Elden Ring: The Deaths of Tirek

by Blackdrag-rose

First published 28th of November, 2022

Tirek, following his defeat at the hooves of Twilight and her friends, is transported to a world unlike anything he could imagine, filled with large trees, violent creatures, and danger around every corner.

Tirek, after being defeated by Twilight Sparkle and her friends, finds himself in a world that is different from the one he is used to, trapped in a body that is unfamiliar to him, and discovers that there are all sorts of powerful beings seeking to carve their own desires out of the world around them. As one of the 'Tarnished' he must rise to the occasion and overcome the challenges that stand in his way, to become the 'Elden Lord', or perish and allow his name to be forgotten.

(Elden Ring/MLP Crossover)
(Standalone story, not tied to an existing series)

A New World

Tirek was having the best day of his life right now, as it easily trumped the day he had escaped from Tartarus and was able to remain hidden without Princess Celestia or Princess Luna discovering his existence, because he had toppled both of his targets and the princesses who had risen to power during his imprisonment. The Solar and Lunar Princesses had, with the help of his traitor brother, beaten him before he could drain the magic of Equestria's various races, sealing him in the realm of Tartarus as punishment for his 'sins' as they called what he had done. After his escape Tirek had been sure that it would have taken him too long to gain the power to drain more than a single pony at a time, though he had a fortunate encounter with Discord, a chimera creature who was the most chaotic being in the world. Discord, despite siding with the ponies, came around to his side and helped him regain his power in record time, targeting the earth ponies, pegasi, and the unicorns that lived across the land, allowing Tirek to gain enough power to challenge those who beat him in the past.

Little did he know that Celestia and Luna, along with the Love Princess, an alicorn called Cadance, had given their powers to another to keep it hidden from him, in the form of an alicorn mare named Twilight Sparkle, and while they had been evenly matched he had the upper hand, he took her friends hostage.

The only reason he considered that such a thing might work was due to the fact that there was a stained glass window of her and several other ponies defeating evil, located in Canterlot during his assault and discovery of the third alicorn, and it had been a risky move in the grand scheme of things. He even captured Discord, who he had a feeling was going to betray him at a critical moment, and his plan worked far better than Tirek could have ever imagined, as Twilight was willing to trade all of her power, and the power of the other Princesses, to him if he freed her friends. That even counted Discord, though after he agreed to do so he drained her of everything she possessed, just as he had planned, before doing the same to her friends and even Discord himself, just to ensure that no one held the power to stop him from taking over the rest of the continent, maybe even the entire world. That was why this day was the best in his entire life, because he had overcome all of the obstacles that had been in his way, bested the alicorns who trapped him in Tartarus, and now had the power to do whatever he wanted with the world that was beyond Equestria's borders.

He knew there was more to the world than what he had seen so far, more power for him to collect and hoard, and lands to conquer until everything was under his rule, though Tirek also knew that he could just wait for someone to come here to try and fix the sky, since he had taken out the princesses who controlled the sun and moon.

What he wasn't expecting, however, was for there to be another surge of magical energy in the town that Twilight and her friends lived in, though this time he found that it was a rainbow beam of energy and that it was aimed right at him, as his large centaur body was an easy target for his enemies. He knew what it was the moment he laid eyes on it, the magic of Harmony, supposedly the strongest force in the world with no equal, hence why he had been gathering power so he could steal it and become god of this world, or whatever followed the destruction of this one. With no one to move the sun and moon there was a chance that everything in this world would perish, save for him since his power would keep him alive for some time, meaning a new one would replace it in due time and he would repeat the process until he had the power to leave for the stars themselves. With that idea in mind Tirek raised his hands, something he possessed unlike the races of Equestria, since they were ponies and he was a centaur, and gathered all of his power as he intercepted the attack, as it would allow him to steal the power of Harmony for himself, granting him untold and unimaginable power.

That was his plan, though what actually happened was that the energy smashed through his spell and started to gather all around Tirek, lifting him off the ground as he realized something he had missed, the energy was still being directed, likely by a pony, and not sent out by his target. In the following seconds he noticed a gathering point of energy and found that it was none other than Twilight Sparkle and her friends, having, against all odds, figured out how to get more magical energy so summon forth the power of Harmony. He had no idea how it was possible, since he had stolen every drop of magic from all six mares, and yet here they were, channeling a power that they shouldn't have access to, and while he could have blamed Discord for doing this he knew it couldn't be the Spirit of Disharmony, as he had stolen his power as well, just in case such a thing happened. Still, Tirek fought against the energy that was around him, trying to steal and tame the power of Harmony for his own desires, yet it remained elusive as the unthinkable happened to him, all of the power he had stolen from those who lived in Equestria was being pulled out of his body, causing his body to shrink as he lost his stolen power.

As he considered how unfair all of this was, that victory was being ripped out of his hands, the light of Harmony wrapped around him for a time before he could no longer see anything around him, before searing pain coursed through his body and knocked Tirek out, whose last thoughts were that he was going to wake up in Tartarus before he remembered nothing more.

---

Tirek moaned for moment as he finally regained his senses, though as he opened his eyes he found that something was very wrong, or it could be good given the alternative, as he wasn't in his cage in Tartarus, nor was he anywhere near the realm in question, rather he was in a massive cavern under what he assumed was a large tree, given the roots he spotted off in the distance. As his eyes adjusted to the area he had appeared in he discovered another problem, his body had been altered, as he was no longer a centaur, the mighty four legged creature with a more humanoid upper body, rather it seemed like he had been reduced to a more human form. Tirek found that his legs looked more like a satyr's, like a cross between a horse's legs and what a human was supposed to have, while also finding that his chest was still black colored and his lower body was dark gray, leaving his arms the red color he was familiar with. He then found that his horns were still intact, even if they were slightly smaller than what he possessed in his final form while still being pointed, and he also had a small white beard, a usual thing to see when it came to his form, before he noticed that he was wearing brown robs with a white hood and scarf, which he definitely hadn't been wearing previously.

In addition to all that he found a few other items on his person, those being a short sword, a staff that had some power to it, a round shield, interestingly enough, and two spell pages that, when he stared at them, disappeared and he understood the words that had been on them.

"Glintstone Pebble and Glintstone Arc... not spells I recognize." Tirek commented, where he had to wonder if this was some sort of dream he was having, and if so it was incredibly realistic and not what he preferred to have, or if he had been moved to another world entirely, which was an odd idea when he considered it, "Whatever. Let's see if this is just some elaborate dream I'm having, or if I've been sent to an entirely different world."

Tirek carefully picked himself up and found that walking was going to be troublesome for a while, he was so used to four legs that he never considered what it might be like with two legs, while finding that his tail was still present, though that hardly helped since he wobbled a little as he finally stood up. As he did that, however, he found that the roots seemed to gather in one spot to form a humanoid form, or part of one anyway, though it sure looked like something had been removed from it at some point in the past, carved out of the material in question. He also discovered that there was an opening behind him that was sealed by some sort of golden mist, in fact he had landed near it and raised a hand to it, finding that it wouldn't let him pass at all, meaning he was likely trapped in this area for the foreseeable future. Tirek guessed that this gave him the best chance to learn how to walk with his new body, which he did so since there seemed to be no one else in the area, so it was just him and the sounds of his hooves as he started to walk around the area, even though he did find a small pool of water in the center of the cavern.

As he did that, however, Tirek realized that he wasn't alone, rather there was someone sitting in a chair on the other side of the cavern, resting near one of the massive roots, a lady, based on her form, who was resting her left hand right on the root in question and seemed to be wearing some sort of armor. As he stared at her Tirek found that the figure had red hair and several of her limbs looked like they had been replaced in some manner, as it looked like most of her left leg had been taken from her and replaced, half of her right leg, from the knee down, was the same, while her left arm had been replaced from the elbow down and her right arm was missing entirely. It was interesting to see that this world had the ability to produce prosthetics, since the replacements for her limbs seemed to be made out of some golden material, or maybe some other material since he wasn't familiar with what this world had, and were artfully crafted to resemble actual limbs, meaning the maker had some skill doing this. If Tirek was being honest it looked like someone had died recently and had asked that they be buried in this area, surrounded by roots and even a field of flowers, which surrounded the pool of water, so he turned his attention towards figuring out how to get out of here.

As he considered that, however, a small gust of wind entered the cavern and the lady actually started to move, meaning he had been wrong to think that she was dead, as she started to move her legs closer to her chair so she could pick herself up and likely talk to him in some manner.

"I dreamt for so long. My flesh was dull gold... and my blood, rotted." the lady said, where she knelt in the flowers for a few seconds and Tirek discovered that her other prosthetic arm had been dropped whenever the lady had returned to this area for her slumber, which she picked up and attached to her right shoulder, before picking up a helm that she placed over her head, "Corpse after corpse, left in my wake... as I awaited... His return. Heed my words: I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella, and I have never known defeat."

As the lady talked Tirek discovered something he had missed previously, the prosthetic right arm had a long blade attached to it, likely her weapon of choice when he considered what was going on right now, though her words informed him that she saw him as an enemy. For a moment Tirek wondered if he could actually talk with her and convince her that he wasn't here to do her or her master harm, as he guessed 'Miquella' was either the tree or was someone inside the roots, but, based on how Malenia was approaching him right now, he had a feeling that talking wouldn't work. In that moment he had two rather bad options, he could either try to fight her with his meager magic, as two spells and his current mana reserves were next to nothing when compared to what he had previously, or he could run around and search for an opening to flee through so he could escape with his life. Unfortunately the decision was made for him as Malenia leapt into the air like she was spinning, all while readying her blade for some sort of attack, which she followed up by rushing at him and unleashing a flurry of swings in rapid succession, cutting through his body like he was nothing.

As his world went dark Tirek could only hope that this was a terrible dream and that he'd awaken in his cell, or maybe back in Equestria so he could continue with his quest, though the last thing he remembered was something tugging at him as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Learning the Basics

When Tirek woke up he found that he was still trapped in the new world he had been sent to, only this time he found that he had been placed in some sort of small stone chapel, instead of the massive cavern he had woken up in earlier, meaning he wouldn't have to deal with Malenia for the rest of his life. As he picked himself up he found a few things of interest, the first being a number of bookshelves that had a few tomes on them, each looking like they were old and covered in a layer of dust, while the main item that held his attention was the wooden door in front of him. In addition to that there was a lady resting off on his right, wearing what looked like priestess clothing, but it also looked like someone had slashed her neck before his arrival, not that he cared since it meant nothing to him, though she did have an item for him to take. He discovered that it was a finger of some kind, or a bunch of wax molded to resemble a finger in terms of texture and appearance, though he felt the former was more accurate, before he discovered some runes in front of her that danced before his eyes and turned into something he could read.

He quickly discovered that the runes were informing him, or anyone else who happened to awaken in this place, that the 'Tarnished', whoever or whatever that was, should seek the position of 'Elden Lord', whatever that was, before finding a set of runes off to the side that explained the finger's use.

The finger itself was to leave messages for the other Tarnished, likely to provide hints on where to go or leaving them with hazards that would kill them, based on what he had seen during his visit to Malenia's place, but as he picked up the item he discovered something interesting, he also had a pouch on his belt. Based on what he was seeing it looked like a bag of holding, meaning he could carry a lot of items in the small pouch without weighing him down, a boon he wasn't expecting to find in a world like this, so he stashed the finger inside it before turning to the books. Sure enough Tirek found that all of the tomes were worthless to him, they were in no condition to be moved or even used, so he focused on the door and walked up to it, finding that it creaked as he forced both halves open, only to pause when he discovered what was on the other side. He discovered that the chapel he had appeared in was on a cliff in the middle of an ocean, there was a massive continent some distance away from his current position, and there was a gigantic glowing tree off in the distance, one that had massive branches that seemed to reach all over the sky itself.

"Definitely not in Equestria anymore." Tirek remarked, though at the same time he realized that he knew what his final destination would be, as Malenia had been in a cavern under what had to be a massive tree and the glowing one had to be the one he was thinking about, so traveling the continent would allow him to grow stronger, maybe enough to crush her if he found her again.

With that in mind he found a number of wooden planks, forming a set of stairs that headed down to the lowest section of the earth the chapel had been built on, and walked down the steps without much delay, only to find that there was more to the structure he had appeared in. Based on what he could tell there was no way for him to enter the lower reaches of the chapel, in fact there were no other doors for him to open, which was just odd since he expected there to be a way for someone to enter the lower reaches, but decided not to worry about that. Other than that Tirek found a bridge, which was just a bunch of planks close to each other and rope keeping everything together, that linked this half of the cliff to another one, which had some stone walls that might give him an idea on what to do next when he got over there. With nowhere else to go he carefully crossed the bridge, finding that, while it looked like it might snap and cause him to fall to his death, the walkway held and he was able to reach the other side without anything bad happening.

As he stepped into the large courtyard that happened to be on the other side of the stone arch he walked under, where he found a statue that looked like someone stuck to a cross of some kind, he spotted another golden mist door, but before he could think about it some sort of crab creature, with multiple limbs, a weapon and shield, and some cloth covering it's back, dropped down into the area.

"What in Tartarus' name are you?!" Tirek remarked, as he had never seen such a disgusting creature before, in fact he had to wonder how it was capable of moving since it looked like a heavily modified crab that was no longer the base creature it had started as, and it made him wonder what other terrors he might find in this world.

The creature screeched in response, which seemed designed to wreck one's ears and cripple them as they tried to make sure they stayed safe, though while they were stunned, which Tirek was since the awful sound forced him to cover his ears for some time, for as long as the attack lasted. He found that it was hard to concentrate with the screeching sound, which had to be why the creature was designed to have such a power in the first place, though as soon as it ended he pulled out his staff, intending on loosing at least one spell before something happened. That was his plan, but, much like what had happened with Malenia, Tirek found that his foe was much faster than he was and it slammed into him like a ton of bricks, knocking him back towards one of the other cliffs in the area. As he regained himself the beast slashed into him with it's weapons, as he found that the monster had several swords, all of which cut through his body before he was knocked off the cliff by a sudden charge attack.

Tirek expected to hit either the ocean water after falling off the cliff and found that it was like some magic had stolen him from the fall, even though he had a rather unpleasant crash into what seemed to be the ground, knocking the wind out of him as he closed his eyes for a time... at least until he heard a horse walk through the area and weakly cracked open his eyes to see if he could figure out what in the world was going on.

"Don't worry, Torrent, fortune is on his side." a feminine voice said, where he weakly found that his hands were in a small puddle of water and that there were some hooves in front of the area he had landed in, before he spotted a figure who slipped off her steed for a moment and knelt in the water for a time, though Tirek couldn't see her face, "We found him here, after all... one of his kind is sure to seek the Elden Ring... even if it does violate the Golden Order..."

In the following moments something strange happened, as Tirek was compelled to close his eyes and when he snapped them open not a second later he found that the speaker and her mount were gone, though he did find a small pouch off to his right and picked it up. He discovered two flasks inside it, one colored blue and one colored red, along with a note about the fact that he could mend his wounds with the latter while restoring his mana with the former, before discovering that he could use the pouch as a container for the flasks. Of course he had to wonder who had come to find him, not to mention leave such a gift for him, especially when he did a recount and found four flasks in the container, three crimson and one blue, and that this pouch could hold more flasks than what he had been given. As he considered that fact Tirek found that there was a set of stone stairs leading to a door, likely the way out of the cave he had suddenly found himself in, meaning someone had teleported him here for sure, along with an opening in the ground to his right that lead to another section of the cave.

"This world is going to give me a... headache." Tirek commented, though in that moment he found something else that interested him, the cuts from his battle with the crab monster had already healed, as if whoever teleported him had also been kind enough to mend his wounds to ensure he survived.

In that moment he noticed something else, there was a slightly glowing figure sitting in a chair he had missed, sitting near the passage leading underground, to which he sighed, picked himself up, and attached the new pouch to his belt before making his way over to the chair, only to find the spirit talking about remembering how to fight. Tirek took a moment to consider whether or not he should head down into the depths, as there seemed to be a safe path down if he jumped once or twice, before deciding that he needed no help in learning how to do things, hence why he focused on the door. While he walked he found that it was easier for him to do so now, either because of his near death experience, or maybe it was an actual experience of what death was like, or because he was quick to adapt to any situation, though he focused on the door as he pushed it open. Such a thing allowed him to find a small chamber that had some stairs leading to an area that had a golden glowing shard near the floor, which he ignored, including the transparent mist wall to his right, so he could make his way up to another chamber that seemed like a dead end, save for a round indent in the middle of the floor.

That indent turned out to be a platform that raised up as he stepped on a round button that was as wide as his head, to which he waited for a few moments as he traveled up a passage and reached the peak in no time, where he discovered another door once the platform came to a stop. With that done he stepped up and found that he had to grip the bottom of the metallic door to push it into the stone ceiling, though as Tirek did so he discovered what was on the other side, a vast grassy area with scattered golden trees, numerous bushes, and several raised and lowered sections as he spotted a castle on a hill in the distance. Just by looking at everything that was around him Tirek realized that this continent was far more massive than he originally thought it would be, while discovering that there were tall towers of stone that seemed to be surrounding the massive tree, why he had no idea. Other than that he found another glowing shard, someone standing near it, and a path leading down to an area that was being patrolled by a large golden armored figure on a massive horse, who stood between this area and what looked like a church of some kind.

"Okay, so... I have no idea what I'm doing." Tirek remarked, as he hated to admit that this was one of those times where he was totally lost on what to do, other than explore the rest of the world and see if there might be a way for him to get back to his home planet, even if it meant returning in a different body, "Well, the ponies liked to talk to knights whenever they got lost... maybe I could ask that knight for directions and get out of here..."

It was stupid that he, one of the most evil creatures of Equus, had been reduced to this state and had to ask someone else for directions, though it was a good thing that no one from his planet was here to see this as he approached the figure in question, but as he started to raise his hand the knight rushed at him and brought a golden halberd down on him, which cut through his body and the world went dark instantly.

---

Tirek had no idea how long he was out, though when he opened his eyes again he found that he was back in the cave he had been teleported to, where this time he realized something important, he had died to the knight's attack, just like how he died to Malenia's attack, and had been revived here, either because his soul had been tethered to this place or because this seemed to be a grave of some kind.

"Okay, clearly talking isn't going to work... violence it is." Tirek remarked, though this irritated him more than he wanted to admit, as it meant he had wasted his time raising the platform, or elevator he guessed, and now had to waste more time when he had to leave for real.

With that in mind Tirek did the only thing possible right now, he leapt into the depths and used the ledge to make sure no harm came to him before doing it again, reaching an area that had some stone coffins that were open, not to mention a cave tunnel that had to be the way forward. It was in the next moment that he found another glowing shard, where this time he discovered something interesting, his mind was informed that this was a 'Grace' site, where people like him, as in the Tarnished, could rest and recover during their travels. Such a thing seemed ludicrous, like it came out of a foal's story or an old mare's tale, but that didn't stop him from reaching out to it and let a golden light wash over the area, where he had a feeling that it had been activated in some manner, or maybe he was linked to it, it was hard to tell. After that Tirek walked up the tunnel that was in front of him and found that there seemed to be some sort of undead figure staring at a rock wall, though at the same time he felt the same sensation as some being shared with him how to fight, as in how to swing his sword and how to cast the spells of this world.

What he had to do was channel his mana into the staff and cast whatever spell he was thinking of, where the Glintstone Pebble turned out to be a small bolt of blue energy that looked like a pebble, hence the name he guessed, which struck his target and took it down in an instant, though as it fell he got some sort of golden energy from it.

Tirek stood there for a moment, wondering if the people of this world were actually weak or if he still had a shard of his former power, from before he was sent to this world, but decided that, for the time being, he would continue to test the waters before doing anything stupid. With that in mind he continued following the rest of the tunnel, finding more of the undead, or hollows he guessed, standing around, some looking like they might attack and others simply standing still like they had lost their minds or something. Such a thing allowed him to swing his staff at each of them and struck them down with his new magic, something that instantly worried him after he remembered the strength of the knight that crushed him, so he really had no way to figure out if he was strong or these guys were incredibly weak. While he considered that he found that the feelings continued to assault him, like some being was patiently teaching him how to fight, as in how to dodge, use a shield to guard against attacks, and many other things that made him wonder just how much trouble he was going to be in after leaving this place.

Truth be told Tirek wasn't planning on using most of what he was told, as his magic was all he needed right now, but he did have to dodge a knight's arrows to avoid being pinned to the ground or slain before he reached the end of the cave he was in, which seemed to be far larger than he originally thought. He also discovered that the few knight enemies in this cave were tougher than the hollows, going down in two hits instead of just one, though as that happened he discovered that his mana pool was greater than he originally though, allowing him to cast many spells before having to rest or even use the flask. Tirek also discovered an area where he learned how to crouch and attack unsuspecting foes from behind, as if there would be instances to use it in the future, though he wiped out the hollows wandering around the area and kept moving, even though he felt his reserves dwindling. With that in mind he pulled out the blue flask and downed it, finding that it did as the note claimed, his mana was restored in no time at all, though he found that it had a blueberry flavor to it, or this world's version of that anyway, before slipping the empty flask into the pouch as he walked.

As he rounded a corner he found two things, the first being a small statue of a female figure, likely a queen, while the other was the golden mist wall that had been in near where he found the grafted crab monster, meaning that they likely indicated where powerful monsters rested, making him wonder if there was a way to get back to the first one he saw, not counting Malenia anyway.

With that in mind Tirek braced himself as he walked through the golden mist and found that it allowed him to enter a large cavern, likely the end of the passage that would bring him back to where he had been teleported to, before he found that someone was walking down the other tunnel. It was just another knight, this one appearing to be more lively than most of the hollows he had seen in this area, though he knew the figure was aggressive since he was drawing the longsword that was in the sheath on his back. As such Tirek gripped his staff once more and utilized the same spell he had been using so far, where he found that the knight staggered after the first kit and continued to strike him with the blue bolts of energy, only to find that the knight collapsed after the fourth strike. As more of the golden energy surged into his body, without really doing anything he noted, Tirek, once again, found himself wondering if these people were weak to magic or if he was just stronger than all of them, before deciding to shelve the idea for the time being as he headed up the other tunnel.

Sure enough it brought him all the way back up to a ledge that was above where he had woken up after his failed battle with the grafted crab, to which he found his way down and retracted his steps to the elevator, making sure to activate the Grace along the way this time. After that Tirek made his way up to where the final chamber of the tomb rested and looked around for a moment, finding a lever off to his left, one that, when pulled, actually called the elevator down so he could step on the platform once more, even if it took a few moments to do so. As he rode it to the peak once more he realized that it wasn't in his best interest to mess with the golden knight he had seen, as it had killed him in a single strike, rather it seemed that he had to activate the Grace outside the tomb entrance before making his way to the church. From there he had no idea what to do next, which was due to the fact that the continent was massive and he had no directions to speak of, but he was sure a trip to the castle was in order, as there might be someone strong in that area.

A few moments later he was back outside the tomb, allowing him to take in the fresh air once more as he walked up to the Grace site he had spotted and activated it, though this time around he noticed two things, the first that his missing flask had been restored, a wonderful bit of magic in his eyes, while the other was that a faint trail of golden energy hung in the air, where it looked like it was pointing at the old church.

"Oh yes... Tarnished, are we? And a beastly one at that. Come to the Lands Between to claim the Elden Ring, have we?" the white masked figure off to his left inquired, who seemed to enjoy sticking his nose into whatever other people were doing and interrupting them when they were busy doing something else, causing Tirek to glare at him for a moment as he considered what his next move should be, "There's no shame in admitting that you're on such a quest, but... unfortunately for you, my friend, you are maidenless... without guidance, without the strength of Runes, and without an invitation to the Roundtable Hold, I am afraid that you are fated to fade into obscurity."

"Fantastic, someone's already annoying me." Tirek remarked, though at the same time he decided to only half listen to the surgeon looking figure, as he was dressed like he operated on people, while most of his focus was on the Grace and what it was doing, because it seemed to be guiding him in some manner.

"Luckily for you there is one shining ray of hope: Me. Varre." the masked figure continued, apparently not taking the hint that Tirek didn't want to be bothered right now, though even as that happened Tirek recalled the figure in the chapel he had first appeared in, a female maiden now that he thought about it, meaning she might have been important to him and his quest had she been alive, "Are you familiar with Grace, the golden light that gives life to you Tarnished? It will guide you on the path you must take, even if that means walking to your death... I would wager this one is pointing to Castle Stormveil, located on the cliff, home of the decrepit demigod Godrick the Grafted."

That was all Tirek needed to know as he stood up and departed from the Grace site, because he had stolen the powers of the gods before, if Celestia and Luna could be called that, so learning of a demigod meant he knew where to obtain some incredible power for the future, making him look forward to whatever happened next.

A Chance Encounter

Following his departure from the above ground Grace location Tirek walked down the path that had been to the right of it and found that he had a few options to pick from, he could head to the left and maybe head towards the beach, or what he assumed was a beach, the right lead to some ruins, and the path in front lead to the church. One thing he knew for sure was that challenging the knight was a bad thing, because if he had crushed him with a single swing of his halberd, like what he experienced earlier, it meant his current strength wasn't enough to eliminate the particular foe. That caused him to stop for a few moments as he observed the knight, finding that his target simply trotted back and forth between an area in front of the church and an area across from where he came to a stop, informing him that if he went off to the side he'd be able to avoid the knight for the time being. As he did that, however, he also spotted a golden glow near where he fell the first time, likely a marker of where he died or something, even though it seemed a lot more like some sort of runic language of some kind, something that interested him since it was different from the messages he had seen so far.

Part of him wanted to see what sort of message he would discover or event he might witness if he touched the marking, but with the knight standing guard he didn't want to die again, or at least so soon since his first death, though as he did that the knight started to charge at him. In response to that Tirek realized that his area of detection was far greater than he had originally believed, meaning if he wanted to avoid the knight he was going to have to go further out, but he dodged to the side and avoided being trampled by the horse, along with narrowly missing the halberd's head. Since he no longer had a choice on the matter Tirek did the smartest thing he could think of, he rushed over to where his Runes rested, while also avoiding the knight's weaponry as best as he could, and touched them, finding that the golden energy rushed into him as the Runes disappeared. He still had no idea what was going on, as all of this was confusing to him, but he did the next best thing that came to him, Tirek gripped his staff and sent out a wave of blue energy that had to be the other spell he had found earlier, which did a bit of damage to the knight, but not enough to really do anything.

When he cast the smaller bolt, however, his foe did something strange as he defended with his shield, which generated a golden runic circle around it as it tanked the spell, only to send a bolt of golden energy back at him, which blasted Tirek into oblivion... causing him to reappear at the Grace that Varre was standing near.

"It seems you've encountered a terrible end, friend, and now your Runes are lost." Varre commented, where Tirek felt he was enjoying this, seeing a new Tarnished go about trying to understand the world they were in, as he beckoned to where he had been standing a few moments ago, allowing him to find that a new golden glow had replaced him, "When one of your kind perishes they drop the Runes they are carrying at the time of their demise, right in the spot they died in, and only they can collect the Runes, as Grace protects them from looters. If you want your Runes back you must engage the knight and claim them, but if you die again, without claiming them, they will disappear entirely... not that it matters, as a maidenless Tarnished like yourself cannot use Runes anyway."

"Varre, I would recommend shutting up... next time you annoy me, I'll take your life!" Tirek growled, letting Varre know he wasn't too pleased with him, though the man seemed to ignore his warning as he stood to the side like normal, causing him to sigh as he moved down the path once more.

Tirek now knew that fighting the knight right now was no longer an option, as he could crush him with a single blow from his halberd and he could cancel out his spell to fuel his own instant killing attack, but, at the same time, his Runes were in the middle of the path the knight was patrolling. In that moment he decided to be dangerous, he would have to risk death to reclaim his Runes, even if he couldn't use them anytime soon, to which he carefully approached the area that he had fallen in and braced himself for what was about to happen next. Sure enough the knight spotted him and rushed in not even a few seconds later, to which Tirek made a mad sprint towards where his Runes had dropped, touching them like he had done previously and absorbed them into his body as he avoided the halberd once more. With that done he kept up his mad dash as he headed for the church, ignoring the knight entirely as he no doubt turned around to attack him, where he slipped inside and smiled as he spotted a slumbering Grace site, causing him to activate it and sit down.

His reasoning for doing that was because it seemed to affect the world around him, as the knight suddenly returned to his patrol, like he had decided not to chase after Tirek or had forgotten about his existence entirely, allowing him to breath a sigh of relief for a time as he considered his options. There seemed to be a single path leading out of here, which the Grace seemed to be pointing him in, while he still had the other two from earlier if he wanted to be adventurous, but for now what he needed, he realized, was a map of the area so he could have some understanding of this world. He also spotted a man in the church as well, dressed in what appeared to be the attire of someone who traveled a lot, with a horse that seemed to be his mount, given the packs of supplies, though he also discovered that the figure was surprised that he wasn't trying to kill him at the moment. Apparently he was a wandering nomad, merchants who collected and sold items to the Tarnished, but, when asked if he had a map of the area, the figure simply chuckled a little and said that there were stone monuments in the lands that held pieces of parchment that detailed what was in each land, though when a Tarnished approached one they would be given a map as well, if they didn't have one already.

With that in mind Tirek realized that, if he wanted to get the lay of the land, he would have to follow the main path leading towards the castle, like the Grace wanted, and hopefully claim what he was here to collect before starting his plan, to which he got up and departed from the church. Along the way he discovered a few more knights that were patrolling, more like the one he fought in the cave and not like the golden one, the Tree Sentinel he guessed he could call the golden knight, where he readied his magic without delay and loosed two spells at the first one. Such a thing allowed him to discover that the four knights he spotted along the path were weaker than the soldier in the cave, since they went down in two hits while he knew the one in the cave had gone down in four hits, but he also needed to keep his guard up since there was no telling what he might encounter next. One of his foes also dropped his sword, which had longer reach than his and seemed sharper, so he claimed the sword and switched it for the one he had started with, just in case he actually needed the weapon, though after that Tirek stopped on the top of a hill and spotted an encampment in front of a large stone arch.

With all of the soldiers that were in front of the gate, as Tirek realized that they were more like soldiers and less like knights, he decided to make his way around the outer reaches of the camp and spotted another slumbering Grace site, one that he activated and sat down at so he could stare at the camp and come up with a plan of attack.

"Greetings, Traveller from beyond the fog. I am Melina, and I am here to offer you an accord." a familiar voice said, where he glanced to his right for a moment and found a black robed figure who appeared out of some blue mist, who sat down as she pulled back her hood, revealing that her left eye seemed to be sealed shut and that she had short light brown hair, "Tell me, have you heard of the Finger Maidens?"

"Melina, I am Tirek... and no, I have not heard of such figures." Tirek replied, as the reason he recognized her so quickly was due to her voice, it was the same one he had heard back in the cave he had awoken in after fighting the crab monster, so he had to wonder why Melina was here and why she had come to that cave earlier.

"They serve the Two Fingers, offering guidance, and aid, to the Tarnished..." Melina stated, something that caused Tirek to raise an eyebrow as he heard her explanation of what a 'Finger Maiden' was, because this was the first time he had heard of the figures in question and the mysterious leaders they served, "but you, I am afraid, are maidenless. I can play the role of a Finger Maiden, or just maiden if you prefer, which includes turning the Rune fragments you collect into strength and to aid you in your search for the Elden Ring. You need only take me with you, all the way to the foot of the Erdtree."

Tirek assumed that she was guessing that he was seeking to become the 'Elden Lord', whatever that was, but he asked her to explain the turning of Runes into strength, since it was a foreign idea to him, where she explained that every creature in the Lands Between carried them. When Tirek killed his foes he essentially stole their Runes and could use them to purchase items from the merchants or, if he spoke to his maiden, he could turn those Runes into his own strength, empowering him for the battles that were no doubt in his future. As he understood it if he killed the soldiers he'd either gain parts of their health or their strength, if he did what she was suggesting, while if he took down mages or priests he'd gain more power for his magical abilities, causing Melina to nod her head a little before adding that if he didn't want to do that he could also turn their power into whatever he wanted, such as magical power to endurance or strength to more power. Tirek also considered the more powerful creatures of this land, the demigods he had heard about earlier, and realized that many of them, as there had to be more than once, would likely boost his power to new heights, but it would be some time before he reached them, so for now his sights had to be set on the lesser foes.

As such he agreed to the accord and Melina informed him that she wouldn't appear every time he wanted to turn Runes into new strength, rather this first time would be one of the few times he'd actually see her, before she handed over a ring as well, which would summon a spectral steed named Torrent as his mount, likely the one he recalled from when he briefly opened his eyes in the cave.

With the ring in hand, and on a finger so he didn't lose it, Tirek held his hand out as Melina took it, allowing him to turn all of his current Runes into more power, in fact he could feel himself getting stronger, and once he was done she told him that he only needed to rest at a Grace site to use this power. Once he was done, and Melina disappeared as he stood up, he turned on the encampment and readied himself, as there was a monument he needed to reach and he was sure that some of the soldiers would come after him before he could claim the map. In addition to that he found what appeared to be a massive cart of some kind that had a chest on one side, though while he wondered what might be inside it he focused on wiping out the enemies that were in front of him, finding that many of the soldiers took two hits to take down, while the stronger ones, who stood taller and carried larger shields, took a bit longer to take out. It was far better than him falling to the Tree Sentinel over and over again, in his mind anyway, and it didn't take him far too long to track down the monument that he had been focused on, allowing him to discover some parchment that held a map of Limgrave, the area that he was in right now.

