Chapter 93

In fact, it took them a month to sort out the mess in Amaranthine. Emma made sure to send a letter to Varric Tethras at the Hanged Man, with a request to tell Hawke not to take the last remaining sibling into the Deep Roads. She got Aedan to sign it in the hope that it would lend the missive more credence.

It turned out that Oghren had been sent to the Keep by King Alistair to offer support to the Wardens, and he had no intention of joining the Order. When questioned by Emma, he replied rather succinctly. "I heard you the first time, lass. I've got a good sodding job with the King's army, and I ain't gonna ruin what I've got with Felsi and the little one."

She did her best to change how Anders viewed the Chantry, but she had a feeling it was all for nothing because as soon as he reached Kirkwall and saw the way the mages were treated, all his anger would come back. However, she held a slim hope in her heart that he might at least avoid merging with Justice – only time would tell. She also talked Mhairi into foregoing the Joining. Varel tersely reminded Emma that they were trying to recruit Wardens, not dissuade them, to which she replied that a dead Warden was of no use to them, but a living warrior would be.

With Aedan's charm and good sense, he managed to avert the rebellion from the farmers and citizens, and he dealt fairly with those he had to judge. During their time in Amaranthine, he even managed to become friends with Nathaniel Howe, a surprising turn of events considering how badly their first meeting had gone. The two stared at each other with hatred for about a minute until Emma got bored and told them to stop with the pissing match as they had other things to do. Her words shocked Nathaniel into laughing which eased the tension and began a tentative truce between the two men.

They recruited Sigrun and ventured forth into Kal'Hirol, where they wandered around for hours killing darkspawn and finding empty chests until Aedan realised that Emma had the map and they'd been going around in circles. After he passed the map to Oghren, they soon found themselves in the lower reaches of what had once been a magnificent city and took on The Disciple and the Inferno golem. They also took out three broodmothers just by dropping a lyrium storage chamber on them. Oghren grumbled, "Sod it, they should put all broodmothers under these chambers. A lot bloody easier to kill than that first one."
Emma shuddered. "Can't argue with that."
When they finally emerged into daylight, Aedan swore he would never go down in the Deep Roads again, at least not with his wife reading the map.

In the City of Amaranthine, they managed to have an all too brief chat with Wynne, and Emma sadly realised that this would be the last time they'd ever meet. She warmly embraced Wynne. "Thank you for everything. You've been an amazing friend and mentor."
She bit her lip to hold back the tears as Wynne chuckled and returned the hug. "It's been a pleasure knowing you, Emma, and thank you for helping me find Aneirin."
Somehow, Emma managed to smile and wave goodbye until she was out of sight. Then she rested against a wall and broke down. Shocked, Aedan pulled her into his arms. "What's wrong, love?"
For a few minutes, she couldn't speak as sorrow suffocated her. Eventually, she choked out, "This is the last time we'll see Wynne."
"Oh, shit, can't you warn her?"
New tears rolled down Emma's streaked cheeks. "It won't matter. She dies saving the woman her son loves."
"Damn it. Are you all right for a moment? I'd like to say a proper goodbye."
Emma nodded. He let her go and dashed back the way they'd come, returning some five minutes later. He managed to hold back his sorrow until they'd returned to the Keep. There, he held Emma and his shoulders shook with the force of his grief. Thankfully, Amaranthine didn't allow much time to wallow in unhappiness.

The next time they visited Amaranthine, they dealt with smugglers, collected bottles of poison that had been left about, and completed a few other quests. Nathaniel got to meet his sister, Delilah and finally learned the truth about his father. It also led to a rather awkward moment when Delilah announced that her father had tried to set her up with the 'stuck-up Cousland boy,' and then dug a bigger hole for herself by stating it was a suggestion she had never liked. Emma had glared, Aedan had laughed and Nathaniel had quickly introduced his companions to his sister, whereby she apologised profusely, and also offered her condolences for what had happened to the Couslands.

The next location was the Wending Woods, where they met Velanna. After chasing the mage around for a while, they finally cornered her. Emma had never liked the elven mage, deeming her rude and abrupt, not to mention the fact that she'd killed a lot of people on the roads. Not having the same easy-going personality as Aedan, she punched Velanna on sight; this led to a brawl which ended in a draw, a shaking of hands, and a friendly rivalry between the two for the rest of their stay in Amaranthine.

