From Software Lyric Suite's Shadow of the Derptree Blog

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 21 ~​

Alright, the adventure continues:

Spoiler

First off, let's see if we can gleam who bitch this was:

Spoiler

"Remembrance of Rellana, the Twin Moon Knight, 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. Once a Carian princess, Rellana disavowed her birthright and chose to stand at Messmer's side instead, knowing full well that not even the brilliance of the moon could grant him succor. Before long, she became known as the Sword of Messmer."

Now, the part about knowing that not even the brilliance of the moon could grant him succor has something fatalist about it. Did she knew he was bound to fail, but decided to follow him all the same? Why? I check the stuff you get with the Remembrance in the Hold. You can get the whole armor set (tits and all lol), which explains she is actually the sister of Rennala (not that we needed to know given her name is basically identical):

Spoiler

"Ornate helm of Rellana, the Twin Moon Knight, fashioned from silver steel. Rennala, head of the royal family of Caria, was said to have given her younger sister, who renounced her lineage to chase after Messmer, a gift of lustrous black hair."

Not entirely sure what this gift of black hair entiles exactly. The hair is part of the armor, but the thing is, why hair? Did something happen to Rellana? Some physical disfiguration, or some kind of change, maybe related to snakes? Yeah i'm just throwing random shit at this point, but it's kinda of a wierd detail. Now we come to the swords:

Spoiler

"Carian light greatsword embedded with blue glintstone. Weapon of Rellana, the Twin Moon Knight. Two swords as a single armament. When two-handing, a straight sword engraved with golden flame will be carried in the left hand. Here, and here alone, were moon and fire ever together."

Here, and here alone, were moon and fire ever toghether. Except in the Sword of Night and Flame. In the case of the latter the fire was due the assotiation with the Fire Giants. Here, it could be related to Rellana's loyalty to Messmer. You also get her ball sorcery, which adds this bit of lore:

Spoiler

"In her childhood, she and her elder sister Rennala met these
moons. Overlapping, as though nestled against one another."

In the base game we have Rennala's moon and Ranni's moon but i always assumed the latter was just another facet of the same moon (its "dark" side if you will). Not sure what this is in reference of, but this text appears to imply there's actually two distinct "twin" moons.

Anyway, stepping outside, we come face to face with the ominous castle:

I'm assuming this is Messmer's place at last. There's burning ash falling from the sky. Maybe a result of an attempt by Messmer of burning down the Scadutree. There's also another of those furnace giant things which, not again.

Now, near the site of grace, at last we get to meet Lady Leda again. She mentions Hornsent, and how his people (whom she calls the "tower folk") were put to the fire by Messmer on the order of Marika, but she also points out they weren't exactly choir boys themselves, just people who happened to be on the losing side of a war, and hints that the Hornsent NPC may have less than noble motives for setting aside his hatred of the Erdtree people in order to join them in their quest to follow Miquella. The Hornsent guy is here too. He claims his reason for following Miquella is that the latter is "throwing it all away", as a means to wash away all the Erdtree sins. I have a feeling Miquella's throwing away his body has more sinister aims. Here, at any rate, it seems he threw away (or abandoned rather) his "heart". Oh, the Hornsent bug guy also urges me to find the misshapen tree of umbra, where a tarnished must be sacrificed.

Lastly, near the site of grace i find this strange note:

Spoiler

"A letter bearing a terse message and an illustration of a monk, his hands held together. "Seek me to the east if you wish to pursue the way of the warrior. When you find me, you will challenge me to a bout. There is no need for words.""

Again i may be reaching here but the arm crossed and the warrior thing sort of reminds me of Alexander, and giving the jars are made by stuffing living people in it..., ok, that is a bit of a reach, but a man can speculate, right?

Man is this Mordor or something:

I ain't going there just yet, just getting the map real quick. Apparently, this place is related to Altus Plateau, or at least it is named after it:

Spoiler

"The plateau occupied by Messmer's army that peers towards the Scadutree to the northeast, named after its counterpart in the realm of the Erdtree. At its center lies the shadow keep."

I'm going to guess Messmer essentially tried to establish a colony of the Lands Between in the Shadow Realm. I had to kill a Black Knight riding an horse to get the map. Still no shield, but he dropped a Blessed Bone Shard:

Spoiler

"Shard of bone with a golden shine. Material used for crafting items. Exceedingly rare to find. A bone fragment touched by the gold of the Scadutree, broken from the remains of the warriors who perished in the realm of shadow. A blessing such as this is said to be the greatest honor that can be granted to the dead."

I have to think how this relates to the lore here, but all of that will have to wait though, since the first order of business is to go look for that secret section i couldn't reach from within Castle Ensis himself. Down the river i meet a beheaded Carian giant. He is basically the same as those beheaded mausoleum knights but i'm not sure what the relationship is. Those knights beheaded themselves to serve their "masters" in death, the masters being those figures entombed in the walking mausoleums. Who is this Carian giant serving?

Riding further up i now find that church or whatever i spotted in Castle Ensis, which wasn't Marika but this dude:

The tree seems to suggest this is an Hornsent or Crucible relic. Not going through the portal yet, i decide to get to those extra areas of Castle Ensis first. Down the river i find a strange looking turtle:

Actually, every now and then you meet a strange version of all the common animals. I've seen a furry, "horned" deer and even an eagle. Killing them i think has an higher chance of yielding those special horns. I hope there's a way to farm those because if you have to look for rare animals to get them might as well just forget about it. The regular horns in the base game were annoying enough to farm as it is. Anyway, here we go:

In a chest, i find this knewl sword:

Spoiler

"One of the Carian royal family's glintstone swords. A smaller piercing sword with a slender blade. Formerly used by the Carian knights of old before the full refinement of their sorcerous combat techniques, this armament functions as a catalyst for glintstone sorcery when executing strong attacks."

Pretty cool that you can use it as a catalyst. This one is implied to be used by the Carian knights of "old", so it is a more ancient relic than anything else found so far in the castle. There's another Starlight Shard of course, and then in the distance i spot a curious lone grave in the middle of nowhere:

There's a Grave Wort in the body there and the tomb's design may offer a clue of what this is about but at present i don't recognize it:

Looks very worn out assuming that means anything.

At this point before beginning to explore this new section i decide to actually go through that portal. In the base game for the most part they all led to a closed off area with some cool loot in it so i figured i might as well get it over with now. Stepping through the thing leads me to this amazing area:

Like, wow. This area is supposed to be the ancient ruins of a civilization called "Rauh". Skirting the perimeter leads me to this imposing altar of a female figure:

And lo, look what we find underneath:

Spoiler

"A discus made of verdigris, the corroded metal known for its heft. Raises defense with higher equipment load. Great weight makes for great strength. The strength to protect others."

So this entire area is related to Moore? I begun to speculate about what kind of culture this is and how it relates to what we learned so far but then i get suddenly ganked by this asshole which at the same time gives me all the answers i needed so basically it saved me from some pointless speculations:

So this is the original civilization of the Hornsent? I come back to get my revenge and he drops a couple pieces of his armor. Since you can ride your horse in this area i decide this is a good spot to farm him given i just can just snipe at him from a distance with the cyclops laser beam. It takes four hits for him to go down and he is essentially helpless so it's piece of cake. I'm sure there's going to be more later and i think i'll take the time to learn how to fight them then. I did see him sprout wings at one point which reminded me of the Crucible Knights. Anyway, i eventually manage to get my hands on the entire armor set (sans the swords, which i'm not sure are different from the ones wielded by Hornsent Warrior in Belurat they look the same though), and this is what we get:

Spoiler

"A helm of tangled horn attached to a divine bird mask, allowing the wearer to invoke divinity. Worn by divine bird warriors; the very first of all horned warriors. Divine invocation heightens the power of divine bird feathers alongside strength and dexterity, but reduces the restorative effect of drinking from a flask of sacred tears. Focus is also troubled by wearing this helm."

"Armor of divine bird warriors, the very first of all horned warriors, made from a golden metal. The golden-hued divine birds are known to be cruel, never taking to human companionship. Those who invoked their divinity were few and far between."

"Greaves of divine bird warriors, the very first of all horned warriors, made from a golden metal. The great, sharp talons increase the force generated by kicks."

This all great stuff. The helm is made of gold which actually doesn't look that out of place even in my blood themed armor:

Gold and silver kinda of blend well at any rate, even if the bird shape is goofy.

Very cool stuff all the same i'm very curious to see what secrets this place will reveal once i reach the real thing and not this isolated off section.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 22 ~​

Spoiler

So, after chilling in that area for a bit, and finding a strange piece of material laying around:

Spoiler

"Oval-shaped stone bearing an engraving. Material used for crafting items. Relic found at the ancient ruins of Rauh. In the center of the stone is a small nest-like hole. Once this is inhabited by a sprite, the stone can be used as a ritual implement."

It is time to try to get my bearings around this new "dark" Altus area (too dark to be honest, at night i can barely see shit, torch and everything). I try to approach the large army camp near the black castle but the fire furnace thing spots me from five miles away and instantly decides to move to the entrance of the camp. Am i supposed to fight this thing with like half a dozen black knights riding around with patrols of soldiers being followed by fire dogs?

For now i decide to just ignore the thing, who unlike the other doesn't actually come at me and appears to be content to guard the large encampment. Riding around i almost trip over a black knight wielding some kind of double bladed jousting lance. Just wonderful. The night is half-way through i figure i might as well just ride around looking for larval tears so i can then just play during the day as the lack of visibility is pretty annoying. I see a bunch of little bears in the distance and i instantly suspected this time i was gonna find a runebear. I have no intention of fighting it in the dark so i keep riding until i find a lake with goofy looking ghost inflatable tubes, who for some reason are instantly hostile now:

Past the lake i find what looks like the entrace of a cave, a statue of Marika right before the threshold:

I decide to explore inside and wow, didn't expect Erdtree:

After killing the perfumers, i find this pretty knewl spell:

Spoiler

"An Erdtree incantation discovered in the realm of shadow. Fires a projectile toward distant allies that greatly restores HP on contact. Even when far beyond, far out of sight, the Erdtree will surely give us its blessing."

So if someone were to decide to play tank one could finally play healer and turn every co-op session into an MMO. Anyway of course the cave opens up to another poison swamp:

Why indeed. For now i'm going to stay away from this. I decide to go look for larval tears all the way on the other side so i can get it over with as i said. I come across a large church complex that appears to have been razed to the ground by fire. Inside there's one of those mystical fires i saw in that army camp earlier in front of Castle Ensis:

I step in expecting the worst but turns out it's just that queer fire guy again. Hilariously, the Mohgwyn spear appears to be slightly longer than his weapon so i can basically just poke him to death with little effort lol. As he dies, he begs Marika not to forsake him:

I'm pretty sure it is too late dude. This time he drops his ash of war, as well as a key for a prayer room found in "the house of worship in the church district". I presume this is inside the Shadow Castle. There's more of those golden bone shards here, as well as some withered sunflower that is covered in "impenetrable thorns" yet still suffused with "profound holiness", like the Scadutree. Some holiness. I also still have no idea what this is:

Exploring around the church i come across a kindred of rot, just curled up on the ground. Never would have i thought i'd have found one of those bastards to be actually cute. Like, is he sleeping or something?

To test it, i decide to come back after the night is over. Doesn't take long now and lo, daylight at last!

I go back to the rot guy and he is still curled up and twitching. This time i decide to read one of the messages and as expected there was spoilage:

At first i try an healing spell but it doesn't do anything. I figure it makes sense, since not everbody would have one at the ready. So i throw a warming stone and that does actually the trick, but all he does is stand there foraging:

I assume i just have to come back later. I take some time to ride around now that the sun is up. On a cliff, i see there's yet another section of Castle Ensis i had to finish exploring. Will this place ever be done?

I kill a bunch of black knights which are suprisingly easy while on the horse, and eventually i make it all the way down where i come across what appears to be a devasted Hornsent village. Right next to the site of grace, there's some kind of friar looking guy who refuses to talk:

I port back to go check on the forager guy before going too far afield, but on a hunch i decide to talk to Lady Leda, who actually has something to say about this dude. Apparently his name is Dane, and he just doesn't like to talk as a general rule. I go check that note again since i have to assume this is the guy and sure enough the description fits:

Spoiler

"Seek me to the east if you wish to pursue the way of the warrior. When you find me, you will challenge me to a bout. There is no need for words."

So i'm supposed to smack him to make him talk. Ok then. I go check the kindred and as expected he is all well and good now. I approach him and he hands me another forager cookbook and a bunch of withered sunflowers. Good boy, keep doing your thing.

Now it's time to go pick a fight with the monk. Before doing that i wanna explore the ruins to make absolutely sure that's what i'm supposed to do lol, but i think for now i have to cut this short. Before logging off the game though, i decide to get rid of the runebear just so i don't have to worry about this shit tomorrow and i can have greater freedom to investigate all the nooks and crannies:

I was expecting the worse but he is not that bad. I don't think he is actually as hard as the real fuzzy one from the base game, forgot what that was called (you meet one in Caleid on the way to the giant jar god, and another one in the Snowfields). Or maybe it's just that i got so good at fighting the other ones a few new moves from this one aren't enough to trip me up. Oh, so cool also that i was able to pull off the entire Mohgwyn weapon art. A first since i started using this thing.

Spoiler

Heh, he drops this thing which like, what?

Spoiler

"The pelt of Ralva the Great Red Bear, worn upon the head without modification. Enhances incantations of what is jokingly called "Bear Communion." This untreated hide, won at the end of a bloody bout, is just the thing to make a wild bear out of a warrior."

I'm sorry what are the "Bear Communion" incantations again? Nearby i also find an highland warrior armor set. The helm has the most info:

Spoiler

"Helm worn by highland warriors, pieced together using leather. The white favor represents their home settlement. Highland warriors are known to be hunters of bears; to them, there is no act more glorious than the subjugation of a savage beast."

So the white stripe is supposed to rapresent their home settlement, which may be a clue for something or just fluff. I assume whoever this armor belonged to failed in killing Ralva, or decided to just leave the armor here and scurry away butt naked.

Anyway, tomorrow imma go slap that monk guy or something. I mean i guess i hope i'm not about to fuck something up we'll see.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 23 ~​

Spoiler

So that wasn't another section of Castle Ensis, but just some dumb isolated fort with a nonsensical layout. At the bottom there's a whole defensive positioning that's basically guarding... a wall:

I get that this is just for anyone who comes down here using the stairs instead of dropping from the wall but it still looks kinda of silly that a whole contingent of soldiers are basically guarding a place with no etrance.

Behind me there's a chest with a snake fire flail:

Spoiler

"A flail with coiled snakes for bludgeoning heads. Fire roars within the snakes' bodies, inflicting horrible burns. Some of Messmer's army used these flails to burn hornsent—to brand them with agony and fear."

Aside for the absurd layout, i'm going to assume lore wise the reason this place is heavily guarded is that this weapon would reveal a bit too much about Messmer and where he got his mastery over fire. The description says the flail is used for torture, probably employed on prisoners away from prying eyes.

On the top there's a bunch of soldiers with explosive barrels which honestly, that just seems to make things worst for themselves:

Eventually i reach what i think is yet another standard black knight but apparently it's a named boss with health bar, music and everything. He uses that silly crucible attack so i assume he was a follower of that black knight leader who delved into the arts of the Crucible (did he find out about the nature of Messmer from that flail. I mean not this guy the one from the Spirit Ash):

Honestly that looks kinda of dumb lol. At last, of course, i get the bloody shield once i kill him, so at least there's that. There's a book to craft hefty oil pots and an improved bow talisman but not much else. Strange area should have been accessible before Castle Ensis to be honest.

I finish exploring the cliff side here to see if there's a way to that old civilization. At the bottom there's a huge swamp area which may actually start from that cave i found earlier with the perfumers and the minature Erdtree, but in reality it seems the way to get there (the ancient ruins i mean) is past the Shadow Castle:

Ok, time to go smack that guy then. But before, i make a round through the NPCs to see if any of them has further clues. Nothing much, except that Moore guy has a present for me, i presume from that forager buddy i just helped before. It's a way to craft a kind of raisin that allows torrent to just push enemies away. I tried it on a soldier camp near the monk friar dude and it's pretty cool but the fact it is a consumable means it will never get used. Situations where this could be useful are not something you can predict or prepare for. Should just be an effect of those spirit blessings you get alongside the Scadutree blessings. Or maybe it is already and this is just a way to bring the same effect in the base game no idea.

BTW, there's a rock here that i think looks like those designs in that ancient Ruah place i got ported to earlier:

Many clues around here i'm sure, but, it's time to go check that monk guy. So i ready myself to smack him, but i have the sense to check the messages on the ground and of course i was about to fuck it up lol:

In hindsight it is pretty obvious since you get the gesture with the note but my micro brain couldn't have guessed it without the spoilage.

So the game was trying to sell this guy pretty hard, and he can be tricky if you let him get too close with all his knewl kung-fu moves, but honestly he is a bit easy to cheese, heh:

Spoiler

Despite the humiliating defeat, he acts like it's all cool and that he has more to "teach" me:

It's still pretty cool though that his fists basically unlock a whole different playstyle, similar to the Deflective Hardtear:

Spoiler

"A technique for hand-to-hand combat without the aid of a weapon. This martial art combines fist strikes and kicks. The teachings of a group of spiritual seekers known as the Dryleaf Sect, revealed only to those of worthy valor and character. The practice of this martial art marks the dawn of an ascetic's journey."

I wonder if this is gonna be the next step to the evolution of Souls in whatever other game they decide to continue using this combat system. Just bolster what is there with different fighting styles.

Not taking the obvious joke here:

Spoiler

"The sun-faded and lightly soiled hat of Dryleaf Dane. Worn low over the eyes, it obscures the wearer's vision. Meeting the gaze of another can overcome the senses, often leading to the downfall of those who would walk the noble and solitary seekers' path."

FromSoft going full animu now.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 24 ~​

Alright, after dealing with that monk dude, it is time to explore those ruins!

Spoiler

I start clearing out all the ghost peasants which somehow are actually kinda of annoying now, plus there's like 50 dogs in this place i'm forced to just cleanse the whole place otherwise i'll never be able to explore it, and while i was setting the whole area on fire (lol those ghosts were probably like, again?) with dragon breath i also killed a bunch of sheeps in the process quite a few of them dropped Empyrean-Blood Burgeons. Not entirely sure if there's any significance to that. I tried clearing the sheeps in the adjacient fields but none of them dropped anything, where as killing those in the ruins dropped a few more again. Is the blood of Miquella seeping into the ground in this specific place, and the sheeps grazing near the ruins are picking up those Burgeons?

This place is quite something. First, the level of devastation is particular severe here:

But it seems i don't even know the half of it as further ahead i come across a huge crater where parts of the city sunk under the ground:

On the ground around here i get messages all pointing to a tower. Really vehement about this. I spend the better part of five minutes looking for secrets until i realize all they are doing is point there's an easier way to drop down this place, which is useless since i could see the drop off from one of the entraces was way too high:

I manage to make it down, and for a second this place was really starting to get interesting:

There's a bunch of those strange priests near that church, and i tried to get a closer look at those guys but it's hard to understand what they are. Best shot i could get since they kept smacking me in the face while i tried to take a picture:

I thought it was a mask but it seems like that stuff on their faces is the result of some kind of transformation.

Anyway, inside the church i find the very spell they are using:

Spoiler

"Sorcery of the inquisitors of the tower, wielded as an incantation of the spiral. A swing of the arm releases a procession of golden arcs. Charging enhances potency. The arcs resemble barbs, a known symbol of coercive questioning."

This just seems kinda of random to be honest, but whatever. So those are inquisitors of the Hornsent. And i guess the whole arc/barb thing is also of related to that special tomb they were protecting earlier where i found that strange sword, which also suggests the idea of a barb, or a hook etc.

Like i said, this place got me excited for a second since the path kept going down and for a while i thought this was going to lead to an underground complex of caves:

In reality following this path just makes me emerge in some kind of jar village:

Fair enough i guess. I just marked the site of grace and i'll come back here later.

Going through the higher path leads me to find this talisman:

Spoiler

"Shattered linchpin stone. Raises potency of kicking and stomping skills. Linchpin stones are spiritual anchors said to hold the ground in place and quell the fury of earthquakes—when this one shattered, the surrounding town fell into the broken earth. One account claimed that the moon itself had come tumbling down."

So this whole place was levelled with Carian moon magic. I'm assuming the idea the linchpin was holding the ground in place is the "superstitious" part while the moon coming crushing down is the actual event. Porting back to the ruins, i continue to explore further. While riding around the sunken crater i actually spot this cheeky bastard trying to lay ambush on me:

Who could be hiding behind this post? Feeling good that i was able to spot the trap on my own, i continue to explore further where suddenly i start hearing loud roaring in the distance. Distracted by the noise, i fail to notice there's ANOTHER Curseblade ambush near one of those defaced Hornsent statues. I guess that's what i get for my hubris. Those Curseblade ambushes are REALLY starting to get old btw. Also, speaking of those defaced guys, i realized there's actually a kind of symmetry to the fact the Scadutree fragments allow you to grow your own power, while those Hornsent altars are related to the spirit world, which is fitting since all that's left of the Hornsent is ghosts now.

After retriving my lost runes i go check what the hell is going on with that ruckus and lo, i emerge on a scence where an entire contigent of Messmer's soldiers including several black knights are all battling a Ghostflame dragon:

At first this looked kinda of fun so i charge in thinking i could help the soldiers kill the dragon instead all the Messmer guys instantly ignore the dragon and start chasing my ass lmao. Oh well, it was an interesting spectacle to fight the dragon in the middle of the battle but i was forced to take care of the soldiers as well at the same time:



Moving on:

Spoiler

In the camp i find a knewl Repeating Crossbow. The soldiers don't respawn once you kill the dragon either so this is a good spot to farm those Messmer fire things if for some reason anyone actually needs them.

It's night now, and the Shadow Castle looks particularly ominous:

There's a locked spirit spring but the rock pile you need to knock over to unleash it is right next to it. Not sure i get the point of this "puzzle" (it's not a puzzle if the solution is right next to it). Up there i find this cute bat who doesn't attack and just stares at me. Hello little friend:

I now come across a wide field of scattered ruins which seem related to that Lava Forge place i found earlier. This place is filled with misbegottens. I'm pretty sure this is actually significant in some way because in the ruins near the Lava Forge caves there was a battle going on between sodiers and those blood fiends. Whatever those ruins are, it appears they are related to primordial entities. There's a bunch of those spirit dung beatles around here which like, wow, blast from the past. One of them contains an interesting ash of war you can use on throwing weapons, like the Smithscript knife i found earlier.

At first i thought the carvings on the ruins resembled those i saw in the old ancient Ruah spot i got ported to earlier, but they aren't the same at all. They are both floral in character, but the design in Ruah has something "runic" about it:

Where as those in those lava forge related ruins are a series of branches or roots that kinda of spiral around like flames:

BTW this place is called Ruined Force of "Starfall Past". I don't think this is in reference to the moon leveling the Hornsent town nearby. I got the vague suspicion i'm gonna meet one of those Astel things again, but maybe that's my paranoia getting the better of me.

Exploring around leads me to a lake with a couple of lobsters (one of them hidden of course) with some useless loot scattered around. I guess Elden Ring gotta Elden Ring. There's that forager dude i spotted earlier from Castle Ensis and not much else.

Moving south i eventually come across a castle:

There's what looks like an Omen Killer on the roof. From the other side, i spot a couple of Abductor Virgins, because why not:

I definitely missed those (bleh).

From up here i find a Miquella cross. No NPCs around but the cross has a unique description:

While taking that shot i just noticed that Belurat and the ruins of Ruah are basically next to each other:

I mean obviously (duh) but i just become conscious of the fact. Not sure what to make of this eye thing i'll go ask one of the NPCs to see if one of them can tell me something about it.

Behind me i spot yet another residence which is past the jar village i reached earlier:

One more beauty shot while i'm up there 'cause why not:

So far i think i got this whole area scoped, except there's that vast, and i mean vast swamp area which appears to circle around this entire region. I spotted a castle there:

But if you look down across the entire perimeter of Scadu Altus, basically all around it, you'll see a swamp. There's also that canyon area underneath Castle Ensis i still have to explore. I wonder if that is it or if there's even more underground areas like Nokstella City and so on because that would mean this DLC is truly massive.

 

[Child of Malkav]

You can break the spirit spring lock by using the morgott/mohg shackles nearby without having to find the rocks.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Yeah, I'm guessing what happened with Moorth is it either caved in due to a natural sinkhole (because or in spite of the aforementioned linchpin stone) or Rellana booged on the place with her ultimate attack, slamming her moons so hard into the ground it actually broke the earth.

The latter makes a lot of sense, since it's in such close proximity to Shadow Keep. Messmer's army probably wanted the whole plateau cleared of Hornsent while they were building the castle.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 25 ~​

Spoiler

So i make a round of the NPCs to see if anybody has anything new to say, and turns out Sir Ansbach actually has something to say about the eye thing. He is surprised that Miquella would go so far as divest himself of his very eye, and goes on to explain that his eye is no "mere morsel of flesh", but a vessel of "soarcing grace", proof of his "Empyrean heritage", and then goes on to wonder if Miquella intends to severe his very birthright, by which i assume he means the Empyrean heritage in question, and his fate as a "child of the Erdtree".

He then proceeds to offer an explanation for Miquella's presence in the Shadow Realm. We know that he is bound to the Tower of Shadow (wow, what a revelation), where he intends to rise to "true" godhood. He explains the tower contains a secret divine gateway, which was once the birthplace of a god whom "we know all too well" (i assume he means Marika). So essentially Miquella wants to rise to true godhood so he can forge a new age, and take the place of Marika.

Well, ok then. Not entirely sure which part in all this entails him shedding his Empyrean body. I mean we know Ranni did the same thing to shed her Empyrean heritage. Is that also required to rise to true godhood?

Anyway, moving on for now. I decide to check out what apparently is called the Fort of Reprimand. I try the earlier access i found by means of the spiritspring, which is an aweful start for this place. Basically all i accomplish is foil an ambush by an Omen Killer and loot a somber stone from a chest. Wow, an inspiring beginning. I then figure i might as well get rid of those Abductor Virgins hiding outside at the base of this fort, and all i get is a bunch of runes. Reaching the edge of the cliff i find a Blesing of Marika but that's about it.

Going through the front gate, i kill another Omen Killer (are there Omens? What are those guys doing here?) and now i see what kind of "reprimend" we are talking about here:

My first assumption was that those soldiers may have been loyal to that knight who betrayed Messmer. There's a bunch of blessed bones around, all that's left of the "grace" that was bestowed on those people. At the bottom of one of those hanged soldiers i find a minor grave wort which i thought was a cute touch even if pointless.

I make it to the basement where i find a number of cages and various torture implements, racks etc:

I reach the prison cells where suddenly i get ganked by a number of soldiers. So some of them are still alive? All the loot down here is worthless shit btw. I get upgrade materials and a bunch of those dissolving grave stones. I'm starting to get really annoyed by this place, little did i know there was going to be a big turn around. First, i manage to discover a chest containing a Fire Spelldrake Talisman +3. An ok start for what so far as been nothing but worthless trash. Questioning a prisoner hey?

