Shine your slightly-uncomfortable shoes and steam your nice garments—the gala of the millennium is on. Val picks up the pieces. Milo faints. Aggie hates litter.
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Cast & Crew
- Dungeon Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Milo Lane), Co-Producer, Editor, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Aggie O’Hare), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Co-Host (Val Vesuvio), Co-Producer: Julia Schifini
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is a collaborative storytelling and roleplaying podcast, powered by the rules of Dungeons and Dragons. That means a group of friends create a story together, chapter by chapter, that takes us beyond the tabletop to parts unknown. In the first campaign, we explored fantasy adventure, intrigue, magic, and drama. In the newest story, we tackle science, superpowers, a better future, and the responsibility to help others.
Every month, we sit down for the Afterparty, where we break down our game and answer your questions about how to play D&D and other roleplaying games at home. We also have segments at the beginning of each campaign to teach people how to play the game themselves. It’s a party, and you’re invited! Find out more at jointhepartypod.com.
Transcript
Amanda: Last time on Join the Party.
Eric: The Gala to Get Science Trash Off the Streets Forever and Save Laketown City, G-G-S-T-O-S-F-S-L-C is all coming together. We got the venue, we got the deep pockets, we got the super powered invitations, we got a micromanaging girl-boss who leads a rival super team who really wants to, "Just help plan." And definitely won't overextend at all, and definitely didn't add someone's childhood bully to their super team. You know, everything you need for a big party. Shine your shoes and steam those garments. Let's get the party started.
[JTP Theme Music Starts]
Eric: Tonight, is the night everyone's putting on their shoes that hurt them a little bit. Their fanciest; swishiest outfits. And they're going to the gala of the century, of the millennium, in fact -- reference to Campaign I. They're going to the gala of the millennium at Eight Square Plaza, raising money to get Dr. Morrow's secret science trash off of the streets. Black cars and Morrow rides, and some other taxi startups who’s definitely aren't as good, are pulling up. People dressed to the nines or stepping out. You can see the high schoolers from the pallets from gaga walking in in the wildest outfits you've ever seen. Just like neon chameleon tire cowboy get ups.
Amanda: Oh.
Eric: They all look like Lil Nas X in whatever that means to you.
Brandon: Shit, we dress the exact same. Someone has to go home and change.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Yeah. A 17-year-old looks at you and is like, "No." and walks inside.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Superheroes from all over the city are also coming inside and shaking hands with their adoring fans. And just, like, really nondescript people also kind of walk in. And then you realize, Oh, those are all the people with all the money. The gala of the millennium is on and the three of you are there. Hey, Julia, did Val invite Hitomi?
Julia: No, because Val is not going to this weird fundraiser. Vulcani is.
Eric: Cool. The day before, Hitomi's packing up a big box that just says, "Pizza supplies."
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: That's... you've written “fragile” very, very large.
Julia: I don't know why you're saying that like it's funny. I don't... I don't understand.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: I just... I just like looking at a box and it says pizza “fragile” on it. I find..
Julia: Yeah?
Eric (as Hitomi): I find that very funny. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?
Julia (as Val): Uh, you know, I was gonna... My mom asked me to come over and look at some old picture albums with her and, you know, reminisce. That's, like, an Italian thing. We, like, have to do that once a month. Otherwise, she just gets real-sad.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric (as Hitomi): No. I... I remember you've... you've done that a few... a few times before so that monthly... that monthly reminiscing about the old country you two do together. For sure.
Julia (as Val): I mean, not the old country but old times. My mother was born here.
Eric: It's all of the old country. No, I meant, like, metaphorically. The old country.
Julia: Oh, okay.
Eric: If you get enough Sicilians and Italians in the place, you create the old country, like, as a metaphor together.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Old country, Indiana. You know?
Eric: Brandon, there are no Italians at Old country, Indiana.
[Brandon and Julia laughs]
Eric (as Hitomi): Okay, I figured... Yeah. I just… I got invited to this thing by one of my friends at work. There's just, like, I don't know, you know, they give in exchange for not giving good benefits in the tech sector, they kind of give out free invites to wild parties and stuff so, like, I'm just gonna go.
Julia: Right, where there's an open bar and they think that if you get drunk enough, you'll forget that, like, they don't pay for your health care.
Eric: Yeah, exactly. They're like, you need to find your own and you have to use a... you have to use a startup to get health care because regular health care is bad. Anyway, the point is, I am going over this thing, but if you're busy, I'll just go. I'm just gonna go.
Julia (as Val): Yeah, feel free. You can... you can go to any party you want. I am not a controlling partner, and I trust you implicitly.
Eric (as Hitomi): Hey, Babe. Babe. I appreciate that you said that. I don't think that. I just want you to know.
Julia (as Val): Okay.
Eric (as Hitomi): Okay.
Julia (as Val): I just want to make sure.
Eric (as Hitomi): No, it's fine. I just more... I didn't want you to feel left out that I only had, like, I... If you can't go then it's cool.
Julia (as Val): You can take me to any other party. If you don't have an invitation for another person, I totally understand.
Eric (as Hitomi): For sure. I think, listen, you and like, it is just like one of the stuffy gala thing. There's going to be an auction or a silent auction. I don't know if it's... silent or loud. I'll have to investigate that.
Julia (as Val): Yeah.
Eric (as Hitomi): Yeah.
Julia (as Val): If there's not a guy yelling numbers very fast then I'm really not interested usually.
Eric (as Hitomi): That -- you've... you've given that answer to many things before, so I very, I understand. Yeah.
Julia (as Val): Well, it's... it's an entertaining form of auctioning.
Eric (as Hitomi): Not even just for auction. For your television, your... your food. All of that. Yeah, okay. Yeah, no problem.
Julia: Val is sweating inside.
[Everybody laughs]
Eric: Wonderful. Hey, Amanda.
Amanda: Yes?
Eric: Is Multitool taking Tegan into this?
Amanda: Of course! Hell yeah!
Eric: Course?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Course!
Amanda: I'm dying to see how they accessorize their jackets with black tie.
Eric: Perfect. Alright, hell yeah. As you're prepping, this is like a few hours before the gala get started, you and Emily Slaughter are doing, like, the party planning that has to happen all minute. And you get a photo of Tegan wearing, like, a black button down, black slacks, black tie, teal jacket.
Amanda: I think the jacket is over their shoulders, which makes it somehow even fancier than if they were wearing it.
Julia: Like a cape.
Amanda: Like a cape.
[Eric huffs a laugh]
Eric: Yeah, it's like a cape but it's being held together by, like, a very fancy gold chain.
Amanda: Oh, yeah. Incredible.
Eric: I love that.
Amanda: Like a pin-on broach.
Eric: That's how you turn a regular jacket into a fancy jacket.
Amanda: Listen, as someone who wears the same clothes all the time. I am in awe at your accessorizing. It's amazing.
Eric (as Tegan): Are you just gonna wear your outfit to... to this thing? Like, you can borrow it? Do you want a tie? I can give you a tie.
Amanda (as Multitool): Yeah, you know what, I... I think a tie will be super cute and maybe I can wear a like... like a tux jacket or something over the... the boiler suit. But if I have to, you know, stretch at all, I don't want to ruin it so...
Eric (as Tegan): Sure, sure, sure. Yeah. No, it's cool. You can wear, like, cool sneakers I guess. Or like cool shoes.
Amanda (as Multitool): That's true. That's true.
Eric (as Hitomi): Yeah. And while this is happening it’s simul-cut with Hitomi looking... looking through 10 boxes. Looking for the right sneakers being like, "Oh, I already packed these. Shit!"
Julia (as Val): You packed your sneakers?
Eric (as Hitomi): I didn't think I would need these. You don't... I already packed my gala sneakers.
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda (as Multitool): I think I'll end up borrowing some of Tegan's earrings and do, like, a kind of asymmetrical earrings situation. And a tie sort of, like, loosely over my cowl, like hanging down my... my boiler suit.
Eric: I love that.
Julia (as Val): How are you doing the hair? This is very important. Val texts you, "How are you doing your hair?"
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Oh, good question. Um, I think Aggie's hair is usually in a French braid, but tonight, it'll be kind of like a twist. Like one of those, like, Grecian braid up into a twist situations.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Some sparkly shit in there. I don't know what they are, but for Tegan; some sparkly shit. Like pins and stuff.
Eric: I love it. Hey, Brandon.
Brandon: Hmm?
Eric: Are you bringing anybody with you?
Amanda: Are your kissing friends coming, Brandon?
Brandon: No. Because --
[Amanda and Eric laugh]
Brandon: I'm... Mi -- because Milo is disappointed in their actions, and they're grounded. Not because they're dating, but because they didn't tell Milo.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: Aw.
Julia (as Val): They're grown men, Milo. You can't, like, ask them to tell you all of their kissing affairs.
Brandon (as Kilonova): I can and I will!
Eric: Apple and Zack Rose look at each other. And Lucas is just like, "It's fine. It's fine. He's going through a lot. It’s fine, it's fine.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Like, it's been literally two years.
Eric: I know. It's fine. It's fine.
Brandon: Obviously, Milo can't bring Lucas or his dad because that would reveal his identity. I think Milo offers Tuna to, you know, hang out on their shoulder. Who knows who can see him, but I think they're more of a duo now. So, if he... if he wants to be a cool sidekick, they can be. But otherwise, I don't think Milo has... I don't think Kilonova really has anybody in their, like, superhero life that is on their, like, public friend level. I don't... That's a weird thing.
Eric: No, that's fair.
Brandon: He's never been a celebrity before, you know?
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: You invite the Knight of Mirrors even though the Knight of Mirrors already has a ticket.
Eric: Yeah, the Knight of Mirrors already turned you down.
[Amanda and Eric laughs]
Brandon: Milo definitely did ask Dr. Morrow, but that was just, like, a default, you know?
Eric (as Dr. Morrow): Yeah. Dr. Morrow says, "I guess I do have to go to the gala that you're all throwing for me, huh?"
Amanda (as Multitool): No.
Julia (as Val): No.
Amanda (as Multitool): You shouldn't.
Julia (as Val): You super don't.
Eric (as Dr. Morrow): No I shouldn't go?
Julia (as Val): It's all about collecting your trash. Your --
Amanda (as Multitool): No.
Julia: -- dangerous trash. You probably shouldn't be there.
Brandon (as Kilonova): It's less for you and more anti you.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric (as Dr. Morrow): Oh! Hot Dog. I have some mysteries of the universe I need to crack. I've been saving these for a rainy day.
Julia (as Val): Oh good.
Eric (as Dr. Morrow): Absolutely. See you later, nerds.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): You gotta uncracked the mysteries of the universe and you're calling us the nerds? I -- Go... Go discover a new electron.
Eric (as Dr. Morrow): Dr. Morrow gets, like, right in your face and says, "Hey, Val."
Julia (as Val): Hey.
Eric (as Dr. Morrow): If you insult quarks one more time in our pre... in my presence, we're going to have a fucking problem.
Julia (as Val): Still don't know what a quark is, but I'll... I'll fuck it up.
Eric (as Dr. Morrow): And better yet, if you don't know what it is, keep the name out of your fucking mouth.
[Amanda laughs]
Julia: Val's fist clench and then unclench.
Brandon (as Kilonova): I told you it's a subatomic particle!
Eric (as Dr. Morrow): It's not a particle! It could be a particle or wave! We don't know. That's what I'm trying to crack.
[Eric and Julia laughs]
Amanda: Nerds.
Eric: Dr. Morrow is wearing her January slippers while she's doing it.
Brandon: And then, I think in the last ditch attempt, Milo asks January if January would like to ask Milo to be January's date.
Julia: That's extremely cute and a little sad.
Eric (as January): What?
[Brandon and Julia laughs]
Eric (as January): I'm already gonna be there. We can just... I'll see you there.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Fine, fine. Will you buy me a drink, still?
Eric (as January): No, it's an open bar we already applied for those.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Fine! I'll go alone.
Julia: Also, January doesn't have an ID because he's a rabbit.
Eric: That's true.
Julia (as Val): Are you 21, January?
Eric (as January): No, obviously not.
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Julia (as Val): How old rabbits grow to? I don't want to think about your mortality. Nevermind.
Eric (as January): Good. I didn't want to think about it either. Fine. Great.
[Julia laughs]
Eric: Yes. Anyone who is inside, what do you... What are y'all wearing to this thing?
Julia: So, Vulcani went to Parisi's three piece suits and other numbers of suits.
[Amanda and Brandon laughs]
Eric: Right.
Brandon: Seven piece suit, what does that look like?
Julia: It's a lot of socks.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: Like, more socks than you would think that you need for a suit. Like, layers of socks.
Eric: There's a vest, and an undervest and an over vest.
