-   -   -   -   -   -   - 

The Winter Rose
Developer:Hatter’s Guild Productions
Publisher:Hatter’s Guild Productions
Platform:PC
Genre:Adventure
Release Date:2005
Article Posted:July 2006
System Requirements


A few starting notes:

  • In The Winter Rose talking to characters multiple times often produces multiple conversations, some of which provide important clues. When this walkthrough suggests talking to a character, this should be taken to mean that one should talk to that character until no new conversations are had – usually indicated by Rose returning to an already-covered conversation, but sometimes by the same final conversation repeating.
  • “Using” and “taking” are achieved via the same cursor, the hand cursor. I have used “take” in this walkthrough to indicate instances when “using” an object results in Rose taking it; The exceptions are those cases in which one “uses” an object that holds the item that Rose takes.
  • “Shoot” indicates that the “bow and arrow” cursor be used, which instructs Rose to attempt to shoot whatever is clicked on.


    Walkthrough:

  • The land that lies over the mountains but before the sea used to be a peaceful and wonderful place, before the ice dragon came, bringing with it the clutches of an unnatural winter. The people of the land did not submit, however, and fought back. Foreign lords too came questing to slay the deadly monster. All, however, failed, and in the end the dragon waxed unchallenged, while those that remained hid themselves away and scratched a living from the ice-bound land.
  • Lying on his bed, most probably with not long to live, Rose’s elderly father urges her to leave, to seek a way to escape the frozen land and outdistance the clutches of the terrible dragon. But the young girl has more fire than that, and, refusing her father’s desire, she determines to slay the dragon herself.
  • Can young Rose succeed where so many valiant warriors failed...?
  • The game begins in the hollowed-out hemlock tree that Rose and her father call home, just after Rose declares her intention to slay the dragon and takes her father’s bow.
  • First, talk to Rose’s father.
  • That done, take the blue cup containing a candle, which can be found on the table near the window, the tinderbox, which is found on the mantle above the fireplace.
  • Open your inventory and examine the blue cup containing a candle. You should now have two items instead of one: a blue cup and a candle.
  • Exit the house by using the door.
  • Use the path to have Rose make a snowball – don’t worry, it would seem to be cold enough that the snowball doesn’t melt.
  • Talk to the vulture if you wish; there is little that you can do to it now, but later is another matter...
  • Walk up the path to reach the village, avoiding the nearby stream.
  • Take the bucket in the snow to the right of the well.
  • Use the woman beside the well to gain a comb.
  • Use the soldier under the tree to gain his shield.
  • Walk right to the next screen, the hot springs.
  • Walk down to find another frozen soldier (this one bearing a rather sharp-looking spear – take note of that).
  • Use the stump to take the arrow embedded within it – Rose now has an arrow to go with her bow!
  • Walk left to the next screen, bringing us back to the hemlock tree.
  • Attempt to shoot the vulture – it will fly off, going to perch in the tree in the village (the one under which the soldier from whom we acquired the shield lies).
  • Walk up (note the new perch that the vulture has found, but do nothing for now), then right and right again to find a rather suspicious-looking apple-on-a-stick. Do not attempt to take the apple by hand, unless you want to see the death screen that results. Instead, shoot the apple from the stick, which will spring the trap.
  • Take both the apple and the dagger that was flung by the trap.
  • Walk right to the next screen – the frozen waterfall. Attempt, if you wish, to use the dagger to aid a climb up the waterfall – it seems that you should keep an eye out for another dagger.
  • Walk right again, then down to find the dock and the wrecked ship.
  • Use the hole in the wreck to find a flask of liquor.
  • Walk left to find a toppled tree and the Abominable Snowman.
  • Talk to the Abominable Snowman. It seems that he has a bit of a dagger problem, but doesn’t want it removed unless the wound is sterilised – such as by alcohol, perhaps.
  • Use the flask of liquor on the Abominable Snowman – you should now gain another dagger.
  • Use the patch of dirt that shows where the fallen tree had been rooted – you should gain an earthworm.
  • Walk right, then up, then left to once again reach the frozen waterfall. Hmm... presuming that north is up (as seems reasonable), would these not be likely to be the eastern cliffs that Rose’s father mentioned? The problem is how to scale them...
  • Use either of your daggers on the frozen waterfall. Now that you have two Rose can use them to aid her climb, bringing you to the clifftop, and the hermit.
  • Walk to the hermit (by first walking to the stone pillar), avoiding the “lookout.”
