Inside the Painting

After a relatively long rest Reima get's up and walks into the great hall that is now devoid of guards, the sunlight continues to shine through the windows onto the statue of Gwenevere and the painting. He walks up to the now fallen and shattered chandelier and loots the body that was lying across it, the orb morphs into a thin sheet of parchment detailing how to cast Great magic weapon. He stores it away for later and continues to walk through the hall, in one corner he can hear something impacting metal and flesh, looking over it seems to be the last Painting Guardian stabbing a large corpse wearing heavy black armour... It hasn't disappeared so the person wasn't undead, he slashes the back of the Guardians neck instantly killing it before looting the black iron armour... He won't be needing it any longer.

After doing everything he intended to do, Reima looks at the painting before sprinting at it, after gaining enough speed he jumps head first into it... And sprawls to the floor after colliding with the hard surface... "Ouuuch" He rubs his head and glares at the painting, "Why did I not go through?" he mumbles to himself, He walks up and places his hand on the painting like you do in the game. Again nothing happens... An idea pops into his head as he takes the doll out and grips it while touching the painting. Ripples appear and suck him into it, taking him into the Painted World of Ariamis.

Reima feels a chill as wind prickles his skin, opening his eyes he finds himself on the rickety, almost collapsing rope bridge depicted in the painting... The high winds blow the bridge causing it to sway side to side, he looks behind him and sees that the wood leading to the other side is broken, not allowing anything to leave. In the distance he sees a large fort atop a mountain, the bridge is attached to the bottom and is connected to a path that leads further into the winding steps.

The cold doesn't really bother Reima, he "grew up" in Kaer Morhen, which is not the warmest place around. He cautiously walks across the wooden bridge oping that the wood stays intact under his feet.

After getting to the end of the bridge he starts ascending the steps, covering his face so the snow doesn't blow into his eyes. He gets to the top where a bonfire is somehow lit but hears the twang of a bowstring, dodging to the side he sees a hollow on the wall of the fort shooting at him, not just one though, dragging his gaze across the rest he sees a large number of archers apparently ready for his visit... The fort kind of resembles Kaer Morhen, in that it is almost collapsing, every brick comprising it's structure is damaged in some way, he almost laughs as the floor collapses under a hollow trying to shoot at him.

He quickly dodges the arrows haphazardly shot by them and brushes his hand over the bonfire to light it, he then channels Haki into his legs to launch him up and onto the wall of the attacking hollows. They don't put up much of a challenge as he sweeps his sword through their flesh like butter, they try to swing their bows at him but it does nothing to stop his slaughter.

After finishing off the last of the bowman he looks around at the towers above him, one thing he definitely needs to acquire is the Dark Ember, it's the opposite of the Divine ember in that it deal massive damage to everything with a soul, especially lords and gods. Reima plans to enchant his steel sword with the Dark Ember and his Silver one with the Divine one, the divine ember makes your weapon deal extra damage to those with no souls or warped souls... So everything from undead skeletons to werewolves, it probably works against Relicts considering they are more like forces of nature instead of actual living being... Though this might be different if it were before the conjunction of the spheres.

He looks down at the courtyard that contains the revolving statue, it is surrounding by a large amount of fleshy amalgamations of multiple beings, their skin has turned red for some reason. They all wield small metal shields and long spears, they are in a formation that makes Reima think they are protecting the statue.

He shakes his head and enters the building atop the wall and comes face to face with a grotesque mass of bloating dark red flesh... It wields a torch and seems to be conjuring a fireball to throw at him, he moves his body slightly to dodge it while he examines it's form. It's body is like a normal hollow, except for the tumour like growth sprouting from it's neck, back and shoulders, Reima remembers that if you kill them in the game without fire they explode and infect you with the toxic debuff... Needless to say Reima sprayed it with enough flame to cremate someone. It's body flops to the floor without exploding, he gives it a wide berth while walking around it while looting the room of everything that is and isn't nailed down... Reima nods to himself, "I remember seeing some nice furniture in Anor Londo...".