Welcome to my West of Loathing Prologue Guide/Walkthrough. It's likely not complete, and will never be completely complete just due to the nature of the game and the fact that I'm just not that smart. If you like my guide or find it useful, consider giving it a thumbs ups since I like seeing the thumbs of random strangers.

Note that the guide may contain spoilers, to a larger or smaller degree. When I remember to, I'll put them in spoiler tags so it's your option to view or ignore them.

Once your character has finished dreaming and you've chosen their class, they'll wake in their room. Things to do here:

• Check your bookshelf.
  You can keep checking until you find a book titled Walking Stupid which gives you the Walking Stupid perk, and some new perambulatory stylings.
  
• Comb your hair at your desk for +1 XP.
  
• Talk to Russel, your pet bird, and consider setting him free. Russel can make a helpful appearance in the end-game, if he's set free at the beginning.
  
• Turn off your phonograph.

When finished, head into Your Living Room.

Now it's time to get a little sentimental and wander around the house for a bit.

• Stack the firewood by your bedroom door for +1 XP.

After that, head into your kid brother's room through the door at the right-hand side of the room.

• Check out your little brother's toy box, and loot his puzzle cube. Fiddle with with it for 1 XP.

When you're done looking around the house, go outside.

And finally, it's time to say your good-byes.

• Say good-bye to your mom. She'll offer you one of three books which will teach you lock picking, foraging, or bartering.
  
  • If you're going for the A Fist Full of Cutlets achievement, you must take the bartering book.
• Say good-bye to your dad. He'll kit you up for your profession.
  
• Toss the haystack for a needle.
  
• Say good-bye to your kid brother and give him his puzzle back.
  
  • Rumor is that if you want the A Fistful of Cutlets achievement, you must tell Rufus that you're leaving to make your fortune.

Once you've played through the rest of the prologue, it's possible to skip it in future play-throughs. However there are achievements available here that will require multiple play-throughs in order to collect them all. Some of these are:

• A Fistful of Cutlets (leave Boring Springs with 1337 Meat)
  
• A Real Underdog (buy the dark horse)
  
• Looking a Ghost Horse in the Mouth (buy the pale horse)
  
• Horse Senseless (buy the crazy horse)

Additionally, there are achievements for finishing the game with each of the different available companions from Boring Springs:

• Contributing to the Delinquency of a Miner (with Crazy Pete);
  
• I Love the Way You Shoot (with Susie);
  
• What's Up, Doc? (with Doc Alice); and
  
• Yes! Yes! To Finishing! (with Gary).

Once you fall off the turnip wagon, you'll find yourself in the delightful town of Boring Springs.

The Town of B.S. has a small handful of quests to accomplish before you get out into the real world of demon cows and other, less pleasant things. Note that if you want the Mostly Scabs perk, run into every cactus you see along the way here and you'll soon have it.

First (and second) things to do are:

• Pick up the turnip right by your feet. (You can eat it for a very small buff but there might be reasons you don't want to, such as if you're attempting to finish the game in one day in hard more - in which case it's a lousy buff - and/or you intend to get it silver plated to use as a crown which is costly, but can be worth it.)
  
• Pick up the loose board next to the squeaky windmill.

Then head to the saloon.

Things to do on this first trip into the Saloon:

• After choosing a hat, investigate the spittoon for a nasty ring.
  
• Speak to the barkeep to get the lowdown on things, and some work ridding his basement of goblins.
  
• Talk to Horace (the rather filthy guy standing at the bar).
  
• Walk up to the woman drinking at the end of the bar (and be ignored)
  
• Ask the bartender about the woman at the end of the bar.
  
• Enter the basement, and collect a newspaper from the pile.
  
• Also in the basement, grab a whiskey from the crate.
  
• If you want to, kill the goblin, as requested by the barkeep.
  This is Gary. You can befriend Gary, if you wait, and have him be your pardner. Up to you. That said, you must murder Gary if you want to obtain the Fistful of Cutlets achievement.

Now go see Horace at his Horsery.

• Talk to Horace some more and receive the quest to find his missing horseflesh.
  
• Get the needles from the haystacks.

After speaking to Horace, it's a good idea to go see the Sherf.

• Speak to the sherf to get the quest to take out the Fricker Gang.
  
• Pick up the mug on the floor.

Head back outside - you're not done here yet!

• Back outside, walk a little further and speak to Cactus Bill (you'll know him when you see him).
  
• Give him your newspaper from the saloon basement.

OK, time to start doing some work. Let's head to Orehole Mine first.

Outside town there are several places to explore. I like to start with Orehole Mine.

The mine is thankfully kind of small and easy to navigate.

• Get Cactus Bill's shovel from behind the outhouse.
  
