A Lord's Trust: The First Task

A Lord's Trust: The First Task is the first quest of three which will lead to The Warden supporting Lord Harrowmont as the new king of Orzammar. The two quests that follow this one (A Lord's Trust: The Second Task and A Lord's Trust: The Third Task) are identical to the second and third stages of the Prince Bhelen's line of quests.

Orzammar finds itself in a power vacuum, with two powerful men vying for the throne. In order to gain Lord Harrowmont's trust, and ultimately support him in this struggle, The Warden must perform several favors for him.

Walkthrough

Lord Harrowmont's Steward, Dulin Forender, can be found in the Orzammar Diamond Quarter, just outside of Harrowmont's Estate. He will require that the Warden prove his loyalty by performing a task for Lord Harrowmont: fighting in The Proving in Harrowmont's name. All of Harrowmont's other champions have been blackmailed or threatened into dropping out of the competition.

Note: Having Zevran in the party will result in him insulting Lord Harrowmont, and suggesting that Harrowmont is too weak a candidate to be supported. You may agree or disagree with him, though agreeing with him causes Dulin to break off conversation with the Warden.

The Proving

Before beginning the match, it is possible to find Harrowmont's former champions and convince them to take up their place again.

Baizyl - A warrior being blackmailed into not fighting in the Proving, by way of some sensitive love letters. The love letters can be found in the south wing of the Orzammar Proving. You can either lockpick the door (requires a lockpicking score of 40) or steal the key from Myaja (Leliana should be able to do this even if her stealing skill or cunning were never increased). Note that the key only opens the door, you still need to lockpick the chest. When you return the letters you can demand a reward of 10 , or 15 if you pass a Persuasion check, which requires at most 3 points in coercion.
Gwiddon - Unsure of supporting Harrowmont, he is located in the main room of the Proving. An intimidation or persuasion (lie) dialogue option puts him in line. A dwarf noble background can simply order him to fight.

As late as this juncture you can still complete Vartag's tasks and side with Bhelen (A Prince's Favor: The First Task). Once you tell the Proving Master you are fighting for Harrowmont, the documents given to the Warden by Vartag will be removed from inventory and Vartag's quests will be marked unsuccessful (even if you completed either one) and the quest closed (PC v1.04).

The Proving itself is a string of battles. The various opponents can be found in The Proving Grounds before the first match. The fights go as follows:

Seweryn - A dwarven warrior
Myaja (A dwarven Warrior) and Lucjan (A dwarven rogue)
Sister Hanashan (A dwarven Warrior)
Wojech (A dwarven Warrior) and Velanz (A dwarven rogue/assassin). You may choose a partner for this battle; it can be Baizyl, Gwiddon or one of your party members (except Shale) .
Piotin Aeducan (a dwarven warrior), Piotin's Right Hand (a dwarven warrior) and 2 of Piotin's Henchmen (a dwarven warrior and a dwarven rogue/duelist). You can have either your party or Baizyl and Gwiddon help you. Generally your party will be better than them by this point.

If you instead complete A Prince's Favor: The First Task, you can still fight but you can choose to do so on behalf of the Grey Wardens but afterwards you are able to dedicate your victory to Prince Bhelen or to the Grey Wardens (that is also the case even if you secretly work for Harrowmont via the Shifting Allegiances quest). The opponents are also somewhat different:

Seweryn
Myaja and Lucjan
Roshen, "the only survivor of the Deep Roads raid to retake the Kobaliman Thaig".
Lord Darvianak Vollney and Olaniv. You cannot choose either Baizyl or Gwiddon even if you aided them before.
Piotin Aeducan and team. If you choose Baizyl or Gwiddon to fight with you, you will not have any companions and it will be your three against their four.

At the end of the last fight, you have the option to shout a victory cry. If you completed A Prince's Favor: The First Task, you may choose to endorse Bhelen, but not Harrowmont, even though you did not have the option of endorsing Harrowmont during your fights.

Return to Dulin

Dulin can now be found at Tapster's in the Commons. Talk to him to complete the quest; he will take you to see Lord Harrowmont. Harrowmont explains that he will need to remove Jarvia and her Carta in order to secure a stronger position. He will also ask you to find incriminating evidence in Jarvia's hideout against Bhelen, implicating him in the ordered killing of his brother Trian. This task will fall to the Warden. See Entering Jarvia's Hideout or A Paragon of Her Kind for more details.

Rewards

1250 experience points.

Notes

Most rounds at the Proving are fought solo by the Warden, though a team may be chosen for the final battle, selecting either Harrowmont's champions or The Warden's own team. If the last one is chosen, it is advised to adjust your team before starting the last battle for it is a tough battle.
During your rest time restocking, side-quests, team changes and game saves can be performed.
Fallen enemies on the battle ground in the Proving cannot be looted.
You cannot complete this quest if you deliver the promissory notes from A Prince's Favor: The First Task, since you will no longer have the dialogue options to declare yourself Harrowmont's champion. However, you can still fight the proving bouts, and you have the option of subsequently double-crossing Bhelen and secretly working for Harrowmont: see Shifting Allegiances.
If you complete this quest you have the option of secretly double-crossing Harrowmont: see Betrayed from Within.
The party could be left in the arena if you make them hold position. Which means you could go back though that would probably get you stuck in there.

Bugs

Prince Bhelen can be killed by area of effect spells for additional experience and possible loot drops. This must be done before Prince Bhelen is either slain or crowned at the conclusion of the quest A Paragon of her Kind.

In subtitles, Dulin says "The Provings are how our ancestors show their judgment, pitting body against body in a ring of sacred stone." However, the voice actor says "scared stone" instead.

Some players report that the door to Myaja's chambers cannot be interacted with, even though the interior beyond can be seen from above. This makes it impossible to obtain the documents from the chest within.

Note: Only after persuading Baizyl to tell you about the documents, and offering to retrieve them, the door becomes interactable.

If Morrigan is in your party and she falls prior to you winning the final bout, only the Warden will be transported out of the arena while all of your other party members remain stuck in the arena. This can be remedied by leaving the Proving Grounds and your full party will be with you at its entrance.

xbox360 The fight may not end automatically, if this happens walk to the edge of the arena until the Proving Master is selectable and talk to him. You will appear in the lobby in front of the Proving Master. Ask about who is fighting next, then say you just want to watch, at this point you will be warped back into the arena and the winner will be announced as usual.