Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials

by Blackdrag-rose

Searching the Ruins

Rarity moaned as she rolled to her side for a moment, trying to put her strange dream to rest and move onto much more pleasant dreams, when she heard another moan in the area around her, though the voice was one that she immediately recognized. She slowly opened her eyes and found that she was in one of the rooms that she and Edric had discovered while they were searching the ruined fortress, or rather the room that had a bonfire resting near the large hole in the floor, which had a ladder that took them deeper into the fortress. She gently pulled herself into a sitting position and noticed that the merchant lady she and Edric had been talking to earlier must have moved on, because she was no longer there, before she spotted the resting form of her companion resting on the other side of the bonfire. What shocked her was that Edric's skin color had reverted to the rotting color she had seen when they had first met each other... and that his body had become a little more corpse like since she had last seen him.

"Edric?" Rarity asked, causing her companion to stir and slowly pick himself up off the floor, though that was followed by him opening his eyes and looking down at his body once more, "What happened to you?"

"Its the curse," Edric replied, letting out a sigh as he looked at his skin for a few seconds, indicating that he didn't like being in this position again, especially within an hour or two of being restored to his original form thanks to those elderly ladies the two of them had encountered, "When someone with the curse dies they become more Hollowed, like those three elderly ladies explained to us in their own manner, and they become like this... though the more they die the closer they get to losing themselves. What surprises me is that you're taking this so well."

Rarity opened her mouth, to ask what Edric was talking about, but then she noticed the same rotten coloration, which was on Edric's arms and body at the moment, happened to be resting on her own right arm. Her mind went into a panic as she glanced all over her body, finding that parts of her body had become a little rotten and more corpse like, making her look like Edric. A few moments later she remembered what had happened to her, as that terrifying knight they had encountered had stabbed her in the chest, lifted her into the air, and tossed her off the area they were in like she was a piece of trash... and then she remembered her life ending for a moment, before she woke up here.

"I... I died..." Rarity said, looking at her body and finding that she wasn't hungry and that she didn't need to breath, making her even more terrified of her condition, "but I'm alive... and I've lost my former beauty!"

"Rarity, I'm sure that in whatever land you come from beauty is an important aspect of life," Edric commented, though his tone indicated that he knew that she was going to freak out and was trying to prevent that from even happening, especially since there was more for them to do before the curse claimed them, "but right now we had better get moving, because I'm sure that the knight we fought, and died to no less, is still wandering the ruins... and besides, we can always talk with Melentia and buy a effigy in the future, to restore ourselves to our former forms."

Rarity stopped just short of freaking out about her appearance, which she was well known for back in Ponyville, and recalled what happened to Edric when he was given the effigy when the approached the three elderly ladies, where his hollowed state was reverted back to how he had looked before his first death. She realized that he was right, because if either of them drew too close to falling into the madness of being a hollow they could always use one of the effigies that several of the merchants sold. She was also mentally freaking out over the fact that she had died, because it had been so sudden and the knight didn't even give her a chance to defend herself before he cut her down... or rather tossed her off the area they had been standing in.

Now that she knew how easy it was for an experienced knight to take her down, in one well placed hit no less, she was incredibly thankful to have someone like Edric with her, because if she had been doing this on her own she was sure that she would have died more times than just the one time... and she shuddered when she considered that she could have been a hollow by this point if her companion wasn't with her.

"So... are you ready to move on?" Edric inquired, snapping Rarity out of her thoughts for a moment and caused her to look at her companion, who was currently standing near the hole they had climbed down a few minutes ago.

Rarity sighed as she collected her staff, which happened to be resting near her, and followed Edric back towards the hole they had climbed down, to which they repeated the movements and descended back down into the area they had been walking in earlier. It was then that she discovered that the enemies they had slain, before encountering the terrifying knight, had been restored after they had awoken at the bonfire, meaning that enemies either returned to life when she and Edric died, or they returned to life by them resting at the bonfire. Rarity already disliked this world, due to the curse suddenly latching onto her and dooming her to an existence as an Undead, but enemies returning to life after the two of them died meant that they needed to stay alive at all costs... even if that might be a little hard, with opponents as strong at that one knight no less.

