As Tirek ignited the Grace that appeared in Godrick's arena, like what happened when he defeated some of the far more important powerful creatures of the land, he found that Nepheli left the area as soon as the Demigod was defeated, with a frown on her face. Of course he didn't care too much about her, she had been a tool to help him take down Godrick and she had fulfilled her purpose with flying colors, so her leaving was for the best in his eyes, since he and Blaidd were more than enough to deal with everything. With that in mind his first action was to sit down at the Grace so he could spend the new Runes he had acquired, using Godrick's strength to empower his body to new heights, to the point where he was sure that if he went out to explore Limgrave he could do it on his own. Once that was done he held a hand out and focused, where he watched as the Great Rune he had found appeared not a few seconds later, something that caused him to wonder why it looked so dull, since he figured that it would be full of life.
"So that's Godrick's Great Rune... interesting." Blaidd commented, where he stared at the important dull item as he took a few seconds to think about what he was seeing right now, all while finding that Tirek's focus was squarely on it and nothing else, even though he knew his companion was listening in case he had anything interesting to share, "I had heard that the Great Towers of the land were connected to the Great Runes... maybe we should find a way to access Limgrave's so you can restore it's power?"
"Should have known... you kill the owner, it's power becomes out of reach, but at least there is a way to rekindle it's power for my purposes." Tirek said, where he shifted his hand and the Great Rune returned to it's new place in his body, though as he did that, and got ready to move out, he found that the prisoner from the main gate had arrived and was stomping on Godrick's lifeless head, what was left of the now slain Demigod.
In the end he decided not to mess with him, in fact he was no longer important to Tirek's plans, and they warped over to the Grace that was by the Omen, where he and Blaidd ambushed the enemies that were guarding the area with ease, since none of them were expecting an attack from behind. The reason for coming back here was because Blaidd had an idea as to where Tirek could find the Divine Tower, which had to be the large tower he had seen off in the distance a few times during his quest, they just had to kill these guys again. While they did so Tirek dealt with the enemies that were up on the cliffs that lined the main road, when they ventured into the section that they had skipped by earlier, allowing the wolfen warrior to cut down all of the Soldiers that were in the way. With them working together it didn't take them too long to reach an area that had what appeared to be stairs leading to a bridge, likely the very long one Tirek had spotted once upon a time, which just so happened to be their current destination.
There was also a large lion that had a blade attached to it's front right leg, why Tirek had no idea and he suspected that he didn't want to know the reason, blocking the way forward, but instead of worrying about it he and Blaidd walked over into the chamber that was before the stairs. Such a thing allowed him to find that the creature couldn't follow them, maybe it was magically bound to the area that they had found it in, before discovering a Grace nearby that he activated without even wasting time, but, since he didn't feel like stopping, Tirek didn't stop this time. From there they found that the stairs were short and that, after passing through an impressive set of stonework, it was a long walk over to the giant sized tower, as it put the castle they were in to shame since it was at least five times taller than the castle. For a moment he had to wonder why there were no guards, since it was a 'Divine' Tower and thought that the people of the Lands Between would want to keep them safe, before discovering that it did, in fact, have guardians, three Golems to be exact.
Fortunately the two melee ones were on the ground and didn't react until they got close, even though the third, an archer, was more of a pest as it loosed arrows at both of them, one at a time, though Tirek had the bright idea to use them on the other Golems, as in make the archer hit it's allies. Such a thing allowed them to bring down both of the melee Golems in no time at all and let them approach the archer while it was reaching for another arrow, where Blaidd struck it's feet while Tirek focused on striking it's chest with magic. Together they brought it down and opened the way for them to continue across the bridge, only to stop when Tirek discovered that it was broken, there was a huge chunk missing, but there was a small blue device, as large as the chest piece of a normal set of armor. Blaidd explained that it was a Waygate, linking two points together to allow quick travel from one place to another, meaning the other side had to be the front of the tower, or at least he hoped so since there was no telling where a gate would take someone, causing Tirek to sigh as he touched it and let the magic wash over him.
A few seconds later he appeared somewhere else and found that it was, in fact, right in front of the massive tower, which was gigantic from the angle he was at now, and as Blaidd appeared behind him he stepped forward, raising his hands to the stonework in front of him, the part that looked like a door, and found that he was able to push it. Such a thing allowed him to actually enter the inside of the Divine Tower, where he discovered a lone platform that had a button in the middle of it, though the area between the platform and the walls was missing, showing that it was a straight drop to the bottom of the tower. With that in mind he approached the button and waited for Blaidd to catch up before activating it, where the area immediately around them separated from the rest of the platform and rose into the air, causing the pair to simply wait for it to come to a stop. When it did he found a set of stairs leading outside and followed it without delay, finding that it brought him to a new Grace, which he activated, before finding that from this height he could see more of the world, as in a lake area that seemed to be next, a golden land of sorts high above that, and who knew what else since the massive trunk of the Erdtree was in the way.
After that he reached the top of the tower, a flat area that had a small circular area with some odd finger creature, dead by the looks of it, resting in the center of everything, though there was a glowing icon that matched the Great Rune that was in his possession, and when he raised his hand the power surged into him, likely awakening the power of the item in no time at all.
