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Best. Workout. Ever. (Dark Souls SI)
- Thread starter Ironfox
- Start date
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- dark souls self insert
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
Ok, in all honesty? If i do decide to make dragon weapons show up, they will be the result of someone sheering off a large chunk of scales and a clever blacksmith making a weapon out of them. The person using them also wont be me, as i already have my weapon in mind.
Though getting impaled by a dragon tail i tried to cut off in my nativity would be pretty good slapstick.
*^*
Painfully non canon.
*^*
Good Gwyn this was taking a while.
I was surprised to find that the bridge wyvern really was just as stupid as game mechanics dictated, so i had spent the better part of the day shooting its tail, and hacking at it when ever it came over on the bridge. but it was all about to be worth it. ust a few more fibers and the drake sword would be-
Oh shit.
The dragon flicked its tail in my direction with enough force to send it speeding towards me like a macabre spear. So i dodged it, because I'm awesome, then caught it mid air...
Ok, fine. It slammed into me with enough force to embed itself into me and launch me off the lower bridge. The trajectory eventually had me impaled on the side of one of the city walls.
At least i wasn't -quite- dead.
doing what people did in the movies, i pulled myself along the impaling object until i finally got off it... thirty meters off the ground.
Ah crap. Didn't think that one through.
*^*
Though getting impaled by a dragon tail i tried to cut off in my nativity would be pretty good slapstick.
*^*
Painfully non canon.
*^*
Good Gwyn this was taking a while.
I was surprised to find that the bridge wyvern really was just as stupid as game mechanics dictated, so i had spent the better part of the day shooting its tail, and hacking at it when ever it came over on the bridge. but it was all about to be worth it. ust a few more fibers and the drake sword would be-
Oh shit.
The dragon flicked its tail in my direction with enough force to send it speeding towards me like a macabre spear. So i dodged it, because I'm awesome, then caught it mid air...
Ok, fine. It slammed into me with enough force to embed itself into me and launch me off the lower bridge. The trajectory eventually had me impaled on the side of one of the city walls.
At least i wasn't -quite- dead.
doing what people did in the movies, i pulled myself along the impaling object until i finally got off it... thirty meters off the ground.
Ah crap. Didn't think that one through.
*^*
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
Ah, but whats the fun in a bottomless chasm? Its the sudden stop at the bottom that does you in. }pvolrath77 said:Nope, that's 2 deaths there. Btw, I thought drops from city walls typically end with bottomless pits/chasms?
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
That brings up an interesting point actually. Where are all the 'Bottomless pits'?volrath77 said:Well, if you look at it and consider the structures of the world area i.e. how they're vertically stacked, technically there's no 'bottomless chasms' in Dark Souls. Considering that the arch trees appear to be like some sort of support pillars scattered all over as far as the eyes could see; the way I figure it, every 'bottomless' chasms and drops in Lordran, Blighttown, Lost Izalith, heck any location on/in the world's crust will end...in the Ash Lake. Yup, you'll still have that sudden stop at the bottom.
Yeah, that descent through the Great Hollow (itself an arch tree) might as well be the Journey to the Center of the Earth so to speak.
I know there aren't any in the bottom of Blight Town, and i don't think that there are any in the demon ruins. I don't remember Lost Izalith too well, since i didn't spend any real time in there though. In the case of the above joke snip, i'd wind up wet though, as i'm fairly sure that i'd fall into the river at the bottom of valley of the drakes.
Huh. Well this makes me wish that a pc version existed so i could try getting all the different world maps connected, so i could see just where the character falling down each pit would wind up.
In other news, Revised Chapter Is Up
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
I mean getting the area models, and connecting them manually in something like blender, so i could get a free view of the world.volrath77 said:
i might be able to do that anyway, just by using blocks of roughly the same size (in proportion) as the areas. It won't work as well as the actual areas, but it should suffice.
Just getting into this... Nice story!
Seems your building quite the collection of forces... wonder what the home front will think of your new additions to the team?
Seems your building quite the collection of forces... wonder what the home front will think of your new additions to the team?
17
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
YAY UPDATE!
*^*
"Some would consider it a sin to laze about until the sun reaches its zenith."
"Merf." I flopped my arm over my face, trying without much success to block Petrus out.
It was a little over a week since my trip into the burg, and I had recovered from my physical workout admirably with a few hours in front of a bonfire. No, it wasn't physical hurts that had me lying about like a useless sack of dung, it was the colossal headache of trying to keep two different styles of magic separate in my mind… well that and the example of what not to do Griggs gave yesterday. Both Laurentius and Griggs were determined to convince me that theirs was the better magic, and I should drop the other. On a personal level, I was seriously regretting not leaving them both to rot, and instead having Oscar teach me how to use a sword more effectively.
Pyromancy was the art of manipulating the power of fire within all organic life, but usually my own. It worked by 'asking' the pyromany flame to do stuff for you. Now that wouldn't be a problem if it understood speech, but sadly nothing is ever that easy. You did the asking by manipulating it via certain fields of power that became much easier to perceive after I had pumped the soul power I had collected the party in the depths into my… spirit… power… stuff. Yeah. Now after I could perceive them, I found that it was a fairly easy deal to manipulate these fields, and after Laurentius showed me a few simple 'words' I decided to try one. That's where my problems started.
My problem was that I was using a flame born from Laurentius' soul. Now the only way to get a flame is to get it from someone else, but over time it merges with your own soul, and thus becomes significantly easier to use. That can take years, by the way.
Thus I was left with a monkeys paw. Make no mistake, it did as I told it to, the problem was that it would look for loopholes. If I used 'Burst', which was how I thought of the 'word' to cast Combustion, the flame would indeed burst, and set something on fire. The issue I had was that the ignited object would, nine times out of ten, be me. My teacher thought it was hilarious, but showed me ways to 'point' the flame to a proper target. Things started working a bit better after that, but I still had to be really precise or it would find some way of making me suffer. Speaking the word as I shaped it in the flame seemed to help a little too. In the end, I decided that the only pyromancies that I'd find useful (and I could consistently use without hurting myself) in combat would be Carmina's self-realization spells. Anything else was more likely to backfire on me, and should only be used while near a bonfire. Just to keep in practice.
Magic, was a different, if similar beast. It was divided into three parts; Manipulating the magic field (as in pyromancy), fueling it with your own power reservoir, and an incantation.
The magical field manipulation was what I had considered the easy part, and had surprised Griggs. Unlike pyromancy, you couldn't ask the magical power to do stuff for you. Instead, you needed to create a matrix that you filled with your own power. The upshot was that you never had a truly malevolent force looking for ways to screw you over. The bad part was that these fields were often incredibly complex and getting merely 'close' would net you a completely different effect entirely. Still, I found this part fairly easy due to a familiarity with three dimensional modeling programs of all things. Who knew?
The next part was fueling the spell. This is the part that Griggs said was the easiest, which is fine if you've been raised in an environment where pouring you energy out in mystical essence was the norm. I still haven't figured out how to do this in any significant amount to do anything, though I suspect that it's similar to pouring out souls for reinforcement. Just… less instinctive. I'd try it after I was feeling more up to scuff. This was the issue I had to get past before i should even consider learning magic, let alone casting it. Unfortunately, I am stubborn, and Griggs couldn't fathom why i was having so much trouble with it.
The final part was the incantation. This was pure memory, and like the matrix part, it had to be borderline perfect. Griggs showed me an example of why you needed to do so of course. Just last night in fact. The first time he said the spell perfectly, and unleashed a soul arrow that shattered a good sized rock. The second time, he slurred the word a tiny bit. The end result was an explosion of bright Technicolor light that did nothing other than temporarily blind Griggs, and give me the migraine I was nursing the tail end of right now.
"Fine." Petrus stated, and I could sense his shrug, "Lay about. However, lady Reah has arrived, so if you can't get off the ground and make yourself presentable at least have the decency to try to stay out of sight until you can." I heard footsteps leaving.
Wait. Wasn't she supposed to show up only after one of the bells was rung?
I sat up quickly, then laid back down much slower after the spikes of pain lanced through my skull. Damn it.
*^*
"Some would consider it a sin to laze about until the sun reaches its zenith."
"Merf." I flopped my arm over my face, trying without much success to block Petrus out.
It was a little over a week since my trip into the burg, and I had recovered from my physical workout admirably with a few hours in front of a bonfire. No, it wasn't physical hurts that had me lying about like a useless sack of dung, it was the colossal headache of trying to keep two different styles of magic separate in my mind… well that and the example of what not to do Griggs gave yesterday. Both Laurentius and Griggs were determined to convince me that theirs was the better magic, and I should drop the other. On a personal level, I was seriously regretting not leaving them both to rot, and instead having Oscar teach me how to use a sword more effectively.
