Sean McLemon | Return to Drangleic

Home | Czech | Blog | GitHub | Advent Of Code | Notes

Return to Drangleic is a Dark Souls II event that runs from February 27th - March 13th. The idea is that the Dark Souls II online community, which may be a bit diminished since it's 10 years old, is revived for a bit as players roll a new character to play through the game once more, embracing the multiplayer aspects as much as possible. However as it's my first time playing DS2, I've decided to try to document my experiences.

2024-02-25 - Return to Drangleic, Day 0

This is the first time I've ever played the game, so I quickly rolled a new character - a Swordsman called "Langdrake" - and got stuck into things. I didn't pay attention to any of the opening sequence. The opening area where you spawn is dark and dingy, reminiscent of Dark Souls in a way. There are fogwalls, beyond which there are tutorials. The first one I went into taught you to jump, and I promptly jumped off a cliff. Death number 1.

Death number 1

I skipped all the tutorials and proceeded through a little passageway with messages reading "Good Luck!" - there's an area with dozens of bloodstains so I was a bit careful but it seems to be just the DS2 community having a bit of collective fun as there's not a threat around.

Bloodstains

Pushing on a bit further I encountered a gorgeous view. Touched the bonfire, met a blacksmith who's missing a key, met a shopkeeper from some lands to the west, and met a sentient cat who liked the smell of me. Posed for a pic to capture the moment.

Langdrake

I then found some little pig things that I attacked and which stunlocked me and ultimately killed me easily. Death number 2. I went for them again and beat all three of them. Went on a walk and found a stone called "Victors Stone" that let me join a covenant. I overthought things in Elden Ring so I just went for it - so here I am in the "Company of Champions". Then went down into some catacomb area and emerged into a gorgeous, open, seaside area where I met some big guys who two-shot me. Death number 3, and I'm going to stop counting now.

Death number 3

Back to the first bonfire, spoke to the "Emerald Herald" lady there who told me to go "over the hill and past the forest" - or maybe she just vaguely said something was over there. Who knows though, I just wanted to roll my character, hit the first bonfire and be ready for Day 1. Who knows if I'll keep notes like this for the rest of the time, if I do I'll use less detail.