They had their first encounter with the Architect in the Silver Mines. After Velanna's sister, Seranni, freed them, the party set off to retrieve their armour and weapons. While fighting some undead, Oghren gave a shout of anger and charged at one particular skeleton. After a heated tussle, Oghren rose, triumphantly holding the helmet of his Legion of the Dead armour. Emma got so angry at seeing a darkspawn handling her new staff, that she forgot all about her magic and kicked the creature in the groin, before snatching her staff back and beating it over the head. Eventually, everyone got back their armour and weapons, and they searched for an exit, finding Armaas and a chest full of the remainder of their equipment. Aedan offered him a position as a merchant at Vigil's Keep, and then they finally got out of the Silverite Mines and completed the rest of the quests in the area, before heading back to the Keep for Velanna's joining.

Whilst there, the Private who handled the messages beckoned Emma over and handed her a sealed note. It was a cautiously worded letter from Varric, expressing surprise that he or Hawke were even known to the Hero of Ferelden, and curiosity about how the Hero knew of the planned Deep Roads expeditions. However, he also promised to do his best to persuade Hawke's sibling to stay on the surface.

Their next mission took them to Blackmarsh, and Emma groaned; even in the game the place looked horrible, but with one of their Grey Wardens missing, they were left with no choice but to investigate the area. By the time they reached Kristoff's body, they were all heartily sick of the place, with Anders stating that he was ready to leave. When The First, another talking darkspawn, transported them into the Fade, Anders commented that this wasn't quite what he'd had in mind. They found Justice standing up to the Baroness, and The First, who regardless of his ability to talk, still had no brains, had allied himself with the evil woman.

After the Baroness got bored of their harassment, and when it became obvious that she was losing the battle, she used the life force of The First to return everyone to the real world. This, of course, stranded Justice outside of the Fade and scared the crap out of everyone when Kristoff's corpse started to move. They returned to the burnt-out shell of a mansion, and as Justice had predicted, they found the Baroness waiting for them. Even with the whole party involved in the fight, it took a long time to take her down and left quite a few with injuries. After the wounded had been healed, they decided to leave the spectral dragon until a later date.

Aedan and Emma worked tirelessly to get Vigil's Keep fully upgraded, ensuring the soldiers had the best armour and weapons so that they were fully prepared for the final battle. When they returned from Blackmarsh, Varel notified them that word had come in about an attack on the city of Amaranthine. They left Oghren in charge of defending the Keep with Sigrun, Anders, Velanna and Mhairi, along with a battalion of well-equipped soldiers.

-x-

Aedan, Emma, Nathaniel, Justice, Revek, and Frostie arrived at the city of Amaranthine to find the place in flames and darkspawn everywhere. They quickly cleared the entrance to the city, which included a difficult fight with an armoured ogre. "Great, when did they start putting armour on these things?" Aedan grumbled. Once the darkspawn were dead, they were approached by Constable Aidan of the City Guards, and yet another talking darkspawn simply called The Messenger. The creature explained he had been sent by The Architect to warn Aedan that Vigil's Keep was under attack from darkspawn sent by the Mother. The Constable's report was no less disheartening; according to him, Amaranthine wasn't worth saving, as there was a plague running rampant within its walls.

Aedan didn't hesitate to enter the city and save as many people as possible. There were some protests from the companions who thought they should head back to the Keep and help out their fellow Grey Wardens. Aedan pointed to the city. "How many trained warriors and Grey Wardens are in there helping those people?"
"None," Nathaniel said as he stared at the city gates, his dark brows furrowed.
Aedan smiled. "Exactly, which is why we're going in there."
Nathanial grinned. "Well, when you put it like that..."
They entered the city and wrapped a kerchief around their mouths to combat the thick smoke and the stench of burning flesh. The group raced through the streets, saving as many people as possible and killing any darkspawn that got in their way. With a final sweep of the city, they accepted that no one else could be saved and they made their way back to the gates. When they reached the Constable, he told them that a message had been received confirming the location of the Mother's whereabouts.