The crew figures out what to do next in the shadow of the Kompos facility. Is there a hole to wiggle into? What are the Diamond Knot protecting? And where the hell is Kidd Cervantes?
It's a damn tough life full of toil and strife / that bucaneers undergo / And we don't give a damn when the day is done / How hard the winds did blow / 'cause we're homeward bound from molderin’ ground / With a good ship, taut and free / And there’s nothing to fear when we drink our beer / far from Kompos city
Sponsors
- Green Chef, where you can get 50% off plus 20% off your next two months at https://greenchef.com/jointheparty50
- Queer Kid Stuff, whose newest Kickstarter campaign concludes June 28!
Find Us Online
- website: https://jointhepartypod.com
- patreon: https://patreon.com/jointhepartypod
- instagram: https://instagram.com/jointhepartypod
- twitter: https://twitter.com/jointhepartypod
- tumblr: https://jointhepartypod.tumblr.com
- facebook: https://facebook.com/jointhepartypod
- merch & music: http://jointhepartypod.com/merch
Cast & Crew
- Game Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Umbi), Co-Producer, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Chamomile Cassis), Co-Producer: Julia Schifini
- Co-Host (Troy Riptide), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Theme Song: Lyrics by Eric Silver, music by Brandon Grugle. Vocals by Brandon Grugle, Lauren Shippen, Julia Schifini, Roux Bedrosian, Eric Silver, Tyler Silver, and Amanda McLoughlin. Available for purchase here.
- Artwork: Allyson Wakeman
- Multitude: https://multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is an actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators who make each other laugh each week. We welcome everyone to the table, from longtime players to folks who’ve never touched a roleplaying game before. Hop into our current campaign, a pirate story set in a world of plant- and bug-folk, or marathon our completed stories with the Camp-Paign, a MOTW game set in a weird summer camp, Campaign 2 for a modern superhero game, and Campaign 1 for a high fantasy story. And once a month we release the Afterparty, where we answer your questions about the show and how we play the game. New episodes every Tuesday.
Transcript
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: The crew follows the path of destruction that Kidd Cervantes has wrought on their way to the underwater prison. Along the way, they scoop some Amber goop and run into the Diamond Knot Key Retrieval Team, all while being chased by Lucky Edie. The crew gets stuck at a pirate traffic stop where the sharp carrot comes aboard and searches for their key. In a dramatic and risky move, Cammie modifies Lucky Edie's memory, making her think they were lying about having keys in the first place. And Umbi gives her some poison disguised as a healing gift. I'm sure that’ll go well later. Now, Umbi, Troy, and Cammie are floating in the bay of the Kompos facility, figuring out what to do next. Just like some kids jumping in the pool, we gotta submerge. Let's get the party started.
Eric: [PA SYSTEM] Good evening, workers at the Diamond Knot Kompos facility. Here are today's late lunch-- Here are today's late night snack menu. One, PB&J sandwiches. Two, make your own s'mores. Three, s'mores but they're fascist. If someone forgot their sweatshirt in the large ammunition facility, please pick that up when you're ready. Also, those people going in—going into the underwater prison, make sure to clean your boots before you walk in. Thank you, and have a Kompostable day.
Brandon: [PA SYSTEM] If you're driving the Fiat scooter, you left your lights on.
Eric: [PA SYSTEM] License Plate YAR R SCUR HP14. Your lights are on outside. You are close enough to the Kompos facility, K-O-M-P-O-S, facility that you can hear the announcements over the PA system. It has to be loud enough to reach both the small town that has their lights on, glowing in a way that a town on the water can only do as the light reflects off of the water lapping up against the shore. And of course, the opening to this mountain, which you can only assume, is leading to the underwater prison that Kidd Cervantes has been theoretically leading you to this entire time.
Julia: So there's like a cute little town next to the facility that is not like within the facility structure?
Eric: No, no, no, no. You can see that there are— there's a lot of ship movement between this small town and this mountain. And of course, you can see that all of them are flying the Diamond Knot flag, whether they are privateers, government employees, et cetera. There's a lot of movement happening between. Again, there's a giant and there's this large dock that leads into this opening of the mountain. There are these watchtowers with lights kind of moving in all directions, tracking the ships that are going back and forth and back and forth. And even more security and a blockade like you had previously dealt with, with your traffic stop. There's a lot of fortifications around this dock leading into this large hole into the mountain.
Amanda: Eric said large hole.
Brandon: Nice. Got 'em. Got 'em.
Julia: Good point. Good point.
Eric: Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice.
Julia: Thanks for mentioning.
Brandon: Is anyone else concerned that Eric also said presumably leading us to?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Sorry. That's on me. There's a battle— I was being too ambiguous like DMs are, but I think that's unfair. You see that there's a battleship that has like— has thorns shot into it that said, "Kidd Cervantes was here doing his stuff."
Amanda: Troy goes—
Amanda (as Troy): Think we’re on the right path, guys.
Julia (as Cammie): Good point, Troy. Good point. I see it.
Amanda (as Troy): Thanks.
Brandon (as Umbi): You read another book. Good job.
Amanda (as Troy): I can steer and look—
Brandon (as Umbi): Whoa.
Amanda (as Troy): —important for pirates.
Julia (as Cammie): That is impressive.
Amanda (as Troy): Uh-hmm.
Brandon (as Umbi): It is.
Julia (as Cammie): Because not a lot of people are good at multitasking.
Amanda (as Troy): Thank you.
Brandon (as Umbi): Every time I— I steer the boat and I try to change the— the radio, like the eight-track, I would crash.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah. Bad. It's hard.
Brandon (as Umbi): Yeah, hard.
Julia (as Cammie): That's why we stop letting you do that. Yeah.
Brandon (as Umbi): I know.
Eric (as Harold): Yeah. That's why we knocked you down to a four-track.
Brandon: (as Umbi): Was that Harold, or Sil, or Havana?
Eric: One of them. It was— it was Har— It was Harold.
Brandon (as Umbi): Harold, shut up!
Eric: You can tell it's Harold because I'm being a bitch. Alright. So, yeah, you are on the outskirts of this area right now. You're so far away enough that no one has seen you, but if you got much closer, you might be within danger distance of these watchtower lights. This is you looking out at the entire landscape here.
Julia: Can I get, like, roll insight or something to kind of get the vibe of what this town is? Like, is this like a place where, like, trade could occur? Where, like, you know, theoretically, if we weren't pirates, we could get like a rest there, or like go to a tavern, or something like that?
Eric: I'll just tell you, you could if you wanted to. It would be dangerous to do so. You're not sure if this town was a town before or was made up as a town to feed the hole in the mountain and the Diamond Knot fort, the facility that's currently made around there. So you could if you wanted to, it certainly would be dangerous, though.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: Eric, can I send Bartlett out to do an Assassin's Creed style overlook from above?
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: And I would love to, like, put out a piece of parchment or something, and just sort of, like, look through his eyes, and scratch down roughly what I can see. Just sort of get like a really— really rough blueprint so we know where things are. I'm not gonna obviously— it's like, you know, satellite images where like— they're like, "This is what it looked like before. This is what it looked like after it." And you're like, “This looks exactly the same."
Eric: No, I like this. This is like one of those party games where you trace something on someone's back and then you write it down on a piece of paper.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly.
Eric: So it's like that doesn't look like a monkey at all.
Brandon: I'd also love to specifically look out for any trace of Kidd Cervantes if I can.
Eric: Sure, that's fine.
Julia: Can we attach a little note to Bartlett's leg? So that if he finds Kidd Cervantes, he can like— you know, like a carrier pigeon, leave a little message?
Amanda: That's so cute.
Eric: Sure. What does it say?
Julia: Brandon, I'll let you do it because it's your familiar.
Brandon: Well, I would be worried that if he somehow got captured, then they would know that someone was here, if they had a note, y’know?
Amanda: That's okay.
Julia: I think we could just be like, "Hey, let's meet up."
Amanda: Yeah. "We made it to make good on our promise. Find us. You know what we look like. Love you."
Brandon: Can I pitch just the words, "You up?"?
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: What's wrong, Julia?
Julia: I think we might add a little more detail, and also I love Amanda's idea that we always finish our letters with, "Love you."
Brandon: Okay. Sorry. Let me— let me pitch this. "You up? Love you."
Amanda: That's great. I love it. And I think it'll just— Brandon, if you could make sure Umbi is like a little bruised, then he'll get a— like get a whiff of green pep and then—
Brandon: Yeah, yeah. Of course, of course. Rub it— rub it on his bruises. Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: Kidd has also seen Bartlett before, so—
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: —Kidd knows what Bartlett looks like.
Eric: Now, I'm imagining there's a pirate named Mr. E with a big hat out there, teaching—teaching guys how to pick up ladies.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Eric, why would you invite this into our fictional universe?
Eric: He's a pineapple—
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: —with a big hat.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah. Tough.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Oh, God. There should definitely be a pirate named Mr. E. That would be great.
Julia: Mr. E.
Eric: Mr. E.
Amanda: As long as we can kill him in the first episode we see him.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Sure. Yeah, sure. You can— because this is a JRPG, the PS2 graphics kick in and you like— there's a low poly Umbi tossing Bartlett into the air, and—
Amanda: The camera angle changes?
Eric: And just like a really big camera angle like swirls around Bartlett and the— the music changes, now it's like midi Sea-tar that's playing.
