New Player guide

This is an early game guide to help new players get started. It is not a complete walk-through, by any means, but it will help you get through the first few quests and start making money right away. This is written from the perspective of a keyboard/mouse user so I apologize if things don't quite line up for console users.

07-24-23 - UPDATE - Just to let new players know - This guide is going to be a bit outdated. There have been a number of updates and patches since I posted this guide, including some pricing changes/nerfs to game items, additional starter quests and info, and the Witch Stall has had a major overhaul allowing for an increase in salable items. I'm holding off on updating this guide for another major update as I was unable to complete or even trigger some of the early game quests. Once these things are corrected, I will work on updating this guide.

Thank you for the positive feedback! :)

Quests - House Related

Quest 1 - What about my Apprenticeship?

The main goal of every young witch is to pass the exam and go through the apprenticeship. What if we found ourselves far from both our home and our original destination? We should be smart and overcome all of the adversities!

My familiar suggested a way for me to contact the witch, my guardian - with a magic ball. Unfortunately, I don't have one, but maybe one of the locals can help me.

• Find someone who can make me a crystal ball.

This is the first quest in the game, which you received shortly after arriving at your new home in Birch Grove. Upon arrival, you meet your familiar, who tasks you with finding someone to help you make a crystal ball.

(I'd recommend waiting to start this quest until you've completed the next several quests which teach you about game mechanics, gathering resources, how your tools and equipment work, and how to make money on Fern Island.)

[Hint]In order to find this person, you must introduce yourself to the locals, including several people who reside on the outskirts of town. The person who can help you is named Frita and she lives a bit of a distance to the Northwest of your home. You can pull up your map by pressing "M" and mouse over the homes to see which one is hers. Frita is something of a Free Spirit and she has the ability to make you a crystal ball if you provide her with 5 crystals and $1,000.00 drops (money). All upgrades are done through her book, located near her home. Along with crafting your Crystal Ball, she can also upgrade your Cauldron and Stone Altar.

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A small tutorial about game movement is shown

• A,S,W,D to move
  
• Space bar to jump
  
• L-shift to run.

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Next, there are a few minor quests which need to be completed inside your home, before you are turned loose on the Island.

Quest 2 - Your familiar needs a new name since they cannot remember their old one.

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Quest 3 - Clean the Cobwebs from your home.

No one likes dirty paws. A tutorial launches about interacting with objects by using your left mouse button and opening your inventory by pressing the letter "I".

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Quest 4 - To revive the house is to revive oneself. - This quest has 4 parts to it.


Part 1 - Collect Oyster Fungus x 4

Collect Oyster Fungus off the walls inside of your home. Once the Oyster Fungus has been collected, a new tutorial pop-up appears, introducing you to your compendium.

Your compendium is a book that contains all the information you learn while gathering resources including their research levels, recipes, etc.

You can reach your Compendium by pressing the letter "I" to open your inventory page. The Compendium is the book icon located on the top toolbar there.

The Compendium will tell you the steps necessary to unlock information & recipes for specific resources by clicking the arrow buttons on their individual information pages. Make sure you familiarize yourself with this book as there's a lot of information in it, which you will need to progress in the game.


Part 2 - Craft Forest Stew

A tutorial pops up that explains the crafting system for the stove.

When you approach the stove, it will highlight green, indicating that you can interact with it. You can left click the stove and a menu will open, listing all of the current recipes you have available to you. Clicking on a specific recipe will list the required ingredients. To cook a recipe, make sure you have the required ingredients in your inventory, then click the stove icon in the upper right corner of your screen.

Once you've crafted the Forest Stew recipe, a tutorial pops up explaining how to use food and what the benefits are.


Part 3 - Find An Ax

A tutorial pops up showing you how to use tools. You can equip the Primitive Axe by placing it into the hand slot on your inventory page.

[Hint] There is a chest, in the main room, next to the front door. Left click to open the chest and you will see a Primitive Axe.


Part 4 - Destroy crates and leave the house.

