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Well, out of popular demand, i decided to keep my shit off the main thread lmao. Actually, since my Sekiro let's play, i found it rather convenient to have all my stuff well ordered with links and everything. Every time i want to find a video on my youtube channel to show somebody it takes me like 5 minutes of shuffling through pages it's a bit annoying, so i'm gonna shove all my stuff here mostly for my own convenience so if i have to find something all i have to do is come back here.
Oh yes, i finally got this shit, for 30 euros off some site or something. 30 euros is what i actually paid for Sekiro but hey, not bad all considered. Let it commence!
BTW, i'm just gonna copy and paste the prelimatory post i made in the thread:
They did it once in DS2 too. I mean not the missable summon sign, but the NPC you need to summon to further his quest (which is annoying if you don't want to use summons during boss fights).
Anyway, this thread is now my Elden Ring blog again. Deal with it figgits. Finally decided to go with this for the DLC:
All weapons and armors will be found gear for however long i feel like doing it, but i'm going to go all out with talismans, spells and ashes of war right off the bat because i enjoy the variety and strategic aspect of those things. This is about the fun not doing any kind of challenge. I just thought since i ended up with the frenzy ending i may just enter the DLC as a crazed lunatic, running around naked just spreading madness everywhere. The idea is that eventually i'll regain my sanity over time and possibly end up with a full holy build we'll see.
This is basically a jack of all trades kind of set up that can hit all the various soft caps in turn with the right equipment combination plus Godrick's Rune i guess (so if i'm using a dex weapon, i can maximize dex and so forth). This was made for multiplayer (so i could try all sorts of things. Not optimal but it allowed me to use a variety of styles) and i don't plan of moving out of SL150 (unless the DLC changes the PvP meta, which i doubt. I actually think i should have capped it at SL125 given my experience with the PvP), so i'm going to just finish the DLC like this.
So anyway i get to Mohg's place and now there's some wombyn waiting for me. I'm guessing the DLC is available as soon as you kill him (probably will have to port back to find the woman there, in typical FromSoft style), like we all predicted two years ago. So i click on the hand and now i'm locked away in the DLC with no way to escape from it. Noice, i'm glad i took care of everything before jumping in.
Of course, i can't make two steps in this fucker suddenly shows up, doing helicopter moves and probably enraging 90% of the playerbase right off the bat. At first i try to zap him with the Cyclops laser eye thing but despite stacking every talisman i basically take like 5% of his life. So there goes my plan of playing with "found" weapons. I guess enemies in this DLC are basically scaled for late game. I had to whip out Vyke's War Spear (which is at +9 somber btw) just to have any hope of killing him. His damage is also obscene, exactly like all the late game areas of the base game.
After sparring with him (or her whatever) it turns out it's not so bad after all. He has one super spinny move that's basically just all show. If you stand close to him, you literally take no damage except at specific moments (three or four of them in total), so it's basically a matter of just remembering the timing for those. The rest is the typical Elden Ring trick moves that aren't too difficutly once you learn what they are.
Looking at this thing's mask it seems they must be related to the omen, which would probably explain the spazzy moveset. If Margit had an army of people it would be those guys.
BTW, i don't know if they did something or if it's because i switched to Windows 11 but the game is more unstable than it used to be. I had several crashes, including one i had never seen before (related to the anti-cheat), which didn't go away until i restarted my computer.
So the DLC has a completely different array of plants to collect. Just killed some kind of robot chicken. I got scared for a second after the first encounter with that spazzy omen guy, but it's an easy enemy, not even remotely close to the crows. That frenzy laser beam actually did good damage on that one, so i can resume trying to make may way with a caster setup. I thought frenzy spells were just weak maybe, but it was just that one guy who was extra tanky.
I also noticed there's special, DLC only upgrades not just for you but also your summons. So people who rely on stuff like the mimic tear need special upgrades for that as well.
So i tried the staff to see if there was some co-op going and i got summoned to Malenia. I think the "far" option in the staff is a bit too far lmao. I then found a summoning pool but, it's PvP. Meh.
Alright, this guy was definitely annoying. He can basically track you around so it's not easy to just roll fu through his attacks and it's definitely almost impossible to get a backstab (i think i did it once). He can be parried and i did it a few times but it's too incosistent and getting caught in any of his combos was instant death for me, which made it too stressful to try. The most safe option was to use trusting weapons, especially since he can be staggered before he can launch in any of his attacks (probably by design, this being his general weakness). I took the opportunity to use that talisman that enhances thrusting attacks. Not sure if it did anything as i'm still not sure how it actually works but i can't think of a better opportunity to test it than this guy:
Of course he ruins the finisher by getting hyperarmor at the last second, fucker (i was expecting him to try to heal but nope lol).
BTW there's something wierd going on about his pathing. Every time he gets near that tomb or whatever those things are he starts going to the sides and then walks backwards. At first i thought it was just jank but i wonder if it's actually written that way. Don't know what those graves are but there could be some "meaning" behind the guy backtracking as soon as he gets close to one.
He drops some claws which run this description:
"Weapon in the form of a carnivorous beast's vicious claws. Used to perform bestial slashing attacks uncanny to humankind. An imitation of the esoteric technique of the horned warriors. Those who carry this weapon wield it as though they have been possessed by a savage beast."
