So, i finally made it. This temple complex is impressive, much art direction:
With a Sculpor's Idol this close, i can only assume i'm near a major boss battle. So before clicking on that thing, i decide to explore the place a bit. As i turn around, i hear some strange gongs and clanking. Turns out it's just me stepping over shit:
For a couple of seconds i have some fun kicking those things around, try to create my own Gamelan tune. My retardation having been satisfied, i make a few rounds, checking out the place. Those immortal zombies appear to be all over the place. There's some goodies here and there but nothing special:
I climb up the cieling and notice the big Buddha guy is holding some loot in his hands. I land there and i'm now literally face to face with his divine majesty:
Yo, Buddha guy, mind if i take this? Turns out it is one of those Dragon Droplets. Nice, i hope i'm not gonna get bad karma for taking it. To clean up the place i'm forced to aggro a bunch of those zombies but meh, i can just rest to make them go quiet again. On my way to the Idol, i notice i can open this door, which instantly aggros those two guys out there:
So i rest up to reset it, and while i'm there i pop another Prayer Necklance, which gives me a new nugget of lore, for whatever that's worth:
Nothing left to do but bask in the atmosphere of this place for a bit. There's that cave i avoided on my way here but i'll go that way later, not sure how much more of this area i have to do. I make a quick stop at the merchant i met earlier and apparently i had just enough sens to clean up his entire invetory. Cool. Time to face the music then (well, a bell chime as it turns out):
Where in the nine hells...
Also i'm pretty sure that's not how this works (what could a fourth monkey be anyway):
Wait, what the hell is that:
Is that, is that a monkey with a kimono and spectacles?
He sees me, then runs away, leaving a trail of purple farts behind him:
I had no idea being a Buddhist involved going into acid trips like this, but ok then. I then get this thing:
I try to use it but all that happens is that the screen fades to black and i'm back here. Now a boss fight apparently has started and i guess the monkeys are the boss in question. Afar, i see one of them going beserk and making a rukus:
There's two other monkeys that have also spotted me so i'm guessing i'm gonna have to fight all three? I also see some humanoid figure. Nothing i can do but move forward and see what happens. As i do, the monkeys run away. One of them lands on a tree in front of me and just stands there looking at me:
The dude is next to me and apparently he is an NPC i can talk to. As i do, he basically explains how this whole thing works:
Well, yeah.
So essentially i am to fight the three wise monkeys, but this is a battle of wits and not brawn. The monkey with the purple kimono is the "seeing monkey" (not that his spectacles didn't give it away or anything). The one with the orange kimono is the "speaking money". Apparently his job is to give the alarm. I guess that's the one i saw banging on that gong or whatever. And then of course there's the "hearing monkey", who wears a green kimono. The last one might prove hardest since i never picked up that skill that reduces sound but i have those sugar candies for that.
He then explains why he is stuck here:
I suppose if you seek solitude and isolation you are not gonna find a better place than this, but what about the monkeys? Anyway, i gues i now know what i'm supposed to do. As i'm about to leave, he mentions one last thing:
So there's another danger i need to look out for? Maybe it's about the fourth monkey? Or is this just a bit of lore? Maybe he is talking about himself? Will i get lost in this illusion and never get out?
Anyway, so i start making my way around this place. On the left side, i see there's water coming into a room materializing out of nothing, trippy:
Every step i make seems to alert something i have a feeling this is going to be super annoying. I turn around and i see a note in the wall:
I see, so if i lure the orange monkey here it will deafen any sound he makes. I assume there's other rooms like this i can use to neutralize the other monkeys as well. So is this how this works?
I turn around and Wolf gets stuck on something and yet nothing is actually there. I look down and i see foot prints that end right where my path is blocked:
Not knowing what to do i just swing my sword and sure enough that reveals an hidden moneky. He is holding something in his hand but cannot make out what it is:
I guess this was the "fourth" monkey. There goes what i feel was supposed to be a tough secret but luck is on my side i guess. I move out of this room and i see that monkey is still on that tree, but despite all my efforts to be as quite as i possibly can, he is still able to just track me no matter what:
Just to see what happens i jump on the tree and the thing leaps away and i lose track of it. On that roof i see something else, can't make out the color i think it's orange?