Tirek found something interesting, the map seemed to be infused with Grace energy and not only marked where each of the Graces he had activated were located, likely to keep track of his progress in some manner, but also indicated where he was in relation to everything else. Such a thing interested him a little, to which he focused on the church Grace and simply warped over to it in no time at all, causing him to realize that if he wanted to he could skip certain enemies by finding the Graces around them and skip them for the time being, allowing him to return when he was stronger. With that in mind he decided to slip his new map into a pouch, as it apparently came with one as well, before whistling for a moment, calling forth the white maned steed that Melina had been riding previously, who appeared out of thin air like his new ally had not that long ago, and he quickly found that Torrent had curved horns near his ears. Of course it was odd for him to summon or even ride such a beast, since he had been a centaur before coming to this world, but, based on how massive this world was, he realized that he was going to have to get over that thought process and learn to ride a horse, as it might held him with some of his future foes.

As such he carefully maneuvered around the area outside the church, or at least the eastern side, and found that Torrent was quite patient with him learning the ropes, in fact Tirek learned how to do everything because the same presence that taught him everything else helped him learn this as well, allowing him to return to the gate in no time.

After that he returned to his original plan, carefully using his magic to take down the soldiers that were in front of the gate that would bring him right to the castle that the Graces were pointing to, because he figured the more Runes he claimed the stronger he'd become. Of course to make massive leaps and bounds he was going to have to find some stronger foes, like the Tree Sentinel for example, and take them down so he could incorporate their Runes into his power as well, but for the time being he guessed the lesser soldiers were fine. He also had to be careful, utilizing his magic and making sure he didn't run out while tearing down all of his targets, though empowering himself with Melina's help allowed him to do more than he did a few moments before meeting her, confirming the usefulness of her services. Tirek also considered the fact that when he climbed off Torrent a few moments ago the horse spirit disappeared, even though he was a flesh and blood creature after being summoned, but decided not to question the magic of this world as he decimated the remainder of his chosen foes.

Once he cleared out the area in front of the gate Tirek returned to the Grace and found that everyone he killed had been brought back to life, as if the Grace was ensuring the Tarnished had enough resources to fulfill their goals, causing him to transform the Runes he had obtained so far into additional power. Once that was done he called forth Torrent once more and headed back to the church, as it was time to see if he had improved enough to take down the Tree Sentinel or if he had to come back later, finding his target patrolling like usual. With his newfound power and his new steed Tirek felt that the odds were more even now, that they were still stacked in the favor of the Tree Sentinel, but, at the same time, he did know that the odds could be overcome and he might be able to do such a thing in due time. Sure enough his target turned on him as soon as he got without a certain range, either because he sensed him in some manner or because he was in the middle of turning when Tirek stopped, but the 'fight' lasted all of a second as the Tree Sentinel leapt at him and swung his halberd, crushing him and Torrent in seconds.

Sure enough he reappeared near the gate, causing Tirek to sigh as he rode back to the church and sat at the Grace, just to mark it as his current resting spot, though as he did that he noticed that night seemed to fall upon him and that there was some white mist forming around the church.

"This way, Tarnished." a feminine voice said, where Tirek turned his head towards a ruined wall of the church and found a figure sitting on it, a lady wearing a snow white robe, with what looked like wolf fur on the shoulders and down to the end of her arms, and a white witch hat that had the widest brim he had ever seen, with faint blue skin, or maybe icy blue, and similar colored hair, "May I have a word with thee?"

"Certainly, my Lady." Tirek replied, because there was something about her that made him want to be more respectable, instead of treating her like a tool to be thrown away when he was done utilizing whatever skills she had, and he suspected that she was a demigod, a rather powerful one at that, even though he did catch a glimpse of something interesting, a faint half face near her own, and her right eye was shut, as opposed to Malenia's shut left eye.

"It is a pleasure to meet thee. I am the witch Renna." the lady said, where Tirek found that she spoke with a sweet voice, almost musical in nature as he listened to her talk, though at the same time it almost seemed like the name might be a false one, a throwaway name to give people she intended on interacting with for only a single moment, "I have heard tales of a Tarnished hurtling about on a spectral steed, and, upon looking into the matter, it would seem that the tales are of thee... you possess the power to call forth the spectral steed Torrent, correct?"

"Indeed I can. I am unsure of how the tales spread, so quickly after receiving him, but I do hope I haven't offended anyone by utilizing him to explore this vast world." Tirek stated, where he started to suspect that she might be using her voice or some faint spell to get the truth out of him, or a combination of the two, but even as he thought about that he realized something important, Renna wasn't doing anything but talking, meaning he was speaking like this of his own violation.

"Oh no, no one is offended... it's just that I was entrusted this bell by Torrent's previous master, who told me to give it to the next one who called Torrent into the world." Renna replied, where she reached into her sleeve for a moment, allowing him to see that she had four arms and not the normal two he assumed the people of this world had, before withdrawing a silver bell from where it had been hidden, which she held out to him, "This bell will summon forth spirits from ash that hasn't been returned to the Erdtree, who will obey your orders, for a time, as they recall the battles they fought and the skills they used while they were alive. You can find more ashes by locating catacombs and obtaining them from the final chamber, though the bell's last owner left it with the ashes of a wolf pack, possessing three wolves to be exact, as a gift for whoever became Torrent's next owner."

"I see. I shall endeavor to use them, and any other ashes I find, to fulfill my quest." Tirek said, as the ashes of old warriors or even other creatures sounded like a boon to him, in fact it might give him the edge over the Tree Sentinel one he learned how to utilize them in combat, hence why he accepted the bell with a bow of his head, before noticing that she seemed lost in thought about something, "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just... please, forgive my intrusion." Renna said, almost as if she felt bad for interrupting him while he was planning on dealing with the Tree Sentinel, or planning his next action since he had been crushed a few times so far, and wanted to make sure that their encounter ended on a positive note, "I doubt we shall meet again, but... all the same, learn well the Lands Between. How long will it be, I wonder... before the Tarnished tire of obesiance of the Two Fingers..."

As Renna faded away Tirek realized something, he might have been smitten with her, something that had never happened to him before, and while she claimed this was the last time they would see each other he had a feeling they would, against all odds, come into contact again, causing him to smile as he wondered what his future held.

The First Catacombs

After Tirek's encounter with Renna, or whatever her real name was, Tirek found that there was an easy way to tell when he could use the summoning bell to call forth whatever ashes he wanted to use, it gave off a faint blue glow and, as it's new master, he could sense when the magic was available for use. It was an interesting spell and meant he could plan out his attacks on some of the more powerful creatures, as it could also serve as a warning for him, due to the fact that he was sure that if the bell had been in his possession beforehand he wouldn't have engaged the Tree Sentinel. That knight was rather annoying, as this powerful foe was strong enough to take him down in a single swing of his halberd, though at the same time he possessed a spell that allowed him to reflect spells that were launched at him, turning them into a blast of golden energy that was incredibly painful. With that thought in mind he knew that challenging the Tree Sentinel right now was a foolish endeavor, because he would die in a single hit no matter what, regardless if his foe noticed him first or not, so he knew that it was time to power himself up and do something else.

As such he rushed over to where he dropped his Runes upon his last death, collecting them as the Tree Sentinel noticed him doing so, before rushing back to the Grace to reset the world, allowing him to sigh as he used what he had collected earlier to grow his own powers once more.

With that done Tirek stood up and headed through the western side of the church, since parts of the eastern and western walls had fallen at some point in the past, allowing him to emerge from his resting spot without drawing the attention of the knight who seemed to be patrolling the area. Such a thing allowed him to sigh once more, this time in relief, as he started to explore the rest of Limgrave, as right now he was hunting down targets that would allow him to grow his power, because he suspected more power was important in this world. He discovered that there were all sorts of wild animals wandering about, like deer eating or eagles resting on some rocks before flying off if something got too close, which told him he would likely encounter more of them in the future, even though killing them would no doubt earn him nothing in the long run. He also discovered some stone ruins that looked like they might have been towers or ancient structures, one even looked like it was just a stone cube with no real purpose, making it hard for him to understand why someone would even put forth the effort to make something like this, even though he picked up a few fist sized fragments that were on the ground and slipped them inside his pouch.

While he carefully explored the area Tirek discovered something interesting, there was a statue of a hunched figured on a hill near the church, who was wearing a robe and seemed to have a candle as it looked off in another direction, right at part of the cliff side that was to the north of the church's location.

"Hm, curious... I wonder why someone would create something like this." Tirek remarked, especially when he noticed that the statue, upon touching it, started to glow as a faint blue light moved to the north, as if pointing to something, though as he considered that he realized he had nothing to lose, as he needed to power up before worrying about the Tree Sentinel and the other beasts of this odd world.

He carefully followed the path that the faint light was leading him on, which had to be Grace related as well, before finding a few Hollows tending to a piece of ruins that had fallen to the ground in the past, though to be on the safe side Tirek turned some of his magic on them. He quickly discovered that none of them were particular sturdy, in fact one spell was enough to take each one down as he got meager Runes for his efforts, and none of the seemingly mindless beings wanted to fight him, making him wonder what was up with this world. With that in mind he decided to ignore the last few Hollows and turned his attention to the rest of the area, finding that there was a way down near part of the side of the cliff, in line with the statue no less, that brought him to a large wooden door that rested between two stone pillars carved into the cliff side. Tirek raised his hands and pushed on the door, finding that it tried to resist for a few seconds before he pushed it open, revealing a path on the other side that lead down into a carved tunnel, almost like a catacombs, meaning he might have found an area that he could gather more Runes in.

Sure enough he found a new Grace spot further down the stairs in front of him, to which he activated it before moving even deeper into the catacombs, finding another ghostly figure in a chair to his right and a weathered statue in a chamber some distance in front of him, likely an imp of some kind. This time around the ghost had nothing interesting to say, rather all he talked about was the Erdtree and 'proper death', so Tirek tuned him out as he started to explore the rest of the area he had discovered, since he might find new items to help him on his quest, as in Runes, weapons, and gear. As he walked into the other chamber, passing by another tunnel that lead deeper into the catacombs, Tirek was assaulted by a statue that actually moved, as in the little imp had moved to a corner by the opening and attacked him as he found that he had spotted a lone chair a few moments ago. While the attacks weren't very strong he had to admit that they were painful and annoying, and that was before he found another Imp Statue that threw small knives at him, or daggers he guessed, causing him to turn his magic on them both.

Tirek discovered that three hits were enough to take them down, though he had focused the dagger thrower since those seemed to do more damage than the first statue's weapon, only to discover that his foes had been guarding some resin, which he stashed away as he headed back to the other tunnel.

The tunnel just turned out to be a set of stairs leading down to a larger locked stone door that almost seemed like slabs of material, meaning he would have to track down a lever, since this world didn't seem to have switches like what he found in parts of the world he had called home. It also had some odd stone statues on either side of it, like guides or something, but since he didn't see any levers in the area Tirek sighed as he headed down another tunnel and continued to explore the rest of the catacombs, but first he picked an odd white flower that seemed important, as he felt some sort of power from it. He then discovered his final destination, there was a statue with a lever on a level he couldn't access right now, which meant he had to track down the stairs or ladder that lead up to where it was located, though he could tell that more of the Imp Statues were moving, meaning he had to be careful. Such a thing was turned on him as he found that the pair lashed out with their throwing weapons, so Tirek moved and hurled some Glintstone Pebbles at them, breaking them apart while getting a dagger in the leg, causing him to make sure they were taken down before taking a swing from both of his flasks after removing the offending item, just to be on the safe side.

He also discovered that there were other hazards besides the Imp Statues, as there was a tunnel with a device that loosed a burst of fire every now and then, causing him to stand at what seemed to be the edge of the flame's reach as he took a few seconds to consider his next move. In that moment he came up with a way to use those ruin fragments he had picked up earlier, he pulled one out, considered the distance that he would have to throw it down, before hurling it with all of his might, sending it flying down the tunnel and right into the side of the statue. What interested him was that the statue that was producing the flames stopped spewing them entirely and sunk into the floor, opening the way for him to explore the rest of the catacombs as he searched for the path that would lead to the final lever. As he did that he had to turn and blast an Imp Statue that landed behind him, he wasn't about to let them get the better of him after seeing what each of them were capable of, but once that was done he moved on and kept his guard up.

The shocking thing was that Tirek found a second tunnel with another flame trap, connected to the first one no less, so he simply repeated his motion and knocked the statue down with one of his thrown ruin fragments, before discovering a few Imp Statues in the chamber that the second tunnel ended in. He simply sighed as he raised his staff and loosed a couple of pebbles per statue, blasting each one to pieces while making sure to keep his magical energy up, since it would be most annoying if he ran out of mana and died because he thought he had more to spare. The other down side was that he only had the one cerulean flask, so since he had used it already he needed to be careful with his remaining mana, meaning he either needed to find a way to make more flasks or simply boost his reserves to the point where he only needed to restore his magical energy once. As he considered that Tirek discovered a rather short side passage that had a ladder, one that, when he climbed it, brought him up to a level he had seen earlier, not where the lever was, so he carefully blasted a few more Imp Statues as he moved along the path that was in front of him, only to discover that he had found a dead end up on his level, with some glowing ashes that were absorbed into his Spirit Bell.

In that moment, before he spoke his mind, he glanced over the ledge to his left and found that he could drop down onto the level that had the lever and did so without delay, allowing him to hear that the heavy door opened and made his way back to it, only to stop when he found that there was a golden mist wall at the bottom of the stairs.

"Great... a powerful creature is down here." Tirek remarked, to which he sighed and returned to the Grace he had lit up at the start of the catacombs, where he sat down and allowed the world to be reset as he focused on Melina's power for the next few moments, turning the Runes he had gained in the catacombs into newfound power, not enough to give him any sort of confidence for the Tree Sentinel, but at least he wouldn't lose anything if he died, "Alright, let's do this."

He quickly retraced his steps to the golden mist wall, avoiding the Imp Statues that had been revived, and passed through it without wasting time, where he found a square shaped chamber with some sort of stone statue of a cat, or what he had to assume was a cat, that held a sword and seemed to look like a warrior due to the red cape. It seemed to awaken after he entered the area it was supposed to be guarding, a chamber with roots right behind it, Erdtree roots no doubt, and not a few seconds later Tirek watched as it stood up and walked over to the area he was in. It was such an odd sight to behold, he wasn't going to lie, though it was incredibly fast, despite being made out of pure stone, and it's first downward swing caught him in the shoulder and crushed him into the ground with ease, though interestingly enough he survived the blow with a hurt body. He found that it seemed to pause for a moment and that allowed him to get up and move away from the area he had been standing in, where he pulled out the Spirit Bell once he was far enough away from the statue and focused on the wolves as he ran it, finding that three spectral wolves appeared out of thin air, though it did eat into his mana to summon them, a fate he filed away for later.

Tirek discovered that the Watchdog, as it seemed like a guardian of the area, turned on the wolves as it either thrust out at one of them with it's blade or floated into the air before slamming into the ground below it, both attacks looking painful to be hit by as he hurled more Glintstone Pebbles at his foe. As he did that, where he found that it was hard to tell if it took a lot of damage from his spells or not, he also uncovered a new move he would have to watch out for, as the Watchdog stopped in it's tracks before breathing fire on the area in front of it, complete with a rotating head to cover more ground. Fortunately his wolves seemed to be taking the majority of the damage right now, in fact he had to wonder if the powerful beings of this world focused on them first, thinking them more of a threat to their existence, than the one who summoned them, but he wasn't about to complain. As long as his wolves remained alive he could focus on blasting the Watchdog with his spells, as it seemed like he might be getting somewhere, especially since the wolves were able to bite into it's stony body and do some damage of their own, so he just had to take this one step at a time and not rush in like a moron.

With those facts in mind he was able to bring down the Watchdog, causing him to huff as he watched it break apart and he absorbed the Runes that had been stored inside it, where the wolves howled before disappearing, allowing him to collect his prize, the ashes of a 'noble' sorcerer that were absorbed into his Spirit Bell.

After that Tirek returned to the Grace at the beginning of the catacombs and quickly rested, where he made sure to turn his new Runes into additional power for the future, this time giving himself more physical power than mental, because now he knew the dangers of this world and realized that he couldn't solely rely on magic. With beings able to kill him in one shot, or more depending on which one he was thinking about, he needed more life essence so he could take more pain before even having to worry about using one of his crimson flasks to heal his battered body. In addition to that he suspected that doing the same to his stamina might not be bad either, since he'd be able to run for longer if the need arose and it might aid him in battle, how he really had no idea, but he knew that the stronger he became the less he'd have to worry about. Once he was done with his Runes, making sure to leave the Grace with nothing left in the off chance he encountered another powerful foe that kept killing him in a single hit, he got up and quickly left the catacombs before returning to the church that the Tree Sentinel was in front of, making sure to head for the Grace that was inside it.

A few moments later, after making sure to rest at the church's Grace, Tirek walked out of the structure and focused on the patrolling knight that had killed him the most so far, where he used his Spirit Bell to call forth his wolves, since he had to pick one ash to summon, instead of all of them. With that done he focused on the Tree Sentinel and readied his magic, as this would allow him to tell if he had improved or if he was fooling himself, before loosing a pebble straight at the knight's backside, hitting his target with ease even though it didn't look like it did much. His wolves rushed out to fight his foe, just as they did back in the catacombs, but they weren't long for this world as the knight crushed them with ease, showing him that he was just as dangerous as he had been during his previous attempts. The only good thing was that he was able to hit the knight with a few more pebbles, using the deaths of his minions to try and do some damage, but even that failed in the grand scheme of things as the knight crushed him with a swing of his halberd.

As Tirek returned to the Grace, however, he sighed and quickly erased his death spot by touching the golden circle, just so he didn't have to look at it, before sitting down to think about what to do next, since there were options to pick from and power to obtain, he just had to decide where to go next.

Cave Exploration

After resting at the Grace for a few more moments Tirek came up with his next move, he was going to explore the rest of the area that was around the church, ignore the Tree Sentinel, and maybe head over to the lake once he was good and ready for such a thing. He had no idea how many powerful creatures there were in this world, but right now his hopes were that he could find some more of the lesser ones, like the knight he faced back in the cave that taught him how to fight, since they should be easier to take out. If he gathered enough of their power he was sure he would gain a good deal of power, maybe enough to deal with the Tree Sentinel and anyone else that was close to it's power, where such a thing would allow him to move on with his quest and not have to worry about missing anything of importance. As he considered that, however, he did take a moment to recall the odd transparent fog wall he had seen in the crypt he had moved to after his battle with the foul grafted monster, one he needed to return to after finding the key no doubt.

Once he accessed his situation Tirek got up from where he was sitting and headed outside, using the eastern exit since it would allow him to bypass being harassed by the Tree Sentinel, even though the road would take him back to the ruins that he had met Melina near. The Soldiers he had taken out previously were back, a benefit of resting at a Grace since it meant more Runes for him, though as he carefully put them down with two pebbles each, before they could do anything, he came to a stop as he found two more of his current foes hanging out near ruined wagons. From what he could see someone or something had attacked the caravan, thus explaining the patrolling Soldiers in this part of Limgrave, as he was convinced that they were doing this to make sure no one else attacked them, and the trail seemed to be leading right to a cave he had missed in his earlier exploration. Such a thing made him walk over to where the cave entrance was located, as he wanted to see if a powerful creature was lurking inside it, though he took down the remaining two Soldiers and absorbed their Runes as he entered his chosen destination, finding that he needed to locate a torch at some point.

Interestingly enough he located a Grace not a few steps into the cave, allowing him to activate it and light up the entrance, before discovering that a torch might not be required at all, as there was a camp inside the cave that had been overrun by wolves, who seemed to be resting around it for some reason.

"This world gets stranger by the moment." Tirek quietly remarked, because while he knew that there were animals back in his home world who acted like this, who interacted with a mare named Fluttershy as he recalled, he wasn't expecting the wild animals of this odd world to do something like this.

He was interrupted by the sound of something growling, where Tirek found that some wolves might have been patrolling their lair and had caught sight of him while he was observing the area, to which he readied his magic and blasted one the moment it jumped at him. What he found to be interesting was that the wolves attacked with an odd sideways jump, like they were trying to bash into his legs and stagger him so he'd be easier to take down, and that the smaller ones went down in a single hit, allowing him to focus on the larger wolf that took a bit to defeat. It was an annoying foe, hitting harder than he expected it to, while not outright killing him in a single blow like the Tree Sentinel, and taking more damage than the rest of the pack, but he was able to bring it down and resume his search of the cave, since there had to be something here that caused the wrecked wagons outside. In the next few moments he discovered a dead Soldier resting on the ground, near a path that lead down to where a golden mist wall was located, to which he turned around and returned to the Grace so he could restock his flasks and channel his Runes in case the creature behind the wall killed him.

Once that was done he quickly retraced his steps to the golden mist wall and passed through it before the wolves noticed his movements, allowing him to find a camp, with several burning fires that seemed impractical, on the other side, with what looked like a person who was a cross between a human and a beast. The bestial creature seemed preoccupied as Tirek entered it's domain, sharpening the wicked looking blade that had to be it's weapon, making him wonder if this creature was the one attacking the Soldiers and stealing supplies, not that it really mattered to him in the long run. After he considered that the Beastman turned his head for a moment and growled as he noticed Tirek entering his domain, setting aside what had to be his grinding stone as he lifted his weapon, showing him that the creature was more than ready for battle, which was proven due to the extra roar that followed his foe fully facing him. The shocking thing was that the Beastman was able to lunge at him like his sword meant nothing to him, as if it weighed nothing at all, causing Tirek to dodge before his foe was able to cut him up, though he also readied his staff and his magic, since he had the feeling his own sword would do nothing to a foe that moved like this.

While the Beastman was faster than some of the foes he had faced so far, save for the Tree Sentinel, Tirek found that he had to dodge the attacks that were coming his way and put some distance between him and his foe before using some of his magic to hurt it, who simply staggered before continuing the fight. The sheer amount of spins that the Beastman used forced Tirek to constantly move out of the way, since his foe seemed to be carrying a greatsword of some kind and wasn't bothered by the weight, swinging it around like it was a branch he had stolen from a tree. Such a thing forced him to pick and choose when to attack and when to dodge, even though Tirek also discovered that his foe seemed to have a vast, or even unlimited, amount of stamina that made things much harder for him in the long run, since his foe unleashed one set of moves and then repeated it without delay. Fortunately there was something that made the fight easier for him, despite his foe's aggression and how many attacks he could pull off, all he had to do was sprint over to the other end of the area that the campsite was resting in and fire at his foe, as the Beastman actually did a slow walk towards him before rushing back into battle.

Those openings allowed Tirek to plan his attacks accordingly, nearly getting hit several times as he realized that there were a few dead Soldiers around the chamber they were in, meaning his foe had to have been weakened before his arrival, but, in the end, he blasted the Beastman into oblivion and gathered the spoils of his victory.

"What's this?" Tirek commented, as while he was pleased with gaining more Runes for his power, even though it seemed like it would take some time for him to match the creatures of this world, he found a little shield icon of some kind that had a red dragon marking on it.

"That is a talisman, one of many you can collect in this vast world." a voice replied, where Melina appeared nearby, likely due to the fact that she had sensed his incoming question and sent her projection to help him out, causing Tirek to look at it for a moment as he felt some sort of power resting inside it, "Each one helps the Tarnished in some manner: some will boost your various magical skills, others will strengthen your body or mind, some will grant you power in exchange for a decrease in your other aspects, and a few others will shroud your body in an illusion. The unused pouch you have will hold all of them and allow you to draw on their power, including the talisman you just picked up... I believe it will help against any and all dragons you might encounter in the future."

"So explore, find more talismans, and grow stronger... got it." Tirek said, which seemed like a good thing to him, since some of the items in question might give him some significant power boosts so he could face his targets, where he quickly placed it inside the other pouch as Melina disappeared once more.

With that done he took a moment to look over the rest of the chamber, finding that there was nothing in the camp or near any of the other campfires that had been set up previously, though there was a small blue light near the ground that, when he used it, brought him back to the start of the cave, right near it's Grace. After discovering that he sat down for a moment and focused his Runes into more power, since he didn't want to lose the Runes that belonged to a powerful creature, and as soon as that was done he stood up and headed outside, because he needed more power. This time when he called Torrent to his side he headed to his right, to the left of the ruined church, allowing him to glance out over the area as he kept an eye out for wandering powerful creatures, important statues, and even openings to more caves, since that meant he might be able to find something of importance. As he expected there were only wild animals wandering around, who fled the instant he rode by them, though he was pleased to find a path leading down to the beach he suspected had been to the west of the church, since he was sure that something might be down there for him to collect.

The only downside he could see was that there was a tall humanoid figure that had a large greatsword on it's back and it looked like it's insides had been scooped out, leaving a shell behind for the Tarnished to deal with, where Tirek climbed off his mount and readied his magic. He wanted to see if the Troll, or whatever it was, was stronger than him or weaker than him, since it would give him a good idea if he had improved or not, and while the creature ignored him at first, showing no signs of interest, that changed when Tirek hit it with a magic pebble. Sure enough it roared at him before walking towards the area he was standing in, where it was far to easy for him to tell that when he was within a certain distance his foe would attack the ground with his fists or swing at him, and if he was near the creature's feet it would attempt to stomp him down, a useful bit of information in his eyes. With that in mind Tirek kept his distance and dragged out the Troll's attacks, punishing it whenever it opened it's defenses, though after some time the creature pulled out it's sword and swung it at the ground, all in an attempt to take him down, forcing him to change his approach to this fight.

In the end Tirek emerged without took much damage, allowing him to call forth Torrent as he headed down the rest of the path and reached the beach, where he found eagles on some ruins, a bulky knight resting on the northern tip while doing nothing but looking at a fire, some of the little Demi-Humans on the southern side, a few crabs wandering around, and what looked like a ball of tentacles or octopus legs. He really had no idea what the last creature was supposed to be, nor did he feel like finding out since he didn't feel a lot of power coming from it, so Tirek headed to the south while ignoring whatever the ball creature was, choosing to focus on the little annoying monsters since there might be a cave nearby. He found that each of them carried a wooden club and a wooden shield that was just a bunch of planks put together, though they were annoyed by his presence and the group of four attacked him without delay, causing him to sigh as he blasted them with his magic. Even four on one he took them down in no time at all, meaning either his magic was strong or these were weak foes, and he was sure it was the latter, and found that there was a cave entrance behind them, causing him to grin as he quickly dismissed Torrent and headed inside, activating and resting at the Grace he found a few seconds later.

Upon discovering that it, too, was dark Tirek warped back to the ruined church and spoke with Kale, who had a torch for sale and it was actually rather cheap, causing him to purchase it before returning to the new cave, where he used the rest of his Runes to empower himself before holding his new torch up and headed into the depths.

Sure enough he found that the torch illuminated the area around him, while also drawing attention to him since he found a fair number of small Demi-Humans in the cave, where he had to assume that Melina was giving him the names of every foe he fought, to keep him focused on his personal task. Since he needed the light to see Tirek made sure to blast his foes while they were far away from where he was standing, as his magic seemed to be enough to take most of them down in two hits, but, based on what he had seen so far, there was a chance he might meet a larger Demi-Human soon, who might be more powerful than the foes he was fighting right now. As he did that Melina also informed him that he could actually allot how many times he could sip from each flask, as right now he had three crimson and one cerulean flask, but, thanks to what seemed to be the power of Grace, he could turn one into the other, meaning he could have any combination of flasks as long as it matched his total number. Tirek considered another fact for a moment, as in was it Melina who had told him everything he needed to know back in the cavern that taught him how to fight, or was there another being that had done that, though after a few moments of thinking about it he decided that it really didn't matter.

With that information in hand Tirek stopped when he spotted a golden mist wall, confirming that another powerful beast was in this cave, before returning to the Grace spot to channel his Runes and give himself two cerulean flasks, even if that meant switching to two crimson flasks.

Once that was done he quickly headed down the tunnel again, this time avoiding the Demi-Humans that were in front of him, before entering what appeared to be a large cavern that had a small pool of water in the center, though that was the moment that he found out who his target was. This time around he had to contend with three small Demi-Human fighters and one larger one that looked more like a crazed warrior of some kind, as it carried two blades that looked painful to be hit by, to which Tirek did the smartest thing he could think of, he called on his spirits once more. His wolves burst out as a battle cry was screeched by one of the smaller foes, alerting the bigger one to Tirek's presence, causing him to focus on the larger foe as he switched to his arc spell, since it could hit multiple targets and not harm his summons, so he could use it to take down the lesser foes before worrying about the larger one. He assumed it was a chieftain or leader of some kind, given how it almost seemed like the others were listening to it's shrieks and moving accordingly, causing his wolves to tear into them while he blasted the Chieftain in the chest, only to find that it staggered for a few seconds and got up like it had taken no damage at all.

Of course he didn't get too far into the battle before he found that there was a second group of enemies, as in three of the smaller ones and one of the Chieftains, which made no sense when he considered how society usually worked, and when both engaged him there was nothing he could do as they slashed and hacked him to pieces.

Tirek reappeared at the Grace not a few seconds later and huffed, as everything had been going great up until this point and he was annoyed that his ventures into the caves, his run of surviving since he wasn't counting clashing with the Tree Sentinel earlier, had been interrupted. With that in mind he got his Spirit Bell ready and made his way back to where his foes were waiting for him, finding that when he died it seemed to have reset them as well, so he was able to call forth the trio of wolves again as he engaged the first Chieftain, while pulling it away from where the other slept. His plan was rather simple, he was going to take down this foe before it had a chance to summon the remaining enemies that were sleeping, even if it seemed weird that they wouldn't awaken until either he got close or someone else woke them up, but he was going to use it to his advantage. By stopping the second group from awakening for a time he was able to blast and crush the first group, even if it meant losing one of his wolves this time around, where they looked at him for direction, causing him to motion for them to be silent as he collected his Runes, but once that was done he turned them loose on his foes, where the Demi-Humans shrieked in surprised as the battle started.

This time around, however, Tirek emerged as the victor as the second Chieftain and his followers fell, dissolving like all of the other powerful creatures he had beaten so far, making him wonder if that was to ensure that their Runes were given to the victor, before he paused as he was rewarded some tailoring tools and he spotted a second tunnel. There was the tunnel he had entered this area through and there was a second one that happened to be where the second Chieftain had been slumbering, to which he pulled out his torch as he investigated it, since he suspected that it had to be somewhat important. Sure enough he found more of the smaller foes hanging out in the new tunnel, who refused to fight him since he had slain their bosses, allowing him to make his way up the tunnel as he found that it lead right to the outside, right on the other side of the water from where the cave entrance was located. Tirek realized that he was on a small island that he had spotted earlier, during his trek down to the beach he had discovered the cave on, causing him to put away the torch as he turned around the corner and spotted a ruined structure up there, which he started to walk towards since he felt he might discover something up there.

His first discovery was a Grace, which he activated, before discovering a fallen dragon with a single pillar resting near it, a pillar that had a large crimson red gemstone on top of it that radiated power, where he got the feeling that devouring the dragons of this world might be the key to great power, causing him to grin as he rested for now and got ready to search for a brand new target.

Dangers of the Lake

Following his discovery of the Dragon Church, since Tirek had nothing else to call it, he warped back to the ruined church and stared out at the Tree Sentinel for a few seconds, debating whether or not to engage him again, before deciding not to as he sat back down and used the Runes from the Demi-Human Chieftains to empower himself. After that he called Torrent and moved out of the church, heading back over to the ruins that he had found the map at earlier, as he wanted to continue on that path and head to the east, because while he wanted to tackle the castle up on the cliff he suspected that he might not be ready to do so. His thought process was easy to follow, if he couldn't best the Tree Sentinel, likely a guard from the very castle he wanted to invade, then it told him he wasn't ready to head up there, so for the time being he focused on his current plan, gathering more power so he could move onto the castle. He also wanted to find some way to utilize the odd pillar he had found back in the ruined island church he had discovered, because he was sure that it held some sort of power that might be useful on his venture, but it seemed like it would be some time before he could tap into it's abilities.

Tirek discovered that the Soldiers and Hollows of the gate ruins were still wandering around the area, not that he was even surprised by such a thing, before spotting a Grace sit down the road to the right of the ruins, causing him to wonder why two were so close to each other, but decided not to argue with it.

Such a thing prompted him to go back to the ruins once the Grace was rekindled, where he blasted the Soldiers and the Hollows that were in front of him, while at the same time saving his sword for when a weakened foe approached him, just to see how he had grown since his first visit. Based on his observations he had grown somewhat, that much he knew for sure, but not really enough to celebrate over since he found that his foes went down in the same number of hits as the last time he had tackled them, causing him to realize that this had turned into Rune farming, a weak one at that. Still, he acquired all of the Runes that the enemies of the ruins had to offer, even though he had looted all of the chests for their potential treasures, a knife and a few weapons he wasn't planning on using, and Tirek ended up walking away with several pieces of gear. By his reckoning he had two swords, one of the impressive shields, two pairs of boots, three gloves, two of the helms, and none of the chest pieces, as it sure seemed like his magic broke them or something, causing him to quickly return to the Grace and rest so he could utilize the Runes for more power.

He wasn't too sure why the powerful creatures turned into mist while the other foes he fought were left behind, corpses scattered in the wake of him exploring the world and fighting those that inhabited it, especially since he couldn't take the whole set of armor from each foe and sell them, as to acquire items he had to find small glowing orbs that contained all of the potential treasure of this world.

