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I gave up my first run because I got to Ash Lake while cursed and could not for the life of me make it back to a higher bonfire. 
I'm surprised you got that far into the catacombs. I couldn't make it far enough to kill the first necromancer or whatever to keep the skellies from re-forming. I got pretty good at trying to get them to jump off for the most part but it was a pretty high risk/reward strategy.