In this fantasy game, you play as a woodcutter named John. While you were in the forest with your axe, an evil wizard destroyed half your village and kidnapped everyone. You vow to destroy the wizard in his castle and rescue the villagers.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 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.
You vow to destroy the wizard and rescue any villagers still alive.
> x buildings. x elder's. x baker's.
> x candlemaker's. x hut.
> n.
Elder's House
> open trapdoor.(out of reach)
> drop chair. stand on it.
> open trapdoor. u.
Loft
> x tiles.
> x book. read book.(Wizard casts powerful spells, is immune to normal weapons, and may be a vampire.)
> x tub. take tub.
You don't need to take the book.
> d. d. s. ne.
Baker's Shop
> x oven. open it. x embers.
> x jug. take it. sw. e.
Candlemaker's Shop
> x rubble. search it. take candle. x it.
> w. s. s.
Meadow Behind Beekeeper's Hut
> x hive. x bees.
Smoke will help here. You'll need wood, a lit candle, and a jug of water to make smoke.
> drop wood.
> n. n. se.
Path to Village
> x houses. e.
Path Through Meadow
> x bushes. e.
West Riverbank (at path to village)
> x river. x boulders. x fish.
> fill jug.(with water)
> w. w. nw. ne.
Baker's Shop
> light candle.(with the embers)
> sw. s. s.
Meadow Behind Beekeeper's Hut
> burn wood.(with lit candle)
> pour water on fire.(The smoke calms the bees.)
> open hive. take comb. x it.
> blow out candle. drop it.
> drop jug.
> n. n. se. e. e. s.
West Riverbank (at rotten boat)
> x mosquitoes. x boat. x moss.
> x mast. x rope.
> x hull. search hull. x anchor.
> chop mast.(with axe)
> untie rope.(can't)
> cut rope.(with axe)
> take rope. take anchor.
> tie rope to anchor. x hook.
> n. n.
West Riverbank (shallow spot)
> save
The swamp north of here is a red herring and deathtrap, but I still want you to see it.
> n.
Swamp
You start to sink into the mud as soon as you enter the swamp. You can't catch the frog and you don't need the frog. And as far as I know, there's no way to stop yourself from sinking.
> x frog.(It jumps around elusively.)
Leave the swamp before you sink to your death.
> s.
West Riverbank (at shallow spot)
> e.(The fish start nibbling your boots and you quickly retreat.)
> put meat in river.(The fish attack it and follow it downstream. You can cross safely now.)
> e.
East Riverbank
> x rushes. ne.
Thick Vegetation
> x vegetation. search it. take garlic. x it.
> e.
Goat Path
> x grass. take grass. e.
Bare Hillside
> x rocks. take rock.(heh)
> sharpen axe.(heh)
> n.
Top of Hill
> x goat.(hungry and annoyed with you here)
> show grass to goat.(The goat is distracted as it eats.)
> e. e.
Eastern End of Plateau
> x forest. x castle.
> s.
Clearing
> x soil. dig soil.(with shovel)
You fall into...
Inside Mineshaft
> x cart. take nugget. x it.
> u. e.
Pebbly Path
You have no use for the pebbles.
> x grass. x pebbles.
> e.
Edge of Forest
> x bear.(hungry and unfriendly)
> give comb to bear.(It leaves.)
> e.
Forest Path
> x trees. e.
South of Castle Moat
> x moat. x bridge. x ramparts.
> x castle. x tower.
> throw hook at gap.(It catches.)
> pull rope.(The drawbridge is down.)
> n.
On Drawbridge
> x moat. smell. n.
Castle Courtyard
> x guard. x shield. talk to guard.
> ask him about villagers.
> ask him about dungeon.
> ask him about tower.
> ask him about wizard.
> ask him about vampire.
> ask him about himself.
> ask him about shield.
> give tub to guard.(no: wants gold or silver)
> give silver to guard.(He trades you his shield for the silver.)
> polish shield.(with the tub)
> x shield.(It's shiny now.)
Without his shield, the guard is vulnerable. And unfortunately, killing him is the only way to get him to move aside.
> kill guard with axe.(He's dead.)
> take nugget.
> x cobbles. x guard.
