Dark Souls 3: Cinders of Power

by Blackdrag-rose

Troublesome Catacombs

Once Martok handed over the key he had purchased from the Handmaiden, and Tirek put it away, they turned towards the Fire Keeper and empowered themselves with the rest of the souls they had on them, something that Sarana did after they took their turns, even though she had a lower amount than they did due to buying the new armor she was wearing right now, which Tirek knew she was enjoying. At this point Tirek really didn't get much of a boost from adding all of the souls to his collective power, not that he was expecting that right now since he had devoured the power of a Lord of Cinder, but that wasn't going to stop from from making sure every soul he gained was put to good use, to give him as much of an edge as he could for the future battles, as he suspected that he would be at thirty-five percent for some time. The reason behind that thought was because it had taken them a long time to locate the first Lord of Cinder, even with the skills that he had seen Sarana use over the course of their adventure, and he suspected that they would have to fight their way through a few more powerful beings before they found out where Aldrich was located, as it seemed that the Devourer of Gods was their next target, leaving Yhorm for later. If they found and killed both of those missing Lords, like they had just done to the Abyss Watchers, than it should point them in the direction of Prince Lothric, the fifth and final Lord of Cinder that they were in the middle of looking for, as Ludleth was the only one with common sense apparently.

It wasn't long before the three of them were done with the Fire Keeper and started to walk up the set of stairs that would allow them to leave the shrine and head out to where the tower was located, as Tirek had been a little curious as to what was inside the structure, since there was no way to get into it, and this provided him with a way to sate that part of him so he could focus on the rest of their quest. Sarana and Martok remained silent for the entire walk, where they walked up to the tower door and found that there was an iron barred door, like something that belonged to a cell in a prison, but that didn't stop Tirek from slipping the key into the slot and unlocked the door, where he found a circular set of stairs in front of him, which looked like it would take them to the top of this part of the structure. After a few moments the three of them reached the top of the stairs and found that it allowed them to walk onto a small walkway that lead over to the main tower that the bell was in, the one that had awoken all of them from their slumber, so they walked in a single file line to prevent someone from falling off the ledge. Interestingly enough the door to the tower was open, which Tirek guessed made some sense to someone due to the fact that the first door was locked, but as they entered the tower he discovered a larger walkway for them to walk on, along with a number of coffins filling the sides of the walls to their left and right, and all of them had bodies that looked like Fire Keepers in them.

After looking at that he found an elevator that had to take them to the area that the bell was in, to which the three of them stepped on the platform and Sarana pressed the button that activated the mechanism, where the platform started to move up the shaft and took them to their destination, but while that happened they heard the sound of a door closing below them, like someone had closed the door behind them.

"Great, we'll have someone to talk to when we leave this tower," Tirek commented, as he was assuming that there was someone else in this area, which Sarana seemed to agree with as Martok gripped the handle of his weapon for a moment, before he turned towards the top of the shaft, because he was more interested in that right now and not on whoever was trying to halt their progress.

Sarana said nothing as the platform came to a stop and they were allowed to walk outside, to which they stepped out onto a walkway that had some stairs on it, stairs that lead them up to the top of the structure and allowed them to stare at the bell, before Tirek noticed an orange soul resting below the bell, one that seemed of some importance, only to realize that it was the same type of soul that the Fire Keeper possessed, as there was a body of a Fire Keeper below it. As such he collected the soul and pocketed it for now, as he intended on giving it to the Fire Keeper that was assisting them right now, mostly because there was the chance that it would increase her own powers to some degree, something that could assist them at some point in the near future. While he did that Sarana and Martok discovered that there was nothing else in this area, save for the bell that didn't need to be rung, to which they walked down the stairs once more and headed for the lift, which took them back down to the walkway between where the platform had been located and the door they had walked through earlier, as it was time to see what was going on with the door. A few moments later, when the platform came to a stop, Tirek and his companions found that there was a bald headed man standing on the other side of the door, who was wearing some leather armor that was unlike what they had seen in the past, though he appeared to be grinning at the moment, like he had pranked them or something.

