4. The Stolen I

Camp Diogenes Staff Handbook Rule #14: Respect everyone’s personal belongings! We share so many things with each other as a camp community: time, candy bars, excitement, stories, sandwiches, etc. Therefore, the items and secrets we bring from home should never be taken, except with specific permission from the owner or keeper.

Sponsors

- Pick up Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald wherever books are sold

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Find Us Online

- website: jointhepartypod.com

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Cast & Crew

- Co-Host, Co-Producer, GM: Eric Silver

- Co-Host (Les Proenneke), Co-Producer, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle

- Co-Host (Carrie-Ann Price), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin

- Co-Host (Phoebe Cooper), Co-Producer: Julia Schifini

- Multitude: 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 the Camp-Paign, our Monster of the Week story set in a weird and wild summer camp, or marathon our D&D games with Campaign 2 for a modern, sci-fi 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

[theme]

Eric (as Bones): [via the PA system] Alright, campers, campos, and campas! This is Bonez Bones, once again coming in on the PA system to tell you a bunch of activities we're gonna do later tonight. Everyone on the girls' side, make sure that you show up early in reflective clothing for light flash tag. Yes, it's backwards. Because some people are using flashlights, some people are British and using torches, while other people are using homemade things where they just kind of have a jar with some fireflies.

Brandon:  Candles!

[laughter]

Eric (as Bones): And Bethany is running around with candles. Watch out, Bethany! But for the boys, we're going up to the highest point in Camp Diogenes for us to look out at the moon and the stars. You've all been really good guys over the last few days, so it's time to look up at the stars. If you do Star Spinning, which is looking up and spinning around as fast as possible, and you vomit, it is not your fault, the CITs will not clean it up. And all the non-binary campers can do whatever they want to do.

Amanda:  Perfect. 

Eric (as Bones): This is Bonez Bones signing off for a peaceful good night. 

Amanda:  That's the dream.

Brandon:  There's some non-binary folks, kids who like get to do both and those are the kids that we're really all jealous of.

Julia:  Yeah.

Amanda:  You can choose whatever activity you want to do, you can liberate from the binary. 

Julia:  Whatever you're feeling! 

Amanda:  Whatever you're feeling. 

Brandon:  You can throw up wherever you want.

Julia:  No one's gonna clean it up still.

Eric:  Alright, listen. Hey, any camp staff out there, tell me what you do now that is not just boys and girls, that people are accepting of who's on the gender binary. I don't know. I haven't been to camp in like 10 years. So please, please get in the comments and tell us.

Amanda:  Do what you say, be what you do. Fuck the binary. That's the--

Eric: That’s the secret third one.

Amanda: That's the Pride edition shirt.

Eric:  No, that's the last session, where you unearth the final- No!

Julia:  No!

Eric:  God, I have to rewrite it.

Amanda:  Sorry. 

Eric:  This is like Westworld Season 2 and Reddit figured out the twist, I have to rewrite it. 

Julia:  I like the idea that the CITs won't clean it up, but also it's not your fault.

Amanda:  It's not your fault, but you might have to clean it up. 

Eric:  Alright, we're here in another beautiful session here at Join the Party Summer Camp. 

Brandon:  Oh, it's so pretty here. 

Julia:  I love it.

Amanda:  Hey.

Eric:  We just did a bunch of sand art and now we are playing Monster of the Week.

Julia:  Yeah!

Amanda:  My mom's gonna sell it at a garage sale two years from now.

Eric:  Oh, no, that's an Amanda thing that probably happened that she unearthed for jokes.

[Eric shhhhhssss]

Julia:  Oh, no! 

Eric:  Oh, geez.

Julia:  Baby girl. No.

Eric:  Alright, so we're gonna cut, there's 30 minutes of us going, "Shhhhhh, it's okay, Amanda, shhhhhh".

Julia:  “Amanda, shhh, shhh”, like she's a scared horse.

Amanda:  Julia, have you ever seen a scared horse at me in the same room?

[gasp]

Julia:  Amanda becomes every scared horse. 

Amanda:  Yes. 

Julia:  And vice versa.

Eric:  Dr. Bertha Bones has unlocked something in Amanda. Truly. So the way we're gonna start this is that Julia and Amanda's characters had level-ups. You got 5 points of experience for boofing a bunch of rolls.

Amanda:  Yeah. 

Eric:  So, now you get the, so you get the achievement and now you're back to 0 experience and that's going to keep growing, right?

Amanda:  Yeah! 

Brandon:  Who's the bad roller now, BABY!?

Julia:  Shockingly, shockingly, the worst roller canonically has not leveled up yet.

Amanda:  That's true. It's a metaphor for growth, you know? You miss the mark, you mark experience.

Julia:  Yeah. 

Amanda:  That's what I like about Monster of the Week.

Eric:  That's why Milo was level 20 by the end of Campaign 2.

Julia:  Yeah!

Brandon:  Yeah.

Amanda:  That's true. I think Julia, both of us chose some improvements. So I chose +1 to Tough meaning that instead of doing -1 on tough rolls, which include kicking some ass and protecting someone which after last episode, I'm going to have to do probably, now I'm at zero so I'm not nerfing myself quite as much.

Julia:  Very nice. I also wanted to do that but apparently, it wasn't an option to add + Tough for my playbook so instead, I added + Cool. So now I'm also at a 0 instead of a -1. 

Amanda:  Smart.

Eric:  Perfect. It is worth noting that with Monster of the Week, you can't just like do a thing. There are upgrades that you get from getting experiences like it's not just like blanket leveling up. You have to follow the thing that it says in your playbook.

Julia:  Yeah. 

Eric:  So Julia was restricted from doing the thing that you want to do because that's not what Pheebs would do.

Julia:  Yeah. But I also get some other cool options that aren't leveling up that I will probably use when I fail more later down the line.

Eric:  Oh, absolutely. And Brando, Les is at 3 experience, correct? 

Brandon:  Yep. 3 Experience. 

Eric:  Yeah. So you're probably going to level up at the end of the next session. 

Brandon:  Wow. Such a lack of confidence in my rolling. 

Eric:  This is, that was actually, if Brandon could just put his ego next to him for a second, that's because of the End of sessions you have the chance to always get at least 1 if not 2 experience!

Brandon:  Eric, my ego is tied to my rolling.

Eric:  So you've been really suffering for the last few years? 

Brandon:  Yes. And that was really clipped on my end. So like, I really want people to understand the emotion that went into it.

Eric:  No, I appreciate that. 

Julia:  Of course, naturally. 

Eric:  It is important to note, speaking of Amanda being a scared horse that-

Amanda:  Oh? 

Julia:  You know. 

Eric:  That CAMP, that Carrie-Ann, our good friend is out of standing with her sect.

Julia:  Oh, no.

Amanda:  Yes. Because I failed a mission by not doing what I was told, which is don't go in the water under any circumstances without a lifeguard there. I am in trouble with my sect until I atone. 

Brandon and Julia:  Oh, no.

Julia:  How is Carrie-Ann feeling about that?

Amanda:  Feeling conflicted. Because I don't think it's ever occurred to her that an authority figure at camp could tell her to do something that is wrong, or against what she ought to do what she says, and be what she does. So it's a bit of an existential crisis.

Julia:  Ah. I'm so sorry, Carrie-Ann.

Eric:  Mechanically, that also means that you don't get the thing that you do in the beginning of sessions, is that you don't get your bonus mission or you don't get the chance to earn a hint or get a bonus mission. 

Brandon:  Oh.

Eric:  That's just off the table. 

Amanda:  That's right.

Brandon:  So is there a prescribed mechanical way to atone? Or do you just have to figure out in story of how to do that?

Julia:  I mean, you didn't really rule break, she just thinks that you rule broke.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  Right, exactly, which is why I said I was being particularly stringent on that rule because you rolled so badly on that. So you know, everything's fungible.

Amanda:  I just have to look for some kind of way to atone to my mentor and boss.

Brandon:  It's not non-fungible.

Julia:  Funge!

Amanda:  That's Funge!

Eric:  NFT TRPG. Non-fungible Tabletop RPG?

Julia:  Got it. Nailed it.

Eric:  Alright. Is everybody ready, do we wanna get started? 

Brandon:  Yeah! 

Amanda:  Hit me with it!

