The golden city is, if anything, even more beautiful for the ruin and desolation I've seen recently. Once again, I'm soiling the place with boots crusted with mud from the Blighttown swamp, but no matter.
When I reach the bonfire guarded by the Fire Keeper, it occurs to me that I have two Humanity sprites - I can use one to revive myself, and the other to finally make use of the Rite of Kindling I found down in the Catacombs, so I do so. Enough Estus for fifteen swallows fills my flask, and the flames begin to wave and rage, like those of a true bonfire. Being un-Hollowed, I am ready.
I haven't forgotten how to get to where I was before; none of the creatures prior to the archers pose much of a threat, most none at all. Then, however, I'm stuck with the archers again. My idea for using the black bow returns to me, and I decide to try it. First, I run up to the first building - the closest I can get without being at risk. Next, I wait for the javelins to stop coming. Then, I ready my bow, creep out to the right, and try to shoot at the figure in the distance. It takes a few tries to get the shot lined up properly, but after a while, I manage to hit it. The damage is minimal, but with the number of arrows I have, I won't lose hope that this might work. It's just a matter of patience - I only have the one chance to get this right, unless I want to end up going back and buying another load of arrows. A little over two dozen arrows later, it occurs to me that the gold pine resin I fed to Frampt would actually probably have been useful here. Oh well.
What I discover is that the rule of thumb for fighting arrows with arrows is, if your opponent can hit you, then you can hit them. I wait for the knight to ready its bow before shooting my own arrow, then duck back behind the corner. She never even tried this…It's funny, she always used to talk about how much she admired archery, but when her time came, she almost never used a bow. My love wasn't a very bright woman - but she was stubborn enough to compensate most of the time.
Nearly four dozen arrows later, I watch the monster disintegrate. I might have enough to take down the other one in the same way, but this took time, and I'm ready to move ahead; I don't bother, and run up the final buttress. The other knight notices me and starts shooting, and I wait behind a tower for it to give up. When it does, I run for it. After shooting a couple of javelins and missing, it puts away its enormous bow and takes out a sword. We exchange a few blows, and then, once I'm back on the ledge, as it takes a swing from the top of the parapet, it slips and falls off the edge, leaving me to do as I please. The buttress this knight was on bears a corpse carrying an enormous soulmass. Back the other way, I round the tower that forms the corner of the building, along the ledge where the other archer was standing, then drop down onto a balcony. Here, there's a door-sized window blocked by a wall of white light; I traverse it, and it dissipates behind me.
Now I'm in a wide hallway. Ahead, I see a normal-sized doorway to either side, and further, a spiral staircase that appears to go through the center of this building. I try the left door first, find it unlocked, and come across none other than Knight Solaire, sitting cross-legged next to an unlit bonfire. Eagerly, I light and sit down at the bonfire myself, using the souls I've gathered. Then I stand up, put away my weapons and helm, and approach him.
"Oh, there you are," he says. "You've been quiet these days. Smooth summoning out there? Anytime you see my brilliantly shining signature, do not hesitate to call upon me. You've left me with quite an impression. I would relish a chance to assist you."
"You assisted me with the gargoyle on the bell tower," I remind him. "But I will summon you again if the need arises." I hesitate a moment, then ask, "So, what are you doing here? How did you even get here?"
"You really are fond of chatting with me, aren't you?" he teases in reply. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you had feelings for me!"
I blink.
"Oh, no, dear me," he says a moment later. "Pretend you didn't hear that!" He chuckles.
"Gladly," I mutter. "Well, if there's nothing else, I'll be on my way." With that, I go, re-equipping myself along the way.
Across the hall is another door, which also turns out to be unlocked; this leads to a room with another silver knight wielding a long, thin spear with a long point. It takes a bit of maneuvering, but I cut it down. When it falls, it drops its spear; this is a beautiful weapon, but I'm happy with my drake sword. The knight was guarding a treasure chest; I swing at it once just to be safe, then open it and find three sunlight medals. I'm still not sure what use these things are, but I tuck them away all the same - maybe I'll feed them to Frampt at some point.
