Alright, it's time to get out of this temple with all those depressing corrupt monks and dirty dicks or what have you. First off, let's take this rice thing to the Old Hag:
Now i have no idea what the voice actress was trying to do here. She starts making what appears to be meditation noises, but the captions say she is munching the rice and then apparently she has fallen asleep. Well, if the game says so. While sleeping, she now chants this nonsense:
While i'm wrapping my brain around this, i take another look to what she was pointing at earlier. If the Blackhat Badger wants to fly there with the kite i assume i should be able to do the same too.
Before going to see what my racoon buddy has to say about this (i think i have an idea already but it seems a little crazy so i'm not sure), i went to visit the child whom apparently was a girl the whole time, but she says the "harvest" isn't ready yet and she can't give me any more rice. Not sure if i lost this item forever or if i just have to wait a while.
Either way, i go talk to my racoon friend, making a brief stop to Kotaro to see if something changed in his dialog. Nope, he still wants me to "spirit" him away, whatever that means. No option to send him over the polite merchant yet. Not sure if i'll get it down the line or if maybe i had to give him the Red and White Pinwheel for that option to become available. Can you lock yourself out of some quests by chosing others in this game? Only way to find out is to keep playing i guess.
So i get to the racoon dude, and tell him what the old crone said to me, and he basically spells it out:
You can't?
Yeah i guess it was kind of obvious this is what she was talking about but i'm disappointed the game doesn't let you mull it over for a while before basically handing you the answer. Alright, time to bend the little guy to my will:
Hahaha, this was kinda of funny. Alright, so what's the plan now:
It's cool ain't it?
Don't worry, Wolf doesn't say much on the outside besides his sardonic ellipsis but on the inside he thinks this shit is hysterical.
No problem bro, see ya later. You still own me that skill text i didn't get a chance to buy, don't forget.
Now in most FromSoft games, you can usually just advance a quest by resting or traveling and talking to the NPC again, but i've always preferred doing something else to make it look like some time has actually passed so i'll come back to see if he managed to fly across the ravine later.
So first off, i need to spend some skill points as i got a ton. I check out that new esoteric text i looted but it doesn't seem that interesting. I pick the first skill out of necessity, some kind of combat art:
There's a skill that increases drop rate of sens and items which is completely pointless and then an upgrade to the combat art i just picked. Not sure if it's there anything good down the line i'm guessing more kung fu oriented skills or combat arts. I guess this is more about flavor than anything else so for now i'll leave it at this.
Next, i pick the following two skills:
I'm getting a ton of milage out of that shuriken + sword swipe combo and i think adding a similar follow up to the other prosthetics could be fun as well. The Spear and Axe are situational weapons but they are pretty much mandatory when the need arises so it's going to be nice to have a follow up attack. As for the Umbrella, since my next stop after this is the Sunken Valley and i know for a fact i'm going to face those Okami women sharpshooters i think it's going to get some use as well. In fact, i then decided to pick the next upgrade for the prosthetic itself:
While here, i'm given the option to give the Monkey Booze to the Sculptor but i haven't given Emma anything to drink yet and i'm curious to get some of her backstory. I'm not sure if it makes a difference what kind of drink you give to who, but i haven't seen any hints in this reguard so i'm going to have to go blind on this. So i gave her the booze:
And she almosts chokes to death lmao:
Ho shit did i make a mistake? She knew what it was though and still took it so it's her fault don't look at me. As i suspected, each "kind" of booze opens up a different kind of memory, as she now starts prattling about monkeys:
Oh?
Ok, maybe it was a mistake to give her the Monkey Booze after all.
Actually, to think of it i do. I mean i just had a spat with a monkey wearing a kimono and spectacles so why shouldn't i believe this? By all means, do go on:
Keep going.
Wolf tries to suggest maybe it was an ape. Maybe this is another localization problem, as i'm not sure why he would say this given there's no difference? Anyway:
What a nice "monkey", hey?
100% it was the Sculptor. You ain't fooling me game. I'm also sure Wolf trying to suggest it was an "ape" rather than a "monkey" relates to some meaning inherent in the Japanese word for "ape" that doesn't translate, something that would suggest this is a person, not a literal monkey.
Anyway, time to report to Kuro about the Mortal Blade:
Yes, it is, the Mortal Kombat Blade:
I then tell him about the Child of the Rejuvenating Waters:
He is perplexed at my mention of there being another "Divine Child", so i explain the corruption of the monks in the Senpou Temple, and the grotesque and deviated means by which they sought to obtain immortality which ended up greating this parody of the Dragon's Heritage:
He is confused at my mention of there being Divine "Children". I have to reveal the full extend of the monstrosity committed by the monks:
More like hundreds, judging from the number of graves i've seen there. For Kuro, this only reinforces his belief reguarding the dangers of this power of resurrection:
Indeed.
