#more maud's aggressive brother collecting

[fahye]

A Power Unbound

Secrets! Magic! Enemies to… something more? Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn, would love a nice, safe, comfortable life. After the death of his twin sister, he thought he was done with magic for good. But with the threat of a dangerous ritual hanging over every magician in Britain, he’s drawn reluctantly back into that world. Now Jack is living in a bizarre puzzle-box of a magical London townhouse, helping an unlikely group of friends track down the final piece of the Last Contract before their enemies can do the same. And to make matters worse, they need the help of writer and thief Alan Ross. Cagey and argumentative, Alan is only in this for the money. The aristocratic Lord Hawthorn, with all his unearned power, is everything that Alan hates. And unfortunately, Alan happens to be everything that Jack wants in one gorgeous, infuriating package. When a plot to seize unimaginable power comes to a head at Cheetham Hall—Jack’s ancestral family estate, a land so old and bound in oaths that it’s grown a personality as prickly as its owner—Jack, Alan and their allies will become entangled in a night of champagne, secrets, and bloody sacrifice… and the foundations of magic in Britain will be torn up by the roots before the end.

Coming November 2023

PRE-ORDER: US

PRE-ORDER: UK

ADD ON GOODREADS

[worstfruit]

BEASTMASTER

playing with names. zh'ang, bastardization of the romanization OF a translation meaning warsong, but i was just trying to find something that could sound gith so that doesnt really matter! he never goes by this tho, as his subordinates just call him master, sir, or boss. i think he would be very private about his life before joining a company (one i havent plotted out yet, though i like the idea of whatever mercenary crew he’s apart of following the idea of using assigned nicknames or titles in place of true names, even amongst the non-magic users, just for their safety or rather the integrity of the company so that their private information can’t easily be used against them).

yiz'shi, same bastard deal, this time im thinking beastmaster could be something he gained before joining a company and he just translated it to common. im not sure if the gith would have a need of surnames. i assume they’d be like uh ‘conan the brave’ or whatever, a sort of similar idea i’ve establish for my goblins where their surnames are based on trade and can changed based off merit, and their first names are given after a personality begins to appear. i think gith may be given names, then a ‘the brave’ or ‘unholy’ may follow depending on how they choose to live their life. 

zizshangi --> yizshangi --> some sort of mix between warsong/beastmaster. perhaps his true name is obscured and not even his minions know it!

im thinking he will be a shadow monk who uses his telepathy to rise in the ranks! i dont like multiclassing but i also really want to incorporate aspects of a whisper bard into this character or at least one of his underlings. i think after coming out of slavery under some mindflayers, he joins the company that frees him and starts using his monk training from the astral plane to...not convert, but to translate into the way of shadows. he would recruit the help of those who others overlook, such as kenku, kobolds, gnolls, and goblins. he’s very quiet, very observant, wears a mask often and even when he doesn’t he pretty much as a complete poker face. He chooses his words carefully but does relax around those he knows/trusts, and has a sort of dry sense of humor. Despite his psionic abiliities he’s sort of like, an idiot socially and can’t actually read people all that well. he relies on his extrasensory input and Maud (explained below) to navigate relations mostly. I’m not too sure what he looks like yet! I do want him to have the sort of vaguely asianic features a lot of githzerai have however, and i have a monk outfit in mind based off some Absolver outfits. He’s worked his way up in company rank enough to become a sort of espionage expert within the troops! This has earned the ire of some other company members, but for the most part i think this mercenary group would be pretty civil and view each other as respected associates and comrades. 

His main crew consists of two kenu, two goblins, and a tabaxi. He’s known the tabaxi longest-- im thinking she was also an underling in the company who helped him get back on his feet when they picked him up. She was a teen looking to hone her skills as a rogue and he helped her learn the art of stepping lightly and always keeping an ear to the ground. Looking at tabaxi names I’m thinking she probably has some dumbass one like ‘quick of paw’ but they just started calling her Maraud, which turned into Maud LOL. She’s all black and has short, sleek, shiny fur, brownish/maroon irises, pointed ears and big paws with her claws usually unsheathed. She’s become a mastermind rogue who trains two (also totally black, yellow eyed) kenku twins as a thief and scout under Beastmaster’s tutelage. She’s very streetsmart and has a gravelly sort of raspy voice from years of working as a slave (able to rise as a slavemaster who was tasked with yelling orders to the other slaves and cracking the whip). She’s a bit matronly, very wry and slinky and coy, and very good with people. Typical scorpio but with a flair of aires determination and single mindedness. She’s very driven, but has the life experience to keep herself grounded and logical. She’s beastmaster’s most trusted associate and essentially the brains behind his crew, at least second to him. She’s the boss when he’s not around, but while strict, she has a HUGE softspot for her sort of adopted siblings. She gets along well enough with the rest of the company.

