Hold me back? [ His tone is one of fond scolding. ] You're not. I asked you to come up with a strategy, and using the people around you to compensate for your weaknesses is part of that. Keeping me to your left is a good plan, it frees up your spells and seasonal powers for other things.

So that, with first your seasonal powers and then your pendant spells as backups for shields is sound.

The other thing I'd suggest is that you have me use my otherworld abilities to attack at the outset, and then seasonal powers. That order is in case the poison means there's a hard limit on how much of my natural abilities I can use in there. With you it's a bit more complicated because of your spell slots, so I'd reverse that. But you have to be mindful of your energy level so using the seasonal magic doesn't leave you helpless. In this case you've got me to pull you out, but it's practice for if, sometime, you don't.

How are you on energy? [ Touch energy or otherwise. Be honest, now, he can Tell both when you're lying and how physically drained you are. ]