Elden Ring can be pretty horrifying. Sometimes it’s the monsters, eldritch horrors with way too many appendages and exposed arteries. Other times it’s the environment, shrouded in misty white fog and just a few obelisk structures as haunting music hums in the background. Such is the case with this nightmarish invasion YouTuber yung maestro experienced in the Consecrated Snowfield of FromSoftware’s latest game. Y’all, I’m spooked.
Elden Ring’s multiplayer allows you to do things like summon buddies who can help you finally take down that boss that kept kicking your ass. At the same time, though, hostile summoning signs shown by either using the Duelist’s Furled Finger or Festering Bloody Finger, leave you susceptible to PvP invasions from aggressive fans looking to kill you by any means necessary, whether that’s tucking into a ball or blowing themselves up.
However, what happened to a player who goes by yung maestro was far more frightening. Maestro tweeted a video of themselves getting absolutely fingered to death by twin cooperative players, aptly named Fin and Ger. No, I’m not joking.
It took place in the Consecrated Snowfield, a secret location in the northeast area of the Lands Between, not far from the Mountaintops of the Giants. It’s this rocky terrain covered in snow and fog. You know, the kinda place where horrors occur. Maestro spawned in, intent on defeating Fin, Host of Fingers, and rushed to engage in combat. Fin, performing what seems to be the Rapture gesture with their arms outstretched toward the sky as if praying to some divine deity for strength, pulled out their Ringed Finger hammer and started running toward maestro. Jumping off the rocks Fin was standing on, maestro then ran into Ger. Sadly, it was over way before it even started.
Maestro panicked as Fin and Ger, wearing the same bulbous Envoy Crown helmet and what appeared to be the freakish Godskin Noble Robe chest piece, closed in. The result was a deadly fingering. The duo used the Ringed Finger’s claw flick weapon skill, which curls the weapon up and releases it with great ferocity, almost simultaneously. Maestro got knocked down, tried scrambling away to heal, and even unleashed a powerful dragon incantation called Placidusax’s Ruin that shoots fire out of their dragon-transformed head. But it was futile. Maestro died as The Ancient Dragon, an ominous Dark Souls track, played in the background. It’s not the Consecrated Snowfield’s real music, but the horrifying effect was still expertly achieved.
Maestro ghastly foible was a snippet from a YouTube video they posted on March 23, which was a compilation of PvP fights. The fingering death was so disheartening, it led maestro to madness, apparently pumping their Faith stat to 99 and repeatedly using the Placidusax’s Ruin on all invaders.
Maestro told Kotaku over direct messages that the deadly invasion was too hilariously haunting to not edit the eerie music in for comedic effect.
“Surprisingly it’s not scripted,” maestro said. “I’ve found that in the Souls games, people often set up with a friend like that to surprise invaders. When it happens, it’s more fun to play along and see where it goes than to just fight.”
Though unscripted, things happen at very precise moments, like the fetal position gesture the duo perform just as maestro’s body evaporates from their plane of existence. Whatever the case, this dreadful video will haunt me as I continue making my way through the Lands Between. I already explore the desolate world on edge. Invasions like this one only exacerbate my fears.
