In this fantasy game, you play as an elf who, after a night of drinking mead, wakes up nestled up high in an oak tree. But your headache is soon forgotten when you find your village deserted. An evil witch captured almost everyone, intending to eat them, and she's sure to come back by nightfall. Can you save yourself and the others before then?
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1, Serial number 230924 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
When your chair enters a station, it stays in the station for four turns before it heads back out.
Map 4: Castle
Map 5: Enchanted Tree
This maze is mappable by dropping items. Dropped items are put onto a nearby branch; they do not fall to the ground.
When you go up from Base of White Tree, your tree-status is "upwards" until you reach the tree top. That means, at locations where going up or down is ambiguous and you could potentially go to two different adjacent locations, you'll actually always go towards the top of the tree. Likewise, when you arrive at the tree top, your tree-status is set to "downwards", and when going up or down is ambiguous, you'll go towards the base of the tree.
In other words, you can't turn around partway up the tree. Once you start climbing the tree, you are committed to going all the way up to the tree top, and only from there can you try to get back down to the ground again.
Map 6: Sunny Field
The witch starts at the yellow door, and you start at the blue door. Both of you are racing towards the white door. Note that the witch's route is shorter, so you must slow her down somehow.
Don't worry about your headache; it disappears on its own soon enough. Also, there's a time limit in this game, so while you can waste some time looking around, don't overdo it.
> x me. i.
> u.
Higher Up A Tree
> x village. x river.
> d. d.
Base Of Tree
You need the flagon, but not the hat.
> x hat. x flagon. take it.
> s. s. e. sw.
Side Yard
> x machinery. e.
Jorgen's Cottage
> x bench. x photo.("XXOX")
> x bucket. take it.
> w. ne.
Western Edge Of Town
> drop bucket.(Leaving it here for later.)
> e.
Village Walk (between widow's and Birkles' cottages)
Once you're in the village, you may see Peppers, the king's parrot, who moves about randomly. Listen to what he says, since one of the things he says is a password ("Apricot"), but don't bother trying to interact with him directly.
> s.
The Birkles' Cottage
> x toys. x cradle. x blanket.
> take blanket. x bear.
> take bear. drop blanket.
> n. n.
Widow's Cottage
> x widow.
The widow is unresponsive until you SHOW, not GIVE, the teddy bear to her. (This may have changed in the latest version.)
> show bear.(+20. Widow gives you an amulet that protects against hypnotism.)
> x amulet. wear it.
You can now ask the widow about a few topics (such as the witch and the owl) or show other things to her, but she really doesn't have much to say.
The route back to the ground is just as long as the route getting up here.
> out. d. d. u. u.
> d. u. u. d. u.
> d. d. u. d.
3. Ascend the mountain.
Base of White Tree
> s. s. w. w. s.
Village Walk (outside Pulcher's and your cottages)
Make your way to the millhouse:
> e. e. e. ne. e. s.
The Millhouse
Remember the XXOX from the photo? Arrange the levers in the same pattern. (Use RAISE or LIFT, not pull; use LOWER, not push)
> x levers. x stone.
> raise first. lower third. raise fourth.
> pull stone.(+10)
The wheel turns, and now the chairlift up the mountain has power. Head to the chairlift:
> n. w. n.
Among The Chairs
> x chair. sit on chair.
In The Chairlift (6 turns)
CAUTION: If you forget to lower the safety bar, you will fall out of the chair to your death!
> lower bar. z. z. z. z. z.
Hilltop Station
> lift bar. stand.
Among The Chairs
> w.
4. Explore the mountain.
Scenic Vista
You need something from the greenhouse before entering the mines.
> sw.
Outside Greenhouse
> open door. n.
Greenhouse
Because I don't want to over-encumber you inside the mine, just grab the rake for now. You can explore the the rest of this stuff afterwards.
> x rake. take it.
> s. ne. n. n. ne.
Mine Entrance
> open door. n.
