Awakening: Saving Vigil's Keep and Amaranthine both

A list of tasks required to save both the city and the fortress.

Tasks required:

• Completing Cost of Doing Business rebuilds the gatehouse. (either give Voldrik the money or make him do with the resources he has).
  
  
• Completing What is Built Endures upgrades the walls and gatehouse and replaces a nearby palisade with a stone wall. (you have to agree to look for better building material and then find granite in Wending Wood, which is very easy to find)
  
  
• Completing It Comes From Beneath protects the keep from attack by way of the Deep Roads. (simply finish the quest. the quest consists of two parts. the second part becomes available after completing one of the three main questlines)
  
  
• Completing Elemental Requirements improves your soldiers' armor.

You will have to find Ores for master Wade:

• Veridium Ore: Underneath Vigil's Keep
  
• Iron Ore: Forge area at Kal'Hirol - Trade Quarter (not to be confused with Pure Iron, which is bought from Glassric and used for Golem's Might)
  
• Silverite Ore: In the Silverite Mine in the Wending Wood

If you are doing this for the first time, you will get The Enduring Vigil achievement:

Finally, when given a choice during the siege of Amaranthine, between defending the city or defending the keep, stay and defend the city.
- During the epilogue, you will read that Vigil's Keep endured several days of siege before the gates were breached, it will mention that although the losses were great, the Keep withstood the attack and it will be rebuild.
- If you missed something, it will say the battle was lost from he start.

Companion bugs:

The companions that stay in the keep will sometimes die even if you fully upgraded the keep and you have befriended them all.

- Therefore it is adviced to take at least Nathaniel with you, if you want him to appear in your Dragon Age 2 playthrough.
This bug does not affect Anders, as he is allive in Dragon Age 2 no matter what.

- Oghren and Velanna also seem to survive as far as I know. No future games should be affected since Dragon Age Keep is now used to create import savefiles.

Merchants (not required):

A list of merchants you can have stay in the Keep. Not needed for the final battle.

• Lillith is recruited during the Abandoned Farm encounter.
  
• Armass can be found near the end of the Silverite Mine.

You can also upgrade Yuriah's stock by completing following requirements:

• During the beginning quest The Assault on Vigil's Keep, you must save the terrified merchant from darkspawn. He is located in the keep's courtyard.
  "The merchant you saved was grateful to be alive--restocked me for a bargain! The savings are yours, of course."
  
  
• During Oaths of Fealty, you must talk to Lord Eddelbrek in order to activate Defending the Land. You may either choose "Trade must flow. We need supplies to fight the darkspawn." (at the cost of the creatures overwhelming the lands) or "Let's do our best to protect them all." Additionally, you have to complete Trade Must Flow by obtaining both Lillith and Armaas in order for Yuriah to acquire the new stocks.
  "Somehow the soldiers have kept the Pilgrim's Path clear despite everything that's going on.
  Merchant caravans are coming this way regularly. I have some new stock you might be
  interested in."
  
  [!The second upgrade is required for completing master Wades sidequests. The ones not related to the Keep defences!]
  
  
• Side with the smugglers by doing Smuggler's Run instead of Law and Order. You can then complete all of the Merchants' Guild Board quests (the quest, Rumblings From Beneath, can only be obtained by helping the smugglers).
  "Those merchants you helped in Amaranthine were so impressed, they're sending regular caravans our way. I have new stock, if you'd like to see it."

[QweSteR]

THX!

[fantasygone]

I had to complete the quest "A Master's Work" that required to find some elements for the blacksmith and lost so much time finding the ores I had already found... took me this long to realize they were two different quests.

So after saving Amaranthine I saw that the Vigil Keep was destroyed and I thought it was that last quest's fault because I did not complete it. Guess I do not need to replay that scene then. Thanks Ancient Lich for your experience.

[Ancient Lich]

Thank you so much for replying. That cleared things up.

[vavrinko(SK)]

If you are at the end of the game, saving Amaranthine, then yes.
You won't be able to fast travel from the battle of Amaranthine to anywhere but the final dungeon.

After you finish the last boss teh game will tell you that the Keep withheld teh attackers for some time before the gates were breached, but thanks to you the casualties were minimal and the keep will be rebuilt in no time. Also any companions you left there and you had high friendship with will survive the attack.
(There is a bug where Anders dies no matter what. This can't be fixed AFAIK.)

[Ancient Lich]

I completed the Required Tasks on your list but still after I saved Amaranthine, I could not fast travel to the Keep, saying it's been overrun by Darkspawn or something and the icon on the map changed to a skull and bones icon. Was this supposed to happen? Is this a bug? I play GOG version on PC