I now proceed up where i meet the boss of this place, and lo, it's a black knight who wields the power of the Crucible:

Spoiler

Not entirely sure what's going on here. I'm assuming this knight was in charge of the fort, and the soldiers i found hanging in the courtyard were his own men. Obviously he is a follower of that black knight leader who betrayed Messmer. I guess Messmer send a bunch of Omen Killers to pushing the knight and torture his followers? Or maybe the knight took over the castle and killed all those who wouldn't follow him? But then that doesn't explain why the Omen Killers are still alive. Whatever it is, it's clear the fort was either harboring or taking in traitors, and punishment had to be meted out. Up on the roof i then find a new kind of Cookbook:

Spoiler

"A record of crafting techniques left by the devout battlefield priests. These keepers of the faith fought bitterly to spread their gospel in the realm of shadow, where there was no Erdtree to gaze upon. Acquire the knowledge to craft the following: - Festive Grease"

Interesting. I assume this was it but just to make sure i decide to explore around a bit more. As i'm doing so, i end up "accidentally" (honestly it's hard to miss) falling into a hole which reveals a secret area:

Coming down i find a large pile of corpses, too many to just be the bodies of the men garrisoned in this fort, so i guess this place was specifically devoted in "reprimending" soldiers as it's actual function. Among the corpses, i end up making a very significant discovery. First, i find a strange item called "Iris of Occultation":

Spoiler

"An iris that is as dark as night.

Place on the eye of another to deny them light in all its forms.
Can also be used to receive the blessing of an equipped Great
Rune, at the cost of all runes currently held.

In the realm of shadow, this artifice was employed by the priests of
the Erdtree to intensify the fears of their flock to magnificent
effect."

Right next to it, i then discover Marika's own rune. I mean apparently:

Spoiler

"Golden remnants of the grace personally bestowed by Queen Marika to the heroes who joined the crusade for her. Use to gain 80000 runes. The brilliance of Queen Marika's grace blinds even the very best."

All sorts of questions are now flooding my head. Both of those items have to be related to the eye of Miquella, right? The Iris is clearly an eye but Marika's "rune" also kinda looks like an eye. Both of them can be consumed for some kind of paltry effect (the Iris acts like a worse rune arc while the rune gives you a bunch of, well, runes), but it's clear they are both important quest items. Not sure what it means to "deny the light" to someone, but i have a feeling i'll find out soon enough. The Iris also adds a bit of lore about those "priests" whom apparently are in charge of spreading the faith of the Erdtree, by the looks of it through less than gentle means.

The rune meanwhile was apparently bestowed to the "heroes" of the crusade. The fact that it is here, on a pile of corpses seems to suggest some of those "heroes" met with a less than dignified end. I guess there's no way to know exactly what happened. Maybe they were punished for giving themselves to the Crucible and betraying the Erdtree. Maybe they were faithful to the Erdtree and tried to defect from Messmer on account of the brutality of his crusade. Possibly more will be told in the future.

In either case, this place was more eventful than i expected given the dreadful start. Further ahead, i end up cllimbing out in a secret niche outside the castle where i find myself in a group of graves. There, i find the following ashes:

Spoiler

"Ashen remains in which spirits yet dwell. Use to summon the spirits of two of Messmer's soldiers. One soldier wields an axe, while the other wields a spear. Both of them are adept at charge attacks. These soldiers belonged to the ignoble penal battalion, and were buried hidden from the Scadutree's sight."

So i guess whatever was happening in this fort, didn't recieve the favor of the Scadutree at all. Next to the graves there's a couple of crucible rabbits who just stand there without scattering about:

So where the Scadutree's influence doesn't reach, the Crucible emerges? Is that what this is?

 

[Lyric Suite]

You can break the spirit spring lock by using the morgott/mohg shackles nearby without having to find the rocks.

The lore may be cool but the mechanic of it is pointless even more than i thought then.

~ Part 26 ~​

Spoiler

Just cleared the "Starfall Past" lava cave. Interesting how the whole theme of those areas is throwing weapons. I find a Smithscript Spear, then a Smithing Talisman with the following description:

Spoiler

"A talisman depicting an ancient smithing hammer. Inscribed with a smithscript. Enhances weapon-throwing attacks. In ancient times, smithing was a divine act, and blacksmiths interpreted the script they perceived in the wrinkles of molten steel to imbue weapons with souls."

And finally a find a Smithscript Cirque, which MAY or may not be related to the similar kind of weapon used by those obnoxious Curseblade assholes.

BTW, you ain't fooling me game:

Didn't take me long to figure out the solution to the puzzle:

So again no boss, but i find another ancient weapon:

Spoiler

"One of the treasures of the ruined forges.
Greatsword of ancient meteoric ore, ending in a sharp point.

Fashioned from an excavated shard of an arrowhead that once was a part of the old gods' arsenal. A capable piercing weapon that excels at thrusting attacks."

This weapon scales with arcane which is pretty interesting (it means i can actually use it with my current build). It has a "light" weapon art. Light was mentioned in that very ancient sword i found in the Fog Rift Catacombs. This sword was forged out of an arrowhead that was part of the "old" gods' arsenal. So now this is the second time we have light being associated with something very, VERY old.

At this point i just decide to explore the Ellac River. Screw it. Now i take the right turn, and the first thing i meet is another boring Ulcerated faggot:

I was gonna just kill this thing and move on but i wanted to try if i could beat him using Mohg's weapon art only and sure enough it worked, hahaha:



It's funny if anything else. Next:

Spoiler

He drops this thing:

Spoiler

"Doll of a tanglehorn bairn. Uses FP to summon vengeful spirits around the caster that autonomously chase down foes. Tangled horns are a symbol of spirituality, but most young born bearing the oversized horns meet a frightfully early demise. These fetishes are made to memorialize them."

So it's basically pursuers for faith builds. It has int scaling but it's actually lower than faith i'm pretty sure. Long casting time though, kinda like all the other "omen" bairns, to which this one is clearly related. So the Hornsent and the Omen are basically one and the same when it comes down to it, except for the Hornsent tangled horns are a sign of spirituality while for the omen they are a sign of a curse.

Further ahead i find a pile of corpses which is right under the Brundlefly village:

I can only assume one of the sick was a "blessed" tangled horn child and that's what spawned the Ulcerated Tree Spirit i just killed? There has to be a relation, right? Why did it drop the bairn otherwise.

Now, from this point onward, this place is just a vast expanse of nothing. There's Brundleflies, there's river rocks everywhere, and eventually i come across a stupid crab. It almost felt like FromSoft was testing my patience on purpose, and sure enough, they were lol. At the end of this nonsense, there's a pretty waterfall:

Inside the waterfall there's a small cave with bunch of inflatable tubes "protecting" a Crucible turtle:

And look what i find there:

Spoiler

"A talisman in the shape of a two-headed green turtle. Greatly raises stamina recovery speed. Turtles are known as a nutritious ingredient, symbolic of inexhaustible power. Two-headed turtles are a favorite subject in the land of the tower, due to the spiral shape of their intertwined necks."

I guess good things comes to those who wait. The patience of wading through this endless empty area actually had a pay off.

A bit further ahead i accidentally manage to spot this on my own:

My elation dies out instantly when it turns out it's a Bell Bearing for mushrooms. Fucking mushrooms lmao. The bearing belonged to an hornsent mushroom-seller who did not survive the war. Wonder why, who cares about mushrooms.

Finally, i reach the end of this place and there's a cave. Inside, i end up discovering a secret congregation of those primordial blood guys:

There's a boss that just happens to use the exact same model of those guys, just enlarged:

So far the game did pretty well in terms not recycling bosses but this one came close to feel like the base game again. They gave the guy some unique moves at least though:



Anyway:

Spoiler

The Ashes don't say a whole lot that we didn't know already:

Spoiler

This spirit conducts bloodboon rituals with a sacred spear, casts bloodflame hexes, and takes a singular pleasure in letting the blood of foes.

Long ago, a subjugated tribe discovered a twisted deity amongst the ravages of war, and they were transformed into bloodfiends. The mother of truth was their savior."

Finding those blood guys here may not have been accidental depending on what's on top of this place, but that's in an area i haven't reached yet. If you look at the main map there's like a city right above with some red colorations, in an area past the Shadow Keep i think. We'll see.

Now the other side lel:

At this point i started to wonder what the hell i got myself into, but turns out there wasn't much left to explore of this whole Ellac area. Up ahead i find a site of grace with a forlnon ghost nearby:

Spoiler

Well, i guess this is the end of the line for now:

I see that dead dragon and those peaks in the distance, and i think i do in fact remember seeing fields of blue grass in that side of the map. Possibly this is what the ghost guy is talking about. I tentatively try to scout ahead, and coming down i once more end up spotting another vase entirely by accident:

And wouldn't you know, it's more mushrooms lmao. Alright that does it, i'm out of here.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 27 ~​

Ok, the adventure continues!

Spoiler

First thing i got as close to those ruins as i could:

I thought it was a castle at first but turns out it's an Hornsent town. If you look underneath, there's scattered remains of those Furnace Golems everywhere. Whatever happened here it seems the Hornsent put out quite the fight:

Behind me there's another forager buddy who gives me another book and also hands me this thing, whatever this is:

Spoiler

Pearlescent Scale:

"A glassy and glistening fragment of pearlescent hue. Material used for crafting items. Found by hunting lamprey. These retrograde scales are found embedded deep within the skin of lamprey."

