C88: A true nightmare
slightly shorter than normal but youll understand why. Also today, I had buried my cousin who died about a week ago. I will make this better seen in 91 which im working on rn.
8/8/26
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"Ring of Bethrothal? Why did I need this at all? Oh well, the sensation is finally gone and im not hounded to go into the dungeons anymore. Another chapter of my life is done. Now which way to go from here? Back to the hunters nightmare to continue where I left off or Mergo's loft? To be honest, that's a pretty hard question." I ponder the situation for a while before just returning to the dream to ponder it some more as I close down all the dungeons for good.
"Is everything alright?" The doll walks up to me as I sit on the ground. She joins me there, allowing her head to rest on my shoulder as I, in turn rest mine on her head.
"In a way" I grumble as I lightly reminisce to her about how the chalices turned out to be fairly uneventful and that im planning to return to the hunters nightmare to hopefully get some sort of answers there as there are limited options for me to progress with.
'Wait, isn't there also the upper cathedral ward that I could do now? I remember getting the key in the Mensis part of the city with the broken lantern. Strange, my memory is getting worse as I move along. You would think it's getting better as my body gets stronger.'
[Eldritch Hunter physique has leveled up. Level 5->level 7]
'Oh two whole levels during my time in the dungeons, sweet' I welcome the joy of growth as per usual. Especially since with this, my Mind has become the first official stat to reach past the 400 point value.
For a while, I was under the impression that my Arcane would be the first to reach that level, though it's likely because of all my seeker stats that allowed me to get that new stat and skill being Cosmology that allowed it to so easily replace Arcane as my new highest stat.
Of course it cant be unmentioned that Vitality, Endurance, Skil and Strength had also crossed the 300 point mark. Bloodtinge remains alone under that 300 mark. My physique would need another ten levels to reach that point unless I could somehow get skills that could empower my Bloodtinge but from previous tests, the system store remains locked so I can't. A sad shame.
"Are you alright?" Doll asks again and I look at her with confusion in my eyes.
"What do you mean?" I ask to confirm her reasoning.
"You're trembling." She states and reaches out to hold my right hand and I notice that I am indeed trembling which confuses me as I get another headache. I use my left hand to rub my forehead as I soon get up and say to the Doll.
"Im… alright. I should get going, the night won't wait for me forever." I move to the tombstone and return to Ludwig's arena, aka the Underground Corpse pile, where I last left off in my journey.
Upon my return, I find a figure standing over the long dead head of Ludwig. I briefly recognize the figure as Simon, a hunter that warned me against searching deeper into the dream.
I first collect the blood vials here before approaching the staircase leading up. There is a present blue light along the stairs which feels nice for a change. Walking up, I arrive in a hallway filled with rooms, most of them locked. The first on my left yells about the nobleness of the hunters of the church, how the curse is a shackle and whatever other nonsense about the shackle.
Most of the other rooms in this half of the hall are locked except for one which had some frenzied coldblood (9).
Continuing forward is a church servant, a taller version with a lantern in its right hand with a staff in the other, along with a wheelchair bound hunter. The two work together with to try injuring me but I dodge the initial staff slam of the servant before twisting his neck in a direction it's not meant to before dodging a gun shot from the wheelchair hunter. My eldritch arm destroys the soul of the servant as he dies before doing the same with the poor useless hunter.
Oh how I wish it was Gehrman here. Though now that I look at them more clearly, they do resemble Gehrman quite a bit, how coincidental.
I get the fist of Gratia and then walk down some steps to encounter a strange idiot talking about the bells tolling. I get a strange impression of a man I met once. He made a strong impression way back when. I know he committed a crime later on against the healing church even though he was one of their hunters.
As the perfect recollection finally hits me from the few clues I was able to muster. I answer his question about hear the bells toll with, "Go fuck yourself Brador. You whiny little shit."
Through the small opening in the door, I see the man himself lift his head, his eyes pierce through the thin veil of hair, sown from a cleric beast he slayed, he gazes upon my face past the bars.