"Sorry, friends, you should be more careful! By the gods, curiosity is going to kill you kittens.... some places are better left alone, you know." the man said, sounding like this was supposed to be a sacred site or something, even if his tone told Tirek that he was being half truthful at the moment, that he was being serious about the death part, but he said nothing and moved his hand to stop Sarana from readying an arrow, as he wanted to hear what the man had to say, before he tried out his magic on the iron barred door, "Oh, sorry, am I a tad too late? Have no fear, there's beauty in death. Besides, you're surrounded by ladies, both living and dead. That's every man's dream, am I right?"

"No, that's something I'm not even thinking about." Tirek replied, as he could tell that the man was talking to him and was ignoring Sarana and Martok, for the most part anyway, but there was also something wrong with him as well, since he seemed to be of the opinion that he would have been interested in all the ladies that were around the area, something the man was definitely wrong about.

"Oh, no matter, I'll look after things." the man stated, his words indicating that he was going to pick up where they left off and continue the quest to track down the missing Lords of Cinder, but Tirek waited for him to put a wicked smile on his face as he considered something else for a moment as he looked at then, "and by that I mean stripping every last trinket off all of your corpses. The lot of you are going to make some lucky customers very happy."

Tirek and his companions said nothing as the man waved at them and turned around, indicating that he was leaving the area and would no doubt come back to check on them after a few hours, to see if they were dead or not, but once the man was gone, and Tirek was sure he wasn't going to come back if they did something, he turned towards his companions and watched as Sarana jumped over to one of the coffins. It was in that moment that he discovered a number of coffins that happened to be sticking out of the wall and that a few of them formed a path down to the lower level, something that Sarana was in the middle of following, to which he and Martok followed after her and copied the moments that she was making after she made them. Interestingly enough the path they were following came to a dead end that required that they drop down into the area that was below them, to which Sarana did so and then moved out of the way so Tirek and Martok could do the same, where they found a ring that looked like it was made in the same style as the Estus Flasks were made, green glass that must have been soaked in the healing potion, so they pocketed it for now as they turned towards the iron barred door that was in front of them. From there they opened the door, as it wasn't locked at all, and walked out onto a side passage that would, if they followed it, take them back to the front of the shrine and to where the tower was located, to which they walked out of the corpse filled room they had been in and headed back into the stairs that would let them return to the tower.

After a few moments, however, Tirek paused as he, Sarana, and Martok spotted the bald man they were looking for, as he was chilling up in the upper area of the shrine, as in he was down the way from the exit that allowed them to head out to where the tower was located, which was the moment that Tirek growled as he walked over to where his target was standing, as he disliked the man right now.

"Ah, oh, you, you guys are alive..." the man said, sounding like he was surprised by all of this, as he fully intended for the three of them to die in the tower, after tracking down and killing one of the Lords of Cinder, but that was when he took a moment to realize the expression that was on Tirek's face, "Now, now, hold your horses, let's have a nice talk about this. I'll come clean, I did you and your friends wrong. I didn't mean it, though, not one bit. You get these... urges... running the business and all... Oh, and I hate myself for it, I do. You know what I mean? Terrible, really. But I can see you'll forgive me. You guys are alive, after all, and that's what counts, right?"

"Well, that is where you would be wrong." Tirek remarked, where he gripped his chime for a moment and let a few bits of lightning dance around his fingers for a few seconds as he stared at the man, while at the same time both of his companions gripped their weapons at the same time, showing that they understood what he was doing right now and that they were willing to hit the man, "I won't forgive you for that little stunt."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, no need to jest with a face like that." the man stated, where Tirek had the opinion that he liked to live in his own little world and that whatever people said was interpreted as something else, where he moved one of his hands in a motion that seemed like he was dismissing what he been said, "You're still alive, and I'm here grovelling in the dirt, so to speak. Oh, I know! Here, a token of my sincerity. Right and proper, eh? We're just a couple of outcasts, let's make the best of it!"

