Dragon Age Inquisition guide and walkthrough: The Hinterland Side Quests part 1
Before you head out into the wilderness to start mopping up these quests, note that some of these side quests will need you to have completed the In Hushed Whispers main story quest.
Dragon Age Inquisition guide and walkthrough: The Hinterland Side Quests part 1
It’s also advisable to have a mage and a rogue in your party, as they’ll be needed for some quests and you it’ll save you faffing about and trekking backwards and forwards between camp sites.
The last thing to note is that you may struggle with the harder quests if your party level is below 7, but it isn’t impossible, so it’s your call as to whether you want to get some grinding in beforehand.
Holding the Hinterlands
Description: Establish camps to hold the Hinterlands and support Inquisition activity in the region.
Requirements: None
Reward: +250 Influence (total); +5 Power Level (total)
Starting NPC: Scout Harding
Objectives:
Establish six camps
A number of quests will need you to establish camp sites in different regions, and in the Hinterlands, you’ll need to set up 6. Select the quest to do so and follow the waypoints to find areas to erect camp sites. Set up 6 to complete this side quest.
A Healing Hand
Description: The refugees at the Crossroads would benefit from the services of an experienced healer.
Reward: +177 XP, +80 Influence, +1 Power Level
Requirements: Complete the In Hushed Whispers main story quest
Starting NPC: Corporal Vale
Objectives:
Convince a healer to help the Crossroads refugees
After you fight off the mages and Templars at the Crossroads, talk to Corporal Vale, then make your way to Redcliffe in the north and talk to the healer. If you haven’t been to the Val Royeaux area yet, you won’t be able to access this path yet, so you’ll need to do that first.
If your character is an elf, you’ll be able to cajole her into going to the crossroads. Otherwise, Solas or Cassandra can can do so. If you don’t want the healer to lend her help at the Crossroads, the next 3 side quests (A Common Treatment, An Advanced Treatment, and A Rare Treatment) will have to be initiated in Redcliffe rather than the Crossroads.
A Common Treatment
Description: The healer needs certain herbs to treat the injured patients.
Reward: +44 XP, +40 Influence
Requirements: Complete the In Hushed Whispers main story quest and start the A
Healing Hand side quest.
Starting NPC: Corporal Vale
Objectives:
Convince the healer to help the Crossroads refugees
Find four elfroots and two spindleweeds
Find four elfroots and two spindleweeds
When you talk to the healer in Redcliffe for the A Healing Hand side quest, you’ll need to gather various plants for her to fulfill 3 more side quests. For this one, you’ll need 8 elfroot and 4 spindleweed. Elfroot grows throughout the Hinterlands willy nilly, so you should have no problem finding some. Spindleweed crops up around water, so head to lakes or rivers and have a forage to find some. Talk to the healer once you’ve gathered what she needs.
It’s advisable to preemptively gather the plants for An Advanced Treatment and A Rare Treatment at the same time to save you running traipsing around the wilderness on a herb hunt.
An Advanced Treatment
Description: The healer needs certain herbs to treat the injured patients.
Reward: +44 XP, +40 Influence
Requirements: Complete the A Common Treatment side quest
Starting NPC: Healer
Objectives:
Find six elfroots and one royal elfroot
Bring the herbs to the healer
This time the healer needs 6 elfroot and a royal elfroot. Elfroot abound throughout the Hinterlands. To find the royal elfroot, head to the farm in the Hinterlands close to the camp site where you first enter this area. The royal elfroot is in the surrounding area. Talk to the healer to finish the quest.
Note that you can pick up the Blood Brothers side quest while you’re at the farm.
A Rare Treatment
Description: The healer needs certain herbs to treat the injured patients.
Reward: +44 XP, +40 Influence
Requirements: Complete the An Advanced Treatment side quest
Starting NPC: Healer
Objectives:
Find five spindleweeds and two bunches of crystal grace
Bring the herbs to the healer
Spindleweed grows near lakes and rivers in the Hinterlands and you can find crystal grace in the southwestern area of the Hinterlands. The enemies lurking in this part of the map are fairly tough so if your level is below 7, it’s best to get in, grab the crystal grace, and get out without attracting unwanted attention. Talk to the healer to complete the quest.
Blood Brothers
Description: A templar has left a note for his apostate brother, challenging him to a fight.
Reward: Mercenary Lord Blade, +44 XP, +40 Influence
Requirements: None
Starting NPC: Examine the note in a house south of the Outskirts camp
Objectives:
Go to the location mentioned in the letter
Loot the body
To find the note that kicks off this side quest, make your way to the house that lies between the Crossroads and the Outskirts camp. The note is inside. Follow the map marker to the dead body and inspect it to complete the side quest.
While you’re at the house, head north to find a different body that will start the Business Arrangements side quest.
Business Arrangements
Description: A letter found on a templar corpse suggests that someone named Tanner is secretly doing business with templars.
Reward: +44 XP, +40 Influence
Requirements: Complete the In Hushed Whispers main story quest
Starting NPC: A note on a dead body by Old Fennick’s place, north of the Crossroads
Objectives:
Confront Tanner in Redcliffe village
From the house between the Outskirts camp and the Crossroads (that you visited to start the Blood Brothers side quest), head north to find a dead body. Kill the enemies nearby and loot the body to begin the quest.
Go to Redcliffe and be sure to have Cassandra or Varric in your party. Find Tanner at the other side of the village and have Varric or Cassandra persuade her to help the Inquisition. Regardless of the outcome, having this conversation with Tanner will wrap up the side quest.
In the Elements
Description: Apostate mages have supply caches hidden in the area. The supplies could help protect refugees from the elements.
