Key & Compass presents:
John's Fire Witch
by John T Baker II

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Endings, Inventory, Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Walkthrough

Living Room

Because there's an inventory limit, we won't be picking up everything just yet. Explore the house first.

> license. i. (carrying nothing)

> x junk. s.

Red Robin Road

CAUTION: Stay out here too long and you'll freeze to death.

> x snow. n. n.

Dining Area

> read letter. (mentions hole in basement.)

> x table. e.

Kitchen

> x typed letter. read it. x pan.

> open oven. (smells of herring) open fridge. (empty)

> n.

Patio

CAUTION: Again, it's too cold to be outside.

> s. w. s. u.

Landing

CAUTION: Anything put into the chute gets trapped inside and lost forever.

> x chute. n.

John's Bedroom

> x clothes. search clothes. g. g.

> x card. take it. x picture. take it. x modem.

> x bed. look under bed. take battery and book.

> x battery. x book. read book.

The book is a diary. John has dreamt about an ice wizard who has imprisoned a fire witch. He thinks he can find her by rubbing a magic crystal card and saying "necken-sway".

> s. e.

Bathroom

> x flashlight. take it. put battery in it.

> w. d. d.

Basement

> x board. take it. x hole. w.

Hollow Space

> turn on light. d.

Red Crystal Grotto

This is a useful place, but there's nothing to actually do here.

> s. e.

Cell Block

> x northern cell. x ice. (John's frozen inside it!)

> x John. e.

Eastern Cell

> w. (like pushing through molasses to get back out)

Cell Block

> s.

Southern Cell

> n. (Again, it takes effort to leave.)

Cell Block

> w. s. w.

Side Corridor

Normally, I wouldn't have a learn-by-dying sequence in a walkthrough, but this is the only reasonable way to learn what this archway does.

> x archway. w. (You are teleported to...)

Eastern Cell

> w. (Ice forms around you and you die days later.)

*** You have died ***

> undo. undo.

Side Corridor

> e. s.

Long Tunnel (3)

> x pit. (Deep and spikey.)

> e.

Vault Room

> x rod. read it. ("tar-molay") take it.

> x door. (Three dials from 1 to 36.)

> x dials. (17-32-9, initially)

> w.

Long Tunnel (3)

The trick to getting across the pit the first time is to drop everything except the flashlight and the card.

> put board on pit. (Isn't long enough.)

> drop all but light and card. jump over pit. (Barely make it.)

Long Tunnel (4)

> s. s.

Devil's Task Room

> x devil. x bridge.

> ask devil about devil. ask devil about bridge.

> s. ask devil about task. (+1)

You get a magic bag that you must fill with all the sins and nothing but sins. Give the full bag to him and then he'll let you cross. Otherwise he gets your soul.

> take bag. x it.

> ask devil about sin.

Time to use your crystal card to teleport. You've now seen two crystal grottos, one on either side of the pit. The plan is to port back to the red grotto, fill your bag with stuff from the house, collect your dropped stuff, then port to the blue grotto to get across the pit.

The card should be currently blue. Rub it until it is red, then say the magic word:

> rub card. g. say "necken-sway".

Red Crystal Grotto

> u. e. u.

Living Room

> put junk in bag. n.

Dining Room

> put letter in bag. e.

Kitchen

> put typed letter in bag. put pan in bag.

> w. s. d. w. d. s. s. s.

Long Tunnel (3)

> put picture and book in bag.

> take rod and board.

> rub card. (It should now be blue.)

> say "necken-sway".

Blue Crystal Grotto

> n. w.

East Ledge

This is a good time to save your game.

> save. jump.

Disk

You want to jump while the disk is swinging west.

> swing disk. (It's swinging east.)

> z. z. jump.

West Ledge

> s. s.

Goblin Room

CAUTION: The goblin is hostile and will attack with its talons!

> x goblin. x key.

> kill goblin with board. g. (Repeat until the goblin is dead.)

> x goblin. take key.

> s.

Pedestal Room

> x gem. take gem. (+1)

Teleport to the blue grotto.

> rub card. g. g. (It's now blue.)

> say "necken-sway".

Blue Crystal Grotto

> s.

Devil's Task Room

You should have six of the seven sins in the bag: some junk (Sloth), a handwritten letter (Wrath), a typed letter (Greed), a big pan (Gluttony), a picture (Lust), and a book (Envy). Make sure there's nothing else in there.

> give bag to devil. put devil in bag. (+2)

> x ash. read scroll.

At 150 turns, you will need to sleep. Head back to John's bed before then:

> rub card. g. g. say "necken-sway".

Red Crystal Grotto

> u. e. u. u. n.

