The Urn of Sacred Ashes


 * This page is about the quest 'The Urn of Sacred Ashes. For information about the sacred relic, please see Urn of Andraste.

Background
Arl Eamon of Redcliffe is dying, and the only way to save him is by finding the Urn of Andraste.You can find this quest by either finishing the Arl of Redcliffe quest, or by heading to Denerim and speaking with Brother Genitivi's apprentice.

Walkthrough
Brother Genitivi's apprentice will, with a bit of persuasion or intimidation The Warden can trip up Weylon who attempts to send The Warden to Lake Calenhad. The Warden has the choice to head there immediately, or to investigate Genitivi's house further. Doing so will force a confrontation with Genetivi's Apprentice. Once you do investigate the house, you will discover a corpse in one of the rooms which turns out to be the real Weylon. You will also find Brother Genetivi's notes and learn that he has actually gone to the Village of Haven in search of the Urn of Andraste.

The Village of Haven
Upon reaching Haven, The Warden will be confronted by a guard. He is not eager to let The Warden pass; he can be either persuaded to allow an exception or killed.

Note: If Sten is in the party, he will question The Warden's decision to come to Haven. If the dialogue goes badly, he will attack; defeating him will calm him down, and he can be told either to get back in line or to leave the party completely. Sten's approval goes down if he attacks, but defeating him will net The Warden +7 (confirmed) approval points, effectively making the exchange favorable for those who wish to gain Sten's trust.

Shopping in Haven - Warning
If you have both Wynne and Alistair in your party (or Morrigan, Wynne and Leliana) when you enter the room with the bloody altar in it, you will get a cutscene in which both your companions comment that the village is obviously not what it seems. If Zevran is in your active party, he will add a comment about rituals of the Antivan Crows, but it is the other companions dialogue here that drastically impacts your option to shop in Haven. If this dialogue occurs prior to your visiting the village shop, once you leave this home, the entire village will attack you, meaning shopping in Haven is now impossible. To ensure you get the option to shop if you need to, go to the village store first and then make your way back to the abandoned house or try to look in the storekeepers back room to trigger the villagers attacking. The Antivan Leather Boots are in an Iron Chest in the village store.

Finding Brother Genitivi
After this event (however it has been triggered), the entire village will have turned hostile, and you will need to fight your way up to the Village Chantry. There will be a short cutscene and dialog, after which the people inside the Chantry will attack. Once they are dispatched of go to the body of Eirik, the main priest and loot him for a medallion. You can then search the remainder of the chantry to pick up a few items before heading towards the (obviously) hidden door where you will find Brother Genitivi. He will tell The Warden that the Urn of Andraste is located in a temple ruin in the mountains nearby. Here you can choose to take him along or send him back to Denerim to recover. If you do take him along, he will open the door and then remain at the temple entrance researching, you do not have to protect Brother Genitivi if you allow him to accompany you to the temple.

Ruined Temple
The temple ruins have a fairly straightforward layout, although keys are required to progress. There are many Cultists in the halls.
 * See Ruined Temple for more details.

(Please expand this section with a detailed walkthrough.)

Mountainside Caverns
Not much different from the previous section of the dungeon, although this time Drakes join the Cultists. Exploring the side caverns reveals more Drakes, which can be useful for those collecting Drake Scales. At the end of this section, The Warden will come across Kolgrim. It is possible to either agree to poison Andraste's Ashes, or to just kill him on the spot. Agreeing with him and avoiding the battle does not compel you to follow through with his wishes. Shale and Morrigan will disapprove of refusing Kolgrim's offer but this can be avoided by picking a fight quickly and avoiding questions about the nature of his offer. It can also be reduced by persuasion speech checks if the conversation is allowed to progress far enough for Morrigan or Shale to voice their concerns. Note that defiling the Ashes is the only way to obtain the Reaver specialization, so avoid killing Kolgrim if you wish to unlock it.
 * See Mountainside Caverns for more details.