Approaching crates in the house will cause them to highlight green, showing you that you can interact with these items while using your tool. At the bottom center of your screen you will see two icons indicating which buttons you can use to chop the crate or to interact with it. Using equipment causes you to loose energy so if you run out of stamina, a message will load on your screen telling you that you need to eat or sleep to replenish it. If you run out of stamina while destroying the crates, eat more Forest Stew, and carry on.

What you should find inside the house

There are two notes found on the floor of your house.
The note in the bedroom gives you the recipe for the Speed Potion. The speed potion will now be listed in your compendium, on the Magic tab, under potions. Clicking on the potion name will give you a list of all the resources required to craft this potion in your cauldron. The note in the main room is for a basic sticker set.

Picking up all the broken boards in the house will yield around 10 pieces of wood, which you'll need for a quest so hang on to these.

There are also 3 Candles laying on the floor of your bedroom. Be sure to pick them up but do not get rid of them. You will need them for another quest. Again, do NOT get rid of or sell your candles, you will need them.

The small crate in the bedroom contains a Medium Table which can be placed in your home by putting it in the "Hand" slot, on your inventory page, and right clicking on the floor. An outline of the item will highlight in green if you can place it in the current location or red if you need to try another spot. Right click a second time to place the object. Furniture can be placed, moved and even picked up again.

One of the two small crates in the main room will give you a blue print for crafting a small storage chest, a speed potion and 4 pieces of wood. Blue Prints are used the same way that the Primitive Axe is. You must place it in the "Hand" slot on your inventory page to build the chest. Left clicking on the Blue Print will tell you what resources you must have in your inventory in order to build it.

Garbage - No one is sure if this has a purpose but if you don't want to save it, you can pick it up and drop it again. It will de-spawn in a day.

Destroying the large crate, blocking the front door, will give you 4 nails and two pieces of wood. You are now free to leave the house.

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After stepping out the front door, you will be met by Miruta, the Town Mayor. Speaking with her finishes the quest, To revive the house is to revive oneself.

Before leaving, Miruta will give you two quests; Make new friends, in which she instructs you to go and meet 3 specific local residents and Crash Landing for which she explains that some of your lost items are still scattered on the City Beach, just east (across the river) from your house.

Miruta will gift you with the key to your new home. Mandatory bedtime here is 4am. Be sure to be back home with enough time to get to the bed and sleep or you will pass out and wake in the hospital.

[Hint] Your new house key is a teleportation device which can be used to teleport you home from anywhere. To use the key, place it in the "Hand" slot on your inventory page. Close the inventory page and right click. You will be transported in front of your house, sitting on the ground. You can NOT use the key while you are injured or being attacked. It's not an escape mechanism.

Quests - Moving On

Next, a pop-up window launches explaining about how
the game saves when you sleep in your bed.

Important!

Game saves do NOT complete until you wake up the next morning and get out of bed so be sure not to exit the game until you do!

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Go back into the house. You can put all the unnecessary items, from your inventory, into the chest by the front door. Keep the Key, the Axe, and any other Equipment you collect on you for now.

You can save inventory space by placing the key and the Axe into the Equipment slots on your inventory page. This serves two purposes; First, it frees up inventory space and second, it allows you to quickly switch between items held in your hand.

To make use of this feature, place your equipment in the equipment slots and close your inventory. Next, tap the "TAB" key and an equipment wheel will appear on your screen. Click on the item you want to place in your hand and hit escape.

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The next two quests, Wake up cauldron! & Crash Landing, are good ones to work on at the same time because they both take you to the same location, the City Beach. You will also pick up additional quests while you're there.

You can reach the City Beach by crossing the river directly east of your Home and continuing eastward.

[Hint]

If a specific quest and it's objectives are not showing on your main screen, you can look at it by opening your inventory and clicking on the Scroll at the top. This is your Quest List. There are three tabs to it; your Main Quest tab, Side Quest tab, and a tab for quests you accept from the Commission Board. You can track a quest by selecting the "Follow" button to the right of the individual quest but you can only follow one quest at a time.

