//------------------------------// // Undead Settlement // Story: Dark Souls 3: Cinders of Power // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// With the bonfire activated, and a new ally joining the group instead of heading for the shrine to wait for them to return to trade in some of their souls for empowering themselves or whatever gear they need, Tirek, Sarana, and Martok walked away from the newly lit bonfire and followed the path that lead away from the gate that they had raised, so they could head into the ruined village. As they did that Tirek noticed something interesting, there were a number of metal cages and wrapped up people shaped objects, where he considered the fact that the residents of this village must have taken anyone that could become a hollow and caged them, like they were protecting the rest of their home from the mindless ones, which also told him that they would have to be careful, since their new enemies wouldn't like the fact that the three of them were coming to their village. Sarana and Martok barely glanced at the cages and bound people, meaning this was either very common in this world or they didn't care about what they were seeing, causing Tirek to turn away from the objects that had caught his attention for a few moments and followed them as they headed towards the entrance of the building that happened to be in front of them, where two of the peasant hollows, one holding a pitchfork and one wielding a cleaver, were patrolling the area in front of the entrance. In that moment, as Sarana moved out of the way, Matrok raised his weapon and blocked the incoming attack from the pitchfork hollow, allowing Tirek to focus on the cleaver hollow in the back and blasted him with two Soul Arrows, though as that foe fell he was curious as to when his spells were going to be strong enough to take out a foe in a single shot, and it also reminded him of the fact that he should see what Yoel had to sell at some point. With that done the three of them headed inside the building that was their current destination and found that one of the wrapped up bodies happened to have a leather shield of some kind, a small one at that, and Sarana took it, no doubt to add it to their collection of gear that they seemed to be gathering, before Tirek and Martok headed down the steps that would take them down to the lower level. While they did that Sarana seemed to explore the other part of the upper area, one that only she could access from the looks of things, and not a few seconds later a short being, with some sort of hood that covered its head, fell to the ground in front of them, dead from their companion ending the stealthy being's life in a matter of seconds, before she dropped down beside them as they continued to move forward. What they discovered was a dead person in a chair, some charcoal resting in a bundle, a balcony that would allow them to see outside the building they were in, and another wooden set of stairs that would likely take them to the lowest level of this structure, though while Sarana and Martok explored the floor they were on Tirek walked out onto the balcony. It was then that he saw a large number of hollows gathered around what appeared to be a massive fire, one that was burning a large tree for some odd reason, where a large lady happened to be in the middle of all of it, like she was the leader of the pack or something, but he suspected that she was a spell user, based on the book she was carrying, something he was interested in getting his hands on, as it might help them out in the future. Once Tirek took that in he found that the balcony wrapped around the rest of the building and decided to follow it for a moment, where he found a wrapped up body with a glowing bone that he collected, a pitchfork hollow that was taken down before it even knew what was going on, and some sort of powder that was around the corner, though once all of that was collected he turned around and headed back to where Sarana and Martok were waiting for him. As it turned out the pair were waiting on the lower floor of the building, standing over one of the hood wearing hollows, dead from the looks of it, meaning they must have taken one out while he was exploring the outside of the building, before they started to move as a group once more, this time heading for the opening that would take them outside the wrecked building that they were currently inside. There just so happened to be two more of the thralls, as Tirek was going to call them, that were lurking inside the building, so while his companions quickly dealt with one of them he turned and blasted the other into the wall, though his target did drop his axe, meaning it was a weapon he could collect and he did so, mostly because they were in the habit of collecting everything that was useful and he had no idea if they would actually need an axe at some point in the near future, but it was better to be prepared for anything that might happen. The only other item that they found in this building was more of the charcoal bundles, though since he had no idea what they were used for he just picked them up anyway, knowing that either Sarana or Martok would tell him what their purpose was at some point in the near future, before joining his companions near the path that lead outside. As they walked outside Tirek found that there was another path off to the side, just before the large cluster of foes he had seen earlier, and that it meant going over a bridge, though as they approached the area he had scouted out Sarana held out her hand and caused them to stop, something he followed after seeing what Martok was doing, before she took a moment to open her satchel and removed some