Key & Compass presents:
Winter Wonderland
by Laura Knauth

• Maps
  • Map 1: Home and Village
  • Map 2: From Dwarf Mine to Cottage
  • Map 3: Hedge Maze
  • Map 4: Ice Floes
  • Map 5: Dense Thicket
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • ASCII art, Characters, Credits, Inventory, Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at Homepage, CASA, IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Maps

Map 1: Home and Village

Map 2: From Dwarf Mine to Cottage

Map 3: Hedge Maze

• ⏪ means you get lost and return to Shaped Hedges near Opening.

Map 4: Ice Floes

• To cross a channel, get onto a small floe, then push the floe with the pole.

Map 5: Dense Thicket

Walkthrough

Small Bedroom

> x me. x boy. x shoes. x drapery.

> x curtains. x window.

> talk to Sander. touch Sander.

> e.

Living Room

> x mother. x food. x hearth. x door.

> x tree. (Mother suggests asking Hanna-Mae in the tavern for a candle.)

> ask mother about Sander. ask mother about tree.

> ask mother about father. ask mother about dinner.

> help mother. ask mother about storm.

> n.

Path to Village

> x clouds. x trail. ne.

Path near Village

> listen. n.

Village Street near Tavern

> x tavern. e.

Festive Tavern

> x villagers. x musicians. x fire. x pot.

> x Hanna-Mae. x counter.

> ask Hanna for candle. x candle.

> ask Hanna for pudding. x bowl. eat it. (+2; you found the coin)

> x coin.

> w. n.

Village Street near Toy Shop

> x store. x children. x pole.

> w.

Toy Shop

> x toys. x shopkeeper. x desk. x shoes.

> ask shopkeeper about shoes.

> buy shoes with coin.

> e. s. s. (+8. A snowstorm attacks and you lose the path and fall to...)

Dense Forest near Thicket

The prologue is now over.

> sw. (You get lost trying to go that way and return.)

> n.

Little Clearing

> x lantern. x oak. (The oak, a dryad, speaks to you.)

> oak, hi.

> ask oak about moon. ask oak about himself.

> ask oak about lantern. (He tells you about fairy glow rocks in the old dwarf's mine.)

> ask oak about solstice. (He wants more than just the lantern.)

> e.

Path through Snowy Forest (two locations)

> x path. x trees.

> se. e.

Forest Clearing near Cottage

> x sky. x cottage. e.

Porch

> x door. look through keyhole. knock on door. (no answer)

> x steps. x window.

> w. se.

South of Cottage

> x cottage. n.

Crawl Space

> x panel. u.

Cottage

> x dome. x rings. (Star-wreath-horse)

> x top ring. x middle ring. x bottom ring.

To open the dome, you must align its three rings so they're all set to the same symbol. Turning the top ring also turns the middle ring, turning the middle ring also turns the bottom ring, and turning the bottom ring also turns the top ring.

So all you need to do is turn one of the rings until the other two match, then turn the matching rings togehter until they match the first one:

> turn top ring. (Wreath-cane-horse)

> turn top ring. (Cane-horse- horse)

> turn middle ring. (Cane-cane-cane! +5. The dome opens and blue baubles now float about the room.)

> x baubles. take baubles. (They elude you.)

Check out the rest of the room.

> x knickknacks. x couch. x pillows.

> x fireplace. x kettle. (steamy!)

> x stocking. take it.

> x wardrobe. open it. look in it. x slippers.

> x shelves. x hat. take it.

You can't unlock front door from inside, so you must go out the way you came in. The dryad mentioned a dwarf's mine; go there next. Find it on the west side of the landscape.

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

Cave Entrance

A dwarf pushes a cart of stones and dumps them on the pile, then pushes the empty cart back inside. Although they're not glowing, these must be the "glow rocks" that the dryad mentioned.

> x tracks. x stones.

> take stones. (You automatically put them into the stocking, but you can only take a handful before the dwarf returns.)

> se. e.

Little Clearing

> give rocks to oak. (no: not hot and too few)

> w. nw. w.

