I do not own Dragon Age or the mods listed

Chapter 24: Surprise at Vigil's Keep

Before we get started, I usually find a mod for a certain mage of this expansion to make him look like his later appearance. And I have just found out that Mark Sheppard did the voice for the Warden in the Sacred Ashes trailer, if you want a better idea of the voice for Malcolm.

With the death of the Archdemon, the Blight was defeated… but the darkspawn did not simply disappear. Most of the horde scattered north from Denerim towards the Coastlands… and there fractured into warring tribes. The region fell into chaos as the darkspawn emerged from hidden lairs to terrorize the countryside. As the new Warden-Commander and Warden-Constable of Ferelden, it is your responsibility to rebuild the order and deal with the lingering threat. You have come to Amaranthine to join the rest of the Grey Wardens at Vigil's Keep, once home to Arl Rendon Howe but now property of the order. The lack of a proper welcoming party as you grow close, however, indicates that something is amiss…

Malcolm and Halia slow down as their guide Mhairi looks around and asks out loud, "What is going on? Why are their no Wardens here to greet us?"

Malcolm walks ahead of the others before he feels something… beings with the Taint approach, which Halia feels as well and Malcolm holds up his hand. Up ahead he sees a human and behind him is several Genlocks. "Darkspawn!" He and Mhairi both draw their swords and charge while Halia draws her bow and start picking off the Genlock strays. The human turns around when Malcolm runs past before running to join the fight and Malcolm splits one of the Genlocks' skull open with his sword before pulling his sword free and follows up with a ray of frost, freezing a second Genlock. He looks over and sees the guide Mhairi fighting expertly, leading Malcolm to guess she's more than a guide. A charging Genlock pulls him out of his thoughts and he throws the frozen Genlock at the one charging, it shattering and blinding the Genlock, but it continues to charge only to find itself impaling itself on Malcolm's now flaming sword. Malcolm pulls his sword out and finds three charging him specifically, he twirls his sword a few times before spinning and swings his sword, the blade not touching them but the flame along the blade jumping out and engulfing the three. He looks around, seeing Mhairi dispatching her final one with a thrust through its gut and he turns to see the human survivor continually beating a Genlock with an arrow sticking through its skull. Malcolm walks over and puts his hand on his shoulder and pulls him away slowly. "Enough, it's dead."

He looks away from the corpse slowly and at Malcolm, recognition slowly seeping in. "It's you! The hero of Ferelden! Oh, thank the Maker!"

Malcolm looks at Mhairi and Halia as they approach before looking back at the survivor. "How did this happen?"

The man raises his arms and slowly shakes his head. "I don't know! They came out of nowhere! All I heard were screams and people dying; I got out as fast as I could and ran into these…" He looks at the corpse he was beating before looking back up at Malcolm. "You need to help them. You need to do something!"

"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."

Malcolm nods and lets the man run towards the road while Mhairi looks at two Wardens. "We don't have a lot of time, Commander, Constable."

Malcolm nods slowly. "By the way, that swordwork… you're not just a guide, are you?"

She seemed surprised before bowing. "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!"

Halia looks at Malcolm before looking at her. "And what have you been told about the Joining?"

She looks at Halia. "Nothing beyond the fact that it's a secret that recruits go through."

Malcolm and Halia both nod their approval of that fact. "Good. Now where are we?"

Mhairi looks at Halia. "This is Vigil's Keep, which once belonged to Arl Howe. Considering what he did to the order, and more specifically to the Commander, losing their lands is probably the least of his family's problems."

Malcolm looks at the Warden-Recruit. "Who is in command here?"

"Varel, the seneschal. He is the keep's steward, I believe, working for the Wardens."

Malcolm nods. "Then it's important that we find Varel, let's get moving."

Mhairi nods with a grim determination. "Right! Let's teach these evil bastards a lesson."

Malcolm leads the two into the outer courtyard of the keep and several darkspawn come at them, Hurlocks, Shrieks and an Ogre, Malcolm pulls out his shield before deflecting a blow from a Hurlock then he spins around behind it as he swings his sword up at the Hurlock's elbow breaking the bones and finishes it off by slashing across its back. Ice shards form on his sword before he spins around and swings his sword, the shards breaking off and impaling themselves into the closest darkspawns and he notices the Ogre. He throws out his shield-arm and steps made out of rough ice for grip are created in the direction of the Ogre. Lightning coils down the sword as he runs up the steps, more growing by his magic until he leaps off the top step, which is taller than the Orge and in an attempt to keep it from swatting him out of the air, he throws a few firebolts. The Ogre holds up its gauntleted arm to defend itself from the bolts and it lowers its arm only to find Malcolm's sword being impaled into its brain, the lightning coursing through its brain and body and as the body starts to fall Malcolm pulls his sword out before jumping off and landing.

