Demands of the Qun

Demands of the Qun is a main quest in Dragon Age II.

Late in Act 2, return to the Hawke Estate to find Aveline requesting your help. Assuming you have recruited Isabela, she will also be present, and will argue with Aveline &mdash; Isabela has found the relic that she lost, and retrieving it would mean that her pursuer, Castillon, would spare her life. You will need to choose who to help first.

Acquisition
Enter Hawke Estate at Hightown. If Isabela is present but you choose to help Aveline first, you immediately activate this quest &mdash; this will cause Isabela to be permanently removed from your party. If you don't want to do that then choose to help Isabela first and follow the To Catch a Thief quest. After you complete To Catch a Thief you will receive this quest.

Walkthrough
Go with Aveline to the Qunari Compound by the Docks. She expects trouble, so finish any pressing business first. Before you start this, make sure that you have a significant number of health potions and injury kits as you will not be able to buy any during the quest.

When you start the conversation with the Arishok, choosing to tell him "Isabela has it" regarding the relic earns an amount of respect from him. During the conversation, if you disagree with Aveline’s comment (“That doesn’t excuse murder”) by saying "Yes it does", you will get for doing so. The Arishok will ask Hawke's opinion on the matter of whether he should hand over the two elven fugitives for their trial. It's possible choosing not to hand them over will earn another degree of respect from him. (All the respect goes towards earning the "A Worthy Rival" achievement. If you've chosen intelligent, upfront actions and words during your dealings with the Arishok, regardless of whether or not you asked for money in the first Javaris business in Blackpowder Promise, you can earn the achievement by the end of this conversation. It's possible to have already earned enough respect for the achievement, but this conversation will be your last chance to earn his full respect storywise.) Either way, he is determined to defend the two elven converts due to their justified reason for their actions, and the conversation will end with his decision to attack the city no matter what dialogue you choose.

After the attack on your small party in the Qunari Compound and a short cutscene, you are given a chance to rearrange your party. If you do not accept Aveline, you will get or  if your friendship is high enough. If you accept Aveline in your party, you will get.

The Qunari now lay siege to Kirkwall. You can regroup and go to the Viscount's Keep to warn the city guards about the Qunari attack.

If you took Bethany or Carver on The Deep Roads Expedition and let them join the Grey Wardens, they will be in a group of Grey Wardens led by Stroud on your way to Viscount's Keep. They will not rejoin your party and Stroud gives you a ring called Warden's Promise. Otherwise, if you imported a save from Dragon Age: Origins where Alistair was neither made King, killed or exiled, he will be leading the group of Grey Wardens and will give you The Sacred Heart amulet (regardless of the fate of Hawke's sibling, Alistair will be in the group as long as the previous decision from Origins is valid).

You will fight a Sten, along with other Qunari, right before you enter Hightown.

After a small battle in Hightown you are blind-sided by a Saarebas. Knight-Commander Meredith saves you, and she then asks you to meet her at Viscount's Keep. The next area features a massive battle, with Qunari battling Carta Thugs. They will attack each other and you. On your way you will see a corpse on the ground, which you can loot for the Recipe: Elixir of Heroism.Easily missed, the corpse is located in a corner to the right, just as you head south from the area with the battle.

After that you will find the First Enchanter Orsino lying on the ground. A battle against a few waves of Qunari ensues, but be sure to loot all the bodies and containers in the area before killing the last opponent, as finishing the battle will trigger a cutscene almost immediately. If you didn't take your sister Bethany to the Deep Roads Expedition, Orsino will heal her and she will leave with him. If you didn't take Carver, he will be the one appearing with Meredith as she leads a group of templars to join you. After saving Orsino, you must choose between Meredith's and Orsino's plans. If Hawke is diplomatic, you can also ask them to stop arguing, after which Orsino suggests that you lead them and make the decisions. If you follow Meredith's plan, you will fight more Qunari; this plan gives you more items and experience. (Again, if you choose to battle the Qunari with Meredith's plan, loot the bodies during battle, as a cutscene will transport you inside the Keep once the last opponent dies.) Whichever choice you make, the hostages are not killed.

As you enter Viscount's Keep, you are attacked by a large contingent of Qunari led by a Saarebas and a Sten. After the fight, Hawke is led to the Viscount's Throne Room where the Arishok throws Viscount Marlowe Dumar's head at your feet.

