Celia gave the humongous, highly singed rat corpse a wide berth. I couldn’t see her face, but I could feel the look of disgust from here- and it wasn’t even directed at me. Laurentius peered over the edge of the stone and down the wide ramp made of slick stone that led downwards, towards Domhnall and the gate that led to Blighttown. Siegmeyer paced the room, investigating alcoves and poking bricks, peering through the bars to one side that looked back into the area we had just come from.

“Knight Siegmeyer?” I said, an eyebrow raised. The knight’s helmet turned towards me, then he shrugged.

“It’s a labyrinthine sewer, Lady Sif. Such things are rife with false walls and secret passageways, and I would think this one no different.” His head turned in the direction of Laurentius, who was holding out a hand wrapped in pyromancy flame. “However, it seems that we may not have much of a choice, in this regard. With no alternate paths, we may have to attempt the ramp.” I could hear the grimace in his voice. “I am not looking forward to it. Perhaps Celia and our pyromancer friend may manage it, and you will be as graceful as ever, Lady Sif, but I am too old to be navigating such terrain.”

“Well, we may not have to, not like that.” I mused. “If the stone is coated in water, and I make ridged ice…”

“Aha! Brilliant!” He gestured towards the opening in the wall, shifting the sword on his shoulder. “By all means!”

“Age before beauty, hm?”

I smirked a little, flicking my tail at him as I passed. Siegmeyer simply laughed, the noise rebounding off the stone walls. Celia glanced over from where she was poking at the rat’s corpse, offering a little huff of laughter before going back to her investigations.

“Ah, you said it, Lady Sif, not me.”

With that, he returned to prodding the walls. I stepped past Celia, padding up to where Laurentius stood, freezing the water under my paws as I went. He afforded me a glance as I sat next to his feet, peering down into the darkness, to where the tunnel flattened out again. Squinting against the lack of light, I could just about make out the treacherous portion of the slide where the ramp gave way to a hole, leading down and into another rat’s nest of tunnels and creatures. Somewhere, down there, were a handful of basilisks, and Kirk. The former I would rather not see at all, but the latter I intended to speak with.

“What do you think?” I asked the pyromancer. He shrugged.

“Lobbed a fireball down there, most of it seems to have collapsed besides the far left side. Stone’s pretty slick with slime and detritus, I don’t imagine any of us could get a real grip on it.” He gave me a look. “Except you, of course. Imagine you could anchor yourself with ice.” He hummed, rocking on his feet. “Useful ability, that. Would’ve been welcome in the swamps. You probably could’ve walked right across things that most people would need boats or bridges to navigate.”

“It’s certainly come in handy, at that.” I traced the left side into the darkness with my eyes. “The plan is that I go first, freeze a layer of water over the stone and affix it. I believe I can manipulate the ice, give us a good surface to walk on provided we’re careful about it.”

“Provided Siegmeyer doesn’t find us another way around.” Laurentius replied. He turned his head back towards the wider room behind us. “Any luck!?”

“None, unfortunately!”

The knight joined us at the edge, Celia not far behind him. The Undead was holding something small in her hand, frowning slightly at it. I focused on it, which was a difficult task, as it continually shifted and changed its shape. As I watched, it seemed to turn towards me, revealing two little spots of white in the ethereal darkness that it was made of, and I realized that I was looking at a Humanity sprite. Celia, noting my attention, tucked the thing away in a belt pouch, shrugging. I’d somewhat forgotten that, disturbingly, the rats could spawn Humanity as a drop. Not all that out of line, given the whole very large scavengers in a sewer thing, but still.

I turned my head back to the slope. I could see the light from the fire reflecting off the water cascading down the stone surface, and the deposits of slime and various other things under it. I was thankful that there weren’t any actual humans living in the Undead Burg, or I suspected that this place would be even more disgusting than it already was. I breathed out, and the frost began spreading from my paws, following the cracks in the stone and forming an anchor. Gentle manipulation allowed me to make the surface of the ice into frozen ridges, something that could be easily gripped by a foot.

The angle of the ramp was steep, but not so steep that one would just slide down it without the slime and water. With the water frozen in place and the slime underneath the ice, walking down the ramp instead of sliding down uncontrollably was a test of patience and balance, more than anything. We edged down slowly, carefully, a single file line behind me. The light from Laurentius’ pyromancy flame was more than enough, flickering off the floor and walls, giving the place an almost eerie beauty- if one could forget where they were. When we came level with the drop into the square pit, I turned my head and glanced over the edge, then paused for a second.

“What is it?” Celia asked, nervously, then turned her head and balked. “What… what are those?”

Giant fake eyes. Scales. Essentially giant lizards. I could see the set of real eyes underneath the gigantic fake ones, beady and black. I knew exactly what they were.

“Those are basilisks.”

“Oh- hang on, you mentioned them, didn’t you?” Celia studied them, leaning forwards slightly and sheathing her sword before calling her own pyromancy flame for a better look. “Cursing, and the ability to fight ghosts.”

“Creatures are rare indeed. I’ve not seen more than a few, though-” Siegmeyer nodded to the frozen statues lining the room. Spikes jutted out from them at random angles, and they were caught in moments of distress. “Usually, you can tell when they are about. Their lairs are filled with the petrified.”

“Those were… people?” There was a nervous quiver to Celia’s voice. I could understand the sentiment.

“We get them occasionally in the swamps, the ones less traveled by humans.” Laurentius said. “They have their own territories that they occasionally wander out of, and we have to kill them or drive them back in. We can never wipe them out, though- too many, too dangerous. Besides, they make a wonderful defense.”

They hissed at us, and the light we were shining on them. Their huge, glowing false eyes bobbed in the dark, and I felt vaguely sickened by the display.

“Maybe we should kill them from here, just to be safe?” Celia asked. “We’re most likely going that way, anyway. Might as well wipe them out before they can threaten us.”

“Excellent plan.” Laurentius held up his hand, a fireball forming in his palm. “I’ll take the left, you take the right. Understand?”

Celia nodded, summoning her own fireball. They waited for just a moment, then threw together, the fire sending flickering reflections across the stone chamber as each of the fireballs arced towards their targets. Laurentius’ hit dead on, the basilisk he’d been aiming for shrieking as the flame burned into its body. Celia’s, however, splashed harmlessly against the stone, and she swore as the basilisk she’d targeted merely skittered back. Immediately, she called up another, and this time landed the hit.