The Caverns lead to a wide open field with some chests by a ruined arch to the right and a gong in the middle (Console version only). Hitting the gong summons a High Dragon, although this is entirely skippable. To fight the High Dragon in the PC version, you must kill Kolgrim and loot a Horn from him. (Is it possible to fight the battle without killing Kolgrim in the PC version?) The High Dragon is a tough enemy; if the battle turns out to be too difficult, it is possible to come back and fight it at a later point.

Regardless of whether you choose to fight the Dragon or not, you will be required to continue on to the next section of the Temple.

(Please expand this section with a detailed walkthrough.)

Guardian's Questions
See: Guardian

The Guardian will ask a question to The Warden and his companions depending on their origin and the Companions that were brought with him. The Guardian is able to see all the choices and life of the characters.

The Gauntlet
At this point, a spiritual guardian of the Urn will decide to test The Warden's worthiness. Once the Gauntlet has been completed, the Urn of Andraste will be in sight. There are two choices:
 * See The Gauntlet for more location description or A Test of Faith for walkthrough
 * Taking only a pinch of the Ashes
 * Defiling the Ashes (only if you did not kill Kolgrim) -- doing so unlocks the Reaver specialization

Note: If you decide to defile the Ashes, Leliana and Wynne will attack you (if they are in the party). If Leliana is not in the party, she will ask about the Urn in camp. You can either Persuade (Lie) to her and tell her that the Ashes are safe, or tell her the truth. Telling her the truth will cause her to leave the party. It should also be noted that if Wynne is the one to confront you in camp then Leliana won't leave and Wynne will instead.

You can "Earn" Reaver specialization and not lose any party members. Take a pinch of the ashes get chests and search body then leave the temple. Before you get to Kolgrim save the game. Change your party members to anyone else other then Leliana, Wynne or Alistair. Go back in the temple pour the blood on the ashes, defeat the Guardian and other mobs, go out side talk to Kolgrim drink the blood. Then reload the game from when you first exited the temple and kill Kolgrim this time. You will have the Reaver Specialization and no one will leave your party.

Once you have done what you came to do, you can take a shortcut from the open field (where you may or may not have fought the Dragon) back to the Ruined Temple. If you have taken Brother Genitivi along, he will be extremely excited about your findings, and declare that he will share the news with the entire world. There is no way to dissuade him from this except to kill him. (There is no actual battle, just a cut-scene of your character killing Genitivi.) Killing Genitivi lowers Alistair and Wynne's approval by 3 points, Leliana by 5 points. (Please add other approval ratings if you know them.)

Experience Points Exploit
There appears to be a bug when the player exits to the Ruined Temple from the Mountain Top. After the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest is complete, the player can repeatedly transition from the Ruined Temple to the Mountain Top to gain experience.

Result
Aside from the pinch of ashes you receive and the EXP, the following unusual items can be found within the ruined temple and the Urn Temple itself:
 * Spellweaver
 * Chests (3 outside in the broken temple and 2 inside the temple, one on either side of the staircase)
 * An Unfortunate Adventurer in the temple carries an accessory.
 * Drake Scales (which are used to make Drake Scale Armor)
 * Faith's Edge
 * Lifedrinker
 * Reflection (amulet given to the PC by the spirit from their past)
 * Reaver Specialisation (from Kolgrim only if you agree to destroy the ashes)

Once you have taken a pinch of the ashes, you can take these back to Arl Eamon to cure him of his poisoning.

If you do not want to kill Brother Genitivi, you can warn him that if anything bad comes of him opening the temple to others, it is his responsibility. This does not garner approval or disapproval points from any companions and leaves Brother Genitivi alive. But if you kill him, then Wynne and Alistar will disapprove if they are in your party.

If you return to fight the High Dragon, or fight the High Dragon on this visit if your level is high enough, you will get various items from the Dragon including Dragon Scales, which can be taken to Wade in Denerim.

Wade Drake/Dragon Armor(s)

 * Wade can make the Drake and Dragon armor(s) from Drake Scales and Dragon Scale. For details about this process and the talk page about it, see Wade.

Epilogue
If you allowed Brother Gentivi to reveal the location of the Urn to the world and slay the dragon, the temple becomes a mecca for the faithful. If you didn't kill the dragon, the Urn disappears without a trace by the time the Chantry gains access to the temple.