The only information I found on this quest was to either run from the adds or to eat a death. Since my group didn't like that option, I found it easier to pull the Man-o-War, and kill him while my group member killed off the adds. Repeat for other person. It was easy and I didn't lose my kill count. And there were no deaths.
Sorry forgot to add that if you're grouped at the time, it still counts as a kill loss reverting your kill number to zero. The Man-o-Wars are easy to kill off solo without your mercs help. It's the adds he summons (2) and the mobs surrounding and roaming near them.
Edited, May 8th 2013 2:50pm by MommaQ