Julia: Well, you know what, part of it is, like, Mr. Parisi sells binders now, and that's really cool.
Eric: That's the good part.
Brandon: Oh, Iove that.
Amanda: Cool. I mean, like, cummerbunds are kind of socks for the thumb, aren't they? You know?
[Julia hums in agreement]
Brandon: Yeah. 100%.
Eric: There's... that's a sign in there, but it's in Italian, and it's woodburned.
Julia: I could not even fathom I guess as to what that would be in Italian.
Brandon: Someone goes and gets that tattooed on their chest at some point. And they're like, "Oh, yeah, it just means... it means so much to me; this phrase."
Amanda: It means family in Italian.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: Yeah. So, Val goes to Parisi's and gets, like, it's not leather, but it's like... that, like, sharkskin material.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Blazer.
[Eric hums in agreement]
Julia: And then, insist that Mr. Parisi also put the, like, spikes from their jacket on there as well. And then, it's just like a black shirt, like, kind of red and black pattern tie. And then, a matching color for the pants as well.
Eric: Hell yeah. I love that. I also like the idea that Mr. Parisi has gotten to the point that he doesn't, like, need to speak at all to anyone. So, he'll just... he just does this wordlessly. Like, he can. There's a lot of pointing to signs and doing things that you were thinking but you didn't ask already. There's also a side in there that says, "The most important piece of a suit is the heart."
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: Val tears up reading that sign.
Eric: Yeah. So, every... So, like, if you were to get, like, a jumpsuit, it's actually a two-piece jumpsuit because one-piece is the heart.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: The problem is you can't buy that one piece from Mr. Parisi. It's been inside you this whole time.
Eric: Exactly. And he... he communicates that all with, like, a shrug and a wink from his catcher's mitt ass leather... leather face.
Julia: Yes. Love that man.
Amanda: I'm kind of inspired now. I think Aggie asked. I'm assuming that Dr. Morrow kind of furnished our costumes. I think I want to dye a version of my boiler suit teal to go with the jacket.
Eric: Ooh.
Julia: Ooh!
Eric: Yeah. I like that.
Amanda: Yeah. And then I'll still have kind of, you know, the sparklies and make sure that all the earrings have, like, secure backs, like screw in back so that if I have to get into action, they don't come off.
Eric: Sure. Brandon, I'm bracing myself. What... What do you have?
Brandon: No, you made a good point. I think Milo gets up off his fainting couch after he is rejected by the one person he loved to this universe -- January. I goes and find a… a thing. I... I did originally want to do a Star Trek formula fit but your point was a correct one in which Kilonova is not that kind of nerd publicly.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: So, he's going to have to just formalize his current outfit. I don't know what the... what they're called, but you know, there's like um, there's sort of like big overcoats, but like, they have a big color and, like, one size sort of like buttons over the other side.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: And sort of like tails almost.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: Like, almost like a Russian military jacket.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: That's the one I'm picturing?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: There's some more.
Eric: It's like an overcoat and it's buttoned like it made new in that military style or like the sea.
Amanda: Like a riding jacket.
Eric: Yeah. Or like a sailor thing. Yeah.
Brandon: Sort of almost like what Kibo wears on New You.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
[Amanda laughs]
Brandon: But buttons over one side.
Eric: Brandon, thank you. Thank you for speaking my language.
Amanda: I love that.
Brandon: But obviously it's like black or like dark navy. And, like, maybe velvet, which would be cool I think.
Eric: I like velvet because it's kind of like that cru --. When you look at in different lights, it's almost like that crushed sparkliness of what we've envisioned this artistic interpretation of this... of this space is.
Brandon: Exactly.
Eric: I kinda like that.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: There's a couple of very very tiny rhinestones for the star effect.
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Amanda: Into it.
Eric: I love that.
Brandon: And this is the most adult Milo has ever looked.
Eric: Congratulations.
Julia: Proud of him.
Brandon: Rejection will do that to a guy.
Eric: I rolled with advantage for all of your friends just in case and they got 26 to tell you not to wear Star Trek for a formal wear.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Smart!
Brandon: You see a single panel of Milo looking sad as he puts away his Star Trek uniform into his closet.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: It's like shot-for-shot replica of Peter Parker throwing away the Spider Man costume in the alleyway dumpster.
[Amanda and Brandon laughs]
Eric: Incredible. Alright, well, let's get to the gala of the millennium. Do we have a name for the gala? I forget.
Julia: Aggie came up with a good name. And then, in passing, we kept calling it, like, the... the --
Amanda: Scary science trash.
Julia: -- secret science trash gala.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: I'm pretty sure I submitted an order to the signmaker that said: "The committee for the safe disposal of science related waste, community wide," but instead it says, "Scary science trash no more."
[Brandon and Eric laughs]
Julia: Val just won't make eye contact with Aggie the entire time.
Amanda (as Multitool): How did this happen?
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: I love that. This is incredible. Alright. Hey, let me give you a rundown of what the gala looks like here inside of the eight square plaza. On the first floor, is the -- that main area, remember, that looks all the way up to the roof deck that has that... that big glass pyramid skylight up there. And down there, there's kind of like a check in so there's a desk where people are taking tickets or... or signing them in on... on a list -- however works. There is a stage where people can make announcements from with, like, a little microphone attached to a podium. And there's, like, kind of a spread for food down there. There's, like, a big crudites and apps table, and there's also waiters walking around. There's also a bar on the first floor, which is little bit over to the side of that food area. On the second floor, you can look at everything that is up for auction. There's also another bar up on the second floor. I wanted to ask a question, is this a silent auction or a loud auction? We never talked about this.
Julia: I think we said silent auction.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: Silent the classy auction.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: So, it is a silent auction.
Julia: Rich people like silent auctions.
Amanda: They do.
Eric: Great, great.
Amanda: Rich people love not talking.
Julia: Each one has, like, the little bowl and you put your --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: -- offer in there. And that has those --
Amanda: Or like, you're on the phone and you have some representative talking for you, bhut you don't do the talking.
[Julia hums in agreement]
Brandon: That's a good point. That's a good point.
Amanda: If you're rich enough; every auction can be a silent auction.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: That's true.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Someone has gotten cornered by an extremely rich person and they said all of that to you.
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: And then you see Milo faint on a fainting couch again.
Eric: Why are -- Did you bring your fainting couch from Dr. Morrow's place?
Brandon: Yeah. Well, he... he transforms his ghost arm into a chaise lounge.
[Julia huffs a laugh]
Eric: You're only using your ghost powers to get out of annoying conversations.
Brandon: Milo has become very dramatic.
Eric: That's terrible. That's very terrible. Yeah. Okay, so, now on the second floor, that's where you can look at everything up for auction and there are the silent auction, like clipboards there. For those of you who don't know what a silent auction is, basically, instead of someone going out like 25, 35, 45; is that you can write down what your bid is on a clipboard, which is next to the item or a picture of the item that you will be purchasing. There's going to be a piece of paper on top of, like, the list of the silent auction, but if you look at the list, you can see who has bid there. That's how, like, the bidding process is and you can go above someone else.
Julia: It's classy, but also brutal.
Eric: Exactly. So, that's... that's the style we're doing. Every... next to every single one of these items are a clipboard where the bids are. Just a reminder, what Aggie has scrounged up, which is paintings from Danny paintings from her tattoo sister, I forget which one.
Julia: Erin.
Amanda: Erin, and that's always been her name.
Eric: That's always been her name. Exactly, Erin. And also, you were able to get a lot of junior or senior art pieces from Gaga.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: They ended up coming through for you. Like, students could donate their junior or senior project to the gala and say that they did that on their college applications or the resume or whatever.
Amanda: Also, Erin follows them on Instagram if they donated.
Eric: That too.
[Julia giggles]
Eric: And also they get to come to the gala which is why you see on the second floor, there's, like, 17 kids all T-posing at the same time. And someone's taking a photo of them from the first floor.
Julia: Oh scary.
Brandon: Eric, literally what is T-posing?
Julia: It's when you just stand like that, like you're a-- animated character that they're computer animating.
Brandon: Is this a new thing?
Julia: No, it's an old thing.
Eric: It's an old thing.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I didn't know about it either, Brandon.
Brandon: Thank you.
Eric: Wonderful. Perfect. And that's why they're T-posing because they're alienating the older people, the people in their late 20s and 30s were there.
Brandon: Milo falls on his chaise lounge because he's out of touch.
Amanda: Yeah, I think both Danny and Erin are keeping up with the gala via Insta stories because they're Gaga alum, and it's, like, classic.
Eric: For sure. I think that Emily Slaughter also did solicit some other people to donate some stuff. As well as the Italian restaurants from Little Italy have also donated, like, some gift cards and whatever. But you can take a look a little bit more specific, but that's more, like, generally, there's a lot of stuff here. It's not just what Aggie got from her si -- from her siblings. Up on the third floor MMFK and Byron Zorn have donated a bunch of stuff from Dr. Morrow's, like, science life that... are these being displayed. You know how there just, like, needs to be, like, an extra thing at a gala for you to, like, coolly stand there. That's where that is. So, Mr. Brew Pot had donated just, like, some relics that they had. And also, Byron Zorn donated more things from his gallery. But Dez has sprayed down everything --
Amanda: Excellent.
Eric: -- already. On the first floor, Dez has taken, like, an out room. That's, like, it must have been, like, a prep room because it goes right into the alley on the other side of the building, so you can, like, air it out every so often or spray... spray the thing down in the alley. Dez has set up and taking the... the science trash and is spraying it down with, like, a really big, like, something that would usually use for, like, industrial spraying down of crops. He's now spraying with, like, this purple... this purple mist,
Brandon: Like a crop dusting plane?
Eric: No, no, no. Like, a really big... like a really big spray bottle. Like, imagine, like, a mechanical spray bottle.
Julia: Gotcha.
Eric: Not... not that big, Brandon.
Brandon: I'm gonna imagine a crop dusting plane, thank you.
Eric: Yeah. He shuts... he shuts the door, it hits a button and then it goes [spraying sfx]. It just gets blasted by purple dust. No, it's like a... like a paint gun. On the 4th and 5th floor, there are just some smaller spaces with some side rooms for people to, like, just sit in. There's some general seating area. So if you like, you know, when you're just, like, in a hotel randomly on their 3rd floor, there's just like a really big chair. Like, in the middle of the room. There's a lot of stuff like that. And then, for those of you have been to, like, conferences and stuff, there are, like, out rooms where people can, like, take meetings or talk a little bit more privately. Those have glass panels around them, and you can see that, like, inside of those meeting rooms, they have chairs and tables and stuff. And then, the 6th floor -- which is actually the roof -- is the roof deck. You can... you can look out all on the downtown of Laketown City, which looks beautiful in the summer. You can see people, like, sitting on their own roofs, like, a mile away, which is still kind of fun, but you... you can, like, really take it all in. It's so pretty. It's like that weird in between loud and quiet from where you're, like, far away from city traffic, but you still hear it a little bit. And there's, like, you know, twinkly lights, and there's a bar up on the... the roof as well. And then again, you can look down on the entire party and the entire building because there is that glass, pyramid skylights, which is, like, the main feature taking up the majority of the space on the roof deck. And you can look all the way down to the first floor because floors 2 through 5, have the, like, all the way around balcony looking to the middle that... that I've talked about.
Amanda: Don't worry, I'm taking notes about where all the bars are located even though we probably don't need to know that for the fiction. Amanda needs to know that for scoping for information.
Julia: The fact that there's three bars so far; loving it.
Eric: There are three --
Amanda: Love it.
Eric: Yeah, there are three bars.
Amanda: You should always be both upstairs and downstairs from a bar.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: That's true.
Amanda: At a function.
Eric: This one's a little hard because it's asymmetrical because it's a one-two roof.
[Julia hums in agreement]
Eric: But, you know, you don't want to get the... you don't want to get the drinks near the donated... donated area.
Brandon: You can go from bar to bar and not get judged by the bartenders.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: Ah, smart! Smart, smart, smart.
Amanda: Or avoid Shannon Red Wine and go get your wine somewhere else.
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: Tell me about the details. What kind of materials is the --
Julia: The architecture.
Brandon: -- roof? What's its color? Tell me about all the prettiness.
Eric: Yeah. I mean, honestly, it's a lot of warm yellow light. I think that, remember this place was condemned after the big housing boom in the 90s. And then it was, like, very... It was refurbished very recently. So, there's a lot of yellow light. It's a lot of, like, shining of the wrought iron that was there before. And there's also a lot of warm brick. They're really trying to keep the brick which is what the Eight Square Plaza is named after; the eight square brick that it was built out of. So, it's... imagine, like, a lot of brick, a lot of warm light. And then, like, playing and the wrought iron playing off, like, the... the brown tones that are throughout this entire place.
