“We aren't going to turn aside anyone who wants to help, though. Don't take me for being an ingrate or nothing.” ―Murdock
A Village Under Siege is one of the main plotline sub-quests in Dragon Age: Origins. It is activated upon arriving at Redcliffe Village - while pursuing The Arl of Redcliffe questline - and speaking with Bann Teagan.
Background
Every night, undead corpses descend from Castle Redcliffe to attack the village. No one in the village knows where the creatures come from, and no one has been able to reach the castle. The attacks grow worse each night and Bann Teagan predicts tonight will be the worst. He pleads for the Warden's assistance. The Warden may choose to help Redcliffe Village defend itself. The more help the village has, the easier it will be to defend. Alternatively, the Warden may abandon the village and let it fend for itself. When the Warden returns, Redcliffe Village will be a ghost town, all inhabitants presumed dead.
Walkthrough
Bann Teagan asks the Warden for assistance in fending off the undead. Agreeing to help fight off the undead without reservations will result in approval from:
- Alistair (+2)
- Leliana (+2)
- Wynne (+2)
- Oghren (+4)
- Morrigan (-5)
- Sten (-5) (although Sten can be persuaded that helping the village is a good idea, in which case Sten approves (+2))
Bann Teagan sends the Warden to talk with the mayor, Murdock, and Ser Perth about the militia and the knights, respectively.
Help the militia
Murdock is found right outside the chantry. He makes two requests, convince blacksmith Owen to make armor repairs and get veteran dwarf Dwyn to assist in the defense of the village.
If you continue to question Murdock, he explains that he is stationed outside the chantry in order to protect the women, children and elderly within. If Sten is present he will object to this, saying that no Qunari would act in this manner - that all would fight. (If Leliana is also in the group, she will interject that the comment is unworthy of him.) Murdock will point out that the villagers are not Qunari; the end result is (-3) from Sten.
Owen is located inside his store, but you will have to find a way past his locked door (coerce him to open, pick the lock, or break the door down). In order to convince him to help the cause, you can agree to help find his daughter, which annoys Morrigan and Sten ( (-5) each) but impresses Leliana (+1) and Wynne (+4). See Lost in the Castle for further details.
If you'd rather not help Owen, you can kill him. This loses (-5) from Alistair and Leliana and Wynne disapproves (-10) if performed through dialogue, or none if he is provoked by the Warden's inspection of his locked floor trapdoor under a crate. If he is killed, retrieve a key from his corpse. This will open a secret cache where you will find equipment for the militia. Killing him gains (+4) from Zevran.
Convince Dwyn
Head to Dwyn's Home in the village. Gain entrance by picking the lock (having a companion with such skill in party doesn't help) or breaking the door down. You can do one of three things to convince Dwyn to defend the village: persuade, intimidate, or bribe him.
If you ask him why he shut himself in there and call him a coward this nets (+3) if Oghren is in the party. Asking him to join the militia because of Murdock asking nets (+2) for Oghren. A female Warden can suggest to sleep with Dwyn in order to convince him to fight, but the proposal will never be accepted; he'll just say that it is a tempting offer. Furthermore, the conversation with a dwarven Warden will be slightly different.
If Dwyn is not convinced to help before the battle starts, he will not participate. If the Warden kills Dwyn and then tells Murdock that they did so, the milita's attack score will suffer.
Lloyd
The bartender, Lloyd, has been charging the militia for ale. As they have very little coin remaining and are fighting just to survive, they believe they should drink for free.
Talk to the Redcliffe Militiaman seated on the far left at the table in the tavern (the redhead), and complete the conversation tree associated with him.
You can either:
- Pay Lloyd 100 to cover the militia's drinks.
- Oghren (+2)
- Persuade Lloyd to give the militia drinks for free (high persuasion required).
- Tell Lloyd his customers' money won't help him when he's dead.
- Ask him if anyone would miss him. He offers you 80 to protect him.
- Intimidate Lloyd to give you ownership of the tavern (medium intimidation required). You can take his inventory for free; there are some differences (Ale is gone, Wine is added). You can tell him to let the Militiamen drink for free. If you ask him how business is you can make him give you 20 .
- Tell him he should join the militia. He agrees.
- Sten (+4)
- Accept the 80 .
- Tell him you can't be bought and kill him.
- If Wynne is in the party she asks if this is necessary.
- You kill Lloyd.
- Ask him if anyone would miss him. He offers you 80 to protect him.
If Lloyd is still alive you can ask him why he isn't defending the villagers.
- Intimidate Lloyd into joining the militia.
- Sten (+4)
- Ask him to give free drinks to the militia (if you have not already).
- Otherwise he remains at the tavern.
If Lloyd is dead or gone, talk to Bella:
- If you convinced Lloyd to join the militia then Bella realizes she is in charge of the tavern.
- If you killed Lloyd and you tell her she should run the tavern Sten (+4)
Bella will give you Lloyd's stock for free (but she will not buy anything). The stock has changed as described above when you Intimidate Lloyd into giving you the tavern.
If Bella is in charge of the tavern she can give the militia free drinks. Oghren (+2)
The optimal path with Lloyd is to sell to him what you want, then threaten to kill him, resulting in gaining partnership of the tavern, then ask to see what he has (which he will now give you for free, but you will not be able to sell him anything). Then, talk to Lloyd again and once again, you can choose "I hear you're charging the militia for ale," but this time follow up with, "Maybe not, but I would. And this is my tavern, remember?" After this point, you can demand more share of the profits ("So how's business in my tavern?) and then, force him to help defend the village (select "Answer a few questions").
