Walkthrough for "The Water Bird", a game by Athan Skelley (The comments regarding bugs & issues are for Release 1.1. Also note that although some of the moves mentioned are optional, they help showing the reasoning behind the character's actions.) 1) GETTING YOUR QUEST s nw sw sw se nw z s z [until Tussate tells you to go] 2) GETTING YOUR BROTHER TO ACCOMPANY YOU n ne e e ne tell brother about quest ask brother about pain [saves you some time] sw w w ne nw sw tell shaman about brother ask shaman about passalu ask shaman about cholok ne se sw w w sw n ne take passalu sw s ne e [x4] ne brother, follow me sw w w ne nw sw give passalu to shaman z [until the shaman has nothing to say] brother, follow me 3) FINDING AND FIXING YOUR BOW ne se w take bow e ne x target l in it take string put string on bow give string and bow to brother brother, put string on bow brother, give me bow 4) GETTING YOUR BROTHER'S BOW sw sw w n z [until Inaleli puts down her doll] take doll s e ne se throw doll at tree z inaleli, take brother's bow 5) GETTING A COUPLE ARROWS nw ne z [until the boys aren't around] w take log z [until 2 arrows fly by] put arrows in target z [until the boys walk in, take their stuff, and leave] take arrow brother, take arrow [note that it's possible (but not helpful) to get up to 8 arrows following this procedure] [Now you need to exit the village without the boys confiscating your arrows. This can be achieved by either hiding in the sweathouse (where you found your bow) until they go back to their practice, or by waiting until they arrive in your location (basically, they won't notice the arrows when they're moving). If they get you, simply use undo.] e sw sw w w 6) HUNTING THE BIRDS sw w sw [This is the general method to hunt the birds:] z [until one shows up] shoot bird OR z [until you brother does it] take arrow OR brother, take arrow [Follow this procedure until you run out of arrows (both are lost in the bushes). I don't think it's possible to lose both arrows before killing at least one bird, but if it happens, use undo.] take birds ne e ne e 7) GETTING INTO THE RUINED VILLAGE drop birds take bird [you only need one] take doll e e [Mihina is blocking your way] w [notice how he follows you around] w sw brother, go west n s ne e e [I found an alternate way in. However, because that method wasn't planned by the author, it'll work on your way in but not on your way out, without any apparent reason. Feel free to try it. Starting at "Village, Western End", without Mihina present, try:] s brother, go north then go east then go west then go west out e 8) EXPLORING THE VILLAGE [Here I'm cheating the storyline a little, by picking up objects that we'll require later.] ne se n take blanket s nw sw e s take arrow x it search shavings n w 9) GETTING OUT OF THE VILLAGE sw x building u put blanket on hole d ne w [if Mihina isn't there, go west and then east again] e sw se nw ne w w 10) EXPLORING THE FOREST, AND THE CAVE sw w brother, follow me sw z [until your hear the owl hoot] nw z [until your hear the owl hoot] w z [until your hear the owl hoot] sw z [until your hear the owl hoot] se z [until your hear the owl hoot] sw x man e [the man is blocking your way] rub bird on me e e [the bridge is too slippery] drop all 11) RETURNING TO THE VILLAGE w ne nw ne e se ne e ne e [x3] take hides w sw u take blanket d [don't worry about Mihina - he'll go hide in the House of Mourning] ne w w sw n ne take passalu sw s w sw nw w sw se sw e 12) IN THE LAND OF THE DEAD rub leaf on blanket put blanket on bridge rub leaf on hide then put hide on bridge [x5] take all e [Here, you'll be moving at random through several locations. The more locations you'll "solve", the easier your movements will be. I'll be giving you solutions for every location. Feel free to talk to everyone - asking them about the giant is especially interesting.] 12a) YOTAIWE give bow to yotaiwe pluck bird rub leaf on arrow put feather on arrow give arrow to yotaiwe 12b) INALELI give doll to inaleli 12c) TUSSATE x tussate x me remove loincloth give it to tussate [Bug alert. The loincloth actually stays in your inventory, but if you try to give it more than once, you might put the game in an unwinnable state.] 12d) HAWEHNI give knife to hawehni 12e) YOUR PARENTS tell mother about brother [find your way back out of the cave - going west several times should work] tell brother about mother rub bird on brother brother, follow me [find your way back to your parents - e, e, s should work] 12f) KILINAKI THE SHAMAN [You can only meet him after solving all the other locations.] z [until he stops talking] 13) BECOMING THE WATER BIRD [find your way back out of the cave - going west several times should work] ne nw ne e se wash me rub leaf on me put feathers on me [Bug alert. At this point, make sure that there are no feathers anywhere nearby but on yourself - none in your inventory, none on the ground. Otherwise, you'll get the game in an unwinnable state.] become bird think about beak think about wings think about feathers think about feet think about bird