Tips for completing the painted world

It is also possible to attack the Dragon’s claws on either side of the bridge, but this is a sure-fire way to get poison breath in the face. Which isn’t pleasant.

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Painted World of Ariamis
Dark Souls Wiki » Areas » Painted World of Ariamis
Table of Contents

Bosses	NPCs	Notable Loot	Enemies
Crossbreed Priscilla (Area-Boss) Undead Dragon	None	Annex Key Red Sign Soapstone Painting Guardian Set Black Set Xanthous Set Dark Ember Ring of Sacrifice Dried Finger Velka’s Rapier Gold Coin Bloodshield Miracle: Vow of Silence Pyromancy: Acid Surge Pyromancy: Fire Surge	Black Phantom Xanthous King Jeremiah Hollow Engorged Zombie Skeleton Wheel Crow Demon Phalanx Snow Rat Heavy Knight

Description

The painted world is a cold, snowy world that exists within a painting. It is the home of Priscilla, the dragon-human cross-breed. As a strange hybrid, she had no place in the real world, and after clutching her Peculiar Doll for comfort, she was somehow drawn into a painting. The painted world can only be entered by player characters who possess the Peculiar Doll.

• To access this area, you’ll need the Peculiar Doll. With that, you will be able to enter the massive painting in Anor Londo. The Doll is in the cell you started in, once you revisit the Undead Asylum.
• Once you enter the painting, you are unable to leave normally. At a minimum, you must access and activate a mechanism in the basement to open the path to the boss, and then navigate a gauntlet of enemies on the way there. So, plan to rest at the bonfire at the start and stay a while and explore. Even if you have the Lordvessel, it is not possible to warp back.
• Once you do get there, the boss, Crossbreed Priscilla, is an optional fight. You can talk to her, and she’ll ask you to leave her world in peace. If you hit her, the fight begins. If you don’t want to fight her, approach the edge of the path behind her, and a cutscene will start. You can return here to fight her later if you want.
• The Phalanx respawns and is excellent for farming souls. See Soul Farming for more details.

Important Tips

• Fire-based weapons prevent the Engorged Zombie from releasing their toxic cloud upon death. If you don’t have such a weapon, then Charcoal Pine Resin is very useful here.
• To get the Dried Finger: When you first enter the painted world, you can’t go in the main door, to the right of it is a stairwell up, when you come to the top you will be under fire from an archer further up the stairs, and there are other Hollows and a few Engorged Zombies behind him. You can take an immediate left when you first start getting shot at to another stairway that leads to the roof of a tower where you find a Soul of a Proud Knight on a corpse. Looting it will attract two Crow Demons to attack you, and finally, after handling them, you can drop off the side of the tower to a balcony where the Dried Finger is located.
• You can farm Souvenirs of Reprisal by killing Crow Demons here.

