You almost say yes, you are ready, because, honestly, you're getting sick of waiting, and just want to get started. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, you realize one very important fact: on your person are a staff, a scroll, a huge leather shield, a piece of chalk(?), a warm glowing red rock, and two weird bottles of stuff you think is called 'estus'. Stuffing things in your pockets can only get you so far. You're kind of surprised you haven't dropped anything yet considering just how much you're lugging around with you.
"Hold up, one last thing first." Hawkwood raises an eyebrow, but says nothing. "So I just got all this new fancy stuff, and I can't really carry all of it around with me. I mean, I'm keeping the shield and the... soapstone I think it was called?" It's kind of soapy you guess? Seems more like chalk though. "I'm talking about the magic stuff." You shake the staff around. "Do people just carry all of this around with them everywhere they go, or is there some convenient magical way to store things around here. Should I just leave it with the Firekeeper until I get back?"
"Just throw it into the bonfire." Hawkwood says matter-of-factly.
"...What?" He wants you to just toss them into the fire? You just paid for them! Well, you paid for them with things called 'souls' so you're still not sure how moral an action that really was. You get that they're not really 'soul' souls, but it still seems weird.
Hawkwood sighs, before he pulls out what looks like a clump of moss from a pouch on his side. He shows it to you, before he simply tosses it into the flame. Rather than setting alight as it should, the moss seems to simply vanish into thin air. After a few confusing moments, he simply puts his hand back near the bonfire, only to have the moss appear back in his hand.
"The bonfire is able to store thy possessions and allows thou to retrieve them when needed." The Fire Keeper speaks up, answering your question before you can even ask it. "If thou wishes to retrieve whatever possession is stored, simply place thy hand above the flame and will for its return."
"Also, be careful if you store too much and forget what you have in there, or you may just bury yourself when you try to get everything back." Hawkwood adds in. You open your mouth to speak, before he cuts you off to continue. "No, I don't know how it works, and frankly, I doubt anybody does, even the Fire Keeper. If there is a reason, I imagine it'd be fairly disappointing regardless." The man always has to kill any hint of excitement it seems.
Slowly, you inch the wooden staff near the bonfire, just in case it catches alight. When it finally makes contact, the staff simply vanishes from your hands. It takes you a moment to realize that, yes, the staff just vanished into thin air, and no, Hawkwood wasn't just screwing with you. Hesitantly, you try the same with the scroll you purchased, and as it touches the flame it too simply disappears. Just to be sure, you raise your hand to the fire and think "staff". Suddenly the wooden staff appears in your hand. When you move to store it, it vanishes once more without a trace. Huh, this is actually pretty cool. Is it motion detecting or something? You consider asking, but magic is magic, and doesn't seem to have any need to make sense. Besides, Hawkwood already said that nobody really 'gets' how the bonfires really work.
"Alright, that solves that." you say, idly dusting off your hands.
"For now." Hawkwood replies, feeling the need to once more darken the mood. "We'll need to find some way for you to actually carry your things with you, otherwise you'll probably just drop your flasks." While his pessimism is annoying, you can't deny that what he's saying is correct. Hopefully you'll be able to find something, because carrying them around in your pockets has been a pain.
"So how exactly are we leaving?" you ask. In response, Hawkwood motions towards the bonfire, as if expecting that to simply answer the question. "It can teleport people too, can't it?" you ask, not even a bit surprised when he nods an affirmative. "Of course it can." you groan, much to the Fire Keeper's seeming amusement. Turning your head, you catch her giggling at your frustration. At least somebody's getting a kick out of this.
It takes the Fire Keeper a moment to regain her composure, but with a deep breath she finally manages to, her voice quickly regaining its solemn tone. "Place thy hand above the flame, and travel to Lothric, Ashen One. May the flames guide thee."
Alright, that seems simple enough. You place your hand above the fire. As you do, a sharp noise blasts in your ear as a pale fog forms around you. Before you can so much as move, the fog fills the room, blocking out your sight in all directions. The light quickly fades behind the thick fog, and you find yourself stuck in pitch black.
You aren't sure how long you're stuck in this weird limbo. It could have been a moment, it could have been an eternity. All you know is that once it ends, you find yourself standing above a grate in a closed room, a little dizzy but otherwise okay.
Looking around, the first thing you notice are the candles. Everywhere you look there are candles, or rather what were once candles, but are now just piles of old melted wax. The walls are made of aged stone, covered in cobwebs and roots that grow up along it. Hanging are some ancient banners that look like they're ready to fall apart if you so much as breathe on them. Looking down, you find the floor to be much the same as the walls; old stonework that hasn't been cleaned in a long time. In front of you is an old wooden door that looks to lead outside the structure you find yourself in. To your left and right are four alcoves, filled with what look to be oddly shaped gray rocks, along with more melted candles that line the inside of each alcove, the wax sitting on a raised stone surface. Behind you, resting atop one of the banners and an altar of some sort, sits a large cup, with another one of those coiled swords resting on it. Above the altar is a boarded-up window that lets in a few faint rays of light. That, and the hole in the moldy wooden roof letting in a stream of light lets you know that it's still daytime.
When you realize that you have no idea where Hawkwood is, you hear an 'oof' as if somebody had just fallen. Turning to look, you see Hawkwood pushing himself off the ground. "Well that's just as awful as it used to be. Why did I agree to do this?" he mutters, a grimace on his face. He has a look of nausea on his face, which he seems to quickly shake off.
"Well, we made it here in one piece, at least?" you say.
"The question is how long it'll stay that way." Hawkwood chimes in.
"Why are you so pessimistic?"
"I'm being realistic. It's better to expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised than to wind up run through by several Hollows. I'd like for us to actually make it back."
"Why, so you can head back and sit on a ledge doing nothing?"
"It's a very comfortable ledge, and I look forward to returning. Now, we should probably get moving." Hawkwood says.
Welcome to Lothric!
[] Hawkwood's right, you should get moving.
-[] Head out through the door. Sitting around here isn't going to get anything done.
-[] Climb out through the roof. Maybe the door's a trap?
-[] Some other plan?
[] Before you go anywhere, maybe you should...
-[] Examine the weird bowl and the other things in the room. Maybe Hawkwood knows what some of it is?
-[] Talk with Hawkwood, maybe try and figure out a plan of some sort before you head anywhere.
[] Write In
