Anger burns in my Hollow chest when next I wake.
I rise, surprised at what I'm feeling; I'm not sure why, but I'm suddenly filled with a need to slaughter, to destroy. And what better place to destroy…than the world of that painting? Yes…I only have the one clump of blooming purple moss, but I also have 10,000 souls, and that near-Hollow woman sells all types of moss. I'll go find her - I'll walk to her, and kill everything along the way.
Blocking a certain vine attack in a way that causes stagger gets me an overkill bonus on one of the plant demons along the way; unfortunately, none of them drop moss clumps of any kind. I don't teleport through the bonfire above Andre's forge, and I don't take the lift, either - I walk through the parish and Undead Burg, killing everything along the way. It's fun. I kind of expect her to be upset by this sudden bloodlust, but somehow, it's almost as if she doesn't notice…
I get a shard of titanite on the way, as well as some junk for Frampt; I take the path with the undead rats, just in case one of them drops a Humanity, and lo and behold, one does. Still, I don't use the shortcut past it, instead climbing up to the drake's bridge and kill everything there before taking the long way back up and down through all of Undead Burg, not stopping at any bonfires or even drinking from my Estus Flask. The Hollows here are so easy to slaughter…it kind of makes my bloodlust rise even more. Another shard of titanite is among my bounty; at one point, a swing of my drake sword smashes some furniture through a wall, and the random destruction feels good. Why am I so angry? Also, one Hollow barely dies even though it seems like my sword should have fully hit it…I wonder if the wood planks between it and me actually served a purpose? Bah, no matter. Lastly, I also kill the Hollows near Firelink Shrine that are slightly out of the way of my destination, just to bring my soul count up past 16,000. Wow…about 6,000 souls came from that trip. I should do this more often.
The near-Hollow woman sells blooming purple moss clumps for a thousand souls each. Sixteen clumps, plus the one I got in the forest, should be enough for that mountain, shouldn't it? I buy the lot, not paying much mind to the words her soft, creepy voice makes. Now, the next question is, do I go to Anor Londo and through the painting, or warp there from a bonfire? For I have seen that place's one bonfire through the flames while moving between places. Since it's quicker, I decide to use the Firelink Shrine bonfire to transport myself there; I won't rest until everything in that place is dead. Also, on the way, I use a Humanity sprite, with which I restore myself before I make the journey.
It's a delightfully cold and dismal world, just like before. I hear crows cawing in the background and smile; oh yes, the birds here will feast soon. Around the first corner (I'm not taking the open door shortcut), I'm pleased to find one of the corpses that I cut down last time I is here, this one bearing another Humanity sprite. That prize taken, I climb up, slaughtering Hollows. The first two bulbous red things, I kill without much care; the first one toxifies me, but I don't heal myself until I also kill the second. Once I do that, and take a swig of Estus just because, I notice I somehow gained a humanity from something. How nice.
Hollows here even give me an overkill bonus if I block their broken swords with my shield first, and they already give more souls than most such ragged Hollows. I make a point not to eat a blooming purple moss clump until all of the red bulbous things in a certain area fall, as they tend to happen in groups of two or three; I also remember this place's illusion of multiple paths, and I take every path I can - and the few I skip, I make a mental note to go back for.
When I reach the spiral staircase that leads high up to nowhere, a rush of souls flows into me; I guess a harpy slipped and died. A second one greets me part of the way up, and a couple of blows from my sword sends it falling to its death, too. I'm still not quite sure how creatures that can obviously fly might fall to their deaths, but I won't question it. Funnily enough, the third harpy on this spiral staircase comes running for me, then falls to its death before I can even swing my sword at it! Aww, the bird-people are scared of me. How delightful. I find myself grinning like a fool.
Regular crows are waiting along the rest of the staircase, and they fly away as I draw close; the very top of the spiral stairs is a landing with a single corpse lying on it. There's a harpy standing on a crumbled wall ahead with its back to me; I swap out my cursed dagger for my catalyst, consider for a moment, then shoot a Great Heavy Soul Arrow at it. Unfortunately, I turn out not to be close enough to hit it; I put my catalyst away and search the corpse. It carries a red sign soapstone - a sort of invitation to other Undead for one to invade their world as a dark spirit. How quaint. The harpy still doesn't notice me, and I'm still out of range when I step to the very edge of the landing. Annoyed, and certain it will come after me if I turn my back, I take out my bow and shoot it. The arrows pass right through its body, and that's when I start to wonder if the creature is even really there. I sigh and take my drake sword out again; somehow, this movement alone sends me falling to my death.
