Dear readers: You people are fucking awesome. It is this positive reception that makes breaking my ass marathoning crazy ideas like this worth it. I have school stuff and I'm getting really burned out, so next chapter will be a little while.
This and next chapter were going to be one block, but it went on for way longer than I thought, so I'm splitting it up. Don't you worry though, there is still plenty of content. I believe two more chapters after this will do it.
Emerging from a sewer port on the ground, you enter a garden somewhere at the mid of the cathedral, occupying a courtyard nestled inside three walls, with a balcony overlooking Londor behind. Unlike below, the plants here are lush and alive, with great cherry trees in full bloom, flower pedals rustling faintly with hedgerows of flowers, though it has some resemblance to a Japanese rock garden, with pale sand and pebbles raked around the area. The singing you hear all throughout Londor is much louder and more distinct up here. At the far end, there is a set of two stairs leading to a door, with a bonfire at the base, situated on a plot of stones. There are also a few shiny items nearby.
I decided to go for the shiny items first, sitting against a tree. As I went into the familiar "reach down" animation, the shining aura dispersed, revealing it was a set of luminescent moths. The tree split open before I could even exit the animation, a rope-like tongue lashing out-
It's a Trap!
My character was grasped by the tongue and jerked right off his feet into the giant, slit mouth, the tree closing around him, making several crunching and cracking sounds as it chewed, which suffice to say was an instant kill.
Next playthrough, I skipped the shiny and went to the bonfire to save my progress. Item mimics are a thing now I guess, your character reaching out to light it, the flame sparking… then unleashing a massive burst of Dark-
It's a Trap!
Your character staggers back, smoldering from the force of the explosion, your entire HP bar already empty, before you fall on your back, "You Died" greeting you again.
On yet another playthrough, I skipped the mimic tree, and the cursed bonfire, and went to the door. Afterall, there is no way the door could in any way hurt you… right?
Yes, yes it can. You push the door until you hear the "click", of it unlocking, before the floor drops out and you fall to your death.
So, no matter what avenue you choose, you will die in this first area. I would soon realize why…
You awaken in the middle of a cutscene, in first person view, face down on the floor, your vision still blurry, but your hearing alright as you look through the bars of a prison cell. There's a figure in black to one side, and a second in the background, blindingly white and impossible to make out as your vision flickers, the figure in the back getting closer with each blink, until all you can see are his feet and legs.
He has closed leather sandals and mostly bare legs, with several jeweled anklets hanging down. The skin is black, with blue fur of varying thickness creeping up the ankles and top of the foot, small black claws at the end of his toes. You can see a blurry, indistinct white dress that comes down to midway above the ankle.
For the first time, you him speak, in an androgynous, deep voice, which sounds like a few different voices speaking at the same time, like Aldia, only instead of sounding desperate and yearning, he is icy cold and calm:
"So, this is the transgressor? Still so young, but I can feel the blood of the Lords of Cinder on his hands already. A true Undead warrior. Hmm…"
The second one on the scene, clearly a woman, responds:
"What is it, my Lord?"
"…Nothing, this situation is simply making me nostalgic. I fell into a snare much like this one, a very long time ago. That is why I gave you those instructions."
"I don't know why you went through the trouble. He's just a simple Hollow."
"Yes… a simple hollow… Tell me something…"
"…Yes?"
"This small, simple hollow… do you believe he's any match for I?"
"Nonsense, you are a true Lord, and a most gracious King!" She responds, "A mere undead could never topple a Lord such as-"
"That is what Gwyn said. I killed him. Manus, the first of the Dark Lords, destroyed Oolacile in a rage, and used the princess to breed his daughters. The Old Fool was terrified of him, and had but one knight that could challenge the Dark on equal terms, his greatest warrior. I killed them both. Every Lord. Every beast and demon in this sad parody of existence, was slain with these two hands, long before I became a lord myself.
I know, more than anyone else in this world, what a Hollow is capable of. If allowed to roam free, he will not stop, ever, even after countless deaths, until he claims every last soul. Not for good or evil, not because he wants to or needs to, but because he doesn't know how to do anything else."
"I… I'm sorry."
The Lord of Londor turns his back to you, starting to walk away. "Watch this gate. I am sending a few smiths to weld it shut as soon as they can gather the material to do so. If anyone, and I do mean, anyone, approaches this gate other than them, kill them. And do it with extreme… vigor."
"Yes, your Majesty."
You black out, ending the cutscene.
Suddenly, it all made sense in how the traps were set up. This is something unlike anything you have faced before. You are facing the Chosen Undead, he knows what you're going to do, because he did it himself.
He knows that you will just keep trying until you eventually succeed, so he prepared for this meeting, using the same trick as Seathe the Scaleless. Artorias was a test to see if you could break your way into the castle, and once you did, he wastes no time in turning your instincts as a Souls player against you, in order to trap you at a bonfire you can't escape from, just like Seathe. He has the benefit of prior experience, something no other boss has.
You wake up a second time, slowly getting up off the floor, rubbing your head and shaking off the fatigue, still a little delirious. You will find all your equipment disequipped, and when you go into your menu, you will find it is not there. In fact, everything, your rings, armor, and weapons are all missing, your inventory completely empty, down to the last throwing knife. Even your Estus Flask is now gone.
You are well and truly helpless. It is very dark, with only the light of the bonfire in your small, cramped cell to comfort you. You are helpless to do anything but rest.
Outside, you can see a great chasm with a rickety railing to the left, the rest of the chamber resembling a massive prison tower, cells along the catwalks and walls curving overhead. You cannot see very much of it, since there are only small, faint candles to light the room spaced a fair distance from eachother.
The guard is leaning back against the door, so I did what any souls player would do, and crept up behind her, jabbing her through the gate. It did about 10 damage, the Guard wincing and casually walking away from the door, turning to face you.
