Level 16 now.
I killed the Warchief myself last night, good fight.
I have been striking a bit further into the Fort, taking on 4-5 Orcs at a time and then healing, Most I have taken was 8 in a row. Still getting about 15 exp per kill, so slowly levelling (and 12-18 gil per kill, so keeping some money in the process).
I did accedentally attack a guy called HundredScar something, he seemed to be "even" or possibly tough, had to Mighty Strikes to kill him, but he dropped this "Wild Cudgel" which was +20 HP.
The fort, at least in the first couple sections, seems to be a good place for me to hunt and make money, so long as I don;t get to cocky and go up the elevator, or accientally piss off the flamethrowers that are hiding in some of the caves.
I expect I will hit level 17 tonight while Jen watches the ball game. I want to be able to survive that elevator and see what is in that orc village at the top
