I've only managed to start the Halls of insanity for a bit - took me awhile to stay more than 1 minute in the dungeon with the dire mini-dragon at the entrance! I wasn't able to take on one of these for quite some time.

I'm finding it somewhat of a struggle but have persevered with slowly killing off the dastardly evil eyes and psygnosis looking guardians who suck down your spell points. I found the blue lion you mentioned and have only used it once at this stage, for my sorceror. Whilst its true enough that you don't need a ninja or a robber - buying all these skills doesn't elevate the thievery skill in the way that I'd hoped, so my highest thief ability (my ninja) is still only at 39. Is there any way to raise this more quickly than just by level advancement? Some item perhaps?

(In general,I won't be asking for spoilers as much as possible!)

I've found both the temporary level fountain in B1 and the nice little shack which gives extra spell points in A2, which I've been Lloyd's Beaconing too and from.

Think I might head to see Tumult next and see if I can find where to hand in these artifacts of neutrality stored up in my bags...