Pyromancy was the art of manipulating the power of fire within all organic life, but usually my own. It worked by 'asking' the pyromany flame to do stuff for you. Now that wouldn't be a problem if it understood speech, but sadly nothing is ever that easy. You did the asking by manipulating it via certain fields of power that became much easier to perceive after I had pumped the soul power I had collected the party in the depths into my… spirit… power… stuff. Yeah. Now after I could perceive them, I found that it was a fairly easy deal to manipulate these fields, and after Laurentius showed me a few simple 'words' I decided to try one. That's where my problems started.
My problem was that I was using a flame born from Laurentius' soul. Now the only way to get a flame is to get it from someone else, but over time it merges with your own soul, and thus becomes significantly easier to use. That can take years, by the way.
Thus I was left with a monkeys paw. Make no mistake, it did as I told it to, the problem was that it would look for loopholes. If I used 'Burst', which was how I thought of the 'word' to cast Combustion, the flame would indeed burst, and set something on fire. The issue I had was that the ignited object would, nine times out of ten, be me. My teacher thought it was hilarious, but showed me ways to 'point' the flame to a proper target. Things started working a bit better after that, but I still had to be really precise or it would find some way of making me suffer. Speaking the word as I shaped it in the flame seemed to help a little too. In the end, I decided that the only pyromancies that I'd find useful (and I could consistently use without hurting myself) in combat would be Carmina's self-realization spells. Anything else was more likely to backfire on me, and should only be used while near a bonfire. Just to keep in practice.
Magic, was a different, if similar beast. It was divided into three parts; Manipulating the magic field (as in pyromancy), fueling it with your own power reservoir, and an incantation.
The magical field manipulation was what I had considered the easy part, and had surprised Griggs. Unlike pyromancy, you couldn't ask the magical power to do stuff for you. Instead, you needed to create a matrix that you filled with your own power. The upshot was that you never had a truly malevolent force looking for ways to screw you over. The bad part was that these fields were often incredibly complex and getting merely 'close' would net you a completely different effect entirely. Still, I found this part fairly easy due to a familiarity with three dimensional modeling programs of all things. Who knew?
The next part was fueling the spell. This is the part that Griggs said was the easiest, which is fine if you've been raised in an environment where pouring you energy out in mystical essence was the norm. I still haven't figured out how to do this in any significant amount to do anything, though I suspect that it's similar to pouring out souls for reinforcement. Just… less instinctive. I'd try it after I was feeling more up to scuff. This was the issue I had to get past before i should even consider learning magic, let alone casting it. Unfortunately, I am stubborn, and Griggs couldn't fathom why i was having so much trouble with it.
The final part was the incantation. This was pure memory, and like the matrix part, it had to be borderline perfect. Griggs showed me an example of why you needed to do so of course. Just last night in fact. The first time he said the spell perfectly, and unleashed a soul arrow that shattered a good sized rock. The second time, he slurred the word a tiny bit. The end result was an explosion of bright Technicolor light that did nothing other than temporarily blind Griggs, and give me the migraine I was nursing the tail end of right now.
"Fine." Petrus stated, and I could sense his shrug, "Lay about. However, lady Reah has arrived, so if you can't get off the ground and make yourself presentable at least have the decency to try to stay out of sight until you can." I heard footsteps leaving.
Wait. Wasn't she supposed to show up only after one of the bells was rung?
I sat up quickly, then laid back down much slower after the spikes of pain lanced through my skull. Damn it.
18
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
A bit more. This chapter is a fair bit slower paced compared to chapters one and three, but going from my plan its still quite long. It's largely a set up chapter, which means that its going to take longer to write as well. Don't want to forget to put in a point I'll need from it later after all.
These type of chapters are also the closest thing to filler I'm going to have in the main story. I have a few Crack Ideas, and a few other world building things that ultimately don't have a place in the plot, so I'll probably make side fics rather then clutter up the main stuff.
*^*
"Don't listen to Petrus." A far more sympathetic –and welcome- voice intoned. "I caught a bit of that colour flash of Griggs' out of the corner of my eye. All I can say is that I'm glad I had some white willow bark."
Wait, bark? "What?"
Oscar chuckled, "A tea brewed from it has fairly impressive pain relief properties. I have heard of alchemists who have found a way to distil it into a powerful tincture, yet I find that the tea works in a pinch." I heard him thump down next to me, "Estus is great for healing injuries and the pain that results from them, yet it is rather poor for things like headaches, or cramps."
"WANT!" Ok, I wasn't precisely the most intellectual conversationalist at the moment, but no one will deny that I could get my point across.
I felt an armoured hand pat my shoulder, "I thought you might, so I made sure that I made more than enough for you and Griggs as well." He took my hand and put a flask in it, "I warn you, it is rather bitter."
I slowly sat up, and then tossed the brew back. He wasn't kidding, but I had tasted far worse, and the promise of blessed pain relief made me less inclined to whine about it.
"Wait until it has time to work, and then gather up your equipment. Laurentius has done a little scouting of his own, and he says that he has found a blacksmith. He is a countryman of Griggs' apparently." Oscar stood, "I dare say that both of us look rather like brigands, what with the damage our gear has accumulated."
Again, he had a very valid point. The knight had done his damnedest to keep his gear in condition, but the lack of repair powder or tools meant that the best he could do was keep the rust off it. I tried to emulate him, but despite my best efforts there were orange links everywhere on my mail, and the edges of the plate were starting to corrode. The mishaps I've gone through haven't exactly helped any either. At least I managed to keep my weapons in order. I wish I had some wax for my crossbow string, but both my sword and shield were rust free.
I grumbled a moment, and then stood myself. My vision blurred for a moment, then went to something like normal. Huh. My head still hurt, but I could tell the tea was taking at least some of the edge off already. "Mental note, strip white willow trees."
"I brought my supply from Astora. I dare say that Lordran is devoid of willows of any stripe."
I groaned. Of course Lordran wouldn't have any. Still, it brought up an interesting note that the local flora might bring some assistance, and I filed that away for a later time. "Fine. Let's go find the blacksmith."
I already knew where Rickert was of course, but as usual I figured it might be best not to show my hand. As we made our way to the stairs down to Anastasia, I reminisced about the self-insert fanfics in my home universe, and had to supress an insane giggle. I found that the biggest use I had gotten out of my fore knowledge that I wouldn't have otherwise was a few useless trinkets. Anyone with half a brain would have been able to save Oscar exactly the same way I had, and while that foreknowledge helped to know that Griggs and Laurentius were out there, it was more luck then planning that lead me to them. I mean really.
We stopped briefly so Oscar to introduce me to the fire keeper. I can't say it went well. I was zoning out and in general being distracted with my own thoughts, and she didn't have a tongue so all she did was stare blankly at us in a 'why are you trying to talk to me? I'm mute!' kinda way. I can honestly say it was awkward for everyone involved.
Still, I found myself feeling sorry for the poor girl, locked inside a cramped, dank little hole in the wall. I don't think she was older then sixteen, and I could smell the old blood left on her robes from her mangled legs. While Oscar was noting how much of an honour it was for an Astoran to become a fire keeper, I felt wrath boil inside me. Getting crippled, and having your tongue cut out was a good thing to people? Being trapped as a living representation of the bonfire, having your soul gnawed on by the humanity people used to fuel the fire? In a way it would be a kindness to allow Lautrec to kill her. Or maybe…
As we proceeded down to the elevator to New Londo, I began humming a song. Down that path of thought was madness and hollowing so I changed my mental tracks to a more optimistic version of an earlier subject. The stuff I found was useless as of yet, but if my guess was right they would soon be life savers, and there were several more objects approaching my reach. New londo also connected with valley of the drakes which held a fair few rather nice artifacts, though I hoped that they would be quite a bit less protected then in game.
I might be able ballsy enough to go against a Butcher, but a drake was certainly out of my league.
Oscar broke me out of my thoughts, "Laurentius said one the platform gets moving, it will take quite some time to reach the bottom. I thought we could use the opportunity to do a little sparing. You handle yourself fairly well, yet I can tell that swordplay was never a part of your education"
Joy.
*^*
These type of chapters are also the closest thing to filler I'm going to have in the main story. I have a few Crack Ideas, and a few other world building things that ultimately don't have a place in the plot, so I'll probably make side fics rather then clutter up the main stuff.
*^*
"Don't listen to Petrus." A far more sympathetic –and welcome- voice intoned. "I caught a bit of that colour flash of Griggs' out of the corner of my eye. All I can say is that I'm glad I had some white willow bark."
Wait, bark? "What?"
Oscar chuckled, "A tea brewed from it has fairly impressive pain relief properties. I have heard of alchemists who have found a way to distil it into a powerful tincture, yet I find that the tea works in a pinch." I heard him thump down next to me, "Estus is great for healing injuries and the pain that results from them, yet it is rather poor for things like headaches, or cramps."
"WANT!" Ok, I wasn't precisely the most intellectual conversationalist at the moment, but no one will deny that I could get my point across.