Julia: Cool
Eric: And Bartlett is like flying around the chunkiest polygons of the light from these watchtowers, it just looks like a triangle.
Brandon: Incredible.
Eric: It's like a— with, like, 50% opacity, it's a white triangle with a 50% opacity.
Julia: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Makes sense.
Brandon: I love it. Now, did you mean to make us a sitar pun with Sea-tar? Because it's pretty good.
Eric: It's a seed— it's a seed tar.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: Oh, a seed? Even better than a Sea-tar.
Eric: There you go. Bra— Brandon, hit— hit square! Brandon, hit square!
Brandon: Square, square, square!
Eric: Brandon went to the bathroom, and got a snack, and didn't realize it was a— it was a quick time.
Brandon: That happens all the time.
Amanda: Uh-oh.
Eric: Hit square! Yeah. Make a perception check.
Brandon: As Bartlett?
Eric: Well, I guess it's you. I don't fucking know.
Julia: It's your eyes.
Eric: It's your pets. Tell me what to do. I don't know— I don't know how this works.
Brandon: Okay. I mean, if it's mine, I have a little bit more, so I'll do plus 4.
Eric: Yeah. If it's— if it's through your eyes, yours.
Brandon: Well, it doesn't matter either way, Eric, because I did roll a Natural 20.
Julia: Wow.
Brandon: Which I've heard is very good, and I would love you just to draw me some blueprints real fast, Eric.
Julia: Brandon is really like— I think coming into his own with his dice now. Like, they're telling a story, and I think we should all listen to it.
Brandon: They're telling the story of statistical analysis.
Julia: No, I don't think so, actually. You’ve rolled more Nat 20s in the past, like, four episodes—
Eric: Real.
Julia: —than in 3 campaigns.
Brandon: They're also telling you a story of confirmation bias.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah. And I like that story.
Eric: Cool.
Amanda: It's my favorite bias, I do have to say.
Eric: There's also another pirate named Confirmation Bias who is a slug.
Julia: And he's from Open Fields, yeah.
Eric: And he's from Open Fields, yeah. Confirmation Bias does sound like a religious icon—
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: —from— from like the 12th Century.
Amanda: I love that.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah. He was friends with Martin Luther. So— okay. I'll tell you some stuff, and you can ask me some questions, too. So, yeah, let's— let's address the thing that Julia asked in the first place. This is definitely a company town, right? This was made by the Diamond Knot relatively recently. I think that you can also see— and this is related to the fact as Bartlett is flying around and you're executing the secret code that lets Bartley turn into like a pterodactyl, I guess.
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: With sunglasses.
Eric: Yeah. Up, down, up, down, square, square, X, triangle, swirl, swirl, X, X, Y. There's a Y button on this P— on this PS2 controller.
Amanda: Oh.
Eric: It's crazy.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. This— a lot of the stuff has been made relatively recently. Everything seems new, new houses, new— new watchtowers, even the gate, and the hole itself in the mountain seems relatively new. This is— so this was a new project of the Diamond Knot put into place. Sometime, let's say, during the— the Rising Tide, the pirate times. Other thing that you noticed, you don't see Kidd Cervantes' ship anywhere. Only ships that you see are flying the Diamond Knot flag, as I said, either they're— they are government entities that have been conscripted to work for the go— work for the Diamond Knot, so they're like, I don't know, agents of the Crags, or Open Fields, or what— or et cetera.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Or they're pirates who have been hired on, which we've already talked about. But you do see that over away from everything, as Bartlett is kind of doing a big loop around, and coming around, like over— so the— this is just like a big mountain kind of on this larger island. But you know, if you go around the mountain a little bit, there is a smaller cove with some wrecked ships kind of pulled up on it. It leads into a little cave. It is far enough away that is not being touched by the light of the watchtowers and of, like, this whole dock. Do they know it's there or not? I don't know. If I was— with a Natural 20, I'll tell you. If I worked there, I'd probably know it was there, but they don't really seem— from what you can see, they don't really seem concerned about it. And the only ships that are pulled up here are straight up shipwrecks.
Amanda: Nice.
Julia: Well, our ship already kind of looks like a shipwreck—
Amanda: Love it.
Julia: —so that's good.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Love it.
Eric: So then, you know some of these ships are and I'll say oh, some of these ships are flying different various pirate flags.
Julia: Interesting.
Brandon: Do I see any dangers in that area? Or is it more like ships that have already wrecked, just sort of tend to collect there?
Eric: That, the latter. There is no—
Brandon: Okay, great.
Eric: —no dangers. It is quiet over there. There's nothing going on.
Brandon: Okay.
Amanda: Seems promising.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: Umbi looks, points, and says—
Brandon (as Umbi): Ahoy, ahoy. That means there's something over there that we should go look at.
Amanda (as Troy): Thank you. Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): Oh.
Amanda (as Troy): No, no, no. I can't— I can't let you do that.
Julia (as Cammie): Cool.
Amanda: Troy is going to take a nice wide path around—
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia (as Cammie): Casually, yeah.
Amanda: —to the back to the cove.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: For the second time in two episodes, I'll use my mariner feat and safely land in the cove.
Eric: Smart.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Smart. It seems like no one else has. It is like you are pulling up in a parking space, just surrounded by shipwrecks.
Brandon: Perfect parallel ship park.
Eric: Perfect parallel ship park.
Amanda: Yeah. A little gliding quiet, lights on low, stealth mode.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: And I think when we— when we actually drop anchor, maybe we can send— what do you guys think? Or maybe we'll, like, call out a little like, "Cuckoo." How can we alert Kidd to our presence without saying it?
Brandon: I think we should just walk in and start going into the cave. And—
Amanda: Sure.
Brandon: —hopefully, we'll run into him.
Julia: Yeah. And if we run into anyone, like we could just be like, "Oh, we thought this was a different cave."
Brandon: Yeah, we'll just be treasure— we'll just be prospectors, you know?
Julia: Yeah. "We're doing a survey."
Amanda: Good.
Eric: "We're doing a census. How many households are in this cave?" Sure.
Julia: "And what is your combined income? Household income."
Eric: "How much gold? How many doubloons do you have in here? It's for taxes, so it’s really important, you tell us— yeah, you tell us how many people you have."
Julia: It's true.
Brandon: "We already know how many you have and how much you owe us, but we want you to tell us."
Amanda: "Yeah, we won't say."
Brandon: "That's fine. Yeah. Yeah."
Amanda: And you need to guess the number and if you guess wrong, haha."
Brandon: "You owe us extra money. Hahaha."
Amanda: "Yeah."
Julia: Hahaha.
Brandon: Hahaha.
Eric: Alright. Yeah. Y'all pull up, you can hop out. Who do you want to go with? Just you three? You want to bring anyone with you?
Brandon: We should bring Havana.
Amanda: Let's take Havana.
Julia: Yeah. Well—
Brandon: At least get some potions from beforehand, but yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Well, let's— let's ask him. So as— as we pull up, we'll get everybody up on deck, and Troy's gonna look over at Havana and be like—
Amanda (as Troy): Hey, you— you hear about this like Kompos mountain prison situation when you were in your travels?
Julia (as Cammie): At medical school.
Brandon (as Umbi): When you were in your travels on your mattress in the open sea.
Amanda (as Troy): I wasn't gonna mention the obvious trauma.
Brandon (as Umbi): Oops.
Eric (as Havana): It's— it's— it's— I'm used to people casually bringing up my trauma, and I'm strong enough about it now.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, Cammie too. You guys have that in common.
Eric (as Havana): We do.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah.
Eric (as Havana): That's why we're friends.
Julia (as Cammie): That's why we're best friends.
Eric (as Havana): Ah, jinx. We're best friends.
Brandon (as Umbi): Cute.
Julia (as Cammie): I love it.
Eric (as Havana): No, Troy, I respectfully— no, I did not hear about the secret underwater prison run by the cabal of all the world governments together on— when I was in medical school. No, it didn't come up.
Julia (as Cammie): That— that's not like at an orientation or anything like that?
Eric (as Havana): No, I must have missed it. I think maybe I was like—
Julia (as Cammie): Oh.
Eric (as Havana): —Tro— making friends, or I went to the wrong social.
Julia (as Cammie): Hmm.
Eric (as Havana): I missed it.
Brandon (as Umbi): Making friends, really?
Eric (as Havana): I was trying. This is— Umbi's being intentionally rude now. It's—
Brandon (as Umbi): I'm sorry. You're right, you're right. I'm sorry. You're right. I apologize. You're right.
Eric (as Havana): He's going out of his way to create— to create tension between us because I said I was friends with Cammie. I think that's what’s happening.
Brandon (as Umbi): No.
Julia (as Cammie): I'm friends with everyone here. Just as a reminder, you're all my best friends.
Amanda (as Troy): And I'm your captain, yes. So I wonder, Havana, do you— do you want to come with us to explore the small, dank cave, or do you want to— do you want to, like, have some—have some solo time?
Eric (as Havana): It's up to you. I'll come with you if you want.
Brandon (as Umbi): The SDC if you will.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah.
Amanda (as Troy): Harold, Sil, are you cool keeping an eye out?
Eric (as Harold): Always.
Amanda: Cute.
Julia (as Cammie): Love you, guys.
Amanda (as Troy): Love you.
Eric (as Harold): Love you. We're— love you. I love how we're all friends.
Eric: And Sil says—
Eric (as Sil): And no one questioned where I came from.
Julia (as Cammie): No, you came from a weird bottle. We know.
Amanda (as Troy): It's like you've always been here.
Eric (as Sil): It's been a bun— it's been a bunch of episodes and no one's looked into it, and I like it. That's nice.
Julia (as Cammie): Uh-hmm.
Brandon (as Umbi): I mean, do you want us to? Are you, like, questioning where you're— where you came from? Like, do you want some—
Eric (as Sil): No, I'm fine with it. I was more—
Brandon (as Umbi): Okay, cool.
Eric (as Sil): I— I'm fine. I think it's ni— I think it's nice that I was automatically accepted.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah.
Eric (as Sil): It was good.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): It's the pirate life, baby.
Brandon (as Umbi): Well, I'll leave Bartlett here in the crow— in the parrot's nests. And if— Bartlett, if you see anything suspicious, just go ahead and give Harold and Sil the noise— the alert noise that y'all three practice, which is—
Eric: It's the sound of a— a smoke alarm that doesn't have its battery.
Brandon: Great. Great.
Eric: So— so intermittently, it goes— [beeps]
Amanda: God, I wish.
Julia: Except it's [squawk beeps] because— because it's a little parrot.
Eric: [squawks]
Julia: [squawks]
Eric: [squawks] The only way to make that worse, Julia.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: [squawks]
Amanda: Well, he can't— he can't really count, so it's for— it's— it's an unpredictable rhythm.
Eric: It happen— yes, it happens any—it happens in any time frame from 90 to 300 seconds.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Honestly, that makes it better. We can do a random—
Eric: It does? Oh, I hate that.
Brandon: Yes, it does. Because the regularness, you anticipate—
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: —and your body knows. "Oh, it's been 58 seconds. Oh, God."
Eric: Oh, sure, sure, sure.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah. Fair.
Eric: Yeah. Hey, folks, text us at 330-0001—
Brandon: To vote for Ruben Studdard—
Eric: No. Let me finish the joke. One if you think that regular smoke alarm chirps are worse, or two if random smoke alarm chirps are worse, or three for Ruben Studdard. Yeah, Havana will come with you. No problem.
Julia: Excellent.
Eric: Cool.
Brandon (as Umbi): Havana, look at me, look at me. This is going to be a serious exploration into a serious place. Are you prepared with all of your potions?
Eric (as Havana): Umbi, your breath is so— Umbi, your breath is so hot against my skin.
Brandon (as Umbi): Look at me, Havana.
Eric: Yes. And Havana gives each of you a potion. Did I say how many hit points goes into these?
Julia: No.
Eric: No?
Brandon: I think it was 100.
Julia: Yeah, a 100—
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: —hit points per sip, right?
Amanda: It raise your maximum— raise your maximum— I can't lie to you when you look at me. Aaaah!
Eric: Havana gives each of you a potion real good, like looking-ass potion, long neck, long round bottom of a bottle, the red— weird, red liquid inside, but it does have a prescription on the side of it. And it's—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Each of you has your own names and he says——
Eric (as Havana): Your— you don't share medicine. Everyone knows you shouldn't share medicine.
Amanda (as Troy): Why?
Julia (as Cammie): Right.
Eric (as Havana): Because it's not— it's— it's calculated for you, Troy.
Amanda (as Troy): Really?
Eric (as Havana): Yeah.
Amanda (as Troy): Like for me, Troy?
Eric (as Havana): For Troy, yeah. That's why this one says Troy on it.
Amanda (as Troy): That says my name. I love that.
Eric: And each of these potions will heal you for 15 hit points.
Julia: Ooh.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: Remember, with potions—
Julia: Don’t even have to roll for it, I love it.
Eric: —you can drink it as an action, but if you're passed out, you can't drink it.
Julia: But we all know where we hold ours on our body because of Troy.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: And we can feed each other— each other's potions.
Eric: Correct.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Got it.
Amanda: So after putting the pumpy to bed, Troy passes out the potion bottle holsters that he has crocheted for each of us.
Brandon: Ooh.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: And it's like that— like, a scene in any action movie where like they put the weapons into the holsters and it's like—
Amanda: Shrug them on. Oh, yeah.
Brandon: [Sliding sound effects] and it's really cool, Eric.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Really cool.
Eric: I think it's cool. I think it's really cool.
Brandon: It's really cool.
Eric: I mean, Umbi's literally putting bombs on his body like a bandolier, so yeah, that—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —that sounds about right.
Brandon: He puts so many on that he falls over.
Julia: I can just picture Umbi accidentally throwing the— the bottle instead of one of the bombs and be like—
Julia (as Cammie): No, no, no, no, no.
Brandon: He tries to drink a bomb.
Julia: Oh. Uh-oh.
Eric: You throw it at a dragon, it gets 15 hit points back. Hell yeah. Alright, we're moving out. So y'all can hop out of the Sea Whip. Again, it is like so— I mean, Julia and Amanda certainly because, Brandon, trigger warning, I am going to talk about a beach, I'm so sorry. Sorry, only— that only rich people know about.
Brandon: Okay.
Julia: Hmm. Only rich people go to beaches.
Eric: Yeah, only rich people go to beaches.
Amanda: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: You know, when you go on a beach that's deserted, it almost feels extra deserted because the tide is lapping in, you know, the shore, and so you just hear the rhythmic sounds of like the tide washing in and washing out.
Brandon: The sounds of runaway capitalism.
Eric: Not even— not even close. Yeah. You know, you hear the— the wood of the wrecked ships creek in the wind. Maybe some flotsam floats by you. A piece of wood falls off of the wreck, and plops into the water, and leads out into the tide. But yeah, there's nothing out here other than you guys, as you head towards the cave on the side of this weird offshore mountain.
Amanda: Can Troy roll a survival check to see where I would hide if I was looking to hide somewhere that isn't the cave?
Brandon: Oh, I like that.
Eric: Yeah, dude, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Okay. [dice roll]
Julia: To help with that--
Amanda: Oh, I— I don't need it.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: Thank you, Julia, because I got a 16 plus 4 for a Dirty 20.
Julia: Nice.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: Where would I hide if I was trying to hide?
Eric: Where would you hide if you were trying to hide?
Brandon: Where would one hide?
Eric: Where would one hide?
Amanda: Where would one hide?
Brandon: Where might one hide?
Eric: Here's what I'm going to tell you, nowhere. There's nothing here. There's no bluffs, there is no like craggy outcroppings. There's not a tree that you can scramble up to the top, and look down on, and camouflage yourself as a coconut. And then maybe they wouldn't see you. And again, it's so dark, so like no can recognize when a person— if you stay perfectly still—
Amanda: Uh-huh.
Eric: —they might think you're a coconut on a palm tree. There's nowhere to hide. This is cleared out, and the only thing is the cave. Inside of the cave, you don't hear anything either. You know, the air is still. There's no shuffling, there's no moving. There's no— no, like, dripping of water. There's nothing going on around here. You can see— I'll tell you that— I mean, there are— there are tracks leading to the cave, so there have been movement on this beach that has not been like, you know, wiped away by the wind. So it may— it might have happened relatively recently, but that is the only signs of life that you have seen.
Amanda: Cool.
Julia: Well, Troy just rolled a pretty good survival check. Can we get an indication of whether or not these tracks are leading in and out of the cave, or just into the cave?
Eric: No. No.
Julia: No?
Eric: No.
Brandon (as Umbi): Well, I'm convinced. Let's go in.
Amanda: Yeah, we can go in.
Brandon: Umbi's gonna look back at his colleagues and do the, like, eyes forward and, like, you know, like—
Brandon (as Umbi): Split the pie, like, you know, like—
Julia: Cammie is just walking into the cave. Cammie's like—
Julia (as Cammie): It's just a cave. We live in a cave. Like, let's just go.
Brandon: As Umbi's doing that, Cammie just walks by him.
Amanda: Yeah. And Troy pulls his dagger out and it's— it's— he's just kind of flipping it in his hand as they walk.
Eric: Cool. Alright. So y'all walk— you're walking into the cave.
Julia: Walking into the cave.
Eric: Havana coming up behind you. It is dark in there. Whatever light reflecting off of the sea from a little town and the spotlights on the watchtowers are just fading farther and farther away from you.
Amanda: Now, Eric, ignore the fact that we have electricity, do you think that we are carrying little jars with bioluminescent creature, like, run off as our lanterns?
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: You can if you want to.
Amanda: I would.
Eric: That'd be cool. That'd be very cool.
Amanda: I would.
Julia: I mean, I'd also love to use the cantrip produce flames because I have mechanics for that.
Amanda: That's great.
Eric: You can do that, too. You can produce some flames, too.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: You can have both.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: You can have lots of light.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: You— you know— you know that we're protective of open fire around Umbi.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: That's a good point.
Julia: Cause he's so dry, he might— he might explode any day now.
Eric: And Nonny for that matter. Though, I would think it would be funny if you put Nonny, like, on a stick and then Nonny was, like, on fire as a torch.
Julia: No.
Eric: But she's fine, because she's magical. It's magic fire, not real fire.
Brandon: What if Nonny on stick and then Nonny have 8 sticks that are on fire?
Amanda: Oh, very cute.
Julia: [hums carnival music]
Eric: What is this, an NBA Halftime Show? Jesus Christ.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And Havana is walking up behind you. I would love— as you're sneaking through, I would want you all to make dexterity checks to see how it goes walking through this dark cave.