With the limited room and only one exit, the four basilisks that had been huddled together were quickly burned to death. None of them managed to make it out of sight, though they’d definitely tried. I was mostly just pleased that we wouldn’t have to fight them later on more even ground, where their petrifying breath- their primary defense- could reach us.

“That should be the last of them, but remain on your guard.” Siegmeyer said, scanning the room. “They travel in small packs, and it wouldn’t do for us to be taken off guard by a group of them later, having thought we’d slain all there was.”

I turned from the room and made my way down the last of the stone ramp. At the end, it dropped a little, then evened out with the stone floor. I hopped down, wrinkling my nose slightly in disgust as my paws landed on the spongy surface that coated the stone floor. I froze it in a moment, nodding in satisfaction at the much better- and cleaner- walking surface the ice provided. The rest climbed down after me, Laurentius and Celia helping Siegmeyer down, grunting under the weight of his armour.

“More of those black slimes.” I said to them, my voice low.

Peeking around the pillar revealed a handful of them, milling about in the layer of water in the center of the room. Looking upwards, I saw two more clinging to the ceiling, shivering slightly in a manner that reminded me of gelatin. Disgusting thought, but I wasn’t sure there was a better comparison for them. They did remind me, in the vaguest of senses, of gelatin packed with various food items, though the analogy made my stomach curl in disgust.

Laurentius and Celia stepped around the pillars, already summoning fireballs to their hands, while Siegmeyer followed close behind. The knight and I hung back as the two pyromancers made quick work of the slimes from a safe range, the noxious gasses and detritus they were made of easily catching fire and burning merrily as they moved from slime to slime. The flames made quick work of the ones that were there, but I did wonder what they’d do against the much larger slime in New Londo. Supposed we’d have to see. The moment the last slime burned out, Laurentius’ head turned to Celia.

“Where to now?”

She opened her mouth, but I didn’t let her speak, walking past them and towards the end of the hall. There, a rickety iron fence had been erected to close off the area behind it, but the center had given out to rust and corrosion. The three followed me until I stopped just before the gap, giving each of the three of them a grave look, which seemed to confuse Laurentius and Celia. Siegmeyere, however, tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, turning his head upwards and towards the gap in the bars. I followed suit, turning towards the gap, and taking a deep breath before walking through.

The other side was no different from the rest of the sewers, save for the rotten wood and iron door that closed off the far end. The hall behind us had tunnels going in many different directions that we could follow, but here, there was only the gap in the fence and the door. However, I barely spared the door a glance, before turning right.

“Aye, siwmae. And good day to you. I'm-”

“I am aware of who you are, Domhnall.”

The man’s golden helmet tilted to the right slightly.

“Well, I fear that I am at something of a disadvantage! Have we perhaps made a deal in the past, little wolf?”

I didn’t dignify that with a response. “No. But, tell me, do you still serve the same master?”

He stilled.

“... And what master would that be?” My lips twitched.

“Do not think to try and mislead me, Domhnall. The channelers remain scattered about Lordran, working against me. Is the scaleless still handing down orders from on high, or have you all been set adrift?”

“Those are dangerous questions! Hm. Tell you what. I’m amenable. If you have something to trade-”

“I can trade you your life.” I growled, my claws making furrows in the stone. He gazed at me a moment in silence, perhaps attempting to gauge my seriousness.

“... Hm. I am not in the habit of giving out tips for free, gray wolf. You can kill me, no doubt, but then what will you gain?” I scoffed. “No, really. I know your threat is an empty one. You will not kill me without having received the information that I have, and thus it has no hold on me.”

“There are things worse than death, collector. And we both know the price of betrayal, even against those I find myself opposed to.” I padded closer, my head held high, my eyes piercing. “The rock once stood by Gwyn’s side, and his vengeance is not yet complete. If your master is still sane, then perhaps I will turn my attention away. That is the trade that I will propose. And if you won’t tell me, well, I can get that information elsewhere. You are not the only one in Lordran who knows things.”

The helmet tilted left, then right. The many medals on his chest jingled against each other quietly. Finally, he hummed.

“Oh, very well. He will most likely want to see you, anyway.” He cleared his throat. “Hmm, now, let me think… Seath is above in his archives, and hasn’t been seen personally in years! However, as you have observed, his channelers still walk Lordran. He has ordered me here, to keep track of those who pass through the Depths to Blighttown, and to keep a watch on…” He chuckled. “Well, there’s information, and then there’s an unfair bargain. You asked me your question, Lady Sif, and if you have another- well. I am always open to trade.”

I huffed, then turned and walked away. Back through the fence, with the four of them following me, and then down the hall and right at the large opening there.

“Lady Sif.”

I paused, tensed for a moment, then forced myself to relax. I turned my head to regard Siegmeyer, who had unbuckled his helm and was giving me a worried look.

“It’s fine, Siegmeyer. I was merely…” I trailed off, then sighed through my nose. “There is history, there. Betrayals and plots. But when I realized he was here, I had to be the one to speak to him, to see if he possessed information that we could use. And he did.”

“Seath. Seath the scaleless.” He mused. “It was not a coincidence that we ran into a servant of his, here in this place, let alone two. The channeler, and now this Domhnall fellow.”

I sighed again. “Once, he would, and did, do anything to put himself in the good graces of the gods. Supervising their tests, ensuring that certain things played out in certain ways. With the gods perhaps long gone from Lordran, however, his loyalties are suspect at best. He was ever the fair-weather friend, first to the dragons, and now to the gods that he betrayed the dragons for. If his servants are still actively moving under his orders…”

Celia leaned around the corner, looking back in his direction. “He said something about being placed here to watch something.”

“There is a foul presence here.” Laurentius muttered. “I had thought it merely the reality of such a dank sewer, but it has the feeling of some of the more dangerous portions of the swamp. Territories of things that are, if you’re lucky, rarely seen.”

I breathed out, extending my sixth sense. Past the festering poison of the sewer itself, and disregarding the far worse toxic feeling below our feet, I could feel… something. Huge and twisted and twisting, changing in horrible ways even as I looked at it. Shifting and mutating, a mass of magic that roiled and snarled at me.