Dwarf's Mine

> n. (no: you might be run over by the cart)

> sw. (no: too dark)

> x tracks. pull lever. (The track junction now goes to the southwest.)

> e.

Cave Entrance

This only works if the dwarf can't get the cart here.

> fill stocking with rocks. (+5)

Head back to the cottage:

> se. e. e. se. e. se. n. u.

Cottage

> put stocking in kettle. (+5)

The fire is now out, and the baubles float out the chimney and head northwest.

> take rocks. (You fill the stocking with glow rocks.)

Head back to the dryad:

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

Little Clearing

> give stocking to oak. (+10)

> take lantern.

Now that you have the lantern, you can check out the southwest tunnel in the mine:

> w. nw. w. sw. s.

The tracks were reset.

Cave Entrance (the southern one)

> x coal. take coal.

> n. ne. e. se. s.

Edge of Snowy Hills

> x snowman. put coal on snowman.

> put hat on snowman. (+10)

With coal and hat, the snowman animates and dances away, leaving a hole in the thicket to the southwest.

> sw.

Shaped Hedges near Opening

This is the beginning of a hedge maze; see map 3. Head to the twirling angel statue.

> x hedges.

> w. sw. s. s.

Hedge Maze (with twirling angel statue)

> x statue. hide behind it.

> z. (Repeat waiting several turns.)

Soon, you see two snow sprites head southeast, but keep waiting. Two turns later, the sprites emerge from the snow, mock the southeast passage, then head down the southwest passage.

Only when you see footprints going southwest can you go that way from here. Don't delay; the falling snow will erase the footprints soon enough.

> sw. s. sw. w.

Large Clearing (east side)

> x bonfire. x elves. x fairies.

> x fauns. x instruments. x holly.

> dance.

> w.

Large Clearing (west side)

> x shadows. x horn. take horn. (+10)

> blow horn. (The wee folk approve.)

There's another group of fairies who would like this horn music. They're in a vale near the cottage:

> e. e. n.

Shaped Hedges near Opening

> ne. ne. e. se. n.

Forest Vale (West)

> x fireflies. x poinsettias.

> x wand. take wand. (A fairy stops you.)

> x fairies. ask fairies about wand. (They zap you with green light instead of answering.)

> e.

Forest Vale (East)

> x flowers. smell them.

> play horn. (The fairies arrive and stay here.)

> w.

Forest Vale (West)

> take wand. (+5)

> wave wand. (blue sparkles!)

> point wand at flowers. (blue flashes!)

> s. nw. ne.

Mountain's Edge

You must have the lantern's light to enter this hole in the mountain.

> x mountains. x hole.

> n.

Ice Floes near Mountainside

The ice floes are another maze; see map 4.

> x pole. take it. x trees. (an island)

> n. ne.

Ice Floes (south of first channel)

> get on floe. push it with pole.

Using the small floe like a raft, you travel to the other side of the channel.

Ice Floes (north of first channel)

> nw.

Ice Floes (south of second channel)

> get on floe. push it with pole.

Ice Floes (north of second channel)

> nw.

Ice Floes (east of island)

Hm. There's no small floe to get on here. Backtrack to the north side of the first channel, then go west from there:

> se. get on floe. push it with pole. se. w.

Ice Floes (south of long channel)

Without getting onto the small floe:

> push floe with pole. (It floats north to where you were. Go back there.)

> e. nw. get on floe. push it with pole. nw.

Ice Floes (east of island)

> get on floe. push it with pole. (+10)

Island Shore

> x trees. listen.

> w.

Fairy Island

> x fairies. (One uses her wand to catch a bauble.)

> x orchids. x mistletoe. x spring.

> x doe. x fauns.

> x baubles. blue. x colored.

> wave wand. (+5; you attract a blue bauble)

> i. take captured bauble. (You can't hold onto it long; the bauble prefers the wand.)

Head back across the ice floes:

> e. get on floe. push it with pole.

> se. get on floe. push it with pole.

> se. get on floe. push it with pole.

> sw. s.

Ice Floes near Mountainside

You can't take the pole through the mountain passage. Head for the snowy hills directly north of the dryad.

> drop pole.

> s. sw. nw.

