Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris

All this time, I thought the second Bell of Awakening was through the New Londo Ruins, an area that has been unyielding in giving up its secrets to me.  I did manage to grab a Firekeeper Soul on my last trip down there, before I confused the visual effect of my Wolf Ring for my Transient Curse and got wrecked by a congress of ghosts.  Good timing on this, though, because the mute fire keeper at the Firelink Shrine, along with Lautrec, has disappeared following ringing the second Bell of Awakening.

Having conquered the Catacombs, been [crushed in an embarrassing fashion] by the Tomb of the Giants, and deterred by the New Londo Ruins, I decided to explore the only place I had left: the pleasantly named Blighttown.  As it turns out, harrowing walkways, insane ghouls, toxic assassins, and a poisonous swamp lead to the demon realm that houses the second bell.

The most interesting detail, for you (Martin) perhaps, was that after finding a bonfire deep in the swamp, I was invasion-like attacked by a red phantom, and after defeating her, later was able to summon her as a white phantom for the battle with the guardian of the second bell.  So that was cool.

What was less cool, however, was when I mistakenly attacked a major supporting character--who looked just like the enemies in the area--on my way to the next bonfire.  It turns out this guy--Eingyi--was not only the other pyromancy mentor (one may recall I'd previously killed Laurentius of the Great Swamp in self-defense), but also the only character who sold the cure to the infestation that he carried and that afflicted me too when I wandered around this area.

This egghead state halved my souls acquired off enemies, as well as deprived me of my helmet.  This made for an interesting choice: I could earn enough souls--at half-speed--to atone with Oswald of Carim (I imagine I was in the neighborhood of 70,000 souls required for atonement at this point), or try to grind an Egg Vermifuge of the poisonous two-headed geckos in the Darkroot Garden.

This game.

I went with grinding the lizards.  I estimate I killed over 40 before I got the drop, and even that took me breaking down and cracking a crystal for a point of humanity to try and raise my find rate.  At this point, I had over half the souls I needed to purchase the Crest of Artorias, so already sick of nearby Sen's Fortress, I ground out the rest of those souls and have been exploring the area through the forest door since.