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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Puppetshade Chronicles 1: The Black Beyond, The Posthuman Cabaret Live, Kevin & Abi And The Secret Of The Stolen Sun, Jill's Psychedelic Sunday, The Posthuman War Act 6: The Battle, The Posthuman War Act 5: The Pursuit, The Posthuman War Act 4: Red River, The Posthuman War Act 3: A New Dream, and 40 more.
1. |
Coming Up
01:41
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Senpai:
Jill this will be the final step in your initiation. After you ingest this, during your inner journey, you will see 10 scenes from your life, most of which are yet to happen. Your recollection of them will be hazy, but you will recognize them clearly when one day they occur. Follow the beacon your tattoo emits to find your way back when it is time.
Jill:
How long until I start feeling something?
Senpai:
Oh, not long at all…
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2. |
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Jill:
Starlight and the falling and the midnight touch
Wander in the daydream and the violet rush
Starlight and the falling and the midnight touch
Wander in the daydream and the violet rush
Lost behind the scenes
The moon's fluorescent dream
The girl who fell behind the midnight scene
The space between meaning and all that seems
The girl who fell behind the midnight scene
The space between meaning and all that seems
The wishes lost the futures dropped
The wild forgotten space
The you it seemed the world had dreamed
Has faded all away
The feral prayers the untamed fair
Escaped, elusive scenes
The could have been that lives within
The moon's fluorescent dream
Michael:
Jill slowly made her way to the Empyreal Tea Room, through the stars, above the nearby planets. The stars were made of thick cardboard and just big enough for her to carefully step on. They were attached to a black painted wall which would slowly suck one into it if they leaned on it too long, so Jill tried to touch it as little as possible. If she climbed the cardboard stars long enough, diagonally for several hours, she would reach the great, cosmic Tea Room where the royal Kittywraiths held their Sunday gathering.
Jill:
The girl who fell behind the midnight scene
The space between meaning and all that seems
Starlight and the falling and the midnight touch
Wander in the daydream and the violet rush
The moon's fluorescent dream
The wishes lost the futures dropped
The wild forgotten space
The you it seemed the world had dreamed
Has faded all away
The feral prayers the untamed fair
Escaped, elusive scenes
The could have been that lives within
The moon's fluorescent dream
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3. |
The Maze The Mirror
07:43
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Jill:
The little witch has fallen through
The maze, the mirror, reflections too
And somewhere just behind her calls
Things you should not see at all
The little witch, the girl so queer
Races through the maze of mirrors
In and out of here and there
As time runs out the gaping tear
This day has lasted near a week
The path through mirrors a staggered streak
Which forms a stitch, a stitch in time
The little witch a needle fine
Her path it sews the wound up but
Infections try to keep the cut
And so, the witch is falling through
The maze, the mirror, reflections too
Michael:
Jill crawled out of the mirror and found herself in a filthy bathroom in a concert arena. She fell to the floor with a wet splat and wiped the goo from her arms and shoulders. She tried to listen in order to hear if things were behind her, back in the mirror, but couldn’t hear anything over the music. She checked her pocket watch. There wasn’t much time to get to the next mirror, the next stretch of the route. She scrambled to her feet and opened the dessert recipe book where the coordinates for the next mirror were encoded.
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4. |
Cerebral Deep
09:22
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Michael:
The patient, the madwoman consigned to the asylum, looked wildly at the doctor. Behind the madwoman’s eyes Jill watched. She wasn't going to jump into the doctor again, at least not yet. There was a complicated sequence and the Doctor's place in that sequence had come and gone, at least for now. Jill didn’t know the full sequence, but over the last few months had learned a good bit of it through trial and error. She had developed a knack for recognizing who next host was supposed to be after a few days, but her hunch wasn't foolproof, and one error sent her back to the very beginning, to the body of a poor patient named Remmy. Some of the patients had learned to recognize her no matter who she was currently possessing. Most were wary and hostile, but two inmates, Binx and Bridge, were friendly and helpful. They were helping her figure out this long, complicated chain which would open the spirit gate and finally allow her to leave.
Jill:
Lost behind the maze of minds, and gazing out of strangers eyes
The ones who cut or scream or cry, locked or lost or left behind
Thoughts so fast, confused or slow, twist and turns through paths that roam
The little witch in minds unknown, whispers that they’re not alone
Down through streets in mazes deep beneath
Tangled hallways winding through cerebral deep
Eyes of every hue Jill will wander through
Twisted labyrinths sweep down through cerebral deep
Faces strange and thoughts unknown in bodies that are not her own
Troubles she can’t understand she offers comfort when she can
Apologies she always says before she jumps into their head
Possesses each a few scant days to find the sequence to escape
Down through streets in mazes deep beneath
Tangled hallways winding through cerebral deep
Eyes of every hue Jill will wander through
Twisted labyrinths sweep down through cerebral deep
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5. |
Isabela
09:38
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Michael:
Falling through the center of the felt planet in a jewelry box, that did contain elegant seating options it must be said, was definitely one of the worst-case scenarios of their plan. Had they bothered to make a worst-case list. Or a plan. Really, the whole affair was being very irresponsibly approached. And since it would take about a day to fall through to the other side, Jill and Isabela decided they might as well get blindingly drunk.
