elden ringhow many souls Games before that can be a bit shy when it comes to giving you important information. Case in point: you’ve probably noticed a strange icon underneath your health, magic, and stamina bars that’s a red square with a down arrow. “Where the hell did that come from?” You may be wondering to which I reply: “Have you hugged any strange women lately?”
Upon reaching a certain point in elden ring‘s Early Game – which takes place 100% after defeating the first big boss, Margit the Fell Omen, but some people are reporting it before that – you’ll be invited to the Roundtable Hold. This hub area includes a ton of amenities, like merchants and a blacksmith who will upgrade your gear more than you could on your own, but the most interesting NPC is a woman named Fia, introduced as “The Deathbed Companion” in the game’s intense intro became.
At first it doesn’t seem like Fia is doing much. She offers to hold you, a rare moment of warmth within souls genre and provides you with Canopy’s Blessing, a unique item that increases confidence at the expense of your magical energy before sending you on your way again. The whole scene as she touches comes and goes without a second thought. But it turns out there’s a price to pay for proving yourself Varre
Think back to the first time Fia asked to hold you. Remember the part about sharing some of your “life force” and “strength” in exchange for her hug? That wasn’t just flowery dialogue on her part: her hug literally reduces your max HP by 5%, a debuff denoted by the mysterious red square icon I mentioned earlier. It might not seem like much, but trust me, you’ll wish you had that 5% back at the end of a tough boss fight, no matter how useful the boon it gives you in return.
Fortunately, the lost HP will be restored is as simple as using the Blessing of the Canopy in your inventory.
Is Fia’s devastating pseudosexually transmitted disease a hint that the Deathbed Companion is hiding something even more sinister? elden ringCampaign? I can’t say now, but over a decade souls Experience has taught me that in these games you can’t trust everyone you meet. I certainly wouldn’t trust FromSoftware to use something as nice as someone offering free hugs at the end of the world to facilitate some kind of hideous plot twist.