“Yes. I can feel it, something both great and terrible. I know not why Seath would be interested in it, whatever it is, but it is something that we may have to come up against. I doubt that it will let us go without a fight.”

“Hm! Well, unfortunately for it, fighting is what we do best!” Siegmeyer rapped his armoured knuckles against his breastplate. “What is all this armour for, eh?”

Celia nodded once, confidence in her stance and displayed in how she held her blade and shield. Laurentius smiled, his earlier nervousness all but gone, as a little snake of fire wormed its way between his fingers. I couldn’t help but smile a little myself, marveling a bit at how well we’d come together. I hadn’t planned for things to play out like this, but was intensely glad that they had. Celia moved towards the front of our group again, and I stepped aside to let her.

We came down the steps on the right and onto the lower level. Unlike many of the other sections of passage just like this that we had walked through, there was no doorway that led underneath the floor we had just walked upon. Instead, the only way forwards was, well, forwards, down the passageway in front of us. The first rat to leap out of the gloom was easily spitted on Celia’s sword, then tossed aside, even as she blocked a leap from another. Laurentius, from his position at the top of the steps, directed a ball of fire at one of the rats towards the back, while I leaped down on another. Its rotten spine shattered under my paws, leaving it limp as I snarled, frozen spikes made from its blood shredding through its skin and impaling the rat next to it. In moments, Siegmeyer beheaded the last of them, leaving the gaggle of rats as so much rotten meat.

“Were they gathering at the bottom of the stairs?” Celia said.

“Most likely. Drawn by the sounds, I would guess.” Siegmeyere flicked the blood from his blade, then returned it to his shoulder.

We kept forwards, turning around the first corner, only to be faced with a second. Something about this particular section of the sewer tingled something, deep in my head. I frowned, turning and examining the walls carefully. The stone looked much like that in the rest of the sewer, no particular changes from the norm. The rats weren’t what I remembered specifically, they were everywhere in this wretched place. As a rat burst out of some crates lying against the wall, only to be bisected by Siegmeyer, I sat with my brow furrowed.

My ears twitched backwards at a sound. A very familiar sound. My eyes widened, even as the rest of them turned, and I leaped to the right! It was the only thing that prevented me from being impaled by the thorned sword, which rang against the stone and produced a shower of sparks that lit the figure holding it. I swung myself towards them, hackles raised, feet planted, teeth bared.

The figure in armour was wrapped in wisps of red, glowing faintly in the dimness of our surroundings. In one hand, he held a sword covered in wicked metal barbs, sharp and cruel. In the other, a shield, coated with spikes, many of which were stained with something that appeared black in the low light of pyromancy flames. His armour was much the same as his weapons, covered in spikes where it wasn’t bound with cloth, iron spearheads jutting out at random angles from the steel.

The Knight of Thorns. Kirk.

He wasted no time. In a moment, he was on me, shield up and sword jabbing past it. I was ready, however, darting away from the strike again. He went to follow a third time, only for his head to jerk to the left. He flicked his shield up, the metal ringing as it rebounded Celia’s strike, her sword radiating heat. Kirk quickly sidestepped Siegmeyer’s swing, attempting to capitalize on his overextending, but the experienced knight used the momentum of his zweihander’s swing to pull him out of the way, deftly twirling in a surprisingly graceful move. Celia slammed her shield into his, unbalancing the knight for a moment, Laurentius holding a fireball in the back and waiting for his opportunity.

I leaped for him, Kirk’s head jerking around as I landed right next to him. His shield had been batted out of position by Celia’s, but his sword wasn’t. It snaked out for me like lightning, edges glittering cruelly in the low firelight. My head flicked, and sparks of electricity mixed with the sparks of a sword against a sword as my blade met his. There was a brief moment of surprise, from him, and then it was gone when Siegmeyer slammed the pommel of his blade into the knight’s stomach.

His blade trapped by mine, he lost it as he stumbled back and away, letting out a grunt of pain as he slammed into the stone wall. I circled around to his right, my pawsteps leaving frosted prints in the damp environment, while Celia circled around to his left. In the center, clutching his zweihander, Siegmeyer stood crouched and ready. Kirk shifted his shield in front of himself, taking in each one of us in turn and obviously searching for a way out.

“Knight Kwurk.”

Ugh, it was hard to speak around the hilt of a sword in my mouth. Wasn’t so long ago that I was struggling this hard regardless. Still, he jerked his head in my direction, so he must’ve understood what I’d said enough for it to register. I watched him for a moment, and he watched me in return, ensuring that he kept the other three in his peripheral vision. I imagined that the knight knew he was outmaneuvered; his best hope here would be to use our numbers against us, to get us in a situation where we tripped over each other and gave him openings that he could use. However, he had dedicated too much to that first strike, seeking to catch someone with too much awareness off-guard, and had been immediately back footed by Siegmeyer’s experience, Celia’s burgeoning skill, and Laurentius’ unwillingness to engage closely and tangle himself with the rest of us. He’d underestimated us, and now he was in a very disadvantageous position.

That would be why he stiffened in surprise when I moved my sword to its sheath at my side, and left it there.

“I know who you are, Knight of Thorns Kirk. Your service to the Daughters of Chaos these many years since the fall of Izalith has met my ears. If you still serve, then certainly, there are still powers left in the ruins of Lost Izalith, powers that command shreds of the authority and power of the Witch.”

He shifted his shield in his hands. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly deep, and it called to mind a predator, perhaps a great cat.

“You are well informed, for one I do not recognize.”

“Truly? What other wolves with swords are there in the world that I have heard nothing of? Perhaps we could establish a covenant.”

Siegemeyer let out a chuckle of amusement. Kirk’s head tilted slightly, and then snapped back to me as he stiffened again.

“... Sif?”

“One and the same.”

He lowered his shield a fraction. “I had heard that you had fallen with your master.”

My claws scraped slightly against the stone, and I found myself having to blink a bit of wetness from my eyes.

“I fear that such news is exaggerated at best, false at worst. After the fall of Oolacile and the containment of the Abyss there, I requested from the gods a dispensation, that I might guard his grave from those who would seek to disturb it.” I stared squarely at the eye slits of his helmet. “It was my duty, Kirk, as was yours to the Daughters.”