Halia smirks as she lets out an arrow, killing the last darkspawn in the area. "Show off."

Malcolm looks at her and smiles as he shrugs before looking deeper into the Keep. "Let's keep moving." Malcolm leads the two up some stairs to another gate but before he gets too close, it was his magic that warned him this time. "Down!" He moves over and covers himself and Halia with his shield while a magic explosion destroys the gate, pommeling his shield with the wood. When the rubble stopped hitting his shield, Malcolm looks up over his shield before throwing out his arm, sending out a beam of frost, freezing the incoming fireball. The frozen ball drops and shatters as he gets up and starts parrying the swords of the two Hurlocks as he yells to Halia, "Kill the Emissary."

Halia nods as she stands up before dodging the greatsword of a Hurlock Alpha for a few seconds before she gets an opening and jams her bow into the helmet with enough force to stumble it back, unfortunately cracking the wood of the bow a little. She uses the opportunity to pull out Duncan's dagger and quickly slashes its throat out, but it stumbles back a little despite the fact that its black blood flows out before attempting to swing at her in an attempt to take her with it. She swerves around the Alpha down low, cutting the back of its knee before standing up and throwing the dagger, impaling into the charging Hurlock's neck and she spins and draws an arrow in her bow, the small cracks barely compromising the performance before she lets it go. The arrow flies true and impales into the Genlock Emissary's eye, it staggers a little before falling dead as she readies another arrow and releases it, the arrow slashes open the neck of a Hurlock that was charging Malcolm, its black blood gushing out.

Malcolm is pushing against two Hurlocks, using his sword against one and his shield against the other before pushing them back and ducks low as he slices up the leg of one of the Hurlock and proceeds to spin to the side and stands up while driving his sword deep into the chest of the other one, lightning traveling up the sword and into the Hurlock killing it for sure. He pulls it out with a spin and splits the side of the skull of a charging Hurlock as his other hand is outstretched and the Hurlock on the ground is engulfed in flames. He pulls his sword out of the Hurlock's skull before looking around at the rest of the dead darkspawn. He then looks at Mhairi and points to one of the dead Hurlocks as he speaks, "Gather some blood, Warden-Recruit. We will need it."

Mhairi tilts her head in confusion. "If you don't mind me asking, Commander, why?"

Halia nods as she understands and looks at the woman. "You want to be a Warden, yes? This is for your Joining; beyond that we will not say." Mhairi nods and does as she was told before looking at the two Wardens.

Malcolm nods and leads the two into the inner courtyard before the main building of the Keep and a soldier of the keep ran up to them, panting and clearly scared. "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't come. We're running out of bandages over there." He points behind them. "There are supplies on the other side of the courtyard. I can't leave the wounded for too long, if you can find some, please, we need them." Malcolm nods and quickly runs to side that should contain bandages while the soldier heads back to the wounded. Malcolm quickly finds them before heading to the other side and the soldier looks at him and lets out a sigh of relief as Malcolm hands him the bandages. "Oh, thank the Maker! These will help greatly! Thank you."

Malcolm nods before turning and leads the group into the interior of the Keep. The three run in and Mhairi exclaims her astonishment and disgust. "Unbelievable! The Keep has been overwhelmed! How did the Wardens not sense the darkspawn coming? I don't understand it!"

He looks at Halia for a second before looking at Mhairi. "Not only do Wardens sense darkspawn, but we can sense other Wardens. How many Wardens are here? If there are too many, then they couldn't have noticed the difference between the Wardens here and the incoming darkspawn."

"Not many. A dozen, perhaps? There are other soldiers who came with them, however."

He shakes his head slowly. "That wouldn't be enough to 'blind' us, I guess I could say."

"For the darkspawn to have ambushed the Keep so effectively-I didn't know they were capable of such a thing!"

"During the Blight, us two and Alistair were ambushed at our camp once. We only heard a small noise before they attacked. But they had the archdemon then, I don't know how they are able to do this after I killed the archdemon. But pull yourself together, please. We are going to need your help, Warden-Recruit Mhairi."

