Warden's Keep

Warden's Keep is a downloadable content that is available for 560 Microsoft Points (US$7) on Xbox Live Marketplace and US$7 on the PC on November 3rd. It is the same price on the PlayStation Store on the PS3. It is available without extra cost for players who purchase the Digital Collector's Edition.

Warden's Keep will grant players access to Soldier's Peak, two new talents and spells per class from the Power of Blood school, two new achievements, and items. In addition, Warden's Keep will include 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 the the rulers of Ferelden. 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 the Dryden's family name by proving that Sophia Dryden, his grandmother, the commander of the Grey Wardens acted honorably.

Main Quest
Kill the undead in the courtyard and enter the castle to watch a cutscene. Make your way to the second floor Commander's Quarters to encounter Commander Sophia Dryden, who's possessed by a demon. The demon wants you to free her, which means going into the mage's tower and destroying the force confining her. You can kill her at this point instead of helping her to get the Warden Commander Armor.

Before entering the great hall (big room with four purple summoning circles on the floor), buff your characters and prepare for a tough fight. A greater Rage Demon will show up, along with four undead warden in each summoning circle. The undead will heal the Rage Demon, so it's best to get rid of them first. Alternatively you may cast Curse of Mortality on the Rage Demon to prevent it from healing. After you kill the first wave and have reduced the demon's health to some point, another four will show up. Kill them all and continue attacking the Rage Demon.

Continue onto the bridge, past the Skeleton Archer and the traps, and enter Avernus' tower. Make your way to the lab and read the journal to understand the terrible experiments Avernus has been conducting on fellow wardens. Unless you morally appose dark magic, drink from the bottle to gain two Power of Blood skills. Enter the door and talk to Avernus to get a complete understanding of what's going on. You can then choose to agree to help him to seal the veil and get rid of the demons.

Follow Avernus back to the great hall. He will stand in each summoning circle in turn, during which time demons will appear and attack your party, one wave per circle for a total of four waves. There is a small window of peace between each wave, so save and heal. Eventually a final Desire Demon appears, and once she's dead, the main quest is done.

Talk to Avernus afterwards to decide his fate. You can kill him and get the Robes of Avernus for your mages. Or you can kick him out of the keep to never see him again. Or you can let him continue his research.



Secret Chest
There is a secret chest in the castle. You need to find four clues to get the chest, and you should do so before leaving Warden's Keep because you may not re-enter once you leave.

The chest is found after closing the veil. On the way out, look at the picture on the wall (hold tab to identify it). Recite the warden's oath and a chest will emerge from the wall containing the sword, Asturian's Might, among other things. It's a decent sword for early in the game.

Once you leave the keep, you will not be able to return.

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 cousin, Mikhael Dryden, is a smith, and has every conceivable non-magical weapon and armor for sale - such as the Drakeskin armor set. Additionally, if the player happens to find some meteorite ore, Mikhael will be able to craft a fine longsword or a two-handed sword for the player.

Items
The following items are available in this downloadable content and may be found in Soldier's Peak or during their travels in Ferelden.
 * Warden Commander Armor set
 * Winter's Breath, a powerful magical staff
 * Starfang, the longsword or Starfang, the two-handed greatsword
 * Asturian's Might, the longsword of the Grey Warden Asturian
 * Shadow Belt, a belt that reduces hostility
 * Robes of Avernus, a robe that improves Blood Magic
 * Antique Warden Crossbow, an above average Crossbow

Warden Commander Armor
The Warden Commander Armor is a powerful set of massive plate armor. It is found on Sophia Dryden while exploring Soldier's Peak.

Power of Blood Abilities
Rogue

Dark Passage

Passive Range: Personal

Activation: 0

Tapping the power of tainted blood makes the rogue more nimble, able to move more quickly while using Stealth and more likely to dodge a physical attack.

The Tainted Blade

Sustained

Range: Personal

Activation: 44

The rogue's blood gushes forth, coating the edges of weapons with a deadly taint. The character gains a bonus to damage determined by the cunning attribute,but suffers continuously depleting health in return.

 Warrior 

Blood Thirst

Sustained

Range: Personal

Activation: 33

The warrior's own tainted blood spills in sacrifice, increasing movement speed, attack speed, and critical-hit chance. For as long as the mode is active, however, the warrior suffers greater damage, and continuously diminishing health.

Blood Fury

Activated

Range: Personal

Activation: 33

The warrior sprays tainted blood in order to knock back nearby enemies, which they may resist by passing a physical resistance check. The gush of blood, however, results in a loss of personal health.

Mage 

Dark Sustenance 

Activated

Range: Personal

Activation: 0

A self-inflicted wound lets the mage draw from the power of tainted blood, rapidly regenerating a significant amount of mana but taking a small hit to health.

Bloody Grasp

Activated

Range: Medium

Activation: 15

The mage's own tainted blood becomes a weapon, sapping the caster's health slightly but inflicting spirit damage on the target. Darkspawn targets suffer additional damage for a short period.

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


 * After completing the keep, it is possible to zone back into the tower and then back again and Levi has dialog 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.
 * Items left in the Party Storage Chest will scale with the player's level when the player leaves Warden's Keep. Just leave the Keep for Camp and return. Worked with Silverite Warden Commander Armor (picked up early in campaign), an Iron Warden Sword, and a set of Heavy Iron Plate. All turned into Dragonbone to meet returning lead character's level of 19. (Tested on PC with multiple weapons and armor, this does NOT work). (Actually it does seem to work on the PS3 version as the weapons and armour don't immediately upgrade to the better tiers but they do so over a random period of time). Confirmed for the XBOX 360, multiple items were changed into dragon bone, upon reaching level 18, it appears that gloves, helmets, boots, and swords level faster than the body armor does. Certain "Unique items" do not appear to level; e.g. the "Family Sword", "Shield of Highever", "Oak Branch", "Templar Armor" (from enthralled templar), "Ancient Elven Armor", "Aodh", however certain other items do such as "Asturian's Might", moving from steel to silverite(additional damage & rune slot but no change in graphic). Given this "bug" as well as the fact that the blacksmith's items levels at approximately the same rate indicates to this editor that this is not actually a bug, but rather a feature meant to entice players to purchase the DLC (editor also admits to no evidence other than that the bug is largely beneficial).
 * This bug/feature has also been observed on the PC version with the camp merchant. Items sold to the merchant (Bonham sp?) are available for re-purchase later on with upgraded material.  It is not clear whether this occurs for players who do not have the Warden's Keep DLC installed.