The word "retrograde" probably means something. I only wish i knew what a lamprey was but i guess i'll find out soon enough. Up ahead i get confronted by quite an high number of those spirit protecting birds:

Turns out from this side you can actually reach the Ruah's ruins, or the bottom part of that area. The top side of course can only be reached from the Shadow Castle:

For now i decide to just mark the site of grace not sure if i'm getting too far ahead.

I try to look for ways to reach those Hornsent ruins and i notice there's a whole section undernearth way below where the river drops from a waterfall which seems to stretch all the way to the jar village:

Spoiler

Guess that's my next stop then. I port to the Bonny but no Clyde village, and i finally get to see what a "greater pontante is". I gotta say i'm not impressed:

So it's just some plum naked dude with a cleaver. Ok then. You can find the cleaver around here which has this description:

Spoiler

"Weapon of the greater potentates of Bonny Village.
An outsize butcher's cleaver used to dismember human bodies in the making of the great jars stored in the gaols.

Restores a very small amount of HP when it squarely strikes an enemy."

Now of course the main point of interest is that those guys are wearing the same mask the Hornsent NPC is, which i assume suggests he is one of them. Very interesting. At this point the lore line in the greater potentates books come to mind:

Spoiler

"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."

Is this describing the Hornsent NPC? Doubtful to be honest, but it's a thought.

BTW, while the whole village as been sortched into the ground and all the villagers are black ghosts, the potentates appear to be alive, which is curious. Oh, and why are there pots of different shapes and sizes:

I guess it's part of the process, or the artist was just told to make a bunch of pots and he had no idea about the lore lel. Eventually i come accross a defaced statue of what appears to be a slender figure kneeling with arms outstretched, right next to a withered tree:

On it i find an "O Mother" gesture, which i'm sure won't be needed for a quest at some point.

I then turn around and oh boy:

At this point there's a whole bunch of messages on the various bridges, including one that's a bit on the nose:

Sadly, there were no giant snakes coming to rip the bridge to shreds and me along with it. Across the bridge i reach a place called "whipping hut". Talking about being a bit on the nose, there's a ghost guy who appears to be actually whipping somebody:

Spoiler

Ok so the people being shoved into the jars are indeed "shamans". Looking at those lump guys, their relatively "refined" appearance if you ignore the lump of flesh growing on their body, and the fact they often dropped silver horn tenders, which are said to be held by those "in the upper echelons" of society, i assumed those guys were part of the nobility of the Hornsent. But since theirs is a society which places high value in spirituality and "divinization" i guess those guys could well be "shamans" as well as still fit the general impression i got of them. In the hut, i also find the whip:

Spoiler

"Whip bestrewn with rotting, misshapen teeth. Filthy and seething with disease, the teeth are embedded in the whip and dose the victim with deadly poison upon each strike. As the wounds ripen they grow inflamed and ooze pus. The flesh of shamans was said to meld harmoniously with others."

I mean, Jesus Christ. For all i know those Brundlefly people are a byproduct of grafting flesh over the bodies of the shamans after turning them into rotted infections with this whip. How this even remotely fits the lore of the jars in the original game is beyond me to be honest.

Before moving further on this path, i check the bridge on the other side of the village. Still no snake, but once i cross i get chased down by a bunch of gigantor scorpion/spiders. Fuuuuck that shit lol:

BTW, i almost forget that on my last round of NPCs i hit the old lady too for good measure and that she gave me this shit:

Spoiler

"Scorpion simmered in a black soup.
Traditional meal of the hornsent.

Boosts physical damage negation temporarily and gradually
restores HP.

Once made with love by a certain elderly woman for the family
table.
Having long gone cold, this soup gives off a rank, sour smell."

Poor grandma Hornset. Was really sweet the way she gave it to me, like an old grandma giving cookies to her grandchilden, which i guess when it comes to the keepers it's basically kinda of true. She even has a line where she says if i don't like the taste she doesn't mind if i throw it away. That's neat and all, but i'd be more inclined to eat this scorpion soup if weren't for the fact i get to see so many of the live ones running around and chasing my ass. Anyway after roasting all the scorpions with dragon breath, i make it to another jar factory prison, unsurprisingly given all the cages i saw on the way:

Since i'm here, i decide to take another look at those guys:

I got killed on purpose by one but this is still the best picture i could get. Anyway, first off, i just noticed that their arms are in the same outstretched position as the "O Mother" statue. Second, they usually have their eyes bound in a cloth, which at first i thought was just an added bit of torture since those guys are shoved into the jars, just to make their fate even more horrifying, but this one as you can see has glowing eyes so maybe there's a reason why their eyes are bound. Lastly, in their forhead theres what looks like exposed brains. I was looking for something because the idea of shamans implies spirituality, and spirituality in the Hornsent culture is tied to the crucible. So where are the horns? Maybe they were just ripped out?

BTW, while i'm exploring around, i find this shit lol:

Spoiler

First glitch of this kind i've found in a FromSoft game, though judging by videos people have made over the years are actually quite common, heh. Around this specific area, which i can only access by what appears to be a chute of some kind where bodies are disposed off i presume, i find this:

Spoiler

"Ceremonial accoutrement worn by hornsent.
Vastly raises immunity.
(Immunity governs resistance to poison and rot.)

Horns are sublime artifacts to hornsent, and their presence confirms the belief that they are a chosen people.

Only the repeated sprouting of fresh horns can create a tangled horn, which is viewed as an irrefutable symbol of primacy."

Could just be general lore about the horns, could just answer the question i raised about the shamans and why they don't have horns once they are stuffed in the jars. Surely, that this is found here has to mean something.

Down this route, i find an area that appears to be in disarray, with a bunch of living jars in it:

The rest of the prison is in a good state why is this side in ruins then? All access to this area are also barred by gates. I mean, aren't those living jars their "saints" now? They also still have yet to explain the little ones of course.

Yo, pretty cozy to be honest:

Also yes, i was compelled to try. Fucking messages:

Spoiler

Eventually i make it out again, and all around here there's alcoves in the rock with shackles and prison doors. I guess the shamans just need a lot of "convincing":

Now, there's a jar that drops down, but there was one section i still wanted to explore so instead of jumping off i tried to go back up to see if there's a way to get there without having to restart this place and lo, the jar goes all the way up and reveals a secret section:

On the body on that torture rack, i find an armor set with incredible drip:

Spoiler

"Flowing lines in the seeming shape of a fingerprint adorn the surface. Imprisons the wearer in utterly lightless dark.

Bestowed upon those born deep underground, ordaining them as Swordhands of Night."

Nearby i also found a shield to go with it:

Spoiler

"A shield awarded to Swordhands of Night, cast in a bottomless black from which no light can escape. The outer surface is only semicorporeal, providing reliable defense against attacks that are not physical in nature."

Why is this here, why was the owner of the armor being tortured, and what the fingerprint motiff is about (a relation to madness?), i don't know. I do remember though that there is a theme going on here about light and dark ever since i found that ancient fossilized sword, so this may be in relation to that.

The plot of course does NOT thickens when i reach the boss, only further confusion is found there:

Good try with the dark gimmick, but it needed more health i think. In either case:

Spoiler

The relevant part of course is the lore you get from the ashes:

Spoiler

"Ashen remains in which spirits yet dwell.
Use to summon the spirit of Curseblade Meera.
Attacks immediately after being summoned.

Curseblades appear to dance when they spin their shimmering circular blades. These ascetics, who failed to become tutelary deities, were a scourge for those who attempted to invade the hornsent homeland.

Long ago, before the land was overshadowed by invasion, this scourge was shunned, and the curseblades were imprisoned. It was during this confinement that Meera met Labirith, and upon her death, Labirith was plunged into a devastating darkness."

Kinda funny that the Hornsent hated those guys just like everybody else, even though they are of their own. I ASSUME the dark magic of this particular Curseblade guy is related to the night armor i just found, but in what way there is no means of knowing (and i have an hunch they'll not touch upon this again). What might be relevant is this contrast with light and dark again. The Hornsent mages i met in Belurat used light attacks. I assume the Curseblade going into dark here is somehow a contrast to that.

Before moving on, i decide to pay a visit to the Hornsent dude to see if he has anything to say about the potentate shit. He doesn't, but sees the soup and even though he clearly wants it he just gets all high and mighty and flat out says the soup is shit, which, mind what you say asshole, grandma's cooking may leave a lot to be desired (as evidenced by the fact she uses scorpions in her recipes), but she made it with love. Despite his remostrations, he takes the soup anyway, and gives me three furnace things as reward. This may suggest he is the one who destroyed those Furnace Golems in that Hornsent town i saw at the beginning of this post.

Anyway, gotta stop here, lot's of shit happening next.

 

[Stoned Ape]

Lastly, in their forhead theres what looks like exposed brains.

Here's a close up:

Does this seal remind you of anything else?

 

[Lyric Suite]

Last time i searched for it i couldn't find a close up of their faces anywhere, nice that it's out there.

Looks like many things to be honest. The great jar mentioned something about life and death. I get the impression those jars are a means to reach reincarnation in some grotesque, artificial manner (maybe a parody of the cycle of rebirth that is normal in the Lands Between?). Part of the symbol could be that spirit grave you can see among the regular ones which is an half-moon fastened on a beam of wood. There could also be a tree there. And... Marika? At least on the top looks like the crucifix of Marika with her arms tied to the Elden Ring in a parody of Christ on the Cross. Also, the outstretched arms could be similar to those found on the stake of Marika.