Mhairi nods as she takes some breaths to collect herself. "I hear you, Commander. You can count on me."

Malcolm takes a step forward before Halia steps in front of him and puts her arm out. Malcolm stops and readies himself, causing Mhairi to ready herself as well. Halia puts her bow up while pulling out Duncan's sword and dagger as she takes a few steps forward. Her head slowly turns before she dives forward, getting a stealth Shriek's neck with a sword strike, the black blood oozing out as it falls dead. She rolls onto her feet before spinning to the side as another Shriek jumps out at her, her two blades slashing the back of it. Malcolm throws his arm out and sends out a wave of fire, catching more Shrieks on fire and he and Mhairi charges the two, both making quick work of them. Malcolm and looks around some before looking at Halia, who then shakes her head as she speaks, "I can't tell if there's any more for now."

Malcolm nods and the three relax before he looks at the portcullis that's blocking the way deeper into the Keep. He slowly looks around before seeing the lever that should open it, up on the platform. He then sees that the stairs that lead up to a door that should take them to the section with the lever. He motions the three to follow and he leads them up the stairs and attempts to open the door, finding it unable to budge despite the fact that its unlocked. "Damn. Have to take the long way around." He looks around before finding a door on the other side and leads the women to it and opens the door.

The three run through the door and find a sight none of them expected. On the ground is several dead Templars and darkspawn while a mage sets the only living Hurlock on fire, it dropping to the ground as the mage turns around and sees the three. He turns his head over his shoulder before back at the three. "Er… I didn't do it. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not broken up about them dying, to be perfectly honest. Biff there," he motions to one of the dead Templars, "made the funniest gurgle when he went down."

Malcolm looks at the dead darkspawn before looking at the mage as he crosses his arms. "So you killed these darkspawn yourself?"

"Of course. Well, they helped." He motions to the Templar corpses. "A little. Before they tragically died. I am Anders, at your service-mage and wanted apostate." He seems to be a bit proud at the last 'title'.

Mhairi takes a step forward. "An apostate? At Vigil's Keep?"

Anders smiles as he looks at her face and takes a few steps forward. "You weren't here when we arrived. I'm sure I would have remembered such a lovely woman as yourself." He turns to look at the dead Templars. "We were just stopping here on our way back to the tower. Just a short rest, they said, and now they're dead. Such a shame. The templars captured me and were taking me back. And then, you know, darkspawn attacked. Could be a sigh, yes?"

Halia scoffs as she crosses her arms before shaking her head. "A very convenient sign."

Anders looks at her, taking in the features that mark her as Dalish. "Isn't it, though? The Maker moves in mysterious ways, such as, if I'm not mistaken by the armor and your lovely features, a Dalish Grey Warden." He looks at Malcolm. "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?"

Malcolm nods. "Could use the help of a mage."

"Splendid. Lead on, boss." Malcolm led the three through the room and after clearing the next room of darkspawn, Ander spots a survivor in the room and tells him, "Get to safety! Quickly!" The man quickly runs out, staying his thanks to the Maker. The group then make their way outside onto the battlements of the keep and encounter even more darkspawn where Malcolm used his own magics in the fight against an Emissary. As Malcolm heads towards the door, Anders put his hand on Malcolm's shoulder to get his attention. "Hold on, I thought you couldn't use magic."

Malcolm looked at him. "I never said I couldn't. I just said that we could use the help of a mage. I'm not like you, my magic never developed until… about two years ago. I spent about four months at the Circle Tower to help me develop it. Unfortunately, I'm only well versed in frost, fire and lightning while healing is getting there. But I learned enough during the Blight and the training at the Tower that I passed my own Harrowing. We can continue this later, please. We have a Keep to save."

Anders nods and the four go through the door and reenter the Keep and Malcolm sees the barricade that kept them from going through the door earlier. He pulls back an arm, flames building in his hand before he throws it forward at the barricade, the magic destroying it so they can leave. Malcolm leads the group out the third door that's farther out and takes them to the section with the lever. Malcolm flips the lever and hears the sound of armored footsteps as the portcullis raised. He watches as a group of darkspawn run in and on the other side of the room on the raised section a dwarf yells out, "Oh, we're scared now. Don't come over here. Ha!" The darkspawn charge ahead when all of a sudden, an explosion erupts from where the lead darkspawn stood, the ground and the air shakes and Malcolm reflectively puts up his shield to shield himself from it. "It'll take more than that to kill us, beasties," yelled the dwarf as he watched the explosion, "Come again if you dare!" The dwarf runs off, probably to set another trap.