I felt an armoured hand pat my shoulder, "I thought you might, so I made sure that I made more than enough for you and Griggs as well." He took my hand and put a flask in it, "I warn you, it is rather bitter."
I slowly sat up, and then tossed the brew back. He wasn't kidding, but I had tasted far worse, and the promise of blessed pain relief made me less inclined to whine about it.
"Wait until it has time to work, and then gather up your equipment. Laurentius has done a little scouting of his own, and he says that he has found a blacksmith. He is a countryman of Griggs' apparently." Oscar stood, "I dare say that both of us look rather like brigands, what with the damage our gear has accumulated."
Again, he had a very valid point. The knight had done his damnedest to keep his gear in condition, but the lack of repair powder or tools meant that the best he could do was keep the rust off it. I tried to emulate him, but despite my best efforts there were orange links everywhere on my mail, and the edges of the plate were starting to corrode. The mishaps I've gone through haven't exactly helped any either. At least I managed to keep my weapons in order. I wish I had some wax for my crossbow string, but both my sword and shield were rust free.
I grumbled a moment, and then stood myself. My vision blurred for a moment, then went to something like normal. Huh. My head still hurt, but I could tell the tea was taking at least some of the edge off already. "Mental note, strip white willow trees."
"I brought my supply from Astora. I dare say that Lordran is devoid of willows of any stripe."
I groaned. Of course Lordran wouldn't have any. Still, it brought up an interesting note that the local flora might bring some assistance, and I filed that away for a later time. "Fine. Let's go find the blacksmith."
I already knew where Rickert was of course, but as usual I figured it might be best not to show my hand. As we made our way to the stairs down to Anastasia, I reminisced about the self-insert fanfics in my home universe, and had to supress an insane giggle. I found that the biggest use I had gotten out of my fore knowledge that I wouldn't have otherwise was a few useless trinkets. Anyone with half a brain would have been able to save Oscar exactly the same way I had, and while that foreknowledge helped to know that Griggs and Laurentius were out there, it was more luck then planning that lead me to them. I mean really.
We stopped briefly so Oscar to introduce me to the fire keeper. I can't say it went well. I was zoning out and in general being distracted with my own thoughts, and she didn't have a tongue so all she did was stare blankly at us in a 'why are you trying to talk to me? I'm mute!' kinda way. I can honestly say it was awkward for everyone involved.
Still, I found myself feeling sorry for the poor girl, locked inside a cramped, dank little hole in the wall. I don't think she was older then sixteen, and I could smell the old blood left on her robes from her mangled legs. While Oscar was noting how much of an honour it was for an Astoran to become a fire keeper, I felt wrath boil inside me. Getting crippled, and having your tongue cut out was a good thing to people? Being trapped as a living representation of the bonfire, having your soul gnawed on by the humanity people used to fuel the fire? In a way it would be a kindness to allow Lautrec to kill her. Or maybe…
As we proceeded down to the elevator to New Londo, I began humming a song. Down that path of thought was madness and hollowing so I changed my mental tracks to a more optimistic version of an earlier subject. The stuff I found was useless as of yet, but if my guess was right they would soon be life savers, and there were several more objects approaching my reach. New londo also connected with valley of the drakes which held a fair few rather nice artifacts, though I hoped that they would be quite a bit less protected then in game.
I might be able ballsy enough to go against a Butcher, but a drake was certainly out of my league.
Oscar broke me out of my thoughts, "Laurentius said one the platform gets moving, it will take quite some time to reach the bottom. I thought we could use the opportunity to do a little sparing. You handle yourself fairly well, yet I can tell that swordplay was never a part of your education"
Joy.
*^*
19
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
This is not dead i swear. I've just been hung up on ME3, Kingdoms of Amalur, and come Tuesday Armored Core 5. I figure i would be best to post SOMETHING before then, just to prove that its still going.
*^*
Ok, before I get into the embarrassing mess that is me sparing with a professional knight, I feel the need to clarify a few things. First off, after having survived that stint in the lower burg, I was feeling pretty badass, I mean, this should be understandable. I had outwitted a scary demon, bested a hulking zombie in single combat while a room was on fire, and saved the lives of two people who were completely and undeniably screwed. Second off, while I had held swords before getting dropped here was the first time I had actually seen combat with them. Finally, a huge portion of my fighting style up to this point has been either crippling or killing my enemies at range with a crossbow –the only medieval weapon I truly had any experience with- and mopping up with my sword afterwards. Needless to say, all three of those things were working against me in the sparing session.
We both started on opposite sides of the platform. Oscar held a braced stance with his shield in a guard position; I took my own similar fighting stance. With hindsight I can say that mine was really sloppy, but I couldn't know that at the time.
"Begin."
Oscar stepped forward and stabbed past his guard into my shield hard enough to shift my balance slightly. After that I didn't catch what he did fully, but it ended with the tip of his sword pressed against my chest plate. Then he let me up, adjusted my stance, and did it again. And again. And again. Finally though, I got fed up with landing on my increasingly sore rear end and lashed my shield out to meet his blade. I got a wonderful vision of him seeming to lose his balance only to have that hope crushed when he used my momentary delay to shift that balance then deliver a hard kick into my stomach, which planted me on the floor again.
By the end of the half hour decent, I was thoroughly sore and had a better idea of swordplay. Enough to convince me that the crossbow was the much better choice of my primary weapon at any rate.
"You aren't bad." Oscar said, probably more to try and cheer me up then being truthful. "You are much better than I was when I started my sword training."
"So I'm better a ten year old." Awesome. I shouldn't need to worry about a child kicking my ass in a swordfight. "I'm sure that will be a great comfort to me when I'm facing down a raging demon."
"It sounds much worse when you put it that way." My sparring partner chided. "Besides, you don't need to be tremendously skillful to deal with hollows, simply quick and fairly precise."
"Honestly I don't even have that."
"Which is why," he said exasperatedly, "We will be practicing. Probably for an hour a day to give you time for your other lessons."
*^*
Ok, before I get into the embarrassing mess that is me sparing with a professional knight, I feel the need to clarify a few things. First off, after having survived that stint in the lower burg, I was feeling pretty badass, I mean, this should be understandable. I had outwitted a scary demon, bested a hulking zombie in single combat while a room was on fire, and saved the lives of two people who were completely and undeniably screwed. Second off, while I had held swords before getting dropped here was the first time I had actually seen combat with them. Finally, a huge portion of my fighting style up to this point has been either crippling or killing my enemies at range with a crossbow –the only medieval weapon I truly had any experience with- and mopping up with my sword afterwards. Needless to say, all three of those things were working against me in the sparing session.
We both started on opposite sides of the platform. Oscar held a braced stance with his shield in a guard position; I took my own similar fighting stance. With hindsight I can say that mine was really sloppy, but I couldn't know that at the time.
"Begin."
Oscar stepped forward and stabbed past his guard into my shield hard enough to shift my balance slightly. After that I didn't catch what he did fully, but it ended with the tip of his sword pressed against my chest plate. Then he let me up, adjusted my stance, and did it again. And again. And again. Finally though, I got fed up with landing on my increasingly sore rear end and lashed my shield out to meet his blade. I got a wonderful vision of him seeming to lose his balance only to have that hope crushed when he used my momentary delay to shift that balance then deliver a hard kick into my stomach, which planted me on the floor again.
By the end of the half hour decent, I was thoroughly sore and had a better idea of swordplay. Enough to convince me that the crossbow was the much better choice of my primary weapon at any rate.
"You aren't bad." Oscar said, probably more to try and cheer me up then being truthful. "You are much better than I was when I started my sword training."
"So I'm better a ten year old." Awesome. I shouldn't need to worry about a child kicking my ass in a swordfight. "I'm sure that will be a great comfort to me when I'm facing down a raging demon."
"It sounds much worse when you put it that way." My sparring partner chided. "Besides, you don't need to be tremendously skillful to deal with hollows, simply quick and fairly precise."
"Honestly I don't even have that."
"Which is why," he said exasperatedly, "We will be practicing. Probably for an hour a day to give you time for your other lessons."
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
Agreed. I, for one, can't wait until you and Oscar get to Dickstab Forest.
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
For those of you not in the know, yes, Dickstab Forest, is the Darkroot Garden. It is also the most favorited spot of three types, at least, of invading covenants and the Forest Hunter assholes.
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
Non Canon, but using canon mechanics.
Character POV is Griggs, and the full party is Griggs, Oscar, and Solaire
*^*
"Be careful, and keep your eyes open" Knight Solaire quipped cheerfully. "We wouldn't want to get ambushed by the cretins that call this place home."
"How many could it be?" I asked, somewhat tentatively, "Surly we can take on the small fractured groups that might come across us?"
"If we were in a normal forest, that would be true." Oscar noted grimly "however here, all the brigands that can be bothered are guided to intruders via ancient magics."
