Dark Souls II: The Darksign Lives

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

It's the "B" team!

Upon our approach to the Throne, Bellclaire and I were joined by Benhart of Jugo and Bradley of the old guard which is a pretty strong team! Inside a duo who are a poor emulation of Ornstein and Smough try to stop but are so easily defeated by our superior numbers. Then as the Emerald Herald predicted, Nashandra arrived - looking much scarier than before and proclaiming all of us should join the dark... by dying.

Nasty AoE's meant it was archery time!

Her aura of curse kinda caught me by surprise so I opted to stay far away from her and snipe with my lightning short bow instead until her health was low enough to burst down. Bellclaire and Benhart fell to her scythe during the battle but my plan worked - soon Nashandra was just another corpse. Before Bradley and I could even recover, Aldia then shows up in all the glory of a flaming, magic casting and tentacled shrubbery.

Die you shrubbery!

Bradley tanks him effectively while I get his patterns down. While this eventually leads to victory it is not soon enough for the old guard who is impaled by the bastard bush. Just like Nashandra, Aldia is surprised by his own death - asking what is it that I will ask the throne (in both his voice and that of the Emerald Herald) before he dies. Aldia was Shanalotte all along!? It's then I notice the "throne" looks a hell of a lot like kiln of the first flame, and have vivid memories of Gwyn flooding back. "Narp," I say out loud to the room full of corpses and turn my back on it all.

There must be another way to break the curse of the darksign...

Dark Souls II: Victory feels good!

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

Having experienced the one hit killers of this game, I knew it was time to overcome the "lesser" challenges that still blocked me. My first stop was to fight Aava the sabertooth again, this time with Glencour, Ellie and Sunlight Brothers (players) Gibo and Rafael Vidoff. Strength in numbers, as well as learning when to attack, block, and run, finally led to victory against the great cat - though both Gibo and Rafael were slain in the encounter. Thanks guys!

Gotcha this time kitty cat!

This resulted in the blizzard raging across the city to cease, but I wasn't ready to go exploring just yet. Instead I warped back to Sanctum City, ran down the Mayan Temple and fought the ugly siren with Ellie and Benhart again. As usual she summoned her skeles and mace knight but this time I did it the Neverwinter Online way: kill the adds. It was a long and tough slog with Ellie getting KO'ed and Benhart almost dying but finally the siren would sing no more.

Finally destroyed!

Her death caused the sculpture door to open, leading to the white dragon - Sinh, the breaker of equipment! Fortunately I was joined by Abbess Feeva and Transcendent Edde the dragon knight. I guess this white one didn't get along with his master. Feeva's area heals were quite useful but she got KO'ed pretty quick. Edde on the other hand, knew how to tank like a boss, and thanks to that left the dragon open enough for me to slay. Turns out the dragon was the king down here, for from it's head I found a crown. Victory feels good!

Dark Souls II: History Lesson

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

Thinking upon the dragon's words I warp back to the giant's forest where Ruined Alfis helps me once more to find all the scary looking withered trees that are actually the corpses of giants. During our exploration we clear out a nest of fire breathing salamanders (via sniping) and are attacked by Forlorn again behind a door I missed. Not to be out done, the Eagle Knight also attacks soon after but Alfis and I are too good and they are both brought low.

Especially since I have ordinance.

Using the ashen heart I can enter the memories of the dead giants and find more history about this place. Apparently the giants attacking this place was a direct result of Vendrick taking "the something" for Nashandra from them. Based on the number of giants I fight through, it's a bit of a massacre. Interesting that Benhart of Jugo is present for the war too. I soon find the giant king and slay him easily - since he has the same strategy as the very first giant I fought: nip at the heels until he dies.

Literally bathing in his blood.

From what I learned it's clear Vendrick must pay for his crimes, so I return to the Undead Crypt where Forlorn (now armed with a scythe) attacks again! This guy just doesn't give up! With him dead (hopefully permanently this time) I find that I can enter Vendrick's memory too, and the old king tells me to collect the crowns for some reason. I decide to try take his crown first, and am quickly executed by his gigantic sword with one hit. Oookay, guess I need to level up before facing him too!

Dark Souls II: Me:OW.

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

Now experienced with defeating Velstadt, the grand knight, I thought I'd have another crack at the ugly siren with Benhart and Ellie. I also decided to try the drake armor for mobility since I know she likes her adds. It goes much better but still ends in defeat for us. Withdrawing, I opt to revisit the Shrine of Winter again which takes me to a snow fortress (now visible since there's no snow storm).

Backstabs with two handed swords are cool.

The gates open for me this time and despite a voice warning me about "the old chaos" I enter anyway. Surprisingly there's a boss fight nearby, the disembodied voice warning that "Aava is watching" (like the Jesus is watching joke?). Welp, the zone is a blizzard and I couldn't see a damned thing as some invisible thing (which I guess is Aava) tore me to bits!

Putting myself back together at the bonfire I opted to go the other way this time, and explore the rest of the city. As expected it was guarded by ice themed undead who were weaker than their poison cousins in Sanctum City. At least this let me make progress, gaining "the eye of the priestess" near a large flame at a central tower. After defeating the invader Holy Knight Aurheim, I was joined by my old allies Glencour (still Masterless) and Ellie to face Aava. Turns out Aava is a giant, sabertooth cat!

Bad ninja kitty!

