Bonfire Ascetic & farming

Aldia's Keep

Location of Red Tearstone Ring, Dark Souls 2: SotFS

Start from the Ruined Fork Road bonfire and proceed to Aldia's Keep. En route grab the Red Tearstone Ring from a corpse in a muddied pond, next to an Ogre. While equipping the ring, when your HP is at or less than 30% of your maximum HP, you gain 20% boost to your damage output. Enter Aldia's Keep and light the Foregarden bonfire.

Brightbug at Aldia's Keep, Dark Souls 2: SotFS

As you enter Aldia's mansion, Lucatiel's brother would invade you. You don't have to fight this NPC red phantom. Simply run to the upper level where a giant Basilisk is found, enter the room containing a statue of an iron dragon, and the NPC red phantom would despawn. Now you can collect some treasures in the first half of Aldia's mansion. A Brightbug is found in an iron chest on the second floor. Ensure you have at least Fragrant Branch x 2. Use the Fragrant Branches to unpetrify the two statues near a giant Basilisk. Kill the two re-animated enemies for Bonfire Ascetic x 2 and Elizabeth Mushroom x 2.

SL1 Guardian Dragon at Aldia's Keep, Dark Souls 2: SotFS

Guardian Dragon

This boss is no different from the one you fought at Heide's Tower of Flame. Use the same strategy of hitting one leg and move to the other leg. When the boss swoops upward to breathe fire down on you, run to the boss' tail and position your character outside the range of the fire breath.

Farming Bonfire Ascetic and Elizabeth Mushroom, Dark Souls 2: SotFS

Defeat the Guardian Dragon, ride the elevator up to Dragon Aerie, and light the Dragon Aerie bonfire. Warp to the Foregarden bonfire, burn a Bonfire Ascetic to respawn the two petrified enemies you killed earlier within Aldia's mansion, and farm them for Bonfire Ascetic and Elizabeth Mushrooms.

Farming Human Effigies at Forest of Fallen Giants, Dark Souls 2: SotFS

Farming Human Effigies at Majula, Dark Souls 2: SotFS

Bonfire Ascetic can be used to farm various items. For example, burn a Bonfire Ascetic at the Crestfallen's Retreat bonfire and open a nearby wooden chest to collect Human Effigy x 5. You can also farm Human Effigies at Majula, underneath the Abandoned Mansion. Burn a Bonfire Ascetic at the Far Fire bonfire to raise the bonfire intensity to 2, thus spawning 2 skeletons underneath the Abandoned Mansion. Kill the skeletons for Human Effigy x 2. Burn another Bonfire Ascetic to raise the bonfire intensity to 3 and 3 new skeletons would spawn. Raising the bonfire at Majula by 1 intensity would add another skeleton to the basement of the mansion. At bonfire intensity 3 and beyond, Maughlin would sell the Moon Butterfly set. Note that Maughlin must be alive from bonfire intensity 1 onward in order for him to sell the Moon Butterfly set. Equip a piece of this armour set to build up the poison metre of anyone close by, including enemies and NPCs. The poison passive effect is useful against bosses who are susceptible to poison. The best location for farming Elizabeth Mushroom, and various upgrade materials, is at Dragon Aerie. Burn a Bonfire Ascetic at the Dragon Aerie bonfire, cross the bridge that is blocked by a petrified enemy, and collect a Bonfire Ascetic and Elizabeth Mushroom x 3. If you want, collect various upgrade materials scattered throughout the area.