Julia: Just to confirm. Since this building was condemned, it was inspected before it was reopened by building Inspector Jake, right?
Eric: Building Inspector Jake, 100%.
Julia: And he gave it a full pass? Everything's good? They didn't fail their inspection?
Eric: Yeah, exactly. No, no, no.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: It was like... it was like someone built this and was like, "Oh, we're gonna... it's gonna be great." And then it was, like, not touched for, like, 25 years.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: And then it was reopened in, like, 2019 and now in 2020x it's been a thriving, like, you know, this wa --. It's not exactly a hotel. It's just like a party venue. Like, it's just like a very nice party venue and has been for --
Julia: Lots of weddings.
Eric: -- for many years now. Yeah. We do by Emily Slaughter was like: "Oh, no. I've been to this place. I've been to a wedding here. I've been to, like, an album release. I've been to, like, a mayoral campaign kickoff here," which is why she's like, "Oh hell yeah, I was able to... I'm so glad I was able to grab it." And why they had her name -- her number on speed dial to say that, like, a week out, you can get... you can grab this venue. A lot of this stuff was already set up by the previous person who was holding... holding their event here. So, like, the bar on one, two, and six, and the food that's there is, like, very fancy. Like, lots of canapes, lots of crudités. There's, like, someone really tried to make, like, amuse-bouche chicken and waffles but like, it's not good. You know what I mean? And, like, someone tried to do, like, locks on a cracker. [cringing noises] And so, it's like, you were lucky that this stuff was already there and Emily wasn't able to finagle it for that, which Emily says to Multitool as they're prepping on the hours right before the gala is going on.
Eric (as Emily Slaughter): She was like, Oh, I know it's fine. They called me. I've been at this place. This is not... this isn't what I would have done but, you know, they already had a lot of this stuff catered. This already stuff picked out and that's why they gave the discount, so I was pretty... I was pretty stoked for that
Amanda (as Aggie): Aggie's, like, gripping very very tightly a kids donated artwork, like, "Do not crumple it. Do not crumple it".
[Brandon and Eric laughs]
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): I think at that time while you're trying not to destroy a painting, you hear a [motorcycle engine whirs] as the Knight of Mirror's motorcycles slides right up to the front door. Be like, "Oh, hey. I, uh. Listen, I can't come tonight, but I did bring something if you... if you need."
Brandon (as Kilonova): Ah, my date is here.
[Silence]
[Brandon laughs]
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): The Knight of Mirrors looks around and is like, "What? What was that?"
[Brandon huffs a laugh]
Eric: Like, they immediately get into, like, a fighting position. Like, they're reaching into their bag to get a sword out from their back... from their backpack.
Julia (as Val): You have a sword now? What the fuck, man?
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): Yeah, it's a... it's a... It's like an electric sword. It's fine. Oh, anyway. Yeah, no, I have something if... if you want.
Amanda (as Multitool): Sure. Yeah. An item to dispose of?
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): Yeah. I mean, if that's... if that's... that's cool.
Amanda (as Multitool): That's what we're here for.
Eric: Yeah. The Knight of Mirrors takes a teddy bear out of their backpack. The teddy bear is light brown with a red ribbon around its neck.
Brandon: Cute!
Eric: To like beady black eyes, very fluffy. But it does seem pretty worn. Like someone has snuggled with it for a few years.
Amanda: See Brandon, you say cute. I say, Oh, it's a Yokai where the neck falls off.
[Brandon and Julia laughs]
Amanda (as Multitool): This is... this is extremely adorable. Where did... What's the... the providence?
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. It's for the best if we just get this thing sprayed down.
Julia (as Val): What does it do?
Amanda (as Multitool): I mean, we will. You won't get in trouble, but like, you know, pals to pals. Like, what does it do?
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): Oh, yeah. Like turns into a real bear.
Julia (as Val): Oh, okay.
Amanda (as Multitool): Oh.
Julia (as Val): Cool.
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): Yeah. So, yeah.
Julia (as Val): Gotcha. Like, a Winnie the Pooh thing or like a Giga bear?
Eric: The Knight of Mirrors looks over at you, and you can feel that they're staring at you through their helmet.
Julia (as Val): I said what I said.
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): No, Vulcani. It is not a Winnie the Pooh situation.
Julia (as Val): Gotcha. Giga bear. Alright, I'll bring it to Dez.
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): Yep.
Amanda (as Multitool): I mean, are we, like, murdering a bear by rendering this inert?
Julia (as Val): No, it's a... it's a science bear Multitool. It's not gonna... It doesn't have a soul, I don't think.
Amanda (as Multitool): Okay, I just, like, in my day job, I take bears very seriously. Like, you have to guard against them and safeguard them. It's just, like, it's a thing.
Brandon: If it doesn't wear a shirt, it's not a real bear. We all know this.
[Julia groans]
Eric (as January): January says, "Yeah, that's just, like, part of the rules."
[Brandon huffs a laugh]
Julia (as Val): Val just takes the bear and is like, "Alright, I'm bringing this to Dez."
Eric (as January): I don't want to think about my own humanity. That's why I wear an overcoat and a... and a tie.
Amanda: That thing scare --
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: -- a lot of people.
Eric (as January): Yeah.
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): So, yeah. So, there's the item and I'm going. I have to go. Thank you for inviting me but, you know, I have to leave.
Amanda (as Multitool): Okay. I mean, you're welcome to hang out and you're welcome to... to swing by, you know, there's going to be... Dez is going to be collecting the... the... the rest of the items; the goods outside.
Julia: Can I do, like, an insight check? What's up with the Knight of Mirrors?
Eric: Yeah, sure.
[Dice rolls]
Julia: 15 + 4 for a 19.
Eric: What do you want to know about the Knight of Mirrors?
Julia: I want to know if there's, like, something sketchy going on. I want to know why they said that they were gonna come and now they're backing out. I'm just curious.
Eric: The Knight of Mirrors said they would try to come but they also said it in the way that, like, people say they'll try to come but really don't want to come to a party and let you down. Like, the Knight of Mirror is showing up and doing the superhero thing, which is delivering a piece of science trash. But then it's like, "Oh, I have to go."
Julia: Okay, so they just don't want to be here.
Eric: Wait, I with a 19. Listen, the Knight of Mirrors is incredibly impenetrable. You have to roll better than an 18 to figure out their insight but, like, in terms of party decorum, that's what I'll tell you.
Julia: Okay.
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): The Knight of Mirrors says,"Yeah, oh, I have to go my... It's my wife's anniversary.
Amanda: What?
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): And we have... I have to go celebrate that and I have to go get some flowers because the flower shops are going to close.
Amanda: Is that a lie?
Julia (as Val): Do you have a wife?
Brandon (as Kilonova): My date is married?
Amanda (as Multitool): Do you really have a wife?
Eric (as Knight of Mirrors): Okay. See you later.
[Motorcycle engine whirs]
Amanda: Our borders are right here.
Eric: And the Knight of Mirrors... the Knight of Mirrors just speeds away.
Amanda (as Multitool): Damn. That person is more of an enigma every time we interact with them.
Julia (as Val): They have a sword now, and a wife.
Amanda (as Multitool): And a wife.
Brandon (as Kilonova): It's a cool fucking sword though, right?
Amanda (as Multitool): It's very cool.
Julia (as Val): I wonder how cool their wife is.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda (as Multitool): Very.
Eric (as January): Probably really fucking sick, right?
Julia (as Val): Yeah.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Multitool is gonna just take out her phone for a second and look up the wedding that happened in this venue a year ago.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: Just in case it was the Knight of Mirrors' wedding.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: History.
Amanda: Okay. I got a 7, unfortunately.
Julia: Not where the luck point tonight.
Amanda: Not where the luck point tonight. No.
Eric: You look up and you see that someone got married in Eight Square Plaza, whose last name was Knight, and her name was Mirrors.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: It was Ted Knight and Miranda Mirrors; got married.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Damn it.
Julia: This seems like a lie.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: I feel like I'm being judged by my DM here. Am I even gonna write it down, Eric?
Eric: That's fine. It's canon now because I said it on the podcast. So, that did... that did happen. A year ago, Ted Knight and Miranda Mirrors got married. And now the... the Knight-Mirrors. It's very confusing.
Brandon: Eric, can I cast detect magic on this bear? I just want to make sure it's not, like, something funky. I want to see if I can get the school of magic.
Eric: Sure. Why don't you roll your Spirit Surge first.
Brandon: It's an 8 swung up to 6.
Eric: Okay. Yeah, I don't think there's anything funky. This is... it is what I'll tell you. This is what it is. I don't necessarily believe in the magic schools that Dungeons and Dragons published have created. But it's like, yeah, this thing does turn into a bear.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: Maybe it's a robot bear, but you can... maybe you look at it and you see that there's, like, mechanical parts in there that make it look like it's a real larger on the inside situation so that it can expand in size, but it maintains its mass. But it is what it is.
Brandon: Cool. Okay.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: I am satisfied.
Eric: Nice.
Brandon: And now I faint.
Eric: What is? Now Eric, DM Eric is like, "Where are you getting these chaise lounges from?"
[Brandon huffs out a laugh]
Brandon: Milo thinks that being fancy means Victorian.
Amanda: Yeah. It makes sense.
Eric: You have consumption. Yeah.
Amanda: It makes a lot of sense.
Eric: Brandon has consumption now. Not Milo, Brandon does. Wonderful. Alright. [stutters] Is there anything you want to do right before the party starts? Or do you want to just get it on and poppin'?
Julia: I feel like I probably asked Dez to get us, like, ear pieces, so that we could talk to each other throughout the party, and we don't have to all stick together.
Brandon: I love that.
Amanda: I love that.
Julia: And I think Val's game plan is to stay on the first floor and stay near Dez because I think Val and also Player Julia are nervous that, like, someone is going to steal the bear spray, which apparently works not only on items, but on people.
[Eric hums in agreement]
Julia: And I don't want any of us to get, like, depowered or anything like that. So, I think Val is just, like, gonna play muscle for Dez to make sure no one tries to step up on Dez.
Eric: For sure.
Amanda: And I think Multitool is going to patrol the perimeter and just, like, take a glance on the roof before the party starts because I kind of don't trust Emily still and just want to make sure that there's no shenanigans happening, like, in the catering area or the loading dock, or on the roof. So, I'd love to just do a sweep before the event starts and that's gonna be my plan throughout the event; is to, like, check in. You know, mingle, whatever but every, you know, 20 minutes or something do a little sweep.
Eric: Just like do a loop around the party.
Amanda: Yeah, I want to, like, do a loop around the floors, and the roof.
Eric: Cool. Yeah, for sure. Are you doing something to make this easier on yourself which would make you more conspicuous? Or are you just, like, walking around casually and you're, like, constantly moving throughout the gala?
Amanda: No, I'm trying to keep it lowkey. I don't want to make it seem like I think there's a threat coming.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: But if it comes to it, I'll do it if I have to.
Eric: Hell yeah. Gotchu.
Brandon: Milo is having the night off. So, Milo has two cosmos and is lounging on... on a chaise.
Amanda: Lots of chaises at venues like this.
Eric: It's true.
Julia (as Val): Vulcani doesn't say anything to Kilonova, but does give him just a look being like, "You're gonna go do something?
Brandon (as Kilonova): I have the night-off!
Julia (as Val): Do you?
Amanda (as Multitool): We're explicitly working,
Julia (as Val): You're in costume, that means you're working.
Brandon (as Kilonova): I made a fancy costume. It means I drink!
Eric: Brandon, make a... just make a luck roll for me. Do you just roll a D20?
Brandon: Okay.
[Dice rolls]
Brandon: I got a Nat 1.
Julia: Of course! Of course!
Eric: Incredible.
Julia: What else?
Eric: First of all, you are lounging on what should be a three person couch.
[Amanda laughs]
[Julia hums in agreement]
Eric: You just, like, yeah, you have an entire three person couch. Also, because you've already drank two cosmos, I'm going to give you disadvantage on perception checks for the time being.
Brandon: Wonderful. He hasn't finished them. He's just in the process of the two cosmos.
Julia: Is he double fisting cosmos?
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Okay.
Brandon: But he's taking his time on them.
[Eric huffs a laugh]
Julia: It's a true Sex in the City moment.
Eric: This is in response to the wild amount of Nat 20s you've had. Now, it's Chad dice is coming for you. You have disadvantage on perception checks because you're vibing and you're taking the time off.
Brandon: Oh, I fully accept your... your punishment here.
[Amanda laughs]
Brandon: He has disadvantage mainly because he has to put the strings down in order to do anything.
Amanda: True, true.
Eric: Incredible. Yeah, exactly.
Amanda: And the first rule about lounging is you cannot spill on yourself while lounging, that what's... what makes it an active act.
