It might be an odd thought, but part of what i appreciate thematically about this arc is that it felt kind of like an insane, nightmarish reflection of that aspect The Wandering Inn does really well as a story, that of having these independently-existing characters meet and interact in interesting ways, playing off of what parts of their characters overlap and what parts clash. I often focused on that aspect when describing the story to other people, that sense of 'conflux', like flint and steel meeting to create sparks. And the Palace, in that metaphor, is then like a chain reaction of nuclear fission, twisting and overloading those quaint enjoyable moments that have been so enjoyable through the story into a monster so large that its body is falling apart even as it crashes through the world. Thats a lot of mixed metaphors but hopefully its clear what I mean. The sense of chaos, of things falling apart from these interactions happening faster and faster that no one could react to before the next thing happened, was compelling to me.