Assault on Amaranthine (conflict)

The Assault on Amaranthine was one of the last major battles of the Darkspawn Civil War that took place in 9:31 Dragon. 
== Background ==
Knowing how important the Grey Wardens were to the Architect's plans, the Mother launched a preemptive attack on the City of Amaranthine while simultaneously advancing on the Wardens' stronghold at Vigil's Keep, in order to completely wipe out the Order. The Mother's forces were composed of standard darkspawn infantry led by The Herald, as well as Children and heavily-armoured ogres.
Fearing the worst, Amaranthine's nobles led by Lord Eddelbrek went to Vigil's Keep and asked the Warden-Commander to deal with the situation. As moving the bulk of the Vigil's forces would take too much preparations to arrive in time to save the city, the Warden-Commander assembled a small army composed of a few fellow Wardens, Captain Garevel, and a small force of soldiers from the Vigil, and led a forced march to the city of Amaranthine.
== The assault on Amaranthine ==
=== Arrival of the Warden-Commander ===
The Warden-Commander's forces arrived after Amaranthine had already endured two days of siege. To the relief of the surviving guards, they easily killed the darkspawn forces attacking the city gates. Constable Aidan grimly informed the Warden-Commander of Amaranthine's status. A few nights before the Wardens' arrival, the darkspawn emerged from the city's underground to spread the taint and cause havoc in the city. At least a quarter of the city's populace fell from the darkspawns' pestilence on the first night, and many more would have died had the Wardens not fended off the darkspawn reinforcements besieging the city gates. From his point of view, the city was beyond saving, as he believed that no one inside the city had survived the initial attack, and if some did survive then many would be diseased by the darkspawn taint.
While the Warden-Commander was talking with Aidan, the Messenger, one of the Disciples of the Architect's faction, arrived to warn the Warden-Commander of an incoming attack on Vigil's Keep, led by the Herald himself. Prioritizing the survival of Vigil's Keep, and seeing Amaranthine as a lost cause, Captain Garevel suggested to burn the city to the ground to destroy as many darkspawn as possible. Furthermore, the Warden-Commander couldn't afford to let the darkspawn occupying Amaranthine City to survive since the remaining darkspawn would reinforce the darkspawn attacking Vigil's Keep.
The decision to either save Amaranthine or destroy it and return as soon as possible to Vigil's Keep is left to the Warden-Commander. 
=== The Siege of Amaranthine ===
The Warden-Commander's forces decided to save Amaranthine and discovered that Aidan was wrong: several citizens had survived. The remaining city guards inside the city had raised a militia and had been protecting the rest of the surviving non-combatant citizens since the siege had started. The survivors had taken refuge in the Chantry of our Lady Redeemer, that doubled as the militia headquarters. The Warden troops joined forces with the militia, and wiped out the attacking darkspawn. However, a bigger darkspawn army surrounded Amaranthine not long after, forcing the Warden-Commander to muster the few forces they had in hand and lead a desperate defense against overwhelming numbers.
The invading darkspawn engaged in a form of guerilla warfare operating from the smuggling tunnels beneath Amaranthine. The siege lasted for a week,According to the epilogue. after which the Warden-Commander was able to kill the three Disciple Generals who led the army and their powerful armored ogre. Without leadership, the darkspawn army scattered and fled Amaranthine.
:Siege of Vigil's Keep (conflict)
== Aftermath ==
With information about the whereabouts of the Mother provided by the Messenger, the Warden-Commander led a small strike team, composed of their fellow Grey Wardens, to invade Drake's Fall, a Tevinter ruin located in the Dragonbone Wastes. After a long and grueling fight, the Mother was slain, putting an end to the conflict.
As the Warden-Commander chose to defend Amaranthine, the city suffered minor damage. Thanks to gold donated by nobles from across Ferelden, Amaranthine was rebuilt in a year. Vigil's Keep, on the other hand, was forced to withstand the onslaught on its own, and may have been destroyed. Even if it survived the siege, the Keep was so damaged, that its rebuilding would last five years.
== References ==
Category:Conflicts
Category:History
Category:Ferelden