Hollow Knight - Dark Souls Metroidvania... with bugs!

[DicklordWizard]

I haven't lost a steel soul run to a boss or gauntlet because I massively overprepare for them and mentally prepare myself before going in.
But I've lost a few 10+ hour runs to random dumb shit on the road due to not paying attention to my health.
There's probably a life lesson there.

Also High Halls is great. Very rewarding figuring out how to interact with all of it with minimal equipment. It's fun if you want a challenge, and if you don't, the game gives you more than enough cheese to avoid interacting with it (tools, architect crest, plasmium overdose, needle upgrades, Shakra and Garmond assist, permanent clawmaiden death switch). Coral Tower too. I cheesed both on my first playthrough just to move on, but they're my favorite challenges on subsequent playthroughs.

 

[Safir]

There is a room to get rid of silk thieves, they won’t come during Guantlet after.

I didn't know that! This will be huge. (Except, if it's the locked Simple Key room, I don't have one -- I've had two and wasted both, one on Wormways, one on the mantis guy.) Other than that (assuming it's in High Halls), there's a small room to the left of the waterways, a room with a sus rolling cart above the locked room (I tried standing on the cart and banging on walls), and a balcony that obviously requires the double jump.

I had upgraded my bag of tricks like once or twice . Used ascendants grip at the very top of once side during juggernaut looking bug phase and just dropped poisoned tacks and cogflies on them from above.

Oh right, poison. I don't have metal for cogflies (and there's 1 more tool at the Architect that I haven't bought) and had to use silk regen + mossberry in blue slots. But if the silk thieves are out, poison is on the menu again.

You're not wrong for being frustrated at it, but the design of Silksong lets you leave and go get good doing other things instead of halting all progress.

Maybe, but it's not much help to me, for several reasons:

Reason 1: I suck and I already try to explore everything in order of increasing difficulty. I get completion achievements out of order. I have 3000 beads and nothing to buy without having ever farmed any, due to all the running over the map trying different places. I visit the magic bobbin in Atla on the regular to see if she's got anything for me (nope). Whenever I find a new area and get excited (whoa! an area away from the main progression! extra upgrades to beat the curve!) it turns out to be on the main progression after all. Right now the most promising area is Bilewater, which is definitely off it, but it's dark with traps and nasty explodey shit, an excellent place to get unspooled and never be able to get back, @Shine-369 is there now after beating the arena and apparently not having an easy time.

Reason 2: I can't tell what's "hard" and what's intended. I've had to work for hours on quite a lot of rooms I didn't ragepost about that looked impossible, and in retrospect there wasn't anything that would've helped. I'd never believe the needle throw room (after getting the ability) was doable if I wasn't locked in it, and it took me over an hour to git gud and escape. And before I got the needle throw, I sincerely believed it was a side area and I'm going to get a genuine combat upgrade. Another was a fan in the Silkworks tower that needed to be hit several times in succession, I don't remember which combination of button-mashing worked but it didn't look doable either (IIRC the reward was a silkworm). Back in HK I completed the White Palace but I could never make literally the very first jump on the Path of Pain. IIRC HK never required pogoing on monsters to get anywhere for 100%, but Silksong does.

Reason 3: some secrets are fair and delightfully discoverable and signposted, but others are not. I'd never have found the statue that reacts to song (after Trobbio, near the vaults cylinder room and bench) if I hadn't messed up my save and redone the whole section from after Trobbio to the High Halls arena. There are also a lot of red herrings, elements that look like they might do something but don't.

Reason 3.5: the game could be balanced for good players, speedrunners, and a gay global ARG. I just don't trust a company that released Path of Pain and Godmaster would seriously cater to amateur normies. Suppose the room that disables silk thieves is really that one locked room, how would I go about acquiring a key? Printscreen every room, make a giant IRL wall poster, and bash on every wall? Maybe there isn't one available. It's doable but demoralizing. A gay global ARG player would look in the walkthrough for keys they/them hasn't found yet and pick the easiest-to-get, a speedrunner would come prepared, and a good player would take the arena head-on.

