I started the game with a variation of this idea from Rogue Rat, but instead of a legendary farmer’s daughter I dominated a legendary hulking baboon. 53 strength and 60 health seemed like a big jump in power from my water merchant.
It’s going… pretty well so far.
Usually, theres also stairs down somewhere so you dont have to go jumping down mysterious holes (I would not recommend that). If I were you I’d complete the questline in your starting village. You will get an item called a recoiler that will be set to that village. When it is used it consumes power from a battery cell and sends you back to the programmed location. Those are necessary for traveling deep within Qud. Other than that, read the Wiki its amazing, and Wishes are mostly useful for setting up custom runs (such as a run starting as an astral tabby).