I was talking to one of the Ironworks people in the initial zone to progress the quest line when a mob someone had dragged into the camp attacked me and interrupted the dialogue, forcing me to fight the thing and then restart the conversation with the quest NPC.

So no, not even the opening zone is truly safe, at least not if you are speaking to one of the NPC's near the exit/entrance to the camp.

I was not amused by that incident.