When Tirek was ready to move he and Sarana got up and walked down the steps that would take them down to the area that was right below them, where they carefully avoided the armored knight that was patrolling the outside area and took out the hollows that were lurking in the shadows, before heading for the doorway that would take them outside, to the part of the wall they had stopped in when Tirek ran out of magicka. It wasn't all that hard for the pair to repeat what they had previously done, clearing out everything up to the transforming hollow, though once they had taken out the hollow for a second time they found that he dropped another shard and what appeared to be an ember of some kind, so Sarana picked both of them up and made sure to grab the firebombs that were resting nearby, before they resumed exploring the area they were in. As the pair explored the roof Tirek found something interesting, a much smaller version of the large crystal lizard they had found in the Cemetery of Ash, though this one seemed to be more docile than the other one did, though that didn't stop Sarana from stabbing the creature before it could flee from the area, killing it in a matter of seconds before she collected a gem that looked like the square one they had found earlier.
"Crystal Lizards, as you have seen, carry gems and Titanite pieces, which we can use to upgrade our weapons at some point in time," Sarana stated, showing Tirek that there was a good reason for her actions, even if he actually didn't care for the lizard in the first place and just listened to what she was saying, before she glanced at the rest of the roof that they happened to be standing on, "and I think I found the way forward."
As Tirek followed her he gathered yet another forgotten soul, one that seemed slightly stronger than the others he had found so far, and added it to his collection, before discovering that the path Sarana had found was a ladder that would take them down into the area that was below them, to which he said nothing as his companion descended to the level that was below them. While Sarana was climbing down the ladder Tirek looked over the edge that was to his left and gazed down at what appeared to be a courtyard, where he found a large knight patrolling a courtyard of some kind, one that had a number of dead bodies scattered everywhere, meaning that at some point they would be walking through that area and that they would have a foe to avoid, since he was sure they wouldn't be able to tangle with something like that at the moment. Since it didn't take his companion long to reach the bottom of the ladder he was able to follow once Sarana reached the end, though as he descended down the ladder Sarana lashed out at a crossbow hollow that was taking aim at the ladder, to attack him while he couldn't fight back, though the hollow was unable to fire a bolt at him thanks to what Sarana had done. Once Tirek was standing beside her they headed around the corner that the crossbow hollow had been hiding behind and found another one, which Tirek just blasted with a pair of Soul Arrows, though as he did that two more hollows pulled themselves up to the walkway they were standing on and tried to attack them, but Sarana was faster and took the pair of them out in seconds.
With those enemies taken out Tirek and Sarana found a second ladder, this one much longer than the first, that went down to an opening that would allow them to enter the building that they had been on top of moments ago, to which Tirek kept an eye out for foes to blast with his magic as his companion descended to the area that was below them, where a few dead knights were resting, and once the way was clear he joined him in a matter of seconds. One of the fallen hollows got up the moment they were back together, including one that climber up over the edge to their left, so Tirek blasted one to pieces as Sarana snuffed out the life of the second one, allowing them to collect the soul dust that came from each of their defeated foes as they headed inside the building at long last. Of course that was when Tirek discovered that the opening they had discovered lead to the courtyard area he had seen from above, as he recognized the large knight that was some distance in front of them, a foe that he didn't think they could take on at the moment, though he found that Sarana was heading into the area that was ahead of them and noticed that she seemed to be crouching as she drew close to the foe in question, almost as if she was making no noise. She waited for a few seconds before waving Tirek over, who did everything in his power not to make a sound as he approached her, following her lead as she headed to the left as the large knight walked around the other side of the fountain, where they dropped down into a lower walkway that had a number of dead knights inside it, just like the rest of the area they were in, and carefully moved for a few seconds before stopping. That was due to the large knight entering the section of the area that they were in and seemed to get close to where they were located, but didn't seem to investigate the walkway and continued his patrols, allowing the pair to slowly move through the rest of the area.
