Silksong: 100 hours
Nov. 1st, 2025 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkAfter playing Hollow Knight: Silksong for 100 hours, I'm at 99% game completion working toward the true ending and still having a great time.
Day 39
Flea quest time! Six more, some very easy to get to like the one behind the bellway station in Deep Docks, some trickier like the one in the Choral Chambers or the one in the Sands of Karak, and especially one that showed on the map below the Underworks.
I got a hint that that one can be accessed via the top left of Greymoor, so I went there and found an entire new area! The Wisp Thicket. Full of followers of a fire cult, apparently. I found a mask shard and craftmetal, I rescued the flea and unlocked a connection to the Underworks, and I found the Father of Flame. I made it to his second phase in my first attempt, which promptly led to me underestimating him because I died very quickly the next few times. But then I saw a suggestion to use the volt vessels in his second phase, and with that and the Wanderer crest it didn't take long. Wispfire lantern, huh, cool.
I freed some more fleas and talked to the Caretaker again, since one flea was in the Citadel, and this time he gave me a new quest! He first asked if Hornet was ready to oust her who waits up there and claim her place. Hornet: "I'll not deny some part of me desires that outcome… Dominance, it seems, is baked deep in my blood, as too, no doubt, for the one up top. And yet, another part resists… A part, over time, I find myself siding with more… That part wishes not to claim a monarch's mantle, rather it would see my freedom regained, and this kingdom's bugs unshackled from their pale chains." The caretaker says that's a remarkable wish but he's not so surprised to hear her say it, but with how much she's been helping, he sees that while she's got the monarch and glare of a Weaver in her, the ambition is wild different. He says he and what remains of his family have conceived of a trap for the monarch, a rare discussed idea, and she'll need his family's strength to set it. Three old bugs still alive and one poor old cousin dead and drained. "Each has power. Raw, savage stuff! For you, they'll give it, if for their fascination at the act, or the thrill of defiance… or because they have no choice at all." That, and the Weaver snare.
Turns out his family members are his sister the chapel maid, "still clinging to her failed chapel," and his uncle the bell hermit. The cousin's soul I already had, and the snare (don't remember where I got that.) (ETA: Weavenest Atla.)
Before getting both of those I rescued the last fleas and then went back to Fleatopia to see them all together. Aww. I got a charm in thanks, and more hints about an upcoming ritual, intriguing.
Then I collected the souls: the chapel maid gave it gladly, "better to fight for freedom or go out in a blaze," and the hermit even though he thinks there's a slim chance of success, but it's better all that soul, found and formed, given a chance to blaze rather than going to waste. I brought them back to the Caretaker, and we constructed the trap together, and the Caretaker has gone to set it up :)
…meanwhile I've decided to make another attempt at the Sands of Karak, and that one gauntlet in the Far Fields. Um. I'm sure he's very patient, has been for a long time now, after all ^^
I went to the gauntlet in the skull in Far Fields, that took me around five tries or so. An escape sequence! Very exciting. Three mask shards now, fingers crossed there's one in Sands Karak.
Which is where I went next, and this time I finally made it through that stupid parkour section that annoyed me so much. It felt much less bad than I'd remembered, and I could unlock another shortcut afterwards. Then I found the Raging Conchfly, that'll take some practice.
I knew the Voltnest had to be around here somewhere so I looked it up. Turns out it was exactly where I'd suspected, I'd just been too clumsy to make the jump. I entered the Voltnest and even explored some (I found a mineral to add to my journal but nothing else so far), but the electricity does soo much damage! I found the Voltwyrm and fought it a few times but I really need to figure out a better healing window (also I learned that the appearance scream of a boss interrupts a binding, annoying.)
83 hours.
Day 40
It took me only a few more tries to beat the Voltwyrm (with Reaper for the reach.) Next: the Raging Conchfly. That one took me longer! I went back to Wanderer because I needed to heal so often (injector band also very helpful), and tried a few other trinkets too. I also wanted to try the parry but mostly forgot to use it.
In-between I went to pick up the final mask shard for my ninth mask. I'd read that there were only nine to get in the first two acts, and I looked up where the last one was that I'd missed: hidden in the lower left of Blasted Steps, that would have taken me ages to find.
Finally I beat the Raging Conchfly and made my way to the Coral Tower. I found the conchcutter there and a bench, but other than that it's full of still bugs. Playing the needolin made it look like their lord was caught in silk, and had them think about how they are alone stand against the pale light, huh, interesting.
And then! It was time! For act 3! Very exciting. I had Hornet sleep in her bellhome one last time, and talk with Shakra and Sherma, and then went up to the Cradle to confront Grand Mother Silk once again.
I met the Caretaker there, who'd set up the trap. Hornet said she's met his kind before, "a tribe that works and trades in power," and says she's about to extinguish its prime source; "will you truly delight in a land so bereft?" The caretaker says his family's hands are all over that trap. "And we've spent a hard age avoiding the gaze of our god. If we earned it now, after such open opposition… that's a bleak conclusion none of us'd care for." Then says his job is done and he wishes her victory, "for all our sakes."
I fought Grand Mother Silk once again – and it's so much easier without the curse! I only needed one try. And then I bound her.
Such a dramatic scene, the void opening up beneath GMS and grasping her, GMS grabbing Hornet to pull her down too, then Lace appears out of nowhere and pushes Hornet off and pierces GMS… Hornet falls as the void appears to swallow the Silk and the Citadel shakes and void strands pierce the stone… Then, credits! And when I start the game again the game screen is covered by black strands, with howling wind, and I have to click multiple times to strike the tendrils and open the game again! Act 3, Abyss. So cool.
Hornet wakes up, with a tool-less Hunter crest, on Lace's white rose column, with void bubbles apparently in the air? The new quest is to find out the state of Pharloom (that one was not necessary to have pointed out ^^) She climbs down and the entire Citadel is broken. Enemies previously in the Underworks are in the remains of the Citadel but seem to be possessed by the void or have weird void powers. Hornet had weakness spells again and even fainted when she got down to where the Cogwork Dancers were, and was found by pilgrims and brought to the Songclave.
Even the Songclave is broken! Sherma is there and has been appointed its caretaker by the previous one, who said he needs to confer with his family. Hornet resolves to seek him out in the ruined chapel. Jubilana is still there, but Garmond and Zaza aren't, and they said they wanted to protect the settlement – I hope they're just out in the rest of the Citadel looking for things.
Thankfully the ventrica in High Halls still works! I wasn't sure. The grand reeds on the way didn't seem void-infected, at least? I made my way down to the Grand Bellway and called for the bell beast, and instead the Bell Eater appeared! I can enter the Bellways to fight it and made a few attempts at that. [I checked out a video for tips and saw how the fight ends and now I'm sad I didn't get the surprise in my own game – ah well, my own fault.)
I'm in act 3 now, aah this is so exciting.
Almost 85 hours. (Sidenote, it took me longer to get to act 3 of Silksong than it took me to get to the true ending in Hollow Knight. Indeed a much larger game.)
Day 41
More attempts at Bell Eater, that one took me a while, but then I finally beat it! With the help of the Bell Beast. And it has beastlings! And they taught me their call, and I can travel with them from other places back to their mother now! Aww. Also, very very convenient.
I travelled to Bellhart first, which is still standing thanks to Shakra, who's become its protector. Pavo (though much dispirited) and Frey and Scrounge are still there, and the Couriers still have supplies for Fleatopia at least, but Pinmaster Plinney is away.
I talked to Shakra and then checked to see if Creige at the Halfway House is still okay. He is, but I had to defeat a gauntlet of void-infected creatures to get there. And I met Garmond and Zaza, fighting to defend Greymoor! Very glad they're okay. I farmed some rosaries nearby and bought some shard bundles from Frey. I also visited Pilgrim's Rest, which is completely destroyed, there were just some of Grindle's associates looking through the remains.
Hornet so quickly tells people she's partially to blame for what happened, oof. But she has friends that don't blame her, like Shakra, that's nice.