I'm guessing the "esoteric technique" in question, and the "horned warriors" are in reference to that helicopter omen guy i met earlier (which, not incidentally, is perched on top of one of those very graves when you first see him). Also in the town with the ghosts of the burned up peasants there's wooden sticks with claws tied into them. We'll see if any of this means anything.
Frenzy incantations are pretty cool but only this one feels practical and at best all you gonna get is an initial kill shot, unless the enemy is as slow as this one.
The thing dropped some big hammer, which has this description:
"Weapon of the Black Knights, servants of Messmer the Impaler. Greathammer of black steel with decorative embellishments in gold. Blessed with an Erdtree incantation. Further holy imbuement will amplify the effect and greatly increase the armament's power. Guard Counters cause a burst of power."
Too bad i can't access the blacksmith so i can't try it out yet. Guards be sleeping like they did in the Haligtree. Now i wonder what's the connection between Marika and Messmer.
Oh, btw, was Gough around when this happened?
So far the scenery is great but this spirit cemetary area is kinda of barren, doesn't compare to how great Limgrave was. I'm also contemplating NOT using the Scadutree fragments i found in this church.
Ok, this was just tedium. Uploading it anyway so i can delete the local file:
I also like how twice during the fight my stupid controller decided to unplug itself which made the game start stuttering. What a nice thing to happen on a boss that takes five minutes to kill and can one shot you at any point. Turns out the batteries were going out. Anyway:
So the description of the thing you get just keeps mentioning those horn guys:
"A smaller imitation of the furnace golem's visage. Material used for crafting items. Exceedingly rare to find. A stone mask surrounded by curled horns, depicting the fell god of fire that haunts the sagas of the hornsent."
The ghost dude also mentions revenge and a curse being put on Messmer and all the children of Marika. I need to refresh my lore on the omen to see where this is going. Their purge was definitely brutal, with that giant effigy just throwing scores of people into its furnace:
This are the "claws" (actually horns) i was talking about, btw:
Nice romanesque in this place too:
I'm guessing before the curse the omens were just normal humans if the above is anything to go by.
This place yielded what i think is the first impressive drop in this DLC:
Like, hot damn. Also that bit about ending the suffering of a compatriot. Guess the hornsent were persecuted on top of being murdered.
Some beauty shot of the shadow tree, and also that withered tree that i'm sure sprouted from the dead bodies buried under the field:
BTW, are those columns holding up the sky or something:
Tomorrow i'm gonna try kill that try hard ghost guy in the mausoleum (i checked him out in co-op and he is an handful). I was looking if there was a merchant around for me to unload all my runes but i guess i'm just fated to lose them all. I wonder at what point i'm allowed to return to the base game.
Tomorrow i'm gonna try kill that try hard ghost guy in the mausoleum (i checked him out in co-op and he is an handful). I was looking if there was a merchant around for me to unload all my runes but i guess i'm just fated to lose them all. I wonder at what point i'm allowed to return to the base game.
I'm pretty sure you can return whenever you want, just push RB on the map and it will change to The Lands Between and you can teleport to any site of grace there.
That Furnace Gollem really sucks. It's not difficult to fight, just tedious. There are quicker ways to kill them in later encounters, though
you have to use special consumables you can craft
Also, there are some other cool little details on the models, there's one at the top of the leg where it joins the basket (easily noticeable at around 2:12 or so on your video) and something poking out of the basket under the left arm (around 20 seconds in)
The only thing i liked about it is that i actually got to use that tear that helps breaking enemy stances. I always found it sort of useless before but here i think it probably helped shave off a whole minute from the fight. At the very least his legs broke very quickly at the start of the fight it's too bad the effect is so short.
Tomorrow i'm gonna try kill that try hard ghost guy in the mausoleum (i checked him out in co-op and he is an handful). I was looking if there was a merchant around for me to unload all my runes but i guess i'm just fated to lose them all. I wonder at what point i'm allowed to return to the base game.
I'm pretty sure you can return whenever you want, just push RB on the map and it will change to The Lands Between and you can teleport to any site of grace there.
Tomorrow i'm gonna try kill that try hard ghost guy in the mausoleum (i checked him out in co-op and he is an handful). I was looking if there was a merchant around for me to unload all my runes but i guess i'm just fated to lose them all. I wonder at what point i'm allowed to return to the base game.
I'm pretty sure you can return whenever you want, just push RB on the map and it will change to The Lands Between and you can teleport to any site of grace there.
^ I probably would have gotten half way through the DLC before figuring it out lol.
Anyway, the plot thickens!
~ Part 5 ~
First off, here's the Hornsent people wearing their horns, next to them a tree (but not the Erdtree):
I don't know if that's supposed to be the Haligtree. I'm going out of a limb and assume the Hornsent people were from the time of the Crucible though, because of the horns.
