Opening Night

Reflections of home

A theatre with nothing outside it, a full house, and a part nobody else will play.

At a glance

Kind of world	Reflections of home
Serum in the arrival Box	2 ampoules
Native Serum stand-in	None: bring spare Serum
Quests	Yes: see your Traveler's Guide

Screenshot comingopening-night-house

From the stage of the Grand looking out: two thousand shades in red velvet seats, gilt boxes, dim sconces, the Prompter's head poking up from his box at the front of the stage

What happens when you arrive

The Box sets you down in a scene dock, between flats of painted forest and a rack of costumes. Somewhere past the back wall, two thousand people are coughing politely. A woman's voice comes over the tannoy: "There you are! You're the new understudy? Prompter's box, front of the stage, he'll take you through it. Go, go, they're already seated."

This is the Grand, an enormous old theatre, and nothing exists outside its walls. Tonight, as every night, it plays The Traveler, and the part of the Traveler is yours.

The rule: the show must go on

What's different	What it means for you
Nothing outside	The whole world is one building: stage, wings, scene dock, dressing rooms, and a vast auditorium.
Peaceful	Nothing spawns but the company. Nobody in the company can be hurt.
The house	Two thousand shades in their seats. Pleased, they laugh and clap; bored, they murmur; when they turn, they throw tomatoes.
Always evening	The clock is fixed just after sunset, and the house is lit only by its wall sconces.

Every few minutes you hear two thousand programmes rustle at once, and then go still.

The company

Who	Where	Who they are
Ruth, the Stage Manager	On the tannoy.	Calls the scenes and the curtain. Took you for the understudy.
Mr. Abernathy, the Prompter	His box under the front of the stage, only his head above the boards.	Forty-one years in that box, knows every line, and has never been allowed on stage.
Mr. Halloran Vane	Box Five, with his notebook.	The critic. Has never smiled.
The Ferryman	On stage.	Speaks in riddles about doors.
The Other Queen	On stage, Act Two.	Holds court.
The Understudy	On stage.	Wears your face under a white half-mask, and wants your part.
Stagehands	Everywhere, quickly.	Dressed in black, faceless. They move the scenery; you're not meant to see them.

Your quest: Places, Please

The quest tracker leads you from the Box to the Prompter's box, a leg at a time: out through the loading door, round the end of the painted sky-cloth into the wings, then downstage through the curtain. Talk to Mr. Abernathy. Ask him "Where am I?", "Who are you?" and "How does this work?", then tell him "Places, please. I'm ready."

How to perform

What the play asks	What you do
Hit your mark	Stand on the glowing tape on the boards. The mark the play is waiting for lights up.
Say your line	Type it in chat, word for word. The Prompter whispers it to you ("Psst..."), and it shows on screen. It's forgiving: case, punctuation and spacing don't count, and a typo or a dropped word (up to a quarter of the letters) still counts.
Open the door	Open the door in the set. "It's not locked, it's never locked!"
Kneel / bow	Crouch on your mark.
Duel	Hit the Understudy with the Prop Sword the Prompter hands you. "It's balsa, it won't hurt him!"
Hold the wheel	Stay at the ship's wheel through the storm.

The House meter in the corner of your screen is the audience's patience, from 0 to 100, with their mood: Rapt, Warm, Restless or Hostile. It starts at 60.

• Hitting cues raises it (a few points each; more for the hard ones).
• Each cue has a time limit of 20 seconds. Miss it and the Prompter hisses a reminder and the house drops 8. Miss it three times and the play skips the cue, for 10 more.
• Wandering off the stage mid-scene costs 3 every ten seconds.
• Ad-libbing (typing something that's not in the script) is a gamble: the house might laugh (+3) or murmur (-5).
• Striking the Understudy outside the duel costs 3.

If the meter hits 0, the house riots. The curtain is rushed in, tomatoes fly at you, the critic says something cutting, and the act is abandoned. Talk to the Prompter and take it from the top of the act (the house starts a little cooler, at 50). Every riot costs you a star.

Screenshot comingopening-night-hud

On stage under the lights: the House meter and the current cue ("Say: ...") on screen, a mark glowing on the boards

The play: The Traveler

A play in three acts and an epilogue, about someone who walks through doors looking for home. The house gets an interval after Act One and after Act Two ("The bar is open. It is always open.").

Scene	Set	What happens
Act One: The Door in the Wood	A forest.	Hit your mark. The Ferryman asks who goes walking in the wood. Answer, take your mark at the door, say your line and open the door. Thunder.
Act Two: The Court of the Other Queen	A castle.	Kneel on your mark before the throne and say your line. Then answer the Queen's riddle. Then the Understudy enters: strike him three times in a stage duel.
Act Three: The Storm	A ship's deck.	Take the wheel and hold it for twelve seconds through the storm, then say your line.
Epilogue: Home	A kitchen.	Open the kitchen door. The Understudy is waiting. Say your line. Then the Prompter tells you there's no last line written: say anything you like. Then the curtain call: take your bow on the center mark.

