Summary: Ornstein and Tempest delve into the catacombs.
(Author's note: So, wow, this chapter got long and it took me ages and why? Let me explain...
I was unsatisfied just picking out the wiki and then made shit up while I wrote and checked the locations, so I literally started the game, played through the area (in NG+ also) and used my experiences in it for this chapter. So yeah, this turned out a lot more detailed than the archives and it was huge inspiration, so I probably continue doing it.)
Ornstein took his sweet time as he casually strolled down the path into the catacombs, squinting a bit because this place was darker than he remembered. He still could see well enough and soon caught up to Tempest who was locked in a fight with a few skeletons, his sword gliding off the solid smooth bones far too often.
"How do you fight something that doesn't bleed?!", he screeched as his sword once again recoiled and he himself was attacked by the scimitar of the second skeleton, which made him grunt in pain.
"By finding the weak spots in the bones.", Ornstein said, having enough from watching and casually thrusting his spear into one of the skeletons which made it fall apart, bones clattering onto the ground.
"How did you do that?", Tempest asked with glinting eyes.
"I just told you, by finding the weak spots in their bones.", Ornstein repeated. "Until now, you could count on that if it bleeds, that it would die eventually. But now you face an enemy that has been long dead and not like you Undeads.", Ornstein gestured to Tempest. "This is quite literally a skeleton, the remnants of some poor soul having been buried here, brought back to life. You need to find the weak spots in the bones and strike at them."
Tempest had listened to Ornstein's explanation while dodging and parrying the strikes of the skeleton warrior and now wanted to try out his words. He focused on the skeleton in front of him and used his swords to strike against both kneecaps with the blunt side, shattering them in the process, which made the skeleton fall down on the ground but not completely falling apart like the one Ornstein had killed did.
"Good.", Ornstein said with a nod. "You are a quick learner. Now don't get careless. It is still able to reassemble itself like this. Put pressure onto your target and don't give it the time it is needing for this."
Tempest didn't need to hear this advice a second time and lunged forward, aiming at the neck of the skeleton. The hit was hard enough to send the skull flying. "Success!", he cheered, looking at Ornstein but the dragon slayer simply shook his head.
As Tempest turned his head back to the skeleton he saw that it not only had reassembled its legs but also that it picked its head up to put back on its neck, even making sure that it was properly reattached.
"Not fair.", he complained.
"And you think you coming back after having died is fair?", Ornstein scoffed from his position as a observer.
"That's completely different.", Tempest complained as he rolled away from the next strike of the skeleton.
Ornstein casually joined the fight and said: "Just watch." as he thrust his spear into the skeleton and it fell apart like the first one. "I am not going to show this again.", he said, his head turned upwards. "The next skeleton you get down on your own."
"Yes sir, understood sir.", Tempest said and Ornstein wouldn't have wondered if the tiny warrior would have saluted at him. Instead he added a "Thanks."
"Don't mention it.", Ornstein said, taking a closer look at the room they were in now that there weren't any skeletons to distract them anymore.
"You changed your weapon.", Tempest said, pointing at the silver knight spear.
"Of course. And I would have told you to do the same if you wouldn't have rushed forward AGAIN and if you wouldn't conveniently already had used a silver knight word.", Ornstein replied.
"...", Tempest somehow managed to make his silence audible before he rummaged around and pulled out a crumpled-up piece of paper. He straightened it and looked really hard at it before he spoke again: "...when you told me about the lords you said we would need holy weapons. ...I have this written down here, I just... didn't think about it before I went in here."
"And that's why you are a little storm.", Ornstein scoffed once again but had to smile at Tempest at the same time. He hadn't expected for him to actually write down the stuff he had vomited out back then, when he still had been forced into bed at the Dark Moon Tomb, just wishing that the Undead would disappear when he stared hard enough.
"Where to now?", Ornstein asked, noticing they were standing on a ledge and staring at the room below them. It was too dark to see anything.
"There is a ladder there.", Tempest said, pointing to it before descending it. "But down there are more skeletons."
"You know how to deal with them now.", Ornstein replied and descended the ladder too for a change. He didn't want to jump into literal darkness with the prospect of skeletons. Tempest made a small noise of surprise at his actions which Ornstein ignored.
As they made it to the bottom of the ladder, the skeletons rose and the both of them dispatched them quickly. As Ornstein scanned the room and saw a passageway that probably led deeper into the catacombs, he headed for it but was stopped by Tempest.
"Wait, there is a bonfire in there.", Tempest pointed at an alcove. "I want to stop there first."
Ornstein followed Tempest who sat down at the bonfire, rummaging around in his belongings. He produced a humanity sprite, stared at it for a good while before crushing it and adding it right back to the bonfire to make it burn brighter.
"This place isn't smelling very good.", Ornstein said, wrinkling his nose. As the bonfire started to burn brighter, Ornstein saw the reason for it. "Oh, seems like you already have taken care of the necromancer for this area." He kicked the decaying corpse.
"Well, I needed to pull a lever to open up the way and they were in the way.", Tempest said, staring at the corpse. "...I thought they were Undead, like me? Shouldn't they come back to live?"
