As the crow carried me, a land encased by a massive wall came into view, with a blinding view of the sunlight bathing the ground below. As it drew closer, the crow began to turn, before making a dive through a nearby tree, and towards a set of ruins below. It's grip was then released, and I fell several feet to the ground. The momentum from the bird's descent made the landing a bit rougher then it could have been, but my shoulders were relieved to be free of the bird's iron grip. In front of me was a bonfire on my left, and an armored man sitting off to my right. After getting my bearings, I move towards him, and prepare to ask him some questions.
As soon as I prepare to ask my first question, he begins to talk first. He refers to me as a new arrival, and speaks how I came to this land because of the Fate of the Undead, before scoffing that I am not the first to arrive here because of it. As if I even wanted to be a part of this prophecy that someone put me up to. He then says that there's no salvation to be had, that I should have stayed in the Undead Asylum to rot. Not exactly my idea of a respite, and if this fate is a way out of there, then of course I would have taken, prophecy or not. Seeing as how I am already here, he decides to give me some guidance, in his own way. Starting with the fact that there are two Bells of Awakening. One is above these ruins, inside the Undead Church, while the other is deep below these grounds, inside the ruins of place called Blighttown. From what he said, both of the bells must be rung for something to happen. As he is speaking it himself, it really isn't much to go on, but if it gives me an excuse to explore something else besides the walls of a single cell, then I'll take it all the same. While he continues to speak as though I came here for a cure or the Fate of the Undead as he calls it, I find myself pondering some other questions.
As I press him for more information, he immediately points out my face, remarking how I am almost a Hollow. While he speaks of how it could solve quite a bit, I do not feel as though I have any desire to go down that path. As he laughs off the comment, I wonder how, and if, this could be reversed, if only for a moment. Asking my question to him, he responds with a few solutions that he knows of. Collecting it from corpses or butter up a cleric and getting summoned. The quickest way seems to be killing a healthy Undead and taking it's humanity. While it's not an option I'd object to, I'd prefer to avoid making too many enemies right now. After making a joke about coveting neighbors is just human, and promptly laughing it off, I stare at him for a moment. And perhaps, if only for a moment, I wondered if he would be viable. Clearly, he caught on to my ideas, and made it quite clear that I may end up regretting that choice. Needless to say, I decided to not take any shortcuts for now.
After making an inquiry for even more information, he's clearly annoyed that yet another person is here to ask questions and try making a difference. He then reluctantly begins to tell me a bit more information about the locations of the Bells of Awakening. The Undead Church has a lift that connects to these ruins, but it is currently broken. The only way through there is to go through the ruins and take the waterway access to the Undead Burg. The other bell can also be access from Undead Burg, but by going below the locale instead of above it, down in the plague-infested Blighttown. At that point, he trails off and says that he'd sooner die again then go to that place. He then laughs it off before saying anything else. At the very least he's familiar with death, so I shouldn't fear it either then.
Taking a drink of Estus, I attempt to pressure more information out of him, but he brushes me off and says I ask too many questions. I attempt to ask again, and he makes it clear that he's not up for talking. As he requests to be left alone, I take another drink of Estus. Turning around to rest at the bonfire, I take one more sip from the Estus, emptying it's reserve, I then rest at the bonfire. Standing up, I notice that my Estus is shining more vibrant then usual. But at this time I feel more interested in exploring these ruins then drinking, so this oddity will have to wait.
Moving away from the bonfire, I look up to make sure that the giant tree that was above me was actually a tree. In all fairness, it did start to look a bit more like an overgrown branch, or maybe the bent top of a tree of some kind. Turning my attention back to my original path, I turn my attention to a corpse that has laid itself out on a well structure. The well looked dried out, and the corpse was reaching for something. Or maybe they just decided to rest in a really strange way and just didn't wake up after that? Regardless, I took some dark substance from the corpse. Was this supposed to be the humanity that the strange man was talking about? After thinking it over, I pulled out a piece of the dark matter I had, and crushed it in my hands. As I did that, it shattered, and was absorbed into my body. As it was, I felt as though my body was being restored, like a cold drink of Estus, but nowhere near as tasty. Or replenishable for that matter.
