The Piney fight continues! Or, more accurately: the Piney And Terrible Amalgam of Seaweed, Webs, and Electricity fight continues!
Find them, bind them / Tie them to a pole and break their fingers to splinters / Drag them to a hole until they wakes up / Clawing at the topping of their coffin"
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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 Podcasts: 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 pushes into Lake Encounter, a museum on a decommissioned aircraft carrier devoted to the visage of what some people really think the Salmon looks like. It also has an engine room, because it's a aircraft carrier, which can be scavenged or hacked, which they will need to go as fast as possible to beat the Rotten Key back to Kompos facility. The weird thing is, on the schematics that Umbi stole from the admin office, it looks kind of strange. There's some big hands for trust falls instead of a steering wheel, but they'll have to figure that out. Unfortunately, the crew can't figure it out that easily because Piney stands in their way. Remember, Umbi's NAT 1, it's gonna bite him back. But it's not just Piney and their magical construction powers that's standing in their way. It's also the horrible Webbed Salmon, a magically juiced up version of some googly-eyed flotsam and Tessie the Storm's electrified webs. Lightning, seaweed, and coffins. Oh, my! The fight continues. Let's get the party started.
Eric (as Piney): Well, Cammie, you haven't had the same opportunity as everyone else and while the Webbed Salmon takes its time, I'm gonna show you my real power.
Eric: Piney takes their hands and presses them together, and points towards Cammie, and shoots a lightning bolt right at Cammie's face.
Julia: Counterspell.
Eric: What? No! Well, what level counter— what counterspell do I have to do it on?
Julia: I'll just do third level, because I don't have to roll that high.
Eric: That's a third level spell.
Julia: Okay, so it automatically succeeds. Hey.
Eric: Yeah, Piney's spiteful. Piney is gonna try to counterspell your counterspell.
Julia: Go for it.
Eric: Great.
Julia: I think he automatically does.
Eric: Yeah, it's at a third level?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Okay. So once again, Piney shoots the lightning bolt at Cammie. What does your counterspell look like?
Julia: I imagine it's like the Golden Hour steam wrapping around the spell and then trying to, like, choke it out.
Eric: Hmm. And then Piney focuses once again, and on the lightning bolt, their pine needles follows through and, like, banishes the Golden Hour away. And I'm gonna need you to make a—
Julia: Dexterity check.
Eric: —Dexterity Check, please.
Julia: What do I have to beat?
Eric: I need to beat—
Julia: I didn't beat it, so it's fine.
Eric: I need to beat a 17.
Julia: I rolled an 11.
Eric: Okay. All right, 29 points of lightning damage, please.
Julia: Okay, cool. Got it.
Eric: If you've never seen a video of, like, a tree struck by lightning, it's like all of a sudden, it's just like, "Pff", smoke, and it just goes up. So I think, Cammie, you're just like, "Pff", ash.
Julia (as Cammie): Okay. Hmm. Annoying.
Brandon: Umbi is just, like, watching these two giant titans of magic battle and is like—
Brandon (as Umbi): Whoa. Fucking cool, guys.
Eric (as Piney): You know, the thing that always bothered me about you, Cammie, is that you just got your powers. You were— as a child, you just like— you just stumble into the woods and, I don't know, some fairy, or some witch, or some goblin living out and— let— living out in the deep, living out in the far—
Julia (as Cammie): It was a witch. It was a witch. You don't have to struggle so hard.
Eric (as Piney): Oh, it was, okay, a witch. So you just— you as a child, you're just clomping through the woods and then a witch says, "Oh, you look delicious, but instead, I'm going to make you one of my own and I won't eat you." And then you just get it.
Julia (as Cammie): No, she mostly yelled at me.
Eric (as Piney): And then you just get it. But some of us work for what we have. I've studied, I've read more books that you'd think exist in this entire world.
Julia (as Cammie): Sounds like a skill issue.
Eric (as Piney): I've read more than you've ever spoken, and yet, here we are, match— here we are, and everyone thinks that we're a matched fight, but we're not. You're gonna see what hard work and defending the ones that you love actually look like.
Julia (as Cammie): You know what my magic comes from?
Eric (as Piney): What now? Where, Cammie?
Julia (as Cammie): Trauma.
Eric (as Piney): Boring.
Julia (as Cammie): And you'll never learn any of the spells that are related to trauma.
Eric (as Piney): Oh, the— oh, sorry. I must have missed the trauma section of the library. I skipped over that one.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah, they don't write about that.
Eric: Cammie, it's your turn.
Julia: I'm gonna hold my turn until the, quote-unquote, "Salmon" reappears.
Eric: Yeah, the Webbed Salmon reappears. Absolutely. Umbi, it's your turn, 13.
Brandon: So I can't track this thing magically, correct? I can't see where it is?
Eric: You can't see where it is. But now that it's— there's a spell floating around with it, maybe you'd be able to do it if you could justify doing it.
Brandon: How big of an area are we talking about?
Eric: Pretty large. You're kind of in the storage area of an aircraft carrier.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: It's covering quite a lot of ground.
Brandon: And it's like— it's just basically like a metal floor?
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Okay. I think first thing I want to do is send Bartlett over to the little girl just to annoy her, and be like—
Brandon (as Umbi): Bartlett, get her out of here. Like, annoy her out of the way. I don't want her to get hurt.
Brandon: So he's just gonna fly over and, like, do little pecks until she runs away.
Eric (as Little Girl): No! I want to watch what happens. It's really cool. I never get to learn this when I'm homeschooled.
Brandon: And then I'm going to throw an—
Julia: And Cammie yells—
Julia (as Cammie): Watching violence corrupts the mind, according to the past.
Brandon: And then I'm going to throw an Oil of Slipperiness potion, AKA a banana peel potion—
Amanda: Hooray.
Brandon: —at Piney's feet.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: And hopefully, Piney slips, but also hopefully a monster will— it's a 10-foot radius.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: 10-foot square, sorry, so at some point, maybe the monster will slip on it, you know?
Julia: Can slippery things slip on things?
Amanda: Damn, Julia.
Brandon: Yeah, it's that slippery.
Amanda: It's like wearing two condoms. It's worse.
Eric: You can throw a slippery— the slippery oil at Piney.
Brandon: Piney's standing on the ground at this point, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: So you have to make a Dexterity Saving Throw or Fall Prone.
Eric: Cool.
Eric (as Piney): Oh, more tricks, Umbi? You can't— why don't you just blow me up? That would be fun. Just blow me up. Throw a bunch of bombs in my face and explode everything.
Brandon (as Umbi): Why do you want—
Eric (as Piney): Isn't that your move? Is blowing everything up without any discrimination of where you are or who's around or where the building is?
Amanda (as Troy): We saved your life, man.
Julia (as Cammie): Yeah, to be fair, we did save your life last time that happened.