​​Eric:  Cool. So here is where we begin, because Matthew Jane has crutches, and currently has a cast that goes all the way up to his knee-

Julia:  Oh, no. 

Eric:  -after the scrapple with the waterhole monster that may or may not have been real. We're not, we're still not exactly sure what was going on there. And because his leg went in the direction like a K-

Julia:  No.

Eric:  -as I described.

Amanda:  I was hoping you wouldn't remind us of that excellent visual aid. 

Julia:  Yeah.

Eric:  Well, no, I'm gonna keep leading out because it's good stuff. Jane was supposed to be the one to lead the older boys in doing stargazing together and to look up at the moon. But of course, he has a lot harder time, you know, ambulating-- I don't know if any of you have seen like, this happens every once in a while, like someone really hurts their ankle or truly breaks their leg and they like go to the hospital for a few days and they come back and they're on crutches. But like, God, that person, I feel so bad for that person. I've seen it happen many times, it's wild. 

Julia:  That's gonna be on for like the whole summer.

Amanda:  And you can't do all the water activity that you love.

Julia:  No!

Eric:  Exactly. But you just don't want to leave camp. I can't leave camp.

Brandon:  All you can do is make sand art. That's it.

Julia:  And waffles.

Eric:  And it takes a really long time to get to sand art.

Julia:  That's true.

Eric:  Well, I guess you do get driven around and like the staff four-wheeler or six-wheeler.

Julia:  Right.

Eric:  Which can be fun so I'm sure Jane is doing a lot of that. Anyway, because Jane can go up on the big hill and help the older boys do stargazing, the CITs, the Best Friends are now being entrusted to doing it.

Julia:  I forgot that was our team name. 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Ummm, Jane?

Eric (as Jane): Yeah, yeah. Carrie-Ann? How can I help you?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): I'm just really sorry about everything that happened to like, to you and I felt really responsible, and is there any like errands that you need or, like thing that would make your you know like time better or like a maybe like a banned snack that you would like me to get or like a something that you do around camp that I could take over for you, because you know I'm just still feel really really bad about that. And ultimately your injury is about me so that's why I need to atone. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah, like maybe you need someone to walk Tater Tot for you because like obviously now you can't really, you can't really walk him as well, as easily.

Eric: You see like five staff members currently walking Tater Tot nearby.

Julia (as Phoebe): Oh, so other people-- gotcha. 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Totally understand

Eric:  Like five different people all have their hand on a leash as Tater Tot is clomping, he's clomping by.

Julia (as Phoebe): I realized now that I came too late for you for that, that offer, and that's on me.

Eric (as Jane): Yeah. Listen like like a pair of really brightly colored Nikes, Tater Tot drops are really exclusive. I'm sorry.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Is there like a terrible chore you hate doing that? Like I could do instead, maybe?

Eric (as Jane): I'll think about that. What I want to examine just for a second is why the three of you? Well, I'm not sure about Les because I'm still figuring out his moral compass. But like, why do you- [snickers]

Eric:  Brandon just saluted, that’s the funniest shit.

Amanda:  Brandon, you don't have to yell at us for doing visual gags. That was the best visual gag that's ever been on this non visual podcast.

[everyone laughing]

Eric (as Jane): I just want to know why-- I’m laughing at this still-- why the two of you feel so responsible for the fact that my leg went in a bad direction?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Um, because you're like our hero, I mean, boss. And also we were, we were there, you know? And like, I feel like, you know, it's my job to stop anything bad from happening at camp and if something bad happens at camp, then you know that I did something wrong.

Julia (as Phoebe): I also just worry that like, everything that happens around me that's a bad thing is actually kind of my fault. So-

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, is that like a puberty thing? They didn't cover that at school. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah, no, no one ever told me like, Hey, you're gonna feel awful about a lot of things that probably have nothing to do with you.

Brandon (as Les): Pheebs, no, that. Yeah, nothing. That's nothing. 

Eric (as Jane): Yeah.

Brandon (as Les): That's-

Julia (as Phoebe): That's not, what? I don't-

Brandon (as Les): That's no, you know, your feelings are valid, but that doesn't. That's not. That's not. That's not. That's not what happened. I think they're just feeling empathetic for you, Jane. 

Eric (as Jane): No, that's fine. Les, yeah, you went through puberty when you were 9, could you explain puberty to everyone else?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, yeah, yeah, we don’t have to do that right now. Just making the offer available. Listen, you know where we live. I mean, um sleep. I mean, where our cabins are. So like, if there's anything that we can do to help you just let us know. Okay, bye. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Oh, my God, Carrie-Ann, you can't just tell him where we sleep.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Stop it!

Eric (as Jane): Hey, everyone, listen, what I was saying is don't, it's not your fault. Don't worry about it. I'm okay. I got my crutches here. I got Tater Tot, everyone has been so nice to help. Don't worry about it. I just need you to take over the stargazing thing for me, okay? That'd be really helpful.

Julia (as Phoebe): Sure. Yeah. 

Brandon (as Les): We got you. 

Eric (as Jane): Wonderful.

Eric:  So right now it's actually around sunset. This is kind of like right after dinner, and the-

Amanda:  What was, what waffle was for dinner? 

Eric:  A great question, what waffle was for dinner?

Brandon:  Sweet potato waffle.

Julia:  Sweet potato waffle. And then it was just like burger patties pressed in a waffle machine.

Amanda:  Oooh! I'd fuck that up.

Brandon:  Yeah!

Julia:  With a little bit of cheese on top. 

Brandon:  That sounds so good!

Amanda:  Hang on, we have to stop the podcast cuz I need to go buy a waffle maker and put beef in it. 

Julia:  Let's go! 

Amanda:  Eric, I have something for our wedding registry, it's a waffle maker. 

Eric:  Like an army of waffle makers? 

Amanda:  Yep. 

Eric:  Yeah, absolutely.

Julia:  A set of three. So you can have a side dish, a main course and like a dessert?

Amanda:  That's right, Julia. 

Brandon:  Why don't people make smash burgers in panini presses? Do they just not get hot enough, maybe? We can make a really hot panini press and just make smash burgers in it.

Julia:  You know what the answer to this is a George Foreman grill and I've been trying to tell you this for years now, years!

Eric:  Yeah, for all of you have been following the bloopers you know Julia has Foreman corner. 

Julia:  Yes. 

Eric:  We thought it was, we thought it was Julia's boxing section. But really Jesus is really enthusiastic about George Foreman grills. 

Julia:  Listen, the best grilled cheese you can possibly make is on a George Foreman grill where you press it down as hard as you can and then all the cheese leaks out and fries itself on the grill then you have like a very flat grilled cheese and also a lot of fried cheese.

Brandon:  Fuck yeah. 

Eric:  Honestly, that was a huge thing at camp like, that was the illicit thing, we're grilled cheese makers. And like because you could just get bread and cheese and margarine from the Cafetorium. And like so, they were illicit until like the camp rented a few and you can have like a grilled cheese party. So I'm sure that is a hot debate in Camp Diogenes about the best way to make grilled cheese. It's funny. He's like-

Eric (as Director Löw): No, we don't need a waffle maker. We need something like a waffle maker. But it's different. 

Eric (as Chef Springer): I don't know what you're talking about! The waffle maker is the only mechanics I know!

Amanda:  No stove in the Cafetorium, just waffle makers.

Eric (as Chef Springer): No gods, no kings, only waffles! 

Julia:  Oh, my god. 

Eric:  Incredible. Pheebs would you like to do your move?

Julia:  I mean, would I like to? That's a question.

Eric:  Sure. What, what is the name of the move again?

Julia:  Premonitions! 

Eric:  Premonitions. Yeah, like you're gonna have your premonition

Brandon:  Premonitions.

Julia:  Premonitions! I rolled a 10.

Eric:  Wonderful. What does that look like?

Julia:  Premonitions. That means that on a 10, you get a detailed vision of something bad that is yet to happen. You take +1 forward to prevent it from coming true and mark experience if you stop it.

Eric:  Oh, interesting. Okay.

Julia:  Details please. Thank you, Keeper!

Eric:  Okay, Julia, would you like something more related to the mystery or would you like to prevent danger? Like, do you want a clue? Or do you want like a glimpse of an enemy, as if you saw them in a like in a monster manual and you're like, oh, we're gonna fight this guy.