So here's what i'm assuming right now. Marika had to stamp out the Hornsent people because she needed to weed out all traces of the Crucible in order to impose her new Golden Order. In order to accomplish this, she enlisted the aid of Messmer, who proceeded to just turn all the Horn people into cinder. At the camp near the Church of "Consolation" (i asume build after the massacre, hence the name), you see Messmer's crest or banner:
That's kinda on the nose. There's a fire symbol on one side, and a ring on the other, i guess signifying Messmer and Marika respectively. There's a spear in the middle (Messmer the "impaler"), with a coiled something, looks a tree branch or vine (Miquella?). And of course what looks like a burning city.
So Marika used Messmer to destroy the Hornsent people, for a "time" anyway, as the blessing you find near the church states:
"Marika once created several of these physicks for Messmer's sake.
But never again."
I assume Messmer was a bit too brutal even for Marika's tastes.
As a response to their destruction, the Hornsent people put a curse on Marika and her children, which i assume is what resulted in the Omen.
The Hornsent people also have this whole bird motif going on. The armored birds that guard the tombs are even depitched on the engravings you find in them:
The bird motif is further emphasized in their "esoteric" fighting style. Further ahead i found a tomb that must have belonged to someone important as it was guarded by a procession of priests wearing an horned headset and carrying a candle as in vigil. In the tomb i found a pair of curved swords that again points to the fact the Hornsent were nimble sorts. The swords are wielded backward and the weapon art is a reach around backstabbing attack. I suppose the concept of "betrayal" (mentioned in the desacription of the sword) was a familiar thing to the Hornsent people after what Marika did to them.
Eventually, i ended on a camp with two NPCs sporting a symbol that somewhat looks like one of the graves you see around:
One of them is literally called Hornsent and unsurprisingly has a curved sword with him. Talking to him basically just confirms all my guesses (not that the clues weren't obvious):
Fie, another? Treading the heels of Miquella? Then, as that woman would surely say, we are in our purposes well aligned. But understand. Your kind are not forgiven. The Erdtree is my people's enemy. By Marika long betray'd, set aflame. I believe Miquella's apologies, when he says our delivery will come. But never will I see your kind as worthy.
And yet my oath I cannot overlook. If Miquella it is whom you would seek, then comrade, allow me to give you this. These are the sites of the crosses I've found.
I urge you, follow after Miquella. As long as you abide by his footfalls, you will be no enemy to me.
Meanwhile the other guy name drops Radahn already:
Ahh, Lady Leda spoke of you. You're that Tarnished, guided here by Kindly Miquella. Weren't we all. I am Freyja. I once fought alongside General Radahn. In battle, you can be sure I'll hold my own.
Oh, another thing. Did you speak to our dour little friend? If you've yet to do so, have him give you a map of the crosses' whereabouts. They are Miquella's footprints.
I urge you follow after Miquella.
As for the cross, that's apparently the symbol of Miquella, and it says this: "I abandon here the first of the flesh of my body".
I'm purposedly avoiding reading up on lore, trying to piece all this out for myself, but i may need to refresh myself to at least what was said about Miquella before the DLC to see if i can make better sense of this.
BTW, that semi-circle on the cross kinda looks like a moon, and look what we have here:
I tried uploading the video this morning but youtube gave me shenanigans, so i had to wait until after work before i could try again.
The dude isn't that difficut once you understand you need to stay away from his hyperarmor attacks. That's why you see me just dart away often as one swipe and it's instant death and there's no telling when he goes into hyperarmor. He can do it at any point on a whim, so while sometimes you can chain several hits it's not worth the risk, not unless you can tank a few of his swipes (which i couldn't, so screw that).
As usual, parry saves the day, making the fight about five times as short as it would otherwise have been if i went pure roll fu. In case you are wondering, it's possible to punish that weapon art of his, then one where he does that wide magic swipe which then combos into a swirl attack or whatever. You have to roll backwards and then forward and if you time it right you can get a free backstab. Alas, the same concept applies. If you get the wrong RNG he'll just go into a four swing combo with hyperarmor right after the swirl with zero pause in between. Anyway, let us look at the lore:
I was expecting him to drop the sword but apparently he just drops everything but the cross bow. The sword runs this description:
"Steel greatsword wielded by the Knights of the Solitary Gaol. Through a secret rite, they relinquished their hearts for heightened battle prowess. Next, they engraved their blades with two crests: one depicting the light of birth, and the other, solitude."
While the armor pieces have this bit of lore:
"The nameless mausoleums of the realm of shadow are said to hold the spirits of warriors who lost their names, or their hearts"
Knowing FromSoft this might be about as much info we are ever gonna get on those guys, heh.
I had the time to roam around some more and found some stuff that added further confirmation to all i gathered so far. One of the goats dropped a different kind of horn material that has this description:
"Horn suffused with spirituality. Material used for crafting items. Found by hunting horned beasts of the realm of shadow. The Crucible has a particularly strong influence on the beasts of the realm of shadow, causing many to grow horns despite the characteristics of their species."
Which basically confirms the shadow realm has (or had) a strong Crucible presence.
I then got a second crafting book for another of those biggus pots, which has this text:
"Craftable item prepared using a capacious cracked pot. Imbued with a hex of the furnace. Throw at an enemy to create a whirlwind of flame. The furnace's flame burns away both body and soul. When impurity is thus expunged, one calls it cleansing."
Messmer doesn't mess around him scorching the Hornsent people was an act of cleansing in his eyes lmao.
