Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials

by Blackdrag-rose

Into the Depths

After taking a short break at the bonfire, to recover from all of the fights they had been in so far, Rarity and Edric headed through the path that was resting beside the bonfire and walked to a small area that had another hallway for them to walk down, which brought them to a ladder. They carefully descended the ladder and touched the floor that was waiting for them, though as they rounded the corner they both spotted one of those flaming statues that they had seen back in the Iron Keep, only this one looked like it could be moved. Rarity, seeing the mage enemy at the end of the path they needed to take, had Edric tap the statue before she called a barrier up around them, allowing them to watch as the statue moved towards where the mage was standing. The result was that the barrel carrying hollow, which Rarity had ignored since they were passive until someone attacked them, exploded when it was near the mage and took them both out, allowing the duo to moved forward without having to worry about foes for the moment.

Interestingly enough the lever that was near the statue, before it moved, opened the iron barred gate that was in front of them, though that really didn't help them out and they continued along the path that they would have normally followed, where they came to another area with three mages. Rarity slammed an Emit Force into the chest of the closest mage, as it attempted to get behind them before striking, and knocked it into the wall as Edric used the next statue to inflict some damage on the enemies at the end of the hallway. Fortunately the mage went down easily, allowing Rarity to send a small volley of Soul Arrows at the mages that were blocking their way, though the instant they were taken care of Edric used another lever and raised another gate, before they pressed onward. At the very end of the hallway they found one of the larger ironclad warriors blocking the way, but that was when Rarity stepped back and opened the third gate, opening up the explosive filled room they had ignored, while Edric fought the warrior off... destroying it in a matter of seconds and proving that his new strength wasn't to be messed with.

Rarity was sure that if either of them had been forced to fight alone, and hadn't been paired up when she entered this world, they would have reached this stage of their individual evolution eventually, though since they were fighting together their enemies really didn't stand a chance... making her feel a little unsatisfied in the process, but she wanted to be free from the Curse and that was why they were gathering the crowns.

With the ironclad warrior defeated the duo pulled the lever he had been guarding and opened the gate in front of them, allowing the two of them to walk through a doorway and head outside the tower, though they found that their next location was across another chain. Rarity and Edric chuckled at that and started walking over the large iron chain that rested in front of them, carefully making their way to the other side before they reached the platform that rested in front of a fog door. Based on previous experiences Rarity had the feeling that they weren't about to run into a powerful creature just yet, but regardless of whether she was right or wrong they pushed through the fog door and walked into the smaller tower that was connected to the main tower. As they headed down the path on their left, since that was the only way for them to go at the moment, they discovered some ashen foes that were crawling on the ground... and could leap great distances when given the ability to do so.

Fire, as it turned out, appeared to be their weakness, which was odd when Rarity considered where they were, but a simple Fireball was more than enough to take them out, especially since a specific amount of damage needed to be caused before they detonated themselves like a bomb. Fortunately she and Edric moved away from the crawlers when they did that, allowing their foes to finish themselves off in such a manner, before they moved on and repeated the process with all of the other crawlers that were waiting along the path that they were following. At the same time Rarity held a flaming hand near the iron torches that had been created for the circular hallway and let them catch on fire, while avoiding the strange black tar colored substance that was around each torch. At the end of the hallway they found a ladder that they used to descend into the depths of the tower, though at the bottom of the ladder they found a red spirit waiting for them.

Rarity, deciding not to even bother with the invader, let Edric handle her while she walked around the room, using her hand to ignite the torches, to which she brought some light to the area that they were in and found a few doors that they could open... which Edric agreed with, once he had finished off the invader and Rarity discovered that he had suffered no injuries at all, once more showing how skilled he was with his weapons.

What they did was open the doors around them one at a time, giving them a moment to deal with whatever was on the other side before they bothered to open the next door in the sequence, though the first one contained a crawler that met it's end rather suddenly. The second door happened to contain a mage that had been wandering around the area, though as it died Rarity found some Twinkling Titanite that Edric could use, as well as a spell called Recollection, which she bound to the tome as well. The next two doors happened to be connected to the same room and allowed the duo to remove the crawlers that they discovered, though when they opened the final door the crawler they found in front of it started it's death sequence, to which they retreated as the crawler blew both himself and the other crawler beside him to pieces, allowing the duo to move on. It was behind those two crawlers that they found the ladder that let them descend even further into the depths of the tower, though when they reached the bottom and moved forward the duo found an iron door that needed to be opened.

When they opened the door, however, they discovered a number of crawlers staring at a machine that had a scepter of some kind waiting in the slot in front of them, to which Rarity used the Dance of Fire and backed away, allowing the afflicted crawler to detonate itself before taking all of the crawlers out in one large flash of light... to which they walked back into the room and claimed the scepter, powering the machine down in the process.

