After the party isn’t the afterparty, but figuring out what the hell just happened. Aggie zips shut. Milo loves Ozark. Val is seeing triple.
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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: Nothing happened. What do you mean? I don't know why you're looking at me like that. What? What? Okay, fine. Lots of villains dropped into the Gala to Clear the Streets of Laketown City from Science Trash and ruin the place. What seemed like a robbery job by Painkiller Larsson, and Big Jeff, and The Muncher turned into so much more when a person made out of yarn ripped holes in time and space and started kidnapping party guests. Many of those guests were people of interest and many of those guests were powered, and there might be some overlap there. The LT3 fought back hard and in Val's case, ran around helping a foppish triplet find their siblings, but no one is sure if they were successful, or what's happening next. Lots of people are missing in action, including our favorite floppy-eared friend. The fight is over and the cleanup crew is here, but we can still get the party started.
[JTP Theme Music]
Eric: We've turned the page of the comic book from the villains, like, disappearing in a shower of pixels. And now, like, the next panel is just like a full-page but it's really focused on, like, one janitor in the front. Like, with a push broom trying to, like, clean up all the crudités that was spilled.
Brandon: And what's that? You zoomed in on their name tag and it says Brandon Grugle?
Julia: Huh!
Eric: Confirmed. Brandon Grugle in LTC.
Julia: Finally.
Eric: Yeah. So, we spent, like, a lot of time working on the interiority of Brandon Grugle. Figuring out what he's doing here.
Amanda: Flashback to childhood. Sepia-toned.
Eric: Yeah. So, an entire issue goes by where it's just Brandon Grugle. And now, we're on the next issue. And yeah, they're, like, there's a janitor with a push broom, cleaning up all the crudités around with. A lot of the invited guests have already cleared out. So, you're in this, like, very large building. And there's, like, very few people there now. This is like the detritus of this party and everyone kind of pulling themselves together here. Would you guys like to learn about how short-rests work?
Julia: Eric, it's been four years of me playing Dungeons and Dragons and I don't think I've ever taken a short rest. Please explain it to me.
Brandon: Eric, it's been one week since you looked at me.
Eric (singing): “Cocked your head to the side and said, "I'm angry".”
Brandon: I would like to know how to rest shortly, please.
Eric: Okay. I've also never short rested before. So, we're all learning something together.
Julia: Wooh!
Eric: So, here is how you short-rest. You take a period of downtime, at least an hour-long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds. And then, you're going to spend your hit dice at the end of that short rest. You have 10 hit dice because you're level 10. Each of you have a different die, depending on what your class is. Monks and Druids have d8s and Barbarians have d12s. And you can roll them to regain that number of hit points back, depending on how many of those dice you feel like rolling. And then, when you do a long rest, you get, like, up to half of those 10 hit dice back. So, you can get up to five of those back.
Brandon: Sounds like a good deal to me. Sold!
Eric: I will say, if you want to take a short rest, you do need to take that hour. I think that you will need to, like, vibe for an hour in-game. So, be sure to decide when you want to do that as well. So, I think let's just pick up here. Where are all of you? What have you ended up doing? I think this is, like, a few minutes after the end of the fight. So, what do you think you're up to?
Julia: I think, Vulcani's game plan is, I'm going to forego my short rest because I did not take a lot of damage in that fight. And I don't have to, like, regain any spell slot or anything--
Eric: Brag.
Julia: --like that. Sorry. I was being dragged around by a triplet. I wasn't in much of the fight.
Brandon: That's fair.
Julia: So, I think Vulcani is going to forego that short rest. And I think they're going to, like, go floor-to-floor to see if anyone is, like, stuck anywhere or, like, hasn't managed to evacuate the building yet. And tend to any injuries, or direct people where to exit.
Eric: Cool. Wonderful. Brandon and Amanda, are you going to be taking your short rest now?
Brandon: I think I want to regroup with the team first and get on the same page. But yeah, I think Milo right now is panicking and running around and trying to find the folks that are not here. And by that I mean find January.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Absolutely.
Amanda: Just chilling. I think we should regroup and meet somewhere in, like, an hour and 15 minutes, because I would love to definitely take that short rest. I'm down to 34 hit points, I've used almost all of my ki points. So, I need to do that for sure. I'd also love to, would you say that Eric texting is more strenuous than reading? Does that, can I text during a short rest?
Eric: You may text but anything that requires a roll, I'm going to say you can't do.
Amanda: Makes sense.
Eric: So, like, if you want to try to figure out where someone is and you think that they have their phone on them and they'll text you back. You can do that, but anything more than that, I would say no.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah. I think I want to, like, just sit in the lobby and get myself together as Vulcani is doing this, but I'd love to text Teagan and also Carmen and say like, "SOS. We're going to need you. Where's the safe place to meet?"
Eric: Cool, wonderful. Let's see. If Amanda is short resting, Brandon, do you want to as well?
Brandon: Yeah. If Multitool is doing it might as well.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, Brandon. We can, like, turn a settee or a poof. Like, make a little fort for ourselves. Like, turn it on its side between us and the entrance. Just in case anything comes bursting in. And just, like, lay there with a potted plant between us. Just, just vibin'.
Julia: Incredible.
Brandon: I like the idea that Milo was running around like a chicken with its head cut off and Multitool came out to him and was like, stop it.
Amanda: And I take you over, sit you down. I sit my towel all the way over my head and just, like, sit there quietly.
Brandon: And Milo's going to call on Tuna and they're gonna sit there with their hands and their paws and just, and just meditate.
Amanda: Aw.
Eric: Wonderful. Okay, so let's do that short rest. Amanda, you get all of your ki points back and I assume you want to use all of your, all of your hit dice.
Amanda: I'm just going to roll and see how many I get back, but I'll do up to five.
Eric: That's right.
[dice rolls]
Amanda: Okay, two. Not a good start.
[dice rolls]
Amanda: Three. Okay, no, yeah. I'm just gonna roll all of them.
[dice rolls]
Amanda: Alright, I got 22 hit points back.
Eric: Okay. And you rolled five-hit die?
Amanda: And I lost five hit die.
Eric: Sick.
Julia: How far is that from your top HP, Amanda?
Amanda: That brings me to 56 points of 76 total.
Julia: Okay, you're doing alright.
Eric: That's not bad.
Amanda: Not bad. Not bad. But glad to have my ki points back. That's the important thing.
Eric: Brandon, why don't you do your, your HP thing, and then we'll talk about your spell thing.
Brandon: Cool. So, I am at 33 from a total of 63.
Eric: That's all from getting booshed by Wendy's shadow hands, right?
Brandon: Yeah. Flirting is what it's from.
Julia: Yes, of course.
Eric: Oh, right. Right. Right.
Brandon: So, that's 12.
Amanda: What I appreciate about you Brandon is that you truly leave it all in the field.
[Brandon laughs]
[dice rolls]
Brandon: 27. I'll just say 27, that's fine. So, I did six-hit dice and got me up to 60.
Eric: Perfect. You're a spellcaster, Brandon, right?
Brandon: Shit, am I?
Eric: Yeah. Oh, no.
Julia: Sounds fake.
Eric: We're going to figure out a little way here for you to get some of your spell slots back. I was looking into this and the Druid of Land, the circle of land has a natural recovery thing that they get. And I think that I'm going to extend that to you. If you spend the entire time communing with Anubis or the Ghost World or the Ghost Realm, you can recover a few spell slots. Basically, you can get five points, which is half of your Druid level, and you can redeem those points for spell slots. A level one spell slot is one point. A level two spell slot is two points. Level three spell slot is three points, etc. What spell slots would you like to redeem?
Brandon (as Milo): Well, I will also, I would first like to paint the picture. I think Anubis. I like the idea Anubis likes to get, like, a missive of pop culture from the alive world. So, I think maybe Milo want to go down there and maybe, I don't know, watch Ozark or something with Anubis and just hang out, you know?
Amanda: What does Anubis think of Jason Bateman?
Brandon: I think Anubis thinks Jason Bateman is doing his best work.
Eric (as Anubis): I don't know if you knew this, but Jason Bateman actually directed a lot of these. I like it because so many people die.
[Amanda and Brandon Laughs]
Brandon: And I think I'm going to take a second level and a third level.
Eric: Perfect.
Brandon: So, I have no first-level slots. I have one slot of two and three and five. And then two, four slots.
Eric: Wonderful. Okay. For all of you playing at home, now you can put that on your Milo bingo card that you've-
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: -been keeping up.
Brandon: If anyone had Jason Bateman and Anubis in the middle, maybe go ahead and check that.
Eric: If anyone knew I was going to say Anubis. 100 in comedy points for you. Alright, well, I think that as you two are vibing doing there. I think that you get a text immediately back from Carmen. Was Carmen there?
Amanda: We didn't say that she should be, and all things considered, rather her not be in danger. But she definitely, like, was probably monitoring social and, you know, retweeting any sick pictures of, like, us in our outfits.
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: She’s probably at some, like, HQ. Like, social HQ, you know? Like, getting texts, of photos back from us to put on social, etc, etc.
Eric: Which is Carmen in her bed with a laptop.
[Brandon Laughs]
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Carmen texts you back and says--
Eric (as Carmen): “Do I need to put pants on for this?”
Amanda (as Aggie): No.
Eric (as Carmen): Incredible. I'm on it.
Amanda (as Aggie): Then to Teagan, I'm just going to say, "I just got out of the fray. Are you okay? Where'd you go?"
Eric: Teagan texts you back-
Eric (as Teagan): Oh, I was in the bathroom. Just leaving the bathroom now. Where are you?
Amanda (as Aggie): Lobby.
Eric: Then you hear, “Hey, where, where's Multitool?” And it, like, echoes from Level Three.
Amanda (as Aggie): I'm going to, like, raise a hand and keep one, like, clutch on my side. Like, clutching a bruise and be, like, "Over here."
