I'm dying often with a party of level 16 (K T C S) with the Sorcerer(S) and Thief(T) promotion quests. I'm talking about golem parts and the quest to steal a vase, and will spoil details below.

I'm trying to reach the western island in Avlee with (for me) the last golem part. There's many water elemental guarding the area, and they pelt my party despite +40 defense to water magic. If I enter turn-based mode, my sorcerer is sure to get knocked out by all the incoming attacks. The instant that happens, my party goes from water walking to water drowning. I plan to make some more attempts in real-time mode (no turns) to run to the part. Arrows do very little damage, so I'm not looking forward to the alternative of killing dozens of water elemental with bow and arrow in real time combat. What level should my party (K T C S) be for this? Any special equipment needed?

My Thief is also suffering. I enter Lord Markham's Manor, and open the door I shouldn't. Behind the door are two Master of the Sword, and neither real-time nor turn-based let me get around them. I can reach the vase, but a few more masters of the sword (from the other room) pour in before I can make my escape. They are tough, and they crowd my escape route. I suppose it's time to use my only invisibility scroll, but that will only last until my thief grabs the vase - and I lack a second scroll. For the Thief quest, what is the right level of party? Do I just need more invisibility scrolls to make it work?

Note spoilers are fine here. I've lost most of my party at least twice in each of these quests, so I'm just looking for the way out.

I didn't have problems with golem quest at all. What concerns Lord Markham's Manor - it is mostly luck-based mission at this point. Save, attempt to take vase and run out fast. Failed? Reload. Eventually you will escape from Manor (most likely with some dead characters).

if you have Knight and want to choose Light Side, you should look into promoting him first. His promotion requires beating Arena 5 times on Knight level, it becomes gradually harder with higher level. It is the only promotion quest which might cause a very serious problems later on.

Water Elemental raid:
-I think you should be able to do this one at your current level. If your sorcerer just can't seem to survive, then grab a scroll of water walk from somewhere and use that.
-First, make sure to activate the Water Resistance pedestal and drink from the well that provides a temporary buff to your water resistance. Both are in the town in the Avlee area and I think they can crank your resistance up to around 70.
-My suggestion is to not even try to fight them. Have your thief (he is the disarmer, right?) as the active character, and run through the crowd for the chest(s)dw3d. They'll tend to scatter away from you, so you shouldn't get hemmed in. The trick is to keep moving, and try to run in lines that aren't straight toward or away from any of them. You want to avoid taking hits as much as possible. When you've got the chest contents, do the same thing to get out (run semi-erratically in lines that aren't straight toward/away from the elementals). A few tries at this should get the goods, assuming the chest's trap doesn't blow up in your face and kill your sorcerer. Be caeful about weaving back and forth randomly; there are enough monsters that you might weave back into a shot.
-If you are able to multi-task, then have your cleric casting heal when his/her turn comes up (with preference on healing the Cleric, then the sorcerer, then the thief). Don't stop running while doing this. You can use tab to shift which character is active, and 'S' is the 'Cast Spell' hotkey (set your quick spell in the spell book).
-If you decide you simply must fight, then stay at a long distance, and fight in real time. Shoot off some arrows (use the 'A' key, don't worry about trying to manually target) while dodging the return fire. This will be tedious and time consuming, especially at your level. Depending on how much mana you have for water walk, it should be possible to do, just not very efficient.