Amanda (as Troy): You're forgetting something very important here.
Eric (as Piney): And when I kill all of you, then I won't have that life debt anymore, then I can stop thinking about it.
Julia (as Cammie): That's kind of the opposite of what you're supposed to do with a life debt.
Amanda (as Troy): Yeah. Does Tessie know you're here coming after us? Because I bet she's pretty grateful we saved your life, huh? Kiss, kiss.
Eric (as Piney): We talked about it.
Brandon (as Umbi): Okay, okay.
Julia (as Cammie): Kiss, kiss.
Brandon (as Umbi): To be fair, it was just Troy and Cammie saved your life. I wanted to kill you.
Amanda (as Troy): Umbi, don't say that part.
Brandon (as Umbi): No, fuck that tree.
Brandon: So you do have to roll a dexterity saving throw right now.
Eric: Oh, to fall and then fall over?
Brandon: Yeah. So you have to hit my bomb save, which is an 18.
Eric: [dice roll] Yeah, that's a 6.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: So yeah.
Julia: Pretty good.
Brandon: And so as Piney is screaming all the shit at us, they slip and fall prone.
Julia: Yay.
Amanda: Yay.
Julia: A Comedy of Errors.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Eric: It's so basic, like Piney is yelling at you, and then accidentally takes one step forward, and slip and falls over.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Uh-huh. And then Umbi just giggles.
Eric (as Piney): It's all tricks. It's all tricks with you. No one's taking anything seriously. It's the end of the world.
Brandon (as Umbi): You fell on your butt.
Eric (as Piney): It's the end of the world and no one's taking it seriously. That's why I'm taking the keys from you.
Eric: Troy, it's your turn.
Amanda: Troy's gonna knock back the second of the three-terminal velocity arrows and try to hit Piney.
Eric: All right. Well, now that Piney is on the ground, you have disadvantage making Ranged Tackles.
Julia: That's a silly prone rule. I just want to say that.
Brandon: Yeah, I didn't realize that.
Eric: When you're on your butt, it's harder to shoot you from far away. I don't know what to tell you guys.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Smaller target, man. I'm always telling you. All right.
Eric: So you're still gonna do it?
Amanda: I'm still gonna do it. I'm still gonna shoot him from far range. Well, first roll was a 16, but the second one, okay, it's an 11. That's 18 to hit.
Eric: Yeah, that hits.
Brandon: Nice.
Amanda: Hell yeah, dude.
Eric: All right. So you're using the terminal velocity arrows?
Amanda: I sure am.
Eric: All right, keep going.
Brandon: You know what the rules don't say about prone, though? You still do look silly when you slip, so—
Julia: It's true.
Amanda: Nice. So you want me to roll damage on the first shot?
Eric: No. So with the terminal velocity arrows, after every— any successful attack roll, you can continue to roll for every continuous hit at a multiplier. So—
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: —you will multiply your damage depending on how many hits you do in a row.
Amanda: Okay. Hell yeah. All right.
Brandon: That's awesome.
Amanda: That was 1. [dice roll] Nope, that's only a 10. [dice roll] So after one— unsuccessful one, it stops?
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: All right. Well, that's only a 10 to hit, so it's only bounced one time, unfortunately.
Eric: All right, that's one. That one is gone. You do not have that one anymore.
Amanda: Okay. So you roll all my damage. Cool. That's 9 points of damage.
Eric: All right. 9 points of damage to Piney. I'll take it.
Amanda: That was my first attack, so I can do a second one.
Eric: Sure, go ahead.
Julia: Go for it.
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: Let's do a regular arrow this time. [dice roll] Okay, that's a 13 to hit.
Eric: That hits.
Brandon: Oh, nice.
Amanda: Regular damage, baby. Well, it's only 3, so 12 points of damage total.
Julia: All right, pretty good.
Eric: All right. That's 12. I'll take it.
Brandon: Hey, 12 is better than 11. That's what I always say.
Amanda: Thank you, Brandon.
Julia: Statistically, yes.
Eric: Great.
Brandon: Statistically.
Eric: All right. We are back to the bottom of the initiative, and now the Webbed Salmon is going to emerge. Once again, please pick a number between 1 and 9.
Brandon: We can pick a new one?
Eric: Yeah, you can pick a new one.
Brandon: 2.
Eric: Brandon, that is not how statistics work, unfortunately, but you can pick a new one.
Brandon: Well, that's a good point, so maybe I should stick with 9, then.
Amanda: I'm gonna do 4.
Eric: 4?
Julia: I'm gonna do 5.
Eric: All right.
Brandon: 9, because stats matter.
Eric: [dice roll] That's another 4.
Julia: Oh, no.
Amanda: Come on. It's very unlikely that would happen twice in a row.
Eric: That's not how stats work unfortunately.
Julia: That's not how stats work. It's the same thing every time.
Eric: That one is 40, 10 damage.
Amanda: Oh, my God.
Eric: 20 points of damage as the Webbed Salmon emerges, enveloping you in its weird sea foam and seaweed, and spider silk, and electricity.
Julia: Well, Eric, here's the thing, and you could tell me whether or not this works in the timeline of what we established. I did hold my turn—
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —to wait until this thing appears.
Eric: Absolutely.
Julia: Can my action go before it envelops Troy or—
Eric: Yeah, you did— yes, you did hold it. Yeah. What is it?
Julia: I would like this thing to make a Charisma Saving Throw.
Eric: Oh, I mean, these googly eyes are pretty charismatic, Julia.
Julia: Come on.
Brandon: This thing looks nasty. I think it's a minus 2.
Eric: An 11.
Julia: Okay. So my body becomes immaterial and my spirit dives into a large or smaller creature that I can see within 10 feet of me in an attempt to possess it.
Brandon: Oh, what?
Julia: On a failed save—
Amanda: Oh, shit.
Julia: —you disappear and the target becomes incapacitated and possessed. You gain control of its body, but don't deprive the target of its awareness. While possessing the creature, you can't be targeted by any attack, spell, or other effect. You maintain your intelligence, wisdom and charisma ability scores and your alignment, but otherwise, use the creature's statistics.
Brandon: Fuck yeah, man.
Eric: So you're possessing the Webbed Salmon?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Oh, my God.
Amanda: Hell yeah, dude.
Eric: All right. So, yeah, it emerges— it bursts forth and swirls around Troy, and at that moment, Cammie puts her spirit into the creature. And, Troy, you, once again, make eye contact with the creature, and the googly eyes have a— look a little more friendly than they did before.
Amanda (as Troy): Cammie?
Eric: Oh, this thing doesn't have a mouth. No fucking way.
Julia: I was like, I don’t know if this thing speaks.
Brandon: He just makes some noise like [mumbles]
Eric: Glurp, glurp, glurp, glurp, glurp.
Julia: Does that become my turn now?
