you clicked too many times. In the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, you get shocked if you've made a mistake and a burst of flame if you've done it correctly - NO flame or shock if done correctly on PC. / You get a quest update on the final click. But if you go into your quest menu and read what it has to say it will tell you "A low rumble signals the lowering of ancient protections. Something is free in the lowest levels of the tower."

Finish the fight
After completing the ritual, you can return to the original location where you found Wynne (on the first floor, near the spot where Petra, Keili and Kinnon are). Trying to enter the basement at this point will cause Shah Wyrd to spawn. He is similar to other Rage Demons, only much stronger, being a Boss. One thing that makes this fight easier is that Petra, Keili and Kinnon will attack the demon as well, and their spells really pack a punch. If you sided with the templars there will not be any mages there to help you fight. (Note: The AI on this actually makes the fight harder on a difficulty like Nightmare mode, as the NPC mages will constantly bombard the party with fireball, killing anyone actually near the boss.)

Once the demon has appeared you can no longer activate stealth unless you have all four stealth ranks. You can, however, activate stealth mode before activating the door. The demon will appear behind your character, and will attack the other mages until either the demon or the mages are dead. The fight is quite easy with the mages backing you, and you shouldn't need any special tactics to defeat it, even at a relatively low level.

After the combat, you can loot the demon for the unique two-handed sword Yusaris. If your goal is to obtain Yusaris, you may find it wise to save before actually fighting the demon, as the sword does not have a 100% chance of dropping (you may be able to actually search the demon twice, the first time Shah Wyrd's corpse, and the second time a pile of rags, and the second time he will have Yusaris).



Bugs

 * If you allow Shah Wyrd to kill off Petra, Keili and Kinnon after Wynne has been recruited, Codex entry: Wynne may update with: "While trying to save what was left of the Circle, Wynne was cut down by (Player)."


 * If you attempt to do this mission later you will be unable to get up to the third floor.- This is not a bug. You cannot access the third floor from the inside of the senior mage quarters, instead you must go around to the other side of the wall.