It seems bizarre, but the only "traveling encounters" I ever have now are packs of Ettercaps, or packs of Wyverns and Giant Spiders.
And every time I see the Wyverns, I breathe a sigh of relief.

I can't seem to get through one of these Ettercap battles without losing someone, usually to a combination of being stuck in a web and being poisoned.

Wyverns give me no trouble at all, oddly enough.

My levels are 5-6.

Also, while I'm thinking about it, where can I get a Fireball scroll for Dynaheir? The mage in High Hedge has Flame Arrow, but Flame Arrow ain't Fireball. Although presently, I'm finding Haste more useful than Fireball might be.

Use a thief to disarm the traps before you set them off, there are a lot of them! Have your thief hide in shadows until you get to the trap, so you don't get killed. I thought this was one of the hardest areas in BG ;) Don't know about the fireball scroll, you might have to wait untill you get to Baldurs Gate.

You are in the Cloakwoods right? I always hate when I get Two Wyverns, 3 Ettercaps and 2 Giant spiders there. The Ettercaps alone are reletivly simple if you divide up your guys so that there are 2 per Ettercap. Gang up your mages and one archer on one, your strongest fighter on one, and the other two characters on the last one. As soon as one goes down get your guy over quick to the closest one. Have someone ready with Slow Poison. That should take care of it. I always got them in packs of three, so I'm not sure what to do if you get more than that.

As for your scroll of fireball, you're out of luck as far as a scroll goes, but... you can get a Wand of Fireball at the farm North of The Friendly Arm Inn(the one with all the Ankhegs. It's in the Ankheg lair in the middle of the map. It's just a big hole in the ground.)

Hope that helps

Is there not a fireball scroll sitting around the bandit camp somewhere?

There is a fireball scroll in the bandit camp.

There is one in the bandit camp. IIRC its in one of the first huts you come across while going north, just to the side a bit of where the guy with the hammer is. I have fond memories of that scroll... :evil: