Act of Mercy

Act of Mercy is a main quest in Dragon Age II.

Acquisition
You will find this quest on Hawke's writing desk in Gamlen's House at some point after completing the quest Wayward Son. This quest may not appear if Hawke informs Knight-Commander Meredith about Thrask's daughter as part of An Errant Letter, which is related to Wayward Son.

Walkthrough
Go to the Wounded Coast Approach and talk to Ser Thrask, who informs Hawke about some apostates hiding in the Runaway's Cavern behind him. Ser Thrask will then request help in resolving the situation peacefully, before another group of more violent templars arrive to kill the apostates. and if you agree to help Thrask. if you choose to belligerently ask Thrask about payment before going in.

If you choose "Do it yourself.":

Upon entering the Runaway's Cavern, Hawke's party will be attacked by several apostate mages and weak undead. Eventually Hawke will run into the mage, Alain, who informs Hawke that the apostate leader Decimus has turned to blood magic. Alain will then leave to join Ser Thrask at the cavern's entrance so he can return to the Circle. . (Note: choosing the "peaceful" olive branch option when talking to Alain here seems to avoid any approval loss with Anders.)

Decimus can be found at the end of the cavern, and he will attack under the belief that Hawke is working for the templars. This battle will include numerous undead, as well as three other apostate mages. After Decimus is defeated, Grace will approach and request that Hawke kill Ser Thrask so the surviving mages can flee to the outskirts of the Free Marches. Hawke can then:

1. Attempt to coerce her and the others into joining the Circle.

2. Tell her that they will convince the templars that the apostate mages are already dead.

3. Kill Ser Thrask as she has requested.

Result
When Hawke returns to the entrance of the cave a second group of templars, lead by Ser Kerras, will have arrived and will be arguing with Ser Thrask. The argument varies slightly depending on the previous choices made, but all arguments seem to indicate that Ser Kerras intends to simply execute the mages rather than return them to the circle.


 * If the decision to return the mages to the Circle was made, Hawke will be given the opportunity to:
 * Return the mages to the Circle. Ser Thrask will promise to return them unharmed and Ser Kerras intimates that Ser Thrask will not survive long enough to do so.
 * Free the mages instead, resulting in a fight with the templar reinforcements.


 * If the decision was made to lie to the templars, then the party has the following options:
 * 1) "I killed the mages." All subsequent conversation options lead to combat with the templars.
 * 2) "I'm a friend of Thrask's." Leads immediately to combat.
 * 3) "I'm a friend of the mages." Leads immediately to combat.
 * 4) Defer to Varric. If Varric is in the party, he can be asked to make up a story.  Varric will tell the templars that Hawke is a foreign templar that Knight-Commander Meredith specially requested to help investigate the situation. Alternatively if Hawke is a mage he'll tell them you are Enchanter Hawke from Ferelden who came to root out rebel mages. He then says that some of the mages are dead and others escaped to the coast.  The templars will leave and the mages can escape without any form of combat.
 * 5) "I'm your best friend." Under some circumstances, this line becomes available in the dialogue wheel. This option has been confirmed for a sarcastic warrior Hawke. Hawke will claim that she has done Kerras a favor, that some of the mages are dead but their leader fled towards the coast. The templars will leave in pursuit and the mages then escape without a fight.

Ser Thrask will always assist Hawke in the combat with the templars. If the templars are slain, they can be looted for the Edge of Song and Glory and the Dragon Hunter's Hauberk. If Varric takes care of the situation, he will automatically succeed at fooling the templars. In all situations, Grace will give the Chanters' Staff as a reward.

The decision of how to deal with the mages determines which of three quests will be available in Act 2.
 * 1) If the mages went to the Circle, Bounty Hunter (DA2) will be available.
 * 2) If you fight the Templars (meaning Karras is killed), it will be The Midnight Meeting.
 * 3) If the mages are free without fighting the Templars, Search and Rescue.

Rumor Bug
In some cases, the Rumor about this quest may remain in the quests list.

To fix this you can use gffeditor -> SAVEGAME_CAMPAIGN -> SAVEGAME_JORNAL -> SAVEGAME_JORNAL_ACTIVE_LIST -> 0 -> rumors_act_of_mercy. If you find it, you can right click on full tree of 0 -> delete. And then you can add your save back to your savegame folder.

Crafting Nodes
Inside the cave is a node of Raw Lyrium.