How is Drangleic now?

"Well, the real Drangleic is still underwater. I think there's a trick we can use, but…

Anyway, the illusory Drangleic we both ran around in is still sort of frozen. Aldia isn't really holding it in place as much now, so a lot of it's falling away. Like No-Man's Wharf. No one cared about No-Man's Wharf. It's gone now. The whole cave complex has just ceased to exist."

How are the inhabitants of Drangleic?

"The ones who survived are beginning to gather around emotional hotspots to resist the collapse. Majula, of course, but also places filled with hate, like the Shrine of Amana. They're doing about as well as you'd expect for finding out they're trapped in a dream."

What happened to all the hollows when the Flame was Linked?

"The same as what happened everywhere else – they turned to ash. Aldia's little nightmare world is basically a parasite of the real one. All the undead trapped there are still bound to the Flame. If they survive in there until the next time the Flame fades, they'll begin hollowing again. But they should be starting to age again."

Once you pass the mountains around Majula, you start coming upon the aqueducts that span the whole kingdom. It was common to thank the King for providing clean water, but they're all old stone. Don't get me wrong. The King sent engineers to keep the water flowing. It's just that the foundations probably date back all the way to Heide.

Well, once you've passed a couple of aqueducts on the road, you reach a ruin called "Old Akelarre," that is, "witches' sabbath." There's nothing witchlike about it. It's an old ruin that the kingdom used to hide away… well, not witches and heretics, exactly, but those sorts of people. Pyromancers and the like. You can tell there's nothing magical about it when the doors are all clearly modern.

I imagine that hack Aldia used the same trap for years. As soon as you try to open the door at the rear of the first chamber, the entrance shuts. Pot-bellied goblins drop around you, and the door at last opens to reveal a basilisk, a creature most undead travelers have never seen and don't know how to fight.

Oh, you had it worse? Protecting a pyromancer girl while the trap sprung? I don't envy you. Fortunately, I only had myself to worry about. And I recognized the trap for what it was. I've made similar in my time.

I didn't know a basilisk was behind the door, but I didn't open it until I was safe. I took stock of what was around me first. I shot a couple of goblins and then prepared to deal with the rest. Since I hadn't activated the trap, I could retreat the way I'd come and shoot a few more.

As the rest closed in… I've mentioned I'm not a real fighter, so you'll have to forgive the crudeness. I clenched my fist and shattered their skulls.

Your contact raises a gauntleted fist into the light. After a moment, you realize the significance. There is no gauntlet. The entire lower arm is lovingly-carved wood with inlaid titanite plating. Such a fist would break the bones of soul-feeding beasts. You can't see the mechanism, but the fingers moved so naturally you hadn't noticed the arm was false.

Drangleic Prosthetic
The artificial arm of a royal engineer, derived from the secret art of golem-crafting.
A replica of a human arm fitted with a variety of mechanisms, apparently designed with modification in mind.
While it appears decorative and unused, this arm was constructed with such care that its durability rivals dragon scale.

Of course, I just had iron limbs back then. Not good ones, even. I'd had to replace my arm and both legs several times since Cardinal Tower, and I couldn't exactly afford good Astoran steel. I wanted to kick myself for not leaving an extra geisteel set in my chest. Still, the weight of the shoddy iron had no trouble breaking things.

I wrapped up with the goblins and moved to open the door at last. I backed away and tucked behind a wall. I gave whatever was lurking beyond plenty of room. When I saw it was a basilisk, I shot it between the eyes before it could so much as sniffle. I wasn't about to let it fill such a tight area with petrification gas.

That out of the way, I continued up and out of the ruin, following the old wooded path as it wound through the hills. There were still more goblins along the way. They were human once, you know? The very embodiment of the old symbol of undead being serpents – creatures which seek to eat more than their bellies can handle.

I kept my distance and shot them down. I did keep an eye out for further ambushes. Hollow creatures like that can be clever at times.

Now, let me tell you about the real akelarre site. It's that ruin further down the road – the one that you can see clearly from the crossroad tower. It's in the shadow of the King's castle now. Specifically, even, as if the King wanted to cast it into shadow.

It was mostly forgotten when the King rose to power and brought the common folk into the modern world. Before, it was called an akelarre because it was a site of the old faith. No one remembered the goddess' name or rites, so they thought she must have been a witch. You've seen the statue of the forgotten goddess, haven't you? The sunflower maiden embracing a great bulb and presiding over a ring where cannibals feast upon each other?

I wonder if that stirs a primeval memory in you.

I've never been one for faith, but I slew the goblins polluting the shrine before I continued to the crossroad. From there, I took the path toward Aldia. The first leg of the road lies in the shadow of the King's castle as well. There were a great deal of things he wished to hide.

Along the way, I fought off the Duke's amber-eyed hounds, if we can name them for their behavior. The bat-faced reptillian things.

Midway to the Duke's manor, I was distressed to see one of his "cleaners." The breed is one of his more successful artificial beasts: the great, white, blubbery cyclopes. They're stupid, territorial creatures which will try to eat anything… which was convenient for getting rid of the Duke's less successful experiments. They're particularly fond of water, and this one was wallowing in a shallow, muddy pond.

The path through the hills was winding, and I'd come across the creature without much space between us. There would be no getting around it, and fleeing downhill would be dangerous. I had precious little time to react as it saw me cresting the edge of the hill. I decided to bet it all on a single attack.

Now, when their hides aren't thoroughly wet, they're actually vulnerable to fire. Their skin dries and cracks, and deep wounds will cause their fat to bubble. That was less of a concern, of course. I was going to shoot out its eye.

