[Mechanics] Minstrel/Maxstrel Set List

[bananabadger]

Hey! I thought we could use this thread to collaborate on the details for our performance set list. My suggestion is to add in anything and everything, then we cull it down to what we want when it is time. I think the Slashers are delightfully non-hierarchical, but if Lazer doesn't mind, then I nominate Spyder to be the one who gets to make final call and cull from all the band input. Will that work?

[bananabadger]

(Bringing this over from the OOC thread)
Concert Concept #1

The Rise and Fall of Kuqi Stardust and Spyder's Bugbahrs

Outfits: (we all wear bugbear outfits except Kuqi and Spyder who wear kabuki makeup and flowing costumes)

Song #1 Five Hours--Begins with a minimalist percussion tune featuring Durza, Hingalon, Lofwyr, Justin and Baron; then morphs to loud screaming from Jane as Figgs performs spoken poetry, reading Rarar's wish-prayers and breaking the news that the bugbears have only five hours to rut, or the world will end
Song #2 Suffer Yet? City--Opens with a lute riff from Spyder, who duets with Kuqi's vocals for a hard-driving song that takes no prisoners. Stops abruptly with a false ending...then Snorf breaks through on stage swinging arms, tearing things up and yelling "Wham! Bam! Thank you, ol' chap!" and then the song dissolves into a sax solo--a solo on that magic sax that we have no idea what it does yet!
Song #3 Rock 'n' Roll Kaboomy! -- Acoustic lute. Kuqi takes her time lighting a cigarette. Puts it in her mouth, pulls on her finger. Durza's feet push the song into the bridge as Justin breaks into a solo on his Bropipe. "Oh no, love, you're not alone!" screams the band. Explosions begin. Chorus. A lute is smashed. A hammer dulcimer is thrown into the crowd. Dragar's body is thrown into the crowd. Bugbears pantomine rutting. Snork body surfs on the crowd. Band picks up the Slasher anthem "It's All for Music" as explosions continue and Lythienne, dressed as a Bugbear Angel, feather falls down to stage and announces the bugbears' musical abandon and unbarred ruttery has saved the world.

[lostcheerio]

Works for me! Spyder can wield the red pencil of music!

Are we going to play a full set? I feel like if we're headlining a festival that gives us a lot of room to play, like 60-90 minutes. But a "Battle of the Bands" slot could be as short as 10 minutes including set up and tear down.

ETA: Sorry, never mind I just reread the DM post and it's right there -- 12-15 minutes. Awesome!

[bananabadger]

Concert Concept #2

The Slasher Funk Mothership

Outfits: A large, shiny metallic object floats onto the stage; mist and fog; a door opens from the object, weird creatures with tentacles emerge (some real, some wearing costume tentacles repurposed from Lofwyr's abundant supply of knitted scarves and jumpers); Last to emerge is Justin, refashioned as Sexy Funkenstein, who narrates a story of strange creatures descending upon Vallos for one concert to commune an urgent message to all inhabitants of the world

Song#1 One Vallos, Under Groove -- percussive dance intro featuring Lofwyr, Durza, Hingalon and BdB
Song#2 Atomic Hellhound -- Spyder instrumental lead with Kuqi on harp, leading into melody and sing-off showdown between Nubby and Owlbreath
Song#3 We Want the Slash -- other-world vocal intro from Dagger Jane; Figgy tangos with body of Dragar ... once he throws Dragar into crowd, then Jane's vocals lead to sax solo and then pass-on of instrumental solos from each member; ends with crowd-call and response from Jane and Justin who urge audience to sing for the redemption of the world, lest the aliens blow it to smithereens
Song #4 It's All for Music -- (playout and encore tune)

[bananabadger]

Concert Concept #3

We Wears What We Wears We Do What We Does

(Like the B-Side of Abbey Road, it's an over-extended medley made by rabid individualists. We take the outline of It's All for the Music as the posting structure.)

[LAZER WRITES]
[Kuqi vocals and Spyder on lute)
It's all for the music
It's all for the music
All for the music (No way)

One dream, one chance
One prize, one dance
One fated last opportunity
It's all for the music

[BANANABADGER WRITES POST AND DESCRIBES]
[Baron hurdy gurdy solo with Figgs dance]
One blasting gob blows you away
No average band can win this day
It's all for the music

[BOTHERS WRITES POST AND DESCRIBES]
See Durza dance across the stage
[ANOTHER DRAGOON WRITES POST AND DESCRIBES]
As Lofwyr plays right through the rage
It's all for the music
[Snork, as Security Guard, escorts lusty knitters off stage; eyes camera
and performs a line of "Slasher night is the loneliest night of the week..."]

