OK; I think I see what I was doing wrong; I need to make for the levers before the general is damaged enough to go himself. I may need to start at an earlier save too - I saved well into the fight when he was down to about 30% - too many summons about at that point.
About your identity theft comment (made some 5.5 years ago
) - I find this guy an improvement over the monk who served the dark priest at the temple in BD. That guy reminded me of Devilous in the old Hercules cartoon (likely before your time and perhaps never shown up north). The general is big and bad while the monk is - there.