Firelink Shrine is where I find myself when I rise. Ooh, that makes me even angrier! I will destroy that place…I use another Humanity sprite to revive my body, then return, once again killing everything I can find, overkilling when possible. I also start trying to use magic to kill the bloated red things; this fails at first, as one gets close enough to toxify me with its death spray anyway, but when I find one of the trio that doesn't fall with its comrades (after I cure myself), magic kills it quickly and effectively. When I reach the entrance to the staircase again, I turn back and take the path full of albino undead rats, just to be more thorough, and at last, I see how this path ends up overlapping with the other. The pseudo-maze layout of this place is interesting. I'm glad to be killing everything in it. Some odd grunts also happen here and there on the way, which I think I determine to come from the albino undead rats; they set me on edge when I hear them all the same.
The first two harpies aren't nearly so obliging this time - the second one manages to catch me several times and peck me, actually, but now, I find I'm able to survive it, if barely. A swipe of their wings is the only other attack the things possess, and when this hits my shield, they recoil, giving me time to either heal or attack. The second harpy is also the first one to die so far before it falls at all; the third jumps for me. With that, I recover my death spot, and am halfway through this hellhole. On the way back down, I notice a corpse that I can only reach by jumping, so I cast Fall Control and jump; it bears a very large soulmass. Jumping back onto the stairs is also painless thanks to Fall Control - it really is a useful spell.
When I try to climb down the spiral stairs, I find that I cannot - it's too crumbled at one point - but a harpy notices me and turns and runs through the doorway behind it, presumably in pursuit of me. I turn around to where the rotting dragon rests and wait for the harpy to come to me, but it doesn't. After a little while, I get bored, and take out my bow, equip the Hawk Ring, and start trying to snipe the rotten dragon from far away - after all, it worked with the hydra. I hit it easily - the ring makes the arrow fly as if it has wings - and it rouses, one rotten wing dropping off of its back as it roars and crawls along the bridge. It reaches the outside landing, then stops, still plenty far enough away for me to be out of its reach. I start shooting the dragon in the eye socket just for fun, and by pure luck, this happens to do two to three times as much damage as hitting it anywhere else…that, or my arrows are doing more damage because the dragon is a lot closer, but either way, fifty-six arrows no longer seems like an inadequate amount to kill this thing. Creak, twang! Squelch. The rhythm of firing arrows at the monster becomes almost hypnotic.
All my arrows put together turn out to be just barely too little to kill the rotten dragon - but it brings me quite close, and I know, if I can get just a few hits on it with magic, it's done. I have to be careful about how close to it I get, though - the one in the valley of drakes may have gone down relatively easily, but I already know from experience that this one's stronger. Trying to get only just within rage to lock on, I slowly take the stairs one step at a time. Close enough to lock on, once again, turns out to be a bit further than a spell's range, so I take steps closer even after that, nearly falling off the staircase but not quite. I try again and again, and one of the spells hits it, but most miss; I move just a bit closer, and I fall into the area where it can spew its poison. My magic is doing a lot of damage to it, nearly twice as much as the arrows did in its eye socket, but I still underestimate how many Great Soul Arrows it takes to kill it. On the other hand, I get hit with the wave of poison once - just once - and hardly get hurt by it at all. A few more Great Soul Arrows, and it gives a tremendous roar and disintegrates. Where it was, there's now a dragon scale - just the one, but now I only need one more.
With the rotted dragon gone, there are corpses on this bridge that I can pillage. One contains a biggish soulmass; the other carries a bloodshield, a legendary weapon painted with enchanted blood that boosts resistances to poison, curse, blood loss, and isn't bad against fire or lightning, either - better than my Crest Shield, at any rate, though the Crest Shield is still by far the best defense magic, since that's what it was made for. I decide to try using the bloodshield, for now at least. With that taken care of, I run to the other end of the bridge, where I'm eventually stopped by…another rotten dragon? Something? It looks like some sort of rotten beast, but it doesn't seem to notice me. I'm unsure whether to swing my drake sword at it or turn and run. After a minute, I decide to run. Nothing happens.