I went to Bone Bottom next, which is destroyed, and Flick not there. Then I went to the chapel, where I met the snail shamans. I suspected (mostly because of some spoilery hints online tbh.) Hornet immediately calls them cowards for hiding out here. "You seem displeased, Old One. We only did as you asked, yes? The snare is sprung, the creature consumed." "You bound it to that void." "Don't play daft. You should well know our family's fixations. Surely you had a hunch? How else could we hope to trap one of your pale kin? Or see her consumed with such insatiable efficiency?" "Then you have miscalculated, gravely. The white knight, she fell with the mother…" "Oh ho… The quakes, yes? We have felt their force, even here. So the mother resists the dark… to save the child?" "That is my guess. I must descend to the void below, and see clear that truth for myself." "Ohhh. How… unfortunate. All of Pharloom will fall to her flailing." "So it may, but I will not watch while it crumbles. For those depths, I am more prepared than most. I will reach the base of this land, and know the truth of the new disaster we, together have wrought." "If the void doesn't claim it first. Surely you've seen them, the black threads that wrack your lands? The dark leeches up, possessed upon the fallen monarch's Silk." Also Hornet: "If there can be another end to this, it is up to us to discover it." And the shamans are shocked the monarch can resist so long, even knowing her motivation. "She will have retreated within her protective form, that cocoon of thread. Even as the dark eats its outer, she will spin its Silk anew. The effort would be immense and it will strain her soul thin, but what other choice remains? This is the desperate act of a dying god. A defiance that, left unchallenged, will bring your kingdom's ruin."
So the reason for the void infestation is because GMS is resisting it, for Lace's sake!
I also visited Eva, who can sense that Hornet still has hope and says she will eagerly provide assistance.
Hornet decides to go down into the Abyss. (I wonder what the hint would have been if I hadn't discovered the diving bell yet.) Before that, though, I visited the fleas, who asked me to help with their last ritual in the end times – a grand festival! With three different games! I tried each of them, did very badly, and decided to come back later. [I saw in a LP later that the festival only starts when all fleas are rescued, which fits, but it means I'm even more glad I rescued all fleas before act 3.]
I talked with Forge Daughter in Deep Docks, who told me to talk to her assistant Ballow, who agreed to help with the diving bell. I descended and, to probably no-one's surprise, it crashed.
The Abyss is still very creepy. Partially familiar from Hollow Knight, but with some new monsters, oh joy.
I found inscriptions there: "Erase our fear, Eliminate our desire, To suffer no more, Void, cleanse us." And: "In silence your voice, In Darkness your form, We higher who see you seeking, Our shells yearn for your embrace." Hmm.
I found the source of the Void: "Here you lie, monarch. Sunk so deep, yet still you cling to life. Would you let your lands be choked black… to protect just her?" And then Lace appears! Seemingly nothing as Hornet is looking at the Void. "Spider dear, what a delight to have you visit! It is oh so lonely here at the bottom of the world." "I cannot share your mirth, child. Your small rebellion above now causes this kingdom's collapse." (Okay "small rebellion" sounds a bit condescending here which seems unfair, it's not like Lace knew what the plan was or what would happen, and she did save Hornet's life, in a way.) "Letting you live was my rebellion, spider. I've denied my mother your silken strength. I've won. She can thrash, and waste, and know her pathetic, broken child caused the mortal wound. Rejoice! And let it all come down." "I will not. I have already stood the sentinel for one dying land. That role… I will never play again. While I live, and possess the strength to resist, this kingdom, and the bugs within it, shall not fall." !! Hornet also says she will claim "the hidden power, the bloom that repels the dark," presumably the Delicate Flower? She says the shamans shall help her because they share some fault. "I will return, child, when I bear the strength to dive below, and cut this land finally free of your mother's grasp."
Then I had to find a way out. (And yes, I tried calling the beastlings ^^ ) I found Weavenest Absolom and got Silk Soar there, cool. With that, I could climb out. I also found Farsight, to be assembled in a home, and an arcane egg! Very cool.
I got as far as the next bench, but there's another lava escape sequence after that. I did fairly well my first try, not so much the next two, and then took a break.
Almost 87 hours.
Day 42
I was concerned it would take me ages to make it out of the Abyss, but it only took me two attempts! Go me, that was a relief.
I went back to the snail shamans and Hornet told them she needs to dive below the surface of that void, and to be able to withstand that she needs the Everbloom. It doesn't exist in full strength in Pharloom, so she told them to manifest the Everbloom from her memory!!, from within her Silk, and wrench open her soul. It can't be done for another bug, "but I am Weaver enough to attempt it." It requires a lot of power from the shamans, which Hornet will gather for them from the memories of the "old hearts" of Pharloom, power that existed in this kingdom even before the monarch bound it. Very cool. The shamans teach Hornet a song to reach down into them and enliven them one final time. That will burn up those memories and the shamans have some hesitation, but: "Better to leave your land weak in wonder, if it means your shells, and those of your fellows, stay intact." Hear hear. Three memories in particular: one in the coral tower (probably the lord mentioned there), one of the one who "united the wild tribes. Gave them the strength to resist the pale monarch's will… longer than most at least," and one between the Blasted Steps and Shellwood.
I assembled the Farsight in Bellhart – very cool scene for that – and found out I'm at 89% game completion! Cool. I gave the Arcane Egg to Scrounge, it has the inscription "…No will… No self… Shade…" ;_; There's a new quest in Bellhart to fight the Pinstress now that the world is ending, and one at the Songclave to fight Trobbio for the same reason. I love how Hornet makes sure to reassure Pavo and Sherma that there is hope and she is pursuing it. And also that she told Sherma that whatever is built next belongs to him, to trust his instincts and not just "any reverence towards a kingdom's corpse." And that I learned from a pilgrim about their new champion, the golden knight with their noble blades who protects the Songclave and cuts down the void-infected. "Not much for conversing" but brave and righteous. Second Sentinel! :D
I fought Trobbio once and then decided to leave it for later. Instead I went to see Twelfth Architect and bought the last two trinkets, bringing me to 91%, after which the Architect said it sees its end coming. Then I rescued Plinney in the Shellwood, who was happy to finally see the needle in action, and half-fantasized about dying next to the grave of his love but then decided his services are still needed.
I went back to the Flea Festival, not in the least because I know thanks to spoilers what the reward will be and an upgraded needle would sure be useful. It took me a couple of tries to beat the bounce game, but it wasn't too difficult, and I got to 50 (out of 43 required.) Then I switched between the dodge and the juggle for a while, but the juggle was more fun and I got to 35 (of 31 required.) The dodge, on the other hand, oof. My high score atm is 55 and I need 66, but most of the time I only manage between 30-40. Very RNG-dependent.
Around 89 hours.
Day 43
I tried the flea dodge a few more times and then took a break. Sidenote, the occasional void-shakes are fantastically spooky and unsettling.
I went back to the snail shamans because I'd gotten a hint to look in their chapel for the shaman crest – obvious, in hindsight. I also found a few inscriptions of apparently, spells?, which include souls and pilgrims as ingredients, so, uh, very creepy. Then I bound the crest, and the snail shamans said that Hornet makes it seem so simple to bind herself a new nature with all that knowledge, and that they'd call Hornet a cruel thief if not for the circumstances.
With that last crest I visited Eva again, who upgraded my Hunter crest again. Then I used a few more memory lockets and visited her again, and Eva called me "a multitude within a single shell. A being truly unbound," and as a "last, selfish request" asked "to have my own soul, my own memories, bound within your shell". "You ask to be subsumed? Know your mind would cease to be, in any independent sense." "I know. And still I seek it, gladly. To be united with one unbound… This is the kind of escape I once prayed for, though the weight of ages had almost made me forget. Dear Lady, would you grant me this request?" And after I agreed: "By your grace, I am at last broken from my fate." "Gladly I accept your union, Eva. No longer shall you suffer eternity alone." So Hornet bound Eva!! And got Sylphsong: "Eva's soul and strength reside within." Silk will regenerate while resting at a bench now, very good.
I went to visit the Seamstress, who asks if Hornet is responsible for what happened and says she knew it when Hornet confirms that she is in part responsible ("though know this outcome was not my intent, and that I shall work to calm it.") The Seamstress said she had hoped that Hornet would bring a shake up, but not an ending, and tells her to get to her fixing.
Next I decided to visit Styx because I have a feeling I might want more silk eaters in the near future. I saw Garmond and Zaza again on the way – they're in so many places! Good for them. There were two void masses by Styx' nest, the first two I'd found, and I destroyed them. Styx said he hears Hornet's true desires and promised to keep working, "for the promiss-sse of what my misss-tress will become," uh-uh..
