• Published 3rd Oct 2020
  • 980 Views, 95 Comments

Dark Souls 3: Cinders of Power - Blackdrag-rose



Tirek awakens to find himself in a state of undeath, in a foreign land, and must use everything at his disposal to survive the dangers that await him.

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Exploring the Cathedral Grounds

It took a few moments for Tirek to reform near the bonfire that was in the area he, Sarana, and Martok fought the sage in earlier, where he quickly noticed that the embered look had disappeared from his armor and body, to which he sat down and stared at the flames of the bonfire, as he was going to wait and see if his companions joined him, in the sense that they had been killed as well. He had to admit that the Invaders had been quite skilled, or at least the lady with the scythe had been that way, mostly since he really didn't have the chance to see how the other two had fought, though he was hoping that Sarana and Martok were more than skilled enough to take them down, since having them in their embered states would make the trek to the Cathedral of the Deep that much easier. At the same time it was rather annoying to be making progress at long last, including the fact that he was able to stay alive for a longer period of time than when he first started this quest, only to get cut down by someone that was more skilled than he was at the moment, setting him back once more and forcing him to go back for his souls, since those were very important until he managed to find, defeat, and consume the power of a Lord of Cinder. Once he got his hands on that power he would be able to regain a decent fraction of his former magical power, enough to where he would be able to make Invaders like that lady regret coming to his world, but for now he had to deal with using only fifteen percent of his power, even if he was annoyed by that.

As he thought about all of this the air near him shimmered for a moment as Sarana and Martok reappeared, though this time around both of them still had their embers on their armor, making him wonder if they had been successful in taking out the Invaders, since that seemed to be the only real reason behind why they would be like this and he couldn't see either of them wasting what embers they had without talking to him first.

"I take it you killed the Invaders?" Tirek asked, as he didn't feel any disturbances in the air, meaning the three Invaders must have been sent back to their own worlds, where they would no doubt wait for the chance to invade someone else's world and kill whoever lived there, but he was eager to hear what his companions had to say on the matter, since he had been focused on his foe at the time.

"We managed to take down our opponents rather easily, as they were arrogant in believing that all of us were easy to take down," Sarana replied, where it wasn't hard for Tirek to assume that part of this was still his fault, in some manner at the very least, but he remained silent as he listened to what he was being told, since there was the chance that she might have something interesting to tell him, "however, it seems that you were the one the lady with the scythe was after, while her companions were supposed to kill Martok and myself, so since she killed you she was able to depart from this world and head back to her own, no doubt gaining some sort of reward for her hard work, while her fallen friends got nothing for what happened to them."

"I see. So when you invade another world you have to be successful to get anything," Tirek remarked, as while part of this was annoying, since he wished he could have been warned about it ahead of time and not be caught off guard when they were being invaded by a group of people, he had to admit that the prospect of invading other worlds and taking the souls of the various hosts, as he decided to call the other Unkindled, might be worth it, before he sighed as he stood up and headed for the path back to the woods, "Well, that's something we can worry about later. For now I want to retrieve my souls and head back to the shrine, so we can hand over some of the stuff we picked up in the woods and maybe get a few upgrades while we're there, before we resume our trek and continue towards the Cathedral of the Deep."

Sarana and Martok said nothing to that as they followed Tirek back down the path that would take them to the front of the ruined fortress, where they engaged the various peasant hollows and sorcerers they fought the last time they came down this way, and once they reached the outside of the fort they waited for Tirek to jump down into the area below them and collect his souls, so he could return to them. Thanks to where he had been slain they didn't have to worry about the Great Crabs trying to kill him, so he was able to collect his souls in peace and return to where the pair was standing, even if that meant avoiding the pike hollows and the rest of the enemies that might be in the area, save for the undead dog that insisted on trying to attack him, only for him to blast his target into the ground. Once that was done, and he was sure none of the other enemies were coming after him, Tirek rejoined his companions and approached the bonfire that was just right outside the fortress, which was the moment that they focused on the shrine for a few seconds and let the magic teleport them back to their base of operations, as it was time to give the residents of the shrine a few things before they even made an attempt on the Cathedral of the Deep. It took them a few moments to return to the shrine, where Tirek found that the knight that had told him about the flames was missing, for what seemed like the third time since they left for the High Wall, and that the Fire Keeper was sitting nearby, though neither of them were his target as he pulled out the tome he had found and headed to where Cornyx was sitting, even if it was sure to piss off Orbeck, since they hadn't found any scrolls to give the man.