"Ok, so we deal with all that are part of this order." I shruged, still not quite seeing why Oscar was so tense. "With how few there are unhollowed in Lordran, that might be what? 8, possibly up to 15 people?"
"I don't think you quite understand good sorcerer..." For some odd reason Solaire seemed even more cheerful. "In lordan, time and space are fluid, meshing with other times. which means that..."
The coin finaly dropped. "You seriously meant -all- of them that could be bothered" my voice had risen three octaves. "that had -ever- been apart of this covenant..."
"Yes!" Solaire was practically boiling over in glee now as he unsheathed his blade, "This will be a jolly good time!"
Hundreds of pairs of eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.
*^*
Character POV is Griggs, and the full party is Griggs, Oscar, and Solaire
*^*
"Be careful, and keep your eyes open" Knight Solaire quipped cheerfully. "We wouldn't want to get ambushed by the cretins that call this place home."
"How many could it be?" I asked, somewhat tentatively, "Surly we can take on the small fractured groups that might come across us?"
"If we were in a normal forest, that would be true." Oscar noted grimly "however here, all the brigands that can be bothered are guided to intruders via ancient magics."
"Ok, so we deal with all that are part of this order." I shruged, still not quite seeing why Oscar was so tense. "With how few there are unhollowed in Lordran, that might be what? 8, possibly up to 15 people?"
"I don't think you quite understand good sorcerer..." For some odd reason Solaire seemed even more cheerful. "In lordan, time and space are fluid, meshing with other times. which means that..."
The coin finaly dropped. "You seriously meant -all- of them that could be bothered" my voice had risen three octaves. "that had -ever- been apart of this covenant..."
"Yes!" Solaire was practically boiling over in glee now as he unsheathed his blade, "This will be a jolly good time!"
Hundreds of pairs of eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.
*^*
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
Ha ha ha ha, why how amusing! This should be made canon, but I doubt it will.
*crestfallen sigh* How saddening.
*crestfallen sigh* How saddening.
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
YAY maybe now that i don't have any games on the horizon for a while i can possibly get back to my pseudo schedule.
Another shot update
*^*
As we stepped out of the shaft, I looked out onto the vista that was New Londo. I don't know what I was expecting, but what I got wasn't it.
We came out on to a large sqare that looked as though it may have been a trade center. There were ruins of tents with stalls scattered haphazardly, and several rotted wooden caravan wagons parked in a way that resembled something of a mall of my own world and time. Stone buildings loomed around the edges, one of which might have been a jail of sorts judging from the rusted bars. The most distressing thing in my mind, however, were the dozens of benign hollows that shambled between the places that they had no doubt been shopping before the absolute loss of their humanity. They paid us no heed at all.
The worst part was just how dead the place felt. The burg above was a cesspit of bodies and wrecked houses that highly resembled a warzone, and was just as dangerous in many ways. It still had a certain tense life to it though. Rats were basically omnipresent, the hollows were hostile and hunting for you, and there was always a slight buzz of sound. None of that existed here. The hollows ignored us completely. There was no life besides the pseudo zombies either, not even the rats. The only sound was the shuffling of feet, and the distant splashing of the waves.
"This used to be a beautiful city, supposedly." Oscar whispered, as though attempting not to provoke the locals, "The moon to Anor Londo's Sun."
I'd make a witty remark about my blood boiling away, but one; that doesn't actually happen in vacuum, and two; this place has enough ways to kill me that I don't need to give it ideas.
As I pushed aside the thoughts of gloom and doom, I made note of the tower built into the side of the sheer stone cliff to our right. I guessed that was the way to the valley of the drakes. After we handed our gear over to be fixed, I might just have to take a peek to confirm that though.
But before we needed to find the blacksmith "Did Laurentius give you any ideas on where to find this Vinhelm blacksmith?"
Oscar's helmet bobbed, "Yes, he said that this Rickert had a window overlooking the city proper. Something about broken stairs..."
Another shot update
*^*
As we stepped out of the shaft, I looked out onto the vista that was New Londo. I don't know what I was expecting, but what I got wasn't it.
We came out on to a large sqare that looked as though it may have been a trade center. There were ruins of tents with stalls scattered haphazardly, and several rotted wooden caravan wagons parked in a way that resembled something of a mall of my own world and time. Stone buildings loomed around the edges, one of which might have been a jail of sorts judging from the rusted bars. The most distressing thing in my mind, however, were the dozens of benign hollows that shambled between the places that they had no doubt been shopping before the absolute loss of their humanity. They paid us no heed at all.
The worst part was just how dead the place felt. The burg above was a cesspit of bodies and wrecked houses that highly resembled a warzone, and was just as dangerous in many ways. It still had a certain tense life to it though. Rats were basically omnipresent, the hollows were hostile and hunting for you, and there was always a slight buzz of sound. None of that existed here. The hollows ignored us completely. There was no life besides the pseudo zombies either, not even the rats. The only sound was the shuffling of feet, and the distant splashing of the waves.
"This used to be a beautiful city, supposedly." Oscar whispered, as though attempting not to provoke the locals, "The moon to Anor Londo's Sun."
I'd make a witty remark about my blood boiling away, but one; that doesn't actually happen in vacuum, and two; this place has enough ways to kill me that I don't need to give it ideas.
As I pushed aside the thoughts of gloom and doom, I made note of the tower built into the side of the sheer stone cliff to our right. I guessed that was the way to the valley of the drakes. After we handed our gear over to be fixed, I might just have to take a peek to confirm that though.
But before we needed to find the blacksmith "Did Laurentius give you any ideas on where to find this Vinhelm blacksmith?"
Oscar's helmet bobbed, "Yes, he said that this Rickert had a window overlooking the city proper. Something about broken stairs..."
20
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
And another.
*^*
It didn't take us long to find the smith. There were only two paths down, and only one of them was a stair. Sure enough, there was the barred cell window about half way down.
"I'll let you do the talking. You're the man with the name to drop after all" I was noticing that it was beginning to become more natural keeping myself in check. Not entirely sure if that's a good thing or not. Shrugging mentally, I began shedding my armour.
Oscar nodded, and tapped on the window ledge. "Rickert of Vinhelm?"
A voice sounded through the window, "I suppose you would be that friend the pyromancer was talking about?"
"Indeed I would. I am Oscar of Astora. My friend and I would be in need of some repairs on our armour." The knight straightened, his voice suddenly becoming much more formal. "Could we come to an agreement on payment? Perhaps freeing you for mending our equipment?"
Payment of any sort wasn't necessary as it turned out. Rickert actually liked this terrifying still and had no intention of leaving his nice safe cell. Smithing itself was the only payment he needed, and that largely to relieve the boredom. Apparently, he had a bonfire in there so he wasn't lacking nourishment, and no danger meant no real need for soul energy to empower himself. In short he 'was set for everything except the doldrums'. The doldrums.
Lords help anyone who makes me think that phrase again.
At any rate, we divested ourselves from our armour and passed it through the bars into the blacksmiths cell. Admittedly, that was something of a production. The chain link portion went through just fine, it was the plate bits that caused us the most grief. Eventually Oscar got fed up with trying to force the metal through the just-to-small gaps, and instead settled for ripping one of the offending bars out of the stone wall. I made a note of Oscar's greater than human strength, and resolved to go out of my way to keep on his good side.
"D'you think you could try and leave things intact?" Rickert groused out at us. "I haven't had anything try and come in through the window yet, but if possible I'd rather not take any chances."
"It'll be fine," I retorted as cheerfully as possible in this pit of despair. "Even if some hollow can fit through, you'll have more than enough time to brain it."
That got a slight chuckle. "Fair enough, and it's a small enough cost to be able to do some metal working again I suppose." He paused, probably looking over our battered armour, "Come back tomorrow morning. This is going to take a while to get sorted out."
Oscar grunted unhappily, looking distinctly uncomfortable in his embroidered Arming doublet and britches. Admittedly I had to exert a fair bit of control to keep my expression stoic. The doublet was a baby blue with a touch of lace trim around the collar. The embroidering was just about the only thing about it that I wasn't tempted to laugh at; the imagery was the same fire warding heraldry that was on both of our surcoats. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised or particularly amused seeing as how styles differed between the medieval ages and my own modern day. It also should be clear to me that he wasn't uncomfortable with his clothes, but rather he was feeling naked without his armour on in a hostile environment. Still nothing we could do, so we made our way back to the trade square.
I patted him on the shoulder in sympathy. "I know how you feel Oscar. The lack of armour is a bit unnerving."
He gave me a baleful look. "Horseshit. You are no doubt just itching to do some scouting without needing to constantly worry about jingling giving you away."
It had crossed my mind. It had also crossed my mind that I could run faster without the armour. It had also occurred to me that without the shiny metal plates glinting up at airborne death breathing lizards that I might have a slightly better than average chance of maybe claiming something from their valley.
