The Attack at Nightfall

The Attack at Nightfall
Location	Redcliffe Village
Start	Murdock/Ser Perth
End	Last Walking corpse defeated / Bann Teagan
Previous	A Village Under Siege
Next	Arl of Redcliffe
Appearances	Dragon Age: Origins

The undead from Castle Redcliffe have begun the attack upon Redcliffe Village. The Warden and their companions stand with the village's defenders. This is an optional part of the Arl of Redcliffe quest (only available if A Village Under Siege was completed).

Walkthrough

The quest consists of two phases:

1. Defense of the Windmill: The Warden's party starts at the windmill along with Ser Perth and his knights, plus Dwyn (with his pair of thugs) and/or Berwick, if you have recruited either of them. If the Warden suggested to Ser Perth that the oil barrels in the General Store might be useful, they will be added to the barricade and set on fire (if Zevran is in the party, he will issue a wise warning about this). The knights (and anyone else not managed appropriately) may run into the fire to attack the walking corpses. Though the fire doesn't harm defenders at Casual difficulty, it is not advised to let anyone (living) near it at higher settings.

2. Defense of the Chantry: After the undead at the windmill have been defeated, a militiaman will run up from the barricades in the centre of the village to report that more undead have crossed the lake and are attacking the Village Chantry's defenders. The Warden's party must hurry there and help fend off several more waves of attackers. Murdock, Tomas, and the rest of the militia will be there, plus Lloyd if he was recruited.

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Note: The battle does not pause between phases. The longer you take to get to the chantry, the more defenders you risk losing.

Note: The battle occurs in a separate game area to the Redcliffe Village map. Traps placed before the battle begins (during the day) will not exist during the battle, and loot dropped by fallen defenders will disappear if not picked up before the battle ends.

Note to XP opportunists and the malicious: All of the village's defenders can be slain by repeated applications of AOE spells (Shock, Fireball, Blizzard, etc.) and such deaths apparently yield XP. Also, if Owen was convinced to do the militia's repairs, every fallen militiaman will drop a full Studded Leather Armor Set. It is possible to earn up to 18 if done relatively late/at a very high level.

Note: Be aware that the XP gained from death of fellow defenders may not be equal to the extra XP and unique item rewards for keeping everyone alive. See below.

Strategy: Keeping Everyone Alive

Despite the daunting nature of the task, keeping everyone alive through the night has its benefits. If handled well, this can be an easy battle, regardless of party makeup, build, or difficulty. Some tips for the battle are as follows:

General

The only way to heal the NPCs on consoles is with health-regenerating aura effects, namely from Cleansing Aura (which requires the user being Level 14 to access) and Shale's Stone Aura (who is only available in the required DLC). Heal and Group Heal cannot be used to target NPC allies, however they can still recover health if the enemy is eliminated quickly enough to trigger a "drop out of combat," which leads to a small reprieve to recover health and even save the game while waiting for the next force to advance.

Preparation

• Keeping everyone alive is entirely possible with Level 9 Alistair, Morrigan, and Wynne, even on Nightmare difficulty. Completing Broken Circle not only gets you Wynne and her healing abilities (which suffice for the Warden's party, not to mention she will also have Stonefist for the occasional knockdown), but also Templar Armor, which is ideal for Alistair at early stages of the game.
• On that note, Alistair can learn several useful abilities between the Korcari Wilds and this point, namely Precise Striking, Taunt, Shield Defense, Shield Balance, and Shield Pummel. Precise Striking cancels the attack penalty from Shield Defense (if the upgrade has not been obtained) and is a pre-requisite for Taunt, the most useful ability in this list. Shield Pummel is useful for stunning, as well as Shield Bash for knockdown, although the latter's stamina is probably better spent on Taunt.
• Morrigan comes with Winter's Grasp, Horror, Frost Weapons, and, if she joins at Level 7, a single level up away from Cone of Cold. When aimed properly this can buy your militia valuable time to turn the tide (not to mention talents with critical hits will trigger Shattering against normal-ranked corpses. Force Field becomes another useful option, though it will make a corpse immune to damage it will prevent them from fighting, allowing you to cleanup weaker numbers and regroup the militia. Other investment options include Flame Blast and Flaming Weapons, although Frost Weapons will also provide an elemental damage bonus (though not as much). Vulnerability Hex, when used on Elite-ranked corpses, will make them easier to destroy.
• Sten with Pommel Strike and a decent set of armor will also suffice, although the other three require much less dressing up for the battle.
• Leliana is not as useful in this defensive scenario, since she is likely undeveloped as a rogue early on, and there are plenty of archers in the militia itself. Although Song of Valor will help with stamina regeneration, this is of no use to the militia.

