two-keys/content/games/curtain-call.yaml

id: curtain-call
engine: story
category: murder-mystery
title: Curtain Call
tagline: The stage dagger was supposed to fold. Opening night. Act Three. It didn't.
estimatedMinutes: 30
difficulty: 3
players: { min: 2, max: 2 }
theme: { primary: "#8b0000", accent: "#ffd166", background: "#0d0606", headingFont: "Playfair Display" }
rules:
  hintPenaltySeconds: 180
roles:
  A:
    name: The Critic
    blurb: You watched from row C with a notebook. You have the police file and the audience's view.
  B:
    name: The Stage Manager
    blurb: You ran the show from the wings. Prompt book, props, keys, and backstage gossip.
intro: |
  **The Alhambra Theatre, Cape Town. Opening night of "The Raven King".**

  In Act Three, the usurper stabs the old king with a folding stage dagger. Every night, the king
  falls, the audience gasps, and the actor gets up for his bow.

  Tonight, **Desmond Ashcroft** didn't get up. The dagger didn't fold. It was real.

  The understudy who held it is in shock. But he didn't bring a real dagger on stage. **Someone switched it.**

  ⚠️ *Hard case: the locks give you facts. You'll connect them in the accusation.*

suspects:
  - id: felix
    name: Felix Moore
    role: The usurper (Desmond's understudy)
    description: Held the dagger. Gets Desmond's role if anything happens to him.
  - id: vivienne
    name: Vivienne Shaw
    role: Leading lady, plays Queen Margot
    description: Desmond's co-star of fifteen years. Their dressing-room arguments are legendary.
  - id: mia
    name: Mia Daniels
    role: Rising star, plays Lady Ros
    description: Twenty-two, brilliant, and rumoured to be Desmond's next big discovery.
  - id: owen
    name: Owen Price
    role: Director
    description: Desmond embarrassed him in front of the cast at every rehearsal.
  - id: greta
    name: Greta Lindqvist
    role: Props master
    description: Sets every prop herself. Swears her table was perfect at curtain up.

chapters:
  - id: ch1
    title: Two Daggers
    narrative: |
      The theatre owns more than one dagger. Which one killed Desmond, and where did it come from?
    clues:
      A:
        - id: a1-forensic
          title: Forensic note on the weapon
          type: report
          body: |
            Blade **21 cm, double-edged, steel**. Hallmark on the hilt: **a crown over the letter B**.
            Light dust in the crossguard grooves. This blade had **not been handled in a long time**.
      B:
        - id: b1-inventory
          title: Props and display inventory
          type: table
          body: |
            | Item | Where it lives | Blade | Notes |
            |------|----------------|-------|-------|
            | Stage dagger (folding) | Props table, stage left wings | 21 cm aluminium, retracts | Used nightly |
            | Spare stage dagger | Props cupboard (locked) | 21 cm aluminium, retracts | Still in cupboard |
            | 1952 "Raven King" dagger | **Foyer display case** | 21 cm double-edged steel, crown-over-B hallmark | Display only. Case "sticky", opens with a hairpin |
            | Director's letter opener | Owen's office | 15 cm brass | On his desk |
        - id: b1-greta
          title: Greta's props note
          type: note
          body: |
            *Checked my table at 19:30, all present and correct. Stage dagger folds. Set it on the BANQUET TABLE prop at the start of Act 3 myself.*
    lock:
      id: lock-dagger
      prompt: Where did the murder weapon come from?
      inputType: text
      format: The location
      answers: ["FOYER", "THEFOYER", "FOYERDISPLAYCASE", "DISPLAYCASE", "FOYERCASE", "THEDISPLAYCASE"]
      hints:
        - Match the blade description to the inventory.
        - Steel, double-edged, crown over B, and dusty.
        - The 1952 display dagger in the foyer case.
      successText: |
        **The foyer display case.** The 1952 dagger was taken from the case (sticky lock, opens with a hairpin)
        and swapped for the folding prop. The stage dagger lay on the banquet table during Act 3,
        within reach of the actors in that scene.
      keyName: Foyer Key

  - id: ch2
    title: Stage Left
    narrative: |
      During the banquet scene, a woman in grey lifted the dagger from the banquet table and put it back.
      Two actresses wear grey gowns in that scene.
    clues:
      A:
        - id: a2-witness
          title: Your notebook, row C, centre
          type: note
          body: |
            *Banquet scene. The lady in grey on the **RIGHT-hand side of the stage** (as I look at it) picks up
            the dagger, turns her back to us, puts it down again. Odd. Not in last night's preview.*
      B:
        - id: b2-promptbook
          title: Prompt book, Act 3 banquet scene blocking
          type: document
          body: |
            *All directions are from the ACTOR's point of view, facing the audience.*
            - **Queen Margot** (Vivienne, grey gown): **DSL**, downstage left, at the end of the banquet table.
            - **Lady Ros** (Mia, grey gown): **DSR**, downstage right, by the candelabra.
            - The King (Desmond): centre, seated.
            - The Usurper (Felix): enters **UC**, upstage centre, after the toast.
    lock:
      id: lock-stageleft
      prompt: Which actress handled the dagger?
      inputType: choice
      options:
        - { id: vivienne, label: Vivienne Shaw }
        - { id: mia, label: Mia Daniels }
        - { id: greta, label: Greta Lindqvist }
      answers: ["vivienne"]
      hints:
        - Stage directions are from the actor's view. The critic was looking from the audience.
        - The audience's right is the actor's left.
        - The audience's right is stage left, and that's Queen Margot. That's Vivienne.
      successText: |
        **Vivienne Shaw.** The audience's right is stage left, and Queen Margot stands at stage left,
        right at the end of the banquet table where the dagger lay.
      keyName: Spotlight Key