Tirek did use a small amount of his power to levitate two more embers over to them, because he was sure they were important and wasn't about to leave them behind, while Sarana found a decent rapier resting in the water, even though she had to stop a hollow knight from rising and giving away their position, though when they determined that the larger knight hadn't heard the sound they finally emerged from the walkway and headed through the opening that was in front of them, where they hid behind the walls to make sure the knight didn't see them. Of course the first thing they found out, as they tried to come to a stop, was that they were closer to the church than they had been earlier, in fact it was probably a minute from where they were standing if both of them walked, though the second thing was that there was a crossbow hollow to their right that seemed to annoy Sarana, as she was quick to take him out, before he could loose a bolt at them and hurt one of them. While she did that Tirek blasted another hollow that rushed at him from the shadows by the stairs that his companion was on, though once those two enemies were taken care of they headed up the stairs and found that it had two directions for them to pick from, where Sarana decided to look and see what was to their right for a moment, which brought them to an area that overlooked the courtyard and the large knight, though Tirek did find yet another large soul to add to his collection. At the same time he watched as his companion carefully jumped over to a wooden platform that was in front of the area they were standing on and seemed to pick something up, where she went still for a moment as the large knight paused and looked around the area, before jumping back over to the area that Tirek was standing on, where she revealed that she had found a ring of some kind.
"What did you find?" Tirek inquired, because it must have been an important ring for Sarana to nearly give away their position to the large knight, or at least that was how it looked from his angle, though all he could see was that the ring had a reflective surface of some kind where the stone would be, making him wonder if it was worth having or if his companion had wasted her time trying to get it.
"A Ring of Sacrifice, which prevents the wearer from losing their souls when they die... or at least that is what I have been told this type of ring does." Sarana replied, where she studied the ring for a few seconds, no doubt because this had to be one of the few times she had actually seen one of them, before slipping it into her pouch not even a moment later, as if to say that she was ready to leave, "Come on, we should keep moving."
Tirek nodded his head as they headed back down the steps they had walked up a few seconds ago and then headed up the other path they could have picked, where they walked up to an area that had a few dead knights, as well as a single hollow that he blasted into the ground, before they approached the circular tower that was in front of them, prompting at least four hollows in rags to climb up over the edges of the area and attack them. It took the pair only a few moments to take these enemies down, as Tirek was able to blast them into the ground with ease and Sarana could dodge their attacks like they were nothing, before cutting them down seconds later, allowing them to clear the area of foes so they could see what the tower had in store for them. What they found inside the tower was a lift of some kind, one large enough for two people to stand on, or three depending on how the people were positioned, with some kind of switch resting to their left, to which both he and Sarana stepped on it and found that there was a pressure plate of some kind that allowed them to activate the pulley system without actually pulling the lever themselves, where they remained still as they were brought to the top of the tower. It only took them a few seconds to reach the top level of the tower, where they found a body with some throwing knives, which Sarana collected, before either of them discovered the iron door, which had openings that made it look like it belonged to a cell of some kind, one that they were able to unlock from this side thanks to whoever had locked it, since they had left the key in this side.
When they unlocked and opened the door, however, Tirek discovered that they were close to where the first bonfire rested, as if he and Sarana had gone in a circle and had opened up a nice shortcut so they wouldn't have to deal with the wyverns or the knight that were near the second bonfire, though since they had taken a moment to rest at the second bonfire that meant that all of the enemies they had taken out in this area had returned as well, not that such a thing really mattered when his companion stabbed the axe wielding hollow in the back before he even knew she was there.
"Interesting, I was not expecting to open a shortcut during our adventure," Tirek remarked, though at the same time he blasted the other hollow that was down here as he followed Sarana back up to where the halberd hollow was standing, but since the pair now knew his tactics it was rather easy for them to take him down, even if he focused on the pair of dogs that were nearby first, so neither of them were taken out in the process.
"At least that makes things easier for us, if we die anyway." Sarana replied, showing that she might not care about the fact that they had found a shortcut, though that didn't stop her from taking out the last enemy that was in this area as she headed back to the first bonfire, which was the first crossbow hollow, and sat next to the flames for a second, which was the moment she glanced back to Tirek, "Come on, I want to try something out."
Tirek raised his eyebrow for a moment as he sat near her, which was when he got the vision of the shrine that they had been in some time ago, before his world went blank for a few seconds as he disappeared from the area that he and Sarana had been sitting in, only for them to reappear beside the bonfire in the shrine, causing him to look around for a few seconds, just to be sure he understood what was going on.