After digesting that situation, I move closer to some ruins, when a staircase caught my attention. As a crept closer to the base of the stairs, I readied my scimitar and shield, and slowly proceeded up the stairwell. As I approached the top, a few glowing lights in the distance caught my eye, but there were some unfriendly faces blocking my way forward. The first one was a hollow, which lunged at me with what looked to be a rusted sword. Blocking the attack, I struck out three times, even though the hollow had ceased to be on the second slice. Another hollow dropped down from a higher ground, and after stumbling about, turned towards me and lunged. In an arrogant moment of overconfidence, I tried to slice it first, and was struck for my troubles. In an attempt at retaliation, I tried a spinning slash, but the hollow's shield rendered the attack quite ineffective. Raising my shield in defense, I held the stance as the hollow raised it's sword above it's head for what felt like several seconds, before bringing it down on my shield. With it still reeling from it's own failed attack attempt, I counter with another spinning attack, hitting my mark twice over. As it keels over, I move on to confront the next hollow, when I notice some movement from above.
With a quick backstep, I avoid the blast radius of the explosive, and turn my sights on the hollow above. Running up the stairs, I see there is at least one other hollow to deal with as well. Running past the poorly aimed bombs, I rush the other hollow, and as it attempts to do a jump attack, I hit it with the second strike of my spin attack, strike it once before flipping back. But my next strike was off the mark, and I only managed to block the hollow's axe because of it's decreased movement speed. The moment it tried reeling itself in from it's own swing, I struck it across the torso, putting it down for good, and then turning my attention to the next hollow, it's face peeking out from the fires clearing from the most recently thrown explosive. Moving in, I slash at it one time, which was enough to push it off the cliffside, and into the ravine below. As I turned around, another hollow came running down the stairs and started swing it's sword around. It's higher elevation prevented it from landing a hit, which made a counter attack easy enough. With two slices, the hollow was slain, and it's essence was absorbed.
Watching the last of them fall at my feet, I began to go over to the cliffside, and observed the one hollow from above, unmoved from it's position in front of a corpse. Running down the stairs and rolling off an edge, I turned to face the hollow head on. With my shield up, I crept closer to it, until it finally lunged at me. I attempt to bat it's weapon away, but as I was too slow on the draw, I only managed to displace the weapon as it slashed at the side of my torso. In return, I slashed at the hollow once, but the second strike was blocked by it's shield, as was the third attempt. As it continued to back up, I noticed it had assumed a defensive stance, so I decided to back off as well. As I did, the hollow started to creep closer, so I reversed my moment. In doing so, the hollow rushed forward, ready to stab me with it's sword, only missing because I backed away to quickly for it's reach. Lowering my shield, I observed it's movements as regained my energy, and observed as it raised then lowered it's shield to prepare another attack. Putting my shield up, I strafed the hollow as it raised it's sword above it's head, and rolling as it began to stab it's sword into the ground. Moving towards the hollow, then quickly strafing to the right, I slice at three times to make sure it goes down.
As it falls, I move towards the corpse it was guarding, one that seemed to have perished while gripping the ledge of this cliffside, and from the light emitting off of it I find what appears to be a white ember of sorts. It's size is much larger, but it still seems to be the same kind of essence that the various beings I've been slaying give me when they perish. By that account, I suppose that makes this a soul then. At least, that's the best way to define it outside of white fire. The other shining light is on an underlying arch of the waterway, so I back away from the edge, before turning around and sizing up the distance. I then turn and back away some more, before stopping once more to turn around and reposition my angle, before making a running leap at the archway. I managed to land, just over the edge and on to the main section of the archway. Making my way forward, I stay close to the edges and press against the walls twice over to avoid falling, before finally making my way to the next corpse, which was slumped against a wall with it's head hanging down. In it's light I find a strange ring, and decide to store it away for later use. Making my way back across the arches, I notice that I'm going to have to do another jump. As I back up, I look over the edge and see the ravine below. Not wanting to end up like that hollow I pushed off earlier, I move closer to the arch, and begin to line up my jump with the cliffside. I take a step forward, before quickly backstepping in preparation to jump. The next thing I knew, I had slipped off the arch, and into the ravine below, and as I lost consciousness, I could feel my ribs split apart and out of my chest while my arms shatter against the walls on the way down.
