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dailyadventureprompts · 2 years

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Settlement: The River-Town of Ollard’s Take

Charming countryside, lovely people, just don’t expect to get a good deal down at the local market. These people come from raider stock after all, they’re used to driving a hard bargain.

-Letters from a wandering astronomer

Setup: Back in his day, Ollard “the Oarbreaker” was a captain among a barbarian horde who’s rampage across the continent is still spoken of well over a century later. Unlike his fellow plunderers, who were largely lost to time (and the spears of the people they sought to enslave) Ollard realized that the greatest treasure he could set his hands upon was the river his people had used to range so far inland and settled his forces, rich with plunder and supplies, upon a lake that divided the coastal region from the territory’s heartland. When his kinsmen returned next raiding season, Ollard charged them for the privilege of accessing their preferred stomping grounds, even denying them if his price wasn’t met. Over generations this tithe evolved into a protection deal with the people of the heartland, and the foundation by which the house of Ollard became a powerful vassal of the then ascendant crown.

Today, Ollard’s take is a hub for traders and travelers, the exact sort of place a group of adventures might want to post up while looking for their next job. Though a bit rough and tumble in places, the people of the Take respect those who win glory for themselves, making them far less likely to chase the party off like the rablerousers and troublemakers they are.

Adventure Hooks

Though the Take itself is prosperous, the lands beyond the rivers northern bank have been largely abandoned since the raider wars, boasting all manner of ruined villages and keeps ripe for exploration. There’s always rumors that the house of Ollard will redevelop these lands, but its almost as if there is some force keeping people out of the retaken forest that prevents such an expansion.

Without a doubt, the best place to get a drink in town is the Splitting Hare, easily identified by the sign of a rabbit chopping firewood over the door. Here, the sounds of reveling merchants and mercenaries mixes with the thuds of throwing axes hitting their target, as the cheers of onlookers spill out into the attached mooringyard. Here the party might get hired as a trader’s escort, or be able to pick up the strange gossip from both up and down the river.

The appearance of a great, scaly beast in the Waterways surrounding the take seems to have everyone on edge, though the party are receiving conflicting information. The town’s merchants want it dead, but the baron and baroness that rule the take have yet to post any kind of bounty. Instead, their daughter has taken it upon herself to hunt the beast, possibly asking the party (should they have earned themselves enough fame) to join her crew.

Further Adventures:

Seeking to bind the often maverick house of Ollard more tightly to the kingdom, the local peerage have conspired to wed the raider’s heir (Linea) to the charming and poetically minded firstborn of a neighboring Countess (Tyric). Unfortunately for the stability of the realm, not only did these two make a bad first impression on the other, Tyric was forced to break off a dalliance he was having with a fey he’d met while out on a hunt once he learned he was due to wed, and ended up transformed into a marauding river serpent for his slight. Delighted at the prospect of not only avoiding a marriage but living up to her ancestor’s reputation as a slayer of beasts, Linea has taken Ollard’s hunt and set out on a snakehunt, leaving her parents to fret over the war she might start with her bloodthirst.

The Countess is quite concerned about her son’s absence, and has dispatched both emissaries to the baron’s court and agents to scour the Take for secrets. One of these agents, more a clever hook than a blunt instrument tries to use the party and their established reputation in the town to get the answers they seek. To his mind, several of Ollard’s descendants were notorious for taking hostages to ransom or to secure the Take’s independence in the ascendant kingdom, and he’s sure the current Baron and Baroness are’t much above kidnapping his patron’s heir to avoid feudal entanglements.

Some time after the threat of the serpent is introduced, the party will be approached by a wealthy river merchant who claims to be in possession of an unbreakable net and a beast luring flute, and is willing to pay the party good coin if they help him wrangle the beast to shore. By then the party will have been made well aware of Linea’s desire to slay the beast, and will have to weigh the gratuity of a trader against the gratitude of a future baroness. In reality this well equipped merchant is Tyric’s fey lover, Cackler, who sees all this chaos as a lesson for her beloved. Surely after he’s devoured his betrothed, he’ll come to his senses and see that the duties of his mortal life are so much less important than the youthful promises he made to her, right?

