From Software Lyric Suite's Shadow of the Derptree Blog

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 14 ~​

Alright, i guess i was the real savage lion after all:



First off, from a design point of view i gotta say this is one of the coolest bosses FromSoft ever did. I just love the aesthetic and concept of it. The whole fight is a great spectacle and the music is pretty good too.

That said, smacking him with the winged syche didn't do a whole lot of damage, so i decided to go medieval on his ass. I cycled through couple of damage types and it seems fire did the most damage, which in hindsight isn't surprising. Notice that i still haven't used any Scadutree Blessings yet and i already outpaced the boss in damage. Didn't even give him a chance to go to the ice or wind phases. The lighting phase is definitely the worst and took me a while to figure it out. If you want to press damage (as in, to stagger him or get a bleed proc like i did), there is indeed an element of RNG as you can't always time to roll away from the static charge or his attacks at the same time. If you play it safe and have no need to put pressure on him, it's not that bad honestly just don't engage when you see the static in the ground. He'll default to that spinning move where you can just pelt him away from a distance with spells if you are so inclined. The ice and wind phases were easer for me than the lighting one, but milage may vary.

I can see why people raged but for me it felt like any other FromSoft boss. Seemingly impossible at first, but then not a huge deal after all. Moving on then:

Spoiler

After killing him, i took time to just bask in the adrenaline by admiring FromSoft's unmatched art direction:

The lion drops this great headpiece that is just amazing for SL1 builds:

Spoiler

"Ritual headwear in the form of a divine beast's head, used to perform the lion dance. Worn by the very finest of the sculpted keepers. Alas, it no longer responds to the old woman's earnest prayer. Divine invocation heightens intensity of the storm alongside strength and dexterity, but reduces the restorative effect of drinking from a flask of sacred tears. Focus is also troubled by wearing this headwear."

The only problem is that the fashion is a bit finnicky with it:

For now i'm gonna keep it on, see how it feels and later maybe try to rebuild my character to account for the extra stats, to see if i can maybe take vigor to 60. The boss one shotted me with every fart he made, which isn't surprising since i used Howl of Shabriri on top of Radagon Soreseal AND the Scorpion Charm, but even with regular mooks i die a bit too easily, even after wearing some more defensive talismans. Might be futile though since the DLC is likely balanced around the Scadutree Blessings but perhaps i can sort of compensate for it, plus if i use Radahn rune etc.

Also, there's now a grace arrow pointing towards the next step. Maybe i missed it but i think this is the first time it showed up.

Anyway, the Remembrance says this:

Spoiler

"Remembrance of the Dancing Lion, hewn into the Scadutree. The power of its namesake can be unlocked by the Finger Reader. Alternatively, it can be used to gain a great bounty of runes. When the Impaler's army assailed the tower, the ritual of the lion dance was turned toward martial ends—its divinity, its fury, its light-footed beauty."

So from all this we gather several facts. In the intro cinematic, the "beast" is awakened by the old hag (wonder if she is gonna say anything if i show up with the head piece lmao probably not). She calls the beast "from higher sphere deliver'd", which is interesting because now that i think of it i sort of forgot what kind of conception of the divine the Crucible people had in the base game (i'm just going to assume the inspiration here is Shinto). She then mentions the same "sculpted tower keepers" (shadow tower i presume, the one Miquella is supposed to be after) also mentioned in the description. I assume those are the same guys under the Horned Warrior armor. That they are sculpted implies they are constructs of some kind. In the cinematic they appear to have been killed, a pool of blood strewn all around the collapsed figure of the beast, but the power of the divine horned beast "takes root" in them and brings them back to life, and i wonder if that means it is the beast that is animating the guys and not the other way around (which would explain their unnatural coordination). The description also says the hag can't control the beast anymore, meaning you can't be possessed by the divine beast spirit lol.

Lastly, the Remembrance tells us the ritual of the lion dance was spiritual, but was turned to "marial ends" during the assalt on the divine tower. I assume Messmer himself may have killed the cavorting dancers if he had led the charge.

Nothing to do now but move forward. I take a lift and reach another door:

One thing about those sculptures and reliefs is that they are all very worn out. If you look up close to the details, they appear to be very, very ancient.

Across the door i find a defaced altar, which indicades Messmer did indeed make it all the way here:

The stairs leading up offer some very interesting panorama:

I presume that is the Shadow Tower, or towers i should say, all going so near the Scadutree it literally feels like they are fading into another realm. On top, i find the path is blocked by shadow roots, much like the Erdtree was in the base game:

On the way i found one of those spirit guys, that has this to say:

Spoiler

"O tower of ours, hidden in shadow. O Lofty spiral piercing the heavens.
Lead him safely unto greater Godhood.
And in divinity grant our salvation."

Leading who? Miquella? Is this how he became an Empyrean? Is this why he had to "shed" his body on the way? And what's his connection with the Hornset, why does the spirit say his divinity would grant them salvation?

Next to the roots blocking the entrance to the Shadow Tower, i find a message left by Leda:

Spoiler

"Message left by Needle Knight Leda, addressed to kindred spirits who also pursue Miquella's trail. "The Gate of Divinity lies in the tower sealed by shadow. That is surely where Kind Miquella is headed. We are no Empyreans, but we must locate the path that will lead us there. I will follow the crosses east.""

I'm sure the other NPCs would want to know this, but before i leave, it's time to pay a visit to the old hag and taunt her with the head of her precious divine lion. Now, it's kinda of amusing because i was about to find this out accidentally on my own (since i'm already wearing the head), but there's several spoilage next to her as well:

Spoiler

Sure enough, she now thinks i'm a sculpted keeper because she smells the head. She says she sensed the beast's essence fade, which makes me wonder what she would have said if i hadn't worn the head piece. She then says something rather cryptic: "after an eternity of the mind, our voices have at last reached the heavens". Not sure what she means by an "eternity of the mind". She then asks me to have her "son" accompany "me" to war. I presume she is addressing the divine beast now, and her "son" is the sculpted keeper. And then, she drops this, which kinda of shocked me:

Spoiler

"An entreaty received from the Empyrean grandam.

Summon a guardian spirit above the caster's head. The spirit
never strays far from the caster, conjuring several apparitions
before dissipating.

"Take vengeance upon Messmer and his lot.
They who betrayed us, aye, they who burned us...
Let them face in thy wrath their just deserts.""

Wait, the old hag is an Empyrean? What? Also this constant reference to a "betrayal". It seems the Hornsent and Marika's "vile progeny" must have been allied before things turned ugly. BTW, if you just stand around she chants the litany from the intro cinematic to the Dancing Lion boss. It's kinda sad to be honest.

 

[Child of Malkav]

i wonder, what's that stuff coming out of it? Looks like veils or cloth:

It's a veil put up by Marika. Speculated to be held up by the 6 divine towers in the lands between. As they seem to form a hexagon on the map.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

What level are you? Scar/Soreseals do almost nothing for you once you've reached the softcaps for all your relevant stats. I'd say respec as often as you need (If you've run out of Larval Tears, don't worry, there are more to be found in the Land of Shadow) but don't level up any more if you're already at RL125 or higher. The Scadutree Blessing system effectively replaces Rune Levels for increasing your attack and defense. Plus, I'm a tad concerned at how quickly that boss went down when you decided to lock in, I'd like the challenge level to stay relatively even throughout your experience.

Wait, the old hag is an Empyrean? What? Also this constant reference to a "betrayal". It seems the Hornsent and Marika's "vile progeny" must have been allied before things turned ugly. BTW, if you just stand around she chants the litany from the intro cinematic to the Dancing Lion boss. It's kinda sad to be honest.

