Rejoice, my friends!
The Phoenix has arrived!
You can skip all the Catacombs fights (but be sure to get all those Crystals, though), skip the stack in front of the gate in Dragandor and just run to the Ore Cart. Get Level 4 Daert and let the fun ensue!
I finally got another elusive Phoenix scroll (4 of them!!!!) and am posting the save here. I actually got one with one of my Daert modded games, but never used it since I went Chaos in that game.
There is one note to be careful about with Phoenix, and that is the fact that the Bibliophile skill is bugged. If you pick it first, it will not give you the Crystal rebate. So make sure you pick it second at least, or last if you're really worried. I had forgotten about this and was short on Crystals when I was in front of the Inn and was like - doh! So I had to go back to my Portland save and pick Meditation first.
You should only need 8 and 13 Crystals for Phoenix Level 1 and 2 so if you see 10 and 15, then that means Bibliophile is not working if you picked it. You should find 18 Crystals (the max!) in the Catacombs, plus the 4 you start with gives you 22 with one left after you get Phoenix up to Level 2.
You'll be amazed how easy all the fights are, and you might only have to think a little bit in the Basement with the Snake stack. Otherwise, even the Whitehill fight will be super easy and you can actually relax and honestly reply to the Spirit of Darkness and say:
"Yes, it was not difficult."
/C\/C\