Once he was done turning the new Runes into power Tirek got up, climbed onto Torrent, and started to make his way down the path that lead away from the gate, as he was in the mood to explore and gather more power, findings that the night was approaching once more, not that such a thing mattered to him. On the road he discovered a couple of Hollows wandering around the area, seemingly without a purpose as he observed them for a time, though at the same time he glanced off to his left and found something strange, one of the bushes had a different aura than the others. He wasn't too sure what such a thing might mean, especially since everything was strange in this world, to him anyway, but, on the off chance that it was an enemy lying in wait for an ambush, he decided to investigate. He really doubted that anything would come of this, as in this was a waste of his precious time and that he'd take out his frustration on some of the enemies by the stone bridge he had been making his way to, but it was worth checking in case something good was lurking nearby.

"Oi! You there! Could you help us out, cully?" a voice said, where Tirek glanced around for a moment as he tried to pinpoint where it was coming from, as while he assumed it was the bush he also knew it could be a thrown voice to lure him into a trap, a poorly designed one at that, "You... yeah, you there! Stop pretending you can't see me!"

Tirek made sure no one else was nearby, in fact it was just him and the bushes, before climbing off Torrent and striking the strange bush with his staff, where he heard someone yelp as some mist dissipated, an illusion being broken as a figure took it's place, a little Demi-Human dressed in finer clothes than his brethren were wearing, plus he had a hat on his head.

"Now what did you go and do that for... oh, right, some clod turned me into a tree, and you broke the spell." the little figure said, where Tirek was surprised to find a more intelligent Demi-Human during his travels, especially after discovering that all of the ones so far were mostly feral idiots who didn't understand anything, since this one seemed somewhat smarter than the rest of his kind, "Thank you. My name is Boc... Boc the Seamster."

"Well, hello... Boc. Shouldn't you be with one of the Demi-Human groups, living in a cave or roaming the land?" Tirek asked, as while he had better things to do he had to admit that part of him was curious about what he had discovered, enough to justify standing here for a time.

"Oh, I lived in a cave on the western shore for most of my life... at least until I was pushed out, told never to return, and one of them must have followed me to turn me into a tree." Boc replied, showing Tirek that he must have considered what had happened to him and that he had an idea as to who might have done it, before he seemed to deflate, as if someone had given him bad news or he had remembered something sad on his own, "The brutes took everything I owned, especially the sewing needle and tools that were all I had to remember my mother, who used to be a seamstress before she died..."

"Tailoring tools? You mean like these tools?" Tirek inquired, where he withdrew the items he had obtained from the pair of Chieftains from the cave Boc was talking about, something that caused the little Demi-Human to be filled with joy as he laid eyes on them once more, no doubt because he thought he would never see them again.

"Mum's sewing needle..." Boc said, where Tirek could practically see the tears in his eyes as he took the materials from him, focusing solely on the one thing that came from his mother, an item that he carefully tucked away before wiping the tears from his face, "Thank you... Master."

Tirek raised an eyebrow to that before telling Boc that he'd take his service, he really had no idea why he would even need a seamster in the first place, causing the little Demi-Human to bow his head and depart, causing him to wonder if he'd see him again or if this was the first and only time it would happen. After that he shook his head and climbed back on Torrent without delay, where he returned to the road and glanced out at the lake that was in front of him, the area that was to the east of the church that the Tree Sentinel was guarding, though he also discovered a ruin in the distance. Based on what he could tell it seemed like something had trashed the area before moving on, likely whoever or whatever had damaged the church that a merchant was resting in, so there was a chance that there might not be a powerful foe in the area, which he would be annoyed with if it was true. In addition to that he found that someone new was on the bridge he had spotted, a knight in black armor while riding on a horse that seemed to be wearing black clothing, likely a night knight that appeared as the night arrived, or maybe he had missed it previously and it had been there the entire time.

He stared at the night knight, or whatever it was called, and opted not to deal with it right now, because if he couldn't best the Tree Sentinel there was no way he had the power to take down such a mysterious figure and it's steed, so, since the path he wanted to use was currently blocked, he focused on the lake. He found a diagonal path heading down to the edge of the lake and directed Torrent down it, allowing him some time to observe the area since he decided to walk slowly this time around, as the battles with the Tree Sentinel was forcing him to be more cautious about things. From what he could tell there was an area with a decent sized bonfire, surrounded by Hollows that likely had no idea why they had done such a thing in the first place, but it did mean that the ruins might be less occupied since some of there were over here, or not since he knew the gate ruins had been well stocked. Tirek also spotted what appeared to be small poison spewing pods, all egg shaped with little spouts that seemed to release the green substance whenever foes got close to them, but so far it seemed like he would be able to avoid them for a time, since none seemed to be near his targets of interest.

Tirek glanced out at the rest of the lake, a mostly dried up area with a low water level based on what he was seeing, as he was surprised that there was no powerful creature hanging out in the area, making him wonder if he should bother even trying to explore the area or not... only to pause as he heard a piercing roar and watched as a gray scaled dragon, whose wings were also it's front limbs, flew down and crushed the Hollows, along with their bonfire.

"A dragon... there's the powerful creature of the lake." Tirek remarked, speaking to himself since Torrent couldn't speak to him, or if he could it was only something the mystical steed shared with Melina, though from what he could see nothing else seemed to change about the area his new target was wandering around, plus he gained the Runes of those that had been downed by the beast.

With that in mind he rode Torrent into battle, as it appeared that his chosen foe wasn't paying too much attention to the rest of the area and that would work in his benefit, and readied some of his magic into a series of pebbles that he would loose when he got close enough to make sure they hit. The dragon, as he soon found out, was more observant than he originally thought it was, as the beast heard him charging towards it's position and burst into the air as soon as it saw him and Torrent coming, where it actually hovered in the air for a few seconds as Tirek glanced up at it. In the next moment the beast surged back down to the ground, like it was utilizing the speed of it's descent into a shockwave to hurt whoever it was fighting, while it's claws actually seemed to hurt Torrent, causing him to be alarmed immediately as he moved out of the way. As such he aimed at the beast's hind legs, figuring that if he hurt it enough he might be able to bring it down for good, crippling it so he could work his magic on the rest of it's body, though he still had to avoid being crushed by both of it's claws when it tried to crush the ground around it.

As that happened, however, Tirek noted that the dragon seemed to have either hair on their tails or odd scales that just looked like hair, though his foe sensed where he was and spun around, using it's tail to make sure it's backside was safe, a fact that allowed it to knock him off Torrent, who disappeared a few seconds later. Tirek groaned for a moment, because he wasn't expecting it to happen, in fact he was learning that more and more as time went on, though at the very least his foe didn't crush him while he was down, causing him to get up so he could make sure the dragon didn't crush him, but he did start channeling his magic. His change of tactic was because he wasn't about to do down without a fight, where most of his pebbles struck the dragon's hide, leaving him unable to figure out if he was able to hurt it or not, but after his last spell the beast rapidly took to the skies and turned to look at him, where it rained flames down on the area that he was in, or at least that was what Tirek assumed would happen and found that it actually set fire to everything on his right, or the dragon's left, missing him entirely. It was a strange tactic, unless the beast thought that it's foe would move if it rained fire down in a straight line, so it might actually be an incredibly smart move on it's part when Tirek thought about it, though he did have to worry about the flames that struck the area he was in, missing him entirely as he shielded himself to the best of his ability.

In the next moment, as he fought to look passed the flames, he heard a growl behind him and turned his head, finding that the beast had used the flames to hide itself and distract him at the same time, all while it looked like flames were still building inside it's toothy mouth.

"Cleaver dragon." Tirek remarked, which was the last thing he said as the dragon loosed a burst of flames at him, which tore through his flesh and burned him from the inside out, to the point where he was still flailing his arms around for a few more seconds before he collapsed in the water and expired.

A few seconds later he reappeared by the new Grace he had unlocked and sighed as he sat down, as he was going to need a new plan of action, as Tirek suspected that it was foolish to fight the dragon at this point, so he needed a new area to tackle and just hoped whatever he found next wasn't as bad as what he had discovered so far.

A Terrible Surprise

After resting for a time Tirek stood up and walked over to the edge of the lake, allowing him to look out over the area that the dragon was resting in and the rest of the lake that was available for him to explore right now, so he could plan out what to do next. His thoughts were due to the fact that the dragon might be too strong for him to handle right now, yet another foe that he would have to come back to later, when he was stronger and had more than the two spells that he had access to right now, so he needed to find another area to tackle. With that in mind he only had two options if he wanted to stay near the lake, the first being investigating the path to his right that seemed to lead right to a cave, while the other had to be the ruins that were off in the distance. If he didn't want to stay in this area there was always the road that was now clear, as he found that the other knight he had seen was no longer present, confirming that it had to be a night warrior of some kind, no doubt tied to the moonlight, so with him gone he could investigate the rest of the road and see what else it might hold.

As he thought about that Tirek glanced down at the dragon once more, which was now resting where it had landed during his first, like it was sleeping or something, and sighed as he came up with his next plan of attack, because he had to search for more power before worrying about this beast.

"Very well, I'll check the ruins out next." Tirek remarked, not that it mattered since there was no one to talk to, save for his steed when he called Torrent, who couldn't talk at all when he thought about it, so this happened to be a way for him to keep his sanity while he was stuck on this world.

With that in mind he called forth Torrent and headed down the walkway once more, this time making sure to avoid even going near the dragon, he wasn't in the mood to be killed multiple times, before he stopped as he recalled that his Runes would be over there, where he died. Tirek cursed the fact that he needed them to empower himself as he changed course for a time, making sure to go in a circle around where the beast was resting so he could spot the marking that indicated where he had perished exactly, doing his best not to awaken it. He spotted his target a few moments later, resting off to the side of where the dragon was currently sleeping, though close enough to where he was sure the sound of Torrent's hooves hitting the water would awaken the beast and cause it to attack him again. Such a thing meant he would either have to do this on his own and summon his steed to get to the Grace he had rested at, or just rush through without a care in the world and hope that he was able to grab his Runes before being incinerated by the powerful dragon.

In the next few moments he made up his mind and spurred Torrent onward, where he rushed forward and leaned as he got close to where his death marker was resting, allowing him to take his Runes once more as he heard the sound of the dragon getting up. As he heard the growing growl Tirek made sure to spur his steed away from the lake, to escape what was no doubt the building up to a burst of fire that would scorch his flesh, which would incinerate him and his steed in an instant most likely, so he focused on escape. In the next few seconds he reached the path that lead down here and quickly headed back up to where the Grace was positioned, where he heard the dragon's roar as it fully woke up as he reached his destination, allowing him to touch the golden floating crystal. Sure enough his efforts were rewarded as everything in the area seemed to go back to normal, causing him to sigh as he rested at the Grace for a few more seconds, just to be sure everything was safe, before he bothered to get back up.

From there he and Torrent returned to the path leading down to the lake and avoided the dragon entirely, since this time he didn't have to worry about his Runes, before focusing on what he wanted to explore this time, the ruins that looked like a dragon, likely the one resting nearby, had roasted at one point.

What he discovered was that it was inhabited by a number of Hollows and their fallen dogs, with maybe a rat or two as he carefully circled the area outside the ruins, as the walls were mostly fallen at this point and made him wonder what they had done to piss off the dragon, to the point that this happened. After taking stock of everything that was here, and all of his enemies, Tirek dismounted and readied himself, where he loosed pebbles into the Hollows in front of him right now, finding that they either had no idea what was going on or didn't care, as none dared to challenge him. In fact the dogs and the rat he had spotted were the only ones that were aggressive to him right now, as he had to avoid being bitten or even hit by them as he lashed out with his magic, though he was fine with this since he didn't have to worry about the dragon flying over to see what was going on. He carefully moved through the ruin as well, making sure he could see what was on the other side of the walls before he actually did anything or revealed himself to his enemies, absorbing their Runes while littering the ground with their bodies, since none of them dissolved upon their deaths.

After clearing out the ruin he found the area that the rat had been guarding and discovered that it had been protecting a gray stone that was shaped like a dagger and had some key markings on one side, a Stonesword Key he guessed, which he pocketed before exploring the rest of the area. Tirek discovered a few fallen golden discs that looked like a collection of Runes, likely a number of them packed into a sealed container or something, where he suspected that if he shattered it he would absorb the Runes and be able to use them in addition to what he had on him at the time. He also found a passage leading down into the depths of the ruins, two to be exact, where one was on the outskirts of the ruins and one was in the center, so he tackled the outer one first and found that it lead to an iron door he had to lift into the ceiling. Such a thing let him find that it ended in a single chamber with a wooden chest, where he opened it and found a weapon inside it, which had a blade on either side of the handle, a 'twinblade' he guessed, an item that he added to his item pouch before making his way to the second one he had found.

At the bottom of the second passage he found a large chamber with a few rats, which he quickly dealt with before raising the iron door and approached the chest, but as he opened it the chest released some white smoke that enveloped him in seconds, causing the world to go dark... only for Tirek to reappear in what appeared to be a shack in the middle of a mine, due to the earthen wall outside.

"What the... where am I?" Tirek inquired, where he pulled out his map not a few seconds later and found that his marker was no longer in the Limgrave section of the map, rather it had enlarged slightly and revealed that he was to the east of the province he had been carefully exploring, and, more importantly, he was unable to warp out of here, "Great... guess I'll see what sort of trouble I'm in now."

As he peeked outside the doorway, however, he found someone who walked slowly and seemed to be made of earth or even stone, while there was a chest near him that only had purple crystals inside it, causing him to sigh as he pocketed his new treasure and studied his surroundings. He was, in fact, inside a mine, based on the tiered levels that had paths made out of either stone, as in hewed from the ground itself, or made of wood that had been hauled in so the workers could do their work, before he heard something above him. In that moment he found what appeared to be some sort of insect or centipede human who carried a glaive, a pole weapon with a curved blade at the top, in one hand, as it looked like it had multiple hands, but it seemed to be commanding the Earthen Miners. As he listened to it, however, Tirek heard the sound of multiple Pests, he had nothing else to call them right now and he didn't want to spend too much time worrying about such a thing, before he determined that he needed to leave before something terrible happened.

The instant he tried that, so he could figure out where to go so he could leave, he heard a hissing sound and noticed that the Pest that was on top of the shed he had appeared in had noticed him leaving the container, where it lifted it's weapon for a moment and did what seemed to be a dance, before white strands burst out of it's back and struck him in the chest, killing him instantly. Instead of reappearing at the last Grace he had visited, however, Tirek found that he was stuck in the mine, causing him to sigh as he considered what to do next, not that it mattered since he only had one option, forcing his way out of the mine by finding the exit and the Grace it likely had. As he did that his first action was to recover his Runes, he wasn't about to lose them anytime soon, if he could help it, before searching for an opening or a path he could use to get out of here, where he spotted one down in front of him and heard the sound of the Pests hissing. With no time to do anything else he rushed down the path and found that he was able to avoid more of what he assumed was sharpened string, crafted to a point where it could do some serious damage to their targets.

He wasn't sure if luck was on his side or not, but at the end of the short tunnel he found a Grace on the level below him and jumped down to it, activating it and resting before any of the Pests followed after him, causing him to let out a sigh as he channeled his Runes into new power before something happened to him.

Once he was done with that Tirek decided to leave the mine entirely, because if a foe was able to kill him instantly it meant he shouldn't be here at all, where he headed outside and immediately stopped as he confirmed that he was no longer in Limgrave, in fact it looked like a whole new continent. In the following moment he discovered something disturbing, as the sky, the ground, and even the air was corrupted by some sort of rot or foul substance, like someone's power was tainting the entire environment, before he frowned as he noticed a massive poison spewer that was releasing red gas into the air, likely a key figure in producing more corruption. Everything around him was foul and he instantly knew one thing, he had to get out of here before something terrible happened to him, which caused Tirek to call forth Torrent once more as he noticed that there was a city of some kind to the left of where the mine was located, just on some ground above where he was positioned. With a destination in mind Tirek got moving instantly, as the longer he stayed here the more he worried that he was going to be tainted by the foul corruption that was in the air, though as he did so he noticed two figures that instantly worried him, one being a large undead dog of some kind, it looked like it had been bulked up by the corruption, and a large black bird that was half decayed, but still looked dangerous.

Fortunately he was able to avoid them, and what looked like a poison swamp full of corruption, as he spotted a Grace site at the bottom of some stairs, which he reached by avoiding some smaller cursed dogs and sat at it after activating it, as it meant he was able to put his mind at ease before anything else happened.

"Forgive me, Tirek, for I have been...testing you." Melina spoke up, appearing out of thin air not a few seconds after he sat down at the precious Grace site, where she glanced around at the area that was around them and seemed to be slightly disgusted by what she was seeing right now, or maybe it was his imagination, "It was merely oo see whether or not Grace truly does guide you, and... whether or not you are fit to face the challenge that such a thing entails. It seems that most of my worries were unfounded, despite your rocky start, and I must admit that Torrent had your measure from the moment he laid eyes on you, from the very beginning... whereas I merely pretended."

"Normally I'd be mad at someone testing me, pretending to be an ally, I'll let it slide." Tirek remarked, because without her power to turn Runes into power there was no way he would be able to survive anything that he had faced so far, so it was in his best interest to keep her on his side for the time being.

"I understand that you are displeased with something, and I have good news: there is but one other thing I can do to offer you guidance." Melina replied, where she noted that the figure she was allied with for the time being hated being here and it gave her an idea on how to make him happy, or at least truly forgive what had happened so far, since he believed that she had been the one to bring him here, "I can take you to the Roundtable Hold... it is a gathering place of Tarnished champions, guided by Grace... you do not have to remain here."

Tirek didn't need to be told anything else as he accepted her offer, where he raised his hand and held it out as she started to channel her power, as it would be nice to get out of this area and figure out what in the world he needed to do to get his life back on track, and what to do in regards to his quest for absolute power.

The Roundtable Hold

Tirek found that he appeared in a large circular chamber that looked like something that was taken out of a castle or even a keep of some kind, after accepting Melina's offer to move out of the corrupted area he had been teleported to, and the first thing he did was take a look at the new area. He instantly found out why this place was called the 'Roundtable' Hold, due to the large round table that was sitting right in the middle of the chamber, with what appeared to be eight chairs around it and a number of weapons stabbed diagonally into it's center, with a large floating Grace above it. After that he discovered that there were four paths that one could take, one seemed to lead up to a large metal door that was no doubt locked, the one across from that connected to a balcony, another seemed to go to what seemed to be a library, and the last went to what he assumed was a smithy, based on the hammering noises. In addition to all of that he discovered something interesting, he was compelled not to do violence in this area, as if the force that ruled over the Grace locations was ensuring that this was a safe spot for the Tarnished.

As he thought about that he found several figures were already in the area he had appeared in, one was what appeared to be an elderly man, he was hunched over a little and used a staff as a cane, another wore rages and a wheel around his neck, a man in black regal armor with a red trim, and a figure sitting at a chair who wore a set of armor that was gold and silver intertwined together.

"Oh, this is a rare occasion... I can't remember the last time a Tarnished actually made their way to the Roundtable Hold." the elderly figure said, where Tirek noticed that he was wearing what appeared to be some sort of robe, likely due to him being a mage or sorcerer of some kind, though the other members of the area said nothing, either lost in their thoughts or simply waiting for him to approach them first, "Very well... as your senior, I bid you welcome to this safe place... you may let down your guard. However, a word of warning: you are a mere house guest, yet to earn your keep, and most of us will not offer any aid until you prove yourself."

"And here I thought this was a gathering place of champions, to gather knowledge and resources to accomplish each and every one of their goals." Tirek remarked, because he had been expecting to discover something here that might help him with his quest to gain power and make it so he could take down some of the other powerful monsters he had found since arriving in this world, all while he noted that the others simply shifted their heads a little while staying still, "Not an area governed by a tyrant who is willing to belittle any newcomers who manage to find their way here, making them feel like they don't belong and never come back since they don't meet your 'expectations'."

"Oh, are you aggrieved by the notion you are but a visitant here?" the figure inquired, almost as if he didn't care about his remarks or found them to be hilarious, even though he didn't laugh or even chuckle in his face, meaning he was focused on business and nothing else, "Then you would do well to remember the first words that Grace gave you when you were raised into your new life: 'Stand before the Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord'. If those words hold any meaning to you, as they hold meaning to all Tarnished who have passed through these halls, you must follow the guidance of Grace, lay low the Shardbearers, and claim for yourself a Great Rune. Do so and the doors to the Roundtable's inner chamber will open, where you will receive the wisdom of the Two Fingers... once you have done all that, well, I shall give you a proper welcome to the Roundtable and welcome you as a true member of our order. Believe it or not, but I do have high hopes for each and every Tarnished I encounter..."

"So traverse the land, kill a Demigod, take their Great Rune, and then come back... I got it." Tirek said, as he figured that it wasn't worth him wasting time arguing with the figure, who wasn't even going to give him his name until he succeeded in beating one of the targets that was on his list, even though said list only had one target right now, "Well, I'm going to just explore for a few moments before getting back to the quest."

The elderly figure said nothing as he walked down the hallway and headed into what appeared to be his private study, as the door closed behind him and Tirek found a guy in skeletal armor standing outside it, like a guard or something, where he sighed and focused on the other figures that were in the chamber.

"Friend, I've never seen anyone challenge Sir Gideon like that." the man with the wheel around his neck said, meaning he could likely see through the blindfold he was wearing over his head, or a cloth that covered both the top of his head and the eye area, making him wonder about his particular fashion for a moment, "It makes things refreshing... oh, where are my manners? I am Brother Corhyn, a man of the cloth, and I teach incantations, one of the strengths given to us by the Two Fingers, while researching the secrets of the Golden Order... it is so that one day, if any of the Tarnished are able to become the next Elden Lord, I might be able to become a councilor to them and help them rule over men."

"Got it, you're seeking the secrets of the world, or looking for someone whose doing that." Tirek stated, informing him that he knew part of what Corhyn was doing right now, meaning he had to be waiting for some information to come in before departing for wherever the target of his quest happened to be.

"Say, you can still see the guidance of Grace, right?" Corhyn inquired, causing Tirek to raise an eyebrow for a moment, as he had figured that all Tarnished could see the golden light and it came as a surprise that some might not be able to see it at all, as if they were revived to be simple merchants or something, though he nodded his head to confirm that he could, in fact, see the golden Grace, "You do! That is most wonderful news... most Tarnished are blind to it these days, meaning
you are something of a rare breed. Well, now that we've established that, maybe you would like to learn an incantation of the Two Fingers?"

For the time being Tirek said he'd think about it, in fact he wasn't sure he had the material needed to cast the spells that Corhyn was selling, as he walked over to the gothic warrior that was standing near the few steps leading up to a balcony, who seemed to emerge from his thoughts as he approached.

"Ah, hello, you must be new to the Roundtable. I am... well, just call me Diallos." the warrior stated, where Tirek figured that whatever was on his mind was best left alone, something he shouldn't be roped into since it would only lead to him wasting his time no doubt, though before he could say anything the man sighed, "I'd tell you my house's name, and of the honor that such a name brings, but such a thing is worthless in the Lands Between. Tell me, have you seen a lady called Lanya during your travels of the lands?"

Tirek informed him that he hadn't encountered such a person, likely a servant of some kind, before leaving Diallos to his thoughts, as he had to be retracing his steps to track down the missing figure, before he turned to the other figure that was in the chamber with him. The gold and silver warrior told him that his name was 'D', making him wonder why he went with a single initial and not something other than his actual name, as in giving a fake name to those he encountered, and that he hunted those who 'lived in death', whatever that meant. He didn't seem to have any useful information for him, or at least for the time being, to which Tirek headed down the path that Gideon went down, confirming that he had gone into a study of some kind and that his guard said nothing as they stared at each other. He suspected the figure might become a problem in the future, as it seemed like Gideon was definitely planning on becoming the Elden Lord and he didn't want any competition, but for how he decided to play nice, at least until the figure left the Hold.

In addition to that he found a statue that resembled two elderly ladies sitting down, who seemed to be a merchant that could be interacted with, a lady in a black robe who sat in what appeared to be the only bedroom in this place, and, unless his eyes were deceiving him, a figure who looked like a Demi-Human.

"You're a new face... no matter, it's all the same." the figure stated, where he found that there were a number of small differences between him and the race that Tirek thought he might be, with the clawed feet, furred arms, the claws on his hands, and a few other features that weren't connected to the race he had encountered earlier, "Lay out your arms. Let's get smithing."

"I'm sorry... what are you exactly?" Tirek asked, as this was likely the first time he was meeting someone of his kind and it had shocked him a little, though it also made him wonder if this was what Varre might have been talking about when he mentioned his hooves and appearance.

"I am a Misbegotten, born of a punishment for making contact with the Crucible... the primordial form of the Erdtree, to put it in simple terms." the figure replied, almost as if he didn't care or had fully embraced that part of his life, though at the same time he continued to hit the anvil in front of him with a large hammer, confirming the fact that he was a smith of some kind, before he noticed that he was chained to this place, "My name is Hewg, in case you wanted to know. I can also see that you've noticed the chains... they're nothing special... I am a prisoner here, in the Hold, and these are my chains. I am condemned to reside here, in an undying state, smithing and improving weapons for you fools. That's really all there is to it."

"A prisoner? You mean to tell me the Tarnished do that?" Tirek inquired, though if that was the case it made him happy, as it made them eviler in his mind and he might go out and chain some useful individuals to benefit all of them, where Hewg stopped for a moment and shook his head, meaning he misunderstood something.

"No, the Tarnished don't enslave others... some might be the most vile sort, some might be cowardly, and others might do this for glory, but they don't do that." Hewg stated, though his tone informed Tirek that there was a chance that if some of the other members of his new kind did such a thing to the races of this land, to fulfill their dark purposes, he had no idea and wanted things to stay the way they were, in terms of what he knew, "Also, don't read too much into the chains... I have no grudge against you. My being a prisoner here is no fault of yours... besides, I don't mind the work I do...despite my differences, well, the weapons get stronger all the same. Given the amount of time I've been here, and the work I've done, my technique has never failed... besides, it helps me forget the terror I experienced in the past..."

Tirek raised an eyebrow as he left Hewg to his work, hammering away at someone's weapon, before turning to the last of the people he had seen, the black robed lady who called herself Fia, the 'Deathbed Companion', causing him to wish her well as he focused on other things, as he'd come back to her later. Right now the Roundtable Hold was nothing more than a safe haven for him to rest in, if he needed to escape the dangers of the actual world, despite the fact that, for the time being, he didn't have much to acquire from the others. In time he was sure that he might buy something from Corhyn or one of the others, since there was a chance that someone else might offer some sort of services, but that time wasn't now and he wasn't sure when it would be, so he focused on where to go next. He didn't want to return to the corrupted land he had been teleported to, so his only option was to return to Limgrave and hunt for more powerful creatures to slay as he accumulated strength and power for whatever the future held for him.

With that in mind he pulled out his map, finding a circle had been added to the bottom left corner to make the haven he had discovered, before Tirek focused on the ruined church and decided to start there for the time being, as there was more of the lake to explore and he was sure he would find something sooner or later.

The Fell Omen

As Tirek returned to the ruined church, and found that the Tree Sentinel was still outside one of it's entrances, he had a change of heart, he was going to ignore the lake for a time and see what sort of dangers or obstacles he might find over by where he met Melina. With that in mind he summoned Torrent once more and rode over to the Grace in question, though as he did so he made sure to take down the couple of Soldiers that were in the way, granting him a few more Runes to add to his growing power in the future. It was far better than staying in the corrupted area he had been teleported to, as he was able to fight back and actually defeat foes, instead of being killed by everything or being worried about being slain in a single hit, hence why he turned into the ruins in front of the gate. Sure, some of his enemies were still hard to take down, as in the Knights, but they weren't as bad as the Pests were and allowed him to feel as if he was accomplishing something with his time, instead of fighting a brick wall over and over again.

It was annoying to leave behind the dragon and some of the other undiscovered powerful creatures that might be in the area around the lake, but right now he was more interested in seeing if he was able to progress or not, hence why he came to a stop at the Grace and used his Runes.

Once that was done he got up and glanced at the path he wanted to take, where he found that there were some Soldiers and Hollows guarding it, some with bows and crossbows, though standing on a stone archway was a Troll, like the one he had found earlier. Tirek realized that it would likely jump down and try to crush him, or anyone who dared to use this path to get to the castle, and that he either had to take his time approaching the end of the path or just blitz passed them with his steed, since stopping might be fatal. Given what he had seen so far he decided not to take any chances as he called Torrent to his side once more, where he carefully sized up the enemies that were in front of him before his steed moved, dashing up the hill that his enemies were guarding. True to his earlier thoughts the Hollows and Soldiers fired at him as he approached, causing him and Torrent to move out of the way to avoid being pelted by arrows, not to mention when they got close enough the Troll jumped down to crush the area around it, though Tirek was able to slip through without being crushed by it's weight.

Thanks to Torrent's speed Tirek was able to get to the top of the hill, even if he had to run over a few Hollows to do so, but as he did so he found two things, the first being a golden sapling of some kind that also had a golden seed on the ground for him to take, while the second was a Grace right outside a shack.

"I'm shocked that this is up here, but I'll gladly take it." Tirek remarked, where he ignited the Grace and let it mark his new location to be revived at when he died, though his comment was because there was one so close to the one that he had encountered Melina at, not that it mattered since there was no one else in the area.

With the new Grace discovered Tirek turned around and headed back down the hill, where he carefully used his magic to wipe out each and every foe he had rushed by a few moments ago, blasting both the Hollows and Soldiers down while he kept an eye on the Troll. The larger foe would no doubt take a good portion of his mana, hence why he made sure that an open area was ready for him before he bothered to engage it, though like the last one it was tough and tanked his spells for a time, until it got annoyed and drew it's sword. After that he made sure to use the Troll against the rest of the couple of Hollows and Soldiers, allowing Tirek to wipe out the rest of his enemies before dealing with the massive monster that was trying to crush him. Once he was sure that all of his foes were taken care of Tirek picked up a couple of items, as he had spotted a few discarded Runes on his way up the hill, before returning to the Grace and resting as he channeled all of his new Runes into his body.

After that he realized that he had more choices to pick up, he could either check the shack, he could head up the hill and make his way to the castle, or he could investigate something to the southwest, where he picked the last option and rode out without delay.

What he discovered surprised him instantly, there were worm shaped stone objects that looked like they were made from the ruins and had been given life in some manner, though as he approached one Tirek found that it didn't care, rather it just ignored him as it moved along the ground. In addition to that there were a lot more of them positioned around what looked like a a circular indent, a percent circle that went down into the earth a little, which emitted some strange magic as he came to a stop near the outer perimeter. As he stared at it, however, he realized what sort of magic this was, this was sealing magic, meaning something of great power was likely contained in this place and it might give him a boost to tackle whatever he found inside the castle. His reasoning was because some things got weaker as they spent, just like what had happened to him after he was initially drained of the power he had stolen from Equestria's many magical races, to which he climbed off Torrent and approached the center, touching the sigil that would allow him to enter the prison.

It seemed like the area that the prison was in was also in the sealed space that he appeared in, like a separate reality or something, and as Tirek glanced around the area he found that some of the air shifted as the prisoner appeared, a heavy armored figure with a shield that had a horn on it, a powerful looking greatsword that he carried in one hand, and had what appeared to be antlers on it's helm.

"Okay... what are you supposed to be?" Tirek inquired, as it seemed like he had discovered another type of Knight, what he had no idea since this was the first time he had encountered a figure such as this, in what appeared to be dulled crimson armor that had an interesting design on it.

Of course he wasn't expecting the Knight to say anything, next to no one in this world answered his questions on what he encountered, though the figure slammed the base of his shield into the ground, likely because he noticed that Tirek had a staff and this was to counter his magic, before rushing right into his chest. By that Tirek meant that the Knight rushed at him at speeds faster than what one would expect from a heavily armored figure like this, and swung his shield at him, the horned tip piercing his chest before he even had time to move, with enough force to knock him into the air. As he landed Tirek found that the Knight seemed to pause for a few seconds, no doubt to check if he was dead, where he got up and quickly backed off, putting enough distance between them so he could pull out the crimson flask and heal. While Tirek was able to get off the heal he also discovered that his foe wasn't as far away as he assumed, as the Knight was nearly on top of him as he thrust his sword forward and crushed his chest, before delivering a powerful downwards slash that ended up cutting him in half.

As such Tirek reappeared outside the prison, back in the actual world, causing him to sigh for a moment as he picked up his marker, called Torrent, and got out of there as he vowed to come back here at one point, as he had discovered yet one more powerful creature and couldn't beat it, but he'd be back later.

With that in mind he headed up the hill and found that four wolves dropped out of the sky and tried to attack him, where he blasted them before they could do anything to Torrent, though they didn't seem too tough as he wiped them out with a few spells. Even the pair of Soldiers with a few Hollows that he encountered further up the hill couldn't stand before him, so he was able to reach the main path that lead right to the entrance he was looking for, where he found a fair number of Soldiers, some armed with crossbows and another manning a ballista, waiting for him. As such he had to plan out how to attack this place, given the forces that were guarding the entrance, though he found an area that was weakly guarded, he just had to approach this area from the western side and carefully take one or two down while sneaking. Tirek knew that he didn't have the skills to do this without being seen, in fact he was sure that some of the other Hollows or Soldiers would find him at some point, but, to his amazement, they didn't seem to notice him and allowed him to blast those who were in the ballista's area.

