How did Gloria know what cool items to make the players? What was on the Skill Tree that we didn’t see? And what do YOU think the Salmon will be? All that and more on this Afterparty!
Sponsors
- Volante Design, which makes some of the coolest clothing we’ve ever seen. Use code jointheparty at volantedesign.us for 10% off your entire order!
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Find Us Online
- website: https://jointhepartypod.com
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- merch & music: http://jointhepartypod.com/merch
Cast & Crew
- Game Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Umbi), Co-Producer, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Chamomile Cassis), Co-Producer: Julia Schifini
- Co-Host (Troy Riptide), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Theme Song: Lyrics by Eric Silver, music by Brandon Grugle. Vocals by Brandon Grugle, Lauren Shippen, Julia Schifini, Roux Bedrosian, Eric Silver, Tyler Silver, and Amanda McLoughlin. Available for purchase here.
- Artwork: Allyson Wakeman
- Multitude: https://multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is an actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators who make each other laugh each week. We welcome everyone to the table, from longtime players to folks who’ve never touched a roleplaying game before. Hop into our current campaign, a pirate story set in a world of plant- and bug-folk, or marathon our completed stories with the Camp-Paign, a MOTW game set in a weird summer camp, Campaign 2 for a modern superhero game, and Campaign 1 for a high fantasy story. And once a month we release the Afterparty, where we answer your questions about the show and how we play the game. New episodes every Tuesday.
Transcript
Amanda: Hey, hi, hello, and welcome to the Afterparty where we are finally in peak blackberry harvesting season, and it's very appropriate, considering the three episodes we're talking about today kicked off with Brandon getting a boon from a dragon, specifically a blackberry dragon.
Brandon: What up?
Julia: Son of a bitch.
Brandon: It's me, the dragon man.
Julia: No.
Amanda: Now, Brandon, did you expect that being kind to a primordially old and unfathomably powerful creature may work in our favor?
Brandon: Um, yes, because growing up, anytime I met a old person who had little care for the people around him, every time I was nice, it always worked to my advantage. So, you know, I figured this time— what I'm saying is I have no respect for my elders.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Brandon, I know we're gonna talk a lot about Texas, because there is a bunch of questions about Buc-ee's.
Brandon: Goddammit.
Eric: But I did think you were gonna be like, "Well, every time I met a horse, I was nice to it." And that was the saying.
Julia: "And that way, it's all great for me."
Brandon: That is true. Every time I meet a horse, I'm like, "You are the largest dog, and I love you."
Julia: And that's why Brandon is swimming in boons.
Eric: What if a horse turned to you and it was like, "Life is pain."?
Brandon: I would be like, "You are my best friend now."
Eric: "My legs, they're like fingernails to you. "
Brandon: "Here is a sugar cube.
Eric: Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. I just would like to say here in the beginning of the Afterparty, we have recorded— or will have recorded from the days of—
Brandon: Your—
Julia: Future past.
Eric: Hold on. From the Days of Future Past in 22 days from September 10th to October 2nd, we have recorded 9 times, probably a 10th one because there's a Party Planning in there that I didn't account for because I'm not doing it.
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Eric: But, like, I also prepared eight of them, so my head is melty, so everyone has to be super nice to me. I have been— I felt crazy. I have felt like a crazy person.
Amanda: Why, Eric? Do the stories inside your head start, like, reaching the outside world and what you didn't expect?
Eric: Yeah. Like, a 2000s indie rock music video. It feels like I'm experiencing something like that.
Amanda: Ah. Like, out of my head.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah. Like, it's like number five on the VH1 best music videos of that week.
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: Yes. Yes, yes. This is making sense to me now, where, like, in the music video, the person will be singing about love, and then little, like, cartoon drawings will appear, like, in the actual situation.
Eric: Yeah. 2000s-esque CGI coming out of my head, which are the things—
Brandon: I love it.
Eric: —that I'm doing here.
Amanda: Plain White T's, is that anything? It's what I'm thinking about.
Brandon: I think something.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: It feels like an All-American Rejects music video.
Amanda: Hmm.
Julia: That's also something.
Eric: Yeah. Like, it reminds me of the Moves— Move Along music video, but with more CGI of things—
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: —coming out of my head.
Brandon: In contrast, I have had to edit episodes while also losing some time due to recording. But instead of being nice to me, I really am fueled by your insults and hatred and meanness towards me.
Julia: Perfect.
Brandon: It makes me edit faster. So if you could just—
Julia: That's great.
Brandon: —be a real big jerk to me, that would be great.
Julia: I do realize I yelled at you many times in these episodes, Brandon. Many times.
Amanda: Yeah. Brandon, I also called you a bitch twice in the first 10 minutes of Episode 55. A word I tend pretty much not to use unless it's like, "Bitch," to, like, my other queer friends. But—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: —anyway, has that been helping?
Brandon: Yeah, it has. I— every time I hear it, I edit three times faster.
Julia: Whoa.
Brandon: Yeah. Uh-hmm.
Eric: It's like Sonic on a boost pad. You're like, "Prrr, prrr, prrr, prrr, prrr."
Amanda: Alright. Well, we have a lot to get through today, some great questions about the world and about journeying toward the end of the campaign. We don't know when the campaign will end. We haven't played our final episode, but we're getting there. We're on what will probably be our final arc, all of us here together with the start of Mango Crossing. So, God, I can't believe it. I'm so excited.
Julia: I kind of like that.
Brandon: I don't know why, but I immediately— when you said that, I immediately thought you meant like the final arc of our lives, and I was like, "Oh, fuck."
Julia: Not all of us. That's just Umbi.
Brandon: No, I met us as people, Julia.
Eric: Umbi and Brandon are the same—
Brandon: That's true.
Eric: —which is something I've realized. When you punch Brandon, he does smell like green peppers.
Julia: Uh-hmm. And when Umbi dies, Brandon will die.
Brandon: Have you guys— this is a little bit unrelated, but have you guys watched or started the newest season of Taskmaster that came out on YouTube?
Julia: No.
Amanda: No.
Brandon: So it's great, you should. But there's a comedian on there that he's like— I don't know who it is, but he's a British comedian whose, like, comedy is about being sort of— it's not anti-comedy, but he's sort of being the straight man, kind of grump in the room.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: And the more and more I watched this guy, I was like— eventually, at two episodes, then I turned to Laura, and I was like, "This guy is me. I am him. We are the same."
Eric: The funniest thing about the UK with entertainment is that there's only six actors, and all of them are in Game of Thrones.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yep.
Eric: And yet there is so much space for so many different type of comedians that it blows my mind. I think— because they just have different job classes.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Like, you could sub class into just being, like, on game shows.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Like the presenter job is so wild to me, and then you can just be like a dude who hangs out.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah, man. We should move to Britain.
Eric: No, because then we'll always be ostracized, much like a rich person thing, being a part of the British Royal Family. We can't— we can never get in. It's just the curse of our birth, Brandon, that we can't be involved there.
Brandon: Jack D is his name.
Amanda: Alright, let's—
Brandon: Wait, Amanda. Eric, hit my trap card. I do have to quickly say that my dad just texted me right before we started recording here, to say, quote, "The number of rich people, things your friends don't think were rich was hilarious."
Julia: Aw.
Amanda: Tom!
Julia: Thank you, Tom.
Amanda: I knew Tom was a patron. I didn't know he watched the content. Thank you, Tom.
Brandon: He listens to everything. He's insulting you guys. I wouldn't even say thank you.
Amanda: I love to be insulted by Texan men.
Eric: I'm fine with it. He had the same experience as Brandon, so he's insane.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: He goes to Midwest, so—
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: —it could've been worse.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Same difference.
Amanda: Let's just— let's address this right off the bat. So lots of feedback from the populace about how gloves are not, quote, "for rich people."
Eric: Hold on. Everyone needs to listen to the Patreon. Everyone sign up for our Patreon—
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: —the most recent episode of Party Planning, either the audio level for $5, video level for $10. So this one, at least hop up there, the $10 level. It's probably the best Party Planning we've ever done.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Might be the best thing we've ever made. I'm not gonna lie to you, and I really enjoyed it a lot. You have got to check it out, including the primordial question, the primeval question, even, are gloves for rich people? Now, you might think the answer is obvious. No matter what you think the answer is represented in this Party Planning. So you've got to go ahead and check it out. We did get a comment from Debbie about the Party Planning, which I present to the full audience in a hope to sort of entice you up to Party Planning level. Debbie quote, "I can think of other things for people that mean they're rich, a pot filler, a dishwasher, a washer, dryer and a panel ready fridge to blend with the cabinets." Now, that last one, absolutely true. The rest—
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: —buck wild. Thank you, Debbie, and I look forward to including some of these in our rich people bracket part two.
Brandon: Pot filler, definitely is one, I will say.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —but not because it's difficult or, like, expensive to install, but it's just like a class signifier, you know?
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yeah. Like, it's a new trend, and that means you have to have renovated your kitchen in the past, like, three years.
Brandon: Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah.
Eric: Just like gloves.
Brandon: I can't be bothered to step— three steps to the sink, so this is what I'm gonna do.
Julia: But also, pot heavy when carrying big pot of water—
Amanda: Pot heavy.
Julia: —Brandon.
Amanda: Yeah, for sure.
Brandon: That's true.
Amanda: Alright, folks, back to the content. Now, I brought it up in a fun way, but Brandon, did you think twice before using your boon from a dragon on rescuing the siblings of an NPC?
Brandon: I mean, yeah, like, that's not what I wanted to use them for, you know? But, like, we had a kid to make with Cervantes.
Julia: He had a kid to make with Cervantes? Those babies would be so prickly.
