Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials

by Blackdrag-rose

Brightstone Cove

Rarity and Edric stood on the edge of the cliff for a few moments before they headed towards the path on their right, which would take them somewhere near the entrance of the cathedral they had been staring at, while at the same time keeping their eyes open for enemies and traps. Fortunately Rarity found a pair of traps right off the bat, as there were two large boulders resting on a ledge above the walkway they were heading towards, though it appeared that they would trip the first trap either way and that they needed to be prepared for the boulder when it started moving. If they wanted to she and Edric would climb the ladder that was just beyond the first trap and kill the hollowed peasant that was tending to the second on, or they could allow him to trip it and deal with him later. Another option they had was for Rarity to use her shadow to kill the two hollowed peasants, but at the same time she decided that she should only save it for those vase and statue traps she had been using it for so far... to which she and Edric continued along the path and waited for the hollows to trigger the traps they had been staring at.

What Rarity discovered was that it was rather easy for her and Edric to dodge the large boulders, now that they knew they were there and weren't surprised by their arrival, while at the same time activating the traps actually killed the hollowed peasants that were tending to them... allowing them to progress without having to worry about being attacked from behind.

After the second trap was activated Rarity and Edric pulled back a bit as four hollowed peasants charged out from around the corner and attacked them with their makeshift weapons, so while Edric stood at the front and parried attacks, and occasionally slashed one of his opponents, Rarity summoned Dark Orbs and launched them into the enemies at the back of the pack. She was still amazed that there were enemies that were weak to magic in this land, as all she had to do was use one Dark Orb per hollowed peasant, but she only took care of the two at the back and let Edric cut down the remaining two in front of him. The moment their enemies were dead they continued along the path that they were on, where they came to an area that had a stone entrance of some kind, with a pair of stone doors that were made from a different material than the structure around it, that had three more hollowed peasants guarding it.

Rarity honestly had no idea why they were just standing there, outside a pair of closed doors, but she and Edric charged at the three enemies and continued their assault, where Edric cut one of them down with his sword while Rarity blasted the other two with a Soul Arrow, finding that even the first spell she had acquired could do the same as her Dark Orbs. What worried Rarity was that the symbols on the doors happened to be spiders, meaning that they were on the right path to find the Duke's Dear Freja, though that told her that their opponent was a spider of some kind, if she was reading the symbols right. Edric, once Rarity nodded her head, braced his hands against the pair of doors and opened them, allowing them to delve into the area below them, where they arrived in a small room that had several decent sized holes in the walls that made the duo raise their weapons as they prepared themselves.

They passed by a brazier that they could ignite, to which Edric pulled out the still burning torch he carried, once again causing Rarity to wonder how the fire faded when he put it away and how it ignited when he pulled it out, before he lit the brazier and continued forward... where they found a chest resting in the middle of the room, with more holes resting on the walls around them.

"An obvious trap," Edric commented, to which Rarity nodded her agreement to her companion, as she was relieved that he understood that this might be a trap, before Edric sighed, "Let's hope whatever enemies there are don't swarm us when the lid is opened."

While Edric approached the chest Rarity noticed that there were spiders lurking in all of the holes she had been staring at, to which she channeled her power into her left hand as she prepared a Chaos Storm, because she had the feeling that they would strike the moment the chest was opened. She was right in a manner, as a red orb with pulsing energy was discovered inside the chest, which apparently called the spiders out of their holes and they closed in on the duo. Before any of the spiders could do anything, and attack them, Rarity smiled as she slammed her hand against the ground and pillars of fire erupted from the floor, where they literally cooked each and every spider that tried to attack them, though she wasn't sure if their weakness was fire or if they couldn't handle the heat... but at the same time she didn't care at the moment.

The moment the spiders were dead Edric pulled a set of heavy bolts of some kind out of the chest, meaning that it really wasn't worth the effort, before they headed towards the other side of the room they had been standing in and opened the door in front of them... where they found a fog door waiting for them, meaning they had found the Prowling Magus and his Congregation.