"Impossible, You, you cant be here, now, you fell." The sheer shock in his voice is distinctively present and I notice his body tremble as he quietly mutters. "Perhaps death has shown to toll the bells for me? Why else would he be here now. After…that."
"You say that but I'm nice and healthy, the scars have healed too. Heh" I chuckle and begin my way back up the stairs, I can briefly hear Brador mutter from his cell.
"So even now, you are set to suffer. Since I haven't seen you till now, you're suffering....." I get too far to hear more but I can only chalk it up to him being an edgy moron.
I continue forward and find another set of staircases leading up.
At the top, I find myself in a large room. Multiple sets of beds splayed out on both sides with a stone coffin behind me. Like the type that you can move that originally allows access to old Yharnam. Behind said coffin, I spot something with shiny yellow eyes. I approach and it's rats.
Of course it's fucking rats roaming around on the god damn tombstones. Three rats for three tombstones. Strange coincidence but alas. I get my bloodstone chunk and return to the path forward. I get Great One's Wisdom from one of the leftside beds. I then approach the center where I find two church hunters. One in white and the other in black.
The one in white rushes in, casting arcane spells like beams of blue and white while the other has ludwigs holy blade, not the moonlight greatsword but rather the inspiration for Null where it's a thin long sword that can be hooked into a broadsword like sheathe.
I took out the arcane user first because I'm too fast for the holy blade wielder to catch me once I choose to go fast. I also realized that it wasn't a beam coming at me but a projectile from their eye which was being shot out pretty quickly.
Upon getting close, I also realize that they arent fully arcane but they also have a short sword. Looks like the threaded cane as I hold it in my hands. I killed the bitch by reversing their own grip on the weapon so when they tried to pull away from me, they ended up stabbing themselves in the gut. Then i executed them by ripping out the soul as usual.
The other was even easier as at most they swiped at me or dodged, nothing unique, not even their blunderbuss. Gascoigne was more skilled than this hunter. I know because I trained under him.
From their corpses, I get one madmans knowledge from the weapon user and 10 bullets from the arcane priestess. In fact, I believe that both of these church hunters were women. That's a shame. Could have used their bodies to further augment 2b's looks. One of them had nice tits.
"Now, what to do with this altar here?" I question as I play Eye Spy. There is a statue with no face holding a book on the left. There is a statue with no face on the right holding a bell. There is statue in the middle with thick robes and the ugliest headwear i've ever seen with gloves on and hands outstretched towards the center where a skeleton is lying there. Dehydrated as FUCK. two towels covering its body. One on it's face and the other on it's dic… ahem, waist.
"So ugh, what do I do? Am I supposed to use the skeletons ribs as a Xylophone? Im down for it" I retreat a few steps and blow out a candle or two before returning and just playing.
"Ding din ding ding. dun shing…FUCK" my orchestral performance was interrupted by the Pet system telling me to stick the eye pendent acquired from the cleric beast into the patients head through the hole in it's skull.
"Hmm, yes, cause that is so obvious to me. Let's put the metallic eye thing into the skull of a dead man who doesnt need eyes anymore. Though I do wonder, would I have a hole this big in my head if I survive whatever surgery that afflicted me as the oh-so-well-known nuggetman?" I slightly rant as I do so.
I take the pendent and begin to move it into the skeletons head from the top of it's skull.
Click
"Hugh. huh. Awe, that's disgusting. It fucking clicked into place. I can tell that this is an actual skeleton that they mutilated into serving as this switch. Absolutely wretched." I comment as the space around me shifts and I'm lifted upwards.
"Ughhh. Might as well collect those things below me as well before they get out of reach. YOINK." I say as I activate Loot-Magnet and collect Lawrence's skull from a table underneath the lift I'm currently on and the church cannon from the chest in a small corridor just in front of the lower surgery table.
Rising to the top. I get the lamp working before stepping into the Research hall.
[+1 insight gained. Increased to 26 via titles and skills]
"Huh, thats pretty neat."
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Word Count = 1810