Brandon: Oh, that would hurt so bad.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: We had a deal to make with Kidd Cervantes, and that deal was to get his siblings back. And so if I want that cloud key, which I do, I gotta waste my boon getting their silly butts out of the dragon, you know?
Eric: That's fair. I think it's pretty funny, and I think primordial creatures don't understand it, that it's like if you give someone a boon—
Brandon: Only primordial creatures understand this.
Eric: 30 things only '90s kids and primordial creatures understand. That if you give someone a wish or a boon when they're in danger, they're gonna use it immediately to take away the danger.
Brandon: Yeah, that's true.
Amanda: That's fair.
Eric: So, like, totally fair. I thought that was great. It made a lot of sense to me, especially because Kidd Cervantes would have had a real emotional problem if that wasn't dealt with.
Julia: Right. And, you know, the problem is, when you have a boon, when you're in danger, the boon doesn't mean anything if you're dead later, so—
Eric: Exactly.
Brandon: Yeah, true. It's a good point. That's why you should spend all of your money immediately.
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: No good too, if you're dead later.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Exactly right. That's the time value of money. You guys have passed my test.
Eric: This podcast has just been role playing personal finance.
Amanda: Here's a question from n/a Nicole. "How long did you know Audrey was a key? Was she a key all along? It wasn't even a thought that crossed my mind until it was revealed." So what is Nicole talking about here, that Audrey herself may, in fact, be a key, or that she's working with the rotten key?
Julia: I think the— may I tell my theory, Eric, and then you can tell me if I'm wrong?
Eric: Please, please.
Julia: Now, you remember when Eric did a cool little plug at the end of an episode about the ooze that was inside Audrey crawling into the key mold at the bottom of the sea?
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: Oh, yes.
Eric: I do remember that.
Julia: I think that is what the rotten key is, is the key that that mold created out of the zombie goo that was out of Audrey.
Brandon: Of course, Julia. Did you just remember this, or have you been thinking about this the whole time and neglected to tell your player characters?
Julia: Well, when he said like, "Oh, the rotten key." I was like, "I know exactly what that is, because you did a cool little plug at the end of the episode."
Amanda: And Brandon, I said, "Wow, a whole new key."
Brandon: Wow, a whole new key for nothing.
Julia: It is technically a whole new key, but—
Brandon: It connects to nothing that is brand-new, and doesn't matter that we didn't think about anything else.
Julia: Uh-huh.
Eric: Julia, is it a theory if it's backed up by explicit text? Who can say?
Julia: I mean, it's a theory the way that evolution is technically a theory. There you go.
Eric: I just love when you guys come to me with headcanons, you're like, "Alright, here's what I think happened." I'm like, "Well, that would make sense because of the text"
Brandon: Here’s my headcanon.
Julia: It would make sense because of the thing I said.
Eric: It's a headcanon in that you used your head and used the gray matter to analyze text. Yeah, absolutely right.
Amanda: Thoughts as little cannons when you think about it.
Brandon: Oh .
Amanda: All those electrons cross— crossing the blood brain barrier. Incredible. You see the distance between Amanda and Troy shrinking over time.
Brandon: Shrinking.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: LibraryChick asks, "Is the rotten key working with Audrey?" I've got to assume that the rot— what connects the rotten key to Audrey is, like, a bond that is unbreakable.
Julia: Well, we also don't know kind of what happened to Audrey. We know that we kind of sent her away. This goo thing sort of took over her. I don't even know if the, like, sentience of Audrey still exists.
Amanda: Fair.
Brandon: Right. Or at least, like, the malicious spirit-y thing, whatever it is, you know?
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I also don't think we kno— I think it's probably a good guess up there in league or something like that. But, like, we don't know for sure that maybe the goo made this key, the rotten key and, like, you know, "My child decided to rebel against me," you know?
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: No, I think, I think goo is key. Goo crawled into key.
Brandon: No, I know.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: But if Audrey was working or worked to help create this key somehow, whatever, doesn't necessarily mean they're still working together at this point, you know?
Julia: I think the horde of zombies riding with the rotten key is a good indicator, but that's just me.
Brandon: I know, I'm saying we— I— we could be either way, Ghoulia, and you are also the Ghoulia.
Amanda: It's possible we're wrong, but I think that's a good supposition.
Brandon: Yes.
Amanda: Eric, anything to add here, or is that a who can say?
Eric: Yeah. My favorite part about Buc-ee's is how there's brisket sandwiches and they make them for you right in front of you. I think that's pretty cool.
Brandon: My favorite part about Bucky is how much he loves cap and how much their friendship is strong.
Amanda: Wow. Stolen bisexual valor from your partner, the coffee ghost. JK, I'm not gatekeeping shipping. You're fine.
Eric: I'm really excited about Thunderbolts*, because Bucky is going to be in Buc-ee's, and that's going to be pretty cool.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Alright, folks, let's journey into Episode 54 the final skill tree. Can I tell you? I had a little tear to my eye when the episode description Eric wrote for this episode 54 was, "We've grown our tree and now it will bloom."
Brandon: Aw, that's so sweet.
Julia: So cute. Too sad.
Brandon: And soon it will die.
Amanda: No.
Julia: No, that's not how tree work.
Eric: Brandon, I don't know if you're as good as gardening as you've been letting on. I think maybe it's something good.
Brandon: Can I tell you this thing that I did to ruin Lauren's life?
Amanda: Oh, sure.
Eric: Absolutely.
Julia: Yes. A 100%. I want to hear that.
Brandon: So don't take— I'm not a master gardener. I've just read stuff and look stuff up on YouTube, but I read and— whatever about trees where the top parts of their roots need to be exposed, because that is also part of their— like, the trunk system, where they take in oxygen.
Julia: How they breathe, yeah.
Brandon: Yeah. So— but a lot of people will cover that right up to the trunk with mulch or whatever. And the stuff I read was like, "Eventually, it won't— may not be quick, but eventually, that tree will die if it doesn't have its roots—"
Amanda: You didn't tell Lauren that all trees are slowly drowning, did you?
Brandon: And I told Lauren this, and then as we were in Texas, we were driving around, and I was like, "That tree is gonna die. That tree is gonna die. That tree is gonna die. That tree is gonna die."
Julia: Brandon, Brandon Grugle, can I tell you something?
Brandon: What?
Julia: Jake taught me, that same fact, and every time he calls them tree volcanoes.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: Where they, like, pile up—
Amanda: They do.
Julia: —the mulch—
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Julia: —like— kind of like a volcano around the tree. Every time he sees one, he goes, "Tree volcano, it's gonna die."
Brandon: It's gonna die.
Amanda: Is this the Roman Empire of straight men that I didn't know about?
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I guess so.
Eric: I just finally understand male privilege.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: It's the male privilege of cursing their female partners with this knowledge.
Julia: Yar.
Amanda: Honey, thanks for not saying that to me, and instead sending me every image of Moo Deng that you find on your timeline. There's all kinds, there's all kinds out there.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Brandon: You know, if Moo Deng's roots don't get exposed to water or air…
Eric: Yeah, that's why Moo Deng is always—
Julia: That's why she always look so wet.
Eric: That's why Moo Deng always in pool.
Amanda: Last night, I did the feminine ritual of moisturizing myself to the point that I felt vaguely uncomfortable and sticky. And I said, "Look, Eric, I'm just like Moo Deng.
Julia: Yeah, you are. You are, girlfriend. You are like Moo Deng.
Brandon: Incredible.
Amanda: Alright, folks, let's get this train back on track. Okay? Okay, we're veering off in the wrong direction. Episode 54, the skill tree. Eric, would you please give us a snapshot in where our skill tree ended? Because despite—
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: —the excellent jokes that Julia made in the hopes that it would be true, we cannot, in fact, pause 100% our skill tree and then continue with the mission.
Julia: And rude to imply that we could.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, it's my fault. I'm sorry that I said something funny like that. Yeah. So here's where we ended up with the skill tree. You have done two of the dig and rolls, two of the six of dig and rolls.
Brandon: Rip.
Eric: You— we already know what happened with Havana Tropicana, with doctor, doctor.
Julia: Because we can never do the dig and rolls ever again, Eric, can you tell us what the other four things are?
Eric: I do have them. I will tell you, yes.
Amanda: I want an epilogue where we return to the hold and all we do is dig and rolls and befriend the crib.
Julia: Well, that is— assuming we survive.
Eric: You're gonna get some DLC.
Amanda: Julia, when we survive and have a lot of free time, why do you guys keep saying that?
Eric: Postgame DLC, okay. You did one of the Magnolia network. That one really didn't bear out, because I think a lot of— we kind of took ourselves away from the hold.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: But I think there was an aversion of when you guys did the puppet show, where, like, we could have had an entire arc on the island of, like, things—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —going bad in the hold—
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: —when things could have went bad.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: Which is why the Magnolia network was for, now, all the buildings were, like, sturdier. You did none of Lords in the Manor, no— none of Monster Wrangler, even though that was such a massive part of the beginning of this campaign, which I find that very interesting.
Julia: Yeah, we really thought we had more time with that big crab.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Uh-hmm. You did the puppets, which we talked about. Only one of them, though you never made it private or public, so it kind of just existed.
Julia: It just felt wrong either way.
Eric: Yeah, it was kind of interesting. Ship Shape was there. Your ship HP went up, and Harold did the bonus, which we've been talking about Harold doing bonus stuff lately. And of course, we added Gloria. And we unlocked a few character backstories.
Julia: Hmm. Yes, yes, we did.
Amanda: Harold's health has been absolutely incredible during this arc in particular, so I really appreciate that we chose that.
Brandon: I would say Harold is the real hero, honestly. What are we doing? We do nothing.
Julia: Wow.
