Witch House

The Witch House is a location in Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones, accessible from the final corridor of Blasted Street.

Description
''After enduring all the unnameable terrors of the street, you feel like this dreaded house may signify a point of no return in your journey. Would you like to return to Pilgrim’s Parish or enter the Witch House?''


 * Entering the Witch House will initiate the final sequence of events leading to the end of the game. Once entered, the character will not be able to return to the rest of Arkham and will have no choice but to move forward.

The Witch House is a two-story residence located at the end of Blasted Street and presented as a quaint, eloquent abode featuring a number of Baroque antiques and refined furniture. Two occult sigils are inscribed on the back wall and as the character explores the interior they will find themselves encountering a series of increasingly complex illusions. The character will also come across Brown Jenkin (the witch's familiar) who can be seen skirting the house, and a demon, who will stalk the character throughout.

Evolution
This section details the progression of illusions the character will face as they travel through the Witch House and points of interest found therein. In order to move forward from one illusion to the next, they must match the occult sigils provided with the like pair of sigils on the opposite floor.

Floor 1 (Original)
When entered from Blasted Street, the character will see the original rendering of the Witch House (pictured above). The staircase leading up to the second floor will be on the left side, and the room will be furnished with a fireplace, a coffee table and chairs, a full-size mirror, and an escritoire.


 * Escritoire: Blank Notebook

Floor 2 (Original)
The original rendition of Floor 2 displays a large painting, a matching couch and chair, and a vanity display. None of the variations of the second floor encountered by the character possess any collectible items.

Solution
Match the sigils exactly as they appear on the floor below.

Floor 1 (Mirrored)
On solving the previous room and heading downstairs, the character will be met with a mirrored version of the first floor.


 * Escritoire: Witch House Journal (#1)

Floor 2 (Second Version)
Floor 2 appears as it did in the original rendition, only this time the large painting has begun to melt away: The pastoral harmony of the depictions are bleeding away now, not unlike your thoughts in certain distracted moments.

Solution
Match the sigils to their inverse forms as they appear on the mirrored first floor.

Floor 1 (Bisected #1)
Floor 1 now appears to be bisected down the centre of the room, with a perfect mirror image originating from the divide. The elements remaining include the staircase and the coffee table and chairs. The occult sigils displayed will be identical.

Floor 1 (Bisected #2)
Leaving the first bisected version of Floor 1, the character will encounter a second bisected version of Floor 1, this time displaying the full-size mirror and the escritoire. The sigils will again be identical to one another (though different from the previous room) and the staircases that take the character forward and backward will now appear in each of the full-size mirrors.


 * Escritoire (East): Witch House Journal (#2)

Floor 2 (Third Version)
Floor 2 once again appears to be as it was originally shown, but the painting has changed. The character will now see a dark silhouette in the image which they can interact with should they choose.

Solution
The character must combine the sigil displayed from the first bisected room with the sigil displayed in the second bisected room in order to reveal the next exit.

Floor 1 ("Fourth" Version)
This rendition of Floor 1 appears to be just like the original with exception to the staircase, which disappears immediately after the character returns downstairs. The mirror is a little off, too, since it does not appear to be working...


 * Escritoire: Manuscript: Hand of Nergal

Solution
The character must interact with the mirror a total of five times. Each interaction with the mirror will cycle through a new location and on the fifth interaction the terrifying spectre from the painting will suddenly reappear and take a swipe at the character, shattering the mirror. The staircase behind the demon will be revealed once the glass is shattered.


 * It is unclear if the mirror in this case was intended to be a portal to other realms or if it was merely displaying the limitless possibilities of the universe

Floor 1 (Upside Down)
After going through the mirror, the character will fall into the first floor, now upside down. This is the first view of the ceiling planks that will be available to the character. From this vantage point, it is easy for the character to lay their eyes on a hole in the roof, which the character must go through to move forward.

Floor 2 (Fourth Version)
Unlike previous renditions of Floor 2, the character will now appear behind the back wall, visible only from the uninhabited paintings and stalked anew by the demon.

Solution
This is one of the more complicated illusions, partly because the setup is a little misleading. Since the character has just come from an upside down room, it might be assumed that the matching occult sigils should be the retrograde-inverse of what was seen (flipped right-side up and reversed). However, to solve this set of sigils the character need only input the sigils as seen in the upside down version of Floor 1 (left to right) and make sure each symbol is itself turned right-side up. On solving this puzzle, a new staircase will be revealed behind the painting on the right side of the room.

Floor 1 ("Sixth" Version)
Floor 1 appears in its original rendition until the back wall evaporates, revealing two monoliths on which the sigils are inscribed. Additionally, the staircase is once again entered through the mirror.


 * Escritoire: Witch House Journal (#3)

Floor 2 (Fifth Version)
Floor 2 is now engrossed in demonic images and occult symbols. A congress of smaller sigils now replace the two greater sigils that normally frame the wall.

Solution
The character will need to pick out the two sigils that appeared on the monoliths from the congress of smaller sigils. The player character will be able to interact with the first sigil by hovering their cursor over the top-left sigil, where after cycling into place the true sigil will be available to activate. However, when attempting to interact with the "eye" sigil found toward the lower right side, it will disappear in a cloud of ash. The next time the character uses the staircase, they will find themselves beyond the Witch House entirely.

The Nameless Isle
The character will be briefly transported to the Nameless Isle, where they will acquire the Maledicere.

Floor 2 (Sixth Version)
The character will enter this final version of Floor 2 after they return from the Nameless Isle, and they will be greeted by a Black-Lipped entity. The entity will offer to help the character "find" the lost rotating "eye" sigil in return for payment in blood. If the character declines, they will be trapped in the house forever. However, if they agree to blood payment, they will be provided with the "lost" sigil and a final set of stairs will be revealed.

Attic
The Attic is the final room of the Witch House, complete with some scaffolding, a mattress, and a hexagonal shape etched into the back wall. Interacting with the etched shape will reveal a dimensional portal that carries the character forward.

NPCs

 * Black Lips
 * Demon
 * Brown Jenkin

Related Quests

 * Through the Blasted Street