The man held out a rusted golden coin for them to take, just one to be exact, and while Tirek didn't take it Sarana did, not that they really needed such a thing, causing the smile to return to the man's face as that happened, though before he did anything else Tirek turned around and left, where he made sure that Sarana kept an eye on the man whenever they returned to the shrine, as he didn't trust him in the slightest. Sarana nodded her head in agreement, showing that she had the same opinion on the man and had only taken the coin to make it seem like someone forgave him for his actions, while Martok simply didn't care and would follow their lead, just as he always did, so for now Tirek decided that it was time to head back to the bonfire and continue their quest. As they did that, however, he stopped at the Fire Keeper and handed over the soul he had picked up, where she seemed surprised by what they had discovered and accepted the soul that he was offering her, who could tell that her power increased as she absorbed the soul, meaning that, in time, her strength would be far greater than it was right now. Once that was done, and there was nothing else to do at the shrine, the three of them approached the bonfire and focused on it for a few seconds, allowing them to teleport back to the area that the Abyss Watchers had been fighting in, so they could progress into the Catacombs of Carthus and see what new dangers and obstacles awaited them.

As soon as they arrived in their destination the three of them approached the altar that was behind where the pair of Watchers had been fighting and watched as it pulled itself back into the wall, revealing a set of stairs that took them lower into the earth, to which they walked down the path they had discovered and quickly discovered a brand new area that was right below there the first Lord of Cinder had been resting. The Catacombs of Carthus, as Tirek discovered, was a massive area that had a stone floor, stone walls, stone pillars with torches on them, and, interestingly enough, a large chasm that would have separated the side of the area they were on from the other side of the area, and the only reason they were even connected were thanks to two stone walkways, one being a bridge and the other being a descending set of stairs that would take them to their destination. Sarana found that there happened to be a series of drops off on their right, ones she claimed that would allow them to potentially skip part of this area, but, at the same time, Tirek was willing to see what the Catacombs had in store for them and headed over to the bridge that would allow them to move on, as he was also sure that they might find an interesting item or two if they went that way. What happened as he approached the bridge was something he wasn't expecting, as the skeleton that was resting nearby picked itself and its sword up, indicating that it wanted to fight him, where Sarana lashed out at it as Tirek threw a Fireball at it, knocking it to the ground in seconds, only for it to get back up and attack them again, which only prompted Martok to smash it with his greatsword, this time putting it down for real, giving them a chance to pick up some resin that was resting on the wall behind it.

While they walked over the bridge Sarana mentioned that the skeletal undead didn't like blessed weapons, sort of like what the knights of the cathedral had been doing to their weapons, and without that sort of power all they could do was hit the skeletons until they stopped moving, which Tirek was fine with at the moment, but even as Sarana finished talking they found a more armed skeleton walking in their direction. This time around their foe liked to roll, where he seemed to vanish as he did that, but there was a flaw to his technique and that was the fact that some dust was kicked up while he did that, meaning all they had to do was focus on the area the dust was in and Martok would parry the incoming attack, to open the way for Sarana to lash out with her blades and cut into their foe's side. Tirek, on the other hand, noticed that an archer was getting ready to loose some arrows at them, while a pair of skeletal warriors came out from the opening that the bridge was leading them towards, so he left those enemies in the hands of his companions as he focused his attention on the archer, where he hurled a Lightning Spear through the air and blasted it to pieces, before loosing a second one as his foe reformed, taking out the archer before it could hit any of them. Once that was done he turned his attention to blasting the other skeletons with Fireballs, since there wasn't a lot of room for him to work with, but in the end the three of them were able to take care of the enemies that were in front of them and opened the way for them to progress once more, which was what they did as they kept their guards up, since there was no telling how many skeletons were waiting to kill whoever intruded upon this area.

