Caelyra had met the nobility and gotten everything sorted around Vigil's Keep, for now. Now she was taking Anders and Oghren to Forlorn Cove in search of a young girl who had been taken by bandits.
There were a lot of pressing issues around the Keep and Amaranthine City, but she thought it equally important to prove to the people that people mattered too. She didn't save them all from the blight for nothing.
As the she entered the Cove, a group of bandits came out of hiding and threatened her. They had the girl and they were expecting the Lord to come and pay the ransom — not some common riff-raff.
Caelyra declared that she was Commander of the Grey and had come in his stead. The men around the bandit leader trembled. They had heard of her exploits, but the bandit leader didn't care.
Not wanting to waste time with negotiation with bandits of all people, Caelyra intimidated them much to the joy of Oghren and Anders, and leapt into battle.
They were nothing compared to others she had fought in the past and soon lay dead on the ground. The young woman thanked Caelyra for her brave rescue and raced off home to her father.
Next in Caelyra's notes was some farmland that had been overrun by darkspawn. People had written to her, pleading to cleanse the land of the beasts so they could get back to work and have food available for the city.
She couldn't allow people to starve; and so she took the fight to the farmlands. They were soon safe once more.
Those were the only two requests made of her at this time, apart from the more pressing issues given to her from the treasurer and captain, so it was now time to head off to the city of Amaranthine to find the men who had stumbled upon a supposed darkspawn breeding ground and lived to tell the tale, and to find the missing Warden Kristoff.
As they turned down the road to the city, a man stopped them — it was Nathaniel. Caelyra kept her hand on her dagger and asked him what he wanted.
No, he hadn't come to kill her, he said. But he had just been so surprised that she had let him live and leave with his families belongings, and he wasn't too sure what to do. Perhaps he could become a Grey Warden too?
Anders and Oghren both disagreed with the idea. Anders said something about how Caelyra should expect a knife in her back if she invited Nathaniel into their little group and even Oghren mentioned how Nathaniel might go "all Zevran" on her. Zevran had actually tried to kill her though, and she had allowed him to stay with her.
Nathaniel, though a Howe, seemed different from his father. Caelyra decided that she would allow him try his luck at the darkspawn blood and keep him on if he survived, and would keep a hand on her dagger just in case.
Caelyra turned them back to Vigil's Keep immediately so they could perform the Joining ceremony for Nathaniel. He was strong enough to hold the taint and survived. He was now a Grey Warden, just as she.
She hoped she didn't live to regret that choice.
A few hours later she came across him in the throne room, looking at a painting. He was surprised that the painting was still here, it was of his mother... and his father hated his mother. He had stashed the painting in the basement where no one would ever see it.
Caelyra pulled out a bow she had also found in the basement and handed it to Nathaniel. He was surprised once more! That was his grandfather's bow, emblazoned with the Howe seal and everything. She told him he could have it back.
Now that her new Warden was up and ready, it was time to head to the city of Amaranthine as previously planned. On the way out, Nathaniel recognised the groundskeeper and they had a little chat. He asked about what had happened to his brother and to his sister.
His brother had died in the war, the groundskeeper said, but his sister was alive and in Amaranthine having married a shopkeeper. Nathaniel was ecstatic and asked if they could find her when they went to the city.
"Sure," Caelyra outwardly said whilst inwardly thinking, "Yay, another Howe."
At the city gates two men were waiting for them — the hunters who had stumbled upon the alleged darkspawn breeding ground. Apparently they had found it while hunting deer and they had ran right into it: a great chasm surrounded by darkspawn.
The creatures were apparently too occupied to notice them, and they had escaped.
That seemed odd, if true. Caelyra marked the location on her own map and thanked them for their information.
Next she spoke to the city guard who was concerned about a smuggling ring. Caelyra promised to look into it. Then there was a merchant who was seeking aid to make the road safe between Denerim and Amaranthine. Most traders and guards these days were ending up torn limb from limb and it was too dangerous to trade.
