Chapter 5: The Cathedral’s Ward

"Weapon crafting eh? Well that's some odd choice of skill for a Hunter"

When within the Hunter's Dream, Gehrman had taught me that there are ways to create weapons without the use of mining or processing ores from the mines. Instead one can opt for a...shall we say costly, but more convenient method of doing it

"I am...the bone of my...Blood?"

Yes, as expected from Bloodborne. One can forge weapons from a large amount of blood by taking the iron out of them in the process. Due to the sheer density and amount of blood Yharnamites has, this method can be applied far more easily than normal

That means I can make weapons by refining blood into metal that can somehow be harder and lighter than steel. How? Souls logic man

Either way, it got me interested

New Quest created

Collect materials for your own weapon by extracting enemy's blood

0/20 (Mundane): A weapon used by regular Hunters on normal beasts roaming Yharnam at night. Cheap, yet efficient tools for eliminating threats from the scourge

0/100 (Blood Blessed): A weapon that can cut through the hardest of bones like butter. Used for larger and more dangerous beasts and require more effort to create

0/300 (Legacy): A weapon having been created under the hand of a master. They are works of art, masterfully crafted and should only be wielded by the finest of Hunters

0/900 (Relic): A weapon that was born of the Blood. Tempered by the Blood. And should only be undone by the Blood

Reward: +3 [Blood Tempering Gemstone], +100,000 [Blood Echoes]

To create a weapon of one's own design instead of selecting from a variety of default ones was fascinating to say the least

I am aiming to collect for a Relic-class item. It is a long way until I could fill that number, but the end result would be more beneficial to me than it would a Mundane one, seeing I could buy high-quality equipment with Blood Echoes alone in the Hunter's Dream

GLUG GLUG GLUG GLUH

If you paid attention to that odd sound and attempt to follow the source, you're now seeing me kneeling by the recently destroyed Church Giant and attempting to extract his blood to a container

7/900 filled

I stood up and wiped a sweat from my eyebrows. This is more tiring than I expected, having to stay still in one place even while hidden from danger is going against my instinct as a Hunter

I jumped down from the second floor and land without a sound. My footstep is almost unnoticeable within the ghastly silence of the Cathedral Ward, supposedly the main base of the Healing Church within Yharnam

At this time of the day the gates are already closed to a night of purging beasts. The Hunters are out to hunt and the people retreated into their abode for the night, clinging into the false security of their home incense. To me it seems like most of the people here chose the latter option

+1 [Black Church Set]

The Saw Cleaver snapped upward as I sliced the Church Servant waiting in ambush in half. With my business here done, I rounded the corner to meet the next NPC who can start my questline

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Alfred the Vileblood Hunter. Clad in the classic Executioner Robe and a Kirkhammer behind his back. He smiled at me as I approached

"You're a hunter, aren't you?"

So the Hunter set and the big ass Saw Cleaver on my hand gave it away?

I nodded

"I knew it. That's precisely how I started out! Oh, beg pardon, you may call me Alfred. Protege of Master Logarius, hunter of Vilebloods" He chuckled "So, what say you? Our prey might differ, but we are hunters, the both of us. Why not cooperate, and discuss the things we've learned?

The hunter's voice was pleasant. Yet, a look at his iris seems to indicate this man's sanity isn't going to last long.

Oh yeah, few things in Bloodborne are sane in the first place

I offered a hand, watching as he eagerly took it in a friendly handshake

"Oh-hoh! Very good, very good indeed! Take this, to celebrate our acquaintance." He handed me the game items

"Beast hunting is a sacred practice. May the good blood guide your way"

+2 [Fire Paper]

Indeed.

Let's see, he drops Fire Papers and Wheel Hunter Badge if I meet him after Vicar Amelia. If I complete his quest later and give Alfred the unopened summon, he end up killing Annalise and I can loot the Radiance Rune from nearby...which give me a 2% increase healing from Blood Vials each…

The Rune might as well be useless to me

Let's just kill him the next time we meet to get the badge

I am inclined to agree with the morally-ambiguous decision, if just for the loot I'll get upon his death

A few questioning later and finding his answers to be the same, I turned around and walked toward the stairs. With the entrance to Old Yharnam unlocked I now opt to fully explore this place before progressing past it

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Too busy was I that I almost forgot about the stat point I gained from filling the Blood Gauge back then

Which stat should I spend this on?

