What is the best way to take apart a massive quilt? How much better do things sound when you put “Hall of the Mountain King” behind it? And how are the leaves in Lake Town City right now? All that and more on the Afterparty!
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Find Us Online
- website: jointhepartypod.com
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Cast & Crew
- Dungeon Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Milo Lane), Co-Producer, Editor, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Aggie O’Hare), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Co-Host (Val Vesuvio), Co-Producer, Editor: Julia Schifini
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is a collaborative storytelling and roleplaying podcast, powered by the rules of Dungeons and Dragons. That means a group of friends create a story together, chapter by chapter, that takes us beyond the tabletop to parts unknown. In the first campaign, we explored fantasy adventure, intrigue, magic, and drama. In the newest story, we tackle science, superpowers, a better future, and the responsibility to help others.
Every month, we sit down for the Afterparty, where we break down our game and answer your questions about how to play D&D and other roleplaying games at home. We also have segments at the beginning of each campaign to teach people how to play the game themselves. It’s a party, and you’re invited! Find out more at jointhepartypod.com.
Transcript
Amanda: Hey. Hi. Hello, and welcome to the [Doo-doo SFX], leaf peep, leaf watch, leaf peep, leaf watch.
[Eric snickers]
Amanda: It's. It's leaf peep, leaf watch. Leaf watch.
Eric: Amanda and I are on the location here in Laketown city, and let's just say we're peeping those fucking leaves guys.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Guys we're, we're peeping hard. The leaves are, are out there. 5 out of 5 peeps.
Brandon: Tell me about those leaves.
Amanda: Well, we've been ranking them on a scale of five, where one, is there is perhaps a whisper of yellow somewhere in the forest, the top most trees of the trees that turn first and five out of five peep is just a full rainbow of leaves out here. I personally like it a lot when there's still some green left because that way you can see the contrast.
[Julia hums in agreement]
Amanda: And really appreciate how peep the peep is.
Julia: That's true.
Eric: Amanda really loves a four but I like a six out of five, which is where it is colors I have not imagined that trees could turn.
[Amanda and Julia laughs]
Eric: Unfortunately, those trees are, like, up a mountain 100 miles away, which is very upsetting for me that I cannot touch it with my hand.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: But I do like that it exists.
Julia: I did assume that a six out of five was just, there's no leaves on that tree anymore.
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: The tree is on fire.
Eric: It’s a 0.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: The tree is fully dead now.
Eric: You two have really strange ways of getting into the autumn spirit.
Brandon: And I went leaf peeping' last weekend, baby.
[Eric scoffs]
Amanda: Ooh, tell us.
Eric: You didn't even tell me about it.
Brandon: This is my first fall in the Pacific Northwest. I didn't know trees could be this color.
Julia: Incredible.
Amanda: Yay.
Julia: And I went to the Ren Fair.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: Oh, that's exciting, tell us about that.
Brandon: That's a great Fall activity.
Julia: It was fun. It was my first time going to the New York State Ren Fair. A friend of the show Mischa and their fiance had taken me to the Ren Fair out in California and they were very different experiences but a lot of fun.
Amanda: Oh, that's great.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Is California one more hippy-ish or something?
Julia: California one was a little bit tighter, like, it was smaller, the Ren Fair up in Tuxedo Park is fucking huge.
Amanda: It's huge. It's like a city. Yeah.
Julia: So big.
Eric: I like a loose shaggy Ren Fair.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Oh, yeah, like a, like a dough.
Eric: Yeah, like no cuts just like we're kind of meandering. I want a Ren Fair to feel like watching The Big Lebowski.
[Amanda and Brandon laughs]
Julia: Okay, interesting.
Amanda: I want my Ren Fair like a Focaccia dough with just like, there's, there are some little shaggy bits of flour at the edges, but it turns out good later.
Brandon: Drowned in olive oil.
Julia: That's exactly what I was gonna say.
Amanda: Exactly, just smothered. Like, as much olive oil as you think you should add, and then like four or five times more than that.
[Julia hums in agreement]
Brandon: A gallon more. Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, good shit. Well, we are in a bit of a cliffhanger in terms of, Join the Party right now, and that's very exciting for all of us. That was such a fun fight, and all of us have a lot of things to discuss. A lot of alternate timelines and things, you know, ways that things could have gone. Questions for Eric and for each other. So, why don't we get into it?
Eric: I think the first thing to start with is that not necessarily you did not need to fight, and it only kind of happened there, because the way that this session was set up, and I'm very happy with, was like, sometimes you just need to play Dungeons and Dragons. And then you say, "Hey, this is happening. What do you do?"
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Tell me the answer to this.
Julia: Cause and effect, baby?
Eric: Yeah. Do you know that, can you give me a cause on which two effects? Is that okay for you?
[Amanda and Julia hums in agreement]
Eric: So, I really, it's been a little while since we've done this because of the, the storytelling narratives that we've been on. But being able to do something like this has been, is very fun, and very vindicating for just playing the game after, god. if this is Episode 40. Like, what, over 100 episodes of real play on a microphone?
Julia: Wow.
Brandon: Mmh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Wow.
Eric: So, I want to say, I laid out this situation, and then everything that happened afterwards were all of you figuring this out.
Julia: Sure was.
Amanda: That's so fun.
Julia: Sure was us trying to figure things out.
[Eric laughs]
Brandon: I think we have a solid plan. I don't know what you're talking about, Julia.
Julia: I think we have several solid plans.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: I think we did too, and I know, Julia, that you wanted to ask a little bit about kind of the did we choose the best way to get into the dome? So, I'll leave it to you from here.
Julia: Yeah. So, I still think, I think your idea was great, Amanda. And that's the reason why we went with it. I do think that using Mega muncher against the building would have been kind of an optimal way of doing it because it's killing two birds with one stone, because one, you get Mega muncher to attack the building itself and it also gives us a way to get in.
Brandon: Killing two birds, one building, anyone inside with, with one Mega muncher.
Julia: Yeah. I mean, I don't think Mega muncher would have killed everyone inside but I think-.
[Eric laughs]
Brandon: He's big and hungry, Julia.
Amanda: It only occurs to me now that some of the hostages, like, they, they might be inside that building and perhaps we would have, could have endangered them but I think we were all so into getting that tea cozy, getting through that tea cozy in which I stand by in retrospect.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Particularly, on a mixing bowl is the perfect, is the perfect visual for Amanda's out there as to what that actually looks like.
Eric: Shout out to all the Amanda's out there. I know you are, you're probably watering your plants, detailing your Le Creuset pots right now. You're probably shining your leather boots, you're ready for it. Shout out to you, all of you. You're very important. Thanks for joining the Patreon.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: I feel both read to filth and really loved right now.
[Brandon and Julia snickers]
Julia: I also super really liked Brandon's, I'm-going-to-use-insect-plague-and-make-the-moths-eat-the-fabric. I thought that was a--
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Julia: --really fun use of insect plague and could have been really, really interesting. I don't know how long it takes.
Amanda: And the gust thing.
Julia: Yeah, I don't know how long it takes for moths to eat fabric, but I imagine if it's a plague, quickly?
Brandon: Yeah, would that have worked ,Eric? We know that gust wouldn't have from what you said in the episode but would the insect have worked?
Eric: How long does it take a moth to eat a sweater?
Julia: A sweater. Yeah.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: Okay, here's the little DMs corner right here. Here's how I set this up, I wrote down what the scenario was, which was one, Wi-Fi goes down. Two, big yarn over the Vitamin M Factory. And three, you see Threadbare and Mega muncher kinda patrolling the area, right? After that, I wrote down four ways I thought of defeating Threadbare and Mega muncher. You ended up touching on a few of them that I had come up. There’s also some ways that I came up with that you didn't end up doing. Also, some of those other things like for, let's just say I did not think of insect plague. Let's say that.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: Hypothetically.
Eric: However, that did touch something that we did end up touching on, which is can we burn it with fire. And it would have been like, this is remember, this is juiced up yarn. It's not just yarn.