I'd like to think it's a mistranslation and it's supposed to be Hornsent Grandam, since that's what she's called on the map screen. Even I'm stumped by that one, I have no idea what it would mean for her to actually be an Empyrean. More fuel for her hatred of Marika, yes, but perhaps it also has to do with their shared relationship with the Tower of Divinity itself. We'll just have to see...

 

[Lyric Suite]

I'm SL150. This is the current set up i'm using:

Vigor: 50
Mind: 20
Endurance: 28
Strenth: 26
Dexterity: 25
Intelligence: 7
Faith: 43
Arcane: 30

It's intended to be a multi-purpose stat spread. I ended up the base game with an arcane, bleed guy and i've upgraded the Great Stars, Dragon Communion Seal and two bleed whips i was using to max, so i can't walk away from that entirely otherwise i spend some of those rare final upgrades for nothing. But at the same time i wanted to move away from that so i deviced a kind of hybrid build. For the Dragon Communion seal you only need up to 45 arcane, which is also near the first soft cap for occult infusions if i still wish to use those, and i can achieve that with Marika Soreseal and the new arcane Heirloom. 50 vigor can become 60 with Radagon Soreseal and Godrick's Rune. Strength and Dexterity can be bumped with items (i really like the new head pieces in that respect) as i see fit. Strength can also be boosted with the 1.5 bonus for wielding a weapon in two hands. I'm still a few points short on all the soft caps but it's doable.

BTW, i think i found the perfect armor to match all those Hornset head pieces, the perfect combinatin between golden splendor and the animalistic:

Spoiler

Works great even with the lion head because it has metal in it, and looks good even without the cape:

Spoiler

For comparisons, this was my original drip:

Spoiler

BTW, the Hornset stuff doesn't look too bad with the above, at least the Curseblade one doesn't:

Spoiler

The Horned Warrior one sadly looks slightly off. In fact, it looks slighly off with most armor because the neck doesn't blend with anything. The cape on this one almost covers it though:

Spoiler

 

[Lyric Suite]

Actually, i'm now starting to contemplate leveling up a bit so i could try more gear. It's been a long time since i delved into PvP i'm not sure i care anymore. It's just that there's so much cool stuff i want to try.

 

[Vic]

contemplate touching grass

 

[Anonona]

A lot of the new weapons are pretty fun, definitely recommend trying them up. Backhanded blades became pretty much my favourite weapon type in the game

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 15 ~​

After taking a small break, it is time to resume this run!

Spoiler

So i go talk to the NPCs about what i saw and none of them has anything to say about it. I mean, ok then, time to go check out this Messmer guy now.

The camp is of course basically deserted because this is the laziest crusade ever. On one side i find several perfumers, which, as the description of the brass bottles you find explain, are there for a reason:

Spoiler

"Perfume bottle remade into a weapon by perfumers of the realm of shadow. Attacks release perfumed powder, producing sparks of fire. The crusade was a violent purge, and the perfumers were not called there to heal."

If i was leading a crusade where i'm setting everything on fire, i suppose the perfurmers would be among the first i'd call to for aid. On the other side i find what appears to be the tent of another Black Knight. I think i'm going to have to farm this guy eventually as the hammer i got from the one in the church is actually pretty damn awesome, but for now i'm happy with my current get up. He appears to be the leader of this camp and inside his tent i find those gothic chairs resembling a cathedral with what i assumed was Marika's sign when i saw Messmer's banner earlier:

I take this means the black knights are Marika's envoy. Messmer's whole thing is fire where as those guys are full holy so it stands to reason they are here to oversee his crusade but are not part of his army.

On the corpse i find a Fire Knight's Cookbook:

Spoiler

"A record of crafting techniques left by the Fire Knights, who served Messmer the Impaler. Details the art of wielding fire for the benefit of soldiers setting out to join the crusade."

If i have to be honest though none of those books so far have been particularly interesting. The biggus pots may be powerful i don't know but it takes forever to throw one and anything that seems vaguely useful has too few materials for now. In fact, the whole process of collecting herbs etc is kinda of redundant in this DLC. There's no special plants like the Arteria Leaves in the base game and so far i have no use for anything that's around the map. Then again, crafting isn't as cool at this late stage as it was when you start fresh to begin with.

Near the tent of the Black Knight, i find a couple of spear guys chilling to what appears to be an unnatural fire:

If you stand in the fire you take no damage it is a strange detail to find here and i'm sure there has to be some significance to it.

After cleaning the camp (a lot of their stuff dropped and all of it points to the dreadful nature of the crusade. Their armor has the Scadutree etched in gold and yet there is no grace or honor to what they are doing) i now turn my attention to what i assumed was a boss fight but instead it appears to be the boundary of another legacy dungeon, i assume Messmer's castle?

For now i don't think i'm gonna go there though. I decide to explore the left side first. You know, i understand why they placed them like that, so it's not easy to get a backstab on one without alerting the other, but it's kinda of funny it looks like they are just having small talks or something:

One of the paths takes me to a strange cellar underneath the castle where i find a blue Spelldrake Talisman. Kinda of a bizzare place for it. It has an entrance that faces a cliff and the only inner access appears to be a hole in the cieling is this Messmer's private winery that he is keeping secret from his wife or something?

The talisman implies this residence has some connection to magic and sure enough on the other side i spot a Carian giant guarding the entrance:

I also find a path that leads to a waterfall with nothing in it lmao. Pretty though i guess.

I'm then confronted by an entire contingent of soldiers guarding this specific path:

After dealing with them i follow the trail to see what it is that they were guarding so heavily and apparently it's a catacomb. On the way there i find several of those guys who used to point to the catacombs in the original game, all broken up and scattered around:

I'm going on a limb and assume the resemblance to those Curseblade guys is actually just a coincidence. Earlier i actually had one of them drop their weapon, which now that i think of it explains the meaning of their misshapen body:

Spoiler

"Weapon of the masked Curseblades. Circular backhand blade with wave-like cutting edges, sharpened into points that incite blood loss. Long ago, this was employed by the ascetics who strove to become tutelary deities as a ritualistic object in their self-flagellating dances."

It seems their ascetic self-flagellating dances literally warped their bodies into a circular shape.

Anyway, the entrance to the catacomb is guarded by those annoying vulgar manlets. One of them drops this:

Spoiler

"Helm as dark as shadow, worn by vulgar militiamen. Freshly-singed battlegrounds effusing with the stench of the dead. Forbidden lands that will be excised from the memory of history. What better place than the realms of shadow then, for such an army?"

That's quite a description lmao. Those guys trying so hard to be cool even their lore is exagerated. The name of the catacomb is "fog rift". The whole vibe i'm getting from this is that something of the old world somehow has intruded into the shadow land. For now i just unlocked the site of grace but i'm curious to see why the soldiers were guarding this place to such an extend.

This area having been completed, i then move to the next. I make it to the scene of a battle, where those monstrous blood ogres are waging war with Messmer's army:

Even though those events are scripted that nobody actually dies somehow the Messmer boys are actually kicking ass. I even find this bad ass thing:

Spoiler

"A modified crossbow made by combining two crossbows into one. Capable of loading multiple bolts and firing them simultaneously, enabling a spread of fire."

This is like the medieval equivalent to a sawed-off shotgun. Like, damn boy.

Eventually i find what appears to be yet another dungeon. The design etched on the stone automatically made me think of flames:

Sure enough, the place is called Ruined Forge Lava something. As i recall, the catacombs in the original game were related to those who live in death, while here we may have the origin of Messmer's association with fire.

