Chapter 10: The Assault on Vigil's Keep pt1
Vigil's Keep is one of the oldest settlements in Ferelden, older than Denerim and Gwaren. The barbarians who battled the Tevinter Imperium chose this location for a fortress so that their warning fires would be visible at great distance, when Tevinter ships neared the coast.
The Vigil has seen battle in every major invasion of Ferelden. Tevinters, rival barbarian clans, and Orlesians have all held her battlements. The Vigil was the first fortress to fall to the Orlesians and the last to be freed.
The cellar beneath Vigil's Keep retains traces of the Avvar barbarians. To the Avvars, the Vigil was both a fortress and a holy site. The cellars bear monuments to their gods, heroes, and their rare military victories.
The Vigil's cellars connect to the Deep Roads far below. Evidence suggests the Avvars and dwarves traded in secret, a breach of promises made to the Tevinter Imperium in the days before the darkspawn.
Amaranthine-Vigil's Keep
The Waking Sea is known for its temper, and the storms that sweep in from the warmer northern waters are sudden and brutal. Rising above these turbulent waters is the City of Amaranthine once a modest fishing village, now an important and prosperous port city and a center for trade in northern Ferelden. Hardship and adversity, like the storm-tossed waves of the Waking Sea, have assailed Amaranthine time and time again, only to crash and break upon her walls. The people of Amaranthine survived first the Orlesian occupation, then the sacking of the city when the Orlesians departed. They know one thing for certain: the city will always stand as a testament to the strength and steadfastness of the Fereldan people.
The Pilgrim's Path is another important location in the Arling. It is the major road which connects Amaranthine with Denerim and rest of the southern Ferelden. Amaranthine was the ancestral home of the Howe family, but due to Rendon Howe's part in Teyrn Loghain's coup of Ferelden the Howe family was stripped of all claim to the Arling by Ferelden's new king, Alistair. Due to Jenra's actions in saving Ferelden from the Fifth Blight, he was rewarded Amaranthine to rebuild the Ferelden chapter of the Grey Wardens.
In the aftermath of the Fifth Blight, the darkspawn did not disappear…most of the horde scattered north from Denerim towards the coastlands where they fractured and turned on each other. With darkspawn and bandits terrorizing the countryside and a lack of leadership, the region fell into chaos. Jenra, the new Warden Commander of Ferelden travels with his seven warden recruits to deal with the threat and bring order back to the region. The group headed for Vigil's Keep, the seat of power in Amaranthine.
"Oy! What the hell? No welcoming party?" A gruff man with greying hair in brown said. "Don't they know the Hero of Ferelden is here with us?" Derack of South Reach, a great champion that fought off an army of bold bandits with only ten men. Known for being very loud and boisterous.
"Perhaps they were scared away by your voice, I'm pretty sure I saw several rats scurrying away" the blonde-haired man in light silver armor said. Taelon of Gwaren, he is a master of stealth and subterfuge. He was recommended by Ser Cauthrien as way to mend fences between Teyrna Anora and the wardens. Known for his smart mouth that rubbed people the wrong way. Derack narrowed his eyes and faced Taelon.
"Want to say that again, runt?" A large bald man with a large scar across his forehead in grey heavy armor got between them.
"Hey save your fighting for the darkspawn" Byron of the Storm Coast, a giant of man that have been known to hunt Giants that got too close to his lord's land. Despite his stature, he was a pious man who would rather solve conflicts peacefully but if it could not happen, he would destroy a person in an instant. A young woman in a dragon styled blood red armor came to Jenra's side.
"What's going on? Why are there no Wardens here to greet us?" Ser Mhairi of Dragon's Peak. She fought in the Battle of Ostagar and was one of the few survivors from that quagmire. The most wide-eyed of the recruits, she was enraptured by the tales of kings and nobles as a child which was why Loghain's betrayal of King Cailan and the King's death hit her hard. When she learned of Jenra and Alistair quelling the Blight almost single-handedly, she vowed to serve the Wardens. When she was called upon to join the Warden to help rebuild the order in the Arling of Amaranthine, Mhairi jumped at the chance to join.
The whispers in Jenra's head was loud…darkspawn was near and there were a lot of them. He took out his sword and the recruits got quiet and took out their weapons too. A soldier baring the seal of House Howe ran their way with darkspawn closely behind.
"Ciel" An elf in green and brown light armor came forward and fired his arrows at the head of the darkspawn allowing the soldier to get away in time. Ciel of Rainesfere was recommended by Bann Teagan, he was one of the few elves to rise to the ranks of an elite soldier. A man of few words, he would rather let his arrows do the talking for him. More darkspawn came and two women came forward, they nodded at each other and rushed the darkspawn and quickly took them out before they could even reach their party. Talia of Oswin and Natalie of Winter's Breath are old friends since childhood and skilled warriors that seem to read each other's minds. It was thanks to their friendship that Osvin and winter's Breath became allies after a decade long bitter rivalry. Jena came to the soldier and helped him up, when he looked at Jenra his eyes went wide and he bowed.
"You're the Hero of Ferelden, oh thank the Maker!" the man said. "We may now have a chance" The soldier explained that the darkspawn ambushed Vigil's Keep; before the fortress could mount a counterattack…they were overrun. Jenra frowned at that; this shouldn't have happened…there were experienced Wardens at the fortress that should have sensed them coming close. Not only that, darkspawn launching a sneak attack…that was unheard of, at least not without a Archdemon commanding them. "The screams…Maker the screams and the death; I got out as fast as I could to send help and ran into these…" he said. "Please help them; they won't last long against those monsters!"
