AN: Just a warning, this one is going to be pretty long. I'm trying to break the chapters up zone by zone, and I had a lot to write about the burg. Remember how I said I was going to be changing some dialogue? I'm switching around some item locations too, as well as adding a few new items to further the plot. Please don't be mad when you read that the black knight was NOT guarding the blue tearstone ring, but something else, never seen before.
Chapter Three: A Legend is Born
Oscar rose from the bonfire, looking much healthier than he had when they had sat down. Raven had offered the souls from the graveyard to the bonfire, reinforcing her muscles, working towards being able to wield the Zweihander, contrary to the meaning of it's name, with one hand. She hefted the massive sword onto her shoulder, grinning.
"Well, I think we're ready," Oscar observed, "Time to really get started." Oscar started up the hill towards the Undead Burg, and Raven followed close behind. Suddenly, as they crested the first rise, a hollow jumped at Oscar, who narrowly blocked the attack. Raven immediately jumped at the hollow, slicing him clean down the middle with an overhead swing. Oscar immediately parried a second soldier which jumped at them, impaling the soldier with his straight sword. Raven felt the rush of souls from both kills, as a third hollow jumped down from the top of the next hill, landing and immediately charging Raven, who raised her sword to point right at his chest, and he impaled himself on it as he ran forwards. She angled the tip downwards, shaking the hollow corpse off of the blade before bringing it back up to rest on her shoulder.
"That went well," Oscar commented, cleaning the blood off of his sword. Raven realized it was a good idea, and wiped off the Zweihander somewhat awkwardly, due to it's large size. They started up the next big climb, and immediately Raven, who was taking the lead this time around. She batted it aside reflexively with the Zweihander, but it exploded in a steam of fire that blew backwards into both of them. Raven stumbled at the heat, then charged forwards, swinging overhead with the Zweihander at the hollow who had thrown the firebomb, slicing him in half. Oscar rushed forwards, attacking another hollow soldier which was holding a battle axe at the ready. His Astoran straight sword slashed through it's poor armor, cutting it down in the blink of an eye. A third hollow jumped down from the top of the staircase leading from the top of the hill into the burg, slashing across Raven's back. She gasped and stood up, accidentally pushing him off the cliff with the sudden motion. She took a swig of estus, healing the firebomb burns as well as the slash wound from the hollow suicide jumper. She pulled the Zweihander back onto her shoulder, and breathed heavily. Oscar looked at her, slightly concerned, and she shrugged.
"Could've been worse," she stated, following him up the stairs into the burg, then gagged at the stench of the tunnel that Oscar turned into. He seemed a little disgusted too, when he realized that he was ankle-deep in sewage.
"Of course the entrance to the Undead Burg is a sewer. Why would it ever not be a sewer?" Raven asked rhetorically, disgusted.
"It's not tha-" Oscar was interrupted as he was tackled by a massive undead rat, which clawed at him several times, not doing much due to his armor, before turning towards Raven. It jumped at her, and she stepped to the side, letting the rat jump off the ledge on the outside of the tunnel and fall all the way down the hill, and off the cliff below. Oscar climbed to his feet, now covered in sewage.
"I'm willing to admit that it is quite disgusting," Oscar allowed, trying to shake off some of the muck without getting any on Raven, failing miserably at both tasks. Raven looked down at her clothes, which were now also splattered in sewage.
"Sorry," Oscar said, "Let's keep moving. We might be able to clean off up ahead." They slogged through the sewer tunnel until they reached a closed grate. There was a doorway just off to the side, and Oscar turned, heading up the stairs and back into the sun. Two hollow warriors waited for them at the landing that they emerged onto. Raven immediately cleaved one, an axe-user, in two, and the other one jumped backwards, raising it's cracked round shield warily. Oscar charged forwards, thrusting his straight sword through the hole in the shield, skewering the soldier, and immediately taking the brunt of a firebomb, stumbling backwards and falling off a ledge.
"Oscar!" Raven shouted, grabbing at his hand and missing, watching him fall onto an overhang just below. He bounced and rolled off of it, falling to the ground below that. He climbed to his feet.
"I think I see a way back up," Oscar shouted after looking around briefly, "I'll meet you up ahead. Continue without me!" Just then, Oscar was tackled by an undead dog, and fumbled with it. Raven wrenched herself away as she heard the whistling of another firebomb fuse behind her. She turned to duck just in time, and the firebomb whistled over her head, dropping down into the lower burg. She winced, before glancing down and realizing that Oscar had managed to block it with the dog, solving two problems at once.