"What? Did you expect me to keel over from just that? How are you even conscious, you should be dead for a lot longer than that. You really are resilient."
It's more than a little alarming. Dark everywhere. No weapons, Estus, Armor, or Items. A locked door with no key, and a guard to make sure no-one can rescue you before the door is sealed permanently. The screams of the damned and tortured, hollows trapped in hanging cages rattling the bars, plus other, more disturbing noises, make you terrified to even leave your cell if you could.
It's the most helpless you will ever be in a Souls game. But, hope is not completely lost. After just staring at the guard a moment, wondering what to do, she asked:
"What are you looking at?" Turning around. I saw something shift in the shadows, right by the railing by the gorge, hiding from the guard's sight. When she turned back around, I could clearly see a figure crawling up the railing, perched on it, waiting.
After a second, the guard asked again, turning around, the hollow dropping back down out of sight. So, I just started punching the bars, the guard turning back and looking at me.
"What are you doing?", "Causing a racket will do you no good.", "You really are persistent." As she commented, the hollow slowly got down off the railing, creeping up behind her.
"For the Lord's sake… what are you staring at now?" The hollow stabs her in the leg, the guard falling onto the railing, the Hollow grabbing her by the legs.
"Me, you wretched harpy!" He snaps, before vaulting her over the ledge, the guard's screams fading as she falls down the chasm, the hollow laughing all the way. When she disappears, the hollow hobbles up to your cell, leaning in.
He is wearing only basic rags, his body thin and emaciated, and he speaks in a low, hushed tone, with no small note of insanity:
"So, you're the trouble maker. Ohh, the Lord of Londor had fun with you. Everything down to the nickers hehehe."
"I saw him talking to you, that self-proclaimed god from the pit. Now, that's interesting. He never comes up, too busy meditating, or somthin'."
"Me? I'm nobody. Just a humble locksmith. Hehehe, it's funny. One minute, yer' fighting off a bunch of thugs looking for your Humanity, the next, a few of those preachers gets tangled up in it… then Boom! Click! Snap! P-pop! you're in here. The lockmaker, behind a big old lock. But, I got out…"
"Took a few days… weeks… months… I don't know. Time! Time is all you have an abundance of around here. Time to scrape the metal off the bars, pull up a few bolts, little by little, scrap by scrap. The bonfire was my forge, a piece of old cement… my hammer!"
"I made a pick. Just a little, slim little hunk of metal. The right shape, the right… constitution… and I tell you, push a few pins here and there, and the door came right open, like a pair of red-lit legs *creepy laugh*"
"But… it takes more than getting out of your cell to escape here. Oh… yes it does. Even if you get out, you have hulking knights everywhere you go, torturers, devils… its dark down here, dark as dark gets. I could get someplace with a knife or two... but… let's face it, I'm not the fighting kind. Hopeless… hopeless!"
"The Lord of Londor… he's scared of something. They looked for weeks, I guess until they got tired and decided I wasn't worth the search. But… not scared enough to come up here. You… its personnel with you, has it in…"
"I have a proposition. The way I see… you have something the church really wants to put down. You frighten them, but alas, you're in there. And you will stay in there, till you turn to a pile of old bones. But me? Me, I'm out here. I own this Jail, I can go everywhere I want, but out. Too much for out. I know where they're keeping all of your big, scary blades, and I know how to get there, too."
"So, here's what I propose. I use this pick to get you out of that cell, and I take you to all yer' belongings. You do… whatever it is you do, to take those daughters and their dregs and gut them like bloated, festering fishes. So I can run along home to Londor. Huh? A good bargain, yes?"
No: "I can wait. As long as it takes. You're not going anywhere."
Yes: "Ah, a wise investment! Very wise. Now, I am going to take this pick, and open the door. But you have to follow my rules. You do what I do, you go where I go. You don't touch anything, don't say anything. Be my shadow. I don't know if I can get you out of that cell a second time."
"Aww, you don't trust me? I may be small and frail, but I had a strong arm, then, and I'm not that far gone yet. I've been here a long time. I could walk the path with my eyes closed, crawling on my belly, and raise nary a single peep from the jailers. Trust me, your hide is in safe hands *creepy, completely not trustworthy laugh*"
He opens the door, leading you around. This is one of the scariest experiences I have ever had in a Souls game. Aside from the creepy torturers, who are actually slaying hallows with various tools and death traps as we go along, there are these huge knights wandering the halls with massive armaments that would be intimidating if I wasn't completely naked with no healing or weapons. They have dark armor, which in the already black environment means you only see their silhouette most of the time. Long before you see them, you usually hear their footsteps pounding the ground as they get closer.
This extreme helplessness was made a lot better though by our friend, Locksmith Jonathan, who true to his word will walk you past every enemy in the level without aggravating them, but only if you walk very slowly and stick to his side like your life depends on it, which it does since you have absolutely no chance if anything is drawn towards you, as they are very high level enemies.
Aside from pausing and starting when it's safe to skirt around the patrolling enemies, he can slip into tight cracks and spaces to open shortcuts and doors. It was very strange playing Dark Souls as a stealth game, but it was thrilling and made it all the more satisfying to get my things back. You are lead to a room with a knight staring unblinkingly at a chest, which has all your things.
Now, rewinding a little bit, if you are morbidly curious, or absolutely suicidal, you can choose to attack Jonathan the moment you get out of your cell with your fists:
"Eh?", "What are you doing!", rather than fight, he will run away, shouting over his shoulder, "You're no different than him, no different!"
He will not escort you through the level, and will actively draw enemies towards you using his various shortcuts and the inaccessible spots he can crawl into to stay out of your reach.