Finally, my exploration takes me to a wide poisonous area, where i find a bunch of curious toxic thingies that kinda look like green larval tears. And lo, their description outright spells it out:

Spoiler

"A large moss animal glutted with poison. Material used for crafting items. Found in poison swamps. Round and plump, like a darling infant."

Like a darling infant, hey? Just ready to be reborn, right?

I then find yet another item that in the late stage of the game just seems kinda pointless:

Spoiler

"Solidified knotgrease made from a mixture of bone shards. Craftable item. Coats armament, imparting a festive incantation that grants the wielder a scant few runes on landing attacks. The effect lasts only for a short time. The delightful festival is an old tradition; one old enough for the Erdtree to tacitly tolerate its endurance."

This basically can turn any weapon into the Celebrant's Cleaver. Why there is a reference to those festive guys here, i don't know.

Before going further i guess i better check those dungeons first.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

I'm SL150. This is the current set up i'm using:

Vigor: 50
Mind: 20
Endurance: 28
Strength: 26
Dexterity: 25
Intelligence: 7
Faith: 43
Arcane: 30

It's intended to be a multi-purpose stat spread. I ended up the base game with an arcane, bleed guy and I've upgraded the Great Stars, Dragon Communion Seal and two bleed whips i was using to max, so i can't walk away from that entirely otherwise i spend some of those rare final upgrades for nothing. But at the same time i wanted to move away from that so i devised a kind of hybrid build. For the Dragon Communion seal you only need up to 45 arcane, which is also near the first soft cap for occult infusions if i still wish to use those, and i can achieve that with Marika Soreseal and the new arcane Heirloom. 50 vigor can become 60 with Radagon Soreseal and Godrick's Rune. Strength and Dexterity can be bumped with items (i really like the new head pieces in that respect) as i see fit. Strength can also be boosted with the 1.5 bonus for wielding a weapon in two hands. I'm still a few points short on all the soft caps but it's doable.

"Multi-purpose" isn't the first word that came to my mind when I saw those stats... More like, "schizophrenic" . I'd say pick a stat and try to hit the softcap instead of trying to do everything. I get that you don't care about the loss of defense from the Soreseals, but it's still a massive waste of a talisman slot at RL150, when you have much better options available. Points in Vigor, Mind and Endurance can be replaced can be replaced by the Amber Medallion talismans that more efficiently increase the length of your red, blue and green dildos. Spell damage can be improved with the Graven Mass or Flock's Canvas talismans instead of directly increasing the relevant stats. 20 in STR/DEX is more than enough to wield anything, since your main damage is coming from the Occult infusion.

Here's the spread I'd try:

Spoiler

Vigor: 45
Mind: 20
Endurance: 28
Strength: 25
Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 7
Faith: 42
Arcane: 42
A bit less Vigor (you aren't getting hit anyway, right?), 5 less Dex, that's 10 more points to put into Arcane, one less Strength, one less Faith (just enough to be able to cast Erdtree Heal), both points going into Arcane again. Still a "multi-purpose" spread, but with a direct focus on Arcane as your main damage stat, for those sweet bleed procs and some Dragon Communion incantations on the side. 42 puts you very close to the softcap while freeing up your talisman slots, with the Heirlooms still able to bring you slightly beyond the softcaps for FTH/ARC whenever the need arises.

 

[Lyric Suite]

My build is basically "what if i was SL1 but i'm actually SL150", heh.

Yes it's super unoptimized but it's meant to just try everything out. Right now i'm using the Winged Syche which scales with dex and faith (and arcane does nothing for it, so it's 30 wasted points right off the bat). The dex i can supply with gear and talismans. Tomorrow i may decide to pick up a strengh weapon and switch things around to maximize those.

I did the whole occult thing in the base game and doing it again now just seems kinda boring. But i also didn't know where to go so i just did a "try everything" kinda of build. The only reason i even kept arcane high is that so i could still use my old gear if the fancy strikes me, albeit with reduced damage.

At this point though i'm inclined to just go SL200. I heard thre's a whole multiplayer scene of its own i could then make another toon for the 125-150 range.

 

[Lyric Suite]

You know now that i think of it you may be right. The thing is i've already committed myself to the arcane thing by using some Ancient Dragon upgrades on weapons build around the bleed/arcane concept (not to mention the Dragon Communion Seal). I'm kinda of autistic about this stuff maybe it's better to leave the faith stuff for another character altogheter.

I'm also thinking of returning to occult because i ended up farming the Black Knight after all lmao and the more i look at this hammer the more i like it. It has an A rating when infused with occult:

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Black+Steel+Greathammer

The idea of a black occult knight is striking my fancy. Doesn't always have to be bleed, does it? Anyway, onward:

~ Part 16 ~​

Spoiler

So, i was totally wrong about those black knights. The armor does indicate they are servants of Messmer:

Spoiler

"Helm worn by the Black Knights, servants of Messmer the Impaler. Black iron ornamented with gold. A rotten odor stubbornly clings to it. Perhaps it arises from the tainted nature of the blood that splattered upon it. Or perhaps it is the wearer's own blackened soul, festering after endless slaughter."

But then why do they use holy instead of fire? Huh? My head canon was better to be honest so imma stick to that.

Anyway, yersterday i went further ahead in the poison area and discovered some interesting stuff though i ended up a bit too far afield which is always bad (in Elden Ring you could actually skip some steps in the quest of some NPCs by getting to the next zone i hope i didn't mess anything up here).

First thing, i found that stuff about spirit springs Moore's note was talking about:

You have to look for this little pile or rocks to unleash the spirit springs:

And i totally fucking get it lmao. Earlier there was that ghost guy in Belurat that was making a little tower with stones. The whole ideal with the Hornsent is that they are building towers to reach the divine etc. So those spirit springs are basically the souls of Hornsent unleashed towards the heavens, or something like that. The guy wasn't building a grave stone, he was building a little tower to sent the spirit of the dead up to the sky which is quite literally what is happening. I don't even care if i'm off this idea is so cool i'm sticking to my head canon fuck you FromSoft.

Further ahead i find a shack with an old codger who talks about a wounded drake whose fury is to be unleashed on the "proud" and the "concieted" etc. Next to him there is a talisman with this description:

Spoiler

"Talisman depicting the dread dragon of the jagged peak, whose roars cause the peak's molten fury to boil and churn. Raises potency of magma. Bayle was the foul dragon's name—a terrible harbinger of destruction whose challenge to the ancient Dragonlord ended in grievous mutual injury."

Even without seeing the dead corpse of a dragon earlier those jagged peaks did in fact evoke the image of dragons:

Did the Hornsent also enslist the dragons in their quest for vengeance? I also remember that the Dragonlord was Elden Lord before the rise of Marika so there may be some connection there too.

Scouting further ahead, and getting past some more manlets (who btw are completely nerfed from the ones in the base game), i eventually reach a cave which appears to open up an underground area. Inside, i find a kind of withered or poisoned version of those Miquella's lilys in the base game:

Spoiler

"A deep-purple water lily that is on the verge of wilting. Material used for crafting items. Grows in the blue flower field at the coast. Like a syrupy poison, its nectar lulls the imbiber into sweet, velvety sleep."

The one in the base game had this description:

Spoiler

"A flower signifying faith in the Haligtree.
Thought to be beloved by the Empyrean Miquella in his youth."

It seems Miquella went through quite a change from his days of "youth".

Eventually out of curiosity i ended up jumping on the spirit spring which like i said took me to a completely new area. Really hope i didn't mess up some quests but nothing i can do about it now.

