The war room in Griffon Wing Keep couldn't hold a candle to the one in Skyhold in terms of scale. The table upon which their maps were placed was a simple wooden one, and the relatively shorter windows looked out on the bleak expanse of the Western Approach's sands, not the windswept mountainsides of the Frostbacks. But Romulus didn't concern himself with such things, nor did he expect any of the others did, either. Lady Marceline, after all, had elected to stay behind, since the conflict with the Grey Wardens had gone well beyond matters of diplomacy. They faced battle now, on a scale the Inquisition hadn't seen since the fall of Haven.
Only this time they would be the attackers. He didn't expect it would be like any of their small scale incursions. No small stealthy force would be able to sneak through the Wardens, who had pulled back to the last man within their walls at Adamant. The fortress had eyes watching from the walls at all hours, and no mere bandits were they. Any attack on that ancient place would be bloody, for both sides.
Romulus wasn't sure yet how he felt about it all. It was too hard to make a judgement without have been there for what the others were able to discover. But honestly, he was glad that he did not yet have to. The right or wrong of the Wardens and their intentions was irrelevant for the moment. They needed to be stopped, and to create a plan to that end, the Inquisitors had gathered with their army's commander and spymaster, as well as the Wardens Nostariel and Stroud, and the Kirkwall Guard Captain Ashton Riviera.
Lia had been summoned to give her official report on the fortress and its defenses, though Romulus was certain Leon and Rilien had already heard it several times. "The Wardens pulling back gave us an easy opportunity to look over their defenses," she explained. "They never tried to drive us off, and we never came close enough to engage. The fortress is ancient, and the Wardens haven't had the time or resources to repair it properly. My scouts identified several weak points along the wall we can target with trebuchets."
She pointed to a few locations along the wall marked on the map, which was adorned with a drawing she'd provided of Adamant's layout. "A few good hits could give us some openings. But the quickest way to the heart of the place is through the main gate. It wouldn't be an easy fight. And we saw more lights from within the fortress. I think Pike is already at work on bolstering their numbers with demons."
“We have the siege weaponry and battering rams required to breach the gate." Rilien's suggestions, as usual, were delivered flatly, with no hint of what he really thought of things, if it were different from what he said. “But even if that is accomplished, the fight will be drawn out, and likely happen in stages. We should act as if we are under a time constraint—we very well might be."
“What do you suggest, then?" Nostariel, the female Warden, tilted her head slightly.
He blinked, shifting his eyes down to the map. “A smaller, more mobile group, aimed for the heart of the fortress. Anyone else who can get inside can focus on securing the line behind them, but given what Pike is doing, he should have as little time to do it as we can allow."
Leon did not seem particularly surprised by the suggestion. Perhaps they'd already spoken about this, or perhaps he'd been considering something similar. “The army would take a significant amount of time to clear the outer parts of the fortress. I don't think it will even be feasible if we have a constant stream of demons to worry about. We're going to want to stop that as soon as possible." He frowned down at the map.
“Though... we should be prepared for something else to go wrong. We have no idea what else Corypheus has given this Pike by way of resources. Sending one man and a handful of underlings to deal with the entire Grey Warden organization in Orlais seems ill-advised, and so we should assume there's something we don't know."
"I doubt the Venatori will be working alongside the Wardens," Romulus speculated. Pike was one thing, but the cult of Tevinter supremacists would surely put the Wardens, even in their distracted state of mind, on edge. Pike was not from Tevinter, and would make for a better agent working more or less on his own, with any help coming from the shadows and avoiding the notice of the Wardens. "But you're right. If Corypheus gave Pike a way to target our marks specifically, he could have other tricks up his sleeve."
"If we can get a foothold on the walls," Lia suggested, "we can cover the advance of the assault group from above for a little while, help them on their way forward. I don't know how long we'd hold out against Wardens and demons, though."