Oh, and then i found this dude being chomped on by dogs:
Was he alive? There's one of those spirit stones thingies next to him. Did he throw it? Possibily we will never know.
I had to stop there as i came across a big lake which i'm 100% sure contains a dragon, and didn't feel going there just yet.
I took one last shot of the Scattree, i wonder, what's that stuff coming out of it? Looks like veils or cloth:
I've dealt with so many dragons in the base game i don't even feel like trying to "learn" this one. Just full cheese fuck it. Moving on:
So we now learn that somebody intentionally infected a village of Hornsent to turn them into... flies. So far the game was logical but now we are going off the rail already. It was sort of sad to see this:
On the talisman you find says the people who took care of the afflicted never were infected themselves, which is why i'm guessing they were the ones to infect the Hornsent people.
The only point of interest right now is that Hornsent NPC you meet earlier kinda looked like a bug himself. The ropes tied around his face sort of seem to suggest maggots, and the horns in his head almost have an insect like appearance, as well as those strands of fur sticking out:
One possibility is that because of their persecution they grew this curse or affliction. All i can say this shit gives the description of the Blade of Mercy talisman a whole new meaning.
So this is the first cave in the DLC, and as far as caves go it is pretty good. I don't know what people expect from those to be honest never had an issue with them in the base game, only the recycled bosses at the end annoyed me.
Now, interesting bit of lore we got here. Is this the origin story of jars?
At first i figured this place is where the Hornsent were locked in during their persecution. The first new item you find here has this description:
"Frozen maggots that somehow continue to wriggle. Material used for crafting items. Mainly found in gaols. The maggots develop in great-jar innards, and are an invaluable source of sustenance to the prisoners."
So the prisoners are forced to eat maggots from the innards of jars. Is this what caused the sickness in the village above? Moving down from the dungeons a new picture emerges however. We find a ghost guy who is being punished for something and keeps saying "not the jar" and that he'll become a "living saint". So prisoners are being stuffed inside the jars, and indeed further ahead there's a mutated Hornsent guy, basically turning into a big lump of flesh to fill up a jar. Killing them yelds bits of jar flesh in the process of mutation, which has this final description:
"This is what becomes of the condemned, who get sliced up and
stuffed into jars to become saints instead."
Now moving further reveals this scene:
There's books on the table and this feels like the prisoners are being forced to recieve instruction, i guess part of the process of becoming "saints".
Eventually we come to what appears to be an object of worship:
On the altar we find a big jar head piece with this description:
"A greatjar which fits comfortably over the head when upturned. Attire of the shamans who perform their worship at gaols. Increases the power of thrown pots of all sizes. They offer their prayers to the innards of the greatjars, such that they might be reborn one day into sainthood. This is the cycle of death and rebirth, taken into the hands of mortal men."
This seems to remind me of what was happening in that ghost village in Sekiro. Priests who worship the jars and believe becoming a living jar is a path to "sainthood" are forcing prisoners to undergo the process. Not sure if the prisoners are meant to supply the "body" and the Shamans hoping to have their spirit inhabit the thus animated jar after death, or something like that. I don't know how any of this fits with how the jars were portrayed in the original game, which seemed to have a society, had that whole warrior ethos with them, they had little children jars and so on.
All the great potentate text books you keep finding around all have this description of course:
"A record of crafting techniques of the greater potentate who roamed lands near and far. Haunted by the grotesque practice of his village of birth, he stuffed great pots with all manner of things"
Was the great potentate a human, who discovered the secret of creating living jars, or was it an aberrant great jar already? Potentates were the leaders of jar villages, and the little child jar NPC from the original game had hopes of becoming a great warrior to be able to fill the role of potentate and protect all the jars. At this point you can argue the jars developed a warrior culture just because everybody kept smashing them but that's just speculation at this point unless the lore of the jar in the original game points to any of this, or maybe this is all just a big retcon.
At the base of the altar with the big "god" jar we see what i assume is just a relief portraying the age of the crucible:
BTW, the mutated prisoners had an interesting look to them:
They have long flowing hairs, a delicate face, and what appears to be an hornament on their leg.
Now, on the silver horn thing you find, it says this:
"Old currency used by hornsent made by coating spiral horns with
silver.
Temporarily boosts item discovery.
Can also be sold for a high price.
These trinkets were once symbolic of society's upper echelons."
Are the prisoners royals of the Hornsent? Is the prison reserved for the upper class while the peasants got thrown into the furnace instead?
Anyway, we finally get to the magic samurai monkey:
I'm going out of a limb and assume the fact it looks like Boc isn't a coincidence at all lol:
I think probably the entire community started screeching uncontrollably when it dropped a bunch of ashes instead of that sword lol. Anyway, to continue:
The description of the latter runs thus:
"Onze, a master swordsman who devoted himself to the Star-Lined Sword, realized that only ruin awaited at the end of the procession of stars, and imprisoned himself in order to forestall it.
However, Yosh, an apprentice who absorbed his technique, stubbornly refused to heed his master's words, and spent entire his life at his side, in defiance of his self-imposed seclusion."
