Side Quests | Gamer Guides: Your ultimate source for all ... (2024)

Wardens of the Coast¶

Quest Giver: War Table

Requirement : Arrive at the Storm Coast

Reward: 177 Experience, 80 Influence, 1 Power

This is the main quest of this area (and the reason you came here), but it should be noted that the side quests “Cleaning House”, “Rifts of the Coast”, and “Holding the Storm Coast” all appear once you first arrive in the area. Talking to the Requisition Officer will add “Iron Survey on the Coast” to that list as well.

We recommend doing the “Cleaning House” quest first, as well as the “Rifts of the Coast” quest and even pursue the Astrariums before doing this. All of those things are nearby, whereas the warden clues are to the south. Plus you will likely gain a level or two.

Once you are ready, head south for the top two warden markers. They are near the southern Astrarium. It should be noted you are looking for stacks of papers here. One is on a trail by a tree and a second is by a tent. Very hard to miss. Further to the south are the other two (near Westridge). The third you can find inside a building on a cliff. More notes. There is a Chest nearby as well as a hidden Grey Whiskey/Ritewine/Constription Ale bottle inside the house.

The final notes are just to the southwest. Near a small campfire. It seems that the wardens have moved on. We won’t be talking to them on the Storm Coast…

Cleaning House¶

Quest Giver : Scout Harding

Requirement : Enter the Storm Coast

Reward : 177 Experience, 80 Influence, 1 Power

Scout Harding will bring this quest to your attention as soon as you enter the Storm Coast. Soldiers went to go and talk to some bandits… not very smart. Head south to the objective point and up the cliffs. A small path takes you to a higher opening. You will likely encounter a bear or Hessarian foes along the way.

At the top is a house. Kill the foes here (on harder difficulties you can put an archer on the roof for the damage bonus) and loot the house for a Chest and two pots. The next house is shut, but contains the corpses of the soldiers. As we suspected. However, there is a map and a note here. Read them to get the Mercy’s Crest Recipe and get an optional objective to this quest:

OPTIONAL : Requisition Mercy’s Crest to challenge the Bandit Leader.

This optional objective requires some crafting though. You need to get two Serpentstones (not too hard) and one Deepstalker Hide . You can find some Deepstalkers in the dungeons to the far left and right sides of the coast by going into the two dungeons (there are a number of chests in there too, but not many enemies; just some Deepstalkers and Spiders, both of which aren’t threats to you).

Once you have the items, visit the camp and forge (and equip!) the item. You can now peacefully visit the Hessarian camp to the south. Go ahead and enter and talk to the leader. This will start a fight no matter what you say. Naturally.

Time for a fight! This isn’t a particularly tough battle. You’ll face the Hessarian Leader and two Hessarian Hounds. These are Elite foes, however. Have your tank challenge and Solas freeze the leader so you can shatter him. Traps and area of effect skills can be put in the central area, as the hounds will move through there quite a bit. Earthshaking Strike’s upgrade is lovely here as well. Focus down a target as they get close to death and keep barrier effects going. An archer with Full Draw can help a ton here too. Keep at it and you’ll take him out.

Afterwards enjoy the +330 Influence and talk to the Hessarian Soldier that comes to speak to you. He’ll claim to serve you now, which nets you +1 Power and the Hessarian Agent . Very nice!

Inspect the house here for the Hard in Hightown: Chapter 2 book as well as The Conversion of Hessarian note. There’s a Chest as well. There are some notes to read outside too, but you are done with this quest.

Rifts of the Coast¶

Reward: 1 Power per Rift

It is recommended to do “Cleaning House” before you do this.

There are only two rifts on the coast. The first one is west of the Hessarian Camp, down on the beach. There is a special event on the way though; you will see a Giant fighting a Dragon. Now, you can join in this fight, but the Dragon will actually fly off, leaving you with the giant.

