From the introduction: There has never been a bard quite like Manic Mildew. Whether commoners, nobles, or farm animals, folks of every size, shape, and flavor flocked to Mildew’s performances in staggering numbers. His untimely death at the height of his career left a void that has gone unfilled since. Not for lack of trying, mind you. In the two hundred years since his passing, there has been no shortage of usurpers, posers, and braggarts willing to try their hand at dethroning the king of comedy. Oddly, those with any real hope of succeeding have vanished before getting their big break. Common wisdom writes off these disappearances as the undisciplined whims of creative types. Those in the know, however, have no doubt. It’s the ghost of Manic Mildew. It’s the maestro himself making sure no one ever outshines him.