Thank you very much for playing it and for your comment (:
The music not looping is a rookie mistake that I completely overlooked, unfortunately.
The platforming as you said, is really clunky and will require more work to be polished as I wanted it to be. I have much more to learn.
Originally the NPCs should have told the poem, but I changed it and I'm actually glad you felt bummed by not being able to talk to them, that's actually part of the meaning I wanted to add. They're too focused on their "weapon" to talk to you, and that's should explain the ending too.
Thanks for your kind words, but it wasn't much work, and that should explain the rusty mechanics and the shortness of the story (: