Precious Metals is a side quest in Dragon Age: Origins.
Acquisition[]
When the Warden enters Dust Town, Rogek will be waiting near Alimar's Emporium with his men. When spoken to, he will proposition the Warden to deliver smuggled lyrium to Godwin in the Senior Mage Quarters of the Circle Tower. He will ask the Warden for 50 as a guarantee and he can be persuaded to lower this to 40 . If the Warden doesn't have the gold Rogek will inform you that you cannot accept the deal and he will leave permanently. After making the deal, he can then be pickpocketed for 20 if you have a well developed Rogue. Upon successfully stealing from him, the notice will say "Item received," but this seems to be a visual glitch. Checking your inventory will show that you received the 20 back in your funds.
If you have not started Broken Circle yet but plan to side with the templars then you should start this quest first and make the deal with Rogek when you first meet him. However, if you have already sided with the templars in Broken Circle, the only profitable outcome is to engage with him in a fight. If you accept his deal and later tell him the Circle is gone, you will not get back your money - not even if you sell the smuggled lyrium you're given - and he will still attack you.
Walkthrough[]
Deal with Rogek[]
There are three ways of completing the initial meeting with Rogek:
- Refuse and walk away. This gives you nothing and Rogek disappears.
- Refuse and try to turn Rogek in, causing Rogek and his bodyguards to attack with the reward of experience points and some money. This will result in the quest being inaccessible.
- Rogek will ask for 50 , but with high enough Coercion he can be persuaded to make the deal for 40 . The agreed upon price will be removed from the Warden's inventory and the Smuggled Lyrium will be added.
Deal with Godwin[]
After receiving the smuggled lyrium, travel to the Circle Tower. If the Broken Circle quest has not been completed, it must be undertaken to meet Rogek's contact, Godwin. In the Senior Mage Quarters there is a closet that can be activated. Godwin is hiding in this closet and will come out to speak with the Warden. If the Broken Circle quest had already been completed, Godwin may be approached and spoken to at any time. If, however, when dealing with the events in the tower, you chose to side with the templars, by the time you come back for this quest Godwin is no longer in the closet, and is nowhere to be found. When you go back to Rogek, a fight will ensue.
Godwin will offer 50 for the lyrium, but can be persuaded to pay 60 , or even 65 and a Crow Dagger (by selecting the 75 dialogue option) if you pass a very hard coercion check. If he cannot be persuaded, he will offer 53 instead so it is still worth trying to persuade a higher price even without any points in coercion. He will disappear if this offer is not accepted. In addition, Godwin can be blackmailed for an additional 8 when asked why he needs all this lyrium then threatening to report him to the templars. The blackmail option requires two additional successful persuasion checks.
Back to Rogek[]
After successfully delivering the lyrium, return to Rogek, who will offer a 10 finder's fee. He can be persuaded that the deal was for 30 , and he will reply that he cannot believe he would offer that much. This will result in 25 , or no change at all if you fail the persuasion check. Depending on the Warden's coercion, there may only be the option to try and persuade him it was 20 . You also have the option to intimidate him for 20 - if one doesn't work, try the other. Should the coercion attempt fail, Rogek can be killed and looted of 20 , but there will be no gold on his corpse if the Warden pick-pocketed the 20 earlier.
Rewards[]
This can be one of the most lucrative quests in the base campaign. If the correct choices are made, the Warden's investment can be nearly tripled.
- If persuasive enough, one can receive a total of 98 and a Crow Dagger. Subtracting the initial investment of 40 yields a profit of 58 , plus a Crow Dagger. Pick-pocketing Rogek effectively reduces the initial investment by 20 , yielding a gain of 78 and a Crow Dagger.
- When selling the lyrium to Godwin you get 100 XP for every possible deal except if you persuade and ask for 60 which gives you no XP.
- When you get your finder's fee from Rogek you also get 100 XP.
- Without taking advantage of persuasion, blackmail and pick-pocketing, delivering the lyrium only covers the initial investment. The only gain will be Rogek's 10 finder's fee.
Bugs[]
- If Entering Jarvia's Hideout is active and the Warden chooses the 15 reward for information about Jarvia and then thanks him for the tip, it makes Rogek walk away and thus renders the quest inaccessible; the only solution is to ask him if he has anything else - instead of thanking him - in which case he will tell you about the quest.
- Sometimes Rogek walks away after accepting his trade offer. You should reload a savegame from before making the deal and try it again.
- Killing Rogek may result in the quest being listed as having failed.
- The quest will immediately fail if the smuggled lyrium is removed from the inventory for any period of time for any reason, including but not limited to:
- Selling it to someone other than Godwin, even buying it back in the same shop window
- Storing in the Party Storage Chest at Soldier's Peak (requires Warden's Keep DLC) or with Bella or Lloyd at the Redcliffe tavern (storage operates on mechanics similar to buying and selling)
- Removing your equipment during the final part of A Test of Faith
- Getting imprisoned during Rescue the Queen
- Having sex with a worker at The Pearl
- You might still be able to finish the quest and get all of the gold, but the quest will remain marked as failed. On , removing the lyrium for any reason immediately removes the dialogue option to sell to Godwin and leaves one's only option to tell Rogek, "I sold your lyrium. I'm not your delivery mule," leading to a fight. It is still possible to blackmail Godwin for 8 .
- If you ask why Godwin needs the lyrium before saying that you met a dwarf who mentioned him, you will not be able to collect any money from Godwin through the trade, only the 8 through blackmail. If this happens, load a previous save and engage in a conversation again.
- It is possible to sell the lyrium to the Quartermaster in the Circle Tower for 12 and 50 , which will trigger the quest as completed, but still sell the lyrium to Godwin. This does not work on any other platforms, as you will complete the quest and not have the option of completing the deal with Godwin. You can however still ask why he needed the lyrium and blackmail Godwin for 8 . Alternatively, if the Warden is a Dwarf Noble, they can take advantage of Gorim, who buys the lyrium for 25
- When trying to turn Godwin and Rogek in, the dialogue with Godwin gives the option to tell Greagoir about the operation. When talking to Greagoir, however, this option doesn't appear. The quest stays active, and unable to be completed, as Godwin will be gone forever. In the event this happens, the lyrium can be sold to a merchant, but for less than half of what was paid. The quest will update as complete, stating the lyrium delivery was failed.
- If the lyrium isn't in your inventory when meeting Godwin, you can still sell it to him and even blackmail him. The quest will end in failure, but it is still possible to collect payment from Rogek.
- Godwin may disappear after the conversation is ended, but he will reappear upon reentering the area.
Trivia[]
- If Alistair is in the party, he will be outraged that Godwin is using lyrium to profit from the templars' addiction. His approval rating will not change however, no matter which course the Warden chooses.
- It used to be possible for a Rogue with Master Stealing and 60+ cunning to steal the Smuggled Lyrium from Rogek directly, confirmed impossible now on , possibly still doable in older patches .