Eric: God, I don't know. I don't know.
Amanda: It didn’t act, yeah.
Eric: Well, it's turn— it's the creature's turn, do I make another save?
Julia: No, you can't make a save.
Eric: What? I'm done?
Julia: Possession lasts for an hour or until the body drops to zero hit points or you're forced out by a spell or other magical effect that ends possession.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Brandon: Is this— Jesus Christ. Is this like a sixth level spell or something?
Julia: This is my grand hex, one of my grand hexes.
Eric: Oh, my God.
Brandon: Oh. Okay.
Julia: And I've been holding on to it for a while. Now, it seems appropriate.
Brandon: Fuck yeah, man.
Eric: Fair. Okay. I'll just let you take it spotted initiative.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Congratulations.
Julia: Thank you.
Eric: So now, it is Cammie as the Webbed Salmon. It is now— you now have the initiative 20.
Julia: Great. I'm gonna attack Piney.
Brandon: Yay.
Amanda: Yay.
Brandon: Eat shit. Eat shit. Eat shit.
Eric: Oh, my God. Okay, cool.
Julia: Do you want to send me its abilities that attacks?
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: So, yeah, you get plus 6 to hit.
Julia: Excellent.
Eric: Great.
Julia: I'm going to do that.
Eric: All right.
Julia: How many attacks does it have? Just one?
Eric: Yes, it just has 1.
Julia: Okay. [dice roll] 12 plus 6, 18.
Eric: That's gonna do it. All right.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: And Cammie, please roll 46.
Julia: 46.
Brandon: What kind of attack is this? Is this just like a muck slap or something?
Eric: I've combined the giant constrictor snake with the deep spider.
Brandon: Oh, shit.
Eric: So it's just kind of— and then, of course, I'm giving it the ability to move through any spot at any time.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: So it's just a lot of things shoved together at the same time.
Brandon: Fuck yeah.
Julia: 14.
Eric: 14 points of electricity damage as Piney gets hoisted on their own petard.
Julia: Hell yeah. Do I also then get the ability to go and hide again?
Eric: Yeah. And then you definitely get to hide again.
Julia: Great.
Brandon: That's awesome.
Julia: I'm gonna do that.
Eric (as Piney): I didn't know you could do that.
Julia: I can't speak.
Brandon: Cammie can't say anything. Cammie wiggles.
Amanda (as Troy): Cammie can do lots of stuff other people can't do. You know that if you are a friend.
Julia: The memory of Cammie from earlier goes—
Julia (as Cammie): It's the trauma, trauma, trauma, trauma.
Eric (as Piney): This is one of— this is some of her trauma magics.
Eric: All right. Well, now, it is Piney's turn, and Piney is going to do something a little bit different.
Brandon: They're a little bit different than the other pine trees.
Eric: Yeah. Piney is going to reach out their hand and pull back the boards that are holding that hole in the ship. You remember the— you know the—
Amanda: Ah.
Eric: —nobody's perfect sign?
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Please excuse our mess. Piney rips the boards up, and sea water starts flooding the entire space. And Piney is going to take those boards and construct a little raft for themselves to stand on. And slowly as sea water gushes in, the little raft they're stan
ding on floats upwards. Umbi and Troy, the sea water is coming fast and furious, and is very, very quickly at your knees.
Brandon (as Umbi): Hey, fuck you.
Amanda (as Troy): Somehow I didn't think being a pirate would involve so much near drowning.
Eric (as Piney): And that's why everyone knows you're stupid, Troy.
Brandon (as Umbi): That's rude.
Amanda (as Troy): Ouch.
Brandon (as Umbi): And mean and not true.
Eric (as Piney): You know what's rude and mean? Exploding someone's building, Umbi. But I won't have to worry about that, because you're all— you're just gonna drown.
Amanda (as Troy): Umbi, you're right. I should not have saved their life. You were right, I was wrong.
Brandon (as Umbi): You know, better late than never. Thank you, Troy.
Eric: All right, that used to be Cammie's turn. It is now Umbi's turn. Umbi, there is sea water that is—
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: —very quickly at your knees and going up.
Brandon: And how big is the hole in the hull? The hole in the hull, Eric? The hole in the hull?
Eric: It's a good question.
Julia: Those are pronounced differently.
Eric: Tell me what you're trying to do and I'll let you know.
Brandon: Okay. So what Umbi would like to do is grab some wood, make its way over to the hole in the hold.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: And use a sovereign glue potion to glue the wood up and seal off the hole.
Amanda: Hey.
Brandon: But sovereign glue can cover a one foot square surface.
Eric: It is bigger than one foot square. In my head, we also flash back as Piney is doing security orientation for Lake Encounter.
Eric (as Piney): All right. So Tessie the Storm has given you plenty of latitude for you to do your thing here. I don't understand it, but it's interesting and I let my partner in life, love and— in life, love, and piracy doing whatever she wants. I am going to have to put some security measures in here.
Eric: "Poof", as just Piney busts a, like, large hole in the ship, and everyone freaks out as water starts streaming in, be like—
Eric (as Piney): Hold on, hold on.
Eric: And then pulls the boards over and covers. It's like—
Eric (as Piney): All you have to do is keep this here forever. But you're into forever, right? You love forever. Yeah, you got it.
Eric: So it's pretty large. In my— I— in my head, it's like it was intentionally made to be as a failed save, so I'd be like, I don't know, like 10 feet wide.
Brandon: 10— Eric, that's huge.
Eric: It's like five feet wide.
Julia: That's a whole me.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: That's still— like, we would be— this thing would be full of water in, like, 45 seconds.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, D&D rounds are six seconds, bruh.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: In one round, it's at our knees.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Jesus Christ. Okay. So then, can I not do that, obviously? Yeah.
Eric: The glue won't work, no.
Brandon: Oh, here's what I'll do. Yeah, I'll just real quick brew up a potion of water breathing, and as you were supposed to on a plane, take your potion of water breathing yourself—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —before you help others.
Amanda: Nice.
Brandon: That's not Umbi being selfish.
Julia: No.
Brandon: That's just what planes tell me to do.
Julia: It's true.
Amanda: That's true. And you learn so well on planes.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. I do. So I'm gonna down that and I can breathe underwater for one hour.
Eric: Oh.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: I guess that makes it a lot less scary when a room is filling up with water, when you're like, "Oh, I can breathe. It's fine."
Brandon: It does.
Eric: "I got these gills I brought from home." Cool, sick. Anything else?
Brandon: That is it.
Eric: Lovely. Troy, it's your turn.
Brandon: Did Piney stand up, by the way, Eric?
Eric: Well, they don't slip on oil anymore, because the oil is under some sea water and they're on a raft now. So—
Julia: Fair.
Eric: —I would say yes and also no.
Brandon: But the water is very slippery. It's slipping all over the place.
