Well, since we all start off with 0, and most likely no food...
we're going to have to come up with something pre-stage 3... or you could come up with enemies that a group of stage 2's could handle... and possibly offer a re-roll at stage 2 if your HP is 2. Anyways, I'm sure you can figure something out for these initial stages, and, just as well, you should, the most important part of a game (text-based or no) is arguably the very beginning, where you're introduced to everything.