I got lost on the way to Styx once and ended up in the kitchen where I fought disgraced chef Lugoli, and I could use silk soar to get up into the attic where they dropped in from and found massive vats of different ingredients, and when I played the needolin I heard thoughts about preserving the taste of Pharloom – I love all the details.
I also found a craw summons in Sinner's Road, a banner talking about a dark mass, so I went to Craw Lake in the hopes of finding more void masses there. I didn't find anything there except more banners, but I did find the entrance to Lost Verdania! I entered the Green Prince's memory and started to explore Verdania. It apparently has spirit orbs like the kind the Knight collected to power the dream nail? After I died for the first time there I found the map for the area nearby in the remains of a tent in the lost part of the area, and with that I have every map now. Cool.
I found the Palestag; and I found the Green Prince lamenting that he can't remember the capital, I assume it'll help if I can "collect" more ~spirit orbs? I went to look but walked into another gauntlet.
I decided to leave that area for a bit. I searched the Crawlake again without finding anything, but I did find and destroy another void mass above Greymoor, at least. Then I went back to Bellhart to string up my rosaries and saw a new mission about a distressed bug near the Blasted Steps bellway. It was Zaza, so I was already worried, and she led me to Garmond who got possessed by the Void :( Oh no.
I fought him a few times (trying out the Shaman crest) and then decided to go back to the flea festival to hopefully get the pale oil to upgrade my needle because that will surely be helpful for all these boss fights. But after a few more failed attempts I had to take another break. (I heard that apparently if you don’t defeat Moorwing the meat at the fleas' campfire is considerably smaller, which is an amazing detail.)
I did remember that there was an area above the lake I couldn't get to before I had silk soar, so I went and checked it out, and I found a mushroom cave! And an inscription about the Herald, Mr Mushroom! If he's here to witness, then "great change or a savage end is inevitable. He would care to see nothing else…" Wish promised, "passing of the age," exciting. It describes several locations, I'll have to check those out. (I have so many unfulfilled wishes in my quest menu!)
I also remembered that I have the spider silk trinket, it hasn't been useful so far that I've noticed but maybe I need it at some points to activate the elegy of the deep and access memories? Hmmm.
Almost 91 hours.
Day 44
Some more attempts at flea dodge, unsuccessful, most of them painfully so.
Instead I decided to do the mushroom herald quest. I found every location on my first try, go me. Mister Mushroom appears when hearing the needolin, says something cryptic, doesn't reply to Hornet who would really like to converse with him (and wonders if he followed her here) and then disappears again. Iirc the only location where he didn't need to be summoned was on top of Mount Fay, where he appeared to converse with the Fayforn. (Sidenote, seeing later where the Pinstress was on top the mountain, I must have been so closely to stumbling upon her, but I could take shortcuts thanks to silk soar.)
The way to the last hint led past the Cradle, where I found the arm of Grand Mother Silk that Lace severed, and I bound it and got the last silk skill, Pale Nails, cool.
Above the Cradle I found the Border Caves!, featuring a parkour course upwards. I made it to the first bench, died three times and took a break. It seems hard but doable, but a) it was late, b) I tried out playing on the Steam Deck that day and it feels much harder on my hands.
91.5 hours.
Day 45
Further up the Border Caves. I got to the room with the floating creatures and that one only took me two attempts! I'm getting better :) (I've seen comparisons of this area to White Palace, I don't understand that at all, seemed much easier to me. And so much shorter, and not required for true ending either.)
Then I could finally talk with Mister Mushroom! He said it's no surprise that the "Wyrm child" is the one who meets him there, and that he wouldn't have come to these lands if not "for your grand actions within them." He said he's seen remarkable things, though given their void claimed state him and Hornet might be the last to hold these memories. Hornet says "I cannot allow that outcome, Herald. I act now to save that place, both for myself and for those bugs still alive within." She asks if he thinks her efforts are in vain, but Mister Mushroom has no answers and says he can only see the present, the journey, the now. "If any other could come to understand that state, Wyrm child, I suspect it may be you… Though maybe not yet, not this present, hmmm? Maybe in a future far, when your actions might hail me so again?" Then says he must go, hopes she too will learn the joys of the path, and leaves.
From there I climbed up and outside to arrive at the wastes: on the left are the endless wastes, but Hornet refuses to leave Pharloom "to a black fate of my making." On the right I arrived at the Nameless Town, an abandoned windswept area with non-hostile bugs and a fallen-apart hut, and played the needolin there: "Friends seduced… From depths below… Now only the wind… The weaving ones beckon… Sweet promises whispered…" And got the Surface memento! Very cool. (And intriguing implications…. The entire Citadel is in one massive massive cave? Wow.)
The first memento to be displayed in my home.
92 hours
Day 46
I went back to the aiming room in Far Fields and got the Curvesickle left for me after I finally did the curveclaw challenge there recently (after I read about it online.)
I went to the Pinstress' tent and found her message to find her on Mount Fay. I went there and found her and fought her a few times, but then decided to come back later.
I also did a brief detour through Shellwood and found out that below where I got cling grip I could find an old Weaver message by playing the needolin near the strings: "Sister, spider, husk bound to branch, Watch over these bugs, passing safe, Warded by fear, No longer your meal." And then I saw that branches are growing out of Sister Splinter's corpse. So weavers bound one of their own to the woods after she started eating the bugs there?? Huh.
92.5 hours.
Day 47
I finally got the top score at Flea Dodge!! 75, what a relief. I'm the flea game champion now, and in the pinata was another pale oil gland. I brought it to Pinmaster Plinney and I now have a Pale Needle, very nice. 95% game completion.
Thinking about places to utilize Silk Soar (and also after a tip I saw online) I went back to the Underworks where the elevator first fell down and did indeed find a secret entrance to a Shellwood-adjacent area, where I eventually found Shrine Guardian Seth. The shrine he guards seems to be one of the objectives of the shamans' quest. I tried the shaman crest again because I figured I want to preserve shell shards anyway, but not being able to heal in the air is a much bigger nerf than I'd thought! I went back to Reaper and got to his second phase, at least. Doable.
Instead of continuing that fight though I decided to look for the next objective (the third one is at Coral Tower.) As expected, I found an area above Karmelita's statue, and that led me through Far Fields to Karmelita herself, who is still alive but very weak. Hornet told her that she wants to take her heart from "when once your heart beat bright and brave," but that her intent is worthy and she seeks only to save this land from the fatal sickness born of thread and void. Karmelita told her "If you may… beast… If you can…" so Hornet enters the memory and finds Skarrsinger Karmelita singing in an area. Another boss fight with a gauntlet with different enemies to start with, unfortunately.
Exploring the rest of the new area in Far Fields I found Gilly again and also sprintmaster Swift. I won one race and decided to leave the rest for later.
I decided to see if anything had changed at Bonegrave, and it had!, there were Lifeblood/Plasmium flowers everywhere. I made my way up the Wormways and there were worms and other creatures transmuted by Plasmium everywhere. I found the alchemist Zylotol, in a "disturbing state. This substance sprouts from within your shell. Time will see it consume you entirely." Hornet asks if he would seek aid, but he says he's become a wonderful thing and will soon become a source. Hornet is concerned: "There is an echo also of other infections I have witnessed. I wonder at the meaning of it all… or if I am perhaps imagining similarities where there are none." Zylotol asks for more plasmium blood of the mutated bugs for more research, and I agreed, though I soon found out that collecting it from the mutated, aggressive bugs is much harder than from the flowers. So once again I decided this is a task for later.
I found a new wish in Bellhart: Gilly asks to find the one who stole from her. I followed the trail and found Gurr the Outcast, aand decided to leave it there for now. I'm much more in the mood for exploring than boss fights unfortunately but at some point they'll be unavoidable ^^
I also managed to destroy a dozen void masses along the way so I at least got another mask shard.
A little over 94 hours.
Day 48
Back to Gurr: it only took me a few tries to beat him, thanks to poison cogflies and multi-bind etc. (I was glad, because it wasn't that fun of a fight.) Impressive collection of hunt trophies he had in his back room, including even a Grand Reed from the Citadel, and he wanted Hornet as the final one. I'm glad I could give Gilly her grass doll back.
Then I went back to Sprintmaster Swift and beat his second and third race, and got another mask shard for that. The area he's in is called "Frontier," cool.