> search guard. take gold. x gold.
> n. n.
Wizard's Library
> x books. read book.(not at a distance)
> take book.(You instead take a random book which slides back.)
> x scrolls. take scroll.(can't)
Seems there's a ward preventing you from reading anything here.
> s. e. e.
Entrance to Dungeon
> x door. listen to door.
> open door.(locked)
The only thing you can do now is defeat the wizard with what you have. You did polish that shield, yes?
> save
> w. w. w. w.
Wizard's Inner Sanctum
> show garlic to wizard.(He laughs.)
> x wizard.(He's about to cast a spell!)
> show shield to wizard.(His spell rebounds and he dies!)
> open curtains.
> search wizard.(found a key)
> take key.
> e. e. e. e.
Entrance to Dungeon
> unlock door with key. open door.
The villagers are free!
*** You have won ***
Extras
Characters
Bees buzz in their hive south of the beekeeper's hut.
Man-eating fish live in the River Nudd.
A golden frog jumps elusively in the swamp. More frogs can be heard in the swamp.
Mosquitoes buzz about the rotten wooden boat.
A goat, hungry and indifferent, blocks your path at the top of a hill. More goats are mentioned via the goat path reference.
A bear, hungry and unfriendly, blocks your path at the edge of the forest.
A goblin guard blocks your way in the castle courtyard. He's much bigger than you, he has a shield, and his turn-ons are gold and silver.
The evil wizard lives in the derelict castle east of the River Nudd, and you'll find him in his tower sanctum. He'll be the guy with the white eyes and the ram-like horns who's casting death spells in your direction.
The villagers are locked up in the wizard's dungeons. From the village square, you know there's at least the Elder, a baker, a candlemaker, and a beekeeper amongst them.
Credits
This is the response to ABOUT:
In 2025, Shaun McClure published a book called 'How to design adventure games'. In the book, he included design notes on a sample game called 'John's Quest'. I thought it might be fun to implement this in PunyInform, so here it is!
My version of 'John's Quest' is generally true to Shaun's concept, but it does include a lot of enhancements (with Shaun's blessing), so I've renamed it to 'The Woodcutter's Quest'. The enhancements include corrected grammar and capitalisation, reworded location and object descriptions, enhanced vocabulary, extra responses, inclusion of the things that Shaun dismissed as being too hard to implement, and lots of extra puzzles.
Concept by Shaun McClure.
Game design and coding by Garry Francis.
Play testing by Andrew Apted, Dark Star, Gianluca Girelli, Jade J Aincioa, Melvin Rangasamy and Piergiorgio d'Errico.
Endings
You have died
if you spend three consecutive turns in the swamp. You sink completely under the mud.
if you spend three consecutive turns near a hungry bear. It tears you to pieces.
if you spend three consecutive turns near the evil wizard without the shiny shield. His spell burns you to a crisp.
You have won
if you free the villagers from the dungeon.
I failed to find any deaths by bees, fish, goat, moat, or guard.
Inventory
Items are listed in the order you acquire them in this walkthrough.
an axe. You're carrying it.
Use the axe for all your chopping and cutting needs; see wood and rope.
The axe can also be used as a weapon, but the only foe you can (and must) kill with the axe is the goblin guard in the castle courtyard, but only after he no longer has his shield.
a shovel. It's behind your shack.
In the clearing, dig the loose soil (with the shovel) to discover a forgotten mineshaft below.
Alternatively, you can dig with the sharp pottery, if you somehow failed to bring the shovel with you.
some logs, some firewood, some chopped wood, and some rotten wood. These are four different piles of wood suitable for a fire; you only need one of them.
Option 1: In the deep forest, chop a tree (with the axe) to make some logs.
Option 2: Behind your shack, search the woodpile to find some firewood.
Option 3: In your shack, chop your bed (with the axe) to turn it into a chopped-up bed. Take the bed to acquire some chopped wood.
Option 4: At the south end of the west riverbank, chop the boat (with the axe) to make some rotten wood.
In the meadow behind the beekeeper's hut, drop your wood, light it with the lit candle, then pour water (see jug) on the wood to make it smoky. The bees are now calm, so you can now open the hive and take the honeycomb that's inside.
a wooden chair. It's in your shack.