I jump towards it and the thing leaps away too, but i'm able to follow it and i see he is moving next to what i presume is the "seeing" moneky:
I try to give chase again, hoping the "strategy" here isn't to chase those damn monkeys around until i catch one of them in their designated "special" rooms as that would be fucking obnoxious. The seeing monkey scatters but the orange monkey isn't as skittish as the other two. I'm still able to follow it and now it seems he has become unaware of my presence:
I manage to sneak up to it, none of the other two monkeys are anywhere near it to warn it or something like that, but he makes my position at the last second and he spawns two white ghost monkeys and then tries to make his escape. Unfortunatly for him, i manage to catch up with him:
The ghost monkeys are not hard to kill (for a brief tense moment i wondered if i had to use one of those Divine Confetti to damage them, but i guess i was being a bit paranoid), but they do terror build up so i need to be careful. They also drop healing pellets:
From afar i spot the purple monkey again and attempt to sneak up to it:
However, despite the fact he is supposed to be the "seeing" monkey he still has damn good hearing, since as soon as i try to get close to him he turns around and runs away. I guess i might have used those sound dumpening candies but i only got tree of them and don't want to risk waisting them just yet. I give the thing chase right up to that tree again and he spawns couple more of those ghost monkeys and then gives me the slip:
I leap from the tree and try to flank the thing which i'm sure is up the roof. I make a round and end up in this strange room:
I'm pretty sure i'm supposed to drag the seeing monkey here. Yeah, fat chance of that happening. I get up to the roof and of course the thing hears me and runs away again. I follow it up to that tree once more but instead of going up the roof from there i try to land on a bridge in front of me, hoping to use the roof as cover to somehow flank the damn purple monkey, but as soon as i land i see a message right in front of me:
Ok. So i turn around to check the bell and what the fuck the green monkey is right there:
Praying the gods he stays put for a second more, i ring the bell, and sure enough, he gets stunned and i quickly go in for the kill:
The music now gets more intense. Adrenaline pumping in my veins, i quickly rush to the seeing moneky and almost manage to bag him but he spawns three ghost monkeys and gives me the slip once again. I kill two of them but my terror build up was getting dangerously high so had to be careful not to get hit by the third one:
I make my way down to get my bearings for a second and now i see the message for that dark room:
Not sure how i can make this happen i'm starting to notice the thing just takes the same route, or maybe the path it takes is random and by chance i only saw the one. I make my way up there, but even without the green monkey he still has good hearing and the same shit happens again. I get really close but he is just able to track me no matter what:
He spawns three ghost monkeys again and i cannot put my hands on the damn bastard. As he flees i try to close the distance with that shuriken and quick horizontal swipe follow up but he is too fast. This is starting to piss me off. I kill two of the ghost monkeys and manage to lose the third, so i leap on a roof further away and sure enough it's in the same damn spot:
The third ghost monkey actually mamanges to catch up with me but i kill him with ease. I carefully try to sneak up on him once agan making the widest arc possible. This time i'm taking no chances i just crouch my way all around him and to my eternal relief, i actually succeed in flanking it:
One quick leap and it's now all over, fuck yeah:
Everything goes black for a second than hear a voice:
Ho, i recognize this voice. That's the "lady" that gave me that warning in the Buddha tapestry the first time i set foot here. Apparently, it was not a lady but the Divine Child. In insight i should have known.
Nice, time to meet this child then. As soon as the cinematic ends i'm awarded a memory and a new skill:
Can't believe this monkey puzzle was a "major" boss fight, but i guess every FromSoft game has to have one of these (like the Ice Snake in Armored Core 6 more recently). I'm looking at that Ninjutsu skill and now i think i get it. We'll soon see if i'm correct.
Anyway, yeah fat chance i'm going back there lmao:
I now see the child! First thing, i rest on the Idol and unlock the memory, which opens up an extra bit of lore, and it is now time to talk to this kid:
