things are getting mighty heated in here a bit o.o while I understand this game might seem hard to most (I will admit when I first played in alpha.. I was like "where am I supposed to go?" BUT half the fun of the game is exploring around.)
For the gate issue. My guards did not say anything about level..They did however send another warning. That beyond this gate lies something..I forgot. but it was clear to me "hey this might be hard"
Difficulty! This is not meant to insult, but try easy mode first so you can learn the game. then tackle it on Normal~ and then hard ^_^
I got a third party member and that made the game far easier to play. The NPC in the tavern for the longest time was a giant grey rectangle that took out the whole corner of the tavern. I didn't even know the Duke was there as that grey box covered all the NPC's and decorations like tables. After taking her into the basement of the tavern the glitch corrected itself and she isn't a giant grey box. This was the only area of the game I had that thus far and I just killed that level 8 skeleton boss in the basement of the church.
As for the heated argument, there is just a single troll that will get kicked eventually, nothing to worry about. I appreciate your concern though

. I'm still playing the game on normal mode btw.