Herbalist's Tasks - Dragon Age 2 Guide
Herbalist’s Tasks - Introduction
Herbalist’s Tasks is a fairly interesting quest. It’s also one that you should do as quickly as possible. Completing it will unlock a cheap source of potions, which will come in quite handy during the game. You can find the herbalist, Solivitus, in the Gallows off in one of the wings.
If you talk to him, he’ll ask that you find him three unique items.
You’ll need to get a dragon fang, a spider’s silk gland and some ironwood bark.
Just to get this out of the way, the spider’s silk gland and dragon fang are incredibly easy to get, at least in a conceptual sense. You get to double dip on other quests. You will find the spider’s silk gland as a drop from one of the spiders that you’ll encounter in the quest “Magistrate’s Orders.” Just consult the linked guide if you need any help with that mission. The dragon fang can be found during the quest “The Bone Pit.” Check the link if you need any help killing the big dragon.
The third item, the ironwood bark, will have its own little quest.
Herbalist’s Tasks - The Ironwood Bark
In order to get some ironwood bark, you’ll need to go to the Dalish camp at Sundermount. If you haven’t gone already, then do “Long Way Home” to get access to the camp. You need to talk to the merchant/crafter in the camp, Master Ilen. He should be at his little store that consists of a table in the camp.
If you ask about the ironwood bark, he’ll explain that their current harvest grounds have been overrun by darkspawn. He’ll tell you to stay home, but we obviously need to make a bit of a collection run.
Go back out to the world map to see a new spot. Just go to the marked harvest grounds and rush into the first group of darkspawn. They’re just grunts, so kill them quickly. For now, just wander for a few seconds and loot what you can. You should quickly trigger the second wave, which has a much stronger makeup.
Engage the darkspawn that show up, but keep an eye out for the ogre that’s coming. Have a tank draw it away from the main fight while you engage the rest and quickly cut down the archers and men with whatever you have. At this point in the game, you should have a tank or fighter that can take a bit of damage from the ogre. Just keep an eye on them while you clear the battlefield, and use potions as needed. The ogre actually seemed fairly weak, at least compared to the first one. Some basic damage dealing spells should actually bring it down.
Once it’s dead, the ironwood bark should spawn. Loot the tree and take it back to Solivitus to give it to him.
You’ll receive 3 gold coins for handing over all three items, and it should open up some useful potions.
References
All screenshots and references are from “Dragon Age 2.”
All information is based on a “hard” difficulty playthrough unless otherwise noted.
This post is part of the series: Dragon Age 2 Walkthrough - Side Quests - Part 3
There are a lot of side quests in Dragon Age 2. If you want to get the best gear and collect the money you need, you’ll want to do as many as you can. This set of guides will cover Herbalist’s Tasks, Night Lies and Pier Pressure.
