A/N: Whew, now I know how the Half Life 3 devs feel. This went on for way longer than I thought for reasons unknown, but hopefully it was worth the wait.
All that's left is to finish this bitch. Hopefully it takes a bit less than a full month.
You start your journey through the main cathedral of the Sable Church near the entrance to the prison, Ednatiel's signature nearby, sitting in the hallway down from the bonfire. Like before, you only have to beat the boss with her at your side to advance her quest, you do not have to bring her through the entire level, though she will carry herself quite competently.
On summoning, she will offer a little exposition before you venture forward, which will be very helpful later on if you are paying attention:
"I'm glad you could call on me. I couldn't make it very far alone. This place… don't let your guard down an instant. This is the home of every great warrior and mind in Londor, the 'royalty' of the hollows. They aren't the absent-minded, soul-addled shambles you're used to seeing out in the wild. These ones are intelligent, adept, and very old. You will underestimate them at your own peril."
"Before you delve too far, beware the Daughters of the Abyss, the handmaidens of the Primordial Serpent. Madeleine, Yuria, and Liliane. The former two are the elder sisters, both masters of the sword, while Liliane, the younger sister, focuses her talents on weaving Dark miracles and recounting her master's sermons to hollows. None of them are especially dangerous alone, but I learned the hard way… if even two of them are present, flee for your life. They will call on the Abyss to strengthen eachother. The battle will become one of endurance, one you can't hope to win."
"Thankfully, the middle sister is not here, as far as I know, leaving the Eldest and Youngest alone, though that is little consolation. Liliane will destroy you with her sorceries long before you can get close to her, and Madeleine is an inhuman master of single combat. She fights with a blade and bow, and uses all manner of treacherous magics. When the two of them stand together, there is no hope of victory. I pray you have a plan."
"I'm afraid I've told you everything I know. I'm afraid I'm as blind as you past this point." (loops).
Ednatiel has a visibly different attitude progressing forward. She doesn't spam gestures at you, taunt, or act nearly as cocky as earlier. When holding still, she rests her arms at her side, same with Warmth healing, not taking the time to sit and relax or acting aloof when not actively fighting. Weather this is due to fear for her own safety, new respect for you, or both, is uncertain.
Another change in her demeanor is that she now aggressively attacks invaders, no longer interested in watching you fight it out, which is probably a good thing since a certain covenant makes this area a massive invasion hotspot, more on that a bit later.
The entire place is set up as a grand castle, the stone grey and aged, but glassy smooth with polished marble floors and silver candlesticks and chandeliers, paintings hanging the walls and violet carpets laid out over the floors. The palace seems to have been made a long time ago, but expanded over time, more and more added on as Londor continued to grow.
The majority of the enemies you fight are Londor nobles, who wear dark, lavish royal clothing with various simple weapons, a few of them utilizing ranged Dark Sorceries. They have little poise and defense, but like the Lothric knights, they are mobile, unpredictable enemies with pretty fair swordplay.
A few of them wield paired rapiers, which can drop if you are fortunate, as well as their armor:
Noble Estocs: "A pair of silver Estocs commonly utilized by Londor Nobles, derived from Drang swordsmenship. The alternating jabs both confuse and heavily wound unwary opponents, and can easily breach the guard of a shield.
Weapon Skill: Stance. Hold L2 to enter into a passive stance. Hit Light Attack for a quick lunge forward with both blades that deals heavy damage, or Strong Attack for a flurry of light attacks from both blades. The warriors of Drang were known for reckless aggression and fast, repetitive attacks. Scorned for their mindless simplicity, their tactics left little opening and proved frustratingly hard to counter."
Nothing to see, just the good old "poke poke poke poke poke" of good 'ol Dark Souls 2, though it's worth nothing that they seem to have above average Hyperarmor on the heavy L1s. Unlike the normal Estoc, it looks like the L1, and both L2 attacks are in fact unblockable by a shield, but the one handed attacks can be stopped as normal.
Londor Noble Set: "This Dark, elaborately ornamented gloves/shoes/dress or shirt possess excellent craftsmanship and pure silver hem, modeled on a night sky.
Over the eons, Londor has risen from a dilapidated ruin to a mighty kingdom, the resident Lord inviting distinguished hollows to the higher levels of the Sable Church to conduct their work in peace, as it is imperative mankind have their finest men and woman ready for the Age of Dark.