The chamber they entered was just as tall as the first area they had walked into, which meant that this was going to be the norm for the Catacombs, and they had two paths to pick from, one that was heading down to their right while the second was on their left and headed up, and they both had a set of stairs for them to walk on, but in the end Tirek picked the one on the left, as he had the sneaking suspicion that it would bring them to the area on their right and wanted to see what they might miss. As they did that a headless skeleton, which only had one arm, somehow put itself together and picked up its blade, where it rushed at them with the intent of cutting them down, but as Tirek blasted it with a Fireball his companions cut into it with their weapons, breaking it down in a matter of seconds and opened the way for them to move forward, even if more enemies might be getting ready to attack them. Sure enough there was a single enemy to their left, where the archer had been located, and there was one down a path to their right, which involved turning around a corner to get to it, but even as they thought about which one to go down Sarana found a chest down the side path and cut down the skeleton that tried to rise from where it was resting, with Martok finishing it off as the other skeleton warrior was taken out by Tirek blasting it apart. Martok ended up smashing another skeleton into the floor as Sarana found a lost soul that was added to their pack, though once they were done with that area they rejoined Tirek as he headed for the opening the archer had been in, which allowed them to see another passage that could be taken, which was the one that he headed down, just to see if it was hiding anything interesting.

Sarana quickly discovered a button in the middle of the short passage, one that Tirek and Martok avoided as well once she pointed it out to them, and at the end of the area they found a ladder that would take them down to a new passage, to which Tirek let Sarana go first so she could make sure the area was safe, for the moment anyway, and it wasn't long before she popped her head back into view and beckoned for them to head down the ladder.

Tirek found another lost soul when he reached the bottom of the ladder, something that he put away while Martok joined him and Sarana, though once that was done they walked over to the next passage and found a chamber that held a skeleton that was already up and about, even if it seemed to be standing near one of the walls, so that meant they would have to fight it to move forward. Before they did that Sarana looked at a wall that was to their right and seemed to think that it was out of place or something, as she lashed out with her blade and it passed through the wall, causing the illusion to fall apart and reveal a short passage that lead to another section of the Catacombs, but as that happened Tirek threw a Fire Orb at the skeleton that was on the other side and blasted it into the wall. To their right rested a pyromancy tome, just like the one they had found in the swamp, to Tirek collected it with the intent of handing it over to Cornyx later, since there was a chance it might have some interesting spells for him to use, before they headed through the opening that was to the left of the passage Sarana had found and discovered a skeleton archer that was starting to form, only for Martok to hit it with the side of his weapon and knocked it into the abyss below them. From there, since there was nothing else in the area for them to worry about, they retracted their steps back to the chamber the other skeleton was in and engaged it, by Tirek throwing a Fireball into its face, where he continued to do that as his companions demanded the attention of their foe for the next couple of seconds, as it didn't take them all that long to bring him down and move on.

As they walked out of the area they were in Sarana also picked up a gem that looked like Titanite, or maybe one that had been messed with at some point in the past, before they walked through the opening that was in front of them and found another armed skeleton waiting for them, and this time he wasn't alone since there happened to be a second one rounding the corner behind the first one. Tirek switched to the Lightning Spear as his companions focused on the closest foe, where they lashed out at him while he blasted the one that was in the back of the area, while discovering that they were actually at the base of the other set of stairs he had seen earlier and that, to their right, happened to be a brand new opening, one that was connected to the long set of stairs that would allow them to actually progress through the rest of the Catacombs. Once the pair of skeletons had collapsed, and weren't getting back up again, they headed through another opening and found four more enemies, all broken skeletons, that picked themselves up and tried to attack them, but that was when Martok swung his blade through all of them at the same time, while making sure Tirek and Sarana were behind him, and scattered them like they were nothing, causing Tirek to smile as he saw that, as it was clear that the Catacombs weren't as bad as any of the other areas they had been in so far. The moment the group of enemies was taken out, and they were sure that none of them were going to get back up, the group headed down to the end of the passage and then walked down the stairs that were nearby, but when they did that Tirek found something interesting, Anri was standing in front of them and she seemed worried about something.

The reason Tirek even considered that thought was because one of Anri's hands was gripping the front of her helmet, though that was the minor thing he considered, as Horace was no where to be seen, meaning that Anri was alone and was without the Unkindled that had sworn to help her reach the end of her quest, making him wonder if the knight in question had been killed at some point in the past.

