Shifting Allegiances

Shifting Allegiances is an optional main quest in Dragon Age: Origins.
It is a sub-quest of A Paragon of Her Kind quest line, obtained if Prince Bhelen is double-crossed after completing A Prince's Favor: The First Task.
== Background ==
In order to obtain Orzammar's aid against the Blight, the Warden must help put a new king on the throne. The seconds of both candidates, Vartag Gavorn and Dulin Forender will insist that the Warden performs a task - A Prince's Favor: The First Task and A Lord's Trust: The First Task respectively - before meeting their lord. It is necessary to perform one or other of these tasks. However, if the Warden sides with Bhelen by completing A Prince's Favor: The First Task, it is still possible to shift allegiances to Harrowmont.
== Walkthrough ==
* After A Prince's Favor: The First Task is completed, Bhelen will ask The Warden to wipe out Jarvia's cartel by Entering Jarvia's Hideout.
* Once this task has been obtained, go to Harrowmont's Estate and speak with Dulin Forender. If he is not there, speak with the Butler, who will say he is at Tapster's Tavern. It is necessary to pass a persuade check to convince him that the Warden's intention was to undermine Bhelen from within all along (requires Improved Coercion. This will also give from a Hardened Leliana. Betraying Bhelen to Harrowmont will also result in from Sten since he sees the act as "cowardly".
* If Dulin is convinced, he will encourage the Warden to do as Bhelen has asked and wipe out the cartel, but whilst in the hideout to look for documents proving that Bhelen hired Dust Town thugs to ambush his brother and return them to him, so Bhelen's crimes can be revealed to the Assembly.
* Proceed with the Entering Jarvia's Hideout quest. The Incriminating Evidence can be found in an unlocked chest at the back of the room in which Jarvia is encountered.
* Return the incriminating documents to Dulin in the Tapster's Tavern and he will grant an audience with Lord Harrowmont.
== Result ==
* Both Harrowmont and Bhelen will request that the Warden enters the Deep Roads to seek out Branka. It is possible to tell the second one spoken to that the first has asked the same thing, and possibly lie about who the Warden will eventually support (requires no Coercion skills in order to pass).
* Proceed with A Paragon of Her Kind as normal.
* 750 XP, upon reporting back to Dulin with the incriminating evidence.
== Bugs ==
* Because both Bhelen and Harrowmont request that the Warden finds Branka, some of the dialogue with, for example, Oghren gets a little bit mixed up.
* Each time a potential king requests that The Warden finds Branka, an entry for "A Paragon of Her Kind" will be created in the Orzammar section of the journal (each of the two entries will refer to a different king). This is in addition to the "A Paragon of Her Kind" quest in "The Blight" section of the journal. Only one of the two Orzammar quests seems to be closed off correctly at the end of the quest, though the quest in "The Blight" section is marked as complete.
* If the Warden should first talk to Vartag, and accept agree to help him, then talk with Dulin after leaving the Assembly, they can be given both Harrowmont's and Bhelen's first task. Should the Warden then enter the Proving, but not finish it, then finish Bhelen's quest, then talk to Vartag and convince him they will spy for him; and finally return and finish the Proving, then speak with Dulin, you will be given the chance to make the same deal with Dulin. This creates an infinite, and most probably unbreakable loop of each asking for information. This can easily break a game, as quicksaves cannot back up to prior establishing this loop upon its occurrence.
* When you complete this quest as well as the "A Prince's Favor: The Second Task" quest, some Bhelen fanatics will spawn in front of the Proving grounds (along with Harrowmont fanatics, which occupy the same space, so all of them will spawn on top of each other). This should not happen, as you are working for Harrowmont as an undercover agent, meaning only the throne candidate and his advisor are aware of your shifting allegiances. The same happens if you work for Harrowmont publicly, while working undercover for Bhelen (in this case, the game will erroneously spawn Harrowmont fanatics along with Bhelen fanatics). The problem is that the game script misses to check if the player works for a particular candidate publicly or covertly.
Category:Dragon Age: Origins side quests
Category:Orzammar quests