took me a while to figure out how GameConqueror (the Linux equivalent of CheatEngine) works with ER, but I'll use that to generate runes to at least get back to the level where I was approximately...and then hopefully can catch back up progress-wise a bit faster (exploring, trying to remember where I got all my items from, doing the bosses I had downed etc)
needless to say this means playing offline, thanfully EAC is easily bypassed when you play offline.
either way, it IS a huge bummer. I had Godfrey down to 50% after a few tries and had wanted to continue. but some people lost even more progress than me.