I wondered as I wandered, cutting a few enemies in my way as I traversed the empty street of the Ward. Up the stairs, to the lift, once again battling against enemies from the corner

There's so much I want to invest in. Strength to boost my attack damage. Endurance to boost my stamina. Intelligence and Wisdom to become a Bloodborne wizard. And luck to be the wild card in this Hunt

Blood Gauge: 6/50

Eventually I decided to just stack it away for later uses

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Blood Gauge: 18/50

I dashed from stairs to stairs, turning in directions I recalled playing in my first cycle. The city fog dispersed as I blasted through it, alerting nearby beasts who soon gave chase after me

In response I simply jumped up one of the buildings and traveled on the rooftop, running diagonally to cut some time before forcing to scale down upon the end of the block

The Cathedral Ward is larger than I expected. With its wide network of public roads and staircases, one can easily get lost in here if they don't know their way out

"Where was it?"

The item I'm trying to locate is one that is included in the game for entertainment sake. Despite its entirely cosmetic value, I think I can find a much more valuable use for it

Dodging past the two Wolves as they lunged at me, I jumped up a nearby wall and bounced off. The Carrion Crow was squashed under my boots as I landed on the ground and continue sprinting

If I remember right, just at the end of this bridge…

+1 [Monocular]

Bingo

I equipped it on my right eye and raised my pistol, perfectly parrying the first one as it charged at me. The second one crashed into its stunned brethren and tumbled to the ground.

A charged cleaver to their heads swiftly finished the two of them off, allowing their blood to be extracted. I then walked past the two dead bodies and returned the way I come

In game, the monocular is an item that allows players to view things at a farther range. When equipped to Simon's Bowblade or similar weapons, they can zoom in much closer, allowing for additional accuracy in return for reduced movement speed

[Monocular]: +80% range to firearms

This, added with the 40%

range increase from [Sniping] should enable me to deal with most threats from afar. A fine tool for hunters who doesn't like to take it up close

I adjusted the glass on my eye and it returned to normal

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+4 [Madman's Knowledge]

A few minutes of traveling in the city later and I realized I've almost missed these items. They appears to be well-hidden for a batch of Eldritch Knowledge

I crushed the abnormally-shaped skulls in my hand, watching as cosmic knowledge started drifting lazily into my head

+4 [Insight]

I waited for the ghastly whispering to once again appear in my mind. But none sounds like the one in my head, surprisingly

Ah, well. All the better for me

Picking up the batch of poison knives atop the steps, I walked into the bottom most of the Cathedral Ward, where in-game characters can be found and interacted with

Not without killing some nuisance on the way of course.

Dodging my way through a barrage of slashes from the hunters, I disappeared into the shadow. My axe descended

The first one I found was not the friendliest face one can find around here, but he's not the worst either

"You... you're not from around here are ya? An outsider who's come to join the hunt? What a pathetic idea"

The Skeptical Man is the same as I imagined. Skeptical and narrow minded. My nose twitched underneath my mask at the pungent smell of alcohol that surrounded his house

"All right, what crafty lies does the outsider have today? You think I'm an easy mark? Yeah? Well, give me your best shot."

I insisted he go to Iosefka's clinic

"Yeah sorry, too sharp for that bollocks. I know a superstition when I hear one. Outsiders... even their lies are predictable"

Naturally he disregard my word and chose the opposite option, not realizing he'd played himself. That's being skeptical for you...though I just kind of proved the man right by lying to him

The Dweller would be happy to have this man around. Me. Not so much

I rapped my knuckle on the second door, waiting for the next person to answer it

This time a more pleasant woman answered by peeking through the steel window. With frazzled blonde hair and a kind smile on her face that didn't quite reach her ears, Arianna the prostitute greeted me

"Oh, my, what a queer scent... But I'd take it over the stench of blood and beasts any day"

I inclined my head. Indeed, it's not like my queer scent can be less noticeable than my coat stained with blood and organs of beasts, right?