Eric: Yeah. The water is like, "Whoa."
Brandon: Whoa.
Amanda: Yeah. I think Troy is just gonna keep shooting them. Troy is just gonna use a regular arrow and try to shoot Piney once more. All right. 15 to hit.
Eric: That hits.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Okay. Let's roll that damage. Okay. It's a 7 points of damage.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: And with our second attack, hits one more again.
Julia: Hell yeah. Keep on going.
Amanda: Once more, 15 to hit.
Eric: All right, that hits.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Amanda: And that's 4 points of damage.
Eric: That's happening.
Eric (as Piney): Can't think of anything else to do, Troy? Just shooting me with your insignificant arrows?
Brandon: Piney says with an arrow sticking out of their butt.
Eric (as Piney): You really brought a knife to a magic fight.
Julia: I pop out and I smack them again.
Amanda: Yeah, no, Troy is gonna ignore that, and that's all for Troy.
Eric: All right. I guess— you're not— we're not doing the lair action anymore. I guess you could, if you want to.
Julia: Why not?
Eric: If you want to, that's fine.
Julia: Sure. I'll go for the lair action, where I only target Piney.
Eric: All right.
Brandon: Yeah, Piney has to pick a number from 1 to 9.
Eric: All right, I'm gonna— here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna write down a number between 1 and 10.
Brandon: 1 and 9, because 10 succeeds.
Eric: No. Well, in— here's the thing, Piney was standing on 10—
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: —which I used as them hitting— as the creature hitting all of you.
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: So I'm gonna pick a number between 1 and 10, and you can either roll for it or you can see if you matched it.
Julia: Okay. I'm gonna roll for it. [dice roll] It's a 9.
Eric: I picked 1, sorry.
Julia: Ah. It's okay.
Amanda: Worth a shot.
Eric: All right. It is the Webbed Salmon's turn, which means it's Cammie's turn.
Amanda: Yay.
Eric: So let me tell you, you are— so you are outside of the hull of the ship, but you are actually below the ship in the water.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: You can look around there, you also sense a little bit where folks are with your weird googly eyes powers.
Julia: Fair.
Eric: And also, Piney was also able to, like, mark areas of the ship to, like, tell them to search Troy or Umbi or you.
Julia: Great.
Eric: You also see the big hole that is sucking up quite a lot of sea water around you, and you're also really loving having no skeleton.
Julia: Yeah. It's kind of great. It's very freeing.
Eric: You're just like a bunch of bladders tied together.
Julia: All right, Eric, here's what I would like to do.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: I would like to pop up.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: I would like to grapple Piney, and I would like to use my movement to pull them into the water.
Amanda: Nice.
Julia: I would like to drown them.
Brandon: Holy shit.
Eric: In— oh, my God.
Amanda: In the hole, would be fun.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Which the water is rushing in because of pressure.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Waterboard Piney in this--
Julia: I'm not waterboarding them. I'm fully drowning them.
Amanda: That's true. There's no teasing.
Brandon: There's no teasing.
Amanda: It's like, is there a better way? No, let's go.
Julia: It's not torture, it's just murder.
Eric: Cool. All right. Well, I'm gonna use the— I'll use the attack that I found from the great constrictor snake—
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: —to do the constrict attack.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Eric: So you get plus 6 if you hit. And then we'll go from there.
Julia: All right, here we go.
Brandon: Plus 6 to hit.
Julia: Cha. 17 plus 6.
Eric: That's gonna do it.
Julia: 23.
Eric: I want you to do 2 D8 damage for me.
Julia: 2 D8. [dice roll] 7, 3, 10.
Eric: 10, and then I'm adding 4, so that's 14 damage to Piney.
Julia: Hey, that's how much I did last time.
Brandon: Hey.
Eric: Wow.
Brandon: Synchronicity.
Eric: All right. And then you're gonna pull them into the water?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I hate that.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Brandon: I think Piney probably hates it more.
Eric: Cammie, you were, like, swimming through the water, and then you burst out of it, swallow Piney up, and then pull them down into, like, one fell swoop.
Julia: Yeah. Like Jason at the end of Friday the 13th.
Eric: I hate that.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I don't even know what that's like, but I also know it's bad and it feels bad in my heart.
Julia: I don't like— even not describing it, I don't like it.
Eric: I don't like it at all. It is Piney's turn next. What is Piney going to do?
Brandon: A creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to one plus constitutional modifier, minimum of 30 seconds.
Amanda: Hmm.
Brandon: I was just reading what it meant to be drowned.
Amanda: Interesting.
Eric: Like emotionally?
Brandon: In D&D, but also emotionally.
Julia: I'm also electric. Are my lightning effects going to be more electric in the water?
Eric: I was looking up if sea water gets electrified.
Julia: I think it does.
Brandon: It does, yeah.
Eric: So I want to say probably.
Julia: I'm going to even say the salinity makes it more electric.
Amanda: Isn't it more conductive because there's more bits?
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: So when you're in the creature, whose stats do you keep?
Julia: I keep their strength, dexterity and constitution, and I keep my intelligence, wisdom and charisma.
Eric: Ah, classic.
Brandon: Best of all the worlds.
Julia: It really is. It's a good— listen, there's a reason that I get this at level 11 and then a second one at level 13.
Amanda: Hmm.
Brandon: I want a grand bomb.
Amanda: Right.
Julia: Get on it, bruh.
Eric: Cammie, you pull Piney into the rising sea. Well, once you are enveloped around Piney, they are not thrashing. They are not struggling for water. In fact, they are looking up at you, your now Cammified googly eyes are looking right into where Piney's eyes would be, small, little indentations in the carpet of pine needles. And I guess it's— they don't really have to reach out their hand to touch you, because you're touching them, which makes it pretty easy to cast banishment.
Julia: That's fair.
Brandon: Holy shit.