So now i have four locations to explore, the catacombs, the fire lava place thing, the underground river cave, and Castle Ensis.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I'm SL150. This is the current set up i'm using:

Vigor: 50
Mind: 20
Endurance: 28
Strength: 26
Dexterity: 25
Intelligence: 7
Faith: 43
Arcane: 30

It's intended to be a multi-purpose stat spread. I ended up the base game with an arcane, bleed guy and I've upgraded the Great Stars, Dragon Communion Seal and two bleed whips i was using to max, so i can't walk away from that entirely otherwise i spend some of those rare final upgrades for nothing. But at the same time i wanted to move away from that so i devised a kind of hybrid build. For the Dragon Communion seal you only need up to 45 arcane, which is also near the first soft cap for occult infusions if i still wish to use those, and i can achieve that with Marika Soreseal and the new arcane Heirloom. 50 vigor can become 60 with Radagon Soreseal and Godrick's Rune. Strength and Dexterity can be bumped with items (i really like the new head pieces in that respect) as i see fit. Strength can also be boosted with the 1.5 bonus for wielding a weapon in two hands. I'm still a few points short on all the soft caps but it's doable.

"Multi-purpose" isn't the first word that came to my mind when I saw those stats... More like, "schizophrenic" . I'd say pick a stat and try to hit the softcap instead of trying to do everything. I get that you don't care about the loss of defense from the Soreseals, but it's still a massive waste of a talisman slot at RL150, when you have much better options available. Points in Vigor, Mind and Endurance can be replaced can be replaced by the Amber Medallion talismans that more efficiently increase the length of your red, blue and green dildos. Spell damage can be improved with the Graven Mass or Flock's Canvas talismans instead of directly increasing the relevant stats. 20 in STR/DEX is more than enough to wield anything, since your main damage is coming from the Occult infusion.

Here's the spread I'd try:

Spoiler

Vigor: 45
Mind: 20
Endurance: 28
Strength: 25
Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 7
Faith: 42
Arcane: 42
A bit less Vigor (you aren't getting hit anyway, right?), 5 less Dex, that's 10 more points to put into Arcane, one less Strength, one less Faith (just enough to be able to cast Erdtree Heal), both points going into Arcane again. Still a "multi-purpose" spread, but with a direct focus on Arcane as your main damage stat, for those sweet bleed procs and some Dragon Communion incantations on the side. 42 puts you very close to the softcap while freeing up your talisman slots, with the Heirlooms still able to bring you slightly beyond the softcaps for FTH/ARC whenever the need arises.

Had to work this couple of days so i had to put the game on hold, which allowed me some time to cook up a different kind of build. Tell me what you think:

Vigor: 50
Mind: 20
Endurance: 30
Strength: 33
Dexterity: 16
Intelligence: 7
Faith: 28
Arcane: 45

There are a couple of strengh weapons i always wanted to try, Marais Executioner's Sword which obviouly fits with the general drip i was going for in the original game with the Briar set, and of course Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear. The idea is to take advantage of the 1.5 bonus for wielding those weapons two handed. 33 strenght puts me at the 50 soft cap by itself when using a weapon two handed. With 20 points more, which i can achieve with heirlooms or the crystal tear etc, i can even get close to the 80 cap.

I need 14 dexterity for both weapons but i figured a couple of more so i could use my twin Thorned Whips (will use occult infusion on anything with dex in it) wouldn't hurt. With a single 5 bonus from gear which i can get anywhere i can also unlock some dex weapons i may want to use, Bloody Helice (which scales more with arcane than dex, which is perfect), Hoslow Whip if i feel like using that fashion (his armor is one of the better looking ones in the game), and possibly even something like the Eleonora Twinblade even though with this build i think a blood infused Gargoyle's Twinblade would be way better. I'm one point away from the Godskeen Peeler which looks great with Hoslow armor too but it scales mostly with dex if blood infused and it has no innate bleed if i put occult on it so doesn't seem that good. Plus, this build is for bonking i'm mostly keeping those options for variety and i don't need many for that.

For spells i'm going to default to buffs i think. I gave myself the option to play caster if i feel like it. There seems to be a dragon form in this DLC maybe i can cosplay as a dragon for a bit and 28 faith gives me access to all the dragon communion spells if i want to go there. Could shave two points from mind and drop faith to 25 (minimum for golden vow) and put five more into arcane but 28 gives me access to Howl of Shabriri with a simple heirloom (or Godrick's Rune) so i'm not sure. Greyoll's Roar should be the one i should be using but pulling that off during a boss fight it's going to be quite tricky. I always found it much more useful for co-op etc.

BTW, while it's true i could drop vigor for PvE, and while it's true i can get pretty good at avoiding damage if i want to, mostly if i'm just exploring, or doing a dungeon i'm not as attendive and it's a bit annoying to get one shot by regular mooks. 30 endurance also seems excessive since technially i could go light armor even if i'm using an heavy weapon but i prefer to have the option open for fashion (like the Black Knight set with shield and guard counters lmao). Also endurance is actually useful for the spazzy DLC bosses so a bit more to get that one extra swing before disengaging ought to help.

 

[proxon]

Vigor: 50
Mind: 20
Endurance: 30
Strength: 33
Dexterity: 16
Intelligence: 7
Faith: 28
Arcane: 45

Shuffle this for a bit, to get Vigor to 60 to save yourself some headaches. You should have enough larval tears anyway if you want to try some dlc stuff, i tried some new spells and they are mostly meh but there is a bunch of cool weapons to try out.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I guess i can dump mind to 14 to get some extra points (the new blew dew talisman should help here). I just tested it with the character planner and if i want to cosplay as the Black Knight i only need 25 endurance, as long i use the great jar and erdree favor combined (or Radagon's Soreseal in place of the latter). So that's 11 extra points i can spread around. I'm actually thinking about mixing Morgott's sword into the mix, even though it's a bit iffy. That would require to have 20 dex minimum, then rely on Radagon, Heirloom and Curseblade head (which luckily fits well with the theme of the sword. As you can see fashion is important to me) just to meet the 35 dex requirement. This sword has a D scaling on strengh and arcane (though i think the strengh is really an E), but both of those are so high they might compensate for the loss of dex one would have on a pure dex/arcane build. With crystal tear i can get dex to 45, with Godrick up to 50. It's a stretch but it's actually doable lol.

So this is what that would look like:

Vigor: 50
Mind: 14
Endurance: 25
Strength: 33
Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 7
Faith: 28
Arcane: 50

That adds up to SL148, so i got two extra points to put into whatever (i could also drop 5 points from arcane and put them in vigor). I then get a full array of special boss weapons to use, Mohg, Marais, Morgott, the Bloody Helice, Reduvia plus anything i can use occult on (anything with an innate bleed property) and anything that scales with strengh if blood infused (like the Gargoyle's Twinblade, which fashion wise actually fits into the color scheme of the Horned Warrior helm so that's another extra 5 strengh).

This should give me a wide array of play styles to switch around whenever i get bored with a partiular weapon, and enough base stats to test various DLC weapons as they come. I got 12 larval tears left from the base game, and 3 i got from the DLC so far. I think i can definitely waste a few on some experimental buids.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 17 ~​

Fog Rift Catacombs ahead:

Spoiler

So, finally finished this Fog Rift shit. I had to clean it several times before i was able to find all the secrets, which i'm going to spoil entirely for your pleasure. People seem to hate those catacombs because it's reused assets but personally never had a problem with the idea of a "theme" and variations kinda of thing. The only thing that ever bothered me about them was the recycled bosses at the end.