  - id: ch3
    title: The Typewriter Card
    narrative: |
      In Desmond's dressing room, his curtain-call speech card. He typed it himself on his ancient typewriter.
      It looks like nonsense.
    clues:
      A:
        - id: a3-card
          title: Desmond's speech card
          type: note
          body: |
            *"Thank you all. And tonight, a little announcement:"*
            ## DJR OD PIY GTOFSU
            *"...and please welcome my new leading lady!"*
      B:
        - id: b3-typist
          title: Backstage gossip about Desmond's typewriter
          type: note
          body: |
            "He typed everything without looking, and **his hands always started one key too far to the RIGHT.**
            Every letter comes out as the key to the right of the one he meant. He never noticed."
        - id: b3-keyboard
          title: Keyboard layout (stage-door office typewriter)
          type: diagram
          body: |
            ```
            Q W E R T Y U I O P
             A S D F G H J K L
              Z X C V B N M
            ```
    lock:
      id: lock-card
      prompt: What did Desmond mean to type?
      inputType: text
      format: The message (4 words)
      answers: ["SHEISOUTFRIDAY"]
      hints:
        - Each typed letter is one key to the right of the intended one. Move every letter one key LEFT.
        - D → S, J → H, R → E.
        - SHE IS OUT FRIDAY.
      successText: |
        **"SHE IS OUT FRIDAY."** At the curtain call, Desmond was going to announce that his leading lady
        of fifteen years was finished, and introduce **Mia** as his new lead.
      keyName: Typewriter Key

  - id: ch4
    title: The Display Key
    narrative: |
      The foyer case has a proper key too. Someone signed it out tonight.
    clues:
      A:
        - id: a4-signout
          title: Key cabinet sign-out sheet
          type: log
          body: |
            | Key | Out | In | Dressing room |
            |-----|-----|----|---------------|
            | Foyer display case | 19:40 | 19:55 | **Room 1** |
            | Props cupboard | 18:30 | 18:45 | Room 6 |
      B:
        - id: b4-rooms
          title: Dressing room list (by billing)
          type: table
          body: |
            | Room | Who |
            |------|-----|
            | 1 | Director's office (Owen Price) |
            | 2 | Desmond Ashcroft |
            | 3 | Vivienne Shaw |
            | 4 | Felix Moore |
            | 5 | Mia Daniels |
            | 6 | Props (Greta Lindqvist) |
        - id: b4-owen
          title: Owen, cornered in the bar
          type: transcript
          body: |
            "Yes, I took the key! I showed a reviewer the old dagger before curtain up. It was in the case
            when I locked it at five to eight. Ask her. Anyway, that lock's so sticky you could open it with a hairpin."
    lock:
      id: lock-key
      prompt: Who signed out the display-case key?
      inputType: choice
      options:
        - { id: felix, label: Felix Moore }
        - { id: vivienne, label: Vivienne Shaw }
        - { id: mia, label: Mia Daniels }
        - { id: owen, label: Owen Price }
        - { id: greta, label: Greta Lindqvist }
      answers: ["owen"]
      hints:
        - The sign-out sheet uses dressing room numbers.
        - Room 1 belongs to the director.
        - Owen Price.
      successText: |
        **Owen**, from 19:40 to 19:55. The reviewer confirms the dagger was in the case at 19:55.
        So the dagger left the case **after** 19:55, and the key wasn't needed: a hairpin would do.
        Greta notes that one of **Queen Margot's** jewelled hairpins went missing during the first interval.
      keyName: Cabinet Key

finale:
  type: accusation
  prompt: The house lights are up. Name the killer.
  maxAttempts: 2
  questions:
    - id: who
      label: Who killed Desmond Ashcroft?
      options:
        - { id: felix, label: Felix Moore }
        - { id: vivienne, label: Vivienne Shaw }
        - { id: mia, label: Mia Daniels }
        - { id: owen, label: Owen Price }
        - { id: greta, label: Greta Lindqvist }
      answer: vivienne
    - id: how
      label: How?
      options:
        - { id: swap, label: Took the 1952 dagger from the foyer case with a hairpin and swapped it for the prop on the banquet table }
        - { id: felix, label: Felix brought a real dagger on stage on purpose }
        - { id: props, label: Greta set the wrong dagger on the props table before the show }
        - { id: key, label: Used the signed-out key to take the dagger before curtain up }
      answer: swap
    - id: why
      label: Why?
      options:
        - { id: role, label: To take over his role }
        - { id: fired, label: He was about to fire her at the curtain call and announce a new leading lady }
        - { id: humiliation, label: Revenge for years of humiliation in rehearsals }
        - { id: money, label: An unpaid debt }
      answer: fired
  successEnding: |
    Vivienne is still in Queen Margot's grey gown. She takes a jewelled hairpin out of her sleeve
    and lays it on the table.

    "Fifteen years I carried him. And he was going to replace me in front of a full house."

    In the interval she slipped into the foyer, opened the sticky case with her hairpin, and hid the 1952 dagger
    in her gown. In the banquet scene, at stage left, back to the audience, she swapped it for the prop.
    Felix never knew what he was holding.

    **Case closed.** The understudy will go on tomorrow. 🎭🔑
  failEnding: |
    The wrong person is arrested. The play closes after one night, and Queen Margot takes the lead in the next one.
  reveal: |
    **Vivienne Shaw** used a hairpin to take the **1952 dagger from the foyer case** and **swapped it for the prop
    on the banquet table**, because Desmond was about to **fire her and announce a new leading lady**.