Two Worlds Pacifist Run - Rusty Ogre Lodge, Orna Mines & Brotherhood Outpost

Three noteworthy locations you can find while travelling in the far northern mountains east of the Komorin and Throglin Temple environs are the Rusty Ogre Lodge, the Orna Mines, and the Brotherhood Outpost.

You can acquire a significant number of pacifist-run quests here that you can solve for a lot of xp, gold, skill points, and reputation with the Brotherhood and Mage Society, among other rewards.

The Rusty Ogre Lodge is full of Brotherhood warriors, and can be found by the junction in the road south of the Orna Mine, which has been taken over by hostile Dwarves.

Holi: "Dangerous Neighbors & The Lost Patrol"

At the lodge, you'll meet Holi, a Brotherhood man whose brother was in a patrol that was lost in the mines. He will give you a quest ("Dangerous Neighbors," and "The Lost Patrol") to reach the mines and see if his brother is still alive somewhere inside.

You can do these quests without any violence (perhaps most easily if you have strong sneaking skill before sneaking into and through the mines), but unfortunately you will find out that the brother was slain by the dwarves, along with the whole rest of the patrol. Later, when you return to give Holi the bad news, he will be grieved but still thank you and reward you for your help, which will also increase your reputation with the Brotherhood.

Holi

Alfron Dekar

Before heading to the Orna mines, you may also wish to speak with outpost commander Alfron Dekar, whose quest is decidedly in a moral "grey area" in pacifist run terms: 

Dekar is adamantly determined to strike back against the dwarves who have invaded the mine and taken it over, and now hang any human they find near the territory which they've usurped.

Dekar hates dwarves (who he calls "little swine") and wants to raise a force to attack them, but first he is keen to engage a mercenary to go and kill their commander inside the mines. 

As far as we know, there is no way to deal with this without causing the death of at least the Dwarf Commander. We didn't try this in our run in order to stick to our "minimum violence" scruples, but another contributor also noticed the following: After trying to pick the Dwarf Commander's pocket in Sneak Mode and being attacked, the hostile dwarves chased him into a cavern deeper in the mines containing a cyclops...

This resulted in an imbroglio between the cyclops and trespassing dwarfs, in which the dwarf commander was slain by the cyclops. (The player then ran out of the mines and confirmed that this triggers the quest reward from Dekar— though he also decided to reload an older save file to avoid causing the deaths.)

Unexpected level-up bonuses received immediately after the cyclops clobbered the Dwarf commander...

Note: You can still go find out about Holi's brother and complete his quest without ever having to cause any violence to occur between NPCs as part of Dekar's quest (provided you don't let any pursuing dwarfs chase you into the cyclops' cavern at the back of the mines). If your sneaking skill is high enough, you can get in and out of the mines without ever being seen by a hostile dwarf.

Savras Ram: Forgotten Lore

You'll also meet a troubled man named Savras Ram at the Rusty Ogre Lodge. Savras Ram was once a farmer, but he had a burning ambition to become a mercenary, and left his father's farm to come to the north to start a new life. There he encountered the notorious tough mercenary  commander Hagrast and his men, and summoned the courage to ask to join them. Hagrast gave him a test by giving him the ancient key to Throglin Temple's interior gates, where a haunted Dwarven Vortex is emanating strange and possible dangerous enemies, saying that if Ram used this key, he'd let him join his band. 

However, Ram found he was too frightened of the dangerous supernatural energies to use the key, and is now ashamed and disappointed in himself.

Savras Ram will give you the key to the locked gateway in Throglin Temple

He will consequently ask you to take the key instead, which will trigger the quest "Forgotten Lore." You can solve this quest by accepting the key and returning to the ancient Throglin Temple (i.e., the temple where the game begins with you locked inside of it).

Return to Throglin Temple

The ancient key opens the gates leading to the swirling vortex of eldritch luminous energy at the rear of the temple: Climbing onto the platform and standing amidst the vortex not only won't harm you, however, it will reward you with 5 skill points that you can allocate to whichever skills you want.

Unlocking the gates solved the quest for more XP, and stepping inside the vortex will reward skill points.

There is a danger here, however: Opening the vortex will cause a host of angry Dwarven ghosts to appear on the platform below you and attack if you jump down and let them get close to you.
However, like virtually every other foe in the game except for a handful of bosses, all these shades are susceptible to Freezing Wave spells that will hold them immobilized for much longer than you'd need to escape— and you could easily also just jump off the platform and run past them to escape the haunted temple with little difficulty.