"That was significantly easier than I was expecting," Rarity commented, though at the same time she held onto the scepter as they made their way through the second door way, where another crawler committed suicide before their eyes, in an attempt to kill them.

From there they reached the end of the hallway and pulled the lever that they discovered, which summoned an elevator for them to use and allowed them to ascend back to the top of the tower that they were currently in, though that required that they walk through another circular hallway and jump down onto some boxes before they were back at the entrance for the tower. From there they walked outside and headed back towards the area that they had come from, only this time they used the second door, which they had ignored when they exited the area, and entered the small room that they quickly uncovered. At that point it was a simple matter for them to climb up the ladder that was inside the small room and pull the lever that was to their right, allowing them to walk up the stairs and enter the area where the main machinery was located... to which they walked over to the slot Rarity had seen earlier and slipped the scepter into it, waking the heart of the tower for the first time in who knew how long.

The chains and buckets started moving again, where Rarity and Edric watched as some rather large iron statues were raised around the area that they were standing on, though they smiled as they noticed that the one closest to them happened to have a platform attached to it's head. Once it came back to rest near the slot that the scepter was in the duo walked onto it, to which they braced themselves as they descended into the depths of the tower once more, only to climb off when they reached the level that was below the one they had been on, which was actually deeper than the tower the scepter had been stored inside. From there they walked around the walkway that they had stepped onto and made their way to a hallway, one that allowed them to reach an area that was outside the tower and happened to be covered in ash, as well as being guarded by some barrel hollows... who were already standing pretty close to some flames that it wasn't even funny.

"Sometimes things are just too easy." Rarity said, to which she pulled on the flames that were coming from the statues and struck the closest barrel hollow with the fire, causing all of them to explode and clear the area, while at the same time she sighed and walked forward.

When they walked out into the ash covered area an ironclad warrior pulled himself out of the ash and faced the duo, to which Rarity stepped back and watched as Edric dodged the incoming attacks that the ironclad warrior sent his way and delivered his own powerful attacks in return. It didn't take him long to take out the warrior, since he was used to their movements at this point in time, though that was before a second one, wielding a wicked looking mace, rose from the ash and engaged Edric in battle. Once that one fell a third one repeated the process and attacked him as well, though it wasn't long before he had taken out that warrior as well, only this time around he waited to see if there were any more enemies for him to fight, while at the same time Rarity found a key resting in the ash. The moment Edric determined that there weren't anymore enemies in this area, and relaxed a little, the duo headed back inside the tower and continued their search for the being that was holding the Old Iron King's crown.

As they explored the area they found a door on the opposite side of where they found the key, which happened to unlock the door and allowed the duo to progress down a long set of stairs and turn around a corner before they found themselves even deeper than they were moments ago. They also discovered that there was some water being poured into the area, since it appeared that the Old Iron King used the water to cool off the large statues that the duo could see, though at the same time Rarity wasn't about to question where in the world the water was coming from, as there weren't any rivers of water near the tower. At best guess she figured that the Old Iron King found some large underground reserves and used those to cool his statues, and whatever else he made before becoming the creature that she and Edric had fought earlier.

Luck seemed to be on their side, as another statue with a platform on it's head was brought up to where they were standing, to which the duo climbed onto the platform before it lowered itself back into the depths of the tower, though when it stopped at the level below them they decided to explore... and found a large cave tunnel not a few steps from where the statue let them off. And, sure enough, they found the bonfire for a new area waiting for them, which they activated the instant they found it and headed towards an opening, where they dropped down into an area that had more of those statues they had seen when they first entered the area before Brume Tower. From there they walked into a small room like cavern with a lever that was attached to at least one of the gates that lined the passage in front of them, or maybe all of them, but instead of messing with it they turned to the left and dropped down into the area below them, to which they moved forward from where they landed.

That brought them to a chamber with three warriors and a mage, so while Edric dealt with the warriors Rarity targeted the mage in the back and used the Recollection spell, which loosed a cluster of shadowy skulls that raced through the air and barreled into her target, knocking the mage into the wall and killed it instantly... causing Rarity to blink for a moment, because she had forgotten that her power in dark based magic was so strong.

Once those enemies were taken care of the duo crossed the room they were in and headed towards the opening that was opposite of where they had entered the area through, to which they both dropped down into the next area as they continued their search for the crown. As they dropped down into the area below them Edric took out the warrior that was in the passage they entered, though as that was accomplished they discovered that there were at least four normal warriors, a possessed suit of armor, and a mage resting in the area. That told the duo that there had to be something special down here, if there were this many guards to ensure that whatever that something was remained safe, though as Edric started fighting the melee warriors Rarity focused her magic on tearing the mage and the possessed armor apart, since that would allow them to focus on their own enemies without having to worry about others attacking them. The instant Edric finished off the first pair of warriors he moved to the other side of the chamber and did the same thing to the other pair that he had ignored, before the two of them were left as the only remaining people in this area.