Okay…I turn around again. What is that thing? I said I was going to kill everything here…but does this count? Eventually, I decide to come back to it after everything else is dead; I go back inside, down the stairs that lead to the bottom of the tower. The harpy is back in here, and it jumps off the stairs - not quite to its death, but it's hurt once it comes back up and tries to grab me. When it fails because of the edge of the doorway, I make a leaping attack at it, then quickly hide behind the wall again so it can't grab me when it tries to. After its second failure, I swing twice, and it's dead.
The ground down here is littered with dead harpies. The doorway to the strange woman is still open, but I'm going to save that for last - I'll confront her when everything else in her precious, 'peaceful' world is dead. So, I go the other way, and now am finally faced with the blobby things with shields and spears clustered around the base of a statue. She fears them, but I just want them all to die; I have firebombs, and I'm going to try using them.
This turns out to be unwise. As soon as I'm in range, they notice me, and they all come off the statue and start slithering towards me in a big group. It turns out that they have spears which they can throw, and then pull new ones out of their fleshy forms to throw again. These hurt - not too much, but enough that a group of them is dangerous. My firebombs, meanwhile, somehow inflict damage on multiple monstrosities at once, though none of them die. When I run out of those and try using magic, I'm nearly speared to death.
Somewhat stymied, I hide behind a wall and reconsider my options. I could always go out swinging my sword, I suppose…but that would be suicide, plain and simple. The goal here is for everything in this place to be dead, all at once - killing some now, using a bonfire for any reason, and then coming back for the rest won't cut it. I suppose I could…use guerrilla tactics - take one swipe, then hide behind the inside of the doorframe. It seems like my best option, so I try it.
As it turns out, their shields are strong, but their bodies are weak - two solid hits from my sword kills any one of them. They disintegrate upon death, and one drops a spear. The more I look at these things, the less certain I am what they are - they look like amalgamated blobs of ragged Hollow flesh and limbs with spears sticking out of them. It takes a while - and several drinks of Estus - but I eventually manage to cut them down, until the only ones left are too far away to care about me if I'm inside the doorframe, three of them in total. From a distance, I manage to shoot two of them with one Great Heavy Soul Arrow each; I run out, dodge their spears, then quickly kill both. With just the one left, and its inability to move fast, I dodge around to where it can't protect itself with its shield, then cut it down.
Now the courtyard is empty, with only the crows cawing in the background to stir the air. There's a sort of haphazard graveyard here; I find a corpse in it bearing a Humanity sprite. Opposite this place, past a few huge stone boxes with bars on one side and chains attached to another side (are they cages?) scattered randomly around is an entrance to a more open area - outside any building, I think. It's a field of impaled bodies on spears, but there are moving, killable things in it, so I proceed. The ragged Hollows out here mostly carry torches, though one or two carry broken swords; I cut them all down quickly. Dead corpses are also here to plunder: a big soulmass and two medium soulmasses are my bounty.
Then, there's a disturbance, and some runes inform me that dark spirit King Jeremiah has invaded. I look around, and see a red phantom with a headpiece nearly as big as its body. It attacks with a thorny whip, and at first, this seems doable. Then, it proves to actually be a pyromancer - some flame spells weaken me, and then a huge firestorm spell roasts me. I die, and return to the Firelink Shrine bonfire.
Alright, that was cheap. I'll kill that thing, no matter how - once it's dead, then I can go back to killing everything else in that frozen place. Only now am I realizing just how big this world is…I guess I missed a lot while I was trying to escape it before. Still, there are a lot of souls in it for me, maybe enough to help me defeat the Four Kings, and besides, I'm still feeling murderous. I revive my body and transport myself back, this time heading straight for where the strange dark phantom assaulted me.