There's also a fireplace in this room, I notice, and a very elegant one at that. Noticing this, I also register the tables and chairs in here, the furnishings of a real room - this place feels almost like a home. For a moment, a longing for the life I shared with her before the Curse of the Undead struck us down wells in my chest, and I feel the corners of my eyes sting, but I shake it off; there's no time for that.
The area just beyond the hallway, built around an elegant spiral staircase and full of thick pillars, is too big to see from one view. I go around the right-hand side, find an open space that goes nowhere, and am attacked by a sword-bearing silver knight that was waiting just ahead, which I take down without much trouble. To the other side of the staircase is a space similarly empty, but before I climb the stairs, I look down the hallway on the opposite side of the room to where I came in. There are two more doors here, one on either side; near the end of the hallway and to my left, a small window allows me to look into a room, but there isn't much to see. When I open the door that should lead to it, however, the room is far too small. The wall between me and the space I saw is blocked by a fireplace; on a hunch, I enter the fireplace and swing my sword at the wall behind it. Sure enough, it vanishes, revealing a dark room with an open space. I see some stairs somewhere, but drop down in the dark before I actually reach them; little harm done.
What I find in the dark space is a bunch of smooth, round pillars, scattered throughout a large space seemingly at random. I'm not sure what's here, and neither is she; she never found this. After a little ways, I use the Cast Light spell to illuminate a bit more; somewhat reassured, I continue looking around. Finally, along the far wall to the right, I find five treasure chests.
The one at the middle of the back wall, I swing at, revealing it to be a mimic. I fight it and kill it, and it drops a club that has been raised to Occult level - a force I've never seen before. Both treasure chests on the back wall in the right-hand corner turn out to be real; the one to the left contains a heavy club made from a dragon's tooth, and the one to the right contains Havel's Greatshield - both companion to Havel's Ring. The two treasure chests along the right-hand wall are also both real, and contain the full set of Havel's armor. This is a powerful set of tools, but it's all very heavy - even with Havel's Ring, I doubt I'd be able to wield it all. So, I put it all away; if nothing else, I can always feed it to Frampt. After I confirm that there's nothing else here, I climb back up and out, and continue exploring.
Across the hall, the door is locked from the other side. With no other options, I take the spiral staircase up. The area on the next floor is shaped similarly, but the hallway I come up facing isn't very long, though it still has the two doors - it ends at a banister. The right-hand door is already open, but before I look in either of them, I look around the staircase itself.
Around the spot to the left of where I entered, I find a treasure chest. Hitting it reveals that it is in fact a mimic; it goes down easily, and drops five silver coins, stamped with a portrait of the legendary Knight King Rendal. As with the copper coin I got from Petrus, these make me smile, and I tuck them away. On the other side, there's another treasure chest mimic, and it too falls before me, though its wild swinging movements do smash a pot during the fight. It drops a single gold coin bearing the visage of Allfather Lloyd and his white halo, which I also keep. Exploration done, I now inspect the doors I first saw when I came up here. The open door to the right leads only to a balcony looking down on another room; the door to the left reveals another silver knight with a spear, which I dispatch after a bit of a struggle. Inside the room itself is an identical balcony, but a corpse carrying another enormous soulmass is on this one. On the other side of the staircase is another wide hallway; a warning about the opening at the far end surges to me through the pendant, and I raise my shield and run forward towards the silver knight that eventually starts shooting javelins at me. I reach it, and after some swordfighting, it falls; the balcony it was standing on is small and empty.
This leaves me with two doors. The one to the left of where I came in leads to an empty, beautifully furnished bedroom. For a moment, the bed is tempting, but since I could be killed by a knight in my sleep, I leave it be. Still, the oriental carpets, the green-and-gold-patterned wallpaper, the oil paintings hanging on the walls…this was a place of luxury, the likes of which I never experienced, only dreamed of, even when alive.
A door on the far wall to the right leads to a small room with a silver knight. We engage in some swordfighting, and I come out victorious - though I do wince as our fight smashes a table and some chairs, as those things were once valuable, and am genuinely glad we don't smash a nearby dresser or any pottery. The room the knight was in leads to a spiral staircase, which I at first intend to leave for later; however, the door across the hall is locked from the other side, leaving me with no other route to take.