Isabela:
Well listen dear I know that this affair has gone to pot
But I’ll remind you why we did it since I guess some time we’ve got,
We had to steal the royal ring the prince occasionally wore
Because the prince was set to marry that nice peasant girl for sure.
What the prince did not know is the peasant girl was set
To inherit massive tracts of land her wealthy uncle left.
Her mother had been shunned because a journeyman she’d wed
But the girl you see is now the only family that is left.
The only ones who know this are some lawyers and they know
If the girl should die the land will simply go into escrow
Then the lawyers can disperse it to themselves except their clerk
And the wife of the head lawyer they have sex while he’s at work
The clerk has found a secret will the uncle made which says
If the final relative should die the land will go instead
To the church who hates the prince and if the church should get the land
The prince will kill the lawyers chopping off their heads and hands
How sublime a little crime to pass the time away
No better fun with friends than when you’re planning escapades
What’s better than martinis while you hatch a fiendish scheme
The spice of life my friends is the delight of the intrigue
Jill:
What more could be
The seasoning that makes the day pristine
So savory
The spice of life delight of the intrigue
…
Isabela:
But the girl my dear is sleeping with a handsome palace guard
And the two have hatched a plan to rob the prince that’s quite bizarre
On his wedding night the prince will drink insane amounts and then
He will leave the royal ring upon the nightstand near his bed
The palace guard will sneak in while the prince is passed out drunk
And he’ll steal the ring and throw it from the tower to his mum
His mum will take the ring and because she’s having sex
With the lawyer I had talked about, the ring they’ll try to fence
The ring it has a buyer who will pay a massive sum
And the buyer is the princess, yes his sister, do keep up
She will need the royal ring to lay her rightful claim its true
To the throne and then she’ll take it in a well-planned palace coup
The princess is the oldest and she should have been the queen
But the prince he had been sleeping with the chancellor you see
So when the king fell deep into the coma where he lays
The prince was put in power and his sister fumes in rage
How sublime a little crime to pass the time away
No better fun with friends than when you’re planning escapades
What’s better than martinis while you hatch a fiendish scheme
The spice of life my friends is the delight of the intrigue
Jill:
What more could be
The seasoning that makes the day pristine
So savory
The spice of life delight of the intrigue
…
23:
And wrapped in a pale coat of longing and regret she stumbles awkwardly into her future
And into the mist and the song
Wishing a her that had less erosion, although more confusion, less weariness and more vigor who could’ve seen the dots better
The girl disappears and is gone
The dots that were the stepping stones to better outcomes, from the haze of youth to the satisfaction of maturity
Where time rests when day goes too long
But there were no dots, just an almost comical fumbling through the fog as if over inebriated with cheap spirits
The girl disappears and is gone
The dots could have been the rocks of wise choices, the strategic haven of careful foresight
The child for whom once you had longed
But instead, the dots were reckless moments of joy and spontaneity, foolish sometimes in hindsight but precious then like water
The girl disappears and is gone
Dots of those few she loves who are with her even now within the pale coat of longing and regret she pulls closer around her
The girl disappears and is gone
...
Isabela:
How sublime a little crime to pass the time away
No better fun with friends than when you’re planning escapades
What’s better than martinis while you hatch a fiendish scheme
The spice of life my friends is the delight of the intrigue
Jill:
What more could be
The seasoning that makes the day pristine
So savory
The spice of life delight of the intrigue
Isabela:
But the princess has a lover and her lover is the priest
Who is marrying the peasant girl, and now he knows and he
Well, he has another lover who he’s told about this plan
But his lover is the brother of the peasant girl, so then
The brother wants to stop his sister’s marriage, this is true
If she’s married to the prince when the princess throws the coup
Her life will end quite early, and would not be worth a thing
But now my dear it seems that you and I possess the ring
How sublime a little crime to pass the time away
No better fun with friends than when you’re planning escapades
What’s better than martinis while you hatch a fiendish scheme
The spice of life my friends is the delight of the intrigue
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6. |
Jill's Tattoo
03:33
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Lloyd:
It seems to possess properties I can’t work out
Jill:
It’s not really a tattoo, it’s a sigil. And a homing beacon. You can use it to find me if I'm ever lost.