of the firebombs they had picked up so far. It was in that moment that they watched as she palmed one of the bombs and then threw it at the barrels that were behind some of the hollows, an action that caused the bomb to explode and ignite the oil that was inside the couple of barrels, blowing all of the enemies in that first group away in an instant. A few seconds later she repeated her actions on the second set of barrels, where Tirek watched as that group was blown away as well, cutting down on the number of enemies they would have to fight in this area, since it left them with the evangelist that was standing in front of the burning tree and the couple of hollows that were near her. What that meant was that they had six hollowed enemies to deal with, three looking like they were holding cleavers and the other three having pitchforks, and the evangelist, to which Tirek gestured to the hollows for a moment, where Sarana and Martok nodded their heads as they approached their foes and started attacking them, where he raised his staff and blasted his target in the chest. It was in that moment that Tirek discovered that his foe wouldn't be taken down so easily and that she had a rather large mace, one that had spikes on it, meaning he had to be careful if she got close to him, but all she seemed to do at the moment was launch bits of dark energy at him, which were a little annoying to dodge since they doubled back to try and hit him a few times, before disappearing. Of course that seemed to be a diversion so the evangelist could approach him and try to crush him with her mace, but he avoided the attack and then blasted her again, finding that it would take a few moments to bring his foe down, even though it appeared that Sarana and Martok were already done with their foes and were waiting to see if he needed any help with his enemy. From what he could tell his Soul Arrows were dealing some damage to his foe, though she could definitely take a few of them, because he had to resort to blasting her with one of his Heavy Soul Arrows just to cause her to stagger, but even then she got up after a few moments and continued the fight, showing him that these ones were going to be tough at his current level of power. Even though he didn't want to get hit by his foe, or more specifically the dark energy she was throwing at him, he ended up taking a hit at one point and was knocked backwards a little, though that only caused him to get back up and blast her again, all while mentally cursing both his old body and his lack of power once more. That was what he hated about this entire thing, he didn't have any of his true terrifying power and was reduced to relying on the spells of this world to help him out, to the point where he could regain a fraction of his former power, hence the hunt for the Lords of Cinder, as they seemed to be the key to doing that, even if it would take some time to find them. It took him a full minute, possibly two, to bring down the lady, but his plan to take her book and discover even more of this worlds spells didn't work out, mostly because she ended up destroying the book with her last spell, so he picked up a gem that looked like some sort of holy power was attached to it, pocketed it, and headed over to the burning tree, as that was where Sarana and Martok were standing. "If we're going from enemies that can be defeated in two hits, like the knights of the High Wall, to enemies that fall in six or eight hits, just like how that evangelist, we need to get stronger." Tirek commented, though that was mostly due to his annoyance over his lack of power, the fact that he was missing his true magical power and his true form, and from what he could tell neither Sarana or Martok even had an opinion on what he just said, causing him to shelve the thought for now as he faced them, "So, did your foes drop anything useful, or should we just move on?" "They dropped nothing, but we did find something useful," Sarana replied, to which she held up a large glass shard, one that definitely came from a bottle of some kind, before Tirek realized that the coloration of the shard looked like it was a fragment of their Estus Flasks, meaning that it was possible to destroy them in some manner, not that he was thinking about doing that since they were so important to his quest, "this is an Estus Shard, an item that we can take to the smith back at the shrine and upgrade the number of flasks that each of us can carry, so we can go from four flasks to five, giving us another flask to use when we're in tough battle." "So it would be in our best interests to find as many shards as we can and outfit ourselves with more flasks, which will keep us alive longer in battle and keep my magic reserves up." Tirek said, showing that he understood what Sarana was trying to tell him, as this was much simpler that anything he had learned so far since he showed up in this world, but, since these things appeared to be rare, that meant they had to be on the lookout for more shards, and possibly anything else that might help them out in the future. "Indeed, and we should be on the lookout for Undead Bone Shards, which we can put inside the shrine's bonfire and increase the amount of healing each flask gives... or that is what I've heard, anyway." Sarana added, showing Tirek that there were more things that they should try to get their hands on as they explored the lands of this world, as both types of shards sounded important and now he wanted to find more of them, to boost their chances of surviving against the more powerful creatures in the future, since he knew they would find one at some point. "Oh, that reminds me, I did find one earlier as well," Martok remarked, to