WITCHVILLE

Witchville was a cursed version of Festeron, beneath the curse of The Evil One. The village has its origins with a tremendous stream of rejection Gladys faced during her childhood and throughout her entire life. The Evil One discovered that whoever possessed the Wishbringer stone would be instilled with incredible magic and that it was in the care of her sister Y’Gael. She had wanted the stone for years for her own foul purposes; mainly, the conquest of the islands, then of the world beyond. Gladys had always thought big. If Gladys was to get her way, she would not stop with Festeron, but would take over all the neighboring countries, and then their neighbors in turn, until she controlled everything upon the surface of Zork! But this could only be done if she could take Wishbringer, and, at the precise stroke of midnight place it in the forehead of the statue of Chaos, her power would increase a thousandfold, and she would become virtually unstoppable. Thus Gladys planned to place an entire curse upon Festeron, making it become Witchville (she was never very good with names).

Long in the making, 1157 GUE was the first time this curse was initated by the mysterious sorceress, in which she transformed the innocent town of Festeron into the hideous Witchville. The Evil One’s powers were rather limited when the island was still Festeron. When the island turned to Witchville, she was virtually omnipotent. Omnipresent. Completely unstoppable. Fortunately, these strengths were limited to the islands unless she would have been able to obtain Wishbringer. When Festeron became Witchville, all of its citizens remained, along with the buildings, and streets, the whole islands. But none of it was the same as before. It was an evil place. A vile place. A twisted shadow of reality. Every normal person or place became a wicked version of itself.

Sweetness and light could not exist in Witchville. The people who were friends would be friends no more. While Postmaster Crisp, Librarian Voss, Sergeant MacGuffin, and a few others would be more or less as they were in Festeron, only more so. It is only when the island had been turned to Witchville that they allowed their natural proclivities free reign. With them, nastiness became an art. In Witchville one could do whatever they wanted. But in Witchville, one also had to watch their back. In Witchville, one would abandon themselves to their desires, but it was best to have done it behind locked doors. Once the process of Witchville had begun, there was no known way to change it back, unless Wishbringer had been recovered before the clock struck midnight. The innocent citizens of Festeron only remembered Witchville as though it had been a nightmare.

Some other changes ushered in by the curse were an ever-roaming vulture, a toll gate set up on the Festeron Bridge manned by a troll or ogre, goldfish transformed into piranhas, dogs into hellhounds, buildings populated by stunted humanoids, a dimensional tunnel in the northern forests leading directly to the White House, and many more. Witchville even has its own currency; common Festeron coinage was putrid. WTCH was its official radio station.

Luckily for Festeron, The Evil One was vanquished by an employee of the aforementioned postal service, and everything was temporarily returned to normal. Unfortunately, this began a long period of attempts by Gladys to take over Festeron (possibly even until the Great Diffusion), that eventually occurred so frequently that residents expected each nightfall to bring forth the Witchville curse. Because of this the Festeron authorities issued a 6:00 PM curfew.

While Gladys' plans for an eternal curse were always thwarted by a postal worker, many of them were killed during their quests. Festeron had went through so many that most of their names have been lost to time. The only two that have remained known are Mr. Sneed and Simon.