A raven arrived at Skyhold only about a week later, while for the party on horseback, it was a much longer, gruelling trek back to Skyhold. The letter confirmed that the Grey Wardens had, as suspected, amassed at Adamant Fortress, and that a full-scale assault by the Inquisition forces would be necessary to stop the demon-possessed Wardens. When the Inquisitor's party arrived home, preparations were already being made by the small council.
On her way to the war room with Fae for one such preparatory meeting, Ellethir halted in her step when she spotted Hawke and Varric hovering outside the door up ahead, talking quietly amongst themselves.
"Hawke seemed very…unforgiving, of using blood magic," Ellethir said carefully. "It's wrong, of course, what the Wardens are doing. But it sounded more like she would be angry about any use of blood magic."
Fae nodded, looking towards Hawke and Varric. "It's always been controversial," she said quietly. "The Chantry says it's evil by its very nature, a 'sin against the Maker.' But it was their templars who used the blood of mages like myself to make our phylacteries."
"What's a phylactery?"
"It's what the templars used to track down mages who ran away. When a mage was taken to the Circle for the first time, they would put a little of that mage's blood in a vial, and enchant it somehow, so that if the mage ever went missing, they could use it to track them down."
"But if the Chantry thinks blood magic is evil, why would they use it themselves?"
"Because the Chantry is full of shit, lethallan," Fae sighed. "The truth is they see it as a useful tool, so long as it's in the right hands. The magisters of Tevinter probably tell themselves the same thing. And Hawke…" she nodded towards the Champion, still deep in conversation with Varric, "Is someone who has seen it in the very worst possible hands."
"And how do you see it?"
"I think it's magic. It's power. Neither of those things are evil on their own, but they're still dangerous. And blood magic…that isn't safe in anyone's hands. No one ever sees the suffering it causes until it's far too late."
"I see…" Ellethir became lost in thought for a moment, until Fae gently patted her on the arm.
"You good, Inquisitor?"
"…Yes. I was just thinking… Occasionally, the magic Keeper Marethari used required blood. Only a little bit, and it was mostly for magic wards. She'd ask the spirits to keep wandering people and beasts away from sacred places. I suppose I never considered it would fall into the same category as the terrible things we've seen."
"Ah. I've seen a ward like that before, and I see what you mean. But, to be honest, I don't know enough to judge; I'm neither an arcane expert, nor a philosopher. Solas has both of those covered, I think- you should ask him about it." she smiled coyly. "Even so, I'd probably avoid mentioning the use of magical Dalish blood wards in the war council."
"Which we are late for," Ellethir realised, noticing that Varric and Hawke had both already gone inside.
"Eh, you're the Inquisitor, they'll wait for you," Fae shrugged, following after her as Ellethir hurried down the hallway.
"Inquisitor, Seer," Leliana acknowledged them both as they failed to slip inconspicuously into the war room. "As I was saying, Adamant Fortress has stood against the darkspawn since the time of the Second Blight." She nodded to Cullen.
"Fortunately for us," Cullen continued, "that means it was built before the age of modern siege equipment. A good trebuchet will do major damage to those ancient walls. We'll get that gate open. And thanks to our lady ambassador…"
"Lady Seryl of Jader was pleased to lend the Inquisition her sappers," Josephine confirmed. "They've already delivered the trebuchets."
"That is the good news," Leliana hesitated.
Ellethir rubbed the back of her head. "And the bad news?"
"It will take about a week for Commander Cullen's men to finish constructing the remaining siege engines, and in the meantime, this Erimond you spoke of may already be raising his army of demons, after his 'successful' test at the ritual tower."
"The Inquisition forces can breach the gate, but if the Wardens already have their demons…" Cullen mused.
"Then taking this fortress is going to get a lot of good soldiers killed," Ellethir concluded miserably.
"Our soldiers know the risks, Inquisitor," Josephine reassured her. "And they know what they're fighting for."
"And we need not meet the entire force head-on," Leliana added, patting a small stack of papers in front of her. "We found records of Adamant's construction. There are choke points we can use to limit the field of battle."
Cullen nodded, thinking. "Can I take a closer look at those?"
"Of course."
Cullen spread out the papers, lining them up beside each other to form a map of the fortress' layout. "Yes…" he muttered, still reading. "If we can cut off reinforcements, we can carve you a path to Warden-Commander Clarel. You might be able to reason with her, but in the event that she refuses to listen, or if her mind is not her own, she may need to be cut down."
"We might also be able to reason with some of the Wardens, too," Fae added. "I doubt none of them have objections to killing each other on the word of an outsider like Erimond, even if their Warden-Commander has told them to."
"The warriors, perhaps, though I doubt they will turn against Clarel directly," Leliana conceded. "The mages, however, are slaves to Corypheus. They will fight to the death."
"And what of Ferelden's Warden-Commander?" Josephine asked. "The Hero of Ferelden is a mage, after all. Do we assume she agreed to this ritual plan as well, or could her mind have been taken?"
Sensing everyone's eyes on her, Fae looked up from the map, and visibly faltered. "What are you all looking at me for?"
"You would know her best, Seer," Josephine explained. "Do you believe she would go along with Clarel's plan willingly?
Fae looked back down at the map. "I don't really know Neria any better than Leliana would," she admitted, twirling a raven miniature over in her hands. "We've only exchanged maybe half a dozen letters in the last few years- I haven't even seen her since before the Blight ended. I know she's a good person, everyone knows that. But she's also a Grey Warden. Maybe she thinks they're doing what they must. Or maybe she disagreed, and Clarel has her locked up in a dungeon, or on the run like Stroud. Or maybe she and Clarel are both being mind-controlled by Corypheus. I don't know. There's too many possibilities." She glanced up for a moment, and grimaced at the mixture of expressions between pensiveness and pity. "We'll know once we get there, anyway."
"That is true," Leliana agreed, then looked sharply to Cullen. "So, our forces and siege engines will be ready one week from now?"
"That is our current estimate, yes. Now, for our actual movements, I'm expecting their archers will be on the wall, ready to rain arrows down on the siege engines as they approach, so…"
The meeting went on for a long time, as did the follow-up meetings after that, until every possibility the advisors could think of was mapped out and accounted for. While the Inquisition's newly bolstered army organised itself into ranks, siege engines were constructed and prepared for travel, and battle tactics were discussed over and over. Inquisition soldiers, especially those who were already experienced in battle, would be encouraged to aim for disarming or otherwise removing non-mage Wardens from the battle without mortally wounding them. As for the Warden mages, it would be a fight to the death, but the overall goal of this campaign would be to defeat them and prevent the demon take-over, not to annihilate the Grey Wardens.
As soon as the siege engines were declared ready, the full forces of the Inquisition set off for Adamant Fortress, for the first time as a battle-ready army marching to war. The Inquisitor's party had already made most of this journey before, but this time the atmosphere felt far different. The nervous energy of the un-seasoned fighters who did not know what to expect, combined with that of those fighters who had already seen the brutality of battle practically buzzed through the air, prickling skin and sending shivers up spines. Shifting uncomfortably on her mount with the unfamiliar weight of her new chainmail hauberk, Fae found herself wondering if this was how the army at the battle of Ostagar once felt. And, if the Maker was indeed real, how cruel he was, to now have an army in his bride's name marching off to fight against the Wardens instead of with them.
At the end of their journey, the army made camp near the Tevinter ritual tower, where the army's healers would wait for their return with a small contingent of soldiers to protect them until then. The rest of the army had a brief reprieve from the march to eat, drink and get what rest they could, and then it was time.