As has been said before, do not set traps prior to sundown. They will be removed by function of the area becoming, essentially, a separate world-space. Getting Owen back to work, ale provided to the militia, and all skilled fighters added to the defense are the most essential pieces of the puzzle. The oil is unnecessary, but if used correctly will make the first phase fly by without so much as a scratch on the knights.

Other tips

The following tips can supplement the defensive strategy, but most of them are only useful to sufficiently-developed parties. They are by no means required but should make the task marginally if not immensely easier.

• Mild Lure traps can be useful for getting attackers away from where they aren't wanted (drawing knights into fire, mobbing Lloyd when he charges out into the open, etc.); a reasonable supplemental effort if there aren't enough characters with Taunt. However, setting them will require a Skill point invested in Trap-Making, two to build them from scratch as well as the Mild Lure Plans purchased.
• Soulrot Coating can provide additional spirit damage to melee weapons, but will require skill investment in Poison-Making just to apply
• Try to have one mage in the group with Heal - preferably two. Pause combat every so often to monitor everyone's health levels (pc or keep Tab held down frequently). Use poultices to keep the Warden and companions up so the spell can be saved for NPCs. Don't forget the Tactics slot "Self: Health < X% = Use: X Poultice" if avoiding micromanagement.
  • Healing NPCs is not possible on PS3 or Xbox 360 with Heal or Group Heal, you may only target your party members. Refer to the first note about keeping everyone's health up.
• Cleansing Aura makes this fight much easier, as it affects all of the militia. This offers arguably the best chance of preventing fatalities, even at Nightmare difficulty. However, if the Warden is not a Spirit Healer, this will require Wynne reaching the level requirement of 14 (and therefore the Warden reaching 15, very likely), which will take a considerable portion of the game. If one desires to complete Redcliffe early, it is wholly unnecessary.
• Lowering the Difficulty setting before or during the battle will help trivialize the issues with the militia, but players looking for the maximum challenge may take issue with this tactic, however brief it would be.
• To see whether or not any soldiers have fallen or not, look at the remains; if a corpse has blood, then it is a fallen soldier (from the militia), indicating you to reload without having to finish the battle. If the maximum amount of preparation is done, there will be seven NPCs up at the windmill: Ser Perth and two Knights, Berwick, Dwyn and his two Thugs; and nine at the Chantry: Tomas, Murdock, three Militia, three Militiamen, and Lloyd if pressed into service.
• Reloading the auto-save after initially running down to the Chantry may recover the militia's health (tested with Lloyd, who had 1 health in the initial run, fighting two corpses by himself, was full health after reload) and reset the threat/layout of the militia enough for you to get into a better position.

First phase

Zevran is wise to warn against the use of the oil in the general store, as the AI will be problematic if the player does not sufficiently plan around it. Nevertheless, such plans are possible and will make using the fire a trifle. The most important thing to do is set Behavior to either Default, Defensive, Ranged, or Cautious, which will prevent them from chasing enemies into a harmful area of effect (AoE), like the fire trap. As for the other allies, the best thing to do is to kill the corpses as quickly as possible, to prevent them incensing the knights into taking up the front line.

If the oil barrels are used to set the barricade on fire:

• Order the party to hold position, and move Alistair to the very edge of the fire trap. He won't walk into it if his Behavior is set properly, and he should draw the most threat. Set spellcasters back by the rear guard, and bring your other warrior (hopefully the Warden) to supplement Alistair. Let the fire do most of the work, and the corpses will not aggro your allies into chasing them too far south (towards the village exit/fire trap).
• Make good use of AOE on the undead before they reach your group - particularly spells with knockdown, slowing or stunning effects. Note that on Easy (and Normal on the console) there is no friendly fire damage, although most freeze/stun effects do still affect allies. Suggestions include Fireball, Captivating Song, Mind Blast, and Paralysis Explosion. It is worth mentioning that the undead are especially vulnerable to fire but are immune to nature and have a heightened resistance to cold.
• Earthquake, set on and behind the barricade as each wave of undead approaches. This works even better if the Warden's entire party keeps ranged attack options, and especially well if the oil barrels are used.

If not, it's simply a matter of grinding the dozens of corpses as they come down the hill. Without health-regenerating auras, the combat veterans assembled on the hill may very well be worn down and die, so maintain the Warden's party's position as the first line of defense. Be warned that the longer you spend up here may deprive you of time better spent at the Chantry.

Second phase

The real difficulty of the second phase is in getting down here fast enough, and dealing with Lloyd if he was pressed into the defense. He has no armor, a single dagger, and a tendency to run off into the night, away from the safety of the militia. Force Field and Winter's Grasp may be useful in stopping any corpses engaging him, and Taunt may very well get their attention away from him. Beyond this, the best way to complete the phase is to defend the three openings in the barricades, funneling corpses to your much more powerful party members and allowing the militia to gang up on stragglers. Take manual control of Morrigan and use her built-in crowd controllers (Winter's Grasp and Horror), activate the Frost Weapons sustained spell, and use Drain Life and Lightning to deal damage. Use Cone of Cold or Flame Blast manually, and keep militia and party members out of the AoE.

• Like with the first phase, it is very important to have the Behavior of companions set to Default, Defensive, or Cautious, or manage their targets closely. Otherwise your forces may scatter, preventing an organized elimination of the walking dead. The militia are at their strongest when the 8-9 of them can gang up on corpses wandering into their kill-zone, and each of the Warden's party members can handle a corpse or two on their own.
• Scattershot is useful here, as enemies approach from multiple directions. Note that it will cause almost-indiscriminate stun to anyone in the line of fire, including militia members, on Nightmare difficulty
• Focus attacks on any undead that are attacking archers, mages, Lloyd, and generic militiamen (or the most wounded one). Heal these targets first as well, since Murdock and Tomas have relatively more armor and health.
• If you have Shale with Stone Aura, put it in front of the fire (with the chantry opposite it) and activate the aura. Since Shale can't move anyway, adding Force Field will make the golem immune to damage. However, three Warden's camp members fighting corpses is less than four, and you may find that Shale's health regen effect is not worth removing your fourth as an attacker to play goalkeeper.
• If you are playing Redcliffe halfway through/late in the game, Wynne should have Cleansing Aura, which trivializes the whole quest and provides a constant stream of health regen to the militia, provided she consumes lyrium potions when her mana gets too low.
• If the militia is wiped out, pull the undead towards the windmill so that the knights can help you (if the knights weren't wiped out during the first phase).

Bugs

pc Note: The console command runscript zz_arl_debug can be used to skip the battle in the event that either of the following bugs make it impossible to complete.

Bug! Enemies may get stuck or fail to approach your party during the battle. During the first phase, they can be lured down the hill with ranged attacks. During the second phase, running toward the Chantry doors or sending party members toward the enemies' spawning points (the docks, near Dwyn's Home, or past the smithy) may help.

Bug! After defeating all of the enemies, the next part of the quest may fail to trigger, making it impossible to advance any further. This may be caused by: Tomas and/or Murdock dying. After the second phase, additional enemies may begin attacking the windmill again. If the game fails to autosave as you make your way back up to the windmill, the bug may be triggered. This may be fixed by loading your last save.

Results

A cutscene shows the village offering thanks to the Warden, plus remembering those who died (if any). Then Bann Teagan asks you to meet him at the mill to discuss how to get into the castle.

There is a Doomsayer after the village has been defended successfully. You can intimidate him, kill him, or leave him alone. However, there appears to be no XP. He will reappear, and this time you can also persuade him to shut up.

Bella

If the Warden is male you can ask Bella for a kiss as a hero's welcome.

• Oghren (+2)
• If you are in a romance with Leliana or Morrigan (-5).

If you promised Bella before the battle that you would help her leave:

• Offer her 500
  • If Morrigan is in the party she objects.
    • Persuasion to convince her it's a good idea. (-3)
    • Tell her it's your money. (-10)
    • Let Morrigan change your mind.
  • Bella thanks you.
    • Alistair (+1)
    • Wynne (+4)
    • If the Warden is male you can ask her for a kiss (same approval changes as described above).
• Offer her 100. She rejects your offer and stays at the tavern.

If Bella leaves, you convinced Lloyd to join the battle, and Lloyd is still alive, then he acts as a merchant again.

Rewards

• 1250 XP for saving the village

Helm of the Red and 250 XP (if all named NPCs and all of the knights and militiamen survived.)

Lloyd's Magic Ring (if Lloyd is recruited and survives.)