The crew sails on towards the Dissolving Belt, and everything goes fine on the way there.
I'm a sailor live, and I've lost my hive / Climbing up the top sails, I lost my hive!
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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: Join the Party and Spirits are playing in your city. God, we're so excited. Eric will be wearing his DM-ing glove the entire trip, I'm both worried and excited. 7 cities, 10 days at the end of March 2024, your two favorite podcasts, Join the Party and Spirits are performing live. We're playing games, rolling dice, making monsters, and a whole lot more. So come see us in Seattle at the Here-After on March 21st, Minneapolis at Granada on March 22nd, Chicago at Reggies on March 24th, Boston at The Rockwell on March 25th, New York City at Littlefield March 26th, Philly at City Winery March 27th, and DC at Atlas Brew Works on March 28th. Get your tickets right now at jointhepartypod.com/live. That's jointhepartypod.com/live. There you can see all the ticket links and find the city that works for you. When you're rolling the bones, your future is looking good. Join us.
Eric: I remember a time before the Cascade dried up. Here in Verda Stello, the four nations of plant and bug people flourished and thrived. But the great waterfall that fed the land slowed to a trickle, revealing a vast Salt Sea and unknown islands. The only guide were the words of the 13 Dried Carvings. “The water will slow to fall, but the tides are turning. Find the Infinite Lake to replenish the world and discover the Salmon who will grant you a wish of whatever you desire.” This marks the beginning of the Tide, as many Greenfolk hauled onto ships to find the Infinite Lake and maybe riches, adventure, excitement, and purpose along the way. And what exactly is a salmon? Is that a berry? That was 50 years ago, and the Tide rushes forward ever still. There are many stories caught on the wind between sails, but why don't we hear just one? Of a butterfly gunman with clipped wings, a ripened and explosive piece of produce, and a witch made out of tea. This is Join the Party Campaign 3, The Rising Tide!
[theme]
Amanda: Last time on Join the Party.
Eric: Someone is inviting every pirate with a key to show up to some sort of conference in the Dissolving Belt. So that means everyone is on high alert for pirates with keys, which includes our main characters here who have a key. Riding that wave, Cammie, Troy, and Umbi decided to make copies of the blueprint of how to make keys that they grabbed from their privateer mission to make some amber. They decide to sell it to the highest bidder, but the Outback Steakhouse guy is deranged, the weird guy on the beach is broke, so they have to work with war criminal and hot Millipede, Millie the Maleficent to buy their forgeries. We are going to be fashionably late to the big pirate conference because Aubergine was late getting on the boat. So let's get the party started.
Amanda: So guys, Troy has spent the last 12 hours directly before we set sail for the Dissolve Belt, learning how to weave and then weaving a hammock bed for the pumpy, so that his bed can hang directly above Troy's bunk, and they can never be more than an arm's length distance apart during the entire voyage.
Brandon: I liked that they— they are separate but together, you know? They're comfy, but together comfy.
Julia: My question is, why not let pumpy sleep in your bunk?
Brandon: Because not comfy, Julia.
Julia: That is comfy, though, little cuddle friend.
Brandon: No, you've clearly never slept in the bed with a dog.
Julia: I literally did on Monday. And it was like sleeping next to a furry stone.
Brandon: Prove it. What dog, Julia?
Julia: Peppa.
Eric: Peppa the dog, it was— she was so sweet. I do like the idea of Troy doing this just for like— I don't want to introduce this into the actual world, so I'm abstracting it, but like doing it just for a TikTok, is like, "Hey, I'm Troy, I learned things. Today, I learned how to weave for my pumpy." And just, like, you're seeing the whole thing come together.
Julia: This is also a performance that Troy does right in front of the clock.
Brandon: Yeah, I was gonna say—
Amanda: Julia, I was gonna say, Troy is sitting in the town square in a sunbeam, shirtless, with the pumpy right in front of him, tongue out like to the side as he laboriously weaves.
Julia: Right.
Amanda: And the thing is that you can unclip the little hammock from the hook in the ceiling, and wear it as a sling.
Julia: Oh.
Amanda: Little baby Bjorn.
Eric: Oh.
Julia: Cute.
Brandon: Now, can I pitch you all that instead of the TikTok in front of the clock, there is—
Amanda: Thank you, Brandon.
Brandon: —a Vine. It's like you perform on the Vine, and it's like, you can only have eight seconds, or seven seconds, or whatever it is.
Eric: Before the Vine breaks, you're jumping off of the volcano—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —and the Vine is your bungee cord.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: It's pretty good.
Brandon: Yep, a 100%. Yep.
Amanda: That's really good.
Eric: So you can— you only are able to show your true self when you're on the Vine before the Vine, like, breaks when you're jumping?
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Well, Brandon, of course, it's the time that it takes from jumping off the top to the bottom, and then it repeats.
Amanda: To reach the bottom. Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Right, right. Right, right. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: It's very good.
Eric: And then there was a book that has everyone's faces in it, and you can see where everyone went to high school, as you go through the book.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Bummer.
Eric: Let me— let me post something to the three of you. I feel like it's been a week since the last episode. I feel like all of you needed to lay low for a week or so, being like, so much is going on, we really need to chill out before we leave. I feel like we got into too much. It's like when— like—
Julia: Sorry, is this in character or out of character we're feeling that way?
Eric: Both? Maybe both? I would say both.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: I'd say both. This is— like, on the week of New Years, I accidentally went out like three days of the weekdays, because I— and New Year's Day was on Monday, and then I ended up seeing my brother and go into a— a comedy show, like on different days. And I'm like, "Oh, I'm 32 and I went out three weekdays of the week. I need to stay inside for 48 hours." So I feel like after the— how wild the last few days have been for your characters, I feel like maybe we got to lay low for a little bit.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: I'm cool with that.
Brandon: If you were to look at Umbi, you would see big, ol' bags under his eyes, because he hasn't slept at all, like watching his door in the night for, you know, one specific intruder that may come in the middle of the night to, um—
Amanda: Ravish him.
Julia: Yeah, I mean, she might send a bird that says, "Hey, you up?"
Brandon: Not ravish him. Not—
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Not— not what they're saying.
Eric: It's— it doesn't help that in your mind every 30 seconds, your parrot is going, "There's a person outside. There's a person. I remember this joke from the last episode." [cawks]
Brandon: It does help because—
Eric: Okay.
Brandon: —it's— that's what he asked him to do because he's looking, that's why he's so tired.
Eric: Oh, it's like to keep you awake.
Amanda: Kind of the alarm.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Because it's almost like you took the battery out of your smoke detector and you replaced it with one that was dying—
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: —so that you would hear the chirp—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —every 15 seconds.
Brandon: Keeps me awake. Yeah, I don't have to chug coffee. Yeah.
Eric: Brandon, can you also put the fire alarm chirp in the background of this podcast?
Brandon: No. No, I won't.
Eric: And just put it in like three— four times at random times?
Amanda: Triggering. Triggering.
Julia: No.
Brandon: No.
Amanda: Triggering.
Brandon: No, no.
Eric: No? Okay.
Julia: We don't hate our listeners.
Brandon: Or did I?
Amanda: Oh, no.
Eric: The pa—
Brandon: No.
Eric: Hey, the patrons definitely don't have this. They spent $5 a month.
Amanda: We would never do that. Eric, that's a wonderful idea.
Julia: Every episode is also a fire alarm chirp episode.
Amanda: Listen, if for some reason someone had a gun to our heads and we all had to work for Spotify, that's what we would do for a Spotify podcast. That's what we're doing here.
Brandon: It's like watermark. It's like every 15 seconds, it's like this podcast is owned by Join the Party Incorporated.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: This is the equivalent of us putting like naughty words in the back of Disney cartoons.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Just putting the— the fire alarm chirp in there.
Amanda: Or like DRM on our DVDs.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Oh, my god. Yeah. So yeah, just— we— and they're ad-free and smoke alarm chirp-free episodes.
Amanda: Listen, we could advertise that the ad-free episodes are free from smoke alarms, that would be true, but we won't.
Brandon: That's true.
Amanda: Alright. Um, Brandon and Julia, how would you feel about trying to connect with our favorite foppish trader and see if he has any info or perhaps—
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: —wants to get info for us before we set up? Real question, would it be good or bad?
Julia: We haven't seen Orello in a while.
Brandon: I think it's a good idea.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: To get some info for sure, yeah.
Amanda: We can dangle one of our new amber, but not give it to him.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah. I don't think we needed new information, just see if he has any—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —existing information, you know?
Amanda: That's true.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Sure. I mean, you haven't seen Orello on the island recently.
Julia: That's true.
Eric: So—
Amanda: Do we have like a flag that we fly, or like a leaf on the outside of the volcano that we, you know—
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: —moved to indicate that we are, like, wanting commerce and trade?
Eric: Yeah. I mean, you— tell me how you get in touch with Orello.
Julia: I thought it's just Troy takes his shirt off.
Amanda: Do we still have the little bit of Harold on Orello's ship?
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Amanda: Didn't we do that?
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Oh, yeah, we did, but I don't know if he's on the same ship, but we did do that.
Amanda: Alright. Let's see, a couple days before the great weaving in the town square, Troy is gonna— you know, he's cleaning out the ship. We've not done like a deep clean for a while. Sorry.
Eric: Do you need to drink-- you don’t need to get some liquids?
Amanda: I probably need to get some liquids.
Eric: Yeah, you gotta get some.
Brandon: Get some liquids.
Eric: Alright. So, um, we're— guys, we're gonna throw a surprise party for Amanda.
Brandon: Okay. Right now?
Eric: Yeah. No, on the ship. It's Troy's birthday, we're going to throw a surprise party.
Brandon: That'd actually be cute.
Eric: That would be pretty good.