While he did that Sarana and Martok headed over to where Andre, the blacksmith, was hard at work tending to the various weapons of the other Unkindled that the three of them had seen since they first came to the shrine, but as Tirek walked down the steps he focused on the person he was here to see and no one else, as he was sure that he would come back with a scroll for Orbeck at some point in time.

"Ah, Unkindled One, you've returned," Cornyx commented, indicating that he knew who was approaching him, which wasn't hard since Tirek was the only one in this area that had hooves instead of feet, something that did make wearing any of the footwear they were finding an impossible task, but that wasn't why he was here and the man sensed that, "Tell me, have you come to acquire the rest of the spells I have to offer?"

"No, I actually have a pyromancy tome for you." Tirek replied, where he handed over the tome in question and let the man see what he was being given, since he was sure that Cornyx would enjoy spending some time looking over the pages of the tome and seeing what sort of spells he could gleam from it, and, more importantly, the spells that he could offer Tirek once his own studies were done.

"Yes, here we are... it has been some time since I've seen one of these tomes." Cornyx said, his tone indicating that he might have been able to offer Tirek a few more spells at the beginning if he had something like this on hand, but since that wasn't the case Tirek had been forced to make due with the spells he had been using up until this moment, "With this I can teach you some of the more sophisticated pyromancies, which you seem to be ready for, and give you an even greater chance of surviving the battles that are ahead of you."

Tirek found that he had just enough souls to grab the Fire Orb spell, one that he added to his list of growing spells as he finished trading the majority of his very limited supply of souls to the man, but he was sure that such a spell was going to come in handy in the future and wasn't annoyed about how much the trade had been, to which he bid Cornyx farewell and headed back to the center of the shrine, as it was time for him and his companions to get going. Once the three of them were back together they used the bonfire and returned to the area they had fought the sage in, but this time they weren't heading back into the Crucifixion Woods, as that would come later, rather they turned towards the open path that was to the right of where the sage had been sitting, when they first entered this area, and started to walk up the hill, which would take them to their next destination. As it turned out the path seemed to be taking them away from the Crucifixion Woods and was directing them towards the Cathedral of the Deep, which was exactly what Tirek was hoping for, though as they walked up the rocky path Sarana spotted a pair of small crystal lizards off to their left, ones that would be rather easy for her to take out, while Tirek noted that there was a manservant at the highest point of the path. Instead of stopping his companion from taking out the lizards, and acquiring their goods for their quest, he let Sarana jumped over the side and hunt down the lizards, while he and Martok faced off against the lone manservant, which was rather easy due to the fact that he had to let Martok be their foe's target so he could blast the tall person in the chest.

In a matter of seconds the pair were able to bring down the manservant and see what was beyond the top of the path he had been guarding, where they discovered another manservant that was waiting for the nearby evangelist to give him an order, or something to do at the very least, but while that guy was focused on the fire, and his leader seemed to be looking at a nearby corpse, Sarana snuck up behind the first target, revealing that she had found a path to lead her to this area, and stabbed her target in the back, allowing Tirek and Martok to take the evangelist out before she even knew what hit her, clearing the area out in a minute or two.

"This was a great way to demonstrate how much stronger we have gotten since the last time we fought these types of enemies, back in the Undead Settlement," Tirek commented, though he was happy with what had happened, as the three of them had dealt with that group of enemies like they were nothing and had barely wasted any time fighting them, he did know that some of the enemies that were ahead of them might be even stronger than what they were expecting and that they might be back to square one for a time, before he glanced over to Sarana for a moment, "What did those lizards have to give you this time around?"