Up the stairs, I find myself in the corner of a rooftop, with two silver knights in sight - one in a tower across from the one I came out of, the other on the far end of the roof - though I'm apparently too far away for them to care about me initially. On an inspired hunch, I go for the one further away from me first. Sure enough, it takes out an enormous bow and starts shooting javelins at me; they all miss, and we go sword-to-sword. When I win, I then go back for the other silver knight, and kill it too.
My enemies down, I look around on the rooftop itself and find nothing, then discover that both silver knights were guarding spiral staircases. After some deliberation, I decide to take the one closer to the way I came first, since it seems less significant - the other has a few stairs leading up to the entrance. It's also about here that I start to notice that there are signs of moss and fungus in the cracks of the stone tiles beneath my feet - for all its glory, Anor Londo is still a fallen city.
At the bottom of the stairs, I find another small room, but something seems to be loudly missing. A small door is here, and I open it, see multiple silver knights, and close; a sword strikes me through the door, and as I back away, I hear it being opened - I didn't know my enemies could open doors, I assumed they were too Hollow to think things through that well. I take a breath back on the roof, then go down again; there is still no one there, just an open window. I'm not sure what her problem is, but I shrug it off and go to fight the silver knights. Lure one out, fight it, kill it, drink some Estus; lure another out, fight it, kill it, drink some Estus; confront the third, fight it, and kill it. With the monsters gone, I find myself in another ornate bedroom. It takes me a minute for me to find the treasure chest, and when I open it, it contains only two odd chunks of titanite, like what I get from headless demons. The door in this room leads back out to where I just was.
Finally, I go back to the roof and descend the other spiral staircase. This one seems somehow paired with the first main spiral staircase, running above it or below it, I can't tell. At the bottom, I find a relatively narrow hallway, with a doorway on either side and stairs leading upwards ahead. These doorways are open. First, I take the left-hand one, and find a headless demon; I immediately leave, since I haven't even killed the remaining ones in Sen's Fortress yet. The doorway to the right leads to another room with a balcony looking down on a room below, except that this one has stairs that actually lead down to the room. A silver knight with a spear meets me on the way up; when I get to the bottom after killing it, another silver knight is waiting. This second one waits for me to hit it before it moves, and I slaughter it. Two (real, I check to make sure) treasure chests contain my reward: a set of silver knight armor. Down here is a door that leads to the hallway across which is the room with the illusory fireplace wall. This also brings me to the floor with Solaire and the bonfire, which is good, as I'm nearly out of Estus.
I stop at the bonfire to rest and regroup. Then, I go out again, this time aiming to climb the stairs I saw before. The silver knights that have returned give me some trouble along the way, but not too much. It's as I head to the shortcut after killing the two silver knights in the room that I notice all the heads mounted on the wall; I go back down the stairs and take a closer look. What are these? Drakes? Dragons? They definitely look draconian…oh well.
Up the shortcut stairs, then up the stairs that are the only path I've not yet taken. This leads to the balcony of an enormous room, stairs to my left leading up and down. I go up first. Here, I find only an area with stained-glass windows looking out on the city, one of which is broken; I could probably jump out of it and find something, but I don't want to just yet, as I have no means of getting back. Instead, I turn around and take the identical stairs that go down the other way, and that's when I notice the doorway blocked by white light on the other end of the room. This is probably my ultimate goal. Down the stairs that aren't the ones I came up, I'm met with another silver knight that shoots javelins at me; I try to fight it, but at one point, as I poorly judge the timing to take a swig of Estus, the knight kills me.
Now I'm Hollow again. I was just near the end, and was Hollowed at the last minute. That makes me mad, and I go charging out again. The silver knights on the way get slaughtered - including the one that killed me last time. I'm in the clear now, and I go down the stairs on this side that mirror the stairs on the other side to the floor of the grand chamber.
