I'm at the point now where I can beat the Incomplete One about 80% of the time. I'm having major issues with the Fog Fjord though. The first few times I got there I decided to try and beat the level, but after 10 minutes I ended up doing something stupid and dying and losing everything, which proved to be a waste of time (usually getting trapped by biters after killing a Host).
I've since decided that until I've progressed my guy further, or manage to put together a perfect inventory before getting there, I'll kill myself as soon as I get to the Fog Fjord to save myself the time and effort. I do try every few times I get there to "test the waters" to see where my character is at, but it's consistently proving to be a difficult area.
Besides obviously incrementing my death count (which I'm not concerned about), are there any problems with my plan? Are there any known hidden mechanics that punish death?