When I come to, I'm back at the bonfire of this place, no better now then when I left. With an uneasy sense of insecurity, I rushed back to the waterway to get that last glowing light. When I get to the top of the first flight of stairs, to my surprise, I see some familiar faces. With a renewed sense of fury, I press on. The first hollow moves closer to me, before reading it's weapon to strike. As it does so, I use my shield to backhand the strike away, surprising the hollow and myself. Without hesitating, I plunge my scimitar into it's torso to bring it to it's knees, before placing my left foot onto it's shoulder and pulling my weapon out, with my foot pressing it to the ground, it's blood spilling out to the ground. The next hollow jumped down from the ledge in an attempt to attack me. After it stumbles around, it eventually heads toward me, but before it can properly angle itself to strike at me, I leap at it, felling it in a single strike.
Rushing up the second flight of stairs, I pay no mind to the explosives that are raining down around me, with only one explosion singing me as I run through it with my shield raised. Through the flames, I see the axe wielding hollow. As it prepares to jump at me, I lunge first, felling it in a single strike, before turning my attention to the bomb throwing hollow. With my shield raised, it's first strike fails to leave an impact, and as it prepares to strike again, I slice it twice over and watch it crumble at my feet. Rushing up the third flight of stairs, I strike the hollow twice over before it can fight back, felling the being, although my weapon hit a wall on the second time. Heading down flights of stairs to face the last hollow of this location, I turn around to see a strange green light on the arches behind the hollow. Eager to get there quickly, I jump at the hollow, slicing it once, but my second strike missed as it jumps back. As I draw closer, I see it pull out it's own Estus Flask and begin to drink. In a panic, I attempt to swing at the hollow, but was several feet from my mark. Drawing closer to it, slice it once more before it could finish it's drink, causing it to fall to the ground, it's flask shattering in the process.
Turning my attention to the green light, I back up in order to jump the gap, taking one backstep before charging forward and taking the leap. Making the landing, I move over to retrieve the light. In the process of doing so, I notice that there's an unusual amount of blood under the light. As I touch it, the light and the blood disappear, and I feel a surge of essence flow into me. I then realized this is where I fell off the waterway and into the ravine. Was this my lost power? How was it separated from my body, and how did it get here? Regardless, I moved into position to jump the gap properly this time. Getting close to the edge between the waterway and the cliff, I take a backstep, before charging ahead and taking a leap across the ravine.
Making the landing, I move back to the bonfire to take a break, when I remember that last shining light at the waterway. Turning around and heading back up the three flights of stairs and over the corpses of my slain foes, I find the shining light of a the corpse hanging on the edge, not unlike the one that was on the cliffside. On it was another white ember, or simply a soul. With my loot in hand, I move back down the stairs and head to the bonfire to rest.
After resting, I raised up once more to observe the area. With a refreshed body and mind, I move into the ruins to the left of the well, away from the staircases leading to the waterway. There wasn't much that caught my attention until I reached what looked like a building, and within that building was what appeared to be another knight, with a mace and a shield. Drawing closer to him, I attempted to make contact with him. He called himself Petrus of Thorolund, and asked what business I had with his, apparent lack of, party. When it became apparent I had no immediate business with him, he asked that I keep my distance. The tone of which was not exactly intimidating, but it did feel as though it was from a point of a standoff. Asking again, he noted that he requested we keep our distance from each other, but clarified that he meant it in a professional manner, not a personal one, and gave me a copper coin as a sign of peace. With a skeptical degree of amusement, I talk to him again, the copper coin still in my hand. As he speaks, he states he must wait for his companions arrival, and offers to teach me some strange kind of miracles. My interest caught, I say yes, and he begins to offer a Covenant with the Gods. My interest lost, I say no, he seems disappointed by my response, but offers another chance if I change my mind on the matter. In trying to talk to him again, he assumes that I have already changed my mind, and he makes the offer of a covenant once more. Annoyed by his persistence with the gods, I walk out on his offer.
Leaving the building, I pass under moss covered archway and take a right turn, heading towards a leafless tree. Making another right turn, I head into some more ruins and, to my surprise, find some clear blue water inside of them, and a statue of some kind on the other side. With no dry path in sight, I wade through the water and towards the statue. As I draw closer to the statue, I notice an opened chest next to it, and lean my path closer to that. Moving up the stairs and out of the water, I see that the chest has been emptied. Turning to the statue, it appears to be quite old, with moss and vines draping over it, but the figure of a robed woman holding an infant is still quite distinguishable. Despite the plant life growing over it, the statue does not appear to have been made into the wall itself, as there are just enough differences in the stone. Perhaps it was placed here at a later point in time then? Regardless, these ruins hold nothing of value to me.
