Few things are more jarring in Dragon Age: Inquisition than riding across the sun-scorched Western Approach only to have a group of Outcasts attack you without warning. If you are scratching your head after completing Wardens’ Warding and suddenly finding this faction aggressive, you are not alone. The hostility can feel random, but it is almost always tied to your previous actions, quest progress, or specific world-state triggers. Understanding why it happens is the first step to deciding whether you can fix it or should simply power through.
Understanding the Wardens’ Warding Quest
Wardens’ Warding is a side quest available in the Western Approach after you gain access to the region. The quest tasks you with locating three scattered Grey Warden caches, each containing valuable resources and research notes. These caches are often found near landmarks like the old Warden outposts or ancient ruins. The quest itself is straightforward: track the markers on your map, defeat any enemies guarding the caches, and loot the supplies. Once all three are retrieved, the quest completes and you earn experience, influence, and some gold.
What the journal does not tell you is that the Outcasts, a bandit faction operating out of a fortified camp in the southern part of the Approach, may have been watching you the entire time. Whether they interpret your cache hunting as a threat or looting what they consider theirs is never made explicit, but the game’s faction logic can kick in and turn them from neutral to hostile immediately after the quest concludes.
The Outcasts Faction and Hostility Triggers
Outcasts are one of the minor factions roaming the Western Approach. Unlike major groups like the Inquisition or the Grey Wardens, they are simple bandits with no deep allegiances. They remain neutral when you first enter the zone, their camp marked by tents and a merchant who will trade with you. You can even chat with their leader, Gurd Harofsen, if you find him before any confrontation. However, their neutrality is fragile.
Hostility can be triggered in several ways. The most common cause connected to Wardens’ Warding is a hidden faction alignment check. The Outcasts count as a “criminal” faction, and certain actions, such as looting caches they consider theirs or killing their scouts, can silently shift their disposition to hostile. Another, more straightforward trigger is attacking any Outcast, even accidentally. If you engaged them while clearing the area around a cache, that hostility persists and loads when you re-enter the zone.
A less obvious trigger is story progression. After completing the main quest Here Lies the Abyss, some players report the Outcasts turning aggressive regardless of prior interaction. This may be a bug, but it also aligns with the chaos spreading across the Approach as the Venatori become more active. The game might interpret the region’s destabilisation as a cue to make all neutral bandits hostile.
How Your Choices Affect Outcast Reputation
Your decisions during and around Wardens’ Warding can lock the Outcasts into permanent hostility. Before you even pick up the quest, you have opportunities to interact with them. There is a war table operation called Investigate the Outcasts that can either lead to a diplomatic resolution or a raid. Choosing the raid instantly turns them hostile across the entire zone. If you avoid the war table altogether, you can still sour relations by killing their members outright.
During the cache retrieval, the Outcasts may have patrols near the second or third cache locations. If you fight them there, the entire faction becomes hostile. Some caches are guarded by undead or Venatori, but a few spawn Outcasts as defenders. Looting the cache after killing these “defenders” counts as clearing their encampment, and that is logged as a hostile act against the faction. The game does not notify you of this change, so when you later approach their main camp, they attack on sight.
There is also a subtle weight to your Inquisitor’s race and class. Elves and mages sometimes receive more aggressive dialogue from bandits, but this is cosmetic and does not override the faction hostility mechanic. What matters most is whether you physically killed any Outcast, whether as part of a quest or random encounter.
Solutions to Calm or Avoid Hostile Outcasts
If you are early in the zone and have not yet triggered permanent hostility, you can take steps to keep the Outcasts friendly. The safest method is to hold off on completing Wardens’ Warding until you have exhausted all positive interactions with the Outcasts. Visit their camp, speak to Gurd, buy unique items from the merchant, and complete any minor quests they offer (such as gathering supplies for them). Once those are done, you can then collect the caches without fear, because any faction hostility after that point will not lock you out of meaningful content.
When approaching a cache that has Outcast defenders, try to lure them away before engaging or use stealth to loot the cache while they patrol elsewhere. If you must fight, let your companions attack while you stay out of direct combat. Sometimes the game only flags the Inquisitor’s kills, so if a companion lands the final blow, it may not register as a full faction kill. This is inconsistent, but worth attempting on a careful run.
If you have already turned them hostile, your options narrow. There is no in-game way to reset faction reputation without loading an earlier save. Some mods for the PC version allow you to edit faction relationships, but on consoles you are out of luck. The most reliable fix is to reload a save from before the cache collection and replay the quest more cautiously.
What to Do If the Outcasts Remain Hostile
Once the Outcasts are permanently hostile, you may need to simply fight through them. Their camp becomes a combat zone, but it is not a critical location. You can still complete other quests in the Western Approach and never interact with them again. The merchant dies during the attack, so you lose access to their inventory, which includes a couple of unique schematics and a crafting material. If those items matter to your build, a rollback is the only way to acquire them.
If you are far past the point of no return, console commands (on PC) can be used to revive the merchant or reset the faction, but this is advanced and may disrupt other scripts. For most players, the best course is to accept the hostility, mop up the camp for extra loot and experience, and move on. The Western Approach has plenty of other content, and the Outcasts are a minor footnote in the grand scheme of things.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does completing Wardens’ Warding automatically make the Outcasts hostile?
No, the quest itself does not force hostility. The change usually happens because of side effects: killing Outcasts near the caches, the war table operation, or a story progression flag. You can sometimes complete the quest peacefully if you avoid any Outcast combat.
Can I reset the Outcasts’ hostility without loading an old save?
On consoles, there is no official way. On PC, you can use a mod or console command to adjust faction reputation, but this can cause glitches. Loading a prior save is the cleanest solution.
What happens if I kill the Outcasts leader before completing Wardens’ Warding?
Killing Gurd Harofsen or any named Outcast immediately turns the entire faction hostile. This is permanent and cannot be reversed without a save reload.
Why are the Outcasts hostile even though I never fought them?
This can happen if you progressed the main story past Here Lies the Abyss, which triggers a global hostility shift for many bandit groups. It may also be a rare bug tied to the war table operation completing in the background.
Are there any benefits to keeping the Outcasts peaceful?
The main benefit is access to the Outcast merchant, who sells a few unique schematics and a rare crafting material. There is also a minor dialogue interaction with Gurd, but no quest chains or major story content depend on their survival.
