Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials

by Blackdrag-rose

No-man's Wharf

After recovering the blade of a Heide Knight, and determining that they still weren't ready to deal with the Pursuer, Rarity and Edric retraced their steps to the bonfire they had teleported to and knelt before the mysterious flame, allowing themselves a brief chance to heal their wounds before they started the next leg of their journey. Since they hadn't taken out any powerful creatures, not since the defeat of the Old Dragonslayer, they agreed that now wasn't the time to return to Majula and focused on their true destination. A few seconds passed before the world around the duo shifted, to which they moved from the forest they had been walking in a few seconds ago and arrived in a small cave, one that actually connected to a much larger cavern. The moment they were both sure that they had appeared at their intended destination, and found that they were alone, the two of them stopped kneeling before the bonfire and headed towards the pathway that would take them to No-man's Wharf.

It took them a few seconds to make sure that they were ready to begin their search of the wharf, especially since they didn't drink any of their Estus or shatter any Lifegems in their battle wiht the Heide Knight, so they were able to leave the bonfire behind without having to head back to Majula for additional supplies.

As the duo walked down the walkway in front of them Edric spotted a hollow on their left, one that was pretending to be dead in the hopes of catching him and Rarity off guard, to which he plunged his sword into the hollow's back and killed it before it could come after them. At the same time, however, another hollow started firing arrows at them, arrows that appeared to have flaming tips to do additional damage, though as they walked across the wooden walkway Rarity replied in kind by firing a Soul Arrow or two at the archer. It didn't take her long to deal with the archer from where she was standing, though at the same time Edric clashed with another hollowed warrior, their blades meeting each others a few times, before finding a weakness in his opponent's defenses and cut the hollow down.

From there Rarity and Edric approached what appeared to be a shack of some kind, where Rarity discovered that the majority of the buildings they could see at the moment were missing a main door, and walked into the building, though Edric also cut down the hollowed warrior that was starting to get up off the floor. Rarity noticed a second hollowed warrior getting up and shot him down with a pair of Soul Arrows, though once the deed was done they turned towards the stairs and carefully climbed it, since they had no idea if more enemies were waiting for them. When the duo reached the second floor they discovered a chest on their immediate right, though when they opened it Rarity discovered that their prize was a stone, about the size of her hand... though it was unlike anything she had seen before today. Even Edric, who was native to this world, seemed a little shocked by their discovery, though he pocketed the stone and they exited the building through the doorway on the second floor.

That meant that they had to deal with a hollowed archer that was standing on the roof of the first floor, which overlooked the walkway they had used to get to the building, but their opponent proved to be an easy kill since it hadn't noticed them coming its way... and they collected the soul that happened to be resting in front of it.

Once the pair returned to the wooden walkway they turned to the left and approached the group of shacks that were in front of them, though Edric took a moment to walk into the water on their left and collected two items, another soul and a Lifegem. As they approached the buildings, however, three hollowed warriors stepped out from their hiding places, or rather two did and a third jumped off a roof to join his comrades, before the three of them approached the duo with their weapons drawn. Rarity noticed that two of their enemies appeared to be ordinary hollows, ones that happened to be dressed up in pirate or sailor gear, while the one that jumped off the roof was a little larger than his companions and he seemed to be a captain... to which she told Edric to be careful as she loosed a pair of Soul Arrows at the hollow that stayed at the back of the pack.

As Rarity did that Edric raised his shield and blocked the incoming attacks, finding that the hollowed captain was definitely much tougher than the hollow that was fighting at his side, though he was thankful for Rarity aiming at the smaller hollow and taking it down before it did any damage. That allowed him to focus his efforts on defeating the hollowed captain, to which the two of them exchanged blows for a few seconds, and Edric happened to get a light cut on his right arm, before Edric put his opponent down. Once the hollowed captain was dead, and they were sure that no more enemies were coming their way at the moment, Rarity pulled out her chime and approached him... though before she got too close he waved a hand in a dismissing manner.

"Let's save that for later, when we truly need it," Edric commented, though at the same time he waved his injured arm around for a few seconds, indicating that it was fine and that he wasn't bothered by it at all, "a little cut isn't going to spell the end of me... and its best that we save the healing spells for when we're serious injured."