Take the chair into the elder's house and drop it there. Stand on it. Now you can open the trapdoor and go up into the loft.
Note that when coming down from the loft, you get back onto the chair, and must get down off the chair as well.
some dried meat. It's in your shack.
At the north end of the west riverbank where the river is shallow, put the meat into the river. The carnivorous fish take the meat downstream, leaving the shallow part of the river safe to cross on foot.
a leather-bound book. It's in the loft above the Elder's house; see chair.
Read the book to learn more about the wizard, but all the book can tell you is that (1) he spends most of his time in his tower, (2) he is immune to normal unmagical weapons, and (3) he might also be a vampire. The book is wrong about that last part.
a tub of metal polish. It's in the loft above the Elder's house; see chair.
You can't open the tub, nor do you need to.
Polish the shield (with the tub) so it's very shiny.
a jug. It's in the baker's shop.
At the riverbank, fill the jug with some water.
In the meadow behind the beekeeper's hut, pour the water on the fire you made there (see wood, candle) to make the fire smoky and calm the bees.
After obtaining the honey, you may break the jug, leaving you with a sharp piece of pottery. You can use this instead of the shovel when you need to dig.
a candle. Find it by searching the rubble in the remains of the candlemaker's shop.
In the baker's shop, open the oven and light the candle with the embers there.
In the meadow behind the beekeeper's hut, drop some wood there and light it with the lit candle.
In the wizard's library, if you try to burn the books or scrolls with the lit candle, a breeze blows the candle out. Arson denied!
a chunk of honeycomb. It's in the beehive in the meadow behind the beekeeper's hut.
To get the honeycomb, first drop some firewood near the hive, light the wood with a lit candle, then pour some water onto the fire to make it smoke. The smoke calms the bees down. Now just open the hive and take the comb.
You may taste the honey. You keep the bulk of the honey uneaten.
At the edge of the forest near the castle, give the honeycomb to the hungry bear. It leaves with its prize.
an anchor, a rope, and a grappling hook.
Find the anchor by searching the hull of the rotten wooden boat on the southmost west riverbank.
The rope is tied to the top of the mast of the rotten wood boat on the southmost west riverbank. Chop the mast with the axe, then cut the rope with the axe to free it.
Tie the rope to the anchor. Together, they become a grappling hook.
When south of the castle moat, examine the raised drawbridge, then throw the hook at the gap (at the top of the drawbridge). Now pull the rope to lower the drawbridge.
some wild garlic. Find it by searching the vegetation in "Thick Vegetation".
Surprisingly, you don't need the garlic. The wizard laughs at you if you try to show the garlic to him, because he's not actually a vampire.
For what it's worth, both the goat and bear refuse a gift of garlic, and if you eat the garlic, you have stinky breath for the rest of the game.
a handful of grass. Take some grass from the goat path.
Give the grass to the goat at the top of the hill. It eats the grass and lets you go past it.
a silver nugget. It's in the mining cart inside the disused mineshaft under the clearing; see shovel.
In the castle courtyard, give the silver to the guard. He gives you his shield in exchange.
After you kill the guard with your axe, take the silver back. It will help rebuild the village.
a dull shield. The guard in the castle courtyard carries the shield.
Give the silver nugget to the guard. He gives you the shield in exchange.
Now that the guard no longer has his shield, you can kill him with your axe. His greed has betrayed him!
Polish the shield with the tub of polish; it's now a shiny shield.
In the wizard's inner sanctum, after a few turns there, the wizard casts a deadly spell at you, but off the shiny shield and strikes him instead, killing him instantly. I guess he played hookey the day they taught about spell reflections in evil wizard school.
ten gold pieces. Find them by searching the dead goblin guard.
Just keep the gold. It will help rebuild the village.
a key. Find it by searching the dead wizard. Oh, yes, open the curtains first so the light is better for searching.
In the entrance to the dungeon, unlock the door with the key, then open the door to free the villagers and win the game.
the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, Allyson Gray, Daniel Stelzer, and Tabitha;
the generous support of Janice M Eisen, Matthew Foxley, Thomas Insel, Brian Long, and Andy Volk;
