Every Midnight a Prop Vanishes. Five Nights Until Opening Night.

About the story

Lumenport is a canal city of gaslit bridges, velvet balconies and one great jewel: the Aurelia Opera House, a palace of gilt boxes and a chandelier the size of a fishing boat. In five nights, Aurelia opens its season with "The Glass Corsair," a swashbuckling premiere the whole city has bought tickets for. You're the new night prop-runner. You took the job because you needed steady hours and you love the hush of an empty stage after midnight. Your rounds are simple: check the prop vault, lock the fly gallery, walk the wings, sign the log, go home at dawn. You know every cardboard saber, every painted treasure chest, every glass "jewel" in the Corsair's hoard by silhouette. Lumenport's canals carry gossip faster than gondolas. A missing spyglass would be a joke in week one of rehearsals. Five nights before Opening, it is a crisis with ticket stubs attached. The mayor sits in Box B. The critics have already sharpened their pens. The understudies are smiling too hard. Then the vanishings start. At midnight exactly, one prop disappears. No alarms. No broken locks. No footprints in the resin dust. Night one: the captain's spyglass. Night two: the red velvet cloak. By the morning of Night Three, the stage manager is staring at your logbook like it bit her. Maestro Vivienne Crowe, 41, is the brilliant, reserved artistic director who cannot forgive a missing prop this close to opening. Nico Bellini, 27, is the cheerful day prop master who swears the vault inventory was perfect at dusk. Inspector Yara Soto, 34, is the sharp city detective who arrives with tea, polite questions and a notebook that already has your name underlined. Clear five Clues. Recover five signature props. Keep Suspicion from burying you and Stage Ready from collapsing. Bond with a reserved maestro, a sunny prop master or a sharp inspector. Catch the thief before Opening Night turns into a scandal. The house itself feels like a suspect. Rope lines creak when nobody is in the fly gallery. The chandelier's midnight maintenance tick has always been background noise; now it feels like a countdown. Somewhere between the prop vault, the east canal pawn shops and a charming understudy's smile, the truth is waiting with greasepaint on its hands. And decide who, in this glittering house, is lying with a smile. Features: Opera-House Midnight Prop Whodunit · 5 nights until Opening · Props Recovered, Clues, Suspicion & Stage Ready meters · Status panel every turn · A/B/C choices or type your own action · 3 endings · All characters are adults. Main cast • Maestro Vivienne Crowe, 41: The brilliant, reserved artistic director who suspects the new night runner. • Nico Bellini, 27: A cheerful day prop master on pretzels, determined to prove you innocent. • Inspector Yara Soto, 34: A polite, tea-drinking detective who underlines names and follows evidence. How to start: begin with the main opening, or jump into an alternate start: The Pawn Shop (Night 3, 05:10) · The Dress Rehearsal (Night 4, 19:00) · The Green Room (Night 2, 01:30). Every start shares the same world, trackers and endings.