> --Possible spoiler--
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> Can anybody tell me whether this item (Empty Stone) is useful or not? Thanks.
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The Empty Stone is a useless item. You won't even get cash for it in the Shop. Toss it and make room for something else.

> Also, although I've successfully acquired Gatekeeper's Key, I find myself always going back to Perinn after a day's long journey, for its hotel.
>
The Inn at Kaliti is most affordable. If you have as much cash as you say you do, a few hundred bucks a night won't break you. Consider living closer to where the action is.

> Right now my regular schedule is:
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>
> Is this a good way of gaining experience and money? I've had 2 characters (the assassin and the druid, respectively) level up today, and approximately 150000 more money than I had this morning.
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Typically the best way to gain experience is to fight the deepest monsters you can handle. You've admittedly taken out the toughest monsters on level 4, and you're still fighting level 4 monsters. At least try level 5 and see if you can survive that.

As for pool raids, pools on deeper levels also have better treasure, so look for some pools on lower levels. Not only will you find more expensive items, you may find some really neat Items of Specialness that you can use to better equip your party.

> Because Raynor is so strong and inappropriate for a front-3 character (and I'm missing a knight in the front pack), I'm considering to retrain him to knight after he has learnt all his spells.

There's no law that you have to have non-casting classes in front, but they do tend to have better and more appropriate equipment for that task. You might find it convenient to have a fighter with healing spells, so you can reserve some SP for healing between battles and keep some on hand for healing during battles while Raynor is fighting. Remember that if you retrain Raynor he'll lose all his strength, and he'll only gain one SP per level-up.

Good luck with Murkon!

^v^:)^v^
FB