You see, this is what I like. I failed on it at level 16 despite M.D. gallant efforts. Leveling up to 18 I went back just to see whether I still have the "bullet magnet" code active that the game uses you to punish too low level characters in higher level areas. Yepp, and no cats bother to threaten before attacking either.
I had a literally random player chat me up and do the quest with me and with just one more first-class incident (aka death) and a character change on part of the helper I got my freagging artisan cook at level 18. Very nice game, nice people.
I can tell you that getting hit by one of the flame projectiles from the Drakes is a mortifying experience for a level 18 light armour bearer. I still don't know how I survived that, must have been right when some food boost kicked in.