Dark Souls II Walkthrough, Part Ten: Lost Bastille - Servants' Quarters

The Ruin Sentinels are gone, and with them the Lost Bastille seems a little lighter. Yet there are still great perils lying in the depths of this gloomy haunt, and as you set out from the Servants' Quarters you may not like what ghoulish things you find...

Lost Bastille

- Take note: every time you appear at this Bonfire, the exploding creature in the cells separating this room with the lair of the Ruin Sentinels will respawn. Watch out for the boom.

- Start here by checking the ladder. At the bottom you'll find a largeish storeroom, watched over by a single hound. Dodge back if it attacks and kill it, then check around for a corpse carrying a Large Club and a chest that holds a Priest's Chime. Also down here is a Pharros' Lockstone face location. Unlocking it will pave the way to the Belfry Luna, a new section we'll address in the next article.

- Back upstairs. There's a passage in the room that leads outside, onto the ramparts. A brute lingers up here; engage him in battle. (I don't know if this is something they can all do, but this guy used magic? Never saw the others do that. Go figure.) Past him the ramparts end abruptly, and if you get rid of the barrels and crates at the end you'll find a corpse. It holds a Human Effigy.

- Enter the tower ahead. There's a stairway on your right and another path out of the tower on your left. Try the passage first, noting the brute on the left side of the doorway. Kill it, then check the right side of the ramparts ahead for a path onto the connected, thatched roof. Check at the end of it for a corpse carrying three Flame Butterflies.

- There are four hounds down in the small courtyard below. Kill them off at a range, if you can, or at least weaken them before hopping down for melee combat.

- Knock the rock into the well in this courtyard. It'll bring up a cage containing three ghouls. Kill all three and one of them will drop a full complement of Wanderer equipment.

- If you have the Antiquated Key, obtained in the path to the Lost Bastille opened by the Pursuer, you can pop open the door the door nearest the fire. Inside is a soldier. Take him out, and check the cell to your right to find two ghouls watching over a skeleton. The ghoul carries two Flame Butterflies. The hole in the wall here loops back to the beginning of the Lost Bastille.

- There's another door in this courtyard as well, but ignore it. Instead, go down the alley to its right and climb the ladder you find. It leads into a room with two archers and a soldier, all of whom will get the jump on you if you go through the door. Dispatch the lot, then go up the ladder on the lower level to find a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier and a Green Blossom.

- Get onto the higher level where the archers were standing. You'll find a path blocked by crates. Roll or bash through and you'll find a larger room on the other side. In it are two soldiers. Take them out, then hunt around. The three chests in here contain a Bone Staff, a Parrying Dagger, and a Twin Blade. There's also a Pharros' Lockstone face in here; another thing to come back to for me. Using the ladder in this room will take you back outside, near the McDuff's Forge Bonfire.

- Zip back to the Servant's Quarters Bonfire. Reenter the tower you jumped past earlier and go up the stairs. Enter the small passage at the top, but tread carefully. There's a ghoul waiting behind the wine casks on your left. Dispatch it and go up the stairs nearby.

- There's a heavy gate ahead. Pop it open via the wall switch. Once it's open, turn the corner. You'll see three ghouls beyond another gate, which will now also be opening. Kill any you can before they come through in force.

- In the room behind them is a large number of strange sculptures. There are five ghouls in here: one on a platform to the right of the entrance, two hiding in the middle of the pottery pieces, and the last two up the stairs in the corner of the room. After dispatching them, check the door on the second floor to find a corpse carrying a Skeptic's Spice.

- There's a portcullis on this second floor that leads out to a misty door. Before heading to it, go up the final set of stairs. There are no less than five more ghouls up here, though they're spread out enough that you shouldn't have trouble sniping them all. If you do engage them with melee, take them on the stairs so they have to come in roughly single-file.

- In this final room you'll find the Straid's Cell Bonfire blocked by a statue. If you have a Fragrant Branch of Yore you can turn the statue back into a man, Straid, who will thank you for your help, step aside, and then sell you wares fit for a Sorcerer. He'll also trade for the boss souls you've (hopefully) been collecting, and you'll get some mighty wares indeed in the bargain.

- (I recommend spending a few minutes clearing the area around this Bonfire of ghouls until they no longer spawn. As soon as you travel here a ghoul will attack you in the cell, and that can be a nasty shock if you forget they're here.)

- All this exploration leaves but one place left to look: Sinners' Rise, the giant tower past the portcullis you just opened. I do not recommend visiting it yet, though, as the boss that lies within it can be made substantially easier... indeed, possible... by finding a key somewhere else. We'll come back to it in a later article.