Adit
CAUTION: The lamp has very little fuel. Don't waste it!
> x lamp. take it.
> x cart. x block.
> enter cart. push block with rake.(The cart rolls to...)
Darkness / Chamber
> turn on lamp.(+10)
CAUTION: If you just get out of the cart, it rolls south, and the game is no longer winnable.
> pull brake with rake. out.
Nothing helpful is south from here.
> n. w.
Dead End
> take pickaxe and harness.
> e. s.
Chamber
> enter cart. push brake with rake.
Adit
> turn off lamp. pull brake with rake.
> out. drop lamp.
> x pickaxe. x harness.
> wear harness. put pickaxe in it.
Return to the greenhouse:
> s. sw. s. s. sw. n.
Greenhouse
> x tree. u.
In The Tree
> take peach. d.
Greenhouse
> x barrow. x skis. take skis.
> push barrow south.
Outside Greenhouse
> push barrow northeast.
Scenic Vista
While you can just use the chairlift again to return to the village, using the barrow is much faster, and time is limited. You might also find it more fun!
> enter barrow.
5. Dam the stream.
Bottom of Mountain
Abandon the barrow and rake. Keep the skis, harness, pickaxe, peach.
> drop rake.
Head to the eastern bank:
> s. w. w. w. w. w. w. w. w.
Eastern Bank
> x sign. take it.
> s. se. e.
Along The Stream (south end of path)
> show sign to beaver.(Its tail wags!)
The beaver is now following you. Head back up the river to a clearing where there's a dead tree:
> w. nw. n. n. n. nw.(+10)
Creskside Clearing
The beaver turns the dead tree into a dam! Because the water is lower, the mill and chairlift are no longer working. It's very important you got everything you needed from the mountaintop before damming the creek.
Now head for the castle, and pick up a watering can from Milpo's cottage on the way there.
> se. s. s. e. e.
Junction
> e. e. e. e. e. n.
Milpo's Cottage
> x can. look in it. take can.
> s. s. s. s.
6. Explore the castle.
Outside Castle
Because the water is gone, you can now enter the moat.
> d. w. s.
In The Moat (south side)
> eat peach. drop pit.
> pour food on pit.(A new peach tree has grown!)
> drop can.
> u.
In A Peach Tree
> n.(+10)
Royal Bedroom
You don't need the perch.
> x bed. x mural. x perch.
> n. e.
Study
> x desk. x paperweight. take it.
> w. d. d.
Great Hall
> x carpets. x statue.
> x shamrock. x plinth.
> put paperweight on shamrock.(+10; a hidden door opens!)
> e. d.
Royal Treasury
> x safe. x mirror. x smudge. rub it.
A bearded figure appears in the mirror.
> mirror, open safe.(no: You need to be appropriately equipped, and he needs a password.)
The mirror is surprisingly talkative. I guess it doesn't get many visitors.
> ask mirror about safe. ask mirror about mirror.
> ask mirror about king. ask mirror about Peppers.
> ask mirror about witch.
> x crown. x case. x pedestal.
If you took the piccolo from Adagio's cottage, you may blow it three times to shatter the case, but this is faster:
> break case with pickaxe.
> take crown.(+10)
> wear crown.
> say apricot.(+10; the safe opens)
> look in safe. take box. drop crown.
> u. w. n.
Courtyard
> turn windlass.(The drawbridge lowers.)
> n.
7. Cross the stream.
Outside Castle
You should be wearing the amulet and harness, have the music box, its key, and skis, and the pickaxe in the harness. On your way to the creek, pick up the jug of mead from your cottage, and also that bucket you left on the road near the start of the game.
> n. n. n. w. w. s.
Your Cottage
> take jug. n. w. w.
Western Edge of Town
> take bucket. w. w. w.
Eastern Bank
> save.(This will be a one-way trip.)
CAUTION: The stepping stones were revealed when the beaver dammed the creek, but they're too slippery to cross without additional assistance.
