Sodding rain... sodding Wardens... sodding darkspawn!

I've been in a dark mood this whole trip, and the constant downpour hasn't improved it any. At least we have horses, I prefer riding to walking no matter the weather. The young knight riding with me has stayed fairly quiet, I think my dark demeanor has kept her from talking to me. She also seems a bit snotty, and it's made me instantly dislike her.

"We're almost to the keep, Commander."

Commander... I'm still not used to my new title. The higher ups at Wiesshaupt promoted me after reviewing the happenings of the events after Ostagar. Now I'm being sent to Howe's former arling to take control and clean up the corruption and organize the troops. His keep is to be the new home of the Wardens in Ferelden, which is all fine and dandy. The Orlaisian Wardens left about a dozen of their number at the keep, in order to help me until I have more recruits. The last six months have been a whirlwind of activity.

I pull my mount to a stop when a dark whisper at the back of my mind cuts through my thoughts... oh, sodding wonderful.

"Dismount. Now!"

The young knight gives me a startled look, but then obeys my order. I'm already on the ground, swords drawn. The knight looks confused, but draws her own sword and straps a shield to her arm. Our horses scent something on the breeze and snort before turning around and fleeing in fear. Their panic seems to have registered in the knight's eyes and she looks nervous. I turn my attention to the task at hand and charge down the road, running lightly, ready to spring into action.

Just up ahead I see a haggard looking soldier fighting off a handful of darkspawn. I send a bolt of lightning ahead and then the knight and I aid the man. After the immediate darkspawn are slain I focus and can tell there is a lot more darkspawn inside the keep. Maker! Why can't things ever go the way they're planned? The soldier has regained his wits and looks at me with large eyes.

"It's you! The Hero of Ferelden! Oh, thank the Maker!"

That title's getting old, I really shouldn't have let Alistair start calling me that.

"How did this happen?"

"I don't know! They came out of nowhere! All I heard were the screams and people dying; I got out as fast as I could and ran into these..."

The man's fear is palpable. Poor bastard, he really doesn't seem to be the fighting type, probably a farmer recruited into the militia. Hopefully I can get some useful information out of him.

"How many darkspawn are there?"

"I don't know. Hundreds! The Wardens didn't sense them until it was too late, and then they were everywhere! I'll see if I can't find some help. There has to be a patrol on the road."

I give him a nod and watch as he runs away. He'd only get himself killed here anyways. My attention turns to the young knight standing next to me as she starts talking.

"We don't have a lot of time, Commander."

"You don't say..."

My voice is dripping with sarcasm, and it makes her flinch as she realizes she just stated the obvious to the Commander of the Grey. The excitement of the battle must have made her forget her place, it wasn't intentional. Dammit, now I feel a bit guilty, maybe I should throw her a bone.

"Nice swordwork. You're not just a guide ,are you?"

"Oh! Pardon me, Commander. I'd assumed proper introductions would be taken care of at the keep. My name is Mhairi. I was a knight in the king's service until I was recruited a month ago, but I haven't taken my joining yet. The seneschal sent me to bring you back. I was not expecting this!"

There she goes stating the obvious again, it's a bit annoying. She's got quite the air of self importance, and that annoys me more. Well if she survives today and then her joining, I might just give her a ton of scut work until she is a little more humble. Oh, I'm liking that idea...

"Let's keep moving."

"Right! Let's teach these evil bastards a lesson."

Maker save me from new recruits!

Well I'm not liking the picture that's being painted for me. For starters, the darkspawn organized a sneak attack, that in itself is highly unnerving. Vigil's Keep is hardly a stronghold, a handful of well trained men could overrun it without much bloodshed. The walls are in ruins and there's too many weak spots to guard. Looks like Howe was spending all his money on things other then the maintenance of his keep, what a shocker.