Lloyd:
Well, how do we track it?
Jill:
Um… Okay that part I don’t actually know.
…
The wishes lost the futures dropped
The wild forgotten space
The you it seems the world had dreamed
Has faded all away
The feral prayers the untamed fair
Escaped, elusive scenes
The could have been that lives within
The moon's fluorescent dream
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7. |
Duel Of The Tarot
03:49
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The moon and the hermit and the sun upon the spread
The march of the minor armed arcana come beset
Wands fly a waving swords, the battle of the decks
The duel of the tarot on the table to the, table to the death
The devil rode the chariot with strength you will see yet
The empress and the emperor their swords and cups are set
The fool in the tower with the world running red
The duel of the tarot on the table to the, table to the death
The star showing temperance, pentacles will cash in yet
Cups running over priestess blood magician's head
The wrath of the hanged man on the battered, damaged decks
The duel of the tarot on the table to the, table to the death
Michael:
Yashfa shifted about nervously, visibly sweating. The Great God Huehuecoyotl smiled across the symbol (and blood) covered table at Jill and wiped his hand of cards off the table. He was clearly ahead. Jill cracked her neck and looked about the colorful, stone parthenon, letting her thoughts wander and empty. She closed her eyes, thought of a song and swayed gently to it. Then she reached out and without looking drew cards for her tarot spread. She and Huehuecoyotl were playing a form of competitive tarot, using actual reincarnation lines as cards. Once the spread was complete, the timeline of lives would flash by and the aspects bet upon would play out. She opened her eyes as she finished placing the cards and smiled back, tapping on a card to initiate the timeline sequence.
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8. |
Fae Wather Way
04:39
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Jill:
The cobbler's child, the bindle tied, the miles trod and roamed
The fortune sought the lyre he bought, the songs he sang and wrote
Fay wather well the music spell
He cast and how they swayed
Fay wather was the coins they tossed
The glamour when he played
Fay wather whirl the drink, the girls
The one he seeded but
Fay wather when they found him then
Knife stuck in his gut
His child grew and her child too, till that girl had her fill
Of farming plots and so set off across the miles and hills
A zither earned to play she learned and spells with it she weaved
Songs she would play that made them sway and dream a magic dream
Fay wather when she sang but then
A child she did have
Fay wather wan the jealous man
Who took her life in wrath
Down the line it skips sometimes but soon enough is born
One with the gift like magic tricks who ventures far and forth
Fay wather when they’ll sing but then their life will be cut short
I tell you true, this time it's you, but your path you can abort
Chatterlaine swept up the cards, and the boy sat mystified
The crowd and the stage would wait this day, as tears fell from his eyes
He thanked her and gave the coins he’d saved and left her tent that night
She nodded and sat her head leaned back and listened as outside
“Fay wather wane,” he boldly sang
As the crowd began to roar
Fay wather fee the hex he weaved
and they cried for more and more
Fay wather well the music spell
He cast and how they swayed
Fay wather woe the song it goes
The glamour when he played
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9. |
Michael
03:56
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Jill:
Michael sits with monsters afternoons when they are sad
On boats upon the water, makes me laugh when I am mad
Tells his tales to ruffled strays
Worries that they’ll go away
Keeps the cracks away for me I know
Tells me I don’t need to cry alone
Michael smiles pretends to sell me junk I cannot see
Values lost discarded things, says he values me
Makes up games with silly lore
On afternoons when we are bored
Grips the edge and smiles for me I know
Tells me he won’t let me fall alone
I believe in you
I believe in you
I believe in you, I say
Michaels been inside this tower years and yet he tries
To cheer me up and make me think he never really cries
He dreams up places we could live
And gives me all that he can give
He stands there over the abyss
To make sure that I won’t fall in
He keeps his sanity for me I know
Tells me he won't let me break alone
I believe in you
I believe in you
I believe in you, I say
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10. |
The B.A.I.R.N.S.
04:11
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Psychic Babies:
On the neuro-meta circuit phased inside genetic networks
A-synaptic helo-cortex
Transomatic inter-magnicosmic phase
Subcognition astral pathway
Hypo-meta-conscious neuro-tonal waves
Michael:
The psychic babies floated around the neuro-dome, reading the thoughts and feelings of random Narratives and smiling, reacting unpredictability. Jill incessantly hummed along to the songs blasting in her earplugs, trying desperately not to think any concrete thoughts that might disturb them. All she had to do was float up to one of the crystals at the top, grab it and get out. It would have been so easy, but now of all times her tattoo started talking. “Warning. Too many divergences,” it said. It rarely spoke, once every few years, and now was the wrong time. The giant, smiling babies with their helmets of cathodes and wires noticed her and began floating towards her.
