Thanks for the replies. I won't be as low level as Ariana anyway, I was level 13 by the time I did Stormfist Castle, this required helping Captain Mitox and doing the Dr. Elrath quests. Neither required much fighting and I was able to sneak past most enemies or kill individual ones with my bow. Raze was right that getting out of Iona's dungeon was okay. I'm not so much interested in gathering loot and killing everything, just doing quests and some exploration. Some quests don't require killing everything and most NPCs you don't need to fight.
I made the mistake of getting the Thieves Guild to help me get into the castle treasure room next, I should have done some more quests around Verdistis and the Poor Quarter first to get more experience. The traps in the treasure room were a nightmare, I had Evade Trap level 3 by the time I got there and it wasn't anywhere near enough, numerous traps would one hit me, I kept having to reload and use potions but persevered through it eventually. Then the council chamber was also painful. I was level 14 while there and the Succubus or her Death Knight's lightening could sometimes one hit me though usually it took two. Mummy's give a lot of experience here though so by taking them individually I was able to get to level 16, got Aura of Command to steal her Death Knight. Then every time I took a hit I was able to use Zandalor to heal me so was able to take her.
I would expect to get a level up for each of the other 6 council members not so could be between level 22 and 25 before I become the Divine One. But I'm not sure some of the Black Ring will be easily defeated around level 30. Still, my impressions so far is that this game probably could be played without killing everything Diablo style, just do quests and kill when necessary. We'll see though.
