It’s a full house in Parabola: denizens of everywhere and nowhere pack the stalls. Even the Skin of the Sun has a sense of the occasion, bathing the stage in the deep cosmogone hue of a false dusk. Showtime.
Many dream about putting on a play; fewer have the opportunity to stage one. And fewer still get to stage theirs in dream itself. Join forces with the Neath’s newest talent as she attempts to perform the impossible: a work of art that will bring truth to Parabola, where nothing is real. Select your cast, rehearse your lines and put on the performance of several lifetimes. Oh, and watch out for the subtext. It bites.
Ok, I am at what I assume is the final decision of the story and I am very confused at what’s happening and if I just missed important information (Details in Spoilers.):
So the Banded Empress gave the Baroness her privileges back. As the Playwright asked me to do. Then the Keeper ensnared the Baroness and is trying to take over her. Suddenly the Playwright wants this fate for the Baroness. Why? Did I miss critical information? I know she didn’t tell me the whole truth, but that is about as much info as I have. Maybe she’s changed for better, maybe not.
If someone could give me some clarity on what I missed, I would be very grateful
No, that’s about the size of it from what I got out of the ES too. It’s somewhat frustrating you mainly hear characters’ accounts of themselves from themselves, so ultimately as far as I can tell there really is no clarity on whether the Baroness really has changed or whether the Playwright was right to err against her.
So… the ending definitely soured the story for me.
There’s no sort of middle-ground ending possible at all, is there?
You absolutely have to throw your full support behind either the cat or the fingerking, and said support includes the destruction of the other party, am I right?
Yeah, the ending felt a bit weird. I like the premise of manipulating the play to figure out what either party’s actual story is, but I didn’t get any of that. And then out of nowhere the Playwright changes her mind without giving any actual explanation or reasoning.
So it came to a very drastic decision without having any kind of information to base it on.
A pity, given the strong start and writing that managed to capture the whole “getting drawn into a dream” situation. I think a bit more options to manipulate things to actually understand what either party did or wanted, maybe from as early as choosing an actress and such, would have helped.
I would be fine without a middle ground for an ending, if it was clearer to me why these two are so hell bend on killing each other. That would give it a better frame. But as it stands, it comes down to “do you like cats or snakes more”. If it was intended to keep things this unclear, there should have been a way to establish a middle ground.
I guess what my main problem with the decision is that it doesn’t feel impactful, because I don’t know anything about it. It is like coin flip.
But I will stress, that apart from this issue I really enjoyed playing the story. Writing, setting and the lore implications on the tigers/cats situation were great.
I think if you already had the background (Wars of Illusion, Parabolan Base Camp, Knife and Candle, The Court of Cats, Lost in Reflection, The Magician’s Dream, The Manager’s Dream, etc.) then choosing sides seems pretty easy. If anything, maybe a little too easy - I was hoping to see more revelations develop during the play instead of having to guess who to support. If you were trying to play both sides to get responses during the play you had little to go on at the end beyond what the two parties (neither particularly disposed to be candid and both wishing to appear sympathetic to influence you to help them) tell you themselves. The Fervid Playwright’s scheme doesn’t seem to work at all, you just have to choose who gets to manipulate you for their own gain.
It’s unfortunate because otherwise this seems like an engaging, if relatively brief and mechanically simple vignette. I guess maybe the Playwright’s abrupt change of heart is an off-ramp to avoid another Our Lady of Pyres railroading?
I was also a little saddened that I didn’t get at least a nod for being a Silverer/Ontological Cartographer in any of the dialogues or storylet options. I can see where leaning into it too hard would upset the plotline, but it’s always a plus in my book when our professions and achievements get noted.
Did anyone get echoes for talking to the playwright about inspiration or the other options in the planning stage? I misinterpreted what the ‘need x or less’ was telling me and thought I needed to leave time for the other preparations, so accidentally locked myself out after only asking about her backstory.
I rather liked this story!
I tried to play both sides in the beginning to see whats what, but felt rather ambivalent about who to side with.
I would have liked to know more about what exactly happened with the Baroness and the fingerkings motivations. They both deceived me and then threatened me (rude much?). I was going to side with the cat but in the end chose to overrule the playwright to favor the fingerking. Mostly because I thought it made for a more dramatic showing.
And it sure did. The Banded Empress did not restore the Baronesses priviliges but instead took away her ability to dream. Harsh! Then the fingerking wants to take over her body. Way to make me feel bad about my callous choice
The writing was great, especially the dream sequences felt very alive. The london parts were entertaining and I really liked the whole theater in parabola setting.
I used to think that Cats are the good guys and Fingerkings the bad guys overall. This ES and the Coilheart Games are trying to nuance things as I understand it but I am also begining to wonder if somewhere along the way I got it all mixed up. I’m not necessarily asking for spoilers about the details but I am hoping you may explain some of the context from all those sources to the rest of us? Personally I’ve read the Wars of Illusion, all free Parabolan content, the Coilheart Games and a few random ES (rarely involving cats) but I still don’t get what could have changed the Fervid Playwright’s mind.
Later Edit: Oh and I’ve also played through the Viscountess’ mayoralship and the first Estival if that makes it easier to explain.
Later later edit: Oh and does anybody know what the quality Leader of the Pack does? It appears on one option and I couldn’t even find a single mention of it on the wiki.
I enjoyed this one for the Parabolan setting and the framework of a play. An unusual one at that, with four acts rather than the traditional three or five. The verbal echoes of Shakespeare chimed nicely with the idea of using the performance of a play to change events in Neathy “real life” – the same trick Hamlet employs.
I did manage to favour the Fingerking by 2:1 and did not respond to the Playwright’s signal to favour the cat. I chose to give the final judgment to the Empress, who not only left the Baroness in cat form, but deprived her of the ability to dream, hence banishing her from Parabola.
At which point the Fingerking revealed its nature and attempted to possess the Baroness by force. Several people over on Reddit complained that at this point, they felt they lost all agency, but I had a range of options. I decided to appeal to the Empress, and she set her guards on the Fingerking, who fled. I could also have let the possession go ahead or left it to the Playwright (terrible idea), so no lack of agency. and not really any of the sudden reversals others have mentioned.
Though I didn’t get to go to the pub in the interval, which was apparently possible in some playthroughs. Being an optimist, I always stay to the bitter end.