Anyway, the first thing i found is a Dragon Knight's Cookbook:

Spoiler

"A record of crafting techniques of the ancient dragon knight who followed Godwyn's golden knights into the realm of shadow. Acquire the knowledge to craft the following: - Red Lightning Pot"

So his knights went into the realm of shadow. Was this before or after he was killed? Did his knights came to find a way to redeem their lord (massive head canon right here). I remember Godwyn had befriended Fortissax which would explain why the dragon cult knight is also involved. The description of the pot has this line though which has me confused:

Spoiler

"The ancient dragons who betrayed their lord to side with a tyrant were known for wielding branching red lightning."

Now i remember Vyke used red lighting but also did the dragons in general. "Branching" red lighting, you mean like a tree? Been too long since i played the base game to really make sense of this, as i don't remember much about the dragons and who betrayed who. Why would this knight in particular know how to craft something like this is probably relevant in some way, but who knows.

Moving further ahead beyond some annoying new imps and some even more obnoxious death mage guy, i end up encountering an expedition from Messmer's boys:

Killing the black knight yields a great grave thingy, which is interesting in two ways. One, because it may be an indication Messmer is looking for something specific. This incursion of death into the shadow realm may actually be a new thing, so he blocked off the path towards the catacombs with that contigent earlier and is sending scouting parties to either retrieve something in particular or discover something about this place in general.

The second interesting part about the great grave thing is that it's actually related to the first secret of this place:

Climbing on top of the spike trap leads to an interesting discovery, the Spirit Ashes of a Black Knight called "Andreas" (hence the Great Grave Wort i assume):

Spoiler

"Ashen remains in which spirits yet dwell. Use to summon the spirit of Andreas, Knight-Commander of the Black Knights. The Black Knights were the primary force of Messmer's army. Their first leader was Andreas, a man endowed with great strength and command over the powers of the Crucible, and whose spirit in these ashes dwells. Though he remained a devout follower of Messmer after his flight from the Erdtree, he would rebel after learning of his liege's serpentine nature. His righteous stand was rewarded with imprisonment in an underground tomb."

Ok then, so that explains a whole bunch. At first i thought that the Black Knights are connected to the Crucible, or at least their leader was, which opened all sorts of confusing questions, since i thought Messmer's (and Marika's) whole thing was purging those latent effects of the Crucible, especially in relation to the Hornsent (and later the Omen). I tried the ashes for a second and he has some kind of lizard tongue attack. I think the next line answers it though, since it says Andreas remained a devout follower of Messmer even after "his" flight from the Erdtree, which is how he ended up learning how to control the powers of the Crucible (Messmer was ok with this though?). So he escaped from the Erdtree and learned the ways of the Crucible, but even then remained loyal to Messmer all the same, UNTIL however he discovered the latter's "serpentine nature". After discovering this, he rebelled, which led to his imprisonment here. Perhaps this is the nature of Messmer's involvement with this place. The Black Knight guarding the Great Grave Wort may have come here to pay omage to his former leader perhap?

BTW while killing the imps a Lizard Greatsword dropped. Maybe related to Messmer's "serpentine" nature.

Everywhere i find lighting fulgurblooms, plus a new lighting grease with another reference to the dragon-cult knight who once served the "prince of gold".

Eventually i come across a vast room with a mage sniping at me while i'm trying to dodge cieling traps. Of course, on one of the "safe" alcoves, there's a hole which makes you drop down where... there's more mages:

Down here i now find yet another trace of the dragon-cult knight:

Spoiler

"One of the incantations of the capital's ancient dragon cult. Calls down lightning to charge the caster's body. While charged, electric shocks will strike the area several times. Charging increases potency. The origin of incantations that bolster the body with lightning, and now a lost art in the Lands Between."

So this must have been one of the original dragon-cult knights. The fact this art is now a "lost" art in the Lands Between implies the knight's journey here didn't end well (like we needed to know).

Making my way back, where i find this message:

Nice try bro. Anyway, making my way back as i said i manage to get through the mage and his imp escort, but all that work leads to literally shit:

Now i know finding useless shit is a big meme in this game, but this pushes it to a point i instantly became suspicious. After checking around the room for a bit, eventually i discover another secret:

This cheeky bastard mage was actually hiding his shit, an Ash of War that is NOT going to be abused in PvP i'm sure:

Spoiler

"Skill used by the golden knights who served Godwyn. From a low stance, the body is transformed into a bolt of lightning and charges straight ahead at fulgurous speed."

Now this is interesting. A skill used by the "golden" knights who served Godwyn, NOT the dragon-cult knight whose journey we have been tracing through this place. Was Godwyn called the "golden" because of lighting?

On the way down i see you can actually jump over all the cieling traps. Doing so leads to a third secret, where i find this peculiar looking altar:

On the altar, we find a stone-sheathed sword:

Spoiler

"A sword that none can pull from its scabbard of cracked stone. Relic of a lost civilization from a time long past, said to have served a ritual purpose at altars of light and darkness."

The pattern of the altar seems to be new. Interesting to find this here. Light and darkness from an ancient civilization which given the sword literally became fossilized in its own scabbard must be older than the Crucible itself. Now the mages down here use dark spells, while the Hornsent use spells of light. Possibly reaching here, but there could be a connection.

There's both light and dark spells in the base game but i think this is something new. That said, the Discus of Light claims to be a gift from the young Miquella to his father, Radagon, while darkness spells are related to the Two Fingers and the assassins. If this is new i assume we are going to see more of it later on so perhaps more will be revealed.

Finally, i reach the end of this cursed place, and right after returning to my original arcane build, the first boss i meet is immune to bleed. Not a problem though, it just means i get the chance to try a new drip i was etching for a bit ever since finding this bad ass hammer:



This guy wasn't bad. Took me only a few try to get a feel of his moveset but like always when you see enemies with long wing up on their attacks from which an helicopter combo follows, parry is always the way. To continue:

Spoiler

I assume this is what became of the dragon-cult knight, now a death knight, which judging from his cape (whcih looks like trapped souls), he now "lives" to steal life from others (hence his grap attack which heals him). And of course, look who is here:

The death knight drops an improved version of the crimson medallion that has this added line to it:

"These medallions, of the largest variety, were conferred to Godwyn’s inner circle of distinguished golden knights"

Perhaps this is not the dragon-cult knight turned into a death knight, but one of Godywn's own golden knights, who uses the original lighting spells and not those practiced by the dragon-cult guys. The description of the axe he drops seems to confirm this

Spoiler

"Golden war axes of the Death Knight. A pair of weapons made to be wielded in both hands. Crackles with lightning, the power of the capital's ancient dragon cult. The knight, once the personal guard of Godwyn, was also the protector of the Prince of Death's cadaver surrogate."

If this is one of Godwyn's golden knights, it likely means there's gonna be more later, heh.

Anyway, the lava place is next.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Yep, that's an elite of Godwyn's personal army, that stayed loyal to him even after he became the Prince of Death. Their axes and armor are even modeled after those spiky Deathblight roots! And judging by the cape they were able to tame some of that ghostflame stuff and use it for justice.

One of the recurring themes of this DLC is fighting "higher rank" enemies of factions we've already fought. The strongest Dragon Cult guys we fought in the basegame were the Leyndell knights, that used rather meagre lightning abilities, and the Draconic Tree Sentinel.

Another example, we've heard a lot about the awesome power of the Carian royal knights, right? But those weak-ass Cuckoo Knights didn't pose much challenge, and so perhaps even Loretta was just the beginning... hehehehe...