Ornstein shrugged, unsure about how the Undead actually worked. He had another thing on his mind.
"...Wait, when you told me how you got the ring of the Dark Moon, you said that you were waking up at Fire Link Shrine. Why didn't you sit at the bonfire here?"
Tempest smiled sheepishly: "You know... I was so sure I would die in there and already planned to go elsewhere should I die in there that I wanted to avoid having to go back through the horde of skeletons..."
"But haven't you touched the bonfire?", Ornstein asked, being sure that the bonfire had been lit as they entered the room.
"For some strange reason, just lighting it doesn't count as touching?", Tempest said. "I don't have a clue how this works. Anyway, now I touched it and will be linked to it, so wait for me here should I die, alright?"
"I don't plan on letting you die.", Ornstein said, shuddering. "This place is giving me the creeps. I don't want to stay longer here than necessary."
"Seems like I got used to all this death and decay a lot more now.", Tempest stood up from the bonfire, grabbed his sword and headed for the exit.
"...You also haven't spend the last hundred years in an abandoned town.", Ornstein said as he followed the little storm.
Once they crossed the passageway the duo came out into a far more open area were a waterfall was splashing into a pond. The area also was better illuminated and made Ornstein able to see his surroundings a lot better.
"So, this is where I started to run and scream.", Tempest said just before he was hit with a fireball. He quickly pat out the flames that were threatening to engulf his black leather vest as he said: "And this was why."
Ornstein could spot the necromancer on the other side of the room, a large gap between them. Ornstein may have been able to cross it by jumping, but even he would need a bit of a start-up and the ledge they were one was rather narrow. Instead...
"Let me take care of it.", he said and switched out the silver knight spear for the dragon slayer spear, charging up the lightning attack as Tempest gasped, not because of Ornstein's actions but because of the skeletons that had noticed them.
"Oh no, you won't.", he said and stormed off as Ornstein's attack aimed as the necromancer and once fired, perfectly hit the dumbfounded thing which dropped dead in an instant.
"This one won't bother us anymore.", Ornstein said and turned around only to see Tempest being locked in a struggle with some more skeletons, bleeding from an attack while one of the skeletons was reassembling itself.
Ornstein quietly sighed to himself but also a smile formed under his helmet. The little storm was getting dependable. He joined the battle and soon the two skeletons didn't rose anymore. Tempest was taking a sip from his Estus to heal the wound.
"I envy you about this.", Ornstein said. "For me wounds have to heal the classical way. We aren't having unlimited use of Princess Gwynevere's powers or blessings anymore."
"Oh, believe me, being Undead is nothing to be envious about.", Tempest said as the two continued their trek, fending off more skeletons. "Dying hurts horribly every single time and being able to heal wounds instantly doesn't make the pain of receiving them go away."
"But at least you skip the long healing process.", Ornstein said as he crushed a skeleton's skull with his dragon slayer spear. Now that the necromancer for this area was gone he had felt secure to keep his usual weapon for now. "That is kind of useful."
"That's one way of seeing it.", Tempest sighed. "I still wished this curse has never hit me." He was silent for a while and then murmured something that Ornstein couldn't hear. Upon asking to repeat himself, Tempest just shook his head and said: "Nevermind."
The both of them continued down the path, fending off more skeletons until they entered a room that could be described as more typical for catacombs, with large stone biers edged into the walls, more skeletons onto them, but at least these ones weren't moving.
Unfortunately they were still loads of skeleton left moving and so Ornstein and Tempest soon were locked in battle once again, fending off the horde of skeletons which now also had taken up bows and shot arrows at them from raised positions. With Ornstein's height it was no trouble to take care of them and so the two of them managed to dispatch of the horde quickly and took a look around.
"There is a way outside.", Ornstein said, pointing to a door frame, where a bridge could be spotted, though it was covered in spikes. This would probably hurt to cross. Tempest was distracted though.
"Wait, I think there is something to pick up.", he said and stormed off in the complete opposite direction. Ornstein followed him with another glance to the spiked bridge, hoping not to forget where the doorway was. The catacombs were a tiny bit confusing and his sense of direction wasn't the best in unknown locations. As the archives already had proved.
Tempest picked up whatever item he had chased after and then looked down the ledge only to slip and fall. Ornstein sighed as he went after him, Tempest giving him an awkward smile: "I just wanted to see what was there but apparently this just led back to the room in which we began."
Ornstein offered him his hand. "Just let me pull you up so we can continue." Tempest did as told and Ornstein had the feeling there was a blush in the little Storm's face.
"So now what?", Tempest asked as they stood in front of the spiked bridge.
"There must be a lever somewhere, let's go look for it.", Ornstein pointed at a path leading up the right. He may have been able to cross the bridge by jumping, but he wasn't keen on finding out how much the landing hurt should he misjudge the jump. Especially because he would have needed to pick the little Storm up too and add his weight to his own.
Tempest stormed off and came running back in an instant and Ornstein knew why as he saw the skull like wisps explode with their signature scream. The dragon slayer managed to jump into safety just in time, carrying Tempest along in the process. "Take better care.", Ornstein said, getting up, unaware of the deep blush that had appeared on Tempest's face.
