The ride back up is silent and almost painfully awkward. Neither one of you wants to say much of anything after been so near death. You especially. If Hawkwood hadn't stopped the Darkwraith, you have no idea what would have happened. Would you have returned to being a witch? Or would you be given an even worse fate, now that you've found yourself here?
Not wanting to consider either of the options, you limp your way back to the nearest bonfire, which is up a ladder, and two flights of stairs. You see a bandit hollow, but they run from you on sight. When you finally get to it, you both practically collapse down in front of it, letting the soothing warmth fill you before you even think about anything else.
After a minute of relaxing in front of the bonfire, Hawkwood finally speaks up. "We should head back to the Shrine, and check up everything." He turns to look at you. "Does that sound good to you?"
"I was actually thinking the same." You reply. With a nod, the two of you both place your hands over the bonfire, and reality ceases.
As you arrive at the shrine, you finally drop your transformation, returning back to your normal clothes. You should probably get something else to wear, a short skirt is not exactly cutting it. While you're at it, maybe some armor too? As much as you hate to admit it, Hawkwood's outfit does look pretty cool, if impractical, like why is the entire thing asymmetric? Thoughts for another time.
While you speak to the Fire Keeper, Hawkwood is off to visit Andre. Apparently he needed to ask him to work on something, and the Fire Keeper can only do something to one person at a time. So while Hawkwood quickly dashes off to the smithy, you find yourself turning to speak to the Fire Keeper, who you find waiting patiently next to the bonfire. You actually almost walk into her as you turn, but you catch yourself.
"Welcome home, Ashen One." She says, either oblivious or ignoring what just happened. "Speak thine heart's desire."
Home. The thought of calling a place like this 'home' is one you'd never have considered before. But now, you're not left with much of an option.
"Soooo," you drone out, unsure of what to say, "what do you, uh, do here anyway? I mean, besides... fire-keeping?"
Nailed it.
"My role is to tend to the flame, yes, but also to tend to thee. As an Unkindled, thou art a vessel for souls, and I can show thee how to turn sovereignless souls into thy strength through Soul Reinforcement."
"And how would I go about doing that?" you ask, curious.
"If you wish to, then touch the darkness within me." The Fire Keeper places a hand over her heart. "Take nourishment from these sovereignless souls."
You aren't sure how to respond at first. Wait, didn't she also say something about desires earlier?
"Is there a problem Ashen One?" The Fire Keeper asks with a tilt of her head.
"W-what do you mean by that, exactly?" you manage to stammer out. Does she just not realize her own wording?
"Ashen One, I am here to provide thou service in whatever way thou sees fit." She says with a straight face, although you notice a tugging of her lips as she continues.
The silence stretches on for a moment, before you speak. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" you ask with a halfhearted glare.
"I have no idea what thou is refering to, Ashen One." The Fire Keeper replies, not even trying to hide her smile anymore.
If only Hitomi were here, she'd have a field day with this.
...Hitomi...
You sigh, pushing the thought from your mind befo. "Okay, so how do we actually go about this?"
"Take a knee, and raise your hand, and I shall grant thee the power you seek."
You do as she says, waiting for something to happen, but nothing seems to, much to the Fire Kepper's evident confusion
Oh. Right.
You hand the Fire Keeper your soul gem, which she takes into her hands, a look of surprise on her face as she seems to examine it. In the meantime, you return to the position you were instructed to take. Once everything is ready once more, the Fire Keeper begins to chant, her voice echoing through your mind. The whole world seems to slow down around you, as you watch her perform her duty.
"
Let these souls, withdrawn from their vessels, Manifestations of disparity,"
Countless white motes come pouring out of your soul gem, spiraling through the air as they find themselves finally free.
"Elucidated by fire, Burrow deep within me, Retreating to a darkness beyond the reach of flame,"
As one, the white wisps fly into the Fire Keeper's outstretched hand, vanishing from sight. The moment the last one disappears, an orb begins to form in the Fire Keeper's out stretched hand. The orb is in constant motion, as if it were a living thing all of its own.
"
Let them assume a new master, Inhabiting ash, casting themselves upon new forms"
The orb of souls seems to unwind, as a single long stream of souls begins to flow into your soul gem. It takes only a moment before the entire mass is gone. The Fire Keeper's hand drops, and the world seems to return to motion. You stand, relieved that the sudden intensity seems to have died down. The Fire Keeper hands you back your soul gem with a nod.
"Farewell, Ashen One." She says with a small nod. "May the flames guide thee."
