- Location
- The Land of Giant Bush Bunnies
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Accursed Citrine - Yet another Dark Soul/Madoka Magica Crossover
- Thread starter AClassyBunny
- Start date
- Fantasy Action
- Location
- The Land of Giant Bush Bunnies
Vote closed.
Part 42: Darkroot Garden II
- Location
- The Land of Giant Bush Bunnies
[X] Follow the bad guys: take the left route
"Let's go left." You say, pointing at the path leading around a bend. "You can always tell which way to go by how many bad guys there are."
"I don't think the I follow that logic…" Oscar mutter as the two of you set off.
You shrug and casually peak over the edge of the thin path. More trees, some water. Not very interesting. "Isn't that always how it is in games? Wait, nevermind… Look, we aren't going to have trouble with a bunch of trees, so does it really matter?"
Oscar just sighs, clearly having gotten used to you.
When you turn the bend in the path, you come across a small open area. Between the cliff and valley wall is a few big puddles. Rocks and bushes pocket the space, but the plants mostly cling to the edges. You feel eyes watching you.
You and Oscar come to a stop together upon reaching the centre of the opening. "You noticed it too?" He asks, tightening his grip on his sword.
You nod and make a face. "I get this place has gone to hell, but I feel like you can't go five steps without being jumped in this world."
As if in response to your grumbling, two tree things burst out of the ground, one to the front and another back in the direction you just came. They both charge at you, viny arms flailing about.
You dash forward and close the distance with the front tree, ducking and weaving through its sweeping attempts to grab you. Your claws slice through it with ease and you make sure to angle so that most of the flying splinters miss you. You hear something smash and a high-pitched shriek from behind, and turn to see the second tree flailing about on fire. It drops to the ground after a moment, dead.
"Like I said, no problem." You say, picking bits of moss off your clothes.
"We still shouldn't let our guard down. There's sure to be things other than trees in here." Oscar replies, walking past you towards the next turn in the path.
The two of you soon come to a small, crumbling ruin at the edge of the cliff. What looks like a big stone door fills one side, with a weird glowing space just smaller than your head carved into the middle. The forest path continues to the right.
"Well, this seems important." You say, standing in front of the big door.
"Perhaps the space in the centre has something to do with opening it?" Oscar suggests, inspecting the glowing area in question.
That would definitely fit with game logic. After all, it wouldn't be glowing if it wasn't important, right? Following that line of thought, whatever key you need would probably be somewhere down the path.
Feeling quite clever for solving this puzzle without trouble, you chuckle smugly. With your chest out proudly, you start continuing down the path. "Come Oscar, this way. Kirika will show you how clever she is and find the key without issue."
"Uh, right…" Oscar mutters as he follows after you.
The path winds down into the rock, the stone walls quickly rising well above you and blocking out the little sunlight that was left. It doesn't take long before you come to another fork in the path, although this time it's obvious that the side way is a quick dead end.
A mouldy corpse lays in the middle of the little area, the faint white wisps of its soul still clinging to it. Around it, you spot four suspiciously familiar bushes, each with the exact same type of leaves. You have a bad feeling about it, and a few souls isn't worth dealing with an ambush.
You continue on, ignoring the side path and pretending you know exactly where you're going. It's certainly the right general direction, at least, since you come to a big open area full of trees (actual trees, not ones that move) and more of those glowing flowers along a small creek. You spot a ruined tower on the far end of the area, possibly where the key has been hidden.
You also notice, upon taking a few steps into the semi-clearing, a few big stone statues laying on the ground. More suspicious bushes are scattered along with them. To your right you can make out another path, but it's blocked by a thick tree. You have to do a double take when you hear a faint hiss from it.
----------------------
[] Go investigate the ruins
-[] Move straight through the clearing. They're just statues, and you can handle the tree creatures
-[] Skirt around the edge. Better safe than sorry
[] Go poke the hissing tree
[] Ask Oscar what he thinks
[] Write in
"Let's go left." You say, pointing at the path leading around a bend. "You can always tell which way to go by how many bad guys there are."
"I don't think the I follow that logic…" Oscar mutter as the two of you set off.
You shrug and casually peak over the edge of the thin path. More trees, some water. Not very interesting. "Isn't that always how it is in games? Wait, nevermind… Look, we aren't going to have trouble with a bunch of trees, so does it really matter?"
Oscar just sighs, clearly having gotten used to you.
When you turn the bend in the path, you come across a small open area. Between the cliff and valley wall is a few big puddles. Rocks and bushes pocket the space, but the plants mostly cling to the edges. You feel eyes watching you.
You and Oscar come to a stop together upon reaching the centre of the opening. "You noticed it too?" He asks, tightening his grip on his sword.
You nod and make a face. "I get this place has gone to hell, but I feel like you can't go five steps without being jumped in this world."
As if in response to your grumbling, two tree things burst out of the ground, one to the front and another back in the direction you just came. They both charge at you, viny arms flailing about.
You dash forward and close the distance with the front tree, ducking and weaving through its sweeping attempts to grab you. Your claws slice through it with ease and you make sure to angle so that most of the flying splinters miss you. You hear something smash and a high-pitched shriek from behind, and turn to see the second tree flailing about on fire. It drops to the ground after a moment, dead.
"Like I said, no problem." You say, picking bits of moss off your clothes.
"We still shouldn't let our guard down. There's sure to be things other than trees in here." Oscar replies, walking past you towards the next turn in the path.