Julia: Mmh-hmm.
Eric: So, if you had figured out a way or to hit it hard enough, to go to either take down the resistances, or you would have, like, had to do double the amount of power, you could have dealt it like that. So, what I want to say is all of these were valid but I wasn't going to entertain anything until you ended up doing it, because if the premise is you figure it out, I'm not going to tell you, "No, you're wrong," You're good idea? It's wrong and bad.
Julia: Fair enough.
Eric: That's, so, I want to say yes and no to everything. All of your ideas. Another thing that you guys didn't end up touching on was, "Are you going to use the car?" I think getting out of the car and sneaking was a very interesting idea but another way you could have done it was drive up there, get attention but you would have been there faster. So, that's another way that you could have, that was different than I was also anticipating. Were you're going to use Dr. Morrow or she would just going to be along for the ride with you, you ended up doing. What is in that gym bag that she brought, is also another thing that you could have asked but didn't end up coming up. So, again, it's, I don't care how you do it, I just think that there were infinite number of options because that's the game we play.
Brandon: I thought we did ask what was on the gym bag or like roundabout? Was it not just a really small tiny, big, big, big, big, blow 'em gun?
Julia: She said that was in there but we never saw it.
Brandon: That's true
Julia: Mmh.
Eric: Yes. So, you didn't end up, like, entertaining the stuff that is in, that is in the gym bag of the--. Or it's like, "Hey Dr. Morrow, you're coming up but this is the idea. What do you have?"
Brandon: Was it, like, big quilt-go-away-spray that we just easily miss?
[Amanda and Eric laughs]
Eric: Yeah. If you, if you have put in A, B, A, B, Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Select Start. Dr. Morrow would have taken out a de-quilting spray and taken them out.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: And also, her character would have rainbow sunglasses on for the duration of the game.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Shout out to all of the Amanda's who, who are playing Spyro the Dragon right now. You know it. Thanks for joining the Patreon. We appreciate you.
Julia: I think the reason we didn't go with Dr. Morrow, at least from my point of view, was she's too chaotic of an NPC for me to feel like, "Oh, yes. We can reliably ask you to figure out how to solve this puzzle."
Eric: Sure.
Julia: It also feels like cheating to ask your NPCs how to solve the puzzle.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: That's true, but we did do a good job I think, of reaching out to other people we know. Julia, I think that engaging your excellent role on the rate card was just outstanding.
Julia: I didn't roll well. Eric rolled badly.
Amanda: True.
Brandon: Same thing, same thing. Same thing.
Amanda: Same thing, same thing.
Julia: But yes, I was very happy about that.
Eric: Hey, I did not see that one coming. I should have because we do it all of the time. You all touching on the people who live in Laketown City, but when you started calling people I'm like, "Oh, fuck. They're really trying to break, you're truly trying to break my game here," but I think it ended up shaking out in really interesting ways that I wouldn't have thought of. Again, this is what all the stuff that I say all the time, figuring out how things go in play. It ends up changing things. I love Fritz.
Brandon: See, Eric, this is why it helps to have a Brandon brain, where you must make notes to remember things because the previous episode, the only thing I wrote was, "Backup." So, I know he did talk about it at the cliffhanger.
Amanda: Me too. Both Brandon and I started that session saying, "Oh, what happened last time?" We both just wrote down, "Call backup."
[Brandon and Eric laughs]
Eric: That's very funny. Hey, let's talk about Fritz for a second.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Hey, Amanda.
Amanda: What up?
[Amanda and Eric chuckles]
Eric: Well, first, hold on. I want to indulge, Julia and Brandon's thing. And then, we're gonna go to Amanda because I need to look at you in the eyes.
Amanda: I'm in jail.
Eric: After this, you're, you're in player jail for me. Brandon I think that following up on the Knight of mirrors was, that's the thing that made the most narrative sense especially because we had talked about it. And the Knight of mirrors said that they were having "Date night with their wife,"
Brandon: No, no wife.
Eric: My wife, my wife?
Brandon: The wife.
Eric: I'm also liking that this is something that, like, this is how you use insight. I think I talked about this a lot but it's, like, insight is not a lie detector. Insight is trying to get a read on another person and building off of Julia's 19 that we rolled before the gala. But now this was higher is like, "Yeah, now that we figured it out and you already think the Knight of mirrors is sus. You're like, "They're lying, you don't know why, but you definitely know they're lying." And I thought that that was really, I really, really liked that.
Brandon: Still sus.
Eric: Still incredibly sus. Oh, my god Julia, that thing with the rate card was very funny.
[Amanda laughs]
Julia: It’s so good. It was like I paid instantly. I just paid instantly.
[Brandon snickers]
Amanda: I've already Paypal-ed her. Come on.
Eric: Something that we, I guess we also didn't talk about was the Somalia is not a villain, nor hero, but just someone who is there for, like, work for hire.
Julia: Mmh-hmm.
Eric: We just something but I guess I didn't really think abou, until the gala happened. And then I'm like, "Oh, she has a rate card, obviously. And then of course, I rolled a Nat 1 and it was, it was super low. But I was just like, wow, this is like adding some complication that someone who, who tried to rob a college, originally when you first met them is someone just, like, kind of figuring it out. And may or may not get out of superhero jail because they know people. They played tennis for, like, two months and then got out. Like, I thought that that was really fun. And being able to roll like that was really fun for me.
Brandon: I mean, anyone who robs a college is really just a robin hood figure so, makes sense.
[Julia and Eric laughs]
Amanda: That's true. That's true. But this, to me, is one of the real advantages to setting a campaign in a city. And this is one of the things that I think all of us look forward to, but I, I definitely did, was getting to come back to and develop relationships with NPCs over time. And being able to, to like, flip through our, you know, our Contacts app, and say, like, "Who's in here that we can call?" It was really fun for me, and the Fritz thing was something that I did not plan in advance, but in thinking through. Like, who do we know who has powers and is not a villain? That was definitely, you know, something that came to mind, and I, I liked that little character moment of thinking through at the risk of saying I like to think that I did, but like it occurred to me as being quite true that, you know, this, this timeline of Aggie would have kind of different set of relationships I think than the first one,
Eric: Hey. You know someone who didn't plan for Fritz to show up as well?
Julia: Eric.
Eric: It was this guy right here, who has two thumbs and didn't know Fritz Brightstone was gonna show up. This guy.
Brandon: But he had a cool motorcycle when he did it. So, it makes sense.
Amanda: He did. It's very in character for a local celebrity and hockey player to have a sick hog.
Brandon and Julia laughs]
Amanda: Oh, no.
Julia: And we mean the bike.
Amanda: I was too. I was too in-. I was too far down to, to go back.
Eric: First of all, hilarious. Great point.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: But the other thing is that, I guess the way that I was trying to deal with your phone calls for backup that all of you made, is that the thing that we established in Episode 39. Was that, you were only able to pick up Dr. Morrow is, if you were there for, like, five seconds Dr. Morrow got in the car. And then, you sped away. And what I was trying to think about it is like, If you called for backup, how fast would they show up? And would they know how to get there? Where are they coming from? Do they need to get all of their shit together? Because I think y'all were already like, on the way when you started doing these phone calls.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, I was really thinking I was like, "Well, how long would it take for the Somalia to come to you? How long would it take for Fritz to get his shit together?" And just all of, all of the characters that you could have, I guess made phone calls to, I started counting much like your Rolodex, and tried to roll it, that in my head. And Fritz only showed up on time and I will say "On time," for this conflict, because you rolled that Nat 20. And you got rewarded for the Nat 20. And then, Fritz was able to help you figure out what was going on with the yarn and taking it apart,.
Amanda: Right.
Eric: Because he, you know, has an extensive experience of knitting. So, he was able to help you out with that, but I think, like, that was the reward is, like, I had this in my back pocket, and I wanted to give it to you for rolling so well, while on top of the knitted dome.
