New to the game - how the hell is this avoidable?

Hello! 2 hours in. Definitely not new to rogue likes (Spelunky 2 Cosmic Ocean veteran here) but I'm having a lot of trouble judging the fairness of this game.

I have the understanding that potions and spells and perks improve you on your run -- how, in any state I was in, would this be avoidable? I'm, again, trying to understand so I cannot have this happen again (deaths like these happen to me quite often).