Reviewing Monsters: Elden Ring, Part 15

Well, I spent a lot of time just running around Atlus Plateau and Mt. Gelmir, clearing out areas and unlocking sites of grace. I've also slowly dipped my toes into the Leyndell, Royal Capital, which is the main 'dungeon' I'm exploring right now. I say 'dungeon' because it's functionally a video game RPG dungeon, but it's a full-on city with access to an actual 'dungeon' -- a subterranean sewer/prison system that functions as another video-game-dungeon attached to it. 

I'm pausing on Volcano Manor for a bit, at least until I progress enough through the Royal Capital to do some quests that would fail should I accidentally progress past some checkpoints. It is a bit annoying that the game is framed this way, although I suppose there wouldn't be much stakes otherwise. 

I have finally completed my sojourn through the underground night city of Nokron as part of Ranni's quest line, which... is probably my least favourite area in the game. Oh, sure, the visuals are pretty and the music is very atmospheric. But the game just isn't well-tuned for precision platforming, and a dungeon that punishes me severely for misjudging the jumps as I navigate around rooftops of a city just isn't particularly fun. I do think Nokron might be the least favourite area for me as a video game location. 

Side-quest wise? You guys saw that I finished the rather convoluted Sorceress Sellen quest in the previous segment, and I'm progressing through the network of Ranni, Seluvis, Dung Eater and Blackguard quests. The latter three are more or less done. Also, I checked off a bunch of other shorter side-quests -- Boc and Diallos are basically done. 

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Silver Sphere

I've covered most of the underground city monsters in previous entries. The Nox Priestesses that act as quasi-minibosses, the raving Fallen-Hawks soldiers, as well as the shapeshifting Silver Tears, which can transform from blobs into either cannons or fascimiles of other enemies. But one unexpected enemy? A giant silver sphere, which uses the exact same model as the giant boulder in Raya Lucaria Academy. But this giant sphere is sentient, malevolent, and actively rolls around to crush you. Killing it causes it to drop the same 'Larval Tear' item as their more common Silver Tear brethren, so this is just a Silver Tear that's shapeshifted into a big ol' wrecking ball. That's fun. 

Regal Ancestral Spirit

I normally don't try to repeat myself when a boss is repeated. And this is essentially a remix of the Ancestor Spirit fight -- you even access the boss fight in a similar way, lighting up various hidden obelisk-torches in the area that activate a dead deer carcass which teleports you to an otherworldly plain where the boss fight happens. But this is a Regal Ancestral Spirit, and he's got a few extra tricks up his sleeve. This time, he's not alone... but not with minions like a traditional boss fight. Instead, in this spiritual realm you face him are other spirit animals that just wander around the large location -- deer, rabbits, boars... and reduce his HP low enough and the Regal Ancestral Spirit dissolves and reborns itself from one of these other spirits. And it's implied that the Regal Ancestral Spirit draws something from these other non-hostile beings, since he copies an attack similar to what they would do -- jumping around in the air if it bursts out of a rabbit, or a thrusting charge if it bursts out of a boar. 

Mechanically, it's just some additional healing skills that this boss fight has. It's neat, but it doesn't make it particularly difficult. A lot of the other humanoid bosses also heal with potions. But lore-wise, what does this even imply? The Ancestral Spirits are weird enough, being worshipped by the Ancestral Followers -- tribalistic humans (or humanoids) who always decorate themselves with large antler accessories. The strange realm makes it feel like some kind of spiritual 'hunting grounds' or 'animal realm' that is commonly seen in these fantasy worlds... but then why does it look like a zombified deer-demon? Is it just its natural state, or has it been corrupted like everything else in the Lands Between?

Interestingly and unexpectedly, the Regal Ancestral Spirit drops a 'Remembrance', a special item normally reserved for demigods... hence zombie-Bambi taking up the eyecatcher for this article. This implies that the Regal Ancestral Spirit is an entity on the same level of these demigods, and I suppose the implication is that this is the setting's equivalent of a nature spirit that was once worshipped and likely forgotten, just like the underground cities. Pretty cool!

Draconic Tree Sentinel

Oh hey, remember the Tree Sentinel all the way back in Limgrave? The 'iconic' knight that wanders around 20 meters from the starting zone, and often gives much, much higher-leveled players a run for their money? Guarding the entrance to unlock the Royal Capital -- which is our next 'dungeon', is a Draconic Tree Sentinel. He's swapped his armour for items scavenged from dragon corpses -- a gigantic dragon femur or something as a cudgel, and a greatshield that looks like it's made of dragon fingers or something. Most interestingly, the spells he uses have also swapped to be dragon-flavoured as well, with him being able to shot fireballs and create lightning storms. 

Item descriptions from the weapons that drop upon his defeat imply that this Tree Sentinel partook in the rituals called Dragon Communion to become stronger, which is why he has access to draconic spells. But he also sacrifices his humanity in the process, becoming steadily less human. I think by this point we can gather that trying to do too much Dragon Communion would tip the scales and transform you into a Magma Wyrm, but our buddy the Tree Sentinel seem unbothered, at least for the moment. 

Oracle Envoy

Easily matching the Wormfaces from the previous episode in 'what the heck is this' are the Oracle Envoys, which are.... trumpeting ball-people? The Oracle Envoys are one of the most proliferous enemies in the Royal Capital, second perhaps if you group all the various human enemies (the Knights, Footsoldiers, Pages and Perfumers) together. The Oracle Envoys are super-weird, though. Their lower body is a huge ball and they move around by spinning around like a weird toy. Their head has the lower part of a human's face, but the rest of it explodes out in a massive orb, and their arms are extremely long and thin. They wield trumpets and spend most of their time blowing into them. 

