Favor and Fault is an Act 3 companion quest for Aveline in Dragon Age II. The previous Captain of the Guard, Jeven will be taken care of once and for all.
Acquisition[]
You will receive this quest from a letter found at the writing desk in the Hawke Estate after completing On The Loose and if you completed Aveline's Act 1 companion quest The Way It Should Be. The letter is sent by Knight-Captain Cullen.
Walkthrough[]
Viscount's Keep[]
Speak to Aveline in her office in the Viscount's Keep. A conversation between Aveline and a templar is taking place. You will speak to Aveline about complaints made against her. It is said that she is coddling certain guards.
- "That's for later. Is it true?" or "You're apparently a lazy boss." or "Doesn't matter. Is it true?": Aveline: rivalry (+5)
- "Anonymous lies." or "Unfounded accusation.": Aveline: friendship (+5)
Aveline suggests that you accompany her during Donnic's patrol at night in the Docks. Make sure Aveline is in your party to start this quest at the Docks.
The Docks (night)[]
When you arrive at Donnic's location, he and two guards will be fighting several Coterie thugs and alchemists. After you've eliminated the bad guys, a cutscene will follow. You can ask if Aveline is coddling the guards or you can comment on the fight Donnic just had. Dialogue will vary depending on whether or not Aveline is in a relationship with Donnic. If Donnic is in a relationship with Aveline, he explains that the guards chooses the patrols they want and Aveline promotes from the bold but not the reckless. This results in increased initiative from the guard and low casualties. If Donnic is not in a relationship with her, he admits that although casualties are down, a guardsman is booted out if not tough enough to withstand her expectations.
Gallows Courtyard[]
In the Gallows Courtyard, Cullen will tell you that the complaints were made by anonymous people from Lowtown. Aveline wants to talk with Guardsman Brennan who has that route.
Lowtown (night)[]
Go to Lowtown at night. Brennan explains the former Captain, Jeven, is behind the complaints. If Aveline is in a relationship with Donnic, she'll state that none of the guards stand with Jeven. If Aveline is not in a relationship with Donnic, Brennan will state that some of the guard stand with him.
Darktown[]
Travel through Darktown and kill all the thugs and mercenaries you encounter on your way. You will find Jeven on the south end of the map.
- If you tell Aveline to "have at him" then 3 Insurgents attack you with Jeven.
- Otherwise 6 Insurgents attack you with Jeven.
If you had chosen to kill the Qunari yourself during Offered and Lost (aggressive response), Hawke will have the option of recognizing that some people in the current crowd were also present in Ser Varnell's Refuge causing Jeven to panic and order an attack before Hawke manages to win them over. You will need to kill Jeven, the insurgents and the mercenaries after the conversation.
Strategy[]
Jeven has the distinction of being a Boss-ranked Assassin and Commander in one package. Nuncio and Castillon share this annoying classification, but he is Boss-ranked. This rank in turn makes him fairly resilient to stunning and other crowd-control measures (though they will still work, it's not as often as you'd need), and he may continue to use his backstab even after he's the only man left (although the frequency certainly drops). On Nightmare, even Aveline can't handle more than two of these.
His support, provided Aveline has the full confidence of the guard, consists mostly of Mercenaries and Street Thugs, so cold and nature will work, but cold won't work on the mercenaries. Running far enough away (about 3/4 of the way to Anders' Clinic) will pull the three Normal units he begins with for easy focus-fire kills while Jeven returns to the bottom of the Abandoned Mining Tunnels. A wave of 5-6 reinforcements will generate at the mid-level of the Tunnels, but they can be pulled without alerting Jeven and defeated in a similar way. After killing them, you can save and engage Jeven solo, but he's still powerful enough to defeat your entire party by himself. The best thing to do is just keep hitting him with your heaviest attacks; Aveline keeps him pressed against a wall or the back railing while three ranged DPS attackers hit him with their best abilities.
- If you told Aveline to "have at him" then Aveline: friendship (+15).
- Otherwise Aveline: rivalry (+10).
Loot Cornerstone and Aveline's last armor upgrade, Deflecting Joints - Guardsman Pattern from Jeven, and Hands of Glory from a nearby chest.
Viscount's Keep[]
Return to Viscount's Keep to talk to Aveline. She is angry about Jeven, and may be mad at Hawke if they didn't let Aveline "have at him" when confronting Jeven.
Result[]
- Quest completion : 1200 XP.
- If Aveline is at 100% Friendship or Rivalry, and you completed The Long Road (Dragon Age II), you get the Questioning Beliefs (Aveline Act 3) quest .
Bugs[]
- If you finish the main quests up to the confrontation in the Gallows before completing this quest, you will be unable to advance to the conversation with Cullen. You can use Aveline's plot debugger to skip ahead in the developer console.
- If Jeven is killed at Darktown (Night) it may not register correctly. To remedy this, just leave and kill him in Darktown (Day).
- Aveline's last armor upgrade, Deflecting Joints - Guardsman Pattern, should be found on Jeven. Save your game before encountering Jeven, Aveline's armor upgrade doesn't always drop. Darktown (Day) has higher chances of droping.
- Upon completing the quest, during the talk with Aveline, choosing the "He wanted a fight. He got it."-line may cause Aveline's reply "The guards need to see me lead. I must have their confidence." to be spoken with a (female) sarcastic Hawke's voice.