"Anri? What are you doing down here, alone?" Tirek asked, because while he was surprised that they had found the lady in a brand new area, even though that confirmed that they were on the right track since she was chasing after Aldrich for some reason, he was more surprised by the fact that Horace was missing, though at the same time Sarana and Martok readied themselves in case any enemies decided to attack them while they were talking.

"Oh, hello, how very fortunate. Have you seen my companion, Horace?" Anri said, where she lowered her hand as she discovered that she wasn't alone anymore, though it took her a few moments to even recognize Tirek, which was no doubt due to all the changes his body had undergone since the last time they saw each other, before she focused on something else and not on Tirek's body, "To my shame, I was snared by a trap earlier, and we've become separated as a result of my carelessness. I have been unable to find him since that happened."

"I have not seen Horace since you guys returned to the shrine earlier, when you mentioned where Aldrich's true home was located." Tirek stated, as that was the last time he had seen the knight that was always near Anri, hence why he was a tad bit surprised by the knight's absence, but he figured that he might as well tell the lady that he hadn't seen Horace and that the same was true for his companions, meaning they couldn't help her out in this regard.

"Yes, I see. Well, Horace is a valiant knight, and he can look after himself, there's no question about that." Anri replied, where she did seem unhappy about the fact that they didn't know where Horace was, even though she was more focused on her own blunder that had caused her to become separated from the knight that was helping her out, before she took a moment to glance at the area that was through the opening to her left, which was to Tirek's right, "He's probably searching for me right now, with twice the resolve. If you happen upon him, please tell him that I will remain in the Catacombs and that I will lay prism stones to guide him to me, as I have done in the past. Please send him my word. I beg of you... may the flames guide your way."

Tirek and his companions repeated the statement to Anri, mostly since it seemed to calm her down, before they even took a few steps though the opening she glanced at, where they found a small crystal lizard to their left and Sarana lashed out at it before it even had a chance to flee from the area, while at the same time Tirek spotted a skeletal archer off in the distance and loosed a Lightning Spear at it, blasting it to pieces as Sarana claimed some Twinkling Titanite for them to use in the future. With that put away, and there being nothing else in this area for them to really do, besides picking up some moss clumps that might help them out, the group returned to the chamber that was connected to the long set of stairs so they could move forward and progress through the Catacombs, though even as they returned to the stairs Tirek kept his guard up, as he had a feeling there was more to this than what they were seeing. All he could see right now were two more skeletons that were wandering around the middle part of the stairs and the area that was in front of the opening that they needed to go through next, so what he did was rush down towards the bottom of the stairs, prompting Sarana and Martok to run after him, but it was in that moment that he discovered there was something else for them to worry about, and that was a giant ball of skeletons, about the size of a boulder, that landed on the top of the stairs and came at them. What he did to that was, instead of even attempting to attack it, he jumped over to the ledge of the walkway that was in front of him and got out of the boulder's way, as he was of the opinion that the skeletons had wrapped themselves around a rock of some kind to do this, before his companions joined him, allowing the boulder to crash into the pair of skeletons and crush them... and then, not a few seconds later, it seemed to reverse itself and rushed out of the passage they needed to head inside, meaning they would have to be quick the next time the ball came by them.

What interested him was the fact that there was a skeleton that seemed to be minding his own business to the right of the opening, so Sarana quickly cut him down, in the off chance that he might try to attack them while their guards were down as they moved through the next part of the Catacombs, before they moved into the side passage and let the boulder smash into the barred passage that was in front of them, breaking into pieces and depositing an Undead Bone Shard for them to use when they returned to the shrine.