1. The route through this level involves going up the stairs of the castle, fighting your way through a variety of Engorged Zombies and Hollows. Right at the beginning of the level, before you go up the stairs of the first building, look up to see a corpse suspended by a rope. Shoot the rope with a bow, and it will drop down, containing a Humanity.
2. There are several rooms along the first staircase to explore for loot and monsters, so feel free to root around the initial building (a couple of Snow Rats), and the building you get to after the bridge (with several Engorged Zombie, some fall from their places on balconies so watch your head, and three Hollows in the landing to the right.) There’s nothing of note apart from some Humanity and souls. There is the Painting Guardian Set if you go to the attic of the second building with all the Engorged Zombies, leap across to the far balcony and down a ladder. You have to fight two Snow Rats, and the set is in a chest. Once you have cleared the building, keep going until you reach a large circular tower.
3. Before you enter, you might consider falling off to the right to get into an area with a soul. You can then fall again to the right (from where you fell off initially) to get back to the path through this level.
4. The circular tower is the central hub of this relatively small level and is guarded by two Crow Demons at the top of the spiral staircase, who are extremely dangerous and a few more that will assault you while you are moving around it. See their page for how to deal with them.
5. About halfway around this central hub, to your left, you will see a long bridge upon which an Undead Dragon will awaken when you’re near it. To your right (towards the beginning of the level), you will see stairs going down and white light. If you can, go ahead and deal with the Undead Dragon now to get the loot on the bridge (a Dragon Scale and the Bloodshield).
6. Through the white light at the base of the central tower is the Phalanx. Just take your time, use a shield and spear, and if you’re having trouble, head to the chapel area to the left (as you first enter the courtyard through the white light). The Phalanx cannot follow you there. Remember only to hit the sides and back of the Phalanx enemies; if you hit their shield, you will go into a parried animation. Although they don’t use the opening well, there are enough of them that one of them will likely happen to be attacking at the time and damage you. From this courtyard, you can go to several places. (Side note: if you have relatively high vitality, you can reach this courtyard almost immediately by jumping off the first bridge you encounter in this level. You can also jump down from the balcony where you find the dried finger.)
7. The first thing you should do is open the large double doors to your north, which lead back to the very beginning of the level.
8. To your north-west (when entering the area through the white light) there is a wide open area covered in impaled corpses and crows. There are several torch-wielding Hollows here; be sure to proceed with care as one of them has a nasty tendency of ambushing you from behind. There are a few good Souls here as well as the Acid Surge Pyromancy tucked away on the right behind an outcrop; this is where Xanthous King Jeremiah will spawn if you’re Human.
9. a) To your north-east (again, when entering the courtyard) is a well. Near the well is a stair case leading up to a ledge with a Ring of Sacrifice. Return to the well and take the ladder to go down inside. In the well is a small labyrinth of narrow, dark tunnels occupied by Skeleton Wheels. Exercise care, because being attacked by a Skeleton Wheel from behind is usually fatal. From the ladder, walk slowly down the hallway. At the first intersection, there is a Skeleton Wheel to the right and a quick dead end. The left corridor ends at a junction. Straight ahead at the junction is an illusory wall, past which is another Skeleton Wheel and the Annex Key for the chapel area. Left at the junction leads to more corridors and loot Right leads to another illusory wall, behind which is a large chamber filled with Skeleton Wheels. A safer way into this chamber is to return to the central courtyard.

Accessing the Annex without Annex Key

There are a couple of ways that you can get to the annex before acquiring the key.

• At the spiral staircase on the outside of the structure, before you drop down for the item on the corpse in the corner, you’ll see the ledge with another corpse that has the Black Set. If you run alongside, you can make it to the second ledge and jump off that.
• Near the start of the level, before you open the front door shortcut, you meet your first two Engorged Zombies. Just after them, there is a long bridge and a ruined patio to the right with a Hollow archer and two more Hollows who climb over the wall to surprise you. From that patio, you can reach the long open-roofed path towards the annex by a jump to the far side of the ruined wall to the right side of the doorway below. If you miss the jump too far, you fall into the central courtyard with the statue and Phalanx. If you miss to the left or too short, you will fall into the rooms below, from where you can climb back up two ladders and get back to the patio to try again (watch out for the Engorged Zombie as you return to the top).

Enemies

Check their pages for more details and strategies.

• NPC Black Phantom Xanthous King Jeremiah: When in human form and before killing the boss he will appear in the far right of the area (go through the double door shortcut and turn right in the area with many impaled bodies). Run along the length of the outer edge, and he will appear.
• Hollow: Sword-wielding and archer variation. They’re the basic enemy in this area. Some can be found hanging on the railing, waiting to ambush you.
• Engorged Zombie: Enemy exclusive to this area. Most of them can be found mixed with Hollow enemies. One of them (that’s quite hidden) carries the Fire Surge Pyromancy.
• Skeleton Wheel: Six of them are located in the dark basement/cellar area accessible from the NE passage in the courtyard.
• Crow Demon: Enemy exclusive to this area. Can be found in rooftops and the central spiral stair. The ones who perch on rooftops can get down to engage you when you’re on a bridge or roof.
• Phalanx: Enemy exclusive to this area. Once you get close to the statue in the courtyard, the flesh monument will dissolve into many Phalanxes.
• Snow Rat: Enemy exclusive to this area. They are found in building basements, usually in groups of two. You’ll hear their grunts a lot through this level.
• Heavy Knight (sword): Guards the bridge to the boss arena. This one will always drop a Large Titanite Shard.