The Dwarven Vortex seen from inside the gates...

(The only remaining caveat is that if you want to come back to the Temple to resurrect the two Groms the game forces you to bump off at the very beginning of the game in order to unlock the temple, these Dwarf vortex ghosts now shambling around the temple will also be hostile to the resurrected Groms and smite them in a few blows— so the most scrupulous players may end up losing some sleep over the moral issue of whether to resurrect the two killer Groms in the first place, whether to banish the hostile dwarf ghosts to protect the resurrected Groms, or whether to forgo the quest rewards altogether to hold to a creed of purist non-involvement.)

Brotherhood Barracks & Outposts

Further up the road past the Rusty Ogre Lodge, you'll find a Brotherhood fort and barracks, and on the crag above the fort, an imposing "Brotherhood Outpost" complex built from stone. First, however, you can meet another interesting character along the road: 

Giriza Smuggler Tidar Shog & The 'Slimy' Commander

While travelling toward the fort on the lower mountain roads, you'll find a small camp in a clearing on the left, where you'll meet a smuggler named Tidar Shog.

Shog is personable enough toward the protagonist, but he is fixated on getting revenge on the the Brotherhood commander Darat Honmoria (who can be found at the Rusty Ogre Lodge), and offers you 1000 gold to go and kill him: It would seem the Commander stiffed Tidar Shog for some gold after Shog smuggled dragon's eggs into the Outpost for him, and Shog wants revenge. 

As far as we know there is no way to satisfy Shog without killing the commander, so we didn't attempt it. However, by accepting the quest from Shog, you'll have the option to go talk to the Outpost Commander and get 1,000 gold from him without having to harm either of the two feuding miscreants. (See below for details.)

If you talk to the Brotherhood soldiers at the barracks fort a short distance ahead of the Rusty Ogre Lodge, you'll find out no one else likes the "slimy" Commander either, but he's no longer at the Outpost or the Fort, having apparently teleported himself away after a disaster occurred at the Outpost...

Darat Honmoria (the 'slimy commander'), found at the Rusty Ogre Lodge

Although you can't actually solve Shog's quest on a pacifist run, you can still pick up some extra gold by finding and speaking with the notorious outpost commander Darat Honmoria, who you'll actually find back at the Rusty Ogre Lodge: Honmoria will immediately start protesting and guess that Tidar Shog sent you to kill him, and offer you twice the reward to double-cross Shog and go murder him instead. The good news: The Commander will advance you 1,000 gold coins up front as a gesture of "good faith" for these black deeds, so you can choose pocket this gold and let the matter rest there, leaving both miscreants alive. (Note: These two quests are called "A Paid Murder" and "A Cross Hit", but you won't ever be under any pressure to do either in order to collect the gold.)

The Brotherhood Barracks

After bribing the surly gate guard Orm Munhin with 100 gold pieces to let you inside, you'll be able to meet a soldier named Eskel Oldroot near the other gate on the far side, and he'll stop you and ask for help finding his brother. This triggers the quest "Check Up on the Guard's Brother."

Past the fortress as you ascend the steeper roads and pass through a cave tunnel, you'll encounter a strange character named Ilon Kircer, who will advise you to run away from the Outpost, claiming that "Hell is up there," and that the Brotherhood and some mages were apparently performing secret and dangerous experiments involving both dragons and necromancy... These caused both men and dragons to start screaming and drop dead of no natural cause, and he says he only managed to escape by sheer luck after fleeing for his life. He'll also tell you that Loth Oldroot was on guard duty at the outpost when "Hell happened there," and then will leave. (If you try to talk to him again later, he'll just tell you to leave him alone.)

The Doomed Brotherhood Outpost

As you approach the fortress, you'll encounter a paladin named Toten Lokan who is there to investigate dangerous discharge of magical energy, which they suspect may have been caused by necromancers. (He will tell you to leave the area, but fortunately he won't become hostile if you just ignore his command to leave, however.)

As the paladins suspected, necromancy is afoot and it's only a matter of time before you encounter hostile undead skeletons in this area, but they are pretty easy to sneak or run past without much difficulty.

