Afterparty: 40-41. Legends of the Meeting VII-VIII & Tour Draft

Do we imagine what the show will sound like while we’re playing? Would we be willing to play a zombfied version of the PCs? And did everyone see how well Brandon rolled? All that and more on this Afterparty!

Pick up the VODs of the Rolling Bones tour HERE!

Dive into our ship combat mechanics, classes from Mage Hand Press, the countries of Verda Stello, and other changes we’ve made for C3 HERE!

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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, folks, we have so much to talk about around our Tour Draft Episode and post-tour thoughts. And then shit poppin' off in a big, old way in Legends of Meeting, Episode 7 and 8. Players—

Brandon:  Why, what happened? I don't remember anything important.

Julia:  I don't think anything important happened.

Amanda:  Hmm. Yeah, Brandon was weirdly absent for much of that episode.

Eric:  Brandon said he had to go to a bar mitzvah.

Amanda:  And we all said— I mean, alright, bud.

Julia:  If you say so.

Amanda:  Weird.

Brandon:  It was kind of a filler episode, honestly, you know? 

Julia:  Hmm, yeah.

Eric:  Yeah. In the Join the Party anime breakdown, it's like, "Just skip this. Just— just skip it."

Julia:  It's just their beach arc, it's not important.

Amanda:  I know. Bar Mitzvah, the second night of Passover, what are we doing here? 

Eric:  That's confusing. 

Amanda:  Anyway, welcome, everybody. How are we feeling? What was it like to see people react to these episodes that we knew were going to be hot fire? And by the way, recorded them straddling the tour, so we recorded episode 40 just before leaving for tour, and then, Umbi stayed at the bar mitzvah spiritually for two weeks while we toured. And then episode 41, we returned. How's it going?

Brandon:  Some say he's still there to this day.

Julia: That's true. 

Amanda:  Possible.

Julia:  That is very true.

Amanda: Is the shrimp buffet— or not shrimp buffet. Are the— are the Veggie Puffs endless? We'll see.

Julia:  We'll see. Who can say?

Eric:  I still remember how crazy the food was at my Bar Mitzvah party. I didn't get to eat any of it, but there was, like, a meat cutting station, and there was like a sushi thing. 

Julia:  That's cool.

Eric:  I think my parents saved money by doing it at the synagogue, so it's just like they went all in— there was a guy, like who taught people how to spin a basketball on his finger.

Brandon:  Oh, that's fun. 

Eric:  Yeah. 

Amanda:  Oh, that's why that guy said that thing.

Eric:  Yes. That's why my dad— that's why my dad's co-worker, who he's known for 20 years, who was just a ribbled finance man, said, "I still remember when I learned how to spin a ball on my—on my finger, when I went to like a thing for my dad's layoff party?" 

Julia:  Okay.

Amanda:  Yup.

Eric:  Yeah. It's fi— it's fine. The— the banks were restructured, it's fine.

Julia: Finance is weird, I get it. 

Eric: He's— my dad's fine, don't worry. They laid off so many people at the bank that my dad worked at, that, like, they laid off HR first. Great, great idea. And then they laid off—

Amanda:  Bad start.

Eric:  —everybody else, and it took so long to process everyone else's layoffs, that he was just on salary for the whole time while they figured it out.

Brandon:  Nice.

Julia:  Cool.

Eric:  And he's just like, "You're not allowed to—  you just can't come to work. You just can't.

Brandon:  And now he tours around the world spinning a basketball on his finger for money. 

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon:  So—

Eric:  But, like, in the name of the Torah. Like, for— for Torah.

Amanda:  Brandon, I want to check in on you, specifically. How's it going? How are you feeling? What was the experience of having people hear these episodes like for you?

Brandon:  I mean, it was good. I— I'm always curious, yeah, how people feel about the specter of death around a PC. Yeah, 'cause it was weird. Like, I'm— it's not that I don't love Umbi, but like, there's something just that he's always could die at any second.
He could fall over dead that I'm like, "I'm prepared for it, it's fine."

Amanda:  Uh-hmm.

Julia:  True.

Eric:  You pre— pre grief. You got it out of the way.

Brandon:  Yeah, pre-grief. Yeah.

Amanda:  Absolutely real. Julia, you were also separated from the rest of your party as you— as we all want to separate from you, you don't separate from us, it's the other way around, and played a big role in kind of spearheading this negotiation with Audrey. How did these episodes broadly make you feel?

Julia:  I felt prepared going into them. I think I had, like, three or four contingency plans in the back of my brain, depending on how my plan went. And so, I— I didn't ever feel like I was out of my depths or anything like that, like the time you—

Brandon:  Is that a pun because you're a shark? 

Julia:  Yes, because I was a cool shark. A great white bird shark, but I—

Eric:  Pretty good.

Julia:  I just like— I think it was kind of like, ooh, this is a moment that I've been waiting for as a player to play out from a roleplay perspective. The meeting of Cammie and Audrey finally face-to-face, and so I think that was like really exciting and important to me.

Eric:  I think someone asked at one point like— someone asked in the Discord like, "When did Audrey and Cammie meet? Why are they such good friends? Audrey is a teenager, it's like Julia loves her."

Julia:  Well—

Eric:  That's why.

Julia:  No.

Brandon: Yeah.

Julia:  So the thing is— is they— Cammie and Audrey saw each other from a distance at the end of the first arc—

Brandon:  Yup.

Julia:  —and waved at each other. 

Brandon:  And they fell in love.

Julia:  And so Cammie canonically believes that— much like she believes that everyone is her best friend. Cammie and Audrey are also best friends.

Brandon:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  Right. Of course. The foundation— the fundamental building blocks of any relationship.

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon:  Is a long distance wave. 

Julia:  Yeah. 

Eric:  It's real, like, making friends when you're five, sitting down next to someone and waving and be like, "That's my best friend now."

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon:  Dude, I— I have spent the last week in Dallas with my family, and we went to a handful of places, and it's insane watching my seven-year-old niece just, like, walk up to a person on the playground and being like, "You want to be best friends now?" And then they're best friends. 

Eric:  Dang.

Amanda:  So cute.

Brandon:  It happened like four times.

Julia:  That's great. Shout-out to her. It's nice to not be a shy child.

Brandon:  I know. 

Amanda:  That's like me and, like, Kyle McClellan and Jimmy McNamara who all sat next to each other in alphabetical order during assemblies, and we had no social circles in common, but we had this— we had a nice friendship, you know? We had— we had a bond of brothers.

Eric:  That's like me, Eric Silver, my brother, Tyler Silver, and unrelated person in the middle, Harrison Silver.

Julia:  You really got to think about that when you have, you know, twins and you're gonna have the same last name.

Amanda:  E and T, too far apart.

Julia:  You gotta have the letters close together so no one gets in the middle of them.

Eric:  My mom called the school and made— and moved Harrison Silver after us in our senior year. 

Julia:  Oh, my God.

Eric:  Only in the senior yearbook. 

Julia:  Okay.

Eric:  She's like, "I want my children next to each other." Now, did I punk my mom? Because during that senior year, I was in the play and I was playing an old man, so I started growing out a beard. So my senior portrait looked like garbage because I was growing out a beard for three weeks at— at the age of 17. You gosh done right it does. That's why our senior portraits are actually my headshot from when I was in a chorus line, and then because this kid who was friends with theater kids, shot on his relatively good camera, just shot all of us for our headshots, she had the same guy who Tyler was in the same acapella group with, just shoot— just take a photo of him in the same place where I— he took a photo me.

Julia:  Damn.

Brandon:  This— this— this machination of— of high school stuff is— just got so many layers.

Amanda:  The word goes deep.

Eric:  Absolute nonsense, just absolute nonsense. Also, that my mom could have good photos on my grandma's piano.

Julia:  Important.

Amanda:  The first thing she showed me when I visited her for the first time, yeah. In further deep Julia and Cammie lore, we have a question here from Amnotagoldfish, "Can you explain Copernicus Cobb?"

Julia:  Yeah, I don't remember where we first made the joke about Captain Copernicus C. Cobb, but it was like I came up with such a good name for a character that I was like, "Okay. Well, if Cammie ever dies, then I will play this character, Captain Copernicus C. Cobb." And, like, I have a whole backstory for him and everything. Like, I'm like mentally prepared that if Cammie ever dies, I can play this character. But I— I can't remember exactly what the origin of it was.

Brandon:  I think— I'm pretty—I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it was on a stream. So in order to get the full JTP lore, you gotta watch the streams Thursday at 12:00 Pacific, 3:00 Eastern, right?

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon:   Time?

Amanda:  That's right, 8:00 GMT, baby.

Brandon:  Yeah.

Julia:  So that's who Copernicus C. Cobb is.

Eric:  That makes sense. I think we were just, like, making up Verda Stello characters and you were just like, "No, this is mine now."

Brandon:  Eric, I  don't think you were there. 

Eric:  I— yes, I was. 

Brandon:  Yeah, I think you were.

Eric:  I definitely was.

Amanda:  Incredible. Amnotagoldfish also gives us the additional context, which is good to know for our life, that in Polish, the word dill is pronounced Koper, like Copernicus.

Brandon:  Oh.

Amanda:  So that's an extra plant pun on that name.

Eric:  There you go. That's cool.

Julia:  Well, if I ever play him, I still haven't decided what kind of Greenfolk he is, so it might be a dill plant, who can say?

Amanda:  Some flowering dill could be very cute.

Brandon:  Is it not a corn cob? 

Eric:  I assume it's a corn cob.

Julia:  No, it's not a corn cob.

