Rising up, I equip my Scimitar to my right hand, and gripping it with both of my hands, I head up to the aqueduct's waterway path, cutting down the hollows with no difficulty, with the most notable one being the axe wielding hollow that I dispatched with a rather nasty attack from behind. The last hollow dropped it's shortsword, which I dropped on the ground, having no use for a duplicate of a weapon I already have. Peering inside the aqueduct, I see a rather large rat in front of a corpse, which has a familiar light glimmering off of it. Striking down the oversized vermin, I pillage the corpse and find another white ember that I greedily store away. Slowly making my way through the aqueduct's water, with only the damp air and a strange faint light emitting around me, I come across an opening on my left. Within, I see a dead end on my left, and a stairwell to my right, with light coming from above. Making my way up the stairs, the light gets brighter as the I reach the top.
At the top of the stairs, I turn left and see several worn out buildings, one of which has a familiar wall of light and mist in it. Unfortunately, in observing my surroundings, I failed to notice the nearby hollow lunge at me until it brought it's weapon across my stomach. Striking it down with a single spin attack, I step forward to deal with the next hollow. Moving ahead and turning left to head across wooden plank, I see another hollow. As I draw closer, I recognize the movement it's going through, and roll to avoid toward my foe to avoid it's bomb, coming out of the roll with a spinning slice, and another one to put the hollow down. Turning around, I see an opening on my right, opposite of the building with the wall of light, and find another hollow inside. As I get closer, the hollow surges into a flurry of attacks, so I stay out of reach and circle behind it to get a better angle of the foe. Jamming my scimitar through it's spine, I use my foot to propel the fiend off of my weapon, and I walk away from the fallen foe as it reaching it's hand up in a feeble attempt to recover.
Coming up on some barrels, I decide to roll into them for potential training, only find out how fragile they really are. Now, if I could actually do to my enemies what I did to these barrels, then I wouldn't even need a weapon, right? Sadly, a dream is just that. A dream, and not reality where it is not possible to slay such monsters by rolling over them. After fantasizing over the impossibilities of crushing my foes while rolling around, I move out of the barrel building and towards the building with the wall of light. Creeping up on the wall, I recall the last time I went through one of these, and brace myself for the worst as I pass through the mists. On the other side, I see nothing of interest, but I still raise my scimitar in a defensive stance.
Checking around the area, I move towards the left side of the room and find a corpse laying against the staircase behind a pillar. Pillaging it for another white ember, I turn back and begin to make my way up the stairs. Upon reaching the top, I turn left to see a broken path leading back to the area I just left. Turning around, I begin to ascend the second set of stairs. Towards the end of my ascent, I hear a very strange sound, the kind of sound of air being forced away as though a great force was moving through the air. Then a powerful wind brewed across the area as a massive beast landed on the path before me, and only paused for a moment before lifting off once again, it's massive wings propelling it off the ground and into the sky above where it flew over a bridge, it's wings blotting out the sun as it moves through the air. I could only stand there in amazement, staring as the beast left the area paying no mind to my presence. If that creature was really a dragon, then perhaps the legends of old were not entirely true? At the very least, a lesser breed of dragon was still around and perhaps even others were for that matter, but this is still the first time I had actually seen one myself.
Clutching my scimitar with both hands, I slowly trend across the path the dragon once landed on, and towards the next flight of stairs. At the top of those stairs, I saw a noticeable bloodstain leading down them, as if something was dragged near the area. I eventually lost my fixation with the stain as a sharp pain ran across my chest from a hollow's sword, followed by an arrow bolt embedding itself into my new wound. The hollow with the sword had a almost wooden shield with a metal centerpiece that was of a lower grade then the previous shield bearing hollows I had encountered before. Backing down the stairs, I attempted to attack the hollow as it reared back, only to end up trading blows with with the hollow twice over, with the hollow falling as I rolled back and began to tend to my wounds with some Estus.
Moving back up the stairs and avoiding bolt fire, I march towards the source as another hollow dashes out from the archer's side to intercept me. Rolling past a flying bolt, I land in front of the opposing hollow and hit it with a spinning attack, narrowly avoiding another bolt as I step away from the fallen foe and move towards some barricades on my left. Keeping my attention on the archer, I roll to the left, smashing through a barricade, and that's when I hear some behind me, and out of my peripheral vision, I see a hollow raise it's sword behind me. With no time to rest, I roll back towards my old location, and turn my attention to the formally hidden hollow. As it continues to attack me, I strife it by moving left, eventually creeping up on it's back and plunging my scimitar hilt deep within it's torso, before kicking it away, the archer hollow helplessly firing off a volley of bolts in an attempt to stop me. As it fires off another bolt, I avoid it's trajectory and briefly lock eyes with the lone archer, before heading up the building's stairs to greet it personally. At the top of the stairs, I wait for it to ready it's weapon, and as it fires off, I roll around the arrow and put the hollow down, before turning around and leaving the building's roof.