Amanda: [dice roll] 21.
Julia: 9.
Brandon: 19 total. Now, who's the fucking bad roller, Julia?
Eric: It's pretty good.
Julia: You rolled an 8 while Eric was away.
Brandon: Shut up.
Amanda: That's true
Eric: That's funny. What order y'all walking in?
Julia: Cammie's first.
Eric: Cammie's first.
Amanda: Then Umbi, then Havana, then Troy.
Brandon: I was actually going to say I would like to put Umbi at the back and have Havana in front of me just so I can have the back.
Amanda: Oh, sure.
Brandon: Just in case.
Amanda: Alright. So Cammie, Troy, Havana, Umbi.
Eric: Cool.
Julia: Because as we established, Troy can shoot over Cammie's head because Cammie is very small.
Eric: That's right.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: And Troy is very tall.
Eric: Yeah. That makes sense, because Cammie, with you rolling of a 9, you trip over something that springs under your foot.
Julia (as Cammie): Ow!
Eric: Give me a dexterity saving throw really quickly.
Julia: [dice roll] That's a 3.
Eric: That's a 3. Okay.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Oh no. Can Troy leap forward to help?
Eric: No, but it's nice that you said that.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: It's very nice that you say that.
Amanda: Does Cammie fall on her butt?
Brandon: Does Cammie trip on a bunch of like bearings, and then fall down some stairs, and die?
Eric: Well—
Amanda: Does she trip over— does she trip over a big— a big pile of umber that they can then take back to the boat with us?
Julia: Have you considered?
Amanda: Did I say umber? Amber?
Julia: Yeah, you did.
Brandon: I like it, though.
Eric: Alright. Here's what happens, folks.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Cammie, you step on something that springs under your feet, making you lose your balance a little bit. Troy and Umbi and Havana hear it, it goes, "Boing! Sking!" Of something locking into place. Troy, you're behind Cammie, right?
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Troy, you poke into something sharp. These— whatever Cammie stepped on kind of bounced up like traffic spikes.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Like a line of traffic spikes have popped up and now these— this sharp thing glinting in the light of your bioluminescent lantern is like coming up like a foot and a half of yours, and now you have to step over it. So it's— it's impeding your progress as this thing has jumped up in front of you.
Amanda: Yeah, like a knee-high hurdle-ish.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah. And Cammie, you lose your footing as you're— unfortunate with your 3, you start to stumble backwards, because as you're regaining your footing, the cave is starting to slope downwards. And it is starting to slip downwards very, very fast. And you step on another one and you hear a, "Spoing, eeek!" As another spike trap sets up, and you're stumbling backwards. Cammie, what do you do?
[theme]
Amanda: Hello, hello, it's Amanda, and welcome to the midroll. Isn't this episode awesome? It's really good. Welcome to our newest patrons, Julia, Jonathan B., Kelly, and Bianca Deuce. We so appreciate that you have made room in your budget each month to support this independent actual play podcast. We could not make it without your support on Patreon and without you sharing the show. Now is a great time to text your friends and say, "Dude, this plant and bug folk pirate campaign is going off and it's a great time for you to get involved." And send them the link to jointhepartypod.com/start. We're also getting into summer camp time, all kinds of people are going to work at summer camps, going off to summer camps. And you know, it's a wonderful time to try the Camp-Paign, that Season Three in your podcast apps, powered, of course, by Monster of the Week. And it's a nice kind of short series where you can have people catch up on the Camp-Paign and then jump in to Campaign 3 with you. That's all at jointhepartypod.com/start. And thank you again to all of our patrons supporting us at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. This week at Multitude, we are midway through mushroom month over on Spirits. And speaking of another past campaign, if you loved Campaign Two and the Lake Town City sort of motif of mushrooms and mushroom weirdness happening in that campaign, you're gonna love the episodes we've been putting out over there all about the mythology and folklore, and in this case, science of mushrooms and fungi. It's super fun. It is one of Julia's current special interests, and I love learning about the things that she's interested in. And also all of the mythology and horror and wonder that comes with mushrooms. So go on over, and whether you start with the current mushroom episodes or any of the almost 400 episodes that we've released on Spirits over the last 8 years, you should go ahead and check it out now. Spiritspodcast.com or search Spirits in your podcast app. We are sponsored this week by Green Chef. A meal box company that makes easy and delicious menu recipes like fresh seasonal salads and Grain Bowls. It's a wonderful time of year to get into produce. I know I have been getting my lettuce at the farmers market every Saturday for the last month. It's delicious. And if like me, you are trying to look for new recipes and, like, you want to try new stuff, but you're also like, "Oh, I don't know. Like, this recipe has an ingredient I don't love. Like, what am I going to do?" Green Chef is a really good choice for you, because they have over 80 weekly menu and market options to satisfy every taste bud. So if you're following a particular style of eating like plant-based meals, calorie smart meals, keto, gluten-free, Mediterranean diet, whatever you are looking for, Green Chef has options for you, including farm fresh ingredients that rotate with the seasons. They're also the first CCOF certified organic meal kit company and they feature organic fruits and vegetables, organic cage-free eggs, sustainably sourced seafood, and more. So go to greenchef.com/jointheparty50 and use code Join the Party 50 to get 50% off, plus 20% off your next two months. Go to greenchef.com/jointheparty50 and use code Join the Party 50 to get 50% off, plus 20% off your next two months. And tag me if you make the salmon, so good. We are also sponsored this week by Queer Kid Stuff run by Lindz Amer, my longtime friend and one time fellow YouTuber, who is coming back to YouTube by rebooting their award winning LGBTQ+ Preschool web series to combat hate and spread queer joy. Lindz did a viral TED Talk. They wrote an incredible the parenting book on LGBTQ+ affirming parenting. They literally like wrote the book on how to talk to kids about queer stuff and social justice. Made a podcast with Multitude called Rainbow Parenting, all kinds of incredible stuff that they had been working on over the last 10 years, including, by the way, a non-binary character for the Paw Patrol Universe. They basically have created their whole career out of making queer stuff for kids and the kids at heart. And right now, they are seeking funding to reboot their LGBTQ+ web series. It's award-winning, it's incredible. And now is the time to help combat misinformation and discrimination affecting the LGBTQ+ community with affirming and joyful education. So go ahead and search for Queer Kid Stuff on Kickstarter, or click the link in the description below to learn more about Lindz and back the Kickstarter before it ends near the end of June. And now let's get back to the show.
[theme]
Julia: Am I able to do a spell?
Eric: Yeah, dude.
Julia: Cool. I'll cast Swift Flight just so I can get the fuck off the floor.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: Nice. You are stumbling backwards, and now what does this look like? As now you can— now you can fly and stuff.
Julia: I think Cammie just kind of ends up like falling and then catches herself in the spell work and it's just kind of, like, almost on her back, looking up, being like—
Julia (as Cammie): I hate traps. I really hate traps.
Amanda (as Troy): Cammie, are you okay?
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh, that was— well done, though.
Julia (as Cammie): I don't know. Just so you know, it goes down over here. This is not a fun experience. I'm going to safely land.
Eric: I like— I love you catching yourself on your steam, right?
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Like a little cloud.
Eric: Cammie, now that you're floating here, kind of floating in the middle of this now sloping down cave, you see that there are these spikes everywhere. There are all these spike traps. Again, you can go over one way, but once they bounce up, you can't go back the other way. And it's surrounding in like, I don't know, 5, 10-foot increments, and now like the cave is just starting to dive.
Amanda: So it's like closing behind us, so we can't climb back out like barbed wire kind of thing?
Eric: Correct. Correct.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: The spike trap, the one that Cammie activated, the first one has popped up and it's kind of facing the other way. It's facing as if you were trying to leave the cave, you would have a very hard time leaving said cave. And Cammie, now that you're floating, you can look around, and you see that it's like all the way around this cave. It's now— and now it's just this tunnel that is diving down and it gets steep very, very quickly. Cammie, you're like, "Oh, this just goes straight down. This just goes down."
Julia: Can I do a nature check to determine whether or not this is natural or if this was built?
Eric: Sure thing.
Julia: [dice roll] 21.
Eric: 21. Combination of both. The spikes themselves are natural, but they have been ornamented with like a spring for it to pop up in this way.
Julia: Is this like the mouth of something?
Amanda: Are we in a bigger organism? Yeah.
Julia: You know how there are certain things that, like, will swallow prey and then they have the teeth within so the prey cannot be like regurgitated?
Eric: It is not that, but maybe it is styled as such.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Interesting.
Amanda: Horrifying.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: With— with a— with a 21, that's what I'll say.
Julia: Pretty fucked up.
Amanda: Love it.
Julia: Pretty fucked up.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay, so this goes straight down.
Brandon (as Umbi): Do we keep going?
Amanda (as Troy): If you're our friend and we're supposed to meet you here, and— and your body is kind of like the whole situation what's happening with all these spikes, can you like make a noise?
Eric: Noise, noise, noise, noise. Troy's voice bounces off of the cave down, but no response, and it goes back to being quiet.
Amanda (as Troy): Like, I know you usually don't have a mouth, so maybe you can, like, kick something, or hit something or, clap?
Eric: Clap, clap, clap.
Brandon (as Umbi): Cammie, how long can you fly like that for?
Julia (as Cammie): Oh, I'm like about to fall.
