The Great Blackmail Hunt is a side quest in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Scandalous secrets are everywhere at the Grand Masquerade. Listen in on conversations to gather gossip and scour the palace for incriminating items and notes. The secrets learned could be used to gain power for the Inquisition and the upper hand in the Grand Game of Orlesian society.
Acquisition[]
Obtained when you eavesdrop or discover a scandalous document in the Winter Palace during the main quest, Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts.
Walkthrough[]
The secrets can be found by eavesdropping, finding secret documents with the search ability, or talking directly to people. It's important to keep eavesdropping in a particular location until you successfully collect a secret. There are 30 to be found.
The secret documents go by various names ("correspondence", "building permit", etc.), however, they are all the same and in fact, change from one playthrough to the next for any given location.
Note: If the result of the eavesdropping doesn't give an update of 'Scandalous secrets gathered', wait a little until the eavesdrop circle reappears and then eavesdrop the same location again. Usually you'll hear something useful within four attempts. There is clearly a random chance of it happening, so the number of retries is theoretically infinite, but the probability appears empirically to be around a third and so the expected number of retries is around three. This applies to all eavesdropping locations.
Note: Some circles or documents will only appear in certain phases of the main quest. Note that the document from the West Storage Closet will be permanently unavailable if not picked up during the first phase.
Main quest stage "Enter the Winter Palace"[]
Palace Garden (1/30)[]
- A secret document is in the desk of the west storage closet.
Main quest stage "Enter the Ballroom"[]
Vestibule #1 (2/30)[]
- Eavesdrop location in the corridor west of the central stairs
Vestibule #2 (3/30)[]
- Eavesdrop location in northwest corner below the northeast stairs.
Main quest stage "Explore the Grand Library"[]
Guest Wing #1 (4/30)[]
- Eavesdrop next to the first gold lion on the left (not on the elves)
Guest Wing #2 (5/30)[]
- Eavesdrop just to the right after entering the room with Duke Germain (not on the elves)
Guest Wing #3 (6/30)[]
- Ask Duke Germain about his nephew. Either response works.
Guest Wing #4 (7/30)[]
- Speak to the Council of Heralds Vassal and select the "Phillipe is a jerk" conversation option
Guest Wing Gardens #1 (8/30)[]
- On entering the garden, turn right sharply and walk between the balustrade and the wall to find an eavesdrop circle most of the way down the walkway.
Guest Wing Gardens #2 (9/30)[]
- To the southwest of Dorian, along the west wall between a tree and a lantern are two nameless nobles. Jump the balustrade right behind them to find an eavesdropping circle. Eavesdrop on them first for the blood trail topic.
Guest Wing Gardens #3 (10/30)[]
- Eavesdrop on the two noblemen a second time (mage and templar topic)
Note: Speak with the nobles after eavesdropping twice and regardless of which dialogue option is chosen, the Inquisitor is granted 100 Influence and 1 Power for recruiting an agent. It should be noted, however, that no actual agent is recruited under Connections/Secrets/Forces.
Guest Wing Gardens #4 (11/30)[]
- Find a secret document at the far end of the upper balcony past the halla statue.
Grand Library #1 (12/30)[]
- Find a secret document on the desk in the room on the left (north) from the bottom of the stairs.
Grand Library #2 (13/30)[]
- Find a secret document on the easternmost table by the windows.
Main quest stage "Find material in the Royal Wing" (before Royal Wing)[]
Vestibule #3 (14/20)[]
- Find a secret document by going down the stairs from the vestibule, turn left to the western hallway where it is on a bench)
Vestibule #4 (15/30)[]
- There is an eavesdrop circle at the top of the stairs that lead to the Royal Wing.
Trophy Room (16/30)[]
- Find a secret document on the table between the bookcase and the stuffed mabari.
Hall of Heroes (17/30)[]
- Find a secret document on the lower level, behind the statue next to the far end of the couch.
Guest Wing #5 (18/30)[]
- Find a secret document on a table to the right of the door leading in from the gardens.
Guest Wing #6 (19/30)[]
- Find a secret document in the SE corner of the room with Duke Germain
Guest Wing #7 (20/30)[]
- Find a secret document on the southern table in the middle of the hallway
Guest Wing #8 (21/30)[]
- Find a secret document on the floor between the second lion and the couch.
Guest Wing #9 (22/30)[]
- On the couch along the north wall in the room with the guards.
Guest Wing #10 (23/30)[]
- From the room with the three guards, go out onto the southern balcony and take an immediate left to find an eavesdrop circle.
Guest Wing #11 (24/30)[]
- Jump over the balustrade at #10 - the document is on the ground to the right of the open window.
Guest Wing #12 (25/30)[]
- Opposite #11 - on a bench on the balcony.
Guest Wing Gardens #5 (26/30)[]
- Find secret document in the north west corner next to a loot sack in the NW corner.
Grand Library #3 (27/30)[]
- Find the secret document on the westernmost table by the windows.
Main quest stage "Find material in the Royal Wing" (in Royal Wing)[]
Royal Quarters #1 (28/30)[]
- Find a secret document downstairs when you first enter the Royal Quarters, on the desk to your left.
Royal Quarters #2 (29/30)[]
- Turn right at the top of the first set of stairs and right again to find a secret document on a book on a couch in the south-west bedroom.
Empress's private quarters (30/30)[]
- Find a secret document in the Empress's private quarters (requires five halla statuettes to open).
Delivering the secrets to Leliana completes the quest. This must be done before the the trap is sprung as you will not be able to return to her in the ballroom afterwards.
Rewards[]
Each delivered secret yields:
- +2 Court Approval
Delivering 30 scandalous secrets to Leliana yields:
- 370 XP
- Influence 160
Bugs[]
: There is no notification shown that the secret gathered by talking to the Council of Heralds Vassal has been attained nor is it counted among the gathered secrets, making it impossible to complete the quest.