This walkthrough refers to the "enhanced EGA" AGI version of the game, released in 1987, that features some improvements over the 1984 version, such as instant screen redraws, pictures of inventory items, and mouse support. For the 1990 remake in the SCI engine, click here.
Map
Gamer Walkthroughs has a nice high-resolution (2829x1209) map of the main area of Daventry here, made up of a grid of screenshots. It doesn't include the areas down the well, the Land of the Leprechauns, the beanstalk, the Land of the Clouds, or inside the mountain, but those areas are small. Note that because the game map wraps around both from east to west and north to south, the choice of center point is arbitrary. Some maps choose to center the screen on the east side of Castle Daventry where you start the game, but this one hasn't done so; instead they've placed that point on the eastern edge of the map. Click here for a smaller version that I've annotated with the screens where the random characters can appear (see below).
Survival tips
When changing screens, if you're not certain that the space you're about to enter is safe to walk on, press numpad 5 to stop moving as soon as you enter the new screen. Otherwise you may find yourself falling off a cliff or otherwise getting killed.
While Graham clearly can swim, for some godawful reason he doesn't know that he should until you tell him to. Whenever you enter a body of water, be ready to quickly press the equals key (or type swim), or you will drown.
There are five randomly-appearing characters who can give you a bad time. In this version of the game, they each only appear on one screen when walking around Daventry. It's best to avoid these screens if possible, but if you choose to enter them, stay near the edge of the screen so you can quickly escape if needed.
Dwarf: Steals a treasure. If he takes the mirror, chest, or shield, you've lost the game because there's no way to get it back. (Thus, besides sheer points, finding other treasures can lower the chance he'll take one of the important ones.) He can appear on the screen that is north of the walnut tree, east of the small hole in the rock, west of the bend in the river, and south of a patch of flowers. (Unknown probability, but high.) He can also appear when walking up the stairs into the mountain, if you go that way. (59.76% chance, 150/251.)Ogre: Crushes you to death. He can appear on a screen with a patch of flowers, which is south of the screen with the rock and dagger, east of the woodcutter's cottage, and west of the river. (Unknown probability, but high.)
Sorcerer: Freezes you in place for a minute or so. In this version of the game, this is annoying but not otherwise a danger. He can appear on the screen east of the witch's cottage, west of the walnut tree, south of the rock with the small hole, and north of a lake. (73.7% chance, 185/251.)
Witch: Captures you, ending the game. She can appear on the screen south of her cottage, east of the cave, west of a lake, and north of the well. (Unknown probability.)
Wolf: Catches and eats you. It can appear on the screen west of the big tree, east of the well, south of a lake, and north of another lake. (Unknown probability, but high.)
The magic ring's invisibility will protect you from all of these, but it's better to save the ring to use on the giant in the Land of the Clouds, because that scores the most points. The magic shield will also protect you except when going up the mountain, so that's why we'll get it first. (Doing so is only possible in the AGI version of the game.)
There is also a fairy godmother who will cast a spell of protection on you. She can appear on the screen south of the clover patch, west of the goat pen, north of a lake, and east of the garden behind the castle. (49.8% chance, 125/251.) This can be helpful in normal play, but we won't be deliberately seeking it out.
Around Daventry
Carefully cross the bridge over the moat. Go west. Walk up to the castle door and open it. Go north and west. Walk up to the bottom-most stair before the throne and bow to King Edward. Talk to the king. Leave the castle. Be careful to stop moving (numpad 5) as soon as the screen changes, especially if you have the game sped up, or you will plunge into the moat. Go across the western bridge and head north behind the castle.
Look at the garden. Walk into the garden rows and pick a carrot. Continue north. If there is not an elf here, exit south and return until he appears. (This may take many tries, as his chance to appear is only 33.86% or 85/251.) Get close to the elf. Talk to him and you will receive a magic ring. Wear the ring.
Go north and get the bowl that is over on the right side of the screen. Examine the bowl, and notice what it says ("FILL"), but don't say read bowl. (The reason for this is the scoring. Filling the bowl is normally worth 2 points. However, if you first read the bowl, you're given 1 point, but then filling the bowl does not give you another, so you wind up 1 short. Probably the intent was to credit 2 points for filling the bowl without reading it, or 1 for reading and then 1 for filling, but it doesn't work out that way.)
Go north. Walk into the yellow area on the river shore and get some pebbles. Return south and go west. Get a walnut from the ground under the tree and open it. If you don't find a gold walnut, try again.
Go south two screens. Climb the large tree at the bottom right of the screen. Walk carefully out along the branch to the bird's nest. (Fortunately, falling from the tree won't kill you.) Get the egg from the nest. Go back across the branch and down.
