//------------------------------//
// Cave Exploration 
// Story: Elden Ring: The Deaths of Tirek 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

After resting at the Grace for a few more moments Tirek came up with his next move, he was going to explore the rest of the area that was around the church, ignore the Tree Sentinel, and maybe head over to the lake once he was good and ready for such a thing. He had no idea how many powerful creatures there were in this world, but right now his hopes were that he could find some more of the lesser ones, like the knight he faced back in the cave that taught him how to fight, since they should be easier to take out. If he gathered enough of their power he was sure he would gain a good deal of power, maybe enough to deal with the Tree Sentinel and anyone else that was close to it's power, where such a thing would allow him to move on with his quest and not have to worry about missing anything of importance. As he considered that, however, he did take a moment to recall the odd transparent fog wall he had seen in the crypt he had moved to after his battle with the foul grafted monster, one he needed to return to after finding the key no doubt.

Once he accessed his situation Tirek got up from where he was sitting and headed outside, using the eastern exit since it would allow him to bypass being harassed by the Tree Sentinel, even though the road would take him back to the ruins that he had met Melina near. The Soldiers he had taken out previously were back, a benefit of resting at a Grace since it meant more Runes for him, though as he carefully put them down with two pebbles each, before they could do anything, he came to a stop as he found two more of his current foes hanging out near ruined wagons. From what he could see someone or something had attacked the caravan, thus explaining the patrolling Soldiers in this part of Limgrave, as he was convinced that they were doing this to make sure no one else attacked them, and the trail seemed to be leading right to a cave he had missed in his earlier exploration. Such a thing made him walk over to where the cave entrance was located, as he wanted to see if a powerful creature was lurking inside it, though he took down the remaining two Soldiers and absorbed their Runes as he entered his chosen destination, finding that he needed to locate a torch at some point.

Interestingly enough he located a Grace not a few steps into the cave, allowing him to activate it and light up the entrance, before discovering that a torch might not be required at all, as there was a camp inside the cave that had been overrun by wolves, who seemed to be resting around it for some reason.

"This world gets stranger by the moment." Tirek quietly remarked, because while he knew that there were animals back in his home world who acted like this, who interacted with a mare named Fluttershy as he recalled, he wasn't expecting the wild animals of this odd world to do something like this.

He was interrupted by the sound of something growling, where Tirek found that some wolves might have been patrolling their lair and had caught sight of him while he was observing the area, to which he readied his magic and blasted one the moment it jumped at him. What he found to be interesting was that the wolves attacked with an odd sideways jump, like they were trying to bash into his legs and stagger him so he'd be easier to take down, and that the smaller ones went down in a single hit, allowing him to focus on the larger wolf that took a bit to defeat. It was an annoying foe, hitting harder than he expected it to, while not outright killing him in a single blow like the Tree Sentinel, and taking more damage than the rest of the pack, but he was able to bring it down and resume his search of the cave, since there had to be something here that caused the wrecked wagons outside. In the next few moments he discovered a dead Soldier resting on the ground, near a path that lead down to where a golden mist wall was located, to which he turned around and returned to the Grace so he could restock his flasks and channel his Runes in case the creature behind the wall killed him.

Once that was done he quickly retraced his steps to the golden mist wall and passed through it before the wolves noticed his movements, allowing him to find a camp, with several burning fires that seemed impractical, on the other side, with what looked like a person who was a cross between a human and a beast. The bestial creature seemed preoccupied as Tirek entered it's domain, sharpening the wicked looking blade that had to be it's weapon, making him wonder if this creature was the one attacking the Soldiers and stealing supplies, not that it really mattered to him in the long run. After he considered that the Beastman turned his head for a moment and growled as he noticed Tirek entering his domain, setting aside what had to be his grinding stone as he lifted his weapon, showing him that the creature was more than ready for battle, which was proven due to the extra roar that followed his foe fully facing him. The shocking thing was that the Beastman was able to lunge at him like his sword meant nothing to him, as if it weighed nothing at all, causing Tirek to dodge before his foe was able to cut him up, though he also readied his staff and his magic, since he had the feeling his own sword would do nothing to a foe that moved like this.

While the Beastman was faster than some of the foes he had faced so far, save for the Tree Sentinel, Tirek found that he had to dodge the attacks that were coming his way and put some distance between him and his foe before using some of his magic to hurt it, who simply staggered before continuing the fight. The sheer amount of spins that the Beastman used forced Tirek to constantly move out of the way, since his foe seemed to be carrying a greatsword of some kind and wasn't bothered by the weight, swinging it around like it was a branch he had stolen from a tree. Such a thing forced him to pick and choose when to attack and when to dodge, even though Tirek also discovered that his foe seemed to have a vast, or even unlimited, amount of stamina that made things much harder for him in the long run, since his foe unleashed one set of moves and then repeated it without delay. Fortunately there was something that made the fight easier for him, despite his foe's aggression and how many attacks he could pull off, all he had to do was sprint over to the other end of the area that the campsite was resting in and fire at his foe, as the Beastman actually did a slow walk towards him before rushing back into battle.