It is possible to clear the level without Jonathon's assistance, but that option is only for the most pain-hungry masochist among you, because between the extremely powerful enemies hunting you down, constantly alerted to your presence, the dark corridors, and the complexity of the level, you will die a lot unless you have extremely keen environmental awareness.
If you get spotted by an enemy on the way, and Jonathon is with you, he will exclaim: "Now look what you did! Run!"
If you use "Call Over", you will immediately draw every enemy to you, Jonathon exclaiming: "W-what!? Have you no senses you blithering fool. Run!"
If you lose your pursuer, you can join back up with him, if you die, you respawn at the cell.
Each time you die, you will always return, albeit a little anticlimactically, to your cell with the door open and the guard dead. Jonathon will or will not be there waiting depending on if you attacked him or not.
Now, back to your things. Jonathon will lean in close, whisper "In and out." And go to one side. You can hear him pounding on the bars and howling down the hall, which will draw the knight over to him, away from the chest. You have just enough time to go over to the chest, open it, and grab "(Character Name's) Cache" and get out before the knight walks back.
Jonathon beckons you, and you run down the hall to where he is, setting off again. He takes you down a ways, stopping by a decayed wall. He leans down, feels it a bit, then pounds his fist while listening, finally pressing with his shoulder with a grunt, breaking away the loose stone and sending it tumbling into the dark.
"Old cells, another level down. Crawl down there and you can get decent in peace… unless you prefer fighting the way you are *Laugh*, still, you could consider a sword? Bow? Staff?" If you talk to him before going in:
"Don't worry. I'll pull you back out, trust me. It's not safe up here, you go on in."
You can stand by the gap in the wall, and have the option to drop through, getting on the ground and going through the hole legs first. Inside is a dark, desolate cell, the bonfire extinguished and not a soul in sight on the balcony past the closed door.
You can go to your inventory, use the cache, and your inventory will be completely restocked with everything you had before. You are given unlimited time to dress and get your equipment. When you are ready, you can hit X at the prompt to reach your hands up to the hole, Jonathon leaning in, grabbing your arms, and helping to hoist you up through the gap near the ceiling.
"That's more like it." He says, a siren starting to echo through the halls. "They know you're out. I had to push myself into a water cistern to get away, when I broke out, but you… slice them to pieces. Kill…" He chuckles, panting for breath after a moment. "I'll be alright. I'll stay out of your way, just make sure not to croak, you made it this far."
Now, you can get some payback and go in guns blazing, if you choose. The enemies are still quite strong, but now you have your full arsenal to fight back with.
You hack your way to an elevator, Jonathon running in behind you, the elevator heading to the surface. He pants a little, wiping his forehead.
"Ah, you have my thanks. I don't think I'll be going home, but don't you worry. I'll find a place to slither on into. Hehehehe."
On getting to the top, he will step out with you, before vanishing in a puff of smoke. However, if you progressed Ednatiel's Questline this far, he will offer another line of dialogue before leaving:
"Oh, one more thing, before I drift off. Did you happen to have a lady friend?"
No: "Oh, must have been my imagination then."
Yes: "Heheheh, I knew it. Quite a darling bird. Wretchedly hollow, but she had such a sweet voice when they were plucking at her wings. She's still alive. I don't know where, I was- uh- distracted away by the Lord of Londor when he passed. When he left you at your cell, I went over to take a quick peak. Alas, she's gone, dragged off, hapless and naked as a newborn babe to rot somewhere."
"Go back in there? No, thank you. The only flesh I'm worried about is mine. Besides, smell that? Those swirling little ashes? There's a bonfire close by, just rest there a little bit, and go back down yourself, if you're so inclined. But, be warned. The jail down there is filled with terrors. You saw yourself. Why not stay up here. There are plenty more girls outside."
Nearby is a bonfire, true to Jonathon's words. Taking a detour to Firelink, I found Jonathon huddled up in one of the corners of the shrine.
"Ah, hello, darling friend! Nice place you have here. Humph, don't give me that look! I'm just a humble merchant. I picked up a lot of things, roving the corridors in the dark. I'll trade for souls, and for you, a big discount, yes?"
He sells the full set of those dark knights you fought in the dungeons, plus their weapons:
Enchanted Knight Set: "Hollow armor/gauntlets/leggings/helm of the vanguard of the Sable Church. The hulking knights are merely souls bound to armor, with not even a whisper of their past selves within.
They know no sleep, hunger, thirst, or yearning, and can stand at a single post for years if their grim Lord deems it necessary."
Their weapons all share a few elements in common: They are very heavy with a hefty strength requirement, dole out HUGE damage, but do not scale with any skills (can be infused, Raw will likely be the obvious choice), and have a "carved" appearance, like cast iron with engraved marks across them.
Enchanted Knight Greataxe: "Executioner's Guillotine made to slice fleeing prisoners and intruders in two with a single great swing. It's abnormally short haft places the momentum close to the user, allowing for deadly horizontal sweeps paired with crushing downward attacks.
A deadly close-quarters weapon, but cripplingly heavy to a normal human.
Weapon art: Ironclad. Channel the inhuman focus of the Enchanted Armor to disregard pain and trauma, greatly reducing incoming damage and stagger, but reduce speed."
As the description says, its light R1s are horizontal right-left sweeps ala Black Knight Greataxe, albeit with a much shorter range, making it resemble more of a greatsword. Its One Handed R2 is a vertical chop, but if you charge it all the way, you'll hold it behind your shoulder and throw out a diagonal sweep, followed up by a slam to the ground. A second charged r2 will be a second slam.
Two handed still has horizontal R1s, but the R2s are all downward sloping slams. Using the Iron Flesh L2 is where it became strong, since it doesn't resist as much damage, and doesn't give you as much poise, but it allows you to move a lot more freely.
Enchanted Knight Shield: "Scaled metal shield that boasts exceptional stability and resistance to physical damage.
The Enchanted Knights protect the nobility of Londor, standing motionless with these shields before them for years at a time.
Weapon Art: Shield Bash."
Enchanted Knight Twinblade: "A two-headed sword made to overwhelm opponents by continuously spinning the weapon in sweeping motions.
A popular weapon among the warriors of Drang, before the betrayal of their monarch condemned them to scatter to the winds.
Nearly impossible to wield properly due to the abundance of strength and dexterity necessary to control it, but a few good spins is all it takes to assure victory.
Weapon Art: Whirlwind. Fully draw weight back, and throw yourself into a set of crippling spins. Follow with strong attack for consecutive oscillating attacks."
Spin2winboyz. For the cost of 30 Dexterity and 40 Strength, it has a moveset half between good old Santier's and Red Iron Winblade. It's very sluggish for a Twinblade, since the thing is the size of a damned Lance, but as you attack, it gets faster, picking up momentum. It's one handed R1's are spearlike pokes, with a running and rolling horizontal sweep. The R2s are horizontal sweeps with the blade on the top.
Naturally, the two handed moveset is what you are going to be spamming a lot. The 2h R1 is the regular spin with a small windup, but once you keep spamming R1 it starts hauling it. It has a fair amount of hyperarmor and excellent side to side tracking since its hitbox can be classified as fucking Jovian planet, but you'll be recovering from a full volley of R1s for about a century, so anyone who rolls backwards will be able to run in and punish if you aren't cautious.
R2 is an overhead spin into a spin2win, just like Santier's, but it has a unique L1: a two handed heavy sweep one side to the other, which isn't very damaging but pretty speedy with very low recovery, so mostly just a setup to other attacks since it has much higher range than what it may appear.
L2 is when it just gets retarded, imagine if you had that super high speed spin attack from Warden Twinblades or Sellsword Twinblades on a weapon the size of a lance, and using heavy attack did a few of those in a row.
Yeah…
Enchanted Knight Morning Star: "Great iron flail of the Enchanted Knights of Londor. The great head of a mace suspended by an iron chain attacks by swinging full circle around the body, or crashing down upon the heads of enemies.
A rare weapon, due to the danger it poses to the wielder. Many have died in training, but to the hollow Vanguard, the danger matters none.
Weapon Art: Full Circle. Spin the head of the mace at full speed, continuing until the user runs out of stamina."
New weapon hype. It has a pretty basic moveset, since all it really does is hold the haft over your head and swing it all around you, with the R2 attacking downwards, crushing anything hit by it. It has a pretty sizable reach, but a long recovery, since at the end of attacks, you yank the mace head back into your hand and leave the chain folded next to you.
The L2 spin 2 win increases the range and speed pretty substantially, as well as granting basically unlimited poise, but it will drain your stamina pretty much immediately.
Jonathon also sells some Humanity in a limited quantity:
"Tiny black sprite resembling a dark, dead ember. Its small eyes seem to follow you, and it dances in random patterns in the open air, suggesting a semblance of sentience.
Crush to greatly restore health, imbuing Hollow flesh with new strength, but raise Hollowing.
The Abyss yawns open, devouring light and sensation, reflecting the blackness of humanity. In ancient, nearly forgotten tales, the Abyss was created by Primeval Man to warp and twist his avaricious children into a form more befitting their vile nature, and spawn bane to the Lords of Cinder.
The Darkwraiths covet these slivers of blackness, born of the original Dark Soul, so that true Dark may be cast on the world and the Age of Man will dawn at long last."
After checking on his inventory, we head back into the Underbelly of Londor to find Ednatiel. Once I got back in, I was happy to find an area to the side I was in too much a hurry to see before. Inside, there is a chain hanging from the ceiling. Pulling it causes the room to shake, before numerous hanging lanterns ignite throughout the prison. This makes your visit much less frightening, as you can clearly find your way around now.
Having all of my equipment was also a plus, but just having a little light made it more forgiving.
The place is otherwise unchanged, with enchanted knights and torturers lurking about, undead screaming in pain and disturbing noises echoing around the halls. There was one interesting encounter:
You find keys to different areas, one of them opened a room with a few dead bodies wearing the hollow hunter set and a Humanity. After taking the Humanity, going down the hall, and stopping to pick up another item, I was instakilled by a backstab, and swiveling my camera around, found one of the dead bodies was not quite dead, walking away.
Coming back and attacking the dead body, she rolled to the side and hopped out of reach, running away.
Her name is Irene the Shade, a hollowed hunter using the Obscuring ring to remain invisible at a range while taking shots at you with her crossbow, which does a sizable amount of damage and has a good chance of killing you in one hit if you are not in cinder form and hold still long enough.
She can fight with a dagger, but will simply run away to fight at a range nearly every time. She has these smoke pellets, which completely blind you for a short period of time if you aren't careful, which she uses to escape to a safe range. At 1/4 of her health, and after her Estus is gone, she will flee the area entirely, and attack you on and off and various ambush points.
If you kill her, she drops Irene's ashes, a ring, and a weapon: "The Ashes of Irene, a hunter of hollows that went mad within the underbelly of Londor.
A brilliant sniper, but quite cowardly, she used all manner of underhanded trick to cleanly dispose of her targets via stealth. Alas, her tactics failed her a single time, and she was tortured to the point of breaking before getting locked away, that she would never harm the Hollows the Londor again."
Ring of the Dead: "Illusory ring worn by Irene the Shade in conjunction with a ring of invisibility pillaged from an infamous invader.
Grants the illusion of death and hollowing, allowing the wearer to mingle into mobs of enemies, though it only fools those who still trust their eyes. Also boasts an enchantment that allows one to see unseen enemies.