Julia: That would be adorable.
Eric: Yeah. Okay. Okay, okay. Think about— just think about it. We're going to throw a surprise party, everyone brings something.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: Oh, thank you. Okay. So yeah, why don't you tell me? How do you get in touch with Orello? Yeah, I think you have— you— you can still have of Harold in there.
Amanda: Well, Eric, we— we tickle Harold's tummy.
Eric: You tickle Harold's tummy?
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: I think the better question is, how do we determine what is the tummy?
Amanda: We'd say, "Harold, I got to tickle your tummy." And he goes, "Okay."
Brandon: Yeah, he does like that.
Amanda: Yeah. So a couple days before the great weaving in the town square, Troy's gonna be doing some deep cleaning, some restocking, making sure that all the barrels and all the sawdust, and all the, you know, salt and the various things we need, pot full of water.
Eric: Gotta make sure you have your pocket is full of sawdust.
Amanda: I'm never—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: I'm never not going to have a pocket of sawdust again. Okay?
Eric: Now, apparently, yeah.
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: I love the idea that— so he just makes sure that all the barrels are there. He doesn't look inside them. He's just like one— he counts them, like yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Count the barrels.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: 16 barrels.
Julia: He does check to see if they're full.
Brandon: Got them.
Eric: This one has—
Brandon: Got it.
Eric: It says sawdust on the outside, so it must be full of sawdust.
Amanda: Must be right. Barrel would never lie to me.
Eric: No.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Barrel would never lie to you.
Amanda: And as he's, you know, polishing, cleaning, getting the outside of the boat already, he'd be like—
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, hey, Harold, can— can you— can I tickle your tummy real quick? I want to— I want to get Orello over here.
Julia: We also put that on Orello ship secretively.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: Reminding us that— that would be showing our hand if we decide to contact him via that.
Amanda: Well, I want to see where he is.
Brandon: Yeah. So first thing, just like use him to see where he is and then if we need to, we can be like, "Surprise."
Julia: Gotcha.
Eric: Cool.
Amanda: It'd be like—
Amanda (as Troy): Harold, that's the— that's the signal we decided on, right, for your— sorry, I want to be respectful. Is it like other Harold, same Harold, different Harold—
Brandon (as Umbi): Your ass!
Amanda (as Troy): Sil the Second?
Eric (as Harold): I mean, you can tickle my tummy whenever you want, but I can just conta— it's— it's— I can just contact the parts of me. I can—
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, yeah, tight. No, we just don't know where he is. I don't want to like break your cover or anything.
Eric (as Harold): I mean, take me out to dinner first, please. I'm a classy lady.
Amanda (as Troy): Okay.
Eric (as Harold): And then single cell amoeba moss thing.
Amanda (as Troy): Okay. Harold, can I— can I practice flirting back? Is that okay?
Eric (as Harold): I— if you want— yes, sure. Troy, please.
Amanda: Okay. Troy, like, dips one shoulder, and puts a hand on his hip, and goes—
Amanda (as Troy): Okay.
Amanda: How was that? How was that? Was that good?
Brandon: Okay, boys. Okay, slimes.
Eric (as Harold): Troy, can I be honest with you?
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Eric (as Harold): 4.
Amanda (as Troy): Alright. Alright.
Eric (as Harold): Out of 10.
Amanda (as Troy): Got a room for improvement.
Eric (as Harold): Better.
Amanda (as Troy): I love it. I love it. Harold, you're such a good friend.
Eric (as Harold): I liked it, but it was a 4.
Amanda (as Troy): Thanks. It's important to be able to do it. You know, get people to do what you want.
Eric (as Harold): Just be— you gotta be honest with each other. You gotta be honest with each other.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
Eric: Okay. Yeah, so what— yeah. what do you want to do here?
Julia: We just want to know where Orello is.
Eric: You want to know where Orello is?
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Or I guess where his ship is.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah. Because again, it is two days before we depart, so if he's nearby, hopefully he'll hit us up on his way back. He hasn't been to the Hold in a while. And if not, then maybe we'll either decide to contact him or try to intercept him on our way up.
Eric: Okay. Have you, like, let this part of Harold just chill the whole time, that you just let it don't be dormant? It's like you're activating your— your homing beacon almost?
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Or kinda.
Eric: Or your sleeper agent as it were?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Okay. Alright. I think that Harold slimes and wiggles their way—
Amanda: Slorps. Uh-hmm.
Eric: —slorps to the front of the ship, and spreads their entire body out across the bow of the ship, really taking in the sun, just photosynthesizing like a motherfucker, just really feeling himself like, "This— I gotta get in touch with my whole self so I can get in touch with my whole self."
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: If you know what I'm saying.
Amanda: Work.
Eric: Girl, work.
Amanda: Work.
Brandon (as Umbi): Hell yeah.
Eric: Yeah. So let me think. And, like— it'd be like when Harold is stretched all the way, there's just like a little— there's like a puzzle piece missing of Harold.
Eric (as Harold): Alright. I'm seeing it. I'm feeling it. I am on a ship. There, I am in— there's boxes.
Amanda (as Troy): That's it.
Eric (as Harold): There's a pillow. There are silk pillows.
Amanda (as Troy): So fancy.
Eric (as Harold): And just— there are barrels of ink. And there's some weird contraptions I'm not sure go in what or do what. And I'm looking and I'm going, I'm slurping outside and I'm look— oh, and here's a porthole, I can just look out there. And— huh. Okay. It's— so it's a ju—it's a skeleton. I'm— we're docked outside of a skeleton, and it's large and it's— it's— it's— it's very large, extremely large. It's the size of an island or bigger, and we're in— we're docked next to it and it's like half in the water. This is like—this is like Pictionary, and— but also it's covered in some sort of— it is— it's half dissolved and the rest of it is propped up by some sort of other structure, some sort of natural structure.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh.
Eric (as Harold): And it seems like there's a bunch of other ships around and there's— everyone is kind of going one way— this way, and that way, and this way, and—
Amanda (as Troy): Harold, that's perfect. Thank you
Eric (as Harold): And what is that—
Amanda (as Troy): You know what I bet it is?
Eric (as Harold): What?
Amanda (as Troy): I bet big creature.
Eric (as Harold): Okay.
Amanda (as Troy): Laid like their head on a rock and it died. And then people were like, "Whoa. Rebuilding, real hold style." And built up a little building inside of it.
Eric (as Harold): No, it's not a build— it's— I— I— hold on. I can't— okay. It's something else—it's something else propping it up, but it's not a building. It's like— it's— I'm— we're just on the outside and I'm seeing the head thing and it's just like— it— it's like there's— there's big bricks propping up— propping it up from the outside, but I can't— I don't have— even have an eye on this thing. It's just kind of like stat— it's just kind of static. The— I'm moving my— my antennas around. It's something else, but I guess he's at the— I guess he's at the meeting at— he's at the meeting of the Dissolve Belt already.
Amanda (as Troy): That's where we're going, bud.
Julia (as Cammie): Alright.
Amanda (as Troy): You can reunite.
Eric (as Harold): I can pick him up there if you want. It's— I— what is that?
Julia (as Cammie): Well, we'll find out when we get there. You don't have to keep describing it. We'll see it probably in person.
Amanda (as Troy): Thanks, Harold.
Julia: Respectfully.
Amanda(as Troy): You really came through.
Eric (as Harold): Okay.
Amanda (as Troy): Now, how about I— how about I spritz you with sea water, your favorite?
Eric (as Harold): Oh, please. Especially when I'm out on the front of the ship.
Eric: Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.
Brandon (as Umbi): Look at that golden green you're get— you're getting. I think— let's go, baby. Let's raise that anchor. Let's lift them sails. Let's hit that motor. Let's get it going.
Julia: Yeah, I would love to do shapes and omens. Like, Cammie is probably going to have her cup of tea as they are leaving the Hold, and is going to read the tea leaves to see what the shape of future events is.
Eric: I like it. Yeah, everyone— Aubergine as you know has been on the ship for three days. He has fully taken over most of Troy's cabin and also most of Umbi's cabin, which is impressive.
Julia: Respecting my space, I appreciate that.
Eric: Or maybe— or maybe you guys aren't as close as you thought, who knows?
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: He told a bird that we're close, so—
Brandon: He's put up his, like, freestanding closet rack—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —hanger thing—
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: —that's in all of our cabins except for Cammie's.
Eric: Yeah, there's just a bed that just like is in the main hallway that's— it— and you can't close Umbi and Troy's door anymore, because the bed is— the bed is stretching out into it.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Troy is like—
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda (as Troy): This has this always been here? Whoa.
Eric (as Aubergine): Please, I need— I need my space. I need to be able to have— I sleep 17 hours a day and I also lay for 6 hours a day.
Julia (as Cammie): Is it because you're a Nightshade?
Eric (as Aubergine): That's exactly why. That's why I'm poisonous if you eat me.
Brandon (as Umbi): Hey, Julia. Fuck yeah.
Eric (as Aubergine): If there's an emergency, I want to die.
Brandon (as Umbi): Okay.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay.
Amanda (as Troy): I prefer that you don't.
Eric (as Aubergine): You can just— you can use me first as whatever you need, just— I will go first.
Julia (as Cammie): You got it.
Eric (as Aubergine): I would much rather be sacrificed to help everyone else than be inconvenienced in any sort of way.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, okay.
Julia (as Cammie): Understandable.
Eric (as Aubergine): That is just how I live my life. Also, I need everything to be completely silent, and not swaying back and forth, and totally dark when— in order for me to fall asleep.
Brandon (as Umbi): You're gonna love it here, I bet.
Eric (as Aubergine): I'm going to— it's going to be so much—
Amanda (as Troy): Yep.