Eric (as Teagan): You see Teagan leans over the side and be like, "Oh, I'll be down in a second. Should I jump off as well?"
Amanda (as Aggie): No, no, that's just for me.
Eric (as Teagan): Oh, Okay, I thought… I wanted to do cool things, but now it's fine. Alright.
Eric: And then yeah, Teagan's going to take the stairs down to you. I think Teagan then meets you on the first floor on the settee.
Eric (as Teagan): Like, are you, can I do anything? What, what do you, can I, how can I help? Can I do anything?
Amanda (as Aggie): I just need to, like, sit here quietly for, like, maybe 30 more minutes and just get all my, all my processes running properly again. I got a little banged up there. Kilonova’s doing that too. And then I gesture where Kilonova is sitting with his hands out in front of him. Clutching paws that no one can see.
Brandon: I forgot about that.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Just like no eye. Just no eyes.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric (as Teagan): No pupils. It was like, Is he, is he, is he okay? He heard like, “Oh my God. A casino?”
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric (as Teagan): That, That sounds.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah.
Eric (as Teagan): Is he watching Ozark in there?
Amanda (as Aggie): I think he has a mind palace situation, where he, you know, retreats to recover as well. I think Vulcani is doing a sweep. Anyway, I, that was really bad. Bunch of people got taken. Bunch of civilians and a bunch of villains came here and then pixelated away. Can you, like, bring your beautiful brain to bear on this issue here and help us root out Gutenberg? Because I am fucking tired of this. And the last thing that January said before he was taken God knows where, is Movable Type, which you know, I'm not. Didn't get a degree. You know what I mean? But, like, I know, I know that Gutenberg invented the printing press. Like, that's just a, that's just a, a thing in the world. And I'm smart enough to put those two things together.
Brandon (as Milo): Anubis. Anubis knows!
Eric (as Teagan): Wait. Movable Type? The-
Amanda (as Aggie): Those are the fuckers that fired you, right?
Eric (as Teagan): Yeah, they're the ones who fired, fired me from Average Bear who just invested in Average Bear, and then I got fired. Why are they? They donated here... Gutenberg and Movable-- fuck. Oh, how did I not put that together? It was right in front of me.
Julia (as Val): Especially as an investigative journalist.
Brandon: Val says under their breath.
Eric (as Teagan): Shut up, Vulcani! Oh my God. I fucking hate those guys. Well, I didn't think that they were… I mean, are all VC companies secretly run by supervillains? Should I be, is that like a thing?
Julia (as Val): No. They are like a mundane evil.
Amanda (as Aggie): I think, I think unequivocally, yes. Right now, the one that I'm most concerned about is Gutenberg. So, we don't, we need to, like, I don't know, between you, I texted Carmen also, she is like a researcher of the highest caliber. No offense but, like, she, the things that she can find out about like bots and shit are scary. So, I think between the two of you, you will be really big help in finding out where this is. Like, no offense Dr. Morrow, we've gone to her. We've tried. This is not fucking working.
Eric (as Teagan): Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. I will get, I'll get on that. I'll plug myself into the research stuff but hold on, I need to do something really, really important, just really fast. And for the remainder of your short rest, Teagan just, like, has you in a big hug all the way around.
Amanda: Aw.
Brandon: I know this isn't actually true, but I like the idea that Carmen is just like a Gen Z-er and she's younger than all of us. She's like, "I'm not a great researcher. I just know how to use the internet."
Julia: Just know how to advance search on Google.
Eric: Brandon, that's 100% true.
Brandon: Oh, okay, great!
Eric: Carmen is just like, Carmen is just like 22 and good at her job.
Brandon: We do a cutaway to a flashback of Milo trying to teach Carmen to how to use a sniper program on eBay and Carmen's just like, "eBay huh?"
Amanda: You know they have this on depop, right?
Eric: Do you know what StockX is? Like, I have this already. I don't need you. I don't need you to do that. Okay, let's go to Vulcani who's do, who's allowed to roll.
Julia: Cool. I would first off, I'd like to grab the guest list from, like, the check-in area so that I can, like, double-check people with the list. So, like, I will discover if someone is there that isn't supposed to be there or something like that.
Eric: Hell yeah. Up at the front, there, I think that there's definitely someone who is a lot more relaxed because Emily Slaughter hasn't looked over their shoulder in the last 30 minutes or so. And yeah, I think that they give you the guest list, which is on a specialty iPad.
Julia (as Vulcani): Cool. And I think Vulcani is like, "You can leave now. Like, we should probably evacuate. Like, you know, the personnel and stuff like that.
Eric (as employee): Oh, fuck I mean, like, I still have, like, an hour left on the shift so can you just find out.
Julia (as Vulcani): I will make sure that you are paid for this remaining hour and, like, for the end of the day. Emily Slaughter's dollars. Alright, let's go.
Eric: Oh, fuck yeah, dude. And this person running the front door just takes a longboard out and then scoots away.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Eric: Wonderful. So yeah, you have the guest list. I can tell you the names of everyone. Remind me again, what, what do you, what do you want exactly?
Julia: So, I would like to kind of do a sweep of all the floors to make sure that there's, like, no one's stuck anywhere or injured or anything like that. And also, to kind of like double-check the names of anyone that I don't recognize. I would also like to find my girlfriend but that is like part of the reason I am doing this.
Eric: Sure. Sure. Sure. Start by making an investigation roll for the invite list.
Julia: Cool. Can I use my fame at all for this?
Eric: No, you cannot.
Julia: Okay.
Brandon: You're famously good at reading.
Julia: I got a 17 - 1, 16.
Brandon: Oh, damn.
Eric: Great. Okay, with a 16. I'm going to say that everyone you ran into was on the guest list.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: You can kind of put together the names of the two folks who walked in with Hitomi because you're like, "Oh, well. There's Mona and here are some other organizers here." It's, like, people are grouped by rich people, community organizers, supers.
Julia: Emily!
Eric: Etc. Yeah. You can put together that the woman in the wheelchair, his name is Kathleen Devi, Kathleen D-e-v-i, who works at SUNY LTC, and then the guy with a beard. His name is Robin Garcia, and he was looking to do some community work in Weston. He's from Weston. You also see that, like, all the shell corporations that were listed next to the Sommelier they are attached to people, which are probably all of the rich people who you ran into who were in the frosted glass room there. There's also a corporation next to Byron Zorn's name.
Julia: What is the name of the corporation?
Eric: The name of the corporation is just, like, The People For a Greater Today and Tomorrow.
Amanda: Oh, no.
Julia: Oh, okay.
Eric: LLC.
Amanda: Oh, no.
Julia: So, he's definitely running for mayor.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Listen, it doesn't say there's a super pac next to that name, but doesn't it sound like it, huh?
Julia: Mmh-hmm.
[Brandon Laughs]
Eric: And that's what I'll give you at the 16.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: Oh, you also see that Mason, Mac, and Maxie Multitude all were invited.
Julia: Okay.
Brandon: Everyone take a shot.
Amanda: I feel like suing you for defamation, this is such a weird feeling, to hear the word Multitude out of this podcast.
Julia: Alright. So, I would like to start searching for people and kind of checking names as I go off the list being like, Alright, I found this person. I found this person. I found this person.
Eric: Sure. Make a-- This is a perception check for me.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: You also still have the, the contacts in.
Julia: Oh, great.
Eric: They're kind of running out. So, the, this is the last perception check I'll give you.
Julia: Okay, great. I rolled a 15 and then a natural 20 so.
Eric: Bang. Let's fucking go. Julia, will you roll a 1d4 for me?
Julia: Sure.
Amanda: Oh, shit.
[dice rolls]
Julia: What? A two!
Eric: I'm going to give you a choice here again with a Nat 20. I love giving Julia choices. As you're running around, which of the Upcountry Keepers, would you like Taxonomy to be around or would you like Sour Anthony to be around? Remember Sour Anthony is currently wearing a military dress uniform that he is doing, he is doing stolen valor with.
Julia: I would like to do Sour Anthony so I can rip the patches and the badges off of him.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Incredible. Yeah, I think that you go up to Floor 2 and I think that Sour Anthony is like in the detritus of one of the bars that has been pushed over over there. And he's like, just in total disarray and like covered with drinks. His fake uniform is, like, stained with, like, crème de menthe and triple sec.
Julia (as Val): Cool. I go up to him. I rip the patches off of his uniform. I go, "Where the fuck were you?"
Eric (as Sour Anthony): I got trapped, I got trapped in a net!
Julia (as Val): In a. Yeah, okay. Useless.
Eric (as Sour Anthony): There was yarn everywhere. They tried to pull me in, but I fought my way out.
Julia (as Val): I haven't seen a single one on you this entire night. So, forgive me if I don't believe you.
Eric (as Sour Anthony): Oh, fuck you, man.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): I'm not going to do this with you again, Sour Anthony. I'm not going to do it.
Eric (as Sour Anthony): Can you? There are still people around who were at it or we are at our jobs.
Julia (as Val): Alright, Top Gun or whatever the fuck your name is.
Eric (as Sour Anthony): Close enough. Fuckin' Charmander can’t even evolve into a...
Julia (as Val): Alright, where's the rest of your team?
Eric (as Sour Anthony): I don't know I got trapped in a net!
Amanda: Are you saying a nut?
Eric: Trapped in a net. Yeah, trapped in a nut.
Brandon: Trapped in a nut.
Julia (as Sour Anthony): I'm trapped in a net.
Brandon: It's just a net.
Eric (as Sour Anthony): It's just a nut. I don't know. I haven't seen them. Tuff Stuff’s running around. Emily was in a meeting. I don't know.
Julia (as Val): Who was Emily in a meeting with?