It was tools like this that allowed Irene to cripple her adversaries from the shadows, many never seeing their death coming. Her companions often scoffed at her elaborate acting and stealth skills, saying if she payed half as much mind to dueling as fleeing, she would be a genuine terror."
Like the Ring of the Living, it removes phantom hues, but instead of making you look human, it will make you look like a corpse. If you are standing relatively close to hollows, it will actually cause your appearance to change to that of a regular enemy, though the illusion will break if you take damage or start attacking.
As it says, enemies will still attack you as normal, but if you are close enough to them to stay outside agro range but proc the effect, you will look like a regular enemy. This also works for non-hostile enemies, like the praying hollows in Lothric.
It also lets you see ALL enemies, which will be marked with a red flair through walls and the environment. It can be fooled by Chameleon, the Obscuring Ring, and a second Ring of the Dead.
Irene's Sniper Crossbow: "A specialized crossbow with a custom sight, rigged and tuned by Irene the Shade for extreme precision damage at a range.
Gazing down the sights takes an immense level of focus, and bolts have a tendency to pass through flesh, but when aimed at the head, produce an almost assured kill if luck is with the carrier.
Weapon Art: Deadeye. Hold L2 to gaze down the monocular for a long-distance shot, which inflicts catastrophic headshot damage. Hold L1 to steadily increase zoom. Such careful aiming takes ample time and patience, something one cannot hope to find in the heat of battle, restricting use to great ranges."
Incoming No-Scopes… As the description states, it reloads and fires unbearably slowly, with the sights consuming FP continually until you zoom out. However, if you headshot someone (the headshot damage scales with luck), it will inflict a gigantic amount of damage, and quite possibly 1HK all but the tankiest enemy at an absurd range. On the opposite end, if you hit the body, it will do minimal damage.
You trade the ashes to the Shrine Handmaid for Smoke Bombs, which can be bought in limitless amounts, but you can only hold five at a time:
"Small pellet of volatile powder that explodes when impacted on a hard surface, stunning nearby enemies for a very short time.
Such a simple trick will not stop enemies from striking back, merely disorient them a brief moment.
Used to facilitate a speedy escape from a tough fight."
Mainly a PvP item, as anything in about 8 feet will be blinded, which appears on the receiving end as a bright flash that lasts about 1.5 seconds, followed by blurry vision for four seconds. You still have full range of movement, you just can't see what you're doing. You can also roll through the explosion and not be effected if you time it right, or just roll out of range, though the throw on the Smoke Bomb is very fast. Should be a fun staple in a ninja build.
After that, I continued searching for Ednatiel, but turned up nothing. There was an inaccessible door that needed a key, but I couldn't find one.
It took forever, but I finally figured it out. I had to get to the next level down the same way I did the first time. There was a spot in the wall, at one point, where the bricks looked pretty shoddy. Attacking it multiple times caused it to break, and I had the option to slide down below.
The cell door was open this time, allowing me onto a balcony running along the wall of the prison. After going down one side, I found a second inaccessible door, and a bonfire. After resting, I went the other way, onto a natural outcropping on the cave wall, putting me over the gorge.
Taking a look from the outside, I saw the prison was like a giant bridge between one side and other, over the chasm. Before I could get too good of a look, an NPC invader barged in with an interesting title:
"Abyssal Dark Sprit Gladiator Torbjorn". He had the Master's chestpiece, knight boots, and a Bellkeeper Helm from Dark Souls 2. His phantom hue was almost completely black with dark blue highlights, the Abyss covenant from Dark Souls 2 rung a bell there. He didn't have that much poise or defense, but he was pretty tanky and wielding a brand new weapon, a net and trident combo.
He tended to poke a lot, but also lashed out with the net, which caused the character to become ensnared, letting him spam away while I was unable to move. It seemed the only way to escape was to wait 5 seconds, but hitting O as fast as possible seemed to make it come off nearly immediately.
Killing him nets you the Gladiator (Bellkeeper) Helm and "Barbed Trident and Net".
Gladiator Helm: "Brass headwear popular among the various blood-sport fighters found in some kingdoms. While a little gaudy to look at, it offers solid defenses and poise."
Barbed Trident and Net: "A gladiator weapon, loved by the crowds for the simple brutality of these re-purposed fishing tools with nails welded along various points.
The off-hand net offers limited protection as a shield, its real power lies in its ability to ensnare targets, allowing the bearer of this fiendish weapon to stab away with wild abandon.
While a crowd favorite, it's derided as a dishonorable and twisted weapon in war.
Weapon Art: Tangle. Draw net behind you, then cast it forward, temporally immobilizing targets and allowing for unhindered attacking. A barbaric weapon for sure, but the simplicity of use and lethality are highly appealing."
Has sub-par D strength and D dexterity scaling, but it can be infused and both the weapon art and the trident inflict bleed. One-Handing gives you a standard bleed spear with any off-hand you want, Two handing gives you a spear with a wadded up net that can block with L1. With L2, you throw the net over your shoulder, causing it to unfurl, followed by sweeping it forward.
Anyone caught gets wrapped up, allowing you to hit them until they break out.
As I looked at the jail again, I could see a second layer of cells beneath the ones I dropped into, and looked for a way to get down, finding an outcropping over the gorge to drop onto, scaling over to the cells. Going down the way, I finally found Ednatiel in a cell. She can't be seen, leaning against the back wall, but the Talk prompt alerts you to her presence.
"Haven't you done enough to me? Fine, do as you wish…"
"That voice… you came to rescue me?" she laughs, though her voice is a little worn. "I'm in sorry form, aren't I? When I returned, they were waiting for me. Held off until I had all my things away, then they burst in. I gave one of them a few good lashes, but together they were able to overwhelm me, I didn't stand a chance."