Julia: I'm gonna safely land myself before I fall—
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh, okay.
Julia: —at the end of this.
Eric: Sure. Yeah.
Julia: It's only really supposed to be for a turn.
Eric: No, that's fine. So the three of you, I think, are now on the precipice, I think, of this— of the cave turning into a down—downward tumbling tunnel.
Amanda (as Troy): Umbi.
Brandon (as Umbi): Yeah?
Amanda (as Troy): You— you grew up in a place what has lots of big buildings, right?
Brandon (as Umbi): Yeah, I was gonna say I got my hat, I can jump down, but I don't know if it's a death trap, you know?
Amanda (as Troy): Could you like— I don't know if this exists for like Greenfolk kind. Is it possible to, like, drop something and from the noise that it makes, figure out how far away it did hit? Like, could you like drop a rock and then tell, because you're from a place where everyone falls all the time, how far down it goes?
Brandon (as Umbi): Yeah, you could like— sort of. You can get a really, really, really, really rough estimate of like— you throw a rock down, and you— you count how many seconds until you hear it hit the bottom.
Amanda (as Troy): Okay, cool. Go.
Amanda: And then Troy's gonna throw a rock down the opening.
Brandon: 1 1,000, 2 1,000, 3 1,000, 4 1,000, 5 1,000, 6 1,000—
Eric: So while— as you get to 5 1,000, you hear more activations of the spike traps, "Pssh, pshh, pshh, pshh, pshh, pshh!" And then you— after 10 seconds, you hear a sploosh.
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh. So probably— let's see, 9.8 meters per second squared. Doing some math in my brain. Probably—
Brandon: Eric, Eric, what is it, is like 100 feet? Eric, what is that?
Eric: It's far. It's far. It would get to the point where you were falling and got bored of it at—
Julia: Cool.
Eric: —at some point.
Amanda: Cool.
Eric: And then eventually you would hit something that went sploosh.
Amanda: Got it.
Brandon (as Umbi): Well, I could jump down for sure. I think it'd be fine, but I don't know what you two would do. Should I?
Amanda (as Troy): No.
Brandon (as Umbi): Well, I mean, like, should y'all go back the other way down and then—
Julia (as Cammie): Should we— okay. Before we start jumping into giant holes that may or may not have teeth—
Brandon (as Umbi): Nice.
Julia (as Cammie): —and also stuff at the bottom, should I just send Kidd a message seeing where he is?
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Brandon (as Umbi): You were able to do this the whole time?
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah, but you guys had other plans, and I don't have an unlimited amount of spell slots. I have to take a nap soon. I had to waste one because I fell.
Eric: Is that the— is that the magical version of spoons?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Where it's like, "I only have so many spell slots. I'm not going to be able to go out to this party tonight if I use too much magic."
Julia (as Cammie): I'm not going to be able to do a heist if I don't have enough spell slots/spoons.
Brandon (as Umbi): Well, I mean, if you don't want to waste it, I can just jump down.
Julia (as Cammie): No.
Amanda (as Troy): No.
Brandon (as Umbi): You tell me.
Julia (as Cammie): No, that seems like a terrible idea.
Brandon (as Umbi): This is fun to me.
Julia (as Cammie): Hmm.
Amanda (as Troy): Umbi, when you almost died it was like a part of me and the part of me that is very validated by you giving me compliments, like that part also died.
Brandon (as Umbi): That's really sweet, Troy.
Amanda (as Troy): So I don't— I don't want you to do that again.
Brandon (as Umbi): But death is just the next adventure, baby.
Amanda (as Troy): Havana, please.
Eric (as Havana): From everything I've learned in medical school, death is the next adventure.
Julia: Damn.
Eric (as Havana): We're just supposed to prevent it, like you got to spend time in this adventure for you to go to the next adventure.
Brandon (as Umbi): Do you remember watching my puppet show called Flatliners?
Julia: Okay. Cammie is gonna cast sending—
Eric: Alright.
Julia: —to send a short message to Kidd Cervantes.
Amanda: Great.
Eric: Cool.
Julia: What would we like it to say? Just remember, we have 25 words, technically 23, because it has to end with love you.
Brandon: 23.
Amanda: Thank you. That's all I care about.
Brandon: I was about to say that.
Amanda: Thank you. That's all I care about.
Brandon: Um, I think just say, you know, like, "Hey, we're here"— not literally this, but like, "Hey, we're here. We're in this cave. Is there a better place to enter? You know, where are you? What's the best way, you know"— blah, blah, blah.
Amanda: Yeah. Talk to the cove. Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): Hey, Kidd, where are you? Docked at cove, inside cave, very spooky. Where should we meet up? Love you.
Eric: Nice.
Julia: I think that was perfect 25. Maybe it was a 20.
Eric: No, you did— no, I saw that. That was good.
Julia: Okay, cool.
Eric: What's the distance? tell me the range.
Julia: The range is unlimited.
Eric: Oh, it's unlimited.
Julia: Unlimited.
Eric: Great.
Eric (as Operator): "Do, do, do. The message you're trying to send does not have a receiver. Please pick someone else or try again later.”
Brandon (as Umbi): What the fuck?
Julia: Wait. Okay, hold on. It says a creature hears the message in its mind, recognizes you as the sender if it knows you and can answer in a like manner immediately. You can send messages across any distance and even to other planes of existence.
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: If the target is on another— different plane from you, there's a 5% chance that the message doesn't arrive.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Do I need to roll to see if it doesn't arrive?
Eric (as Operator): Do, do, do. The message you've described could not be completed as dialed. Please hang up or try again.
Brandon (as Umbi): Is it like a— a an— what are the things that you always—
Julia: Antimagic circle or something?
Brandon (as Umbi): Yeah, like a curse— like an anti-curse thing or whatever.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah. Interesting.
Julia (as Cammie): It's very possible that this means he's inside of the prison right now.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): Assuming that they have that kind of technology/magic.
Brandon (as Umbi): Do you think he's down at the bottom of the pit? Should I jump in?
Julia (as Cammie): Oh, God, Umbi, please.
Brandon (as Umbi): Okay.
Julia (as Cammie): No, don't!
Eric: [Springs activating] More of the traps around you popped up and get activated.
Brandon (as Umbi): I think I'm gonna jump in.
Amanda (as Troy): Let's maybe go—
Brandon (as Umbi): Look, I'm gonna jump in, and if it— if I die, it's fine. But if I don't, then you can— you'll know how to do it.
Amanda (as Troy): Or you could like leave and sleep and try again in the daylight.
Julia (as Cammie): I would love to leave in sleep and try again in the daylight. That's just me.
Brandon (as Umbi): Geronimo!
Julia (as Cammie): Oh, Jesus. Oh, Planter, help us. Oh!
Brandon: Eric, I would like to throw a teleportation bomb down to give me 30 feet.
Eric: Great. Love it.
Brandon: And then I have slow fall.
Julia: Helpful.
Brandon: And that's up to 30 seconds max and 10 feet of hover. So I think it's like 60 feet-ish.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, you'll fi— as you go down. Is the teleportation bomb— does it retain— I forget. Does it retain momentum? I'm imagining this is like portal, where's it's like you get a running start, and then you throw the teleportation bomb, and then you get extra speed as you— as you jump through?
Brandon: That's a good question. It doesn't say, but I do like that idea.
Eric: I like— I just want like the animators of— the computer animators of the JRPG have really been focusing on Umbi, like trying to— try to capture momentum in a— in a 2D plane and as they're working with 3D models partially.
Brandon: I mean, it's gonna be slowed down by my hat anyway, so yeah.
Eric: Umbi, you [teleportation bamf] and then you take out your big hat, and you start to fall down. It gets darker, and darker, and darker as you descend slowly down the tunnel, farther and farther away from the lights of your compatriots.
Brandon (as Umbi): 99 bottles of potions on the wall. 99 bottles of potions. Take one down [mumbles song]
Eric: You are taking your sweet, sweet time as you're hovering down, but then there— a new source of light. You can see it as it kind of like ombres up into the tunnel.
Brandon (as Umbi): I swear to God, this is an Eska.
Amanda: I’m so scared.
Julia: You quickly cut to Cammie and Troy back at the top, and Cammie's like—
Julia (as Cammie): So where do you think we're gonna meet our new crew member?
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): Like, you know in the— in the town or do you think he's just gonna, like, appear on a ship? Or what do you think?
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah. Um, I— I mean, someone's gonna be kicking around who didn't want to join the Diamond Knot, right?
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah, probably.
Amanda (as Troy): I have some brothers. Did I tell you I have a sister? She's kind of great.
Julia (as Cammie): Ooh, I didn't know that.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah, we can ask her.
Julia (as Cammie): Cool.
Brandon: And Bartlett put a little piece of parchment in your hand and unravel—
Eric: Barlett is not even close to here. Don't even try.
Brandon: And then it unravels, it unravels. And it says— and it says—
Eric: Not even true. No, no, no, Bartlett is in— is on the ship, you don't get to do this joke. You explicitly said you don't get this joke.
Brandon: And it says—
Julia: No, let me hear the joke.
Brandon: —Umbi's last will and testament, "If I die, fuck you, don't replace me."
Eric: Incredible. And then Umbi, your—your hat can only hold your body weight for so long, but now it's getting a little bit lighter. The hat kind of like, like an umbrella in the wind, inverts and you fall a few more tens of feet, and then you sploosh. And you're up at the top of the tunnel, you hear a large sploosh.
