Wow, thank you for all the responses. I actually stayed up too late last night playing this character heh, but it was fun.
Sliced Peaches: You were right, I ended up being able to ring the gong at level 10, evening of the 8th day. And it looks like my idea of skipping the two patients and the pyramids in Aleroth wouldn't have helped me anyway, since I ended up with level 10 + 22,364 xp, which in itself is enough to bring a character up to level 4. In fact at around 22k each, Josie's dwarves were each enough to bring a character to lvl 4.
I actually did ring the gong and got my free point in Spirt Form from the dragon last night, but I arrived in the wasteland relatively broke and ill equipped, and I'll likely gather up a few more items before I go for real. Though the thought did occur to me that I should just try going for it, though even with Shadows, sneaking, ghosting, poison arrows, and scorpions, it would still likely be a challenge at lvl 15 (arriving at Wastelands gave me level 15).
I still want to do the wishing well, I thought I'd use it to get 10 AGI, but 10 STR might be more wise at this point...more on that in a bit.
I've been thinking of what choice pieces of armor I can pick up before I go, I purposely did not look at (ie pass my mouse over) the Dragon Gloves or the Dragon Shield, in case I wanted to get them ID'ed later. Same with the chest piece and helmet in the Council Hall. In fact I think I'd be safe at this point to put two more points in Identify (currently still at lvl 1) then do the Marcus quest to get the point for lvl 4 (usually only available at lvl 13).
I did end up grabbing quite a few items on the fly, and had them identified at a shop later (so the save/load trick is no longer available on those). I can still go after the other charmable ring farily easily, and at least two other good amulets (Dragon Amulet at Abbey and the Holy Amulet)
The real problem I'm going to run into at this point as far as armor goes is my strength. It is only at 25 (maybe 27 now), but I think most of the armor we're talking about has a requirement quite a bit above that. The leggings at Imp Castle sound promising though. But yeah, that leaves me either hoping for something I can wear with a few charm slots, or trying to charm something like an amulet until my STR is high enough. Which can be expensive. Which brings me to my next problem, gold. I know the orc camps can be looted for lots of sellable items, but you can't loot and stay in shadows at the same time, so that would mean leading the hordes away then sneaking back. But it's possible. Also the central guard/watch area has quite a few stealable things.
Usually I try to have my repair skill maxed out to get max value on items, but that's not possible at the moment. In fact I haven't put one point in repair so far. If I recall correctly, the Talking Tree contains a gold resist spirit charm and one random silver, maybe I can get a Silver strength charm there. But still, that only brings me up to around 35 STR.
Twoheadedragon: I may be able to get by with taking out a dragon rider without going up an extra level, I can't be sure until I try. Half the trouble will be luring the Dragon guys out of the room first so I don't have to fight them. Before hand I'll just drink minor elixers until my lowest resistance is around 100, then whack at the rider at my leisure hehe. I figure if I stay just below level 11, it will all be the same, I'll still arrive at Wastelands at 15.
Raze: Yup I think you're right, I did some experimenting in Wastelands and in the infested Orc camps last night, and that sounds about right. You only get the xp if you're in the general vicinity, about the same distance range as where summoned things turn hostile. Which does give me an idea, maybe I could release about 30 scorpions in the middle of Orc Central (luring the chief out first) then teleport away before they can kill anything (or much), wait 5 minutes, then teleport back. I'll have to see if that might work. I did do that last night at level 6, except I didn't teleport away, and went up about 6 levels in 3-4 minutes.
Also thanks for the tip on Mithril Armor, that might be very important to me at this point. I might get lucky and find some Mithril Armor with a few charm slots.
Real quick, here's how things went for me. Entered Stormfist at lvl 3, left Iona's dungeon at 4. Killing the Succubus took me to level 6. The Elven Council quest took me to 9 + about 60% of the way to 10. Croxy bumped me to about 80% to 10, and Geomoe to about 95%. Antx took me right to 10 (I didn't kill anything in the Impworld/bee/wasp area, and skipped the level up bonus, just ran with what loot I could carry). Retrieving the Axe of Stone and getting the Dwarven Council member took me to about 22k past level 10. I found out that you don't have to whack away at Moriendor to progress the scene, just hit the lever and run to the room that he normally runs to, and it will progress from there
Thanks for all the tips guys, I'll hopefully come up with some more good ideas and find some choice items. I'll let you know