Eric (as Sour Anthony): Uhh… Some rich person. I don't know. Really attractive, very symmetrical face like Grecian. Or like, the, like the golden ratio.
Julia (as Val): Like, blonde?
Eric (as Sour Anthony): Yeah.
Julia (as Val): Were the two other people that looked very similar to that person?
Eric (as Sour Anthony): I don't know, man. I was drinking grasshoppers with the Crème de menthe, man.
Julia (as Val): Alright. You're useless. Get out of here.
Eric (as Sour Anthony): Well, fuck you, man.
Julia (as Val): Yeah. Fuck you!
Eric (as Sour Anthony): Fuck you!
Eric: And he flies up to the roof to get away, get away from you. Just, like, smelling like so many sugary liquors.
Brandon: He doesn't fly. He just hovers.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: He hovers up to the roof.
Eric: He. Oh, yeah. He hovers slowly up to the roof. With a nat-20 as you're kind of like scoping around the other floors. I think you may be making up to Floor 4. You run into one of the triplets.
Julia (as Val): Which one are you?
Eric (as Madison): What? I don't know what you're talking about.
Julia (as Val): Which one are you? What's your name?
Eric (as Madison): I was trapped in here for so long. Hi, I'm Madison Multitude.
Julia (as Val): Wait, but there. There's no Madison in the triplets.
Eric (as Madison): I'm here with, I'm here with both of my triplets. Mason and Mac.
Julia (as Val): Oh, so you're Maxie?
Eric (as Madison): No, I. No, I'm Madison.
Julia (as Val): So, who is Maxie?
Eric (as Madison): I don't have any idea what you're talking about.
Julia (as Val): One of your siblings came it was like, "I got to find my siblings Mac and Maxie!”
Eric (as Madison): I mean, I don't know where any of my other siblings are. So, maybe you can help me with that.
Julia (as Val): They're on the roof, and now we're going to go up there together because I'm very confused. And one of you tried to, like, chloroform me with a napkin? We're going to find out what's going on here.
Eric (as Madison): I don't know why they would do that. That doesn't make any sense to me.
Julia (as Val): Were you in a meeting with someone named Emily Slaughter?
Eric (as Madison): No, I showed up only a few minutes ago.
Julia (as Val): Okay, we're going upstairs now. I don't trust this shit.
Eric: Wonderful.
Amanda: I’m glad you give Julia the many doppelgangers to deal with because I couldn't handle this shit. I would, like, spray paint them on their foreheads.
Julia: That's a great idea. Val just, like, puts a little, like, mark on their cheek. “You’re one now.”
Eric (as Madison): That's fine. We were all born at exactly the same time.
Julia (as Val): Terrifying.
Brandon: That would kill your mother.
Amanda: Oh no, that's terrifying.
Eric (as Madison): Don't talk about my mother like that. Slap. We're in a duel.
Julia: You’re watching Ozark with Anubis, shut up.
Eric: Brandon's still watching Ozark.
Brandon (as Milo): I love Wyatt!
Eric: Okay, you have-. (laughs) So, yeah, you have Madison--
Amanda: Someone give that girl an Emmy!
Eric: Julia Garner deserves an Emmy. Yeah, so now you're walking around with Madison Multitude.
Julia: Okay. I want to find the other triplets.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: As many of them as I can find. I want them all in the same place.
Eric: Okay, with a nat-20. Yeah. You go to the roof with Madison. And you find Mac on the roof.
Julia: Okay, Mason's gone.
Eric (as Mac): Mac says, I don't know. I was looking around for you. Where have you been, Vulcani?
Julia (as Val): You're the one who tried to stuff a napkin in my mouth?
Eric (as Mac): That doesn't sound like me at all.
Julia (as Val): I'm so fucking confused. You all look the same.
Eric: Both of them say at the same time, "I don't think we look that similar."
Julia (as Val): Oh, you suck so hard.
Amanda: Tag ‘em on the cheek with a number
Julia (as Val): Yeah, your number two now Mac.
Eric: Make an attack roll on that.
Julia: Sure.
Eric: Because you know who doesn't want to be touched? A fancy lad.
Julia: Hey, 18 + 8 + 4.
Brandon: That's high.
Eric: Yeah. I think that Mac tries to, like, pull away. He's like, Don't touch me, and then you tag them.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric (as Mac): And Mac says, "Oh, I didn't like that at all."
Julia (as Val): Mac, what were you doing during this party?
Eric (as Mac): I was around. I was donating to one of the various things to take the science trash off of the street.
Julia (as Val): Where were you when the fight started?
Eric (as Mac): I was on the roof.
Julia (as Val): No, you weren't because I would he--. I was on the roof when the fight started.
Eric (as Mac): That doesn't sound like me at all.
Julia: Okay, I'm going to use the Unknown Glasses.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: And look at him. And one of the properties of the Unknown Glasses is I can identify if someone or something is an illusion, a construct, or something else that is not what it seems.
Amanda: Fuck yeah, dude!
Eric: Cool. Make an arcana check with them as well.
Julia: Can I do it with advantage?
Eric: Yeah, because you're using the Unknown Glasses. You deal with advantage.
Julia: Oh, that was a good roll for the first one. Okay, so I rolled a 4 but I also rolled a 17. So, it's a 16.
Eric: Okay, nice. 16. Yeah, you're looking at Mac and you're looking at Madison. And Madison, like, when you pop the Unknown Glasses on.
Julia: I feel like it's visor-- Like, you know how certain sunglasses you can clip on, like, an--
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: --additional layer of the sunglasses? I feel like that's what it is. It clips on to the visor that I already have going on.
Eric: Hell yeah. I love that. Yeah, you clip the Unknown Glasses on. And so, you know when you're looking at, like, heat-seeking glasses or, like, the heat with the heat signatures.
Julia: Like an infrared.
Eric: Yeah, like infrared. And you, like, see the heat of a person, so you know it's a person. You look at a chair and you don't see anything.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: So, you look at Mac. And Mac has the whole heat signature thing going on. And you look at Madison, and Madison has no heat signature going on.
Julia (as Val): Alright. So, you're a robot.
Julia: And then I grapple Madison.
Eric: Wonderful. Let's make it an opposed roll here.
Julia: Okay, that's a strength check, right?
Eric: Yeah.
[dice rolls]
Julia: So, it's a 13 + 8 + 4.
Eric: What's that?
Julia: 25?
[dice rolls]
Eric: Alright, let's roll again. We tied.
Julia: Oh.
Brandon: Whoa.
[dice rolls]
Julia: Okay. Alright. Ooh, that's good. 31.
Brandon: Holy shit.
Eric: (laughs) Yeah, 31. Yeah, you grab Madison, and after Madison, like, again, tries to, like, get out of your grip and be like--
Eric (as Madison): What? I'm not doing anything. Why are you, Why are you attacking me?
Julia (as Val): You're a robot. How does Madison feel as I'm holding them?
Eric: Like a person.
Julia: Like a person? Does it feel, like, there's heat coming off of their body?
Eric: Good question. I would say no.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: But they certainly feel like a squishy person.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: And, I think Mac says--
Eric (as Mac): Stop! Stop manhandling my sibling. What are you doing?
Julia (as Val): Mac, name your siblings for me.
Eric (as Mac): I don't know why. It doesn't. Well, I think that instead, you should leave us alone.
Julia (as Val): No, tell me your siblings’ names right now.
Eric (as Mac): Well, there's me. And there's me. I'm Mac, and Mason, and Maxie, and Madison.
Julia (as Val): You guys told me you were triplets!
Eric (as Mac): There's plenty-- we have a lot of siblings.
Julia (as Val): Oh, god! Why does this one not have a heat signature but you do?
Eric (as Mac): That's a. That is not. That's not dinner-party-conversation. To ask someone about their heat signature.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Val): Listen, I have to be a little suspicious right now. So, you can answer my questions and I won't, like, you know, have to detain the two of you. Or you could cooperate with me.
Julia: And I would like to intimidate.
Eric: Alright, make an intimidation roll.
Julia: Cool.
[dice rolls]
Julia: 17.
Eric: 17. Okay. Alright. Let's make dexterity checks here because we're going to go into, like, a loose initiative to see who gets to move first.
Julia: Oh, I get advantage on that then.
Eric: Cool.
[dice rolls]
Julia: I got a dirty 20.
Eric: Okay, with the intimidation that that rides. I think that you can move first in doing intimidation. Remind me again. What are you trying to intimidate? What are you trying to do?
Julia: I want them to answer my questions. Truthfully. I would like to intimidate a Zone of Truth, basically.
Eric: Yeah, that's totally fine. Let's let that ride. So, your question is, Why does Madison not have a heat signature?
Julia: Yes. Also, I can see that Madison wasn't invited to the event, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: You've listed them off.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: And it was Mason, Maxie, and Mac.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: I think Mac straightens up a little bit and says--
Eric (as Mac): Well, when I'm putting everything else together, I guess I can't give them a heat signature as well.
Eric: And now it is Mac's turn and Mac is going to grab the wrist of Madison. And Madison, starting from the wrist is, like, literally going to get sucked into the hand of Mac Multitude.
Brandon: Oh, god!
Julia: Multiple Man, got it. Alright, cool.
Brandon: Multiple Man! I was about to say that.
Eric (as Mac): It's like, well, I guess it's time to take my leave. Thanks for helping me out, though. And then takes a few steps back and then just goes over the railing of the building.
Julia: I look over to see where they've gone.
Eric: As you run over, you see Mac Multitude fall one-story, two-story. Mac blows you a kiss and then disappears into pixels.
Julia: Gross. Another villain, another fucking villain.
Brandon: I like that. He’s good.
Amanda: There's a number two on his cheek.
Julia: Piece a, piece of shit. Oh, I, did I find Hitomi while I was doing the floor checks?
Eric: Great question. No. Hitomi, Murph, Kathleen, and Robin are not in the building.