The baleful look suddenly turned accusing. "You are! You want to go off exploring without any sort of protection!"
"Maybe just a little." Ok, he sees right through me. He also had a point. That armor had saved my ass several times already, and the one time I got into a fight without it I was almost killed by a hollow with a broken sword. On the other hand, that strange key weighed heavily in my pocket… "I kinda want to check a hunch."
He leveled a look on me that probably would have withered a lesser man. "Fine. I however, am coming with you." He snorted at my look of surprise. " Your hunches seem to turn out shockingly well. You rescued me on one of these hunches, and then trumped that by saving both Griggs and Laurentius." He gave a chuckle "let us see if you can achieve three for three."
*^*
Count on another one coming down the pipe shortly.
*^*
It didn't take us long to find the smith. There were only two paths down, and only one of them was a stair. Sure enough, there was the barred cell window about half way down.
"I'll let you do the talking. You're the man with the name to drop after all" I was noticing that it was beginning to become more natural keeping myself in check. Not entirely sure if that's a good thing or not. Shrugging mentally, I began shedding my armour.
Oscar nodded, and tapped on the window ledge. "Rickert of Vinhelm?"
A voice sounded through the window, "I suppose you would be that friend the pyromancer was talking about?"
"Indeed I would. I am Oscar of Astora. My friend and I would be in need of some repairs on our armour." The knight straightened, his voice suddenly becoming much more formal. "Could we come to an agreement on payment? Perhaps freeing you for mending our equipment?"
Payment of any sort wasn't necessary as it turned out. Rickert actually liked this terrifying still and had no intention of leaving his nice safe cell. Smithing itself was the only payment he needed, and that largely to relieve the boredom. Apparently, he had a bonfire in there so he wasn't lacking nourishment, and no danger meant no real need for soul energy to empower himself. In short he 'was set for everything except the doldrums'. The doldrums.
Lords help anyone who makes me think that phrase again.
At any rate, we divested ourselves from our armour and passed it through the bars into the blacksmiths cell. Admittedly, that was something of a production. The chain link portion went through just fine, it was the plate bits that caused us the most grief. Eventually Oscar got fed up with trying to force the metal through the just-to-small gaps, and instead settled for ripping one of the offending bars out of the stone wall. I made a note of Oscar's greater than human strength, and resolved to go out of my way to keep on his good side.
"D'you think you could try and leave things intact?" Rickert groused out at us. "I haven't had anything try and come in through the window yet, but if possible I'd rather not take any chances."
"It'll be fine," I retorted as cheerfully as possible in this pit of despair. "Even if some hollow can fit through, you'll have more than enough time to brain it."
That got a slight chuckle. "Fair enough, and it's a small enough cost to be able to do some metal working again I suppose." He paused, probably looking over our battered armour, "Come back tomorrow morning. This is going to take a while to get sorted out."
Oscar grunted unhappily, looking distinctly uncomfortable in his embroidered Arming doublet and britches. Admittedly I had to exert a fair bit of control to keep my expression stoic. The doublet was a baby blue with a touch of lace trim around the collar. The embroidering was just about the only thing about it that I wasn't tempted to laugh at; the imagery was the same fire warding heraldry that was on both of our surcoats. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised or particularly amused seeing as how styles differed between the medieval ages and my own modern day. It also should be clear to me that he wasn't uncomfortable with his clothes, but rather he was feeling naked without his armour on in a hostile environment. Still nothing we could do, so we made our way back to the trade square.
I patted him on the shoulder in sympathy. "I know how you feel Oscar. The lack of armour is a bit unnerving."
He gave me a baleful look. "Horseshit. You are no doubt just itching to do some scouting without needing to constantly worry about jingling giving you away."
It had crossed my mind. It had also crossed my mind that I could run faster without the armour. It had also occurred to me that without the shiny metal plates glinting up at airborne death breathing lizards that I might have a slightly better than average chance of maybe claiming something from their valley.
The baleful look suddenly turned accusing. "You are! You want to go off exploring without any sort of protection!"
"Maybe just a little." Ok, he sees right through me. He also had a point. That armor had saved my ass several times already, and the one time I got into a fight without it I was almost killed by a hollow with a broken sword. On the other hand, that strange key weighed heavily in my pocket… "I kinda want to check a hunch."
He leveled a look on me that probably would have withered a lesser man. "Fine. I however, am coming with you." He snorted at my look of surprise. " Your hunches seem to turn out shockingly well. You rescued me on one of these hunches, and then trumped that by saving both Griggs and Laurentius." He gave a chuckle "let us see if you can achieve three for three."
*^*
Count on another one coming down the pipe shortly.
21
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
Ok, I took my rough draft to a friend to look over because i wasn't happy with it but i didn't know why.
Now I do, but the problem requires an almost total rewrite to fix, and quite frankly takes the story down an almost entirely different path then i had planned out for the short term.
So yeah, big revisions to my plotline, and this chapter in general.
It also occurred to me however that maybe i should put up an "outtakes" fic with my flawed "what could have been chapters" like the previously posted snips that made up chapter 4, and perhaps slightly elaborated version of my non cannon snipets as well.
What do you guys think?
Oh, and here is the rewrite as far as I've gotten. It is currently a little more then half the length of the old chapter up to now but much better paced, more coherent, and better written in general.
*^*
"Some would consider it a sin to laze about until the sun reaches its zenith."
"Merf." I flopped my arm over my face, trying without much success to block Petrus out.
It was a little over a week since my trip into the burg, and I had recovered from my physical workout admirably with a few hours in front of a bonfire. No, it wasn't physical hurts that had me lying about like a useless sack of dung. Both Laurentius and Griggs were determined to convince me that theirs was the better magic, and I should drop the other. On a personal level, I was seriously regretting not leaving them both to rot, and instead having Oscar teach me how to use a sword more effectively. Not that I would ever admit that to anyone's face. For one thing I would do well not to offend wizards and men who commune with fire. For another, Oscar would almost certainly take me up on it.
Ok, time for a bit of exposition.
Pyromancy would be the art of manipulating the power of fire within all organic life, but usually my own. It works by 'asking' the pyromancy flame to do stuff for you. Now that wouldn't be a problem if it understood speech, but sadly nothing is ever that easy. One asks by manipulating it via certain fields of power. That was almost the end of it right there, but after I had pumped the soul power I had collected the party in the depths into my… spirit… power… stuff, I found that perceiving the fields went from impossible to merely difficult. After I got the hang of it, Laurentius showed me a few simple 'words' I decided to try one. That's where my problems started.
Paraphrasing what he said, I was using a flame born from Laurentius' soul. Now the only way to get a flame is to get it from someone else, but over time it merges with your own soul, and thus becomes significantly easier to use. Said merging often takes years.
So I was left with a monkeys paw. Make no mistake; it did as I told it to. My problem was that it would look for loopholes. If I used 'Burst', which was how I thought of the 'word' to cast Combustion, the flame would indeed burst, and set something on fire. The issue I had was that the ignited object would, nine times out of ten, be me. My teacher thought it was hilarious, but showed me ways to 'point' the flame to a proper target. Things started working a bit better after that, but I still had to be really precise or it would find some way of making me suffer. Speaking the word as I shaped it in the flame seemed to help a little too.
In the end, I decided that the only pyromancies that I'd find useful and I could consistently use without risking my life in combat would be Carmina's self-realization spells. Anything else was more likely to backfire on me, and should only be used while near a bonfire. Just to keep in practice.
Magic, was a different, if similar beast. It was divided into three parts; Manipulating the magic field as in pyromancy, fueling it with your own power reservoir, and an incantation.
The magical field manipulation was what I had considered the easy part, and had surprised Griggs. Unlike pyromancy, you didn't ask the magical power to do stuff for you. Instead, you needed to create a matrix that you filled with your own power. The upshot was that you never had a truly malevolent force looking for ways to screw you over. The bad part was that these fields were often incredibly complex and getting merely 'close' would net you a completely different effect entirely. Still, I found doing this part fairly easy due to familiarity with pyromancy, and keeping track of it all was aided by my experience three dimensional modeling programs of all things. Who knew?
The next part was fueling the spell. This is the part that Griggs said was the easiest, which is fine if you've been raised in an environment where pouring your energy out in mystical essence was the norm. I still haven't figured out how to do this in any significant amount to do anything, though I suspect that it's similar to pouring out souls for reinforcement. Just… less instinctive. I might try that once I'm feeling more up to scuff, but I don't feel like blowing myself up right now.
Griggs had no idea why I am having issues with that part. I suspect it has something to do with not having interacted with magic at all before these lessons.