As I descend the second-to-last set of stairs, I feel the Black Eye Orb that I picked up from the dead Fire Keeper's corpse quivering. This must be a place where I can seek vengeance on whoever killed her, and hopefully reclaim her soul so I can fix the bonfire in Firelink Shrine. First, though, I'm faced with armor knights twice the size of the ones outside, these wearing tattered cloaks of sorts - capes that drape their fronts as well as their backs. It's just one to start with, but it takes blows from my sword without losing much health, and I start backing up, worried. The fight happens on the stairs for a while, and a second one joins in at some point (though I plunge down from the stairs sword-first on the first one before I can even be sure)…I think I see one cast a spell once, too. Then, I'm in the huge room, and I run for the huge metal doors at the end opposite the wall of white light; I try to open them, but they're sealed. The giant armor knight I was fighting before slowly comes back down, and I decide to fight and kill it. It's a bit of a struggle, but I succeed.
Left with breathing room, I notice a huge lever to one side of the doors. I walk over to it and push it, turning the huge wheel; the doors open, and sure enough, they're the doors flanked by the two armor knights that I passed when I first came to storm this place. Relieved, I run out and return to the bonfire. Fifteen swallows of Estus, and a shortcut to the final room of the castle. 'Accomplished' doesn't begin to describe how I feel.
But wasn't there another place? That gate to the left still isn't open. And…the Black Eye Orb. The Fire Keeper. Could I…still save her? Can I do it even while Hollow? There's too much exploring left to do before I move forward. That's what I decide to do.
I go back out, climb the stairs, ignore all the armor knights, and climb the inside stairs to the left again, where the silver knight waits. That's fine, I can deal with a silver knight - especially when it tries shooting javelins at me while I'm right below it and it can't hit me. For a moment, I'm worried it'll keep me trapped before I can get out of range of the giant armor knight that I know is following me, but I get through when I knock the knight off-balance with three consecutive strikes. It falls soon after. Okay, exploration time. I find no doorway here, like there is on the other side, but I remember the broken window; it's time to jump out of it and see where it goes, now that I have a shortcut back here.
A series of drops brings me to a balcony where I find a corpse bearing one of the giant bows and one of the javelins that knights around here have been using against me; I am actually capable of using it right now, but it's heavy, and I only get the one arrow for it. From up here, I can see down to an area with those pink bat-demon things. One is immediately below me, and I decide I could probably kill it with a plunging attack. This succeeds, and when I look around, I think my eyes deceived me earlier - there's only one other down here, instead of two like I thought. What is also here is that gate I noticed before; I unlock it and turn around, trying to figure out where the metal clanging sound I hear is coming from - it sounds like footsteps, but the demon isn't moving…
Suddenly, a tremendous blow to my back sends me flying; the armor knight to this side of the doors is still locked onto me, and it hit me through the tiny door. Surprised, I run down the few stairs to take refuge; it tries to chase me, but it's so much too big to fit that it's almost laughable. I take a swig of Estus and turn my attention to the bat, the clanging sound still bugging me. It's not the rhythmic pounding of a smith…is it?
The remaining bat-demon thing goes down easily, and I pass through the doorway it was guarding to find…a giant, sitting on a small wooden stool, beating at metal on an anvil. This is the source of the sound I've been hearing. The smithery is littered with tools, just like Andre's. For a minute, I watch the giant work. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!…Clang! Tap. Tap. Tap. Ting tingtingtingting. It's trying to be precise, which is admirable for something so huge.
"Um…excuse me?" I call.
"Who are you?" he grumbles. "Forge your weapons?"
He doesn't say anything else, so I take a look at what he offers. I think he can ascend weapons to a lightning form - and also, he can alter my catalyst, using special souls I haven't gathered or heard of before. First, I have him repair all of my equipment, then see what he has to sell. He sells titanite shards, large titanite shards, green titanite shards, and twinkling titanite - the second and fourth of those things being exactly what I need right now! They're pricy, though. Still, I buy the three large shards of titanite I need to reinforce my boots. I can then reinforce them further twice over with titanite chunks I've gathered.
"You have some interesting abilities," I note. "Who are you?"
"Talk, no good," he grunts. "But forge…very good! I help anytime."
"Er…thanks," I say. "I'll come back another time."
"Cometh soon," he says, and nothing more.
