The Urn of Sacred Ashes


 * This page is about the main quest; for the item, please see Urn of Andraste.

The Urn of Sacred Ashes is a main quest in Dragon Age: Origins that is required for completing the Arl of Redcliffe quest line and advancing to the final part of the game.

Background
Arl Eamon of Redcliffe is dying, and the only way to save him is to find the Urn of Andraste. You can begin this quest by either finishing Arl of Redcliffe or by heading to Denerim and speaking with Brother Genitivi's apprentice.

Walkthrough
Go to Denerim and look for Weylon, in Brother Genitivi's house. Weylon seems nervous when you enter the house. With a high enough Coercion skill, the Warden can trip up Weylon, who attempts to send him erroneously to Lake Calenhad. The Warden has the choice of heading there immediately, or investigating Genitivi's house further.

Attempting to search the backroom, or making Weylon aware you think he's hiding something, will force a confrontation. Once he has been killed and you do investigate the house, you will discover a corpse in one of the rooms which turns out to be the real Weylon. You will also find Brother Genetivi's notes and learn that he has actually gone to the Village of Haven in search of the Ashes of Andraste.

When you get the notes Haven village will be available on your world map.

Upon reaching Haven, The Warden will be confronted by a guard. He is not eager to let The Warden pass; he can be either persuaded to allow an exception or killed.

Shopping in Haven
When you enter the house with a bloody altar, you will get a cutscene in which your companions comment that the village is obviously not what it seems (if Zevran is in your active party, he will add a comment about rituals of the Antivan Crows). If this dialogue occurs prior to your visiting the village shop, the entire village will attack you once you leave this house, meaning shopping in Haven is now impossible. Also make sure not to mention what you've seen to the guard who initially questions you as you enter Haven. To ensure you get the option to shop if you need to, go to the village store first and then make your way back to the abandoned house. You can look in the storekeeper's back room to trigger the villager attack. The Antivan Leather Boots and the Mage's Eye are in the village store in an iron chest which you can lockpick, or you can wait until after you have retrieved the ashes, at which point the chest will be unlocked.

Finding Brother Genitivi
After this event, however it has been triggered, the entire village will have turned hostile, and you will need to fight your way up to the Village Chantry. There will be a short cutscene and dialog, after which the people inside the Chantry will attack. Once they are dispatched go to the body of Eirik, the main priest and loot him for a medallion. You can then search the remainder of the chantry to pick up a few items before heading towards the hidden door where you will find Brother Genitivi. He will tell The Warden that the Urn of Andraste is located in a temple ruin in the mountains nearby. Here you can choose to take him along or send him back to Denerim to recover. If you do take him along, he will open the door and then remain at the temple entrance researching, you do not have to protect Brother Genitivi if you allow him to accompany you to the temple. Although you have an option to tell him to wait that you need to make sure it's safe outside, there is no walking with Brother Genitivi, there is simply a loading screen and then you arrive at the temple. Any forgotten village stragglers will not be there to attack the Brother when you leave the Chantry.

Ruined Temple
The temple ruins have a fairly straightforward layout, although keys are required to progress. There are many Cultists in the halls.

In one of the cabinets in a room down the hallway to the left in the entry way you will find a taper. Collect the taper for use later along with other random loot as necessary. The cultists in this room do not have any weapons so they aren't very difficult to take down. Go up the stairs and enter the door on your left. It is in this area that you will find your first key. Return down the stairs and go into the hallway on your left. This is where you will find the Main Hall Key opening the door to the rest of the ruins. Down one of the dead end hallways you will find the Armor of Diligence on a fallen knight. Once you have entered the main hall, you will see more stairs and at the top you will find a large fire pit. If you have the taper with you, you can light the fire and get a codex entry for doing so. Continue on through the ruins and you will reach a room with only a right and left door which has shelves and several items on them. The Ancient Elven Gloves are in the chest to your right. Whatever path you choose, right or left, the layout is the same on both sides and each lead to the same place, the Wyrmling Lair. For experience and loot, it doesn't take long to traverse both sides of the building but having a rogue with you is a good idea. The cultists use many traps throughout the Temple including a room set up with Ballista pointing towards Leghold Traps. When you are ready to, enter the door at the top of the stairs leading to the next section of the map, the Wyrmling Lair.

