Accursed Citrine - Yet another Dark Soul/Madoka Magica Crossover

[X] Touch the glowing sign before heading through the doorway



Crouching down for a better look, you run your hand along the scribble to clear some dust off. The moment your fingers touch it, it starts to glow even brighter. You stumble back onto your butt as the light grows to a blinding glow.

When the glow fades, a transparent-gold Solaire is standing in front of you, his arms up in that silly gesture of his. He lowers his arms and looks down at you, offering his hand. "Hello again, Miss Kirika! It is a fine day to encounter friends, is it not?"

You take the hand and he helps you up. "Uh, yeah. When you said your sign is to call for help, I didn't expect you to pop out of it."

Solaire chuckles heartily. "Hahaha! I am actually still back in my own time. This is merely a physical embodiment of my mind, allowing me to aid you in your quest!"

"So… you're not actually here?" You ask, trying to wrap your head around whatever he's going on about. That one sentence alone is giving you a headache.

"Yes and no." He replies. "Signs such as these allow for the consciousness to travel through time and space, even when the body cannot. I am here, but not in body."

"He's what's called a Phantom." Oscar adds.

"Indeed!" Solaire exclaims, nodding in agreement. "Ah, my apologies. It would seem you have added another friend to your journey." He adds, looking over at Lautrec and giving him a nod in greeting. "I am Solaire of Astora, a pleasure to meet you!"

"Lautrec." The bronze-armoured knight replies flatly. "More of an acquaintance than friend. I'm merely returning a favour."

"Well, as long as we are all allies, I don't see any problem." Solaire says cheerfully.

Oscar clears his throat for everyone's attention. "Now that greetings and introductions are out of the way, shall we move on to see what creatures are guarding the bell?"

Everyone nods in agreement and you all step out through the doorway. Oscar and Solaire lead the way with their shields raises, while you and Lautric draw and summon your curved weapons to cleave any threat that appears.

The view from the large, shallow-slanted roof is surprisingly impressive, with the walls of Anor Londo high above the bell tower at the other end and big gargoyles lining the sides and upper corners of the tower. The wind blows loudly up here, but it's not so strong that you have trouble standing on the sturdy roof tiles.

You peak around Oscar and Solaire's shields, looking for any signs of the bad guys stopping you from getting to the bell. This place looks exactly like a boss arena from a game, so surely something's going to show up, right?

You all keep an eye on the five gargoyles lining the wall, expecting a fight to break out at any time. Movement catches your eye once your group has crossed halfway to the belltower, but instead of the gargoyles surrounding you, it's one of the ones up on the tower that slowly begins to come to life. With a loud roar, the gargoyle flaps its wings and leaps down from the tower, slamming its massive shield and halberd into the roof as it lands.





Your group immediately split up at the monster's appearance, you and Oscar circling to the left while Lautrec and Solaire go to the right. The gargoyle looks back and forth between the two pairs before growling. It jumps up into the air with a few flaps of its wings and sweeps its halberd around, forcing everyone to duck or block. The attack misses Solaire's raised shield, but the force of the swing impacts Oscar's shield with enough force to put a dent in it and send him flying.

You look back, worried he's been knocked off the roof, but thankfully it seems he flew along the roof instead of backwards over the edge. You heave a sigh of relief and share a nod with him, but just as he's getting back to his feet, another gargoyle drops down on the roof behind him. The new gargoyle slams the flat of its halberd down onto Oscar as it lands, grounding him with enough force to cause the floor beneath him to crack and crater.

Ignoring the first gargoyle (surely Solaire and Lautrec can handle it) you rush to Oscar's aid. The gargoyle sees you coming and throws its head forward. You slow time in front of you and slide under the fire that slowly erupts from its mouth. It notices your dodge and angles its head down, but it moves far too slow and you slash your claws through its exposed chest before rolling out of the way.