Estella raised her arms just enough to cross them at her diaphragm. “About that..." She trailed off, shaking her head faintly, then glanced to Nostariel and Stroud. “Do you think any might be swayed to fight with us, if they see another option? Or at least... not fight against us?"
“Some might." Nostariel's brow furrowed; the look on her face was anything but certain. “I doubt it could hurt to at least check, but..." She grimaced and glanced at Stroud.
"Those who control the demons are lost already. And the mages who performed the bindings are unlikely to reverse course now. The most likely candidates would be those on the outer walls and not in the inner sanctum of the fortress. Pike was already enforcing such hierarchy when we left."
“The ones he trusted close by and the rest of us much further." Nostariel confirmed it with a short nod.
“Very well," Leon said, with a bit of finality in his tone. He glanced to both Estella and Romulus, as if to make sure neither of them had anything to add. When they didn't, he continued. “I'll finalize plans for the siege weaponry with some of the others later. We'll march this afternoon and attack as the sun goes down."
That seemed to conclude the meeting to everyone's satisfaction, and the group began to disperse. The Wardens and the Guard Captain were first out, followed by Rilien and Leon, who probably left to gather the personnel for the other meeting. Lia departed with them. Estella offered Romulus a small smile before heading towards the exit herself.
"Estella," Romulus said, calling her to a halt. "Can you spare a minute? I wanted to ask you something."
She paused in her motion, turning back around to face him. Her smile had faded; her expression wasn't much more telling than Rilien's, but she did nod. “Of course I can. What is it?"
"About Pike." He'd actually been thinking a fair amount on their reports of what had transpired for Pike's test ritual that Estella and the others had interrupted. Though he'd never met the man before, this Pike seemed to have at least some sort of direct contact or connection with Corypheus, which made him more interesting than the vast majority of their enemies. "When he attacked your mark, what did he do? What was it like? And how did you fight it?" His reasons for asking were obviously practical, in case they encountered Pike during the battle. Romulus was only beginning to be able to control his mark and the things it could do, but sometimes instinct alone would not be enough.
“It felt like... being electrocuted," she admitted. “At first, it was hard to tell exactly what was happening because it just... hurt." The corners of her mouth twisted down, forming a slight grimace. “But as far as I can tell, he was trying to push some kind of disruptive force or energy into my body through the mark. Like... I don't know if you're familiar with the walking bomb spell, but like that."
Her eyes closed a moment, as though in recollection, but she blinked them open again a second later. “I only got him to stop by pushing back against it. I don't know if I have any better words for it than that. It was sort of like what it feels like to close a rift, but not at all automatic."
"Okay." Romulus nodded. He was actually familiar with the particular spell Estella spoke of. A very muted version of it, at least. Tonics could reduce the effects of nearly every type of spell that inflicted constant pain. He would be consuming a fair amount of them before the battle, he was sure, but he doubted they would have any effect against attempts to disrupt his mark. That was something else entirely, and something that he didn't know how to prepare for besides asking for Estella's help. With any luck, he wouldn't need it, but from how she described it sounded quite possible to replicate. He was almost at the point where he could create rifts automatically, but those just sort of closed themselves after an instant.
"If we can, we need to take Pike alive." He was relatively sure Estella was already of the same mindset, but it didn't hurt to ensure they were on the same page. "If Corypheus gave him some knowledge of how to fight us, he may know something about... what happened to us. How we came to be this." Despite everything that had happened, that memory still eluded them, always a smoky wisp incapable of being grasped when he reached for it in his mind. He didn't know what purpose it would serve, the knowledge of how he and Estella had survived the Temple of Sacred Ashes. If anything its absence had already been serving a purpose. But he knew that he wanted it, and he would much rather ask Pike than be forced to pull the knowledge from Corypheus himself.
She nodded. “It would be for the best, though... I'm not sure how possible it is. He has command of some kind of magic he can use for escapes, and I don't know what the range on it is. Or at least... I think that's how he managed to get away from us last time. In any case, if you do catch him, be careful of it. Being bound may not render him as helpless as others would be."
