Nash Harding and the Secret of the Twisted Tower

album art by PixelWayve

**Nash Harding and the Secret of the Twisted Tower** is an album which was released on September 28, 2020. It is the second installment in the Secret Series trilogy. There was a listening party for Patreons on Sept 20th, and a general listening party on Sept 27th.
The album features Hayley Warner as Amber, Kerttu Aarnipuu as Ryvyr D Goblin, and Paul Shapera as Nash Harding. There's also a special appearance by Jessica Law and another surprise guest. Lauren Osborn provided background vocals, and the cover art is drawn by PixelWayve.

Michael is the Post-Human narrating the story.

## Plot

A few years after the end the civil war from The New Albion Radio Hour, the city of New Albion is at peace and a new tech boom is happening, led by Arcadia Corp and The Voodoopunks. Michael, the narrator, introduces us to Nash, a kid living in the streets of New Albion and who has no memory past the last few months. He is wanted by Arcadia Corp, and they have send their agent Amber to look for him. (*The Hippiepunk Overture*)

Nash remembers waking up in Arcadia Corp and being experimented on, until he was freed by beatnik kids. Since then, he has spent most of his time in clubs and cafes, taking part of the New Albian night life and painting street art. The scenes he paints are actually portals to other places and dimensions. (*Nash Harding*). However, Nash isn't that bothered by his situation and spends most of his time partying with the hippies. (*The Balley A-Go-Go*)

One day, he is approached by a young Mary, who explains to him that there are still creatures emprisoned by Arcadia Corp, taken from their native worlds and hidden in the city's underground. She and the Beatniks have a plan to free them but they need Nash's help : he has to draw a portal to where the creatures are. Nash agress to help. (*The Creatures*). Once the portal drawn, all creatures escape, except for one goblin, Ryvyr, who explains that another goblin from her world is here and she needs to find them. While Nash says he cannot help, Arcadia security, in the form of Amber, arrives. Thankfully, the Beatniks erupt into chaos and everyone manages to escape during the confusion. (*Operation Boogly Oogly*)

Amber then sings about her past and childhood, during the New Albion civil war. She spent three years in an asylum after being sent there by her family. At 16, when finally free, she told her parents to go to hell and left her family home. Amber found home in the underground with the Voodoopunks and under protection of Katy Shaw, where she spent the next 3 years of her life. During that time, she planned a heist to steal the MCG, which was successfully pulled off by Katy with the help of Mark. Amber is now working for Arcadia Corp, where she met Connor, her fiancé. Arcadia is studying the eight circuits of human consciousness, the goal being the evolution of man, but, during their research, they discovered the existence the unconscious realm and some members now want to open a doors to this place. (*Amber*)

Nash and Ryvyr, now far from Arcadia Corp, have a talk about purpose. (*Nash & Ryvyr Grok 1*)

Upon prompting, Ryvyr tells the story of how she almost died. She lived in a forest with her goblin tribe, led by the leader "Pom-Pom", who had a daughter named Hiisi who is Ryvyr's age. Ryvyr is attracted to Hiisi and Hiisi has a a thing for Ryvyr, thinking she's a sweetie. Hiisi has to remain a virgin in order to preform the annual Ritual of Thyme. One day the two girls go to have some fun in the woods with some drinks and partying, but not to do anything inappropriate, however when they wake up, they realize that Hiisi is not a virgin anymore. They go to another goblin, Venla, who is the daughter of the goblin shaman and ask her for help, Venla speaks of a mushroom that can restore virginity and the trio of goblin girls go out to find it, they then go into a cavern which has a trap, but Ryvyr interrupts the storytime for a guitar solo. The 3 fell down into the realm of the Worm King. It turns out that Venla made a deal with the Worm King to bring the girls to him and he says he will eat Ryvyr and Hiisi's brains, and use necromancy to turn Hiisi into a zombie to eradicate the goblin tribe. Ryvyr and Hiisi pick the lock, but they get surrounded by the Worm King, and Ryvyr swears to kill Venla or her cruel betrayal. Just as she thought she was about to die with Hiisi at her side, Ryvyr is plucked from the lair of the Worm King and finds herself in Arcadia. (*Ryvyr D Goblin*)