which he reached into his own pack for a few seconds and then withdrew a second Estus Shard, one that he handed over to Sarana, like he trusted her more than he trusted himself, before he faced Tirek again, who had an eyebrow raised at what just happened, "I found that while I was exploring the High Wall, looking for a key to free Greirat from his cell, which I eventually did and accepted his aid as a merchant and thief, so he's probably at the shrine as well. Speaking of which he asked me to find someone called Loretta, whose supposed to be in this village somewhere, and give her a ring for some odd reason, though so far I haven't found anyone who goes by that name, though I did see some familiar faces that have been reduced to being hollows." Tirek noticed that part of what Martok said had resonated with Sarana, but she said nothing as she took the shard and put it with the first one, though what he thought about was the fact that they would have to return to the shrine at some point in the near future, based on what he was learning from both of his companions, before he pulled out the bone he had picked up earlier and found that there happened to be a name engraved on it, the same one that Martok had said, so he handed that over to the warrior. With that done they started to explore the rest of the area they were in and found a lone soul lingering near a gate that couldn't be opened, which Tirek collected as they headed over to the path that would take them to the next building, even though there were a number of ruined buildings in this village, making Tirek a little curious as to how many of the residents had become hollows to make the settlement like what they were seeing. There were also a few more peasant hollows lingering around the area that the burning tree was in, ones that weren't with the evangelist and her group, meaning all the trio had to do was approach them like a group and take them out, with Sarana and Martok staying at the front and Tirek staying at the back to hit them with Soul Arrows. Near the burning tree, on the other side from where they found the Estus Shard, they located another ember, one that was added to their collection despite the fact that Tirek really had no idea why any of them were even gathering the items in question, though he didn't say anything as they determined which path to take next. They walked down the road and found two more peasant hollows that wanted to challenge them, so Martok cut the first one down as the second was blasted by Tirek, allowing Sarana to scout the rest of the area out before they moved on, as she was the least likely to draw attention to herself and could be out of a zone before their enemies even knew she was there to begin with. It was then that the group headed for the short tunnel that went through one of the buildings, which also happened to be near the edge of the area the settlement had been built on, and started to walk through it as Sarana picked up another Titanite Shard, which they would use in the future, though when they reached the end of the passage they found two thralls waiting for them. Fortunately it didn't take them very long to beat these guys, as the thralls were rather easy to deal with since Sarana helped take down the one that went for Martok and Tirek simply blasted the other one that was in front of them, and once they were taken care of the trio continued walking, though as that happened Tirek did notice that some there were some easy enemies in this area and a few tough ones, meaning they had to be careful as they explored the Undead Settlement. He stopped as his companions stopped, as there was an abrupt end to the path and the only way to continue if they chose this route was to use the hole that was in front of them, to which they turned around and exited the tunnel, as there happened to be another path they could take, just up the road from where they were standing, meaning there was another path for them to explore and take in the rest of the wrecked village. The other path brought them to a wooden door that allowed the group to enter part of the building that seemed to be attached to the tunnel they had decided not to take, though as they opened the door all three of them spotted no enemies at the moment and found more of the charcoal bundles over in one corner of the room, though before any of them could even head towards the stairs one of the cages, which had a bunch of hollowed bodies that looked like they had merged into a single being, came to life and attacked them. As it turned out the creature was really easy for them to take out, as all they had to do was let Martok stun it with a powerful thrusting attack and then both Sarana and Tirek could finish the job with their blades, as Tirek wasn't about to waste his magicka on an already weakened opponent like this, though once the creature was taken care of they headed for the stairs. Interestingly enough Tirek found a large soul on one of the hanging bodies, which he collected for when they headed back to the shrine, as it was something nice to add to what they would have to do whenever they went back there, and then they found a locked door at the bottom of the stairs, one that looked like it lead to a room that had some sort of soup cooking, not to mention a hole in the ceiling, which all three of them must have overlooked. He was then forced to rethink that thought as Sarana appeared on the other side of the door and quickly unlocked it, confirming in Tirek's mind that nothing seemed to escape her sight and that she must have slipped away while he and Martok were heading down the stairs, but at the very least it opened the way to some soup that looked like it was a bunch of