As I move onwards, I pause for a moment when I see there's a wooden bridge connecting to a stone tower. The tower itself looks remarkably old, or older then the wooden platform connecting to it at the very least. Within the tower lies a familiar sight for me: an unlit bonfire! Releasing my left hand from my trusty scimitar, I run towards the bonfire and light it with my right hand. As I was not yet ready to rest, I turned and left after lighting it, when an unusual sight caught my attention. Some barricades were seemingly blocking off an entrance to a bridge that I had missed earlier.
Strolling down the stairs, I smash the barricades down with a roll, and face down the bridge, two hollows were on the opposing side. Both with metal shields and spears. As I drew closer, the one on my left side raised it's shield and began to approach me. Gripping my scimitar with both hands, I began to get closer to the hollow, attempting to bait it into attacking me. I knew well that fighting a spear wielding enemy on a path this narrow would not end well, so I had to figure out how to get on their ground. As I step forward, the hollow begins to stand it's ground, stepping to my right as it tries to form a wall against my advance. Eventually, it raises it's spear into the air, and as it brings it's weapon forth, I roll past the hollow. Being mindful of it's ally, I continue to circle the attacking hollow, eventually placing my scimitar into it's spine, before throwing it to the ground. Turning my attention to the lone spear wielding hollow, I begin to strife the hollow by going left, before I stop and realize that I'd be staying on it's spear holding side, and deciding to strife it by going right instead, staying on it's shielded side instead. Eventually, the hollow is unable to keep up with me as I close in on it while strafing, and dispatch it the same way as I did it's ally. Looking around, I wondered what they were so instant on guarding, and I began to wonder if it had anything to do with those boxes.
Moving closer, I see there's actually a staircase behind the boxes. Going around the boxes and dropping down, I find myself inside another building. Turning around and moving down to the first landing, I see an opening leading outside. With both of my hands on my scimitar, I creep closer to the opening, uncertain of what's to come. Pausing at the opening to look around, I eventually move outside. Looking around, I find a couple of barrels, and what looks to be a hollow sitting on the ground. Moving closer, I see the hollow rubbing it's hand on a wooden bucket of sorts. After staring at it for a few seconds, I sheathe my weapon and draw closer to the strange hollow. To my surprise, this fellow was not as feral as I thought, and was even capable of coherent speech too! After he confirmed that I too was no feral hollow, he welcomed me as a customer, and offered to trade me items for souls. Interested in what he knew of the area, I started to talk to him. He spoke of a goat demon that has moved in below the burg, and that above this location a large drake and bull demon are around these parts. The way he said these things tells me that things weren't always like this around here. While he states that this place might end up being my grave, I believe I forsook the tomb a long time ago.
After some thinking about what he said for a bit, I decided to check out what was available. To my surprise, he had quite the variety at his side. From powder and knives, to keys and arrows, I've never seen such a well supplied shop in this land before! Browsing through his wears, I recognized something there. A repairbox of sorts. I'm not sure how, but it felt very familiar to me, as if I'd seen such a thing before. At a rather hefty price, I was able to acquire the item, and I promptly stored it away. Browsing through the rest of his wares, I realized just how much more variety I've been missing out on when it came to weapons. After some thought, I decided it was time to make an investment, I bought a short bow from the merchant, as well as twenty throwing knives, which I promptly put in an easy to access location. I then wished to talked to the merchant once more, but he seemed to have no interest in conversation. I eventually decided it was time to leave, and while he did thank me for being a customer, I wasn't quite sure what to make of the ordeal.
Heading back inside the building, I grip my scimitar with both hands and head left. As I approach the doorway, I stop at the sound of footsteps. What follow was the crashing of pots and jars as pottery shattered and wood splintered across the room as a hollow cut it's way through the shelving units trying to get at me. Leaping away from the source, I see it is a battleaxe wielding hollow. As it approaches me, I wait for it to raise it's weapon, before rolling away from the descending attack. I then quickly move in to strike it down with a spin attack, before continuing to advance through my intended path. Heading through the hall, I take a left turn and move down the stairs, only to find several hollows in front of a ladder across from me. Stunned by the sight of them, I failed to react before one of them rushed forwards and slashed at me with it's blade. Cutting it down with a single strike, I slowly moved forward. In doing so, another hollow rushed forward from the group. It's movements erratic, I fail to properly block the attack, and end up getting hit by another attack, before felling it with a single strike. As I move forward, I anticipate the last two hollows, and attempt to spin attack the first one that rushes me. But it stops prematurely and my attack hits the ground in front of it instead. Narrowly rolling away from it's counter strike, I slice at it once, missing by a few feet, before swinging again and hitting my mark. With only one hollow left, I quickly rolled away as it did a flurry attack. Moving in after it finished it's rush, it recovered faster then I thought and hit me with a strike of it's own, before we finally exchanged strikes, the hollow crumbling from my attack as I recoiled from its attack.