[BOTHERS WRITES POST AND DESCRIBES]
Our singer's seen eternity
Just ignore his planned calamity (Ooh ooh ooh ooh)
[Justin posts a preen on center stage. Does he sing? Maybe, I guess, if he wants.]
Just think about the music
It's all for the music

[STEPANXOL WRITES POST AND DESCRIBES]
[Hingalon and Lily duet, Lily screaming last line]
We have already won
Those bands who trod this fabled stage
They're only scum

[ANOTHER OBLEX WRITES POST AND DESCRIBES]
Our elf-kind too are brilliant
They're Spyder, Jane and Justillion
It's all for the music

[STEPANXOL WRITES POST AND DESCRIBES]
Now see our Hing he's keeping time
On glockenspiel and drum and chime

[LOST CHEERIO WRITES POST AND DESCRIBES]
<Extended Jane sax solo, with tentacles playing clarinets>

It's all for the music

It's all for the music

Those bands who trod this fabled stage
They're only, they're only, they're only scum
This is (this is) all for (all for) the music (yeah)
We have already won (won, won, won)
Those bands who trod this fabled stage
They're only scum (scum)

[LAZER WRITES POST AND DESCRIBES]
Music (it's all for the music)
It's all for the music
Music music music (music)
(Music) Aa ha ha haa, it's music (Music)

It's all for the music

<pyrotechnics>

[Lazer]

I love it!

Except the throwing Dragar into the crowd bit, nobody deserves to be smashed in the face by a smelly pink tiefling. Let's just leave him to rot in the sewer.

[bananabadger]

Can we prop him in the corner with a drink? He needs to witness Spyder’s win.

[Lazer]

Ha! I’m getting Weekend at Bernie’s vibes here.

Spyder doesn’t care about that guy any more. He doesn’t deserve that kind of attention.

[bananabadger]

Fair enough! But he does need to give us back our rope which he is so rudely using.

[Lazer]

Sort of related; who needs a fresh costume or instruments? I've created the following from memory so please correct me if I get anything wrong.

Name	Clothes	Instrument	Needs (from)
Spyder	Sexy Leathers	Genevieve	3-7 more lutes (hotel)
Justin	Whatever the fae he wants	Whistle, pan flute, twin wands	-
Lofwyr	Bugbear armor	-	?
Durza	Toga?	Her freaky feet	?
Jane	-	Sax?	Old Converse (hotel)
Baron	-	Dhoti	Hurdy gurdy (hotel)
Hingalon	Loincloth	Rain stick	More instruments (hotel)
Kuqi	-	Her voice	A costume (?)
Snokberth	Bugbear armor	His voice	-

[lostcheerio]

LOL @ "3-7 more lutes" and "like the B-side of Abbey Road"

Jane is going to use the new saxophone, and will just pick up her ringer t-shirt and old shoes from the hotel, and keep her new skirt and floofy backpack on from the adventure.

I definitely think we should use the darkness turtle for our act. I love the narrative concepts of bugbears rutting to save the world, I also like the 3rd idea of framing it on Spyder's song. The spaceship would be epic af but what if we get there and our props guy screwed up and it's small like the tiny Stonehenge in Spinal Tap! LOL

[bananabadger]

Originally Posted by lostcheerio

. The spaceship would be epic af but what if we get there and our props guy screwed up and it's small like the tiny Stonehenge in Spinal Tap! LOL

Yeah, I guess we would be handing it to the dice and our performance mods to see if we have the stage props of George Clinton ... or Nigel Tufnel.

[bananabadger]