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Quest 5 - Wake up, cauldron!
The old cauldron in my home had undoubtedly been used by the previous witch. It appears to be operational, but has been dormant. I have to find a way to wake it up.
Familiar told me that the cauldron was quite a glutton and if I feed it driftwood, it's favorite fuel, it should wake up. I suspect I'll find some of that wood on the beach.

• Collect 5 driftwood and feed it to the cauldron.

This quest launches as you approach the cauldron, after completing the quest To revive the house is to revive oneself. Your familiar will appear, providing you with information about the cauldron and what you'll need to do to wake it up.

Go to the City Beach and collect the driftwood scattered across it. You're going to be making lots of potions and each potion will require the cauldron to consume 1 piece of drift wood. Driftwood stacks in stacks of 20. Gathering resources, by hand, does not use stamina so It's probably a good idea to collect as much driftwood as you can.

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Quest 6 - Crash Landing
My belongings may still lay where I was found after landing on the beach.
When I crashed on the island, I lost a lot of my luggage. Although most of it was probably drowned in the depths of the ocean, some of my belongings may have been scattered on the island because of the storm winds. It's worth looking around the beach.

• Search around the beach.

[Hint]You're looking for 4 scattered pages laying on the beach. If you're struggling with this, head to the north end of the beach and you should spot them fairly close together.
4 Notes on the north end of the beach:
1- Lost Page - Fishing Charm
2- Lost Page - Shell Necklace
3- Lost Page - Mixed Wild Herbs
4- Lost Page - Lesser Luck Charm

While you are looking for your missing pages, you will probably find some pieces of your broom and your witch hat. This will launch another series of quests, I believe I can Fly! & To look like a witch.

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Quest 7 - I Believe I can fly!
My Broom was destroyed in an accident. If I want to use it again, I have to repair it or replace it with a new one.

• Collect pieces of my broom scattered on the beach

You're looking for 3 pieces of your broken broom. As you approach the first one, a cut-scene starts. Afterward, your Familiar appears, instructing you to see if you can find any of the bigger pieces and then he'll help you figure out what to do next.

[Hint]If you're struggling with this, head to the north end of the beach. To find that last piece, try checking around the beach chairs. The last piece can be hard to spot and harder to pick up so try angling your camera so that you're looking down onto it from directly overhead and see if that helps.

Once you've found your broom pieces, scattered pages, and collected the driftwood... check the beach area for any additional resources. If you find shells, collect them all. You'll use them to make shell necklaces and these are really good money makers, early game. Check the south end of the beach for Golden Starfish and collect those as well. Shells, driftwood, and starfish all spawn in the water too so make sure you collect all you can before heading home. These items re-spawn daily.

Golden Starfish are used in another crafting recipe but it might be awhile before you can craft with them. I would probably just sell them, to start with, unless you have space to save them. You won't get much for them, about $12.00 drops, but every little bit helps early on.

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Quest 8 - To Look like a witch
I'd like my witch clothes back. I found my witch hat on the beach.
The rest of the clothes may be somewhere else, probably taken.
I need to ask people and find out.

• Find clues about outfit.

This quest spawns when you find your witch hat on the beach, as you search for your missing pages, and broom pieces. You'll need to talk to people in town to see if anyone knows what happened to your witch clothes.

[Hint]Several people will comment, directing you toward the clothing store on the upper level market area, near City Hall.

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Time to head home

Quests - Home Again

When you arrive back at the house, you can store some of your inventory in the chest next to the front door but be sure you have at least 10 pieces of regular wood on you. It's time to go to town. But first, another quest...

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Quest 9 - Repair the Stand
If I can fix the witch's stall, I could make some money selling my goods.
I need to find someone to help me repair the Witch's Stall.

*Find someone to repair Witch's Stall.

This quest triggers as you pass by the ruins of the stall laying in front of your house. It's a pile of cloth and wooden poles and if you approach it, your familiar will appear and tell you that you should see if someone can fix it for you.