Death spot first, Hollows second, dark spirit third is my plan, though I don't let any Hollows live that might sneak up behind me. The bloated things in the courtyard are back, and will have to wait - I don't think they'll chase me that far, and the entrance to the corpse field turns out to be far enough away from the statue to not even alert them. I end up having to kill the Hollows before retrieving my death spot, as I momentarily lose track of it. Then, I stand and wait, and the dark spirit returns. This time, I run at it recklessly, and as it turns out, this dark spirit has very little poise - one swipe from my sword breaks its concentration on whatever it's doing, so I just swing and swing until it dies. From it, I get some humanity, as well as its notched whip - a thorny thing used mainly for enemies that lack any sort of armor. More food for Frampt.
Well, that was an annoying setback. Still, there were a ton of souls in it for me, far more than even from killing the rotten dragon. Free to take my time, I look around, but everything in this field is dead or gone. Wonderful…now I just have to take those paths all around the world again. Still, at least the rotten dragon is permanently gone, so I won't have to worry about that.
This time, I manage to fully avoid the toxic death spray of the first pair of red blobby things. A ragged Hollow on the way up the first path gives me another humanity, so I now have three within me as well as the sprites I've gathered. And yes, I'm pretty sure the unnerving growling noises I sometimes hear are made by the albino undead rats - one gives me another Humanity sprite on the way. Also, between dodging and my new bloodshield, none of the red blobby things toxify me on this run. I'm also more observant, and across a gap in a wooden floor, jumping and smashing through some pots, I find a corpse bearing a gold coin like the one I found in Anor Londo, which I've actually passed several times. I'm still not sure about that rotten thing where the rotten dragon once was - it looks similar to the rotten dragon from a distance, but the dragon I killed is gone. Regardless, I will return to it later.
In the tower, one of the harpies jumps down once, twice, but doesn't die; it's because of this that I notice a corpse I've yet to pillage, so I follow the same path, though I miss the body. Still, I don't die, and the harpy down here is also injured from the fall. I'm getting much better at fighting these creatures hand-to-hand, I can say that much at least. When I knock the third and last one on the staircase to its death, however, I follow, and also fall to my own death.
Sigh…I'm so close, and I will get this! I died with three humanities and over 80,000 souls, and I haven't absorbed any of the soulmasses I've gathered - this will assure me victory next time I face the Four Kings, I just have to achieve it, and I know I can do it. I revive my body and go back again. I'm not sure why I'm so set on doing this while un-Hollowed…but I suppose it doesn't really matter. While fighting the group of four blobby red things, I slip, and take the alternate path full of albino undead rats first by mistake, but it all evens out in the end - and I'm still completely avoiding getting toxified, thanks to this shield. And then, just before I recover my death spot, the last harpy kills me.
I thought I was angry when I woke up by the bonfire earlier. That was nothing compared to what I feel now. The rotten dragon, and the dark spirit - those tens of thousands of souls that I never got to use, all gone. Sure, there are about 14,000 left where that harpy killed me, but what's that compared to what I lost? And three humanities, as well! Such rage…Such deep, deep rage…I will not rest until every last moving thing in that world falls still, and that abomination of a woman can see her precious world full of death. And then I'll kill her. It's more important than the Four Kings now. This…is personal.
The field of corpses is where I start out this time, in the vain hope that the dark spirit might try to kill me again; but no. Still, every corner of this place that I exterminate everything remotely resembling life in is a victory now. An albino rat gives me a Humanity sprite, but that's far from enough to compensate for what I just lost. At one point, trying to reach a corpse that has stymied me for a long time, I jump off the tower into the courtyard, and somehow survive - I even find a little cranny in which lies a corpse bearing a big soulmass. The globs around the statue are awakened by this, though, and one manages to hit me in the back with a spear as I return to the start of the path; I survive. In the tower of harpies, I slip again, but I think I do so after I kill the one highest up; I run back through to be sure, and find that I did.
Alright, back to the globs - once I kill these, I can at last move on to killing things I haven't already killed! That weird rotten entity across the bridge still bothers me, but no matter. Fighting the blobs costs me a lot of Estus, however - I'm left with four swallows and a fair number of scratches by the time they're all gone. Still, this leaves me free to explore new areas - I just need to be more careful.
