Alright, time to keep going. Wonder what the hell happened here:
I remember in the area where you fight the big monke, there were similar bloodied wooden beams and planks. Perhaps they washed down from here? Who knows i guess.
I make it down and i see two possible paths to start with, a nearby structure:
And a path on the side:
Perhaps by taking the latter i can flank whatever is inside that building. I make two steps past that breach in the wall though that i get attacked by something i can't even see and i'm instantly turned into an old man lol:
The hell is this Wolf looks so pathetic hahaha. Eventually the effect dissipates and i now come face to face with the likely culprit:
So this is one of the "blessed" immortals.
I decide to stay clear of those guys for the moment and check out the lake instead. Seems peaceful enough:
Oh shit:
Well, that was a great start for my journey through this place.
I try a couple more times, even diving under the water, but that lighting attack can get you anywhere. I try to get a closer look at the guy, but he is still too far away to make out what it is:
There's some goodies in the lake it seems but with that bastard shooting lighting bolts at me there's no point getting them now, maybe after i kill him:
Alright, let's try go through those structures first:
Those guys die super easy but they inflict that status effect very fast so they definitely require care. I wonder why the one in the Ghost Village didn't use it. It would have made perfect sense. He chases you around with his slow attacks while you can only limp around with barely enough health to survive a single hit seems like a missed opportunity. Not that it would have made the fight hard or anything but at least it would have been something. I guess they just wanted to keep this new status effect a surprise for this place.
So it seems i'm supposed to just follow this series of buildings all the way around the lake:
Oh, so this is the one who got me the first time:
Cheeky bastard gets what he deserves:
No immortality for you anymore bitch.
There's also another one hiding behind some folding screens. I don't know why as i can hear him play his music and can see him through the holes:
(the shots i took originally was crappy so i came back to take a couple of better ones)
Silly guy:
I now see that those rooms are not actually connected, so i have to make my way outside after all:
So there's samurai fishes now:
I have no idea what nasty shit they can do so i stay put for a bit, trying to figure out the best way to get them, when i actually see it:
As soon as i jump on the low roof, i spot another samurai fish guy doing a little tai chi dance:
That's cute:
Before taking him out though i need to check the roof here first. Sure enough, there's guards posted on top of it:
When i kill it it makes female gurgling noises. I guess those are related to the Monk bitch i just killed. The hairs are similar.
Is immortality worth becoming some wierd fish monster though?
On the top of the roof, i find three more:
Not sure if i can kill all three without getting spotted though. For now i decide to make it down to kill those two patrols by dropping from the ledge while they have their backs at each other:
Works out fairly well:
I return to the top to try those three. No guts no glory right?
Turns out it was super easy, i just had to backstab each in turn, none of them even moved:
Guess this is my next target:
Before that though i need to clean up what's left. The building i'm standing on appears to have no way in. In the side where i killed the two patrols there was some flute guy hiding behind a corner. Good thing he didn't show up while i was fighting those two:
It's now time to take out that poor dancing samurai fish thing:
After killing it (him? her?) i come face to face with that bastard in the distance:
It seems the thing doesn't care how close you get, it just doesn't want you to touch the water:
Good, would have been super fucking obnoxious if i had to make may through this with this bastard shooting lighting bolts at me the whole time.
Wonder if this thing is connected to the whole process of eating the slugs, and "melting" them with the Fountainhead Waters to prevent it growing into that centipede thing:
This begs the question why the Monk princess was infested but maybe that happened while she was guarding the Wedding Cave and they only let her guard the Fountainhead Palace, never actually allowed her inside. The memory text implied her guarding duty was more or less perpetual.
So, i now make it to the next area:
Are those what i think they are?
I check around the perimeter and find an opening on the left side. Yep, fish dogs thingies:
Well, how hard can they be? At first they seem like regular dogs:
Until they start shooting lighting bolts at me:
It's not hard to dodge but there's more than one dog and eventually one of them manages to zap me, and the attack takes almost my entire health bar. Nasty shit.
Killing them drops this thing:
I keep finding those and yet i still have no idea what their purpose is. I can only assume i'll find out soon though. Next up there's a room full of dogs with a flute guy hiding in a corner. This time i'm taking no chances and whip out my trusty whistle, and then watch the chaos:
Look at them ugly things:
Might as well just whistle my way through the remaining area:
After which i got the run of the place:
Behind me i see i'm right next to a Sculptor's Idol:
Before going that way though i need to see if there's a way to get up on the roof of this place. Turns out there is:
Ok then, time to move to the next area. So far i'm doing great, this place ain't that bad
Mmmmh, pretty:
Ok, so now let's see what the game throws at me. So far this place hasn't been as traumatizing as the Mibu Village:
I go in and i see there's a flute guy making a short patrol, no problem:
In the next room there's some sort of NPC (i hope):
But as i'm about to walk there i almost get spotted by this guy:
Ok, i'm kind of flinching as i'm expecting this bitch to start smacking the shit out of me. It appears she wants to talk, but that's no guarantee she won't turn hostile:
Well, let's see what she has to say:
I see (Wolf actually says this lol).