"At least the bombs are gone now.", Tempest stood up, following the path with small, careful steps, stopping as he saw more skeletons coming their way. Sighing, he picked up his swords: "This place is infested with skeletons."
"These are catacombs after all, what did you expect?", Ornstein said, breaking one of the skeletons into all its individual parts with a single attack, then moving forwards, stopping in front of a statue that was lined a the path, waiting for Tempest to finish his own battle. As the little Storm came nearer, he stopped near Ornstein, eyes wide in confusion.
"Shouldn't we move on?", he asked.
"I want to test something.", Ornstein said and the next thing Tempest knew was that he was shoved forward, stumbled and felt a piercing pain as the statue extracted some spikes, which made him yelp in pain and surprise.
"I knew this place was booby trapped.", Ornstein said with a triumphant voice as Tempest struggled to get up.
"And why did you had to shove me into it to find this out?", he complained.
"Because you can easily heal any injury with your Estus flask.", Ornstein said, kneeling down, searching for aforementioned flask at Tempest's waist and giving him a sip. Even though Tempest was sure he had lost quite some blood because of the dragon slayer's stunt, there seemed to be enough left for him to blush. Again.
"We have to avoid the ones with the plates on their chest.", Ornstein said after Tempest got up, looking morosely at the holes and blood stains in his armour. He had to fix this later.
"You go first, because you have your Estus.", Ornstein said.
"Only when you promise that you don't shove me anymore.", Tempest grumbled.
"I can't make promises.", Ornstein said and Tempest just knew he had a grin under this leonine helmet of his. Tempest promised to himself to not run into another trap instead.
The rest of the path was rather easy to travel, Tempest spotted one more statue that was booby trapped and managed to avoid it just fine. Near the end of the path they spotted a lever. Tempest went near it to push it into the wall and they were rewarded with the clear noise of something large turning.
Ornstein already had turned around to walk back into the direction of the bridge but Tempest went a bit farther, curious what could be at the end of the path. As Ornstein noticed that Tempest wasn't following him, he turned around again and called for him: "What are you waiting for? Let's go."
"There is a bonfire in this cave.", Tempest replied. "But I can't reach it..."
"There must be another way.", Ornstein said. "Come now. You have enough Estus left, right?"
"Yes, but it would be more if not for your stunt earlier.", Tempest growled.
"Didn't thought you were this resentful.", Ornstein chuckled.
"You are one to talk.", Tempest simply answered and shut up as Ornstein shot him a glare. Well, a glare that he couldn't see but very much feel.
The both of them walked in silence until they were at the bridge. Ornstein just pointed at the two skeletons waiting for them and Tempest nodded in understanding. A minute later both of the skeletons had been kicked down the bridge. Once the skeletons were gone, another necromancer showed themselves and was instantly impaled by the strikes of a sword and a spear.
The duo continued and entered the next hallway. The first thing Ornstein spotted was that a good part of the wall had been broken off. This looked intentional. Tempest had noticed it to and already headed this way without awaiting Ornstein's input. As they stepped into the room Ornstein squinted at the notches in the ground.
"Be careful, we don't know if the ground here can hold our...", he started and gasped as Tempest stormed forwards and instantly fell into the left hole "...weight...", he finished before he hissed: "Idiot!"
Ornstein stepped closer to the now hole in the ground and peaked downwards, seeing if he could spot Tempest. "Everything alright down there?", he shouted down the hole.
He heard the sound of Tempest drinking some Estus and then he said: "Yes, the fall just did hurt a little bit." And then he gasped and called in a voice full with excitement: "Crystal Lizards!" Ornstein could hear him rushing off and then the sound of a trap being activated and a pained yelp. Ornstein didn't waste a second to jump after Tempest and saw that he indeed had managed to impale himself onto a this time rather obvious trap.
"That was it with the crystal lizards...", Tempest said before he took a sip of his Estus.
"I think you have found more than enough twinkling titanite in the archives.", Ornstein said. "Let's follow the path, see where we landed."
"Alright.", Tempest nodded and followed behind Ornstein, hiding behind the dragon slayer's large frame whenever they crossed a statue, which all were booby trapped. At the end of the path, the only exciting thing was a ladder, which led into a dead end once they ascended it. There were two more notches embedded into the ground.
"Great, dead end...", Tempest said but once he noticed the notches he added: "Maybe they lead somewhere like in the previous room...?"
"Only one way to find out.", Ornstein grinned as she shoved Tempest onto one of the notches and jumped after him once the little Undead had indeed fallen to the ground.
"What was that for?", Tempest complained, sitting on his rear, clearly taken aback by the sudden shove. "What is it with you and shoving me into traps today?"
"I already said, it is because you are easily able to heal any injury should it be a trap.", Ornstein said, readying his spear, but no foes were in sight. "Besides, this wasn't even a trap."
"Huh, seems like we are back at the bridge.", Tempest said. "This only was a waste of time."
"You were the one storming off.", Ornstein said as they crossed the bridge another time, this time descending the long spiral staircase.