The two kenkus are fraternal twins, a bit younger than Maud, named Lasher (girl) and Bowstring. Lasher is the thief and Bow is the scout. They were orphaned and picked up by the company shortly before absorbing the refugees from the Mindflayer slaveship so they never really had birthnames afa the company was concerned. They speak through sign language, body language and gesture, facial expressions, and a sort of quick-hand morse code they’ve developed from both thieves cant as well as the company cant. They can’t easily speak to people outside the company, and even within the ranks they have trouble communicating without parroting, which they don’t seem to like doing unless it’s to mock someone. Their inability to speak, however, lends to their spy nature as people often underestimate their intelligence and perception. Though they can’t fly, they’re quick when racing across building tops and through tree canopy and prefer high vantage points to preform their work. Beastmaster is a very silent person who gets along well with these two, using his telepathy and patience to forge a mentor relationship with them and cultivate their infiltration and investigative skills. Lasher loves to read anything she can get her feather little fingers on, and often steals what she can’t buy. She’s not too girly but does enjoy fantasizing about the high life noble ladies lead and likes to collect trinkets she thinks represent this such as bows, perfume bottles, bits of mirror and buttons. Bowstring likes to help his sister with her plights but is much more grounded and serious. he’s dry and sardonic and takes himself a little too seriously. even for a mute, he’s very silent and a little shy and prefers to hide behind Maud or beastmaster or even Lasher. He get’s his name for his skills as a ranger, whereas lasher gets hers from her talons and tendency to use them when people get too close to her or her brother. she gets along better with the rest of the company however, and likes to be seen as cute even if she feels she’s being condescended on. she and her brother work spectacularly together, along with beastmaster and maud, and don’t mind being separated for missions or otherwise.

The two goblin (identical!) twins’ names are Fritz and Racket and they are, respectively, a storm sorcerer and a storm barbarian! obviously they’re not as subtle as the rest of the gang despite being gobs, in fact they get their nicknames from their quirks of being loud, aggressive, and favoring a sort of berserker approach to confrontation. Fritz is the caster, Racket is the muscle, and both feed off each’s other whole uh, storm bullshit. they both worship an elemental goblin deity but very very casually, it’s more of hero worship, and beastmaster sorta thinks they might have a touch of wild magic and a fixation on LOUD and FLASHY shit hence the storm kick. they’re very loyal, very brave, and only a little stupid. they both have tempers and don’t like comments about their height. very easy to bait into confrontation especially if they’re together. they’re not the kinda twins who walk together in unison and finish each other’s sentences (like the kenku twins, who similarly work off each other’s energies for their work), but they are usually together and look almost exactly alike. Fritz is a bit slimmer and taller, a bit pointier and a bit more spastic and shrill. He’s weaker than his brother but is smarter. He also has a worse temper and despite not being a melee fighter, will not hesitate to tackle anyone and just use his claws and teeth. Racket is a bit calmer but dumber, more gullible, and a lot stronger. He’s only a tad quieter than his brother but is also more physically aggressive and tends to stomp and throw shit around, hence his name. he usually follow’s frtiz’s lead if beastmaster isn’t around, but the both defer to Maud for instruction. They’re technically younger than the kenku twins if you account for the fact that goblins age quicker than kenku, they’re only slightly older! they’re more immature, however, and usually need more corralling than anyone else. unlike lasher and bow, fritz and racket dont like being seperated, but usually dont have to be since they don’t do much espionage. if they are dispatched for such tasks, it’s usually a matter of blending into busy, or sketchy environments rather than being silent and shadowy. they’re useful for intimidation, distraction, firepower, and muscle.

the last notable character i’ve cooked up is a kobold, the youngest (but again due to kobold age, its not like hes a baby technically) named Rak! he’s not very skilled in anything but he considers himself an inventor and makes really pathetic little stick contraptions that use like. shitty venoumous bugs and stink bombs LOL. i dont even know what class he’d be. no magic skills, too dumb and loud for espionage. he’s sort of a little mascot for the company and everyone treats him like a pet, but beastmaster took pity on him and lets him tag along with them. fritz and racket think hes funny and usually just throw him in a bag or like, if they have to fight, put him in a pocket till theyre done. he doesn’t get in the way too much and every now and again is a bit useful to get into super small places or to do errands like deliveries or shopping or cleaning. he got his name bc he makes a sorta RAK sound a lot when scared or startled or hurt or excited or mad. like a mouse goes EEK but he’s a stupid lizard guy so he goes RAK!

[thetonecontrol]

Ep. 81 - We Are Burt

Vox MV50 (Blackout Effectors Blunderbuss Fuzz)

Mega tiny amp heads

Features “nutube”, a “revolutionary new tube design” as a preamp

50W, Speaker, Line, & Headphone out, Volume, Tone, Gain controls  

3 flavors: AC (AC30 approximation), Clean (loads of headroom), and Rock (Aggressive tones)

1x8 cab available 

http://voxamps.com/MV50 

Voodoo Lab Pedalboards (stab: Some random jamup sim)

Super easy mounting for their power supplies

Dipswitches on power supplies face up, easy toggles

3 sizes, plus one with a looper and power built in

$130, $170, $200, and $450. 