If the party acquit themselves well (Saving Tyric from either of his ladies, avoiding a diplomatic incident, keeping Linea’s parents well informed rather than conspiring with a reckless teenager), the house of Ollard will see them rewarded with both a knighthood ( were eligible) and a keep. This will give the party lands and income far beyond what they could usually make with mercenary work, but will tie them inexorably to the Take and the family that rules it.

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recommendedlisten · 5 years

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New year, new music remained more true than ever this past week. UK dub esoteric and in-demand producing extraordinaire James Blake kept us awake with his insomniac love, PUP continued to find growth and life-affirmation through their nihilistic punk sing-a-longs with the kids, Maren Morris reaffirmed our faith in her GIRL power with her first preview off her highly anticipated sophomore effort, Tamaryn brought rage to her dreamy art pop, and Los Angeles noiseniks HEALTH refined the strangeness in their sound. Bubbling up from the underground and rising, we got promising glimpses in the futures of righteous rablerouser Stella Donnelly, cosmic soothsayer SPELLLING, folk duellist Bellows, and synth stylist Liam Benzvi. The latest Recommended Listen also came from Deerhunter’s latest album, which reminds us that their best days have yet to disappear. There's more where that came from with new music from pop and punk eclecticism alike.

Here’s the best of the rest from the week of January 13th, 2019…

Ariana Grande - “7 rings” [Republic Records]

The huge year Ariana Grande had in 2018 is going to get even bigger in the new year. To date, the pop superstar will be embarking on a massive tour behind last year’s great Sweetener, is slated to headline Coachella (and maybe even Lollapalooza, too...,) and has another album on the way that’s already shaping up to be one of the finest breakup reclamation narratives in pop culture. It’s tentatively titled thank u, next, after one of last year’s best songs, period, and more recently gave to us the sensually soulful ballad “Imagine”. “7 Rings” joins the two as potential album cuts, with this listen shifting gears into full-on fun mode where over an interpolation of the melody from The Sound of Music’s “My Favorite Things”, Grande mean mugs about retail therapy and being able to pay for it all of her own dime. Its video, again directed by Hannah Lux Davis, is similarly luxurious, as we watch Grande and her BFFs flaunt her 1% status up in a neon pink penthouse playing around with more money and high-end material possessions than any of us will ever see even if we lived ten of our own lifetimes.

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Cass McCombs -“The Great Pixley Train Robbery” [ANTI-]

Vagabond songwriting rebel Cass McCombs will release his ninth studio effort Tip of the Sphere on February 8th, and it’s building its way up to be yet another impressive showcase of the prolific wordsmith’s artistry, with early singles “Sleeping Volcanoes” and “Estrella” culling style cues from worldly musical influences that add even more layers to his detailed storytelling. Though its latest advance listen “The Great Pixley Train Robbery” may find less culture beyond the American songbook to be heard, within the context, it makes sense that its tone is that of a brambling, country-friend bar burner: It’s McCombs’ homage to the actual Pixley Train Robbery of 1889, in which a bandwagon of masked robbers hijacked a train, stole thousands of dollars, and made off into the sunset on horseback. When McCombs relives those moments through song, there’s no shortage of full color danger and adventure. His version of it will hopefully take him on the road much more safely later this spring.

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Dark Blue - “Waterford Crystal” [12XU]

Andy Nelson may physically be at CEREMONY’s Home Sick 2 festival this weekend, but there are moments in time when his spirit gravitates into another dimension of punk with his gothly, political project Dark Blue, the Philly trio that also includes John Sharkey III of morbid post-punkers Clockcleaner and Mike Sneeringer of Purling Hiss. Of all the sounds this collective encounter in their work elsewhere, Dark Blue materializes itself through Sharkey’s handsomely maudlin vocals, sharp riffs that coil around the gloomy melancholia of Brit-pop and the singed edges of ‘70s post-punk if they were to be swallowed whole by a shoegaze orb. On February 22nd, they’ll be releasing their third studio effort Victory Is Rated, which boasts a curious sax guest spot from Philly scene kingpin Kurt Vile. First single “Waterford Crystal” isn’t that song, but it definitely rumbles through the speakerboom with a debonair shimmer in their sad-eyed rock theatrics. In a very punk move, Dark Blue plans to celebrate the release by playing only one show, which goes down March 1st at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus.