Eric: Harold and Sil push the Sea Whip off the dock and there are still pirates standing outside, waving bags of money at you.
Eric (as Pirate): 10 amber for the key, please.
Julia (as Cammie): Where were you before?
Eric (as Pirate): I'll— I'll give you my son.
Eric: A pirate holds up a little berry boy. They're like—
Julia (as Cammie): No.
Eric (as Pirate): —"You want him?"
Amanda (as Troy): No, thank you.
Julia (as Cammie): Keep him and treasure him.
Eric (as Pirate): I would rather trade him for treasure to treasure him.
Amanda (as Troy): No.
Brandon (as Umbi): I've seen better boys.
Amanda: Have you?
Eric: Hey, Umbi, what the fuck, man?
Brandon: It's called haggling.
Julia: Umbi's been around the block a couple of times. He's seen a lot of good boys.
Eric: Umbi has seen— Umbi has seen some shit, yeah, man. Yeah.
Brandon: I love it when you tell a joke that just shuts down the podcast for a brief second.
Amanda: No, it's incredible funny.
Eric: No, it's very— which is very fun— it was so funny. We had to pull over and—
Amanda: I was taken aback.
Eric: It's like if you sneeze too hard when you're driving and you're like, "Uh-oh. It's coming." And you gotta pull over, because it's too dangerous to sneeze while you're driving. Yeah. And the Hold gets further and further away as the Sea Whip starts to make its way towards the Dissolving Belt.
Julia: Alright, bitch. Tell me about the shape of my tea leaves.
Eric: Is that what Cammie says at the— into her— into her pot?
Julia: No, that was Julia at you.
Eric: Oh, okay, cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool. Yeah, what is it— tell me about this, what is this?
Julia: When you finish a long rest, you can examine the shape of your tea leaves. The GM tells you a shape that hints at future events.
Eric: Cool. Are you pouring into the cup? Where— where are the tea leaves on this one?
Julia: Yeah, no, it's in Cammie's usual cup. I think Cammie has a little bit of a ritual every time they set sail of just, like, sitting at the bow of the ship, pouring herself her cup of tea that is made out of her, because that's very important to the process.
Eric: Of course.
Julia: And pouring it into that kind of, like, delicate— we've talked about this before, but she has this tea set that is her own, that is very delicate like wood scene, but there are kind of like dark creatures lurking in the woods the closer you look at it.
Eric: I like that. I— we haven't discussed this before, but saying that you cut a piece yourself, I like the— it's like a cere— do you have like a ceremonial, like, dagger or ornamental scissors for that— you use to clip?
Julia: No, it's— it's a plucking, I think.
Eric: Oh, sure.
Julia: I think it's quite similar to, like, pulling out hair, to be quite honest, where it's like— you know, you just go, "Boop."
Eric: Do you have, like, jewel-encrusted tweezers or a— or a jeweled glove?
Julia: Just my fingies. I'm not too fancy about it, you know? I'm a simple humble tea witch.
Eric: That's fair. That's fair. Um, okay. Julia, would you like to know something about the near future, or would you like to know something a little bit more broad?
Julia: Near future.
Eric: Okay, near future. As you drink from your cup, and you look at the tea leaves, you see the ship, a little ship and the tea leaves, it seems to be steering into a cloud—
Julia: Okay.
Eric: —of some sort. In my head, it's like you're using tea leaves to, like, make stick figure drawings within a little circle. So it's like you have a little ship, and then there's this, like, 60% of the cup, like in a ring around the right side of the cup, is just like this cloud, this mass that the ship is steering into.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: Cool.
Julia: Good to know.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: Alright. Anything else? Any other thoughts?
Amanda: Well, we're gonna give Aubergine some training about how to be on the ship, how to stay safe, what to happen if we get into ship combat, aka, I think, stay out of the way and wait for us to tell you where to go, and just like some basic protocols.
Brandon: Now, is this delivered to him via a old school CRT television that you've rolled out onto a cart and a VHS tape that has been played 80 times and is now staticky or—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Okay, cool.
Amanda: Exactly, right.
Julia: Yep.
Brandon: Great.
Eric: I have to ask, was this CR— was this VHS on the ship before, or did you guys record this?
Julia: I think it was in the haunted office.
Amanda: Yeah. And we— we just taped over whatever was there without looking at it, so Harold plays all the characters.
Eric: Wait, wait, so there was a VHS tape—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —that said My Wedding?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And you've just like taped over it?
Amanda: No.
Julia: Well—
Amanda: The— the label just had a skull and crossbones, and we said, "Okay." And just taped over it.
Julia: Probably haunted.
Brandon: Maybe it was also a safety tape, but we specifically videotaped over the parts that we wanted to customize to our boat, you know?
Amanda: Oh, that's good, Brandon. That's good.
Julia: That's what I was thinking as well, so—
Amanda: Okay. Okay.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Like an airplane safety video, but instead of like, "Here at Delta," we're like, "Here on the Sea Whip," and like we— we, you know, taped it over.
Eric: Oh, it was a safety video but—
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Eric: Oh, I thought that you kept the wedding video, and then you cut in—
Amanda: No, no, no, no.
Eric: —and just like— you just inserted it. So it was like a three-hour tape and you just put it right in the middle, so you gotta, like, fast forward 90 minutes to get to the safety video?
Julia: Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
Amanda: Very funny, but a different flavor.
Brandon: I do like the idea that we green screened Cammie on— going down the aisle or something.
Julia (as Cammie): I look cute in white.
Julia: Do we also leave Havana behind or is he on the ship with us?
Eric: Oh, no, Havana's— Havana is with you.
Julia: Alright, cool.
Eric (as Havana): Don't worry, Cammie, I'm here with my— all of my skills and my doctor bag.
Julia (as Cammie): I always hope that you are, Havana. I always hope that you are.
Eric (as Havana): Cammie, do you need anything sutured? Do you need anything stitched or phlebotomized?
Julia (as Cammie): No. I don't know what that last one is.
Brandon (as Umbi): Sounds delicious.
Eric (as Havana): If you want it, I could do it for you because I know doctor things.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay. I don't. I don't.
Eric (as Havana): Troy, I do have to show you something. It's very— it's very important.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, yeah.
Eric (as Havana): Yeah. Troy, I have to— can we go somewhere— can we go somewhere private?
Amanda (as Troy): Of course.
Eric (as Havana): Okay.
Eric: And Havana pulls Troy aside.
Amanda: Troy's wearing the pumpy, by the way.
Eric: Havana— Havana takes— walks you kind of around the ship, trying to find somewhere very private.
Eric (as Havana): No, I think everyone can hear us here. No, I think everyone can hear us here. No, I think—Troy, I think we're gonna have to go inside. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to go down to the bottom— into the ship's hold and—
Amanda (as Troy): That's fine. That's where the barrels live.
Eric (as Havana): —for me to tell you something very in— oh, we can go into the barrels.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Eric (as Havana): That's fine, if that— that's what would make you more comfortable.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Brandon: Troy has put a nameplate on the hold's door that just says Barrel House.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah. That where the barrels go to sleep. Barrels gotta sleep.
Eric(as Havana): Yeah.
Amanda (as Troy): Really, that wasn't in the book, but barrels gotta sleep.
Eric (as Havana): I— I don't know— I only know about— about leaving bodies and saving them.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah, of course, man. What's up?
Eric (as Havana): The— well, Troy, it's very important for me to say this, but today, you are the birthday boy.
Eric: And Havana turns on the lights and everyone goes—
Eric (as Havana): Surprise!
Julia (as Cammie): Yay!
Brandon (as Umbi): Surprise!
Julia (as Cammie): Yay!
Amanda (as Troy): Whoa. For me?
Eric (as Havana): Surprise!
Amanda (as Troy): What?
Eric: And down in the Hold with all the barrels, there's a banner that says Happy Birthday, Troy, and there's a little cake, and Harold and Sil brought cupcakes. And—
Amanda (as Troy): Cakes that you can hold in your hand.
Eric (as Havana): That's right. That's right.
Amanda (as Troy): Whoa! In the place I love most where the barrels go to sleep. Guys, did you know about this?
Julia (as Cammie): Yes.
Brandon (as Umbi): We found out about it when you left to go get your water.
Amanda (as Troy): Guys, that was so nice of you. You know, back— back in— in— in where I used to come from, because this is home now, you know? It was more like, oh, survive to another year without getting deposed or killed. And so it was like— you know, everyone was like, nice, but it wasn't like whoa. Thank you.
Brandon (as Umbi): I made cannoli dip.
Julia (as Cammie): I made tea.
Amanda (as Troy): Aw, thanks.
Julia (as Cammie): But it's special tea. It's my specialty.
Amanda (as Troy): Whoa. Whoa.
Eric: Is the special birthday tea that has meat dumplings in it?
Julia (as Cammie): No.
Amanda (as Troy): Guys, is this a situation where same word means two things?
Julia (as Cammie): No.
Brandon (as Umbi): No.
Eric (as Havana): No. No, it's not.
Julia (as Cammie): Because special tea is two words.
Amanda(as Troy): Good.
Eric: Julia, it's like Christmas soup, kind of like if you have the regular soup or the special soup has the meat dumplings in it?
Julia: Ah, okay. I didn't know that.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Don't— hey, Eric, stop putting meat dumplings in your tea.
Eric: I refuse. It's— it's so much better that way. The— Brandon, the umami comes across.
Amanda (as Troy): Guys, this is amazing. Thank you. I— I feel like this is gonna bring us so much luck and— and happiness on our journey, and you— you guys are the best. You're the best crew that a humble prince could ever ask for.
Amanda: And he gives them all a big hug.
Brandon (as Umbi): For he's a jolly good pirate, for he's a jolly good pirate, for he's a jolly good pirate.