Personally, I found this puzzle very unfair. Your feet are not implemented as a distinct body part elsewhere in the game, but you must refer to them in this command:
> pour mead on feet.
Move quickly! Your feet are only sticky for three turns.
> w. w. w. sw.
8. Setup the music box trap.
Dark Path (near witch's clearing)
This is as far as you dare go without further preparation. You must now turn the music box into a trap for the witch.
The box is unlocked and locked with the key you got from the owl's nest.
Opening the box transports everyone very close to the box into a sunny field (see map 6). You will also drop everything you're carrying. The field is actually a six-by-seven grid maze with invisible walls. I will assume you explored the maze in a previous session and figured out where all the walls are.
Note that there are three doors. You always enter the maze at the blue door, and the witch always enters at the yellow door. The white door on the west side is the only exit.
Note that the witch's route from the yellow door to the white door is shorter than yours from the blue door, and the witch can either see where the walls are or has memorized the maze layout. You must slow her down by dropping things in her path ahead of time so you reach the white door and escape first.
Since you drop everything you're carrying when you open the music box, the only things you can bring into the maze are things you're wearing or held by things you're wearing.
I assume you're still wearing the harness and that the pickaxe is still in it?
> unlock box with key.
> wear skis. wear bucket.
> open box.(You're now at...)
Sunny Field (at blue door)
> remove bucket. remove skis.
> n. w. n. e. n.
> w. w. n. e. e.
Sunny Field (at yellow door)
> drop bucket. drop skis.
> drop pickaxe. drop harness.
> w. w. s. w. n.
> w. w. s. e. s. w.
Sunny Field (at white door)
> open door.
Dark Path (nearly there)
> take box and key. close box.
9. Defeat the witch.
Dark Path (near witch's clearing)
You must be wearing the amulet and carry both the music box and its key. Ready?
> nw.
Clearing
> x witch.
The witch notices you and tries to hypnotise you, but the amulet protects you. She approaches you, with the intention of ripping the amulet off your neck.
> open box.
Both you and the witch are in the maze!
Sunny Field (from blue door to white)
Race to the white door! Don't waste any time!
> n. w. w. s. s.
> w. w. n. e. n.
> w. w. n. open door.
Clearing
> take all. lock box with key.(+20)
*** You have won ***
Extras
Characters
The witch hypnotised and kidnapped most of the elves from several villages, including yours, and intends to eat them.
Peppers is the king's parrot, but he's wandering the street instead of being in the castle.
The Widow elf sits unresponsive in her cottage. The witch didn't take her because she's too old and scrawny.
A beaver is on the riverbank south of the village.
Several birds fill the trees outside Pulcher's cottage.
An owl is in its nest at the top of the enchanted tree. It can be quite vicious.
The bearded figure seen in the safe's mirror only opens the safe under certain conditions.
The elves are the witch's helpless prisoners in the clearing.
Mentioned:
Jorgen is the village handyman.
Jorgen's girlfriend lives one village over.
The Birkles have a cosy cottage opposite the widow's. The teddy bear belongs to their baby.
Pulcher is a birding expert.
Agadio is the village musician.
Milpo is the village arborist and horticulturist.
King Florgen the Fourth is the current king.
King Florgen the Third retired and now grows beets and cabbages in a nearby village.
Orgulbon the Pointy, who fought against an army of groundhogs, is represented with a statue in the castle's great hall.
The king's functionaries use the study.
The elves of the bakery are very much like Keebler elves, in my humble opinion.
A miner is implied since there is a mine.
A miller is implied since there is a millhouse.
Credits
The response to CREDITS is:
"The Witch" A Text Adventure Game (C) 2023 Charles Moore, Jr.
Release 1 / Serial number 230924 / Inform v6.42 Library v6.12.6 S
Special thanks to IF Community Forum members P-Tux7 and Max Fog for invaluable playtesting assistance.
Endings
There are so many ways to die in this game, I'm sure I didn't find all of them.