"It is getting darker and darker.", Tempest said, squinting his eyes.
"This is nothing.", Ornstein replied. "Wait until we are in Nito's realm."
"Wait, we aren't there yet?", Tempest asked and then raised his sword to fend off a skeleton that came flying at him.
"He is a lot farther down. Didn't you notice that the skeletons in here are all human sized?"
Tempest looked more closely at his opponent and realized, that Ornstein was right. The skeletons were more his size. Maybe a little larger, Tempest was tiny, even for a human. His head barely made it above Ornstein's waist.
"So there are more skeletons your size farther down?", Tempest asked as he broke the knees of the skeleton with a well timed sword strike.
"Yes. Because of the size of the skeletons the human population has started to call it the tomb of giants, but the tomb of the gods would be more accurate.", Ornstein replied.
"Well, for me you are big as a giant.", Tempest said, glancing at Ornstein. "But I have seen actual giants in Sen's Fortress. They were even bigger."
"Yes.", Ornstein nodded. "There is also the giant blacksmith in Anor Londo. The giants in Sen's Fortress and the one in Anor Londo are serving Lord Gwyn."
Tempest frowned a bit. The way Ornstein said it sounded like the giants were doing this of their own free will, but hadn't he seen them doing the same mindless task over and over again while being in chains?
"...Wasn't there also a giant that was a knight of Gwyn?", Tempest asked, hoping to loosen the mood a bit while they were fighting off every skeleton in their way.
"Gough, yes.", Ornstein confirmed. "The best sharpshooter Lord Gwyn's army has ever seen."
"How was he? As a person I mean."
Ornstein stayed silent for a while until he had managed to destroy the skeleton that had fought him at the moment. Tempest noticed that he had switched back to the silver knight spear. Apparently, skeletons weren't very sensitive to lightning powers.
"...He was like the friendly father of the team.", Ornstein finally answered. "Observant. Despite having lost his eyesight later in his life, he always knew if something was up. He even shot out a dragon of the sky despite not having been able to see for years."
"He did what?! Impressive!", Tempest's own eyes were sparkling with excitement.
"He retired shortly after the dragon war was over, so his time in the army was short, but I visited him a lot, until...", Ornstein's voice trailed off and Tempest knew that the talk was over. As over as the path they had walked on. There was only darkness in front of them.
"A dead end.", Tempest said, squinting down, trying to make out anything in the darkness.
"It looks like there is some kind of platform we could safely land on.", Ornstein mused. "The emphasis is on could." Tempest backed away as the leonine helmet turned into his direction.
"I am done with being shoved into pits. Let's search for another way, please."
"You are no fun.", Ornstein said but stepped back from the pit, which made Tempest release a breath in relief. One of the few things he still had to do, even in undead state. Sometimes he asked himself if breathing was just a habit, because he used to do it every day to stay alive and if he could still stay alive – or more precisely undead – when he would just stop doing it.
"There have been alcoves on the sides where the skeletons came out.", Ornstein said. "Let's look for a way there."
There wasn't a way but another lever which Tempest pulled. They heard a loud noise from up above and took the trek back upwards the stairs.
Indeed there had been a passage opened. Tempest entered it, looking around. There were a few steps in front of him that led into nothingness and a path to the left. "Looks like someone forgot to finish the stairs.", he said as he headed left.
"Or the stairs have once been there and are now gone.", Ornstein added. "Don't forget that this land was erected hundreds of years ago."
"I know and you have been there to see all this glory.", Tempest's eyes started to sparkle again. What would he have given to see Lordran as the land it once was, not the ruin that it had become? He was too lost in his own thoughts to hear that Ornstein murmured: "...but I also was there to see its downfall..."
Once they stepped out of the corridor, another spiked bridge was in their way. "Guess we have to find another lever.", Tempest sighed. "Who build all this traps here?"
"They are probably there to scare off grave robbers.", Ornstein said. "And judging that you pick up anything you see, you are not much different." He chuckled at this words.
"It's not like they would miss it.", Tempest said, gaze to the side. "Besides, isn't it better when I pick up this weapons instead of giving the skeletons more choices with what to kill us?"
They arrived at the end of the path, where a ladder lead upwards. Tempest already was proceeding to use it, but Ornstein raised a hand: "Wait." He squinted at the wall near the ladder and then gave it a knock with his spear, which made the wall poof.
"I knew it, this wall looked strange.", he grinned to himself. Tempest immediately slid down the ladder and dashed into the opening, yelping as he once again was impaled by a booby trapped statue in front.
"You don't even need my help to run into traps.", Ornstein said. "You are very good doing it yourself."
"...This is so embarrassing...", Tempest said, drank from his Estus and frowned as he saw how little was left. The little Undead proceeded to ascend the stairs behind the wall in a very quiet and careful way, stopping once every few steps searching for enemies or traps. Once Tempest had reached the end of the staircase, he was fulfilled with euphoria. "It's a bonfire!" He quickly lit it and sat down at it, refilling his Estus Flask.
"You haven't died once, little Storm. You are making progress.", Ornstein said, sitting down too.
