During your first encounter with Hezenkoss during the quest House of the Dead you were lucky to escape with your lives. Discovering the identity of the mysterious necromancer who helped the Venatori attack the Necropolis and a bit of intel on her strange lantern wasn’t nothing, but it would be dishonest to say that the Veilguard ended the aforementioned quest with any sort of initiative. Attend to other matters, however, and Hezenkoss will show up again, returning Blackthorn Manor to throw a soiree - an odd endeavor, but an opportunity that cannot be missed!. This page will provide a walkthrough for the quest The Sacrifice of Souls in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Page Breakdown¶

Starting The Sacrifice of Souls¶

To start this quest you must complete House of the Dead and the main quest [Blood of Arlathan]. Return to The Lighthouse afterwards and numerous companions will be ready to talk and burden you with their issues, including Emmrich. Find Emmrich in his room and he’ll be joined by Myrna and Vorgoth, who collectively tell you that Hezenkoss has popped up again, and her goals trend towards the apocalyptic. This starts the quest The Sacrifice of Souls and allows you to return to Blackthorn Manor.

Find the Spectral Tome¶

Fast travel to Blackthorn Manor and make your way north to the manor’s front doors, which are locked. Fair enough. You’re probably not on the guest list, anyways. From the front doors turn left (west) and follow the edge of the house until you find a ladder leading up to a balcony. You’ll enter at the “Guest Room”, where you freed one of Hezenkoss’s tormented spirits earlier, and once inside you’ll be tasked with reaching the main hall. Work your way through the Ruined Balcony and into the North West Wing to find a balcony overlooking said main hall, where you can gaze down at Hezenkoss and her oblivious guests. While snooping you’ll overhear a Mortalitasi Mage, who mentions some tome - it’s a tenuous lead, at best, but better than nothing.

Make your way back to Blackthorne Library (on the eastern wing of the manor, second floor) and once inside you’ll be attacked by some undead warriors and an undead mage. Defeat them, then scour the library for the tome you seek - Save yourself some time and head to the staircases along the northeastern edge of the library, it’s on the landing between floors, on a small round table in the northeastern corner.

Return to the North West Wing where, in the Ruined Balcony you’ll likely be ambushed by a Superior Armored Skeleton. Kill it, then head through the Storage area and down to the Servants’ Wing, where you’ll find Manfred dutifully waiting with a platter. Hand over the tome, then head back upstairs to the North West Wing and observe Manfred’s progress from the balcony to confirm an ancestral shrine exists, and roughly where to find it in the manor.

Explore the Ancestral Shrine¶

Follow Emmrich down to the Servant’s Wing to find a door along the northern side of the room. We previously had not been able to open this door before, but now that there’s a need, there’s a way. Open the door with an assist from Manfred, who will give you a Mansion Key, and during a scene in the shrine beyond Manfred will again assist, albeit perhaps less intentionally. Either way, you’ll get the information you need - time to follow some “red tapestries”.

Before you bother, however, enter a side room to the east and loot a small chest along with two tiny chests. Exit the room and go through a doorway to the west, then turn south, loot a tiny chest and continue south to the end of the hallway to find a chest beyond a gated door - the same chest that had been taunting you throughout House of the Dead.

Plunder the chest, backtrack north, then head down some rickety wooden stairs to the west. When you reach the bottom, grab the codex entry Tragedy Writ in Stone from near a skeleton. Exit out to the east to reach “The Cellar”, where you’ll find an Armored Skeleton Captain and its minions - defeat these enemies and note the numerous levers strewn throughout the place, and more importantly, a red tapestry in the northeastern corner of the cellar. This tapestry marks a secret door that will lead you towards your objective, but before we go, let’s sort out this lever puzzle…

Blackthorn Manor Cellar Lever Puzzle¶

Okay, bit of a trick - you need to open the secret door before you can solve the lever puzzle. Investigate the wall in the northeastern corner of the cellar and after some chatter Manfred will once again prove his worth by getting the door open. In the room beyond you’ll find a lift to the west and south of this lift, on a high ledge, you’ll find a Trapped Wisp. Head to the eastern side of the room to find a crumbled wall, beyond which are some rough-cut steps you can find that will lead you up to the north. Loot a note on a table to get the Gilded Invitation codex entry, turn west and ascend a slope, then have Emmrich use his “Soothe Torment” on the wisp to free it. Loot a unique chest to get the excellent Essence Vortex ring, then approach the wisp to draw it to you, and once the wisp is in your orbit drop off a ledge to the south, exit through the secret passage to the south to return to the room with the levers, then continue south to a fork in the hallway, at which point turn west to reach a gate. Approach the gate and the wisp will pass through, possess a skeleton, and open the gate for you.

With this gate open you have access to another lever, which is necessary to complete the puzzle. Before you pull it, however, return to the cellar chamber to the north and search the western wall in the northwestern corner of the room to find a bricked-up doorway above which are three stone tablets with runes on them. A similar tablet lurks over each lever, and you need to pull levers with tablet runes that match those above the bricked-up doorway. The order doesn’t matter. If you pull the wrong lever, the puzzle will reset. With that out of the way, here’s the solution:

• First Lever: One lever is along the northern wall in the cellar, just east of the bricked-up doorway. Again, the order doesn’t matter.

• Second Lever: In the southeastern corner of the cellar room, along the southern wall.

• Third Lever: Through the gate opened by the wisp, along the eastern wall.

Pull the three aforementioned levers and if correct the rune table will turn green. Once all three levers have been pulled, return to the bricked-up door, which should now be open. Go through and turn right (north) to find a chest, then read a note by the shrine, if you care to. If you’re playing a mage, this chest should contain a Timeworn Mageknife - a potentially useful weapon for the Arcane Bomb build.

