Dungeon Magic: Sword of the Elements/Granville area

Starting town
The game starts in the town of Granville (you will learn the name very soon, after talking to the king).

Try and talk to every inhabitant. An old man gives you a compass. This is extremely important for orientation. Note that, unlike real compasses, this one points the direction you are facing.

Women (dressed in yellow) suggest to become a wizard apprentice. Faerie magic could be a good choice for two reasons: (1) most of its spells cost zero points, and you start with 12 HP only; (2) the spells are essential for orientation and early acquaintance to the game. The faerie wizard resides in the south of town, at the end of a corridor.

Men and girls (dressed in white) suggest to see the king, who lives in the castle to the north. Locate the north gate of town, and exit.

Back in Granville
With the money (and the short sword) gifted by the king, it is time to purchase better armor in Granville. Skip the equipment that can be found for free. Leave town and fight enemies to raise money.

In the table below, default sorting is by price.

Grinding enemies for experience and treasure
Old school games like this require a significant amount of early grinding, that is actually useful to learn and practice combat tactics.

Level Zero bonus
First and foremost: keep track of how many times you stay at the inn. Every 16 "nights", enemies get slightly stronger (+1 to attack and defence). You want to level up before they do.

Then, let us get about the level 0 bonus. As long as you are at level 0, all enemies in the area around Granville have their power and defence halved. With minimal armor improvements, you will become impervious to their attacks. As soon as you level up (by talking again to the master wizard you chose), this bonus will be lost. You want to level up as late as possible.

Also remember that combat makes you weary: you lose 1 point of defence every 4 enemies killed, and 1 point of attack power every 8 kills.

There are 8 snakes and 3 scorpions in Granville area. Check the map (faerie spell 2.2): the weaker snakes are in the open area, or "grasslands"; the tougher scorpions are in the labyrinthine "forest".

Grinding strategy:
 * 1) Leave Granville and fight snakes only; practice dodging their attacks.
 * 2) When you defeated all 8 snakes, you can collect the southmost chest; it contains one potion.
 * 3) Whenever you defeated all 8 snakes, go back to Granville and spend a night at the inn.
 * 4) As soon as you practiced enough against the snakes, go and get the second chest to the south (by luring away the scorpion); it includes an armor +2 (equip it by pressing in order: start, left/right, select, B); sell your older armor.
 * 5) Now, after every inn stay, try and tackle the scorpions before the snakes (to avoid combat weariness against the stronger enemies). The last chest contains bracers +2; equip them and sell the older ones.
 * 6) As soon as you collected enough gold, purchase a shield.
 * 7) Now that you are well equipped (starting headgear and starting sword; free armor and free bracers; purchased boots and purchased shield), keep fighting enemies in Granville area until you have 190 experience points. This should be quite fast and easy.
 * 8) Go and visit your master wizard, and level up to level 4.

About the table below: your basic attack power (Pow) equals half your current health (HP), plus your level; your basic defence (def) equals twice your level.

Town of Gran
North on Granville, in the same area. It can be a good base when you want to reach the third chest in the forest.

More equipment for free
As soon as you level up, it is time to explore more.

The area just west of Granville has more equipment for free. This are can be divided into three roughly vertical parts: the forest, the coast, and the sea.
 * The forest can be accessed from the south-west of Granville area. Some scorpions and one wasp are lurking in there, but you can collect two more armor parts (just sell them), as well as a good sword. Ignore the dungeon entrance: you are too weak now.
 * The coast can be accessed from the north-west of Granville area. Some snakes and some wasps roam there. One chest contains a headgear +2. To the south is the city of Deirus.
 * The sea contains some enemies, but for the moment it is impossible to interact with them. Just ignore them.

With the equipment you sold, it should be easy to reach the 140 Gold Pieces required to purchase the last piece of equipment, that is the trousers +2.

At this point, you have all the "first tier equipment", and you can seriously start the adventure.