"No thanks to you.", Tempest grumbled. "I could have gone without being shoved into traps or pits."
Ornstein chuckled at his words. "I wouldn't have done it when I knew you wouldn't be able to take it."
"Oh, shall I thank you for your consideration now?", Tempest said, but Ornstein could see him grin. "Let's move on.", Tempest stood up once his Estus flask was fully filled.
After they exited the room with the bonfire Tempest ascended the ladder to pull the lever and make the spiked bridge traversable. The both of them crossed it in silence, descended another staircase, fought off more skeletons and took a look around, deciding which path to take next.
"I think I fell down to this path when I first was here.", Tempest said, looking at a some loose bricks in the wall.
"You were lucky you weren't dying from the falls.", Ornstein said.
"...I drank a lot of Estus.", Tempest replied. "I wonder if there is more there? I found the ring in there." Before Ornstein could say another word, Tempest had already taken the path behind the bricks and cursed loudly. Once Ornstein had followed him, he saw the arrow sticking out of Tempest's arm and the little Storm fighting with the skeleton that had shot the bow.
"Oh no, not again.", Tempest groaned as another arrow stuck out from his other arm, fired from a skeleton archer from the opposite side.
"...I take care of it.", Ornstein said and hopped down only to be greeted by two more skeletons who dried to gang up on him. While it didn't take the dragon slayer long to get rid of them, he also could count himself to the victims of the skeleton archer as an arrow had made it through the joints of his armour and stuck into his hip.
"This is nothing...", he murmured to himself as he pulled the arrow out, feeling blood seeping out. He had gotten hurt a lot more than this. In the meantime, Tempest had finished his battle and came down to Ornstein's position, taking a sip of his Estus, glaring at the skeleton archer.
"This has become personal!", he growled and and rushed to the ladder, yelping once more as another arrow hit him. Once he had reached the skeleton archer, Tempest kicked it down from the ledge and came falling after it, "impaling" it with his sword.
"Finally some peace and quiet.", he said, turning around to see some stairs leading into a rather dark hallway. He proceeded into it and came running out of it right away, followed by a skeleton of Ornstein's size.
"I remember know! That thing was what killed me after I managed to pick up the ring!", he said, practically hiding behind Ornstein. A sigh escaped the dragon slayer's lips.
"It's just a skeleton.", he said. "A big one, yes, like the ones I told you earlier. In the Tombs of the Gods there will be a lot more of them. You can beat them just like the others. Find their weak point." And with that, he thrust his spear into the pelvis area of the skeleton, which made it collapse into every single bone which cluttered on the ground. After this, Ornstein proceeded into the hallway and stopped at a coffin at the end.
"Ah, that is where I picked up the ring. I think.", Tempest said. "I wonder how it did get there?"
"Whoever has been buried there must have been a dark moon blade.", Ornstein replied. "Every dark moon blade gets this ring. That is why the illusion mistook you for one and granted you access to the tomb."
"Makes sense.", Tempest said, not mentioning that he was rather glad that he had made the decision to search out Gwyndolin. After all, he never would have learned then that Ornstein was alive and he never would have send on this journey with him. Not to talk about that he was pretty sure he would be going hollow soon otherwise.
"There isn't anything else here, let's go back.", Ornstein said, but Tempest stopped him. "There were another few loose bricks, let's look into there first."
"Well, alright...", Ornstein said, following the small Undead. The path behind the wall was rather uneventful, it just was a straight line following upwards, only one spike trap was in their way, until they landed in a room with a single skeleton and a single necromancer. Tempest took down the skeleton and Ornstein the necromancer. After they were gone, Tempest kneeled down to pick up the skull lantern of the necromancer.
"This looks like it could come in handy.", he said. "When it really is as dark as you said down there."
"It could be useful to carry a source of light around, yes.", Ornstein said. After all, he wouldn't be able to constantly conjure lightning to brighten up the place. And lightning wasn't generally very useful to provide light.
"There is a ladder here, let's go up.", Ornstein suggested and ascended it, the little Storm following closely behind him. On top, there was a single corpse with a scroll on it. Tempest picked it up and went to show it Ornstein. "I can't say I've ever seen this before.", Ornstein said upon taking a glance. It seemed to be a prayer that slowed everything down around the caster. It certainly wasn't one of Princess Gwynevere's miracles.
"Maybe I show it to a cleric later.", Tempest mused as he stuffed the scroll into his belongings, looking at the notches. "They probably won't hold again when I step on them.", he said, not taking a single step.
"What are you waiting for then?", Ornstein said and gave Tempest a tiny nudge, enough that he stumbled forward and fell through the ground. At least this time it didn't hurt, but he got attacked by skeletons immediately. Ornstein had hopped lazily after him and helped dispatching the skeleton. Afterwards, Tempest recognized the room.
"We are right back at the beginning!", he said, hands thrown up. "...I guess we have to make our way back..."
"You wanted to know what is behind the brick wall, little Storm.", Ornstein said as he followed Tempest back to the place where the brick wall had been.
As they stepped out of the door next to the broken brick wall, Tempest peaked around the corner and groaned when he saw several wisps and three skeletons which came for their position, which turned into a chuckle when one of them managed to just fall off the ground instead.