[Brandon and Julia hums in agreement]
Eric: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Hilarious. I love that you have two cosmos even before people show up. And that's when I think people start walking in.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: It's like Milo is... Milo has grabbed his two cosmos and sat down and laid vertically on a three-person couch.
[Brandon laughs]
[Midroll music]
Eric: Hey, it's Eric. Recently, Amanda and I went on vacation. And while we were vacationing, we stopped off at ye' old Brandon's house and he made us Tiki drinks. And I thought you would find that interesting. Welcome to the midroll. They were banana and delicious, and I feel like all of them were from Disney. [Breaking news SFX] Breaking live show news, I know we usually start with the Patreon but you only have two days to get your tickets for the digital live show that is happening. Join the Party Live III: LTC drift, brand new one-shots set in Laketown city on August 26 at 8pm Eastern. Now, is this actually going to be about drifting in neon motorbikes or am I just teasing you about it because I know all of you love Fast and Furious? Who can say? You have to join to find out. Get your ticket right now, because it also includes a VOD copy of the show, then you can watch afterwards. I'm looking at you, Europe. You don't have to stay up until four. You can just buy a ticket and get that VOD. Whether you're attending live or catching up after, get your ticket at jointhepartypod.com/live we're gonna be sharing it all over our socials this week. Check it out. That is August 26 8pm Eastern or after with that VOD, jointhepartypod.com/live. Whew, now that breaking news is out of the way. Thank you to our patrons and all of you who have joined recently. Peggypegs, Rebecca, Claire, Harjof, Flando, Akit, Mary, Heather and Avi. This show is made possible by our incredible patrons, and we could not do it without you. Honestly, we've been checking out all the answers that you've all been saying on this Multitude survey, if you haven't taken that you should probably take that. And we have some really interesting stuff that we think is going to happen in the next few weeks in regards to said Patreon. So, if you have $5 a month and want to support Join the Party, get access to all kinds of bonus content and join our patron only Discord. You can do that at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. If you wish you had more Multitude shows to catch up on; good news. We have a weekly friendly debate show with all of your Multitude hosts called Head Heart Gut. Every month, we take an iconic set of three items from pop culture or the world we live in and pit them against each other. We have decided which is the best fruit, what is the best movie sequel, what is the best thing to do at a theme park, and much, much more. And there's more than two years worth of arguments to uncover. You got to check it out. And Head Heart Gut is exclusively for members of the Multicrew: our membership program that supports all of Multitude as we try new things, launch new shows, and keep the independent podcast engine going. Join for as little as $5 a month at multicrew.club and get access to Head Heart Gut. Oh, wow, I... Oh, thank you. I just got a letter with pin. I don't know who sends letters, now it has a seal on it. And it says, it just says, "Rude," on the seal. It's really odd. I'm gonna open this.
[Tears papers open]
Eric: Oh, it seems that I have a... I have a letter from my good friend Taylor over at Fortunate Horse. And I guess I should use a fancy voice for it because Taylor is such a fancy boy. [in a fancy voice] Rude tales of magic is that podcast people simply can't stop talking about. Call it actual play. Call it narrative play. Just don't call it late for dinner. Yes, fine. You can call them Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, fine. There are dice involved. And yes, fine, we've won over a dozen awards for our acting, writing, and immersive cinematic production. But Rude Tales of Magic is more than just piles of awards, passionate fan bases, and unparalleled talent. We're also a podcast. Rude tales of magic is DM by Brandon Reese, that one guy who made that sharks are smooth, and the one fear t-shirt webcomic would you've definitely seen. Oh, wow, I actually didn't know that he did that. That's really cool. And our cast is made up of comedians and artists and writers whose credits include literally everything that you love. They created Finding Nemo, you probably love finding me about don't you? Then you will love Rude tales of magic. Do you like cartoons? Well, guess what? You're gonna love Rude tales of magic as well. Do you like birds? Like the flying animals; birds? I know this sounds like a stretch, but if you like birds, you'll also love Rude tales of magic. Download Rude tales of magic, wherever you like to do that. Oh, God. I wasn't anticipating being so fancy. Well, sounds like a good D&D podcast. You should all listen to that. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Is there something interfering with your happiness or is preventing you from achieving your goals? Maybe you've kind of wound your way all the way to the end of a bit that everyone loves so much involving bones and witches and you're not really sure where to come up with that and you're worried that, you know, making jokes on a podcast is really tied up with your self-worth. Well, BetterHelp is here for you. BetterHelp is customized online therapy that offers video, phone, and even live chat sessions with your therapist. You'll get timely and thoughtful responses. Plus, you can schedule weekly video or phone sessions, so you won't ever have to sit in an uncomfortable waiting room as with traditional therapy. And it's more affordable than traditional offline counseling and financial aid is available. The two worst things about therapy; one, finding good therapist and two, spencey, BetterHelp is trying to do something about that. Visit betterhelp.com/jointheparty. That's Better H-E-L-P and join over 1 million people who've taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and Join the Party listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/jointheparty. That is B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P.com/J-O-I-N-T-H-E-P-A-R-T-Y. Now, back to the show.
[Midroll Music]
Eric: People are filtering in. I think that after, like, an hour or so we are at full kind of like party buzz. I think that there's, like, a five piece orchestra there. Just playing, like, gala music. It actually sounds really great in here because of the... the atrium that goes all the way up; is that you can really hear the acoustics all the way through. You see a lot of the people who you as-- who you assumed would be there. Like I said, Byron Zorn shows up.
Amanda: What's he wearing?
Eric: Byron Zorn and I'm going to send y'all a photo.
[Julia giggles]
Eric: Well, you don't remember but at the 2021 Oscars, Colman Domingo was wearing these incredibly brights. The LA Times called it Jelly Bean Bowl of Bright Colors.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Incredibly bright.
[Amanda hums in wonder]
Eric: Pink three-piece suit. It is like, and I mean this in the best way possible, it's like neon-magenta. It is like Pepto-Bismol colored in a good way.
Amanda: It's a real jewel tone.
Eric: Yeah, very jewel tone with, like, there's a little bit of, like, metallic glittery strands on the tie and on the... on the shoulders . In my head, this is changing. They're, like, amulets. Gold amulets on the sides of his... of his shoulders of his jacket. And the whole thing is pink.
Amanda (as Multitool): Both Tegan and I stopped him and we're like, "I'm so sorry. I need to know where you got your suit."
Eric (as Byron Zorn): Oh, absolutely. You know, I actually got this on... on... So, I'm... I'm funding this marketplace where people can exchange fashion items from across the globe. But it's not any of those other ones, it's better because there's algorithm.
Amanda (as Multitool): Wow. I'll have to check it out.
Eric (as Byron Zorn): Absolutely. Please do. If you use one the promo code BYRONZORN you get 15% off but only they'll know that I sent you and then it's totally fine.
Julia (as Val): ) Is it all one word?
Eric (as Byron Zorn): Yeah. All one word, all caps.
Julia (as Val): Okay.
Eric (as Byron Zorn): Don't do it lowercase. It doesn't work, it has to be all caps. You're looking at each other and then Byron Zorn is just, like, gone talking to somebody else. Like, you... we didn't notice but he is. He is, like, nearly teleported. He didn't actually --
Amanda: So good at networking that he just, like, didn't even... we didn't even realize he left, he's already in another conversation.
Right.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Like, yeah, his charisma has stayed with you that you feel like he's still there and then you didn't know and then he went to the next conversation. So, yeah, Byron Zorn is there. Mr. Brew Pot is there wearing his only... his only suit which is black. It is his funeral suit, but he decided that he had to wear it here as well.
Brandon: Is it slightly mismatched black though?
Eric: Yeah. It's like, one is like, really dark black and there seems to be like... you know, like an off black.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: One is from one suit and the other is one the other suit and he had to put them together. You will see all the Upcountry Keepers are there. Obviously, they're milling around on the first floor with Emily. Emily is also fucking working the room. She's wearing an all white suit very like Hillary Clinton.
Amanda: Oh no.
Eric: When she thought she was going to win, like, suffragette suit.
Amanda: Oh no.
Brandon: That's a bold choice.
Amanda: Dark. Dark.
Eric: Yeah, it also has, like, a cape on it as well, which is also in crates. It's like white, white.
Amanda: Tegan gasps and puts their jacket on properly.
[Brandon and Eric laughs]
Eric: Taxonomy is currently a horse with a bandana on.
Julia: He couldn't come up with something a little bit more formal? I feel like a wolf would be a little bit more formal for this kind of event.
Eric: Make a charisma roll for me.
[Dice rolls]
Amanda: Or even a moose with a little hat.
Julia: A 15, 12 + .3
Eric: Taxonomy hear... overhears you saying that and then leans over to Sour Anthony who's wearing, like.... like military dress blues which is wild.
Julia: That's just wrong.
Eric: It's super... it's super wild. He's wearing, like, Air Force dress blues.
Julia: He never served.
Eric: No. He definitely didn't. There's stolen valor with Sour Anthony and he changes then into a wolf and then Sour Anthony pulls a bolo tie out of his pocket and puts it around the wolf's neck.
Julia (as Val): Val just goes, "Ugh, someone brought their dog."
[Brandon and Eric laughs]
Eric: Fucking rude. You also see Shannon Red Wine who has her hair up and is wearing, like, a body con strapless, bright orange dress.
Amanda: I give Vulcani a little pat on the... on the, like, not on the shoulder on account of the spikes but, like, the shoulder blade.
Julia: Val is already slightly vibrating.
Amanda (as Multitool): Yeah, smart, smart. Stay ready.
Eric: You will see January is there. Dez is downstairs as we said.
Brandon: What is January wearing?
Eric: January's wearing the same thing that January is usually wearing but it is all... it is all black.
Brandon: Love it.
Eric: Like, black tuxedo jacket, black bow tie.
Brandon: Good look.
Eric: Yeah. And I think that's all the people who you would assume would be there. Then you kind of see everyone fills in. There's a lot of groups of– the Gaga teens are there. You also see that there's, like, a bunch of rich people who you recognize from around, you know, general rich people, Gentry. You see that there are some council folks here including Brian Roper, who's wearing, like, jeans and a tan jacket.
Amanda: Burdock here?
Eric: Burdock is not here. Burdock would... has... has been obviously against the gala, and made a point to not go of course.
Amanda: Damn, I would have thought safety was a thing.
Eric: Not to give superheroes credence and to hang out with them. Absolutely not. He's actually made, like, a very big thing over the last week that he is not going to this thing. And that he thinks it's a waste of time and money. And he's saying that there's government money involved in it but, like, there's not.
Eric (as Burdock): He's saying like, "It's a waste. This is a waste of taxpayer money. Why are we supporting getting Dr. Morrow's science trash off of the streets and hanging out with the weird folks, we're not going to do it."
Julia: It's almost like, as a council member, he should know that there's no money in here, and he just fear mongering, but whatever.
Eric: Whatever. Whatever. Alright, so now, I would love it. If all of you make perception checks. Amanda, you're going to do yours from the roof.
[Amanda hums in agreement]
Eric: And I assume Brandon and Julia, you're going to do yours from– as if you were on the first floor?
Julia: Yeah.
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Eric: Okay.
Julia: I rolled a 13.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Amanda: 17.
Brandon: I got a 2 and a 16, so a 2 + 9 for 11.
Eric: Great. Yeah. Is there anything that any of you are looking for specifically here that I can tell you about?
Julia: Superheroes who I don't know.
Eric: You're looking for other superheroes that you don't know.
Brandon: Yeah, I think Milo would be on the lookout for, like, other singles, you know, because he wants to commiserate, kind of thing.
[Eric laughs]
Brandon: Not to date anyone just to figure this out, but I think Player Brandon by doing that wants to find if anyone kind of looks, like, suspiciously on their own, you know?
Eric: Sure, sure. Sure.
Amanda: I'm looking for, like, if I were casing this joint, I would probably stash materials to help, like, break-in or escape. Like a grappling hook or bag of tools or like a window mysteriously left ajar. So, I'm trying to look for evidence that someone has set some shit up.
Eric: Alright, 17. With a 17 you're up on the roof. You're looking down on the entire party. You're seeing that people are filtering in, it's actually starting to get going. You can see even... even from six stories up that people are picking up Crudités and being like, "Alright, the food's fine."
Amanda: Fuck you, Emily.
Eric: And up there you bump into Shannon Red Wine, who is, like, walking around in, like, 3-inch orange heels up there, also doing the same thing: Making sure that everything's fine up there and be like.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Oh my god, it's so nice to run into you. You're from the other super thing team. Right. Hi, I'm Tuff Stuff. It's so nice to meet you.
Amanda (as Multitool): Oh, is that, like, your internet handle?
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): No, it's my superhero name.