I'd looked up that the last mask shard is hidden on Mount Fay, so I wanted to go there next. I made a short detour to visit the Moss Druid and then the Moss Grotto, because I'd seen spoilers that there's a camp of Bone Bottom survivors somewhere. The druid just thought the shakes and quakes are natural, and I found nothing in the Moss Grotto but a void-infected Moss Mother that I managed to narrowly beat on my second try.
Under the place where I got the silk spear I found another Weaver inscription: "Sister, spider, husk bound to moss, Watch over these bugs born low, Raised up by fervour fostered, Born and caught within our web unknowing." Hm.
It took me quite a few tries to beat the Pinstress. In the end Wanderer crest and the poison cogflies came in clutch. Hornet told her that she won't cut her down because if she succeeds at her task to save Pharloom, "the land that remains will require the watch of strong bugs like you." The Pinstress said Hornet has beaten both her pin's edge and her heart's resolve, and then gives her a symbol of her order, the pin badge. Nice. The journal entry reads "I like her. For her willingness to teach and her spirit still strong, despite a long age spent solitary… she has my respect."
(Interesting that the needle art the Pinstress uses looks like the one Second Sentinel uses, js.)
The Pinstress also mentioned a secret area inside the mountain, so I went to look for that. Along the way I visited the mask maker again, but he's still busy at work. (Probably waiting for that lacquer delivery, ahem.) He said Hornet already has a mask, and: "The deeper form. Distant relationship. Some form of Pharloom and our old, legged, stewards."
I eventually found the Brightveins, managed the short parkour up, and got the last mask shard. Nice.
I was missing two more tools, and I looked up where to find them: both in Bilewater, and both I probably wouldn't have found for a very long time. I finally found Weavenest Murglin, which seems to lie in decay and sunken into the muckmaggot water, and fittingly I found a ruined tool there. I also found an inscription: "Sister, spider, sat between salt and stone, Build those tools of brilliant mind imagined, Aid us when our Silk has waned."
The description of the ruined tool said a skilled craftbug could probably repair it, but that means there are multiple options (Forge Daughter and Twelfth Architect), so I looked up if that makes a difference (yes) and which one is best. Turns out there's a third option: Hornet can repair the tool herself, in a secret workshop on Mount Fay that I'd missed. (Can't believe I never thought to simply jump off the other side of that mountain top!) So I fashioned the Silkshot there, which means I have all tools and I'm at 99% game completion. Exciting!
I tried fighting Garmond a few more times, unsuccessfully.
Instead I went up to the Coral Tower (very glad I already beat the enraged conchfly before it could potentially become void-infected) and entered the memory of the lord of the coral tower. The Coral Tower memory is so pretty!! I died in the first gauntlet (I heard there are several) but I'll definitely come back soon.
Almost 96.5 hours.
Day 49
Back to Verdania. I found another area with shining orbs and that got a big golden shine effect, so I was fairly certain the capital was unlocked, but I still wanted to do the challenges to see if I could. I went back to Hunter's crest because it would be a shame not to take advantage of the fact that I don't need shell shards to replenish tools I used in a memory, and I used poison cogflies and poison throwing rings liberally. It only took me a few tries to beat first the Palestag and then the gauntlet of warriors. Then I went up to the "capital" – just one house, probably all the Green Prince cared to remember. There's an inscription in the lower part: "Two children born entwined, apart, Two children marked to rule, They danced, they sang, proved blades beyond, But none forgot their birth, For lovers born on beat exact shall be forever cursed." So the tragedy was foretold even before GMS got involved? Huh.
I found the Green Prince in the house, looking at a double throne. Hornet: "You were mortal bugs, caught beneath a being pale… Devotion or destruction… these are the only fates my kind allow. Feel guilt at your absence, sir, but know the end was inexorable, the outcome set, whether you remained or not." Huh. Fairly pessimistic outlook; especially since isn't the White Lady a Pale/Higher Being? And she voluntarily retreated from Hallownest and restrained/diminished her power. Otoh, the latest pale being Hornet encountered was GMS so no wonder she's focused on the domineering aspects rn.
The Green Prince is so angry at Hornet's "brutish intrusion" and trespass on this sacred chamber (which… fair) that he summons the memory of his lover for her "to see us, and know us, Verdania's rulers, together in our finest form". Basically the Cogwork Dancers fight but harder. I tried a few times and I'm getting better at avoiding them, but it only takes very few mistakes and so far I struggle to get hits in (tools are very convenient but don't give me silk.) Doable though. (I wish there was a bench at the respawn point to make it easier to try out different crest&trinket combinations.)
97.5 hours.
Day 50
New day, new luck. The Clover Dancers seemed a lot easier today, and it only took me a couple of tries this time. I think Hunter crest was definitely the right choice here and poison tools were very helpful in the second phase. Hornet killed the Green Prince to a white screen "…To dance… And love… And end… Together…" Then, thrown out of the memory and waking up next to the corpse of the Green Prince and his lover, I picked up the beating Conjoined Heart. "Enlivened heart of the Green Prince. Its beat is sharp and clear."
Hornet's journal entry is a bit pointed: "Dual princes of old Verdania, beloved by their subjects for their grace and for the ballet of death they delivered upon outsiders. For one to love another so similar to themselves, is that selfless or vain?" ^^
I'd looked online where to hand in the craw summons – I'd even been in the same house, I'd just missed the door ^^ I tried fighting the Craw Father once and then decided to come back later.
Then I went back to Seth. That fight, too, went a lot better today. I went back to Wanderer, got better at picking my moments, and once again in the end a poison cogfly got the last hit. The journal entry says "Eternal defender of Shellwood Shrine. His pin and cymbal show many marks of their use. He offered fair warning and challenge, a duel in the purest sense. I admire his honour, and his skill."
Past him in the shrine the inscription reads "Here we honour the seed that sprung the wood. By her grace may all bugs pass safe to join us and our song." And in its memory I found Nyleth. I fought her once and then left.
I went back to Blasted Steps, intending to go back to the Coral Tower but then saw Zaza. It took me a few attempts, but this time I beat Lost Garmond! "Sir knight, I am sorry… This was the only means to free you from the cursed threads." "Hohhhh… fret not…. Little one… Be proud… you've grown so strong! Zaza… let us just rest a little… and then we'll be away…" And Zaza, who's been cowering the entire fight, comes and sits next to him and he stops moving, doesn't respond to the needolin anymore, pretty sure he's dead ;_; And I got the Hero's memento, "heirloom of a village lost to Pharloom's Haunting."
After that I was extra motivated to look for the survivors of Bone Bottom (that I was pretty sure existed – I knew about a "Survivor's Camp," though I guess that could also refer to survivors of Pilgrim's Rest or even something else.) I finally found it in the Marrow, where I first found the flea caravan. Poor Flick is very dispirited, but at least he's alive. He doesn't quite believe Hornet's assurances that she's working to fix this, but is glad that at least she has hope. When playing the needolin, the song includes "Dear Pharloom… help us… climb up… save us…" so he still believes in the Citadel…
Afterwards I was in the mood for just a few more boss fight attempts, but most of them are not close to a bellway station, so I fought Tormented Trobbio a few times. I got to his second phase pretty quickly, even, but that one is even more chaotic. Still, definitely doable, will just require a little luck.
Almost 99 hours.
Day 51
Next challenge: Coral Tower. (Nyleth would probably be easier tbh but I want to see the Coral Tower.) I got to the second floor pretty quickly but then struggled there for a while. I started out with Wanderer, then switched to Hunter briefly, then decided to try Shaman again. Then brief experiments with Beast, with Witch, with Architect…
I took a brief break and then went back to Wanderer. And as soon as I did I made it to and immediately past the third floor, unlocked the shortcut there, made it past the fourth floor, and only died to Crust King Khann himself :) I got to him two more times and I'm pretty sure it won't take me too long. (Watch me eat my words. Nah. Staying optimistic.)
100 hours almost exactly! I thought about waiting until I defeated him but then I thought if I post this now I can title my next notes post "three hearts" and that would be cool.
Day 39
Flea quest time! Six more, some very easy to get to like the one behind the bellway station in Deep Docks, some trickier like the one in the Choral Chambers or the one in the Sands of Karak, and especially one that showed on the map below the Underworks.