"Oh, I see how it is. The bonfires also act as waypoints, allowing us to move from one location and head to another one, as long as we activate the respective bonfire of course." Tirek said, though that made things interesting, because now they knew how they were going to transport the Lords of Cinder back to their thrones, as he had the feeling he and Sarana were going to kill each of them and drag part of their corpses back to this area, to put them back on their shrines, and he had the feeling they were going to make the most out of this system.
Sarana did nothing to show that she had an opinion one way or the other, making Tirek assume that she understood what he was talking about, before they headed over to the Fire Keeper and had her take the souls they had gathered over the course of their adventure on the High Wall to empower themselves, though before doing that Sarana made sure to smash the souls that Tirek had been gathering, showing him that it was the only way to release their energies, allowing the two of them to make use of their power as well. It took them a few moments to get everything done, but in the end they poured all of their souls into empowering themselves even further, not that Tirek felt any different still, and Sarana took him over to the blacksmith, who could actually switch out the properties of their flasks, as in he could take a health flask and make it into a magicka flask or he could take a magicka flask and turn it into a health flask, so Tirek switched his ratio to two and two, in terms of health and magicka. With that done Sarana made sure their weapons were just fine and that none of them were near breaking, not that Tirek had noticed any cracks forming in the blade of his sword, even if he didn't use it all that much to begin with since he was just blasting his foes with magic, but he figured that he would let Sarana do whatever she needed to do before they returned to the High Wall and continued their search for any clues that would tell them where the Lords of Cinder went. From there it would be a simple matter to follow the clues and locate the three Lords that would lead the way to the Prince that had fled from his duties, but first they needed to find the start of their trail and then follow it, to the furthest corners of the land if need be.
Once Sarana was done making sure their gear was in proper order, and that nothing had broken, they returned to the shrine's bonfire and sat in front of it, this time knowing what they were doing as they focused on the first bonfire of the High Wall, though not a few seconds later they found themselves back at the start of the area in question. That told Tirek that the system worked as it was supposed to, or at least how he assumed it was supposed to work, before he and Sarana tackled the foes that were standing in the area that was near the shortcut they had opened a few minutes ago, this time not letting their attacks catch them off guard. The moment those enemies were taken care of it was no problem for the pair to use the lift and return to the lower entrance, where they had to contend with the one hollow that seemed to be the guard for this area and his four surprise allies, though since both of them were aware that the surprise attackers were even there it wasn't hard to deal with them. Or course that logic also applied for the crossbow hollow that was further down the steps and the hollow that was hidden in the shadows of the stairs, both being enemies that the pair took out in a matter of moments thanks to knowing what their foes would do ahead of time, which was around the time that they made it back to the part of the path that went to where the courtyard with the large knight was located in and the area that was in front of the church that seemed to be their main target. What surprised Tirek for a moment was the fact that Sarana didn't head to the right and see what sort of enemies they would have to fight, rather she headed to the left and returned to the area that the large knight was patrolling, meaning that she likely wanted to take him down, to which Tirek sighed and followed after her.
As Tirek expected the large knight noticed Sarana and started swinging his large halberd at her, though to his surprise his companion started dodging the attacks like they were nothing, making him remember that Sarana was an assassin, or at least that was his assumption on what she was, though since the knight's attention was on her, and nothing else, he was able to blast it a few times in the back, weakening it to the point where his companion was able to bring it down.
Sarana said nothing as she returned to Tirek's side, where the two of them followed the other path they hadn't taken yet and headed for the church, where he made sure to pick up another lost soul that they could use later on, before they both focused on the knights that happened to be between them and the church, meaning it was going to be quite the fight before they reached their destination. Tirek decided that since there were at least two knights patrolling the area in front of them, meaning they couldn't really see all of the other enemies all that well, that he would step forward and beckon for one of the knights to chase him, to which he walked down the stairs and patiently waited for one to spot him, though it took all of two seconds for one of the knights to spot him and start approaching where he was standing. What Tirek found to be interesting was that the knight didn't even consider this to be a trap at all, he just followed him up the stairs as if he was the only target his foe had to worry about, which left him open to Sarana attacking him from behind, weakening him as she moved away from the knight, allowing Tirek to blast their foe in the chest and knock him down the steps, removing one foe from their path. Despite the fact that there was now a corpse resting at the bottom of the steps the second knight did the exact same thing that the first one did, meaning it was rather simple for Tirek and Sarana to take him down as well, which allowed them to see what else was in the area, besides the church that seemed to be their main destination and would no doubt be the first location they checked out. As they walked down the steps they found that there was one other place they could go, one that happened to be a gate of some kind that might lead to an area that was outside the castle walls, which could be where the Lords of Cinder were located, but first they headed over to where the church was located and focused on the task at hand.
