Very new player here. I didn't feel lost so much as completely overwhelmed combat wise. At the very beginning you are under equipped and pretty weak. So for a good portion of the first few hours I was just trying to avoid any fight where I was outnumbered or outmatched.
The problem is that's most of the fights in the beginning... Griff, Houndmaster, Flenser,
I basically fought almost no one until I was already outside of the fort, only fighting those I had to along the way. From there I had more breathing room to level and gear up then back-tracked to fight the things I skipped earlier.