Amber than is seen reflecting on her past. She was crying and going manic in the asylum, and after becoming a Voodoopunk she wathced all the people around her, and at both points she thought why she must suffer this way, and how she wishes she could go back and tell her younger self that a better life is coming for her soon (*Amber Reflects*)

Nash and Ryvyr have another talk, Ryvyr says that all of the goblins act because of purpose, while Nash thinks that the purpose sounds more like a task (*Nash & Ryvyr Grok 2*)

Amber interjects, and tells Nash of his true past through a 8-Bit song, similar to that of a video game. Nash was a young prince whos real name was Prince Pear in the narrative Lollyland who was locked away in a dungeon by his mother The Queen, who sacrificed villages and committed horrible acts to taste a "taste like no other" and learned forbidden magic to do so. In the narrative, a young lass would come along to talk to Prince Pear everyday, and soon the two fell in love. They plotted to escape, but the Queen came to kill Prince Pear, however, Arcadia Corp opened the door to the narrative, causing him to get away. Nash's girlfriend then began on her way to find him, and Amber says that if Nash is not returned to be murdered his world will fall away and everything in it will cease to exist. (*Lollyland*)

Amber than asks Nash to take her hand and go to his world, but Nash refuses, saying that he doesn't care for her and that she can die in his place for all he cares, as he goes to reunite Ryvyr with Hiisi. Amber than uses a tracking device she had on Nash and contacts the rest of Arcadia Corp (*A Grokfest*)

In Arcadia's Labs, we see the strange experiments they are running (*Arcadia Corp Labs*)

Nash finds another goblin, and urges Ryvyr to walk up to her, she does and the other goblin seems suprised to find her, Ryvyr than stabs her an extremely unhealthy amount of times, and clarifies that the goblin was Venla, and that her tribe is probably all dead. Amber than walks in horrified, both at the corpse on he floor and that Venla is dead, because Venla had a mandatory role in the narrative, that cannot be done now that she is dead, and the goblin narrative is now gone forever (*Ryvyr's Reunion*)

Amber then tries to convince Nash to go back to his world in order to die, comparing it to a story about a dead cat, and says that it's his purpose in this life. She draws attention to the fact that the cost of on life will stop an entire world from being destroyed. She then apologizes, knowing how hard it must be for him right now, and finally mentions Arcadia's plans to go to Elysium. (*The Cat*)

Michael then narrates what Nash is about to do, as to not remove from the 2 grand songs around this one (*A Few Seconds From Michael*)

Nash then sings about how his current situation is similar to a vague memory of being chased down by a clown, and that there is nothing he can do at this point, but that he wants one last shred of joy before the metaphorical curtain call (*Curtain Call*)

Michael than concludes the album, saying how Nash died awfully and his girlfriend avenged him by cutting the queens neck, that Ryvyr is still alive and roaming New Albion at the moment, and that Amber has a bright future for the foreseeable future, and that he missed when he had good fortune, and cries over his lost friends, specifically Jill. (*Michael Epilogue*)

## Cast and Characters

### Main Characters

Paul Shapera as "Nash" and "Michael"

Kerttu Aarnipuu as "Ryvyr"

Hayley Warner as "Amber"

### Minor Characters

Jessica Singer as "Mary" (Surprise appearance)

Jessica Law as "The Queen"

Lauren Osborn performed chorus vocals in *The Balley A-Go-Go* and *Arcadia Corp Labs*

Marjolein Nijsten as "Ryvyr's Little Goblin Friend"

Paul Shapera as "Voodoopunks", "Beatnik", "Worm King" and some background vocals

## Trivia

* Before deciding on the current title, other possible options included "Nash Harding and the Secret of the Dead Cat" and "Nash Harding and the Groovy Gay Goblin"
* Nash's girlfriend in Lollyland is named MaryO
* The album cover is very detailed and has multiple references to the lyrics and plot of the album. The cover also notably pictures no Sun and Mary with six legs (despite Mary not appearing in her spider form in the album), both controversial statements by cover artist PixelWayve
	+ The 8 on the album cover by Ryvyr's head is a reference to the Eight Circuit Consciousness Map and has nothing to do with the number of Mary's legs

1. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CIDIcXXp6kc/