The two of you soon come to a small, crumbling ruin at the edge of the cliff. What looks like a big stone door fills one side, with a weird glowing space just smaller than your head carved into the middle. The forest path continues to the right.
"Well, this seems important." You say, standing in front of the big door.
"Perhaps the space in the centre has something to do with opening it?" Oscar suggests, inspecting the glowing area in question.
That would definitely fit with game logic. After all, it wouldn't be glowing if it wasn't important, right? Following that line of thought, whatever key you need would probably be somewhere down the path.
Feeling quite clever for solving this puzzle without trouble, you chuckle smugly. With your chest out proudly, you start continuing down the path. "Come Oscar, this way. Kirika will show you how clever she is and find the key without issue."
"Uh, right…" Oscar mutters as he follows after you.
The path winds down into the rock, the stone walls quickly rising well above you and blocking out the little sunlight that was left. It doesn't take long before you come to another fork in the path, although this time it's obvious that the side way is a quick dead end.
A mouldy corpse lays in the middle of the little area, the faint white wisps of its soul still clinging to it. Around it, you spot four suspiciously familiar bushes, each with the exact same type of leaves. You have a bad feeling about it, and a few souls isn't worth dealing with an ambush.
You continue on, ignoring the side path and pretending you know exactly where you're going. It's certainly the right general direction, at least, since you come to a big open area full of trees (actual trees, not ones that move) and more of those glowing flowers along a small creek. You spot a ruined tower on the far end of the area, possibly where the key has been hidden.
You also notice, upon taking a few steps into the semi-clearing, a few big stone statues laying on the ground. More suspicious bushes are scattered along with them. To your right you can make out another path, but it's blocked by a thick tree. You have to do a double take when you hear a faint hiss from it.
----------------------
[] Go investigate the ruins
-[] Move straight through the clearing. They're just statues, and you can handle the tree creatures
-[] Skirt around the edge. Better safe than sorry
[] Go poke the hissing tree
[] Ask Oscar what he thinks
[] Write in
Last edited:
- Location
- Wisconsin
[x] Go investigate the ruins
-[x] Skirt around the edge. Better safe than sorry
If I remember right there is a summonsign hidden in a bush at the bottom of the stairs before the boss fight but we don't exactly know that in character. Also if I remember right the only real loot in the living trees direction is a not particularly useful weapon, some grass/moss, and the wolf ring which adds a bit of poise. I don't think it'd be worth it to go that way even on our way back.
-[x] Skirt around the edge. Better safe than sorry
If I remember right there is a summonsign hidden in a bush at the bottom of the stairs before the boss fight but we don't exactly know that in character. Also if I remember right the only real loot in the living trees direction is a not particularly useful weapon, some grass/moss, and the wolf ring which adds a bit of poise. I don't think it'd be worth it to go that way even on our way back.
Farseer Sen'Zabl
Accolyte of 'Common Sense'
- Location
- Dome of Crystal Seers, Ulthwe
For the most part you're not wrong, the loot (Only a bunch of souls IIRC) isn't really worth the fight.
On the other hand, we're in a quest right now rather than the game so whether the loot stays the same or there could be something new I cannot say. What I can say is that just walking past the mini-clearing means leaving a group of enemies behind us along the only way back.
Mayhaps I'm just paranoid, but I'd rather make sure the path behind us stays as clear as possible rather than risk being jumped later when we might be tired and injured. Getting past the statues without a fight takes a bit of subtlety after all, and Kirika doesn't do subtle all that well without Oriko's direction.
[X] Ask Oscar what he thinks
-[X] Ask about the hissing tree
[X] Clear out the Mini-clearing ambush.
- Location
- The Land of Giant Bush Bunnies
Forgot to say the vote was closing soon...
Vote closed.
Vote closed.
Part 43: Darkroot Garden III
- Location
- The Land of Giant Bush Bunnies
[x] Go investigate the ruins
-[x] Skirt around the edge. Better safe than sorry
The hissing tree gives you the creeps, so you decide to completely ignore it for now. It's just a tree, after all, so it can't move… right?
That leaves you with going through this clearing. Those tree things are annoying to deal with thanks to the splinters they leave, and those statues look pretty solid. You're confident your claws can cut through anything if you try hard enough, but you're still not entirely interested in dealing with something that's probably going to be a pain to fight.
With that decided, you decide to follow the flowers along the small creek. "Come on, let's go around." You say to Oscar.
"We're… not going to fight them?"
You turn and give him a confused look. Was he always this keen on a fight? "You want to?"
"Uh, no, that's not it." He replies, glancing over at the slumped statue. "I was more expecting YOU to want to fight them. You've been quite keen on it so far."
You roll your eyes and start making your way along the creek, doing your best to step around the edge so water doesn't get into your boots. "Hey, I can be sneaky if I want to be. We've only fought Hollows and that kind of thing so far, right?"
"You charged an armoured boar head-on and nearly died." He replies in a flat, matter-of-factly tone.
"T-That was one time!" You exclaim, turning on him again with your arms crossed angrily.
You both freeze when you hear a quiet hissing. Did your shouting alert something? The two of your slowly approach the direction of the sound with your weapons ready, and you quickly come to a muddy part of the creek where the water has sunk into the ground. A think side passage has been eroded into the rock, maybe where the water from the creek originally flowed from.
It's also where the hissing is coming from.
Oscar takes the lead with his shield up, just barely fitting between the slimy walls. You turn a corner and see a shrivelled-up corpse curled up under a tree. In its hands is sturdy-looking spear, but that's not the source of the hissing. The hissing is coming from a giant double-snake-headed lizard covering the entire side of the tree.