"Some Twinkling Titanite, an even rarer upgrade material," Sarana replied, where she pulled out a white colored stone that seemed even stronger than the normal Titanite they had been finding since their adventure started, giving Tirek a few seconds to study the item in question before he nodded his head, allowing her to slip it back into her pack, "but other than that, there was nothing else in the area I investigated."

Tirek was just fine with that information, as he had the feeling that the Twinkling Titanite might be for the weapons that could be created from Ludleth's Transposition Kiln, but right now none of the powerful enemies they had taken out so far had any weapons he wanted, even if they hadn't really checked what the sage could give them, something he would check out at some point in the future. Once he knew what Sarana had gained from investigating the side passage the three of them started to walk towards the stone bridge that was in front of them, where they made sure to pick up a new suit of armor that was resting near the rock wall to their right, where Sarana claimed that it had belonged to a herald, one that must have given up their quest and discarded their armor here, but they claimed it and continued moving. As such they crossed the bridge and kept their guard up, because there was no telling what sort of enemies would attack the structure as they were doing this, but, interestingly enough, the three of them were able to cross over the bridge without some sort of creature attacking them, and there was even a bonfire waiting for someone to lit it, which they did instantly. With that done, and a new bonfire added to their list of areas they could visit, the trio faced the stone stairs that were nearby, where they started to walk up it so they could see what was between them and the Cathedral of the Deep, but as they took a few steps all three of them noticed that there was a knight defending the opening that they were heading towards, which was the moment that Sarana had them stop for a second, as she had glanced back, to make sure no one was coming at them from behind, and found a short passage near the bonfire she could check out.

Instead of telling her to focus on the objective, like he would do to anyone else, Tirek let her head over there and see what she could find, though it didn't take her long to return to where he and Martok were standing and revealed that she had found some new ashes, which they could turn into the Handmaiden when they returned to the shrine, before she put it inside her pack as they turned their attention to the foe that was in their way.

Of course, as Tirek assumed that there was only one enemy for them to worry about, Sarana told him that there had been a second one in the area, as she had spotted one in the area that she had found the ashes in, but she also revealed that she had quickly killed that knight before he even knew what hit him, though to be on the safe side Tirek let her head over to another path, just to make sure there wasn't a third enemy in this area. That left the knight that was guarding the entrance to him and Martok, where he switched to his flame for a moment as his companion walked forward and rushed towards where their foe was standing, who readied the shield he was wearing and rolled out of the way to avoid the incoming attack, even if that was when Tirek launched a large ball of fire at his target, a Fire Orb to be exact, and chuckled as the knight rolled right into the attack, knocking him backwards in the process. Martok took the opportunity that was presented to him and swung his greatsword down towards their foe, who didn't have all that much time to dodge and ended up with a deep cut in his back, but even then he forced himself to stand and continued moving to the best of his ability, showing that he was going to stop them from progressing and that he seemed to be waiting for his ally to come and assist him. It was in that moment that Sarana dropped down from the area she had been exploring, which had let her get above them thanks to the ledge that was near the knight they were fighting, and then stabbed their foe in the back for a second, giving Tirek the opening he was looking for as he blasted the knight in the face with a Fire Orb, knocking him to the ground and taking him out, allowing them to progress once more.

