Raze,
thanks for the help
I'm up to the 1st portal, trying to activate it, but the Steel Guardians are just TOO tough- I whittle one down maybe 30%, then I have to run to the heal shrine, and when I get back, the &*()&*( S.G. has completely healed also!!!! I'll never be able to kill it.

The whole castle/Elona's dungeon quest is a major design flaw in D.D. : it's part of the main quest, so people will tend to try it early on, but once you step into the castle you ARE STUCK, No going back till you can get out of the dungeon, the VERY LONG, VERY TOUGH dungeon, that used up all my many heal and mana and restore portions (and I had a LOT going in).

I think I read somewhere that you can hex edit the save files, so I guess I'll have to try adding a couple dozen "Super Heal" potions and see if I can get thru this