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Overview

You'll start out on the western side of the City Gates district (#1). You'll be playing a hurlock vanguard, which is essentially the same as a level 12 shield-and-sword warrior. The archdemon will give you commands from time to time, which will show up as quests.


Quest: Recruit a Thrall

"We must lead, Vanguard. Recruit these thralls to serve us."

You'll find the "enthrall" command on the left side of your hotkey bar. If it isn't there for some reason, then you can also find it under Racial Abilities on your talents page. To recruit a thrall (such as the genlock loitering next to you), just select the command and then target the thrall. This will cause the thrall to begin following you like a companion. You can have at most three thralls with you at any one time.


Quest: Earn Respect in Battle

"Our thralls respect only power. Show them Vanguard was born to lead."

For this quest you'll need to raise the approval of one of your thralls to 20. To do this, you'll just need to wander around and kill stuff. You'll find lots of human soldiers and mabari war hounds around, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to gain approval. You might also want to enthrall a couple of hurlocks during this time.


Quest: Save the Ogre

"Ogre's death is near. Slay his tormentors, Vanguard, and make him our thrall."

You'll find the ogre to the north (#2). He'll have a handful of soldiers and crossbowmen attacking him. Defeating his adversaries will complete the quest. Enthralling the ogre is optional (but probably a good idea). If you have a full party, then you'll have to re-enthrall (kill) one of your current thralls to create a space for the ogre.

For completing this quest you'll gain the Bravery talent.


Quest: Kill the Arl

"A human lord hunts us, Vanguard. Show him what we know of death."

Arl Howe will spawn somewhere near the center of the district, but then he and his entourage (a few soldiers and a "yellow" guard dog) will charge right at you, and so you won't need to look for them. Target Howe yourself (and make good use of shield bash and pummel), and let your thralls and other darkspawn deal with the rest. At the end of the battle you'll find a Saw Sword, Steel Bracers, and more on Howe's corpse, and a Steel Spiked Collar (eventually you'll gain access to a blight wolf) and a Large Bone on the corpse of the dog.

Note: Gifts will always give your thralls +20 approval.


Quest: Rampage to the Market

"The gates are ours, Vanguard. We must press deeper into this city's heart."

You'll complete this quest when you leave the City Gates (via Exit A) and use the Denerim city map to travel to the Market District.


Optional Quest: Smash the Barricades

"Vanguard, show the humans that their barricades will not protect them from our fury."

You'll gain this quest once you've enthralled the ogre. You'll find the barricades to the east (#3). The barricades are just regular barricades, so you can destroy them with melee hits if you want, but the ogre's "hurl" skill will destroy them in one shot plus knock down and damage the soldiers hiding behind them, so it's the better way to go. You'll complete the quest once you've destroyed the two barricades, regardless of the method you use.

Between the barricades you'll find a crate of medical supplies containing a Lesser Health Poultice and three Lesser Injury Kits.


1 - Starting Point


2 - Ogre


3 - Barricades


4 - Ser Cauthrien

You'll encounter Ser Cauthrien here, but she won't drop anything of note when she dies.


Exits:

1. Gate to the Denerim city map.