After defeating Scorpioness Najka, and taking a short break to recover their energy, Rarity and Edric turned towards the doorway on the right of the main entrance of the cave they were in and walked through it, where they followed the ramp like hallway upwards. As they walked the two of them kept their weapons at the ready, as they were sure that enemies would find them soon enough, before they walked up some square cut steps that brought them to their next destination in the search for the Duke's Dear Freja, the Doors of Pharros. Rarity looked around the area that was in front of them and immediately assumed that the place in question looked like a quarry of some kind, one that a powerful creature was lurking in, but at the same time she had to wonder where the path to their true destination rested. She knew, from just a glance, that it would take them some time to even figure out the layout of this area, much less locate the pathway that would allow them to access their true target... but she could be patient while they searched for their targets.
"Well, since we just found a new area, there should be a bonfire around here somewhere," Edric commented, as his experience told him that there had to be one around here, because whenever they found a new location there was always a bonfire near the entrance of the area.
"Agreed," Rarity said, though at the same time she looked around the area, because if this was the Doors of Pharros, whose lockstones they were carrying at the moment, she was sure that there would be a fair number of the slots they could put the square stone into and unlock whatever they were hiding.
In front of them stood a large warrior, about as tall as the giants they encountered in the Black Gulch, that was wearing some decent metallic armor, was carrying a large shield and a halberd, and it's helmet had tusks stick out near the mouth area, making it look like another humanoid warrior like the lions they found outside Najka's cave. Edric approached the warrior, in an attempt to see what the creature did in a battle, though that was followed by the warrior raising his weapon and brought it down on where Edric was standing. Rarity, thinking fast, ignited her magic and latched onto her friend, where she yanked him back before the weapon could hit him... though when the dust settled they found a gash in the ground where Edric had been standing, indicating that the warrior had some decent power and that they shouldn't take the creature lightly.
At the same time, however, Rarity knew that there had to be more like him somewhere in the area around them, meaning that she and Edric needed to be careful against these opponents, otherwise they were going to be crushed by their weapons before they could win the battle.
"Thanks for the save," Edric said, though as Rarity released him he stared at the warrior that was in front of them, as he was curious as to how they were going to beat this guy, "also, I had no idea you had that sort of spell."
"It's Telekinesis, one of the most basic spells a unicorn learns," Rarity replied, though truthfully it was one of the few spells she had learned before she entered that portal and ended up here, but the other spells she knew from Equus wouldn't help in this world.
What she didn't say was that she got the strangest feeling from the warrior that was standing in front of them, because while she could feel that there was some primal force driving the creature she also felt that there was something dark and forbidden about the creature. At a glance it didn't look like the type of creature that would fall victim to the Undead curse, like she and Edric had, but if she glanced in the gaps that had been worn into the armor she could see some rotting flesh trying to hide itself. She wondered if someone had ripped the souls of humans out of their bodies and pushed them into new ones, creating what she and Edric were seeing at the moment, but since there was no way to find out their only course of action was to defeat the warrior that was in front of them.
Edric decided to take the warrior's attention and made him turn around so his back was facing Rarity, though at the same time he understood the power that was arrayed against him and knew that he had to dodge when the warrior raised his halberd into the air. Rarity, on the other hand, hurled a pair of Greater Soul Arrows at their opponent's back when it was bared at her, causing it to stagger as Edric cut into the exposed areas that rested between the various pieces of the warrior's armor. The warrior got back up a few seconds later and came at them again, but all they had to do this time around was wait for the warrior to miss his attack before Edric dealt the finishing blow, allowing them to move onward and find the bonfire... or the path forward, whichever came first.
There was a cave, until the area in front of them, that had the glow of a bonfire, to which the two of them grinned as they walked into the small cave and found what they were looking for, but this time around they simply activated it before returning to the stairs that they had ignored... where a smaller warrior, which reminded them of Gavlan, walked down the steps as he spotted them. Strangely enough it only took a few swings of Edric's sword to dispatch the warrior, though he had to avoid the large mace like weapon his opponent had been carrying, but in the end he walked away with the win and proved that he could actually win fights without having to rely on Rarity killing everything for him. Rarity was fine with this development, because she was growing tired of killing the majority of the enemies that they encountered and knew that Edric deserved some time to shine. She also glanced at the armor that the warrior was wearing and knew that it seemed identical to what Gavlan was wearing, which meant that they might have found where the merchant came from... though she shook that thought from her head and focused on the task at hand.
The two of them then decided to head back to the bonfire to rest, as they could easily take on both of the enemies that they had just taken out, though as they approached the entrance Edric spotted a chest resting nearby... one that Rarity stopped him from opening, to which she raised a hand and blasted it with a low level Soul Arrow. That caused the lid of the chest to open and reveal that there was a mouth resting in the chest, though that was followed by some arms and legs forming as well as the creature prepared to fight them. Rarity remembered Spike talking about that one game of his, where he mentioned 'mimic chests' which were creatures that lured treasure hunters to their deaths by pretending to be ordinary chests. The only reason she knew it was there was because she felt it's desire to kill someone, something that she must have gotten from all the Dark Magic she had been using lately... but before she did anything Edric charged forward and literally hacked the mimic to pieces before it could fight back, surprising Rarity with how ruthless he was being.
What they found on the mimic's body, however, was some dark colored leggings that looked like they belonged to a knight and a strange sword that made Rarity think of the scorpion guy they spotted in the previous area... though Edric merely put them away as they rested by the bonfire.
