Update 4 - The Spirit Stone Slumbers
[Warning for a reference to rape, and miscarriage for Part 2]
Tachibana Ginchiyo has reached out to William. Her husband Tachibana Muneshige has gone missing. While he may just be with his mistress she is worried all the same and sends us to a shrine to try and find him. Bandits and even ninja are about as well as the Yokai of the region. Half-way through we face the spirit Nue and afterwards go down deep underground and fight through more demons and ancient guardians to reach Ginchiyo herself. She fights alongside us until we reach Muneshige. But something is wrong. It isn’t really him, the real one is nearby and unconscious. We face Edward Kelly in the guise of Tachibana Muneshige to rescue the real one. Afterwards Kelly escapes with the Amrita.
Boss Information:
Nue is a creature similar to a manticore. It is like a tiger with a great maw, a face like a mask, spines, and exudes lightning. The safest place to stay during this fight is at Nue’s side. It can swipe its tail behind and strikes forwards with its claws. You can bait out these attack while being in relative safety. Sometimes Nue spray poison forwards which is best avoided if possible. The belly of the beast is its weakness. When out of ki Nue is still dangerous as its revival fires two lightning bolts in front of itself which can chain stun and one shot the player. When it is vibrating get ready to move and avoid multiple bolts of lightning. If it rears up it is about to roll, avoid at all costs and dodge to the sides. Nue can also fire a concentrated beam of lightning, move to Nue’s right, your left, and avoid it by getting close to Nue or dodge through the beam horizontally. This boss is weak to water and resists poison and lightning.
Tachibana Muneshige is fast, really fast. He is the second boss of the level and you must duel him to proceed. He in my opinion is an easier fight than Nue. His ki management is easy to interrupt. When he is making a circle with his blade rush him and interrupt it as this buffs him. Often afterwards he does an iaito move, where he sheathes his blade and sprints at you. Get ready to dodge and don’t do so too early, this hit will hit hard. If far away he will pull out a bow and fire three shots, one down the middle and one on either side. These can be easily blocked or dodged forwards through. Be aggressive with Muneshige and do not let him regain stamina to allow for multiple critical hits. He also can charge up and do a flurry of swings, stay far away during this and he will use up a lot of stamina doing this. When you see him send his Guardian Spirit Raiken on the ground focus on dodging it when it shoots at you. Muneshige is weak to water and resists lightning.