Eric: Fair.
Brandon: It's all about Harold.
Julia: Wow.
Eric: Yeah. Let's like, examine Harold and Sil for— of, like, six episodes. This is, like, My Hero Academia, where, like, at the end, we're like, "Oh, let's talk to the— let's see what the villains are doing. Let's see what the villains are doing."
Julia: "What's up with this guy?"
Eric: "What's up with this guy? What's up with this—"
Brandon: Are you saying— Eric, are you saying that Harold is a villain?
Eric: Yes. Spoilers.
Amanda: Wow.
Eric: Okay. Okay. Do you want to hear some of the stuff that I have written down here?
Julia: Yar.
Amanda: Why, yes, Eric, but Librarychick wants to know, "What something is on the skill tree we didn't see that you want to share?" And TinkerBeast wants to know, "What's the top thing on the skill tree that we players didn't get to do, but wish we could?"
Eric: Yeah, I think there was a lot of interesting monster stuff that could have happened. I didn't really flesh it out because you never even turned it on. But you know, if you would wrangle that thing, we would have really figured it out, and it would have been quite interesting, but I can't talk about dig and roll, for sure. So what you ended up doing, which I find so funny, and I've had written down since the beginning of the campaign, number four was nothing. Number four was nothing, that was the first thing—
Julia: Good job, Brandon.
Eric: —Brandon rolled and luckily, there was a note in there that said, "LOL." And at least you got to explore that note a little bit.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And then, of course, number one was the lightning whip.
Brandon: Hmm. Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Julia: Nonny's lightning whip.
Amanda: Huge, huge for Nonny.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Huge.
Amanda: Huge for Nonny.
Eric: Number five was bad. It was a mimic chest with a frog tongue that would have grabbed the first person to come within 10 feet.
Julia: Oh, that would have been so funny for Umbi.
Brandon: And do what with it? Just chomp on him?
Julia: Eat him.
Eric: Yeah, chomp, chomp down on him.
Brandon: Oh, no.
Amanda: That is funny.
Eric: And we would have figured out.
Julia: That would have been so funny for Umbi. Oh, my goodness.
Eric: It would have been really funny. Number two was a cursed treasure.
Brandon: Eric, was there anything good in this fucking table?
Julia: Yeah, I got a cool whip.
Eric: Yes.
Amanda: And Eric's treasure.
Eric: 4 out of 6 of them were goo— 3 out of 6 of them were good— no, 4 out of— 3 out of 6 of them were good. So this one was cursed. It was called the Serpentine Horn. I got this from the Griffon's Saddlebag, which is really great. I was doing this around the OGL stuff too, so I was really into a lot of the third party people. This was a horn that on a failed save, a creature can't move in a straight line and must zigzag back and forth, which I thought was kind of funny. There was also a 10% chance of the horn transforming into a giant snake and enrapturing you, which is why it was cursed.
Brandon: Oh, no.
Julia: Cool.
Amanda: Maybe it's good we got nothing.
Brandon: Yeah, maybe.
Eric: Yeah, which is—
Brandon: I mean, we didn't get nothing. We got a really sweet note that says, "LOL," on it.
Eric: Yeah. And you got the whip, too.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Got a cool whip for an octopus.
Eric: Number three was a good treasure, that was just neat treasure, that was called the Blowfish Armor. This was also from Griffon's Saddlebag.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: Basically, it helped you swim and then you could, like, puff out like a blowfish under water.
Brandon: Ooh.
Julia: Very cool.
Eric: And it would help you swim. So if one of you fell on the water, you could— it was like a life jacket. And this is the one that I wish we had gotten to. Number six, there was a cave system under the island.
Amanda: No!
Julia: Fuck! Fuck.
Eric: You would have dug and found catacombs.
Brandon: That is literally everything I want, everything I need, everything I didn't get.
Julia: Can we just replay until, like— we'll rewind to the point where Umbi first dig and rolls and then he can roll 6?
Brandon: Yeah, can I save scum back to--
Julia: Sure?
Eric: No. No. No way you still have that— you have that autosave, Brandon. No way. Absolutely not. All I wrote was cave system under the island.
Amanda: Classic.
Eric: I did not write anything else.
Julia: He would have had to figure something out.
Eric: We would just sort of figure it out.
Julia: Damn.
Brandon: I bet there's a bunch of crabs down there.
Amanda: That's really good.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Maybe that's how we get the big crab, is we befriend the little crabs.
Amanda: Yeah, of course.
Eric: Yeah. I was definitely prepared to have, like, an arc on the hold and this—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: You know, if you—
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: —found the cave system, we would have spent a few episodes down there, done a little— a little mega dungeon. It probably would have involved the other pirates. I mean, we talked about this a little bit when we were— when we did that one with the puppet show of like— the other pirates on the island are around and didn't like you. And— but Lucky Edie had quite a lot of sway over them to do what you wanted, so— that you guys didn't really interact with him on that level, and you almost like— you seeded that to her pretty quickly.
Amanda: Well, Eric, when we go on tour again and do some Campaign Three live shows, I think a little dungeon crawl under the hold is a wonderful plot.
Julia: That would be cool.
Eric: That's pretty cool.
Brandon: That would be fun.
Eric: I didn't even think of that.
Amanda: Just saying.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: So of course, we also, in Episode 54 in the skill tree, got Gloria to us, which was super, super helpful. And got some explanation as to what, like, actually went down in South Kompos City. So here's a question from Shelby. "Did Gloria have an actual role in South Kompos? Was she selected to go on the journey to find the cure, or did she go of her own volition? Great question.
Brandon: My read was that she went on her own volition, but she obviously had some sort of role in that council thing.
Julia: Yeah, she's like a council person or something important.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. I feel like I always have a tendency to say like, "This person's on the city council of the city."
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: And in my head, there was like an emergency council once the lichenthrope started, of like, "Here are all the competent adults who have not been bit yet." That's what Amanda kind of, like, walked into, right? Or that's what—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —Troy Blue Skidoo into with the glasses.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And Gloria, I— in my head, Gloria was just like, "Alright, I'm going, because you are all boulders now. See you later. I don't want to be caught up in this thing." So I think she just kind of went because there was nothing else left for her. That was the other thing, was, like, she didn't know necessarily this happened. I think she left before the World Government separated South Kompos City and pushed it into the middle of the middle of Verda Stello into the Great Salt Sea.
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: So I think, like, that's why she was so surprised by everything that was happening. And, like, with that history check that Cammie made, it was like— I don't like it when DMs do this, because it's like, "Oh, have you ever thought about this?" Or, like, you think it's almost like— you take control of the character and, like, put the neurons together in their head.
Julia: Right.
Eric: But I really felt like I had to do that, especially because of the things you know now. It's like Gloria doesn't know this necessarily, but you now are like, "Oh, shit."
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: "Oh, I didn't— that's— that— now I know enough to put all of this together with my Natural 20."
Julia: Yar.
Brandon: I'm just— I was just thinking about how they—
Eric: Julia said yar three times in this episode already.
Julia: I say that now, I don't know why.
Brandon: I'm just thinking about how— I was pondering how they would have broken off that piece of land to go into the ocean like that. And I'm realizing—
Amanda: Big crap.
Brandon: Oh, I was realizing that they could have used bombs.
Julia: I was just gonna say, obviously, Brandon, it was bombs.
Brandon: And then I was like, "Well, who the fuck is the other Mad Bomber?"
Amanda: You know.
Julia: I mean, it could have been Umbi but with amnesia.
Brandon: Was it Umbi—
Amanda: No, it could be Dr. Radish Radish.
Brandon: —with amnesia.
Julia: Oh, yes.
Amanda: Didn't we have that pamphlet all about one of your techniques?
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: That we found in the maze?
Julia: Or we found your technique of bomb in the divine labyrinth.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah, with the pamphlet, that's right.
Brandon: That's true. That's true. Good thing he's dead now.
Julia: I think Dr. Radish Radish might just have been like— or rather Umbi is a reincarnation of Dr. Radish Radish, even though he never died.
Brandon: I mean, that's definitely true, yeah.
Julia: Even though he never died.
Eric: I was thinking—
Brandon: Dr. Radish Radish? No, he's dead.
Amanda: Yeah, but he lives on.
Eric: No, we took that out. He just died. It was funny that he died. I was fine with it. I was thinking explosions, too. I was thinking about a lot of different like Atlanta stories that are out there and a ver— like a version of that. It was like this South Kompos City thrived because it was on an isthmus.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: Or something like that. It's just, like, blow up the land bridge and it's gone.
Brandon: Yes.
Amanda: Nice. I posit still, giant crab.
Eric: It could have been, I don't know. I'm not really sure.
Amanda: Yep.
Brandon: Why not both? 'Por qué no los dos?
Julia: Big crunch.
Amanda: Very true.
Eric: Yeah. There's probably like, a secret document that you could have found in there that explained it, but it just wasn't—
Julia: Probably.
Eric: —you just didn't see it.
Amanda: Well—
Julia: I looked.
Eric: I want to give a special shout out to Julia reading Valda's Spire of Secrets and knowing the spell clue, which was really, really funny.
Julia: I love that spell now. It's one of my favorite spells.
Brandon: Yeah, it's good.
Amanda: It was so fun.
Julia: I want to use it more in the future.
Amanda: It was so good. And we did find something really important down there, even if it wasn't a secret document, which was Gloria's hammer. Eric, did you—
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: —imagine that we could find the thing itself, or were you more planning on us to get something sweet, something juicy, you know, et cetera?