Turning to leave, I enter back into the water and behind the pillars, staying under the roof that's above me, and find a path off to the right. Heading through the opening, I see some ruins off to my left, and a vast open expanse to my right. Taking a right and drawing closer to the open sky, I take in my surroundings. To my left is a massive crevice leading to the depths of the unknown, and to the left of that is a massive wall that towers above these ruins. In the distance, I see the a massive tree that looms out of the depths, though, from the looks of it's branches, it may have died a long time ago. And to my right, I see the outline of town of some kind, but most of it's view is covered by the much closer mass of tombstones. A great many tombstones at that, but a light shining off of a corpse beckons me closer.
Turning around, I head back to the main path and take a left turn, heading down the stairs. As I descend the stairs, I see the bones of what appears to be fallen warriors, the armaments still in tact. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to expand my own arsenal, I decide to claim those first. As I get closer, I notice some bones moving, before an entire mass of them move, dragging their gear with them, and together, the form what appears to be a human skeleton, before grabbing a skull and sticking it on top, it's eyes emitting a strange glowing light of their own, with a second mass of bones doing the same trick. I ready my scimitar and shield as the begin to approach my position, with the first one jumping, I roll back up the stairs, the skeleton's slash just missing my feet. As it comes down with another, out of range, slash, the second one jumps in with it's own fast double slice attack. I lock on to the first one and do a spinning attack, but it jumps to the right and off the main path, with my attack hitting the second skeleton instead, staggering it in the process, but sustaining no real injuries beyond that. The first one attempts to slice me with it's sword, but it's height disadvantage causes it to hit the stairs instead. Heading up the stairs, I turn around and focus on the second skeleton while the first one heads back to the main path. As the second one creeps up the stairs, I lunge in with a jump attack of my own, slicing the skeleton's entire upper torso off. Unfortunately, the fiend quickly reformed, despite my own sword swipes against it's reforming mass, with the second one only managing to push it back a little. I then notice the first skeleton coming up from behind the second one, and with a quick slash of my sword, I strike both of them and flipped away from the fray and backing up some more for good measure.
As the second one drew closer, I did another spinning attack on it, but to very little effect, before quickly backing away form it's own attack, with the first one in hot pursuit and narrowly missing it's mark. The second one then charged in front of the first one, eager to attack me, and tried to swing with it's own, awkward, overhead slice, missing it's mark by a fair margin. I then jump at the skeleton to strike it, but it jumped back as I was descending, while the first one did it's own spinning attack, forcing me to roll back. As I turn my attention to the first one, I notice that I'm not at the top of the stairs, and that these two have been pushing me back this entire battle without even hitting me once! Going on the offensive, I jump at the first skeleton, slicing it's upper torso off to no effect. As I backed up, it finished reforming, so I jumped at it again, but the second skeleton began it's own lunge as I did. Only because it's lunge was a strike that came after landing was I able to dodge that attack, but the attack was still enough to push me off the first skeleton. As the first one reformed again, I turned my attention to the second one, only for it to leap back as the first one began to close in on me. Shifting my focus back to the first, I leapt forward and began to slice it's upper torso off once more, when blade slashed across my waist. The second done had leaped in while I was distracted, and struck my blind side.
As I backed away from the two, I felt as though there was something wrong, as though that strike was drawing more blood then usual. The second one leapt forward and did another slice at the ground before quickly jumping back, while the first one continued to close in on me. My shield raised in defense, I strafed the two skeletons, eventually making my way to the stairs with my back to the grave. I then realized that this was a very poor decision to make. Taking my focus off of the two skeletons, I roll between them and narrowly avoid their combined attack, before trying to find my way back to the ruins. I attempt to scale the slope, but it proves to be too steep, and I slide off. Moving back to the slope, I get jumped by one of the skeletons and take another strike for my troubles, and I feel my blood seeping out of my body. Rolling through it's second attack, I head up the slope and stairs, only to find myself on the upper floors of the ruins, with the blue waters waiting below. After pausing in disbelief, I begin rolling towards the unknown territory, what with the path back blocked by two very aggressive skeletons.
