A few people have run into a problem with summoned or resurrected creatures turning hostile, which in a couple cases fixed itself after the blessing ritual (towards the end of the game). Perhaps you will be able to banish Iona's pet after you get to the wastelands.

If you are comfortable hex editing, you may be able to teleport yourself away from Cyrion, or vise versa;
Teleporting Anywhere, via hex editor / Reviving dead NPCs


There have been a few topics in the RPG Chat forum where you can find discussions of the games you mentioned compared to other games, or just topics about people's favourite RPGs.