Tirek would have preferred finding another way to open the locked passage, as on the other side of the bars rested a bonfire for them to look forward to, but the contraption that was connected to it was broken, meaning they had to take the long way around and tackle a few more enemies before they made it to where the bonfire rested, which was why they started moving again, instead of wasting time in this part of the Catacombs. As they walked down the passage three more skeletons rose from their graves to fight them, though all of them had a glow in their eyes that meant they might be on a different level than the previous skeletons they had fought so far, so while Sarana and Martok focused on the foes that were in front of them Tirek blasted the one at the back of the pack with Lightning Spears. The reason behind that was due to the fact that his target threw a ball of some kind at one of the walls and that brought out three tracking spheres of pure darkness, which both of his companions had to dodge as well, in addition to their own foes, so he focused on blasting that foe down so Sarana and Martok could take out the other two, all so they could move forward and deal with the rest of the area that they were in. Fortunately it didn't take him all that long to blast the last skeleton to pieces, scattering the bones and stopping him from throwing those balls at the walls, allowing him to take a moment and watch as his companions wasted no time in breaking their own foes down, even if that meant killing them twice since they tried to reform after their first defeat, but in the end the three of them were allowed to move on once their enemies were defeated.

With those foes taken down the group headed to the right and found a more open area than they were expecting to see in this part of the Catacombs, even if they couldn't access part of the area, and some distance in front of them they spotted another skeleton that was armed with more of the small balls that would summon those dark orbs, so Tirek just blasted their newest foe to pieces so they wouldn't have to worry about it. The next part of the path they came to had a number of pots that were lining the floor and seemed to have something behind all of them, to which Sarana jumped onto the sides of the pillars and made her way over to where the item seemed to be resting, where she quickly grabbed it and returned to where Tirek was standing, revealing a golden ring with a white stone attached to it. He wasn't sure if it was a ring they needed or not, based on what he had seen so far, but he let Sarana pocket it as they walked further down the passage that they had been following, eventually coming to another area that had two of the ball throwing skeletons and one of the more armored skeletons, so he focused on blasting the more troublesome enemies while his companions cut down the other foe. What was interesting was that his foes decided to try and hit his companions, who were dodging the attacks from the skeleton that they were fighting, but that meant that he was able to blast the two of them to pieces and scattered their bones within a matter of moments, something that was repeated when they got back up to challenge him once more, allowing him to watch as Sarana and Martok to finish off their foe.

From there they discovered that the path they were followed was split, as they could drop down into an area that was to their left, and fight anything and everything that was down there, or they could head down the passage that was to their right and focus on the two armed skeletons, though it wasn't long before Martok picked for them, as he rushed at the pair of skeletons and sliced into them before they had a chance to react. That, of course, didn't stop either of the skeletons from stopping what they were doing, but since they were focused on turning towards the area that Martok was standing in, and only that, their backs were open to Sarana lashing out at them and cutting into their sides, before she landed near Martok and stared at their enemies as she readied herself for what was coming next. Tirek, taking advantage of the fact that both of the skeletons were distracted, threw a few Lightning Spears through the air and watched as they slammed into the backs of his targets, blasting them to the ground so that his companions could hack them apart and make sure neither of them got back up. It wasn't long before they determined that the skeletons wouldn't get back up and that they were allowed to move forward once more, where Tirek joined them and made sure that they avoided the button that was in the ground, even if this one was harder to see since there were bodies that were partly covering where it was, before they approached a hole in the floor that would allow them to drop down into the area that was below them, where Sarana found an ember laying on the other side.

Once that was done they headed through the opening that the pair of skeletons had been guarding and found that it brought them to another passage that had one of the skeletal balls rolling down to the other side, so they followed it and found a side passage that allowed them to access the area the bonfire they had seen was located in, to which they lit it and sat near it for a moment, as they were going to rest for a few moments before seeing what else the Catacombs had to throw at them as they searched for the other exit that would allow them to find Irithyll and their next target.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

Deaths this chapter:
Tirek: 0
Sarana: 0
Martok: 0

Total Deaths:
Tirek: 11
Sarana: 8
Martok: 5

ahhh the catacombs of carthis what an absolutely douchey place especially that bone boulder. Was never a big fan of the respawning skelbros either. It was interesting though to see the group recover the firekeepers soul, wonder if they are going to try to get the eyes as well. AS always another great chapter, looking forward to the next. Keep up the great work