Dark Souls: A Big Improvement

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

Gets less dangerous with less heads!

Having defeated the hydra at Ash Lake I thought I'd revisit the one in Darkroot Basin. As expected, running up to it was the only problem but once in there, he had the same weaknesses and suffered the same fate. Pity he didn't guard much though: a suspiciously empty cave and a ladder leading to another part of Darkroot forest. One with giant, rolling cats which I stayed the heck away from and one that led back to the forest guardians area.

Ambushed by shrubberies!

They were hostile again but now it was easy for me to take them down, and since they gave good XP I hunted them for a fair bit. Also at one of the cliff edges I found Shiva's corpse (or a corpse wearing Shiva's armor). I guess he was killed by the shrubberies / spriggans. Figured I'd rechallenge Sif, the great wolf too. Now that I could wear Havel's full suit though, I finally put the dog down.

High on a winning streak I decide it's finally time to return to Anor Londo for a rematch against the executioner and dragon hunter: Smough and Ornstein. "I do amazingly well and win on the first go!" is what I'd like to say, but what actually happened is I got curb stomped. WTF? At least I was getting one of them to half health now. A big improvement from last time.

Dark Souls: Back to the Great Swamp

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

With the backing of a stronger bonfire I decided to return to Undead Berg to check on the doors I couldn't open before. I also tried fighting the red dragon again and just got roasted. Lol. I did find a path leading to "Lower Undead Berg" though, which I had completely missed before. It was populated mostly by hounds and assassin hollows who were at this point no match for me. It also had a hag who sold handy posion coated stuff!

This is one of the few games where you can literally buy shit.

After rescuing a novice mage named Griggs (apprentice of the Big Hat guy) and defeating a bigger twin weilding demon I found a door to the sewers which was inhabited by undead rats, yucky slimes, and cute, big-eyed frogs. I also rescued a pyromancer named Laurentius "of the great swamp" who had somehow gotten stuck in an urn. Towards the bottom of the whole place was a big arena, and unsurprisingly home to the resident boss critter the Gaping Dragon. Fortunately Solaire had also returned from Anor Londo and was present to assist!

Poking from the back: the "go to" method for most of these bosses.

While the dragon did thrash my ally who I suppose had to go back to a bonfire to recover, I got to see its very limited move set which rendered the rest of the fight very simple. Beyond him was a deep well leading to... Blighttown. Again? Since I hadn't been on this side yet I figured I'd clear it all the way down to the swamp. Those poison dart guys are annoying. Interestingly, once I got to the bottom, Shiva was no longer there. Ser Chubby was though, and was in dire need of anti-poison moss. Lucky for him I had a few spares.

Dark Souls: Kingseeker's Deathtrap

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

The mysterious death of the lava giant causes a good chunk of the caldera to solidify and be "survivably" traversable. Unfortunately the zone is home to a whole bunch of demons and while I manage to kill -one- it takes too much time and too many resources, especially as there are like six more behind him? Yeah, I decide to get out of there - purchasing a uchigatana from Shiva at Blighttown so I don't leave empty handed.

That's one ugly sock puppet.

I arrive back at Firelink to find the mute girl is dead, Lautrec is missing, and both Petrus and Ser Dick are as useless as ever. In the nearby ruin I also meet Kingseeker Frampt, the ugliest sock puppet ever, who tells me to go to Anor Londo to retrieve "the Lord Vessel" - something that can hold gigantic souls. Filled with purpose I head to the gates of Sen's Fortress (I wonder if there's any relation with Sen Mag dungeon from Mabinogi) which serves as the path to Anor Londo. Due to his absence I assume Ser Chubby forged ahead once that gate opened so I follow suit, only to find the entire place is a fricking death trap!

Blade pendulums: Check!

Apart from the reasonably tough lizardmen guarding the place, the layout is filled with narrow ledges with blade pendulums, dart shooting pressure plates, giant boulders rolling down various corridors, and chests that are actually really strong and freaky mimics! Since the bottom, flooded level (where you fall to if you goof up on the ledges) is inhabited by a number of those stone headless lightning things I decided that up is the way to go.

Dark Souls: Down, Down to Blighttown

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

With seemingly nowhere else to go in the forest, I returned to Firelink Shrine and was pleased that Lautrec (whom I had freed earlier) was now here and thankful to be free. Petrus was still waiting for his group, and Ser Dick reminded me ringing only one bell is meaningless. Thanks Ser Dick. Since I now had a divine rapier I decided to retry that graveyard and was pleased that I could now defeat the skeletons residing there. Alas the skeletons in the catacombs further in had a skill I wasn't expecting: they'd get back up with full HP. That was enough to send me running and looking for a new place to explore.

Also, if the divine weapon doesn't connect it doesn't really help...

I ended up choosing to venture into the ogre cave, discovering they aren't so hard to defeat after all being so open to counters and backstabs. They also make looting shit very literal. Still, the tunnel opens up into a massive underground slum called Blighttown where pretty much everything tries to poison you. The giant mosquitoes, giant leeches, ugly spider things, blowdart guys, even the floor when you reach it is a poisonous swamp (which coincidentally slows your movement). What a wonderful place. I wonder if it is connected to where the monsters from Dragon Age spawn from... Interestingly, Shiva the Ninja is here too - selling overpriced gear.

In one of the cisterns I am "invaded" (the not so good side about quasi-multiplayer thing) by Maneater Mildred who thankfully is an NPC since a) no one would intentionally name their character that and b) she opted to use a ladder instead of take a six foot drop. This led to an easy victory as I could basically stab her butt while she was stuck on the ladder. After resting at the local bonfire I get my more of my anti-venom moss ready (thanks spriggans) before heading out to explore the rest of this horrible zone.

Weakness: Woman therefore try rear!

Dark Souls: Cats and Dogs

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

I am surprised to find the next section of forest guarded by people (not hollows)! It takes some adjusting to get used to their combos but with the handy bonfire I eventually have them down well enough to progress towards the ruined tower they are guarding, and it's sole inhabitant: a talking cat! The kitty is the leader of the "forest hunter" covenant (group) and invites me to join in a convoluted "ye olde" way of talking. I accept after learning it means the rest of the clan outside will stop being hostile to me! Win! :)

Alvinia - one sinister looking cat.

After briefly chatting to their field commander, Shiva of the East (I suppose he's a ninja?), I am free to go even further into the woods coming across a small colony of the cutest mushroom people ever. Since they aren't hostile I just leave them alone and push on until I reach a strange circular graveyard across a bridge. Upon examining a gigantic sword in the center, I am attacked by the biggest wolf ever, who so happens to be able to wield said gigantic sword.

Drop! I said Drop! Uh oh...

Sif (the wolf) proceeds to thrash me a couple of dozen times before I give up and follow a winding path down to Darkroot Basin. After beating another knight and a few crystal golems I am dissuaded from hanging around by the powerful water breath of a nearby (like, rifle range nearby) hydra. Instead I opt to go into what looks to be the base of a stone tower and run smack into Club Knight again. I'm much stronger both level and equipment wise now though, and even more adept at parrying so this time I win. I take his pretty awesome ring which lets you carry heavier stuff and learn his name was Havel.

Good night, club knight!

Feeling confident with the win I make the trek back to Sif and... promptly get thrashed again. Lol.