Julia (as Cammie): For he's a jolly good pirate, for he's a jolly good pirate.
Eric: For he's a jolly good pirate, and his name is Troy.
Brandon: Whoa!
Amanda: Woo!
Eric: Woo!
Amanda: Aw, thanks, guys. Damn.
Eric: Hey, can all of you make a perception check really quickly?
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. I'm sure there's nothing concerning about that, whatsoever.
Eric: Yeah. Alright, Cammie, you can have advantage for that.
Julia: Ooh, thank you.
Amanda: 13 for the birthday boy.
Julia: I rolled a 13 twice, so a 16.
Eric: Oh!
Brandon: That's really unlucky, Jesus Christ, Julia.
Julia: I'm fine.
Brandon: Um, you know, guys, I— I don't want to brag, but I did roll a 19 for my first roll, and—
Julia: Whoa.
Brandon: —plus 4 for 23.
Eric: Wow.
Julia: Whoa.
Brandon: So—
Amanda: Dang. Umbi has had so many birthdays.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Umbi is able to split his mind into twain to celebrate the birthday in one way and celebrate it another.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: Well, Cammie and Umbi, while you— while Troy's enraptured in him being the birthday boy, as Harold and Sil put a birthday hat on him.
Amanda (as Troy): Whoa!
Eric: They— it's so tight, it is digging into his butterfly face.
Julia: Way too small.
Eric: The little string is just digging in. It's gonna leave a mark for a little bit.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: Hey, you— you guys hear a buzzing, and it's low, and it's rumbling, and it's starting to— it's getting into your body. It is like coming from the ground, and getting louder, and louder, and louder.
Brandon (as Umbi): Hey, Cammie, do you feel that?
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah. Um, keep celebrating Troy and his birth and continued survival, I'm gonna check outside.
Brandon (as Umbi): Alright. Here, take Bartlett with you.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay. Bartlett, we're still friends, right?
Brandon (as Bartlett): [caws]
Julia (as Cammie): Great.
Eric: It's like Chandler Bing doing a whip. Wa-pa!
Brandon: Wa-pa!
Julia: Bartlett lands on Cammie's shoulder and Nonny crawls up, and crawls on top of Bartlett, and it's like a little sandwich.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Aw, cute.
Eric: Cute. Cute. You go above— with your two animal companions—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —and you go above and you see that— if we zoom out, it's like we flash the image of the tea, and then we do a match cut of the ship sailing forward.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And there is a buzzing mass that the ship is heading towards, of nefarious, deadly, pointy, spiny sea bees!
Brandon: Nooo!
Amanda: What?
Eric: Watch out! It's sea bees!
Brandon: Nooo!
Amanda: My worst nightmare!
[theme]
Amanda: Hey, everybody, it's Amanda, and welcome to the mid-roll, where I've got to remind you that we are going on tour, baby. Go to jointhepartypod.com/live to get your tickets now to the Rolling Bones Tour, which will see us touring with Spirits Podcast, it's gonna be so much fun. The last week of March in Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, DC, Philly, and New York City. We are so stoked. We want to do more touring, but first, you got to help us make this tour a success. So if you can come, you should come. If you have friends in those cities, text them, tell them to see us. It's gonna be fun no matter if you know who we are or not, I promise. Thank you and welcome to our newest patrons, James, Chibi Yokai, Zoe, Liz Lian, Rekha, Karina, and Noah. We so appreciate that you are prioritizing, supporting Join the Party in your budget each month. We hope you are enjoying the Discord, Party Planning, and all of the other perks that you get as a Join the Party patron. If you would like to join, you listening right now, and get ad-free episodes, access to our patron-only Discord, and an additional bi-weekly video and audio podcast called Party Planning, check it out now at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. If you have ever wondered what life would be like on a planet that's different from ours, or how writers create your favorite fictional worlds, like maybe, I don't know, our own DM Eric Silver exploring the world-building of Verda Stello. I highly recommend you check out Exolore, which is a fantastic podcast hosted by astrophysicist and folklorist Dr. Moiya McTier here at Multitude. You will learn, and laugh, and gain an appreciation for how special our planet really is when you go and check out Exolore. So look for Exolore in your podcast app now or go to exolorepod.com. Get it? It's like exoplanet and folklore. It's really good. We are sponsored this week by Opera Colorado. Stick with me here, I'm so excited. Now, they are putting on, for the next couple of weeks, an epic retelling of everybody's favorite ghost ship legend of the Flying Dutchman. Now, they are located in Denver, Colorado, and they are extremely cool, and this production looks absolutely incredible. I know lots of you in Denver reached out when we announced the Rolling Bones Tour, being like, "Hey, come to Denver on the next leg." We would love to, but in the meantime, y'all should go to see the Flying Dutchman at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House of Opera Colorado. Now, Playing February 24th through March 3rd is a never-before-seen production of The Flying Dutchman, which, if you don't know, tells the story of a cursed captain who comes to land once every 7 years searching for a love to break his curse. And if you're enjoying the vibes of Campaign Three, you are seriously going to enjoy this production. They were also kind enough to put together a discount code for us so you can save 20% on your tickets with no handling fees, using the promo code Join the Party at operacolorado.org. Once more, this is in Denver, Colorado, February 24th through March 3rd. Get 20% off your tickets with no handling fees, using promo code Join the Party at operacolorado.org. We are also sponsored this week by Details of Our Escape. A wonderful new tabletop role-playing game from award winning publisher, Possible Worlds Games. Now, we told you about this last week and the Kickstarter is still going strong. Now, remember, Details of Our Escape is one part rulebook, one part art book, and one part speculative fiction. I read it, and it was really moving, and made me really excited to want to play it. Especially because it's played with dominoes instead of dice, which is really, really cool. The idea here is that players are controlling a caravan of over 2,000 people in search of a new home. What exactly they're leaving and what kinds of strange and wonderful sights they encounter along their journey is up to you and your table. However, what party members continue all the way through to the caravan's final destination, well, that's up to fate in the form of dominoes. It's very cool. So go ahead and check out their Kickstarter now, go to bit.ly/detailsof or click the link in the description. The Kickstarter is live February 5th through February 29th. Go on over to bit.ly/detailsof and support them now. Alright, folks, now back to the show.
[theme]
Julia: Hey, Eric.
Eric: Yeah?
Julia: Can I roll a nature check and see if I know what deters sea bees?
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: Sea bees, sea bees, sea bees.
Brandon: Sea bees, sea bees.
Julia: That is a 15 plus 5 for a Dirty 20.
Eric: Dirty 20. Well, first of all, to describe the sea bee, if you were looking at one, I think it's about the si— it's like one to two feet large. They're quite large, living out here on the ocean. It is a combination of a bee and a sea urchin.
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: Kinda like a Beedrill, the Pokemon. I think it's kind of like longer like that, instead of a big squishy boy like a bumblebee. It has like the thorax, and the head, and the arms, and the— and the wings, but it also has spines everywhere, deadly purple spines everywhere.
Julia: Uh-hmm..
Eric: Especially one big purple stinger with big red eyes, and they're in a big, big, big swarm that is collected in the way of the ship.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: There's a lot of them. There's a hell of a lot of them. Also, Cammie, when you go above board, you also see that there are a bunch of other ships that are around you. There are other pirate ships coming from other directions that are going to the same place as you. You would assume they're all going to the Dissolving Belt as well. And they're kind of getting lost in— not in the fog, but in the fog of the swarm of sea bees! You also noticed that they're dripping— some of them are kind of like dripping some sort of substance off of their spines.
Julia: Is it sea honey?
Amanda: Sea honey?
Eric: With a Dirty 20, I will tell you, it's sea bee honey, you're right.
Amanda: Yay.
Julia: I assume that Cammie has harvested sea bee honey before for her teas.
Eric: Yes.
Brandon: Delicious.
Eric: Tell me, what's— why do you— what do you use it for? What— what's its defining property?
Julia: I think that kind of like sichuan peppercorns. They numb your tongue a little bit, which is a fun experience.
Eric: Give me that mala spice. Yeah, dude.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, it's very— it's a little spicy, and it's a little numbing on the lips. I like that.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: So Cammie likes to use it for like— add a little spice to the tea that she's serving.
Eric: In my— in my head is like— it's a dark purple, like off of these, like, royal purple spines that are everywhere around the bee and the stinger, and some of them are dripping with this darker purple— this deep midnight purple almost sea bee honey.
Amanda: I want it to be real.
Brandon: With Julia's Dirty 20, do we know if the bees are sort of like aggressive or—
Eric: Well, they're— they're unhappy that you are sailing into them, in the way that animals are pissed that you're near them, even though it was not your intention to bother them.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I think they're aggress— they're getting more— and they're buzzing more and more aggressively as you are getting closer and closer, but you're not in the swarm yet. If again, this was like ship fog, you're kind of like heading into it in the way that fog is like a real dense, opaque cloud, you are heading into it now.
Julia: Are the other ships around us also heading directly into the fog or does it seem like they're trying to avoid it and go around them?
Eric: Some of them are starting to change tact and— and find a different way around. Remember, they're all coming from different directions—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —so you can't— you're going around is harder to understand, so some of them are going through and some of them are, like, changing and turning a little bit.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Guys, players, friends—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —colleagues, do you know what bees hate?
Julia: What do bees hate?
Eric: What do bees hate?
Amanda: Smoke, what makes them sleepy?
Brandon: Smoke, what makes them sleepy, Amanda.
Julia: True fact. True fact.
Eric: Sleepy smoke.
Julia: Sleepy smoke.
Brandon: Smoke bomb time. Woo!
Julia: I just love the idea of Cammie being like—
Julia (as Cammie): Um—
Julia: And Umbi comes running and just go, "Waaa!" And it's a smoke bomb.