As the last hollow fell, I could feel the strain of that battle upon my weary body. That's what I get for being sloppy against a seemingly weaker enemy. Taking a drink of Estus, I heal my wounds and refresh my energy, before climbing up the ladder the hollows once guarded. At it's peak, I see light shining off of a corpse. Pillaging it's remains gave me some additional throwing knives to add to my growing arsenal. Looking around, I could recognize this place as the entrance to the Undead Burg from the ruins that I started from. Looking down, I could see yet another corpse with a light on it, but it was much further down then I'd ever been before. To my right was a broken bridge of sorts. From this height, I might be able to make the jump to the other side. Aligning myself with the pathway below, I take another drink of Estus, and with a backstep, I rush forward and leap across the gap, landing on the path leading inside the building opposite of the roof I started on. Once inside, I realized how little there was on this floor, besides the barrels a some holes in the floor. On the side opposite of where I came in from, I see some stairs. One set leading down, and another up. I decided to start by going up the stairs closest to the wall. Heading up the stairs eventually brought me back outside. Looking around from my new perch, I could see the building I jumped from to get here, and upon turning around, the path I took to get to Undead Burg in the first place. Moving closer, I could see the path took a bend to my right, and I found another corpse, draped over the side of the railing. In pillaging it, I managed to find a crossbow and some standard bolts to go with it, similar to the one that was used against me not so long ago.
Turning around, I head back to the stairs, and begin to descend through the building, eventually reaching the ground floor and kicking aside the corpse of one of the hollows I slayed earlier. Once I confirmed that this place was secured, I began to move back towards the bonfire, paying no mind to the corpses that now littered my path. I eventually did stop upon reaching the once barricade ridden path that I fought several hollows upon. I realized that just having some new weapons and tools isn't going to mean much if I don't know what they even do. The talisman proved to be worthless, but what of these new toys I have now? Swapping my scimitar out for the short bow, and putting the crossbow into my left hand, I attempt to use the bow, but it seems to have no melee capabilities whatsoever. The crossbow isn't much better either, having no way to be used as a melee weapon, it would seem as though these weapons require some kind of ammo supply to actually be useful. Confused by the properties of these weapons, I decided it was time to rest. Heading back to the bonfire, I take a seat, and think about how these weapons could be made into something more as the warmth of the fire surrounds me.
Rising to my feet, I begin to inspect my weapons for a moment. After a moment of doing so, I noticed some crevices on gear such as my scimitar and tears in my armor. Sitting back down at the bonfire, I begin to work through the overwhelming warmth to pull out the repairbox, pulling out the rag that came with it and spreading it out on the location that I intended to place the box, and inspect my gear in a more through manner. Checking over them with priorities in mind, I decide to start with my weapons first. I'm not exactly sure how this is supposed to work, but I feel as though I've been through the motions before. With a distant feel for this, I take out my shortsword and hold it over the repairbox, and with a scoop of repair powder from the box, brush some of it on the weapon. Nothing comes from the effect though, so I decide to try adding in a new ingredient to the mix; a couple souls to mix with the repair powder. To do this, I pulled out the mortar and placed the repair powder into it. I then began the process of grinding the powder up with a pestle while mixing in some souls to give it the intended effect of working. Lightly brushing the powder across the blade, the small nicks in the sword eventually smooth out, and the weapon is back to pristine condition. The used repair powder then slid off of the weapon, most of it returned to the repairbox, some of it fell on the rag it rested upon. After putting the weapon away, I began to do the same with the rest of my weapons, my trusty scimitar in particular requiring more souls then the rest to repair it's comparably intensive wear and tear. With that being said and done, I still don't exactly know how adding souls is supposed to change the properties of the powder so that it works on contact with gear, but it's a tool that works well to keep the rest of my gear serviceable, and that's good enough for me.
Repeating the process of infusing the powder with some more souls, I then begin to do the same to my current garb. Starting by draping my head and hood over the repairbox and take some repair powder from the mortar, and begin to rub it against my hood. The wear and tear on my hood then begins to fade away and it becomes as though it's never been battle weary. The repair powder that now coated my hood eventually began to tumble off, some returned to the repairbox from whence it came, some of it fell on the rag. After observing this, I proceeded to do the same with the rest of my garb, with some difficulty in doing so, I managed to make sure most of the repair powder fell into the box, or the rag it was placed upon. With all of my equipment repaired to full status, I decide to pick up the repairbox and place it to the side, and begin brushing the remaining repair powder off of my clothes so it falls to on the rag. Scooping it up and carefully moving the rag over the box, I proceed to empty the used powder into the container it originated from. I then place the mortar and pestle into the box, before folding the rag itself up and putting it on top of the mortar, and store the nifty repairbox away, leaving behind only a few traces of powder that aren't as easy to recover. Although in hindsight, it may have been easier to do this if I had removed my clothes first before repairing them.
Rising from the bonfire with freshly repaired gear, I arm myself with my scimitar, and begin to leave the tower's bonfire. Heading across the wooden bridge, I decide to dispatch the revived enemies to my right in short order, with only the minor surprise of some firebombs raining down from above breaking my concentration, despite missing me. With no more foes to get in the way, I observe the two bomb throwing hollows who stood on platforms above me. With the only path forward being through their bomb throwing range, I try to run through, but they manage to burn me several times over with their explosives. Entering the supposed safety of the building at the end of the bridge, I find myself facing down two axe bearing hollows. As I attempt to engage them, circling it in the process, the other one manages to lunge at me with a overhead attack that managed to strike my left leg. Reeling from the strike, I notice a third hollow entering from the right side of the room.
