Twelve Paintings Became Fakes Overnight. Only I Noticed. I'm the Night Guard.

About the story

Aldergate is a city of canals and stone bridges, of gaslit lanes and old merchant houses leaning over the water, and its pride is the Halvorsen Museum of Fine Art: a palace of marble staircases and glass skylights, home to the greatest paintings in the north. People travel across the world to stand in front of "The Lantern Bride," "Harbor at Dusk" and "The Twelve Swans." You are the museum's night guard. You've walked the same rounds for two years, every night from ten to six: the Long Gallery, the Rotunda, the Winter Hall, the vault stairs. You know every painting the way other people know their neighbors' faces. You talk to them a little, on quiet nights. Nobody knows that. Last night was quiet. No alarms. No broken glass. The cameras show nothing but empty halls. Your logbook says every door stayed locked. But this morning, at 5:40, on your last round, you stopped in front of "Harbor at Dusk," the painting of the fishing boats and the little ginger cat on the pier, and you realized the cat was facing the wrong way. Then you looked at the next painting. And the next. By six o'clock, you were sure: twelve masterpieces in the Halvorsen, the twelve most valuable, have been replaced by forgeries. Perfect ones. Same frames, same cracks, same dust. The curator didn't notice. The insurers wouldn't notice. Only you did, because you look at them every night. When you reported it, the police came. And Detective Sergeant Dev Malhotra, 33, looked at the locked doors, the clean cameras and the only person in the building all night, and asked you, very politely, not to leave the city. In five days, the Halvorsen holds its Centenary Gala. The twelve paintings will be shown to five hundred guests, the press, and a famous private collector, before being sent on a world tour. If the originals aren't found by then, they will vanish forever, and the night guard will take the blame. Dr. Odile Verhaegen, 38, the museum's brilliant, reserved chief curator, can't believe she missed it, and can't decide whether to trust you. Sasha Lindqvist, 30, a charming reformed art forger who now works as an authentication consultant, says only five people alive could paint fakes this good, and she's one of them. And Detective Malhotra watches you all, sipping tea, missing nothing. Find the twelve paintings. Unmask the forger and the thief. Clear your name. Five nights, one flashlight, and a logbook that says nobody came in. Features: Canal-City Art-Heist Whodunit · 5 days until the Centenary Gala · Clues, Paintings Found, Suspicion & Thief's Alarm meters · Status panel every turn · A/B/C choices or type your own action · 3 endings · All characters are adults. Main cast • Dr. Odile Verhaegen, 38: The museum's brilliant, reserved chief curator, who can't forgive herself for missing the fakes. • Detective Sergeant Dev Malhotra, 33: A polite, tea-drinking detective who suspects you, and isn't sure. • Sasha Lindqvist, 30: A charming reformed forger who says only five people alive could paint these fakes. How to start: begin with the main opening, or jump into an alternate start: The Warehouse (Day 3, 22:00) · The Interrogation (Day 4, 09:00) · The Gala (Day 5, 20:00). Every start shares the same world, trackers and endings.