Teleporters

[mlangsdorf]

Delving band composition wise, I think having a swashbuckler, martial artist, or thief to act as a melee bodyguard for a scout or other ranged attacker when the attacker is away from the group makes a lot of sense. Not every bunch of delvers has that luxury, but it is definitely subpar tactics for just about any delver to separate themselves from the rest of the group. As was demonstrated by your experience.

Your group has a fast martial artist, so bring him along the next time you go off by yourself to snipe or whatever.

Alternately, spellcasters have a lot of options for summonable bodyguards: the Summon element spells, Create Warrior for illusions, or just conjurable/summonable Allies. Invest points in one of those and you can go off by yourself without needing to convince another player to potentially do nothing for a bit in order to back your scheme. A lot of summonable bodyguards have average or worse Perception, but it's not like a Martial Artist is particularly good at spotting an ambush. You really just want someone/something to provide cover for your back, and even a 125 point minor elemental is sufficient for that.