If you didn't get the the Arishok's respect (A Worthy Rival achievement) he will order several Qunari to attack you before he will talk with you.

If you had a high enough friendship/rivalry with Isabela (around 75%) she will return with the Relic (Note: this is critical for Supplier achievement). You must now choose whether to give Isabela to the Arishok or not. If Isabela doesn't show up, or you refuse to turn her over when the Arishok demands it, he will offer a duel. By refusing to turn Isabela over, you receive.

Alternatively, if your friendship or rivalry with Isabela was not high enough for her to return (or you never recruited her in the first place), you can obtain a duel with the Arishok by having Fenris in your party, or by having the Arishok's respect and choosing the aggressive option when he asks how you plan on resolving this. If you agree when Fenris arranges the duel you receive.

Either way, when you agree, there will be a one-on-one duel to the death between the Arishok and you. See Arishok (strategy) for details on fighting him.

If you refuse the duel you and your party will fight the Arishok and his Qunari to the death (the Arishok may be easier to beat this way). You will receive for refusing if Fenris is in the party. The strategy here is to quickly take out the three Qunari from behind first. A rogue should be able to take them out quickly. Then, proceed to the other two on the bottom room. Keep mages and archers close while a warrior holds position at the base of the stairs. (You may want or need to have your characters positioned very close to the "wall" on either side of the stairs to prevent them from being decimated by ranged attacks.This will also draw the ranged Qunari to the bottom of the stairs, where they can be more easily handled.) Wait for the rest of the Qunari to come down the stairs and have ranged fighters slow and bombard them. This should take them all out fairly quick (on normal difficulty). After that, take out the two remaining Qunari. You may want to leave the Arishok alive to loot the other bodies, and take him out afterwards.

Ater the battle, you are rewarded with Sataareth and the gloves piece of the Mantle of the Champion item set. ''Note: You are not meant to "loot" the Arishok, nor is it possible to do so - when the killing blow is landed, he doesn't actually die, but rather, turns into an "ally" (blue ground ring) and a plot point. The cut scene then triggers, so a lootable body is never present.''

After the cut scenes, time moves on, and it is another three years later.

Result

 * Transition to Act 3.
 * The Qunari leave Kirkwall.
 * Hawke declared Champion of Kirkwall.

Rewards
For the final showdown inside the throne room of Viscount's Keep, there are three choices available. Two of them yield the same experience.


 * Giving Isabela to the Arishok results in no fight. (13200xp)
 * Dueling Arishok. (13200xp)
 * Fighting Arishok and killing all qunari with him. (13886xp)


 * Recipe: Elixir of Heroism
 * Sataareth (Longsword)
 * Gloves of the Champion
 * Warden's Promise (Ring)
 * The Sacred Heart (Amulet) - Requires Dragon Age: Origins save import where Alistair is still in the Grey Wardens, i.e. isn't King and wasn't imprisoned or exiled after the Landsmeet.


 * Note: You appear to receive Gloves of the Champion, Sataareth, and the achievement King of the Hill only if Hawke is alive when you defeat the Arishok. If Hawke has fallen and Arishok is defeated with another party member, you will not receive these things.

Bugs

 * Approaching the Qunari compound at night will turn the city guards stationed outside the compound into hostile NPCs. After the fight a single guard NPC remains at his post. Returning to the Docks during the day makes all the guards appear at their posts again. (As of Patch 1.02 this is no longer the case.)
 * After killing the last group of Qunari, your game may send you back to an earlier dialog.
 * If you choose to slaughter the Qunari in the Viscount's throne room, the closing cut scene may still feature Qunari standing around the throne room area.
 * If Arishok skewers Hawke while Arishok's back is up against the short wall (to the right of the stairs with balcony above), Hawke may wind up ON the balcony after skewer maneuver is over. From there, can't get down.  Can only cast area abilities (such as Tremor, Holy Smite if Warrior).  Can summon Mubari too.  Can't throw grenades etc...Arishok can't harm you though.  Suggest swapping armor, weapons etc so as to maximize damage dealt.  It takes a while to deplete Arishok health from balcony.  Once defeated, cut scene puts you back on proper footing.