Daniel (@dungeondive) picks up in Anor Londo and, for once, declines the shortcut. He shows the rail-jump that bypasses about 90% of the level, which has never been patched out and which he almost always takes, then plays the whole stretch the long way for this run. The cramped interiors soon remind him how much the camera fights you, and a spear-wielding silver knight takes him down on one hit point.
The episode’s real disaster is Siegmeyer of Catarina, waiting outside a room full of silver knights and, as ever, “in a predicament.” The knight stands there while Daniel does the work, takes one accidental swing, turns hostile, and has to be killed, ending his questline. Daniel has never fought him before and feels genuinely bad about it.
Then come the quieter rewards: silver knight armour, a giant blacksmith for elemental upgrades, a weighed-up Black Knight Sword, and a claymore pushed to +8 because it still out-damages the alternatives. Finally, two attempts at Ornstein and Smough, which he ranks the hardest boss of the base game. He forgets that you can’t sprint while locked on, gets one of the pair down on the second try, and runs out of Estus. The fight carries over to Part 12.
Daniel accidentally angered Siegmeyer and had to end his questline. Have you ever lost an NPC’s story to a stray swing, and did you reload, push on, or start over?