Estus, meaning it could be a free potion while they were in this area. From there they started to head down the tunnel that was directly behind them, where the first thing they did was take out one of the Cage Spiders, the best thing that Tirek could think to call this type of enemy, before they spotted what appeared to be a red eyed hollow that seemed pissed off, so instead of advancing toward it the trio simply let it walk over to where they were standing, a fatal mistake as it turned out. Matrok was more than ready to defend himself against the incoming attacks, stunning the hollow for a moment, which allowed Sarana to rush by him and cut into his sides, before Tirek finished the job and blasted him into the wall, though while the foe dropped nothing Tirek understood that they did work well as a team and that they could conquer whatever was thrown at them, even though they all raised their guards as they continued down the tunnel they were in. There happened to be two more Cage Spiders at the end of the tunnel, both trying their hardest to look like the inactive cages that were around them, but Sarana found them out and attacked the pair, allowing Tirek and Martok to finish them off after the first strike, which was the moment that the trio left the tunnel and followed the short set of stairs to a new path, one that almost seemed to be an alley between the two rows of buildings they were near. As they walked down the alleyway, however, Tirek discovered that there was an open door and found that the room it lead to was worthless, as it was a dead end and went nowhere, it didn't even have anything for them to use inside it, so he followed Sarana and Martok, knowing that at least one of them knew the way forward and that they weren't lost, not yet anyway. They encountered two more peasant hollows that rushed at them, though Tirek focused on the more important foe, as there was one of the evangelists walking on a walkway that connected the two rows of buildings that they were walking between, so while Sarana and Martok cut down the two hollows Tirek quickly drank one of his Ashen Flasks and then used a few Heavy Soul Arrows to knock the evangelist out, so she wouldn't fire at them while they were walking through the opening that was below her. With that particular foe taken care of the trio were able to continue down the alleyway and focus on any additional foes that were in the area, like a peasant hollow that happened to be guarding a whip, along with one of the thralls that lowered from the ceiling of the room the weapon was in, though that was all that was in that area and soon they were back outside, continuing down the alleyway once more. There was one more peasant hollow in the alleyway, showing Tirek that they were spread out and didn't seem to be working together like the knights of the High Wall did at times, but while his companions cut that hollow down he explored a small path to the side and found another Titanite Shard, something he pocketed as he returned to the opening that was below where the evangelist had been standing and walked through it so they could access the tunnel that would take them to another part of the settlement, as he knew there was more for them to explore. As they did that Tirek and Martok paused for a moment as Sarana climbed up a ladder to their left and headed up to the area that the evangelist had been standing, where she picked something up and returned to them within a second or two, though he found that she collected another Titanite Shard and said nothing as they went through the doorway that was in front of them and found themselves in a small building. From there they walked down the steps and kept their eyes open for enemies, where they discovered they were alone, oddly enough, and then headed through the other entrance so they could see what was on the other side, where they found that they were drawing closer to the tower and some of the other landmarks that were in this area. Sarana then headed to their right and that was when Tirek watched as she found one of those small Crystal Lizards, where she chased it down and killed it in seconds, returning to him and Martok with yet another stone type that Tirek had never seen before, but she pocketed the stone as they focused on the foe that just so happened to be walking through the area that was close to where they were standing. The foe in question was a large being that was dressed in red clothing and happened to be carrying something that resembled a saw that someone would use on a tree, the one that two people would have used, and there was a cage on his back, but he hadn't noticed them yet and that was how Tirek wanted it to stay, for now to be exact. He had no doubt that the three of them could take down the manservant, or whatever it was, but at the same time he was running low on magicka, even if he had one more Ashen Flask, and was silently hoping to find a new bonfire at some point in the near future, so they could skip a good portion of the enemies they had faced so far since they came to this area. Fortunately the fork in the road that the manservant was patrolling on was long and his route made it so they could easily slip by him without drawing his attention, though that was when Tirek found that there was a bonfire in the area that the second path lead two, one that happened to be lower than the doorway they walked through, and he lit it in no time, as it was nice to have a new one, before the three of them headed back to the shrine. "Ah, the shrine, its good to be back after waiting near that gate for so long." Martok commented, informing Tirek that he must have been waiting there for a long time, no doubt because he was waiting for