"Hey, don't look at me that way. They couldn't take away… oh, who am I fooling, I'm ruined. Those two 'sisters' said something about 'another Chosen Undead', I think. Whatever they did, I heard a voice from the hall say I wasn't a threat to him, but he wanted to make sure I couldn't help you again." She draws a sharp breath, shifting in the darkness, "I want to say the shame was worse than the pain, but I'm a pretty bad liar. They did something to my arms and legs, I can't move. It's dark…"
"They locked me down here, where they were sure I'd never be found. The key is gone. They said they threw it down a gorge. You're pretty strong, but I don't think you can pry that gate open. I'm afraid… I'm not sure I'm getting out of this one."
"But, you're out there. That's what really matters. Carry on, since I cannot. You do not know… what it means to me."
"There's no use fussing over me. Just go. Please." (loops).
Departing the cell, there is one way back up to the surface, aside from yet another locked door. The way up is across the same outcrop you dropped onto, walking into a cave with a ladder leading up to a small chamber. A second ladder can be kicked down, allowing you to drop down to the first level, where you fought Torbjorn. At this spot, there is a different way forward, which leads down a winding passage, into the entrance of a mine, a new location tag coming up:
Derelict Silver Mine
You step into a massive chamber, with various walkways, cranes, and spiderwebs all over the wall, a huge furnace at the far side. A horror cord begins as you walk in, and as you walk forward it gets louder and louder. Between the total, and I mean, TOTAL darkness save for any source of light you bring and a few faint silhouettes, and the chord, you get the distinct impression that you are not supposed to be here.
A light appears ahead of you that starts to creep closer. As it gets close enough, you can finally make out a single hollow carrying a lantern. He stops, wheezing heavily, before throwing his head back and screaming.
Three health bars appear.
… Fuck
Silver Golem, The Slaves Below, and Grotesque Aberrations is a triple hoard-style puzzle boss (confused yet?) that is both easy, and ridiculously hard depending on how well you handle a clusterfuck of enemies all over the place.
The theme is slow, brooding, and dramatic as enemies swarm the level, materializing at the edges of your little circle of light, if you brought a torch. There is a sort of twisted evil conveyed, telling of horrid deeds in the dark and the horrors of the underground, with a faint folk element, as these were regular people once (/watch?v=1VmORBsaldM).
There are three main components:
Silver Golem: Very slow moving, massive beef-cake of a boss with ungodly damage resistance and strength, kills everything that gets in his way. He has the appearance of a mass of scrap metal and ore, all cobbled together, with a giant axe. He marks his presence with giant footsteps, and a towering silhouette.
The Slaves Below: An assortment of hollows in mining attire, wielding pickaxes, hammers, and red hot hunks of metal. Some of them carry lanterns, which will actually help you spot enemies and places, so you want to leave them alive if you can.
Grotesque Aberrations: An assortment of repulsive, twisted insects, animals, and monsters fewer in number but a great deal more dangerous than the Slaves. Some of them fly, and will swoop down on you from the darkness, arguably the most dangerous as they are highly mobile and can easily take you by surprise.
Each of the three factions will attack eachother, but it becomes obvious that simply cutting them down will not properly deal with them. The Slaves and Aberrations have collective health, but after a handful of seconds of cutting some down, the collective health will replenish as more rise from below, an endless hoard of monsters and hollows trapped in the depths.
The Silver Golem has one health bar, but even with both factions and you attacking him at once, you'll be hacking away for a thousand years before he's downed, and half the time, your weapons will simply bounce off, as he is made of solid rock.
There's a trick to defeating this boss, but it will take some perception as you frantically try to dodge the golem and wade through the surrounding enemies.
You can find a broken down ore refinery at the back of the cave, still a little hot, a message lies near the base:
"Try Melting." You pull a lever, and the whole cave shakes as the ancient contraption sputters to life, but that still won't be enough. You need to get it hotter.
Running past everything, and using the lantern hollows to help get an idea how the room is laid out, as taking different paths helps break some of the opposition up, you can find a bellows powered by a water wheel. Pulling the lever, the wheel starts to turn, but jams. Hitting the wheel several times will cause it to finally snap, spinning rapidly, the bellows groaning as the mill turns round and round.
The refinery on the far side starts to turn deep red, smoldering as the vessel starts to swell, unable to contain the heat anymore, but you still can't breach it yet. So, you get a friend to help you…
Baiting the Silver Golem away from the mobs towards you is like leading an easily distracted dog by the leash, but getting him close, you can bait out an attack.
He easily smashes the ore smelter, his arm getting buried in the steel, giving you a moment to run as the whole thing begins to peel open, dumping red hot metal and magma onto the floor, spreading out as more pipes rupture, melted by the flow in a cascade.
You have to run fast, and find a spot on the high ground as the floor floods, destroying most of the Slaves and Aberrations, but also stranding you as the level rises. The golem bursts from the lava, partially melted, but also growing larger and more deformed, smashing the ground and spewing magma as he fuses with the heaps of ore and metal around the cave.
The rising lava will kill you and everything else, you need to cross various bridges and gaps, hacking through anything in your way, as fast as possible, while the Silver Golem continues to harass you.
Finding a winding path to the top, you come to a huge column of rock nearly falling over, the Golem crawling up a wall in a desperate attempt to get you. You push the rock over, the column falling onto the beast's head, crushing all the way through it and sending it into the magma once more, one-shoting it.
You are now able to drop down to a second path, beneath the pillar, going to the wheel on a burst pipe, turning it and sending a cascade of water below.
In a cutscene, there is a gust of blazing steam frying everything not killed by lava. The golem, still impaled, pulls itself above the surface one last time, before the torrent of water freezes him a sheet of rock and metal, entombing him.
You kick down a ladder, dropping all the way down to the floor. You get the "Soul of a Silver Golem" the moment the cutscene ends, but you can loot a "Scrap Heap" off the still twitching, but harmless golem.