John's Bedroom

> get on bed.

> z. (Continue wait until you're tired, at turn 150.)

> sleep.

You have a dream about the witch, who gives you a slip of paper.

> stand. i. read slip. (You'll read a randomized combination, eg: "8-27-9".)

> say "necken-sway".

Red Crystal Grotto

> s. s. s. e.

Vault Room

Using the slip of paper's combo:

> turn first dial to FIRST-NUMBER.

> turn second dial to SECOND-NUMBER.

> turn third dial to THIRD-NUMBER.

> save. open door.

You have released a demon! It will chase you! Run to the archway, and trap it in a cell:

> w. n. w. w. (+1)

Eastern Cell

Save yourself by teleporting:

> say "necken-sway".

Red Crystal Grotto

> s. e.

Cell Block

> x southern ice. x demon.

> w. s. s. e. e.

Inside the Vault

> x red gem. take it. (+1)

Now go through the archway twice more to finally get past it:

> w. w. n. w. w.

Eastern Cell

Save yourself yet again:

> say "necken-sway".

Red Crystal Grotto

> s. s. w. w. (+2)

Safe Room

> x safe. unlock safe with key. open safe.

> take bottle. x it. x ring.

CAUTION: Don't break the bottle here. There's a poison gas inside with the ring.

> e. e. s.

Long Tunnel (3)

> put bottle in pit. (It breaks down below.)

> wave wand. say "tar-molay". (The ring is pulled up, magnetically.)

> take ring.

> rub card. say "necken-sway".

Blue Crystal Grotto

> s. s.

Ice Bridge (1)

Ack! It's cold. Back up.

> n.

Devil's Task Room

> put red gem in ring. wear ring. (The ring now provides warmth.)

> s. s. s. s.

Fire Room

Swap gems in the ring.

> take red gem. put blue gem in ring. (Now it'll keep you cool.)

> s. e.

Trophy Room

The Ice Wizard starts stealing your items!

> x wizard. x obelisk. x crystal card.

If necessary, continue to wait until the wizard has the crystal card, then:

> say "necken-sway". (+2)

The Ice Wizard is trapped and the Fire Witch is freed. Oh, and John, too.

*** You Have Won! ***

Extras

Characters

• John Baker is your friend and the author of this game. For most of the game, he's trapped inside a block of ice in the Northern Cell and only free again at the end of the game.
• A devil is in the Devil's Task Room. He blocks access to the Ice Bridge. Ask him about the task.
• A goblin is wearing a lead key in the Goblin Room. Feel free to kill him if you can. He'll certainly try to kill you.
• A demon is inside the vault. He'll follow you and kill you if he catches you.
• The Ice Wizard is in the Trophy Room. He'll take your magical items one-by-one, but he has no use for you at all.
• The Fire Witch is trapped inside the purple crystal in the Trophy Room. If you can free her from her prison, she'll free John from his.

Mentioned:

• Pig is John's landlord, at least according to the handwritten letter. Perhaps not the landlord's actual name.

Credits

John's Fire Witch, A Snack-Sized Text Adventure Developed With TADS

First of all, let's hear it for guys like Mike Roberts and Graham Nelson, who with tremendous programs like TADS and Inform have made it possible for people to write text adventures with a minimum amount of effort.

Let's not forget Volker Blasius for maintaining the interactive fiction archive site at ftp.gmd.de.

Thanks also to Larry's, a most wonderful bar on High Street near The Ohio State University. I have spent many a happy night there basking in the counter-culture, drinking brews with some great friends and mulling over this game and its coming (darker and more serious) sequel.

Also thanks to all of the people on the following list. They helped me immensely by spotting bugs and typos.

• Mark Bruce
• Robert Dickau
• Paul David Doherty
• Shelley Elkins
• David Gilbert
• Diane Herndon
• Kevin Min
• Mike Patton
• Craig Pennington
• Julie Taylor
• Philip Wilson

Endings

• You have died
• if you freeze to death by staying outside in the snow too long,
• or if you go through the archway in the Side Corridor and don't teleport out from the Eastern Cell in time,
• or if you try to jump over the pit at Long Tunnel (3) with too many items the first time,
• or if you try to jump over the pit a second time,
• or if you try to jump from the West Ledge to the Disk,
• or if the goblin kills you in combat,
• or if the demon from the Vault catches you,
• or if you break open the glass bottle near you,
• or if you give an incorrectly-filled bag to the devil.
• You have won! if you defeat the ice wizard.
• You never regain consciousness if you entrap yourself inside the purple crystal obelisk.

Inventory

Note: You have an inventory limit of nine items unless you have the small bag to put things in.