AN: Accidental lower burg skip, eh? Leave a review if you liked it. Anyways, moving on.
"I'm fine," Oscar said, "Just keep moving!" Raven saw that he could handle himself, and turned to charge the firebomber. She lowered her Zweihander, point towards the hollow, and skewered him as she approached. She pulled the Zweihander around, flinging the corpse at a hollow whose footsteps she had heard behind her. The hollow was bowled over, and dropped off of a ledge. Raven didn't much care where it led, but she knew that it was in a different spot than where Oscar fell, so she hadn't just hindered him further. There was a fog wall leading into a building, and Raven stepped through. There wasn't an exit on the ground floor, but there were stairs leading upwards that looked to be worth exploring. Sure enough, at the top of the stairs, there was a doorway leading out onto a short bridge. As she stepped onto it, she heard flapping of wings, similar to the noise the giant crow had made, and she looked up expectantly. A giant red blur dropped down from above, landing on the bridge and throwing her backwards, disarming her. As she stood up, she saw that it was a massive drake, a poor imitation of the everlasting dragons from before the age of fire, but terrifying nonetheless. She snatched up her Zweihander and charged it, trying to reach it to attack, but it jumped again and flew away before she reached it. A hollow rushed her in turn as the dragon flew away, and she jumped backwards, out of reach of it's attack. She raised the Zweihander high above her head, bringing it crashing down on the hollow and cleaving him in two. A second hollow jumped from the top of the stairs at the far end of the bridge, preparing to attack her as he landed. She yanked the Zweihander back up, knocking him out of the air in two large, meaty chunks, before he ever hit the ground. She awkwardly wiped off the sword, and then set it to rest back on her shoulder, climbing up the stairs. She heard a crack, not quite the sound of a bowstring, but similar, and ducked, feeling the wind of an arrow pass above her head. She stood up, skewering another hollow completely by accident, and saw that the arrow was not an arrow at all, but rather a bolt. The shot had been fired from a crossbow archer up above. She rushed up yet another set of stairs, sidestepping a second bolt, and then decapitated the crossbow archer with a single horizontal swipe of the Zweihander. She hefted it back onto her shoulder, and turned around, examining her surroundings. There was a bonfire through a doorway to the left of the stairs she had climbed, as the archer had been to the right of them. She walked in, and saw Oscar, sitting calmly next to the fire. He was no longer covered in sewage. Raven felt the bonfire's warmth cause the gunk to evaporate from her, as well, and she hugged him.
"We were only separated for.. what was it, ten minutes, and you act like we were apart for years. I'm starting to wonder whether you have attachment issues, or whether you've actually developed feelings for me," Oscar commented, lifting her off of him and setting her down next to the bonfire. Raven blushed, recalling her sudden urge to kiss him as they were grasped together in the crow's talons, as well as how she had felt when he was lying helpless in the asylum, very near his death and hollowing.
"I thought as much," Oscar commented, nodding, "but I'm afraid we don't have the time for those sorts of feelings right now. We'll sort that out when this is all over." Raven nodded, feeling slightly disappointed but desperately hoping that it didn't show. Oscar gave no indication of whether he noticed or not, instead instructing her to offer the souls she had earned to the flame. She did so, further reinforcing her strength, moving ever closer to her goal of wielding her terrifying ultra greatsword with a single hand. She topped off her Estus, then rose, hefting the Zweihander back to her shoulder. Oscar moved towards the door, and immediately ducked back into the room as a crossbow bolt fired past him.
"What the hell?" Raven wondered aloud, "I could've sworn he was dead!"
"He was," Oscar explained, "But when you rest at a bonfire, it replenishes everything in the area, not just you. How do you think I managed to get to the bonfire with the crossbowman still alive?"
"Good to know. Let's kill these guys for the... third...? time," she declared, raising her Zweihander and charging out of the room, sidestepping a hollow which jumped at her from the stairs, missing and falling off of the landing to his demise far below. She brought the Zweihander up as she ran, slamming it down into the crossbow archer before he could even finish reloading from his last shot. Oscar emerged a moment later, cutting through a second hollow which was climbing the stairs at that moment. Raven heard firebombs explode behind her, and felt the heat from the flames wash over her a moment later. She turned to see a group of hollow soldiers, standing on an out of reach, precarious looking wooden platform, chucking firebombs at Raven and Oscar furiously. Fortunately, they all fell short of the pair, but unfortunately, if they tried to move across a narrow bridge that led towards the platform, they would be moving themselves into the firebombers' collective range.
