there are four pits on the BEACH, three of which the crew can descend immediately, so let's summarise those 3 pits

Pit 1, the Northern one furthest from the Tower, this is the Recommended first pit down and leads the crew to Tomb Level, where the WESTERN passageway is the next destination (but find a ladder first).

Pit 2 in the CAVE (Eastern) leads the crew down to the Dungeon Basin which is not Recommended for the start of the game, it is a hostile Arena and the crew (at game start) are unlikely to survive.

Pit 3 (southern) takes the crew to the same Dungeon as Pit 2 however, on this one the crew descend to a quite passageway that brings the crew out onto a quiet Cove (or the other end of the passageway to Tomb Level "Spider Chamber").

- - - - - - -  - harder beach pit to find.

Pit 4 descends the crew to Tomb Level, a fairly quiet passageway that leads to a pretty handy STORE and then to the CASTLE (Library) which is a critical location in the game.

STEP 1 descend pit 1 down (NORTH pit). but first can grab a couple of weapons, an easy one to find is under the wooden bridge at the cave end. the other is a little more difficult to find but locate a circle of stones in the beach surf, then using them as a waypoint. move directly from there to the cave, a superb Battle Axe is found, NOW descend the pit 1 down 

STEP 2    having the weapon(s) is a big advantage , having descended the pit 1 the crew arrive in the terrifying Tomb. on initial descent the place is a nightmare but there are ladders along the side that allow the crew respite if they can just survive that long.

STEP 3    ascend a ladder to the Tomb Balconies and head to the WESTERN passage which affords 3 distinct bonus areas 1. embalmer office, 2. Rogue stop off and 3. castle stairs, each of these would be an early boost to the crew, in the way of bonus items.

STEP 4    after attempting these 3 places resume to the Eastern side of the Tomb Balcony where a tomb Barracks is discovered, check out the Eastern Passage but the resume back to the Western passage, either exit to the castle Tower from there OR drop off the SOUTH platform.CITY SCAPEso as stated in Step 4, you could drop off the Southern Platform, have a look around on the Southern Platform, do you find a trapdoor? is it open?  are your crew in good shape? OK! descend the trapdoor to CITY! (bonus mission) .

STEP 5   if dropping off the South Platform (Recommended) the below passage leads to the Castle Library, but back tracking along the passageway there leads to a useful store room .

STEP 6   you could defeat the Librarians and collect everything from the Library , but if possible try IMPRISONING the Librarians and dont drop down from the Castle Library yet though. once you have taken everything  NOW backtrack to the useful store room, a lurker station is now found (great bonus items).

STEP 7   on the way back from the useful store room the crew could quite easily find some new stairs to a beautiful forest. in the forest ... the crew see the tomb from the outside, what a sight! (dont worry if you miss the forest just now, the crew find it again from the Pushblocks later).

STEP 8   there are 3 pits down on the Launch Beach, North, West and Cave. the recommended order to descend them, is North, West and Cave.  the crew could now descend the West pit so exit the castle Library and back to the Launch beach.

STEP 9   descending the West pit brings the crew to a single passageway, one ending takes the crew to the upper tomb (Tomb key?) and the other out to the 2nd beach (Tomb LOCK?), the crew need to do BOTH (get the tomb key and use it in the Tomb lock), note in the Tomb key section a mess on the floor and a tiny spider!

STEP 10   once in the Pyramid (from 2nd beach) the crew may be able to do some strategic fighting and gain 2 more tomb keys which unlock the tomb BARRACKS.

STEP 11    once the tomb Barracks is unlocked - a lot of monsters pile out - so best reteat and go back to the Forest (see step 7) where access to the upper tomb now provides the crew with Level 3 access (MORTAR!) (ledges 3, 2 and 1 !) TIP!  fully explore the entire Ledge 3 .

STEP 12    the crew could now return to the Launch beach and the West pit. descend the West pit AGAIN, this time return to the mess on the floor and a tiny spider!   an access to the first push blocks is now unlocked. descend to the first push blocks (Skull key needed!).