Alright, after taking out a guard that foolishly walked out of the gate towards me, i circle back and it's now time to take out that cannon dude!
Covertly making my approach, i cannot help but admire his... well endowed ballistic instrument (i know ya'll were thinking it so i figured i might as well just get it out of the way):
Alas, he did not know that rogues do it from behind!
(erm, could also be that he was waiting for that the whole time. I better move on i think)
After dispatching the remaining guards, who apparently were just having a silent or mock conversation:
(so not every guard i see talking has a conversation you can hear, good to know)
i press forward, only to be confronted with what appears to be another little hidden throve of goodies:
Getting down there was slightly trickier than usual, and not entirely sure what the significance of this little guy is but i'm sure i'll find out soon enough (maybe):
After looting some item discovery consumables (noticed enemies drop random consumables wonder if they also drop something else), i suddenly realize this is no mere hidden spot but an alternative path. Going forward, i stop in my tracks when i encounter something that sends shivers down my spine:
I now regret coming down this way and i'm not at all eager to meet whatever it is that shed its skin and left it hanging here. With a sense of dread, i push forward:
Until i come to an impasse of sort. In the distance, i see further shrines, but my immediate attention is focused on this game's first actual difficult jump:
I guess every FromSoft game has to have one and by some miracle i manage to clear this one without plunging down the cliff (my first death in Dark Souls 2 came after failing to make that stupid jump in the tutorial lmao. Likewise in Dark Souls 1 my first death after hitting the Firelink Shrine came after failing to make the jump onto the underbelly of the bridge. Always felt i was cursed with this shit but i guess the curse has been lifted).
Looking ahead i spot some ugly mofo chained down with two guards in front of him:
Fairly certain he is a boss, but as i turn around i glimpse something in the corner of my eye, and lo, a Sculptor's Idol! Praise the light!
Filled with new confidence, i drop down, ready to make my way toward the guards, when something else catches my eye, and apparently it's a ghostly memory of Kuro and Emma:
It seems Kuro and Emma are also of Hirata, as was the blinded man i met earlier:
And it's all connected to this Dragon's Heritage:
As i contemplate this i decide to make a covert approach towards the guards and the chained boss, and sure enough, true to tradition when it comes to Ashina, the guards just drop a big clue on how to defeat the boss:
Feeling brave, i decide to try to get a closer look, but as soon as i kill the guards the boss starts making scary noises:
Not feeling like dying in nasty ways, i decide to bravely turn my tail and flee. Not having at all soiled my armor, and as i beat my very brave retreat, i chance to spot something familiar over yonder, and sure enough, it appears to be another merchant!
This one, apparently, claims to have seen me on that fateful night, which is fortunate for him, since he appears to be not at all a merchant, but a merchant to be, being broke and able to trade only in information.
He narrates a tale where he talks of raiding the Hirata estate as part of a group of thieves at a time in which the Hirata clan must have been engaged in war, and he claims to have seen me there, looking for "something", the irony not being "lost" on the game:
I guess Wolf is just constantly losing shit, whether it's moon children or who knows what else.
After dropping a few more coins into his empty coffers, he trades another tibit of information, something which i'm sure has no relation to what was just mentioned by the guards earlier:
With this, i decide to take my leave and head back to the Dilapidated Temple, to collect myself and prepare for the imminent battle with the chained demon. There, i am informed my friendly zombie trainer has new techniques he'd like to share, which is sure to come handy for the imminent battle.
I then turn to Emma and ask her about the ghostly vision i just encountered, but apparently my Sekiro must have lost some brain cells when he was resurrected because he starts asking very stupid questions like where is Kuro (you were just told earlier and spend the last entire day breaching the very place he is being held in. what the hell):
Yeah, apparently i'm a brainlet now. Or perhaps i always was which is likely the reason i keep looking for shit i lose.
Likely overtaken by pity, Emma plays along with my stupidity and starts giving me very obvious pieces of informaition. Like, Kuro is being held at the Ashina Castle (she JUST told me that earlier. It was the entire point of my last mission). I also tell her that i died, heard Kuro's voice in my brain, and was alive again, upon which she starts to explain in excruciating detail what resurrection means to Wolf. Wolf apparently doesn't believe its possible, despite having gone through the very thing, as Emma in frustration tries to tell him:
Unable to continue further, finding my new condition unbearable to behold, she tries to distract me by changing subject and talk about that nice little bell i got:
Isn't it pretty? It makes ring ring noises! She then tells me to be a good child and just take that shit to the Sculptor so i can get out of her face.
So i head inside to talk to Lyric Suite, i mean the Sculptor, who promply gives me an esoteric book:
(i guess now i understand what the bar was that kept filling after killing enemies) and after mentioning the true Sculptor again he tells me to go pray, which i do:
But after i wake up from my meditations i discover the old man shanghaied me into a completely new place, probably something he plotted with Emma to get rid of me and my mental infirmity. I guess the chained demon will have to wait!
