At ng+ a red turtle that drops awestones appears 10 steps away from the Soldier's Rest bonfire in the forest. The walk is so short that believe this is one of the best methods... at least it was for me. You need to have the bonfire at intensity 2 and you need to be in the COC so you don't run out of turtles, though.

I got 4 in Shaded Woods in one go. The only problem is you can't see sh*t XD
and is best to have a high level or those ghosts will fak you up

Aggro the 10 dragon knights in the stairs leading go the ancient dragon and lure them to the narrow hallway. Use poison mist while they open the doors and just walk back as all of them suffocate to death. Rinse and repeat.

Stone horse headed knights in kings passage is also a farming spot.

Funny how this page points to 2 different bonfires to burn an ascetic in grave of saints and never properly clears up which one is the right one. Great info there, garbagelife!

The Cragslippers in Black Gulch (Sotfs) drop them too, and it's way too easy this way. I've dropped like 7 of those in 20 minutes while farming for titanite chunks.

sotfs: so it took me 1h and 40 minutes to kill the this one Invisible Rogue sitting near the bonfire 283 times using my Santiers Spear +5 (2 heavy dual wielding strikes). Using Jester's Cap, Prisoner's Tatters, Watchdragon Parma and Covetous Gold Serpent Ring+1 it adds up to a drop chance of ~15% which is not too shabby. The whole experience turned out to be very meditative. The grind also earned me 152,820 souls which is meh I guess with 540 souls earned per kill.

PS3 version (Vanilla DS2), farming spot for sorcerers: Eygil's Idol (NG+ and beyond)

Recommended:
- Magic Clutch Ring
- Clear Bluestone Ring +2
- Covetous Gold Serpent Ring
- Staff of Wisdom +5
- Soul Spear or Crystal Soul Spear
- Prisoner's Tatters
- Symbol of Avarice

There will be a red phantom near the bonfire wielding the drakekeeper great hammer that spawns infinitely, if you joined the covenant of champions. Rest at the bonfire, stay on the edge, and try to lock on to the phantom. If you managed to do so, shoot your (crystal) soul spears as fast as possible (since they'll be headshots, 3-4 should be enough). If he dropped something, climb down. If not, rest at the bonfire and repeat. Once he dropped his gear (drakekeeper great hammer, ironclad helmet and ironclad chestpiece), all his drops will be awestones. He seems to drop something every 7-12 kills.

For those who don't want to deal with the rats while doing the Rhoy strategy all the time and for those who don't want to go into offline mode.

Lol I joined this and wondered why it seemed like I was having a tough time....... Doh!