There are two buildings out here that I haven't explored, one to my right, one to my left. I go left first, since right led to that sewer where the wheel was; I also peek around corners on the way to make sure I don't miss anything. What I find inside this building, however, is a large area full of wooden benches with a floor that looks slightly collapsed somehow, and a locked door at the top of some stairs. Okay, other building it is. Before I go there, though, I search around thoroughly first, and outside, I find a well with a ladder leading down in. It probably leads to that sewer area, so I won't bother with it just yet - but if it turns out not to be, I have it in my mind.
A balcony with a looted corpse on it proves I have not actually killed everything I've ever killed before - an ambush of four ragged Hollows that I'd forgotten about surprises me slightly, and hurts me enough to necessitate a drink from my Estus Flask. Three swallows left…this will be tricky, but I can do it - if nothing else, I have Humanity sprites to restore me in an emergency. The sewer is the only place left to go, so go there I do, descending cautiously. Once down, I proceed a half-step at a time, running into the left-hand corner when I can so that I have my back to a solid barrier. My shield up, I move slowly, slowly, hugging the wall to my left. Eventually, the spike wheel skeleton I can kind of see in a rare ray of light through the broken ceiling comes for me, and my shield is able to deflect it long enough for its attack to end; two swings from my drake sword kill it. Near the back of the room, I see a very unlikely patch of sunken wall that is a different color - I don't even have to test it, though, before a spike wheel skeleton (I think one on the other side, somehow) breaks the illusion. I run in after it, then get cautious at the last second, and though it manages to hit me long enough to knock my shield out of the way, I am not badly injured. In the ray of light where the first pinwheel skeleton was waiting, I find a corpse bearing a large soulmass. Having gotten everything thus far, I start walking along the wall again, but I'm less careful, and I'm soon mowed down by a spike wheel skeleton, surprised by a second, and slaughtered.
This is getting tiresome; but I've gotten so close! Perhaps, in addition to a Humanity sprite, I should absorb some of the soulmasses I've gathered and use them to strengthen my body so that this goes more easily. Yes, I'll do that…or not. All the soulmasses put together isn't nearly enough to use on myself. Annoyed, frustrated, angry, and determined, I return to the frozen world again.
The first ragged Hollow I fell gives me a humanity, which is nice but not very helpful right now. An accidental jumping attack almost gets me killed by a red blobby thing, but this is how I discover that whether I dodge or not, I can stand one blast of toxic death spray thanks to my new shield. Knowing this, I guess this whole thing wasn't a total waste…no, it pretty much was. Still, this shield is really helpful. Another albino rat gives me a Humanity sprite, I get to the tower, kill the first harpy by luring it outside where there's more room, kill the second on the stairs, and the third by knocking it off the stairs and following it down where it's injured, blah blah blob things, blah blah field of impaled corpses, blah blah ambush balcony, and at last, I can return to the sewers to reclaim my death spot - and not be an idiot about it this time - with ten swallows of Estus left to get me through it, so I don't have to be so conservative.
Come to think of it, I've never actually seen the exit to this place - I assume it's through the fake wall, but I don't know what's actually down here. When I dodge the first spike wheel skeleton, I try to attack it from behind, and this is when the wheel form of their weapon demonstrates its genius: attacking from behind hurts, though it doesn't kill me. Thinking I only have the one to worry about while I'm hugging this wall, I turn to open the illusory door, and another one comes up behind me and mauls me to death, giving me barely any time to register what's even going on.
Over 50,000 souls are in that death spot, as well as a humanity; I can not mess this up. Honestly, I'm getting tired of this, very tired of this, but that's part of why I have to finish it. Nothing of note happens until I reach the blobs of ragged Hollows - I accidentally get outside the doorframe with a fair number of them still oozing around, and here I discover that I can just run around them with my shield up, slash them from behind, and keep moving; no need for guerrilla tactics. I have a little fun scaring crows away in the haphazard graveyard I raided earlier, and while doing this, I find a narrow staircase that leads to an equally-narrow ledge with a corpse that's wearing a Ring of Sacrifice.
Oh. My. Gods. I take off the Cloranthy Ring and slip this on in a heartbeat - this is a miracle, especially if I manage to recover my death spot this time before I die (as I'm almost certain I will). I'm prepared for the second spike wheel skeleton this time and - yes - I manage to recover my death spot.
