Getting Killed! Help!

I am 14th level, I have an AC of 30 and I use a magical sword. I have Virgil and the dwarf as followers. There are 2 battles which I simply cannot win. One is the dark elves in the ruins and the other is the boil. I get killed INSTANTLY if I try to fight these guys. I use spells, arrows, grenades, etc. I have roughly 1 to 1 1/2 seconds before I'm toast. WHY is this so hard? I am of comparable level (above).

The other issue is that I have no pickpocket ability so I can't do any of the Thieves underground quests in Tarant. You cannot brerak open the safe in the hall of records. Help!

 

I wouldn't recommend going into the Boil until you're at least Level 18 or have some better fighters as followers (Dog, or some ogres). Those gangsters are rough. There's no real need to be in the boil now anyway, so just wander around a while and come back to the boil later! The elves... you should be able to take them. If I encounter a tough enemy, I like to provoke them from a distance if possible. Concentrate on the leader, he's the strongest. Another strategy that works well for tough enemies is to try and take them out one at a time. I noticed this works particularly well for D'ak Tan's men in Black Root. If you wait behind one of the tents away from D'ak Tan, his men will walk by on patrol. This way you can take them out one or two at a time! Maybe this can work for the elves too!

 

Switch to turn based combat, even if its for only this one battle. And like the previous man said, there really is no reason to go into the Boil. But, if you have to and you get in trouble, run back to the 4 guards that guard the edge of the boil.

 

You're seeking trouble if you enter the Boil at lvl 14. The boil is like a place filled with gangsters. Not recommanded until you reach near lvl 30.

 

Anyway the boil is somewhere you will go to at later part of the game.

 

To break into the safe in the hall of records, use a Fate Point to pickpocket the dude whose name I can't remember. He's just outside the room with the safe.
Take his key and open the safe. Take the map of the sewers to Thaddeus Mynor. Now you're a member of the Thieve's Guild, and you'll be offered the opportunity to learn Pickpocketing by the thieves of Tarant.

 

Speaking of the boil...
How do you get in there?
They just tell me to get the h3ck out of there before they´ll put me there...

Does the spell before teleportation work?
(Can´t remember the name, but it works like teleport but you dont go to the worldmap)
And if so, will my party get there aswell?