I'm in the first big town, I went downstairs to find the priests remains. I have myself, the elf mage and the human tank from that town.

 

All the mobs down there are tough as hell and my mage always seems to die first.

 

1. How do you tank in this game?

2. If a mage runs away from an enemy, the enemy attacks him hard and the mage dies, so what am I supposed to do?

 

You may need to come back later - or have him kill it with fire before it kills him.

 

OR maybe you could listen to this great song about playing low level wizard:

 Ok so I am guessing you are dying to shades/shadows ? Those fights are hard early game. So you could consider leveling or getting more people first. For the most part againt enemies who blinkstrike I would say all you really need to do is make sure people are hitting someone else before your mage gets too close to them.

I told someone else this and he said it worked, make a chanter, cast the phantom spell. it stomps everything in the beginning part of the game.

 

otherwise just play better:)

Lol, you are going into the Temple in Gilded Vale. Get at least 2 more members in your party, and pick a formation that allows your tanks to come to the rescue of your mage once the shadows jump to your mages and beat them into submission. Should help. You aren't going to be able to do it with just your mage, and Eder. Eder is supbar, and I am going to guess, as this isn't a "Help me build a Solo POtD Wizard" thread, your mage is too. 

The best advice I can give you is to murder shades before they get to do anything. If you have a druid, a cipher, or another wizard, you can position yourself so that you can immediately AoE them down when they get into range. If you can't burst them, then I'd suggest coming back later.