Update Time:
Lothric Boys are dead, and I've obtained all the crowns of the missing Lords of Cinder. I can proceed with the endgame but I'm going to finish the Ringed City DLC first.

The Lothric boys are one of the more challenging non-optional boss battles in the main game but after taking down the Nameless King and Friede, they didn't feel too tough. Finished a few more character quests and my poor Firelink Shrine has become very quiet as of late. I'm being reminded of DS1 and Bloodborne where most of the questlines end tragically for the cast.

In the Dreg Heap, I've grown to despise the weird angels, and I'm desperately trying to find their base tree forms to kill so I can explore the region unmolested. Met a chap named Lapp who squats and talks a lot like Patches but doesn't seem to know who he is. We'll see how this questline works out. I didn't get as far as I would have liked from here though I did discover Earthen Peak which was a surprise. Nice to see a few more nods to Dark Souls II though if I had to pick a locations from DSII, I probably would have chosen either the Iron Keep or one of the DLC locations, but hey, its nice to see some fanservice come that way that isn't just weapons and armor. The fight with one of the Pyromancers of that area caught me off guard but I was able to beat her and then got murdered in an angel crossfire when I tried to cross some roots most likely going the wrong way. This DLC has been interesting and I'm digging the layout.

I'll have to explore more later, but for now I need to backtrack to the Swamp area because I missed a few more treasures and I kind of want to explore a bit more.