Cavern of Dead is an Act 2 secondary quest in Dragon Age II.
Acquisition[]
Travel to the Bone Pit during Act 2 and talk to Jansen after you had completed the Cave Crawling quest. If doing the quests one right after another, leave the Bone Pit, travel to any other location, and then re-enter it to trigger this quest.
Walkthrough[]
Access the Bone Pit Mines through a new entrance further east.
You'll enter an abandoned section of Deep Roads with release traps (20 Cunning, 100 XP each) and undead behind each door. Fortunately there are no shades anywhere in this dungeon, so spirit damage will work wonderfully save for the Arcane Horror at the end. Daring players may wish to use the release traps to damage the corpses after they're huddled against the door, which is the best place to choke them for easy AoE damage. Clear out the other route with similar tactics, although the east route has slightly more enemies. No matter which path you take to the center, an Arcane Horror and Revenant await within, supported by two waves of corpses and Skeleton Archers. For the easiest time in this fight, retreat through the hallways to the adjacent chambers and close the doors to force the Arcane Horror to draw near. Try to get its attention without getting the Revenant's attention, then hit it with everything you've got to kill it before it can unleash its AoE attacks. Alternatively, a Rune of Spirit Warding can cut this damage down to single digits. Stun the Revenant to disable its healing aura, then hit it with your strongest spirit attacks. With these two out of the way, simply pull and blitz the remaining undead, starting with the archers.
There no traps in the final chamber, but there is a Complex-ranked chest (30 Cunning, 150 XP). Loot everything of value and return to Jansen for your reward. Upon exiting this map and returning (even to enter the nearby Rotting Cave for the Forbidden Knowledge quest), Jansen informs you that the miners' pickaxes need replacing. This begins the final Bone Pit quest of Act 2, Pick Up Pickaxes.
Notable items[]
Rewards[]
- 350 XP (first group of undead)
- 350 XP (second group)
- 550 XP (final group)
- 1000 XP (quest completion)
Result[]
The mine is safe and Jansen and others can go back to work.
On the next visit, the Pick Up Pickaxes quest will be available.