Our business done, I look around. Behind the giant is a treasure chest, almost completely blocked by his hulking form; I manage to get around him and open it, and he doesn't protest. Inside, I find the Hawk Ring, former ring of Hawkeye Gough, one of the four knights of Gwyn, used to extend a bow's range. Maybe I won't dump the giant bow I picked up earlier.
There are also some stairs in here. They go high, and lead to yet more stairs, which lead me out to…the balcony above the big room, through an opening in the wall closer to the broken window that I didn't notice. Sigh. That's kind of embarrassing.
Still, now I've done most of what I intend to do before facing the next challenge. Before that, though, I want to see if I can restore the Fire Keeper down at Firelink Shrine. I descend to a level that the Black Eye Orb finds acceptable, then activate it, drawing on its power to bring me to the world of whoever took the Fire Keeper's life. It searches, finds what it's looking for, and takes me away.
Through the power of the orb, I rise as a blue phantom in some alternate version of the great hall I was in. Runes tell me that I have invaded the world of Knight Lautrec the Guilty…so it was him, just as she said. I'm close to the doorway blocked by white light and facing away from it; across the room, I see three figures, two of which glow white - allies to the real person here. This will be three against one.
Well…so be it. I walk forward.
"Well, look at you," Lautrec says as I draw close. "I thought you were wiser, but I thought wrong! 'Tis a terrible pity. Like a moth flittering towards a flame. You fellows?" he adds, addressing his allies, who are already running for me. "No? Don't you agree?"
Nothing follows this, and I begin fighting them. One of the allies is a spellcaster, and she tells me to focus on him first; I do so, and dodge all of his spells, striking at him whenever I get a chance. Eventually, he falls, but not before I lose half my health to Lautrec himself. In this phantom form, I can't use my Estus Flask; my best chance is to stay on guard and strike only when I can. Next, I focus on the other ally. As I do so, I notice that Lautrec can hit me through my shield - I have no means of protecting myself from him, and no easy means of restoring my health. Just as I manage to kill the other phantom, Lautrec kills me.
I rise next to the bonfire; I have not lost my souls, for being killed as an avenging phantom bears no penalty. Still…I need to try again - I was so close, and his taunts only encourage me. It occurs to me that I still have the Divine Blessing I found in Sen's Fortress - I'll use it to restore my health if need be, but only when I'm desperate; I put it on-hand for easy access, replacing my Homeward Bones. Then, I return to the castle to try again, not bothering with the armor knights on the way; I have to climb a ways up the stairs to get enough peace to use the Black Eye Orb again, but I manage.
Lautrec's allies are back when I rise again. Again, I go forth, shield up, ready to kill them all.
"So, here we go again," he taunts as the fight begins. "How many times will the lambs rush to slaughter? Well, let's get this over with!"
I'm a bit more careful this time, though I do swipe when I can. At one point, after killing the sorcerer, I'm near death, so I use the Divine Blessing. Because of this, I'm able to survive long enough to kill the other phantom. When it's just me against Lautrec, though I still need to be careful, the odds turn in my favor. He and I reach our last bit of health at the same time; an aura starts glowing around him, like that which a tearstone makes, and as he rolls, I jump in to slash - there are red tearstone rings, too, that boost attack when the wearer is near death, and I'm not taking any chances.
He falls.
In the manner of avenging phantoms of the legendary Blades of the Darkmoon, I take one of his ears as a souvenir of reprisal. When I return to my own world, I get the Fire Keeper's soul, a Ring of Favor and Protection, and a whole five Humanity sprites. The ring is powerful, boosting vitality and energy limits as well as how much a person can carry, but it's not as good at the third thing as Havel's Ring, and I know I'd be sluggish again if I swapped it out. Also, though the gold is beautifully engraved and the band is wide, the metal itself is almost paper thin - if I'm able to get it on my finger, there's no way I'll be able to take it off without breaking it. Unable to make use of it, I set it aside for now.