That's great and everything but i did try to see if there was a way to get past this area by following the outer wall from outside the perimeter and the only way i can make it to the other side is to swim through water, which may not be any easier, not with that bastart trying to zap my ass from across the other side of the known universe.
Also, is there a catch here or this is just free advice?
Well, can't say i didn't see that coming.
Speaking of eternity, why aren't you a fish lady? Are mortals allowed to roam around here? I'm just going to assume all those baits i've been finding were meant to be taken to her father, which i guess i'll meet soon.
Alright, let's see the situation here:
Ok that's definitely some nasty shit lmao.
Maybe i can use this folding screen as cover:
At the end i find one of those Bite Down consumables. Fuck you game, i ain't giving up just yet!
Up ahead on this side i see there's a flute guy with his back towards me:
But he quickly turns around and i almost get spotted, and then very quickly turns his back to me again. I chance popping out of cover to see what's on the left, where i see i'm within striking range of that other noble that almost saw me while i was walking towards the old lady, so i take him out:
And in the blink of an eye i'm back behind cover. It's now time to do the same to the second one as well. I wait for him to turn then make another dash:
I freeze into position for a second, but it seems i'm good:
On my right i see there's a samurai Na'vi sitting down meditating:
I get close when suddenly i see some shit behind that screen posing as a wall:
I'm close enough that i can hear him puff and growl. It's a frikking bull, fuck me. Not entirely sure if that thing is going to just burst into the room if i try to take the samurai out, so i decide to backtrack for the time being.
There's some loot and a Spirit Emblem around and after picking everthing up i try behind me. As i get close, i see there's a spot where i can reach the ceiling:
As i'm looking at it though i see i'm almost about to get spotted by something, possibly something up there. I try scouting on my right first:
Mmmh. I go back to my left to see if i can reach the ceiling where i suddenly bump straight up into a noble with a Na'vi samurai behind him. This turns into a fucking disater as i instantly get enfeebled and i'm now limping away with the samurai doing combos behind my back but for some fucking reason none of them land lmao:
I limp all the way to the Idol and the samurai gives up and starts making his way back. I don't understand how the hell i managed to survive this. I could tell the samurai was trying to smack the shit out of me from behind but i never got hit once, and on my way back i actually get an opportunity to get backstab him (her, whatever. They should be guys really given how big they are):
After killing it i quickly make it up the ceiling, and it appears there's nothing there:
I guess whatever it was i was about to aggro was outside. I check below me and see the patrol consisted of one noble and two samurai, but now there's only one left as i killed the other:
I still don't get how i managed not to get killed, but from here i can easily take out the noble and i'm curious to spar with the samurai to see what the hell it is that they actually do. Turns out it's the usual flurry of combos and they aren't even that hard to kill:
I stand still for a few seconds but it seems i didn't aggro anything while i was fighting with the samurai fish. Up ahead i see there's some loot. Turns out it's a Divine Confetti. I always get queasy when i find one of those things, as it's an indication some spectral shit is afoot.
I make it back up the ceiling and i try to sneak behind the noble i spotted earlier in front of that palanquin, but as i come down i smash a bunch of folding screens and he instantly aggros. No problem though, he dies in two hits and there's nothing else within aggro range here:
Ok, this last part didn't go as smoothly as i had hoped but hey, i'm alive so all is well. Next up, the courtyard from hell:
I see if i can flank that room with the red noble and the samurai, it's actually worse from behind:
Well, ok, let's try the front:
I manage to get close enough to strike at the nearest one:
As soon as i take him out, the whole room inside goes wild and i see there's two samurai next to the red noble, not just the one. One of them uses a spear, so out of curiosity i kite him all the way out in the previous section as i'm curious to see if the spear one is harder than the sword samurai:
Turns out she isn't:
It's good that i fought her out here as she does a low sweep where she spins several times which might have been a problem in close quarters but out in the open it's easy to avoid.
Ok, so i'm back in the room, one less samurai to deal with. Not exactly smooth stealthing but i'm not actually doing that bad considering it's my first try and i'm doing this whole part in one swoop:
I check the back again. I can probably take out the spear guy no problem if i can manage to kill the noble first:
If only i could get over the roof but there's no grappling points anywhere:
Well, let's try this. I use the whistle on the red noble and manage to draw him out:
He doesn't move that far from the door though. I try anyway, worse come to worst i'll kill the samurai in combat. I rush for a quick kill, which does alert the samurai but he doesn't go red, so i rush back to safety:
I then sneak up back to him and take him out no problem:
I think if i had used the Gachiin's Spiritfall i could have done this more cleanly but i made it all the same.
