A Paragon of Her Kind

''You are about to enter the depths of the earth. You must somehow unite a broken empire and find a new king for the dwarven empire. Civil war is right around the corner, will you be able to find a king before Orzammar erupts in war?''

Journal
Gain Orzammar's aid in battling the Blight

You need to travel deep underground, to the fabled dwarven city of Orzammar, to earn the trust of her king and dwarven troops for your army.

In order to reach Orazammar you need to travel to the Frostback Mountains. Side Note: Once you arrive at the Frostback Mountains, if you have become part of the Blackstone Liason, you will find Tomas the deserter here. If you accepted the quest on their job board then there is no easy way to end this...

When you arrive in Orzammar though, you learn that the city is in upheaval as the King has recently died. The Assembly of Orazammar cannot offer you aide until they have a king. There are two potential candidates and the fighting between them is dirty. Only after you have made your choice, and gone into the Deep Roads to get the backing of a Paragon for the new ruler of Orazammar will the Dwarves agree and be able to honour the treaty you carry. Neither of these candidates actually deserves to be king, but each of them has strong supporters. Whatever choice you make, expect to find supporters for the other party attacking you in Orazammar.

Walkthrough
To fully complete this plot quest, The Warden must choose a candidate (Lord Pyral Harrowmont or Prince Bhelen) to support as King of Orzammar. Regardless of the candidate chosen, however, one thing remains certain: The Warden is going into the Deep Roads, and will do battle with an egregious amount of darkspawn.

Orzammar can be initially confusing, so a brief layout of the map is in order. The Frostback Mountains entrance to Orzammar will transfer The Warden to a hall of statues (name, link?), which is nice to look at - but, practically speaking, this is not the entrance to Orzammar. Traveling to the other end of this hall will reveal another door (and, on the first time through, a Council edict which adds a Codex entry and forms part of The Key to the City quest) which leads to the Orzammar Commons. This (again, practically speaking) is the entrance to Orzammar (considering you can direct travel from the World Map to the Commons and skip the hall).

Standing at the door to the Commons (looking at the Captain of the Guard, a big statue, and several avenues of travel), there are three ways to travel: left, straight, and right.

Left:


 * Dust Town


 * Tapsters

Right:


 * Diamond Quarter


 * Deep Roads

Straight:


 * The Proving

When the Orzammar Commons are initially entered, a brief cutscene will play which shows a scuffle between the opposing factions. Speaking with the Captain of the Guard is a good source of initial (if somewhat gruff and dismissive) information. A quest will be added (Seek out Steward Bandelor) to speak with Steward Bandelor, who is located in the Assembly in the Diamond Quarter. Upon reaching him, another cutscene of the Assembly will play, with more political infighting - afterwards, he will give the bottom line to The Warden: Without a King, the Grey Wardens can expect exactly zero help from the dwarves.

A brief overview of several points about Bhelen:


 * Will send The Warden into the Deep Roads sooner than Harrowmont.


 * Does not require Warden to complete the Proving.


 * During the Epilogue, Orzammar will go through a period of serious unrest after Bhelen forces political and social reform.

A brief overview of several points about Harrowmont:


 * Will not send The Warden into the Deep Roads until the very end of this quest line.
 * Requires Warden to complete the Proving.


 * During the Epilogue, Orzammar will stay true to its roots, with strict castes, etc.

Eventually, The Warden is forced into making a choice about who to support; however, the actual moment when this decision has to be made varies depending on previous choices. It is possible to string both candidates along until the very end, or to pick a candidate to support right away (either way, the Deep Roads section of the quest line plays out the same).

=== Bhelen === There are three legs to putting Bhelen on the throne:


 * A Prince's Favor: The First Task - Completing this quest requires talking to two individuals: Lord Helmi and Lady Dace, and point out to them that Harrowmont is pulling the old switcharoo. Helmi is definitely the easier of the two, here, as you just have to talk to him. The Lady, on the other hand, sends you into Aeducan Thaig in the Deep Roads (this will give you permission to get past the guards at the entrance to the Roads from the Orzammar Commons).