Julia:  I think to the letter of how the move is, it would make more sense for me to have details about the bad thing that is going to happen that I can prevent, as opposed to like the mystery itself, you know what I mean?

Eric:  That sounds great. Okay, so as everyone is all over Jane trying to make Jane feel better. You have a flash [creepy bell] of the front of camp. It's like you are standing in the middle of the covered bridge that is in the front of camp. Julia, you're making like dog waiting for a treat face right now.

Julia:  I'm staring off into the distance like That's So Raven, I don't know what you're talking about.

Brandon:  That's just her Tater Tot impression.

Eric:  And you're looking out on Fish Hatchery Road, the road that leads into camp, and you see that there is an old like 1950s 1960s style pickup truck that is coming towards you. And you see that there are three figures in the pickup truck, one driving and two in the bed kind of leaning over the front, and the pickup truck is coming closer and closer to the front of camp. And as it's like about to cross the line into the gate. It's also the gate-- there are gates in camp, the gate is open right now. And as the truck is coming faster and faster towards you, before it crosses over the threshold of camp, you snap back.

[Julia as Phoebe gasps]

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Phoebe, are you okay? 

Brandon (as Les): Are you okay?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Were you thinking about puberty? Because that happens to me too.

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah, also about driving?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that either. But I think in my career as the Head of Camp, it's like kind of a non negotiable so.

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay.

Brandon (as Les): Do you have a driver's license already, like a learner's permit?

Julia (as Phoebe): No. 

Brandon (as Les): Oh. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Do you?

Brandon (as Les): No. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay.

Brandon (as Les): Why were you thinking about driving?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): I thought if you were over six feet tall, they just let you drive.

Brandon (as Les): That is true.

Julia (as Phoebe): Is that true? I got like six more inches to go and then I'm good.

Eric:  God, you're so tall already, jeez.

Julia:  I'm 5'6. 

Eric:  Hell yes. 

Julia:  I wanted to not be short for once as a character choice.

Amanda:  Yeah!

Eric:  Oh, that's fair. That's fair. As Jane is explaining this to you, a counselor walks, comes over. This is the one of the counselors for the Kingfishers. The Kingfishers are the second oldest, they are 12, they are going into seventh grade. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Rough times, buddies. 

Eric:  Very rough.

Julia (as Phoebe): Rough times.

Eric:  Very, very rough times. 

Brandon:  They're all just like looking disaffected. Looking down to the ground.

Amanda:  One of them is like, “Have you heard of the Communist Manifesto?”

Eric:  And one of the one of the Kingfisher counselors comes over and he's like-

Eric (as Kingfisher Counselor): You know what? You know what, Jane, don't even worry about it. The guys are being real dicks to each other. We were gonna cancel it. It's fine. Don't worry about it.

Julia (as Phoebe): Not, but- 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): No!

Julia (as Phoebe): But like stargazing is one of the best parts of camp. Like you look at the moon and you're like, wow, I could be the moon one day.

[Laughter]

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Also, Jane asked us to do this. So it will be bad for our you know, like professional development. If we didn't go.

Eric (as Kingfisher Counselor): Yeah, I mean, if you want I listen, the guys are stealing from each other. And it's really I don't know, none of them are confessing, they all think it's just one camper. But I don't know I can't do enough, if you want to figure out who stole everyone's like camp money and stuff. That would be helpful. If we can figure it out by tonight, then they can still go stargazing.

Brandon (as Les): Is it? Is it just the money or other things too?

Eric (as Kingfisher Counselor): Oh, yeah, they're stealing money from each other, also steal a jewelry. Like all their valuables, you know? It's like the one thing that they're allowed to have. I don't know why some of these kids have like $200 at camp but I guess they do. But-

Julia (as Phoebe): Whose parents are giving them $200-

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah. 

Julia (as Phoebe): -to spend at camp?

Eric (as Kingfisher Counselor): Yeah, well, I mean, they keep saying it's for like the different shirts that are gonna get, like there's cabin shirts and then age group shirts, and then tripping shirts and then end of the summer shirts. The shirts guys at the end of the year make a lot of money. So yeah, if you can figure that out that would. I guess we could do stargazing then. If someone confesses, they'll get put in timeout. Everyone else could still go. But no one’s saying, it's too complicated for me to figure out.

Brandon:  In camp prison.

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah, I mean, like they're supposed to be kingfishers, not magpies. That's a bird joke everyone.

Brandon (as Les): Got em!

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Got em, Best Friends.

Brandon (as Les): Hey, Phoebes, that was a fucking badass joke.

Julia (as Phoebe): Les, that was a really aggressive compliment and I really appreciate it.

Brandon (as Les): That's the only kind of compliments I do, really aggressive ones.

Julia (as Phoebe): I, can you teach me how to do that? 

Brandon (as Les): Fuck yeah.

Julia (as Phoebe): Cool.

Eric:  So yeah, I think so. This is where we're gonna start. There's gonna be the first like, this is the scene of the crime is going to be at the, one of the Kingfisher boys' cabins where a bunch of the campers had their stuff stolen.

Amanda:  Let's head over there

Julia:  Yeah, let's. I would love to have Phoebe go and like talk to the boys and just see like- 

Julia (as Phoebe): So like your counselor said that like you all kind of suspect one guy in your, in your cabin what's up with that?

Eric:  Yeah, I think as you head over to one of the Kingfisher cabins, all the boys are kind of outside they're are like holding like a mock, you know like what do you do when you're a kid you hold like a mock trial? 

Brandon:  Lord of the Flies shit

Eric:  Yeah. Like all of you are standing outside and a bunch of them are like- 

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): Oh, yeah. We're gonna, we're gonna figure out who did this, we're gonna do this through due process.

Eric:  Also standing out there are the other, that other group of CITs, Jennii ,Conway, and Dougie Juice. Remember Jennii is the one who has also the energy similar to Carrie-Ann. Conway, big hoodie, green skin and Dougie Juice grew six inches over the last time you saw him and wears his hat backwards. So while that happened, they're like trying to mediate this would be like, Jennii's like- 

Eric (as Jennii): This isn't an actual court of law. None of you are judges. What are, what? You only know this from Law and Order. Can we just like hold on? Stop.

Eric:  And they're getting like overwhelmed by like 14 12 year old boys jumping around and saying 

Eric (as Kingfishers): Objection!

Brandon:  I think Les is gonna walk up and say- 

Brandon (as Les): Hey, hey, stop. Kids. Relax!

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): No! You're out of order, this whole courtroom’s out of order!

Brandon:  I'm very large and imposing because I like an imposing roll I can do? 

Eric:  Sure why don't you manipulate someone if you want them to do what you want which is stop and stop jumping all over the place you can roll with + Charm

Brandon:  Well, Eric, I got a 4 + 1 for 5. 

Julia:  Can I help out?

Eric:  Sure. Brandon, mark experience, you failed. 

Brandon:  Ugh! Dammit! 

Eric:  Julia, you can't help. Brandon only gets a 5 so that would be a 6. 

Julia:  Oh. 

Amanda:  I could help.

Julia:  Carrie-Ann could help out, though.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  Carrie-Ann can help. 

Amanda:  I think Phoebe and Carrie-Ann should be like the bailiffs and like cross our arms back to back and stare menacingly at the Kingfishers.

Brandon:  I love that.

Julia:  Phoebe just goes- 

Julia (as Phoebe): Gavel, gavel, gavel!

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann):  Prhm! Prhm! Prhmff!

Eric:  Carrie-Ann, you help out from our help out, you're gonna roll + Cool.

[dice roll]

Amanda:  Yeah, I got a 10.

Eric:  Let's go!

[cheering]

Eric:  Alright, so you keep the failure on that Brandon. So mark experience but now that brings you up to a 7

Brandon:  Sweet. 

Eric:  And that they're going to do what you want only if you do something right now to show that you mean it.

Brandon:  Okay, I'm gonna go into the middle of the group and just kinda start like pulling them apart and started just like holding the little kids by their like arms and shirts and stuff and just like non violently, like not trying to hurt anyone. But-

Eric:  Yeah.

Brandon:  -just pushing them apart.

Eric:  I like that. I think the kids are like-

Eric (as Kingfishers): Ah. stop. 

