Elden Ring: The Mysterious Castle of Caelid

Lately, I haven't been very keen on playing Elden Ring; most of my gaming time is consumed by newer, shinier titles. This game demands a significant amount of dedication and patience. The constant grinding for levels and attempts to rush through are only making the experience worse. I feel as though I reached the Altus Plateau without thoroughly exploring much of the starting areas like Limgrave and Caelid.

It was time to receive the Two Fingers' blessings and ride for Caelid.

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I discovered a new trader in South Caelid; I'd somehow missed him during my last couple of visits. He mentioned he had been hungry for a long time, but all I could offer him were my runes in exchange for some arrows.

Btw, how is he living in that small camp? lol

I'm not a big fan of this place. Everywhere I look, there are rotting corpses and giant ravens feasting on them. I usually avoid fighting them.

I've also found a few more of those weird statues. You can light them up, and they seem to be pointing to something. Perhaps lighting all of them in this region will reveal a unique reward or a hidden secret?

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There's an interesting-looking castle that appears impossible to reach. It's nestled in a ravine that seems inaccessible. I've tried to get there multiple times, but you can't just drop down to it—the ravine is too deep—nor can you approach it from the other end of the lake.

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I thought I'd found a way to it, but it was near a Minor Erdtree, guarded by an Erdtree Avatar boss. This one proved tougher than some of the other Erdtree bosses I'd defeated so far. The limited freedom to move around also hampered my ability to dodge many of its attacks.

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After failing to defeat it for the fifth time in a row, I decided to go around and see if I could skip it for now. Just behind the tree, I found a small cave entrance, too small for the boss to fit inside. This gave me an idea: I could strike it once or twice with my bow, and when it became aggressive and came to finish me off, I could just duck inside the cave, safe from its deadly physical and ranged attacks.

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By the way, this one was called a Putrid Avatar, likely rotting in that hellish place, which explained the significant damage from its ranged attacks.

Anyway, my plan worked, and I successfully defeated it. It took a bit longer than I expected, but I'll take the win. It felt borderline like cheating, but who cares? These bosses are strong enough for my character as it is.

The cave resembled a proper catacomb, and having been in a couple of these before, I knew they usually culminate in a boss fight. My immediate goal was to find the lever that would open the path to the boss room, all while navigating rotting floors and dodging enemies.

It turned out to be a dual boss fight, and I generally dislike these; they're often brutal and disorienting. Despite that, I appreciated the design of these particular bosses.

They were called Erdtree Burial Watchdogs: one wielded a Sceptre, and the other a great Sword. These were imposing, three-headed statues of some animal, each head spitting flames. Their fire attack was arguably the deadliest, and my only defence against it was the Flamedrake Talisman, which boosted my fire damage negation.

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The arena was also small, making it quite tough to dodge those fire attacks. I decided to prioritise taking down the hard-hitting Sword-wielding Watchdog first. It took me multiple attempts to finally defeat it.

However, I ran out of flasks while trying to eliminate the Sceptre statue. It was a frustrating end, especially when I was so close to victory.

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Now, with a solid strategy and more experience in the fight, I understood all their attacks and how to dodge them somewhat consistently. It only took a couple more tries to finish them off.

And my reward for defeating them? "Mad Pumpkin Head Ashes." Cool, another spirit! These are helpful in specific situations, but I'm not sure how much help this guy will be. After all, I've defeated a couple of Mad Pumpkin Heads fairly easily before.

I had to exit the catacomb. Initially, I hoped there would be a secret room connecting me to that castle, or at least a way to reach it, but no such luck. I'm back at the same spot, still trying to figure out how to access that castle.

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I decided to kill random enemies to grind more and level up. Levelling up has become significantly more expensive now.

I also observed a group of strange-looking enemies engrossed in prayer. Were they bowing towards the rotting lake or the distant mountain?

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I originally came to Caelid hoping to feel a bit more powerful, as I was practically nothing against the enemies in Altus Plateau. It's somewhat better here, but still very brutal, and every boss demands a lot of practice and luck. I knew what I was signing up for when I started this adventure, but it's becoming a bit overwhelming now. I'm not enjoying the grind as much, and it feels like I might have to resort to online guides to find that castle, which I really don't want to do. Let's see how it goes.

Until next time...