Julia (as Cammie): Well, he died.
Amanda (as Troy): Wait, wait.
Amanda: And Troy leans down to listen.
Eric: Hey, um, Julia, Amanda, get out of here.
Amanda: You absolute bitch.
Julia: I knew it. I fucking knew it.
Eric: If Umbi wants to do this by himself, y'all don't get to hear what happens.
Brandon: Yeah, you could've joined me. They could've joined me. They didn't join me.
Eric: I know they didn't. You decided to be an adventurer. Umbi, you are floating. Now, Greenfolk are bad at swimming. All Greenfolk are.
Brandon: Right.
Eric: That's why the Great Salt Sea is so dangerous, as it is. Greenfolk, the time that they interact with liquid is when they— when someone puts drinks out, you don't— no one wants to go for a swim. So as you sploosh in here, you know you are floating in something. How do you feel about that?
Brandon: Does it hurt?
Eric: Doesn't hurt.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: But with the amount of momentum, you still like, "Boof!" Like jumping into like a quarry or a— or a deep pool from a high cliff.
Brandon: Do I surface after that?
Eric: Only if you want to. You have— you sploosh in there and you are floating around in this liquid.
Brandon: I would love— if this is too much tell me, but I would love to— because I should have done this before I jumped. To put my head above water and down a potion of water breathing for-- really quickly.
Eric: Okay.
Brandon: Yeah, I would love to do that, if that's possible, and then just dive back down and start swimming down.
Eric: Okay. Trea— even tread water, try to pop open this potion. It kind of like—
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh, God. Oh, God.
Eric: The— the liquid streams out of the bottle and you gotta like-- you gotta ump it. And how long did this potion of water breathing work for?
Brandon: It lasts for one hour after drinking the potion.
Eric: Great. I'm going to say you have a plus 2 to constitution.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: But you have minus 1 to strength and dexterity for the next hour. Because oxygen just starts rushing to your head. This is what— it's like you have gills and lungs now.
Brandon: Hell yeah.
Eric: And you're just— there's too much happening. The potion of water breathing, this magic is working overtime, because it's liquid you can breathe in it.
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: You're just having this absolute head rush of oxygen. So your lungs are doing great, but you're just— do not know how to— you do not know how to deal with it.
Brandon: Oh, hell yeah. I love that. Okay. So, like, limitless pilled myself?
Eric: Yeah, you literally pilled— you peeled yourself and you are— and you are just overwhelmed.
Brandon: Well, Eric, everyone knows that plants use extra oxygen to swim faster, so I'm going to swim down as fast as I can.
Eric: Yeah. It takes you a little bit longer as you get used to it, and also you are— you are limitless pilling yourself with oxygen. So it takes— it certainly takes a little bit longer. And you realize you're swimming down, you're helicoptering down from the top here, you see that this is the ruins of a town.
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh.
Eric: You can see that there are like— there used to be buildings, full buildings around, but then you're just kind of seeing the bottom parts of so many of these— of so many of buildings. Like just— like the concrete or the framing that's like stuck into the ground. Some of these buildings were made out of trees as well, so it's like there's some concrete parts that's attached to trees that are growing out of the ground down here. But the majority of the— the majority of the landscape is just flat and barren dried grasses. Whatever is— whatever's down here and whatever liquid you're swimming in is confusing just anything that is down here. You almost— as you look down on it, you can see that it's— this used to be a main street. You know, it's like there's a street that runs through, kind of crosses the entire— this entire section you're looking down on, using the frames of buildings that are alongside of this main street. You also see down there, there are a lot of Greenfolk milling around.
Brandon: Hmm. And they're not in cages?
Eric: No, they're not in cages. They're just mi—there are a lot of folks milling around. And in various places, you can tell that these used to be buildings that people are using the— Greenfolk are using them as buildings. Like, there's a bunch of people collected in one place. There's a bunch of people collected in other places. Some of them out on the, quote-unquote "street." Some people at— who are, quote-unquote, "outside," and in a different place. And this street leads to what used to be the center of town.
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: Maybe it was— it was designated by like— maybe there was like a fountain in the middle or like a statue in the middle.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: But now there's just like this wide circle with chains crossing the circle. And inside of the circle, you see there's like— it's like a closed porthole, like a big, closed porthole with chains crossing in the middle, that's holding like almost like a metal ring that is on the outside of this porthole.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: So these chains are holding this metal ring and is outside of this porthole, what used to be the center of town. It's like you're seeing— that there's almost— this used to be one corner of a main street that used to be a town, which is signified by the fact that you see that there's a big sign on the outside of town. As you swim down enough, you see that it says, "Welcome to South Kompos City." And someone has scratched into the side of it. "It's not enough to die, they want us to be mulch."
Brandon: Wow, dark. I would love to swim down— well, first, I'm gonna just— real quick, just try to say a word, be like, you know—
Brandon (as Umbi): Kumquat.
Brandon: And do I still— am I able to speak underwater?
Eric: Yeah, you're— yeah, you're able to speak.
Brandon: Cool. Okay. So, yeah, I'm going to swim down and try to find the most helpful-looking person.
Eric: Yeah, sure. As you're swimming down, you get closer and closer to this town. Folks start to notice that you're coming down. People start to point, people start to holler, and be like—
Eric (as Prisoner): Ah, there's a new guy.
Eric: People are like—
Eric (as Prisoner): He tumbled down the tunnel. Classic. Absolute classic.
Eric: And people are just like yelling, yelling, and cheering, and pointing at you.
Brandon: I wave, and I come down, and I say—
Brandon (as Umbi): I didn't fall, I jumped.
Eric (as Prisoner): Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Everyone's like—
Eric (as Prisoner): Okay. Yeah, that's what—
Brandon (as Umbi): Yeah.
Eric (as Prisoner): That's what happened.
Eric: And then eventually, everyone just kind of— everyone just kind of steps away. Except for one person who's standing in front of you. Now, they can't say much, but they have open arms, and it's a incredibly rough-looking, but radiating happiness. It is everyone's favorite gunslinger, Kidd Cervantes.
Brandon (as Umbi): Kidd!
Brandon: And I go in for a hug and be like—
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh, this was a mistake!
Eric: Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.
Brandon (as Umbi): Ouch, ouch, ouch.
Eric: And it's even more of a mistake because six other cacti Greenfolk with different colored flowers blooming from different arms and heads come towards you and pile on this hug.
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh, this is amazing and the worst thing.
Eric: Okay. You can stay here, I'm gonna bring them back.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: Alright. So, Brandon, you start working on your new character sheet.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Julia, can you go ahead and send me Copernicus Cobb real quick or—
Julia: No. No, he's mine. You can't have him.
Eric: Back at the top of the tunnel, Troy—
Amanda: Oh, so Brandon can hear this part?
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Oh, Brandon gets to hear this? That's cool, I guess.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: I just went outsi— I had a nice snack, I went outside, and enjoyed the nice weather.
Brandon: You had JTP outside?
Julia: But Brandon's gets to— I got to go outside.
Amanda: Ha.
Eric: Huh. Mr. Silver never lets me go outside.
Amanda: No, it's really nice outside today.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Than record inside without the stupid sounds. Ugh.
Eric: Back at the top of the tunnel, Cammie, Havana, and Troy are craning your necks over, trying to look down, but there's nothing there. You did hear the big sploosh.
Amanda: Uh-huh.
Eric: Which was louder than the rock from before.
Amanda (as Troy): Whoa. It's because Umbi is bigger than a rock.
Eric: [echoes] Rock, rock, rock, rock.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah, he is. That's a good point.
Amanda: Wait, I just thought about how sweet it would be if somebody drew a comic of Troy discovering each of the simple machines.
Brandon: That's really cute, actually.
Amanda: Like imagine Troy invents the wedge.
Eric: Troy and the pulley.
Amanda: Anyway, sorry.
Julia: That's very good.
Amanda (as Troy): Um, Umbi, are you— are you okay?
Eric: [echoes] K. K. K. K.
Eric (as Havana): Medically speaking, I can only— if he's— if he dies this far away from me, I can't do anything about it.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah, that's fair.
Eric (as Havana): It's— the thing about being a doctor is about being honest, and there's only so much I can do.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah.
Amanda (as Troy): That's okay, bud.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah.
Eric (as Havana): He's lived enough lifetimes for all of us.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): That's fair.
Eric (as Havana): I would like to check out his organs.
Julia (as Cammie): Hmm.
Amanda (as Troy): Hmm.
Eric (as Havana): As his next of kin, can I look at Umbi's organs?
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah, if we recover his body, it's all yours.
Amanda (as Troy): That's cool.
Brandon: You unfold the scroll a little bit further—
Eric: No! No, Brandon. You're only allowed to be—
Brandon: —and it says, "If I die, you don't touch my organs."
Eric: You're only allowed to be here if you sit nicely. This is a treat, this is a reward. This is like Brandon, Brandon got like a gold star and he's shoving it in everyone's faces.
Amanda: Uh-hmm. He's like, "I'm the best boy."
Brandon: Oh, so you knew me when I was in fifth grade?
Eric: It's like, "Oh, me? I'm just eating this giant lollipop." Slurp.
Julia: Gross.
Eric (as Havana): Thank you. I would love his organs.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah. I think if we find enough Amber, we should pull it for like all of us to use, and like remember him by, and, you know, improve the ship and— and stuff.