Eric:  And the Dougie Juice is like-

Eric (as Dougie Juice): Oh, we're using physical force.

Brandon (as Les): No. 

Eric (as Dougie Juice): Sounds great. And like I do want to push these kids apart. 

Eric:  So Dougie also gets in there. 

Brandon (as Les): No. 

Brandon:  Now I'm holding Dougie Juice by his fist.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Remember, Dougie, you don't know your whole strength yet.

Eric:  Yeah. Dougie pushes one of the 12 year olds over.

Julia (as Phoebe): Dougie. No.

Eric:  No, no, Dougie, stop. Okay. Yeah. So because they're settled down for now. So you all have the floor. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay.

Julia:  And a then Phoebe looks at Les and is like-

Julia (as Phoebe): Everyone calm the frick down and tell us what happened. 

Brandon (as Les): Yeah, everyone listen to Pheebs

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): This is the deal. We can't go stargazing unless we figure out what's been going on here. 

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): No, I want to do stargazing. I want to vomit on my shoes! 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): I want to watch you vomit on your shoes and then clean it up. I also want to do this

Julia (as Phoebe): Then help us figure out what's going on. So we can all go start stargazing together and look at the moon and be like wow, that could be me.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): I heard there's marshmallow waffles. We want marshmallow waffles, don't we? 

Julia (as Phoebe): We all want a smores waffle.

Brandon (as Les): Isn’t that a metaphor for puberty? 

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah.

Eric:  Yeah.

Julia (as Phoebe): Sorry, what? 

Julia:  Phoebe very seriously looks at Les being like- 

Julia (as Phoebe): Are they? I read a lot of books about stars and like stars becoming women. Is that what the metaphor is, Les? Is that what the metaphor is? And I got a burn up? Is my body gonna burn up? 

Julia:  I’m turning into Dr. Bertha Bones here.

Brandon:  As every cis white guy does when he's confronted with anything about women, he just, Les just like turns red and looks away.

Julia (as Phoebe): I think that means I'm right.

Eric:  Dougie says- 

Eric (as Dougie Juice): Yeah, tampons come in four sizes. I feel like the largest one is jumbo. I don't know.

Julia (as Phoebe): What?!

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): That's- that's pretty good to know. Okay, kids. Who- who? Show of hands, who has had a valuable or some money go missing?

Eric:  There's like 12 of them. 8 of them have their hands in the air.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Okay, does someone want to say right now that you did it and then we can just divide up everyone's stuff back again. And then we can all go stargazing?

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): Yeah, Zev did it!

Eric (as Zev): No!

Brandon (as Les): That's not what was asked of you. Does someone want to confess?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Hey, is it-- is it camp to throw one of your fellow campers under the bus?

Julia (as Phoebe): Or the canoe? 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Or the canoe for that matter. Thank you, Phoebe.

Brandon:  Throw them down the waterslide when they'll most definitely die.

Julia (as Phoebe): Down the cannonball. Yeah.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Does it sound like our founder Diogenes in 1860 would have suggested that if something goes missing in your cabin, you immediately fall upon the most vulnerable among you? Is that being what you do and doing what you be?

[laughter]

Eric:  Jennii speaks up and says- 

Eric (as Jennii): Umm, Carrie-Ann I don't mean to correct you. But Diogenes- Diogenes is actually a philosopher--

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): That's what you're doing right now, Jennii. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Jennii.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Not in front of the children.

Julia (as Phoebe): Jennii, I think you I think you'd like should let Carri-Ann speak and like have this moment of power rather than trying to undercut her.

Eric (as Jennii): No, I definitely want to understand I just know that like when we're talking to other vulnerable educator, when we're educators and we're talking to more vulnerable younger children. I just want to make sure that we get our facts correct. And Diogenes was actually a philosopher in the early 1800s.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Jennii, I actually want to just clean up the mess that you guys made because when you rolled up the kids we're all about to go Lord of the Flies on each other's asses and then Les here was able to stop them so, Phoebe, back to you.

Brandon (as Les): Hey Pheebs, you're a star.

[silence and then Julia as Phoebe weeps]

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Les, don’t say that to her!

Eric (as Kingfisher): Zev did it! It was Zev! 

Eric (as Zev): No, I didn't! No, I didn't! 

Eric:  So- 

Brandon:  Oh, no! He has an accent. 

Eric:  No, Zev just has 12 year old pubescent accent.

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay, okay. I feel like the energy here is like really bad right now. So like, Zev, do you want to come with me and we can like talk this out and stuff like that? And everyone will stop yelling at you. And I know like, people yelling at you is really stressful. And sometimes you like, have a lot of feelings about people yelling at you. 

Eric (as Zev): Yes, that's exactly what I want. That's exactly what I want to do.

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay, okay. 

Julia:  Like Phoebe puts like an arm over his shoulders and like walks him away. 

Eric:  Yes.

[theme]

[midroll]

Amanda:  Hey, it's Amanda. I just make a confession to you guys, which is that it's the time of year where I get to have my favorite food the most often of any time during the year. And my favorite food is a food that I'm well it's called a Sugar Berry. And, and what you do you see is you buy some strawberries and you hold them. So you cut, you know the little, little green part off at the top. And then you make a little divot to take out like you know the white, you know, less gross part that's in the middle of the strawberry. And then you fill the cavity of the strawberry with white granulated sugar. And you let it sit there for you know, five ish minutes until the sugar gets into the sides of the strawberry. And then you eat the whole strawberry like a jalapeno popper, but instead of jalapeno filled with cheese and fried. It's just a sweet berry filled with sugar. not proud of it. But it's my favorite food. And gosh, this time of year where I love it the most. Welcome to the midroll. It really beats a smore. Let me tell you.

Amanda:  First and foremost, thank you to all of our newest patrons, Haz, Moose Gotato. I don't know Moose if your name rhymes with potato or potato, but that's my one I'm going with Moose GoTato. See, I did it twice. David, Jacob, Crystal and Alex, thank you so much for joining. And to several of you by the way, joined up some of our new tiers. As a reminder from last week, we introduce all kinds of new benefits to our Patreon. At $5 a month you get Party Planning at eight you get ad free episodes, video content at $10. And much, much more. Those are just some of the new things we're adding. There are so many benefits and we are so grateful for each and every one of you who are joining and remember if there are 750 of you, we will make Brandon DM. Peer pressure, peer pressure, peer pressure, come on, we can do it. Join today at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. It is a great day to check out another show in the Multitude collective. And this time of year. I don't know about you guys, but I am not really a summer kid I go outside and start sweating immediately and I hate it. And so summertime is something I really associate with movies with cranking up the air conditioning and cuddling down under one of my light summer weight blankets and watching a movie in my basement or on my laptop in my bed. That's my favorite time to do it. And now I have a new part of my routine which is listening to the Queer Movie Podcast. This is a queer movie watch party hosted by Rowan Ellis and Jazza John, I love to see what new episodes are coming out and then I'll rush and watch the movie and then listen to the podcast to hear these two BFFs research and rate their way through the queer film cannon one genre at a time. There is a great mix of episodes where I know I definitely have watched or want to watch the movie like Fire Island or Brokeback Mountain and then shows that are new to me like Heartthrob and all kinds of films that I didn't even know we're in the queer canon, now I do everything from romcoms to slashers, arthouse cinema to black and white classics. Queer Movie Podcast is a celebration of all things gay on the silver screen here at Multitude pride is not just a month it is something we do all year long. So listen to Queer Movie make it a part of your year in your routine, new episodes every other Thursday. We are sponsored this week by Tor Books. They think that RPG fans such as people that listen to I don't know Join the Party will love the book Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald. This is a quick synopsis of the book. All her life rain has hidden light and run to save her skin. She's made some spectacularly bad choices along the way. So when for once in her life, she decides to be kind and rescues an injured woman in the snow. Sign out here. This is Amanda again with a synopsis. Okay, if rain had listened to Spirits Podcast slash live in a world with podcasts, she wouldn't known you never help a lady in the snow. You never help a lady in the snow or if you do and then she asked you she's beautiful eagle, and then you run away because that shows you okay coming for you. Okay, back to the synopsis. Helping the lady in the snow becomes the most dangerous decision rain has ever made. They describe this book as a real page turner with quick action and dialogue featuring a main character that is a great mix of tired cynicism and youthful hope. So you can check out Daughter of redwinter now available wherever books are sold. That's Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald's, published by Tor Books. And now a word from our sponsor BetterHelp. This month. BetterHelp is asking us to talk about all the ways that we take care of our mind. And this is definitely something that I tend to push to the backburner. And so I really rely on schedule and routine. And committing to things that I know will help me to take care of my mind day to day. And a big part of that, for me is therapy. BetterHelp is the way that I access therapy I meet with my therapist whose name is also Amanda via video, or sometimes live chat. And we were matched with one another in under 48 hours. And I also went through a couple of therapists via BetterHelp before I found one that I really jived with. And one of the biggest benefits of BetterHelp that is definitely not possible in traditional offline therapy is switching to a new therapist for free. Where you can say like nope, no thank you a match and then you find somebody new very, very quickly. And I really enjoy the chance that I got to talk with a couple of people see if we got along before settling on somebody who I really get along with and you can get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/jointheparty. That's better h e l p.com/jointheparty and now let's get back to the show

[theme]

Brandon:  Eric, This is spelled V E Z, Z E, or?