Julia: Eric, I actually really loved the yarn mechanic that you gave Amanda for that skill challenge, because I thought it was really interesting. Usually, when you are using a strength check, you want as high as humanly possible, but because you're working with something like yarn, you don't want it snap if you're pulling at it. So, to have it between two, like, kind of high numbers, but not, like, you don't want to get over 20 was really cool and really smart. And I liked it a lot.
Brandon: I loved that.
Eric: Thank you. That was something I talked about with Hey, friend of the show, Mischa Stanton. Also, Hey, everyone, Mischa's gonna be on the next episode of party planning. You should go listen to that.
Amanda: Oh, what is that? It came out yesterday?
[Amanda and Eric exclaims]
Eric: So, I, we were talking about what the deal with, the deal with Threadbare, and how Threadbare is set up this dome over, over this. And that was exactly, what something we talked about is like, if this would, if this would snap, and you don't want to pull it out. So, I actually wrote down, you need to make strength checks. However, it must be between a 12, and a 16, or a crit. You know, that, that's very similar to things that you would do with any other roll, right? Or it's like, when you're thinking about maybe powered by the apocalypse systems, a 2 D6 system is like, one to five is a failure, six to eight is a success with problems, nine or above is a success, and 12 as a crit, right? So, if you apply that logic to a D20 system in a similar way, it needs to follow that idea. And I, there was also something that I think you had, in you had advantage on one of the rolls because Fritz was helping you and Julia had asked like, "Do you get to reroll this so that you get to get closer to 12 to 16, or you only get to reroll and take the high?" I'm like, "No. I'm not a monster."
Garbled talking:
Julia: Right. Like, if Amanda rolled a 19 and, like, a 13 and needed in between 12 and 16, you wouldn't be a monster and be like, "No, you had to take that 19. Sorry."
Amanda: Right
Eric: No, sorry I home-brewed it.
Amanda: Rules is written.
Eric: Yeah. I home-brewed this wild mechanic but rules is written, advantage takes the highs. So, fuck yourself.
Brandon: I loved it because, like, math-wise it really isn't like that different from just a regular roll, right? But like, you--
Eric: Exactly.
Brandon: But what you did, what, that was brilliant was it then takes your modifier and turns it against you. So, it takes the rules of D&D and either makes them harmful or helpful which I love. That's, that's what I thought was really cool about the, the roll. The mechanic there.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Thank you. I thought, I thought it was neat. And being able to tell you this is again, like, Nat 20s sometimes are a boon to your DM. In that, I get to tell you what I've written down, right? And sometimes it's like, even if it comes out piecemeal just rolls, I'm gonna be like, "Wow, you rolled a 17? You pull on it and it breaks. Fuck you."
[Julia laughs]
Eric: But being able to save this and that 20 similar to, like, when you get a Nat 20 history check, and your DM gets to read all of their notes, this was like, "Fun. I got to tell you what the mechanic was and I thought that that was really nice."
Julia: Mmh-hmm.
Amanda: I sure enjoyed it. Question Sergeant Michelle Spurgeon as well as I think all of us, want to know a little more about Mega muncher. Michelle said specifically, "Is Mega muncher resistant to all damage because most things he ate in this fight should have killed him?"
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: And then follow up of, "How did Threadbare not die when he was bit?" So, tell us about our favorite, our new favorite duo. I think they've displaced Painkiller Larson and Big Jeff for me.
Eric: Oh, no. Painkiller Larsson and Big Jeff live in my heart all the time.
Julia: Always forever in my heart.
Brandon: Nothing can replace Big Jeff.
Amanda: We do have an MLM corner of questions coming up, so don't worry, we're gonna get there.
[Brandon and Julia laughs]
Julia: That's good.
Eric: Yeah. Hey Brandon, do you want to talk about your favorite Pokemon, Gengar, for a second?
Brandon: I do.
Eric: Because that was my inspiration for what Mega muncher looked like. Some people talked about him as, like, kind of a Pac Man figure, which is close. But if you look up the Dynamax version of Gengar, it's like-
Amanda: Terrifying.
Eric: -like a, it's a tunnel of death. Like, it's just mouth.
Amanda: Appearing in, in raids right now, in Pokemon GO actually.
Eric: Wow.
Amanda: And I don't want him.
Brandon: So, if you imagine you're 11 years old, and you want to have a best friend, but all Pokemon are animals except for a few of them. And Gengar looks like a little buddy and a little squishable, huggable, shadow. And that's what Gengar is. A little squishable, huggable shadow.
Amanda: Aw.
Eric: I definitely because we talk about Gengar so much, and I know you love him so much, that was 100% my inspiration here. Just mou-. Like, just eyes and mouth was very much what I was going for with that. Here's another thing, because we had talked about Room fighting Muncher during the gala, I had said for flavor that Room had bites taken out of them. And because Brandon you had healed them, I was like, "Oh, this definitely is a real thing." This is like a condition of bites taken out of you. I wanted to honor that. And then, Mega muncher dynamax as it were for eating Room and I thought that I wanted to, I wanted to change that in mechanics. Also, there's the idea like this, all the Pokemon stuff for dynamaxing is a thing that's in Sword and Shield right now. Where you can, like, give them a power and they become massive. Like, they are much, much, much bigger than your regular Pokemon. And I thought about that in terms of applying it to an enemy or an NPC. I'm like, "Well, you're really changing from an enemy to a trap in so many ways."
Julia: Mmh-hmm.
Eric: Like, this is, this is something that it's just like it kind of like maybe a boss battle in a video game. For those of you playing Mario Odyssey, when you fight the Mechawiggler in New Donk City, he just kind of runs through the stage and everybody can get out of the way.
Brandon: Eric, did you just hear the words you just said or is that?
Amanda: Yeah, those aren't words. Those aren't words.
[Julia laughs]
Eric: Basically, there's like, it's like a train is running through the stage.
Amanda: It's like your mouth buffered.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: And there's no way for you to do damage, you just need to get out of the way. And that is what I was feeling, like, Mega muncher was getting to. Just going through especially and get, just driving through this entire area, and Threadbare negotiating that. Similar with like, similar the way it's, like, you go one way and then they appear back in the other place, so momentum is conserved, was the thing that I was thinking about the most.
Amanda: Which is why it was a really good idea, I think, to have Muncher munch through the dome. That would have been great.
Julia: Yeah, yeah. Erupting Earth was also a great idea to slow Muncher down, Mega muncher down.
Eric: Very good.
Brandon: Do y'all think that if we take a bite, I know we'll never do it, but if we take a bite out of Room, what would your dynamax versions of yourselves be?
Amanda: Oh?
Julia: Our characters or ourselves?
Brandon: Characters or yourself. Whatever you want. Big Julia is also fun.
Eric: I love this because of the dynamax, because it, how it just, like, enhances the version of you that already exists to, like, in an insane degree. I love this.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I feel like Val would end up looking like the thing but with lava.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: That's the vibe.
Amanda: I think Multitool would be kind of like a maypole, and instead of ribbons coming down its arms.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Fuck, yeah. Absolutely. I love that.
Julia: Is there an, a dynamax version of Exeggutor because I feel like that would be Multitool.
Amanda: Oh, the Alola one has a really long neck that, yeah, yeah. I feel like that's what we're going for. Totally.
Brandon: I think Milo would be like, you know those, like, Spirited Away style animation where, like, there's this, like, you know, a character looks to the left and nothing's there and looks back, and then behind them you see just, like, a big old shadow, like, come out.
Amanda: Mmh.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Terrifying.
Brandon: Yeah, on the wall that would be Milo I think.
Julia: Big shadow-man.
Eric: I wonder if it's just, like, you know, when you take, you see those photos of, like, space taken by the Hubble telescope or something. It's just like that and then it's just like the yawning portal of nothing with like little specks of stars millions of miles away. Like, yeah, it's like that, but instead of darkness, it's like the unending vacuum of space.
Brandon: Milo becomes a black hole but you can only tell that he's there because of the way that the light curves around the blackhole.