Brandon: Waaa! Waaa! Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!
Amanda: Now, Brandon, I do just have to suggest the little electric guitar riff after every time Eric says sea bees.
Brandon: Oh, yeah.
Amanda: Ultimately, your call, just a— just a suggestion, take it or leave it.
Eric: Can we— can we test it?
Brandon: Yeah. Could you give me a bite of what that might sound like, Amanda?
Eric: So I would say something like sea bees!
[Amanda makes guitar riff noise]
Julia: Cool. Cool.
Amanda: Was that good?
Brandon: That's pretty good. I like it.
Eric: That's pretty good. That's good. That's good.
Julia: It's pretty good. Pretty good.
Brandon: Pretty good.
Amanda: It's important you play the guitar up on your— on your clavicle.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: You gotta have it up there for the sea bees. Incredible. Alright, folks. We are in— it's all—it's all happening. It's kinda like the Pokemon battle music has gone and it's ba—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. Umbi, let— ple— let's make a dexterity check to see if the bees or Umbi go first.
Brandon: Come on, no whammy, no whammy. I'm scared to roll it, Eric.
Julia: Just roll it. We've got this.
Brandon: 16 plus 3 for 19, baby.
Julia: Fuck yeah, dude.
Eric: I rolled a 19 on the dice and it— I— and I'm going to add some dexterity to that, so I'm gonna go first.
Brandon: I don't know, Eric. I think— I think you would— I think bees plus 0.
Eric: Plus 0 dexterity?
Brandon: Minus 1.
Julia: What? Not— not dexterity at all.
Eric: Slow. Not too slow. Famously slow, famously slow.
Amanda: Famously— famously imprecise solo—
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: —clumsy.
Julia: Well, I would say an individual bee might have high dexterity, but a swarm?
Brandon: But a cloud? Hmm.
Julia: No. Slow.
Brandon: I don't know. I don't know.
Julia: All confused by their friends and their butts.
Amanda: Sea bees, I'm so tickled.
Brandon: Especially this specific species of bee, notorious.
Eric: 19 plus 3 for a 22.
Brandon: Fuck!
Amanda: Tied.
Julia: That sounds like bullshit.
Eric: Yeah, with a 22 and a 19 ties. You're right, you're right. The bees make a move forward and surround the ship. The hum gets louder, and louder, and louder. You feel it in your bones, you feel it in your thoraxes, you feel it in your other bug parts, and you feel it in your stems, and you feel it in your petals, in your roots. And they surround your ship and get closer and closer. It is now opaque. You cannot really see outside of the cloud of sea bees.
Amanda: Troy is downstairs partying with Harold and Sil, and Aubergine is like—
Amanda (as Troy): I'm so happy, my teeth are vibrating.
Julia: Oh, now, I think you have a butterfly with teeth. Oh, no.
Brandon: Oh, no.
Julia: Oh, no. Don't like.
Brandon: Ohm no.
Eric: That is my move. Umbi, go ahead.
Brandon: Umbi's going to throw a big, ol' smoke bomb.
Eric: Hell yeah, dude. Tell me about it.
Brandon: Does it— does it make me sleepy? Amanda, what does it do exactly?
Amanda: Yeah. So when you— when you smoke bees, that's what it's called. Don't laugh. Okay, go ahead.
Eric: 4— 420 bees.
Amanda: Go ahead.
Julia: Smoke them bees.
Amanda: Yes, you pipe in like a specific cloud of smoke that makes them sluggish and sleepy, and so they don't have the instinct to sting you, because most of the time, they either go to sleep or they move so slow, it's like they're drunk.
Brandon: Ah. Yeah, I'm gonna get these bees—
Julia: We're gonna make some drunk bees.
Brandon: —fucked up.
Julia: Get them bees fucked up.
Eric: Buzz them if you got 'em.
Brandon: Buzz them if you got 'em.
Eric: Alright. So this is gonna be— this is gonna be an attack roll.
Brandon: Yes, it should be a bomb throw, which is a plus 7 now.
Eric: Sure, dude.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: I got a 9, so a 16 hits?
Eric: That hits.
Brandon: Yes.
Eric: So what— what do you do with this smoke bomb?
Brandon: Well, the smoke bomb normally deals no damage, but fills a 10-foot radius sphere with smoke.
Eric: Oh, okay.
Brandon: So the area becomes heavily obscured, but I'm hoping that— because of my brilliant creativity and knowledge of bees, that my DM will give me a little bit of a— a little bit of that.
Eric: No, your bee knowledge is great. Okay. So you have a 10-foot— a 10-foot radius sphere is quite large. It's gonna be quite helpful. I'm gonna do a saving throw. I think that would be a— probably an intelligent saving throw.
Brandon: I have a bomb saving throw, so you have to hit—
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: It is intelligence, I think, so it's a 16 total for me.
Amanda: By the way, guys, indigenous Americans invented smoking bees, and then the Quakers were like, "Wait a minute."
Brandon: Oh, cool. I didn't know that.
Julia: Great. Dope. Yeah.
Amanda: They used like a puffball fungus, which like anesthetized the bees.
Brandon: Oh, that's awesome.
Eric: Alright. I'm gonna roll a wisdom save and luckily, I have a negative 1 to wisdom.
Julia: I would hope these bees are not that wise.
Eric: They're not wise. So what am I trying to roll, Brandon? What's your— what's your saving throw?
Brandon: You got to hit a bomb save, which is a 16.
Eric: Alright, 16.
Amanda: Pretty high.
Eric: I got a 15 on the dice, that's a 14.
Amanda: Yeah!
Brandon: Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo!
Eric: These bees are sleepy.
Amanda: Yay!
Eric: We got some sleepy bees.
Brandon: Thank you, Eric.
Amanda: Thank you, Eric.
Eric: These large chunk of the sea bees are now getting drowsy. They're like wiggling and— and trying to keep themselves up. I think a lot of them retreat. Some of them like almost fall, tumble down and touch the water and catch themselves—
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: —before they hit the water. You see like two of them kind of get down towards the sea, and then like a claw comes up and grabs two of them. So I would say that the sea bees that start— a big chunk of the sea bees start to retreat, especially in surrounding the smoke sphere that Umbi threw.
Brandon: Toit.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: Hell yeah. Okay. There are still sea bees around, though. You're still pretty surrounded by sea bees, except for— yeah, you got some more clearance.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: I don't know if this helps, Eric, but it is— yes, it stays for a number of rounds equal to my intelligence modifiers, which is 4.
Eric: Oh, that is helpful.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: That's great. Eventually, you will pass it, like throwing trash out of a car.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: It will be like at your side or into the back of you as you start to pass it—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —for this next round of sea bees.
Julia: Sea bees.
Eric: Does anyone want— yeah. What else do you want to do?
Julia: I think that Cammie would like to— using shape water, create kind of like an ocean shield.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: Ooh, sure.
Julia: As she sees the swarm kind of move more towards the ship.
Brandon: Ooh, that's good.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Eric: Great. I like it. Yeah, give me an arcana check.
Brandon: Good answer. Good answer. Woo! Good answer.
Eric: Good answer.
Julia: That is a 14 plus 5 for a 19.
Eric: Ooh, a 19. Yeah, you can pull that water up and create a little shield for the ship. It's like it's wearing a little shirt—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —made out of water. I like that.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Or like a little— or like a bulletproof vest made out of water, I kind of like it, but it's for a ship, that's pretty cool.
Brandon: That's pretty tight.
Julia: Do you still want to land it in water?
Amanda: Uh-uh. Wings wet, no good.
Eric: No.
Julia: Wings get wet, can't fly away.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: No, no.
Brandon: They'd get eaten by those crab things that just ate the other ones.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: At this point, Harold goes—
Eric (as Harold): And it's time for karaoke.
Eric: And pulls out the karaoke machine. Troy, make a performance check for you— for karaoke on your birthday.
Amanda: Oh, my God, thank God.
Julia: I think that Umbi and Cammie at this point have decided like, "Don't tell Troy, let him enjoy his birthday."
Amanda: It's a 4 plus 2, but it is my birthday, so I think people are nice to me about it, but it's bad.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Yeah.
Amanda: The pumpy whines for the first time.
Brandon: Oh, no.
Amanda: Oh, no.
Brandon: He's just— he's just crying in excitement of how good you're singing.
Julia: He wants you to sing more.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: You know, he's howling along with you.
Amanda: Thank you.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Thank you.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: I like that. I like that. Alright, cool. It is now going to be the sea bees turn, and a bunch of the sea bees are going to attack a bunch of our friends. They're going to attack the ship. And Umbi and Cammie, they're gonna sting you with their weird stingers. Hey, what's your AC, folks?
Julia: 13.
Eric: 13.
Brandon: 14.
Eric: You were lucky I rolled badly. The sea bees as they get closer, the aggressive ones that are upset that a bunch of their friends are— are smoke drunk right now, attack the ship. And Cammie and Umbi diving in with all their weird sticky pins slicing at all of you. A bunch of them get caught in the water barrier surrounding the ship, and they both miss Cammie and Umbi.
Julia: Yay!
Brandon: Woo!
Eric: How do you do— hey, how do you defend against the sea bees?
Julia: I think Cammie's doing some real like Avatar: The Last Airbender waterbending.
Brandon: Oh, fuck yeah.
Eric: Just moving the water— moving the water around. Pshh, pshh, pshh.
Brandon: I think Umbi has become one with the smoke and you just—
Amanda: Hmm.
Brandon: —see like his eyes just go like, you know, from one spot to another spot, to another spot, to another spot.
Julia: Nightcrawlering around.
Eric: You were doing the same thing, still like— you were like trailing a smoke bomb behind you, just using it like a— like a—
Brandon: Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: —a gymnastics ribbon.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I like that. It's your turn. What do you want to do?