Eric: Yeah. I— well, I did want you to into the woods a little bit to try to get some bonuses put this together. But I think slowly, as the Kompos arc went on, because you didn't— you were putting together the mystery of what to do and how to get out of there, and then Gloria's hideaway got revealed, I'm like, "Well—" it's like we were able to flesh out the character of Gloria before you found the place. So it's like, "Well, now you know her, so now there's probably something in there."
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And then it's almost like I got to put that in there, which felt really nice.
Amanda: Hell, yeah.
Eric: Yeah. It's like I have these ideas, and because of what you all do, then I get to put it into action. I think there's a question about, like, what do I plan ahead of time, or what sounds fun? And it's really a combination of both. Like, I don't think it's more about what is good prep or what is on the fly, or what's improv. It's like— it's a real combination of just knowing the space and letting actions dictate what happens next.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. That question you're referring to is from Emily, who writes, "Eric, how much of the interrelated details do you plan out ahead of time versus, "Yeah, this connection would be sweet.?" Thinking specifically of the lichenthrope and Sil possible connection." To which Lyle, from the Internet replied, "Whichever answer is funnier at the time," -Eric, probably."
Eric: Yeah. It's a combination of both, honestly. Like, what's funny at the time? It's like, "Oh, well, this actually does fit together." The whole thing with Sil, is like— yeah, I don't even remember where I was going with that, but Sil definitely came from somewhere weird, and then we never touched it again, and then here we are. So I'm like, "Oh, this actually fits together really nicely." And, you know, I just love certain themes. I mean, we— then the last Afterparty, we just talked about how I tease zombie plants in Campaign One. I'm like, "I like the things that I like and they come back around really nicely."
Brandon: Yeah. And I think— I mean, like, I don't mean to speak for you, but I think there's a real power, real like— I don't know what the word is, but a real advantage in just taking those opportunities as they, like, present themselves, you know?
Eric: Yeah, for sure.
Brandon: Like, don't let them pass by, because you already had plans, you know?
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Right, exactly.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: As they present themselves, dive into them.
Eric: There's a thing, I think, when someone— maybe people who make escape rooms or it's mystery novels, it could be either one. But someone said that, like, a good tease or good foreshadowing means that, like, 60% of your audience know— gets it when they see the reveal, and 40% are surprised. That means that you did a good job seeding what happens here. So it's like, there are things that I've set up here that you can all listen back to and see what I've been talking about this entire time. And when you say, like, what Julia just said to me about the key, it's like, "Yeah, you analyzed the text. Congratulations." And, like, that's good. Like, I did my job, and, you know, it's about the— some things I set up and some things I don't, so that I don't go when you guys make choices. I'm not like, "Haha. Shut up, you have to do the thing that I said." Like, I mean, we— you see this all the time with Game of Thrones, how, you know, George R.R. Martin wrote himself into a corner. The TV show did something, and it wasn't satisfying. And now, he— and now, he's stuck. The whole point of why we play Dungeons and Dragons and tabletop RPGs instead of writing plays and novels is because it should be malleable based on everyone's choices.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I just want to note that your sample size of three here is not representative, because you do have an Amanda and a Brandon in it.
Julia: That is pretty close to the 60-40 though, if we think about it.
Brandon: No, it'd be 33-66.
Julia: Yeah. But that's—
Amanda: A bit close.
Julia: —kind of close.
Amanda: We have one person who gets it.
Brandon: But in reverse.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: And two people who are like, "Whoa."
Eric: This is, like, in Jackbox when, like, people vote for you, and then the audience, like, pushes it all the way to the other side. Like, it's fine. Like, I understand, it's fine.
Amanda: Eric, was one of those clues you seeded a reference to The Fugitive? Because BlueSpctr points out that the wanted poster being, "In every outhouse, doghouse, chicken house is a reference to the movie, if they're not mistaken."
Eric: Oh, yeah. Everyone, go watch The Fugitive, man.
Amanda: It's great.
Eric: What a good movie.
Brandon: Never seen it.
Eric: Brandon, it's so good. This is the premise of the— this is the premise. Harrison Ford is a very skilled surgeon and then someone kills his wife. And he then goes on the run because he didn't kill his wife. In fact, he says, "I didn't kill my wife," a lot.
Julia: "I don't care."
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And then Tommy Lee Jones, young Tommy Lee Jones.
Amanda: Young Jones.
Eric: Young Jones.
Julia: He's never been young in his life, but okay.
Eric: He's never— this is the youngest he's ever been, is this role.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Is a taciturn US Marshall.
Amanda: Grizzled, yeah.
Eric: And he's awesome.
Amanda: It's really good. A lot of good locations, a lot of, like, incredible high jinks. There's some social engineering. Highly recommend.
Brandon: Ooh. Yeah
Eric: Yeah. It's like there's some crime stuff—
Julia: There's conspiracy. It’s great.
Eric: Lot of conspiracy, and it's all tied up in medical stuff, which is really—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —funny to reflect on because it was made in the '90s. Here's what you need to know, Tommy Lee Jones for this action— this, like, hard-charging action movie, won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars.
Brandon: That's awesome.
Eric: It's incredible.
Amanda: Right.
Julia: Add it your list, Brandon.
Eric: This movie's incredible. It's so, so good, and everyone in the cast is that is top tier.
Julia: It also weirdly feels like a Lauren movie to me, so I feel like you guys should watch it together.
Brandon: Yeah, I'm sure she would love it. Do you want to hear something that's gonna make you want to jump out a window? It was— came out 31 years ago.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah, '93.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: That's okay, because I have no memories there.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: You know?
Julia: I was just a babe, a literal babe.
Amanda: It's when I am at a party with a child drinking— who is drinking. Child's 21, okay? They're drinking, and he goes, "So what was it like to have been born before 9/11?" And I go, "Uh-oh." And I then leave.
Julia: Oh, fuck off child.
Brandon: Did you just yell PIPNE at them and then run away?
Amanda: I went, "Uh-oh."
Eric: It was really easy to go on planes, honestly. That's it. That's it.
Amanda: Honestly, it's like you walk into an airport whenever you wanted, pretty much.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, but I was nine, I don't really remember that.
Amanda: No, it was—
Julia: I didn't appreciate it then.
Eric: I didn't appreciate it at all.
Amanda: It was staggering. With that memory in the forefront of my mind, I'm gonna go back to the kitchen to make sure I refill our snack tray.
Brandon: Thank you.
Amanda: Be right back.
Julia: Thanks, Amanda.
Eric: "I didn't kill my wife."
Julia: "I don't care."
[theme]
Amanda: Hey, it's Amanda. We have been cooking up some very exciting things for you here at Join the Party land, and it reminds me of planning a surprise party. And I don't know about you, but I always get so stressed that the person will know or that things won't go well. But when you pull it off, when the person is like, "Oh, my God, you did what?" It is like a rush unlike any other. And I hope and think that y'all are going to feel that way about some of the stuff that we have to announce, but first I want to thank our newest patron, Spaghetti Sauce. We love you, Spaghetti Sauce. What an excellent name. Thank you so much for being a patron. And if you out there are trying to support Join the Party and you're excited about the announcement that we have coming out next week, yes, I know, it'll be in the next episode, we are so excited. A wonderful way to show us your support and help us continue making the show that we care about with all of the energy and time that we do is to join us on Patreon, patreon.com/jointhepartypod, and in thanks, we give you stuff like our every other week podcast, Party Planning, ad-free episodes, access to the Discord and so much more. Check it out this week at Multitude, I have had to take the train a lot, and one of my very favorite train podcasts is Pale Blue Pod. The astronomy podcast for people who are overwhelmed by the universe but want to be its friend, where astrophysicist Dr Moiya McTier and comedian Corinne Caputo demystify space one topic at a time, with open eyes and open arms and open mouths from laughing and jaw dropping so much. By the end of each episode, the cosmos will feel a little bit less scary and a lot more cool. Check out new episodes every Monday wherever you get your podcasts. We are sponsored this week by Volante Designs. If you are looking for clothing that makes you feel like a main character, like a badass, like the kind of person who— when someone notices you in a coffee shop and are like, "Nice jacket." You're like, "Thanks, I know." You gotta check out Volante Design, okay? If you go to volantedesign.us, they've been kind enough to make the code Join the Party for 10% off your whole order. That's Join the Party, all one word, for 10% off your order of everything, whether that is like officially licensed apparel from series like Assassin's Creed, Devil May Cry and Star Trek and original collections, like their vaguely cyberpunk and vaguely like modern ninja stuff. It doesn't look quite like cosplay gear, but it looks like you're the kind of cool person who might cosplay and you happen to be commuting on the train. Honestly, so incredible. So that's volantedesign.us and the code is Join the Party. We are also sponsored by Tab for a Cause. The browser extension that lets you raise money for charity while just doing your thing online. Whenever you open a new tab, you see a beautiful photo and a tiny little ad, and part of that ad money goes toward a charity of your choice. Now, I really like Tab for a Cause, both because it lets me raise money for charity while browsing the internet, but also because the photos are so beautiful. It's kind of like the best of, like, a desktop screensaver type situation, but instead, it just shows me a gorgeous photo of somewhere on Earth. And I'm like, "Wow, Earth is amazing." So join Team Join the Party and help us raise money together at tabforacause.org/jointheparty. That's tabforacause.org/jointheparty. And now, back to the Afterparty.
[theme]
Amanda: Alright, folks. We have a selection of hand dipped chocolate-covered fruits, a thing that—
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: —is easier than you would imagine to do at home and much cheaper.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: That's wild, because I searched in every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, hen house, other house and doghouse in that area, and I couldn't find it up to a checkpoint of 15 miles.
Julia: Wow.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: Wow.
Amanda: It's pretty good.
Brandon: Wow.
Eric: Wow.
Julia: I can just make chocolate-covered pretzels. I just realized that.