"I'm afraid that this is where our adventure ends, my friend." Blaidd said, causing Tirek to turn for a moment as he found that the wolfen warrior seemed sad to be parting with him, even though he had done so much to help him walk the path to this very moment, meaning he must have formed a bond with him during their short time together, "Your quest will take you into either Liurnia of the Lakes, the region to the immediate north of Limgrave, or into Caelid, the dreaded region to the east. I still have a mission to do in Limgrave, other than killing Darriwil, so since your quest will take you out of this part of the Lands Between and into one of the others, well, this is where we part ways... if our objectives align again, and we're heading in the same direction, maybe we'll see each other again."
"You know, I don't say this often, but... thanks for the help... friend." Tirek replied, though before Blaidd did anything he did something else he normally wouldn't do, he held out his map for a moment and let the wolfen warrior see that he was offering him some aid, due to the golden glow it was giving off right now.
Blaidd accepted the offer as he rested his hand on the map and Tirek warped them off the tower's peak, where the pair quickly returned to the Grace that was right outside the forest they had met in, though before Blaidd left he did tell Tirek of a person in Liurnia who might be of use to him, he just had to find 'Iji' first. With that done the wolfen warrior bid him farewell and headed into the forest without delay, where Tirek reflected that he was actually going to miss Blaidd, both due to his skills and because he was actually starting to see him as a friend he could depend on, causing him to mentally curse this land for messing with him. Once he was sure that Blaidd was deep in the forest, and wasn't coming back, Tirek focused on his destination and returned to the Roundtable Hold, as it was time to speak with the prick who told him that he was just a nobody and had to earn his keep. There were people to talk to, information to learn, and other things he had to do to prepare himself for the next hurdle of his journey, even though he was going to ignore Caelid for as long as he could, as he hated that place with a burning passion.
When he reached his destination, however, Tirek discovered that the main door, the raised one, was now open and that it lead to a chamber that had a living version of the figure monster he had seen earlier, a hand of sorts with two fingers, and there was an old crone sitting off to the left.
The Crone revealed that she was called Enia and that she spoke for the Two Fingers, the Envoys of the Greater Will, and as he stepped into the chamber the Fingers shuddered, moving and shifting with the base remaining still, which caused Enia to focus on them for a time. It weirded Tirek out as he watched them do their movements, causing him to focus on the crone for a time as she spoke whatever words or phrases she was able to interpret from the Two Fingers, who talked about the shattered Elden Ring and how life had been left in ruin after it's breaking. They seemed to mention that the Greater Will had not abandoned this world, given the Graces and guiding light that aided the Tarnished, before it spoke of how his newly acquired Great Rune was a handsome shard of the Elden Ring. Enia also translated that he was required to seek another, for with two fragments of power would he gain the right to become the next Elden Lord and seek the Elden Ring, confirming what Blaidd had said earlier, but he remained silent as the Two Fingers returned to normal.
With that done Tirek departed from their chamber and found that the path to Gideon's private room was open, where the bone armored figure simply stared at him as he entered it, only to quickly discover that it was nicer than the rest of the Roundtable Hold, with the figure in question standing on the other side of a table.
"So, you have acquired a Great Rune and received the wisdom of the Two Fingers... allow me to formally welcome you to the Roundtable Hold, as one of it's true members." Gideon said, meaning he must have spies somewhere and that one must have told him about the fact that Tirek had talked to the creature that was in the now opened raised room, before he took a moment to study Tirek and mentally debated what to share with him, "I understand that you might not like me, given our previous interaction, but I am accumulating knowledge to aid us in putting one of the Tarnished on the throne... whether it be you, someone else, or myself is irrelevant. Shall we work together?"
"Sure... for now." Tirek replied, as he still didn't like Gideon, in fact part of him was hoping the sorcerer would take to the field at one point so he could bring him down for his earlier arrogance, but for now he guessed he could use whatever bits of information that he had to offer, "I seek the remaining Great Runes. How many more are there?"
"Counting the one you just obtained, we believe there are nine Great Runes... however, two are said to be missing, so we'll focus on the seven we know of." Gideon stated, something that interested Tirek a little, both in terms of how many targets he should be seeking and the fact that two of the Great Runes were apparently missing right now, meaning it might be near impossible to obtain those two, "We have confirmed the locations of five Great Runes: Godrick the Grafted, who you slew not that long ago; General Radahn, who fought Malenia and her Rot to a standstill in the Caelid wilds; Praetor Rykard, Lord of the Volcano Manor of Mt. Gelmir; Morgott the Grace-Given, Lord of Leyndell; and Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon and ruler of Raya Lucaria's Academy. In addition to those five we know of two more Shardbearers, Malenia and someone known only as the Lord of Blood, but have been unable to learn where they are hiding or how to get to them... the remaining two Great Runes are said to be in the hands of Ranni the Witch, whose been missing for years, and Miquella, Malenia's twin, who is no doubt hiding with his sister."
"Nine Great Runes... seven of which can be obtained, but only five we know the locations of." Tirek commented, though he wasn't expecting to hear Malenia's name among the list of targets, causing him to mentally grin as he realized that he had another reason to go back to her domain and tear her to shreds in the future, "Very well, I shall rest up and gather myself for whatever the future holds."
He needed some time to plan out where he wanted to go first and who should be his next target, since his list had grown since the last time he had considered it, and now he was looking forward to finding and killing most of the targets that had been given to him, causing him to grin as he wondered what might happen in the very near future.