these guards are jokes. im a 51 sk soloing them with pet (24) and i can take down five one right after another and get a good rotation in without any buffs on. well worth the xp and the faction hit is only from that small camp of gnomes in that little room as far as i can tell. so you will only be kos to them if you kill them like 15 to 20 or so times. (i think thats how long it took) gl and happy hunting ;p