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. The prelude is the same for both quests until the decision whether or not to attempt to save the city is made.

Vigil's Keep
After the quests The Righteous Path, Last of the Legion and Shadows of the Blackmarsh have been completed, speak to Varel to initiate a confrontation with the nobles in Vigil's Keep - Throne Room. There will be a messenger reporting an attack on the City of Amaranthine. The Warden-Commander will have to select up to three companions to march with him to the City of Amaranthine. Sigrun insists on coming, however not choosing her will not result in any disapproval from her.

Buy all items you still wish to obtain before talking to Varel, as most merchants will not be available anymore after you do. Also, be sure not to leave any important items in the storage chest or on party members that you don't plan on bringing along, as you will not be able to get to these items later on.

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 talking darkspawn messenger (The Messenger) sent by the Architect arrives. The Warden is informed of an attack on Vigil's Keep, and both the messenger and Aidan urge the Warden to return to defend the keep.

At this point the Warden has two options:
 * 1) Fight to save the city and the remaining survivors (leads to The Assault on Amaranthine)
 * 2) Set the Amaranthine on fire thereby destroying the city and the darkspawn inside and return to the keep (leads to The Siege of Vigil's Keep)

Approval changes should the Warden-Commander choose to save the city:

if persuaded.

If the Keep's defences and soldiers have been upgraded enough, the keep will stand on its own for a week (or if every upgrade available was obtained the keep will completely survive), however, the Warden-Commander cannot return to the keep for the remainder of the game. If something was not optimized (e.g. no granite to upgrade the walls) the Keep will fall and your companions who were left there will die (although their codex entries and the end game credits may contradict each other).

Save the City Guard
If the Warden-Commander decides to save the city from the darkspawn, then the pockets of darkspawn fighting the surviving members of the city guard 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 are several containers with items, some of them locked. Glassric the Weaponsmith will also be there, although his selection of items will be quite limited. (You will have one more chance to buy from him after you saved the city, at whch point his stock will be completely replenished.)

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. There will be several encounters with various darkspawn enemies, including three Disciple Generals, one on the way to the inn, one in the smuggling tunnels, and the last one on the other side of the city walls, the latter being accompanied by an Armored Ogre. Once all the enemies are killed, 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. If you release him,, , and.

It is possible to purchase more supplies from Glassric the Weaponsmith before leaving. Glassric will be waiting at the side of the road and will have his whole stock again, including all unique items that have already been bought from him before. There will also be an enchanter standing next to him, who will offer you his services.

Rewards
The three Disciple Generals each carry one unique item (in addition to other loot):

Bugs
However, it is possible to continue the battle solo, with your party returning after the short cut-scene involving the Officer in charge of the Defence
 * During the Save the City Guards subquest, you may encounter an animate-deaded darkspawn at the North-west corner of the City of Amaranthine.  It does not move or fight back, but it cannot be killed either.  Your party members won't stop hitting it until you order them to leave the undead target out of the sight (it's actually a new Rogue Specialization skill: Decoy, placed by Rogue darkspawn).

CONFIRMED: It is possible for this unkillable Decoy figure to lock everyone into combat mode regardless of position or lack of legitimate enemies; if this occurs, you cannot complete the battle portion of the quest and will be forced to restore and try again.