Eric (as Havana): Hmm.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah. Yeah, he would want that.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Eric (as Havana): Yeah.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah. Okay, so I guess we'll give him a minute.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah. Well, if he's still alive, he could call up and let us know. And if not, we'll regroup, I guess.
Eric: Hey, Cammie, what's your AC?
Julia: Oh, interesting question. It's a 13.
Eric: Oh, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Bummer.
Eric: [dice roll] Splurp. [dice roll] Splurp.
Julia: I'm gonna have to do something.
Eric: You hear [explosions] as the spikes from the ceiling start shooting spikes at Cammie, and you take 12 points of piercing damage as these thorns are sticking out of you.
Amanda (as Troy): Whoa!
Julia (as Cammie): Ow!
Amanda: Troy—
Julia (as Cammie): I hate this.
Amanda: —grabs Cammie and Havana by the hands, and starts running out of the cave.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: Okay. Make a Dexterity Saving Throw for me.
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: How far deep are we into this cave right now?
Eric: Not that deep, however, because it's like— it's mostly down, I would say like, I don't know, a thousand feet.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: That's a 12.
Eric: Cammie, also give me a Dexterity Saving Throw as well.
Julia: [dice roll] Another 6.
Amanda: Oh, my God.
Julia: Why not?
Eric: Cammie, and Troy, and Havana takes 13 points of piercing damage. As you try to run out of the cave, the spike traps, then you try to hop over, slash into your legs as you try to escape, and even more thorns are sticking into you. You're able to kind of shimmy over a few of them, but this is really, rea— this is really hampering your speed. It is going to— it's going to be difficult to get out of here just by running away.
Julia: I'm going to cast fly on Troy, and Cammie is going to grab Havana, and is going to dimension door as far as possible out of the cave.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: Nice. Troy goes—
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, God, I love this!.
Julia: The boy loves to fly.
Amanda: Yeah. I know. He's gonna— he's gonna try to aerodynamically aero himself out of the room.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. Troy hovers up. Do you flap your wings?
Amanda: No, they're staying rolled up, small target.
Eric: Fair, fair, fair.
Amanda: You can see— like a dog whose tail got clipped, you can see my back muscles like moving as if I want to.
Eric: Cool. Give me one more Dexterity Saving Throw, Troy.
Amanda: [dice roll] That's more like it. It's a 13 plus 7 for a Dirty 20.
Eric: Alright, you're able to—
Julia: Hell yeah, dawg.
Eric: —navigate and fly your way and not get spike trapped again. Spike speed trapped again, as you fly through the middle of the cave, away from these thorns.
Amanda: Good.
Eric: Cammie, yeah, what is— tell me what your dimension door looks like.
Julia: We've done it before where we got off that ship in the Boiling Reef.
Eric: Oh, that's right.
Julia: I think it's just like a Nightcrawler puff of smoke, but except it's a tea steam, you know?
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: Yeah, I—
Julia: And I go, "Bamf!"
Eric: I feel that way when I step into a steam room, it's like I'm in a different dimension for a little while.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: This schvitzy dimension and then I step out of it.
Julia: Nice.
Eric: Hell yeah. Yeah, where do you want to— where do you want to go?
Julia: I want to get as far outside of this cave as possible.
Eric: Cool. You step through the steam, you're back at the mouth of the cave. Havana is already ripping these thorns out of— out of his side.
Julia: Ow, ow, ow, ow. Ow! Ow!
Eric (as Havana): Ow, ow, ow. Ow! Owww! Ow!
Amanda (as Troy): Havana, you okay, bud?
Brandon: You hear Bartlett go—
Brandon (as Bartlett): [squawks]
Eric: Brandon, I'm going to take away your gold star if you don't stop with your—
Brandon: Hey, you're back at the ship! Bartlett is there, and he's doing fine.
Eric: Okay, fine. Alright. He's gonna keep licking his lollipop in the fucking corner.
Amanda: Oh, so— so wait, if Bartlett makes a noise, Troy is going to run, stumble probably on account of he's hurt, over to the ship.
Julia: He can still fly for a while. He's good.
Amanda: Incredible. Yeah. He's like—
Brandon: Oh, it was just a joke because Barlett's dumb, and he saw you come out of the cave.
Julia: Oh.
Eric: Oh, right. I forgot.
Amanda: Shit. Fuck.
Eric: Bartlett saw movement. He's just a movement detector. It's like when a squirrel runs by a Ring camera. Yeah.
Brandon: Exactly.
Eric: No, Brandon— Brandon, I'm sorry. You can keep eating your lollipop. I'm sorry.
Brandon: Thank you.
Eric: I'm sorry.
Brandon: Three of my best jokes, Eric tried to bat out of the air.
Julia: It's like counter spell.
Amanda: And they survived. So like evolution, they're stronger.
Julia (as Cammie): Um. Okay. Bartlett's still animated.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, that means he's not dead.
Julia (as Cammie): Which I'm pretty sure means that Umbi's not dead.
Amanda (as Troy): Yes.
Julia (as Cammie): I am using a lot of spells.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): And I'm very tired.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): I don't know if we should keep going, if we should regroup and rest a little. Um, I'm feeling conflicted. How is everyone else feeling?
Amanda (as Troy): I don't know how we would help Umbi if he needed it right now. But if you can reach out to him, like with your brain, I think that would be a good thing to do, and then you can rest while I guard you.
Eric (as Havana): Ow! I mean, medically, that hurts.
Amanda (as Troy): You need your potion, bud?
Eric (as Havana): I'm fi—no, I will— I— doctor, I will hear— heal thyself— myself. I— doctor, I— I'm healing myself.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay, cool.
Amanda (as Troy): Would you like us to refer to you by doctor now?
Eric (as Havana): I would like to be doctor, thank you. And also in here— everyone, have some gauze.
Eric: Then he throws gauze at everyone.
Julia (as Cammie): Dr. Tropicana, of course. Thank you, thank you.
Eric: But now at the back of the ship, and then it goes over one of the lanterns, and looks at it and be like—
Eric (as Havana): This is the largest blackberry thorn I've ever seen in my life.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, yeah. Have you seen it before?
Eric (as Havana): You know, harvesting, pulling up blackberries. You gotta wear— you— you got to wear glo— long sleeves, and gloves, and tape down your glo— tape down the gloves to the long sleeves, so they don't get in there. That's— that's great. This is wild.
Julia (as Cammie): Hmm. My dad was a blackberry. Well, he was a blackberry bush, but yeah, you know?
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, nice.
Julia (as Cammie): I don't think this is connected. I just wanted to comment.
Amanda (as Troy): So is there— is there anything that you do to, like, make them— make them not hurty?
Eric (as Havana): Don't get stabbed.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh.
Julia (as Cammie): Helpful, Havana, thank you as always.
Amanda (as Troy): I was thinking like— like burn it or something.
Eric (as Havana): Burn?
Amanda (as Troy): The— the spike.
Eric (as Havana): Oh, burn the spike. I mean, you can—
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Eric (as Havana): —if that's— if that— you want to punish the spike.
Amanda (as Troy): No.
Eric (as Havana): And there's no medical ei— this is outside of my field if— what you want to do emotionally.
Amanda (as Troy): Sure.
Julia: I think I'm going to try sending again. And what I would like to do is send Umbi a message this time.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: And Cammie's gonna be like—
Julia (as Cammie): That was wild. You still doing okay/are alive?
Brandon: Does slash count as a word?
Julia: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I counted— I counted it.
Amanda: I counted it. I counted for that.
Julia (as Cammie): What's up down there? Can we get you? Love you.
Amanda: PS, please answer for realsies.
Julia: Oh, yeah, sorry. That was only— that was only—
Amanda: That was 20.
Julia: Oh, 20?
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Okay.
Julia (as Cammie): PS, please answer for realsies.
Eric: Alright.
Eric (as Operator): Do, do, do. The message you're sending could not be completed. Please try someone else or try again later.
Amanda (as Troy): Fuck. So is— is Umbi, like, in a different world?
Julia (as Cammie): I think that maybe they have some way of blocking magic stuff. Like a— like a sphere of anti-magic or something like that. And Umbi has passed into that area, and so my sending spells are not working. And I assume also Kidd must be in a similar situation—
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): —because otherwise, they— they— they would go through, you know?
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): Even if they were in another world, there was a chance that it would go through.
Amanda (as Troy): Alright. Well, you better get some rest then and I'll— I'll stay up and look out.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah.
Amanda (as Troy): And maybe think. I'm still working on my thinking and looking at the same time.
Julia (as Cammie): Hmm. Hmm. I'm worried about sleeping a full eight hours and then— and then trying again, because I don't know what could happen to poor Umbi. He could fall asleep and die in his sleep. We don't know.
Amanda (as Troy): Any day, any day it could happen.
Julia (as Cammie): Any day.
Amanda (as Troy): When you think about it, every day has been a gift, but still I want more gifts.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah.
Amanda (as Troy): You know?
Julia (as Cammie): Yes.
Eric: Alright, folks. What do you want to do? Let me know.
Julia: Oh, I don't know. Brandon can’t help us.
Eric: No.
Julia: No?
Eric: No. There's plenty of options. I have plenty of suggestions for you. You could, one, go in the cave. Two, you could sleep. Three, you could leave and go somewhere else. And four, we could kind of just like turn this into This American Life, the rest of the podcast and like we'd have—
Julia: I think that's a good idea. Yeah.
