The Evanuris have spread blight in their wake, and while few areas in northern Thedas have escaped this scourge, the Hossberg Wetlands have been especially ravaged. After you recruit your final two party members Emmrich and Taash, you’ll need to visit the Hossberg Wetlands to help two Grey Wardens study the evolving blight, and with a new area comes new side quests. The blight isn’t the only aberration in the Hossberg Wetlands, either - rumors of a curse at the Gaspin Manor have piqued the interests of the villagers of Lavendel, and their entreaties fall upon the benevolent (or perhaps just greedy?) ears of Rook. This page will cover the side quest An Academic Interest in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Page Breakdown¶

Starting An Academic Interest¶

To start this quest you’ll need to unlock the Hossberg Wetlands, which comes with its own main story quest Something Wrong. Once you arrive you’ll chat with the two Grey Wardens, Evka and Antoine, who will ask you to get them some blight samples. This might seem extraneous to the task at hand, but you’ve got to follow this quest a bit to open up the majority of the Hossberg Wetlands, at blight cysts block your way southeast - blight cysts you need to destroy and collect samples from for the aforementioned quest. Before you prance off anywhere, however, talk to a guard along the southern end of Lavendel (just south of the beacon) and he’ll give you this quest.

Reach Gaspin Manor¶

Now that you’ve properly started the quest you just need to reach Gaspin Manor. Head to the southeastern end of Lavendel and destroy a blight cyst (and gather its sample) at the mouth of the cave (Blighted Tunnel), then enter said cave. Follow the blight vein to the north and destroy another cyst along with any darkspawn that pester you (beware of explosive blight pustules that fall from the ceiling!). Follow the disintegrating blight vein south to another blight cyst, which blocks an exit - destroy it and head out to the south to reach the Old Crossroads area.

Continue south to find a beacon and beyond it to the southeast, some stairs. Ascend to reach another cave, the Cavernous Tunnels, where you’ll find some crystals waiting for you. You know the drill: find the unshielded crystal and destroy it, then work your way back destroying each newly unshielded crystal in succession until the door crystal is vulnerable. Once that’s destroyed you can continue deeper into the cave… where a second and a third crystal puzzle await. Same thing as before, really, smash each unshielded crystal, but this time you need to be wary of a large “surging crystal” which will release damaging AoE pulses from time to time. You can halt these by destroying the small crystals that appear over the surging crystal, but you’re better off finding a spot outside of the surging crystal’s AoE from which to hunt for the smaller, unshielded crystals you need to destroy in sequence until first the surging crystal, then the door crystal, are receptive to damage.

Clear all three crystal puzzles and beyond the third barrier you’ll find Gaspin Manor.

Clear Gaspin Manor¶

When you arrive at Gaspin Manor you’ll quickly realize that you’re not alone - a squad of Venatori are here, and they’ve littlered the area with their crystals. There are two surging crystals along the northeastern half of the area, so avoid that if possible. Defeat the Venatori, then go about destroying the numerous crystals on the manor grounds. None of the crystals are terribly well hidden, they’re just plentiful - the sneakiest one is within the manor house itself. As you snoop about you’ll likely hear a mysterious voice speak to you, telling you about a cellar. Check on the haunted bit, the treasure remains to be seen.

Once all the crystals are gone - or at least both surging crystals - turn your attention to the ruined multistory structure between the two surging crystals. On the upper floor you’ll find a brazier - part of this area’s statue puzzle (unrelated to this quest) while on the lower floor you’ll find the local beacon. Both floors have crystals on them, if you missed any, but there’s also a boarded up doorway on the lower floor. Destroy the feeble barrier to find a more sophisticated one behind it - another barrier. If you destroyed all the crystals outside you should be able to destroy the crystal in the doorway and open the way to the cellar. Head downstairs, use the Unbind Wardings ability to dispel a second barrier, then search the cellar for some notes and the corpse of a dead Venatori. Looks like the villagers of Lavendel aren’t the only ones who believe there’s treasure down here.

Only one way to find out, examine the northwestern corner of the room and you’ll find a bricked up doorway. Or the illusion of one, anyways. Interact with it and a doorway will appear, beyond which you’ll find the source of the voice you’ve been hearing…

Defeat the Consuming Obsession¶

The demon haunting Gaspin Manor is nothing less than a Pride Demon, this one going by the moniker “Consuming Obsession”. Like the one you fought near Solas’s ritual site at the start of the game, the Consuming Obsession can unleash a combo of slashes with an electric blade that shoot blades of energy, and it also possesses a combo of two unblockable claw attacks followed by a slam attack (there’a red line reticle on the ground for this last attack). In addition the Consuming Obsession has various magical attacks, including a slow moving orb of electricity, a line of lightning, electric eruptions on the ground (marked by reticles) and a lance of energy that spins on the ground.

Its attacks are mostly well-telegraphed and easy to dodge, but the room you encounter the demon in is rather small, which can complicate matters. The Consuming Obsession will also be joined by two Greater Shades, which spawn in the previous room. Do yourself a favor and throw the kitchen sink at the shades so you can remove them as quickly as possible. If left to their own devices they’ll distract your companions and hold them up in the other room before eventually making a nuisance of themselves. They can also temporarily manifest as a Lesser Pride Demon, which looks like the Consuming Obsession - simply put, they’re an unwanted distraction and your life will be easier once they’re gone.

Other than that, if you can parry the Consuming Obsession’s blockable attack you’ll stagger it, earning some free hits. The Consuming Obsession is weak to necrotic damage and resistant to lightning, while the two Greater Shades are weak to cold damage and resistance to necrotic damage.

Defeat the Consuming Obsession and it’ll drop a chest, which you can loot along with another chest in the room where you first encountered it. Read a note on the floor near a skeleton to learn about the source of this demon, then return to Bastian - the guard in Lavendel who gave you this quest - to finish the quest and earn a reward consisting of +500 XP, 200 gold, +5 Fade-Touched Ore, +100 Mourn Watch Strength and +100 Grey Wardens Strength.