Second Bell Rung!
Blightown made my palms sweat, but I really enjoyed that entire area. Such a nice mix of enemies: the morlocks, the fire doggies, the spiders, ogres/giants, mosquitos. But fuck that blowdart dude. And when I first saw that nasty tentacle monster blocking the giant tunnel I nearly turned back for the safety of New Londo and its ghosts.
Fighting ogres on a narrow platform is quite the ballet.
I stocked up on purple moss, put on the shadow armor set I found, equipped my spider shield, and took my time exploring the poison filled swamps, picking off golden leaches with my bow, and collecting all the loot. It was a nice change of pace from the platforms above. Almost calming.
Then I found the spider’s den. I guess I shoulda seen it coming, what with the firespitting spiders all around. But I didn’t. And I surely didn’t foresee the larva infested hollows. FFS. Made it through most of blightown with only a few deaths. Navigated the swamps and the rock giants no problem. But after busting open that swollen hollow, little maggot monsters killed me? Good one dark souls.
What’s there to say about Quelaag? That slow pan up her body was something else. Spider. Spider. Flame. Spider. Human torso??? YES. Reminded me of The Stalk from Saga. Having done pretty well in the area, and dreading having to plod my way back through the swamps and giants, I summoned the butcher lady that tried to invade me earlier, and we made short work of the spider queen. Which…I kinda regret. It was a pretty easy fight with the butcher face tanking. It went by too quickly to really appreciate the cool spider moves. Oh well.
Victory. Bell rung. Mysterious gate opened. But what’s that I see out there through the archways? Just when you think you’ve seen it all, Dark Souls reveals the hellscape that is the Demon Ruins. I sat down at the bonfire surrounded by hideously moaning invested hollows, looked out over the creeping lava, saw some indescribable horror off in the distance, and logged off for the night.
This. Fucking. Game.