He hesitated a moment longer, then lowered his shield entirely. Siegmeyer and Celia relaxed some, Laurentius’ fireball calming to the more typical pyromancy flame, but they remained wary. Celia sent me a questioning look, but I ignored it.

“Duty, huh. I can understand that.”

He set his shield leaning against his leg, glancing at the sword that sat just underneath me. Catching his glance, I hooked it with a paw and flicked it towards him, the knight catching it by the hilt. He tightened his fingers around it, glancing at each of us in turn. We’d spoken, but I could see the gears turning in his head, the thought: how could he turn this back on us?

Wordlessly, I pressed a little more of my power into the world. The ice underneath my paws spread, crackling quietly as it subsumed the stone. Kirk’s head turned towards me, and I caught a glimpse of his eyes through the slits in his helm- determined. The moment hung, the tension in the air nearly electric.

“Duty. Yours to the Sunlight Throne, mine to the Witch. Those who lived in Anor Londo would not draw a distinction between the demons and those few survivors of Izalith. Tell me, Sif, are you different than they are?”

“I see no reason to make a conflict over events long over and people long dead. There are more important things than a non-existent grudge against the victims of the Chaos Flame, Knight Kirk.”

He stood for a moment more, turning his sword this way and that. Finally, he nodded to himself. I tensed slightly ready for him to make a move, but instead he pressed the blade into the sheath at his belt. He folded his arms over his chest, leaning back against the stone wall.

“So. You wish to parley, then?”

Celia gave me a questioning look, and I inclined my head. She let a breath out, then retreated a few steps and lowered her sword and shield, though I noted that she put away neither. Laurentius moved to look down the tunnel ahead, while Siegemeyer kept his eyes on the Knight of Thorns. I turned my head back to him.

“Indeed. There are few enough left in Lordran that are sane enough to speak, let alone add their swords to a cause.”

“A cause? Pah. There are plenty of those here. Lordran is rife with religions.”

“Is your Lady’s need for Humanity one of them?” His shoulders stiffened. “I mean no threat by that, Kirk. I am aware that her condition makes her… fragile. That she has been made a firekeeper, that the Humanity is needed to sustain her. Your loyalty to her is commendable, as is your determination to do that which you think is right.”

“... She gave everything for those people.” He said, so quietly that I barely heard it.

“So. We find ourselves in a situation where both of us have need, and our goals and desires align.”

“Do we?” He tilted his head. “Pardon me, Lady Sif, but if your goals align with those of the gods, I don’t see how we find common cause.”

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“Lady Sif believes there to be no gods left in Lordran.” Siegemeyer said, my ear twitching in surprise. “If the gods have abandoned us to our fates, to their supposed test, then perhaps we should not find ourselves so at odds as you think, Knight Kirk.”

He glanced at the other knight, humming in thought.

“Still. If Lady Sif is working in their stead…”

I shook my head. “I’ve sworn my oaths, and they were not to the gods, nor to their plan. I have no desire to play along with something that I have no relation to, not for the sake of individuals that have left me long abandoned.” My gaze turned upwards, hardened. “It does not escape me, either, that there is implication of the gathering of Lordsouls. Tell me, if Nito is one, and Seath holds a piece of Gwyn’s Lordsoul, then where are the other two?”

He thought for a moment, then closed his gauntleted hands into fists. “Ah. I see the game of the gods. Did they consider you a threat, then?”

“I don’t know.” I said tiredly. “The plan was created after Gwyn went to rekindle the First Flame, after Oolicile. I was not in the circles of the gods then, and I wonder if they were nervous about leaving someone who could very well lay a claim to the Sunlight Throne- no matter how flimsy- so close to the seat of power when they left. Placing me on the path certainly accomplishes two goals. Another stage of their test, and the elimination of a potential rival. Certainly, I would be at least weakened.” My voice turned grave. “I have spoken to the champion of Fina.”

Kirk practically shoved himself off the wall. “Fina’s chosen? Here? Does she intend-?”

“I don’t know. I don’t believe so. If she were to make an attempt, wouldn’t she have more than just a single representative in Lordran? There is no evidence of a covenant of Fina, not here. The Sunlight Warriors have more of a presence, and the Firstborn certainly isn’t making a play for the throne.”

His fingers tightened again. “Things are moving at a faster pace than we had believed.”

He grasped his shield from his side, slinging it over his back, then reached into a pouch at this side. From the leather container, he drew a black thing wrapped in cloth, which I recognized as a black separation crystal. It glittered in the firelight, faces reflecting the light of the pyromancy flames.

“Before you go.” Kirk’s head turned to me. “Relay a message to your mistress. We will be there before long, and when we come, I wish to ensure that she knows that we don’t intend harm. Instead, I wish to discuss how we might ensure that our goals align. There are too few in Lordran for there to be fighting among us, and the embers of both Izalith and Anor Londo are better directed outwards, towards those who would see all of us dead.”

“Mm. I can do that. Whether the Lady aligns with you and yours, well… that’s up to her.”

“I don’t ask you to convince or force her. I merely ask that she listens when we speak of peace.”

He nodded, then tapped the black crystal with an armoured gauntlet. It rang, and his figure blurred for a moment before vanishing in his entirety. I waited a few moments, tenseness in my muscles and thought, then finally let out the breath I’d been holding and settled back on my haunches. Suddenly, I felt weary in both body and mind.

“Lady Sif, what…?” Celia asked. Her question trailed off, and I could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

“It is… a long story.” I said, tiredly. “I would prefer to tell it in better circumstances and better surroundings.”

Siegmeyer nodded easily enough, shifting the blade on his shoulder. Celia seemed uncertain, still, but she didn’t seem to find any issue with what I said. Laurentius, however, was glancing back and forth between myself and the spot that Kirk had vanished from.

“Izalith? The birthplace of flame sorcery?”

I nodded. “Ruins, now, and infested by demons, but some of the Daughters of Chaos still live. The original pioneers of flame sorcery, under the tutelage of their mother, the Witch of Izalith, one of the holders of the Lord Souls. I had thought them still alive, and it is good to see that their servant still acts in their name.”

“You’re scheming, Lady Sif.” Siegmeyer said. There was a note of teasing in his voice, but I could hear the question in it all the same.

“Mm, maybe. But what I’m scheming is, potentially, the salvation of the world and all who live in it, if I am not being too ambitious in saying so. I think that a little scheming is allowed, in such circumstances.”