Julia (as Val): I think Val, Val is going to text Hitomi being like, "I heard there was a problem at your party. Are you okay? Please answer. Let me know."
Eric (as Hitomi): Hitomi says, "Oh my God. Yeah, a bunch of villains showed up, but then a bunch of superheroes showed up. It was tight. We ran out when that stuff happened, I’m at a diner like 10 blocks away."
Julia (as Val): Cool. You and all of your friends are good?
Eric (as Hitomi): Oh yeah, I'm with Murph, and then we met some people and we were all just kind of like hanging out here.
Julia (as Val): Cool. Just you and Murph?.
Eric (as Hitomi): Oh, no. We have a, like, two community organizers and we're kind of chillin’ out there. I got disco fries.
Julia (as Val): Cool. Have fun. Bring me home some disco fries.
Brandon: Aw.
Eric (as Hitomi): I might have eaten all of it but I'll order another one to bring home.
Julia (as Val): Thank you.
Eric (as Hitomi): Got you. Heart emoji. Heart emoji. Heart emoji.
Julia: Adorable. What color of heart does Hitomi use?
Eric: Hitomi uses green and then does a pigeon at the end.
Julia: Incredible.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Alright, so now the short rest is over. All of you can get all get back together.
Brandon: Yay!
[Midroll Music]
Amanda: Hey, it's Amanda. This might be an unconventional one, but I just wanted to shout out siblings in this mid-roll because I was recently looking for a new skincare routine. And it occurred to me, Oh, hey, I could ask the three people whose skin is genetically the same as mine. And sure enough, my siblings had great skincare to recommend. So far, I'm really enjoying it. So, here's to you guys. Welcome into the mid-roll.
Thank you to all of our patrons, and especially those of you who joined us recently. That Sebastian and Christine, welcome. And a special shout out to Joost, whose name is not juiced. I'm very sorry about that in the After Party. We get to make Join The Party because of our incredible patrons and we truly could not do that without you. So, as a thank you all for your support and give you more Join The Party content to enjoy. And frankly, us, more Join The Party content to make because we enjoy that. We are launching a brand new podcast just for our patrons. That's right. It's called Party Planning, and it's a monthly but probably more often because we're enjoying it so much, video podcast where DM Eric answers your in-depth questions about playing and running D&D and other TTRPGs. Every episode, Eric is joined by one of us players or maybe some of our friends. We're not sure yet. To talk about topics like character and item creation. Being a better and more fun player and DM. Homebrewing and re-skinning and navigating interpersonal situations. All of the stuff that you want to ask about running games. At the $5 tier, you patrons get the audio of Party Planning. And at the $10 tier and up, you can see our voices come out of our faces, I know it's kind of weird, with the video version. Plus, at the $20 tier, you get priority when submitting questions to the show. And best of all, the first three episodes are available today for all of our patrons, whether you're at the 5, 10 or 20, whatever tier you're at, you have access right now to three episodes of Party Planning. You can listen to me, talk about the DM-Player relationship and how DM/Player/Snacks is my OT3. Brandon and Eric talk all about monsters and combat and just bring a chaotic energy that I very much enjoy. And Julia and Eric tackle Swordtember by making up new items on the fly that you can use at home. These have been so much freaking fun to record. We had the idea after reading your feedback in the Multitude Summer Survey. And then within, like, two weeks, I've recorded three episodes of it because we just love it so much. And that is all because of you, our patrons. We hope you enjoy it, and please leave us feedback in the Party Planning channel of our Discord. We're going to make a heck of a lot more and we can't wait to hear what you think. And of course, if you want to listen to or watch, weird, this new monthly podcast from Team JTP, all you have to do is join our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Go to patreon.com/jointhepartypod and become a patron today.
It is also a great day to check out the other shows that are part of the Multitude Collective. I think you would really like Exolore. If you listen to the show, I know you think about world-building and wonder what life would be like on a planet, or country, or city, different to your own. You got to wonder no more about how writers create these worlds, because we have the facts for you. Every other week astrophysicist/folklorist, that's right. Dr. Moiya McTier explores fictional worlds by building them with a panel of expert guests, interviewing professional world builders, and reviewing the merits of worlds that have already been built. All of Team JTP have been guests on the show. So, those are great episodes to start with. You will learn and laugh and gain an appreciation for how special our planet really is. Subscribe today by searching Exolore in your podcast app, or go to exolorepod.com.
This episode is sponsored by Plant Hero. I am so excited to tell you about this new sponsor because Plant Hero provides a personalized one-on-one video call with a plant specialist to assess your plants and your space. Saving you time and money by giving direct and actionable advice for anybody with houseplants or gardens in North America or the UK. I had a call with the Plant Hero Advisor Ian yesterday and learn so much about what my plants need. What kind of fertilizer I should use and when. Different kinds of fertilizers are good at different times of the year, I didn't know that. And even got some help identifying a mystery plant that I got in a swap meet but wasn't sure how to care for. Their specialists hail from botanists, farmers, plant scientists, and horticulturalists who are ready to lend a hand to anyone with plants or gardens. We all love our plants, and they are on a mission to make plant parenting as stress free as possible. Check them out online at planthero.app, where you can use the code join the party at checkout for 25% off your first plant or garden checkup. That's planthero.app. And use code, join the party at checkout for 25% off your first plant or garden checkup.
We are also sponsored by Girlfriend Collective, a sustainable activewear company for everyone, whether you want to feel comfortable while walking, doing yoga, swimming, or just lounging around at home like Tuna the Cat. They make cute and comfortable clothing ranging from sizes XXS to Six XL. They sent us some leggings and I love that they came with pockets. Pockets. Life-changing. They're also squat proof so you can exercise or lounge with ease. I know a ton of us are trying to be more sustainable and ethical on our consumer choices. So, I'm glad to know they use recycled materials, and their packaging is 100% recyclable too. They even have a garment take-back program. So, once you're done loving your pieces, you can send them back to the upcycled into new gear. For listeners of the show, Girlfriend Collective is offering $25 off your purchase of $100 or more when you go to girlfriend.com/jointheparty. That's $25 off $100 or more when you go to girlfriend.com/jointheparty. girlfriend.com/jointheparty.
Finally, this podcast is sponsored by Better Help. This is how I get therapy every week and it's a great option for you to consider if you're looking for a trained therapist to help you work through things in your life. You can start communicating with somebody in under 48 hours and find a broad range of expertise that may not be available to you locally. It's available worldwide and they've already helped over 2 million people take charge of their mental health, with the help of an experienced professional. You can log into the app anytime and send your therapist a message as well as schedule those phone, video, or even live chat sessions however you feel most comfortable. Better Help wants you to start living a happier life today and so do we. As a special offer for Join The Party listeners, you can get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/jointheparty. That's better h e l p .com/jointheparty for 10% off your first month of therapy. You deserve to live your best life, and therapy can be a great tool to help you get there. And now back to the show.
[Theme Music]
Eric: Vulcani you're going to relay all that information, blah blah blah. What do y'all want to do?
Julia (as Val): Hey, Kilonova?
Brandon (as Milo): Yeah?
Julia (as Val): Before we leave, can you, like, look at this the, like, knit stuff and see if maybe we can like, I don't know, trace the science back to the people who made it. Maybe.
Brandon (as Milo): Have you guys ever watched Ozark? It's fucking great. And then Milo goes over and picks up some of the yarn. I think Dr. Morrow might actually be able to help too, but I can give it a shot.
Julia (as Val): Cool.
Eric: Yeah, I think, do you think you would arcana check just straight up on this thing.
Brandon: Okay, great.
Julia: Can I give him the help action in some way, by also looking at it and being, like, mmm, science.
Eric: I think that the way to do it because you, you're the one who destroyed the net, you can pick up, like, the burnt fibers of some of them because a lot of it is gone. Because it's, like, those portals, or those rips in time and space. Like, lassoed a lot of the yarn back into it. So, you can be, I'll give you, let you give the help action because you burnt one.
Julia: Roll with advantage.
Brandon: Thank you. Okay, so I'm also going to cast guidance. So, I add a d4, 11 + 2 is 13, + 5 is 18.
Julia: Whoo.
Eric: What exactly are you looking for?
Brandon: I would love to see if I, like, recognize any of the, like, in science terms, the school of magic kind of vibe. Like, is it a mushroom deal going on or some other kind of, like, you know, it's just some sort of scientific signature of the maker.
Eric: Sure, sure, sure.
Julia: Is it a power that we've seen before?
Eric: Yeah, I will say that this is not a construct. It is not sci-fi tech shit. This is, like, from a power and it seems like putting two and two together. The yarn dude made this using his power and also made the portals as well. You can kind of like look at where the some of the portals were before. Maybe the one that Vulcani destroyed. And you can see that like, it's like someone did a bad job sewing a rip in a T-shirt. It's like, there's literally some fibers, like, sticking out and it looks like someone put together the fabric of time and space badly.
Julia: Alright, I'm going to take some of it and pocket it because maybe Dr. Morrow will be able to take a look at it.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Sure thing.
Amanda: And then, I'd love for us to walk out through the decontamination room and the alley. And I'd love to use my Lay of the Land Background to get a perception check when outdoors, on anything out of place in the environment. I'm curious how the Muncher got there. And if there's any, like, clues as to who put him there, or where we can run him down.
Eric: Love that. So yeah, the Lay of the Land is Multitool's background.
Amanda: Multitool's version of Preserver’s Super Power.
Eric: I love that. You go into, like, firewatch places. Do you, like, stretch up to, like, look at everything from, like, a top down view. Like, you're looking at a map?
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah. And I think I'm trying to look for signs of, like, arson, you know? And criminality, and also tracking bears and stuff. So, I feel like I'm pretty good at tracking and showing up in an environment for the first time in, like, two or three months and being like, "What's out of place here?"