You shudder at the sight. Snakes and lizards are cool, but nothing should have more than one head. Least of all giant snake lizard things chilling over corpses. Just as you're about to suggest leaving the creepy reptile monstrosity alone, however, you hear a subtle shaking of leaves behind you.
You only just manage to duck down in time to avoid getting smacked by a pair of vines. Oscar, not having any warning, isn't so lucky, and takes the attack straight to the back of the head. His helmet protects him, but the impact causes him to stumble forward awkwardly.
The snake-lizard raises both of its heads at the sudden movement and begins hissing threateningly. You don't have time to help him out, thought, as you turn back to see one of the tree monsters running at you with murderous intent.
You immediately rush forward, out of the thin passage, and meet the tree in the open space. You expect to simply cut through it like with the past trees, but this one seems trickier than the others, and comes to a full stop and jumps back from your swinging claws. Grumbling, you try again. Same result.
If Oriko were here, she would probably pick up on some surprisingly clever plan the tree is trying to enact. After all, even a tree wouldn't be dumb enough to charge a clearly superior foe alone when it has plenty of sleeping friends to help it out. Oriko isn't here, however, and you're already getting pissed off by this thing's agility.
The next time you charge the tree, you focus a bit of magic in front of you to slow it down. It attempts to jump back again, but it's far more delayed than the last two times, and you easily slice the thing in half.
Not far away, a few bushes shift at the sound, but thankfully resettle after a moment.
A shrieking hiss reaches your ear from the passage and you check back inside to the sight of Oscar pulling his sword out of the snake-lizard's body. One of the creature's heads has been cut off, but you can also see two small holes in the cloth between Oscar's armour where the thing got its fangs into.
"Hey, you good-?" Your question trails off when your knight friend drops his sword and shield and stumbles against the wall. He gasps in pain and begins trembling as you rush to him. "Oh shit, what happened?!"
"V-Venom!" He gasps, sliding down the wall and holding onto where the monster bit him. "Need purple moss!"
"Purple moss?" You repeat, confused. You're about to ask what he means when he shudders with another pained gasp. "Purple moss, right! I'll get some, just… stay there!"
You run out of the passage and look around. Purple moss, purple moss, where would purple moss be?! If it was anywhere, it'd be in a dank forest like this, right?
Your eyes stop on the severed tree creature laying in a clump in the mud. A few little white flowers are blooming on one of its arms. Those flowers, upon taking a closer look, are growing from a small patch of purple.
Hoping your luck is as good as it seems, you rush to the tree corpse and begin scraping the moss off with one of the little throwing knives. Once you've recovered as much as you can, you rush back to the passage.
Oscar is sat against the wall inside, trembling and with strained breath. You practically slide down to him and shove the moss in his face. "Is this it?!"
He raises a shaking hand to his helmet and lifts his visor. With his other hand, he snatches the moss and shoves it in his mouth and swallows.
For a while, nothing happens and he continues to shudder painfully. After a few moments, however, he gasps and his breathing beings to steady along with his shuddering. After a few deep breaths, he gives you a thin smile and nods his head. "I thank you, Kirika. It wasn't the most deadly poison, but it certainly would've claimed my life."
You let out a relieved sigh upon seeing that your friend has recovered. "That's why you don't mess with snakes." You say, standing and offering your hand to help him up.
"Indeed…" He replies, accepting your hand. "It's been some time since I've suffered from such poisons. I was careless…"
"Geez, I have to look after you so much." You say with an exaggerated shrug. After sharing a chuckle, you go investigate the curled up corpse the snake-lizard was guarding. "So, what was it protecting? Just this spear?"
Oscar clears his throat and spits out bits of moss that didn't go down fully before stepping over. "A partizan, it would seem. I'm not experienced with spears, but it may come in handy if we're going to keep running into fights in thin spaces."
"Hmm, I guess we can hold onto it in the magic box for now." You say, prying the partizan from the corpse's dried arms. You take the bottomless box from your bag and drop the spear in.
With that unexpected bit of excitement out of the way, the two of you leave the side passage and continue along the muddy creek bed. No more trees jump out at you, but you have to more slowly and quietly when you notice one of the statues laying only a few metres from your path.
You're both so focused on the statue that you fail to notice another of those snake-lizards clinging to a tree. You jump back and just barely manage to catch yourself from shouting in surprise. The creature just sits there, however, seemingly content to let you pass. It's two heads sleepily follow you as you shuffle by, but no hissing or sudden attack comes.
Weird…
Moving past the snake-lizard, you come across a few crumbing stone bricks. You move through a gap in the broken wall and find your luck runs out. One of the statues lay right in the doorway of the ruined tower.
You and Oscar share a look. "Maybe it isn't actually dangerous?" You offer with a shrug.
"I don't very much like the chances of that." Oscar muses in reply. "Although, I cannot imagine something so large and made of stone could move with much speed. Perhaps we could simply outrun it?"
A little smile forms on your lips. Even if it's as fast as those gargoyles were, you could certainly outrun it with a bit of help from your magic. "Sure, let's give it a go."
With your plan of attack decided, you summon up a bit of your magic and begin shaping it into a cone in front of you. Once you're certain it's got the statue well surrounded, you give Oscar a nod and you both drop into a sprint.
