Return to Ostagar (quest)

This page is about the quest. For the downloadable content, see Return to Ostagar.

Return to Ostagar is the main quest unlocked by the Return to Ostagar DLC for Dragon Age: Origins.

Background

When the DLC is installed, the Warden will receive a quest called A King's Confidant, suggesting to seek out a survivor of the events at Ostagar who can be found in a new location, Bann Loren's Lands. After speaking with the confidant, Elric Maraigne, the Warden can travel back to Ostagar on the World Map.

Note: Companions who had some involvement with the Battle for Ostagar — Wynne, Alistair and Secret Companion — will have additional dialogue during this quest so you may want to take some of them along (indeed, Alistair will strongly recommend during A King's Confidant that he and Wynne, at least, accompany the Warden to Ostagar, though this is not mandatory). Dog also has some "lines", though obviously just barking and howling! Sten, Leliana and Zevran have a single line of dialogue when you find Maric's sword. Oghren will have a line if he is the only other member of the party. If Secret Companion is the only other member of the party, after he finishes his normal lines, Morrigan will speak a line even though she is not there.

Walkthrough

Ostagar

When returning to Ostagar you start off at the upper west side of the ruins where the infirmary was once located, through the gate that previously led to the army camp and which a guard was barring. Whilst exploring Ostagar and making your way towards the Tower of Ishal on the east side of the map, you will run into several elite mobs who will drop some pieces of Cailan's Armor Set.

If you had not previously obtained it as part of The Hungry Deserter, loot the Mages' Chest Key from the corpse of the prisoner by the fallen cages near the starting postition. The key can be used to loot the Mages' Chest and obtain the Corrupted Magister's Staff as well as the loot that would have been in the chest had it been opened during the Battle for Ostagar. If you looted the chest when in Ostagar previously, you will not be able to open it now, because the key will not be there. pc users can install a mod that allows them to add the key to the inventory once more.
If you killed Dog before the Battle for Ostagar or you told Dog to shoo during the darkspawn travel encounter after first leaving Flemeth's hut for Lothering, there will be a cutscene where you find a new canine in the kennel that can be recruited.
Proceed towards the location of the war council and then towards the former magi encampment where you will find rubble marked Elric's Buried Key to loot Key to the Royal Arms Chest.
Continue on towards King Cailan's Tent, here is where you find Cailan's Chest and loot Maric's Blade and the quest item 'Secret Correspondence', which unlocks Codex entry: Cailan's Documents - Page 1 of 3, Codex entry: Cailan's Documents - Page 2 of 3 and Codex entry: Cailan's Documents - Page 3 of 3.

Template:DAOSpoiler

Cross the bridge to the eastern side of the ruins where you will discover Cailan's body afterwards clear the eastern side of the ruins and head for the Tower of Ishal.
Five of the six items needed for the quest are in this area. Cailan's Breastplate, Gauntlets, Greaves & Shield are all dropped by Elite Darkspawn in this area while Maric's Blade is in the Royal Arms Chest. Cailan's Helm is not in this area.

Tower of Ishal

NOTE: Before heading into the Tower of Ishal, on the far left side of the map, is a world map marker. It is highly recommended you leave (temporarily) to dump off any excess items you may be carrying (via the party camp). No doubt, you have acquired a lot of loot at this point, and the Tower of Ishal has a fair amount of items, too.
Fight your way past the Genlock and Hurlock Grunts and an Ogre. The door leading to the stairs to the next level is blocked.
In the final room, there's a hole in the floor leading to the lower tunnels.

Darkspawn Tunnels

Follow the tunnels to the Battlefield, fighting more darkspawn and some Corrupted Spiders.
Exit onto the Battlefiled.
Note: This tunnel has the same pattern as the one encountered in the Dalish Elf Origin. Although caved in you can still see the resemblance of the two, despite the carvings on the walls and the lack of Elven artifacts.

Battlefield

Defeat the boss level Risen Ogre and the Genlock Necromancer. The Necromancer will spawn skeletons the time it is alive; while these skeletons appear frozen already, they can be frozen and are not immune to cold. Killing the Genlock Necromancer will immediately cause the Risen Ogre and all other spawns on the Battlefield to collapse — they will die, but you will not get XP for killing them. There is sometimes lag between the time you kill the necromancer and the time the spawns die.
Exit back into the cave you emerged from — a cutscene will ensue.

Cailan's Body

At this point, there are three options presented as to what to do with Cailan's body: give him a funeral pyre, cut him down and leave him for the wolves or leave him for the Darkspawn. Depending on who is in the party at the time, each companion has differing approval reactions to what choice is made.