Amanda: You could.
Julia: I could just do that.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Do— you got to do white chocolate? So good.
Julia: No, because I'm not a monster, Brandon.
Brandon: Oh, no. Julia, so good.
Julia: No.
Eric: Now, is white chocolate a rich people thing?
Julia: No.
Amanda: No.
Brandon: No?
Amanda: It's just bad. Just bad.
Julia: It's like distinctly not. A rich people brain rot thing would be chocolate so dark that it is unpleasurable to eat.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Chocolate so dark that it's supposed to do good things for your brain.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: You know what a rich person thing is? Oh, should I share this, or should I write it down?
Eric: No, write it down.
Julia: Write it down. Write it down.
Eric: I need you to understand that this is good because Brandon came up with them—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —so you know that half of them are totally off the wall.
Amanda: It's incredible.
Julia: I mean, half of them, we did say, "Brandon, what the fuck are you talking about?"
Eric: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Again, if you listen to this Afterparty halfway through and you've not listened to the Patreon, this is your reason, okay?
Eric: There is a preview. There is a preview in the feed.
Amanda: Yep.
Eric: Listen to it if you're excited about the premise, then just give us $5. Give us $5 one time.
Amanda: One time.
Julia: One time.
Eric: One time.
Amanda: One time, I promise.
Brandon: Just Venmo Eric directly.
Eric: Venmo me $5.
Julia: No, that's not how it works.
Amanda: Don't do that. Our taxes will get very complicated. Don't do that. Alright, folks, on to the beginning of the Mango Crossing arc, which I find delightful. I have been using the mango emoji quite a lot recently. It's very fun. And we got some incredible items from Gloria.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Julia, Brandon, how did you feel about your fun armor and potato respectively?
Julia: Obviously, I loved them. Obviously, I loved them.
Brandon: Yeah. Title, I love having a hot potato that I can, you know, just, like, toss at unsuspecting opponents, or just, like, drop on something flammable, or, like, make a hole in something. This is, like— honestly, if I were to ask for something in real life that was, like, mythical and magical, it would be this.
Julia: Wow.
Brandon: And I think this is fun.
Eric: It was pretty fun. Again, we talk about this a lot, about how all three of you have different play styles, but it was really fun, like making a late game item to encourage certain of those things. This is also part of the absolute insanity I was in. And you can tell, as we talked about in the previous Afterparty, we recorded so many of these episodes back-to-back that I actually remembered what happened in the last episode and immediately did it.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: So the hot potato was something Brandon said, and I'm like, "Yeah, we're doing that. That's awesome. I love that."
Julia: I think there's a great question about the process of making these items, right?
Amanda: There is, from TorboTheSkald. "Eric, did you design Gloria's items for the players with their characters more in mind, or the players behind them? I'm thinking of Cammie's dimensional tea chat ability and how Julia would use it, but I think the question works for all the items and players."
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Well, I asked all of them what they wanted, and they told me. And then I had to make some choices about what it was. And I wonder—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: —if you can imagine what the three of my friends here all asked for. Amanda was like, "I don't know, something cool. That'd be nice. I don't know, something neat. Like, what if I had, like, a little scope on my bow. That'd be nice." And then Julia was like, "I never want to lose ever again."
Julia: Yes.
Eric: "I never want to lose a dice roll ever again. Make it fix that." And then Brandon was like, "Here's some wacky ideas."
Julia: I'm just trying to scroll up to see what exactly we each asked for, which I think it's kind of funny.
Brandon: Well, mine are in the— in a DM, so—
Julia: Okay. So if you could read yours, then, Brandon, I would appreciate it, but I'm gonna read Amanda and mine's, I believe.
Eric: Yeah. Brandon gave me a few ideas, and some of them were really, really insane and broken, which is, again, it's like Brandon just throws them all out. Brandon asked for a Poke Ball so he could capture creatures in a bomb.
Julia: Cool.
Amanda: Would be great.
Brandon: Yeah. I wanted to be something with, like a bomb casing, right? So I had, like, a Poke Ball that could capture creatures inside it, or I just have a little guy inside of one, which was, like— I was thinking of, you know, a Bartlett style thing.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: The hot potato, something I was— I'm reading Lord of the Rings again, and watching Rings of Power. So the Palantir, which is like a crystal ball that lets me see what's happening in the present, somewhere else, which would be fun, could be fun.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: That's just crying, baby,
Brandon: That's just crying. Yeah, exactly that's what I was thinking of. And then a proximity bomb, instead of just a time bomb, would be cool.
Eric: I was able to fold that in, which I was really happy about. Like, with the hot potato, I was just like, "Alright, let's give Brandon as many choices as possible with this thing." Like, I really gave a lot of detail of the things you could do with it, because I know you're going to juke me and do something crazy with it, like a speed runner doing Legend of Zelda. It's— you're gonna do something absolutely insane, and I'm—
Brandon: I'm just gonna eat it. I'm just gonna eat it.
Eric: —excited— I mean, I'm excited about it. Like, who knows? Like, this thing gets hot, do whatever you want with it. There's a bunch of different ways to soup it up, and we'll have a discussion when that happens. It's kind of funny, I realized that a lot of the things you asked for were kind of traditional DND stuff. Like, not the proximity bomb, for sure, but like the Palantir just being able to scry, that's such, like, a bog standard, right from the book sort of thing. And the Poke Ball, ridiculous, but summoning something to be your aid is actually something I found a lot when I was trying to look up if anyone had done something like a fire elemental stone before.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: But it was all like, "Oh, yeah, fire elemental monster comes to your aid." I'm like, "Fuck that. That's so boring."
Julia: Boring. Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Let's put more minis on the table. Shut up. Shut up. Hey, wizards, shut up.
Brandon: I didn't— yeah, because I didn't know what I wanted and I think you two had an idea right away, and I didn't— so I— yeah, I did a bunch of looking up of legendary items and other ideas, and just, yeah, picked some stuff that I saw was cool.
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: Yeah. I have both of mine and Amanda's messages, I'll start with Amanda. She said, "I want an item from Gloria that can improve my accuracy. For flavor, I'm thinking a sighting scope on the crossbow. Ideally, I'd have a certain number of charges per long rest, or maybe it just improves my accuracy overall."
Amanda: So as you can tell, I'm fucking tired of not rolling crits on 18,19, or 20, as is pretty much one of the reasons why I chose this class. But Eric did point out, I think, very fairly, that that does kind of mess with, like, the fundamental thing about rolling to hit.
Eric: And because you get to roll twice, that's the whole point for you.
Amanda: Yeah. I already have two attacks. Right.
Eric: I think it's for being able to give you something you couldn't even conceive of was really nice. And when I showed it to some other people, I showed it to Mischa, and I showed it to my friend Jeff, they're like, "This is, like, multi Omnislash. This is so broken." I'm like, "Yeah, I know. I want to see what happens. That's why there's only three of them." I made it really clear that Gloria didn't make these, that Gloria was gifted to them, and was like, "I don't know what to do with it." And then gave it to Troy. So it's like, there's only three in existence, so I'm very excited for Amanda to, like, pick and choose what to do here. So with— yeah, so with Brandon, I'm like, you're playing this like, it's an open world video game, go off, king, do whatever you want. With Amanda, it's like, you— I want to give you the mechanics you might not even have known is possible. Like, here you go, do this. And with Julia, my little power gamer gremlin, I'm like, "I can't give you the thing you want, because that's broken. I cannot—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: "—do it. I'm not gonna—" the one thing I have to resist your insa— because, again, your spellcaster here, the most broken thing in Dungeons and Dragons, especially, because you can do them without even— with your cackles and with your hexes and your grand hexes, I can't let you do that. So I gave you a little breakable frog, so you can do it one time. And instead, I gave you something else.
Brandon: Where did the frog come from, Eric? The idea of the frog.
Eric: Asking—
Julia: Frogs are cute.
Eric: Frogs are neat, I think.
Julia: Uh-hmm. I just think they're neat.
Eric: I just— yeah. It was fun coming up with, like, a cape that had a diff— a bunch of different uses, and, of course—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —something tea-related, so like, a tea mat was my idea. And I like—
Amanda: That was very cool.
Eric: And I like the idea that, like, Gloria— because Gloria had such a life before this. She's like, "I've been holding on to this weird ingot for a long time. I think you're able— you're going to be able to do something with it, so here you go." And then making, like, a chain mail out of it kind of worked really nicely. And just like, I don't know, when you have a little stuff at the end, you make a frog.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Hurray.
Julia: Well, can we talk about the tea mat aspect of my item? Because the things—
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: —that I had specifically requested were, like, some plus to AC. I hate being hit and then allowing something that allows me to impose disadvantage on a saving throw against my magic.
Eric: Yeah, and I'm not gonna let—
Amanda: Great.
Eric: I'm not gonna let you do that constantly. No, no, no, only one time.
Julia: That's fine. That's okay. I'll save it for a very important, special thing, like, when we modify the Edie's memory. Like, that's—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —the kind of, like, one where I'm like, "If this fails, this fucking sucks." You know what I mean?
Eric: Yeah, for sure.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: But I'm really curious as to where the idea of the, like, tea ceremony, I can pull you to the side for, you know, at least around kind of thing came from.
Eric: I guess I was thinking a lot about the origins of Cammie all the way back to the first few episodes, and we were exploring these classes from Valda's Spire of Secrets, buy it, wherever, Third-party Dungeons and Dragons stuff were sold. How Cammie didn't— how much you used peacebound in the beginning.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —and how that was always— it was about— it was, like, control but not through violence.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: It was almost through, like, forced pacifism, and this is—
Julia: yeah.
