Previously on Dark Souls: Morgan rang the bell in the Undead Parish, and not knowing where to go next, went and died over and over in a spooky cave.
Indeed, the Catacombs didn’t seem like a great candidate to be the proper way forward, so I made the executive decision to start retracing my steps through the Undead Burg and look for any alternate paths that I may have missed.
Along the way, I noticed that Morgan had been toting around a bow for som unspecified amount of time. Feeling that it would come in handy very soon, I decided to stop in at the merchant’s balcony to pick up a few arrows to go along with it. After all, a bow by its lonesome isn’t overly useful. Also I picked up a couple dozen firebombs because why not?
Eventually I made my way back up to the bridge area leading to the Undead Parish. There I found a door that was unlocked by a key that I’d pilfered from some corpse back in the Parish. Would it be the way to whatever my next destiniation? I was itching to find out, but figured it’d be a good idea to rest up at the bonfire across the bridge before venturing into the unknown.
Of course, having a mind like a sieve, I totally forgot about the enormous dragon chilling on the overhang above the bonfire’s room. His fire breath toasted Morgan to a fine crisp, and I was just barely able to escape down the nearby stairwell before the second blast turned her completely to ash. You Died.
Seeking revenge for the intense physical and emotional (but mostly physical) damages, I whipped out that bow and slinked down to the lower supporting section of the bridge. From there, I could see the dragon’s tail hanging over the edge. I began pelting it with my flimsy little arrows, which really didn’t do much in the way of damage, but seriously irritated the beast. It was too dumb to figure out where the arrows were coming from though, and eventually just flew off.
The diversion was well worth my time, though, as when I travelled back up to the main level of the bridge, I found that the dragon had dropped a shiny new Drake Sword for me, which was streets ahead of any of the dozens of other wepons currently filling up Morgan’s rucksack. She didn’t quite have the strength the wield the thing properly though, so it would have to wait a while before seeing any action.
I recharged at the bonfire and scurried back across the bridge to my mystery door. It turned out to lead down to the lower level of the Undead Burg, which was a much less inviting place that the upper level. It was all wrecked up, with buildings falling apart and small fires burning all over.
It wasn’t far from the entrance that I was accosted by a pack of wild dogs. Zombie dogs, that is. They were far too purple to be alive. They were also fast and vicious. I also found some of the weak red zombies down an alley, who were all bearing torches and did their best to try to light me on fire. Apparently a zombie memo had gone around sharing the news of how effective the Bell Gargoyles’ fire breath has been at killing me.
After rescuing some jerk named Griggs, who had managed to lock himself in a house the size of most closets, I found a shortcut back up to the bonfire in the middle of the Undead Burg. This was good, because those dogs from before had torn more than a few chunks of flesh out of Morgan’s hide, and she was in pretty dire need of some healing.
Further exploring the Lower Undead Burg, I noticed that it was getting too quiet. There was the pack of dogs right at the entrance, and the zombies down the back alley, but that was it. The path between buildings was becoming more narrow, and I was starting to worry. I attempted to open one of the doors to see if anyone was around, but instead stuck it with my sword, which resulted in the door… taking damage?
Suspicious, I started whacking other doors, and a few of them groaned at the strikes as well. I kept moving forward until I heard the creaking of several doors opning at once. Spinning around to see what happened, I watched a band of undead emerge from the doorways that I’d been attacking. There were three of them, but I wasn’t worried, because pfft, these mooks are no problem.
Only they were sort of a problem. These weren’t the same undead that I’ve already re-killed hundereds of. These were bandits, and they were a bit more dangerous than the previous types of undead. First of all, they’re quick, and dealing with three at once made that a real problem. Secondly, they can parry attacks and counterattack by flipping over Morgan’s head and digging their blades into her. It’s not an instant-kill, but it hurts enough to be a serious threat.
I won the fight with the bandits, but was beaten up enough that I didn’t stand a chance when the next group of three attacked. It sure didn’t help that they had brought a couple zombie dogs along with them, to boot. You Died.
Returning to the scene of my own murder, I was able to best both groups of bandits. Behidnt eh secnod group was a Fog Gate, and I didn’t feel quite ready yet, so I decided to follow the small, barely noticable staircase just to the right of it. A couple bandits and a welcome shortcut back to the Firelink Shrine were down that way. Also a merchant in the aqueduct, but she wasn’t selling anything that interested me.
Resting at Firelink, I steeled myself for another difficult encounter and headed back to the Fog Gate in the Lower Undead Burg. I walked through it and was cut down before I could even figure out what was happening. You Died.
Tune in next week for Part 7: Capping the Capra