C50: Byrgenwerth
Hey hey, Im back from my break. I should have worded it better that I would return the 'next week Tuesday' not just next week. my bad.
At the end of the chapter is a …funny story I had with the game whilst writing this chapter, go ahead and take a look if you're interested.
Thank you to Zakuto Yuki for joining me as a Generous Saint on Patreon. I am truly warmed by such an experience. In response to this, I proclaim that if more people were to join then I could voluntarily give up a few days of my regular jobs workdays to focus more on writing. Especially for those who joined said patreon.
With all that out of the way: enjoy
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Now I like to think of myself as a sane and rational person. Sure I have anger issues and other problems but everyone has some sort of deficit. As such, I wish to make it clear that what I'm doing right now is not in anger. Just murderous intent.
"What the fuck is up old man? I got a bone to pick with you" I say as he gives me a puzzled expression but doesnt say anything as I begin to normally push his wheelchair down the path to the garden. His hands hovering on the brakes as if anticipating me pushing him down the steps.
I don't know where he could have gotten such ideas from as im a well meaning and upstanding citizen of Yharnam. I take him around a small stroll around the gardens where the tombstones are. As I do, I chat up the old man.
"Ya know Ji-ji (old man). I've gotten pretty strong since I've come back" I speak up first to set the tone.
"Indeed, the Doll has made mention of your progress." Gehrman casually responds as he tries to gauge my attitude but I reveal nothing thanks to my inhuman physique.
"Dang, revealing my secrets so casually. I'll remember this grudge" I say but my tone betrays my words as I even chuckle a bit, as if my words are nothing but a joke. I don't stop pushing him forward as we chat.
"Well… since you already know, then let me ask you something real quick." I can see my foster father tense up a bit as if sensing my true colors. He has long grown used to how I act whenever I'm pissed to hell and back.
"Theoretically, this is totally hypothetical. But would your brakes even do anything if I lifted you and your chair up and tossed you over the fence and into the endless fog of the dream. Do you think you would just fall for all eternity, outright die or maybe just teleport back to the house as if nothing happened, back in your chair?" As I spoke, my hands creeped up and grabbed the edges of his coat along with the chair handles itself, preparing myself to do so when he nervously speaks up.
"What do you want?" He can only ask nervously as I release my grip on him, but push his brakes down myself as we are currently in the center of the garden. I slink to the front of him to make sure he is secure, a smile on my face as I crouch down eye level with Gehrman.
"I just have a little question. Did you know?" my smile unnerves him as he can only 'tread' carefully in this conversation.
"Know what?" he asks after a second, waiting for me to finish what I was saying but I don't. His question instead makes the smile on my face completely drop as I look at him like an subhuman worthless piece of shit.
"Did you know that Amelia was at that clocktower, at the same time we were. Did you know that that piece of hunchback shit you called a friend who invited you for tea and crumpets as a gesture of 'good faith' in the clocktower had been her KILLER! Did you do anything to let her even rest in peace or did you abandon her like my other brothers?" My anger rises with each question. In fact I had already completely riled myself up that if I started seeing red right now, I would just accept beasthood-dom.
I watch every single reaction of this old cripple as best I can as my words reach him. I saw the confusion, a look on contemplation which was shattered even less than a moment later as it took to anger matching my own before .
"How did you hear of this? Where is he?" HIs own hostile tone is one that i've only ever heard a few times in my life. If I was still a normal hunter then I very likely would have crapped my pants in reaction but not even a quiver at this time.
"It's the fucking cleric beast from the bridge near the doctor you had me set up at. " I simply state without revealing more but im not just letting him off the hook.
"And what would you even be doing now? Your stuck here, a fucking cripple. That is why I'm here right now. Asking you these questions. Why was she there? After getting scratched by that dark beast on her back. You had her sent to the church where they should have nursed her back to health but then we just never heard about her again.
"I thought she died in their care because her injuries got worse over time but she was fine. I 'saw' she was walking and talking with those shitty priests like it was nothing. Even though she was the most averse to the priesthood amongst us because her blood related parents were killed by church hunters." I remember the day that this young girl who had been part of group of families which had been taking care of the orphanage alongside the Matron had suddenly died without anyone knowing how.
But Amelia knew, she had been in a hidden closet when it happened. Years after being sent to the orphanage and then being adopted in bulk by the man before me. She had imparted to us, her brothers, the truth of the matter and we protected her from the advancement of all priests and other members of the healing church ... .at least until the day of her injury.
With no other choice due to lacking medical talents amongst us. We brought her to the church at our fathers behest and then just neve received any followup news. " Why? Why were we told nothing?"