That did seem dire too. Caelyra noted it down.
Moving onward, Caelyra thought she glimpsed a familiar face up by the chantry... she did! It was Wynne! She hurriedly went over to greet her old friend.
Apparently she was here on business, awaiting a boat to Nevarra to participate in a summit of mages where she would hopefully be a voice of reason to those wishing to pull away from the idea of Mage Circles. Another mage was in the woods, but she had been unable to contact her to tell her of the situation. Perhaps Caelyra could, if she came across her?
Caelyra agreed and hugged her friend farewell.
Next on her list was to find out about the Warden Kristoff who was last seen in Amaranthine. She headed for the tavern and spoke to be barkeep. Yes, Kristoff had been staying there and had paid a month's worth of gold for his room.
She asked for the key and the barkeep readily gave it to her, no questions asked. Caelyra liked that unassuming trust.
In Kristoff's room were several books and a map. On the map, several areas had been crossed out but one yet remained — the Black Marshes.
Apparently Kristoff had been rather friendly with one of the barmaids so Caelyra questioned her and asked if Kristoff had ever mentioned the Black Marshes or what he was doing, or looking for. The barmaid said that Kristoff was heading for the Black Marshes next, and that he was looking into some strange darkspawn that looked as though they wanted to get caught. It was very strange.
Evidently they would have to go visit the Black Marshes at some point, unless Kristoff returned soon. The barmaid mentioned it had been a week since she last saw him. A week was nothing — not yet anyway.
When they left the tavern, Anders ran into an old friend... she didn't seem too happy to see him. Apparently she had found a cache he had been searching for and asked him to never contact her again.
Curious, Caelyra probed the mage. Just what was that all about?
Apparently the woman had been searching for his phylactery for him... and it just happened to be right here. In the city. Could they find it and smash it into bits so the templars couldn't find him anymore?
He was a Grey Warden now and need not worry about that, but to put him at ease, Caelyra agreed.
She soon wished she hadn't.
They went into the warehouse where his phylactery was supposedly located, and instead they found two templars. One of which was the woman who had wanted to kill him that night at Vigil's Keep.
It was a trap; they were going to take Anders and kill him.
Queen Anora had allowed his conscription into the Wardens and he had made a fine Warden so far, Caelyra argued. But the templars did not care.
The templars attacked, and Caelyra had no choice but to defend herself and her comrades. It was a pity she had to kill them, but they had asked for it.
Leaving the templars bodies on the warehouse floor, they left the building and... walked straight into Nathaniel's sister.
Caelyra allowed Nathaniel time to get reacquainted with his only surviving family-member. She seemed a good sort — she told Nathaniel all about how their father was evil and it was all his fault their family had fallen to ruin.
At first wary of the thought of encountering another Howe, now Caelyra was glad they did. The siblings conversation seemed to give Nathaniel something to think about. Maybe Caelyra wouldn't have to worry about a knife in the back after all.
It had been quite the busy day so far, but Caelyra wanted to do one last thing before returning to the Keep for the night — look into the smuggling ring for the city guard.
There was a shady looking character by the tavern who she tried to glean information from, until he recognised her. It was a lot harder doing these things when everyone knew who you were. She and her group chased him around the city, fought thugs that were protecting him, then followed him to the entrance of his hideout. It was locked.
There had to be a key somewhere... and there was. A nearby peasant looked suspicious enough to be guarding the place and they quickly retrieved the key from his corpse.
Storming the smuggler's den, they took down the leader of the group, relinquished the goods and returned to the city guard. He was very grateful for Caelyra's assistance. Nathaniel approved too, as this was his city once and he wanted it taken care of.
Now it was time to return to Vigil's Keep and get a good night's rest before setting out once more on the morrow, when they'd be going to the Wending Woods and seeing what was up with these traders being murdered.
Until next time! ⚔️🐲
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 