I am in a really crappy situation

I'm down here in ash lake, cursed. I tried and failed to kill the hydra down here like 30+ times and then decided I'll just come back later and ran past him thinking SURELY there's a way out and maybe I can fight my way to the belltower or something to get some curse medicine. Made it to the bonfire in front of the ancient dragon guy and there doesn't seem to be a way out here. There's a hollow tree trunk with a root I can walk on and a poison frog on it, and then inside there are two more poison frogs and a mean mushroom man. I just don't see any way out.