If the Shamans are related to any of that there might be an actual justification for why Marika ordered Messmer to just set those fuckers on fire.

Also, no horns then, which is very suspicious indeed. I had half a mind of supposing grandma Hornsent was a shaman originally but she has so many horns in her face they cover her eyes, so that can't be it.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 28 ~​

Spoiler

Anyway, i decide to continue on this path when suddenly this shit happens. I hear some strange noise and i see gold glittering in the sky. I turn around to try to take a shot of it, when suddenly the following messages appear:

A rune? What rune? What charm? What the hell is going on here lol. I'm now unsure if i should go further as i have no idea if i messed anything up coming this way. Been staying clear of the Shadow Keep because i got the impression it's this DLC's version of Leyndell, which opened the end game, but maybe i should have gone there sooner.

I'm sure there has to be an NPC that has something to say about this, so i begin my customary round. Little did i know i basically set them all off. First, i hit Leda, who begins by claiming Miquella's "enchantment" has been broken. Apparently, Miquella was holding all those characters spellbound. Now that the hold has been lifted, she is no longer sure of their loyalty to Miquella. In a suspiciously hasty leap of logic, she concludes this is a blessing in disguise though, since now she has an exscuse to go murder a few of them, whoever she deems to be "unworthy", and she regrets she didn't think of this earlier. Like, daymn woman. She's not wasting any time either, as her second dialog begins with her claiming it's now time to go kill somebody, and now she wants me to be complicit, giving me the option to chose her first victim, either Thiollier or the hornsent. I don't know why Thiollier should be a target, i guess it's because of his devotion to St. Trina, but the hornsent i can understand. Still, i don't think i have enough info to make a choice like this, so for now i decide to hold off on picking either. Talking to her again shows the option is still open, so i'll just leace this for later.

I now move to the Hornsent. He appears to be consumed by revenge, his voice filled with hatred. He claims the spell mattered nothing to him. He only followed Miquella because he believed his ascention to godhood will redeem the hornsent clan, and when Marika and her progeny will be wrenched from divinity, only then well he be... contended (the pause makes me think nothing will satisfying him). But all that will come later. The first thing for him is now revenge against Messmer. I have a feeling this i won't find him again, as he'll probably set off to the Shadow Keep to go kill Messmer himself.

I now go check out Thiollier. He is absolutely spell bound by St. Trina, even knowing his devotion might anger Miquella, since St. Trina is his "discarded" half. He doesn't say anything more after this, but i'm sure this can't be the end of it, so i'll be back to check on him in a while. I then go see that dude but, he is just stuck there maoning and rambling about the pain:

Ok then, keep doing your thing man. While i'm here, i decide to take a closer look at this guy:

Why so many gloves? Anyway, i can't listen to dude i'm out of here.

Next i hit the Viking woman. She assures me she is still loyal to Miquella, but claims she must go on a quest of her own, that there's something "she must know". I ask her what it is, and i think this is the first time the "vow" between Miquella and Radahn is mentioned. She claims it is "here" (in the Shadow Realm i presume), that the vow must be honored, and as a Redmane, it is her duty to know what the vow may be. I'm given a line where i can ask her what would happen if she were to become our enemy. She assures me this will not happen, even though as a "warrior" she would relish the chance for battle both Sir Ansbach or Ledy Leda. Suspicious, but my money still is on the hornsent as the one who will betray the group.

Now the blood guy. He claims Miquella's rune was a fog "vexing" his aging faculties. and that now he is beset by old "follies" who have started to haunt him again. It seems he realizes he has to explain what he means. He claims that in an attempt to free his lord Mohg from Miquella's "enchantment", he challenged the latter, only to have his own heart stolen. He assumed with sufficient mastery, even an Empyrean was within reach of his blade, but he was sorely mistaken. He claims Miquella is a "monster", able to shear clear the hearts of men by the power of his radiance and his love. He then admits he is terrified by Miquella, and that even know he only wishes to run far away. Despite his claims his old "follies" were surfacing again, i don't think he has the courage to do anything so he can be ruled out as a betrayer.

Now even Moore has a new change. He too feels that the light of Miquella is gone, but his determination remains unweavering. Talking to him more though, reveals he has a dilemma of his own. He claims his mother abandoned her "brood" (is there a Kindred of Rot under that armor or something?), that she did not love them. He asks whether they, being her children, should feel sad "forever". I'm given the option to tell him to just put it behind him, or simply wallow in sadness forever. I pick the first, which seems like the better alternative, though i'm sure i probably just doomed him to the most horrifying fate imaginable. He ponders on my suggestion, and reasons that maybe that's Miquella's love, love for the "unloved", love to "banish" the pain.

So i make another round to make sure i catch all the changes. First off, Lady Leda has made her own mind without waiting for my decision, and has decided she is going to go after the hornsent. Her reasoning is sound, but, was i supposed to make a choice right on the spot? I hate this to be honest, now i can't know if i messed something up by not making a decision rightaway. She claims the hornsent (who is gone now) probably knows he is a target too, that he likely sensed her true nature as a killer, or something along those lines, which may or may not have any significance. Anyway, she is going to go after him in the black keep.

She referred to Miquella as the original "golden child" at one point. Thiollier has as a golden child in his armor, which, duh, but it's interesting i just noticed that detail after she mentioned it. Thiollier, btw, is going now. He talks about something Moore mentioned to him, something about deep-purple water lilies blooming on the southern shore, and he assumes that is where St. Trina was left to wither away. If i remember, that forlorn ghost guy also talked about purple flowers, so i think that's the way he is going.

Anyway, wow, that was a lot of shit. I'm now compelled to resume that path to see what the hell it is that set this all series of events off. A bit further ahead of the site of grace, i hear a loud squak which is exactly the same as the one you can hear at the very beginning of the DLC. I reload and carefully made my way forward, to see what it was.

Apparently, it's an owl:

He even drops a slumbering egg if killed. Owls in the original game were completely passive. Here, they seem to be more than active. Wonder if that is because St. Trina is now gone. Anyway, nearby i find this ash of war:

Spoiler

"This Ash of War grants an armament the Keen affinity and the following skill:

"Raging Beast: Step with the swiftness of a beast, leap high, and slash foe from above. Initial step can be taken forward, backward, left, or right. Strong attack allows for a follow-up attack."

Usable on beast claws."

Funny. They put the bird squaking, only to allow for people to go then find this thing, since it's in one of those teleporning dung beatles.

After a bunch of puny wolves (honestly why are wolves so weak in this game? They pale compared to dogs how is this fair), i now come across a Furnace Golem:

Shit, here we go again. I ready myself for another 10 minute fight, when to my horror i discover this one has armored legs and i can't kill him that way. Eventually i figure out the gimmick, however, i'm kinda of annoyed since Hefty Furnace Pots rely on a limited material, so what if i miss or mess it up? To test it out at least, i try it first with the regular Hefty Fire Pot, and to my surprise that can damage him too. Decided to make a video for posterity. The fire barrage isn't hard to avoid but it can still get you if you are not careful. The trick seems is to bait his arm swipe which is much easier to avoid so you can drop the pot in his head. Not bad, at least it was over quickly:



Those guys in his legs warrant an explanation at some point though:

Spoiler

He drops a Cerulean-Sapping Tear, which i guess it's an ok tool for magic users, and maybe for builds that rely on weapon arts that consume a lot of FP.

Up ahead i managed to discover another of those things on my own again. Man i'm on a roll:

This one allows you to buy materials for greases, which isn't bad.

This entire area is crawling with wolves. It's clear even just by looking at the map that this place is related to magic so i'm reminded of what the Wolf Creft Shield said, and i started to worry about it, wondering if i was going to meet another Red Wolf.

Further ahead, i find one of those puzzle magic towers. Knew there was bound to be one of those at some point:

Remind me, is this supposed to be Marika?

Found this statue in Rellana's place too.

The "puzzle", btw, consists in finding an hidden wall to unlock a spiritspring. Well, at least it's an improvement. Jumping on top i find this thing, a magic cannon:

Spoiler

"A type of jar cannon used to fire greatbolts. A masterwork of Spellmachinist Rabbath. The power of the glintstones that encircle the barrel imbues bolts with magic damage and guides shots toward their targets."

I wonder if a weapon of this kind is what actually levelled that Hornsent town, and not the "moon" dropping, though it could actually go either way.

Near the chest there's a message intimating there's a further secret further "up". Except i can't get higher than this. While trying to see if maybe i was just being dicked around, i think i found it:

It seems that balcony can only be reached by dropping from that cliff. I need to keep a mental note about this for later.

So is this where that Rabbath guy lives?

Eventually, i reach what appears to be a back entrance to the black keep. Guess i had to deal with a Furnace Golem either way. Not going in just yet obviously:

Nearby, there's a forager guy that has been knocked over by something. How did they manage to make those Kindred of Rot look so adorable, i'll never know:

There's a bad ass Messmer emblem carved into the wall of the castle, maybe the sight of this is what frightned the poor forager dude:

It is now time to approach that big mansion i saw, and here we go again with those obnoxious marionette guys:

Well, i sort of expected something like this. I decide to check the cliff that i see sloping on the left side of the mansion, i'm thinking maybe this is the way to reach that Hornsent town with all the destroyed Furnace Golems (it isn't). On the way down i had to stop to admire this beautiful sunset:

Further down still i catch a wolf staring at the view as well:

He is likely longing for Rellana's castle. The slope ends with a tiny cave with a secret dung beatle in it, which when killed drops this:

Spoiler

"Skill passed down the Carian royal family. Transform blade into a magical greatsword and bring it down. Additional input follows up with a horizontal sweep. Charge either attack to enhance potency."