Mhairi and I have secured the exterior of the keep and are now working at doing the same to the interior. Sounds of battle and the scent of magic catches my attention. I throw open a door to see a mage turning a hurlock toasty. The corpses of two templars lie mingled with dead darkspawn. The mage turns around and I'm surprised to realize that I know him.

"Er.. I didn't do it! Hey, I recognize you from the circle... I know what they've been saying about me, but this? Not my , don't get me wrong. I'm not broken up about them dying, to be perfectly honest. Biff there made the funniest gurgle when he went down."

I can't help but snort with amusement.

"So you killed these darkpawn by yourself?"

"Of course. Well, they helped. A little. Before they tragically died. You may call me Anders, my dear lady. I am a mage and, sadly, a wanted apostate."

Mhairi's reaction to the word apostate is immediate, she seems to recoil and regards Anders with deep suspicion. It's all I can do not to roll my eyes.

"An apostate? At Vigil's Keep?"

Again with the stating of the obvious. Was she an echo in her past life?

"You weren't here when we arrived. I'm sure I would have remembered such a lovely woman as yourself."

I roll my eyes at the cheap line.

"Look, we don't have the time to discuss this. Mhairi, so what if he's an apostate? Grey Wardens take whatever help they can get. And as for you, Anders, I'd never forget you... I was Beth's friend and I bet you don't remember my name."

Anders gets a bit flushed at the mention of Beth. They'd had quite the messy break up way back when.

"Um... Well, tell you what. I'll help you, and we can discuss what comes later... later, once all these bastards are properly put down, yes?"

"Sounds good to me, welcome to the party."

We continue on, leaving only corpses in our wake. Mhairi keeps her distance from Anders at first, but after he heals her when a shriek slices her neck open she acts less weary of him. We manage to save some people, and get a brief glimpse of a dwarf who throws explosives. Killing darkspawn is doing wonders for my dark mood. There is nothing quite like getting to kill things to help perk me up.

We've cleared out most of the keep, but sounds of battle are coming from one more room. I burst through the door to find someone fighting off ten or so darkspawn. The warrior is short, but... Maker! It's Oghren! He smiles and waves at me before continuing to fight. With a big smile on my face I do the same. Once all the darkspawn have been slaughtered, Oghren walks towards us and grins.

"A-ha! There you are! When these darkspawn showed up, I thought, "just you wait until the new commander gets here and you'll all be spitting teeth out of your arses!" Followed the screaming, and sure enough, here you are. Good on ya!"

"Oghren! You're here? I can hardly believe it!"

"Doubting your eyes, huh? I get like that, after the fifth bottle or so. Came here thinking I might try my hand at becoming a bona fide Grey Warden."

I'm grinning again. I've missed Oghren dearly these past months. Mhairi is glaring at him and looking like she just ate something sour.

"He was here when I left. I can't believe the Wardens didn't kick him out."

Okay, I'm a bit past irritated with her now. She has no right to judge who should and shouldn't become a Warden. Pretentious little wench. Just as I go to snap at her Oghren gives her a lecherous grin.

"Hey! If it isn't the recruit with the great rack!"

That's a boy, Oghren, use your dwarven charm. Hehe.

"Yes. A prize for the Wardens, to be sure."

"I know, I know, too good to be true, right? Hey.. who's the mage? Boyfriend? Should I leave you two alone?"

I give Oghren my best eye roll of annoyance. Anders doesn't seem too impressed by the dwarf.

"Wow. A dwarf that smells like a brewery. You never see that anywhere."

"Huh. A mage comedian. Thought those normally died young..."

"Okay, enough you two. We've got darkspawn to kill. Oghren, it's good to see you again, really."

"I find that hard to believe"

"As do I."

I turn around and give the mage and the knight each one of my nastiest looks, which instantly makes them both step back and look away. Oghren just chuckles and hefts his ax over his shoulder before giving me a big grin.

"Now let's go introduce some darkspawn arses to my foot. Only polite thing to do."

I wink at Oghren and then lead my little group onwards.