Eric: Sure. You make your roll.
Amanda: So I get advantage on perception checks.
Brandon: Yeah, do it.
Amanda: That's an 18 + 6 for a 24.
Eric: Holy shit. Alright. Yeah, I think you know, what's out of place is that when you walk down the alley, you see that, like, shit has been trashed and eaten through like blocks down on this alley. Like, the Muncher walked there. And then, like, sat in that pile of garbage, and then was disturbed by Milo and, like, maybe that wasn't the right time for them to show up.
Amanda: Can I see down to his origin point? Where did he start from?
Eric: You can follow the trail of the Muncher if you'd like.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: But, like, the Muncher walked there. Like, someone didn't like, like.
Amanda: No, just yeah.
Eric: Air dropped the man like a fucking Fortnite bus, like and the Muncher had to get there.
Amanda: Okay, cool.
Brandon: A reference that I understand as a youth.
Amanda: So then, the only thing I want to do is just take with me any items that seem like they are kind of still together. Like, after the fight with Room and Lou, it is just like, you know, metal stuff all over the room. Are there any items that are intact? I just want to grab them or make sure that the scene is secure.
Eric: That's a great question, Multitool. You kind of just, like, look outside immediately, but as the three of you walk into the decontamination room, I think, like, Lou is focused and working on Room right now, because Room has two bites out of him from the Muncher. And Lou is, like, trying to, like, wrap tons of gauze around him. Trying to, like, suture things together. I think that as you walk to the backdoor, kind of like ignores you, or doesn't like immediately recognize, like, hail you as you come in the door.
Julia (as Val): I think Vulcani goes to check on Lou being like, "Sup bud. You doing okay?"
Brandon: And I'm going to cast some kind of healing spell here. We're going to try to figure it out.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric (as Lou): Lou is just like, "Yeah, I'm, you know, you kind of don't think that your 12 foot tall giant mushroom defender is going to get hurt at all. So, I'm just trying to, like, work on this right now. You don't need me in for anything. I'm just going to, like, keep. I'm just gonna keep working on this. And yeah, yeah, yeah. So."
Amanda (as Aggie): Listen, I, I have a truck. We can take you somewhere. Are you okay? Like, let us drop you off somewhere. You can come with us. I can put you somewhere safe.
Julia (as Val): Do you have a parental figure who is going to come and pick you up from this?
Eric (as Lou): No, my mom isn't going to pick me up from soccer practice right now. I just, I am we're just working on this. Sorry, I don't have. I'll, I'll figure out my own shit out later. I just need to, I just need to this.
Brandon (as Milo): And Kilonova was going to put his hand on Lou's shoulder and say, "Hey. Lou, do you mind if I take a stab at helping Room here?
Eric (as Lou): You can do that? That's a thing? People can, that's a thing people can do?
Brandon (as Milo): I can, I can try.
Julia (as Val): Yeah, he got those powers.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah, it's pretty creepy, but it's useful.
Eric (as Lou): Oh shit. Like Danny Phantom?
Brandon (as Milo): Not exactly like Danny Phantom. No.
Julia (as Val): How old are you? Do you know Danny Phantom?
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, I saw Danny Phantom on Tiktok.
Julia (as Val): Oh, okay. Fair enough. I don't know why I questioned that.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah. No. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do your thing. I, you know, here's the weird thing that no one thinks, no one thinks about, like, we invented nuclear explosions and, like, atomic bombs, but, like, no one's figured out how to get, how to, like, heal people yet.
Amanda (as Aggie): I know.
Eric (as Lou): So, no, go. Do, do your thing.
Amanda (as Aggie): It's messed up.
Eric (as Lou): No. Please, go off. Please.
Brandon (as Milo): Great. Thank you. And Milo's going to walk over to Room and he's going to call on Tuna. And I'm going to cast healing spirit.
Eric: Hell yeah. What does healing spirit do?
Brandon (as Milo): I call forth a nature spirit to soothe the wounded, which is my cat.
Julia: Yay.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. Tuna immediately, like, jumps on Room and, like, then steps around like cats do. Like testing a mattress, and then after, like, a few seconds, just curls up right in the middle of the giant muscle man.
Brandon: Wonderful.
Amanda: So cute.
Brandon: When the creature I see moves into the space for the first time or their turn starts on there, they can restore one D6 hit points and they can do that a number of times equal to one plus my spell casting modifier which is nine. So, they can do that up to 10 times.
Eric: Whoa, fuck yeah, dude. Okay, let me quickly roll 10d6 and see what's up with that. Bang. That's 44. Yeah, I think after Tuna gets all curled up and purrs a lot, I think that both of the bites out of Room start to reform.
Brandon: Yay.
Eric: Lou explains that Room has a certain amount of healing powers as it were, because, you know, they're a mushroom and they can reform like that, but this is 100% helping. Anything that you see quickly, like, mushroom re-grows in the giant bites, and then eventually, like, Room is totally whole again, except for outlines of big old fucking chompers where the bites used to be. And then Room is like, "Kitty," and squeezes Tuna. Probably too hard for a cat but fine for a ghost cat.
Brandon: It's a little therapy cat.
Amanda: Perfect.
Eric (as Lou): Immediately, Lou is just like, "Oh, yes! Love this. Incredible. Oh, yeah. Do you-- Thank you. Thank you.
Brandon (as Milo): No, thank you. You were so important to this fight and Room is a badass.
Eric (as Room): Yeah, I am.
Eric (as Lou): Oh, yeah. Oh my God. No, thank you. Sorry. I was being such a jerk. I'm just, I felt, I was so worried. No, I don't need a ride. I got to like, I'm keeping on, my parents don't know I'm here. So, no, I'm good, but if you need, like, the smartest person in Laketown City to tell you anything, I'm fucking here. I am here to do that for you right now.
Brandon (as Milo): Kilonova elbows Vulcani and says, "Hey, you want to see if she can figure anything out with the ropes?"
Julia (as Val): Oh, yeah. So, smartest person in Laketown City. Obviously, this is Lou.
Eric (as Lou): That's me.
Julia (as Val): I don't know if you guys were introduced yet but Lou is the smartest person in Laketown City.
Eric (as Lou): Yes. I'm the smartest person in Laketown City.
Julia (as Val): Lou, can you look at these and, like, I don't know, ascertain where they might have come from? Because we're trying to, trying to find the person that stole a bunch of people from this party, including our best friend, January. He's a rabbit.
Eric (as Lou): Oh, the rabbit?
Julia (as Val): The rabbit.
Eric (as Lou): You guys, y'all--.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah.
Eric (as Lou): You all are best friends?
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah.
Julia (as Val): We're best friends with a rabbit.
Eric (as Lou): Damn. Damn. That's--
Amanda (as Aggie): I know. We're lucky every day.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, I can take a look at it. Lou turns over the rope. She's like, "Oh, this is, this is wild. It's, I've never seen anything like this before. I mean, there are some fabrics that it's, like, incredibly strong, but flexible. And I mean, this is, no one made this. It definitely came from, someone wants to, I don't know, I don't know where this came from. I think Lou can't tell you about anything that's more than you ascertain, is that Lou would have told you without a shadow of a doubt that no one made this. It's powerful. This is also, like, you also already know this is time and space shit which is outside of Lou's, like, ability as a scien- as a technologist and scientist.
Brandon (as Milo): Well, if Lou can't do it, Dr. Morrow is fucked.
Eric (as Lou): Oh, yeah, I'm also smarter than Dr. Morrow. I don't know if anyone knows. I just want to--
Julia (as Val): I said smartest person in Laketown City.
Amanda (as Aggie): Are you saying in Laketown city kind of implies that you're, you know, comparing yourself?
Eric (as Lou): I kind of figured that you knew her.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah, yeah.
Eric (as Lou): So, I want to double down with that. They're like, I'm also including Dr. Morrow--
Amanda (as Aggie): No, for sure.
Eric (as Lou): --I have the tests and stuff to prove that.
Brandon (as Milo): Yeah. Do you, like, have a biography or something I could read? You know?
Eric (as Lou): I'm working on one. It's currently, if you can download it on my itch.io. You can check that out.
Brandon (as Milo): Thanks.
Eric (as Lou): It's on gumroad.
Brandon (as Milo): I don't know what that is.
Eric (as Lou): I only have one. I'll send you the link. I hope you buy that.
Brandon (as Milo): Thank you. Thank you.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah.
Amanda (as Aggie): But listen, Lou, like, definitely get some rest. Don't get in trouble with the law/your parents. But we, we definitely will need your help at some point. And when they give you— these are, like, all of our, our hero numbers. You can also tweet to us but, like, that's more public, you know?
Eric (as Lou): Yeah.
Amanda (as Aggie): But I just, I'm going to ask you a favor. If that's cool.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, don't tell my parents I was here. Reverse favor. Like, favor exchange.
Amanda (as Aggie): Wow, that was like favor judo. Like, you took my favor and made it a favor.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: Judo flipped.
Amanda (as Aggie): I respect it. No, if if you get contacted or see on the internet, any, by anybody or anything to do with Gutenberg, the printing press, like, old technology. Like, before the internet, you know, like to make books and stuff.
Eric (as Lou): Sure.
Amanda (as Aggie): Like that. Let me read the Wikipedia article. And just, and just get a sense of all of the, you know, puns that this guy might use.
Julia (as Val): She's the smartest person in Laketown City. She knows what a printing press is.
Amanda (as Aggie): You're like--
Julia (as Val): Come on, Multitool.
Amanda (as Aggie): --no offense, you're young. You were born in the 21st century. I don't know how to deal with that.
Eric (as Lou): No, it's fine. No, it's cool. I learned about, I learned about the printing press on Tiktok.
Amanda (as Aggie): Excellent. Good. Well, he's bad, likes—
Julia (as Val): Our education system has failed.