The Dragon Scale

While you're still outside, this is an ideal place to pick up a dragon scale near one of the impressive looking dragon skeletons you will discover in some of the walled stone alcoves  on the upper outdoor leels of the Outpost. (You'll need one of these to give to Daron Moreti in Thabarkin's Mage quarter, in order to solve his quest without having to harm any dragons yourself. See THABARKIN)

You can find a dragon scale on the ground near one of the giant dragon skeletons in the ruined outpost

You will also find an entrance to the Outpost Dungeons: 

Enter these, and you'll be able to sneak in and find that one man still remains alive locked inside the rusty cages of the underground jail. The prisoner is a Brotherhood man named Ton Nakiri, who tells you that the much-loathed Commander had him thrown in jail for defying his orders, and that the Commander teleported himself away to the Rusty Ogre Lodge as soon as hell broke loose at his Outpost when necromantic experiments with the dragons went badly awry. Unfortunately, you'll also learn that Loth Oldroot died in the same attack, and his body is in the same jail cell.

Now Ton Nakiri just wants a lockpick to let himself out of his cell, so talk to him again to give him one, and he'll walk out of his cell and reward you with experience and increased reputation with the Brotherhood.

Finally, you'll have to sneak or run past more skeletons to escape from the Outpost, after which you can descend from the mountains and deliver the sad news about Loth Oldroot to his brother, who will curse the Commander, but reward you with more experience points and increased reputation with the Brotherhood for your efforts.

Two Worlds Pacifist Run - Thalmont Mountains Exploration

We already covered most of the most subquests that yield either non-violent experience point rewards, gold, or plot developments in other sections, but there are also some nice sights to see for players who enjoy exploring the mountains of northeast Thalmont:

The Deladkull Glacier is seen in the distance from Thalmont's Eastern mountains, near the Skelden outpost...

Deladkull Glacier & The Snow Cave
This is a nice place for some horseback riding and sight-seeing, particularly if you have the Orc Camouflage armor on, as there are no inhabitants up here other than glacier orcs and wild beasts.

Following the north bank of the river to the far northeast is another possible scenic route to get to the glacier

There aren't any quests on the glacier, but it's a scenic place where it snows regularly once you get to a high enough elevation. You'll be able to see wildlife such as wolves and polar bears,  as well as viewing rustic glacier orc villages.

And if you're wearing the orc armor (see CATHALON section for details), your new friends the glacier orcs will allow to take any treasure you might happened to find while sight-seeing at their snow camps.

If you're not wearing orc camouflage armor, sneak mode will still allow you to acquire some Glacier Orc treasure without experiencing hostility toward human tourists...

You can also visit an impressive cave (called Ganga Cave on the map) whose nondescript entrance is near the snowline. The interior of the cave, however, is a series of snow and ice-filled caverns with a series of icy pools, and one huge cavern where some glacier orcs have made a camp and cookfires on some ice islands in the middle of the pool.

The freezing wave spell turns a maelstrom of rending claws and fangs into a temporarily peaceful arctic petting zoo, giving the pacifist run hero ample time to escape without a fight...

There are also a lot of timber wolves and some polar bears in the cave who will bound up to try to attack you, but you can easily cast freezing wave to prevent them from chasing you onto the glacier orcs' turf and getting themselves killed while you peacfully tour the caves.
Elsewhere on the glacier we also encountered at least one giant stamping around near some huge granitic boulders, but it tried to kill the protagonist when we tried to talk to it, so we ran away.

We can't prove that the photo isn't a fake, but now we know that they really do exist...

Old Boar Cave
Old Boar Cave is an impressive looking cave east of Menno Heragerard's outpost, down the hill, and west of the outdoor Grom strongholds built into outdoor rock formations. (If you come down the hill from the outpost, you'll find it right behind a camp of human bandits who are lazing around  in the road, but are easy to sneak past after picking the lock to their treasure chest on the east side of the camp.)

You can then sneak into the entrance to Old Boar Cave, which is another good place to test the mettle of your high-level sneaking skills:

If you decide to take this on, you can sneak through some impressive caverns full of spiders, a cyclops guarding treasure chests, and find two huge caverns full of green mists and both stalagmites and stalactites.

Sneaking into the shadowy recess of the chamber while the grunting ogre stomping back and forth has his back turned...

