On my first play through I was pretty much in the same boat as you, I rushed the first area took wrong skills and instead of resetting skills in Battle tower I chose to restart now that I got hang of it. Then everything seemed like a cake walk, with my summonings taking the brunt of attacks and even able to set back and just let them do all the work. With creature and max summon undead I had no issue with this area. Also doing most stuff in previous area help on my level. A few can make the difference in starting this area. But 20 is decent with right skills and gear. You should always be able to handle creatures 1 or two levels higher than you. With summons, you can handle quite a big horde even if you have to start attack and run and let the summons handle battle.
If you want to do it without summons you might need higher level. Keep in mind Drops are level based so... better gear can only be gotten once you are higher level. IF you want best chance at highest level possible when entering fords, mind read first, kill creatures second, then talk to quest givers. The amount of exp you get for quests are not level based whereas monsters are. Shop keepers can change what they sale based on your level also so relook at stock (I never needed to but...)
Also don't be afraid to use potions as I was first time through. You can get almost infinate free potions later in game. (Battle tower alchemy + runners = lots of gold and any ingrediants needed)