They followed that up by walking through the opening near their location and dropped down into the area beneath them, knowing that this was likely going to repeat one more time before they found whatever was beneath Brume Tower, or they could be surprised and find what they were looking for and then leave this area.

That was when they discovered that the next area they came to contained a mage wearing a yellow robe, indicating an affinity for miracles, another possessed suit of armor, and an ironclad warrior that was clearly out to get them, to which Edric tackled the warrior while Rarity dealt with the ranged enemies. Truthfully she knew that they couldn't hurt her as she cast her spells at them, as she was simply much stronger than either of them were, though she dodged the attacks that were coming her way and threw a few back in retaliation, as she was merely waiting for her companion to finish first. When she heard the sound of the ironclad warrior falling to the ground, however, she loosed a wave of spells and toppled her enemies as well, to which she and Edric turned towards the fog door that happened to be resting in one of the tunnels that was near them.

"So, what are the chances that this one doesn't have a powerful creature, like all the other doors?" Edric asked, because he figured that Rarity might be able to pick out where the dangerous enemies were, so they could properly prepare themselves ahead of time.

"There's definitely something behind this fog door," Rarity said, feeling some energy coming from the other side, one that reminded her of the creatures like the Smelter Demon and the Looking Glass Knight, before she shook her head and approached the fog door, "Let's do this."

The duo passed through the fog door and found another Smelter Demon standing in the middle of the room like cavern that they were in, though a few seconds later the enchanted suit came alive and blue flames danced around the same parts that had been red on the counterpart they fought in the Iron Keep. The Blue Smelter Demon, as Rarity was going to call it to distinguish it from the first one, attacked Edric first and swung it's large sword at him, to which Edric dodged the attack and retaliated with his own attack. Rarity, on the other hand, stayed near the edges of the room and used her magic, finding that while the Blue Smelter Demon appeared to be immune to soul and fire based spells it was also slightly weak to lightning based attacks. The interesting thing was that the Blue Smelter Demon was actually weak against dark based spells, meaning that she could really damage their opponent with some well placed spells, though at the moment she stayed on the lower end to give Edric a chance to fight without her dominating the entire fight.

However that didn't last too long, as the Blue Smelter Demon, revealing that it was actually much smarter than it's red counterpart, determined that Rarity was the true threat and proceeded to attack her with all it's might, including jumping around the room and attacking her at different angles and using it's inner flame to increase it's power. Edric just sat on the sideline as he waited for the fight to finish, as he knew that with the speed that the Blue Smelter Demon was moving he wouldn't be able to hurt it, and since it was ignoring him he decided to let Rarity finish the fight. Rarity, on the other hand, let the Dark Magic flow to the surface as she lashed out with her magic, which left small gashes in her opponent's armor as she gracefully moved around the entire area. Originally she had been worried about the Dark Magic trying to corrupt her and only used it as a last resort, now it felt like she and the darkness were one and the corrupting influence never surfaced, but that was likely because she was using this for the betterment of the world and not for her own personal gain.

Eventually she outmaneuvered the Blue Smelter Demon and impaled it with a well timed crystal spike that tore through it's chest area, though she simply sighed as she extinguished it's flame and caused it to stall, where it turned to being like a statue, only this time it wouldn't wake up again. Once the deed was done they walked up the ramp that was opposite the entrance of this area and made their way to an area that contained an elevator, one that took them back up to the walkway that had allowed them to find the cave entrance. From there it was a simple matter to walk back to the bonfire they had discovered and rest there, allowing themselves a moment to rest while they thought about what they had done and what they had learned.

"That was a waste of time." Edric commented, as they hadn't found the crown or anything useful for their journey, especially since the opponent Rarity had let him fight chose to fight her instead.

"Not really. We've determined that the crown isn't in the depths of the tower," Rarity replied, though at the same time she smiled as she looked at the ceiling, as she knew that they were close to finding the crown now that they had eliminated one possible route from the list, "Don't worry, well find the Crown of the Old Iron King soon enough... and then we'll only have to find one more crown before we talk with the Queen."

Rarity knew that they were close to the crown, she could feel it, but at the same time she knew that a little rest was exactly what they needed at the moment, because she had the feeling that the true guardian of the crown was going to put up quite the fight... and she wanted them to be ready for when that happened.

Comments

[zachary12]

nice work

[Randablitz]

Little do they know that the Queen is the real villain, and Vendrick had done what he did to prevent Nashandra from finding the Throne of Want.