Jenra nodded. "We will" he said. "Are there any Wardens alive?"
"There was someone right behind me, a mage. He might have been a Warden, I don't know" the soldier said. "I need to head into town, there has to be a patrol that can help" The soldier went on his way, Mhairi looked at Jenra.
"Commander, I don't understand…the Blight is over, how can they be so organized?"
"That I don't know perhaps there is something else leading them" Jenra said. The recruits looked unnerved. "A frightening thought, I know but have your wits about you"
Derack slammed his fists in anticipation. "Right with you Warden, let's send these bastards into the Void" The party headed into Vigil's Keep, the fortress was ravaged by fire and litter with bodies of the dead. The darkspawn wasted no time in turning the dead here into a twisted tribute to the Old Gods. "Bloody hell…Wardens can sense darkspawn coming, so how did this happen?"
"According to the seneschal, there are only a dozen Wardens here but there were plenty of soldiers also" Taelon said. "To ambush the keep so effectively, I didn't even know they capable of such a thing" All of the sudden a thud was heard and a scream, Jenra turned around…Talia watched in horror as her best friend Natalie laid dying in a pool of her own blood. A shriek was behind them, but something was very wrong…Jenra didn't even sense the darkspawn coming but that was least of his problem. Talia screamed and rushed the shriek with sword in hand, hungry to avenger her friend.
"Wait! We don't know what it can do!" The shriek dodged the move cleanly, like it anticipated it and in another move impaled Talia in chest. Jenra watched in horror as another one of his recruits fell, the warden quickly turned around blocked a blow with his sword. Another shriek…and again Jenra could not sense the darkspawn coming. He kicked the shriek backwards. "Everyone, back to back…don't let the shrieks get behind you"
The party circled around back to back, creating a defense for their flank. The shriek got up and attack with another one of them appearing next to it. They attacked with precision looking for weak spots in their defense…it felt like they were being attacked by soldiers being led by a military genius rather than mindless creatures. One of the shrieks jumped at Bryon, and the large man cleaved the darkspawn in two in mid-air. Ciel fired an arrow, and the shriek dodged only to be smashed in the face by Derack's shield allowing Taelon to stab the darkspawn in the heart. Jenra nicked his finger and allowed his blood to flow on to his dagger, the blood hardened on to the blade creating a small sword. The shriek lunged at Jenra with its blade out; the warden grabbed its wrist and then plunged his blood sword into its head, then beheaded the darkspawn. The fight was over…for now, Jenra walked towards the bodies of Talia and Natalie and closed their eyes. He only just got to know his recruits and already lost two of them…he Jenra would mourn their deaths later, right now they needed to drive the darkspawn out of the keep.
"Move out but stay aware" Jenra said. "My senses will not help us here" Jenra and the now five recruits headed deeper into the keep. A darkspawn fell at their feet in the hallway; they spotted a mage facing down several darkspawn. A shriek came from behind but was trapped in a binding ward and then imploded into a bloody puddle with a vacuum ward. A Hurlock charged at the mage and the mage burned it in a stream of magical fire. The mage shook his hand, and sighed in annoyance.
"And I just had bath too…damned darkspawn" The mage turned around and spotted Jenra and the recruits. Jenra saw the darkspawn fall on a pile of bodies that included several Templars. Before Jenra could say anything, the mage held up his hand and gave a nervous chuckle. "Er..this is not how it looks"
"Really? Because it looks like you are a mage surrounded by a couple of dead Templars" Taelon said dryly.
"I didn't kill them, though I'm not broken up about them dying to be perfectly honest" the mage said. "Biff there made the funniest gurgle when he went down"
"You killed these darkspawn yourself? That's impressive" Jenra said changing the subject.
"Yeah well, they softened them up before dying tragically" he said. "I'm Anders, by the way, mystic extraordinaire and wanted apostate…nice to meet you, er…"
"Jenra Cousland, Warden-Commander of this fortress"
"Commander, huh? From look of things you're not doing too good of a job of this" Jenra raised a brow, this mage had a smart mouth on him...he kind of reminded him of...well a lot his friend, without all the charm.
"An apostate? At the keep?" Anders smirked, came up and took Mhairi's hand and kissed it making the warrior blush.
"I lose my captors and I meet a lovely little flower…not too bad of day, if I say so myself" Jenra cleared his throat and gave the mage a stern look waiting for some kind of explanation. "Er…so we were just stopping here on our way back to the tower. Just a short rest, they said, and now they're dead. A shame but could be a sign, yes?"
Jenra crossed his arms. "That's a very convenient sign"
"Well, you know what they say…The Maker moves in mysterious ways" Anders said. "Hmm, judging from that frown you don't believe me…how about this? I help you and then we discuss what comes later…after all these bastards are put down, yes?"
"We're really not about to bring the Templar killer with us, are we?" Darack asked. "I'm on edge enough, as it is"
"Having magic on our side is always a good thing, trust me" Jenra said.
Anders smirked. "Glad we both agree, now let's salvage this sorry state of affairs, shall we?"
What does the darkspawn have in store for our heroes? Next Time! As always Review and Comment!