Sounds like you're in Turn-Based mode. Try switching to Real-Time and run for the exit grid when you get into forced encounters where you're too weak to beat them. That assumes you have a decent connection. Really i wish every new player would switch to RT mode and get used to it as soon as possible. You travel faster, you level faster, you don't spend so much time waiting for each person to take a turn, you exit encs faster and the quests suck in TB anyway, and of course all of the PvP fights in towns are in RT and these fights are the funnest things about this game (until more quests are added).
Note: when you get to Navarro, you will find a red object, "the" red object, nearby without having to risk an approach to those guards in PA. If you enter Navarro and you see a red object, any red object, go look at it.