You have died
if you jump from the tree you start the game in.
if you jump from the enchanted tree.
if you drop the seed anywhere. Yes, even inside a cottage. The owl attacks you!
if you ride the chairlift without lowering the safety bar, or if you raise the bar too soon.
if you go south from Scenic Vista, whether or not you're wearing skis.
if you have a misadventure in the mine from spending too much time in the dark once reaching the chamber region, even if you think you should be safe inside the minecart.
if you try to walk (with or without skis) on the slippery stones, going west from the eastern bank, when the game is winnable. (If the game is winnable, you manage to get back to the eastern bank without dying.)
if the witch catches you in the village. Around turn 600, twilight falls, and if you're on the village streets, you're doomed.
if the witch catches you in the clearing. Either you're not wearing the amulet, or you fail to open the music box when she starts moving towards you.
if you're trapped in the music box because the witch escapes first.
You have won
if you imprison the witch inside the music box.
Inventory
Items are listed in the order they are mentioned in this walkthrough.
Note that all solid items that don't need a container can be used to map the enchanted tree maze.
a headache containing regret. You're carrying it when the game starts.
You can't examine either of these or otherwise interact with them. Fortunately, they disappear on their own in a few turns.
a plain flagon. It's at the base of the tree.
Put the seed into the flagon, then close the flagon to hide the seed from the birds that hang out outside Pulcher's cottage. After you've used the seed in the owl's den, discard the flagon.
a hat. It's at the base of the tree.
You can wear it, but you don't need it.
a sign. It's on a tree at the eastern bank.
CAUTION: Using the sign too soon makes the game unwinnable.
Take the sign to the southeast end of "Along The Stream" and show the sign to the beaver. The beaver is now following you. Lead the beaver to the creekside clearing. The beaver attacks the dead tree and makes a dam.
The dam has three effects. First, at the eastern moat, stepping stones have emerged, but they're too slippery to use. At the castle, the moat is now empty and can be entered on foot. At the mill, the water is now too low for the mill's wheel to turn.
a bucket. It's on the workbench in Jorgen's cottage.
The bucket can be helpful as a general purpose container to increase your carrying capacity, but the bucket's capacity is still less than you'd expect.
While you can fill the bucket with water from the creek, you have no need to carry water.
Just before opening the music box for the first time, wear the bucket (over your head). Thus, when you open the box, you don't automatically drop the bucket.
The bucket is one of the five things you can drop by the yellow door in the sunny field to slow the witch down.
a photo. It's in Jorgen's cottage.
The "XXOX" inscription is likely a clue for the levers in the millhouse. That is, lift the first, second, and fourth levers, and lower the third one. Nothing about the photo suggests any connection to the millhouse, except that "XXOX" can be interpreted as a four-character binary code, and it's the only such code in the game.
a blanket. It's in cradle in the Birkles' cottage.
Take the blanket to find the teddy bear, but you don't need the blanket itself.
In the widow's cottage, show the bear to the widow to make the widow responsive. She gives you an amulet and tells you that the witch stole all the elves.
an amulet. Obtain it by showing the teddy bear to the widow elf.
Wear the amulet. The amulet protects you against hypnotism when you first meet the witch in the clearing. This gives you just enough time to open the music box in the witch's presence, but know that the witch will take the amulet from you if you don't act quickly.
a small canvas bag containing some seed. It's in Pulcher's cottage.
Before leaving the cottage, pour the seed into the flagon and close the flagon. Feel free to discard the bag. The closed flagon hides the seed from the birds lurking outside the cottage.
In the owl's den, quickly open the flagon and throw the seed at the owl. The other birds attack the owl, removing the owl as a threat. You can now safely take the silver key from the owl's nest.
a sticky jug containing some mead. It's in your cottage.
Just before crossing the creek, pour the mead onto your bare feet. This makes your feet sticky enough to let you safely use the slippery stepping stones to get across. The mead wears off very quickly, and there's only enough for one crossing.
a watering can containing some plant food. It's in Milpo's cottage.