"Soul of the Silver Golem, who stood watch over one of Londor's silver mines.
Silver is valued for ceremonial purposes, due to its resemblance to moonlight, and is used to forge powerful arcane weapons and jewelry by the Kingdom of Londor. Golems like these are crafted from scrap and soul fragments to save material, while providing a sentry to watch over hollow slaves.
The Lord of Londor is ever vigilant for signs of dissenting hollows that threaten Londor, and many such threats have been subdued in a lifetime of labor and imprisonment."
Scrap Heap: "A pile of useless ore and silver, bathed in the dark of the Abyss for eons, mutating into a powerful conduit of energy. A master smith, with a touch of divine knowledge, could possibly turn this into something valuable."
Searching around, there was one more secret left on the frozen metal and rock.
The floor had risen by a lot in some areas, allowing me to get into hallway with a collapsed stairway that was inaccessible earlier. The hall ended in a pile of rubble, barely any distance. But, there are no meaningless things in Souls. There was a guardrail to one side, over a chasm, and looking down you can barely make out a ledge you can drop onto. Running through a hole in the gate, carefully working down the long drop, rolling ledge to ledge, I finally hit the floor, a corpse splattered on the ground with an item:
Londor Prison Skeleton Key: "A master key that can open any lock in the prison beneath the Sable Church of Londor, suspended above the Abyss.
In ancient times, before the Lord of Londor was able to bend disembodied souls to his will, every jail warden was granted a key like this, in order to free and bind any prisoner of his choosing to move them as necessary, or open cells when the key was lost.
These wardens fell prone to many 'accidents', surrounded by furious hollows, leading to their eventual replacement."
Running through the empty lava tube, you eventually hit a hole in the wall, dropping down to the ladder room from earlier.
You are now able to open Ednatiel's cell, which I wasted no time in doing. Walking in, you can see Ednatiel without the Untrue Dark Ring, revealing a completely rotted, hollow body with no hair, emaciated limbs and torso, and a pool of blood all around her.
"Wha- how did you?"
You area granted two options:
Do Nothing: "Please… don't leave me."
Heal Ednatiel: You stoop down and administer some of your Estus.
"Ah… that's better. You have my thanks. To think, I scoffed at the stories of maidens being swept off their feet by fair, just knights. I believed I was better than that. I'm sorry you have to see me this way."
"Hmph, don't be bashful. I repulse you in this form. This body is my own making. I allowed myself to hollow because I had something I wanted to forget. Besides, this body, I deserve it, for what I have done."
"Nevermind. Perhaps, one day, I'll tell you. But for now… I'd like to slip into something more comfortable, namely my armor and sword. Now, if you would please-"
She grants you a key: "Key to the Groggy Crag basement. Ednatiel, burdened with the memories of her sins, used the haze of hollowing to cast away all but the smallest flickers of herself. But, her past was never far away, all her old supplies resting snuggly in the basement, out of sight, Ednatiel unable to bring herself to destroy them."
"Don't ask me how I was able to hide this from the jailors. It will be awhile before I'm able to move, so I'll rest here a little while. But, I know you'll be eager to take everything I have and run, so I'll give you a little leverage to come back. As you already know, I have powerful knowledge. Powerful, dangerous knowledge. I'll grant you a piece, in return for something to keep the cold away."
"Don't worry. I'll keep my head low."
"You really are worried, aren't you? Don't worry. I've lived through worse." (loops).
Warping back to the Inn and going to the basement, I found all of Ednatiel's Equipment in a chest:
The Binded Set has the same description about belts over various parts of the body, but the lore description is different:
"In her later years as an assassin, Ednatiel the Nail donned this Executioner's Garb from a distant land as a method of instilling terror in her victims and symbolizing her stance as punisher of mankind. Even at the height of her infamy, not a soul understood what cause she truly held, or what could inspire such bitterness towards her fellow man."
Ednatiel's Nail: "Shortsword of Ednatiel the Nail. This weapon is unusually broad, heavy, and thick for its type, much more so than a typical Shadow Dagger.
An iron plate rests over the fingers and knuckles in order to strike very hard with the fist, one of several subtle design choices that fit Ednatiel's aggressive, unrelenting fighting style, a product of personal ingenuity paired with a lifetime of masterful training.
Weapon Art: Frenzy. Unleash a spirited battlecry that boosts damage and grants quickstep for a short time. Channels the savage yet masterful fighting style of Ednatiel, rumored to be among the greatest swordsmen ever born."
This weapon has a few interesting features. For one, it's a shortsword that scales quality in Strength and Dexterity, it has a weapon art that is both strength and dexterity oriented, and it has a moveset that combines a longsword and dagger. When you try to kick, it's replaced by the katana "push" from Demon's Souls, which is faster, covers more distance, and deals extremely high poise damage and stamina damage to shields.
When one handed, it acts just like a dagger, but with much lower critical hits and much higher AR, as it's intended to be used as a normal weapon. The running attack and rolling attack are replaced by a "push" as well.
When two handed, you hold it one handed, but bring your other arm up and assume a knife fighter's stance, which turns your strong and light attacks into incredibly deep "Carving" motions that dole out a lot higher damage, at the cost of being slower, just like two-handed attacks on regular weapons.
L1 is a right-handed parry, and L2 is your weapon art.
This is definitely for those who like to play as aggressive as possible, and also like daggers as regular weapons.
Returning to her, Ednatiel is standing against the wall, arms crossed, clearly feeling a lot better. When you give her clothes (you can get them back later):
"Thank you. Now, summon me once more, we'll tear this place down one little piece at a time. I knew the Sable Church was ugly, but this… this is not what Father would have wanted…"
"Oh, I didn't forgot. I will impart some of my knowledge to you. This one I created myself. You will be the first to ever learn it."