Alright, back to exploring this underground cave - it's not so much a sewer, it doesn't look quite artificial enough to be that, but it's a very wet cave. Using patience and intelligence, I'm able to get the spike wheel skeletons one at a time, and completely circumnavigate the room; this done, I explore around the middle, still being careful, and find another corpse, this bearing a medium-sized soulmass, which I tuck away for later.
Now, there's only the secret passage. I noticed when I looked inside it that one time that there was a path forward and a path to the left…I feel like the path to the left might be the one less travelled, so I'll take that way first, still being careful for spike wheel skeletons. When I get to it, I also notice another very obviously illusory wall to the right that makes this a perfect four-way intersection. I still go left, and am met by another spike wheel skeleton, which I have to chase back and forth through the cave, getting hit every time just so I can swing my sword at it. The left path turns out to be a dead end, but the skeleton broke open the fake wall, so I go that way. Inside, I find a left turn, and there's another skeleton; I dodge and kill it, then go see what it was guarding, and find a corpse holding a key. This must be the key to that locked door. Yes…I'm so close.
When I came this way, I noticed a second entrance a little ways past the first, also to my left; I go this way this time - it being to my right now - and find another fake wall, which I break open to find myself facing the entrance to this little tunnel network, into the bigger cavern. I do, however, also notice another way going straight past it, so I take that route next. It's a dead end, except for a right turn, that leads to a right turn where I come upon a spike wheel skeleton who's waiting for me, and which I cut down before it can do anything. Past this is some stairs, and a full staircase leads up into an room above ground where red blobby thing is just standing still. It's next to an open window, so for a moment I suspect a trap, but I swing my blade at it once, and it explodes in toxic slime and falls - somehow, I get an overkill bonus for it. There is no trap, and when I check the body, I find a powerful pyromancy spell. Interesting.
But where is the ladder that leads out? If that well didn't lead to the caves, where does it go? I search around a bit more, but I can't find anything. It's too dark down here anyway; I leave, then head for the well, just so I know what's there. Another wet tunnel, like the ones before, and which I do not trust, is what I find at the bottom, but when I work up the nerve to take the right-hand path instead of the left - because I think I see something that way - I find a spike wheel skeleton that's already dead. So the tunnels down there did lead here, and I just didn't find the way - not surprising, given how hard it is to see down here. Alright, that just leaves the one last place.
I climb the stairs and unlock the door. Before I step through it, I take a drink of Estus, just to be safe. A single barrel is in a small stone room, looking oddly out of place; I smash it, but nothing is inside. The only other thing here is stairs. These lead to more stairs, and more stairs…eventually, I climb out onto a set of bridges - ahead of me, a red blobby thing comes running, and I cut it down without much difficulty. To my left is a short dead end which I check just in case; here I find a high, narrow staircase leading up and back that forms the corner of the building, at the top of which is a red blobby thing shooting fire at me. Without pause, I run up and kill it, and evade its toxic spray; my reward is a harpy, which I lure back down and fight on the bridge. When it dies, it gives me a humanity, somehow.
Thinking that up might be my destination, I go forward; I look over a low wall to my left and see a floor full of things, and she screams at me that that is my destination, and I'm to turn back for now. There was a decaying old door to my right, which I smash, and this bridge takes me to that corpse I once nearly died for; it bears Velka's Rapier, the weapon of the Pardoner. Nowhere near as good as the drake sword, though it is lighter and has magic strength as well. I then climb the stairs again, and find one, two, three harpies; I try to run back down, and this does separate one from the others, but I get too confident in fighting it, and its wings beat me to death.
The Ring of Sacrifice shatters on my finger, and I'm back at Firelink Shrine with two spare humanities, an un-Hollowed body, and 86,000 souls - I'd say that was well worth it. I gain a lot of strength, and then return to try again; I still intend to destroy that girl's world and then kill her. This has been a good outlet for my anger, even if it's also caused me a great deal more. It's not until after I begin that I remember to put the Cloranthy Ring back on, but no harm done. One of the albino undead rats gives me a Humanity sprite, there's some interesting warfare with blobby red things on a ladder, and the second harpy in the tower kills me.
I'm officially tired of this - I'm not giving up, far from it, but I'm exhausted. I restore my Hollowed body at the Firelink Shrine bonfire, then simply lie down and rest.