A Murder of Crows

A Murder of Crows is an Act 3 secondary quest in Dragon Age II.

This quest is available if any of the pre-built backgrounds were chosen, or if a Dragon Age: Origins imported save is used in which Zevran Arainai survived.

Acquisition
Talk to Nuncio, who is located in the Red Lantern District of Hightown, outside The Blooming Rose.

Walkthrough
Nuncio requests Hawke's assistance in capturing a dangerous assassin. When asked why he has come to you for help, he explains that this has become an issue for him, as most of his men have been killed under the hand of the hunted. He notifies that the assassin is an elf and is seeking refuge with the nearby Dalish tribe, seeing that only Hawke has the connections with them.

Bring a rogue to deal with the chests and traps(50 cunning) you encounter. Go to Sundermount and speak to Variel, she will direct you to a cave where the assassin is hiding. The Awiergan Scrolls: Third Aspect is found near some crumbled walls on the left-hand side, just before you get to the Dalish camp.

After entering the Mountain Cave, encountering a spider ambush and 2 master traps(50 cunning, 250 xp), and fighting a varterral, you come across the assassin, who is actually Zevran. You can choose to take him in or let him go; in the process, you can flirt with him. If you let him go, he runs off. Alternatively, he follows you. There should be a new camp on the Marshes map. As you go there, the man who "hired" you attacks you and Zevran helps you fight him regardless of whether you captured or released the assassin.



Rewards
Helping Zevran will cause him to return the favour by assisting in your battle against Meredith.

The Sylvanwood Ring can be looted from the Thief Leader as you approach the camp. Another can be found in a corpse at the Mountain Cave where the assassin is hiding.

If you loot the cave, you can get Boiled Leather Plates (Companion Armor Upgrade for Isabela), Righteous Rain (a bow), and Ring of the Shadow Hunter.

After defeating Nuncio, you can loot the camp for Proving Battle Tunic. If you previously chose to let Zevran leave instead of bringing him to Nuncio :
 * 1200 XP(quest completion)
 * 1
 * Finesse
 * Zevran will assist you in the final battle with Meredith
 * Sex with Zevran (see details lower)

Bugs
The following annoying bug can prevent the threesome between Hawke (either male or female), Isabela and Zevran, even if you've met all the prerequisites for this. If you've slept with Merrill and chose the break heart option immediately after this, it will put Isabela (if you already slept with her) in a state of a "ghost" romance. i.e. the dialogs still happen between Isabela and you, but in certain situations (like the threesome with Zevran and many others, including some endgame outcomes) the game won't acknowledge the fact that you are in a romance with Isabela (1.03).

BUG: This quest can still be active although you killed Zevran in Origins.( 1.03)

Due to unknown reasons, introduction dialogues might trigger twice, before letting Zevran go and after dealing with the Crows. Also, quest might stay active in the journal even though it is finished.

Loading a save file from before the Varterral fight will possibly fix this. May have to do it several times before it actually resets.

Zevran's dialogue (and codex entry) are written to differ for a romanced Warden and for a romanced Warden who did the Ultimate Sacrifice (he will turn down Hawke and/or Isabela's propositions). However, as of the current release Zevran's dialogue is bugged to the non-romanced state.

Depending on parameters, the codex entry will state that the Warden is Zevran's lover, despite the import being otherwise. ( 1.04)

Sometimes, the cave will glitch at the foot of the steps leading to the large area where the Varterral waits. Leaving the cave or Sundermount completely, does not fix the problem. On my third play though, I was unable to complete this quest. Occurred on the PS3 version. Also occurs in PC version, loading a save before entering caves solved the issue.

If you finish A New Path before talking to Variel you might not be able to complete the quest. The Dalish elves may attack you on sight, forcing you to kill all of them (including Variel) and preventing you from finding out where the assassin may be hiding.

Choosing any response other than "I'm here for the Antivan" with Variel will end the conversation, but she can still be conversed with again. This can be exploited to stack an unlimited amount of aggressive or diplomatic responses, and can be used to change Hawke's personality.

Trivia

 * A group of crows in the wild is known as a "murder" (e.g. a flock of geese, a herd of cows, a murder of crows, etc).


 * After the fight is over and you're talking with Zevran, choosing the flirt option with Isabela present results in a funny scene if Anders and Aveline are also present. This will earn.