Amanda (as Multitool): Oh, are you an intern? I'm so sorry. I didn't know that... that anyone else was coming from another team.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): No. Oh, I guess Emily. I mean, I guess Emily didn't explain this so we're clear.
Amanda (as Multitool): She's so busy, so...
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Yeah, she's just so busy all the time. I'm... I'm Tuff Stuff. I'm the newest member of the Upcountry Keepers. And you are? Who are you?
Amanda (as Multitool): Genuinely speechless. Hi, my name is Multitool. I organized the event tonight.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Oh! Oh my god. That's so great. Yeah. Emily said that she was having help from people, but I didn't know who exactly it was. No, it's so great. I mean, it's so it's... it's awesome.
Amanda (as Multitool): Listen, can I level with you for a second?
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Yeah. Spill the tea, sis.
Amanda (as Multitool):) Okay, please don't say that.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Okay.
Amanda: Can I roll perception? Actually, no, I'm going to try to intimidate her.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: And say --
Eric: How you– how you do?
Brandon: I think he just did by saying, "Don't say that."
[Amanda and Eric laughs]
Amanda (as Multitool): A, don't say that. B, it's a big city, but a pretty small hero community and --
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Yeah.
Amanda: -- it's important that we, um, we all kind of respect each other's lanes and ultimately spend more time trying to, you know, help the citizenry than we do tear each other down, like you with your incredibly condescending descriptions of me and Emily vis-à-vis like our role in planning this. Maybe it's what Emily told you, and you are uncritically repeating it, but I just wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. And to say that I expect you to uphold the standards of professionalism that the rest of the LT3 and I have set, and later Emily as she later became a superhero. And we've kind of reached a detente and an understanding. So, you know, we're professionals here. We're doing this for the safety of the public in the city. I hope that we can be good colleagues. I would love to, you know, meet other women in the hero-ing business. I think that's great. You don't need to establish dominance over me. So, just layer up inside, each do our own thing. We don't have to like each other. We are colleagues.
Eric: Intimidation roll, please.
Brandon: And then Tuff Stuff burst into flames.
[Dice rolls]
Julia: I was like, "That's all very reasonable. Why is this intimidation?"
Amanda: 18.
Eric: Yeah, I rolled a four on the dice. So --
Julia: Good.
Eric: -- what? Yeah, so what do you... You just want her to fucking chill out?
Amanda: I want her to think that I am just as good as Emily if not better.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Sure. She'll be like, "Oh, I mean, sorry. That's just what I was hearing. I'm don't... I didn't mean to say anything. I was not...
Amanda (as Multitool): Listen, the... the culture of a team. Like, you didn't know what you walked into.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): No, no. I totally understand. I just... I obviously, this is new. I'm just kind of repeating things that I've heard. I thought that that's what it was. I really wasn't trying to step on any toes. I'm so sorry. I'm... I'm sorry. Here, let's... let's take a photo together. It's fine. It will be great.
Amanda (as Multitool): Listen, why don't we do that at the end of the night? I'm just... I'm kind of patrolling right now just make sure nobody uses this as an opportunity to, like, take advantage of any of the heroes or the citizenry. So, how about this, like, I'll... let me text you. This is my number of my... my work phone. And if you see anything out of place, or something strikes you as odd, like, listen, I'm not gonna rat you out to anybody. I just want to know, like, at the end of the day, it's more important for me to try to keep people safe than it is to be like Emily, why did you hire a caterer who's actually a front for a known villain? So or --
Eric: Is that... Is that a thing? Wait. Is that a thing that's happening? Is? What do you mean?
Amanda: No, no. Just as an example. Like, if you see something and you're like, "Oh, my God. Put me in an awkward position, but like, I think it's dangerous. Like, just tell me. I'll check it out. Don't worry."
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Okay. I mean, I can also check it out, too. If that's what you... I mean. I... I'm taking this seriously. I know that it's a party, but I guess it's, you know, we're working. I can just... I'll stay up here. It's fine. I'll stay up here.
Amanda (as Multitool): Just a standing offer. Like, if you need something, you know, tap on the... tap on the atrium three times. I'll hear it.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Okay. Yeah, no. I'll do it from. Yeah, I'll stay up. Why don't I stay up here and you keep patrolling. I mean, I didn't see anything.
Amanda (as Multitool): Cool. Yeah, no worries. Like, I said, I'm not a... I'm not a come out fists blazing kind of person. I'll come if the deal is.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Sure. Hey, what's your... What is your... What's your power? I don't know.
Amanda (as Multitool): Oh. and then Aggie reaches up and her arm stretches 25 feet in the air to grab a, like, stray piece of newspaper that was floating in the wind. Litter, you know? I have a real... a real thing about litter.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Your power is trash cleanup?
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda (as Multitool): Wanna try that again?
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): I'm asking. I'm genuinely asking. What is your power?
Amanda (as Multitool): It's the fact that my arm just stretched, like, 5 feet.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Oh, stretching.
Amanda (as Multitool): Yeah, you know.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Yeah. Okay, got it.
Amanda (as Multitool): What's yours?
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): I get super hard. I just say that in a way--
Brandon: I'm sorry, Eric.
Amanda: Like, impenetrable skin.
Eric: Hardness. Yeah.
Amanda: Armor, maybe.
Eric: Armor. Impenetrable hardness. Yeah.
Amanda: How about, like, um, scratch proof skin.
Eric: Scratch resistant.
Amanda: Pretty good.
Eric: Pretty good. Okay.
Amanda: Alright.
Eric: For sure.
Amanda (as Multitool): Nice to meet you, Tuff Stuff. Is that what you prefer?
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Tuff Stuff. Yeah.
Amanda (as Multitool): Cool. Multitool.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Multitool. I will remember that.
Amanda (as Multitool): Alright. Well, I'm here. If I hear three taps, I'll... I'll come on up.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Absolutely. Three taps, for sure.
Amanda (as Multitool): Okay, cool.
Eric (as Tuff Stuff): Yeah.
Amanda (as Multitool): See you out there.
Eric: With a 17 and because Tuff Stuff was bothering you, you don't see. There's, like, not a grappling hook attached to the roof.
Amanda: Sure.
Eric: You don't see if there's any strange stuff happening up there. I think from the top though you also see, as you're looking down, you see that Mona Adeel is here who is the– our community organizer.
Amanda: Nice. She's just saving all those taffy shops from on un-unionized workplaces.
Eric: Yeah, she's doing similar stuff here. I think that she also has, like, a bunch of friends around who are also, like, interested in the organization and, like, the workers, stuff that's happening here. You see, you look... you're looking down on the fifth floor. This is the floor that's right below you. And Mona has walked up to the fifth floor with a bunch of, like, colleagues or friends. And she goes into one of the rooms and everyone sits down and then you see that the... the glass frosts over.
Amanda: Interesting.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: It goes into cave mode?
Eric: Yeah, it goes into cave mode. And while you're up there, you see it un-frost and frost again, and un-frost and frost again. And then you see her, like, shout at someone and then someone sits down. So, I'll give you that with a 17.
Amanda: So, it ended up being opaque. I can't see through it.
Eric: Yeah. And then she turned it to opaque after someone was, like, messing around with it.
Amanda (as Multitool): Okay, interesting. What are they doing in there in privacy mode? As I walked down, I'm just going to kind of recap quickly on the... on the earpiece and say like, "Listen, I ran into TS on the roof. Tried to --"
Eric (as January): Taylor -- Taylor Swift's in there?
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda (as Multitool): No.
Julia (as Val): Old man Taylor? We haven't seen him since Christmas.
Amanda (as Multitool): It's Quinn's friend. No.
Eric (as January): Is Quinn here? I like Quinn! Quinn bring your best friend Taylor?
Brandon (as Kilonova): Taylor Swift is here?
Amanda (as Multitool): I do hear she has a new album coming out. I did hear that.
Eric: I also want Brandon to know that Milo peeked through whatever, like, frequencies in these earpieces.
Amanda (as Multitool): Anyway, she definitely had instructions to try to intimidate me, but I don't think it worked so...
Julia (as Val): No, that's just how she is.
Amanda (as Multitool): Yeah, I am sure. At the end... at the end of the interaction she was kind of trying to be polite to me, but obviously suspicious so we'll see how that turns out.
Eric: Hell yeah. Alright. Julia, you rolled what, a 13?
Julia: I believe so.
[Eric snickers]
Eric: Alright, you're looking out for new superheroes, right?
Julia: Yeah, people I don't know.
Eric: Right superhero you don't know. Well, the... with a 13, you see two superpowered folks who very much stand out to you. First, there is a woman walking around who the bottom half of her outfit is kind of, like... like a frilly tutu-y type skirt.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: But the top half, you can't see what would that skirt would be part of a dress or a shirt combo, because the top half of her entire body is black opaque shadow.
[Amanda hums in curiosity]
Julia: Okay.
Eric: You also see there is... there is a 14-year-old who is running around. A 14 year old girl who's dressed in a school uniform. On top, like, this uniform jacket and a white button down shirt. And then, the bottom which is kind of like some... some black jeans. She's wearing some goggles that she has pushed up on the top of your head as an Asian woman. But what's noticeable about her is that she is, like, leading by the hand around the party, a 12-foot-tall mushroom with face and mouth
Julia: Oh?
Eric: Like, it is... it has a, like, a big purple cap of a mushroom. As in, like, the body of the mushroom has, like, arms and legs. And then just, like, big cartoon-y face and mouth on body of mushroom.
Julia: Okay, and these people are not here together? They're here separately.
Eric: The ...the shadow woman and the teen with the large mushroom are separate.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: I mean, I got to talk to the teen with the large mushroom.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): So, I think Val walks over and is like, "Um. Hello, I couldn't help but notice both your uniform and also the large mushroom person behind you. I'm Vulcani.
Eric (as Lou): Vulcani it is incredibly nice to meet you. I am Lou Nguyen, very nice to meet you. I'm so glad that you came up to me first because, you know, Room needs a little bit of time to get acclimated with other people. So, just, like, let's talk for... for a little while and then we will talk and it'll be cool, like, now and then Room will know that, like, we're friends and everything. And then you can say hi to Room. So, hello Vulcani. Super nice to meet you.
Julia (as Val): Lou, it's very nice to meet you. How did you -- can I reference Room or would that be rude?"
Eric (as Lou): Oh no, please. Please reference. Like, Room is here and -- yeah, Room just takes a little while to get acclimated to people. You see that Room is looking down and being like
Eric (as Room): Snacks!
Julia (as Val): There are snacks. Yes, correct.
Eric (as Lou): We're... We were just on our way there. If you want to come with us, we're gonna go get some snacks.
Julia (as Val): Sure we can go for a quick walk. So, how did you come across or, I guess come across Room? I'm curious.
Eric (as Lou): Incredible. Incredible question. That's exactly what I want, because, you know, you know no one takes enough time. No one takes enough time to ask me this question. While this is happening, Room is taking Lou and putting Lou on their shoulder.
Julia: This is adorable.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric (as Lou): And Lou was just, like, sitting like a little parakeet on Room's shoulder as walking over to the food area. Be like, you know, people don't take enough time to ask me how this happened. They're all like, "Ah! A giant mushroom." But like, you know, we all have... we have so much more to offer. And it's actually quite a great story. Is that like, well. Well, it's actually not that great of a story. I live on the kind of like, our backyard. It seems to be a... an irradiated area. And I guess that's what happened then. Bing, bang, boom!
Brandon: Bing, bang, boom!
Julia (as Val): Okay, I wasn't.
Eric: You're on a chaise lounge somewhere, Brandon. You're not here.
Julia (as Val): I wasn't sure if perhaps you had created Room who seems very nice and lovely. Also, do you have older siblings? Because I have, like, some sort of desire to adopt you as a younger sibling. But you also seem to have that handled with the large mushroom man that is currently holding you up.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, yeah.
Julia (as Val): Yeah
Eric (as Lou): Having a gia-- I know only-child but, like, the other thing. Unrelated, I'm also the smartest... the smartest person in Laketown City, so that also totally helps.
Julia (as Val): Smarter than Dr. Morrow?
Eric (as Lou): Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Julia (as Val): Okay.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah.
Julia (as Val): I don't doubt it, but I just not a lot of people can claim that, you know?
Eric (as Lou): Yeah. I took a bunch of, like, tests and yeah, that's... it turns out that that's true.
Julia (as Val): Very cool. Very cool. You seem cool, Lou. We can be friends.
Eric (as Lou): Oh, hell yeah. Vulcani, yeah, absolutely. I love your fire powers. That was you. How did that happen?
Julia (as Val): Well, like, I think it's because I vibrate. So, I vibrated so fast and all of a sudden, like, the vibration turned into, like, kinetic energy, which turned into fire. And now I have fire powers.
Eric (as Lou): Hell yeah. Did you, like, have to go through, like, an emotionally wrenching situation for you to get there?