It is no secret, however, that no noble is permitted access to the dwelling place of the Lord of Londor, and they are under constant watch by his adopted Daughters. When asked why the Lord treats them with such scorn and scrutiny, the Daughters reveal it is unknown even to them."
Another piece of hidden loot is within a blacksmith shed in one of the courtyards, which can be retrieved off the forge:
Talisman Shield: "A powerful arcane shield forged of sacred silver, inset with numerous enchanted runes. The metal, intended to lay snuggly over the arm like a gauntlet, is much too thin and much too soft to serve as direct defense, and instead generates a defensive wall of arcane energy when raised, granting limited defenses against common steel, but phenomenal resilience against all kinds of magic attack.
Requiring a great deal of time and resources, only a few of these shields are known to exist.
Weapon Art: Banish Magic. Focus energy into a deflecting parry that can repel physical attacks and turn enemy magic against the user."
Requires a good chunk of Faith and Intelligence to wield, but it only takes 3 Strength and 3 Dexterity to carry. It also has a fun spell parry, since it will not only stop the spell from hitting you, it will actually reflect it at them and deal bonus damage. If the spell can't bounce off the shield to damage them, it will still nullify the damage.
Hidden behind a bookcase in one of the foyers is a noteworthy ring:
Displacing Clutch Ring: "A large ring depicting a grasping hand, a set of red, blue, yellow, and violet gems set along the knuckles. Grants enhanced power to all types of elemental damage, but greatly reduces defenses. Said to be modeled after the ring of a great sage whom long since departed this world.
A priceless treasure, the skill and delicacy required to bind so many magics into a single ring is nothing short of transcendent."
The magic boost is right at 10% (compared to 15% for normal clutch rings), but it reduces your defenses by three times as much as a regular clutch ring, the benefit being it can stack with a second clutch ring and if you have a weapon with multiple elements on it, all of them will receive a slight boon.
There is a hilariously terrible NPC invasion if you run into the right area in Ember form, "Noble Doris", who clearly graduated top of her class in the Maldron school of Cuntwagoning Assholery.
When she first invades, you will not see her. But, if you keep heading up a set of stairs, you may notice a stray little statue is currently creeping up on you. As soon as you turn around, it freezes, so it's totes legit.
If you hold still a moment too long, she will break chameleon and Hornet backstab you with an Enchanted Knight Axe, which is suffice to say an immediate kill. She uses "Call Over" to taunt as you die, just to make sure.
Going back and fighting her head on, she wears the Londor Noble Set, a buckler, and wields a cat o' nine tails. Her phantom hue is deep black, as she is an Abyssal Dark Spirit. Her whip has pretty incredible bleed buildup, but the highlight of the fight is that she parry spams… a lot, and when she's not spamming parry she starts fishing for backstabs, refusing to stop strafing.
When she starts backstabbing or lands a parry, she switches to the giant axe to instakill you, taunts, then resets you to the bonfire.
Oh, and it gets better. Should you come close to killing her when she's out of Sunny D, or if you have a phantom present, she will sprint at impossibly fast speeds to escape you. Moments later, it informs you there's a Dark Spirit getting summoned, even though you clearly haven't touched a sign.
You arrive in time for a Red Phantom with a pale haze to rise up by the name of "Duelist Clarence", who immediately pops a Great Heal to restore her, Doris cheering the whole time.
It's significantly harder in this phase, as Doris can be healed nearly unlimitedly by Great Heal if she gets hurt, running back to Clarence. If you run for him, she will certainly try to backstab you, but if you attack Doris, Clarence spams lightning spears at you to ward you off.
Thankfully, Clarence is pathetically weak, an absolute pushover without Doris if you kill her and focus on him or if you just kill him before Doris catches you. He fatrolls on the floor with basic Knight armor, his only tactic for defending himself is R1 Spam with a standard rapier and turtling, with lightning spear spam if you are even a little bit away.
The fight is easy and hilarious if you have Ednatiel, since you can focus on Doris and laugh your ass off while you watch the two NPCs duke it out, the fight resembling the fight you'd get if a 12-year old called a grizzly bear a faggot and punched it on the nose, then tried to survive the ensuing melee.
Thankfully, if you kill Doris, but die before you can finish off Clarence, his Red Summon sign will become permanently available for use, but only after Doris has been defeated. He will rise from his summon sign, duel bow, then proceed to bitch out, hide behind mobs, and Estus chug when his health is even a bit compromised.
