"So Greirat said this was a magic ring, right?" Most people would laugh at the idea of a magical ring, but you know better by now. It wasn't exactly that far a jump from 'magical girls are real' to full on fantasy world logic, really. It'd probably be possible to make something like this using your own magic, but how you'd do that, you have no idea.
Sorry, wrong quest for that.
"Do you mean before or after he admitted to having stolen it?" Hawkwood replies with a deadpan.
Ignoring Hawkwood, you continue. "Well, we have it right now, and he said it was a ring of protection, so shouldn't one of us wear it?"
"Oh, are we making ourselves complicit now too?"
You want to snark back, but you know that he's right here. It is stolen property, and it's not as if you think stealing is all of a sudden a justifiable act...
But.
A memory surfaces in your mind. You stand in a run down church, with shards of stained glass and bits of rotten wood that once were pews
Another girl is there, with long red hair and ratty clothes. Kyoko. She hands you an apple, but you toss it to the floor. You know how she got it, and you refuse to accept it. Before you can blink, she's lifting you up by the collar of your uniform. As you struggle to breathe, she glares at you with absolute hatred in her eyes. "Don't waste food," she says, "or I'll kill you." You didn't understand what prompted that response until she explained what she had been through. Why she lived her life so selfishly, rather than try and help people. What the consequences of her decision to from a contract had unleashed: she had everything she cared about burned to ash in front of her, and was left with nothing.
Your response had been to reject everything she was saying to her face, claim that she was the one who was wrong. You'd scornfully asked how she had been able to get the apples she was holding, before walking away. Not show a sign of concern, or even a shred of sympathy, but to try and hold true to the selfless ideals that, deep down, you knew were a lie. They were something you could use to convince yourself that you had a purpose, that you wouldn't let the world tarnish your beliefs no matter what it threw at you. Even now, you feel tempted to keep clinging to those ideals as tightly as you can, because of the comfort they bring, but you find yourself unable to do so wholeheartedly. You still believe in them, sure, but in the end, perhaps the world did tarnish you.
But even then, was what she saying right? Even now, you find yourself repulsed by an ideology of selfishness. But maybe... there could be room for exceptions? Wouldn't it be better that a magic ring that protected people be used, rather than sit in a cupboard collecting dust? Greirat had even said so himself; if he hadn't taken it, would anyone have ever done so? And you don't have much room to talk, seeing how you grabbed the blue Estus Flask right after you woke up. Was that really any different to what Greirat had done?
Are you really any better?
"How about you take it for now, alright?" You say, tossing the ring to Hawkwood.
He catches it, and stares at it for a moment before speaking. "And why, by the Gods, would I do that?" He asks.
"Because we have it, and it might as well be of some use, rather than none."
"Then why not use it yourself? Better for a child to use it then a grown man."
"I can take a lot more damage than you can, Hawkwood, so you may as well use it just in case."
"And I'm much more experienced than you are, Sayaka, so that argument doesn't work."
"Just put it on, you ass." You're starting to get annoyed with his constant pettiness. Are you really the one who's a kid here? With how Hawkwood is acting, it's starting to feel like the the opposite.
Hawkwood stares at you, before he sighs and slips the ring on.
"Wolf's Blood, it's like the old days." A small smile of nostalgia appears on his face for a moment, only for it to quickly vanish, replaced with his standard crestfallen frown.
"Alright, one last thing before we go." you say, carefully walking towards the Wyvern. Hawkwood rolls his eyes, amused.
You reach over, and pluck a scale from the Wyvern's corpse...
...only for the two hollows to not react at all. Huh. Maybe they're not worshiping the Wyvern corpse then? But what else could they be doing? Maybe they just don't really care about you taking it? Looking at the two hollows, they don't seem to be particularly lucid, as they don't even react to your presence at all.
As you finish pocketing the scale, however, you hear the sounds of metal rubbing against stone. Turning, you find two hollow soldiers pulling themselves up and over the sides of the walkway. Hawkwood's already moving towards the two of them, while you're right behind hi-
Combat...?
Hawkwood: 86 + 22 + 2 (???) = 110
Rather than trying to show off or demonstrate some impractically fancy bladework, Hawkwood just cuts the two Hollows down as they run. They both collapse to the ground, blood already pooling below their bodies as they stop their jerking movements.
"Where has
that been?" you say wide-eyed. You hadn't even been able to so much as help out before the fight was already over.
"Excuse me?" Hawkwood says as he sheathes his blade.
"You know, your competence?" You say,.
"Sod off, Frost." Hawkwood says, a small smirk on his face.
"...What did you just call me?"
Hawkwood freezes, his face going blank. "Sorry, slip of the tongue."
Frost... Didn't he say that name earlier?
"Who's Frost?"
"She's nobody, I just said it was a slip of the tongue." Hawkwood says, the least convincing lie you've ever heard.
"Hawkwood just tell me who she is." You say, face serious.
Hawkwood seems conflicted on whether to do so, before he finally caves. "She was the leader of the Watchers squad I was part of. It was her, me and Davis." Hawkwood explains. "3 Watchers per squad, so that way if one fell, there'd be two able to take them down. The Followers' handled anything larger scale."
Well... that's dark. "Did she...?"
"Oh, no, thank the Gods that never happened. She remained a Watcher, even as they linked the fire."
"Then why did you say her name?"
"Because she always talked like that. She was the only one whose insults felt like teasing rather than full on vitriol." Hawkwood sighs. "Why am I even telling you this? We need to get moving."
With that, Hawkwood climbs down the ladder, while you just walk off the ledge and stick the landing. Hawkwood is not amused, but seems determined to stay silent. Whether that's because he doesn't want to provoke any of the hollows into attacking, or because he doesn't want to thoughtlessly reveal more about himself, you aren't sure.
Now you're actually on a literal rooftop, which is kind of strange with how it's connected directly with the Wall itself. Whoever designed this place had some... interesting ideas. It probably was the same person who designed the elevator.
You and Hawkwood carefully move towards the ladder on the other side of the roof, trying to avoid the attention of the group of hollows standing around the corpse-tree.
[Sneaky Beaky Like: 49]
You almost make it to the ladder. You're just barely out of reach of it, when you hear a familiar shrieking. Turning, you see one of the Hollows clutch it's head in agony before black gunk spews out of their face. The other hollows start backing up themselves, only to be smashed into the rooftop as a familiar creature finishes taking form. It's another one of those huge black snake-things. It turns and stares directly at you, and lets out something between a shriek, scream, and a hiss as the body it's spewing out of slowly starts stumbling towards you.
"Bloody hell, that's a Pus of Man!" Hawkwood has to shout to be heard over the endless shrieks of the monster.
"Is that what they're called?!"
"You fought one before?!"
"Came out of Gundyr!"
"Well, then you know what to expect!" Hawkwood shouts as he draws his sword.
Miniboss: Pus of Man
[] Stay and fight. (Hawkwood approves)
- [] Strategy?
[] Yeah, no. Just get away from it while you can. (Hawkwood disapproves)
[] Write in
Current Souls: 1220 + 60 = 1280
Current Stats
Sayaka
18/20 HP
10/10 FP
160/2000 Abyssal Corruption
Hawkwood
17/20 HP
10/11 FP
(come on Sayaka parkour onto the shrine rooftop...)