Amanda:  Oh, I see. Okay.

Julia:   It is specifically, not a corn cob. 

Amanda:  Oh. Right on. Alright, let's— let's kind of— we're— we're going to circle the other sort of ancillary plot threads going on here before delving deep into the actual conflict with Audrey at the center of it. The question surgeon herself, Michelle Spurgeon, would like to know, "Julia, how did you know it was Threelips?"

Julia:  Um—

Eric: Oh, my God. When you said it was Threelips, I'm like, "How did you figure this out?" I was— I was stunned. I was absolutely stunned. I mean, obviously, I was trying to put some clues down, but at the same time, I'm like, "Of course, absolutely, a sniping thing."

Julia:  I think it was—

Brandon:  Nice. 

Julia:  So originally, based on the sniper aspect, I thought it was Archie.

Amanda:  It's funny because Umbi almost died from a— a sniper shot. That’s why it’s funny. 

Julia:  Multiple times. So the moment that we started like introducing this, like, oh, hidden sniper that we— we cannot see, I thought it was Archie at first because maybe he had beef with Umbi, re getting his boat destroyed during the Bullseye Games.

Eric:  Uh-hmm.

Julia:  And then having that conversation with him, and he was like, "Oh, well, that's a coward's way of attacking and approaching things." And I was like, "Who's a coward that I know?"

Brandon:  So first, you were like, "It can't be Brandon, but second, it could be Threelips."

Julia:  And I— I didn't think it would be— like we had no beef with Kid Cervantes, so there's—

Amanda:  No.

Julia:  —like no reason that he would be attacking us. And I had a feeling just based on the fact that it was so mysterious who was shooting at us that it had to have been a character from the past. So originally, I thought it was Archie, and then once I kind of got confirmation that it wasn't Archie, I was like, "Well, it has to be Threelips. Like, he left on Archie's boat. He doesn't like Umbi. He's got beef with us in general, and we kind of ruined his life." So it makes sense that he would be kind of aiming for us.

Brandon:  Okay. Remind me, folks, why does Threelips hate— hate Umbi? I don't— what did he do?

Eric:  Because whenever Threelips spoke, you immediately said something else that you said— you were, like, foisting upon him that he hated pirates, just because he wanted to take Troy with him. And then you were a real dick to him when he was on the boat, getting away from all of you. He was— he said his last words, and then you said last words immediately after him.

Brandon:  I think all my words were, "Do you want to become a pirate and join our crew?"

Julia:  And then he said no, and you kept doing it.

Eric:  You pushed it on him continuously. And then you kept— and then you kept threatening him every time he wanted to think about it.

Julia:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Listen, Umbi, Troy appreciates it and now knows that you were right the whole time. 

Julia:  Yeah. We don't think that Threelips is right, Brandon. We're just saying we understand his reasoning.

Brandon:  Oh, no, no, I know that. But here's the thing, because Eric thinks that I, like, immediately hate all those NPCs, or like I have in the past, which is not untrue. But— because I'm—

Eric:  "Eric, thi— Eric thinks his thing and he's right."

Brandon:  But I— I am—I mean, I— generally speaking, very suspicious of NPCs. That is definitely true. 

Eric:  Yes.

Brandon:  And so for Threelips, when we met him, I— I intentionally was like, "Let's bring this person in," and the thanks I get is that he shoots me twice with a sniper rifle.

Julia:  Correct.

Eric:  I have no problem with you interacting. I just mark it down what that person might think of that, when— when you do the thing. And Threelips is like, "Troy has fallen in in with this rabid old man who wants to kill me if I don't tell him what he wants. And then when I'm trying to talk to Troy, Umbi's always getting in the way." And I think it really sealed it, if you go back to it. It's— Threelips, like, says, "Au revoir," to Troy, never to see him again. And then immediately, Umbi ru— as he's go— leaving the Bullseye Games that are just falling around him, after he instituted this entire heist. Remember, I rolled a Nat 20 for him to escape, for him to get away from Radbert's forces. You just, like, immediately say, "Well, I guess you love being a pirate." And he's like, "No! I hate you. And you've gotten in Troy's head, and how dare you?" So that's what Threelips said.

Brandon:  Whatever, man. I'm never— I'm never going to be nice to any NPCs ever again.

Eric:  I—

Julia:  Damn.

Eric:  You haven't started yet and I wouldn’t expect a change of heart.

Amanda:  Gloria.

Brandon:  That's not true. I have been— I think I've been nice to the majority of NPCs in this campaign so far. 

Amanda:  We like Gloria.

Eric:  That's true. And—

Julia:  We do like Gloria, yeah.

Eric:  —and you fell in love with Millie—

Brandon:  Archie.

Eric: —so that's that. Yeah.

Julia:  Aubergine.

Amanda:  You didn't have a problem—

Brandon:  Aubergine.

Amanda:  —with Lucky Edie, you were just very cold.

Brandon:  That's— that's because I can't read, Amanda.

Eric:  That was so funny. That was—

Amanda:  Okay, that counts.

Eric: That was good. I think it's the just the difference between— the biggest difference I'm seeing is, like, pe— pirates are used to people like Umbi, and anyone who's not a pirate, it's like, "Whoa. What's going on with this guy?"

Julia:  Yeah.

Eric:  So I think— which was the whole point of Threelips in the first place. So, like, I'm not surprised that's how it went. 

Julia:  Also, it's kind of like introducing like— I feel like an owner introducing two cats together, one that's lived with them for a long time and one that's new. And it's like Troy is the owner and Threelips is the old cat, and then Umbi is the new cat, or vice versa, depending on how you feel about who's— who's like—

Amanda:  Original.

Julia:  —more important to Troy.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  Yeah.

Julia:  And it's like Umbi just does not like Threelips because he's like, "Who the fuck are you? This is my boy, Troy."

Brandon:  He likes Threelips. He likes Threelips. He— he doesn't like Three— that Threelips was like, "You know this dope-ass lifestyle that you have, that I'm trying to invite you into, because clearly you have a bad home life back in the Crags. It sucks." And so—

Amanda:  Yeah. No, Threelips—

Brandon:  Yeah.

Amanda:  —was judgmental as hell about pirates and piracy when we—

Brandon:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amanda:   —I saved him from the wreckage, so—

Brandon:  And he clearly does not have a good home life, so he was trying to welcome in like a stray cat, you know?

Amanda:  Yep. Yep, it's very true.

Eric:  I don't have a problem with it. It's just these characters that I have, these guys—

Brandon:  Oh, this is what I say—yeah, I did say— when you— when you speak in the way I said, "Threelips took the pirate life."

Eric:  Yeah, you literally said that. The thing he hated that you kept saying.

Brandon:  Eric— put that, Eric. That's really funny, though.

Julia:  Eric, can you consider? That's very funny, though.

Amanda:  Brandon, the thing—

Eric:  If by funny you mean world-building material, then yes.

Amanda:  The thing about yes, banana is everyone's like, "Ha." And then at some point, you look behind you and there's like 300 bananas in a pile, and you're like, "Oh, I have to deal with that."

Brandon:  And then a rabid ape comes behind them.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  And then Donkey Kong is like, "Why do you have all my bananas and then here we are.

Amanda:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Julia:  There you go.

Amanda: Oh, man. So—

Eric:  Oh, yeah, that's why Threelips just shot a lot of tequila to kill Umbi. But Cammie was still— I— I do want to point out, it just didn't happen. But Cammie was under the gun, certainly as well. Threelips is convinced that Umbi and Cammie brainwashed Troy into loving the pirate life after he escaped.

Brandon:  Cammie did get shot, um, so—

Julia:  Cammie did get shot one time.

Amanda:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  Oh, that's right. Right, it was—

Brandon:  Yeah, yeah.

Julia:  I think I just did high enough of a dexterity check or something that I didn't get the full brunt of it, like Umbi did. 

Eric:  Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Julia:  That was during the Troy party, I think.

Brandon:  I'm sure Troy would have gotten shot too if there was an opportunity, but—

Amanda:  I have a—

Brandon:  Or if you missed a dex roll or whatever, yeah.

Eric:  Oh no, Threelips wouldn't have shot Troy.

Brandon:  Oh, okay, nevermind then.

Eric:  No. No, no, no. That was the whole thing. That was the whole thing, was like, the way that I— I structured it as like, you know, Threelips thought that he had enough shot because he's Threelips. He's like, "Alright. I'm gonna shoot them once and then disappear forever." And then like Umbi still alive, so he's like, "Alright. I'm gonna shoot—"

Julia:  And then he's like, "Fucked."

Eric:  "Ne— next time I'm going to shoot twice and maybe two of them will be there, and I'll take them both out." And then he's like, "Shit, that didn't work." So it's like that— the reason why Umbi got so blasted at the end, it was like Threelips unloaded three sniper shots into Umbi, that's how it all shook out. 

Brandon:  Gotcha, gotcha.

Eric:  Number-wise.

Amanda: J_powers wanted to know, a question that I think could go in spoil the plank, but I actually have a strong opinion on which is, "Is Threelips in league with Audrey or just here doing his own thing?" I strongly think it's his own thing. He got the leaflet like everybody else, was like, "Oh, I bet they'll be there. And this is my moment to, like, make a move." 

Brandon: That was my thought, yeah.

Julia:  Yeah, a big agree with you, Amanda. I think that he is just motivated by his own quest and he has no real association with Audrey.

Amanda:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  Really funny, I know we're talking about this— the— the first episode, but the— the second thing, so funny that Troy's like, "I have nothing else to do. Archimedes, guy created to kill others and—"

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  "—just train in the art of— in the art of wrecking shit. Can you just deal with Threelips?" And he's like, "Aye, aye." And then we see Threelips gets thrown into the sea. 