Eric: Yeah. 100%. It's, it's your hood and then blown all the way out.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Absolutely. I just want to say that Mega muncher did have a stat block. I started out with a fire giant and then added on some stuff. Like, with the, there is a combo attack with Threadbare that I didn't end up getting to do, but of course there was also the sucking debris, which is something that we ended up encountering and then there were, like, munch just general bite and munching attacks.
Amanda: Oh, yeah, that brings up a great question from Bernie MPI on Twitter. One, Eric, what the fuck? Two, did Threadbare's yarn change into stronger material on one knot or was it just more chunky? But then related, does muncher consume what it eats, or is it more like a venus flytrap situation where he absorbs only what's needed? Which I didn't know about venus flytraps. They only absorb the nutrients they need. Isn't that cool?
Julia: Mmh-hmm.
Brandon: What do they do with the rest of it?
Amanda: Poop it.
Brandon: Oh, like waste products. I see.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Well, isn't that all, isn't that just how eating works? We just eat what we need?
Eric: No, man. No, man. I'm just eating.
Julia: No. No, Brandon's right, that's what poop is.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: That is, no, that's true. It's true.
Brandon: Digest the stuff we need and then get rid of the rest.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, I thought our bodies aren't that good though. Like, you can definitely get too much of something.
Brandon: That's true. That's true.
Amanda: You know, cause your body is just like—
Brandon: It's not selective.
Amanda: Like me in Stardew Valley. I collect every daffodil I see even though, hey, I have several dozen daffodils already.
Brandon: Yeah, like me in real life. I collect every muffin I see and stuff it down face.
Amanda: Mmh-hmm. Oh, yeah.
Eric: Oh, Brandon, I was just gonna say that.
Julia: I was gonna say, like, vitamins. Usually, when you take, like, a multivitamin, you're getting more than your body can actually absorb and so it just kind of, like, becomes waste product. I don't know.
Eric: I'm combining the two and I'm imagining Julia with a fistful of multivitamin, just like tossing it in your mouth.
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda: Tell us about muncher though.
Eric: Yeah, to answer these questions, yes. Threadbare has a juicier of, not juicier, has a more resistant amount of thread which is something that we touched on a little bit from what happened in 39 and in 38, which is that you can't just burn this, is that you would have to, like, do a lot, a lot, a lot of fire for it to go up. Again, that's, like, overcoming the resistance, something I'd said, Before, Muncher does munches especially in the mega form. It is just mouth. It doesn't go anywhere. So, it's just about destruction. So, I would say not even either, it doesn't, it's not even about eating. It's just going forward in a Pac Man situation. You're just going forward waka-waka-waka destroying.
Brandon: It's really a big Gengar, Kirby, Pac Man combination situation, you know?
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: We're really just pulling from video games.
Eric: Yeah, welcome to this podcast, Julia.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: I know, shocking.
Brandon: Amanda, I do have a question for you.
Amanda: Oh, sure.
Brandon: Talking about yarn boys, threads, is yarn the one with the most tensile strength, or, or is there a better thread we could have gone with, or do you know the answer to this? Tell me about all the threads based on their tensile strength.
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda: You know I'm sure there are thread-heads out there. I don't know if--
Eric: Shout out to all the Amanda's out there. We appreciate you. Thanks for supporting Patreon.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hemp has very good tensile strength that's, you know, like a different kind of levels of refinement are, are very strong. I don't know dude. All I know is that I'm, I'm allergic to animal products, and so I don't use wool, or alpaca, or anything, or you know, or cashmere when, when knitting. I go for that artificial stuff. I made eye-contact with Eric when I said that, I don't know why.
Brandon: Because Eric is a robot, confirmed.
Amanda: Oh, no. Ralph asks, "If Dr. Morrow had died, what questions would the players have regretted not asking her?"
[Brandon and Eric laughs]
Julia: So many things.
Eric: Oh, god, Dr. Morrow. Dr. Morrow is so close to death, to automatic death.
Amanda: Thank God. Oh, that was terrifying.
Julia: You know what's the great thing about that question is, is that it doesn't fucking matter because we have someone in the party who can talk to the dead.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: That's true, which is good, which is very useful.
Julia: Mmh-hmm. Mmh-hmm.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: So, even if she had died, we would have gotten answers.
Brandon: It's wild that Vulcani can do that, you know?
Julia: Yeah, I know, it's, it's a secret sorcerer thing that I haven't told you guys about yet.
[Brandon snickers]
Eric: Yeah, does Vulcani also have the sight? Is that why?
Julia: Yes, they got it from Aunt Min, that, that's what would have happened in the alternate timeline if Vulcani had fell in and not Multitool. Yeah, that, it would have been, Val gets the sight and joins the mob.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Yeah, when you join the family, they give you the sight, you know?
Julia: Mmh-hmm. Mmh-hmm.
Eric: I, we 100% could have done that. Val could have become, like, a, there, I mean, D&D leans really hard into psionics. I think there's a psionic sorcerer, so we totally could have done that.
Julia: Absolutely.
Eric: Oh, that's so fun. What if, guys, what campaign 3 is in AU of campaign 2? Wouldn't that be fun?
[Brandon and Eric laughs]
Julia: We just do the same story beat?
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: But with different character versions.
Amanda: I'm into it.
Eric: It's like, hey, you really need to listen to campaign 2 before campaign 3. It's gonna be absolute nonsense.
Amanda: Bogwitch on Insta, great name, wants to know how close to death was Dr. Morrow.
Eric: Dr. Morrow had 25 hit points.
Amanda: That's so little.
Eric: For those of you who are playing along at home, you know that if you get double damage of your hit points, you die automatically.
Amanda: So, like, if she took 50 damage.
Eric: She would have died automatically.
Amanda: Ooh.
Brandon: In one attack, right?
Eric: Yes. If Dr. Morrow had taken 50 points of damage in one attack, she would have died automatically.
Amanda: Oof.
Eric: Like, because once if it would blow that, as what happened, she'd, you start taking death saving throws and as a different mechanic, right? So, I rolled, like, high 40s damage. She was very close.
[Amanda groans]
Eric: Very close.
Julia: That's true.
Eric: Y'all decided to take her with you and she's just a older woman with a lot of tech on her. Like, she doesn't have a lot of HP.
Brandon: I have more HP than that. Brandon does.
Julia: Yeah.
[Amanda and Eric laughs]
Julia: You told us when Lucas got almost killed that the typical NPC only has 20 hit points, right?
Eric: The ty-. A commoner has, like, 10.
Julia: Oh, ten.
Eric: And I threw, and I threw Lucas an extra HP or two because he was, like, relevant to the story. But Dr. Morrow, like, if theoretically, it's like [stutters]. I don't like saying classes for NPCs because I'm like, they, they are not, they don't have a class. They're an NPC. I can give them whatever they want, but, like, theoretically, she had experiences in her life that gives her the XP that would have "leveled her up."
Julia: Cool.
Eric: So, she would have had a certain more HP in that way, but no, no more than 25. No.
Julia: Gotcha.
Amanda: Terrifying. Patel on Insta would like to know, Julia, who did Val want to save more, Aunt Min or the upcountry keepers?
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: Aunt Min, unfortunately.
Amanda: Family.
Julia: Yeah, family.
Amanda: Love it.
Julia: I feel like their dad would be pissed if they had the opportunity to save Aunt Min and then didn't do that so.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's important,
Julia: Got to preserve those familial bonds.
Eric: So, I, you know, I have eyes everywhere, right?
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: So, why didn't you save Aunt Min? There's [stammers] a bar there's an LTC mob spy, a New York City mob spy somewhere around watching your every move.
Julia: That's fair. It's how I live my life.
Eric: One quarter mile at a time.
Amanda: Joost says, "I was super impressed with Eric's ability to make a few consecutive stealth rolls into one of the most tense moments on the show. How did you pull it off and design that specific part of the encounter?"
Eric: Before I start, Hey, you know how much cooler I sound with dope music below me?
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Brandon, the music was off chain this episode everybody said so.
Eric: I'm giving, like, 60% of this to Brandon.
Brandon: Well, I did write personally write In The Hall of the Mountain King. It is my composition.
