I just lost my level 60 hardcore Apostate to an unintended mishap that I could kick my own ass for.
The incident occured in Smugglers Pass while trying to take down Voldrak the Destroyer.
Just south-west of Voldrak’s location there was a monster totem, which I had purposely not triggered as I was taking the progression of my hardcore character nice and slow and was not yet ready for the multitude of threats these totems spawn.
Anyway, my character not being a face tanker was kiting Voldrak quite nicely and slowly taking down his health - EXCEPT when I accidently ran close to or maybe even clicked that totem in the heat of the moment.
Needless to say that the totem spawned it’s hordes as designed, I desperately tried to move to safety, but between Voldrak and the totem monsters I got myself hopelessly trapped into a corner and could only watch the demise of my beloved hardcore character.
I know I could have taken Voldrak down quite comfortably, but accidently activating that nearby totem resulted in a very swift hardcore death.
Gotta love this game, just when you think you are safe to take a boss down you get thrown a curve ball like this.
In hindsight maybe I should have tried to clear the totem first before taking on Voldrak?, but in hardcore these totems can be very deadly if you are not ready for them.
Hardcore player advice - If you are fighting a boss or other bad ass in the game, just make sure there are NO monster totems nearby that you may actually activate unintentionally.
RIP - Kellab the Apostate, I really enjoyed your journey and have taken note of your unfortunate demise and will ensure that the characters that follow your footsteps will be very aware of monster totem proximity. 