Fortunately, the Carpenter Rogost, is just the person you need to talk to and since you already need to meet him for the Make new friends quest and the I believe I can fly quest as well, maybe you can kill 3 birds with one stone.

Rogost won't charge you to repair your stall but he will ask for resources.
You'll need 10 pieces of wood to repair your stall.

Rogost is usually next to the commission board, outside of town, in the morning. Late morning
and in the afternoon you can find him out in his yard, working. In the evening, you will find him wandering around near his house. Rogost's house is located next to the seed shop and he has his own sales stall with a repair book and a cash register. The repair order, for your stall, is listed in his book after you speak to him about it.

Repairs and upgrades happen instantly so you will see that your
Sales Stall is ready for use when you return home.

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Your Sales Stall has a storage container next to it and a small cash box. You can store things in the storage container without worry that it will accidentally be sold. It's not actually tied to your Sales Stall. The cash box will have all the money you've earn from the previous day's sales.

Items can be sold by opening your Sales stall inventory and placing them inside. As you place items, you will see what the value of each item is. Items can only be sold in stacks of 1. You can sell 8 individual items, at a time. There is no other way to sell items in the game, at this time. This is where you make your money. Items sell overnight and there is an accounting screen that pops up as you start each new day. Do NOT sell your candles but do sell your Starfish unless you're a hoarder, like I am.. and yes I saved my trash.

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On your way home, stop in at the seed shop and speak with Cassandra. She is one of the people you need to speak with for the Making Friends quest and she has an important quest for you which will add the Plant Revival Potion to your Cauldron. This potion is one of the best early game money makers so you want to pick up this quest right away.

Quest 10 - Plant Revival Potion

This potion requires 3 ingredients; Honey, Clay and Morel Mushrooms. Until you can afford a Bug Net or a Beehive Blueprint, the easiest way to get honey is to purchase it. You can buy Honey at Cassandra's Seed Shop or the Market in the upper shopping area, next to City Hall.

Bug Nets are available at the Fishing Shop for $500.00 and a Beehive Blueprint can be purchased from the Carpenter's Stall for $650.00.

• Honey can be purchased from Cassandra's seed shop, on back wall of the store. It's not listed in her cash register. Honey costs $25.00 Drops each.
  
• Morel Mushrooms are located around your property but I find most of them in the Birch Tree areas along the east side of the house. They also spawn throughout the map.
  
• Clay can be harvest by digging up mole hills or from digging up the mounded dirt piles which spawn around your property, on the City Beach, and at various Archaeological Dig Sites in the desert area of the map.

Once you've acquired all three ingredients and some driftwood, go to your cauldron and left click to open the menu. Drag your driftwood onto the fire icon, below the image of the cauldron, to fuel it. Next, click the Plant Revival Potion recipe and then click on the Cauldron to start brewing it. You can brew up to 3 potions at a time with the ability to unlock more slots as you upgrade your cauldron.

To complete this quest you'll need to find a large white pot of wilted flowers, located between a bench and the steps to Cassandra's shop. To use the potion, place it into the hand slot, in your inventory. Once you've revived the flowers, go speak to Cassandra to complete the quest.

How to make money - Early Days

This is a just a short list of a couple of things you can do right away to make money. You do have to have your Sales Stall fixed first. There are no other ways to make money except selling items through your stall.

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Plant Revival Potion

You have to get the quest Plant Revival Potion from Cassandra, the seed shop owner, in order to have the recipe listed in your Cauldron.

This potion requires 3 ingredients; Honey, Clay and Morel Mushrooms. Until you can afford a Bug Net (Available at the fishing shop) or Beehive Blueprint (Available at the Carpenter's stall) the easiest way to get honey is to purchase it from Cassandra's Seed Shop or the Market in the upper shopping area, next to City Hall.

At Cassandra's seed shop, the honey is sold on a shelf on the back wall of the store. It's not listed in her cash register. It costs $25.00 Drops each.