Reason 4: some content is too good to imagine. Upgrades that are in the realm of plausible for the High Halls arena fight are an extra mask (need 2 more pieces), cogflies (need metal), and oil from the Grand Gourmand (the sad fact is I am too dumb to solve the scales room). Silk thief genocide is ridiculously strong and extraordinary, it's not something you'd expect to get as a result of "doing other things" unless you already know it exists.

 

[Shine-369]

Yes , the room with the cart. When you enter look up as your walking and you see some light and dust coming down from the ceiling. That is where you need to go.

 

[Tealeaf]

Yes , the room with the cart. When you enter look up as your walking and you see some light and dust coming down from the ceiling. That is where you need to go.

You need double jump for it though.

 

[ShitLurker]

Finished with 98% a few weeks ago. Didn't bother getting the last 2 spools and last mask shard, did get all tools and crests. Needed a guide to unlock act 3 and to find some fleas or tools as well as one of the final bosses, but went blind for the most part. Loved it but is also a game I was happy I did not just binge. Only moment I actively cursed everything was when I was doing the runback from that shitshow bilgewater and some of the mob fights were annoying, but outside of that, nothing that really drove me up a wall. I mostly used Wanderer crest since I liked the extra nail speed and pogoing was the comfiest with it but I did swap into beast against multiple bosses and bumrushed them to death. As for tools, barely used them but when I did were incredibly impactful, Silkshot let me oneshot the green fairy thing boss when hunting the dream bosses in act 3 for example and the red drills were clutch against the fat fuck in bilgewater. Hardest boss was definitely Lost Lace, though Karmelita and First sinner gave me a rough time till I got their timing right. Looking forward to the DLC and if they deliver something like this every 9 years, I'd be more than happy with their output (though if they could cut it to 5 years, that would be nice)

 

[Safir]

Thank you, everyone!

• OMG FLUFFY got double jump. Also got a mask piece (11/20) and found a mask maker npc. Didn't die once.
• found Swiper's shop, bought all his stuff (tool damage fully upgraded!)
• genocided silk thieves (died a few times before I realized fighting them was pointless)
• found a spool on top of High Halls (14/1
• beat the second arena at the entrance to vaults (swarm of little bastards + 2 coneheads afterward), no reward
• went to Weavernest Karn (in Wormways), found a new silk skill (rush attack)
• met the green bug I'd spent a key on while clearing the path for Courier's Rasher
  • beat Courier's Rasher on the second try (no special gear, got hit once on my winning attempt)
• bought furniture for the house (didn't color the bell yet)
• in Cogworks, found an automaton with no heart (I have 2 pieces of presumably 3)
• found a new area (Memorium) and got a quest for it (find the Songclave shopkeeper)
  • don't want to do it right now because the reward for the shopkeeper quest will be new items in stock and I don't have money did it
• the new gourmand quest points at the coral area, will probably go there now edit: went, looks fun but hard and a long way from the bench, nopeing out for now
• some areas still unexplored
  • platforms to the left in Blasted Steps, where the bones/horns/ribs are
  • passage above the citadel gate (probably opens from the other side)
  • Sinner's Path / Bilewater
  • Deep Docks behind the hanging ring

edit: Putrefied Ducts! how many sewer levels does this game have?
edit: what's up with mantises that 3 out of 4 are homosexual? what a waste of a key, should've let it rot.

• finished Memorium, opened all pneumotubes
• gave 4 more mossberries to the druid, upgraded the mossberry charm
• assembled Sentinel (adorable!), saw her fighting tall bugs in the hallway
• found some completionist catalog for the home
• bought everything at the Songclave vendor
  • cogflies!
  • I now have a harp, it's superior to the basic needolin
    • tested on the spool in Atla, no result.
    • ah I see, it's this game's version of dream nail, maybe something will be worth playing to. Tested Poshanka, the dead vault keeper, the caretaker at Songclave, the bellways hermit (all flavor text) and the singing statue (no change compared to regular needolin). Maybe I'll have to stagger a boss and play to him/her (Lace?)