Painted World of Ariamis

Teleport to the Darkmoon Tomb and from there run up the elevator and enter the giant room with the giant painting. Activate it to enter the Painted World. Run up the stairs and rest at the Bonfire. Kill the Hollow by the door and the two on the right. Proceed up the stairs, killing any Archer Hollows you encounter. Just before you grab the item at the top, there is a new enemy to fight.

–Engorged Hollow–

Almost identical to regular Torch Hollows, Engorged Hollows have a large bloated sac on their heads which explode on kill, dealing Toxic to the player. Using a long weapon can keep you out of reach of the Toxic Mist but pyromancies or any fire attack can prevent the Toxic explosion. Certain Hollows can throw a fireball at you as well so watch out for this.

Drops: N/A

After the Hollows are dead, grab the Soul of a Proud Knight on the stairs. Keep heading up and enter the room to the left, then make your way downstairs. At the bottom are a few Snow Rats and a Soul of a Brave Warrior in the corner.

–Snow Rats–

Snow Rats are identical to Undead Rats but they have more HP and build up Toxic on their bites instead of poison. Avoid being grouped up on as Toxic is very deadly in this area if you get inflicted by it. Otherwise, deal with them the same way you deal with Undead Rats.

Drops: Humanity

Go back and down the stairs. Instead of going left, go right and up the fairly hidden stairs. Kill the Hollows up here and proceed further up. Right at the top you will get a Soul of a Proud Knight, and then get ambushed by a new enemy.

–Crow Demon–

These half crow-half human enemies are found on high rooftops in the Painted World. They like to ambush players grabbing items on these roofs. Crow Demons will attempt to hit you with their wings and occasionally, will do a jump attack which deals a lot of damage. They also are the only source of Souvenir of Reprisals unless you do PvP, so i recommend to farm 10 Souvenir of Reprisals at some point to finish Gywndolin’s Covenant as we will go and kill him at the end of this area.

Drops: Souvenir of Reprisal

After the Crow Demons are dead, look for a small ledge with an item that you can drop down on. Grab the Dried Finger here and enter the room, making your way back outside. Head back up the stairs but instead of going up the next set of stairs to where the Crow Demons are, jump over the broken bannister on the right. Try and land on the corner of the wall and fall into the courtyard below. This is an extremely valuable shortcut and will save you a lot of time. Open the door to the right to be back at the Bonfire. Rest if you need to.

Return up to the top section and this time, we are going to cross the bridge. Kill the Engorged Hollows in here and exit the room to the left. Knock down the item here on the balcony and head back inside. Go back, up the stairs and kill the Archer Hollow, then the two that ambush you. Go up the other set of stairs and head all the way up into the rafters. Make a little tricky jump across to the balcony at the back and grab the Soul of a Brave Warrior. Take the ladder down here, killing any Hollows trying to ambush you. Enter the room, killing any Snow Rats present, and open the chest in the corner for the Painting Guardian Set. Return to the rafters.

Follow the rafters to the left and at the very back is an Egg Vermifuge. Drop down and head out the hole in the wall and to the left for a Large Soul of a Proud Knight, dealing with a single Hollow ambush along the way. Head across the bridge but go to the left first. At the end here is an Undead Dragon. Run up to it, ignoring the first item and grab the further away item for the Bloodshield, then back to grab a Large Soul of a Proud Knight, then make your way back to the end of the bridge. At this point, the Undead Dragon will now follow you down the bridge.

–Undead Dragon–

Undead Dragons are large beasts, capable of spewing Toxic sludge along the ground. They can also swipe at you with their claws and attempt to grab you with their mouth. These dragons have very limited to no movement at all and so, use this to your advantage.

Drops: Dragon Scale

Wait for the Dragon to do an attack, then run and hit whichever hand is nearest and safest to hit. Rinse and repeat to easily defeat the Undead Dragon. Grab the Dragon Scale for your troubles. Run to the very end to see some giant legs lying on the path. Jump attack the legs to make them stand up, any other attack won’t work here. You can drop down here if you are interested in just killing the boss but for now make your way back across the bridge and head right up into the tower.

Climb up the spiral tower here, killing the occasional Crow Demon that greets you on the way up. At the very top, on a very precariously long-winding staircase you can find a Red Sign Soapstone. Head down and when you go down a few sections, land on the ledge to the right to grab a Soul of a Brave Warrior. Drop down to land on the stairs again. Make your way back to the Dragon and head to the left this time.

