The Salvation of Korthos

The Module 8 game update of October 2008 revamped the entire starter experience of the game. Completing this story arc (quest chain) prompts you to travel on to Stormreach, the most populated city on the continent of Xen'drik.

Shipwreck Shore
This is the introduction. Obtain a weapon from the halfling rogue Jeets Shimis once you're at his camp, then proceed to The Grotto quest. This is a tutorial quest. Here you will learn what DDO's adventure experience is about. You will get starter items as a reward at the end of the quest.
 * The Grotto

Korthos Village
This is the first town area. Talk to a nearby NPC and get the quest flag, Welcome to Korthos, then go and find Wavecrest Tavern. Talk to the tavernkeep in there. He will direct you to other quest givers. After finishing the three quests above, go back to the tavern and proceed to The Collaborator quest.
 * Heyton's Rest
 * The Storehouse's Secret
 * The Cannith Crystal
 * The Collaborator

Korthos Island
Once you are done with The Collaborator, talk to the mayor outside. He will grant you access to Korthos Island's wilderness adventure area. Collect quests in the village, then enter the wilderness area, find dungeon entrances located within and complete them. Redemption is the only quest necessary to advance the arc — the rest are optional.
 * Sacrifices
 * Redemption
 * Necromancer's Doom
 * Stopping the Sahuagin (quest giver located within the wilderness area)

The Salvation of Korthos
You are now "flagged" for the quest Misery's Peak. Go and talk to Amalgam, a Warforged in the Korthos Island wilderness area, and start the quest. Keep in mind that your party members all have to be flagged as well to do this quest together. Quests that need flags cannot be shared with unflagged characters. Upon completion, you will get The Salvation of Korthos flag. Go back to the village (it's not snowing anymore!), talk to the reward NPC Rinar d'Thuranni, and choose a reward item (but read the notes!). Then you'll get Sail to Stormreach flag. You are now done with Korthos!. Don't forget to collect your Sail to Stormreach quest rewards (Small Gem Bag and Small Collectables Bag) as soon as you reach Stormreach.
 * Misery's Peak

Misery's Peak Quest Reward
You only get a reward item the first time you complete Misery's Quest. This is important, because every single reward goes with a corresponding reward from Sacrifices to form a set that gives extra bonuses when worn together. As a result, you cannot complete more than one of these sets. Choose carefully!

Skipping Korthos
It is required to go through The Grotto tutorial at least once per server, but on all later characters, players are allowed to skip this quest by choosing the "Skip Korthos Island story-line" option that appears in Jeets's very first dialogue. They are jumped ahead to Korthos Island, given all the loot normally gotten from playing through The Grotto, and allowed to sail to Stormreach without delay by going to the docks and talking to the First Mate NPC.

Players who don't skip The Grotto can also talk to the First Mate to go to Stormreach early, any time they want (including on the first character), but she is a pain about it and asks to confirm that the player is sure he wants to do that.

Nothing is lost by leaving Korthos early except the ability to team with characters who haven't left it and haven't finished it. All players can freely return to Korthos whenever they like and run or re-run all quests there for reward items or Favor.

"Snowy" Korthos and "sunny" Korthos - possible grouping issues
After The Grotto tutorial, you will be in a "snowy" version of Korthos Village. You stay in the "snowy" Korthos until you finish the Misery's Peak quest, at which point you change forever to the "sunny" version of Korthos. You also switch to the "sunny" version if you travel to Stormreach early or if you skip The Grotto.

The content of the two towns is identical. All the same NPCs, quests, and loot exist in both, and they even share chat channels. There is one pesky difference, though: players in one version cannot team up with players in the other.