The large caverns are loaded with Grom warriors and archers, a couple of dangerous Grom shamen, as well as more ogres. One theoretic way to get through this cave with ease is to only enter once you're wearing the Orc Camouflage armor (waiting for the right time since it can only be taken on and off once.)

However, if you like stealth and are careful not to blow your cover, it's possible to use high-level sneaking skills to creep in and pick all the locked treasure boxes, and remove all their treasures for your own use without ever being seen.

You'll then be able to sneak back out loaded down with a small fortune, and can use various herbs and potions that provide a temporary strength boost if you find yourself with more treasure than your pacifist-challenge hero can carry.

The Mysterious Grom Mining Cavern
There is another impressive Grom-inhabited cave elsewhere in Thalmont, which we call "mysterious" because we've forgotten which exact cave this actually was on the overworld map. However, those who like exploring and using the sneaking skill to do some stealthy sight-seeing can sneak into this cave and watch the Grom's hard at work mining with pick-axes.

Spying on a Grom mining operation in sneak mode...

You can also inspect some impressive crystalline formations growing on the rockfaces inside the caves. (Of course, in addition to sight-seeing you can also help yourself to Grom's treasures using the sneak and lockpick skills.)

Some of the natural crystal formations that can be seen in the Grom mining cave...

A note on casual exploring with the Orc Camouflage Armor:
If you're already wearing the orc camouflage armor acquirable in Cathalon (which can only be taken on and off once), you could alternately just walk into these and other lairs of both Orcs and Groms and help yourself to the treasure without even doing any sneaking.

There are many more caves all over the map, some of which contain surprises like live magma cauldrons, or more pleasant environments like gleaming waterfalls or underground habitations. Nearly everyone found inside is hostile to human explorers, but you can visit a surprising number of caves and outdoor wilderness areas without being attacked as long as you're wearing the Orc camouflage armor during your exploring.

Orc soldiers accept the pacifist run hero as one of their own when he rides into an Orc War camp wearing the orc camouflage armor...

The Orc armor seems to work not only to win instant friends among all orcs and groms, but also Yatholen's serpent-people, and some other creatures who also give you a free pass to walk around on their turf as long as you look like an orc instead of a human...

Being unexpectedly attacked by human colleagues Sygius Destrus and Amber, the latter of whom one-shotted our hero with a projectile spell after somehow mistaking the protagonist for an orc...

The catch is that once you're wearing the Orc Camouflage armor, other humans (armored soliders in particular) will also mistake you for an orc and frequently attack you on sight, so it's best to wait until you're ready to spend some quality time with the Orc armor before putting it on for the first time. (See the Gor Grammar and Hadeborg Castle sections later for some notable examples of where wearing the orc armor can make life extremely easy for the pacifist run player of Two Worlds I.)

After a reload, we cautiously discuss plans for future use of the orc camouflage armor with a bunny, who was also working on a pacifist run through Two Worlds I...

The Forgotten Village
More dubiously, there is also a strange place you can discover along the high mountain roads directly east of Silver Plate Cave and Darrut Gate, somewhat to the northwest of the Western Thalmont Node.
The trouble is, we're not sure if there's any way to visit the place without disaster befalling the inhabitants:
In the first place, the denizens of the village will be displeased that you discovered their village, and you'll meet an elder named Barkin who will tell you some dark local history concerning a sacred grove and ancient pacts.
This will initiate a quest called "Web of Fear." If you then visit the Old Fort just north of the teleport up the road, you'll find a giant stamping about the place, but if you return to the Forgotten Village afterward, you'll discover the place being ransacked by giants who will kill all the inhabitants in the village, ending the whole episode on a discordant note.
(There doesn't seem to be any further development after this grim event, so we just reloaded a recent save file to spare the villagers' lives and avoid the Forgotten Village. Theoretically, though, if you arrive with the level 15 Air Magic spell 'Resurrection', you could watch these bizarre events transpire and then go resurrect all the slain inhabitants of the Forgotten Village, who wouldn't have to worry anymore about the dire impending doom that threatens each time an outsider drops by their village...

Horseback riding in Thalmont's northern coastal mountain range.

Two Worlds Pacifist Run - Eastern Thalmont Mountains: Grom Totems, Krannach, and Hagrast

This section covers three different optional but pacifist-run friendly subquests you can complete in the eastern mountain wilderness areas of Thalmont.