• Loot the minecart.
  
• Get the mug from under the tree.
  
• Inside:
  
  • Loot the minecart.
    
  • Using the cargo elevator, get the tool from level 3, the plunger from level 2, and the blasting cap from level 1.
    
  • Hook up the plunger then the blasting cap to the barrel of TNT on the far left, then activate the plunger to open the side tunnel. In the side tunnel:
    
  • • Loot the minecart.
    • Dig up the soil in the far right corner.
    • Convince the horse to eat some oats.
    • Observe the crack in the bottom left corner of the tunnel. Hrm!

From here, we'll move on to the Boneyard.

• Collect the mug from under the tree.
  
• Dig up the grave of Beauregard Skelton.
  
• Fight the skeleton half out of its grave.
  
• Convince the horse here to eat some oats.
  
• Check out the last three graves to the far right.

That was quick! Now, back to Boring Springs.

We'll take a momentary break in Boring Springs to bring a few things up to date.

• Head into the Saloon and talk to Susie (the woman at the end of the bar); agree to get her gun back.
  
• While in town, stroll along shovelling up road apples for 1 XP each.
  
• At the far right side of town, shovel up the loose dirt.

From here, we'll go to the Cochrane Ranch to help Susie out.

• Enter the door to the old cellar.
  
• Collect the knife from the workbench.
  
• Deal with the pyrobove that's still hanging about.
  
• Collect Susie's rifle from th gun safe.

That dealt with, it's finally time to take care of the Frickers.

Note that there are a few ways to play this. If you're going for the Fistful of Cutlets achievements, every member of the gang members must die. This also helps with the later achivement Wanted: Dead (as you will need the Ruthless perk picked up here).

• Start by taking out Thud, the sleeping bandit, however you like. You can shoot him in his sleep to earn the Ruthless perk.
  
• Loot the beer-barrel cactus if you have foraging skills.
  
• Loot the pile of stuff the gang has left outside.
  
• Head inside:
  
  • Ask Soapy (the one in the tub) to pass the soap, then take care of him.
    
  • Approach the remaining two, Snipe and Wimpy, from behind the barrel and weigh your options for taking them on. Remember that they all must die in order to get the full reward.
    
  • Get the mug from their table.
    
  • Loot the crate of ill-gotten gains in the right corner.
    
  • Get the Sherf's door.

From here, we'll go to Thousand Snakes.

Don't panic -- there's more like three snakes here. It's Three Snakes Gulch.

• Loot the small rock pile near the entrance.
  
• Kill the first snake.
  
• Kill the second snake.
  
• {optional} Engage the third snake, but surrender and you'll receive a stick of dynamite to try again. If you're going for A Fistful of Cutlets, get the dynamite, then save it for later.
  
• Kill the third snake.
  
• Convince the horse to eat some oats.

And back to Boring Springs we go.

So now we head back into Boring Springs to finish some things up.

Once back in town:

• Stop in the Horsery for your reward.
  • While there, ask Horace about his injury.
• Head to the Saloon and give Susie her rifle.
  
• Talk to Pete, by the door, and sell him anything he wants to pay you for.
  
• Talk to the barkeep, and turn in your mugs.
  
• At the Saloon, play poker with the pair in the bottom left corner. Be sure to bet using the 3 Moxie option, and then Hornswaggle, Outfox, or Intimidate the gamblers into giving you even more meat.
  
• Head to the Sherf's office and get your reward; agree to get him a new lock.
  
• Speak to Brade at the Trade stand.
  • Trade soap for a lock.
  • If you want A Fistful of Cutlets, also trade him a needle for a stick of dynamite.
  • If you have Bartering, ask for a free stick of dynamite.
  • Trade him the three rattlesnake skins.
• Head to Doc Alice's and offer her whiskey. Once inside:
  • Give her the whiskey.
  • Use her mirror.
  • Check out her bookshelf and read all three books. If you haven't killed Gary yet, you can now befriend him.
  • Repeatedly talk to Doc Alice until she agrees to come with you.
• Give the Sherf his lock. He'll ask you to pick it for him but you might not want to. You will need the needle elsewhere for A Fistful of Cutlets, but otherwise, pick and grin.

After this, there are just two more optional trips.

5.2 Orehole Mine (only for A Fistful of Cutlets)

Re-enter the mine and side tunnel. Use your three sticks of dynamite to open the crack, then collect the lockbox, and pick its lock. Once you buy a horse, you should have exactly 1337 Meat left to leave town with.

5.3 Orehole Mine (only for hard mode)

If you've talked to Pete enough, you can come back here and activate hardmode by setting the cargo elevator to secret level 40.

Nothing to do now but move on to the main game. Good luck!