As I roll further ahead, I stop to look back, and wait to see if they're still after me. After a few seconds, one of them creeps through with it's shield raised. As soon as it turns my way, it begins to sprint at me, so I take cover and use the ruined walls as leverage against the skeleton's approach. As it creeps around the corner, I keep my shield raised until it's done it's overhead slice, then I jump in and slice it's upper torso off, to similar effect as the previous attempts. As I slice at it's reforming body, the other skeleton rushes in and tries to attack me, forcing me to roll off of my target. My former victim quickly turns the tables and does a quick twirl before bringing it's sword across my waist, and I feel my blood seep once more as I reel from the fresh wound, and my vision begins to grow dark. Turning away from the skeletons, I run away from them, across a crumbling floor and towards a ledge where a corpse lies with a light shimmering off of it. Taking a quick drink of Estus restored my vision to normal and eased some of my wounds, I then roll forwards to stay ahead of the skeletons find myself getting closer to the edge, before finally reaching it. With no where to go, I turn to face the two skeletons on this corner stone with my shield raised high. Their attacks bouncing off of my shield as I look for a way out of this mess. As I lower my shield to roll of the ledge, one of the skeletons strikes me, once across the chest, and again on my legs, before leaping back. As my blood beings to spill out of my body, I feel my vision growing darker once more. The other skeleton takes advantage of this to move in for the killing blow, only for my shield to block in incoming attack, the force of it draining what little energy I had left as my footing began to slip off the edge.
With the killing blow blocked, the skeleton leapt back as it's ally came forward. Realizing that I was now on the edge of the building's ruins, I quickly moved along the sides, and backed up on the top of one of the walls, before falling off on one of the ledges. Upon landing, I take another drink of Estus to close my wounds and observe the situation. The two skeletons attempted to follow my path, but inadvertently blocked each other off. As I watched the two fumble about, I pondered if I should take another drink of my Estus now. After looking closer at the two of them, I could see that their bones were starting to show scars and cracks from the power of my attacks. If I could keep up the pressure, then maybe they'll fall. As I deduced this, they began to march off the upper floors and to the ground below wall I was standing on. In an eager attempt to end the battle, jumped off at them to attack them, missing my jump attack by a fair margin. As they turned their attention to me, I raised my shield against their combined assault. The first strike was blocked, but the second one batted my shield away and left me stunned.
One then jumped back while the other tried to flank me from behind. Rolling away from the two of them, I backed away even after I was well out of reach of their sword swipes. I then stepped forward before stopping, the two skeletons were clearly a coordinated force to be reckoned with. After doing a single jump attack at skeleton that jumped away, I roll away from the known location of the other skeleton, just as the skeleton that I targeted came back for another assault. Realizing this up hill battle was being drawn out, I sought an alternate solution, and withdrew from the two fiends. One of them followed me out an attempted to attack me. With a spinning attack as my first move, I hit it once, but the second strike missed it's mark. The skeleton retaliated with it's own double slicing attack, once on my waist and again on my legs. With the all two familiar feeling of blood leaving my body, I felt my vision grow darker then it had in the past strikes. I rolled back and down a flight of stairs, putting distance between me and it, I took another drink of Estus as it jumped closer, it's initial strike missing due to the difference in height, and then rolling past the skeleton as it tried to bring it's weapon down a second time. I then jumped at the skeleton as it swung it's sword, it's sword slicing my chest as my scimitar sliced it's upper torso off. Even with blood dripping down my chest, I sliced at the skeleton's reforming body, before rolling away from it's retaliation. As I tried to put some distance between me and it, I noticed how much closer this battle had come to the bonfire from where it started.