One thing they found, as they walked by where the first fallen knight had been standing, was that he left behind his odd circular shield that had a spider design on it, to which Martok wordlessly put it inside his pack and continued walking towards the area their foes had been guarding, which Tirek was eager to get through since they were wasting time outside the Cathedral. In addition to that Sarana revealed a silver shield that had been guarded by the other fallen knight, which she also put inside her pack as they moved forward, where the three of them noticed that there were a few hollows in the area that were wielding crossbows and, not surprisingly, there were a few undead dogs in the area as well, so Tirek turned his attention to loosing spells at the ranged enemies as Sarana and Martok took out the enemies that were near them as all three of them moved through the area. What Tirek soon discovered was that these particular enemies, which seemed nearly identical to the peasant hollows they had faced earlier, were incredibly easy to face and that they had nothing to fear from them, so he let Sarana run off and do her own thing as they moved through the area, where she found a large soul to add to their collection, before rejoining him and Martok. It only took them a few more moments to take care of the four undead dogs and the three crossbow hollows, who didn't drop anything at all, so once the area was cleared out they walked through the opening that was in front of them, another one built into a stone wall, and found a path that would take them to their main destination... along with a hollow that set itself on fire and tried to hug one of them, but that failed since none of the trio let him get near them.

Tirek grinned as he walked forward and approached the small chapel that was in front of them, as they were closer to one of the Lords of Cinder than they had been when their adventure started, though while he did notice a statue off to the side, with some hollows praying to it, the three of them walked into the structure, since there was no door blocking the way forward, before Martok opened the door they approached and revealed a chamber that had two additional doors for them to use, along with a bonfire that they lit immediately.

"The doors are locked." Martok stated, as while Tirek and Sarana made sure the bonfire was lit, and connected to the others they had found so far, he took the time to approach both of the doors and check them out, finding that they were locked and that they were unable to proceed by using the paths that were on the other side of the doors, even if such a thing might annoy Tirek to some degree, though he did notice the fact that Sarana picked up a whip, a weapon that none of them really needed, and added it to their weapon collection.

"Of course they're locked, meaning those doors are shortcuts back to this location." Tirek said, showing Sarana that he was starting to understand this world and how certain things worked, since this sort of thing seemed to be common in this land, especially with how the areas they had been through so far had been laid out, meaning that they would be able to open the doors at some point, "Well, since we can't use these doors yet, that means we'll have to use the path that's right behind us and see what else there is for us to explore, since there has to be an entrance or passage we can use to invade the Cathedral and find Aldrich."

Sarana and Martok nodded their heads for a moment and stood by the bonfire for a second, mostly so the three of them could get their flasks back and recover their health, just in case they needed to anyway, before they headed for the entrance that they had walked through earlier and headed for the hill that Tirek had pointed out, once more taking notice the four hollows that were praying to the statue. Tirek also spotted a well of some kind near the doorway they had walked through, but for now he ignored it as they walked over to where the statue was located, where Sarana picked up another Estus Shard for them to add to their flasks when they got back to the shrine, and since none of the hollows seemed to mind the fact that they were walking by the trio were able to head up the path and leave the area. When they reached the top of the stone path, which was rather short based on the other areas they had been through, the group discovered that they were in a grave area of some kind and had a much better view of the massive cathedral, along with the fact that there were some pale skinned hollows wandering around the area, and pulling themselves out of the ground, but for the most part they seemed docile and could be ignored. The other thing that was interesting was the fact that there was a gap in the area between where they were standing and the area the cathedral was in, meaning there was a lower area for them to explore at some point, but the trio agreed not to fall over the edge as they walked forward and ignored the pale hollows as they looked for anything that might help them out, a path or some forgotten gear.

As they quickly discovered some of the pale hollows weren't docile and tired to fight the trio, where Tirek took out his flame and set them all on fire, causing their foes to back off as some of them burned, but as that happened Sarana moved forward with Martok right behind her, as she was going to pass by the enemies that were in their way as he made sure none of them tried to chase the group. Tirek found that the foes that were slain by his flames were replaced in a matter of seconds, meaning that there was no point to killing the pale hollows at all, so what he did was set fire to the area behind him, to prevent the pale hollows from following him and his companions as they moved through this area, though as they headed up a hill Sarana had him refrain from setting fire to part of the path, allowing Martok to pick up a greatsword that was leaning against a grave, one that seemed sort of useful, before they jumped down to the path that was lower than the one they were following, giving Tirek a few seconds to flame the area before following his companions. That path brought them to an area that was above a dead end, where they jumped down and claimed two items, a weak soul and a second greatsword, though as Martok did that more of the pale hollows rose from their graves and started to turn towards the trio for a moment, which was the instant that Sarana moved forward and made sure that Martok was following him, where Tirek stayed behind them and used more of his magic to burn the land behind them, torching many of the pale hollows as they headed towards the cathedral.