Choose how many levels you wish to gain, and in what stat you want to put your points into.
For cost per level, check here.
You have 7960 souls currently, which means you can level up, at most, 10 times.
With that out of the way, you find yourself walking towards the shrine smithy, the clanging of hammer against steel feeling oddly soothing.
"Hey Andre!" You call out as you approach the huge man.
"Ah, y'r back." Andre says, as he places his hammer down. He quickly wipes the sweat from his brow, before facing you with a smile. "How've things been treating you?"
"Well, I nearly died several times." You reply.
"Aye, that tends to be how things are." He says with a laugh. He carefully moves the halberd he'd been working on off to the side. "So, what can I do for y' today?"
"Well, first I found this shard, I think I'm supposed to give it to you?" You search through your bag before pulling out the Estus shard you'd been given. Andre's eyes widen at the sight of it, as he motions for you to hand it over.
After giving it a brief look over, he nods. "Aye, this'll work just fine." He grins. "Mind handing over y'r flask, there?"
You're unsure of how a hammer is going to make two pieces of what looks like glass fuse together, but it apparently works, so you toss the flask over into his waiting hand. If you were expecting a satisfying answer, you're quickly reminded that those don't exist here when Andre just pushes the shard
into the flask, before he hands it back to you.
"That should do it." He says with a smile. "Now was there anything else y' needed of me?"
"Actually, I wanted you to take a look at these." You say, refusing to admit your frustration with the logic, or rather lack thereof you have to endure. You hand Andre the two swords you've found, which he places on his anvil to examine.
"Any reason you want me to do this?"
"I wanted to see if you could figure anything out about them. See if they're magic or something." You say.
Andre turns to look at you squarely, and for a moment you worry that he's going to refuse. Then the smile returns to his face as he nods. "Well, y' never know." He says, picking up one of the swords to look at.
Slowly, he unsheathes the first. "Ah, a fine blade y' have here." He says as he examines the Knight's sword. "Work o' art, this one. Reminds me o' the swords of Balder with its length." He gives the sword a quick swing through the air, before nodding, seemingly satisfied, and handing the sword back to you. "Where'd y' find this?"
"It was a Knight of Lothric's. I'm planning on finding him so I can give it back."
Andre smiles, shaking his head. "That's kind of y' lass, I doubt I'd be willing to part with such fine work so easily."
With that, Andre unsheathes the other sword, his eyes widening as he draws the blade out slowly. "My, is this Astoran steel?" He mutters. "The design seems a bit familiar too, hm..." He strokes his chin as he tries to recall.
"So is there something special about Astoran steel?" You ask after giving him a moment to try and remember.
"Aye, all Astoran blades are forged with specific alloys made with infused titanite." He examines the sword closely. You just have ta'..." With a quick swing, the blade begins to emit a bright glow, turning a radiant gold. "Heh, I still got it." He says with a smile, before he hands you the blade back. As you take it, the glow fades, much to your disappointment.
"How'd you do that?" You ask, wide-eyed. You're not jealous, not at all. Not even a little bit.
"Y' just give it a swing, and if y' believe, then it'll activate." He says with a light chuckle, which quickly darkens as his face turns crestfallen. "A shame that there's nothing left of Astora now." He says somberly, shaking his head. "The whole country's nothing but ruins from what I've heard."
"Wasn't that your home?" You ask.
"Aye, it was, but that was before I was given the option between being locked in an asylum, or being exiled." Andre says, lost in thought as he stares into nothing for a moment. "I do miss it sometimes, though." He turns back to look at you. "Do y' not?"
"Hm?"
"Home. Do y' miss yours?"
"Yeah." You say, unable to stop a few tears from forming at the thought. Andre remains silent.
"Sorry for bringing the topic up." He says quietly.
"No, it's fine." you say, wiping your eyes. "You didn't mean anything with it." The conversation soon hits a lull, with neither of you sure of what you should be saying.
"So y' can make new swords at will, and make em vanish too, aye?" Andre asks, clearly trying to change the subject, to which you nod. "Can y' do anything else?"
"I'm good at healing injuries." You reply.
New Skill Time?: 77/100
"Useful, but I mean with weapons. Imagine if y' could use other swords as well, eh?" Andre says with a chuckle. "That'd be something."
You blink. That'd be ridiculous, there's no way that would work. You put your hand on the Astoran sword, aaaaaand it's gone.
There's a long pause as the you both process that, yes, that actually happened.
"Huh, fancy that." Andre says, rubbing his neck. He calmly retakes his seat in front of the anvil, politely ignoring your grumbling about how magic is dumb.