Go south. Stand to the north of the rock and move rock. Look in the hole and get the dagger. Go west. Swim west across the lake, then continue west one more screen. Look in the tree stump at the left of the screen. Get the pouch and open it.
Return east one screen, then south. Go inside the cottage. Look at the cottage. Hmm, looks like they could use some help. Say fill to fill the bowl with stew, then give it to the woodcutter. Walk over to the bottom right corner, being careful not to fall in the hole in the floor, and take the fiddle.
Leave the woodcutter's house. Go south, then swim south across the lake to a sweet-looking cottage. Walk out from behind the trees and examine the cottage. Oh -- it's literally sweet, a gingerbread cottage! Obviously a witch lives here, right? Walk up to the front door and eat the cottage. If you hear the witch when you do so, leave the screen to the east or west and return. Repeat until she isn't home. (She has a 49.8%, 125/251, chance to be home. Don't reset by going south, because she may swoop in and catch you before you can escape.) Save the game.
Open the door. Go into the bedroom. Walk a little towards the bottom edge of the screen, positioning yourself up against the bed so you're behind the wall and wouldn't be seen from the main room. Wait for the witch to come home. (This has a 71.7%, 180/251, chance of occurring. If she's going to appear, it will happen fairly quickly, so if she doesn't show up in about 30 seconds, leave the cottage and try again.) When she does, quickly walk up behind her and push her into the oven. Go back into the bedroom and get the note from the bedside table. Read the note. Open the cupboard on the wall next to the cage and get the cheese. Leave the cottage. Save the game.
For Your Amusement:
Walk into the moat. (save first)
Stand to the south of the rock when you move it. (save first)
Get caught by the witch. (save first)
The Magic Shield
Go one screen south and three west, swimming across the lake. Get the four-leaf clover from the patch towards the left of the screen. Return east two screens to the screen with the cave. Wait a few moments for an eagle to appear. (49.8% chance, 125/251.) If it doesn't, leave the screen and return. Try to get very close under it and then jump when the eagle swoops down. If you don't succeed, leave the screen and come back to try again. This may take a lot of attempts. Try standing near the pair of conifer trees at the top center of the screen and waiting for the bird to pass overhead.
After you get a ride, go west one screen from where you are dropped, being careful to avoid the hole in the ground. Walk up to the mushroom growing by the river and pick it. (It may seem from the background art that Castle Daventry is just to the north of here, but actually you're on an island surrounded by obstacles.) Go back east and now fall down the hole.
Follow the cave south and west. Observe how the rat doesn't come all the way across the cavern. Walk carefully up to the eastern edge of its range and give it the cheese. (The alternate solution is to give the rat a treasure, at the cost of the treasure.) Walk up to the door and open it. Play the fiddle.
Go south. Take the sceptre. (You have to spell it "sceptre"; the game doesn't recognize "scepter".) Take the shield. (...In your pocket?) Go west up the stairs. Walk up to the small hole at the top left. Eat the mushroom. You will automatically exit.
For Your Amusement:
After giving the rat the cheese, count your fingers.
The Magic Mirror
Go north three screens, then west to the well. (You may encounter the wolf on the way, but with the shield, you don't need to worry about it.) Walk up to the well. Cut the rope to get the bucket. Move to the right side of the well, where the crank is. Lower the rope. Move to the top or bottom side and climb the rope. Go down into the well. (You can also climb into bucket at the top of the well, then get out of bucket at the bottom, swim, then cut the rope.)
Continue off the end of the rope to fall into the water. Swim. Dive. Swim down and through the hole at the bottom left. (Your speed setting affects how long you can hold your breath underwater. If you're having difficulty getting through the hole before you drown, slow the game speed down.) When the screen changes, immediately stop moving; like the rat, the dragon doesn't come all the way east.
Look at the bucket and notice that it filled with water when you dived. Save the game. Move as far west as you can without getting torched. Throw the water at the dragon. If you miss, restore and try again. (For fewer points, you can also throw the dagger.) The blue border around a grey rectangle on the west side of the cave is the mirror. Take it. Look in the mirror. Return east, swim up, and climb rope. Go up and out of the well.
For Your Amusement:
Walk too close to the dragon. (save first)
The Magic Chest
Go west one screen. Walk up to the gate and open it. Enter the pen and close the gate behind you, being careful not to let the goat out. Go west if the goat is not on this screen. Show the carrot to the goat, but do not give it to him. (This may take several tries.) Once the goat is following you, leave the pen. Go two screens west and two north to a bridge.
Start to cross the bridge and a troll will appear. The billy goat will butt him off the bridge and then leave. Cross the bridge. On the next screen, approach the gnome. Talk to him. His name is Ifnkovhgroghprm, which is "Rumplestiltskin" spelled in a backwards alphabet, per the note in the witch's cottage which was a very subtle hint. (Yes, really! One of Sierra's more infamously obscure puzzles. Thankfully, they toned the difficulty of this one down a bit in the SCI remake.) The gnome will give you some magic beans which appear as yellow dots on the ground. Get the beans.