Approval Changes
Funeral Pyre	Wolves	Leave him
Alistair approves (+7) Leliana approves (+2) Morrigan disapproves (-3) Secret companion disapproves (-5) Sten approves (+2) Wynne approves (+4) Zevran disapproves (-3) Oghren approves (+2)	Alistair disapproves (-10) Leliana approves (+2) Secret companion approves (+4) Wynne disapproves (-3) Zevran disapproves (-3) Morrigan approves (+2) Oghren approves (+2)	Alistair disapproves (-10) Leliana disapproves (-3) Secret companion disapproves (-3) Sten disapproves (-3) Wynne disapproves (-10) Morrigan disapproves (-3) Zevran approves (+2)

Leaving Ostagar

After dealing with the king's body, the party can continue exploring the area or return to the World Map. Despite a statement made in the quest log about Ostagar about to go into darkness and be overrun with darkspawn, it's possible to return to Ostagar without hazard if the player wants to access items that were not picked up earlier due to inventory restrictions or simply missed. A large number of weapons and armor items can be found, as well as several chests containing multiple gold, so a return trip can be worth the effort if anything was left behind.

Items

Cailan's Breastplate, source: Drop Hurlock General

Cailan's Gauntlets, source: Drop Hurlock Strategist

Cailan's Greaves, source: Drop Hurlock Strider

Cailan's Helm, source: Drop Genlock Necromancer

Cailan's Shield, source: Drop Hurlock Vanguard

Corrupted Magister's Staff, source: Mages' Chest, if the Key to the Mages' Chest wasn't already used beforehand during The Hungry Deserter

Duncan's Dagger, source: Drop Risen Ogre

Duncan's Sword, source: Drop Risen Ogre

Firestone Harness, source: Dead Mabari

Joining Chalice, Gift, source: Found where the Joining Ritual took place

Key to Mages' Chest, source: Charred Corpse

Key to the Royal Arms Chest, source: Elric's Buried Key

Maric's Blade, source: Cailan's Chest

Nug Crusher, source: Weapon Stand, Tower of Ishal

Repeater Gloves, source: Wooden Crate

Secret Correspondence, source: Cailan's Chest

Swiftrunner Warpaint, source: Dead Mabari

Enemies

Blight Wolf
Genlock Grunt
Genlock
Genlock Necromancer, Elite
Hurlock
Hurlock Grunt
Hurlock Emissary, Elite
Hurlock General, Elite
Hurlock Strategist, Elite
Hurlock Strider, Elite
Hurlock Vanguard, Elite
Risen Ogre, Boss
Shambling Corpse
Shambling Skeleton
Shrieks

Bugs

Sometimes the Genlock Necromancer appears standing amidst a horde of other darkspawn and cannot be targetted or killed. He only becomes active and killable when the Risen Ogre on the battlefield is finally dead, but will not be in his correct location on the battlefield and you will have to go and find him in the location where the bug occurred. After killing the Necromancer, you will have to return to the battlefield site where you encountered the Risen Ogre and then try to exit the area through the tunnels in order to trigger the cutscene and proceed with the quest correctly. After killing the Necromancer, wait until the quest is updated before looting him, otherwise you will not be able to finish the quest. If you do not do this, interacting with King Cailan's body afterwards will not give you options to 'deal' with his body as if the quest was still incomplete, despite the quest shown being complete.
- This can be fixed by selling all of the king's items, closing the trading window, talking to the merchant again and buying the items back.

A number of items found (e.g., Cailan's Armor Set and Cailan's Arms) are scalable, i.e. they should be higher tier if the player character is higher level. However, some items may be found at Tier 5 even by higher level characters. These can be upgraded by placing them in the Warden's Keep party storage chest, leaving and returning, or by selling them to a merchant then repurchasing them later.

If you steal from the elite darkspawn holding parts of Cailan's armor you may get the items and be unable to loot the corpse after it's dead, making the quest impossible to complete. (PC confirmed)
Entering the Tower of Ishal will trigger a cinematic cutscene involving the Genlock Necromancer summoning a fireball and several Hurlock Grunts running up the to the PC. This cutscene triggers every time the PC enters the tower, not just the first time, but is not dangerous to the mission.
Occasionally, approaching the Tower of Ishal without the Secret Companion in the party will still play one of his special lines of dialogue for the DLC. (Editor encountered this with a party of Shale, Leliana, and Morrigan after slaying the Hurlock Strategist.)
if you go to the southeast of the map (if you go to the stair between Cailan's and Loghain's tent and turn left) and go to the ruined edge of the tower, you can actually fall down from the tower to the battlefield.