Eric (as Lou): Actually, actually, our education system is now on the internet.
Amanda (as Aggie): Anyway, he likes to do terrible puns that have to do with his own name because he's a narcissistic jerk.
Eric (as Lou): Sure.
Amanda (as Aggie): He's, he's full-on dangerous. I think he was responsible for what happened tonight.
Eric (as Lou): Okay.
Amanda (as Aggie): So, I don't want you getting in trouble. Let us know if you see anything, but we're trying really hard to take him down. So, like, maybe I can text you tomorrow or something but I'd love your help.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, no, I'll keep, I'll keep a lookout. I don't know what exactly I'm looking for, but if I see something weird, I'll let you know.
Amanda (as Aggie): I mean, the last guy that we kind of tangled with, like, literally met him on the Dark Web and, like, took untested technology from him. So, like, don't do that and that's a good start.
Eric (as Lou): Okay, don't take untested technology. Lou takes out her phone.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Puts, like, the Notes app. Don't take untested technology from a stranger.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah, if you see like a, like a weird flyer, Twitter bot, like on a Tiktok account. Someone trying to talk about the printing press in Laketown City or about us. Just, like, just send it to us, you know?
Eric (as Teagan): Yeah, I think Teagan also says like, yeah, there's a, there is a VC. I think he's running a VC company. If you see that, if you see like pixel. Like, people using pixels as teleportation, you can use that too. I don't know,
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah. Again, don't put yourself in harm's way, but that's what we're looking out for. And, you know, I think you're, you're a friend of the team. So
Eric (as Lou): I think Lou says, Nice. I'm a friend of the pod.
[Brandon Laughs]
Amanda: Okay, like we're a, like a like a pod of, like peas in a pod?
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, like a pot of, peas, peas pod. We're peas.
Julia: Cool.
Amanda (as Aggie): Peas are really nutritional.
Eric: We're fighting for peace and we're all peas.
Brandon: And then Room says, "This got weird. Weird."
Eric: Don't take my NPCs. Room is chill.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Room is fine. Room says nothing of the sort. Room says “Peas”.
Julia: Adorable.
Eric (as Lou): And it was like, yeah. I'm just going to go back to my house. Oh, also for future reference. I don't, I don't look, I, this is like a fake face. I don't look like this.
Julia (as Val): What?
Amanda (as Aggie): Huh?
Brandon (as Milo): Huh?
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, I'm using, like, I'm using, like, like, face-swapping technology. So I--
Julia (as Val): Like Game of Thrones?
Eric (as Lou): What?
Julia (as Val): Where they can change their faces?
Eric (as Lou): Oh, yeah. No, it's not like Game of Thrones.
Julia (as Val): I've been watching Game of Thrones with my girlfriend lately because it's bad but--
Eric (as Lou): No.
Julia (as Val): --interesting to rewatch.
Eric (as Lou): For sure. Yeah. Listen, more power to you to rewatch it. I would never, I'd never want to watch it ever.
Julia (as Val): Or like in those Marvel movies, where all of a sudden they, like, take it away and there's pixels and they're a different person.
Eric (as Lou): Yeah, yes. It's like that. Yes. It's like that.
Julia: Gotcha.
Eric (as Lou): So, this is like, this is like a, you know, like, you all, you, you, you all wear masks. I wear procedurally generated computer faces.
Brandon (as Milo): That's dope as hell.
Amanda (as Aggie): That's, that's pretty cool.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda (as Aggie): I'm not going to lie.
Eric (as Lou): Also, I don't, I don't show up in pictures. So, don't take pictures of me.
Julia (as Val): What? You're the coolest person I've ever met.
Amanda (as Aggie): Should we just retire?
Eric (as Lou): Probably.
Julia (as Aggie): Yeah. Do you want our jobs?
Eric (as Lou): I mean, you did talk about Twitter. So, I think you should all just retire.
Julia: Wow.
Amanda: Wow.
Eric (as Lou): Sorry, that was, that was a young person impersonation. I shouldn't have done that. I love that, I love that we're friends.
Amanda: And we hug.
Eric: Hell, yeah. Lou, like, hops on the shoulder of Room and they get out of there. And they take the long way home, so their parents aren't suspicious. Imagine there's, like, an end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off scene where Lou and Room are running back to their house while trying to race their parents home from something else.
Julia: Mmh-hmm. Mmh-hmm.
Eric: Just insert that their Brandon into sound design that.
Brandon: Great.
Eric: Just put that in there. And yeah, they bounce out of there. So, I think it's the three of you and Teagan right there, right there. I think that everyone else has kind of just, like, made themselves scarce unless you want to talk to them. So, like, the Sommelier was there, but they kind of just like, "Oh, no, I'm going to get out of there.” Byron Zorn, as well he's like, “I'm going to get out of here.” And if there's anyone else you want to talk to, but I think that y'all can go on your way.
Amanda: I do want to double check that there are no, like, unsecured science objects that have not been treated.
Eric: I think that a lot of them got munched. I think you're seeing a lot, there's a lot less than when you were in the room before. Some of them have literal bites taken out of them, but none of them in here are, like, powered.
Amanda: Cool.
Julia: Yeah, I'm trying to think if there's anyone else at the party that I desperately want to find. There's one person but I don't think Val would go looking for that person. So, I'm not going to do that. So.
Brandon: Is that Dom Five?
Julia: Oh, no. I don't give a fuck about Dom Five. Fuck Dom Five. He can find his way home.
Eric (as Dom Five): I think at that point, you see, like, Dom Five just trying to walk out really casually, but is trying too hard to look casual. So, it looks like he's like, "Hey. I'm just walking out and no one's looking at me."
Julia (as Val): Vulcani just yells across the room, "I'm watching you."
Eric (as Dom Five): See you later Vulcani. Alright. [hums] As he gets to the door he, like, breaks into a dead sprint, but you still see it, like, a little bit.
Julia (as Val): What a piece of shit.
Eric: And Dom Five is gone.
Julia (as Val): Well, I feel like the plan should be find January.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yes. Find January and to take down Gutenberg.
Julia (as Val): We should also contact Dez.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah.
Julia: Julia the player is still suspicious of Dez, but you guys have not told Val the character about the fact that it was all mushrooms empowering the devices so.
Brandon: I'm not suspicious of Dez. I'm, I'm more suspicious of, like, just what the fuck Dr. Morrow & Co. have been doing and not telling us, you know?
Julia: But Dez is part of that.
Amanda: I'm like, this is irresponsible and classic. Yeah.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda (as Aggie): I'd love to, like, trade information as we, like, load into the car. Talk about the mushroom gun. Maybe Vulcani, you can call Dez and then figure out what our next move is.
Julia (as Val): Vulcani will text Dez and be like, "Meet where we’re planning on meeting." But.
Brandon: Wait, don't. Shouldn't we just bring the whole team? Shouldn't Dr. Morrow come too?
Julia: Yeah, let's just get everyone.
Amanda: Should we go to Dr. Morrow's house?
Eric (as Teagan): Yeah. I think Teagan is like, "Oh, well, if you're going to a second location, do you need me? Do you want me to come? I don't want to stand in anyone's way. I feel like this is weird for me to meet your friends like this for the first time."
Amanda (as Aggie): No, like I. Listen, I'm sorry about that, but I super need your help. Let's just, guys, let's just meet at Dr. Morrow's place and we’ll, I'll text Carmen. Make sure she knows where we're going, but we just, like, we need everybody. Everyone’s help on this. I don't know, I am extremely worried and I want all the help I can get and a brilliant investigative journalist I think would be super helpful in trying to tear this guy down. And I know it, like, I know you that after Movable Type came in, you like, dug up everything you possibly could on the shadowy company.
Eric (as Teagan): Oh, yeah. I mean, I did my best. There isn't much but I can tell you everything. I fucking should have put that together. Yeah, no. I can tell you all that for sure.
Eric: Everyone make perception checks for me.
[Dice rolls]
Julia: 18.
Amanda: 24.
Brandon: 17. I have plus nine. Oh, by the way, I rolled a spiritual search and I got a 12. So, I'm up to 7.
Eric: Oh, wonderful. Wonderful.
Amanda: Oh, no.
Julia: That's too high.
Eric: Okay, Multitool. You're walking out. I think you guys are kind of like making plans and then Teagan is like, "Oh, yeah. I'll do whatever." And you're about to, you're walking out. And you see, like, the house lights are on instead of the party lights. And I think that there's, like, a chandelier in the middle of the first floor before you get to, like, the main balcony area. And you see that, like, some of the regular lights are casting a shadow off of the chandelier and you see that the shadow of the chandelier is moving a little bit. It's kind of like, at the top of the chandelier shadow, like, a little woman's face is kind of like peeking out.
Amanda (as Aggie): Wendy?
Eric (as Wendy): Oh, yeah. Hi. You all, you were all making plans and I didn't feel like I was invited and stuff. So, I was just kind of like hanging around to see...
Brandon (as Milo): Wendy you should come!
Amanda (as Aggie): Wendy you should come. We think you're really cool.
Eric (as Wendy): Oh, oh. I mean, like, I don't want you to invite me just because I am here and.
Amanda (as Aggie): Listen, my partner Teagan just met all of my work friends. Maybe, maybe you all could could hang out.
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah. Oh, hi. And I think that out of the shadow. Wendy, like, reforms again. Wendy entire top-half, shadow person, like, the outline like Mr. Game and Watch. And the bottom-half, currently wearing like a big poofy tulle. Skirt. a la Carrie Bradshaw in Sex in the City.
Julia (as Val): Wendy, we met before, obviously. And no shade in this question.
Eric (as Wendy): Ha. Great joke.
[Brandon Laughs]
Julia (as Val): Where are you this entire fight? That was not a pun.
Eric (as Wendy): Oh, sorry. I was laughing at the great. I thought you were making a joke like at my expense.