Victory Is Rated by Dark Blue

Gauche - “Conspiracy Theories” [Merge Records]

2019 seems to be the year in which punks are out here making what noise they can with what little free time they have while pulling double duty in other projects than the ones they’re primarily known for. The latest making their visibility known in the fray is that of Gauch, a D.C. post-punk outfit featuring Downtown Boys’ Mary Jane Regalado and Jason P Barnett alongside Priests’ Daniele Yandel and a rotating cast of friends, who’ve since signed with Merge and will be releasing their proper debut full-length later this year. Their latest single “Conspiracy Theories” is a standalone listen that serves as the perfect introduction to what they’re all about through up-front politicized matters in their lyrics slung over a nervous, yet linear wriggle of guitar riffs angling their way around brass splashes. "I hate/ conspiracy theories/ Alex Jones / I hate you too,” goes one lin. When you take into account that many within the D.C. punk scene have first-hand experience with seeing the worst of them play out in real life, their ire is more than deserved. Alex Szantos directed its very DIY, VHS-quality performance clip that makes the most out of party streamers and the color palette despite what dark clouds hover over the world these days.

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Makthaverskan - “Demands” [Run for Cover Records]

Last week saw the long awaited and very welcome return o Swedish shoegazing punk band Westkust after a four year of silence from the point of delivering one of 2015′s best albums in their debut Last Forever. The band, which features two members of their more active post-punks counterparts Makthaverskan, is being followed on their heels with new music from that end, with the announcement that Makthaverskan will be releasing a 7″ single on January 25th. It features two tracks in “Demands”and “Onkel”, which the band revealed through a facebook post were initially recorded during the same sessions that brought us their solid 2017 effort Ill, but “didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the material,” hence coupling them together as their own stand-alone. Given that Ill found the four-piece dabbling in the cavernous echoes in their signature sparkle of post-punk, its A-side “Demands” rekindles fire with the illuminated rush. “Try to see through my eyes / No longer care for your demands / No time to catch up my mind / I am so tired of your advice,” Maja Milner’s sky-high vocals aim for the cosmos. When she’s seeing clearly, she and Makthaverskan never cease to scale new heights.

Demands b/w Onkel by Makthaverskan

Panda Bear - “Token” [Domino Records]

Plenty of listeners are feeling wistful this year over the 10 year anniversary of Animal Collective’s indie opus Merriweather Post Pavilion, yet sometimes-member Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox has been steadily looking toward the future of his own art ever since. His latest effort Buoys, due out on February 8th, is opening a new chapter within his own story following the trilogy of adulting avant pop bliss that was 2007′s Person PItch, 2011′s Tomboy and 2015′s Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper. While it does sound like the nautical breeze within Lennox’s music will never truly cease passage (titing his latest album Buoys alongside its lead single “Dolphin” are proof of that,) finding new pockets for his voice to explore within minimalist textures and low voltage experimentation amid his wonky nature suits his sound comfortably on its latest listen “Token”. The listen’s accompanying video, starring and directed by UK electronic composer Dean Blunt, is about rediscovering joy in the everyday after a series of creative setbacks -- Emotions aburst in Panda Bear’s sprite sound.

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Xiu Xiu - “Pumpkin Attack On Mommy and Daddy” [Polyvinyl Records]

We can always count on Xiu Xiu to throw a wrench through the current musical landscape, and even themselves for that matter. For the veteran avant et. al outfit’s forthcoming 14th studio effort Girl With the Fruit Basket, due out on February 8th, project mastermind Jamie Stewart and longtime constant Angela Seo were joined by percussion virtuoso Thor Harris and Jordan Geiger inside the studio for their latest deconstruction in experimental noise and pop conjectures. Its first single “Scisssssssors” was an extreme breakdown of that in comparison to the cohesion within 2017′s Forget, with a visual treatment to match its occult oddity. Latest preview, the awesomely-titled “Pumpkin Attack On Mommy and Daddy”, delivers more in the sheer terror sonic department. The track was written by Angela Seo with help from Stewart and Los Angeles performance artist Elliott Reed, and is similarly fucked in its electronic decay overlaid by spoken word outbursts. Seo once again collaborated with Anna Lian Tes to create the listen’s video, which features some new facets of surreal vintage horror themes as its predecessor. Xiu Xiu have also mapped out a huge world tour in support of the new album.

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#the best of the rest #ariana grande #cass mccombs #dark blue #gauche #makthaverskan #panda bear #xiu xiu #Songs #new music & videos

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