After taking out those three, and finding that none of the others noticed what was going on, he entered the tunnel that had to lead to the castle, or even a bridge, and near what seemed to be the end he discovered a little area that a Grace was in, one he activated and sat at to spend his Runes, before heading out onto the ruined bridge.

"Foul Tarnished, who searches for the Elden Ring," a loud voice said, where Tirek turned his head towards the other side of the bridge, discovering a large figure who seemed to have horns growing out of his head, in a way that endangered his own life, and wore rags while also having a walking stick that looked like it was taken from a tree, "and emboldened by the flame of ambition."

In that moment the unthinkable happened, the figure heaved himself up into the air and dropped down on the area right in front of Tirek, showing him that he had found yet another strong figure, making him wonder just how many there were for him to discover in such a short period of time.

"Someone must extinguish thy flame... let it be Margit the Fell." the figure stated, showing Tirek that the jump had done nothing to him, he was able to stand up with ease and even lifted his staff like it was an actual weapon, in fact he was sure it was a weapon for the imposing figure, meaning another fight was likely going to happen.

He discovered that Margit was capable of jumping into the air, grabbing his staff with both hands, and using the edge in a way that made it look like he was trying to crush Tirek into the ground, though at the same time he found that his foe had a tail of some kind, thick like a scorpion's. Margit was also pretty fast, swinging his staff around like it weighted nothing at all while also jumping from one area to another to avoid his spells, something that caused Tirek to summon his wolves to aid him, since he was clearly at a disadvantage. Doing so allowed him to understand something else, his foe had another type of weapon that he could call upon, he could create what looked like golden knives to slash at the wolves, or him if he got close enough to the figure, and if Margit jumped backwards he could throw the weapon at him. Even then Tirek had a feeling that there was more he wasn't seeing, another hidden power or ability that would really screw him over, though at the moment he found that it was hard to actually hit his foe, as Margit moved to move around and make him waste mana, so he had to be careful in how he approached this fight.

In the end Tirek found that Margit slashed him to pieces with ease, despite his attempts to actually avoid taking damage, causing him to sigh as he reappeared at the Grace right outside the ruined bridge, as another route was blocked and that meant it was back to the lake with him, just to see what else he had missed and what he might die to next.

Meeting the Untethered

Following his defeat at the hands of Margit, and his desire to not go back in since he'd be slain again and again, Tirek did the only thing he could do right now, he warped out of the area before the ruined bridge and returned to the Grace that was near the area that the dragon was resting in. He was going to focus on the lake and the rest of the area for some time, as it seemed like a good place to explore and maybe raise his power in, provided he didn't encounter another powerful being that killed him in one hit or overpowered him in some manner. With the ruins already checked off his list that left two more areas for Tirek to check out, one being the cave in the wall he had noticed to his right, just before the dragon arrived, while the other was a channel that must have been carved out by a river at one point. He also realized that, at some point in time, he had to figure out where in the world he could learn more spells, since he needed more than what he had right now, as two spells wasn't enough after what he had seen so far, he just had to be patient he guessed.

With his choices in mind he whistled for Torrent and rode down the path to the lake, though this time he decided to head off to the left, towards the gap that the bridge was built over, where he noticed that there were a few skeletal warriors hanging from the underside of the stone structure.

Sure enough they dropped down from where they were resting and showed that there was more life in them, as they were brought to life by some dark magic, animated to fight until they were utterly destroyed in battle, and there were some in the bushes future beyond them. Tirek wasn't even surprised as he climbed off Torrent and loosed some of his magic at them, striking the skeletons in their chests and knocking them down, though in the following moment he found that the one that remained still had a dark aura around it. He rushed at it without delay, where he swung his blade at the energy and cut right through it, where he heard the sound of something breaking and watched as the skeleton dissolved before his eyes, which put a smile on his face as he turned towards the other. This allowed him to realize that if he struck the magic he could take them out, he just had to do a bit of damage to make that opening, and while he found that they lashed out with swords, a spear, and even a few arrows, he found that they were incredibly slow, enough for him to gain the advantage.

As such he was able to wipe out the skeletons without losing too much of his health, even though they didn't drop anything for him to take on his journey, to which he climbed onto Torrent once more and continued down the small river that he was currently investigating, or at least until a point where he was forced to dismount.

"What in the world is going on?" Tirek asked, once more knowing that no one was really doing to answer the question, but it was due to the fact that he couldn't whistle for Torrent to come back so they could get out of here, before he felt someone trespass in his world, as it felt like someone had invaded the area he was in, or the world itself.

He found the culprit with ease, as there was a black and red robed figure that was approaching the area he was in, one who had an ugly helm and seemed to be carrying two daggers in his hands, meaning the invader had come to him and he could punish him accordingly, without wasting time. That idea was ruined instantly as Tirek loosed some spells and the figure just dodged out of the way before one could hit him, reminding him of Margit a little when he thought about it, though he did the same as the invader tried to cut him with his daggers. While that happened he discovered a few other things as he fought the figure in front of him, the first being that he felt another presence intrude on this world, the second was that the invader had a red aura, the third being a golden figure rushing to his aid, and the fourth being that crescent waves of blood could be loosed from the invader's weapons. That last one came as a surprise as he was struck by them, something that seemed to inflict his body with some sort of condition as he was hit, though after two more his body ruptured, like his blood vessels had exploded or something, with the world fading as he fell into the water behind him.

He returned to the last Grace he had activated and realized that it must have been some sort of bleed effect, one that was easy to build up based on the battle that had just ended, to which he climbed on Torrent and headed back down to where he had been invaded. Sure enough he found that he was forced off his steed once more, though this time around he made sure to pick up his Runes before backing off, allowing his unexpected ally some time to appear in his world before the foul invader could kill him again. Once his ally was back in this world, who seemed to be a samurai with a metal hat that was in the style of the wide straw hats, the pair turned on the invader and attacked him, where this time Tirek made sure to avoid his blood waves and fire a spell every now and then, when the red figure's back was turned. Together he and the samurai were able to take down the invader and banish him from this world, maybe even killing him outright in his own world, where the golden figure gave him a slight nod of his head before disappearing, returning to his world as Tirek moved on with his own mission.

He did, however, find that his prize from killing the intruder was one of his daggers, a useful weapon that he might use in place of the sword he was carrying right now, before he found a cave off to his left and headed inside, finding a Grace that allowed him to rest up and spend his Runes in peace.

With that done he continued deeper into the cave and found that it was more lit up than what he expected, based on the caves he had seen so far, though as he moved into the next part of the cavern he heard a crystalline alarm of some kind, like a noise trap, that alerted the inhabitants of the cave. He wasn't too worried as he discovered that his foes were just a group of Hollows that were responding to the noise, and since they were grouped together his arc spell was more than enough to deal with them in no time, clearing the area in record time. After that he found two paths that were open for him to explore, one that seemed to head to a larger cavern and one that seemed to be a dead end, so he checked out the dead end first and found a chest that contained a bunch of mushrooms inside it. Tirek stood there for a moment, as he had to wonder who in their right might would store such items inside a chest, which usually held valuable loot, before he let out a sigh as he added them to his stash of items, figuring that he'd find a use for them at some point.

After that he headed into the other cavern and found that there was what appeared to be an abandoned camp resting off to one side, in fact there was another chest waiting to be opened, making him wonder if this was the invader's place and that he had been slain for real, to which he opened the chest and found a cloth shirt and pants.

"Well, well, well? Did you think that you could just help yourself to another man's personal belongings?" a voice asked, one that was unhappy and seemed to be coming from a ledge that was above him, where Tirek found a bald man in leather armor, carrying a spear and a metallic rectangular shield, jumping down to face him, "You scheming little thief. The gods demand repentance! Cough up your coin, all of it!"

As Tirek opened his mouth, to challenge the man's words and offer a way to stop this madness, he found that the figure was unwilling to listen and lashed out with his spear, causing him to back off before lashing out with his magic, which did hit his target and forced him to back off a little. From there he found that the figure continued to press the attack, a fact that annoyed him greatly, though he also discovered that the shield was a great annoyance as well, blocking some of his attacks and allowing his foe to gain the upper hand in this battle. In that moment he changed his mind and switched out his weapon, changing the sword for the bloody dagger he had picked up from the invader, where he cast his spells like he usually did following that, only this time he had a new tool to use against his foes. While his foe held his shield up, mostly to defend against his spells, Tirek focused and swung the dagger, releasing a crescent wave of blood that slammed into it and earned a scream from the figure, no doubt in annoyance for his actions, causing him to grin as continued to attack his foolish opponent.

Eventually he heard the pained gasp as blood burst out of his foe's body, just like what had happened to him back when he fought the original owner of this weapon, causing the figure, who was still alive, to cower behind his shield and claim that he was surrendering, but Tirek dealt the killing blow to him anyway.

"Well... it was bound to happen... some day." the figure said, where he fell to his knees for a moment as he looked up at Tirek for a moment, only to sigh as he set down his spear and his shield as his body started to evaporate, likely a sign of a person fading from the world, true death in a sense, and let out a weak chuckle, "What a shit show..."

As the figure faded away Tirek sighed, as he didn't get a lot of Runes from him and that was what he cared about, before he collected the set of armor that had been left behind, all leather, plus a small ball of some kind and the spear, though as soon as that was done he returned to the upper Grace near the lake and rested, as there was more to explore before he was ready to face the powerful beings that stood in his way.

Into the Mistwood

After taking a moment to rest up, and channel the rest of his Runes into strength, Tirek got up and whistled for Torrent to come to his side, as this time around he was going to head across the bridge that he had walked under earlier, finding a few Hollows and Soldiers in his way. At this point in time he had nothing to fear from them, they were far too easy for him to take out with his growing power, though he did have to worry about the Brutes, as in the more imposing warriors who rode on horses and carried large swords that looked like they could cut horses in half. He had decided not to worry about those ones right now, even though he did find one where he spotted the Night Knight sometime ago, who charged him with the intent to cut him down and show that he was stronger than those that were around him. Fighting a moving target like this was bad for his health, as Tirek found that actually hitting a rider who was quickly moving around the area was a hard thing and that, in the end, it likely wasn't worth his time, hence why he headed down the path to the left of the other side of the bridge, leaving the Brute behind.

Such a thing allowed him to head down towards a large forest he hadn't seen earlier, or maybe he had ignored it in favor of the lake area, which seemed to have a smaller Erdtree resting inside it, based on what he could see, though Tirek did take out a group of Hollows that were in his way, before finding a Grace on the outskirts of the forest.

With that ignited Tirek dismounted and carefully headed into the forest, as he wanted to see what was inside it without rushing through everything, there was no telling where he might find a new cave for a powerful creature to take down, but if he needed to flee it was good to keep Torrent at full health. He knew that with a new area, an unexplored area no less, that it was wise to take some time to make note of where enemies were, where to find important structures like caves or the churches, especially given his track record of being slain as he explored new places. Tirek wanted to skip that and just get to figuring out if there was anything of importance for him to obtain in this area, allowing him to plan out where he would be going and where he would be ignoring, since his time was important and some things weren't important to deal with. The Minor Erdtree, for example, was a target of interest that he wanted to check out at some point, in fact he might find a powerful creature handing out near it or an entrance to where one might be resting, but for now he needed to do a bit of information gathering before figuring out what to do next.

As he walked through the forest, however, he found a bear, a normal bear that wasn't enhanced in any unusual manner, sleeping near what appeared to be a small bit of water, before he paused as he discovered a more massive bear, which had dim yellow markings on it's chest, that roared and knocked him backwards before it's claws slashed through him and he reappeared at his last Grace site.

"I'm sorry... WHAT?!" Tirek remarked, as he was sure that was totally unnatural, a bear that could loose soundwaves with a single roar, ones that hurt like every bone in his body might be breaking at the same time, was massive, far more than a normal beast of it's type, and barrelled into him and killed him in an instant, causing him to groan, "I hate this world... this is so stupid and unfair. What did I do to deserve this sort of foul punishment?!"

Sure enough the world didn't respond to his open wondering about his current predicament, not that he was expecting to after getting some information from a mysterious source, causing him to sigh for a second before making his way back into the forest, and to where he died. As Tirek did that he discovered something disturbing, there were more of the imposing and brutish bears hanging out in the forest, as some were resting, some were wandering around, and a few were clawing at the trees like they were a cat or something. He grabbed his Runes from the area he had died in, doing his best to avoid being struck down by the annoying bear, before he was smashed to the ground by another shockwave and found that the bears weren't allowing him to leave, those who had noticed him decided to engage him. Such a thing meant that he was slain again and again by the foul Runebears, as he was calling them that because of their markings, who showed him that they were far more in tune with the surrounding area than what he was expecting, but he was able to escape without much delay.

He was already hating his time in the forest, to the point where he regretted even coming here in the first place, but that was around the time that Tirek discovered a ruin that had a few slumbering Runebears that didn't seem interested in him, rather they seemed interested in sleeping. In addition to that he heard what seemed to be the howl of a wolf, even though it did seem different from a normal wolf's howl, before he glanced at the top of the ruins and found someone in armor, wearing a cape as well, standing at the peak. From what he could tell the figure didn't want to be disturbed, as he seemed to ignore Tirek and the Runebears, but something was telling him to go back to the ruined church that the merchant was in and see if he could get any information out of him. With all of the Runebears hanging around, however, he figured that such a thing was a good idea, as he wasn't strong enough to fight with them and didn't want them to get him trapped in a loop of death, so he pulled back and departed before any of them could do anything to him.

Once he got back to the Grace, and made sure that none of the annoying bears had followed him, Tirek pulled out his map and warped over to his next destination, returning to the ruined church and found that the merchant was still sitting near his small fire as his pack mule stood off to the side.

"Merchant, I was in the forest to the northeast of here and heard a howl while I was near some ruins." Tirek stated, though as he said that he found that the figure in question was playing on some sort of instrument, and well despite the fact that he had no desire to learn or appreciate the art.

"The howl of a wolf, in the Mistwood?" the merchant inquired, where he stopped playing with his instrument for a moment as he considered Tirek's words, meaning he must know something about what he had heard earlier, before letting out a light chuckle as he found his answer and turned towards him, "I suppose he must still be skulking about... hm, I know. Why don't you meet him for yourself? Next time you hear the wolf's howl, make this signal right under the source and you'll meet him face to face... trust me, there is nothing to fear. I just have an inkling the two of you might hit it off."

The 'signal', as it turned out, was a snap of the fingers that could be heard at a specific frequency, that much Tirek got from watching the merchant demonstrate it for a couple of moments, and it made sense since the figure in question had to be a wolf of some kind. With that in hand Tirek returned to the Grace outside the Mistwood, as that seemed to be the name of this place according to the merchant, before carefully making his way back to the ruins he had seen the strange and mysterious figure at the peak of. Once more he did his best to ignore the Runebears that were roaming around the forest, since he didn't want to perish to them again, before he heard a now familiar howl and made his way to the ruins in question, only coming to a stop when he reached the area below the howling figure. In the next moment he made sure to brace himself, as this could be a bad idea, before snapping his fingers with the frequency that he had been taught, in the span of a couple of seconds, where the howling stopped and the figure jumped down to where Tirek was standing, as it landed right to his left.

In that moment Tirek found that it was a figure like him, only instead of pony parts mixed in it looked like this person had a wolf's head, possibly a tail hidden by the furred cape he was wearing, and it was possible that he had the claws on both his hands and feet, though it was hard to tell with the armor that was over his body, making him look like an imposing warrior, especially since he was slightly taller than Tirek.

"Who goes there?" the beast said, surprising Tirek by the fact that he was able to speak with ease and that the fall had done nothing to him, though he suspected that he wasn't a Tarnished, as there was something different about him that he really couldn't put his finger on.

"I am Tirek. I told a merchant about your howling and he offered me this signal." Tirek replied, where he stared at the large and imposing humanoid wolf, as the more he looked at the figure the more he realized that he was definitely half wolf, because he was positive he saw a tail, but decided to focus on the beast himself.

"Kale sent you, did he? Ever the bloody busybody." the beast said, as if he might be a little annoyed with the merchant, or at least it seemed like he was annoyed, before he paused and looked over Tirek for a moment, which was easy for him to do since he was larger than Tirek was, "Hmm... Maybe to him, you don't seem so strange, since you're similar to me in some aspects. The name's Blaidd, Tirek, and I'm looking for a man who goes by 'Darriwil'... he supposedly fled somewhere nearby, or so I've heard, and I haven't found him yet. Come tell me if you find him before I do, as I can offer you ample reward for helping me put an end to a traitor."

As Blaidd said that, however, Tirek felt something in his mind and realized that whatever force was guiding him might be pointing him in the direction of the very person that the figure was searching for, something that caused him to quickly turn his attention back to the figure that was in front of him.

"Hey Blaidd... do you believe in coincidences?" Tirek inquired, because based on his discoveries of this world there was no way for him to assume that what he was thinking was going to work at all, even though the golden light seemed to point him in the right direction from time to time, and he could see the wolf man raise an eyebrow, "I think I might know where to find this 'Darriwil' of yours."

"Well then, lead the way and let's see if you're right." Blaidd replied, though while he had his doubts that Tirek, who was a random stranger, had already found his target, he was willing to see if his hunch was correct and that Darriwil was within reach of his large greatsword, which Tirek suspected would be used on him if his guiding light happened to be leading him into a trap.

Tirek nodded and called forth Torrent once more, as the guiding light seemed to be pointing back towards the Grace that was outside the forest, and maybe further to the south than he had been so far, and as he rode out of the Mistwood he found that Blaidd was able to keep pace with ease, causing him to focus on what was ahead of him and his ally.

Wolf Quest

Tirek found that the path he and Blaidd had to take took him back to the bridge he had crossed earlier and then head to the south along another road, this one having all sorts of enemies for him to keep an eye on as he followed the Grace that was leading him to Darriwil's location. There were a number of Hollows and Soldiers on the path, some patrolling at random, a fair few working on some of the ruins that were randomly scattered around Limgrave, and a large force moving with a pair of Trolls that were pulling along one of the large treasure containers. In addition to that he found a few Brutes riding around the area as well, each one looking like they were ready for a fight and would cleave his horse in half if he got close, but none of them were his target right now, as his guiding light seemed to be going beyond them. Still, that didn't mean they could get away without stopping and doing battle, much to his annoyance since he wanted to help Blaidd out, he might get an item that would aid him on his quest, but it gave him a chance to get more Runes before another powerful creature.

It also gave him a chance to see Blaidd in battle as he lifted his greatsword with ease and rushed into the fray, where one of the Brutes fell as he jumped into the air and stabbed him with a downward slash, before spinning around as he cut down three Soldiers that came at him. While he did that Tirek turned his magic on some of the other Soldiers and Hollows that were approaching the wolfen figure, while making sure not to hurt his ally, as he wasn't sure if the arc spell would hurt those on his side and didn't want to test it out while Blaidd was nearby. He was impressed by the figure's fighting style, he was like a veteran who had spent years perfecting his art and how had a chance to demonstrate his skills while cutting down those who opposed him, even though these guys weren't worthy foes for someone like Blaidd. Still, the two of them were able to carefully draw out and deal with all of the enemies that were in front of them, in fact Tirek was sure it had taken no time at all thanks to his new companion, granting him a good deal of Runes, not as much as a powerful foe, but he was glad to have all of it nonetheless.

"I know you use magic, but you might want to take the contents of the carriage." Blaidd commented, as while he was far more interested in taking down Darriwil, for reasons unknown to Tirek, he also wanted to help the figure out a little while they were on this quest, before either confirming or denying that he knew where his target was located, "You might not need the weapon that's being transported, but you can sell it to a merchant for a fair bit of Runes if you are ever need it... or if you desire to change up your style."

Tirek raised an eyebrow for a moment as he found the chest in question and discovered that there was a greataxe inside it, a weapon that had a large axe head on a long handle, making it two handed, though for right now he pocketed it as he rejoined his companion and headed down the road in front of them.

"I don't think I'll need it, but thanks for the information. On the matter of Darriwil, the bits of light are pointing that way," Tirek said, gesturing in the direction in question, which seemed to be going towards another area of Limgrave, based on the map pieces he had recovered so far, though right now there was no telling if they were close to the location it was pointing out or if they were still far from it.

"Towards the Weeping Peninsula? Interesting." Blaidd stated, something that told Tirek that he must not have checked out the area he was being beckoned to by the force behind the guiding light, or if he had done so he hadn't found anything of interest during him time over there, but at the very least he was willing to humor him and not call him a liar.

Tirek said nothing to that as he and Blaidd found a few more Brutes, Soldiers, and Hollows standing in their way, where they lashed out at their enemies, him focusing on casting spells while his companion hacked and slashed his foes apart in a matter of seconds. This time it was more about removing enemies from the path that they were following, and getting a fair bit of Runes in the process, though Tirek kept an eye out for another Grace spot, because if Darriwil was one of the many powerful creatures who dotted the landscape he wasn't going into battle with his Runes. He did obtain some gear from the Brutes, like their armor and boots, though it was all added to the pile of things he wouldn't use, not unless he had a good reason to actually change up his style and forsake focusing on magic. Blaidd, on the other hand, didn't care all that much about the loot they were getting and let Tirek take all of it, like his gear was better than what they were finding, and Tirek assumed it was based on what he had seen so far.

Fortunately they found a Grace near what appeared to be the base of a hill, causing Tirek to let out a sigh of relief as he activated it and sat down, to make sure this was where his spot was set, before he considered how to allot his Runes this time around.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing?" Blaidd asked, as he had heard stories of what the Tarnished were able to do, see the light of Grace and even rest at locations that allowed them to restock their supplies, their flasks anyway, and this was the first time he had actually seen such a thing happen.

"I'm setting what I call my 'spawn point', where I'll return in the event of my death... this world loves to kill me, based on all of the deaths I've had so far." Tirek replied, which was the truth when he considered everything that had happened to him since he arrived in this forsaken world, before he focused on what he had been doing before Blaidd said anything, since he wanted to make sure his Runes were spent before they did anything else, "I'm also using the Runes we obtained since leaving the Mistwood to empower myself, just in case Darriwil is a powerful creature like I think he is... those foes tend to have a lot more Runes than a normal creature, but they hit far harder as well. Basically, I want to make sure my Runes are spent before we find him... wouldn't want to lose any of them."

"Forgive me for asking but... how can you do that? You are, as an annoying man keeps saying when I see him, 'maidenless', or whatever he calls it." Blaidd inquired, as Tirek fascinated him more than he was willing to admit, but the fact that he was able to turn his own Runes into strength without actually having someone else do the work for him, and he felt that his own master would be interested in this when she learned about him.

"My maiden granted me this power before she faded away." Tirek answered, though while he had no idea if such a thing was even possible among the Finger Maidens, the transfer of power into their Tarnished champion, he wasn't about to say anything that he might come to regret, but Blaidd seemed trustworthy and he suspected that he could entrust this sort of information to him, "Whenever I fight a powerful creature I make sure I have no Runes on me... it makes it so that I can focus on the fights and not have to worry about my death marker."

Blaidd said nothing to that as he listened to Tirek talk, in fact he seemed to be stronger than what he was a few moments ago, before they headed up the hill, ignoring the battle off to their right where some Soldiers fought some Demi-Humans, and came to a stop at a familiar sight, one of the round indents with the stony worms around it.

"A gaol... interesting." Blaidd said, confirming that these were, in fact, prisons, Tirek recognized the word, and once they confirmed that this was where the guiding light had been leading them to he stepped back as Tirek activated the seal that dragged them both inside the gaol, only for him to growl as he felt something oddly familiar, "He's here."

Just like with the Crimson Knight, or whatever that foe was called, a newcomer phased into existence in front of them, a black armored figure who seemed to be low to the ground, almost like a dog in a sense, and he carried a curved blade in his right hand, a greatsword of some kind. As Tirek stepped forward, however, Blaidd held an arm out, stopping him in his tracks, before gripping his own weapon as he and Darriwil locked eyes with each other, or at least it sure seemed that way since he couldn't tell with the odd helm that their target was currently wearing. The two stared at each other for a couple of seconds before rushing at each other, the air vibrating as their weapons collided, where Tirek found that Darriwil's had a blood enchant on it, like his new dagger, while Blaidd's seemed to possess the power of ice, or maybe frost, as the air seemed to get a little colder as he activated it. At this point Tirek wasn't even surprised, the weapons of this world seemed to have two modes, one without their enchantment and one with whatever they were enchanted with, or at least if they had one to begin with, and it was up to the wielder on which one their weapon took at any given moment.

Even though he knew Blaidd didn't like Darriwil, given what little he had heard about the figure, Tirek felt like he might be watching a dance of sorts between two equally skilled fighters, each one going from offensive to defensive in seconds as the other assumed the role that the other had been filling. It really made him wonder what crime Darriwil committed to make the wolfen warrior follow him to the ends of the world, or at least the continent, before he realized that they might have served the same master and that Darriwil might have been planning on betraying his master, causing Blaidd to give chase for so long. Even though he didn't understand such a thing, in fact he was the master of his own fate and had no real desire to be ruled by someone else, he guessed that for Blaidd the thought of someone betraying his master was one of the most vile things anyone could do. Of course he was sure that his companion would keep the information to himself, so this subject was better left in the dark as he watched the two clash with each other, where he noticed that the battle was starting to move in one person's direction, Blaidd's.

The frost enchantment was working far too well, in fact he was sure that it was weakening his foe with every swing of his large weapon, to the point where Darriwil slipped up and Blaidd seized the moment to split him in half, causing him to drop his curved greatsword as his body quickly faded away, the power surging into Tirek's chest.

"Finally... I can return to Mistress Ranni with good news." Blaidd said, letting out a sigh of relief as he swung his sword, the motion clearing the blood from it in seconds, before returning it to it's place on his back as the magic that fueled the gaol disappeared before Tirek's eyes, even though the wolfen warrior's statement caught his attention.

"So, about that reward... I was wondering if you'd accept traveling with me for a time, taking out a few more creatures or caves as the payment for helping you find Darriwil." Tirek commented, where he picked up the curved greatsword, making it look like he hadn't heard Blaidd's comment about 'Ranni', who he was sure was the four armed lady he had met not that long ago, the one who gave him an alias when she handed over the Spirit Bell.

"I suppose that's acceptable. I can wait a while before making my report." Blaidd replied, though he had to wonder why the figure had an interest in traveling with him, despite the fact that he could hazard that it was to have someone like him be the focus of his enemies while he fought with his spells, a standard in the adventuring circle from what he had heard in the past, "So, where to first?"

"I've got a dragon in mind that needs to die... after that, we'll see." Tirek said, as while he wanted to go to Margit with his new companion, because it might tip the odds in his favor to have someone match the figure's speed, he figured that such a thing would be pushing his luck and decided to focus on his other targets until Blaidd told him the payment was finally complete.

Blaidd nodded his head and together the two of them headed down the hill, heading for the lake that held the dragon that had killed Tirek not that long ago, who was looking forward to gathering more power to tear down his obstacles and the dangers that he would encounter in the near future.

Back to the Lake

As they left the gaol that Darriwil had been imprisoned in, heading back towards the lake, Tirek told Blaidd about what had happened to him the first time he visited the area in question, about how the dragon crushed the Hollows that had been at the bonfire and pulled a clever move to end him.

"Dragons are known to be crafty, not to mention adaptable." Blaidd said, as if he was speaking from experience, likely due to a foe he had faced at some point in the past, though as he said that Tirek wrapped up his visit to the Grace he had stopped at, empowering himself with the Runes he got from Darriwil, before he glanced down at their target, "I know of one that has adapted to the Rot of Caelid and has become far more dangerous as a result."

"That's the corrupted land to the east, right?" Tirek inquired, because he hadn't found a map detailing the foul section of the continent yet, in fact he would likely have to use a road in Limgrave to find the main path that would, in time, bring him to one of the map fragments, so he had no idea if he and the wolfen warrior were talking about the same place, causing his companion to nod his head, "I hate that place... I opened a chest in the nearby ruins and it teleported me into a mine that was deep in Caelid, full of those pale Pests and some earthen Miners, where I got killed by one of the Pests."

"The Kindred can be quite annoying, I can agree with that." Blaidd stated, meaning he must have been sent to Caelid for a time, either to hunt someone like Darriwil or to do something else that his master wanted of him, and he didn't want to talk about what had happened to him in that area, hence why he focused on the dragon, "Before we begin, are those two spells the only ones you know?"

"In terms of sorceries, yes... tracking down new spells is hard in this world." Tirek replied, where he recalled the vendor in the Roundtable Hold who sold miracles, which required an object he didn't have right now, but other than that he had no idea where to obtain more spells to increase his power and actually do more damage.

"Hm. When we're done with the lake, since I'm sure we'll tackle the nearby mine as well, remind me to show you to one of the nearby ruins, as I heard a rumor of a sorceress residing in the area." Blaidd said, something that caught Tirek's attention almost instantly, because more spells would allow him to even the odds and face his enemies with an increased arsenal, a fact that might ensure his survival since he'd have more options to use in battle, before the wolfen warrior shifted his stance as he gripped the handle of his weapon, "Let's hunt a dragon."

Tirek nodded his head as the two of them rushed down the hill, where he and Torrent got the dragon's attention as he loosed a few pebbles at it's thick tail, something that caused him to grin a little as the beast got up and turned to face him, while Blaidd approached from it's right side and swung at it's now exposed legs. While neither of them had said anything about a plan, in fact they had been too busy talking about other things on the way here, Tirek was perfectly fine with this since it meant that the dragon would focus on Blaidd and not him, something that would expose it to more of his spells as the battle progressed. As the beast slammed one of it's wings into the ground Tirek had a strange idea as he rushed at it and jumped off Torrent's back, allowing him to rush up the limb that was near him and get on the dragon's back, where he leapt into the air before releasing a burst of magical pebbles down on his target's blind spot, the one place it couldn't do anything about. Blaidd waited for a few moments, seeing the beast roar in annoyance, before slashing at it's legs again as the cold started to seep into the area that he was fighting in, showing that he knew it might be the beast's weakness and was making sure to use it before something bad happened.

When the dragon moved back, to fire a burst of flames at them, Tirek had the bright idea to combat the flames with their weakness, frost itself, where he convinced Blaidd to activate the weapon's enchantment while spinning his greatsword, as it created a shield in front of them to stop the flames from roasting them alive.

Truthfully he was surprised that such a thing could be done in the first place, in fact Blaidd was surprised as well and even the dragon seemed shocked, or maybe that was his imagination playing tricks on him, but as the flames died down the pair continued their assault to the best of their ability. Such a thing meant that Tirek had to pick and choose when to use his spells, since he only had two in his arsenal right now, while Blaidd struck whenever he found an opening, forcing the beast to turn on him, giving Tirek a good chance to use the blood dagger as well. He found that the frost enchantment did slow the beast down and the blood enchantment on his new weapon did a bit of damage as well, in fact he was sure that a bloody gash appeared on one of the dragon's legs, something that allowed the frost to penetrate it as well, dealing even more harm to the massive beast. Of course he had to wonder how much more damage the beast could take before they felled it, since he and Blaidd were doing far better than he did when he fought it on his own, before he saw an opening he wasn't expecting to find and used the arc spell, making a vertical wave that crashed into the dragon.

This time around the dragon collapsed before their eyes, where Tirek let out a sigh as it dissolved before their eyes, as he gathered all of it's Runes before discovering a floating heart in the space it had been occupying, a final reward he guessed, as odd as that seemed.

"I've heard of this. Dragons, when they die, drop their hearts, which can be used in Dragon Communion in two very special locations," Blaidd commented, though he was actually impressed that Tirek had managed to survive the battle, given what he had learned about his previous attempt on the creature, before he turned his attention to the heart that was currently in the hands of his temporary companion, "one is located in the wilds of Caelid, the other is somewhere off Limgrave's west shore, on a small island with no bridge leading to it."

"Oh, that island... yeah, I found a cave containing the tunnel that leads to it." Tirek said, in fact it had given him some ideas when he first discovered the location in question, though as he said that he pulled out his map after switching it with the heart that was added to his growing collection of odd things, because an idea had come to mind, "You know, I wonder if I can use the Grace's ability to warp between two points with someone else. Want to try it out?"

Blaidd stared at him for a few moments, wondering if he was joking or not, before deciding to go with it as he stood right behind Tirek and placed a hand on his back for a time, allowing him to focus on the Grace he wanted to travel to and, just like last time, he found that reality seemed to shift as he appeared outside the island church, with Blaidd standing behind him with a shocked look on his face.

"Well what do you know, it did work." Tirek remarked, which was great since it would save them some time riding between the various Graces he had unlocked so far, or running in Blaidd's case, even though he knew it was only a matter of time until the wolfen warrior decided to abandon him for parts unknown.

"That it did." Blaidd said, as while he wasn't one of the Tarnished, in fact he was the Shadow of someone far greater than those the Greater Will brought back with the Grace it had bestowed on the Lands Between, he was still surprised by what had happened, even though such a thing would make traveling easier.