• some junk. It's in the Living Room. It represents the sin of Sloth; put it in the small bag.
• a handwritten letter. It's on the table in the Dining Area. Read it. It represents the sin of Wrath (anger); put it in the small bag.
• a typed letter. It's on the refrigerator in the Kitchen. Read it. It represents the sin of Greed; put it in the small bag.
• a big pan. It's on the stove in the Kitchen. It represents the sin of Gluttony; put it in the small bag.
• a crystal card. Find it by searching the clothes in John's Bedroom. Read the book to learn how to use it. Rub the card to change its colour; however, the card only knows the colour gray at first. The card collects colours by visiting the three crystal grottos and the Trophy Room where the purple crystal is. Say "necken-sway" to teleport to the grotto whose colour is currently shown by the card; if the colour is gray, you won't teleport anywhere. At the end of the game, when the card is purple and the ice wizard has it, say "necken-sway" to put him into the purple crystal, trapping him and freeing the witch.
• a picture. Find it by searching the clothes in John's Bedroom. It represens the sin of Lust; put it in the small bag.
• a modem. Find it by searching the clothes in John's Bedroom. You can ignore it.
• a battery. Find it by looking under the bed in John's Bedroom. Put it in the flashlight.
• a book. Find it by looking under the bed in John's Bedroom. Read it; it's a diary. It tells you that John communicated with the witch through dreams. It also tells you how to use the crystal card by rubbing it and saying "necken-sway". Also, the book represents the sin of Envy; put it it the small bag.
• a flashlight. It's on the sink in the upstairs Bathroom. Put the battery in it. Turn it on before going down the hole in Hollow Space; the underground areas are unlit.
• a board. It's a 2x4 in the Basement. Unfortunately, it's not long enough to span the pit between Long Tunnel (3) and (4). Hit the goblin a few times with it to kill him.
• a thin rod. It's in the Vault Room. Read it to learn its magic word. If you wave the rod and then say "tar-molay", the rod briefly becomes a powerful magnet. You'll need the rod's magnetism to obtain the metallic ring after dropping the bottle into the pit that's between Long Tunnel (3) and (4).
• a small bag. You get it from the devil in the Devil's Task Room when you ask about the task. You can use it as a player's hold-all for a while, but eventually, you'll need to fill it with seven specific items (and only those items) representing the Seven Deadly Sins. Put these six items into the bag: the junk (Sloth), handwritten letter (Wrath), the typed letter (Greed), the big pan (Gluttony), the picture (Lust), and the book (Envy). Give the filled bag back to the devil in the Devil's Task Room; he'll reveal himself to be Pride! Put the devil into the bag.
• a slip of paper. Get it from the witch by sleeping in John's bed. Read it; it has the combination to the vault written on it. The combo is randomized.
• a red gem. It's at Inside the Vault, but first you'll have open the vault (see: slip of paper) and get rid of its guardian (see: crystal card). Put the red gem in the ring to make a ring of warmth; that is, protection from cold (see: metallic ring).
• a lead key. It's worn by goblin in the Goblin Room. Attack him a few times with the board and you can take it. The key unlocks the safe in the Safe Room.
• a blue gem. It's on the pedestal in the Pedestal Room. Put the blue gem in the ring to make a ring of cooling; that is, protection from heat (see: metallic ring).
• a glass bottle. It's in the safe in the Safe Room; unlock the safe with the lead key. The bottle contains a poisonous gas and a metallic ring. Put the bottle in the pit to shatter it away from you, then use the thin rod to attract the ring back up to you.
• a metallic ring. It's in the glass bottle. Wear the ring. You can put either the red or blue gem into the ring.
• When wearing the ring with the red gem, it provides warmth, and the cold of the outdoors doesn't affect you. However, you'll really need it when crossing the ice bridge.
• When wearing the ring with the blue gem, it provides coolness, and you're protected from heat and fire. Wear it in the Fire Room before heading south into the flames there.
• an old scroll. Examine the ash left by the devil and bag to find it. Read it, but it only lists the Seven Deadly Sins.

Score

In a total of several turns, you have achieved a score of your-score points out of a possible 10.

• 1 point for asking the devil about the task.
• 1 point for trapping the demon in the Southern Cell.
• 1 point for taking the red gem.
• 1 point for taking the blue gem.
• 2 points for reaching the Safe Room safely.
• 2 points for filling the bag with all seven sins.
• 2 points for defeating the ice wizard.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Jason McIntosh, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, and Phil Tatro;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen, Amelia, and Matthew Foxley;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Marius Müller, and Jennifer Rexrode;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.