Make your way to the very bottom of the tower and through the fog wall to arrive back at the courtyard. Go straight to the right to see an item but before you pick this one up, head right again and through a very hard to see area to grab a Soul of a Brave Warrior. Now grab the Humanity from the other item. Head up the stairs to find a Ring of Sacrifice at the end. Ignore the big group of slimes in the courtyard and locate the staircase to the right of the giant door leading to the Bonfire. Head down the ladder to arrive at some underground tunnels. A new enemy awaits within.

–Bonewheel Skeleton–

These enemies are one of the most annoying in the game. All they do is roll into you with their wheel. What makes them annoying is that each hit of the roll takes a large chunk of your stamina off and they don’t stop rolling until they go beyond the intended target. Bait out a charge from these enemies and kill them quickly before they start to roll again.

Drops: Bonewheel Shield

The Ring of Fog will help you so much in this area as it will limit the skeletons sight. When you have comfortably killed all the skeletons in this area, grab the Soul of a Proud Knight. Grab the Soul of a Brave Warrior as well and turn the wheel next to it. This will open up a door leading to the boss of the area.

Strike the funny coloured wall here to reveal a secret tunnel. The Bonewheel Skeletons here are extremely deadly as you have little room to move. Skip the first branch and run to the end, head left and then right. A Bonewheel Skeleton will be on the right here so deal with it. Head up the stairs here to find a single Engorged Hollow holding the Fire Surge Pyromancy. Go back in the tunnel, go left and hit the wall at the end. Kill the Skeleton at the end to access the Annex Key. Go back to the start of the tunnels and head left, killing the Skeleton at the end. Head right and up the ladder to reach the courtyard again.

Head to the right side of the spiral tower and use the Annex Key to open the door here. Head up the stairs and run across the bridge to deal with the Hollow. Grab the Dark Ember from the corpse and watch out for any Crow Demons coming for you. Give this to Andre to upgrade a weapon down the Occult tree. Head back across the bridge and up the stairs to the left of the door. Kill the Hollow at the top and head down the stairs, grabbing the Black Set. Head up the stairs to reach the top, avoiding the hole in the floor as you will die, and grab the Vow of Silence Miracle at the top. Kill the Crow Demons that come to ambush you.

Head back down and attack the loose wooden wall on the bridge to find a path leading to Velka’s Rapier. Go back to where we got the Black Set and drop off the side to find a Soul of a Brave Warrior in the corner. Drop down to the bottom to return to where we grabbed the Painting Guardian Set earlier. Go up the ladder at the top to be below the rafters and where the Archer Hollows was, drop down to land on the wooden floor. Go up the stairs and locate an item in the far left corner that you need to jump to. Here is a Gold Coin. Make your way to the courtyard.

Proceed up the stairs to the right of the Bonfire door again but go left at the top instead and cross this long bridge. Deal with the Hollow ambush and grab the Soul of a Proud Knight. Cut down the chain hanging to the right here, then drop down into the courtyard once again. Rest at the Bonfire. Make sure to be in Human Form for the next section.

Head to the right of the door to where we cut the chain earlier to grab a Humanity. Enter the courtyard and engage the slimes in battle.

–Phalanx–

Phalanx are a large group of slimes that sit outside the spiral tower in the Painted World. Unlike most slimes, these have a spear and a shield to defend themselves. Find a good opening and unleash hell with a powerful Pyromancy AoE. This group of enemies is one of the best souls-farming locations as one blast of Chaos Storm can deal with the entire group for you.

Drops: Spear, Large Leather Shield

After killing the Phalanx, head down the stairs to the left of the Bonfire door to reach another area. Kill the Torch Hollows around here and follow the edge of the cliff from left to right and grab a Large Soul of a Proud Knight on the cliff edge. Go down the middle section to grab a Soul of a Proud Knight and another Soul of a Proud Knight. Not long after, you should get invaded by King Jeremiah. Jeremiah is a very basic NPC Pyromancer and one backstab or two is enough to defeat it. Your reward is a Humanity and a Notched Whip. Run around to the far right of this area to find the Acid Surge Pyromancy behind a wall. Return to the Bonfire. Get to level 58 now and have 14 Intelligence. Now we are off to kill the boss.