Reward: +177 XP; +80 Influence; +1 Power Level
Requirements: Kill the mages and Templars near the Crossroads and talk to soldier recruit Whittle to the west of the Crossroads.
Starting NPC: Soldier Recruit Whittle
Objectives:
Report the cache locations to Whittle
You’ll need a mage in your group for this side quest to remove the magical barrier blocking one of the supply caches. Each one is marked on the map, so collect them all and talk to Whittle to complete the side quest.
Open a Vein
Description: A letter found on a dwarven corpse suggests that a cave in the hills has a valuable vein of lyrium waiting to be mined.
Reward: +44 XP, +40 Influence
Requirements: None
Starting NPC: A corpse in a cave southeast of the starting camp.
Objectives:
Locate the vein of lyrium
You’ll need a mage in your party for this one. From the starting camp in the Hinterlands, head southeast to find a cave that contains a body. Loot it to obtain a letter that will begin the quest. Follow the map marker that pops up to the south to find another cave and have your mage use a fire staff to life the magical barrier. If you don’t have one, fret not - there’s a fire staff in a chest close to the cave, so have a quick search to find it. Inside you’ll find the vein of lyrium.
East Road Bandits
Description: Bandits are attacking refugees along the King’s Highway to the east of the Crossroads.
Reward: +177 XP, +80 Influence, +1 Power Level
Requirements: None
Starting NPC: Soldier Recruit Bellette
Objectives:
Dispense with the bandits on the road to the east.
Talk to Bellette to the east of the Crossroads to start the quest. Follow the map markers to the bandits’ locations, and defeat and loot them to wrap up the quest. There are 3 groups of bandits in total.
Hunger Pangs
Description: Wild rams live in the hills near the Crossroads. Their meat could mean the difference between comfort and starvation for the refugees.
Reward: +177 XP, +80 Influence, +1 Power Level
Requirements: Kill the mages and Templars at the Crossroads
Starting NPC: Refugee hunter
Objectives:
Deliver 10 pieces of ram meat
Opposite Corporal Vale at the Crossroads is a house. You’ll find the refugee hunter behind this house. Talk to the hunter to accept the quest to find the meat, then follow the map marker to the location of the rams. Slaughter and loot them until you have the required amount of meat, then return to the hunter to complete the quest.
Apostates in the Witchwood
Description: Fighting between apostate mages and rogue templars has driven refugees from their homes and endangered everyone in the area.
Reward: +354 XP, +200 Influence, +2 Power Level
Requirements: None
Starting NPC: The dead body southeast of the Outskirts camp location or read the note in the house on the path from the Crossroads to Redcliffe.
Objectives:
Search the Witchwood for the apostate stronghold
Deal with the apostates
There is a battle raging to the southeast of the first camp established in the Hinterlands, between soldiers from the Inquisition and apostates. Kill the latter and loot their bodies to find a note that kicks off this quest.
From the Crossroads, go west. When you come across the tunnel that heads north, follow it and keep heading north, where you’ll encounter Templars and mages engaged in bouts of fisticuffs. Beat some sense into them as you make your way to the map marker. You’ll eventually reach a cave with more enemies outside. You’ll need to have a mage remove the magical barrier to gain access. Dispatch the last few enemies in the cave to complete the quest.
Agrarian Apostate
Description: Templars killed an elven farmer, suspecting he was an apostate, and took his wedding ring as a prize. The farmer’s widow wants them killed and the ring returned.
Reward: +44 XP, +40 Influence
Requirements: None
Starting NPC: Widow Maura
Objectives:
Recover the farmer’s ring from the Templars
Return the ring to the elven widow
Head southwest from the camp you started at in the Hinterlands. you’ll find a house with the NPC Widow Maura inside. Talk to the widow then use your map to head east from Dwarfson’s Pass to find a band of Templars. Loot their bodies once you’ve killed them to find the widow’s ring and a note that will start off the Templars to the West side quest. Return the ring to the widow to finish up the quest.
Templars to the West
Description: Fighting between apostate mages and rogue templars has driven refugees from their homes and endangered everyone in the area.
Reward: +354 XP, +200 Influence, +2 Power Level
Requirements: Kill the Templars during the Agrarian Apostate side quest and loot their bodies to find the note.
Starting NPC: Find and read the note on Templar’s body.
Objectives:
Locate the templar camp along the western road
Deal with the Templars
You’ll need to have killed the group of Templars that are the objective of the Agrarian Apostate quest to have found the note to begin this side quest.
Head west from the Crossroads to the river and around the southeast side into the cliffs. Follow the path south to the Templar camp for a final scuffle. Once the camp has been cleared out, the quest will be complete.
Praise the Herald of Andraste
Description: Cultists are looking for a sign that the rifts in the Veil can be controlled.
Reward: +177 XP, +80 Influence, +1 Power Level
Requirements: None
Starting NPC: Speaker Anais
Objectives:
Seal the Fade rift
Speak with Anais
Make your way to Lornan’s Exile in the southeast of the Hinterlands. As you approach, Speaker Anais will appear, so talk to her and go to the other side of the Exile to the rift. Do the usual killing and sealing, then return to Anais to complete the side quest.
Shallow Breaths
Description: A refugee at the Crossroads is having trouble breathing. Without a specific potion, she is likely to die.
Reward: +44 XP, +40 Influence
Requirements: Kill the mages and Templars at the Crossroads
Starting NPC: Refugee
Objectives:
Get the potion from the refugee’s son
Bring the potion to the refugee’s husband
Clear out the enemies at the Crossroads and make your way toward the area where you would claim the landmark to prompt the refugee to pop out. Talk to him, then find his son by the fountain in the enclave and speak to him to obtain the potion. Return to the refugee to complete the quest.