Johann eyed the castle's interior bemusedly as she was ushered through the doors. There wasn't nearly as much frippery around as you'd expect from some poncy noble, the walls almost barren. Another mark of approval for the Arl.
"Sorry to hear that, Warden," the dwarf supplied in response to ser Bryland's summary of Redcliffe's troubles, looking dour at the thought. It was, in part, an honest statement of sympathy for the attack on the town- but in equal part a cynical recognition of the proceeding comment, which she felt sure had been purposefully phrased. So one Warden pledged with barely a moment's hesitation the aid of the Grey to her hill-folk, yet the other warned that his people would not soon leave Redcliffe to its own troubles. The question, Johann supposed, would probably just come down to who outranked whom in the end. Which meant that things weren't looking good... the Bryland boy carried himself like he owned the place.
The thought struck her that he, like Signy, looked young... so young it was difficult to keep in mind that he was a member of such a grim order. Was this normal, then? Did the Wardens recruit children, raise them as warriors like the Chantry and their Templars?
"Aye," Johann interjected after Coan's next comments, heedless of to whom the last question had been addressed, "There's a tunnel to the Deeps, I know it. The hills are riddled with caves though, Warden, you'd never know which it was but for the smell." She glanced back toward the doors they'd so recently walked through, back out toward open air and the bonfire-stench so slow to fade from the village.
"After the Blight, some folk thought we might try to cave it in, but... once we'd killed off all the stragglers we could find, it just never happened. None of us expected this. It's supposed to be hundreds of years between Blights, ain't it? So long your grandchildren's great-grandchildren would hardly remember it when the bastards come 'round again."
She glanced to Signy wearily, then up at the humans towering above her, her expression hardening. "They're coming out of our foothills, I'll swear you that. More than double the numbers we saw last time before anybody wanted his hide in one piece had to pull up stakes and run north. I seen that hole, I know where they've gotta be coming up, and if need be... I can get you there. You go there, stop them coming up, you cut off the viper's head for- who knows, maybe the whole Arling."