Markham Manor:
-Do the quest for Parson in Erathia first (deliver the letter and get the feather quill from Markham). The throne room will lock after you start the raid, and I don't remember how long it takes to unlock. This is just a fetch quest, so make the quest item exchange before starting your raid.
-Note: Invisibility can NOT be cast unless your enemy detector is green. Recasting invisibility to get out won't work.
-You've got several guards to deal with, and these guys do not screw around. The advantages are pretty much all in their court. They are melee, self-buff, hit hard, hit fast, and the area is very small. This is not going to be fun at level 16, no matter how you look at it.
-Use all of the pedestals in the Tatalia town areas. I think you can get Heroism, Stone Skin, and Day of the Gods. Look in the town up in the snow, and I think DotG is next to the Temple in the swamp town.
-My solution is usually to kill the two guards in the first room before opening the doors. You might have better luck with my exploit though, since level 16 might not have enough fire power to deal with them in a straight fight.
-My exploit for dealing with the guards: In the room to the right, with the bed, you can get the guards on one side of the bed while you cower in the corner of the room on the other side. You can just barely reach them to attack with melee weapons while they can't reach you. Lead them into the room, jump on the bed, and walk off the other side. It may take a few tries, but it is doable. If, of course, they come around the bed, you're probably boned. Save before starting the raid, and save often (in a different slot!) while wearing the enemies down. This is nothing but cheese; if you don't like cheese, then level up (or run for the vase and run out).
-There is a secret treasury in Markham's Manor, but the chests are trapped at a high difficulty and with a lot of damage. You may need to sleep after triggering each one. The loot is pretty good, though. It is in the same room with the bed (that I use for the exploit).
-The vase is also trapped, as you may have seen. That trap also hurts. I prefer to deal with the guards before grabbing it.

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Sarisio makes an excellent point about the Knight Light-side promotion quest. If you are planning to go light side, grab those 5 Knight arena victories asap (note: it has to be Knight level, Lord doesn't count). Grab one of the henchmen that reduces the stable's travel time, and you can blow through it in about 4-5 weeks game time (the henchman should let you be back in town by Saturday, as opposed to Monday).

My answer is similar to Bookwyrm627. But I do try to entice a few Water Elements away from the Island and do them in while they are separated from the main group. I do this from the Elves Isle where there are Grand Masters. Either a potion or article that prevents drowning helps when you get hit bad. It takes a full day sometimes to do the enemy in one or two at a time and your party is "young". Getting deadly hits is inevitable. Having heal potions ready for the sorcerer is a must.

Once I open a "doorway" from the elves' safe isle to the isle that has the missing part, I'll run for it.

Or wait for an invisibility or fly scroll. Invisibility is self explanatory. Fly works because you can avoid most hits with ducking and weaving. Monsters shoot straight which means up and down in flight is useful for avoiding their shots. (Your heroes' shots are ballistic which is a great advantage. )

Bob

MacAilpin - Invisibility is a good idea for the golem chest, although my party is flawed - I have just one scroll. Is the golem part lying on the ground, or actually in the chest? If I need to open the chest, there goes invisibility. But it's still a good idea - it's easier to run away dodging than dodge incoming shots.
EDIT: Opening a chest does not break invisibility! Snuck in and out under invisibility.

Sarisio - I'd rather not save/reload to solve quests. But I'll seek out the Arena quest sooner rather than later, since I think I'm going Light side this run through.

Bookwyrm627 - I've already completed the quest with the quill for the collector. The guards sound trickier, but I like the idea of killing the two "lobby guards" first. I had a great idea that didn't play out - I tried to cast "jump" to get over the guards that block my way. But there just isn't enough room - even vertically. Like save/reload, I'd like to avoid killing the guards from the safety of the bed... but it may come down to that.

I like the idea of killing off the guards gradually. I can't kill off 5 masters/initiates of the sword... but I might be able to kill one and return later after getting healed. My Knight has plate mastery (1/2 damage) and much higher health than the rest of the party, so hopefully he can finish one opponent before he's finished. I'll essentially need to kill the first two guards, and fight with my back to the door. Not very thief-like, but oh well.

Thanks for the advice! And also recommendation to get the Arena quest out of the way soon. I just encountered Ancient Wyverns and am realizing how much I'm going to value "protection from magic".

Actually, I think your party is subject to the same straight shooting as monsters. Your shots may appear to curve when you rise and fall, but I think that is just an artifact of the camera. The monsters just don't ever try to evade in the z-axis, so they won't fly out of the way like you can (even in turn based mode). Every golem part is in a chest. However, opening a chest doesn't break invisibility (now I see you've already said that). Come to think of it, picking up Markham's vase shouldn't break it either; did you try grabbing it while invisible? If it broke, check whether someone bumped into you right around the time you grabbed it. Invisibility would greatly simplify the process of "stealing" the vase.

