I haven't posted in here in a while, and that's because I scrapped the previous challenge run I was doing for something even crazier. My new run, which I think really is the last one finally, is as a base level Sorcerer, naked, no shield (except for those that grant buffs; the Sorcerer lacks the strength to actually wield them anyway), no weapon or estus upgrades, and gravelorded. No consumables either, though I wasn't doing that before.
My go to weapon is the Dark Hand; I was able to grab it before even the Taurus Demon, though it necessitated quite a bit of grinding, first on ghosts to get a Jagged Ghost Blade, which is useful against enemies that have tons of health but bleed and made traveling to Ingward possible (though not easy in the slightest; that house he's standing on is the worst), then on Darkwraiths. I've never used the Dark Hand until now, and I said "oh shit" out loud twice when I first saw its special riposte animation against player-like enemies, that's just how nasty it is. It's generally a great weapon aside from its pitiful range. It has effectively infinite durability and I never have to worry about bouncing off obstacles with it.
I've reached Ornstein and Smough again, going through every area and clearing them out except the Painted World, Great Hollow, Ash Lake and parts of Darkroot Forest on the way. I didn't clear out Sen's Fortress, there are some enemies there that just aren't feasible. I've definitely gained a new appreciation for parrying, and doing it empty handed with constant huge risk is a thrill. The thieves in the lower Undead Burg became terrors like never before, and the dogs were even worse than usual. I had an awesomely tense fight with Quelaag where I came in at half health expecting to die and ended up winning without being touched. I killed Andre for the first time to avoid paying for the Covenant of Artorias, that was weird. It's funny how I can just steamroll the knights in Anor Londo, between the Hornet Ring and the Dark Hand's Occult damage a riposte crushes them. Aside from Black Phantoms, that is.
Anyway, I was trying to beat O&S, killing Smough first naturally using the Jagged Ghost Blade (I was wussing out before in my SL1 run, using the Giant Blacksmith Hammer), and I came close a few times, but I had a thought. A supremely dumb thought. If I could access extended "hyper mode (getting cursed, wearing the Dusk Crown Ring and Red Tearstone Ring, getting down to 20% health and using Power Within while equipping Sanctus to cancel its damage)," O&S would be cake. The only problem being that Sanctus is at the bottom of the Tomb of Giants, dropped by the NPC invader Leeroy.
So I decided to go there.
I knew the Catacombs would be a daunting, but feasible challenge. I wanted to take a "natural" route, to see where Black Phantoms were added with gravelording and kill the necromancers. I've never really memorized the area's layout either. It was a hell of a struggle to get to the second bonfire, and afterward I was treated to a surprisingly extended Pinwheel fight. But the Tomb of Giants. Good lord. Black Phantoms everywhere. Black Phantom skeleton dogs. Black. Phantom. Skeleton. Dogs. That nope.gif has nothing on what I went through to get to the bottom, and it was only the beginning because, as I now know, Leeroy doesn't spawn until you've placed the lordvessel on the altar. Oh, and I had to climb all the way out manually. That was when the enormity of my mistake really dawned on me. Sanctus or not, there was a very real chance that this character was never going to see the light of day again.
Getting back to the first Tomb bonfire from the second (I know, I'm dumb, I know) was hard enough, but getting back into the Catacombs was probably the most insane non-boss challenge I've faced in the game. Avoid a Black Phantom Giant Skeleton on a thin path with giant archers firing directly at me, then climb a ladder with the phantom in pursuit and archers still firing. Lure a pair of giant skeletons away from a ladder so they don't kill me in one hit. Use Aural Decoy to lure a Black Phantom Skeleton Wheel (did I mention these kill in one hit too?) into position for a plunging attack. Pull every single skeleton wheel in the bottom of the Catacombs (including multiple Black Phantoms) individually with arrows, then take them out. Get interrupted by a Black Knight wielding a greataxe who I thought was outside of aggro range and whose moveset I don't know. Then, and only then was I back in familiar territory, and there were still a couple of normal skeletons to deal with, which are plenty deadly in my state. I did it. I pulled myself from that terrible place. The light coming into that little entrance leading to the graveyard was beautiful, and when I emerged into it I really did praise the sun. This was perhaps the most quintessentially Dark Souls experience I've had, the closest I've come to the true despair of a character lost without hope at the bottom of the blackest pit imaginable. The fact that players are even able to enter the Tomb before placing the lordvessel is the ultimate design disaster, and skeleton dogs are awful enemies, but that kind of actual oppression is something only that area can create. The depth of my folly was absolute, but the feeling overcoming it gave me was something special. It was... Dark Souls.
So now I'll be facing O&S again. I know it's only a matter of time until I beat those bastards, but wish me luck all the same.