Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials

by Blackdrag-rose

Gargoyle Hunting

Rarity moaned as she, once again, found herself standing by the bonfire that she and Edric had found above the area that the Lost Sinner was in, though this time around she was determined to ignore the fact that they had found their target and begin the search for the Belfry Gargoyles. Shalquoir had made it clear that they should take out the sentinels and the gargoyles before they even considered fighting the Lost Sinner, though now she was sure that they would find some sort of clue to defeat the Lost Sinner once they brought down the gargoyles. As she thought about the creatures, however, she cast her glance over the nearby wall and found the same gargoyle flying over the section of the Lost Bastille that had to be near its nest, which was what she and Edric needed to find if they wanted to beat their true target.

A few seconds later she turned her head towards the area that the undead archers were usually standing in and watched as Edric cut the three hollowed enemies down, no doubt taking out his anger or frustration on them... to which she simply waited for him to finish before she bothered talking.

"So, we know where the Lost Sinner is located and know how to get down there," Rarity commented, hoping that Edric would listen to her, because if he wanted to go down into the depths and fight their target again he would be doing so on his own, because Rarity knew that they were under prepared for such a fight, "the only problem is that the entire area we were fighting in was shrouded in shadows, making it impossible for us to see our opponent and block her attacks. We need to find a way to relight the area, so that way we can see our opponent and fight on equal footing... and I have the feeling that finding the gargoyles will allow us to do that."

"I'm still not convinced that finding the gargoyles is the best course of action," Edric said, to which he walked away from the bonfire and headed towards the ladder, though before he climbed down the stairs he turned towards Rarity for a few seconds, "I want to investigate the area around the entrance of the Lost Sinner's lair for a few minutes, though we can use one of those Homeward Bones we picked up to get back to this bonfire so we don't have to fight the Sinner again."

Rarity sighed and followed after her companion, knowing that they were wasting time with the area they had just cleared out before the Lost Sinner had killed them, but she decided that she might as well humor her companion in the off chance that they actually found something that might help them out. They carefully made their way back down to the elevator and climbed onto it, where they rode it down into the watery area that the aberrations called home, who Rarity wasn't too keen on fighting again. When they reached their intended destination, however, Rarity also spotted a level on the left side of where they were standing, which meant that once they finished searching this area they could summon the elevator and head back up to where it was normally sitting.

Once they climbed off the elevator they employed their normal tactic, where Edric beckoned the first aberration out of its hiding place and pulled it towards the area they were standing in, to which Rarity ambushed it with her spells and opened it to Edric's attacks. The moment it was down they moved out of their hiding place and headed towards the area that one of the other two aberrations were hiding in, to which they attacked the creature from behind and distracted it so it couldn't make any noises to summon the other aberration. Fortunately they were more than prepared to deal with the aberration and its attacks, as they repeated the process they went through before hand and sure enough victory was theirs... allowing them to move onto the third and final aberration.

The moment the final aberration was dead, however, they moved onto the zombies that called this area home, as they knew that the zombies could inflict major damage if they were left alone, though the instant the last zombie was dead Edric sheathed his sword and started searching for anything useful in the area before the Lost Sinner's lair. While he searched the upper area, what little of it that he could get into thanks to some of the doors being locked, Rarity carefully looked through the ruined cells that were on the lower floor. It was there that she discovered a pair of items resting in one of the cells that she had been looking through, a soul of someone that had died down here and another lockstone, meaning that they could unlock something if they found one of the locks to put it into.

"Hey Edric," Rarity called out, to which she walked out of the cell that she had been searching for the last few seconds and held up the lockstone, though at the same time Edric emerged from the cell he had been inside and looked down at her, "What are the chances that we'll find someplace to use this lockstone somewhere inside the Lost Bastille?"

"Very likely," Edric said, though at the same time he climbed down the nearby set of stairs and walked over to her, to which he stared at the stone for a few seconds, "though that means that we'll need to keep an eye out for the location we can use this in."

Rarity nodded and stashed the lockstone in her pouch, though once it was safely stored away they retraced their steps to the elevator and pulled the lever, to which they waited for a few minutes for the elevator to come back down before they rode it back up to the area it was usually resting. The moment the elevator came to a stop they retraced their path back to where the ladder was located, though instead of climbing it they walked back into the building and headed towards the walkway that would allow them to walk back over to the building that one of the bonfires they had discovered was located in, the one that had a statue blocking the entrance. It took them a few moments to reach the building, where they had to engage the various zombies that had returned to the room in front of them, though they were careful in dealing with them before they headed back down the stairs that led to this area.