I got a hint that that one can be accessed via the top left of Greymoor, so I went there and found an entire new area! The Wisp Thicket. Full of followers of a fire cult, apparently. I found a mask shard and craftmetal, I rescued the flea and unlocked a connection to the Underworks, and I found the Father of Flame. I made it to his second phase in my first attempt, which promptly led to me underestimating him because I died very quickly the next few times. But then I saw a suggestion to use the volt vessels in his second phase, and with that and the Wanderer crest it didn't take long. Wispfire lantern, huh, cool.
I freed some more fleas and talked to the Caretaker again, since one flea was in the Citadel, and this time he gave me a new quest! He first asked if Hornet was ready to oust her who waits up there and claim her place. Hornet: "I'll not deny some part of me desires that outcome… Dominance, it seems, is baked deep in my blood, as too, no doubt, for the one up top. And yet, another part resists… A part, over time, I find myself siding with more… That part wishes not to claim a monarch's mantle, rather it would see my freedom regained, and this kingdom's bugs unshackled from their pale chains." The caretaker says that's a remarkable wish but he's not so surprised to hear her say it, but with how much she's been helping, he sees that while she's got the monarch and glare of a Weaver in her, the ambition is wild different. He says he and what remains of his family have conceived of a trap for the monarch, a rare discussed idea, and she'll need his family's strength to set it. Three old bugs still alive and one poor old cousin dead and drained. "Each has power. Raw, savage stuff! For you, they'll give it, if for their fascination at the act, or the thrill of defiance… or because they have no choice at all." That, and the Weaver snare.
Turns out his family members are his sister the chapel maid, "still clinging to her failed chapel," and his uncle the bell hermit. The cousin's soul I already had, and the snare (don't remember where I got that.) (ETA: Weavenest Atla.)
Before getting both of those I rescued the last fleas and then went back to Fleatopia to see them all together. Aww. I got a charm in thanks, and more hints about an upcoming ritual, intriguing.
Then I collected the souls: the chapel maid gave it gladly, "better to fight for freedom or go out in a blaze," and the hermit even though he thinks there's a slim chance of success, but it's better all that soul, found and formed, given a chance to blaze rather than going to waste. I brought them back to the Caretaker, and we constructed the trap together, and the Caretaker has gone to set it up :)
…meanwhile I've decided to make another attempt at the Sands of Karak, and that one gauntlet in the Far Fields. Um. I'm sure he's very patient, has been for a long time now, after all ^^
I went to the gauntlet in the skull in Far Fields, that took me around five tries or so. An escape sequence! Very exciting. Three mask shards now, fingers crossed there's one in Sands Karak.
Which is where I went next, and this time I finally made it through that stupid parkour section that annoyed me so much. It felt much less bad than I'd remembered, and I could unlock another shortcut afterwards. Then I found the Raging Conchfly, that'll take some practice.
I knew the Voltnest had to be around here somewhere so I looked it up. Turns out it was exactly where I'd suspected, I'd just been too clumsy to make the jump. I entered the Voltnest and even explored some (I found a mineral to add to my journal but nothing else so far), but the electricity does soo much damage! I found the Voltwyrm and fought it a few times but I really need to figure out a better healing window (also I learned that the appearance scream of a boss interrupts a binding, annoying.)
83 hours.
Day 40
It took me only a few more tries to beat the Voltwyrm (with Reaper for the reach.) Next: the Raging Conchfly. That one took me longer! I went back to Wanderer because I needed to heal so often (injector band also very helpful), and tried a few other trinkets too. I also wanted to try the parry but mostly forgot to use it.
In-between I went to pick up the final mask shard for my ninth mask. I'd read that there were only nine to get in the first two acts, and I looked up where the last one was that I'd missed: hidden in the lower left of Blasted Steps, that would have taken me ages to find.
Finally I beat the Raging Conchfly and made my way to the Coral Tower. I found the conchcutter there and a bench, but other than that it's full of still bugs. Playing the needolin made it look like their lord was caught in silk, and had them think about how they are alone stand against the pale light, huh, interesting.
And then! It was time! For act 3! Very exciting. I had Hornet sleep in her bellhome one last time, and talk with Shakra and Sherma, and then went up to the Cradle to confront Grand Mother Silk once again.
I met the Caretaker there, who'd set up the trap. Hornet said she's met his kind before, "a tribe that works and trades in power," and says she's about to extinguish its prime source; "will you truly delight in a land so bereft?" The caretaker says his family's hands are all over that trap. "And we've spent a hard age avoiding the gaze of our god. If we earned it now, after such open opposition… that's a bleak conclusion none of us'd care for." Then says his job is done and he wishes her victory, "for all our sakes."
I fought Grand Mother Silk once again – and it's so much easier without the curse! I only needed one try. And then I bound her.
Such a dramatic scene, the void opening up beneath GMS and grasping her, GMS grabbing Hornet to pull her down too, then Lace appears out of nowhere and pushes Hornet off and pierces GMS… Hornet falls as the void appears to swallow the Silk and the Citadel shakes and void strands pierce the stone… Then, credits! And when I start the game again the game screen is covered by black strands, with howling wind, and I have to click multiple times to strike the tendrils and open the game again! Act 3, Abyss. So cool.
Hornet wakes up, with a tool-less Hunter crest, on Lace's white rose column, with void bubbles apparently in the air? The new quest is to find out the state of Pharloom (that one was not necessary to have pointed out ^^) She climbs down and the entire Citadel is broken. Enemies previously in the Underworks are in the remains of the Citadel but seem to be possessed by the void or have weird void powers. Hornet had weakness spells again and even fainted when she got down to where the Cogwork Dancers were, and was found by pilgrims and brought to the Songclave.
Even the Songclave is broken! Sherma is there and has been appointed its caretaker by the previous one, who said he needs to confer with his family. Hornet resolves to seek him out in the ruined chapel. Jubilana is still there, but Garmond and Zaza aren't, and they said they wanted to protect the settlement – I hope they're just out in the rest of the Citadel looking for things.
Thankfully the ventrica in High Halls still works! I wasn't sure. The grand reeds on the way didn't seem void-infected, at least? I made my way down to the Grand Bellway and called for the bell beast, and instead the Bell Eater appeared! I can enter the Bellways to fight it and made a few attempts at that. [I checked out a video for tips and saw how the fight ends and now I'm sad I didn't get the surprise in my own game – ah well, my own fault.)
I'm in act 3 now, aah this is so exciting.
Almost 85 hours. (Sidenote, it took me longer to get to act 3 of Silksong than it took me to get to the true ending in Hollow Knight. Indeed a much larger game.)
Day 41
More attempts at Bell Eater, that one took me a while, but then I finally beat it! With the help of the Bell Beast. And it has beastlings! And they taught me their call, and I can travel with them from other places back to their mother now! Aww. Also, very very convenient.
I travelled to Bellhart first, which is still standing thanks to Shakra, who's become its protector. Pavo (though much dispirited) and Frey and Scrounge are still there, and the Couriers still have supplies for Fleatopia at least, but Pinmaster Plinney is away.
I talked to Shakra and then checked to see if Creige at the Halfway House is still okay. He is, but I had to defeat a gauntlet of void-infected creatures to get there. And I met Garmond and Zaza, fighting to defend Greymoor! Very glad they're okay. I farmed some rosaries nearby and bought some shard bundles from Frey. I also visited Pilgrim's Rest, which is completely destroyed, there were just some of Grindle's associates looking through the remains.
Hornet so quickly tells people she's partially to blame for what happened, oof. But she has friends that don't blame her, like Shakra, that's nice.
I went to Bone Bottom next, which is destroyed, and Flick not there. Then I went to the chapel, where I met the snail shamans. I suspected (mostly because of some spoilery hints online tbh.) Hornet immediately calls them cowards for hiding out here. "You seem displeased, Old One. We only did as you asked, yes? The snare is sprung, the creature consumed." "You bound it to that void." "Don't play daft. You should well know our family's fixations. Surely you had a hunch? How else could we hope to trap one of your pale kin? Or see her consumed with such insatiable efficiency?" "Then you have miscalculated, gravely. The white knight, she fell with the mother…" "Oh ho… The quakes, yes? We have felt their force, even here. So the mother resists the dark… to save the child?" "That is my guess. I must descend to the void below, and see clear that truth for myself." "Ohhh. How… unfortunate. All of Pharloom will fall to her flailing." "So it may, but I will not watch while it crumbles. For those depths, I am more prepared than most. I will reach the base of this land, and know the truth of the new disaster we, together have wrought." "If the void doesn't claim it first. Surely you've seen them, the black threads that wrack your lands? The dark leeches up, possessed upon the fallen monarch's Silk." Also Hornet: "If there can be another end to this, it is up to us to discover it." And the shamans are shocked the monarch can resist so long, even knowing her motivation. "She will have retreated within her protective form, that cocoon of thread. Even as the dark eats its outer, she will spin its Silk anew. The effort would be immense and it will strain her soul thin, but what other choice remains? This is the desperate act of a dying god. A defiance that, left unchallenged, will bring your kingdom's ruin."
