Key & Compass presents:
The Board of Regents
by Ryan Veeder

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at Homepage, IFDB, and IFWiki.
  • Follow me at Bluesky, Ko-Fi, Mastodon, Patreon, and Wordpress.

Map

Walkthrough

Apartment

Russell is happy to see you awake and is ready for the night. You order him to start the car.

> x me. x pendant. x tattoo.

> x corkboard. (It lists the four remaining members of Kansas City's Board of Regents: Daniel Brume, Vykrik, Blister, and Sabine. You need three of their votes to be clan leader for the Sect of Thorns.)

> x computer. (Russell bragged about his vampire girlfriend.)

> x coffin.

> out —or— d.

Broadway Boulevard

> x car. in.

Back Seat

Russell gives you an itinerary. Where do you want to go first?

> x Russell. x list.

> drive to Swope. out.

Trail

> n. n.

Cabin

> x lioness. x porch. in.

Sabine's Lair

> x Sabine. x throne. x junk.

> x Ouija. take it. (To use it, look at it.)

> talk to Sabine.

> x board. ("HELLO, THANK YOU")

> out.

Cabin

> x board. ("LESIONS")

Hm. Anagram of "lioness".

> s.

Woods

> x board. ("THEREFORE, STOMACH CONTENTS")

My best guess is that this is a rebus-style clue whose answer is CABIN, where "therefore" → "see" → "C"; "stomach" → "AB"; "contents" → "IN".

> s.

Trail

> x board. (nothing)

> in.

Back Seat

> x board. ("EVEN FRAUDS DISPOSE OF")

Is it suggesting you dispose of Rus?

> drive to Sheffield. out.

Tracks

> x board. ("FULMINATE, OR A DIZZY DRAGON'S HEAD PURSUES")

I think that one is a rebus-style crytpic clue that means RAILROAD. "Rail" is another way to say "fulminate". "Dizzy" means to anagram "OR A". And "head" means "the first letter of", and the first letter of "dragon" is "D". RAIL + ROA + D = RAILROAD.

> x track. e.

Alley

> e. (no: You cannot get past the religious billboard.)

> w.

Tracks

Note that you now see that the billboard supports are southeast.

> se.

Under the Billboard

> x columns. (see a cable)

> break cable. (The lights are off.)

> n. e.

Office

> x Daniel. x desk. x chair. x cabinets.

> x Ouija. ("EIGHT LETTERS. GUESS BY POINTING." Then it spins around the alphabet.)

> x dry. ("B of R - MIDNIGHT"; under that, "T" something)

> talk to Daniel. (You may ask him about topics.)

> ask Daniel about Daniel.

> ask Daniel about MUA.

> ask Daniel about interview.

> ask Daniel about Vykrik.

> ask Daniel about Blister.

> ask Daniel about Sabine.

> ask Daniel about Russell.

If you've played other games in The Little Match Girl series, you should know about Atë and the girl herself.

> ask Daniel about Ate.

> ask Daniel about girl.

> ask Daniel about Gentleman.

Act on that clue from the Ouija board. You're basically playing Hangman without any danger of being hung.

> point at T. ("1" then "7")

> point at O. ("2" then "4")

> point at M. ("5")

> point at R. ("NO")

> point at E. ("6")

> point at H. ("8")

> point at L. ("3")

If the numbers are positions in the 8-letter word, the word is TOLOMETH.

> ask Daniel about Tolometh. (His vote is yours.)

> w. w. in.

Back Seat

> drive to Vine. out.

Fence

> x board. ("CNK HILN AI"; that's an anagram of "chain link".)

> e.

Castle

> x board. ("WHOSE? OUR, K?"; that's an anagram of "Workhouse", this building.)

> x thrall.

> e. (The thrall blocks you, explaining her master isn't in a mood for visitors. The noisy kids are the problem.)

> w. s.

Parking Lot

> x teens —or— x skateboards.

> x lamp.

> talk to teens. (One talks back.)

> bite teens. (not on Vykrik's turf)

> x board. ("NECKING PORTION")

I didn't understand that one. Fortunately, I didn't need to.

> kill teens. (You trick them with a monster illusion.)

> n. e.

Castle

> talk to thrall. e.

Vykrik's Lair

> x Vykrik. x throne. x chessboard.

> talk to Vykrik. (no, play chess)

> x pawn. x queen. x king.

> x bishop. x rook. x knight.

> play chess.

> x Ouija. ("AFTER DUSK")

After dusk is "night". Move the knight.

> move knight.

> x Ouija. ("DAWN WITH A NEW BEGINNING.")

"Dawn" to "pawn", I suppose.

> move pawn.

> x Ouija. ("AN E VANISHES FROM ROANOKE.")

"ROANOKE" minus "ANE" equals "ROOK".

> move rook.

> x Ouija. ("PLAY WENT ODDLY.")

The odd letters of "PlAyWeNt" are "PAWN".

> move pawn. (You get Vykrik's vote.)

> out. w. in.

Back Seat

> drive to garment. out.