[theme]
Amanda: Hey, it's Amanda. I just realized, just in this moment as I sat down to say to myself, what's a nice thing I could say for the midroll that I have a brownie frozen from Thanksgiving in my freezer. Wow. Welcome to the midroll. There's a caramel pecan topping. Thank you and welcome to our newest paid supporters on Patreon, Yannick, Ali, Evan Lex, and Oscar. We so appreciate your support. We can only make this show and put all the time and attention we do into it because of your support on Patreon. So if you are already following us for free on Patreon, that's amazing. If you want to upgrade to a paid membership, you can get our biweekly Party Planning podcast, ad-free episodes, early access to new episodes, and, of course, membership to the Discord aka the very best place on the internet, all of that and more at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. So much going on at Multitude these days, but instead of recommending another of our podcast to you this week, I'm gonna let you know a quick little PSA, which is that you can now, after years of asking for this feature, gift Patreon subscriptions. Now, multiple people have done this by emailing us and we've, like, worked it out to, like, give a friend, a spouse, a partner, access to our Patreon as a gift. But now, you can just do it. Just go to patreon.com/jointhepartypod/gift or any Patreon account that you follow. You can choose a tier to gift, the length of time, you can do it for, like, months or a full year, and then check out. And the best part is you can give a gift link to your recipient at any time. They sign up for their own account. If they have a Patreon account already, it works with their account. This is everything we have wanted. So if you are trying to consume less stuff, maybe you're on a budget this year, maybe you want to gift experiences over things. You could give somebody a full year of Join the Party access on Discord, or ad-free episodes, or early access to everything we have coming up for the end of Campaign Three, and whatever comes next. That's at patreon.com/jointhepartypod/gift. We are sponsored this week by Uncommon Goods, where you can spark something uncommon this holiday season with just the right gift from Uncommon Goods. Now, I have a few people in my life that are hard to buy for, people who like— either they have a defined interest, but I'm worried that, like, my sister-in-law to be already has all the Taylor Swift merch that she could possibly need, and so like, what do I get her? Uncommon Goods is so helpful for curating incredible, original, often handmade items that you can give to people now. I got a set of copper plant tags last year from Uncommon Goods that were so me, and so perfect, and something I've not seen anywhere else, and that's the kind of gift they really specialize in. Every purchase that you make at Uncommon Goods also comes with a $1 donation to a non-profit partner of your choice, and donated more than $3 million to date, so it is a real win-win-win. To get 15% off your next gift, go to uncommongoods.com/jointheparty. That's uncommongoods.com/jointheparty for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer. Uncommon Goods, we're all out of the ordinary. And finally, we are sponsored this week by Aura Frames. Now, my grandma is a tech wizard. Okay? She talks to her smart speaker. She texts with emoji all the time. She loves her DVR. And one thing that she doesn't yet have is a smart photo frame where she can get what she really wants, which is to see us her grandkids, more often. So this year, I'm going to be giving her an Aura digital picture frame pre made and preloaded with all kinds of incredible photos and videos that I can put in her photo album. It'll be ready to go right out of the box, so she can just take it out of the box and be like, "Oh, my God, look at this. Ah." So it's absolutely incredible. And whether you're giving it to someone in person or sending it to them in the mail, you can pre load the frame with photos online, which I think is amazing. Now, my grandma especially loves to, like, see what I see. She loves to see, like, my view, my street, what's happening in the neighborhood. Like a funny dog I saw on the sidewalk. These are the kinds of jammy photos that I might forget to send her in the course of a given day. But, like, if I just put a photo of like a huge pumpkin in the frame, she'll call me and be like, "Amanda, that was a huge pumpkin." And I'll be like, "I know." I am so excited to do this for her. I think she's gonna love it. Save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get $35 off Aura's best-selling Carver matte frames by using promo code Party at checkout. That's auraframes.com and the promo code is Party. This deal is exclusive to listeners, so get yours now in time for the holidays and terms and conditions apply. And now back to the show.
[theme]
Eric: So I'm gonna need you to succeed on a charisma saving throw.
Julia: Oh. Psh, psh, psh.
Eric: I'm looking for a 17, my friend.
Julia: [dice roll] 16 plus 8. Fuck off.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: Fuck!
Brandon: So you're only half-banished.
Eric: I— like— yeah, there's like— it's almost like a wind— like, again, one of Piney's window— windows opened behind you, and it— the window is trying to, like, suck you in, but you're able to— you're— maybe you're able to push yourself around the side.
Julia: If this creature had the ability to laugh, Cammie would laugh.
Eric: Hmm.
Amanda: You can see it shuddering playfully.
Julia: Yeah. It's got a good chortle going on.
Eric: Because we came around to Piney's turn again, the water is rising. It is up to Umbi and Troy's shoulders now.
Umbi: Cool.
Eric: Just so you know. And Cammie doesn't exist anymore.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So it's Umbi's turn.
Brandon: Great. Well, there's no time better than right now is what I always say. So Umbi makes another potion of water breathing, throws it to Troy.
Amanda: Nice. Thank you.
Eric: Smart.
Amanda: Want to move anywhere?
Eric: Yeah. Like, what— what's the layout situation here?
Amanda: I was sort of using the words the back to mean, like, past the exhibit, closer to the back of the ship where I hoped the engine room was. That's where I was moving.
Eric: Yes. Umbi, because you read the documents, the engine room is kind of like— you had to go past Piney to do it.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: But you— if you go that way, you can go to the engine room.
Brandon: Is there, like a lot— like a big, old submarine type door between this room and that room?
Eric: Yes.
Brandon: Okay. Then, yeah, I'm gonna head that way.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Brandon: And when I say head, I mean, swim like the most beautiful Olympic swimmer you've ever seen in your entire fucking life.
Eric: Absolutely.
Brandon: Because that's right, motherfuckers, you forgot that Umbi is a fucking Olympic swimmer, baby.
Eric: We said that he's a diver.
Julia: No, he's a diver.
Eric: He's not— he's gonna jump into the water.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Not swimming through the water.
Amanda: You have to be a pretty good swimmer.
Julia: Yeah. Well, I mean, pretty good divers have to be good swimmers.
Eric: Because— all right. Still, regardless, all Greenfolk are bad in sea water.
Julia: Fair.
Eric: So you— half your movement, you can move over to that side, but you cannot go into the engine room.
Brandon: That's fair.
Eric: Troy, what about you?
Amanda: Seeing that Cammie has this way under control, Troy is going to chug the potion and then dash as much as he can. In fact, actually, he's gonna do a dodge roll and do, essentially, a forward somersault through the water using you risk die, which means that I ignore difficult terrain, and can move through—
Brandon: Oh.
Amanda: —a hostile creature's space. So—
Brandon: Smart.
Amanda: —I can go my— up to 15 feet, which is half my movement, but you know, through.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: It's like a diver's flip. I love it.
Eric: Okay. Troy, you can go into the engine room if you'd like, but you would be opening the door to let sea water in.
Amanda: I think I'm gonna wait at the edge of the door, try the handle. Is it unlocked?
Eric: It is unlocked, yes.
Amanda: Okay. And then be like—
Amanda (as Troy): Umbi, come on.
Amanda: I'll wait at the door frame for you.
Brandon: Cool.
Amanda: All right.
Eric: Great.
Amanda: So then Troy will end his turn with a hand on the handle, waiting for Umbi to catch up.
Eric: Love it. All right. It is now going back around. I guess you don't want to do your lair action. You're busy right now.
Julia: No.
Eric: All right.
Julia: I'm busy.
Eric: We're going around to Cammie as the Webbed Salmon. Cammie, you're drowning Piney.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: How do you feel about that?
Julia (as Cammie): Pretty good.
Eric: Cool.
Julia (as Cammie): You know how occasionally people ask me, "How's your blood lust doing?" Pretty good right now.
