If you attempt to leave when you wake up without taking any weapons, Grigori will reprimand you by saying "Take up arms, Arisen, for my kind do not heed the toothless". Take a moment to let that sink in: you don't have a choice in the matter. You WILL brave the world to find Grigori and likely face him in battle, that unholy beast that merely had to flick you away to completely defeat you in Cassardis and who all of Gransys fears like the devil himself, and you will dare not insult him by coming to him unarmed.
The game constantly has characters mention you being the new "link in the chain", but it doesn't become clear until the conclusion of a playthrough what that even means. The world is trapped in an endless cycle with men and women being made into Arisen by a dragon, seeking out the dragon and either sacrificing their loved one or battling to the death. If the dragon wins, they leave only to return later to make a new Arisen; if the Arisen wins, they find the Seneschal, their final challenge, that they must also defeat in battle. If they die in battle, they are transformed into the next dragon, but even if they defeat the Seneschal, a literal god, then they take their place and start the cycle anew. Needless to say, repeat playthroughs will take on a different light once you know what they mean about the "link in the chain"...
But there is (supposedly) a way to end the neverending cycle....kill yourself.....literally. Once you have become the new Seneschal, you are forever separated from the world, doomed to wait until the next Arisen comes to kill you and take it from you....unless you end the cycle by using the Godsbane on yourself and dying, terminating the cycle entirely. Essentially, the day Grigori stole your heart, your place in the world ended, and there is no happy ending for you.
Bitterblack Isle
The first area of the Isle is the Garden of Ignominy. Sure, you fight some funky-looking dogs, a few goblins and a Cyclops, but if you're good enough to make it that far, then you should be free to roam around. You can either go for the exit or wait around and take your sweet time collecting all the loot. Then the screen distorts and out from a dimensional rift, some overgrown demonic doggo called Garm comes out and completely rips you apart.That is how Bitterblack Isle operates. Never stay in an area full of corpses for far too long or one of the Necrophages will come out and teach you that this is their domain, and you are nothing more than an intruder.
No matter where you are, the arrival of a necrophagous beast is always heralded by THIS, a rather terrifying tune that perfectly sums up what nightmarish thing you're up against that wouldn't be out of place in, say, a Resident Evil game. And fights with necrophagous beasts are ALWAYS long drawn out affairs if you choose to stand your ground and face them, so you'll hear it plenty to make your hairs stand on end. Or you COULD choose to flee....though you'll likely have to sacrifice your pawns just to survive to the exit.....the music reminding you that a murderous thing is hot on your heels all the way...
The get an idea of how dangerous this beast is, Daimon and his Awakened Form have 100,000 and 200,000 HP respectively. Death has 660,000 HP, over double both of Daimon's forms combined! Sure, unlike Daimon, Death only has one attack, a swing of its Sinister Scythe. The catch is that if it hits you, kiss your ass goodbye. Unless you have a Wakestone, you are not surviving that attack even if the scythe itself doesn't hit you. Any Pawns unfortunate enough to be in its vicinity are getting sent back to the Rift, no questions asked. And no, you cannot block or parry that move either. Unless you have a tactic specifically meant to cheese Death, then you best be running because the world's most terrifying Bedsheet Ghost does not play around.
The most dangerous monsters aside now, Bitterblack Isle itself is just plain wrong. The further you descend into this nightmarish place, the darker it gets, but then you start realizing that you're seeing places you've been before, but different than before, sometimes in slightly subtle ways with certain passages you passed before blocked off, and different paths to be taken through the familiar seeming halls, all the while the monsters grow ever more powerful, each room is more submerged in water than before as though the place was sunk deep into the sea and flooding slowly but surely. Every so often, your pawns will give a shuddery comment of feeling "a malice or summat like it". Needless to say, it's a place of pure evil and hatred, and it's out to kill you if it doesn't drive you mad first.
, a rather terrifying tune that perfectly sums up what nightmarish thing you're up against that wouldn't be out of place in, say, a Resident Evil game. And fights with necrophagous beasts are ALWAYS long drawn out affairs if you choose to stand your ground and face them, so you'll hear it plenty to make your hairs stand on end. Or you COULD choose to flee....though you'll likely have to sacrifice your pawns just to survive to the exit.....the music reminding you that a murderous thing is hot on your heels all the way...