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 18 ~​

It seems everything in the Shadow Lands is either an origin story or it is a notch above anything encountered in the Lands Between. But then it's a DLC they had to go somewhere:

Spoiler

The Ruined Forge Lava Cave yo, a place where mighty weapons are being forged, but whoever is doing it isn't very good at his job, given the sordid state of the weapons:

There's a ghost guy who invokes "Grace" (which grace?), claiming if he were ever to find another "rock", surely he would find the "altar of the forge". Maybe the Japanese is less nonsensical than this.

Up ahead i find something i hadn't seen before, not sure if i missed it before. Apparently there's notes that reveal secrets or give you clues:

Turns out their "weakness" is their asshole:

I don't think the note was necessary. In fact, i think people are more likely to figure out this simple "puzzle" than to actually spot the note in the first place.

There's a new resource around here which in hindsight i think explains what the hell it was the ghost guy was talking about:

Spoiler

"Block of stone infused with hot gas. Material used for crafting items. Found in the ruined forges. Perhaps these were once used as fuel for the smithing process."

I guess the idea is a stone like this would lead to the forge, but the whole thing turns out to be rather silly since the way to the forge is hidden behind a very basic puzzle:

In fact this whole place was anti-climatic. New assets are cool but it was rather short and at the end there was no boss lol, just the stupid forge:

The forge contains this thing which i guess is supposed to reveal some bit of lore of this place:

Spoiler

"One of the treasures of the ruined forges. A tremendous hammer that incorporates as its head the red-hot anvil of the forge. It is said that the anvil's shape is inspired by that of an altar, and that long ago, it was indeed used as such in rite and ritual."

I also found this knewl knive:

Spoiler

"Dagger engraved with a smithscript. Reduced mass enhances the effects of the smithing arts, allowing this weapon to function as a throwing dagger for all attacks. Once thrown, the dagger instantly reappears in the wielder's hand."

I needed a blown up shot of the knife to see the "smithscript":

The description makes it look like this is supposed to be a masterpiece of craftmanship and yet it looks like a pre-historic flint knife. But i guess this is the best those apron guys can do.

At any rate, strange idea not to have a boss at the end of this. I wonder if the criticism about recycled bosses actually did influence this DLC. So far all the bosses have been fairly unique and i guess where they couldn't come up with a new boss, they decided not to put one at all, which is an interesting idea that might have worked in the base game as well.

I actually got a lot farther than this but i gotta go to bed i'll post the full update tomorrow lol.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 19 ~​

So after the lava cave with the cute (but inept) apron stone blacksmiths guys, i went to that underground river area, but as soon as i got there, it felt like something was afoot:

Spoiler

After making those jumps i realized this path lead to a whole new area, which felt too far afield for me (while in there a find a recipe to craft a biggus jar filled with "rocks", which apparently inflicts "heavy damage", whatever the hell that even is. Do pots scale with stats now?). I was about to return to Castle Ensis, but while riding around a bit, thinking of what to do next, i remember there was a whole cliff side in the area with the big crab i noticed before but forgot to check out, a series of jump points with bats flying around. Looking at the map, i traced the path all the way near the Castle Ensis site of grace, where it turns out there was a whole side i neglected to explore before, like holy shit i suck.

After killing a bunch guards, and looting a double whammy of "impaling" tools, a Messmer Soldier's Spear and a Swift Spear, i find a soldier basically "scouting" the empty side of a cliff lol:

Turns out of course he is guarding the very path that drops down all the way to the crab area. Not much of note there, but it's neat from a design point of view.

Going further across the path, i find a bunch of pathetic sobbing sorts. I decide to put them out of their miserable lives without compunction, but divine punishment was around the corner since as soon as i start swinging at them a Curseblade fucker just jumps out of nowhere and shreds me in two seconds, making me burn out a rune arc. I guess i deserved it for my hubris, thinking those ghost guys were always going to be easy picking.

After getting my revenge, i end up finding a fellow tarnished! Oh goodie, i feel like home already. The guy even exudes all the cheerfulness known among the people living in the Lands Between. After telling me he is a useless, worthless nobody, it's clear this guy has been following Miquella in his aspect as St. Trina. He claims the only thing he knows about is poison and even sells a modified perfume bottle that fires a cloud of poison instead of fire. It's a cute touch that most of his inventory consists of stuff you find in the Lands Between and not the Shadow Realm. He sells those toxic things that look like Larval Tears, which may or may not have anything to do with anything.

Riding up, i start hearing what honestly sounded like some guy beating his meat in the bushes:

It took me a solid two or three minutes to find this damn guy and all the time i had to listen to this wtf lmao. Eventually i found him, and he has a whole bit about the pain and horrors he had to suffer, which seems to involve some kind of body mutilation as well. The voice actor goes above and beyond on this one, really trying as hard as he can to sell it:

Eventually, he starts screaming about Bayle, how he will feast on his heart, and how even this dreadful dragon, whom he refers to as "terror incarnate", shall "know fear". All over the place around here there's a bunch of dragon statues:

And i think i may have an idea of what is going on here. This guy is talking about some kind of dragon transformation or the process involved in getting there. I mean i hope because this could be interpreted in many other ways lol:

Spoiler

Whatever it is i like how they set it up as this horrific experience, but the whole thing is undermined by a dragon guy invading me like two seconds of stepping in this path, and he looks so damn goofy lol:

Even the name, "Ancient Dragon-Man", they couldn't come up with anything better?

I now go top side where i find another piece of the bird armor. I think the description is the same as the chest piece i got earlier. It says the Gravebirds are created to guard spiritgraves "built" (so somebody build them) where all manners of "Death" (why the emphasis on the word?) ultimately drifts. In either case, i think this is just an excuse to just shove those stupid birds everywhere they feel like, since there's graves all over the land. There might be some meaning to the fact some of them are animate while others remain stone (probably not though):

Nice beauty shot of the scat tree from here:

Eventually i come across a tall tower called "Suppressing Pillar". This is the best picture i could get of the relief in the entrance:

I'm pretty sure those are snake heads in that symbol above. On the top i find this cryptic inscription:

Ok so it seems the Shadow Realm is situated at the very center of the Lands Between. This tower is in itself in the center of the Shadow Realm (i'm guessing this tower is actually super old, as there's even an Ancient Dragon Stone thing in a chest), and from here you can get some great view of basically the entire map of the DLC:

Spoiler

I gotta say the Hornsent side really looks scorched from up here, doesn't it? Also from here i can actually see the entire outline of the Shadow Tower. The dragon section i had to take a closer look:

Looks like the dragon was slayed with a spear made of stone, and there's a gaping hole in his belly (somebody was after its heart i would assume). I wonder if those red fields are supposed to signify blood that spilled from the slayed beast. No idea what those things are bridging those blue section in the distance, look like very large mausoleums.

Anyway, not sure what to make of this tower. Even in the base game it was unclear what the Lands Between were (between what?). In the intro cinematic, some of the tarnished are shown to be dead. I always assumed the Lands Between was the place people went to when they died. To find this here in the Shadow Land is strange, the suggestion that "Death" is suppressed here (where is "here", the Shadow Lands or is it in the Lands Between that Death is suppressed?), and all those spirit graves everywhere. Are the Shadow Lands the "real" world or something lol. I'm sure there's probably hours of lore videos out there trying to make sense of all this. I'll personally keep going and see how much i can piece out for myself as i go along.

Anyway, i eventually make it into a cave called Dragon's Pit. Inside there's those Farum Azula undead animal things. Unsure if that's a connection or if they picked a type of enemy that looks like a decomposing or flayed botched attempt at turning into a dragon, heh. Inside, i find some pretty horrible injustice:

Spoiler

Like, wtf is wrong with FromSoft. I get they gotta fill the loot with consumables or stupid shit since the area is so large but does it ALWAYS have to be the most worthless shit possible? Are they doing this on purpose? It could have been a Somber Stone 9, or anything even remotely useful, but no, it's either mushrooms or this shit.

