The Assault on Amaranthine

The Assault on Amaranthine is a quest in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening. It is one of the two quest options for the Commander during the Mother's darkspawn attack, the other being The Siege of Vigil's Keep.

Vigil's Keep
After the confrontation with the nobles in Vigil's Keep's throne room, the Warden-Commander selects three companions to march to the City of Amaranthine. Sigrun insists she comes, however, if the player does not choose her they lose no favor.

City of Amaranthine
The Warden arrives at the city to find that the city is stormed by darkspawn. After a small fight the city's commander, Constable Aidan, greets you and a darkspawn messenger arrives. The Warden is informed of a attack on Vigil's Keep by the Architect, and they both advise the Warden to return to defend the keep. At this point the Warden has three options:


 * 1) Return to the keep
 * 2) Set the Amaranthine on fire thereby destroying the city and the darkspawn inside
 * 3) Fight to save the people inside the city

If the keep's defences and soldiers have been upgraded enough, the keep will stand on its own, however, the Warden-Commander may still choose to return to the keep.

(Note on this: I have completed all the upgrades to the keep and its soldiers, and the keep was still destroyed. Even setting out with only 1 companion (the least you can take with you) will not save the keep. However, I had the soldiers assigned "everywhere". Therefore I suppose that in the first meeting with the nobles you have to chose "The keep needs the soldiers. They stay here" instead of assigning them to the countryside, city, or everywhere.

If the Warden-Commander decides to save the city from the darkspawn, then the pockets of darkspawn resistance must be eliminated. The darkspawn messenger can assist. Around the city in a clockwise direction, there are encounters with groups of darkspawn and children that must be defeated. Afterwards an officer informs the Warden that there are supplies in the Chantry.

Chantry and the Crown and Lion Inn
Inside the Chantry a scared citizen comes to tell the Warden-Commander that darkspawn are emerging from the Crown and Lion inn. Specifically the smuggling tunnels that lead to and from the inn. Eventually the Warden Commander fights through the tunnels and emerges on the other side outside the city walls to confront an elite emissary and an armored ogre. Once the Warden-Commander kills both the emissary and ogre, the city of Amaranthine is saved.

Finale
There is a short cinematic where everybody cheers the Warden-Commander. Constable Aidan informs the player that the darkspawn messenger has relented the location of the Mother's lair. At this point the Constable asks the Commander about what to do with the darkspawn messenger. The messenger can be killed, imprisoned or released.

It is possible to purchase more supplies at a vendor at this point and a mage is also present for enchantments.