Summoned by false enemies

[Swag Dragon]

I was just summoned to repel an invader. I lost the fight. It happens. That's fine. But when I was being sent back home, I saw that the Host of Fingers was just hanging around with the enemy, providing applause for what fully gave the impression of 'good job, dude!'

Aren't these two supposed to be enemies? Is it possible to get summoned by two people who plan to gang up on you while wearing a Mirror to make you think they're fighting, but just want to kill you?

None of this makes sense. My admittedly-noob understanding of PVP is that if they want to do PVP, they invade you or wait for you to invade them and then summon allies of their own. Can you actually get summoned into a group ganking?

Be warned: trolling will be met with superior trolling. I have literal decades of experience with this. Most of the time, at the end of the exchange, the troll ends up asking me to be friends with them, because they recognize that I am correct in the things I say, but I rarely reward trolling. If they seem like they have achieved enlightenment, I will respond favorably, though. I am a reasonable person. But be not fooled. I am the apex troll. I use it only in defense of keeping these discussions civil and upholding the goal of useful exchange of information, but I will not hesitate if the need arises.

Be cool. For your cooperation, you have my gratitude.

[Papi_Teflon]

Welcome to Elden Ring PvP 2025 bro. Where the Colosseum see's nothing but crickets these days and most summons are met with the host hosting a fight club in Limgrave. That includes Co Op players, Invaders (Bloody Finger and Reccusant), and Hunters alike. There's no discrimination

[Knavenformed]

If it's a duel it's common to give the winner props before fighting him

Or it's a fightclub, some hosts just love to watch the show and see if an Invader or a Yellow can go on a winming streak.

[CB]

a wimp host having a traitor red is no new thing -- they do it so reds that show up never get reinforcements.

it's really more common in ds1, though. lots of scrubby gravelords lately.

[Toasty]

If they were trying to make a sort of fighting club well, i cannot blame them (arena is FULL of cheaters and lag switchers, literally unplayable)

[Roger a Muirebe]

The invader could be a streamer and the host may be a fan of said streamer. It's not all that uncommon.

[Swag Dragon]

Thank you all for providing real answers and context. I appreciate it.

[Blinky Dorf]

Honorable PvP possibly; The host and invader wanted a 1v1 and you may have been summoned by accident. Once you leave, they'll probably duke it out old school, no flasks and lots of bowing.
Alternatively, they're farming runes and you are today's crop.

[Mad Marduk]

You sure they weren't putting together a fight club? I've run into those on accident before. Even ended up on a large creators stream in DS3 totally on accident. Were there any stones laid about?