Never change FromSoft.
Each one drops a different item, Doris dropping her weapon and Clarence dropping a very interesting ring:
Cat o' Nine Tails: "A whip with nine knots, each tipped by a sharp barb. Used for corporal punishment, though the delicate ornamentation on the black grip suggests loving care from its old owner.
Never intended as an instrument of battle, this weapon has limited effectiveness against armor, but tears open bare flesh with ease.
Weapon Art: Pull Taught. Draw the leather straps tightly between the lands to raise bleeding potential and range for a short time."
It cannot be buffed or infused, has quality C/C scaling, and has an extremely low attack rating, along with being much shorter than the average whip, behaving more like a mace. However, don't let the very low bleed and AR fool you, it actually strikes nine individual times, with a "sweet spot" if you strike the center of the torso that connects all nine hits. It's Bleed will not outpace the Warden Twinblades with Carthus Rouge as it cannot have bleed applied to it and has slower attacks, but it will be dramatically more effective than a weapon with latent bleed without infusions.
Friend's Ring: "A heavy, forbidden ring. Peering closely at the iron band with many rubies, one can faintly make out swirls of red energy associated with Red-Eye invaders. Its powerful magic can allow one to be summoned into other worlds by red invaders to become their ally.
A knight of any honor and value would throw this in the gutter, for what madman would seek to aide a hostile phantom in battle?"
Ironically named to be sure, this lets you place a Red Sign that's invisible to regular passersby, but to a Red Phantom, it will appear as a bright red sign with a white haze. That's right, Red Phantoms can summon eachother into battle now, appearing as pale red spirits. As such, Reds summoned into battle are IMMUNE to the attacks of other invaders, and cannot damage other invaders, only hosts and phantoms, even if the ring is swapped out.
It's pretty overpowered, but it thankfully has restrictions to keep it from being unfair. If the hosts is- hurk- hahhaha- hahehehehehehe heh heh rofl, alone, your sign will not appear, so no free 2v1s, however, if a phantom is present, or in the process of being summoned in, you will be available in that world to lend an assist.
If the host has two phantoms, two pale red spirits can be summoned to make it a 3v3, and they can R1 spam with wild abandon without hurting eachother. If the host is killed, all members of the party get the reward of their respective covenant.
After unlocking the front door of the Sable Church from the inside, I felt free to find the boss, located in a great tower across a bridge, separated from the rest of the Church. The Interior resembles a holy shrine, a great black doorway at the back, the room a rotunda with pillars and countless burning candles on the lower portions, and the area above a spiraling, dim shaft covered with friezes depicting death, hollowing, and the Lordran of the past.
The far end is warded by a fog wall and a lone figure standing in wait for you. As you cross the threshold, the room fills with tranquil, grim singing, which seems to be echoing from somewhere high above, the instrumentation highly minimal, emphasizing the passionate tone of the singer (/watch?v=B27u6lkqU3I ). The figure starts walking towards you, and you quickly realize she is wearing a dress identical to Yuria, but with different weapons as she closes in.
She has a silver bow on her back, with a silver daito (Japanese Longsword) in her right hand and a Talisman Shield on the right.
If you have Ednatiel, she will echo what you are thinking: "Something's wrong."
No fog wall or health bar appears to signify it is the penultimate boss fight, you can walk out whenever you want, and Madeleine, Daughter of the Abyss, is represented as a normal NPC, which reflects the plain, tired tone of the "boss" music as she calls you out, trading hits with you with her great swordsmenship and use of her silver shortbow, which seems to fire bolts of Dark rather than arrows.
"Our Lord was right. No Hollow can resist the hunger. You would tear down everything we've made for ourselves here. This is where your legacy ends, I will strike you down, again and again, until you stop coming back."
She does not speak again, wearing you down with her extremely advanced tactics, but it becomes apparent something is wrong. Your attacks BARELY leave a scratch on her, and her health regenerates exponentially fast, dark embers trailing from above and healing her faster than you could possibly damage her.
Something, or someone, is keeping her in the fight.
All it takes is a closer look to realize what's going on. Afterall, there are three Daughters. A spiral staircase is visible outside the tower, with the entrance blocked by an illusory wall, which you can easily break through, climbing up above.