Rolling through a gap in the ruins and towards the bonfire, I take two sips of Estus as the skeleton's attack hits the ruins I rolled past, and as I turn to my foe, I notice it's ally closing in from behind. As I try to circle around and finish it off, it raises it's shield and steps off the ledge of it's own accord. My job done for me, I jump in and finish the fiend off with a jump attack, it staggers in pain, and as the lights from it's eyes fade, it falls apart at my feet. With only one skeleton left, I head into the ruins to face my adversary. Only to find nothing. The foe that had once been there had fled as I was fighting it's ally. Walking through the ruins, I pause before running around trying find where it could be hiding at. Heading back to the water filled ruins, I look to my right and try to find the skeleton, when I hear some movement coming form behind. Turning around, I see the skeleton lunge at me with an all to familiar attack. Rolling behind the skeleton's delayed swing, I turn to assault the skeleton's back. While it managed to turn to face me, I began to strike at it's sword carrying side five times in a row, before leaving the ruins and heading through the opening and down the stairs leading to the bonfire. After putting some distance between me and it, I turned to face it, my shield lowered and my scimitar ready, waiting for it's next move.
Without waiting, I jump at the skeleton, my attack missing due to the height difference between us. The skeleton then jumped at me, missing as I roll back from it's attack. I then move in to slice the skeleton, but it's second slice cut me off. As I attempted to back off and strafe the skeleton, it leapt forward and sliced at my feet before jumping back. After rolling to the side and putting a little distance between me and the fiend, I took another sip of Estus, and noticed that I still wasn't out of it's substance. Without putting to much thought into this turn of events, I dodge the skeleton's next attack and being striking it's back, only for the second strike to be blocked, as was the third. Backing away from the skeleton as it did it's own counter strike. Circling the skeleton's position, I moved in and as it prepared to attack, I quickly sliced at it's torso before flipping away from it. As it did it's own strike, I jumped forward to detach it's torso once more, only to be sliced by the second swing of it's attack cutting across my left arm. Turning around, I sliced at the skeleton, the first strike landing as the second and third were once again blocked. Backing away again, I waited to strike once more, and found my moment when the skeleton leapt forward to attack. As soon as it's sword was high in the air from missing it's mark, I leapt in and sliced it's spine, and once it reformed, I slayed it with a single sword slice. With it's light extinguished and it's body inert, I return to the graveyard to claim my prizes.
Upon my arrival to the stairs leading down to the graveyard, I take drink of Estus to mend my weary body, and then begin my slow descent down the stairs. Seeing another shining light in the distance, I ignore it and turn around to claim the prize that brought me here in the first place, although it's temptations are quite strong. As I get closer to it, I see some more bones and armaments nearby. And then they begin to move. From experience, I decide to forgo this prize and hurry back to the bonfire. Rushing up the stairs and past the stairs leading to the second floor of the ruins, I come across a ledge leading to the abyss below. Realizing that I missed the turn, and that I can't quite roll over the ruined walls, I hesitate before heading back the way I came, the two skeletons peaking over the sides of the stairs as I turn to rush through the water filled ruins. Leaping over the broken walls and rolling to the bonfire, I quickly begin the process of restoring my Estus capacity before standing up to face the enemies at hand.
But when I turned around, they were nowhere to be found, and the remains of the other two skeletons I had slain were missing as well. If my revival at the bonfire was anything to go by, as well as the revival of the hollows I had slain, then could the bonfire have similar for other beings as well? For that matter, since the skeletons were already dead, for a certain definition of it, wouldn't that technically make this their second coming? Either way, my interest in the graveyard has withered, and yet I still yearn for those glowing lights of untold goods. Sitting down once more and resting for a bit, I ponder my next move. Perhaps it's time to attempt to go to that Undead Burg that I was told of.
Standing up, I gaze upon the waterway and make my way up the usual path once more. With the hollows once again in my path, I bat away the strike of the first one and punish it with the usual brutality. Then the next hollow came, off the ledge and stumbling around as usual, and being given cover from it's bomb throwing friend from above. As it attacks, I attempt to roll past it, only to end up being cut by it's attacks twice over. In retaliation, I slice it twice over. But as I turn my attention to the next foe above, something caught my eye. A glowing light, not unlike the ones on the various corpse left around this place, began to emit off of the slain hollow. Heading back to the new corpse, I pillage the body and find myself a shortsword. As I turn back to continue my ascent, I pause for a moment, just out of the hollow's bomb throwing reach. After a moment of thought, I descend down the stairs and return to the ruins below.
