Once I got the hang of it, I realized my town RNG was pretty lucky. Very easy access to it, as well as the potion shop, weapon shop, and cat (who I never ended up buying from because immediately after I discovered it I beat the game). Here's how my game went:
I found a chest guarded by four skeletons. They absolutely rocked everyone except Karin, who outlasted them with Absorb Life and gained a bunch of XP. Conveniently in a chest was an amazing sword for her, so she lugged around the party's corpses until I found the lady selling feathers. Wandered around, eventually getting an even better sword for Karin from a random enemy drop. Gave every accessory and favorite tab I found to Karin, eventually opened the World Bangle chest and beat up the dog. By the time I made it back to the dragon, Karin was level 8 (everyone else level 7), and Absorb Life largely carried that fight to victory, as well. Turns out her name is Karin because she's Karin the team on her fuckin back
Absolutely incredible execution, you found a way to turn the jam's limited layout into a sprawling dungeon maze. I never did find the beach, I wonder how I'd have fared against the kraken...