Realizing the disadvantage I've been put at, I begin to move back out the way I came in and start to rush across the bridge, only stopping to turn once I had reached the safety of the building that held the wooden platform. Upon doing so, I saw a lone hollow with a sword and metal shield rushing at me, eager for a fight. As it lowered it's shield to begin thrusting it's sword outwards, I circled around and proceed to stab the lone warrior in the back, removing it from the list of problems I had, but I could still see the other two hollows rushing across the bridge to fight me. Without wasting time, I leap across the wooden bridge and take a quick drink of Estus to sooth my pain, before moving once more to avoid the reach of the hollows behind me. With them now being bottlenecked on familiar terrain, I waste no time dispatching them one after the other. With them out of the way, I rush across the bridge and into the building once more, avoiding the rain of bombs along the way.
Passing through the now empty room, I notice a metal door of sorts in the back of the room. Ignoring that path for now, I head towards the only open path there is. Pausing at the opening for a moment, I eventually pass through, along with the distinct sound of firebombs falling around me. Pressing on, I come across an opening to another building, and a staircase leading up. After a moment of indecision, I move into the building first. Within the building, I find a hollow off to my right. Dispatching it with a spin attack, I press onwards only to find another hollow on my left to do the same to. While the path I currently took is a dead end, there seems to be a path of sorts that leads further down, with a closed metal door at the top of some stairs. It must be the same metal door that I passed over earlier. Backing away from the edge of the path, I attempt to jump across the gap, only to find the wooden barricades that seal this room off are just tall enough to prevent me from making the jump.
Leaving the hallway, I return to the main path and make a right turn, heading up some stairs that went into another room. Within this one were an assortment of wears that gave me the impression of this room being a dining room of sorts. Perhaps, at one point in time, this place wasn't just a land filled with mindless undead, but a place that was thriving with life just like any other. The idea of that caused me to pause what I was doing, to the point that even the normally quite sounds of my own footsteps on the stone felt as though they just rang on forever. Eventually, I come across a chest that sat in the back of the room. With an air of caution, I open the chest. After staring at the glowing light within, I eventually decide to take it, as the former residents would no longer have any need for these items. Reaching within, I find the light to be the host of firebombs, but these were also different from the ones I've found so far. At the very least, hey were looked slightly heavier, and were within a black bisque urn, and the distinct smell of black powder was essentially seeping out of them. I could only assume that they would be much more potent then the more common ones I've found and have been dealing with so far. As I leave the room and make a right turn to leave the building as a whole, I pass by several more tables. The idea that the former residents actually had a need to possess some items in the first place gives me the impression that this place may have had a degree of unrest for some time before falling into total disrepair. The one thing that I found most distressing about all of that is the fact that the former residents are either long gone, or their hollowed out husks are the ones that I've been slaying, or have yet to slay. And I'm not sure which part of that is more unnerving to think about.
Exiting the building, I push such ideas into the back of my mind as I make a right turn and head up the stairs. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, I was greeted with three different hollows, two of which rushed forward to attack me directly. Dodging the uncoordinated attacks of the two, I swiftly counter with a spin attack, but quickly abandon my position to avoid getting hit by a firebomb thrown by the one that hung back. Annoyed by this one's presence, I quickly move over to it's position, and circle around to it's back as it attempted to throw another firebomb. With a quick stab to the back, the hollow was dispatched, and it's allies were quick to follow suite.
Searching my surroundings for any further foes, I find a ladder on the building that was next to the stairs I had recently ascended. Making my over to elevated grounds the ladder rested upon, I scale the ladder to reach the roof of the building, and before me were the hollows who were so fond of throwing fire bombs. Slowly descending the rooftop and making my way towards their platform, I attempt to sneak up on them, but I find myself on the wrong end of the platform. Before I can fix my mistake, I find myself under siege from bombs and swords alike. With few other options, I take a back step off of the platform, hoping for a safe landing below. Falling several feet, I land on the stone guardrail of the stairs I had previously taken to get to that position in the first place. But the guardrail was far too slick for me to have proper footing, and I quickly slid down the rail, and towards the depths of the berg. In a desperate attempt to avoid death, I use the last of my footing to roll towards the stairs. In doing so, I managed to wedge myself into a small crevice that laid between the guardrail of the stairs and the moss coated guardrail of the general platform at the base of the stairs.
Taking a drink of Estus, I attempt to free myself from the wedge I've become entranced in, but to no avail. For some time, I attempt various methods to escape this trap I've fallen in, firebombs exploding above me as countless glass shards fall around me. After exhausting my stamina several times over in an attempt to escape, I feel myself dazed and exhausted from over exertion.