 * A Prince's Favor: The Second Task - Deal with Jarvia and her Carta.


 * A Prince's Favor: The Third Task - Find Branka in the Roads. As The Warden moves to exit Orzammar and go find Branka, a stout, firehaired dwarf will approach and begin dialogue. This part of the quest line plays out identical (up to finding Caridin) regardless of who you supported.

Harrowmont
Similarly, there are three legs to putting Harrowmont on the throne:


 * A Lord's Trust: The First Task - Completing this quest requires going to the Proving (in the Commons), and fighting on behalf of Harrowmont. There are several side quests that this (can trigger, or does trigger? confirm me) triggers: one involving Baizyl, a dwarf being blackmailed for having an affair; the other involving Gwiddon, a dwarf who needs to be convinced of Harrowmont's superiority (may require persuasion/intimidate; confirm me).


 * A Lord's Trust: The Second Task - Deal with Jarvia and her Carta.


 * A Lord's Trust: The Third Task - Find Branka in the Roads. See notes on Bhelen's section.

Deep Roads
Quests solved while down here include:


 * Lost to the Memories


 * A Mother's Hope

However you get there, when you enter the Deep Roads you will run across several weaving tunnels, all of which will snake around to the main road so feel free to travel them and not worry about getting lost. The Deep Roads are a large area and Branka is at the very end of it so make the most of what you find here and search everything as there are a few quests to be found in the Deep Roads itself.

On your way to locating Branka, you will come across numerous darkspawn and the following new characters/quests:

Ruck : This quest has to have been started in the Commons. Once you reach the old city of Ortan Thaig you will see a madman. If you had accepted the side quest received from his mother, follow the madman and you will learn that he is Ruck. How you inform his mother of his condition is your choice. Ruck has items to sell and there are a few things to pick up from him along the way.

Family Line: There is a woman at the Shaper's place who wants to prove she's nobility. In a chest in the Deep Roads you'll find her proof.

Asunder: As you walk through the Deep Roads you will come across 'Small Bloody Sacks'. Pick up each one of these. Once you reach an old city area with an altar, you can place the body parts on the altar. The demon will ask if you are to let him go or fight, the choice is yours. You will get a nice reward for doing so anyways. If you chose to let the demon go, he will give you 25 sovereign.

The Dead Legion: You will encounter the Legion of the Dead here as well for the first time, just across from the Bridge. Later, when you are rifling through sarcophaguses you will locate several 'Dead Legion' armour parts (Strength of 42 required to wear them). The final armour piece is in the locked metal door. Once you take it you will be attacked by all the dead legion spirits there.

Topsider's Blade: Along your route you will run across items in chests noted as being 'Topsider' blade, pommel, and hilt. After finding all three, you can recombine them in a sarcophagus in the Deep Roads and get the very good one-handed sword, the Topsider's Honor.

Unusual Darkspawn to Fight in the Deep Roads
Be careful on your wanders through the Deep Roads, especially after you reach the Dead Trenches area. There are two special Darkspawn who haunt this area and although some forums will tell you that they are 'possible' encounters, I have encountered them every single time I've ventured into the Deep Roads on playthroughs.

Ancient Darkspawn: Make sure you have enough health poultices and, if possible, Wynne in your group on this trip. She's an excellent healer, the best in the game, and the Ancient Darkspawn can flatten an unprepared group really quickly. As most special creatures, the Ancient Darkspawn will have a unique weapon and/or piece of armour on him. He will also have a portion of the Topsider's Blade on him, so despite forums saying it's possible to find him there, he will be there to flatten you if you're not prepared for him.

