The Peasant Revolution

The Peasant Revolution
Location	Vigil's Keep
Previous	2 of the 3 main plot quests
Next	Depending on previous choices, either none or And You, Esmerelle?
Appearances	Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening

The Peasant Revolution starts after completing two of the three main plot quests (The Righteous Path, Last of the Legion, Shadows of the Blackmarsh). Upon returning to Vigil's Keep, the Warden finds a mob of angry peasants demanding food.

Walkthrough

You are presented with several dialogue choices, many of which will lead to bloodshed. Violence can be avoided in the following ways:

• If you assigned your soldiers to defend the farmlands during Defending the Land, picking the persuade option twice with high enough coercion will cause the peasants to disperse peacefully.
• If you chose a different option during Defending the Land, you can still avoid bloodshed if you have high enough coercion skill. First time use the persuade option, then just give them the goods from granaries and they go home.
• Another option is to first intimidate the peasants, and then choose the first dialogue option. If your coercion skill is sufficient they will become afraid and disperse without any blood being shed.

If your coercion skill is not high enough or you chose any other dialogue combination, you will have to fight the peasants.

Result

• You gain 1,000 experience no matter the choice.
• If you killed the rioters you will have bodies littering the keep.
• If you gave them food or used persuasion, it is mentioned in the epilogue their success will encourage them to riot more in the future.

Notes

• The circumstances for why this quest happens depends upon earlier choices in the game. Mainly choices made during Oaths of Fealty and A Day in Court. It can happen as part of A Brewing Conspiracy questline. A possibility is that if you go to the Old Stark's Farm and kill the conspirators after talking with the Dark Wolf the peasants will not be so outrageous and will be able to listen to you. Master Coercion and high Cunning (55 confirmed) is needed. Done with patch 1.04 with the choice of protecting the roads.
• Even when the revolt ends in bloodshed and all the peasants are killed, the quest journal will say "The riot is over, and the peasants have gone home."
• With the July, 2010 patch (1.04) Having sent soldiers to protect the farms, a character with Master Coercion, and 65 cunning with bonuses was unable to successfully use persuade twice in dialogue to disperse the peasants.

• Similar to the note above, as of the July, 2010 patch (1.04), having sent soldiers to protect the farmlands, using both persuade attempts with 30 cunning and Master Coercion was successful and the peasants dispersed peacefully.
• Again, similar to the above, with the 1.04 patch a character with Master Coercion and 26 cunning was able to successfully pass both persuasion checks - it may also be of note that the soldiers were told to protect everything as best they can, and after killing the conspirators at Old Stark's Farm.
• Choosing the two persuasion options might not be best choice (even if you set the soldiers to protect the farmlands). With 72+15 Cunning statistic points (and Master Coercion skill) I was forced to use the first answer "(Persuade) Now, more then ever, we must stand together..." followed by "We will give you grain. You will not starve." to dispand the mob in a peaceful manner. Varel reacted accordingly afterwards.
• On 14th April 2011, with all the patches for 360 applied, using the two persuade options with Master Coercion and 50+10 cunning failed. Soldiers were told to protect everything as best they could. Conspiritors had been killed. Looking at other notes, possible issue in that failure occurs over a certain cunning score?
• May 24th 2011, with all the patches for 360 applied, using the two persuade options with Master Coercion and 120+ cunning failed. Soldiers were told to protect everything as best they could. Conspirators had been killed. Looking at other notes, possibly bugged to be imposable unless defending the farmland is specifically chosen.
• July 28th, 2011 - Playing on the Ultimate Edition (Otigins + Awakening + all DLC) was able to successfully disperse riot using 2 persuasion attempts "Now more than ever we need to stand together" and "If you turn against my soldier's you will be even less safe." Character played had Master Coercion + 57 Cunning. Also, I had not yet made a decsion on were to place soldiers.
• August 22th, 2011 - with 1.04 patch on PC, had chosen protect the farmlands and trying both presuade attempts with 58+14 cunning but failed.
• September 2nd, 2011 - 1.04 patch on PC, chose to protect Amaranthine with my soldiers, Did nothing for the quest "A Brewing Conspiracy", persuade options: 1. " (Persuade) Now more than ever, we must stand together..." + 2. "(Persuade) If you turn against my soldiers you will be even less safe" failed (=> battle) and 1. " (Persuade) Now more than ever, we must stand together..." + 2. "(Persuade) The keep needs protection. If it falls, the city will too." succeeded (=> everyone goes home, no battle). Master Coercion and 20 Cunning.
• September 4th, 2011 - All patches for 360 applied, 24 Cunning and Master Coercion. Chose to protect everything, and imprisoned Danella for one year during A Day in Court (having already killed conspirators)--success with "(Persuade) Now more than ever, we must stand together..." followed by "(Persuade) I will provide for my people. Trust me.". Replicated successfully with a second import. Previous attempts at 23 and 27 Cunning failed--only changed variable was that A Day in Court was completed before killing conspirators, so Ser Temmerly was encountered instead of Danella. There is likely a hidden "Peasant Approval" score affected by both troop assignments and court judgements regarding commoners, and success may not be possible if this score is below a certain point.
  • September 28th. 2011 - Playing Ultimate Edition for PC, all patches. Master Coercion, 18 Cunning (20 with gear bonuses), assigned soldiers to protect farms, conspirators eliminated, Danella imprisoned. Both Persuade options succeeded, no violence.
    • October 11th, 2011 - Playing Ultimate Edition for PC, all patches. Master Coercion, 20 Cunning (22 with gear bonuses), assigned soldiers to protect everything (including mining et al), conspirators eliminated, Danella imprisoned. Both Persuade options succeeded, no violence.