Some time later, I reawaken. As I rise to my feet, I have no idea how long I've been out. With a great degree of discomfort, I find myself still jammed into this crevice, and it seems as though even the hollows have taken me for dead. With a renewed sense of energy, I once again attempt to dislodge myself from this crevice, but there was no viable method that worked. Seeing as I have no other option, I decide that it's time to use the Darksign. Regaining my concussions at the bonfire, I once again rise. To my surprise, the souls that I had gathered so far were gone. While this was slightly concerning, it was nothing to be distraught over. If the past is any indication, all I would have to do is return the general area that I had left behind to recover them. Leaving the building once more, I find myself having some trouble with the first few hollows before dashing across the bridge and into the building to dispatch the opposing force with no difficulty. Upon leaving the building, I move towards the stairs that I was once trapped by, only to find that there was no glowing light or blood of any kind. Disheartened at the loss of souls, I draw the conclusion that while it's still better then having to go through the pain of death, the Darksign should only be used as a last resort, or if there's nothing to fear losing.
Turning right and marching up the stairs, I once again dispatch the three hollows before climbing the ladder to the roof. Upon reaching the top, I'm greeted with a burning explosion hitting my head, and a hollow attempting to strike me with it's sword. Fighting through the pain, I dispatch the lone hollow before closing in on it's allies. As one hollow shambles it's way down the ramp of the platform, I swiftly close the gap, before maneuvering behind it and stabbing it in the back as it attempts to lob another firebomb at me. It's ally, and the last hollow on the platform, tried to stop me from finishing the job, but it wasn't up to the task. With that being said, I still took quite the beating from those two alone. Searching around, I do find a corpse with light on it. Pillaging the corpse gave me another lost soul of sorts. Storing it away with the others, I take another drink of Estus to sooth my wounds and disembark for the building roof.
Walking off of the roof and landing on the elevated land that held the ladder up, I quickly descend to the main path that now has three hollow corpses on it. Pressing on, I come across a tower that had an opening in it. Within was a staircase, but a quick inspection revealed that there was nothing under the stairs, so there was only one other place to go. Racing up the stairs with both of my hands on my scimitar, I reach the top just to feel the sharp pain of a arrow bolt lodge itself into my right arm. Leaping up the stairs, I quickly cut down the offending hollow. Looking out from the top of the tower, I could see several more hollows below. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, I race back down the tower to engage the hollows.
Upon reaching the undead foes, one of them rushed at me with it's sword out. The narrow stairs that I found myself on proved to be a poor place to stand as I was quickly on the receiving end of several sword slashes that brought me to the brink of death. As a hollow with a spear crept up the stairs, I drank some more Estus to revive my energy. Although, in a clumsy attempt at attacking the hollow, I leap off the vantage point I had, and end up landing behind the undead instead. The hollow was taken by surprise enough to lower it's shield, so I quickly cut it down with no resistance. The second sword wielding hollow also wasted no time stabbing my back. Putting some distance between us, I quickly drank another amount of Estus, before reengaging the hollow and putting it down in the middle of it's attack. As it fell, a light started to emit from it's body, and while I was hesitant to do so, I eventually pillaged the fresh corpse to find some kind of shard. Uncertain of it's use, I decided to continue my adventure through my original path.
Moving through the path, I eventually came across two sets of stairs. One going up on the left, and another going down on the right. After a moment of considering my options, I choose to go left, and I eventually spot a hollow standing further up the stairs. Stepping around the corner, the hollow does not engage me, but is only standing at the top of the stairs, behind a barrel of some kind. As I crept closer, the hollow suddenly struck the barrel and it was set ablaze, and tumbling straight at me as well! Rushing back down the stairs and feeling the heat of the barrel as it blazed past me, I only stop after I hear it crash further off to my left, past the staircase. As I turned to head back up, the hollow was already at the landing with it's shield at the ready. While it does attempt to stab me, I just back away until it misses, before moving to cut it down while it's steel reeling from the exertion of it's own attack. With the hollow slain, I slowly make my way up the stairs, and into the large tower that overlooked the berg.
Within the tower were more stairs on the left, a door on the straight ahead, and a lit torch on the right. Not knowing where the door led, and having no use for a lit torch, I choose to ascend the next set of stairs. At the top of those were even more stairs in front of me with a torch on innermost the side of the staircase, and a couple of barrels to my right. With nothing of note in the room, I once again ascend the stairs. At the top was more stairs in front of me that were reduced to rubble, more barrels to my right, and a misty wall of light. Moving over to the barrels, I see nothing of interest, and instead turn my attention to the wall of light. As I approach the wall of light, I begin to feel quite uneasy. While I did manage to get this far, my past experiences with these types of walls have been quite varied, and I only manage to scrape by on my way here. If there was another stretch of land or large creature past here, I'm in no condition to handle it, even more so after having so much trouble with these supposedly simple and mindless hollows. This hesitation of mine caused me to reflect on how I got here, and made me realize just how unprepared I truly was for a long term journey.
