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Blue Ash (Dark Souls III/PMMM)

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Boss: Iudex Gundyr, Judge of Ash
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    • [X] No
    -[X] Head back to Gundyr to retrieve the coiled sword
    --[X] Best to try transforming outside first. It'd be stupid to walk into a fight not knowing if you were still even good for a fight. And see if you can make a sword to deal with the armor that guy was wearing better.

    "Alright, I'll go get this sword for you, if it's so important." you say, to a surprisingly mixed reception. While the Fire Keeper seems pleased with your decision, Hawkwood seems to be more confused than anything. As you're leaving, however, he pulls you aside, a look of what you think is concern on his face.

    "You can't be serious." Hawkwood asks. "You're just agreeing to this?"

    "Would 'linking the fire' actually help anyone? Would it accomplish anything?" You ask earnestly.

    "That's besides the point, are you even aware of just what you've agreed to do?"

    "I've gotten tricked before. I'm just hoping this time some actual good'll come out of it."

    "Are you talking about trying to link the fire? Because if you remember neither of us were able to even do that right. I'm not sure how a child like you pulled it off, but there's no point in even trying to go after the Lords of Cinder. They had the mettle to link the fire. How can an Unkindled hope to compare to that?"

    "Then feel free to stay here and sit around helplessly! I'd rather at least try and do something."

    With that, you shove your way past Hawkwood, who is clearly surprised at you being strong enough to do so. You can feel his gaze on your back as you walk away, before you hear an audible sigh from behind you as he presumably wanders off.

    The rest of the walk back is a near silent affair, most of the hollows ignoring you entirely, with a few acknowledging your passing by with their gaze. The way they look at you makes you uneasy. It's as if they're not so much looking at you as tracking something that is in movement; like they don't even recognize that you're a person, but rather just a thing that is moving in front of them.

    After a short walk, you find yourself back at the sealed door, and, with a quick leap, you're back inside the ruined arena. Everything looks the same as when you left, with many of the hollows from earlier still blocking the entrance. You wonder if they even noticed that you had simply gone around the door, but you guess there's not much really left in them. The armored warrior is still in the same place as before, kneeling down with what you now know to be the coiled sword impaling him through the heart.

    "Alright, here goes nothing." you mutter, as you transform. Despite a bit of nervous apprehension, there's a quick burst of light and you find yourself in a familiar outfit. A quick look over confirms that, yes you are still able to transform. Your soul gem still remains completely gray, but it is in the right place, so that should hopefully be fine. Next, you close your eyes, focus and take a deep breath. When you open your eyes, you're holding one of your swords, so thankfully that still works.

    You look over the sword, then the examine Gundyr. The man, if you can call him that, is twice your height, and coated in enough metal that he could probably pass for a small car. How he's supposed to move when wearing all that, you don't know, but you're not sure a normal sword would be able to so much as dent what he's wearing. Then again, it's magic, which is probably why it can cut through things so easily, you figure. Just to be sure, you focus on the sword in hopes of changing it.

    It takes a bit of effort, but after 15 minutes of alternating between staring at a sword and trying to think angrily towards it, you've managed to lengthen and thicken the blade. You're not sure whether or not it will help, but better to try just in case. You can always just make more anyway.

    With that, you figure you shouldn't delay this any longer. Walking forward, you grasp the blade impaling Gundyr and pull. At first there's resistance, with you having to struggle to so much as move the sword, but slowly it gives, and you're able to slide it out. You back away a safe distance, just in case, and watch.

    With the sword removed, Gundyr falls forward, before catching himself with his left hand. With a quick push, he begins to rise, his right hand reaching for his halberd, which he tears out of the ground in one swift motion. As he reaches his full height, he finally seems to notice you, as his helmet focuses towards you. With a grunt, he begins slowly walking towards you, every step causing the ground to shake beneath the sheer weight of his armor. In his right hand he clenches his halberd, while he keeps his other balled into a tight fist.

