Screw You, Aldrich

 Well, given that I spent several seconds mucking about trying to find the Storm Ruler to equip it, and then forgot how to actually activate its weapon art, I actually got Siegward killed while he was tanking for me, which it turns out is a one-time thing. Still, Yhorm is actually not terrible difficult to dodge, so on a third attempt I was able to get him down.

This leaves me at a point where all roads lead to Aldrich (well, also the Old Demon King, which I guess I could do). (Also, I've been spelling it "Aldritch" all this time, I guess thinking of the word "eldritch.")

One one hand, I got the Devourer of Gods down below 50% on my first attempt, but damn is it hard to dodge his arrow-barrage on the second phase. I'm contemplating doing some farming around Yhorm's bonfire to bump up my Intelligence a little higher and get him down just a little quicker. Unfortunately, I spent the two Titanite Chunks I got on my Sorcerer's Staff, and while at a +6 the Court Sorcerer's Staff outdoes it at +7, I don't think I'll be able to get the upgrade materials until I get past Aldrich and then the Dancer of the Boreal Valley (I assume Chunks only drop in Lothric Castle, with those few exceptions.)

The scaling on the Court Sorcerer's Staff is already quite fantastic, so any Int I get will be a big help. I did spend four levels getting my Strength up from 8 to 12 so that I could wield some more weapons. Looks like I'll need 4 more to get the Moonlight Greatsword, though if I can get up to Lothric Castle, there's an absurd farming spot with a single beefy Lothric Knight that is in the room with the bonfire.

Two things are tough with Aldrich - there's the aforementioned arrow barrage, which I only sometimes survive on phase 2, and then there's the tricky part on phase 1, which is that his really huge spell blasts are sort of hard to dodge because their hitboxes are so enormous. At the very least, as an Intelligence-based character, I do have significantly better magic absorption, but one of these still takes off about half my health.

Anyway, I've hit a bit of a bottleneck here, but I figure once I can get to Oceiros, I can go do Untended Graves or Archdragon Peak (very curious to see if the Nameless King is easier on a caster. Phase one I bet is, though phase 2... maybe not.) I do think I'm going to wait until I at least get through much of Lothric Castle before I head into the Painted World. I might go there before I take on the Twin Princes, though, since that's a boss I kind of want to be overpowered for.