Velanna's Exile

Velanna's Exile is Velanna's companion quest.

During a journey through the forest that surround Amaranthine, the party stumbles upon Velanna's old Dalish clan and another piece of Velanna's mysterious past is revealed.

Walkthrough
This is a random encounter that usually triggers while traveling from Amaranthine to Vigil's Keep. It is even possible for this encounter to occur when clicking back into the Wending Woods after exiting to the World Map via the Silverite Mine right after you have completed the quests there. During the encounter, Marren, a Dalish elf whose clan is passing through the forest, will recognize Velanna as a former clanmate. Marren reveals that Velanna was cast out from the clan and exiled, but Velanna interrupts him before he can reveal the reasons behind.

When Velanna mentions to Marren that Seranni has been kidnapped by the darkspawn and that the others who followed her are dead, if the Warden says that they will find and save Seranni, Marren will thank him on behalf of the entire clan and, if the Warden remains supportive of Velanna during the entire conversation, Marren will be surprised by this affection and will say that maybe Velanna is really changed.

Before leaving with the rest of the clan, Marren will also reveal that Ilshae, the clan's keeper, has recently passed away.

Later, at the Keep, Velanna explains that some months before humans had tried to burn the Dalish out of the woods, to prevent them reaching their farms. Velanna was one the few elves who wanted revenge, but Ilshae forbade them. When Velanna called her a coward, she was exiled from the clan and only a handful of elves followed her in her quest for vengeance. Seranni, her sister, went with her only to make her see reason, and now, with the rest of her followers dead at the hands of the darkspawn and Seranni captured by the Architect, Velanna is stricken with guilt. With Ilshae now dead, Velanna knows that she is beyond forgiveness and thinks that, maybe, she doesn't even deserve it.

Result
If the Warden-Commander supports Velanna throughout the confrontation with Marren, it will net the Warden-Commander. During the conversation at the Keep, a further approval can be gained.

Bug
Many players have been unable to trigger the random encounter that opens up the quest. It's still not clear if the encounter has simply a very low chance of triggering or if there is some prerequisite action that prevents it from triggering (neither deploying the soldiers to protect the trade routes nor Velanna's approval seem to be a pivotal factor). If traveling back and forth from the Keep to Amaranthine several times isn't working for you, there is a workaround to the problem using the developer console (PC version only):
 * 1) With the console activated, write runscript zz_gxa_debug and press ENTER
 * 2) Select Start Plot Specific Debug
 * 3) Scroll the list down to the third page and select Random Encounters
 * 4) Select Jump to a location
 * 5) Select Forest
 * 6) Select RXA170 Meeting Velanna