The Assault on Vigil's Keep

The Assault on Vigil's Keep is the first quest in the Awakening expansion, where the Warden-Commander arrives at Vigil's Keep overrun with darkspawn.

Outside Vigil's Keep
After the first battle you'll be standing in front of the Vigil's Keep main gate. You can go right through the gate, but for more XP and items you should explore both sides of the road leading to gate. On the right side two darkspawn will attack you coming from the damaged wall near the gate. On the left side a larger group of darkspawn will attack from all sides. There are some plants and a chest one on either side of the road.

After you enter the keep courtyard, a group of Shrieks and one Ogre will attack you. There are soldiers fighting darkspawn in front of you and to the far left, who will die unless you help them. There is also a Terrified Merchant up the stairs to the left of the gate. The attack on the merchant seems to be triggered by getting close to him and the darkspawn surrounding him. It is possible to do this without going up the stairway, in which case he will often be killed before you reach him. If you manage to save the merchant he will restock Yuriah and Yuriah's store will have the first upgrade right from the start. It is unknown, whether or not saving the soldiers has any lasting effect on the rest of the game.

Run up the stairs to the inner gate. Once you approach it, it will burst open and you will be on the receiving end of a fireball by courtesy of the Emissary behind the gate. Fight him and the other darkspawn and try to reach the far left corner of the inner courtyards to save the soldier who is in combat with two darkspawn. If he survives he will give the side-quest A Medical Necessity. Behind him up the stairs where the wounded soldiers are, you will find two containers, one of which holds the Stormchaser Helm.

On the right side of the inner courtyard, two more soldiers can be saved from darkspawn attackers. If you got the Medical Nessecity quest, there will also be a chest with medical supplies at the southern end.

Keep Interior
After a short dialogue sequence you will almost immediately be ambushed by three shrieks coming out of stealth. Once they are defeated, head through the door on the right, where you'll meet Anders. Depending on your dialogue choices, he will either join your party or leave. Taking him with you will make things much easier, especially due to his healing spells. Depending on the Warden's Level, Anders will have one or more unassigned specialization points and several unassigned skill and spell points. For example, with a level 22 warden, Anders will start with the following: two specialization points, four skill points, and nine spell points. So, if starting Awakening with a relatively high level Warden, this is a great opportunity to specialize him now.

Continue through the door where you will find a survivor under attack by two darkspawn. Defeating the darkspawn will start the side-quest The Survivors of Vigil's Keep. The next door leads to the balcony where you will be attacked by a larger group of darkspawn lead by an emissary. (Note: The emissary will often use Crushing Prison on the Warden right away. Having Anders learn Dispel Magic prior to this encounter is one way to quickly end the spell.) You can find the Beastmaster crossbow in the container by the ballista.

Head back inside and continue until you find a lever. Using it will start a short cutscene that literally ends with a bang and allow you to continue further inside the Keep after disposing of the three darkspawn that survive the explosion. Head north and open the door to your left to free another survivor. The northern door leads into a larger room with several darkspawn, including a spellcaster up behind the balustrade on the other side of the room. Head west for a some loot inside two containers, then take the corridor behind the eastern door to a room with three more enemies. Go east again into a room with the final survivor and two darkspawn.

Now there's only two ways to go and both lead to the same room, where you will meet Oghren. Help him eliminate the darkspawn in the room and after a short cutscene he will join your party. Like Anders he will have several unassigned specialization, skill and talent points.

In the corridor behind the northern door you will meet Rowland, a Grey Warden, who alas is mortally wounded an cannot be saved, no matter what dialogue options you choose. After his death continue through the eastern door. Defeat all the darkspawn in the area, including the northern and eastern rooms, which also have some more loot inside containers. Then go up the stairs and through the north-eastern door which leads outside.

Vigil's Keep Roof
You'll find yourself on a rooftop pretty high up Vigil's Keep. There is only one way to go and it leads to a cutscene that ends in a battle with The Withered, a boss level darkspawn warrior, who is accompanied by two regular Hurlocks and a Genlock. The fight should not prove too difficult, although The Withered has quite a lot of hit points, so it can take a while to wear him down.

After The Withered is slain, there you will encounter a familiar face and in a long cutscene with several dialogue options you can decide whether or not to allow Oghren to become a Grey Warden and whether or not to conscript Anders to save him from the Templars. Depending on your choices there will be Joining ritual with one, two or three participants. Oghren and Anders will survive but no matter what you do, Mhairi will always die. After the Joining you will end up in the Vigil's Keep - Throne Room, the Awakening equivalent of Origins' Party Camp.


 * Note: After the Joining any equipment (i.e., armor, weapons, accessories, etc.) you equipped Mhairi with will automatically be put back into your inventory.

Result
A darkspawn emissary with the unusual ability of speech was leading the attack on Vigil's Keep. You killed the emissary and restored order.