Amanda: Mmh-hmm.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: I heard that.
Brandon: I take all credit for it. It is mine, no one else's. I'm a genius. Thank you. No questions.
Amanda: Send royalties to 420 Brandon Ave Pacific Northwest, US.
Brandon: You can just Venmo me those, those royalties directly.
Amanda: Oh, okay. Cool, cool, cool. Yeah.
Brandon: At 420 Brandon 69 Haha.
Eric: Put Haha in the subject line.
Amanda: Love it.
Julia: It’s part of the username.
Eric: Okay. Oh, I got it. Yeah.
Julia: Haha.
Eric: So, yeah, no. I want to give that to Brandon for making it sound extra dope and for editing it very nicely. So, I want to give you, I want to give you credit for that.
Brandon: Thank you.
Eric: Even if it was Hall of the Mountain King, I still want to say you did put it there and I'm giving that to you. This is something I've been thinking about quite a lot, about shared checks. Like, I think that when people do stuff together I don't necessarily, like, I don't want individual people to fail on their own especially with stealth checks. I think that if you have a group of people together it's not like, "Oh, you rolled a three? Well, your armor is too loud and you fucked everyone." Like, I just, I don't, I just don't agree with that. So, being able to build on that continuously and then give you rewards or extra detail if you succeed because this was the plan I think was a little fun thing. So, I actually wrote down, like, some things that you might have seen just in general. I'm like, "Oh, here's some stuff that's going on around you that you might have, you might run into over time, that you might have, you might have run into a few if you had succeeded." So, I was able to do that. And then the final one, I wanted to make, I wanted to make even harder because you're getting as close as possible. This is a Nintendo video game boss-battle mechanic that is in my head. It, oh you hit three times, the hardest time is the third time, you're the most likely for bad things to happen or for more damage to happen. So, I wanted to honor that and really make sure that the game mechanics followed how do you, actually difficult this was, especially with Dr. Morrow with you as well. I was honoring both V Nat 20 as not automatic success, but as 20+, but then honoring the Nat 1 as 1 + modifier and be throwing that into the averages i thought was just important for, like, the shared stealth check in this way.
Amanda: Love it. Well, I am feeling a little bit munchy now. So, I'm going to go into the kitchen and grab us some more snacks.
Brandon: Oh, no. Amanda turned into the backup Muncher. Oh, no.
[Amanda growls]
[Julia making munching noises]
[Brandon snickers]
Amanda: Hey, it's Amanda. I know we talked about leaf peeping as we opened up this episode, but I encountered for the first time leaf peeping traffic where I went around a corner with a beautiful view in our rental car and a bunch of people were, like, backed up with their hazards on. All taking pictures, and just making eye contact with strangers with the message of like, "Can you believe this shit? Just look at the, look at the bounty of nature." It was absolutely beautiful. Welcome to the midroll. It's peep-peep. Thank you first and foremost to all of our patrons, and especially those of you who've joined us recently; Maria B, Nel, and Henry. We see you, we thank you for coming aboard. The show is made possible straight up by these incredible patrons. And we honestly could not do it without you. If you want to support Join the Party, get access to all kinds of excellent bonus content, and join the best place on the internet, that's our patron only discord folks. You can do that at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. And Party Planning is off and running with episode 4 now out. Featuring a friend of the show, Mischa Stanton right now. That's patreon.com/jointhepartypod. It's also a great time to check out another show in the Multitude collective. It is after all the autumnal and spookiest time of year, so we got to tell you all about Spirits. The show that I do with Julia is, is a history and comedy podcast focused on everything folklore, and mythology, and the occult. Took the lens of feminism, queerness, and modern adulthood. Every week the two of us get together to learn about a different story from mythology, and folklore over drinks. And we always make sure that our Octobers are special, because it's the spooky month. It's time for us, that means everything from the mythological origins of franchises like Lord of the Rings, and Wonder Woman, to modern urban legends to a round up of werewolf stories from around the world and some fabulous guests. You guys are going to love our October guests, we promise. Start listening with any of the more than 250 episodes that we've made over the last five and a half years. There's so much to enjoy, whether you're here for analysis of mental health in mythology, or just some creepy modern ghost stories. Go to spiritspodcast.com or search for Spirits wherever you download your podcasts. We are sponsored this week by Girlfriend Collective, whether you are leaf peeping, running, biking, doing yoga, swimming, or hanging out at home, Girlfriend Collective has clothes that you can feel your best in. They make cute, sustainable and comfortable bras, leggings, shorts, tanks, t-shirts, swimsuits, and more. With inclusive sizing ranging from XXS to 6XL. Shout out to their best selling leggings that are squat proof, come with pockets, and have different levels of support, whether you're looking for compression or comfort. I wear them with a gigantic sweatshirt when I'm here on vacation and they are very comfy. For listeners of the show, Girlfriend Collective is offering $25 off your purchase of $100 or more when you go to girlfriend.com/jointheparty. That's $25 off $100 or more when you go to girlfriend.com/jointheparty, girlfriend.com/jointheparty. We are also sponsored by HeroForge. They offer fully customizable tabletop miniatures with dozens of fantasy races from all types of genres and thousands of parts to choose from. They're always putting out new stuff so every time we do an ad for HeroForge, we go to the website and it's amazing how much new stuff gets added every single time. Just yesterday, they added new throwing weapons, your character can now toss a Hoop, a Futuristic hoop, Chakram hoop, Geometric hoop, Discus, Spartan spear, and Barbed throwing spear. I now need to make a hoop-based character, that's amazing. So, go to heroforge.com right now to start making the mini of your dreams. Click around, I promise you're going to enjoy it, that's heroforge.com. And finally, we are sponsored by Better Help. If there is something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals or if like me, looking at beautiful sights, makes you think about death. Better Help is a really good way to find therapy, whether that's via phone, video, or even live chat sessions. You'll get timely and thoughtful responses from your therapist. Plus, you can schedule weekly phone or video sessions. It's very flexible. So, this week for example, since I'm on vacation, I'm texting with my therapist via their app instead of doing my normal video session and you never have to sit in an uncomfortable waiting room again. It's available worldwide and is more affordable than traditional offline counseling. So, visit betterhelp.com/jointheparty. That's Better H-E-L-P to join the over 2 million people who have taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. Once more, this podcast is sponsored by Better Help, and Join the Party listeners get 10% off your first month of therapy, at betterhelp.com/jointheparty. That's B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P.com/jointheparty. And now, back to the show.
[Midroll music]
Amanda: Guys, I'm back and I have a lot of different flavors of caramel flavored popcorn.
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: Like, they're like dill pickle popcorn.
Eric: Oh, thank you.
Amanda: You got it. There's a Halloween munchie mix.
Brandon: No one told me until I was, like, 29 years-old that dill flavored things like potato chips are just salt and vinegar potato chips with some dill on them.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: And they're fucking good.
Julia: Yeah, they're good.
Amanda: They're very good.
Brandon: Yeah, everyone should be eating them all the time and I'm mad about that.
Eric: I think it's a branding issue. I think that now that pickle has gone the way of baking in the last decade that, like, "Oh, man. My whole life is pickles," and like listen, my life has been pickles my entire life, shout out, shout out to all the Jews out there but like now it's like a thing and I think Brandon that's actually what the flavor profile is. I think about dill pickle, anything, and it's really just putting dill and vinegar into a thing that already existed
Amanda: Hey, dill and vinegar improves almost every food. It's so good.
Brandon: Exactly.
Eric: I'm not disagreeing with it.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: I think there's a, usually a problem when people start trying to, like, add cucumber flavor into that as well. It's like, y'all dawg, you doing too much.
Brandon: Too much.
Julia: No, too fresh now. Too fresh
Brandon: Too much. Too fresh. Too much too fresh, that's what they called me in college.
Julia: Maybe add a little bit of garlic flavor for like that, that--
Amanda: Mmh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: --full sour garlic pickle flavor but.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Julia: Very rarely do they have that.