As you near the top, the boss music starts to fade back in, until you enter the vacant belltower. A circular pit with a railing stands in the center, a lavish bedchamber situated around the edge, with the youngest Daughter of the Abyss, Liliane resting on her bed, praying.
The singing stops, leaving the boss theme slow and sad as she stands up from her rest, engaging you with ICE magic, shooting icy lances and streams at you, as well as raising barriers to impede your progress, speaking in an agitated tone as she does, making a few more comments as you wear her down, though it's clear that she's not much a fighter on her own, and while she can heal herself, they can be interrupted easily if you stay on her:
"You are the one she told me about, my dear sister."
"You've seen the good works we've done and still you persist? Heartless usurper, do you even hear me?"
"No, I will not fall. I refuse…"
Towards the end of the fight, she is able to summon in Abyssal Dark Spirits in a desperate effort to defeat you, and can summon up to two if you have multiple summons. When she dies, invaders become unable to harm you as they are sent home, so she should stay your priority.
When you kill her, she collapses, wailing in pain, and leaving you with one last word of defiance:
"You heartless devil. I deny you my soul… dear sister, I'm sorry. I'm coming…" She sighs, vanishing as a sizable black mass of humanity pours from her body and through the floor.
Heading back down to the ground floor by the same stairs you came up, you enter the boss room again, only this time a cutscene plays:
Madeleine is crying, and as the camera moves, you can see she is cradling the black soul of Liliane.
"Why? Dear sister." She moans, hugging it close. She looks over her shoulder, tensing as several tendrils of blackness begin swirling around her as she stands up, "You… will pay for this. Even if my body is destroyed in the process, I will take you with me."
She raises the soul up, cracking it like a humanity, your character flinching as he/she is driven back by a strong gust, frost sweeping through the air. Madeleine keels over, her body convulsing, until finally she bursts open, tendrils erupting from her back, similar to the hollows with the giant black things bursting from them, her bloodied screams indicating the pain of the transformation.
You see a frosted, bloody helmet fall to the ground after a moment, then a tangle of bleach white hair, a trail of misty breath escaping her unseen lips.
It pulls back and you get a full view of the Daughter, long, feathery tails trailing behind her, falling out the back of the torn dress, the entire back ripped open to allow massive blue wings, clusters of feathery tendrils, into the open air, her entire body wreathed in ice.
"Fade away, and die." She growls, another deep breath exhaling a frosty mist.
This is where the true fight begins, Madeleine, Daughter of the Abyss receiving a full health bar and thundering boss theme, one of the best in the series, as it speaks to the power and majesty of this swordswoman, with a faint melancholy note (/watch?v=CtHDsw4FioQ)
She still fights with a sword and bow, but with unbelievably more powerful and grand-scale attacks. She alternates between the two weapons, each one possessing a different set of attacks, allowing some predictability to her moves:
Sword: She uses her sword in a manner similar to other enemies, with a combination of lunging slashes and thrusts. Nothing especially hard to handle until she mixes it up in phase two, which we'll talk about later.
She is dramatically more mobile than her NPC counterpart, using her wings to assist her in sweeping back out of danger, launching long-range leap attacks, and using the Sir Alonne slide in multiple directions, which can be disorienting, and her sword attacks deal Frostbite, a hazard in itself.
Bow: Her bow is actually a bit harder to deal with, as she uses her enhanced mobility to stay out of your reach, launching bolts of dark at the end of her rolls and sidesteps, occasionally flying into the air and shooting at you from above.
These can sorta be blocked, but it's not advised as the arrows are made of energy and deal 100% Dark damage, and they HURT if you take a direct hit.
Her phase one is pretty hard to deal with, but at 60% HP, when she enters phase two, she becomes devilishly tricky, really testing your ability to memorize movesets and react split-second. She becomes enwreathed in a black haze, and begins teleporting around the map, blinking side to side.
This blink teleporting screws with your reaction speed extremely badly, the boss trying to confuse you, since it's obvious a head-on fight isn't working.
She'll start a jump attack, then blink right up to you and hit you with a slash attack into a combo instead. She draws her bow, teleports to one side, then the other, fires, then teleports in your face with the sword while you're still reacting to the arrow.
That's something else she does: change weapons, and by extension movesets, very fast, and since she does it while teleporting, it conceals what weapon she will use, unlike before. She will also, just to fuck with you further, use a bow at closer range, shotgun blasting you off your feet, and stand a ways away with her sword and slide in,
In other words, you can't say "She's far away, therefore she'll use her bow!" or vice versa.
