Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials

by Blackdrag-rose


Shaded Woods

The moment Rarity, Edric, and Rosabeth returned to Majula, surprising some of the other people they knew by the fact that someone new was following them, Rarity led the way to Shalquoir's shop and found the cat sitting on the table, as per the usual. Rarity asked the cat if there were any dress making supplies in Majula, as she was likely the only one that knew that piece of information, and was surprised to hear that Shalquoir actually had a crate of supplies that had been dropped off by the previous Undead that came before her and Edric. She then quickly explained why she was asking and beckoned to Rosabeth, who waved at the cat, before asking if she could use the materials to craft the unfortunate lady a new dress and replace the rags that she was wearing at the moment. She was further surprised when Shalquoir said that she was more than welcome to use whatever materials were inside the crate, to which Rarity walked over to it and opened the lid, where she studied the materials in front of her.

The good news was that she had more than material to craft something for a human, though the downside to that was that she noticed that all the material was dull brown colored, which Rosabeth told her that she was okay with wearing once she made something from them.

From that point onward Rarity started the dressmaking process, though since she lacked access to the small machines she used back in her own boutique, as well as the mannequins that she had scattered around the shop, that meant she had to be more careful with how she went about creating Rosabeth's new dress. That process involved asking Rosabeth to aid her more than she usually had her clients help her, as she generally just took their measurements really quick and told them when to expect their dress, to which the lady agreed. Since Rarity was unfamiliar with the human body, as well as her own hybrid body, she took her time in making sure all of the measurements were accurate and the pieces of the dress connected to the right areas... which meant what would normally be a quick job took a few hours more than what she would spend on such a job.

By the time that she was finished with the dress, or as finished as the materials that Shalquoir had to give her could offer, Rarity was pleased to find that she had managed to create what appeared to be a cross between her own sorceress dress and the ruined dress that Rosabeth had been wearing, though now she wasn't wearing any rags and was quite happy with what Rarity was able to create. Rarity would have been happy having all of the tools from her boutique at her disposal, but she decided that this was the best she could create given the circumstances... to which she walked over to Edric and nodded her head. Since Rosabeth was staying in Majula, something that she had mentioned while they were working on her dress, the two of them could easily return to the ruins she had been frozen in and continue their search for the next Great Soul.

They quickly made their way back to the ruins that they had been near earlier, finding that the man that had been sitting outside the structure had disappeared, before they walked inside and approached the lever that Rosabeth had been turned into a statue in front of. When Edric pulled the lever four of the hollows they had fought earlier, each carrying their own log in one hand, dropped down from the upper area and attacked them, to which Rarity blasted one back with an Emit Force. Edric pulled himself away from the level and attacked the closest enemy, though as that one went down he and Rarity focused their attention on the other two enemies before they were sure that the area was clear... until some sort of frog like creature, with really big eyes, attacked them.

As Rarity backed away from the creature she could see that it breathed some sort of breath that she didn't like, which made her wonder if this was the type of monster that had frozen Rosabeth all those years ago, though Edric continued his attack until the creature was dead... where Rarity collected a stone of some kind before they walked through the now opened door and continued on their adventure.

On the other side of the door rested a pair of doors, one on the left and right sides of a staircase, though on a whim Rarity checked the door on the left and found a bonfire resting in the room she had discovered, which she activated so they could come back here at some point in the future. The door on the right, however, led to a small room that held a chest that contained some sort of flask shard, something that Rarity deemed to be important as she stuffed it inside her pack before she returned to Edric's side. They walked up to the upper area that the stairs took them to and walked through the door that was in front of them, where they left the structure behind and walked out onto the trail that was in front of them.

They carefully followed the path, as they both knew that this was the perfect place for their enemies to ambush them and do some real damage before they had a chance to fight back, though Rarity was pleased to find that their thoughts were correct, as another pair of the infected hollows charged at them. Neither of them did much to either of them, since Edric was able to bypass their defenses and weaken them from behind while Rarity finished them off by using the Emit Force spell once more, though once their foes were dead they collected the faded soul that one of them was carrying and moved along the path. Not a few minutes later they came to an area where more of the infected hollows were waiting, though while Edric charged forward to deal with the two in front of them Rarity focused her spells on the duo that were throwing rocks down at her friend, though once her targets were taken care of she turned her attention to the other hollows that her companion was fighting.