None of this has anything to do with what the dungeons seems to be about other than the fact i suppose that it is a prison. I think this is just some foreshadowing of however this DLC is going to deal with the aspect of magic. Like i said the guy is in this place incidentally. No relation with the jars stuff he is here (or was) because this is a prison.
The whole demi-human thing is also probably related to the Crucible as well of course. At least i remember some description that said humans in the past could sometime grow horns, or feathers etc. The misbegottens, the Omens, the primordial beast guys from Farum Azula, it might all be connected.
On a whim i decided to ride across the big bridge, but there's like a barrier and what i assume a biggus boss fight so i decided not to push this side just yet, also because the big arch where the NPCs were earlier seems kinda of inviting. While i was there, i found another example of Marika's involvement with Messner's army (look at them impaled people yo):
I still haven't used any of those fragments, let's see how far i can get with that.
So after backtracking, i end up in front of what appears to be a whole city:
A legacy dungeon perhaps?
In front of the entrance, i find two more NPCs, a blood guy who claims to be a former knight in the service of Mohg, father of Worf, and some merchant dude. Seems like all sorts of people are now looking at Miquella. The Miquella cross says something about Miquella "abandoning" another part of his body. Not sure what that's all about yet. The merchant guy, apparently, likes to "find" things, which i assume means he may have new things to sell as i move along. He mentions Lady what's her name, and the "forager" people, whoever they may be.
Behind me i see a trail that seems to lead to an upper area of the cemetary field. Now here's another origin story i guess, one concerning the blood people. There's some biggus guys walking around with a blood dog next to them, and one of them dropped a "sacred bloody flesh", which says this:
"Raw meat soaked with blood.
A delicacy of the bloodfiends.
Temporarily boosts physical attack power and arcane.
When blood loss occurs nearby, further boosts attack power.
The blood is said to have fallen from the Formless Mother's wound. Never will it dry, never will it rot."
Formless Mother hey? You don't say. Around this area i also found a new kind of blood flower (admired even by "fiends"). But the biggest clue is found at the top of the town, where i find an arcane enhancing heirloom (nice), which has this description:
"A talisman engraved with the lore of an outer god. Raises arcane. The clan, who lost everything in the great fires, peered upon the corpse of their ancestor, normally an act of sanctity, and saw in its shadow a twisted deity. The clan had suffered such torment that the horrible thing was taken as an object of worship."
So it seems a group of the Hornsent discovered the Formless Mother, and in their torment begun to worship her, hence the origin of the blood people. In the process, i guess they also became monstrous. One of the biggus guys dropped his weapon, which apparenty is made out of the arm of their kin, "sanctified" through a blood ritual.
One of them in the town also seems to have a primitive version of Mohg's trident, and i think i saw him try to cast a botched version of the Nihil attack as well:
Before hitting this town i took my time to explore this whole area, and found some interesting stuff as well. First, i found what i assume is one of those forager guys:
I was almost about to smack him but i got tipped he was an NPC since i couldn't target him. Once i got close though i saw the ghost of another player swinging at it, so i guess some people hate those damn bugs so much they just attack in a rage, no matter what lmao.
"Talking" to him yielded a new kind of crafting book, one created by the forager brood specifically for Moore, given to him because of his "kindness". If you read the description of the new consumables you can craft it says they are "enhanced" by the fermentation (or "rotting" nudge nudge) of the ingredients. So basically i'm literalling tasting insect cuisine. Wonderful. Later i also met this thing:
Which i guess means eventually i'm gonna have to fight a "new" and improved runebear. Definitely looking forward to that lel. Worse then a runebear might be those giant golden rams though. They aren't aggressive but the little fuckers are, and if you kill them the big one will literally roll after you across the entire map. I'm still struggling with PTSD from the last time those damn goats kept attacking me while i was fighting Lansseax in Altus so i just systemally killed every single one and somehow i still managed to die to them. Like damn.
Eventually after some exploration i found another Marika church, this one with a juicy blue dew talisman. There's also an entire armor set and knewl weapon which looks pretty much the same as that one worn by that Leda woman (sans cape). Apparently, she is an Oathkeeper, a group devoted to finding an "oath" to dedicate themselves to. I guess this armor belonged to someone who was devoted to Marika, while this Leda wants to serve Miquella.
More interesting than this though is something dropped by an Hornsent nimble sort that was guarding the path towards this church of "benediction" (interesting name for the area that gave birth to the servants of the blood goddess). It's a mask that gives you five dexterity in exchange of 7% less flask value, which is a very good trade off for me. To see if i could also get the weapons i try to farm the one at the beginning. I didn't get the weapon but i basically got the entire armor set. The description of the mask is pretty interesting:
"A mask affixed with a crown of tangled horns, worn by those who would invoke divinity. Divine invocation heightens the dexterity of the wearer, but causes the blessing of the Erdtree to become nauseating, reducing the restorative effect of drinking from a flask of sacred tears. Focus is also troubled by wearing this mask."
I really like the lore of the bonus as well as the penalty and the reason you get it. The description of the armor set piqued my interest as well:
"Attire of the tower's ascetics, embodying their commitment to an austere existence of strict self-control. In order to ascend from their mortal flesh into tutelary deities of the land, they heighten their spirituality through severe ascetic training."