Amanda:  Yeah.

Brandon:  It's excellent. 

Eric:  So fu— that was so funny.

Amanda:  It was a very intense moment to be in the mind of Troy Riptide with all three of its cells working in overdrive, like a labored hard drive that no one's vacuumed in years. Yeah. It was great. And actually, Eric, speaking of Episode 41, the Meeting 8, I do think we need to talk about the— the whole kind of fight as a set piece. It was so much fun, it was so cool, and unusual for us to have such a long break between recordings, probably two and a half weeks by the end of it between those two episodes. And there are tons of questions about the fights, and the mechanics, and all the spells that were used, and what we have going on.

Eric:  Yeah. It was nice being able to set that up with the previous episode with the pie. I was also talking to a game designer friend recently, and I was talking about how everyone always, like, breaks off a piece of Blades in the Dark and no one's ever played Blades in the Dark. And he's like, "Yes, a game design backbone. You're right." So I feel very justified that like I ta— we just take the pie, and the flashback mechanic and, like, "That's fine. Thank you, Blades in the Dark, I appreciate you." So I felt very validated by that.

Brandon:  I have two questions, why is it a pie in Blades in the Dark as opposed to just like six turns or whatever?

Eric:  I think it's because it's— you're supposed to visualize it like a circle, like—

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:   —or like a— a trivial pursuit. 

Brandon:  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

Eric:  It's— it's just the way that they decided to visualize this thing so that— then people call it a pie, because, you know, the slices don't happen because of time necessarily in Blades in the Dark, because of how wiggly everything is, because it's supposed to function like a heist.

Brandon:  Got it, got it, got it. 

Eric:  So you fill in the pie when you— they do something. The easiest way to say this is like when someone fails a check, then a piece of the pie— because usually, the pie is like, "This person is alerted, or this thing is coming."

Brandon:  Hmm.

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  And that's how you fill in the slice of the pie. So it's like if the security is really good somewhere, the— the security has alerted pie is only three slices as opposed to six if it was pretty bad security or you did some stuff to mitigate in the past.

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Brandon:  And secondly, is it a dessert pie or a pizza pie in y'all's brains?

Julia:  In my brain, it's a pizza pie. That's just me, though.

Amanda:  Dessert pie.

Eric:  I think it's like slices of cake, honestly. I know that I'm pivoting, but it's like— it's—it— it needs to be—it's tall to me. Like, it ha— it's like a three-layer cake.

Brandon:  You can't just call it a pie and then say it's cake. What is this? What are we doing?

Eric:  Well, it—

Julia:  We live in a society.

Eric:  It is— what is pie but—what is pie but—

Brandon:  But cake.

Eric:  —conventional cake.

Julia:  No. Incorrect.

Amanda:  Deep dish dessert pie?

Brandon:  Oh.

Eric:  I'll think about it, I'll think about it. 

Amanda:  That's good. Alright, before I get too hungry, let's get into Melanie's question. "So if Cammie only has one intelligence when she's a shark, is there a risk she forgets who she is and forgets to change back into her true self: I would love to know about the mechanics of the spell, like time limit, and is there a failsafe for her to turn back into herself?"

Julia:  Oh, here, I'll pull up the specifics for polymorph real quick, so that I can answer that question for you.

Brandon:  Yeah.

Eric:  Melanie has just stumbled into questions that people have been arguing about Dungeons & Dragons for 35 years.

Amanda:  You're right, Melanie.

Eric:  You've— you've do— we've done it. We've— we've remade the wheel. 

Julia:  Alright. So it's basically, the spell transforms a creature with at least one hit point, you can see within range. Unwilling creatures has to make a wisdom saving throw, shape changes automatically, succeed. The transformation lasts for the duration, which is concentration up to one hour, or until the target drops to zero hit point or dies. I mean, basically, it's like it's a creature you can see within range, including yourself, and its concentration up for an hour. So, like, basically, it's like, you are taking the form of this creature, and because the spell is concentration, you can stop the spell whenever you choose. 

Amanda:  Or after an hour, whatever.

Julia:  Or after an hour. 

Eric:  I think it's just anamorphs rules. 

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon:  Yeah.

Eric:  Whenever you stay in the— in it too long, you become the animal forever. But it's the opposite.

Brandon: I always—

Eric:  How— how you get kicked out of the animal.

Brandon:  I always sort of imagined it is like you take the form of the thing, but you still have your mind, but then you just use the stats of the physical thing, right?

Julia:  Right.

Brandon:  So I don't know. But yeah, it's not a— it's not very clear, to be honest.

Julia:  Yeah. And— and I mean, it also is like, "Oh, well, you know, if the— if you hit the hit point limit"— like, so for example, like a shark has like, I don't know, 120 hit points, if I took that much damage while in shark form, I revert back to my natural form.

Brandon:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Animorphs rules, exactly. I— I don't know about animorphs, but—

Eric:  So Cammie got the ability to shape shift from an alien that has no mouth, right?

Amanda:  Nice. Cool. The— the person who created many of the original anamorph covers has an Etsy store where he sells, like, authorized prints at— high-quality prints of those covers.

Brandon:  What?

Julia:  That's so cool.

Amanda:  And I thought about buying them as gifts for both Brandon and Julia, and then thought, "I don't know if that'll go over well." And then I refrained. But I'm happy to share the Etsy store if anyone's interested.

Brandon:  Is it the AnimorphsArtStore?

Amanda:  Probably.

Julia:  I thought you were gonna say like, "Oh, the person who created the animorph series, a very good person. Extremely good person."

Eric:  That's true.

Amanda:  I mean— I— I don't know. 

Julia:  Yeah.

Amanda:  I don't know them.

Julia:  No, she is. Like, she's, like, genuinely very, very good.

Eric:  As the internet usually does, the internet rediscovered K.A. Applegate and decided— and realize that she likes trans rights, and that's good.

Julia:  Yeah. And is a good person.

Brandon:  Hey.

Amanda:  Love to hear it. Love to hear it. I have a second player here who needs to explain a real bold move, and Dr. Spurgeon would like to know, "Brandon, can you explain the sovereign glue move? What were you expecting/what did you want to have happen?" Which I think Dr. Spurgeon meant in— in— in true good faith, but I really enjoyed saying that, it's like, can you explain yourself here a little bit?

Julia:  What were you expecting to happen? 

Brandon:  What I was expecting to happen is what did happen, which is what I was successful in slowing Audrey down from escaping. So maybe everyone, on this call and in the Discord, can suck my ass.

Julia:  Hearing your lifeless body flailing around, "I did what I meant to do."

Eric:  Brandon's lifeless body as he— as he glues his hand in the back of a boat.

Amanda:  It's true. And I mean, I wasn't sure if we would have like a whole thing about getting the, like, piece of the terracotta pot off of your hand after, you know, the pot was decimated, but—

Brandon:  Uh-hmm.

Amanda:  Yeah. Tell me more, why did that come to mind? Is it— was it an obvious solution for you? How long have you had the sovereign glue? Tell me.

Brandon: Well, yeah, I've had the sovereign glue. It's just one of the potions that I have on my potion list, and Eric has been kind enough to not make me sort of call out which potions I'm going to make in my downtime, because that's audio poison, I think, is what the word Eric would use.

Julia:  Yeah.

Eric:  Well, also because audio poison was the three-man rap punk band I was in college.

Brandon:  Audio poison.

Amanda:   Nice. Nice.

Brandon:  But, yeah, no, I— I— so I've— I've always had it and, yeah, I thought was— I'm always looking— whenever we roll initiative and have a fight, I'm— I— I— the least interesting thing to me is be like, "I throw a bomb and do 10 damage. I throw a bomb and do 10 damage. I throw a bomb and do 10 damage." Like— and so I'm always just looking for, like, one, what is the other combatant want and then how do I either slow that down or stop that? And then, two, what's just more fun to think about and do? And that was the answer. It never worked.

Eric:  I want— I want to take credit for like saying that this is how I come to fight, so maybe Brandon has been listening to me, but I think it might be like a monkey is typing on a typewriter situation.

Julia:  No. I think we pay attention when you tell us like— you're like, "Hey, not all combat it's just like hack and slash." 

Amanda:  Yeah, we spent 4 years and you're— and you're 5 years in your campaigns.

Brandon:  Well, yes, and— we've talked about before, but the— when we first—the first season of Taz, which we talked about when we were working together, Eric—

Eric:  Oh, yeah.

Brandon:  —was Travis— to give some credit to Travis here, he did do some wild shit in fights with, like—

Eric:  Yeah.

Brandon:  —the environment and, like, using spells and— or not spells, but using his things in different ways, unexpected ways, and so I was always— I always was impressed by that.

Eric:  It's pretty interesting, I— I talked about this a lot because of how Taz's balance kicked off the actual play genre as we know it now. But it's like, you know, Griffin McElroy got his hands on the fifth edition rules early, because he's a games journalist, right? Like, no one had played it when they first started Taz when it— it was only just like a fill in for when Justin McElroy was on paternity leave. So, like, I think about how much of that stuff is, like, untouched by other actual play, honestly.

Brandon:  Hmm.

Eric:  It's like almost like critical role because no one— critical role was just in such a different place at that time. Like, they— they only started streaming an in progress campaign they were doing on their own—

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  —before it became what it was. And it's almost like that was probably one of the first times on recorded history that a fighter realized that fifth edition was only for magic people and everyone else had to fucking figure it out.