Sarana to arrive so they could join forces for this quest, though Tirek turned his attention to his pack and pulled out the couple of souls they had found while they were exploring the Undead Settlement. Once the souls had been pulled out, and had been crushed so their power could be absorbed, the trio appeared the Fire Keeper and empowered themselves with the power they had taken so far, though once Tirek had taken his turn he glanced up at the thrones and found someone standing by the middle one, meaning that it was someone he could talk to and see if he had anything to tell him. Sarana, after completing her own empowerment, touched the soul they gained from the large beast-like knight that was guarding the Great Gate, as if she was considering something important, before beckoning to where Ludleth was sitting, as if indicating that Tirek should talk to him as well, meaning that he might as well explore the shrine once more and talk to some of the residents, both new and old. He waited for a few more moments, so Martok could finish what he was doing with the Fire Keeper, though once he was done, and none of them were bothering the Fire Keeper anymore, Tirek started up the stairs that would take him to the throne that Ludleth was sitting on, not that he could move since it appeared he had no legs. He had to assume that something major had happened to the man at the time he became a Lord of Cinder, to make him like this, but at the same time he really didn't care about the reason behind Ludleth's missing legs, to which he pushed the thought out of his mind as he dropped down onto the throne that the old man was standing on and faced him. What was interesting to Tirek was that Ludleth seemed to be waiting for him to return, or his entire group when he considered it, as the old man's head raised the moment he came to a stop in front of the throne, showing that he might have something important to tell him before he left to continue his quest to locate the other three Lords of Cinder that would open the way to the missing Prince. "Listen, this might pique your interest. Before I was a Lord of Cinder, I was a student of transposition." Ludleth stated, where Tirek raised an eyebrow for a moment, as he had no idea what that was and was hoping that the old man had an explanation as to what transposition was, hence the reason he remained silent as Ludleth continued, "Transposition is the process of extracting and coalescing the essence of a soul. A forbidden art, that once left a foul stain upon Courland's honor, but it is an art that also grants powers that were once thought unattainable. Most of the transposing kilns were lost with Courland, but this place is a crossing for all manner of cursed objects... if you and your companions happen to find a transposing kiln in your travels, bring it to me, and I will do what I can to help you in your quest." Tirek thought about that for a moment, wondering where they could find one of these transposing kilns and what sort of power they could grant him and his companions, but he ultimately said nothing to Ludleth as he jumped back down to where the bonfire was located, before he headed to the Prince's throne and approached the lone man that was leaning against the throne, who seemed to be wearing some odd looking leather armor, and both Sarana and Martok stared at the man as he stopped in front of him. "Unkindled, are we... and fast on the trail of the Lords absconded? Then these red eyes are for you." the man said, as if he had been studying them for some time, which was possible considering that he had been here before they returned from their exploration of the Undead Settlement, before he held a hand out and dropped some red colored orbs into the hand that Tirek held out, "Use them to pillage embers, and briefly heighten your strength, for the duty that you have been called to complete... for what else are Unkindled ashes good for?" In that moment Tirek had to assume that the man was mocking him and the rest of the Unkindled, even if he didn't care about the others all that much, and both of his companions remained silent as the man said that, so he assumed that either this was a common thing or no fighting was allowed in the shrine, so he pocketed the orbs and departed from the area, as he was eager to see if anyone else had arrived. As they headed toward the area that the blacksmith was in, even if they didn't have any weapons to modify or upgrade, as he was sure they didn't have enough shards to do so, Tirek found one of the thralls from the Undead Settlement resting near one of the walls, though he didn't appear to have any weapons on him at the moment and he raised his head as they approached him. "Oh, hello, you're back." Greirat, as that was the name that Martok had given him earlier, said, though it was clear that he was focused on the warrior for a moment, which was fine since neither Tirek or Sarana had encountered him before, even if Tirek was of the opinion that welcoming Martok into their party had modified their shrine in some manner, which he would have to ask the others about at some point, "And in one piece. Well, now it's time I do my part. Whatever trinket you need, speak up. Just don't ask me where I got them." "Actually, I came to tell you about Loretta," Martok stated, where he pulled out the bone that Tirek had recovered at the start of the Undead Settlement, and had given to him during their exploration, before handing it over to the man that was sitting in front of them, where the man took to the bone and stared at it for a few seconds, though with his hood over his head it was hard to tell what emotions he was going through. "Heavens, she was already dead." Greirat commented, where