"So what is it then? I'm off during hunts, so if that's what you're here for..."

I shook my head. Arianna's eyebrow raised as I told her about the Chapel

"A Hunter actually going around to help people? That's rare. I thank you about the offer, but right now I'm quite well off here. Perhaps in the next hunt..."

A shrug.

Arianna can only be brought to the Chapel once I'd defeated all of the Bosses in the nearby area. The Blood Starved Beast, Paarl, and Vicar Amelia should suffice for her to open up and actually listen to me

Ah...yes...Vicar Amelia…

Perhaps its high time I use this [Hunter Chief Emblem] on me

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They often say "scream your prayer so the Devil won't come" to express the level of despair a person can have in face of total bleakness

In the world of Bloodborne, this metaphor fit quite nicely

"Our thirst for blood satiates us, soothes our fears. Seek the old blood, but beware the frailty of men. Their wills are weak, minds young"

The candle blows quietly in the ward as I lurked behind a stone pillar, closely observing the kneeling figure of the vicar. In the silence and the vast space of the Grand Cathedral, only the weak muttering of its watcher could be heard bouncing off the brick wall

"The foul beasts will dangle nectar and lure the meek into the depths. Remain wary of the frailty of men. Their wills are weak, minds young. Were it not for fear, death would go unlamented"

Her voices remained calm, but something is different. She is nearing the edge, struggling to hide away that beast underneath her skin, waiting for the weakening of its host before fully awakening

As if in sync with Vicar Amelia's mental state, the candle wavered in the endless night, struggling to hold back the darkness with a multitude of them. Yet some are already fading away like her sanity

I readied my pistol

"Seek the old blood. Let us pray, let us wish to partake in communion. Let us partake in communion and feast upon the old blood."

As the prayer finish, I let loose the trigger

BANG

The vicar staggered backward. I lunged from my hiding spot and stabbed my hand through her chest. It was done as fast and clean as possible to minimize the pain

For a brief moment, I got a glimpse at Amelia's features as she craned her neck up, her blindfold having came loose from the sudden motion

Golden locks framing a beautiful, youthful face that stared back at me. Were it not for the wild look of a beast in her eyes I would have mistaken the Vicar for a normal young lass on the street of Yharnam

In that moment we only stared at each other. Impassiveness meet resignation

Such a shame

I ripped out my hand from the woman's abdomen. Before she can fully transform, my Saw Cleaver snapped to the side to try and decapitate her in one hit

Yet even I am not fast enough

A blood-curling scream pushed me back as the beast inside is now awaken. Her skin bubbled up like a flesh ball and exploded, sending blood splattering on the nearby stone statues

"Vicar Amelia", or rather the thing that used to be her raised its head toward me, animosity and rage dancing behind its blackened eyes, peering at me underneath the white hood

I was planning to give her a mercy kill. But it does not seem to have worked

"Such a shame indeed"

New Quest Created

Kill Vicar Amelia in under 30 hits

Reward: +1 [Vicar Set].

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I jumped backward as the Vicar swiped her clawed hand on the ground where I stood, nearly grinding me to pieces had I not moved in time

"This time it's the amount of hits that count" I muttered, staring at its lumbering form as the beast snapped around while trying to locate me

Time is not important. That means every hit has to deal the optimal total damage to end her as quickly as possible.

I pulled out the Fire Paper and swiped them on my weapon, generating sparks of fire that soon enveloped Gascoigne's Hunter axe in blazing flame. The beast recoiled as I made my first hit, searing a deep gash into its hind leg

Serrated damage. Fire damage. Charged attack. No, it's still not enough to deal with her

Amelia's roar is the only warning I have before she jumped up to the ceiling. I stepped to the side just in time to avoid her catastrophic landing, using my cleaver to block off the flying debris which landed on the floor

The beast continued its rampage, slamming her hand everywhere like a rabid dog as I jumped between her attacks while dishing out strategically-placed blows whenever the chance presented itself.

