I shall answer your first question. I assume, by the kind of questions yor have asked that you are familiar with the RPG terminology.
Get a good weapon asap. This makes "killing monsters" part of the game really easy. Then you can focus more on quest solving. Kill monsters first and solve quests later. This will give you more exp which translates to more levels. I kill all the hostile monsters in the area before even starting to talk about quests. Use a ranged character and a melee warrior.
Have Fun <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/XmasJump.gif" alt="" />
