Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - City Elf Start

Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - City Elf Start
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A Quick Start

Okay. It’s time for your wedding. After you wake up and talk to your family, you can head on outside. Talk to the drunken group of elves over by the gate. Tell them that you’re collecting wedding gifts, and they’ll hand over 30 bits. You can persuade them to give an extra 10 if you want.

Walk over and talk to Nessa’s father by the fountain. Find out that they’re going to have to leave town to join the army camp at Ostagar. Offer your help and be nice. They’ll turn you down, but Nessa will ask for help. You have a few options for this one. You can try to use persuasion to convince Nessa’s father to leave her behind. That doesn’t seem to work too well though. You can also give her the money that they need. 3 silvers will be enough for them to get to a new alienage. 10 will let them set up a shop here.

Talk to Dwilyen. She’s over by the front of the fountain. She’s an old friend of your mother and she got a wedding gift for you. It’s 15 silvers. You can take this and give it to Nessa to either move safely or set up a shop. It’s your call.

Also go ahead and read the plaque in front of the tree. It should give you some information and experience.

You can go ahead and explore the shop and alley. There’s some conversations and backstory, but none of it is necessary. When you’re ready, head on over to Soris. He’s standing on the other side of the fountain by the wooden supports. Talk to him to add him to the party. You can stop and talk to the elf on the other side of the tree by the fountain. He’ll have a little tale about the (Dalish) elves he’ll tell to Soris. Once you’re ready, walk on back to the house to meet your spouse and see a little squabble. We’ll deal with this one later on.

You won’t have much of a chance to talk to your spouse before Soris drags you over to talk to the next human invader. It’s just Duncan from the Grey Wardens though. Talk to him and be nice. The elder will step out shortly to explain everything and suggest that you head on over to your wedding. The ceremony is just on the stage in the center square. Move on up to trigger the big scene. It all pretty much plays out the same way, no matter what you chose.

The Estate Entrance

It’s time to really kick it into gear. We need to do a big rescue mission to get the ladies back from Vaughan. This means a lot of killing is ahead of us. If you’re a man, then Duncan should offer to give you a sword and a crossbow, so you’re in decent shape for it. If you’re a woman, you’ll get started in the kitchen with Sorias. You can just skip the fight to the estate then.

When you’re ready to go, head on over to the back gate and talk to the servant. He’ll send you through and should give you some servant clothes to help you blend into the estate’s staff.

I felt like letting my rogue get some real combat experience though, so I just fought it out for most of the level. Make your choice in weaponry once you arrive in the yard of the estate. You can either take the sword or the crossbow. It doesn’t matter. I used a crossbow with the melee archery skill to let me fight effectively in close quarters. I also put the dagger as the alternative weapon for the times when I wanted to go to melee. I gave Soris the borrowed sword. He’s a surprisingly good swordsman, so this isn’t as hard as you might think. You can do the opposite loadout too, at least until we pick up some more weapons in a minute.

Kill the first guard who should be here, then follow the path along the left side. There will be Maribu (trained attack hounds) every little section. They aren’t hard to kill, so just stop and take care of them as you go. You should come up to the farmhouse. This is the marker for the homestretch. Just go a bit farther until you hit the arrow and get the notice from the servant. This door will take you into the estate house itself. If you want, you can go a bit further to kill the 2 front guards for experience. It’s your call though.

Clearing the House

Go through this door and start moving forward. There is a drunk and sleeping guard by the first door. You should be able to just walk past, as long as you don’t check the barrel near him. You can use the Stealth ability just to be sure. If you can’t get past him, then just attack. He’s not too tough and he won’t mess much up.

The cook inside the kitchen should stop you. You can try to talk your way out of it, but it should usually end with a helping hand from his assistant. Loot the cabinets for supplies, and then go into the dining room. 3 off-duty guards are waiting in here though. You probably won’t be able to talk your way out of it, so get ready to fight.

Dragon Age: Origins - City Elf Origin - Killing the Guard Captain

This is your first tricky fight. The secret is to focus on one guy and make sure that you and Soris keep hammering him. Remember to use special abilities. If you’re a rogue, then things like Dirty Fighting can make all of the difference. Also remember that you should have 3 weak healing potions in your inventory. I also saw Soris get killed a few times, so don’t worry too much. As long as he weakens them up enough, you can finish them off and revive him.

Leave the dining room and fight the single guard outside. He shouldn’t be much of a real challenge as long as you gang up on him. Then move over to the room at the corner of this first hallway. You should ambush a rookie guard in the armory. Kill him and search the racks for some leather armor and another sword. Take this time to equip a shield on whoever’s the swordsman, if you picked one up along the way and haven’t yet. You can also use this second sword to make an all melee party if you want. It works fairly well too.

Catching Vaughan

The rest of this is just a steady grind against his guards. The rest of the hallway has occasional groups of around 3 guards each. You should also spot a ranked guard called a bodyguard, which is a little tougher. Regardless, you just need to use your stunning attacks to knock them out one at a time. Naturally you should take your time to look into the side rooms for extra loot and a few pieces of jewelry.

Dragon Age: Origins - City Elf Origin - Killing Vaughan

You’ll know that you’re almost at the end when you find the dead woman. Kill the guards and push just a little bit further to finally find Vaughan. when you meet him, you have the choice of killing him or taking his bribe. It doesn’t actually matter though, since the guards will take his gold back afterward. This means that it is basically just a roleplaying decision. The fight isn’t too hard, since Vaughan shouldn’t be tougher than a bodyguard. Kill the 2 guards with him and then just focus on keeping him stunned. You should be able to overpower him fairly easily. Loot his body and the room before you go.

When the guards come to the alienage, you just need to confess to the crime. Don’t implicate Soris, since he’ll be executed for the crime. You’ll be fine though, since Duncan will protect you from the guard’s retribution. Then just say your goodbyes and get ready to head out and join up with the main quest at Ostagar.

This post is part of the series: Other Dragon Age Origins Walkthroughs

Take a look at some of these other walkthroughs for Dragon Age Origins.

  1. Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - Crime Wave
  2. Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - Mage Origin
  3. Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - Dwarf Noble Origin
  4. Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - Brecilian Forest - The Mage’s Treasure
  5. Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - The Trial of Crows
  6. Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - Dalish Elf Origins Story
  7. Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - Human Noble Origin
  8. Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - City Elf Origin Story
  9. Dragon Age Origins Walkthrough: Dwarf Commoner Origin Story