An oil urn landed at her feet, followed with a molotov Cocktail that lit the beast aflame. Her roar is ignored as I slid under her belly and made a few more charged slash on her heel. All were made with caution and surgical precision, aiming to cripple her as soon as possible

My goal was completed as the Vicar collapsed to the floor with her right leg unable to support her weight. I dashed forward and stabbed my hand into her head through her eyehole, grasping the beast's brains and pulling it out in the same instance

The attack alone caused her health bar to take a sharp dive, much to my satisfaction

The Numbing Mist left my hand and crashed into her just as Amelia's health dropped down below 50%, preventing her from healing with that damn pendant

I opted for a more lasting mean of damage against her in this phase. Using the Poison Knives to bleed out her health bit by bit for separate occasions to max out the poison's damage against her. Oil urns and my Flamesprayer proved to be an effective method of reducing hit numbers, as the flame and poison doesn't seems to count as hit by the quest's standard

Eventually, Vicar Amelia's health dwindled back down to its last drop just as my Quicksilver bullet arrived at a single zero

The hit counter is almost full, too

The Beast let out a roar as it plunged at me. In return I dashed back to find a weakness I can exploit.

Right now a bullet or a charged attack won't be enough to cover the required damage to kill her. Only a Visceral should satisfy that

Kicking a nearby pebble at the beast, I quickly closed back in toward her striking range. The pebble stunned Amelia, allowing me to immediately followed in with a Visceral Attack, reducing her health down to zero as my hand speared through her chest and out the other side

Blood sprayed in the air as I held my hand back up in silence. The Moonlight reflected our visage through the Cathedral's window, showing me clad in blood and the Vicar's beastly form leaning against my outstretched hand

The Vicar slowly slumped against my arm, nearly crushing me with her weight had I not lowered my body and let her fell to the floor in time. I took a look at the beast, before sighing

"Prey...Slaughtered"

Quest completed:

- Kill vicar Amelia under 30 hits

Reward:

+ [Vicar Set]

+10,000 [Blood Echoes]

You have killed a Boss

+4 [Insight]

+15,000 [Blood Echoes]

+1 [Gold Pendant]

+1 Stat Point

The altar was still lit, I noted. My eyes were inadvertently drawn to the sight of the beastly skull displayed upon the platform, surrounded by scented candle whose light remained throughout our fight. A coincidence perhaps?

I gently placed a hand on the skull

"Fear the Old Blood, Laurence. By the gods, fear it"

Well, that didn't end so well, does it?

The adage imprinted in me, I lit the lamp next to her corpse and progressed through the Hunter's Dream

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'After this, I'm definitely putting them in Endurance. Stamina is a pain'

Walking through the Dream's fog, I arrived within the staircase leading up to the Workshop and sat opposite to the Messenger

I know I was going to spend my points in another stat, but not now. All to Dexterity. There's one skill I want to learn and it's going to help me quite far in late game against most enemies

Dexterity (7/10)

A new skill had been learned

[Mirrored Deflection]: You can now redirect enemy's attack back at them. Deflected attacks deal 30% of their original damage

A new skill had been learned

[Quickening]: The Huntsr carefully pace their steps. Allow for short, controlled speed bursts in combat

I walked straight up to the door and pick out the book in Gehrman's Workshop. The man is in the garden so I don't need to be stealthy about it

[Quickening II] had been learned

[Quickening II]: The Hunter is in complete control of his body movement. +80% temporary speed after every Quickening

The tome melted to blood in my hand, dripping from the tip of my finger and evaporated as soon as it touches the floor

Wanting to try it out as soon as possible, I stepped forward from the workshop and jumped straight down from the opposite entrance next to the Messengers. As soon as my feet touched the gravel I kicked my foot against the ground

Everything became a blur

"Good Hunter. Are you alright?"

The next moment. I appeared next to the Doll with an aura of a silvery mist around me. My movement had felt soundless, fast, almost instantaneously as though I'd just teleported to the other side of the garden

I checked myself. My QS storage is almost empty, which means the Quickening I'd just learned is the original one taught to the First Hunters. It doesn't require Quicksilver bullets as a medium

It doesn't require Quicksilver bullets as a medium

"Good Hunter?"

You don't see it, but I'm smiling like a madman right now