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Origins | Ostagar | Lothering | Circle Tower | Warden's Keep (DLC) | Return to Ostagar (DLC) | Stone Prisoner (DLC) | Brecilian Forest | Redcliffe | The Urn of Sacred Ashes | Orzammar | Deep Roads | Denerim | Final Onslaught |
Caridin's Cross | Ortan Thaig | Dead Trenches | Anvil of the Void | Cadash Thaig | Oghren's Quest | |
CARIDIN'S CROSS
To Caridin's Cross
Here's where I travel to Caridin's Cross, and have a little dialogue with Oghren to start.
Firepits
Now I head towards the northwest section of Caridin's Cross. There are plenty of Darkspawn to fight around here. I can very often overwhelm them in straight physical combat. Another combat theme starts to emerge here. Leliana excels in her role as a sniper as she can hit straggler enemies at a very long distance, both to inflict severe damage on them, and to induce them to charge the party on their own without bringing other enemies into view. A Firepit along the north edge of the cave provides 50xp and a Codex entry for "The Blights".
A little further southwest will be a very large Darkspawn force surrounding a large bonfire, and led by a Hurlock Emissary. Aldarion takes out the Emissary instantly with Mana Clash. It becomes a straight physical mow down afterwards.
Trapped Bridge
There's a large arching bridge nearby. It is more dangerous than initial appearances might suggest. There are plenty of leghold traps in the middle of the bridge, as well as a Hurlock Alpha. What can easily happen involves multiple party members getting caught in leghold traps with the Hurlock Alpha taking free swings with his two-handed axe, and Genlock Archers opening fire from either side.
There's a simple way to deal with this. Leliana slowly approaches the bridge from its side until she can sight the Alpha. She then fires at a distance with her bow. This action forces the Alpha to leave the bridge altogether and charge the party by himself. He is quickly shot and cut down, thus removing the greatest danger of the bridge beforehand.
The party then starts to cross the bridge. Once I near the middle, there will be two groups of Genlock Archers on either side of me. Wynne hits the near group with a Fireball, while the rest of the party charges. This allows me to take out the near group first. Leliana and Wynne then go back up the bridge. Wynne hits the next group with another Fireball, allowing Leliana to easily pick them off with her bow. She can then disarm the leghold traps at her leisure.
The Drifter's Cache
This video shows the rather extended effort to find a container called The Drifter's Cache. Finding the cache requires first finding four piles of Rubble that provide information on a mining guild called the Crosscut Drifters
The first pile of Rubble will be southwest from the trapped bridge. There are a lot of Genlocks around it, along with an Ogre. Here I simply have Leliana tease the Genlocks forward a few at a time so that I can deal with them piecemeal at the bridge. This robs the Ogre of almost all of its support (except for a pair of Shrieks), and indeed Leliana shoots down the Ogre to near death, making it an easy kill. I click on the first pile of Rubble at 4:43 of the video.
I then head down a tunnel that leads south. I click on a Dwarven Statue on the other side (at 5:54 of the video) to get 50xp and a Codex entry for "History of Orzammar: Chapter One". I then click on the second pile of Rubble at 6:03 of the video.
I continue eastwards, and run into a pair of Genlocks and a Bronto. The Bronto can do charge attacks that can knock party members off their feet. I find it advisable to stop the Bronto in its tracks with a Cone of Cold, and then take free shots at it. A little ahead will be another trio of Genlocks that I easily kill.
I press on eastwards. I then run into a large hill in the middle of the Cross that has a Ballista and several Genlocks. I take out the foremost ones at a distance in order to avoid bringing others into view. Leliana disarms a tripwire. It is then that I charge up the hill to take out the main force. Aldarion kills the Genlock Emissary instantly with Mana Clash. There will be another force of Genlock archers to the north, but Wynne and Leliana deal with them easily through the use of Fireballs and missile fire. Leliana is of course careful to disarm any traps that are around the hill. At 10:50 of the video, I unlock a chest that has a Totem. The Totem can be gifted to Sten.
Another group of Genlocks and a Bronto will be further north of the hill, but I deal with them routinely. I click on the third pile of Rubble at 12:58 of the video.
I travel east from the hill and turn south. A side tunnel leads east. On the other side of the tunnel will be a pair of small caves. There is a group of Darkspawn that I handle easily. After that, I'll get surrounded and attacked by several waves of Deepstalkers. The waves aren't so numerous that Leliana finds herself forced to use Captivating Song, but it is a rather extended series of battles. At some point the Deepstalker Matriarch shows up, but she's by herself now and easily killed through brute force. I click on the fourth and last pile of Rubble at 20:00 of the video.
I then backtrack to the main hallway that runs south. I go south a little more, and this time go down a side tunnel that leads west. I get ambushed by a trio of Shrieks. Aldarion buys a little time with a Mind Blast spell, giving the others the opportunity to hack the Shrieks down.
I continue along the tunnel, and it branches off to the north. I then encounter an Ogre Alpha. Leliana coats her weapons with a Deathroot Extract, and indeed she interrupts its special attacks a few times with the stun power of the Extract.
Behind the Ogre Alpha will now be the Drifter's Cache. It will have a few random items, plus:
Argruth Massaad, Third Corpsewalker
I backtrack to the large hallway that runs south. I then return to where the hallway bends south after going east from the large hill. Here I find another black vial with a Revenant inside waiting to be unleashed. It is by now quite easy to kill. Note how Oghren ends up getting aggro by inflicting massive damage on the Revenant. Wynne negates the aggro by protecting him with Lifeward, and using Heal spells when needed.
My next destination is the Ortan Thaig.