In the moat on the south side of the castle, drop the peach pit, then pour the plant food on the pit. A peach tree grows immediately, which you can now climb to reach the king's bedroom window.
a lute. It's in Adagio's cottage.
You can play it, but you have no use for it.
a silver piccolo. It's in Adagio's cottage.
In the royal treasury, play the piccolo three times to shatter the glass case holding the crown.
a music stand. It's in Adagio's cottage.
You have no use for the music stand.
a pair of skis. There's in the greenhouse.
The skis are one of the five things you can drop by the yellow door in the sunny field to slow the witch down; see music box.
a garden rake. It's in the greenhouse.
When in the mine cart, push the brake block with the rake to get the cart moving, and pull the brake block with the rake to lock the cart in place so it doesn't roll away when you leave the cart.
The rake is one of the five things you can drop by the yellow door in the sunny field to slow the witch down; see music box.
a peach. It's in the peach tree in the greenhouse; go up into the tree to find it.
In the dark mine, turn on the lamp for light. But work quickly to get what you want out of the mine before the lamp runs out of power; it doesn't have much.
a pickaxe. It's in the dead end west of the shaft.
Note that you can put the pickaxe into the harness.
In the royal treasury, break the glass case with the pickaxe so you can take the crown.
The pickaxe is one of the five things you can drop by the yellow door in the sunny field to slow the witch down; see music box.
a leather harness. It's in the dead end west of the shaft.
You can wear the harness and put either the pickaxe or the rake into it, but not both at the same time.
The harness is one of the five things you can drop by the yellow door in the sunny field to slow the witch down; see music box.
In the moat, on the south side of the castle, drop the pit and pour the plant food on it to grow a new peach tree there. Climb the tree and go north through the open window to get into the castle.
a perch. It's in the royal bedroom.
It's Peppers's perch, but you don't need it. By the time you can acquire the perch, Peppers has probably flown away from the village.
a paperweight. It's on the oak desk in the palace's study.
In the castle's great hall, put the weight on the shamrock that's worn by the statue. The two stick together — I assume the paperweight is a magnet — and a hidden door opens. You cannot take the weight back.
Understand that whenever you open the music box, you and anyone else close by will be transported into a sunny field that is actually a maze with invisible walls and three doors. You begin at the blue door, and any other listener begins at the yellow door. Note also that you dropped whatever you were carrying before you find yourself in the field.
Prior to meeting the witch, map the maze completely so you know its layout. Note that the path from the yellow door to the white door is shorter than the route from the blue door.
So.. you must drop things near the yellow door to slow the witch down. Back outside, wear the bucket, harness, and skis, and put either the rake or the pickaxe in the harness... then open the music box. Go to the yellow door, take the rake or pickaxe from the harness, then drop everything you're carrying or wearing except the amulet. Leave by the white door.
Take the box and key then close the box, but don't relock it.
In the clearing, when the witch moves towards you, open the music box. Leave by the white door before the witch can get there.
Back in the clearing, close and lock the music box to finally defeat the witch.
Score
This is the response to SCORE:
You have so far scored your-score out of a possible 150, in several turns, designating you your-ranking.
The game is [either] winnable [or] *not* winnable [as applicable] from this point.
Points are awarded as follows:
20 points for obtaining the amulet.
10 points for reaching the top of the enchanted tree.
10 points for getting rid of the owl.
10 points for obtaining the silver key.
10 points for getting the chairlift running.
10 points for entering the mine chamber.
10 points for lowering the creek's water level.
10 points for getting inside the castle.
10 points for opening the secret door in the castle.
10 points for obtaining the royal crown.
10 points for opening the safe.
10 points for obtaining the music box.
20 points for imprisoning the witch.
The known rankings are:
a migrainous hungover elf.(0 points)
an elf whose mom, at least, would be proud of him.(10 to 20 points)