"Ruining the Groms' War For Them"
You'll find Skelden scout Menno Heragerard on top of the mountain northeast of the Excavations. If you've already spoken with Sanno Moon, this is one of the Skelden men you'll have been sent to help in order to gain reputation with the House. (See EXCAVATIONS guide for other details.)
Heragerard says the Groms are now invading in force and fears armies of them will soon attack settlements and the Excavations.

After talking with him for awhile, the protagonist will ask if the Grom war bands have any weaknesses. He'll remark that they have few, other than that they are all very superstitious. This gives him the idea that if their demonic horned-skull war totems were stolen from their sacred sacrificial mounds, then it would undermine their morale and confidence in their various war deities, and might be a substantial blow to their invasion plans. This initiates the quest "Ruining the Groms' War for Them."

What you'll have to do to solve this is to steal three Grom war totems from three of the four Grom war camps in the mountains, and bring them back to Heragerard. (You'll never be obliged to kill any Groms in the process.)

Spying on a Grom Camp

You can find these Grom camps in a number of places, such as the "Grom Siege" cave south of Komorin, the northwestern Grom war camp (where we also stole back Rama Erendar's stolen mage staff), and the outdoor Grom rock enclosure east of Heragerard's outpost. There is also a Grom war camp with another totem in the east, near Hagrast's camp and Conn Krannach's hidden lodge (see below).

Sneaking up to steal one of the Grom War totems at the Grom Siege cave near Komorin...

As for the tactics:
We decided it would be fun to maximize our sneaking skill to level 10 (which we did by solving lots of violence-free side quests in Cathalon and Quidnar before returning north), and then use stealth to sneak in and steal the totems right out from under the Groms' noses without being spotted.
However, using stealth is optional, since it's also pretty easy to simply run into the camps, lead the Groms on a run-around if they cluster together to block your entry or exit routes, and do a quick snatch-and-grab raid to grab a total of three horned totems (though you can certainly steal more of them if you want to).

Of course, if you have either the freezing wave or earth chains spells, then it's even easier to just bind any hostile groms in place first, and just walk up and take the totems and magnestie (and any other treasures you find).

When stealth fails: The 'Freezing Wave' spell stops a swarm of attacking Groms in their tracks without harming them.

To solve the quest, you'll just need to take three horned totems back to Menno Heragerard at the outpost, and he'll be very impressed and reward you with gold, experience points, and more reputation with the House Skelden.

If you want to travel further east in the mountains, there are also several more nonviolent quests you can complete that will also give you higher reputation with the Clan Karga:

Hagrast Wisps's Camp, and the solution to the Missing Son sidequest:
Quite a ways east of the Excavations, you can find the notorious mercenary Hagrast's camp. Hagrast will tell you that he recently killed all his own men after they mutinied and tried to murder him, but he'll never become hostile to you unless you go out of your way to challenge him to a duel.

If you talked to Ged Sammra in Thabarkin, unfortunately you'll now learn that Ged's son Myron was killed here as part of the frontier drama Hagrast describes. (Delivering this bad news to Ged after returning to Thabarkin will reward you with increased reputation with the Karga clan for having tried to help him.)

Conn Krannach and the Idol of Throglin
Not far from Hagrast's Camp, you'll find a remote hunting lodge in the woods, which turns out to be the hideout of the Karga rebel Conn Krannach. The problem here is that you'll need some reputation with the guard to get inside to talk to Krannach, so it may be necessary to have already helped Eras Brakalet, Myron, and/or some of the Karga Fortress men like Barra, Ethan, etc before this.

After you get inside the lodge to talk to Krannach, he will give you a quest called "A Friend's Favor" in which you have to sneak into a nearby dungeon and get an idol of the god Throglin. Returning this to Krannach will reward you with more experience, gold, and reputation with the Karga clan.

The idol of Throglin that Krannach wants.

While this covers the pacifist run quests we found in the eastern mountains, there are also a lot of impressive sights to see out here, like the Deladkull Glacier in the far easter of the wolrd map, and some interesting caves and megaliths in Grom territory, which we covered in a separate section on the rest of the mountains of Thalmont...

Two Worlds Pacifist Run - Karga Clan Territory

The elusive Karga Clan rebels are said to have a hidden fortress somewhere in the northern mountains of Thalmont, but their nemeses in Skelden House don't know where it is. However, you can find the Karga Clan territory yourself fairly easily by exploring the northwest: The easiest route is probably to ride up the mountain paths north of Covengor village, or to descend from the high slopes west of Throglin Temple.