It's time to report to Isshin as well now. He sees the sword, and inquires if the "rumors" were true, so i explain to him that indeed they were:
He infers only one such as myself, one possessing the power of resurrection, can wield the sword then. I explain to him what happened to me when i attempted to draw the blade from its sheath the first time:
He then says something that is very disturbing to me:
The undying? Ho no, no no no no.
Does Isshin know something about this?
With a heavy heart, i now brace myself to peform a task i knew was inevitable but had forgotten:
Nooooo, not the friendly zombie guy.
He asks what kind of sword it is. I have no choice but to tell him that it is the Mortal Blade:
I knew this day would come but i still don't feel ready for it. At the last second, i have a sudden change of heart:
The way the voice actor says "no" a second time is heart-wrenching. Doesn't translate in a screenshot, but you know what it is:
He acquiescences, but i can see the pain in his eyes, and asks me to do him this favor if i ever change my mind:
I now come to the realization that this has to be. I can see the pain this curse has inflicted on him, and i'm doing him no favor by allowing him to endure this torment for eternity. Regretting my moment of weakness, i now steel myself and approach him again:
With firm determination, i tell him i agree. To live like this, to see yourself rot every day, it is not a fate befitting a warrior!
After thanking me for my decision, he asks for a merciful quick death:
Of course!
Sekijo sounds so close to Sekiro i just couldn't wait but had to google it:
"Sekiro stands for “
One Armed Wolf” Sekijou stands for One Armed Shojo, a yokai or spirit of sorts which has been over time associated with the orangutan, thus meaning “
One Armed Orangutan“"
I know i said i was going to do this blind, but since this is about a word play that would make sense for a Japanese person but cannot be translated, i figured the game wasn't going to tell me about it and i wouldn't have known this any other way. So Sekijo is the Sculptor's "shinobi" name, probably given to him by Isshin. This all confirms that the "monkey" in the memory of Emma was the Sculptor after all. I go talk to the Sculptor about this, but he has nothing to say unfortunatly.
To "simulate" some passing of time in the proper way, i go check out if my racoon buddy made it accross the ravine after all. Apparently he is still there. Now i'm a bit confused. I got check the kite mechanism, but the rat dude isn't there anymore:
I go talk to the old hag again, but she keeps saying the same thing. I glance towards the snake skin once more, there has to be a way to do this, right:
I figured maybe the racoon guy hasn't left because there's that monk looking over the collapsed bridge. So i kill him, but nothing chances. After wrecking my brain for longer than i want to admit, and going back and forth between the kite mechanism, the racoon guy, and the old crone, i finally see it lol:
You motherfuckers lmao:
Ok, time to do this. Weeeee:
I land on a ledge and loot one of those illusion dispelling consumables. Aside for Lady Butterfly, i haven't found further use of them but i guess something up ahead will force me to pop a few. Time to make the next jump yoooooo:
Ayyyeee:
After this Tarzan shit, i finally make it. Fuck you game:
I'm pretty sure this is the closest i've ever gotten to the skybox in this game:
I now finally see the racoon dude:
Ye ye can you open shop again? You still own me a skill text.
I ask him if has done what he was supposed to do here. He says yes. I glance at those statues he is facing and Wolf asks him whose "grave" is this. So that's what those things are. He replies by telling me this is the tomb of his son:
He explains further:
Was his son one of the victims of the monks as well?
Now somehow i knew this was coming, but instead of opening up shop here, he says he is now moving back to Ashina. Fine, fine, i'll see you there. He leaves with a word of warning about Ashina being overrun by rats. Like i didn't know that already.
Until next time then dude. I now continue to follow this path, and end up on another impasse:
Of course, i had to try lol:
Predictably, it didn't end well. I guess the significance of this is that whenever i come across that bridge while traversing the Sunken Valley, i'll likely have an encounter with that big snake.
Alright, i think i've been postponing this long enough. Time to keep my promise. On my return, it seems Hanbei has indeed made all the preparations he needed for his final journey:
Wonder if the game will revail who is he talking about here:
He says no more than this, so i ask him if he really wants to go through with it:
I still esitate for a brief second, but it has to be now or never:
With one fluid motion, i deliver my merciful killing blow, and the horrific extend of what the curse was doing to him is now finally revealed:
Upon dying, he drops this. I wonder how many times he tried to use it:
So long friendly trainer zombie guy, and i hope you were able to fly straight to Buddhist heaven. You were my first guide in this game's combat system, and you will always have a spot in my heart.