Those openings allowed Tirek to plan his attacks accordingly, nearly getting hit several times as he realized that there were a few dead Soldiers around the chamber they were in, meaning his foe had to have been weakened before his arrival, but, in the end, he blasted the Beastman into oblivion and gathered the spoils of his victory.

"What's this?" Tirek commented, as while he was pleased with gaining more Runes for his power, even though it seemed like it would take some time for him to match the creatures of this world, he found a little shield icon of some kind that had a red dragon marking on it.

"That is a talisman, one of many you can collect in this vast world." a voice replied, where Melina appeared nearby, likely due to the fact that she had sensed his incoming question and sent her projection to help him out, causing Tirek to look at it for a moment as he felt some sort of power resting inside it, "Each one helps the Tarnished in some manner: some will boost your various magical skills, others will strengthen your body or mind, some will grant you power in exchange for a decrease in your other aspects, and a few others will shroud your body in an illusion. The unused pouch you have will hold all of them and allow you to draw on their power, including the talisman you just picked up... I believe it will help against any and all dragons you might encounter in the future."

"So explore, find more talismans, and grow stronger... got it." Tirek said, which seemed like a good thing to him, since some of the items in question might give him some significant power boosts so he could face his targets, where he quickly placed it inside the other pouch as Melina disappeared once more.

With that done he took a moment to look over the rest of the chamber, finding that there was nothing in the camp or near any of the other campfires that had been set up previously, though there was a small blue light near the ground that, when he used it, brought him back to the start of the cave, right near it's Grace. After discovering that he sat down for a moment and focused his Runes into more power, since he didn't want to lose the Runes that belonged to a powerful creature, and as soon as that was done he stood up and headed outside, because he needed more power. This time when he called Torrent to his side he headed to his right, to the left of the ruined church, allowing him to glance out over the area as he kept an eye out for wandering powerful creatures, important statues, and even openings to more caves, since that meant he might be able to find something of importance. As he expected there were only wild animals wandering around, who fled the instant he rode by them, though he was pleased to find a path leading down to the beach he suspected had been to the west of the church, since he was sure that something might be down there for him to collect.

The only downside he could see was that there was a tall humanoid figure that had a large greatsword on it's back and it looked like it's insides had been scooped out, leaving a shell behind for the Tarnished to deal with, where Tirek climbed off his mount and readied his magic. He wanted to see if the Troll, or whatever it was, was stronger than him or weaker than him, since it would give him a good idea if he had improved or not, and while the creature ignored him at first, showing no signs of interest, that changed when Tirek hit it with a magic pebble. Sure enough it roared at him before walking towards the area he was standing in, where it was far to easy for him to tell that when he was within a certain distance his foe would attack the ground with his fists or swing at him, and if he was near the creature's feet it would attempt to stomp him down, a useful bit of information in his eyes. With that in mind Tirek kept his distance and dragged out the Troll's attacks, punishing it whenever it opened it's defenses, though after some time the creature pulled out it's sword and swung it at the ground, all in an attempt to take him down, forcing him to change his approach to this fight.

In the end Tirek emerged without took much damage, allowing him to call forth Torrent as he headed down the rest of the path and reached the beach, where he found eagles on some ruins, a bulky knight resting on the northern tip while doing nothing but looking at a fire, some of the little Demi-Humans on the southern side, a few crabs wandering around, and what looked like a ball of tentacles or octopus legs. He really had no idea what the last creature was supposed to be, nor did he feel like finding out since he didn't feel a lot of power coming from it, so Tirek headed to the south while ignoring whatever the ball creature was, choosing to focus on the little annoying monsters since there might be a cave nearby. He found that each of them carried a wooden club and a wooden shield that was just a bunch of planks put together, though they were annoyed by his presence and the group of four attacked him without delay, causing him to sigh as he blasted them with his magic. Even four on one he took them down in no time at all, meaning either his magic was strong or these were weak foes, and he was sure it was the latter, and found that there was a cave entrance behind them, causing him to grin as he quickly dismissed Torrent and headed inside, activating and resting at the Grace he found a few seconds later.

Upon discovering that it, too, was dark Tirek warped back to the ruined church and spoke with Kale, who had a torch for sale and it was actually rather cheap, causing him to purchase it before returning to the new cave, where he used the rest of his Runes to empower himself before holding his new torch up and headed into the depths.

