No information about your team comp or your difficulty setting.
Here's some basic tips to help you in life:
1. When someone is in dialogue, you can buff them and they won't expire.
2. Barrels and other debris can be moved; easy to cheese with.
3. Craft skillbooks by combining elements; powerful abilities that can be unlocked before even leaving the fort.
Sounds like poor party composition to me. At level 7, you should have almost no problems at all. If you haven't yet, go save Gareth at the castle and then talk to 'Leya' at Amadia's sanctuary; she removes your collars.