The statue begins to stir as soon as you move, but its movements are painfully slow, and the two of you make it through the doorway before it even fully sits up. Maybe you didn't need your magic after all. The statue lets out a low grumble as its stone body grinds against itself, and you focus on hurrying up the winding stairs.
You're so focused on getting to the top that, upon reaching as high as you can go, you're caught off guard by what you find there. A wall of fog covers the doorway and blocks out the massive hole in the roof. You look to Oscar for an explanation.
He shrugs and steps up to it, holding his hand out and letting the wisps dance around his hand. "Strange, I've only ever witnessed such obstructions in places heavily influenced by the Gods. What could possibly cause us to encounter a fog wall here?"
"Can we pass through it?" You ask, the sound of the statue's heavy footsteps thumping up the stairs speeding up as you dispel your magic.
"We're about to find out." Oscar replies, pushing through the wispy white wall. His armoured form disappears, and you follow after him.
You're not sure what to expect from walking through a wall of weird magic fog. It feels like you're pushing your way through something thicker than air, but not quite enough to slow you by an annoying amount.
When you step out the other side, you're standing on a thin stone walkway bridging this tower to another. Bunches of flowers pocket the sides of the walkway, and you recognise the entrance back to Andre's area below when you peak over the edge.
"Kirika…"
Oscar's cautious mutter draws your mind back to the bridge. Specifically, what's next to the bridge.
A massive, winged creature is flying off to the side, it's gentle wingbeats somehow keeping it airborne despite its size. It's roughly shaped like a butterfly, but instead of legs it has a mass of long roots flowing down from its body. Said body is, surprisingly, somewhat human shaped, like a human girl has been transformed into this creature. A complex iron halo is attached to its back and a pair of long horns spiral up in a helix shape.
The main draw of your attention, however, is the massive wings, mostly coloured a pale blue. The strange thing about them, though, is the faint, vaguely familiar black splodges that flicker and dance across the wings. You note a faint glow from your soul gem on your back, yet it's not nearly as strong as when you encountered that fake witch thing back in the church.
-------------------
[] Battle plan!
-[] Throw stuff!
--[] Knives
--[] Bombs
--[] Claws
--[] All of the above
-[] Wait until it comes close enough to attack
-[] Write in
[] Write in
-[x] Skirt around the edge. Better safe than sorry
The hissing tree gives you the creeps, so you decide to completely ignore it for now. It's just a tree, after all, so it can't move… right?
That leaves you with going through this clearing. Those tree things are annoying to deal with thanks to the splinters they leave, and those statues look pretty solid. You're confident your claws can cut through anything if you try hard enough, but you're still not entirely interested in dealing with something that's probably going to be a pain to fight.
With that decided, you decide to follow the flowers along the small creek. "Come on, let's go around." You say to Oscar.
"We're… not going to fight them?"
You turn and give him a confused look. Was he always this keen on a fight? "You want to?"
"Uh, no, that's not it." He replies, glancing over at the slumped statue. "I was more expecting YOU to want to fight them. You've been quite keen on it so far."
You roll your eyes and start making your way along the creek, doing your best to step around the edge so water doesn't get into your boots. "Hey, I can be sneaky if I want to be. We've only fought Hollows and that kind of thing so far, right?"
"You charged an armoured boar head-on and nearly died." He replies in a flat, matter-of-factly tone.
"T-That was one time!" You exclaim, turning on him again with your arms crossed angrily.
You both freeze when you hear a quiet hissing. Did your shouting alert something? The two of your slowly approach the direction of the sound with your weapons ready, and you quickly come to a muddy part of the creek where the water has sunk into the ground. A think side passage has been eroded into the rock, maybe where the water from the creek originally flowed from.
It's also where the hissing is coming from.
Oscar takes the lead with his shield up, just barely fitting between the slimy walls. You turn a corner and see a shrivelled-up corpse curled up under a tree. In its hands is sturdy-looking spear, but that's not the source of the hissing. The hissing is coming from a giant double-snake-headed lizard covering the entire side of the tree.
You shudder at the sight. Snakes and lizards are cool, but nothing should have more than one head. Least of all giant snake lizard things chilling over corpses. Just as you're about to suggest leaving the creepy reptile monstrosity alone, however, you hear a subtle shaking of leaves behind you.
You only just manage to duck down in time to avoid getting smacked by a pair of vines. Oscar, not having any warning, isn't so lucky, and takes the attack straight to the back of the head. His helmet protects him, but the impact causes him to stumble forward awkwardly.
The snake-lizard raises both of its heads at the sudden movement and begins hissing threateningly. You don't have time to help him out, thought, as you turn back to see one of the tree monsters running at you with murderous intent.
You immediately rush forward, out of the thin passage, and meet the tree in the open space. You expect to simply cut through it like with the past trees, but this one seems trickier than the others, and comes to a full stop and jumps back from your swinging claws. Grumbling, you try again. Same result.
If Oriko were here, she would probably pick up on some surprisingly clever plan the tree is trying to enact. After all, even a tree wouldn't be dumb enough to charge a clearly superior foe alone when it has plenty of sleeping friends to help it out. Oriko isn't here, however, and you're already getting pissed off by this thing's agility.
The next time you charge the tree, you focus a bit of magic in front of you to slow it down. It attempts to jump back again, but it's far more delayed than the last two times, and you easily slice the thing in half.
Not far away, a few bushes shift at the sound, but thankfully resettle after a moment.
A shrieking hiss reaches your ear from the passage and you check back inside to the sight of Oscar pulling his sword out of the snake-lizard's body. One of the creature's heads has been cut off, but you can also see two small holes in the cloth between Oscar's armour where the thing got its fangs into.