Parking Garage

> x archway. x door. e.

Darkness / Tunnel (first intersection)

> squeeze pendant. (Now you can see here.)

> x board. ("SIERRA WHISKEY")

The initials are SW. Southwest?

> sw.

Tunnel (second intersection)

> x board. ("DOT DOT DOT")

That's "S" in Morse code. "S" for South.

> s.

Tunnel (third intersection)

> x board. ("FOUR THIRTY-EIGHT. ONE THIRTY.")

Interpret those numbers as clock times on an analog clock, then re-interpret the hand positions as flag semaphore letters: NE.

> ne.

Tunnel (fourth intersection)

> x board. ("JUST GO EAST.")

> e.

Blister's Lair

> x Blister. x floor.

> x board. ("NOT QUITE ON THE A-LIST")

Someone not quite on the A-list would be on the B-list; that is, he's a B-lister, BLISTER.

> talk to Blister. (You get his vote.)

> w. sw. n. ne. w. in.

Back Seat

> drive to financial. out.

Empty Street

> x building. e.

Lobby

By the way, the elevator door won't be open until you've got the three guaranteed votes.

> x board. ("LO, RAMBLE, FOR RAMBLING")

If "rambling" means to anagram "LO RAMBLE FOR", the answer is MARBLE FLOOR.

> x floor. in.

Elevator

> x board. ("SIEZE EDDY, SEE A ITCH")

That sounds like CZECH spelled out: SEE ZED EE SEE AITCH.

> czech. (not yet!)

> out.

Boardroom

Everyone is here. Vykrik leads the meeting and asks Sebine to speak.

>> SPACE

Sabine votes yes.

>> SPACE

Blister, Brume, and Vykrik also vote yes. You are congratulated, and thralls pour glasses of blood.

>> SPACE

You ask Sabine which nationality Vykrik is.

>> SPACE

She says he's from Prague. You retort that's not what you asked.

>> SPACE

*** The End ***

You can also guess the answer now.

> CZECH (correct!)

Extras

Characters

• Lephrea, of the Sect of Thorns, is a vampire and the player-character.
• Russell is your human thrall and will be driving your car tonight.
• Daniel Brume is the regional coordinator of the Midwest Undead Association (MUA). He's the typical businessman with a big fake smile.
• Vykrik, master of the Zjevení clan, is ancient and decrepit. He's from somewhere in Eastern Europe and appreciates quiet and chess.
• Blister is the head of the Madness Syndicate, the most embarrassing clan in town. He has an obligation to act weird and unpredictable at all times, at least when in public.
• Sabine is the leader of the Nine Tongues clan, who favour rustic living and bestial activities. You and she are frenemies, perhaps.
• Male teenagers are making a racket doing skateboard tricks in a parking lot.
• A pet lioness watches you with red eyes from Sabine's cabin's front porch.
• A thrall of Vykrik's stands guard outside his castle, but she barely has enough blood to stay standing.

Featuring:

• A spirit inhabits the Ouija board. It's both very useful and very annoying because it insists on communicating via riddles, anagrams, and cryptic crossword clues.

Mentioned:

• Atë, the Queen of All Vampires, is barely mentioned here, but she has several appearances in other games in the The Little Match Girl series.
• The Gentleman was the former head of the Sect of Thorns.
• A little girl killed the Gentleman, but the vampires don't yet know her abilities or that she's Ebenezabeth Scrooge, the little match girl.
• Tolometh is the name of someone that Daniel really doesn't want you to know about.

Credits

This is the response to ABOUT or CREDITS:

(Thank you for your interest in "The Board of Regents." This story was written for #EnigMarch 2025, where you make a new puzzle every day all month long. But this game took me more than one day to make, whoops.)

Inventory

• tonight's outfit. You're wearing it. It includes your snakeskin corset and your snakeskin boots.
• Feel free to ignore or admire it.
• your tiger's-eye pendant. You're wearing it.
• Squeeze it to see better in the dark. You need to do this in the tunnel maze leading to Blister's lair.
• Continuity note: In The Little Match Girl 4: Crown of Pearls, Ebenezabeth Scrooge destroys Lephrea and takes possession of this pendant.
• a little black tattoo. It's on your left wrist.
• The tattoo is your familiar and let's you know when you're in trouble. I didn't see it activate in any way in this game. But that's a good thing, yes?
• an itinerary. Russell gives this list to you when you first enter your car.
• Read it to learn everywhere Russell can drive to.
• an Ouija board. It's in the pile of junk in Sabine's lair. She says to take it if you want it.
• It's in your best interest to obtain this board sooner rather than later.
• Examine it everywhere to get a cryptic hint for your current location. Sometimes there is no hint, and sometimes the hint is just an anagram refering to something in the current location.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, Allyson Gray, and Daniel Stelzer;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen, Matthew Foxley, Thomas Insel, Brian Long, and Andy Volk;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer, Lance Campbell, and DrkStarr;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Jennifer Rexrode, and Christos Dimitrakakis;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.

Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!