Eric: —how it felt connecting end game ite— powerful endgame item with those origins, felt very important to me, and being able to pull that all together with a tea ceremony, I thought felt very interesting. It was also fun that, like, this is an end game thing, so it was like you earned the demi plane to me. Like, I know that's such like a DND thing. Like, go into this pocket. I mean, that's literally what the, you know, the bag of holding is. It's a little demi plane in there.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: But it's almost like you pulling them off the board for a second.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And since rounds of combat are only six seconds, I thought it was more interesting than that. It's like, can you engage this person who wants to fight you in conversation for 30 seconds, enough that it will change the tide of battle? I think so. We also— because Julia reads Valda's so much, and I also do, there were two spells in Valda's that inspired this. One was like a Chronomancer spell where you basically get, like, an extra— you get, like, a second just to look around.
Julia: Yeah, it's like a cantrip. I think I had it— it was an option for me when I did the warm age for one of our One Shots.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Julia: But it's called like— hold on. I'm gonna look it up specifically. But it's called, like, take a second or something like that.
Brandon: It was an option for Umbi, too. One of the discoveries was like, "Take some of the spells," and one of the spells was that one.
Julia: Yeah, it's called moment to think.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: I love that one. And then I melded it with another spell that I've loved the entire time, called Game of Fates, which is pretty much the same thing. You compel a creature within range to a non-magical game with vital consequences.
Julia: Brandon used that in our— the Camp-Paign One Shot that we just released as well.
Eric: Oh, that's right. I forgot about that. That's crazy.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: But basically, like the loser of the game— you can choose any game, and it's— I love a game within a game sort of thing. And the loser of the game takes 66 psychic damage, but you can bet anything outside of just being hurt like that. And level six enchantment, doing it once like that felt very powerful, and it was fun to, like, add it to Cammie's arsenal.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Can't wait to see it get used.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And of course, nothing else of note happens in episode 55.
Eric: No, no, no, no, no, no.
Julia: No, nothing at all.
Eric: I had a question about this episode. What a lovely time in this episode. Wow, such a high level, what experienced players I have. Oh, they have new items. Oh, my gosh, They're off to do end game content. Absolutely incredible. And what happens? They get ambushed at a convenience store.
Amanda: Listen, Eric.
Julia: I don't remember going down like that.
Brandon: I— so my recollection of the recording was like, "Oh, man, I was about to have a Bartlett do a flyover and see the situation before we landed." And when I listened back, when I was editing, what happened was, we do this thing because we practice at podcasting, where, like, I think I just said I stepped on someone. Like, I started talking and someone else was talking, so one person just stops talking, so the other person can finish their thought, and then we'll come back to the other thought. But that's just like a podcasting thing. So what happened was that we— you had said that, and I said, "Well, I would like to—" and then someone else started saying an idea, so I stopped talking, and then we just started moving forward. So I was like, "It's not a big deal, we'll just move forward." So I was an inch away—
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: —from having Bartlett find these fucking DK cruise ships.
Eric: Oh, God.
Julia: Oh, we fucked up.
Amanda: But that wouldn't be nearly as fun and end on a nice little cliffhanger where we know, but the audience does not, how precisely we're gonna fuck up this guy's lovely rest stop.
Julia: I'm sure it's gonna be fine and nothing bad is gonna happen, whatsoever.
Brandon: I would never hurt this man.
Julia: No.
Eric: Speaking of inspirations, I— it was really fun to bring some action movie vibes into this. Like, this felt like some John Wick kung fu sort of like vi— sort of thing, some real tense in— being in a normal place, in a heightened action movie situation, felt really good to me, and I— that's why I really liked it. Because I mean, like— or even like— what's the best way to describe this? It's like a regular life thing is in an incredibly strange location, and then the heightened action comes there. It's like a convenience store on the edge of this really weird place, and there's a regular person in there with regular people, that's the family who came from the Book Depository Park. And then government agents walk in, and then it all kind of breaks bad. I was very—
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: —excited about how that— how that shook out.
Amanda: As—
Julia: Just like in The Fugitive.
Eric: Just like in The Fugitive, exactly
Amanda: Savedman97 asked something that was one of my favorite parts of this episode, which is, "We finally got wanted posters for the crew, but what were their bounties? I was picturing all the scenes from One Piece where they celebrate their bounties." And then as—
Eric: That's what I was thinking about.
Amanda: —secondary One Piece question. Sebolicious said, "ow much was the Kompos Facility inspired by Impel Down?"
Eric: Impel Down.
Amanda: Impel Down.
Eric: So the first thing, yeah, that was a 100— I love the bounties— the bounty stuff that happens in One Piece, where they're all, like, comparing how much money it is that, like, they're gonna be taken in for, and how they all have, like, bad photos. Someone, like, doesn't have a photo of them, so, like, a guard had to draw a bad picture of them, and it looks terrible. But I didn't want to get stuck on that, so I kind of just, like, moved past the price. So I wasn't really sure if this was in doublooms or it was in amber. I couldn't even figure out, like, what currency they would get paid in. I didn't even know.
Brandon: But more importantly, whatever the currency was, who was worth the most?
Amanda: Yeah, so players—
Julia: Yeah, that's the most important to us.
Amanda: Players, let's decide, so I think that—
Eric: Havana Tropicana was the most expensive.
Brandon: Fuck!
Amanda: Hmm. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, that makes sense.
Amanda: That's fair.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: He's a male doctor, that's so rare.
Julia: Yeah. People know about him.
Eric: It's like a shiny Pokemon.
Amanda: So let's say that the ruler or rulers of your country set your bounty. I think Troy's would be that a member of Hyperion's, like, royal retinue would kill your most annoying sibling. I think that would be the reward.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: I think the reward for Umbi is like a microwave dinner and some peace and quiet.
Amanda: Hmm.
Brandon: Like— you know?"
Amanda: Good. It's good.
Julia: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Eric: The people of Overstalk are like, "We don't believe in bounties, but here is what you might find at your house later on."
Julia: Uh-hmm. I think Cammie's— if it is from Open Fields, it's just like peace of mind.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: You did the right thing.
Julia: Yeah. Knowing that you did the right thing.
Eric: You got karma points, and that's ultimately what it comes down to.
Brandon: That's true.
Eric: I'm trying to think of who would be the most expensive here, because the three of you, when you zoom out and you go out of context, it's like, okay, disgraced member of the royal family, Troy Riptide, former Senator turned eco terrorist, Umbi, and like, the worst thing possible to Open Fields is probably Cammie, right? Like, orphan ruffian turned terrible witch, magician. That's all up there pretty high. I don't— I really don't know who's the most expensive, because you could make arguments depending on who you're talking to.
Brandon: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Eric: They're like, this is the— each one of you are the— such a large threat to your country's way of life.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: So it's Havana Tropicana, pretty much.
Julia: Yeah, that makes sense.
Eric: But I love the idea. It would either be— I mean, obviously, because this is an anime and JRPG, Havana would either be, like, $1 or, by far and away, the most expensive, right?
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, it's pretty good.
Julia: It's like— it's one of those ones where it's like, you know how it says, like, reward, but it's, like, call to contact and, like, find out what the reward is?
Amanda: Uh-huh.
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: That would be Havana, and then it could go either way.
Eric: Absolutely.
Brandon: The amount of knowledge of wanted posters that you have Julia is concerning to me.
Julia: I have a ton. I just— I have seen a lot of movies.
Eric: I have the regular amount. I have the regular amount, Brandon.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: For— in regards to Kompos and as a— as a One Piece reference to Impel Down, Impel down, I didn't realize actually wasn't as much of an inspiration, but I checked it again. It is an underwater prison facility for the worst criminals and pirates. But, like, I didn't put that together. I just thought it was cool. I was more taking inspiration from the Atlantis thing, which we now know of a city then being turned into a prison. I thought that would have been really cool. The thing about Impel Down, it's pretty much just Dante's Inferno.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Like, how bad of a criminal you are, you have different— a different level has different types of punishment, which is kind of funny based on, like, your sin.
Brandon: That makes sense.
Eric: So I think that's kind of funny.
Amanda: I once saw a, like, art exhibit of illustrations of Dante's Inferno at, like, a Dante Museum, and they're fucked up. And I walked around, I was like, "I didn't know what I expected, but these drawings are really fucked up."
Eric: I was disturbed.
Julia: Pretty bad.
Eric: I wish there was a man from history walking me through it. That would make me feel a lot better. I wish Abraham Lincoln was here showing this to me.
Amanda: Yeah. It was a lot. Then I ate a pupusa—
Brandon: That's funny.
Amanda: —and it was better.
Brandon: That's good. That's good
Eric: And Plato was there. And Plato was like, "Good job, right?"
Amanda: And then Plato and I had Chicha. So here's a question from Trev.and.sam. "Long time, first time, what inspired Brandon's deep dive into his Diamond Knot/Key Theory?"
Eric: I don't remember what this was in reference to, but I wanted to give you an opportunity to respond, Brandon.
Brandon: I did it in character as Umbi, but, like, my whole theory of, like, the salmon doesn't exist.
Eric: Oh, yeah, let me look up what you wrote.
Julia: And it's just to keep the, like, pirates busy or whatever.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: Yeah. I mean, I don't think that's actually true. I don't get that vibe from the way that Eric told the story, but I think it's a possibility. And, yeah, I think it was just me vibing off what Eric said at the end of the episode prior to that Umbi speech, because then I thought about it when we stopped recording, and I was like, "What if this happens?" Because I wrote it in Slack, and then I just brought it up as Umbi to see what the other characters think about it. But I don't know. I mean, like, I don't think it's gonna actually happen.
