Dragon Age 2 Companion Quests - Fools Rush In

Dragon Age 2 Companion Quests - Fools Rush In
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Fools Rush In - Introduction

If you want to pick up a very effective rogue, you should definitely look into picking up Fools Rush In. You can get this quest by going to the Hanged Man Inn after picking up Anders in Tranquility (or roughly that point in the game). Simply entering the tavern will trigger a cutscene with Isabela as she creatively deals with some angry mercenaries.

Once the fight is over, you can talk to her to learn about her problems and her impending duel. She wants some backup, so volunteer your services and meet up with her in Hightown to get things rolling.

Fools Rush In - The Ambush

Be careful as you walk through Hightown, because you might run into a few groups of bandits during the night. Isabela won’t help either, so be ready. Follow her over to the meeting point to run right into a group of bandits that have been hired to kill Isabela. This starts up the proper quest.

The actual battle isn’t going to be as hard, because Isabela is a fifth invulnerable party member who will probably tank the leader and distract several of the archers. Engage the archers and rip through who you can on the edges while someone helps Isabela with the leader. It shouldn’t take long to kill them all. Loot the bodies to get the note that you need to find Hayder’s hiding place.

We’re going to the main Chantry building.

Fools Rush In - Killing Hayder

Dragon Age 2 Walkthrough - Fools Rush In - Killing Hayder and the Raiders in the Chantry

Hayder will be waiting for you inside the Chantry. Isabela will handle most of the conversation. At the end of it, you’ll end up in a battle against Hayder and his men.

The grunts are not pushovers, but the tactics are fairly standard. They’re grunts and they’re in the center room. Hold your mages back, and keep a tank close to them to protect them. Another wave of grunts will come through the entrance, so be ready to shift your their backs.

Once again, Isabela is an invulnerable fifth party member, so hopefully she can tank Hayder. Unfortunately, he seems to ignore her a surprising amount of the time. Regardless, if you can pin him down, she should be able to chip away at him with backstabs. Hayder is incredibly tough though (or at least seemed that way to me) because he can deal incredible amounts of damage with his big sword and heavy swipes. Rogues will need to be able to jump back quickly if they see him winding back.

Ice seems to work well with him, as do basic stun spells. If you have a real tank, like Aveline, you can probably just leave her with Hayder to shrug off his attacks while Isabela stabs him repeatedly. Chances are that he’ll be alive long after your mages and fighters have taken out the side grunts. If worse comes to worse, remember that he’s slow and easy to kite. Just have whoever he’s attacking run around in circles while a ranged fighter and Isabela chip away at him. That’s how I did it after a bit of bad luck killed half of my party.

Once he’s dead, Isabela will explain the situation na bit more and agree to join up with your party for the time being.

References

All screenshots and references from “Dragon Age 2.”

All information comes from a “hard” difficulty playthrough, unless otherwise noted.

This post is part of the series: Dragon Age 2 Walkthrough - Act 1 - Companion Quests

For the first act, you need to focus on raising money and forming a little group of companions to back you up. This section of the walkthrough will cover the quests: Birthright, The Way It Should Be, Finders Keepers and Bait and Switch.

  1. Dragon Age II Walkthrough - Birthright
  2. Dragon Age II Walkthrough - The Way It Should Be
  3. Dragon Age II Walkthrough - Finders Keepers
  4. Dragon Age II Walkthrough - Bait and Switch
  5. Dragon Age II Walkthrough - Fools Rush In