The plot opens with a synopsis of a play, the six lords tragedy. The play was penned and is set in the time of the high renaissance, specifically 1521. The play is unique in both is story structure and design for the time. The play seems to be a prequel to a play that was never finished, due to the creators death.

At the time, Italy was ruled by a government formed of six rulers. The play consists of 6 mini stories, each telling the tale of how each lord fell to a particular vice, each becoming a twisted evil version of themselves. The play ends with each lord coming on stage, one by one and a group of extras acting out a grisly death relating to the lords vice, implying that would be how the lord would die.

The lords heard of this play in production and while many dramas at the time were political in nature, the lords took this as a death threat. So they had the actors executed.

(I really need to do a quicker plan)

Cut to main character, who is going to a renaissance fair, in America. Exposition about her as she walks to the fair, while wearing a dress common to mid 16th century Italy. She arrives, has some fun and then eventually arrives at a ball. Everyone is made to wear a mask, on of 6. She picks one and begins to dance. While dancing around she notices a weird violinist sneak upon the stage and begins to play. Everyone begins to go insane, she cuts her face with a penknife to get the mask off, it no-longer fits, she then runs toward the violinist and pushes his mask partly off. This interrupts the music, but several people have already danced off into a door that had not been there before.

She wakes up, in  a hospital, no-one is around, walks outside and the violinist runs to her. Exposition about the world, eternal play that everyone is stuck in, because of her facvew wound her mask no-longer fully fits so she can de-mask people, she needs to de-mask a lord to save everyone and herself because she has the corruption mask and is slowly dying, only way to stop it is stopping the play. 

She can tie the mask to her face, seeing a we happy few drugged style version of reality. She steps in the play universe and finds that everyone is acting out mini scenes of play while dancing. She de-mask a friend and then without missing a step someone dances toward her and slits her throat because she isn't wearing a mask. The protagonists mask is tied to her face so she doesn't get killed. 

All the people are covered in puppet string guiding their movements, her friends strings begin to guide her and the main character has to dance with her best friends corpse to avoid being noticed. 

Eventually she manages to de-mask the first lord, all the people wearing his mask disappear off stage through a door in the wall., She learns she has to de-mask all six lords to save everybody. Each different lord has a different quirk.

Different characters and events happen along the way, learning more about the lore.

In the end everyone is set free, all the lords die in the way that they were implied to, the original script in the English library burts into flame and is destroyed, cut to months later in the abandoned play world and a voice shouts encore, and the music protagonist danced to in the beginning begins to play.