Finding Nathaniel

Finding Nathaniel is a Secondary quest in Act 3 of Dragon Age II.

Acquisition
This quest can only be acquired if the default "The Martyr" Warden background was chosen or if a ''Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening import is used in which Nathaniel survives.

In Act 3, go towards the Chantry in Hightown to find Delilah Howe. She will plead with Hawke to find her brother Nathaniel Howe, who has been retracing the steps of Hawke's expedition into the Deep Roads with the Grey Wardens. If Anders is in the party, he will remember Nathaniel and jokingly say I wonder if he ever found a sense of humour.

Walkthrough
Go to The Deep Roads using the map, which is unlocked when acquiring the quest. The third room has a chest containing Vestments of Sacrifice. You will find Nathaniel fighting darkspawn in the clearing just outside. After saving him, Nathaniel will accompany you as you search for his friends. Fight another group of darkspawn below the stairs, and continue to find Temmerin Glovonak. In the next battle, immediately use the nearby lever to kill the Ogre with explosives.

Continue down the stairs to save another Grey Warden. During the ensuing battle, waves of darkspawn will attack from the west, east, and north. Three levers control explosives in each of their respective directions. For the best effect, use the explosives only when an ogre is nearby the barrel in that direction. Be careful, for the explosives can also hurt team mates.

After the battle, Nathaniel will give you The Bringer of Silence. A Dwarven Battle Helmet can be looted from an Ogre, and Wardwall and Drakeskin Leg Straps from a chest to the north. Exit The Deep Roads to the west.

Result
Nathaniel will assist in the fight against Meredith during the final battle.

Rewards

 * The Bringer of Silence

Bugs

 * If a saved game is imported from Awakening in which Nathaniel survived, this quest still may not trigger, unlocking the quest "Fool's Gold" in Act 2 instead. (Possibly due to the game assuming that Vigil's Keep and everyone it in were destroyed if you saved Amaranthine, regardless of whether or not the Keep was fully upgraded?)


 * If a saved game is imported from play-through in which Awakening was completed, the decision about whether or not the Architect was spared might not be checked properly by the quest. Nathaniel may state that he was spared even if the player had killed him.


 * Workaround: You may use the Developer Console provided with Dragon Age II using "runscript zz_dae_debug" (without quotes) to accept the quest until it is solved by a patch. Dialog with Delilah Howe will be skipped. No news available about fixes yet. See Console (Dragon Age II) (Secondary Plot), the steps to take in the work around are: plot jump -> secondary plots -> one-offs -> work with plot -> quest accepted, then go to the deep roads


 * After killing the first darkspawn group, it's possible Nathaniel's dialogue won't trigger in the next room, which leaves the quest unfinishable. It's possible this is bugged because Carver is 'kidnapped' during Best Served Cold, thus preventing him from appearing in the deep roads. After completing Best Served Cold and then doing the Finding Nathaniel, Carver appeared.


 * Carver may call you "Brother", regardless of your gender.