Morel Mushrooms are located around your property but I find more of them in the Birch areas along the east side of the house.

Clay can be harvest by digging up mole hills or from digging up the mounded dirt piles which spawn around your property, on the City Beach, and at various Archaeological Dig Sites across the map.

Once you've acquired all three ingredients and some driftwood, go to your cauldron and left click to open the menu. Drag your driftwood onto the fire icon, below the image of the cauldron, to fuel it. Next, click the "Plant Revival Potion" recipe and then click on the Cauldron to start brewing it. You can brew up to 3 potions at a time with the ability to unlock more slots as you upgrade your cauldron.

Plant revival potions sell for $180.00 drops each so I usually start collecting all the morel mushrooms and clay that I can and just buy the honey to start with. After I've saved enough for the Beehive Blue print ($650.00 drops) I run to the Carpenter's stall and buy it. It's probably the first thing I spend money on in this game, other than honey. You do not have to catch bees for the beehive. Once you build it, you have the bees.

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Shell Necklace

As mentioned way earlier in this guide, Shell Necklaces are another way to make money and you'll get the recipe from one of the notes you've collected on the beach. Shell Necklaces are made using your Crafting Bench and require 4 ingredients; Tulip Shells, Sea Urchin Shells, Scallop Shells, and Fiber.

Tulip shells and Sea Urchin Shells can be found on the City Beach, east of your home. There's also another beach, located north of the City Beach. You can find Scallop Shells and Sea Urchin Shells on the second beach.

Fiber is made using your crafting bench. You'll need to collect 5 fiber weeds to make a single fiber. You can find Fiber Weeds in the farming area behind your house.

Additional Links

I wanted to post some additional links which maybe be useful early on:

The first link is for the Witch of Fern Island Discord

https://discord.gg/CrD575NJ9r

This is where you can post comments and questions as well as bug reports.

You can also post to the Discussion forum or search for answers to numerous game-play topics. If you're wondering about something, someone has probably already asked about it but feel free to post your questions. People are pretty helpful.

If you're getting ready to try out farming, I would recommend that you search for the Seasonal Crops List posted on the Discussion forum for The Witch of Fern Island. It has very helpful information regarding seeds and which season(s) to plant them in, so that should help you save some money.

The Next link is for the Wiki page for Fern Island

https://witchoffernisland.wiki.gg/wiki/Witch_of_Fern_Island_Wiki

This page is still in it's early days but there's quite a bit of information already listed.

This is another Wiki link and it's for the Fern Island Maps

https://witchoffernisland.wiki.gg/wiki/Fern_Island

[cloe.sky]

Thank you so much! The table was taking up space in my chest for ages, it just didn't occur to me you would be able to hold it in your hand.
And now I also know where those buckets of paint that I dropped disappeared to..

[Lechtal-Nixe]

I can't get any further with the crystal ball. I received the first one, activated it at the shrine and set it up. Now I need to activate communication with the crystal ball. I have the ingredients for it, but I can't upgrade the old crystal ball at the altar and I can't find or make a second crystal ball. How did you do that?

[tkoda1020]

I was wondering what the plants are that when you walk to close to them they let out a cloud and damage you. Is there an eventual use for them or way to get rid of them

[Oop]

One thing I forgot a couple of times: if you want take just a part of a stack of items, right click on them. It wasn't intuitive enough for me.

[linamkerri]

For Commission it says interact (Hold) next to the Button you need to do that action usually the Left or right mouse buttons. then click on commissions.

[Moon Snake]

hi, how to do commissions? for example Yutu wantem mushroom stew and i went to him and tried to give it, but it doesn't work, i didn't have any interaction to give it. should i wait until time for this quest is over or what?

[craftylaracroft]

Well I have no money at all and when I went back to the Carpenter he wouldn't take the wood he asked for. Is something wrong with him or did something not work properly? I didn't know there was a 2nd beach. I only found the 1st one. I have found a lot of herbs, mushrooms, etc. Thanks for the information.