Chapter Text
When the Greater Will of The Fingers brought me back to life, I didn't know what to make of it. I was supposed to go on this big journey to collect the shards of the Elden Ring and become Elden Lord, just like the rest of the Tarnished like me. But my life is my own, Greater Will or not.
I have recently come to be under the orders of demigod Ranni the Witch. I stumbled upon her tower when seeking treasure near Caria Manor. That was a couple of days ago. She told me that if I were to help her I would get the opportunity to visit places I could have never even imagined, besides going against The Fingers' will. So, how could I say no?
In the beginning I mostly just did some exploration work for her. Charting some of the lesser-known parts of the Lands Between, especially underground. Whatever cave or lost dungeon I could find was always a priority for her, although she wouldn't tell me why.
Today, though, is different. I have been called by Lady Ranni to go to her tower to receive specific new instructions. Lady Ranni's tower is just north-west of Caria Manor. It's located near a cliff and there are some ruins at both sides of the road leading up to it. The scenery's quite beautiful. There are light blue glintstone crystals all over the landscape. Some are small and could even be picked up by hand, but most of them are even bigger than a person.
I make my way up through the tower's studio when I get to it. There are books everywhere in a very disorganized fashion all over the room and furniture, even on the floor, too. It's almost as if no one has been here for the longest time. It was exactly like that the first time I arrived here, too. I eventually reach the top of the tower where Lady Ranni's chamber is located. There she is, sitting on her chair, waiting for me.
She raises her head so that her huge, pointy hat doesn't block her view and she looks at me.
"Tarnished." She says. "Thou hast served me well in these last few days. I would like to ask a new favor of thee." Her voice is always very low, so I approach her as she speaks and listen carefully as she goes on. "I have entrusted my closest guardian with a very important task. I doubt not his capabilities, but I believe he has been somewhat distracted as of late. He would of course not tell me the motive for this and simply disregard it, so I believe he could use the help of someone such as thee, reliable as thou hast shown thyself to be. The name of this guardian thou shall be working with is Blaidd. I have summoned him to the tower, as well, so he should not be long." She gestures towards me with one of her four arms, as if she wants me to turn away. "Thou shall see him by the entrance soon. He's a half-wolf, so I assume thou shall have no problems recognizing him. I will allow Blaidd himself to tell thee about his task and the way he would like to see it done. I expect the both of you to work well together." I politely bow at her and, without a word, I turn back and I make my way down to the entrance of the tower.
There he is, leaning on a glintstone crystal by the entrance, Blaidd the Half-Wolf. He towers over me. He's so tall that he even makes the glintstone crystals seem smaller than they truly are. He wears a well-worn black armor, with a faded blue, somewhat purple cape that goes around his shoulders and covers them up until his forearms. He has black, messy fur on his head, and scars all over his face that go through his muzzle and purple eyes. You can se his lower fangs protruding from his muzzle. His left eye is partially closed, probably due to a battle injury. In fact, he mostly looks like he just came out of a fight and didn't really come out on top. But still, somehow, I find him beautiful.
While I'm still looking at him, he walks to me. Once he's close to me I can appreciate he's actually double my size.
"You must be the Tarnished Lady Ranni has told me about." He says. I nod and he goes on. "It seems we will be working together. Come. Walk with me." I do as he says. "Our task is to find Nokron, the Eternal City, and retrieve something for Lady Ranni. Little is known about Nokron, but we do know that it's underground. Not too long ago I found an entrance to an enormous underground place called Siofra River. I believe that's where we should start looking. The entrance is over at Eastern Limgrave." I nod and we start walking.
After a couple of minutes walking, I break the silence. "Tell me, Blaidd. How long have you been working for Lady Ranni?"
"Ah. I figured it was strange you didn't ask any questions. I have been serving Lady Ranni since I can recall my first memory." He takes a moment to caress the hilt of the colossal sword on his back. "I'm sworn to her by oath, actually."
"I see. So yours is a bigger commitment."
"The greatest there is."
We keep moving in silence for the rest of the journey. I appreciate the environment while we move, as well as the various techniques that Blaidd employs to remain unseen when traveling. It doesn't take us too long to arrive at our destination. Eventually, after heading east for a good while, we reach Mistwood and we set camp in the ruins. It's dark, so we light a fire, we sit down, and we prepare to have a meal. Blaidd appears to be somewhat uneasy.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes. All good. I'm just tired is all." Blaidd covers his muzzle, as if he was yawning. I can tell he's clearly faking it, but I don't mention a thing. Then, he goes on. "You know, I usually come here and get to the top of the ruins whenever I feel like I need to relax."