BdB's Opening Solo BdB, knitwork by @LostCheerio He hasn't taken center stage, but allows the magical spotlights to find him ... there, in the back, where he is focused on his instrument. In size and in stage presence, the hurdy-gurdy is about as prominent as the aged, wrinkled goblin. Though slightly more temperamental. But tonight, the Baron has placed rosin oil and new cotton swabs into the mechanisms. The central wheel rotates smoothly and the note-pegs slide effortlessly into position when tapped. The hurdy-gurdy drones and the Baron taps the keys as his tune dances around the baselines set from Spyder's lute and Kuqi's voice. He finds each of them, and settles one string to each ... a sympathetic vibration that both echoes and continues his bandmates' lead sounds. He pegs Spyder's lute baseline at a D, and Kuqi's vocals cascading back and forth at a G. And then he took his third string along a series of progressions A, Bflat, C, D, E, F, Gsharp and A—it was an unnerving, diminished triad that sounded like a unicorn rutting with a toad. And every time his progression landed on the Bflat, he would flatten it just a bit more ... to kiss the A but not land on it. And he punctuated each these unsettling moments with fireball cantrips into area above stagebursts of flame. He grinded and grinded, only for a short interval, but the sound was unsettling enough to prolong the dissonance, and seemed to call up Pyrotechnics cast as second level, smoke effectsmoke from the underworld. As the smoke drifts into the crowd, it clings to those in the front, 2x cast 1st level Faerie Lights on crowd in frontinfusing them with glowing lights that seem to dance in opposition to the assault of the strings. And then, just like that, the progression rests around a clean A ... and what had been an unsettling sound becomes a clarion call of harmony. The Baron increases the tempo of his grinding ... prompting the rhythm to move faster and carrying the baselines with him. There is ... faintly, artifact skill of magical tinkering ... creates a repitious nonverbal sound, in this case emitting from his hurdy gurdy as a playback loop of his previous hookthe echo of the diabolical dissonance, but one increasingly pushed out—though not forgotten—by this cleaner sound. Figgs, standing next to the Baron, Figgs assist actionpicks up the punctuated beats from the playback and dances to it, just on the edge of the magical spotlight...a presence, a memory, a dull thudding on the floorboards at night. As Figgs dances, the Baron unleashes the third string Kuqi help actionto chase Kuqi's vocalizations. The lead goblin singer is now racing her voice through a series of vibratos that flutter around the main melody—and the Baron chases the alterations, following a full fifth behind, but faithfully, playfully at each step. Then they begin full jumps of 8th and 16th notes, sometimes leaping an octave at a time. But, let's be honest ... who came her just for the world's best and most unlikely mastery of vocals and strings? Well, maybe Jane's parents—they're won over. And, the Baron deeply believes this, at least 1/3 of the crowd will wake up at some point at some night at some time in the coming weeks, and as they awake, this haunting tune will quickly flee from their conscious mind, leaving them spooked and aware that they are missing something ... something that went like this? Or this? They don't know ... but they can't let it go. But that is for the future, the musical long game. Right now, the crowd came for a spectacle and a catchy tune. And there's still time in this solo to give them both. The music screeches to a halt. The spotlight lands on the Figgs who throws the Baron’s hurdy-gurdy into the air firebolt cantripallowing the Baron to nail it with a firebolt. "Clap. Your. Hands". Figgs assist with PersuasionFiggs calls out. "Clap. Your. Hands." The Baron joins in. And together as the two goblins, joined Kuqi assist with Persuasionby Kuqi, establish a rhythm ... "Clap. Your. Hands." As the crowd carries the rhythm, a few of its members rise up from various points of the audience and advance toward the stage—the brothers and sisters of Artificers Guild 729 have arrived! They aren't the greatest dancers. Some of them can't even hold a tune. But they show up for their members ... and they excel at what they do. Tonight, that has meant building gigantic stage puppets. Oversized limbs, heads, tails and body parts begin descending from the stage ceiling, and the guild members assemble beneath them, creating larger-than-life performance size puppets that loom over the stage. At first it is unclear who or what the puppet is meant to be, but with the adjustment of this piece here and that piece there ... it suddenly clicks into place. A furious, dogged-by-his-own-self-importance Crisp. "Oh noes! They are clapping their hands!" screams puppet Crisp. "Oh noes! They are going to ruin my shows!" he screams as his puppet arms flail about in a torrential tortle temper tantrum. The guild members move the puppet over the audience and off the stage as the Baron, occupying the very center of the Crisp-head section, moves with them to control the puppet's voice and jaw which snaps in ineffectual repetitions. "Oh noes! Where are my teeny-boppers now!" And "Oh noes! We need more bubble gum, daddy!" Good ol' school pyrotechnics, not magic. The artificers are in the house!An explosion! The shell bursts. Small copper coins and candies sprinkle the crowd. And up above, from the remnant of the shell, emerges ... another Crisp-puppet, slightly smaller but just as angry. This is one, however, is dressed in the same school skirt, high socks and midriff-exposing Oxfords worn by Nubby’s backup dancers. It has taken the costume and exposed it for what it is, the ridiculous, lecherous fantasy of a pathetic, shriveled old man (or turtle). Exploitation of youth by those who hide unsavory secrets in their shells. "Oh Noes! They're rockin' down the house!" Slowly, the puppet tortle's convulsions begin to match a rhythm emerging from the stage ... a tapping, a thudding ... an irresistible sound of dancing that overtakes the other sounds and becomes the melody. The tortle-puppet twists its body and points back to the band. Durza has taken the stage.

