Livber: Smoke and Mirrors Narrative Log - The Return

Act 3 was I think something else entirely. Writing this part was genuinely difficult for me. There is a great joy in starting a story and in opening it up. There is a terrific excitement in not knowing what you will find when you are writing, discovering the secrets what characters hold. But having to close it and bring everything to an end is a serious challenge. What's more I had no idea how I was going to do it.

Swamp Thing was a great source of inspiration for me when I start writing of this chapter. For some reason as I started the third act I knew that the NPC's we met throughout the second act had to eat Lilith. This chapter required Lilith to die and be resurrected. 'Swamped' chapter of the Saga of the Swamp Thing came to my rescue at this point. This part penned by Alan Moore tells through multiple layers how Alec Holland was never actually Swamp Thing, but that Swamp Thing merely thought it was Alec Holland. As Alec tries to save the woman he loves, he sees grubs feasting on his own skeleton. Swamp Thing is forced to choose between the woman he loves and himself. Himself, eaten and consumed down to his skeleton, or the woman he loves? The creature decides to take himself. But at the end of the road, all that remains of Alec Holland's skeleton is a talking skull. 'Ugh!' says the skull. 'I'm swamped.'

Saga of the Swamp Thing was one of the greatest comic books I've ever read

Elbek's story fit this allegory beautifully. For this reason I decided to use Alan Moore's perspective. I removed the worms and put my NPCs in their place. The characters who had been stuck in the cellar suddenly found themselves around a table where Lilith served the porph meat. (Porph? What the hell is Porph!) And now on the table was Lilith. Elbek's own inner struggles had finally consumed her. Lilith's face was torn off and placed before Clara. Her throat and tongue were ripped out and these were in front of Keenan. (Though we don't see it in the game) her limbs were severed and they lay before Leigea. It was Elbek himself who had devoured Lilith.

The most difficult part of the third act was gathering the story threads and preparing to close it. The dealings with each NPC had to reach a conclusion. But these outcomes couldn't be good. But they had to be at the same time.

Elbek is a character who in no way deserves a happy ending. So it wasn't possible for him to close a book with a sense of completion. But for the story to end he needed to be able to close that book. Elbek might not have deserved this happy ending but the players / readers deserved to see that closure. So I tried to arrange a system that changes according to the players' choices. As a result of conversations with the NPCs the player can bring Elbek's own inner feelings to a conclusion in some way. (Except for Leigea. Because I couldn't write Leigea. My mental health wouldn't allow it.)

And then of course Lilith had to come. Lilith whom we hadn't encountered throughout the whole second act… Lilith who had been feasted upon, her face torn off, her tongue ripped out… Of course she would awaken. She had to. Because our story with her was not yet over. Revenge would come for Lilith. Revenge had to be taken on the Elbek we came to know during the second act. And the one to do it had to be Lilith.

Lilith returns!

I thought for a long time about how I should do this. And in the end I decided the right thing was to create a branching structure based on what the player was most curious about. Did you want to remember the past or the truth? The past shows the moment we first decide on Lilith's death and what came before. It fully lays bare why we betrayed her, why we feared her. It tells the story from our first meeting to her death. The truth on the other hand explains the reality of the ritual and how it must be performed. For the first time it tells Lilith's truth, not Elbek's. This is also important for showing how different parts of the story can give rise to different outcomes.

Each ending then concludes with three different endings of its own. Therefore the game actually has six endings. (The truth section ends with three different endings and the past section also ends with three different endings.) When we include the Infinite Singularity endings from the first and second acts, we can reach a total of eight different endings. If you ask me there is no end to Elbek's story. Elbek does not deserve an end. He should be cast into madness in an infinite loop. But it still had to reach an end and you can choose one of the eight endings.

Unfortunately the third act is not a structure I am happy with right to the end. The story doesn't end the way I wanted. Nor is it in a state that I could transform or reshape even if I had a long time. Livber ends this way and there is nothing more I can do about it. Perhaps if someone other than me wants to revisit this story in the future then it could go in a different direction. But for me Livber has come this far and it can go no further.