Well, I finally put all that Erdleaf I had been mushing into materials to summon co-op collaborators and trounced Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon after several attempts where it seemed I was just about to win when I missed one dodge that obliterated me.
I don't know how spoiler-conscious my (theoretical) readers, but I guess spoiler alert? To the extent that that means anything with From Soft's enigmatic storytelling.
My partner was probably over-leveled, but my policy in Souls-like games is that I take any method the game is willing to give me to make it easier. No self-imposed challenges here, and if I can get a buddy to draw the mage-queen's attacks while I summon massive boulders to toss at her with Rock Sling, I have no qualms in taking it.
Oddly, however, defeating her did not leave her to be stomped in the face like Godrick by a bitter servant for the rest of eternity - instead, Rennala becomes a friendly NPC who can help you re-spec your character if you want to swap out what attributes you've leveled.
Rennala is introduced carrying a big egg, and Raya Lucaria has a motif of birdcages and cuckoo birds, which to me suggests that the egg is something else's, playing on some kind of psychic connection to her (cuckoos infamously lay their eggs in other birds' nests, and the cuckoo hatchlings get rid of the other eggs, preying on the mother bird's instinct to feed her babies).
Now, the whole second phase of this fight maybe implies that we were fighting some other entity... or something. But I haven't had the chance to really pore over all the hints at what exactly is going on here. We know that Radagon left her to marry Queen Marika and become the second Elden Lord (after Godfrey the Golden was the first). Maybe the egg is Marika's?
Oh, and the other huge lore drop we get if we go back to Roundtable Hold is that it was Marika who shattered the Elden Ring in the first place - which is crazy given that she's also described as its living embodiment. She is imprisoned within the Erdtree, and it sure looks like we're being pushed toward there - in fact, we've been told to go there now, despite there being a few more demigods for us to take down.
It's really odd being in this period of the game in which our understanding of the lore is so tentative - I've always come to these games after they've been out for years and hundreds of YouTube essayists have described tons of intricacies and connections.
I hit 40 Intelligence recently and was looking at the items I could get for Rennala's Remembrance (the "boss soul" equivalent in this game) figuring these would be more appropriate for a sorcerer. That assumption was correct, but one requires 70 intelligence.
Anyway, with a major dungeon completed (though given that there's an extra boss in Stormveil that I've barely been able to dent with my spells, I think "completed" is a pretty open question) I'm going to probably be sticking with exploration mode for a while.
I am also feeling a strong temptation to work on my Confessor alt, especially after Fextralife put out a video on how to build a block-focused paladin - I've never really thought much of using shields against bosses, but either it's always been viable or it's more viable in Elden Ring. The guard-counter, which I've even used on my below-100% physical shield on the mage is a really satisfying move.
The open world nature of this does make it a little more daunting to consider playing an alt, but I do really want to try out a few more builds - it seems that bows might actually be a viable primary weapon, which is cool.
Anyway, right now I'm climbing a cliff northeast of Liurnia with what seems to be sirens that sing in some kind of latin-like language, and I think this might be a way to reach a new region.
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