Key & Compass presents:
Tableaux
by Dissolved

This surreal story, inspired by songs, begins with you, a lonely woman, attending a very fancy party. But after you enter, the golden door vanishes behind you. The wondrous ballroom and its crowd are curiously grey and indistinct. Something's not right.

Content warnings: implied depression, implied gore, suicide/loss of identity, debt slavery.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Version 1 of the story.

SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction story. Please make an honest effort to play the story before reading this walkthrough.

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

Map

Walkthrough

Prologue

You are a lonely woman who got invited to a very fancy party. But when you entered, the gate disappeared and new things are now in your pockets.

The Ballroom

> x me. i. x suit. x key.

> x note. read it.

> x crowd. talk to crowd. (They're replaced by a door.)

> x door. unlock it with key.

> open door. n.

Noticeboard's Lament

> x noticeboard. read notices.

> x hearts. take hearts.

You take an actual heart, lose your own heart, arrive on a road with a city in the distance, and then you die.

Sequence I

Dismal Bedroom

You wake from cryo-sleep. You need to get dressed and do something about the broken pump.

> x me. (mentions VR uplink button)

> x suit. wear it. x heart.

> x bed. x table.

> w.

Workspace

The terminal and viewer lack power.

> x terminal. x desk. x viewer. x canister.

> w.

Power Room

> x pump. put heart in pump. (Power restored.)

> e.

Workspace

> read terminal.

> put canister in viewer.

> look through viewer. g. g.

Something in the film tried to talk to you.

> z. z.

Your VR implant buzzes.

> push button. (Shadow tells you a plan, and soon he's merged with your mind so you can carry it out.)

> hack computer.

Epilogue

Tundra of Flesh

> x me. i. x knife. x bubble.

> cut bubble. (A tunnel downwards is revealed.)

> d. (The tunnel closes behind you.)

The Glass Forest

> x trees. x rot. x path.

> n. (You lose your way back.)

The Blood Desert

> x sand. x rot.

> n.

It's only safe to go forwards — which is a peculiar injunction to someone whose quest is to cease to be.

Rotten Swamp

> x rot. n.

The Blasted Heath

> x rot. x crowd. enter crowd.

*** All's well that ends where it began ***

Extras

Characters

You play as a lonely woman in the prologue. You're very rich too.
You play as a debt-slave clone of the lonely woman during sequence one and the epilogue. At the end of the sequence, a news report says you were formerly designated as Irina-110B-7.
A grey crowd inhabits the ballroom and the blasted heath simultaneously.
A psychic shadow, whom you decide to call Shadow, in the guise of a German film star, convinces you to hack the main computer with their help in order to blow up the reactor. (I strongly suspect that Shadow becomes the ritual knife for the epilogue.)

Mentioned:

Gem-weaving spiders made the lonely woman's trouser suit from emeralds.
Ornette Coleman, The Passions, and Amigo the Devil are named on the mysterious note.
The site's manager is framed for the disaster.
Doctors, magicians, and diviners were consulted to find a way you could cease to be.

Credits

These credits are listed on Tableaux's homepage:

While I originally intended to write a game covering all 8 songs, I never did manage to get around to doing that. This game likely only works under QTads and (presumably) HTML TADS. The about menu mentions additional commands and has a walkthrough. CWs for jam version (1.0): implied depression, implied gore, suicide/loss of identity, debt slavery. Songs currently used as inspiration: Ornette Coleman - Lonely Woman In The Passions - I'm in Love With A German Film Star Amigo the Devil - Closer Full list of songs given: From Emery Joyce: And a God Descended - Dar Williams - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qM_qNIlk6A From MelS: Closer - Amigo the Devil - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MKO09FKrMI Additional info: https://genius.com/Amigo-the-devil-closer-lyrics From Anonymous: Lonely Woman - Ornette Coleman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N52bCUaM9E4 Additional info: Opening Credits From colorblooms: The Carver - Willie Dunn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHepSxEK3Lg Additional info: A really charming pastoral folk song. From Anonymous: In the Middle - Dodie - https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/track/6BBfG9FiwJhRVMCd9IYl6c?si=77e474111fff4339 From lnmmnl: Isavelle - O'Death - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONRUuON5zl4 From Max Fog (SomeOne2): Breezeblocks - Alt-J https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVeMiVU77wo Additional info: Highly, highly recommend looking at the music video for inspiration, and potentially the forward version too. CW: Manslaughter, drowning. Lyrics here: https://genius.com/Alt-j-breezeblocks-lyrics From kate solar: i'm in love with a german film star - the passions - https://youtu.be/iLn_oMd1DQU?si=9ipM64T9E_C7kpUc

Inventory

an emerald trouser suit. You're wearing it during the prologue.

You cannot remove it. A note and key appeared in your suit pocket when you entered the ballroom.

a mysterioius note. It's in your suit pocket.

Read it; it lists the three sections of the game with the songs that inspired them.

a strange key. It's in your suit pocket.

It unlocks the door that appears in the ballroom when you try to talk to the grey crowd.

a boiler suit. It's on the dressing room in the dismal bedroom.

Wear it, but there's no penalty if you don't.

a heart. It's in the tool pocket of the boiler suit.

In the power room, put the heart into the pump to restore power to your workspace.

a film viewer and a film canister. They're on the workspace desk.

After the power is restored (see heart), put the canister into the viewer, then look in the viewer three times to view the film.

a ritual knife. You're carrying it during the epilogue.

In the tundra of flesh, cut the flesh bubble with the knife to reveal a tunnel.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!

I create larger walkthroughs too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.

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

Key & Compass presents: Tableaux by Dissolved

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