The giant’s attacks are powerful, and should be avoided by anyone who isn’t the tank! It will slam its fists down as well as pick up boulders to throw. During the start of the fight, it will also jump at party members and land powerfully. Aim for his legs and lay what traps you can. Ranged fighters excel here, but warriors need to watch his attacks extra carefully and attack his flank.

Once his legs lose half their health, he will kneel down in pain. This is the time to put up your AoE attacks and hit him hard. He stays like this for several seconds, but will get up soon enough. He relaxes the jumping attacks from here, but can still pack a punch so stay on him to fell him for good.

Once he is down you can (safely) access the rift beyond him. Normal rift demons come out of here. Take them out and disrupt when you can, then get ready for the second wave. Close the rift once you drive the demons back.

The second rift is located out at Morrin’s Outlook. Head over there and explore the area if you haven’t already. You’ll be treated with Dragonlings you can actually kill, which is fun. The rift is at the dock, below the point, and is nothing you haven’t faced before. The big challenge here is the Rage Demon that comes out in the second wave, so be ready for him and try to clear out his allies so you can disrupt him and take him out easier. Seal the rift once he is dead.

Rift at the Falls¶

Reward : 1 Power

This quest appears after you close the other rifts. This rift is located near Lyrium Falls, which is up Long River. It is a Level 12 Rift, meaning you should stay away until you are 8 or higher (on normal, at least), and have a full potion stock.

Once you do decide to take it, head into the cave and head to the back. This place is pretty neat. At the back is the rift. Regular Wraiths will compose the first wave, ready to send a salvo of shots at you. Barrier up and charge. Take them out and get ready for the much harder second wave, which is even more Wraiths and a Despair Demon. Note there is a rock pillar to the left you can use to to draw the demon behind. Divide and conquer. Or let Cassandra handle the aggro while you thin out the Wraith numbers. That will let you disrupt the demon to take it out quicker.

Once you are done, close the rift. Be sure to get the Chest and Landmark nearby, and use the Ocalarum .

Holding the Storm Coast¶

Quest Giver : Scout Harding

Requirement : Enter the Storm Coast

Reward : 50 Influence and 1 Power per camp

This is a pretty standard “set up all your camps” quest. Nothing really challenging here. You will set these up as you head further south in your pursuit of the Grey Warden notes. One is down on a beach after leaving a short cave (the “Small Grove” camp) while the other is in a clearing even further to the south (the “Driftwood Margin” camp).

Small Grove is best done after Clearing House while you are exploring. Driftwood Margin is best done after collecting the Grey Warden notes, as it is nearby.

A Glowing Key¶

Head to an abandoned house east of the Small Grove Camp and west of the Astrarium; it’s in between them and by itself. Check the notes and loot then attempt to open the door but it will not open.

Defeat an Elite Rebel Mage west of Driftwood Margin Camp. Pick up the key and start the quest. It leads to a Chest with Mighty Offensive Tonic .

Keeping the Darkspawn Down¶

Quest Giver: None

Requirement: Complete the “Reports of Darkspawn Activity” War Table Operation after exploring the Storm Coast fully.

Reward: 200 Influence, +2 Power

This quest comes after you complete the War Table operation up above. We have darkspawn to deal with! Best to bring Blackwall if you want his affection here, as he lives for this stuff (literally…).

Head to the Storm Coast to see we have four tunnels to seal. The first two are close to the northern “Storm’s Solitude” camp. One is northwest, INSIDE the Dwarven Ruins up there. Kill the darkspawn you find along the way and look in the back for a boulder a mage can move back, sealing Tunnel 1/4 .

The next one is to the southwest, near the two tunnels on the beach. Again, this is some Dwarven Ruins that has a rock in the back that a mage can put back to seal Tunnel 2/4 .

Warp down to the Driftwood Margin camp next and head north up to the coast. From there, head east past the hill until you can move south, following the side of it (you’ll likely fight some darkspawn out here). Follow the side of this hill (and look around a bit) to find a spot to energize for Tunnel 3/4 . Yep, they went and switched things up on us here.

