Knowledge of Dark Souls isn't needed to enjoy this fic (even if it will make the omake scenes way more amusing), but I'll try to bring together in a way that somewhat makes sense the Lore of the two worlds (you'll likely know by now that it is one of the part of fanfiction that I enjoy the most).
Extreme Summary of Dark Souls Lore:
In the beginning, the universe was a grey expanse of lifeless stone, with no light, no warmth, and no life if not for the presence of Archdragons.
Then the equivalent of the Big Bang: the appearance of the First Flame.
Said flame brought life into the Grey Era, and we went from the Age of Stone into the Age of Fire.
Eventually, the First Flame started to fade (=entropic death of the universe), but by magic bullshittery, the biggest badass around decided to feed himself to the Flame as a fuel, prolonging the Age of Faire and staving off the Age of Dark.
The whole Dark Souls games are about a 'Chosen Undead', which, for reasons that I can't properly explain in a summary, has the power of eating the souls of what he defeats in order to grow stronger.
In the end, the Main Character has to decide between offering himself as the fuel to keep the First Flame Going, and becoming a Lord of the Dark instead, leading those still alive in the Age of Dark.
The DARK SOULS lore works by cycles that follow the previous summary.
As to the choice of the game to make references to: DS1 is out because it kind of requires min-maxing in order to be played effectively, and I haven't played DS3. So references will be geared towards DS2, and I will talk about them if needed with Author Notes at the end of the page.
Anyway, for those that are unfamiliar with the DS games, imagine the MC as an errant knight that respawns at a bonfire (checkpoint system) when killed. Said errant knight is a build grown around a lot of attributes, but for the less genre-savvy, the magic is divided in Pyromancy (Technically Named the Flame of Chaos, is about tossing around deadly shit, not controlling fire that already exists), Miracles, Curses, and Charms, which are respectively Lightning-based, Darkness-based, Energy-based.
And since nobody really wants to hear about the adventure in Dark Souls (either you've played it, and you already know it, or you don't care, and it's okay), I'll simply toss my alternative-power!Taylor back in the Worm-verse.
I've played some Dark Souls recently, and like for everything else, I thought about how I could slot it together with Worm. There is another DS2-Worm crossover, in which Taylor channels the Dark, manifesting Nadalia's Idols and even Ramie (Fume Knight). It is written beautifully, but I fear it is abandoned.
I'll make her gear up differently each time she heads out with a clear objective, but I won't be spending too much time on her equipment, but keep in mind the kind of monsters that you face in Dark Souls, pair it with the fact that each time you die you can simply try again until you lose all of your humanity.
That's fucking OP right there.
Bone-Fire
A city of reasonable dimensions never truly slept. Between those that worked at night, and the criminals that poked their head out of the woods only during the relative cover of the dark, the only discernible difference between day and nighttime was the number of crimes committed.
It was almost like an unwritten agreement that everyone knew about: the day is silent if you don't rock the boat too much, the night is quiet if you look the other way. That was the truth for your everyday joe, for capes, the rules were just that tidbit skewed in order to account for the necessity of violence that slept more or less deeply within every homo sapiens sapiens, a necessity that awoke irreversibly when one became a parahuman.
Such convention was widespread across every civilization since the presence of capes became an undeniable part of the world. Sure, it differed from city to city, villains were noticeably more tame in Los Angeles, where they could be casually hammered down faster than they could process by Alexandria, while they were more chaotic in New York, where, despite the constant presence of Legend, the situations in which people could Trigger were surprisingly high, causing the birth and death of uncountable minor gangs that never even reached the fame that almost every parahuman seemed to lust after.
In Brockton Bay, this particular configuration took the form of a constant cold war slowly grinding against both the Protectorate and PRT personnel and any other parahuman, no matter if Hero, Rogue, or Villain. The lines in the sand were stark clear since, no long after Marquis's defeat and capture years before, Lung had cut for himself a slice of the city, humiliating every hero in town, and after the more or less smooth transition from Allfather to Kaiser at the head of the Empire 88. The Merchants were there too, sure, and from time to time they made a mess, mostly because being intoxicated with tinker made drugs made for an awful application of superpowers, but also because intoxicated or not, the Merchants had a weak enough presence that neither the E88 nor the ABB truly ever came around to popping them like the annoying zit they were.
The sounds of the city at night were a known constant in the life of everyone that spent enough time in Brockton Bay, sirens, occasional boom, grinding of steel, gunshots, gangs posturing, and parahumans snapping at each other, like peacocks preening in order to show of their own worth.
The low rumble of Armsmaster's motorcycle was yet another of these sounds, both a deterrent for the gangs, and a rallying call for the Heroes.