The old man has a look of guilt on his face as he softly states, "I was informed that the bolt had injured her mind, making her lose her memories. I figured it was an appropriate end to her hunter career and had requested the church to help settle her down. I was not aware that they chose to make her into one of their saintesses for healing blood. Much less that she was even there." The old man explains and I simply get up.
I stare the old man down as a strange calm falls over me until
WHAM
I roundhouse kicked the man in the jaw, tipping him and his chair over from the force of my kick. After that I just stomp off while the Doll rushes over to help the elderly hunter back into his chair and his injury mended.
Im sure I broke his jaw, i wonder how long it will take him to heal that. As for myself, I need to vent my frustration and what better way than to fight monstrosities beyond human comprehension. Which is why im going to Byrgenwerth.
Using the tombstone to return to the Shadows arena, I then follow the way forward through the thick rows of trees before I get 'ambushed' by a bug looking fucker that I flip over before stomping on it's enlarged, multi eyed head until it's head pops into mush.
"Bitch" I curse the bug creature before arriving at the outskirts of Byrgenwerth and getting a system prompt
[+1039 echoes]
[Step 1 of Main Quest 2 has been completed. Progress through Forbidden Forest and reach Byrgenwerth. Step 2 commence: Find the Hidden Spider of Deceit.
Reward: 20k Blood echoes]
"Okay" I simply respond to the information and free gift as I'm not in a good mood. What i've essentially been told is that my dear sister had gotten amnesia from her spinal injury due to bolt and then had been indoctrinated into the fucking church. And then there is the whole list of shit that fucker had done as a mindless drone of the church. I might just kill them at this point.
Walking a bit forward, I got down the hill and take out a second bug. To be fair, these creatures are called Garden of Eyes which is way too long and cool for a shitty humanoid mosquito. It's like a new rendition of The Fly [1] except it kinda makes sense but also not.
To my knowledge, these little shits were trying to explore the Eldritch Truth, they did this by jamming other peoples eyes into their heads until it all bloated and they became insect like. Though that might be partially due to the influence of the local boss here, the so called hidden spider which im pretty sure is just Rom.
After killing that garden of eyes, I got stuck at a shortcut gate with a lever on the other side which means I cant open it…unless I climb over and open it but I don't care. Too much effort for nothing when ill get to it soon enough.
I instead head onto the left side area where I killed another two 'gardens' before going up some stairs and then some more steps to find a brainsucker next to a tree. Fairly hidden and out of sight. I slow walk behind it and unleashed a heavy strike on its back to knock it down before I plunged my fist into its back and tore out its soul.
[Processing: 1679 base echoes. Soul shattered, death by riposte-heir rune. Moon rune active. +5 Harvest: Final tally: 24,610 echoes.]
I get some vials off it's body and find that it was guarding another rune. Specifically the Caryll rune for Arcane Lake. From the description, it's the tier 2 version that grants a +7% damage reduction against arcane.
I go down the steps and find a door, it's locked from the other side. I shrug and begin walking around the side of the building when two more gardens drop down from above, but it's at the level one step lower than me. All those eyes and they still appear completely oblivious to my presence, so I just walk forward, past them and unlock the gate when I see a flash of red behind me to find a Celestial Centipede having spawned and thrown a fireball at me but it landed on a statue between us.
It's a giant snaking creature reaching as high as the second level of this building and thats when it's already half a step lower than me. I continue to use the vase like statue to block a few more fireballs before I simply shoot it's 'head' . It flops over and I get the riposte as it's stunned.
[1559 as base value: soul shattered, heir rune, moon rune. +5 harvest. Final Tally: 22, 456 echoes. ]
"Okay" I say apathetically as I find another garden rushing at me as I step away from where the centipede faded away at. I take this one down and it's guarding sedatives. How convenient that an enemy which gives frenzy would guard medicine against it.
I then sneak up on the two gardens that had jumped down previously. They are slightly hurt but i don't care as I heavy strike, plunge, tear, dead them both. The second bug couldn't even see to it's side, less than five feet away to see it's buddy flop over dead. Completely clueless and braindead.
I got quite a good chunk of souls from them before picking up the madmans knowledge and great ones' knowledge in this area.
This is the first Great One's knowledge I've picked up and it's only a bit better than the regular version as it provides two, count them two insights as compared to one from the regular madmans knowledge.
Shaking my head, I just pop the set of one and two insights which promptly gives me eight more from the Caryll rune overdose and the greater sense too for a total of 11 and 12 insights respectively. Bringing me up to 169 insights. (this was not planned)
I finally step inside and find a chest that has a pearl slug in it. While I'm observing the item which is a ritual material item like the bloodshot eyes, I find a random lady attacking me. With some balls of light that shoot out in a cone towards me with some even tracking me as I dodge backwards but my dodge is much better than other hunts so I get fully clear of the attack. I clear the distance only to get assaulted with white fumes coming out of a weapon that looks similar to the flame sprayer, the Rosmarius.