Tirek chuckled for a moment as he approached the central brazier once more and pulled out the heart, where this time he felt someone stirring in his mind, similar to what happened back when he was learning how to fight and pull of the moves of this world, only it felt primal, like a majestic animal. He suspected that it might be the spirit of the dragon who fell here, either that or a god of dragons that was similar to whatever watched over the Graces of the Lands Between, though this time he remained silent as it informed him of what needed to be done. If he wanted the power of dragons he would have to devour the heart in his hand, and the hearts of other dragons, to gain access to several of their various powers, such as the flame breath and even claws to rend the life out of his enemies, even though it meant hunting down more of them to collect their hearts. With that in mind he wasted no time in devouring the heart and added it's power to his own, since he unlocked a new power with it, one that he would have to look into after he and Blaidd left the area, though he didn't feel any different, physically, causing him to grin as he backed away from the brazier.

With this information in hand he now had more targets to take down, though first he intended on returning to the lake so he and Blaidd could finish off whatever he had left behind, and then he could worry about the rest of Limgrave and the powerful creatures that were lurking below it's vast surface.

The Weeping Peninsula

With the dragon dealt with, and both it's heart and Runes were added to Tirek's power, he and Blaidd came up with a new target to deal with, they were going to head into the Weeping Peninsula and see what sort of powerful foes they might find to add to his power. As such they warped back over to the Grace that was near Darriwil's prison before he found that his companion had something else in mind, he had him get on Torrent and use the nearby circular area that was like a windy cannon to launch himself into the air. His target was the ruins to their left, which he was able to land on the outskirts of as he discovered that it was just more of the fallen cube shaped structures he had seen previously, before he turned and found that Blaidd simply jumped into the air and used the coffin ledges to reach him. It was rather impressive when he thought about it, that his companion was able to jump with such power and accuracy, getting up to where he was in a matter of a few seconds, and once they were together again Tirek faced the enemies that were in the area.

It was just a couple of Soldiers, Hollows, and even a Brute or two, a decent mix of foes for them to deal with, where he and his companion wasted no time in attacking them, allowing Tirek to collect more Runes as his foes collapsed in defeat, even if the amount paled in comparison to a powerful foe.

"So tell me something: why are we here?" Tirek asked, where he jumped backwards for a moment, avoiding the blade of a Brute, as Blaidd charged into battle and slashed at the figure, freezing him with his blade's enchantment, which seemed to have no end to the amount of power it could put out.

"I believe I mentioned something earlier about a scroll resting around here," Blaidd answered, though he gracefully leapt to the side and slashed at a Brute, cutting the figure in half before he could do anything to defend himself, all while taking a moment to observe Tirek as he cut his own foe down and blasted another with his magic, "it should have some spells for you to add to your collection, allowing you to do more in battle... once we deliver it to a person who can use it, and I'm sure I know of someone who can help you out."

"So get the scroll, find the teacher, and offer them a gift for some new spells. Got it." Tirek said, where he blasted the last of the Hollows down before discovering something interesting, there were two more on top of the cubes, using spells on him and Blaidd, causing him to rush over to the right one as his companion took the left side.

Of course he had to use Torrent to leap over to the top of the cube, allowing him to crush the Hollow sorcerer that was up there, but as his foe fell Tirek found what they were looking for, a pristine scroll that was blue colored in some places, one that had to be what they were here for. With that in hand he quickly regrouped with Blaidd and showed him the item that they had come for, where he checked the map for a moment and pointed out a ruin that overlooked the Mistwood, which was where he heard the instructor was resting. Once he knew of their next destination the pair rode out of the ruins that Blaidd had brought them to, taking care of the last Brute with ease as they passed by him, before seeking the path to the ruin that held the person they were looking for. It didn't take them too long to reach the ruin in question, where Tirek and his companion found some odd flower monsters that spewed out poison, though Blaidd stood back as he let the smaller ones be taken out by Tirek, before he slashed the larger one to pieces.

With that done they found the path leading down into the depths of the ruins and Tirek discovered a mist wall, where he braced himself for a powerful foe and entered it, only to find a tall figure, taller than Blaidd, wearing a helm that looked like a pumpkin. He had no idea why this particular powerful foe was wearing a metallic pumpkin head, along with no real armor with a ragged robe forming a cape and some cover around his waist, plus he had a large flail as his weapon, which Tirek planned on avoiding. This time around he really didn't need Blaidd's help with the Pumpkin Head, he moved around the arena quickly, even though it was a box shaped chamber, and attacked his foe's backside with his meager spells, as he had a feeling that the figure would just tank them if they came from the front. He didn't know why he thought this would be the key to defeating his foe, but it worked far more than he thought it would and found that Blaidd didn't even need to step in, rather he watched as Tirek damaged his foe on his own, having progressed greatly in such a short period of time, much to his amazement.

In the end he was able to crush the Pumpkin Head with ease, allowing him to collect it's Runes before opening the door as Blaidd stood off to the side, not wanting to be involved with the lessons no doubt, allowing him to find a female figure with sorcerer robes on, and a strange stone helm over her head.

The instructor, Sellen, was surprised that someone had found her and was more surprised that Tirek wanted to learn from her, where he pocketed several new spells after handing over the scroll Blaidd had insisted they pick up first, though he was pleased with the new additions to his arsenal. He obtained Glintstone Stars, Crystal Barrage, Scholar's Armament, and Scholar's Shield with ease, though after giving her the scroll he obtained a few more spells, such as the Glintblade Phalax and the Carian Slicer. Sure, he had to become Sellen's apprentice to even get the new additions to his arsenal, a fact he had to bear with since he needed more than just the spells he started with, but once those were in his possession he and Blaidd left Sellen to whatever work she had been doing previously. He did make sure to activate the Grace that was now outside her chamber, just in case he found more scrolls during his travels, before he and Blaidd departed from the ruins and returned to the Grace near Darriwil's prison, giving him a chance to use the last of his Runes before they moved onto their next destination.

With their errand complete Tirek and Blaidd headed down the path in front of them, one that happened to lead to a short bridge between Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula, which also had a siege weapon on it to stop people from reaching the province in question. Getting around it was far too easy, as the pair separated from each other and approached it from two different directions, causing confusion in the minds of the Hollows and Soldiers that were guarding the area, to the point that no explosive bolts were fired at them. From there Tirek made sure that their enemies were wiped out, since they were in the way, before they made their way across the rest of the bridge, discovering a caravan up ahead that had been attacked, due to all the corpses that were around it. The first thing he did, however, was activate the Grace that was up on the ledge to the right of the bridge's exit, allowing him to bypass the bridge in case he died, before he walked down to the scene and found that there was one survivor, a young adult female who seemed to be blind.

Normally he would have thought that she was the one behind the dead bodies that were around her, playing at being blind to lure targets to their doom, but Blaidd seemed willing to stop, so he held himself back as they approached her, as a few minutes of talking couldn't hurt.

"Hello? Is somebody there?" the girl asked, where she turned her head a few times and confirmed that she was blind, she looked everywhere, even the sky, for someone who was right in front of her, not that Tirek overly cared since he had far more important things to do with his time, "Please, would you stop and listen to my request? If so, my name is Irina, and I have just escaped from Castle Morne, which should be to the south of here, where the servants have... rebelled, or so I'm told. As you can see, my eyesight has been weak since birth and I'm unable to see, so all I have to go on is the words of my fallen guards and the frightful howling that erupted from the castle... the very place that my father, the commander, has chosen to remain in, despite the danger."

"Let me guess, you want someone to go check on him and convince him to leave?" Tirek inquired, as it sounded more like a reasonable thing to assume someone like her would want from some random strangers, even if she couldn't see them in the first place and had no idea if they meant her harm.

"Yes. I fear for his life, especially since the servants are full of hatred for people like us," Irina replied, where Tirek had to wonder if she was talking about the Demi-Humans or the Misbegotten, both of whom hated the people of this land more and more the more he learned about what was going on in the Lands Between, though she reached into her dress, which was bloodstained, and withdrew a letter, "in fact, they spared none of the companions I escaped with... I am, as far as I can tell, the sole survivor of my group. I must ask that you take this letter to my father and convince him to leave, even if such a thing means his honor must be sullied... I just want him to be safe."

Tirek, in an uncharacteristic move, took the letter and stuffed it in his pouch as he informed her that he'd do his best to find her father, in fact he never helped anyone before, but he figured that if he did this he might find another powerful being, one that was stronger than some of the others he had seen so far. With the letter in hand he turned to the south and started to ride once more, Blaidd walking beside him as they surveyed the scene that was just ahead of them, as the force that had escorted Irina out of the castle, enough for royalty, had been slain. The culprits were the Misbegotten, who had overturned one of the wagon transports and slaughtered everyone else, to the point where one of the Trolls had just sat off to the side, like it given up on living. This gave Tirek a chance to try out his new spells, as one allowed him to make three floating shards of energy that zeroed in on his foes, another used the top of his staff as a sword, and a third let him loose a volley of crystalline shards, though all of them put a smile on his face.

Blaidd, true to form, sliced and diced his way through his foes, dropping the Misbegotten who challenged him like they were nothing, allowing them to make their way up the hill that happened to be on the other side of the ambush point, a fact that gave him a chance to see a large wall with a hole in part of it, with a Grace off to the left and one of the black riders near the hole.

"A Night's Cavalry... interesting. Why would one be here, of all places?" Blaidd commented, confirming that they were, in a way, a powerful foe based on how he addressed them, though as the knight drew his weapon the wolfen warrior did the same, causing Tirek to ready himself as well.

Tirek found that a scene from earlier repeated itself before him, as in Blaidd rushed at the Night's Cavalry and swung his blade at his foe, the two weapons clashing as he found that the frosty weapon did more damage than the Night's flail did, before he moved to join the battle. His purpose was to wear down their foes with his spells, which he could do better now thanks to his improved arsenal, and since the Night was distracted everything he cast struck him and his horse with ease, dealing massive damage within the span of a few moments. It also opened the way for Blaidd to do some serious harm to their foe, as when he was knocked off his horse the wolfen warrior rushed over to where he fell and drove his blade down into his chest, no doubt piercing his heart, but, like most creatures of this world, he got up and continued to clash with the pair. After that Tirek and Blaidd kept up the pressure, dealing damage and avoiding the Night's flail, as Tirek was sure that it was another bleed weapon, before he saw an opening that he had to take, where he jumped forward and quickly drove his dagger into their foe's wrecked chest, knocking him to the ground.

In the end their combined might ended yet another powerful foe, allowing Tirek to claim his Runes and another weapon as his prizes, to which he walked over to the nearby Grace and activated it so they could get some rest, though it made him look forward to whatever they might find inside Castle Morne.

Castle Morne

After resting at the Grace, and making sure the Runes were put away to empower himself once more, Tirek and Blaidd headed for the hole in the large wall that rested nearby, where he found that there was a large area in front of them and a large castle off in the distance. From what he could tell there didn't seem to be anything to stop them from riding up to the structure that was his current main target, as there were no enemies and no real obstacles, like a gap in the road, meaning it was a straight shot to Castle Morne and it's powerful creature. Blaidd looked at the area as well, surveying everything he had taken some time to look at, before nodding his head as well, confirming that there didn't seem to be anything for them to worry about, but that didn't stop him from gripping the handle of his blade. It showed him that, despite the fact that there was nothing in the immediate area, he knew that an open area like this was asking for trouble and he was keeping his guard up, causing Tirek to do the same as he moved forward as carefully as he could.

As they started to move forward, however, Tirek found one of the map pillars and walked over to it, where he claimed the next part of the map, but before he could check anything out he heard a sound to the south and turned his head, only to find that a massive arrow pierced him and nailed him to the ground, forcing him to reappear at the Grace.

"So that's what happens when a Tarnished dies: they turned into a bit of golden mist and gather at the last Grace that was used to mark their progress." Blaidd said, speaking as Tirek walked up to where he was located, which was now behind a rock wall as he surveyed the rest of the area that was to the south, causing him to frown as he spotted what had killed Tirek this time around, "As I expected, there's a Golem defending Castle Morne from intruders... how they got one, I have no idea, but one is better than two or three. They're pretty slow moving, save for when they're attacking, so if we split up we should be able to take it from two sides, before it can attack either of us with it's arrows... fortunately they only have one weapon, otherwise we'd be in real danger."

Tirek understood what his companion was saying, in fact he had considered the same plan when he heard what the stone creature was capable of, though in the next moment both of them rushed out, him heading to the right while Blaidd did the same on the left. Sure enough he found that the Golem was a giant, standing far larger than anything he had seen so far, it carried a large bow that was it's main weapon, and it had a quiver of large arrows that seemed to refill when one of them was used, meaning it would fire indefinitely until either it fell or it's foes did. Blaidd was correct, the Golem could only focus on one foe at a time and had to determine who was more important, allowing both of them to use the various ruins on either side of the path to get closer and closer to it, meaning one could draw attention and hide so the other one could get closer. In the end they were able to get up close to where the Golem was standing, where Blaidd slashed at it's legs as Tirek blasted it's chest with his magic, allowing the pair to bring down their foe and open the way into the castle, as there was more work to be done.

What was interesting was that there was only a room to the right of the opening and a lift in front of them, though Tirek did activate a new Grace before he joined Blaidd on the platform and let it take them up to the uppermost level, which did take a few moments for them to reach their destination.

In the following moment they discovered that there were a large number of Misbegotten worshiping a fire, fueled by a pile of corpses that had to be every person they had slain since rebelling against the owners of this castle, but for right now it seemed like none of them had noticed that they had company. Tirek originally believed that they had two options, but the moment he spotted some hollowed dogs off to their left he realized that they had only one, which was to fight their way through the rest of the castle, hopefully find another Grace, and track down their targets. Blaidd agreed with him as he rushed out into the open area and swung at some of the Misbegotten, slicing through them with ease as Tirek blasted his foes, before they had a chance to react to what was going on. Their current job was to take down as many foes as both of them possibly could, so they wouldn't be overwhelmed in the near future, and while that happened Tirek found that some of the Misbegotten had wings and used bows, instead of axes and swords like their ground counterparts.

Tirek switched things up by focusing on the flying Misbegotten, leaving the ground ones for Blaidd to take out, including the hollowed dogs that were nearby, before discovering a Pumpkin Head that was guarding the path forward, to what had to be a way to the upper ramparts. As such he and Blaidd waited until the rest of their enemies were taken care of before worrying about the larger fighter, combining their abilities to bring it down without wasting too much time, though since it wasn't a Misbegotten Tirek had to wonder why it hadn't fought to defend it's lord's land. Once it was brought down Tirek found a ladder heading up to the upper ramparts and started to climb it without delay, all while Blaidd stabbed the wall with his sword and, somehow, used the force of him slashing downwards to propel himself up to the ramparts, likely due to the frost enchantment being used. Tirek caught up with him without wasting too much time and the two of them found that some of the Soldiers were still alive, in fact there was a path leading to one of the northern towers, so they decided to explore a little as they wiped out more and more of the Misbegotten.

Along the way they discovered a man who wasn't fighting, wasn't issuing commands, and just seemed defeated, where Tirek assumed he was the commander and dropped the letter in front of him, though all he got was mutters about what the figure called a 'legendary' weapon and the beast that had taken it.

Such a thing caused him to smirk for a moment as he and Blaidd followed the path in front of them and found a Grace on the other side of the walkway he had selected, where he jumped over the ledge and activated it, before finding that the way forward involved jumping on the roofs of the backside of the castle. It was a downwards descent, meaning they had to carefully clear out an area before moving forward, since the Misbegotten had better skills than most warriors did, but in the process he discovered new enemies, rats and what appeared to be slime creatures. While the rats went down with an incredible level of ease, in fact he just needed to slash at them once to take them down, the Slimes were tougher to take down, as they took a lot of pain from their weapons, but the frost and bleed effects seemed to deal a lot more damage in the long run. Once the level was cleared of enemies the pair jumped down and repeated the movements with the rest of their foes, as such a thing would allow them to move further and further down, even though there was an area that they had to use some beams to climb down.

After a while Tirek came to a stop as he found two things, the first being another Grace and the second being an arch that had golden mist forming a door below it, the sign of a powerful creature resting nearby, so he made sure to activate and rest at the Grace, along with spending his Runes on himself.

"Give me a few moments, I need to recover." Blaidd said, as they had fought nonstop since they entered the castle, due to the fact that they didn't actually rest at the second Grace spot, where Tirek nodded as he wrapped up what he was doing, though Blaidd needed to have a mental conversation with his mistress, who wanted an update on his mission, which would be bad timing for Tirek if he had to leave.

Tirek suspected that Blaidd's master was speaking to him about what he was up to, especially since he hadn't said a word about Darriwil's death to Ranni, but he made it seem like he was more interested in his own endeavors, before finding that Blaidd informed him that he was sticking around for a time, his master had no missions for him. It seemed odd that Ranni would allow such a thing, given that Blaidd seemed to be one of her most important followers, if he was right about her being the one that the wolfen warrior was talking about, but Tirek told him he was glad to have him along for the ride, for however long that was. With that cleared up Tirek informed his companion that they could either fight two more of the Misbegotten and get to the powerful foe or just ignore them, jump down onto the lower level, and clash with the creature that was on the other side of the door, where he found that Blaidd was more interested in the former. As such the two of them quickly crossed the bridge and jumped down into the shallow water below them, as there was some sandy areas to land in, before ignoring all of the floating jellyfish as they rushed over to the golden mist and passed through it.

What Tirek discovered was a small island of sorts, with what appeared to be graves in certain places, before spotting what appeared to be a Misbegotten with flowing red hair, built differently than the rest of it's kind, and was carrying what had to be a greatsword made out of multiple swords.

Sure enough this one, a Leonine according to Blaidd, was faster than the rest of it's kind and seemed like it wanted to put both of them down, especially since it could lift the greatsword with ease, but, as he expected, Blaidd rushed forward and clashed with the Leonine. Tirek knew what he was doing, he was presenting him with openings to use his spells, which was exactly what he did as he carefully moved around the arena and launched some of his spells at their foe, where each one struck the Leonine with ease. Once more Blaidd showed him just why he was glad to have him around as an ally, due to the fact that he was able to rapidly swing his own greatsword like it was a twig or stick, using the frost enchantment while doing so, something that slowed the Leonine down as time went by. Of course it tried to come at Tirek and take his head off, but he was able to use his own speed to get out of the way and leave an opening for Blaidd to attack the creature, who was unable to really do much against the pair, allowing them to bring it down within no time.

As it fell to the ground Tirek soaked up it's Runes while watching as it disappeared, though his next action was to collect the greatsword the Leonine had been carrying, where he found that he was capable of lifting it, likely another side effect of coming to this world. With that done they returned to the second Grace and helped each other over the wall, because he figured there might be a reward for saving the legendary weapon, even though it did mean they had to slaughter the revived Misbegotten and the insane Soldiers again. The father, however, didn't seem in the mood to give a reward and just thanked them for making sure it wasn't in the hands of the Leonine anymore, causing Tirek to shake his head as he turned to leave, before using the map to warp himself and Blaidd back to the Grace near the blind girl. In the following moment the pair discovered that she had been slain while they were gone, meaning that her father's foes must have caught up with her and ended her life, causing him to return to the Grace as he ignored the end of this quest.

He had gotten more power, that was all that mattered in the grand scheme of things, and his ally was sticking around for a while longer, how much Tirek had no idea, but he was grateful to have Blaidd along for the ride as he wondered what else they might get into in the near future.

A Little Backtracking

After dealing with the main target of the Weeping Peninsula, and claiming some power in the process, Tirek and Blaidd returned to Limgrave, as in the main part and not the area Castle Morne rested in, because there was a foe that he wanted to take down and he knew Blaidd's help was important. As such they reappeared inside the ruined church his target was just outside of, where Tirek pointed out the Tree Sentinel to his companion and explained what he knew about it, how the figure was able to move fast, his shield could repel magic if he had time to activate the ability, and his halberd was painful to be hit by. This one knight was responsible for so many of his deaths and he was annoyed with him, but now, thanks to the new powers he had gained from chatting with Sellen, the strength he had obtained from the various foes they had killed, and having Blaidd as an ally, he was sure that they could overcome the knight's defenses. Once that was done he had plans to track down the other Night's Calvary he knew about, not to mention taking the fight to that sealed knight he found over in one of the gaols, because adding three more powerful foes' power to his own might give him the edge to best Margit.

He was still a little sour over that particular loss, even though he had only faced the figure once and retreated, as he knew that fighting him multiple times with his limited power would have just resulted in the same thing happening repeatedly, so this time he was hoping for a change.

"I have another place we can check out, if you're willing to wait on killing this knight." Blaidd commented, as while he knew that the Tree Sentinel would be a tougher foe than some of the enemies they had encountered so far, at least when he thought about what he had seen so far, he suspected that the two of them could overcome it and this was just stacking the odds in Tirek's favor, "However, it'll require heading into the tomb you emerged from... I might have the keys to the wall you told me about."

Tirek raised an eyebrow before teleporting both of them down into the tomb, as he was thankful that the Grace was down there, causing Blaidd to look around the area before withdrawing two of the keys that looked to be made out of stone and in the shape of a sword. He placed them in the slots in the imp statues that were on the pedestal and Tirek watched as the wall faded away, confirming that Blaidd knew what he was doing, before the wolfen warrior beckoned for him to get on his back, where he discovered why a few seconds later. The floor on the other side of the ledge that was in front of them was covered in what looked like some foul green liquid, poison his companion told him, though Blaidd could see a few safe spots for him to jump on, hence the whole piggyback idea. Tirek didn't like the idea as much as his companion seemed to, but given that he was eager to see what the wolfen warrior was looking for he decided to go with it, though as soon as he was in position Blaidd bound down into the chamber and moved as if his life depended on it.

As he soon discovered it was possible that this might end with them dying, as Blaidd continued into a passage that had a ramp heading diagonally down into the earth and seemed to wrap around corners, with what appeared to be a metallic chariot riding up and down the path, one that might be enough to kill them. Blaidd moved as if he was possessed, likely his adrenaline coursing through his veins, as he rushed down the path as Tirek held on for dear life, finding that there were Skeletons and Spirits waiting for intruders. Fortunately some of them stepped out into the open path and got totally crushed by the Chariot, which killed them instantly as it tried to run Blaidd over, who rushed down the rest of the path as he ignored all of the enemies that were down here. He did, however, turn up a fork in the path, heading higher up while avoiding the incoming Chariot, something that stopped when it reached a certain point and went back down into the rest of the tomb, allowing Tirek to see that their target was a Spirit, one that the wolfen warrior cut down with ease.

"Here, this is what we're here for." Blaidd said, where he picked up an item that had been dropped and held it up to Tirek, who discovered that it was some sort of dragon charm, one that had some power inside it, which he took without delay and studied it for a few more seconds, "According to what I heard it's supposed to be the same as a seal, so you should be able to use that dragon spell you picked up earlier... and it also boosts their strength, or so I've heard."

Tirek added it to his arsenal of weapons as Blaidd turned around and headed down the path once more, avoiding the foul Chariot as he reached what appeared to be the end, with a small golden mist wall off to the right, where he slipped into the area and set Tirek down. Once they were ready to go the pair headed through the mist and discovered a large area that had a serpent creature made out of roots waiting for someone to bother it, though this was good for Tirek since it gave him a chance to use his new spell out. Blaidd drew it's attention off to the side as he went off to the right for a couple of seconds, though once he was ready he focused on the new power and loosed a burst of dragon flames from his mouth, striking the Tree Spirit right in the backside. Such a thing set the powerful creature on fire, where it ignored them in favor of rushing around the chamber, trying to put itself out, causing him and Blaidd to watch as it perished without doing even a single bit of damage to them, granting him more Runes and a Golden Seed.

He was still surprised by the fact that he, himself, had conjured the flames that tore into the Tree Spirit, since he was sure that the spell would have summoned an illusion of a dragon to do it for him, but, in the end, this was far better, since it meant his power was growing. With that in mind he found the teleport light out of here and Blaidd followed him back to the surface, where they waited for the elevator to return before really heading back up to the open world, though instead of attacking the Tree Sentinel instantly he warped them over to the ruined church. Like all of his previous foes Tirek made her to spend his Runes and strengthen himself further, just in case the unthinkable happened to him, though once that was done they went outside with all the haste they could muster and drew the attention of the Tree Sentinel. He was glad that Blaidd was sticking around, as he was proving to be an effective distraction for the various powerful foes that they were tracking down, though the Tree Sentinel wasn't so easily fooled as he became it's target in due time.

Fortunately he waited for his foe's back to be turned to him before loosing a burst of dragon flames at his backside, which bypassed his defenses and torched the area around the knight as Blaidd got out of the way, allowing them to take the knight down in due time.

His reward for that was the golden halberd and some Runes, though without wasting time he and Blaidd warped over to the Grace that happened to be the closest to the Night's Calvary, where they waited for a short period of time, since the world seemed to be affected by a Tarnished resting, and he spent his Runes again. Once everything was ready to go, and he confirmed that the knight was in position, they rode out and confronted it, allowing him to be reminded of the fact that it had a halberd, instead of a flail like the one that had been in the Weeping Peninsula. This one was actually weaker than the other one they had fought, as his spells seemed to do far more damage to the knight than they did to the other one, a fact he was fine with since they were able to bring him down in no time at all. With that done the pair returned to the last Grace and rested up, giving Tirek a chance to make sure he used the newly acquired Runes to empower himself further, even if it was a little bit at this point, before he decided to take a short break before doing anything else.

He wanted to take down the other knight, the one inside the gaol, but he had a feeling that even with Blaidd it would be a bad idea, so for now he decided that it was time to tackle Margit and see if he was able to progress further into the land he had been teleported to, to continue with his quest at long last.

Back to Margit

Following taking down some of the powerful creatures of Limgrave, and gaining more power in the process, Tirek felt that it was time for him to return to Margit and see if he was able to take him down at long last, though he also returned to the lone rundown house just outside the castle's boundaries. There he wound a young lady who seemed to be bemoaning her position in life, going on and on about the grafted, how her men were taken and transformed, or something to that effect, and how it would soon be her fate as well, even if she was a 'craven coward'. The only thing she had to offer him was a small urn containing the ashes of a jellyfish, a creature that would distract enemies and help him in combat, where he said nothing to her as he let his Spirit Bell absorb the new ashes. With that done, and the lady seemed to be solely focused on the pain of being carved up and being grafted to something or someone else to make something new, making her seem insane for even wanting such a thing, Tirek left her to her own devices as he and Blaidd warped over to Margit's bridge.

Once they reached his chosen destination Blaidd looked at the golden mist wall, which he knew to expect since Tirek had told him about the foe that was in this area, while Tirek made sure he had no Runes left to spend before they made their way through the mist, walking out onto Margit's ruined bridge.

"I knew you would return, foul Tarnished... ever in search of the Elden Ring." Margit said, where it looked like he had just stayed in the center of the stone bridge after beating Tirek to death the first time, meaning he must have been waiting for him to return, like some sort of foul gatekeeper, "Come, face Margit the Fell once more."

Margit, like the last time they fought, held his strange weapon out while he walked, as if he was daring his foes to come into his domain so he could punish them for their arrogance, and this time Tirek decided to be reckless, because without even a single Rune to his name he had nothing to lose. As such he rushed forward and effectively taunted Margit into attacking him by swinging his weapon straight down at the area he was currently in, but that was what he wanted as he rolled out of the way, letting it crash into the stonework, before turning and blasting Margit with his magic. It was a ploy on his part as Blaidd took advantage of the change in Margit's focus, as he shifted towards Tirek, as he planned, and quickly swung his greatsword down after leaping into the air, forcing the figure to turn his head and use his weapon as a shield to stop the blade from digging into his flesh. While he was clashing with Blaidd, and was distracted by that since he clearly didn't want to take any damage, Tirek gathered his power once more as his throat lightly rumbled, where he loosed a burst of dragon fire right into Margit's back, blindsiding him in the process as his companion moved out of the way.

Tirek was still surprised that he was the one channeling the power through himself, instead of manifesting the head of a dragon or something to cast the spell, but he wasn't about to complain since it meant his flames would be stronger than what it would be like if he bothered to cast it normally.

"You have grown stronger, Tarnished... but still, I will extinguish your flame in the end." Margit stated, showing that the flames had definitely done more than what Tirek was expecting, not that it seemed that way based on what he was seeing right now, making him wonder if the damage he had dealt earlier was still around.

In the following moments Margit started to use his golden blades and what appeared to be a golden hammer, one likely made to smear the more promising Tarnished into the ground, though in that instant Tirek realized something important, the items were made out of magic. His own innate power, before he came to this world, was the power to devour magic and add it to his own, causing him to grin as Margit hurled two blades at him and he raised his hands, utilizing his power for the first time since he came to this world. For a moment Blaidd thought he had lost his mind, while Margit assumed it was an act of surrender on his part, but when the blades stopped just above his palms they knew things were about to change, especially since Blaidd knew that Tirek was far stronger than he believed himself to be. In the next moment Margit watched as his attacks were drained of their magic, as they unraveled before his eyes and vanished, causing him to leap into the air and bring his massive hammer down on the area that Tirek was standing in, purely to crush the life out of him and stop him in his tracks.

For a few seconds he was sure he had won, crushing another Tarnished that dared to search for the Elden Ring, but that was when the hammer started to break apart before his eyes and he discovered that Tirek was just fine, as if his attack had done nothing at all.

As the last bits of the magic disappeared Tirek gathered his power into his right fist and delivered an uppercut to Margit's chin, knocking him backwards in the process, though it also informed Blaidd that his companion might not need his help anymore, not to stand on his own legs. With that in mind he stood off to the side as Tirek engaged his foe, wrapping his magic around his body as he lashed out with bolts of energy, likely pure magic when he considered what his companion was capable of and what he knew about magic as a whole. Margit staggered backwards as the power struck him, since it happened to be something he wasn't expecting at this point in time, though as he hurled more blades at Tirek he found that they dissolved before they even touched his foe, their energies being turned into power to be used against him. That only caused him to go on the offensive even more than before, utilizing many of his movements as he brought in the few golden weapons he had access to, though Tirek just avoided the attacks he couldn't absorb and siphoned the magical ones to increase his power.

One lucky attack knocked him on his back and Tirek grinned as he ignited his power once more, releasing a burst of his dragon flames right into Margit's face as he tried to smash him to pieces, where he made sure to use enough to burn him to ash, as Blaidd noticed that their foe had a bunch of burn marks on his body before breaking apart, meaning Tirek had taken care of his foe.

"Foul Tarnished... I shall... remember you!" Margit said, showing them that he still had a bit of life left in his husk as Tirek watched him break apart, even though he still got a bunch of Runes for overcoming this challenge, before he reached out for a moment as his arm turned to ash before their eyes, "I shall remember... your meager smouldering flame... beware... of... the Night! Cower in fear... the Hands of the Fell Omen... will give you... no quarter."

"Quit talking and just accept your demise." Tirek remarked, where he swung his staff and shattered the rest of Margit with ease, scattering his ashes to the wind as he found a new Grace resting nearby, something that caused him to huff as he activated it and sat down, allowing him to rest as he glanced beyond the bridge, "Margit might be dead, but I suspect that this castle is going to push me more than before... we're getting close to a Demi-God, whose bound to be far stronger and more powerful than Margit was."

"And, in time, you'll beat everything that stands before you." Blaidd stated, because while he was sticking around to help Tirek before the hero he was meant to be, or whatever he was working towards since it mattered little to him, he knew there would come a point where they would go their separate ways and he suspected that, when that time came, his odd companion would do just fine without him.

Tirek smiled for a moment, as it was nice to have someone reliable on his side, before focusing on using his Runes, since he had no idea what dangers the castle had to throw at them and wanted to make sure he was ready for whatever might be waiting for them on the other side of the structure's high walls.

Storming Stormveil Castle

Once Tirek was done with the Grace, and had spent his Runes to be sure that he had none left in case things went south, he and Blaidd traversed the rest of the bridge, allowing him to see that Stormveil Castle was massive, far more now that he was right in front of it. Such a thing meant that finding the Demigod who owned this place might be harder than he thought at the beginning of his quest, in fact Godrick, if he was remembering the name right, might not even be here right now, since he knew the continent was massive. Even with Blaidd on his side he understood that it might take some time for him to find his target, since there was no telling what the inside of the castle looked like, though he could see that the main gate had been lowered, meaning they would have to find another way to infiltrate the castle. As he considered what to do next Tirek activated the next Grace, which was just odd to have three so close to each other, before spotting an opening to his left that seemed to head into a room that could have been a check in station at one time.

Fortunately for them there was a massive hole in the other end of the chamber that seemed to head outside, meaning it would be possible for Tirek and Blaidd to walk around part of the castle's exterior wall to reach their next destination, likely a door leading into the inside of the structure.

"A Tarnished? Finally, I never thought anyone could cross the bridge." a figure said, where Tirek found an old man off to the right that looked like he was a prisoner of some kind, due to the odd thing around his neck, though he and Blaidd came to a stop for a moment to focus on him, "I would advise against using the main gate, as it is guarded by old hands that would see any visitors slain on sight... however, might I suggest using the opening right here to get around them and enter the castle undetected?"

"It is a worthwhile strategy, and we might get closer to Godrick than if we take the main gate." Blaidd commented, as he knew that while he and Tirek might be able to deal with the force that was currently guarding the main gate, even though it might take some time and end with them more bloody than usual, taking the side path would save them time, "He's still in the castle, right?"

"Yes, the weasel is still here." the figure replied, something that caught Tirek's attention with ease, they knew that the first Demigod on his list of targets was still somewhere in the castle, causing him to glace at the opening that would bring them to wherever Godrick was hiding, after fighting off his minions, anyway.

"Good. Let's hunt us a Demigod." Tirek remarked, as that was all he cared about right now, tracking down his target and claiming his power, since it would allow him to become far stronger than before and also grant him access to the various people of the Roundtable Hold, or their services anyway.