Tunnel to Karga Fortress, seen from ridges above the main road leading up from Covengor environs

However, if you haven't earned any reputation with Karga Clan yet, the fortress guard will not let you inside the locked gates. The same is true if you find the Karga Supply Cave (required to solve Sanno Moon's quest described in the EXCAVATIONS section.)
One easy way for a pacifist challenger to do this is to talk to Eras Brakalet outside Pale Stone Cave south of Thabarkin (see THABARKIN section for details) and complete his easy quest to unlock a gate in the cave. Another longer option would be to journey over the mountains a long way into the wilderness east of the Excavations, where you can find Conn Krannach for another nonviolent quest (described in the section on the Eastern Mountains and Grom War Camps).
After this, whichever Karga man you helped will vouch for you, and most other Karga men you talk to in future will consider you a friend.
If you take the route by travelling the mountain roads north of Covengor, however, you'll also find several other potentially important stops before you reach the Karga Fortress:

Northwestern Grom War Camp
Whether or not you're ready to start dealings with the Karga clan, there is also a Grom War Camp high up in the hills northwest of Covengor, above the old graveyard and the necromancers' hut. Here you will find more Groms and a sacrificial rockpile with magnesite (which you can take back to Ferid Redismos for more teleport stones, if you haven't already gotten all three), a horned totem (which you can bring to Skelden House officer Menno Heragerard later for his quest), and also a mage staff lying on the ground near the mound. (If you've already been to Thabarkin Town, this is the staff sought by the friendly old mage.)

Visiting the Northwestern Grom War Camp, hiding behind the war totem mound in sneak mode...

The Groms also have stolen someone's horse, which you can steal back for your own use if you don't mind breaking your cover long enough to jump on and ride away to safety, but will likely be struck by a few Grom arrows while making the getaway...

Karga Supply Cave
Further up the main road north of the side-path leading to the Grom War Camp, there is another sideroad leading up into the western slopes will bring you to a Karga supply cavern that is locked and gated, guarded by a Karga warrior named Serpen.

The Karga Supply cave...

If you approach without first having gained some reputation with the Karga Clan, Serpen will turn you away brusquely. However, if you've completed one or more side quests to gain reputation with the Karga Clan, he'll greet you and allow you to freely enter the cave.

If you've already visited the Skelden Excavations and received Sanno Moon's subquest "The Cure," this is where you'll find the mysterious medicine Moon wants so badly.
(As far as we could figure out, the cure is also the only thing you can actually take from the cave after Serpen invites you to take supplies.)

Once you have it, all you'll need to do to finish Moon's quest is to take it back and hand it to him at the Excavations (but will probably also want to talk to the missing courier Estar Gren for even more nonviolent xp rewards in Gorelin, if you haven't been to Gorelin already).

Once you have the mysterious "Cure," handing it to Moon will reward you with xp and Moon's support in House Skelden.

The Hidden Fortress of the Karga Clan
When you're ready to continue the Karga & Skelden faction intrigues by visiting the Karga Fortress, you can find it by following the main road leading north into the mountains, which will eventually enter a natural stone tunnel in the rockfaces. This leads to a guarded entrance to the secret Karga Clan fortress.

There is a guard at the gates named Marcas who will let you inside if you've gained reputation with the Karga Clan. (Note: If you want to be humane toward humans and animals alike, you'll want to use stealth or freezing magic/earth chains, etc to make sure no bears and wolves chase you up the pathway through the tunnel, or else they might end up being dispatched by Marcas near his post at the gates.)

The Karga Clan Fortress gates...

Once you're inside the Karga Fortress, there are many more nonviolent subquests you can solve:

"Isa"
A Karga man named Barra will give you a quest to hunt down and kill an alleged traitor named Isa, who betrayed the Karga hero Conn Krannach and caused the latter to go into refuge.
However, Isa happens to already be dead, which means you can go find his body in a cave full of wolves only a short distance north of the tunnel, nonviolently evade the wolves after making the discovery, and then return to claim the 5,000 gold reward from Barra. (Whether Isa really betrayed Krannach and why he did so remained a mystery on our playthrough, but Barra will still give you the amount of gold promised as bounty.)

Barra, who will pay a large bounty for the discovery of the alleged betrayer Isa...