The ones outside are now within my reach, and turns out they are pretty easy, since killing one doesn't alert the other:
I then admire my handiwork:
I even go brag to the old lady how i made it past her "accursed" courtyard, but she doesn't even deign to acknowledge my exploits. Bleh.
Inside the room i find a chest, but it's just some Divine Grass:
FromSoft should really stop with those rare, numbered consumables. Has anybody in the history of their games ever used any? I certainly didn't lol.
I can now see the noble and the spear samurai from the screen wall here. I try to smack the thing to draw their attention. Only the noble gets alerted but it lasts like two seconds before he returns to position:
So even though i can see through the game threats those screens as regular walls. This means i should be able to take out the samurai without alerting the bull back in that room i skipped earlier:
The bull isn't likely going to burst into the room (i hope lol), but that noble will sure get alerted so as a precaution, i pop the Gachiin's Spiritfall:
I take him out, then creep towards the noble:
Behind him there's a corner with some pointless loot at the end of it. Meh.
Look at this ugly thing though:
From the holes i can see it's some kind of zombie bull and the light on it's horns is purple so i assume he is a spectral enemy. Well, i can buy as many Divine Confetti as i want so it's not an issue. For now i need to find a Sculptor's Idol though.
Ok, i think i'll just use the whistle on the noble, then take out the spear samurai in combat:
As soon as he turns around, i leap into the fray, kill the noble and start sparring with the spear samurai. At first it goes well, then she leaps back into that gate and as i go after her i aggro another noble, and now everything goes to shit. I kill the second noble but as soon as i turn around the samurai bitch actually shoots a lighting bolt at me and she almost kills me right there and then. I take her out in a flash and i stand there panting, hoping nothing else is going to show up:
I now cross the open gate here and damn, look at that:
I check on my right, and see around the corner there's a ledge with a noble at the end of it, facing the front of this entire area:
I guess what i should have done here is try to make it to the roof of that sunk house, then dash towards this noble all the while trying to avoid the bitch trowing lighting bolts at me from a distance and i could have done this whole area from behind.
Next to the noble there's a little area but no loot inside, wierd.
I then make it to the left of the Sculptor's Idol and NOW i find a grappling point:
Well, ain't that a bitch.
I check the pagoda next to me, but all the doors are shut. Behind it, i see there's an opening that goes all the way around. I think this is how i'm supposed to get to the bull:
First thing the roof though:
I should be able to easily flank them. But as i try to do so, i instantly hear what sounds like a dozen alert sounds. I freeze into position, but nothing happens. Eventually i figure out it must have been some aggressive fishes in the water. Like, can they fuck off? I'm not even in there.
I finally circle around the samurai and there he is:
Damn, do i have to kill those three every time i make an attempt on the bull?
After killing the last one i spot something below:
It seems somehow i missed some loot. I drop down and start checking out every corner, until i find something:
I dive in and when i emerge i find myself in a room full of goodies, oh my:
All the loot is carp scales and inside the chest i find this:
So this is what the priest in the Mibu Village was talking about. Good thing i'm doing this let's play as the only reason i remember what he said is that the process of posting screens and sometimes relistening to conversations (since i record them all in case i forget who is saying what when posting screens and also to remind myself if the the tone of voice suggests something a screen doesn't convey) means i can memorize more than i would normally, especially since i relistened to his nonsensical rant several times to try to make out any sense of it and i distinctly remember him talking about the water of the palace. Damn this would have been damn cryptic had i been playing this normally. In fact, i think this process of revisting things i just did, looking at screens and relistening to recorded conversations made this playthrough easier than past FromSoft games, at least in terms of figuring out quests and lore.
Anyway, i got around 5000 sens at this point and i think there's only the bull left before the next section so i finally port out to take care of this before fighting him. First, i decide to spend the sens on prosthetic upgrades:
The one where you just throw sens is kinda of funny. I guess the game is anticipating that eventually you'll have nothing to spend sens on as you deplete all the inventories of merchants and stock up on all the consumables you'll ever need. It's kinda neat actually, a way to make use of money once money becomes useless. Clever.
Ok let's go deal with this crazy bastard. I show him the thing, and he acts like a junkie who was just been shown some free heroin which probably ain't that too far off from the reality:
He now gives me his sake and wants the water shit in return:
By all means, have at it. I know FromSoft too well to assume this is just going to end like this. To simulate the passage of time, i go give the sake to Isshin. I think this is the last bit of lore i'm going to get:
Lol, this is definitely one of my favored characters in the game.
Wonder who is he talking about now.
I think he is talking about the monks.
Lady Butterfly or just shinobi in general? And is the last one the Sculptor?
You mean...
I guess the sense here has more to do with them seeking immortality than the mere enjoyment of good sake, but perhaps i'm reaching here.
To the fools then.
And speaking of fools, let's go see how the priest is doing. Well, would you look at this:
I was expecting some crazy shit, something spectral perhaps, but it's just a simple fish noble. Killing him makes him drop a whooping 5 carp scales:
Ok, time to kill the bull then!