Thanks to the fact that they knew the route to where the terrifying black armored knight had ambushed them, and the layout of the hollows that stood in their path, Rarity and Edric were able to make their way back to the raised fighting area without any complications. When the two of them climbed back up to the area where they 'fought' the knight Rarity noticed two things; one, the knight was nowhere to be seen and it appeared that he wasn't interested in them anymore, and two, there was a glowing green orb on their right... which happened to be resting above what appeared to be a bloodstain of some kind. That peaked her interest, because on the walkway that was behind them she had noticed a light purple colored orb that was floating above another bloodstain, which, if memory served, was where she had landed after the knight had tossed her off the area they were in.

She briefly wondered what the significance of the two strange colored orbs were, but even as she started to consider what they could do she noticed that Edric was starting to move and talk, to which she focused on him once more.

"That was where I died." Edric stated, to which he walked over towards the bloodstain and stared at it, though at the same time Rarity watched as the green orb surged into his body and disappeared, "When that knight impaled you I ran at him, intending to release you before he could do any further harm, but all he did was slam his shield into my face and knock me backwards. After he tossed you off the edge he cornered me here and crushed me with his massive sword, like he wanted to split me in half or something... and then I woke up to the sound of you talking. It also appears that the souls we have collected remain in the location that we died in, contained in these strange colored orbs, which means we won't have to worry about permanently losing them."

The moment Edric said that Rarity jumped down to the walkway they had been on a few seconds ago and walked over to the light purple orb, though when she touched it she felt the souls she had acquired before her death come rushing back into her body. It made her somewhat happy that such a terrible world could be so forgiving, at least in the aspect of keeping her souls around like this, but something told her that if they had died, before recovering their souls, these orbs would have been lost. She believed that this was the meaning behind what the three elderly ladies had said, about them losing their souls, but at least there was a way for them to recover what they had lost... before they were permanently lost.

As she mentally rejoiced over having her souls back, however, she spotted a hollow standing up on the walkway above her, at the edge of where they 'fought' the large knight, and noticed that it was holding some sort of bomb in its right hand... to which she leveled her staff with the hollow and blasted it in the chest, knocking it on its back. Of course she failed to account for the hollow actually dropping the bomb, as it rolled towards some barrels that were near the wall that was close to where Rarity was standing. Instead of being near the wall Rarity ducked behind one of the wooden barriers, though she happened to be in time, because a few seconds later the bomb exploded and she heard the sound of a wall collapsing, meaning the barrels the bomb had landed by had to have been filled with something explosive.

When she pulled her head up to survey the damage, however, she found a large hole in the wall that the barrels had been resting in front of, though on the other side of the wall was the room the bonfire was resting in... meaning that Rarity had, accidentally, created a shortcut for them to use in the future.

"Talk about a lucky break." Rarity commented, taking a moment to brush herself off before she actually looked at the damage she had caused, though a part of her told her not to worry about damaging the ruined fortress.

"I'll say," Edric said, walking up beside Rarity, as he had seen the blast and never even considered that there might be an easier way to get to where they were standing from the bonfire they were staring at, before he shook his head, "Come on, I see a ladder nearby and its bound to lead us to something that helps our quest."

As they walked down the stairs on their right, however, they found two more enemies waiting to attack them, to which they fell back into the routine of Edric holding their attention while Rarity stood a bit behind him and fired at their foes with her magic. Once the enemies had been taken care of they walked over to the ladder and climbed down into the area that rested below them, though as they reached the bottom Rarity noticed that they could either go to their left, to their right, or walk towards the man that was resting near an open gate. As they walked forward, however, Edric quickly spotted something and pulled Rarity back, to which they watched as a hollow walked out of the chamber on their right and was impaled by what appeared to be a large wooden bolt with a metallic head.

Not a few seconds later three more hollows, apparently slightly smarter than the one that had just died, walked out of the chamber and came at the duo, to which Rarity started loosing spells as Edric held their attention, though he also cut one of them down when the opportunity presented itself. The instant their enemies had been defeated the duo walked into the chamber and found several ballista pointed in their direction, though it appeared that without their operators they were completely useless. Since the area was clear of enemies, and they were sure of that, they found two sets of items waiting for them; one happened to be a piece of paper detailing another spell, a Great Soul Arrow that Edric let Rarity take, while the second item was a blue wooden shield and another random soul.

With the items collected, and the area checked for any additional items that could benefit them in the future, the duo walked out of the chamber and pondered which direction to head in next... though that was before they both decided that they might as well see what was up with the man that was sitting near an open gate.