Snowy Hills (north of dryad)

A snow sprite randomly roam these snowy hills, sometimes throwing a snowball at you.

> z. (Repeat waiting until a snow sprite with a bell stops near you.)

If you don't mind wasting time, feel free to examine the sprite or ask him about himself, but he might disappear and you'll need to wait even longer.

> give orb to sprite. (He drops his bell and takes the bauble.)

> x bell. take bell. (+5)

> nw.

Snowy Hills (northwest corner)

Now that you have the bell, you now see a tall figure grooming a white horse to the north from here.

> n.

Snowy Hills (far northwest)

> x man. x horse. x harness.

> give bell to man. (+10. He gives you an amulet that will guide you home through the thicket, then he leaves.)

> x amulet.

> s. s. se. s.

Dense Forest near Thicket

Getting home is now easy; see map 5. The amulet will glow brighter when you go the right way, and dim when you go the wrong way.

There's no scenery in the thicket, so this will also be quick:

> sw. se. w. se. sw. se.

You find your way home. Sander seems better. During the family meal, the tall man delivers a bag of gold pieces to your astonished parents.

*** H a v e a J o y o u s W i n t e r S o l s t i c e ! ***

> making. credits.

Extras

ASCII art

There are two main examples of ASCII art in this game, not counting decorative horizontal bars.

The first example is the title card and effectively the cover art for this game:

   .:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:.
 
 (       *  .  *                                                           ) 
 -)    . _\/ \/_ .                                                        (  
 (      \  \ /  /                                  .      .                ) 
 -)   -==>: X :<==-                                _\/  \/_               (  
 (      / _/ \_ \   ,.   ,   ,.     .               _\/\/_                 ) 
 -)    '  /\ /\  '  `|  /|  / . ,-. |- ,-. ,-.  _\_\_\/\/_/_/_            (  
 (       *  '  *     | / | /  | | | |  |-' |     / /_/\/\_\ \              ) 
 -)                  `'  `'   ' ' ' `' `-' '        _/\/\_                (  
 (                                                  /\  /\                 )
 -)      ,.   ,   ,.         .         .           '.    '                (  
 (       `|  /|  / ,-. ,-. ,-| ,-. ,-. |  ,-. ,-. ,-|         .            ) 
 -)       | / | /  | | | | | | |-' |   |  ,-| | | | |         :           (  
 (        `'  `'   `-' ' ' `-' `-' '   `' `-' ' ' `-'   '.___/*\___.'      ) 
 -)                                                       \* \ / */       (  
 (                    /_/  \_\                             >--X--<         ) 
 -)                     \\//                              /*_/ \_*\       (  
 (                  /\_\\><\\ \/                              :           (  
 (                     _//\\_                                 '            ) 
 -)                   \_\  /_/          by Laura A. Knauth                (
 
   *:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*"*:._.:*

The second example is this array of snowflakes that represents the snowstorm separating the prologue from the main game:

 .                        *  .  *                                           . 
 .                      . _\/ \/_ .                                         .
 .                       \  \ /  /             .      .                     .
 .         ..    ..    -==>: X :<==-           _\/  \/_                     .
 .         '\    /'      / _/ \_ \              _\/\/_                      .
 .           \\//       '  /\ /\  '         _\_\_\/\/_/_/_                  .
 .      _.__\\\///__._    *  '  *            / /_/\/\_\ \                   .
 .       '  ///\\\  '                           _/\/\_                      .
 .           //\\                               /\  /\                      .
 .         ./    \.             ._    _.       '      '                     .
 .         ''    ''             (_)  (_)                  <> \  / <>        .
 .                               .\::/.                   \_\/  \/_/        .
 .              .:.          _.=._\\//_.=._                  \\//           .
 .         ..   \o/   ..      '=' //\\ '='             _<>_\_\<>/_/_<>_     .
 .         :o|   |   |o:         '/::\'                 <> / /<>\ \ <>      .
 .          " '. ' .' "         (_)  (_)      _    _       _ //\\ _         .
 .              >O<             '      '     /_/  \_\     / /\  /\ \        .
 .          _ .' . '. _                        \\//       <> /  \ <>        .
 .         :o|   |   |o:                   /\_\\><\\ \/                     .
 .              ':'        . ""\  /"" .       _//\\_                        .
 .                         _\_._\/_._/_      \_\  /_/                       .
 .                          / ' /\ ' \                   \o/                .
 .                         ' __/  \__ '                 -:|:-               .
 .                         ' .'|  |'.                    /o\                .