If the militia get free drinks (from Lloyd or Bella) then the morale of the militia increases.
Help the knights
Ser Perth
Ser Perth stands watch with his fellow knights by the windmill, guarding the approach from the castle's bridge.
If you ask him what you can do to help, he will ask the Warden if Mother Hannah will bless the knights for the attack.
She will initially refuse, believing that Ser Perth wants mystical protection from the Maker - which is not within her (or anyone's) power to give. Ser Perth's request can be resolved in one of two ways:
- Coerce Mother Hannah. She will provide ordinary amulets for the knights, letting them believe in their "holy" protection to raise their morale. Informing Ser Perth that they may pick up the amulets will result in (-5) from Leliana (and (+2) from Morrigan, but only if she and Leliana are present). This requires a skill total (Intimidate or Persuade) of 50.
- Tell Ser Perth he will have to do without the blessing. He will accept the decision, and the knights' morale will be unchanged.
Visit the general store
- Go to the general store, select the oil barrels there, then talk to Ser Perth and he'll agree to set up a flame trap for the undead on the upper-level path.
This will add fire to the village defenses and increase the morale of the knights. (See The Attack at Nightfall regarding potential drawbacks to this strategy).
If you discover the oil barrels, but choose not to tell Ser Perth of them, he can still have an active quest marker after you finish this quest.
Additional assistance
Berwick
An elf named Berwick sits in the tavern, avoiding attempts at conversation. Once you expose him you can tell him to leave, help defend the militia, or kill him. There are several ways to recruit Berwick:
- A Warden with enough cunning can point out Berwick's suspicious behavior and reveal him as a spy without outside help.
- With Leliana or Zevran in the party:
- Talk to Berwick. Leliana will notice he's a spy. Zevran will simply point out that he's acting extremely suspiciously; Berwick's nervous reaction reveals that he has something to hide.
- Ask him about what he's been told to do.
- Ask him for proof, which can be done after using coercion to get him tell the Warden everything "because that will make things easier".
- Pickpocket Berwick for a letter.
- Call Berwick by his name.
- Ask about the letter.
- If the Warden has enough coercion they can talk him into defending the village.
- Talk to Bella or Lloyd to learn Berwick's name.
- Call Berwick by his name.
- Ask him for proof, which can be done after using coercion to have him reveal everything "because that will make things easier".
- If the Warden has enough coercion they can talk him into defending the village.
If you convince him to defend the village:
Done preparations
When you are done with preparations, you can end the quest and start The Attack at Nightfall by talking to either Ser Perth or Murdock and saying "I am ready."
Abandoning Redcliffe
The Warden can initially refuse to help the villagers defend Redcliffe Village. However, speaking with Bann Teagan allows a chance to offer aid. If the Warden leaves Redcliffe and moves to any location in the World Map, except the Party Camp, then Redcliffe will be marked as abandoned, even if the Warden offered aid. When the Warden returns, the village is a ghost town. Most buildings are empty and there is only one scavenger outside. The scavenger directs the Warden to the Chantry, where the only survivor is a wounded Bann Teagan. The Warden heals Bann Teagan's wounds and he hastily runs away. Things will then proceed as if the Warden had saved Redcliffe, except for minor dialogue changes.
Later, when infiltrating Castle Redcliffe, the Warden will find most of the named villagers from Redcliffe turned undead. They present no more of a threat than the normal corpses found there and none contain any special loot.
Refusing to help also removes the Chanter's Board, The Mages' Collective, and the Blackstone Irregulars from Redcliffe Village, including their respective quests. There is no way to obtain these quests in-game if this route has been chosen.
The following quests are unique to Redcliffe and will not be available if Redcliffe is abandoned:
Result
Completing this quest by waiting for the nightfall, The Attack at Nightfall quest will begin. Based on the choices you made on this quest this may have an impact on the performance of your forces.
Rewards
Help the militia
- 100 XP - for convincing Owen to fix the militia's armor.
- 100 XP - for giving Murdock the Bundle of Equipment from Owen's Blacksmithy to arm the militia (if you killed Owen).
- 150 XP - for getting Dwyn to defend the village.
Help the knights
- 100 XP - for convincing Mother Hannah to provide holy symbols (whether Mother Hannah provided holy symbols or not).
- 100 XP - for reporting to Ser Perth about oil barrels from the General Store.
Notes
- Any person you recruit to fight can be stolen from again once they are outside. This includes: Dwyn and his two men, Lloyd, and Berwick.
- Affecting morale of militia and knights:
- Morale starts at 0.
- If Murdock is convinced that victory is possible (either after equipping the militia and telling him "We're not only ready, Murdock. We're going to win." (high Persuasion required) or saying, "Have faith, good man. We will defeat this evil together." (medium Persuasion required): +1
- Dwyn fighting: +1
- Owen working: +1
- Free drinks: +1
- If Murdock is convinced that they will be defeated (by replying "That sounds likely" to his line, "Name's Murdock, mayor of what's left of the village--providing we aren't all killed and hauled off to the castle tonight.": -1
- Dwyn dead: -1
- Owen dead: -1
- Owen's stash denied: -1
- If the militia's morale is +2 or higher, it is considered to be High.
- If it is -2 or lower, it is considered to be Low.
- The knights' morale is supposed to increase by 1, if you give Ser Perth the holy amulets. However on , their morale is fixed at 0 (due to scripting error), whether the amulets are given to him or not.