The Trial of Crows – Dragon Age: Origins Quest

This guide will walk you through the “The Trial of Crows” quest in Dragon Age: Origins. We will go through all the steps to complete this mission.

Background

When you reach the Denerim Market District, you’ll meet a “trader” named Master Ignacio. At some point after talking to him (this can occur almost immediately, or at a later visit to the market, depending on where you are in the main questline), a street urchin will come running up to you and invite you to meet with someone in the Gnawed Noble Tavern. When you get there, you’ll learn that the invitation came from Ignacio, and that he is the local contact for the Antivan Crows.

The Trial of Crows

Ignacio will offer you employment with the Crows. If you tell Ignacio that you’re not interested, then he’ll leave the tavern and you’ll never see him again. If you attack Ignacio, then you’ll have to defeat him and his two thug bodyguards, but they won’t really drop anything. If you decline Ignacio’s invitation, or if you kill him, then you’ll immediately complete the quest, and that will be that. Otherwise, Ignacio will give you a series of jobs to complete, which are described below.

The First Test

For your first assignment, you’ll need to kill a man named Paedan. You’ll find him inside one of the back rooms of the Pearl, but to get to him you’ll need to learn the proper password, which you can find on the Grey Warden Poster in the Denerim Market District. Paedan won’t like Grey Wardens very much, so he and his allies will attack you almost immediately. After dispatching Paedan, when you return to Ignacio, he’ll “reward” you with two more contracts (in the chest behind him).

Mercenary Hunt

For this assignment, you’ll need to travel to the location named “Kadan-Fe Hideout” on the world map, and there kill a group of qunari mercenaries called the “Word of Kadan-Fe.” You’ll face seven mercenaries in total, including two “yellow” mercenaries, but they won’t do anything unusual, and they shouldn’t prove too difficult to kill. After defeating the mercenaries, when you return to Ignacio, he’ll reward you with a random object (in the chest behind him).

An Audience with the Ambassador

For this assignment, you’ll need to kill Ambassador Gainley in the Royal Palace in Orzammar. You won’t be able to reach him until you’ve progressed far enough in the Orzammar questline (that is, after aligning yourself with Bhelen or after putting Harrowmont on the throne). At that point you’ll find Gainley in the Ambassador Suite (formerly Trian’s room) in the palace, and he’ll have several bodyguards with him. Everybody in the room will start out hostile towards you, so you’ll need to be prepared for a big but probably easy fight when you go in. Gainley won’t drop anything interesting when he dies, but when you return to Ignacio, he’ll reward you with a Precision-Geared Recurve (once again in the chest behind him).

The Ransom

For this assignment, you’ll need to kill Captain Chase. From the quest objective, you’ll learn that the Crows have set up Chase: he’s expecting to receive payment for a ransom, but in reality the Crows will attack him — with your help to ensure that they succeed. You’ll find Chase at a location marked “Ransom Drop Location” on the Denerim map.

When you arrive at the location, you’ll witness a trio of disguised Crows talking to Chase and his men. The conversation will be short, and Chase will order his men to attack. You and the Crows will be outnumbered, but Chase and his men won’t have any magic support or potions, and so you shouldn’t have too much trouble defeating them. None of the combatants will drop anything interesting when they die, and you won’t see any evidence of a ransom victim.

When you return to Ignacio, he’ll claim that the ransom victim was rescued by other means, and you’ll either have to believe him or not. He’ll then give you your reward for the quest, a pair of Red Jenny Seekers (once again in the chest behind him). At this point, you can attack Ignacio and his thugs if you want, but they won’t drop anything of note (other than some buggy Noble Clothing), and their deaths will cause Cesar to disappear from the Denerim Market District. If you don’t attack Ignacio, then he’ll leave the city, and Cesar will stay behind.