A Bitter Pill

A Bitter Pill is an Act 2 companion quest for Fenris in Dragon Age II. This quest becomes available when Act 2 begins.

Acquisition
Leaving Kirkwall with Fenris in your party headed to the outside areas in Act 2 will trigger an ambush by slavers and begin the quest. You do not have to do the companion quest Speak to Fenris in order to trigger the event. Sometimes, the quest will only trigger if you head to Sundermount with Fenris instead of another outside area.

Ambush
When the slavers hold your way, a short dialog will start.

'He's not a slave!'
 * ( Does not happen if she is above 60% rivalry in 1.03, may not trigger if Sebastian is in the group. No game updates=no approval.)
 * ( Does not happen if she is above 60% rivalry in 1.03, may not trigger if Sebastian is in the group. No game updates=no approval.)
 * ( Does not happen if she is above 60% rivalry in 1.03, may not trigger if Sebastian is in the group. No game updates=no approval.)

'Let's work out a deal!'

'Die, slaver!'
 * No change in friendship/rivalry

The dialogue will end either way with Fenris yelling enraged that he's not a slave, and the combat begins. After you kill them another dialog with Fenris will start.

'We go after them.'
 * No game updates=no approval.
 * No game updates=no approval.
 * No game updates=no approval.

'And now they're dead.'

'Calm down, Fenris.'

If you don't go to the Holding Caves right away, you can force an encounter with Tevinter Mages, Slavers, Corpses, and an Arcane Horror for a sizable experience gain. To activate this encounter go to Hightown market during the day, immediately "Leave the area", switch to nighttime, reenter the Hightown market. An ambush will occur at this point with dialogue. There are 4 traps : the first trap at the bottom of the stairs is Standard(20 Cunning to detect and disarm - 100 XP) and the other three are Simple(10 Cunning to detect and disarm - 50 XP/each). After the battle, Fenris will blame the situation on Hawke for not heeding his warnings about the tenacity of Danarius' men and receive. He will then give Hawke an ultimatum: go to the caves with him now, or he goes by himself.

If Hawke chooses to go with him, the current party will automatically travel to the Holding Caves when you leave the area and gain if the diplomatic dialogue choice was made, or  if the humorous one was chosen instead. By taking a combative tone with Fenris before agreeing to help him, one may increase the rivalry gain to.

If Hawke decides to let Fenris go alone, he leaves for the party for good and the quest ends. The Holding Caves can still be visited at this point, but the resulting scenes and quest are bugged. The quest is still updated in the Journal, but it's always listed as complete. At most parts the quest continues as normal; even Fenris can be heard miraculously as a ghost in some scenes. You do not, however, gain or lose Approval with Fenris, and he does not come back.

Holding Caves
Visit the new area on the map outside of Kirkwall, Holding Caves. There will be a couple of groups of slavers, they should be easy to take out. There's Embrium to collect near the entrance of the area and a Glitterdust deposit as well near the entrance of the cave, along with two open chests -- a standard one(20 Cunning to open - 100 XP), and a complex one(30 Cunning to open - 150 XO). Before you enter the Abandoned Slaver Den Fenris will start a dialogue. NOTE : You will be allowed to change your party when you enter the Den - Fenris will be locked as a member though.

Abandoned Slaver Den
You will come upon a room where there is an elven slave surrounded by slavers. Kill them. Once you do that, a dialog with Orana will begin. If you chose to answer in the course of dialogue:

If you answer "I'm sorry":

When she asked what she should do, if you answer "Come work for me" and select "I will pay her" If you select "Come work for me" and "Slaves are useful"
 * "Do you want help or not?"
 * "What else will she do?"
 * "Do you want help or not?"
 * "What else will she do?"
 * "What else will she do?"
 * "What else will she do?"

"Not our problem"

If you give her 10 :

Proceed until you reach Hadriana. NOTE: On your way, there is a single standard locked treasure chest (20 Cunning to open - 100XP) and NO traps. The battle is not very hard if you concentrate all your damage towards her. Once she's down a dialog will start. She says that Fenris has a sister and offers information in return for her life. Regardless of your choice, Fenris will kill her.

Deferring to Fenris: Choosing to let her live: Saying she can't be trusted:

The second set of dialogue options has no effect.

Defending mages: All other options:
 * with existing Friendship.
 * with existing Rivalry.

Result
Fenris will leave your party temporarily. Next time you go back to the Hawke estate, it will trigger a key relationship conversation with him.

Choice 1
 * "I understand":, Choice 2
 * "That's what I'm here for":, Choice 2
 * "You were out of line": Choice 1.1
 * (Flirt) "I was worried about you.": or, Choice 2

Choice 1.1
 * "No":, Choice 2
 * "I want an explanation":, Choice 2
 * "Yes":, ends conversation

Choice 2
 * "You gave your word": no effect, Choice 3
 * "You wanted to?": no effect, Choice 3
 * "She deserved to die": no effect, Choice 3

Choice 3
 * "It's not a burden": no effect, ends conversation
 * "What about your family?":, ends conversation
 * "Maybe you should go":, ends conversation
 * (Flirt) "You don't have to go." Completes romance.

Rewards

 * The crafting materials Embrium and Glitterdust (needed for the Supplier achievement) are found in the Holding Caves during this quest. Embrium is found on the roadside of the left forked road.
 * Fenris' armor upgrade Reinforced Straps is found in a chest in the Abandoned Slaver Den.
 * The Tevinter Amulet gift for Anders is found in a chest in the Abandoned Slaver Den after you talk to Orana.

Bugs

 * (1.0) It is possible to begin the quest without Fenris in your party. After entering the Holding Caves it is impossible to leave the area to reform your party. During cutscenes, you will hear Fenris' voice and the camera will pan to where he should be standing, but there will be nothing there. You can still receive friendship and rivalry points with him, despite his not being there. However, killing Hadriana will not trigger a cutscene and it is then impossible to finish the quest, even if Fenris is later brought to the caves. This can be avoided by adding Fenris to the party through the use of "runscript zz_dae_debug" in the developer console prior to defeating Hadriana.
 * If you go to your mansion right after Fenris storms off, and then talk to him, it is still possible to go back to the Holding Caves, and then the Abandoned Slaver Den. If you do so, Fenris will be locked into your party from then on and you cannot leave the holding caves/slaver den unless by exiting the way you came, you have to go through the whole area again as if you were doing the quest.  The only way to unlock him is to go back to your mansion to reset your party
 * The above bug can be triggered by selecting the Holding Caves again from the world map at the end of the quest.
 * It you have sufficient Friendship/Rivalry, completing this quest will trigger Fenris' Questioning Beliefs. If you have told him to leave after meeting him at your estate, the quest will be impossible to complete due to Fenris being gone and remain in your quest log for the remainder of the game.
 * During the first ambush outside Kirkwall, sometimes, if loots are available from the dead bodies (just some coins and junk items), they might vanish after the cutscene at the end of the fight. If you want to get them, better to do it before the fight ends.