Shaw headed for what looked like an unexplored cave on her map; it took her a while to figure out how to get down there. Turns out there were 2 ways to get in there, at either end of the ravine. While looking for a way down, upriver, she chanced upon a panoramic view of Limgrave.
Once in the ravine, she proceeded to the cave entrance. Unfortunately, as soon as she approached it, another red-glowing dude appeared (see Update #12), this one was called Bloody Finger Nerijus. Being noticeably more deadly than the last invading NPC she encountered, she made exactly 2 attempts at beating him, and both were abject failures. His bleed attacks were inflicting considerably more damage to her vigor than she could afford to lose. Shaw resigned herself to leaving those 666 runes down in the ravine for now.
Fresh out of ideas on what to do next, Shaw decided: “fuck it, I’m just going to follow the road North to the castle.” Once she crossed the gate, she encountered the dreaded Margit, the Fell Omen. She made two initial attempts wielding the sword that had served her so well through the completion of a pair quests, as early as yesterday, but which was now proving completely ineffectual. She could barely get his health a third of the way down.
For the third attempt, she switched to a halberd; surely the additional range would yield some tactical advantage? Unfortunately, Margit was too quick, and bridged the distance between them quite easily.
Shaw was ready to give up (after only 3 attempts, I know) but instead she summoned a viewing portal and consulted the oracles to give her some guidance. Apparently, an artifact could be obtained from a fellow named Patches, that would simplify the encounter. Where could she find Patches? In the Murkwater Cave; just her luck. She did learn another important piece of information, a wizard could be summoned to help in the fight.
She headed back to Margit, halberd in hand, with a wizard and the 3 Amigos summoned to assist. Another defeat. She got closer this time; he only had about a third of his health left.
While taking a minute to collect her thoughts, Shaw remembered that she had more powerful swords in her inventory, but they were too heavy. Since her shield was useless in this fight, maybe two-fisting a longsword would be the play? After spending a few minutes Googling how to 2-hand a weapon, the in-game controls screen being completely hopeless in this regard, she headed back in.
Attempt number five would be Margit’s swansong as Shaw unceremoniously sent the bastard straight to hell. It took 3 flasks, but he wasn’t getting back up.
To celebrate this victory, Shaw sat down for some tea with Melina, and was a little pissed to discover that all of this was part of Melinna’s plan. A test of sorts.
Shaw quickly forgot about this betrayal when Melina brought her to the Roundtable Hold. She was tired tonight, but would explore this place tomorrow.
But wait! Had she received some cool shit by defeating Margit? Surely yes? With all the excitement and tears of joy blurring her vision, she must have acknowledged the notifications without reading them and turned off the PS5! Well then, another thing to investigate tomorrow.
Summary:
In which Shaw finally encounters the first real, real boss in the Lands Between and teaches them a lesson they won’t soon forget, by killing them.
