Part 24: Undead Crypt

In this episode someone will die!
Just in time for Halloween we go through the SPOOKY Undead crypt. It has uh... witches, zombies ghosts and huge armored dudes who dual wield shields.

I actually think the Undead Crypt is one of the better designed areas of the game. It's pretty short if you know what you're doing and it's one of the few areas with an actually useful shortcut. This isn't like huntsmans copse where the shortcut to the first bonfire is right next to the second bonfire.



A little big of Vengarl and the Hexer's hood. Also revisiting twinblades one more time and this time we're using one that actually turns out to be good. Both the moveset and the damage output are better.



Velstadt, the Royal Aegis

First off: This boss seems to be a reference to Garl Vinland who's part of my favorite "boss fight" in Demon's Souls. Paladin Leeroy is also a reference to Garl Vinland. If you want to see it feel free to check out Squint's LP of Demon's Souls, he possesses the courtesy of not talking over it.

Velstadt himself was a kind of hard boss fight for me the first time around, even though he really isn't that tough now, he used to hit way harder. Still, even then he was not that bad. You were just not allowed to make as many mistakes.

He does have a big slow weapons, and slow weapons have a tendency of screwing up my dodge timing, but some people just don't seem to care about that. His swings cover a lot of the area around him, be aware that he might follow up with a second swing whenever he does anything and whenever you get farther away from him to heal he might just run up to you and murder you. It's best to heal as he recovers from his combos.

At about half health he gets a little more interesting. He powers up and gets higher attack power as well as higher defenses and the ability to cast some hexes. Both his power up animation and his casting animation will give you some time to wail on him a bit and do some damage he wont be able to punish you for, unless you overdo it, of course. So Don't! There's not much to say about that.

Velstadt was the right hand of the king. As opposed to the left hand, who's called Raime. Previously I speculated that Raime may be the Pursuer, but the DLC proves that wrong. It has also come to light that parts of the game have been poorly translated and there are actually multiple pursuers in the japanese version, while the English version really seems to insinuate that there's only one. But now the fact that he shows up again in Iron Keep and Drangleic Castle (which we have not seen yet, but don't worry I already recorded that encounter.) makes sense.

Lore-wise Velstadt himself was the one who accompanied Vendrick when he supposedly ran from something and locked himself away in the Undead Crypt to get naked and go hollow


Boss Weapons
Soul of the Velstadt,
defender of the King inside the Undead Crypt.
Velstadt was always at the King's side, as if he were his lord's own shadow. After the King retired to the Undead Crypt, Velstadt followed, never to return.
Note: This soul's icon is not a regular boss soul icon, it has a dark purple color which implies that it has been affected by the Dark in some way.

Sacred Chime Hammer

Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Great Hammer
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 152/380
Dark Damage (+0/+5): 50/150
Scales with: STR (C-B), DARK (C-B)
Requirements: 30 STR, 12 DEX, 12 INT, 12 FTH
Damage Type: Strike, Dark

In-Game Description:
Great hammer of the Royal Aegis.
The power of the hammer's blessing has not faded completely, despite being exposed to the dark of the Undead Crypt.
Unleash its latent power with a strong attack.
Sir Velstadt, known as the Royal Aegis, gave himself to the King both in life and death.


Sacred Oath

Trade Soul with: Straid
Magic Type: Miracle
Requirements: 25 FTH
Description: Increases attack rating and defense not only for the caster but also for friendlies who are nearby. Requires 4 attunement slots, though.

In-Game Description:
An ancient miracle said to have been devised by warriors who once served the God of Sun.
Provides a temporary boost to the attack and defense of its caster and all nearby allies


Item Descriptions

Avelyn
Dark Souls II: An extremely rare rapid-firing crossbow.
Fire three successive bolts. Inflict heavy damage by making all three shots count.
Fiorenza, the richest merchant in all of Volgen recreated this lost weapon after reading of it in an old book
Dark Souls II: Repeating crossbow cherished by the weapon craftsman Eidas. Its elaborate design makes it closer to a work of art than a weapon. Intricate mechanism makes heavy damage possible through triple-shot firing of bolts, but in fact each bolt inflects less damage.

Olenford's Staff
Staff of Olenford the sorcerer. A catalyst for sorceries and hexes.
Olenford, revered as the father of sorcery in Melfia, sought knowledge that surpassed mankind's ken, and so ventured into the Undead Crypt, and did away with his humanity.

Mace of the Insolent
The mace of formerly high-ranking clerics. It is combined with a sacred chime, and can cast miracles and hexes with strong attack. The clerics held venerated positions once, but now, their souls wander aimlessly in the depths of a murky darkness.
Effect: use miracle and hex (strong attack)

Black Witch's Staff
Staff used by Leydia Witches. Imbued with a special magic, making it a catalyst for sorceries, miracles, and hexes.
Leydia apostles are adept at magic, and wielded unique weapons, but were deemed blasphemous and slaughtered.
Effect: Use Sorceries, Miracles, and Hexes

Blue Flame
Straight sword wielded by Leydia apostles.
Imbued with a special magic that makes the Blue Flame both a sword and magic catalyst. Execute a strong attack to emit magic.
The Leydia apostles, adept at magic, wielded unique weapons but were hunted down as traitors.

Magic Shield
Small shield used by Leydia apostles.
Imbued with a special magic that allows spells to be deflected by parrying.
The Leydia apostles were inhabitants of the Undead Crypt, but failed to treat death with the proper respect. As punishment, they were denied peaceful deaths.

White Leydia Set
Armor of a Leydia Pyromancer.
Leydia apostles, in their conceit, occupied the Undead Crypt and misused death.
This invoked the ire of Fenito, who branded them as transgressors.

Reeve's Greatshield/Orma's Greatshield
Shield of the knights who long ago attempted to conquer the Undead Crypt.
They bore no weapons, only a shield split into left and right halves, which they used to playfully crush their foes until their corpses were kneaded beyond recognition.
The engraving depicts two messengers from the hereafter who welcome the recently dead by reviewing the merits of their deeds in life.