"Hello there. I can see that the two of you are traveling together in these treacherous times." the man said, though at the same time Rarity and Edric knew that he was referring to something that they knew nothing about, though that didn't stop the man from continuing, "Well, I'm sure that the two of you have a very good reason for being together. Oh, hogwash, who am I to judge? My name is Pate."

"My name is Edric," Edric replied, beckoning to himself for a moment, before turning and placing a hand on Rarity's shoulder, causing Pate to raise an eyebrow for a moment, which made Rarity wonder what the man was looking at, "and this is my companion Rarity. What brings you here, to the Forest of Fallen Giants?"

"I journey hither and thither… on a sort of… treasure hunt, you might call it." Pate answered, though the fact that he had hesitated when he mentioned that he was on a treasure hunt of some kind had Rarity worried, as she knew that bandits could lie well and lead people to their deaths, "Be careful out there. There's talk of unsavory bandits who prey upon travelers like the two of you."

"Don't worry, we're always careful." Rarity said, though at the same time she realized that it wasn't a complete truth, because they had foolishly attacked an opponent that neither of them were actually prepared to face and had died as a consequence, "Though something tells me you were referring to being careful about the area in front of us."

"Oh yes, you be cautious if you go any farther." Pate said, his tone saying that he was agreeing with her, though at the same time Rarity couldn't help but wonder if there was more to him than what they were seeing, "There's treasure in there, for certain, but the entrance locks from behind. I saw the same design earlier, and it's the same contraption, I'm sure. I was with this warrior, you see, and he insisted that he go inside first. The rather brusque fellow tried to swipe the loot for himself, but it trapped him inside."

Rarity watched as Pate let out a sigh, as if something was troubling him, before he reached into his pocket and pulled something out, something that looked like a ring of some kind, which only made her wonder if it was a family heirloom or if he had been given it by someone.

"I still have the gent's ring... I do hope he wasn't harmed." Pate commented, though this time he sounded distracted, but that was quickly followed by him pocketing the ring again and staring at the duo, "I'll leave this one to you. I'm worried about what might be inside."

Rarity and Edric glanced at each other before they walked through the open gate, which immediately closed behind them the moment they were a few steps inside the area that Pate was apparently guarding. Three hollows, two warriors and one archer, rose to attack the duo, so while Edric dealt with the warrior hollows Rarity blasted the archers with her magic. It took them a few moments to beat their enemies, especially since Rarity had to dodge one of the warriors until Edric could get its attention, but in the end they were able to advance towards the open door and see what else awaited them inside this part of the ruined fortress.

When they passed through the doorway they discovered that there was a passage to their left and that there appeared to be no enemies at the moment, but that didn't stop Edric from raising his shield as they walked towards the other side of the chamber they were in. When they reached the halfway point they were attacked by two hollows that charged out from where they were hiding, to which they repeated the method they had been using so far and easily overcame the attack. That was before a third spear wielding hollow appeared in front of them and managed to wound Edric by piercing his chest, but their foe was quickly vanquished as Rarity blasted it with her Soul Arrow... before she turned her attention to her companion and his wound.

"Does it hurt?" Rarity asked, though it was at moments like this that she cursed the fact that she didn't actually know how to treat such a wound, even if it was something like this, "How do I fix this type of wound?"

"It hurts a tiny bit." Edric replied, though he actually chuckled for a moment, but Rarity knew that it had to do with the fact that she knew nothing about the curse that plagued them, "Just because we're Undead doesn't mean we don't feel pain... that comes later, when we're reduced to the hollow state, like those soldiers we've been fighting. Instead we have a higher pain resistance before we break, but you don't have to worry about healing the wound for me."

Rarity wondered why Edric would say something like that, though that was when her companion pulled out the flask that the Emerald Herald had given him, and she had one as well, before he downed the contents of the bottle. Rarity watched as the flask went dark for a moment, indicating that it was spent, before the wound and his armor healed right up, as if he hadn't been hit at all. Rarity was simply amazed that a flask, containing some unknown elixir, could heal a body so well in such a short about of time and repair the armor the person was wearing in the process... to which she mentally sighed as she realized that she might have been able to spare herself the agony of death and her new look, but then she recalled the shock and pushed that thought from her mind.

"I know that lady said these flasks would help us on our journey, but I never imagined they would work in such a manner," Edric said, getting back onto his feet and stretched for a moment, to which he beckoned for Rarity to follow him once more, "Let's get out of here, before something more terrifying comes looking for us."