The last tunnel is down near lyrium falls. Head into the cave and stay on the left-hand wall. The tunnel is down near the south of the search area, but if you stick to the wall you’ll find a spot to energize that will give you Tunnel 4/4 . And with that the quest is complete. While we’re here, you can find an elven artifact nearby if Solas is not in your party to tell you. It may blend well with the surrounding vegetation.

Red Water¶

Quest Giver: None

Requirement: Complete War Table Operation “Red Templars on the Storm Coast”.

Reward: Experience, 200 Influence, +2 Power

You can get this quest after completing the “Red Templars on the Storm Coast” operation at the War Table which becomes available after you reach level 16.

You may have come across some dwarven ruins that you could not access while wandering the Coast. Now you can! Head to the Driftwood Margin Camp and head northwest. The door to the Dwarf Ruins here is now open. Head on through. You’ll reach the coast on the other side. Here, look for a carcass nearby that has a Red Templar Key you can loot (the corpse looks like the ribcage of an animal… don’t skip it!). There is Black Lotus out here too.

Continue on to another section of ruins and kill the red templars you find here. On the left is some red lyrium you can smash (make Varric happy) and at the end is a Chest on the right and the region’s final landmark. Daerwin’s Mouth. Interesting history. Turn around and take the tunnel in the left-hand corner to continue.

The next area has an upstairs and a downstairs. Kill the enemies on the upper level (one is a behemoth, so be careful) and then go downstairs and kill those enemies. Down here you will find a door you can open to the left, leading to another dock area. Activate the Elven Relic here and loot what you can. Back outside check the nearby room for more loot and a bookshelf, which will give you the Surface Dwarves and A Father’s Letter codex entries.

Head up now and explore the room up here. The Unsigned Journal codex is up here as a book. Loot what you can and continue through the room and over the bridge you find. The next room has a Chest and lots of money thrown around. Clean up and continue on to kill some more Red Templars. To the left is a chunk of Red Lyrium you can destroy for Varric and the other side of the broken stone bridge from earlier. Gather up the loot here and push further inward.

The left area up ahead is a dead-end. Broken pillars. Head right and kill the enemies near the dock. Killing these foes off completes this quest, actually. We will note the nearby lockbox, the Red Lyrium you can break off to the right, and all of the Black Lotus in this area. Additionally, after you have secured the dock, you will unlock the “Restore the port on the Storm Coast” War Table operation. SWEET!

BOSS - Vinsomer¶

This girl is electrical like her friends in the Exalted Plains and Crestwood.

Vinsomer has the normal “dragon attacks”, which include swiping at you with her claws and tail, and flapping her wings to draw everyone in. Always a pain for ranged characters, but you can ease it by actually moving yourself closer to her when she starts.

She also breaths a stream of electricity at characters, often while moving back slowly and moving the stream back and forth a bit. She will occasionally spit balls of electricity. One of her special attacks is to put a ring of electricity around you and your party members. This alone isn’t dangerous, but if you get your party members in that ring they can be shocked for electricity damage. Plus it is cumulative, so whenever you see this attack or the ring, SPREAD OUT! Having an archer in your party is a big bonus for this reason, as they will naturally be spread out throughout the fight. This dragon uses guard a few times during the fight as well.

That is all the tricks Vinsomer has, so get in there, stay spread out, and bring her down with everything you have. Wear electric resistance items to help out of course, and make smart use of your potions; regen potions are your friend. Enjoy all the loot once you take her down and congrats on killing another dragon!

Loot: 2,829 experience, 3500 Influence, +4 Power, In Peace, Vigilance (Heavy Armor), Wyvern Tooth (Dagger), Master Dragon-Slaying Rune, Superb Ring of Flanking, Pure Dragon Blood x5, Dragon’s Tooth x2, Dragon Webbing x10, Dragon Scales x7, Dragon Bone x7