The Tinker crossed the city following the directions of his software, thusly being able to keep a high speed and quickly nearing the objective. The Brockton Bay main cemetery wasn't far from Capitol Hill, but it wasn't that the one where he was needed.
The smaller and less known cemetery that rested just shy of what had once been the industrial area near the Docks, the small and often ignored place was quite the catch for the dead. Or, it would have been if the dead cared, one way or another, for the sea breeze and the sight of the uninterrupted horizon.
Armsmaster parked his tinkertech bike right next to the slightly rusted gates, and made his way in with a confident stride, his trusty halberd ready for battle, while he prepared himself mentally for any possible outcome.
As far as first contacts went, this one promised to be unusual.
Generally, the first appearance of a cape, when not dictated by a public trigger event, immediately set them up as either Hero or Villain. The first appearances also tended to happen without interacting with the Protectorate, until the new cape wisened up enough to seek to join a group. The call to the PRT had been made by across the street, where a resident had spotted a knight of all things, sitting at a bonfire.
Which would have been strange, but it turned extremely sinister when said bonfire sat in the middle of a cemetery.
Dramatics or not, showmanship or not, defiling graves wouldn't look good on anybody's resume.
Armsmaster walked the slightly uphill path between the rows of tombstones until he reached what he deemed a safe distance from the objective. Just when he started to feel a warmth that was immediately classified by his suit and support system as a shaker effect, he stopped cold, and lowered his halberd, ready to use it at any given moment.
"Hero or Villain?" the situation had to be cleared immediately, because if this new cape wanted to make a mess in Colin's city, the Tinker sure as hell wasn't going to let him... her, he corrected himself reading the info his helmet provided, do as she pleased.
When the silence stretched, and new info was fed to Colin by his helmet, he spoke again: "Defiling the Tombstone of Taylor and Danny Hebert is petty revenge, in any case, you'll need to give a statement and follow me to the Headquarters."
The knight didn't answer, she didn't even give a sign of having heard the Tinker. Her closed helm remained pointed at the small bonfire, which burned too hot for it to be a natural effect, and, now that Colin had access to the scans, was burning off bones of all things.
A steely kite shield was resting next to the unknown cape, a rose blossom occupying its center, looking like it was made of a tinker-made material, that Colin's scans couldn't identify. The cape wore a tattered bluish clock that was frayed on the edges, matted with all manner of things that Armsmaster's scanners didn't manage to identify. Red leather boots covered the unknown cape's feet, while on the cloth resting over the chainmail was depicted a stylized stag's head.
As Armsmaster took a careful step forward, both in order to establish dominance in the rather one-sided conversation he was trying to have with the new cape, he slowed down, and felt the will to fight leave his limbs.
The Tinker stopped, his armor's warnings blaring loudly in his ears, and stepped back until the shaker effect no longer hit him.
"Console, confirmed shaker effect from the bonfire, it seems to 'pacify' forcibly those that come too close." he relayed to headquarters.
"Confirmed. Status of the Parahuman?" the flat voice of someone that had seen too much shit to be bothered spoke back in the earpiece Armsmaster carried within him at all times.
"Not Hostile, but she's not reacting to me, I cannot get too close lest I fall to the shaker effect."
"A squad is on route to isolate the new cape, from your feed temporarily named 'Rose Knight', but there may be problems in..."
In that moment, the unknown cape moved.
It rose methodically from her slouched position next to the fire, and turned her head to the city. A second later, a loud rumble confirmed the info that was being fed to Colin from console.
"... downtown, nest to Ruby Casino, Lung is on the move."
Colin didn't give his shoulders to the unknown cape, but his plan of abandoning the knight to the incoming PRT squad died immediately, for the cape plunged her right hand into the bonfire, and when she pulled it back, a sword came with it.
Only, it wasn't a sword at all, it was more like a statue resting on the back of a slab of stone that was at least one handspan thick, depicting the delicate features of a woman.
But the unknown cape wasn't done, for her hand, dipped again into the bonfire. This time emerging with a hook, shaped like a dragon's head, at the base of which was situated a small chime.
"Are you going to fight me?" Armsmaster questioned when the knight secured the chime to her belt and lifted again the giant stone slab that had to weigh at least half a ton like it was a twig, resting it on her right shoulder while she secured the shield to her left vambrace, which seemed like stone gauntlet strangely engraved.
Only when Armsmaster made clear that he wouldn't be moving from the path intended by the new cape, the Rose Knight spoke, and her voice, while flat and uncaring, seemed to be struggling to hold back a peal of laughter: "It wouldn't be a fight."
A second later, the cape started running, faster than it should have possible, leaving Armsmaster to scramble to his motorcycle, which immediately was directed towards the last reported position of Lung.
AN
Ideas, hopes?
