Bucket Head

"The paaasswooooord," said a feeble voice. Surgit had been here many times before. He never pronounced the password to the man behind the door. The first time he arrived there, he only wanted to test the waters. He was afraid that the man behind the door would turn hostile as soon as he gave him the password.

'Byrgenwerth's adage, fear the old blood.' Surgit stood there, waiting for the man to go nuts again. Every time Surgit visited that place, the voice behind the door would start mumbling if he didn't utter a word. Soon enough, the voice behind the door reached Surgit again. "The password, ah the password! Got to close the door…"

'That vicar seemed to repeat that prayer over and over again. It's like she had one memory engraved in her mind. She could either sit there and mumble, or transform into a beast and devour.' Surgit knocked on the door again. 'I have to be sure. If he's as crazy as her, I'll have to fight my way into the woods.'

"Who's there, who's there? Don't you wish you could hear them when they are coming... You mustn't... Oh, no, no... it bit me, bit me…he was bleeding...Oh, no no no no. He was bleeding... he wasn't...No, no, no, no not like that, no, no, no..."

Another knock: "Gotta get the door... Must get the door...No, no, no. Knock, knock, knock, all day. Knock, knock, knock all day, all day, all day, all day... all day, knock, knock, knock..." After hearing all of this, Surgit smiled. 'He used to mumble numbers, now he's getting restless. He's not as crazy as the vicar, but crazy nonetheless."

"Fear the Old Blood," Surgit finally said. "I don't know how the hunter learned the password, but let me say this much... Down the embankment, beyond the forest, there it stands, old Byrgenwerth... But it's not what you think. They don't welcome new comers, and their knowledge is better left untouched. No. The old college is not what it once was. Those who enter, never return. At least, not as who they were upon entering... Don't say you weren't warned..."

Creaking sounds emanated from the wooden gate as it slowly opened. Surgit clenched the sword in his hand, expecting the worst. The old voice reached Surgit, mixed with the creaking of the door. "Ah, ahh, ahh, a nightmare is upon us... Is this your doing, great master? Does it mean that my work is done? ...Ahh, ah... Ohh,... I failed... Forgive me master, forgive me master Willem"

By the time the old man finished his monologue, the door was completely open. A shocking scene welcomed Surgit as he stepped forward. On a chair next to the door sat a skeleton. 'What the hell is this?' Surgit felt some tingling inside his head. The headache he used to have when he received insight receded. It was now reduced to a tingling feeling in his head. It felt uncomfortable, but it was better than the splitting headache.

'Master Willem… The old man in the visions?' Surgit was excited. 'I'm finally close to finding out about what happened to that old man. Byrgenwerth, I'm coming. Surgit took a final look at the skeleton on the chair then descended the stairs next to him. There were things in Yharnam that Surgit gave up on explaining. If he felt that he didn't have enough information to base his deduction on, he'd just make a note of it then move forward.

Before reaching the forbidden woods, he spoke to the doll in the dream then made some purchases. He was broke, but he had a new arsenal at his disposal. 'Going to the root chalice was useful.' I no longer need to concentrate on gaining echoes from Yharnam, I should find Byrgenwerth and get as many ritual materials as I can.' He was fully convinced that he can grow stronger in the Chalice Dungeons rather than Yharnam.

The doll had repeated some strange chant. 'The waking world, does that mean that I'm not in the real world here? Or does she mean that the dream isn't the real world?' Those were questions that Surgit couldn't answer. That pushed him to stop analyzing everything he saw. He concentrated on taking notes then putting everything together when he'd explore everything Yharnam hid.

As he descended the stairs to the forbidden woods, Surgit searched every corner of the building he was in. Parts of the wall had fallen down; suggesting the dilapidated state Yharnam had grown into. There was just one door leading outside, nothing of value could be seen around. Surgit left the place and entered the dark woods.

'Two windmills in the distance and… a dome? That must be the college.' Surgit's sight developed to an inhuman level after he became a hunter. Surgit walked towards the closest windmill. If there were buildings in the forest, he had to explore them. Surgit could only see the shadow of the dome far away in the distance. He knew that it would take him some time before reaching the place.

'One step at a time Surgit, explore everything and beware of traps,' he repeated to himself mentally as he moved forward. The trees around Surgit didn't rustle or move. It felt like everything around him was dead. Only the sound of his feet crushing old leaves could be heard around.

He descended a winding path that led towards the first windmill. As Surgit moved, the sound of crackling fire reached his ears. That reminded him of his first time in Yharnam; leaving Iosefka's clinic to fight the Huntsmen. Wheezing, ragged breathing reached his ears in addition to the crackling fire. 'Large huntsmen, as long as I keep calm, I'll come out on top.'

Surgit approached, the large huntsman caught sight of him then ran towards him. With the corner of his eye, Surgit saw another untransformed huntsman in the distance. He didn't pay attention to it as it didn't have any rifle on it. What annoyed him the most were snipers hindering his movements while he was engaging a hulking beast.

Surgit dashed to meet the fully transformed huntsman halfway. They were easy to stagger and perform a visceral attack on. However, he wasn't willing to rely too much on that ability. The memory of his unplanned transformation still haunted him. 'I'd keep visceral attacks as a last measure. I have this weapon now though. This one will be my guinea pig.'