So the reason for the void infestation is because GMS is resisting it, for Lace's sake!
I also visited Eva, who can sense that Hornet still has hope and says she will eagerly provide assistance.
Hornet decides to go down into the Abyss. (I wonder what the hint would have been if I hadn't discovered the diving bell yet.) Before that, though, I visited the fleas, who asked me to help with their last ritual in the end times – a grand festival! With three different games! I tried each of them, did very badly, and decided to come back later. [I saw in a LP later that the festival only starts when all fleas are rescued, which fits, but it means I'm even more glad I rescued all fleas before act 3.]
I talked with Forge Daughter in Deep Docks, who told me to talk to her assistant Ballow, who agreed to help with the diving bell. I descended and, to probably no-one's surprise, it crashed.
The Abyss is still very creepy. Partially familiar from Hollow Knight, but with some new monsters, oh joy.
I found inscriptions there: "Erase our fear, Eliminate our desire, To suffer no more, Void, cleanse us." And: "In silence your voice, In Darkness your form, We higher who see you seeking, Our shells yearn for your embrace." Hmm.
I found the source of the Void: "Here you lie, monarch. Sunk so deep, yet still you cling to life. Would you let your lands be choked black… to protect just her?" And then Lace appears! Seemingly nothing as Hornet is looking at the Void. "Spider dear, what a delight to have you visit! It is oh so lonely here at the bottom of the world." "I cannot share your mirth, child. Your small rebellion above now causes this kingdom's collapse." (Okay "small rebellion" sounds a bit condescending here which seems unfair, it's not like Lace knew what the plan was or what would happen, and she did save Hornet's life, in a way.) "Letting you live was my rebellion, spider. I've denied my mother your silken strength. I've won. She can thrash, and waste, and know her pathetic, broken child caused the mortal wound. Rejoice! And let it all come down." "I will not. I have already stood the sentinel for one dying land. That role… I will never play again. While I live, and possess the strength to resist, this kingdom, and the bugs within it, shall not fall." !! Hornet also says she will claim "the hidden power, the bloom that repels the dark," presumably the Delicate Flower? She says the shamans shall help her because they share some fault. "I will return, child, when I bear the strength to dive below, and cut this land finally free of your mother's grasp."
Then I had to find a way out. (And yes, I tried calling the beastlings ^^ ) I found Weavenest Absolom and got Silk Soar there, cool. With that, I could climb out. I also found Farsight, to be assembled in a home, and an arcane egg! Very cool.
I got as far as the next bench, but there's another lava escape sequence after that. I did fairly well my first try, not so much the next two, and then took a break.
Almost 87 hours.
Day 42
I was concerned it would take me ages to make it out of the Abyss, but it only took me two attempts! Go me, that was a relief.
I went back to the snail shamans and Hornet told them she needs to dive below the surface of that void, and to be able to withstand that she needs the Everbloom. It doesn't exist in full strength in Pharloom, so she told them to manifest the Everbloom from her memory!!, from within her Silk, and wrench open her soul. It can't be done for another bug, "but I am Weaver enough to attempt it." It requires a lot of power from the shamans, which Hornet will gather for them from the memories of the "old hearts" of Pharloom, power that existed in this kingdom even before the monarch bound it. Very cool. The shamans teach Hornet a song to reach down into them and enliven them one final time. That will burn up those memories and the shamans have some hesitation, but: "Better to leave your land weak in wonder, if it means your shells, and those of your fellows, stay intact." Hear hear. Three memories in particular: one in the coral tower (probably the lord mentioned there), one of the one who "united the wild tribes. Gave them the strength to resist the pale monarch's will… longer than most at least," and one between the Blasted Steps and Shellwood.
I assembled the Farsight in Bellhart – very cool scene for that – and found out I'm at 89% game completion! Cool. I gave the Arcane Egg to Scrounge, it has the inscription "…No will… No self… Shade…" ;_; There's a new quest in Bellhart to fight the Pinstress now that the world is ending, and one at the Songclave to fight Trobbio for the same reason. I love how Hornet makes sure to reassure Pavo and Sherma that there is hope and she is pursuing it. And also that she told Sherma that whatever is built next belongs to him, to trust his instincts and not just "any reverence towards a kingdom's corpse." And that I learned from a pilgrim about their new champion, the golden knight with their noble blades who protects the Songclave and cuts down the void-infected. "Not much for conversing" but brave and righteous. Second Sentinel! :D
I fought Trobbio once and then decided to leave it for later. Instead I went to see Twelfth Architect and bought the last two trinkets, bringing me to 91%, after which the Architect said it sees its end coming. Then I rescued Plinney in the Shellwood, who was happy to finally see the needle in action, and half-fantasized about dying next to the grave of his love but then decided his services are still needed.
I went back to the Flea Festival, not in the least because I know thanks to spoilers what the reward will be and an upgraded needle would sure be useful. It took me a couple of tries to beat the bounce game, but it wasn't too difficult, and I got to 50 (out of 43 required.) Then I switched between the dodge and the juggle for a while, but the juggle was more fun and I got to 35 (of 31 required.) The dodge, on the other hand, oof. My high score atm is 55 and I need 66, but most of the time I only manage between 30-40. Very RNG-dependent.
Around 89 hours.
Day 43
I tried the flea dodge a few more times and then took a break. Sidenote, the occasional void-shakes are fantastically spooky and unsettling.
I went back to the snail shamans because I'd gotten a hint to look in their chapel for the shaman crest – obvious, in hindsight. I also found a few inscriptions of apparently, spells?, which include souls and pilgrims as ingredients, so, uh, very creepy. Then I bound the crest, and the snail shamans said that Hornet makes it seem so simple to bind herself a new nature with all that knowledge, and that they'd call Hornet a cruel thief if not for the circumstances.
With that last crest I visited Eva again, who upgraded my Hunter crest again. Then I used a few more memory lockets and visited her again, and Eva called me "a multitude within a single shell. A being truly unbound," and as a "last, selfish request" asked "to have my own soul, my own memories, bound within your shell". "You ask to be subsumed? Know your mind would cease to be, in any independent sense." "I know. And still I seek it, gladly. To be united with one unbound… This is the kind of escape I once prayed for, though the weight of ages had almost made me forget. Dear Lady, would you grant me this request?" And after I agreed: "By your grace, I am at last broken from my fate." "Gladly I accept your union, Eva. No longer shall you suffer eternity alone." So Hornet bound Eva!! And got Sylphsong: "Eva's soul and strength reside within." Silk will regenerate while resting at a bench now, very good.
I went to visit the Seamstress, who asks if Hornet is responsible for what happened and says she knew it when Hornet confirms that she is in part responsible ("though know this outcome was not my intent, and that I shall work to calm it.") The Seamstress said she had hoped that Hornet would bring a shake up, but not an ending, and tells her to get to her fixing.
Next I decided to visit Styx because I have a feeling I might want more silk eaters in the near future. I saw Garmond and Zaza again on the way – they're in so many places! Good for them. There were two void masses by Styx' nest, the first two I'd found, and I destroyed them. Styx said he hears Hornet's true desires and promised to keep working, "for the promiss-sse of what my misss-tress will become," uh-uh..
I got lost on the way to Styx once and ended up in the kitchen where I fought disgraced chef Lugoli, and I could use silk soar to get up into the attic where they dropped in from and found massive vats of different ingredients, and when I played the needolin I heard thoughts about preserving the taste of Pharloom – I love all the details.
I also found a craw summons in Sinner's Road, a banner talking about a dark mass, so I went to Craw Lake in the hopes of finding more void masses there. I didn't find anything there except more banners, but I did find the entrance to Lost Verdania! I entered the Green Prince's memory and started to explore Verdania. It apparently has spirit orbs like the kind the Knight collected to power the dream nail? After I died for the first time there I found the map for the area nearby in the remains of a tent in the lost part of the area, and with that I have every map now. Cool.
I found the Palestag; and I found the Green Prince lamenting that he can't remember the capital, I assume it'll help if I can "collect" more ~spirit orbs? I went to look but walked into another gauntlet.
I decided to leave that area for a bit. I searched the Crawlake again without finding anything, but I did find and destroy another void mass above Greymoor, at least. Then I went back to Bellhart to string up my rosaries and saw a new mission about a distressed bug near the Blasted Steps bellway. It was Zaza, so I was already worried, and she led me to Garmond who got possessed by the Void :( Oh no.
I fought him a few times (trying out the Shaman crest) and then decided to go back to the flea festival to hopefully get the pale oil to upgrade my needle because that will surely be helpful for all these boss fights. But after a few more failed attempts I had to take another break. (I heard that apparently if you don’t defeat Moorwing the meat at the fleas' campfire is considerably smaller, which is an amazing detail.)
I did remember that there was an area above the lake I couldn't get to before I had silk soar, so I went and checked it out, and I found a mushroom cave! And an inscription about the Herald, Mr Mushroom! If he's here to witness, then "great change or a savage end is inevitable. He would care to see nothing else…" Wish promised, "passing of the age," exciting. It describes several locations, I'll have to check those out. (I have so many unfulfilled wishes in my quest menu!)
I also remembered that I have the spider silk trinket, it hasn't been useful so far that I've noticed but maybe I need it at some points to activate the elegy of the deep and access memories? Hmmm.
Almost 91 hours.
Day 44
Some more attempts at flea dodge, unsuccessful, most of them painfully so.
Instead I decided to do the mushroom herald quest. I found every location on my first try, go me. Mister Mushroom appears when hearing the needolin, says something cryptic, doesn't reply to Hornet who would really like to converse with him (and wonders if he followed her here) and then disappears again. Iirc the only location where he didn't need to be summoned was on top of Mount Fay, where he appeared to converse with the Fayforn. (Sidenote, seeing later where the Pinstress was on top the mountain, I must have been so closely to stumbling upon her, but I could take shortcuts thanks to silk soar.)
The way to the last hint led past the Cradle, where I found the arm of Grand Mother Silk that Lace severed, and I bound it and got the last silk skill, Pale Nails, cool.
Above the Cradle I found the Border Caves!, featuring a parkour course upwards. I made it to the first bench, died three times and took a break. It seems hard but doable, but a) it was late, b) I tried out playing on the Steam Deck that day and it feels much harder on my hands.
91.5 hours.
Day 45
Further up the Border Caves. I got to the room with the floating creatures and that one only took me two attempts! I'm getting better :) (I've seen comparisons of this area to White Palace, I don't understand that at all, seemed much easier to me. And so much shorter, and not required for true ending either.)
Then I could finally talk with Mister Mushroom! He said it's no surprise that the "Wyrm child" is the one who meets him there, and that he wouldn't have come to these lands if not "for your grand actions within them." He said he's seen remarkable things, though given their void claimed state him and Hornet might be the last to hold these memories. Hornet says "I cannot allow that outcome, Herald. I act now to save that place, both for myself and for those bugs still alive within." She asks if he thinks her efforts are in vain, but Mister Mushroom has no answers and says he can only see the present, the journey, the now. "If any other could come to understand that state, Wyrm child, I suspect it may be you… Though maybe not yet, not this present, hmmm? Maybe in a future far, when your actions might hail me so again?" Then says he must go, hopes she too will learn the joys of the path, and leaves.
From there I climbed up and outside to arrive at the wastes: on the left are the endless wastes, but Hornet refuses to leave Pharloom "to a black fate of my making." On the right I arrived at the Nameless Town, an abandoned windswept area with non-hostile bugs and a fallen-apart hut, and played the needolin there: "Friends seduced… From depths below… Now only the wind… The weaving ones beckon… Sweet promises whispered…" And got the Surface memento! Very cool. (And intriguing implications…. The entire Citadel is in one massive massive cave? Wow.)
The first memento to be displayed in my home.
92 hours
Day 46
I went back to the aiming room in Far Fields and got the Curvesickle left for me after I finally did the curveclaw challenge there recently (after I read about it online.)
I went to the Pinstress' tent and found her message to find her on Mount Fay. I went there and found her and fought her a few times, but then decided to come back later.
I also did a brief detour through Shellwood and found out that below where I got cling grip I could find an old Weaver message by playing the needolin near the strings: "Sister, spider, husk bound to branch, Watch over these bugs, passing safe, Warded by fear, No longer your meal." And then I saw that branches are growing out of Sister Splinter's corpse. So weavers bound one of their own to the woods after she started eating the bugs there?? Huh.
92.5 hours.
Day 47
I finally got the top score at Flea Dodge!! 75, what a relief. I'm the flea game champion now, and in the pinata was another pale oil gland. I brought it to Pinmaster Plinney and I now have a Pale Needle, very nice. 95% game completion.
Thinking about places to utilize Silk Soar (and also after a tip I saw online) I went back to the Underworks where the elevator first fell down and did indeed find a secret entrance to a Shellwood-adjacent area, where I eventually found Shrine Guardian Seth. The shrine he guards seems to be one of the objectives of the shamans' quest. I tried the shaman crest again because I figured I want to preserve shell shards anyway, but not being able to heal in the air is a much bigger nerf than I'd thought! I went back to Reaper and got to his second phase, at least. Doable.
Instead of continuing that fight though I decided to look for the next objective (the third one is at Coral Tower.) As expected, I found an area above Karmelita's statue, and that led me through Far Fields to Karmelita herself, who is still alive but very weak. Hornet told her that she wants to take her heart from "when once your heart beat bright and brave," but that her intent is worthy and she seeks only to save this land from the fatal sickness born of thread and void. Karmelita told her "If you may… beast… If you can…" so Hornet enters the memory and finds Skarrsinger Karmelita singing in an area. Another boss fight with a gauntlet with different enemies to start with, unfortunately.
Exploring the rest of the new area in Far Fields I found Gilly again and also sprintmaster Swift. I won one race and decided to leave the rest for later.
I decided to see if anything had changed at Bonegrave, and it had!, there were Lifeblood/Plasmium flowers everywhere. I made my way up the Wormways and there were worms and other creatures transmuted by Plasmium everywhere. I found the alchemist Zylotol, in a "disturbing state. This substance sprouts from within your shell. Time will see it consume you entirely." Hornet asks if he would seek aid, but he says he's become a wonderful thing and will soon become a source. Hornet is concerned: "There is an echo also of other infections I have witnessed. I wonder at the meaning of it all… or if I am perhaps imagining similarities where there are none." Zylotol asks for more plasmium blood of the mutated bugs for more research, and I agreed, though I soon found out that collecting it from the mutated, aggressive bugs is much harder than from the flowers. So once again I decided this is a task for later.
I found a new wish in Bellhart: Gilly asks to find the one who stole from her. I followed the trail and found Gurr the Outcast, aand decided to leave it there for now. I'm much more in the mood for exploring than boss fights unfortunately but at some point they'll be unavoidable ^^
I also managed to destroy a dozen void masses along the way so I at least got another mask shard.
A little over 94 hours.
Day 48
Back to Gurr: it only took me a few tries to beat him, thanks to poison cogflies and multi-bind etc. (I was glad, because it wasn't that fun of a fight.) Impressive collection of hunt trophies he had in his back room, including even a Grand Reed from the Citadel, and he wanted Hornet as the final one. I'm glad I could give Gilly her grass doll back.
Then I went back to Sprintmaster Swift and beat his second and third race, and got another mask shard for that. The area he's in is called "Frontier," cool.
I'd looked up that the last mask shard is hidden on Mount Fay, so I wanted to go there next. I made a short detour to visit the Moss Druid and then the Moss Grotto, because I'd seen spoilers that there's a camp of Bone Bottom survivors somewhere. The druid just thought the shakes and quakes are natural, and I found nothing in the Moss Grotto but a void-infected Moss Mother that I managed to narrowly beat on my second try.
Under the place where I got the silk spear I found another Weaver inscription: "Sister, spider, husk bound to moss, Watch over these bugs born low, Raised up by fervour fostered, Born and caught within our web unknowing." Hm.