Characters

• Gretchen Bales is a young girl and the protagonist of this story.
• Sander Bales is Gretchen's younger brother. He's very ill and feverish and sleeping in your parents' bed.
• Mother is busy making tonight's solstice dinner.
• Father can be seen through the living room window. He's chopping wood for the fire.
• Hanna-Mae is the waitress in the tavern and a long-time friend of your family.
• Villagers and musicians are in the tavern, enjoying their evening and spreading solstice cheer.
• Some children can be seen dancing around a tall pole in the town square, north of the toy shop.
• A shopkeeper is behind his desk in the toy shop. He may be old, but he still has a twinkle in his eye!
• A dryad guards the oak tree in the little clearing. He speaks in rhyme and wants more than a solitary lantern to celebrate the soltice with.
• A dwarf in busy in his mine, frequently pushing a cart down the track to the cave entrance, dumping its load of gray stones onto the pile, then pushing the empty cart back inside again. He ignores you.
• Several fairies and fireflies are flying about the forest vale where there are fragrant white poinsettias.
• Some snow sprites are capering about the snowy hills and inside the hedge maze. They're mischievious and may throw snowballs at you or mislead you, but they mean no true harm.
• Several elves, fairies, and fauns are in the large clearing in a secret part of the hedge maze. They are making merry, singing and dancing and making music in honor of the solstice.
• More fairies, fauns, and doe are in the center of the fairy island. Their solstice reverie features several floating colorful baubles which the fairies catch with their wands.
• A tall man and his white mare are seen at a distance from the snowy hills and met late in the game. The man is searching for the bell that a snow sprite stole from his mare's harness.

Credits

This is the response to CREDITS:

Thanks so much to the following people for helping me test Winter Wonderland:

• Stephen Griffiths
• Bruce Hollebone
• Gunther Schmidl
• Jennifer Vaughan
• Vicko Vitasovic

Please email me at email redacted if you discover any bugs in 'Winter Wonderland' or have a comment that you'd like to relate. That email address should work at least until December 1999 and perhaps one or two months into the year 2000.

Of course, I'd like to know if you have found any serious bugs like a fatal error or a circumstance that prevents you from completing the story without restarting, but it would also be incredibly helpful to know if there are any synonyms that you would have liked to use (they are among the easiest to fix) or if you discovered any response like "You cannot seem to find that here" when you really should. Also, once you have figured out the solution to a puzzle, if you thought that you tried something that should have warranted a response or thought the solution wasn't fair for whatever reason, I would also like to hear your input about that too. I will include the names of anyone who gives me constructive comments that allow me to improve Winter Wonderland in the CREDITS section. Thanks so much for your help and your interest in interactive fiction!