Eric:  This is Zev Fireshtein, Z E V. 

Julia:  Whoa, cool name. 

Eric:  -is his name. So Zev. Zev has tan skin, he's Middle Eastern. He has incredibly curly thick black hair. So he's rocking a very strong Jew-fro that you can only really do when you're 12 or 13. And he has like a prepubescent mustache, you know, like the first ones out there? 

Brandon:  Peach fuzz, yeah.

Eric:  They're like you don't want to cut because like you have it. 

Brandon:  Oh, that's a sign of like, dominance. 

Amanda:  It will take me six months to grow that back. 

Eric:  Yeah, exactly.

Julia:  You grow that bad boy.

Eric:  Yeah, like no one has shown him how to shave yet because everyone's just like he doesn't need it yet. It's fine. 

Amanda:  Zev, you're gonna grow into your face, buddy, don't worry. 

Julia:  It’s all good. You're gonna have such a beard one day, my guy and everyone's gonna think it's hot. 

Amanda:  Everyone's gonna be jealous. 

Eric:  Yeah. So yes, Zev also walks pretty far away from the cabin. So Pheebs and Zev are definitely fully separated from the rest of- 

Julia:  Yeah.

Eric:  -the rest of y'all. The rest of the boys with the other CITs and with Les and Carrie-Ann. I just keep wanting to call you Carp and I know I can't.

Julia:  You can't do that to her. 

Brandon:  I thought you would just like making them a random ass fish nickname for Amanda

Eric:  With Carrie-Ann and with Les, the boys are like- 

Eric (as Kingfisher): Yeah all our stuff just are have been mysteriously disappeared and like we have locks on it and the locks are gone too. And like all of our stuff is gone like all my money is gone. 

Eric:  And a bunch of like their jewelry has gone like I have. Well, I forgot all my NPCs are Jewish. So they all have Star of David necklaces that they wear. 

Amanda:  And puka shells. 

Eric:  Or like they just have chains you know and those are taken as well.

Brandon:  Yeah, I was gonna say, turn to them and be like- 

Brandon (as Les): Alright, um, let's take an inventory of what everything is missing. One by one, please tell me.

Eric:  Yeah, their money has been taken, their jewelry have been taken, and it's like they're valuable jewelry. Like not as Amanda said, not their puka shell necklaces. But like the nice thing they brought from home are gone. And also the like they say the locks are gone too because they have like lock boxes. You know like a lot of campers bring like toolboxes, plastic tool boxes that they put hard locks on, and those locks are gone as well. One of the campers are also like-

Eric (as Kingfisher): Yeah, and Zev scratched me. 

Eric: And he turns around, and there's just like a massive slash across the back of one of the boy's backs.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): When did that happen?

Eric (as Kingfisher): Today.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Zev did it?

Eric (as Kingfisher): Probably, I didn't see him.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Okay. 

Eric (as Kingfisher): But he's like, he's sneaky. And he walks around, and he probably attacked me to get my money.

Brandon (as Les): Does anyone have any actual evidence about why Zev might have done this? Or are you just like, is he just like the lowest hanging fruit?

Eric:  Are you asking that question or you want to try to make a roll on that?

Brandon:  I'm asking the question to the children, but I will make a roll in order to make that answer better.

Eric:  It's up to you. Like do you want to start investigating the mystery here?

Brandon:  Yeah. 

Eric:  Or do you want to keep asking questions?

Brandon:  Yeah, I'm just gonna investigate the mystery.

Eric:  Cool. Alright, roll + Sharp.

Brandon:  6.

Eric:  6. 

Amanda:  Can I help? 

Eric:  Yeah, you can help if you'd like.

Amanda:  I'd love to help by kind of like looking each boy in the eyes and saying- 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Separate the evidence from the feeling. What is the evidence?

Eric:  Alright, roll to help out + Cool. But Brandon, take another point of experience, please.

Brandon:  Hey, I'm full up.

Eric:  So Brandon, so like make another track below that. 

Brandon:  Okay.

Eric:  Because that will be your level up and then start another 5 experience track.

Amanda:  So, Brandon, you get +2 to your roll because my help roll is successful. 

Julia:  Yeah!

Brandon:  Sick. So, I got 8. Thank you. Amanda.

Eric:  What did you roll?

Amanda:  I rolled a 7.

Eric:  You also are exposing yourself to trouble or danger.

Amanda:  That's right. 

Eric:  So, I will keep that in my pocket.

Brandon:  There's a lot of that around with like-

Julia:  Teenage boys.

Brandon:  Yeah.

Eric:  Yeah. Watch out. Yeah, watch out. 

Amanda:  Eew, it smells like stink. 

Eric:  Yeah. You automatically see, one 12 year old boy being like, oh, no, I have my first crush, as they look at Carrie-Ann. 

Julia:  Oh, no! 

Brandon:  Oh, no!

Eric:  Wonderful. Alright, 8. That's on the middling track here. Please ask me one of the questions from the investigative a mystery list.

Brandon:  So if anyone has opinions, let me know. So we have like, what happened here?

Amanda:  I think we got to know what sort of creature it is. Because I'm assuming it isn't Zev.

Eric:  Here's the thing about Monster of the Week as opposed to rolling perception, right? I can't just reveal that to you. They don't know what happened so they can't tell you what sort of creature is it? 

Brandon:  Okay.

Eric:  Because the creature is hidden. If this was like, if you stumbled on to a crime scene, where a bunch of folks had fang piercings in their necks. It'd be like, oh, well, I'm going to do some testing. And yeah, this is a vampire shit. So like it is, you only can ask questions, depending on who you're talking to.

Brandon:  Yeah. 

Amanda:  Okay.

Brandon:  Cool. So I think I might ask then, what has been concealed here? 

Amanda:  Agreed.

Brandon:  In the context of why are the kids blaming Zev?

Eric:  Hell yes. Great question. 

Julia:  Yeah, boy. 

Eric:  Alright. So they're like-

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): Yes. Well, you know, first of all, none of Zev's, none of Zev's stuff got stolen. Zev doesn't have anything. So that's why he wants our stuff. And also, he's like, weird and not our friend and we don't like him. 

Brandon (as Les): Okay, so- 

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): He's always going off on his own and like walking around in the woods and stuff and he never hangs out and plays softball or extreme dodgeball, which is dodgeball where you can throw- 

Brandon:  A rock.

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): -the only hits or when you hit someone in the face.

Julia:  That makes sense, checks out.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): What do you mean that Zev doesn't have anything? Is this stuff different to you guys? Because you're describing like where the nickel, it's all silver, were they all gold? What were your necklaces like?

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): Yeah.

Brandon (as Les): I think it's also important to have at some point. Let's have a discussion about class and- 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Oh, yeah.

Brandon (as Les): Some kids just don't like to play sports, you know?

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): Yeah, well, you know, Zev doesn't have any nice things, he only has like a few, he doesn't have any like even doesn’t have a lockbox where he keeps his valuable stuff. So, obviously, he wants all of our stuff.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): So if you find it suspicious that because of didn't have anything to steal that nothing was stolen?

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): And then all of our stuff is, our stuff is gone. There was nothing to take from Zev.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Did you ask them if it was him? 

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): Yes. Zev said no, obviously.

