Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure/Prologue: The Sudden Encounter

Cornet is awakened from a recurring dream. Kururu tells her that Grandpa was calling her. The game opens in Cornet's bedroom, and Cornet has 100 Inotium, 4 Healing Candy, 2 Heal Cocoa, 1 Cat's Paw, and 1 Fighter's Charm. Kururu should equip the Cat's Paw and Fighter's Charm (or Cornet should equip the Fighter's Charm and Kururu the Cat's Paw).

Head downstairs to find out why Grandpa was calling. He found a puppet in the mailbox. The puppet says her name is Sharte, and she is looking for her sister Terra. Agree to play the horn and let Sharte join the party in order to accept the quest. Grandpa asks you to retrieve some Red Itonium from the forest while you're out. Add Sharte to the party (in the Order menu).

Head out to the village. Talk to everyone along the way, and remember to check the mailbox when you come and go. There are a lot of hidden side quests in the game, and they're easy to miss if you don't talk to the right person at the right time.

Pick up some Inotium at the houses in the top-left and bottom-right portions of the village, and visit the store in the top-center/right portion of the village. Once you've talked to everyone and equipped whatever items you'd like, head out of Orange Village (via the southern path). Select Wonder Woods on the map to continue.

Wonder Woods
Walk off the screen to the left (deeper into the woods) and a short cut-scene will start, followed by the first battle. Two toads appear, but the fight should be fairly easy, resulting in receiving the party receiving 12 Inotium and 16 Experience. This is followed by another cut-scene and a musical number (if you decide to play the song for Kururu).

The Red Inotium will be found in the top-left corner of the woods. Myao shows up and demands that you turn over the Inotium. When you refuse to do so, she sends her cats to punish you. This is the first mini-boss fight, so it should take 2 or 3 times as long as fighting a regular enemy. At level 2 with Cornet focused on using Love Horn and Horn to power up and heal the puppets, and the puppets focused on attacking the cats, it should take 1 round of attacks from both puppets to take down each of the three cats. This battle gives 30 experience and 24 inotium.

Myao is not pleased that you beat up her cats. She summons a dragon to take out Cornet and her band of puppets. The scene with the dragon plays itself out and you regain control back in Cornet's bedroom with Kururu trying to cheer her up.

Wonder Woods revisited
At this point in the game you can wander around and level up by taking on the random encounters in this area. There's also a cave in the southwestern portion of the map that has more to offer. The area in the northwest where Myao previously appeared is now empty except for random enemies.

Orange Village revisited
Talk to Grandpa to finish the Red Inotium quest. Return to the village and talk to everyone again, then fill up on any items you'd like from the shop. It's probably a good idea to return to the church and visit the statue to restore HP & MP before going further, as well.

At this point you can either return to the woods to level up, or go to Mothergreen to continue the main story line.

Mothergreen

 * bottom-right house: Medi Candy, 56 Inotium
 * next house over: Wake Candy
 * 2nd house up on the left: Medi Cocoa, Toy Egg
 * next house over (Tailor's house): Medi Candy, Antidote Chips
 * top-left house: Prince Ferdinand Fan-club, Medi Cocoa

The Restaurant on the Lake (top-right): Talk to one of the people inside to continue the story with another cut-scene that triggers when you leave the restaurant. At this point Etoile Rosenqueen is introduced to the story.

Second house up on the left: A woman will ask you if you would take the toy egg from her. When you leave the house, the toy egg begins to talk. Kid asks to join the party, and he wants help finding his two brothers.

Sign up to receive the Prince Ferdinand fan club newsletter in the house on the top-left. The newsletter will arrive occasionally in the mailbox at Grandpa's house.

At this point the Ancient Forest and Drawbridge are unlocked.