The large huntsman carried a torch on one hand and a crosscut saw on the other. He immediately launched a flurry of attacks as soon as he reached Surgit. The latter didn't panic but jumped back, leading his opponent far away from his supporter. Once the large huntsman realized what was going on, it stopped and retreated a few steps.

Surgit didn't allow the beast to go back but attacked with his sword. The huntsman deflected the sword with his saw then tried to set Surgit on fire, using the torch in its hands. The hunter saw the attack coming and jumped aside. With a swift movement, his sword attached to his back. A large rock descended on the huntsman, smashing it into bloody, fleshy pulp.

The untransformed huntsman, upon witnessing what happened to his partner fled the scene. Surgit let out a "humph" then chased after the retreating foe. He closed the distance in no time and beheaded the poor creature. "I love this weapon!" shouted Surgit. "Alfred really know how to choose his weapons."

In the dream, using the sword hunter badge and the radiant sword hunter badge, Surgit managed to expand the items he could buy from the messengers. He could now buy more weapons and one of them was the Kirkhammer he had. He had the choice of buying a great sword but he didn't have enough echoes to do so.

He liked swords, and his newfound strength would allow him to use the great sword. He was now more excited to reach Byrgenwerth. 'With more blood echoes, I can increase my strength and use more powerful weapons. I need to find enough materials to reach the bottom level of that dungeon.' He thought of this as he followed the road the retreating huntsman took before he killed him. 'If he retreated that way, it means he hoped to get some aid. I have to exterminate all threats and collect their echoes; the bigger the beast, the higher the reward.'

Surgit reached the end of the road in no time. Heavy breathing announced his next enemy. The fat executioner walked slowly, patrolling an area illuminated by a large bonfire. Surgit hid behind the trees and approached the executioner slowly. Without visceral attacks, it would be difficult to kill that hulk head on. He took advantage of the blinding light emanating from the bonfire.

The executioner didn't see Surgit approaching from behind the trees. As soon as he was within attack range, Surgit slammed down his hammer as hard as possible. The hammer broke the executioner's spine as it descended on its back. Surgit wasn't done however as he lifted his hammer and swung it horizontally.

Gaining an extra rank in strength displayed its full benefit while wielding the Kirkhammer. With one swing, Surgit managed to send the big executioner flying, slamming him against a cave in the distance. "Holy mother of all things!" with a gaping mouth, Surgit looked at the crushed executioner flying until it slammed against the wall. "Ludwig's workshop came up with some really powerful weapons. No wonder Alfred slammed the Blood Starved Beast and ended it easily."

With a smile, Surgit went to the cave and collected blood from the executioner. It had become second nature to him to collect blood from fallen enemies. There were some whose blood was too corrupted. Surgit only experimented until he identified from whom he can collect. The executioners, trolls and huntsmen all had blood he could use.

In the cave next to the executioner, Surgit found two corpses from which he extracted three green echo clusters. That was something Alfred taught him. By using his insight on fallen corpses, Surgit could see the remnants of blood echoes. He would then be able to extract some of their echoes. It was only thanks to his current insight rank that he could do it.

If he did so before, he wouldn't be able to see it. The echoes formed on coagulated blood. His insight could guide him through the corpse's veins, leading him towards coagulated blood. The stronger the stench, the better the reward he could reap. 'What a bloody mess this city is. Everything is related to blood. Even my way out is related to blood. Paleblood, I wonder what that is.'

Surgit thought of this as he retraced his steps and rejoined the winding path towards the first windmill. There were no other enemies on the way. He reached the place pretty quickly. The building was also crumbling. The windmill wasn't in working condition anymore. The metallic barred door leading inside was closed. Surgit tried to force it open but a voice from behind the door stopped him on his tracks.

"That door won't open until you reach it from the other side." A man wearing blue appeared from the shadows. 'Is that bucket supposed to be a helmet?' Surgit thought to himself. Anybody who could speak in Yharnam pushed Surgit to be on guard. After he spent enough time with the people in Oedon Chapel, Surgit developed a certain sense.

There were normal people, whose scent gave of the stench of sickness. And there were hunters, whose scent gave of a familiar feeling. Surgit had that feeling from Alfred. He even smelled something similar on the woman pretending to be Iosefka. 'The more one spends in Yharnam, the more they get accustomed to the stench of death. I understand now how people could tell me apart from my scent.'

"Why don't you open it for me then? I can see you're more than capable of doing so," Surgit said. The man chuckled. "You're a hunter, aren't you? With your strength, I don't doubt that you'd find your way around here. Find the way, then I'll be willing to gift you something of great value."

This was within Surgit's expectation. Nothing in Yharnam came for free. He wondered what that man hid or what pushed him to stay secluded within the tower. Without uttering another word, Surgit left the man and headed deeper inside the forest.

'I would welcome unseen aid from others. But if they're unwilling, then that only means they've got something to hide. What a peculiar helmet! That man is without a doubt a hunter. His scent hides something different though. I can't wait to make my way to him and figure out his secret.'