They carefully retraced their steps and killed all of the enemies that were in front of them, as carefully as they had done when they passed through this area the first time around, before they found their way back to the bonfire they discovered after defeating the sentinels... where Rarity spotted a ladder leading to an area that was below where the two of them were standing. When they climbed down into the area below them they found an undead hound waiting for them, though it was rather easy for Edric to cut him down and allow them to explore the area around them, to which they stopped searching a few seconds later when they spotted a slot for the lockstone to go into. Rarity wondered how the two of them could have missed such a thing, but instead of questioning it she pulled the lockstone out of her pouch and slipped it into the slot... to which a glowing face, in the same image of the slot, appeared on the wall to their right.

The two of them stared at the glowing face for a few seconds before Edric struck the stone, to which the stone faded away and a doorway appeared in front of them, one that had a walkway in front of them and led to a door... though above them Rarity spotted something that looked like a bell of some kind. Edric walked up to the door in front of them and opened it, to which they discovered a large pile of bodies, of what appeared to be some sort of short creature, on the left of the entrance. To their right sat another short creature, which Rarity was sure was either a gnome or dwarf, though he appeared to be chuckling and simply stopped for a moment when the two of them approached him.

"Undead! Undead!" the creature exclaimed, staring at the two of them for a few seconds, though both Rarity and Edric were a little worried about the level of excitement they could hear in his voice, "Keep your hands off our bell, the great Bell of Alken! The bell belongs! To the Princess, it do! Stay back, or we slice! Slice you to bits! Me and my chams, we wont be miffed! Stay back, or you're pieces! Tiniest pieces!"

"Yeah, let's ignore this guy," Rarity said, to which she and Edric walked passed the strange creature and made their way towards a set of wooden stairs, one that appeared to lead up to a second floor and possibly a third floor.

As they walked through the area, however, Rarity felt a shift in the energy in the air and wondered what could be happening in the area around them, though when they reached the area above them she noticed a specter, a gray colored one, standing between them and the stairs that would allow them to carry on. The specter was dressed up in armor, just like Edric was, though he was carrying a large two handed sword that reminded Rarity of the blade that the Pursuer used in their fight. The warrior charged at them and tried to hit them with the massive sword, though Rarity and Edric separated from each other and forced the blade into the flooring, to which Rarity opened fire on their enemy's backside while Edric cut into the open slots between his armor pieces.

While they did that, however, Rarity could determine that this guy might have been allied with the strange creature that had been talking to them earlier, though that didn't stop her and Edric from tearing apart their opponent and moving onto the next floor. They had to fight an ink colored version of the creature they had found near the entrance of the area, though it took them a few moments to deal with their next enemy before they found a fog door that was covered by an iron gate, preventing them from moving forward. A few seconds later they found a ladder that led to another level, to which Rarity and Edric grabbed onto the sides and started their ascent, though Edric went first and Rarity could see him engaging something the moment he got to the top. Rarity arrived at the top shortly after he did, though she found more of the ink colored enemies waiting for them, but she smiled as she realized that they were chasing after her companion and found a lever that was unguarded... to which she ran over towards it and moved it, which in turn caused the bell to ring for a few seconds and allowed her to hear the sound of the gate below them opening.

The moment she heard that sound she called out to Edric and climbed down the ladder that they had used to get up here, though when she reached the bottom she smiled as she noticed the gate was open, meaning that they could move forward... to which she waited for a few seconds before Edric joined to, which was followed by them walking through the fog door and entered the area that had to be the nest of the gargoyles. When they walked onto the roof area that the gargoyles might be located on, however, both of them noticed that there were eight statues, four on the left and four on the right, waiting for them. The gargoyle on their immediate left, the very first one, came to life and climbed off his pedestal, to which he charged at them and took the attack that Edric was throwing at it, while at the same time Rarity backed away... and noticed that a second gargoyle, the third from the right side, had come to life as well.