At the ruins, I switch my scimitar out for the shortsword and give it a try. With a kick, a few quick slices, a good stab, and a downward plunge, the shortsword's moves are not too bad, if unfamiliar. Swapping my leather shield out for my scimitar, I give it a few tries. A nice little sword twirl, and a single sword slice are what it can offer. I then put my shortsword into my left hand and store the scimitar. With a single slice and a weak guard, the shortsword offers little variety on my left hand. Storing the shortsword away, I also sort my inventory out, storing away the black sprites and white embers, as well as making sure to not activate the Darksign by mistake, and place the Estus Flask first and foremost. I then head over to the bonfire and rest. It has come to my attention that if I am to continue on the path I'm on now, I'm going to have to learn how to fight smarter, not harder.
Standing up once more, I decide to arm my self up and see the style that matches up with my level of skill. With a shortsword in my right hand and a scimitar in my left, I head up the stairs towards the path leading to the Undead Burg. As I move towards my goal, I do a quick roll, and realize that I'm landing a little slower then normal now. Could it be that a single sword could make that much of a difference then? If so, then this could be problematic to my preferred fighting style. Coming up to the hollows on the hill, I twirl my scimitar and try to get a feel for it, but it's clearly no shield. The hollow gets a few strikes in as another approaches, forcing me to slay the first one as I continue to try and get a hang of this scimitar's skill set. The second hollow was fairly uncooperative, so I stepped back to drink some Estus. As I was doing so, the hollow moved to attack again, twirling the scimitar I manage to deflect it's strike. And wasting no time, I moved in for the kill, slaying the hollow with minimal effort.
Moving up the next flight of stairs are another two hollows, with one throwing bombs. Rolling through the flames, I move in on the axe wielding hollow. As it jumps at me, I twirl the scimitar, but I fail to deflect the blow and up taking an axe to my legs, followed up by a bomb to the face. I attempt to back away from my foe, but he lunges forward with another jump attack, striking my neck as I descended the stairs. As I struggle to maintain my balance, another bomb explodes near me, setting me on fire. In my death throes, I could feel the fire spread up my legs and across my body, blood spilling out of my throat wound as I fell over backwards and down the stairs.
Awakening at the bonfire, I put the scimitar back in my right hand and store the shortsword away. With my rolling speed back to normal, I engage the first hollow with confidence, and actually managed to deflect it's second strike after it's first one landed. After putting it down, the second one approached, and after several failed attempts at parrying it's attacks, I just struck it down and took a drink of Estus. Heading past the green light and it's bloodstain, I move in to kill the axe wielding hollow with two slices. Eyeing the hollow above, I move off to the side and quickly attack the hollow that throws the bombs before flipping back. Before I could kill it, it hits my face with a bomb, and I was unable to kill it before it's ally came down the stairs. Turning my attention to it's ally, I was unable to kill it before the next bomb was thrown due to it's newly acquired taste for defense, forcing me to roll away from the oncoming bomb. After it's clumsy counter attack, I moved in again and slice the hollow before flipping back to avoid the next bomb. The hollow then lunges in and strikes me, forcing me to counter with a simple swing that puts it down. Taking another drink of Estus, I move in to fight the last hollow, starting with a swing that goes into a flip, missing my mark but still denying it a chance to counter. It's next attack still lands, but I manage to deflect it's second one, which I take advantage of to put it down.
As I turn to collect the green light, a new light catches my eye. Turning around, I pillage the bomb throwing hollow's corpse to find a left over bomb. Upon closer inspection, it's clearly a Firebomb of sorts. Turning around, I then restore my lost power, and then roll off the stairs to engage the more armed hollow below. After several failed deflecting attempts, and taking six drinks of Estus, I decide to just attack the hollow's back and end the parrying trials for the time being. Heading back to the bonfire, I put my scimitar in my left hand, and pull my leather shield out of my inventory to keep my right hand company, at which point I rest at the bonfire to refill my Estus and setup the makeshift training grounds again.
Heading back to the hollows, I attempt once more to use the scimitar's attack deflecting abilities, to little effect. The shield bash also proves to be significantly less effective against armored foes, forcing me to use the scimitar against my enemies if I want to effectively cut them down. After slaying just two hollows, I head back to the bonfire to rest and reflect. After mulling it over, I stand up and take six drinks from the Estus Flask, and rest once more. Mulling it over for a bit, I decide that it may just be time to make a Covenant with the Gods. Standing up once more, I decide it's time to pay Petrus another visit.