"Noted." He took a deep breath and exhaled, thinking of a few things he would need to take care of before they marched. "I should go prepare. Going to be a long night." If there was one thing that was certain, it was that.
Only this time they would be the attackers. He didn't expect it would be like any of their small scale incursions. No small stealthy force would be able to sneak through the Wardens, who had pulled back to the last man within their walls at Adamant. The fortress had eyes watching from the walls at all hours, and no mere bandits were they. Any attack on that ancient place would be bloody, for both sides.
Romulus wasn't sure yet how he felt about it all. It was too hard to make a judgement without have been there for what the others were able to discover. But honestly, he was glad that he did not yet have to. The right or wrong of the Wardens and their intentions was irrelevant for the moment. They needed to be stopped, and to create a plan to that end, the Inquisitors had gathered with their army's commander and spymaster, as well as the Wardens Nostariel and Stroud, and the Kirkwall Guard Captain Ashton Riviera.
Lia had been summoned to give her official report on the fortress and its defenses, though Romulus was certain Leon and Rilien had already heard it several times. "The Wardens pulling back gave us an easy opportunity to look over their defenses," she explained. "They never tried to drive us off, and we never came close enough to engage. The fortress is ancient, and the Wardens haven't had the time or resources to repair it properly. My scouts identified several weak points along the wall we can target with trebuchets."
She pointed to a few locations along the wall marked on the map, which was adorned with a drawing she'd provided of Adamant's layout. "A few good hits could give us some openings. But the quickest way to the heart of the place is through the main gate. It wouldn't be an easy fight. And we saw more lights from within the fortress. I think Pike is already at work on bolstering their numbers with demons."
“We have the siege weaponry and battering rams required to breach the gate." Rilien's suggestions, as usual, were delivered flatly, with no hint of what he really thought of things, if it were different from what he said. “But even if that is accomplished, the fight will be drawn out, and likely happen in stages. We should act as if we are under a time constraint—we very well might be."
“What do you suggest, then?" Nostariel, the female Warden, tilted her head slightly.
He blinked, shifting his eyes down to the map. “A smaller, more mobile group, aimed for the heart of the fortress. Anyone else who can get inside can focus on securing the line behind them, but given what Pike is doing, he should have as little time to do it as we can allow."
Leon did not seem particularly surprised by the suggestion. Perhaps they'd already spoken about this, or perhaps he'd been considering something similar. “The army would take a significant amount of time to clear the outer parts of the fortress. I don't think it will even be feasible if we have a constant stream of demons to worry about. We're going to want to stop that as soon as possible." He frowned down at the map.
“Though... we should be prepared for something else to go wrong. We have no idea what else Corypheus has given this Pike by way of resources. Sending one man and a handful of underlings to deal with the entire Grey Warden organization in Orlais seems ill-advised, and so we should assume there's something we don't know."
"I doubt the Venatori will be working alongside the Wardens," Romulus speculated. Pike was one thing, but the cult of Tevinter supremacists would surely put the Wardens, even in their distracted state of mind, on edge. Pike was not from Tevinter, and would make for a better agent working more or less on his own, with any help coming from the shadows and avoiding the notice of the Wardens. "But you're right. If Corypheus gave Pike a way to target our marks specifically, he could have other tricks up his sleeve."
"If we can get a foothold on the walls," Lia suggested, "we can cover the advance of the assault group from above for a little while, help them on their way forward. I don't know how long we'd hold out against Wardens and demons, though."
Estella raised her arms just enough to cross them at her diaphragm. “About that..." She trailed off, shaking her head faintly, then glanced to Nostariel and Stroud. “Do you think any might be swayed to fight with us, if they see another option? Or at least... not fight against us?"
“Some might." Nostariel's brow furrowed; the look on her face was anything but certain. “I doubt it could hurt to at least check, but..." She grimaced and glanced at Stroud.