    The trial begins.
    [] Rush him, focus on being aggressive and keeping him pressured.
    [] Rush him, focus on being mobile and chipping away at him.
    [] Play it safe, see if you can wear him down at range with your swords.
    [] Something else?
    -[] Something more in-depth?
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Rush him, focus on being mobile and chipping away at him.

    We could probably cut his halbard in half if we really tried, but... eh. Magical Girls are so mobile it doesn't really matter. A casual hop would clear most swings her could use.

    Don't really have an opinion on the rolls. Maybe tucked away at the end in a spoiler with tags for what each one was for?
     
    [X] Rush him, focus on being mobile and chipping away at him.
    -[X] Right now, he's just a big dude in armor. If things get weird, try rushing him down with heavy blows.

    Having actually fought Iudex Gundyr, this is my answer. I'd say 'Try to make fire' but that seems to gamey and cheesey.

    Regarding dice rolls, put those in an Authors Note at the start, alongside the winning vote and any immediate things you wanna say.

    Like this.
    [X] Rush him down, with fire and spell.
    -[X] If he cowers, back off and let him run. You don't need more blood on your hands today.

    Sayaka Rolls 13 vs. 12 Hit
    Sayaka Damage 4 vs. 5 AC
    Enemy offbalance, no damage
    Rolling for ability procc. 76/100
    Terror proccs (you're covered in blood I mean I should probably give you a modifier honestly)
    Wolf fights Terror. 12 vs. 4 Wolf remains in the fight.
    Wolf counters, 9 vs. 14 Miss
    Round 1 of 3 rolled, next round...

    AN: So my cat slammed into my window at 3 am and I shit myself a tiny bit. If you actually read this then add Clean Jammies Are IRL Embers to your comment.
     
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    I edited my above comment @RecurringExtra. And you will let us change our tactics on the second phase? I wanna be sure. Lastly, do you plan to veer off of Dark Souls 3's main path? Being able to scale the wall down to the swamp would be a fun sequence break for someone like Sayaka.
     
    Yes, you'll be able to change tactics for the second phase. The fight changes pretty dramatically there, so to not let you change what you're doing then would be pretty unfair. This vote is just for the start of the fight, it's not to cover the entirety of it. Additionally,, if you have any specific ideas that go beyond general overall strategy, feel free to suggest them if you want to.
     
    [X] Rush him, focus on being mobile and chipping away at him.

    A focus on mobility is warranted because he has a gigantic literal ax on a pole, and avoiding letting him use that like he wants is just being efficient. Chipping is because I don't think our weapons possess the usually unmentioned but most essentially crucial trait of titanite that lets them do scratch damage through basically anything except other titanite armaments.

    Not having a fire affinity in our magic to start with isn't going to help with fights like this against beings of corruption, but they don't crop up as much as one might think, and we made up for it a bit by starting with that fire gem (so we're not stuck trying to carry a torch everywhere, once Andre lets us know what to do with it). I imagine our affinity for water might help with sorcery, but, ironically, considering a comparison of our intelligence and passion, we're probably going to be better at picking up pyromancy anyways.

    I guess the only question left on the magic front is if Sayaka can bring herself to believe in a higher (and zap-ier) power.
     
    chocolote12 said:
    I guess the only question left on the magic front is if Sayaka can bring herself to believe in a higher (and zap-ier) power.
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    We'll probably have non-standard magic as well anyway. Cause Soul Gem and Water, Music, and Swords. I'm... not too sure what to do with the Water or Music aspect really.

    Like a waterball would hardly have the same impact as a fireball even if it exploded. Granted it would likely knock someone down pretty damn well. I guess I could see water doing pretty well at field control (staggering, knocking enemies over, sweeping them away, that kind of thing). I suppose Music could be a magic facilitator or support magic in general. Giving audio cues in battle, letting her move at a faster tempo, being a medium to let her cast other magic more easily.

    Then again maybe not, took forever to adjust a single sword, but that might be a practice issue more than anything. Sayaka really didn't use much of any magic beyond her regen, her swords, and maybe her berserker state if that had any magic beyond regen involved in it.