I unslung my mosquete and thrust its fork rest into the damp ground, taking a step back to angle the shot. I didn't have time to change my striking stone to take advantage of the creature's weakness. I pulled the safety trigger to unlock the grinding wheel and used the attachment on my false arm to crank it. With the same motion, I set the dog in place.

I took a moment to aim and estimate the ogre's speed as it waddled toward me, then pulled the hair trigger. Have you wielded a – what's it called in continental? – a gonne before? I imagine you've had nothing to do with the archaic and dangerous hand cannons. Perhaps you've used one with the common "match-lock" mechanism? My "wheel-lock" mechanism is vastly superior. Only… there's a bit of a delay. Just a smidgeon.

I assure you! The momentary delay in combat is absolutely worth removing the risk of accidentally exploding your own powder supply! The King commissioned a great deal of them from my workshop before we crossed the sea to fight the giants! We couldn't exactly wait on our ships while our matches and powder dried. The entirely enclosed mechanism was a revolution! Why, an organization in Catarina recently commissioned several schematics based on–!

Ah, my mistake! I'm getting caught up in the old design debate.

Well, the wheel spun and the long moment passed. The lead slug blasted through the beast's eye and into the brain. Poets say eyes are a window to the soul. Keep well aware as gonnes improve and spread – eyes are also windows to the brain.

Now, growing out of the muddy pond the thing had been wallowing in was a tree. I imagine it's still there. Did you catch what sort it was? Birch. Not just any birch, if you're fully educated on your undead lore. The "young white birch" of Oolacile. Where in Shulva's soggy hell did that come from?

Well, I didn't think much about it either while I was there. I still had a good way to walk. Eventually, though, I reached the Ducal manor, right on the edge of the Aldia territory. The tall wall was already there, and the King's Gate which cannot be passed without "the symbol of the Monarch."

And one of those newfangled "Syan Knights" was guarding the gate. Now, Knight Syan was a good man, but he ended up in about as many pieces as I did when we crossed the sea. The King named the order of knights after him as a memorial, but they never amounted to much. One of these useless slabs of armor was blocking my way, tower shield raised high.

My gonnes were in good shape, but there was no way they were penetrating that sort of armor, forged at the peak of the kingdom's power. Worse, they're all armed with relic blades. I wasn't about to get stabbed by one of the black blades of the old ashen knights.

I'd already reloaded my mosquete, but now I took the time to change the striking stone in it and in both of my dragóns. Ordinarily, I use a simple titanite shard, but I can impart an enchantment on the shot if I use an altered form. I have a belt full of pieces too small to be used in enchanting weapons. In this case, I mounted a small chunk of boltstone in the so-called dog of each gonne.

Of course, the knight was complacent, so it didn't react as I set my fork rest and aimed a shot right at its head. Ah! A fork rest is a – well, a fork – which holds up the end of a long gonne for greater accuracy. It's a necessity for someone like myself who lacks upper body strength.

Well, it held my aim steady, the wheel spun, et cetera. The knight received an electrified lead slug to the forehead. It started toward me, shield raised.

I spun my mosquete and struck the brass stud to the ground. From my pouch, I took a cartridge, tore the end, poured the powder down the barrel, then pinched the paper around the lead ball and slipped it in. I took the ramrod, thrust firmly to pack the ball against the powder. I flipped the flash pan cover off and added a quick spurt of priming powder. Then as before: pull the safety, crank the wheel, lower the dog, and retake my aim.

With the enhancements in my false arm, I could perform these steps with mechanical assistance and complete my reloading sequence in a blistering fifteen seconds! Half the time of a professional soldier!

Now, the knight was no so complacent that I could catch it unawares again. Mind, I was expecting that. It was just a hollow, of course. It operated off instinct. It saw my gonne and raised its shield. So I made an impossible motion for humans, which it couldn't react to. I spun my false arm backward, grabbed a firebomb from my belt, and hurled it high into the air.

My throw was still hot garbage, but the explosion stunned the knight enough to lower its shield. I shot it in the helm again. Since I wasn't sure that would be enough, I immediately dropped my mosquete and drew my twin dragóns, modeled after the kingdom's flag. Though weaker and less accurate, two more lightning shots certainly pierced the helm. The hollow collapsed, and I was left to reload my gonnes.

You anticipate what comes next, no? That I approach the King's Gate and cannot pass? As it happens, there is nothing special about the King's Ring. Well, untrue. With it, you possess the ability to stamp documents in the name of a fallen kingdom. Surely, that is worth something. However, the power to open the gates lies in that the ring holds a fragment of a relic.

Another such fragment is embedded directly in my flesh, so I simply passed through. Though I am curious to see the ring… if you would not mind? Here, if you wish to inspect my weapons, feel at liberty.

Your contact unstraps three pieces of mechanical equipment and places them on the table. The first is a musket, the heaviest of infantry firearms. It is elaborately worked and features inlaid golden dragons across its wood and steel. Next are a pair of "dragons" or blunderbuss pistols, though in this case, they are worked to actually resemble dragons. In fact, they remind you of the dragon-shaped acid launchers of Drangleic Castle.

Drangleic Musket
An advanced prototype which is now out-of-date.
The largest of Drangleic's handgonnes and the earliest to allow changing the elemental affinity of the shot.
Its oversized mechanism and raw power has found new life in Catarina, which has recently found itself prey to great beasts.

Alken Dragon
An advanced prototype which is now out-of-date.
A powerful hand cannon meant to be used in pair. Shots resemble a dragon's breath and can change elemental affinity.
This gonne represents the Solar Dragon of Alken, a soot-covered deity embodying human industry.

Venn Dragon
An advanced prototype which is now out-of-date.
A powerful hand cannon meant to be used in pair. Shots resemble a dragon's breath and can change elemental affinity.
This gonne represents the Lunar Dragon of Venn, a shining deity embodying divine wisdom.