Malcolm leads the three around and down to the middle of the room before a giant crowd of darkspawn comes rushing out and surrounds the four. They all look around and ready their weapons, except for Malcolm who is hunched over some. "Guys… get down." Halia looks at him curiously before noticing that his breathing is labored as he looks at her. "Get down!" She pushes Anders onto the ground while Mhairi drops before Malcolm raises his arms across his chest. As the darkspawn move in for the kill, Malcolm throws his arms to the side and yells out in pain as blood shoots out of his torso and arms, as the streams of blood leave, they solidify into blood crystals and impale the darkspawn with enough force to send them flying back some.

With the darkspawn dead, he staggers forward some before dropping on his hands and knees, blood flowing out of his mouth. The two non-Wardens look with amazement and horror at the scene while Halia walks over and kneels down next to him. "Malcolm, you alright?" He shakes his head before spitting out the blood in his mouth. "What was that?"

Malcolm looks at her as he lets go of his sword before grabbing a small vial of red liquid from his belt as he slowly falls onto his shoulder. "Warden-specific… ability. Damn…" He slowly sits up, grunting as he does so before pulling out the cork from the vial and pours it into his mouth. He swallows the healing potion before dropping the vial, it clatters against the stone floor, and he sits there for a while as the potion works to mostly revitalizes himself. He leans his head backwards for a while before grabbing his sword and slowly stands up, grunting while Halia helps him up. He takes a few deep breaths as his strength mostly returned, for now and he looks at the two non-Wardens and calls for them to approach him. "Listen, what happened is unique to me alone. Blood magic? Maybe, but it's because I'm a Grey Warden, even if I didn't have my magic, I would have still been able to use it." He turns his head and spits out the last of his blood in his mouth. "Our blood is different, that's all I will say about it right now. You'll have to become a Warden first and I'll explain more."

Anders crosses his arms. "Well, I'm already curious about this."

"Later." Malcolm looks at the ceiling of the room before sighing slowly then he rolls his shoulders slowly. "Well… no telling what will happen to me later, but we must continue." Halia nods and follows Malcolm past the portcullis, with Mhairi and Anders following shortly. Malcolm leads the three down the hallway before stopping as he hears a voice coming from the side door and he walks over before opening it, startling the woman. He comforts the woman before moving out of the way and points down the hallway where he came from, urging her to get to safety. The woman thanks him before running off and he goes to open the only other door, which is filled with darkspawn. The group kills them, Malcolm sticking to his trustworthy sword and shield and the four were able to clear the room before heading down a hallway and Malcolm opens another door.

On the upper half of the room stood several darkspawn and a familiar half sized form of a specific dwarf, who cut down several darkspawn that charged at him. Malcolm's mouth opens with a smile. "Well call me an overgrown dwarf, Oghren?" Oghren turns his head at the mention of his name and with a smile, gives Malcolm a wave before cutting off the head of a Genlock Alpha. Malcolm chuckles before charging to help his friend.

The two are able to finish off the room quickly, their days of fighting beside each other aiding their efforts quite well. When the last darkspawn fell in a few pieces dead, the other three walks over to the two friends while Oghren energetically clasps Malcolm's shield arm and shakes it. "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!"

Malcolm chuckles as the two release their arms. "It's good to see you again, my friend."

Halia crosses her arms with a small smile. "Oghren? You're here?"

Oghren looks at Halia, his other friend. "Doubting your eyes, huh? I get like that, after the fifth bottle or so. It's good to see you, as well, Tree-Hugger."

Halia smiles more, at the mention of her well-natured nickname. "It's good to see you too."

Malcolm smiles at the two before looking at Oghren. "As good as it is to see you, what are you doing here?"

Oghren hoists his greatsword onto his shoulder. "Came here thinking I might try my hand at becoming a bona fide Grey Warden."

Mhairi snorts in disgust at the dwarf. "Here was here when I left. I can't believe the Wardens didn't kick him out."

Oghren looks at her and smiles. "Hey! If it isn't the recruit with the great rack!" Which causes Malcolm to chuckle a little.

Mhairi is less amused as she sneers at the dwarf and responds sarcastically "Yes. A prize for the Wardens, to be sure."