“I don’t begrudge it! Your plans have done naught but benefit us thus far, Lady Sif. This is just the logical progression of your planning, I should think.” He tapped his fingers against his chestplate, producing a faint rattling, like rain on a metal roof. “Still. Strange, that there were so many that had old ties with you, in this place.”

Being completely fair, it was a little odd. The main Chaos Servant and the person who gave information to Seath that ensured the downfall of the plot against the gods, practically right next to each other in the Depths? Strange to think about. Not that any of this was something that was particularly obvious, per say; it wasn’t as if the games were explicit about the placement of either in the overall lore. Still, from a meta perspective…

“Yes, I find it… odd. It makes one wonder what other sorts have survived the years, and still linger in Lordran.”

Sigmeyer hummed, and we moved to follow Celia and Laurentius, who had moved forwards to explore further into the tunnel. As we came around the bend and looked forwards, I recognized the corpses of a few basilisks lying on the sewer floor, covered in soot and burns. Glancing up revealed a hole in the ceiling, through which poured a steady stream of water.

“This must be the hole in the ramp.” Celia muttered.

She glanced at each of the corpses in turn, deciding that they were dead when none of them moved to attack us. She moved to the next corner and peered around it, then swore quietly. Poking my head around her legs, I could see why: a number of basilisks were taking up the end of the tunnel. The lizards crawled in the muck and filth that covered the bottom of the sewer tunnel, hissing at each other, eating, the usual things that I imagined lizards did. Still, none had noticed us, and that was a boon. I wasn’t particularly eager to fight an entire crowd of instant death area of effect lizards. From the way Celia edged back from the corner, I didn’t think that she felt much different.

“Lot of lizards down there.” She whispered to the rest of us, as I kept watch on them. “I’m not sure I want to fight those things in close quarters- not that many, and not in these cramped conditions.”

“We can if we must, but I would suggest finding another way around.” Siegmeyer said, voice low. “We can try the doors above, next to that Domhnall fellow, perhaps. And I believe there were at least two other tunnels that we could try from that same hall.”

“So, we go back?” Laurentius was toying with a bit of fire in his hands, watching the corner that I was staring around with some anxiety.

“It is your call, Celia. Do we continue forwards and fight them, or turn around and find another route?”

She hummed, inspecting her sword as she thought. She nodded to herself after a moment, raising her head again and hefting her shield.

“Back. We look for another way.”

Siegmeyer nodded, taking the lead as he walked back the way we’d come, with Celia behind him and Laurentius third. I brought up the rear of our motley crew, watching the corner in case any of the lizards heard or saw something and took interest in it. Thankfully, none of the basilisks seemed to have, and eventually I turned and threaded my way through the legs in front of me to Siegmeyer’s side. His helmet turned slightly in my direction, and I offered him a nod, which he returned.

We found our way back to the hall we’d come from without incident. Across the way from us and on the opposite side, there was an indentation in the wall. From here, you could just see the stone archway that led into it. We approached it, Siegmeyer looking up the flights of stairs in front of us. He stared for a moment, then snapped his fingers, a surprisingly deft movement, given that they were wrapped in steel and leather.

“Ah! No, I know where this leads.”

“Are you certain?” Celia’s voice rang within her helm, sounding surprised.

“Of course! I am a veteran dungeoneer, I’ll have you know. I was presented with a cape for it and everything… ah, but that’s besides the point.” He gestured to the stairwell in front of us. “These steps travel parallel to the ramp that we just came down. Now, remember that when we entered the area, there was a room with the floor made of iron bars? Had a ladder that led down to a lower level?”

Laurentius nodded. “Yes, that’s where we saw the rat from.” He moved to Siegmeyer’s side, squinting up the passage. “That certainly looks like it.” Siegmeyer nodded.

“This may be a shortcut to the beginning. Ah, but if we’d just taken the ladder, we may have skipped this whole mess, haha!” His head turned to me as I growled. “... Or not.” I huffed.

“We’ll keep it in mind, I suppose.” Celia said.

We turned back, Celia moving to the fore and leading us down the tunnel and towards the door at the end. She paused when we came to another stone archway just before the broken iron fence, which led into a straight hallway that terminated in another stairwell. Eventually, however, she ignored it and moved on. As I stepped through the iron fence, I noted that Domhnall’s customary spot next to the wall was empty.

“Gone, eh?” Siegmeyer asked, helmet turned towards where the collector had been sitting.

“I suspect that he’s gone off to report to his master.” I replied. “We haven’t seen the last of him, of that I have no doubt.”

“Ungf!”

We both turned our heads to where Celia was attempting to move through the aperture at the end of the hall. The doors rattled slightly in place, rusted hinges creaking horribly, but the entire thing barely moved. Though the wood was saturated with water and slightly rotten, and the iron banding and nails that held the door together were rusted, it was thick and strong. It didn’t give in to her attempts to open it.

“Hm.” Laurentius touched the doors, face contorting into a frown. “Wood’s soaked, and the iron is protected by it. Would probably take less time to melt the bars around it and get through that way, using pyromancy.”

“If I had brought my larger body…” I mused, testing how much give the doors had. “I can’t even freeze the hinges, they’re on the other side.”

“Knight Siegmeyer, what do you make of this?” Celia called over her shoulder.

The older knight walked over, handing his sword to Laurentius, who stumbled under the weight of the weapon and let out a strained sound. Siegmeyer looked them over, testing them with his own hands and feeling their give, then examined the edges. Finally, he leaned down, taking his helmet off and having a good look at the lock. After a few moments, he straightened, then placed his helmet back on his head as he spoke.

“So far as I can tell, it’s not worked by a mechanism, nor does it appear magical in nature. I suspect that these are a mundane pair of doors, though particularly strong ones, and may simply require a key. Where that key is, however…” He shrugged.

“We still have one direction left to go, and I’d rather not tangle with those lizards, if it’s all the same to you.”

Laurentius gave the archway we’d passed a meaningful look. Celia followed his gaze, then nodded, moving past him and towards it. The pyromancer shifted in place, a grimace on his face, then held out the zweihander to Siegmeyer. I noted that his arms shook from the effort.

“Kn-Knight Siegemeyer, if you please?”