I really love the whole aesthetic of magic in this game, the glintstone lore etc, but man all the spells are just different gradations of the same thing. Incantations are far more interesting to be honest.

I now start exploring the mansion, beginning with the outside area around it. I come across this strange headless corpse, layed on a stone sarcophagus with what appears to be a pattern that resembles fingerprints (there we go):

When i saw those purple flowers i half-expected i was gonna get ported in some dream world or something. Turns out you can duplicate remebrances here.

I also find the grave of some child:

Again, with purple flowers all around it.

On a corpse i also find this:

Spoiler

"Nailstone with shining fingerprints floating above. Craftable item. Uses FP to fling a magic nail that crumbles during flight. The lampreys that guard the finger ruins resemble fingers far more than they do humans, and so the finger-weavers imitated their sorcery."

Again with the fingerprints. Also, the lampreys again. And who are the finger-weaves?

I proceed to enter the mansion, fully expecting a boss fight. Instead, there's a site of grace. I take the opportunity to skip to daytime so i can take a daylight shot of the place:

Those guys in those statues look bad ass btw:

I don't know what this place is supposed to be but the inside is basically empty. It's like a large cathedral i guess:

So this is Manus Metyr, the place mentioned in the description of those Glintslab Flies (which are indeed everywhere here). Inside, i find some strange pope mage guy:

He seems happy to have visitors for a change and hands me a map and some strange necklace. The map is of some kind of "hollow ruins", where as the necklace has this description:

Spoiler

"A pale-blue necklace made from a thin, elongated stone hollowed out from the inside. Use at a hallowed ruin to sound a hanging bell. It was a teaching of Count Ymir. The fate of the one who sounds the hanging bell will be guided by the stars."

Talking to him again basically says the same thing as the necklace. Sound the hanging bell in the hollowed ruin so that one can be guided by the stars. He also mentions those with "purpose". I'm having a bad feeling about all this. He has a brief line where he explains the origins of glintstone magic. He claims his kind "begun" as stardust, born of a great rupture in the skies, the implication being that they too are children of the Greater Will, thus meaning magic is "divine" too.

After telling me to be mindful of the child outside, he then wants to sell me spells, all of which is old spells, all but one:

Spoiler

"Sorcery of a preceptor who served the Carian royal family. Used to conceal oneself in a glintstone haze, reappearing after a few seconds have passed. Directional inputs determine where one will reappear. The curator of the study hall was such a master of this sorcery that it now bears her name."

Oh wow i totally remember this fucker. Does it mean people will be able to cosplay as that dude in PvP? Wonderful if that's the case lmao. Anyway, i can't afford the spell since expecting a boss fight i went to get rid of all my runes so i decide to go farm some outside so i can then clear his inventory and be done with it. On my way back, i spot this figure:

Well, wouldn't you know. Her name is apparently Jolan. Apparently, she has overcome "misfortune". He then mentions she has a little sister who too has an heart of "gold".

Man, too much lore for one session. I had enough for the night, but just for good measure, i decide to port out and port in one more time, just to make sure i exhausted all dialog. As soon as i walk in, the guy has this line:

"Oh my, you poor thing. Another bad dream, Yuri? Put that rotten thing out of your mind. That tangled mess can’t hurt you."

I get close and then i see it:

Oh God, come on now.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 29 ~​

Spoiler

Ok, i was thinking about those guys, and i guess what is going on here is that those hands or fingers are an attempt to emulate the whole two fingers deal from the original game. The count mentions the Greater Will, and how magic is also "divine". I'm also assuming he is native of the Shadow Lands, given the cathedral looks relatively old. Rellana comes from the Lands Between but this kind of magic and the whole deal with the hands originated here.

Unsure what to do next. I don't know if doing the Shadow Keep is gonna lock me out of some quests. Breaking this "great rune" (still no idea why that happened) may also have already done it. I went to clear the golem in front of the keep since i'm sick of looking at that thing. The fight was of course beyond cancer. Black knights showing up in the middle of the fight, terrain getting in the way to the point on my first try i couldn't get a critical hit because his face landed at a wierd angle and i had to restart the whole fight. And then, once he dies, he drops a tear that heals allies but not yourself. I mean i'm as dedicated a sun-bro as you can get but i still have no idea why i would want to use this lol.

I also finally got my hands on the last piece of Black Knight gear:

Spoiler

"Weapon of the Black Knights, servants of Messmer the Impaler. Twinblade 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."

Very cool. I also discover you can craft a consumable that grants Golden Vow. I think it has to be better than the Ash of War version to make it worth while. Useful to any build that can't access the spell if it's as good as the latter. Ash of War is probably just easier to use if not. Description says this is used as a rite to honor comrades who placed their faith in the distant Erdtree during the crusade. That brings to mind a thing i just noticed. All the statues of Marika in the Messmer camps are beheaded:

We know that Marika turned away from Messmer. It appears that Messmer in his turn repudiated Marika, and must have ordered the soldiers to deface her statues, which probably created quite a few problems given the faith of the Erdtree runs deep with those soldiers.

Guess i'm finally here yo:

Near the entrance i find a dead golem, which makes me wander if the castle was subject to an attack:

In the tent however i find a note explaining those stupid soldiers how to handle those golems:

Spoiler

"A note left presumably by a furnace keeper, containing admonitions regarding the furnace's proper use. "Keep fire pots well clear when the golem's furnace is ablaze—and never let me catch you with pots that produce flaming whirlwinds, for goodness' sake.""

So i guess the soldiers fucked it up the golem exploded lol. Not sure what this pot that produces flaming whilwinds is, but i somehow doubt it's gonna really make a difference on those things, otherwise what's the point of the Hefty Furnace Pots?

Oh, i also found an Ash of War up a hill which apparently i can slap on those perfumer bottles.

Anyway, i'm 100% convinced i fucked up some of the quests somehow, just by going across that bridge. It's mighty suspicious that some of the NPCs barely had any extra steps, like Freyja or Igon. She is gone now so nothing i can do about that but he is still there and i think i'm going to see if i can move his quest before i do anything else. Leda is still in Scadu Altus, and i may be able to catch up with Thiollier since the purple fields he was talking about are pretty much on the way after the dragon area. Don't care if i'm going too far afield i think i should have done just that but oh well, i was bound to fuck things up on my first playthrough.

 

[Stoned Ape]

Anyway, i'm 100% convinced i fucked up some of the quests somehow, just by going across that bridge.

I think the only quest that you might have fucked up concerns Hornsent (I can't remember you mentioning that you gave him Scorpion Stew). The other quests cut off at a later event, so I believe you should be ok for now.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Oh, i gave him the soup. Bastard even dared to say it tasted like shit, which it probably does but grandma made it with love!

Anyway, i'm gonna treat the Shadow Keep as if it was Leyndell, meaning, i'm not going to leave a single stone unturned anywhere until i got nothing left to explore. Only way to be sure.

 

[MasPingon]

Not a good idea. Shadow Keep is great, but it's also huge and takes a lot of time. You are suppose to take a break from it from time to time and goof around somewhere else.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Yeah, but i already got my dragon knight set up going:



This is just another example of why dragons are the worst enemies in the game. I had a perfect thing going, breaking his stance early and ravaging his snout, then at the end he gets stuck on one of those dead dragons and the fight turns into an incoherent janky mess. Fucking hell lol.

BTW, you say Shadow Keep is big? How big are we talking about?

 

[Popot]

BTW, you say Shadow Keep is big? How big are we talking about?

I say it's roughly the size of Stormveil Castle. It's the only location in the DLC I consider a real legacy dungeon, though not as good as those in the base game. I found the encounter design to be lacking.

 

[Nathir]

Count Ymir was creepy was fuck.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, you say Shadow Keep is big? How big are we talking about?

I say it's roughly the size of Stormveil Castle. It's the only location in the DLC I consider a real legacy dungeon, though not as good as those in the base game. I found the encounter design to be lacking.

That's big, but not that big to require "pauses" be honest. After all, i did do Stormveil in one swoop.

I assume your dissatisfaction with the enemy placements has to be with enemies just being put in corners and other cheap ambushes like that. Lot's of those in this DLC.

 

[Popot]

I assume your dissatisfaction with the enemy placements has to be with enemies just being put in corners and other cheap ambushes like that. Lot's of those in this DLC.

Not really that, Belurat and Shadow Keep have this encounter design: bunch of pushover enemies followed by a lone dangerous enemy (horned warrior/fire knight). It seems to me that the developers focused a lot on the visual design of the world and complex boss fights while leaving the dungeon crawling underdeveloped. Level design is overall decent, it's just that there aren't many interesting tactical situations.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Part 30 ~​

Anyway, onward:

Spoiler

After killing the dragon, i'm given two possible paths. I take the one on the left as the first order of business is to get to the map i should think.

