Atone of a Bell

Last week, I was deterred by Sen's Fortress, so I spent some time expolring and grinding in the area through the forest door that requires the Crest of Artorias to open.  Although, seeing as there's a ladder there that leads down to the Darkroot Basin, I'm wondering if there's a back way into this area if one can get past the hydra.  Even in retrospect, coming up with 20,000 souls to purchase the Crest seems more manageable than killing the unapproachable hydra.

I learned a few fighting tips off my repeated engagements with the Forest Protectors.  I've started using the kick move a little more, as it opens up the guard of a (man-sized?) enemy that's hunkered down behind a shield.  Also, the bandit and the fogged knights were very effective at switching between one- and two-handed attacks with their weapons, which could stagger my character and deal large amounts of damage quickly.  I'm still unsold on wielding weapons with two hands (the amount of damage that gets through a weapon block seems unnecessary to risk when one is accustomed to being almost invulnerable when blocking behind a shield), although changing from horizontal to vertical attacks has been helpful in certain situations.

Anyway, finally I got to the point where I could kill the sorcerer, bandit, and--if necessary--the cleric & thief reliably, so I was able to venture into the area past Alvina the cat.  I'd remembered from your (Martin's) previous post not to take the bridge across from the far corner of the forest area, which is guarded by cat beasts.  Eventually, I found the back way into this area, and as soon as was facing two beasts at one, I left it for later.

There are these adorable little mushroom people moving though this area.  If you happen to attack one (for scientific purposes), they squeal and scamper off into the middle of the area, where their big siblings are guarding the Enchanted Ember.  The big mycos are slow, persistent, and hit hard--a swipe would take off half my hit points and knock me down for the followup.  After dying at lease once, I lured the first back toward Alvina's ruins, where I could get it with a drop attack, and was able to outmaneuver the second and use my longsword's thrust attack to prick it to death from a mostly safe distance.  The big ones drop lightning resin, which is awesome, but not an item of which I've made a lot of use as it doesn't stack with my Drake Sword or my divine longsword.

The other notable part of this area is the grave of Sir Artorias the Abysswalker.  The first time one enters this area, there are doors to be pushed through; afterwards, they're replaced by a gate of white light.  When you get here, walk behind the large gravestone to find the Hornet Ring.  Going up the the gravestone and Artorias's greatsword causes Sif, the Great Grey Wolf to show up, grab the sword, and go to town.  Despite his adorable animations, he's a formidable boss, and someone I don't think I'm supposed to be taking on just yet: His attacks were massively damaging and I barely could scratch him.  After a couple rounds of trying to recover the lucky humanity point that netted me an Egg Vermifuge, I decided to leave this fight for another day.

Oh, so title of this post came from realizing that without too much effort, I could earn the 24,500 souls I need to receive absolution from Oswald of Carim for killing Laurentius and Eingyi, and calm Blacksmith Vamos so I can visit him for fire weapons later.  I paid my debt (No achievement?!), and shortly thereafter accidentally killed Siegmeyer of Catarina during my first push deep into Sen's Fortress.

*sigh*  Now I'm guilty again, but at least no one's coming after me.