"Hey, you good-?" Your question trails off when your knight friend drops his sword and shield and stumbles against the wall. He gasps in pain and begins trembling as you rush to him. "Oh shit, what happened?!"
"V-Venom!" He gasps, sliding down the wall and holding onto where the monster bit him. "Need purple moss!"
"Purple moss?" You repeat, confused. You're about to ask what he means when he shudders with another pained gasp. "Purple moss, right! I'll get some, just… stay there!"
You run out of the passage and look around. Purple moss, purple moss, where would purple moss be?! If it was anywhere, it'd be in a dank forest like this, right?
Your eyes stop on the severed tree creature laying in a clump in the mud. A few little white flowers are blooming on one of its arms. Those flowers, upon taking a closer look, are growing from a small patch of purple.
Hoping your luck is as good as it seems, you rush to the tree corpse and begin scraping the moss off with one of the little throwing knives. Once you've recovered as much as you can, you rush back to the passage.
Oscar is sat against the wall inside, trembling and with strained breath. You practically slide down to him and shove the moss in his face. "Is this it?!"
He raises a shaking hand to his helmet and lifts his visor. With his other hand, he snatches the moss and shoves it in his mouth and swallows.
For a while, nothing happens and he continues to shudder painfully. After a few moments, however, he gasps and his breathing beings to steady along with his shuddering. After a few deep breaths, he gives you a thin smile and nods his head. "I thank you, Kirika. It wasn't the most deadly poison, but it certainly would've claimed my life."
You let out a relieved sigh upon seeing that your friend has recovered. "That's why you don't mess with snakes." You say, standing and offering your hand to help him up.
"Indeed…" He replies, accepting your hand. "It's been some time since I've suffered from such poisons. I was careless…"
"Geez, I have to look after you so much." You say with an exaggerated shrug. After sharing a chuckle, you go investigate the curled up corpse the snake-lizard was guarding. "So, what was it protecting? Just this spear?"
Oscar clears his throat and spits out bits of moss that didn't go down fully before stepping over. "A partizan, it would seem. I'm not experienced with spears, but it may come in handy if we're going to keep running into fights in thin spaces."
"Hmm, I guess we can hold onto it in the magic box for now." You say, prying the partizan from the corpse's dried arms. You take the bottomless box from your bag and drop the spear in.
With that unexpected bit of excitement out of the way, the two of you leave the side passage and continue along the muddy creek bed. No more trees jump out at you, but you have to more slowly and quietly when you notice one of the statues laying only a few metres from your path.
You're both so focused on the statue that you fail to notice another of those snake-lizards clinging to a tree. You jump back and just barely manage to catch yourself from shouting in surprise. The creature just sits there, however, seemingly content to let you pass. It's two heads sleepily follow you as you shuffle by, but no hissing or sudden attack comes.
Weird…
Moving past the snake-lizard, you come across a few crumbing stone bricks. You move through a gap in the broken wall and find your luck runs out. One of the statues lay right in the doorway of the ruined tower.
You and Oscar share a look. "Maybe it isn't actually dangerous?" You offer with a shrug.
"I don't very much like the chances of that." Oscar muses in reply. "Although, I cannot imagine something so large and made of stone could move with much speed. Perhaps we could simply outrun it?"
A little smile forms on your lips. Even if it's as fast as those gargoyles were, you could certainly outrun it with a bit of help from your magic. "Sure, let's give it a go."
With your plan of attack decided, you summon up a bit of your magic and begin shaping it into a cone in front of you. Once you're certain it's got the statue well surrounded, you give Oscar a nod and you both drop into a sprint.
The statue begins to stir as soon as you move, but its movements are painfully slow, and the two of you make it through the doorway before it even fully sits up. Maybe you didn't need your magic after all. The statue lets out a low grumble as its stone body grinds against itself, and you focus on hurrying up the winding stairs.
You're so focused on getting to the top that, upon reaching as high as you can go, you're caught off guard by what you find there. A wall of fog covers the doorway and blocks out the massive hole in the roof. You look to Oscar for an explanation.
He shrugs and steps up to it, holding his hand out and letting the wisps dance around his hand. "Strange, I've only ever witnessed such obstructions in places heavily influenced by the Gods. What could possibly cause us to encounter a fog wall here?"
"Can we pass through it?" You ask, the sound of the statue's heavy footsteps thumping up the stairs speeding up as you dispel your magic.
"We're about to find out." Oscar replies, pushing through the wispy white wall. His armoured form disappears, and you follow after him.
You're not sure what to expect from walking through a wall of weird magic fog. It feels like you're pushing your way through something thicker than air, but not quite enough to slow you by an annoying amount.
When you step out the other side, you're standing on a thin stone walkway bridging this tower to another. Bunches of flowers pocket the sides of the walkway, and you recognise the entrance back to Andre's area below when you peak over the edge.
"Kirika…"
Oscar's cautious mutter draws your mind back to the bridge. Specifically, what's next to the bridge.
A massive, winged creature is flying off to the side, it's gentle wingbeats somehow keeping it airborne despite its size. It's roughly shaped like a butterfly, but instead of legs it has a mass of long roots flowing down from its body. Said body is, surprisingly, somewhat human shaped, like a human girl has been transformed into this creature. A complex iron halo is attached to its back and a pair of long horns spiral up in a helix shape.
The main draw of your attention, however, is the massive wings, mostly coloured a pale blue. The strange thing about them, though, is the faint, vaguely familiar black splodges that flicker and dance across the wings. You note a faint glow from your soul gem on your back, yet it's not nearly as strong as when you encountered that fake witch thing back in the church.
-------------------
[] Battle plan!
-[] Throw stuff!
--[] Knives
--[] Bombs
--[] Claws
--[] All of the above
-[] Wait until it comes close enough to attack
-[] Write in
[] Write in
Last edited:
- Location
- Wisconsin
[X] Battle plan!
-[X] Throw stuff!
--[X] All of the above
-[X] Throw stuff!
--[X] All of the above
Farseer Sen'Zabl
Accolyte of 'Common Sense'
- Location
- Dome of Crystal Seers, Ulthwe
[X] Battle plan!
-[X] Throw stuff!
--[X] All of the above
Preferably once it's close enough to hit, mind: I seem to recall it hovering slightly outside of throwing range. Then again I'm pretty sure that we aren't playing a Meguca in base Dark Souls, so who knows? Maybe the contract includes a good throwing arm along with that one wish.
-[X] Throw stuff!
--[X] All of the above
Preferably once it's close enough to hit, mind: I seem to recall it hovering slightly outside of throwing range. Then again I'm pretty sure that we aren't playing a Meguca in base Dark Souls, so who knows? Maybe the contract includes a good throwing arm along with that one wish.
- Location
- Italy
[X] Battle plan!
-[X] Throw stuff!
--[X] All of the above
Seath has been experimenting I see
-[X] Throw stuff!
--[X] All of the above
Seath has been experimenting I see
- Location
- The Land of Giant Bush Bunnies
Vote closed.
Starting from now, I'm going to switch to biweekly rotation between this quest and my other quest. I've recently started a new job and need to sort out time things so that I'm able to get my assignments done on time.
As of yet unsure when the new posting time will be, but I'll either decide next week or just go back and forth between the two days I've been doing it so far.
Starting from now, I'm going to switch to biweekly rotation between this quest and my other quest. I've recently started a new job and need to sort out time things so that I'm able to get my assignments done on time.
As of yet unsure when the new posting time will be, but I'll either decide next week or just go back and forth between the two days I've been doing it so far.
Part 44: Darkroot Garden IV - Moonlight Butterfly I
- Location
- The Land of Giant Bush Bunnies
[X] Battle plan!
-[X] Throw stuff!
--[X] All of the above
"We're probably going to have a hard time hitting it if it stays out there, huh?"
"What?" Oscar asks, turning to you. "It hasn't attacked yet, we don't know if it's dangerous."
You give him a blank stare for a moment, then reach back and detach your soul gem. It's faint glow becomes stronger when you point it at the giant butterfly. "Remember that witch back in the church? It's giving the same reaction."
"That may be so, but it's clearly far less aggressive-" Oscar's reply is interrupted by a strange crackle-whooshing sound. You remember the Channeler's magic sounding similar, just as Oscar grabs you and pulls you to the ground. You see three buzzing clumps of blue energy fly over you a moment later.
Guess it's aggressive after all.
The butterfly flaps its wings and flies over you as you both climb back to your feet, but it doesn't shoot any magic in the pass.
"What are we going to do?" Oscar asks, watching the creature as it just floats there. "It's too far to hit with knives or bombs."
"For you, maybe." You say with a scoff. You down to your boots and take out a pair of throwing knives (hey, they do it in the movies, so why can't you?).
As if understanding you, the butterfly moves back a bit, putting it well out of throwing range of a normal person. Unfortunately for it, you're not a normal person.
With a smirk, you raise one of the knives in each hand and line up your throws. You put all your strength into it, and toss the knives at the butterfly. The butterfly continues to bob up and down calmy, not even trying to dodge the blades.
One just about passes an arm's length from the edge of its left wing. The other doesn't even come close.
A silence falls over the bridge as you and Oscar stare at the butterfly. The butterfly's wingbeats slow slightly, and it almost feels like the butterfly is staring back.
You really need to get around to practicing with these things.
"That could've been better." Oscar says flatly.
You turn on him with a frown. "Hey, I don't see you doing anything!"
As if not wanting to hear the two of you bickering, another whooshing sound of magic comes from the butterfly. You quickly focus some magic at it, and the reaction proves worthwhile when a half-dozen blue bolts shoot out at you in quick succession.
You and Oscar manage to avoid the spell, ducking down behind the low stone wall along the sides of the bridge. You're not entirely confident about doing the same if you're caught by surprise without it being slowed down.
"Right, plan B." You mumble, taking a few firebombs out of your box. You admit you need some practice with the knives, but the bombs are as simple as throwing a ball. You take a moment to see if the butterfly is going to shoot anymore magic, then pop up from your cover and toss the firebombs at the giant bug.
Unlike the knives, the bombs fly straight (straighter than the knives, at least) and both shatter against the butterfly's wings. The creature lets out a pained shriek as fire reaches around its wings and burns its frail skin. Its wingbeats falter and it falls a few metres before managing to catch itself. There are holes in the wings where the bombs impacted, but the burns slowly start to heal, releasing more black flickers across the wings.
Getting frustrated, you summon a pair of loose claws and throw them at the butterfly with an angry growl. The curved weapons shoot through the air and punch through the wings exactly where you were aiming, opening two more holes.