Around me, i find some bloodied sharp gravel stone, a scale of an ancient dragon that has "supped" on the blood of lesser dragons (i wonder who that wold be). Indeed, all around me i see the bodies of dead dragons. I also find a Dragonscale Flesh:

Spoiler

"A lump of hot flesh carved from beneath the inverted scales said to
grow on aged dragons.

When ingested as-is, boosts vigor, stamina, strength, and dexterity
at the cost of gradual HP loss.

To the drake warriors, there is no more intoxicating liquor than the heat of dragons."

Ingested "as is". Does it mean you can turn it into something else? I think this is the dragon version of the Exalted Flesh. I hope the ingredients aren't too annoying to farm, although a stat boost (i had to google it, it gives 8 points each) doesn't seem that useful in this stage of the game. Drake warriors are also mentioned.

Anyway, is that melted rock i see?

Further ahead, i think i found one of the drake warriors in question. A strange plant appears to have sprouted from his body:

The description now mentions the dragon communion, which i'm sure has to be around here (probably on the path i skipped but for now i want to keep going here):

Spoiler

"Flower with an uncanny shape, coursing with hot blood. Material used for crafting items. Exceedingly rare to find. A single flower is said to blossom—only once—from the hearts of dead warriors who oft partook of the Dragon Communion."

I assume this is the material needed to farm that Dragonscale Flesh in question. Further ahead, i also find a Red Fulgurbloom, which is said to bloom where the "red lighting" of the ancient dragons strikes the earth, which i guess explains the difference between red lighting and normal lighting.

BTW, what in the fuck is that?

I tried to get a closer view of the design on those pillars, this is the best i could do:

Some appear to be a mimicry of fingerprints, but there's a few spirals that remind me of that grave stone in the Fog Rift Catabombs where i found that fossilized sword. Wonder if this is related to that? An ancient civilization, far older than anything we have seen in the game, with immense finger shaped pillars.

My mind already reeling at the thought, the more i move ahead, the more the environment begins to rage around me. There's jagged stone everywhere, wind start to blow and red lighting flashes in the sky:

The feeling is utterly primal and harsh. Feels like i stepped into a planet that has just formed. On the opposite side i find several undead beast-men all looking in the distance, i can only assume they are looking at the Scadutree:

On a corpse i find a potentate cookbook, and no flower sprouting from the body. I guess this is not a drake warrior, but somebody else which somehow has managed to get this far at least (maybe lost while looking for this damn map lol). The description of the pot has a line which i'm pretty sure i've seen already:

Spoiler

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

I guess it bears repeating. Eventually, i come onto a scene of a battle, where two drakes appear to be busy murdering (and eating?) each other. One dragon is already janky enough i got no desire to fight two of them so i just whip out rotten beath and cheese the fight. After beating the dragons, some lunatic starts raving like a maniac. Turns out it's Igon. Whatever happened to him, it seems his ordeal has taken a toll on his sanity. The battle fired him up, and he calls me a "true warrior, a "fellow drake warrior" even, but it appears those kinds of exploits are a thing of the past for Igon. Screaming, he exorts himself to "conjure the past", to remember "how once you were!", when fear was still "foreign" to him.

Calling me a friend (a friendship bourne out of his admiration for a fellow "drake warrior"), he begs me to take his finger, to find Bayle the "Dread" on top of the Jagged Peak, and to summon his soul (voice actor again going above and beyond, the way he says "soul"). His limbs are no more, his heart "twice-over" filled with fear, but a drake warriors he remains, and his soul yet lies in the mountain.

It appears his injuries were fatal, as upon porting to the grace and running back here i now find him dead.

I guess it's obvious what happened. He has faced Bayle, likely more than once, but every time he couldn't withstand the dragon's awesome fury, and eventually his resolve broke, the devastation inflicted on his body too horrible and extensive to bear.

I remember somebody mentioned there's a boss where you must summon an NPC as part of a quest and this has to be it. I don't know how i feel about a boss where i'm basically forced to use a summon, but on this one i may make an exception, likely just make a copy of the save so i can try the boss solo at my discretion.

I understand the theme they are going for here too. It's not just that Bayle is such a dreadful dragon because they wrote him that way, it's the whole concept of stone or gravel, which conjures up hardness and hurt. Against my better judgement, i decide i have to look at this bastard at least once:

I begin to scale the peak. After managing to get past some Indiana Jones shit i come face to face with another dragon. So there's another boss fight before Bayle. I didn't feel like fighting another dragon again (two fights were enough for one day), so i just go into Sir Robin mode and just ride past him. I come out of this large carven the dragon was in and it appears the closer to the peak you get, the more insane the enviorment becomes:

At this point i'm not so sure about this anymore lmao. It's like the whole world is falling apart. Nearby i find a cookbook made by non-other than Igon:

Spoiler

"A record of crafting techniques left by a warrior who challenged the vile dragon Bayle, only to be grievously injured and broken by fear. Contains details on how a mere mortal can fell a mighty dragon. Acquire the knowledge to craft the following: - Dragon Communion Flesh"

I see. So the one that is craftable is the Dragon Communion Flesh where as the Dragonscale Flesh is one of those limited consumables that can only be used in multiplayer in situations where the item isn't consumed once you return to your world.

Cursiouly (but not incidentally i'm sure), there's a spot where the skies suddenly grow calm:

At this point i decide to just come down, all the more since i remember i have to go check that alternate path and there's definitely NO way i can get to the map from here.

I port back to the beginning and from down here the peak looks so calm:

Anyway, i take the right path and behold, dragon:

And sure enough at the base i find the smoldering heart of the dragon and some dragon lady:

Looks more like a Skeksis than a dragon to me. She annoints me as a dragon communion warrior, after urging me to devour the essence of what she claims is the oldest, vilest dragon of them all, by which i assumed she means the dead dragon here. The next line however reveals she is talking about Bayle. She then adds that she will give me the power nevessary to kill Bayle, in the name of her "lord", Placidusax, the first Elden Lord and a bitch to kill as i remember. The whole anointing animation is cool btw:

So now i'm officially a drake warrior. She then hands me an Ancient Dragon Blessing which is like those Baldachin things that slut Fia used to give. The thing has this line at the end of its description:

Spoiler

"Each night, the priestess offers her own sleep to her lord, and in turn receives the power of His favor."

"Each night". Do you think i can see this happen? Maybe i'll try that later lol.

Anyway, she goes into the history of Bayle a little bit, how he betrayed and turned upon the Dragonlord, injuring him before retreating. Thus, he became an enemy of the "brood", which would explain why dragons in this area are killing and eating each other. She then adds that the drakes you meet and kill are actually part of Bayle's bloodline, and that is why the whole dragon communion cult use the hearts of drakes as sacrifice. She then claims her lord (you can tell the voice actress is struggling to say "Placidusax" lol), has "shown" us landbound bipedals what must be done (did he now?). Anyway, basically i eat the heart of Bayle and i get to look like... her. I think that's the gist of what she says at the end, with her referring to my "meagre frame" and everything. Doesn't seem much like a bargain.

She also has a line about Igon. She speaks of his fury and insatiable hunger, which reminds her of Bayle himself.

From the Dragon Communion i can buy a Ghostflame Breath, which has this text:

Spoiler

"The land of spiritgraves is home to all manner of dead, and even the corpses of fallen dragons found their way there. Several of them were endowed with such vivacity that even in death, they could not fully die."

I assume the "vivacity" in question is related to Bayle and the fury he must have instilled on all his drakes. I can also see what you get from here once you obtain the heart of Bayle, and it's basically two incantation with very high arcane requirements, and both have this line:

Spoiler

"Even after being consumed, the throbbing heart of Bayle continues to resist its subjugation, never weakening. One day, the fire within will consume the very body and soul of its Communion devourer. One day."

So eat the heart of Bayle, pick one of those two incantations, and then have the privelege of looking as goofy as this lady.

From up here, btw, i see what definitely looks like a field of purple of flowers, my next destination i should think:

 

[Stoned Ape]

I remember somebody mentioned there's a boss where you must summon an NPC as part of a quest and this has to be it. I don't know how i feel about a boss where i'm basically forced to use a summon, but on this one i may make an exception, likely just make a copy of the save so i can try the boss solo at my discretion.

I enjoyed summoning Igon. His summon sign is inside the arena (and for me there were about half-a-dozen 'helpful' messages left near it that I had to scroll through while Bayle attacked me as I tried to get the bloody thing to work) so he doesn't change the base difficulty like the other NPC summons do when their signs are outside the mist.

How effective Igon is in the fight

Igon doesn't seem to attract Bayle's aggro much, or inflict significant damage. He basically just adds to the ambiance through his oratory.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I remember somebody mentioned there's a boss where you must summon an NPC as part of a quest and this has to be it. I don't know how i feel about a boss where i'm basically forced to use a summon, but on this one i may make an exception, likely just make a copy of the save so i can try the boss solo at my discretion.

I enjoyed summoning Igon. His summon sign is inside the arena (and for me there were about half-a-dozen 'helpful' messages left near it that I had to scroll through while Bayle attacked me as I tried to get the bloody thing to work) so he doesn't change the base difficulty like the other NPC summons do when their signs are outside the mist.

How effective Igon is in the fight

Igon doesn't seem to attract Bayle's aggro much, or inflict significant damage. He basically just adds to the ambiance through his oratory.

Oh, he talks too. Definitely have to summon him then.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Decided to spoiler all the posts. Scrolling through this was starting to become a nightmare.