Julia: Hmm. Can I— ooh, I have a shenanigan.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: Sil counts as a creature, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Can Sil spread himself across the entirety of the ship?
Eric: Yeah, if you want to— if you want to get Sil from the party, for sure.
Julia: Yes. I think Cammie, like, is just gonna duck her head into the cabin very quickly and be like—
Julia (as Cammie): Sil, can I borrow you for just a quick second?
Eric (as Sil): Yeah, that's fine. I— um, I'm gonna miss Troy doing more karaoke, but I guess I gotta go help.
Julia (as Cammie): You know, I'll send you back as soon as I can, I promise.
Eric (as Sil): Cammie, don't do that. Troy's not good.
Julia (as Cammie): Shh, shh. Don't ruin his day.
Julia: And then Cammie's gonna be like—
Julia (as Cammie): I just need you to spread all across— as much as across the ship as you can manage, okay?
Eric: And Sil looks up around and says—
Eric (as Sil): Oh, because of the bees?
Julia (as Cammie): Yes, but additional stuff.
Eric (as Sil): Oh.
Julia: And he spreads as much as possible?
Eric: Yeah, Sil can spread as much as possible. It is just like— it is now carpeted with a weird black moss, is just covering the entirety of the ship.
Julia: Love it. Cammie's going to cast sanctuary on Sil.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: Ooh. Hell yeah. Okay. What is that— yeah, what's that, like?
Julia: You ward a creature within range against attack. Until the spell ends, any creature who targets the warded creature with an attack or a harmful spell must first make a wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature must choose a new target or lose the attack or spell. This spell doesn't protect warded creatures from area effects, such as the explosion of a fireball.
Eric: Right. That's right. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, what does this look like?
Julia: I think that Cammie, like, very gently boops Sil, like, on the railing, like wherever he is spread out. And it shimmers like ripples in water.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia: And then into that kind of golden light that we've established as Cammie's magic
Eric: Oh, that's cool. Dang. And now, the ship is just like doing that, and now it just looks like that?
Julia: Now, the ship is just being like that.
Eric: Now, the ship just be like that?
Julia: The ship just be like that.
Eric: The ship, like, just sea bee like that.
Amanda: Hey.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: I think that a bunch of the sea bees, like, disperse a little bit. They are getting farther away from the sanctuary. I think even sea bees know this is something that you don't mess with at all. And they're starting to clear up a little bit, like it's a little less, quote-unquote, “bee foggy” as it is. And I think you can see some— there are some other ships that are cutting— in various directions, trying to cut through the sea bees. Some of them— one of those ships are making various tax from left to right, trying to serpentine their way through. Another one is kind of going straight across the horizon. It's almost like they came from the left and are just steamrolling through, diving into a more dense part of the sea bees. Yeah, you can see a few ships, and they can see you. I'll tell you— I'll tell you that much.
Julia: And Cammie goes—
Julia (as Cammie): Wow. Life must be harder without magic.
Brandon (as Umbi): Fucking tell me about it, Cammie.
Julia (as Cammie): You kind of do magic, buddy.
Eric (as Sil): Umbi, your explosions are magic. Not as magic as this now I'm glowing, but still—it's— when— there was an explosion in one place and then there wasn't.
Julia (as Cammie): You tell them, Sil.
Eric (as Sil): Weapons and machinery are its own type of magic. It's violent and terrible, but like divine terrible, like the divine awesome.
Brandon (as Umbi): Thanks, bud.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah.
Eric (as Sil): With a capital A and a capital T.
Eric: Wonderful. Hell yeah, dude.
Brandon: So what is our situation? Are there still bees around or what's the sitch?
Eric: There are bees around. I think with the circle of smoke is then going to be behind you next turn, and I think that the bees are filling in behind you. But the sanctuary that is covering the entire ship at the moment is doing a good job. Like a tiki torch is doing a good job at—
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: —keeping the bugs away.
Brandon: Like a mosquito candle, yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah.
Brandon: Okay, cool. Well, I'm going to just, like, try to incapacitate some of the bees that I see. So, like, wherever the densest population of flying insect friends is right now—
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: —I'd like to throw a bramble bomb over there.
Eric: Oh, sure.
Amanda: Bramble bomb.
Brandon: Bramble bomb. This does make a difficult terrain, but I was just looking it up, and I think it doesn't affect flying creatures. But—
Julia: However—
Brandon: —what it does do, the bramble bomb specifically, when it detonate, it envelops the creatures, so you must exceed on a athletics check against my bomb save before it can move or stand.
Eric: Oh, so they're all like stuck to each other. Yeah, no that's cool.
Brandon: No, they're like stuck in— I imagine it's like vines coming out from the bomb, you know?
Eric: From the bomb, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. Toss that stuff up there. I love that.
Brandon: Let's see if it works.
Eric: Alright, give me an attack roll, buddy.
Brandon: Well, that was only a 12 total.
Julia: That feels about right.
Amanda: Listen, the bees might have an 11 AC.
Eric: It was still— it was cool, though. I liked the part where you— where you described it.
Brandon: Thanks. I guess all the bees are just too small and they go between the— the vines, you know?
Eric: I know. And they're all— they're already covered in a— in a weird sticky, prickly substance.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: So they're like, "Oh." Actually, now there's a bunch of bees that are all stuck together, but now they're just flying together in a big bee mass.
Julia: It's like a rat king.
Eric: You— yeah, you throw the bomb up. The— the vines shoot out with their thorns and, like, intertwine, I think, with the sea urchin pins that are off of the sea bees.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And just kind of stick together like when deer have their antlers stuck together.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Aw.
Eric: So now ,like— but it's— Julia, but this is cool and not sad.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: Because now 10 sea bees are just flying together. Just bzz.
Brandon: Wait, so did that work, or is that—
Julia: Is this better or worse? Because Brandon wants to know.
Eric: I— so they are stuck together, but now it's more terrifying. So I think a fail here is a neutral. It is neither—
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: It got better, but then it also got worse.
Brandon: Got it, got it, got it. Okay, cool.
Julia: Cool. Cool. Cool.
Amanda: But if they're latched together, then maybe, you know—
Brandon: Single target.
Amanda It's a target, right. Yeah.
Eric: They— yes. It's all more for flavor., I'm treating them all as one swarm anyway, but I thought it was funny.
Amanda Yeah.
Brandon: I think it's fun. Yeah.
Eric: Hey, hold on, I'm turning to the studio audience. I thought it was funny.
Julia: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Eric: Sea bees!
Julia: Got it. Nailed it.
Eric: Oh, no! Troy is trying to break dance. Performance check.
Brandon: I thought— I thought we banned that on the ship.
Amanda: It's an 8 plus 2.
Eric: Yeah, it's because you two aren't there to ban it. Aubergine doesn't know because Auber— Aubergine is like—
Eric (as Aubergine): I've never seen someone do a hurricane on the ship.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah, it's like really close to the floor is the point. Like normal, you're dancing, you're like up. No, no, no, you're down. This is when you're down.
Eric: It's pa— it's passable. It's passable breakdancing.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah. Everybody at basic training told me I was the best at it.
Julia: And they definitely didn't tell you that because you were the prince.
Brandon: No, of course not.
Amanda: Wink.
Eric: Okay, cool. Hell yeah. Alright. So, yeah, you're past— so the smoke is behind you. The sea bees are now getting denser around you. Everyone, let's see— let's reroll initiative a little bit and see how it goes, of who gets to go first.
Julia: Rolled a 15.
Brandon: 19 total.
Eric: 19. Oh, we all rolled really well. Dang, I got an 18. Wonderful.
Julia: Do you want to let Troy roll dexterity to see how many times he can breakdance, like in the next round?
Eric: Yeah. Amanda, do you want to— do you want to keep breakdancing?
Amanda: Yeah. Well, it's an 8 plus 2 again. He's consistent, folks. Consistently—
Julia: Hell yeah, dawg.
Amanda: —mediocre.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: I love that for him.
Eric: Okay. So that's that. Umbi, what do you want to do?
Brandon: Oh, well, Eric, what I would like to do, I'm just gonna throw a regular good, old stink bomb.
Eric: Stink bomb.
Brandon: Stink bomb. I'm going to prime this stink bomb, so I'll do extra shit if I hit, but let's see if I hit first.
Eric: Yeah, when did— when did you get stink bombs, recently?
Brandon: I think I swapped one out when I changed levels.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: Yeah. How did you make these things bombs? How did you invent them?
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: Is this what you did while you were waiting to see if you were gonna get murdered? You— you invented stink bombs?
Brandon: Yeah. Well, when you're that sleep-deprived—
Amanda: Hmm.
Brandon: —you kind of just like wander around the island looking for things to keep you awake, and, you know, the smellier, the better, that really keeps you awake.
Eric: Sure, sure.
Julia: Natch.
Brandon: We found some really stinky shit, Eric.
Amanda: I've heard that.
Brandon: Not literal shit, but stuff that is stinky, you know?
Eric: Oh, okay. So, yeah, what did you put together for the stink?
Brandon: What's a pun on a skunk? A plant pun on a skunk?
Eric: Skunk cabbage. So— so much skunk cabbage where I was growing up in the woods constantly.
Amanda: Really?
Eric: Smelled like farts—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: —next to certain parts of the highway all the time.
Julia: That's how you know it's spring, because we would drive into Oakdale, Amanda, and you'd be like, "The skunk cabbage."
Amanda: Is it better or worse than— than the sexy pears?
Julia: Oh, it's better than the sexy pears.
Amanda: Oh, damn.
Brandon: Oh. Yeah, I think— I think I found some— some of you all's childhood favorite skunk cabbage out in the Hold.
Eric: Goldens Bridge in New York, the state's capital for skunk cabbage.