When they walked through the fog door they found some guy standing over some hollowed people that were worshiping him, which meant that he was the Prowling Magus, to which Edric charged at the ten members of the Congregation while Rarity focused on the Magus himself. Rarity discovered that two of the members, who looked like priests, launched small Lightning Spears at her while the Magus threw bolts of darkness, to which she retaliated by loosing a Dark Hail that tore one of the priests to pieces and damaged the Magus in the process. She then repeated the same thing from the other side, lining up the second priest with her main target before loosing a second Dark Hail, allowing her to fight one on one with the Magus himself. The Magus also had a spell that used the darkness to push things away from him, or enemies for that matter, but Rarity wasn't phased by the attack since she stood away from her opponent... before she threw a Lightning Spear through his chest and killed him.

As Rarity realized that the Magus was actually like all of the other creatures she had fought so far, and wasn't a powerful creature, Edric finished off the rest of the Congregation and rejoined her, where they didn't find the soul of the Magus, confirming that this wasn't a powerful creature like they originally believed.

"So that wasn't a powerful creature?" Edric asked, because he honestly felt like they had wasted their time, despite the fact that they apparently had no choice in the matter since there weren't any other paths they could have taken.

"No, but we still needed to fight them anyway," Rarity replied, as she understood why Shalquoir had told her about the Magus earlier, because it was an enemy that needed to be taken care of, before letting out a sigh as she walked forward and headed towards the new doorway they could walk through, "Come on, let's find out where our target is hiding and get the final Great Soul."

The moment they walked through the other side of the building, where they found an opening in the wall to their right, both Rarity and Edric were starting to feel a little tired, since they hadn't rested since the last bonfire they found in the Doors of Pharros, where fortune smiled on them as Rarity spotted a bonfire they could rest at. A few moments later, after activating the bonfire and resting at it, the two of them walked down the stone set of stairs that were near the bonfire and headed downwards. From there they walked through the small room that was connected to the bottom of the passage and walked outside, where they discovered that they were in what could pass for a stone village or a quarry of some kind... completely with zip-lines for them to ride and monsters for them to kill.

From what Rarity could tell the mage like enemies that lingered all over the area, and there were a few of them that she could see at the moment, was positioned in such a way that if someone rode one of the zip-lines they would knock them out of the air and cause them to fall into the pit below them... or, if they were lucky, survive the fall by landing away from the pit, where spiders were likely waiting for food. Edric, on the other hand, smashed the spider that was in front of him, after riding a zip-line to where it was stationed, and accessed the next zip-line... only to be blasted into the pit, where Rarity found that he was fine from his encounter, despite the fact that the other hollowed mages were now turning towards him so they could kill him. Instead of allowing that to happen Rarity jumped into the air and spun around, where she loosed several Dark Orbs that raced towards the few hollowed mages that rested in the area, obliterating them within seconds while she landed on the sand near Edric.

From there the two of them searched the area and found a door that wasn't locked, though they had to take care of the group of spiders that wanted to kill them, before finding that another mage and a spider were waiting for them to arrive inside the room the door was connected to. Unfortunately all they found inside the room was a secret passage that brought them to a iron chest that contained a large axe of some kind and another spell, Soul Vortex if Rarity was reading the title right. With those items in hand the two of them returned to the exterior of the room they were in and continued searching for a way back to the upper levels, before eventually deciding to use a Homeward Bone and returned to the bonfire at the cave above them... which meant that they had to contend with the other enemies again after Edric had a quick rest at the bonfire.

The second time around, instead of using the second zip-line to continue forward, the duo turned to their left and entered the small house like structure that had been left behind, where they eventually found a tunnel in the wall to their left that led them to two wooden doors... as well as another part of this ruined area, where they found a hollow that was apparently being controlled by the spider that was attached to his back.

Fortunately it appeared that the spider possessed hollows were rather easy to take care of, as two swings of Edric's sword or one blast from Rarity's Dark Orbs proved to be fatal for them, but that didn't stop the duo from being cautious since some of their enemies could surprise them at any moment. They carefully made their way down to the lowest area they could access at the moment, while dealing with the hollows that were possessed by spiders, before they were attacked by a red spirit that looked like the peasants they had been dealing with earlier. The only major difference was that this spirit seemed to be pissed off about something, but since his attacks kept missing Rarity was able to blast him back with a well placed Dark Orb... allowing Edric to pierce the spirit's 'heart' and kill it, while at the same time allowing them access to the bridge that was in front of them.

It was in that moment that Rarity determined that the spikes on the right and left sides of the bridge would kill anyone that touched them, overtime anyway, meaning that she and Edric only had to follow the bridge itself to reach the door on the other side of the area they were in... while at the same time Rarity blasted the possessed hollows that were standing above the doorway, as it was an obvious trap and she removed it before either of them were harmed. As they walked into the building in front of them, after opening the doors, Rarity and Edric discovered a decent number of spiders hanging from the ceiling, which descended towards the ground the moment the doors were open. It appeared that luck was on their side, because a Dark Hail from Rarity was more than enough to deal with the spiders, because they remained together the entire time and died together... leaving her to sigh as they continued forward once more, which involved fighting one more possessed hollow before climbing up the ladder in front of them.

From there they got their first glimpse of the area that the Duke's Dear Freja called home, which appeared to be a large spider nest that went deep into the ground... which meant that there would be a lot of spiders and Rarity wasn't sure either of them could handle a swarm of them while searching for the fog door.

"Edric, I have a suggestion about how to get around this mess," Rarity said, though at the same time she kept her eyes on the hole, just in case the creature they were looking for rose from the depths to attack them first.

"And what would that be?" Edric asked, though he had his sword at the ready, because he knew that they were going to have to fight their way through this area before they found their target.

"We run," Rarity stated, causing her companion to look at her for a moment, where she gestured to the hole in front of them for a few moments, "I'm sure that we can fight off the majority of what's down there, but we'll be too exhausted to even fight the Guardian when we reach it, so we should run through the swarm before they have a chance to react and get through that fog door before we're caught."

Edric had to admit, he never considered just running through the nest and attract all the spiders to them, which would retreat once they entered the Guardian's chamber, before he eventually sighed and nodded his head, because if Rarity thought it was a good idea than it had to be one. Rarity nodded in turn and they descended into the hole in front of them, where they broke into a sprint as they followed the hardened webs that had clearly formed walkways as they searched for the fog door. At the same time they could hear the sounds of the spiders waking up and getting ready for action, where some descended onto the walkways and started chasing after them, to which Rarity gave the ones that got close a present and blasted them away with a small amount of magic. Fortunately the hole was actually much small than they had been expecting, in terms of depth anyway, and they found the fog door without much problems, though the spiders still backed away when the duo reached it... to which they headed through it and found a large open area that would serve as their battleground, yet there was no sign of their opponent.

That was, however, until a swarm of spiders rushed passed the duo and climbed the webs until they were walking on what appeared to be the corpse of a dragon that had been caught in a spiders web, where they started hitting the stone like corpse with their claws... which caused the largest, and ugliest, spider Rarity had ever seen to drop down from the ceiling and glare at the two of them, while some of the smaller spiders joined it.

Rarity started out the battle by targeting the smaller spiders with her Soul Arrows, destroying them before they had a chance to damage her or Edric, while at the same time her companion ran up to one of the spiders legs and tried to hit it with his sword, where he found that no damage had been done at all. It was in that moment that Rarity determined that by attacking the spider's body, and maybe focus on the head, might let them win this battle, but before she did anything the spider loosed a beam of energy out of it's mouth and swiped it across the chamber. Since neither of them had been expecting that attack they were both knocked to the side as the attack moved across the chamber, but they were quick to pick themselves back up as Freja started to focus on them again.