"Those who control the demons are lost already. And the mages who performed the bindings are unlikely to reverse course now. The most likely candidates would be those on the outer walls and not in the inner sanctum of the fortress. Pike was already enforcing such hierarchy when we left."
“The ones he trusted close by and the rest of us much further." Nostariel confirmed it with a short nod.
“Very well," Leon said, with a bit of finality in his tone. He glanced to both Estella and Romulus, as if to make sure neither of them had anything to add. When they didn't, he continued. “I'll finalize plans for the siege weaponry with some of the others later. We'll march this afternoon and attack as the sun goes down."
That seemed to conclude the meeting to everyone's satisfaction, and the group began to disperse. The Wardens and the Guard Captain were first out, followed by Rilien and Leon, who probably left to gather the personnel for the other meeting. Lia departed with them. Estella offered Romulus a small smile before heading towards the exit herself.
"Estella," Romulus said, calling her to a halt. "Can you spare a minute? I wanted to ask you something."
She paused in her motion, turning back around to face him. Her smile had faded; her expression wasn't much more telling than Rilien's, but she did nod. “Of course I can. What is it?"
"About Pike." He'd actually been thinking a fair amount on their reports of what had transpired for Pike's test ritual that Estella and the others had interrupted. Though he'd never met the man before, this Pike seemed to have at least some sort of direct contact or connection with Corypheus, which made him more interesting than the vast majority of their enemies. "When he attacked your mark, what did he do? What was it like? And how did you fight it?" His reasons for asking were obviously practical, in case they encountered Pike during the battle. Romulus was only beginning to be able to control his mark and the things it could do, but sometimes instinct alone would not be enough.
“It felt like... being electrocuted," she admitted. “At first, it was hard to tell exactly what was happening because it just... hurt." The corners of her mouth twisted down, forming a slight grimace. “But as far as I can tell, he was trying to push some kind of disruptive force or energy into my body through the mark. Like... I don't know if you're familiar with the walking bomb spell, but like that."
Her eyes closed a moment, as though in recollection, but she blinked them open again a second later. “I only got him to stop by pushing back against it. I don't know if I have any better words for it than that. It was sort of like what it feels like to close a rift, but not at all automatic."
"Okay." Romulus nodded. He was actually familiar with the particular spell Estella spoke of. A very muted version of it, at least. Tonics could reduce the effects of nearly every type of spell that inflicted constant pain. He would be consuming a fair amount of them before the battle, he was sure, but he doubted they would have any effect against attempts to disrupt his mark. That was something else entirely, and something that he didn't know how to prepare for besides asking for Estella's help. With any luck, he wouldn't need it, but from how she described it sounded quite possible to replicate. He was almost at the point where he could create rifts automatically, but those just sort of closed themselves after an instant.
"If we can, we need to take Pike alive." He was relatively sure Estella was already of the same mindset, but it didn't hurt to ensure they were on the same page. "If Corypheus gave him some knowledge of how to fight us, he may know something about... what happened to us. How we came to be this." Despite everything that had happened, that memory still eluded them, always a smoky wisp incapable of being grasped when he reached for it in his mind. He didn't know what purpose it would serve, the knowledge of how he and Estella had survived the Temple of Sacred Ashes. If anything its absence had already been serving a purpose. But he knew that he wanted it, and he would much rather ask Pike than be forced to pull the knowledge from Corypheus himself.
She nodded. “It would be for the best, though... I'm not sure how possible it is. He has command of some kind of magic he can use for escapes, and I don't know what the range on it is. Or at least... I think that's how he managed to get away from us last time. In any case, if you do catch him, be careful of it. Being bound may not render him as helpless as others would be."
"Noted." He took a deep breath and exhaled, thinking of a few things he would need to take care of before they marched. "I should go prepare. Going to be a long night." If there was one thing that was certain, it was that.