This is one of those escort quests, and it's a long one. To complicate matters, Gilthares likes to initiate combat.

Couple of things to note: 1) As with other escort quests, there are occasions where mobs don't attack. They'll just follow along behind for awhile. This can save you the trouble of killing them, however, if the escortee stops (such as for an 'ambush' or to fight a different mob), the ones following will attack. 2) There are no ambushes on this escort quest, there won't be a time where 2 or 3 come out of nowhere. However, you will need to clear away pretty much everything between Northwatch and Ratchet.

If someone has already started the quest, Gilthares will not be sitting in the bottom of the tower as he normally would be doing. If you want to accept this quest and he isn't there, you'll have to wait until the other party finishes the quest before he will respawn and allow you to accept it.

If you want to save yourself a lot of headache, clear out the area around the blacksmith before you accept the quest. He is very agressive, and the icky humans run away at 20% health.

Beware of any Alliance in the area, because they can kill the NPC. I was almost done with the quest (after already having to wait for respawn once after the guy pulled too many mobs) when a damn high-level Human Paladin shows up and one-shots Gilthares. I seriously wanted to punch him in the face IRL.

he is slower than molases on a snowy morning!

'Nice', Bob the newb thought when he saw an exclamation mark appear on his minimap, 'there is a quest over there.' Little did he know about all the pain and suffering that awaited him. After clearing the room and accepting the quest he already got a bad feeling, but being a newb, he ignored it, and waited until Gilthares finally arrived at the 2 mobs our impatient Bob already was killing. However, he didnt expect such a speed from the NPC when Gilthares ran towards the next pack while screaming he was getting attacked and really needed help. After the corpse run he decided to try it a again, with a bit smarter pulls. So he waited for the respawn of the NPC. Which took 2 kills of the respawns of the mobs guarding him in the room. Bob was about to give up on the quest, just as the NPC reappeared. He safely managed to escort Gilthares out of the hold. However, just when passing through the pirate camps a night elf hunter passes by and kills Gilthares. Screaming with frustration, Bob swears to complete the quest. After a few tries he manages to get out of the hold again and decides to quickly get a drink, since Gilthares seams to be cripple. He just returns in time to see Gilthares screaming something about being attacked while running into a pack of 5 pirates to get slaughtered mercilessly. Bob lets out another scream and doesnt touch WoW for the next few days, because of the anger and hate still inside of him after attempting this quest.

Yes, this actually happened to me. No, I'm not called Bob.

Somehow he knows the names of every NPC he comes across.

""Southsea Brigand coming right at us!""
""Tazan heading this way fast! Time for revenge!""

Ugh, one of the worst quests in WoW. I'm adding my vote to not even bother. This quest isn't worth it.

Did this quest at level 80 while trying to gain https://vanillawowdb.com/?achievement=978 The Seeker title and grind to exalted with the Steamwheedle Cartel. I can one shot every mob between the starting point and Ratchet and the quest took exactly 10:06 without Gilthares ever stopping to fight. Consider that for 1950 experience and an absolute best time of 10:06 you're better off grinding mobs or going for other quests then wasting time on this one.

Most ironic quote of the whole quest: ""Almost back to Ratchet! Let's keep up the pace...""

WHAT pace?

My favorite part is when he says, 'Southsea Cannoneer coming right at us!' as he's running towards the mob to punch it in the face.

(and by favorite I mean I would rather paint my house 6 times before doing this quest again.)