HUGE UPDATE: 8 masks, beat the fire shrine (hoped for a crest but a mask is fine too), took 7 attempts (4 deaths to firebugs, 3 to drowning afterward). Cogflies for firebugs + regular knives for the slicey floaters. When I saw 2 firebugs, I realized nothing worse could show up and immediately understood what would follow. I didn't expect the lava to rise so fast, were it trad instakill lava I'd never have beaten in. Drowned 4 times on the way up in the platform section, was saved by the [diving] bell.

 

[Shine-369]

What’s up with forebrothers signet ? Every Boss has homies now. Got me sweatin

 

[Safir]

• Deep Docks:
  • went to the area beyond the pull ring, did the firestone gauntlet, got half a spool
  • went to the left of ^ there, found an arena battle (tried, died) and a boss "Forebrother Signis" (quit to bench).
• Sinner's Path: found Dear Feeder, a Simple Key, and a cook boss, immediately realized I'd have to kill it for the gourmand quest (died, gave up for now cos no shards).
• High Halls: used the key to rob the treasury, found a Rosary Gun (could be handy, I'm completely out of shards). Still need 1 more key for Deep Docks.
• Sands of Karak:
  • btw the red fluffy pillow lady told me to be wary of the blue pinstress
  • did the first gauntlet (protip: fall onto the spikes to the right and wake up at the platform right as the nut grows)
  • found Poshanka and a way back to a bench
  • found the nut for the gourmand
  • probably will have to fight the second conch boss here (enraged)
  • need to do the big gauntlet (up through the center and left to the bridge), getting gud, sure hope there's a shortcut or a bench before the boss (?)
• Bellhart: did the delivery quest for Dear Feeder

 

[Shine-369]

• Deep Docks:
  • went to the area beyond the pull ring, did the firestone gauntlet, got half a spool
  • went to the left of ^ there, found an arena battle (tried, died) and a boss "Forebrother Signis" (quit to bench).
• Sinner's Path: found Dear Feeder, a Simple Key, and a cook boss, immediately realized I'd have to kill it for the gourmand quest (died, gave up for now cos no shards).
• High Halls: used the key to rob the treasury, found a Rosary Gun (could be handy, I'm completely out of shards). Still need 1 more key for Deep Docks.
• Sands of Karak:
  • btw the red fluffy pillow lady told me to be wary of the blue pinstress
  • did the first gauntlet (protip: fall onto the spikes to the right and wake up at the platform right as the nut grows)
  • found Poshanka and a way back to a bench
  • found the nut for the gourmand
  • probably will have to fight the second conch boss here (enraged)
  • need to do the big gauntlet (up through the center and left to the bridge), getting gud, sure hope there's a shortcut or a bench before the boss (?)
• Bellhart: did the delivery quest for Dear Feeder

Making good time. I’ve got all the fleas and am almost to the point of having everything now to move on to Act 3 . Been some pretty fun boss fights on the way.

 

[Safir]

Happiness is a raging conchfly...
I can't last ten seconds against it Got to phase 2, my heart sank when I saw the little conches, I thought they'd be adds but they're just an attack pattern, this is possible and fun, what really matters is I've done the long gauntlet!!!!!!1! (double jump on the very first nut and everything falls into place). Don't know when to attack -- parry conches? dash under it and strike up? mostly figured this out. Should probably try the cook first. Will definitely try the cook first because "with a better sword, it could be dead rn" is somewhat demoralizing. Also I hurt my index finger and thumb climbing Mt. Fay and haven't taken a break.

