The Trial of Crows

The Trial of Crows is a quest received from Master Ignacio and performed on behalf of the Antivan Crows.

Background
The Antivan Crows are seeking to parlay a new enemy into a new friend.

Walkthrough
By design, this quest should only be available after first encountering Zevran (whether you choose to recruit him or not). However, it is possible to acquire this quest before even seeing the Zevran "cutscene" if enough other activities in and around Denerim are performed without completing one of the major quests.

There are several ways to acquire this quest:
 * The Warden can speak with the Messenger Boy, who is located just past the Chantry and in front of The Mages' Collective bag in the Denerim Market District.
 * After speaking with Master Ignacio, if you attempt to leave the Denerim Market District area the Messenger Boy will catch up with you and give you a message. After speaking with the boy, a quest will be added pointing you to a back-room in the Gnawed Noble Tavern, where you'll meet Master Ignacio.
 * Go and look at the poster located on the wall near the Elven Alienage gate. Then as you leave the area the Messenger Boy, catches you and tells you to go the the Gnawed Noble Tavern.

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The First Test
The player is asked to kill a man called Paedan in The Pearl, Denerim's brothel. The player will first, however, have to find a Grey Warden poster, since that is the only way to collect the password needed. A poster can be found near the Alienage entrance, in the Markets. In the Pearl, it is revealed that Paedan is actually trying to kill all Grey Warden loyalists, and attacks the Warden. After killing his band, the Warden can return to Ignacio to claim his reward. Note that it is possible to kill Paedan before actually accepting the quest. If this is the case, you can just speak to Ignacio again to claim your reward.

If you've already killed him, you won't receive a reward. Actually, even if you kill him afterwards, you don't seem to get a reward then either. The chest just contains the next two contracts. This is on the PC and Xbox360.

Mercenary Hunt
This part requires you to go to the Kadan-Fe hideout where you will encounter a band of Qunari mercenaries called the Kadan-Fe. Once all these are killed, the Warden may return to Master Ignacio for a reward.

An Audience with the Ambassador
The player is required to kill Ambassador Gainley, who resides in the Ambassador's quarters in Orzammar Royal Palace. The ambassador will attack The Warden on sight, and once he is dead, the Warden may return to Ignacio for his reward.

To achieve this task you must begin the main quest A Paragon of Her Kind in Orzammar. Then, there are several options to deal with Ambassador Gainley :
 * If you have sided with Bhelen, you need to have completed both part of the quest handed by Vartag (in the Assembly) to speak with Bhelen (and thus have access to the Royal Palace to kill Ambassador Gainley).
 * If you have sided with Lord Harrowmont, you need to finish the quest Entering Jarvia's Hideout, which is A Lord's Trust: The Second Task, before getting access to the Ambassador suite.
 * If you've already completed A Paragon of Her Kind and decided on a new King, just go back to the Royal Palace and kill him.

The Ransom

 * See Ransom Drop Location for the map and more details.

Ignacio informs the Warden that Arl Howe has kidnapped a boy, and is willing to give him back to the Crows. The Crows will attempt to kill Howe's men, and need your help. The showdown will take place in the Ransom Drop location, but it appears Howe was expecting the betrayal, and his men have not brought the boy. After killing Howe's men, the Warden may return to Ignacio for a reward, who also mentions that the boy has been taken care of.

Note
After the fight with Howe's men, it is possible to loot one of the dead Crows Which can yield "Nobles Clothing". This clothing as of patch 1.01 has a completely 'unique' look when worn on women. Also, it should be warned that while leaving the area towards the Market District, a large squad of soldiers and a guard may ambush the group. One way to avoid this is the "go to camp" exploit - after opening the Denerim city map to leave the ransom drop location, select the world map and go directly to the party campsite to avoid any immediate Denerim random encounters.

It's worth noting that even though Master Ignacio says that the Crows will no longer accept any new contracts on you, you should still expect to get a non-random encounter in Denerim where one of Zevrans' old buddies (Taliesin) and a group of Crows attack The Warden. This is the end of the contract where Zevran was contracted to kill the Warden, and if Zevran has low enough Approval he may help Taliesin in the attack. However, in Awakenings, the Crows still accept a contract to ambush the Warden.

Reward
After completion of all assassination quests, Master Ignacio will reward you with a pair of gloves called Red Jenny Seekers. The Warden can then choose to fight Ignacio, but doing so will cause Cesar to leave.