Brandon:  Hmm.

Eric:  So I think that it was kind of interesting seeing, like, the untouched snow there before Travis decided to do different things when he played Dungeon & Dragons. So—

Brandon:  Hmm.

Eric:  And it certainly helped when you— when you get a 19 every single time. But it was pretty— it was pretty—

Brandon:  You mean when you lie about your rolls every time? 

Eric:  I was trying to be nice, but yes, Brandon. Yes. So it's kind of— it is interesting. I— I think that that rule is a really— a really, really good place, as like people— fighters and martial classes asking what's going on, what can I do? What is in the area so I can do something effective? 

Julia:  Yeah.

Eric:  In a real undiscovered country of actual play.

Brandon:  So, Eric, would you agree with me that everyone can suck my ass or—

Eric:  No, I agree. I— I— whenever Brandon does something like that, it's always interesting, and that's all I want. 

Julia:  Yeah.

Eric:  Like, even when you blew— even when you blew up— when you blew up the book depository, I was still just like, "Yeah, that's tight."

Brandon:  That one was an accident, though.

Eric:  You know, the thing is always— and I'm— I'm doing— I do this with Julia as well. I'm just like, what do you want to do? And then you do it. And then I tell you all the effects afterwards.

Julia:  Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. 

Amanda: That— that's fair.

Eric:  Yeah.

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  It's like you can do whatever you want, but I'm gonna hold you to— I'm gonna hold the time to its linearity and I'm going to hold you to things that you said.

Julia:  Fair.

Eric:  Can— can we just— really quickly now that we've— we've talked about this a little bit, can we talk about all the stuff that happened in these two episodes? Like, what are all— like, I just want to, like, mark down all the events that happened—

Amanda:  Sure.

Eric:  —just to kind of summarize everything. Because, like, I didn't do recaps for these, because they kind of flowed one episode into another. But it's like, can we just say all the stuff that happened in this particular thing, which I thought was crazy.

Brandon:  I'll put two minutes on the clock. Eric—

Julia:  Go.

Brandon:  —whenever you're ready.

Eric:  You guys can contribute too, but— but yeah, Cammie went over to Audrey, Audrey was not worried about what was going to happen, because she was backed by the diamond knot, which was a consortium of four countries in Verda Stello that kind of meet regularly and decide what happens in the— in the world. And they gave Audrey, like, diplomatic immunity, so she wasn't worried about that. That's enough for Tessie, the storm who showed up after Piney brought her back through a teleportation door to respect it and just kind of go back to where she came from. God. Threelips was revealed as the sniper, Archie took care of him, and threw him into the water.

Amanda:  But not before he shot Umbi dead.

Brandon:  Archie, Archie, Archie.

Eric:  Yeah. Lustrous and Salix were really trying to fight back. Salix can drink the big potion, but then they then got taken down by the zombies, which was crazy. And then with the explosion, with the barrels, that— that was crazy. When everything happened at the same time, that was honestly really fun. I think that's what initiative was made for, and it actually felt really good to, like, do all of that in six seconds.

Julia:  I was struggling in that, being so close to the end of the initiative order. It was killing me that episode.

Eric:  Oh, Julia, don't worry.

Brandon:  Maybe you got to roll better.

Eric:  I would love to read out the initiative order really quickly here now that I have it. Umbi, Archie, Salix and Lustrous, Tessie, the storm, the zombies at large, Havana. I have a separate one that I don't remember who it was, but it went at the same time as Havana, then Troy, Kid Cervantes, Audrey specifically, the pirates at large, and all the way down here with a for 4 initiative is environmental windstorm, and then after that, was good, old Cammie Casis.

Julia:  Oh, it was killing me. It was torture sitting there and being like, "Alright, I have my move. No one fuck my move up. Oh, my God."

Eric:  It's— I liked it though, because it's like you kind of went all in on the shark thing.

Julia:  Yeah.

Eric:  And you didn't— and meeting up with Audrey and then she's like, "Nah, girl, I'm fine."

Brandon:  Can we— okay. Here, I have a problem with everyone that's listening, except for you three. Everyone who thinks I do weird shit, listen to this.

Amanda:  Yup.

Brandon:  Not only did my plan succeed, and it was interesting, I kept Audrey from leaving, at least by one turn, so we got one extra turn. Two, the person who supposedly is smarter than Brandon at D&D went, "Let's negotiate," and then the character was like, "Nah, fuck you. I'm gonna kill you anyway." And then— fuck, what was I gonna say?

Julia:  I don't know. You were busy insulting me.

Brandon:  Oh, yeah. And then—

Eric:  Brandon got a promo, hold on, Julia.

Brandon:  And then— and then—

Eric:  And tonight at Summer Slam—

Brandon:  And then this is actually not a— not a complaint, but I just— the thing I didn't get to say is that if you hadn't had shattered the thing what I was going to do, was throw a teleportation bomb up the— in the air 30 feet—

Amanda:  Ooh.

Brandon:  —because I'm attached to the plant and then fall and smash it.

Eric:  Oh, that would've been cool.

Julia:  So you would have just ended up killing yourself anyway? 

Amanda:  Yeah. 

Brandon:  Yeah, a 100%.

Julia:  Okay. So I feel less bad about shattering you. 

Amanda:  Cool.

Brandon:  Yeah.

Amanda:  He may or may not be a father, like the— the stakes are high. The stakes are high for Umbi.

Julia:  I don't know. I just don't know.

Brandon:  I'm sorry for yelling at you just then, Julia.

Julia:  No, it's okay.

Brandon:  You did great. I liked— I liked it was—

Julia:  Supposedly smarter than me at D&D is actually kind of a compliment when I think about it, so I'll allow it.

Amanda:  Listen, I'm on record saying Julia is the player who knows the rules the best and uses them to our mutual advantage.

Brandon:  Absolutely. She's the best D&D player we have on the team.

Amanda:  Yes. Far none.

Eric:  Listen, I— whether— Cammie going all in on that, I mean, the shark— the shark was great. There was a lot of stuff going on that could have went worse if— if— like the scouts— I mean, we saw this, the pirate scouts would have come on the island. 

Amanda:  Yeah. 

Eric:  And gotten you—

Brandon:  Yeah.

Eric:  —and gotten you anyway. But Cammie took it in her own hands and also pied Radbert at the same time, which was really— which was really funny.

Amanda:  I would also like to point out that— that there seems to be a lot of options that Cammie had if only this was a curse, and it wasn't. 

Julia:  Yeah. I think the minute that Cammie realized that it was like a possession thing, that was when Cammie was like, "Alright. I don't care if I'm like taking people out. This has to end," So—

Brandon:  Yeah.

Eric:  Very good roll by Brandon there to figure out— to figure out that— so that I could say, "Hey, it's weird that someone's has a pot." 

Amanda:  Yes. 

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon:  Yeah. That is also part of my promo towards our audiences. Did you guys notice how many good rolls I have in this episode?

Julia:  It was— honestly, Brandon, it was really good. 

Amanda:  It was very impressive.

Julia:  Genuinely, one of your better episodes.

Eric:  Okay.

Amanda:  Melanie pointed out, Brandon, that was a perfectly timed Nat 20, bravo. So you— you have gotten quite a lot of praise, but that— and the sound design. 

Eric:  Alright. Don't worry, I'm gonna put in the episode description right now, did everyone notice how well Brandon roll?

Brandon:  Yeah.

Eric:  That's gonna be one of the questions in the episode description.

Julia:  Good.

Amanda:  Fabulous.  

Julia:  He deserves it.

Eric:  I'm gonna do it right now. But no, it was cool. I mean, that was something I was thinking about the entire time, was like— because— we just never interacted with Audrey, but I'm like, why is this teenage girl the rotten queen? And I think you know whether it's possession or whatever, or who decided what at what point, but how much intention there is behind Audrey the Greenfolk and the pot? I think is interesting. But it was really cool. I was not expecting you guys to break the pot, not at all. Zero.

Brandon:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  That was— I did a lot of scrambling to literalized stuff I had known, but I certainly hadn't written any of that down.

Amanda:  I have a couple questions on that, then. EepyFella wants to know, "Was Audrey always going to be possessed? Like whatever the verb is, by that horrible description of a cursed knuckle-horse parasite."

Eric:  Ooh, that's tight. Yes. The answer is yes. 

Amanda:  Amazing. And then secondly, Michelle Spurgeon, the question surgeon, of course, wants to know, "Has Audrey been possessed the whole time we've known her?"

Eric:  Yes, that's correct. 

Amanda:  I would say probably yes, right. Yeah. 

Julia:  Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.

Brandon:  Yeah. 

Amanda:  "What did you think of the outcome of this attack on Audrey? Did you think things would turn out differently?" That's from Katja.

Eric:  Yeah, a 100%. I thought that Audrey was going to come on the beach, hold up this diplomatic immunity, and then make everyone freeze for long enough for her to just take over the island, and do what she was gonna do.

Julia:  Yeah, but then she started stabbing Umbi, and Cammie was like, "Wait a second."

Brandon:  "Only I can stab Umbi."

Julia:  "I've never stabbed Umbi before. I have shattered him." 

Eric:  We— we so infrequently get to interact with death saving throws—

Amanda:  Yes.

Eric:  —that I remembered a lot of death saving throw rules, like if you attack a downed creature, they automat— and you hit, they automatically get— get a death— get a failure. Yeah.

Amanda:  Thank you for not making me roll damage against Umbi when Troy CPR'd him too hard, because listening back, I was like, "A different DM could have done that," and that really would've suck. 