Instead of the satisfying explosion of blood and gore, your claws instead gouge out a large chunk of what looks like stone. Either way, the gargoyle cries in pain and leaps back with a flap of its wings. It backs off cautiously, holding its halberd around to cover its chest with the weapon's head.

Eyeing it carefully, you begin circling it. The gargoyle backs up further until it hits the wall of the tower. After glancing back at the wall, it snaps its jaws at you and lets out a low whine. You take that as a sign of weakness and wrap it in your magic before charging.

Seeing this, it takes a few steps forward to make room for its wings and attempts to fly up into the air. You reach it as it's taking off and hook one set of claws into its gut, the stone chipping and breaking, but not fully giving way. The gargoyle flies up into the air, carrying you along with it, and starts flailing its halberd around trying to break your claws' hold.

A fiery explosion erupts against one of its wings and it lets out another cry of pain. Another explosion causes large bits of the wing to shatter and the gargoyle starts to list and fall from the air. You swing yourself up around the gargoyle as it falls and bring your free claw down to hook into the back of the monster's neck. It screams when your weapons enter, then goes deathly limp when you drag your claws through to its back.

As you get down off the dead gargoyle, you spot Oscar shakily standing in the crater left by the gargoyle slamming him into the roof, a firebomb held in his left hand instead of his shield. You give him a thumbs up and he returns the gesture with a nod.

A loud shriek draws your attention and you look to see Lautrec cleaving off the tail of the other gargoyle at the base. While the thing is reeling, one of Solaire's lightning spears slams into its head, sending stone flying everywhere. The gargoyle slumps and drops dead without its head.






With the two gargoyles dead, you all meet up in the middle. To your surprise, Solaire starts to glow. He gives a little laugh before disappearing with a jolly "goodbye, my friends!" You stare at the empty space for a while, confused.

Lautrec rolls his shoulders and speaks, snapping you out of it. "Well, that's the favour returned. If you're going to ring that bell, I don't have any reason to stick around." He turns with a casual wave and heads back towards the doorway.

And suddenly, you're back to just two.

"Are you alright, Kirika?" Oscar asks. "You seem… a bit confused."

You blink and look up at him. "Uh, what just happened? We won, right? Why did everyone just leave all of a sudden?"

Oscar tilts his head slightly at the question. "Ah. Well, phantoms tend to go back to their own world once certain conditions are met. As for that Lautrec fellow… not every sane person we encounter will be interested in being our friend. I suppose he's off to do whatever he considers his duty."

"I see." You reply, a bit disappointed. You're used to fighting alone, but not having to worry about bad guys coming at you from behind was a nice benefit of having so many people with you. Maybe Solaire's enthusiasm about 'jolly cooperation' is rubbing off on you?

"Anyway," Oscar says, snapping you out of your musings "the bell is right there, so let's go see what happens when we ring it."

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[] Go ring the bell

[] Go back and heal first. You never know what might show up

[] Write in

[X] Go ring the bell
-[X] First Give Oscar the Estus flask and tell him to drink some.



"Right, let's go." You reply, heading for the door to the bell tower. You pause upon noticing Oscar moving slower than normal. When you look, you see he's doing his best to hide a limp and a subtle shuddering at keeping his back straight. "Oscar, are you alright?"

"Hmm? Ah, do not worry about me. I'm fine." He replies, waving his hand at your concern.

You eye him for a moment, then remember the Estus Flask attached to your hip. Taking it, you hold the flask out to him. "Here, you should keep it for now. I can heal myself now that my soul gem's clean."

Oscar stares at you for a moment, then takes the flask with a sigh. "Very well. However, you should refrain from overly aggressive tactics if I'm the one holding on to the Estus."

You shrug as he lifts his visor to take a sip. "Hey, I didn't do too bad against that gargoyle a second ago!"

"You almost died – you should have died – to that boar and that Witch creature." He retorts.

