Inside Job

Inside Job is an Act 2 secondary quest in Dragon Age II, a follow up to The Bone Pit (quest).

Some of Hawke's caravans are being attacked: they must interrogate the traitor, Sabin, in the organization to determine the source of the attacks.

Acquisition[]

Read Hubert's letter from the Writing Desk and accept his request, then speak to him in Hightown. The letter will only become available after completing the Prime Suspect quest.

Walkthrough[]

Hubert[]

You can visit Hubert at his shop in the Hightown marketplace. In the years since becoming partners in the Bone Pit mining operation, someone has been carrying out raids on their shipments. After investigating for the better part of a year, he will tell you that he finally had a breakthrough in finding who is behind these raids. Sabin, a Fereldan miner, was caught leaking information. He also claims that he knows Hawke from Lothering. If you proceed with the quest, Hawke will tell Hubert to bring the traitor to their estate for interrogation.

Note: You can also tell Hubert that you will be back later. This allows you to prepare for a fight, because as soon as you bring Sabin it will lead to several cutscenes and then immediately to a battle, with no opportunity to adjust your party.

Hawke Estate[]

You appear in your mansion, where Hubert is hitting Sabin. Hawke has the option to ask him to stop or hit Sabin too. Regardless of what you decide to do, Hubert will leave you alone to interrogate Sabin. Then Hawke has 3 options on what to do.

Promise to help him if he cooperates
Make him realize that many people died because of his actions
A special dialogue choice depending on Hawke's personality:

Diplomatic/Helpful: Hawke can promise Sabin that they will take care of his family

Humorous/Charming: Hawke will persuade Sabin to return the ill-gotten money to Hubert if he wants to make it out of there alive

Aggressive/Direct: Hawke will make him talk by using more violence

Note: If Hawke has a diplomatic or aggressive personality then no matter what you say to Sabin you can get him to mark on your map (Bone Mine area, in a crate marked "Sabin's hidden stash" in the camp area) the location of his stash (about 50).

Whichever option you pick, Sabin will agree to cooperate, so Hawke leaves. They return with Hubert, who has in turn enlisted Lilley, a member of the Coterie, as a "consultant" to help stop the raids. Sabin will then reveal that the next raid will happen tonight, in Dietrich Crossing outside Kirkwall. Hearing this, Hubert proposes Lilley leave immediately to make it there in time. She will offer to dispose of Sabin's dead body on the way out. Hubert agrees and asks Hawke for their opinion:

You can agree in killing Sabin
You can propose to send him to prison instead
A special dialogue choice depending on Hawke's personality can persuade Hubert to let him go. If a humorous Hawke asked Sabin about his money in the previous dialogue, there is an extra choice in letting Sabin go by returning the money to Hubert.

Hubert will agree to any decision you make, after which you, Lilley, and anyone who was in your party when bringing Sabin to the Estate will automatically travel to Dietrich Crossing.

Outside Kirkwall[]

After you make a choice, the party you had when you firstly talked to Hubert will immediately go to Dietrich Crossing, an area Outside Kirkwall. You were too late to save the caravan, so you just attack the bandits along with Lilley. The Ambush Leader is Coterie-type while the others are Mercenary-type, so spirit and nature will serve you well here. For the easiest route through the fight, let the enemies' attentions fall on Lilley and pick them off one at a time, starting with the archers. After you kill the bandits, Lilley will recognize one of them as a member of the Coterie that works for Brekker. She will leave to investigate Brekker's involvement and asks you to meet her in Darktown.

Darktown[]

Proceed to Darktown where you will find Lilley's corpse. The Coterie comes up, finds you standing over her dead body and surrounds you, demanding to know if you're responsible. You can either fight them for ≈200 XP and random loot (and also Aveline: rivalry (+5) and Varric: rivalry (+5)), or talk things out (no XP or loot). Talking to them causes them to demand an explanation. Explaining what happened will implicate Brekker's involvement and of Lilley's intent to dig into what he was up to, which likely resulted in him having her killed. They will leave to find out what is really going on, promising to "find you" if you're lying.

However the encounter goes, simply proceed to the nearby map marker to enter Brekker's Hideaway.