Mountainside Caverns
Once you reach the Wyrmling Lair, you have effectively left the temple and are walking through several underground caverns. Expect to encounter drakes and dragonlings here as well as cultists. If you go through all the different chambers before reaching Kolgrim, you can find several unique items on your way. There is the Life Drinker Amulet (a Blood Mage item), the Spellweaver (a sword for use by Arcane Warrriors only), a gift for Alistair and other random loot including Drake Scales from the Drakes you have fought along the way. If these are your first drake scales acquired you will get Codex and a new Quest regarding the Drake Scale Armour which you can visit Wade in Denerim about.

When you are leaving the Ruined Temple you will see three men standing in a large room. This is Kolgrim and he has a proposition for you. Unfortunately he's also quick to anger so choose your words carefully as it doesn't take much for him to attack your party. Avoid mentioning that the real Andraste is dead and that the dragon they worship is a fraud if that is your goal. If you do choose to fight him, he drops Faith's Edge, a nice battle axe. If you choose to side with him, you have the opportunity to learn the Reaver specialisation but what he asks you to do could cost you two team members (see below for more information). You also have the opportunity to kill him and still get Faith's Edge and Kolgrim's Horn if you side with him. This can be done by talking to him after he gives you the Reaver specialization. Agreeing with him and avoiding the battle does not compel you to follow through with his wishes. Shale and Morrigan will disapprove of refusing Kolgrim's offer but this can be avoided by picking a fight quickly and avoiding questions about the nature of his offer. It can also be reduced by persuasion speech checks if the conversation is allowed to progress far enough for Morrigan or Shale to voice their concerns. Zevran will request you at least hear Kolgrim out and saying you will defile the ashes, whether or not you plan to or not, results in +2 approval from him. You can persuade him that killing Kolgrim is a better option and then his approval doesn't change - Zevran's persuade reply to this is calling Kolgrim 'shifty' which will cause the cultists to attack.

If you choose to side with Kolgrim, you receive:
 * Approval from Morrigan, Shale and Zevran
 * Disapproval from Sten, Alistair and Oghren
 * You can persuade Alistair to avoid disapproval (with a high Coercion skill)
 * Wynne will attack you, and you will have to kill her (not avoidable with Coercion), or if not present in your party, she will leave once you go back to camp. Even if you have not acquired Wynne from the circle tower she will still leave the first time you return to camp after acquiring her if you have defiled the ashes despite not having been in camp or the party during those events (PC version of the game).

If you choose to fight with Kolgrim, you receive:
 * Disapproval from Morrigan and Shale (can be avoided as mentioned above) (Updated - Shale disproves -10)

Whatever decision you have made, going straight will lead you to the Mountaintop and one step closer to reaching the Urn of Andraste.

The Caverns lead to a wide open field with some chests by a ruined arch to the right and a gong in the middle (Console version only). Hitting the gong summons a High Dragon. This is entirely skippable, but it will get you a large amount of high level loot. To summon the High Dragon in the PC version, you must kill Kolgrim and loot the Kolgrim's Horn from him though it is also possible to pull the dragon using the spell Blizzard see the exploits below for more information. Also note that unlike when you were inside the Caverns, now it's possible to switch party members. So if you choose to fight the dragon you have a chance to reconfigure your team. The High Dragon is a tough enemy; if the battle turns out to be too difficult, it is possible to come back and fight it at a later point. Regardless of whether you choose to fight the Dragon or not, you will be required to continue on to the next section of the Temple.

Guardian's Questions
The Guardian will ask a question to The Warden and his companions depending on their origin and the Companions that were brought with him. The Guardian is able to see all the choices and life of the characters.

The Gauntlet
At this point, a spiritual guardian of the Urn will decide to test The Warden's worthiness. The Gauntlet has 4 tests for the group that must be completed before you can gain access to the Urn. Once the Gauntlet has been completed, the Urn of Andraste will be in sight. There are two choices: Even if you plan on defiling the ashes, you must take a pinch of the ashes as well. This pinch of ashes is necessary to complete the Arl of Redcliffe quest.
 * Taking only a pinch of the Ashes
 * Defiling the Ashes (only if you did not kill Kolgrim) -- doing so unlocks the Reaver specialization

There is no way to keep Wynne if you have defiled the ashes except through the exploit listed below, she will still approach you in camp even if Broken Circle was not completed prior to The Urn of Sacred Ashes. Level 3 coercion should convince Leliana the ashes are safe, provided she is not in your active party. You can lie to her back at the camp when she questions you.