After spending some time in front of the wall of light, I check my inventory of gear that I've obtained so far. With my Estus nearly empty, a limited supply of firebombs, knives I've yet to use, and numerous white embers and black sprites, I decide to head back down the tower and look back over the areas I've been through to get here. Leaving the tower and stopping at the base of the stairs, I take a better look at the second stairwell leading down. It certainly looked as though it leads to another location, but I am certainly in no condition to be testing that theory. Heading further back, I reach the base of the tower that the crossbow wielding hollow once stood upon. Taking in my surroundings in this now calm place, I find a wooden door. Although it was locked, I wondered if there was a way to open it. Looking around the current area didn't seem to provide any answers to this problem, so I continue to head back. Once I reached the building that would lead to the last bridge, I decide to close the wooden door behind me. I did have the curtsy of closing open doors when and where I could, however pointless it may be in the long run. Ignoring the metal door, I head back across the bridge and towards the bonfire, when I stop at the wooden bridge.
Seeing the lone hollow still standing behind the barricades, as if it was still waiting for another victim of sorts. Making my way down the stairs, I stop when I realized I've never bothered to check out the door that was at the base of the stairs. Moving forward and making a left turn, I find the door quite easy to open, and within it was a small room leading to a balcony. The balcony itself held a fairly cluttered view of the berg, and there was a corpse slumped in the corner on my left. With another light brimming from this corpse, I find a wooden shield. Not very useful against the numerous firebombs that I've had to contend with, but it's also not going to fit in with my current fighting style anyways. Leaving the small building, I close the door behind me, I begin to head back up the stairs to the bonfire, when I have an idea.
Turning around to face the still waiting hollow, I ready my throwing knives and take aim at the lone foe. The first knife hit the unaware foe in the back, and that sent it rushing against the barricades in an attempt to get out. The next knife I threw ended up hitting one of the barricades and smashing it to pieces. If these were so fragile that a mere knife could shatter them, I do have to wonder what they were hoping to defend against, for as fragile as these barricades are, they were not nearly equipped to deal with anything more then the occasional gust of wind. If even that much. The hollow eventually grew frustrated and cut down the other barricade that was blocking it's escape, in which time I had already primed my third knife. With the next knife embedding itself into the hollow's right leg, it let out a cry as it fell to the ground. While I was expecting something different from the normal battles I've been having up to this point, I was not expecting the outcome to be this... underwhelming.
Still, the amusing results of these throwing knives did save me some trouble. Taking a moment to count my remaining throwing knives, I decide to test out the firebombs that I've acquired. And to that, I would need some more foes. Moving down the remaining stairs, I make my way to the location of the two spear and shield hollows that guarded the entrance to the merchant. Taking aim directly at the hollow on the left, I take out a fire bomb and throw it, with the bomb harmlessly exploding at the top of the stairs leading to the hollows. Dumbfounded by this outcome, I inch closer to the two, and proceed to throw another firebomb, this time aiming above the hollow. With the bomb exploding at the hollow's right leg, the hollow flailed around in a panic as it's body proceed to be engulfed in flames. Moving closer still, the remaining hollow began to approach me with it's shield raised. As I throw the bomb at the approaching hollow, it explodes a few feet away from the hollow. Undeterred, I aim slightly higher and throw another bomb at the hollow, hitting the hollow's left foot and swiftly engulfing it in flames, the holllow clearly panicking as it's shield did nothing to save it. The sight of two enemies being so easily dispatched with these tools made me feel quite proud, enough to jump for joy in fact!
Still, with a need to resupply, I moved towards the location of the merchant, only stopping when I remembered the one axe bearing hollow that was hidden. Taking careful aim at it's location, I hurled my last firebomb at the hollows location. With the bomb hitting the top of the cupboard and exploding, shattering the makeshift barricades and burning the hidden hollow to death, I once again leap in joy at the success of these particular results. After looking around for any witnesses, I resume my short travel to the merchant to resupply my resources. Reaching the merchant, he seems to be somewhat jovial to see me again, and offers his wears once more.
After browsing his wears, I decide to restock my throwing knives first by buying three of them, and then five firebombs. With my resources restocked, I head back to the tower bonfire. But before I rest, I realize that now would be a rather fine time to consider extending my arsenal of weapons. At this realization, I turn back to head to the merchant once more, nearly falling off the side of the wooden bridge in doing so. Returning to the merchant, I decide to purchase thirty of what seems to be the standard arrows, before heading back to the bonfire. Once I reach the bonfire, I drink the remaining amount of Estus out of the flask and proceed to take a seat and rest for a while, taking the time to repair my equipment in doing so.
Once the resting period was over, I decided to move my scimitar to my backup weapon, while pulling out my short bow and armed myself with the recently bought arrows. Gripping the bow with both hands, I line up my shot on the unaware crossbow wielding hollow. It took more then a few seconds to get the angle right, if this were a fight I'd be dead several times over. After what could have been at least a minute or so, I manage to feel as though my aim was right, and let loose an arrow. The arrow flew straight at the hollow, piercing it's armor and sticking out of it's chest plate. With that, the hollow turned to me and began to retaliate. I attempted to fire another arrow, but it was blocked by the very tower I was in, while the wounded hollow fired off a bolt from it's crossbow. Evading the flying bolt with a sidestep, I once again attempt to take aim at the hollow, firing off another arrow that went right over it's head as it's second bolt hits my right arm. As it fired off another bolt, I took aim with my bow, and fired an arrow right at the hollow, hitting it's left arm as one of it's bolt reached my torso. Pulling out another arrow, I managed to fire it out just after the hollow shot another bolt from it's crossbow. With the arrow hitting it's left arm, the hollow fell to the ground while I evaded it's last bolt. While this was unintentional, it has allowed me a fairly good idea of how a bow handles against a crossbow.
