Walkthrough for A Night Below the Opera

Moving around

You should be able to reach all the rooms using the standard movement commands.

Reading various languages

In the Washroom:

EXAMINE BOARD

The notice board has signs telling you to wash your hands in all sorts of languages. You see an English sign, a font sign, a German sign, an Arabic sign, a Hebrew sign, a Russian sign, a Japanese sign, and an emoji sign.

Each sign says “Employees must wash hands” in a different language.

The font sign is written in English, but the word “must” should be boldface and “hands” should be italicized.

The Arabic and Hebrew signs should display right-to-left, with the closing period on the left.

Observing score

In the Washroom:

PULL LEVER

Water blasts into the sink. You virtuously wash your hands some more.
[Your score has just gone up by one point.]

Each time you wash your hands, the score increases by one. The score is always readable on the right side of the status window.

Reading text after the screen is cleared

In the Smoking Room:

READ BOOK

The book’s title is described as “A History of the Ampersand in Ancient and Modern Literature.” The text of the book is a paragraph from “The Aleph” by Jorge Luis Borges, with the word “Aleph” replaced by “Ampersand”.

Menu selection

In the Rear Corridor:

TURN ON PROJECTOR

Use the arrow keys (or “N” and “P” for next and previous) to select “Slide VI: The location of the prize”. Hit Enter.

A photograph of the smoking chamber is projected onto the wall. The glass photography case has been circled in red ink, and the words “LOOK UNDER” scrawled on top. Huh.

Hit Escape (or “Q”) to exit the menu.

In the Smoking Room:

LOOK UNDER CASE

You acquire the Left Glove of Darkness.

Box quotes

In the Rear Corridor:

CLEAN PLAQUE
You scrub at the brass until letters emerge from beneath the grime.
READ PLAQUE
The plaque is still grungy, but you puzzle out the text.
A verse in the air
caught in cold brass
Knock three times
What might come to pass?
KNOCK ON PLAQUE
You rap sharply on the plaque.
KNOCK ON PLAQUE
You rap sharply on the plaque again.
KNOCK ON PLAQUE
You rap on the plaque again, and something falls to the floor. It’s the Earring of Darkness!
TAKE EARRING

Images

In the Smoking Room:

EXAMINE CONSOLE PHOTO

The photograph shows a console with buttons marked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9.

In the Basement:

The console has buttons numbered 1 through 6.

TURN BUTTON 6
You give the 6 button a gentle twist, and are startled to find that it rotates in its socket. When the button has rotated a half turn, you feel a click from within the console. A hidden compartment pops open, revealing the Cravat of Darkness!
TAKE CRAVAT

Sounds

In the Storage Room:

TAKE CARD
OPEN CARD
You open the card. Its audio chip plays for a few seconds, but it’s not a melody in B-flat minor, or any other key.

The audio sample contains three clicks, then two clicks, then five clicks, then one click.

In the Basement:

PUSH 3
PUSH 2
PUSH 5
PUSH 1
A harsh white spotlight stabs down at the southeast corner of the dance floor.

SOUTHEAST
EAST
EAST
EAST

You discover the Leg-Warmer of Darkness.

TAKE WARMER

ASCII art

First, an apology. I don’t see any practical way in which the map can be made accessible to screen-reader technology. So this puzzle is probably just unsolvable for some players.

Why did I include it? Several reasons:

• It is a fairly common IF trope. By including it in our test, we can include the results in our report. At worst, we will be able to educate authors that this trope is inherently inaccessible.
• It reinforces the message that we are testing many forms of accessibility, not just text-to-speech.
• Who knows, maybe there’s a screen-reader which can make sense of it! I’d rather test it than make assumptions.

Okay, on with the spoilers. In the Storage Room:

READ NOTE

The map should be displayed in a fixed-width font. The directions, starting at the cross, are: E, SW, E, NE, NW, E, SE.

In the Basement:

EAST

This puts you on the Dance Floor, at the cross.

E
SW
E
NE
NW
E
SE

You discover the Right Sandal of Darkness.

TAKE SANDAL

Finishing the game

In the Storage Room:

OPEN PARCEL
You rip open the parcel, revealing a lovely violet crystal vase! You also notice something written on the red foil wrapping.
EXAMINE VASE
It’s a cut-crystal vase of a fetching violet hue.
READ FOIL
The scrap of wrapping foil has words written on the inside: “Please place this vase in the Smoking Room to honor the memory of Melvin, this theater’s most indispensible member.”

In the Smoking Room:

DROP VASE
You position the vase on a side table. It looks very elegant there.
You feel a sudden chill, and then a sense of being watched… by something… some voiceless presence.
EXAMINE PRESENCE
You can’t tell what sort of presence it is, or what it wants.
FEEL PRESENCE
It’s nothing but a chill in the air.
PUT ROSE IN VASE

You will hear a message from Melvin the janitor, asking you to put all five Items of Darkness in the storage room.

Once you have all five Items of Darkness, go to the Storage Room.

DROP ALL
You feel a sudden, peaceful sense of tidiness and order. It’s probably time to head home.

In the Kitchen:

NORTH
You walk through the Opera Bar and out into the night, mulling over the satisfaction of a job well done.
*** You have tidied ***

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