Elden Ring: Why is it always monarch?

[Part of my Elden Ring journal]

Instead of chasing the falling star I return to Volcano Manor and get a new mark from Lady Tanith. As this one is up in the plateau I explore a bit, dodging hands and slaying evil tree spirits and a vampire in a cellar before Anastasia invades me again, and loses again. Heading towards the capital I also come across a windmill village of dancing ladies who are very violent when I slay their godskin apostle before dodging more siege weapons to get to the capital outskirts.

Here I get Tragoth and my headless ally to help in defeating the draconic tree sentinel knight guarding the gate bridge, finally allowing me passage into the capital itself, which happens to be a no-horse zone. Rooftop parkouring and sewer sprinting (from giant hands again) are the best way to avoid most of the heavily armored knights here, until I'm eventually jumped by the golden axe-wielding spirit of Godfrey, the first Elden lord! It takes me a few attempts to finally beat him, but the next boss King Morgott who is nearby proves to be way too challenging for now. His move set is really beautiful though, I wonder if they gave him some capoeira?

These horrid hands lie in wait everywhere!

After a short interlude back at the Roundtable hold to upgrade my stick I discover that Corhyn has left and that free hugs Fia murdered undead hunter D. I opt to retry the giant ant caves I skipped before and manage delve deep to the point of finding more barnacle men ruins, a giant moth thing which I can't hit, and a surprise dragonkin soldier boss hiding right at the back that I defeat. With no other paths (that don't involve a suicidal jump) forward, I decide to finally check the crater left by Radahn's fallen star and discover it leads right into the city of eternal night, Nokron!

Elden Ring: Reinforcements required ahead

[Part of my Elden Ring journal]

Lady Tanith runs Volcano Manor and her bodyguard is... Crucible Knight? Anyway, this group are basically killers of Roundtable Hold people which works fine with me since technically they are all competition seeking to become an Elden Lord. After slaying inquisitor Ghiza, who had infiltrated the manor, I'm tasked with hunting Old Knight Istvan near the starting area. First I stop by the cliffside magma wyrm and beat it with the help of Tragoth, Blackguard and ghost viking though then I enter the magic academy from the backside... which doesn't really help strategically apparently as both entrances lead to the same foyer landing.

Still, the living mages are easier to deal with than the spirit variety and other than a surprisingly magically gifted wolf its a pretty easy place for me to explore now and defeat magic woman Rennala who presides there. I then continue the hunt for Istvan, finding the banished sorceress Sellen in a cellar first before finding my mark in a dark cave full of monkeys. After we team up to beat the monkeys, we duel ala double dragon and I defeat him.

Beating up crippled women, just another day in Elden Ring.

Since I've been leveling up my magic ability I can now summon a headless warrior who I picked up long ago and decide to warp back to the South castle for a rematch with Crucible Knight but instead find Blaidd and other warriors here for the Radahn festival which basically involves slaying Starscourge Radahn, a massive warrior on a tiny horse. This is a terrifying battle at first, until I realize there's a literal endless supply of ally summons (the warriors that gathered) that can be called to assist in this fight. Basically I never hit Radahn myself, but defeat him anyway. When he falls the stars begin to move once more and one even crashes over the horizon.