I'm getting bored of frenzy (plus like golden incantations it's meant for intelligent/faith hybrids, which i'm not), so i decided to transition to a kind of faith, holy Omen guy or something. Whatever, check out of the swag dudes:
The only problem is i think that set was made for a female so now it looks like i went trans.
BTW, nice spoilage:
To be honest i'm not mad though, as i would have never seen it on my own. The thing drops a bell bearing for ropes! Fucking finally lol. For some reason my fist instinct was to take it to Moore (whose armor, according to Sir Ansbach, is "verdigris", a term i had to google), but apparently i was meant to take it to the hag in the hold, heh. Moore had some new line about him liking me, probably because i emptied his entire stock (which includes a note about unlocking spirit springs by knocking rocks, not sure how that works, wonder if i missed some already).
Nothing to do now but enter this place:
Why is it that FromSoft can imitate medieval western artstyles to perfection while westoid developers can only give us retarded fantasy bullshit? How hard can it be? That door looks amazing.
Yes indeed it is! But why is it always monstrosity?
Shit it's always something. And then it's face huggers, 'cause why not:
Now this is interesting. All the statues of this kind you see out in the world are broken up, especially the head, but this one is intact:
I'm going to assume the ones you meet outside have been intentionally defaced, but then what is this place exactly? It's definitely an Hornsent city:
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Which doesn't explain who those guys are of course:
Also why is there food here, shouldn't everybody be dead?
Anyway, i step outside and wow:
Not only is the vista impressive, but the music track is kinda of awesome. It's this ominous, Mechanicus kinda of shit pretty cool. Out here i actually have a chance to see this stuff upclose, but i still can't make out what it is:
Is it strands of something? Is it light? Is it hairs? Likely, we will never know.
I turn around and, could this be foreshadowing?
Now eventually i see those Hornsent shadow ghost guys whatever they are, so this place is indeed dead. You can see a lot of damage around, which shows the city must have been subject to an attack, and looking around you even find a Messmer grease thingy, which shows who is responsible (not that we needed to know).
Even so, it seems the people of this city, which from the looks of it appear to be of an higher social order, given this headgear they wear and the fact they drop those silver horn things which are said to be rare and valuable, must have died of something else. There's a pool of water of a sickly looking color with a body in it that has his arm outstetched, as if he died in agony:
Next to it, there's a couple of ghost Hornsent guys praying to a water fountain:
I'm getting the feeling the whole city died because the water was poisoned. It could also this that they are just praying to those guys depitched in the fountain:
Possibly the leaders whom the people of the city were hoping would deliver them or save them.
All this cool speculation comes to an end after finding a well stocked pantry lmao:
Surely the city didn't just die yesterday, did it? Oh whatever i guess, after finding a cozy little altar:
I finally come face to face with the real actual enemy of this place, a bad ass Horned Warrior:
It took more than a few tries before i figured out how to roll through his helicopter combos, all of which seemed to be designed to just smack you in the face no matter the timing of your rollings. I could probably get it down perfect but this area isn't ideal since it's small and has death traps like the staircase so i just resorted to a well placed parry as usual.
Of course i had to see if he dropped anything like his Curseblade counterpart and sure enough he did. In fact, he just seems to be the strength counterpart to that one:
"Helm featuring a crown of sturdy tangled horns, allowing the wearer to invoke divinity. Attire of the horned warriors, keepers of the tower. Divine invocation bolsters the strength of the wearer, but causes the blessing of the Erdtree to become nauseating, reducing the restorative effect of drinking from a flask of sacred tears. Focus is also troubled by wearing this helm."
Eventually i started killing him until i got the whole set lmao. Behold the autism:
Of course while the guy is awesome and bad ass, his shit when used by the player is wimpy and faggy.
All the same, the armor says this, which is kinda of vague to be honest:
"Armor of the horned warriors, keepers of the tower. The ochre fabric is draped over a chest-piece made to resemble the unclothed form of a hero from older times."
No idea what this is supposed to mean exactly. I'm guessing it's just a reference to the fact the Hornsent people are very ancient. Despite the refinery of the armor and the city i guess their culture still retains an element of primordiality owning to their connection to the Crucible. The sword too says this:
"Curved sword of the horned warriors, keepers of the tower. The ornamental tangled horns allow the blade to serve as a medium for horn-calling."
Horn calling of course is a reference to the weapon art, which calls forth horns from the ground. Either way, the gist is that even though the Hornsent are now civilized, their "roots", so to speak, still lie in the Crucible of old.
Anyway, farming this guy made me tired will continue in a few.
Why the slow start, Lyric? Many of us are already at or past the late-game bosses, and trying to clean up the map (a difficult task considering the seemingly endless flow of content in this DLC).
Very satisfied to see you noticing all the same details I noticed, like the Bloodfiends mimicing Mohg's sky-stabbing motion with their tridents.
You're piecing together the story at a much more rapid pace than most, and I assure you there are MANY fun twists and turns yet to come. Can't wait to see how you react
Why the slow start, Lyric? Many of us are already at or past the late-game bosses, and trying to clean up the map (a difficult task considering the seemingly endless flow of content in this DLC).
