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Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening Hints

How can I raise that portcullis?

  • 1 of 8: With a lever that you can't currently reach.
  • 2 of 8: Go up the east stairs and open the door to meet up with a mage named Anders.
  • 3 of 8: Accept his help to get him to join your party, then level him up -- preferably as a blood mage with all four blood mage spells.
  • 4 of 8: In the next room, kill the hurlocks who are menacing a survivor to get the "The Survivors of Vigil's Keep" optional quest, then loot the nearby wooden crate.
  • 5 of 8: Use the area transition door to go outside, then run over to where several darkspawn, including a genlock emissary, attack you.
  • 6 of 8: Loot the chest next to the ballista, then go through the next door to reenter the keep.
  • 7 of 8: Bash the nearby barricade so you can open the door that connects the new area with the one you were in before.
  • 8 of 8: Loot the wooden crate, then go past it to find a lever that you can use to open the portcullis.