As they approached the church Tirek also noticed some pilgrims, with what appeared to be dome shaped packs on their backs, that were dead here and there, why he had no idea, so he put it out of his mind as he followed Sarana into the building that was their destination, where they found a large area that had most of the church stuff pushed off to both sides of the room, leading the way to an old lady that was sitting in a chair, which rested in front of a statue.
"Ah, the wait has been long, Unkindled One. I am Emma, High Priestess of Lothric Castle." the old lady said, where it was clear that she was talking to Tirek, as apparently he was the one that people were referring to when they used that set of words, or when they used 'Ashen One', so he focused on what she had to tell them, "Allow me to speak frankly, you will not find the missing Lords of Cinder here. They have left this place, as they have returned to their churning homes, which happen to converge at the base of this castle, though to get there you will have to go to the bottom of the High Wall. To do that, you will have to forge on through the great gate and raise this banner to proceed. Oh, and there is a small farewell gift for you as well, an insignia of an old covenant... if you fear that trespassers, dark spirits drawn by the embers, might come to do you harm, then etch this upon your heart and the old concord will beckon noble Blue Sentinels to come and hunt down these foul spirits."
The banner was a piece of cloth of some kind that happened to have a circular shaped icon on it, while her 'farewell' gift was sort of similar to the banner, where it was a piece of cloth that had a blue moon of some kind on it, though he had the feeling that Sarana would be able to tell him what both of the items were at some point in time, though right now it seemed that the old lady was of no use to them, even if she seemed to be mentioning some sort of guard dog... which was the moment that Tirek drew his sword and drove it right into the lady's heart.
"Is that wise?" Sarana asked, though Tirek could tell that her voice was emotionless and she didn't seem bothered by what he was doing right now, even though the lady seemed absolutely surprised by what he was doing and coughed a few times as she dropped a basin of some kind on the ground next to her chair, something that the pair ignored as Tirek made sure the lady was dead.
"She was useless to us, so I removed her." Tirek replied, though he waited until he was sure the old lady was no longer breathing, but once that happened he withdrew his blade and cleaned it on the lady's robes, before he sheathed it and turned to move towards the entrance of this church, since he had the feeling he knew where they needed to go next, since there was only one other path for them to take, "Come, its time that we leave this castle and follow the path that will take us to the first Lord of Cinder..."
In that moment Tirek stopped walking as he faced the door that would lead them outside, where he and Sarana got to see the large door close before their eyes, making him wonder what was going on, before bits of what appeared to be either water or acid dripped onto the area in front of the door, causing them to glance at the ceiling, since that was where the bits were coming from. That was the instant the pair spotted what appeared to be a gateway of some kind on the bare ceiling, one that appeared to be magical in some form, though coming from it was a tall female figure that seemed more lithe than what Sarana was, though the newcomer struggled against whatever was on the other side of the gateway, only to break free a few seconds later, allowing her to drop onto the floor. As that happened Tirek noticed that the being was wearing some interesting silver looking armor, which seemed to cover the entirety of her body, or that was what he got from looking at her, and it didn't appear to be slowing her down at all, even though the odd part about this was that she had a shroud that seemed to come from the hood. A few seconds later she stood up in an odd crouching position and turned to face them, though as that happened she also drew a large flaming sword that was held in her left hand, which meant that she was planning on fighting them and wouldn't let them leave this area, something that told Tirek that they needed to be ready for what was going to happen next.
As he readied himself, however, Tirek noticed one thing and that was the fact that Sarana seemed transfixed by their foe's armor, or at least that was what he assumed since he didn't know her all that well, though what happened next was that the being attacked them, as in she rushed over to where they were standing within a few seconds, where she swung her sword up towards the ceiling and delivered a diagonal cut to Sarana, who only seemed to snap back to reality as her life ended again, and before Tirek could even move the being turned and thrust her sword forward, impaling him before he even had a chance to do anything... forcing him to return to the bonfire.