"If that is what you desire." Rarity replied, to which she silently put the chime away and tapped her staff on the ground, indicating that she was ready to go and that she was eager to get through this place as quickly as they could.

Edric nodded and walked into the shack on the right of the stone stairs, where he discovered that there was nothing of interest in the building and returned to where Rarity was standing, though when he noticed that she was staring at something he turned his head and found that she was staring at a small cave of sorts. Inside the cave he spotted some movement, though as he raised his shield a creature, one that was twice as large as they were and had long arms with sharp claws at the end, came moving towards them. Since they could easily determine that the creature was out to get them, however, Rarity and Edric moved back towards the torch in the middle of the buildings, where they found that the creature disliked the light.

Rarity used that to their advantage as she loosed a few Soul Arrows into the creature, before determining that a Greater Soul Arrow would finish the job, though once the creature was dead the duo walked into its cave to see if it had anything they could use... where they discovered a corpse that had ten iron arrows resting near it. When they investigated the other building, however, they discovered another corpse that was holding onto a container that contained some sort of dark resin, though they simply collected it and moved back towards the stairs.

As they walked up the stairs, however, they noticed something throwing large rocks at them, to which they walked onto the path on their right and found another large hollowed warrior coming their way, though this time he was accompanied by a dead dog of some kind. Fortunately the duo were able to deal with the enemies that they had discovered, with Edirc taking a light cut to his left leg as Rarity put the dog to rest, before they both charged up the rest of the stairs and barreled into the hollowed warrior that was throwing large stones at them. As they hit the ground Edric raised his shield and blocked the attack that was coming his way, while Rarity focused her magic and loosed some more arrows into her chosen foe.

When those enemies fell Rarity and Edric had to deal with another hollowed warrior and his dog, which emerged from one of the buildings behind them, but they easily put down their foes and turned towards the building with the light coming from it... where they discovered another hollowed warrior waiting for them. Instead of wasting time, however, Rarity gathered her magic and loosed a Great Soul Arrow into the hollow's chest, knocking it into the nearby wall and killing it almost instantly. From there they walked down the stairs that were on their left and followed it for a few seconds, to which they discovered that they had reached the roof that the one hollow had jumped off of, though that was followed by them heading back up the stairs and walking away from that building.

They followed the path forward and found another set of stairs that they could walk up, though before they did so Edric decided to light the torch they had picked up at the beginning of their journey and carried it with him, to which they walked up the stairs and continued forward. That was quickly followed by the duo discovering a pair of the dark skinned creatures that they had fought down by the cave, though as they approached them, however, Rarity discovered that their foes were terrified of light. With that information in hand they engaged the creatures, to which Edric focused on the one that had backed himself into a corner while Rarity loosed a few spells at the one that was further away from them, though it wasn't long before they were successful in their endeavor.

The duo then walked along the path in front of them, encountering another Darkdweller, that's what Rarity decided to call them since they preferred to be in the dark and absolutely hated the light, that was standing in front of a cave... though once it attacked them both Rarity and Edric defended themselves, besting the creature in a matter of seconds. Before they even considered heading into the cave Edric noticed another set of items resting near the edge of the cliff that was behind them, to which he walked over and claimed them, finding that he had picked up another soul and another page that contained a new spell.

"Emit Force?" Rarity commented, looking at the page that Edric had handed her, as while she hadn't used the Force spell she had purchased earlier, not yet anyway, she could see some benefit to using this one as well, to which she smiled at Edric for a moment, "I wasn't aware that we would be finding another spell in this place, though with this added to my list of spells I'm a little more dangerous than I was an hour ago."

"Not to mention that you've got a weapon to defend yourself with now," Edric said, beckoning to the sword that Rarity was carrying, one that he knew that she would draw if her life depended on it, "though we're far from finished with this place. Come on, let's keep moving before the torch goes out and we're ambushed by those dark skinned creatures."

