The Third History (Vol. II)

The Age of Jazz

The Worm Funktastic has little interest in the Histories under normal circumstances. It has Hours to serenade, an audience to entertain, and a saxophone to play. What bliss could it find in the Histories, when all that it wishes for is in the Mansus where it belongs? Thus, humanity goes about their mortal existence, living and dying ignorant of the worms behind the world unless they dabble in the invisible arts. It's a peaceful existence, many would say.

There are servants of the Worm Funktastic, born from the audience that died while it serenaded them. It would be terribly rude to leave corpses in the audience, so the Worm Funktastic consumes them to repurpose them. From the Dead, it births the crawling, chaotic, caroling creatures, known to practitioners of the occult as Spinebearers. It would be a madman's dream to call upon any emanation of the Worm Funktastic. Unfortunately, the Worm Funktastic listens best to madmen.

In Carpentras there was once a poor bar singer, never paid according to her talents, but content with what she had nonetheless. When she signed a contract with a richer patron, the illiterate singer trusted his word that she would be allowed to sing. And she was- just not for anyone else. Distraught at being locked into a bargain which took her beloved music from her, the singer dreamt of music, of a saxophone in the night. She bargained with the Worm Funktastic, one of a very few to take on such a monstrous task and live. Composing a song to the Worm Funktastic, she convinced her patron to allow her to sing for him and an audience of his friends. From the first note, Spinebearers poured from the ears of her listeners, flooding into the room until the corpses had become headless and shredded. Freed from her contract at last, she sent the Spinebearers into the streets of Carpentras, ushering in the Age of Jazz in the Third History.

FNORD