Fourth Blight

Fourth Blight
Date	5:12–24 Exalted
Location	Thedas
Result	Thedosian victory Andoral slain Fall of the Ortan Thaig Death of the Antivan royal dynasty Surface illusion about the end of darkspawn threat Lands of Anderfels devastated Griffon extinction
Belligerents
anderfels Anderfels Antiva Free Marches * starkhaven Starkhaven ** kirkwall Kirkwall nevarra Nevarra orlais Orlais dwarves Orzammar rivain Rivain tevinter Tevinter Imperium gw Grey Wardens
darkspawn Darkspawn horde
Commanders and leaders
gw Garahel † gw Isseya wardencommander Turab † wardencommander Senaste King Elaudio † Queen Giuvana † starkhaven Prince Vael starkhaven Amadis Vael starkhaven Champion of Starkhaven anderfels King Henault † anderfels Queen Mariwen anderfels Uvasha nevarra Nestor Pentaghast nevarra Tylus Van Markham orlais Ser Gaston de Montfort tevinter Archon
darkspawn Andoral †
Strength
Antivan soldiers anderfels Anderfels Royal Army nevarra Nevarran soldiers orlais Orlesian soldiers rivain Rivaini soldiers tevinter Tevinter soldiers dwarves Warrior caste gw Grey Wardens Ruby Drake Mercenaries The Masterless The Stone's Bastards The Broken Circle
darkspawn Ogres darkspawn Hurlocks darkspawn Genlocks darkspawn Shrieks

The Fourth Blight began when the Archdemon Andoral arose in 5:12 Exalted and Darkspawn surfaced in the northeast and northwestern regions of Thedas.

Beginnings

Antiva was struck by the darkspawn first. The Antivans were taken completely by surprise and the darkspawn had soon taken all of Antiva with only the capital, Antiva City resisting. Unchecked, the darkspawn swarmed out into Rivain and the Free Marches. Meanwhile Antiva City closed its gates. In spite of this, refugees continued to flee to Antiva City with hundreds camping outside the city gates.

Fall of Antiva City

King Elaudio & Queen Giuvana of Antiva called the Grey Wardens for aid. Antiva's Warden-Commander, Turab, gathered a contingent of Antivan Wardens at the city and called for a regiment of Griffon riders to help evacuate the city. Garahel & his sister Isseya were among them. The Wardens advised fleeing Antiva immediately in order to save as many lives as possible, however the Royal couple insisted on trying to defend the city from the darkspawn. Despite the royals' proclamation, many of the ship captains still in the city chose to flee via Rialto bay, leaving even fewer means of escape from the city. Eventually discontent at the Royals' misjudgement led to the Antivan Royal Guard turning on them, killing King Eluadio before being defeated by the Grey Wardens. To preserve morale, it was decided it would be publicly announced that the King was killed by the darkspawn.

Finally faced with no choice, the members of the royal court whom had survived the insurrection agreed to evacuate via Griffon with the Grey Wardens. As the wardens prepared to withdraw, the walls of Antiva City were finally breached and the Darkspawn swarmed through the city. The Wardens flew from the city however they were attacked by the Archdemon just outside of Antiva city, killing Warden-Commander Turab and most of the Wardens along with the surviving members of the Antivan Royal family. Garahel & Isseya, together with Amadis Vael & an Antivan Crow Mage, Calien launched a diversionary attack on the archdemon to allow the surviving Wardens the time to get their charges to safety. After a pitched conflict they were able to delay the Archdemon and make a narrow escape.

Evacuation of Wycome

The surviving Wardens withdrawing from Antiva regrouped at the city of Wycome in the Free Marches. The local citizenry began devoting all their efforts to fortifying the city. Knowing that their efforts would be insufficient to hold off the darkspawn, Warden-Commander Senaste had the wardens in the city begin construction of a improvised Aravels led by Griffons which they could use to evacuate the populace. Isseya oversaw the project while Garahel delivered messages and requests of support to nobles and other potential military assets on behalf of Amadis Vael. Although they were unable to evacuate the total populace before the city fell, the Wardens managed to evacuate a large number of refugees to Starkhaven.

Other Fronts

Hossberg, the capital city of the Anderfels, once again was besieged by the darkspawn. In the Tevinter Imperium, the Siege of Marnas Pell took place, and along with the help of the dwarves of Orzammar, the siege was lifted at no small cost. The dwarves received many accolades of the ruling Archon and one of them even became a Paragon. Orlais was barely hit and drove the darkspawn within its borders back underground. Tevinter refused to send any aid to the Free Marches or Anderfels, bitter over the recent Exalted Marches against the Imperium, while Orlais committed only a token force. The darkspawn also pushed in the underground realm and captured Ortan Thaig.

The Siege of Hossberg

Hossberg was under varying degrees of siege by the darkspawn for the next eight years. Garahel was promoted to the temporary rank of Field-Commander and given charge of defending against the siege. Finally in the last days of 5:19 Exalted, the Grey Wardens were able to locate the entrance to the Deep Roads which the darkspawn were using to bring re-enforcements into the Anderfels to join the siege. Isseya leads a small sortie party of Mage wardens out of Hossberg on their griffons to collapse the passage with several Warrior Grey Wardens for support. In spite of some casualties the passage is collapsed and the darkspawn are cut off from re-enforcements.

With the Darkspawn isolated, Garahel led the bulk of the Grey Wardens forces and the Anderfels Royal Army troops from a position northwest of the city against the main force of the darkspawn. Meanwhile another contingent of Grey Wardens under the command of Isseya opened up another front south of the city. The wardens mined the area with 'Skyburners' a modified form of dwarven lyrium mining explosives which they baited with quality weaponry to lure the darkspawn. A large number of darkspawn were destroyed in the initial blast and afterwards the Wardens attacked massacring ancillary and withdrawing darkspawn forces in the fork of the Lattenfluss river. Combined with the main army's success, the siege of Hossberg was finally broken in the first days of 5:20 Exalted.

Height

The situation in the Free Marches continued to deteriorate and the darkspawn pressed further west. In return for a declaration of support for her regency from Garahel himself, Queen Mariwen of the Anderfels agreed to send the Anderfels Royal Army to assist the wardens in their campaign to the east.

The Wardens took control of Fortress Haine and refurbished it to serve as retreat for the numerous refugees from the free marches. Meanwhile Kirkwall was besieged by the darkspawn. The Wardens agreed to evacuate the refugees from the city using the same method they had to evacuate Wycome years earlier. Thanks to a rabid Griffon, one train of aravels was lost on the approach to the darkspawn but the rest reached the city. Together with the Champion of Starkhaven, the Wardens managed to evacuate hundreds of refugees to Fortress Haine.

Garahel meanwhile continued to rally troops to fight the blight forming an formidable ensemble army including a large number of disenfranchised groups--including, a company of Apostate mages, known as the Broken Circle, a group of casteless and surfacer dwarves named the Stone's Bastards and the Masterless, former elven slaves from the Tevinter Imperium. Despite this, the year 5:21 was the most dire point of the Blight. The Free Marches were left all but devastated. Fortress Haine became a makeshift Warden fortress and a refuge known as the Retreat was dug in the mountain, sheltering fleeing Cumberland and Kirkwall citizens. In 5:22 Garahel gathered Orlesian and Anders Wardens and marched to Starkhaven. He organized an alliance between the Marchers and the united army continued north.

Battle of Ayesleigh

By 5:24 Exalted, the Darkspawn had finally been pushed back to Rivain and Antiva. The allied forces decided this was their opportunity to finally end the blight. Amadis Vael led the ground force on Arvaud's Barrow just outside the city of Ayesleigh, with Ser Gaston de Montfort leading the cavalry. The Champion of Starkhaven was also among the ground force. The ground force attacked the gathered darkspawn there and then laid an ambush for the Archdemon. Simultaneously, Garahel led a strike force of grey wardens on griffons to the skies above Ayesleigh. Using a smaller version of the Skyburner lyrium explosives, the wardens barraged the city below to devastating effect causing heavy darkspawn casualties. Knowing that the Darkspawn had no real way to combat the airborne wardens other than to have the Archdemon take the field, the wardens continued their attack until at least, the tainted Old God appeared.

The Wardens struck aiming to infuriate the beast and lure it back to their troops on the ground. However the Wardens lost control of the rabid Griffons, splintering their strike force. Only a handful of griffons followed the withdrawal formation while the rest frantically assaulted the Archdemon. Cut off from their support, the Wardens concentrated all their riders on attacking the Archdemon. The unusual ferocity of the rabid griffons proved highly effective tearing out chunks of the archdemon's flesh. Although most of the wardens and their griffons were killed during the battle, the rabid griffons combined with the archers and mages finally managed to collapse one of the Archdemon's wings. The Archdemon was sent hurtling down crashing into the streets of Ayesleigh below. The wardens advanced on Ayesleigh to finish their task but flew head first into darkspawn archers line of fire, leading them to take further casualties.

With only three Wardens left, Garahel flew his griffon into Ayesleigh narrowly avoiding the archers and the Archdemons attack before finally driving his blade into a wound at the base of the Archdemon's neck made by the rabid griffons, killing the beast at last. The Fourth Blight ended – and Garahel died, having cast down and slain Andoral in single combat.

Aftermath

The effects of the blight persisted in the Anderfels and the Deep Roads but were largely ignored by most, save for the Grey Wardens. So many darkspawn were slaughtered, that it was easy for some to imagine that they would never return.

Griffons soon went extinct, their numbers decimated during the Blight.

Trivia

• The Fourth's Blight's infamous siege of Hossberg inspired commonly-known songs such as "The Rat-Eater's Lament" and "The Orphan With Five Fathers."

Gallery

Battle map from the Fourth Blight

See also

Codex entry: Ballad of Ayesleigh — a ballad about the final battle of the Fourth Blight

Codex entry: Garahel's Helm — describes the slaying of Andoral

Codex entry: Stalata Negat — dwarven view on the Fourth Blight

Axe of the Grey