Blaidd nodded and together the two of them headed through the opening, finding that it was a simple matter to walk on the outer ledge of the castle's wall, or a path that had been carved into the stonework by either an intense battle or some dark force. Tirek honestly didn't care which was true, the only thing he cared about was the fact that they were going to bypass the main gate and get inside the castle to begin their search, though they didn't have to walk along the ruined bit for too long and touched down on solid ground after a while. It was in that moment that they discovered more of the foul grafting that was going on inside this place, as there were large birds nearby that no longer had their feet, rather they had been replaced by blades, designed to make them guards of the exterior of the massive castle. Fortunately they didn't have to confront such a creature, as Tirek found a Grace off to their right and discovered a wooden walkway leading over to an opening that had to go inside the castle itself, so the pair walked over there, activated the Grace, and then started to move along the path he had spotted.

Sure enough they found some Soldiers guarding the outside, likely in the off chance that someone dared to come this way and not use the main gate, though there were fewer enemies by taking this route and Tirek summoned his magic without delay, blasting one into oblivion as Blaidd cut down a second. The third raised a horn to alert the rest of the team, but it wouldn't do much in the grand scheme of things since the main force inside the castle wouldn't hear it at all, leaving the pair to take him down before heading inside. From there Tirek found that he and Blaidd would have to head up several floors before reaching the peak of this part of the structure, dealing with Hollows that were hurling small pots full of fire at them, and barrels pull of powder that detonated upon impact, so they just let their enemies take care of the barrels first, to eliminate a threat, before moving in to deal with them. With him focusing on taking out the ranged Hollows, and Blaidd taking care of those who got too close to them, Tirek knew that it was only a matter of time until they figured out how to enter the castle and hunt down Godrick, he just had to be patient.

As they carefully made their way through this section, however, Tirek found a door that lead to a room that had a ladder inside it, one that seemed to go up to the final floor he could see from down here, only to discover that it was locked, an unfortunate thing since it meant they had to find the key.

One of the doors happened to be unlocked and the pair headed into the chamber it lead to, where they found a Knight who attacked them as soon as the door slammed shut behind them, though Blaidd proved to be more than enough for it, as he slashed his foe to pieces. Tirek discovered a key among the wreckage, in addition to a new talisman that was inside the chest the Knight had been guarding, but since this was a dead end he opened the door, which opened without delay, and made his way back to the locked door he had discovered. He quickly found that he was able to unlock the door they had passed by earlier and did so without delay, allowing him to head up the ladder before Blaidd followed after him, after making sure he had enough room to do so. From there they found another path that lead outside, which was guarded by two Hollows that were nothing compared to their might, before Tirek discovered something good, it might be leading right to another part of the castle, possibly another entrance.

Inside it, however, they discovered a silver Knight with a halberd standing in their way, to which Blaidd rushed at him as Tirek launched spells from the sidelines, since he could tell that the new enemy had great speed and that his companion was the only one who could deal with him.

After taking him down Tirek was able to walk up the stairs to his right and found that there was a lift in the center of the area they had discovered, one he didn't see how to activate, before discovering a doorway that lead to a new Grace, one he ignited and rested at to set their point. Once his Runes were used up they left the room by using the other doorway, as it lead outside and the pair discovered that it brought them out onto one of the ramparts above the castle's main street, a street that had a fair number of Soldiers guarding the area. The other thing the pair found out was that there were several Hawks who were hauling around explosive barrels, meaning it was their duty to kill enemies by hurling bombs at them, a fact that Tirek disapproved of, hence why he had Blaidd stay behind him as he hurled magic at his targets. His actions lead to the barrels detonating and tearing the Hawks apart, not to mention blasting the remaining barrels into oblivion as well, opening the way for them to head down to the roofs of some of the nearby buildings.

While they did that Tirek found an opening into what appeared to be a church of some kind, or maybe a building that had been designed in a similar manner, causing him to drop down and find someone standing nearby, a man wearing a robe and sorcerer hat, who seemed surprised to see them.

Rogier, as Tirek discovered, was definitely a sorcerer and he was looking for something specific in the castle, in addition to the Great Rune that Godrick held, even though he couldn't see the light of Grace anymore, and told him to enjoy it while he could, meaning the power that brought them to life would abandon them if they were unworthy. It was good to know, as it meant he had to do something none of the other Tarnished did, claim the power of a Demigod, or maybe even two or more depending on how many there were on this continent, before he lost the power to revive himself. Rogier, however, didn't need assistance finding whatever it was that he was after, since Tirek was sure that it was important as well and the act of finding it might give him more power, but since he wanted to be left alone the pair departed, crossing paths with a few Silver Knights and a few Hollows. They weren't the most important foe Tirek and Blaidd discovered, rather it was one of the Grafted, the monster he had seen when he emerged from the tomb, after being killed in that tree area, where the pair focused on Blaidd playing defense as Tirek struck it with magic, eventually bringing an end to it.

After that Tirek found a lift that brought them back up to the Grace he had activated not that long ago, where he decided to rest for short period of time, to restock his flasks and spend his newly acquired Runes, before worrying about the rest of the castle and the Demigod they were hunting.

Godrick the Grafted

Following the brief rest Tirek and Blaidd used the lift that brought them back up to the Grace to return to the chamber that the Grafted had been waiting in, where he found that there were some exceptions to the world resetting rule of the Graces, as certain enemies, such as the Grafted, didn't return. He guessed those foes were more like checkpoints or something, just to see if the Tarnished had the power to survive what was beyond them, or maybe he was overthinking everything and there was no reason other than luck, which was entirely possible at this point. He also stopped to admire a painting that was in the chamber, one that depicted a great warrior with what appeared to be a large spectral lion latched onto him, doing battle with whatever foe he happened to be fighting at the time. Just by staring at the painting he got the sense that the figure was a rather skilled and powerful warrior, while also possessing the heart of a noble, based on his attire and stance, who also screamed like he might be either another Demigod or even a God himself.

"Godfrey, the First Elden Lord, Queen Marika's first consort." Blaidd commented, where he stopped to look at the painting as well, either reciting information that was common knowledge in the Lands Between or sharing information that was best kept as a secret, but it seemed like the former to Tirek, "It is said that Godrick is a member of the line Godfrey and Marika started, though I guess we'll find out when we discover where he's hiding."

"Godrick is probably a weak Demigod, given that someone tried to protect the bridge to stop Tarnished from entering this castle in the first place." Tirek remarked, though while such a thing would have disappointed him, even if there was no way to tell if his thoughts were true or not, he did know that taking down a Demigod would grant him untold power, to aid him in his search for the other Demigods, "Come on, let's find him and get this over with."

After leaving the chamber that the painting was in the pair found their way to a courtyard that Tirek stopped to stare at, as there were all sorts of Soldiers guarding the path forward, some manning what appeared to be ballista, some having their own bows at the ready, and others readying their melee weapons. In addition to all of that he found what appeared to be a large figure, with an equally large weapon, who reminded him of Margit due to all the horns he had, an Omen according to Blaidd, though he was blocking the way to an area that might have a Grace in it. It wasn't that they needed another one after just finding a way back to the Grace he had rested at, it was just that his experience with this world, and how unfair it could be at times, told him that with this many enemies there had to be another one somewhere nearby. He told Blaidd his thoughts on the matter, while they were still safe since it appeared that none of the Soldiers had noticed them in the doorway they had stopped in, and he found that the wolfen warrior agreed, which meant their target should be over by the Omen.

A few moments later the pair emerged from the building they had been standing in, Tirek lashing out with his magic as he targeted the Soldiers that preferred to stand still, leaving all of the others for Blaidd to tackle as the wolfen warrior rushed at them and swung his greatsword, cleaving his way through them. Some of the Soldiers gathered near each other not a few seconds later and readied their weapons, intending on firing at the pair while they were distracted, causing Tirek to turn towards them without delay as he gathered his magic and loosed a burst of flames at them. He had to admit that his acquisition of a dragon's power had been beneficial to him, meaning if he found more of their power he would become far stronger in due time, especially since it caused a great deal of destruction for the Soldiers. Blaidd, of course, slashed at his foes and cut them down without delay, before he leapt over to where the Omen was standing and clashed with it, both of their weapons clashing as they fought for dominance, leaving Tirek to hurl spells at some undead dogs and some of the Hawks that dared to investigate the noise.

In the end, as Tirek expected, Blaidd cut down his foe and made sure that the Omen wasn't blocking the way at all, where they regrouped and approached the area that he had been guarding, where he found that there was definitely a Grace in the area and activated it without delay. With that in hand they turned and headed down the rest of the path that the large number of Soldiers had been guarding, where Tirek found some Hawks resting on explosive containers and ignited them before the birds could do anything, blasting them to pieces. While he did that, and made sure that the rest of the area was clear of similar enemies, Blaidd dealt with the couple of Soldiers that were in the way, hacking and slashing at them to be sure they could move forward without wasting too much time. Tirek did have to stop at one point, as there was an open door that lead into one of the buildings on their right, where he found a lady in what appeared to be barbarian armor and who happened to standing over a silver Knight that she must have killed while they were busy.

He instantly beckoned for Blaidd to leave her alone, because if she was able to take down one of the stronger foes that resided in the castle, without breaking a sweat based on what he could see, and if that was the case she might be in the middle of looking for Godrick, another useful ally he could use to his advantage.

"Be proud, knight, for you were a fine warrior... your only mistake in life was your choice of master." the lady stated, as if she knew who was inside the armor, in fact that explained much in an instant, before she picked up her axes from where they rested and attached both to her belt once more, "Let the winds lift you, to a higher place... who in the world are you two?"

"Tirek, and this is my companion Blaidd." Tirek replied, as the lady had turned towards the doorway while she was talking and spotted them without delay, though both of them did nothing to her, to show that he wanted to talk and that they meant her no harm, not unless she attacked them first, "We seek Godrick."

"A Tarnished and his wolf companion? How interesting." the lady said, where she took a moment to eye Tirek, no doubt to see how worthy he was of the title of 'Tarnished', before she sighed and removed her hands from her weapons, showing that she was willing to talk, for the time being, "I am Nepheli Loux, and I am here to end this repulsive grafting that Godrick has decided to partake in, as decreed by my father... if you are seeking him, maybe my father would permit me to join the fight."

"By all means, join us in our venture." Tirek remarked, because while he would have been worried about another warrior stealing the Great Rune and power of Godrick, ruining the reason he came here in the first place, he knew Blaidd didn't get Runes like him and he suspected that Nepheli was like Rogier, her status as Tarnished was broken.

In the end Nepheli decided to join him and Blaidd in their quest, where they headed down the rest of the path that the pair had been following and found that there were two Soldiers and a Troll blocking the path forward, causing Tirek to let out a brief sigh as he loosed some magic into the Troll's chest. Blaidd rushed forward after that happened and swung his greatsword at the Soldiers that were in the way, leaving Nepheli to zero in on the Troll and hack into it's feet, weakening it to the point that it collapsed, allowing Tirek to finish it off. Following that Tirek walked up some steps and found what they were looking for, a golden mist wall that had to be where Godrick was hiding, and in a small room to the right of the slim walkway he found a new Grace, where he activated it, rested, and used his Runes to empower himself. Such a thing gave him a chance to see that Nepheli didn't do anything like what he did, before reminding himself that she didn't seem to have her Finger Maiden anywhere, confirming that she must have been forsaken by Grace, meaning he didn't have to fear her taking what he was after.

In the next moment, once he was ready, Tirek walked over to the golden mist and walked through it, finding that it lead to a ruined courtyard that looked like it was full of graves, with a fallen dragon resting on a stake, before spotting the large figure who was kneeling by the beast's small corpse.

"Mighty Dragon, thou'rt a trueborn heir... lend me thy strength, o kindred, and deliver me unto greater heights." the odd figure, who had to be Godrick, said as he raised a hand towards the beast's corpse, while at the same time showing that his limb seemed messed up, as a result of his grafting no doubt, before he turned to face them, "Well now, what do we have here? A lowly Tarnished, playing as a pitiful lord... lowly intruders, I command thee, kneel! I am the lord of all that is golden!"

As he talked Godrick pulled off the cloak he was wearing and revealed that his entire body was grafted and that he had far too many arms, not to mention hands, on his back, while he carried two large axes into battle, one of which he slammed the head into the ground on his 'kneel' command. With that done the trio rushed down to where he was standing, where Tirek rained magic down on Godrick while Blaidd focused on swinging his greatsword at their foe, utilizing the frost power it possessed to deal damage, and Nepheli made her way around to attack the Demigod in her own manner. The part that was shocking was that the foul Demigod that was in front of them was able to roll and move with some level of ease that Tirek thought was strange for someone of his size, though he still suffered damage when all three of them struck him, a fact that he either ignored or didn't care about. There were some instances of him swinging his weapons that affected the wind, like he was creating a tempest or something, and when he struck the ground it seemed like he was causing parts of it to shake, like an earthquake, but if they were able to time their movements right they could avoid being hurt.

All of this greatly annoyed Godrick as they slashed at him and Tirek blasted him, to the point where he went mental and cut off part of his left arm with an axe, something that caused him to stick his stub against the dragon's neck, somehow transferring it to his own body as it crashed, head and all, onto the ground. What weirded Tirek out was that it worked and even brought the head back to life, allowing him to loose a burst of dragon fire into the air before Godrick attacked them again, showing them that he had totally lost his mind and that putting him down would be a mercy at this point. He was even able to add flames to his tempest power, in addition to loosing bursts of flames at his foes, though with three foes it became hard for him to do much since it looked like he had to focus when using the dragon's powers. Such a thing meant they were able to do far more damage to him than they did previously, but without any additional resources to grant into his body Tirek was able to deal a powerful blast to his chest, combining his own dragon flames with his magic, that caused their foe to explode, with the pieces disappearing into a golden mist.

What he left behind was a dull golden circular item with a circular trinity symbol, a Great Rune he realized, and a carving that resembled Godrick in some manner, not to mention a lot of Runes for his efforts, though all he could do was smile as the first leg of his journey was over at last and he looked forward to what the future held for him now.

The First Great Rune

As Tirek ignited the Grace that appeared in Godrick's arena, like what happened when he defeated some of the far more important powerful creatures of the land, he found that Nepheli left the area as soon as the Demigod was defeated, with a frown on her face. Of course he didn't care too much about her, she had been a tool to help him take down Godrick and she had fulfilled her purpose with flying colors, so her leaving was for the best in his eyes, since he and Blaidd were more than enough to deal with everything. With that in mind his first action was to sit down at the Grace so he could spend the new Runes he had acquired, using Godrick's strength to empower his body to new heights, to the point where he was sure that if he went out to explore Limgrave he could do it on his own. Once that was done he held a hand out and focused, where he watched as the Great Rune he had found appeared not a few seconds later, something that caused him to wonder why it looked so dull, since he figured that it would be full of life.

"So that's Godrick's Great Rune... interesting." Blaidd commented, where he stared at the important dull item as he took a few seconds to think about what he was seeing right now, all while finding that Tirek's focus was squarely on it and nothing else, even though he knew his companion was listening in case he had anything interesting to share, "I had heard that the Great Towers of the land were connected to the Great Runes... maybe we should find a way to access Limgrave's so you can restore it's power?"

"Should have known... you kill the owner, it's power becomes out of reach, but at least there is a way to rekindle it's power for my purposes." Tirek said, where he shifted his hand and the Great Rune returned to it's new place in his body, though as he did that, and got ready to move out, he found that the prisoner from the main gate had arrived and was stomping on Godrick's lifeless head, what was left of the now slain Demigod.

In the end he decided not to mess with him, in fact he was no longer important to Tirek's plans, and they warped over to the Grace that was by the Omen, where he and Blaidd ambushed the enemies that were guarding the area with ease, since none of them were expecting an attack from behind. The reason for coming back here was because Blaidd had an idea as to where Tirek could find the Divine Tower, which had to be the large tower he had seen off in the distance a few times during his quest, they just had to kill these guys again. While they did so Tirek dealt with the enemies that were up on the cliffs that lined the main road, when they ventured into the section that they had skipped by earlier, allowing the wolfen warrior to cut down all of the Soldiers that were in the way. With them working together it didn't take them too long to reach an area that had what appeared to be stairs leading to a bridge, likely the very long one Tirek had spotted once upon a time, which just so happened to be their current destination.

There was also a large lion that had a blade attached to it's front right leg, why Tirek had no idea and he suspected that he didn't want to know the reason, blocking the way forward, but instead of worrying about it he and Blaidd walked over into the chamber that was before the stairs. Such a thing allowed him to find that the creature couldn't follow them, maybe it was magically bound to the area that they had found it in, before discovering a Grace nearby that he activated without even wasting time, but, since he didn't feel like stopping, Tirek didn't stop this time. From there they found that the stairs were short and that, after passing through an impressive set of stonework, it was a long walk over to the giant sized tower, as it put the castle they were in to shame since it was at least five times taller than the castle. For a moment he had to wonder why there were no guards, since it was a 'Divine' Tower and thought that the people of the Lands Between would want to keep them safe, before discovering that it did, in fact, have guardians, three Golems to be exact.

Fortunately the two melee ones were on the ground and didn't react until they got close, even though the third, an archer, was more of a pest as it loosed arrows at both of them, one at a time, though Tirek had the bright idea to use them on the other Golems, as in make the archer hit it's allies. Such a thing allowed them to bring down both of the melee Golems in no time at all and let them approach the archer while it was reaching for another arrow, where Blaidd struck it's feet while Tirek focused on striking it's chest with magic. Together they brought it down and opened the way for them to continue across the bridge, only to stop when Tirek discovered that it was broken, there was a huge chunk missing, but there was a small blue device, as large as the chest piece of a normal set of armor. Blaidd explained that it was a Waygate, linking two points together to allow quick travel from one place to another, meaning the other side had to be the front of the tower, or at least he hoped so since there was no telling where a gate would take someone, causing Tirek to sigh as he touched it and let the magic wash over him.

A few seconds later he appeared somewhere else and found that it was, in fact, right in front of the massive tower, which was gigantic from the angle he was at now, and as Blaidd appeared behind him he stepped forward, raising his hands to the stonework in front of him, the part that looked like a door, and found that he was able to push it. Such a thing allowed him to actually enter the inside of the Divine Tower, where he discovered a lone platform that had a button in the middle of it, though the area between the platform and the walls was missing, showing that it was a straight drop to the bottom of the tower. With that in mind he approached the button and waited for Blaidd to catch up before activating it, where the area immediately around them separated from the rest of the platform and rose into the air, causing the pair to simply wait for it to come to a stop. When it did he found a set of stairs leading outside and followed it without delay, finding that it brought him to a new Grace, which he activated, before finding that from this height he could see more of the world, as in a lake area that seemed to be next, a golden land of sorts high above that, and who knew what else since the massive trunk of the Erdtree was in the way.

After that he reached the top of the tower, a flat area that had a small circular area with some odd finger creature, dead by the looks of it, resting in the center of everything, though there was a glowing icon that matched the Great Rune that was in his possession, and when he raised his hand the power surged into him, likely awakening the power of the item in no time at all.

"I'm afraid that this is where our adventure ends, my friend." Blaidd said, causing Tirek to turn for a moment as he found that the wolfen warrior seemed sad to be parting with him, even though he had done so much to help him walk the path to this very moment, meaning he must have formed a bond with him during their short time together, "Your quest will take you into either Liurnia of the Lakes, the region to the immediate north of Limgrave, or into Caelid, the dreaded region to the east. I still have a mission to do in Limgrave, other than killing Darriwil, so since your quest will take you out of this part of the Lands Between and into one of the others, well, this is where we part ways... if our objectives align again, and we're heading in the same direction, maybe we'll see each other again."

"You know, I don't say this often, but... thanks for the help... friend." Tirek replied, though before Blaidd did anything he did something else he normally wouldn't do, he held out his map for a moment and let the wolfen warrior see that he was offering him some aid, due to the golden glow it was giving off right now.

Blaidd accepted the offer as he rested his hand on the map and Tirek warped them off the tower's peak, where the pair quickly returned to the Grace that was right outside the forest they had met in, though before Blaidd left he did tell Tirek of a person in Liurnia who might be of use to him, he just had to find 'Iji' first. With that done the wolfen warrior bid him farewell and headed into the forest without delay, where Tirek reflected that he was actually going to miss Blaidd, both due to his skills and because he was actually starting to see him as a friend he could depend on, causing him to mentally curse this land for messing with him. Once he was sure that Blaidd was deep in the forest, and wasn't coming back, Tirek focused on his destination and returned to the Roundtable Hold, as it was time to speak with the prick who told him that he was just a nobody and had to earn his keep. There were people to talk to, information to learn, and other things he had to do to prepare himself for the next hurdle of his journey, even though he was going to ignore Caelid for as long as he could, as he hated that place with a burning passion.

When he reached his destination, however, Tirek discovered that the main door, the raised one, was now open and that it lead to a chamber that had a living version of the figure monster he had seen earlier, a hand of sorts with two fingers, and there was an old crone sitting off to the left.

The Crone revealed that she was called Enia and that she spoke for the Two Fingers, the Envoys of the Greater Will, and as he stepped into the chamber the Fingers shuddered, moving and shifting with the base remaining still, which caused Enia to focus on them for a time. It weirded Tirek out as he watched them do their movements, causing him to focus on the crone for a time as she spoke whatever words or phrases she was able to interpret from the Two Fingers, who talked about the shattered Elden Ring and how life had been left in ruin after it's breaking. They seemed to mention that the Greater Will had not abandoned this world, given the Graces and guiding light that aided the Tarnished, before it spoke of how his newly acquired Great Rune was a handsome shard of the Elden Ring. Enia also translated that he was required to seek another, for with two fragments of power would he gain the right to become the next Elden Lord and seek the Elden Ring, confirming what Blaidd had said earlier, but he remained silent as the Two Fingers returned to normal.

With that done Tirek departed from their chamber and found that the path to Gideon's private room was open, where the bone armored figure simply stared at him as he entered it, only to quickly discover that it was nicer than the rest of the Roundtable Hold, with the figure in question standing on the other side of a table.

"So, you have acquired a Great Rune and received the wisdom of the Two Fingers... allow me to formally welcome you to the Roundtable Hold, as one of it's true members." Gideon said, meaning he must have spies somewhere and that one must have told him about the fact that Tirek had talked to the creature that was in the now opened raised room, before he took a moment to study Tirek and mentally debated what to share with him, "I understand that you might not like me, given our previous interaction, but I am accumulating knowledge to aid us in putting one of the Tarnished on the throne... whether it be you, someone else, or myself is irrelevant. Shall we work together?"

"Sure... for now." Tirek replied, as he still didn't like Gideon, in fact part of him was hoping the sorcerer would take to the field at one point so he could bring him down for his earlier arrogance, but for now he guessed he could use whatever bits of information that he had to offer, "I seek the remaining Great Runes. How many more are there?"

"Counting the one you just obtained, we believe there are nine Great Runes... however, two are said to be missing, so we'll focus on the seven we know of." Gideon stated, something that interested Tirek a little, both in terms of how many targets he should be seeking and the fact that two of the Great Runes were apparently missing right now, meaning it might be near impossible to obtain those two, "We have confirmed the locations of five Great Runes: Godrick the Grafted, who you slew not that long ago; General Radahn, who fought Malenia and her Rot to a standstill in the Caelid wilds; Praetor Rykard, Lord of the Volcano Manor of Mt. Gelmir; Morgott the Grace-Given, Lord of Leyndell; and Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon and ruler of Raya Lucaria's Academy. In addition to those five we know of two more Shardbearers, Malenia and someone known only as the Lord of Blood, but have been unable to learn where they are hiding or how to get to them... the remaining two Great Runes are said to be in the hands of Ranni the Witch, whose been missing for years, and Miquella, Malenia's twin, who is no doubt hiding with his sister."

"Nine Great Runes... seven of which can be obtained, but only five we know the locations of." Tirek commented, though he wasn't expecting to hear Malenia's name among the list of targets, causing him to mentally grin as he realized that he had another reason to go back to her domain and tear her to shreds in the future, "Very well, I shall rest up and gather myself for whatever the future holds."

He needed some time to plan out where he wanted to go first and who should be his next target, since his list had grown since the last time he had considered it, and now he was looking forward to finding and killing most of the targets that had been given to him, causing him to grin as he wondered what might happen in the very near future.

Into Liurnia

While Tirek was wandering around the Roundtable Hold he discovered that the lady he had discovered earlier had also found her way to the sanctuary, though he had to talk with both her and the blacksmith to set up some sort of deal that the two could work with. Apparently the lady, Roderika, had the power to use special flowers to empower the ashes of the dead that some Tarnished could use, causing Tirek to wonder if he would return to her at some point in time, since there was a chance that he might need her services for his own ashes. Other than that he didn't discover anything else that was new, save for the arrival of Rogier, whose lower half was now covered in a sheet and seemed to have black vines coming from under it, but he decided not to bother him right now. After checking out the rest of the Hold, and discovering that there was nothing else for him to worry about, Tirek opened his map and returned to Godrick's arena without delay, where he just ignored the prisoner who was stomping on the Demigod's remains and opened the door that was beyond him.

Such a thing revealed a throne chamber that had two paths for him to take, the right being a dead end while the left lead to a path that seemed to be a back entrance to the castle, and instead of worrying about the ladder he just jumped down the length of it, as it was rather short, and walked outside, allowing him to find a new Grace that he ignited.

There was a blind girl, or maybe a blind priestess, near the campsite that served as the Grace's resting place, but she was of no consequence to him as he headed down the path, finding that it lead to a church and another road that had to be what would bring him to Liurnia. Inside the ruined structure he found a man who seemed saddened by the fact that he was no longer allowed inside the school he had been expelled from, Raya Lucaria Academy, but he did have some information for him to digest, that the entrance to the academy was sealed with a powerful ward spell. The only way around said seal was a very special key, a Glintstone Key to be exact, but the chances of finding one outside the academy was slim to none, and the keys were linked to the one they were given to, so to obtain one he would have to find a mage and kill them for their key. Of course the mage informed him that he would be grateful if he found him a key so he could return to his place of learning, something Tirek doubted since the rarity of the item meant he would likely only find one of them during his travels, or maybe not and he'd find a way around the seal.

The other thing he discovered was a chalice with a tear inside it, one that he returned to the Grace to use and found that it empowered his flasks, to restore more of his health or mana, causing him to chuckle as he headed down the other path and found that it lead to a camp. He found a few Soldiers and even a Knight guarding the camp, though with his powers now far stronger than before Tirek used his magic to crush them without wasting too much time and discovered that the camp really had nothing to offer him, so he left through the backside and continued on his way. From there he found yet another Grace, where he considered it weird to have so many near each other, as it wasn't even a challenge with the vast number of spots he could revive at, which he ignited as he ignored the merchant and headed into the swamp that was, for some odd reason, called the 'Lakes'. Tirek knew what his first objective was when he reached a new area, find the map so his map would expand on it's own, to which he carefully approached the watery area that was in front of him, since he had no idea what sort of enemies were waiting for him this time around.

What he found was that there were some crawling creatures who had six arms and leapt at him so they could unleash a flurry of attacks on those they viewed as their enemies, though while fighting them one on one was easy Tirek knew that two or more on one was a bad idea. He discovered that fact the hard way, as two of them ambushed him and struck him multiple times in a row, attacks that actually hurt despite each being a simple slap from one of his foes, but he crushed his foes with his magic and then used a flask to restore his health. With that information in mind he made sure to fire at the Crawlers before they every got close to him, blasting them to pieces as he carefully cleared the way forward, since there was a pillar with a map fragment resting on a small stone wall next to it. The Crawlers were wiped out before they even got close to him, as he could see a few more of them in the immediate area, though once he was sure that the area was clear he grabbed the map fragment and added it to his map, allowing him to see more of the area than before.

The annoying part about obtaining the map fragment was that it contained the eastern half of Liurnia and a section of the middle, so to get everything he needed to figure out how to find the western portion, or maybe a middle and western piece since there was a chance there was more than what he was seeing. He could see the Divine Tower on the map, as it was located off to the right of everything in this area, though he knew it would be best to seek the next target first, since he would need their Great Rune first before he worried about the tower. With this in mind it meant he would have to head deeper into the swamp and see if he could find another map fragment, since he was sure that several more Graces would show up while he was exploring the area, plus he had to be more careful due to the fact that this place had new enemies for him to fight. There was no telling what else was out there, since he knew that what was in Caelid wasn't in Limgrave, or at least not during his time in both regions, so he assumed that Liurnia was going to be full of new challenges, causing him to call forth Torrent so he could escape in case things went south.

While he did that he also spotted some veiled figures, crawling on the ground no less, who rung bells to loose golden bits of magic at whoever happened to be passing through the area, where he summoned his magic and blasted them with a couple of pebbles, taking out the Callers before they did any damage to him. Fortunately those whose magic slipped into his immediate area didn't do a lot of damage to him, rather he ate their attacks, as his innate power was more suited for the area he seemed to be heading towards, before he blasted them in return. Such a thing made him wonder if the whole academy was full of magic users, which it likely was given what the one man had said, meaning he would be able to feast on all of their magic multiple times before he reached the end of his journey in this area. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he really didn't need Blaidd this time around, the mages were totally screwed since he could eat their power, he just had to figure out how to get into the academy.

He wasn't expecting his thoughts to be interrupted as he reached a ruined area and discovered what looked like a far more aggressive version of the Crawlers he had faced so far, one that struck him and Torrent repeatedly before he had a chance to fight back, causing him to return to the last Grace in no time.

"Of course, I finally beat a Demigod and the world decides to screw me over again." Tirek remarked, which seemed to be a consequence of him thinking things were going to be easy after taking down the weakest of the Demigods, meaning he would have to be extra careful in the future, since there was no telling what else might be lurking in the depths of the vast swamp he had discovered.

In that moment he sighed for a few seconds as he considered his options, figuring that he could take things a little slower so he didn't walk into a trap or something, but he knew that, in due time, he would find the next Demigod and take her down, he just had to be patient and things would go his way once more.

Exploring the Lakes

After taking a few moments to gather himself, due to his most current death, Tirek moved out from the Grace spot and headed back into the swamp area in front of him, using Torrent to navigate the area while he kept his eyes out for the few enemies that were waiting for him. He made sure to eliminate the Crawlers and the Callers when he spotted them, since he understood that allowing them to overwhelm him was a bad idea, though he steered clear of where the foul monster was resting, since he didn't want to die again. Despite that fact he rushed in with his steed and claimed his Runes before the creature emerged from whatever hiding place it was lurking in, since he didn't want to lose any of them, before riding even deeper into the watery area that stood between him and the next Demigod he was after. While he did that he also noticed a fair number of trees blocking his view of the higher sections of Liurnia, even though he could see a minor Erdtree beyond them, an area he might check out once he knew the lay of the land better, depending on how much this province annoyed him anyway.

All of the scattered ruins, however, told him that this place might have been more like an actual town, or an area with a few towns that were all over the province, meaning there had to be places for him to find more enemies to take down, like the Soldiers for example, instead of the monsters that were near the first Grace.

While he traveled the lakes, searching for the other Graces that he knew were out there, Tirek found what he called a Cold Knight, a horse and it's rider that were emitting chilling mist, which also obscured his vision of them a little, so it was hard to tell if it was an actual knight or just one of the Callers. When he discovered the second Grace, however, he found that there was a break in the trees and that there was a view of everything else in the immediate area, though his gaze rested on what appeared to be a large structure, a school of some kind, up on a lone plateau that was separated from the rest of the land. It was the Academy, he knew that much by looking at it since he could practically feel the magic now that he was a tad bit closer to where it was located, where he had to wonder if he might be able to use his own power to smash the seal that was around it and enter the Academy in his own manner. Such a thing might work better for him, since he had no idea where he might find one of the Glintstone keys that would actually allow one to bypass the ancient seals, which caused him to focus on the structure and little else.

He also discovered a few more enemies for him to either deal with or ignore, such as large bats that screeched when he got close with Torrent, small little guys near one of the cliff edges that liked to throw white smoke rocks that seemed to be designed to put others to sleep, and odd silvery skinned figures who were patrolling a sunken town.

He couldn't tell if the silvery foes were magical or not, or what they were doing here, but Tirek was able to tell that they were enemies and that they had to be taken down, hence why he opened fire on them and blasted those that got close with his magic, even though some did cartwheels before stopping to attack him. They were annoying foes, he figured that out rather easily, and something that confirmed it was the fact that there were a few Soldiers guarding an entry point of sorts, one that had to lead to one of the borders of the sealed area. With that in mind he rushed at them and leapt into the air with Torrent, sailing over his foes while knocking down some of them with his spells, where he found more foes in the area beyond them, complete with some sort of wooden device that spewed fire, one that actually moved since it had a driver inside it. Such a thing made him realize that, before the Shattering, it was possible that the people were making all sorts of things to improve everyday life, but then the Elden Ring was broken and war sprouted up everywhere, where he assumed this was a war 'improvement'.

Regardless of that fact he blasted his way through the Soldiers that were in front of him and found a bridge that lead right to a large magical seal, which had a Grace nearby, with a fallen sorcerer resting nearby who had a map fragment, one that looked like it was close to his current position.

"Well then, let's see to the seal." Tirek said, where he raised his hand and pressed it against the blue magic that was right in front of him, something that caused a rush of energy to happen between where he pressed it and the barrier that the seal was powering right now, and while he extracted a bit of it's power he could tell it wasn't enough to weaken it, "Very interesting... I guess I need the key after all."

