The Nobles' Feast

Upon conversing with Gorim Saelac, the Warden receives Codex entry: Orzammar Politics and Codex entry: Dwarven Faith. Don't hasten to leave the bedroom just yet; of the interactive items aligned against the wall, from right to left: Vanity, which yields 5; a crystal ("containing an image of the city of Orzammar"), which yields Codex entry: The City of Orzammar; a chest, which gives a Dagger (iron), Mace, Maul, Shortbow, one lesser health poultice, and a small grease trap. Finally, at the left side of your bed is a bust of King Endrin, your father, which naturally yields Codex entry: King Endrin Aeducan.

Now that you are finished with your room, exit it. On the Warden's immediate right is a book shelf, the top shelf of which yields Codex entry: Orzammar History: Chapter One. Continue down the hall; the Warden will be greeted by two guards. Notice that Prince Trian's room is locked. Turn right to see that a mistress named Rica Brosca, a noble hunter and sister of the Dwarf Commoner, hurriedly disappears into Bhelen's room. You may leave her alone or you may enter Bhelen's room and confront her. In Bhelen's room, from right to left, you will find a letter Codex entry: A Letter from Rica, a pile of books Codex entry: House Aeducan, Shield of Orzammar, a locked chest (11), and Armorie which yields a Dwarven Merchant's Belt.

Visit the Merchants

After leaving the Royal Palace, you come across two dwarves arguing with each other. Upon investigation of the incident, you find that Bruntin Vollney is unhappy with Scholar Gertek who published works detailing how House Vollney came to be. If you hear out the scholar's side of the story, he tells the Dwarf Noble that everything he has written has been recorded in the Shaperate, and is thus fact, despite Bruntin's hatred of it as Bruntin believes Vollney was more than a man. The Dwarf Noble then has the option of siding with House Vollney and covering up the hated truth, or siding with the scholar.

• Side with Scholar Gertek by ordering Vollney to leave, they can ask for a reward of 325 or the book he wrote for the Paragon Aeducan. Then Gorim will ask if the Dwarf Noble wants to have him killed and if the Dwarf Noble wants to, it can be made publically or secretly. Gertek can also be asked and he will be also in favour of killing Bruntin.

• Side with Scholar Gertek by ordering him to say more positive things about Paragon Vollney which will also satisfy Bruntin.

• Side with Bruntin Vollney by ordering him not to kill scholar but rather drive him off.

• Side with Bruntin Vollney by allowing him to kill Gertek.

Gorim will comment that the House Vollney is now in big trouble if the Dwarf Noble sided with Vollney as Gertek enjoyed the patronage of several major noble houses such as House Meino. Further afterwards in the plot, Dwarven Scholar, will comment and possibly give more information to the Dwarf Noble of what happened afterwards.

Then, the Dwarf noble can travel the Diamond Quarter and converse with the Silk Merchant and the Armor Merchant. Eventually the Dwarf Noble will meet their siblings, Trian and Bhelen. Trian is the rightful heir to the throne, yet his abrasive manner has made him appear like he would be a horrible king. Whispers tell of the favored child of King Endrin Aeducan, namely the Dwarf Noble, taking the crown upon the death of the king. Trian will order you to go to the feast held in your honor, but you can tell him off or comply to his demands.

In the Diamond Quarter you can also encounter two women, Mardy and Teli. Upon conversing with them you will find out that they are noble hunters. Then you have the choice to let them be or have Gorim thrown them out of the Diamond Quarter. A male Dwarf Noble also has the chance to sleep with Mardy or both of them the upcoming night. Choosing this option will lead to the Of Noble Birth quest later on.

Lastly, a point of interest for the Dwarf Noble is to converse with the Weapon Merchant. He had tasked a messenger to bring a finely crafted dagger to the young prince, but Bhelen had tricked the messenger into trying to get Trian to hand it to the Dwarf Noble. The Noble's Dagger is a very impressive dagger, however it might send the wrong message due to it being a kingly gift, indicating that the Dwarf Noble may also want to assume the throne of Orzammar after King Endrin's death. The weapon merchant also implies such thing, and the Dwarf Noble can order Gorim to kill him for these words, take the dagger regardless of what it could mean, or refuse to take it.

Attend the Provings

At the end of the Diamond Quarter is a royal escort that King Endrin had issued for the Dwarf Noble should they deign to travel to the Proving arena. With so few merchants being allowed to sell their wares in the Diamond Quarter, King Endrin feared that the Dwarf Noble would be harassed by countless merchants.

When the Dwarf Noble travels to the Proving arena, they can then talk to the Proving Master and tell him that they want to fight in the Proving to honor the warriors and test their skill. There are four fights total, and none of them are too difficult.

• The first fight is against Aller Bemot, youngest son of Lord Bemot.
• The second fight is against Adal Helmi, daughter of Lady Helmi.
• The third fight is against Ser Blackstone, a Deep Roads veteran.
• The fourth and final fight is against Frandlin Ivo of House Ivo.