BdB's Final Blast BdB, knitwork by @LostCheerio As Spyder and Kuqi drive home the closing lines, the tortle-puppet begins to scream along with them. Aa ha ha haa, it's music Aa ha ha haa, it's music Oh noes! It's music! Oh noes! It's music! Furious at itself for losing its body to dance, to music ... to joy ... the tortle shakes violently ... and explodes! Silver pieces and candies rain on the crowd. And up above, from the remnant of the shell, emerges ... another Crisp-puppet, slightly smaller but just as angry. "Oh Noes! They're rockin' down the house!" Furious at itself for losing its body to dance, to music ... to joy ... the tortle shakes violently ... and explodes! Gold pieces and—say, there! what's this? the elite almiraji troopers in tiny, silk parachutes!—rain on the crowd. And up above, from the remnant of the shell, emerges ... another Crisp-puppet, slightly smaller but just as angry. "Ah ah ah! We're rockin' down the house!" Furious at itself for losing its body to dance, to music ... to joy ... the tortle shakes violently ... and explodes! Gold confetti and stardust of the Baron rain on the crowd. And up above, from the remnant of the shell, the musical matryoshka is no more. As the almiraji bop in the mosh pit with the crowd, there is only the echo of a voice. "Ah ah ah! We're rockin' down the house! The house! The house! The house!"

[bothers]

Durza's opening solo Artist credit: Dotswap Durza takes the stage. Above her head, de Boom’s fire crashes over the crowd in shockwaves and she adds to it with the only thing she ever bothered to learn to properly spell - Cast Minor Illusionfive foot wide by five foot high, the letters ”M/M” in bright, bright white. She doesn’t stay on the stage. After the claustrophobic confinement of the last few days, no mere 250 square foot can contain her. As night falls over Vallos, the world feels huge, every possibility branching off into infinity from this point in space. Monumental cosmic potentiality stretches out, tense and elastic, drawing her outwards into the world, into the crowd. She turns and winks at Lythienne —why not? Anything can happen tonight— and plunges into the heaving mass, the otherwordly surf of rats cresting and breaking at her feet. She dances so hard that her heart swells to the size of the universe, swallowing up everything and everyone in perfect peace, love, unity, respect. The physicality of this orc and the heat of these hundreds of bodies pressed together is all the music anyone needs right now - Cast Enthrall on the audience. … This is supposed to be a verbal spell, a “distracting string of words”, but Durza’s body does the talking, damnit she draws attention like a naked flame in the dark. Durza weaves through the crowd like a twisty green ribbon, seizing hands and waists, grinning and whirling, dancing first with this stranger and then that one, introducing them to their neighbours and spinning off to the next. Rat waves part and close before and behind her, in perfect sync to her joyful thumping feet, never in the way, never missing a beat. One live rat clings to a braid as though it's a life raft in a storm. Durza reaches for every hand that stretches to her, and past, present, and future dissolve into every touch. She scrambles back onto the stage, hoisted by friendly Slasher hands, spins and spins again, and then Cast Hypnotic Patterna burst of multicoloured light showers the first few rows of the crowd. It won't last - nothing lasts. Not the music, or the body, blood and breath, not even the Baron, in the end. But while there are hearts to beat and hands to raise, nothing is ever truly lost. Durza dances backwards into the waiting arms of her band, as Lofwyr steps forward with his dulcimer.

done with editing!

[ElderOblex]

