So after killing that coked out bitch, i get a Prayer Bead as a reward. I check my character screen and my Vitality is at 19. This means that if the game wants me to end up with an even 20 i'm going to have to fight three more mini-bosses after this. Lol, so much for this being the end of the game. I now decide to check the Ashina Castle by following this dojo and emerge out of the secret wall partition:
I was preparing myself for battle with the two blue samurai but they aren't there anymore. Just like last time the Castle was invaded, things are a little different now:
I go check upstairs and it seems i'm gonna have to rediscover all the Sculptor's Idols in turn, one by one:
This guy hasn't moved it seems, heh:
I make my way up through the window and i guess i really have to do this, revisit all the Idols one by one:
There's really no logical reason why Wolf would be doing this too, but i'm not gonna miss out on loot and bosses just because of muh roleplaying.
Alright let's see what's going on inside the Castle. I sneak around, and at first it seems like the ninjas and the samurai are in cahoots:
I drop on a ninja with a deathblow and figure i may have to redo this several times, just kill one, nope out of there and do it again, but it seems the samurai and the ninjas aren't working toghether, i just didn't trigger the script that makes them fight one another by coming from this side first. But as soon as i drop down, they begin their battle:
I figure i might as well go activate the Scultor's Idol on this level and then come back to finish off whoever is left. There's a ninja on the way where the blue samurai used to be:
He is no problem though and i activate the Idol without an issue. When i come back i see they are still at it:
It's funny that the samurai could barely damage any of the ninjas but if i had to fight one i'd rather fight the ninjas. For some reason the samurai always manage to trip me up. After the samurai dies i take care of the ninja and i now have the place for myself:
That's a cool looking map why didn't i notice this before:
I find nothing else of note up here so i make it down. No Ogre this time, but there's a bunch of Santa Claus ninjas down there:
I kill one with a leap deathblow:
And i take on the other but i don't know if i just forgot how they work or if they updated their move sets since he almost kicks my ass, but eventually i prevail:
I go check outside but the battle is raging and no way i'm going to get involved in this, i'll come back later and deal with the survivours instead lol:
There's new loot here too this means i'm going to have to redo this entire area for the third time now. This is kinda of bullshit to be honest:
I decide to check in the back first where things appear to be more quiet. There's a Santa Claus dofus laying in ambush around the corner:
So long bitch:
I don't know who he was trying to ambush though as there's nobody here except wounded soldiers or some that are cowering in fear:
I go check in the back if things settled down a bit and good grief:
Fuuuuuuck that shit lol. I bolt the fuck out of there and run towards the bridge to clear aggro, where i chance upon this guy again. I remember killing him, but i guess in this game's canon he is still alive, still being conflicted by his greed going counter of his Buddhist beliefs:
Not to worry bro, i got the solution to your dilemma (again):
I continue on this side and it seems the monkeys are back, and i guess they got pissed they got slaughtered by the ninjas last time as apparently they have called for reinforcements:
I flank the first group, around five monkeys, three with weapons, and take them out without much issue:
But as i turn around i come on a much more complex situation. There's an entire group of armed monkeys, around four sword monkeys, one rifle monkey and to make it even more fun two of those dreaded samurai monkeys, all fighting with some wolves. I can't see any ninjas in there though, and after the fight ends i check the situation:
Not much else i can do here but rely on my trusty whistle:
After this all hell break loose, and in the chaos i manage to charm the other samurai white monkey, and after they make short order of the rest of the group, it's now a battle to the death between them:
Eventually one of them succumbs, and the other goes straight for me, but even though i sort of forgot their moves, he has so little health left it doesn't take much to kill him:
Man look at this massacre:
Killing the white monkeys gives me a Jinzo babby statue. I activate the Sculptor's Idol and look around, but apparently that was that so i move to the next section:
This whole side down here appears to be deserted, i guess everybody moved up front to try to stop the Interior Ministry's advance:
How they managed to rebuild the bridge is anyone's guess. While i'm taking those shots i notice that Nightjar guy is actually sort of moving, so i go check it out, turns out he is still alive and has something to say:
Yeah what exactly am i supposed to do here take on the entire Interior Ministry army?
At this point i start hearing combat noises and i see the script that makes the Ashina forces go into battle has kicked in:
While they are slaughtering each other, i check this place out. More rats, does it mean...
Sure enough, the racoon dude has finally made it here, but it appears he isn't doing so good:
Wolf asks what happened.
I'm guessing he is talking about Kuro.
Once he dies, his body gets a little glow but i can't loot anything:
After trying a couple of times, i decide maybe i need to port out and come back, but whatever it was it's gone now:
Man did he really take all those by himself?
Eventually i decide to google it, and apparently you were supposed to
hold the interact button, not just press it. In hindsight it was obvious but it was late and i guess i was kinda tired and my brain wasn't working right. The reward for his entire quest line was just a one time use consumable. Useless, but it sorts of bothers me that i missed it like this. The text does add some extra flavor to the story through. Taken from a shot i found on google:
So i guess the gist of it is that in memory of his son, he decided to give up his life to save Kuro. It's too bad some of the poignancy was lost by failing to loot the item but i still gotta salute the Badger for his bravery even if he managed to fuck me twice out of an item, first by leaving before i had the chance to buy it, then by making me miss this baloon by changing the way how NPC items are looted for no apparent reason. So long my short friend, for whatever that's worth.
I now check the bridge, man, what a massacre:
I creep up and see one of the guards is still alive:
Ok, so what am i supposed to do now, take on the Interior Ministry attack force?
I suppose i could just make my way by porting to that Idol:
But this still feels wrong. Wolf should logically go straight for Kuro i don't understand am i really supposed to save Ashina by myself now? I think i better go check to see what's going on near the secret passage in the Ashina Reservoir, but upon porting to the Abandoned Dungeon it seems the way was blocked this whole time:
Ok, so i guess i gotta drop down from the top of the Ashina Caste after all. Before trying that, i think maybe i can port to that Idol in the Ashina Outskirts past that new bridge and see just how much of this game is still left on that side before moving towards the ending. To my dismay though, all the Sculptor's Idols in the Ashina Outskirts are grayed out too now:
All i can do is port to the Dilapidated Temple. Once there i go straight for the merchant as i assume something must have changed with him too:
He then says this:
I go check and he is indeed gone, and it seems he is gone for the rest of the game since by interacting with his tools allows Wolf to make his own prosthetic upgrades:
I go check if i can enter the Ashina Outskirts from here, but the way is no longer there:
Just what the hell is going on here. I make it back to the bridge while the battle is still raging:
And while everybody is distracted i dash to the other side and just make it to the Idol. So i guess i'm supposed to redo the entire Ashina Outskirts from here:
Behind me there's a barricade so i guess there's only one way in now:
Man, to think i thought i was about done with this game lol.
I guess the only way i can justify this lore wise is that there's no point in helping Kuro if Ashina falls. Even if i succeed in severing the Dragon's Heritage he'll just be taken by the Interior Ministry and both him and Emma might end up dead anyway, and all this would have been for nothing. I guess there's gonna be more progress updates after this. Fuck lol.