"Hah, idiots!", he said and rushed forward to fight the two remaining skeletons, only to come run back when the wisps noticed his presence and started to explode.
"Who is the idiot now?", Ornstein grinned.
"At least it took down the other skeletons.", Tempest half snapped as he peaked around the corner.
"Then we can move on.", Ornstein said. They soon stood in front of a door that led into a rather dark room.
"Be careful in there, little Storm, we don't know what could be in there.", Ornstein said.
"More skeletons?", Tempest sarcastically said, squinting his eyes at the darkness. It was so dark, he barely could see a thing. He slowly crept along the wall, hearing Ornstein's breathing near him, indicating that the dragon slayer was near him. "Hm... there seems to be something shiny back there.", Tempest pointed to the far end of the wall, where Ornstein indeed could make out some kind of shimmering.
Before he could say anything, Tempest had once again rushed forward. The next thing Ornstein heard was the slam of a big weapon hitting the ground and squishing a tiny Undead and the distinct sound of said Undead being transported back to the bonfire.
"I told this idiot to be careful.", Ornstein said, one hand on the snout on his leonine helmet. He did a few steps into the direction of the sounds and quickly found out, that the creature killing the little Storm turned out to be a titanite demon. He really wasn't keen on fighting one of these, even the one who lived in Anor Londo had been left in peace from both him and Smough. Instead, Ornstein turned around and went back to the bonfire. It would give him a good opportunity to tend to this arrow wound he had received earlier.
Tempest reappeared just as Ornstein had finished applying a bandage to his leg and pulled it tight. Tempest stood up from the bonfire, looked at Ornstein, was quiet for a little while and then just said: "Sorry."
"I told you to be careful, little idiot.", Ornstein said, getting both his pants and his pantaloons back one. He wasn't even aware that Tempest was staring at him, but that probably had to do with the fact the Undead hadn't recovered his humanity yet.
"What are you waiting for? Recover your humanity and let's go.", Ornstein said.
"...I will stay like this.", Tempest said. He didn't had that much humanity to spare anymore, but he didn't want Ornstein to know about it.
"Well, alright.", Ornstein said. "Let's go then."
Tempest sighed. "All the way back down there now..."
"Maybe there is another way... a short cut so to speak.", Ornstein said and instead of them crossing the bridge he led them back into the hallway which ended on the stairway into nothing.
"What, there is nothing here...", Tempest said, but Ornstein pointed down. "Oooh.", Tempest understood and quickly rolled off the ledge. Ornstein followed him with a well timing jump, wincing a little when the landing jostled his injured leg.
Tempest picked up a weapon that laid down on the ledge. "Hm, it's a scythe. Don't you normally mow grass with this?"
"It can also be used as weapon. I once knew a girl who used a scythe as weapon.", Ornstein replied.
"I don't have the feeling it would be for me.", Tempest said, but still pocketed the scythe, as he pocketed anything he ever found. "And now?", Tempest said, but the only way they could go was falling down another ledge and then left, where the familiar notches in the ground were.
"Oh, falling again.", Tempest said, stepping on the nudge, but this time the fall only slightly hurt. They were right back at the door. "How convenient.", Tempest said, as Ornstein landed right next to him. "So let's take care of this demon now!"
"Do we have to...?", Ornstein complained, but still followed Tempest.
"Don't tell me you are afraid of them, you slew dragons!", Tempest said, eye holes wide, looking at Ornstein. Ornstein didn't even knew that Undead in their hollowed out form were still able to emote like that.
"No, that's not it, just...", Ornstein searched for words. "Their skin is really hard and they are a drag to fight."
"I promise I won't die this time.", Tempest grinned at Ornstein.
"Good, because you are already thin enough.", Ornstein said, staring at the twig like limbs mostly hidden by Tempest's leather armour.
"Let's go.", Tempest said and slowly made his way into the door, this time being a lot more careful. They approached the demon and Tempest managed to dodge out of the way of the first strike but overlooked the second one and got a nasty hit. He still bled. But that was to be expected, after all, all the hollows they fought would bleed too.
Ornstein used the opportunity to distract the demon with a thrust of his spear, which prompted the thing to turn around and raise its large weapon. In the meantime, Tempest struggled to get up and take a sip of Estus, that hit had done quite some damage. Ornstein could see how he raised his swords and slashed at the demon, which felt more like a scratch. Damn, he hated how hard the skin of these things was.
It took him and Tempest quite a few hits, but slowly they chipped away on the demon while avoiding its attacks until Ornstein was able to hit a vital point with his spear, which made the demon collapse. "Hmph, glad that this is over.", Ornstein sad as he kneeled down to cut out some demon titanite. He wouldn't miss this opportunity, demon titanite was rare enough.
In the meantime, Tempest had wandered to the glimmering item and picked it up. It looked like petrified eyes. "Huh, I think the basiliks had this stuff too...", he murmured to himself and looked around to see that Ornstein was working on the demon and seemed to be rather engrossed in it.
Tempest wandered around, wondering if he should help Ornstein when he saw that one of the coffins was a tad open. Oh, that was perfect. He would hide in there and then give Ornstein a scare when he was done with his work. It was even better because he was in his hollowed out form now and looked like a corpse. Tempest laid down hardly able to contain his snickering.
After around thirty seconds of being in the coffin, closely listening to the sounds of Ornstein, Tempest suddenly felt that the coffin was pulled and he gasped. Oh no, what had he done? Which horrors would await him once the coffin stopped moving?
After he didn't feel any shaking anymore, Tempest slowly rose out of the coffin. To his surprise, he had been brought in a spacious room with nothing inside. Nothing but a large coffin. Tempest slowly got closer to it, wondering if Ornstein already missed him. Tempest stopped in front of the coffin, looking up, swallowing hard as he saw the mass of skeletons tangling inside it, a large sword jabbed in between their form.
For some strange reason, he had the feeling he should show his respect so he kneeled down, closing his eye holes. When he opened them again, he had a sword and a miracle scroll in his position and he heard a voice whisper "Offer me Eye of Death".
Tempest shrugged, unsure about what just happened and went back to the coffin. Soon enough he felt the pull on it and was transported back to his original location.
Ornstein had finally managed to get the demon titanite off and turned around to look for Tempest, who had been awfully quiet all this time. He found him standing in a coffin, gravelord sword in one hand and Ornstein could only assume that the scroll was the gravelord sword dance miracle.
"You entered the gravelord covenant?!", Ornstein shouted.
"Oh, that is what this was about?", Tempest said. "I just wanted to surprise you, that was all."
"How did you manage to accidentally enter the gravelord covenant by just trying to prank me?!", Ornstein yelled. He could hardly believe the little Storm.
"Wait, Gravelord?", Tempest said, finally coming out from the coffin. "Isn't that the guy we are send to kill...?"
"Yes, exactly.", Ornstein said, both hands on his helmet. "Let's... let's just go. And don't think about trying to do the grave lord stuff."
"I don't even know how."
"Good."
Because after the demon had been a dead end, the both of them walked further into the room, until Tempest spotted a hole in the brick wall and nudged at Ornstein to get him into the right direction. In the room, there wasn't anything to see at first. Tempest walked around the small ledge, picked up a soul and then went back to Ornstein, who waited at the ladder. Tempest swiftly slid down the ladder only to be stopped by something hard. As he looked underneath him with confusion, he saw a rather mad skeleton using its scimitar to slice at his feet.
"Oh, you jerk!", Tempest said and kicked the skeleton, quickly climbing back up, fighting the skeleton. Ornstein saw a second one coming and took it down quickly.
"Now we can go down, right?", Tempest said and used the ladder. Ornstein normally would have jumped, but with his still hurting leg he preferred the ladder too. As soon as they both were on the ground, Tempest did one step and crashed through the ground.
"Black Knight!", the little Undead yelled and Ornstein didn't waste any time and jumped behind him. The black knights, once one of the greatest forces in Lord Gwyn's army, had been reduced to mindless suits of armour in the long years of Lordran's downfall. This one wielded an axe and Ornstein knew that one hit with it would rather hurt. He needed to be careful.
He was in luck though, Tempest had gone rather good at parrying silver knights during their training time in Anor Londo and he was quick to react to get his shield ready and parry the blow of the black knight, which gave Ornstein enough time to end its poor existence with a thrust through its chest.
"I am... I am really glad I learned this...", Tempest said, staring at his shield. "Hey, we should search out the others and fight them too."
"...You haven't fought them...?"
"Would you have in my place?"
"...I guess not."
The only way out of the room was through another hole in the wall. This time Ornstein stopped Tempest before he could drop down. "Wait.", he said. After a few seconds the sound of something spiky rapidly hitting the ground was heard and Tempest mouth fell in shock.
"Skeletons on wheels?! Who thought this was a good idea?!", he yelled.
"Not me.", Ornstein said. "Now wait until they stop moving and then..." He plunged down on them, taking down a whole four of them with one single attack.
"Awesome!", Tempest came rolling down, taking his sword in both hands and looking around, taking a step forward, frantically running away as a wisp next to him exploded and then running back to Ornstein screaming as another wheel skeleton was on his toes.
"Idiot! Don't bring them to me!", Ornstein hissed, swinging his spear just in time to block the ongoing rampage but having to dodge to the side to avoid being shredded.
"Sorry, I didn't knew there were more!", Tempest screamed.
"Don't just run around there headless, help me get rid of them!", Ornstein shouted as two other wheel skeletons spotted their position.
Three minutes later they were both heavily panting and sitting on a mountain of bones and wheels.
"...That was scary...", Tempest said.
"Yes, but we survived.", Ornstein said, getting up. "Let's take a look around." He thoroughly hoped that no skeletons were left anymore.
After sifting through the rather flooded bottom of the cave, they found another hole in a bricked wall. Tempest just nodded to Ornstein and went in, running back out of it screaming and on flames. As he took a sip from his Estus, Ornstein peaked into the hole only to be greeted by two skeleton archers. He barely managed to avoid their arrows.