Proceed through the giant door in the spiral tower to find a very long bridge. Kill the Hollows and a Heavy Knight along the way. Grab the Large Titanite Shard from the Heavy Knight and enter the boss fog.

–BOSS: Priscilla–

Priscilla has a very basic moveset.

Scythe Attacks

Priscilla will swing her Scythe at you. These swings can sometimes have a follow up but are rather slow. However, each hit inflicts a huge amount of Bleed build up so carefully monitor when an attack is coming. Blocking works well but it is easier to stay behind her to avoid the scythe.

Blizzard

The only other attack the boss has is a Blizzard attack that she uses. It has fairly short range and this simply requires you to run away when the frost comes.

Strategy

As you may have seen, Priscilla is not hostile at the start. Before engaging the boss, run to the back, quit and reload, and on that bench should be the Xanthous Set. Anyway, back to the boss. As soon as you hit her, Priscilla will become hostile. She will then summon a snowstorm and after that, goes invisible.

The major threat of this boss comes from her high bleed damage and the inability to spot her while she is invisible. However, you can work out roughly where the boss is by looking at the footprints in the snow. Hitting here a few times will knock her out of invisibility.

Priscilla also has a tail that can be cut off. You main focus should be the tail at all times until it comes off. It also keeps you behind her to avoid any troublesome attacks with her scythe. Once the tail is off, blast here with a few Pyromancies and she should be dealt with fairly quickly.

For defeating the boss, you will get the Soul of Priscilla and Twin Humanities. For cutting off the tail, you will receive Priscilla’s Dagger needed for a Trophy. Speaking of trophies, you will also get the Defeat Crossbreed Priscilla Trophy. Now, simply run to the edge of the bridge and you will end up outside the painting and will acquire a Homeward Bone. Run back to the Bonfire, don’t use the Bone or you will end up back in the painting. Now we will go and kill Gwyndolin.

–NOTE–

Make sure you have completed the Darkmoon Covenant before fighting this boss. You should have 10 Souvenir of Reprisals if you farmed them off of the Crow Demons in the Painted World. Offer them to get your items. You only need Rank 1 for the Trophy.

When you are ready, enter the boss fog.

–BOSS: Gwyndolin–

Gwyndolin has a very limited moveset.

Energy Blast

Sometimes, Gwyndolin will fire a gigantic orb at you. This comes at you really quick. Just before it hits you, roll under it to prevent any damage. This is the hardest attack to avoid but you should be alright after a few attempts.

Homing Soul Arrows

Gywndolin will most commonly fire a couple Soul Arrows that home in on you. Use the pillars on the sides of the room to protect yourself from this attack. They are quite slow so you have a fair amount of time to avoid them.

Crossbow Shot

If you find yourself near the boss, the boss may rise slightly and shoot a bunch of bolts at you. Simply zigzag left or right when this comes and switch to the other direction on the next volley.

Strategy

The strategy of this boss is very simple. You have to fight it in a long corridor. The boss will fire things at you as you try to get close to the boss. When you close the boss down, it will attempt to teleport further down the corridor. Hit the boss a few times before it teleports. You can hit the boss during the teleport animation as well so use that to your advantage. Rinse and repeat until you defeat this fairly easy boss.

Defeating the boss will get you the Soul of Gwyndolin and you will also get the Defeat the Dark Sun Gwyndolin Trophy. At the very end of the corridor, open the chest to acquire the Sunlight Blade Miracle and the Brass Set next to it. The left chest is empty. Return to the Bonfire. Next up is Sif.

–NOTE–

In the Remastered version, you can freely join and leave Covenants at the Bonfire. However, you cannot join the Darkmoon Covenant after defeating Gwyndolin. The same goes for Gwynevere, Nito and Quelaag’s Sister.

• Previous: Ash Lake
• Next: Darkroot Basin

The Annex

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In the area to the right of Phalanx pile (looking from the doors near the bonfire) there’s a small alcove that’s like a chapel complete with locked door. Head in here and use the Annex Key you found earlier to open a new path.

Head up the stairs to emerge on a large walkway with an Engorged Hollow in the distance. Wait for him to wander towards you, hiding around the corner, then put him down. Next turn around and head down the nearby alcove to find a staircase with a zombie up the top. Either snipe him or charge him.