Sure enough he found that the torch illuminated the area around him, while also drawing attention to him since he found a fair number of small Demi-Humans in the cave, where he had to assume that Melina was giving him the names of every foe he fought, to keep him focused on his personal task. Since he needed the light to see Tirek made sure to blast his foes while they were far away from where he was standing, as his magic seemed to be enough to take most of them down in two hits, but, based on what he had seen so far, there was a chance he might meet a larger Demi-Human soon, who might be more powerful than the foes he was fighting right now. As he did that Melina also informed him that he could actually allot how many times he could sip from each flask, as right now he had three crimson and one cerulean flask, but, thanks to what seemed to be the power of Grace, he could turn one into the other, meaning he could have any combination of flasks as long as it matched his total number. Tirek considered another fact for a moment, as in was it Melina who had told him everything he needed to know back in the cavern that taught him how to fight, or was there another being that had done that, though after a few moments of thinking about it he decided that it really didn't matter.

With that information in hand Tirek stopped when he spotted a golden mist wall, confirming that another powerful beast was in this cave, before returning to the Grace spot to channel his Runes and give himself two cerulean flasks, even if that meant switching to two crimson flasks.

Once that was done he quickly headed down the tunnel again, this time avoiding the Demi-Humans that were in front of him, before entering what appeared to be a large cavern that had a small pool of water in the center, though that was the moment that he found out who his target was. This time around he had to contend with three small Demi-Human fighters and one larger one that looked more like a crazed warrior of some kind, as it carried two blades that looked painful to be hit by, to which Tirek did the smartest thing he could think of, he called on his spirits once more. His wolves burst out as a battle cry was screeched by one of the smaller foes, alerting the bigger one to Tirek's presence, causing him to focus on the larger foe as he switched to his arc spell, since it could hit multiple targets and not harm his summons, so he could use it to take down the lesser foes before worrying about the larger one. He assumed it was a chieftain or leader of some kind, given how it almost seemed like the others were listening to it's shrieks and moving accordingly, causing his wolves to tear into them while he blasted the Chieftain in the chest, only to find that it staggered for a few seconds and got up like it had taken no damage at all.

Of course he didn't get too far into the battle before he found that there was a second group of enemies, as in three of the smaller ones and one of the Chieftains, which made no sense when he considered how society usually worked, and when both engaged him there was nothing he could do as they slashed and hacked him to pieces.

Tirek reappeared at the Grace not a few seconds later and huffed, as everything had been going great up until this point and he was annoyed that his ventures into the caves, his run of surviving since he wasn't counting clashing with the Tree Sentinel earlier, had been interrupted. With that in mind he got his Spirit Bell ready and made his way back to where his foes were waiting for him, finding that when he died it seemed to have reset them as well, so he was able to call forth the trio of wolves again as he engaged the first Chieftain, while pulling it away from where the other slept. His plan was rather simple, he was going to take down this foe before it had a chance to summon the remaining enemies that were sleeping, even if it seemed weird that they wouldn't awaken until either he got close or someone else woke them up, but he was going to use it to his advantage. By stopping the second group from awakening for a time he was able to blast and crush the first group, even if it meant losing one of his wolves this time around, where they looked at him for direction, causing him to motion for them to be silent as he collected his Runes, but once that was done he turned them loose on his foes, where the Demi-Humans shrieked in surprised as the battle started.

This time around, however, Tirek emerged as the victor as the second Chieftain and his followers fell, dissolving like all of the other powerful creatures he had beaten so far, making him wonder if that was to ensure that their Runes were given to the victor, before he paused as he was rewarded some tailoring tools and he spotted a second tunnel. There was the tunnel he had entered this area through and there was a second one that happened to be where the second Chieftain had been slumbering, to which he pulled out his torch as he investigated it, since he suspected that it had to be somewhat important. Sure enough he found more of the smaller foes hanging out in the new tunnel, who refused to fight him since he had slain their bosses, allowing him to make his way up the tunnel as he found that it lead right to the outside, right on the other side of the water from where the cave entrance was located. Tirek realized that he was on a small island that he had spotted earlier, during his trek down to the beach he had discovered the cave on, causing him to put away the torch as he turned around the corner and spotted a ruined structure up there, which he started to walk towards since he felt he might discover something up there.

His first discovery was a Grace, which he activated, before discovering a fallen dragon with a single pillar resting near it, a pillar that had a large crimson red gemstone on top of it that radiated power, where he got the feeling that devouring the dragons of this world might be the key to great power, causing him to grin as he rested for now and got ready to search for a brand new target.