Eric: Bran— what— okay. Here's what Brandon said, "The government diverted the cascade for some reason to do something they want with it, and in order to keep people from actually trying to investigate and come together to solve the problem. They put out the key rhyme to keep people occupied and going after magic instead of finding a real solution. So there is no salmon, but someone on the inside had stolen the keys to the Cascade diversion machine, so they put out the salmon legend, so pirates would find and bring them the keys." I think it's a fair theory especially after everything that happened at the end of the Kompos arc. That's what—
Brandon: The weak point is that there has to be someone on the inside or some other entity that would have dispersed the keys, like stolen the keys somehow.
Eric: I mean, that's fair.
Brandon: Which is a good point.
Eric: Because Di works— is like a government agent, and so is Edie.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Like, that's entirely possible.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. I'm not confirming or denying, but it's an interesting theory, and I'm about it. Someone would have the conspiracy theory, for sure.
Brandon: I mean, yeah. That's why Umbi has to wear a tin foil hat now.
Julia: Sure.
Amanda: The question surgeon Michelle Spurgeon would like to know, "If the Cascade comes back, what do you think the gang will do? Would the sea still be accessible, or would they have to go back on land? Do you guys think there really is a salmon? There seemed to be a bit of doubt in the last few episodes."
Brandon: I think Umbi— when, when the Cascade comes back and he has proven right about the water shortage issues.
Amanda: Hmm.
Brandon: He's gonna go back to Overstalk and become the most powerful monarch the world has ever seen.
Julia: Fuck.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Julia: You're Dr Radish Radish is showing, my guy.
Eric: That is such IP, like, 20 years after the show was finished nonsense.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yeah. And it's also assuming that he survives to get to that point.
Brandon: That's true. That's true.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: What would Cammie do, and what does Julia think?
Julia: I think I'm gonna answer that question differently than how you asked it, which is I don't know what Cammie would do, and I, Julia, think that Cammie so believes in the salmon.
Amanda: Hmm.
Julia: Like, full— wholeheartedly believes in the salmon. I know that doesn't really answer either of the questions that you asked, but that's what I know enough to answer for you.
Eric: I mean, I would believe in the salmon too, if Baba Yaga was, like, my aunt.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Like, "Oh, I guess this stuff's real, for sure."
Julia: Sure.
Brandon: I mean, I think Umbi also believes in the salmon. I think we all— I don't want to speak for Troy, but I think we all do, we have to, in order to, like, want to figure this out, or want to do this thing this badly, you know?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Well, I don't know if I necessarily agree with that, because I mean, that's— those of you who are pure of heart, but I think something that we've been turning over a little bit, or I know that I've been pushing, is, like, a lot of people saw this as an opportunity to do whatever.
Brandon: Yes, yes, yes.
Eric: So it's, like, the core idea— kind of— I mean, it's an— in a real, sort of, like, crusade, sort of way. Yeah, we were all doing this for Christianity, but why were we really doing it, right? Like, what are we really doing this for? If there's a worldwide hunt for something, I guess you're gonna do it instead of doing your boring life is all— is— or using chaos is a latter sort of way, or influencing, or applying your government powers, or just doing whatever. There's plenty of reasons to have a pirate, even if, like, the consensus is supposed to be, we're all looking for the keys.
Brandon: Right.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: What about Troy?
Amanda: I don't know what he would do. I probably try to go back to his old life and then be very surprised when he no longer is, like, welcome to work at the palace. No, no. He— I think he try to learn more about the separatists. I think he try to, you know, talk to people in the Crags, kind of figure out what they want, that isn't just sort of a violent monarchy being thrown out every few years. And I think he's so used to things that he thought being wrong, that it would not faze him whatsoever if the salmon was not a creature and was instead, you know, one of those metaphor things or whatever. So it—
Julia: It's an old man.
Amanda: —doesn't—
Julia: Just like Umbi.
Amanda: —really fully matter, but he knows we got to get the keys to get to it, and then something else will happen. The details don't matter.
Brandon: As for like— yeah, as for me, the person Brandon, I think there is a salmon, but what a salmon is, is up for debate.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: What if it were a acronym? Like salmon the robot in Campaign One?
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: Yes. Super altruistic—
Amanda: Loving.
Brandon: —man. Oh, no?
Julia: Oh, no. Yeah, because it's a man, we're like, "Oh, no. Not a man."
Eric: There's a W at the end of salmon, it's a silent W, that's wishes.
Amanda: Alright, folks. Here's a question from Tinkerbeast, "What's your favorite key, and why is it The key with a gaze?" I do love the key with a gaze—
Julia: It is the key with a gaze.
Brandon: Key with a gaze?
Amanda: —'cause I miss them.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: I miss them.
Julia: We don't know what the fun thing about the sky key is, unfortunately.
Amanda: No, I'm excited. I want to meet that one.
Eric: Yeah. I really like all the keys, I do. I know we haven't had a lot of time with the cloud key and with the sky key, but I really like all of them. I thought it was so fun when I got to tell you that there were a lot of key— there were a lot of maze keys.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —'cause it kept growing out of corn.
Amanda: Yeah. My heart wants to love that one, A, because I love those tiny, little corns that you get in stir fry, but B—
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: —because I feel like someone has to love a really common one, and I feel like that's my job.
Julia: Yeah. I think I loved it until I realized how devalued it was, and I was like, "Meh."
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. None of you— and I thought I would be able to tempt people more with the key that still hurts.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: But I guess it's just sitting there.
Amanda: You tempted Troy.
Julia: Troy.
Amanda: You tempted Troy.
Eric: Hmm, hmm.
Brandon: I think the only thing is stopping Troy is his crewmates.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Literally, Cammie being like—
Julia (as Cammie): No, no.
Eric: Would— it would be so cool if Troy was a pirate, but instead of a peg leg, it was the key. That would be tight as hell. Come on.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah, that would be fucked up, though. We don't want to dismember Troy just for the sake of being cool.
Amanda: Troy is like—
Amanda (as Troy): I've been dismembered. Two of my members already not good.
Eric: I done did have hook hand. I done did.
Brandon: All we have to do is wait for the necrosis, the natural necrosis of Umbi's legs—
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: —to take hold, and then he'll replace it.
Amanda: That's right.
Eric: I just had a thought, I was like, "When did Umbi get diabetes?"
Amanda: I did, too.
Eric: I was like, "When did—"
Amanda: And then I thought, Amanda, that's an inside thought. That's the inside thought for later. Here's a question from Shelby. "I'm doing some re-listening and preparation for the end game ,and you win, Eric. You planted, pun intended, the location of the underwater prison/salmon, all the way back during the Bullseye Games Nerd Tour, I gasped. If I interpreted correctly during the nerd tour, Jalamby/Jason—"
Eric: Amanda named the nerd tour grasshopper Jalamby, I checked it.
Julia: Right, right.
Amanda: That sounds like me. "Explains that the current builder, who is beetle constructor Emeritus," Shelby says, "went to water in the middle of the Cascade to start the search for the salmon, and all he reported back that he found was water. I interpreted that as the builder went and found the South Kompos/the salmon there, sunk it with the help of the diamond knot, then told everybody there was nothing there but water, which was technically true. I might be reading too far in, but that was my thought."
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: It's pretty good.
Brandon: Where the fuck did Jalamby come out of your brain?
Eric: I— when— I remember— I checked this because Shelby posted in the Discord, and I looked at the transcript, and I'm like, "Alright, there's—" because Cammie went on this nerd tour to look at, like, the stadium—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —and, like, how the Bullseye Games were put together, and Brandon, who was a radish, and Amanda, who was a potato—
Amanda: Yep.
Eric: —was also there.
Amanda: Right.
Eric: So while we were doing this, I was like, "Alright, Amanda, why don't you name the grasshopper?" And you're like, "Jalamby." And I'm like, "How do you spell that?"
Julia: Jalamby.
Eric: And you're like, "It's spelled the way that it sounds."
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: I feel like the last two years of our content lives— like, not the company, but the content lives have been, like, so heightened by Amanda's new platitude of don't think, just say it.
Amanda: Thank you.
Brandon: Wonderful.
Julia: First thought, best thought.
Amanda: Ever since I sat in the unfinished kitchen of Julia's home and said, "I think I want to play someone called Troy Riptide." It's all just been—
Julia: And I said, "Fuck."
Amanda: It's just been off the dome. It's just been off the dome. It's just first thought, best thought. I just— I get all of that attitude out here, and then I am a careful and attentive manager in the rest of my life.
Eric: So the grasshopper was talking about how— someone asked about the middle of Verda Stello and how, like, why the Great Salt Sea was in the middle of the Bialy. And the grasshopper was saying, "Actually, people immediately assumed that the salmon would be in the direct center of the world." Because also, that's, like, how the gravity of Verda Stello works, and there have to have poles in that sort of way. But turns out people went there and it wasn't there, because that was the first place—
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: —everyone looked, was the direct middle of Verda Stello once the Cascade dried up. And it's a little bit complicated, but that— tell me you're not exactly correct, but you're picking up on something that I was talking about. I think that the thing we talked about of, like, the World Government did blow up South Kompos City, and push it into the Cascade, that happened— it didn't happen at the same time. It's not that much of a conspiracy, but I did want to posit that, like, people have been looking for the salmon or, quote-unquote, "looking for the salmon" for a very long time, when there's bits and pieces of true or not true information out there. And I think that you hit on something that I was teasing that, like, there is a tangible understanding of our world through— like, if you're— if everyone's life revolves around pursuing a myth, there has to be some science and cartography behind it, right? So you did hit on it a little bit, and I think it is related to the fact that, like, it's weird, it took 50 years scouring a not that big, relatively sea/ocean, and no one's found it yet. Like, it is a little weird.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: You're right.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So I think that I was putting that out there that it wasn't as simple as everyone thought, that, like, the salmon is in a cave that submerged and around a government's facility is probably something that people weren't thinking when they first saw the drought stones and heard the call of the keys.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Makes sense to me.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Here's a question from Christianthejustok. "Let me get those Buc-ee's orders, crew. What's your favorite thing from there?"