Amanda: Well, we have a good, I think kind of transition into our sort of, like, game character podcasting, you know, fun corner of the afterparty. Josh on Insta asks, "What is each character's spooky season tradition? This is our October after party after all, and I know all of us truly come alive in the fall. So, what, what is Val up to during the spooky season?"
Julia: I think Val is a haunted house person. I think Val--
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: --really likes the haunted house.
Amanda: I can't imagine all of their costume options with Hitomi. Like, imagine the couple's costume options of tiny fire person and willowy girlfriend.
Julia: Yes, really, honestly very, very good. I was thinking more traditions and so since they haven't been dating for more than a year, I guess--
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: --at this point. Haven't done a couples costume just yet but yeah, there's a lot of really good options there. huh?
Amanda: How about Milo? Are there any, like, friend group watching, you know, like, movie watching or TV show watching traditions?
Brandon: Amanda that is the correct answer. I was doing a quick Google to figure out how many Halloween movies there were. It looks like there are currently 13 or 12 out, and one about to be out.
Julia: That's true.
Brandon: So, I think Milo and his friend group do, like, the advent calendar of October with Halloween movies.
Amanda: Mmh. I love that.
Eric: Hell, yeah.
Brandon: And when they get to the 14th one or the end of 13, or whatever it is, they then turn to their own fanfiction of Halloween movies and either perform or read them aloud until the October 31st. And then, that's, that's their Halloween tradition.
Julia: That's a real commitment because some of those movies are very bad.
Brandon: I mean, Milo's a fan of, like, fucking Star Trek, Deep Space Nine so.
Eric: I also like the idea that, like, someone tried to make this into a carpenter one but it's like, I don't want to watch the thing I just want to watch Halloween.
Julia: But the thing is so good.
Eric: I don't want to watch They Live. I don't care. We're watching Halloween 6. Underwater, underwater spookiness.
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: What about Aggie?
Amanda: I think Aggie is very into fall produce, and cider, and stuff like that. And how, being again, your Laketown City correspondents, Eric and I went to the last farmers market of the year here in Essex County and it was bumping y'all. Everybody was there getting their apples, their bread, their honey, their pickles, their CBD products, their whiskies, everything.
Brandon: Apple cider doughnuts?
Amanda: Apple cider doughnuts. Yes, absolutely.
Brandon: Fuck, yeah.
Amanda: We did bring some home and Eric was just like, tore off across the field. And I was like, "Where's he going?" And then, he goes, "Honey, I found apple cider doughnuts, and bought some."
Eric: I liked the idea.
Brandon: I sniffed them out.
Eric: Yeah, it's like I got down on all fours because it's faster for me to run that way.
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda: No.
Julia: I was picturing you Naruto style with the arms behind you.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: No, I was just aimlessly wandering and then you saw, you zeroed in on the treasure, and said, "That way," and it was great.
Brandon: To me it's like that guy from office space where you, like, don't move your arms at all. You just like, like, straight face walk over there.
Eric: Everyone get in the comments, say how do I run?
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: No, Eric just knows that they're my favorite and found them for me, and it was great.
Eric: Whoever explains the best way of how I run gets one to Join the Party pin.
Brandon: Like a fucking athlete, man. You look so good. Your hair is glistening.
Eric: Brandon then first.
Brandon: Yes.
Amanda: Flannel billowing behind you.
Julia: You didn’t like Naruto run?
Eric: No, Julia is in a close second.
[Amanda and Brandon laughs]
Eric: Brandon was pandering so I have to honor that.
Amanda: Fair. Fair. But yeah, I think Aggie drives all over the place, going to her favorite, you know, orchards and farm stands, and pumpkin patches, and stocking up on stuff for the winter.
Julia: And everyone knows her name. Every farmer.
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: Absolutely. And I think this year, Milo will also propose to the team and to Wyvern that we start a corn maze. Like, to get the community involvement with supers going, you know? I, like, we use our powers to do fun things like shadow scare. Like, a lot of spooky scares from Milo because he can just kind of move unseen. Maybe there's a fire demon or something. You tell me, I don't know.
Eric: I like the idea that no one gets lost in the corn maze because Wyvern can fly. So, wyvern is like, "Hey. Stop. Stop you're, you've been in here too long. Get out of here."
Julia: Wyvern is like the person in a escape room who has to give people clues but he's just floating above the corn maze.
Amanda: That's very good.
Eric: Hey, that's not an entrance, that stop, that don't touch that, because in there is just corn, okay?
Amanda: Hey, blue plaid, Don't touch that.
Brandon: You know the guy at the beginning, like, the host or the hostess at the beginning of Tower of Terror ride in Disney world?
Julia: Mmh-hmm. Mmh-hmm.
Brandon: That's January at the top of the maze.
Amanda: Oh, very good.
Brandon: Like, being like, full white you know death makeup. Like, whoa, I'm in the corn maze.
Amanda: The maître d' of horror.
Julia: Yeah, like he needs death make-up.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: He's as cold and bloody.
Amanda: Well, he'll be turning into his, his snowshoe white form around that time.
Julia: That's true.
Eric (In a higher-pitched voice): I'm a ghost bunny.
[Brandon and Julia laughs]
Eric (In a higher-pitched voice): It's because my soul, my soul is going to the death world. No, it's because of a natural pattern. It's fine. It's fine I couldn't avoid that by means.
Amanda: Maghacks13 says on Twitter, "Eric, how do you make the action and story elements interesting while keeping track of all the different NPCs and side stories? Like, how do you tie them to the main plot without it feeling forced?"
Eric: First of all, thank you, that's a very nice thing to say. I think that this is related to two things that we've said in this After Party already, which is one, you tell me what you like. But two, because we are doing a city where everyone theoretically can be around. It's not like they're on the other side of the kingdom that takes 10 days of flight on top of giant Eagles. It's that I'm, I can keep building things out and the people you are interested in will come up when you ask me about them. Sometimes, I have them written down and sometimes I have ideas of what exactly I want to happen but sometimes I don't, and then I get to make it up and then that's what it is. So, I, I follow your lead. There are definitely people who I've seeded over time that you didn't end up touching and then I get to punish you for not remembering them but only if it makes sense. For example, Shannon Redwine, Tough Stuff showing up. Let's go all the way back, right? When Vulcani ended up going to talk to Emily Slaughter instead of Aggie, then that becomes a totally different conversation and I will not punish but, like, I'm going to change the situations to make it interesting for Julia and Julia's character to be a part of it. It's a real combination. Like, [stutters] it's not like I'm constantly juggling them, more like I have them in my pocket until you ask me about them but because, I'm not just gonna drop it on you because I want to, it's because the players are interested in that and I'm, I'm honoring your choices. I've been saying that a lot, but like that's a really, that's really a choice.
Brandon: I just got the feeling that at the beginning of a new arc, you kind of like, as you're prepping you kind of like check in with all the NPCs and--
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: --like, see if there's, like, little areas you can plug and stuff like that. Is that true, or do you just, sort of like, know all the time where you're going?
Eric: Sometimes, I think that I check in with them if they're relevant to the plot. For example, Dr. Morrow, Dez, and January are, are always relevant, because you kind of use them as their, your home base. And I use Dez as the magic item, the mechanic, for example. And then, it becomes, like, Do I need to talk to Emily Slaughter or not? Do I need to interact with the upcountry keepers? Are we doing something else? Like, you, y'all didn't really end up talking to the upcountry keepers that much during the time loop arc until Emily Slaughter showed up because things had changed. And now, the time loop had acknowledged that. Remember, the Knight of mirrors was not in the time loop arc at all. And then, we ended up checking, checking in with them later. I also want to add people over time. For example, let's, let's keep using the time loop arc. I added Byron Zorn, so we want to, I'm going to point you towards a new person, but then you tell me if you are interested in pursuing this person. We don't know that much about Byron Zorn, but he's definitely existing on the periphery of a lot of things. And I think that maybe this perception has changed a little bit because Amanda's like, "I want to have an event that has every single NPC we've ever met there."
