Magistrate's Orders

Magistrate's Orders is a secondary quest in Dragon Age II.

Acquisition
Go to the Chantry in Hightown in Act 1. Magistrate Vanard will be waiting near the exit to the World map at the base of the Chantry steps. Magistrate Vanard will inform you about an escaped criminal who has taken refuge in an abandoned ruin outside of Kirkwall. A patrol of guards was sent to retrieve him, but they were slaughtered by unspecified "creatures" in the ruin. If you accept the quest, he will offer Hawke a promise of future support for the return of the criminal, as long as he is brought back alive and unharmed.

Abandoned Ruins
Upon arriving at the Abandoned Ruins, Hawke will witness an angry elven merchant berating the Kirkwall city guard for failing to deliver justice to the murderer within. When questioning the elf, Elren, he reveals that the criminal has been murdering elven children, and implies that he has not received appropriate punishment for his deeds. Furthermore, his last victim was Elren's daughter, Lia. One of the guards, Nabil, will warn Hawke that defying the magistrate's direct orders is "madness". Hawke can either state his/her intention to bring the criminal back to Vanard, as originally promised, or to kill him for Elren. (Hawke can, however, change his/her mind later.)

Ruined Passage
Entering the Ruined Passage results in a dungeon crawl. The dungeon contains Spider and Poisonous Spider enemies. The spider silk for the Herbalist's Tasks quest can be obtained here.

Along the way, Hawke will find an elven girl sitting at the end of a walkway. She reveals that she is Lia, and that the criminal let her go. While the man was "hurting her" in some unspecified fashion, he abruptly stopped and started crying, stating that demons in his head were making him kill elven children. It is indicated that the man is mentally ill. He then told her to run away, which she did. In either a display of extreme empathy or Stockholm Syndrome, Lia asks Hawke not to hurt the man.



After a fight with an arcane horror and more spiders, Hawke will find the man, Kelder, cowering in a room. Kelder is actually Vanard's son, which is why he wanted him back unharmed; however, he does not want to be rescued, begging Hawke to kill him to stop him from killing more elven children "because they are too beautiful".

Hawke can either kill Kelder or attempt to bring him back. If Fenris is present, he will offer to kill Kelder if Hawke will not; unusually, allowing him to do so has no effect on his friendship/rivalry. Despite the apparent ambiguity of this moral issue, every single one of your companions will, for once, agree, and advocate killing Kelder; however, if he is not killed, he runs away and must be tracked down in the ruins - which will spawn a fight with a Revenant and some skeletons that does not occur should the user choose to kill Kelder (more XP this way).

Results

 * Kelder lives:
 * Lia and her father leave Kirkwall to a safer, less corrupt city. Kelder is free to escape again and continue beating, raping and killing more elven girls while using his "The devil made me do it." defense.


 * Kelder dies:
 * Lia will approach Hawke during Act 3 in the alienage, telling him/her that the decision to kill Kelder was the right one. She goes on to mention she was out her head (in shock) when she asked he be shown mercy. She has since joined the guard, and if Aveline is present, she will also make a comment about her newest recruit.

Companion involvement
If Fenris is in the party, Fenris will request to kill him (denying or obliging his request grants no Friendship/Rivalry change). When encountering Lia, Fenris warns Hawke that her plea for mercy on Kelder's behalf is probably due to childish naivety, and that she should not be heeded.

For freeing Kelder:

For killing Kelder:
 * only if you do not let Fenris kill him
 * or if you let Fenris kill him
 * only if you do not let Fenris kill him
 * or if you let Fenris kill him
 * or if you let Fenris kill him

For demanding a reward from Elren upon killing Kelder:

Receiving the reward money from Vanard after freeing Kelder (not extorting him):

Extorting Vanard to keep his secret after freeing Kelder:

For telling Magistrate Vanard to keep his coin:

Rewards
If Kelder is killed, Elren will thank and reward Hawke with one gold sovereign and state that he never thought that he would see justice for the city elves. Magistrate Vanard must be spoken to complete the quest; however, no cutscene will be triggered, and Vanard will walk away with a promise of revenge. This decision has no impact on whether or not Hawke's mother will be successful in petitioning to take up residence in her former estate.

If Kelder is spared, Magistrate Vanard will reward Hawke. He can also be blackmailed with his son's secret for a total of two gold sovereigns.

NOTE: There seems to be a bug with the quest reward. If Hawke let Kelder live and tells the Magistrate not to tell the story of his son, you will receive three gold sovereigns. The blackmail attempt result is a mere two gold sovereigns instead of a higher sum.