3 hours and several dead-ends into "King's Quest 5"

Death scene n° 7

So, during my second playthrough session I decided to enter the forbidden forest. Big mistake. The witch turned me into a frog instantly. So I took my little notebook and scratched down "need magical armour". And thus I went to explore all locations again.

Dead end n°1

That's when the ants gave me a hand and precured an item I could use to enter another, closed-off location. And lo and behold, that ultimately delivered me a magical amulet! So, back into the forest I went! And indeed, the witch couldn't bespell me anymore. So I was able to explore the forest, but all I could do was let myself by caught by either a giant spider or a man-eating plant. I tried looking for the next move, but soon I gathered I had still entered the forest too early and unprepared.

These guys know how to party...

A restore brought me back to town, but I couldn't find anything else to do. Then I remembered the desert.  I had seen it, but didn't venture into it yet. Perhaps it was time to do so. Thinking I'd probably die because I didn't possess a water pouch or anything, I went ahead anyway, following the rocky cliffs until finally I suddenly found myself at the Middle-Eastern city of Petra in Jordan; or at least this game's equivalent. A couple of horsemen killed me because I was too busy taking a screenshot. I could easily hide from them next time. But when I tried to enter the temple, of course the door didn't open. I needed the staff the horsemen used, so I assumed I had to follow them. 

Will I find the Holy Grail here?

I lost count of how many times I died in the desert. I had no idea where to go, after all. So I took on the task systematically, until I found an oasis. From that point, I repeated the process, until I reached an encampment after several more tries of roaming in the wrong direction, finding a second oasis in one place, and a skeleton with a shoe in another. Then of course the horseman killed me as I tried to make off with his staff, so I took notice to be more careful during my second attempt. I entered the temple but of course got locked in soon after. Finally I made it out with a couple of new items, hoping to use them in a couple of locations I hadn't been able to do much so far.

Saved a rat. Could be important...

And yes, the temple treasure set in motion a string of events, basically finishing off a series of fetch quests. I was able to vanquish the witch and finally procure an item from every shop in town. Oh, and I saved some rat from some cat while backtracking. Got a bunch of items now, but nothing that looks like it can get rid of the snake blocking the mountain path, even though I think I've done all I can in this area now. Guess I'll just have to try some things...