It's a bit annoying but mostly because of my caryll rune debuff. I normal dash away to make distance and stay out of reach of her gun and thus prompting her to come towards me with her threaded cane.
I dash behind her grabbing her arms, wrenching both weapons out of her grasp when she summons a portal in the middle of her palms to summon tentacles towards me that I bend over to dodge as she could not aim it after releasing.
I get back up, sweep her legs kick her towards the stairs where she falls over and I curb stomp her on the steps. I don't bother riposting her now that she had no weapon and only spells.
I got 5998 echoes and 3x blue elixirs and along with the choir hunters weapons which included the rosmarius and threaded cane. A welcome addition to the arsenal of weapons I have no reason to use at all.
I open the door to the other side and then make my way upstairs where i find Henryks summon sign.
"Mother fucker, get back to the god damn chapel you absolute retard" i curse the idiot for trying to abandon his grand daughter before I find another summon symbol for
Moving around the scattered papers, torn books and melted candles or metallic astrolobes. I finally arrive at a ladder leading up which I take and find the lunarium key.
I don't even know if I needed it but sure. Ill take it. Going further up on a spiral staircase. I find nothing on the first layer but the second has a sneak attack from a garden of eyes which I avoid by taking one step back from it's jumping target position before I wail on it and simply kill it not permanently since I was too lazy to shoot it and it was an enclosed space too.
Opening the chest here grants me the empty phantasmal shell which, according to the description, is an active item to imbue my weapon with arcane damage. That's nice but it costs three bullets and im not even sure where arcane damage is useful. Also for some reason, I get the feeling i've seen something similar.
Heading back down the stairs and ladder, I try to open the door on the second floor to find it locked. I use the lunarium key to find myself on the very bridge those two idiot gardens dropped down from. I take a few steps forward to find an old blind man sitting in his rocking chair with a long staff in his hands.
He is wearing thick robes of white and blue with a headpiece that covers his eyes via a papal tiara of pure grey coloration and no jewels. Along the back of his neck is a gathering of pristine white mushrooms sticking out. He simply rocks in his chair and when I turn to look at him, he simply sighs, shakily pointing his staff to the end of the bridge where I did notice before the water is rippling and a slightly different color.
[+12 insight gained] I get the message as he gave me two insight but the +8 and +2 from the caryll runes and greater sense respectively boost me up.
" 'Master' Willem, do you have anything to say about yourself for the crimes your student has committed for the various heinous crimes of his misuse of blood, turning the great majority of citizens into beasts including the members of his own healing church. This includes the crime of having rapist priests who dared to touch and kill my sister."
The man seems to pause in his rocking as he turns slowly towards me. "Ahh aaa" "im ... .sorry"...."I accept my mistake…with dignity" He states with a raspy voice that I get the impression feels foreign even to him as he trembles with every word.
I feel something burning in my chest, guilt over my desire to kill this man but I stomp it down but not completely as I at least grant the man a proper execution.
Overwhelming, Weapon echo, Shatter echo.
BANG
His head is torn straight off as the rest of his body explodes into a rain of blood. A single eye rune where he was and 2799 echoes.
"Haa" I turn back towards the road and hover near the edge before falling in.
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Word Count = 3142
Interrogating Gehrman, then breaching Byrgenwerth.
[1] The Fly is two movies based on a book…i think. Essentially a man unintentionally fuses with an average house fly and mutates throughout the movie in different ways. Jeff Goldblum is in the second one which is more modern as the first was in 1986 and didn't have much blood or guts as compared to the second.
Fun story guys: Guys, I ugh, i think there is something that happens in the game when you're afk in this area. Having killed everything outside the building, I was afk to write the chapter accurately when what seemed like a tree branch creeped up from the right side of my screen in thick vividness. It then slinked away but the thing is. I'm where the celestial centipede was, there are no trees here. At most some ankle high grass patches along the steps there. Wtf did I see?
After some tests, I believe it was the grass but I can't find the exact same one I saw as the great majority of the grass curls like a circle at the top while mine was akin to a twisted tree branch that pointed leftwards, it also didn't sway like the other grasses in the area. How else could it have creeped in from the right side of my tv. I made a whole post about this on reddit and nobody knew what it was.
Whether you like the chapter or not, drop a comment. I can't be letting myself get complacent in my writing. I still have plenty of growth in all forms.
discord channel still has the next chapter preview like usual: https://discord.gg/rE6gtg28XH
Patreon.com/Xanok to find me.