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/25134-voodoo-lab-releases-line-of-dingbat-pedalboards 

Supro Guitars (stab: Mr Black Supermoon)

New guitars in the vintage Ozark body shape

Hampton - $1099

3 gold foil pickups, mini humbucker size single coils

5 way selector

12” radius, 25.5” scale, Alder body, maple neck

Westbury - $999

Same as above but with 2 humbuckers

3 way selector

Jamesport - $899 

Same as above but with 1 bridge humbucker

Rivolta Guitars (Stab: Old Blood Noise Procession)

By Dennis Fano! 

Fano left the Premier Builders Guild but they kept his name (or something)

Combinata

2 P-90s

Reminiscent of RB6 body shape

$1200 for solid finish, $1350 for burst (nicer wood top)

Mahogany body & top, set maple neck, double bound body 

24 fret! 25” scale

Chase Bliss Audio: Brothers drive (stab: Mercy Seat Holy Dove)

Combination boost, drive, fuzz

Build on two independent JFET / IC analog channels totaling six unique circuits 

Swap effect order, series/parallel, presets, all the chase bliss dip switches, etc 

MIDI controlled 

Preorders: 2/20/17, for sale 3/20/17

$349  http://chaseblissaudio.com/brothers/ 

Walrus Audio (stab: Fairfield Meet Maude)

Roadmap for 2017! 

RED - High gain distortion/fuzz, January

Jupiter V2 - Fuzz - February 

Warhorn - Overdrive - March 

Monument - Harmonic tap tremolo - April 

Utility Line Series 1 - volume, expression, buffer, and tap tempo - May

ARP-87 - Multi-delay - July 

Utility Line Series 2 - Buffered blend, patch bay, ABY switch, Strymon/eventide remote - August 

Pedal Genie

Stone Deaf Wap Drive http://www.stonedeaffx.com/warp-drive

Rainger FX Dr. Freakenstein’s Dwarf Bitch 

http://www.raingerfx.com/product/dr-freakenstein-dwarf-bleep-igor/ 

Chapman Guitars (stab: Red Witch Factotum)

Launched in 2009, focus was on crowdsourced guitar design

2017 is bringing 29 new guitars to the lineup

Standard and Pro series, Pro features the new ML-V 

Standards are made in Indonesia, going to more affordable than current Chapman line

https://www.riffcityguitaroutlet.com/pages/search-results/collections-chapman-guitars-1 

http://www.chapmanguitars.co.uk/ 

Way Huge/MXR (stab: SolidGoldFX Electroman)

Conquistador Fuzzstortion $149 (Limited run!)

Huge splatty zippery squrewave fuzz

Volume, tone, fuzz controls 

Built in noise gate. Super high gain, super low noise. 

Russian Pickle $159

90s era Muff style fuzz 

BC183C chips 

Volume, tone, distortion controls 

More mid-focused but less gain than Swollen pickle 

Mini DynaComp $99

Looks like my BYOC

Script era design, added LED and 9V input 

“Attack” button allows for the pick attack to be vibrant and present but still offers the benefits of compression

DOD/Digitech (Stab: Wampler Faux Tape Echo)

Cab Dry VR

Dual cabinet simulator, 7 guitar cabs, 7 bass cabs

Pedal to integrate into your DAW or mixing board

Dual mono for stereo or two independent paths 

Freq Out

Natural Feedback Creator

Allows you to choose the harmonic of feedback (3rd, octave, sub, etc)

Natural feedback, not adding any synths into signal. 

Momentary/latching option. Dry switch on/off.

Ernie Ball Paradigm (Stab: Carl Martin Classic Opto Envelope)

https://www.ernieball.com/paradigm 

Ultra durable, break resistant strings

“Won’t break or rust. If they do, we’ll replace them absolutely free”

Acoustic and Electric options

March 1st

Elixir Optiweb Strings (Stab: EH POG)

http://www.elixirstrings.com/guitar-strings/electric-optiweb-guitar-strings.html 

Even thinner coating than nanoweb

Sounds is “crisp” and “natural”

Doesn’t feel slick like Polyweb coating. Has natural grip and feel of uncoated strings

Still features anti-rust coating on plain strings 

March 1st

Gibson (Stab: Walrus Audio Mayflower)

Johnny A

Still hollow, no F-holes

Spruce top, stoptail and tuneomatic bridge (original had a Bigsby)

L-5 Studio

Biiiiig archtop guitar now in a more affordable Studio model

Studio model was made in the past, developed a cult following, being reintroduced