Out the door, I decide to take a brief detour to the gate to my right (left if I'm coming towards the building). The bat-demon I plunged down on before tries to fight me, but I knock it back onto a slanting buttress that it can't get back up from. I'm not sure at first that it will fall off, so a split second before it does, I take another swing at it, putting me on the beam. For a moment, I panic, but soon find I can get back up. Now I go out the other way - everything in this city is symmetrical, and there are stairs down on this side just as there were on the other side. This is where I find the bat-demon I thought I saw before, as well as another one that I didn't see; I slaughter one, and knock the other off the edge. My reward is a corpse, on which I find a chunk of titanite.
Now I'm ready to go back to the bonfire, to restore my humanity and get ready for the fight. I try to run out the gate, but a giant armor knight from inside and the armor knight from outside that I passed are both trying to get through to kill me, so I retreat and use a Homeward Bone, which I put back on-hand where the Divine Blessing was.
Once I'm back at the bonfire, it's as I'm looking through my stuff for the Humanity sprites that I remember that I also reclaimed the Fire Keeper's soul. I could give it to the Fire Keeper in the room with me right now and use it to reinforce my Estus Flask, but…the bonfire at Firelink Shrine being dead is really inconvenient. Before anything else, I need to go back and restore her. So, when I rise, I return to Sen's fortress.
Shortly after reaching Sen's fortress, I accidentally slip and fall - not to my death, just a bit further down than I wanted to be. It's not too inconvenient, and make it to the cage lifts all right; at the bottom, I start to engage the snake-man, but it jumps back to dodge and gets knocked off the bridge by one of the swinging blades. Somehow, it manages to climb back up and meet me at the end of the bridge where I mean to go, though, and more or less uninjured; I don't question it, I just kill it. I also fight the two other snake-men along the way, and a bit of running and another lift ride later, I'm back at the Firelink Shrine.
Ignoring Frampt, I go straight to the spot where the Fire Keeper's corpse still rests. To relieve myself and free my hands, I put away my weapons and remove my helmet; then, I examine the body. Can it still take the soul? With no other ideas, I try it, taking it out and holding it towards the remains.
White light streams forth, surrounding the dead woman. It whirls around and then explodes, and the Fire Keeper is back, just as she was before. Even her clothes are back, though I still hold her old set.
"Are you…okay?" I ask her.
"…Th, thank you," she breathes. "I am Anastacia of Astora. Now I can continue my duty as a Keeper…But…I only hope that my impure tongue does not offend."
"Not at all!" I exclaim. "It's everyone's right to be able to speak, don't let people call you impure!" I take a breath, then gently continue, "I'm glad you're back. Here, I have your-"
A whimper cuts me off. "…Forgive me," she whispers. "I am impure, my tongue never intended for restoration…"
"But your-"
"Please, if you have any heart…Leave me be," she begs me. "I wish not to speak…"
I sigh. "Very well. I'll be going, then." And I leave her be.
With no use for her old clothes, I feed them to Frampt, and I get a lot of souls in return. Come to think of it, I can feed him my chain link armor, too, since I'm able to use my preferred armor without being hindered by its weight anymore. The Occult Club, I give to him, as well as the Dragon's Tooth and all of the Havel armor-and-shield set - I like what I've got. This gives me a lot of souls, if not enough to use on myself just yet.
Now, it's time to finish what I started. I use two of the Humanity sprites I got from Lautrec on the bonfire here in the shrine, which is burning again; I get a full twenty swallows of Estus for my Flask from this, and the fire is enormous. It crackles, the huge flames dancing about…I can almost see her face in the shapes formed by smoke and heat, feel her arms around me as the warmth envelops me. I haven't felt so close to her since I lost her…
But there's no time for that now - it's time to finish what I started in Anor Londo. Re-equipping myself, I turn and march back up to the golden city. As I do, I think of the few headless demons I haven't yet killed…but decide to leave that for another time. Sure, there are a few things I have yet to do, but I want to see what's ahead of me already! I want to see…but…
…but…I'm so tired. How long has it been since I last rested? Too long…Whatever's ahead can wait a bit longer. I'm already at the Anor Londo bonfire, but I use one more Humanity sprite to kindle it to full strength, so I can feel so close to her as I sleep. I'm sweaty and filthy, but I don't care; I rest.
