Maneuvering my body as I fell, I stabbed my sword into the side of the cliff, stones and rock were carved out from my greatsword as I plummeted down, all the while slowing my fall to a near halt. From the corner of my vision, I saw a nearby cliff side to my left; it was just near enough for me to jump over to, thus as I ceased falling with my greatsword still in the cliffside, I leapt towards the nearby cliff while taking with me my weapon.
I landed into a roll, and stuck my landing while keeping my grip on my sword, I breathed a sigh of relief.
"No runes came from his death or message popping up saying Sir Willem died…yeah, I think he survived too…maybe I can find him in the lower depths of the castle or something! No way I want to start this game all over!"
That was good, I don't want to think what it will feel like if this whole save file with me in it is deleted…at best, I'd probably be put back in the tutorial area to wait for the player again.
Shaking my head to rid the negative thoughts, I picked myself up off the ground and moved forward, seeing the ledge I landed on lead upwards towards a bit of a hole. I clung to the cliffside while walking along the ledge, before eventually I made it to the hole.
Nudging myself through the tight crevice, I slid through the opening in the cliffside that looked like it definitely led into the lower parts of Stormveil castle.
Before long, I was able to walk out through another hole, that led to where there were a few small rats and one big one; the place looked familiar enough that led me to realize that I did indeed make it into the lowermost parts of the castle.
From what I remember, this was supposed to be where an Ulcerated Tree Spirit would be, further passed the rats and beetle.
Hopping down with a soft landing into the ground, I immediately picked myself up to face against the rats; the enemies themselves spotted me, before scurrying over to leap and attack.
With my greatsword at the ready, I swung it down as the first incoming rat, cleaving it dead through the skull, before bringing my sword back up; stepping forward, I struck my sword out at the next incoming rat, it was another simple affair of swinging my greatsword sideways to cleave my weapon through the skull of the rat, sending it sprawling along the ground dead.
Before long, the larger rat soon came from around the wooden ruins that occupied the area, its eyes gleamed at me as it scurried forward, it mouth open to attack me with its bite; bringing my greatsword back into a piercing position, I thrusted it forward with force to impale the giant rat through its mouth and out the top of its skull.
The giant rat's movements ceased, letting me kick its body off from my sword and swung it to the side to sling the blood off from my blade.
I nodded to myself, at a job well done, all that mattered now, was to wait for the player down here.
It was a fair bit of a while, less than an hour at the very least, as I waited while sitting atop a stone; with my greatsword stabbed into the ground and my hands resting on the pummel, I heard the distinct sound of footsteps and jumping, bringing my attention upwards.
"If I'm fortunate chat, he might be down here. If not, I'll have to look into the mod description on possible places he might be…"
I looked up to see, indeed, the player was making his way down. He hopped his character from one platform to another, before pausing, no doubt angling his camera to look down for a look.
"Chat! He's down there! Omigosh!"
Watching as the player finally made his way down, the character jogged up to me before a prompt was up for him to select, saying "you're alive!". The playing selected the prompt, getting me to nod at him.
"Hail, tarnished lord." I intoned with some regret, "I am fortunate you won against Margott, I am sorry to say I failed to help you during that fight!" I declared, before picking myself up from the rock to stand up in front of the player, "But worry not!"
I pounded my fist against my breastplate, "I swear, by my oath to you, I shall help the rest of the way through the castle." I announced with fervor.
"Well, at least there's no way he can fall out of the map against the Ulcerated tree, not sure about Godrick though. Haven't seen Nepheli's npc character have trouble through the whole fight."
Shortly after, another prompt popped up, saying "Come with me, we shall fight together through the castle!"
The player once again selected the prompting, earning a nod from me, "Very good! I expect nothing less than from my Tarnished lord! Forgiving, and just as well willing to take me with him into battle!" I declared boisterously while withdrawing my greatsword from out of the ground.
"Alight, let's get going chat, we got a whole game to play with this guy!"
The player started running his character off towards where the Ulcerated Tree spirit was, with me running after the player.
Before long, the both of us reached the ledge where the arena was, with me stepping forward with the player down to the arena. As the both of us stood up, I chose to speak, "Be wary, Tarnish, rumors say there lives something vile down here…and something more…ungodly…" I warned.
Not a moment sooner, from out of the ground littered with puddles, the aforementioned enemy itself emerged from out of the ground, roaring while doing so. While it curled up and stood on its front hands, I charged forward first, "By the honor I must restore upon myself, be felled by my blade fowl beast!" I yelled.
"Let's fucking go chat!"
Behind me, the player also charged in, going by the running footsteps I heard behind me.
As I reached the Ulcerated Tree spirit, I swung my greatsword down, damaging it some, right before the player followed up with his character's axe. The enemy roared as it dove over our heads, and circled around to whip its tail at us.
I quickly turned to block with my greatsword, my feet dragged against the ground while feeling some pain from the weight of the tail having been slapped against me; the player on the other hand rolled through the tail whip and charged in with another axe strike.
The enemy roared as it dived again to the other side of the arena, and began to whip its body around to lunge at the player with its mouth gaped open to bite the player into its maw; I myself ran forward to jumped and stab my greatsword into the side of the ulcerated tree spirit's face, "By my tarnished lord's honor, I shall not let ye lay a fang on the lord!"
"Chat, he's doing it again, he latched onto the enemy!"
The ulcerated tree spirit roared as it tried to buck me off from its face while my great sword was still plunged into its face, "rrrrggghh!" I grunted in frustration, handing onto the handle of my sword as the enemy slammed its head down into the ground to try and fling me off.
I kept my grip on my sword, and as it reared its head up again, I pulled my sword out to leap up out of the air to land atop the monster's back while impaling my sword into its back, "Tarnish lord, it's preoccupied with me, strike it while you can!" I yelled out, not wanting to steal the spotlight for the player.
"Oh let's go!"
Charging forward, the player's character ran forward while the tree spirit was busy trying to buck me off its back; right as the player swung his axe down at the enemy, the ulcerated tree spirit rolled along its stomach and to its back, making me pull out my sword and jump off to land beside the player.
While the enemy roared in pain from us attacking in such a manner, I charged forward again with my Sword raise, "It's almost finished, Tarnish lord!" I announced, while getting the player to charge in with me.
As one, the both of us attacked at once at the ulcerated tree spirit while it tried to right itself up, it arched in a death roaring pain as the two of us attacked its hide. While the Tree spirit dissipated in its death, I raised my sword up in celebration, "Tis a fine battle! My honor is restored, and now, I must face my former lord with my new one, Tis a glorious battle indeed!"
"That's still cool he can latch onto enemies like that!"