Brandon: And I distilled that on my distiller, and now I have a little vial, and it only takes one single fucking drop to make you want to run away real quick, you know?
Eric: Yeah, sure. Yeah. Do it, do it.
Julia: Nice.
Brandon: I got a 10 plus 7 for 17.
Eric: Oh, that hits. Yeah.
Brandon: Oh, tight, Eric. Tight.
Julia: You fucking did it.
Brandon: Okay. So the damage dice are 2D8 plus my intelligence modifier since they're primed, that's a 2. That's a 6. So 8 plus 4 is 12 damage.
Eric: Oh, hell yeah. And now—
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: And now— and they're stinky?
Brandon: Yes. I don't think this really matters, but you— it does require a constitution saving throw, and if you fail it, you have disadvantage on ability checks 'til next turn.
Eric: Oh, sure. I rolled a 17, so unfortunately, these bees love being stinky.
Brandon: Yeah, they do love being stinky.
Eric: They're super into being stinky, but they don't like being exploded while being stinky.
Brandon: Right, exactly.
Eric: So a bunch of— I think a bunch of them— some of the bees fall in the water, more of the bees just start to disperse. And it's getting a little clearer around you.
Brandon: Hell yeah.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Julia: We're doing it. We're doing it.
Eric: Nice. It's the bees turn.
Julia: Remember that they have to make wisdom saving throws if they're gonna attack us.
Eric: Does— just the ship.
Julia: Yes, just the ship.
Eric: What do the sea bees want to do?
Brandon: What do sea bees want to do? What do— what do they want to do?
Eric: What do they want to do?
Julia: All I want to do is have some fun. I am a sea bee. [hums]
Amanda: I'm not the only one.
Eric: Alright. I think that the sea bees— you know what? The sea bees are going to retreat. They're going to pull back from where they were before, and they're going to keep it in a circle. They're going to circle the wagons around you, so they're going to keep kind of like a steady radius surrounding— surrounding you. So now, as you cut, you kind of like are cutting through the fog of the swarm right now, where they— they're keeping like a decent distance, but they're not. They're keeping an eye on you and a stinger, a jelly coated stinger on you, as you're making your way through.
Brandon: Tight.
Julia: Gotcha.
Eric: The bees are like, "I hate this. I hate you. I don't like that you're here. I'm gonna watch you, but I'm not gonna get in your face. So stop blowing me up with stinky— with stinky bombs." They say wiggling their pit-- that's all from wiggling their—
Julia: From butt wiggles.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —from butt wiggles. Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: We know, we know.
Brandon (as Umbi): All I got are stinky bombs, baby.
Amanda: So I think Troy is making everyone in the Hold of the ship compliment him for his birthday.
Eric: So, yeah, make a Charisma Check.
Julia: Like you do.
Amanda: Okay. Alright. 11 plus 2, it's a 13. So people think it's tacky, but they will go along with it.
Julia: That's right.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. They'll— they'll do it but they weren't prepared, so no one gives you like a super good compliment. It's all, like, on the spot.
Amanda: That's nice.
Eric: And— and a lot of it is superficial like, "I really like how you're— I like how you're— you're nice."
Amanda: Thanks.
Julia: I like how you look with, like, your shirt off.
Eric: Yeah, I like when you take off your shirt and how nice you look.
Amanda: People do.
Eric: Yeah. Cammie, it's your turn. You're still around, and you can do anything you want.
Julia: I don't have to maintain concentration for sanctuary, which is pretty cool.
Eric: That is cool.
Julia: I'm not gonna lie.
Brandon: That's tight.
Julia: So I think I'm going to keep trying to maintain then the— the shape water shield.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: So that if the sea bees come for me or for Umbi now, they have less of a chance to hit us.
Eric: No, that's fair.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: That's fair.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah, give me perception checks, both of you.
Julia: Perception.
Brandon: Perception.
Julia: Not good.
Amanda: Julia, your not good it's like a 14.
Julia: Well, it's a 3 plus 3 for a 6, but—
Amanda: Okay.
Brandon: Julia, I also rolled a 3.
Julia: No, Brandon.
Brandon: Twins.
Julia: You're not allowed to twins me when we're that low.
Brandon: Twins. I got a 3 plus 4 for 7.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: I get like a stinger in the back.
Brandon: Directly in the spine.
Amanda: Better in the butt.
Brandon: Or in the butt.
Amanda: So embarrassing.
Eric: It is so embarrassing getting a stinger in the butt.
Julia: That must be so embarrassing.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Umbi, what's your AC?
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: 14.
Eric: 14. Cammie, you're holding the water up, Sil is glo— glowing below you. The bees are starting to clear out. You see that the shi— yeah, as it's starting to like— almost like condense around you, like you're seeing the ships that are cutting around you. You— they're like fading into the background. Like, you have this— now you have this just aura around you, but it's becoming opaque again. And then you hear a "pfftt" and a pop. And you turn and you see that in Umbi's right shoulder, in his che— where his shoulder and his chest meet, there's like a little box, the size of like a— of a ring box.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: That wasn't there before. And Umbi, you feel this with force that pushes your arm back. And you look down, and you see this box, and it's blinking, and it blinks once, twice.
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh, shit.
Eric: Three times.
Brandon (as Umbi): No.
Eric: [explosion]
Julia: Damn. Damn, dude.
Brandon: I know a bomb when I see one. I knew it was about to happen.
Eric: Let me get— hold on a second. Let me— get let me get something really quickly.
Julia: The glove? Did you forget the glove?
Amanda: Because you need the glove?
Eric: Oh, sorry. No, my glove was here the whole time! Now, I have to get something else. Hey, Amanda, can you give me your D10s?
Brandon: Goddammit. At least Eric can't do two times damage to objects and structures, you know?
Eric: Yeah. Good point. Good point, good point.
Brandon: What if it's just a teleportation bomb?
Amanda: That would be nice.
Julia: Could be. Could be, Brandon.
Brandon: What if they just teleport me?
Amanda: You're whisked away to the queen of the sea bees.
Brandon: [dice roll] To a spa.
Julia: Oh, boy.
Brandon: Let's see. I heard at least 4, maybe 5.
Julia: I think 5 or 6.
Eric: Amanda, can you— can you kind of help count this with me? Alright. So that's 10,14, 16.
Amanda: 18.
Eric: 18, so hold on to that.
Julia: You're fine.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Oh. Oh, never mind.
Brandon: Oh, no.
Eric: [dice roll] You're alright. [dice roll] And then I'm going to add that, 6 plus 4, plus 9. Umbi, please take 43 points of damage.
Brandon: Okay. I will, Eric.
Julia: You're still up, right?
Brandon: I'm still up.
Julia: Perfect.
Brandon: Let's see. 43 minus 5 is 38, it's 19. I still have 19 points of health.
Julia: Hey, you're doing fine.
Eric: You have 19 points of health?
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Wow. That was a chunky hit.
Brandon: I will say, though, that like a fucking cartoon, Umbi's, like, leaves in the hat are like fried up in black and—
Eric: And scorched.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Duffy Duck.
Eric: You're just scorched. yeah. I also like the idea. It's almost like a— it was like a fire bomb around you, just surround— only surrounding Umbi.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: It's like Umbi went up in flames, but I think that especially with Sil, like the Sil sanctuary carpet below it, it like went— you went up in flames and it didn't touch anything else. It was just surrounding you.
Brandon: Hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: And you go, "Voosh." And you're just crispy now. You have 19 left, goddamn.
Julia (as Cammie): Umbi, you good?
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh, that hurt.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah, it didn't look great.
Amanda: Yeah let the beat drop.
Julia: Troy hears a giant explosion outside and is like, "Boom. Yeah!"
Amanda: Woo!
Eric: Boom! I'm 24.
Amanda: I'm never gonna die.
Brandon: Eric, it's because— like a poisoner drinks their own poison, they gain immunity to it. An explosioner explodes themselves little by little.
Amanda: Not the first time Umbi find himself on the business end of a bomb.
Brandon: Exactly.
Julia: No, no, no.
Eric: Sure. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Okay. I rolled badly. I gotta say, I rolled 10D10 and I got 43. You lucky— you lucky motherfucker.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: A number, those were two's, yeah.
Eric: A number, those were twos, and I got a 9, which I think brought me up.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Jesus. Okay.
Brandon: Important to say, Bartlett still with Cammie, so—
Julia: Yep, he's okay.
Eric: I can be a Bartlett— yeah, Bartlett's fine. For sure.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Alright, yeah. We're out of the fighting stance. We're out of initiative.
Julia (as Cammie): We did it!
Brandon (as Umbi): Cammie, what the fuck was that? What shot me?
Julia (as Cammie): It was a bomb. I think you already knew that.
Brandon (as Umbi): Why? Was it a bee? Did a bee carry a fucking bomb?
Julia (as Cammie): No, I think it might have been one of the other ships.
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh, fuck.
Julia (as Cammie): Maybe they just don't like us.
Brandon (as Umbi): I'm gonna have to murder a whole fucking crew, aren't I?
Julia (as Cammie): Well, I don't know what ship it was. I was kind of distracted by all the bees.
Eric: Does Umbi swear like an old Prospector? Like, god flippity flop it?
Brandon: Oh, oh.
Julia: I think Umbi curses like Joe Pesci in Home Alone.
Brandon: No, he curses like a sailor, guys. Come on.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I'm not critiquing— I'm not critiquing what you did. I just wanted Umbi to say, "God flippity flop it."
Brandon (as Umbi): God flippity flop it.
Eric: Thank you.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: I'll put that on a— on a sampler.
Amanda: Hey, Brandon, put that on the sound board. You wanna put that on a sound board? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
Eric: Yeah. So how— how was— how was that? Was that good for you?