I switch the short bow for my scimitar and begin to move forward, gripping the weapon with both hands. To my surprise, one of the hollows was rushing up the stairs past another hollow. As I retreat back into the tower, the hollow rushes me. At that point, we proceed to fight over the bonfire, with me circling around the fire and hollow for an opening, only stopping to block a strike with my weapon, before finally getting to the hollow's back and throwing it down. With the unexpectedly aggressive adversary defeated, I decide to return to the merchant. Dispatching the hollow on the stairs, I have a little difficulty with lone barricade hollow, but the reward for it's defeat was another short sword. Storing it away, I make my way to the bridge leading to the two spear and shield hollows. As I switch the weapons in my right hand, I wonder if the bridge could be referred to as a skyway or not. Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I take aim with an arrow and fire it at the hollow. The arrow hit it's mark, piercing the hollow's armor and striking it's head, blood spewing out as the hollow recoiled from the strike. With it's shield now raised, it began to approach me as I switched back to my scimitar, at which point the hollow stopped to drink from it's own Estus Flask. Rushing in to attack, I manage to kill it even after it was finished with it's serving, and a light began to shine from it's corpse. But that impulsive act did leave me quite close to it's guarded ally. While there was a brief struggle, and the foe did get one good hit in, there was little other trouble from the hollow.
After the skirmish, I check out the light that has been glowing off of the first spear wielding hollow's corpse, and I manage to pillage a spear from it. Checking my inventory, I decided to leave one of the short swords. Since neither one of them had any wear or tear on them, it didn't really matter which one I kept or lost. Dropping one of the short swords, I feel the urge to go to the side of the building's roof and check out the path I've been treading on to get here. After seeing the railways that dot the structure, giving a view to the outside of the passage, I figure that it may very well be a skyway, at least from what I can tell. While I still can't come to a proper conclusion on the matter, I turn around to smash some boxes and head down the stairs. Upon reaching the ground floor, I turn to strike the hollow that laid in the corner of the room. After getting around it and striking it down, I feel the souls flow to me. And yet, there was something more as well. As though the very humanity within me stirred. I've felt this feeling before, when I crushed that black sprite in my hands. But why would it happen upon slaying a seemingly random hollow? Dismissing the feeling, I continue onwards to the merchant and begin to browse his wears. Looking at the weapons, I decide to buy a dagger, a rapier, and restock my arrow supply with a purchase of six arrows. After making the purchase, I attempt to converse with the merchant, but he wasn't that interested in talking. Thanking me for the purchase, he lets out a laugh of sorts as I turn to leave.
Upon entering the ground floor of the building, I store my short bow and scimitar away and put my new dagger in my right hand as my primary weapon. Returning to the bonfire, I put the rapier up as a back up, and begin to test out the dagger's effectiveness. A small weapon, it won't have much power, but it's light weapon makes it an excellent addition for backup weapons. With a quick slice, before crossing my arms, with my left arm going over my right, to unleash another, the dagger is certainly faster then the scimitar when it comes to the weaker attacks. For the stronger attacks, I rear my right arm back and thrust the dagger forward, before following it up with forceful slash that leaves my right arm reeling behind me. Gripping the dagger with both hands, I take a quick defensive stance that has the dagger crossed to protect my face. Such a small weapon is ill-suited for such a task. The weaker attacks consist of a quick vertical slash, followed by a quick horizontal slice. Putting forth the effort, the stronger attack puts has me put forth more effort into stabbing forward, even going so far as pushing my whole body forward. Certainly a draining attack, but good for hitting the more cowardly enemy. Overall, the range is pitiful, but it's speed is something admirable, and even the more force filled attacks leave little in the way of vulnerability, although they can still be quite draining.
Switching over to the rapier, I start to test out it's effectiveness. This weapon seems to be much more narrow then the scimitar, and seeing how it lacks edges or curves, specialized in thrusts with it's potent sharp end over anything else. Pushing forward with a quick thrust, I quickly flick my wrist to execute another thrust. Doing this motion once more, I decide to put more force into the attack, going a fair distance forward and striking out with my left arm extended above me. A fairly decent range for this one. Gripping it with both hands, I cross the weapon in a defensive stance. Not really a good weapon for guarding, but still a fair bit better then the dagger is. The weaker attack is more draining then the one handed version, and the stronger attack is even more draining then that. Despite that, the movements feel pretty similar to the one handed variations, if only for losing a refined posture for more strength. A nice weapon, but I don't really know how well it'll fair in an aggressive fight. It's more for turning fights into an art, but I do not know if I really have the patience or finesse for that.
Moving the dagger my left hand, and the rapier to that hand's backup, I pull out my spear to test it out. The weapon feels very heavy, far more then it looks as though it should. For a single swing, it takes all the effort I have to swing it for a single attack, and I still have to take a step forward as I stumble to bring it back up after recoiling from the attack. Sheathing the dagger, I grip the spear with both hands and feel it become much lighter in doing so. Releasing my grip, I decide to test out the dagger in my left hand. With only a single, short ranged attack, it's not particular useful in my left hand. At the very least, I think I can deflect a few attacks with it. Switching to the rapier. Still with a single attack, this time a thrust, it's useful for an punishing overconfident enemies, but the weapon's weight makes it more cumbersome then the dagger for that purpose. I can also spin the weapon, similar to the scimitar's spinning. Presumably, it has the same effect as the scimitar's twirl does as well. After giving the spear a few more hefty swings, I grip it with two hands and try giving it a real test. With the weak attacks being a quick thrust with a large reach, and the strong attack being an extremely draining attack that has the weapon going quite a ways forward. Storing the dagger and rapier away, I try to test out the weapon in my left hand, but it's just as ineffective as it was in my right hand. Although I can hold it up as a shield of sorts, I doubt I have the strength to block anything with it. A decent weapon with quite the range, but it's best spots would be fore narrow paths with enemies on it.
Moving the spear back to my right hand and taking a rest at the bonfire, decide to test out the spear first. Rising up and gripping the spear with both hands, I move out to test it out on the nearby hollows. Slaying a few hollows, and taking a few hits, I start to understand why the hollows I faced preferred to use shields with their spears, as this weapon doesn't handle well when the enemy gets to close to quickly. Moving down to where I first entered Undead Berg from, I dispatch the firebomb throwing hollow, and quickly defeat the two hollows that tried to attack me afterwards. Defeating the last hollow, an axe wielding enemy, I take a drink of Estus from my flask to mend my wounds, when I notice that the fallen hollow had a light glowing off of it after it's defeat. Pillaging it gave me a battle axe, and while I was surprised at this outcome, I decide to use it my advantage to test out the new weapon. Perhaps not the best choice to do in the middle of a weapons test, but I was feeling more then a little eager for this new weapon. Gripping the weapon with both hands, I move towards the next, and last hollow of the area. It was able to get in a quick attack, but was felled by a single horizontal strike from the battle axe. And to top it off, a light began to shine from it's fresh corpse, one that allowed me to pillage a waistcloth from it. Perhaps I could have tried hoping for something more instead of just something different.
With a desire to return to safer grounds, I move to the waterway leading back to the ruins that I once came from. Moving through the aqueduct with both hands on my new battle axe, I begin to enter the more moist side of the waterway, my boots splashing the water around as I slowly march forward, before recognizing the shape of the oversized rat. At which point, I rush forward to test out my new weapon on the pest. The rat turned around to look at me as I approached, but I snuffed out it's life with a single overhead strike. As it's souls flowed to me, I turned to exit the aqueduct, prepared to face the hollows that await me. The first one manage to hit me after I made a clumsy attempt to evade it's attack, before I bring the battle axe down with a overhead attack, striking it down with one strike, and a light began to shine off of it's now inert corpse. The rather small quarters of this area would have made the spear a preferable weapon right now, but I had no time to get it out, and the axe's attack patterns meant that, in this situation at least, only overhead attacks would even work. As another hollow rushed up to fight me, I backed away from it's long overhead attack, and countered with one of my own, the hollow falling limp under the weight of the weapon.
Pillaging the corpse's light, I find a round shield that was cracked. Storing the cracked round shield away, I continue my way down the stairs, kicking both of the corpses off of the side of the path and into the ravine below. At the bottom of the stairs, I quickly defeat the axe wielding hollow with my own battle axe, before going back around the stairs to do the same to the next hollow as it was preparing a firebomb. Though my axe was lodged into the head of the hollow, it's firebomb still blew up in my face, burning me and singing my clothes. As the smoke cleared, I could see the corpse of the hollow roll off the cliff side. Turning around, I take a drink of Estus before heading down the stairs, before going off the curve and to the ground below. After a clumsy landing, I had to quickly evade a hollow's sword. Turning around from the roll, I find the metal shield bearing hollow backing up the much lighter armed hollow. With the armored hollow's aggressive attacks providing cover for the weaker hollow, I had to wait for an opening before going in. I eventually get that opening and head to hit the lightly armored hollow with a horizontal slash. Turning to the last hollow, I swing my battle axe around to the hollow, and get greeted with a sword being driven through my chest as my axe struck it's chest plate. Putting some distance between each other, I notice the hollow going on the defensive. Recalling what they tend to do, I lunge forward with a leaping overhead strike, hitting the hollow's shield and breaking it's body with the force of the impact. The hollow goes limp, falling to the ground as the now familiar feeling of souls flow to me. Content with the work I've done, I make my way to the bonfire and take a rest, returning my Estus to a comforting glow that's much brighter then what the berg's bonfire offers.