ematte: Thanks for the info. About the Oozes. I'm just trying to figure out how to get past them in the Dragoon Caverns. I thought of using the jump spell but don't know where to get it.
I remember having a similar problem, deciding I needed to come back when I was more powerful, and then totally forgetting about it until the end of the game, when I was already way too good to get any benefit out of it. I think the main issue is that one doesn't have good enough offensive magic when one first visits the Dragoon Caverns. Once you get some better spells, consider coming back and duking it out with the slimes. And as others have said, weapons enchanted with elemental damage will help, because your non-spellcasters can also do damage.
I'm not sure if the Jump spell would work... probably better to just use damaging spells, once you find some better ones.