If Leliana is in your party when you defile the ashes you can use intimidate and she will remain in your party but with a -10 approval hit.

You can unlock the Reaver specialization without losing any party members. Take a pinch of the ashes, loot chests and bodies and then leave the temple. Before you get to Kolgrim, save the game. Change your party members to anyone else other then Leliana, Wynne or Alistair. Go outside to the mountaintop and you can change your party. After you change your party members, head back into the temple, pour the blood on the ashes, defeat the Guardian and other mobs. Go outside, talk to Kolgrim and drink the blood to unlock the Reaver specialization. Then reload the game from when you first exited the temple, and kill Kolgrim this time. You will still have the Reaver Specialization available, without having defiled the Ashes in the active storyline.

Once you have done what you came to do, you can take a shortcut from the open field where the Dragon may be encountered back to the Ruined Temple. Simply take the path leading down on the right and exit through the door. Using this door will clear up a shortcut back to the mountaintop from the Temple in a passage which was previously blocked. If you have taken Brother Genitivi along, he will be extremely excited about your findings, and declare that he will share the news with the entire world. Alistair will express concern that there would not be enough ashes to go around if lots of pilgrims were to arrive, but there is no way to dissuade Genitivi from spreading the word except to kill him. There is no actual battle, just a cut-scene of your character killing Genitivi. Genitivi is a good NPC, a well traveled and learned scholar who has written many of your Codex entries, and killing him lowers Alistair and Wynne's approval by 3 points, Leliana by 5 points. Zevran, Morrigan, Shale, Sten, and Oghren's approval does not change.

If you let Genitivi live, he will return to his home in Denerim, asking you to visit him later. If you go to his home after he returns, he will give you a Master Dweomer Rune. If you instead kill Genitivi in the Temple, you will not get the Rune and one section of the epilogue will change.

Experience Points Exploit
There is a bug (confirmed on PC, not available/patched on Xbox, patched for PS3) when the player exits to the Mountain Top from the area of The Gauntlet where the Urn is located. The player can repeatedly transition from the Gauntlet to the Mountain Top to gain 750 experience each time back out to the Mountain Top; however, this does not work if the player chose to defile the ashes.

Another such bug (confirmed on PC) is to enter and exit repeatedly from the Mountain Top and the Caverns, which gives 750 experience points. This works if you have defiled the ashes. The mages and reavers remaining in the cavern will not attack the party even if The Warden has chosen to double-cross Kolgrim and kill him.

Result
Aside from the pinch of ashes you receive and the EXP, the following unusual items can be found within the ruined temple and the Urn Temple itself:

(which are used to make Drake Scale Armor)

(amulet given to the PC by the spirit from their past). Specialization (from Kolgrim only if you agree to defile the ashes). Specialization (you can still get this even if you defile the ashes by taking a pinch of the ashes before pouring the dragon blood and then accept the reward from Arl Eamon).

Once you have taken a pinch of the ashes, you can take these back to Arl Eamon to cure him of his poisoning.

Additionally once Arl Eamon is cured you will receive if his offer of a reward is accepted. This will show as a level up, but will not increase your level.

If you do not want to kill Brother Genitivi, you can warn him that if anything bad comes of him opening the temple to others, it is his responsibility. This does not garner approval or disapproval points from any companions and leaves Brother Genitivi alive. But if you kill him, then Wynne, Leliana and Alistar will disapprove if they are in your party.

Should the High Dragon be defeated on this or a subsequent occasion, the player may collect the unique Dragon Scales, which can be used to create certain types of armor (see below).

Note : If you defile the ashes, you gain approximately 1.5k more xp than if you had simply taken the ashes and fought Kolgrim, and that is before double crossing Kolgrim.

Wade Drake/Dragon Armor(s)

 * The Drake Scales and Dragon Scale can be used to make the Drake and Dragon armor(s). For details about this process, see Wade and his discussion page.

Epilogue
If you allowed Brother Gentivi to reveal the location of the Urn to the world and slay the dragon, the temple becomes a mecca for the faithful. If you didn't kill the dragon, the Urn disappears without a trace by the time the Chantry gains access to the temple.

Trivia

 * The spirit Ealisay's question and one response are references to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In the movie, it is argued that a swallow, a type of bird, is capable of carrying a coconut, which the cast use openly to simulate the sounds of a horse's hooves. Ealisay asks, "The smallest lark could carry it, while a strong man might not," which couples with an incorrect response, "a coconut."