Things Betwixt & Majula

Things Betwixt is the tutorial area, but unlike other games in the souls series there is no tutorial boss. Your objective should be to head straight ahead for the house with four NPCs. Entering the house would allow you to choose your character's starting class. When in doubt, choose Knight as your starting class and Healing Wares as your starting gifts. The Healing Wares consist of various types of Lifegems, consumables that gradually restore your HP. Explore the house to collect some treasures, light the Fire Keepers' Dwelling bonfire, and collect the torch from a nearby corpse. Ignore everything else at Things Betwixt for the moment; you will explore the area later in the game when you would have the necessary equipment and items to face the enemies. Head straight for Majula.

1. Things Betwixt and Majula, Dark Souls 2: SotFS

Your immediate objective, upon arriving at Majula, is to exhaust the dialogue of the Emerald Herald to obtain the Estus Flask, another healing item. Unlike the various types of Lifegems, your Estus Flask would refill as soon as you sit at a bonfire. Light The Far Fire bonfire and sit at the bonfire to restore the durability of your equipment.

Explore Majula and collect as many treasures as you can for now. Some treasures are sequestered behind locked doors. Exhaust the dialogues of NPCs you encounter, but don't join any covenant at the moment. You should find Saulden the Crestfallen Warrior sitting in front of a stone monument. Exhaust his dialogue, but don't join his covenant, and learn his gesture. The Victor's Stone is a monument where you can join the Company of Champions covenant. Don't join this covenant at the moment, because its main purpose is to raise the difficulty of the game. Next to the monument are Homeward Bone x 5, which can be used to return your character to the bonfire where you last rested. Sweet Shalquoir is an immortal cat that resides in a hut. Exhaust her dialogue and browse the items she has on sale. You should find a well next to Sweet Shalquoir's hut. Attack the stone on the well and collect the Estus Flask Shard. Bring the Shard to the Emerald Herald and she would upgrade your Estus Flask to allow you an extra use of the Flask. In total, you can upgrade your use of the Estus Flask to a maximum of 12 times, giving you 12 uses of the Flask. Visit the workshop of Maughlin the Armorer, exhaust his dialogue and browse his wares, and explore his workshop to collect some treasures. Next to Maughlin's workshop is the Abandoned Mansion, which remains locked until you obtain the House Key. Blacksmith Lenigrast is sitting outside his locked workshop. He can't upgrade your weapons and armour pieces until you use Lenigrast's Key to unlock his workshop. The key is sold by a merchant at the Forest of Fallen Giants, the next area you should explore.

Notable items:

• Morning Star. An effective early game weapon. Grab this from a corpse.
• Mace. Another hard-hitting early game weapon. Purchase this weapon from Lenigrast.