he put the bone aside for a moment, though even as he did that Tirek got the feeling that the news didn't come as a shock to the man, but he said nothing as he waited for the pair to stop what they were doing, "Thank you. I... I'm not surprised, though. To be honest, its almost a relief. Oh, and you can keep the ring. As, well, a little trinket of thanks I suppose." "I will. Oh, and one other thing," Martok said, where he shifted his stance and gestured to Tirek for a moment, which caused the man that was sitting on the ground to glance at him as well, though he assumed that this was to inform Greirat that they now served someone else, instead of it being that Greirat was helping Martok in his own unique way, "These are my companions Sarana and Tirek... though we have both sworn to serve Tirek and assist him on his quest." Greirat didn't need to be told anything else, as he simply stated that it was a pleasure to have someone to serve, even if they didn't need his wares all that much, allowing them to walk around the rest of the shrine and see if anyone else had arrived since the last time they were here, though that was when Tirek spotted Yoel standing in a corner that was far from the others, to which he walked over to the pilgrim, so he could see what he had to say before they headed back to the Undead Settlement to continue their quest. "Oh, our Champion of Ash, welcome home." Yoel said, where he bowed his head for a few moments, as if to show his thanks for what Tirek had done for him when he and Sarana encountered him earlier, before he quickly raised his head and focused on the three of them, as if there was more he had to say, "This pilgrim, with a debt in death, hardly deserves to behold this divine flame. And I never would have, had you not taken me into your service. I thank you dearly for this... and to assure you of my loyal and honest service." "Its good to see that you're so excited," Tirek remarked, even though part of him really didn't care, as the main reason he had gone through the effort to bring Yoel into his service was for the spells that he might be able to give him, even if he needed to get some souls so he could trade them in for the various pages that the pilgrim had on him, as he knew Yoel had to have a few spells for him, "So, what else do you have for me, in addition to spells?" "As I have said, I was once a sorcerer." Yoel replied, reminding Tirek of what he had said the first time he and Sarana found him outside the area they located Matrok, just in the off chance that one of them forgot that information, before he tilted his head for a moment, "Alas, the magic of Londor is a far cry from the wonders of Vinheim, but I can teach you what I know. Perhaps more importantly... I believe that I can help tease out your true strength. We pilgrims of Londor are keenly aware, that those branded by the Darksign possess something quite special..." "Wait, you can draw out my true strength?" Tirek inquired, because if that was the case, and Yoel was telling the truth about his abilities, this could be the quickest way for him to regain some of his former power and his true form, something that would allow him to deal better damage to their foes and, in time, give him access to his true terrifying power, which he was missing at the moment, before he focused on Yoel, "Do it." "As you wish, my Lord." Yoel stated, to which he raised his empty hand for a moment as he gathered his power, to do what the one he was sworn to serve was commanding him to do, before leveling his magic filled hand at Tirek, who stood there and waited for him to get this over with, even though he was clearly hoping for good results from this, "Bearer of the Darksign, let your true strength shine..." At first nothing happened, though before Tirek could even voice his disappointment he felt something inside him for a few seconds, where he watched as his old hands seemed to have a little youth restored to them, and the same was likely true for the rest of his body, indicating that Yoel had been right, before the pilgrim eventually stopped what he was doing and lowered his hand. That was what he was looking for, a way to reverse the damage that had been done to his power and his body after being beaten by Princess Twilight and her friends, though it did look like doing something like that did drain Yoel of some of his own energy, possibly even his own life force, so it would be some time before the pilgrim was able to do that again, which was just fine. By his own estimates he had about five percent of his total power back, which wasn't a massive amount when he thought about it, but it was better than what he was currently using against their foes, as this would allow him to take down the majority of the hollows they were facing with a single Soul Arrow, since he knew those enemies were easy, and the evangelists would be slightly easier for him to take on, meaning he was making some progress in his personal quest. Sarana and Martok said nothing to him as they took what happened in, either because they had no idea what to make of what Yoel had done or they had missed seeing what the pilgrim had done to him, but to Tirek it didn't matter, as he knew that the pilgrim held the key to regaining his lost power, he just had to be patient and come visit him every now and then to see if his power had been restored to the point where he could do it again. With that done, and there being nothing else for them to do in the shrine, Tirek and his companions headed back to the bonfire, as it was time for them to return to the Undead Settlement and continue their quest for the missing Lords of Cinder, as he had the feeling that they would find a new path soon enough.