I agree that the battlefields are boring and yes they are not necessary. Since this is my 1st game through, I'm exploring everywhere, but I will skip the dungeon crawls next game, though. However, if you want lots of gold and exp, hack your way through them for your own leisure. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
As for the chests, I killed all the humans in the citadel in search of more keys, but I never found any more keys. Alas, I left a few chests locked and unopened.