Rarity nodded her understanding and focused her attention on the path they had been following, because it appeared that there might be more enemies for them to deal with, though when they turned the corner they found an archer at the top of the stairs they would eventually be at the top of. In addition to the archer there was a warrior that wanted to inflict pain on the two of them with his spear, to which Edric blocked the incoming attack and sliced through his opponent's defenses while Rarity shot down the archer. When those two were defeated another warrior came charging down the stairs, only to die at the hands of Edric's sword and a spell hitting him in the chest... before the two of them moved forward once more.

The duo turned around the corner and found that there was a doorway leading outside, though as they walked through it they found themselves on a walkway that let them look down at Pate... who Rarity was a little annoyed with, because the man had said there was something inside the area they had walked through and they found nothing. She and Edric noticed that the walkway they were walking on was cracked and missing a massive chunk of it, meaning that they couldn't move to the other side of the walkway, so they jumped down into the indent and jumped down to where Pate was sitting... who seemed somewhat surprised to see them again.

"Well, I see the two of you managed to escape." Pate commented, though Rarity and Edric simply stared at him for a few seconds, as this time they weren't completely sure whether he was a liar or a very poor adventurer, "I hope that brave warrior didn't come a cropper either. Be careful out there... oh, before I forget, you should also take this."

What Pate pulled out of his pocket was some sort of white stone, one that Rarity could tell had some magical properties, despite the fact that she wasn't very knowledgeable in terms of magic. Edric, on the other hand, took the white stone and held it up, where the two of them noticed that there was a small cloth of some kind wrapped around the area near Edric's hand.

"That allows Undead to call out for help to one another, across the fissures between worlds." Pate explained, though the way he spoke told Rarity that he must have given the white stone out to some of the other Undead that had come to this world, "If the two of you ever need some additional assistance, well, somebody might just lend you a hand... or you could always leave a sign and help someone else out."

Edric and Rarity stared at each other for a few seconds, wondering if the stone could do what pate said it could or not, before they said farewell and departed from where he was sitting, though even as they walked away Rarity still didn't trust him. Despite the fact that she didn't trust Pate she had to admit that the concept of using a white stone, and apparently leave a sign on the ground, to travel to another version of this world was something she had never considered, especially with the crystal mirror she had walked through. She actually wondered how the white stone worked and wondered if Edric wanted to test it out at some point in the future, because she figured that being summoned to other worlds might allow them to better understand the area they were in and get some warning on potential dangers... and maybe learn about creatures like that knight that had killed them both.

Rarity shuddered as she thought about that knight and silently hoped that she and Edric never saw him again, that he had his fill of battle after killing them... though she knew that only time would tell and that she wasn't looking forward to seeing what the future held in store for them.

Comments

[tererdrone]

ya I can understand rarity fuck that knight

[Blackdrag-rose]

8540815 The Pursuer, the knight that killed Rarity and Edric, is one of the more annoying bosses in the entirety of Dark Souls 2... because he can, if your not careful, kill you in two to three hits, or sometimes one if your unlucky.

[tererdrone]

8540850
there is actually another area you can run into him at after you kill the furnace boss if you come back to his boss room the pursuer will appear their too that is a minimum of 3 areas I know of that he appear in the game

[Blackdrag-rose]

8542814 Ah yes, the area where you fight the Smelter Demon boss. There's actually a fourth area, in New Game Plus, where you can fight the Pursuer one last time... but I think having Rarity fight him twice, maybe three times total, is more than enough punishment.

[Soluna Eclipse]

8542830
oh it gets even better than that, in the PS4/PC SotFS version of the game he'll show up seemingly randomly in several parts of the game as well. Including the very start of the game if you ever head back to the platform you begin on. every last one of these new encounters rewards you with a piece of Twinkling Titanite which is pretty handy if you want to use something that upgrades with such things.

That being said, he's not that hard once you realize two simple facts. most of his attacks can be Parried.. and most can be dodged easily by just hugging his shield and strafing around him.

anyway just started reading this story a couple days ago. love me some dark souls. can't wait till Rarity encounters some of the more.. fun bosses.

[HB_DS2013]

The Pursuer was the first boss that killed me.

[dragonus85]

I remember that guy that was dropped from a bird ... I also remember running back to the ladder and climbing back down
And when I went back up he wasn't there
That was a big "uuuuuhhhh.... Where'd he go..." Moment for me