Amanda: Surely, nothing bad will happen there.
Eric: So, [stutters] so, maybe that's, like, skewing that a little bit that it, but because we live in a city I can put all of them in a room plus new people and that doesn't feel like I'm jamming too many NPCs in there. And then again, it's like, "Who do you talk to? Who is relevant?"
Amanda: Lopsidedhalfling says, "Have any of the players ever considered messaging Eric on the sly to have our character contact Emily Slaughter to say something like, 'I don't trust Dr. Morrow. If something weird goes down, I want to join you.' With how hanky everything is, I feel like I'd want to have an emergency out even if it meant sucking up to and relying on Emily.
Julia: No.
Brandon: Really a great thought.
Amanda: Great, great thought. Never crossed my mind.
Brandon: But if yeah, if I found out that Julia or Amanda did that I would actively disown them, the people that they are so.
Julia: Yeah. I mean, like--
Brandon: Yep.
Julia: --here's the thing, we will message Eric on the sly about plenty of things. I would never in my fucking life consider becoming an upcountry keeper. Val would never.
Eric: I don't think this is a spoiler because I've done it, obviously. I've been trying to get Amanda to do that multiple times. You've noticed that Emily Slaughter keeps soft extending invitations to Preserver/Multitool.
Julia: Mmh-hmm.
Eric: Because she finds that Vulcani and Kilonova, this is gonna be so weird, but you two are erratic. I don't know where she gets that from.
Julia: What?
Brandon: I don't think so.
Eric: That's so weird.
Julia: Fucking rude.
[Amanda and Eric laughs]
Eric: It's so weird. I don't know why she would say that. So, honestly, the answer is yes. And no, Amanda has not taken me up on that offer.
Amanda: Fuck, no dude.
Brandon: Are you saying to Emily Slaughter thinks that fuckin' flyboy is less chaotic than this.
Amanda: Yeah, because she could control flyboy.
Julia: That's it.
Eric: Yeah, flyboy falls in line.
Garbled talking:
Amanda: Couldn't agree more. This hat question comes from soup dumpling a regular at the house breakfast, twitch channel.
Brandon: And delicious.
Amanda: They say, "I love the, this Aggie timeline comments. It helps me think about little things that happened earlier in the story. So, in this Aggie timeline, did the Christmas party still happen? If it did, since Aggie wouldn't have been healing Milo did he get absurdly drunk?"
Brandon: Oh, man. I didn't think about that. I think so, right?
Amanda: I think the party happened accidentally. I think Quinn just kind of showed up and, like, texted some people and, like, took Aggies phone and was like, "I'm texting your friends," and, and like accidentally made a party and Aggie's like, "No, no, no, no, no." but I do think that Pizza wore a little costume.
Julia: Adorable.
Eric: Definitely.
Brandon: Maybe in this version because I sort of, like, made it where the healing is a snuggle or a lick from Tuna. Maybe Tuna was the one--
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Brandon: --who kind of like licking Milo and healing him.
Amanda: I like that.
Eric: I wonder if the conversation that Lucas had with you that happens at home after he takes you home at, like, 9pm.
Brandon: It happened outside, it happened outside.
Eric: Right, but that, but that was after Aggie had heal, had healed some of the drug in this but, like, you got too drunk too fast. Lucas is like, I need to take my friend home," and that conversation happens, like, in the bathroom at your apartment.
Julia: There it is.
Brandon: And then they do not kiss you, you fanfiction-ers.
[Eric laughs]
Brandon: Leave it alone.
Amanda: Who can say?
Julia: They kissed.
Amanda: Who can say?
Brandon: They can kiss if they want, that's fine.
Amanda: This brings us to MLM corner.
Julia: Of course, it does.
Amanda: Where Maureen-
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Where Maureen says, "I enjoyed the references to the Lularoe Warehouse," which by the way we recorded this months ago, the Lularoe documentary had not yet come out. It was just a happy accident. And Maureen asks, "which Laketown City residents do you think are the most likely to get sucked into an MLM? And then, similar from Cayenne on Insta, what MLM did Tough Stuff get snagged into, for how long, and how did she get out?"
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Incredible.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: I mean, we literally have a canonical enemy who deals in MLM.
Amanda: Yeah, no.
Eric: Like, that, that was written down.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Painkiller Larsson has his own MLM. It's called like, maybe it's just, is it just called Painkillers?
Amanda: Yeah. I think it's like a Vitamin C, prevents disease type, like health supplement MLM.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And it's called Painkillers.
Amanda: Yeah.
[Eric laughs]
Brandon: I think Brian Roper definitely got roped into that, you know?
Amanda: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: Mmh-hmm. Mmh-hmm. Flyboy.
Amanda: Yeah. Flyboy, I think Brian as well, like, what if there was like a power tool MLM? Like, you know, the, the knife ones where it's like, there are knives, like, that you are selling knives, but also it's an MLM?
Brandon: Cutco.
Amanda: Maybe it's something to do with, yeah, exactly, like, like plumbing supplies or like a super glue for pipes and it doesn't work or something.
Brandon: A super glue for pipes. I love that.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: They both deeply strike me as nootropic people.
Amanda: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: It's called painkillers but that is called brain killers.
Amanda: Oh, no.
Eric: It is nootropics.
Amanda: I hate that.
Brandon: Why would you want to take something called a brain killer?
Julia: It's because after you take it, you can kill someone with your brain.
[Amanda and Brandon hums in amusement]
Eric: Thank you, Julia.
Amanda: Manifesting babe over here, Julia Schifini.
Eric: That's incredible.
Brandon: That definitely would be it, right?
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Like, it's an MLM where it's--
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Brandon: It's, it's a wellness MLM but instead of wellness it like, you can have powers too, thing.
Amanda: Yeah, no. That's really it.
Julia: And like, besides Painkiller Larsson, Ant Myn, 100% would start an MLM and Emily Slaughter, 100% would start an MLM.
Amanda: Mmh-hmm.
Eric: I like the idea that some of the changes that Ant Myn made to the Laketown city mob is one of their--
Interruptions:
Eric: new sources of an MLM. That's so funny.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: There's really no difference between, like, protection money and an MLM.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: Yeah,
Amanda: You're completely right. They're both rackets in different ways.
Eric: I think Tough Stuff is definitely into Lularoe like--
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: --let's just, let's call it as it is. Tough Stuff loves having funky, having funky tights and all that.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Yep.
Brandon: I don't think January would be in an MLM, but I do think January would have that box of chocolate that every band kid did, where you sold a chocolate bar for $1 to raise money for your band.
Julia: Mmh-hmm.
Brandon: You know?
Amanda: Aw, what if he secretly just buys all of the chocolate, and oranges, and wrapping paper from the high school.
[Julia gasps]
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: And then there's just a room in Dr. Morrow's house, filled with it.
Brandon: Yeah, and then the high school has, like, an awesome Fine Arts program.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric (as January): As a rabbit, I don't really understand capitalism because I just, I mean, I just lived in a borough so, like, whatever. I don't need this money that Dr, Morrow pays for you.
Amanda: Yeah. I do get a salary.
Eric (as January): I have a full salary but I live here. Like, I don't know what I'm supposed to spend it on other than suits. And they're less because they're small.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Aw.
Julia: Parisi gives you a discount.
Eric: Parisi doesn't buy, buy, buy a mount of fabric.
Julia: Mmh-hmm. Mmh-hmm.
Amanda: Oh, and you know what? I just had one more game question from the Question Surgeon Michelle Spurgeon. "What else does Milo watch with Anubis? Does he wait to watch their shows together?"
Julia: Oh.
Brandon: Oh, yeah. I think when Milo goes down there and Anubis is like, "Yeah, I started," I can't. I'm not gonna do Anubis' voice of course, but, you know, it's like Anubis, "Yeah. I started, like, you know, Squid Games without you." Milo is like, "What the fuck? We said we were gonna watch that together."
Eric: For, also, Squid Game, also perfect. Lots of death.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: It's why Anubis loves it.