With that in mind he realized that he didn't have the actual map for the area that the fragment was for, but he did see a bit of golden in the air and quickly found that it was heading to the northwest, where he made sure to make his way down to what seemed to be a ruined church, totally torn down. From there it was a simple matter to find a new Grace and head to the north for real, where he spotted a number of beetles that were in the air, handing only blue mana orbs that would no doubt refill his cerulean flasks if he struck the carriers down. Beyond that rested a large beast that he recognized, as it was a dragon with crystals growing out of it's tail and other parts of it's body, meaning it had to be the guardian of the key, or maybe an unintended one if it ambushed the sorcerer that held the key. He honestly didn't care which option was right, he wanted the key and there was no stopping him in his quest to get what he wanted, hence why he readied himself for what he was about to do, because with all the crystals, no doubt Glintstone fragments, he suspected that he might not need to do much this time around.

Sure enough the dragon, sensing his arrival, got up and roared at him as he dismissed Torrent, though when it found that he was unwilling to stand down the beast gathered it's breath and loosed a burst of blue flames at him, though he quickly discovered that his thoughts were correct. With all of the crystalline fragments that were embedded in the dragon's body, and it even looked like some pieces were hanging over it's eyes, the beast's breath attack had been altered into a magical version, meaning he could devour the flames with ease. Thanks to that power he was able to lash out at the beast while it tried, in vain, to understand what had just happened, and it even tried to gather it's power into a single point to blast him into the ground with what appeared to be a potent blast of magical energy. All that magic was devoured by Tirek, who just dragged the battle out as long as he could, because the more power he drained from the Glintstone infused dragon the stronger he became, which would aid him in taking down whatever was in the Academy.

After a couple of minutes of tormenting the beast, who didn't even use it's claws or tail to try and take him down, he did it for the dragon, blasting it until he was sure it was dead, allowing him to recover it's heart and it's power, before walking up to the area it had been resting at and found the Glintstone key he was after, which he claimed without delay.

With that done he returned to the Grace outside the seal, by teleporting over there thanks to the power of Grace, and sat at the safe zone for a few moments, channeling all of the dragon's power into himself without wasting time, allowing him to gain far more strength for whatever was guarding the next Demigod. Given that Margit had been protecting Godrick, a fact that still annoyed him a little when he thought about it, he knew there had to be some sort of powerful creature in the Academy, guarding Rennala from whoever sought to harm her. With that in mind Tirek raised his hand, holding the key he had sought out, and found that some sort of magic washed over him, to which he stepped forward and teleported out of the area that the seal was in, as it brought him to a higher point with another seal to his right, attached to a bridge that was broken into two sections. The path to his left, however, was a lift that had to take him up into the Academy, though he did activate the Grace that was in the center of the courtyard before getting a move on, as he walked onto the lift and let it take him upwards for a few moments, right to the edge of the Academy's region.

When it came to a stop, and he could see the magical sky and the magnificent castle that was in front of him, Tirek let a grin appear on his face as he wondered what sort of enemies he'd discover before finally discovering where Rennala was hiding, and he knew he was going to enjoy his time here way too much.

Invading the Academy

After taking in the majesty that was the Academy of Raya Lucaria, as it was far more than what Tirek had thought of when he first heard the same, he started to explore the area, finding that there happened to be one path and that it lead right up to the only building he had access to. There wasn't much for him to take in as he looked around the area, save for a pair of Sorcerers who happened to be wearing the odd stone and crystal helms over their heads, though as he walked forward the pair stopped what they were doing as one noticed him. Sure enough neither one called for him to stop, rather they simply used their magic in an attempt to bring him down and protect the Academy from intruders, though Tirek simply grinned as his power ate up their spells, adding their meager power to his own without delay. This area would be good for him, as the spells would boost his power to new heights and the Runes that his foes would drop would be used to empower himself, so it was like he was getting double the power without having to exert too much effort on his part.

Eventually he reached the top of the stairs and crushed the two guards before they had a chance to react, allowing him to open the door they had been guarding without having to worry about anyone interrupting him, where he found two rows of benches leading to an alter on the other side of the door. From what he could tell there was a single sorcerer inside the chamber, though there were some of those odd mechanical dolls hanging from part of the ceiling, as the parts on his left and right seemed to be attached to walkways and the middle went higher, to the true roof. With that in mind he gathered his power and blasted the Marionettes to pieces, before any of them had a chance to do anything, before grinning as the lone Sorcerer in the chamber tried to crush him with his magic. It no doubt came as a surprise to his foe when Tirek tanked his spells and approached him without slowing down, a fact that allowed him to crush the life out of his foe before he walked into one of the side paths, the left one.

Such a thing allowed him to find a new Grace, which he activated and rested at so he could quickly add his new Runes to his growing strength, and once that was done he made his way down the rather short passage, which brought him to an odd sight, a graveyard.

He wasn't expecting such a thing up here, but wasn't about to argue with whoever designed the place, so he focused on his mission as he followed the path that was in front of him, only now he had to worry about zombies who seemed to be on the hunt for magical energy. Since Tirek didn't want to be slowed down by them he lashed out with his magic, knocking them all away from him, before he made his way down the path, finding a short bridge that connected the two halves of the area together, along with a short side path to his left. He decided to check out the side path for a time and found that it looped up into the area that he was already heading towards, though it did allow him to find two Marionettes that were looking down at where he could have gone, secret attackers waiting for enemies to show up. With this discovery he used a bit of his magic to wipe them out, before they could even attack him, and with the way clear Tirek made his way over to an opening that happened to be connected to a long stone bridge, with a large waterwheel with platforms that could take him up to the next area.

Tirek also discovered that the area beyond the bridge held a lone pillar and some tall figure who appeared out of thin air, but he used gravity magic in an attempt to crush him and Tirek tanked it, absorbing the power of the attacks as he quickly cut down his foe. Such a thing granted him a new spell, Gravity Well, before he turned and jumped onto the next platform that happened to move due to the contraption it was connected to, though he removed himself from it a few moments later as he reached the upper area it was connected to. He found a few Hollows hanging around a small side path, a dead end by the looks of it, so he focused on the opening in front of him and found that it lead to a classroom, one that had a Grace for him to activate without delay, giving him a new point to be revived at if death claimed him. From there he found another doorway that lead into what seemed to be the main entry point of the real Academy, as he found walls that had all sorts of books and magical artifacts, plus he discovered more Sorcerers who were studying some books and had no idea he was even there.

He grinned as he lashed out at the Sorcerers, surprising them with his sudden arrival as he tanked their spells, eating all of them before they had a chance to do any damage to him, while he, on the other hand, tore through them with ease and scattered them around the corridor he was following. There was also one of the Warrior Jars, a name he learned during his time with Blaidd, guarding an area near the stairs that would grant him more access to the Academy, joined by several Sorcerers, so he made sure to pull it backwards into the empty corridor. Once that was done he crushed it with a bit of his magic, splashing whatever substance that was inside it on the walls that were around him, allowing Tirek to focus on the rest of the enemies that were between him and his target, since he was positive that Rennala was here, he just had to find her hiding place. Other than the Warrior Jar he found more and more Sorcerers wandering around the building, which he expected since this was a school for magic, or had been before everything went wrong, causing him to devour each spell that came at him while he carefully used his bloody dagger to end their lives, until he was the last one standing.

After all of that he decided to take a chance and headed through the golden mist he discovered in an upper corridor, as he suspected this powerful creature would meet it's end soon enough, and he found what appeared to be a lecture room on the other side of the wall, with a large red wolf waiting for him.

"At this point I'm not even surprised." Tirek remarked, though as he said that he found a surprising aspect, the wolf was able to channel magic into it's mouth and leapt to it's right, creating a trail of energy that summoned three blue magical blades into existence and sent them flying at him, where they struck him as he grinned, due to the fact that they faded into his body as he absorbed their power, "That, however, is much more like it!"

The wolf seemed to love jumping around the lecture hall and leave trails of magic in it's wake, no doubt to overload Tirek with it's power so the blades could do some damage to him, showing him that the beast was far smarter than those that were outside Stormveil Castle. The fact that an animal was able to utilize magic, in combination with it's skills, made him wonder if there were more creatures like it in this world, ordinary beasts that could tap into this power, especially since it would mean more power for him to absorb overtime. He also discovered that the wolf had another spell it could use, one that involved summoning a long red blade, a longsword of sorts, which was swung down at him when the wolf jumped up into the air and tried to crush him with it's weight. With his empowered body, and the magic he possessed, he was able to stop the wolf in it's tracks, eat the magic of the spell, and then send it flying into one of the walls with a blast to the chest, showing his foe that he was stronger than it and that this battle would end with him winning.

Sure enough the wolf tried, in vain, to take him down and Tirek feasted on it's magic as they clashed, until he stabbed it in the heart and killed it, allowing a rush of Runes to enter his body as a new Grace appeared nearby, causing him to grin as he sat at it, because a little rest would benefit him before he found where Rennala was hiding.

Rennala of the Full Moon

After taking a few moments to make sure his Runes were spent, since the red wolf had given him quite a bit to work with, Tirek walked out through the second opening in the lecture hall and found that it lead to what appeared to be a ruined courtyard, due to a wrecked staircase to his left. One thing he discovered while he looked at the area was that there was a curved ramp leading up what to looked like the main building of the Academy, a library or maybe even a home area for the one who ruled over the Sorcerers, meaning Rennala had to be there. The ramp itself was separated from the courtyard that he was in, meaning he would have to jump over to the arches that happened to be connected to the bottom portion, where it was easy for Tirek to see that doing so would be the death of him if he misjudged the distance between the two points. In addition to that he spotted a number of Hollows hanging around the shattered stairs, not to mention some sort of metallic thing that seemed to be rolling around on four wheels in the area beyond the fountain he had stopped at, a device that had two crescent blades that looked like they could be thrown and retracted with ease.

He stared at the scene in front of him for a few seconds, coming up with a plan of attack that would allow him to reach his destination without wasting time, and found that there was a way to double back to this area further ahead, he just had to pass through the main building first.

With that in mind Tirek walked over to the edge of the courtyard, the shattered edge to be exact, and studied the small gap for a few seconds, allowing him to understand how much power he had to put into his jump, before he nodded his head and jumped across the entire thing. He landed on one of the stone arches and found that he could just climb over a rail to get on the ramp, though he kept his guard up since there was no telling what might happen next, given that he was getting closer and closer to the next Shardbearer. As he did that, however, he heard the sound of something hitting the ground and turned his head towards the uppermost part of the ramp, which was when Tirek noticed that a large round sphere was rolling down the path and was coming towards him. He did discover that it was coming in a diagonal patter, bouncing off the rail on the right side before hitting the one on the left side, repeating the motion with ease, meaning he could either wait until it went by him or he could simply observe it's pattern and hide in the areas it didn't hit.

The reason he thought there might be more than one of them was due to the fact that the first orb rolled off the end of the ramp and another one spawned at the top of the path, meaning this was either a closed loop or someone was calling forth multiple spheres to deal with him. As such he carefully studied the pattern, which he was able to do by climbing over the railing when a new one spawned into existence, before making his move as he carefully made his way up the ramp, using all of the safety zones he had spotted previously. He noticed that there was no one at the end of the curved path he was running along, at least up where the spheres were coming from, meaning it was hard to determine what went into the trap he must have triggered, but he decided not to worry about it as he entered the building. From there he found a door to his right, leading to one of the portal devices that he would check out later, a locked door to the left, and an open path in front of him that lead to a small area and, more importantly, a lift that should take him to his final destination, though in front of it stood a knight.

Instead of worrying about him Tirek went over to the left and found a covered path leading to a door, one that lead to the area that the Sorcerers were standing in, and once it was open he turned around and returned to the lift area, one more ignoring the knight as he used the lift to reach an area with a large door. He opened the door without delay and walked into the final part of the Academy, which turned out to be a grand library that was protected by all sorts of Sorcerers, not that it mattered since he had been able to bypass them and reach this area without much delay. Tirek could practically feel the power in the air as he made his way into the library, Rennala was here, that much he was sure of, meaning soon he would have a lot more power to add to his own and the journey ahead of him would be even easier, at least until he ran into some stronger foes. As he considered that, however, he felt someone tug on his right leg and glanced down for a moment, where he discovered what appeared to be a child or a really young person trying to nibble on his hoof, likely a student who seemed to have lost his mind in some manner, but before he could say anything he felt something and took a look at the center of the library.

In the following moments he heard a lot of giggling as a number of candles were lit by more students, who seemed to be condemned to crawling on the ground by the looks of it, before he felt the arrival of his target, a large lady who happened to be floating in the air, in a laying position, while wearing robes that matched what the students were wearing and an odd crescent shaped magic crown on her head.

"Hush, little culver... I will soon birth thee anew, a sweeting fresh and pure..." the figure, Rennala, said, stopping the group of students with her voice, all while Tirek found that she was rubbing what seemed to be an amber egg of some kind, the very thing that possessed the Great Rune's power, which he realized was his true target.

Since he knew that the Demigods, and those like them, didn't like to talk Tirek kept his mouth shut as he got ready for a fight, where he quickly discovered that Rennala had a spherical barrier around her and that it was being powered by the students that were around him, the singing ones anyway. He knew that because there were three figures singing while the rest tried to stop him in his tracks, especially since he found that the trio had a ring of golden magic around their heads, an indicator that they were powering the barrier. As such he had to move around the room and attack them before they had a chance to hit him with books, thrown by their magic no less, and even when he killed one he suspected that it was only a temporary death, that they were tied to Rennala's power in some manner and would come back when she wanted to bring them back. Of course, after facing some of the other stronger foes, he suspected that there was another thing he had to keep an eye out for and kept his guard up, only to find that Rennala didn't seem to have any other defenses for him to deal with, and when the third student fell the barrier shattered, dropping his foe to the ground.

It turned out to be such an easy fight for him, as he struck her a few times before backing off as she recharged her barrier spell, causing him to repeat the process until he knocked Rennala to the ground, forcing her to drop the amber egg in the process, which she was far more interested in.

"Ah, my beloved... do not worry, I will hold you!" Rennala said, showing Tirek that he was nothing to her, in fact he had to wonder if she even knew he was here, beating the stuffing out of her, though as she started to pull herself over to the egg something strange happened, the Great Rune inside the egg reacted to a spell that was left on the amber.

A foul darkness was starting to seep out of the amber egg, gathering all over the area they were in while shrouding all the walls in the process, causing Tirek to realize that something was coming for him and caused him to change his stance as everything around him started to change before his eyes.

"Upon my name as Ranni the Witch, Mother's rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee." a familiar voice said, where he realized that the four armed lady he had met earlier had left a spell here, to guard her mother in case someone attacked her, and some of the darkness formed a more confident version of Rennala, who was willing to fight, as they appeared on top of a lake with the full moon glowing behind her, "Foul trespasser, send word far and wide of the last Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon, and the beauty of the night she conjures."

In the following moment Tirek found that he had nothing to fear, the spell was drawing power from Rennala herself, as in it was drawing from her vast reserves to power itself, hence the part about telling the world of her power, to attack him, as it started with a burst of magical energy. Since all of it's attacks were made out of magic he didn't even bother to dodge any of them, instead he devoured them once by one, greedily adding Rennala's power to his own as he slowly weakened the spell that was currently attacking him. Sure, it had the power to create small miniature moons that were launched at him, or sending blasts of energy, or even summoning creatures made of magic to attack him, the 'Oathsworn' as the spell called them, but in the end magic was magic and he devoured all of it. It even summoned a transparent dragon to bring ruin to him and where he was standing, but he grabbed it by the neck and shattered it with ease, drawing in all the power that went into making it, before using one of it's fangs to stab the Fake Rennala in the chest, allowing him to greedily drink in the spell's power and, eventually, shatter it while breaking it's hold over the world.

As that happened, however, his head snapped in one direction as he absorbed the second Great Rune into his body, as in the last moments of the spell he had tracked down Ranni's exact location, meaning he had an area to check out before he returned to the Roundtable Hold, causing him to grin as he wondered what might happen next.

Secret of Caria Manor

The first thing Tirek did after besting Rennala, who ended up sitting in the middle of the library, was to ignite a new Grace and utilize his new Runes to ensure his power was ready for whatever was between him and his goal, since he had no idea what he might be getting himself into. Once he was done with his task he made sure that the new Great Rune was in place, as it was nice to have two of them, before teleporting himself to the area near where he fought the Glintstone dragon earlier, as it was the closest point to where he wanted to go. From there he headed to the north by calling on Torrent and rode off without delay, heading towards an area of the map that he didn't have yet, as he had found a pillar out outside the area that held the seal to the Academy and another fragment of the world map. This time around he decided to ignore the rest of the enemies that might be in the surrounding area, as he passed by a small isle that had a tower on it that had what looked like a couple of balloons that had Marionettes hanging from them, waiting to be detached to do battle.

Eventually he found another pillar that rested just outside a new ruin, so Tirek added another fragment to his map before making his way to the backside of the ruins, as there didn't appear to be anyone here and he found an Illusiory Wall near the northern wall, allowing him to discover a new path, a new Grace, and a Troll reading a book.

"Well, look at you... we don't receive many visitors, much less Tarnished warriors." the Troll said, showing that he was far more intelligent than the rest of his kind, or those that Tirek had encountered so far, though while he talked he set down his book, allowing him to see that he was wearing an odd mirror-like helm over his entire head, "Tell me, what brings you all the way here, to the outskirts of Caria Manor?"

"I seek Ranni the Witch. Do not attempt to persuade me that she's not at the end of this path, for I know exactly where she is located." Tirek stated, though it was nice to know that the area in front of him lead to 'Caria Manor', which had to be the fairly sized castle or fortress that rested at the end of the path he had discovered, even if his eyes rested on a tower that was on a cliff just beyond the manor.

"Why do you seek her?" the Troll asked, where Tirek could see that he seemed to be defensive about this matter, meaning he had to be like Blaidd, a servant of the Demigod he was after, despite the fact that he made no effort to confirm that Ranni was even in this area, no doubt to give him doubt about his plans.

"My business is my own." Tirek replied, though at the same time he ignited the Grace spot and chuckled for a moment, as he could tell that the Troll, while having a large hammer nearby that could be used as a weapon to strike him down, held off on that as he studied him for a time, mentally debating whether or not he was a threat, before he recalled something, "Also, I helped Blaidd track down Darriwil."

When he found that the Troll didn't move to strike him down, no doubt taking in the fact that he knew Blaidd, Tirek moved over to the path he intended to take, where he found that there was some sort of defensive spell guarding the manor, as a large number of magical arrows rained down on the path. He stood his ground as Torrent moved forward, utilizing his own power to absorb the volleys of arrows that rained down on him and his trusty steed, allowing him to steal a bit more power as they drew closer and closer to the manor's main gate. Interestingly enough he found a Grace outside the gate and quickly activated it, just to remember where he had been so far and to give him a place to revive at if he died, before entering the manor without Torrent, as there was some magic at the gate that caused him to dismount. What he discovered was that the area in front of him seemed to be a little foggy, though it wasn't hard for Tirek to see that there were some strange and kind of foul looking hand creatures wandering on the ground, along with some larger ones holding onto the sides of the buildings that were in front of him.

He took in the information he was discovering and decided not to take chances, rather he rushed forward and avoided the Hands as each one realized an intruder had invaded their domain, as he hard some land on the ground behind him, where he avoided looking back as he followed the path. There was a single door along the path he was following, though he also ignored it since he knew that the doors of this place, however many there were, were likely locked and unable to be opened from this side, so he had to figure out how to get to the roof of the building it was attached to to figure out how to open the door. As such he continued into what appeared to be a waiting room of sorts, given some chairs and paintings he saw, and found that the Hands refused to enter this area, allowing him to relax a little as he found a ghost muttering to itself about Ranni, meaning he was definitely in the right place. What he wasn't expecting was the fact that there was a small church of sorts on the floor above him, containing another Grace for him to activate, and when he walked through the opening that rested nearby he discovered that he had to walk along the stone beams connecting the various towers that existed all over the manor.

Tirek discovered that there were a few magical guardians along the beams, magic that took the form of Soldiers no less, a fact that didn't cause him to stop as he made his way over to what appeared to be a lift leading to the upper area, rather he simply walked through the magical Soldiers and siphoned them into his power. A few moments later the lift brought him up to a chamber with another Grace, making him wonder why the force behind them thought that so many had to be scattered all over the place, not that he was complaining since other areas were tough and they were welcome. Once that one was ignited he walked out and found that there were a few large wolves walking around a small grassy area, one he could avoid as he crossed over to some stairs and then found a ladder, something that actually allowed him to get around a Troll and a few Sorcerers. After getting around them he discovered a set of stairs leading right to what appeared to be a large courtyard or meeting area, with a number of important chairs sitting in a ring around the center of the area, so he stepped into the area before anything else happened, such as a golden mist wall appearing behind him.

Sure enough he found a magical knight appearing out of thin air and proceeded to attack him, though this time he raised his eyebrow for a moment as it also attacked him with magical arrows, allowing him to absorb the power of it's attacks as he grabbed onto it's actual weapon and stabbed it in the chest.

"Magical foes mean nothing to me." Tirek remarked, as the powerful creature burst into energy as he absorbed all of it's power twice over, the magic that had created it and the Runes it possessed, before he activated a new Grace and walked out though the other opening, on the other side of the chamber.

Such a thing allowed him to discover that there were some ruins up here, along with three towers, though the one that was to the southeast was his target, instead of the one to the immediate south or the immediate east, causing him to ride over to where it was located. While he did so he found another Glintstone dragon hanging out in the area and, when the beast dared to attack him, Tirek lashed out with his magic as he drained the beast's attacks, something that caused it to flee before he could kill it, meaning he'd run into it later. With the cowardly creature gone he focused on the tower that he was heading towards, ignoring the couple of smaller wolves that were outside it as he dismounted Torrent and headed into the tower, as he could feel Ranni's presence at it's highest point. Like he thought there were books everywhere, which he expected from someone who seemed to be a master of the magic of this world, or a certain style of magic anyway, and he even found a Grace just before a lift that lead him even higher, causing him to activate it before facing the path he had set himself on.

At the highest point, far above everything else, he found a small chamber that had a chair inside it, facing the door and the sky beyond it, and sitting on the chair was none other than Ranni herself, who raised her head for a moment as Tirek silently stepped into her domain.

"Tirek... what business do you have here?" Ranni inquired, where it was clear that, despite their brief encounter, she did, in fact, remember him, even though she prevented herself from showing too much emotion, meaning she had to be a little curious as to why he was here, "I have no memory of inking you an invitation."

"Ranni the Witch, I have come here for one purpose..." Tirek said, though in that moment he did something that would no doubt shock anyone back on Equus if they saw him right now, he knelt before her and lowered his head, because he felt something different when he thought of her and he was eager to see what might be in her future, "I have come to serve you and help fulfill your goals."

He suspected that by walking down her path he would grow even stronger as time went on, though he was eager to see what sort of plans she had for the future and what sort of trials he would have to overcome to aid her, causing him to smile as he patiently waited for her answer to his overall destiny.

Journey Underground

"Intriguing... perhaps fate has brought about this reunion." Ranni commented, where Tirek could tell that she was silently debating what to do with him, no doubt surprised by his statement when he finally found her hiding spot, and he could tell that she was using a bit of magic to do something that wasn't directed at him, "I stole Death long ago, creating an infamous night in the process, and now search for the dark path... I wish to upend everything and rid the world of what came before. Tell me, does that interest you?"

"My Lady, I am all about dark paths. The knowledge you have given me changes nothing." Tirek replied, though he stayed in his kneeling state for a time, since it was the proper thing to do when one was pledging one's self to someone else, and he could see that Ranni was taking in his words and attitude, his conviction to join her.

"Good. Then we shall proceed with haste: there is a half-wolven warrior in my service by the name of Blaidd, and I wish for you to aid him in his mission." Ranni said, something that caused Tirek to smile, as he knew the warrior in question, in fact he was sure Blaidd had conversed with her before they went their separate ways in Limgrave, "I have called for him to greet you, and he should be on one of the floors below us... he will tell you everything you need to know, in searching for the city of Nokron. In addition to Blaidd I have called for Iji, my war counselor, and Seluvis, a preceptor of the magical arts, to come greet you as well, as a new addition to our group... take from them whatever advantages you can get, as there is no telling what the future might hold."

Tirek nodded his head for a moment before heading back down to the lift that brought him back down to where the Grace was located, where he found a phantom image of the Troll smith he had walked by, Iji according to Ranni, though after that he found a phantom version of Blaidd on the floor below that.

"Ah, Tirek, it's good to see you again friend." Blaidd stated, where it looked like Ranni had a spell that allowed one to project their consciousness to another location when someone used a charm or something to call on them, making him wonder when he'd gain the right to obtain his charm or marking from her.

"I'm glad to see you again as well." Tirek said, which was the truth, he had grown fond of traveling with the wolfen warrior during his time in Limgrave and now he was being assigned to help him, meaning they could travel together once more as they served the same mistress, something that would help him prepare for the future, "So, I hear we're looking for a place called Nokron?"

"Aye, an Eternal City. It is said that it's located just under Limgrave." Blaidd replied, causing Tirek to raise an eyebrow for a moment as he learned that piece of information, though he assumed there was more for him to learn before he was able to actually help the wolfen warrior out in his assigned mission, "Now, there's a well in the forest you met me in, one that should allow me to pick up the road to Nokron... we should meet up below ground and go from there."

"Okay, it might take me a bit to find this 'well', but I'll be there as fast as I can." Tirek stated, as he didn't recall seeing such a structure in the Mistwood when he was there, though to be fair he had sought out Blaidd as soon as he knew that he was somewhere in that forest, and had a feeling that such a statement might cause his friend to help him out.

Sure enough Blaidd pinpointed the exact place of the well on his map, allowing him to depart so he could get ready, but before Tirek left he spoke to Seluvis, who annoyed him instantly, and Iji, who apologized for not realizing his intent when they spoke, before he checked in with his Mistress. Ranni revealed that her doll body was not without limitations and that she would be falling asleep soon, after placing one last spell on her portion of the tower to ensure no harm came to her while she did so, and that she was expecting great things from Tirek. With that in mind, and his Mistress wishing him well in his quest, Tirek departed from the tower and returned to the edge of the Mistwood, where he found that the power to warp between spots like this to be incredibly useful, so he didn't have to waste time riding Torrent over familiar ground. As soon as he was sure the coast was clear Tirek moved out into the area by utilizing his steed, hoping to avoid the bears of the area, before he spotted Blaidd off in the distance and turned in his direction, finding that he was leading him to what looked like a round structure.

It was none other than the well itself, an empty area that had a platform in the middle, a lift that they used to head down into the earth, only for Tirek to discover that it went far deeper than he was expecting and that there happened to be a city at some point, which they went by without stopping. Blaidd explained that the lift didn't reach the city, in fact the lift was too far away for anyone to do anything, so they were exploring an underground area for a way up to Nokron, since he was convinced there was a warp gate down here that lead up there. His previous search had been interrupted by the fact that Darriwil had betrayed them and it was his duty to hunt him down, reminding Tirek of what happened to those who swore to serve Ranni and ended up betraying her. In the end they reached the bottom of the shaft and Tirek found that it was like an underground ruin of sorts, with stone monsters that were rather hard, according to Blaidd anyway, though as the lift came to a stop Tirek let his friend lead the way.

Sure enough he found that there were a number of the earthen figures, in fact he couldn't even think of a name for them since it was hard to tell what they were, but fortunately Blaidd knew how to get forward and did so without delay, avoiding the figures in question before stopping at a lift that raised them up a little. From there they followed a short river up to an area that seemed to be the sacred grounds of some sort of people, along with a gathering site for the people to worship in, as there were a number of unlit pillars resting before it. Once he had a new Grace spot activated, the second so far as he had passed one when they entered the area, Blaidd picked up on his previous search and they started to move around the rest of the area, only to find phantom barbarians appearing from thin air to attack them. Such a thing allowed Tirek to see that Blaidd's skills were the same as before, he rushed through the space between them and their foes before cutting them into pieces, allowing him to focus on blasting some of the archers with his magic.

In addition to the Barbarians he discovered a few Crabs and even balls of lightning that were annoying to deal with, along with a few pillars that looked like they could be lit up at some point, which he ignored since he was more interested in the search for the way into Nokron. There was one gateway that lead to the other side of the ruin, not up into the city like they wanted, while the second and last one seemed to be connected to an upper area, still not the secret city, that had a lake of sorts and a giant creature that looked to be a cross between a Troll and a dragon. It was, however, a powerful creature and he took great pleasure in waking it up from it's slumber, blasting it with his power while Blaidd wrecked it with his own attacks, and while it was stronger than some of the other foes he had encountered the two of them were enough to bring it down in no time at all.

While Tirek was pleased to be soaking in all sorts of Runes, so he could power himself up later on whenever they rested at the Graces that were scattered around the area, he discovered that there was no way into Nokron and that meant there was a secret path they had to find, they just had to be patient as they searched for it.

Heading into Caelid

After checking out the vast majority of the area that they had access to, and they did everything from the waygates to the lighting of the pillars, the latter ending with discovering an ancient corpse that teleported them to an area to fight the spirit of the odd stag, which was more power for Tirek, Blaidd came to the conclusion that there was no way into Nokron from this area. Such a thing meant they had to return to the tower and head down to another one to visit Selivus, as he claimed that he knew the key that would help them find Nokron, though he was more of a prick and didn't like anyone else, to the point where it made one wonder why he was even serving Ranni in the first place. Tirek also asked about the third tower, as he had seen three in the area that Ranni had set her base in, where all he learned was that it was sealed and their Mistress might open it if someone proved themselves to her, but, as her Shadow, he was exempt from such a thing. Given the bond they had Blaidd explained that he was Ranni's sworn bodyguard and would do anything she asked of him, even if it meant leaving her side to track down Nokron for her, causing Tirek to wonder if the other Demigods had someone like Blaidd and most of them had been slain.

Once they knew the path they had to take Tirek warped them back to the tower and Blaidd lead the way down to Selivus' tower, where it was far too easy to find that the sorcerer in question was just wasting time in his tower, doing nothing but staring at the walls. Upon being asked about what he knew on the matter he instantly ridiculed the pair on not being able to do their job on their own, especially since they were ignoring the favor he wanted them to do for him, before sighing as he realized that neither Tirek or Blaidd were going to help him out. With that in mind he hastily wrote a letter and informed the pair that they needed to seek out Sellen in Limgrave, as she held the knowledge that should help them track down the city Ranni was searching for, causing Tirek to take the letter before departing. A few moments later the pair returned to the area that Sellen had set up her base in and she was surprised to see that Tirek was back, though she wasn't surprised to find that he was serving Ranni, as if many Tarnished did before disappearing, but she did hand over the information he required.

According to her the stars held the fate of Ranni's line and that the stars had been halted by General Radahn's power, for he had challenged the very stars and crushed them, and with his power he arrested their movements, so if someone were to take down the powerful Demigod they might be able to restore Ranni's fate.

"General Radahn... I recall that there's a festival, to fight the General himself." Blaidd said, speaking as they left Sellen to her own work, though at the same time Tirek was thankful that he had made the right move to serve Ranni, because it was leading him right to where another Demigod was hiding, "Only it's held in a castle that's on the southeastern portion of Caelid."

"Caelid... fuck that place..." Tirek remarked, as he knew the region in question and didn't like the idea of heading there, even if it meant tracking down one of the Shardbearers, before he sighed as he considered what needed to be done and pulled out his map so Blaidd could see it, "Sadly, I don't have a lot of information on the region... none of the maps, to be exact... and the one time I was there I teleported out as quickly as I could, so we'll have to start from the beginning and work our way towards the castle or fortress the festival is being held in."

Blaidd glanced at the map before nodding his understanding, in fact he couldn't fault Tirek for hating the region, since the fair majority of the Tarnished he knew hated Caelid, before they teleported over to the closest Grace he had to the cursed region and started the journey into the corrupted province. This time around Tirek didn't call on Torrent, mostly because he wanted to keep his steed safe in case they needed an escape route, though they were stopped at a church by one of the Invaders, a Tarnished who wanted nothing more than to soak the ground with their blood. Even though she was fast, at least faster than some of the other foes Tirek had encountered so far, Blaidd was faster and dealt some great damage to her, opening the way for Tirek to end her before she ended him, though all it gave him was a talisman that he added to his ever growing collection of trinkets. Once that was done they reached what appeared to be a rotted settlement with a fair number of shambling mud covered corpses marching off to the left, though Tirek focused on activating the Grace that was in front of them so they had an area to fall back to if they were overwhelmed.

There was even a little ledge for them to look out from, to see the rest of the region, and it didn't fill Tirek with confidence, as the terrible Rot seemed to be everywhere, corrupting the land, the sky, the water, the creatures, and possibly whatever else remained, meaning this place was one big death trap.

Tirek spotted what appeared to be the main road and assumed that it would lead them to their final destination, after a bit of time anyway, so he pointed it out to Blaidd before they departed from the small settlement, slashing and blasting through the mud zombies that were in the way. Such a thing allowed them to see that there were some transports ahead of them, downed ones by the looks of things, and that there were a few large decaying dogs chowing down on some of the corpses that were in the area, plus there was a large raven that seemed like it was pecking at something. Given the power of the enemies Tirek decided to pull them back one at a time, allowing him and Blaidd to deal with the target without the others being drawn in accidentally, so while it was slow progress it was better than being totally overwhelmed. It also gave him a chance to raid one of the locked chests, since the second one had been torn to shreds and the loot taken, and just found a greatsword inside it, one he stashed away as he and Blaidd moved towards what appeared to be a small ruin that was on fire.