--Laura A. Knauth

Inventory

• a candle stick. In the festive tavern, ask Hanna-Mae for a candle; she gives one to you.
• Surprisingly, you don't need to do anything with the candle. You'll use a lantern for a light-source.
• a tiny bowl containing a small serving of plum pudding. In the festive tavern, ask Hanna-Mae about the pudding; she gives some to you.
• Eat it; you find a silver coin.
• a silver coin. Find it by eating the tiny bowl of plum pudding.
• In the toy shop, buy the shoes with the silver coin.
• handsome leather shoes. They're on a pedestal in the toy shop.
• Buy the shoes with the silver coin, then just hold onto them for the rest of the game. They're a present for your brother.
• a stocking. It's on the fireplace inside the cottage.
• First, in the mine, pull the lever so the dwarf is diverted to the cave's southern entrance and (for a short time) won't interfere. At the cave's eastern entrance, fill the stocking with stones. (Note that the dwarf has enough agency to push the lever back when he realizes it's in the wrong position.)
• In the cottage, put the full stocking into the kettle. The heated stones turn into shining fairy glow rocks.
• In the little clearing, give the stocking full of glow rocks to the dryad. He drops his lantern, which you should now take.
• a fine black top hat. It's on the shelves inside the cottage's wardrobe.
• At the edge of the snowy hills, put the hat and coals onto the snowman to animate him.
• a handful of snow. You can take snow on the snowy hills.
• CAUTION: After several turns of holding the snow, it melts away.
• If you have snow when a snow sprite is near you, throw the snow at him! You briefly gain his respect, but this doesn't halp you solve any puzzles.
• a handful of grey stones. If you have the stocking, you can take some stones at the cave entrance, putting them into the stocking.
• Unfortunately, a mere handful of stones isn't enough; try giving the handful to the dryad to learn this. Also, it's impossible to fill the stocking while the dwarf is making so many appearances.
• Instead, first pull the lever inside the mine to divert the dwarf to the cave's southern entrance. When the dwarf can't interfere, you can now fill the stocking with grey stones.
• From this point on, you won't take the stones from the stocking; see stocking for how to use the stones.
• a lantern. The oak tree (who is also a dryad) in the little clearing has it.
• Give the stocking full of glow rocks to the dryad. He drops the lantern. Take it.
• The lantern's light lets you see in the mine's tunnel, and also in the passage through the mountain hole to the northeast.
• lumps of black coal. They're at the mine's southern entrance.
• At the edge of the snowy hills, put the hat and coals onto the snowman to animate him.
• a brass horn. It's at the west side of the large clearing.
• Play the horn in the east half of the forest vale. The fairies are lured from the west half and stay in the east half. Now go back west and take the wand.
• Feel free to play the horn anywhere. Everyone enjoys the horn's magical music.
• a blue wand. It's on a white poinsettia in the west half of the forest vale. See brass horn to learn how to get it.
• To use the wand, either wave it or point it at something. It normally just makes blue sparkles or light flashes.
• On the fairy island, wave the wand to capture a blue bauble on the end of your wand.
• a long wooden pole. It's at the ice floes near the mountainside.
• To cross a water channel, get onto a small floe, then push the floe with the pole.
• At the southern end of the long channel, push the floe with the pole without getting on it first. The floe floats all the way to the larger floe just east of the island.
• Note that you cannot take the pole through the mountain passage. You leave the pole where you found it.
• a captured blue bauble. Several blue baubles are initially inside the dome in the cottage.
• Show, give, or throw the bauble to the snow sprite who has the bell. You can find the sprite somewhere in the snowy hills, but you need to wait until the sprite stands near you. When you give the bauble, the sprite drops the bell in exchange.
• a golden bell. One of the snow sprites capering randomly about the snow hills has it. Give the blue bauble to him; he drops the bell, which you can now take.
• At the far northwesternmost snowy hills, give the bell to the tall man. He gives you an amulet in exchange.
• an amulet. The tall man with the white mare has it.
• When you have the bell, the man will be on the snowy hills to the far northwest. Until then, you only see glimpses of him in the distance.
• Give the bell to the man; in exchange, he gives you an amulet.
• The amulet lets you enter the thicket and guides you through it. When traversing the thicket, the amulet glows brighter when you go the right way, and dim when you go the wrong way.

Score

Before you are lost in the snowstorm, the response to SCORE is:

You are still in the prologue.

And for the rest of the game, the response to SCORE is:

So far, you have scored your-score out of a possible 100, in several turns.

Points are awarded as follows:

• 2 points for finding the silver coin.
• 8 points for completing the prologue by getting lost in the snowstorm.
• 5 points by opening the dome in the cottage.
• 5 points for filling the stocking with stones.
• 5 points for heating the stones.
• 10 points for giving the glow rocks to the dryad.
• 10 points for bringing the snowman to life.
• 10 points for obtaining the brass horn.
• 5 points for obtaining the blue wand.
• 10 points for reaching the island.
• 5 points for obtaining a blue bauble.
• 5 points for obtaining the golden bell.
• 10 points for obtaining the amulet.
• 10 points for returning home.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

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

Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!