Eric: Pretty good. It's late. We'll see how that goes.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Yeah. Cammie will just use the opportunity to do more electricity attacks.
Amanda: Yay.
Eric: I'll let you do— so, yeah, I'll let you shoot some electricity through.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Just some errant electricity. Why don't you do like— I mean, you're already holding it, yeah, 46. Just give me another 46.
Julia: Okay. You got it. [dice roll] And then a 5, that's 17.
Eric: 17. Jeez.
Julia: Yup.
Brandon: Pretty good. Pretty good.
Eric: All right. Piney's having a bad time.
Brandon: I would say so.
Julia: Understandable. How many rounds do I have to keep them underwater?
Brandon: Oh, it was a 1 plus your constitution minimum of 30 seconds.
Eric: Yeah. It's minutes, though. That's the issue.
Julia: Oh.
Eric: It's like it take— hey, fun fact, it takes a while to drown.
Julia: Hmm. Fair.
Amanda: Yeah. It's like—
Eric: One plus constitution minutes with a min—
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: If you have negative one constitution, that means you can stay underwater for 30 seconds.
Julia: Makes sense.
Brandon: Got it. Okay.
Amanda: Which is still five rounds, that's a lot.
Eric: Yeah, it's five rounds, it's a while.
Amanda: Imagine just spending an entire D&D night on, like, a Friday night at your friend's house with pizza like, "Still drowning."
Eric: I think— yeah. Once again, I think Piney is going to— with you pushed up against the sides of the window that they've opened. They're just going to try to shove you through again with another management.
Julia: Sure.
Eric: Again, this is, like, all of the bravado, all of the, "I'm going to defeat my enemy. I'm gonna show them what's right." All of this goes away when you're drowning, huh?
Julia: Hmm. I rolled a 13 plus 8.
Eric: Getting closer. Statistics say, the next one you're gonna lose.
Julia: I don't know.
Eric: That's how math works. All right. That's another management—
Julia: I don't think that's how math works.
Eric: That's another spell slot for banishment gone. Piney's just trying to shove this creature with every ounce of magical ability they have through the window to a demiplane to nowhere, to get Cammie out of their life.
Amanda: Hey, does that window take some of the water out?
Brandon: Hey, does that window take some of the water out?
Eric: Some of the water— yeah, I guess, but like—
Julia: There's a whole ocean.
Eric: A little but, yeah, it's like against the ocean, you know?
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: With the window open, water does go in through the window into a demiplane to nowhere.
Amanda: Great.
Eric: But it only stems the tide a little bit.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: All right. We're going— so now we're going around those. Piney's turn, Cammie's body doesn't exist anymore.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: It is Umbi's turn.
Brandon: Well, Eric, I would love to take a potion of gaseous form.
Eric: Classic.
Julia: Fine.
Amanda: Hey.
Eric: Classic.
Julia: A classic.
Brandon: A classic.
Julia: A real Milo lane.
Eric: I know. What is this, Campaign 2?
Julia: I almost said Thatch and I'm like, "That's a different character, different thing."
Brandon: So that allows me to gain the effect of gaseous form spell for one hour if I— or when— until I end the effect as a bonus action. So I'm going to down that— or I'm gonna get as close as I can to the door, because it's only 10 feet of movement.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, hey, Umbi.
Brandon: Wonderful. So then I'm gonna down the potion and turn into a cloud of the— see, I would say stinkiest.
Eric: I was just gonna say, are you a fart, Brandon?
Brandon: No, I'm the cloud that smells like green bell pepper.
Eric: Oh, good.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Now, you may think that's stinky but—
Eric: It's just the scent lines off of a green bell pepper.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Exactly. And then going to— because I can go through even mere "cracks", quote-unquote, go through the cracks in the door frame here and then go into the engine room.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. You can definitely— you can a 100% slip through.
Brandon: Great. And then I'm going to use a bonus action to come out of gaseous form and if— I have 10 feet of hover, so I'm gonna hover down.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: Great. Love it. So, yeah, you are now in the engine room.
Brandon (as Umbi): Huh!
Eric: Looking around— I love how you— you're like, "Troy, stay here." And then you just go in there by yourself.
Amanda: That's fine.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah, you're now in the engine room. There are lots and lots and lots of blinking lights, and knobs, and dials, and cables, and everything, but it all run to one place. It runs to where the steering wheel would be, and they're in these very large hands extending outwards, as if to catch someone doing a trust fall.
Brandon: I'm gonna yell through the door—
Brandon (as Umbi): There’s just two hands. What the fuck do I do with two hands?
Eric: This is the first time Troy's heard of this.
Amanda (as Troy): Fall into them?
Brandon (as Umbi): I guess. If I die, don't take my shit.
Amanda (as Troy): I definitely will.
Brandon: And that's all I can do, I think.
Eric: It's Troy's turn.
Amanda: Because I don't want to open the door and let water into the engine room. I can breathe underwater, so that's okay for now.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Is Piney's raft still floating around?
Eric: Yeah. Yeah.
Amanda: Cool. Troy's gonna get on it and using his mariner feet.
Eric: Oh, my God.
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: Yes.
Amanda: Find a safe place for this vehicle to land.
Brandon: Where's the safe place?
Eric: What does that mean?
Amanda: Well, I can sail out through where I came in from the beginning of the museum, or maybe just out through the hole to safely dock my boat.
Julia: The optimism.
Amanda: And that's what I'd like to do.
Eric: If you would like to sail the raft out of the room, fine.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: But you cannot be like, "All right." And then on a, again, a few pieces of wood—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —tied to each other, you don't hit the submerge button.
Julia: I need to stress to the audience listening that I feel like Brandon and I sometimes get a lot of shit for being very chaotic players.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Amanda just said, "I'm getting on a raft and I'm going to sail it as a ship to a safe port out of this flooding room."
Amanda: Yes. I'm going to follow the flood of the water and the vacuum of space such that we are in and sail out toward the entrance to the exhibit, probably back toward where we were originally supposed to meet for the tour into, like, the lobby of the building.
Eric: Yeah, you can do that.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: For sure. You can do that. Not the other thing. Not the one where you have a periscope all of a sudden.
Brandon: Like a submarine, yeah.
Eric: And then you just submerge down into the flooding room, not the other one.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Did you just say the crazier thing so that I'd let you do the thing you actually wanted to do?
Amanda: No.
Eric: Did I just get game theoried?
Amanda: No.
Brandon: I think you did.
Eric: I think I just got game theoried.
Brandon: I think you got game theoried.
Amanda: No, I came up with some ideas.
Eric: Brandon— hey, Brandon, I have to talk to Brandon over here.
Brandon: Uh-huh.
Eric: Brandon, did I just get game theoried by my wife?
Brandon: Eric, you got game theoried so fucking hard by your wife.