Oghren smiles. "I know, I know, too good to be true, right?" He looks at Anders. "Hey… who's the mage? Boyfriend? Should I leave you two alone?"

Anders acts surprised, including wide eyes. "Wow. A dwarf that smells like a brewery. You never see that anywhere."

Oghren's eyes widen a bit. "Huh. A mage comedian. Thought those normally died young."

Malcolm's smile darkens a little. "You know there are risks involved with the Wardens, risks that everyone else don't have."

Oghren smiles a little at the concern of his friend as he scoffs. "There are risks to getting up in the morning. I piss on risk."

Anders shakes his head. "I'm sure risk appreciates it."

"Well, we can talk about that later. Right now, there's more darkspawn around in sore need of a beheading!"

Malcolm nods before looking at Anders then at Oghren. "We need more vials of darkspawn blood. And we got plenty here." He looks at the two then at Mhairi. "We don't know how much we need so get three each." He looks at Anders. "That includes you too, Anders. I have a feeling about you and as you said, the Maker works in mysterious ways. Trust me, I have an idea of just how mysterious His will can be." Anders nods and the two recruits and mage gather a total of ten vials of darkspawn blood.

Malcolm leads the group through a door and into a curved hallway and encountered a wounded soldier, leaning against the wall. Mhairi runs past Malcolm and kneels down as the soldier looks up at her, bloodied. "Mhairi?"

"Rowland!" Malcolm approaches the two and Mhairi looks at him. "Commander, Rowland was a knight recruited from Denerim like me. We must do something for him!"

Anders study the man before lowering his head a little. "He looks beyond healing magic. Maybe a shot of whiskey for the pain?"

Oghren smiles and looks at Anders. "I like the way you think."

Mhairi looks at the two and scowls at them. "Stop joking! This isn't funny!"

Malcolm walks over and kneels down next to Mhairi, looking at Rowland, who looks up at him. "The… the commander?"

Malcolm nods and puts his hand on his shoulder. "I'm here, Rowland. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."

"We only had a moment's warning before they were on us, Commander." He looks at his midsection, pulling up his hand for a second before pressing it back down as he looks back at Malcolm. "The seneschal ordered a counter-attack, but they came out of nowhere! There's one with them, a darkspawn who talks; his magic is powerful." Malcolm looks at Rowland, curious and confused before looking at Halia, who is also feeling the same thing.

Oghren had taken a few steps forward when he heard that. "A talking darkspawn? The lad must be delirious."

Rowland yells in pain, causing Malcolm to look at him. "There's something in my blood! It hurts!" Halia runs over to the other side of Mhairi and checks on his wound, moving his hand away gently.

Malcolm looks at her for a second before back to Rowland. "Where is this talking darkspawn?"

"It went that way, after… the seneschal…"

He yells in pain some more and after examining his wound and blood looks at Malcolm and Mhairi as he dies. "I'm sorry but his wounds were indeed too great, and despite how bad this sounds, it's a good thing. His blood is too dark for a human. Darkspawn blood mixed with his and the wound got infected, if he didn't die from his wounds, he would have died much later in a lot of pain… or worse…"

"I'm sorry, Mhairi." Malcolm looks at her. "We will avenge him. Together." He lowers his head before picking it up as he reaches over and closes Rowland's eyes. "Go to the Maker's side in peace, Recruit Rowland." The three around the body stand up slowly and he looks at Halia. "Could he have been delirious?" He looks at Anders to have him answer as well.

Anders looks to the side for a bit before looking back at him. "Due to his blood loss, it's possible."

Halia shakes her head. "But not with the Taint, trust me on that."

Malcolm nods before looking at Mhairi. "It's not that I don't trust that he believes he heard a talking darkspawn, but it's just that it's never been documented that there's a class of darkspawn that can talk. Darkspawn can 'communicate' with each other to a certain degree, but they have a hivemind, or something to that effect, with the archdemon doing most of the talking. The Alphas are more intelligent than the others, with Emissaries possibly being a bit more intelligent with their ability to use magic, they can command the others around, but never with the Common Tongue. There's only one way to find out for sure." Mhairi nods slowly before looking at the body of Rowland and the group went through the rest of the keep, slowly clearing each room at the Keep.

