Let’s dial the year back to 1994 and pretend this fantasy watercolor challenge is one of those deliciously pixelated, slightly glitchy, Text + Choice games – with just a hint of dramatic MIDI music and mossy loading screens.
(Version 1.0 – DOS Compatible)
Press [ENTER] to begin.
You awaken in a sun-dappled glade. Your journal lies open. A voice, distant but oddly familiar, whispers:
“Ten paintings. Ten portals. One enchanted summer.”
Do you:
[1] Reach for your brush
[2] Eat a suspiciously glowing berry
[3] Turn the page and read the first prompt
Quest 1 – Lantern Hare
The light flickers on the edge of the field. Not fire. Not moon. It hops.
“Follow it,” the voice urges.
Do you:
- Paint with blues, greens, and golds
- Add a ruin that might have once held secrets
- Try not to blink – you swear the hare just turned to look at you.
They say the Lantern Hare only appears to those who are lost – offering just enough light to guide you somewhere. But no one says where.
The lantern hare starts moving and I follow it in to the forest. The hare pauses only to glance back once, ears twitching, then slips between the roots of an enormous oak where a faint silver path begins to glow. I mark the tree, I will come back to the silver path, but for now I move on towards some distant mountains.
Quest 2 – Ember Drake
A fire crackles in a lonely mountain pass.
You were sure you were alone – until the coals rearranged themselves and yawned.
A fox watches nearby.
The ember drake blinks, unbothered.
It’s midnight, the wind bites, and something ancient sleeps in those coals.
Do you:
- Paint warm rust and ember glows
- Let the smoke curl into symbols
- Wonder how long the drake has been dreaming alone
Once guardians of volcanoes, ember drakes now seek warmth wherever they can find it. This one has adopted the traveler – for now.
I quietly paint the scene, careful not to wake the wanderer, and walk further into the forest… the glowing eyes follow me for a while, then vanish into the undergrowth. The trees grow older, their trunks wide and gnarled, and ahead I hear a low whisper, as if bark itself is breathing words.
Quest 3 – Whispering Tree
The forest hushes as you step inside. No birds. No breeze.
Just one owl… and a tree whose face has grown with bark.
It speaks, but only in riddles.
You set your brush trembling with silver greens and violet shadows.
Do you:
- Sketch the owl carefully – it knows more than you
- Let the tree’s whisper spill onto the page
- Choose not to understand the riddle… yet
This tree remembers everything. It speaks only to the animals – and only in riddles. The owl listens because it must.
The riddle says something about icy cold… The owl blinks, then lifts from the branch and glides ahead, wings silent in the dim green light. I follow it until the undergrowth turns to frost-rimmed moss and a thin creek of glassy ice winds between the roots.
Quest 4 – Frost Fawn
The creek through the woodland is almost frozen.
At dawn, a creature of snow and and ice steps lightly across it.
Winter isn’t done.
Do you:
- Paint pearl whites and icy blues
- Breathe frost onto your own fingertips
- Decide not to follow – the cold hurts
If the frost fawn appears, a harsh winter will follow – but if it pauses to drink, spring will come early.
Thankfully the fawn stops to drink, dripping shards of light into the water, and each ripple melts a little more of the ice beneath my boots. Up ahead, beyond the silvered trees, I catch the scent of chamomile and cinnamon wafting from a crooked door that shouldn’t be in the forest…
Quest 5 – The Tea Witch’s Garden
A cozy garden room with misted windows, smelling like chamomile, cinnamon and old spells.
A kindly old witch brews tea from herbs grown in suspended glowing glass orbs.
A cat purrs in a corner.
The witch pours tea without asking your name.
Do you:
- Choose warm greens and a touch of rose
- Paint the steam as if it speaks
- Accept the tea. You’ll pay later.
Every herb has a spell, and every tea a secret. But the Tea Witch never asks for payment – only your company.
Orielle and Basil are their names, I am told, while the tea is warming me up from within… I stay around for a while, fascinated by the magic knitting, the warm garden and flying objects… The cat curls against my leg, purring like a kettle, a hedgehog waddles off with a teacup balanced on its back.
When at last I step outside again the sky feels wider, and far above I glimpse pale shapes gliding in the clouds – carps, not birds… and what are they carrying?
Quest 6 – Sky Carp Caravan
Look up. Way up.
The sky is stitched with flying koi fish. You’re riding one – somehow.
The cliffs below are sharp and far. The sky is dark, the storm is near.
Do you:
- Paint in indigo, yellows, and orange
- Name your koi (you must)
- Glimpse something far ahead – a floating city?
The floating isles trade only by air. The sky carp know the routes by heart and sing softly as they glide.