The path the group followed brought them to a bridge that connected to the structure that was directly in front of the cathedral, which was being guarded by a hollow that had a maggot monster attached to it's chest and walked around like it was the one that was in control, and in the watery area that was below them rested three true maggot monsters, ones that seemed dangerous, so what Tirek did was blast the one that was in front of Sarana with a Fire Orb and knocked it off the short bridge, allowing them to move forward. As they moved up the stairs that were in front of them, and made their way towards the large door that was their current destination, there were a few more semi maggot monsters and a hollow that seemed to be cutting into the pale hollows that were nearby, only to chase them the instant they entered the area, but that was when Tirek spotted a white birch tree nearby. The moment he mentioned that to his companions, who took a second to see where it was located, the three of them moved over to where the tree was located and waited for the couple of enemies to come at them, which was where they watched as a couple of large arrows rained down on the area and hit the various foes that were coming after them, showing Tirek that he had been right to trust that the giant had his eyes on any of the white birches and that he had remained true to his word. Once those enemies were taken care of they found a few large souls lingering on the ground, some yellow powder that seemed interesting, and another Bone Shard, which was added to their collection before they headed towards the main door of the Cathedral of the Deep, as it was time to enter it and find the Lord of Cinder they were after.

Before they did that Sarana walked over to one of the nearby structures and found that, in addition to a shield that she picked up, there was a ladder that lead down into the area that the maggot monsters were in, one that she knocked down so they could get back up here faster, before they headed for the massive door... only for Martok to try pushing on the door and found that something was preventing it from opening.

"Should have figured that it would be locked," Tirek commented, to which he shook his head for a moment, as he was expecting this at some point in time, before he turned towards the path on their right, because it looked like there was a route of some kind that they could take, one that might bring them to an entrance they could use to get inside the massive cathedral and start their search for Aldrich.

As Sarana and Martok followed Tirek they found some small containers of red pellet and picked them up, allowing him to summon a Fire Orb and throw it at a grave tender that was holding a crossbow, on a level that was above where they were located, so the hollow was blasted backwards as the pair took down the pair of grave tenders that were around him, quickly clearing the area in the process. From there Tirek stepped out and glanced at the area they were in, finding that the area they were standing on was a well crafted balcony of sorts that wrapped around the side of the cathedral, even if parts of it didn't seem to be connected to each other and there were a few towers that seemed like places they might visit at some point, before he found some planks that allowed them to walk onto the roof of a walkway and would take them to another section of roof, for the first floor of the building to be exact. One thing that Tirek noticed as, while they carefully took turns and walked on the walkway in front of them, was that there were a few thralls hanging from bits of the building and seemed to be waiting for people like them to show up, hence the reason he made sure that Sarana and Martok were ready for their enemies, since he was sure that the thralls would attack them in due time. Interestingly enough the thralls waited until the three of them reached the roof that they were guarding before they dropped down on where they were now standing, but as that happened Tirek switched to blasting them with his Soul Arrows as Sarana used her sword to cut into the ones that came at her and Martok crushed those that dared to rush him.

Interestingly enough there was a little circular balcony nearby that Tirek investigated next, leaving his companions to clean up the rest of the thralls, before he found a large soul being guarded by a number of grave tenders, including a few that pulled themselves up over the railing of the area he had come to, so he used his Fireballs to wake up those that were nearby and pulled them towards him, allowing him to direct them towards Sarana and Martok, who aided him in taking them down, before he collected the soul and they moved forward to see what else rested outside the cathedral.

From there they found a walkway that was diagonally connected to the platform that was below them and that there happened to be three crossbow wielding grave tenders, accompanied by a spear carrying grave tender, so what they did was let Tirek rain fiery death upon the ranged enemies as both Sarana and Martok rushed forward, though as Sarana cut down the spear wielder, the major threat in this area, Martok headed down the next set of stairs and headed for the foe that was standing on the walkway he had spotted. Sarana said nothing as she walked up a different set of stairs and found an item that was being guarded by two thralls, who she took out with a few swings of her weapon, before she collected the loot and returned to where Tirek was standing, as the other path wasn't all that interesting, so they followed after their companion and focused on the enemies that would be in front of them. As it turned out there was another grave tender, this one wearing a little more than the previous ones they had faced so far, that Martok was fighting at the moment, where Sarana moved in and cut down the couple of thralls that were trying to ambush their companion, while at the same time Tirek weaved his magic around the area and blasted a few of the other thralls over the edge of the balcony, sending them to their deaths as the three of them gained the souls they possessed. With the three of them working together it didn't take too long for them to clear out the area and continue walking forward, where they found some stairs that lead them up to a resting area of some kind, or that had been the function of this area in the past, though they had to pause as three more grave tenders revealed themselves from where they were hiding.

Since the three new enemies didn't work like a team, or have any sort of tactic to use against the group, it took Tirek, Martok, and Sarana a few moments to take them down and open the way into the next part of the balcony, where they found one of the oddly dressed grave wardens walking down to where they were standing, so Martok raised his weapon and stopped the twinblades their new foe was using, before opening him for Sarana and Tirek to take him down while his defenses were lowered, which allowed them to continued up the stairs.

Once they reached the top of the short set of stairs they found that the balcony was longer than all of the others and, just like Tirek was expecting to see, there was even a large metal door, identical to the locked one they had noticed some time ago, some distance in front of them, which would be their target location since that would allow them to enter the Cathedral of the Deep at long last. There was a hollow that set itself on fire and rushed at the area they were in, though to prevent it from reaching them Tirek used a Fire Orb and knocked it backwards, allowing it to expire when it hit the ground, which was when they walked forward and started to approach the massive door that would let them enter the building and continue with their quest. Interestingly enough there were a number of normal grave tenders worshiping something that was on the ground, where the group paused for a moment as Tirek stepped forward and launched a Fire Orb up into the air, letting it come down and blow up upon the cluster of enemies, angering them in the process, but as their foes got up, and readied their weapons, they also revealed another grave tender, one of the more armored ones, meaning they were ready for a fight. Tirek switched to his Soul Arrows to deal with the weakened grave tenders, while Sarana dodged all of the attacks that came her way and cut down any foes that came at her, though all Martok did was parry the attack that came from the main grave tender and quickly cut him down, allowing them take down all of their foes.

With their foes taken care of, and the ember the grave tenders were guarding was collected, the trio headed back to the door and Tirek stood back as Martok slipped his weapon onto his back and rested his hands against the massive door, where he and Sarana watched as he forced the door open, wide enough for a single person to pass at a time, giving them a glance at the inside of the cathedral. The first thing Tirek noticed, as they walked into the first part of the cathedral, was that there were some large candlesticks on both sides of them, along with another desk or something that had some half burning candles on it, but that was when he noticed the massive helmet that was in front of them, to which he walked over to the edge of the balcony and found that there was a giant humanoid creature in the area below them, and that the top of its helm was level with this area. Once he took in the sheer size of the massive humanoid creature, and the fact that it seemed was incredibly dangerous from a glance, he spotted a large chandelier that was attached to the ceiling, right above the giant, but based on what he was seeing it didn't appear that such a thing would hurt the giant, meaning that it would be on no use to the three of them. In fact the ceiling seemed to have what could be crossed walkways, which could mean that if they found a way up there they might be able to explore the upper reaches of the cathedral and see what was up there, but for now Tirek's focus was on the area below them, as there was an odd black substance that covered a good deal of the floor, something they would have to deal with at some point in the near future.

The only way forward was the passage to their left, where a black slime seemed to be in the middle of the passage they needed to take, to which Sarana and Martok stood back for a moment as Tirek summoned a Fireball and blasted the slime with it, where the creature withered in pain and agony as that happened, causing him to grin for a second as he readied a few more Fireballs and burned the slime to ash. With the slime taken out the group headed down the stairs that were being the creature and found a charm of some kind near the door into the next area, which Sarana collected while also avoiding the poison that came from the statue in front of her, but instead of worrying about that they focused their attention on the next room, where three humanoid creatures stood, both of them wearing blue robes with a thin golden center and they were wielding candlesticks, which seemed to be their catalyst for casting spells. The reason Tirek knew that was thanks to the fact that one of them fired a Fireball at them, to which Sarana rolled out of the way and cut down the one that was on their right, while at the same time Tirek parried the incoming spell with his own Fireball and let Martok rush forward once that happened, which was followed by him cutting the devout down, which let him strike the third foe down with a second Fireball. Tirek had to assume that these guys were the guardians of Aldrich, or at least one of the guardians anyway since there was a giant in the area, but so far these enemies seemed rather easy to take down and didn't appear to be much of a threat, or at least those three weren't much of a threat, so they moved towards the opening that was on the other side of the room and continued to explore the cathedral.

What was interesting was that the next passage brought them to a small chamber that was more like a crossroad, as the path to their right seemed to be heading down into the area that the giant was in, while the path on their left held a circular elevator or lift of some kind, one that Tirek approached and stepped on it, where he waited for a few seconds and let his companions step on it, before he tapped the button in the middle of it. That was followed by it taking them down a tunnel that eventually stopped when it came to another small room, one that had a passage leading outside, where they found a metal door that lead outside, one that Sarana opened as soon as they neared it so they could head through it and see what was on the other side. What they discovered was a balcony of sorts that overlooked part of Farron Keep, an area that people seemed to like looking at, based on what Tirek had seen so far, but what was more interesting was the short set of stairs that lead to a wooden door, one that Martok forced open the moment they neared it, revealing that they had found one of the shortcuts back to the chapel bonfire. Even though none of them had really taken any damage during their trek through the grounds that were outside the cathedral, since they had been careful to avoid taking on impossible odds, they did take a moment to rest at the bonfire and refill any of the flasks that they had used so far, before they got up and headed for the new lift they had found, allowing them to head back up into the cathedral and continue exploring the rest of the structure.

Once they were back to the crossroads room the group found another path that would allow them to head down into another area, but for now they headed out onto the walkway that was near where the giant was located, finding that the entire thing wrapped around part of the structure, meaning that if they reached the other side of the walkway they could access whatever was on the other side of the cathedral. As they walked out onto the walkway that was near the giant they found that the being moaned, or at the very least let out a noise that indicated he had noticed he had guests, and the first thing he did was bring down his fist on where they were standing, causing the three of them to move apart from each other to avoid the attack. As Tirek moved towards the first end of the walkway, to get out of the giant's range and wait for his companions to join him, the giant actually grabbed him and pulled him out of the area he had been standing in, where it lifted him up into the air for a moment and then crushed him into the floor of the walkway, barely giving him the chance to move before it crushed him with the palm of his hand. Sarana and Martok rushed forward and cut into the giant's arm and hand, to stop it from crushing Tirek into the floor and killing him, before the giant knocked them backwards with the backside of its hand for a few seconds, showing that its annoyed by what was going on, and as Tirek tried to move out of the way the giant grabbed him again and then crushed him into the floor again.

Tirek moaned for a moment as the world around him went black once more, showing that the giant had actually killed him without giving him a chance to fight back, and he found himself back at the chapel bonfire, to which he sat down and waited to see what happened to his companions, while thinking about the giant and how they were going to get around such an obstacle so they could explore the rest of the cathedral.