The group goes out the door and stands outside on the top of the Keep as the rain now falls. Malcolm leads the group out and when they go around a corner, they see a soldier walk backwards away from a darkspawn that Malcolm has never seen before, even during the Battle of Denerim. The soldier stops at the edge and looks down before looking back up at the darkspawn and Malcolm's jaw dropped when he hears, "It has ended just as he foretold," coming from that darkspawn. To the right of the two, he sees a Hurlock holding its sword up to a man's neck, who Malcolm believed is the seneschal and the group, along with that Hurlock and the seneschal, watch as the talking darkspawn kicks the soldier off the edge. The darkspawn turns to the Hurlock and seneschal. "Be taking this one, gently. We are wishing no more death than is necessary."

The seneschal sneers at the darkspawn. "Necessary? As if your kind has ever done anything else!"

Malcolm shakes his head out of his shock and motions for the group to follow him and get closer. "You are thinking you know of our kind, human? It is understandable. But that will soon be changed."

"Others will come, creature! They will stop you!" The seneschal turns his eyes to the group as they approach, causing the talking darkspawn to look over and sees them.

Malcolm holds his hand up as the talking darkspawn turns and faces them. "It seems your words be true, more than you are guessing." The group, who were farther away than Malcolm was, are shocked when they first hear the darkspawn speak. Halia readies her bow, aiming at the Hurlock and Malcolm turns to look at her, his look telling her to wait for him.

Halia gives him a barely noticeable nod and he turns to look at the darkspawn as more darkspawn approaches the three while Malcolm takes a few steps forward, the front of his shield concealing the frost spell he's charging. "What do you want?"

Varel turns his head a little to get a better look as he yells, "Warden-Commander!"

Malcolm ignores him as he stares down the talking darkspawn. "What are you, what are you doing here?"

"We be needing Grey Wardens like you." As his group spread out, waiting for his signal, Malcolm looks at the other darkspawn gathered, they seemed eager for their own commander's orders. "Capture the Grey Wardens. These others, they may be killed."

The first darkspawn that moves is instantly and shattered by the built-up frost spell that Malcolm unleashes upon it, which triggers Halia's own ready attack, the arrow zipping into the Hurlock's skull, causing it to release its hold on the sword and the seneschal. And the two groups charge get into the fight while Malcolm charges the talking darkspawn. Malcolm's sword strike is blocked by the shield of the darkspawn and for the first time, he notices that the weapon and shield of this darkspawn is different from all the others he's faced. That thought is brought up more by the fact that the darkspawn's weapon was in the shape of a crescent moon, which made his defense focused purely on his shield as he has no idea on how to use his sword in defense of its unique and weird shape. Malcolm unleashes his strength with his arms, pushing the darkspawn back with sword strikes and shield bashes. When the two get to the edge, the darkspawn must have realized what Malcolm was doing as it starts trying to physically push him back, but Malcolm meets its strength and the two struggle to gain ground on the other. Malcolm stares at the darkspawn and lets his sword fall to the floor and puts his hand flat on the darkspawn's shield before the mist comes out of his eyes and the painted symbol on the shield starts to melt off as Malcolm uses his magic to heat up the darkspawn's shield. Malcolm's own hand starts to hurt as he presses it more and more on the shield before the darkspawn pulls his arm back, causing the flame to erupt from Malcolm's hand, engulfing it. It yells in pain, letting off on the contest and allowing Malcolm to push it off the edge, it having the same fate as the soldier it kicked off earlier.

Malcolm takes a few steps back before falling onto one knee in exhaustion. "Maker…" He takes deep breaths for a while before grabbing his sword and slowly standing up and makes his way to the group.

The seneschal approaches Malcolm and Halia, who looks at Malcolm concerned. "Commander, Constable, I owe you two my life."

Malcolm puts his sword and shield on his back and casually waves it off while Halia looks past the two and notices movement on the road. She keeps her bow in her hand as she runs to the edge and looks over. "We've got company… looks to be human soldiers." She puts her bow up and looks at the group. "Let's go meet them."

Malcolm nods and leads the group down and towards the first gate into the Keep before they stopped and Malcolm, Halia, Mhairi, and Seneschal Veral kneel as at the front of the soldiers is a woman in Templar armor and King Alistair. Alistair looks around with a bit of disappointment. "It looks like I arrived a bit late. Too bad. I rather miss the whole darkspawn-killing thing." He looks at his friends with a smile. "You two don't need to kneel in front of your old friend. You know that." Malcolm and Halia smile as they stand up. "I'd wanted to come and give the Wardens a formal welcome. I certainly wasn't expecting this." He looks at Mhairi and Varel and motions them to rise, which they do. "What's the situation?"