“Ah, of course. Apologies!” He took the sword from the pyromancer with ease, who let out a relieved sigh. He shouldered the piece of steel with ease. “Come along, Laurentius, Lady Sif. More sewer to explore!”

“That man… isn’t human.” Laurentius huffed, between breaths. I grinned in reply.

“Ah, but you see, mine’s even bigger.”

He gave me a completely bewildered look, but I merely chuckled as I walked past him. He lingered for a moment more, catching his breath, then followed behind me as we walked towards the stone archway. Through it was a tunnel, narrow enough that we had to walk single file through it. Abruptly as it started, the flat tunnel ended with a staircase up, Celia mounting the steps without a moment’s hesitation. I slipped past Siegmeyer’s legs and followed her up, remembering that this led to an overlook for the boss arena for this area. The stairwell let out through a stone archway onto a platform with what looked like battlements around the edges, though they didn’t make much sense being underground like this. Unless they were intending to fight some kind of sewer creature? Maybe the denizens of the sewer had built them, once upon a time. Celia inhaled, moving to the edge of the battlements, and I followed, placing my paws onto the raised stone wall.

The chamber was huge, the ceiling towering above us from where we stood, halfway up the side of the room. Looking up and to the right, I could see the wooden scaffold that marked the place where we'd fought the channeler and his escort of rats. Huge stone pillars, one of which we found ourselves next to, held up the ceiling far above us. Several of the thick pillars of stone brick towards the center of the room had collapsed or been broken, their presence signaled only by their remains on the chamber floor, or the huge upper portions paradoxically hanging from the ceiling like huge stalactites. Water pooled in the center of the chamber floor, creating almost a pond that shimmered in the low light. A huge crack in the ceiling at the far back allowed the golden light of the sun to shine through, lighting the chamber better than pyromancy flame or torch could do. In a word, it was quite beautiful- or, it would be, if it wasn’t for its location.

“Incredible.” Siegmeyer intoned. “I wonder what this chamber’s purpose was?”

“Perhaps a reservoir of some kind?” I said, more to myself than in reply.

“Might be a drainage chamber.” We both shot Laurentius sideways looks. “Eh? I’m not allowed to know anything about city design? Look-” he pointed across the chamber. “The water would drain there to lower areas. And there, that’s an inlet. There are high water marks, all the way up the walls, and there’s no passages leading out of the chamber on the lower levels.”

“... Hm. You may be onto something.” Siegmeyer said, a touch of surprise in his tone. The pyromancer nodded.

“I would put money on this being some kind of overflow chamber for a drainage system. Too much water in the rest of the depths, or coming down from the Burg above, and it all comes here, where a large amount of it can sit until it drains away to other areas.”

Celia pushed away from the edge, making her way right and around the corner, following the wall. I shoved myself off of the battlement and back onto the stone brick of the floor, padding in her wake. We turned a corner, and there were the stairs to the next lower level, lit by a torch that sent shifting shadows through the entrance to the stairwell and across the damp walls. We navigated the steps carefully, one after the other, and then made another right turn at the bottom. However, I had to come to a halt as I nearly ran into the legs of Celia.

“Celia?”

She twitched, then turned to look down at me, before looking forwards again.

“There’s a summon sign, Lady Sif. Golden.” She pointed to what was, as far as I could tell, a bare patch of stone. “There.”

“Golden?” I asked.

“Ah! Another Warrior of Sunlight!” Siegmeyer turned towards the wider chamber and hummed. “I wonder… Lady Sif, can you feel anything?”

“A moment.” I closed my eyes and concentrated, reaching out for the thing that I knew was there. Sure enough, I could feel it, that same twisted and dark presence that I’d felt before, but stronger. Closer. Practically right in front of us. I nodded. “Whatever it is, this is its lair.”

Laurentius shuddered. “I’m no coward, but this place feels… deeply wrong.”

“Best summon whoever they are, Celia. Maybe they know more about whatever is squatting in this horrible place.”

She nodded, stepping forwards and sheathing her sword, then crouching down and placing her hand against the stone. She made a small noise of surprise, then flicked her finger across the stone and stepped back. After a moment, the sound of a phantom being summoned rang across the stone walls, and a figure rose out of the floor in the classical pose of the Warriors of Sunlight- and a familiar figure, at that.

“Knight Solaire!”

“Hm? Celia again! Hah, you look excellent!” He rotated his arms in his sockets, stretching, and turned his helmet towards me. “And you, Lady Sif, you look more… permanent?”

“This body is a fair bit more solid than a summoned phantom, Knight Solaire.” I replied, giving him a respectful nod, which he returned. Finally, he turned his attention to the last member of our group.

“And I believe you are new. Ah, Celia, it appears that you’re growing quite popular!” he offered a proper half-bow, one I noted to be textbook correct. “Pleasure to meet you. I am Knight Solaire, of the Warriors of Sunlight.”

Laurentius nodded in return. “I am pyromancer Laurentius of the Great Swamp.”

“Ah, a pyromancer! I should’ve guessed from your garb, it is the traditional guise. It has been far too long since I’ve visited. How fairs your enclave?”

He shrugged, looking troubled. “Struggling, somewhat. The Curse has hit us hard, and, to make matters worse, the Way and Vinheim are conspiring to press us harder, each for their own reasons. Many of us had fled the swamp, by the time I fell to a creature and reawoke as…” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Ah… I am sorry. It cannot be easy to lose one’s home, especially when they are in dire need already.” Solaire clapped his hand on Laurentius’ shoulder. “But we came to this land to find a way to end the Curse, didn’t we? So, to lift it, to end the sorrow and suffering that it’s shed on the world, we must move forwards. Don’t lose hope, for then your home has one less defender.” Laurentius stood a little taller and nodded, and I could feel Solaire’s smile even if I couldn’t see it. “Excellent. Now, let’s speak about the creature that calls this place its home…”

He moved to the battlements of this level, the rest of us following behind. He glanced to his sides, checking to see that we were paying attention, then gestured to the entire chamber.

“You’ll notice that the pillars are gone, leaving the area wide open. I would guess that the creature did this, either on purpose or as a result of it fighting first the denizens of the Depths, then whatever Undead happened along.” He pointed across the chamber, to where the pool drained into a chasm. “It hides down there until it senses prey move through the fog wall and into its territory, then reveals itself and attacks them.”

