Part 16: Bonus Update 11.5: Maps of Portsmith, Erliquin and Dusk
In answer to a couple of questions in the thread: Magic Herbs are a usable item with 5 charges, with effects equivalent to a First Aid spell. It's good to have a few characters hold on to healing items just in case all your healers are knocked out. Belladonna is a quest item that can be bought in some towns, but since we randomly stumbled across one we may as well hang on to it until we need it. (Most if not all quest items can very rarely be randomly found in treasure chests, which can break quests rather badly -- there's a speedrun on TASvideos that beats the NES version in a few minutes by using luck manipulation to generate a critical item early on.)
Bonus Update 11.5: Maps of Portsmith, Erliquin and Dusk
See what I mean about the hints for Portsmith being a huge spoiler? Portsmith is a pretty terrible place to stay for any length of time unless you've got an all-female party. The cavern underneath it isn't a bad spot for level ~5 parties to gain experience and treasure, though, since there are lots of fixed encounters with orcs and ogres.
Erliquin is annoying to navigate because of all the teleporters, secret passages and invisible barriers. Also, the hintbook isn't kidding about the penalty for stealing, as I'll show in a later update. The town guards are actually a decent way to build up experience once you're strong enough to handle them.
Dusk is an excellent place for mid-level parties to level up, since the huge maze on the west side of town is full of strong random encounters. It's easy to bite off more than you can chew, so go back to the Inn often to save your progress.
Next update, the party will head out in search of the brothers in Portsmith and Algary, and the update after that they'll complete their first major quest. Stay tuned!