At first i wasn't sure if i wanted to play it. I burned myself last time i played it and given i only played Sekiro a few months ago i wanted to stay away from anything FromSoft related for a while so i could come back fresh. Once i started playing though i don't feel tired or worn down at all. I guess it was all in my head.
The second reason is also i didn't have the money on release lmao.
Lastly, i'm a slow player by nature and since i started later than others there's no pressure for me to race to the end to compete with anybody else, i just take my time as i see fit.
Now, while i was readying myself to continue my exploration, i finally noticed those veils actually move. Not that it shows on the picture, but it's a beautiful shot:
So the tree is literally casting flowing veils over the land, which might explain why all the roofs and high places have drapes or coverings on them, as a way to simulate or call upon the "grace" of the Scadutree. In fact, now that i think about it, it's likely this is what those ghost guys are all actually praying to.
Anyway, i have two directions to pick up and i decided to take the one in front of me. After going through several cheesy ambushes (literally one after the other this shit is getting old), i end up on top of where that contaminated water was flowing down, and would you look at this:
Not sure if my theory about the water being contaminated is true, but if it is, i'm now starting to think this is something the Hornsent may have done to themselves. Now that i think of it, it was strange Messmer's army was blockading the other side of the bridge. Yes there was a purge and all that but it kinda feels like they are trying to prevent whatever the hell is going on from the Hornsent side from getting out. Oh that corpse has a bunch of those red mushrooms, the ones used to stuff the jars according to the description. May not be a coincidence that they are placed here, probably at the source of the contamination.
BTW, i guess this is an appropriate spot to find ropes lol:
After making my way on the top side, i decide to take a couple more beauty shots:
All those towers appear to be significant what if the Hornsent are trying to reach the grace of the Scadutree?
On my way up i found a key with a "spiral engraving" which i think is supposed to be used in a well i found earlier, with a player message that said to look for key first, which i assume is this one, but i'm not going there just yet.
I'm now faced again with two possible directions. I pick the one on the left, and i'm again swarmed by face huggers. After killing them all, i end up facing this thing:
Yeah ok maybe later. On the side i spot a bunch of crumbled walls and upon climing on top i spot a secret entrance, where i promptly get ganked by a disgusting fly dude. I mean look at those disgusting things:
At this point i decide to backtrack to check what was on the other side of the initial path i took as it feels i'm getting too far ahead here. I end up in front of another beautiful portal:
Across it, i see a twined tree, i'm guessing one of those trees carved on those stone slabs that are laying around everywhere, except the real thing is now withered and dead:
I knew some shit was going to happen but the grace is close so i figured, let there be courage, and behold, i get invaded by some fucker:
One of Messmer's inquisitors! Sporting a queer 70s sci-fi haircut no less. His trusting attacks are pretty tricky to avoid but he is also rather easy to stagger. Anyway:
The description of the talisman is pretty brutal:
"A talisman depicting a raised spear on a backdrop of flames, in remembrance of the lives lost in the sacred crusade led by Messmer. Raises attack power after defeating an enemy. The warriors who fought in the crusade set aside both honor and mercy to wantonly impale and scorch those deemed impure. Those who felt invigorated by each cry of death were the same men who were certain of the sanctity of the campaign."
I mean damn. Of course, in classic FromSoft fashion, it's unclear if the "impurity" has to do with the Crucible origins of the Hornsent or if it's related to whatever it is that turned them into the man flies, the jars and whatever other horror is going on here.
Near the withered twined tree, i then find an Ash of War with this description:
"Skill utilized by the downtrodden. Scream, causing nearby enemies to flinch, while also recalling deep-seated resentment, boosting attack power based on the amount of HP remaining. The lower the HP, the greater the effect."
The screams of "resentment" of the Hornsent after being subject to the "purge" of Messmer i presume. All around me there are graves, victims of the campaign. I then spot an Hornsent ghost listlessly piling rocks, probably burying one of the dead, an image of pure despair and defeat:
What a mess.
After going back on the top, i decide to explore the side opposite to the monstrous scorpions. I kill a guy holding a jar that drops a gold version of the horn tender thing, this one being said to be bestowed on "inquisitors" as an honor. Since this is an Hornsent item, i assume this is in reference to an aspect of the society of the Hornsent themselves. I then see one of those Horned Warriors in the distance, this time one that is carrying a great sword, but i think i'll leave that for later.
Alright, leaving the Horned Warrior aside for a second, i decide to pick the side with the bugs. After killing the biggus scorpion, not at all by cheesing him through the door (lel), i managed to spot a second one at the last second:
Cheeky bastard. In the room i found a crude bow made of "sickly bone". The shortbow is a medium for "spirit-calling", a product of "ancient hexing arts of the tower". It happens to shoot vengenful spirits. Were those rancor spells all about the rage of the dead Hornsent all along? Lot's of retconning going on here. Also those ancient arts of the tower, there could be a connection to death here. I never actually thought about why there was a ghostflame dragon out there (btw, there was a great katana left on a dead body next to the dragon. I think this is a call back to Yura from the first dragon you meet in the base game).