A few moments later they agreed that fighting in the water, as the water they had been fighting in so far had some decent height and made it harder for them to move around, something that Edric noticed when he first fought the first warrior they encountered, was a bad thing and determined that the high ground was the way to go. With that in mind the two of them returned to the entrance of this area and dealt with the two warriors that were in their way, where Edric focused on the smaller one while Rarity dealt massive damage to the larger one with her spells before felling it. Once the two warriors were take care of they carefully climbed the steps and watched out for danger, where they found an unsuspecting warrior sitting in front of a chest... to which Edric impaled the warrior from behind before opening the chest, where he found some sort of charm that he put into his pack.
From there the duo followed the pathway that was in front of them and came to a slightly open area where Gavlan was standing, though they sold him a few of their worthless items before they walked up the ramp that brought them to the top of the chamber they were in.
When they reached the top of the chamber the two of them walked out onto the walkway that was in front of them, where another Gyrm Warrior, as Gavlan called them, raised an axe into the air and threw it at them, but Rarity simply caught it with her magic and threw it back at it's owner. The warrior was stunned by what she had done and was instantly impaled by his own weapon, where Edric finished him off so he wouldn't be in pain anymore, as they had no idea if Gavlan's aggressive brothers were cursed or not. They then carefully walked along the pathway that was in front of them, as there was no railing on their left, before they came to a small indent on their right, where a warrior picked himself off the ground and charged at them. Rarity, instead of attacking the warrior outright, simply moved out of the way and Edric did the same, where they watched the warrior run right off the walkway and descend into the area below them... though to be absolutely sure he didn't come back for them Rarity had some sharp crystal spires appeared in the area, where the warrior was impaled instantly, before she withdrew them and continued onward.
She hated to admit that she was getting better at summoning the crystals with a command, as it only reminded her of what Sombra was able to do, but she was using this power for a greater purpose than the tyrant had been and let that fact calm her down... to which she focused on the enemies in front of them.
At the end of the walkway stood another warrior that charged at them, but unlike the one they just finished off this one stopped in front of them and raised it's shield, indicating that it wanted a fight, to which Edric stepped forward and raised his shield in kind. Rarity stepped back and watched as the two remained in that state for a few seconds, each daring their opponent to make the first move, before the warrior sprung forward and attacked Edric, who moved to the left and avoided the attack entirely. Edric then followed that up by cutting into the warrior's exposed chest area before pulling back, causing the warrior to stagger and shake his head before trying again, though that only ended in the same thing happening twice in a row... though this time around the warrior collapsed on the walkway in a pool of his own blood, indicating that Edric had won.
From there they walked up the winding stair filled hallway that was in front of them until they reached the top area, where a fountain of some kind stood between the passage they had walked through and an opening that led somewhere else... though Rarity had the feeling that they found the path to Brightstone Cove Tseldora on accident.
As the two of them walked out into the newest area they had discovered they noticed that there was a fair number of tents set up in front of them, though as they carefully explored the area Rarity spotted a bonfire resting in one of the tents, which meant that they must have found the next destination on accident. When the two of them walked out of the other side of the tent they were attacked by a small group of Undead pigs and some hollowed peasants, as the humanoid enemies were using farming tools to attack them. As it turned out the cursed pigs were actually very weak to Edric's slashing attacks and, at the same time, the poor farmers had the same weakness to Rarity's spells, as one Dark Orb was enough to blow a single peasant apart. There were also a few archer farmers in the area, but they all fell in rapid succession to Rarity's magic, once again making her wonder how many enemies were susceptible to her magic... as there appeared to be a great number of enemies in this land that were really weak to magic, making her stronger than most warriors were.
"So I guess we don't need to go back into the Doors of Pharros for anything," Edric commented, though at the same time he glanced over at Rarity, as he knew that she had been talking to Shalquoir before they departed from Majula, "What did our friend have to tell you about the order we should go in?"
"Shalquoir told me that we'd fight the Royal Rat Authority before we found this place," Rarity replied, to which she moved over to the edge of the area they were standing on and stared down at the area below them, where she found a bunch of crystals sticking out of the ground and some sort of church waiting in the distance, "but, considering that we're in the Brightstone Cove Tseldora now, I guess we don't have to worry about the rats anymore. I'm going to take a wild guess that the church I'm staring at is the one where the Prowling Magus and his Congregation are waiting, meaning that the path behind them will eventually bring us to the Duke's Dear Freja... the fourth and final Guardian."
"I guess that this is our lucky day," Edric said, to which he smiled as he joined Rarity by the edge, because since they already wiped out the forces that had been in this area he didn't have to worry about them being attacked from behind while they stood here, "we get to skip over an opponent that you would annihilate in an instant and focus on finding our true target that much quicker. Then, once we have the final Great Soul, we can figure out where the castle is located and meet with the King... and then we'll do whatever is necessary to cure ourselves of this curse."
For some reason Rarity was beginning to think that it wouldn't be that easy to figure out the cure to the Undead curse she and Edric had been afflicted with, because if it was that easy she was sure that the other Undead would have banded together to ensure everyone was saved from this. There was more to the curse than what she originally thought, even if she knew next to nothing about it, but she was hoping that the King had an idea on how to cure this affliction in some manner. Though even as she thought about that she realized that, due to the fact that she was friends with Shalquoir, she might actually have a more reliable method to figure out if there was a cure or not... but she decided to keep her mouth shut until they encountered the King, as she had no idea what Shalquoir knew or didn't know.
She would ask Shalquoir about the curse after they claimed the final Great Soul and met with the King, though until that happened she and Edric needed to focus on the task at hand... as there was one more Guardian for them to find and defeat before they could get started on the next stage of their long quest.