Shaded Woods (1)

Leave Majula through the front gate and enter the pathway with large, dead vines. Follow the straightforward path and you'll find an NPC who wil tell you about the statue blocking the path. Loot the corpse nearby to get Lifegem x3 and Homeward Bone x3.

Enter the building and take out the undead inside a small room to your immediate left. Loot the corpse afterward to get Lloyd's Talisman x3. Continue to the main gate and you'll find the statue. Use a Fragrant Branch of Yore (you should have several at this point) to turn it back to human.

Talk to Rosabeth and exhaust her dialogue options. She'll give you a Prism Stone during the conversation. She'll open a Pyromancy Store which sells various pyromancy spells and resistance-boosting accessories and consumables. She'll also ask if you can give her some equipment. The equipment given to her cannot be retrieved so just give her anything that you don't need. Giving her equipment will prompt her to relocate to Majula for your convenience and she'll wear it as well. Also, she can strengthen Pyromancy Flame, the catalyst needed to cast pyromancies.

After that, you can talk to Benhart to learn the Joy gesture. He will also be able to help you in battle as a phantom like Lucatiel. Before pulling the switch, take note that all doors will open, releasing the toxic undead inside. Two of them are in ground level so you can deliberately open these doors and deal with them first. While fighting the bloated toxic undead, a giant frog will come in from the door. Be careful not to get caught in its petrifying mist. Take it out and continue to the next room.

Open the room to the left of the stairs to find a bonfire (Old Akelarre). The room on the other side has a chest containing an Estus Flask Shard. Jump to the upper ledge to the left and open the second room. Kill the undead inside and loot the corpse to get a Soul of a Proud Knight and Human Effigy.

Leave the building and continue following the trail. Take out the two enemies along the way and loot the Falchion from the corpse. Continue until you reach the ruins entrance. There are a couple of undead on the ledge to the left which will throw rocks at you. Take them out and loot the corpse in the far corner to get a Pharros Lockstone.

Continue moving along to the next clearing and take out enemies along the way. The path will eventually lead you to the second bonfire (Ruined Fork Road). The bonfire's name fits its description. Go upstairs and you'll find three different paths.

Crossroads

First, let's take the path in the middle. Continue along the road and you'll find a corpse that has a Red Tearstone Ring in the (safe) swamp. That's the only item of interest in this path and if you continue, you'll find another giant, black door that requires the symbol of the king.

Return to the Fork Road bonfire and take the left path this time. There's a bloated undead to your immediate left so kill it first to avoid getting attacked from behind. Take out the three bloated enemies along the way then circle around the tower bridge. Defeat two more enemies and loot the corpse in the edge of the cliff to get a Ring of Life Protection and Large Soul of a Proud Knight.

Continue down the road and you'll encounter the Flexile Sentry once more. You can easily kite this enemy if you're a ranged fighter or sorcery/miracle/pyromancy user since it won't chase you further uphill. For melee fighters, you have to block/evade its attacks and counterattack. It is not as hard to defeat at this point but be careful still nonetheless. The flexile sentry may drop a Twinkling Titanite. Take out the bloated enemy to the left so you won't get caught off guard then loot the corpse nearby to get a Dragonslayer's Crescent Axe and Golden Falchion Shield. There's a small path leading uphill that will lead you to a large iron door. Open it to reach the Shrine of Winter. You can open this if you have at least two Great Souls. (I have the Lost Sinner and Old Iron King at this point) You don't need to carry them though. If you can't open it, don't fret; it's not your current objective for now so just come back for it later. If you can open it though, you can freely loot the items since the initial area is safe and is void of enemies.

Deadly Fog

From the Ruined Forked Road bonfire, you'll have to go through the dense fog. If you were able to release Creighton from being trapped in the third bonfire in Huntsman Copse, you'll find him here. The fog is really dense and don't expect to navigate it safely. Your torch won't help that much here.

Since it will be hard to specify the locations of the items, sadly, I'll leave the complete exploration to your own decision. The fog also has a number of tricky and dangerous enemies that blend in the fog. They can be defeated but expect to be shot at or backstabbed when they're around. Once good practice is to keep your shield up while walking. If you don't really have anything to lose, you can just run around the forest and do a "suicide run" to find all the chests and items.

To prevent yourself from being lost, keep hugging the path to your left. You'll eventually reach a clearing that has a talking decapitated head of Vengral and a Fire Seed behind the wall. Keep talking to him and exhaust his conversation options and he'll open shop where you can buy some really neat items and learn the Decapitate gesture.

If you keep talking to him after he opens his shop, he'll give you his helm. This will also unlock the Reflections on Disembodiment trophy/ achievement. As you leave Vengarl's resting area, turn to the left to find a corpse that contains a Soul of a Proud Knight and Human Effigy. Continue along the left side and sprint once in a while to avoid getting backstabbed. If you head straight, you may find a chest. The ramp leading to it is found to your left. Just go up the ramp and loot the chest to get Chloranthy Ring +1.

From that chest, go down the ramp and walk straight until you reach the edge of the cliff. Follow that edge and you'll find another chest containing an Old Sun Ring. Before looting or opening the chest, it will a good idea to stop and look around so you can distinguish the camouflaged enemies that may backstab you. They should be faintly visible since their movements will separate them from the usual fog. If possible, fight them with your back on a wall or somewhere they can't encircle you. If they hit you when your shield is up, expect them to sidestep so swing your weapon to the side (usually to the right) to damage the enemies. Their life bars will appear for a few seconds when hit, enabling you to follow their movements.

From there, backtrack to where you got the Chloranthy Ring +1 turn right a bit then continue moving towards the left until you see some stairs leading to a moss-covered ruins which is cleared of the fog.