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda: Yeah, Anubis definitely loves depictions of the afterlife, but just like, "Ha, it's so wrong."
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: It's just me down here.
Amanda: No one would guess me.
Eric: I like the idea that Anubis knows if you start a show without them, and then will, like, curse one of your friends with, with, like, terrible knowledge in response.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Or like buffering of their video cue.
Eric: Yeah, Anubis can kill your internet. 100%.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Julia: There it is.
Brandon: Can Anubis, like, give Zach Rows or someone, like, knowledge of their previous life and, like, how they died? Like, how did Zach die and--
Julia: Oh, no. Are we, are we including reincarnation and past lives into our canon choice for making right now?
Amanda: Yeah, are we, are you canonizing reincarnation right now?
Brandon: I don't know. It's up to Eric.
[Silence]
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Hey, Eric. You want to think more about your cosmology real quick?
Eric: Yeah. When I write the Laketown City cosmology guide, I have to do it like the fucking D&D wizards things. It's like Zach Rows' guide to cosmology.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Yeah, I could, I'll put that in and I'll, I'll have a true afterlife.
Amanda: Take us through all seven levels of Christian hell please and the afterlife.
Eric: Yeah. Anubis thought it was funny so Anubis could have included Dante's Christian hell.
Amanda: Well, you know we have to finish this special on location version of the After Party in spoily corner.
Brandon (in a higher-pitched voice): Spoily corner.
Amanda: Well first, everyone would love. I just, I love that bit Brandon. I just, I can't add to it. So, I'm just gonna, you know, give it a beat and then, and then here we go. First, everyone wants to know what the fuck? Everyone wants to know who's the Knight of mirrors? Is it Fritz? Are we ever gonna know?
Brandon: [Groans] Who can say?
Eric: Shout out to the spoily corner of our discord, for really giving this one to college try and re-opening the book on who is the Knight of mirrors.
Amanda: Yeah. Someone was like, "Oh, my gosh. I'm gonna compare the, the podcast timeline to the mountain lobsters away game schedule. Oh, shit. That's not a real hockey team."
[Brandon and Eric laughs]
Amanda: And I thought that was incredible. Well done.
Julia: Okay, here's my argument for why the Knight of mirrors is not Fritz.
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: Despite the fact that they both ride motorcycles, which is the only connection they currently have right now.
Amanda: Many people do.
Julia: The Knight of mirrors was there chasing down the ice cream truck after we got out of the Ninja Warrior Warehouse thing, where Fritz also was.
Amanda: Quite true.
Julia: So, I think Fritz was still in the vicinity of us when we saw the Knight of mirrors.
Brandon: But is that more evidence for the fact because?
Julia: No, I don't think so, because I don't think Fritz, like, left our area while we're-
Brandon: Not that you saw.
Julia: I mean, I can go and listen to the episode again, but I'm pretty sure he's around.
Brandon: But I think he's in the building and y'all chased the truck outside of the building, so he could have, like, gone out of the back entrance so.
Julia: But I thought he followed us out as well. I don't know.
Brandon: I don't know either. We have to go--
Julia: I'll have to listen.
Brandon: --re-listen.
Eric: Fritz also might have had someone riding the Knight of mirrors' bike past you to throw you off as soon as he met you, to really throw that evidence off.
Brandon: That seems like a lot of effort.
Eric: Sorry Brandon is maintaining your secret identity and making sure no one ever figures that out, is that like easy work? is light, light work?
Brandon: You just wear a mask and then you're done.
Amanda: Oh.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: That's fucking rude.
Amanda: Claireline on Insta wants to know who are Lou's parents and why does she need to hide her stuff from them?
Brandon: Because she's a teenager.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Who can say?
Brandon: She's like a young kid. Everyone hides them, for the stuff from their parents.
Julia: Especially when they are super smart. The smartest person in Laketown City.
Eric: Something I forgot about was, I didn't describe Lou's, like, mask or anything. I didn't say that Lou had a mask. So, while we were doing that episode, I was like, "Oh, wouldn't this be so funny if Lou has, like, facial obscuring technology that just, like, holograms over their face?" I was like, here's a teenage girl who's wearing, like, a school uniform. I didn't say anything about their, if they were protecting their face or not.
Brandon: Right.
Eric: While I explicitly did for Hive and I forgot to do it for Lou. So, I'm like, "Oh, yeah. Lou just has this, like, facial warping technology. Fucking incredible.
Amanda: Chilling.
Eric: It was so, it was just so funny.
Amanda: Folks would like to know if Dr. Morrow is gonna be okay. Truly, who can say?
Julia: Who can say?
Brandon: I mean, is she ever okay?
Eric: Like, emotionally?
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, I mean, I think she's fine emotionally.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: That's true. She's flourishing. Being proximate to death is just another learning opportunity, I think, for her.
Eric: I also want to give a shout out to Tuna for saving Dr. Morrow's life.
Amanda: Truly. Truly.
Julia: Rolled real good.
Amanda: Our healer.
Eric: Tuna the healer.
Amanda: And finally, is January okay, is every hair on their little head as it was before? Who can say?
[Brandon groans]
Amanda: Maybe we'll find out.
[Brandon and Julia groans]
Eric: I don't know what you mean. What are you, what are we referring to?
Amanda: Alright.
Eric: Is this the Squid Game everyone's talking about?
Julia: Oh, God.
Amanda: I think we have to go peep some more leaves so I can lower my blood pressure at the thought of January being harmed. Well, thank you everybody for your thoughtful and wonderful questions. We hope you enjoy, for our patrons, the new party planning that went out yesterday, with friend of the show Mischa Stanton. And anyone who's not a patron and would like to have more content, maybe even see our faces from time to time. It's a great place to do it, patreon.com/jointhepartypod.
Eric: I envy, now I keep thinking about that. And when Julia did the, Julia did a full act out of putting vitamins into her mouth.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: And like, you did not get to see that.
Amanda: I know it was great. You're, you're framing Julia, you're eye contact with the camera. It was outstanding.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: Thank you. Thank you.
Amanda: Yeah, we're really, really getting into the podcasting here. It's a ton of fun.
Brandon: Amanda said the word, dollar in the jar.
Amanda: Haha.
Eric: Oh, no.
Amanda: I am the bad witch.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: I will say that I think that doing Party Planning has made us more chaotic.
Amanda: Yeah, the last couple play sessions have been something else.
Brandon: Eric. Eric, sorry, can I be more chaotic?
Julia: I was gonna say it's made Amanda--
Amanda: Julia and I. Yeah.
Julia: --and I more chaotic, Brandon.
Amanda: We're meeting Brandon where he's been at for years frankly.
Brandon: Welcome to my arena.
Amanda: Yeah, welcome to the, welcome to the dungeon, truly.
[Brandon and Eric snickers]
Eric: Yeah. Listen, these bloops are chunky. Let's just say that. There's a lot more, a lot more of stuff like that. I'm like, "Oh, this must be why friends at the table records 30 minutes of content before they start playing. It totally makes sense."
Julia: Mmh-hmm.
Amanda: Well, the next few episodes are real hot shit guys. I know we keep saying it, but it just keeps getting hotter. We will see you in one week with a brand new episode, and until then, enjoy.
Brandon: Bye guys.
Julia: Later.
Eric: See you.
Amanda: May your rolls trend ever upward.
[JTP Theme Music]
Amanda: 54321.
Brandon: 321.
Julia: 321.
Brandon: My 1 was off again. Jesus.
Julia: It's okay. It's okay, Brandon.
[Brandon groans]
Amanda: It's okay, Brandon. Even Simone Biles doesn't always stick the landing.
Julia: True.
Eric: Brandon is the Simone Biles of counting, of counting and ordering numbers together.
Brandon: 1 2 4, fuck.
Julia: You're so close. So close to the goal.
Amanda: We got to, we got to get the bloops on the After Parties now. That, that's our strategy.
Eric: I know. It's just more bloops
Transcriptionist: John Matthew Sarong
Editor: Krizia Marrie Casil