Brandon (as Umbi): No, Eric, it was bad. It hurt.
Eric: It was bad. Sorry, Umbi, sorry.
Julia (as Cammie): Who are you talking to?
Brandon (as Umbi): No one.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay.
Eric: No— nobody. I think that the— the sea remains calm here as you're continuing forward again. The bees are— the sea bees are giving you space and they'll kind of just allow you to move through. And Umbi and Cammie, you still hear that the— the loud dance music from Troy's party is still going.
Julia (as Cammie): Well, Troy's birthday was not ruined, so I think we did a good job.
Brandon (as Umbi): I could use some fucking rum punch right now.
Julia (as Cammie): Do you want me to get Havana?
Brandon (as Umbi): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay. I'll go swa— Sil, once we're out of the bees, you can go back to the party, and then we'll swap Havana out. And then we'll be all good.
Eric (as Sil): Will— will do. Umbi, what— what happened? What happened?
Brandon (as Umbi): I got— I got hit. I got hit. I got hit. Oh.
Julia (as Cammie): Got exploded by a bomb.
Eric (as Sil): Who doesn't like you?
Julia (as Cammie): I don't know. A lot of people.
Eric (as Sil): I feel like you would only do that to someone who you don't like specifically.
Brandon (as Umbi): I've got a list in my back pocket, but most recently, probably that one millipede from the Hold.
Julia (as Cammie): Did she do bombs, though? She seemed like a stabby-stabby kind of person. You know, because, like, it's kind of sexual in that way, where it's like penetration.
Brandon (as Umbi): No, it's not. No, it's not.
Julia (as Cammie): No? Okay.
Brandon (as Umbi): I think it's like sort of like an irony, like, thing, like, "Look what I can do. I can do your thing, too, you piece of shit.
Julia: Hey, Eric?
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia: I saw the bomb once it had already landed on Umbi, but before it exploded, right?
Eric: For a moment, yeah.
Julia: Can I do an Arcana Check or like an investigation, or something like that to determine if I've seen that kind of technology before?
Eric: Yeah, sure. Sure, sure, sure.
Brandon: Oh, also—
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —while Julia is doing that, for the first time ever, Eric—
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: —can I use my natural philosopher ability?
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: Which gives me— I can add half my proficiency bonus, round it up to any ability check to identify herbs, potions, poisons, or other alchemical substances?
Eric: Sure. Yeah, dude, you can do that, too. Do an Arcana check as well.
Brandon: Fuck yeah.
Julia: I rolled a 9 plus 5 for a 14.
Eric: Okay. Cammie, I think this was a little fast. It was a little quick for you. You saw it only for a moment.
Julia (as Cammie): That's fair.
Eric: I think the other thing is that it came from far away, and it crossed your vision as a shot across the boat, hitting Umbi.
Julia: I have a theory.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: I have a theory.
Eric: Okay.
Brandon: Well, I rolled an 8, but it is plus 10, so it's 18.
Eric: Whoa.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: 8 plus 10. This bomb needs to be small enough to be shot from a large distance. It's pretty impressive that it is so small and created such a large impact. Also interesting, it only hit you.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Now, that might have been also partially because of the sanctuary that was on the floor, but it is quite interesting because your bombs go big boom, and this one went specific boom.
Brandon: Can I identify any of the trace element things that are still on me to, like, see where they might be sourced from? Like, if that's— maybe someone loves using— or is very commonly known to be using silver in their bombs or whatever, you know?
Eric: Oh, interesting. I think that everything you would get across is like, yeah, you'd have to use— this would have to be made out of something that was lightweight, but also sturdy enough to hold enough, not the same amount of boom as you use, but it has to be able to hold something that can be shot from a far distance.
Brandon: So big explosive potential?
Eric: I would say lightweight because it needs to fly through the air and— because you probably being shot out of something. You wouldn't— you don't throw these.
Brandon: Got it.
Eric: Because it would be too light. It doesn't have enough heft on its own to— if you just tossed it, but it doesn't have to carry as big of a boom. In fact, it's quite interesting that it's specific to just one person, is what I would say.
Brandon: Okay.
Julia: I wonder if we've like, you know, met a very technologically advanced sniper in, say, like a— a shooting competition before that, who liked Umbi, but maybe didn't like Umbi so much when we left.
Brandon: Maybe. I don't— did I piss them off that much, though?
Julia: I mean, his boat got all fucked up, so—
Brandon: I don't know. There's a— hey, Julia, the list of people who Umbi has pissed off is so long.
Julia: I know, but not a lot of them are technologically advanced snipers is what I'm trying to get at.
Eric: Yeah. Who are you thinking of specifically, Julia?
Julia: Archimedes Sevens.
Eric: Oh, Archimedes Sevens. Yeah, you did— he did— he was your favorite son, and then you didn't help him, from his perspective.
Brandon: Did I not help him?
Julia: I mean, this was specifically a bomb, and we also— we don't think Archimede— oh, Archimedes could have a key, because they have the blueprints—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —in the Hothouse, and he's supposed to be the next builder, so—
Amanda: I was thinking that spider silk is very lightweight, very strong, would be too light to throw, but maybe when shot from a— you know, there could be some kind of Tessie, the Storm involvement here.
Eric: Hmm.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: I— I think for the time being, Umbi is just gonna kill everyone they see just as a precaution, just as a precaution.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Hey, when you're a bomb maker, everything looks like something you want to explode.
Brandon: Yeah, that's true.
Eric: Wonderful. Alright. You're sailing forward. Cammie and Umbi, do you get Troy at all or you're good?
Julia: No, we go— we check in on him again once Umbi is like sutured up, I feel like.
Eric: Oh, yeah, Havana—
Julia: And then be like—
Julia (as Cammie): The party still going.
Eric: Havana, like, just dunks you in a big vat of pink lotion, and he's like—
Eric (as Havana): You should get your— let's get your skin back. Let's do it. Let's get your skin back.
Eric: Also, is it worse if your doctor is also wearing a little party hat? Do you trust him less?
Julia: No, I— I love a doctor who clearly just came from an event to deliver a baby or something.
Brandon: Yeah, I think I trust him more.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Havana is wearing like a white buttoned down shirt with a printed tie that is loosened and then he also has his white coat over it, but it's like—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —rolled— his sleeves are rolled up.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And also he has a big— he has a party hat, like I think it's wrapped all the way around his body, so it's extra tight.
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: Like, it has to go all the way around the orange slice.
Julia: I love that for him.
Eric: And he's a— he is— he is filled up like a ba— almost like what looks like the— the bucket of a water tower and it's just filled with pink lotion that he's just dunking Umbi into.
Amanda: Aw.
Brandon: That do— does that pink lotion give me HP back?
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, you're— yeah, you're fi— don't wo— yes. Don't worry about it. You're fine. You're fine.
Brandon: What do you mean I'm fine? I have 19 hit points left.
Eric: Actually, I know that. No, Brandon, you're right. That's right.
Julia: You're right, Brandon. Havana is not good enough to heal you all the way back up to full health yet.
Eric: Well, my D10s continue. I rolled— [dice roll] I rolled 3 D10. Unfortunately, this calamine lotion only heals you 7, but it does heal you 7. I rolled 3D10. my guy. I don't know what's going on with my dice.
Brandon: Yeah, that was generous.
Eric: Yeah, I thought the calamine lotion would fix you right up. You're not itchy, though. That's helpful. You don't— you don't— you don't scratch at your burns.
Brandon: That's good. Yeah. That— that helps heal along the way. Yeah, yeah.
Julia: Brandon, you shouldn't have questioned when Eric said, "You're all good, my guy." You should have been like, "Alright, I'm back to full health."
Amanda: I tried.
Eric: Alright. And that is when the bees start to part. You finally get to a point where the bees—
Julia: Oh, do we part the red bees?
Brandon: Yes, Julia!
Eric: Julia, here's your joken. Here it is.
Amanda: Call us the Moses, because we are parting them bees.
Eric: The sea bees then start to retreat. The bees in front of you sort of flutter back and reveal what you have been sailing towards. Through the description from Harold earlier, you see what he was talking about. Stretching in front of you up 10 storeys tall is a massive, massive what looks to us like a whale skeleton. It is 10 storeys tall, a full city block long, partially submerged into the water. You see only kind of like 60% of it, but the mouth is glowing into the water as an opening for people to walk inside, which many pirates have already done.
Brandon: Cool. Cool.
Eric: There are string lights hung and everything. It's like someone has taken like an old barn and turn it in for a wedding. You can see that they've really adorned it. There are string lights everywhere. There's cocktail tables dotting the jaw, leading inside. And you can see on a— on an easel— on an easel out front, the first annual pirates discussion conference.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Pirates are carousing. They're— they are drinking and partying kind of surrounding the Locust Point, right in the middle. Shining gold is a tall, large monarch butterfly, with a white top hat, and a white vest, and a white jacket, and a white— and white pants and gold shoes, because it has to match. Their monarch butterfly wings stretched all the way out stiff, because they are covered in gold. It is metal, and shining in the light of the fires, and the string lights that have been adorned around the monster skeleton. You also look down and the— the light is catching on the water, because as you look down, you can see all the way to the bottom of the sea. It is totally clear. There is nothing swimming around in there. And as the sea bees retreat to their hive that they have built onto the side of this giant whale monster skeleton, which almost is buttressing it like an addition onto the house, that is kind of around along its spine. You can see that there's like dark purple hexagons that are built into the side, into the back of the skeleton. As you and some— and other pirate ships sail up, the monarch butterfly steps forward and says—
Eric (as Monarch Butterfly): Welcome, pirates, keyholders, and all. We have many notions to debate and treaties to draft, but first, we party!
Julia (as Cammie): Woo! We go from one party to another, look at that.
[theme]