I freed the son and after that entered the brigands camp, threw the dispel potion at elsa, left the camp through the secret ext and ... the game ends. Never got the chance to end Baba Yagas curse with the magic mirror I got from the desk in Elsas office.

Do I have to free elsa first?

No. In fact, I'm pretty sure you can finish the game without saving the Baronet; dispelling Elsa is the only thing you need to do to win.

I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you. :/ My first question was going to be if you picked up the magic mirror on the way out, and it sounds like you did.

Have you given the gem to Bonehead? Have you learned the rhyme? Maybe the game thinks you aren't possibly going to figure your way out into the hut at this point. Though I didn't think that was required.

Also - not that this will make a difference to me personally as I'm just grasping at straws - EGA or VGA?

Used to have the game on my Mac, it didn't have as many bugs as this PC version and the music sounded much better on the mac soundcards.

The ending was really strange for me too, I got the best ending but as soon as Baba Yaga went off I was sent directly to the castle where I had to wait for a really long time before something happened. Eventually I was sent to the final screen (where I wasn't able to save my character :/ ). My memory of how it was is quite different.

Yeah I did the mandrake door quest for baba yoga before.

Perhaps I should add that I played the EGA version of QFG1.

You'll need to meet up with Baba Yaga again sometime after you give her the mandrake root. Just be sure to have the mirror ready! That's all I'll say.

But thats the problem - the game ends after I aquire the mirror. I take the mirror, leave the office and BAM the end sequence is shown.

are you absolutely sure the mirror is in your possession?
I seem to recall getting an "incomplete" ending before, but the details are coming back to me slowly.

In order to get rid of the curse, Baba Yaga must have turned you into a frog, and you must have returned the mandrake root to her. If you have done this, then once you grab the magic mirror you will be outside of the thieves hideout instead of being teleported directly to the end sequence.

I beat the game by first rescuing the Baron's son, then his daughter. Then I went to Baba Yaga, did her mandrake root quest after which I returned to her and defeated her.

(VGA Version)

Ok. I made the mistake to just use "search desk" and leave the hideout. Corpses or other containers usually get looted automatically when you do a "search XXX" (just try it). Not this time! So I reloaded did a "search desk" and "get mirror" and voila when I left I was dropped outside of the hideout and got the chance to use the mirror on baba yaga.

Thanks for your help.