Julia (as Val): You know what, I did.
Eric (as Lou): Oh, man. Okay, I was hoping I would... I can avoid that. I'm trying to assume that tragedy is going to follow me around until that happens at some point. Right now my life is really awesome and great. So, like, it's gonna only well– I and Room... Only will Room and I level up, you know, once bad things happen to us. But I'm really trying to save that off. I don't really... don't want that to happen.
Julia (as Val): I mean, you look about 14 so you probably have, like, a good 14 years before you have to go through a really traumatic experience. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.
Eric (as Lou): Oh, yeah. I mean, likem the world as it is is kind of a traumatic experience when you think about it.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): That's true.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah.
Julia (as Val): You're very cool.
Eric (as Lou): Thanks.
Julia (as Val): I have to go do my job. And Room seems really nice and if he wants to come talk to me, I'm sorry. Room's pronouns are he/him?
Eric: Oh, man. Great question. More like any of the ones that acknowledge that someone is not an object you can do.
Julia: Okay, so anything but “its.”
Eric: Anything but “its.” Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: Gotcha. Cool.
Eric: Yeah.
Eric (as Lou): Room. That's more like me putting that on Room. I don't think Room cares that much, don't you bud? And Room has now, like, put a full mushroomy hand into a crudites platter and it's just like, [munching noises].
Julia: Hell yeah.
Eric: Eating all those... all those celery, and carrots, and...
Julia (as Val): You eat those because, like, they're a little... they're a little wimpy. This caterer is, like, just okay.
[Eric hums in acknowledgement]
Julia (as Val): I have to go do my job, but if you and Room want to come talk to me at any time, I'm gonna be here on the first floor; basically the whole party.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, no. That sounds great. I think I'm gonna go try to talk to some people and see what's up and see if I can. I don't know. Someone will invest in me. Is that a thing? I think that's a thing. There's like some VC people walking around.
Julia (as Val): If I had real money, I would invest in you and your future.
Eric (as Lou): Incredible. Do you have Bitcoin?
Julia (as Val): I don't.
Eric (as Lou): Oh.
Julia (as Val): I know a guy who kinda did. Did he have Bitcoin or did he just short the market? I don't remember.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: That's in character. Julia remembers what happens.
Eric: No, that's fair. No, it's totally fair.
Eric (as Lou): Okay. Yeah, no. I'm just hanging out. Don't worry. I'll try to... I'll talk to some people and see... see if they're cool, and we'll come hang out. We'll come meet you. We'll split up.
Julia (as Val): Cool.
Eric (as Lou): People think I'm cool because... there's a mush -- I'm hanging out with a mushroom dude.
Julia (as Val): I think you're cool even when you're not hanging out with a mushroom man?
Eric (as Lou): Nice. That's what I like to hear.
Julia (as Val): This is the coolest child I've ever met.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: That's what happens when you're the smartest person in Laketown city?
Amanda: I know. I know that I am not there, but is... is Room the same purple as the truffle?
Eric: Great question. Yes.
Amanda: Cool.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia (as Val): Can... Would this be presumptuous of me, Lou? I don't know how mushrooms work or if, like, Room would feel pain, if I had, like, little piece of him.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, let's not.
Julia (as Val): Okay.
Eric (as Lou): Let's not.
Julia (as Val): I just wanted to be sure because, you know, like, I've seen mushrooms like him before. And I don't want to... I want to make sure he's all good and safe and not, like, dangerous to other people because he is an irradiated mushroom man.
Eric (as Lou): No. No, no, no. He's fine. Like, I've done tests. I wouldn't have. One, I wouldn't hang out with him; and two, wouldn't have brought him into public if he could infect other people as such.
Julia (as Val): I do forget that you are the smartest person in Laketown City and I believe that unquestioningly.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, there's no. Listen, there's no Delta radiation waving off of my... of Room here. I think that it's all fine. And I honestly, if lives I. Honestly, like, listen, if I'm gonna run tests, I'm gonna run my own tests.
Julia (as Val): That's fair.
Eric (as Lou): I understand that we're hanging out at a party, and maybe that's not a nice thing to say. But, like, I got a... I got a lab so...
Julia (as Val): You know what, Lou? I'm not super invested in science. Look at me.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric (as Lou): I mean, are you interested in earth science?
Julia (as Val): That's funny because volcanoes
Eric (as Lou): Yeah. volcanoes. Yeah. She... Lou reaches up and, like, snaps. Snaps the goggles on their head, and be like, "Smartest person in Laketown city.
Julia (as Val): Vulcani just goes , "Aright. Hi-five. I will see you later."
Eric: Hell yeah. Alright, on the not exactly chaise lounge lounging room. You're looking for somebody standing out. Brandon?
Brandon: Yeah. Anyone, like, suspiciously alone, you know?
Eric: Sure. I would say, this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but I would say that you notice that there are. Like, there's a group of three people who are kind of standing a little bit more off to the side than everyone else. Like, you know, they're... they're kind of, like, cocktail tables are arranged all over the first floor. And you see that there, there is a group of three people. They're all wearing the same incredibly sleek suits. Like, when you say, "Oh, that's an expensive suit". You're like, "Wow, these people are wearing... wearing an expensive suit." All three of them have short-cropped blonde hair, slim, like androgynous looking faces. Like, it is neither feminine nor masculine. And they're all very rather tall, rather slim. And they're all sipping the same Dirty Martini cocktail over to the side. You also look that you notice that they all look exactly the same, because they... and you're probably triplets.
Brandon: Huh? So this is Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
Eric: Yeah, it's Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Yeah.
Julia: Stepford cuckoos bullshit.
Eric: They're also all incredibly attractive. Like, you're, like, "Wow, those three people are all very attractive, and they're all attractive in exactly the same way."
Brandon (as Kilonova): Hmm. Very odd. Milo's gonna walk over to... Milo is going to saunter over to the shadow woman and kind of walk up and say, "What do you think is up with the triplets over there?
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Oh, ah. Are we... are we coming? Is this... Do you actually mean this or are we, like, commiserating and, like, talking shit.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Both?
Eric (as Shadow Woman): I just want to know, I really want to know just before as I interact with this, do this social interaction, if I'm getting the right vibe from you, so that I can respond properly in this way.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Huh? Yeah, I mean, either... either. What's... whatever you're vibing in, you know? Wherever you're feeling.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Yeah. Hey, here's something that I noticed is that their faces are in exactly symmetrical.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Yeah. That's weird, right?
Eric (as Shadow Woman): You noticed that?
Brandon (as Kilonova): Like, that's not how people work/
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Yeah. Like people... people's faces are supposed to be one side is different than the other. And as you get closer, you know, like, the golden ratio as it all comes together in Grecian because I don't believe in, like, those Grecian and Roman, like, ideas... ideals of beauty, but, like, there is some sort of mathematical quality to it, that their faces are exactly... that their faces are exactly the same. And as you're looking at, you realize that, like, both sides of these people's faces are exactly the same. Though, you see that, like, they are a little. They're... they're not. Maybe they're not like identical twins, but they're, like, almost nearly identical triplets. Do they just make those? Like, are they all from the same town in Massachusetts, and that's where they're from, or are they triplets? I can’t–.
Amanda: From the same cabbage patch.
Eric: Yeah, they all came up with a calf with... all came on one of the same cabbage patch.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Oh, hey, I'm Kilonova. Do you want to do a heist?
Eric (as Shadow Woman): No. No, I don't. Are you... are you one of those bad super villains I've heard so much about? Should I not... I shouldn't be talking to you then.
Brandon (as Kilonova): No, I was just gonna see. See, I don't know if they're real, and I was gonna see if you wanted to help me figure that out.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Oh, oh, okay, you were joking because we were in a situation where there are super-powered people. And I don't know the composition of everyone at this party. I don't know anyone here. It's like I went to a really big, like, church mixer. And now, and, I'm, like figuring it all out.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Yeah, I get it.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): So aren't you. Hey, if you're not a supervillain. If I ask you if you're a supervillain and you don't tell me that's entrapment?
Brandon (as Kilonova): That's true. I was... I was flirting, but that's okay.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Oh, I misread the situation. Yes, let's go on a heist.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Okay, great. Okay, so we're gonna walk over.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Okay.
Brandon (as Kilonova): And then you're gonna tell me a joke or pretend to tell me a joke. And I... I'm gonna laugh hysterically as we get closer to these folks.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Great.
Brandon (as Kilonova): And then I'm going to throw my hands up because I laugh so hard. And toss my cosmos here on to these folks. And if it goes through them, then we panic.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Great. Okay.
Julia: What a plan.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Wonderful. Why don't we think they're real?
Brandon (as Kilonova): Because normal people aren't super identical like that, like super symmetrical and identical. Like, people are identical, sorry. Aren't super symmetrical like that. And there's also a big supervillain who does a lot of, like, fake things like bears.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Okay.
Brandon (as Kilonova): You know?
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's literally a giant mushroom thing walking around. So like, is that also--
Julia (as Val): I think Val over the radio goes: "No, he's cool."
Brandon (as Kilonova): I was gonna say, "Have you seen how cool is that 14-year-old? Like, if they're cool the mushroom's cool."
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Okay, yeah. Do we trust... do we trust [stutters]? Do we trust what the volcano person just said?
Brandon (as Kilonova): Oh, yeah, we do. Definitely. Vulca -- Vulcani is on... We're on the same superhero-ing team.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Oh, okay. So, you're not a super. You're a superhero. Good. You're good side.
Brandon (as Kilonova): I think so. I hope so.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): That's not... Okay, let's do the heist. No, I'm kidding. I'm staying cool. We're running through it. That's great. We're gonna run through it.
Julia: I'm so glad I went with the cool teen and not this person.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Let's do a stealth check. Let's both do stealth checks.
Brandon: I'm going to cast Pass without Trace then.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Incredible.
Eric: I would like you to roll on your Spirit Surge table.
[Dice rolls]
Brandon: Well, that's a 5. So, I hit my Spell surge.
Julia: Oh.
[Amanda groans]
Julia: It's always at a party. It's always at a party.
Amanda: It's always at a party.
Eric: Okay.
Brandon: I rolled a 2 + 2 is 4 + 10 is 14.
Eric: Okay, so here's what happens. Does your Pass without Trace looked different?
Brandon: Yeah, I think Milo tries to sort of, like, match the shadow color of this woman.
Eric: So, the, yeah, you... you do your shadow thing. It's like, [hums in surprise].
Brandon (as Kilonova): I thought we could, like, match, you know? It's like a gala.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): No, that's great and interesting. Here's... Okay, here's the joke that I'm going to say to you. I don't. I think it was going to exacerbate my shadow thing, and I don't think I'm going to be able to control it. [laughs] I know you laugh.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Oh, that... there's a punch. There wasn't a punchline? Cool.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Well, that's... that was the thing I think I'm going to say.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Okay, maybe just say like, 'And then I said that's not my penguin,' and then we walk... as we walk over, you know?
Eric: She's already walking over while this is happening.
Brandon: Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Eric: And that's when.
Julia: What is happening?
Eric: And you see... you now see, as you do the shadow thing, you see that she doesn't have a shadow and the out of her back -- the shadow part of her -- to, like, distended shadow arms with, like, three big clawed fingers, like, burst out of it, and then grab you like you are a log being brought to a campfire.
Brandon: Cool.
Eric: And it kind of just starts, like, wildly throwing you around and drinks are just getting hit everywhere. And the drinks, the dirty martinis of the triplets -- possible triplets -- all from the same cabbage patch were drinking get hit on them and they are like, "Oh no, my shirt."
[Players laugh]
Brandon: So it does hit them physically?
Eric: It does hit them but you are currently grappled and you take --
[Julia laughs]
Eric: -- 30 points of damage.
Brandon: 30?
Eric: 30 points of damage as you're getting wildly swung around the party. Just hitting tables, hitting the wall, and it's all coming out of this woman's back. Being like.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): I'm sorry. I can't get... I can't contain it; the extra shadow that's happening. Turn it off. Turn it off.
Brandon (as Kilonova): It's okay, it's okay. It's okay, everyone. Everyone, everything's fine. This... this... it's fine. Superhero parties happen like this. Is this how you flirt?
Eric (as Shadow Woman): No!
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Can other people see you Brandon or is it just, like, stealth advantage? Like, are you invisible?
Brandon: It's stealth advantage.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: It's stealth advantage, so everyone is seeing this happen --
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: -- around. Brandon, you're... you're currently grappled. You can do something, but everyone in here is seeing it happen. And she is just, like, yelling, like, "I'm sorry, I can't. I don't know what to do. I can't do it. I [stutters] I can't have more shadow. I thought it would be fine with the life of the party around.
