Ouch... 9 challenge death to anti-magic cave spinner poison
Just picked up an enchantment stone 8 turns before death and instantly used it got vampiric on the greatsword... Anti-magic spinner surprises me and gets me poisoned. This was the RUN!!!
The change for me in winning those challenges was hoarding scrolls of upgrade and applying them to the late stage weapon and plate armour after finishing the blacksmith's challenge in the cave, and applying his "free" upgrades to it.
Thanks -- I try to do the same, but I'm finding it hard to survive long enough to reach the blacksmith without upgrades, especially if the loot is not very good. I guess I need to improve my strategy, as well.