“Hrn.” Celia leaned forwards, scanning the room, then turned her head upwards to where we’d come from. She pointed up to the battlements that surrounded the archway, leading back to the hallway we’d come from. “Laurentius, do you think you could hit most of the chamber with pyromancies from there?”

He leaned out, squinting at it, then nodded. “Might need a little arc to get it done, but I could.”

She nodded, then turned her head to Solaire. “Knight Solaire, if I could make a request?”

“By all means!”

“Perhaps the four of us- myself, Siegmeyer, Lady Sif, and you, could go down and fight the creature on foot. We can keep it from attacking Laurentius while he rains fire down on it from above.”

“Hm, not a bad plan, though it doesn’t account if it decides to go for him anyway.”

“No, I can see it.” Laurentius nodded. “The archway and the stairwell are right there. If I feel I’m in danger, I can just run down the steps and back to the hall, and safety. There’s far more risk to the four of you.”

“I don’t believe we have anything to worry about! Nothing could be a real match for the five of us working together!” Siegmeyer said, upbeat and all smiles. He leaned over and bumped shoulders with Celia. “And you’re becoming quite the tactician! Making a man proud in his old age.”

“I thought we agreed that all of you were practically children relative to me, Knight Siegmeyer.” I teased.

“And yet, Lady Sif, you are still lovely as a moonflower in the snow.” He replied back without missing a beat.

Okay yeah he probably didn’t mean that but oh man am I glad there’s fur on my face and they can’t actually see my muzzle turning red. I did not need these kinds of complications.

Thankfully, before I could make some stuttering and awkward comments, Celia finished whatever prep work she’d been doing and nodded to Laurentius. The pyromancer nodded back, then turned and moved off towards the stairs to the upper level. She waited a few moments more, until he waved to us from the upper level, then moved to the next flight of stairs. She paused at the fog wall, waiting for each of us to line up behind her, then turned towards us.

“We can only go through one at a time, so let’s be careful about this- I don’t want us to trip over each other on the other side.” She paused, giving Siegmeyer a slightly nervous glance. He gave an encouraging gesture in turn, and Solaire nodded. She swallowed. “We’ll each move to the side to make room for the next, then move out towards the center to meet the creature head on.”

“We don’t want to be caught underneath the stone roof, or against any of the walls. The creature is large, but with enough room to move around it, we should be able to avoid each of its attacks.” Solaire said from the back. “It’s large, and it’s quite a shock to see, but don’t let it surprise you out of thinking on your feet. Its size may be its downfall in this fight, but only so long as we remember to keep an eye on it and ensure that we are not caught by any of its limbs. Two will distract and two will strike- we play it safe, and we come out unharmed.”

Each of us nodded, then we turned and faced the fog wall together. Celia hesitated for a moment more, shifting her sword and shield, then took a deep breath and pushed through the veil of mist. I was next, feeling the urge to shake the water off of my fur despite the fact that the mist didn’t actually make my fur wet. Celia had already moved forwards and out of the way, so I stepped to her right side. Siegemeyer followed behind me, arranging himself off to her left, and then Solaire behind him. The Warrior of Sunlight ended up at my side, his large round shield emblazoned with the sun facing me. Celia lingered for a moment more, glancing left and right, then tightened her grip on her sword and shield and stepped forwards and through the pillars.

The moment we were beyond them, as it had been alerted by us crossing some invisible line, I heard the creature shift at the far end of the chamber. The sound of scales rasping against stone echoed in the huge space, and after a moment, I saw the bare tip of its head poke over the edge of the stone drop. It seemed to survey the chamber, before finally moving back to us. Across the distance, I could barely make out the beady eyes that broke up the scales, though I didn’t doubt that each of them was as big as my head. The sheer size of the thing, and the distance of the entire chamber, merely made them look small. Then, one of its limbs came over the stone lip.

It was huge, each of its fingers the length of me, and covered in scales as black as night- though the colour was muddled somewhat by a smattering of sewer filth and mud. It shook the stone as it landed, and I noted that it had six finger-like appendages, splayed out like a lizard’s foot. It pulled itself up over the lift, and Celia made a noise of disgust. It wasn’t hard to see why.

The entire chest of the thing, from the bottom of the neck down, was one huge giant mouth. A hole, ringed with teeth meters in length, gums rotted and black. It hauled itself up and onto the stone floor of the chamber, a second pair of legs appearing with the spherical abdomen in tow, and then a third pair, right at the base. The scales were rotted and gangrenous, entirely falling away from the festering flesh at multiple different points. As we watched, it pushed with its front legs, rearing up. Suddenly, we were faced with an incredibly tall wall made entirely of teeth. Huge spires of bone, thick around as a person and many meters long, jutted out around the edges. Closer to the center, the teeth grew smaller, until it was simply clusters of much smaller teeth all ringed around a huge, horrifying hole in the center. The hole pulsated and clenched, and I felt my stomach turn as the teeth around it rippled and clattered against each other. The huge creature stretched its arms and four wings towards the ceiling, then let out a huge roar that shook the entire chamber, causing stone dust to rain down from the ceiling in lines.

It pushed itself forwards the moment its roar was done, impacting the stone floor hard enough to shake us. Collectively, we sprung into motion, splitting up among the large pillar stumps that still remained. The corrupted dragon charged, screeching, but only succeeded in missing Solaire, who danced out of its reach with a speed and nimbleness that I found nothing short of remarkable. It swung an arm at him, seeking to catch him with its fingers, but he rolled underneath them and they missed entirely.

I darted towards its side, keeping myself in the blindspot created by one of its front arms. Up its side, and towards its second pair of legs, when I slammed my shoulder into the scales and grimaced. Ice exploded from the point of impact, reaching up and around the limb as well as down and into the stone bricks that made up the floor. The pond of water gave me plenty of material to work with, after all, so why not use it? The dragon screeched in rage, tugging on the limb, and I danced up the frozen surface to open a cut in its shoulder that crackled with electricity just for good measure.