Varel puts his hands behind his back. "What darkspawn remained have fled, your Majesty. The Grey Wardens who had arrived from Orlais appear to be either dead or… missing."

Alistair looks confused. "Missing? As in taken by the darkspawn?" He looks at his friends. "Do they even do that?"

Malcolm crosses his arms. "It's possible that the Orlesian Wardens were taken by the darkspawn. Something weird is going on with the darkspawn, Alistair. A talking darkspawn ordered its minions to try and capture me and Halia."

"Wait, talking darkspawn?" Malcolm nods. "That's never been heard of."

"I know…"

Halia crosses her arms as she looks at Alistair. "I-We… could use your help with this."

Alistair smiles at her. "Toss the throne aside, spend my time adventuring at your side to stop the darkspawn threat just like old times? You have no idea how tempting that is. But I can't, unfortunately, not even for you." He looks at the two, his face showing them how sad he is. "You two have quite the task ahead of you. Really, I'd like to help you fight darkspawn, but you're on your own for the moment."

Oghren steps in front of Malcolm, Halia and Alistair. "Hey! What am I? Chopped nug livers?"

Anders smirks at the dwarf. "From the smell, that's not a bad guess."

Oghren glares at the mage for a bit before looking at Malcolm. "I came here to join the Grey Wardens, and from the looks of it, you could use the extra hands! Where's the giant cup? I'll gargle and spit!"

The three Wardens chuckle while Malcolm places a hand on the dwarf's shoulder. "You'd be welcome amongst us."

"Ha! Well smack my ass and call me Sally! I'm in!"

Mhairi looks at him, a bit disturbed possibly at the thought of working with the dwarf. "I… suppose all are welcome, in this dire time."

Anders walks around to get a better view of the dwarf. "Joining the Wardens, hey? Well good luck with that."

The Templar looks at Alistair. "King Alistair! Your Majesty, beware! This man is a dangerous criminal!"

Alistair waves his hand as it to wave it off. "Oh, the dwarf is a bit of an arse, but I wouldn't go that-"

Anders lowers his head as he interrupts him. "She means me."

The Templar sneers at him. "This is an apostate who we were in the process of bringing back to the Circle to face justice!"

Anders shakes his head and looks at her. "Oh, please. The things you people know about justice would fit into a thimble. I'll just escape again, anyhow."

"Never! I will see you hanged for what you've done here, murderer!"

Anders seems angry as he takes a step back. "Murderer? But those templars were-" his face changes to sadness as he looks down, "oh, what's the use? You won't believe me anyhow."

Malcolm narrows his eyes and steps in between Anders and the woman, Anders looking surprised as Malcolm speaks, "This man is now a Warden-Recruit, I hereby invoke the Right of Conscription to save this man from unjust punishment."

The Templar sneers at Malcolm. "Never!"

Alistair shakes his head. "Ser Rylock, you don't have a say in the matter. The Right of Conscription dates back to after the First Blight and gives the Wardens the right to take anyone they wish, and nothing can stop that." He looks at Malcolm and Anders. "And I give Malcolm my blessing to take him."

Rylock looks at Alistair, her anger still clearly visible on her face. "If… if your Majesty feels it is best…" She turns and angrily stomps away, leaving Malcolm shaking his head.

Oghren walks over and smacks Anders' back hard. "Ha! Welcome aboard!"

Anders touches his back. "Ow. But me? A Grey Warden?" He smiles. "I guess that will work…"

Mhairi smiles, more at ease with Anders than Oghren. "Congratulations, ser mage. I look forward to fighting at your side."

Alistair smiles and looks at Varel and Malcolm. "Then if you have everything under control, I will need to take my leave."

Varel nods. "I believe the estate has been secured, yes. We have suffered great losses, but the darkspawn are gone and there are survivors. I need to head inside to prepare it for you." Varel bows respectfully before he walks into the Keep.

Alistair nods before looking at Malcolm and Halia. "The security of Ferelden relies on the Grey Wardens now, even as weakened as the order is. It will be up to you two to deal with the vestiges of the Blight before the situation grows out of control. No easy task, but I'm confident you are up to it. Warden-Commander Malcolm, Warden-Constable Halia… good luck. May the Maker watch over you two." His eyes linger on Halia for quite a while before he turns back and leaves with the soldiers behind him.