Eric: Brandon, I have a contract with the state with this woman and I just got game theoried.
Julia: Damn. Got him.
Amanda: So, yeah, Troy's gonna ride it all the way out to where he can safely dock on dry land, which, Eric, you tell me how close that is to the entrance to Lake Encounter, but he's gonna try to leave and get out to the Sea Whip.
Eric: Sure. All right, that's totally fine. So you can— I think I'll let you, with your mariner feet, ride the raft to the front of the room, which, again, is now kind of just over your head—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —and is starting to continue to flood. So you can get out of the room if you'd like.
Amanda: Yeah. And then use whatever remaining action I have to dash back on deck of the Sea Whip.
Eric: Well, the Sea Whip is a little farther away, but you can get out onto the ship, for sure.
Amanda: Yeah, we'll have 30 speeds if I dash and 60 to move as close as I can to the ship, and I'll just start yelling—
Amanda (as Troy): Gloria, Harold, Sil, we're gonna need your help. Umbi's in the engine room of the boat. We're trying to take the parts we need or see if we can sail it. But right now, Cammie is, like, possessing this big, spiky thing. It's like a bad Harold and Sil, and so that's Cammie right now. Piney is trying to kill us.
Brandon: Last time on Join the Party.
Eric: I like the idea of you running— you're like just— so this is a really— the ship is really, really large.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So you're kind of like a few loading zones away from getting onto the ship. So you have enough— with your mariner feet, you can ride it out onto the main area—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —of Lake Encounter.
Amanda: Yep.
Eric: But that's like— as you get out from below deck ever— all of the tourists are just running around screaming. There is an alarm going off—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —because this boat is going down.
Amanda: Got it.
Eric: Yeah. And that's as far as I'll let you go. And that is when Thoughtful Gesture Bare Bone grabs you and says—
Eric (as Thoughtful Gesture): What did you do down there? Did you touch the Salmon?
Amanda (as Troy): Piney came in and threw something on the Salmon, and now it's a monster.
Julia (as Cammie): I mean, not inaccurate.
Amanda (as Troy): Piney ripped a hole in the ship. That work zone, they just ripped it off. My friends are down there. They're gonna die.
Eric (as Thoughtful Gesture): Good.
Eric: And then—
Julia: Oh.
Brandon: Not so thoughtful, is he?
Julia: Happy Halloween.
Brandon: Happy Halloween.
Amanda: Can Troy punch him in the mouth?
Eric: Yeah. There— I want to do a strength contest as Thoughtful Gesture Bare Bone—
Amanda: Great.
Eric: —is gonna try to grapple you.
Amanda: Let's do it.
Eric: Hey, the person who runs a religious exhibition outside of a theme park doesn't have a lot of strength, but—
Julia: Makes sense.
Eric: —he is going to try. [dice roll]
Brandon: He's got strength in the Lord.
Eric: Okay. I got 15.
Amanda: I got an 11 plus 1.
Brandon: Oh, no.
Eric: All right. Troy—
Brandon: You have a plus 1 to strength?
Amanda: I do.
Brandon: I thought you were strong.
Amanda: Nah.
Eric: So is Thoughtful. And that's when Thoughtful is going to— is— oh, man, just some high school wrestling-ass move—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: —to, like, get your arm behind your back and you down to the ground.
Amanda (as Troy): Aw. Oh. Aw. That's really mean. You're like a grandpa.
Brandon: You're poking me. You're poking me.
Eric (as Thoughtful Gesture): You came— you come to Lake Encounter. You're trying to kill the Salmon and you're kind of— going to destroy everything that we built. That's what Piney said. That's why you're a criminal. That's why you're on the wanted poster. That's why. That's why I'm gonna take you down. And if you touch my daughter, I'm gonna drown you just like the ship is going down.
Amanda (as Troy): Who's your kid? Man, Piney came in and made that Salmon into a monster. This exhibit's fake, by the way, fake, by the way.
Eric (as Thoughtful Gesture): That's what's what someone who doesn't believe would say. That's why they're gonna come back as a sea slug and I'm gonna come back as a blackberry dragon.
Julia: Weird pull.
Amanda (as Troy): Oh, yeah, I know one of them. They'd hate you.
Eric: All right. That's dealing with Troy. It is now going around to the Webbed Salmon. It's Cammie's turn.
Julia: I would like to electrocute.
Eric: All right, you just want to keep going?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: All right. Let's keep going.
Brandon: Kill that tree. Kill that tree.
Julia: Sometimes the best thing you could do is—
Brandon: Kill that tree.
Julia: —is kill a tree.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: 15.
Eric: Oh, boy. Piney is having a bad time, folks. An absolute bad time. Cammie, is there anything else you want to do down there? I'll let you— because you're just kind of holding the grapple. If you want to do any checks, you can just do it.
Julia: I guess I'll ,like, look at the ship. Can I, like, maybe shove Piney's body, like, in the hole, so it slows down the flooding a little faster?
Eric: Yeah, you can— you can have movement. You can go in the hole.
Julia: Oh, can I, like, spread out and go in the hole, and use my body? Okay, cool.
Eric: Ding, ding, ding. Absolutely.
Julia: Thank you. Thank you.
Eric: See, Brandon, that's why it's five feet large.
Brandon: Yeah, no, I knew. I knew.
Julia: To be in Julia's size.
Eric: It's Julia's size. If we— you just take a bunch of Julias and then nail them into the hole, then you can cover the hole.
Brandon: With some sovereign glue.
Julia: Makes sense.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Ding, ding, ding. Yeah, you can put your— the Webbed Salmon body into the hole to stop the flooding.
Julia: While still holding Piney.
Eric: While—
Julia: I want to hold— Piney is in the water, not facing the—
Eric: Yeah, you flip— yeah. No, you flip Piney around.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, no, it's cool.
Julia: Cool, cool, cool.
Eric: It's epic. I am envisioning it. It's terrible for Piney.
Julia: Excellent.
Amanda: Now, for the vast majority of the world, that's two and a half square meters of Piney.
Julia: There you go. Thank you, Amanda.
Eric: Lovely. All right. It is now Piney's turn.
Brandon: What does Piney want to do?
Eric: What the fuck does Piney do?
Brandon: What does Piney do?
Amanda: Eric, you have so many people's motivations in your head at the same time.
Eric: I do.
Amanda: It's pretty crazy.
Eric: I gotta do— I have to do banishment one more time. Like Piney—
Julia: Keep going.
Eric: I have three spell slots, and the thing about banishment is even if you do it at a higher level, you can only put in more and more creature. Like, it doesn't make it easier for me.
Julia: Right.
Amanda: Hmm.
Julia: Correct.
Eric: But I gotta see, do I have anything that would make this easier for me?
Brandon: Hope and a dream, and a wish.
Amanda: Love.
Brandon: Love, friendship.