The duo then walked into the building that the one Darkdweller had been standing in front of a few minutes ago, though when they found a door Edric had Rarity stand back before he gripped the handle, to which he pulled it back and revealed that two of the Darkwellers were inside the other room. Once they realized that enemies were in the area both Edric and Rarity backed up, to which Rarity set her staff on the floor for a moment, pulled out her chime, and focused her power on the new spell... to which she raised her chime and her empty hand until they were nearly touching, which was followed by her pushing her hands forward without breaking the form that her hands were in. A projectile of energy raced towards the closest Darkweller and struck it in the head, where it emitted enough force to stun them for a second or two.

Rarity repeated the process once more, though this time around Edric was waiting near the door and only charged into the room while the duo of enemies were stunned. As he cut into the closest target to the door Rarity collected her staff and moved into the room as well, though she moved to the back and started firing some arrows at her targets, while Edric focused on keeping the attention of their enemies. With their combined might they were able to take care of their foes and walked up the stairs that were in the room, where they walked up to the second story and discovered two more Darkwellers waiting for them. Rarity determined that it was best to just repeat the process they had done through and Edric agreed with her, though that was shortly followed by them besting their foes in combat... allowing them to open the door and progress onward once again.

On the other side of the door they found two things, a guy that was wearing a lot of armor that made it impossible to see his actual face, besides the beard he was growing, and two chests that were on the opposite side of the room... though one chest was made of steel and the other was made out of wood. The duo decided to approach the man that was sitting in the corner of the room, though it appeared that he was also drinking something before they stopped in front of him.

"Who you?" the man asked, pointing a finger at Rarity for a moment before shifting his finger to Edric, though that was then followed by him lowering his finger and staring at them, if he was staring at them anyway.

"My name is Rarity," Rarity replied, gesturing to herself for a moment, before waving her hand to Edric, who waved a hand in greeting, "and this is my companion Edric. Who are you?"

"I Gavlan." the man stated, tapping his chest for a moment, though that was before he glanced at the two of them for a few seconds, but at the same time Rarity had flashbacks to Trixie when she visited Ponyville, "Gavlan wheel? Gavlan deal. Gavlan want soul. Many many soul. What you want? With Gavlan, you wheel? You deal!"

From what Rarity could tell Gavlan was a merchant, one that apparently took pleasure in referring to himself in the third person like he was, but at the same time she and Edric quickly told the man that they would come back when they needed to buy or sell anything. As they walked away from Gavlan they turned to the two chests in front of them, where Edric suggested that they check the steel one out first, though when they pulled the lid up the duo discovered that a greatsword rested inside it... something that Edric collected, just in case either of them needed it in the future. When they turned towards the wooden chest on their right, however, Edric had Rarity back away from it, because he didn't trust that both of them would have something useful inside it.

Rarity backed away and watched as Edric opened the chest, though as he did so some a green gas emitted from the chest, causing Edric to leap backwards to avoid being hurt by what was clearly poison... to which they waited for the gas to disappear before collecting their treasure, which was two Silver Talismans.

They returned to the first floor and exited the building they were in, to which they headed towards the next building and discovered a hollowed warrior guarding a set of stairs, though as Rarity walked up to the second floor she blasted another hollow into the wall with her spells. Once their enemies were taken care of they walked through the doorway on the second floor and discovered a set of wooden stairs that brought them to what Rarity suspected was a bell of sorts, though they were happy to find that there were no enemies in the area at the moment. They stopped in front of the bell and Edric pulled the lever, to which they heard the bell chime for a few moments... though that was before they noticed a large ship, one that Rarity suspected was along the lines of a ghost ship, silently moved into the dock and came to a stop after a few seconds of moving.

Rarity suspected that the ship would take them somewhere important, though only after they killed the cursed crewmen that were walking on the top deck... though something told her that there was a powerful creature on the ship, somewhere, and she really wasn't looking forward to fighting whatever creature that was, but it was going to be a necessary to find one of the four Great Souls and progress in their quest to cure themselves of their curse.

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

I don't know if I missed it in reading, but did they use the Pharros Lockstone point in No-Man's Wharf?

[Blackdrag-rose]

8587409 They will, they just didn't walk by where the lockstone goes into. They skipped a part of the zone, for the moment anyway.

[Randablitz]

I hope they encounter Aldia at some point.