 

[Shine-369]

Happiness is a raging conchfly...
I can't last ten seconds against it Got to phase 2, my heart sank when I saw the little conches, I thought they'd be adds but they're just an attack pattern, this is possible and fun, what really matters is I've done the long gauntlet!!!!!!1! (double jump on the very first nut and everything falls into place). Don't know when to attack -- parry conches? dash under it and strike up? mostly figured this out. Should probably try the cook first. Will definitely try the cook first because "with a better sword, it could be dead rn" is somewhat demoralizing. Also I hurt my index finger and thumb climbing Mt. Fay and haven't taken a break.

Mt. Faye climb sucked, I think there was some shortcuts that made it faster later on. Raging Conchfly was fun , I also had fun with forebrothers signet once I figured it out. There has been a few hidden boss fights in whisper wisp or something like that and bilewater. I’m finding a lot of little hidden spots I missed the first time I played through.

 

[Safir]

Mt. Faye climb sucked,

It just took me too long to learn to not press float right away (or at all) after needle throw, so that Hornet could rise. And then I stupidly fell straight down from the tuning fork and had to learn the horizontal sequence anew (to get the mask piece), now with double jump.

I was a little disappointed that the cold mostly didn't matter as a mechanic for a successful run, it only made failing more annoying (fall high on the slope -> go to the bench for health or quit to bench, so as to not leave a cocoon on the slope). I hoped for a sort of maze to run around in, opening shortcuts and lighting braziers.

With pre-planning, knowing what should be retried until gud and what's best left for later, I don't think there's (so far) anything in the game that truly sucks. But I don't want to look at guides/spoilers, it could kill motivation. I never even tried Radiance because HK's "best" ending is depressing and not particularly impactful (everyone's dead anyway). When they announced Sea of Sorrow as a sequel ("Hornet’s adventures continue"), that meant she'd survive at least the main game. Also, someone (disapprovingly) said the ending of Silksong was "fanservice", probably meaning "too happy", as as far as I'm concerned too happy is just right. So I have until Sea of Sorrow's release to beat this, until it becomes as depressing as the title says.

---

UPDATE: stick a fork in the cook, he's done. No attack tools whatsoever, plus I accidentally left the injector in (should've had the souffle Weavelight).
(was worried that there were three small cooks before I rang the gong but only two attacked)
Tips:

• stay in the center, otherwise maggots ricocheting off the walls won't leave a safe place to be
• ladle: dive under and hit from the back (or stay away)
• downward slam avec maggots: best time to attack: if you're in the center, so will be it, approach the boss and hit. The boss will float away a bit and leave plenty of space to be between itself and the inner maggot, and the attack is never chained with anything.
  • (if it's up against the wall, it's risky to approach because the maggots ricocheting from the other direction can hit you)
• sideways leap slam: the bad one, can be chained fast, dash away (and immediately jump over the boss to get back to the center) or dive under
• dive + maggot spray: dash away and (if at the center) prepare to approach and attack
• avoid maggots but don't get sad and bad if hit, keep fighting and git gud, try to use every safe opportunity to attack as described and you might bind them off or win outright:

^ I was one slam from dying here. (Look, ma, no tools!)

 

[Shine-369]

Getting ready to pick which silk shot I want and was wondering what other people had picked. Which Variant seems to be most useful ?

 

[Tealeaf]

The weaver gun is a mini silkspear with more range and less beam width. The other guns shoot single-target projectiles with architect shooting more and forge daughter shooting further, but have less delay and have more ammo capacity.

 

[Shine-369]

The weaver gun is a mini silkspear with more range and less beam width. The other guns shoot single-target projectiles with architect shooting more and forge daughter shooting further, but have less delay and have more ammo capacity.

I ended up doing the Mt. Faye Variant. It’ shoots like a rail gun I think. Pretty cool. Haven’t used it much yet. What’s up with the Escape From the Abyss part ? Fuckin Hell !!!! It was that moment I almost put down the controller and said “ No More “ , but my crippling autism pushed me through.

 

[Safir]

Today was (mostly) a day of disappointments.

• Conchfly: the map looked so promising, I hoped there'd be a city behind the boss. There was a building ("Coral tower") consisting of one long corridor (what a lame tower) with a tool (diagonal conch shooter) and a bench in it. It's like getting deodorant in an iPhone box as a gift. The cavern has a ledge on the right side with nothing on it. As I was typing up this post, I realized the bench could be there to change to the needolin to use it in the room and get something good, and went back. Nothing.
  • The boss turned out to be very easy, I was standing toward the right side of the room, dodging and parrying shots, and preparing to his the boss on the ass if it burrowed into the right wall (or the floor, obviously, but standing to the right gave one extra direction and kept the cocoon accessible). Stage 2 is easier because you can beat on it while it screams. I wish I had more visibility to see what was happening on the left (I see Silksong doesn't officially support ultrawide screens, and I don't have one anyway). I got hit the most by the horizontal conch barrage and/or the big conch's follow-up attack.
• Deep Docks behind Simple Key: some shards and a tool that adds a fire effect to sword attacks... for a time... 4 times. I'm sure this is all very useful to speedrunners but come on, I'd just rush a boss to make better use of a charge and die. Waste of a slot. The spot where the tool was looked very fancy.
• Broodmother: finally beat it, was an unfun slog. The first boss, the first challenge even, that I truly didn't like and wasn't even happy after beating because I learned diddly squat. If anyone has working tips for bad players, please post them.I tried to stand about 1/2 of the screen away from it, immediately bashed spawns (3 sword uprades), waited for it to shit, then jumped over the body slam, hit once, and dashed away, careful not to hit the opposite wall and knock myself into the way of (possibly) a second slam. I got hit the most when I was shat on and bodyslammed immediately afterward. Sometimes I'd jump on a wall from the shit and it'd start the grand slam which MUST be avoided on the ground and I'd get hit. Sometimes the spawn would fly almost straight up out of reach and they'd accumulate and make it hard to dodge anything. No tools because I wasn't improving at all and didn't want to waste shards.
  • The reward is some beads (I knew it, and could've farmed 10 times the amount in the time it took me to beat it), what's really disappointing is there was no capstone in Songclave afterward.
• Good news: it turned out the spool awards crests at another pod in Atla, which I hadn't been checking, and I got the side crest upgraded to 1 yellow + 1 blue. It must've been available for a while. I wish I knew it before fighting the broodmother. (But what I really wanted was the Reaper Crest upgrade, and I didn't get it.)

Next time: Bilewater, possibly Petrified Ducks, looking for Poshanka's teacher.

---

UPDATE: Bilewater

Went to check on the third cook, saw an opening above the kitchen, couldn't reach it.

Bilewater proper: found a flea, got robbed by Swiper's buddies (I wonder what'll happen if I wear Swiper's pin and show up there), found a weird dead end, then saw a bellway arrow and followed it only to fall into The Mist and get lost there in search of a bellway and strangled by banshees (noped out with two masks left). No idea how to fight them, I didn't seem to have landed even one blow. Maybe I shouldn't.

Second attempt, found Poshanka. (I didn't like her at the beginning of Silksong but the game gradually browbeat me into liking her by associating her with progress, safety, and achievement.) Climbed further up past some giant puking bugs, ran into a safe-seeming tunnel to get a shiny item and got literally hosed by a pukebug (noped out with 1 mask left and no item).

Third attempt, followed the arrow, found a bellway and a bench, immediately went home and took a bath. (I always quit the game for the day in bed at home. The Bell Beast must like the town, too, I don't want to leave him parked in a sewer.) Got Poshanka's quest to look for her and her teacher. The teacher is likely thread-cursed or worse and I'll have to kill her.

---

UPDATE 2: more bile, some water

Tracking Poshanka in Bilewater. That shiny thing that got me hosed: a frayed rosary.

Found a sling which "doubles the number of thrown projectiles", meaning, throw 2 knives at once and expend 2 knives – is there a point? If you want to make 9 stronger charges out of 18 weaker ones, just equip a different subweapon without wasting a valuable blue crest slot. (Does the poison stack?) I actually need more distinct knives to attract attention of enemies and disable booby traps.

Same area, found a long corridor with jumping leeches which hit for 2, and a mask shard in the end! (1/4)

Top of the first shaft, found myself on the wrong side of a shortcut. Went from Whispering Vault to look for it, found the other half of Songclave! And a flea, and a screaming vine baby (it now screams in my inventory), and the shortcut.

Thought the dead vine clinging to that one bench would strangle me. Instead the floor just gave out and I fell into a maggot pool (didn't find anything down there).

Found Poshanka's master, ate crow again w.r.t. predictions: no fight, no corruption, no desperate heroism even, instead: clean water and a peaceful death.

Found a Vietcong village. There's an arena battle (expected a boss, or the two halves of the giant shell to slam down on me), I killed the first two guys and noped out at the second wave. Don't know how to fight them, plus there's worms at the bottom.

Came back to the long gauntlet just in case there's something interesting in the shit, crawled through a few stinkditches, found a bench! TBH I wanted ivermectin, but a bench is fine, too.

No, I get where the similarities can come from, I just think that there's another area that is more suitable for the Deepnest equivalent in Silksong if only because it's another place that sucks to traverse normally until you get how to cross it, is made relatively easier with a tool [but still sucks with it], and is way too big for its own good.

^ I believe in ivermectin [NO SPOILERS!]

The good: maxed out my shard stash, Bilewater has an endless supply of shards (and silk), there are places where it's possible to farm silk to deworm and heal to full.
The bad: farming (whether silk or shards) is slow and boring.

It looks like the arena may be closer to Petrified Ducks than to the gook bench, I'll try approaching it from that side. (Of course the passage might not open from that side, but it doesn't hurt to check actually it will hurt to check, but whatever.)

---

UPDATE 3:

Tried going to the thieves' room with the badge. The thief didn't run away but didn't interact with me either. I swung the sword, attacked and killed him. This retarded experiment cost me 200 beads. Disappointed.

Found the final bellway in Petrified Ducks and got the achievement. No good ideas about the area. Two fat fucks cost me all my 18 throwing knives (poisoned, maxed out damage, 2/4 capacity). Nothing I've seen there drops shards (or beads). Bash ceiling monsters for silk and use it to silkspear the fat fucks? Man I wish I had an extra Silk Heart.

Things to do:

• Petrified Ducks
• Vietcong village
• Deep Docks arena
• Deep Docks boss
• High Halls raghead arena (plot)

 

[Safir]

Hell of an update: I got raped by a genderspecial.

I mean, my character, Hornet Herrah's daughter, got raped by a genderspecial, and had to get a back-alley abortion with rusty pokers. Yes, this really happened in the game, it's not a deliberate dysphemism or anything. There was a cutscene! What the fuck.

 

[Another Random]

(But what I really wanted was the Reaper Crest upgrade, and I didn't get it.)

Do you really want to know if you can get one? No, you can't. You already got all Crest upgrades I bet.

Bilewater proper: found a flea, got robbed by Swiper's buddies (I wonder what'll happen if I wear Swiper's pin and show up there), found a weird dead end, then saw a bellway arrow and followed it only to fall into The Mist and get lost there in search of a bellway and strangled by banshees (noped out with two masks left). No idea how to fight them, I didn't seem to have landed even one blow. Maybe I shouldn't.

Their only means of attacking you is to grab you. If you know that, you can use your barrier spell to block it. Though I think you can just try to align them so you can jump over and swing down.

Anyway, there's an easy way to get out of the Mist. Use the Needolin on the butterflies and follow them.

How many Silk Hearts do you have so far?

 

[Safir]

Do you really want to know if you can get one?

(clicked the spoiler) Thank you! I'm almost always using Reaper (for pogoing) and I got tired of running to the weavernest every time I get a meaningful upgrade to check if something else is available.

Their only means of attacking you is to grab you. If you know that, you can use your barrier spell to block it. Though I think you can just try to align them so you can jump over and swing down.

