Howdy, all.

I'm having trouble getting past Ta'Kall, and I'm wondering if the
problem is because I have the worse possible combination of characters
in my party.

I also had many problems with the Dragon Prince; died about 10 times
in a row, went around & killed off wandering monsters until I got up a
level & then finally knocked him off after about 3 or 4 more goes.

With Ta'Kall I've died 10 times in a row, wandered around & got up to
level 11 & then came back & died another 10 times in a row, all
without getting close to knocking him off.

I've read message 330 & 341 and noticed the major party differences,
which leads me to believe I just can't win with the party I have.
I've tried different strategies, e.g. concentrate purely on damaging
Ta'Kall vs take out the Dark Knights first & v.v., but nothing seems
to be working.

My party, in order with their hp, normal AC & weapons are:
Caleb (105, -4, Fire Brand* or Deadly Darts*), Gyrko (84, -2, Military
Sabre or Long Spear), Heric (88, -2, Great Cross Bow*), Wythera (88,
4, Great Cross Bow*), Mordor (59, 8, Wand of Attraction or Lightning
Staff) and either the Windmage (to hopefully Treat Party) or Iqtar (to
beat up the Knights) or Fire Elemental (bit of both).

Note that I have gone through the entire game without a
Sorcerer/Necromancer, so can only heal via the occasional wand of
treat player, and getting Heric to cast Materialise so as to afford
the gold to get healed at temples. The other problem, from reading
330 & 341, appears to be that I have only one character doing Near Foe
on Ta'Kall, and that's with a Wand, whose Dex is only higher than Caleb's.

Does anyone think I can beat Ta'Kall with this party, and if so, how?

Thanks.

Peter