Justin's preening moment RIP Dragboi In another time, in another place, Justilion Silmefuin would've interrupted Nubby and stole the show. Maybe even some knickers. It was easy as pie, no matter how much of a prissy prodigy the competition was. Not now. Not today. Today Justin was not Justin, and Justin was happy to wait. He wasn't even that upset anymore about the Nobodys Trying To Be Minstrel/Maxstrel. He knew who the real M/M was. He knew his band. Fae, he ADORED his band. Even if Spyder did kinda upped his minor pantheon game. S'all good, eladrin. Even know, he felt the intense Splendor washing over him as Durza's swole arm curled around his lean waist like a queen's embrace. Was Veren watching? Fae, let her see. Let her see how majestic this "art fart" group was. Let her see and be fae jelly. So when Kuqi started crooning for their final act, Dragarstin waited for his moment. Oh, he harmonized and let out a low, monotone gargle that was somehow creepy and elegant at the same time, then it was The Baron's moment. As the mad old gob's diabolic dissonance droned and developed decibels, Justin joined Dragar's voice to the mix, interspersing moments of guttural tiefling laughter and high notes at the right moments. Durza took the stage, and internally, Justin was enthralled. He hoists her, celebrates her as she cast the hypnotastic lights up onto the ceiling above. Then someone sings the lines. Our singer's seen eternity Just ignore his planned calamity... "Ooh ooh ooh ooooooohhhh," Dragar ooohed, sashaying his way over to Spyder. He did a little grindy-grind, then when the words turned to Just think about the music, he turned to the audience. Then a line cut clean across Dragarstin's center, and tiefling hands grasped and curled over make-up and pale demon-skin like a moth-eaten gigolo costume and Justin ripped Dragar's face and let the Disguise Self fall into tattered tiefling shreads. The crowd was Casting EnthrallEnthralled. "It's ALL FOR THE MUSIC!" Then it was the other's turns. But soon it was time for the elf-kind again, and this time Justin was looking straight at Nubby. "OOOOHHH... Our elf-kind too," He grinned at the pre-teen not-quite sensation, flipping his perfect hair as he eladrin-walked provocatively to the center of the stage with face still turned to the half-orc half-prodigy half-brat. PrestidigitationPurple-pink sparks and confetti burst from long, elegant fingers as Justin sang the lines, "are brilliant... Jane!" Poof of sparks, as Justin turned to the adorable pig-tailed aboleth elbowstabber. "Spyder!" Poof of sparks, giving the drow space to get a riff off of his lutegirls. "...and Justilion..." Just a wink at the audience and a smolder, then quickly turning towards the Nobodies, the eladrin suddenly Fey Stepfey-stepped straight at Nubby's face and let his Pheromonic-Fueled Fae Fey Presence: 10' cube, DC15 Wis or be charmedPresence Be Known. His lips were very dangerously non-Yondalla-approvingly close to hers, but then he just smiles and screams at her face. "It's ALL FOR THE MUSIC BABY YEAH!" After a minute of performing, Justin went on to simply stoke the crowd, leading them in hand-clapping and torch-waving and whatever else his fellow Slashers want to get them to do, leveraging their + Persuasion, see MechanicsEnthralling Performance to warm up their adoring audience. "SING IT! It's aaaaaallll for the music! SLASHERS! Bring the House DOWN! SLASHERS! No fops, no BOPS, NO MASTERS! SLASHERS!!!"

Justin's Mechanics   Actions: Performance: CRIT 27, Casting Enthrall, use Fey Presence on Nubby and Nobodys, use Enthralling Performance (1 Minute) Once per short rest, you can choose 4 creatures that watched and listened to you perform for 1 minute. Each target makes a WIS saving throw (DC 15) and is charmed if it fails for 1 hour, or until it takes any damage, you attack it, or it sees you attack or damage its allies.Enthralling Performance (not an action) coupled with a Persuasion check to sway the crowd to go along: 34 w/ Bardic Inspiration Bonus Actions: Fey Step Reaction: Concentrating:

Stat Block   Justilion "Justin" Silmefuin, Eladrin Glamour Bard 7 / Archfey Warlock 1 59+8/59HP: ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ | AC: 15 | Initiative: +4 | Speed: 30' Senses: Darkvision 60', Passive Perception 16, Passive Investigation 11, Passive Insight 13 Saving Throws Str 0 | Dex +7 | Con +3 | Int +1 | Wis +1 | Cha +8 Abilities: Str 8(-1) | Dex 16(+3) | Con 14(+2) | Int 10(+0) | Wis 10(+0) | Cha 18(+4) Skills: Acrobatics +6, Insight +3, Perception +6, Persuasion +10, Stealth +6 Resources: Hit Dice: 7/7, Bardic Inspiration recharge Short Rest0/4 Spellcasting: Charisma | Save DC: 15 | Attack Bonus +7 Slots: Bard Level 1: 0/4 | Level 2: 1/3 | Level 3: 1/3 | Level 4: 0/1 | Slots: Warlock Level 1: 1/1 Cantrips: Dancing Lights, Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Vicious Mockery Level 1: Dissonant Whispers, Disguise Self, Hellish Rebuke, Healing Word, Hex Level 2 Enthrall, Heat Metal, Invisibility, Silence, Suggestion Level 3 Bestow Curse Level 4: Dimension Door Weapons: Dagger +1, +11 boltsCrossbow, +2, +3 when buzzedBROgun Attuned: Ring of ProtectionMordanda's Ring Carrying for Party: Shalara's diary 20 plat what looks like a gold pocket watch what looks like a small copper penny whistle personal lubricant (canned ham flavor) and a crumpled bloody folded piece of paper, very damaged: WANTED poster Shiftweave ruffly lacy shirt Make-up kit Flint set 4 blue crystal things 2 pregnant mushrooms: 1 clear, 1 cotton 6 big red mushrooms packet of darts, 4/5 of which pack a Wollop shrine wine