Remembrance (Dark Miracle): "Cast dark over the body, which will retain damage over a limited period. Cast a second time to reject damage, reflecting it back on the offender with greater force.
The cycle of vengeance is a cycle of wounds being passed back and forth, until neither side remembers where the pain began.
Dark Miracles are born from the human heart and fueled by Humanity, this channels the desire to alleviate pain by destroying dealers of pain, executing twisted justice born of righteous fury."
This miracle lasts for an entire 90 seconds, but behaves in a very unique way. At first, it does nothing, aside from giving you a purple aura. However, when you cast it again to detonate it, it causes you to cast what looks like WoG with Dark damage, only it deals damage equal to all the damage you took over the last 10 seconds while healing you by that amount.
So if someone pounds on you with a Dark Sword for 750 damage, then you start casting the "detonation" within 10 seconds of then, and they hit you another time for 100 damage, the purple AoE explosion will deal close to 1,000 damage or higher if you have lots of faith and intelligence, and HEAL YOU for 850 HP, effectively negating all damage within 10 seconds.
This of course has a gigantic FP cost, so it's a one-time deal without Ash Estus, and the purple explosion of doom has a sizable windup. Casting a purple explosion of doom also stops the miracle early, so it's essentially a 10 second window within 1 and a half minutes.
Still, should be baller for baiting in gankers, taking a ton of damage during the cast, then nuking all but the host while regenerating.
"Use it well. Now go, I'm more than ready to proceed." (loops).
Before heading up to the Sable Church, I stopped by Firelink to see what Ludleth could give me for the Silver Golem:
Grand Silver Halberd: "A great mass of silvered iron, borne aloft by the Silver Golem beneath Londor.
Designed to cleave through rows of unruly prisoners, time and again with great sweeping motions.
Weapon Art: Spin Sweep. Sweep foes in a large spinning motion, and utilize momentum to transition into and overhanded strong attack slash."
Has the sweeps of a halberd paired with the thrust into a sweep of a Greatsword, but otherwise has no special abilities.
Immolation Sphere (pyromancy): "Symbolizes the silver forges of the underground. Condense flame into a ball of hot metal, then cast it at opponents.
These orbs weld themselves to metal and burrow into the flesh, disintegrating all in contact with the flames and greatly weakening defenses.
Fire is a thing to be feared and shied from, all who forget this are doomed to learn this fact as ashes."
Basically a high-speed fireball, with the caveat that it's surrounded by a bloom of fiery energy, and when it hits a person or even a wall, it sticks to that surface for a time, constantly burning anything too close with that fiery bloom. Additionally, it will make them more vulnerable to damage since it basically scorches armor right off.
The catch is that it also burns you, your allies, basically anything in contact.
Andre also has a few interesting things when you give him the Scrap Heap:
"My, what is this? Ore bathed in the Abyss… oh, this is black stuff. I don't know where you found this, but it should probably be brought back. But… I could use it to forge something truly spectacular. Would that please you? Ah, I'll craft it nonetheless. Hmm. Oh dear, most of this won't do at all. It's been eroded away by the Abyss. Brittle as old chalk, and other parts are much too black for my coals to warm. There is not much good material to work with, what would you prefer?"
Forge me a Sword
Forge me Armor
"Very well. With the old Lord's as my witness, I will turn this accursed stone into the finest armament you ever laid eyes on. Give me some time, this is delicate work."
He will not bring it up until you leave the shrine and come back four times, when he will have your new piece ready:
Sword: "Here it is. Black as a moonless sky, and sharp enough to cut it open to. It was a pleasure."
Blade of the Chasm: "A great, slate black blade, forged of metal reclaimed from the Abyss, tempered and honed by Andre of Astora. This weapon is tall as a man, but so light it feels like you're holding nothing, and the silver grip bears stunning carvings.
Peering deeply into the blade, one can make out numerous writhing sprites, the Humanity of the wielder boosting attack power, but gnawing away at the wielder's soul.
Weapon Art: Split the earth. Call on the spirits of the Abyss, then plunge the blade deep into the ground to open numerous fissures in the ground, channeling the eroding tendrils of the dark."
Has a pretty average claymore moveset, but it's abnormally large for a Greatsword, giving it a longer reach while only taking 15 Strength and 15 Dexterity. It scales E in Strength and Dex, but has an unlisted S scaling in Luck and has very high base damage.
At 50 Luck, this Greatsword has the highest physical damage all Greatswords, but cannot be buffed or infused and it steadily drains your health.
Its weapon art attack plunges the blade into the ground, which causes a spread of cracks to appear and a column of Dark to erupt around you, the fissures exploding with white light a moment later, dealing massive damage over a wide area. The blade is cloaked with white for 5 seconds, making the sword resemble a Humanity, but the effect is only visual.
Armor: "There we are. A suit of shining mail. On my honor as a smith, no blade will ever pierce it."
Silvered Armor of the Chasm: "Helm/Gauntlets/Leggings/Platemail forged from black ore, and coated with cursed silver.
Wearing this makes your hair stand on end as frigid cold sprites dance over the skin, suckling on the humanity of the wearer.
Boasts superb poise and defenses, but users will slowly feel their vitality sapped by this cursed mail unless they feed it an unending supply of Souls."
It occupies the lower end of middle weight class, but has very high poise and armor for its weight, including a gigantic amount of Dark defense, but it slowly drains health. On kills, it will restore a little bit of your health, but take 20% of your souls as payment, so unless you are running person to person, killing everything as fast as possible, your health will be a net loss.
Fittingly, it is covered with jagged scales with a thick red cape flying all over, giving it a profile similar to the Berserker Armor, if it were silver.
With all of that done, we are ready to go back and explore the top side of the Sable Church.