Move up to the upper half of the screen. Walk east from the vertical center of the brown area east of the tree. Immediately stop when the screen changes (it's very easy to fall into the river). Continue across the bridge and east to a flower patch. Plant the beans. Climb the beanstalk. Despite what you might think from the graphics, you can literally go straight up on this first screen. Mercifully (for once!), you will automatically stop moving when the screen changes. Save the game.
Now it gets extremely difficult. Slow the game down to Normal, or even Slow. Very carefully work your way up the beanstalk, saving every time you gain a few steps, and alternating between at least two save files. Pay attention to your feet, not your hands. Be careful not only to not fall off to either side, but the empty spaces in the center can also be deadly. (The incredible difficulty of climbing this beanstalk is why speedrunners deliberately fail to guess the gnome's name so as to get the mountain door key instead, but we're concerned with maximum points here.)
On the second screen (with three clouds), climb straight up until your feet reach a part that connects two large leaves outlined in black. Your head will disappear behind the twist of the stalk. Move diagonally up and to the right a bit to keep your feet on the green, then keep going straight up.
On the third screen (with two clouds), where there is a bigger hole in the twist at the center of the screen, move to the right. Try to keep each of your hands on the green of the stalk on either side. If your head disappears behind the twist again, that's good. Keep going up and to the left. The feather in your cap will peek out from behind the stalk. Head up a bit, then very carefully zigzag out the top.
When you change screens again to some clouds, go straight up until you automatically jump off the stalk, then save again. Speed the game up again. Walk straight east until you hit solid ground. Walk east from here one screen, then south, then two more east. Look in the hole at the base of the tree towards the right of the screen. Get the sling.
Go north one screen. Rub the ring. Go west. Hang around until the giant falls asleep. (This should take less than a minute. If nothing seems to be happening, walk slightly further into the screen.) Go up to the giant and take the chest.
Go back east one screen and remove the ring. (I don't think there's anything you can do about the loss of points here. Keeping the ring on doesn't save them, because the points are also deducted when the spell simply expires on its own and the ring disappears, and if you could keep them, you'd go over the maximum score.) Save the game. Enter the cave. Go down the stairs with the diagonal keypad numbers (3 and 1), which makes walking in a straight line on the correct angle much easier. When you reach the bottom, go south to exit the cave.
Once outside, go south two screens, then east one. Cross the bridge as carefully as ever and open the castle door. Go in and bow to King Edward again. Congratulations, King Graham!
For Your Amusement:
Kill the goat, then show him the carrot.
In the meadow where you plant the beans, eat the butterfly.
On the first beanstalk screen, look at the clouds.
Extras
For further entertainment, you may be interested in information on unused game resources, differences between game releases, debugging mode tricks, etc. at The Cutting Room Floor.
Points
| Action | Points | Action | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Around Daventry | The Magic Shield, cont'd. | ||
| Open castle door | 1 | Play fiddle for guards | 3 |
| Bow to King Edward | 3 | Get sceptre | 6 |
| Get carrot | 2 | Get shield | 8 |
| Talk to elf (get ring) | 3 | Eat mushroom | 2 |
| Get bowl | 3 | Exit cavern | 1 |
| Get pebbles | 1 | ||
| Get walnut | 3 | The Magic M irror | |
| Find gold walnut | 3 | Cut rope (get bucket) | 2 |
| Climb large tree | 2 | Go down into well | 1 |
| Get egg | 6 | Dive | 4 |
| Move rock | 2 | Swim through hole | 1 |
| Get dagger | 5 | Throw water at dragon | 5 |
| Look in tree stump | 1 | Get mirror | 8 |
| Get pouch | 3 | Go back up well | 4 |
| Open pouch of diamonds | 3 | ||
| Fill bowl | 2 | The Magic Chest | |
| Give bowl to woodcutter | 3 | Show carrot to goat | 5 |
| Get fiddle | 3 | Goat butts troll | 4 |
| Eat cottage | 2 | Guess gnome's name | 5 |
| Push witch into oven | 7 | Get beans | 4 |
| Get note | 2 | Plant beans | 2 |
| Read note | 1 | Get sling | 2 |
| Opn cupboard | 2 | Wait until giant falls asleep | 7 |
| Get cheese | 2 | Get chest | 8 |
| (Remove ring / ring expires) | (-3) | ||
| The Magic Shield | Open castle door | 1 | |
| Get four-leaf clover | 2 | Bow to King Edward | 3 |
| Catch eagle | 3 | ||
| Get mushroom | 1 | ||
| Give cheese to rat | 2 | Total | 158 |
Last updated: 9/02/2024