So i then make it to that "secret" door and dear lord:
Are the man-fly guys turning into the scorpions or something? Another stage in their metamorphosis? In the next room, i then find another Miquella cross. Apparently, it was here that he abandoned his "arm sinistral". So Miquella is shedding parts of his body as he is traveling through the shadow realm. Possibily there might be a connection with what is going on here. It reminds of the fact the dead body of Miquella in Mohg's arena is in a cocoon as well. Is Miquella transforming into something, affecting others along the way?
Eventually i emerge into some kind of altar:
Where i find this amazing talisman hahaha:
"A quaint bouquet of dried flowers, offered to a small grave.
Raises attack power when a spirit you have summoned dies.
The sorrow that flows from the untimely demise of a loved one is a tenderness shared by all, regardless of birthplace."
Man they are really laying it thick with this plot of the Hornsent massacre. The lion thing must also have some significance. Only lions in the base game were those connected with Serosh and the whole Golden Lineage thing. Since the Hornsent predate all that, there could be an ancient connection.
Anyway, killing those disgusting flies yields some kind mold which apparently is also used to stuff jars. Just lovely. Following the trails of sewer shit i end up to what appears to be the source, at least for this side of the city:
I'm surprised this shit isn't poisonous.
After barely surviving a double ambush (this shit is getting old yo), i end up face to face with the Horned Warrior with the biggus sword. For some reason he is actually easier than the dual wielding version. Didn't try to parry him but his heavy delayed attacks weren't hard to roll fu through. The bastard didn't drop the sword though, so i go search if there's a site of grace nearby i could use to more easily farm him. After killing a whole group of annoying ghost guys praying in front of those one those defaced statues (making good use of that talisman dropped by that queer invader), and after dying like a bitch to a Curseblade ambush, eventually i do in fact find a site of grace, but this looks like the entrance to the main boss fight:
I feel i got too far ahead here. I go try the key first on the door next to the first site of grace, but that isn't it. I then tried on the second door, and this reveal a room with an old hag in it:
She thinks i'm one of Messmer's boys and start laying all sorts of shit on me. She tells me my kind set her land aflame, and the tower "veiled" in shadow, which i'm not sure if it's a reference to those flowing veils coming off the Scadutree or something else i didn't notice. She then calls me a progeny of the "wanton strumpet", by which i assume she is referring to Marika lmao. She says i'm going to get my just recompense at the hands of the sacred beast, by which i assume she is talking about the lion guy from the previews (which i already guessed is the boss of this dung by all the horned lions around). When i fail to strike her she calls me a "loathsome issue of the rotten strumpet", which is an amazing insult to be honest. Also, "rotten". Is she still talking about Marika here?
Anyway, next to her i find the actual head of an ancient sacred lion:
For some reason she also likes to feed on scorpions:
Earlier one of the scorpions dropped a liver thingy which is said to be a delicacy known for its "numbing toxins". Not sure is there's yet another connection there or if she just likes to eat giant bugs because she is a disgusting old hag.
For some reason it takes me a while to find the key to the sewers. I run the place through again, got bored, and went to talk to the NPCs before moving forward. Despite all of them seeking out those crosses, only Sir Ansbach has something to say about the one i found in the city. He comments on Miquella shedding his body, and that he must be seeking the "shadow tower", which i'm definitely going to be on the look out for when i get back to the city. For now i make my way down the sewers, where i find piles of dead bodies wrapped in cloth:
There's also a Messmer grease thing on a pile of corpses. Not that we needed to know who did it. I didn't get a close look to the fly things. I saw their bodies were weapped in cloth, which i think was an attempt to heal them before the transformation occured, but some of them had something on their heads that suggested sackcloth. Wonder if they sprung out even from those bound corpses.
Anyway, NOW i find a place that's full of poison. Shit, here we go again:
Hahaha, really? REALLY? Yet another of those fucking things:
This one at least had a reskin, but man. I mean i just knew it was going to show up as soon as i saw how wide this space was. Why do they love this stupid boss so much? I'm pretty sure it's the single most recycled boss in the game, next to the Erdree guys i guess.
Only positive thing about it is that it gave me an opportunity to test this poison hand thing:
"A glove stitched together from the flayed skin of the victims of a butcherous bloodbath. Afflicts target with deadly poison. Raises attack power when poisoning occurs in the vicinity. Forged of an unyielding, black impulse toward revenge fostered in those who have had everything burned or stolen from them, these are the weapons of the utterly downtrodden."
But i forgot to eat a bulb to see if it could proc again. It seems the Hornsent just went into all sorts of dark and deep extremes in their anger and hatred. Nothing to do now but go kill the lion. I think this is supposed to be the first "big" boss, or maybe Messmer is. It was in the preview so i think he is important. Tonight i'll get him for sure!
I don't think the Bone Bow's lore is a retcon. Everyone in the Lands Between practices different forms of spirit-calling. Even those white snake-snails, and the walking mausoleums (their gigantic church bell is just a sized-up version of your little pocket-sized spirit-calling bell). Death hexes are just another form of that.
Also, damn, you found a lot of stuff in that Legacy Dungeon that completely slipped past me. I thought the first one would be the smallest, but I didn't even come close to seeing every nook and cranny. I'm starting to regret rushing through certain parts because it was super scared of bumping into spoilers in-between my play sessions.
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