Temple Ruins is fairly easy, actually. If you want to save the "Shadow Dragon" for later, you can...actually, you can take her down with the right strategy and defensive spells, even in chapter 2: great XP and some good items as well, including scales that can be made into a b****ing armor that your Ranger can wear and still use Stealth.
It took me a couple of reloads, but my 9th-11th level party took down Thax'llsillyia (sp?) and I didn't have to resurrect anyone. Again, it depends on party makeup; with a berserk as my main character wielding Lilarcor and High Mastery in 2-handed swords, it was pretty much a cakewalk.
I try to do as many side quests early on to get the equipment I need before moving on to Chap 3.
