This is a spoiler-resistant hint book for The Warbler's Nest, an interactive fiction by Jason McIntosh. It applies to all versions of the game, on any platform.

I wrote it with the intent to give stuck players nudges back on course without spoiling other areas of the story. If you just want a simple walkthrough, you can find that here too, but I do recommend consulting this hint book first if you're trying to enjoy the game.

Using these hints

If you find yourself stuck while playing the game, locate the question below that best matches the predicament you're in, and click the Show first hint link beside it.

The hints under each question each start out vague and become progressively more explicit as you continue to click Show next hint. I encourage you to proceed slowly, revealing no more than what you need to inspire you to find the solution yourself.

The list of questions does contain a handful of chaff, false questions that have nothing to do with anything that actually happens in the game. Their presence helps lower the spoiler value of the true questions. This hint book reserves the right to mock you should you go proceed to ask for hints about the false questions.

If you need help playing this kind of game at all

If text-based interactive fiction is completely unfamiliar to you, then you probably need a bit more help than this hint book can provide. Have a look at postcard-sized the How To Play Interactive Fiction cheat sheet, Brass Lantern's Beginner's Guide to Playing IF article, or this ten-minute video introduction to IF.

The Hints

Find the most appropriate question for your situation and click Show first hint.

I have no idea how to play this game! I need to type in words or something?

Show first hint

I know how to play, but I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing at the start.

Show first hint

Who am I in this game?

Show first hint

How do I get inside the cottage?

Show first hint

Where am I supposed to find eggshells?

Show first hint

What's going on with those birds?

Show first hint

OK, but I still don't know what was up with those weird birds.

Show first hint

How do I get across the river?

Show first hint

What's the point of the river?

Show first hint

How do I get behind the cottage?

Show first hint

How do I walk down the road?

Show first hint

How can I enter the forest?

Show first hint

What am I supposed to do inside the forest?

Show first hint

What am I supposed to do behind the cottage?

Show first hint

Oh no, something important I was holding fell apart before I could use it!

Show first hint

How do I prevent that from happening?

Show first hint

What am I supposed to do inside the cottage?

Show first hint

I want to pick up something in the cottage, but it's tied down.

Show first hint

How do I stop my hands from shaking?

Show first hint

How do I get rid of what I find in the cottage?

Show first hint

How do I *keep* what I find in the cottage?

Show first hint

I left the cottage soon after entering it, and now I am confused.

Show first hint

I left the cottage while carrying what I found there, and now I am confused.

Show first hint

Credits

This hint book was written by Jason McIntosh. It's inspired by the print "InvisiClues" hint books that Infocom would publish alongside their own games. This particular JavaScript-driven, "click-for-next" format was cued especially from an example by Juhana Leinonen, though I ended up rolling my own code solution.

This work is copyright © 2012 by Jason McIntosh.


All content of this website is copyright © 1999-2024 by Jason McIntosh except where noted.

This particular page was last modified: Mon Feb 15 00:04:39 2016