"How are we going to do this?" Raven asked, looking at the new challenge that was presented before them. In response, Oscar handed her the crossbow of the dead hollow archer. She took it, grabbed a bolt from the corpse's quiver, and loaded the crossbow.
"Can you shoot it?" Oscar asked, and Raven peered down the bolt.
"It might take a couple tries to get it figured out, but I can make it work long before I run out of bolts," Raven replied. She pulled the trigger, sending the bolt sailing towards the nearest archer. It missed, but not by much, and Raven reloaded quickly, correcting her aim. The second bolt flew true, hitting and killing one of the three firebombers. She reloaded again, and fired. This time, she hit her target on the first try. That was two down. She grabbed another bolt, and reloaded quickly and efficiently, firing a fourth time, catching her third target right in the eye, exactly where she had aimed the bolt. He toppled off the wooden overhang, bounced off of the stone railing of the platform below, and fell again, rolling down a rocky cliff to his demise, if he wasn't already dead. She heard the metal clanging of Oscar's steel-clad hands clapping once more, and he seemed to be quite impressed, even with his visor covering his face. Raven stuck the crossbow into one of her larger pouches, and it barely fit as it was.
"Well done," Oscar said, "But there's plenty more to do. Moving on." He trotted across the bridge, into a room with two axe-wielding hollow warriors. He charged at the far one, leaving the near one for Raven to deal with. She sliced it in half at the waist with her Zweihander, killing it instantly. She felt the influx of souls from Oscar's opponent, indicating that he had killed that hollow, as well. There was an open gate at the back corner of the room, which Raven moved towards, before Oscar stopped her.
"That's the spot that I came out of after I fell down," he explained, "And it was a mess. Let's not go back there until we have to." Raven nodded in understanding, turning towards a wooden door that, presumably, led to the stone landing underneath the wooden platform which was previously occupied by hollow firebombers. Just as Raven reached the door, it was flung open, hitting her in the face and knocking her over. A hollow soldier, equipped with longsword and shield, stepped towards her. In a moment, Oscar was there, slicing once, then twice, at the hollow soldier. He fell to the ground, dead. Oscar extended a hand down to Raven, and she accepted it gratefully, allowing him to pull her to her feet. She picked up the Zweihander from where it hand landed on the ground, and continued out onto the landing. Looking around, she noticed that there were two possible exits.
"Let's split up," Raven decided after a few moments' thought, "I'll check inside the building. You check what's up above on the stairs." Oscar nodded, heading up the stairs. Raven raised her Zweihander, preparing to block an attack from anything that might be in the building. Sure enough, a hollow warrior jumped at her, and his attack bounced harmlessly off of her sword, already raised. She turned to swipe, cleanly slicing off his head. There were two more rooms adjacent, and she checked one, which was empty save for a chest at the back. She flipped it open, and found a stash of black firebombs inside. She grabbed them, stashed them into her pouch, and checked the other room. A hollow soldier jumped at her, and she reacted immediately, cutting it in half vertically with a quick downwards slash. The two halves of his corpse plopped to the ground around her. There wasn't anything else of note. Well, a dead end. Suddenly, she heard a clamor from above.
"Raven!" she heard Oscar call, and rushed up the stairs, looking around. She saw Oscar backed into a corner, by...
"Oh, gods," Raven muttered seeing the horror that was about to kill her friend. Dressed entirely in black armor and twice her height, it raised it's sword. Raven jumped forwards, slashing at it's armor. The Zweihander skirted off the armor, but did manage to scratch it, and turned the Black Knight's attention to her. Oscar scrambled to his feet, as the black knight swung at Raven. She dropped to the ground under the swing, coming up in a roll and slashing from left to right with the Zweihander, which this time found a gap in the armor, slashing a few inches into the black knight before it stuck there. The black knight looked down at her, it's carved helm looking almost condescending in that moment, as it raised it's sword to strike her. She yanked desperately, and the Zweihander pulled free of the black knight, but it wasn't enough to stop the blow, which caught Raven on the left shoulder as she jumped to the right, not quite cutting her arm off, but rendering it useless. Raven dropped the Zweihander, scrambling for her estus flask as the knight prepared to attack again, bringing it's large sword back in preparation for a thrust. She knew she wasn't going to make it. Just then, Oscar's blade erupted from the knight's chest, and it fell to it's knees, then forwards as he kicked it off of his blade. Raven took a swig of estus, sighing as she felt the muscles in her left shoulder heal, before tucking the estus away and retrieving the Zweihander from the ground. Then she yelped as the black knight began to rise from the ground. She hastily brought the Zweihander down on the black knight's neck, decapitating it. It fell limp, then disintegrated, leaving behind only a few chunks of it's pure titanite armor.