Barrier = silk storm "hegale"? I have silk storm and the rush attack from Wormways's weavernest.
(The first and only time I've been there, I walked from the Sinner's Path bench, was out of silk and with the silk spear equipped. But now I can go on the bellway after a bath.)

How many Silk Hearts do you have so far?

One! (And Weavelight.)

Today's after-action report:

• abortion subplot:
  • what the fuck, this is some creepy shit. (I'd really liked the outside of the abortionista's bellhome, so cozy, I'd thought I would be moving in when I'd first found it. Goddammit.)
  • generally, I don't like the new crest:
    • no yellows for exploration (need a map and a grappling claw, and ideally a bead magnet, you never know if you might stumble on a bead cache).
    • can't adjust to the faster speed of downward strikes, to pogo on obstacles.
• Petrified Ducks (farmed ceiling monsters for silk and silkspeared the fat fucks):
  • I was wrong, both fat fucks and fliers drop shards (but very few, and they're a pain to kill)
  • Key of Apostate (for the prison)
  • an npc who have me the quest to hunt monsters and kill them with specific tools. Did it, spent most of my hard-earned shell stash, got needle reach extender (could be useful).
  • dead pinstress and an anti-maggot tool (one-use, like the mask, then it'd need repairs). I guess it'd have helped fighting the chef, but my main problem is falling into maggot pools. Played the needolin there, got some flavor text.
  • flea samurai (female). Bought the location of other fleas off her. One is in the Mist. One is behind the door that a monster is trying to bash in, in Pilgrim's Rest. (I feel kind of bad for breaking the door mechanism, but then they shouldn't have been so greedy.) The fleamaster told me to find them a safe place to camp.
  • a blue lake! There was a weaver element of decor, so I hoped for an upgrade. No upgrade but found a piece of craftmetal, now I can get the last tool from Five Eyes. There's a hole in the ceiling which I can't reach even with double jump.
    • Then I got inspired to play the needolin around the weaver thing, and it lit up, I read a message off it and decided to invite the fleas there. Got a tool pouch capacity upgrade as a reward (plus a bench, but I was almost finished with Ducks anyway and had a shortcut from the bellway bench. Still, may be useful for the ceiling hole, later.)
• fleas: tried looking for some, the one in Underworks and the one in Mt. Fay definitely need flying
• Blasted Steps: found a bug corpse and dice on it, remembered there was a bug to play dice with, then realized it was that bug whose corpse I found. Feels bad man.
• notes on Bilewater
  • bad news: looks like Ducks don't connect to Bilewater (or it's a one-way shortcut), so I'll have to do the gook village the hard way.
  • Poshanka's rings aren't very good (but could be situationally useful in smaller arenas with many attackers).
• Key of Apostate:
  • door 1: some forgettable goodies and a convict in a metal prison hanging on chains in the middle of a spacious cavern. I had a feeling it'd burst out and start a boss battle when I broke the final chain. Not so: the door opened, I went in and was asked to bind. THAT started a boss battle. I immediately noped out.
    • came back to try it, looks very doable, but I need faster DOWNWARD attacks (not diagonal). Could be a use for the rape crest, with 3 blue slots I can take Weavelight, mossberry, injector + longclaw and the dice on the side.
  • door 2: a jumping challenge and a mask shard (2/4)

Things to do:

• prison boss
• gooks
• Deep Docks arena (there's a flea nearby)
• Deep Docks boss
• The Mist
• High Halls raghead arena (plot)

 

[Another Random]

Yes, Silk Storm. Forgot the name.

Anyway, there IS another Silk Heart you can get already, since you've got access to the Citadel and all. You just gotta look around where you found Sherma in the hospital first, I believe. Find a key.

And nope, you're not going to invade the ninja bug village from behind.

Anyway, there's a boss you can fight that'll make the prison boss easier to deal with in the future. For now, just focus on exploring and getting stronger I guess.