"You must be the one I've heard howling here every once in a while." I say with a smile. Feeling he's trying to deflect the conversation, I go back on topic while he starts to take out some raw meat to cook. "Look, I've just noticed you've been distracted. Are you sure everything's fine?"
Blaidd seems to get annoyed by my question. "I don't know what you think you have been noticing, but it's nothing." He says harshly. He immediatly realizes his tone and backtracks. "I apologize. If Lady Ranni has sent you here to work with me, that means you have earned her trust. And so, you should also have mine. It is true that I have been distracted as of late, although I have tried my best to not show it. I guess I haven't done that much of a good job at it. There is this man I'm looking for that I have a score to settle with. He goes by Darriwil. I have personal business with him, let's just say he's somewhat of a traitor. I thought he somehow fled, but I have recently learnt that he has been imprisoned. Although I'm unsure where, hence my conundrum."
"Do you have any information at all on his whereabouts?" Blaidd has probably heard all of these questions before, but better safe than sorry, right? "What does he look like?"
"I only know he's been imprisoned because of something Seluvis said about some magic cells. He wouldn't say anything else, no matter how much I asked." Seluvis is a sorcerer who is also under Ranni's service. "And I don't know a bloody thing about magic, cells, or magic cells."
A thought then pops in my head. "Perhaps he could have been referring to the magic evergaols scattered throughout the Lands Between?" Blaidd looks at me for a second, confused. He slightly tilts his head, as if wanting to further inquire. "You don't know about evergaols?" He shakes his head. "Evergaols are, like Seluvis said, just that, magic cells. Usually, justice is dispensed by whatever Lord rules the land, right? But since the Shattering happened, pretty much all of the Lands Between are... well, Lordless. So, until whichever Lord can deliver proper justice, some criminals have been placed in these magic evergaols from which it is impossible to flee, since they are attuned to the very soul of whomever is trapped inside. This means that anyone other than the prisoner can go both inside and outside. I have even heard tales that one of the people behind the Night of the Black Knives is confined in one of those."
Blaidd looks pensively for a moment, resting his right arm on his left hand and scratching the fur on his chin. "How have you come to know all of this?"
I try not to sound too full of myself, so I just slightly shrug with my shoulders and casually smile. "It's my job. I explore for Lady Ranni. I chart. I gather information. You'd be surprised about how much the nomadic merchants are willing to share for a few runes."
Blaidd seems pleasantly surprised. "Of course. I see Lady Ranni's judgement has still not failed her." He lays a hand on my shoulder. His gauntlets are off, since he wanted to handle our food. "With such skills, it's only natural you're under her service, too. Thank you."
I stop on my tracks for a moment at his gentle touch. His hand is warm to the touch, probably from the fire. But I feel something special when he rests it on me. I quickly dismiss it, blaming the hunger, and I internally compose myself again. I simply nod and smile back at him. Then, I point at the food and raise my eyebrows, as if asking about it. He just says "Oh" and goes back to preparing our meal.
When we're done with dinner, I decide to revisit the conversation. "Listen. I know we're supposed to be looking for Nokron. But you're not in the right headspace, you know what I mean? I know where one of these evergaols is. Just south-west of here, not that far, really. Perhaps we could pay it a visit before heading to Siofra River?"
"I will sleep on the thought and let you know about it tomorrow." He says.
The fact that he doesn't outright deny my proposition tells me he has probably already made up his mind, so I don't press the matter further. I lay down my travelling bedroll close to one of the corners of the ruins so that I am covered from the wind. Blaidd still sits by the fire. I assume he wants to stand guard for a while before sleeping, so I don't think too much about it and try to sleep. There are thoughts on my mind about what I just said to Blaidd. What if I'm wrong about evergaols? Or if Darriwil doesn't happen to be in the one I know about? Him being there would already be too much of a coincidence to begin with. Even though I don't know Blaidd that much yet, I don't want to lead him on a wild goose chase. I would like to see this matter through with him and be able to help him. And feel his gentle touch again.