The butterfly once again shrieks in pain and starts to float down towards the bridge. It comes to a stop just beside the bridge, where clumps of flowers grow from some moss and hanging vines. Small sparkles begin rising from the plants and into the butterfly as it nears, and the holes in its wings start to heal rapidly.
------------------
[] Attack
-[] Write in
[] Keep your distance
-[] Throw more stuff at it
-[] Just watch
-[] Write in
[] Write in
-[X] Throw stuff!
--[X] All of the above
"We're probably going to have a hard time hitting it if it stays out there, huh?"
"What?" Oscar asks, turning to you. "It hasn't attacked yet, we don't know if it's dangerous."
You give him a blank stare for a moment, then reach back and detach your soul gem. It's faint glow becomes stronger when you point it at the giant butterfly. "Remember that witch back in the church? It's giving the same reaction."
"That may be so, but it's clearly far less aggressive-" Oscar's reply is interrupted by a strange crackle-whooshing sound. You remember the Channeler's magic sounding similar, just as Oscar grabs you and pulls you to the ground. You see three buzzing clumps of blue energy fly over you a moment later.
Guess it's aggressive after all.
The butterfly flaps its wings and flies over you as you both climb back to your feet, but it doesn't shoot any magic in the pass.
"What are we going to do?" Oscar asks, watching the creature as it just floats there. "It's too far to hit with knives or bombs."
"For you, maybe." You say with a scoff. You down to your boots and take out a pair of throwing knives (hey, they do it in the movies, so why can't you?).
As if understanding you, the butterfly moves back a bit, putting it well out of throwing range of a normal person. Unfortunately for it, you're not a normal person.
With a smirk, you raise one of the knives in each hand and line up your throws. You put all your strength into it, and toss the knives at the butterfly. The butterfly continues to bob up and down calmy, not even trying to dodge the blades.
One just about passes an arm's length from the edge of its left wing. The other doesn't even come close.
A silence falls over the bridge as you and Oscar stare at the butterfly. The butterfly's wingbeats slow slightly, and it almost feels like the butterfly is staring back.
You really need to get around to practicing with these things.
"That could've been better." Oscar says flatly.
You turn on him with a frown. "Hey, I don't see you doing anything!"
As if not wanting to hear the two of you bickering, another whooshing sound of magic comes from the butterfly. You quickly focus some magic at it, and the reaction proves worthwhile when a half-dozen blue bolts shoot out at you in quick succession.
You and Oscar manage to avoid the spell, ducking down behind the low stone wall along the sides of the bridge. You're not entirely confident about doing the same if you're caught by surprise without it being slowed down.
"Right, plan B." You mumble, taking a few firebombs out of your box. You admit you need some practice with the knives, but the bombs are as simple as throwing a ball. You take a moment to see if the butterfly is going to shoot anymore magic, then pop up from your cover and toss the firebombs at the giant bug.
Unlike the knives, the bombs fly straight (straighter than the knives, at least) and both shatter against the butterfly's wings. The creature lets out a pained shriek as fire reaches around its wings and burns its frail skin. Its wingbeats falter and it falls a few metres before managing to catch itself. There are holes in the wings where the bombs impacted, but the burns slowly start to heal, releasing more black flickers across the wings.
Getting frustrated, you summon a pair of loose claws and throw them at the butterfly with an angry growl. The curved weapons shoot through the air and punch through the wings exactly where you were aiming, opening two more holes.
The butterfly once again shrieks in pain and starts to float down towards the bridge. It comes to a stop just beside the bridge, where clumps of flowers grow from some moss and hanging vines. Small sparkles begin rising from the plants and into the butterfly as it nears, and the holes in its wings start to heal rapidly.
------------------
[] Attack
-[] Write in
[] Keep your distance
-[] Throw more stuff at it
-[] Just watch
-[] Write in
[] Write in
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Farseer Sen'Zabl
Accolyte of 'Common Sense'
- Location
- Dome of Crystal Seers, Ulthwe
Okay... I see two immediate options here.
1. we just keep throwing stuff at it, maybe slash it up a bit while it's clinging to the bridge. Of the two this one's probably the safest and the firebombs seem to be respectably effective when we nail its wings. Though it will likely also draw out the battle longer, meaning more chances for bad luck to happen to us.
2. Moonlight butterfly rodeo: We climb on it and apply claw until it dies or somehow displaces us. On one hand, this one is insane, bordering on suicidal. On the other... well, I don't know if it has a means of dislodging something that can just dig magic claws into it for leverage, and a Kirika in a claw-happy mood that you can't hit back is a very nasty thing to have clinging to you.
Plus it'd be awesome, probably the most Kirika thing to do here, and we'd be able to introduce ourselves as Kirika: rider of the moonlight butterfly.
Either way, I suggest a bit of discussion before we start voting. Thoughts?
1. we just keep throwing stuff at it, maybe slash it up a bit while it's clinging to the bridge. Of the two this one's probably the safest and the firebombs seem to be respectably effective when we nail its wings. Though it will likely also draw out the battle longer, meaning more chances for bad luck to happen to us.
2. Moonlight butterfly rodeo: We climb on it and apply claw until it dies or somehow displaces us. On one hand, this one is insane, bordering on suicidal. On the other... well, I don't know if it has a means of dislodging something that can just dig magic claws into it for leverage, and a Kirika in a claw-happy mood that you can't hit back is a very nasty thing to have clinging to you.
Plus it'd be awesome, probably the most Kirika thing to do here, and we'd be able to introduce ourselves as Kirika: rider of the moonlight butterfly.
Either way, I suggest a bit of discussion before we start voting. Thoughts?