And when they see you, they blow into them discordantly. It's actually a bit annoying to listen to... and the Oracle Envoys summon... explosive sonic bubbles that either float towards you menacingly, or just manifest right at your position. They are described as a 'musician that herald the coming of a new god, or age'. Which is fair enough, the whole point of our main characters' quests is to fight over who gets to become Elden Lord. 

What are they, though? I was almost tempted to think that they are some sort of artificial human, like the Albinaurics or the Silver Tears, but the Oracle Envoys drop the item "strips of white meat", which tend to be associated with the crustacean enemies in this game. Buh-wha? These things would be a lot creepier if they weren't so funny, bobbling and spinning around. 

Great Oracle Envoy

The Oracle Envoys have a 'miniboss' version called the Large Oracle Envoy, which has a much larger, four-barreled trumpet. If you get too close, the Great Envoy uses it as a club to bash you in! The Great Envoy has got extra little frills, almost like feathers, running down her arm... I'm not sure if the furry stuff (or even the bandage-like parts in her head) are part of her anatomy, or just some kind of clothing, like a particularly spherical mummy. Oh, and this one also has a much longer neck. Whatever they are, they certainly aren't human. Are these the setting's equivalent of like, lesser angels or something? These things look so serene, like weird porcelain-figure people, that I don't even think it's a case of them 'mutating' from humans the way many of the monsters in this game originate from. But if not, then what are they?

Broken Statue

These are broken versions of an enemy I haven't encountered in-game yet, the 'gargoyles'. The Broken Statues are, well, broken. They stand guard -- or sit guard, more accurately -- in several locations in the Royal Capital. You can see broken legs, but the rest of the anatomy is a bit hard to make out. I think the general shape of the Broken Statue (without spoiling myself and seeing what a Gargoyle looks like) is supposed to resemble an angelic figure? Except this poor fellow has gotten his hands and arms blown off during one of the many battles that no doubt took place in the Royal Capital. 

They're also assholes that shoot giant exploding dust in a carpet-bomb pattern that has a much larger range than you'd expect. I really wasn't sure what I'm looking at until I looked at still images on the Wiki, which shows this poor, wretched angelic golem just... still trying its best to do its duty. The mangling looks surprisingly organic, too, doesn't it? 

Crazed Albinauric

Found in both Leyndell and Volcano Manor are these guys! We've seen what the First-Generation Albinaurics look like in Liurnia -- they look like old men with deformed lower legs. But these crazed variants have had their heads wrapped up with a burlap sack, which is a form of a torture device called a 'Black Dumpling'. What little we can see of them show that their beard and mouth are unkempt and rabid, and the moans they make are actually quite disturbing. Whereas the other First-Generation Albinaurics we encounter in the game are run the gamut of actually being friendly, or even pitiable when you fight them, these guys are frankly quite terrifying. Of course, the circumstances are still quite regrettable... but that doesn't make these things any less monstrous. 

Omen (Horned)

We've met a couple of Omens here and there -- humans who were born with horns and a larger size, and were shunned because of the belief that they are a 'bad omen'. Depending on whether they are commoners or nobility, they were either mercy-killed, or have their horns cut off and banished to live elsewhere. Omens that use the same model that we've seen throughout the game -- with shaved-off horns -- show up in the overworld of the Royal Capital, just patrolling this location now that their tormentors are gone... but in the 'Subterranean Shunning-Grounds', the Omens there have way more horns than you'd expect. It looks more like a messy explosion of hair or worms or, knowing this game, unruly branches. The things just look uncomfortable and wretched-looking, but it's really not their fault -- they were locked up and shunned for nothing more than the circumstances of their birth, which seems to be the running theme for a lot of things in this game. 

The Loathsome Dung Eater

One of the prominent Tarnished introduced in the opening cutscene is the Loathsome Dung Eater. Let's let that name sink in, yeah? The Loathsome DUNG EATER. He eats the poo-poo! What I thought was going to be the token comedic character turns out to be dreaded by a fair amount of the cast, because dung-eating isn't what the Dung Eater is known for. He's known for 'defiling corpses', which, in addition to a lot of implied sexual violence and torture, also prevents the souls of those he curses from reincarnating, ever again. All of his victims are found with blood in their pelvic region, and always drops something called a 'Seedbed Curse', a mass of writhing bone and blood. Let's not think too hard what a 'seed bed' would correspond to in a human body.

Dung Eater's motivation -- if it even count as a motivation -- is that he feels like it's a fundamental injustice that certain things are decried as 'impure' and 'cursed' by the world order. Like 'cursed' Omens, 'false life' Albinaurics and 'less-than-human' Demihumans. Fair enough! All the racism is terrible! And the Dung Eater's armour is meant to resemble an Omen with amputated horns. (Your mileage may vary on how effective it is; he just looks like he's got a lot of teeth growing out of him)

But then he goes on to basically want everything to be cursed in the vague sense of equality, and any attempt at explaining this further devolves into him ranting about cursing every single generation, cursing the world, cursing the victims, and oh, he's going to defile you next. He serves as a boss fight briefly after killing another NPC, where his bark really is a lot louder than his bite. Being Tarnished, he doesn't die so easily, though, and you can either leave his insane self in the prison you found him in, kill him for good... or, if you're particularly curious, help him create something called a 'Seedbed Curse' to curse the entire world, leading to the worst ending possible for the game.