The final part was the incantation. This was pure memory, and like the matrix part, it had to be borderline perfect. Griggs showed me an example of why you needed to do so of course. Just last night in fact. The first time he said the spell perfectly, and unleashed a soul arrow that shattered a good sized rock. The second time, he slurred the word a tiny bit. The end result involved creating an effigy of magic that promptly tried to kill us. It probably would have succeeded if Oscar hadn't decided on our third lap around the camp that enough was enough and destroyed to by smashing it with his shield.
Oddly, the only time I had really interacted with them after I had gotten back was with lessons. In fact, now that I was pressured in my own mind, my lessons were the only time they interacted with anybody. I might need to break down a few social barriers at some point.
"Fine." Petrus stated, and I could sense his shrug "Lay about. However, lady Reah has arrived, so if you can't get off the ground and make yourself presentable at least have the decency to try to stay out of sight until you can." I heard footsteps leaving.
Wait. Wasn't she supposed to show up only after one of the bells was rung?
I sat up quickly. While not unwelcome, Reah was not a variable that I wanted to deal with right now.
"Don't listen to Petrus." A far more sympathetic –and welcome- voice intoned. "You have been working hard at learning two crafts that it takes years to learn." Oscar thumped down next to me, "Admittedly, much of that is the meditation required to build the power for it. You have been working hard at learning them however."
I made a face, "Stop trying to make me feel better. You suck at it." Both Laurentius and Griggs had noted that while I was fairly good at some parts of each craft, I was still much worse at it over all then any acolyte. Functionally, my crossbow was still my best and most reliable weapon.
"Apologies." The knight bowed his head "Perhaps you should consider honing the skills that you have, rather than learning new ones."
I considered that. The pyromancies I could use reliably were self-realization. Perhaps I should ask Griggs if we could turn our attention to fortifying magics if there was such a thing, rather than the offensive ones. I didn't think that was what Oscar meant however.
"You think I should just work with my crossbow?" I asked.
"Yes." The knight shifted so he could look me in the eye. "From what Laurentius has told me, you do well avoiding direct confrontation. I believe that you should still practice the more arcane arts, and do some work on learning the sword as well in addition to practicing your own unique skills."
I gave him my best unimpressed look, "Alright. One; how do you expect me to find the time in the day for all that? Two; aren't we supposed to be heading off to do something?" Like finding me a way home?
He nodded "For your first point, I suggest limiting practice to strictly practical application. I have listened to the theory and the book learning that Griggs is pushing on you. Much of that is unnecessary for what you will be using. Laurentius has given you a stable base to work with, but lately has been simply giving you history lessons. Use that time you would be studying interesting, yet ultimately pointless trivia to learn swordplay." He gave a wry smile, "You yourself have mentioned that you are not yet suited for the task at hand, so we will begin our travels once you are."
Just the way he said it sounded ominous. He was no doubt right though. I wasn't ready to go fighting creepy monsters yet, and it didn't look like magic and pyromancy would be the easy ticket I had hoped for.
"I believe that we should take a brief audience with the lady Reah." Oscar said thoughtfully.
Wait, what, "Ok, where did that come from?"
He chuckled and shook his head "Apologies. I was simply musing" He gave me a look that I was afraid to read much into, "The good lady is resting here before she attempts to retrieve something from the catacombs. It occurred to me that perhaps the best training would be a trial by fire."
I stared at him.
"Do not look at me like that." Oscar scolded, "It would give you much more practical training then I could give you, and with no less than three temple knights of Thorolund in addition to us the danger should be minimal." He gave a slight smile. "Of course it should help ease your mind that the necromancers and their minions are exactly the type of enemies that I was trained to destroy."
I closed my eyes. The necromancers weren't the worst things that lay beneath the graveyard, but how to tell him that? On the other hand, I could head off patches. That would prevent the major issues that happened to this crew in the game. Oscar had a point too, his weapon was made for this and he was easily the most lethal person here. Factor all that with the simple fact that I can stop us from delving too far and hitting the Tomb of the Giants, and virtually all the huge problems should be dealt with. Basically, this should be easy soul reaping.
So why do I have a horrible feeling about this?
Oscar obviously noticed my continued misgivings, "What is it that is worrying you?"
"I couldn't tell you." And it's true. I didn't really know myself. "Just a bad feeling."
He looked as though he was seriously considering my reason, which puzzled me. Then I remembered the results of all the other 'feelings' I had. I saved his life, I rescued Laurentius, and I had stuck around long enough to pick up Griggs as well. He must be mistaking this for like those times that I actually knew what was coming.
"Can you pinpoint the source of your unease?" He said finally.
I shook my head. "Sorry. The only thing I've got is that it would be a bad thing our group to go down there."
"I doubt that they will take your that warning seriously without more to go on that that." Oscar noted, "I however, will. We will delay for a few days. Alberich mentioned a smith below; perhaps he will repair our equipment." He clasped me by the shoulder, "In the meantime, we shall destroy as many hollows as possible, and take the souls to the hag in the aqueduct." He pointed to the structure that I had journeyed through two weeks ago. "I took the liberty of investigating her wares after you mentioned her. She does carry bolts, though the price is abhorrently expensive."
"Wait. Alberich?"
"The warrior in chainmail."
"I see" I shook my head, and returned to the important tasks at hand,"Well I can't complain about the price if it's a resource I really need." The fact that Oscar was taking my foreboding so seriously felt somewhat awkward for me, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't glad. A thought struck me "Does she have cloth?"
The knight nodded.
"Do you think that-" I had to check myself from saying Rickert's name, as I couldn't know it yet, "the blacksmith would be too averse to muffling the armour after he repairs it?"
"I certainly hope so." Oscar said, "While such precautions probably will not help in this outing, it certainly won't hurt."
Plans made, and precautions agreed on, we decided it might be best to inform Reah that we would be tagging along for the ride.
*^*
EDIT:Forgot a few lines...
Now I do, but the problem requires an almost total rewrite to fix, and quite frankly takes the story down an almost entirely different path then i had planned out for the short term.
So yeah, big revisions to my plotline, and this chapter in general.
It also occurred to me however that maybe i should put up an "outtakes" fic with my flawed "what could have been chapters" like the previously posted snips that made up chapter 4, and perhaps slightly elaborated version of my non cannon snipets as well.
What do you guys think?
Oh, and here is the rewrite as far as I've gotten. It is currently a little more then half the length of the old chapter up to now but much better paced, more coherent, and better written in general.
*^*
"Some would consider it a sin to laze about until the sun reaches its zenith."
"Merf." I flopped my arm over my face, trying without much success to block Petrus out.
It was a little over a week since my trip into the burg, and I had recovered from my physical workout admirably with a few hours in front of a bonfire. No, it wasn't physical hurts that had me lying about like a useless sack of dung. Both Laurentius and Griggs were determined to convince me that theirs was the better magic, and I should drop the other. On a personal level, I was seriously regretting not leaving them both to rot, and instead having Oscar teach me how to use a sword more effectively. Not that I would ever admit that to anyone's face. For one thing I would do well not to offend wizards and men who commune with fire. For another, Oscar would almost certainly take me up on it.
Ok, time for a bit of exposition.
Pyromancy would be the art of manipulating the power of fire within all organic life, but usually my own. It works by 'asking' the pyromancy flame to do stuff for you. Now that wouldn't be a problem if it understood speech, but sadly nothing is ever that easy. One asks by manipulating it via certain fields of power. That was almost the end of it right there, but after I had pumped the soul power I had collected the party in the depths into my… spirit… power… stuff, I found that perceiving the fields went from impossible to merely difficult. After I got the hang of it, Laurentius showed me a few simple 'words' I decided to try one. That's where my problems started.
Paraphrasing what he said, I was using a flame born from Laurentius' soul. Now the only way to get a flame is to get it from someone else, but over time it merges with your own soul, and thus becomes significantly easier to use. Said merging often takes years.
So I was left with a monkeys paw. Make no mistake; it did as I told it to. My problem was that it would look for loopholes. If I used 'Burst', which was how I thought of the 'word' to cast Combustion, the flame would indeed burst, and set something on fire. The issue I had was that the ignited object would, nine times out of ten, be me. My teacher thought it was hilarious, but showed me ways to 'point' the flame to a proper target. Things started working a bit better after that, but I still had to be really precise or it would find some way of making me suffer. Speaking the word as I shaped it in the flame seemed to help a little too.
In the end, I decided that the only pyromancies that I'd find useful and I could consistently use without risking my life in combat would be Carmina's self-realization spells. Anything else was more likely to backfire on me, and should only be used while near a bonfire. Just to keep in practice.
Magic, was a different, if similar beast. It was divided into three parts; Manipulating the magic field as in pyromancy, fueling it with your own power reservoir, and an incantation.
The magical field manipulation was what I had considered the easy part, and had surprised Griggs. Unlike pyromancy, you didn't ask the magical power to do stuff for you. Instead, you needed to create a matrix that you filled with your own power. The upshot was that you never had a truly malevolent force looking for ways to screw you over. The bad part was that these fields were often incredibly complex and getting merely 'close' would net you a completely different effect entirely. Still, I found doing this part fairly easy due to familiarity with pyromancy, and keeping track of it all was aided by my experience three dimensional modeling programs of all things. Who knew?