As Freja followed Edric, however, Rarity discovered that the spider actually had two heads and could only use one at a time to focus on someone, to which she grinned as she charged a Lightning Spear and hurled it into the head that was facing her. Freja's reaction was to shake as the head in front of her snapped to attention and focused on her, though Rarity had been counting on that as she snapped up a barrier that protected her from the beam attack, which also left the other head exposed as Edric started hacking at it. Unfortunately this method didn't work for long, as Freja started moving when she switched back to the head that was facing Edric, forcing the two of them to move as well while Rarity determined that the spider was much smarter than she originally thought. From that point forward it appeared that the only way to truly damage Freja was for the spider to attack them, and missing, thus opening itself up to damage from either Edric's sword or Rarity's spells.

At the same time Rarity had to focus some of her effort on keeping the smaller spiders in line, taking them out when they appeared and making sure none of them got passed her, otherwise it would throw off what she and Edric were doing and this wasn't the time for them to mess something up.

Fortunately, thanks to their persistence in fighting such a hard foe that had two weaknesses and adapted to their plans quickly, Rarity and Edric were able to beat the Duke's Dear Freja, claimed her soul, and smashed the other spiders until they were all gone. From there they approached the large dragon's corpse and watched as a red colored soul emerged from the body and floated down to them, where it swirled around them for a few moments before they finally embraced it, allowing them to gather the fourth and final Great Soul. From there they found a tunnel that brought them to a private library of sorts, where someone that had to be the Duke, who was clearly hollowed at this point, turned around and attacked them... only for Edric to impale him with his sword, while Rarity claimed the key, the Fragrant Branch of Yore, and the ring that he dropped, before they headed down another passage.

What they found made them pause, because one of the things they encountered was the Primal Bonfire they had been searching for, but the other two things in the chamber made them pause, as there the body of a man, decked out in armor and wielding two cleaver style swords, that happened to be missing his head... while the other creature was what appeared to be a giant, charred human head covered in flames and large branches. Oddly enough the ground around the strange creature was on fire, while at the same time Rarity noticed was appeared to be a single red orb near the center of it's body, which she guessed was possibly an eye. Before they did anything with the flaming creature, as Rarity suspected that it was more important and worth their time, Edric tackled the walking body and dodged it's attacks, leaving Rarity to watch as he tore his opponent apart and caused it to disappear like most of their enemies... while at the same time leaving the armor it had been wearing behind.

The moment they were done with the headless knight, however, they turned to the strange creature that was simply staring at them and approached it, where they remained silent as they waited for the creature to speak.

"No one has come this far, not for a very long while." the creature said, sounding male by the tone of the voice that emitted from the body, though from where Rarity had absolutely no idea, but she and Edric remained silent, "Young Hollows, do you wish to shed this curse? Then accept the fate of your ilk, and face the trials that await you. Unless, you have already joined the crestfallen. Young Hollows, there are but two paths. Inherit the order of this world, or destroy it. But only a true monarch can make such a choice. Very few, indeed, have come even this far. And yet, your journey is far from over. Half-grown Hollows, have you what it takes, truly?"

Rarity wasn't liking what the creature was suggesting, because it sounded like the creature was telling them that they had the choice to either save this world from total damnation or usher in a new age of darkness and despair... if she was correctly understanding what she was hearing.

"Young Hollows, seek after Vendrick." the creature commanded, though at the same time Rarity and Edric didn't know if they could trust the creature, because it had given them nothing that would make them trust it, "He who almost became a true monarch. Vendrick is certain to guide your way. Fledgling Hollows, may we meet again."

The two of them watched as the creature sunk into the floor and disappeared, taking it's fire with it and leaving them to their own devices as the light from the flames disappeared... to which they sighed and approached the Primal Bonfire once more. Rarity knew that Shalquoir and the Emerald Herald would have news for them when they returned to Majula, though all she and Edric had to do was ask and she would have the information she wanted, and maybe the identity of the strange creature they had been listening to.

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[Randablitz]

Finally, Aldia makes his first appearance to guide the two heroes to the crowns of lords long passed!