Prompted by Dallas the Daring to be a little bit more bold in her exploring, Shaw decided that if she ever hoped to find a unique, powerful, or at the very least, more stylish piece of equipment, she would need to start exploring the caves, tunnels, and tombs of the Weeping Peninsula.
First up was the Tombsward Catacombs, a fairly pedestrian dungeon filled with skeletons. While these bony monsters weren’t too difficult to defeat, the exact mechanism for doing so remained a bit of a mystery. Sometimes they would collapse and evaporate into a puff of white particles and wispy strands, like all other foes in the Lands Between; while other times they would re-assemble themselves to fight anew. Perhaps the type or timing of the killing blow makes a difference? Nevertheless, eventually they were all down for good. Sadly, Shaw did not find anything too exciting; she must have missed something. Near the entrance, a skeleton stood behind a white energy field which appeared to be locked, requiring something called a Stonesword Key. This must be where the treasure is. Unfortunately, Shaw has no idea what a Stonesword Key is, or where to obtain one.
Sidenote, out in the fields of the Weeping Peninsula, another place for Stonesword Key. This one adjacent to something called the Weeping Evergaol, a large stone circular surrounded by seemingly harmless stone caterpillars, some of which are standing upright, monitoring the circle with their one glowing purple eye. The question is, are there multiple Stonesword keys, or just a single one that opens all these locks?
After her fruitless excursion in the Tombsward Catacombs, Shaw proceeded to explore the Earthbore Cave, which was practically pitch black. A torch would have been useful here. Perhaps if Shaw’s ultimate fate lay not in the hands of someone who ignores basic tips such as, prioritize buying a torch from the first merchant, maybe things would have turned out differently. Alas, the giant rat proved to be her undoing in this case, because of course there’s also a giant version of the basic rat.
Speaking of rats, the Callu Baptismal Church was jammed packed with the little fuckers, including one specimen of the giant variety. Shaw’s first attempt failed, but she bested them the second time with the help of her 3 wolves: Throatripper, Terrifier, and Todd; and this was despite the fact that these rats had glowing orange eyes, and inflicted something called madness. Curiously, other than an orange progress bar, Shaw could not really understand what sort of penalty madness was causing. Perhaps because of the madness?
We should also note, at this point, that Shaw successfully defeated a Giant Miranda Sprout on her first attempt. Lesson learned, Shaw likes enemies that don’t move.
To round out the evening, Shaw travelled back to Limegrave to quickly fill up on ruins by killing soldiers. While doing this, she found a better sword just lying on the ground in the forest. Sometimes she feels like this place is toying with her. With the help of her newfound sword, she finally defeated the Godrick Knight at the Gatefront Ruins, not by using stab-and-run guerilla tactics as before, but by standing her ground and using a combination of counters and rolls. Impressively, she did not lose a single sliver of health during this encounter. A proud moment, to be sure.
While back in Limegrave, Shaw inspected the following statue more closely, and discovered a small dish that looks like it can be interacted with in some way, however:
Summary:
In which Shaw gets a little bit more bold, a little bit better in combat, and a lot more confused.