That seemed to piss it off, more than anything. It slammed one of its huge paws into the pillar of ice I’d formed around its limb, the ice suddenly run through with cracks. Before it could strike a second blow, however, it screeched again as a huge fireball impacted on its back. Scales were blasted away from the impact site, and flesh was instantly cauterized by the sheer heat, setting it somewhat alight in the process. Forgetting the ice around its limb, it spun- only to find itself far out of range of striking at Laurentius, up in his perch atop the wall and forming another fireball of similar size. I could see the process of thought: I am hurt, that little insect hurt me, I need to kill him, the ice is preventing me from moving. Finally, it turned its attention back to the ice. Only, it screeched and started writhing, as one of Solaire’s lightning bolts impacted it right in its gigantic toothy maw. Furious, it turned on him and swiped again, only to find him just out of reach.

Celia and Siegmeyer hadn’t been idle while we drew the gaping dragon’s attention. The two had moved towards the back, where its huge tail jutted out of the abdomen. I assumed that they’d learned from their previous fights against tailed creatures: you don’t leave them weapons that they can use against you at any time, at least not unnecessarily. The tail itself was much thicker than the tails of the bell gargoyles, more akin to the thickness of the hydra’s necks, but the glances I sent their way revealed them to not be perturbed by that fact. Instead, Siegemeyer tightened his grip around his zweihander, then spun in place- before whipping the huge blade over his head and into the tail! The dragon screamed again, some of the half-ruined pillars coming dislodged and shattering on the stone floor. The dragon’s tail jerked and slammed into Celia’s chest, driving the wind out of her lungs in a huff I could hear from here, and sending her rolling across the stone!

“CELIA!”

I watched her tumble away, then turned my gaze on the dragon. Rage bubbled up inside me, hot and cold, a volatile mixture. I threw myself at the dragon as it made another swipe for Solaire, impacting its side as hard as I could. An explosion of ice crystals, and the temperature dropped rapidly; the entire side of the dragon was covered in frozen water, which had even reformed the shackle around its leg. I rebounded, skidding to a stop on the wet stone floor, then stumbled a bit. Suddenly, I felt woozy, my larger form concentrating on funneling power through the connection to refill the stocks that I had nearly just exhausted.

The dragon was screaming and screeching, flexing its chestmaw and teeth in an attempt to struggle against the partial icy prison it found itself in. Its arm clawed desperately against the ice crystals, which gave slowly and reluctantly before the draconic strength in the arm. I flicked my gaze to Celia, fearing the worst, and let out a sigh of relief when she sat up and fumbled out her Estus flask, taking a large slug of it.

The issue with the Gaping Dragon was just that it was so big, had so much mass. Siegmeyer looked to make another attempt at the tail, which was half-severed at best, while Solaire and Laurentius rained ranged strikes down on it in a constant and furious tempo. However, we weren’t making all that much progress. Certainly, we were doing damage: cauterized and still-burning sections of the creature attested to that. The issue was that we weren’t doing enough damage fast enough, and this thing could most likely wear us down bit by bit faster than we could wear it out. With no convenient health bar to rely on, we had to actually land killing blows on the damn thing. I stared directly at the small head, only for it to writhe- Siegmeyer had succeeded in severing the tail, which rapidly withered, leaving a huge greataxe behind in its place.

If I could get up on its back, then I could make my way to the head, stab it through the brainpan. The arm that was free, the one that it had been using to peel away the ice containing it, had become a target of fixation for both of our ranged fighters. Taking hits like that, it couldn’t spend long enough to pry the ice apart enough for it to start escaping. With its tail severed, it lacked its main offensive and defensive abilities while it was still tied down by my explosion of ice. If I could-

All my thoughts were interrupted as something leaped up onto the dragon’s abdomen. I slashed at its arm, severing a finger, then darted back and stared as Celia ran full-tilt up the thing’s spine. At some point she’d abandoned her helmet, a streak of red blood running down the side of her face from a deep cut on her forehead. Her face was locked in a snarl of determination, and as Siegmeyer and I dueled with the arms and their hands, I watched her rapidly navigate the dragon’s spines and the craters left by Solaire and Laurentius’ efforts.

We ran interference as best we could. I wasn’t entirely sure that the dragon could feel Celia attempting to climb its back as quickly as she could, but it certainly wasn’t blind to the fact that we were trying something. It may have lost its sapience a long time ago, corrupted by the Abyss, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t have a sharp sense of animal cunning. I leaped to the side as a paw slammed down where I’d just been, grunting in pain as chunks of stone struck me across the side through my fur. Even with the practical armour coating me, some of the force of a blunt hit still came through.

The dragon bucked, attempting to shake itself free of the ice, but it only succeeded in making a few more cracks run through the crystal. Celia stumbled, waving back and forth, then stabbed her sword into the dragon for a grip. That was a mistake: the dragon screeched, so high and loud that I tucked my ears against my skull and whimpered, then tried to slap her away. Instead, Siegmeyer was in place to slash at the arm, preventing it from getting a good angle at Celia, even as he cut and slashed and dodged. Solaire peppered the thing’s gigantic maw with lightning bolts, and fireballs rained, striking randomly across the thing’s body. Celia grit her teeth, then started climbing again.

I jumped and slashed and dodged, the electricity and cuts of my blade mixing with the ice magic I was using. Wherever I made a slash, I froze the blood, pushing the ice inside and stabbing it into the flesh beneath. Already, the dragon’s reactions were slower, its strikes weaker as it struggled to fight the lethargy and slow responses from its muscles. It slapped at its neck one last time, screaming, in an attempt to kill or dislodge Celia; for its trouble, I bounced off of its body, severing the arm right at the elbow with my sword. It writhed as electricity crackled around the fresh stump, but that was the least of its problems.

Celia had climbed up to its head. As I watched, cutting at the dragon’s lower body, she shouted something that was immediately lost in the dragon’s screams and cries. She lifted her sword high above her head, shield on her back and both hands on the hilt, then screamed something else- before driving the blade into the dragon’s head to the hilt.

It gurgled one last time, twitching, then fell to the chamber floor, so much meat and nothingness. A corpse. As I watched, hackles still raised and sword in my mouth, it began to dissolve. It turned into mist, which flowed to each of us in turn, though I noted that none appeared to go to Laurentius. The corpse rapidly vanished into nothingness, leaving Celia to stand up where the head had landed heavily enough against the stone to create a crater of its own. In one hand she held her sword, sparkling and hissing. In the other, she held a black, rusted steel key.

She looked at each of us in turn- Siegmeyer, Solaire, me. And then she held up the black key in her hand, and she grinned.

“I’ve always wanted to slay a dragon!”