Completely stuck, looking for minimal spoiler help

[Zyliah]

I've been trying my best to get through this game without looking anything up except stat builds. No walkthroughs, no item locations, nothing about NPCs or what to do with them. But I'm forty hours in, I've gone to every major area (or at least enough major areas to fill all twelve slots on the travel screen), I've run back through every place I can think to go as fully as I can, and I just don't know what to do at this point. But my experience with the first Dark Souls suggests that if I look anything up, I'll trip over a bunch of extra information, and I really don't want anything beyond the most basic info I need to move forward.

Here are the mysteries I still have in front of me:

Forest of Fallen Giants:

-Two things that look like petrified giants which can be examined, but give the response, 'Alas, nothing happened'
-The door in the corridor before the Last Giant which is still locked
-A door that requires the symbol of the king

Shaded Woods:

-Shrine of Winter requires mightier souls
-Another door that requires the symbol of the king

The Gutter:

-A locked door not far from the Upper Gutter bonfire
-A cave off in the corner where messages have been left by other players saying there's a friend, but all I find are two poison-spitting statues

Black Gulch:

-A passageway high in the wall just before the boss fight, across from where the second bonfire is; I've looked for illusory walls several times but can't find one
-The area with the bonfire after The Rotten with the locked door

All I want, preferably, is the major area I should be poking around next in order to find a way to proceed through one of the above mysteries. I don't want to know what it is I need to find, at least not yet.

If it helps, this is broadly what I've accomplished in the areas; if I haven't completed one of them as fully as I think, maybe this will explain it.

Things Betwixt: Unpetrified the statue, knocked down the log bridge, killed the small Pursuer.
Majula: Opened the mansion.
Forest of Fallen Giants: Beat the Last Giant and big Pursuer, got to the nest where the bird takes you to the Bastille
Heide Tower: Beat the dragonrider
Blue Cathedral: Beat the old dragonrider
No-Man's Wharf: Jumped on the boat, beat the boss belowdecks
The Lost Bastille: Beat three small Pursuers, beat the three spear-wielding bosses (with the two summoned helpers)
Sinner's Whatever: Beat the Lost Sinner, got the primal bonfire
Shaded Woods: Got both bonfires, checked out all three paths (screw the ghosts in the fog)
Grave of Saints: Beat the rat vanguard
The Gutter: Lit all the lamps I can find
Black Gulch: Beat The Rotten, got both bonfires plus the one before the area with the locked door

Edit: I did find out about a ladder that leads into the Majula pit. I haven't found who sells that yet. I just jumped in.

[76561198381305277]

anything that says it needs the symbol of the king is for later in the game,following the story will enable you to pass those doors

in the black gulch,try walking along the edges with a torch,and you might see some ledges you can drop down to,however it is easy to fall to your death as well,so be careful,theres about 2-3 ledges you can drop to

the door in front of the last giant can be unlocked from a key later in the game,if you decide to follow the intended progression and not skip it

the giant stone-like door in the Pit (the hole where you drop down into the Gutter/Grave of Saints from Majula) needs a key from dropping down onto the ledges in the black gulch,with another one of those same doors in there needing the same key

the giant trees (thats their name,the petrified looking giants) need an item from near the end of the story,and theres 3 of them,and one of them is mandatory for the story

shrine of winter requires either a specific soul memory to be obtained (depending on ng cycle) or the four great soul bosses to be killed

the hole in the wall in the gutter might be a bonfire there (if what im thinking your saying is right),so follow the wall towards the edge,and you'll see a narrow walkway with a petrified hollow,i would suggest luring them away from the edge if you fight them,as they can knock you off if your not careful

in the shaded woods,if you go through the area with the ghost guys (just sprint through the whole thing in as straight of a line as possible),you'll end up at the shaded ruins,where you can continue onto another great soul boss,though i would bring some Fragrent Branches and the Ring of Whispers (if you want help from a friendly npc),killing all the ghost guys in the shaded ruins will allow you to summon another npc as well,the shaded ruins are part of the shaded woods as well {LINK REMOVED}btw,in case you have trouble trying to warp back to it from Majula should you leave

[Bonkers]

Stick to the left side of the shaded woods. You'll encounter a friendly NPC after a while and if proceed after that, the shaded ruins.

[Asha]

- If you leave Majula towards Heide tower, that tunnel can lead to an another big area as well if you unlock it. (You already met the one who can do that)
- As Onion said, you have to cross the shaded woods, there are more areas past that.

[Yal]

Yeah, the Shaded Woods and the path from Majula to Heide's Tower both lead to more areas... let's just say there's a lot more than 12.

-The foggy area is tricky to navigate, but the end of it is more or less directly in front of you when you first enter it. If you just run across you'll reach the path out of it pretty quickly without getting too much attention from the Shades. If you just find a wall on the other side, follow it towards the right-hand side and you should find the path.
-On the path from Majula to Heide, you'll find Licia (if nobody is there, warp to the bonfire after the Dragonrider boss fight and talk to Licia until she says she'll find a place with more gullible people). Pay her 2000 souls and she'll open up the alternate path; there's no dangers between this place and the next bonfire spare falling off the platforms in the tunnel.

Also, once you do end up in this new place near Heide's Tower, a few hints:
-From the bonfire, look back towards the tunnel you came from (above the mouth of the cave). These things are everywhere but always really hard to spot.
-You can stand on the disk fungi growing on the cave walls. The alternate paths has some nice stuff.