Eric:  Yeah, that would have been bad. It was also incredibly lucky because you get advantage against prone characters. So Audrey just— she had spiritual weapon, which was what I was using, and she just missed, because she's not good with the sword. She was just kind of as— she was kind of like stabbing Umbi for fun, because he was already down and wanted to kill him. And it kind of just like— that's why I got away from her, which was the whole point. She thought she had you all in checkmate, and then there was a while—it turns out there's a bomb in the— in the ground, so everything— everything pivot— everything pivoted from there. 

Amanda:  Speaking of which, Eric, Jeff wants to know, "Would you say Amber's the color of Audrey's energy?"

Eric:  Whoa.

Amanda:  Nice. And Melanie, but a couple of other folks as well wanted to know, "How much of a problem would it have been if Audrey died in Episode 41? Would that have, like ,completely scrapped your future plans?"

Eric:  No, because Audrey is the Rotten Queen, so—

Julia:  There's a lot of necromancy going on. 

Eric:  There's a lot of stuff that I had planned on if you— if she had been defeated, but didn't happen because you— I mean, she is dead. 

Amanda:  Yeah.

Brandon:  Yeah, she's already dead.

Eric:  She's already dead and the pot is gone, but like, what does that mean when you're talking about a rotten queen?

Julia:  Who can say—

Brandon:  Yeah.

Julia:  —about a rotten queen?

Amanda:  Oh, Melanie's other question on the subject was for Brandon, "If Umbi ended up truly dying and Audrey was right there, would you have been willing to play a zombified Umbi, if Umbi stayed with our crew and didn't go with Audrey's rotten fleet?"

Brandon:  Oh, hell yeah. That'd be fun.

Eric:  Oh, we would have talked about that.

Brandon:  Yeah. I legitimately thought for a second that Eric might decide to take me— to take Umbi away with Audrey, and then we'd have to, like, do a sort of a split screen thing where, like, Umbi was off becoming a zombie with the pirate crew and y'all too were off doing whatever you needed next.

Eric:  I was a 100% prepared to do that, yes. 100%.

Julia:  I— it would have been interesting to pull an NAD pod in that where, like, Jake's character becomes a vampire, and then he ends up playing a different character while they figured out how to get the vampire version back.

Brandon:  Oh, that's fun.

Eric:  I was running through that possibility in my head. That was definitely on the table.

Amanda:  I mean, I'm glad it didn't happen, but it would have been really cool. I'm a little bit sad it didn't happen.

Eric:  Audrey was so close to escaping too.

Amanda:  Yes.

Eric:  Like, it could have happened.

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon:  But we'll se— I mean, yeah, she was really close to escaping. Thank God, I stuck my hand to Earth glue. 

Eric:  No, that's what— she would have escaped— she would have escaped with you. The stakes are just higher.

Amanda:  It's like when a child goes, "You can't kidnap me," and then handcuffs itself to the kidnapper. Like, "Whoa!"

Eric:  Yeah. Like, you know like when those stories when a child is so annoying, the kidnapper drops them off.

Amanda:  Yes.

Eric:  It's like that didn’t understate the fact that you were kidnapped. She almost got away.

Amanda : That was always my strategy. That was always my strategy, yeah.

Julia:  I— I had a contingency plan if Umbi got pulled away.

Amanda:  Oh, I thought you were gonna say if he got kidnapped as a kid and I was like, "Doesn't surprise me. Tell me more. What was it? What was it?"

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon:  I think it would honestly be like fun to play an undead Umbi, and I think Umbi would love to be undead because he just— that makes him even older.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  Yeah.

Amanda:  He sees even more of the mortal coil. 

Brandon:  Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what that means like mechanically in terms of like intelligence and stuff, and— but if he's just like a zombie Umbi, but otherwise, just Umbi, that'd be tight, you know?

Amanda:  Maybe we could do that for a One Shot someday.

Julia:  Yeah, it's a —a marvel what if? But it's what if Umbi had—

Brandon:  A marvel what if.

Eric:  A marvel what if.

Julia:  —been turned into a zombie?

Eric:  That's pretty good.

Amanda:  Marvel what if I replaced these garlic-free Dorito trays with even more garlic-free Doritos, would that'd be good?

Brandon:  Woo.

Eric:  Do you have the plug at Nabisco for garlic-free Doritos? 

Amanda:  No, but I did decide yesterday while Eric was driving me through the Holland Tunnel that I should make my own garlic and onion free, like, cheesy spice mix or, like, ranch mix, because that's a flavor I really miss. 

Brandon:  Yeah. 

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Brandon:  Yeah, we could totally do it. Let's go do that right now.

Amanda:  Let's do it.

[theme]

Amanda:  Hello, hello, it's Amanda popping back from the fjords of Norway to thank our newest patrons, Kavi and CSB. Thank you so much for helping us to make this podcast. We love doing it. My favorite day of the week is Friday when I get to sit down and just record Join the Party with my pals, and we can only do this because of your support on Patreon. For as little as five bucks a month, both of you are at the $8 tier, one of you annual, so you saved two months free on your entire pledge. And one of you eight bucks a month, you get ad-free episodes, access to the Discord, all kinds of bonuses, and more. If you wanted, let's say, early access to every episode, if you wanted to listen to or watch our biweekly podcast Party Planning, you can do all of that and more at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. Now, we have just talked all about solar eclipses here across North America. I'm sure the rest of the world is like, "We get it, we get it. There are eclipses all the time." But what if eclipses had, let's say, extra special spiritual significance to a planet? What if there were like 8 or 10 suns in the sky? Those are the kinds of questions that Dr. Moiya McTier explores with her expert guests on Exolore. This is where Dr. McTier talks about both the astrophysics and folklore of different fictional worlds, making new ones with her guests, interviewing professional world-builders, and reviewing the merits of worlds that already exist. You will laugh, and learn, and wonder, and really gain an appreciation for how special our planet really is. Exolore is a fabulous show and you should check it out today. Search for Exolore, E-X-O-L-O-R-E in your podcast app or go to exolorepod.com. We are sponsored this week by Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect. This is a podcast about anime and the way it shows up throughout our world. Hosts Nicholas Friedman, Alec Murray, and Lea President discuss the latest in news, updates, and deep dives on the shows and pop culture you love. That looks like breaking down the Anime Awards, analyzing Godzilla Minus One ,and having discussions with musicians, so you can stay up to date in everything anime with Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect. There are shows about One Piece. Maybe, I don't know, if you listen to Join the Party here are interested in anime such as One Piece, you can listen to an episode all about that. There are ones about the Boy and the Heron and Studio Ghibli as just a creative force. Those are ones I loved. And don't worry for all of you, fellow millennials interested in nostalgia, there is one about Dragon Ball. So go ahead and listen to Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect in your podcast app now. This show is also sponsored by BetterHelp. Now, with the sun being up so late, with me having extra light until, like, 8:00 or 8:15 in the evening, A, it reminds me that I'm a human being who is affected by the world and, B, I feel like I just have extra time in my evenings. Like, I'm not just sort of scurrying home in the dark after work to kind of do my thing and then get up again the next day. But I'm thinking like, "Oh, man, I feel like I could go to a museum after work. I could go sit in the park and read a book. I could call a friend and have like a long meandering phone call." And that's the kind of stuff that, truth be told, I could make time for in my daily life whenever I wanted, I just don't. And so that's something that I might take to therapy, to say to my therapist, "Hey, there's something I noticed, the thoughts been on my mind, the guilts that I feel." and just kind of talk over where that comes from and what I might want to do about it, if anything. And if you can't currently access therapy safely where you live or if you would like to have a convenient, flexible, and online version of therapy, BetterHelp is a tool I want you to know about. It is totally online. All you have to do is fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist. Best of all in my mind, you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge, because it can be really hard to find that, you know, feeling and trust with a stranger. So learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/jointheparty today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P, .com/jointheparty. And now, back to the show.

[theme]

Amanda:  Alright, I'm back. 

Eric:  Oh, God! It's everywhere. Why did we try to make a garlic-free Doritos mix? Julia, we'll never be the same. Bra—

Brandon:  Who knew the garlic was the thing holding everything together?

Eric:  Brandon has three feets now. Ahhh! I'm fine, but everyone else is mutilated. That's how you improv, folks. Make sure everyone else is— is made, except for you.

Julia:  That's how you scare everyone else on the call, folks.

Brandon:  And Eric says I'm yes, banana.

Eric:  No, but—

Amanda:  It's great. It's pretty good, pretty good.

Eric: Thank you, thank you. We never ask— we only asked how, we never asked why. 

Amanda:  Yeah.

Brandon:  Should we?

Amanda:  We never asked if we should, I agree. Alright, folks, lots still to get into here about the podcast world and also some sweet reactions to our Tour Draft, by way of recapping all of that. So first, I do have to wrap up the fight by asking a question here from Kendyll for Julia, "How brokenhearted is Cammie that her friend turned against her?"

Brandon:  Hmm. 

Julia:  Devastated. Absolutely devastated. But feels a little bit better about it knowing now that she was possessed, because I think Cammie in her mind is like, "The real Audrey would like me and we would be friends, if it wasn't for this evil thing that is possessing her." 

Eric:  Hmm.

Amanda:  Totally.

Brandon:  Sweet summer child.

Eric:  I— I would like to follow up and say, Troy, how do you feel about being betrayed by your best friend?

Amanda:  Yeah, pretty bad. I— I went through the journey with Troy and I felt his heart hardened against Threelips when he gave Archie that order, and just the absolute— I didn't think the betrayal could get worse, but it really did. The fact that Threelips would move against someone that is so clearly close to Troy, to Troy is like the final straw. Like, you know, it was— it was bruv on bruv action in a way that I don't like. Sorry, I keep doing that, I keep doing that.