You don't have a response to that. You've never had to worry about your foes besting you thanks to your magic, and there was almost always a grief seed or two to grab after each fight. Any injury, big or small, would heal eventually. In this world, however, there doesn't seem to be any easy source of cleansing your gem, so your magic has a limit to its use. More importantly, you can't rescue Oriko if you die or turn into a witch again.

"Anyway," Oscar says, attaching the Estus Flask to his hip "let us go see what happens when we ring the Bell of Awakening."

You nod and follow Oscar into the belltower. Inside is a small room, empty except for a rusty ladder in the corner. The two of you climb up, passing a few more empty rooms on the way, before reaching the top. A small doorway leads out to a wooden ledge and another ladder.

Climbing up this second, much shorter ladder, you keep a close eye on the two gargoyles flanking it. Neither so much as twitch at your presence and you reach the top without issue.

Before you is a small circular belfry just big enough to fit the big bell that hangs high enough for a person to walk beneath. There's a big lever next to one of the wall railings and you and Oscar step over to it. You pause at the view, with the shining rays of sunlight creeping in through the clouds to illuminate the city below. You again think of showing Oriko this view.

Oscar puts his hands around the lever and pulls it back with some effort. It creaks and snaps back to its original position, and you hear the sound of gears moving. A second later, the big bell begins to move and the middle bit starts banging against the outside. The booming dongs ring loudly in your ears even once you cover them and sound makes your bones vibrate. Thankfully, it dies down after a few rings and you pull your hands away from your ears.

"I suppose we should have thought about the noise." Oscar comments, holding his head in a pained manner. Unlike you, he couldn't cover his ears through his helmet and had to endure the full force of the bell's ringing.

"Did it do anything?" You ask, looking around to see if anything's changed.

Oscar shakes his head. "Doesn't look like it. We must need to ring the second bell."

You groan and step back to the ladder. "Didn't that grumpy guy say it's far underground? I need to go up to find Oriko, not down!"

"This seems to be the highest point of Lordran proper." Oscar replies, following you down the ladder. "Perhaps we'll find some clues as to how to reach Anor Londo on our journey down?"

"That doesn't make any sense…" You grumble, reaching the bottom of the tower. Standing beside the door to the roof is a man dressed in black, his arms held out to his sides in some kind of mocking gesture.

"Kirika? What is…?" Oscar asks when you don't move to let him off the ladder. "Ah… Hello, sir?"

"Greetings, friends. I am Oswald of Carim, a pardoner of Lady Velka." The man says with a faint smile. "Have thou cometh to confess or to accuse? After all, all sin is my domain."

You shift out of the way to let Oscar down, then share a look with him.

"I am Oscar of Astora, this is Kirika Kure." Your companion says. "Excuse me, sir, but… when did you arrive? There is only one way here and we did not see you on our way up the tower."

Oswald grins and lets out an eerie laugh. "Why, I have been here this whole time! Perhaps thee were merely distracted by the weight of thou sin?" He eyes the two of you with dagger-like eyes. "Worry not, however, for it is only human to commit a sin. I can sense that both of thee are no stranger to such truth."

You and Oscar go quiet upon hearing this. You eye the man suspiciously, watching for any sign that he might move his hand to the rapier at his side. Instead, he merely laughs again, his grin growing even wider and toothier.

"Fear not, my friends. I am not here to judge, merely to hear thou's confessions if thou are wanting to give it. Be it granting absolution or doling penance, all sin is my domain. Of course, if you are not interested in absolution…" He adds, lowering his left hand slowly so to not alarm you. He lifts the hem of his coat the reveal a bag behind him. "I also have wares to help thee on thou way."

As he reveals the bag, you notice a faint hum from your soul gem. Not all that different from when a witch is nearby, but much fainter.

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[] Buy something from Oswald
-[] Write in

[] Absolve your sins

[] Talk to Oswald
-[] Write in

[] Leave
-[] Go see Andre
-[] Go see Ada
-[] Head back to Firelink Shrine
-[] Search for the second bell
--[] Darkroot Garden
--[] Head back through the Parish

[] Write in