Julia (as Val): It wasn't a pun.
Eric (as Wendy): Okay. I was staying out of the way because I do not have control, did not have great control of my powers earlier. So, I was staying out of the way.
Julia: Julia, the player thinks that's true. Val is suspicious of everyone at this point.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: I would like to roll insight.
Eric: Do it.
Julia: 14 + 4 for an 18.
Eric: Yes, she is telling the truth. She was staying out of the way. The fact that she could not control your powers, her powers. I know that mechanically, the spell surge, kind of set that one off. However, because we've found action through play, because you rolled an 18, you realized that's pretty true. That Wendy doesn't have great control over powers that don't involve, like, sneaking as a literal shadow on the wall. Any sort of, like, you know, whatever the shadow hands are or whatever that manifests as a power. She cannot super control it all that well.
Julia (as Val): I think Vulcani puts a hand on her shoulder and she's just like, "You know, that's the, that's the tough thing about powers, right? Like, no one taught us how to do these things. No one taught us how to be superheroes. So, I get it."
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah. Yeah, no one at all. I had to, I had to, I'm just, you know, it's hard. The only instruction I had was going on YouTube and learning about, like, shadow puppets, but that's not the same.
Julia (as Val): Not quite. Yeah.
Eric (as Wendy): I can, but I can, like, turn myself into a butterfly now really well.
Brandon (as Milo): That's super cool.
Amanda (as Aggie): That's awesome. Listen.
Julia (as Val): Milo, lower it like—
Brandon (as Milo): Am I being loud?
Julia (as Val): 40% Milo. 40%.
Amanda (as Aggie): Listen, it's been a long night. You have my number. Why don't you text me, make sure I have your number and we're going to just regroup with our team and figure out what to do. If you're interested in helping to find all the people that left, let me know and we'd love your help, but I think tonight it's, it's a good idea to just, let's all regroup.
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah, no. I'll totally do that. Yeah, text me if you need anything, and then tell me if I can show up and I'll help and take care of that. I will try to run that stuff down. I don't, I can only do that as well as someone who has, like, 25 Facebook friends, but I will do my best.
Amanda (as Aggie): You heard a lot of stuff about Gutenberg and pixels and whatever?
Eric (as Wendy): Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah.
Eric (as Wendy): Gutenberg. Gutenberg is the big, the big bad we're looking for.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah. If you, if you see anything, or if he tries to recruit you, you know, get in touch.
Eric (as Wendy): Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because sure. Wendy says to Kilonova, "Hey, whatever happened with those fancy lads we spilled drinks all over?"
Brandon (as Milo): I don't know.
Julia (as Val): Oh. They were all the same person but they, like, multiplied.
Eric (as Wendy): Oh.
Julia (as Val): They were a villain.
Eric (as Wendy): Oh, okay. Good. I won't feel bad about that and think about that.
Brandon (as Milo): Did you stop them?
Julia (as Val): I certainly tried, Milo. Do you see them with me right now?
Brandon (as Milo): No. No.
Julia: Vulcani just stared at him, like.
Eric (as Wendy): She's like, "Oh, I will look out for. Okay, I won't feel bad about that. That I made that thing happened and all that. Great. Okay. Alright, I will see you when I see you. I don't know, are we all leaving? I don't want to walk out with you.
Julia (as Val): Your cool Wendy and we're definitely going to hang out. You can leave with us if you want.
Eric (as Wendy): Oh, no. I'll take the, the back exit. And then, Wendy just like flips into the, into the floor--
Julia (as Val): Cool as hell.
Eric (as Wendy): --as a shadow. I just didn't want to leave at the same time.
Amanda (as Aggie): Bye Wendy.
Eric: Hell yeah. Alright. So, everyone piles into the Aggie mobile. Teagan--
Amanda: Multitool Mobile.
Eric: Sorry, the Multitool.
Brandon: Multi-mobile?
Eric (as Teagan): Right, it's a work car. Teagan is like, can I have the aux cord? Does anyone mind if I have the auxx cord?
Brandon (as Milo): No.
Julia (as Val): No, go for it, I guess.
Eric (as Teagan): Oh, hell yeah. I don't know. I, I'm not really sure what the vibe is. So, I'm just going to put on what I like. And just, like, Spice Girls immediately.
Brandon (as Milo): Hell yes.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: [Tries to sing]. That wasn't Spice Girls. I think that was A-Teens.
Amanda: That was S Club 7.
Eric: That was S Club 7.
Brandon: S Club 7.
Julia: It was.
Brandon (singing): So, tell me what you want what you really really want.
Julia (singing simultaneously): Tell me what you want what you really really want. Oh my god.
Brandon: Oh my God, Julia. Get the fuck out of my head.
Julia (as Val): So, over the, the blaring noise of “Wanna”, I think Vulcani is just like, "Alright, so are we going to talk about the mushrooms or not? Because Multitool, your bear spray that you got, it clearly it has the same properties as the stuff that, in the tech that Dez was using tonight, right?”
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah, like, I'm sure Dr. Morrow's answer is going to be like, "I don't know. It's like, fungi are more magical, but it is so--
Julia (as Val): But we brought them the mushrooms.
Amanda (as Aggie): I know. I know. And she said she didn't know anything about it.
Julia (as Val): Exactly.
Brandon (as Milo): She's a liar.
Julia (as Val): That's, that's a problem.
Amanda (as Aggie): So, either she's lying, or she doesn't know what she's talking about, or they haven't been communicating as Dez investigates this and makes this thing and Dr. Morrow looked at the mushroom. So, I don't think, to be clear, either of them is, like, working against us or evil. But we have seen, like, the reason for all of this dangerous science shit is that Dr. Morrow does not think anything she does is potentially a problem. So, I'm just putting my cards out there, that's what I think is happening.
Julia (as Val): Right. But this is the same tech also that the Youtubers were using on us.
Amanda (as Aggie): No, I know. I mean, maybe a bunch of people discovered this thing and they're all using it in their own ways. But I, I don't know. Maybe I don't even want to think that anything else could be possible, you know?
Julia (as Val): Well, I think we need to talk to Dr. Morrow and Dez about this because--
Amanda (as Aggie): Totally.
Julia (as Val): -- they had this technology before we discovered it and they were kind of keeping it secret. And Multitool, you told me about that, like, weird look that they had before they said, "Oh yeah, we can make the, the bear spray work on people."
Brandon (as Milo): Mmh-hmm.
Amanda (as Aggie): That's true.
Brandon: I rolled in that 20 for Teagan as a history check, in history, and Teagan says, like, they're using the the one up mushrooms as a power source?
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah, it was in Dez's Ghostbuster backpack as he was making science items inert again.
Eric (as Teagan): Yeah, I mean, that kind of makes sense. I mean, they, you know, they, the, you can use anything as a battery. I just kind of, I've done some, wrote some articles recently looking into, like, biomechanics and the energy of all that. So, maybe the energy, the energy, the battery, you can use the mushrooms as a battery. If it's holding all of that radiation inside, that means that it had to have come from somewhere. The initial thing and then it from there. So, like, maybe the mushrooms are back. We're talking about two different things here, right? Like, your, your spray is a power's thing, but the battery is just but the, they were also using it as a battery. So, they might be two different things.
Julia: When Aggie uses her spray, is it a purple cloud?
Eric: Yes.
Julia (as Val): Okay. What we know is that, like, when the mushroom power activate, purple is the color and luckily the world we live in that is easy to track down.
Eric (as Teagan): Yeah. Teagan then says, purple is the color of your energy. Whoa.
Julia (as Val): Purple is the color of our energy but also the color of the mushrooms when they are giving or taking away powers.
Eric: Me, DM Eric is saying yes.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: Teagan is also making the point that you're talking about two different things. One is both with the Youtubers and with Aggie's bear spray, that's like the ammunition, but also Dez seem to be using this as a battery and as ammunition.
Julia: Sure.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, Teagan is clarifying that this all means.
Amanda: That's suspicious about the fact that he was using it as a battery, were suspicious that, like, Dr. Morrow and Dez clearly, like, knew something about the properties of these mushrooms and then when we brought them to them from the warehouse, they're just like, I don't know.
Julia: “We're going to experiment on them and find out!”
Eric (as Teagan): Teagan, yeah. Teagan says to being like, "I this is, that's what I know for the, that's if that was helpful. I just.
Julia (as Val): No. I appreciate the fact that now I know there were more than one use to the mushrooms. The problem is that they were using the mushrooms before we knew about the mushrooms.
Eric (as Teagan): Oh, I hate that.
Brandon (as Milo): And Dr. Morrow just let you, Vulcani, just eat a mushroom without even--
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon (as Milo): --like saying anything.
Julia (as Val): Yeah. Yes.
Eric: Hard cut to Dr. Morrow saying, "You're gonna die? Let me go get my tape recorder."
Julia (as Val): This is beyond irresponsibility, it is hiding the truth from us.
Eric: For sure. I think y’all have your conversation. You've now pulled up, kind of into the back woods now, that leads up to Dr. Morrow's house. Amanda, how fast are you driving right now? Be honest with me.
Amanda: So, turning off the road up the driveway to Dr. Morrow's house?
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: 15 miles an hour.
Eric: You're so. You're always so responsible. Alright, make a dexterity check, add your proficiency bonus because you're good at driving your car.
Amanda: 25.
Eric: Okay, 25. You have your headlights on. It's now, like, even later because this happened, like, in the middle of the party. It's now, like, 11 at night, maybe even later. You have your headlights on. You get off the highway responsibly. You've put the—
Amanda: Oh, listen, I always got my brights on, driving around the backwoods.
Eric: Got it.
Amanda: Unless I see another car coming.
Eric: Got it. And I think that as you pull up in the backwoods, you whip around a turn. But you see that, like, a responsible distance in front of you. You see that there is one of those little bomb things, remember from the MMFC fight? The Giga bear?
