Chapter 6

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When we reach Haven, we find only a handful of guards nervously watching the disturbed snow where my Swarmlings are hiding in stealth mode. The rest of the mountain village appears to be empty, but we hear chanting from the local Chantry. Inside, we find around 20 villagers participating in a sermon lead by a man who seems to have a rank comparable to the Revered Mothers most Chantry use. A short conversation later, the cultish villagers and their Revered Father are dead. In the back room of the Chantry, we find a monk named Brother Genitive who had been researching the Urn of Sacred Ashes. Brother Genitive tells us of a ruined temple further up the mountain which can only be opened with a special key. After finding the key on the corpse of the Revered Father, the monk leads us to the temple infested by cultists who worship a nesting High Dragon as a reincarnation of Andraste.

Above the ruined temple, we encounter the cult's Andraste and, as an ironic joke, cremate the High Dragon with enchanted weapons and our strongest fire spells. Beyond the dragon's nest, we find the relatively intact main temple inhabited by a Templar spirit who has us go through a test to prove we are worthy to take a sample from the Urn of Sacred Ashes. The first part of the test quizzes us on our knowledge of Andraste and leads to a few fights against minor demons when we get the answers wrong. The second part of the test is a puzzle that requires us to trigger a specific combination of pressure plates to make a bridge appear a few segments at a time. We just flew over the gap to the final part of the test. In the final room, a pedestal tells us we need to imitate Andraste at her execution and supposed ascendance so we simply walk through the flames bisecting the room after setting our weapons aside.

On the far side of the harmless flames, we find a large urn and the spirit from earlier. After congratulating us on passing the test, the spirit tells us we can take a small handful of ashes before disappearing. After taking the ashes and retrieving our weapons, the return trip to Redcliffe is mostly uneventful. Back in Lothring, Sten and Kallian are injured to the point they need to be infested with the Warden strain of the Zerg virus and are expected to be out of combat for the next two weeks at minimum. King Cailan meets us at Redcliffe Castle and, once we administer the ashes to Arl Eamon, a plan is made to call for a Landsmeet where Logain can be forced to face his crimes and be stripped of his land and titles. Before the Landsmeet can occur however, we have one more treaty to collect on and with any luck we can deal with the archdemon instead of fighting on two fronts.

With King Cailan staying in Redcliffe, I spawn a Hatchery to start a Hive cluster and provide additional protection before Neria, Morrigan, Lyna and I head north to Orzammar. A short distance down the mountain from the main gates, we encounter a group of bounty hunters hoping to collect the bounty Tyrn Logain put on the heads of all Wardens. Leaving their corpses cooling in the road, we continue to the main gates only to be slowed by the Dwarf guards who let us in only after we slaughter a group of Logain's men. Once inside, we learn of the conflict for the late dwarven king's successor with the two most popular being the traitorous youngest child of the late king and a senator who was very close to the late king and heard his last words. Using the hive mind to chat with Sereda, we decide to back the senator, Lord Harrowmont. To aid Harrowmont's chances in the senate vote, we hunt down the leader of the local criminal gang known as the Carta before entering the Deep Roads in search of the only living Paragon of the Dwarves.

Thanks to the massive concentration of dark spawn, it takes us two weeks to reach the Dead Trenches where a Dwarf group known as the Legion of the Dead are holding back the bulk of the Dark spawn and we see the archdemon directly for the first time. To enter the lost fortress beyond the Dead Trenches, I mass spawn generic Zerg Wardens and cut a path through the dark spawn. Deep within the fortress, we find the Paragon, but she has gone mad in her quest to find a legendary anvil that can create new Golems. When we find the anvil, it is being guarded by five Golems, one of which is actually the Paragon who created the Anvil of the Void. Siding with the Golem Paragon who tells us the dark secret behind how the Anvil works, we kill the mad Paragon Branka and destroy the Anvil before leading the Golems back to Orzammar where they support Lord Harrowmont in becoming the new dwarven King. After his coronation, King Harrowmont pledges his support to the Grey Wardens and to the rightful human King.

With the dark spawn too thick in the Deep Roads, we return to Redcliffe to call for the Landsmeet which will take place in Denerim. When we reach Denerim, Logain is executed for his crimes along with all of his men who refuse to acknowledge the rightful king who has been fighting the Blight the entire time. Just as the last traitor is executed, the archdemon attacks the city alongside a dark spawn army twice the size of the one we are holding back at Lothring. Half the city is destroyed and thousands of men, women, and children die, but in Denerim a day later only the archdemon is still standing against the united people of Thedas. All the non Zerg except the Wardens fall back to safe places while Alistair and the 14 individualized Zerg Wardens hit the archdemon with everything they have. Back in Lothring, most of the generic Zerg Wardens are holding back the dark spawn from Ostagar but end up chasing after small clusters of dark spawn as the horde breaks apart without proper guidance coming from the archdemon.

It takes another day, but Sten and Wynne deliver the killing blow against the archdemon and are seemingly killed in the process. Neria is named Warden Commander after Alistair turns it down. Much to everyone's surprise but my own, Sten and Wynne show up at the ceremony completely healthy thanks to the inherent immortality of all Zerg, particularly commanders. Two years later, we are still chasing down stray dark spawn when Warden's Keep north of Denerim is nearly overwhelmed by a coordinated dark spawn attack. After traveling to Amaranthine and the Wending Woods to clear out bandits, the Knotwood Hills to clear the dwarven ruins of Kal'hirol of dark spawn, and the Blackmarsh to slay a demon, we learn of two Dark spawn leaders. The Architect uses a sort of reverse Joining to increase the intelligence of dark spawn so they won't seek out arch demons and trigger Blights while The Mother is a dark spawn Broodmother who couldn't handle being cut off from the command link with the slumbering archdemons.

After making a deal with the Architect to prevent his dark spawn from attacking wardens for the required blood, we track down the lair of The Mother and slay her. For my role in both the true Blight as well as this false Blight, I am named the Demon of Andraste. Shortly after, the Hawkes finally make it to Kirkwall where we learn Cullen has become a Knight-commander. Unfortunately, relations between the Templar and the Mages are more strained than ever and over the course of the next year, the Circles all across Thedas collapse with most Mages turning Apostate and creating a stronghold in Redcliffe. In Kirkwall, it is discovered that a dark spawn Magister is behind many of the problems and Marian eventually kills him but it is too late to stop the Templar-Mage war. In a last ditch effort to stop the war, the White Divine Justinia calls for a conclave to broker a peace between the Templar and the Mages.

AN: Thanks for reading and please review