Making my way back to the blond cleric, I accept his Covenant with the Gods. Clasping my hands together, a series of strange lights appear around me, converging into a single point within my hands. Is that what a Covenant is supposed to be like? In any case, he began to speak of sharing his Miracles, and how they're effectiveness is determined by one's efforts and faith. Browsing his wares, I see a bunch of scriptures that seem like nonsense. Looking at more practical wares, I find what appears to be some kind of talisman. The strange item appealed to me, and so I sought to acquire it. From the looks of things, it required souls to be bought, and apparently I had enough? Perhaps that's the essence I've been collecting all this time? I suppose it makes sense, what with it being white like the embers I've been coming across. Assuming those are even souls to begin with. The whole situation made me had to back off to think before I tried to do any purchasing.
After attempting to talk to him again, I back off to make sure I am looking at the numbers right, before talking a third time. Having no use for old scriptures, I just buy the Tailsman and leave. Eager to try out my new weapon, I switch out my scimitar for the talisman. I give it a quick shake, but it didn't seem to do anything. Back at the bonfire, I try to shake it again, getting nothing in return. Scratching my head in confusion, I decide that it's power only comes to life when it's in a dangerous area, so I head up to the hollow beating grounds to try out my new weapon.
Approaching the first hollow, I aggressively shake the talisman at the hollow, but nothing happened. Rolling away from the hollow, I move in and beat the hollow twice with the talisman, but it didn't seem to do anything. Shaking the talisman once more, the hollow struck at me while the talisman's function continued to befuddle me. With the hollow getting aggressive, I was left with no choice but to beat the hollow with the talisman, until the force of the blows pushed it off the cliffside and into the ravine below. The second hollow came up from behind and hit me, forcing a defensive stance. Once it opened itself up to attack, I wasted no time slamming the talisman upon it's armored body. The attacks didn't seem to have the same effect as a sword, but it still pushed the enemy back the very least. After trading blows with the hollow for a few seconds, I was able to push it off the cliffside with the talisman.
Heading back to the bonfire, I consider resting, but not before trying to unlock the secrets of the talisman. Without any success, I take a drink of Estus, and head back up to the hollows, this time using two hands on the talisman. As I try beating the hollows down, I realize that this is not a good weapon, and that I'm quickly being surrounded. Heading down the stairs, I put the shortsword onto my secondary right pouch, and swap the talisman out for a more reliable weapon. Turning to face the two hollows that have followed me down, I begin to strike them down, sustaining a few injuries as bombs rain down from above. As I'm about to head up, one of the slain hollows has a light that catches my attention. Heading back to it, I pillage it's remains to find a helm.
Approaching the top of the stairs, I see the bomb throwing hollow there. Because my weapon is currently a shortsword, I decide to just kick the hollow a few times, until it falls off the stairs. However, it did not fall into the ravine, but instead landed on the cliffside next to the more armored hollow. After lining up my position, I walk off the ledge to greet the hollows below with my sword, striking them both down, even if the fall put me in even worse shape then before. Looking over, I see a glowing light on the bomb throwing hollow's corpse. Pillaging it is another helm. Annoyed by this duplicate, I drop it on the ground and head back to the bonfire.
Arriving at the bonfire, I proceed to drink my Estus dry, at which point I rest. Staring at the bonfire caused something within me to stir. A yearning of sorts that made me want to do something. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, but I get on my knees and press my Darksign labeled hand towards the flame. In doing so, I feel as though several weights were taken off of me, and a new form of clarity was obtained, but I did not know the exact meaning behind this sudden change. With a renewed vigor, I head off to the ruins, seeing the world as if my senses were refreshed. Turning back around to return the bonfire, I decide to take my manchettes off to feel the air on my renewed senses. To my surprise, my hollowing had been reversed! Heading back to the bonfire, the tall grass brushing against my exposed hands, I drink the Estus dry, and I feel relief knowing that I don't have to forego this treat just to have my humanity.
Putting my manchettes back on, I decide to try on the helm that I recently acquired. It's design was evidently worn, and the headset had a nose guard that went down the ridge of my nose. It may have been meant for combat, but it really does not suit my aesthetic tastes, and armor like this isn't going to matter much if the battle plan involves not getting hit in the first place. Putting my hood back on and putting the helm away, I decide it's time to rest at the bonfire once more, and make a real plan of action.