Eric:  It's— it's still funny. I like it.

Brandon:  Doing what? 

Julia:  Bruv on bruv.

Eric:  Bruv on bruv.

Brandon: Oh, bruv on bruv action? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amanda:  Threelips went against Troy's new bruvs, and that makes him no longer an old bruv. And it's— it's very important. I'm also— I'm just very happy that my proficiency in bruvs came in handy.

Julia:  Hell yeah.

Eric:  That was very funny. Can I tell you guys a secret? I— it doesn't even matter anymore, but I— I was laughing at myself the entire time and I have to share.

Amanda:  Okay.

Eric:  You remember Umbi— when Umbi went up to the lighthouse, and saw the blood, and like the— the crumbled artifice of the lighthouse?

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  Yeah, Threelips fell and hurt himself, and that's why he had the bandage. Like—

Brandon:  I figured.

Eric:  —like it was an old lighthouse, and he stepped wrong because he's Threelips, and then he hit his head, and fell into the sea, and then had to go back and do it.

Julia:  Eric, it's good to know that this man, even though he's almost killed, at least two out of three of us multiple times, is still a— just an absolute klutz.

Eric:  I was thinking about this at the time because Amanda and I were watching this new movie by David Fincher called The Killer with Michael Fassbender in it. And the whole beginning of it— and you should just watch it, it's actually really quick, and Michael Fassbender is pretty— pretty good in it. And it's very much like part of the killer— if you like hitman and heist is like very much part of that. And David Fincher is also absolutely incredible. But the whole beginning of it— and this is in the trailer, so I don't think I'm spoiling anything, but like the beginning of it is like Michael Fassbender does a ton of voiceover about how like you need to be precise as a sniper. You need to like set yourself up and you have to have the same routine. And like this is exactly what I'm going to do, when I'm going to do it. And then when he does the hit, the first hit that is the inciting incident of the movie, it's because he, like, shoots at the wrong time and shoots the wrong person—

Amanda:  He beefs it.

Julia:  Yeah.

Eric:  —and— and goes fuck. And so I— I was thinking about that the entire time when I was doing Threelips. Like—

Amanda:  Incredible.

Eric:  —Threelips had hardened himself to avenge his bro— boy Troy and kill the pirates that brainwashed him, and then he just beefs it constantly. 

Julia:   Hell, yeah.

Brandon:  That's really good. I like that.

Amanda:  Part of me still feels bad for Threelips. And I hope he's not dead. I'll— I'll just say that right now. I think both Troy and Amanda hope that he's not dead, but we'll see. 

Julia:  I'm sure he's not dead.

Brandon:  I hope he slips and accidentally snipes himself.

Amanda:  That's fair.

Eric:  That would be funny.

Amanda:  Speaking of which, Brandon, Kendyll also asks, "How many more times will Umbi almost die in this campaign?"

Brandon:  Oh, almost die? A lot for sure. Die, only once.

Julia:  It's a real Schrodinger’s cat infinite level.

Amanda:  Exactly. And an idea hear from Melanie for us to keep in mind, "What if you stole the paper that Audrey was holding and read it with the glasses?  What would happen?"

Julia:  Hmm. 

Eric:  Oh.

Julia:  Interesting.

Brandon: Oh. Smart.

Amanda: Potentially interesting. I wonder if we'll ever know what happened behind the scenes of the diamond knot.

Julia:  I don't know.

Brandon:  Who can kno— who can say?

Julia:  Who can say?

Amanda:  Friends, we also have some great questions about the podcast as a whole IRL and then segueing into our Tour Draft. First of which comes from Elizabeth. Eric, do you ever have moments where you wish you were a player at the table?

Eric:  For something that we're working on later, I had to make a PC, and I was like, "I'm bad at this." I am not good at—

Amanda:  I don't think you're bad at this.

Eric:  I am not good at just like making— putting all of my creative energy into like one character and then doing it, right? Like I always feel like I end up playing a straight man, or I just like— not copying, but like deeply inspired by an archetype from like a different piece of media. 

Amanda:  Well, it must feel really limiting after you voice, you know, anywhere from 5 to like 15 characters per episode.

Brandon:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  I think something that I've realized is— is that I like making games and running games more than I like playing them and competing in them. Like—

Brandon:  Yeah.

Eric:  —there are a lot of people who like to win and who like to— and I'm not talking about any of them on this call. I'm just— I'm looking around.

Brandon: Two of them definitely are not raising their hands. 

Eric:  Just looking around. It's like I definitely like to win. If course, I like to win. But is it to the detriment of other reaso— other things that I like to do? I don't know. I've been doing this for so long, it's that— it's just kind of different. So, yes, for sure, but at the same time, I really like running games and coming up with stuff on my own. 

Amanda:  When we're in initiative or when we're surprised by stuff, like are— are there through lines to when you have those moments? Because you get to, for example, participate in big set pieces. You get to participate in big scenes, like you know, running and controlling NPCs. The only thing I can imagine that you have absolutely nothing about is, like, surprising us.

Eric:  Yeah. I mean, I like being surprised, sure, but I— to reveal something about myself is, like, I think that I'm the most likely person to make surprises for others, as compared to the people who would make surprises for me. I just think that the people around me are— no one does what I do and, like, yeah, I would like that, but I just don't know— I don't think that's just how, like, it shook out in— in that way. So I would rather do the things that I want to see in the world than hope that someone will do it for me and just, like, wait around for that. And I'm not saying that's like being a player, but I think that's just part of, like, how I've gravitated towards, you know, doing this professionally in various ways. And I've done it being a teacher, a camp counselor. Like, I liked being a camp counselor infinitely more than I like being a camper. Now, was it because of bullying?  Sure. 

Julia:  Sure.

Eric:  But— but also, like—

Brandon:  You bullied the kids as a camp counselor?

Eric:  Yeah, yeah. Fuck those kids.

Julia:  He loved bullying those kids..

Eric:  Yeah. Fuck you, Max Greenberg, I still own your ass.

Amanda:  Nice.

Eric:  Like— yeah, you know, it's just like, I'd ra— I'd much rather make the stuff and run the stuff than do it sometimes. It's only because of, like— you know, the way that actual play goes is like, you know, the players feel like the— the comparison point to actors, and how actors get praised for stuff that even they don't do from people who don't know what they're talking about, in terms of media.

Brandon:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  Like when you— you being in a movie is like, "Wow. Oscar Isaac did such a good job making the movie look good." It's like, "Alright, I guess— okay."

Brandon:  Yeah, yeah.

Amanda:  He did do a good job, but it wasn't because of him that the whole movie happened or was good.

Eric:  Yeah, that's the only— that would be the only— kind of like the only thing.

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Amanda:  That's fun. Question from Dominique about the behind the scenes of the podcasts in a slightly different way. So what we hear as the audience is the final edited results, so in effect on a voice appears, like the one done with Audrey, it's amazing. Thank you, Brandon. "And when you're recording, though, without the sound effects on, how do you imagine the sound so you can roleplay accordingly? Is it hard to do it actively? Do you have a technique for it?" So I'd love to hear from Eric making the voice and almost never do you give Brandon notes on like, what it should sound like. Brandon typically, at this point, kind of knows what you want. Me and Julia just hear the voice as you say it, and then how Brandon puts it in the final version. And then Brandon, how do you think about— do you find yourself actively considering how you're going to treat it later, or do you kind of encounter that in the post-production?

Brandon: Yeah. No, I'm curious on what you think, Eric. I— I assume you have— I've always assumed you have something in your head, and you do occasionally, yeah, give me like, "I really want this to sound"— I don't know. 

Julia:  Cool.

Brandon:  You know?

Amanda: Crunchy, spooky.

Brandon:  Yeah, I don't know. But— yeah.

Eric:  The— them only ti— I mean, I think it's my responsibility to try to do it without the effect on it so that Brandon can just enhance it. Yeah, I mean, like this was— this was different before when I didn't think I could get it done. Like, you know, the giant from Campaign One, all the way back there, I'm really glad that he didn't sound like me at all. Like, I didn't think I'd be able to recreate a voice that was so separate from Eric's voice, and he really needed to because I was doing so much with it, him being Shakespearean and—

Amanda:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  —and everything. At this point, yeah, it's like I want to make sure that Brandon has the easiest time doing what he's doing, so I set him up to— you know, I'm always trying to just lob up to him the flourishes and— which I don't think is the best word for it, but the— the— the work that he's going to do, I wanted to make it as— as easy as possible for him to do what he's gonna do. Yeah.

Brandon:  Yeah. I think that's— that's the thing that I would, yeah, touch on, too. It's like I— I— maybe it is because we work together for so long, but I definitely get the intention of what Eric is going for pretty quickly. And then, yeah, I just enhance it with whatever effects I want to add. So it's very rare that, like, Eric will just speak in normal tone, and then be like, "Can you make that sound more audible?" 

Eric:  Yeah, a 100%.

Brandon:  You know? It's like— Eric is obviously trying to be a deep, low booming voice, so let me just make that even lower and boomier.

Eric:  Yeah. And it's always just for like demons and computers, honestly. It's like what I need help with.

Brandon:  Yeah.

Eric:  Other than that, I— I really don't want that to be your responsibility. But I think that a lot of the things that you've already done have set the table for that. You know, like the panning of characters, being able to put them in— in specific situations, like knowing the scenes that they're in, so that, like, we know where they are in any point. And so it's like the only enhancements that need to happen to make the character fully round are very rare and in very specific cases. Like, for example, there are a computer or a— or a demon.