Jill:
The B.A.I.R.N.S. are loved the B.A.I.R.N.S. are so adored
The B.A.I.R.N.S. dream of themselves as something more
The B.A.I.R.N.S. they contemplate your end
The B.A.I.R.N.S., they will not be your friend
The B.A.I.R.N.S. will wake you’ll never know what for
The B.A.I.R.N.S. are never angry never crass
The B.A.I.R.N.S. will not return your love at last
The B.A.I.R.N.S. know what you will not face
The world is theirs if they just wait
One day they will watch the sun go black
All alone in time they sit at last
Psychic Babies:
On the neuro-meta circuit phased inside genetic networks
A-synaptic helo-cortex
Transomatic inter-magnicosmic phase
Subcognition astral pathway
Hypo-meta-conscious neuro-tonal waves
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11. |
The Cosmic Hoedown
05:10
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Michael:
The cosmic dance floor was mayhem, most of the mortal dancers utterly lost to the music’s pull, unable to escape until the Great Hoedown between the Seven Sins and the Seven Virtues was completed. Not all would survive. Jill and Raven were managing to keep their wits about them as they whirled madly about. They needed to trace sigils with their dancing which would free Nyarlathotep who had idiotically gotten himself imprisoned trying to steal Sin’s legendary cannabis strain.
If they succeeded and Nyarlathotep burst free, they’d have to escape rather quickly
as the Sins and Virtues would not react favorably to their Hoedown being interrupted.
Jill and the Choir:
Gluttony and prudence hope and avarice and faith
Whirl round in mad procession, spinning bodies promenade
And charity and fortitude with lust and envy shake
The theological ecclesiastic hoedown here today
And the sins all twirl and the virtues sway
And the dancers move like a beast insane
And the world spins and shakes
The discologic ballet breaks today
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12. |
Coming Down
06:50
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Jill:
The girl who fell behind the midnight scene
The space between meaning and all that seems
Psychic Babies:
A-synaptic helo-cortex
Transomatic inter-magnicosmic phase
Subcognition astral pathway
Hypo-meta-conscious neuro-tonal waves
Jill:
The little witch has fallen through
The maze, the mirror, reflections too
And somewhere just behind her calls
Things you should not see at all
The little witch, the girl so queer
Races through the maze of mirrors
In and out of here and there
As time runs out the gaping tear
Lost behind the maze of minds, and gazing out of stranger's eyes
The ones who cut or scream or cry, locked or lost or left behind
Thoughts so fast, confused or slow, twist and turn through paths that roam
Isabela:
How sublime a little crime to pass the time away
No better fun with friends than when you’re planning escapades
Jill:
The girl who fell behind the midnight scene
The space between meaning and all that seems
Choir:
The moon and the hermit and the sun upon the spread
March of the minor armed arcana come beset
Jill:
Starlight and the falling and the midnight touch
Wander in the daydream and the violet rush
Starlight and the falling and the midnight touch
Wander in the daydream and the violet rush
Michael sits with monsters afternoons when they are sad
On boats upon the water, makes me laugh when I am mad
Tells his tales to ruffled strays
Worries that they’ll go away
Keeps the cracks away for me I know
This day has lasted near a week
The path through mirrors a staggered streak
Which forms a stitch, a stitch in time
The little witch a needle fine
Her path it sews the wound up but
Infections try to keep the cut
And so, the witch is falling through
The maze, the mirror, reflections too
Choir:
Wands fly a waving swords, the battle of the decks
The duel of the tarot on the table to the, table to the death
Jill and the Choir:
The wishes lost the futures dropped
The wild forgotten space
The you it seemed the world had dreamed
Has faded all away
The feral prayers the untamed fair
Escaped, elusive scenes
The could have been that lives within
The moon's fluorescent dream
Senpai:
Welcome back. Here, drink some water.
That is not the last time your tattoo will bring you back. Congratulations. You’ve completed your initiation. You’ll be confirmed during the next esbat, but you are now a full flowered Swynwraig. Careful, don’t trip over the… The hallucinations will wear off quickly now, just keep drinking water. My last and greatest student. Come over to the fire and warm yourself. I could murder some of that wine.
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Paul Shapera Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Cama’s attempt to commune with higher beings failed; she only found Decadent Dottie. Together they roamed, indulging in dangerous forms of psycho-neural self-exploration which Cama hoped would present the key to her people’s further evolution. It only led to her destroying her people so that one of their pets could evolve. She sat in her former civilization's rubble and listened to Paul Shapera. ... more
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