    It's too bad running water is more of an Eastern purification method than a Western one otherwise we could probably lean on that.
     
    ShadowAngelBeta said:
    We'll probably have non-standard magic as well anyway. Cause Soul Gem and Water, Music, and Swords. I'm... not too sure what to do with the Water or Music aspect really.

    Like a waterball would hardly have the same impact as a fireball even if it exploded. Granted it would likely knock someone down pretty damn well. I guess I could see water doing pretty well at field control (staggering, knocking enemies over, sweeping them away, that kind of thing). I suppose Music could be a magic facilitator or support magic in general. Giving audio cues in battle, letting her move at a faster tempo, being a medium to let her cast other magic more easily.

    Then again maybe not, took forever to adjust a single sword, but that might be a practice issue more than anything. Sayaka really didn't use much of any magic beyond her regen, her swords, and maybe her berserker state if that had any magic beyond regen involved in it.

    It's too bad running water is more of an Eastern purification method than a Western one otherwise we could probably lean on that.
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    I agree about having some measure of non-standard magic. That's a facet of the character, but it's also backed up by all the special items running around (that is, that there's more metaphysically than just what the players can get their hands on).

    As for water specifically, well, we know from the Hydra all the way back in Dark Souls that a blast of water certainly isn't going to be ineffective (and the crabs have that bubble beam attack, I guess), but just looking at its standard physical properties the thing that stands out the most to me is weight. Water extinguishes fire, and serves as both conductor and bulwark for lightning, but more than either of those it's super duper heavy. Like, a foot of the stuff can knock you off your feet. Dropping enough from an appreciable height could shatter stone. You throw it at most things and they're just going to go away (not of their own volition); they don't have an answer to water. Water is an indecisive boulder.

    Plus, water ties into Frost Sorcery, which we know a few spells of are running around, and they're not bad at all. Combining the two'd be like the opposite of Chaos Pyromancy?

    In addition to the things she can already do with music magic, and the directions she's already gone, there are a few sorcerous spells which rely on or make use of sound. One of them that doesn't stand out at first is the distracting noise spell (sadly much weaker than its earlier variants); it causes hollows to look a certain way, which might be a good stealth supplement. Some sort of Pianissimo effect to make her really quiet also wouldn't go amiss.

    More importantly, the ringing of bells is pretty important, and a definite example of sound based magic. The Firelink Shrine bells and the bells and chimes of clerics both place some sort of importance on their resonance. Mimicking them might yield results. Maybe they've even got something to do with the magic that enables summon signs, if Bloodborne influenced them any (it's not entirely out there, considering the Serpent Summoners of the Peak).
     
    Ah whoops, I missed the second part of your question @IllegibleScream. My apologies, that's entirely on me. In terms of sequence breaking, while you can take advantage of the ability to actually scale walls, (Which on it's own would already make the games so much more manageable) and other such "advanced abilities" don't expect to be doing things too insane (IE climbing down into Farron Swamp). That one is mostly just because it's kind of a sheer drop down, so you can't really scale your way down, per se (I launched the game just to make sure real quick.)

    You could possibly try and get the Demons to carry you somewhere else, but I'm not too sure how that would end up. There still are plenty of other shortcuts you could abuse, so feel free to try and think of some if you really want to. As an example,
    you could try and make the jump from the bridge leading to the Undead Settlement to the side with the Stray Demon, but you'd need an in-character reason to do that, which if you can think of, all power to you.

    That being said, don't expect this to be exactly like the base Dark Souls 3 experience. There will be some changes, but I will be keeping it mostly faithful. Or at least as faithful as you can with Dark Souls, seeing as it's pretty much 80% headcanon.
     
    Iudex Gundyr 2
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    • [X] Rush him, focus on being mobile and chipping away at him.
    (First Impressions: 68 + 5 Strengthened Blade = 73)    ​

    Gundyr pauses in his approach, his body tensing up as if preparing to lunge. What he didn't expect was for you to be doing the same thing. With a burst of speed you rush towards the hulking figure, blade at the ready. Gundyr raises his halberd to try and block your swing, but he's too slow to fully prevent it. Instead, he twists his body, turning what would have been a strike to the abdomen into a graze along his side.

    There's a brief pause as you realize that, despite the sheer weight and thickness of his armor, your blade was able to actually pierce clean through it, as evidenced by the grunt of pain coming from the now wounded warrior, and the splatter of red that hits the ground. It's a fairly clean hit, leaving a staight line of red along his side, but it is still ultimately a flesh wound. Before you can get too excited, you have to quickly leap out of the way of Gundyr's response, a powerful thrust that would've skewered you if you hadn't been careful.

    (Lethal Annoyance: 76 + 5 = 81)​

    You stay close to Gundyr, abusing the difference in speed between you both to get in as many easy strikes as possible. You manage to get a swipe across his left arm, which he responds to by trying to use said arm to smash you into the ground, something which you easily avoid. The fight devolves into a strange sort of dance, where you manage to inflict a minor injury onto the giant, before avoiding any attack he sends your way. While you don't manage to land any serious wounds, all of the scratches and cuts are definitely adding up, judging by the trails of red that now decorate the arena floor.

    You notice how Gundyr seems to be slowing down in his movements. Blood loss perhaps? You were concerned this was going to be a difficult fight, but this is almost too easy. Almost as if...

    (The Champion's Remnants: 18 + 5 = 23)​

    You realize a second too late, as Gundyr jumps back away from you, the precision of his movements notably improved. He then leaps into the air, roaring as he does. He jumps far further than he has any right to go while wearing that much armor, let alone what should be even possible, before he hurtles back towards you, halberd aimed to pierce through your heart. Thinking quickly, you manage to duck out the way of the halberd's blade, which narrowly avoids instead impacts the ground right above your left shoulder. Unfortunately, this does nothing to prevent Gundyr's foot from hitting you square in the chest, sending you flying back.

    You smash against the wall with enough force to cause a cloud of dust and ash to come flying into the air. Wheezing, you stand back up shakily, trying to ignore the flood of pain coming from your rib cage. It takes you a moment to remember that you can just turn that off, which you thankfully do. The pain simply vanishes away, allowing you stand up straight, blade held at the ready.

    Gundyr tears his halberd out of the ground, letting out a loud grunt as he does. Not wasting a moment, he advances toward you, much faster than before. You can see the anger bleed off of him, despite his face being covered. Thin trails of red all across his body continue to roll down his armor, but it does nothing to dissuade him from continuing.

    [] He's already hurt, try and stay at range and whittle him down further before finishing him off.
    [] Since he's already hurt, go all out and try and rush him down.
    [] If it worked once, it'll keep working. Stay close and keep taking pot-shots.
    [] Write In
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] If it worked once, it'll keep working. Stay close and keep taking pot-shots.

    Hey guys ! Thanks for the Quest ! Hope we won't get too much on the bad side of the Dice o/
     
    Well, it looks like a tied vote. I suppose I could combine the two?

    I'll give it a bit more time first.
     
    [X] If it worked once, it'll keep working. Stay close and keep taking pot-shots.
     
    [X] He's already hurt, try and stay at range and whittle him down further before finishing him off.

    He seems to be getting faster all of a sudden, let's not take any risk
    (Hopping in with almost no knowledge of Dark Souls, just want to see Sayaka kicks ass)
     
    Stepping back and whittling him just gives him the momentum even if we (try to) choose the range.

    Seems like a bad trade to me with how he's proven being at range doesn't really hinder his ability to get us.
     
    It's the first lesson you really learn in DS3: Trying to stay outside of Gundyr's range just puts you in his danger zone. That poleaxe of his is basically only not dangerous where he can't leverage it fully, because the arena is not nearly large enough to protect you from his distance-closers.

    Up close, he's got a lot less he can do, so it's less dangerous and simultaneously better for dealing blows yourself.
     
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