The next part was fueling the spell. This is the part that Griggs said was the easiest, which is fine if you've been raised in an environment where pouring your energy out in mystical essence was the norm. I still haven't figured out how to do this in any significant amount to do anything, though I suspect that it's similar to pouring out souls for reinforcement. Just… less instinctive. I might try that once I'm feeling more up to scuff, but I don't feel like blowing myself up right now.
Griggs had no idea why I am having issues with that part. I suspect it has something to do with not having interacted with magic at all before these lessons.
The final part was the incantation. This was pure memory, and like the matrix part, it had to be borderline perfect. Griggs showed me an example of why you needed to do so of course. Just last night in fact. The first time he said the spell perfectly, and unleashed a soul arrow that shattered a good sized rock. The second time, he slurred the word a tiny bit. The end result involved creating an effigy of magic that promptly tried to kill us. It probably would have succeeded if Oscar hadn't decided on our third lap around the camp that enough was enough and destroyed to by smashing it with his shield.
Oddly, the only time I had really interacted with them after I had gotten back was with lessons. In fact, now that I was pressured in my own mind, my lessons were the only time they interacted with anybody. I might need to break down a few social barriers at some point.
"Fine." Petrus stated, and I could sense his shrug "Lay about. However, lady Reah has arrived, so if you can't get off the ground and make yourself presentable at least have the decency to try to stay out of sight until you can." I heard footsteps leaving.
Wait. Wasn't she supposed to show up only after one of the bells was rung?
I sat up quickly. While not unwelcome, Reah was not a variable that I wanted to deal with right now.
"Don't listen to Petrus." A far more sympathetic –and welcome- voice intoned. "You have been working hard at learning two crafts that it takes years to learn." Oscar thumped down next to me, "Admittedly, much of that is the meditation required to build the power for it. You have been working hard at learning them however."
I made a face, "Stop trying to make me feel better. You suck at it." Both Laurentius and Griggs had noted that while I was fairly good at some parts of each craft, I was still much worse at it over all then any acolyte. Functionally, my crossbow was still my best and most reliable weapon.
"Apologies." The knight bowed his head "Perhaps you should consider honing the skills that you have, rather than learning new ones."
I considered that. The pyromancies I could use reliably were self-realization. Perhaps I should ask Griggs if we could turn our attention to fortifying magics if there was such a thing, rather than the offensive ones. I didn't think that was what Oscar meant however.
"You think I should just work with my crossbow?" I asked.
"Yes." The knight shifted so he could look me in the eye. "From what Laurentius has told me, you do well avoiding direct confrontation. I believe that you should still practice the more arcane arts, and do some work on learning the sword as well in addition to practicing your own unique skills."
I gave him my best unimpressed look, "Alright. One; how do you expect me to find the time in the day for all that? Two; aren't we supposed to be heading off to do something?" Like finding me a way home?
He nodded "For your first point, I suggest limiting practice to strictly practical application. I have listened to the theory and the book learning that Griggs is pushing on you. Much of that is unnecessary for what you will be using. Laurentius has given you a stable base to work with, but lately has been simply giving you history lessons. Use that time you would be studying interesting, yet ultimately pointless trivia to learn swordplay." He gave a wry smile, "You yourself have mentioned that you are not yet suited for the task at hand, so we will begin our travels once you are."
Just the way he said it sounded ominous. He was no doubt right though. I wasn't ready to go fighting creepy monsters yet, and it didn't look like magic and pyromancy would be the easy ticket I had hoped for.
"I believe that we should take a brief audience with the lady Reah." Oscar said thoughtfully.
Wait, what, "Ok, where did that come from?"
He chuckled and shook his head "Apologies. I was simply musing" He gave me a look that I was afraid to read much into, "The good lady is resting here before she attempts to retrieve something from the catacombs. It occurred to me that perhaps the best training would be a trial by fire."
I stared at him.
"Do not look at me like that." Oscar scolded, "It would give you much more practical training then I could give you, and with no less than three temple knights of Thorolund in addition to us the danger should be minimal." He gave a slight smile. "Of course it should help ease your mind that the necromancers and their minions are exactly the type of enemies that I was trained to destroy."
I closed my eyes. The necromancers weren't the worst things that lay beneath the graveyard, but how to tell him that? On the other hand, I could head off patches. That would prevent the major issues that happened to this crew in the game. Oscar had a point too, his weapon was made for this and he was easily the most lethal person here. Factor all that with the simple fact that I can stop us from delving too far and hitting the Tomb of the Giants, and virtually all the huge problems should be dealt with. Basically, this should be easy soul reaping.
So why do I have a horrible feeling about this?
Oscar obviously noticed my continued misgivings, "What is it that is worrying you?"
"I couldn't tell you." And it's true. I didn't really know myself. "Just a bad feeling."
He looked as though he was seriously considering my reason, which puzzled me. Then I remembered the results of all the other 'feelings' I had. I saved his life, I rescued Laurentius, and I had stuck around long enough to pick up Griggs as well. He must be mistaking this for like those times that I actually knew what was coming.
"Can you pinpoint the source of your unease?" He said finally.
I shook my head. "Sorry. The only thing I've got is that it would be a bad thing our group to go down there."
"I doubt that they will take your that warning seriously without more to go on that that." Oscar noted, "I however, will. We will delay for a few days. Alberich mentioned a smith below; perhaps he will repair our equipment." He clasped me by the shoulder, "In the meantime, we shall destroy as many hollows as possible, and take the souls to the hag in the aqueduct." He pointed to the structure that I had journeyed through two weeks ago. "I took the liberty of investigating her wares after you mentioned her. She does carry bolts, though the price is abhorrently expensive."
"Wait. Alberich?"
"The warrior in chainmail."
"I see" I shook my head, and returned to the important tasks at hand,"Well I can't complain about the price if it's a resource I really need." The fact that Oscar was taking my foreboding so seriously felt somewhat awkward for me, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't glad. A thought struck me "Does she have cloth?"
The knight nodded.
"Do you think that-" I had to check myself from saying Rickert's name, as I couldn't know it yet, "the blacksmith would be too averse to muffling the armour after he repairs it?"
"I certainly hope so." Oscar said, "While such precautions probably will not help in this outing, it certainly won't hurt."
Plans made, and precautions agreed on, we decided it might be best to inform Reah that we would be tagging along for the ride.
*^*
EDIT:Forgot a few lines...
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
And speaking of key, did you get the Master Key gift?! o3o
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
The key difference is that the old version still read like a bunch of separate thoughts chained together haphazardly, even after i had done some editing to try and mitigate that.WarpObscura said:
Sub issues were as follows;
-I mentioned Reah, then forgot about her completely. Yes, getting my stuff repaired was nominally so she wasn't offended by my presence, but it was still bad writing. Besides, it was Petrus who would have had his sensibilities offended, not Reah, and i suspect Oscar would have clued into that right away. Thus, i decided that i would fix that, and make her the focus of this particular chapter,
-The original intent for the chapter was to introduce several chekovs guns. The problem is that very few of them were truly necessary except to show off my cleverness. Thus, pruning pointless filler down the line. Thats not to say that there wont be filler -that's basically what this chapter is- but it will be there mostly for character development, not stroking my ego.
-I wasn't happy with New Londo as i had wrote it. I need to plan more plot for the area, and do some more designing for it as an area. Suggestions are welcome, but not horribly relevant for a while the way things seem to be going now.
-the Anastacia scene was exclusively to introduce her, and nothing else. It (like much of the chapter) was poorly executed, stupid, and pointless. If i had to introduced her, i could have just noticed her as we went past.
-Related is that essentially i ended up with too many characters mentioned too early. Thus, this chapter is the beginning of
...Yeah, i'm going to need to fix that section where i find out his name in the edit. Fortunatly, if i find that its too hard to fit in, nothing of major value will be lost if i pull that out of here and introduce it at later point.
So yeah. i figured out the New Londo part on my own, but that wouldn't have been sufficient to prompt a nearly complete rewrite.
Ardion Prosili said:
Best. Workout. Ever. said:
I'm going to leave this here And a bit more learning here
My character doesn't know that stuff by the way, seeing as how i didn't until i looked up locks just to figure out how best to implement a real life version of the master key with how the game depicted it.
Short form, a real life master key is built exclusively for a certain set of locks, where as a skeleton key works for a much wider variety, but i can explain away any doors that i don't want it to open as having lever and wards in a different place. Plus its period so bonus.
22
Ironfox
Sarcasm mostly restrained
Update.