Brandon (as Les): Did you find any of your valuables on the Zev's person or among his effects? 

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): Order or the court! You can't ask me those questions! Overruled!

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Can you just look up and how tall Les is. Look how far away his eyes are from your eyes. Wann try that again? Can I intimidate someone?

Eric:  No, that's fair. No, that rideds, that flows. 

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): Oh, yeah, you're right. Sorry. I'm sorry, Les. Uh.h..

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): So again, let's go to the facts of the matter. When were your things missing? When did you notice they were missing?

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): Today? Definitely sometime today and then like also Zev has like-

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Hey, hey.

Eric:  So the kid who has the massive slash on his back is like-

Eric (as Slashed Kingfisher): This isn't gonna happen a few minutes ago and Zev has like, hit people before whatever like he gets mad so I think it Zev.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): When did you notice the slash, when you woke up? 

Eric (as Slashed Kingfisher): No, it was just a little while ago I haven't had time to go to the nurse. So, I'm planning a new game of extreme dodgeball.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, no you should go to the nurse right now. 

Eric (as Slashed Kingfisher): Okay. 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Were you in the shower? Are you in the mess hall? Where were you?

Eric (as Slashed Kingfisher): No, it was around, it was here. 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Here, like outside? 

Eric (as Slashed Kingfisher): Yeah like outside we were playing around and then I ended up like, ow, and then I have a big slash on my back.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Was Zev near you? 

Eric (as Slashed Kingfisher): Zev was around, I saw him. 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Okay. And was your stuff missing when you guys had left the cabin? Was it overnight, when did the stuff go missing, do you think? 

Eric (as Slashed Kingfisher): Today! 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): If anybody says the word Zev, you're gonna take out the trash. And you know that waffle trash is stinky, okay?

Brandon (as Les): Stickier than even you guys.

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): All of our stuff disappeared at different times during today. When we went to lunch. Zev wasn't there at lunch and then when we came back, a lot of our stuff was gone.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann):  Great. Thank you. You go to Springer and take out the trash, you go to the nurse, please. Everybody else, go back to your cabin. You're gonna have some inside time until we figure out if you can go stargazing or not.

Eric (as Kingfisher camper): [Grumbles] I hate taking out the trash. 

Eric (as Slashed Kingfisher): I don't like the anti bacterial, it steaks!

Julia:  Adorable.

Eric:  Alright. So let's go over to Pheebs and Zev and Zeb is just like- 

Eric (as Zev): Those guys hate me so much.

Julia (as Phoebe): Hey, buddy. I know that it's rough to feel like a lot of people don't like you. Do you? Why? Why did they think that you did all this? Like is there like any, like actual like, rhyme or reason to it? Or is it just like they're just picking on you because I don't know. 

Julia:  Phoebe just shrugs being like-

Julia (as Phoebe): Sometimes just people don't like people.

Eric (as Zev): Yeah, I'm not gonna incriminate myself to-

Julia (as Phoebe): Listen, I'm on your side, buddy, you're not incriminating yourself. I just want to know why these guys are so set on you being the one that stole all the stuff.

Eric (as Zev): Well, Tanner made us watch A Few Good Men for the last, since the beginning of camp so I know all that stuff. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay. 

Eric (as Zev): Oh, because they don't like me. And also like, I don't make friends that easily and maybe because… you know, do you ever feel like your, your, your body's changing?

Julia:  Phoebe is like tearing up trying really hard to keep a straight face being like-

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah, bud.

Eric (as Zev): Do you ever feel like your body's changing and there are things you can't control? And it's like, really hard to-- you can't explain it to another person. And it's like, really difficult to do?

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah. 

Eric (as Zev): Uh… That.

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay, um, I might I might need to call Les over here so he could talk to you about some stuff, but um-

Eric (as Zev): No, no, don't tell Les. No. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Why? 

Eric (as Zev): I'm just telling you. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Les has gone through it all before. 

Eric (as Zev): It's not-

Brandon:  20 years ago.

Amanda:  A sentence I've never thought before it came into my head, which is erections are werewolves.

Julia:  Yep. erections are werewolves, Amanda.

Eric (as Zev): No, you can't show Les.

Julia (as Phoebe): What am I going to show Les?

Eric:  Zev grabs you by the forearm and pulls you farther away from the cabins over into the woods, where like the trees are kind of blocking where his cabinet is. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay. 

Eric (as Zev): Um, okay. Well, you can't freak out. Alright?

Julia (as Phoebe): I am like in a constant state of freaking out all the time, but I promise it won't be any different than usual.

Eric (as Zev): Okay, well, it's like this. 

Eric:  And then Zev like plants his feet and shows his hands to you. And you see that the hands get hairier and have pads on them and the claws start to emerge. And you'll see that he is getting hairier and hairier, down from-- Jew-fro down and standing in front of you is a seven foot tall teen werewolf.

Brandon:  So puberty.

Eric (as Zev): [in between sobs] Yeah, so, I'm going through it. I don't want them to think I did it. I didn't scratch them, I know it kinda looks like it.

Eric:  Zev shows you his claws like- 

Eric (as Zev): But I didn't do it.

Brandon:  Does his voice not get more wolfy? 

Eric:  No. He's a teen werewolf.

Brandon:  That's so funny.

Julia:  Phoebe just like stands there for a second like, fingers pressed together and it's like--

Julia (as Phoebe): I have a lot of questions.

Eric (as Zev): I cannot give you the answers. I have questions for you.

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay, um, luckily I've read a lot of books about this. So we should be okay.

Eric:  From deeper into the woods. You like hear reverberating all the way from the woods you hear-

Eric (as Mysterious Voice): [deep menacing voice] This creature thinks he's powerful. Show him you are more powerful than him.

[silence]

Julia (as Phoebe): Uh... 

Julia:  And Phoebe's just like-

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay, well like again.

Eric (as Mysterious Voice): It's the way that nature is designed. It is a ladder with the strongest on top and descending down, it is just the order of nature.

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay. So, I am a camp counselor in training, so I am here to be your emotional support and also know or at least look like I know what I'm doing, so as like a sign of trust right now here uhmm. uhhh.

Julia:  And then like, Phoebe just like has a small panic and then does some magic real quick. Amanda:  Yeah!

Eric:  Sure, what do you do?

Julia:  I think that Phoebe just kind of like summons some like of that icy blue sparks in her hands and it's just like-

Julia (as Phoebe): Ta-da!

[laughter]

Eric:  Alright. So you're using magic, roll + Weird. 

Julia:  Yeah. I rolled an 8.

Eric:  Okay, so works imperfectly, choose your effect and a glitch? What glitch happens with the magic hair?

Julia:  Oh, the magic draws immediate unwelcome attention. That seems the best storytelling option for me.

Eric:  Absolutely. So yeah, you’re swirling the ice blue around you and you're trying to get it in your hands, like a pose of a superhero on a comic book cover, right? And you're-

Amanda:  Like a snowball, like, oh, ah. 

Julia (as Phoebe): I’m Jean Grey. Ooh!

Eric:  Yeah. And I think that if it's just like, you're creating too much of it. It's getting brighter and brighter and brighter. And I think as you try to like turn it off it's like there is a big surge of this bright light blue light. And I think that from over there, all of you can see it. Now, like as the kids are going inside as we go over back to Les and Carrie-Ann, you see that there's like a surge of light blue light from the woods where Zev pulled Phoebe. 

Brandon (as Les):  Uhh.. Carrie-Ann?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Ah!

Eric:  Jennii says- 

Eric (as Jenni): Should we, should- I mean, that's weird. We have to go investigate that. 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): No, no. Yeah, well, we got it, something with like the transformer. Don't worry about it. We got it. 

Brandon (as Les):  Y'all stay here.

Eric (as Jenni): A transformer with light blue light?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, you watch the boys. Okay. Don't let them go all 12 Angry Men on each other again, okay?

Eric:  I think you will need to manipulate because the three of them will definitely want to go investigate that.

Amanda:  Okay. 

Julia:  You just hear like through the woods. Phoebe yells-

Julia (as Phoebe): [in a faraway voice] Everything's fine. Everything's okay. Everything's fantastic.

Amanda:  I only got 6. Can you help, Brandon?

Brandon:  Yeah. So yeah, Les is going to throw his support-

Eric:  Mark experience for failing. 

