ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

I got the level up to the Shaloren Fortress so the rod would bring me straight there. I don't think I ever actually used it though. I quit the game at some point and started playing later. I was exploring the Halfling Ruin when I got the message I should come back to the fortress to unlock the next area of the fortress. Instead of doing that I finished the halfling lair and then tried to use the stairs and got the message "You feel the desire to go back". Then I used the Rod of Recall but it didn't take me straight to the fortress, instead I warped to the entrance of the Halfling Ruin. I then walked back to the portal and entered the fortress that way. It brought me to the staircase from the Lake Temple in front of the Weirdling Beast again! I killed the weirdling beast and the entire area was unexplored again. I explored the area but the butler was gone and the Control Orb won't accept the Rod of Recall anymore. So now I'm stuck. I would upload the save game but it's 30MB.

Shur'Tul fortress, not Shaloren.

I just went into my save folder and deleted the item for the Sher'Tul fortress. This had the same effect as what happened to me earlier. Is there any way to reset the quest progress for the Sher'Tul Fortress quest?

OK here is an attachment showing my quest log. Maybe I never upgraded the rod before I got enough power for the next step in the quest? That could have broken it I guess.

I've had the zone reset happen, generally on a save-crash. As of the other two things... 1) unless you're a specific race, you can't enter that stairway. Everyone else gets that message when attempting it. So that's not a bug; and 2) the reason you're returning to the fortress in the first place is exactly why you ended up outside rather than in the fortress when you attempted to recall.

I wasn't reporting the staircase as a bug, I know you have to be a Yeek, I was just stating what lead to the problem.