You awaken, clearly disheveled, somewhere in a dense woodland, picking yourself up from the ground, the trees casting dense, shifting shadows over the area. The Pilgrim's Forest is, for the most part, entirely empty, everywhere you go, all you can hear is a strong wind waking around the two cliff faces above. The whole map is situated on two cliffs on either side of a massive gorge that runs down the middle of the canyon, the sky a dark reddish color, like sunset.
Walking down the narrow, battered stone road, there is just a deep sense of loneliness and isolation, as leaves from the trees fall all around and it becomes increasingly hard to see in the shade. The map follows this canyon a considerable distance, which is really easy to get lost in as you follow the overgrown path along all this rubble and cross the many bridges back and forth to progress at points. As it so happens, this is used to your enemy's advantage, as between the wind and the darkness it is very easy to lose track of all the dangers lurking around you.
There are numerous hunters with knives and bows hiding in the underbrush and trees that will readily go for backstabs, or snipe at you from a distance, and while you stick out like a sore thumb trying to stay on the path as it constantly breaks up and gets buried by debris, they have a habit of blending seamlessly into their environment.
Occasionally, one will drop his knife,
Manhunter's Blade: "A long, curved dagger with deep serrations, fitted to pass through the ribs and target the heart, causing massive bleeding. Numerous hunters lurk in the woods surrounding Londor, seeking to slay the hollows that would find safe haven there, and breed more vile Darkwraiths.
Perhaps as an act of cosmic irony, or the closeness of the Abyss, every last hunter inevitably hollows himself.
Weapon Skill: Slayer's Blade. Aim carefully and lunge, executing an instant critical hit. The ability to instantly break the guard of a target and riposte, even against the surest of footing, mirrors the aggression and hatred felt for the despicable hollows of Londor."
Like Gehrman, in Bloodborne, the lunge of the weapon art, if it connects, will immediately knock any humanoid off balance and place them into a riposteable state, as though they were guardbroken. The critical strike also does far more damage than usual, and, if you happen to be wearing the hornet ring, the animation will have them pinned to the ground and stabbed repeatedly.
The weapon art, however, consumes a significant amount of FP and Stamina, and has a sizable windup, so spamming it will not be very practical.
Their bow reads, Hollow Hunter's Bow. "Bow of the sinister hunters that haunt the forest's outside Londor, who would seek to prevent the breeding of Darkwraiths. The bowstring is exceptionally taut, and optimized to drive arrows through the limbs and cripple them, allowing prone hollows to be intercepted and disposed of with knives.
Weapon Skill: Incapacitate. Bring bow back to a full draw, aim carefully, and drive an arrow through the limbs, greatly reducing movement speed and stamina recovery, allowing them to be finished off at close range. Works very well with lacerating arrows, as pierced limbs bleed gratuitously."
As the description would suggest, getting hit by this attack causes you to slow walk, and your stamina to plunge for about 15 seconds, though you can still fatroll and recover stamina very slowly if you hold still. When paired with "Barbed Arrows", which can found on the corpses of the hunters, it will usually max out the bleed bar in two strikes. This is very dangerous in PvP and situationally useful in PvE as well. It has an S Dexterity scale and actually causes a little bit of bleed damage innately, which will scale with Luck.
Of course, there are also dogs, can't have a map without those, with shambling skeletons wearing rusted armor and weapons further into the woodland, should you press on.
In this little hunter's shack tucked away at the middle of the map, you can find the Hollow Hunter Ashes, which can be brought to the handmaid to prepare this forester-meets-ninja outfit, as well as Barbed Arrows, the Manhunter's Blade, and Hollow Hunter's Bow. They read:
"The Hollow Hunters, even in their hollowed state, still prey on passing undead, driven by intense hatred and cold persistence. What drives them to hate their fellow hollows? Is it the fear of the Dark they chase after, or the reminder that one day, the Humanity within all men will be drawn back into the Abyss, leaving them a shell of their former self."
The most interesting moment is coming across these dead, rotted corpses of very small dragons, a faint hue of blue on their grey, stony scales. These are indeed the Lightning Drakes from the Valley of Drakes in Dark Souls 1, the passing of eons radically changing the landscape surrounding them.
One of these drakes, still alive, has clearly been corrupted by the abyss, with black tar oozing from the gaps in his scales and tendrils bursting from various parts of his skin. He will no longer fly or breathe lightning, but he is still very aggressive.
On death, he will drop a new weapon, it reads: Draketail Whip: "The severed tail of an old Drake tainted by the Abyss, originating from the old Lake of Ash. The Dragons are long dead, but their ancestors still linger on.
Weapon Skill: Charged Lash; Swing the barbed spine around your body, and follow through with strong attack to lash forward with a prong of lightning that breaks the guard of a shield and causes a powerful knockback, imitating the strength of the Old Dragons."
It scales C in both strength and dexterity, with a B scaling in Lightning, making it good for a Quality-Faith build.
When you are done exploring the area, you come to the final stretch, a large swathe of ruins among the trees, a cutscene marking the arrival of the first boss of the DLC.
A figure rises above a set of ruins, crawling over the debris, and slowly pulling himself upright. His body is nothing but amorphous tar, covered with numerous mouths and faces, silently flapping their mouths and gaping their eyes open, a red tarp thrown over the back. He is barely recognizable as human, but his mask is intact: a plain, silver pane over the face, with a pointed red hat still standing tall. A tin catalyst, deeply corroded by the Abyss, is grasped in a large hand to his side.
The Gibbering Beast is very slow and cumbersome, the boss theme slow and sad, the strings telling the tale of a sad, lost hero, turned monster ( /watch?v=_IyI5TLRNvw ). As you fight him, he tries to swipe at you with his tin staff, and will vomit tar from the various mouths on his body to slow you.
The entire time, he will spout, in a ragged, gurgling voice, various lines, hinting at who he really was:
"You… promised…"
"I… Trusted you, how could… Lordvessal… fall… Vile Treachery."
"The… Four Kings… seduced by the Art of Lifedrain… I thought you… better."
"How could you do this to me… Monster…"
"The Darkwraiths, cannot… run free.
"All for… nothing."
At phase two, he will start to scream, leaning up off the ground, the old Undead supporting himself with his staff. Here, he becomes significantly more dangerous, as he will vomit torrents of acid, which will now burn you, as well as tar to slow you down.
Rather than use his staff to strike, he will fire dark bolts and sorceries at you. His most dangerous ability is to start chanting various incomprehensible lines, which will rapidly build up curse. The only way to escape is to leap into one of the various pools of water, in order to drown out the sound. An option will appear to jump in when you stand near, which will allow you to leap in and pull yourself out safely, but if you stay submerged for too long, you will begin to lose health extremely fast.
You have to carefully balance diving into the water and taking the curse buildup in order to survive without getting cursed or losing a massive amount of health.
A pyromancer will have a significantly easier time than most, as this boss is very weak to fire and it will cause him to spew less tar.
When he is one hit from death, he will keel over and drop his staff, shrieking and gurgling. In that moment, he will return to consciousness, looking up at you through the mask, and speaking clearly in a very familiar tone:
"Brave undead… I am… Ingward… Sealer of New Londo. I am unworthy of this, but I must ask of you… a favor… use this… seal… key… to gain passage through the gates. Inside… Old Friend… Friend, no more… the Abyss… must be stopped, or all… will be lost…"
Sealer's Crest: "The enchanted crest of a Sealer of New Londo, carried for a lifetime by Master Ingward should the gate ever have to be opened from the outside. The three sealers sacrificed everything in vain to contain the Darkwraiths, and only one remains, watching the walls."
"Put an end to them… one last time. Now, if you would kindly… kill me…"
With only 1 HP, the old Sealer is struck down with ease, allowing you to go forward and carry his last hope with you.
His Soul and boss items read as:
"Soul of the Gibbering Beast, former Sealer of New Londo. Master Ingward awaited the flash of light on the horizon marking the linking of the First Flame, but it never came, for the Undead was filled with dark and the promise of an age of man. Ingward spoke so many curses unto his former friend the Abyss warped him into a being with only mouths to curse with."
"Abyss Seal. An accursed ring that eats away at the lifeforce of the bearer, but raises the power of Dark Sorceries. The Dark is frightfully powerful and utterly black, and all who seek its strength are destined to be consumed by it. That, however, never deters those believe they can bear the burden, their Humanity being drained before their eyes."
"Spew of Tar (pyromancy). Vomit a torrent of black ooze that covers the ground and anything standing near, slowing them down and lowering defenses. Words of curse sometimes hold more deathly weight than the sharpest of swords."
Ingward confirms that, in this timeline, the Chosen Undead became the Dark Lord, forcing someone else to link the fire. Whoever he may be, he is located somewhere in what was once New Londo, and you must defeat him to prevent the Abyss from spreading. Just as you defeated the Soul of Cinder to claim worthiness to Linking the Flame, you must defeat the Dark Lord to cull the Abyss.
Passing the stretch of woods he occupied, you come to the great doors of New Londo, unchanged since Dark Souls one all that time ago. Raising the Sealer's Crest, the doors will creep open, but rather than a torrent of water, you will be greeted by a mighty, towering city, rebuilt and renewed.
As you step through the gates, the location tag will appear as you approach the first bonfire:
Old Londor