*^*
I shed my armour, and rearmed myself before we went to talk to the clerical party. Quite frankly my armour looked terrible, and I wanted to make a fairly good first impression. Oscar saw what I was doing and followed suit, revealing a pale blue doublet and white pants. My best guess was that the pants were made of wool, which made sense because anything lighter probably would have cause horrible chaffing. There was also a great deal of embroidery. I wasn't too tempted to laugh at the heraldry on his doublet, but the stylized birds on the pants were a little much. In my plain grey vest, black cotton shirt and dark blue lined pants, I felt rather plain next to him. Not that I would ever be caught dead wearing anything so fancy.
Looking slightly more respectable, we proceeded towards the back of the ruins where Petrus tended to stay. On our way past, we saw the crestfallen warrior –Alberich I reminded myself- chatting with Laurentius. We didn't pass close enough to hear what they were saying, but judging from Laurentius' wild arm movements, followed by Alberich's laughter I had a fairly good guess as to what they were talking about. It wasn't my fault that the sadist flame decided that I looked particularly flammable, despite my surcoat.
We made the rest of our short walk without incident.
The clerical crew was just as they were in game. Petrus was leaning up against a wall, listing the supplies they supposedly had while Vince and Nico stood by the stairs confirming each item on the list. Reah was kneeling just past them, and I could faintly hear her voice in prayer.
I slowed my pace slightly so Oscar would get there first. Petrus didn't like me too much, and the feeling was mutual. It was very possible that his outlook could colour his cohorts' view, so best leave the diplomatic stuff to the noble whose word carried some clout. Besides which, judging from how much of Reahs plans Oscar seemed to know, it was possible that he was a familiar face. Yes it was just best all-around to let Oscar take lead on this one.
"How goes the packing for the expedition?" Oscar inquired.
Petrus looked up from his list, "Quite well my lord, thank you." He glanced over at me and visibly seemed to be biting back a remark, "I see that your companion has decided to join you." He said instead.
"Indeed." Oscar stated with just a hint of dryness "We have decided that it might be best if we went with you on your expedition."
That got Reahs attention, "Did you not have your own quest my lord?" she stood, and turned towards us.
Oscar nodded, "We do, however it is a journey that would be eased by the aid of others." He inclined his head slightly towards the clerical party "doubly so by the aid of holy church knights, and your own gifts."
"Miracles are not my gifts, my lord" Reah said, with just a hint of coolness "but the gifts of the gods."
"I believe he was referring more towards you unwavering faith, and dedication" I interjected. Perhaps Oscar wasn't as much of a diplomat as I had thought. Oscar caught on quickly and nodded.
Reah went utterly scarlet, "Apologies milord. Forgive me."
"There is nothing to forgive my lady." Oscar said quietly. "That is just one more sign of your faith."
*^*
Ok people i want your input. At this point there is an opening for a few ongoing B plots, but i only want one, at most two. The reason for this is due to how it will affect the main plot.
A) Romantic subplot between Oscar and Reah. For anyone who has knows about the Reah subquest and all the routes it can take, i'm sure you can see how this might pertain.
B) People start cluing in that i know too much. I don't want to say my plans for any route, but people finding out on their own, me telling them, or them never finding out all will have a major impact. If they find out on their own, i need to start writing that in.
c) POV split, where every few chapters i'll shift to someone else POV temporarily, so we can get front row seats to significant events that the OC isn't there for. It also would give more characters opportunity to develop without having to pass the SI around like a hot potato. It will however, slow things down a bit.
D) Flashback chapters, taking place just before Gwyn Kindled the first flame. May result in timetravel, and stable time loops. Haven't decided yet. Won't be heavy handed, just used when absolutely pertinent. Again, will slow things down some, but give better characterization. Also other things.
E) No Subplot.
Also, no one said anything on whether they think i should keep the non canon snips, or the fuck up/ original cut chapters as "Spacebattles Exclusive" or compile them into a fic on FF.net.
*^*
I shed my armour, and rearmed myself before we went to talk to the clerical party. Quite frankly my armour looked terrible, and I wanted to make a fairly good first impression. Oscar saw what I was doing and followed suit, revealing a pale blue doublet and white pants. My best guess was that the pants were made of wool, which made sense because anything lighter probably would have cause horrible chaffing. There was also a great deal of embroidery. I wasn't too tempted to laugh at the heraldry on his doublet, but the stylized birds on the pants were a little much. In my plain grey vest, black cotton shirt and dark blue lined pants, I felt rather plain next to him. Not that I would ever be caught dead wearing anything so fancy.
Looking slightly more respectable, we proceeded towards the back of the ruins where Petrus tended to stay. On our way past, we saw the crestfallen warrior –Alberich I reminded myself- chatting with Laurentius. We didn't pass close enough to hear what they were saying, but judging from Laurentius' wild arm movements, followed by Alberich's laughter I had a fairly good guess as to what they were talking about. It wasn't my fault that the sadist flame decided that I looked particularly flammable, despite my surcoat.
We made the rest of our short walk without incident.
The clerical crew was just as they were in game. Petrus was leaning up against a wall, listing the supplies they supposedly had while Vince and Nico stood by the stairs confirming each item on the list. Reah was kneeling just past them, and I could faintly hear her voice in prayer.
I slowed my pace slightly so Oscar would get there first. Petrus didn't like me too much, and the feeling was mutual. It was very possible that his outlook could colour his cohorts' view, so best leave the diplomatic stuff to the noble whose word carried some clout. Besides which, judging from how much of Reahs plans Oscar seemed to know, it was possible that he was a familiar face. Yes it was just best all-around to let Oscar take lead on this one.
"How goes the packing for the expedition?" Oscar inquired.
Petrus looked up from his list, "Quite well my lord, thank you." He glanced over at me and visibly seemed to be biting back a remark, "I see that your companion has decided to join you." He said instead.
"Indeed." Oscar stated with just a hint of dryness "We have decided that it might be best if we went with you on your expedition."
That got Reahs attention, "Did you not have your own quest my lord?" she stood, and turned towards us.
Oscar nodded, "We do, however it is a journey that would be eased by the aid of others." He inclined his head slightly towards the clerical party "doubly so by the aid of holy church knights, and your own gifts."
"Miracles are not my gifts, my lord" Reah said, with just a hint of coolness "but the gifts of the gods."
"I believe he was referring more towards you unwavering faith, and dedication" I interjected. Perhaps Oscar wasn't as much of a diplomat as I had thought. Oscar caught on quickly and nodded.
Reah went utterly scarlet, "Apologies milord. Forgive me."
"There is nothing to forgive my lady." Oscar said quietly. "That is just one more sign of your faith."
*^*
Ok people i want your input. At this point there is an opening for a few ongoing B plots, but i only want one, at most two. The reason for this is due to how it will affect the main plot.
A) Romantic subplot between Oscar and Reah. For anyone who has knows about the Reah subquest and all the routes it can take, i'm sure you can see how this might pertain.
B) People start cluing in that i know too much. I don't want to say my plans for any route, but people finding out on their own, me telling them, or them never finding out all will have a major impact. If they find out on their own, i need to start writing that in.
c) POV split, where every few chapters i'll shift to someone else POV temporarily, so we can get front row seats to significant events that the OC isn't there for. It also would give more characters opportunity to develop without having to pass the SI around like a hot potato. It will however, slow things down a bit.
D) Flashback chapters, taking place just before Gwyn Kindled the first flame. May result in timetravel, and stable time loops. Haven't decided yet. Won't be heavy handed, just used when absolutely pertinent. Again, will slow things down some, but give better characterization. Also other things.
E) No Subplot.
Also, no one said anything on whether they think i should keep the non canon snips, or the fuck up/ original cut chapters as "Spacebattles Exclusive" or compile them into a fic on FF.net.
Usernames
Merc gonna merc ya
D) Flashback chapters, taking place just before Gwyn Kindled the first flame. May result in timetravel, and stable time loops. Haven't decided yet. Won't be heavy handed, just used when absolutely pertinent. Again, will slow things down some, but give better characterization. Also other things.
Because timeloop mindfucks are always fun!
Because timeloop mindfucks are always fun!
B only. It's fairly natural that this would happen anyway- even if you don't say anything suspicious, the characters are bound to notice how often you "get a feeling," and how often they are right.
However, I don't really know how they would interpret this suspicion.
I don't think that you should leave the first person perspective at all, so C and D are out.
I personally feel that such a romantic subplot unnecessary and would bog down the story, but I feel that way about them in general, so your millage may vary.
However, I don't really know how they would interpret this suspicion.
I think Frampt would cotton on very quickly that you know more than you are letting on. He strikes me as a very smart dude, if a bit scatterbrained.
I don't think that you should leave the first person perspective at all, so C and D are out.
I personally feel that such a romantic subplot unnecessary and would bog down the story, but I feel that way about them in general, so your millage may vary.
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
Thoroughly agreed. Those two options seem the most interesting! C-C-COMBO!ThySelf said:
