Overall, Soren was given an excellent hand to complete this nightmare, as the chosen undead, he already had some gear.
To his right was an easily recognisable greatsword that most people who played DS3 more than once would recognise, the Hollowslayer Greatsword. On his left was a small green shield that was clearly for parrying. To put icing on the cake, Soren was already wearing the fallen knight set, a very good armor set for this point of the game.
Now that Soren knew both his equipment and attributes, he was ready to formulate a strategy to complete the nightmare in a way that would give the greatest rewards, preferably a high-level aspect. Just the ability of being able to form additional soul cores for a divine aspect is game-changing.
To complete the nightmare and obtain a good appraisal, he would have to kill the abyss watchers, minimum. To reach the Abyss Watchers, he would have to extinguish the three flames. Additionally, he could try to fight the stray demon above the Old Wolf of Farron on the bridge.
Picking up his sword and shield, Soren left the small room he was in, not feeling the need to waste any more time now that he knew what he had to do.
If it wasn't for his previous life memories, Soren would surely be lost and in despair right now. An outskirt rat going into his first nightmare in a swamp of poison with nightmare creatures everywhere would be the end for anyone else. Maybe it was his will from his previous life, but Soren couldn't let himself die yet. There was just so much to see in this horrifying yet beautiful world.
Stepping out into the swamp, Soren took a deep Breath and immediately regretted it.
"Yep, smells like sweaty ass, can't tell if it's the poison or the smell, but it's making my nostrils burn."
After saying this, Soren walked northeast, toward the bridge with the stray demon. It would be one of his hardest fights, and he wanted to get it over with faster, since there aren't many ways he could significantly improve his strength in a short time, so he'd rather go into the fight in his best condition.
Soren made sure to walk on the small pieces of land poking out of the swamp as much as possible to avoid getting poisoned. Though, to his surprise, the poison of the swamp barely affected him and he quickly realised it must be the resilience granted to him by being a [Dark Soul Vessel].
Soon, Soren saw his first enemy in the distance, blocking his path to the tower. The monster was humanoid with an upper body that was human, but with an extremely emaciated frame. It had multiple curling horns on its head, with the mouth of a horse. Its lower body was that of a goat with hoofs for feet.
'shit, in the game these guys weren't that strong but I can't afford to get hurt with what's coming up next.'
Thinking this, Soren decided to go for a sneak attack. Since the beast was facing away from him, all he had to do was walk slowly and watch his step, and nothing should go wrong.
CRACK
The sound of a dry stick breaking passed through the quiet swamp easily. The monster snapped its head around and instantly locked on to Soren.
"Well, there goes that."
Soren chuckled with a self-deprecating smile on his face while the monster ran up to him.
The beast did a vicious lunge at Soren, attempting to throw him to the floor. Seeing this, Soren did a quick step to the left and slashed at the beast while it was still in the air, holding the greatsword with both hands.
The slash landed squarely on the side of the beast. The razor-sharp Hollow Slayer greatsword cut straight through the right side of the beast, leaving its innards hanging out.
When the Beast finally hit the floor, it did a roll in pain and tried to stand up and attack again despite its injuries.
Before it even had the chance to get its bearings and stand back up, Soren was already on it with his sword raised above its neck before swiftly slashing downward, his form, though not standard still effective as if he was learning on the fly.
'Thud'
A head flew into the air while the body of the satyr-like monster fell to the ground.
[You have slain a dormant beast, Ghru.]
[You have obtained a memory.]
Hearing this, a smile appeared on Sorens' face, but instead of immediately checking out the memory, he chose the get to a safe place first.
After just a bit more walking, he reached a ladder leading up the tower. The only problem being the group of dog-sized venomous slugs on the floor in front of the ladder.
Remembering these slugs that were so slow they couldn't catch you if you walked ten feet away, he decided to ignore them and make a break for the latter.
Getting a running head start, Soren leaped over a slug and quickly got on the ladder and started climbing. After climbing a few steps, Soren looked down to see what the slugs were doing, only to see them still slowly turning to face the ladder.
They wouldn't be a problem any time soon.
Soren climbed up the ladder that went so high it seemed it went up into the heavens. It took almost 10 minutes of climbing, and only after going up about 500 ft did Soren reach a platform. After getting on the platform, Soren noticed a doorway on his right and reached the second bonfire of the area, the Old Wolf of Farron bonfire.
In front of the bonfire was the Old Wolf itself alive, though sleeping, in the flesh.
"I wonder if this wolf is really Sif, Artorias' wolf companion."
Saying this brought a feeling of sadness about the story of Sif and Artorias, but he snapped out of it soon, realising there's no point worrying over something he can't change.
Looking at the elevator to the right of the Old Wolf of Farron, Soren took a deep breath, steeling himself for the fight to come.
The stray demon was now right above him, separated by only a few tens of feet of stone ceiling.
Before that, Soren still had to check the memory he received earlier.