This quest is extremely expensive to take and has the immense risk of losing your entire investment of gold, which is a lot with the extreme rarity of gold on the early levels, in case of a crash. I know that is intentional, since it has been suggested to be changed before.
However, I propose this:
If you lose your Ox - and there are many ways you can lose him, and a few of them are not your own fault (the rare teleport bug, for one, extreme lag spikes another) - you ought to be able to get a second chance on this. Just say the ox came back, or rangers returned him to Mistlocke.
It would hardly affect the balance to give this small concession that will help ward off much frustration.
'Rare' teleport bug? I gave up on this quest after I three times in a row lost the ox after transitioning. It is not worth it.