The Awiergan Scrolls: Pride Unbound

The Awiergan Scrolls: Pride Unbound
Act	3
Location	Darktown
Start	The Wounded Coast or Sundermount
End	Hidden Lair (Darktown)
Rewards	Glandivalis
Previous	The Awiergan Scrolls: Third Aspect
Appearances	Dragon Age II

The Awiergan Scrolls: Pride Unbound is an Act 3 side quest in Dragon Age II.

Description

"There is an ancient evil sealed beneath Kirkwall. Search Darktown for a hidden magical entrance."

Acquisition

This quest is acquired after completing other Awiergan Scrolls side quests.

Walkthrough

To acquire this quest you must first find one of the Awiergan Scrolls, either on the Wounded Coast or in the Dalish camp, and its respective hidden lair; this quest then remains open while you do the other two.

Note: See the related quests for scroll and hidden lair locations.

Entrance Location

In order to enter the lair, you must have first found all three of the Awiergan Scrolls. The quickest way to get to the Lair is to travel to Anders's Clinic. It's the same door used for the quest Birthright in Act 1. Entering the lair will trigger a cut scene were you will encounter a Pride Demon named Hybris. Through combat, he will summon several Shades and Rage Demons.

Tactics

The fight with Hybris is a combination of avoiding Hybris' special abilities and managing the creatures he summons.

Two tanks should be present at most (one is actually sufficient), as the ranged attackers of the party will deal most of the damage. The tank could be a warrior Hawke, Fenris, or Aveline. As a supplement, equip any melee characters with high nature resistance - a single Rune of Nature Warding in the allies' armor is sufficient (90% resistance). On Hard difficulty, this will bring the green fire shield's damage down to 1.

Hybris will begin the fight with one of either two abilities, a green fire shield that poisons nearby foes, or a massive blue light-vortex on the floor which traps and deals damage to enemies within its area-of-effect. You will see both of these abilities throughout the fight, and they are rather hard to miss. The green fire shield makes the fight fairly difficult for melee damage characters without high nature resistance since it buffets them with decent amounts of nature damage each round. His melee attacks are much less punishing than his two special moves, however.

The blue light-vortex needs to be run out of immediately. Placing your party on "hold" and telling them to move out manually is recommended for this since they will not run out of it on their own. After a few seconds, the light-vortex will trigger, stunning characters caught in the center and dealing large amounts of damage.

Note: Dispel Magic can remove Hybris's magic, making Hybris pretty harmless. The Bringer of Silence and Cleanse are also capable of removing the green fire shield engulfing Hybris, Audacity and the Pride Demons encountered during The Last Straw.

It's also possible to use the mage spell Gravitic Ring to temporarily slow down Hybris. This spell requires you to have the Force Mage Specialization. As long as the spell is active Hybris remains inactive. This allows you to focus your time killing the shades and rage demons. After all of them are eliminated you can focus on Hybris. You will have to use the Gravitic Ring several times throughout the fight to keep Hybris inactive while you eliminate all the waves of lesser demons. This strategy is particularly useful on Nightmare difficulty.

As for the creatures that Hybris summons, the first wave will consist of four to six medium-health shades. Having a rogue with upgraded Goad can be very efficient for this portion of the fight, as there is a very good chance that your tank will not have enough stamina to get them all with Taunt. The second wave of minions will consist of four to six medium health shades and one high-health rage demon. The third wave will consist of four to six shades and two high-health rage demons. It is recommended that you eliminate the minions that Hybris summons lest you become overwhelmed.

Goad and Walking Bomb become especially useful this fight. Using Goad whenever possible on the tank reduces the possibility of your more delicate party members of attracting attention and dying to the minion's ministrations. And while hard to use, Walking bomb becomes an incredible asset if it is timed properly and goes off next to multiple minions or even Hybris himself.

On Nightmare difficulty, Hybris is immune to nature damage.

Rewards

• Glandivalis, a longsword dropped by Hybris.
• Unlocks Achievement: Demon Slayer.

Bugs

• In some instances the door at Ander's Clinic will never open and the quest cannot be completed, even if you have all the scrolls. Possible fix: try marking Pride Unbound as your active quest, then approach the entrance.
• pcxbox360 Rarely, if Hybris is killed and there are other enemies remaining, the other enemies will disappear, but the player remains in battle mode. Characters may take continuous damage for no apparent reason. Since the player is still in battle, the door will not open and the player will be trapped in the room. Continuing basic attacks has ended the battle for at least some players, resulting in gameplay continuing as expected. Removing the sustained mode for the dog might resolve this issue as well.

Related quests

The Awiergan Scrolls: First Aspect
The Awiergan Scrolls: Second Aspect
The Awiergan Scrolls: Third Aspect