Explore Hezenkoss’s Workshop¶

After completing the lever puzzle, head through the secret door and ride the elevator down and exit out into Hezenkoss’s Workshop. You don’t have to travel far to see what she’s been working on - a massive skeletal construct can be found leering at you in the distance, and it quickly becomes clear that your infiltration did not go unnoticed.

Go down some stairs to the south to find yourself beset by a horde of Ravenous Dead, which are normally fodder. These ones are unusually durable - it doesn’t make them dangerous however, so cut your way through and make your way southwest, south, then southeast until you find some stairs leading up. After a short flight of stairs, continue south, then turn southeast through a doorway to find a small chest containing the Terror’s Visage cosmetic, along with other goodies. Backtrack through the doorway, then go up some stairs to the southeast where you can find an Ink-Splattered Note on a table. Looks like Hezenkoss wants to settle some scores and gain power at the same time.. and even Manfred is on the revenge list!

Drop off a ledge to the east, defeat more Ravenous Dead, then drop off a ledge to the east. Note the doors to the north and ignore them for a bit, instead exiting through a hole in the wall to the east before turning south and climbing some ledges to find a small chest. As a mage, this chest contained the Glacial Talus (or an upgrade for it, if you already found an instance of this ring, which is very likely). This is another very useful ring for the Arcane Bomb build, making this quest something of a treasure trove for such fare. Backtrack into the previous room and go through the doors to the north.

Once through the door you’ll be accosted by more undead - kill them and continue up two flights of stairs to the northwest, then east. Fight your way across a bridge and continue up a longer flight of stairs, follow the linear path ahead, cross a pillar bridging a gap, then turn southwest and drop off a ledge.

When you land you’ll once again have to fend off some undead, this time in waves. Kill a few of the normal undead warriors and mages and a “Deathchill Pride Demon” and a Superior Armored Undead will spawn, the former of which is notably weaker than most Pride Demons you’ve encountered, although it has the same attacks. Defeat this Pride Demon and it’ll drop the Innervate rune Once every ghoul, geist and other grave-born abomination has died, Manfred will kick a ladder down, allowing you to ascend. Climb it, make your way south and drop off a ledge through a doorway to the south.

This will take you to the Upper Laboratory, where Emmrich will set himself to the task of dealing with Hezenkoss’s lantern. After a scene you’ll find yourself in a fight:

Boss - Hezenkoss¶

After Emmrich’s hesitation, Hezenkoss seizes the initiative to prove herself made of sterner stuff, springing her trap on her party-goers. There’s no time to spare - either Hezenkoss dies here or she succeeds at her scheme. Fortunately her massive skeletal proxy isn’t a ready vessel yet, and it serves as more of a backdrop than an enemy, aside from the odd phase change.

You’ll start out fighting against Hezenkoss on her own, and during the first phase of the fight she’ll have the following attacks, many of which you’ve seen other enemies use before:

• Baleful Flight: In order to put distance between herself and her attackers, Hezenkoss will fly to another location, summoning lashes of necrotic energy in her wake. Just watch for the red reticles and avoid them.

• Bone Spirit: Similar to the attack employed by armored skeletons and revenants, Hezenkoss will shoot a spectral skull at her enemies. In the second phase of the fight she’ll shoot two of these consecutively, and in the third phase she may shoot several at a time in various directions.

• Polar Ray: One of Hezenkoss’s more dangerous attacks (actually fairly dangerous any time it shows up regardless of the enemy), Hezenkoss will shoot a sustained beam of ice at a target. Easy enough to avoid if you don’t mind running, you can also hide behind pillars (although this often prompts Hezenkoss to spam it) or hit her with a powerful enough attack to disrupt it.

During the first phase of the fight, Hezenkoss is mobile and attacks often, but there are still openings where you can attack. Reduce her to about 75% of her health and she’ll fly to her giant skeletal war machine for emotional support, spawning some unexceptional undead to keep you company while she’s gone. The thrashing of her gargantuan skeleton will dislodge boulders from the ceiling - all ancient manors conveniently have excess stonework that mad necromancers can use to crush their enemies, don’t you know - leaving red reticles on the ground. Dodge them to avoid extra damage, kill her undead, and in short order Hezenkoss will decide to grace you with her presence again. During this phase Hezenkoss adds two new attacks:

• Necrotic Storm: Hezenkoss will cause bursts of necrotic energy to manifest across the battlefield. These are similar to her “Baleful Flight” bursts, with a red “don’t stand here” reticle and everything.

• Wraith Tornado: An honest to goodness unique attack! Hezenkoss conjures a maelstrom of spectral energy, large, powerful, and thankfully slow-moving, this will tear across the battlefield before expiring. All you can do here is not be in its way.

Otherwise, a few of Hezenkoss’s attacks will evolve a bit (she’ll shoot out more Bone Spirits in succession) and she’ll generally become more aggressive, while constantly summoning adds. Bring her health down to 50% and she’ll take shelter with her construct, causing even more boulders to fall down and summoning a pair of armored undead to help delay your inevitable victory. She’s actually quite aggressive in phase three, so take what hits you can and work on whittling down the last 25% of her health.

Yes, we’re aware that 25% + 25% +25% = 75%. Once her health is reduced to a quarter she’ll tire of the fight and decide to use her lantern as a trump card. Watch the scenes that follow and you’ll be back at the Necropolis, where Emmrich is presented with a choice, which we won’t spoil here, save to say that whatever choice you make does not compromise a Rook/Emmrich romance, but it does alter some scenes. See the spoiler box below for details.

After the choice you’ll be back in The Lighthouse, where this quest will end, netting you 3,750 EXP, the Crested Focus keepsake for Emmrich, 600 gold and +100 Mourn Watch Strength. A followup quest will also trigger at this time, depending on the choice you mad earlier.