Hey JR - I'm glad I did a forum search first then for someone with a similar problem.
As far as my game is concerned, I can confirm that the hypothesis I made earlier was correct.
I managed to make it to the castle's surrounding area tonight by approaching CúChoinneach and getting him to join the party. This updates the journal and map, allowing access to the area via the easterly dragon area. I never found Choo' to my liking however (having his portrait ripped from Raistlin from dragonlance and being a silly cleric ranger didn't help) so I dropped him immediately again for Jet'Laya.
I agree with you JR - if this is the only way to get access to the castle, it is most irritatingly inconvenient. I've not taken on any of the new npcs from Darkside, since they all seem to be somewhat lacking in character to me.
But if you've still got your game handy, you could try just getting Cu to join for the map/journal update and boot him like I did. [img]smile.gif[/img] (He's in the area just north of N)
I'm still suffering from an ocassional assertion crash at the moment. Makes the experience a little unstable. Interested to hear how you're dealing with level draining if it happens - I'm tending to buff like crazy and quicksave/reload alot.
Oh - as for you, Kyrvias: [img]graemlins/spam3.gif[/img]