Elden Ring: Could this be a friend? Therefore enemy

[Part of my Elden Ring journal]

It seems the Godskins are haunting me as I explore some towers I previously missed, which proves great practice as they fight individually in these instances and I can beat them. I also come across my buddy Blackguard deceased at the capital moat, and must fight his murderer - Dung Eater! I probably would have lost but a giant crab decided to help and kill the Dung which worked out nicely for me.

Speaking of deceased allies I also find Seluvis and Iji slain by the angry halfwolf Blaidd who I put down again in our rematch, and free hugs Fia is killed by hobo D while I deal with a lich dragon. As I opt not to slay the hobo, he returns all the equipment and wanders off to return to his hoboism. D's beast clergyman friend also goes berserk when I visit him again but he manages to calm down mid-fight, and I locate sorceress Sellen as a prisoner in another basement but am unable to set her free.

Bad dog!

With more level and upgraded weapons I return to face the Godskin Duo with Volcano Knight Bernahl and win! All focusing on one is the winning strategy. Afterwards, I have to fight and slay Bernahl because "there can be only one" I guess and then find the main boss of this floating place is the freaking beast clergyman!? Pillars help escape his robed form but when he dons his armor and hops around like a jumping jiggowat he becomes a real pain! Getting close and clubbing him to death is the only solution, and not as hard as I initially thought.

Elden Ring: Seek hole, and then edge

[Part of my Elden Ring journal]

Of course I hop into the coffin which turns out to be a magical lift (wut) that takes me to the roots of the giant tree and is home to giant flying ants and headless ghost knights. I also find free hug Fia here who makes me slay five other warriors including a mage friend of D and a fat armored fencer who helped me against Radahn! After I win she begs for death but since she's technically helping me remove the competition to become and Elden lord I spare her.

As that's a dead end I check in with Iji who drops a hint about where Ranni has gone to - a tower near her own. Inside I find a lift deep down into an ant hive where I find Ranni discarded among some garbage. I pick her up and defeat the traitorous half-wolf Blaidd then continue down past a "drow" city complete with BS sentient boulders then through a lake of rot (no horse this time - yuck!) past an ancient temple of bug men and defeat a horrid giant skull-faced dragonfly.

Beyond that is a lift to a plateau where I get a rematch against magic dragon Adula, killing it this time, and then finding a more appropriate doll for Ranni to inhabit. She is super greatful and recognizes me as her lord. I like the sound of that! Using this inspiration I return to the capital and defeat Volcano Manor targets Wilhelm and Vagran with the help of Volcano Knight Bernahl, and then crush King Morgott with Melina and my mimic!

She's a creepy doll.

Elden Ring: Let there be monarch

[Part of my Elden Ring journal]

Beyond that handsy manor is a cliff face that doesn't get me closer to where I was trying to go, but I do find the tower of doll witch Ranni who recruits me into her team investigating the treasure of Nokron City, which includes Iji, Blaidd and the sorcerer Seluvis. A quick warp back to ghost viking land lets me meet Blaidd there, but he has no idea how to get to the higher city. This time around I have stonesword keys though and I can activate the elevator to the North! This takes me up to...

What the hell, I'm back in plagueville? A narrow golem guarded valley only leads to the local PvP coliseum so I go the other way and find myself back in the horrible plaguelake. This time I fight a slow moving knight commander though, after I find out the nearby geysers can really damage him. Turns out to be a super easy job and I never even have to attack him directly! My reward for this a clue to the secret of ghost magician town: Lighting fires. Seems there's always fires to light...

Godrick the Grafted is good at lighting fires...

It's also worth noting that the soldiers here in plagueville actually have a base - a huge castle at the South most end. I opt not to raid that one though, as the "main quest" I'm supposed to be doing is raiding Stormveil Castle, which I've been so deftly avoiding until now. Using my mount to deftly skip the blockade defenses I beat up the towering gate guard with a rotten dog summon (my spare if I ran out of FP to summon ghost viking), and then sneak my way through most of the place until I find and slay the Grafted Lord who rules over it. My ghost viking was very helpful here! The Roundtable Hold members rejoice at this news and let me meet their "god", a literal silent two finger giant but basically I get "good job, now kill another lord". Lol.

Elden Ring: Be wary of fingers all the more giant

[Part of my Elden Ring journal]

After all my dragon dodging I decide to check how bad the dragon at the starting lake is. The answer is pretty bad because he flies A LOT. I instead continue past him through a narrow ravine that leads to a deep mine and a stone mining troll which I defeat! Yay for the poise breaking damage of this large club!

This turns out to be good practice as when I return to the watery bog when trying to follow a treasure map I also defeat a troll knight, and Edgar who is now on revenge mode so I have to kill him. Unlocking one teleporter spire I am also brought back to the very start of the game and defeat the spider person that serves as the first battle. It's quite the sense of accomplishment! Continuing on I meet a friendly troll, Iji, who tells me to stay away from a cursed manor up ahead. Naturally this means I go right for it, evading the magical rain defending it.

Easy to dodge via serpentine pathing.

It's much worse inside though, as giant, spider-like hands lie in ambush everywhere so I just scoot past to the higher floors which are more manageable as they are only guarded by spirits. Their boss, a spirit lady on a spirit horse has me at a disadvantage since I cannot mount up to fight her but between my club and my spectral viking buddy we take her down just the same. As for why I'm doing this? I'm really trying to get to the top and top right sector of the map since it seems everything is blocking my way in that direction.