"Sources Drying Up"
This is a simple quest from a Karga healer named Antrai, who says he lacks alchemical skills and wants two healing potions to use to lend strength to his own mixtures. If you give him the potions, it will complete the quest and he'll give you a Blizzard spell card as a reward. (This spell isn't very useful in a pacifist challenge since it just rains down ice-damage on foes, but at least you did a good deed.)

The mage Antrai, who left the Society to work as a healer at the Karga Fortress...

"Collecting Evidence"
Also on the main lower grounds of the fortress, you'll meet a Karga operative named Ethan who looks very similar to Barra. Ethan will reveal that they have a spy named Zed Masara giving them information on Skelden's activities. (If you already spoke with Eras Brakalet outside Pale Stone Cave, that youngster will already have revealed Masara's name to you even before you finished his quest to open the Thabarkin passageway.)

Ethan, who gives the 'Collecting Evidence' subquest, looks like the twin brother of Barra, but is a different NPC.

Ethan will engage you to go to Gorelin and get some Excavation reports from Masara, and bring them back to him. However, in order to get into Gorelin Village to talk to Masara, you'll need to gain reputation with the Giriza first. As explained in the Gorelin section, Gorelin is a stronghold controlled by the Giriza Thieves' Guild, and the gate guard Met will only let you in if you've gained some reputation with their faction. We did this by completing quests for the Giriza operatives Stork and Keshi Lono who are lurking outside the Inn south fo Thabarkin Castle, though there are other ways. (See the sections on the Thabarkin Crossroads Inn and Gorelin for our way of doing this on a pacifist run, which will involve intrigues with the Giriza, Skeldens, and Karga Clan all at once by the time the sequence is done, but no fighting.) Once you've got the Excavation reports from Masara, you can bring them back to Ethan to increase your reputation further with Karga Clan.

Ultar Karga's Hideout & The Karga Treasury

If you follow the main road through the inner walls of the Stronghold and up the craggy switchback path leading north, you'll come to an upper level of the stronghold containing the Karga Treasury and guarded buildings where the clan's leaders Ultar Karga and his son Cahal can be found.
The Karga Treasury is where the golden relic frame needed to eventually complete the main storyline quest sequence is stored by the Karga clan, but you'll only be able to open the treasury later, after choosing to decisively aid either the Karga Clan, or their nemeses the House Skelden.

The relic frame inside the Karga Treasury (which you can only access later, after concluding the Karga vs Skelden saga).

Ultar Karga's building is guarded, and the guard won't let you in without getting permission from Ultar's son Cahal first.
Cahal is found outside another building a short distance ahead. He is convinced the clan's honor requires that House Skelden's leader Erbat Skelden be killed, and he is upset because his father has plans to restore the clan's position as the regional governors of Thalmont by finding proof of Skelden's corruption, rather than shedding blood.

Talking to Cahal will give you the quest "Eye for an Eye" requesting that you kill Skelden yourself to avenge Cahal's take on the Karga honor, but in the end you can simply ignore Cahal's demands for blood. (There won't be any penalties for letting Skelden live, other than upsetting Cahal, who will bluster at you a bit, but won't attack.) Once Cahal believes you've agreed to kill Skelden for him, he will tell the guard to let you inside Ultar Karga's lodge to speak with his father.

Ultar Karga will reveal that the House Skelden has discovered a secret gold mine, but never told the King about it even though the realm is wracked by warfare. Furthermore, they have learned that a former moneyer to the Crown (a man named Net Tannos, who you never directly encounter as far as we know), was believed dead, but has also been seen among the Skelden forces.

Ultar Karga is convinced that there must be some proof at the excavations of a conspiracy to strike golden coins without royal authority, which would be sufficient to have House Skelden ousted in a scandal, restoring the leadership of Thalmon to Clan Karga.

This leads to a quest called "A Final Strike" in the Questbook.

When you're ready to conclude this quest and bring the Karga Clan vs Skelden House saga to an end by choosing which side to take, you can find the details in the separate section on Karga vs Skelden. However, be warned that there are a number of rewarding nonviolent pacifist run quests to complete for both sides before doing this. (Even though you won't have to kill anyone or cause any deaths if you end up taking the Karga side, the Skeldens will leave Thalmont after the drama concludes, and you won't be able to finish any of their side quests after that.)