Julia: I've been there once. It was the Wall of Jerky, I guess. I don't know.
Amanda: I loved the variety and volume of trail mixes.
Eric : I like that they make a really good brisket sandwich for you, in front of you. I find that really wild at a gas station.
Amanda: And Brandon, because you are a Buc-ee's hater, which is your right, being from Texas, here's a question for you, specifically that I'm assigning you from Savedman97.
Brandon: It's just a fucking gas station!
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: It's a pretty nice gas station, though, guys.
Amanda: So Savedman wants to know, "What you think the mascot for the last store would be?"
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: Hmm. For the one in world, right? The convenience store outside the Mango Crossing that has the jerky--
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: The last rest stop you'll need.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: I mean, the— obviously, the immediate answer is, yeah, like the tortango, but what's a fun, little guy that's like— is it just like a parrot? Is it just like— or like a parakeet? That's just like— hmm.
Amanda: Brandon, what could the tortango wear that would make him relatable?
Brandon: Pants.
Amanda: Which way?
Brandon: Bottom half.
Amanda: Bottom half, latitudinally?
Julia: Okay. But bottom half, like leg or—
Brandon: Well, standing tortango, but, like, kind of awkwardly standing, like—
Amanda: Okay. Ah.
Brandon: —like a dinosaur, you know?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: And then bottom half.
Julia: Like a T-Rex with pants. Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah, a T-Rex with pants.
Amanda: Nice. Is there a little hole for the tail?
Brandon: I did not think that's what you're going to say.
Julia: Is there a little hole for the tail?
Brandon: Well, yes, there is.
Eric: Is there a little hole… for the tail?
Amanda: That's not what I said. I said it right in a row. I said it right in a row.
Eric: Oh, God.
Julia: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Eric: I do think the easy answer is tortango, but I think it's funnier if it's not.
Brandon: Yeah, I agree.
Eric: I do like. It's a parakeet that's just, like, asking important question.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: It's a parakeet, but it's also a coconut.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: A pair of coconut.
Eric: That's pretty cool.
Brandon: A coconut, a coca key.
Julia: Coca key.
Eric: Coca key is good. I like the idea that it's just a coconut with, like, bird feet.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: It's basically like a kiwi, the bird.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: Except it's a coconut and it's a bird.
Eric: I like that.
Brandon: And it would— like, it would say something like—
Julia: Long beak.
Brandon: "—even I can't fly past this point."
Eric: Yeah, for sure.
Brandon: You know? Or something like that, yeah.
Amanda: Incredible.
Eric: I like that a lot.
Julia: "Even I can't fly past these prices."
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: There it is.
Brandon: There you go.
Amanda: Julia, should you write Trader Joe's copy, don't quit, but you know, I'm just saying.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Alright. Speaking of portmanteaus, let's move to spoil the plank, shall we?
Brandon: Woo.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Let's do it.
Eric: Yar.
Amanda: Sebolicious wants to know, "When will GIUmbi, that'd be Gloria plus Umbi, happen? I felt a vibe there in the last few episodes."
Julia: I think it should be Glumby.
Brandon: It should be Glumby.
Julia: I think we've talked about this in the past, but it's Glumby.
Amanda: Glumby.
Brandon: It should be Glumby, and I encourage your finanons, that's your fan canons, but unfortunately, the—
Julia: Finananan?
Amanda: Oh, you know what? I do think that's what Seb wrote. I misread the L as a capital I. That stupid--
Brandon: Oh, I did too. I did too.
Amanda: Glumby.
Eric: I like how you turned into a word like Giada.
Julia: Giaumbi.
Eric: Giaumbi.
Amanda: Glumby De Laurentiis.
Julia: Giaumbi!!
Brandon: Well, we can't cut that out. We gotta keep this in there.
Julia: Giaumbi has a cooking show that takes him through— I was gonna— I was trying to figure out what country would have a form of Italy, and I can't figure it out.
Eric: I just like the idea that it's Umbi—
Amanda: HotHouse?
Eric: That it's like Umbi and Stanley Tucci driving through Italy.
Julia: That's exactly what I was thinking of.
Amanda: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Now, Stanley Tucci would want to fuck Umbi, but Umbi would not be interested.
Julia: Wow.
Brandon: And unfortunately, Umbi has too much respect for Gloria to think of her in that way, you know?
Eric: Hey, Brandon, do you want to roleplay geriatric romance? Would that be good for you?
Julia: Would that be good for you?
Brandon: Yeah. Right now? Do you want to do it right now?
Eric: Yeah, let's just get it out of our systems.
Amanda: I mean, people can just watch The Golden Bachelor instead.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah. It's true, but you guys should watch The Golden Bachelorette.
Amanda: It's very sweet.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Guys, can one of you please write a comic where Umbi is the golden bachelor? That would be so funny. I would love that.
Julia: Someone made the art for it already.
Amanda: I think that was our first campaign three fan art, yeah.
Brandon: But I need a comic. I need dialogue, you know?
Amanda: Okay, okay. No—
Eric: We can expand on it. That was so good. I forgot about that.
Amanda: So good.
Eric: That was sick.
Amanda: So good. Ooh, I think I do need, though, Gloria as Golden Bachelorette. We'll work on that.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Please.
Brandon: It's back-to-back seasons, yeah.
Amanda: BlueSpctr says, "Have you already played the end game? How many weeks will you already know what the salmon is before we do?" And the answer is, BlueSpctr, we don't know. We don't know yet.
Julia: Who can say?
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: A literal who can say?
Eric: We are a few weeks ahead. We lost it because of the summer, and now, we're getting this— hence, my insanity. We are going back to having a backlog, so we will be a few weeks ahead of you, but we won't tell you, and we'll know, and you won't know. Is that bad?
Julia: Yeah. It's terrible.
Brandon: Just think about it, you're sitting there like a fucking plebeian, not knowing what the salmon is, while us four are over here, just knowing what the salmon is for weeks.
Amanda: Now, Brandon, I don't—
Brandon: For weeks.
Amanda: I don't usually prescribe content notes, but these are the economic powerhouse of our company is the listeners.
Julia: You can't just call the listener plebes.
Brandon: Oh, I can, and I will.
Eric: Don't worry. I'm gonna send Umbi out of the room and just tell Cammie and Troy about this happening.
Julia: Fuck yeah.
Eric: I'm like, "Brandon—"
Julia: We're gonna split the party and be like, "Alright, Umbi. Whatever you wanted to do, go do it. Troy, Let's go get the salmon."
Eric: Alright. Oh, so one of Umbi's teleportation bombs goes off and sends him two miles away. Weird. Alright. So, Brandon, get off the call, and then we're just gonna keep going after that.
Brandon: You're in space, floating without air? Weird.
Amanda: Weird.
Julia: But you did find New Mexico. Weird.
Eric: Oh, my God. So funny.
Amanda: Or like EepyFella suggests, "Was Campaign Three Orello's puppet show all along?" Incredible headcanon.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: This is a real shout out to the person who said that Campaign Two was in a simulation—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —for the entire time, and said it all the time.
Amanda: We respect you.
Eric: We respect you so much.
Brandon: Now, was Campaign Three, just the Campaign 2.5, the Camp-Paign's lunchtime, where kids were playing with fruit and acting out Campaign Three?
Julia: It's actually a great idea.
Eric: Honestly, this is probably closer to Milo having a dream and then him trying to say it, and everyone's like, "This is so boring."
Julia: And you were a weird, stinky, old pawpaw fruit? Okay, guy.
Brandon: Yeah, that sounds right.
Amanda: And then Zach Rose is like, "That's not nice."
Brandon: Actually, that make sense.
Julia: Be nice to my friend Milo.
Brandon: He keeps turning to his cat and he's like, "And you weren't there. And you weren't there."
Julia: You were a parrot, but you could only say the words that I said. Yeah. Right?
Brandon: Yeah, that's really good.
Amanda: That's really good, Julia.
Eric: Oh, God. The pendulum swung so hard from having an autonomous NPC, too. You are my creation who only says what I say.
Brandon: Oh, I love that. That's so good.
Eric: God.
Amanda: We have a few more good questions that I am going to be saving for a future Afterparty. So if we didn't get to yours today, don't be afeard. But hey, here is one that I wrote down on some note paper and just got delivered to me in person. "Hey guys, remember how you said in the spring that you were designing dice. Is that still happening, and will there perhaps be a special announcement next week on Julia's birthday, Tuesday, October 8th?"
Brandon: What?
Amanda: Is that Nonny?
Eric: We can't spoil the plank. We can't say it.
Amanda: Oh, okay, okay. Alright.
Eric: We can't say it. We can't say it.
Amanda: Well—
Julia: We have to jump into the water if we spoil the plank, so—
Eric: Yar. Yar.
Brandon: Yar.
Eric: Remember when I said we were gonna have a bunch of stuff to sell at some point? We were gonna have like, three things to sell. That's true. It's just all happening— it's all happening this year. It's just— it's all happening.
Amanda: It's all happening, baby.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Can't wait.
Julia: It's all happening.
Eric: It's all happening.
Brandon: It's gonna be good.
Amanda: Alright, folks. Say goodbye and thank you to our kind listeners who are exactly as bougie or plebeian as they so self-identify.
Brandon: Goodbye, you little shits.
Julia: Later.
Eric: Let me rest. Please, let me lay down.
Amanda: May your rolls turn ever upward. Bye.
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