Dragon Age: Origins Hints

Non-Quest Encounters

• These random encounters don't tie in with any quests, but some of them do have conditions on them, such only happening if you're traveling to a certain type of area.
  
  * Bloody Plains: A hurlock emissary, a hurlock alpha, and two genlocks attack you here. There are a lot of traps strewn about, so try to avoid them during battle so your rogue can disarm them all for XP afterwards. There are also elfroot and deathroot plants to harvest.
  
  * Dark Forest (must be traveling to a forest location): You'll find yourselves trapped in a small forest area with lots of blocked exits. Move around to get several giant spiders to attack, then look around for two elfroot plants, a bloody corpse, and a hanging cocoon. More spiders will attack you near the cocoon. Past that are two cocooned corpses and a pile of filth, followed by another spider attack. After you pass two more cocooned corpses and a bloody corpse, you'll come to a clearing where the final spider attack will happen. It includes the queen spider, so focus everyone's attacks on her until she's down, then finish off the others. Look around the clearing to find a bloody corpse, a cocooned corpse, and an elfroot plant.
  
  * Desolate Highway: You'll find yourself surrounded by eight wolves. After you kill them all, loot them for wolf pelts and other items, then look around for elfroot and deathroot plants (and watch out for traps).
  
  * Gentle Path: This is a small area with an elfroot plant and a friendly merchant named Old Tegrin. The only things to do here are harvest the plant and do merchant business with Tegrin. He sells a few interesting things, such as a skill-point tome and some companion gifts. (Note that this encounter isn't unique, meaning you can get it again and again. In fact, once you've had all of the other non-quest encounters once, this is the only one you can ever get.)
  
  * The Low Road (must be traveling to a plains location): Several blight wolves and a powerful bereskarn attack you here. Kill the bereskarn as quickly as you can to keep it from overwhelming anyone. There are elfroot and deathroot plants to harvest.
  
  * River Crossing (must be traveling to a forest location): Three bandits (including a powerful ranked one) rush to the attack, supported by three bandit archers on a nearby hill. Take down the ranked bandit first, then go after the archers. Look around for traps to disarm for XP, plus elfroot and deathroot plants.
  
  * Treacherous Path (very low chance of happening): Move toward a couple of corpses to get a greater shade and three lesser shades to appear and attack. Kill them off, then raid one of the corpses to find a tattered note that vaguely references the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There's also a single elfroot plant to loot.
  
  * Twisted Path: You manage to sneak up on a bunch of bandits. Choose to rush in and ambush them, then finish off all the bandits (including the leader) in the two bandit camp areas. Kill a few more bandits up to the north if you have to in order to be able to stand around in the camp area and heal. Look for three locked chests in the camp area, plus one more to the NE. Check around the north areas for any leftover bandits, and watch for several explosive tripwire traps.
  
  * Wooded Hills (must have pickpocketed Dalish elves in Brecilian forest, and must be traveling to a forest location): Melora and four elven hunters attack you here. Melora is very powerful, and will frequently disappear and reappear behind someone. You might want to run around and finish off her supporting hunters before focusing your attacks on her. There are lots of traps in this area you'll want to avoid until after combat, when your rogue can disarm them for XP. There's an elfroot plant to harvest, plus two locked chests in the elves' little SE-corner camp.
  

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