A mercy that holds the fight back from being too unfair is that there's a little under 2 seconds of delay between her teleporting in with an attack ready and her fully materializing and launching that attack, giving you a second to check her weapon and guess what she will do.
At 40%, she'll enter Phase 3, which is mostly phase two, but she gains ice attacks that grant enhanced range and area denial, leaving patches of ice where the attacks land. There's also a handicap that, if you stand directly on ice and roll, you'll slip and fall on your back, which could cost you dearly if you trip at the wrong time.
When she flies in the air to attack you with a bow, she will start firing barrages of the things that force you to run, slower bolts that home on in you, and a long, charged shot that explodes midair and showers the immediate area with smaller bolts.
Like many bosses before her, she will clone herself, with the notable exception that her clones deal zero damage and fade away upon touching you. Instead of hurting you directly, they will play a shell game, teleporting around eachother, before attacking in rapid succession. Only one will do damage, but you don't want to dodge a harmless one only to hit an actual attack.
Her damage is on the low side, but fighting her is a mindgame, one that's pretty damn hard to win unless you have very good reflexes. She can also, like her sister, summon help, but it is very rare unless you have a summon aiding you.
When you finally kill her, she collapses, managing to get off a few last words as she fades away:
"My Lord, I have failed you. Mark my words, treacherous Hollow. There will be no victory for you here, our lord… will destroy you."
She drops two things, her soul and a new spellbook, representing her and her sister:
"Soul of Madeleine, Daughter of the Abyss. A maiden of war from a young age, Madeleine became a fearsome warrior of the blade and bow, and was adopted by the Abyss alongside her sisters when she pledged herself to the Dark.
Though she drew the powers of the Abyss, and the soul of her sister, into herself, it was not enough to prevail against her attacker from a foreign land.
Use to gain an incredible amount of souls, or create something of great value."
Pale Londor Tome: "A pale blue book, whose pages are coated lightly with frost.
Liliane, Daughter of the Abyss, sung great tales of the conflict and suffering of hollows to bring them comfort and humanity, and devised numerous tomes forbidden and profane.
This was her personal favorite: perverting the darkness within man to create an icy cold, enemy to the flame."
Before leaving for Firelink, Ednatiel can be seen standing by the entrance to a great pit once you sit at the bonfire, allowing you to stand back up and immediately talk to her. She offers a fairly long, and very surprising few paragraphs of dialogue:
"So then, all that's left is to descend into the Abyss. I never thought we'd make it this far. You truly are amazing."
"I'm afraid this is where my journey ends. I cannot follow you, not down there. I'm afraid… I haven't been entirely honest with you. I am not like you. I have human flesh, but my soul is black, born of the Abyss."
"My Father was Manus, the progenitor of man, and the creator of the Abyss itself. I came into this world a wicked, tiny thing, filled with anger and determination, but I was weaker than most of my other sisters, and quite unwelcome. I embody father's Memories, those of Humanity and the human life he once lived."
"I was frail, but I desired retribution, for what ancient Oolacile did to us, much like my other sisters. They all found lands beyond, vowing to destroy them and plunge all the souls within into the Abyss. Such was my mission, as well."
"I found my husband in Mirrah, a war torn little country by the sea. In time, he made me his queen, and the two of us lead a long, and prosperous rule. But I did things, unspeakable things, out of his sight. I helped keep Mirrah at war, grinding it to dust, collapsing it. Every lost soul was ripe for Father to take."
"In time, I became undead, concealing it behind some sickness. I was killed in battle as Mirrah burned, and when I returned, I was far weaker than I was before, reincarnated into a true human being. I detested my flesh, and hid far away from Mirrah, finding service abroad as a mercenary. None of them suspected who I truly was."
"I claimed countless lives, uncaring for my own, dying again and again, until I finally grew sick of what I'd become, realizing too late what I'd done."
"Father loved his children, mankind. They were like him: small, fragile, and unwelcome, but they had the capacity for great good. It was this hope, that the age of dark could be a time of peace and stability, that drove him delirious with anger when his children betrayed him, tortured him."
"I came to realize the Abyss was too terrible a punishment for this world, that Father became the very same monster his children did, and his Daughters, me included, were all mislead into blind hatred. I had a good kingdom, filled with good people, and I was compelled to throw it all away. No-one deserved what I did to them."