Anyhow, inside this cave there's a Magma Wyrm. I used him as a test to check out how the weapon art of the Mohgwyn spear works, but he moved around too much and i wasn't able to pull it off so i just killed him. Eventually, i ended up doing it again in co-op, and there i was able to get the full three swings and boy this thing really packs a punch i had no idea.

Eventually i see the pit:

I'm assuming a sacrificial pit of some kind. As soon as i get down there, i find another one of those notes spoiling the puzzle:

Why even bother have a puzzle if you are just going to spoil it?

So i make it down there and now i get to fight the Ancient Dragon Guy for real:

This dude turned into dragon and likely spent centuries studying the blade, but i guess it is true what they say, spear always beats katana.

Spoiler

He actually drops the thing so at least there's that:

Spoiler

"Great katana with spines of gravel stone along its blade, wielded by the Ancient Dragon-Man of the Dragon's Pit. Has an anti-dragon effect. Formerly a Dragon Communion warrior, the Ancient Dragon-Man was once arbiter of those worthy to devour the Dreaded One."

To think of it i never actually look into the reason why dragons are hunted by samurari or eastern themed warriors. Now the last part may have something to do with that guy screaming and moaning i met earlier. I wonder if that was just about the dude trying to face the Ancient Dragon-Man in order to get to eat Bayle's heart and getting chopped up and butchered for his trouble. I think my head canon was better if that's the case.

Apparently after killing this dragon guy the path keeps going form this side:

But i think i've been "exploring" enough next is Castle Ensis before i go anywhere else.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Pots always scaled with your stats, Lyric. Are you dumb?

Also, be sure to try out the movesets for those Smithscript weapons if you haven't already. You're in for a surprise, and maybe a new favorite weapon, hehehe.

The Suppressing Pillar? Yep, another thing i'm going to have to read about 10 or 20 reddit theories about and still not be able to really make up my mind about it. At least it solidifies the idea that the Shadow Land is a part of the Lands Between.

 

[Child of Malkav]

was able to get the full three swings and boy this thing really packs a punch i had no idea.

They nerfed it in patch 1.12.2, the one right before the DLC launched. If you are impressed with how it is now, you should have seen it before: 3 stabbing animations, 3 guaranteed bleed procs.
It ...destroyed stuff. Now it's only 1 bleed proc only at the end of the third animation. At least they kept the stagger so you can actually finish the damn thing without being interrupted.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Pots always scaled with your stats, Lyric. Are you dumb?

Also, be sure to try out the movesets for those Smithscript weapons if you haven't already. You're in for a surprise, and maybe a new favorite weapon, hehehe.

The Suppressing Pillar? Yep, another thing i'm going to have to read about 10 or 20 reddit theories about and still not be able to really make up my mind about it. At least it solidifies the idea that the Shadow Land is a part of the Lands Between.

Well yeah, i am retarded, that goes without saying.

The Smithscript is definitely interesting. The range is quite short, i guess so that it doesn't outright replace bows, and i can definitely see people finding a way to use it as a primary weapon. I wonder what it says that the first thing i thought about is to use it on those annoying dragonflies, even though so far i haven't even seen any in the DLC lol.

BTW, one of the reasons i'm doing this let's play is precisely so i can keep better track of the lore. One big problem with me is that i find stuff, have some ideas, but then by the time the thread of a particular plot gets picked up later i tend to forget whatever it was i read or encountered before. When i did my let's play of Sekiro i discovered i was able to remember things better just by the process of writing them down plus i could easily go back and read my own comments. We'll see if this is going to help any here since Sekiro's main plot wasn't as obscure as this one, heh.

 

[Lyric Suite]

was able to get the full three swings and boy this thing really packs a punch i had no idea.

They nerfed it in patch 1.12.2, the one right before the DLC launched. If you are impressed with how it is now, you should have seen it before: 3 stabbing animations, 3 guaranteed bleed procs.
It ...destroyed stuff. Now it's only 1 bleed proc only at the end of the third animation. At least they kept the stagger so you can actually finish the damn thing without being interrupted.

Damn, but i can see why. I wonder why it took them that long too.

BTW, just beat Rennala (another "burst" lmao), give me a second i'm writing up my Castle Ensis update as we speak.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 20 ~​

Onward to Castle Ensis:

Spoiler

Actually, before getting to Castle Ensis, i made a round of the NPCs to see if any of them have anything to say, and turns out there were indeed some changes. First, the Hornsent bug dude is gone. Second, one of Moore's forager buddies concocted this thing for Thiollier:

Spoiler

"An ebony-black syrup held in an unglazed jar. Moore asked that this be delivered to Thiollier. An unknown liquid apparently gathered and aged by the forager brood."

Taking it to the latter (and after telling him you are tired of life, which wasn't hard to do given i'm tired of life for real lul) yields this item:

Spoiler

"An ebony-black concoction mixed by Thiollier.

A condensed, somniferous elixir, purported to be capable of
putting even an ancient dragon to sleep. For an ordinary mortal, a
single sip would assuredly result in swift and certain death.

Thiollier thought of St. Trina's sleep when he created this, but the
ebony sleep he concocted had not the sweetness of nectar nor the
gentleness of rest's embrace."

I assume this is a quest item (maybe a way to deal with Bayle given the description mentions dragons. In this sense it might not be a coincidence that Thiollier and that guy screaming and moaning were found within close range of each other. They might both be on the same quest) but it's interesting that the player can use it (and you die if you do, which, what is the point again?), and that you can even buy what appears to be an infinite quantity. For now i'll hold on, don't want to mess up any quests by using it only to find out i wasn't supposed to.

Onward to Castle Ensis, and as first order of business, we stab the Carian giant in the dick:

Even with the "nerf" i managed to break the giant's posture on the third hit. I honestly wish i knew about this thing before the nerf so i could have killed all those janky as fuck dragons with it. So much pain that could have been saved. I mean it's incredible it could proc bleed with each thrust look at how much damage i was able to pile up on the third hit:

Mmmmh, look at them impaled, scorched people. After doing the same to the giant i'm starting to see the attraction:

This place definitely belongs to Messmer given his standard is everywhere, in poles, or in the carpets:

Spoiler

And yet it is occupied by Carian royals and there's even a study hall later on:

The giant also drops a new grease:

Spoiler

"Solidified knotgrease made from a mixture of magically resonant
materials. Craftable item.

Coats armament, adding heavy magic damage to attacks.
The effect lasts only for a short time.

Believed to have once been bestowed upon low-ranking Carian
knights in lieu of the fellowship's characteristic swords."

Funny thing is you can't use it with the swords in question. Or maybe you can? I didn't try it but i'm pretty sure you shouldn't so whoever wrote this pulled some random shit out of his ass. Also found a cookbook that allows you to make the above. As material, you need a kind of buffed up "Glintslab" Firefly. The description says those "freakishly enlarged" specimens are a product of selecting breeding, and the name of Manus Metyr is also mentioned which i assume is the significant part (propably a place you gonna see later).

Scouting around, i eventually come across a sword called "Milady". Many fedoras were tipped when people found this i'm sure:

Spoiler

"A light greatsword; that is, a sword whose blade matches the length of a greatsword, while being constrained to a minimal weight. Nicknamed after ladies of noble status for its refined appearance. With cultivated form, one can wield this weapon as swiftly as one might a straight sword"

While the sword being so slender is a reference to the delicate touch of noble women, it also suggests the act of skewering or impaling.