Brandon:  -behind Carrie-Ann. So I have a -1 to Cool. So that's not great. But I still got a 7.

Eric:  Alright, yes, this gives you the +1 which brings you up to 7 for manipulate someone but you are also exposed to trouble or danger. Both of you are very exposed at this point. 

Brandon:  Oh, no, one of the teenage boys has a crush on me now.

Julia:  It happens.

Eric:  Okay. So they'll do it. But only if you show them right now to show that you mean it. If you ask too much, they'll tell you what you want, if anything that it would take for them to do it. I think what Jennii says it'd be like, as the boys are going inside of like-

Eric (as Jennii): Listen, here's, that's fine. We need to look out for who's stealing who is stealing this stuff? Because, Conway, is it okay if I say this? 

Eric:  And Conway nods very, very, very small. And says okay. 

Eric (as Jennii): So Conway has a piece of jewelry that is very important to them. And if that gets taken, we're going to have a very-- we're gonna have a very big problem. So I need all, I need the three of you to look out for this piece of jewelry. Okay, this cannot be taken. This is all six of our jobs now, okay?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah. 100% Conway, are you wearing it now? Is it you're not like leaving it in the cabin, right?

Eric:  Conway pulls their right arm out of their sweatshirt and shows you like a very jangly silver bracelet that they have on their green hand. It's oversized. It's very large. It's not like close fitting. It's like, honestly twice the size of their forearm so it could slide off at all times. But like-

Eric (as Jennii): We all just need to keep it visually. Conway, obviously this is their thing. They love it. They care about it a lot. But all of us need to watch out for this thing, okay?

Brandon (as Les): Cool.

Julia:  This is not in character. But if Conway doesn't want to lose that bracelet, tighten it up. 

Amanda:  I know, better wrap around twice. 

Eric (as Jennii): If someone is stealing it, it’s Conway we're looking out for it. But if there's a stealer on the loose, we need to make sure that this doesn't get taken.

Brandon (as Les): That's fine, that's fine. We got it.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): We definitely want to get to the bottom of this. Thank you for your trust. Conway, I will do everything I can. In the meantime, keep that hand in that pocket, okay?

Eric:  Jennii takes one menacing step towards both of you and says- 

Eric (as Jennii): If something bad happens to Conway, I will make you both have the worst summer of your entire life that has ever happened- 

Brandon (as Les): Hey, Jennii-

Eric (as Jennii): -anyone who has ever been in a summer ever before in the entire history of summers!

Brandon (as Les): Hey, Jennii. 

Eric (as Jennii): Yes? 

Brandon (as Les): Are you okay?

Eric (as Jennii): Just protect the bracelet, okay?

Brandon (as Les): Yeah. 

Eric (as Jennii): Okay.

Brandon (as Les): We're on your side. Okay.

Eric (as Jennii): Okay, I'm holding you both responsible.

Brandon (as Les): No, no, we're in this together

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah. If you have like feelings about Conway or something else that--

Brandon (as Les): Yeah, is there?

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): You want to talk about like, we're here for you.

Eric (as Jennii): Conway is my best friend and I don't want anything to happen, okay? 

Brandon (as Les): Okay

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Uh-huh.

Brandon (as Les): It won't happen. Hey, Conway? If I haven't said it yet, love the style.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): We got you, bud.

Eric:  Conway gives you very small and mostly covered up by sweatshirt finger guns.

Julia:  Big mood, Conway. Big mood.

Eric:  I want to say mechanically because you both expose yourself to danger, this is a bond that Jennii is putting on both of you that you both need to apply for both your helps here. You're both implicated by Jennii to help do this, okay?

Brandon:  Cool. 

Eric:  Yeah.

Brandon:  Yeah, I'm gonna sprint over to Phoebe DBB.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  Cool. 

Amanda:  Carrie-Ann kind of moves at one speed like a battleship. And so she's going at the speed she goes.

Brandon:  Very fluid though. 

Eric:  As they're running over Zev says- 

Eric (as Zev): People are going over, I gotta go.

Julia (as Phoebe): Don't go, everything's fine. 

Eric (as Zev): No, it's not! 

Julia (as Phoebe): No, no, it's cool. It's cool. Les and Carrie-Ann are really, really cool. We're the Best Friends, everything's gonna be fine. I can handle this, I can totally handle this.

Eric (as Zev): No, nobody's doing it, I gotta go!

Julia (as Phoebe): No! 

Eric:  Zev is about to run away because Zev cannot change back into human form that quickly, you can stop him or you can let him go.

Julia:  I want him to trust me so I'm not gonna like make him stay here but I would like to-- 

Amanda:  Like ask him where he goes to feel safe and say you'll meet him later.

Julia:  Yeah, that's that's a good idea. Phoebe's like-

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay, I know, big changes are scary. Please go like-- tell me where you're gonna go and I will meet you after and everything will be okay.

Eric (as Zev): Okay, I like to hide underneath the covered bridge when I have nowhere else to go because no one goes to the front of camp. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Can we literally go anywhere else besides the covered bridge?

Eric (as Zev): No! 

Julia (as Phoebe): Because I have bad vibes about the covered bridge right now.

Eric (as Zev): [Howls]

Eric:  On all four Zev sprints away. Phoebe, I will give you +! forward if you do something to protect Zev if it happens around the Covered Bridge. 

Julia:  Okay.

Eric:  Okay?

Julia:  Gotcha 

Amanda:  Nice.

Eric:  Nice. So as Zev sprints away the two, Les and Carrie-Ann you run up and it's just dark again and- and Phoebe is standing in the woods.

Brandon (as Les): Phoebes, you okay? We saw some blue stuff.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): It's pretty impressive if that was you.

Julia (as Phoebe): Uhhhh. No?  I think a transformer blew like over there.

Julia:  And Phoebe just points into the woods.

Amanda:  Carrie-Ann puts her hand on Phoebe's shoulders and like the 12 year olds like look straight into her eyes like- 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): What are the facts, Phoebe and what are the feelings?

Julia (as Phoebe): The feelings are bad, Carrie-Ann, the feelings are very bad.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Okay. Good start. Good start. Good start.

Julia (as Phoebe): Okay?

Brandon (as Les): We're here. We're here. We want to hear the feelings if you want to share them.

Eric:  I do want to remind you, you can manipulate other hunters if you do want to try.

Amanda:  I don't wish it but thank you. 

Eric:  Okay.

Julia:  Phoebe just like stares at both of you like, uhhh, so...

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Feelings are bad.

Brandon (as Les): Whenever you're ready, no rush.

Julia (as Phoebe): Zev's going through some stuff that I can highly relate to at the moment. I would love to tell you guys what that is. I really can't, because he trusts me and I'll-

Brandon (as Les): Hey, I get it.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): It's okay, CIT-Camper Confidentiality is like the most important thing.

Brandon (as Les): Yeah. 

Julia (as Phoebe): So I think we need to give him some cooldown time. But like also, like his whole thing that he's going through right now. Really, there'd be no reason for him to be stealing stuff. And he says that he didn't, he didn't scratch that one kid. So like, and I believe that like he, he, he told me a really important thing and he wouldn't lie about that, you know?

Brandon (as Les): Yeah, I mean, all those kids over there. Those are big fucking liars.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah.

[Eric laughs]

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah, that was the vibe that I was getting before I walked away, but I don't. I don't know.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, I think Zev probably wants to be their friend and not make them more mad at him.

Julia (as Phoebe): He's just, he has a hard time making friends. That's what he told me.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): That's why he has to become a CIT and then you have to have friends. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah. Yeah.

Brandon (as Les): I get it.

Julia (as Phoebe): They make you become the best friends. 

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah.

Brandon (as Les): Friends are hard.

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah. 

Brandon (as Les): I understand.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): So we got to figure out who's doing the stealing or else they're never gonna believe Zev. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah.

Brandon (as Les): Should we separate the boys in the cabin and interrogate them one on one or do we think that they’re-- None of them have anything to do with it? What's our next lead? I don't know. I don't even know where to go.

[A child screaming from the distance]

Julia:  Convenient.

Brandon:  A red tail hawk scoops down from the sky.

Eric:  Like a like 1000 feet away from you, there is a, there is a scream of some gender of child.