Gorim states that House Ivo is relatively small, but Frandlin might be the one to raise up their status amongst the dwarven people. After defeating Frandlin, you are awarded the Proving Helm, commissioned by King Endrin himself for the champion of the Provings. You can choose to either hand it to Frandlin or keep it for yourself or just refuse to get it. With the Provings over with, you can now choose to head back to the Royal Palace, where your commission as commander awaits, and nobles bicker over who gets what and what deals should be had, provided that you haven't been to the Feast already.

In the Proving Grounds, instead of fighting, you can tell the Proving Master that you wish to watch the provings. If you choose this option, you'll see from a balcony Frandlin Ivo and Ser Blackstone dueling at the arena while a Proving Trainer will also join your company. If you speak with him, Gorim will identify him as the trainer who is responsible for training the higher houses of the warrior caste and the lower houses of the noble caste who cannot afford to have their own house trainer, in dual weapon combat. If you ask Gorim if he was trained by him, he will uneasily mention that his father considered it would be useless for him to learn duel-style fighting as Gorim was expected to become the Dwarf Noble's second. The Proving Trainer will also admit that the trainer of House Aeducan is much better than him and will inform the Dwarf Noble about an incident that happened a few weeks ago in the Provings. If the Dwarf Noble asks him to continue, he will tell the story of the Dwarf Commoner and also mention that this incident caused a large uproar in the warrior caste. Once the discussion is finished the Dwarf Noble can talk to the royal escort to return to the Diamond Quarter. If they return to the Proving grounds before this quest is completed, the Proving Master will ask whether the Dwarf Noble wishes to congratulate the winner of the Provings or not. If you accept, Frandlin Ivo will come and bow. Then the Dwarf Noble can congratulate or humiliate him; however the latter option will earn the Proving Master's disapproval.

The Feast

The throne room is the Dwarf Noble's next stop. Here, many nobles await their turn to ask King Endrin about any deals they might be concocting. If Bruntin was publicly killed by the Dwarf Noble, a dwarven noblewoman will mention how well you handled the situation. Usually, they only care about something when it involves a potential fortune. Not only are the nobles among the crowd gathered in the feast, but Duncan of the Grey Wardens is here, at the behest of King Endrin. Talking to him yields several codex entries.

Another person of interest is Lord Ronus Dace, a member of House Dace. He asks for a moment of your time to tell you of a mission of his. He wants to help out the surface caste, or in the minds of most dwarves, the "sky-touched". He feels that they should be allowed to return to caste and clan upon returning to Orzammar. When probing him further he says that truthfully he couldn't care less for the plight of the surfacers, but that it's for his wife that he is going through all of this. You can choose to help him, and in return he will provide either information or a Note of Credit that he says is worth 100. However, because of the way merchants work, the paper which has a listed value of 100 sovereigns can only be sold for 25 sovereigns.

Yet all is not as it seems to be in the matters of dwarven politics. Lady Helmi of House Helmi calls you over to say that you would be making a foolish decision to side with Lord Dace. Recently he invested a great deal of money in an expedition that went horribly awry, and his want for a better life for the surfacers is just a way to regain his losses. Many houses would have to pay off the debts of the money he invested, Aeducan among them. So it falls to the Dwarf Noble to decide whether they should help Lord Dace in his scheme for a paltry amount of money that might in the end make House Aeducan repay House Dace, or if they want to publicly humiliate him among the other nobles. If the Dwarf Noble abruptly ends the conversation with Lady Helmi before she informs them about Dace's exact scheme, and then they confront Lord Dace, the latter will claim that Lady Dace is angry with him after he uncovered her scheme to use orphan children as forced labor for her house. This answer will satisfy the Dwarf Noble as they don't know his exact schemes.

In any case, the Dwarf Noble in the end attends the feast held in their naming as the new Commander of Orzammar in which Lord Harrowmont of House Harrowmont, Lord Meino of House Meino, Lord Bemot of House Bemot and Duncan of the Grey Wardens are also present. During the ritual, if the Dwarf Noble agreed to Lord Dace's plan they will ask the opinion of the commander about the surface dwarves. If the Dwarf Noble sides with Lord Dace, the only answer which would satisfy him is the third, that surface dwarves should have their rights restored. Alternatively, if you betray him, and after the ceremony the Dwarf Noble talk to him, Ronus Dace proposes to scheme together next time or if the Dwarf Noble insults him he vows to not forget that insult.

After the ceremony, King Endrin Aeducan will also ask the Dwarf Noble to find Trian and tell him that their father wishes to speak with him. If you fought in the Provings or watched them and conversed with the Proving Trainer, Trian will be located along with his brother in his room, in the Royal Palace. Otherwise he will be located in the Proving Grounds. After you speak with him and inform him about your father's request, he will leave. Bhelen will then inform you that Trian is plotting against you because your popularity within Orzammar and the Assembly is very high. Then, you can either choose to agree with what Bhelen said and kill Trian or refuse to take any action. You can also ask Gorim for his opinion and he will mention that everyone knows that Trian would make a terrible king but he has enough support in the Assembly to keep it in a lockdown, so killing him now will make the house stronger and avoid needless bloodshed later.