Glenlock Master Forger: This Glenlock is a serious hazard if you run into him unprepared. He is surrounded by numerous darkspawn both melee and bow users. He himself can use a bow and has very heavy hitting attacks. The best strategy is to make sure you get rid of all of his lackey's first and then tackle him. He will use a bow until a character actually approaches him and you want to delay the use of his Maul as long as possible. The Master Forger will drop a unique meapon, his Maul when he is defeated. ''Note: It is possible if you have Shale in your party, that Shale will hit the Master Forger with his power hit, pushing him back into a position on the rocks which makes your party incapable of attacking him, but he will still be capable of attacking your party with his bow. If you wait for a minute or take your party members a little further away, he will be moved from this position.''

Broodmother
This is a relatively tough boss fight. In addition to the main boss (who will kill your character should they be lifted into the air), you will also have to deal with darkspawn, shrieks and the tentacles. There are many strategies to try here, but the tentacles will die if you kill the brood mother though anything the Brood Mother has summoned will still have to be fought after the Broodmother dies.

Anvil of the Void
The last place you're looking for is the Anvil of the Void where Branka is located, the final location in the Deep Roads. When you are finally nearing this desination, you will hear a woman reciting a poem of sorts. You will hear her voice leading you to your destination, which is a boss fight and after defeating the boss, you will finally see Branka. The woman reciting the poem, you will learn, was Branka's captain and lover.

Upon your first visit to the Anvil of the Void, Branka traps you inside, which forces you to complete the quest. Branka tells you that there are many traps ahead. The immediate "trap" is a small battle with many darkspawn.

After the first trap, you move through empty tunnels to a gas filled room. This room is appears empty at first, but entering it will bring golems to life one by one. There are four gas valves, two by each closed doors on the left and the right as you enter. After killing the golems, your party may proceed through empty tunnels to another room filled with golems. There are a couple traps in this room and four golems come to life, two at a time as you walk through the room.

After the golem rooms, you are presented with a real challenge. A large chamber has a column reaching down from the middle of the ceiling with four angry faces on it. Surrounding the column are four anvils (matching up with the four faces). When the battle begins the faces spit out spirits which take the form of enemies. A few facts about this battle:


 * The anvils are activated by killing the mob that spawned at it
 * Anvils can only be used once before requiring reactivation.
 * The anvils, once activated do damage to the face that is facing it.
 * The first anvil hit makes the face spit damaging blood every 5 seconds.
 * The blood spit only affects those standing in front of the face.
 * The second anvil hit deactivates a face completely.
 * When all faces are deactivated the fight is over.

Following the face-column room, you will finally have the anvil in sight, but alas you face a decision. Caridin asks you to destroy the anvil because it is evil. Branka says that you need it to restore the glory of the empire. The decision is yours...

No matter which Paragon you decide to support, your enemies are two elite golems, two normal golems, and the enemy Paragon, while there are two normal golems fighting with you, but not the Paragon you supported. Branka drops a unique shield and mace with two rune slots. Caridin drops a unique shield.

Should you support Branka, Oghren, Zevran, and Morrigan will approve, but Alistair and Wynne will disapprove. Should you support Caridin, Alistar will approve while you get a small rating of disapproval from Zevhran, Morrigan and a -10 approval from Oghren. This is Shale's crisis moment; Shale will leave you group if you side with Branka.

Before you leave make sure you approach the tablet. Talk to Oghren and he will inform you that it is a registry of some kind. This is in fact the Golem Registry, a record of all the people who voluntarily and unwillingly but are noted as voluntarily became golem. Before you leave, take a tracing of the tablet. This can then be taken to the Shaperate for a reward.

If you do side with Caridin you will receive dwarven warriors to assist in your assault of the archdemon and the blight.

If you side with Branka, she will promise you a golem army to assist in your assault of the archdemon and the blight.

Once this quest is finished you also have the opportunity to recruit the Legion of the Dead to assist you against the Blight. These will join the Dwarven Army option in the battle for Denerim, your reinforcements will be half Dwarven Soldiers and half Legion of the Dead Avengers.