Part 44: Beast Within 23: Break a Leg

Part Twenty-Three: Break a Leg





Time to commence the party, dudes the preparations for the opera. We actually have a whole crew dealing with the actual opera - which is kinda a shame, I really wanted to see Grace wrangle the primadonnas - our responsibility is handling the covert werewolfy things.




There's a program and a handy opera script nearby. Have a dramatic 9(!) minute reading by Grace. Long story short, it's a werewolf opera, obviously. One in which the evil baron is revealed as the evil Black Wolf that infected the innocent werewolf protagonist. Reminds you of anything?

The ending is appropriate, but I certainly hope it's not foreshadowing anything.


There's an identical mirrored corridor on the other side of the auditorium, and the same arrangement on the second floor above us. All the doors to the side merely lead to the auditorium.


Going through any of these will lead us to more or less the same area, and (since this is our first glimpse at it) the following scene:








The lead wants more screen time singing time. Isn't that always the way? Good acting by the guy who plays Georg's brother - for a bit actor who literally appears in this one scene, there's a lot to unpack. An affectionate fraternal gesture that's also calculated to be just annoying enough to avoid retaliation.








With that done, Grace makes absolutely sure Georg won't stop the opera regardless of any... disturbances. In his own words, not even if Wagner himself floats up on stage.



Anyways. The door at the end of the hall leads to our room.




Gabe feels sick cold, so Grace echoes "sure, a nice farm for your to run and play on it's cold here" and promises to turn up the heat. They're also concerned about running a rehearsal before the opera actually starts, which never happens due to... reasons.







Grace picks up the seating arrangement, a pair of opera binoculars and her walkthrough to-do list. We're going to spend most of the rest of the chapter on this.


I do love these "whoops, forgot to do a voiceover for this line" moments. Anyone remember John Rhys-Davis doing the Jester voice in QFG4?



Grace heads downstairs now. Downstairs is basically one big maze rectangle of rooms. A lot of empty space with just a few points of interest.






There's this big room full of theater props, complete with a sign Grace manages to... stuff down her pants somehow. I kinda preferred her trench-coat for this very reason, but really - a cutaway would serve far better.





In a box in a different non-descript room, we find the key to the prop room. This will come in handy later.



We can also note that all the doors in the basement are made of terrible CGI have a little latch that can close them. Handy.




Grace also stokes and lights the furnace, because that's obviously her job. Not something a proper laborer would do.





Here's Grace's hilarious eyeroll if the furnace door is closed as she tries to stoke it.




The other exit from the basement is backstage. Grace takes the opportunity to pilfer a coil of rope. Let's hope it wasn't connected to anything important.



Grace heads upstairs, into the middle-lodge (or, as the game keeps insisting, the Mittel Loge)






Checking the seating arrangements and comparing them to Wagner's chandelier diagram, this is in fact the right place for our guests of honor.



Grace catches up to Karl the usher and makes sure he's going to seat Von Glower and Leber both in the Mittle Loge.




With that in mind, we just have to make sure the chandeliers are properly installed.



Slight problem there - this isn't the same theater Wagner made the projections for. That one was bombed out in WWII, and reconstructed in the 1950's. But the arrangement is reasonably close, so that shouldn't be a problem. Right?


Don't be fooled - this isn't the corridor leading to Gabe and Grace's room. Totally different.


This is the upstairs corridor which leads to a rarely used projector room.





When the performance starts, the projector will be aimed directly at the baron.


Karl catches Grace as she passes through, and reminds her that the performance will start in five minutes.





Since we don't have time to take Gabriel back to Rittersburg (because... because of very good reasons), we have to lock him in the prop room. Oh, and this is probably the best time to let him know that we're not actually sure this is going to work.







All things considered, he takes it well.



The crowd... crowds in, and the opera starts playing. The next update should have a lot of music links.

Eh, have a music link anyways. Fair warning - nothing we'll see in the next update will be quite as epic.