Dragon Warrior II/Midenhall

Beginning your quest
After the tragic death of the Moonbrooke soldier, your father the king wastes no time. He departs the throne room immediately and asks you to follow him. You may talk to the occupants of the throne room, and then you must descend the stairs to the floor below. There, your father will assign you with an important task. There are other of the line of Erdrick from which you have descended. You must go out and seek their help in order to prevent the grave catastrophe of Hargon completing his mission and enslaving the world with his demonic forces. The first place that you should seek out one of your relatives is the Kingdom of Cannock, which lies northwest of Midenhall (which is known as Lorasia in the Japanese and Game Boy Color versions of the game.) Before you leave, the king provides you with a treasure chest which you must SEARCH in order to open. Inside, you will find money and a Copper Sword. Laying claim to the sword is not enough to increase your offensive capability. You must take the time to Equip the sword in order to fully utilize it. Do so before leaving the castle.

Midenhall Castle
Midenhall Castle is broken up into three sections. The center section is the narrow walkway which leads to the stairs that climb up to the throne room. In this throne room, your father awaits for your good word, and will record the events of your journey in order to save your game.

The right wing of the castle is mysterious, and cannot properly be explored until you've collected at least one key. The left wing of the castle is a little more useful, with occupants of the castle bustling about and waiting for the chance to impart their knowledge to you before you leave for your journey. Be sure to talk to everyone that you possibly can.

In the middle of the left wing, an old man stands just beyond a bridge which leads to a special object known as a travelers gate. This particular gate, however interesting it may appear, simply leads you to an island of no significance. Across the way, you can see a town, but you have no means of accessing it, so you can only return.

Just outside the castle, you can find an inn and a shop. The inn charges 4GP per person, and will fully restore every characters hit points and magic points. The shop sells the Medical Herb and the Antidote Herb. In the remix versions of the game, it also sells a Leather Shield.

Journey forth
Your only objective at first is to reach Cannock Castle and team up with a fellow descendant of Erdrick. But it may be worth your while to slowly explore the region around Midenhall Castle. While doing so, you are likely to encounter Slimes, Big Slugs, Iron Ants. Naturally, these are the weakest enemies in the entire game, but they will serve as good practice while you level up the Prince of Midenhall. You should attempt to get him to level 3 before journeying very far from the castle (and purchase the Leather Shield if you are playing a remix version.)

A bit farther from the castle, you will begin to encounter tougher enemies, such as Drakees, Wild Mice, and Ghost Mice. These enemies are capable of doing a lot more damage to you, but in return, they provide a little more experience points and gold pieces. The most northern and eastern edges of the continent are home to poisonous Babbles, and nuisance Healers who go out of their way to restore life to enemies which you attack. Be sure to target Healers first in battle.

The map to the right shows the area to the south of Midenhall Castle. It is a fairly safe place to explore and earn experience points. If you are either strong or brave, you may wish to venture to the monolith at the southern tip of the Lorasian continent. There you will find a small monolith in the middle of the sandy peninsula. A man waits there by a fire to inform all who visit about keys. He will tell you that different keys can open different doors, and the first key can be sought inside the cave by a lake.

This is also a good time to point out that you are far more likely to be attacked while traversing the hills. The rugged terrain will slow you down and make you more susceptible to enemy encounters. If you're not looking to get into a fight, stick to the flat open plains.

Leftwyne Town
What Leftwyne lacks in class it makes up for in utility. Leftwyne is home to the first weapons shop that you will frequent in the beginning of the game. You must learn which weapons and armor can be equipped on each player. If you attempt to buy something for a player which that player cannot utilize, the shop keeper will ask to see if you are sure of your decision. Trust the shop keeper, he knows what he is talking about, and it may save you from making a costly mistake. Of course, if you do end up with a piece of equipment that you cannot use, or no longer have any need for, you can always sell it at a depreciated price.

Leftwyne also has an item shop (which has been boosted with extra items in the remix version), an inn which is only 2 gold pieces more expensive per head than the inn at Midenhall, and a temple at which you may detoxify, uncurse, or revive a fallen character from the dead. Since you have no companions yet, you will not be able to carry the corpse of a fallen comrade to the temple just yet, but in the future, you will be able to make use of this service as long as at least one party member survives. Leftwyne also has a building whose entrance is blocked by a Silver Door, so you'll have to wait until later to explore it.

Leftwyne should be your base of operations as you attempt to save up enough gold for far more powerful equipment, and before you set off to the north for the kingdom of Cannock. It will take you a lot of time and effort before you are able to reach the ultimate goal of outfitting the Prince of Midenhall with Chain Main and a Chain Sickle.