Amanda: Oh yeah.
Julia: And the ones that attacked me.
Eric: Yeah. The one that's like a bob-omb body with a round eyes but with the small dragon wings, is just kind of floating in the road in front of you. And you have plenty of time to stop. I was making wing flapping motions while I was describing that. I want everyone to know that.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah, I halt the car and then point out.
Eric (as Teagan): Yeah. Teagan is like, is that a Heron? I've lived in New York City too long. I don't know anything about nature.
Julia (as Val): Vulcani just looks at Multitool like, "A Heron?"
Amanda (as Aggie): No honey. Multitool puts her arm, like, across Teagan's collarbones to, like, hold them back in their, in their seat.
Eric: Yeah, I think you also see that this floating drone, with the dragon wings, has little dragon claws. And it's holding a VCR in its claws.
Brandon (as Milo): Goddamnit.
Julia: A whole VCR?
Eric: A whole VCR.
Amanda (as Aggie): I guess Aggie rolls down the driver's side window and sticks her head out and says, "What do you want?"
Eric: It, like, slowly flaps—
Amanda (as Aggie): Not any closer.
Brandon (as Milo): You have stretchy hands.
Amanda (as Aggie): That's true.
Eric: Yeah. Why don't you use your stretchy hands?
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah, I'm going to stretch my arm out from sitting inside the car to, like, five feet away from the dragon. My hand outstretched, like, stop, and then I'll upturn my hand to take whatever they want to drop.
Eric: I think the drone kind of like flaps very slowly towards you, and then drops the VCR in your hand. And then you hear, like, the sound from Legend of Zelda when you get something. [Imitates SFX from Legend of Zelda]. It's a little pixelated. And then it flies away.
Julia (as Val): Val yells after them, “There's no TV. You just gave us the VCR. There's no screen.”
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: It comes back and drops a VGA to HDMI cord on the ground.
[Brandon Laughs]
Julia (as Val): Fine.
Amanda: I'll bring him in the car and then give it behind me to Val and Milo.
Julia (as Val): Could have just made a fucking tablet or something.
Amanda (as Aggie): I know.
Eric: True.
Amanda (as Aggie): Or emailed us. We literally have his website.
Eric: As you bring it into the car. It explodes. I tricked you.
Amanda: God dammit.
Eric: I think that as you bring it inside, the top of the VCR kind of flips up. And I don't know if you remember kind of like, you know, there's a really, like, Carphone aesthetic to, like, things that you think are like futuristic from the 80s. It's like, ah, instead of cellphone, let's just put regular phone in car. Like, that's the future, right? So, I think that there's a, there's a thing with this VCR, where like the top of it flips up. And then, there's like a six inch like CRT Grainy ass television that just flips over the VCR. It's like, what if VCR had screen on the go.
Amanda: Fair enough.
Eric: Like, you could bring the VCR on the go. It has its own power source. What if, what if screens flip up. The screen from the top of the VCR flips up, and then the VHS tape inside starts as the play button gets depressed. You see, Brett, Gutenberg and then Teagan says, "Is that John Press? The head of the set of that VC company?
Julia (as Val): Yes.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yep.
Eric (as Gutenberg): And it's all, like, super grainy. It has that VHS kind of washed out on it. And you see Gutenberg, he's like sitting at a desk, the same place that he, he had the gutenberg.org video. He's like, "If you're watching this video, I've died and you're now going to inherit all of my things
Julia (as Val): We wish.
Amanda (as Aggie): God I wish.
Brandon (as Milo): Good joke.
Eric (as Gutenberg): Just kidding. I'm sure you're all laughing at that great joke I just made.
Amanda (as Aggie): Fuck you.
Julia (as Val): Val like levels a finger, like, they're about to shoot it with, like, fire bolt or something and be like, "This fucking sucks."
Eric (as Gutenberg): Well, enough chitchat for now. Let me get right to the point. Please, stop, stop with the chitchat. I'm sure you're all talking over me.
Brandon (as Milo): Fuck you. Shut the fuck up.
[Amanda Grunts]
Eric (as Gutenberg): I'm sure you all want all of your friends back and I can tell you where they are. They're at the Vitamin M Warehouse, out in the marshes. All you have to do is come find them. And, you know, I don't know, I don't want to be to Bond villain about this. I don't want to be like, "Oh. Like, oh. My name is, I don't know, Gold Hat Tooth and I'm going to take over the world. I don't like that just come--
Brandon: This is pre-recorded and they had to come also be better than Gold Hat tooth?
Julia: Edit it!
Eric (as Gutenberg): I don't know. I'm not a creative. I have writers for that. You know, just I would come here before something bad happens. So, see you later. And then it kind of the VHS just, like, pauses and stops on him, like, doing the see you later wave to you.
Julia (as Val): What a timeline. So useful before something bad happens, at least give us, like, within 24-hours.
Brandon (as Milo): I know.
Julia (as Val): Or something like that.
Brandon (as Milo): I don't feel any ticking clock impetus.
Eric (as Gutenberg): The VHS plays again and it cuts to a different thing and is, like, you know, I wasn't that clear about the timeframe here. Maybe I should have been more clear. I think maybe in the next hour or so you should probably show up at the warehouse or something is going to, bad is going to happen to your, I don't know, maybe one of your friends. Maybe the one with the most flappity of ears.
Julia: No!
Eric: And then it pauses again.
Amanda (as Aggie): It's chilling that we didn't hear January say, "You're making it weird."
Eric: So, here's my choice to you. Would you like to continue to Dr. Morrow's place? Would you like to hit a U-ey and go out towards the marshes? Or would you like to do something else?
Brandon: How long does it take to get to the marshes, do you think from this area?
Eric: Oh, man. You'd have to go. You're all, that's crossing the city. So, it would take a decent amount of time.
Amanda: Like 20 minutes?
Eric: Yeah, like 20-30 minutes.
Julia: Alright.
Eric: Maybe more because you don't know which, you haven't been to this warehouse before. So, it's not like it's like, "Oh, lol. That was where we had the fight with Aunt Min." Like, you'd have to find the warehouse.
Julia (as Val): Okay, Teagan, no offense. I think we're going to go do some dangerous shit and I don't think you should be involved. Multitool you can correct me or not if you think that's right. I think this meeting is now going to be a Zoom/FaceTime meeting as we drive to this fucking warehouse.
Amanda (as Aggie): Yeah, I'm, I'm cool with that. Sorry, hon. We can drop you on the way, but let's, yeah, no. We got to go.
Brandon (as Milo): I have an idea though. What, what if we get Gutenberg and Doctor— Well, do we think Gutenberg is there? I don't know.
Amanda (as Aggie): Probably.
Julia (as Val): Who can say.
Brandon (as Milo): If he is there, I think putting Dr. Morrow and Gutenberg in the same room might yield some interesting results.
Eric: Hmm.
Julia (as Val): I don't like the idea of putting Dr. Morrow in combat situations.
Brandon (as Milo): I do. I think she'll be fine.
Julia (as Val): She doesn't have superpowers. She's just smart.
Brandon (as Milo): She probably got some, like, laser gun or some shit. Some bear device. Bear on a gun. I don't know.
Julia (as Val): She has a bear on a gun. Right, Milo.
Brandon (as Milo): I think we will learn more about Dr. Morrow from we've learned from all 18 of her biographies combined, if we put Dr. Morrow in the same room with Gutentrash.
Julia (as Val): Why don't we tell Dr. Morrow during our FaceTime meeting to meet us there? Because we should be getting going now.
Brandon (as Milo): Do we trust Dr. Morrow to meet us there. She's lied to us about everything. Let's just go get her.
Julia (as Val): How are we going to convince her? Oh, come with us to face the guy who hates you?
Brandon (as Milo): I think we say that.
Amanda (as Aggie): I'm fine with telling Dr. Morrow to meet us there, personally. I don't know.
Eric: No, that's no, that's totally fair. If you wanted to show up and try to convince Dr. Morrow to come with you, you could. I think there's a lot of ifs. There's a lot of possibilities here. So, I think that you have enough time if you want to just get there as soon as possible. You can take, like, 5-10 minutes to Dr. Morrow's place. I think that there's a few choices here. Either you hit a U-ey and you go now. You strategize at Dr. Morrow's place or you try to like, be like, "Hey, Dr. Morrow get in loser. We're going villain fighting."
Julia: I want to FaceTime her on the way there.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Julia (as Val): And be like, "Dr. Morrow, we're going to pick you up. We need you to confront this villain, and you're going to get in the car and then we're going to go immediately there."
Amanda: We're, like, in her driveway. You might as well try to get her to come with us. Maybe she has some cool shit in her shed that we can just put in the truck on the way there.
Julia: Yeah, it's like a five-minute difference if we just, like, don't spend too much time trying to convince her.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Okay, cool.
Amanda: I think it's a good plan. Ride in.
Eric: How do you want to execute it on this?
Julia (as Val): I think Vulcani is going to pull out their phone and open up FaceTime and call Dr. Morrow and wait for her to pick up.
Eric: Incredible. I think it rings, like, three times and then you see Dr. Morrow is like too close to her face. And be like, "Okay. How is the party? Are you still there?"
Julia (as Val): They have January. We're picking you up. You have to face Gutenberg.
Eric: The phone falls and clatters off the ground. You pull up to Dr. Morrow's house. Teagan hops out and Teagan truly needs to hop out because Dr. Morrow fully dressed. No longer in the pajamas in which she said that she was going to stay there with, like, a pretty large black army bag slung over her shoulder. Like, Teagan needs to hop out of the way as Dr. Morrow jumps in the front seat and says, "We're getting January back. Let's go."
[Upbeat Music]
Transcriptionist: John Matthew Sarong
Editor: Krizia Marrie Casil