"I came to Londor to be close to the Abyss. It was the last place I desired to be, but I felt I had nowhere else to go, that perhaps I could settle in, find some normalcy among my fellow hollows. I embraced the cloud of hollowing, and convinced myself I was a different person. I even started to believe it. But, I guess, as Father's memories, I couldn't fool myself forever, could I?"
"I lost the will to press on, but you made me believe we had a chance. It was an honor to fight by your side, and give the hollows here a second chance, a real second chance, without feeding their souls to this cancer. You understand now why I can't help you. That thing in the depths is a master of the Dark Soul, I am terribly frightened that if I face him, I'll be turned against you. Stronger souls than mine have been crushed by the utter blackness, I couldn't live with the regret."
"I wish you the best of luck. I'll find somewhere to settle, and await the good news. Be safe, my friend." (loops).
When you return to Firelink, Ednatiel will be occupying the space Yuria usually does. If you haven't killed Yuria or made her leave, you can hear a fight briefly break out when you warp in. You find Yuria dead at Ednatiel's feet, the child of Dark greeting you.
"Hello. You seem to have had a rat slinking around here, but it's taken care of."
"I'll wait here for you. Don't die." (loops)
Reporting to Ludleth you can choose between a bow or a sword:
Madeleine's Daito: "Longsword of Madeleine, the eldest Daughter of the Abyss, which was granted to her as a gift for her service in Londor. A master of the sword, Madeleine fought through the age of Dark, finding her sisters and one day uncovering an ancient ruin beneath the land of Lords, where she would find her destiny as a servant to the Primordial Serpent.
Harnesses a unique sword technique, with traces of the Dark power which was used to attack from surprise at lightning speeds.
Weapon Art: Blink. Enter a combat stance, and follow up with light attack to close the distance between you and your opponent instantly with a teleporting thrust, or strong attack to appear behind opponents with a strong horizontal slash."
It has a pretty odd setup. Your one handed R1s are fast, rapier-like thrusts, with R2 Combos consisting of a wide swings that resemble a greatsword. Following R2 with an R1 will make you throw out a thrust that's a little slower, but has a lot more power.
Two-handed, your R1s are sweeping side-to-side attacks, with R2 using the greatsword thrust. It behaves like a cross between a straight sword and greatsword, which makes sense since it's abnormally long and heavy compared to the other katanas.
Madeleine's Bow: "Graceful silver bow inscribed with numerous runes, which belonged to Madeleine, Daughter of the Abyss. Lacking a bowstring, it instead fires bolts of Dark channeled from the user's own focus, a ritual circle adorning the front of the frame focusing Dark into a solid form.
A masterpiece of Hollow craftsmanship, it brought death to countless enemies of Londor.
Weapon Art: Advanced Blink. Charge one's own body with planeshifting power, replacing rolling action with instantaneous blinks for a short time. The refinement of this skill shows a clear preference for fighting at a range, reflecting Madeleine's tendency to attack from ambush or stay out of reach."
As it says, when you equip it removes your arrows. As you press the attack button, a bolt materializes inside a ring, materializing bowstrings out of light as you draw back. Each arrow consumes about 10 Focus, though it can consume more if you use the charged attacks.
Rolling R1s and regular R1s give you simple single shot attacks with above average speed compared to their mundane longbow counterparts, but if you press and hold R2, you will actually charge your shot to deal more damage, marked by the arrow getting larger and more luminous. You can also charge rolling R2s as well. Charged arrows have greatly superior tracking over their uncharged counterparts, as well as dealing roughly 60% more damage.
The Weapon Art causes you to flash briefly and travel a fair distance in any direction you roll, similar to the Old Hunter Bone in Bloodborne, and each teleport can be followed up by an attack, though it seems you do a bit less damage to compensate for the higher speed.
Each arrow does track targets, like Soul Spears, and they do a pretty massive amount of damage on a dark build, since it scales S/S in Faith and Intelligence and deals pure Dark damage, but no physical damage.
The Pale Tome can be given to Karla, and unlocks a set of icy attacks, such as frost pillars shooting out of the ground, a cloud of frost that damages everything as it passes, and streams of ice. They have some resemblance to pyromancy, but will leave lingering coats of ice, as well as building up frostbite on contact with the spell, or with anything it comes into contact with.
With that done, all that's left is to end it.