Brandon (as Les): Oh, I think that was our next leap. Do you want to-

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): But first.

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): We better go there. 

Brandon (as Les): Yeah.

Julia:  Before we all run off I think Phoebe just like stays behind like a couple of steps and just stares into the woods being like-

Julia (as Phoebe): Hey, in the words of Les, what the fuck?

Brandon:  And Les turns as he's running behind.

Brandon (as Les): Fucking love it, Pheebs.

Julia (as Phoebe): Oh, great. It was so good.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): We’ve all yelled what the fuck into the woods. It's basically a rite of passage.

Julia (as Phoebe): I'm doing it

Eric:  Reverberating from deeper in the woods-

Eric (As Mysterious Voice): You carry the power of nature. It is your responsibility to keep the order of nature as it is.

Julia (as Phoebe): What? 

Brandon:  This is Steven, isn't it? Steven's just being an asshole.

Eric:  I don't know. 

Julia (as Phoebe): Or it's in nature god that's telling me I'm the chosen one. Les isn’t here. Nevermind.

Eric:  You run over to another cabin. This is a Flycatcher cabin. This is one grade younger. And there's a boy in impossibly short shorts and a tank top who is like on the ground holding his eye and the back door of the cabin is just, has been thrown open.

Brandon:  I want to immediately just kind of like look around for danger. Like you would if you were like a lifeguard you know, and hopefully read a bad situation.

Eric:  Yeah, roll, please.

Brandon:  A 9.

Julia:  Pretty good.

Eric:  A 9. Okay, so you get 1 here. What is your question?

Brandon:  Alright, gang we have what's the best way in or out? Are there any dangers? What's the biggest threat? What's most vulnerable to me? What's the best way to protect the victims? 

Julia:  I think it's gotta be biggest threat at this point, right?

Amanda:  Yeah, biggest threat. I was thinking either that or protect the victims. I think for plot I want to know what's the biggest threat but-

Brandon:  Okay. 

Amanda:  -my first instinct I think in character would be to protect the victims.

Brandon:  Cool. I'll probably look for the threat then you can run over to, to the kids so yeah.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Brandon:  I'm gonna ask, what's the biggest threat?

Eric:  Alright, what's the biggest threat? You go up to the kid in the impossibly short shorts, and he's holding his hand over one of his eyes and even just pushed over and be like-

Eric (as Flycatcher camper): Get it off me! No! Get off me!

Brandon (as Les): There's nothing, there's nothing on you. What? What? 

Eric (as Flycatcher): Oh, it's not on me? 

Brandon (as Les): No, you're here. You're just you're here and you're safe.

Eric:  He takes his hand off of his face and it's pretty scratched up. Like not a big slash over his face. But he has smaller scratches just kind of all over the right side of his face. 

Eric (as Flycatcher camper): He was like, I got pushed over and I was attacked by something sharp. And it hurts and I heard the doors slam, the doors slam open. And I saw something furry and I [sobs] like, I don't know, it hurts.

Brandon:  I'm going to scoop the kid up in my arms. 

Julia:  Adorable.

Eric (as Flycatcher camper): Thanks, dad. I mean, oh no, don't tell anyone I called you dad. 

Brandon (as Les): Hey, it's chill, man.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): We would never tell, we'd never tell.

Julia:  Was this the direction that Zev ran off in? Like is this cabin in the same direction as the covered bridge?

Eric:  I would say vaguely, yes.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, Les, if you wanna like run to the infirmary. I just want to investigate a mystery real quick and see if there's any clues left behind in the cabin. 

Eric:  Absolutely. 

[dice roll]

Amanda:  Well, I rolled snake eyes. So that's the 3.

Eric:  Oh my god, oh well, mark experience.

Julia:  We reveal some information to the monster or whoever you're talking to.

Amanda:  Well, shit.

Brandon:  You say to the cabin, I stole something when I-- from a candy store in third grade.

Eric:  Well, I think that you storm into the cabin. Just like pushing your way through. You think it’s some kind of emergency. Like the door is kind of just like has fallen off of his hinges. You're making a very loud raucous as you're in there. 

Amanda:  Yeah.

Eric:  There is no one else in there. 

Amanda:  I turn on the lights. Yeah.

Eric:  Yeah, absolutely. You go in there. There's also more locked boxes that are open with the locks that are gone. Everything is kind of like pushed over. It's like there was a commotion inside. You also see that like someone's stash of candy has been eaten as well. 

Brandon:  The bastards! 

Eric:  And also more and also like, you see that wallets and stuff, like you know velcro wallets have been ripped apart. And there's change kind of like strewn out on the floor.

Julia:  What kind of candy was eaten? 

Eric:  Unfortunately, because of the snake eyes Carp over here, I can’t tell you. It’s a candy stash.

Julia:  Can I go in and investigate a mystery as well?

Eric:  I want to say I don't think so. 

Julia:  Okay.

Eric:  Because I think it's like you get a singular move. 

Julia:  Gotcha. 

Eric:  We can change this if it's different. But this is like my feel-- my vibe of the game is like one only one person gets to do a move. And you know, it's not like you all role perception checks. 

Julia:  Okay.

Eric:  So but but like, I can also show you the basic shit. So it's like you get one step lower. So I don't think you can.

Brandon:  I assume Carrie-Ann comes out and kind of like describes the situation to us. 

Eric:  Yeah. 

Brandon:  Can I look in my Book of the Damned and see if I see anything with like, a sweet tooth, and maybe invisible and scratches-

Eric:  Yeah. 

Brandon:  -and that kind of like see if anything matches up with the details of-

Amanda:  Yeah.

Brandon:  -what we've seen so far?

Eric:  Absolutely. That sounds great. Oh, do you have like a move that has you investigate?

Brandon:  I don't. That's what I was wondering. 

Eric:  I'll let you do Sharp to look in your book. 

Brandon:  Cool. 

Eric:  Just to make this a roll. I think it'd be cool.

[dice roll]

Brandon:  Just under, I got a 7. 

Eric:  Alright 7. 

Brandon:  Just at, I guess.

Eric:  If we're doing, is this a zebra, if something runs like a horse and sounds like a horse, you don't think zebra you think horse, right? Furry, scratches.

Brandon:  Never seen Amanda and a zebra in the same room before.

Eric:  That's true. Furry, scratches, metal. That's werewolf, baby. We're talking furry, claws, the aversion to silver is the thing. Wolfsbane? That's actually some shit the Catholic church made up to make them be more valuable. The thing that hurts werewolves is silver. And a lot of these kids don't have gold chains. They have silver stuff, or plated-- other plated metals that is closer to the idea of pure silver, maybe like a platinum is actually pretty, what we understand in our modern world is pretty close to what medieval scholars thought pure silver was. So that's-- if we're worried about that stuff that says werewolf. Werewolves don't eat candy and they're not invisible. But that would be-- that would be 3 out of 5 of the things you asked. There are other things that do all these other things that are furry, that have claws that deal with metal. But if you're talking about 3 out of 5, that's what I'm going to give you on a 7.

Brandon:  I'm going to dramatically turn to my colleagues, my best friends and say-

Brandon (as Les): We may be dealing with a werewolf.

Julia:  Phoebe's just like- 

Julia (as Phoebe): No, no. Les, werewolves aren't real. What are you talking about? That's silly, but like also, like Les, I've read a lot of books about werewolves, mostly they’re romances. But one thing I do know about werewolves is they're basically dogs and dogs can't eat candy.

Brandon (as Les): That's true.

Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): That's true. I don't think a werewolf would be like, got to get candy. Might be like got to get to, got to get a child, right?

Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah, I mean, probably eat some candy. There's chocolate in there. Oh no. Werewolf’s dead. Werewolf knows better than that.

Eric:  So Les, you lay out werewolves and Phoebe is like no, that's not the case.

Julia (as Phoebe): It can't possibly be it.

[intense music]

Eric:  Out front on Fish Hatchery Road. A 1965 pickup truck rumbles down towards the front of Camp Diogenes.

Julia (as Phoebe): No! 

Eric:  There are three men who look exactly the same. One driving and two spilling out of the back holding baseball bats are scowling towards the camp. And all three of them say together. 

Eric (as Mystery Men): Oh, we're gonna get those kids! 

Amanda:  What?

[theme]

Transcriptionist: KM