As a rather explicit bit of trolling by FromSoft, further ahead you get ganked by a dog, after which you find this:

I don't think i've ever seen a case of them being so overt that they are just taking the piss on the player, heh.

Eventually i reach another Miquella Cross but aside for the one where it mentioned the "arm sinistral" all the others just say the same shit, about losing parts of my body etc. Pretty lame to be honest i was expecting each of them would reveal a new piece of the puzzle, but i guess not. In either case, on the ground i find another note my Leda:

Spoiler

"Message left by Needle Knight Leda, addressed to kindred spirits who also pursue Miquella's trail.

"Kind Miquella seeks the tower sealed by shadow,
and the Gate of Divinity found there.

If we are to reach him,
we must burn the tree that seals the path.

And for that we require a flame.""

Many questions come to mind now. First, what exactly is the Scadutree? All the hints suggest Miquella already climbed the Shadow Tower. Is the tree blocking the way behind him his doing? BTW, just like the base game, i don't think it is just any kind of fire that can burn the dark branches. I'm saying that because the first thing that comes to mind is Messner. Now what if the reason for Messner's "secret" association with serpents is that he was trying to find a kind of fire capable of burning the dark roots, so he could reach the Gate of Divinity for himself? Just throwing that out there.

Next to the bonfire i then find a depressed Messmer soldier, who doesn't even turn around when approached and just stares me in the face and does nothing when hit:

Spoiler

Nothing to do but put him out of his misery. Poor guy. So long friendly soldier dude.

Nearby, i find a Starlight Shard on top of a roof, which i suppose is fitting. From here i get another view of the full tower of shadow:

I also see what is quite explicitly a church of Marika. On the opposite side there's a Starlight observatory thing, and somewhere in between there's also what looks to be a little secret:

Spoiler

I try for a bit to see if there's a way to get there, but even though the area appears to be part of this castle, it seems it can only be reached from the other side of it (i assume, unless i missed something).

While i'm here, i take a beauty shot of the castle proper:

But it is only on the other side of this place that i'm able to get a clear view of that omnius black castle in the distance:

That shit looks pretty intimidating.

BTW, this place has a LONG stretch after you open the gate with no sites of grace in between. You have to go across a bunch of guards, an ambushing dog, a group of invisible sonsabitches mages until you meet a Carian Knight wielding a great sword, which i ended up fighting in the most lazy way possible just because i couldn't be bothered having to run through that shit every single time:



I also did it to check out how good this shield actually is in absorbing magic damage.

The knight drops this sword with a rather weebish backstory:

Spoiler

"Greatsword embedded with a blue glintstone. The favored weapon of the steadfast Carian knight, Moonrithyll. Moonrithyll was the Twin Moon Knight's chamberlain. She was also a friend to the trolls, who served the royal family, and proudly wielded their weapons as she fought arm in arm with her gargantuan comrades."

There's also a bunch of other cool shit around here. There's a shield with some great drip on it:

Spoiler

"A finely-made "blueshield" featuring an engraving of a wolf under the moon. Excels at fending off sorceries. The wolf is the beast of the Carian royal covenant; a symbol of the moon's pride that none can forget, no matter what remote lands they may arrive in."

Would this be that annoying Red Wolf you meet in the base game a bunch of times? The shield says it excels at fending off sorceries, but has no actual weapon skill. I had to put Carian Retaliation in it to complete the swag of it.

After dropping on a roof around here there's another version of those super annoying phalanx spells. This one claims to have brought "refinments" over the prototypical from of sword-phalanx sorcery. Doesn't matter, i hate them all they are basically all the same to me, cancer.

But wait! You'd figure after the knight there would a site of grace, but nope. You enter a chapel where you meet a ghost guy, this time a soldier of Messmer praying at an altar of Marika:

In his prayer, he is asking how long this "holy" war will continue. So even the soldiers are tired of the bloodshed. Earlier on there was an hint Marika had severed her ties to Messmer. I'm assuming he is the one who pushed the crusade to this point, bringing slaughter in her name where as he is following a twisted plan of his own.

On the altar, i find this, a talisman for which i have no use yet but i'll have to definitely try at some point:

Spoiler

"Talisman featuring a gallant portrait of Rellana, the Twin Moon Knight. Enhances attacks executed after maintaining the same stance for a certain length of time. Engraved as a reminder of the unparalleled devotion of those who left their homelands to serve Rellana. "By your leave, we will accompany you wherever your lunar vessel takes you.""

Anyway wait, there's more still! After this you have to cross a study area full of annoying Carian mages, get past another sniping bastard, go around just to get sniped at some more by one of the earlier mages on the way to the roof where i found the phalanx spell. Look at this cheeky faggot:

You then have to get past a whole group of guards with more than one dog, which, the hell with that they like fire let them have some for a change:

There's now a wounding staircase which unsurpringly has a spear guy at the end of it (you ain't fooling me FromSoft). From here i spot one of those forager guys. Hello little buddy, how do i get down there?

There's also an Imbued Sword Key on this tower, which is interesting wonder where it leads. Then, after this whole stretch, you find yourself face to face with a Black Knight.

Now, this entire place is far from being as amazing as Belurat was, which was truly grand with that amazing music track. This is more of a standard large castle area, like Redmane was, but this whole stretch was kinda of cool. Felt very old school. Alas, it drops the ball by not awarding you the knight's shield at the end. Not only is this guy blocking the way after a very long stretch of game, he also heals which i don't think i've seen the other knights do. For all that you'd figure he would at least drop something cool, but i guess i got to wait more to get my hands on the shield and complete the set.

Before facing Rellana, there's a path on the back from which i can spot a lobster and some of those misbegotten guys in the distance. I was definitely dying to meet more of those. There's also a fancy ash of war called "Wing Stance", to be paired i presume with that elongated sword you find earlier.

Anyway, at last it is time to fight this bitch and learn her secrets. Of course, i step in and get chopped up in two seconds. When i died, she suddenly jerked up awkardly and assumed this robotic position:

Now this probably is just some jank in the AI, but it's interesting that i saw those Horned Warrior guy in Belurat do the same. Those guys were hinted to be "constructs". What if she is too? Probably just reaching here likely just bad animation as i said, but you never know. Also, what's up with that schnoz lol.

Anyway, after getting butchered a few more times, it is time to try another tactic:

Don't care about lighting but i definitely was able to cheese her with parry:

I tried my best to "burst" her like i did with the Dancing Lion but couldn't pull it off because the last bleed didn't proc in time and she managed to wiggle herself away from my planned series of chained finishers and i had to deal with her dropping her balls in my face. It's still interesting that i was able to dish out so much damage though. I have 9 unused scadutree fragments in my inventory. I wonder at what point will those blessings become mandatory. Whatever it is, i'm not there yet. I tried some roll-fu and she is definitely relenetless. A lot of her combos are also designed to "catch" you, sometimes even around a shield, and you have to do a lot of circling around to avoid damage, which sometimes is hard to do, sometimes feels too easy. Parry takes care of all that, but while most of her attacks were fairly easy to parry, there was one in particular that gave me a lot of trouble, a super fast upward swing with her fire sword. That shit was tough to master i had to actually keep an eye on her arm with my peripheral vision and basically parry as soon as i saw her arm twitch.

Anyway, i actually have to cut this short as i got shit to do i'll deal with her lore on my next update. Enjoy the video for now. Second major boss down.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

"Also, what's up with that shnoz lol"

Uhhh... It's called an armet, Lyric. A helmet? I thought you were a history buff.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Yeah but it's so... pointy. Also, if you get her set, do you get to keep the tits even if your character is male?