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rynlingAlas, the Well Depths Key does not lead to a sewer level. It does, however, lead to a poison swamp. 😊
I believe the background lore of Belurat is that everyone in the city was murdered in a crusade led by Messmer, one of the sons of the goddess Marika (whom you ostensibly serve). There's still one old woman living in Belurat who's locked herself in a fortress storeroom; and, if you can trick her into believing that you're a manifestation of her people's sacred animal, she'll give you a bowl of scorpion soup.
A bit later on, you start to get a sense for why Marika would have ordered this region to be purged and sealed, which is that its dominant culture made a habit of viewing ethnic minorities as human cattle and torturing them in the worst sort of way.
This is neither here nor there, but I think it's okay to for certain media to curate its audience. I appreciate that Elden Ring is as difficult (and difficult to understand) as it is. Not everyone needs to play this game. The issue of whether Marika is "good" or "bad" isn't really a meaningful question, especially not in black-and-white terms, and I don't want to read fandom discourse about it written by self-righteous teenagers.
Honestly, there are more important questions. Such as: Did the people in Belurat keep the dog-sized scorpions infesting the city as pets? Or did they raise them as a source of food? Are they tasty??
I believe the background lore of Belurat is that everyone in the city was murdered in a crusade led by Messmer, one of the sons of the goddess Marika (whom you ostensibly serve). There's still one old woman living in Belurat who's locked herself in a fortress storeroom; and, if you can trick her into believing that you're a manifestation of her people's sacred animal, she'll give you a bowl of scorpion soup.
A bit later on, you start to get a sense for why Marika would have ordered this region to be purged and sealed, which is that its dominant culture made a habit of viewing ethnic minorities as human cattle and torturing them in the worst sort of way.
This is neither here nor there, but I think it's okay to for certain media to curate its audience. I appreciate that Elden Ring is as difficult (and difficult to understand) as it is. Not everyone needs to play this game. The issue of whether Marika is "good" or "bad" isn't really a meaningful question, especially not in black-and-white terms, and I don't want to read fandom discourse about it written by self-righteous teenagers.
Honestly, there are more important questions. Such as: Did the people in Belurat keep the dog-sized scorpions infesting the city as pets? Or did they raise them as a source of food? Are they tasty??