Eric: No, because all of— here's the thing I'm saying, all of Piney's shit is defensive, right? I have, like, mage armor on, I have counter spell, I have shielding. That's— globe of invulnerability protects you from all this, but like—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —possessing the webbed creature that they use to taunt all— to mess with all of you, the damage dealer, while Piney sits there and taunts all of you, they're not prepared for getting out of this other than banishment. So it's like, I don't have anything else to do. This is their fail safe, is banishment.
Julia: That's what happens when you're a nerd to get your magic and didn't go through some trauma.
Eric: Oh, yeah, the trauma route.
Amanda: Everyone knows.
Eric: All right.
Julia: Everyone knows.
Brandon: That's how I got my magic.
Amanda: Uh-hmm. Me, too.
Eric: Piney using all of their arcane force from the tips of each one of their pine needles, pushing against you through this hole to a demiplane of nothingness, this window, shoved as far open as possible, cracking the, you know, arcane molding that they've made for it. They are trying to shove their nemesis, which you didn't even know you were their nemesis.
Julia: I don't even think about them.
Eric: Through this window, the only thing they have left, the DC is, once again, 17. I need that constitution saving throw.
Julia: 17 plus 8.
Brandon: That's a large number, Eric.
Eric: All right.
Julia: All right.
Eric: Piney is going down.
Brandon: Yes, drowned. Fall into the murky depth of water.
Eric: It is now Umbi's turn.
Brandon: Well, Eric, you know what I'm just gonna do, right?
Eric: What are you gonna do?
Brandon: Just gonna put his little butt right in those little hands.
Julia: Proud of him.
Brandon: Fall back into it.
Eric: Butt first?
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: I mean, he's just going back first, but, you know, maybe— I don't know where the hand is positioned.
Amanda: The butt hits.
Julia: His butt is very high.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: It's very high on his body.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: The hands, the big hands attached to everything in the engine room, catches you and nothing happens.
Brandon (as Umbi): Oh.
Brandon: He turns around and gives them a double high five.
Eric: Nothing happens.
Brandon (as Umbi): Shit. Well—
Brandon: Can I do a maybe, like, I don't know, investigation check, or perception check, or whatever to see— or maybe even arcana?
Eric: Yeah, tell me what you want to do.
Brandon: I mean, I would love to do arcana, but you tell me if that's possible to do—
Eric: You know, all of these skill checks are going to give you different types of information. So you are— you know that this has something to do with— Cammie has seen this— these things before. Tell me what you want to do.
Brandon: So you got religion, they got—
Julia: I would Arcana for, like, the tech aspect of—
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: —like how this works.
Amanda: Same.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Because there's microphones and cameras, and wires.
Brandon: Yeah. I think the first thing I'll try is, yeah, an arcana check to check out the magical technology of this and see if I can figure out how it works or what it does.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Julia: You got time.
Amanda: I'm looking away, Julia, because Eric's typing.
Julia: Yeah, yeah, no worries.
Brandon: Say more about that.
Julia: Hey, what's up? What's going on?
Brandon: Oh, and then I have to do the— yeah, not at this moment, but—
Eric: Well, I mean, because—
Brandon: I already agreed to it, yeah.
Eric: Yes, exactly. So—
Brandon: Okay. This is worth it in this moment. Yeah. I think it might be worth it.
Julia: Hey, Brandon, what the fuck?
Amanda: I like it better when I'm in on the secret than when I'm not.
Julia: I mean, I think that's true for everyone in the universe.
Amanda: Really, Julia? Because I think that's something really brave and unique of me.
Julia: Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave?
Brandon: So Umbi is going to reach into his jacket pocket, his breast pocket, pull out a tiny, probably, like, two by three-inch paper packet, open it up, take out a seed, put it in his cupped hand on the left. From his back pocket, pull out a little vial of water, and put a drop of water on the seed.
Amanda: Are you creating life right now?
Julia: Umbi, what the fuck?
Eric: The seed, once you put the water on it— like watching a time lapse, the seed germinates and then buds, and then blooms into this vine, that kind of like swirls around your head and blooms a lotus flower.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: And the lotus flower gives you a little kiss on the forehead. And then it swirls around again and goes to your ear, like it's whispering you a secret.
Amanda: Are you communing with the Planter right now, bro?
Julia: I think the Waterer.
Eric: And I'm gonna send you what you have to do, Brandon.
Julia: Did you get, like, one free Eric clue? Is that what this is?
Brandon (as Umbi): Make sure you speak up, because I'm kind of deaf in that ear, from all the bombs and old.
Julia: It's not inaccurate.
Eric: When you do the trust fall, clear your mind and concentrate on where you want to go. The ship will just go.
Brandon: Oh, okay. Okay.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Okay. Okay. Okay.
Eric: Yeah, that's it. Yeah.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I hate secrets when I'm not in them.
Brandon: So Umbi cleans out the wax from his ear, listens intently—
Julia: Gross.
Brandon: —to this lotus flower and is like—
Brandon (as Umbi): Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah. Oh. Oh. Okay. Makes sense, I guess. Okay.
Brandon: And does this vine, like, wither or go back into the seed or something, or does it have a--
Eric: I like the idea that it just retracts back into the seed, and then the see— it retracts back into the seed, like the reverse of the time lapse, and then the seed just crumbles.
Brandon: Cool.
Julia: How many of those did you have, Brandon? Just one?
Eric: You can hold on to the seed packet if you want.
Brandon: Yeah. He puts the seed packet back, blows the dust into the air, goes back over to the hands, turns around, butt first, closes his eyes, like when you go on a water slide, crosses his arms.
Amanda: Uh-huh.
Brandon: And concentrates on— let's see. What is the word I should use here, Eric?
Eric: Oh, yeah, you can just say that. That's cool. I didn't even think of that.
Brandon: Okay. I don't know what you were thinking, then.
Eric: No, I didn't know— I didn't even know where you would— you wanted. That's great.
Brandon: I mean, I guess that sort of supersedes the whole mission, though. Is that okay?
Eric: That's fine.
Brandon: Okay. Umbi concentrates and thinks about a beautiful, little pond next to a big waterfall, and in that pond, surrounded by delicate foliage and beautiful insect creatures, is the actual salmon.
Julia: Yo, what?
Brandon: And then he falls backwards.
Eric: Somewhere below, we gotta, like, go through the hands and follow all of the dials and wires. We go down to the engine of Lake Encounter. And the funny thing about Lake Encounter is that it was always the name of this aircraft carrier. Because you only make the Lake Encounter if you're using this trust fall navigation system, which is attached to a divinely tuned engine and rudder that knows exactly where you want to go. And as soon as Umbi makes his trust fall, it whirs to life and starts to go. And although it takes a little while, because this is a big, big ship, it— slowly, then faster and faster, it's going towards the salmon.
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