As Edric dealt with the rest of their current batch of enemies, however, Rarity walked up to where the rock throwing hollows had been standing and found a Pharros Lockstone resting on the ground, to which she smiled as she pocketed the item, as she was sure that they would need one of them in the near future.

Once the hollows were finished off the duo walked up the nearly slope and found three more enemies waiting for them, so while Edric dealt with the club wielding hollows Rarity focused her energy on the rock thrower that was standing near some sort of statue. The moment the three enemies had been taken care of, and they were sure that there weren't any other in the area around them, they walked into the tunnel next to where the statue was standing and dealt with another hollow that wanted them dead... though a few seconds later, when they walked into the area ahead of them, they spotted another bonfire and activated it not a few moments later.

Rarity was honestly surprised that there were two bonfires so close to each other, making her wonder if whoever had put them around this world had messed up or if there was a particular reason behind that decision, but because neither of them were tired yet they moved on once more. At the top of the stairs they noticed three paths that they could choose from, though on a whim they picked the one in front of them and walked forward, where they followed the path that they had picked and found a small patch of water that had a corpse resting near a small tree. As they walked on the ramp that they had discovered Rarity spotted something that was glittering on one of the corpse's hands, though which she, at Edric's beckoning, engaged her magic and lifted the ring from the finger, to which she noticed a red gemstone on it.

Of course she resolved to ask Shalquoir what the ring was and what it did, when they returned to Majula at some point in the future, but she simply pushed what they had done out of her mind and followed after Edric... to which they followed the rest of the path until they came to some sort of black door, one that she immediately knew was important.

"Okay, how do we get passed this obstacle?" Edric asked, because he was sure that there was something that they needed to acquire or push in order to get to the other side of the door, but he had no idea what that something was.

"I think we need to acquire the other three Great Souls before we get through this door," Rarity said, to which she beckoned for Edric to follow her, though that involved them retracing their steps back towards the new bonfire and picking the pathway on the right.

Since there was some fog in front of them, and they still had their torch, Edric put his shield away and pulled the torch out, to which the two of them walked out of the area that the bonfire was in and headed into the fog. While they walked through the fog, and made sure that they stayed near each other, Rarity could tell that there was some sort of shadowy creature following them, waiting for them to make a mistake so it could pounce on them. She didn't know if this was a skill she developed based on the adventure she was on, or something she had picked up from her access to Dark Magic, though she focused on the task at had and ignored what she was thinking about. A few more moments passed before she and Edric noticed a wooden face, horrified beyond belief, staring at them from one of the nearby trees, though Rarity took a chance and sent a wave of magic at the tree... to which the face moaned and she could hear the sound of something moving towards the tree.

From what she was able to tell the shadowy creatures, who were hidden by the fog itself, were drawn to the sound that the face made and determined that there had to be more of them, thus allowing them to bypass the danger that was in this area... though they had to search the entire fog, and activate several more faces, before they found the pathway that would take them away from the area they had been walking through. They carefully walked up the stairs and followed the ruined path up to what appeared to be another set of ruins, one that appeared to be lifted above where the fog area had been and allowed Edric to put the torch away. Rarity, however, could tell that this area might be home to one of the powerful creatures that they were supposed to be hunting for and wondered if they could find the Iron Keep by progressing through this area.

From there they entered the ruins and found a bonfire behind a fallen ramp, to which they activated the flames and sat near it, because they had been traveling nonstop since they left Majula and it was high time for a small break before they searched the new area they had discovered. Edric claimed that, despite the fact that they were Undead, that it would be best if they rested every now and then, allowing Rarity to regain her ability to use the maximum amount of spells she possibly could at any given time before they faced whatever terrors rested in the ruins around them. Rarity, on the other hand, was eager to get the adventure over with, though she knew that resting every now and then would allow them to increase their chances of surviving this area.

While they sat there Rarity wondered what sort of creature was silently waiting for them, like the Pursuer and the Sentinels that they had fought earlier, though at the same time she dreaded the encounter, as she was sure that someone was going to die in the process... and it was possible that it was going to be her or Edric that faced that fate.