- Location
- Wisconsin
Its neat that you incorporated the fact the moonlight butterfly is one of the very few bosses in the series to be able to heal itself.
Remember the blast it does a little while after it lands on the bridge? There is no way we wouldn't be in the blast radius of that attack at all times if we were clinging to that thing.
Farseer Sen'Zabl
Accolyte of 'Common Sense'
- Location
- Dome of Crystal Seers, Ulthwe
A fair point, I'd forgotten about that.
It might- emphasis on that might -be avoidable if Kirkia hung on from lower down the body, but yes, it can probably still use that in flight and being stuck near those blasts would probably not be very good for our health. But hey: I did say it was insane. The question is if it's insane enough to work out better than the slow-and-safe way, or just the regular and less useful flavour of insane that gets us killed or badly hurt for minimal gain.
Side thought: Isn't Oscar's crest shield one of the strong magic-resistant ones? That might be something to factor into whatever plans we make.
It might- emphasis on that might -be avoidable if Kirkia hung on from lower down the body, but yes, it can probably still use that in flight and being stuck near those blasts would probably not be very good for our health. But hey: I did say it was insane. The question is if it's insane enough to work out better than the slow-and-safe way, or just the regular and less useful flavour of insane that gets us killed or badly hurt for minimal gain.
Side thought: Isn't Oscar's crest shield one of the strong magic-resistant ones? That might be something to factor into whatever plans we make.
- Location
- Wisconsin
There are a few other shields that match it with only Havel's Greatshield and the crystal ringshield beating it in terms of magic defense. I think our priority should be getting rid of the plantlife on the bridge so it can't heal itself anymore because while in game it can only heal itself for a very tiny amount the version here is described as rapidly healing.
Farseer Sen'Zabl
Accolyte of 'Common Sense'
- Location
- Dome of Crystal Seers, Ulthwe
Okay, so we should probably tack 'Firebomb the flowers' onto the plan. We've got three of 'em left on us and if it stops it from healing quickly it might be the best use for them. Oscar has four more but given that we have the better throwing arm for them we should probably ask him to hand them over.
Of course, it seems to have some degree of regeneration independent of the flowers:
Then again I might be overthinking things, I've been known to do that from time to time.
Of course, it seems to have some degree of regeneration independent of the flowers:
Which means we can't rely entirely on chipping away at it, we'll run out of knives and firebombs soon enough. I'm pretty sure summoning our claws isn't free either and magic is proving quite expensive to refresh right now. Which is a good part of why I'm considering the merits of insanity here, rather than my usual preference for the safer options.
Then again I might be overthinking things, I've been known to do that from time to time.
- Location
- The Land of Giant Bush Bunnies
Chiming in on this before I go to bed.
Magic to corruption trade has generally been as followed:
-Summoning claws normally doesn't cost magic.
-Summoning claws in alternate forms (thrown and whip thing, as examples previous) cost 1% for a few uses, or for a fight general depending on how many are used. They're not really complex uses of magic after all
-Any form of time slowing magic costs 2% and up, based on how long it lasts and how strong the effect.
-Healing over time costs roughly 1% per 5 HP, while rapid healing costs far more (1% per 1HP, or more depending on the seriousness of the injury and mental state of Kirika)
This is based on what I've been generally unconsciously doing, so it's probably not a set conversion for the long term. Will apply to anything with this fight, at least though.
- Location
- Wisconsin
Honestly we didn't come here with the intention of fighting the butterfly in the first place and magical girls are fairly mobile in nature. Any reason we can't just get into the tower and try to nab what we are here for instead of sticking around to be blasted by butterfly beams? Its not like fogwalls are some absolute magical barrier that cannot be circumvented given there are a few bosses that can be killed from outside their fogwall like Manus, Sif, and the capra demon. When you first encounter seath in the archives you can straight up just leave through the fogwall you came in from.
Farseer Sen'Zabl
Accolyte of 'Common Sense'
- Location
- Dome of Crystal Seers, Ulthwe
...
I think you've got a point there. We're not prepared for this battle and have little motive to actually fight it, beyond Kirika being Kirika and applying video game logic to her decision-making process.
Right, so the biggest impediment to dashing across the bridge I see is the butterfly itself and its magic strafing runs, but between our time-slowing magic and the fact it's landed, I think we could make the run to the far side unharmed. The question is if we can get through the fog-wall while the moon-butters yet flutters. Ignoring that problem for a moment, getting back would probably be a bit harder, but still achievable and likely still cheaper than fighting would be.
Maybe leave Oscar at the stairs if we decide to give it a go since he probably can't match our pace.
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- Location
- Wisconsin
Okay I made a character in dark souls just now to go run and check things out quick and there is a homeward bone and a key on the same corpse that has the ember so we shouldn't have to worry about a way out.
Farseer Sen'Zabl
Accolyte of 'Common Sense'
- Location
- Dome of Crystal Seers, Ulthwe
Well then, if we can get through the fog wall without killing the butterfly first I'm all for it. Oscar has a Homeward bone already so if there's one for us there I can't see any major problems: we run across, get the ember and bone, warp out, and done.
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WanderingTwix
Posting something good once in a full moon
- Location
- United Kingdom
So, uh... any idea how to word that vote? @John Sandman @Farseer Sen'Zabl I would help, but I don't even know Dark Souls really, so I don't know about layouts and stuff. Also, does Kirika know IC there's stuff in the tower, or just hoping something is there? Because that will change the wording.