"Thanks for the save," Oscar commented, "I had handled seven hollows when it showed up, probably investigating the noise. Would've been done for if you hadn't come to the rescue."
"That's enough thanking, I think. Let's just both know that we're grateful when the other person saves us. Otherwise we'll wind up doing nothing else," Raven chuckled, and Oscar joined in.
"Hey, is your master key handy?" Oscar asked, "Try it on this door. There's a chest behind it that I saw from around back, but I don't have the key." Raven nodded, trying the master key on the door. Thankfully, the lock turned, and the door swung open. Raven walked through the room, and out onto the balcony in the back. Sure enough, there was a chest sitting on it. She pulled it open, and found some gold pine resin inside, divided neatly into three little pouches. She pocketed them, and hopped from the balcony onto the landing below. Oscar dropped to the stone tile as well, and gestured down the stairs.
"The black knight came up from down there. Let's see if he was guarding something," Oscar told her, heading down the stairs, and down the hallway. Sure enough, there was a corpse on a balcony, overlooking the lower burg. It was desperately gripping a golden ball, about the size of her fist, with an eye pattern printed on its surface. She took it, examining it curiously, and noticed a resonance between the orb and the Zweihander almost immediately.
"Say," Oscar said, raising a finger, "Is that a golden eye orb? This means that you've been called to carry on the mantle of a legendary hero. Is it resonating with the Zweihander? That can only mean one thing. You're a member of the Family of Giants, now. When we finish with the bells, there'll be a chance for you to learn your own fate, and I'll assist you in that just as you have helped me here. In the meantime, though, we still have bells to ring. Let's go." Oscar turned back to the way they came, and Raven followed him closely, up the stairs, and up further towards a tall tower. Oscar turned a corner, and Raven saw the burning barrel at the top of the stairs start rolling too late. She almost managed to shout a warning before he was bowled over by the barrel, which bounced down the stairs, over the railing, and smashed on the landing below. A hollow soldier charged towards the prone Oscar, only to find itself met by a heavy overhead blow of Raven's Zweihander. It's two halves fell to the ground on either side of Raven, and Oscar stood up, taking a swig of estus.
"All in favor of being more careful of traps from now on?" Oscar asked, and Raven raised her hand along with Oscar's own.
"Good," he said, "moving on." They continued up the stairs and into the tower, which had two possibilities. There was a spiral staircase leading upwards, and a large wooden door that presumably opened to a downwards-leading staircase.
"Let's try the door first. Basement might be a treasure room or something," Raven advised, and Oscar nodded. Raven tried the door, which was locked, and then tried her master key, which worked. The door swung open, and sure enough, opened to stairs leading downwards. Raven lead the way down the stairs, analyzing the barrels on the first two levels, which seemed decidedly empty otherwise. There was nothing in them, and Raven continued down to the bottom floor, where...
"Well, shit," Oscar said as he saw what was sprinting up the stairs at them. A man wearing full stone armor, with a stone greatshield and a massive curved club, was charging at them. He raised his club when he neared the top of the stairs, and Raven jumped off of them to the floor. Oscar, however, didn't move fast enough, and got squished to a pulp, his corpse disintegrating. She had to buy time until he caught up from the nearest bonfire. The stone-armored man jumped down from the stairs, landing in front of her, and froze as she raised the Zweihander.
"Where did you get that?" the man asked in shock, pointing to the massive sword.
"I found it in a graveyard, plunged tip-first into the ground in front of a large grave marked as belonging to the 'Father of Giants'. I also found this orb, marking me as his successor, right outside this tower," Raven said. The man lowered his club hastily, trying to make himself appear as unthreatening as possible.