Amanda:  Yeah. You're also DM-ing for two scenarios, one of which is, you know, the four of us on a call, and the second of which is the— the audience. And I know you think of them as very similar, but also Julia and I have to distinguish, you know, all the NPCs from each other, and the vibe. And, like, I— I don't feel anything is lacking when we are here in the moment because I'm in it, and it's my mind palace, and I'm involved in the story. And the way I've always thought about what we do on Join the Party, and I think the best of actual play as a genre, is that it kind of recreates some of the stakes and feeling and momentum of being around the table for the audience who are not with us in real time, and not here like in this physical space or virtual space. So the— the effects kind of get you as listeners to the same point that I'm already at, hearing it without the effects, like coming out of, you know, the mouth of somebody who's like speaking to me, and— and my character in a situation that I can respond to. 

Julia:  Yeah. And I also think that the effects just in general are not necessary for us at the table, because Eric already does such a good job in describing the character that I already like— even if I'm hearing Eric's voice, I'm picturing this in my mind and that is doing so much for my experience as a player.

Eric:  Thanks.

Brandon:  Well, Julia, if you— anyone is able to listen to the Party Planning that came out this past Friday, I believe.

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Brandon:   We do talk—me and Julia do talk about that, and yeah, it's interesting, because you said that and to me, when I'm listening to Eric do a voice, I am hearing it deep and boomy in my head, even if it's just like—

Julia:  Normal Eric voice.

Brandon:  —like it's just like a nor— like, that's what I expect, so I hear it, you know?

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  Alright. So like, right now, I'm gonna be like a super hot guy who's like nine feet tall, and just, like, sick and he can dunk a lot.

Brandon:  Oh, man, you sound exactly like me. That's so weird.

Eric:  Yeah. Oh, hey, nice. So, hey, what's up? Yeah, what— what's going on? Yeah, I mean— I mean, this is the equivalent of a lot of the stuff that I can't do that a lot of home DMs do that, like, makes everyone fall in love, which is, like, make props and like, send people stuff in the mail. And, you know, have a— have a table for that matter. Like have a— not even a VTT, but like, you know, the people who make thousands of dollars on models or like, make— like, have one of those tables that has like the digital inset into it.

Amanda:  Hmm.

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  Or even, like, play music out loud from their Spotify playlist, you know?

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  Of like—

Julia:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Or like candle or themed snacks.

Julia:  Right.

Brandon:  Which we also talked about.

Eric:  And it's like I like—I wish I could do those, but I can't. So instead, I gotta do the best I can do and then Brandon tries to fill in the other stuff on the back end.

Julia:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Dominique also added by the way, "Umbi super glueing himself to the pot reminded me of my son last week who held on to a chair because he didn't want to go to the doctor."

Brandon:  Yeah, same energy. 

Julia:  Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.

Amanda:  That's pretty good. Moss asks, "Have you guys ever forgotten that something you've played hasn't been released yet and had to edit it out later or retake it?" 

Julia:  Yes, definitely.

Eric:  Yeah. Yeah. 

Amanda:  That happened about 20 minutes ago. You guys didn't hear it, but it happened.

Brandon:  Yeah. Yes. It's not I'm forgetting, it's just like, yeah, the line is very delineated for y'all, the audience, because you hear it every week. But for us, it's much more fluid, so it's just like figuring out where things go.

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon:  But yeah.

Amanda: I think we've all gotten very good at talking about what has happened and what we think and— or what we thought when we had only just played the episodes that you have heard. And that's not to mention the 4D chess that Eric must be doing to, like, reveal things that can be revealed—

Brandon:  Yeah.

Amanda:  —and not reveal things that cannot. I—

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Amanda:  —I feel like I've just gotten fluent enough to say like, "This is what Amanda or Troy thought," without kind of compromising information I learned later. So it's— you know, we— we do our best, but—

Julia: Yeah. 

Brandon:  Uh-hmm.

Amanda:  Alrighty, let's get into some nice reactions to our Tour Draft, which are mostly, "That sounded great. We love you. Please come back." But we had— we had some fun questions as well. This is from PeggyPegs. "Now, you got to play your old characters—"

Brandon:  PeggyPegs.

Amanda:  "—on tour, how was it? Was it difficult to get back into the mindset of those PCs? And is there a setting you'd love to return to or explore more?

Brandon:  Oh, man, we talked so much about this together, but yeah, no for me, it was— it was fairly difficult, especially Tracy, to get into because it was so long ago. And I kept forgetting like— like key phrases, and I couldn't find my voices and all that kind of stuff. But, yeah, we also talked about a lot— at least for me, I really loved going back to LakeTown City and playing those characters, so I would love to, yeah, go back and do more of that. 

Julia:  Yeah. I— I think I talked about it on the— the tour rehash or whatever, but the fact that playing Val is just like turning off something in my brain in order to just like—

Amanda:  Effortless.

Julia:  —be a dumb Italian idiot.

Amanda:  Val— Val, Julia, is mask off for you. 

Julia:  Yeah, that's true. That is true. So that was really fun to revisit that. And Cole is a less developed character than the rest of the PCs from Campaign One, so I felt like I was just like, "I'm playing a cool version of me for all those Campaign One ones." And then the— the like, just Phoebe part was really funny because I remembered, like, 20 minutes before we sat down being like, "What the fuck was the Phoebe voice? I think I'll just— I'll just—"

Amanda:  Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Julia:  "Okay, guys." Yeah, just like— I was like, "Oh, puberty is hard," so yeah.

Eric:  It was different definitely because camp is not a Dungeon & Dragons game and stuff. So it's like we did do something very specific for that live show, which you can buy, if you want to buy the VODs, you can just buy those now. It's really simple.

Amanda:  At jointhepartypod.com/live?

Eric:  Yeah, we can do that. 

Amanda:  Whoa. 

Eric:  And it was so much fun to do. I really— that was also one of my favorites, but—

Brandon:  Yeah, that was a blast. 

Eric:  It was like— it feels very— in the way that you can only go to summer camp in the summer, it's like I almost don't want to go back because it's not time yet. As much as I love it, it just feels like it's just kind of there.

Amanda:  Well, Jaya asks, Eric— this may be a— a great kind of deepening of the thought you brought up. "I remember you saying soon after starting Campaign Two that you thought it'd be hard to return to Campaign One because it felt like such a closed system and a closed story. What was it like to go back to that after so long? And specifically for you, what was it like coming up with the premises for all the different worlds and how were the vibes for each one different?"

Eric:  Hmm. Going back to Campaign One was— was probably the hardest one for me. It felt like I was doing— it felt like I was tacking on, like, extra stuff, like extra chapters to the story, it really did.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  And it was fun and everything. And I liked returning to the characters and everything, and I think that I—I spent some—some time with— like with— with Chad and Stone Face and Alonzo who I did miss, but at the same time, it did feel like extra. It really did feel like extra to me. Which is fine, I didn't have a problem doing and I'm glad that— you know Campaign One, that was Boston and Seattle. Like, I hope you all enjoyed it, and I had a really good time, but it definitely felt the weirdest to step back into when LakeTown City was still, like, oozing, and gushing, and everything and— and of course—

Brandon:  Campus forever, baby.

Eric:  I— I love camp, but it's like again, it just felt very like separate to me. But I think— there's something I want to say, is like everyone was like, "Oh, my God, here's the big bad. Here it is." Who said? Who said the SAP was the big bad? Who says?

Julia:  I think I said.

Brandon:  Yeah.

Amanda: That was gonna be in spoil the plank for me. Kendyll asked, "What was it like to finally meet the big bad?" And I'm like, "It— we—jury's out. We're not— it seems they're big and bad." 

Eric:  There's a lot of villains here that, I don't know, I felt like— my favorite types of games now, especially because we are on, like, our fourth campaign that we ran plus all the One Shots was like— I really like setting up factions and then seeing what happens. I think there are a lot of villains, a lot of people who don't like you out there. So I— I— it's almost like the— the fact that you bro— and I didn't even think you were gonna break the pot. So it's like the fact that Audrey was there, Audrey has been there since like episode three.

Amanda:  Uh-hmm.

Julia:  Yeah.

Eric:  So I don't know. I— I guess I didn't even know. I'm like, "Is there even a big bad? There's a lot of villains for you to reckon with, so I don't know.

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:   I don't really have the answer to that.

Julia:  This seem like the biggest bad that we've run into yet.

Eric: I don't know. Edie is pretty annoying.

Julia:  Fuck Edie.

Amanda:  Fuck her so much. Sucks 'cause I love rainbow carrots and knives, but— anyway, Emily wants to know, "What would you do differently on the next tour and what will you do the same or similarly? 

Brandon:  Well, the one thing that we will do differently is going to different places. If you take the survey, where there's a link in the description right now to tell us where to go.

Amanda:  Come on through.

Eric:  I feel like maybe it's like— well, it's one of those— it's one of those syndromes or experiences. The one where you hear something for the first time and then you hear it everywhere, that one? I don't know.

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Amanda:  Yes.

Eric:  It's— it's one of those.

Amanda:  Baader-Meinhof, right? Yeah.

Eric:  Yeah. Where it's like, man, Columbus, Ohio keeps coming up, huh?

Amanda:  It does.

Eric:  I keep hearing about Columbus, Ohio.

