Maintenance for the week of January 6:
• PC/Mac: No maintenance – January 6
• NA megaservers for maintenance – January 8, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 8:00AM EST (13:00 UTC)
• EU megaservers for maintenance – January 8, 9:00 UTC (4:00AM EST) - 13:00 UTC (8:00AM EST)
Sounds like a bug. Try abandoning the quest, logging off for 15 minutes, and trying again. That's usually enough to reset a broken NPC. (The level you do this quest at should not matter.)