Brekker's Hideaway[]

You will fight two groups of Brekker's men, all of which belong to the Coterie enemy type, so any element will work, but spirit deals double damage. The Design: Rune of Spirit, which would be the single most useful rune to enchant into weapons for this part of the quest, is located in this very area just past the second group. If you like, you can obtain the design, leave the way you came, enchant some weapons and return for an easier time, but it should be unnecessary. Two mages with spirit staves, like Stone's Breath and Valdasine, will deal the greatest concentration of spirit damage available, enough to kill any Normal rank without much delay and forming the backbone of damage to Elite ranks. The first group is Critter-ranked and not much challenge. The second group is Normal-ranked, including three archers and a Coterie Alchemist. Functionally identical to a barrier-casting Apostate Mage, his Coterie typing makes him greatly vulnerable to spirit rather than immune to it. There are also reinforcements in the form of two melee troopers and an Elite-ranked Coterie Rogue, functionally identical to an Assassin, to watch out for. Stun and eliminate this Rogue as soon as it appears, then return your attention to the Alchemist if he's still alive.

There is a Standard-ranked trap (20 Cunning, 100 XP) before the first group and a Complex-ranked trap (30 Cunning, 150 XP) at the stairs with the second group. When you finally find Brekker, he derides Hawke as "that lice-covered refugee." You can threaten him to leave your business alone or attack him directly. Either choice results in combat, but the first choice reveals an anti-Fereldan sentiment, if it wasn't already made clear.

The difficulty in this fight comes in the form of no fewer than four Elite-ranked Assassins, including Brekker himself, not to mention they'll be fighting two at a time in the best case scenario. On Nightmare difficulty, aside from bringing two mages with every stun and paralysis spell in the game, there's little you can do besides fall back to at least the tunnel connecting the first and second chambers. Any closer, and it becomes entirely likely you'll kill enough of the first group while also aggro'ing Wave 2, including the two extra Assassins, leaving you to fight (and likely die) against three or all four at once. Retreating at least keeps the two reinforcement Rogues from engaging you right away, allowing you time to kill the first two. At least one of them will hunt you down eventually, but the further back in the area you are, the greater the distance they have to travel, so you might be able to slip out of combat for just enough time to fully heal and save.

Even doing this, Brekker and the first Elite Rogue are initially supported by a Normal-ranked Rogue, who doesn't backstab as strongly as the Elites do, but they will all backflip-kick into stealth, causing knockback. Without total immunity to knockback they can often synchronize their kicks on a single character, preventing them from fleeing much less using a Health Potion or AoE to flush them out of cover before the fatal backstab. All the while stealing a Health Potion for their own use every time a backstab connects. On the whole, warriors tend to do very poorly in this fight; as any backstab is near-fatal if not outright fatal to begin with, it's better to opt for ranged DPS, namely the aforementioned spirit staves and mages. Stun all of them, saving your most powerful stuns for the Elites. Kill the Normal, or keep him stunned or paralyzed, to reduce the number of kicks, then focus the full party's attention on the closest Elite. Brekker, despite wearing Street Thug leathers, is a Coterie-type enemy along with everyone else faced in this hideaway. It may also be a good idea to kill one of the Elites in Brekker's chamber before attempting an escape (the lower one being the easier of the two to target), that way your retreat gives your stuns plenty of time to cool down to re-use on the second.

There are no traps in Brekker's area, but there is a Complex-ranked chest. Loot everything of value and return to Hubert with the news of all that has transpired. The quest concludes, and Hubert asks you to check in on the miners every now and then.

Result[]

Hubert will suggest that you visit the miners because you seem to be skilled at keeping them happy. Clicking on Hubert again reveals that some new problem has transpired, at which point you should head to the Bone Pit for another quest.

The first of these prompts reveals a pest infestation. You do not actually have to talk to Hubert, as Jansen will give you the full details, opening up the next quest Cave Crawling.

Rewards[]

1000 XP after you get a confession out of Sabin (awarded when arriving at ambush site)
(Optional) ≈210 XP and random loot for fighting the Coterie Thugs in Darktown. You gain nothing for the diplomatic option, except avoiding a fight.
5 and 1000 XP from Hubert upon quest completion.