Darkest Dungeon: Casualties at Arrival

Reports from Darkest Dungeon - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

This place is cursed, and that's saying something given where we are. The gun slinger Isey and I were the first to arrive at this forsaken hamlet which seems to be run by a crazed caretaker named Penultimo. It's amazing the place still stands given the disrepair and the amount of horrors lurking in all the nearby areas.

At least the boss wasn't joking when he said that more help would arrive as soon allies and other adventurers just seeking gold or glory began to arrive just days behind us. I took the initiative to announce myself the leader of this little group and ordered everyone to focus their efforts on hunting the necromancer at the nearby ruins.

It is clear who is the leader!

The Khajiit pirate Skullcat, the ex-princess Dusk, Sultan of Swing and Gamesting were all victims of the bandits he had hired as security. Even Isey was fatally shot by one of their crossbows. Deeper in lay other problems in the form of cultists who slew Melentia and the Nerevarine Brutus. We even had one loss, Chara, to spider venom. 

This would not dissuade our attempts though, as with each successful expedition I knew we drew closer to his lair.

-Fawadin

Dark Souls II: Meat Grinder

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Since I wasn't getting anywhere against Vendrick, I opted to return to the Dragon Shrine and try my luck against the Ancient Dragon again, requiring I beat three giant warriors and Transcendent Edde to reach it. They weren't a problem (though duels with Edde did take a long time). The dragon though, totally stomps. Literally and figuratively. In my mind I could hear the other non-hostile dragon knights snickering at my increasing death count.

Run run run run run!

It got so bad that the enemies on the path stopped spawning (apparently the game detected I sucked that much) which was a slight relief. It didn't stop Gamesting (player) from invading though, and he showed me that parrying still works since he both backstabbed and parry countered me during our little duel. Best I could do was annoy him a tiny bit with turtling. Sigh.

Eventually I managed to find the dragon's weakspot though: the big toes on his hind legs. You can almost control the beast by simply going for those, and once he became predictable - he became defeated soon after. Gahh that was tough! Having finally avenged Bashful Ray I decided to face Vendrick again as a true dragon slayer! And the old guy whooped me with his WTF overhand swing. It's almost like a feint as he begins the attack, or seems to - then waits for your dodge to finish BEFORE slamming the giant sword on your head. FFS. I'm gonna get you Vendrick!

Just like I got this one.