Rarity, noticing that the second gargoyle was turning towards her, rapidly switched to her chime and summoned a Lightning Spear, to which she threw it into the gargoyle's chest before she threw herself to the side, only to get a scratch on her left side in the process. She mentally cursed at her opponent before she looked at the gargoyle, which was staggering from the smoldering hole where one of its lungs would be, telling her that she had found yet another enemy that was weak against lightning based attacks. For a moment she actually considered not using the Lightning Spear for the rest of the battle, as she was getting tired of finding enemies that were weak to lightning based attacks, but she then shook her head and focused on the battle once more. There would be time for her to change to a different spell when she and Edric fought the Lost Sinner again, though she intended to use this weakness to her advantage once more... to which she picked herself up and faced her target once more.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Edric hacking away at the gargoyle that was focusing on him, to which she smiled and focused on her target, slamming another Lightning Spear into her opponent and causing it to stagger once more. Instead of using a third spear, and wasting charges in case more of the gargoyles woke up, she drew the Heide sword that they had picked up from that knight earlier and drove it into the area that had to be the gargoyle's heart, where she watched as the light in its eyes faded away before she withdrew the blade. Since nothing else seemed to be happening at the moment, and none of the other gargoyles seemed to be waking up yet, she ran over to where Edric was and leapt onto the back of his opponent... to which she drove her sword into its back, forcing it to drop to the ground and allowed her to roll off as two more statues started to wake up.

"They're weak against lightning, just like the sentinels," Rarity commented, seeing the first gargoyle, the second on the right, open its eyes, while the second gargoyle, the third on the left side, slowly did the same thing, though she let the lightning crackle around her hand for a moment, "let me throw a spear or two into each of them, then you can swoop in and finish them off."

Edric seemed surprised to find yet another enemy that was weak against lightning, something that Rarity shared, before nodding and beckoned to the gargoyle on the left side, to which Rarity smiled and threw her already forming spear into her target's chest. That action caused both gargoyles to fully awaken from their slumber, though the one that she had targeted staggered for a few seconds, allowing her to turn her attention to the second gargoyle and wound it as well, to which Edric struck the first gargoyle with his sword. Rarity mentally chuckled as she threw a few more spells into the second gargoyle, chipping away at its health for a few seconds, before the two of them actually finished off their enemies at the same time... though they remained on their guard in case a fifth gargoyle awoke from its slumber.

That was followed by the fourth gargoyle on the left side of the roof awakening from its slumber and landed on the roof, though Edric pulled back for a second and allowed Rarity to slam a Lightning Spear into its chest, causing it to stagger backwards before he charged forward and finished it off. Once the gargoyle collapsed on the roof, however, the duo remained on their guard as they waited for one of the three remaining statues came to life, but after a few minutes they discovered that nothing was happening and they were allowed to move on once more. With the gargoyles apparently defeated, and the others inactive, Rarity and Edric walked into the building in front of them and followed the stairs down to an area where an iron chest was located, one that contained a new ring they knew nothing about.

At the end of the walkway in front of them rested another bonfire, to which they rested for a few seconds before they started searching for something that would help them defeat the Lost Sinner, though that involved climbing down the nearby ladder and dealing with a pack of undead hounds that were down in the area below them. Edric was more than enough to deal with the hounds, allowing Rarity to search the area and locate another lost soul, some sort of sword, and a key that she felt was extremely important. She smiled as she held up the key for a few seconds, because she may have just found the item that would turn the tide against the Lost Sinner... and then the two of them would be one step closer to completing their goal of acquiring the four Great Souls.

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

Rarity, noticing that the second gargoyle was turning towards her, rapidly switched to her chime and summoned a Lightning Spear, to which she threw it into the gargoyle's chest before she threw herself to the side, only to get a scratch on her left side in the process. She mentally cursed at her opponent before she looked at the gargoyle, which was staggering from the smoldering hole where one of its lungs would be, telling her that she had found yet another enemy that was weak against lightning based attacks.

Why are so many enemies in Dark Souls games weak to lightning based attacks? I mean, even Dragons are weak to it!

...You know, that actually makes sense. if the lightning element is capable of harming freaking DRAGONS, then it would make sense that a lot of creatures less resilient than a Dragon would be weak against it. Also, I thought there were 6 Gargoyles you fought?

[Blackdrag-rose]

8622375 I know, I'm quite amazed that there are so many enemies at the beginning of this game, even boss creatures, that are weak to lightning.

The gargoyle fight, according to what I saw and what I read, was five against the player... unless I somehow missed one somewhere.

[Randablitz]

I see that you're having them gather the four souls to encounter Aldia, I wonder how Rarity will react to seeing the Scholar of the First Sin.

[PrismStrike]

8622379
Just finished doing this fight actually before coming to read this chapter again and i ended up having to fight all 8 on just the base dark souls 2 not scholar of the first sins X...X