I have heard some people talk about entering an area and seeing impossibly stronger monsters destroy their party if they are below minimum level for that area. I don't recall seeing this, tho.

My party is lev 9. After clearing out most of the Trynton Zoo here comes 3 Willow Elders (lev 10, can almost handle them one-on-one) and a lev 13 Wood Spirit (lev 13). I tried letting the Trynnie Champions wipe them out but they ended up dead, as did the party. I tried a few ways to get to them but the best I could do is to outlast them until they retreated. If I got too close I would have at least one dead so I relied entirely on Trynnies, hiding, healing, guardian angel and magic potions. Too early to have Element Shield with this party. Perhaps Faerie parties may get as high as lev 13 here (?), but a lev 7 crush from a critter with 430 HP certainly takes the wind out of your sails.

Oh, I've definitely seen that one, which is why I try to at least have magic screen before going to Trynton. Those Wood Spirits are a bit of a rarity, but when they pop up, just about all you can do is try to outrun them and get someplace where you can camp till something more manageable replaces them. At least Oak Guardians in the Pagoda Armoury can be lured into the no-magic room, but if you find anything like them spawning elsewhere, you can only hope you're not playing Iron Man!

FYI, a follow up - The Trynnies killed one Elder in first battle. The rest of wood guys left towards the ladder near Rattkin area. After doing the 7th bough area (those woodish guys were only lev 8) I could get through to Rattkin area. The big guys had left. When I came back after disposing of Breeders, there was one Elder left and the Spirit. (It is not good to sleep after killing breeders to avoid the nastier rattkins. So it was natural these guys were still hanging). Managed to kill Spirit and Elder with help from new Champions. I can't imagine playing this game on Ironman. I'd rather do a solo ranger or whatever.

One important rule for ironman:
If in doubt, run away.

Ironman parties are very hard if you don't have a mage. Early element shield and missile shield are very important.