  • Talk to the hermit to receive clues about the Isle of the Enchantress, the forest gnome, the vulture and the dragon.
  • Well, we know where the Isle of The Enchantress is, but how to get there? There might be ice on the sea, but will it hold your weight? The hermit suggested speed – perhaps we should use the run-up provided by the lookout to our advantage...
  • In your inventory, use the candle on the shield to wax it – we now have a nice, slippery shield – use this on Rose to go sledding down the lookout, and out over the frozen sea to reach the Isle of the Enchantress, albeit at the cost of the shield.
  • Take the spellbook.
  • In your inventory, examine the spellbook. Despite the ink stains, we get an idea from the symbols at the bottom.
  • Use the boat to return to the docks on the mainlaind. The boat now provides safe travel to and from the Isle of the Enchantress.
  • Walk up, then left to return to the frozen waterfall.
  • In your inventory, use the tinderbox on the candle to light it.
  • Use the lit candle on the small hole (the black area to the left of the frozen waterfall) to meet the Moiler Mole.
  • Talk to the Moiler Mole.
  • Use the comb on the Moiler Mole.
  • Talk to the Moiler Mole again.
  • Click on the “Play” button (in the bottom right corner of the screen).
  • Walk left to return to that nasty trap. Hmm... the hermit suggested turning the gnome’s tricks back on itself... (the gnome is revealed to be the culprit if you attempt to take the apple by hand instead of shooting it.)
  • Use the snowball on the suspicious tree (the rightmost one, which had held the dagger before you sprung the trap). Rose should reset the trap with a snowball and get ready...
  • Use the unconscious gnome.
  • Once Rose has had her little “chat” with the gnome, take the horn.
  • Walk left again to reach the hot springs.
  • Talk to the Abominable Snowman. Very interesting... it seems that because of his fur he is immune to freezing...
  • Use the apple on the Abominable Snowman – he should give you a large hairball (oh what a lovely present, you may well think – but worry not, it has its uses...)
  • Use the bucket on the hot springs – you now have a bucket full of water. In this weather, however, it’ll freeze quickly, it seems...
  • So, what use is water? Well, the hermit said something about vultures disliking it...
  • Walk left to the village.
  • Use the bucket full of water on the vulture – that should give it a nasty shock!
  • Walk right, then right again. Well well well – it would seem that water does freeze quickly here, to judge by what happened to the vulture...
  • Use the vulture to gain a feather.
  • Walk right yet again.
  • As before, open your inventory and use the tinderbox on the candle, and then use the lit candle on the dark hole.
  • Use the hairball on the Moiler Mole.
  • Click on the “Play” button, the once again open your inventory, use the tinderbox on the candle, and then use the lit candle on the dark hole.
  • Take the longjohns.
  • Click on the “Play” button. Rose will get changed into her new insulating underwear.
  • Walk left, down, then left again We’re missing one item from the spellbook – dragon’s blood. But how to gain such a thing?
  • Well, we do know that the ice dragon is attracted to heat...
  • Use the tinderbox on the soldier – the result: a sore dragon and a blood-stained spear.
  • Use the flask on the soldier – you now have dragon’s blood!
  • Walk right, right, then right again to reach the docks.
  • Use the boat to return to the Isle of the Enchantress.
  • Use the earthworm on the cauldron.
  • Use the feather on the cauldron.
  • Use the dragon’s blood on the cauldron.
  • Congratulations! You have freed the Enchantress from her black fire prison!
  • Talk to the Enchantress. She should give you her wand.
  • Use the boat to return to the mainland.
  • Walk up, then left and left again to reach the trap and the dead vulture.
  • The time for the final confrontation has begun...
  • Walk up to reach the pass, then up again to reach the dragon on its peak.
  • That peak looks rather fragile, especially considering that it has a rather large dragon perched on it, doesn’t it? What’s more, the spellbook, on the page adjacent to that which gave you the spell that freed the Enchantress, mentions a horn, gnomes, power and the earth. Lastly, if you happened to venture too far up the pass before dealing with the gnome you might already have some idea of the horn’s powers...
  • But the dragon has wings – what good is pulling the earth out from beneath it if it can just fly up again?
  • But now is not a time to tarry – if you take too long to act the dragon may well kill poor Rose.
  • Use the wand on the dragon. Heheh, no more flying for this dragon...
  • Use the horn on Rose.
  • Congratulations! You have slain the terrible ice dragon, and completed the quest of The Winter Rose!

    PC System Requirements:
    Windows® 95 and up (this game ran without trouble under Windows XP® on this reviewer’s system)
    Screen resolution of 640x400 or 320x200
    Windows®-compatible sound card
    Keyboard, mouse, speakers