"I'm sorry about your friend, there. If I had realized that you were the successor of the Father of Giants, I'd never have attacked you. Sad story, his. He was executed for serving Darkstalker Kaathe, the poor man. After he was killed, our rebellion was doomed to fail," the man explained.
"Rebellion?" Raven asked, "Also, I didn't get your name."
"You must truly be naïve, then," the man replied, "to not know exactly who I am. Name of Havel. I was a close friend to Lord Gwyn. My knights and I staged a rebellion against him when we saw the horrors that Gwyn was allowing in the being of Seath the Scaleless. The accursed paledrake was kidnapping women from across the land for his perverted experiments, trying to make himself immortal, and Gwyn turned a blind eye. We aimed to kill Seath, and Gwyn, if he tried to stop us, but as the Father of Giants was executed, we were discovered. My knights were sentenced to various stages of punishment depending on their rank in the rebellion, and I was imprisoned here, meant to go hollow, but I never lost sight of my mission. I never gave up hope. And here you are. I'm in debt to you for freeing me. Gwyn threw himself upon the first flame in a desperate attempt to undo the furtive pygmy's actions, but the flame now fades once again. Your friend is attempting to ring the bells, no? The choice is, obviously, his own, but I would urge him to allow the flame to fade, should he be chosen."
"That won't be so easy," Raven answered, "He's Astoran and a warrior of sunlight, an adherent of Gwyn." Havel winced visibly, despite his full faceplate.
"What in Gwyn's name-" Oscar's voice sounded from the top of the stairs, "So he isn't hollow?"
"No," Raven said, "He saw the sword and hesitated, giving me a chance to explain. He's agreed to help us."
"Indeed," Havel supplied, "And I am eager to be free of this improvised prison. Shall we continue forwards?" Oscar laughed and nodded, heading back up the stairs. Havel and Raven nodded to each other, agreeing to keep their secret for now. Then they followed him upwards. Havel stopped along the way to smash a barrel, which turned out to be holding a crystal lizard. It was immediately crushed, and Raven picked up the titanite it left behind. They continued upwards, stopping when the next segment of staircase was crumbled, and they could climb no further. There was a door covered in white fog on the far side of the tower. Upon stepping through, they heard a thundering noise. A chaos demon jumped down from the far tower, and began lumbering across the long bridge between the two towers. There was a ladder up the side of their own tower, and the group immediately began to climb. There were two archers, easily dispatched by Oscar and Havel, at the top. An instant later, the giant demon, resembling a bull, had reached the base of the tower.
"For Astora!" Oscar shouted, jumping off the tower and plunging downwards. His sword bounced off of it's thick skull, but it stumbled slightly, allowing Havel to perform a follow-up plunging attack.
"Anor Londo!" he shouted as he leapt, smashing his club into the demon's skull, resulting a loud crack. The bull demon stumbled again, but was still very much alive. It was Raven's turn. As she prepared to jump, she realized she needed a battle cry of her own. She remembered the inscription on the Giant Dad's tombstone, specifically the last half. "A legend in his own right," it had read. Now Raven was continuing that legend. And so it seemed fitting that, as she jumped, she shouted,
"The legend never dies!" She swung downwards with the Zweihander, cutting through the demon's already weakened skull. Her body, and the blade, continued downwards, cutting the entire demon, more than 15 feet tall, in two, and it's halves disintegrated into dust. She hit the bridge to find Havel laughing hysterically.
"What's so funny?" She asked, looking at him. Havel stopped laughing immediately.
"I shouldn't laugh. It's just that... that was the last thing the Father of Giants said, before he was crushed by Smough's hammer. You really are his successor in every way," Havel explained, a hint of a chuckle remaining in his voice.
"All right. Well," Oscar said, in the middle of grabbing a humanity sprite from the ashes of the dead chaos demon, "I think we can continue onwards to the Parish. Let's hope that no more of these monstrosities from Izalith show up to hinder us."
AN: So that's the burg for you. Yeah, I know that Havel is supposed to be hollow here, but I need him for story reasons. Feel free to leave reviews, and ask questions with them if you want. As you can see above, I'm perfectly fine answering questions in my forwards as the next chapter is released, but keep in mind, also as you can see above, that your question might be RAFOed. Again, apologies for the long chapter. Also, big question: Should I write Lautrec into the altered story, or would you prefer it if I kept his arc the same? I'll give you guys plenty of time to think on it.