Being able to see it doesn't help much as we are all sent packing pretty quick. Such a strong kitty!

Dark Souls II: Way of the Blue

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

The higher level of the castle feels like a callback section. Enemies from almost all the other bits are present, including fire sorceresses, a gargoyle, giant warriors, assassin things, and even another bonemare. Had the help of Sellsword Luet for that last one though, and it was very easy since he was the very definition of a tank wielding one great shield in each hand. Sure he didn't do much (any) damage but boy could he take aggro. Haha!

THIS is a TANK.

At the final strech of hostile statues I am invaded by SultanofSwing (player). He managed to pull off a few shots on me but I turtled back to an elevator to recover. And more importantly hide. I guess invaders can't interact with objects? Anyway after wasting his time, he was finally scared off by the arrival of Thanaros (player), a blue sentinel (that covenant focuses on assisting "Way of the Blue"/Newbies with invasions). With his job done, Thanaros also vanished giving me a clear shot to the next boss room where Benhart and Ashen Knight Boyd join me to take on the Looking  Glass Knight.

Who is the fairest of them all?

He's called this because he uses a big mirror as a shield, and furthermore can summon invaders from it to help him during the boss fight! What a bastard! Fortunately he only gets to summon one during the fight who I put down quickly while still in the "summoning" animation. Eventually he falls as well, unable to handle the punishment from three attackers. While the others rest to recover I press on ahead into the Shrine of Amana.

Dark Souls II: Castle Climber

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

At the Castle's main lobby awaited the spirit of Chancellor Wellager who gave more backstory to the now missing King Vendrick. Apparently the King loved his Queen so much that he brought his entire kingdom to war against the giants some time in the past to take something of theirs. I love how vague this all is. Anyway, the war resulted in many deaths and the king walking away from his throne.

"Interesting, you don't mind if I look around and loot the place do you?"

"I don't but the lightning knights might."

The ghost told me to go right ahead. Turns out the statues decorating the halls also doubled as the guards, coming to life when trespassers such as myself were detected. Fortunately by going slow, I could cull them one at a time as I made my way up the castle - throwing an invader called "Nameless Usurper" off a balcony before reaching a higher landing where I was introduced to the Queen, Nashandra.

Given how the balconies are constructed, she must like yelling?

She was sitting too far away to get a good look at, but she claims Vendrick never took the throne and that I should take it myself. She also suggested I go find Vendrick first for answers. "Could you maybe call your guards off then?" She just smiled and didn't reply. Fantastic. Not far off I met up again with Pilgrim Bellclaire and got her help in taking down two dragonrider knights (one being the guy who jumped into the water before). It's an easy victory and while I rest up at the next bonfire, Bellclaire continues her exploration. Inexplicably, Benhart is resting here too - swearing to assist me as I helped him.

Dark Souls II: Song of Defeat

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

The bridge leads to the lowest section of the temple where a haunting song is echoing along the crumbling staircases. A small handful of elite knights guard this place, but they are easy enough to turtle backstab or simply avoid entirely. At the very bottom I group up with Benhart of Jugo, Steelheart Ellie the boxer and Jin (the player) to try take on the ugliest siren ever.

One of the more difficult bosses thanks to her adds.

Alas she proves way too tough with her dark magic, teleportation, heavy halberd staff, and most annoyingly her penchant in summoning either a bunch of skeletons, a grand mace knight, or a trio of piggies. Thanks for trying Jin! I must have tried ten times to no avail before heading back to Majula in defeat. The Emerald Herald consoles me, telling me I should probably visit the castle instead now that I have the four great souls.

You mean this castle?

I heed her advice, finding I'm able to now open a once locked door in the misty woods. There's another shrine teleporter to some frozen region but locked doors and poor visibility due to a snow storm send me back quick. The Emerald Herald even shows up there to remind me what I'm supposed to be doing. After fighting a whole bunch of hollows and some elephant knights I soon reach Drangleic castle and its seemingly endless supply of soldiers. Took awhile before I worked out that they needed to die next to the hollow golems so that they can open the main door.

Dark Souls II: Weakness: Woman therefore try rear

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

Are you this game's Solaire?

Player messages never fail to amuse.

My forays into the fortress don't go too well, though on a lower floor I meet Lucatiel, a lady wearing a bearded mask. She is impressed that I still want to talk to her even though she's actively trying to get people to stay away. I also find an anti-poison ring near her which is handy, but the local sorceress guards are simply too much for me so I withdraw back to Majula. Interestingly, Chloanne is here too now - and it turns out she is blacksmith Lenigrast's missing daughter.

Taking another path from town leads me to a small jail house where I meet the warrior, Benhart of Jugo. Apparently he can't advance since the lever is stuck. Stuck because a person got turned to stone right in front of it. There have been a few petrified people around, and it requires a special item to release them. Since I had one I freed the woman, who introduced herself as Rosibeth - apprentice mage to the great Carhillion. Can't be that great if he couldn't unpetrify his own student. That and/or he's a dick.

After giving her some better rags I send her off to Majula and pull the lever which opens ALL the jail doors. Zombie swarm! Yeah, that didn't go well for me. Much better on the second attempt. Beyond the jail was a crossroad with two paths leading to locked doors and one into a misty forest of cheaters. Cheaters who have the same color as the fog. My best defense? No defense! Just sprinting!

I can't see them, but they sure can see me!