The riddle

The Queen asks: "What walks every corridor, opens every door, and never once arrives?" The Prompter holds the answer back for a while to let you try. A note in the lockers warns: "Don't wing the riddle. She hates it when you guess."

Screenshot comingopening-night-duel

The duel in Act Two: the player with a prop sword facing the Understudy, who has the player's own face under a white half-mask

Rewards

At the curtain call, Mr. Vane writes his review. Stars are your average House meter over the whole performance (20 per star, rounded), minus one for every riot, between 1 and 5.

You get	When
The Critic's review, a signed book with your stars, his verdict and the numbers from his margin	Every performance
Stage Roses, one per star	Every performance
Encore Mask	The first time you finish the play

Stars	Mr. Vane says
5	"I came to sneer, and I stayed to weep. Whoever you are, for pity's sake, don't go home."
4	"A real Traveler at last. Shaky in the second act, magnificent at sea."
3	"Competent. The audience survived it, and so, remarkably, did the scenery."
2	"One of them for the ship. The Traveler wandered the stage like a man looking for his car keys."
1	"The play goes on, as plays do. I recommend the bar."

You can play it again any time: ask the Prompter for "Again, from the top."

The Encore Mask

A gilt half-mask, half laughing and half weeping. Wear it on your head (like a helmet), and the next time you would die, anywhere, you don't: the blow lands, the house applauds, and you're back on your feet with half your health ("And... scene! The Encore Mask takes the bow for you."). It then needs five minutes before it can do it again.

Screenshot comingopening-night-mask

The Encore Mask on the player's face, a curtain call in the background

Backstage

The lockers and chests backstage are stocked the first time anyone opens them, with what the understudies left behind: 2 to 7 Stage Tomatoes, sometimes a Prop Sword, some Stage Roses, bread or candles, and a note from one of the Travelers before you, in four different hands.

The notes (spoilers)

• "If you're reading this you got the part. Don't wing the riddle. She hates it when you guess."
• "Hold the wheel. Whatever the storm does, hold the wheel. They gasp but they don't mean it."
• "The Understudy is not you. I checked. I checked twice. Hit him anyway, it's balsa."
• "Seven nights. Seven Travelers. I was the third. Tell Abernathy I said thank you."

A Stage Tomato can be thrown like a snowball; it bursts with a splat and a sting, nothing worse.

What to bring home

• The Encore Mask, the best reward here: a free second life on a five-minute timer, in any world.
• Stage Roses, the critic's review, the playbill, Prop Swords and Stage Tomatoes as keepsakes.
• Theatre blocks: almost everything in the Grand drops itself when broken (only the outer shell never breaks). Crimson Damask, Gilded Plaster and Trim, Theatre Seats, House Sconces, Footlights, the Grand Drape, Costume Racks, an Upright Piano and more.

Serum and getting home

• The arrival Box's cache holds 2 Serum Ampoules.
• The tape mailbox beside the Box's door also holds tonight's playbill and 4 Stage Tomatoes.
• There is no native Serum stand-in, so bring what you need. Head back to the scene dock when you're done.

Tips

• Keep the chat open. Most cues are lines, and you only have 20 seconds before the Prompter hisses.
• Read the Prompter's whisper carefully. Close is good enough, but it has to be the line.
• Stay on the stage during scenes. Exploring can wait for the interval or after the bow.
• Crouch for kneeling and bowing: you have to be on the mark.
• Don't ad-lib to fill silence. It's a coin flip, and losing costs more than winning gains.

Birds

Birds you can photograph for your bird log here. Open one to turn it round, watch it move and hear its call.

• Understudy Canary: common
• The Critic: rare

Everything this world adds

4 blocks and items (click to open)

Encore Mask

Prop Sword

Stage Tomato

Stage Rose

The traveler's tape

Every arrival Box has a chest by its door holding a cassette: the last traveler reading their journal of this world aloud. This is what they say. It gives a lot away.

Read the journal (spoilers)

The Box set me down in a scene dock, between flats of painted forest and a rack of costumes, and somewhere past the back wall two thousand people were coughing politely. This place is a theatre, the Grand, and nothing exists outside it. A woman on the tannoy called me the new understudy and told me to find the Prompter. He lives in a little box at the front of the stage, only his head above the boards, and he has been waiting a very long time for someone to play the Traveler. The play is about someone who walks through doors looking for home. I know how that sounds. The audience are shades in their seats, and they are not patient: pleased, they laugh and clap; bored, they murmur; and when they turn, they throw things. Stand on the glowing tape. Say the line he whispers, word for word. Kneel to the Queen. There is a critic in Box Five who has never smiled, and an understudy with my face who wants my part. I finished the play once. The mask they gave me saved my life the following week. I still don't know whose life it was.