Offered and Lost

Offered and Lost
Act	2
Location	The Hanged Man (night)
Start	Viscount Dumar
End	Ser Varnell
Previous	Blackpowder Courtesy
Next	All That Remains
Appearances	Dragon Age II

Offered and Lost is an Act 2 main quest in Dragon Age II.

Acquisition

This quest is acquired by turning in the quest Blackpowder Courtesy to Viscount Dumar.

Walkthrough

Viscount Dumar will inform Hawke that the Arishok sent a delegate to meet with him which has apparently gone missing. Hawke is directed to Seneschal Bran in the Viscount's Keep. After a discussion on his lacking of wanting to take action, he will simply state that the Qunari could not have been spirited away without the city guard's involvement, and that he doesn't know where Hawke might find someone so eager to sell their honor.

With a full party, two people (with Anders and Fenris taking precedence) will immediately deduce the Hanged Man as the destination with the third concurring. With two or less, Hawke will concur or will deduce it on their own if alone. Regardless, the location of the missing guards is clear.

Note: If Aveline is in your party when you speak to Seneschal Bran, she will add some dialogue to the discussion. You can visit Arishok at the Docks to inform him about his missing delegation if you are trying to earn his respect. You can do this before or after speaking to Seneschal Bran (i.e. immediately after Blackpowder Courtesy) or as late as after speaking with Mother Petrice when you visit the Chantry.

Visit The Hanged Man and speak to Orwald the Braggart. The conversation will lead to a fight, unless Aveline is in your party and you choose the 'Call on Companion' option. After either Aveline successfully intimidates him, or you defeat him in combat, he will tell you that he was under orders by a templar bearing the seal of the grand cleric

Note: If Varric and Isabela are not in the party, they will join in as allies in the ensuing fight. If you have at least one among Isabela, Varric and Aveline in your party while confronting Orwald, fewer patrons will attack you than otherwise. So not having them in the party while initiating conversation with Orwald will net a few more XP out of the fight.

• Some good equipment, including Seneschals' Leather Strap and Guardian of Enasalin (Rogue Hawke only), can be looted if you choose to fight.

Go to the chantry. Hawke's companions will snark at the prospect of accusing the Grand Cleric of funding zealots. You will meet Petrice, who has advanced to the rank of "Mother" in the past three years. She will setup a meeting point with Hawke to hand over the offending templar, Ser Varnell. You may ask Grand Cleric Elthina about the situation.

Ser Varnell with Qunari prisoner

Visit the new location on the map within Kirkwall during daytime, Ser Varnell's Refuge. NOTE : There is a standard locked chest(20 Cunning to open - 100 XP) and a standard trap in front of it (20 Cunning to detect and disarm - 100 XP). Hawke will either fight Varnell and many fanatics, or an aggressive Hawke may choose to support Varnell, in which case the Qunari will break free of their chains and you will have to fight them instead. (Diplomatic and Sarcastic Hawkes can also tell Varnell to get on with it and kill the captives, but he won't accept their help and you'll get the normal fight against the fanatics.)

Strategy

This fight has the single largest number of enemy units in any battle. Most of them are Critter-ranked, but that doesn't help much when Ser Varnell can activate his health regenerating aura. On Nightmare, they're also immune to cold, so Winter's Grasp and Cone of Cold are only useful on Varnell himself. Fire and spirit are the most effective elements in this fight, and without sufficient AoE abilities this fight can get very difficult very quickly.

Even if you eliminate every unit, a new wave will drop in and start ganging up on your party. The most effective way to deal with them is to retreat back through where you came and set up Tempest (or preferably Firestorm with both Pyromancer and Elemental Mastery) at the choke point, stationing Aveline right at the wall to draw threat and block their push towards less durable ranks. Two-Handers are also very effective in this fight, especially Fenris when sufficiently developed in his Two-Handed, Vanguard, and especially his Tevinter Fugitive trees. Sunder, Veneer of Calm, Battle Tempo, Inner Reserves, Destroyer, and Massacre are passive talents that will be extremely useful in dealing with the volume of enemies here. Cleave can raise his damage and a mage conferring fire damage will raise it even higher. Finally, if you obtained the recipes, Combustion Grenades, Life Ward potions, and a Debilitating/Arcane Poison on his weapon can provide extra assistance.

The ultimate goal is to kill Ser Varnell as quickly as possible. The choke point may prove necessary, as staying in the main chamber will likely lead to your party getting slaughtered. After removing enough of the Fanatics at the choke point and drawing threat to the warrior(s), you can command the party to gang up on him, unleashing Winter's Grasp from range while warriors hack him from up close, stunning him periodically to prevent him from healing. He has a lot of health and damage resistance for an Elite, but with the correct application of stun, he'll drop before he can chug a single health potion. Even with him out of the way, the reinforcements will still put up enough fight on their own, so it's probably a good idea to take command of the Two-Hander and apply the blade where it is needed most.

The Viscount will then arrive and ask Hawke what he should do with the bodies of the Qunari, mutilated by Varnell's depravity. Hawke can advise the Viscount to burn the bodies to hide the torture, or convince him that hiding the act would only make the situation worse.

Note: Not burning the bodies will contribute towards earning the Arishok's respect, if he is informed of what transpired.

Result

• If the Qunari bodies are burnt, it will lead to the quest, The Fixer.

• Visiting the Chantry immediately after the quest will lead to an encounter with Mother Petrice, who claims that the zealots were correct in their torture.

• The Shield of the Knight Herself can be found in a crate in Ser Varnell's refuge, which will lead to the companion quest The Shield of the Knight Herself.
• 105 XP - if you support Ser Varnell or fight him (discussion before the fight)
• Random loot and XP (about 505 XP) from the fight
• 3 and 1000 XP from the Viscount - if you tell him to burn the corpses or not to hide the evidence

Approval

• Aveline: friendship (+5) if the Arishok is informed of the missing delegate.
• Sebastian: friendship (+10) if you warn Elthina ("Someone used your seal"); note that if you subsequently choose "You're useless" and you haven't used that line earlier in Act 2, you will also get Sebastian: rivalry (+5), resulting in the net Sebastian: friendship (+5).
• If Aveline is present and the special dialogue option is chosen, you will gain Aveline: friendship (+10); if she is present and it is not chosen, you will gain Aveline: rivalry (+5).
• Sebastian: friendship (+10), Aveline: friendship (+5), Anders: friendship (+5) when you say Ser Varnell and his fanatics die.
• Sebastian: friendship (+10) if you ask Viscount not to hide the incident.
• Sebastian: rivalry (+5), Aveline: rivalry (+10) when you tell Ser Varnell to go ahead and kill the Qunari.
• Sebastian: rivalry (+10), Aveline: rivalry (+10) if you tell the Viscount to burn the bodies.
• Aveline: rivalry (+5) if you sided with Varnell and Petrice (available only if Hawke has aggressive personality) and immediately after the quest you go to the Chantry and talk to Petrice