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.

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.

If you agree to help him:

If you choose to belligerently ask Thrask about payment from blackmailing him 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 a mage, Alain, who informs Hawke that the apostate leader Decimus has turned to blood magic. Choosing the last aggressive answer will result in. Alain will then appear as if he is going to join Ser Thrask at the cavern's entrance so he can return to the Circle.

The cave contains one Standard chest and no traps.

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 either:

Attempt to coerce her and the others into joining the Circle. ("I won't help you.")
 * or by choosing all aggressive dialogue options.
 * or by choosing all aggressive dialogue options.
 * or by choosing all aggressive dialogue options.
 * or by choosing all aggressive dialogue options.
 * or by choosing all aggressive dialogue options.
 * or by choosing all aggressive dialogue options.

Agree to convince the templars that the apostate mages are already dead.
 * by choosing "I'm sorry" on the first dialogue, otherwise
 * by choosing "I'm sorry" on the first dialogue, otherwise

Kill Ser Thrask as she has requested.
 * must have first dialog be "Im Sorry" followed by aggressive response in the second dialogue, "My reasons are my own!", this will be negated and there will be no approval change
 * must have first dialog be "Im Sorry" followed by aggressive response in the second dialogue, "My reasons are my own!", this will be negated and there will be no approval change
 * must have first dialog be "Im Sorry" followed by aggressive response in the second dialogue, "My reasons are my own!", this will be negated and there will be no approval change
 * must have first dialog be "Im Sorry" followed by aggressive response in the second dialogue, "My reasons are my own!", this will be negated and there will be no approval change
 * must have first dialog be "Im Sorry" followed by aggressive response in the second dialogue, "My reasons are my own!", this will be negated and there will be no approval change
 * must have first dialog be "Im Sorry" followed by aggressive response in the second dialogue, "My reasons are my own!", this will be negated and there will be no approval change

While you return to the entrance of the cave 2 more groups of skeletons will attack you unless you agreed to kill Ser Thrask when then 2 groups of templars will attack you instead. When Hawke returns to the entrance of the cave a second group of templars, lead by Ser Karras, will have arrived and will be arguing with Ser Thrask. The dispute varies slightly depending on the previous choices made, but all quarrels seem to indicate that Ser Karras 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.
 * (tested on PC 1.03)
 * (tested on PC 1.03)
 * (tested on PC 1.03)
 * (tested on PC 1.03)
 * (tested on PC 1.03)

If the decision was made to lie to the templars, then the party has the following options:
 * "I killed the mages." All subsequent conversation options lead to combat with the templars.
 * "I'm a friend of Thrask's." Leads immediately to combat.
 * "I'm a friend of the mages." Leads immediately to combat.
 * (with "I'm sorry Ser Thrask")
 * (with "I'm sorry Ser Thrask")
 * (with "I'm sorry Ser Thrask")


 * Defer to Varric if he is in the party. 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.


 * "I'm your best friend." This option is only available to a sarcastic Hawke. Hawke will claim that Kerras has been done a favor, and that some of the mages are dead but their leader fled towards the coast. The templars will leave in pursuit and the mages can then escape without a fight. There is no variation for a Hawke mage and Ser Karras ignores the fact.

If you choose to defer to Varric, you will have the option to tell the templars how they died.
 * They killed each other.
 * Their leader escaped.
 * "I killed them." Choosing this option Varric will explain that they were destroyed and that a couple may have fled prior to their arrival in "back-passages" to the sea. The templars will be surprised that mages are capable of cooperating with the templars.

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. As long as the apostates are freed, Grace will give the Chanters' Staff as a reward regardless of the action taken.

Notable items
Looted from Decimus' body:

If the templars are killed:

If you are seeking the Supplier achievement, be sure to grab the Raw Lyrium in the Runaways' Cavern.

Rewards
, if the apostates are freed.

Result
The decision of how to deal with the mages determines which of two quests will be available in Act 2. If the mages went to the Circle, Bounty Hunter will be available. If you fight the templars which leads to Karras's death, it will be The Midnight Meeting. Letting Grace go opens up the quest The Underground Railroad in Act 2.

Bugs

 * In some cases, the rumor about this quest may remain in the quests list. This seems to happen if Act of Mercy is accepted before completing A Business Discussion. 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. You can then add your save back to your savegame folder.