It took me quite a few tries to beat the Pinstress. In the end Wanderer crest and the poison cogflies came in clutch. Hornet told her that she won't cut her down because if she succeeds at her task to save Pharloom, "the land that remains will require the watch of strong bugs like you." The Pinstress said Hornet has beaten both her pin's edge and her heart's resolve, and then gives her a symbol of her order, the pin badge. Nice. The journal entry reads "I like her. For her willingness to teach and her spirit still strong, despite a long age spent solitary… she has my respect."
(Interesting that the needle art the Pinstress uses looks like the one Second Sentinel uses, js.)
The Pinstress also mentioned a secret area inside the mountain, so I went to look for that. Along the way I visited the mask maker again, but he's still busy at work. (Probably waiting for that lacquer delivery, ahem.) He said Hornet already has a mask, and: "The deeper form. Distant relationship. Some form of Pharloom and our old, legged, stewards."
I eventually found the Brightveins, managed the short parkour up, and got the last mask shard. Nice.
I was missing two more tools, and I looked up where to find them: both in Bilewater, and both I probably wouldn't have found for a very long time. I finally found Weavenest Murglin, which seems to lie in decay and sunken into the muckmaggot water, and fittingly I found a ruined tool there. I also found an inscription: "Sister, spider, sat between salt and stone, Build those tools of brilliant mind imagined, Aid us when our Silk has waned."
The description of the ruined tool said a skilled craftbug could probably repair it, but that means there are multiple options (Forge Daughter and Twelfth Architect), so I looked up if that makes a difference (yes) and which one is best. Turns out there's a third option: Hornet can repair the tool herself, in a secret workshop on Mount Fay that I'd missed. (Can't believe I never thought to simply jump off the other side of that mountain top!) So I fashioned the Silkshot there, which means I have all tools and I'm at 99% game completion. Exciting!
I tried fighting Garmond a few more times, unsuccessfully.
Instead I went up to the Coral Tower (very glad I already beat the enraged conchfly before it could potentially become void-infected) and entered the memory of the lord of the coral tower. The Coral Tower memory is so pretty!! I died in the first gauntlet (I heard there are several) but I'll definitely come back soon.
Almost 96.5 hours.
Day 49
Back to Verdania. I found another area with shining orbs and that got a big golden shine effect, so I was fairly certain the capital was unlocked, but I still wanted to do the challenges to see if I could. I went back to Hunter's crest because it would be a shame not to take advantage of the fact that I don't need shell shards to replenish tools I used in a memory, and I used poison cogflies and poison throwing rings liberally. It only took me a few tries to beat first the Palestag and then the gauntlet of warriors. Then I went up to the "capital" – just one house, probably all the Green Prince cared to remember. There's an inscription in the lower part: "Two children born entwined, apart, Two children marked to rule, They danced, they sang, proved blades beyond, But none forgot their birth, For lovers born on beat exact shall be forever cursed." So the tragedy was foretold even before GMS got involved? Huh.
I found the Green Prince in the house, looking at a double throne. Hornet: "You were mortal bugs, caught beneath a being pale… Devotion or destruction… these are the only fates my kind allow. Feel guilt at your absence, sir, but know the end was inexorable, the outcome set, whether you remained or not." Huh. Fairly pessimistic outlook; especially since isn't the White Lady a Pale/Higher Being? And she voluntarily retreated from Hallownest and restrained/diminished her power. Otoh, the latest pale being Hornet encountered was GMS so no wonder she's focused on the domineering aspects rn.
The Green Prince is so angry at Hornet's "brutish intrusion" and trespass on this sacred chamber (which… fair) that he summons the memory of his lover for her "to see us, and know us, Verdania's rulers, together in our finest form". Basically the Cogwork Dancers fight but harder. I tried a few times and I'm getting better at avoiding them, but it only takes very few mistakes and so far I struggle to get hits in (tools are very convenient but don't give me silk.) Doable though. (I wish there was a bench at the respawn point to make it easier to try out different crest&trinket combinations.)
97.5 hours.
Day 50
New day, new luck. The Clover Dancers seemed a lot easier today, and it only took me a couple of tries this time. I think Hunter crest was definitely the right choice here and poison tools were very helpful in the second phase. Hornet killed the Green Prince to a white screen "…To dance… And love… And end… Together…" Then, thrown out of the memory and waking up next to the corpse of the Green Prince and his lover, I picked up the beating Conjoined Heart. "Enlivened heart of the Green Prince. Its beat is sharp and clear."
Hornet's journal entry is a bit pointed: "Dual princes of old Verdania, beloved by their subjects for their grace and for the ballet of death they delivered upon outsiders. For one to love another so similar to themselves, is that selfless or vain?" ^^
I'd looked online where to hand in the craw summons – I'd even been in the same house, I'd just missed the door ^^ I tried fighting the Craw Father once and then decided to come back later.
Then I went back to Seth. That fight, too, went a lot better today. I went back to Wanderer, got better at picking my moments, and once again in the end a poison cogfly got the last hit. The journal entry says "Eternal defender of Shellwood Shrine. His pin and cymbal show many marks of their use. He offered fair warning and challenge, a duel in the purest sense. I admire his honour, and his skill."
Past him in the shrine the inscription reads "Here we honour the seed that sprung the wood. By her grace may all bugs pass safe to join us and our song." And in its memory I found Nyleth. I fought her once and then left.
I went back to Blasted Steps, intending to go back to the Coral Tower but then saw Zaza. It took me a few attempts, but this time I beat Lost Garmond! "Sir knight, I am sorry… This was the only means to free you from the cursed threads." "Hohhhh… fret not…. Little one… Be proud… you've grown so strong! Zaza… let us just rest a little… and then we'll be away…" And Zaza, who's been cowering the entire fight, comes and sits next to him and he stops moving, doesn't respond to the needolin anymore, pretty sure he's dead ;_; And I got the Hero's memento, "heirloom of a village lost to Pharloom's Haunting."
After that I was extra motivated to look for the survivors of Bone Bottom (that I was pretty sure existed – I knew about a "Survivor's Camp," though I guess that could also refer to survivors of Pilgrim's Rest or even something else.) I finally found it in the Marrow, where I first found the flea caravan. Poor Flick is very dispirited, but at least he's alive. He doesn't quite believe Hornet's assurances that she's working to fix this, but is glad that at least she has hope. When playing the needolin, the song includes "Dear Pharloom… help us… climb up… save us…" so he still believes in the Citadel…
Afterwards I was in the mood for just a few more boss fight attempts, but most of them are not close to a bellway station, so I fought Tormented Trobbio a few times. I got to his second phase pretty quickly, even, but that one is even more chaotic. Still, definitely doable, will just require a little luck.
Almost 99 hours.
Day 51
Next challenge: Coral Tower. (Nyleth would probably be easier tbh but I want to see the Coral Tower.) I got to the second floor pretty quickly but then struggled there for a while. I started out with Wanderer, then switched to Hunter briefly, then decided to try Shaman again. Then brief experiments with Beast, with Witch, with Architect…
I took a brief break and then went back to Wanderer. And as soon as I did I made it to and immediately past the third floor, unlocked the shortcut there, made it past the fourth floor, and only died to Crust King Khann himself :) I got to him two more times and I'm pretty sure it won't take me too long. (Watch me eat my words. Nah. Staying optimistic.)
100 hours almost exactly! I thought about waiting until I defeated him but then I thought if I post this now I can title my next notes post "three hearts" and that would be cool.
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Date: 2025-11-02 03:10 pm (UTC)Zaza and Garmond ;___; If this were D&D I would have carried his body all the way to Fleatopia and have him buried there and Zaza get a new family.
I got done beating Seth's high scores in the minigames yesterday, it took me three days to get to 90 in fucking Flea Dodge despite getting to 89 two days ago. Bounce and Juggle were so much easier in comparison. I have a couple of relics I need to get still and then I should continue the main quest, I GUESS. I'm a little bit ahead of you but not by much.
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Date: 2025-11-03 08:40 pm (UTC)I have not encountered Seth in Fleatopia yet so don't tell me more about it!
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Date: 2025-11-03 08:44 pm (UTC)I used the Wanderer's Crest if that helps! With Cogflies IIRC.
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Date: 2025-11-03 08:53 pm (UTC)