Amanda (as Multitool): Wherever Multitool is I'm gonna like, you know, stretch stuff down to them, and just be like, "Hey, can I help here?"
Julia (as Val): Yeah, I think Val's also stepping up and is, like, casting Light immediately. And is like, "Hey, Kilonova, stop doing shadow stuff."
Eric: And I think at this point, also, like, the Upcountry Keepers step up, likem Emily Slaughter is like, they're all just like, "Hey, what's up? Hey, so what's happening here? What's the... What's going on? With what? Kilonova is getting thrown around? Is this fine? Is this a fun thing?"
Julia (as Val): Kilonova are you good?
Brandon (as Kilonova): And it's like, it's like, I'm fine. Don't worry, guys. And I'm going to cast Gaseous Form and just turn into some gas real fast.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Cool.
Brandon: And just slip through the fingers of this shadow creature.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Julia: Which also means you drop concentration on Pass without Trace, right?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Roll spirit surge.
Amanda: I think Aggie's going to stretch up to look like a sail and be a little privacy field.
[Eric laughs hysterically]
Julia: Incredible.
Amanda (as Multitool): Facing outward, just be like, "Don't worry, everybody. Just go ahead back to your-- Get more drinks. There's bars on one, three, and six. Go ahead for it.
Eric (as Lou): Lou is like, "Man, this is a great party. This is wonderful."
Julia (as Val): The bar on the roof is particularly open right now. You might want to head there, there is no line.
Amanda (as Multitool): Short line. No line. No line, in fact.
Brandon: I rolled an 8, sum up to 2.
Eric: Great.
Brandon: And Milo turns into a cloud of interstellar dust and slips through the fingers of this shadow creature.
Eric: For sure. For sure. The shadow hands are still kind of like now flailing wildly. Now, they don't have anything necessarily to grab on to. And I think at this point, you all hear, like, a low buzzing. Like [bees buzzing SFX] And you're looking around and you see that just, like, a swarm of bees. It's not in a swarm where it's like a formalist kind of circle mass. It's, like, they're flying single file. They're flying straight forward.
Julia: It's so much worse.
Eric: And then they kind of, like, encompass the entirety of the shadow hands. Then they fly away and you see that, like, a little hive has been built around the shadow hands. And the shadow hands are, like, having a hard time struggling. And then of course, they kind of, like, shrink down, and shrink down. And like, take a second and take a breath. And the shadow woman is like.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Okay, yeah. Just keep... Can you just, like, keep that light on the volcano person?
Julia (as Val): Vulcani, I gotchu.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Vulcani. Yeah, just keep it going.
Eric: You look it over and there is a guy wearing a beekeeper helmet, like, hat. Not hat like the full helmet.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: But below it, he's wearing, like, a gold and black striped unitard that has a bee doing a thumbs up on it right in the middle. He's also wearing a black tuxedo jacket over that and is wearing all black, everything. Pie top Nikes. He... he... he has gauntlets on one of his arms, which are the beekeeper gauntlets, but the other one; he has the other one to his left one pulled off and you see that he's a dark skinned black man. You can see from his hand. He's like.
Eric (as Hive): Don't worry the bees will take care of it. I got it. Don't worry. Bees. Bees on the way, on it. If you call it... you didn't call for bees but I'm bringing the bees, Don't worry, bees. [bee buzzing] Bees.
Amanda (as Multitool): You did a great job. That seemed to really, really soothe this. I'm sorry, I don't know your name. I'm Multitool.
Eric (as Hive): "It's Hive, super awesome to meet you." And he gives you, like, he's really, like, jacked up from saving the day. So, he, like, gives you, like, a hard high five and, like, brings you in for the bro hug. He's like. "Guys, we took care of it. Hell yeah. I know the bees are factor but we all took care of it. I hope everything's fine. I didn't... we didn't mean to impose on you at all." My face cast for this guy. You can't obviously can't see his face but, like, Elvis Hodge from 10 years ago when he was, like, 25. And he's like, again he's... he like.
Amanda: Leverage era.
Eric: Yeah, leverage era where he's, like, tall, but he's also, like, young person lanky. It's like, "Oh, your metabolism is gonna go soon, but it has not gone just yet." So, he's like, like, younger, like younger in your early 20s, early mid 20s skinny and is just, like, super hype. And he, like, does a chest bump with someone in a suit who's here. He, like, does an up down High-Five with a woman in a ball gown. He's super hyped to have helped here.
Julia: Cool. How's the shadow lady doing? She calmed down a little bit more?
Eric: Yeah, I think that once the hive was built around the shadow hands and you were keeping your light going, she's kind of, like, held. She's doing okay now.
Julia: Alright.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Milo re-solidifies next to Vulcani and turns over to Vulcani and goes, "She's cute, right? You think she's cute?"
Julia (as Val): Kilonova not the time. Like, later maybe.
Brandon (as Kilonova): What do you do at parties? This is what you do at parties.
Julia (as Val): This is what you do at parties? You get beat up by shadow hands?
Brandon (as Kilonova): This is flirting.
Julia (as Val): Milo, buddy, no.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): It's not
Amanda (as Multitool): I'd like to turn to this shadow person and say, like, "Are you alright? I'm Multitool, by the way. I am, um, I'm sorry about that. It's, you know, so many people together; the environment can definitely be a little overwhelming.
Eric: Are you still a sail?
Amanda (as Multitool): No, I think I came down after the... the hive dissipated.
Eric (as Shadow Woman): Oh, yeah. Can you still be. I don't. I am --
Amanda (as Multitool): For sure. For sure.
Eric: -- incredibly overwhelmed by everything that's happening here.
Amanda (as Multitool): For sure. Do you want to, like, head up to the roof or out to the bathroom? Or is this good for you?
Eric (as Shadow Woman): "Yeah, yeah. Let's go somewhere else that someone cannot. Okay, I'll... I'll meet you up in the 5th. I'm gonna meet you up on the fifth floor." And she, like, then walks, like, backwards against the wall. And then, like, melds into the wall as a shadow and then goes [phasing noises] . And just, like, up out of the first floor through the floor, up to the fifth floor.
Amanda (as Multitool): Cool. Guys, I'll be right back and I'm going to just let my... let myself float upward.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Tuck me up. Tuck me up.
Amanda (as Multitool): No. And then I'll, like, use my hands to, like, grab onto the balcony of the fifth floor and pull myself up.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Julia (as Val): And then Val extinguishes their light and is like, "Alright, nothing to see here. There's crudites. Eat them."
[Brandon laughs]
Eric (as Lou): Lou says, "There's no crudites. They're all gone."
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): There's a little... those little, like, the not-Italian-meatballs. The ones with the brown sauce, not the red sauce.
Brandon (as Kilonova): The Swedish meatballs?
Julia (as Val): Yeah. No! The non-Italian ones Milo.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): God.
Eric: It's true.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Hey, Julia, roll a D20 for me.
Julia: Cool. Stupidest Nat 20 I've ever rolled, probably.
[Amanda and Brandon laughs]
Eric: I'm going to give you an option here. I wrote down that Aunt Min would be here. With a Nat 20 I will say, do you want Aunt Min not to be here? And if you want her to be here, who did she come with? She uh, y'all give her Aunt Min and a plus one.
Julia: Eric, I almost don't want to decide that.
[Amanda and Brandon laughs]
Julia: Is that okay? Can I leave that up to you?
Eric: Do you want me to decide?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric (as Aunt Min): Okay, Aunt Min is here. When you start talking about the Swedish meatballs. She's just like, "Ugh, wish there was Italian meatballs here." And that's when you realize Aunt Min is here.
Julia: She just, like, whipped around. Like, what?
Eric: Yeah, who is Aunt Min here with? Give her a plus one.
Julia: Dom five.
Eric: Yeah. Bang! Bang!
[Julia laughs]
Eric: And Dom five is, like, her... straight up her date. Aunt Min is once again wearing, like, an Angelica Houston ass dress. You know, like, the flapper style dresses. How it's all, like, the shimmy shimmy shimmy stuff. But she's wearing one that's, like, covers her entire body. Like, it goes all the way up to her collar and, like, both arms all the way through. The... the dress goes all the way to the ground, and it's also like purple, but it's so dark it's black.
Julia: Gotcha.
[Amanda hums]
Eric: And like, Dom five is, like, on her arm. Wearing, like, wearing like a straight up tuxedo.
Julia: Gross.
Eric: Yeah.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric (as Aunt Min): You're like, Oh, Vulcani, I didn't expect for you to be here. Awkward.
Julia (as Val): I'm literally, like, on the poster. It says, “Hosted by the LT3.”
Eric (as Aunt Min): I hoped it was lying, and we wouldn't have to run in like this.
Julia (as Val): Why would it lie? It's a poster.
[Amanda and Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): It has no ulterior motive. It's a piece of paper.
Eric (as Aunt Min): This shows how unrefined your mind is that you would... you believe just a poster telling you that someone's gonna show up in a place.
Julia (as Val): Okay. I'm gonna go somewhere else now.
Eric (as Aunt Min): Our relationship has soured since we last talked.
Julia (as Val): Yeah, no kidding.
Eric (as Dom Five): And Dom Five is just like, "Hey, Vulcani. How's it going?"
Julia (as Val): No, no. You don't get to talk to me like that.
Eric (as Dom Five): And Brightstone played really well in the last game.
Julia (as Val): You don't get to talk to me about Fritz Brightstone and how the Mountain Lobsters are doing.
Eric (as Dom Five): I think we're gonna do it this year.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): You're not. You're gonna lose again to the Devils.
Eric (as Dom Five): Yeah, they're really good. Alright, okay. He like... he takes, like, a bunch of Swedish meatballs and just, like, shoves it in his mouth.
Amanda (as Multitool): Good, now he won't kiss Aunt Min.
Julia (as Val): Yeah, I think... I think Vulcani turns to Aunt Min and is like, "I thought you had better taste," and then walks away.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Let's go. Fuck. Let's go.
Julia (as Val): Why are there so many people I dislike at this party?
[Amanda laughs]
Brandon: Milo is going to follow Vulcani and just fill Vulcani in on the weird triplets by the way.
Julia (as Val): Oh, they're clones.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Oh, they're clones.
Julia (as Val): Obviously they're clones Milo, come on.
Brandon (as Kilonova): I thought they were some, maybe some, like, hologram thing or something.
Julia (as Val): No. Clones.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Okay.
Julia (as Val): I'm glad that's settled.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Good talk.
Julia (as Val): Good talk.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: Sick. Let's go up to Aggie then.
Amanda (as Multitool): Yeah. I think Multitool will... will... will stretch onto that balcony, grab some water from the bar. I think any party organizer, you know, you... you make eye contact with the catering people and the bartenders and just do a little water signal. And then, one of them tossed me a water bottle, like, right away. And so, I'll... I'll head over to the corner where the shadow person is and just kind of like set it on the table in front of me and be like, "Hey, so sorry about but what happened on there?"
Eric: Yeah. I think that when you signal one of the bartenders to bring you water, and you see that, like, an older man who's, like, incredibly tall, incredibly gaunt, walks over and gives you a cup of seltzer.
Amanda (as Multitool): Thank you.
Eric (as Old Man): Yeah, he goes back. He's like, "Oh, I have to go back up to the... the roof bar."
Brandon: Is this Slenderman?
Eric: Yeah, this is Slenderman.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda (as Multitool): Fifth floor. Oh, thank you for coming down. I'm sorry. I thought there was a bar on this floor.
Eric (as Old Man): No. No, there's not.
Amanda (as Multitool): Oh, thank you so much. I'll... I'll tip him.
Eric: How much do you tip him?
Amanda: $3.
Eric: He yields his hand out for, like, a second to long. Like..
Amanda (as Multitool): Thank you. I'll catch you later.
Eric (as Old Man): Thank you. And then he, like, wal-- And then he has to go, like, walk up the steps up to the roof bar.
Amanda (as Multitool): Yeah, no, I'm sorry about what happened up there. I'm, again. I know I said it. Multitool.
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah, no. I'm just sorry. It's incredibly– I never... I never go to parties or anything like this and I just made such a fucking fool of myself. I'm, Oh, I'm Wendy. Just call me Wendy.
Amanda (as Multitool): Wendy. Yeah, no, you super didn't. Do you want to just, like, sit here quietly. We can also not talk.
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah.
Amanda (as Multitool): Or, you know, there's all these breakout rooms. Do you want to just, like, have a, like, you can just go on one of these rooms and just... just be for a little bit. You turn the Privacy Shield on. It'll be like noise cancelling too so...
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah, I don't know if it's what-- I don't know if it's while if it's, like, causes more attention, then I'm going to be sitting by myself in a Privacy Shield room or sitting in, like, semi public like not. What... What will cause the least attention on me?
