The High Dragon's Champion is a quest that is part of the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest line. It can either be accepted or refused.
Walkthrough[]
Meeting the leader of the cult, Father Kolgrim, may lead to Kolgrim offering a task to defile the ashes with a vial of Andraste's blood during A Test of Faith or you refusing the task. Refusal results in the final cult battle.
Accepting Kolgrim's task and defiling the ashes is the only way to unlock the Reaver specialization and obtain the Sacrilegious achievement. Afterwards, you can get a second opportunity to for the final cult battle or stay sided with the cult.
Whether the Warden refuses to listen to Kolgrim's proposition, or accepts the task, or even if the Warden accepts the task verbally but does not follow through with it, the companions in the party (and some even if they are not in the active party) will react accordingly:
- If the Warden sides with Kolgrim:
- Morrigan approves (+2) or Morrigan approves (+3)
- Shale approves (+2) or Shale approves (+4), or Shale approves (+11) if you let it talk you into it. Note that this approval takes place immediately when you accept the blood from Kolgrim.
- Zevran approves (+2)
- Sten disapproves (-3)
- Alistair disapproves (-5)
- May be avoided through Persuasion
- Oghren disapproves (-5)
- Leliana is, of course, opposed to the defiling, but will not react until the deed is actually done. Her reaction depends on various parameters, although it is not immediate when you accept Kolgrim's task. An unhardened Leliana will attack you immediately if she witnesses the defiling. Even a hardened Leliana will still object to the defiling of the Urn, but if the following conditions are met, she may be present at the defiling and, instead of reaching her crisis, simply Leliana disapproves (-10):
- Leliana must be hardened;
- The Warden must have a high intimidate skill (Coercion + Strength bonus = 75 or higher, where each point in Coercion is equal to 25 intimidation points. Thus 3 points in coercion should do the trick regardless of what your character's strength score is);
- The Warden must have passed through the flames after leaving all items at the altar. If the Warden fails this test and kills The Guardian before defiling the urn, the following dialogue option to intimidate Leliana won't appear;
- The player must select the "Before you do anything stupid, remember who I am." dialogue option when she calls the Warden a "fiend".
- If she is not present at the defiling, Leliana will confront the Warden at the Camp. Unless the Warden passes a high persuasion check (75+) to convince her the Ashes are safe she will leave.
- Wynne will turn hostile and attack if the ashes are defiled and she is present in the party, although she will not react until the deed is actually done.
- If she is not present, she will initiate a conversation the next time the Warden enters the Party Camp and leave. Note: Wynne's crisis point can be avoided if she is not acquired until after defiling the ashes, but the Party Camp must be visited between defiling the ashes and recruiting her in order to let Leliana's argument happen; this will clear the plot flag that would have triggered Wynne's crisis as well. On PS3 Wynne will leave regardless of when she is recruited. However, her cutscene can be pushed down the queue by some cutscenes such as Alistair's cutscene which occurs after delivering the ashes allowing the Warden to return to camp under certain conditions.
- Leliana's cutscene can conflict with Wynne's if Leliana was not present. If Leliana is convinced the Ashes are safe by passing a persuasion check, Wynne's confrontation will not happen. On PS3, the cutscene still occurs the next time the Warden returns to camp.
- Zevran approves (+2) if the Warden listens to Kolgrim's offer and accepts it (even if the Warden won't follow through with the defiling);
- Zevran can be persuaded that killing Kolgrim is a better option and his approval rating won't change. Note the dialogue option to persuade Zevran calls Kolgrim 'shifty' and will trigger the cultists to attack.
- If the Warden fights Kolgrim:
- The fight can be tricky at first, but try to kill the Cultist mages and have someone keep the melee attackers on them (someone with a lot of health)
- Oghren approves (+2) if "shut up, Oghren" and then "I'll take my chances with the arrows" is selected after Kolgrim warns of a "rain of arrows" awaiting the Warden if they so dared attack "Andraste"
- Shale disapproves (-10) but if you declare to Shale directly, "It is my decision", it will answer that there is nothing to say against this logic and there is no approval lost;
- Morrigan disapproves;
- Morrigan's and Shale's negative reaction can be avoided by picking a fight with Kolgrim early on in the dialogue, without asking about his offer; alternatively, if the dialogue leads them to express their opinion, a successful Persuasion check may reduce their loss of approval: Shale disapproves (-5) Morrigan approves (0) if started within the first two dialogues. If Sten is in the party, and you let Kolgrim explain his plan, Sten will comment negatively. If in the ensuing dialogue option you change your mind, Morrigan won't disapprove.
- Wynne, Leliana and Alistair voice their opposition to defiling the urn, but fighting Kolgrim does not result in a change of approval.
- if you listen to all that Kolgrim has to say and changes your mind in the end, Sten disapprove (-3). And fight begins.
- if you start the fight before Kolgrim explains his plan completely, there is no approval change to Sten.
If/when you fight Kolgrim, he will drop his axe, Faith's Edge, and depending on the time the fight took place, Kolgrim's Horn (only).
If you want to fight Kolgrim outside without losing any approval on the above-mentioned dialogue choices simply choose the dialogue option that you want to see the risen Andraste yourself, which will take you outside where you meet Kolgrim again. He will have some help there too which includes another drake and will earn you a 7th drake scale.
Rewards[]
- 750 XP
- Reaver specialization
- Faith's Edge (if you slay Kolgrim)
- Kolgrim's Horn (if you slay Kolgrim before the mountain top)
Notes[]
- To unlock the Reaver specialization and obtain the Sacrilegious without keeping the results in your game be sure you have saved before you initiate the conversation, you can unlock the achievement and specialization and then revert to the save. Your rewards will be preserved even if you then choose another course of action.