Afterwards immediately turn around as there’s two Harpies behind you about to attack. These may also be joined by two more Harpies depending on whether you’ve killed them before or not, so be careful. An effective way to kill these enemies is to use the nearby staircase to your advantage as chances are the incredibly stupid creatures will leap to their deaths of the cliff. When they’re dead, search the corpse on the roof for the Miracle: Vow of Silence.

When that’s done, go down the staircase, avoid the big hole and head into the circular structure. Look left and you’ll spot a corpse hanging off a ledge; search this guy for the Velka Armor Set: Mask of Velka, Black Cleric Robe, Black Manchette, and Black Tights.

Go back down the stairs where the Hollow was. Head right and see that wooden board ahead? Give it a whack to open up a route. Follow this down and you’ll find a corpse with Velka’s Rapier on it.

Turn around, head back and go right. You’ll pass by some alcoves and an Engorged Hollow will soon start shooting at you. When you eventually get to a staircase wait by the wall for a Hollow to wander up, kill this one then run downstairs and kill the other.

When they’re done give a cursory bow to the nearby petrified blacksmith and help yourself to his Dark Ember.

With all that done return back to the bottom of the circular structure (near to the Phalanx) for the final push towards the boss.

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Path to Priscilla

The doors to the boss should now be open. Remember you could also drop down off the bridge where you fought the Undead Dragon, thus bypassing the doors. But that would be cheating wouldn’t it?

Anyhoo, head through the double doors to emerge onto a massive bridge. Keep moving forwards and you’ll be attacked by several Hollows. Be wary – some like to hide on the sides of the bridge and hop over while others hide behind alcoves.

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When you reach a certain point of the bridge you’ll also have to a fight a hulking Berenike Knight. You should have dealt with these before by this point so I don’t think you’ll struggle. He drops a Large Titanite Shard when he kicks the bucket.

NOTE: The Berenike Knight will respawn (tested on Prepare to Die edition) and allows you to farm the Large Titanite Shards.

Follow the bridge to the end to find the Painted World’s boss, Crossbreed Priscilla.

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Boss Fight: Crossbreed Priscilla

This fight plays out quite a bit differently than any other in the game. Priscilla is docile at first, giving you an opportunity to leave the world without a fight by taking a leap of faith of off the edge. If you just want to get out of the painting, you are free to do so. However, those of you who want to challenge her should prepare before you strike.

Priscilla will not attack you until you provoke her, so take a moment to cast any defensive spells you may have. Magic Barrier works particularly well in this fight. Once you’re ready, get behind her and attack with your strongest weapon. Great Heavy Soul Arrows or a two-handed swing of your sword are your best bets. Immediately keep up the assault, and you should be able to cause enough damage to have Priscilla turn invisible. Back off a bit and look down at the snow to spot her footprints. Attack where she would be standing to have her turn visible again. You must break her poise to make her visible. After turning visible, she will have the added ability to blow a crystal-esque powder at you to increase your bleed meter. It is easily avoidable if you’re quick on your feet, and allows for a good opening to get hits in without worrying about her scythe.

She is a dragon and seems to be weak to lightning and fire. If you picked up the Lightning Spear in Sen’s Fortress, this fight should go quicker. Priscilla’s attacks are exceptionally slow to the point where you can run up to her, and even collide, and then get behind her based on the footprints in the snow. If you do this, she will attack where you were, so turn around immediately and attack behind you but slightly to the left of where she was standing.

Repeat this to finish her off. A few things to note are that her scythe attack builds up your bleeding meter, which causes instant death if it reaches the top. Also keep in mind that attacking her tail enough will result in it falling off, rewarding you with Priscilla’s Dagger as a prize.

Once she is defeated, you will be rewarded with the Soul of Priscilla and 30,000 souls. If you’ve killed King Jeremiah be sure to loot the corpse behind Priscilla for the Xanthous Armor Set: Xanthous Crown, Xanthous Overcoat, Xanthous Gloves, and Xanthous Waistcloth.

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Yes that’s right kids – now you too can look utterly insane! Dressed in your new snazzy outfit, take the plunge and leap off the ledge to leave the Painted World of Ariamis behind and return to Anor Londo.