Amanda (as Multitool): For sure. Why don't you sit and then I can just, like, talk about stuff or not talk about stuff. And then we can just, like, you know, rest our feet in these sick shoes.
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah. Wait, what sick shoes?
Amanda (as Multitool): Oh, I don't know what you have going on, but I know I'm in... I'm in my fancy sneakers and they're not really worn in.
Eric (as Wendy): Oh, no, I just have my regular flats. I didn't know what to... I didn't know what to wear.
Amanda (as Multitool): Smart. Smart, frankly.
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah.
Amanda (as Multitool): I like your skirt.
Eric (as Wendy): Thanks. It's like what Sarah Jessica Parker would wear in Sex in th City.
Amanda (as Multitool): Oh, yeah. No, that was my immediate vibe.
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah. I mean, it's kind of helpful when you only have to, like, ornament to your body, your bottom half. So, you can kind of I guess, like, go all out on that.
Amanda (as Multitool): For sure. Yeah, that's great. I feel that way. My... my partner, sort of let me jewelry for the situation. I normally not so, you know, adorn, but I think it's pretty cool.
Eric (as Wendy): Cool. Yeah. No, it's cool. Cool. Thanks. Oh, man, do you think this is gonna be the thing that people talk about at this party?
Amanda (as Multitool): No, there is a literal 12-foot-tall mushroom also walking around. So, and I think, you know, not to toot my own horn, but I did get there pretty quick. I've been practicing the, you know, oh, no, the wind blew and someone's skirt is about to go up. Like, that's the kind of reflexes I'm really here for to try to help, like, just preserve people. You know, if… if at all needed, so I you know.
Brandon: They should call you the preserver.
Amanda: Amanda looks at the camera.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Hell yeah. Yeah. No, All... all chill. That's good. It's good.
Amanda (as Multitool): Alright, do you live in Laketown city?
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah, no, I live um. No, I told someone I was not going to tell -- give them my address, because that would reveal things about me. Yes. I live in Laketown city. You?
Amanda (as Multitool): We can be unspecific. Yeah, I live in Laketown city.
Eric: Yeah, I think it was just, like, she's still, like, really freaked out. But you can, like, definitely talk her down.
Amanda: Cool. Yeah. And I'll... I'll just text Tegan where I am just to know.
Eric: She's gonna photo back and Tegan has taken a selfie with, like, the bees constituted a person behind Tegan in the selfie.
Julia: Incredible.
Brandon: Oh no.
Eric: And then Hive is on the other side of Tegan in the selfie.
Amanda (as Multitool): And I'm gonna write back "First selfie with bees?"
[Eric laughs]
Eric: Incredible. I would love it if my good friends Vulcani and Kilonova would make perception checks for me.
[Dice rolls]
Julia: Ooh, I rolled a straight. 19.
Eric: Let's go.
Julia: Let's go.
Brandon: 5 + 9. 14.
Eric: Okay, wonderful. Vulcani, with a 19, you're still just gonna, like, chill on the first floor?
Julia (as Val): Yeah, I was probably gonna go check in to see how Dez was doing in a little bit. I'm also probably, like, keeping an eye out for Hitomi. Like, just make sure she's there and she's good.
Eric: Yeah, Hitomi's not here... not here yet. Obviously, fashionably late, super cool.
Julia: Of course.
Eric: You're looking up on the 2nd floor keeping or trying to keep an eye on everything. And you're looking over at the silent auction and you see that there's a bunch of, like, paintings. You see that, like, a bunch of people are clustered around one. One thing in particular. Actually, Kilonova you... if you see this as well you see that a bunch of people are collected around one particular thing. There's like, four rich people are, like, trying to buy this one item in particular. With a 19 I'll also say, that standing like... like, five feet away as, like, another silent auction item. There's, like, a little... you can see that there's, like, a little placard which is, like, I guess is where, like, they would put a placard as a description of an item that, like, isn't like a physical object. It's like something else. And standing next to that placard is the Sommelier.
Amanda: No!
Eric: Who's just wearing, like, a little black dress as part of whatever this silent auction thing is.
Julia: Like, she is part of it as in she is a physical object that is being auctioned off or she is partaking in the bidding?
Eric: The former. They're not buying her, obviously. But what they are doing is that, like, she... she's like, standing there and whatever she's affiliated with is one particular silent auction item in that she is going to explain what it is on this placard. But obviously, you can't read the placard for what the item is.
Julia: I mean, I guess I'll go up and read the placard and also be like, "What are you doing here?"
Eric: If you want to. This is a perception check.
Julia (as Val): Yeah, man. I guess. I think... I think Val tells Kilonova what's up. So, Vulcani just goes, "This fucking assholes here. I'm gonna go see what's up. Can you check in on Dez and make sure everything's good with him and the items that are coming in so far?
Brandon (as Kilonova): Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.
Julia (as Val): While I handle this nonsense.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Thank you. Yeah.
Julia (as Val): Yeah.
Brandon (as Kilonova): Just holler if you need anything.
Julia (as Val): Oh, hell yeah. And I go up to the second floor and I see what the Sommelier is doing.
Eric: Wonderful. Okay, up on the second floor, the Gaga kids are just hanging out on the second floor watching to see if people bid on their shit.
Brandon: Same.
Eric: So, they're like, "Hey, you wanna? It's like, Hey, you want to buy this sculpt? Do you want to buy? Do you want to, like, bid on this sculpture that's, like, a representation of what the Internet has done to society? Do you want to do that?
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): No.
Eric: And you see that there are a lot of people who are bidding on one of Danny O'Hare's paintings.
Julia: Sure.
Eric: As we said before, this one very, very, very stark. It's like winter sky, winter landscape, very small, like, outline of one person in the distance. But people are bidding... bidding very much on it.
Julia: Because it's a Danny O'Hare.
Eric: Yeah, just because it's a Danny O'Hare. And the Sommelier is now standing next to something that says, "One hour with the best sommelier in the Northern Hemisphere."
Julia (as Val): You should also write on there that you're a supervillain so people know what they're getting.
Eric (as Sommelier): Actually, I think that that would take away from what they're bidding on necessarily so...
Julia (as Val): What are you doing here?
Eric (as Sommelier): I am a part of the auction.
Julia (as Val): Okay, better question. Who invited you to be a part of the auction?
Eric (as Sommelier): You know, someone purchased my services and now I am part of the--
Julia (as Val): And who would that be?
Eric (as Sommelier): Yeah, I, sometimes you don't have all the information, Vulcani. I'm only telling you--
Julia (as Val): So, you showed up because someone was like, "Oh, you should take part in this auction. I'm not gonna tell you who I am, but don't worry about it."
Eric (as Sommelier): Well, when someone buys--
Julia (as Val): I thought you were smarter than that!
Eric (as Sommelier): When someone buys your rate of... of what I can do, then sometimes you just kind of do it. And I listen, I'm on the straight and narrow now, Vulcani.
Julia (as Val): Are you?
Eric (as Sommelier): I'm here just for... just for the wine stuff so...
Julia (as Val): Just for the wine stuff?
Eric (as Sommelier): Listen, do you... would I be willingly standing here in what I-- I shaved my legs and put on this dress for this if I wasn't on the straight and narrow?
Julia (as Val): Well, how much would it? What? How much is your services, normally?
Eric (as Sommelier): Normally? 5000 an hour.
Julia (as Val): I hand you $5,000. Please leave.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric (as Sommelier): I appreciate that, but I think that the silent auction has gone higher than that. Ordinarily... ordinarily, please give me $5000.
Julia (as Val): No, give it back.
Eric: Okay, yeah. You look at the... you look at the silent auction. The silent auction has gone up to like $25,000 for one hour of the Sommelier’s services.
Julia: Val scoffs loudly. And then checks to see what names have been bidding on the Sommelier's services.
Eric: Great question. Make an investigation check.
Julia: 18 - 1. 17.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: Wonderful. You read it through and you're like, "These aren't people. These are, like, shell corporations and stuff.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): How are shell corporations writing down names and bids?
Eric: And it's like, "Charity donations for the good of Laketown City Corp,” or so and lots of shit like that.
Julia: They have to have, like, contact information, so if they win these prizes, we know who to send the art to or whatever, right?
Eric: That's a good question. I don't think that they would write it down on here.
Julia: Sure. But like the... like the guestlist would have it, maybe.
Eric: Correct. With a 17, I would say correct, but they would not be there. That's not what's written down.
Julia: Who is in charge of the guestlist?
Eric: It would be. It would probably be Emily. Emily was responsible for a lot of, like, the--
Julia: The rich people.
Eric: The rich people.
Julia (as Val): Ah, alright. I'm gonna go find Emily.
Eric (as Sommelier): Okay.
Julia (as Val): You don't do anything.
Eric (as Sommelier): I wasn't.
Julia (as Val): You just stand there with your shaved legs and your good dress. And then Val walks away.
Eric (as Sommelier): Bye.
Eric: Hell, yeah. Brandon, remind me what you're doing.
Brandon: I'm just checking in with Dez, January, making sure that everything is chill. Nothing is exploding, you know?
Eric: Sure. Yeah. You want to make an investigation check for exploding?
Brandon: Yeah, sure. I got a 4, so something was exploding that I wouldn't know anyway.
Eric: Cool.
Amanda: Brandon.
Eric: Hey, make a dexterity saving throw.
Julia: Oh, no.
Amanda: Oh no.
Julia: Oh, no.
Brandon: 15 + 2 for 17.
Julia: Alright, better roll.
Eric: Kilonova you walk into the out room that Dez has been working with. And Dez had, there's kind of, like, been a steady stream of people. Dez has been, like, very. You see, like, Dez just, like, he has his workflow and he just kind of, like I said before, he's just kind of going through it.
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Eric: He, like, grabs an item. He's trying, he realizes there's a lot... there's a line. So, he's just, like, really moving through it. He grabs an item, he sprays it down, he looks it over to make sure it's not freaking out. He puts it in one... in a container. Like, imagine, like, a glass oblong, glass container, or plastic container that he's... he's also sprayed down as, like, an anti-magic or anti-whatever-shield. And then he kind of, like, puts it over in the corner and then he goes on to the next one. Every so often he has to, like, open the back door to, like, vent all of the spray in there, right? And you're just, like, watching him move through. And the investigation check was to see how Dez is. What he's, like, spray gun that he's been using if he has been venting it properly, and if it's building up too much mushroom gas power. And you see it building up and then you hear [in a robotic voice] "Warning! Warning! Warning! Pressure venting in 3, 2, 1."
Explosion noise]
Eric: And inside of this sprayer that Dez has been using, you hear... you just see, like, a big puff of the purple magic spray kind of just goes up and then coats, like, everything in the room. It's like, exploded inside of Dez's tank and is now just, like, coated everything. And Dez is just like, "Oh, I can't. Not again." He's like, mad. He's like, trying to swat all the things around. There's some, like, folks that are still in the room that, like, run out with their objects in their hands. So, that they can get covered. And with a 17, you're able to partially roll out of the way and not get that covered in the purple stuff that's going around in the air. But it does cover, like, kinda at your feet. Like, it covers your feet and kind of, like, the bottom... the bottom of your pant legs. And hey, how many spell slots do you have?
Brandon: I've got 4, 3, 3, 3, 2.
Eric: Right. I want you to subtract 1 from each one of your spell slots levels as you see that just the– your coated within. You're like, "Oh, this isn't very good," and you're a little bit less magical. Your connection with the dead zone and with the god Anubis is a little bit less potent now.
Brandon: I just want to say that I blame Vulcani for this.
Eric: Why don't you make an investigation check or a nature check or whatever you want to do to try to, like, figure out what the hell is happening with this big puff of purple dust.
Brandon: Nature or investigation are the same, so I will roll.
[Dice rolls]
Brandon: 15. 14 + 1.
Eric: Hell yeah. Okay.
Brandon: Pretty good? Pretty good?
Eric: Yeah. I think that as the dust settles and Dez just like. Dez is more pissed than anything else, so the sprayer is attached, like, with a hose to this--
Brandon: Ghostbusters backpack?
Eric: Yeah. Like a ghost. It's pretty much a Ghostbusters backpack. Yeah. It's like an ammo pack which is on his back and he's pissed and it's still, it's, like, covered. Like, it's, like, someone splattered purple paint all over this thing. And then he, like, pushes some buttons and it opens up with, like, [air escaping sfx] as it's releasing the pressure. It opens up and you see him reaching to figure as he's, like, figuring out what's wrong with this thing. And in his hand, you see that the thing that was the ammo pack for this whole thing is one of the one-up mushrooms.
Brandon: God damn it. But a small one, right?
Eric: No, it's a big one. Like the size of his hand.
Brandon: Not 12 feet though.
Eric: No, not 12 feet.
[JTP Outro Theme Music]
Transcribed by: John Matthew Sarong