Why didn't you get an instruction manual for this stuff.
A few minutes later, when you've finished venting, you hear the loud clanging of a smith at work. "Do you ever take breaks?" You turn and ask Andre. "I mean, besides when I'm here."
"Breaks are for lesser men!" He calls out in between strikes as you turn to leave.
You smile, Andre's positivity proving infectious. The man is pretty much the opposite of Hawkwood in that regard. Your footsteps are accompanied by the now familiar clang of hammer against metal as you go.
Gained new ability: Blade Storage
Can store weapons and summon them at will, allowing for weapon swapping on the fly. (Limited to Swords currently)
Cannot freely duplicate weapons, unlike your normal swords. If you summon one and throw it, it's gone until you pick it back up.
You search through the shrine in hopes of finding where Greirat's lurking. It turns out he's settling in on the lower level of the Shrine, down a small staircase next to Andre. He'd been so quiet you hadn't even noticed him, which you suppose makes sense. You just wish you hadn't searched most of the rest of the rest of the shrine before finally stumbling onto him. You approach Greirat, his back turned as he places a few odds and ends down on a dusty old rug he evidently found... somewhere.
"Making yourself at home?" You ask.
Greirat stumbles when he hears your voice, nearly dropping a vase he had been carrying.
"Well, I see you're back in one piece. I was just, well, doing that, yes." He gently places the vase onto the floor, squatting down on the floor.
"So, if you keep your side of the deal, then I'll be sure to keep mine. I'm sure by the next time you return, I'll be ready to set up shop!" He says cheerfully., before coughing into his hand."Just, uh, don't ask where I got them, alright?"
If most of the people you encountered weren't trying to kill you on sight, you'd probably be a lot more concerned about that.
"Anyway, you had some questions?" He asks.
"What exactly is the Undead Settlement?" A voice calls out. Turning, Hawkwood seems to have finished with the Fire Keeper.
"It's much as it sounds like, a settlement of Undead. The Undead were not welcome in Lothric, at least at first, so those who became afflicted with the Curse were left outside the walls to rot. Eventually enough people came together and formed a community, and seeing as how none of them could die, they tended to stick around. Company may help keep one from going hollow, but it can't prevent it."
Hawkwood nods. "What happened to those who did go hollow?"
Greirat head falls. "Originally there was a pit that Hollows were just thrown into, but last I'd heard they'd moved to burning the bodies."
"Would that even work?" You ask. Don't they just resurrect? Or did fire somehow stop that?
"No. I can speak from experience." Hawkwood replies. Oof. You can't stop yourself from wincing at the implication.
"The Settlement is split into several sections. There's the front gate that connected to Lothric back in the day. It was more of a welcoming area to any other unfortunate exile than an barrier. Then there's the settlement center, which splits into two paths. One leads into the valley and the back entrance of the temple, while the other leads down to the Road of Sacrifices."
"You'll want to be on the lookout for the Evangelists." Greirat continues. "It won't be hard, they're enormous. Bunch of fat bastards. They have huge spiked maces and cast odd looking miracles, although I'm not sure what those actually do. Legged it before I could find out."
"Most likely some sort of hex, if I had to guess." Hawkwood chimes in.
"Besides the Evangelists, most of the people were farmers, although with how long the Cathedral's been there I doubt you'll find much evidence of that. " Greirat says. "You may also want to find the tree, they might be able to help you."
"Tree?" You and Hawkwood both ask in unison.
"A spirit tree lives in the Settlement. The Settlement's temple is where you'll find them." Greirat explains. "I assume the front door to the temple'll be sealed shut, so the back way is your best shot." Greirat pauses. "If you wouldn't mind it, I'd appreciate if you checked up on them. They were always kind to us Undead, even willingly taking in curses to spare us from them. Trust me, you'll know them when you see them." Greirat says. "Oh, and don't forget to find Loretta and give her the ring!"
"We won't, don't worry." You assure him.
"Thank you for the information, by the way." Hawkwood says. "It's probably outdated, but it's better than going in blind."
"You keep your end of the deal, and I'll keep mine." Greirat says. "It's as simple as that."
[] Proceed to the Undead Settlement.
[] Before you go, make a quick stop at...
-[] Ludleth
-[] The Handmaid
[] There are still areas of the Shrine you haven't explored yet...
-[] Screw that overpriced scam key. Climb up the tower and see if there's anything on the roof.
-[] You never did check what was down the other path...
[] You know, there was that ladder in the Cathedral...