The reason for the flames was due to the flame chariots that were wandering around, setting fire to corpses that actually got back up and would explode on someone if they got too close, as a few did try to take out the flame chariots and failed in the long run, but with all that going on the pair slipped by without wasting time.

Fortunately there was a Grace on the other side of the ruins and Tirek activated it, only to glance at the air and found that there were more scattered throughout Caelid itself, like whoever was in control of the Grace was shining a light to show him just how many safety zones there were. While Blaidd couldn't see any of them, a reminder that he wasn't one of the Tarnished like Tirek was, he listened to his report on where all of them were located and informed him of what he knew about the region they would be exploring, allowing him to fill in a mental map of sorts. Two areas interested him far more than the others, the first being that further down the road he would find the Cathedral of Dragon Communion, which was stronger than the ruined church, while the second was off to the left, the Dragonbarrows. It was an area of Caelid that had a number of dragons roaming around, where Blaidd guessed that they might find a few more dragon hearts for Tirek to gather before consuming them at the alter in the Cathedral, causing the gears to turn in his head as he considered why they had come to this region in the first place.

He gained more power by devouring the hearts and Runes of dragons, meaning that, since they were targeting one of the strongest Demigods in the world, heading into the Dragonbarrows first would be the correct course of action, to ensure he was ready for the battles ahead of them, and he was looking forward to devouring their power in the near future.

Searching the Dragonbarrow

After finishing up at the Grace location outside the ruins Tirek headed to the northeast and started to look for a way into the Dragonbarrows, an area that would have a few dragons for him to kill and take the power of, meaning it would be worth it since he'd become more ready for the battle with Radahn. Blaidd didn't seem to mind too much, in fact he agreed that spending some time searching the rest of the province would be a good thing, especially since the Divine Tower was nearby, an area Tirek might check out since it would be nice to have the way up there once he claimed the third Great Rune. With that in mind he rode towards the region he wanted to check out and Blaidd ran after him, once more reminding Tirek of the fact that his friend was faster than a horse, before finding a small gap between this side and the other side, one that they both jumped over with ease. Following that Tirek found another Grace and activated it, granting him a closer revival area in case things went south for him, before they started to follow the path that would no doubt bring them to whatever was on the other side of the entire area, even if it seemed to head away from the Divine Tower.

Sure enough he found two dragons, smaller than the one that had slain him on the lake before he and Blaidd killed it, that were hanging out near a small puddle of water, a small lake of sorts that they seemed to be drinking from, but once they saw the pair the first one roared at them. Such a thing caused the pair to rush forward, even though Tirek discovered that the dragons seemed to be grounded, like their wings were damaged or they were too sick to fly on their own, making them perfect targets for him to take down and absorb the power of once they were slain. Blaidd's enchanted sword did good against the beast he was fighting, as they were able to fight them one of one, without the other suddenly drawing the other to their side, and Tirek found that his magic seemed to be doing a good bit of damage as well. Such a thing meant that they were able to bring down the pair of dragons without wasting too much time on them, allowing Tirek to take their Runes as the pair died, though, to his surprise, neither of them dropped their heart, which was the entire reason they were here.

Blaidd explained the odd reasoning behind that, as only the more important dragons, such as the one they killed earlier in the lake, had hearts to give to those who slew them in battle, so while killing the smaller ones would yield more Runes for him to take they wouldn't grant him hearts, though there were three named dragons in Caelid: Greyll, Ekzykes, and Greyoll, the latter being a massive white dragon that is hard to miss.

At first Tirek was going to question Blaidd about the dragons, even though he was sure Ranni had told him a fair amount about the other lands before sending him on his mission, before he stopped as he discovered Greyoll's existence, who was just as Blaidd had said. The beast was resting on the ground, looking like she was trapped in her current state due to the fact that it looked like the ground was trying to devour her, a sign that the Rot was trying to consume her as well, where it looked like she was sleeping and the five dragons scattered around her seemed to be doing the same. With that in mind Tirek went off to the side and found a path that lead up to a fortress, with a Grace in front of it, meaning he could attack the dragon and rest if things went south for him, where he activated it before steeling himself for the fight of his life, since he knew that the massive dragon wouldn't go down easily. With that in mind he lashed out with his magic and his blood dagger on the side of the white beast, likely her rear end by the looks of it, where Tirek expected Greyoll to get up, roar, and then devour him with all of the smaller dragons tearing him apart or cooking him with their flames.

What he found was that Greyoll didn't seem to care, rather the act of being attacked seemed to make her happy, since she wouldn't have to deal with the Rot anymore, and none of her children bothered them, though when enough damage had been dealt all six dragons faded into golden mist, learning him five dragon hearts and a bunch of Runes.

"It would seem old Greyoll was too old to care about fighting, while appreciating that you spared her and her kin the pain of being consumed by the Rot." Blaidd commented, as he was also expecting more of a fight, instead of watching as Greyoll and her kin simply embraced death and granted Tirek their power, for what reason he did not know since dragons were a subject he wasn't too familiar with.

"I... I see." Tirek said, because he wasn't expecting to be thanked in such a manner, for killing something no less, and yet the dragon had done so before she and her children disappeared entirely, granting him a large amount of Runes to do with as he pleased, not to mention manifesting the hearts that he'd use once he discovered the Cathedral's location.

With that in mind Tirek returned to the Grace and carefully channeled his new Runes into his body, which seemed to be part of the point for this particular location, before he focused on where he was going to go next, as there was the fort, the large building to the north, or the Divine Tower that rested to the northwest. There was no telling where the other two dragons might be hiding, much less those that Blaidd didn't know about since he knew there could be one or two hidden underground, causing him to focus on what his next target might be for the foreseeable future. Truth be told he wanted to see if there was anything inside the fortress, it had to be important if the massive dragon decided to lay in front of it and stay still for so long, instead of leaving when the Rot came for her and her children, but she wasn't about to argue with the decisions a dragon had made. Blaidd considered his idea for a few seconds and decided that it was fair, they could explore the fortress and see what was inside it, even though he highly doubted a powerful creature was lurking inside it, since he knew Tirek was interested in those types of foes, but it was worth a look.

What they discovered inside the fort were a bunch of rats, some coming up to their ankles while one was massive, and a fair number of harpies, the half bird half human creatures who loved to use poison on their foes, along with singing for a time to draw targets into a trap. As it turned out the lower area that they had access to was incredibly small, as they found a ladder leading up to the upper floor, or rather a tower that had a walkway for them to use to jump over to the upper part of the fort, along with a chest that contained half of a large medallion. After that they jumped over the gap and found a number of spirits were standing guard after appearing out of thin air, so Tirek and Blaidd had to make sure that they weren't overwhelmed as they searched for a way to head down into the main part of the fortress. Such a thing happened not too long after starting to fight the spirits, allowing them to discover a short path that brought them back out into the area that was just outside the structure, granting Tirek a chance to relax a little as he wondered where the other half of the medallion might be resting.

He figured that it had to be important since it was broken up like this, though Blaidd was in the dark about it, he had no information to share and that meant it would be worthless to ask Ranni when she woke up, causing him to put it aside for the time being as he made his next move.

Tirek headed to the northwest with Blaidd, seeking out the Divine Tower with all the haste he could muster, where they found a discouraging sight, there was no bridge leading to it, rather it was standing there with no clear path to reach the base opening or even the upper reaches. In that moment he spotted what they might be looking for, there were roots that were growing on the side of the tower, or at least the side they were on, that could be used to reach the upper area, but to reach the upper both he and Blaidd had to climb up some ladders. After looking at the Divine Tower for a time the pair figured out how to reach the top, causing them to jump over to the roots before carefully moving over to the sections that held the ladders, though to get from area to area the pair also had to navigate some of the carvings to reach the next part of their path. Interestingly enough there were one or two Hollows along the way, who seemed to be relaxing until Tirek and Blaidd crossed them, but they were nothing compared to their might and the pair were able to clear the path in no time at all.

Such a thing allowed them to reach the upper reaches of the Divine Tower, where they found a Grace spot, a set of stairs leading upwards, and a stair leading downwards, causing Tirek to chuckle as he ignited the new rest area, as he suspected a powerful foe was nearby and he was ready to face it, once he recovered from the climb anyway.

Depths of the Caelid Tower

Tirek spent a few moments making sure that his Runes were spent before heading to the highest point of the Divine Tower that rested on the edge of Caelid, where he found exactly what he expected to find, that being the fallen Two Fingers that housed where he would bring Radahn's Great Rune in the very near future.

"So, this is what waits at the top of the Divine Towers... the slain bodies of the Two Fingers." Blaidd commented, which told Tirek that his friend had never been to the top of any of the towers that dotted the landscape, something he found to be a little bit odd before determining that it was likely due to Ranni's orders, "Is this what you hoped to find?"

"I wanted to be sure each tower was the same, as this makes two for two... I have not yet found the path to the tower that rests in Liurnia." Tirek said, as he recalled what he had seen at the top of the first Divine Tower and wondered if the same was true for the remainder that were scattered around the continent, which would make sense given that there were a few more Demigods for him to track down, "How that I've confirmed it, I would like to check out the lower floors and see if there is anything here for us to take... you never know where we might find something that will aid us in our quest, plus any foes we encounter will go towards strengthening me for the battles ahead. I have a feeling Radahn won't be an easy fight..."

"If he's holding back the stars, in his rotted state, he'll be incredibly strong." Blaidd noted, as he agreed with Tirek on this matter, because while he wanted to serve their Mistress, and get her quest completed with all the haste they could muster, he knew that building their strength was important.

Tirek said nothing to that as they turned around and headed back down the stairs, passing by the Grace spot before going even further by quickly walking down the second set, keeping their weapons at the ready since neither of them knew what sort of dangers the tower might have. What they discovered was that there were two knights, dressed in a red armor that had to be Radahn's colors, and both seemed to be stronger than some of the other ones that Tirek had seen, not that such a thing mattered to Blaidd as he parried one of their attacks and opened the way for him to blast the other with magic. Once that was done, and both knights were lying dead on the ground, Tirek discovered that they had been guarding a door that just so happened to be locked from this side, causing him to glance at the central area of the tower and found long beams connecting the walls to the central pillar, where the lift was located. As he glanced out into what was in front of them Tirek noticed something, there was no way that the two of them were going to be able to get down to the lower levels safely, as he could see that several of the beams were broken in places and would no doubt break at the wrong moment.

With that in mind Blaidd agreed to stand at the edge and watch him, even though Tirek suspected that he could just jump into the space and stab his greatsword into one of the walls, allowing him to carve his way down to the bottom, but for now he was willing to play ball. Once his friend was in position Tirek stepped out onto the ledge that was in front of him and took a few steps to be sure the side path was fine, in fact it was far more sturdy than he thought, meaning it was easy for him to reach the area that was above one of the beams he had noticed. When he jumped down to it, however, his thoughts were proven right as it cracked and shattered with ease, causing him to grip the stonework as it fell downward for a moment, as it stopped after getting stuck on something, no doubt two of the smaller platforms he had seen from above. There he found a cage that looked like it would bring him up to the path that likely held the way back up to Blaidd's position, a shortcut in the off chance that he died he guessed, though he had to knock down a lone knight that was guarding the cage, which he was able to do with ease.

Sure enough he confirmed that the path the cage lead him up to held a ladder that linked up to the door that the pair of knights had been guarding, so Blaidd was able to join Tirek on the lower level, even though they did have to deal with a new foe, a robed knight who used dark flames. With the two of them it was a simple matter to bring the newcomer down before glancing at the area in front of them, where Tirek found another cracked beam that would allow one to fall deeper into the depths of this Divine Tower, but there was no way back up to this point. As such Blaidd either had to come with him or he would have to return to the last Grace and wait for him to teleport back up there once he found what was waiting down in the depths, causing the wolfen warrior to inform Tirek that this time they would be going together. Tirek suspected that he knew what Blaidd was planning and was proven correct, as when the beam shattered Blaidd grabbed onto him before he started to jump down the few platforms and items that were in the way, with the speed and accuracy that Tirek was used to seeing, before reaching a second cage that took them down into the depths of the tower.

As it moved downward Blaidd set Tirek down and they stood there for a moment, watching as they went deeper and deeper into the depths, before coming to a stop at what had to be the basement of the Divine Tower, which happened to have a Grace for them to activate.

With that done Tirek found that there was next to nothing down here, save for a staircase heading even deeper while they found a dark flame knight blocking the way, someone they dealt with in seconds before Tirek paused as he found a golden mist door ahead of them. He had been right to assume that there was a powerful foe here, it just seemed like it since the entire province seemed to have powerful targets scattered everywhere, though he quickly made sure his Runes were spent before they bothered to pass through the doorway. On the other side he discovered a tall slim figure who wore one of the most disturbing robes Tirek had ever seen, it was white and seemed to be a patchwork of pieces from people, as in part of it looked like the faces of the figure's slain opponents taken and added to the robe. He was even wielding some sort of staff with a curved head, like it was designed to peel pack the skin to be used in whatever freakish rituals that the figure had committed before being locked up in this place, all while Blaidd informed him that this was a 'Godskin Apostle', a fearsome opponent indeed.

The Apostle's first action was to gather white and black flames above his left hand, his empty hand, before hurling it right at the pair, though this time Tirek avoided it as he and Blaidd jumped away from where it landed, as he could tell that it would be dangerous to touch it. His reasoning was confirmed as his friend informed him that the black flame was known as the god-slaying flame, a very powerful and very deadly flame that would be quite painful if one of them was struck by it, where Tirek wondered if absorbing it would do the same thing as being hit by it. With that in mind the pair assumed their battle stances, Blaidd up front with his greatsword with Tirek further back as he rained down spells on the Apostle, though in addition to that he also added in his dragon flames, burning their foe from behind when he focused on Blaidd, since it seemed to do a bit of damage in the process. The interesting thing was that the Apostle was faster than they expected, as he attacked quickly and could retreat quickly if he wanted to do so, meaning both of them had to plan their attacks with a degree of care to be sure they struck their foul target, and when they got close enough to defeating him the Apostle did something new, his body extended like he was a snake.

It was an annoying tactic, given that it allowed the Apostle to reach the area Tirek was in, though he grinned as he used a bit of his magic to warp to where his legs were located and incinerated them with his dragon flames, forcing the Apostle to the ground so Blaidd could cut him apart.

"Let's hope there aren't more of those bastards, or another variation." Tirek remarked, taking a moment to absorb the Runes that came from the fallen foe, a figure that would have been a right pain in the rear if he had fought it alone, but as soon as he was done they walked towards the other side of the chamber to collect their prize.

As it turned out there was a chest with an odd coiled greatsword inside it, something he added to their collection before using a bit of nearby magic to teleport out of the tower, causing him to sigh as he warped them back to the Grace that was outside the ruined city for a bit of a rest before they headed down the next available path.

Carving a Path Through Rot

With the Divine Tower taken care of, and the secret of the lower depths discovered, Tirek and Blaidd set out from the ruins they had teleported over to, finding that the road seemed to be long and that the only thing to look at was all of the Rot that had infested the wilds of Caelid. What Tirek didn't like was that there were plenty of Pests wandering around, the foul bug monsters that had been in the mine he was forcefully teleported to a lifetime ago, as it sure felt that way, though with his friend by his side, and his boosted magic, he had nothing to fear from their foes. Of course he knew that there was no way for them to actually clean up the area that they were moving through, since the Rot ran deep and poisoned everything with it's corrupting nature, but blasting them into oblivion was far better than he could have admitted, since it felt good to just lay into them. He also knew there was an area in the center of the swamp that seemed to house another powerful creature, or at least Tirek assumed so since there happened to be so many of them in this region alone, though Blaidd was fine with the path they carved through the land, as long as they ended up at their destination.

As such he directed them towards the rotted swamp and used his magic to form a path in the air for them to walk on, he really didn't want to walk in the rotted water and get sick with whatever was plaguing the rest of the land, especially after Blaidd mentioned that the red valkyrie-like knights were Cleanrot Knights, dangerous foes for sure.

With his spell they were able to reach the heart of the swamp and found that one of Radahn's generals or commanders was inside it, alone no less, and Tirek activated the Grace before heading inside it, finding that the heavily armored figure raised a lance that doubled as a flag before challenging them. As such they lashed out at the Commander and his soldiers, as he used a power to call forth phantom soldiers to do battle with him and Blaidd, but they were weak, easily broken, and did little to actually harm them, meaning all he had to do was cast a single spell to clear the area. After doing that he refocused on his foe as he and his friend clashed with the Commander, who seemed to try to use the wind against them, but they were ready for any trickery and avoided his attacks as they slashed and blasted at him, just like they had done to all of the other foes that had come before him. It was highly interesting to see how the figure fought, since he liked to use both sides of his weapon for some odd reason, but it didn't stop them from taking his head so Tirek could absorb all of his Runes, which was why he had bothered to come here in the first place.

What was interesting were the items that the Commander dropped upon his defeat, as one happened to be the lance he had carried into battle while the other was an oddity, a golden or brass needle that reminded Tirek of Malenia, a large one at that, which he stashed away without delay.

From there they returned to the ruins, spent the new Runes Tirek had obtained, before heading down the road once more as they decimated the Pests that were in the way, though they stopped at an area that was close to where Blaidd told him the Cathedral was located. With that in mind Tirek knew that his next step was to find it's Grace and activate it, since he had a few dragon hearts to empower himself with, though before that Blaidd pointed out the foe that was in their way, a sickly white scaled dragon who looked like the Rot was eating away at it. Fortunately there was a Grace nearby and Tirek made sure to activate it before he and Blaidd rushed at the beast, where the dragon roared and did what the others did, flapping it's wings, moving around the arena it had been resting in for some time, and roaring at them before releasing a foul misty breath at them. It was a Rot breath, one designed to infect the dragon's foes and wear whoever was attacking it down, causing Tirek to raise a magical shield around him and Blaidd, with multiple layers for extra protection, mostly to ensure that they weren't eaten at by the foulness that was devouring the rest of Caelid.

The next time the Rot Breath was used Tirek gathered his flames and loosed his own dragon's breath at it, causing the area in between them to be torn apart as their powers came into contact with each other, though at the very least he was able to cancel out his foe's attack. Such a thing allowed Blaidd to get up behind the dragon and drop down on it, slashing through one of the wings to prevent it from flying away again, while at the same time freezing it's inner body a little in an attempt to slow it down a little. From there they tore into the dragon before it could do anything to destroy them, where Tirek found a way to tear into it's chest while Blaidd was distracting it, allowing him to carve his way to the dragon's heart and tear it out, causing the beast to drop dead after a few moments of struggling. He huffed for a moment as the dragon burst into dust and his body absorbed the Runes that came from it, though without stopping he headed to the south once more, as he was so close to the Cathedral and he wasn't about to leave without activating it's Grace.

Sure enough he found the area that he had been looking for, where he tracked down the Grace and activated it, giving his friend an area to sit down in while Tirek transformed the Runes into strength, though once that was done he walked over to the altar and checked it out for a few seconds. After that he informed Blaidd that he would be right back and teleported over to the other dragon ruin, the first one he found on the small island, and consumed some of the hearts there, since it had a few powers for him to gain after doing such a thing. Once a few more dragon powers were in his possession, or at least those that this area could impart upon him, Tirek returned to the Cathedral and used his remaining dragon hearts to obtain a few more powers from the altar, before he paused as he greedily devoured the last one. A pulse ran through his body for a few seconds, where he could feel something in him changing as his eyes became sharper than before, while he felt his fingers sharpen a little, his legs pulsed while nothing serious happened, and he felt his teeth sharpen a little as well, but it was nothing too serious.

Once he was done with the Cathedral, and made sure there were no significant changes he had to be worried about, Tirek and Blaidd continued on their way to the east as they followed the main road, since it had to bring them to the area that held the festival for the Shardbearer they were after. The path in question had more rotted creatures standing in their way, monstrous dogs who seemed to enjoy tearing apart anything they could get their claws on, massive ravens that swooped down without warning to kill whatever they wanted, and Pests that were wandering around to spread their 'gift' to the rest of the province. The more Tirek saw of Caelid the more he believed that it had to be cleansed in fire, deeply and fully to burn away all of the corruption that had taken root in this place, and even then he wasn't sure that it would be enough to totally deal with the Rot, since Blaidd informed him that it ran deep. The only good thing about the state of Caelid was that the Rot was no longer spreading, meaning Limgrave didn't have to worry about it reaching it's pristine and fertile lands, which would only cause the Rot to rapidly spread with nothing to stop it, like a wildfire, so those left in Limgrave could breathe a sigh of relief and got about their days without too much worry.

As Tirek focused on the mission, however, they passed by a war between the knights and the rotted creatures, though this time the pair ignored what was going on and found a Waygate that actually teleported them into the castle grounds, near a Grace no less, to which Tirek decided to rest before they faced whatever dangers might be waiting for them in the rest of the castle's grounds.

Starscourge Radahn

After ensuring his Runes were spent, and thinking about the area that they were in, Tirek and Blaidd carefully moved out from the area that he found the Grace in, only to find an open area of sorts that seemed to be a festival ground, with the spirits of other warriors waiting for something.

"Champions, welcome!" a voice cried, where Tirek and Blaidd found that it was coming from someone who looked like he was the town crier or jester, given how colorful his attire was, who also carried a thin greatsword of sorts, though his words caused everyone to stop what they were doing and looked up at him, "The stars have aligned! The festival is nigh! General Radahn, mightiest Demigod of the Shattering, awaits you! This is a celebration of war: the Radahn Festival!"

The Crier went on to explain things for those that weren't aware of Radahn's situation, as he rested to the north of where this fortress rested, wandering around like a mindless animal, collecting the corpses of allies and enemies alike to gorge on them, in a desolate area that was only accessible from a Waygate on the beach below their current position. He made it seem like Radahn's last wish, before losing his mind to the Scarlet Rot that ate him from the inside out, was to die a warrior's death, instead of remain trapped in this state, as if he knew he would lose to Malenia, though Tirek suspected that he made no such wish. In fact it was possible that the man was lying about the majority of what he had said, that he just wanted the Demigod to die so he could move on with his life and not be chained here for the rest of his life, though Tirek said nothing as the other warriors cheered, showing that they were excited for this battle. The oddest thing he noticed was that there was a living jar among the assembled group, a warrior jar he recalled, though it was massive, almost as tall as Blaidd, though at this point Tirek decided not to question it as everyone got ready for battle as the spirits started to fade.

With the information in hand the pair walked up to the chapel that was behind the Crier and found a lift that took them all the way down to the beach, where Tirek found the Waygate the figure had talked about, before he paused as he spotted a large figure slowly wandering in the sandy area across the river.

"Is that Radahn? He's massive!" Tirek remarked, because even from here he knew the figure was taller than everything he had faced so far, in fact only the dragons and trolls might be the closest to what he was seeing, and it looked like his next foe was riding on a small spec of dust.

"Indeed, to the point that he would have crushed his favorite little horse... he even went to the Academy to learn how to use gravity magic so he could ride it without crushing it." Blaidd said, something that caused Tirek to raise an eyebrow for a moment as he heard that, since it seemed so unusual and yet utterly common when he considered what he had seen in this world, where the wolfen warrior gestured to the Waygate, "Come, we have a battle to win."

Tirek nodded as they used the Waygate and teleported over to the arena in question, where he quickly found that Radahn, despite his seemingly mindless nature, was already primed and ready for combat as he pulled out a massive bow and did the same with a bunch of arrows, loosing a powerful one right at their location. In that moment Tirek summoned his own power and used a barrier to stop the attack in it's tracks, before discovering that all he could actually do was stall it for a few seconds before directing it into part of the sand to his left, opening the way for Blaidd to rush at Radahn. Since this was a festival, and that all sorts of warriors had come to do battle with him, Tirek's plan was simple, they were going to use the others to their advantage, call in all of the other warriors and pit them against the Demigod, to weaken him enough so they could deliver the finishing blow. While they did so, however, Radahn loosed a volley of arrows into the air, which just rained down on whoever he happened to be targeting at any given moment, but since he could only target one that let the other track down the summon signs that had been placed in the arena, why Tirek didn't know and he honestly didn't care at this point in time.

Sure enough all of the spirits he had seen previously appeared in the sandy arena, warriors summoned to do battle with the strongest of the Demigods, or so the Crier claimed, and they charged at the figure without wasting time, forcing the massive warrior to switch to a pair of large blades as he rode a tiny horse into battle.

Fighting Radahn was far tougher after that point as he swung his blades with incredible speed and with accuracy that just shocked Tirek, because with the fact that his mind and body should have been eaten by the Scarlet Rot he fought like he was in his prime and not a mindless monster. That was why he didn't believe most of the Crier's tale, because if Radahn still had the power to hold back the stars, and fight them with the powers and skills he was showing off so far, it made him doubt that he was as gone as people believed he was, rather he was mostly feral until someone came to fight him. Even with such a thought in mind he had to be careful, as the massive blades hurt when they struck their targets, forcing him to heal with one of his flasks, and Radahn even imbued his weapons with gravity magic so he could tear rocks out of parts of the ground and use them to either further inflict harm on his opponents or just hurl them like projectiles. It was madness when he considered what they were doing, as the Demigod tore through the ground and seemed to transform the rest of the landscape around him with every swing of his massive weapons, or at least Tirek thought so since the ground was more like ash or fine sand.

With how massive he was it was hard to tell if they were actually doing any damage to him, though Tirek knew something was up when Radahn seemed to push his horse into the ground as he launched himself up into the sky, disappearing in a matter of seconds as everyone spread out... only to come down as a freaking meteor that smashed into the hill he had started on, crushing everything around him with ease.

"Seriously?! Is there anything he can't do with gravity magic?" Tirek remarked, though as he said that he watched as some of the other warriors were tossed into the air by the meteor's impact, a power he was thankful he hadn't been hit by since he was sure it would have killed him in an instant, only for Radahn to shift his stance and cut down the fallen warriors, returning their spirits to their own worlds.

"As far as I know, no... I also had no idea he could even do such a thing." Blaidd stated, as the meteor attack was a move that he and his fellows had no knowledge on, since none of the people who worked for their Mistress, who came to fight the Demigod for his Great Rune, had survived to tell the tale.

In the next moment Tirek decided that enough was enough as he summoned all of his power, creating an aura around his body as he lashed out at Radahn with bolts of magical energy, blasting at his armor and whatever parts of his body he could see right now, since he moved to protect his horse. Radahn swung his blades at him while he did that, though both were stopped as Tirek manipulated the sand into metallic chains that wrapped around his blades, because he didn't care about his foe's ridiculous powers anymore and wanted this to end. Such a thing allowed Blaidd to jump up onto their foe's back and slash at whatever opening he could find, doing whatever he could to freeze the giant Demigod and slow him as much as he could, causing Radahn to try and lash out at him while he landed nearby. That movement allowed Tirek to lash out with his most potent attack, an arrow made of pure magic, that struck the Demigod's chest and went out his backside, while meeting some resistance as he expected, but as Radahn collapsed he dissolved into pure mist, allowing his Runes and his Great Rune to surge into Tirek's body.

As he breathed a sigh of relief, that the battle was over, the stars themselves started to move before their eyes, causing a shower of sorts, before one streaked across the sky, closer than all of the others, and slammed into what had to be part of Limgrave, causing a faraway detonation as it struck the ground.

"That's most likely what we're looking for." Tirek remarked, though it was astonishing to imagine that Radahn was able to hold back so many stars, even one that would have changed the entire landscape of the area it had landed in, though this was a step in the right direction for them.

He was, of course, pleased with the progress they were making, though something told him that things were only going to get even tougher for them as they progressed further along the path that would allow them to fulfill Ranni's quest, and he was eager to see what the fallen star had to offer them.

Dream's End

Tirek huffed for a moment as he stared at the scene in front of him: an elegant stone throne that rested at the northern edge of a circular arena, in front of the massive Erdtree, that was fit for a king to sit on, or the Elden Lord in this case, due to the gems and golden inlay that adorned the sides. Resting in front of him was the body of the last warrior that dared to stand in his way, a tall barbarian who claimed to have been the First Elden Lord, wielding a large greataxe that broke the area around him in his wake, a foe that took everything he had to bring down. Standing off to his right was none other than Blaidd, who was recovering from his own wounds, as their foe had struck him pretty good several times during the fight, while off to his left, standing near the ruined part of the arena, was Ranni, having frozen and shattered a golden tentacle monster that was called a 'God'. Tirek himself was wearing an ebony black set of armor, with golden inlay, while holding a greatsword made in a similar light that contained the power of Destined Death, a power he had stolen from the one who had been hiding it since the days before the Shattering.

Even with the power of Destined Death on his side, Blaidd fighting with all his might, and Ranni destroying the god of the Golden Order, the fight had been hectic, especially with Godfrey's strength being enough to shake the earth and break parts of the ground around them, but they had won in the end.

"It is over. The time of the Golden Order has come to an end." Tirek stated, where he glanced back at the stairs leading up to the arena he and the others had been fighting in, allowing him to gaze upon the broken remains of those who swore to uphold the virtues of the Two Fingers, and their false order, who stood between him and his prize and had paid the price for their folly.

"Indeed. My Lord, together you and I shall usher in the Age of the Stars." Ranni said, though she wasn't winded as much as he or Blaidd were right now, as she was using her doll body to do battle with anyone who stood in their way, before she focused on the item that was floating above the throne, the true prize that had emerged from the Erdtree, "With the sheer power of the Elden Ring, now freed from the Golden Order's grasp, we can reshape the world... guide the people with the wisdom of the moon, instead of the lies that were told before or the fiery doom that some sought to cover the world with."

Tirek nodded as he remembered discovering the Frenzied Flame, a dangerous power that would bring about the end of the entire world if an Elden Lord brought it before the potent Elden Ring, one he had used his power to seal away in a cage that was separated from the rest of this world to ensure his reign was never threatened.

"It is a shame that so many decided to stand in our way," Blaidd commented, as before they even reached Godfrey's area, and found the Elden Beast as Tirek called it, they had faced many of his former allies, those who didn't want Ranni to win, especially after she murdered the Two Fingers in their own sanctuary, thanks to Tirek's powers no less, and now most of the Tarnished of the Lands Between were dead.

"Their beliefs could not accept what was happening and they stood in progress' way." Tirek remarked, though as he said that both he and Ranni held their hands up to the Elden Ring, him dominating it's power so that his Mistress, his Lady now due to the special ring that bound them together, could twist it to her purpose, to shroud the world in the darkness that she wished, as her the contract with her Outer God, "Now comes the age of Lord Tirek and Lady Ranni!"

Blaidd watched as the sky darkened before his eyes, a different kind of night that wasn't what he and the rest of the world were used to seeing, while at the same time the sun itself seemed to twist on itself, becoming what looked like another type of moon with a spiraling center. It was almost as if some deity was now watching over them, the twin moons having been two of it's eyes while the sun became the third, like a holy trinity of some kind, while he noticed that the stars came out in full force once more, as if symbolizing that the Age of the Stars was upon them. While that happened he and both of his Masters watched as Ranni's body went from being that of a doll and became more solid, the porcelain nature turning into her fair skin, which she had before she discarded her original body, even though it meant that she had four arms this time around, instead of the usual two. It was like a reward for her part in bringing about the final victory of her Outer God, to allow her to taste the pleasures of being alive once more, in addition to cherishing her time with the Lord who paved the final leg of her path so this could happen, and it made Blaidd smile.

The two were made for each other, two powerful beings who seemed to share the same ideals and thoughts, and he knew that he would serve them until the end of his days as their loyal wolf, doing anything and everything that they ordered him to do, even though he suspected some rest was in order.

"Are you ready, my Lord?" Ranni asked, though while she wasn't expecting this when she set out to bring about the Age of the Stars, to get her physical body back in such a way, she also knew that this was a good thing, especially since she had a few fun things in mind for later.

"Of course, my Lady." Tirek replied, as this was the victory he craved, total domination over the power of this world, the power to take down anything and everything that dared to stand in his way, and even a powerful figure to serve as his Lady as they tackled the challenges of a new and changed world.

With that said he cupped Ranni's chin for a moment, allowing them to look each other in the eyes, before he leaned in to kiss her before they left to begin the next stage of their conquest... though before he could do so there was a blinding light for a few seconds and when he was allowed to see again he found himself in a familiar cage, with his elderly centaur body in place of his younger stronger body.

"No... so it was all... a dream?" Tirek commented, finding that his voice was weak once more, meaning he must have been blasted by the Elements of Harmony and put in a coma of sorts, the Elements giving him some sort of dream to for some odd reason, though in that moment he couldn't even muster the energy to be sad or annoyed, rather he adjusted his body so he didn't cramp and leaned his head against the cell's bars, "Back to this pitiful existence... maybe I'll sleep forever..."

Tartarus was his old prison, or current prison he guessed, where he sighed as he ignored everything that was around him and closed his eyes once more, choosing to abandon reality and just live in his dreams for the rest of his days, regardless of whatever his dreams held for him.

Author's Notes:

For anyone wondering: no, this isn't an early April Fools joke. This is the end of Tirek's journey in the Lands Between. With a little over thirty chapters, next to no feedback, and only the dislike meter moving recently, I've decided to wrap this up now and not spend who knows how many chapters in the same situation.