"Are you serious?" Tirek inquired, because they were back at the first bonfire he and Sarana had activated, since it was the last one they had used in the High Wall area, before he glanced to his side for a moment and found that Sarana had reformed as well, not that he expected to find himself in this area without her standing near him, though he did see that she seemed to be thinking about something else at the moment, "What happened back there?"
"I, um, was ensnared by the beauty of her armor," Sarana admitted, referring to the dancer-like being that they had encountered, as that was what Tirek gathered from the few seconds they had laid eyes on the foe that had cut them both down in rapid succession, though while she might not have any emotions he got the feeling that Sarana would have been annoyed by what happened a few seconds ago, "I cannot believe that I did that in the first place, because I've never found any sets of armor to be interesting, or even beautiful for that matter... I'm fucking stunned by what I just did."
"Yes, so am I." Tirek remarked, showing that he wasn't at all happy with the fact that his companion, who was far more alert than he was right now, thanks to how weak his body and powers were, had fallen for the allure of the armor of a foe they would have to destroy at some point, even though he was sure neither of them would be able to beat that dancer at their current level, "Its rather annoying to have a companion who freezes when they see something they like, to the point where our enemies are able to cut us down because of a weak link."
"A weak link? Is that what I am to you, a fucking weak link?!" Sarana replied, though once again Tirek found that while she couldn't actually display her emotions, based on whatever had happened in her past, he got the feeling that his words had pissed her off to some degree, before she got up and walked over to one of the walls that was nowhere near where he was standing, where she leaned against it and glared at him, "Go on, old man, go find the Lords of Cinder on your own, without the assistance of someone who knows their way around the majority of this land... you'll be lost, or possibly even hollow, in a few short hours."
Tirek opened his mouth to say something, to show that he was even more annoyed with Sarana, before pausing as he thought about what she had just said, that he wouldn't be able to find his way around this land and would get lost at some point, once he left this castle and headed to wherever the old lady's banner would take them, as it was a rather sound thing to say and he absolutely hated himself for admitting that fact. As much as he hated to admit it, he was never going to find the Lords of Cinder without someone helping him traverse the land that he was in, not before someone else found them and returned each of them to their thrones, so in the end he actually needed someone like Sarana to help him make his way across this land and help him fight off his enemies, just to get the power he desired.
"You're right..." Tirek said, where he sat down by the bonfire and stared at the flames for a moment, as he knew that Sarana wouldn't want to look at him for a time and would likely never want to be his companion on this quest from this moment forward, meaning he had to think about his options and how he was going to go about gaining the power he needed so he could face beings like the Dancer that took them both out.
"What was that?" Sarana inquired, almost like she didn't hear what Tirek had said, though he wouldn't blame her if that was the case, since she had every right to be angry or upset with him, even if he was assuming all of this as he went, though out of the corner of his eye he did see that she was looking his way again, but he didn't dare think that she was going to forgive him that easily.
"I said that you were right," Tirek stated, as he did hate it when he had to repeat himself when he was talking, be it to someone he was threatening or someone like Sarana, but at the very least it would let his companion know what he had said and that he realized something very important, something that he couldn't get rid of at the moment, "I cannot do this quest on my own, not with my limited knowledge of the land, my frail body, and my lack of power... so what I'm saying is that everything you have said is correct."
"Finally." Sarana said, to which she walked back over to where Tirek was sitting and lifted him onto his hooves, though he could tell that there was something different about her, something that he couldn't quite place a finger on right now, but he had the feeling that it was far less important than whatever had come over his companion, "Listen, I'm not foolish enough to take on that dancer again, not with our level of power anyway, so we need to get moving and find out what's on the other side of the Great Gate... maybe we can gain some new skills or power, before trying to fight her again."
"Now that sounds like a plan." Tirek replied, and it was a good one at that, because he had been thinking the exact same thing, as in neither of them were strong enough to take on the Dancer at the moment, even together they fell rather easily, so they needed to get stronger and that meant following the path the old lady, Emma, had set them upon, as he was sure that if they found one of the Lords of Cinder he might have enough power to take out the Dancer.
Tirek knew there was no way they were going to get about the souls that were inside the church that the Dancer was waiting in, but as far as he was concerned she could keep them, as he and Sarana were going to go elsewhere and find out where the Lords of Cinder were resting, then they would come back, when both of them were ready, and take her out so they could move on to the next area, but first they had a gate to investigate, along with wherever it lead them.