...or you can keep entering and leaving the puppy cave until you see a gun on the ground near the entrance (Note this is also a very good way to farm spellbooks early on).
While this is good advice, in the most recent official beta (not tried the bugfix versions people have posted, so I can't confirm if that's changed), I have noticed that repeatedly going up and down stairs drains a small amount of stamina.
On another note, I loaded this up, checked what character I had won with.
L18, Dwarf Farmer.
Starting Class means nothing in this game, ultimately, and race is more of a convenience thing than anything.
They have 90 (47 base) charisma, a massively modified t-rex mount, SIX silver bells armed with various throwing weapons, bows and crossbows.
63 performer skill, 39.879 riding (so close!) and 'only' 18 gardening skill.
Combat wise, they have 19 marksman skill, 22 Firearm skill.
145 DV, 315 PV
Out of all their gear though, their artifact griffon scale coat at 1.0s does make me wonder if I should make a fairy from their 'gene' and claim it (and hit it with a flying scroll if it's still just a tiny bit too heavy.)
The Coat itself boosts:
Performer, Dual Weilding, Magic Capacity, Investing [##]
Tailor, Evasion [#]
On the end game note, I do remember the last boss was a problem with the manner they kept healing, given I hadn't brought means to supress their casting.
This wasn't such an issue however, when I realised that the bosses mana was finite and he was quickly running into cast failure and the related effects with that.
Fortunately, he spawned nothing TOO nasty.
I then came back later and killed the NPC that appeared there in his place for their artifact for my collection.
Oh.
Also, they weilded two shields and relied upon ranged combat entirely to support their pets.
Power gaming like that's probably why I stopped playing.