With Vigil's Keep now secured and new Wardens at her disposal, Caelyra had much to do. She was both Warden-Commander of Ferelden and the Arl of Amaranthine. She had to juggle both her duties if she were to make this outpost work.
She spoke to her new advisors. There was the Seneschal, of course, who was basically a mayor in her stead, her treasurer, and her captain of the guard.
The treasurer was worried about the economic situation in Amaranthine and several trade routes that had been cut off by presumably the darkspawn. The captain was worried about a possible darkspawn breeding ground. And the Seneschal was worried about a man named Kristoff — the only Warden who had been out in the field whilst the darkspawn attacked the Keep. He needed to be found.
Caelyra's objectives were clear. She grabbed her two new Wardens, Oghren and Anders, and headed out of the Keep.
Outside the Keep, a woman served as a messenger. She had several letters from nearby villagers who had been having issues with the darkspawn, and there was another issue here in the Keep — a thief had been caught and was awaiting trial in the dungeons.
Before heading out on other business, Caelyra decided to go to the dungeons first and see about this thief.
He was a son of Howe. Her blood bristled as she thought of the man who had slain her family. Yet another of his ilk was after her it seemed. She demanded to know why he was there and what he was doing.
His name was Nathaniel and he had come to kill her. His glare was hot and they got into an argument over the rights and wrongs of the past, over who's family was in the wrong, but then he lowered his eyes. He had come to kill her, he said, but then changed his mind. All he wanted was to collect his family's belongings that were still here, as this was once the Howe's Arling, and leave.
Caelyra thought long and hard as she stared into Nathaniel's eyes, then said she had decided what she would do with him. Calling for the Seneschal, she announced that she was releasing him. To allow him collection of his family's belongings and let him leave in peace.
Everyone was stunned. The Seneschal was flabbergasted and so was Nathaniel. But it was done. Nathaniel gathered his family's belongings and left.
After Nathaniel had left, Caelyra continued her rounds around the Keep and met her new staff. She was surprised to see that her new smithy was Denerim's own Master Wade and his shop assistant, Herren!
She greeted them warmly. Wade acted the drama queen as usual but regardless, she was pleased to see more familiar faces. She promised to find some metal deposits for them so they could outfit the men better.
She also met with a stonemason who was tasked with solidifying the structure of the Keep. It was crumbling and he had only been allocated enough gold to perform a barebones job. Caelyra ruffled through her purse and handed him 80 golden coins to transform this Keep into the sturdiest Keep in the land.
As Caelyra was heading back to the throne room, one of the guards waved her over and mentioned that due to a mad dwarf and his fiery bombs, a lot of the keep's dungeons and basements had been closed off to them. There could still be survivors down there, or darkspawn; if she got men to clear out the rubble, could Caelyra please go down there and make sure it was safe?
Of course she could!
Grabbing Oghren and Anders, they went into the depths and began clearing out the remaining darkspawn.
As well as darkspawn, there were a lot of ghouls — men and women tainted by the darkspawn's blood and turned into twisted monsters. They, too, had to be dealt with. There were also some long-locked-in prisoners down there who had somehow survived. Caelyra set them free.
Once the area had been secured, the guard came down with the stonemason. There was more rubble down there and the stonemason was certain that on the other side lurked darkspawn tunnels connected to the deep roads than ran beneath the entire country.
It was best if they removed the rubble and followed the tunnels to create a proper fortification further in to make sure the Keep remained safe. Caelyra agreed.
The guard said she'd get some men straight onto it and would let her know when the tunnels were ready for her to tread.
Leaving the Keep's basements in the capable hands of the stonemason and some men, Caelyra emerged back onto the Keep's grounds and got waylaid by the messenger woman again.
Apparently the Seneschal was seeking her appearance in the throne room to officially announce her as Arl of Amaranthine and have the nobles swear their fealty to her.
Caelyra met with the nobles. All of these men and women were once vassals of Howe and now they were hers. She didn't know if she could trust them, but that was something that could be seen too later.
One woman spoke of a plot she had eavesdropped upon to remove Caelyra from power before she truly gained it, and a noble who lorded over the farmlands was desperate for aid as there was no protection for his people.
Caelyra brought those issues to the Seneschal and suggested they spread their men out a little more so that more areas of the region could be protected.
It had only been a few hours but she was already tired of doing noble things — she had nearly forgotten what it was like being a noblewoman. She much preferred being a Grey Warden, and here she was, both a Warden and an Arl.
Taking her leave from the nobles, Caelyra wandered back outside and stumbled across a cute little kitten. Maybe Anders would like it.
"Oh, look at the cute little kitty!" Anders crooned. He loved it immediately. He named it Ser Pounce-a-lot and let him sit in his backpack. The kitten meowed, happily.
Right. For now, the Keep was sorted. Caelyra needed to get out of there, out of the way of the nobles, and back to doing what she did best.
Sorting through her journal, she noted that much of what needed to be done lay in the city, however one of her people requested she search for his lost daughter, taken by bandits at Forlorn Cove. She considered that most important and they would be swift. The man's daughter would not perish.
Until next time! ⚔️🐲
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 