Dragon Age: Origins Playthrough - The Landsmeet

As Amy makes his triumphant entrance into the palace for the Landsmeet, his path is blocked once again by Ser Cauthrien. She's not happy that she beat us fair and square, and we would have stayed captured if that other prisoner hadn't foolishly declared There Is No Escape From Fort Drakon™. We try to persuade her to let us pass, but she says our very presence will shame the Landsmeet and is determined not to let that happen.

"I would tell you that you shall not pass, Warden, but you would only make a Gandalf joke. I know how you think."

Several guards rush in to attack us with her, but they're nowhere near as good as the ones she brought to Howe's estate. Morrigan, Leliana and Alistair hold them off while Amy shows Ser Cauthrien why two swords are better than one. Her attempt at a repeat victory fails, and Amy walks into the Landsmeet, albiet in in dirty armor. So Cauthrien managed to make him look a little sillier, at least.

Loghain is already debating with Eamon by the time we enter, and points us out as "the usurpers" immediately. That was the name of the cover band Amy played bass for back in Dust Town. About time someone noticed. Anyway, we came armed with evidence that Loghain allowed Rendon Howe to torture people and let Tevinter soldiers into the city to abduct elves. So, at this moment of truth... Amy repeats the unprovable line about Loghain abandoning Cailan at Ostagar.

Come on Loghain, can't you see that you're Teyrn this kingdom apart?

...No, huh? Umm... people! We have everything to lose and nothing to Loghain!

Wow, this crowd is a lot tougher than I thought.

Loghain turns this argument around masterfully. He admits he retreated, because Cailan was misled by Grey Warden tales of glory and had no hope of victory. Faced with a choice between throwing away an army in an attempt to save his king's life, or keeping the kingdom strong enough to survive, he made the only choice he could. No one regrets it more than he does, Loghain claims, and we insult the king's memory by suggesting otherwise.

Damn. When Loghain puts it like that, we're not entirely sure why we started this rebellion in the first place.

"Is it too late for me to withdraw my support for this man?"

He then demands to know what we've done with his daughter. Amy has completely forgotten by now. Loghain reminds everyone that Anora was abducted from her manor. At this point, the Queen appears and says she will speak for herself. She's much better at telling the crowd that Loghain has gone mad than Amy is, but Loghain's not giving up. He makes one last appeal to the nobles, reminding them that he's a proven general and Ferelden's best hope against the darkspawn.

Two nobles voice their support for the Wardens. Two other nobles voice their support for Loghain. Then... the crowd rallies behind Loghain.

"Loghain! Please shut this dwarf up for us!"

Arl Eamon says this isn't good. Amy, completely oblivious to what's going on, says nothing's been decided yet. Loghain makes things clear by declaring himself regent and ordering the guards to arrest us for treason. Arl Eamon shouts that we're not going down without a fight. His knights clash with the palace guards.

A brief scuffle later, a revered mother of the Chantry demands that we stop this violence. She says that in the past, such disputes were settled by trial by combat. Loghain agrees immediately and says he will fight Alistair. Amy speaks up, saying we accept... but Morrigan will be Alistair's champion.

Morrigan, bravely showing sarcasm in the face of probable death, thanks us SO MUCH for volunteering her.

It's hard to tell which of the two of them hates me more at this point.

The witch looks terribly awkward as she and Loghain circle each other. He draws his sword and she draws hers, looking somewhat confident that she knows which end to hold. Loghain gives a war cry as combat starts... giving Morrigan time to shapeshift into a bear. She tackles Loghain to the ground, biting his armor but not doing as much damage as we'd like. He wriggles away and gets enough hits in to force Morrigan to shift back to human form and use her life draining spell to recover. Her hitpoints still looking too low for comfort, she tries a cone of cold. It's enough to bring him down.

Alistair is ready to see Loghain executed on the spot, but Riordan interrupts us. He knows the joining ritual and says we can turn Loghain into an ally by making him a Grey Warden. Anora adds that since this ritual is often fatal, she is content with letting fate decide whether he dies or lives. Alistair is livid.

Damn it, Riordan, you made Alistair mad! Everything was going GREAT before you showed up!

The royal bastard says becoming a Grey Warden is an honor, not a punishment. More importantly, he refuses to accept that Loghain could be a brother Warden and vows he will leave if we let him undertake the joining ritual. It is clear that Amy has to choose between keeping a proven friend or losing him over the slight chance at gaining his proven enemy as an ally.

Amy tells Alistair he's free to go. Anora contradicts us though, saying the Wardens still committed treason and she believes Alistair should pay the price with his life. Amy's reply?

I rarely put him in my party. He's more like a prop than an actual teammate at this point.

Alistair is completely stunned by how things went so wrong so fast. He asks Amy to please just let him exile himself in peace. Luckily for him, that's all Amy needs to hear to change his mind. Anora makes him swear never to pursue his claim to the throne and spares his life.

The whole bloody matter is finally decided. Loghain survives the joining ritual and becomes our new best friend. Eamon laments that King Maric's line is ended but is glad that Amy didn't get them all killed. He then announces that they will gather the armies in Redcliffe to meet the darkspawn and end the blight.