Accursed Citrine - Yet another Dark Soul/Madoka Magica Crossover

[X] Keep fighting
-[X] give Oscar the flask
-[X] lure the demon out into the wider section of the street, then gang up on it with Oscar. Attack from separate directions so it has trouble getting a good hit on both of you at once.
-[X] aim for the joints and ankles, try to hamstring or disarm it before going in for the kill.



"I'm fine, can't feel a thing." You reply, shrugging Oscar off and staring the demon down. "The big guy's a bit of a pain, though."

You hear Oscar grunt at your words and he steps up beside you. You note he's slightly hunched and favouring one leg, as if trying to hide his pain. His breathing is pretty heavy too, like he's breathing through clenched teeth.

Shaking your head at his stubbornness, you take out the Estus Flask and nudge him with your elbow. "Here, drink it."

Oscar glances cautiously at the demon before accepting the flask. He lifts his visor just enough to fit it and downs some of the glowing liquid.

You shake your head and wave him off when he goes to give it back. "Nah, you keep it for now. You're a lot more fragile than me." Oscar hesitates for a moment, but eventually tucks the flask into a spot at his waist.

The demon's booming laughter echoes around the street as he takes a few steps forward. He rolls his shoulders and you think his open mouth is meant to be a grin.

"Oscar, remember how we beat the big bull demon?" You ask, taking a few steps towards the demon yourself, moving at a slight angle towards his side.

"I remember we both almost died." He replies, mimicking you towards the other side of the demon.

"Okay, yeah, but we got him in the end. Divide and conquer, or whatever the saying is."

"Right…"

Your exchange is cut short by the demon's loud howling roar. Once his intention is declared, he charges full bore at the two of you. You and Oscar split, moving in opposite directions. The demon can't go after both of you at once, after all, and even you know splitting the enemy's attention is a good idea.

You just hope you don't have to be impaled like that time you did this with Oriko…

Apparently the demon considers you to be the bigger threat, because he comes right after you without a moment's hesitation. He lunges forward with a booming howl once he's a few metres away and swings his machetes down at you.

You roll to the side and twist as you land, turning so that you can bring your claws around onto the demon's arms. You slice upwards, the hook of your claws digging into the somewhat softer flesh of one of his wrists and catching on the bone.

You lock eyes with the demon and grin. He goes to pull away, but a touch of your magic focused around him gives you all the time you need. You apply as much force as you can behind your claws and, while the demon's skin and bones are tough, they aren't enough to hold back your magic blades.

The demon howls in pain and you cleave his wrist in half, spinning with the momentum to jump-roll back away from him. Black-ish blood sprays the street as the demon stumbles back, his hand barely hanging on by a few scraps of flesh and muscle. Needless to say, his machete drops to the ground with a loud thump.

You hear the metallic thunk thunk of Oscar's armoured boots from the other side of the demon and a sword swings down diagonally towards the demon's neck. The big guy seems to see Oscar coming and ducks back, causing the blade to bounce off his thick bone skull instead.

He goes to swing his remaining machete at Oscar, but you step behind him and slash at his back. The thick hide resists your blade, but you still leave some deep gashes and cause the demon to stumble. You slash at his right ankle before backing off and, while you don't manage to get too deep, it's enough to send the demon to a knee.

You hear a loud cry before the demon jerks and the tip of a sword pokes out through its lower back. He drops his machete and, growling, grabs Oscar's head. Oscar grunts as the demon begins squeezing down on his helmet.

You don't give him a chance to crush your friend's skull. Taking a run-up, you jump up onto the demon's back and dig one set of claws between his shoulders. Using this to keep on the demon, you slash your other claws at the back of the demon's neck, just below the skull head.

He stiffens for a moment, then slumps, falling to the side that you sliced his ankle. Oscar takes a few steps back and stares down at the demon, breathing heavily. There's a few dents in his helmet where the demon squeezed down on him, but otherwise he doesn't seem too bad off.




"Thank you for the assistance." Oscar says after a few gasps. "That was… unpleasant."

"No problem." You reply with a shrug, dispelling your claws and crouching down next to the demon. You search the big guy for anything useful, grabbing the ring of keys from his hip and finding an ash-bleached bone tucked into a pocket-like pouch in his scraps of pants.

"A trophy taken from someone less fortunate, I expect." Oscar comments as he yanks his sword out of the bloody spot your thrown claws made of the demon's stomach.

"What about these?" You ask, holding up the ring of keys. Most seem either broken, too rusted to work or both, but one looks somewhat useable, so you tear it off the ring and pocket it for safekeeping.

Oscar wipes his sword on the demon's pants and looks around before answering. "A key usually fits a door. I suspect it would be one of the doors down here, although finding out which may be something of a tedious endeavour.

"Well, we might as well get to looking. There might be some nice loot." You say, standing up and stretching. You expect some satisfying pops, but while you hear the sounds, you don't feel anything.

Oh right, you shut off your senses.

You immediately wince at the sharp pain in your nose and a few spots scattered around your body. Right, the broken nose and bits of debris. Probably should've thought about that…

---

[] Go look for the door that matches the key
-[] Try the houses on the street
-[] Look around the little yard
-[] Investigate the area under the stairs

[] Go back up to the upper burg
-[] Write in

[] Write in

[X] Go look for the door that matches the key
-[X] Look around the little yard
-[X] Investigate the area under the stairs



Seeing as all the doors on the street were busted open when the thieves ambushed you, you figure the key probably doesn't fit any of them. Besides, the demon was waiting at the end of the street, so it's probably fair to assume the door will be somewhere down there.

You and Oscar wander back down the street towards the little yard that the demon made his home. The fire from your firebombs still flickers in some areas, but has burnt out on the damp plants for the most part.

Oscar pauses when you pass through the archway and sees the severed head of the Hollow you killed. He doesn't say anything, however, and instead stands at the archway to keep watch. Well, you assume he's keeping watch. He's only half-turned back to the street, so he can probably see you better than anything that might be coming up behind you.

Ignoring his weirdness, you start testing doors. There are a few small wooden doors around the yard, two on the ground and one up a short flight of stairs, but it's pretty clear none fit the key. It's far too big for any of them, you realise without even bothering to check. Instead, you look around for any signs of a hidden keyhole or something. Maybe you can open the big grate at the back of the yard?

After a good fifteen minutes, you give up. Honestly, you're not even sure why you bothered, seeing as you can clearly see the grate just leads to a dark drop, probably to some sewer or something. Also, while those Hollows were pretty sneaky, it's not like this place is the kind to have cool hidden rooms or something.

Heaving a defeated sigh, you over to Oscar.

"No luck?" He asks, his arms folded as he leans against the archway.

"Nothing," you reply "this place is completely boring. No treasure or nothing!"

"Well, it does seem to just be a public garden." He comments flatly. "I wouldn't expect to find anything too interesting here anyway."

You glare rudely at him. "Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"Would you have listened?"

You don't reply, instead letting out an annoyed "humph!" and walking past him. Yeah, that showed him! Stupid knight.

The next stop is down the stairs and under the bridge. As it turns out, the street continues down, even narrower than it got leading up to the yard. The thick layers of moss only worsen the cramped-ness, and you're honestly relieved when the path widens into a wide curved area.

This place is much better lit than the rest of the lower burg, with a combination of well-spaced torches and plenty of sunlight seeping down from the sky above. Two pairs of stairs lead up to an open doorway about halfway around the curve. Slightly beyond it is a thick wooden door reinforced with iron, which you find to be locked up tightly. Finally, the curved area ends in another street, blocked off by bent iron bars.

Oscar wanders over to the bars, drawn by a corpse slumped back against them. Little wisps float about the corpse and flutter back at Oscar's approach. He kneels down and reaches out to the body and those little wisps reverse their retreat, spiralling into his hand. You hear Oscar mutter something, but you don't pay much attention. You're too busy sticking your head through the doorway at the top of the stairs.

Inside is a tall round room with stairs spiralling up to an upper floor. There's also a raised wooden platform near the top of the stairs, where a Hollow archer stands with its bow pointed down at you. You notice him because an arrow bounces off the wall beside you, missing your head but conjuring recent memories of when they didn't miss.

Having no interest in being shot, you cleave the Hollow in half with a tossed claw and bid a hasty retreat back to the curved area.

"Anything up there?" Oscar asks as you meet up with him at the thick door.

"Nothing worth the trouble." You reply with a shrug. You step up to the door and take out the key. A glance at the size of the keyhole proves promising, and the key fits in perfectly. You hear a heavy thunk when you turn the key, and the door slowly creaks open when you pull on it.

A horrible smell rises up from the damp staircase beyond the moment the door opens and you stumble back with an unimpressed grimace.

"Sewers." Oscar says flatly, although he too takes a step back from the smell.

You spend a moment weighing your options. One way is a dank dark sewer that smells like, well… a sewer. The other way you have the chance of more archers. You can switch your senses off, so the smell of sewer won't be a problem for you, but Oscar might not find the experience all that great. On the other hand, though… archers.

---

[] Go down into the sewers

[] Go up and face the archers

[] Write in