Unfortunately, the 'Initiate/Master/other dude of the Sword' are going to be rough. Fighting right next to the exit is a good idea, but finishing off anyone may be problematic unless you can get some of them stuck on corners somewhere. opening either door opens both, iirc, so after the first two you'll need to kill them fast to escape. Good luck!

Protection From Magic is the reason I have a hard time leaving behind a Cleric. Llyod's Beacon is the biggest reason I want a Sorcerer (as opposed to a Druid).

Optical Illusion. strong possibility. Now I may have to start up a game to see if you are right. LOL

Bookwyrm627 - Yeah, agreed on shots firing in a line. When I stand in one place, they always travel straight. Arrow flight paths only look curved when my party is moving.
macAilpin - Think back to fighting archers, gogs or elementals. If you anticipate when they stop, your shots hit. If they start moving again, the shots miss. So I think it's straight line shots, and the enemy needs to be still to get hit.

So good news on the Thief quest! I walked in with no spells running and nearly killed off an Initiate of the Sword. Raise dead is cheap at that temple - or maybe my party is getting the volume discount. ;) I stumbled upon a great approach - I read a "paralyze" scroll and froze one of the Masters of the Sword. The regular guards were easy, and while realizing there's only one Master of the Sword left - I just went for the vase and made my way back. One Master of the Sword frozen, the other chasing my party but unable to block our path. I'll have to return later for the treasure in the other room.

So now I'm headed to the Nighton tunnels, and hopefully to Water Magic master training. The joy of town portal awaits - thanks for the pointers about these two quests.

I have another option for the Vase quest, if you don't care about dying, that is. Deposit all your money in the bank, and remove all gear so it doesn't break. Run in take the vase and die. You'll lose nothing and you'll still have the vase. You will lose your NPCs though but their easily replaced.

I always try to make it out alive, but will resort to this method as a last resort.

I thought about mentioning the status spells as a possibility, but I think some of them are bugged. Good call on the Paralyze!

Alienguy pointed out another possible strategy. I don't care for it since I prefer to keep my death count at zero if possible, but that strategy could work (if you don't get stuck between guys).

-Nighon: Hope you like running. The first section, outside of Dwarf City, isn't too bad. The second section is pretty rough though. Town Portal is worth it, however.

For the golem quest, it is fairly trivial if you hire a Wind Master. They can cast the Fly spell for you once per day, which will make swooping in on the golem chests very easy. The only other thing you need to watch out for is the traps on the chests.

Wind Masters are randomly available for hire in Avlee - just right click on some of the elf citizens wandering around to find one (and you can also save / reload to regenerate their job title)

*blinks* Well, yeah, sure. If you want to take the easy way out. (...why didn't I think of that?)

Expensive, but effective.

You can't turn in the quest yet, but you CAN go ahead and collect the victories needed to complete it. Get those 5 Knight arena victories. When you do go light side, you can just talk to her, get the quest, then turn in the quest without ever leaving her hut.

Also, you get one more quest in the War section of the game before being offered the Light/Dark choice. It triggers when you go to Tularean Forest again, but it is on a timer. Iirc, it takes 2-4 months after you complete/skip the rescue/plans quests. Look for a third option.

I think it might take another month before the choice quest becomes available, after you've completed/skipped the last quest I just mentioned.

I got the "fighting in the forest" quest for the artifact horn, and turned it over to the judge. I guess the horn was on the judge's bucket list, since he died weeks later. :) I've now picked the path of light, gone through the halls of Mist (very annoying, even with invisibility).

Very good advice... for next time, though, given my party is level 34 now. Couldn't resist the Priest of the Light quest, enabling Grandmaster merchant for my Cleric. I've visited Grandmaster of body magic, which will help enormously against instant death.

At level 34, can the arena monsters get any nastier?

My Priest of the Light has GM body magic, allowing "protection from death". I'm thinking for my situation it might make sense to learn "light" magic first, and then visit the arena. I've got ~3 levels of skill points saved, having gone from level 31 to 34 in one visit. Having expert or master "light magic" for two characters might tilt the balance on those arena battles.