Now I'm up to 5 trolls, and the above ground Montero is mostly cleared, I can go anywhere I want. The underground is still fully populated, but I can kite them all.
I found out I left Terkkon while the hero ship was right at the entrance (I hate this "feature"!), so I couldn't go back right now.
Opened up Dersu... but that's didn't do much for me except a few flags and crystals.
I may need to swap out 25 paladins and 3 cyclops for some repair droids if I want to move on.
Spell-wise I got Phantom III and Lightning I, plus I can buy Death Star, but no Time back, Geyser and Resurrection yet.
Skill-wise I have some runes saved up... I can get Training II, Anger I, Transmute II, Magic Light II, Destruction II and Thesis II. Give me 1 more magic rune and I can choose High Magic II as well. Sword of Gladiator is 19 battles away from the 10 might runes reward.
I have no problem with mana (max 69) at the moment; rage (25 max) is only used for digging and mana ball, so that's fine too. I think I should choose Thesis II... since I'm not really using a lot of damage spells. All my mana are used on healing, stoneskin, fear, target, slow, and magic spring, and I don't really have time to cast anything else.
Edit: A breakthrough! With repair droids I went back to a map guard on Verona and got my first Call Colosuss - received 2 red dragons. So my line up is now:
2 Black Dragons
2 Red Dragons
1 EGD
4 Cyclops
5 Trolls
And I'm back in business!