"So two archers and a necromancer...", he murmured. "Little Storm, I take the necromancer, you take the archers! Use your shield to block the arrows!"
Tempest nodded and they went into the hallway, Ornstein instantly taking care of the necromancer before they even could raise their lantern and Tempest managed to take the skeletons down without getting hit by a single arrow.
"And now?", Tempest said, wandering the hallways, standing in front of a ladder. "Oh, there is a way up. Shall we take a look?"
Ornstein nodded and ascended the ladder shortly after Tempest.
"Aw, we are back where I fell down to the black knight...", Tempest said. "I guess, now the only way further has to be down there, where the wheel skeletons were."
"Seems like it.", Ornstein mentioned as he followed Tempest who dropped back to the bottom of the cave.
Back in the cave, Tempest spotted another brick wall that looked like it would lead to somewhere, but this time it was pretty solid. He pressed his ear onto it and swore he could hear the sounds of hammering. "Hey, Ornstein, can you come here for a second?", he called.
As the lion knight came over, he asked: "What is it?"
"...Can you break this wall?", Tempest asked. "I think there is someone behind there."
"Certainly.", Ornstein said, though he wondered who should be down here, especially behind a solid wall. He charged up his spear and thrust it into the wall, which made it collapse, the bricks falling on the ground with a few thuds.
Once they entered the room, a rather large skeleton turned around and growled: "Be gone with you... You are spoiling my focus." before resuming work on a smithy.
"Oh, an undead blacksmith...", Ornstein murmured. There didn't seem to be anything else in the room but Tempest's features seemed to glow and he ran into the direction of the skeleton blacksmith, trying to spark up a conversation.
Sighing, Ornstein sat down, waiting for the Little Storm. In his opinion, the blacksmith had made clear that he didn't want to be bothered. And Tempest returned soon after. "You could have saved this time, really.", Ornstein said.
"Hmmm.. but at least he repaired my sword.", Tempest said, showing it to Ornstein.
"...By the way, was he mad about the wall?", Ornstein asked.
"Nah.", Tempest shook his head. "He wanted to rip a hole in it anyway. He just didn't want us to make any noises."
"...We better leave then.", Ornstein stood up and they stepped back into the damp cavern where the mountain of bones and wheels still could be seen.
There was only one path they hadn't taken and once they passed a rather high ledge, well, for Tempest it was high, the small Undead stopped. "I think there is something up there...", he said.
Ornstein sighed. "No, we are not going through this whole mess again only to find out where we can safely drop. I am just going to lift you." And with that, Ornstein picked Tempest up without any trouble, which made him squeak in surprise, but he climbed up the ledge once Ornstein had lifted him high enough. Tempest took a look and his face fell.
"Oh.", he just said and hopped down the ledge.
"What was it?", Ornstein asked.
"A cleric.", Tempest only answered. Ornstein didn't ask any more questions. There had been countless Undead trying to conquer Lordran, this one probably had long gone hollow and wasn't moving anymore.
"Let's see what is behind that path.", Tempest said, pointing to it. Soon, the duo stood in front of a fog wall.
"Ready?", Ornstein asked.
"Ready.", Tempest nodded, clutching his sword.
They both entered the fog gate. Ornstein never liked the cold perception having to cross them and shuddered a bit. After they had crossed it, both of them readied their weapons, only to let them sink when they weren't under attack right away.
Tempest noticed a small gap ahead of them and headed for it, Ornstein closely followed. Tempest pointed down the gab and then promptly dropped off. Ornstein had a few more difficulties following him through it, but managed, wincing when his leg got jostled by the impact. He hoped they were done with falling through holes now.
The sight that unfolded before them was a weird one. A creature with six arms had their back to them, working on a skeleton, the whole room was littered with books and bones. As the creature noticed them, it turned around and it could be seen that it wore three masks, which seemed to converse with each other. Shortly after they seemed to have found an agreement, the creature started an attack.
"Here it comes!", Ornstein shouted, readying his spear.
Literally one minute later Tempest and Ornstein stared down at the corpse of the strange creature. "Well, um..., that was easy for a change.", Tempest muttered, rummaging around in the strange robes. "What even was this...?"
"I have no clue.", Ornstein said.
Tempest picked up a scroll and read it, realization on his face: "Oh, that is what the clerics have searched. The Rite of Kindling."
"Hm, that thing where you can make a bonfire shine brighter?", Ornstein asked, getting a nod of Tempest who pocketed the scroll.
"I should try it the next time we come to one.", he said. Just as he wanted to leave the corpse alone, one of the masks loosened and fell to the ground. Tempest picked it up, staring at it and at the remaining masks.
"They kinda remind me of a family.", he said. "A father, a mother and a child."
"So you just picked up the mask of the father.", Ornstein said. "..Come on, little Storm, we wasted enough time in this place. Let's move on."
"...Shouldn't we give our foe a name?", Tempest asked.
"Who cares? They are dead.", Ornstein huffed.
"Hm, how about Pinwheel? Because you know, they used fire on a wheel."
"I can hardly believe you, little Storm.", Ornstein said but he was smiling.