Eric: —we'd have— everyone could, like, reminisce—
Amanda: Can we go to a car dealership in Wantagh?
Eric: Yeah. We could all reminisce about our, like, times with our peepaw harvesting various berries of— and bushes.
Julia: Yeah. No, that sounds like a great idea. I think the latter one is definitely the one that I want to do.
Brandon: "I'm Ira Glass. Welcome to Join the Party."
Eric: "Hi, I'm Ira Glasshouse and welcome to Campaign 3."
Brandon: "This week, a blackberry bush."
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: "This week, episode 5204: Berries. They're delicious. Uh-hmm."
Julia: "So good."
Amanda: "Act One: What are those guys?"
Eric: Why is your Ira Glass a gremlin? "Heh." Why is it Boo? "Heh."
Amanda: Okay. Julia, I have— I have two thoughts.
Julia: Okay. Hit me with it.
Amanda: One, we can just go in there. I have the friendship necklace so I can attempt to, like, anchor to the ceiling and lower us down.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Two, my other feature I've never used, it's called Poker Face, which I have advantage on ability checks and saving throws to prevent others from sensing my motives, preceding my emotions, or reading my thoughts.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: And I think if I went to the front of the prison and said, "Someone's taken my crewmate. I need him back. I could try that route.
Julia: I was thinking something similar before we got into this whole situation about, like, maybe we like pose with Kidd Cervantes.
Amanda: Hmm.
Julia: And be like, "Oh, yeah, we captured this person. Let us in and we'll claim our reward," or whatever.
Brandon: Ah. The Chewbacca move.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. My problem is I'm pretty sure we're well known, kind of wanted.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: So if we showed up as ourselves, could be a problem.
Eric: Julia, would you say that you're wanted, wanted, dead or alive?
Julia: Dead or alive.
Eric: Was that what you would say?
Julia: Yes. I think that is what I would say.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: 100%.
Amanda: Going in as— as Prince Troy is my best idea.
Julia: Yeah, I just— I don't— I don't know how well that's gonna go.
Amanda: No, me, neither, but that's my only idea. Apart from us jumping in after him.
Julia: I want to jump in after. I just don't want to do it like right now, because I need the spell slots, but I also probably can't be that picky about stuff.
Amanda: Yeah. I think if you need to sleep, we can sleep when we're dead, or on the other plane.
Brandon: We need to get a T-shirt or a sweatshirt that says, "I'll long rest when I'm dead."
Eric: That's pretty good.
Julia: Uh-hmm. That's pretty good.
Amanda: Hey, Brandon, write down. Hey, Brandon, hey, Brandon, write it down.
Eric: Alright, folks, tell— what are you— what are we doing? Are you trying to go to sleep and then go in there? Are you trying to— you're gonna go back in now? You got— you gotta let me know.
Julia: Can I do, like, some sort of understanding as to why the spike started going off when they hadn't been going off?
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: You could do a nature check.
Julia: Sure. [dice roll] 15 plus five for a Dirty 20.
Eric: Cammie, you like botany, right?
Julia (as Cammie): I do.
Eric: Tell me about how plants— how plants do?
Amanda: What happens when they perceive a threat?
Julia (as Cammie): That's— it really depends on the plant, doesn't it?
Eric: It does. And the wonderful thing about plants is that like a lot of them don't have eyes. And I think that it's kind of funny that Greenfolk have eyes, but a lot of plants don't.
Julia (as Cammie): Hmm.
Eric: And yet, plants can sense stuff, right?
Julia: Right. From like sound and—
Eric: Sound and light—
Julia: —us yelling in the middle of it, and motion.
Eric: And light, and of motion. And maybe some plants also sense when energy goes off as well. Like, maybe someone uses magic.
Amanda: You absolute best DM in podcasting.
Julia: Ugh!
Amanda: You BDMP.
Eric: Because if you notice the spikes only shot at Cammie from the top and only once you were tripping on the lower spikes did everyone take damage, because y'all were running over the spike. The speed spike trap stripped.
Amanda: Dang, dude.
Julia: Cammie goes and just sits in the quarter for like 5 minutes and just really fumes.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay. Well, I can't do magic in there.
Amanda (as Troy): We can't do magic anyway, so that's fine. Right?
Eric (as Havana): Because you're out of spoon—
Julia (as Cammie): Okay.
Eric (as Havana): Because you're out of these medical spoons.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah. If you don't have a spoon, you can't take medicine. Everyone knows that.
Julia (as Cammie): So I guess we can just go in there.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah.
Julia (as Cammie): And follow— and follow him.
Amanda (as Troy): Let's do it.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay.
Eric: Alright.
Julia (as Cammie): Alright.
Amanda: So as they walk into the cave, Troy is going to kind of find a place where it starts to drop off steeply.
Eric: Uh-hmm. Yeah, 'cause you can— you can easily make your way through. Again, like, there's spikes, so you can kind of just “spoing” on them and wa— walk over the spike traps as you go back into the cave, yeah.
Amanda (as Troy): So you guys are gonna hang on tight?
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah. Yeah. I feel so unprepared because I can't do magic, that I don't know what to do with myself.
Amanda (as Troy): Cammie, this is what I'm for. Put your trust in Troy.
Julia (as Cammie): My trust is always in you, Troy.
Amanda (as Troy): Thank you.
Amanda: So he's going to scoop up Havana in one arm, Cammie in the other, like two toddlers that fell asleep at the waterpark.
Eric: Okay. Got it.
Julia: Uh-huh. -huh.
Eric: Got it, got it, got it.
Julia: No notes.
Amanda: Look up like Superman, like sticking his chest out toward the ceiling of the cave, yells, "Friendship," and then drops down rappelling from the rope, as the arrow embeds itself in the cave wall.
Eric: Oh, that's smart. Remind me, how long is this magical rope that shoots out of your friendship arrow?
Amanda: Well, Eric, it has a— a 300-foot range and a 500-pound capacity. You invented this—
Eric: Lovely.
Amanda: —item and I do have to make an attack to hit the mark.
Eric: No, you can do it, that's fine. It's fine. That was— you're— you're close enough to it that you could just fire it at the top of the cave.
Julia: It's also a big wall, you know?
Eric: Yeah, yeah. No, that's fine.
Brandon: Hard to miss.
Eric: No, you can rappel down. I think that you can jump in between the spikes. And again—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —going down is the easy part. You can kind of “spoing” off of the spike traps as you're going down. And it gets darker, and darker, and darker as you descend, and the light from the mouth of the cave is going farther and farther away, especially with his bend that kind of breaks the light source. But then slowly, a new light comes up from below you that starts to filter in.
Amanda (as Troy): Cammie, can you see anything?
Julia (as Cammie): Um, no, no. Just light.
Eric: No.
Julia (as Cammie): It's all happening.
Eric: With 300 feet, you reach the end of this magical rope and the three of you are dangling, attached to Troy, and Troy, you're just holding on to your crossbow as attached to the Friendship rope. There's still a fair amount of space below you, but there's light. You see something below you. Maybe something that went sploosh.
Amanda (as Troy): So, should we just sort of fall from here?
Julia (as Cammie): I— I truly have no idea. I don't know what we're gonna land on. It sounded like water, so maybe water will be okay from this high up.
Amanda (as Troy): Cool.
Julia: Can I do a survival or nature check to see if water would be okay to fall on from this high up?
Eric: I'll tell— yeah, you could fall into water. Of course, Greenfolk notoriously bad at swimming, do not like swimming. That's why the Great Salt Sea is so dangerous. Worse in saltwater, but so— no— no one recreationally just swims in pools. You use it, you suck it up through your roots, and that's really it.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda (as Troy): Alright. Well, sea is friendship.
Amanda: And the arrow begins to retract as they fall.
Eric: Hell yes. You are falling and falling, the light screams up to you, and all three of you land with a sploosh, as you are floating in some sort of liquid. And you try to get your bearings, but you— you automatically swim towar— you want to automatically swim towards the surface. You feel like something is pulling you downwards. There is a— a power of force that is sucking you down, down, down, down into the liquid. And as you look down, you see that there is almost like a little town below you. There's like— you see the ruins of town. You see that there's concrete and some trees that used to be buildings. Maybe this could have been like— what used to be a town center, like a main street. And there's this big circle, kind of like in one corner of the town, which may be used to be the center of town, and maybe used to have a fountain, or a— a statue, or something. But right now, you see that there's just this very, very large porthole kind of in the middle. And there are these chains that are holding these— these metal ring together. But what's interesting about that, and Umbi, you are getting pulled by all seven cactus members of the Cervantes Clan, are pulling you away as something is moving at the porthole in the center of town. You hear an unlocking sound that reverberates through this liquid. Something large is pushing its way through this porthole. You see its giant, dark purple shoulders shrug its way through, attached to a short neck, but a wide, a wide, like, square face of a dark purple spiked blackberry dragon. Something is hard shoving it through the porthole, through the iron ring, which you realize is a collar for this blackberry dragon. It is almost like it's scraping the side of its face to get through the collar, but finally, it pops through. And it looks around, and all of the Greenfolk that are down here on the ground, and then it opens its mouth wide, and there are just rings of blackberry thorns as teeth, and it starts to suck as seven Cervantes cacti are pulling you and sprinting towards the nearest building. Everything is going into the mouth of the blackberry dragon.
[theme]