I hope they make it home ok before the rain and thunder the sky carp sing low and steady, their tails flicking through the heavy clouds like ribbons of light. I watch until they vanish into the mist, then pull my hood tighter and start toward a dark opening in the cliffs ahead, where an echoing glow flickers deep inside.
Quest 7 – Cave of Echoes
Darkness wraps you in silence, but then – a note. Crystals shimmer faintly. A little creature listens, it is alert.
It’s not alone.
You dip your brush in amethyst and turquoise. The echo reaches you.
Do you:
- Paint reflections in black pools
- Add something the creature remembers
- Try humming… to see what hums back
Lómi remembers every sound ever made within the cave. Lómi is calmly waiting to hear one again.
The ripples fade and the cave grows still again. Lómi glances up once, as if he already knows the path I will take next. Flick’s tail flickers like a question mark before vanishing into the dark water… When I step out of the cave, the moss is silvered by a rising moon. Down in the hollow beyond, faint glimmers move like fireflies, and a murmur of voices drifts up…
Quest 8 – Market at Moonrise
The lanterns swing gently. The stalls overflow.
You’re not sure what language you just spoke to that ferret vendor – but you now own a very smug teapot.
It’s night, but lively. The stars are too close.
Do you:
- Paint with indigo, saffron, and magenta
- Sketch the parrot telling fortunes
- Trade your favorite memory for a tiny enchanted brush
The market appears only on full moons and vanishes by sunrise. You can trade anything – if you’re willing to pay the right price.
I follow the narrow path until it widens into a valley lit by floating lanterns. Their warm glow spills over bolts of cloth, polished kettles and baskets of fruit. A familiar black tail flicks between the stalls and I’m sure Basil just slipped out of sight. I linger among the scents of tea and yarn, but the moon is already high and somewhere beyond the bridge I can hear faint, chiming notes drifting down the cliffs, a promise of something waiting further on.
Quest 9 – Bell Ringer of Hollow Chapel
A forest chapel slouches into moss.
The antlered figure rings the bell with slow, aching motion.
Only animals listen.
Twilight creeps over early autumn. Something beneath the chapel sleeps.
Do you:
- Use moss green, sepia, and pale bone
- Paint crows in the rafters
- Ring the bell. (Just once.)
The bell keeps something sealed away beneath the chapel floor. If it stops ringing… well, don’t let it stop.
Beneath the crumbling arch the ghost drifts past, its bell swinging in slow circles. No sound reaches me, yet every crow lifts its head and the deer stand still, ears flicking as if to a melody I can’t hear.
Somewhere under the bell-tree the earth seems to breathe – a warm curl of smoke between moss and coins, yet nothing stirs.
When the last wisp fades I simply watch, holding my breath, and notice a narrow track I hadn’t seen before, leading deeper, where the shadows seem to breathe with a different rhythm.
Quest 10 – The Sleeper
You rest against a warm hill. Birds nest nearby.
But the trees atop it lean… and shift.
The giant stirs, ancient breath rising from the earth itself.
It is late summer. Late afternoon. The hill is dreaming you back.
Do you:
- Paint with earth tones and brilliant reds and greens
- Hide tiny rabbit warrens and hawk feathers
- Choose not to wake it – yet
The villagers say the hill is just a hill. But the old ones remember when it moved. And lately, the grass feels warmer.
The mist has thinned, and the painter stands still on the path, brush in hand, watching the last sun before the storm clouds shadow the rocks.
From afar, it looks like an ordinary hill, a scatter of stones, trees and bushes.
The longer she looks, the clearer it becomes; a brow, an arm, a shoulder.
A giant is resting here, his breath slow as the wind through the pines.
The cottages have settled, protected from the wind, the haystacks rise like sentinels, and the rabbits seem to pay him their respect.
No bell rings, no spell hums in the air, the quiet of the land is overwhelming.
The market has closed, the ghosts have faded, and the moon has set.
In this valley, under the green weight of time, something vast still dreams, and the world, for now, is safe.
The painter does not disturb the silence, she just adds the final stroke and steps back.
The journey that began with a brush and a lantern hare has circled home again.
You close your journal. Your brush is worn, but satisfied.
You press [Save].
A soft hum in the air tells you: You’re not done – but you’ve begun.
Would you like to play again?
[Y]es
[N]ot now, I need a snack and to stand up like a responsible person
[C]reate your own questline next time
Links to the blog posts:
Quest 1 – Lantern Hare
Quest 2 – Ember Drake
Quest 3 – Whispering Tree
Quest 4 – Frost Fawn
Quest 5 – The Tea Witch’s Garden
Quest 6 – Sky Koi Caravan
Quest 7 – Cave of Echoes
Quest 8 – Market at Moonrise
Quest 9 – Bell Ringer of Hollow Chapel
Quest 10 – The Sleeper