#fringefolk

First thing past the imp statue was a pool of poison sludge. Unlike the ones in other places, this one seemed deliberately placed. It wasn't some swamp or the result of rot worship. Someone just pumped the sludge in here and let it fester. What a welcome.

Once I got to safety, I looked back at the statues lining the entrance corridor. Identical statues of robed women, but I found it odd that their hands had been cut off. The statues on the stairs leading away from the cave were the same way.

Identical vandalism means ritual defacement. They didn't take her identity, but they did take her power. Who could this be, and why was she branded anathema like this?

As I approached the corridor, I heard a rumbling and paused. Good thing, as a giant mechanical chariot rumbled to a stop right in front of me, turned around, and went back down the passage.

I moved down the hallway, hopping between alcoves. Some of them held ghostly soldiers in red shawls, with briars wrapped around their armor. (Edit: Like the Bell-Bearing Hunter?)

I waited until the chariot turned around, then jumped down and raced across a narrow bridge with the thing no doubt closing in behind me.

I turned corners and ran up more ramps. I ignored the ghostly soldiers appearing to bar my way and kept running. Eventually, I spotted safety. A room at the end of a corridor where it couldn't reach. Once I got to the room itself, I could tell from the grooves in the floor that the chariot stopped well before the end of the hallway. I had time to take on the next room tactically.

Inside was a ghostly knight, kneeling in prayer. She wore armor like Edgar and Banished Knight Engvall. However, she did not have the dragon ornaments on her helm, instead wearing a red shawl like the other ghostly soldiers in this place. Was she too a Banished Knight? Perhaps a different order? Were they also exiles?

She used the techniques I now recognize as from Stormveil. Riding the wind to slam me with her shield. However, she had some tricks that I did not expect. She called forth a sigil, and then spewed forth a gout of flame. I recognized this. It was an incantation of Dragon Communion.

I did not survive our first bout. Nor our second. Looking back, I was still pretty inexperienced. She was a stronger fighter by far. Now, if I faced her again, I would have better odds, but then? I had no chance in a fair fight. So I used my wits. On my third try, I cast a single spell to get her attention, and then ran. I hid in an alcove, as I heard the chariot thundering forward. It passed me and I heard a shriek of pain. To her credit, that was not enough to kill her outright.

It then turned around, and rolled over her again.

Upon return, I found she had dropped something. At first I wasn't sure what it was. It looked like a flame, but made of dancing motes of blood. I picked it up and realized it was a seal for the Dragon Communion faith.

Formless drakeblood seal with a dragon communion crest. The sacrificial devouring of the heart gives power. Indeed, Dragon Communion is too primal in nature for the term "incantation" to be appropriate.

Some Banished Knights devour dragon hearts, then. And they are fueled by a power more primal than faith or reason. Intuition. Mystery. Arcane.

In the knight's room, I found some Dragonwound Grease. It was made of resin, gravel stone, and other unidentifiable elements.

When the dragons were born from their ancient kin, they lost their stone scales, which can now be used to cause them mortal harm.

So modern dragons lack the stone scales, though gravel still grows on their hearts, and it can be used to hurt them. Something to keep in mind.

Heading back down a different passage, I noticed that one alcove had a ledge, located right below the narrow bridge. I jumped up on it to see what I could find, but all I found was a slightly higher ledge that I couldn't reach. I had to circle back around to the bridge, dodging the chariot the whole way.

I swear, I will find some way to destroy that thing.

I dropped down to a new hallway with two imps. I dispatched them, but I found them incredibly resilient. I was starting to feel a bit outmatched.

I made it past a fire trap and into a sort of chapel or shrine. In the place of honor was a much larger statue of that same woman, her hands too removed. There was a body in front of the altar, and I could see something on it.

I had an ominous feeling as I crossed the bridge, and sure enough, as soon as I approached the corpse, a Grafted Scion dropped from the rafters and tried to impale me. I stood no chance. Even now, I don't know if I could fight one of these things and live.

I turned to run, and there was another blocking the bridge. I was faced with two of them.

I did the only thing I could do: I grabbed the treasure and ran for my life, which turns out, was not very long. They cut me down, and it was at this point, I was defeated. I took my treasures limped back to Limgrave, and resolved to return when I got stronger.

The last treasure, the one from the altar, was an Erdtree's Favor talisman.

A talisman depicting a special blessing of the Erdtree. It is said that when the Age of the Erdtree began, such blessings were personally bestowed upon their recipients by Queen Marika herself.

So this talisman depicts Marika? Strange that it would be so defaced too. Or was it? The face was distorted and obscured, like it had been heated and pressed, but maybe it was designed this way? It still held its power, after all. And instead of her typical cruciform pose, this depiction of Marika was pouring out a blessing.

I'll have to compare this icon to others and see what I can come up with. Perhaps there was a shift in Marika worship over time?

Why was the icon defaced? Why were the statues' hands removed?

Who is the "Fringefolk Hero" this place honors?

Do all the Banished Knights worship dragon communion? Or is there a rift between them?

Why do the soldiers have thorns on their armor?

Why were grafted scions lying in wait, here of all places?