Around mission...5 or 6 in the Realm tab there is an option to fight bandits. You can play over and over to level up characters, grind for gold, bonus, items etc. You don't have to wait to transform party members (if anything early is good?) just make sure by mission 11 you have all transformations available. If it's the party member that leaves after you've raised their lust high enough, don't worry, that'll come up when the time is right. Everyone else is pretty straight forward. Hope this helps! This has been one of my favorite games to play as well.