Put in some time on the #HomeAssistant front to work around the missing #ffplay audio tool.
I have succeeded, in spite of confusing documentation. Have used VLC with the VLC-over-telnet integration to send audio to the local port, and so am hearing my cherished audio snippets that tell me what is going on.
It was a fortuitous push to get me to learn the YAML scripting environment which should serve me well for future features.