Amanda:  We'll see, we'll see. But no, that was so much fun. I think we— we got a lot right in terms of like our logistics and our prep. Huge shout-outs to Brandon for— for so much of that, so we— we have a whole list of all the things that we're going to do. You know, tweak slightly to make our lives easier. For me, I also love telling people what was gonna happen in each show, each night. We— we sort of made that choice closer to show time, so that folks who wanted to buy tickets that weren't able to physically attend could know what show they're buying tickets to. And I thought it was really fun to— to know what was coming up. 

Julia: Yeah.

Brandon: Yeah. Lots of learnings that we took most of them are— are boring business things, but yeah, just have to make it more efficient and even smoother, even though this went smooth, but yeah, it went well.

Julia:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Yeah. No one had to sleep on a fold out bed from a couch, except one time Brandon, who selected to sleep in a dungeon, a basement of his own.

Brandon:  In my cave.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Julia:  He did choose to do that when there—

Amanda:  He did.

Julia:  —were two other beds in the house that he could've slept in.

Brandon:  I did!

Eric:  I did like that because it felt like we were living in a castle, because each of us had our own floors. 

Amanda:  Yes.

Julia:  Uh-huh.

Amanda:  It was like a super skinny townhouse, and so it was like a three-bedroom but it was also four storeys, so it was— yeah, it was very odd. It was good.

Eric:  So it's like, "Alright, we take these"— it's like this is your full floor, and Amanda and I shared, like, the top floor and then Brandon's in the dungeon.

Julia:  Where he belongs.

Brandon:  I had just eaten live chickens.

Eric:  Was there actually a troll down there or you just said that?

Julia:  It was him, he was the troll. He—

Eric:  Oh, okay. Brandon kept tell—

Brandon:  Yeah.

Eric:  He kept telling us, "Watch out, there's a troll down there." And I'm like, "Is there like a troll statue? There's like a garden gnome that's like creeping down there." But it turns out it was just Brandon.

Amanda:  Indeed. Stephanie Kayy asks, "Will any of the live show recordings be on the feeds?" Not all of them. We may release one or two at some point, sometime. But the only way to make sure you listen to your favorite setting or your favorite characters, or all seven live shows, just go to jointhepartypod.com/live.

Julia:  Facts.

Brandon:  Yeah. 

Amanda:  And finally, not a question but Jess, Wess the imposter said, "So glad you liked my crochet. It's been so much fun having inspiration again to create and I can't wait for the next thing that inspires me to make something again." Just the pumpy is sitting on my desk.

Brandon:  Yes, they're so good.

Amanda:  They're— they're with me all the time. So cute. 

Brandon:  Uh-hmm.

Julia:  Hell yeah.

Amanda:  And finally, from TheDannyChips, "Not a question but I had to write the word barrel today and thought about Troy Riptide." So that's just—

Julia:  Yay.

Amanda:  That's just a little something that I liked.

Brandon:  I went to Lowe's yesterday to get some garden soil and they had a big ass barrel that you could buy, and I was like, "Oh, man."

Eric:  Now, people are telling us that like whenever they see a Chrysler Pacifica, they think about us.

Brandon:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  And I'm like, "Podcasts are crazy."

Julia:  "Podcasts are crazy."

Amanda:  And wild. So much fun. 

Brandon:  Chrysler, come at us. Give us sponsy.

Eric:  Only the Pacifica, though. I don't like any of your other products.

Amanda:  I just— I just can't wait for the— the several people who movingly have named themselves, in part— inspired by characters that we have played on the show, in their, like, '70s and '80s for someone to be like, "Oh, so like, where— where'd your name come from?" And they're like, "Well, there was this thing called podcast." And then explained the whole thing.

Julia:  Oh, no. Yeah.

Eric:  It's like, "Pacifica, where'd you get that name?"

Amanda:  Well, lots to say. Alright, folks, shall we, finally together here, spoil the plank?

Julia:  Yes.

Eric:  Yeah.

Brandon:  Let's do it. 

Eric:  I'm sorry, I spoiled the plank too early. I'm sorry I spoiled spoil the plank.

Julia:  It happens to the best of us.

Amanda:  It's okay, honey. There's no problem.

Eric:  I'm sorry I— I super spoiled it. I'm sorry I didn't check the expiration date and I got spoiled.

Amanda:  I think you, like, stepped on a floorboard on the deck that was connected to the plank, but there's no way you could have known that, so—

Eric:  And, like, hit me in the face. 

Brandon:  No way.

Amanda:  It's like a lever.

Brandon:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Yeah. A simple machine. I know you love those.

Eric:  I do love a sim— bitches love simple machines.

Amanda:  We do. 

Brandon:  It's like a rake that you step on and everyone laughs.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Brandon:  It's great.

Eric: No, I don't like it.

Amanda:  Okay. The question surgeon says, "Is Audrey a Dread Pirate Roberts situation?

Julia:  Oh.

Brandon: Who can say?

Eric:  Hmm.

Julia:  Interesting.

Brandon:  More like dead Pirate Roberts, am I right? 

Eric:  Nice.

Amanda:  There we go.

Eric:  Cool. 

Brandon:  Got 'em. 

Eric:  Nice.

Amanda:  Melanie asks, "I really want to know who Dr. Radish was before, but now I must know, who the hell is this guy?" 

Brandon:  Same.

Julia:  Who can say?

Amanda:  Who can say?

Brandon:  Who can say?

Eric:  Who can say? Same. Me, too. 

Brandon:  Same.

Eric: Who can say? Yeah, me too. 

Amanda:  Dr. Spurgeon, "Was the key with the gaze a casualty of the fight?"

Eric:  That's a great question. 

Julia:  Ooh. Who can say.

Brandon:  That's a great question. I really want to know.

Amanda: I very want to know. And then finally from Dominique, "Is the creature controlling Audrey, an antagonist of the Planter? Like is that the destroyer counterpart that we heard spoken about in the maze?"

Julia:  Yeah.

Brandon: Who can say? I had the same thoughts, but we don't know.

Amanda:  Who can say?

Eric:  I don't know. I hope—

Amanda:  Yes, you do.

Eric:  I hope it's cool and good, whatever it comes up with.

Amanda:  Yes, you know. 

Brandon:  Or is the Planter, the destroyer and this guy, the— the maker? I don't know what the opposite of that is.

Julia:  The sprouter. 

Eric:  The problem is, is that the tour made me remember how much I liked the other worlds. And I'm like, what if we did that instead? But then I'm like, "No, Verda Stello, good. I need to keep doing that." And now just like after doing the tour and having people directly, like, laugh and clap and cheer for things that we came up with, I'm like—

Amanda:  So nice.

Eric:  —very energized to do new stuff right now. So I'm just like—

Brandon:  Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.

Eric:  "—Ooh, I gotta finish the story, but would do I— or do I want to stay in the story forever? We never do anything else." You know? So it's— I'm feel like I'm being pulled in— in a lot of different directions, but with enthusiasm in all— in all those directions.

Brandon:  Let's see. The last season we did 57 episodes—

Eric:  Yeah.

Brandon:  —and we're on, what, 40—

Amanda:  One.

Eric:  It's coming. 

Brandon:  So— you know?

Eric:  It's coming.

Brandon:  Who can say?

Julia:  Oh, lordy, it's coming.

Eric:  It's— it's crazy. I mean— again, I mean, we've reflected on the genre of actual play a lot during these episodes, but it's like, you know, that first— that pod season was like a 100 episodes, and now like the McElroys are chugging out, like, 6 episodes stuff. I know that it's because Dimension 20 has set the premise, but like, they were always an anthology series, but now everyone's just doing what they're doing. But it's like—

Julia:  Uh-hmm.

Eric:  —I don't know. I don't know what the right answer is for this stuff. Like, I'm still excited for Verda Stello, I think people are, but I know that the beginnings of campaigns is when everyone, like, loses their shit. So I don't know. There's just like a lot— there's just like a lot to consider and a lot to think about.

Amanda:  I just want to say that if we kept to our current cadence, episode 69 would come out on New Year's Eve of 2024. So I'm— I'm simply saying—

Brandon:  That's the episode where Millie and everyone fuck. That's the fuck cut. Fuck cut, Eric.

Julia:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Well—

Julia:  That's when Millie and Umbi finally get together.

Brandon: That's the fuck cut, Eric.

Eric : I'm sorry for all those—

Brandon:  I didn't say it. I didn't say that.

Julia: I said that.

Eric:  I'm sorry for all those kids who wish that they could listen to this show with their parents. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Amanda:  I'm sorry. We're— we're too cool for your parents.

Eric:  We're so— we're so sorry.

Amanda:  But also your parents are probably close to our age, so tell them to listen to the show as well, but just separately— 

Eric:  Yeah, good point. Good point.

Amanda:  —separately, differently at a— at a different time while— without making eye contact with you. 

Brandon:  Hey, Eric, can you say, "Fuck cut, Eric" five times fast—

Eric:  No, no.

Amanda:  Brandon, that's your activation phrase.

Eric:  I'm still— first of all, that's— Brandon's gonna go out and, like, destroy a building if I say that. And second of all— and second of all, you just told me by the end of 2024 and it makes me want to throw myself out of a window. I cannot consider that.

Amanda:  Instead, let's eat some lunch. Thank you everybody for writing in. Thank you for your questions. Thank you for your attention and enthusiasm. I'm going to tell you as— as wild as these two episodes were, I think next episode is yet more wild, so I—

Brandon:  Yeah.

Amanda:  —am stoked for you all to hear it. And say goodbye, everybody. 

Brandon:  Bye, everybody. 

Eric:  Goodbye, everybody.

Julia:  Later.

Amanda:  And may your rolls turn ever upward.

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