Thanks for that, Iordarthur.  I feel silly; seeing as most of my party didn't have spells at level 1 I'd not bothered checking when they got level 2 & 3; not only Caleb but also Gyrko and Heric can cast Near Foe!  After learning this I knocked off Ta'Kall straight away (although lost everyone but Mordor and Wythera doing it, so took a while to build up the gold to resurrect everyone).  It's so much easier when you can get him within thumping range in 1 round.

Thanks for the info re Poe, Charles; not sure if I should dump Gyrko or Caleb, actually - I like Gyrko's automap, & he's a lot more useful spells than Caleb, plus I've boosted his Strength so much he matches Caleb in pretty much everything but hp.  Hmm, might be interesting trying out the rest of the game without a Knight :-)  I've managed to make it so far with the occasional poison & insanity; usually carry a serpent staff around which fixed the poison - insanity has happened so rarely (once) I've just tramped back to town & got it cured.

Purple Pete